laudable Practice

I have much more respect for those poor readers [i.e. non-preaching clergy], whom he mentioneth every where with contempt. I hope they may do, and many of them do, God good and acceptable service in His Church, and co-operate to the salvation of many Christian souls, by reading the Holy Scriptures, and the Liturgy and Homilies of the Church, and administering the Holy Sacraments. And I have heard wise men acknowledge, that if it had not been for these very readers, in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, when preaching was very rare, England had hardly been preserved, as it was, both from Popery and from atheism. Their very reading is a kind of preaching; Acts xv. 21- "Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day." And their reading of Homilies doth yet approach nearer to formal preaching. Or if it come short of preaching in point of efficacy, it hath the advantage of preaching in point of security. The pri...

This being the Day which Custom has devoted to celebrate the Decency of Cathedral service, to set forth its Usefulness, to convince the Gainsayer, to remove the Prejudice of the Ignorant, and the Cavails of the Malicious ... So began the sermon - ' Cathedral Service Decent and Useful ' - of the Reverend William Dingley (a fellow of Corpus Christ College, d.1735), in the University Church, Oxford, on "Cecilia's Day" 1713. What is immediately significant is Dingley's statement that such sermons, in praise of the choral tradition, were customary on Saint Cecilia's Day, 22nd November. Alongside Dingley's sermon, this post will consider two other sermons for Saint Cecilia's Day, Nicholas Brady's ' Church Music Vindicated ' in 1697 and, in 1698, Francis Atterbury's ' The Usefulness of Church Music '. They indicate a pattern in the late 17th/early 18th century Church of England of observing Saint Cecilia's Day with a celebratio...

Continuing with extracts from John Shepherd's A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), we turn to the Second Collect at Evening Prayer. As with the second and third collects at Matins, Shepherd notes the antiquity of this collect, "translated, with little change, from a prayer in the sacramentary of Gregory the Great". Again we note how each day at Cranmerian Morning and Evening Prayer we pray in ancient words, offered by churches over centuries. While accepting the similarity with the Second Collect for Peace at Matins, Shepherd points to how the Second Collect at Evensong - "The second for Peace" - is particularly suited to the evening hour, after the day's labour, with the hours of darkness before us, the passing of another day marking the passage of our mortal lives: This collect has the same title with the second for morning prayer; "A collect for peace." And though the petitions ...

Continuing with extracts from John Shepherd's A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), we consider the versicles and responses after the second Lord's Prayer at Matins and Evensong. Shepherd begins by identifying the source of these versicles and responses: From the recital of the Lord's Prayer we proceed to the interlocutory petitions, all of which except two are taken out of the psalms.  These versicles, in other words, root the Church's daily prayer in the Psalter. In doing so, they also illuminate other characteristics of the Church's prayer, for - as Shepherd notes - they provide a summary of the Sunday and daily collects: Whether it be entirely the effect of design, or something must be attributed to accident, these versicles are an epitome of the collects that regularly follow. The duty of the congregation is to join in the one, and to listen with attention to the other. Shepherd then proceeds to...

This week's extract from John Shepherd's A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796) considers the Kyries - the Lesser Litany - before the second Lord's Prayer at Matins and Evensong. Shepherd described these Kyries as "a most pathetic address to each person of the Trinity" ('pathetic' was defined by Samuel Johnson's dictionary as "affecting the passions; passionate; moving") and praised the reformers for "their wisdom in retaining this ancient form of supplication, but at the same time translating it into English". He roots their use in the daily office in a canon of the second council of Vaison (539AD) in southern Gaul, adopting the practice from Byzantine usage in the East and in the churches of Italy (which then followed Byzantine practice): The second council of Vaison observes, that in the East, and the provinces of Italy, an useful and agreeable custom prevailed of ...

Continuing with extracts from John Shepherd's A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), we turn to the Nunc Dimittis at Evensong, what Shepherd describes as "this beautiful little hymn". It is a description which both captures the deeply resonant nature of the Nunc at Evensong and which points to Cranmer's wisdom in taking the traditional canticle of Compline and placing it in Evening Prayer.   In summarising Saint Luke's account of Simeon, Shepherd ensures that we heed the Evangelist's emphasis on rooting the Nunc in the hopes and prayers of Israel: The author of this beautiful little hymn, was the aged Simeon, a just and devout man, who waited for the consolation of Israel, and to whom by the spirit of prophecy, it was revealed, that he should not see death, before he had feen the Lord's anointed. Directed by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple ; and when the parents brought in the child ...

