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Psalm 13 (1928 BCP)

2026-10-20T21:37:24Z

SteveMacias: Revise Psalm 13 with verified 1928 Psalter text and Anglican commentary

'''Psalm 13 (1928 BCP)''' is a short prayer of desolation which turns, without denying the trouble, to trust and praise. In the [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]] it belongs to the [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)|Psalter]] and is therefore given to the Church as prayer, not simply as an account of a past crisis.

== Prayer Book Text ==
<blockquote>
HOW long wilt thou forget me, O LORD; for ever? * how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? 
2 How long shall I seek counsel in my soul, and be so vexed in my heart? * how long shall mine enemy triumph over me? 
3 Consider, and hear me, O LORD my God; * lighten mine eyes, that I sleep not in death; 
4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him: * for if I be cast down, they that trouble me will rejoice at it. 
5 But my trust is in thy mercy, * and my heart is joyful in thy salvation. 
6 I will sing of the LORD, because he hath dealt so lovingly with me; * yea, I will praise the Name of the Lord Most Highest.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer ... according to the use of The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America'' (1928), ''The Psalter'', Psalm 13, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Psalms 1–50]. The wording above was checked word for word against the local 1928 source, <code>sources/justus1928/Psalms1.htm</code>.</ref>

The repeated “How long?” makes lament an address to God. The speaker does not turn suffering into a theory or suppress it; he brings bewilderment, inward anguish, and the enemy's apparent advantage before “O LORD my God.” Then verses 3–4 ask for sight and preservation, while verses 5–6 answer that petition with mercy, salvation, song, and praise. The movement is from complaint to confidence, not from trouble to the claim that trouble never existed.

== In the Daily Office ==
The Prayer Book places the Psalter in the public speech of Morning and Evening Prayer. It directs that a portion of Psalms follows “according to the Use of this Church,” and it permits the ''Gloria Patri'' at the end of each psalm while requiring it (or the ''Gloria in excelsis'') at the end of the day's portion. Psalm 13 is thus prayed in a setting of doxology and with the whole worshipping body.

<blockquote>
Then shall follow a Portion of the Psalms, according to the Use of this Church. And at the end of every Psalm ... may be sung or said the Gloria Patri; and at the end of the whole portion or Selection of Psalms for the day, shall be sung or said the Gloria Patri, or else the Gloria in excelsis.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), ''The Order for Evening Prayer'', rubric following the Psalms, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/EP.htm Evening Prayer].</ref>

<blockquote>
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), ''The Order for Evening Prayer'', ''Gloria Patri'', [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/EP.htm Evening Prayer].</ref>

The doxology does not erase the psalmist's plea; it locates lament within the worship of the triune God. This is particularly fitting for Psalm 13: the person who asks that God not hide his face is still taught to give glory to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

== “Lighten mine eyes” ==
The petition is concrete: “lighten mine eyes, that I sleep not in death.” It asks God to make the praying person alert, living, and able to persevere, rather than giving spiritual self-confidence. Psalm 119 uses the same posture of dependence when it asks for opened eyes before it speaks of seeing God's law.

<blockquote>
Open thou mine eyes, that I may see the wondrous things of thy law.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments: Translated out of the Original Tongues; and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised'' (Authorized Version, 1611), Psalm 119:18, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20119%3A18&version=KJV Psalm 119:18].</ref>

Augustine reads the image of light morally and spiritually, while retaining the psalm's character as prayer. He says that “the eyes of the heart must be understood,” and that they must not be closed by “the pleasurable eclipse of sin.” This supplies a Christian interpretation of the plea without turning it into a denial of the psalm's own distress.

<blockquote>
The eyes of the heart must be understood, that they be not closed by the pleasurable eclipse of sin.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 13'', §4, in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), anonymous translation, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801013.htm New Advent transcription]. Augustine's internal biblical citations follow the Latin/Vulgate numbering (Psalm 12), corresponding to Psalm 13 in the 1928 Prayer Book.</ref>

== Mercy, salvation, and praise ==
The final two verses are not based on the psalmist's mastery of circumstances: “my trust is in thy mercy.” The sequence is important. Mercy is the ground of trust; salvation gives the heart joy; gratitude becomes song. This accords with the apostolic instruction that congregations teach and admonish one another in psalms as they sing to God.

<blockquote>
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments: Translated out of the Original Tongues; and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised'' (Authorized Version, 1611), Colossians 3:16, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%203%3A16&version=KJV Colossians 3:16].</ref>

Augustine identifies the salvation of verse 5 with Christ, but also safeguards the psalm's stress on mercy rather than self-congratulation.

<blockquote>
But I have hoped in Your mercy. Because this very thing, that a man be not moved, and that he abide fixed in the Lord, he should not attribute to self.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 13'', §6, in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), anonymous translation, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801013.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

J. M. Neale and R. F. Littledale likewise observe the psalm's decisive movement from mercy received to joy and praise. Their nineteenth-century Anglican synthesis is an interpretive witness, not a substitute for the Prayer Book text.

<blockquote>
the mercy that spared shall enlarge itself into the grace that crowns: “He which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it.” My heart is joyful in Thy salvation. The mercy that spared on Good Friday: the salvation that triumphed on Easter Day.
</blockquote>
<ref>J. M. Neale and R. F. Littledale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: from Primitive and Mediaeval Writers'', vol. 1 (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), p. 183, commentary on Psalm XIII, [https://archive.org/details/commentaryonpsal01nealuoft Internet Archive scan].</ref>

For use in worship or pastoral prayer, Psalm 13 therefore gives words for a situation in which faith is real but consolation is delayed. It does not command a false cheerfulness. It teaches the Christian to name the apparent absence of God, ask for enlivening light, rest in mercy, and make praise the answer of a heart receiving salvation.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)]]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Psalter]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Psalm 12 (1928 BCP)

2026-10-20T02:15:03Z

SteveMacias: Revise Psalm 12 with complete 1928 Psalter text and verified Anglican commentary

'''Psalm 12 (1928 BCP)''' is a prayer against deceitful speech and the oppression which it enables. In the [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]], it is appointed for Evening Prayer on the second day of the month, immediately after Psalm 11. Its movement is from a lament over flattering lips and proud claims to the Lord's promise to arise for the needy and the pure words on which the faithful rely.

== Text in the 1928 Psalter ==
The Latin opening in the 1928 Psalter is ''Salvum me fac''. The text below has been compared word for word with the local 1928 transcription at ''sources/justus1928/Psalms1.htm'', including its verse division, punctuation, and asterisks.

<blockquote>
HELP me, LORD, for there is not one godly man left; * for the faithful are minished from among the children of men. 
2 They talk of vanity every one with his neighbour; * they do but flatter with their lips, and dissemble in their double heart. 
3 The LORD shall root out all deceitful lips, * and the tongue that speaketh proud things; 
4 Which have said, With our tongue will we prevail; * we are they that ought to speak; who is lord over us?
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''The Psalter'', Psalm 12, “The Second Day,” Evening Prayer, p. 354; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

<blockquote>
5 Now, for the comfortless troubles' sake of the needy, * and because of the deep sighing of the poor, 
6 I will up, saith the LORD; * and will help every one from him that swelleth against him, and will set him at rest. 
7 The words of the LORD are pure words; * even as the silver which from the earth is tried, and purified seven times in the fire. 
8 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD; * thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. 
9 The ungodly walk on every side: * when they are exalted, the children of men are put to rebuke.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''The Psalter'', Psalm 12, “The Second Day,” Evening Prayer, p. 354; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Double speech and the needy ==
The psalm does not oppose speech to action. Flattery, a “double heart,” and the boast that no one is lord over the speaker are forms of social power: they leave the needy and poor to sigh. The Lord's answer in verses 5–6 is therefore an act of protection, not a compliment to the eloquent. The sequence also keeps the worshipper from treating the Psalm as a weapon for naming other people's dishonesty. The person praying it asks to be delivered from the same double-heartedness.

James makes the moral weight of speech explicit. His warning connects blessing God with the obligation not to curse people made in God's likeness.

<blockquote>
Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, James 3:9–10; [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%203%3A9-10&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

Read with James, Psalm 12 makes truthful speech a matter of worship and neighbor-love. It does not permit the congregation to meet falsehood with falsehood. Instead, it asks God to expose proud speech while forming a people whose mouths bless.

== Augustine on truth, poverty, and pure words ==
Augustine reads the plural “truths” in the Septuagint and Latin tradition as participation in the one truth which enlightens holy souls. That is a patristic theological interpretation, not a replacement for the Hebrew or for the Prayer Book's English wording; it clarifies why the loss of faithful speech is a spiritual as well as a public calamity.

<blockquote>
The truth is one, whereby holy souls are enlightened: but forasmuch as there are many souls, there may be said in them to be many truths: as in mirrors there are seen many reflections from one face.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 12'', §2, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888); [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801012.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

Augustine then links the Lord's rising for the poor with the Father's sending of the Son. The connection is interpretive and Christological, but it refuses to make the poor an abstraction: their “wretchedness” and sighing occasion the divine promise of help.

<blockquote>
But this must be taken as spoken in the person of God the Father, who, because of the needy and the poor, that is, who in need and poverty were lacking spiritual good things, vouchsafed to send His own Son.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 12'', §6, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888); [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801012.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

For Augustine, “pure” names the absence of pretence in God's words. This is a useful contrast with the Psalm's flattering lips: God does not manipulate the worshipper, and the Church is called to hear and speak the word without selling it for advantage.

<blockquote>
The words of the Lord are pure words. He says pure, without the alloy of pretence. For many preach the truth impurely; for they sell it for the bribe of the advantages of this life.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 12'', §7, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888); [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801012.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

== An Anglican historical reading ==
John Mason Neale and Richard Frederick Littledale's nineteenth-century Anglican commentary receives the Psalm through the older Latin tradition. Their comments on verse 8 distinguish the preservation of God's people from the faithfulness of God's own promise. Because their reading depends on a textual tradition different from the Prayer Book translation, it should be used as a theological witness, not as a correction of the 1928 text.

<blockquote>
Keep them: that is, not as the passage is generally taken, Keep or guard Thy people, but Thou shalt keep, or make good, Thy words: and by so doing, shalt preserve him—him, the needy, him, the poor—from this generation.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Mason Neale and Richard Frederick Littledale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 12, p. 177; digitized by the University of Toronto in the [https://archive.org/download/commentaryonpsal01nealuoft/commentaryonpsal01nealuoft.pdf Internet Archive edition].</ref>

This interpretation makes a fitting Anglican point without collapsing the Psalm's literal prayer into allegory: the vulnerable are not preserved by their own verbal mastery, but by the God whose word does what it promises. The Prayer Book's regular recitation gives that promise a corporate setting, so that those with power and those without it pray the same words under the Lord's judgment.

== Prayer in the Daily Office ==
Psalm 12 follows Psalm 11 at the second day's Evening Prayer. Psalm 11 confesses trust when the foundations appear shaken; Psalm 12 names the corrupt speech and the wounded neighbors that make such trust necessary. The Office therefore trains the Church neither to deny evil nor to answer it in kind. After psalmody, the Prayer Book directs the ancient doxology:

<blockquote>
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''The Order for Daily Evening Prayer'', doxology after the Psalms; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/EP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The doxology does not evade the Psalm's hard words about deceit and oppression. It places them within praise of the Triune God, whose pure word judges pride, hears the poor, and calls the Church to truthful prayer.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 11 (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 13 (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm The 1928 Psalter, Psalms 1–50, Society of Archbishop Justus]
* [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801012.htm Augustine, ''Exposition on Psalm 12'']
* [https://archive.org/download/commentaryonpsal01nealuoft/commentaryonpsal01nealuoft.pdf Neale and Littledale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms'', vol. 1]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Psalter]]
[[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Sermon XV: Upon the Ignorance of Man

2026-10-20T01:48:46Z

SteveMacias: Create rights-cleared Project Canterbury transcription of Joseph Butler's Rolls Chapel sermon

'''Sermon XV: Upon the Ignorance of Man'''

''Joseph Butler (1692–1752), from ''Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel'' (1827 edition).''

'''Source:''' [https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/15.html Project Canterbury]

'''Transcription:''' LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005

'''Rights:''' Transcribed by LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005.

== Original Text ==

Project Canterbury

Sermons

Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel

By Joseph Butler

Cambridge: Published by Hilliard and Brown; Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little, and Wilkins, 1827.

Transcribed by LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005.

Sermon XV. Upon the Ignorance of Man--Eccles. viii. 16, 17.

<blockquote>
When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth; then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun; because though a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea, further, though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

The writings of Solomon are very much taken up with reflections upon human nature, and human life; to which he hath added, in this book, reflections upon the constitution of things. And it is not improbable, that the little satisfaction, and the great difficulties he met in his researches into the general constitution of nature, might be the occasion of his confining himself, so much as he hath done, to life and conduct. However, upon that joint review he expresses great ignorance of the works of God, and the method of his providence in the government of the world; great labor and weariness in the search and observation he had employed himself about; and great disappointment, pain, and even vexation of mind, upon that which he had remarked of the appearances of things, and of what was going forward upon this earth. This whole review and inspection, and the result of it, sorrow, perplexity, a sense of his necessary ignorance, suggests various reflections to his mind. But, notwithstanding all this ignorance and dissatisfaction, there is somewhat, upon which he assuredly rests and depends; somewhat, which is the conclusion of the whole matter, and the only concern of man. Following this his method and train of reflection, let us consider,

I. The assertion of the text, the ignorance of man; that the wisest and most knowing cannot comprehend the ways and works of God: and then,

II. What are the just consequences of this observation and knowledge of our own ignorance, and the reflections which it leads us to.

I. The wisest and most knowing cannot comprehend the works of God, the methods and designs of his providence in the creation and government of the world.

Creation is absolutely and entirely out of our depth, and beyond the extent of our utmost reach. And yet it is as certain that God made the world, as it is certain that effects must have a cause. It is indeed in general no more than effects, that the most knowing are acquainted with: for as to causes, they are as entirely in the dark as the most ignorant. What are the laws by which matter acts upon matter, but certain effects; which some, having observed to be frequently repeated, have reduced to general rules? The real nature and essence of beings likewise is what we are altogether ignorant of. All these things are so entirely out of our reach, that we have not the least glimpse of them. And we know little more of ourselves, than we do of the world about us: how we were made, how our being is continued and preserved, what the faculties of our minds are, and upon what the power of exercising them depends. "I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well." Our own nature, and the objects we are surrounded with, serve to raise our curiosity; but we are quite out of a condition of satisfying it. Every secret which is disclosed, every discovery which is made, every new effect which is brought to view, serves to convince us of numberless more which remain concealed, and which we had before no suspicion of. And what if we were acquainted with the whole creation, in the same way and as thoroughly as we are with any single object in it? What would all this natural knowledge amount to? It must be a low curiosity indeed which such superficial knowledge could satisfy. On the contrary, would it not serve to convince us of our ignorance still, and to raise our desire of knowing the nature of things themselves; the author, the cause and the end of them?

As to the government of the world: though from consideration of the: final causes which come within our knowledge; of characters, personal merit and demerit; of the favor and disapprobation, which respectively are due and belong to the righteous and the wicked, and which, therefore, must necessarily be in a mind which sees things as they really are; though, I say, from hence we may know somewhat concerning the designs of Providence in the government of the world, enough to enforce upon us religion and the practice of virtue; yet, since the monarchy of the universe is a dominion unlimited in extent, and everlasting in duration, the general system of it must necessarily be quite beyond our comprehension. And since there appears such a subordination and reference of the several parts to each other, as to constitute it properly one administration or government, we cannot have a thorough knowledge of any part without knowing the whole. This surely should convince us, that we are much less competent judges of the very small part which comes under our notice in the world, than we are apt to imagine. "No heart can think upon these things worthily: and who is able to conceive his way? It is a tempest which no man can see: for the most part of his works are hid. Who can declare the works of his justice? For his covenant is afar off, and the trial of: all things is in the end;" i. e. the dealings of God with the children of men are not yet completed, and cannot be judged of by that part which is before us. "So that a man cannot say, This is worse than that: for in time they shall be well approved. Thy faithfulness, 0 Lord, reacheth unto the clouds; thy righteousness standeth like the strong mountains; thy judgments are like the great deep. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart; so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end." And thus St Paul concludes a long argument upon the various dispensations of Providence: "O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath

known the mind of the Lord? "

Thus, the scheme of Providence, the ways and works of God, are too vast, of too large extent for our capacities. There is, as I may speak, such an expanse of power, and wisdom, and goodness, in the formation and government of the world, as is too much for us to take in or comprehend. Power, and wisdom, and goodness, are manifest to us in all those works of God which come within our view: but there are likewise infinite stores of each poured forth throughout the immensity of the creation; no part of which call be thoroughly understood, without taking in its reference and respect to the whole: and this is what we have not faculties for. And as the works of God, and his scheme of government are above our capacities thoroughly to comprehend; so there possibly may be reasons which originally made it fit that many things should be concealed from us, which we have perhaps natural capacities of understanding; many things concerning the designs, methods, and ends of divine Providence in the government of the world. There is no manner of absurdity in supposing a veil on purpose drawn over some scenes of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, the sight of which might some way or other strike us too strongly; or that better ends are designed and served by their being concealed, than could be by their being exposed to our knowledge. The Almighty may cast clouds and darkness round about him, for reasons and purposes of which we have not the least glimpse or conception.

However, it is surely reasonable, and what might have been expected, that creatures in some stage of their being, suppose in the infancy of it, should be placed in a state of discipline and improvement, where their patience and submission it to be tried by afflictions, where temptations are to be resisted, and difficulties gone through in the discharge of their duty. Now, if the greatest pleasures and pains of the present life may be overcome and suspended, as they manifestly may, by hope and fear, and other passions and affections; then the evidence of religion, and the sense of the consequences of virtue and vice, might have been such, as entirely in all cases to prevail over those afflictions, difficulties, and temptations; prevail over them so, as to render them absolutely none at all. But the very notion itself now mentioned, of a state of discipline and improvement, necessarily excludes such sensible evidence and conviction of religion, and of the consequences of virtue and vice. Religion consists in submission and resignation to the divine will. Our condition in this world is a school of exercise for this temper: and our ignorance, the shallowness of our reason, the temptations, difficulties, afflictions, which we are exposed to; all equally contribute to make it so. The general observation may be carried on; and whoever will attend to the thing will plainly see, that less sensible evidence, with less difficulty in practice, is the same, as more sensible evidence, with greater difficulty in practice. Therefore difficulties in speculation as much come into the notion of a state of discipline, as difficulties in practice: and so the same reason or account is to be given of both. Thus, though it is indeed absurd to talk of the greater merit of assent, upon little or no evidence, than upon demonstration; yet the strict discharge of our duty, with less sensible evidence does imply in it a better character, than the same diligence in the discharge of it upon more sensible evidence. This fully accounts for and explains that assertion of our Saviour, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed;" [John xx. 29.] have become Christians and obeyed the gospel, upon less sensible evidence, than that which Thomas, to whom he is speaking, insisted upon.

But after all, the same account is to be given, why we were placed in these circumstances of ignorance, as why nature has not furnished us with wings; namely, that we were designed to be inhabitants of this earth. I am afraid we think too highly of ourselves: of our rank in the creation, and of what is due to us. What sphere of action, what business is assigned to man, that he has not capacities and knowledge fully equal to? It is manifest he has reason, and knowledge, and faculties, superior to the business of the present world: faculties which appear superfluous, if we do not take in the respect which they have to somewhat further, and beyond it. If to acquire knowledge were our proper end, we should indeed be but poorly provided: but if somewhat else be our business and duty; we may, notwithstanding our ignorance, be well enough furnished for it; and the observation of our ignorance may be of assistance to us in the discharge of it.

II. Let us then consider, what are the consequences of this knowledge and observation of our own ignorance, and the reflection it leads us to.

First, We may learn from it, with what temper of mind a man ought to inquire into the subject of religion; namely, with expectation of finding difficulties, and with a disposition to take up and rest satisfied with any evidence whatever which is real.

He should beforehand expect things mysterious, and such as he will not be able thoroughly to comprehend, or go to the bottom of. To expect a distinct comprehensive view of the whole subject, clear of difficulties and objections, is to forget our nature and condition; neither of which admit of such knowledge, with respect to any science whatever. And to inquire with this expectation, is not to inquire as a man, but as one of another order of creatures.

