'These every man repeats as his own words': the significance of the Psalter in Morning and Evening Prayer

Continuing with extracts from John Shepherd's A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), Shepherd here refers to the Psalms as the "Eucharistic" part of Matins and Evensong. It is a description which powerfully communicates the significance of the Psalter in the daily office, both in terms of the sacrifice of praise and - while admittedly not explicitly mentioned by Shepherd - the quality of anamnesis found in many psalms.

Note, too, how Shepherd, following Basil, points to the practice of the corporate saying of the Psalter and the different character this gives to the psalms as scripture in the daily office.

The Daily Service of the church of England may be considered as composed of four parts; of which the Eucharistic, or that which consists of praise and thanksgiving, occupies the second place. The reason of this distribution is, that we are not properly qualified to praise God, till we have obtained remission of our past sins; and previous to our addressing God for new blessings and benefits, it is highly proper, that we should render him thanks for those that we have already received at his hands.

This order of the service is not only agreeable to reason and the nature of things, but conformable to the practice of the primitive church, for St. Basil informs us, that "after confession they rose up and proceeded to Psalmody." If we have duly performed the preceding parts of the service, we shall be disposed to recite David's Psalms with David's spirit. This frame of spirit, as Basil observes, is more peculiarly necessary in the use of the psalms. For the other parts of Scripture are read to us, but these every man repeats as his own words.

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laudable Practice

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