laudable Practice

Today commences a new series on laudable Practice , as we read through Cranmer's Answer to Gardiner (1551). We begin with an extract from Cranmer's 'A Preface to the Reader', in which he addresses the meaning of his affirmation that "Christ is present in them that worthily receive the sacrament" (words which will, of course, be made famous by Hooker: "The real presence of Christ’s most blessed body and blood is not therefore to be sought for in the sacrament, but in the worthy receiver of the sacrament", LEP V.67.6): when I say and repeat many times in my book, that the body of Christ is present in them that worthily receive the sacrament, lest any man should mistake my words, and think that I mean, that although Christ be not corporally in the outward visible signs, yet he is corporally in the persons that duly receive them, this is to advertise the reader, that I mean no such thing, but my meaning is, that the force, the grace, the virtue, and be...

In them were said ancient prayers, giving thanks to God for the whole congregation, as partakers of the Body and blood of Christ, when not one of them received the Sacrament. The people were mere spectators, while the priest pretended to act in the name of the whole congregation, and to communicate without any real Communion. So does John Shepherd - in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801) - describe non-communicating and private Masses. We might note, by the way, that this description accords with Eamon Duffy's account of pre-Reformation English spirituality: "for most people, most of the time the Host was something to be seen, not to be consumed". Shepherd is here commenting on one of the concluding rubrics in the 1662 Holy Communion: And note, that every Parishioner shall communicate at the least three times in the year, of which Easter to be one. Shepherd accepts that this falls short of patristic Christian practice o...

In addressing the place of the Gloria in excelsis in the Prayer Book Holy Communion, John Shepherd, in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801), offers a confident understanding of this characteristic of the 1662 rite. This contrasts with with a  de rigueur  assumption for Anglican liturgical revision, that the 1662 post-communion place of the Gloria in excelsis must be inappropriate.  Shepherd, however, is typical of 17th and 18th century Church of England liturgists. Sparrow in his Rational , for example, invokes Chrysostom exposition of the singing of a hymn after the Lord's Institution of the Sacrament to show the meaning of the post-communion place of the Gloria in excelsis :  Hear this, as many as wait not again for the last prayer of the mysteries, for this is a symbol of that. He gave thanks before He gave it to His disciples, that we also may give thanks. He gave thanks, and sang an hymn after the giving, tha...

When he turns to 'The Two Prayers after the Lord's Prayer' in the post-Communion of the 1662 rite, John Shepherd, in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801), immediately identifies the scriptural reference which shapes the first prayer, the Prayer of Oblation: A part of the first is principally designed for the practice of the advice given by St. Paul, who "beseeches us by the mercies of God, that we present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service."  The fact that the Prayer of Oblation, following our partaking of the Sacrament, is rooted in the apostolic exhortation, rightly identifies the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist. As Cranmer stated in his True and Catholic Doctrine : Another kind of sacrifice there is, which doth not reconcile us to God, but is made of them that be reconciled by Christ, to testify our duties unto God, and to show ourselves thankful unto...

In our readings from Robert Nelson's The Life of Dr. George Bull (1713), we have previously considered Bull's reading of 'the prayers' (that is, Morning and Evening Prayer), and his ministry from the pulpit . Today we turn to his administration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. While Nelson is still, at this point, discussing Bull's incumbency in the years following the Restoration, it almost certainly stands as a description of his administration of the sacraments throughout his ministry. In doing so it also reveals something of how the understanding of the Sacraments in Anglicanism throughout the 'long 18th century'. Nelson begins by drawing attention to the frequency of Bull's administration of the Holy Communion in his parish: He Administered the Sacraments of our Holy Religion with great Reverence and Solemnity; The Holy Eucharist, the Mysterious and the Rite and Perfection of Christian Worship, was not performed so often in this Parish, ...

