origin seems to be indicated; and he gives the following hymns nt Lauds on Easter Day as an example [Princip. of Div. Serv., i. 142]: "Thou, O Lord, that didst endure the cross, and didst abolish death, and didst rise again from the dead, give peace in our life, as only Almighty." "Thou, O Christ, Who didst raise man by Thy resurrection, vouchsafe that we may with pure hearts hymn and glorify Thee." Although the variable Exaposteilaria in actual use are attributed to a ritualist of the tenth century, Archdeacon Freeman considers that they represent a much older system of precatory hymns, and quotes from Dr. Neale, that the aim of them "seems originally to have been a kind of invocation of the grace of God," which is a special feature of Collects. It is not quite correct, therefore, to say that such a form of prayer is wholly unknown in the Eastern Church; and this argument against the primitive antiquity of it cannot be considered to have much force. There are two, and only two, prayers of the Church given in the New Testament. Both of these are in the Acts of the Apostles, and both of them have a striking similarity to the prayers we now know as Collects. The first is in Acts i. 24, 25, "Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two Thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place." The second is in Acts iv. 21,"Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ. For of a truth against Thy holy Child Jesus, Whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings and grant unto Thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak Thy word, by stretching forth Thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of Thy holy Child Jesus." In both of these prayers, the address, or invocation, is a prominent feature; and in the latter it occupies more than two-thirds of the whole prayer; while the actual supplication itself, though in both cases of the highest importance possible, is condensed into a few simple words. These Apostolic prayers, therefore, bear a great resemblance to Collects, and might not unreasonably be spoken of as the earliest on record. But the real model of this form of prayer is to be found in a still higher quarter, the Lord's Prayer itself. If we compare some of the best of our ancient or modern collects (as, for instance, the Collect for Whitsunday, which has been familiarly known to the Church in her daily Service for at least twelve centuries and a half, or that for the Sunday after Ascension, which is partly of Reformation date) with the Prayer of Prayers, we shall find in both that the tone is chiefly that of adoration, and subordinately that of supplication; and, also, that the human prayer follows the Divine pattern in the adoption of a condensed form of expression, which is in strict accordance with the injunction, "God is in heaven, and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be few." Such a comparison will bring home a conviction to the mind, that when we use this terse form of mixed adoration and prayer, we are not far from carrying out, with literal exactness, the still more authoritative injunction of Him who gave us His own prayer as the type of all others, "After this manner, therefore, pray ye." The origin of the name "Collect" is uncertain; and various meanings have been given to it. Some ritualists have connected It is an ancient rule of the Church to have an uneven number of Colleets. Micrologus [iv.] says that either one, three, five, or seven are used: one from tradition; three, because our Lord prayed thrice in His agony; five, because of His fivefold Passion; seven, because there are seven pctitions in the Lord's Prayer. it with the collected assembly of the people; others have interpreted the name as indicating that the prayer so called collects together the topics of previous prayers, or else those of the Epistle and Gospel for the day. But the most reasonable interpretation seems to be that which distinguishes the Collect as the prayer offered by the priest alone on behalf of the people, while in Litanies and Versicles, the priest and the people pray alternately. This interpretation is found in Bona, Rer. Liturg., ii. 5. iii., Durand. iii. 13, and Micrologus, iii.; the words of the latter being, "Oratio quam Collectam dicunt, eo quod sacerdos, qui legatione fungitur pro populo ad Dominum omnium petitiones ea oratione colligit atque concludit." As of Common Prayer, in general, so we may conclude especially of the Collect, in particular, that it is the supplication of many gathered into one by the voice of the priest, and offered up by him to the Father, through our Lord and only Mediator 3. There is a very exact and definite character in the structure of Collects; so exact, that certain rules have been deduced from these prayers of the Saints for the construction of