Due sense of the general ignorance of man' would also beget in us a disposition to take up and rest satisfied with any evidence whatever, which is real. I mention this as contrary to a disposition, of which there are not wanting instances, to find fault with and reject evidence, because it is not such as was desired. If a man were to walk by twilight, must he not follow his eyes as much as if it were broad day and clear sunshine? or, if he were obliged to take a journey by night, would he not "give heed to any light shining in the darkness, till the day should break and the day-star arise?" It would not be altogether unnatural for him to reflect, how much better it were to have day-light: he might perhaps have great curiosity to see the country round about him: he might lament that the darkness concealed many extended prospects from his eyes, and wish for the sun to draw away the veil: but how ridiculous would it be to reject with scorn and disdain the guidance and direction which that lesser light might afford him, because it was not the sun itself! If the make and constitution of man, the circumstances he is placed in, or the reason of things, affords the least hint or intimation that virtue is the law he is born under, scepticism itself should lead him to the most strict and inviolable practice of it; that he may not make the dreadful experiment, of leaving the course of life marked out for him by nature, whatever that nature be, and entering paths of his own, of which he can know neither the dangers nor the end. For, though no danger be seen, yet darkness, ignorance, and blindness, are no manner of security.

Secondly, Our ignorance is the proper answer to many things which are called objections against religion; particularly, to those which arise from the appearances of evil and irregularity in the constitution of nature, and the government of the world. In all other cases it is thought necessary to be thoroughly acquainted with the whole of a scheme, even one of so narrow a compass as those which are formed by men, in order to judge of the goodness or badness of it: and the most slight, and superficial view of any human contrivance comes abundantly nearer to a thorough knowledge of it, than that part which we know of the government of the world, does to the general scheme and system of it; to the whole set of laws by which it is governed. From our ignorance of the constitution of things, and the scheme of Providence in the government of the world; from the reference the several parts have to each other, and to the whole; and from our not being able to see the end and the whole; it follows, that however perfect things are, they must even necessarily appear to us otherwise, less perfect than they are. [Suppose some very complicated piece of work, some system or constitution, formed for some general end, to which each of the parts had a reference. The perfection or justness of this work or constitution would consist, in the reference and respect which the several parts have to the general design. This reference of parts to the general design may be infinitely various, both in degree and kind. Thus, one part may only contribute and be subservient to another; this to a third; and so on through a long series, the last part which alone may contribute immediately and directly to the general design. Or a part may have this distant reference to the general design, and may also contribute immediately to it. For instance: If the general design or end, for which the complicated frame of nature was brought into being, is happiness; whatever affords present satisfaction, and likewise tends to carryon the course of things, hath this double respect to the general design. Now, suppose a spectator of that work or constitution was in a great measure ignorant of such various reference to the general end, whatever that end be; and that, upon a very slight and partial view which he had of the work, several things appeared to his eye as disproportionate and wrong; others, just and beautiful: what would he gather from these appearances? He would immediately conclude there was a probability, if he could see the whole reference of the parts appearing wrong to the general design, that this would destroy the appearance of wrongness and disproportion: but there is no probability, that the reference would destroy the particular right appearances, though that reference might show the things already appearing just, to be so likewise in a higher degree or another manner. There is a probability, that the right appearances were intended: there is no probability, that the wrong appearances were. We cannot suspect irregularity and disorder to be designed. The pillars of a building appear beautiful; but their being likewise its support does not destroy that beauty: there still remains a reason to believe that the architect intended the beautiful appearance, after we have found out the reference, support. It would be reasonable for a man of himself to think thus, upon the first piece of architecture he ever saw.]

Thirdly, Since the constitution of nature, and the methods and designs of Providence, in the government of the world, are above our comprehension, we should acquiesce in, and rest satisfied with our ignorance, turn our thoughts from that which is above and beyond us, and apply ourselves to that which is level to our capacities, and which is our real business and concern. Knowledge is not our proper happiness. Whoever will in the least attend to the thing will see that it is the gaining, not the having of it, which is the entertainment of the mind. Indeed, if the proper happiness of man consisted in knowledge, considered as a possession or treasure, men who are possessed of the largest share would have a very ill time of it, as they would be infinitely more sensible than others, of their poverty in this respect. Thus, "He who increases knowledge would" eminently "increase sorrow." Men of deep research and curious inquiry should just be put in mind, not to mistake what they are doing. If their discoveries serve the cause of virtue and religion, in the way of proof, motive to practice, or assistance in it; or if they tend to render life less unhappy, and promote its satisfaction; then they are most usefully employed. But bringing things to light, alone and of itself, is of no manner of use, any otherwise than as an entertainment or diversion. Neither is this at all amiss, if it does not take up the time which should be employed in better works. But it is evident that there is another mark set up for us to aim at; another end appointed us to direct Our lives to: an end, which the most knowing may fail of, and the most ignorant arrive at. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." Which reflection of Moses, put in general terms, is, that the only knowledge which is of any avail to us, is that which teaches us our duty, or assists us in the discharge of it. The economy of the universe, the course of nature, almighty power exerted in the creation and government of the world, is out of our reach. What would be the consequence, if we could really get an insight into these things, is very uncertain; whether it would assist us in, or divert us from, what we have to do in this present state. If then there be a sphere of knowledge, of contemplation and employment, level to our capacities, and of the utmost importance to us; we ought surely to apply ourselves with all diligence to this our, proper business, and esteem every thing else nothing, nothing as to us, in comparison of it. Thus Job, discoursing of natural knowledge, how much it is above us, and of wisdom in general, says, "God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding." Other orders of creatures may perhaps be let into the secret counsels of heaven, and have the designs and methods of Providence, in the creation and government of the world, communicated to them: but this does not belong to our rank or condition. "The fear of the Lord, and to depart from evil," is the only wisdom which man should aspire after, as his work and business. The same is said, and with the same connexion and context, in the conclusion of the book of Ecclesiastes. Our ignorance, and the little we can know of other things, affords a reason why we should not perplex ourselves about them; but no way invalidates that which is the "conclusion of the whole matter, Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole concern of man." So that Socrates was not the first who endeavored to draw men off from laboring after, and laying stress upon other knowledge, in comparison of that which related to morals. Our province is virtue and religion, life and manners; the science of improving the temper, and making the heart better. This is the field assigned us to cultivate: how much it has lain neglected is indeed astonishing. Virtue is demonstrably the happiness of man; it consists in good actions, proceeding from a good principle, temper, or heart. Overt acts are entirely in our power. What remains is, that we learn to keep our heart; to govern and regulate our passions, mind, affections: that so we may be free from the impotencies of fear, envy, malice, covetousness, ambition; that we may be clear of these, considered as vices seated in the heart, considered as constituting a general wrong temper: from which general wrong frame of mind, all the mistaken pursuits, and far the greatest part of the unhappiness of life, proceed. He who should find out one rule to assist us in this work, would deserve infinitely better of mankind, than all the improvers of other knowledge put together.

Lastly, Let us adore that infinite wisdom, and power, and goodness, which is above our comprehension. "To whom hath the root of wisdom been revealed? or who hath known her wise counsels? there is one wise and greatly to be feared; the Lord sitting upon his throne. He created her, and saw her, and numbered her, and poured her out upon all his works." If It be thought a considerable thing, to be acquainted with a few, a very few, of the effects of infinite power and wisdom: the situatlon, bigness, and revolution of some of the heavenly bodies; what sentiments should our minds be filled with concerning him, who appointed to each its place, and measure, and sphere of motion, all which are kept with the most uniform constancy? "Who stretched out the heavens, and telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names. Who laid the foundations of the earth, who comprehendeth the dust of it in a measure and weigheth the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance." And, when we have recounted all the appearances which come within our view, we must add, "Lo, these are part of his ways; but how little a portion is heard of him? Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? Deeper than hell; what canst thou know?"

The conclusion is, that in all lowliness of mind we set lightly by ourselves: that we form our temper to an implicit submission to the Divine Majesty; beget within ourselves an absolute resignation to all the methods of his providence, in his dealings with the children of men: that, in the deepest humility of our souls, we prostrate ourselves before, him and join in that celestial song, "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints! Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name?"
</blockquote>

Project Canterbury

== Bibliographic Information ==

Original title as printed or transcribed by Project Canterbury: ''Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, by Joseph Butler (1827 edition)''

1827

== Source and Attribution ==

This text was retrieved from Project Canterbury on 2026-10-19T21:49:15+00:00. Original source: [https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/15.html https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/15.html]

Author: Joseph Butler

Transcriber or editor: LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005

Rights clearance: AnglicanWiki publication permission confirmed by the project owner, citing permission from the Bishop Payne Library, 2026-10-19.

Sermon XIV: Upon Piety, of the Love of God

2026-10-20T01:48:42Z

SteveMacias: Create rights-cleared Project Canterbury transcription of Joseph Butler's Rolls Chapel sermon

'''Sermon XIV: Upon Piety, of the Love of God'''

''Joseph Butler (1692–1752), from ''Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel'' (1827 edition).''

'''Source:''' [https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/14.html Project Canterbury]

'''Transcription:''' LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005

'''Rights:''' Transcribed by LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005.

== Original Text ==

Project Canterbury

Sermons

Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel

By Joseph Butler

Cambridge: Published by Hilliard and Brown; Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little, and Wilkins, 1827.

Transcribed by LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005.

<blockquote>
Sermon XIV. Upon Piety, of the Love of God--Matt. xxii. 37.

Consider then our ignorance, the imperfection of our nature, our virtue, and our condition in this world, with respect to an infinitely good and just Being, our Creator and Governor, and you will see what religious affections of mind are most particularly suitable to this mortal state we are passing through.

Though we are not affected with any thing so strongly as what we discern with our senses; and though our nature and condition require, that we be much taken up about sensible things; yet our reason convinces us that God is present with us, and we see and feel the effects of his goodness; he is, therefore, the object of some regards. The imperfection of our virtue, joined with the consideration of his absolute rectitude or holiness, will scarce permit that perfection of love, which entirely casts out all fear: yet goodness is the object of love to all creatures who have any degree of it themselves; and consciousness of a real endeavor to approve ourselves to him, joined with the consideration of his goodness, as it quite excludes servile dread and horror, so it is plainly a reasonable ground for hope of his favor. Neither fear, nor hope, nor love then are excluded; and one or another of these will prevail, according to the different views we have of God; and ought to prevail, according to the changes we find in our own character. There is a temper of mind made up of, or which follows from all three, fear, hope, love; namely, resignation to the divine will, which is the general temper belonging to this state, which ought to be the habitual frame of our mind and heart, and to be exercised at proper seasons more distinctly, in acts of devotion.

Resignation to the will of God is the whole of piety: it includes in it all that is good; and is a source of the most settled quiet and composure of mind. There is the general principle of submission in our nature. Man is not so constituted as to desire things, and be uneasy in the want of them, in proportion to their known value: many other considerations come in to determine the degrees of desire; particularly, whether the advantage we take a view of, be within the sphere of our rank. Who ever felt uneasiness upon observing any of the advantages brute creatures have over us? And yet it is plain they have several. It is the same with respect to advantages belonging to creatures of a superior order. Thus, though we see a thing to be highly valuable; yet, that it does not belong to our condition of being, is sufficient to suspend our desires after it, to make us rest satisfied without such advantage. Now, there is just the same reason for quiet resignation in the want of every thing equally unattainable, and out of our reach in particular, though others of our species be possessed of it. All this may be applied to the whole of life; to positive inconveniences as well as wants; not indeed to the sensations of pain and sorrow, but to all the uneasinesses of reflection, murmuring, and discontent. Thus is human nature formed to compliance, yielding; submission of temper. We find the principles of it within us, and everyone exercises it towards some objects or other: i. e. feels it with regard to some persons, and some circumstances. Now, this is an excellent foundation of a reasonable and religious resignation. Nature teaches and inclines us to take up with our lot: the consideration, that the course of things is unalterable, hath a tendency to quiet the mind under it, to beget a submission of temper to it. But when we can add, that this unalterable course is appointed and continued by infinite wisdom and goodness; how absolute should be our submission, how entire our trust and dependance!

This would reconcile us to our condition; prevent all the supernumerary troubles arising from imagination, distant fears, impatience; all uneasiness, except that which necessarily arises from the calamities themselves we may

be under. How many of our cares should we by this means be disburdened of! Cares not properly our own, how apt soever they may be to intrude upon us, and we to admit them; the anxieties of expectation, solicitude about success and disappointment, which in truth are none of our concern. How open to every gratification would that mind be, which was clear of these encumbrances!

Our resignation to the will of God may be said to be perfect, when our will is lost and resolved up into his; when we rest in his will as our end, as being itself most just, and right, and good. And where is the impossibility of such an affection to what is just, and right, and good, such a loyalty ,of heart to the Governor of the universe, as shall prevail over all sinister indirect desires of our own? Neither is this at bottom any thing mare than faith and honesty, and fairness of mind: in a more enlarged sense, indeed, than those words are commonly used. And as, in common cases, fear and hope and other passions are raised in us by their respective objects; so this submission of heart, and soul, and mind, this religious resignation, would be as naturally produced by our having just conceptions of Almighty God, and a real sense of his presence with us. In how low a degree soever this temper usually prevails amongst men, yet it is a temper right in itself: it is what we owe to our Creator: it is particularly suitable to our mortal condition, and what we should endeavor after for our own sakes in our passage through such a world as this; where is nothing upon which we can rest or depend; nothing but what we are liable to be deceived and disappointed in. Thus we might "acquaint ourselves with God, and be at peace." This is piety and religion in the strictest sense, considered as a habit of mind: an habitual sense of God's presence with us; being affected towards him, as present, in the manner his superior nature requires from such a creature as man: this is to walk with God.

Little more need be said of devotion or religious worship, than that it is this temper exerted into act. The nature of it consists in the actual exercise of those affections towards God, which are supposed habitual in good men. He is always equally present with us: but we are so much taken up with sensible things, that "lo, he goeth by us, and we see him not: he passeth on also, but we perceive him not." [Job ix. 11] Devotion is retirement, from the world he has made, to him alone: it is to withdraw from the avocations of sense, to employ our attention wholly upon him as upon an object actually present, to yield ourselves up to the influence of the divine presence, and to give full scope to the affections of gratitude, love, reverence, trust, and dependance; of which infinite power, wisdom; and goodness, is the natural and only adequate object. We may apply to the whole of devotion those words of the son of Sirach: "When you glorify the Lord, exalt him as much as you can; for even yet will he far exceed: and when you exalt him, put forth all your strength, and be not weary; for you can never go far enough." [Eccles. xliii. 30.] Our most raised affections of every kind cannot but fall short and be disproportionate, when an infinite Being is the object of them. This is the highest exercise and employment of mind, that a creature is capable of. As this divine service and worship is itself absolutely due to God, so also is it necessary in order to a further end; to keep alive upon our minds a sense of his authority, a sense that in our ordinary behaviour amongst men, we act under him as our Governor and Judge.

Thus you see the temper of mind respecting God, which is particularly suitable to a state of imperfection; to creatures in a progress of being towards somewhat further.

Suppose, now, this something further attained; that we were arrived at it: what a perception will it be, to see, and know, and feel, that our trust was not vain, our dependance not groundless? that the issue, event, and consummation, came out such as fully to justify and answer that resignation? if the obscure view of the divine perfection, which we have in this world, ought in just consequence to beget an entire resignation; what will this resignation be exalted into, when "we shall see face to face, and know as we are known?" If we cannot form any distinct notion of that perfection of the love of God, which casts out all fear; of that enjoyment of him, which will be the happiness of good men hereafter; the consideration of our wants and capacities of happiness, and that he will be an adequate supply to them, must serve us instead of such distinct conception of the particular happiness itself.

Let us then suppose a man, entirely disengaged from business and pleasure, sitting down alone and at leisure, to reflect upon himself and his own condition of being. He would immediately feel that he was by no means complete of himself, but totally insufficient for his own happiness. One may venture to affirm, that every man hath felt this, whether he hath again reflected upon it or not. It is feeling this deficiency, that they are unsatisfied with themselves, which makes men look out for assistance from abroad; and which has given rise to various kinds of amusements, altogether needless any otherwise than as they serve to fill up the blank spaces of time, and so hinder their feeling this deficiency, and being uneasy with themselves. Now, if these external things we take up

with were really an adequate supply to this deficiency of human nature, if by their means our capacities and desires were all satisfied and filled up; then it might be truly said, that we had found out the proper happiness of man; and so might sit down satisfied, and be at rest in the enjoyment of it. But if it appears that the amusements, which men usually pass their time in, are so far from coming up to, or answering our notions and desires of happiness, or good, that they are really no more than what they are commonly called, somewhat to pass away the time; i. e. somewhat which serves to turn us aside from, and prevent our attending to this our internal poverty and want; if they serve only, or chiefly, to suspend, instead of satisfying our conceptions and desires of happiness; if the want remains, and we have found out little more than barely the means of making it less sensible; then are we still to seek for somewhat to be an adequate supply to it. It is plain that there is a capacity in the nature of man, which neither riches, nor honors, nor sensual gratifications, nor any thing in this world, can perfectly till up, or satisfy: there is a deeper and more essential want than any of these things can be the supply of. Yet surely this is a possibility pf somewhat, which may fill up all our capacities of happiness; somewhat, in which our souls may find rest; somewhat, which may be to us that satisfactory good we are inquiring after. But it cannot be any thing which is valuable only as it tends to some further end. Those, therefore, who have got this world so much into their hearts, as not to be able to consider happiness as consisting in any thing but property and possessions, which are only valuable as the means to somewhat else; cannot have the least glimpse of the subject before us; which is the end, not the means; the thing itself, not somewhat in order to it. But if you can lay aside that general, confused, undeterminate notion of happiness, as consisting in such possessions; and fix in your thoughts, that it really can consist in nothing but in a faculty's having its proper object; you will clearly see, that in the coolest way of consideration, without either the heat of fanciful enthusiasm, or the warmth of real devotion, nothing is more certain, than that an infinite Being may himself be, if he pleases, the supply to all the capacities of our nature. All the common enjoyments of life are from the faculties he hath endued us with, and the objects he hath made suitable to them. He may himself be to us infinitely more than all these; he maybe to us all that we want. As our understanding can contemplate itself, and our affections be exercised upon themselves by reflection, so may each be employed in the same manner upon any other mind: and since the supreme Mind, the Author and Cause of all things, is the highest possible object to himself, he may be an adequate supply to all the faculties of our souls; a subject to our understanding; and an object to our affections.

Consider then: When we shall have put off this mortal body, when we shall be divested of sensual appetites, and those possessions which are now the means of gratification, shall be of no avail; when this restless scene of business and vain pleasures, which now diverts us from ourselves shall be all over: we, our proper self, shall still remain: we shall still continue the same creatures we are, with wants to be supplied, and capacities of happiness. We must have faculties of perception, though not sensitive ones; and pleasure or uneasiness from our perceptions, as now we have.

There are certain ideas, which we express by the words, order, harmony, proportion, beauty, the furtherest removed from any thing sensual. Now, what is there in those intellectual images, forms, or ideas, which begets that approbation, love, delight, and even rapture; which is seen in some person's faces upon having those objects present to their minds? "Mere enthusiasm!" - Be it what it will: there are objects, works of nature and of art, which all mankind have delight from, quite distinct from their affording gratification to sensual appetites; and from quite another view of them, than as being for their interest and further advantage. The faculties from which we are capable of these pleasures, and the pleasures themselves, are as natural, and as much to be accounted for, as any sensual appetite whatever, and the pleasure from its gratification. Words, to be sure, are wanting upon this subject. To say, that every thing of grace and beauty throughout the whole of nature, every thing excellent and amiable shared in differently lower degrees by the whole creation, meet in the Author and cause of all things; this is an inadequate, and perhaps improper way of speaking of the divine nature. But it is manifest, that absolute rectitude, the perfection of being, must be in all senses, and in every respect, the highest object to the mind.

