'At the offering of the bread and wine': interpreting the rubric regarding the bread and wine at the offertory
And when there is a Communion, the Priest shall then place upon the Table so much Bread and Wine as he shall think sufficient. This rubric in the 1662 Holy Communion is not to be found in the 1559 rite. Last week, we saw how John Shepherd - in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801) - rightly emphasised the significance of the offering of alms in the 1662 Holy Communion. This, however, does not end the offertory. The above rubric, Shepherd states, indicates that the bread and wine are also a part of the offertory: This Rubric was added at the last review in 1661, and at the same time was inserted in the prayer following, an expression adapted to the particular action here enjoined, the words and oblations, being intended, as I conceive, more immediately to refer to the bread and wine, and the new order about placing them upon the table. In the ancient Church this act was performed with great solemnity, and though there be something ...