others, as rules of grammar are deduced from classic writers. First, may be mentioned the characteristics which distinguish this special form of prayer, and which have been loosely mentioned above: 1. A Collect consists of a single period, seldom a long oue. 2. A single petition only is offered in it. 3. Mention is made of our Lord's Mediation; or else 4. It ends with an ascription of praise to God. These features of the Collect at once distinguish it from the long and often involved forms of Eastern prayers, and also from the precatory meditations which became so familiar to English people in the seventeenth century; and the chastened yet comprehensive character of Collects is owing, in no small degree, to the necessities imposed upon the writers of them by this structure. This general outline of the Collect developes itself in detail on a plan of which the most perfect form may be represented by two of our finest specimens, the one as old as the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, in the sixth century, the other composed by Bishop Cosin, more than a thousand years later. 3. ii. The Holy Communion was once known by the name Collecta. Bona, I. 3 So in the old "Mirrour," or commentary on the Divine Offices, the explauation of the word is given thus: "Yt is as moche as to saye a gatherynge to yther, for before thys prayer ye dresse you to god, and gather you in onhed to pray in the person of holy chirche, that ye sholde be the soner harde." And with respect to the ending the explanation is very properly given: "Ye ende all youre orysons by oure lorde Jesu cryste, and in hys blyssed name, by cause he sayde in his gospel, that what euer ye aske the father in my name, he shall gyue yt you." fol. lxxiii. ... some fact of Gospel history, which is to be commemorated. Upon this foundation so laid down, rises the petition or body of the prayer. Then, in a perfect specimen.. the petition has the wings of a holy aspiration given to it, whereupon it may soar to heaven. Then follows the conclusion, which, in the case of prayers not addressed to the Mediator, is always through the Mediator, and which sometimes involves a Doxology, or ascription of praise." This last member of the Collect has, indeed, always been constructed with great care, and according to rules which were put into the form of memorial verses, at a period when it was the custom to write the Collect in a short form, and only to indicate the ending by "per," Qui vivis," "per eundem," or whatever else were its first word or words. One of these aids to memory is as follows: Per Dominum,' dicas si Patrem Presbyter oras. Si memores Flamen; Ejusdem,' dic prope finem 2." Illustrations of these endings will be found in the Collects for the Epiphany, the Nativity, Easter Day, and Whitsunday. The number of the variable Collects in the Book of Common Prayer is eighty-three. These are all traced to their original sources, so far as they have been discovered, in the following pages; and it will be observed, that fifty-nine out of the eightythree have come to us through the Sarum Missal, from the ancient Sacramentaries; all but one of that number being contained in the Sacramentary of St. Gregory. Of the remaining twenty-four, the germ and spirit, and often the language, may be found in ancient Liturgical forms; and the sixteen of the twenty-four, of which no such origin is indicated in the following pages, will perhaps be discovered, by future research, to be either translations or adaptations. Only one new Collect, that for St. Andrew's Day, was inserted in 1552; and only four in 1661. The latter are written in the margin of Bishop Cosin's Durham Book, in his handwriting. That for St. Stephen's Day he adapted from one (in the Scottish Prayer Book) which is attributed to Archbishop Laud, while those for the Third Sunday in Advent, the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany, and Easter Even, are either composed by himself, or derived from some ancient originals which have not been identified. The primary use of the Collect is to give a distinctive tone to the Eucharistic Service, striking the key-note of prayer for the particular occasion on which the Sacrifice is offered. But by the constant use of it in its appointed place in the Daily Mattins and Evensong, it also extends this Eucharistic speciality into the other public Services of the Church, and carries it forward from one celebration to another, linking these offices on to the chief Service and Offering which the Church has to render to Almighty God. "Used after such celebration, the Collect is endued with a wonderful power for carrying on through the week the peculiar Eucharistic memories and work of the preceding Sunday, or of a Festival. Under whatsoever engaging or aweing aspect our Lord has more especially come to us then in virtue of the appointed Scriptures, the gracious and healthful visitation lives on in memory, nay, is prolonged in fact. Or in whatever special respect, again, suggested by these same Scriptures, and embodied for us in the Collect, we have desired to present ourselves 'a 1 Goulburn on the Communion Office, p. 37. 