"Made meet for the heavenly inheritance": an early PECUSA Eastertide sermon

An Eastertide sermon from Cornelius Duffie - rector of Saint Thomas, New York City 1824-27 - in which we see how a distinctive Old High emphasis on the necessity of sanctification and good works is related to the hope of the Resurrection (note the staple Old High references to 'working out our salvation with fear and trembling' and 'making our election sure'). Sanctification prepares us to share in the Easter hope. Without the renewal of sanctification, we do not bear the fruit of the Resurrection life. We might, then, consider the sermon an exposition of the call of the Easter Anthems: "Not with the old leaven ... reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin".

Now, my brethren, seeing that life and immortality are brought to light, is there nothing in the hope set before us in the Gospel, to make us anxious to know whether we are doing what God requires us to do, in order to secure it? Is not the prospect of a future and better existence the most exalted distinction of our nature, and shall not all our best wishes be enkindled, and all our best powers be active in its pursuit? Shall man, the lord of creation, the heir of glory, there only forget his dignity where most his dignity appears? Shall he there only neglect to employ his reason where reason might anticipate its noblest triumph? Shall he there only be content to be ignorant when to know is life everlasting? And while we leave nothing at hazard which belongs to this fleeting existence, but by care, and perseverance, and earnest toil, pursue those advantages of wealth and honour, of learning and fame, which, without our own efforts, we know we cannot attain; shall we in respect of the life eternal, of the blessedness which God has revealed, shall we take for granted that success is certain, that heaven is ours, as a thing of course? Shall we leave all at peradventure for eternity, and make no inquiry, give no diligence, to ascertain our character and prospects, until in the future world the dreadful reality shall be forced upon us, that all is lost; and that it is too late again to recover what once it was in our own power, by God's grace, to secure?

The Gospel declares that Jesus Christ is the way, and the truth, and the life, neither is there salvation in any other; and it is only they who are renewed in his own image, and whose tempers and desires are conformed to his will and example, only they who love him and keep his commandments, and who, growing in grace, are made meet for the heavenly inheritance, who can at all expect to experience a joyful resurrection, and to dwell in the presence of God. They who neither love him nor obey him now, cannot hereafter be partakers of that felicity which he has promised. They shall indeed rise from their graves, but it shall be to inherit shame and everlasting contempt. Such, my brethren, must of necessity be the lot of all who seek their pleasure in the things of this miserable and perishing world, disregarding all those higher interests which belong to the world to come. Alas! that there should be any who are so lost to reason, to ambition, to their best wisdom, and their best interest! Yet many such there are, and some it may be even in this assembly, who are preparing for themselves an evil and an irreversible destiny ...

My brethren, what consolation belongs to you, who, working out your salvation with fear and trembling, are giving all diligence to make your calling and election sure. How may your thoughts range forward beyond the narrow boundaries of time! How may you smile at the temporary desolation of the grave, and looking far beyond to the long eternity which shall succeed, behold your happiness made sure for ever! How may you dwell with joyful anticipation upon the peace and the blessedness that shall be there, upon the restoration of all that you have here lost, upon the possession of all that you have here desired. Think of this, ye whom poverty, and affliction, and cares oppress. Your light affliction, which is but for a moment, shall work for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Oppressed and disheartened though you be for the present, the things which afflict you are merely temporal, but the things unseen, which await you, are eternal and full of blessedness; and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ you are assured that the things eternal shall be yours.

(The painting is George Harvey, 'Nightfall, St. Thomas Church, Broadway, New York', c. 1837.)

Why I support the ordination of women: a High Church reflection

A number of commenters on this blog have asked about my occasional expressions of support for the ordination of women to all three orders. With some hesitation, I have decided to post a summary of my own views on this matter. The hesitation is because I have sought on this blog to focus on issues and themes which can unify those who identify with or have respect (grudging or otherwise!) for what we might term 'classical' Anglicanism (the Anglicanism of the Formularies and - yes - of the Old High Church tradition). Some oppose the ordination of women (and I have friends and colleagues who do so, Anglo-Catholic, High Church, and Reformed Evangelical). Some of us support it (again, friends and colleagues covering a wide range of theological traditions). Below, I have organised my thinking around 5 points (needless to say, no reference to Dort is implied). 1. The Declaration for Subscription required of clergy in the Church of Ireland states: (6) I promise to submit ...

How the Old High tradition continued

Charles Gore's 1914 letter to the clergy of his diocese, ' The Basis of Anglican Fellowship ', can be regarded as a classical expression of the Prayer Book Catholic tradition. A key part of the letter - entitled 'Romanizing in the Church of England' - addressed the "Catholic movement", questioning beliefs and practices within it which tended to "a position which makes it very difficult for its extremer representatives to give an intelligible reason why they are not Roman Catholics". Gore provides the outlines of an alternative account and experience of catholicity within Anglicanism, defined by three characteristics. What is particularly interesting about these characteristics is their continuity with the older High Church tradition. Indeed, the central characteristic as set out by Gore was integral to High Church claims over centuries: To accept the Anglican position as valid, in any sense, is to appeal behind the Pope and the authority of t...

Pride, progressive sectarianism, and TEC on Facebook

Let me begin this post with an assumption that will be rejected by some readers of laudable Practice , but affirmed by other readers. Observing Pride is an understandable aspect of the public ministry of TEC. On previous occasions , I have rather robustly called for TEC to be much more aware and respectful of the social conservatism of the Red states and regions in which it ministers. A failure to do so risks TEC declining yet further into the irrelevance of progressive sectarianism. At the same time, TEC also obviously ministers in deep Blue states and metropolitan areas - and is the only Mainline Protestant tradition in which a majority of its members vote Democrat .* With Pride now an established civic commemoration, particularly in such contexts, there is a case for TEC affirming those aspects of Pride - the dignity of gay men and lesbian women, their contribution to civic life, and their place in the church's life - which cohere with a Christian moral vision. (I will n...

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