laudable Practice

In his discussion of absolution in A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume I (1796), John Shepherd accepts that ordained ministers have "powers to absolve judicially" in matters of ecclesiastical discipline. This, however, is only so in matters of discipline. Outside of this, absolution is "ministerial" and thus declaratory.  As seen in previous posts in this series, Shepherd has pointed to the administration of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper as acts of ministerial absolution. Now he turns to another means of ministerial absolution, what he terms "the Absolution of Word and Doctrine": [this] appears to be that which constitutes the most material part of the ministry of reconciliation, committed by Christ to his ambassadors on earth. (2 Cor. v. 18, 19.) The exercise of this Absolution consists in publishing the terms and conditions, on which remission of sins, reconciliation to God, and everlasting sal...

That it may please thee to illuminate all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, with true knowledge and understanding of thy Word; and that both by their preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it accordingly, We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. This petition in the Litany has, I think, a particular resonance in Advent Ember Week. Many bishops, priests, and deacons will be preparing Christmas sermons during this week. As they prepare to preach on the great festival of the Incarnation, it is right that this petition in the Litany is offered with particular intention, that the truth of the Incarnation will be proclaimed from pulpits at Christmas. Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, And was made man ... The petition in the Litany is not only a prayer that error will not be taught from pulpits by bishops, priests, and deacons in Christmas sermons; it is also a prayer that the saving truth will be procla...

On this Whitsun Ember Day, we turn to Tillotson's sermon 'The Authority of Jesus Christ, with the Commission and Promise He Gave to the Apostles', on the text Matthew 28:18-20.  In rooting apostolic ministry - that is, the ministry of the Apostles and those whom Tillotson twice describes in this sermon as their "successors" - in the dominical command to baptise in the Triune Name, Tillotson first places the Trinitarian confession at the very heart of church's faith and life, and thus of the faith to be proclaimed by the ordained minister: As for the form of baptism, "in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," it plainly refers to that short creed, or profession of faith, which was required of those that were to be baptized, answerably to the reciting of the precepts of the law, at the baptizing of proselytes among the Jews: now the articles of this creed were reduced to these three heads, "of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,...

Having considered how George Bull, as a young incumbent in the Restoration era, handled the reading of the liturgy, Robert Nelson, in his The Life of Dr. George Bull , turned to Bull in the pulpit. He begins by noting the seriousness with which Bull approached the ministry of preaching: But tho' Mr. Bull thus excelled in discharging all the Offices of the Liturgy, yet he did not shine less in the Pulpit, from whence he did for several Years instruct his Parish Twice every Lord's-day. The great End and Design of his Sermons, for I have often heard him with great Pleasure and Edification, was to acquaint his People with the Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, which were able to make them Wise unto Salvation; and therefore all Subjects which he handled, were always strengthened and confirmed by Passages from Holy Writ, and those Passages explained and made easy to the Capacity of the meanest Understanding, and such useful Observations drawn from them, as gave fresh Light to his Subj...

And if the Head be risen, the Members shall not stay behind. He is the head of the body the Church. As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Our Lord is our Head, and in Him is our Nature exalted and raised up: And as he partakes of our Flesh, so do we of his Spirit, and have a pledge and argument on each side of our Resurrection. If the spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you; He that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you, (Rom.viii.11.) We receive great assurance of our Resurrection; Christ hath left us (says Tertullian) Arrabonem Spiritus, the Earnest of the Spirit; and he hath taken from us Arrabonem Carnis, the Earnest of the Flesh, and carried with him into Heaven, Pignus totius summae illic quandóque redigendae; Part of our humane Nature, a pledge that inferrs the Resurrection of the rest. The Holy Sacrament we receive (if we receive as we should) is a token of our Resur...

In the Year 1659, the Nation began to be very sensible of the Misery they had long groaned under, and were very earnest to relieve themselves from that Oppression, which had so long prevailed among them ...  Upon the Restoration, Mr. Bull frequently Preached at Cirencester, where there was a populous and large Congregation. With these words, Robert Nelson - in his 1713 The Life of Dr. George Bull - brings us to the Restoration. Bull who, as we have seen in recent posts, was a conforming Episcopalian, ministering in the Cromwellian Church during the final years of the Interregnum, continued to minister in his parish. This itself is an indication of how normal it was for conforming Episcopalian clergy to be serving in the Cromwellian Church, and then continue to minister at the restoration of episcopacy. Nelson notes that Bull at the Restoration was also regularly preaching at Cirencester, where his aged father-in-law was incumbent: The Choice of the Subjects which he discoursed up...

