laudable Practice

From Francis Atterbury's sermon for Easter Day 1718, ' Some Reasons assigned for our Saviour's appearing chiefly to his Apostles after his Resurrection ', preached at Westminster Abbey. Here Atterbury sets forth how the Church's ministry, doctrine, and sacraments both flow from the Lord's Resurrection and proclaim the Resurrection. Particularly significant is how this understanding of the Church in the post-Resurrection accounts in the Scriptures - "these short Accounts" - is, for Atterbury, sufficient, requiring nothing to be added for our salvation. But as our Saviour, during his forty Days Stay on Earth, fully enabled his Apostles to attest his Resurrection, so did he qualify them duly to preach his Doctrine; for he taught them the Things pertaining to the Kingdom of God, i.e. to the Gospel Dispensation, of which they were to be the Ministers, and to his Church, which they were to gather, constitute, and govern ... This Promise he had made them the ...

In his Good Friday 1718 sermon, ' Of Glorying in the Cross of Christ ', preached at St. James' Chapel, Francis Atterbury - then Bishop of Rochester - addressed the relationship of the Holy Communion to the Cross. The sermon is suggestive of the 18th century Church of England practice of administering the holy Sacrament on Good Friday .  Mindful that Atterbury was a representative of the High Church tradition, the (thoroughly Protestant) sacramental teaching he here sets forth was commonplace across the Church of England, a sign of the ' unity and accord ' of 18th century Anglicanism. While it would come to be condemned by the Tractarians and their successors as an unacceptably 'low' eucharistic theology, Atterbury demonstrates how it could give rise to a warm and vibrant sacramental piety.  The sermon is an example of how the language of 'symbols' and 'remembrance' - the standard eucharistic discourse of 18th century Anglicanism - should not ...

Wherefore, laying aside these shifts and excuses, let us all set ourselves in good earnest to resist all manner of temptations: let us putout all the strength which we naturally have to this purpose, and beg of God super naturally to supply us with what we have not. Especially at this solemn time, set apart to commemorate the great conflict of our Saviour with the tempter in the wilderness, and to prepare and qualify us for such spiritual encounters. Let us lookup to the example of Christ, and remember how victorious he was over those fierce assaults of Satan; and what assurance he hath given us, that they who tread in his steps, and resolutely fight the good fight, shall be alike victorious. And whilst we resist as he did, let us be sure to use the same means of resistance, that he used, fasting and prayer: for there is no kind of temptation, but may, by the joint force of these, be cast out. To these, therefore, let us fly. These let us lay hold of, bending our knees often in private...

On Christmas Day 1710, Francis Atterbury's preached his ' Sermon on the Incarnation of our Lord '. The sermon set forth why the "Doctrine of the Day" brought forth festive joy, as we share in the in praises of the angelic host: All Thanks and Praise therefore be given given to him, that our Tongues can possibly express, or our Hearts conceive! Abraham, at a mighty Distance, and upon a very Dim and Imperfect View of it, rejoiced to see this Day:  The Angels, who themselves had no Interest in this Deliverance, yet were highly pleased with the Prospect of those Blessings it derived on their Fellow-creature, Man; and therefore sang that Hymn on this Occasion, which the Evangelist has Glory be to God on High, on Earth Peace, Good-will towards Men. And shall not We, for whose Sake this Peace was sent on Earth, and to whom all this Good-will was meant, shall not We also give Glory to God on high, and rejoice before him with Reverence? Surely this is News, at which (as Is...

In this Advent Ember Week, we return to Atterbury's 'A Sermon preached before the Sons of the Clergy', preached in December 1709. As the name of the charity suggested, many of its members were sons of those in holy orders - and not a few of these were themselves in holy orders. Reflecting this, the sermon rejoiced in what has been a characteristic of Anglicanism over centuries, the common experience of clergy being descended from clergy: If then others may be allowed to glory in their birth, why may not we? whose parents were called by God to attend on him at his altar? were intrusted with the dispensation of his sacraments, with the ministry of reconciliation, with the power of binding and loosing? were set apart to take heed to the flock of Christ, Acts xx. 28, over which the Holy Ghost made them overseers, and to feed the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood; to hold forth the word of life, to speak, to exhort, and to rebuke with all authority? Tit. ii. 1...

On Christmas Eve 1710, Francis Atterbury -  later Bishop of Rochester, then Dean of Christ Church, Oxford - preached in the Rolls Chapel, Chancery Lane, London. His text was Matthew 11:3, the words of Saint John the Baptist, "Art thou he that should come? or do we look for another?". The sermon contained a number of significant Advent themes, evidence of how the liturgical observance of Advent (and other seasons) shaped early 18th century Anglican preaching. At the outset of the sermon, Atterbury defined the season:  At this time of advent, particularly dedicated by the church to a devout commemoration of our Saviour's coming in the flesh, and set apart to prepare us for a worthy celebration of the approaching feast of his nativity ... As with his early Advent 1709 sermon , we see Atterbury here giving voice to a well-established understanding of Advent as oriented towards Christmas. There is much to value in this, not least the quite natural recognition of the approach ...

Francis Atterbury's ' A Sermon preached before the Sons of the Clergy ' was delivered on 6th December 1709, in the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul, London. Atterbury, later Bishop of Rochester, was then Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. The Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy had been established in 1655, receiving its Royal Charter in 1678. It held a yearly festival in Saint Paul's in order to raise funds for poorer clergy, and the widows and children of deceased clergy. Atterbury's sermon referenced the season in which the event occurred: It is said of our Blessed Saviour (whose Advent we now celebrate) that he came Eating and Drinking, and that he went about doing good. I join these two Parts of his Character, because He himself often exerted them together, and made use of the One, as affording him fit Opportunities to abound in the Other. He disdained not to appear at great Tables and Festival Entertainments, that he might more illustriously manifest his Divine Ch...