Having expounded the theological and spiritual significance of the post-Communion portion of the 1662 rite, John Shepherd, his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801), considers the first aspect of the post-Communion, the Lord's Prayer: The Post-communion, like the Ante-communion, begins with the Lord's Prayer, and we can at no time repeat this form more properly, or more effectually, than when we have just commemorated the meritorious sufferings and death of its divine Author.  It is a short but very insightful and powerful comment. That the very first words uttered in prayer by communicants, after receiving the holy Sacrament, are 'Our Father', profoundly embodies the grace given to us in the Supper of the Lord. This significantly echoes the opening words of the Prayer of Consecration:  Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of thy tender mercy ... As the Prayer of Consecration sets before us the Lord's saving Passion a...

When all have communicated, the minister shall return to the Lord's table, and reverently place upon it what remaineth of the consecrated elements, covering the same with a fair linen cloth. This Rubric, taken from the Scottish Liturgy, was likewise added in 1661; the ceremony which it prescribes, was probably observed before.  When John Shepherd, in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801), turns to the rubric following the administration of the holy Sacrament, we yet again see a significant example of how a rich eucharistic piety is found in the pre-1833 Church of England. Shepherd - again - turns to patristic sources to explore the meaning of a provision of the Prayer Book rite: This cloth, by the Latin ecclesiastical writers is called the corporal, because it was wrapped round the body of Christ in the Eucharist. It was in use in the time of Isidore Peleusiota, who wrote A.D. 412, and says, "the fine linen cloth, which is str...

In his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801), John Shepherd places the 1662 words of administration in the context of patristic usage: In the primitive Church the Priest pronounced these words, "The Body of Christ, or the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ," and the communicant answered "Amen." Afterwards the priests said, " The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve thy soul unto eternal life," as appears from the Sacramentary of Gregory. The latter was, of course, preserved in the first reformed English liturgy of 1549, as Shepherd notes: The forms in Edward's first book, were "The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life." And when the cup was presented, "The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life."  Once again, Shepherd - decades before 1833 - understands th...

The people are to receive the Communion all meekly kneeling. When, in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801), John Shepherd addresses the Prayer Book rubric directing that the Sacrament is to be received "meekly kneeling", he immediately draws a parallel between this and the practice of the patristic and Eastern churches: In the ancient Church the people appear to have more generally received the Communion standing. Yet they "stood with fear and trembling, with silence and downcast eyes." Cyril directs the communicant "to draw near, bowing his body in the posture of worship and adoration." In the modern Greek Church the communicant does not kneel, but inclines his body, and is instructed to exercise at the time this act of faith: "I believe and I acknowledge that thou art Jesus Christ the Son of the living God, who camest into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief."  While it may seem coun...

Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways ... As we approach the holy Sacrament, we are again reminded - as in the Litany - that we are called to "true repentance". Not passing regret. Not momentary guilt. Rather, we are to "truly and earnestly repent". In the words of the Catechism, answering "What is required of them who come to the Lord's Supper?": "To examine themselves, whether they repent them truly of their former sins, stedfastly purposing to lead a new life". and are in love and charity with your neighbours ... It is a beautiful, evocative Prayer Book phrase. The repetition of "love and charity" emphasises what must be the nature of our relationships, rooted in Our Lord's summary of the Law.  As for the first exhortation in the Holy Communion decla...

When contemporary Anglican liturgists lament and bewail the 1662 Holy Communion, they often point to the Prayer of Consecration, regarding it is as infinitely inferior to patristic forms. John Shepherd, by contrast, in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801), sees continuity between the 1662 Prayer of Consecration and patristic forms. Both seek the same purpose: The form of Consecration in the ancient Church was a repetition of the history of the institution, together with prayer to God, that he would sanctify the elements of bread and wine by his Holy Spirit, and make them to become the Body and Blood of Christ, not by altering their nature and substance, but their qualities and powers; and by exalting them from simple elements of bread and wine, to become types and symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ, and efficacious instruments of conveying to worthy receivers all the benefits of his death and passion.  What at least partly ex...