At Early Communion on Epiphany Sunday 2024 Ephesians 3:8 [1] On this Epiphany Sunday, we hear the Apostle Paul describe his ministry as bringing “to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ”. It is a beautiful description of the truth we celebrate on this day. When the magi present their gifts to the Christ Child, we are pointed to “the boundless riches of Christ” - for the magi’s gifts proclaim the Christ and the rich blessings which flow from Him. The words of the traditional Epiphany carol [2] suggest the meaning of the gifts: Gold - “King for ever, ceasing never, over us all to reign”, for the kingdom brought by Christ is the rule and reign of God, and His kingdom never ends; Incense - “owns a Deity night … worship Him, God Most High”, for Jesus Christ is God with us, the One who "is of one Being with the Father" [3]; Myrrh - “sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in the stone-cold tomb”, for in the death and passion of Jesus, the eternal love of God ...

From Samuel Clarke's sermon ' Of the Fulness of Time in which Christ appeared ', on the text Galatians 4:4-5, preached on Christmas Day: If this Divine person, the Author of our religion, notwithstanding the exceeding dignity of his nature, yet condescended to become truly and really a man; subjecting himself to all the infirmities of human nature, and being in all things made like unto his brethren, sin only excepted; This may convince us of the reasonableness of our Holy Religion; and of the possibility of our paying obedience to its laws. Had God sent his Son in great Glory, and in the Form of God, to reveal his Will to us by his absolute command only; such an extraordinary Revelation, like the Mountain that burned with Fire, would indeed have sufficiently convinced us of the necessity of Religion and the indispensableness of obedience. But when this great person vouchsafed to become, not only the Author of our Religion, but in our own nature the pattern also of our duty...

In these days before Christmas Day, laudable Practice will follow on from the short Advent series on sermons on the Last Things by Tillotson, Bull, and Clarke by sharing extracts from sermons on the Incarnation by these three divines of the 18th century Church of England. Today's extract is from Tillotson's 1680 sermon ' Concerning the Incarnation of Christ ', preached on 21st December in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry, London, on the text John 1:14. Note how this sermon was delivered before Christmas. Tillotson described the time as the "Occasion of the Annual Commemoration of the Incarnation and Nativity of our B. Lord and Saviour". Tillotson's text, of course, has significance as the Prayer Book's appointed Gospel for Christmas Day. He was, in other words, preparing the congregation for the proclamation of this Gospel at Christmas Communion.  Pointing to the Evangelist's account of the Incarnation as a setting forth of God's "most g...

In the conclusion of his sermon ' Of a Future Judgement ', Samuel Clarke provides three applications of the scriptural proclamation of the Last Judgement. Reflecting a key concern of 18th century Church of England preaching, Clarke again emphasises that this teaching calls us to holy living: "then let us continually be aware, that all Other expectations whatsoever, are mere Deceits". To reject this as 'moralism' is, quite frankly, to entirely ignore vast swathes of the New Testament, as Clarke's references illustrate.  Also noteworthy is Clarke's use of words from II Maccabees, a reminder that references to the Apocrypha were standard in the preaching of all three divines quoted in this short series. The fact that we see this in Tillotson and Clarke evidences the fact that this was by no means a 'high church' characteristic: it was a standard Church of England practice, in accordance with Article VI. Finally, the preaching of these three divine...

In the final extract from Bishop Bull's sermon ' The Vanity of this Life, the Eternity of the next ', he summarises how - in the words of Article VII - "both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to Mankind by Christ". This insistence on the unity of the covenants grounds the Christian hope in God's enduring purposes, "the old catholic faith" stretching back to patriarchs and prophets.  We can detect here, I think, an affirmation of a Reformed approach to reading of the Scriptures of the Old Covenant, a refusal to stand the New Testament against the Old, declaring the same hope in both, "the doctrine of a future life and judgment". As the Advent season begins again for us the cycle of feasts and observances which lead from Incarnation, to Cross, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension, Bull's sermon is a call to read and hear the Scriptures of the Old Testament as a proclamation of our salvation in Christ, in expectation...

