'The festival of this day': William White's sermon on Epiphany 1813

On Epiphany 1813, William White, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Presiding Bishop of PECUSA, preached in Christ Church, Philadelphia. The sermon addressed the newly-established Society for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsylvania, founded by White in the previous year to support the creation of Episcopal churches in the state. 

What is striking about the sermon is how it is defined by what White terms "the festival of this day". Remembering that White is regarded as an exemplar of the low church tradition in PECUSA, and that there was little, if any, high church influence in Pennsylvania, the sermons points to how the feast of the Epiphany was meaningfully observed in pre-1833 Anglicanism:

It has been often remarked concerning the calling of the Gentiles, that the great event became distinct a prophecy, in proportion as the time of its accomplishment drew near. The truth of this is especially evident in the text. The book in which it is found, is the last in the canon of the Old Testament: and while it emits the dying glimmerings of divine illumination under the law, there is with them a glimpse of the brighter illumination, which was to succeed under the gospel. Hence it is, that the words read to you are an explanatory comment on the festival of this day, and on the service in which it is celebrated by our church.

Your preacher stands before you at this time, at the desire of his fellow members of an infant society, of which the object is the advancement of Christianity within this diocese and state. They have chosen the festival of the Epiphany for their anniversary; doubtless from the opinion, that the making of internal provision for the preaching of the gospel, for the administering of its ordinances, and for the promoting of christian knowledge and practice in various ways, is coincident with those counsels of God, which look forward to the perpetuating and the extending of the light of divine truth; intended to increase, until all the nations of the earth shall be covered with its blaze.

White also made a reference to "the devotions prepared for the celebration" of the festival:

... being confirmed in our most holy faith, by the support which it derives from the subject of the present festival. The devotions prepared for the celebration of it, are bottomed on the presumed certainty of the event; being designed to excite suitable sensibilities in our minds; and such as may have the permanent effect of an holy life and conversation.

The nature of these devotions is not indicated, but this does suggest that recognition of the Epiphany was popular in Episcopalian circles, and not merely a matter of clerical knowledge.

Finally, the sermon also evoked a long-standing tradition in Anglican preaching of pointing to the Magi as an example of the devotion to which we are called:

Accordingly, on the present festival, bringing before us the testimony of the travellers from a far country — " we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him;" let us examine how far we can join in their adoration, with the proper evidences of the sincerity of it, in a holy state of heart and a corresponding life.

This 1813 sermon, therefore, is an example of how the Epiphany was a significant feast for pre-1833 Anglicanism. It is also another reminder of how 'low church' had little liturgical meaning in the early 19th century, as the Prayer Book conformity which defined the 18th century continued to underpin Anglican concord. White also points to that which ensured that the Epiphany continued to be an important observance for Anglicans and Episcopalians: "the service in which it is celebrated by our church". It was the Book of Common Prayer which ensured that the Epiphany - and the other great festivals - were a central characteristic of Anglican liturgy and piety. This was particularly significant in the context faced by PECUSA in the early American republic, in which celebration of the great festivals was not, unlike England, supported by public culture and popular custom. 

That the Epiphany was celebrated in Christ Church, Philadelphia in 1813, accompanied by a sermon which explored the meaning of the feast, and this in a low church context, with the preacher a low church divine, says much about the legacy of 18th century Anglicanism and its liturgical character, rather different to that which Tractarian historiography would later promote. The Movement of 1833 was not required in order that Anglican and Episcopalian liturgy and piety rejoiced in the Epiphany.

(The photograph is of Christ Church, Philadelphia.)