'Peculiar mercies vouchsafed to the mother of our Lord': the Magnificat at Evensong

Continuing with extracts from John Shepherd's A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), we turn to the Magnificat at Evensong.

It was first spoken by the Virgin Mary, when her cousin Elizabeth addressed her as the mother of our Saviour ... It begins with a general thanksgiving: and praises God, for his peculiar mercies vouchsafed to the mother of our Lord: for all his goodness, and loving kindness, displayed in the acts of his general providence; and more especially for the redemption of the world, promised to the patriarchs, and now on the eve of being fulfilled, by the birth of the Messiah.

In the person of Christ, the types and predictions of the law, and the prophets, were accomplished. The recitation therefore of this hymn, with propriety succeeds the first Lesson, which is taken out of the books of the Old Testament. So early as the beginning of the sixth century, Magnificat was sung in the daily service of the western church, and it is still retained in the evening offices of reformed churches upon the continent, as well as in our own.

Note how Shepherd acknowledges - and does so at the outset - that the Magnificat celebrates God's "peculiar mercies to the mother of our Lord". He immediately affirms, in other words, the definitively Marian character of this canticle.

He also points to the distinctive place of the Magnificat in Anglican piety, coming as it does after the Old Testament reading at Evensong. The words of the Blessed Virgin Mary, therefore, reflect her place in the mystery of salvation, for the One she carries in her womb, when the Magnificat is first proclaimed, is He in whom the promises of Yahweh to prophets, priests, and kings find their fulfillment.

Finally, Shepherd notes that the singing (and it is interesting that he does say it was "sung") of the Magnificat at evening prayer is a practice of over centuries of the Western churches, continued by "the reformed churches upon the continent". This was primarily seen in Luther's retention of the Magnificat at Vespers; in the words of the reformer, "It is a fine custom, too, that this canticle is sung in all the churches daily at vespers".

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