Continuing with extracts from John Shepherd's A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), we turn to the alternative to the Magnificat at Evensong, Cantate Domino. Shepherd notes that it "is rarely used". This, interestingly, contrasts with earlier commentators . Sparrow, for example, encourages the use of Cantate Domino (and Deus Misereatur) in the penitential seasons and when the first lesson "speaks of the enlargement of the Church by bringing in the Gentiles into the Fold of it". Secker, writing in the mid-18th century, says of Cantate Domino that it "may be used, and in some places it frequently is". The difference between Shepherd and these earlier commentators is probably due to local practice, rather than a more widespread move away from use of Cantate Domino. It certainly was not the case that Shepherd disapproved of the use of this canticle. Even while stating that it "is rarel...

A recent Facebook post from the chapel of Keble College was a significant and welcome reminder of the important place of Compline in non-eucharistic liturgies. Keble College is not the only Oxbridge chapel in which Compline may be found: amongst others,  Jesus College and Hertford College . We might think of other examples which point to the attraction of Choral Compline: Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver; St. Mark's Anglican Cathedral, Seattle (with its ' Seattle rite '); Trinity Church Wall Street , New York City; and St. Giles in the Fields, London . This also has an important ecumenical aspect, with Roman Catholic and Nordic Lutheran cathedrals offering Choral Compline. At times it can also be found in  Church of Scotland cathedrals . Just as Choral Evensong has experienced a revival in its congregations over the past decade , and as there are hints of a re-emergence of Choral Matins , so Choral Compline has also established itself as a significant part of the no...

Continuing with extracts from John Shepherd's A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), we turn to the Magnificat at Evensong.  It was first spoken by the Virgin Mary, when her cousin Elizabeth addressed her as the mother of our Saviour ... It begins with a general thanksgiving: and praises God, for his peculiar mercies vouchsafed to the mother of our Lord: for all his goodness, and loving kindness, displayed in the acts of his general providence; and more especially for the redemption of the world, promised to the patriarchs, and now on the eve of being fulfilled, by the birth of the Messiah. In the person of Christ, the types and predictions of the law, and the prophets, were accomplished. The recitation therefore of this hymn, with propriety succeeds the first Lesson, which is taken out of the books of the Old Testament. So early as the beginning of the sixth century, Magnificat was sung in the daily service of the w...

Reading through John Shepherd's A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), we come to the Gloria Patri at the opening versicles and responses. Shepherd terms the Gloria Patri a 'creed', echoing the well-established approach of ' Trinitarian minimalism ', for this short hymn of praise to the Triune God contains "the substance" of the Faith: The Doxology, Gloria Patri, is not merely an admirable hymn, containing a particular adoration of each of the persons, in the holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity. But it is likewise a compendious Catholic Creed; for the substance of a Christian's faith is, to believe in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This understanding continues as Shepherd quotes from Hooker, who was echoing Basil. Faith in the Holy Trinity is sufficiently expressed through Baptism in the Triune Name, confessing the Apostles' Creed, and declaring the praise of the Triun...

Recently, laudable Practice suggested that a return of a 'West Gallery' tradition could aid Mattins and Evensong in smaller churches.  Evensong, I said, "does not require an organ and large choir".  I went on to say "the choral tradition is, where it may be had, a gift to be received with gratitude".  Two quite contrasting experiences of Evensong following that post demonstrated the strengths of both approaches. Firstly, I was preaching at contemporary Evening Prayer for Harvest Thanksgiving in a friend's rural parish.  A small, unrobed, makeshift choir for the event led hearty singing of traditional harvest hymns, accompanied by an electronic keyboard.  It was a joyous expression of what I had sought to describe as 'West Gallery' Evensong. The second Evensong, however, was a reminder to me of the gift of the choral tradition and it will be the focus of this post. The parish in which I serve has monthly Choral Evensong. On a windy, dark Autumn ...