2 A much longer form may be found at p. 73 of Chambers' Sarum Psalter, with an elaborate note on the subject. The following rules may prove sufficient for practical purposes at the present day : 1) Collects addressed to God the Father should end:-"Through Jesus Christ our Lord [or if our Lord has been previously mentioned:-Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord'], Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the [or if the Holy Ghost has been previously mentioned:-'The same'] Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen." 2) Collects addressed to God the Son should end:-"Who livest and reignest with the Father and the [or the same '] Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen." 3) Collects addressed to the Blessed Trinity should end :-" Who livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen." Some other variations, as "Where with Thee," after the mention of Heaven, will suggest themselves. holy and lively sacrifice' in that high ordinance, the same oblation of ourselves do we carry on and perpetuate by it. Through the Collect, in a word, we lay continually upon the altar our present sacrifice and service, and receive, in a manner, from the altar, a continuation of the heavenly gift 3." Thus it is a constant memorial before God of the great Memorial which joins on the work of the Church on earth to the intercession of our Mediator in heaven; and it is also a memorial to the mind of every worshipper of the sanctification which is brought upon all our days and all our prayers by the Sacramental Presence of our Blessed Lord. [See also p. 24.] § The Epistles and Gospels. The Holy Communion was celebrated and received by the faithful for nearly twenty years before St. Paul wrote his first Epistle, and for nearly thirty years before the first Gospel was written by St. Matthew; and none of the Gospels or Epistles are likely to have been generally known in the Church until even a much later time. The Scriptures of the New Testament did not, therefore, form any part of the original Liturgies. It has been supposed by many ritualists, that portions of the Old Testament were read at the time of the celebration: and the gradual introduction of our present system is indicated by the usage shown in an Irish Communion Book of the sixth century, which has one unvarying Epistle and Gospel, 1 Cor. xi., and St. John vi. This system is attributed to St. Jerome by the almost unanimous voice of ancient writers on the Divine Service of the Church; and a very ancient Book of Epistles and Gospels exists, called the Comes, which has gone by the name of St. Jerome at least since the time of Amalarius and Micrologus, in the ninth and eleventh centuries. The antiquity of the Comes Hieronymi has been disputed, chiefly because the system of Epistles and Gospels which it contains differs from that of the Roman rite; but there seen to be several good reasons for supposing that it really belongs to as early a time as that of St. Jerome; and as its system agrees with the old and modern English one, where it differs from the Roman, the question has a special interest in connexion with the Book of Common Prayer. This ancient Lectionary, or Comes, was published by Pamelius in the second volume of his Liturgicon Ecclesiæ Latinæ, under the title, Divi Hieronymi presbyteri Comes sive Lectionarius : and is also to be found in the eleventh volume of St. Jerome's Works, p. 526. It contains Epistles and Gospels for all the Sundays of the year, the Festivals of our Lord, some other Festivals, and many Ferial days. It is some evidence in favour of its great antiquity that no saints are commemorated in it of a later date than the time of St. Jerome: and that the Epiphany is called by the name of the Theophania, a name which was discontinued not long after in the Western Church. The Comes is mentioned in the Charta Cornutiana, a foundation deed belonging to a Church in France, and printed by Mabillon [Lit. Gall. Pref. vii.], and this charter is as early as A.D. 471. It is mentioned by Amalarius [iii. 40], who wrote A.D. 820; and in Micrologus [xxv.], a liturgical treatise of about A.D. 1080, it is spoken of as "Liber Comitis sive Lectionarius, quem Sanctus Hieronymus compaginavit:" while about the same time Beleth writes that Pope Damasus requested St. Jerome to make a selection of Scriptures from the Old and New Testament to be read in the Church. The latter statement derives confirmation from the fact, that before the time of Damasus [A.D. 366-381] the Fathers cite Scripture without giving any indications of such a selection being in use: while after that time there are such indications in the writings of SS. Ambrose, Augustine, Leo, Salvian, and Cæsarius; the three latter of whom were accustomed to use St. Jerome's version of the Scriptures, and not the Septuagint. All this seems to show that there is much to be said for the ancient statement, that Principles of Div. Serv. i. 369. 