Priesthood and Sacrifice in the Book of Common Prayer

I recently encountered this letter written by a Priest of the Episcopal Church in 1874 who subsequently joined the Reformed Episcopal Church in opposition to the growing influence of the Catholic Revival. His perceptions are, I think, quite fascinating. They certainly express the general theological consensus concerning the Prayer Book doctrines of Priesthood and Eucharist which have since obtained in the Anglican Communion:

'Again, there are expressions in the Prayer-book which give countenance, at least, to the notion of a Priesthood in the Christian Church, and of a sacrifice in the Lord's Supper.
First of all, it constantly applies to the ministers of the Church the name Priests.

Then, in the service for ordaining them, the Bishop uses this language; 'Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a Priest in the Church of God, now committed to thee by the imposition of our hands. Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained.' (There is here an alternate form allowed, but a majority of the Bishops use the form I have given.)

Then, in the stated services of the Church there is a 'Declaration of absolution or remission of sins, to be made by the Priest alone, standing: the people kneeling.'
And then, in the service for the 'institution of ministers into Parishes or Churches' (a service adopted by the General Convention of the Church, and now found, whether rightly or not, in every Prayer-book), the table used for the administration of the Lord's Supper is spoken of as an 'altar,' the minister's relation to the people of his charge is described as a 'sacerdotal connection between him and them,' and he is invested with power 'to perform every act of sacerdotal function among them.'

I know that the word Priest is said to be a contraction in the Prayer-book for Presbyter. But Priest is a plain English word, and has a plain English meaning. It means one who has verily a 'sacerdotal function to perform,' an expiatory sacrifice to make, and the real blood of some slain victim to offer unto God. The word is never used by any English speaking people, or in any English book, except the Prayer-book, in any other sense.
Can we be surprised, then, when the Prayer-book calls the ministers of the Protestant Episcopal Church Priests, and uses such language in regard to their office, that many of them come to look upon themselves, and their people to look upon them, as really priests, and their office as a priestly office, and the Lord's Supper as a sacrifice, and the Lord's body and blood as in some form offered in that sacrifice? Or can we wonder when such language is used in the Prayer-book, in investing the ministers of the church with the office of Priest, that the doctrine and practice of priestly confession and absolution should claim a rightful place in the Church?'

-From the letter of the Rev. James A. Latané, Rector of St. Matthew's Church, Wheeling, West Virginia To Bishop Johns, Resigning the Ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church.1874.