In this world it is only the effects of wisdom, and power, and greatness, which we discern: it is not impossible, that hereafter the qualities themselves in the Supreme Being may be the immediate object of contemplation. What amazing wonders are opened to view by late improvements? What an object is the universe to a creature, if there be a creature who can comprehend its system? But it must be an infinitely higher exercise of the understanding, to view the scheme of it in that Mind which projected it, before its foundations were laid. And surely we have meaning to the words, when we speak of going further, and viewing, not only this system in his mind, but the wisdom and intelligence itself from whence it proceeded. The same may be said of power. But since wisdom and power are not God, (he is a wise, a powerful Being) the divine nature may therefore be a further object to the understanding. It is nothing to observe that our senses give us but an imperfect knowledge of things: effects themselves, if we knew them thoroughly, would give us but imperfect notions of

wisdom and power; much less of his being, in whom they reside. I am not speaking of any fanciful notion of seeing all things in God, but only representing to you, how much a higher object to the understanding an infinite Being himself is, than the things which he has made; and this is no more than saying, that the Creator is superior to the works of his hands.

This may be illustrated by a low example. Suppose a machine, the sight of which would raise, and discoveries in its contrivance gratify, our curiosity; the real delight, in this case, would arise from its being the effect of skill and contrivance. The skill in the mind of the artificer would be a higher object, if we had any senses or ways to discern it. For, observe, the contemplation of that principle; faculty, or power, which produced any effect, must be a higher exercise of the understanding than the contemplation of the effect itself. The cause must be a higher object to the mind than the effect.

But whoever considers distinctly what the delight of knowledge is, will see reason to be satisfied that it cannot be the chief good of man. All this, as it is applicable, so it was mentioned with regard to the attribute of goodness. I say, goodness. Our being and all our enjoyments are the effects of it: just men bear resemblance: but how little do we know of the original, of what it is itself? Recall what was before observed concerning the affection to moral character; which, in how low a degree soever, yet is plainly natural to man, and the most excellent part of his nature: suppose this improved, as it may be improved, to any degree whatever, "in the spirits of just men made perfect:" and then suppose that they had a real view of that "righteousness, which is an everlasting rigbteousness;" of the conformity of the divine will to the law of truth, in which the moral attributes of God consist; of that goodness in the sovereign mind, which gave birth to the universe; add, what will be true of all good men hereafter, a consciousness of having an interesting what they are contemplating; suppose them able to say, "This God is our God forever and ever:" Would they be any longer to seek for what was their chief happiness, their final good? Could the utmost stretch of their capacities look further ? Would not infinite perfect goodness be their very end, the last end and object of their affections; beyond which they could neither have, nor desire; beyond which they could not form a wish or thought?

Consider wherein that presence of a friend consists, which has often so strong an effect, as wholly to assess the mind, and entirely suspend all other affections and regards; and which itself affords the highest satisfaction and enjoyment. He is within reach of the senses. Now, as our capacities of perception improve, we shall have, perhaps by some faculty entirely new, a perception of God's presence with us, in a nearer and stricter way; since it is certain he is more intimately present with us than any thing else can be. Proof of the existence and presence of any being, is quite different from the immediate perception, the consciousness of it. What then will be the joy of heart, which his presence, and the "light of his countenance," who is the life of the universe, will inspire good men with, when they shall have a sensation, that he is the sustainer of their being, that they exist in him; when they shall feel his influence to cheer, and enliven, and support their frame, in a manner of which we have now no conception? He will be, in a literal sense, "their strength and their portion for ever."

When we speak of things so much above our comprehension, as the employment and happiness of a future state, doubtless it behooves us to speak with all modesty and distrust of ourselves. But the Scripture represents the happiness of that state, under the notions of "seeing God, seeing him as he is, knowing as we are known, and seeing face to face." These words are not general or undetermined, but express a particular determinate happiness. And I will be bold to say, that nothing can account for, or come up to these expressions, but only this, that God himself will be an object to our faculties; that he himself will be our happiness, as distinguished from the enjoyments of the present state which seem to arise, not immediately from him, but from the objects he has adapted to give us delight.

To conclude: Let us suppose a person tired with care and sorrow, and the repetition of vain delights which fill up the round of life; sensible that every thing here below, in its best estate, is altogether vanity. Suppose him to feel that deficiency of human nature, before taken notice of; and to be convinced that God alone was the adequate supply to it. What could be more applicable to a good man, in this state of mind, or better express his present wants and distant hopes, his passage through this world as progress towards a state of perfection, than the following passages in the devotions of the royal prophet? They are plainly in a higher and more proper sense, applicable to this, than they could be to any thing else. "I have seen an end of all perfection. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is all the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. Like as the hart desireth the water brooks, so longeth my soul after thee, O God. My soul is athirst for God; yea, even for the living God: when shall I come to appear before him? How excellent is thy loving kindness, O God! and the children of men shall put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be satisfied with the plenteousness of thy house: and thou shall give them drink of thy pleasures, as out of the river. For with thee is the well of life: and in thy light shall we see light. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and receivest unto thee: he shall dwell in thy court, and shall be satisfied with the pleasures of thy house, even of thy holy temple. Blessed is the people, O Lord, that can rejoice in thee: they shall walk in the light of thy countenance. Their delight shall be dally in thy name; and In thy righteousness shall they make their boast. For thou art the glory of their strength; and in thy loving kindness they shall be exalted. As for me, I will behold thy presence in righteousness: and when I awake up after thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with it. Thou shalt show me the path of life; in thy presence is the fullness of joy, and at thy right hand there is pleasure for evermore."
</blockquote>

Project Canterbury

== Bibliographic Information ==

Original title as printed or transcribed by Project Canterbury: ''Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, by Joseph Butler (1827 edition)''

1827

== Source and Attribution ==

This text was retrieved from Project Canterbury on 2026-10-19T21:49:11+00:00. Original source: [https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/14.html https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/14.html]

Author: Joseph Butler

Transcriber or editor: LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005

Rights clearance: AnglicanWiki publication permission confirmed by the project owner, citing permission from the Bishop Payne Library, 2026-10-19.

Sermon XIII: Upon Piety, of the Love of God

2026-10-20T01:48:38Z

SteveMacias: Create rights-cleared Project Canterbury transcription of Joseph Butler's Rolls Chapel sermon

'''Sermon XIII: Upon Piety, of the Love of God'''

''Joseph Butler (1692–1752), from ''Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel'' (1827 edition).''

'''Source:''' [https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/13.html Project Canterbury]

'''Transcription:''' LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005

'''Rights:''' Transcribed by LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005.

== Original Text ==

Project Canterbury

Sermons

Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel

By Joseph Butler

Cambridge: Published by Hilliard and Brown; Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little, and Wilkins, 1827.

Transcribed by LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005.

<blockquote>
Sermon XIII. Upon Piety, of the Love of God--Matt. xxii. 37.
</blockquote>

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

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Every body knows, you therefore need only just be put in mind, that there is such a thing, as having so great horror of one extreme, as to run insensibly and of course into the contrary; and that a doctrine's having been a shelter for enthusiasm, or made to serve the purposes of superstition, is no proof of the falsity of it: truth or right being somewhat real in itself, and so not to be judged of by its liableness to abuse, or by its supposed distance from, or nearness to error. It may be sufficient to have mentioned this in general, without taking notice of the particular extravagancies, which have been vented under the pretence or endeavor of explaining the love of God; or how manifestly we are got into the contrary extreme, under the notion of a reasonable religion; so very reasonable as to have nothing to do with the heart and affections, if these words signify any thing but the faculty by which we discern speculative truth.

By the love of God, I would understand all those regards, all those affections of mind, which are due immediately to him from such a creature as man, and which rest in him as their end. As this does not include servile fear, so neither will any other regards, how reasonable soever, which respect any thing out of or besides the perfection of the divine nature, come into consideration here. But all fear is not excluded, because his displeasure is itself the natural proper object of fear. Reverence, ambition of his love and approbation, delight in the hope or consciousness of it, come likewise into this definition of the love of God; because he is the natural object of all those affections or movements of mind, as really as he is the object of the affection, which is in the strictest sense called love; and all of them equally rest in him, as their end. And they may all be understood to be implied in these words of our Saviour, without putting any force upon them; for he is speaking of the love of God, and our neighbor, as containing the whole of piety and virtue.

It is plain, that the nature of man is so constituted, as to feel certain affections upon the sight or contemplation of certain objects. Now the very notion of affection implies resting in its objects as an end: And the particular affection to good characters, reverence, and moral love of them, is natural to all those who have any degree of real goodness in themselves. This will be illustrated by the description of a perfect character in a creature; and by considering the manner in which a good man, in, his presence, would be affected towards such a character. He would or course feel the affections of love, reverence, desire of his approbation, delight in the hope or consciousness of it. And surely all this is applicable, and may be brought up to that Being, who is infinitely more than an adequate object of all those affections; whom we are commanded to "love with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind." And of these regards towards Almighty God, some are more particularly suitable to and becoming so imperfect a creature as man, in this mortal state we are passing through: and some of them, and perhaps other exercises of the mind, will be the employment and happiness of good men in a state of perfection.

This is a general view of what the following discourse will contain. And it is manifest the subject is a real one: there is nothing in it enthusiastical or unreasonable. And if it be indeed at all a subject, it is one of the utmost importance.

As mankind have a faculty by which they discern speculative truth, so we have various affections towards external objects. Understanding and temper, reason and affection, are as distinct ideas as reason and hunger; and one would think, could no more be confounded. It is by reason that we get the ideas of several objects of our affections: but in these cases reason and affection are no more the same, than sight of a particular object, and the pleasure or uneasiness consequent thereupon, are the same. Now, as reason tends to and rests in the discernment of truth, the object of it; so the very nature of affection consists in tending towards, and resting in, its objects as an end. We do indeed often, in common language, say, that things are loved, desired, esteemed, not for themselves, but for somewhat further, somewhat out of and beyond them: yet, in these cases, whoever will attend, will see; that these things are not in reality the objects of the affections, i. e. are not loved, desired, esteemed, but the somewhat further and beyond them. If we have no affections which rest in what are called their objects, then what is called affection, love, desire, hope, in human nature, is only an uneasiness in being at rest; an unquiet disposition to action, progress, pursuit, without end or meaning. But if there be any such thing as delight in the company of one person, rather than of another; whether in the way of friendship, or mirth and entertainment, it is all one, if it be without respect to fortune, honor, or increasing our stores of knowledge, or any thing beyond the present time; here is an instance of an affection absolutely resting in its object as its end, and being gratified, in the same way as the appetite of hunger is satisfied with food. Yet nothing is more common than to hear it asked, What advantage a man hath in such a course, suppose of study, particular friendships, or in any other? nothing, I say, is more common than to hear such a question put in a way which supposes no gain, advantage, or interest, but as a means to somewhat further: and if so, then there is no such thing at all as real interest, gain, or advantage. This is the same absurdity with respect to life, as an infinite series of effects without a cause is in speculation. The gain, advantage, or interest, consists in the delight itself, arising from such a faculty's having its object: neither is there any such thing as happiness or enjoyment, but what arises from hence. The pleasures of hope and of reflection are not exceptions: the former being only this happiness anticipated; the latter, the same happiness enjoyed over again after its time. And even the general expectation of future happiness can afford satisfaction, only as it is a present object to the principle of self-love.

It was doubtless intended, that life should be very much a pursuit to the gross of mankind. But this is carried so much farther than is reasonable, that what gives immediate satisfaction, i. e. our present interest, is scarce considered as our interest at all. It is inventions which have only a remote tendency towards enjoyment, perhaps but a remote tendency towards gaining the means only of enjoyment, which are chiefly spoken of as useful to the world. And though this way of thinking were just, with respect to the imperfect state we are now in, where we know so little of satisfaction without satiety; yet it must be guarded against, when we are considering the happiness of a state of perfection; which happiness being enjoyment and not hope, must necessarily consist in this, that our affections have their objects, and rest in those objects as an end, i. e. be satisfied with them. This will further appear in the sequel of this discourse.

Of the several affections, or inward sensations, which particular objects excite in man, there are some, the having of which implies the love of them, when they are reflected upon. [St Austin observes, ''Amor ipse ordinate amandus est, quo bene amatur quod amandum est, ut sit in nobis virtus qua vivitur bene.''i. e. The affection which we rightly have for what is lovely, must ordinate justly, in due manner, and proportion, become the object of a new affection, or be itself beloved, in order to our being endued with that virtue which is the principle of a good life. Civ. Doi. I. 15. c. 22.] This cannot be said of all our affections, principles, and motives of action. It were ridiculous to assert, that a man, upon reflection, hath the same kind of approbation of the appetite of hunger, or the passion of fear, as he hath of good will to his fellow creatures. To be a just, a good, a righteous man, plainly carries with it a peculiar affection to, or love of justice, goodness, righteousness when these principles are the objects of contemplation. Now if a man approves of, or hath, an affection to any principle, in and for itself; incidental things allowed for, it will be the same whether he views it in his own mind or in another; in himself; or in his neighbor. This is the account of our approbation of, our moral love and affection to good characters; which cannot but be in those who can have any degrees of real goodness in themselves, and who discern and take notice of the same principle in others.

From observation of what passes within ourselves, our, own actions, and the behaviour of others, the mind may carry on its reflections as far as it pleases; much beyond what we experience in ourselves, or discern in our fellow creatures. It may go on, and consider goodness as become an uniform continued principle of action, as conducted by reason, and forming a temper and character absolutely good and perfect, which is in a higher sense excellent, and proportionably the object of love and approbation.

Let us then suppose a creature perfect according to his created nature: let his form be human, and his capacities no more than equal to those of the chief of men: goodness shall be his proper character; with wisdom to direct it, and power, within some certain determined sphere of action, to exert it: but goodness must be the simple actuating principle within him; this being the moral quality which is amiable, or the immediate object of love, as distinct from other affections of approbation. Here then is a finite object for our mind to tend towards, it to exercise itself upon: a creature perfect according to his capacity, fixed, steady, equally unmoved by weak pity, or more weak fury and resentment; forming the justest scheme of conduct; going on undisturbed in the execution of it, through the several methods of severity and reward, towards his end, namely, the general happiness of all with whom be hath to do, as in itself right and valuable. This character, though uniform in itself, in its principle, yet exerting itself in different ways, or considered in different views, may by its appearing variety move different affections. Thus, the severity of justice would not affect us in the same way, as an act of mercy: the adventitious qualities of wisdom and power may be considered in themselves; and even the strength of mind, which this immoveable goodness supposes, may likewise be viewed as an object of contemplation, distinct from the goodness itself. Superior excellence of any kind, as well as superior wisdom and power, is the object of awe and reverence to all creatures, whatever their moral character be: but so far as creatures of the lowest rank were good, so far the view of this character, as simply good, most appear amiable to them, be the object of, or beget love. Further, suppose we were conscious, that this superior person so far approved of us, that we had nothing servilely to fear from him; that he was really our friend, and kind and good to us in particular, as he had occasionally intercourse with us: we must be other creatures than we are, or we could not but feel the same kind of satisfaction and enjoyment (whatever would be the degree of it,) from this higher acquaintance and friendship, as we feel from common ones; the intercourse being real, and the persons equally present, in both cases. We should have a more ardent desire to be approved by his better judgment, and a satisfaction, in that approbation, of the same sort with what would be felt in respect to common persons, or be wrought in us by their presence.

Let us now raise the character, and suppose this creature, for we are still going on with the supposition of a creature, our proper guardian and governor; that we were in a progress of being towards somewhat further; and that his scheme of government was too vast for our capacities to comprehend; remembering still that he is perfectly good, and our friend as well as our governor. Wisdom, power, goodness, accidentally viewed any where, would inspire reverence, awe, love: and as these affections would be raised in higher or lower degrees, in proportion as we had occasionally more or less intercourse with the creature endued with those qualities, so this further consideration and knowledge that he was our proper guardian and governor, would much more bring these objects and qualities home to ourselves; teach us they had a greater respect to us in particular, that we had a higher interest in that wisdom and power and goodness. We should, with joy, gratitude, reverence, love, trust, and dependance, appropriate the character, as what we had a right in, and make our boast in such our relation to it. And the conclusion of the whole would be, that we should refer ourselves implicitly to him, and cast ourselves entirely upon him. As the whole attention of life should be to obey his commands, so the highest enjoyment of it must arise from the contemplation of his character, and our relation to it, from a consciousness of his favor and approbation, and from the exercise of those affections towards him, which could not but be raised from his presence. A being who hath these attributes, who stands in this relation, and is thus sensibly present to the mind, must necessarily be the object of these affections: there is as real a correspondence between them; as between the lowest appetite of sense and its object.

That this Being is not a creature, but the Almighty God; that he is of infinite power and wisdom and goodness, does not render him less the object of reverence and love, than he would be if he had those attributes only in a limited degree. The Being who made us, and upon whom we entirely depend, is the object of some regards. He hath given us certain affections of mind, which correspond to wisdom, power, goodness; i. e. which are raised upon view of those qualities. If then he be really wise, powerful, good, he is the natural object of those affections, which he ,hath endued us with, and which correspond to those attributes. That he is infinite in power, perfect in wisdom and goodness, makes no alteration, but only that he is the object of those affections raised to the highest pitch. He is not indeed to be discerned by any of our senses: "I. go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: on the left hand where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him. Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!" [Job 23.] But is he then afar off? Does he not fill heaven and earth with his presence? The presence of our fellow creatures affects our senses, and our senses give us the knowledge of their presence; which hath different kinds of influence upon us--love, joy, sorrow, restraint, encouragement, reverence. However, this influence is not immediately from our senses, but from that knowledge. Thus, suppose a person neither to see nor hear another, not to know by any of his senses, but yet certainly to know, that another was with him; this knowledge might, and in many cases would, have one or more of the effects before mentioned. It is therefore not only reasonable, but also natural, to be affected with a presence, though it be not the object of our senses: whether it be, or be not, is merely an accidental circumstance, which needs not come into consideration: it is the certainty that he is with us, and we with him, which hath the influence. We consider persons then as present, not only when they are within reach of our senses, but also when we are assured by any other means, that they are within such a nearness; nay, if they are not, we can recall them to our mind, and be moved towards them as present: and must he, who is so much more intimately with us, that "in him we live, and move, and have our being," be thought too distant to be the object of our affections? We own and feel the force of amiable and worthy qualities in our fellow creatures; and can we be insensible to the contemplation of perfect goodness? Do we reverence the shadows of greatness here below; are we solicitous about honor, and esteem, and the opinion of the world; and shall we not feel the same with respect to him, whose are wisdom and power in their original, who "is the God of judgment, by whom actions are weighed?" Thus love, reverence, desire of esteem, every faculty, every affection, tends towards, and is employed about its respective object in common cases: and must the exercise of them be suspended with regard to him alone, who is an object, an infinitely more than adequate object, to our most exalted faculties; him, "of whom, and through whom, and to whom are all things?"

As we cannot remove from this earth, or change our general business on it, so neither can we alter our real nature. Therefore no exercise of the mind can be recommended, but only the exercise of those faculties you are conscious of. Religion does not demand new affections, but only claims the direction of those you already have, those affections you daily feel; though unhappily confined to objects, not altogether unsuitable, but altogether unequal to them. We only represent to you the higher, the adequate objects of those very faculties and affections. Let the man of ambition go on still to consider disgrace as the greatest evil; honor as his chief good. But disgrace, in whose estimation? Honor, in whose judgment? This is the only question. If shame, and delight in esteem, be spoken of as real, as any settled ground of pain or pleasure, both these must be in proportion to the supposed wisdom and worth of him by whom we are contemned or esteemed. Must it then be thought enthusiastical to speak of a sensibility of this sort, which shall have respect to an unerring judgment, to infinite wisdom; when we are assured this unerring judgment, this infinite wisdom, does observe upon our actions?

