'That he would send down the gracious influence of his Holy Spirit': The Prayer for the Clergy and People at Matins and Evensong

Turning to the Prayer for the Clergy and People in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), John Shepherd addresses "these different orders, of which the community consists", as they are referenced in the prayer. What is perhaps particularly significant about Shepherd's commentary is the pastoral, rather than sacerdotal, emphasis throughout. 

Consider his description of the pastoral nature of the episcopal ministry:

The Bishops are the guides and governors of the church of Christ. With the highest dignity they have the weightiest charge. By being advanced above all, they become the servants of all. They are entrusted with the power of choosing and ordaining ministers ... their arduous employment is, to promote the peace of the church, and the interests of true religion, by overseeing both the clergy and the people. On them, in their respective dioceses, lies the daily care of all the churches.

It is noteworthy that Shepherd's understanding of the episcopal office is here couched in what we might describe as modest Hookerian terms. In other words, a recognition of and respect for the episcopal not dependent upon an exalted view of apostolic succession.

Regarding the petition for the clergy, Shepherd explains "by the word curates, the church does not mean in particular to describe, what the term now generally imports". This points to why the PECUSA 1789 and Irish 1878 revisions both wisely replaced 'curates' with 'clergy'. 

The same pastoral, rather than sacerdotal, understanding seen in the description of the episcopal office is also evident in that of the clergy:

by curates the church means all those to whom the bishop, as chief pastor under Christ, has committed the cure, or care of some part of his flock. When we reflect upon the extent and importance of the sacred office, we shall require no farther considerations to induce us to pray for the clergy, as well knowing that without the grace of God assisting his labours, the best endeavours of the ablest minister of the Gospel, will be unprofitable and vain. Even St. Paul himself, though possessing every possible qualification for the due discharge of the work of the ministry, was so sensible of his own insufficiency, that we find him repeatedly beseeching the churches, to whom he addressed his epistles, "to pray for him, to pray that utterance might be given to him to make known the mystery of the Gospel.

We might also note that this petition is (as in the Prayer for the Church Militant) for 'curates', clergy: the orders of presbyters and deacons are not explicitly stated but are prayed for together. There is something of an assumption here that the ministry of presbyters and deacons is more alike than it is unlike - something which would be the experience of a congregation at the normal parish round of Matins, christenings, matrimony, and funerals. The use of 'curates', therefore, is itself deeply suggestive of how the Prayer for the Clergy and People has a pastoral rather than sacerdotal understanding of ordained ministry. (Le Mesurier's 1807 Bampton lectures provide a similar and contemporaneous Old High critique of sacerdotalism.)

And this pastoral vision is likewise present in Shepherd's account of the petition for the laity:

In the last place we pray for the people, of whom it is required that they be faithful, and obedient to their pastors, open to instruction, willing to learn God's word, and desirous to practise it, and disposed to do their duty in their respective stations and callings. 

The initial terminology here may make us uneasy. We can, however, regard it as reflecting both apostolic calls to respect for those in the pastoral office and apostolic exhortations to peace and unity. What is more, the description given of the ministry of the clergy is, again, definitively pastoral not sacerdotal.

There is one other aspect of the Prayer for the Clergy and People that also points in this direction: we petition that "the healthful Spirit of thy grace" would be sent upon bishops, clergy, and laity. There is no sense here of bishops and clergy having a different share in the gift of the indwelling Spirit. To be perhaps slightly provocative, there is no indication at all here that the ministry of the ordained, in the curious phrase of ARCIC I, "belongs to another realm of the gifts of the Spirit". As Shepherd states, while the orders are diverse, the working of the one Spirit is for the same end and purpose:

For these different orders, of which the community consists, we beg an especial blessing of God, beseeching him that he would send down the gracious influence of his Holy Spirit, like dew, into our hearts, to quicken the feed that is sown, that it may bring forth the fruits, of a virtuous and godly life.

A good case could be made that the Prayer for the Clergy and People encapsulates significant aspects of the Anglican experience: the non-sacerdotal nature of the ordained ministry (bishops and clergy), the dignity of the laity, the common working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of laity and clergy in order to bring forth the fruit of holy living. 

To this we might also add a final feature of the Anglican experience captured by the prayer. The descriptions given of the workings of the Holy Spirit have a distinct 'grace does not destroy nature' tone: "healthful Spirit ... dew of thy blessing". This, then, is not a prayer of Enthusiasts, with their claim for an experience of the Spirit distinct and separate from, over and against the ordinary people of God. The Prayer for the Clergy and People petitions for the ongoing, gentle, peaceable indwelling, presence, and workings of the Holy Spirit in all the laity and clergy.