"Duties which God requires you to perform": An early PECUSA Lenten Sermon
Believing that the fundamental demand made by Christ who those who sought to participate in God's glory was that they should repent, the Latitudinarians could not in good conscience divorce their piety from simple moral obligations.
This points to how the Old High tradition was also heir to an earlier Latitudinarian piety and its rejection of a Calvinism which, in Spellman's words, obscured the scriptural truth that "the point of Christ's redemption was that men might become good before God". This found expression in the Old High emphasis on the necessity of works, of serious repentance, and of character shaped by the virtues, all of which shaped an ordinary, sober, unglamorous but attractive Anglican piety.
My brethren, let us confess that in the case of St. Paul we see nothing of unconditional election, nothing of irresistible grace, nothing of necessary perseverance. He lived, he thought, he acted, as if he believed the saying of his Master, - "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force;" and therefore he reposed not in cold indifference, in tame inaction, in false inoperative and feeble hope. And if St. Paul found it necessary, in order to secure his salvation, to watch, to pray, to labour, with such diligence, permit me to bring the question home to you, and to ask, Whether you expect, without similar pains, to make your calling and election sure? Shall I ask you whether you esteem the salvation of your immortal souls of less value than he thought his? Or do you expect to acquire everlasting happiness on easier terms? Sufficient grace is yours, and that duly improved will give you the victory. But if any are, day after day, and year after year, neglecting that, it well behoves them to recollect, that for irresistible impulses they will look in vain; nay, more, that their continued indifference must result in their ruin; for while to him who, employs that grace shall more be given, from him that neglects it shall be taken away, even that which he hath.
And let us all remember, my brethren, that our everlasting happiness is not a thing of course, nor of necessity. It is offered to our hardy exertion, and to our persevering endeavour; but will not be given to our indolent desire, and our ineffectual wish. "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way," said our Saviour, "that leadeth unto life; and few there be that find it." And if the fears, the struggles, and the untiring efforts of St. Paul, be allowed to stand as the commentary of our Saviour's words, we may well repeat the declaration, "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way." Brethren, the righteous scarcely are saved. This is the truth which I would affectionately impress upon your consciences and your hearts. And in this holy season, dedicated by the Church to thoughtful recollection of our danger, to diligent self-examination and prayer, to an investigation of our religious character and hopes; at this holy season, I pray you to reflect whether you are leaving any thing at hazard which it becomes you to secure; whether you are omitting duties which God requires you to perform; whether you are yielding to indulgences which he requires you to renounce. In your own hands, by God's appointment, is your destiny placed; and if you are not faithful to your duty, how awful as well as irreversible must be the result. No personal election, on the part of God, will secure your immortal interest, if you are inattentive to it yourselves. No overpowering influence from on high will fit you for eternal happiness, if you neglect the necessary means of grace. No necessary perseverance will carry you to heaven, unless you continually cherish and maintain that character which will make you welcome there. And if any are not merely living in negligence of their duty, but in opposition and enmity to God, to them I would repeat, "The righteous scarcely are saved;" and let them ponder upon the answer, when I ask, If the righteous scarcely are saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?
Most earnestly do I pray, that from the consideration of the subject before us, we may all be instructed not to trust for everlasting happiness to vain expectations and delusive hopes; but regarding our danger and our duty, we may reflect upon what exertions God and our safety demand; and having placed before you the example of St. Paul, and the energy with which he strove to lay hold on eternal life, I would now, in his own language, "desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end; that ye be not slothful, but followers of them, who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises."
(The painting is George Harvey, 'Nightfall, St. Thomas Church, Broadway, New York', c. 1837.)
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