4 On the other hand, there are those who believe that many expressions in the New Testament Scriptures are derived from Liturgies known to and used by the Apostles. See an Essay on Liturgical quotations in Neale's Liturgiology, pp. 411-474, St. Jerome first arranged the Epistles and Gospels, and that his arrangement is extant in this Lectionary. In the Comes there are Scriptures for twenty-five Sundays after the Octave of Pentecost, as in our Prayer Book and in the ancient Salisbury Use (though in both the latter they are num. bered as after Trinity), but the Roman rite has them only as far as the twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost. The Epistles and Gospels for these twenty-five Sundays and those for Advent exactly agree with the ancient and modern English, which (as will be seen in the tables annexed to every Sunday in the following pages) are quite different in arrangement from the Roman. The Comes also contains Epistles and Gospels for Wednesdays and Fridays in Epiphany, Easter, and Trinity seasons, which were in the Salisbury Missal, but are not in the Roman. It has also five Sundays before Christmas (that is, in Advent), instead of four, a peculiarity of notation which indicates very early origin, and which is reproduced in the "Sunday next before Advent" and four Sundays in Advent, of the English Use. These parallel peculiarities between the Comes and the English arrangement, differing as they do from the Roman, form a strong proof that our Eucharistic system of Scriptures had an origin quite independent of the Roman Liturgy; or, at least, that it belongs to a system which is much older than that now in use in the latter. It may be remarked, in conclusion, (and perhaps this is the most important fact in connexion with this diversity,) that the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for Trinity Season are all in harmony in the English Missal, while that harmony is entirely dislocated in the Roman. The principle on which portions of Holy Scripture are selected for the Epistles and Gospels is that of illustrating the two great divisions of the Christian year, from Advent to Trinity, and from Trinity to Advent. In the one, and more emphatic division, our Blessed Lord is set before us in a life-like diorama of Gospels, which tell us about Him and His work, not as in a past history, but with that present force, wherewith the events of His life and suffering are pleaded in the Litany. In nothing is the graphic action of the Church (sometimes very truly called 'histriouic') shown more strongly, than in the way by which the Gospels of the season are made the means of our living over again, year by year, the time of the Incarnation, from Bethlehem to Bethany; while in the long-drawn season of Trinity, we see the Church's continuance by the power of the Pentecostal outpouring in the true faith of the Blessed Trinity, and in the faithful following of her Master and Head through a long probationary career. The special bearing of each Gospel and Epistle on the day for which it is appointed will be shown in the Notes that follow. It is sufficient here to say, in conclusion, that the existing arrangement of them appears to be founded on some more ancient system of consecutive reading similar to that in use for our daily Lessons, a system still followed out in the East: that the Epistles have continued to be used in a consecutive order, but that the Gospels have been chosen with the special object of illustrating the season; or, where there is nothing particular to illustrate, of harmonizing with their respective Epistles. Whatever changes were made at the Reformation may be seen by the tabular arrangement under cach Collect. In 1661 the only changes made were in the Gospels for the Holy Week, some of which were shortened by Bishop Cosin; in the insertion of those for a Sixth Sunday after Epiphany; and in printing all Gospels and Epistles from the Authorized Version of 1611, instead of from that of 1540. [The Introits printed at the end of the Notes for each Sunday and other Festivals, are translated from the Salisbury Missal, the more familiar name of Introit having been substituted for that of "Officium," by which they are there designated. The Salis. bury rubric directs them to be used in the following manner :Officium missæ usque ad orationem prosequatur sacerdos : vel usque ad Gloria in excelsis: quando