laudable Practice

As Michaelmas approaches, words from Calvin's commentary on Psalm 91:11-12 , demonstrating how a lively understanding of the ministry of the angels was present in Reformed thought (as also seen in the writings of Bullinger ): The Psalmist adds, "all your ways" in the plural number, to convey to us more distinctly that wherever we go we may expect that the angels shall always extend their guardianship to us. The course of our life is subject to many windings and changes, and who can tell all the storms by which we are liable to be tossed? It was necessary, therefore, to know that the angels preside over all our particular actions and purposes, and thus to be assured of their safe-conduct in whatever quarter we might be called to move ... "They shall bear thee upon their hands." He gives us a still higher idea of the guardianship of the angels, informing us, that they not only watch lest any evil should befall us, and are on the alert to extend assistance, but bea...

Last week we considered John Shepherd's reflections on The Grace in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796). While The Grace does, of course, conclude Morning and Evening Prayer, we have not yet quite finished with Shepherd's commentary. He turns to the 18th century practice of metrical psalms being sung in parish churches after the conclusion of Matins: In our church it is customary to sing a few stanzas of one of the two authorized translations of the psalms, after the Morning Prayer and Litany are ended, and again, before the Sermon. In these instances, the introduction of psalmody is proper, and in some degree, even necessary. Without something of this kind, the transition from the Litany to the office of the Holy Communion; and from the Nicene Creed to the Sermon, might appear too sudden and abrupt. Evidence of this practice is found in older editions of the Book of Common Prayer. For example, my copy sma...

During each week of Lent, laudable Practice will present words from Jeremy Taylor reflecting on fundamental practices shared by the Christian traditions. Today, praying the Psalter. Here Taylor offers a deeply patristic and beautifully Christological account of what it means to pray the Psalms, particularly appropriate for Lent as we prepare to enter into the mystery of the Passion and Resurrection: But that which pleases me most is the fancy of S. Hilary, expounding the Psalter to be meant by the Key of David, spoken of by S. John in his Revelation: And properly enough; for if we consider how many mysteries of Religion are open'd to us in the Psalter, how many things concerning Christ, what clear vaticinations concerning his Birth, his Priesthood, his Kingdome, his Death, the very circumstances of his Passion, his Resurrection, and all the degrees of his Exaltation-more clearly and explicitely recorded in the Psalter, then in all the old Prophets besides, we may easily beleeve th...

Continuing with extracts from John Shepherd's A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), Shepherd here refers to the Psalms as the "Eucharistic" part of Matins and Evensong. It is a description which powerfully communicates the significance of the Psalter in the daily office, both in terms of the sacrifice of praise and - while admittedly not explicitly mentioned by Shepherd - the quality of anamnesis found in many psalms.  Note, too, how Shepherd, following Basil, points to the practice of the corporate saying of the Psalter and the different character this gives to the psalms as scripture in the daily office. The Daily Service of the church of England may be considered as composed of four parts; of which the Eucharistic, or that which consists of praise and thanksgiving, occupies the second place. The reason of this distribution is, that we are not properly qualified to praise God, till we have obtained remi...

In his discussion of the Psalter in  A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), John Shepherd identifies five characteristics  of what he terms "the present simple order" of the use of the Psalter in Georgian Church of England. Firstly, the use of the 30 day Psalter ensured a manageable number of psalms were appointed for Morning and Evening Prayer, while also following the ancient Christian practice of regularly praying the Psalter: In this regulation the church of England displays her usual piety and judgment. With us the Psalms are recited much oftener than any other part of Scripture, and thus far our established practice corresponds with the usage of the ancient church. At the same time, that all the Psalms may be read in course, and that our Morning and Evening Prayer may not tire or disgust by its prolixity, we assign, for this purpose, the term of thirty days. Secondly, the psalms at Morning and Evening Pra...

In the preface to his The Psalter of David (1647), Jeremy Taylor provided a beautiful account of how praying the psalter could renew a bitterly divided Christendom in "the Communion of charity". Written amidst the violent confessional conflicts that marked the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in these Islands and as the viciously bloody Thirty Years War drew to a close, Taylor urged Christians to see in their shared praying of the psalms a means for "the advancement of an universall Communion".  Taylor's words continue to resonate, emphasising the significance of Christians across ecclesial traditions praying and reciting the psalter. It suggests that, as Anglican Christians, we can be closest, in "the Communion of charity", to our brothers and sisters across the Christian traditions - Gaelic-speaking Reformed congregations in the Western Isles of Scotland, ancient Benedictine monastic communities in the heart of Europe, Ethiopian Orthodox praying in church...