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The Response to Grace: Seventeenth-Century Sermons and the Idea of Thanksgiving

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Ronald E. McFarland
Ronald E. McFarland
Affiliation:
Mr. McFarland is associste professor of english in the University of Idaho. Moscow.
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Extract

The thanksgiving sermons offered from Anglican and Puritan pulpits during the seventeenth century, particularly upon such special occasions as proclaimed by Parliament, often led the preacher to consider an important issue for all Reformation Protestants: the response to grace. Whether the specific event were the anniversary of the Spanish Armada, the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, the defeat of royalist forces at Selby, or the victorious return of the West Indies fleet, the occurrence was interpretable as a special evidence of God's merciful grace. The preacher generally conceived his responsibility to be, first, to remind his congregation of additional mercies, some general in nature (creation, preservation, redemption), and others specific or individual as indicated above. Second, the preacher was to direct his congregation in the manner of its response to these testimonies of grace. Beyond this, the preacher might proceed as he wished. He might fulminate against ingratitude; he might expatiate on the historical or political implications of the event or of past mercies; or he might focus upon the hope for future mercies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , June 1975 , pp. 199 - 203
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1975

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References

1. Seneca, , “The Beneficiis,” Moral Essays 3, trans. Basore, John W. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1935), p. 23.Google Scholar Seneca's essay might be considered the culmination of the Graeco-Roman ethical treatment of gratitude, which begins with Aristotle. The essay was translated into English by Arthur Golding in 1578 and by Thomas Lodge in 1614.

2. Ibid., p. 209.

3. South, Robert, “Of the Odious Sin of Ingratitude,” Sermons 1 (Oxford: University Press, 1842), p. 241.Google Scholar

4. Calamy, Edmund. The Noble-Mans Patterne of True und Recall Thankfulnesse (London: for Christopher Meredith, 1643), p. 2.Google Scholar

5. Potter, George R. and Simpson, Evelyn, eds., The Sermons of John Donne 5 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1959), p. 272.Google Scholar

6. Cicero, , De Officiis, trans. Miller, Walter (London: William Heinemann, 1913), p. 51.Google Scholar For a useful examination of the vice of ingratitude see Dunn, E. Catherine, The Concept of Ingratitude in Renaissance English Moral Philosophy (Washington: Catholic University Press, 1946).Google Scholar

7. Sanderson, Robert, Sermons 1 (London: Thomas Arnold, 1841), p. 467.Google Scholar

8. Caryl, Joseph, The Saints Thankfull Acclamation (London: for Giles Calvert, 1644) p. 8.Google Scholar

9. Hardy, Nathaniel, Thankfulness in Grain: Or, A Good Life the Best Return (London: for Nathaniel Webb and William Grantham, 1654), p. 41.Google Scholar

10. Barrow, Isaac, “The Duty of Thanksgiving.” The Theological Works 1 (Cambridge: University Press, 1859), p. 355,Google Scholar Barrow's sermon was delivered in two parts, on August 17, 1662 and on July 19, 1663.

11. Ibid., pp. 355–356.

12. Seneca, p. 247.

13. Sanderson, p. 465.

14. Caryl, p. 17.

15. Barrow, p. 350.

16. Sanderson, p. 472.

17. Ibid., p. 463.

18. Caryl, p. 17.

19. Barrow, p. 351.

20. Specific reference here is to Andrewes, Lancelot, “Pattern of Catechistical Doctrine (1630),” Works (Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1865, New York: AMS Press, 1967, pp. 103–104.Google Scholar

21. Underhill, Evelyn, Worship (New York: Harper, 1937), p. 57.Google Scholar

22. Heiler, Friodrich, Prayer, trans. McComb, Samuel (New York: Oxford University Press, 1958), p. 7.Google Scholar

23. Barrow, pp. 352–353.

24. Hardy, p. 20.

25. Ibid., p. 42.

26. Barrow, pp. 357–358.

27. Sanderson, p. 477.

28. Caryl, p. 47.

29. Hardy, p. 42.

30. Dent, Arthur, The Plane-Mans Path-Way to Heaven, Part 2 (London: for W. Barrenger, 1612), p. 181.Google Scholar

31. Caryl, Joseph, Joy Out-Joyd (London: for John Rothwel, 1646) p. 30.Google Scholar

32. Sanderson, p. 479.

33. Ibid., p. 462.