It is the same with respect to the love of God in the strictest and most confined sense. We only offer and represent the highest object of an affection supposed already in your mind. Some degree of goodness must be previously supposed: this always implies the love of itself, an affection to goodness: the highest, the adequate object of this affection, is perfect goodness? which, therefore, we are to "love with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength." "Must we then, forgetting our own interest, as it were go out of ourselves, and love God for his own sake?" No more forget your own interest, no more go out of yourselves, than when you prefer one place, one prospect, the conversation of one man to that of another. Does not every affection necessarily imply, that the object of it be itself loved? If it be not, it is not the object of the affection. You may and ought, if you can, but it is a great mistake to think you can, love, or fear, or hate any thing, from consideration that such love, or fear, or hatred, may be a means of obtaining good or avoiding evil. But the question, whether we ought to love God for his sake or for our own, being a mere mistake in language; the real question, which this is mistaken for, will, I suppose, be answered by observing, that the goodness of God already exercised towards us, our present dependance upon him, and our expectation of future benefits, ought, and have a natural tendency, to beget in us the affection of gratitude, and greater love towards him, than the same goodness exercised towards others: were it only for this reason, that every affection is moved in proportion to the sense we have of the object of it; and we cannot but have a more lively sense of goodness, when exercised towards ourselves, than when exercised towards others. I added expectation of future benefits, because the ground of that expectation is present goodness.

Thus, Almighty God is the natural object of the several affections, love, reverence, fear, desire of approbation. For though he is simply One, yet we cannot but consider him in partial and different views. He is in himself one uniform Being, and for ever the same, without "variableness or shadow of turning:" but his infinite greatness, his goodness, his wisdom, are different objects to our mind. To which is to be added, that from the changes in our own characters, together with his unchangeableness, we cannot but consider ourselves as more or less the objects of his approbation, and really be so. For if he approves what is good, he cannot, merely from the unchangeableness of his nature, approve what is evil. Hence must arise more various movements of mind, more different kinds of affections. And this greater variety also is just and reasonable in such creatures as we are, though it respects a Being, simply one, good, and perfect. As some of these affections are most particularly suitable to so imperfect a creature as man, in this mortal state we are passing through; so there may be other exercises of mind, or some of these in higher degrees, our employment and happiness in a state of perfection.
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Project Canterbury

== Bibliographic Information ==

Original title as printed or transcribed by Project Canterbury: ''Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, by Joseph Butler (1827 edition)''

1827

== Source and Attribution ==

This text was retrieved from Project Canterbury on 2026-10-19T21:49:08+00:00. Original source: [https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/13.html https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/13.html]

Author: Joseph Butler

Transcriber or editor: LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005

Rights clearance: AnglicanWiki publication permission confirmed by the project owner, citing permission from the Bishop Payne Library, 2026-10-19.

Sermon XII: Upon the Love of Our Neighbor

2026-10-20T01:48:34Z

SteveMacias: Create rights-cleared Project Canterbury transcription of Joseph Butler's Rolls Chapel sermon

'''Sermon XII: Upon the Love of Our Neighbor'''

''Joseph Butler (1692–1752), from ''Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel'' (1827 edition).''

'''Source:''' [https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/12.html Project Canterbury]

'''Transcription:''' LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005

'''Rights:''' Transcribed by LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005.

== Original Text ==

Project Canterbury

Sermons

Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel

By Joseph Butler

Cambridge: Published by Hilliard and Brown; Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little, and Wilkins, 1827.

Transcribed by LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005.

<blockquote>
Sermon XII. Upon the Love of Our Neighbor--Rom. xiii. 9.

And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Having already removed the prejudices against public spirit, or the love of our neighbor, on the side of private interest and self-lore; I proceed to the particular explanation of the precept before us, by showing, "who is our neighbor: In what sense we are required to love him as ourselves: The influence such love would have upon our behaviour in life:" And, lastly," How this commandment comprehends in it all others."

I. The objects and due extent of this affection will be understood by attending to the nature of it, and to the nature and circumstances of mankind in this world. The love of our neighbor is the same with charity, benevolence, or good will. It is an affection to the good and happiness of our fellow creatures. This implies in it a disposition to produce happiness: and this is the simple notion of goodness, which appears so amiable wherever we meet with it. From hence it is easy to see, that the perfection of goodness consists in love to the whole universe. This is the perfection of Almighty God.

But as man is so much limited in his capacity, as so small a part of the creation comes under his notice and influence, and as we are not used to consider things in so general a way; it is not to be thought of, that the universe should be the object of benevolence to such creatures as we are. Thus, in that precept of our Saviour, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect," [Matt. v. 48.] the perfection of the divine goodness is proposed to our imitation, as it is promiscuous, and extends to the evil as well as the good; not as it is absolutely universal, imitation of it in this respect being plainly beyond us. The object is too vast. For this reason moral writers also have substituted a less general object for our benevolence, mankind. But this likewise is an object too general, and very much out of our view. Therefore, persons more practical have, instead of mankind, put our country; and made the principle of virtue, of human virtue, to consist in the entire uniform love of our country. And this is what we call a public spirit; which in men of public stations is the character of a patriot. But this is speaking to the upper part of the world. Kingdoms and governments are large; and the sphere of action of far the greatest part of mankind is much narrower than the government they live under: or, however, common men do not consider their actions as affecting the whole community of which they are members. There plainly is wanting a less general and nearer object of benevolence for the bulk of men than that of their country. Therefore the Scripture, not being a book of theory and speculation, but a plain rule of life for mankind, has with the utmost possible propriety put the principle of virtue upon the love of our neighbor; which is that part of the universe, that part of mankind, that part of our country, which comes under our immediate notice, acquaintance, and influence, and with which we have to do.

This is plainly the true account, or reason, why our Saviour places the principle of virtue in the love of our neighbor: and the account itself shows who are comprehended under that relation.

II. Let us now consider in what sense we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourself.

This precept, in its first delivery by our Saviour, is thus introduced: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart with all thy soul, and with all thy strength; and thy neighbor as thyself." These very different manners of expression do not lead our thoughts to the same measure or degree of love, common to both objects; but to one, peculiar to each. Supposing, then, which is to be supposed, a distinct meaning and propriety in the words, "as thyself;" the precept we are considering will admit of any of these senses: That we bear the same kind of affection to our neighbor, as we do to ourselves: or, that the love we bear to our neighbor should, have some certain proportion or other to self-love: or, lastly, that it should bear the particular proportion of equality, that it be in the same degree.

First, the precept may be understood as requiring only, that we have the same kind of affection to our fellow creatures, as to ourselves. That, as every man has the principle of self-love, which disposes him to avoid misery, and consult his own happiness; so we should cultivate the affection of good will to our neighbor, and that it should influence us to have the same kind of regard to him. This, at least, must be commanded: and this will not only prevent our being injurious to him, but will also put us upon promoting his good. There are blessings in life, which we share in common with others; peace, plenty, freedom, healthful seasons. But real benevolence to our fellow creatures would give us the notion of a common interest in a stricter sense: for in the degree we love another, his interest, his joys and sorrows, are our own. It is from self-love that we form the notion of private good, and consider it as our own. Love of our neighbor would teach us thus to appropriate to ourselves his good and welfare; to consider ourselves as having a real share in his happiness. Thus the principle of benevolence would be an advocate within our own breasts, to take care of the interests of our fellow creatures in all the interfering and competitions which cannot but be, from the imperfection of our nature, and the state we are in. It would likewise, in some measure, lessen that interfering; and hinder men from forming so strong a notion of private good, exclusive of the good of others, as we commonly do. Thus, as the private affection makes us in a peculiar manner sensible of humanity, justice, or injustice, when exercised towards ourselves; love of our neighbor would give us the same kind of sensibility in his behalf. This would be the greatest security of our uniform obedience to that most equitable rule: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them."

All this is indeed no more than that we should have a real love to our neighbor: but then, which is to he observed, the words, as thyself, express this in the most distinct manner, and determine the precept to relate to the affection itself. The advantage which this principle of benevolence has over other remote considerations is, that it is itself the temper of virtue; and likewise, that it is the chief, nay, the only effectual security of our performing the several offices of kindness we owe to our fellow creatures. When, from distant considerations, men resolve upon any thing to which they have no liking, or, perhaps, an averseness, they are perpetually finding out evasions and excuses; which need never be wanting, if people look for them: and they equivocate with themselves in the plainest cases in the world. This may be in respect to single determinate acts of virtue: but it comes in much more, where the obligation is to a general course of behaviour; and most of all, if it be such as cannot be reduced to fixed determinate rules. This observation may account for the diversity of the expression, in that known passage of the prophet Micah, "To do justly, and to love mercy." A man's heart must be formed to humanity and benevolence, he must love mercy, otherwise he will not act mercifully in any settled course of behaviour. As consideration of the future sanctions of religion is our only security of persevering in our duty, in cases of great temptations; so, to get our heart and temper formed to a love and liking of what is good, is absolutely necessary in order to our behaving rightly in the familiar and daily intercourses amongst mankind.

Secondly, The precept before us may be understood to require, that we love our neighbor in some certain proportion or other, according as we love ourselves. And indeed a man's character cannot be determined by the love he bears to his neighbor, considered absolutely: but the proportion which this bears to self-love, whether it be attended to or not, is the chief thing which forms the character, and influences the actions. For, as the form of the body is a composition of various parts; so likewise our inward structure is not simple or uniform, but a composition of various passions, appetites, affections, together with rationality; including in this last both the discernment of what is right, and a disposition to regulate ourselves by it. There is greater variety of parts in what we call a character, than there are features m a face: and the morality of that is no more determined by one part, than the beauty or deformity of this is by one single feature. Each is to be judged of by all the parts of features, not taken singly, but together. In the inward frame the various passions, appetites, affections, stand in different respects to each other. The principles in our mind may be contradictory, or checks and allays only, or incentives and assistants to each other. And principles, which in their nature have no kind of contrariety or affinity, may yet accidentally be each other's allays or incentives.

From hence it comes to pass, that though we were able to look into the inward contexture of the heart, and see with the greatest exactness in what degree anyone principle is in a particular man; we could not from thence determine, how far that principle would go towards forming the character, or what influence it would have upon the actions, unless we could likewise discern what other principles prevailed in him, and see the proportion which that one bears to the other's. Thus, though two men should have the affection of compassion in the same degree exactly, yet one may have the principle of resentment, or of ambition, so strong in him, is to prevail over that of compassion, and prevent its having any influence upon his actions; so that he may deserve the character of a hard or cruel man. Whereas the other, having compassion in just the same degree only, yet having resentment or ambition in a lower degree; his compassion may prevail over them, so as to influence his actions, and to denominate his temper compassionate. So that, how strange soever it may appear to people who do not attend to the thing, yet it is quite manifest, that when we say one man is more resenting or compassionate than another, this does not necessarily imply that one has the principle of resentment or of compassion stronger than the other. For if the proportion, which resentment or compassion bears to other inward principles, is greater in one than in the other; this is itself sufficient to denominate one more resenting or compassionate than the other.

Further, the whole system, as I may speak, of affections (including rationality) which constitute the heart, as this word is used in Scripture and on moral subjects, are each and all of them stronger in some than in others. Now the proportion which the two general affections, benevolence and self-love, bear to each other, according to this interpretation of the text, denominates men's character as to virtue. Suppose then one man to have the principle of benevolence in a higher degree than another: it will not follow from hence, that his general temper, or character, or actions, will be more benevolent than the others. For he may have self-love in such a degree as quite to prevail over benevolence; so that it may have no influence at all upon his actions: whereas benevolence in the other person, though in a lower degree, may yet be the strongest principle in his heart; and strong enough to be the guide of his actions, so as to denominate him a good and virtuous man. The case is here as in scales: it is not one weight considered in itself, which determines whether the scale shall ascend or descend; but this depends upon the proportion which that one weight hath to the other.

It being thus manifest, that the influence which benevolence has upon our actions, and how far it goes towards forming our character, is not determined by the degree itself of this principle in our mind, but by the proportion it has to self-love and other principles; a comparison also being made in the text between self-love and the love of our neighbor; these joint considerations afforded sufficient occasion for treating here of that proportion: it plainly is implied in the precept, though it should be questioned whether it be the exact meaning of the words, "as thyself."

Love of our neighbor, then, must bear some proportion to self-love, and virtue, to be sure, consists in the due proportion. What this due proportion is, whether as a principle in the mind, or as exerted in actions, can be judged of only from our nature and condition in this world. Of the degree in which affections and the principles of action, considered in themselves, prevail, we have no measure: let us then proceed to the course of behaviour, the actions they produce.

Both our nature and condition require, that each particular man should make particular provision for himself; and the inquiry, what proportion benevolence should have to self-love, when brought down to practice, will be, what is a competent care and provision for ourselves? And how certain soever it be, that each man must determine this for himself; and how ridiculous soever it would be, for any to attempt to determine it for another: yet it is to be observed, that the proportion is real; and that a competent provision has a bound; and that it cannot be all which we can possibly get and keep within our grasp, without legal injustice. Mankind almost universally bring in vanity, supplies for what is called a life of pleasure, covetousness, or imaginary notions of superiority over others, to determine this question: but every one who desires to act a proper part in society, would do well to consider, how far any of them come in to determine it, in the way of moral consideration. All that can be said is, supposing, what, as the world goes, is so much to be supposed that it is scarce to be mentioned, that persons do not neglect what they really owe to themselves; the more of their care and thought, and of their fortune, they employ in doing good to their fellow creatures, the nearer they come up to the law of perfection, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

Thirdly, If the words, ''as thyself," were to be understood of an equality of affection, it would not be attended with those consequences, which perhaps may be thought to follow from it. Suppose a person to nave the same settled regard to others, as to himself; that in every deliberate scheme or pursuit he took their interest into the account in the same degree as his own, so far as an equality of affection would produce this; yet he would, in fact, and ought to be, much more taken up and employed about himself, and his own concerns, than about others and their interests. For, besides the one common affection towards himself and his neighbor, he would have several other particular affections, passions, appetites, which he could not possibly feel in common both for himself and others: now, these sensations themselves very much employ us, and have perhaps as great influence as self-love. So far indeed as self-love, and cool reflection upon what is for our interest, would set us on work to gain a supply of our own several wants; so far the love of our neighbor would make us do the same for him: but the degree in which we are put upon seeking and making use of the means of gratification, by the feeling of those affections, appetites, and passions, must necessarily be peculiar to ourselves.

That there are particular passions, (suppose shame, resentment,) which men seem to have, and feel in common both for themselves and others, makes no alteration in respect to those passions and appetites which cannot possibly be thus felt in common. From hence (and perhaps more things of the like kind might be mentioned) it follows, that though there were an equality of affection to both, yet regards to ourselves would be more prevalent than attention to the concerns of others.

And from moral considerations it ought to be so, supposing still the equality of affection commanded: because we are in peculiar manner, as I may speak, intrusted with ourselves; and, therefore, care of our own interests, as well as of our conduct, particularly belongs to us.

To these things must be added, that moral obligations can extend no further than to natural possibilities. Now, we have a perception of our own interests, like consciousness of our own existence, which we always carry about with us; and which, in its continuation, kind, and degree, seems impossible to be felt in respect to the interests of others.

From all these things it fully appears, that though we were to love our neighbor in the same degree as we love ourselves, so far as this is possible; yet the care of ourselves, of the individual, would not be neglected; the apprehended danger of which seems to be the only objection against understanding the precept in this strict sense.

III. The general temper of mind which the due love of our neighbor would form us to, and the influence it would have upon our behaviour in life, is now to be considered. The temper and behaviour of charity is explained at large, in that known passage of St Paul: "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, thinketh no evil, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things." [1 Cor. xiii.] As to the meaning of the expressions, "seeketh not her own, thinketh no evil, believeth all things;" however those expression may be explained away, this meekness, and, in some degree, easiness of temper, readiness to forego our right for the sake of peace, as well as in the way of compassion, freedom from mistrust, and disposition to believe well of our neighbor; this general temper, I say, accompanies, and is plainly the effect of love and good will. And, though such is the world in which we live, that experience and knowledge of it not only may, but must beget in us greater regard to ourselves, and doubtfulness of the characters of others, than is natural to mankind, yet these ought not to be carried further than the nature and course of things make necessary. It is still true, even in the present state of things, bad as it is, that a real good man had rather be deceived, than be suspicious; had rather forego his known right than run the venture of doing even a hard thing. This is the general temper of that charity, of which the apostle asserts, that if he had it not, giving his "body to be burned would avail him nothing;" and which, he says, "shall never fail."

The happy influence of this temper extends to every different relation and circumstance in human life. It plainly renders a man better, more to be desired, as to all the respects and relations, we can stand in to each other. The benevolent man is disposed to make use of all external advantages in such a manner as shall contribute to the good of others, as well as to his own satisfaction. His own satisfaction consists in this. He will be easy and kind to his dependants, compassionate to the poor and distressed, friendly to all with whom he has to do. This includes the good neighbor, parent, master, magistrate: and such a behaviour would plainly make dependance (sic), inferiority, and even servitude, easy. So that a good or charitable man, of superior rank in wisdom fortune, authority, is a common blessing to the place he lives in: happiness grows under his influence. This good principle in inferiors would discover itself in paying respect, gratitude, obedience, as due. It were therefore, methinks, one just way of trying one's own character, to ask ourselves, Am I in reality a better master or servant, a better friend, a better neighbor, than such and such persons; whom, perhaps, I may think not to deserve the character of virtue and religion so much as I myself?

And as to the spirit of party, which unhappily prevails amongst mankind, whatever are the distinctions which serve for a supply to it, some or other of which have obtained in all ages and countries; one who is thus friendly to his kind, will immediately make due allowances for it, as what cannot but be amongst such creatures as men, in such a world as this. And as wrath and fury and overbearing upon these occasions proceed, as I may speak, from men's feeling only on their own side; so a common feeling, for others as well as for ourselves, would render us sensible to this truth, which it is strange can have so little influence; that we ourselves differ from others, just as much as they do from us. I put the matter in this way, because it can scarce be expected that the generality of men should see, that those things which are made the occasions of dissension and fomenting the party spirit, are really nothing at all: but it may be expected from all people, how much soever they are in earnest about their respective peculiarities, that humanity, and common good will to their fellow creatures, should moderate and restrain that wretched spirit.

This good temper of charity likewise would prevent strife and enmity arising from other occasions: it would prevent our giving just cause of offence, and our taking it without cause. And in cases of real injury, a good man will make all the allowances which are to be made; and, without any attempts of retaliation, he will only consult his own and other men's security for the future against injustice and wrong.

IV. I proceed to consider lastly, what is affirmed of the precept now explained, that it comprehends in it all others; i. e. that to love our neighbor as ourselves includes in it all virtues.

Now, the way in which every maxim of conduct, or general speculative assertion, when it is to be explained at large, should be treated, is, to show what are the particular truths which were designed to be comprehended under such a general observation, how far it is strictly true; and then the limitations, restrictions and exceptions. If there be exceptions, with which it is to be understood. But it is only the former of these, namely, how far the assertion in the text holds, and the ground of the pre-eminence assigned to the precept of it, which in strictness comes into our present consideration.

However, in almost every thing that is said, there is somewhat to be understood beyond what is explicitly laid down, and which we of course supply; somewhat, I mean, which would not be commonly called a restriction or limitation. Thus, when benevolence is said to be the sum of virtue, it is not spoken of as a blind propension, but as a principle in reasonable creatures, and so to be directed by their reason: for reason and reflection come into our notion of a moral agent. And that will lead us to consider distant consequences; as well as the immediate tendency of an action: it will teach us, that the care of some persons, suppose children and families, is particularly committed to our charge by nature and Providence; as also, that there are other circumstances, suppose friendship or former obligations, which require that we do good to some, preferably to others. Reason, considered merely as subservient to benevolence, as assisting to produce the greatest good, will teach us to have particular regard to these relations and circumstances; because it is plainly for the good of the world that they should be regarded. And as there are numberless cases, in which, notwithstanding appearances, we are not competent judges, whether a particular action will upon the whole do good or harm; reason in the same way will teach us to be cautious how we act in these cases of uncertainty. It will suggest to our consideration, which is the safer side; how liable we are to be led wrong by passion and private interest; and what regard is due to laws, and .the judgment of mankind. All these things must come into consideration, were it only in order to determine which way of acting is likely to produce the greatest good. Thus, upon supposition that it were, in the strictest sense true, without limitation, that benevolence includes in it all virtues; yet reason must come in as its guide and director, in order to attain its own end, the end of benevolence, the greatest public good. Reason then being thus included, let us now consider the truth of the assertion itself.

First, It is manifest that nothing can be of consequence to mankind or any creature, but happiness. This then is all which any person can, in strictness of speaking, be said to have a right to. We can, therefore, owe no man any thing, but only to further and promote his happiness, according to our abilities. And, therefore, a disposition and endeavor to do good to all with whom we have to do, in the degree and manner which the different relations we stand in to them require, is a discharge of all the obligations we are under to them.

