From A Course of Sermons for the Festivals and Fasts of the Church of England (1821) by Joseph Holden Pott - associated with the Hackney Phalanx - an extract from a sermon for this Holy Thursday, Ascension Day, in which the soteriological meaning of the feast is richly celebrated: I will name but one more particular of that eminent advantage which we have by our blessed Lord's ascension into heaven, and by the prospect of his sure return. We are thus invited to pursue that track which leads from earth to heaven. Let us learn, then, by our Lord's ascension, as the Son of man, to those bright scenes, that our nature has been indeed advanced to heaven, and that even our frail body will not binder our ascending thither, if our minds and hearts shall have gone before, and if we have so been partakers, in some sort, of our blessed Lord's ascension. By such spiritual elevations, and such good desires, the soul aspires to those scenes of bliss as to its own place, and enjoys som...
Protestant Episcopalian - Burkean - clerk in holy orders