This week brings to a close the short Advent series of posts from sermons on the Last Things by divines of the 18th century Church of England. As we come to the conclusion of each of the sermons, it has hopefully been demonstrated that they are evidence - contrary to the stubbornly enduring Old Hat view of Anglicanism in that century - of a lively, robust, and vibrant proclamation of the Last Judgement in 18th century Anglican preaching. Today we turn to the conclusion of Archbishop Tillotson's sermon ' Of the Certainty of a Future Judgment '. Here Tillotson exhorts that we are to live as if the Last Judgement "were already and actually present", calling us to a serious repentance and reclaiming us for the duties of Christians: the gospel plainly declares that all this shall be, and thou professest to believe it. Why then dost thou not live as if thou didst believe these things? Why should not that which will certainly be, have to all reasonable purposes the same ...

In his sermon ' Of a Future Judgement ', Samuel Clarke gives voice to a significant concern in much preaching in the 18th century Church of England: that the New Testament declares the Last Judgement to be on the grounds of the fruits of righteousness in our lives. To dismiss this as 'moralism' - as 18th century revivalists did, followed by 19th century evangelicals and Tractarians, echoed by much contemporary commentary on 18th century Anglicanism - is to, at best, obscure the teaching of the New Testament and not least that of Our Lord: Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Clarke's critique of a reliance on "any unconditionate Decree", that is, on an assumed knowledge of the decree of predestination, likewise reflects wider concerns amongst 'Arminian' and 'Latitudinarian' thought. It al...

In the previous extract from Bishop Bull's sermon ' The Vanity of this Life, the Eternity of the next ', we saw how he pointed to Psalm 1 as declaring the judgement that is to come. Here he also turns to Psalm 102 as an example of the Psalter proclaiming the Last Judgement, particularly seeing in Ps.102:25f "the very doctrine of St. Peter" concerning the end of the ages. Again, it is a reminder to us that to pray the Psalter, not least in these days of Advent, is to be called to prepare for the "dissolution of this present world": In the time of the captivity lived the penman of the 102d Psalm, as clearly appears from the thirteenth and following verses; and he is thought by some learned interpreters to have been Nehemiah. But whoever was the writer of the Psalm, we have therein a very remarkable passage to our purpose in the twenty-fifth and following verses: "Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of Thy ha...

Continuing with this Advent series of extracts from sermons on the Last Things by divines of the 18th century Church of England, we return to Archbishop Tillotson's sermon ' Of the Certainty of a Future Judgment '.  Having established "the truth and certainty" of the Last Judgement, Tillotson expounds how this should lead us - in the words of the Advent collect - to 'cast away the works of darkness', rather than pass days, years, and months "in the gross neglect of God and religion, and of [our] immortal souls": Thus you see the truth and certainty of a future judgment confirmed, from the acknowledgments of men's natural hopes and fears, from the natural notions which men have concerning God and his providence, and from plain revelation of Scripture. All that I shall do farther at present, shall be to make some reflections upon what hath been delivered, concerning the certainty of a future general judgment ... If there be such a day certainly...

The third 18th century Church of England divine to whom we turn to consider their preaching on the Last Things, during these days of Advent, is Samuel Clarke. Yes, you read that correctly: Samuel Clarke, the divine whose work The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity provoked intense controversy in the years following its publication in 1712, leading to the robust affirmation of Trinitarian orthodoxy by Daniel Waterland. Clarke's heterodoxy on the matter of the Holy Trinity made him the champion of theological radicals and the bête noire  of the strongly orthodox, Tory, and High Church Lower House of Convocation.  Despite this, however, his sermons were popularly received across the 18th century Church of England. This is seen in the fact that the strongly orthodox 'Yale Apostates' - those New Congregational ministers who in 1722 embraced the Church of England and sought episcopal orders - made a point, when in London in March 1723 , of hearing Clarke preach. When George Prety...

In this Advent series of 18th century Anglican sermons on the Last Things, we turn to Bishop Bull's sermon ' The Vanity of this Life, the Eternity of the next '. In this extract, Bull points to the Psalms as proclaiming the last judgement, particularly seeing in Psalm 1 a declaration that the "winnowing time of judgement will come". It is a reminder to us that to pray the Psalter during this season is to be prepared in heart and soul for "the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead". To the same purpose are those Psalms of David, wherein he amply describes the prosperous and flourishing estate of many wicked men; and, on the other side, the calamitous and afflicted condition of many good and virtuous in this world; and yet in the close pronounceth these to be most happy men, and the other to be most miserable; which cannot be true, but on supposition of a future state and resurrection. Of this sort...