dicitur. Et post officium et psalmum repetatur officium: et postea dicitur Gloria patri et Sicut erat. Tertio repetatur officium: sequatur Kyrie." Some of these Introits are selected with a striking appropriateness to the days for which they are appointed, and show a deep appreciation of the prophetic sense of Holy Scripture. The Hymns are also those of the Salisbury Use, which, as is well known, it was the intention of Cranmer and his coadjutors to have translated into English with the Prayer Book. Most of the Hymns are to be found in the original Latin in "Hymni Ecclesiæ," published in 1865 by Macmillan. The references appended to each are to translations contained in the following well-known Hymn-books : H. N. The Hymnal Noted. Where there is a double reference under these initials, it is (1) to the "Hymnal Noted" in two volumes, with the music; and (2) to the "Words of the Hymnal Noted." H. A. M. Hymns Ancient and Modern. The "Congregational Hymn and Tune Book," edited A. A. The " Appendix to the Hymnal Noted" used at St. Alban's Church, Holborn. ADVENT. From the first institution of the great Festivals of the Church each of them occupied a central position in a series of days; partly for the greater honour of the Festival itself, and partly for the sake of Christian discipline. Thus Christmas is preceded by the Sundays and Season of Advent, and followed by twelve days of continued Christian joy which end with Epiphany. Under its present name the season of Advent is not to be traced further back than the seventh century: but Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for five Sundays before the Nativity of our Lord, and for the Wednesdays and Fridays also, are to be found in the ancient Sacramentaries, and in the Comes of St. Jerome. These offer good evidence that the observance of the season was introduced into the Church at the same time with the observance of Christmas: yet there is not, properly speaking, any season of Advent in the Eastern Church, which has always carefully preserved ancient customs intact; though it observes a Lent before Christmas as well as before Easter. Durandus (a laborious and painstaking writer, always to be respected, though not to be implicitly relied upon) writes that St. Peter instituted three whole weeks to be observed as a special season before Christmas, and so much of the fourth as extended to the Vigil of Christmas, which is not part of Advent. [Durand. vi. 2.] This was probably a very ancient opinion, but the earliest extant historical evidence respecting Advent is that mentioned above, as contained in the Lectionary of St. Jerome. Next come two homilies of Maximus, Bishop of Turin, A.D. 450, which are headed De Adventu Domini. In the following century are two other Sermons of Cæsarius, Bishop of Arles [501–542], (formerly attributed to St. Augustine, and printed among his works,) and in these there are full details respecting the season and its observance. In the latter part of the same century St. Gregory of Tours writes, that Perpetuus, one of his predecessors, had ordered the observance of three days as fasts in every week, from the Feast of St. Martin to that of Christmas; and this direction was enforced on the Clergy of France by the Council of Maçon, held A.D. 581. In the Ambrosian and Mozarabic liturgies Advent Season commences at the same time: and it has also been sometimes known by the name Quadragesima Sancti Martini: from which it seems probable that the Western Churches of Europe originally kept six Advent Sundays, as the Eastern still keeps a forty days' Fast, beginning on the same day. But the English Church, since the Conquest, at least, has observed four only, although the title of the Sunday preceding the first seems to offer an indication of a fifth in more ancient days. The rule by which Advent is determined defines the first Sunday as that which comes nearest, whether before or after, to St. Andrew's Day; which is equivalent to saying that it is the first Sunday after November 26th. December 3rd is consequently the latest day on which it can occur. In the Latin and English Churches the Christian year commences with the First Sunday in Advent. Such, at least, has been the arrangement of the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for many centuries, although the ancient Sacramentaries began the year with Christmas Day, and although the Prayer Book (until the change of style in 1752) contained an express "Note, that the Supputation of the year of our Lord in the Church of England beginneth the Five and Twentieth day of March." By either reckoning it is intended to number the times and seasons of the Church by the Incarnation: and while the computation from the Annunciation is more correct from a theological and a chronological point of view, that from Advent and Christmas fits in