'In conformity to our Saviour': a 1796 Prayer Book commentary and Samuel Clarke's revised words of administration

As John Shepherd, in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume I (1796), reviewed various liturgies and the words of administration they used for the holy sacrament - in his discussion of the precatory nature of words administration - he turned to a perhaps surprising liturgical text: Samuel Clarke's private revision of the BCP, only published 45 years after his death in 1774. (It was also the revision of the Prayer Book adopted by King's Chapel, Boston.) Shepherd noted Clark's shorter form of administration:

In the Unitarian, or what is called a Book of Common Prayer, reformed, when the priest delivers the bread, he says, "Take and eat this in remembrance of Christ," and when he delivers the cup, "Take, and drink this in remembrance of Christ." 

We know that is to Clarke's revision to which Shepherd is referring not only because this is how Clarke shortened the words of administration. Shepherd uses the word 'reformed' to describe the text, which was the title of the published work - 'The book of common prayer reformed according to the plan of the late Dr. Samuel Clarke'.

Now it might be that we detect a hint of hostility in how Shepherd refers to it as "what is called a Book of Common Prayer". This, however, does not appear to be the case The most obvious target for Shepherd's hostility in this particular case would be the radically shortened words of administration - shorter, indeed, than 1552. Rather than criticise these radically shortened words of administration, Shepherd offers them very significant praise:

This form of words is chosen in conformity to our Saviour's own, "Do this in remembrance of me."

To some extent, of course, there was no reason for Shepherd to criticise Clarke's form of the words of administration. After all, they reflect the language of the BCP Prayer of Consecration, "in remembrance of his death and passion". The Third Exhortation in the Communion declares, "he hath instituted and ordained holy mysteries, as pledges of his love, and for a continual remembrance of his death". The Catechism states that the reason for the institution of the Lord's Supper was "for the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ".

Above all, however, as Shepherd acknowledges, Clarke's form of the words of administration reflect Christ's words at the Last Supper. To deny that remembrance is fundamental to the Sacrament is to reject not only a fundamental theme to the historic Prayer Book rite, it is also to set aside the clear purpose of the Words of Institution.

It is worth noting that this understanding found a particular expression in 19th century Anglican piety, with the words 'This do in remembrance of me' often found inscribed on or behind the Holy Table. It is the Sacrament of Remembrance, an understanding written into the 1662 Prayer of Consecration and the words of administration. The fact that Shepherd does not at all critique Clarke's revised and radically shortened words of administration - within a Prayer Book revision that rejected Trinitarian doctrine - is testimony to the significance and centrality of this aspect of the Sacrament. This Unitarian revision of the Prayer Book rite, in other words, retains a fundamental character of the 1662 Communion: 

to the end that we should alway remember the exceeding great love of our Master and only Saviour Jesus Christ, thus dying for us, and the innumerable benefits which by his precious blood-shedding he hath obtained to us.