'In no form extant, so fully as this': the Prayer of Humble Access in the Prayer Book Holy Communion

In his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801), John Shepherd strangely appears to have little to say about one of the glories of the Prayer Book Holy Communion, the Prayer of Humble Access. Indeed, the short paragraph below is the sum of his thoughts:

This address, the priest kneeling down at the Lord's table, offers up in the name of all them that shall receive the Communion. In ancient Liturgies we meet with prayers resembling this. Thus in the Liturgy ascribed to James, "We come to this divine mystery, unworthy indeed, but relying on thy goodness." And again, "we trust not in our own righteousness, but in thy mercy." But in no form extant, can the humble and devout Christian so fully, as in this, express his sense of his own unworthiness, and pray the gracious Father of all mankind, to have compassion upon his infirmities, to relieve his necessities, and to fulfil his desires.

It is a short but yet significant paragraph. Again we see Shepherd - over three decades before the Oxford Movement - rejoice in the patristic roots of the Prayer Book Communion. Invoking the Liturgy of St. James also demonstrates his knowledge of that text. This also points to the conviction - long expounded by Church of England divines - that the Prayer Book's Reformed understanding of the gift of the Lord's Body and Blood was the same as that in patristic writers and liturgies.

When Shepherd goes on to say that "in no form extant" can the Christian approach the Lord's Table "so fully" desiring mercy and the gift of the Sacrament as in the Prayer of Humble Access, it demonstrates the reverence for the Church of England's native liturgy and piety which was a distinguishing characteristic of 18th century Anglicanism. This contrasts sharply with how later 19th century Ritualism and advanced Anglo-catholicism would regard the Prayer Book as defective, requiring it to be supplemented by Roman norms.

It may be a short paragraph but, as we can see, it encapsulates two key aspects of the piety of 18th century Anglicanism, seeing both represented in the Prayer of Humble Access.

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