"The spirit of prayer is implied in those ordinances": Jelf's Bampton lectures and liturgical prayer

In the fourth of his 1844 Bampton Lectures, An inquiry into the means of grace, their mutual connection, and combined use, with especial reference to the Church of England, Jelf - one of those whom Nockles lists as the 'Zs', the post-1833 continuation of the Old High tradition - provides an excellent account of why liturgical prayer accompanies the administration of the Sacraments and the reading of the Scriptures:

the truth is, that the spirit of prayer is implied in those ordinances, if it is not an inseparable part of their essence. The faithful and intelligent use of any of the means of grace, presupposes a desire to obtain the Holy Spirit. An infant is brought to the holy font, or at least it is received and baptized by the Church, because a desire is entertained that it may thereby be made regenerate. He who reads the Scriptures in faith, reads because he is seeking for edification in the mind of the Spirit. He who draws near with faith to the holy table, receives God's creatures of bread and wine sanctified by consecration, because he hungers and thirsts after the Body and Blood of Christ conveyed under the symbols. In all these cases, the real spring of action is, or ought to be, the desire of attaining grace. Now prayer, in its essence, is a vent for the wish of the heart. The deliberate wish before God, suitably, however silently expressed, is prayer in His sight, who seeth in secret. It is no paradox, therefore, to say that the faithful observance of grace-giving ordinances is in itself a prayer, a prayer embodied in action; and God will assuredly give the Holy Spirit to "them that ask Him" in this way, no less than to those who prefer the request of their lips. Hence it is, that the use of prayer, as an adjunct to those offices, is dictated by nature as well as appointed by the Church.

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laudable Practice

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