As human nature is not one simple uniform thing, but a composition of various parts, body, spirit, appetites, particular passions, and affections; for each of which reasonable self-love would lead men to have due regard, and make suitable provision: so society consists of various parts, to which we stand in different respects and relations; and just benevolence would as surely lead us to have due regard to each of these, and behave as the respective relations require. Reasonable good will, and right behaviour towards our fellow creatures, are in a manner the same: only that the former expresseth the principle as it is in the mind; the latter, the principle as it were, become external, i. e. exerted in actions.

And so far as temperance, sobriety, and moderation in sensual pleasures, and the contrary vices, have any respect to our fellow creatures, any influences upon their quiet, welfare, and happiness; as they always have a real, and often a near, influence upon it; so far it is manifest those virtues may be produced by the love of our neighbor, and that the contrary vices would be prevented by it. Indeed, if men's regard to themselves will not restrain them from excess, it may be thought little probable, that their love to others will he sufficient: but the reason is, that their love to other's is not, any more than their regard to themselves, just, and in its due degree. There are, however, manifest instances of persons kept sober and temperate from regard to their affairs, and the welfare of those who depend upon them. And it is obvious to every one, that habitual excess, a dissolute course of life, implies a general neglect of the duties we owe towards our friends, our families, and our country.

From hence it is manifest, that the common virtues; and the common vices of mankind, may be traced up to benevolence, or the want of it. And this entitles the precept, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," to the pre-eminence given to it; and is a justification of the apostle's assertion, that all other commandments are comprehended in it: whatever cautions and restrictions there are, which might require to be considered, if we were to state particularly and at length, what is virtue and right behaviour in mankind. [For instance: as we are not competent judges what is, upon the whole, for the good of the world, there may be other immediate ends appointed us to pursue, besides that one of doing good, or producing happiness. Though the good of the creation be the only end of the Author of it, yet he may have laid us under particular obligations, which we may discern and feel ourselves under, quite distinct from a perception, that the observance or violation of them is for the happiness or misery of our fellow creatures. And this is, in fact, the case. For there are certain dispositions of mind and certain actions, which are in themselves approved or disapproved by mankind, abstracted from the consideration of their tendency to the happiness or misery of the world; approved or disapproved by reflection, by that principle within, which is the guide of life, the judge of right and wrong. Numberless instances of this kind might be mentioned. There are pieces of treachery, which in themselves appear base and detestable to every one. There are actions, which perhaps can scarce have any other general name given them than indecencies, which yet are odious and shocking to human nature. There is such a thing as meanness, a little mind, which, as it is quite distinct from incapacity, so it raises a dislike and disapprobation quite different from that contempt, which men are too apt to have of mere folly. On the other hand, what we call greatness of mind, is the object of another sort of approbation, than superior understanding. Fidelity, honor, strict justice, are themselves approved in the highest degree, abstracted from the consideration of their tendency. Now, whether it be thought that each of these are connected with benevolence in our nature, and so may be considered as the same thing with it; or whether some of them be thought an inferior kind of virtues and vices, somewhat like natural beauties and deformities; or, lastly, plain exceptions to the general rule; thus much, however, is certain, that the things now instanced in, and numberless others, are approved or disapproved by mankind in general, in quite another view than as conducive to the happiness or misery of the world.] But,

Secondly, It might be added, that, in a higher and more general way of consideration, leaving out the particular nature of creatures, and the particular circumstances in which they are placed, benevolence seems in the strictest sense to include in it all that is good and worthy; all that is good, which we have any distinct particular notion of. We have no clear conception of any positive moral attribute in the supreme Being, but what may be resolved up into goodness. And, if we consider a reasonable creature or moral agent, without regard to the particular relations and circumstances in which he is placed, we cannot conceive any thing else to come in towards determining whether he is to be ranked in a higher or lower class of virtuous beings, but the higher or lower degree in which that principle, and what is manifestly connected with it, prevail in him.

That which we more strictly call piety, or the love of God, and which is an essential part of a right temper, some may perhaps imagine no way connected with benevolence: yet, surely, they must be connected, if there be indeed in being an object infinitely good. Human nature is so constituted, that every good affection implies the love of itself; i. e. becomes the object of a new affection in the same person. Thus, to be righteous, implies in it the love of righteousness; to be benevolent, the love of benevolence; to be good, the love of goodness; whether this righteousness, benevolence, or goodness, be viewed as in our own mind, or in another's: and the love of God as a Being perfectly good, is the love of perfect goodness contemplated in a being or person. Thus morality and religion, virtue and piety, will at last necessarily coincide, run up into one and the same point, and love will be in all senses the end of the commandment.

O Almighty God, inspire us with this divine principle: kill in us all the seeds of envy and ill-will; and help us, by cultivating within ourselves the love of our. neighbor, to improve in the love of thee. Thou hast placed us in various kindreds, friendships, and relations, as the school of discipline for our affections: help us, by the due exercise of them, to improve to perfection; till all partial affection be lost in that entire universal one, and thou, O God, shalt be all in all!
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Project Canterbury

== Bibliographic Information ==

Original title as printed or transcribed by Project Canterbury: ''Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, by Joseph Butler (1827 edition)''

1827

== Source and Attribution ==

This text was retrieved from Project Canterbury on 2026-10-19T21:49:04+00:00. Original source: [https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/12.html https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/12.html]

Author: Joseph Butler

Transcriber or editor: LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005

Rights clearance: AnglicanWiki publication permission confirmed by the project owner, citing permission from the Bishop Payne Library, 2026-10-19.

Sermon XI: Upon the Love of Our Neighbor

2026-10-20T01:48:30Z

SteveMacias: Create rights-cleared Project Canterbury transcription of Joseph Butler's Rolls Chapel sermon

'''Sermon XI: Upon the Love of Our Neighbor'''

''Joseph Butler (1692–1752), from ''Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel'' (1827 edition).''

'''Source:''' [https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/11.html Project Canterbury]

'''Transcription:''' LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005

'''Rights:''' Transcribed by LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005.

== Original Text ==

Project Canterbury

Sermons

Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel

By Joseph Butler

Cambridge: Published by Hilliard and Brown; Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little, and Wilkins, 1827.

Transcribed by LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005.

Sermon XI. Upon the Love of Our Neighbor--Rom. xiii. 9.

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And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
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It is commonly observed, that there is a disposition in men to complain of the viciousness and corruption of the age in which they live, as greater than that of former ones; which is usually followed with this further observation, that mankind has been in that respect much the same in all times. Now, to determine whether this last be not contradicted by the accounts of history; thus much can scarce be doubted, that vice and folly takes different turns, and some particular kinds of it are more open and avowed in some ages than in others: and, I suppose, it may be spoken of as very much the distinction of the present, to profess a contracted spirit, and greater regards to self-interest, than appears to have been done formerly. Upon this account it seems worth while

to inquire, whether private interest is likely to be promoted in proportion to the degree in which self-love engrosses us, and prevails over all other principles; "or whether the contracted affection may not possibly be so prevalent as to disappoint itself, and even contradict its own end, private good?"

And since, further, there is generally thought to be some peculiar kind of contrariety, between self-love and the love of our neighbor, between the pursuit of public good and of private good; insomuch, that when you are recommending one of these, you are supposed to be speaking against the other; and from hence arises a secret prejudice against, and frequently open scorn of all talk of public spirit, and real good will to our fellow creatures; it will be necessary to "inquire, what respect benevolence hath to self-love, and the pursuit of private interest to the pursuit of public?" Or whether there be any thing of that peculiar inconsistence and contrariety between them, over and above what there is between self-love and other passions and particular affections, and their respective pursuits?

These inquiries, it is hoped, may be favorably attended to; for there shall be all possible concessions made to the favorite passion, which hath so much allowed to it, and whose cause is so universally pleaded: it shall be treated with the utmost tenderness, and concern for its interests.

In order to this, as well as to determine the forementioned questions, it will be necessary to consider the nature, the object, and end of that self-love, as distinguished from other principles or affections in the mind and their respective objects.

Every man hath a general desire of his own happiness; and likewise a variety of particular affections, passions, and appetites, to particular external objects. The former proceeds from, or is, self-love; and seems inseparable from all sensible creatures, who can reflect upon themselves and their own interest or happiness, so as to have that interest and object to their minds: what is to be said of the latter is, that they proceed from, or together make up, that particular nature, according to which man is made. The object the former pursues is somewhat internal, our own happiness, enjoyment, satisfaction; whether we have, or have not, a distinct particular perception what it is, or wherein it consists: the objects of the latter are this or that particular external thing, which the affections tend towards, and of which it hath always a particular idea or perception. The principle we call self-love never seeks any thing external for the sake of the thing, but only as a means of to happiness or good: particular affections rest in the external things themselves. One belongs to man as a reasonable creature reflecting upon his own interest or happiness; the other, though quite distinct from reason, are as much a part of human nature.

That all particular appetites and passions are towards external things themselves, distinct from the pleasure arising from them, is manifested from hence, that there could not be this pleasure, were it not for that prior suitableness between the object and the passion: There could be no enjoyment or delight for one thing more than another, from eating food more than from swallowing a stone, if there were not an affection or appetite to one thing more than another.

Every particular affection, even the love of our neighbor, is as really our own affection, as self-love; and the pleasure arising from its gratification is as much my own pleasure, as the pleasure self-love would have from knowing I myself should be happy some time hence, would be my own pleasure. And if, because every particular affection is a man's own, and the pleasure arising from its gratification his own pleasure, or pleasure to himself, such particular affection must be called self-love; according to this way of speaking, no creature whatever can possibly act but merely from self-love; and every action and every affection whatever is to be resolved up into this one principle. But then this is not the language of mankind: or, if it were, we should want words to express the difference between the principle of an action, proceeding from cool consideration that it will be to my own advantage; and an action, suppose of revenge, or of friendship, by which a man runs upon certain ruin, to do evil or good to another. It is manifest the principles of these actions are totally different, and so want different words to be distinguished by. All that they agree in is, that they both proceed from, and are done to gratify an inclination in a man's self. But the principle or inclination in one case is self-love; in the other, hatred, or love of another. There is then a distinction between the cool principle of self-love, or general desire of our own happiness, as one part of our nature, and one principle of action; and the particular affections towards particular external objects, as another part of our nature, and another principle of action. How much soever, therefore, is to be allowed to self-love, yet it cannot be allowed to be the whole of our inward constitution; because, you see, there are other parts or principles which come into it.

Further, private happiness or good is all which self-love can make us desire, or be concerned about. In having this consists its gratification: it is an affection to ourselves; a regard to our own interest, happiness, and private good: and in the proportion a man hath this, he is interested, or a lover of himself. Let this be kept in mind; because there is commonly, I shall presently have occasion to observe, another sense put upon these words. On the other hand, particular affections tend towards particular external things: these are their objects; having these is their end; in this consists their gratification; no matter whether it be, or be not, upon the whole, our interest or happiness. An action, done from the former of these principles, is called an interested action. An action proceeding from any of the latter, has its denomination of passionate, ambitious, friendly, revengeful, or any other, from the particular appetite or affection from which it proceeds. Thus self-love as one part of human nature, and the several particular principles as the other part, are themselves their objects and ends, stated and shown.

From hence it will be easy to see, how far, and in what ways, each of these can contribute and be subservient to the private good of the individual. Happiness does not consist in self-love. The desire of happiness is no more the thing itself, than the desire of riches is the possession or enjoyment of them. People may love themselves with the most entire and unbounded affection, and yet be extremely miserable. Neither can self-love any way help them out, but by setting them on work to get rid of the causes of their misery, to gain or make use of those objects which are by nature adapted to afford satisfaction. Happiness or satisfaction consists only in the enjoyment of those objects, which are by nature suited to our several particular appetites, passions, and affections. So that if self-love wholly engrosses us, and leaves no room for any other principle, there can be absolutely no such thing at all as happiness or enjoyment of any kind whatever; since happiness consists in the gratification of particular passions, which supposes the having of them. Self-love then does not constitute this or that to be our interest or good; but, our interest or good being constituted by nature and supposed, self-love only puts us upon obtaining and securing it. Therefore, if it be possible that self-love may prevail and exert itself in a degree or manner which is not subservient to this end; then it will not follow, that our interest will be promoted in proportion to the degree in which that principle engrosses us, and prevails over others. Nay further, the private and contracted affection, when it is not subservient to this end, private good, may, for any thing that appears, have a direct contrary tendency and effect. And if we will consider the matter, we shall see that it often really has. Disengagement is absolutely necessary to enjoyment: and a person may have so steady and fixed an eye upon his own interest, whatever he places it in, as may hinder him from attending to many gratifications within his reach, which others have their minds free and open to. Over-fondness for a child is not generally thought to be for its advantage: and, if there be any guess to be made from appearances, surely that character we call selfish is not the most promising for happiness. Such a temper may plainly be, and exert itself in a degree and manner which may give unnecessary and useless solicitude and anxiety, in a degree and manner which may prevent obtaining the means and materials of enjoyment, as well as the making use of them. Immoderate self-love does very. ill consult its own interest: and, how much soever a paradox it may appear, it is certainly true, that, even from self-love, we should endeavor to get over all inordinate regard to, and consideration of ourselves. Everyone of our passions and affections hath its natural stint and bound, which may easily be exceeded; whereas our enjoyments can possibly be but in a determinate measure and degree. Therefore such excess of the affection, since it cannot procure any enjoyment, must in all cases be useless; but is generally attended with inconveniences, and often is downright pain and misery. This holds as much with regard to self-love as to all other affections. The natural degree of it, so far as it sets us on work to gain and make use of the materials of satisfaction, may be to our real advantage; but beyond or besides this, it is in several respects an inconvenience and disadvantage. Thus it appears, that private interest is so far from being likely to be promoted in proportion to the degree in which self-love engrosses us, and prevails over all other principles, that the contracted affection may be so prevalent, as to disappoint itself; and even contradict its own end, private good.

"But who, except the most sordidly covetous, ever thought there was any rivalship between the love of greatness, honor, power, or between sensual appetites, and self-love? No, there is a perfect harmony between them. It is by means of these particular appetites and affections that self-love is gratified in enjoyment, happiness, and satisfaction. The competition and rivalship is between self-love and the love of our neighbor. That affection which leads us out of ourselves, makes us regardless of our own interest, and substitute that of another in its stead." Whether then there be any peculiar competition and contrariety in this case, shall now be considered.

Self-love and interestedness was stated to consist in or be an affection to ourselves, a regard to our own private good: it is, therefore, distinct from benevolence, which is an affection to the good of our fellow creatures. But that benevolence is distinct from, that is, not the same thing with self-love, is no reason for its being looked upon with any peculiar suspicion, because every principle whatever, by means of which self-love is gratified, is distinct from it: and all things, which are distinct from each other, are equally so. A man has an affection or aversion to another: that one of these tends to, and is ratified by doing good, that the other tends to, and is gratified by doing harm, does not in the least alter the respect which either one or the other of these inward feelings has to self-love. We use the word property so as to exclude any other person's having an interest in that, of which we say a particular man has the property: and we often use the word selfish so as to exclude in the same manner all regards to the good of others. But the cases are not parallel: for though that exclusion is really part of the idea of property; yet such positive exclusion, or bringing this peculiar disregard to the good of others into the idea of self-love, is in reality adding to the idea, or changing it from what it was before stated to consist in, namely, in an affection to ourselves (1). This being the whole idea of self-love, it can no otherwise exclude good will or love of others, than merely by not including it, no otherwise than it excludes love of arts, or reputation, or of any thing else. Neither, on the other hand, does benevolence, any more than love of arts or of reputation, exclude self-love. Love of our neighbor, then, has just the same respect to, is no more distant from self-love, than hatred of our neighbor, or than love or hatred of any thing else. Thus the principles, from which men rush upon certain ruin for the destruction of an enemy, and for the preservation of a friend, have the same respect to the private affection, are equally interested, or equally disinterested: and it is of no avail, whether they are said to be one or the other. Therefore, to those who are shocked to hear virtue spoken of as disinterested, it may be allowed, that it is indeed absurd to speak thus of it; unless hatred, several particular instances of vice, and all the common affections and aversions in mankind, are acknowledged to be disinterested too. Is there any less inconsistence between the love of inanimate things: or of creatures merely sensitive, and self-love, than between self-love, and the love of our neighbour is desire of, and delight in the happiness of another any more a diminution of self-love, than desire of and delight in the esteem of another? They are both equally desire of and delight in somewhat external to ourselves; either both or neither are so. The object of self-love is expressed in the term self: and every appetite of sense, and every particular affection of the heart, are equally interested or disinterested, because the objects of them all are equally self or somewhat else. Whatever ridicule, therefore, the mention of a disinterested principle or action may be supposed to lie open to, must, upon the matter being thus stated, relate to ambition, and every appetite and particular affection, as much as to benevolence. And indeed all the ridicule, and all the grave perplexity, of which this subject hath had its full share, is merely from words. The most intelligible way of speaking of it seems to be this: that self-love, and the actions done in consequence of it, (for these will presently appear to be the same as to this question,) are interested; that particular affections towards "external objects, and the actions done m consequence of those affections, are not so. But everyone is at liberty to use words as he pleases. All that is here insisted upon is, that ambition, revenge, benevolence, all particular passions whatever, and the actions they produce, are equally interested or disinterested.

Thus it appears, that there is no peculiar contrariety between self-love and benevolence; no greater competition between these, than between any other particular affections and self-love. This relates to the affections themselves. Let us now see whether there be any peculiar contrariety between the respective courses of life which these affections lead to; whether there be any greater competition between the pursuit of private and of public good, than between any other particular pursuits and that of private good.

There seems no other reason to suspect that there is any such peculiar contrariety, but only that the course of action which benevolence leads to, has a more direct tendency to promote the good of others, than that course of action which love of reputation, suppose, or any other particular affection, leads to. But that any affection tends to the happiness of another, does not hinder its tending to one's own happiness, too. That others enjoy the benefit of the air and the light of the sun, does not hinder but that these are as much one's own private advantage now, as they would be if we had the property of them exclusive of all others. So a pursuit which tends to promote the good of another, yet may have as great tendency to promote private interest, as a pursuit which does not tend to the good of another at all, or which is mischievous to him. All particular affections whatever, resentment, benevolence, love of arts, equally lead to a course of action for their own gratification, i. e. the gratification of ourselves; and the gratification of each gives delight: so far, then, it is manifest, they have all the same respect to private interest. Now, take into consideration further, concerning these three pursuits, that the end of the first is the harm, of the second, the good of another, of the last, somewhat indifferent; and is there any necessity, that these additional considerations should alter the respect, which we before saw these three pursuits had to private interest; or render anyone of them less conducive to it than any other? Thus, one man's affection is to honor, as his end; in order to obtain which, he thinks no pains too great. Suppose another, with such a singularity of mind, as to have the same affection to public good, as his end, which he endeavors with the same labor to obtain. In case of success, surely the man of benevolence hath as great enjoyment as the man of ambition; they both equally having the end their affections, in the same degree, tended to: but in case of disappointment, the benevolent man has clearly the advantage; since endeavoring to do good, considered as a virtuous pursuit, is gratified by its own consciousness, i. e. is in a degree its own reward.

And as to these two, or benevolence and any other particular passions whatever, considered in a further view, as forming a general temper, which more or less disposes us for enjoyment of all the common blessings of life, distinct from their own gratification: is benevolence less the temper of tranquillity and freedom, than ambition or covetousness? Does the benevolent man appear less easy with himself, from his love to his neighbor? Does he less relish his being? Is there any peculiar gloom seated on his face? Is his mind less open to entertainment, to any particular gratification? Nothing is more manifest, than that being in good humor, which is benevolence whilst it lasts, is itself the temper of satisfaction and enjoyment.

