'To have sure confidence in the will and power of Jesus': another Hackney Phalanx sermon sounding like the Wesleys
In last week's extract from an 1814 collection of sermons by Christopher Wordsworth (senior, d.1846), I suggested that it showed how a Hackney Phalanx preacher could sound like the Wesleys in a lively proclamation of salvation in Christ. This indicates how the ridiculously outdated, Old Hat view of 'moralistic' preaching of the pre-1833 High Church tradition - a view still oft-repeated by contemporary Anglicans despite being debunked by decades of historical research - is, to be blunt, nonsense. Today's extract, from a sermon on Luke's account of the healing of the ten lepers, is another Wesley-like example of the lively faith proclaimed by this Hackney Phalanx preacher. When reading this sermon, I could not help think of the Tractarian slur of 'Two Bottle Orthodox', implying a cold formalism amongst pre-1833 High Churchmen. Reading Old High works and the sermons, however, reveals how entirely incorrect this. There is a warmth to the piety and a vibrancy ...