A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

COLLECTS FOR THE DAY. Our Church, endeavouring to preserve not only the spirit, but the very forms, as much as may be, and in a known tongue, of ancient primitive devotion, has retained the same collects.

For the object, they are directed to God, in the name of “Jesus Christ our Lord;” a few are directed to Christ; and in the Litany some supplications to the Holy Ghost, besides that precatory hymn of “Veni Creator,” in the book of Ordination. Some collects, especially for great festivals, conclude with this acknowledgment,—that Christ, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, “liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end.” This seems to be done to testify what the Scripture warrants, that although, for more congruity, we in the general course of our prayers go to the Father by the Son, yet that we may also invocate both the Son and the Holy Ghost; and that while we call upon one, we equally worship and glorify all three together.

For their form and proportion, as they are not one long-continued prayer, but divers short ones, they have many advantages; the practice of the Jews of old, in whose prescribed devotions we find a certain number of several prayers or collects, to be said together; the example of our Lord in prescribing a short form; and the judgment and practice of the ancient Christians in their liturgies. St. Chrysostom, among others, commends highly, short and frequent prayers with little distances between. And they are most convenient for keeping away coldness, distraction, and illusions from our devotion; for what we said in praise of short ejaculations, is true also concerning collects; and that not only in respect of the minister, but the people also, whose minds and affections become hereby more erect, close, and earnest, by the oftener breathing out their hearty concurrence, and saying all of them “Amen” together, at the end of each collect. The matter of them is most excellent. It consists usually of two parts; an humble acknowledgment of the adorable perfection and goodness of God, and a congruous petition for some benefit from him. The first is seen not only in the collects for special festivals or benefits, but in those also that are more general; for even in such what find we in the beginning of them, but some or other of these and the like acknowledgments?—That God is almighty, everlasting, full of goodness and pity; the strength, refuge, and protector of all that trust in him; without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy. That there is no continuing in safety without him; that such is our weakness and frailty, that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves, to do any good, or to stand upright, and therefore cannot but fall. That we put no trust in anything that we do, but lean only upon the help of his heavenly grace. That he is the author and giver of all good things; from whom it comes that we have an hearty desire to pray, or do him any true or laudable service. That he is always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we desire or deserve; having prepared for them that love him such good things as pass man’s understanding.—Sparrow.

That most of our collects are very ancient, appears by their conformity to the Epistles and Gospels, which were selected by St. Hierom, and put into the lectionary ascribed to him. Many believed he first framed them for the use of the Roman Church, in the time of Pope Damasus, above 1300 [now nearly 1500] years ago. Certain it is that Gelasius, who was bishop of Rome above 1200 years since, [A. D. 492–6,] did range those collects, which were then used, into order, and composed some new ones; and that office of his was again corrected by Pope Gregory the Great, A. D. 600, whose Sacramentary contains most of those collects which we now use.—Comber.

One of the principal reasons why our public devotions are, and should be, divided into short collects, is this,—our blessed Saviour hath told us, that whatsoever we ask the Father in his name he will give it us. It cannot then but be necessary that the name of Christ be frequently inserted in our prayers, that so we may lift up our hearts unto him, and rest our faith upon him, for the obtaining those good things we pray for. And therefore, whatsoever we ask of God, we presently add, “through Jesus Christ our Lord.”—Wheatly.

The petitions are not in one long prayer, but several short ones; which method is certainly as lawful as the other, and, we think, more expedient. It reminds us oftener of the attributes of God and merits of Christ, which are the ground of our asking in faith; and, by the frequency of saying “Amen,” it stirs up our attention and warms our devotions, which are too apt to languish.—Secker.

We may refer to Shepherd on the Common Prayer for a classified arrangement of the collects; (1.) which were retained from ancient liturgies at the Reformation; (2.) which were altered by the Reformers and reviewers; and (3.) which were composed anew. Those composed anew in 1549 are the collects for the 1st and 2nd Sunday in Advent, Christmas, the Epiphany, Quinquagesima, Ash-Wednesday, 1st Sunday in Lent, 1st and 2nd Sundays after Easter; St. Thomas’s day, St. Matthias’s, St. Mark’s, St. Barnabas’s, St. John Baptist’s, St. Peter’s, St. James’s, St. Matthew’s, St. Luke’s, St. Simon and St. Jude’s; All-Saints’. In 1552, St. Andrew’s. In 1662, 3rd Sunday in Advent; 6th Sunday after Epiphany; Easter Even. The prayers denominated collects in our liturgy are those of the day, and the 2nd and 3rd at Morning and Evening Prayer respectively; the Prayer for all Conditions of Men, which is called also a collect; the prayer preceding the ten commandments, the prayer for the sovereign in the Communion Service, and the six occasional collects following it; the prayer following the Lord’s Prayer in the Confirmation Service; the prayer preceding the psalm in the Visitation of the Sick, that in the Communion of the Sick, and the prayer preceding the blessing in the Burial of the Dead; three in the Ordering of Priests and Deacons respectively, and one in the Consecration of Bishops.

COLLEGE. A community. Hence we speak of an episcopal college, or college of bishops. It was an old maxim of Roman law, that by fewer than three persons a college could not be formed. Hence, as a bishop is to be consecrated not by a single bishop, but by a synod or college, at least three are required to be present at each consecration. Every corporation, in the civil law, is called a college, and so it has been applied in England, in some rare instances, irrespective of social combinations: and abroad it was very extensively applied to incorporated boards. But in England it generally implies a society of persons, living in a common habitation, and bound together by statutes which have respect to their daily life. The minor corporations of the universities, and those of Eton and Winchester, are specially so termed: and residences for the members, a chapel, hall, and library, are considered as essential features of the college. As it is unquestionable that our academical colleges were all instituted for the promotion of godliness, as well as of human knowledge, that they were intended to be handmaids of the Church, as their highest function, besides nurseries of good learning, they deserve special notice in a Church Dictionary. All cathedral and collegiate churches are colleges; and the word in this sense comprehends all the members of each establishment, whether inferior or superior. The buildings of some of our cathedrals containing the residence of the members, are still often popularly called “the college.” The word is also applied to those inferior corporations attached to the cathedrals of old foundation. (See Minor Canons and Vicars Choral.)

The colleges of our universities are each independent societies, having their own statutes, and property as strictly their own as that of any lay proprietor. Still they are connected with a greater corporation, which is called the university. It has been commonly thought, that these relations between minor and major academical corporations is an anomaly peculiar to England. The fact is otherwise. The most ancient universities, as Paris, Bologna, and Salamanca, had each several colleges, which bore an analogous relation to the university. (See University.)

COLLEGIATE CHURCHES. Churches with a body of canons and prebendaries, &c., and inferior members, with corporate privileges. The services and forms in these churches are, or ought to be, like those in cathedral churches. The number of collegiate churches has been much diminished since the Reformation; those at present existing in England, are Westminster, Windsor, Southwell, Wolverhampton, Middleham, and Brecon; and in Ireland, the collegiate church of Galway.