Suppose then a man sitting down to consider, how he might become most easy to himself, and attain the greatest pleasure he could; all that which is his real natural happiness: this can only consist in the enjoyment of those objects, which are by nature adapted to our several faculties. These particular enjoyments make up the sum total of our happiness; and they are supposed to arise from riches, honors, and the gratification of sensual appetites. Be it so: yet none profess themselves so completely happy in these enjoyments, but that there is room left in the mind for others, if they were presented to them: nay, these, as much as they engage us, are not thought so high, but that human nature is capable even of greater. Now there have been persons in all ages, who have professed that they found satisfaction in the exercise of charity, in the love of their neighbor, in endeavoring to promote the happiness of all they had to do with, and in the pursuit of what is just, and right, and good, as the general bent of their mind, and end of their life; and that doing an action of baseness or cruelty, would be as great violence to their self, as much breaking in upon their nature, as any external force. Persons of this character would add, if they might be heard, that they consider themselves as acting in the view of an infinite Being, who is in a much higher sense the object of reverence and of love, than all the world besides; and, therefore, they could have no more enjoyment from a wicked action done under his eye, than the persons to whom they are making their apology could, if all mankind were the spectators of it; and that the satisfaction of approving themselves to his unerring judgment, to whom they thus refer all their actions, is a more continued, settled satisfaction than any this world can afford; as also that they have, no less than others, a mind free and open to all the common innocent gratifications of it, such as they are. And, if we go no further, does there appear any absurdity in this? Will anyone take upon him to say, that a man cannot find his account in this general course of life, as much as in the most unbounded ambition, and the excesses of pleasure? Or that such a person has not consulted so well for himself, for the satisfaction and peace of his own mind, as the ambitious or dissolute man? And though the consideration, that God himself will in the end justify their taste, and support their cause, is not formally to be insisted upon here; yet thus much comes in, that all enjoyments whatever are much more clear and unmixed, from the assurance that they will end well. Is it certain, then, that there is nothing in these pretensions to happiness? especially when there are not wanting persons, who have supported themselves with satisfactions of this kind in sickness, poverty, disgrace, and in the very pangs of death; whereas it is manifest all other enjoyments fail in these circumstances. This surely looks suspicious of having somewhat in it. Self-love, methinks, should be alarmed. May she not possibly pass over greater pleasures, than those she is so wholly taken up with?

The short of the matter is no more than this. Happiness consists in the gratification of certain affections, appetites, passions, with objects which are by nature adapted to them. Self-love may indeed set us on work to gratify these. But happiness or enjoyment has no immediate connexion with self-love, but arises from such gratifications alone. Love of our neighbor is one of those affections. This, considered as a virtuous principle, is gratified by a consciousness of endeavoring to promote the good of others; but, considered as a natural affection, its gratification consists in the actual accomplishment of this endeavor. Now, indulgence or gratification of this affection, whether in that consciousness, or this accomplishment, has the same respect to interest, as indulgence of any other affection; they equally proceed from, or do not proceed from self-love; they equally include, or equally exclude, this principle. Thus it appears, that "benevolence and the pursuit of public good hath at least as great respect to self-love and the pursuit of private good, as any other particular passions, and their respective pursuits."

Neither is covetousness, whether as a temper or a pursuit, any exception to this. For if by covetousness is meant the desire and pursuit of riches for their own sake, without any regard to, or consideration of the uses of them; this hath as little to do with self-love, as benevolence hath. But by this word is usually meant, not such madness and total distraction of mind, but immoderate affection to and pursuit of riches, as possessions, in order to some further end: namely, satisfaction, interest, or good. This, therefore, is not a particular affection, or particular pursuit, but it is the general principle of self-love, and the general pursuit of our own interest; for which reason, the word selfish is by everyone appropriated to this temper and pursuit. Now, as it is ridiculous, to assert, that self-love and the love of our neighbor are the same; so neither is it asserted, that following these different affections hath the same tendency and respect to our own interest. The comparison is not between self-love and the love of our neighbor; between pursuit of our own interest, and the interest of others; but between the several particular affections in human nature towards external objects, as one part of the comparison: and the one particular affection to the good of our neighbor, as the one part of it: and it has been shown, that all these have the same respect to self-love and private interest.

There is indeed frequently an inconsistence, or interfering, between self-love or private interest, and the several particular appetites, passions, affections, or the pursuits they lead to. But this competition or interfering is merely accidental; and happens much oftener between pride, revenge, sensual gratifications, and private interest, than between private interest and benevolence. For nothing is more common, than to see men give themselves up to a passion or an affection to their own prejudice and ruin, and in direct contradiction to manifest and real interest, and the loudest calls of self-love: whereas the seeming competitions and interfering between benevolence and private interest, relate much more to the materials or means of enjoyment, than to enjoyment itself. There is often an interfering in the former, when there is none in the latter. Thus, as to riches: so much money as a man gives away, so much less will remain in his possession. Here is a real interfering. But though a man cannot possibly give without less lessening his fortune, yet there are multitudes might give without lessening their own enjoyment; because they say have more than they can turn to any real use or advantage to themselves. Thus, the more thought and time any one employs about the interests and good of others, he must necessarily have less to attend his own; but he may have so ready and large a supply of his own wants, that such thought might be really useless to himself, though of great service and assistance to others.

The general mistake, that there is some greater inconsistence between endeavoring to promote the good of another and self-interest, than between self-interest and pursuing any thing else, seems, as hath already been hinted, to arise from our notions of property; and to be carried on by this property's being supposed to be itself our happiness or good. People are so very much taken up with this one subject, that they seem from it to have formed a general way of thinking, which they apply to other things that they have nothing to do with. Hence, in a confused and slight way, it might well be taken for granted, that another's having no interest in an affection, ( i. e. his good not being the object of it) renders, as one may speak, the proprietor's interest in it greater; and that if another had an interest in it, this would render his less, or occasion that such affection could not be so friendly to self-love, or conducive to private good, as an affection or pursuit which bas not a regard to the good of another. This, I say, might be taken for granted, whilst it was not attended to, that the object of every particular affection is equally somewhat external to ourselves: and whether it be the good of another person, or whether it be any other external thing, makes no alteration with regard to its being one's own affection, and the gratification of it one's own private enjoyment. And so far as it is taken for granted, that barely having the means and materials of enjoyment is what constitutes interest and happiness; that our interest or good consists in possessions themselves, in having the property of riches, houses lands, gardens, not in the enjoyment of them; so far it will even more strongly be taken for granted, in the way already explained, that an affection's conducing to the good of another, must even necessarily occasion it to conduce less to private good, if not to be positively detrimental to it. For, if property and happiness are one and the same thing, as by increasing the property of another, you lessen your own property, so by promoting the happiness of another, you must lessen your own happiness. But whatever occasioned the mistake, I hope it has been fully proved to be one; as it has been proved, that there is no peculiar rivalship or competition between self-love and benevolence; that as there may be a competition between these two, so there may also between any particular affection whatever and self-love; that every particular affection, benevolence among the rest, is subservient to self-love, by being the instrument of private enjoyment; and that in one respect benevolence contributes more to private interest, i. e. enjoyment or satisfaction, than any other of the particular common affections, as it is in a degree its own gratification.

And to all these things may be added, that religion, from whence arises our strongest obligation to benevolence, is so far from disowning the principle of self-love, that it often addresses itself to that very principle, and always to the mind in that state when reason presides; and there call no access be had to the understanding, but by convincing men, that the course of life we would persuade them to is not contrary to their interest. It may be allowed, without any prejudice to the cause of virtue and religion, that our ideas of happiness and misery are, of all our ideas, the nearest and most important to us; that they will, nay, if you please, that they ought to prevail over those of order, and beauty, and harmony, and proportion, if there should ever be, as it is impossible there ever should be, any inconsistency between them; though these last, too, as expressing the fitness of actions, are real as truth itself. Let it be allowed, though virtue or moral rectitude does indeed consist in affection to and pursuit of what is right and good, as such: yet that, when we sit down in a cool hour, we can neither justify to ourselves this or any other pursuit, till we are convinced that it will be for our happiness, or, at least, not contrary to it.

Common reason and humanity will have some influence upon mankind, whatever becomes of speculations: but, so far as the interests of virtue depend upon the theory of it being secured from open scorn, so far its very being in the world depends upon its appearing to have no contrariety to private interest and self-love. The foregoing observations, therefore, it is hoped, may have gained a little ground in favor of the precept before us, the particular explanation of which shall be the subject of the next discourse.

I will conclude, at present, with observing the peculiar obligation which we are under to virtue and religion, as enforced in the verses following the text, in the epistle for the day, from our Saviour's coming into the world. "The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light," &c. The meaning and force of which exhortation is, that Christianity lays us under new obligations to a good life, as by it the will of God is more clearly revealed, and as it affords additional motives to the practice of it, over and above those which arise out of the nature of virtue and vice; I might add, as our Saviour has set us a perfect example of goodness in our own nature. Now, love and charity is plainly the thing in which he hath placed his religion; in which, therefore, as we have any pretence to the name of Christians, we must place ours. He hath at once enjoined it upon us by the way of command, with peculiar force; and by his example, as having undertaken the work of our salvation, out of pure love and good will to mankind. The endeavor to set home this example upon our minds, is a very proper employment of this season, which is bringing on the festival of his birth; which, as it may teach us many excellent lessons of humility, resignation, and obedience to the will of God; so there is none it recommends with greater authority, force, and advantage, than this of love and charity; since it was "for us men, and for our salvation, that he came down from heaven, and was incarnate, and was made man;" that he might teach us our duty, and more especially that he might enforce the practice of it, reform mankind, and finally bring us to that "eternal salvation, of which he is the Author to all those that obey him."
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Project Canterbury

== Bibliographic Information ==

Original title as printed or transcribed by Project Canterbury: ''Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, by Joseph Butler (1827 edition)''

1827

== Source and Attribution ==

This text was retrieved from Project Canterbury on 2026-10-19T21:48:59+00:00. Original source: [https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/11.html https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/11.html]

Author: Joseph Butler

Transcriber or editor: LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005

Rights clearance: AnglicanWiki publication permission confirmed by the project owner, citing permission from the Bishop Payne Library, 2026-10-19.

Sermon X: Upon Self-Deceit

2026-10-20T01:48:26Z

SteveMacias: Create rights-cleared Project Canterbury transcription of Joseph Butler's Rolls Chapel sermon

'''Sermon X: Upon Self-Deceit'''

''Joseph Butler (1692–1752), from ''Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel'' (1827 edition).''

'''Source:''' [https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/10.html Project Canterbury]

'''Transcription:''' LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005

'''Rights:''' Transcribed by LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005.

== Original Text ==

Project Canterbury

Sermons

Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel

By Joseph Butler

Cambridge: Published by Hilliard and Brown; Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little, and Wilkins, 1827.

Transcribed by LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005.

Sermon X. Upon Self-Deceit--2 Sam. xii. 7

And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.

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These words are the application of Nathan's parable to David, upon occasion of his adultery with Bathsheba, and the murder of Uriah her husband. The parable, which is related in the most beautiful simplicity, is this: [Verse 1.] "There were two men in one city; the one rich, the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat; and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and be spared to take of his own flock, and of his own herd, to dress for the way-faring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die. And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity." David passes sentence, not only that there should be a fourfold restitution made, but he proceeds to the rigor of justice, "The man that hath done this thing shall die:" and this judgment is pronounced with the utmost indignation against such an act of inhumanity: "As the Lord liveth, he shall surely die: and his anger was greatly kindled against the man." And the prophet answered, "Thou art the man." He had been guilty of much greater inhumanity, with the utmost deliberation, thought, and contrivance. Near a year must have passed, between the time of the commission of his crimes and the time of the prophet's coming to him; and it does not appear from the story, that he had in all this while the least remorse or contrition.

There is not any thing, relating to men and characters, more surprising and unaccountable than this partiality to themselves, which is observable in many; as there is nothing of more melancholy reflection, respecting morality, virtue, and religion. Hence it is that many men seem perfect strangers to their own characters. They think, and reason, and judge quite differently upon any matter relating to themselves, from what they do in cases of others where they are not interested. Hence it is one hears people exposing follies, which they themselves are eminent for; and talking with great severity against particular vices, which, if all the world be not mistaken, they themselves are notoriously guilty of. This self-ignorance and self-partiality may be in all different degrees. It is a lower degree of it, which David himself refers to in these words, "Who can tell how oft he offendeth: O cleanse thou me from my secret faults." This is the ground of that advice of Elihu to Job: "Surely it is meet to be said unto God,--That which I see not, teach thou me; if I have done iniquity, I will do no more." And Solomon saw this thing in a very strong light when he said, "He that trusteth his own heart is a fool." This likewise was the reason why that precept, " Know thyself," was so frequently inculcated by the philosophers of old. For if it was not for that partial and fond regard to ourselves, it would certainly be no great difficulty to know our own character, what passes within the bent and bias of our mind; much less would there be any difficulty in judging rightly of our own actions. But from this partiality it frequently comes to pass, that the observation of many men's being themselves last of all acquainted with what falls out in their own families, may be applied to a nearer home, to what passes within their own breasts.

There is plainly, in the generality of mankind, an absence of doubt or distrust, in a very great measure, as to their moral character and behaviour; and likewise a disposition to take for granted, that all is right and well with them in these respects. The former is owing to their not reflecting, not exercising their judgment upon themselves; the latter, to self-love. I am not speaking of that extravagance, which is sometimes to be met with; instances of persons declaring in words at length, that they never were in the wrong, nor had ever any diffidence of the justness of their conduct, in their whole lives: no, these people are too far gone to have any thing said to them. The thing before us is indeed of this kind, but in a lower degree, and confined to the moral character; somewhat of which we almost all of us have, without reflecting upon it. Now, consider how long, and how grossly, a person of the best understanding might be imposed upon by one of whom he had not any suspicion, and in whom he placed an entire confidence; especially if there were friendship and real kindness in the case: surely this holds even stronger with respect to that self we are all so fond of. Hence arises in men a disregard of reproof and instruction, rules of conduct and moral discipline, which occasionally come in their way: a disregard, I say, of these, not in every respect, but in this single one, namely, as what may be of service to them in particular towards mending their own hearts and tempers, and making them better men. It never in earnest comes into their thoughts, whether such admonitions may not relate, and be of service to themselves; and this quite distinct from a positive persuasion to the contrary, a persuasion from reflection that they are innocent and blameless in those respects. Thus we may invert the observation which is somewhere made upon Brutus, that he never read but in order to make himself a better man. It scarce comes into the thoughts of the generality of mankind that this use is to be made of moral reflections which they meet with; that this use, I say, is to be made of them by themselves, for every body observes and wonders that it is not done by others.

Further, there are instances of persons having so fixed and steady an eye upon their own interest, whatever they place it in, and the interest of those whom they consider as themselves, as in a manner to regard nothing else; their views are almost confined to this alone. Now, we cannot be acquainted with, or in any propriety of speech be said to know any thing but what we attend to. If, therefore, they attend only to one side, they really will not, cannot see or know what is to be alleged on the other. Though a man hath the best eyes in the world, he cannot see any way but that which he turns them. Thus these persons, without passing over the least, the most minute thing which can possibly be urged in favor of themselves, shall overlook entirely the plainest and most obvious things on the other side. And whilst they are under the power of this temper, thought, and consideration upon the matter before them, has scarce any tendency to set them right; because they are engaged; and their deliberation concerning an action to be done, or reflection upon it afterwards, is not to see whether it be right, but to find out reasons to justify or palliate it; palliate it, not to others, but to themselves.

In some there is to be observed a general ignorance of themselves, and wrong way of thinking and judging in every thing relating to themselves; their fortune, reputation, every thing in which self can come in; and this perhaps attended with the rightest judgment in all other matters. In others, this partiality is not so general, has not taken hold of the whole man, but confined to some particular favorite passion, interest, pursuit: suppose ambition, covetousness, or any other. And these persons may probably judge and determine what is perfectly just and proper, even in things in which they themselves are concerned, if these things have no relation to their particular favorite passion or pursuit. Hence arises that amazing incongruity; and seeming inconsistency of character, from whence slight observers take it for granted, that the whole is hypocritical and false; not being able otherwise to reconcile the several parts: whereas, in truth, there is real honesty, so far as it goes. There is such a thing as men's being honest to such a degree, and in such respects, but no further. And this, as it is true, so it is absolutely necessary to be taken notice of, and allowed them; such general and undistinguishing censure of their whole character, as designing and false, being one main thing which confirms them in their self-deceit. They know that the whole censure is not true, and so take it for granted that no part of it is.

But to go on with the explanation of the thing itself: Vice in general consists in having an unreasonable and too great regard to ourselves, in comparison of others. Robbery and murder is never from the love of injustice or cruelty, but to gratify some other passion, to gain some supposed advantage: and it is false selfishness alone, whether cool or passionate, which makes a man resolutely pursue that end, be it ever so much to the injury of another. But whereas, in common and ordinary wickedness, this unreasonableness, this partiality and selfishness, relates only, or chiefly, to the temper and passions; in the characters we are now considering, it reaches to the understanding, and influences the very judgment. [That peculiar regard for ourselves which frequently produces this partiality of judgment in our own favor, may have a quite contrary effect, and occasion the utmost diffidence and distrust of ourselves; were it only, as it may set us upon a more frequent and strict survey and review of our own character and behaviour. This search or recollection itself implies somewhat of diffidence; and the discoveries we make, what is brought to our view, may possibly increase it. Good will to another may either blind our judgment, so as to make us overlook his faults; or it may put us upon exercising that judgment with greater strictness, to see whether he is so faultless and perfect as we wish him. If that peculiar regard to ourselves leads us to examine our own character with this greater severity, in order really to improve and grow better, it is the most commendable turn of mind possible, and can scarce be to excess. But if, as every thing hath its counterfeit, we are so much employed about ourselves, in order to disguise what is amiss, and to make a better appearance; or if our attention to ourselves has chiefly this effect, it is liable to run up into the greatest weakness and excess, and is, like all other excesses, its own disappointment; for scarce any show themselves to advantage, who are over solicitous of doing so.] And, besides that general want of distrust and diffidence concerning our own character, there are, you see, two things, which may thus prejudice and darken the understanding itself: that over-fondness for ourselves, which we are all so liable to; and also being under the power of any particular passion or appetite, or engaged in any particular pursuit. And these, especially the last of the two, may be in so great a degree as to influence our judgment, even of other persons and their behaviour. Thus a man, whose temper is formed to ambition or covetousness, shall even approve of them sometimes in others.

This seems to be in a good measure the account of self-partiality and self-deceit, when traced up to its original. Whether it be, or be not, thought satisfactory, that there is such a thing is manifest; and that it is the occasion of great part of the unreasonable behaviour of men towards each other: that by means of it they palliate their vices and follies to themselves: and that it prevents their applying to themselves those reproofs and instructions, which they meet with either in Scripture or in moral and religious discourses, though exactly suitable to the state of their own mind, and the course of their behaviour. There is one thing further to be added here, that the temper we distinguish by hardness of heart with respect to others, joined with this self-partiality, will carry a man almost any lengths of wickedness, in the way of oppression, hard usage of others; and even to plain injustice, without his having, from what appears, any real sense at all of it. This indeed was not the general character of David; for he plainly gave scope to the affections of compassion and good will, as well as to his passions of another kind.

But as some occasions and circumstances lie more open to this self-deceit, and give it greater scope and opportunities than others, these require to be particularly mentioned.

It is to be observed then, that as there are express determinate acts of wickedness, such as murder, adultery, theft; so, on the other hand, there are numberless cases in which the vice and wickedness cannot be exactly defined, but consists ill a certain general temper and course of action, or in the neglect of some duty, suppose charity or any other, whose bounds and degrees are not fixed. This is the very province of self-deceit and self-partiality: Here it governs without check or control. "For what commandment is there broken? Is there a transgression where there is no law? A vice which cannot be defined?"

