Exhortation in Anglican Morning and Evening Prayer

The Exhortation in Anglican Morning and Evening Prayer is the pastoral address beginning the penitential portion of the traditional Book of Common Prayer offices. In the 1662 prayer book it follows the opening sentences of Scripture and precedes the general confession, absolution, and the Lord's Prayer. Its function is to explain why the congregation confesses sin and to frame the Daily Office as common prayer offered before God. The exhortation is among the most recognizable prose passages of classical Anglicanism, not because it is a creed or collect, but because it gives a concise account of repentance, corporate worship, and the purposes of daily prayer.

Text and placement

In the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer begin with one or more biblical sentences appointed for penitence and reflection. The minister then says the exhortation, traditionally opening with the words "Dearly beloved brethren." The address calls the people to acknowledge and confess their sins before Almighty God, and especially to do so when assembled for public worship. It then describes several ends of the office: giving thanks, setting forth God's praise, hearing his holy Word, and asking for those things necessary for body and soul.

The exhortation leads directly into the General Confession, which is said by minister and people together. This order gives the confession an explained and communal setting. The minister is not merely announcing the next liturgical item, but inviting the congregation into a particular spiritual posture: humble, repentant, attentive, and expectant of divine mercy. In many Anglican provinces influenced by later prayer book revision, the wording has been shortened or made optional, but the same pattern often remains: scriptural sentence, invitation to confession, corporate confession, and absolution.

Theological meaning

The exhortation expresses a characteristic Anglican union of doctrine and liturgical practice. It assumes the reality of human sin, the need for repentance, and the mercy of God toward those who confess with a penitent heart. At the same time, it does not isolate confession from the wider purpose of worship. Prayer is presented as thanksgiving, praise, hearing Scripture, and petition. This breadth is important for the Anglican understanding of the Daily Office, which is not a private devotion simply transferred into public form, but the ordered prayer of the Church.

The address also reflects the Reformation concern that worship be intelligible to the people. Rather than placing confession in the service without explanation, the rite gives a plain account of why the congregation is about to confess. The words are pastoral and catechetical: they teach by directing the worshipper's action. In this respect the exhortation belongs with other prayer book texts that shape belief through repeated use, such as the Collect for Purity, the Prayer of Humble Access, and the General Thanksgiving.

Liturgical history and use

The penitential opening of Morning and Evening Prayer developed in the English prayer book tradition after the first Edwardian prayer book of 1549. The 1552 book placed a stronger penitential structure at the beginning of the offices, including scriptural sentences, exhortation, confession, and absolution. This arrangement was retained, with revisions, in later English prayer books and became standard in the 1662 text. The pattern influenced Anglican worship throughout the British Isles, the colonies, and later provinces of the Anglican Communion.

In parish use the exhortation has sometimes been omitted, shortened, or replaced by a brief invitation, especially where Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer are used frequently. Nevertheless, its language continues to represent the classical prayer book understanding of common prayer. It sets the gathered congregation before God as a penitent people, but also as a people called to praise, thanksgiving, Scripture, and petition. For this reason the exhortation remains a significant text for interpreting Anglican liturgy, even in communities that no longer recite it at every office.

References

• The Book of Common Prayer (1662), Orders for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer.
• F. Procter and W. H. Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, on the development of the daily offices.