In his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801), John Shepherd offers a rather beautiful description of the place of the Sursum Corda and preface in the Prayer Book Holy Communion.  He begins by noting how this part of the Communion Office gives expression to an essential characteristic of the Sacrament, deeply rooted in apostolic and patristic piety: This Sacrament is a feast of joy and thanksgiving. The Apostles partook of it "with gladness of heart, praising God." It was accompanied with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, the praises of God, as Ambrose has observed, constituting a great part of this office. On days of fasting, and humiliation, the primitive Christians did not communicate, and for this reason: they thought grief and tears unsuitable to the joy and gladness, which became those that partook of this heavenly banquet. Indeed praise and thanksgiving have always been considered as such an essential part of this office...

The rubric introducing the general Confession at the Holy Communion states that both the minister and the communicants are to be "kneeling humbly upon their knees". As John Shepherd notes - in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801) - this is one of only three places in the 1662 rite in which the priest is directed to kneel, emphasising the solemn and corporate nature of the general Confession:  During the whole time of the Priest's officiating at the Communion he is directed to kneel only thrice, at this Confession, at the Collect before the prayer for Consecration, and at the act of receiving. In every other part of the office he is to stand. This was the practice of the ancient Church, and the attitude was probably borrowed from the service of the temple, where the legal sacrifices were offered by the Priest standing. Between the legal and evangelical sacrifice there is the same correspondence that exists between the sha...

Then shall this general Confession be made, in the name of all those that are minded to receive the holy Communion, by one of the Ministers: both he and all the people kneeling humbly upon their knees and saying - BCP 1662 Holy Communion, rubric before the General Confession. In his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801), John Shepherd notes the significance of the above rubric produced by the 1662 revision: Till the Restoration the Rubric here stood thus: "Then shall this general confession be made in the name of all those that are minded to receive the Holy Communion, either by one of them, or else by one of the ministers, or by the priest himself, all kneeling humbly on their knees." Does it not hence appear that the confession was made by one only in the name of all? At the Savoy Conference, the Presbyterians requested, that it might be made by the minister only, but at the revision that followed, the Rubric was changed into i...

Having considered the Exhortation which 1662 directed to be read to "the Communicants ... conveniently placed for the receiving of the holy Sacrament", John Shepherd - in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801) - turns to what he terms the "immediate Invitation": This Invitation consists of three parts; the qualifications required in those that are invited; the Invitation itself; and a direction to make their confession to Almighty God. In many ways, of course, this "immediate Invitation" summarises the teaching and call of the longer Exhortations. Shepherd, however, sees it as something greater than merely a summary. He roots it in the invitations to the Sacrament seen in the great liturgies of the East: Invitations similar to this are mentioned in the writings of the Fathers, and found in ancient Liturgies. Pseudo-Dionysius, describing the manner in which this sacred rite was administered, informs us, that...

And when there is a Communion, the Priest shall then place upon the Table so much Bread and Wine as he shall think sufficient. This rubric in the 1662 Holy Communion is not to be found in the 1559 rite. Last week, we saw how John Shepherd - in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801) - rightly emphasised the significance of the offering of alms in the 1662 Holy Communion. This, however, does not end the offertory. The above rubric, Shepherd states, indicates that the bread and wine are also a part of the offertory: This Rubric was added at the last review in 1661, and at the same time was inserted in the prayer  following, an expression adapted to the particular action here enjoined, the words and oblations, being intended, as I conceive, more immediately to refer to the bread and wine, and the new order about placing them upon the table. In the ancient Church this act was performed with great solemnity, and though there be something ...

Our journey through The Teaching of the Anglican Divines in the Time of King James I and King Charles I on the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist (1858), by Henry Charles Groves, a clergyman of the Church of Ireland, concludes today. The work, as has hopefully been seen in the various posts, is a splendid example of Old High critique of Tractarian eucharistic teaching.  We end with words from Thomas Jackson, born in 1579, a chaplain to the 'Arminian' Bishop Neile, becoming a leading anti-Calvinist theologian at Oxford, one of the Durham House Group, and appointed Dean of Peterborough in 1635. When Laud was challenged for appointing "popishly inclined" clergy, he countered by invoking the name of Jackson as representative of "divers good and orthodox" appointments. Jackson, in other words, was characteristic of a second-tier of Laudian clergy, not in the episcopate or at court, but influential, through their place in the universities and cathedrals, in how the m...