Whoever will consider the whole commerce of human life will see, that a great part, perhaps the greatest part, of the intercourse amongst mankind, cannot be reduced to fixed determinate rules. Yet in these cases, there is a right and a wrong: a merciful, a liberal, a kind and compassionate behaviour, which surely is our duty; and an unmerciful contracted spirit, a hard and oppressive course of behaviour, which is most certainly immoral and vicious. But who can define precisely wherein that contracted spirit and hard usage of others consist, as murder and theft may be defined? There is not a word in our language which expresses more detestable wickedness than oppression: yet the nature of this vice cannot be so exactly stated, nor the bounds of it so, determinately marked, as that we shall be able to say, in all instances, where rigid right and justice ends, and oppression begins. In these cases, there is great latitude left for everyone to determine for, and consequently to deceive himself. It is chiefly in these cases, that self. deceit comes in; as everyone must see, that there is much larger scope for it here, than in express, single, determinate acts of wickedness. However it comes in with respect to the circumstances attending the most gross and determinate acts of wickedness. Of this, the story of David, now before us, affords the most astonishing instance. It is really prodigious, to see a man, before so remarkable for virtue and piety, going on deliberately from adultery to murder, with the same cool contrivance, and, from what appears, with as little disturbance, as a man would endeavor to prevent the ill consequences of a mistake he had made in any common matter. That total insensibility of mind, with respect to those horrid crimes, after the commission of them, manifestly shows that he did some way or other delude himself: and this could not be with respect to the crimes themselves, they were so manifestly of the grossest kind. What the particular circumstances were, with which he extenuated them, and quieted and deceived himself, is not related.

Having thus explained the nature of internal hypocrisy and self-deceit, and remarked the occasions upon which it exerts itself, there are several things further to be observed concerning it: that all of the sources to which it was traced up, are sometimes observable together in one and the same person; but that one of them is more remarkable, and to a higher degree, in some, and others of them are so in others: that, in general, it is a complicated thing, and may be in all different degrees and kinds: that the temper itself is essentially in its own nature vicious and immoral. It is unfairness, it is dishonesty, it is falseness of heart; arid is, therefore, so far from extenuating guilt, that it is itself the greatest of all guilt in proportion to the degree it prevails; for it is a corruption of the whole moral character in its principle. Our understanding, and sense of good and evil, is the light and guide of life: "If, therefore, this light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness?" [Matt. vi. 23.] For this reason our Saviour puts an evil eye as the direct opposite to a single eye; the absence of that simplicity, which these last words imply, being itself evil and vicious. And whilst men are under the power of this temper, in proportion still to the degree they are so, they are fortified on every side against conviction: and when they hear the vice and folly of what is in truth their own course of life, exposed in the justest and strongest manner, they will often assent to it, and even carry the matter further; persuading themselves, one does not know bow, but some way or other persuading themselves, that they are out of the case, and that it hath no relation to them. Yet, notwithstanding this, there frequently appears a suspicion, that all is not right, as it should be; and perhaps there is always at bottom somewhat of this sort. There are doubtless many instances of the ambitious, the revengeful, the covetous, and those whom, with too great indulgence, we only call the men of pleasure, who will not allow themselves to think how guilty they are, who explain and argue away their guilt to themselves; and though they do really impose upon themselves, in some measure, yet there are none of them but have, if not a proper knowledge, yet at least an implicit suspicion, where the weakness lies, and what part of their behaviour they have reason to wish unknown or forgotten for ever. Truth, and real good sense, and thorough integrity, carry along with them a peculiar consciousness of their own genuineness: there is a feeling belonging to them, which does not accompany their counterfeits, error, folly, half-honesty, partial and slight regards to virtue and right, so far only as they are consistent with that course of gratification which men happen to beset upon. And, if this be the case, it is much the same as if we should suppose a man to have had a general view of some scene, enough to satisfy him that it was very disagreeable, and then to shut his eyes, that he might not have particular or distinct view of its several deformities. It is as easy to close the eyes of the mind as those of the body: and the former is more frequently done with wilfulness, and yet not attended to, than tile latter; the actions of the mind being more quick and transient than those of the senses. This may be further illustrated by another thing observable in ordinary life. It is not uncommon for persons, who run out their fortunes, entirely to neglect looking into the state of their affairs, and this from a general knowledge that the condition of them is bad. These extravagant people are perpetually ruined before they themselves expected it: and they tell you for an excuse, and tell you truly, that they did not think they were so much in debt, or that their expenses so far exceeded their income. And yet no one will take this for an excuse, who is sensible that their ignorance of their particular circumstances was owing to their general knowledge of them; that is, their general knowledge that matters were not well with them, prevented their looking into particulars. There is somewhat of the like kind with this in respect to morals, virtue, and religion. Men find that the survey of themselves, their own heart and temper, their own life and behaviour, doth not afford them satisfaction; things are not as they should be, therefore they turn away, will not go over particulars, or look deeper, lest they should find more amiss. For who would choose to be put out of humor with himself? No one, surely, if it were not in order to amend, and to be more thoroughly and better pleased with himself for the future.

If this sincere self-enjoyment and home-satisfaction be thought desirable, and worth some pains and diligence, the following reflections will, I suppose, deserve your attention; as what may be of service and assistance to all who are in any measure honestly disposed, for avoiding that fatal self-deceit, and towards getting acquainted with themselves.

The first is, that those who have never had any suspicion of, who have never made allowances for this weakness in themselves, who have never (if I may be allowed such a manner of speaking) caught themselves in it, may almost take it for granted that they have been very much misled by it. For consider: nothing is more manifest, than that affection and passion of all kinds influence the judgment. Now. as we have naturally a greater regard to ourselves than to others, as the private affection is more prevalent than the public, the former will have proportionally a greater influence upon the judgment, upon our way of considering things. People are not backward in owning this partiality of judgment, in cases of friendship and natural relation. The reason is obvious why it is not so readily acknowledged, when the interest that misleads us is more confined, confined to ourselves: but we all take notice of it in each other in these cases. There is not any observation more common, than that there is no judging of a matter from hearing only one side. This is not founded upon supposition, at least it is not always, of a formed design in the realter to deceive: for it holds in cases where he expects that the whole will be told over again by the other side. But the supposition, which this observation is founded upon, is the very thing now before us; namely, that men are exceedingly prone to deceive themselves, and judge too favorably in every respect, where themselves, and their own interest, are concerned. Thus, though we have not the least reason to suspect that such an interested person hath any intention to deceive us, yet we of course make great allowances for his having deceived himself. If this be general, almost universal, it is prodigious that every man can think himself an exception, and that he is free from this self-partiality. The direct contrary is the truth. Every man may take for granted that he has a great deal of it, till, from the strictest observation upon himself, he finds particular reason to think otherwise.

Secondly, there is one easy and almost sure way to avoid being misled by this self-partiality, and to get acquainted with our real. character: to have regard to the suspicious part of it, and keep a steady eye over ourselves in that respect. Suppose then a man fully satisfied with himself, and his own behaviour. such a one, if you please, as the Pharisee in the gospel, or a better man--Well, but allowing this good opinion you have of yourself to be true, yet everyone is liable to be misrepresented. Suppose then an enemy were to set about defaming you, what part of your character would he single out? What particular scandal, think you, would he be most likely to fix upon you? And what would the world be most ready to believe? There is scarce a man living but could, from the most transient superficial view of himself, answer this question. What is that ill thing, that faulty behaviour, which I am apprehensive an enemy, who was thoroughly acquainted with me, would be most likely to lay to my charge, and which the world would be most apt to believe? It is indeed possible that a man may not be guilty in that respect. All that I say is, let him in plainness and honesty fix upon that part of his character for a particular survey and reflection; and by this he will come to be acquainted, whether he be guilty or innocent in that respect, and how far he is one or the other.

Thirdly, It would very much prevent our being misled by this self-partiality, to reduce, that practical rule of our Saviour, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, even so do unto them," to our judgment and way of thinking. This rule, you see, consists of two parts. One is, to substitute another for yourself, when you take a survey of any part of your behaviour, or consider what is proper and fit and reasonable for you to do upon any occasion: the other part is, that you substitute yourself in the room of another; consider yourself as the person affected by such a behaviour, or towards whom such an action is done; and then you would not only see, but likewise feel, the reasonableness, or unreasonableness of such an action or behaviour. But, alas! the rule itself may be dishonestly applied: there are persons who have not impartiality enough with respect to themselves, nor regard enough for others, to be able to make a just application of it. This just application, if men would honestly make it, is, in effect, all that I have been recommending: it is the whole thing, the direct contrary to that inward dishonesty as respecting our intercourse with our fellow-creatures. And even the bearing this rule in their thoughts may be of some service: the attempt thus to apply it, is an attempt towards being fair and impartial, and may chance unawares to show them to themselves, to show them the truth of the case they are considering.

Upon the whole it is manifest, that there is such a thing as this self-partiality and self-deceit: that in some persons it is to a degree which would be thought incredible, were not the instances before our eyes; of which the behaviour of David is perhaps the highest possible one, in a single particular case; for there is not the least appearance, that it reached his general character: that we are almost all of us influenced by it in some degree, and in some respects: that, therefore, everyone ought to have an eye to, and beware of it. And all that I have further to add upon this subject is, that either there is a difference between right and wrong, or there is not: religion is true, or it is not. If it be not, there is no reason for any concern about it: but if it be true, it requires real fairness of mind and honesty of heart. And if people will be wicked, they had better of the two be so from the common vicious passions without such refinements, than from this deep and calm source of delusion; which undermines the whole principle of good; darkens that light, that "candle of the Lord within," which is to direct our steps; and corrupts conscience, which is the guide of life.
</blockquote>

Project Canterbury

== Bibliographic Information ==

Original title as printed or transcribed by Project Canterbury: ''Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, by Joseph Butler (1827 edition)''

1827

== Source and Attribution ==

This text was retrieved from Project Canterbury on 2026-10-19T21:48:55+00:00. Original source: [https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/10.html https://anglicanhistory.org/butler/rolls/10.html]

Author: Joseph Butler

Transcriber or editor: LeRoy Dagg, 2002 Reproduced with permission of the Bishop Payne Library, Virginia Theological Seminary, 2005

Rights clearance: AnglicanWiki publication permission confirmed by the project owner, citing permission from the Bishop Payne Library, 2026-10-19.

Psalm 11 (1928 BCP)

2026-10-20T01:47:57Z

SteveMacias: Revise Psalm 11 with complete Psalter text and verified Anglican commentary

'''Psalm 11 (1928 BCP)''' is a confession of trust when counsel of flight meets the threat of violence. In the [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]], it completes the Psalms appointed for Morning Prayer on the second day of the month (Psalms 9–11). Its movement is deliberate: the speaker refuses panic, names the assault on the upright, and confesses that the Lord sees, tests, judges, and loves righteousness.

== Text in the 1928 Psalter ==
The 1928 Psalter gives the Latin opening ''In Domino confido''. The text below has been compared word for word with the local 1928 transcription at ''sources/justus1928/Psalms1.htm'', including the Prayer Book's verse division and asterisks.

<blockquote>
IN the LORD put I my trust; * how say ye then to my soul, that she should flee as a bird unto the hill? 
2 For lo, the ungodly bend their bow, and make ready their arrows within the quiver, * that they may privily shoot at them which are true of heart. 
3 If the foundations be destroyed, * what can the righteous do? 
4 The LORD is in his holy temple; * the LORD'S seat is in heaven.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''The Psalter'', Psalm 11, “The Second Day,” Morning Prayer, pp. 353–354; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

<blockquote>
5 His eyes consider the poor, * and his eyelids try the children of men. 
6 The LORD approveth the righteous: * but the ungodly, and him that delighteth in wickedness, doth his soul abhor. 
7 Upon the ungodly he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, storm and tempest: * this shall be their portion to drink. 
8 For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; * his countenance will behold the thing that is just.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''The Psalter'', Psalm 11, “The Second Day,” Morning Prayer, pp. 353–354; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Trust when the foundations shake ==
“Flee as a bird” is counsel offered to a soul under threat, not a romantic picture of retreat. The Psalm first faces what the threatened person sees: weapons prepared in secret and foundations apparently ruined. Yet verse 4 does not treat God’s heavenly throne as an excuse to ignore earthly fear. It is the ground on which the petitioner can refuse both despair and retaliation. God’s eyes “consider the poor,” a phrase that keeps divine judgment close to those made vulnerable by violence.

The Epistle to the Hebrews gives this posture a Christian articulation: confidence is not bravado but endurance before the God who promises life.

<blockquote>
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Hebrews 10:35–38; [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%2010%3A35-38&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

This does not make the Psalm’s question easier than it is. Instead, it directs the faithful person’s action: continue in the will of God, resist the temptation to abandon trust, and wait for judgment that belongs to God. The final line, “the righteous LORD loveth righteousness,” means that the Psalm’s hope is moral as well as consoling; the faithful are not invited to borrow the oppressor’s weapons.

== Christological and ecclesial reading ==
Augustine’s exposition is rooted in a fourth-century anti-schismatic controversy, so its polemical application should not simply be transferred to every disagreement among Christians. Its central theological insight is nevertheless pertinent: confidence rests in the Lord rather than in a party or an apparently secure human refuge.

<blockquote>
I keep to one mountain wherein I trust, how say ye that I should pass over to you, as if there were many Christs? Or if through pride you say that you are mountains, I had indeed need to be a sparrow winged with the powers and commandments of God: but these very things hinder my flying to these mountains, and placing my trust in proud men.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 11'', §1, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised transcription; [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801011.htm New Advent].</ref>

For Augustine, the first verse is not an invitation to flee from the Church into a supposedly purer enclave; it is a confession that the Lord is the refuge. That historical reading should be held alongside the literal force of the Psalm: prayer is addressed to God amid danger, and the upright remain accountable to the God who sees poor and powerful alike.

John Mason Neale and Richard Frederick Littledale offer a nineteenth-century Anglican medieval and patristic commentary. They identify a traditional Christian reading of the first verse, but it should be received as a theological reading in light of Christ rather than as a replacement for Israel’s own prayer.

<blockquote>
But it is rather the voice of our LORD before His Passion. How say ye then to my soul. “Be it far from Thee, LORD, this shall not happen unto Thee.” Unto the hill. For though for a while, before His time was fully come, He walked in the hill country near the wilderness, yet as soon as the day of His Passion had arrived, the only hill which He sought, was the hill of Calvary.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Mason Neale and Richard Frederick Littledale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 11, p. 168; digitized by the University of Toronto in the [https://archive.org/download/commentaryonpsal01nealuoft/commentaryonpsal01nealuoft.pdf Internet Archive edition].</ref>

The Gospel records Jesus refusing Peter’s attempt to turn him aside from the suffering to which he has been called:

<blockquote>
Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Matthew 16:22–23; [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2016%3A22-23&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

Neale and Littledale’s interpretation therefore turns on Christ’s steadfastness, not on a promise that disciples will avoid suffering. The one who trusts the Lord is freed to obey even where faithfulness is costly, because the Lord’s rule is not overthrown by the apparent destruction of foundations.

== Divine judgment and the poor ==
The Psalm connects the heavenly throne with searching judgment: God considers the poor and tries the children of men. Augustine draws attention to that paired language, treating Scripture’s difficulty and clarity as a discipline for readers rather than an occasion for pride.

<blockquote>
For these, by certain obscure passages of Scripture, as it were the closed eyes of God, are exercised that they may seek: and again, by certain clear passages, as it were the open eyes of God, are enlightened that they may rejoice.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 11'', §8, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised transcription; [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801011.htm New Advent].</ref>

The image is Augustine’s, not a lexical claim about the Hebrew Psalm. It can still help Prayer Book readers resist two opposite mistakes: presuming that obscure passages license private certainty, and supposing that difficulty removes Scripture from the Church’s prayer. Psalm 11 calls for the humility of people who are themselves examined by the Lord.

The New Testament gives the Church a similarly searching rule for its conduct under hostility:

<blockquote>
Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Romans 12:17–19; [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2012%3A17-19&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

Thus the Psalm’s severe images of judgment are not authorization for private revenge. In the Daily Office they train the Church to name evil truthfully, seek protection for the poor, and entrust final judgment to the righteous Lord.

== Prayer in the Daily Office ==
Psalm 11 is appointed after Psalms 9 and 10 at the second day’s Morning Prayer. In sequence, Psalm 9 praises God’s judgment, Psalm 10 laments the apparent success of oppression, and Psalm 11 answers the counsel of panic with trust in the Lord’s throne and justice. The Office therefore makes Psalm 11 corporate prayer, not merely a text for individual reassurance. After the psalmody, the Prayer Book supplies the ancient doxology:

<blockquote>
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''The Order for Daily Morning Prayer'', doxology after the Psalms; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The doxology does not soften the Psalm’s concern for the poor or its realism about violence. It places the plea within praise of the Triune God, whose enduring righteousness is the reason that confidence is possible.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 9 (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 10 (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm The 1928 Psalter, Psalms 1–50, Society of Archbishop Justus]
* [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801011.htm Augustine, ''Exposition on Psalm 11'']
* [https://archive.org/download/commentaryonpsal01nealuoft/commentaryonpsal01nealuoft.pdf Neale and Littledale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms'', vol. 1]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Psalter]]
[[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Psalm 10 (1928 BCP)

2026-10-20T01:19:04Z

SteveMacias: Revise Psalm 10 with complete Psalter text and verified Anglican commentary

'''Psalm 10 (1928 BCP)''' is a prayer against the apparently secure power of the wicked and for God's justice for the poor, the fatherless, and the oppressed. In the [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]], it is appointed with Psalms 9 and 11 at Morning Prayer on the second day of the month. The psalm does not deny the reality of violence or conceal the felt absence of God; it takes both into prayer and ends by confessing the Lord as king and judge.

== Text in the 1928 Psalter ==
The 1928 Psalter gives the Latin opening ''Ut quid, Domine?'' The text below has been compared word for word with the local 1928 transcription at ''sources/justus1928/Psalms1.htm'', including the Prayer Book's verse division and asterisks.

<blockquote>
WHY standest thou so far off, O LORD, * and hidest thy face in the needful time of trouble? 
2 The ungodly, for his own lust, doth persecute the poor: * let them be taken in the crafty wiliness that they have imagined. 
3 For the ungodly hath made boast of his own heart's desire, * and speaketh good of the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth. 
4 The ungodly is so proud, that he careth not for God, * neither is God in all his thoughts. 
5 His ways are alway grievous; * thy judgments are far above out of his sight, and therefore defieth he all his enemies. 
6 For he hath said in his heart, Tush, I shall never be cast down, * there shall no harm happen unto me. 
7 His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and fraud; * under his tongue is ungodliness and vanity.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''The Psalter'', Psalm 10, “The Second Day,” Morning Prayer; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

<blockquote>
8 He sitteth lurking in the thievish corners of the streets, * and privily in his lurking dens doth he murder the innocent; his eyes are set against the poor. 
9 For he lieth waiting secretly; even as a lion lurketh he in his den, * that he may ravish the poor. 
10 He doth ravish the poor, * when he getteth him into his net. 
11 He falleth down, and humbleth himself, * that the congregation of the poor may fall into the hands of his captains. 
12 He hath said in his heart, Tush, God hath forgotten; * he hideth away his face, and he will never see it. 
13 Arise, O LORD God, and lift up thine hand; * forget not the poor. 
14 Wherefore should the wicked blaspheme God, * while he doth say in his heart, Tush, thou God carest not for it?
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''The Psalter'', Psalm 10, “The Second Day,” Morning Prayer; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

<blockquote>
15 Surely thou hast seen it; * for thou beholdest ungodliness and wrong, that thou mayest take the matter into thy hand. 
16 The poor committeth himself unto thee; * for thou art the helper of the friendless. 
17 Break thou the power of the ungodly and malicious; * search out his ungodliness, until thou find none. 
18 The LORD is King for ever and ever, * and the heathen are perished out of the land. 
19 LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the poor; * thou preparest their heart, and thine ear hearkeneth thereto; 
20 To help the fatherless and poor unto their right, * that the man of the earth be no more exalted against them.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''The Psalter'', Psalm 10, “The Second Day,” Morning Prayer; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Lament, pride, and the poor ==
The first question—“Why standest thou so far off?”—is not a detached speculation. It is uttered while the poor are persecuted, deceived, and caught in a net. The psalm makes a moral diagnosis of evil: it boasts, blesses covetousness, thinks it cannot be moved, and assumes that God neither sees nor requires an account. Its answer is not permission for private vengeance. The petitioner asks God to arise, to see, and to judge for those who cannot secure justice for themselves.

Jesus' blessing gives a New Testament horizon for the psalm's repeated concern for the poor. It names a kingdom promised to those who know their need before God, rather than a worldly program that simply transfers power from one party to another.

