In his discussion of the Psalter in
A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), John Shepherd identifies five characteristics of what he terms "the present simple order" of the use of the Psalter in Georgian Church of England.
Firstly, the use of the 30 day Psalter ensured a manageable number of psalms were appointed for Morning and Evening Prayer, while also following the ancient Christian practice of regularly praying the Psalter:
In this regulation the church of England displays her usual piety and judgment. With us the Psalms are recited much oftener than any other part of Scripture, and thus far our established practice corresponds with the usage of the ancient church. At the same time, that all the Psalms may be read in course, and that our Morning and Evening Prayer may not tire or disgust by its prolixity, we assign, for this purpose, the term of thirty days.
Secondly, the psalms at Morning and Evening Prayer were to be said standing, the common practice also found in early 19th century PECUSA:
Standing has usually been considered as the most proper attitude for praise and thanksgiving. Accordingly we find that, in the ancient church, the Psalms were almost universally recited in this posture.
Thirdly, the Psalms were said in parish churches, with minister and congregation repeating alternate verses (Shepherd noting Hooker's defence of the practice):
This alternate recitation of the Psalms is not, as far as I at present recollect, enjoined by any Rubric, nor by any other injunction of our church. But we uniformly adopt it, and in defence of our practice, we have to alledge, that it is perfectly congenial to the usage of antiquity, is sanctioned by the recommendation of the wisest and best among the fathers, has been ratified by respectable councils, and the most approved ecclesiastical laws: and is obviously calculated to keep up the attention, and assist the devotion of the people.
Fourthly, Shepherd offered a significant defence of the use of the Coverdale Psalter:
Coverdale's translation ... being unfettered with the idiom of the Hebrew, is expressed with greater freedom, and with more regard to the genius of our language than the new translation; which, from too
servile an adherence to the letter of the original, is often more harsh in its construction, and less harmonious in its periods. In the old translation, as must be expected in a work composed above 250 years ago, we indeed sometimes meet with an antiquated word, or phrase, which in the new is rejected. But blemishes of this kind are not numerous; and where they do occur, they are sufficiently compensated by the general merit of the work, which will not shrink from a comparison with the most approved devotional compositions of more modern times. Upon the whole we may venture to assert, that Coverdale's translation is much better adapted for public worship, than any other that has yet appeared in the English language.
Fifthly, in noting that the pointing of the psalms in the Prayer Book Psalter was "for cathedral, and collegiate use", Shepherd again emphasised that the reading of the psalms was parish practice:
the clergy [to] occasionally to inform their congregations, that in the Psalms these points (:) denote a rest in the music only, and are to be totally disregarded in the reading.
Shepherd's account of the use of the Psalter in parish churches can have renewed relevance. While the singing of psalms continues in cathedrals and collegiate churches, in many parish churches the Victorian experiment of singing the psalms has ended. Rather than viewing this as evidence of decline, it can be confidently embraced as a return to traditional parish practice: saying the appointed psalms, standing, alternate verses, with the Psalter fostering and shaping congregational piety and devotion.
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