far better with the vivid system of the Church by which she represents to us the life of our Lord year by year. Beginning the year with the Annunciation, we should be reminded by the new birth of Nature of the regeneration of Human Nature: beginning it with Advent and Christmas, we have a more keen reminder of that humiliation of God the Son, by which the new birth of the world was accomplished. And as we number our years, not by the age of the world, nor by the time during which any earthly sovereignty has lasted, but by the age of the Christian Church and the time during which the Kingdom of Christ has been established upon earth, calling each "the Year of our Lord," or "the Year of Grace:" so we begin every year with the season when grace first came by our Lord and King, through His Advent in the humility of His Incarnation. In very ancient times the season of Advent was observed as one of special prayer and discipline. As already stated, the Council of Maçon in its ninth Canon directs the general observance by the Clergy of the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday fast-days, of which traces are found at an earlier period: and the Capitulars of Charlemagne also speak of a forty days' fast before Christmas. The strict Lenten observance of the season was not, however, general. Amalarius, writing in the ninth century, speaks of it as being kept in that way only by the religious, that is, by those who had adopted an ascetic life in monasteries, or elsewhere: and the principle generally carried out appears to have been that of multiplying solemn services', and of adopting a greater reserve in the use of lawful indulgences. Such an observance of the season still commends itself to us as one that will form a fitting prefix to the joyous time of Christmas: and one that will also Our own Church had special Epistles and Gospels for the Wednesdays and Fridays in Advent, until the Reformation. be consistent with that contemplation of our Lord's Second Advent which it is impossible to dissociate from thoughts of His First. In the system of the Church the Advent Season is to the Christmas Season what St. John the Baptist was to the First, and the Christian Ministry is to the Second, Coming of our Lord. § The First Sunday in Advent. The four Sundays in Advent set forth, by the Holy Scriptures appointed for them, the Majesty of our Lord's Person and Kingdom. Christmas is to represent before us the lowliness to which the Eternal God condescended to stoop in becoming Man: and we begin on that day the detailed observance of each great Act in the mystery of the Incarnation. Before coming to Bethlehem and seeing the Holy Child in the manger, we are bidden to look on the glory which belongs to Him; and, ere we look upon the Babe of the humble Virgin, to prepare our hearts and minds for the sight by dwelling on the key-note which sounds in our ears through Advent, “Behold, thy King cometh :” a meek and lowly Babe, but yet Divine. 66 In this spirit the old Introit for the First Sunday was chosen, Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes: O my God, I have put my trust in Thee...." though not without reference also to the humble dependence upon His Father with which the Son of God took human nature, and all its woes, upon Him. Lifting up our eyes to the Holy Child, we behold Him from afar, and "knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep," we hear the cry, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh" to His Church in a first Advent of Humiliation and Grace, and a second Advent of Glory and Judgment. For each Advent the Church has one song of welcome, "Hosanna to the Son of David: blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord, Hosanna in the Highest; Even so come, Lord Jesus." The Christian year opens, then, on this Sunday with a direct re-presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ to us in His Human Nature, as well as His Divine Nature, to be the Object of our Adoration. We cannot do otherwise than love the Babe of Bethlehem, the Child of the Temple, the Son of the Virgin, the Companion of the Apostles, the Healer of the Sick, the Friend of Bethany, the Man of Sorrows, the Dying Crucified One: but we must adore as well as love; and recognize in all these the triumphant King of Glory who reigns over the earthly Sion, and over the heavenly Jerusalem. No contemplation of the Humility of the Son of Man must divert our eyes from the contemplation of His Infinite Majesty of Whom the Father saith when He bringeth in the First-Begotten into the world, "Let all the angels of God worship Him." INTROIT.-Unto Thee, O Lord, will I lift up my soul; my God, I have put my trust in Thee: O let me not be confounded, neither let mine enemies triumph over me. Ps. Show me Thy ways, O Lord, and teach me Thy paths. Glory be. |