laudable Practice

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 ...

In his discussion of absolution in A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume I (1796), John Shepherd points to how the administration of the Bread and Cup in the Holy Communion is itself is a precatory form of absolution: The absolution, or as we now say, the sacrament of the Supper of the Lord is, in the Church of England, administered in a precatory form. At the delivery of the bread, the priest says, "the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and foul unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving." When the cup is presented, he says, "the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life: drink this in remembrance that Christ's blood was shed for thee, and be thankful." The words of administration, therefore, share the character and purpose of ...

Today's post is a slight excursus as we continue to reflect on John Shepherd's discussion of absolution in A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume I (1796). Having considered last week his emphasis on the precatory nature of the presbyter's ministry of absolution - that is, invoking God's forgiveness - before turning to see how Shepherd regards the administration of the Lord's Supper and Baptism as also sharing this precatory character, a footnote caught my attention: Unleavened bread, wafers, the elevation and adoration of the host, and the putting of it into the mouth of the communicant, all of them the offspring of transubstantiation, are not many years younger than their parent; and must all be ranked with the sacerdotal corruptions and superstitions, for which the thirteenth century is distinguished. The positive or indicative form of absolution was likewise the invention of this age. The footnote concerns how the Holy Communi...

He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel. Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true repentance ... The absolution at Morning and Evening Prayer declares the precatory nature of absolution: the bishop or presbyter is praying that God's forgiveness would be known by the penitent. As we continue with readings from John Shepherd's discussion of absolution in A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume I (1796), we see how he points to patristic sources as confirming the precatory nature of absolution: the Absolution was not the act of the priest but of God. In the writings of the Fathers and the decrees of councils, to the efficacy of the prayers and intercessions of the priest, is the remission of sin often ascribed. The Prayer Book form of absolution at Morning and Evening Prayer, and at the Holy Communion, are therefore profoundly and deeply patristic: "The priests," says Chrysosto...

In his discussion of absolution in A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume I (1796), John Shepherd accepts that ordained ministers have "powers to absolve judicially" in matters of ecclesiastical discipline. This, however, is only so in matters of discipline. Outside of this, absolution is "ministerial" and thus declaratory.  As seen in previous posts in this series, Shepherd has pointed to the administration of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper as acts of ministerial absolution. Now he turns to another means of ministerial absolution, what he terms "the Absolution of Word and Doctrine": [this] appears to be that which constitutes the most material part of the ministry of reconciliation, committed by Christ to his ambassadors on earth. (2 Cor. v. 18, 19.) The exercise of this Absolution consists in publishing the terms and conditions, on which remission of sins, reconciliation to God, and everlasting sal...

Continuing with his account of the doctrine of Absolution in A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume I (1796), John Shepherd turns to the Holy Communion: The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was likewise an absolution, and was called το τελειον, the perfection of a Christian. To all who had never fallen into the greater sins, which required public penance, it was a general absolution. It was likewise an absolution from the penalties of excommunication. To faithfully partake of the Lord's Supper is "a general absolution". This, Shepherd notes, was a patristic understanding: To penitents at the point of death, it was, what the Latin fathers call viaticum, or provision for the passage from this life to the future. In case the sick penitent recovered, he was obliged to perform the rest of the prescribed penance: at least he was to receive the imposition of hands at the altar, which was accompanied with prayers for his absolution. But if he...

As he reviews the doctrine of Absolution in A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume I (1796), John Shepherd notes that "the ancient church" saw Absolution embodied in four practices: The dispensation of Absolution, as practised in the ancient church, is reducible to these four heads: 1. The Absolution of Baptism, and of the Supper of the Lord, or sacramental Absolution. 2. The Absolution of reconciliation to the church, and re-admission into its communion. 3. The Absolution of word and doctrine, or declaratory Absolution. 4. The Absolution of prayer, or precatory Absolution. These four heads shape his review, as he addresses each in turn. We begin, then, with the Sacrament of Baptism: The sacrament of baptism was esteemed by the Fathers the most universal Absolution. To adopt the words of antiquity, it was the grand, the divine indulgence in the Christian church. It was the Absolution, or remission of all those sins, which the party baptized...

In his review of Absolution in A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume I  (1796), John Shepherd declares the fundamental doctrinal position underpinning the practice of Absolution in the Prayer Book: The ancient teachers of Christianity, whether Priests or Prelates, arrogated to themselves, in the dispensation of Absolution, no power, which was not purely ministerial. Agreeably to the doctrine of Holy Scripture, the Fathers unanimously maintain, that "God alone can forgive sins."  By 'ministerial', Shepherd means that which is stated in the Absolution at Morning and Evening Prayer: and hath given power, and commandment, to his Ministers, to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins: He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel.  The forgiveness of sins is a fundamental work of the Godhead, as Shepherd sees reflected in patristic dis...

In recent years, laudable Practice has turned to the commentary of John Shepherd on the Book of Common Prayer. Beginning in March 2023 , we considered his  A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796). June 2024 commenced a series of posts - concluding in August 2025 - on the Holy Communion in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801). Today, at the beginning of June, the month when ordinations usually take place in Anglican churches, we return to the first volume and begin a series on Shepherd's review of Absolution in the theology and practice of the Prayer Book.  Shepherd opens his consideration of Absolution in the Prayer Book by stating his intention to place it in the context of "the primitive Church": Without stating in detail the disputes that have existed between Christians of different denominations, and which have oftentimes terminated in contrary extrem...