The Exhortation at Mattins and Evensong: A Footnote

Having considered the exposition of the Exhortation (on penitence and worship) at Morning and Evening Prayer by John Shepherd in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), a footnote provided by Shepherd is significant. It is a footnote to a line in his discussion of how the Exhortation sets before us the gift of absolution and reconciliation:

For forgiveness and justification we are indebted solely to the "infinite mercy and goodness of God," through the meritorious sufferings, and efficacious mediation of our Lord, and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Shepherd's footnote quotes the Homily on Justification as an example - no doubt to the surprise of many Anglicans today - of moderation, a "general" account of justification free of the "speculative points" concerning predestination which had disturbed the peace and unity of the Reformed Churches:

We are forgiven, acquitted, absolved, and "accounted righteous;" or, as our translation sometimes renders the word, "justified before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (Article XI). For a fuller account of this wholesome and comfortable doctrine, the article refers to the Homily of Justification, (meaning, it is presumed, the Homily, which treats of justification, entitled 'A Sermon on the Salvation of all Mankind', and divided into three parts.) In this Homily the church lays down the plain Christian doctrine of justification in general terms. Into speculative points, which were discussed with warmth at the very time when the Article and Homily were composed, our church, according to her usual wisdom and moderation, declines to enter. May a moiety at least of her spirit at length rest upon all her sons.

The Exhortation at Mattins and Evensong, therefore, echoes this "wisdom and moderation", ensuring that justification, rather than being an occasion for divisive, speculative debate, was a "wholesome and comfortable doctrine", providing us assurance of the "infinite mercy and goodness of God". Shepherd's insight explains something of the resonance and quiet beauty of the Exhortation, a resonance and quiet beauty flowing from how such "wisdom and moderation" touches us in heart, mind, and soul.

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