<blockquote>
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Matthew 5:3–6; [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205%3A3-6&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

The psalm's “poor” include people exposed to concrete wrong, while the beatitudes also direct every worshipper away from self-sufficiency. Together they prevent a reader from making the Psalm's enemies into a convenient name for personal opponents. The prayer is for righteousness, mercy, and God's judgment, not for the speaker's own ascendancy.

== A Christian reading of delayed judgment ==
Augustine treats the opening cry as a question about delay in tribulation. His reading does not make suffering unreal; rather, it says that the longing created by trouble can turn the heart toward the life that God gives.

<blockquote>
“Why, O Lord,” says he, “have You withdrawn afar off?” Then he who thus inquired, as if all on a sudden he understood, or as if he asked, though he knew, that he might teach, adds, “You despise in due seasons, in tribulations:” that is, You despise seasonably, and causest tribulations to inflame men's minds with longing for Your coming. For that fountain of life is sweeter to them that have much thirst.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 10'', opening exposition, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised by Kevin Knight; [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801010.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

That is an interpretive judgment from a particular patristic tradition, not a denial that the psalm speaks first as Israel's prayer. It can nevertheless illuminate why the Prayer Book retains such an unguarded question in public worship: faith may name the experience of God's distance without ceasing to address God.

Augustine also warns against reading present prosperity as proof that evil has escaped judgment:

<blockquote>
Let no one congratulate the man that prospers in his way, to whose sins no avenger is near, and an approver is by. This is the greater anger of the Lord. For the sinner has angered the Lord, that he should suffer these things, that is, should not suffer the scourging of correction.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 10'', §2, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised by Kevin Knight; [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801010.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

This reading sharpens the contrast in verses 5–6. The wicked person's apparent safety is not the final truth about the world; the Psalm refuses to confuse impunity with innocence.

== Christ, the Church, and patient hope ==
John Mason Neale's nineteenth-century Anglican commentary reads the opening verse in relation to Christ's passion and to the Church's experience of trial. His approach is a traditional Christian or typological reading, and should be distinguished from a claim that Psalm 10 has no historical voice of its own.

<blockquote>
But in the fullest and most bitter sense, our dear LORD might take the whole question on His own lips, as indeed He did in His paraphrase on the Cross, Why standest Thou so far off, O Lord? “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
</blockquote>
<ref>John Mason Neale and Richard Frederick Littledale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 10, p. 159; digitized by the University of Toronto in the [https://archive.org/download/commentaryonpsal01nealuoft/commentaryonpsal01nealuoft.pdf Internet Archive edition].</ref>

Neale's connection is strongest where it preserves the psalm's protest rather than turns it into easy consolation. Christians pray it as those who confess that Christ entered the extremity of suffering, while still asking God to remember those who are poor, fatherless, and wronged.

The last verses move from accusation to trust: “the poor committeth himself unto thee.” Paul gives the corresponding Christian grammar of hope. Hope is neither denial nor possession; it waits for what it does not yet see.

<blockquote>
For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Romans 8:24–25; [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%208%3A24-25&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

== Prayer in the Daily Office ==
The Prayer Book appoints Psalms 9, 10, and 11 for the second morning. Their sequence matters: thanksgiving for God's righteous judgment in Psalm 9 is followed by Psalm 10's unflinching account of oppression and then Psalm 11's confession of trust. Psalm 10 is therefore not an isolated text for private anger, but part of a corporate discipline of praise, lament, and confidence in God's kingship. After psalmody, the Daily Office adds the ancient doxology:

<blockquote>
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''The Order for Daily Morning Prayer'', doxology after the Psalms; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The doxology does not silence the psalm's plea for justice. It places that plea within worship of the Triune God, teaching the Church to speak honestly about evil and to leave final judgment to the Lord who hears the desire of the poor.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 9 (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 11 (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm The 1928 Psalter, Psalms 1–50, Society of Archbishop Justus]
* [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801010.htm Augustine, ''Exposition on Psalm 10'']
* [https://archive.org/download/commentaryonpsal01nealuoft/commentaryonpsal01nealuoft.pdf Neale and Littledale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms'', vol. 1]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Psalter]]
[[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Psalm 9 (1928 BCP)

2026-10-20T00:12:13Z

SteveMacias: Revise Psalm 9 with complete Psalter text and verified Anglican commentary

'''Psalm 9 (1928 BCP)''' is a psalm of thanksgiving for God's righteous judgment and a prayer that the afflicted will not be forgotten. In the [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]], it is appointed at Morning Prayer on the second day of the month. Its praise is morally serious: the Lord who judges the world in righteousness is a defence for the oppressed and remembers the complaint of the poor.

== Text in the 1928 Psalter ==
The Prayer Book gives the Latin opening as ''Confitebor tibi'' and prints Psalm 9 as twenty verses. The following wording, including the Prayer Book's division marks, has been checked against the local 1928 transcription at ''sources/justus1928/Psalms1.htm'':

<blockquote>
I WILL give thanks unto thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; * I will speak of all thy marvellous works. 
2 I will be glad and rejoice in thee; * yea, my songs will I make of thy Name, O thou Most Highest. 
3 While mine enemies are driven back, * they shall fall and perish at thy presence. 
4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; * thou art set in the throne that judgest right. 
5 Thou hast rebuked the heathen, and destroyed the ungodly; * thou hast put out their name for ever and ever. 
6 O thou enemy, thy destructions are come to a perpetual end; * even as the cities which thou hast destroyed, whose memorial is perished with them. 
7 But the LORD shall endure for ever; * he hath also prepared his seat for judgment. 
8 For he shall judge the world in righteousness, * and minister true judgment unto the people. 
9 The LORD also will be a defence for the oppressed, * even a refuge in due time of trouble. 
10 And they that know thy Name will put their trust in thee; * for thou, LORD, hast never failed them that seek thee.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''The Psalter'', Psalm 9, Second Day, Morning Prayer, pp. 351–352; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

<blockquote>
11 O praise the LORD which dwelleth in Sion; * show the people of his doings. 
12 For when he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them, * and forgetteth not the complaint of the poor. 
13 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider the trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, * thou that liftest me up from the gates of death; 
14 That I may show all thy praises within the gates of the daughter of Sion: * I will rejoice in thy salvation. 
15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made; * in the same net which they hid privily is their foot taken. 
16 The LORD is known to execute judgment; * the ungodly is trapped in the work of his own hands. 
17 The wicked shall be turned to destruction, * and all the people that forget God. 
18 For the poor shall not alway be forgotten; * the patient abiding of the meek shall not perish for ever. 
19 Up, LORD, and let not man have the upper hand; * let the heathen be judged in thy sight. 
20 Put them in fear, O LORD, * that the heathen may know themselves to be but men.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''The Psalter'', Psalm 9, Second Day, Morning Prayer, pp. 351–352; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Thanksgiving and righteous judgment ==
The psalm begins not with a theory of providence but with thanksgiving. The speaker recalls God's “marvellous works,” then appeals to the Judge who has maintained a right and a cause. Verses 7–8 keep judgment from becoming private vengeance: it belongs to the enduring Lord, who judges the ''world'' in righteousness and ministers true judgment to the peoples.

<blockquote>
Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Acts 17:31, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2017%3A31&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

That apostolic proclamation helps a Christian reader hear Psalm 9 without treating its enemies as a warrant for personal retaliation. The psalm entrusts judgment to God; the resurrection is presented as assurance that the judge is not indifferent to evil.

Augustine reads the opening thanksgiving through divine providence, explicitly refusing the conclusion that suffering is outside God's governance:

<blockquote>
He does not, with a whole heart, confess unto God, who doubts of His Providence in any particular: but he who sees already the hidden things of the wisdom of God ... and so now all things are referred to the governance of Divine Providence, which fools think done as it were by chance and at random, and without any Divine ordering.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 9'', §2, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised by Kevin Knight, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801009.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

This is an interpretation, not a substitute for the Psalm's literal prayer. It directs the worshipper to confess God's rule even when the psalm's final petition—“let not man have the upper hand”—still needs to be prayed.

== The refuge of the oppressed ==
Psalm 9 joins God's throne of judgment to the concrete claim that he is “a defence for the oppressed.” The poor are neither an incidental example nor a romantic ideal: their complaint is remembered, and the psalm asks that human pride learn its creaturely limits.

<blockquote>
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they which mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Matthew 5:3–5, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205%3A3-5&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

Jesus' beatitudes do not flatten Psalm 9 into a promise that every present injustice is immediately reversed. Rather, they locate the meek and mourning within the kingdom promised by God. Augustine similarly treats the patience of the poor as a present vocation under the judgment still to come:

<blockquote>
For there shall not be forgetfulness of the poor man to the end; who now seems to be in forgetfulness, when sinners are thought to flourish in this world's happiness, and the righteous to be in travail: but “the patience,” says He, “of the poor shall not perish forever.” Wherefore there is need of patience now to bear with the evil, who are already separated in will, till they be also separated at the last judgment.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 9'', §18, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised by Kevin Knight, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801009.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

The point is neither passivity before injustice nor confidence in a party or nation. The psalm gives the complaint to God, calls the congregation to remember the poor, and places final judgment beyond human self-justification.

== Christ and the Church in Christian reading ==
Christian interpretation has often heard the speaker both as Christ and as the Church united to him. John Mason Neale, an Anglican priest and scholar, states the interpretive question plainly:

<blockquote>
This is the first of the many Psalms which may be applied to both the Head of the Church, and to the Church herself. It is the voice of CHRIST, say a great crowd of commentators. It is the voice of the Church, say an equal number. But in truth it is both one and the other: for how shall that which is said by the Head, not also be capable of being said by the members?
</blockquote>
<ref>John Mason Neale and Richard Frederick Littledale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 9, p. 149, [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/e-books/neale_j-m/psalms_vol-1_neale.pdf digitized edition at BiblicalStudies.org.uk].</ref>

This is a received Christian reading, not an argument that the Psalm has no first sense as Israel's prayer. It allows the Church to pray the psalm in the confidence that Christ has entered affliction and that his body still bears witness to the righteous Judge.

Neale's comment on verse 18 makes the devotional consequence especially clear: the Prayer Book's “patient abiding” is not mere resignation, but a hopeful endurance shaped by Christ's suffering and exaltation.

<blockquote>
Where notice, as Hugh of S. Victor says, it is not the poverty of the meek, or the labour of the meek, or the afflictions of the meek; but the patient abiding. This is the grace which is dearest of all in God's sight.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Mason Neale and Richard Frederick Littledale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 9, p. 157, [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/e-books/neale_j-m/psalms_vol-1_neale.pdf digitized edition at BiblicalStudies.org.uk].</ref>

== Prayer in the Daily Office ==
Psalm 9 begins the second day's Morning Prayer psalmody, before Psalms 10 and 11. In that position it forms a movement from thanksgiving and trust, through candid speech about oppression, to the confession that the Lord is a refuge. After psalmody, the Daily Office gives the ancient doxology:

<blockquote>
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''The Order for Daily Morning Prayer'', doxology after the Psalms, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The doxology does not erase the psalm's pleas for justice. It sets them within the Church's worship of the Triune God, teaching congregations to praise, lament, and await God's judgment without claiming that judgment for themselves.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 8 (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 10 (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm The 1928 Psalter, Psalms 1–50, Society of Archbishop Justus]
* [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801009.htm Augustine, ''Exposition on Psalm 9'']
* [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/e-books/neale_j-m/psalms_vol-1_neale.pdf Neale and Littledale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms'', vol. 1]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Psalter]]
[[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Psalm 8 (1928 BCP)

2026-10-19T23:40:44Z

SteveMacias: Revise Psalm 8 with complete Psalter text and verified commentary

'''Psalm 8 (1928 BCP)''' is a hymn of praise to the Creator whose glory fills the earth and who nevertheless remembers humanity. In the [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]], it completes the first day's evening portion of [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)|the Psalter]]. Its movement from the heavens to human dignity and the creatures entrusted to human dominion makes it a prayer of adoration, humility, and responsibility.

== Text of the Psalm ==
The Prayer Book gives the Latin opening as ''Domine, Dominus noster''. The asterisks mark the verse divisions used in reading or chanting:

<blockquote>
O LORD our Governor, how excellent is thy Name in all the world; * thou that hast set thy glory above the heavens! 
2 Out of the mouth of very babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies, * that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. 
3 When I consider thy heavens, even the work of thy fingers; * the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained; 
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? * and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 
5 Thou madest him lower than the angels, * to crown him with glory and worship. 
6 Thou makest him to have dominion of the works of thy hands; * and thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet: 
7 All sheep and oxen; * yea, and the beasts of the field; 
8 The fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea; * and whatsoever walketh through the paths of the seas. 
9 O LORD our Governor, * how excellent is thy Name in all the world!
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), ''The Psalter'', First Day, Evening Prayer, Psalm 8, pp. 345–346 in the Prayer Book Psalter; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription]. The wording was compared with the local transcription at ''sources/justus1928/Psalms1.htm''.</ref>

== The Lord's name and the praise of the weak ==
The first and last verses frame the psalm with praise of the Lord's name. Between them, the singer looks at the heavens and asks why the Creator attends to human beings at all. The answer is not human self-importance: human glory is received from God and remains within a created order that belongs to him.

Verse 2 says that God has ordained strength from the mouths of babes and sucklings. The 1928 Psalter here follows the traditional English prayer-book wording. When Jesus receives the children's acclamation in the temple, Matthew records the wording as “perfected praise”:

<blockquote>
And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Matthew 21:15–16, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2021%3A15-16&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

The Gospel's use does not change the Prayer Book text; it shows how the Church hears the psalm's unlikely praise in relation to Christ. Augustine identifies the “babes and sucklings” with those still nourished in the faith and connects their praise with the children in the Gospel:

<blockquote>
I cannot take babes and sucklings to be any other than those to whom the Apostle says, As unto babes in Christ I have given you milk to drink, not meat. Who were meant by those who went before the Lord praising Him, of whom the Lord Himself used this testimony.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 8'', §5, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised by Kevin Knight, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801008.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

Augustine's reading makes praise a school of faith rather than a reward for religious expertise. It also cautions against treating the psalm's concern for the weak as merely rhetorical: the praise of those with least social standing exposes the limits of proud self-sufficiency.

== Wonder, visitation, and human dignity ==
The heavens, moon, and stars prompt the central question: “What is man?” The question is answered by God's mindfulness and visitation before it speaks of human dominion. John Mason Neale, an Anglican priest and hymn writer, relates the verse to divine condescension:

<blockquote>
When, therefore, the prophet considers all these things, tending to man's salvation, the providence whereby all events work together for his good,—the Church to be his mother, the Saints to be his examples and his friends,—his thoughts are naturally carried back to the one source of all, which is the Incarnation.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Mason Neale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 8, p. 144, [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/e-books/neale_j-m/psalms_vol-1_neale.pdf digitized edition at BiblicalStudies.org.uk].</ref>

Neale is offering a Christian interpretation, not a replacement for the psalm's praise of the Creator. The New Testament itself applies verses 4–6 to Christ while retaining the tension between dignity bestowed and the world not yet visibly subject to humanity:

<blockquote>
But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Hebrews 2:6–9, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%202%3A5-9&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

This apostolic reading places the psalm's language of humiliation, glory, and dominion in relation to Jesus' suffering and exaltation. It should not be used to deny the psalm's plain wonder at the human creature or to turn dominion into a claim of autonomous power.

== Dominion under the Creator ==
Verses 6–8 name domestic animals, wild animals, birds, and sea creatures. They echo the ordering of creatures in Genesis and describe a delegated rule: God remains the maker and owner, while humanity receives a task within creation.

<blockquote>
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Genesis 1:26, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%201%3A26&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

The Psalm does not say that creatures have no worth apart from human use; its repeated praise begins and ends with the Lord's excellent name. Neale notes the literal reference to human rule over other creatures before proposing allegorical readings:

<blockquote>
The literal interpretation of these verses, as referring to the dominion of man over the lower creation, bestowed on Adam and confirmed to Noah, has led to the use of this Psalm in the Office in time of cattle-plague.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Mason Neale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 8, p. 146, [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/e-books/neale_j-m/psalms_vol-1_neale.pdf digitized edition at BiblicalStudies.org.uk].</ref>

That nineteenth-century liturgical observation is historically specific. The text itself supplies the larger theological boundary: dominion follows God's mindfulness and crowning, and so is accountable to the Creator whose name the congregation praises.

== Prayer in Evening Prayer ==
Psalm 8 follows Psalms 6 and 7 in the first day's Evening Prayer portion of the 1928 Psalter. The monthly Psalter thereby places lament for mercy and appeal for judgment before this doxological conclusion. In the office, the people respond to God's word with the ancient doxology:

<blockquote>
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), ''The Order for Daily Evening Prayer'', doxology, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/EP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Psalm 8's opening and closing address—“O LORD our Governor”—therefore belongs in a service whose praise is explicitly Trinitarian. The office does not turn the psalm into a proof-text. It trains worshippers to bring wonder at creation, the humility of creatureliness, and Christological faith into public praise.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 7 (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm The 1928 Psalter, Psalms 1–50, Society of Archbishop Justus]
* [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801008.htm Augustine's exposition of Psalm 8, New Advent]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Psalter]]
[[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Psalm 7 (1928 BCP)

2026-10-19T23:07:05Z

SteveMacias: Clarify Psalm 7 Prayer Book textual-note citation

'''Psalm 7 (1928 BCP)''' is a prayer for deliverance from persecution and for judgment by the righteous God. Its speaker protests innocence in a particular dispute, asks God to bring wickedness to an end, and closes with thanksgiving. The [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]] places it in the first day's evening portion of [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)|the Psalter]], where its appeal to justice becomes part of the Church's common prayer.

== Text of the Psalm ==
The Prayer Book gives the Latin opening as ''Domine, Deus meus''. The asterisks mark the verse divisions used in reading or chanting:

<blockquote>
O LORD my God, in thee have I put my trust: * save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me; 
2 Lest he devour my soul like a lion, and tear it in pieces, * while there is none to help. 
3 O LORD my God, if I have done any such thing; * or if there be any wickedness in my hands; 
4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that dealt friendly with me; * (yea, I have delivered him that without any cause is mine enemy;) 
5 Then let mine enemy persecute my soul, and take me; * yea, let him tread my life down upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. 
6 Stand up, O LORD, in thy wrath, and lift up thyself, because of the indignation of mine enemies; * arise up for me in the judgment that thou hast commanded. 
7 And so shall the congregation of the peoples come about thee: * for their sakes therefore lift up thyself again. 
8 The LORD shall judge the peoples: give sentence with me, O LORD, * according to my righteousness, and according to the innocency that is in me. 
9 O let the wickedness of the ungodly come to an end; * but guide thou the just. 
10 For the righteous God * trieth the very hearts and reins. 
11 My help cometh of God, * who preserveth them that are true of heart. 
12 God is a righteous Judge, strong, and patient; * and God is provoked every day. 
13 If a man will not turn, he will whet his sword; * he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. 
14 He hath prepared for him the instruments of death; * he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. 
15 Behold, the ungodly travaileth with iniquity; * he hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. 
16 He hath graven and digged up a pit, * and is fallen himself into the destruction that he made for other. 
17 For his travail shall come upon his own head, * and his wickedness shall fall on his own pate. 
18 I will give thanks unto the LORD, according to his righteousness; * and I will praise the Name of the LORD Most High.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Psalter, First Day, Evening Prayer, Psalm 7, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Refuge and appeal to judgment ==
The opening places trust in God before describing the enemy as a lion. Verses 3–5 ask God to consider the speaker's conduct: the claim concerns the alleged wrong and treatment of an enemy, not an assertion that the speaker has never sinned. The prayer accepts judgment if the accusation is true, and then asks God to rise in judgment for the sake of the gathered peoples. The Prayer Book's “peoples” in verses 7–8 widens the scene beyond a private quarrel. The transcription records that the earlier American text had “people” and that the parentheses around the claim to have delivered an enemy in verse 4 were introduced in 1928.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Psalter, Psalm 7:4, 7–8 and textual notes, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

God's testing of “hearts and reins” reaches beyond appearances to inward life. In the commentary published by the Anglican priest John Mason Neale, a passage marked “Ay.” relates the description of the judge to both hope and accountability:

<blockquote>
And hereby are we stirred up both to hope and to fear. Patient, or who could hope to escape? and yet righteous, to execute justice on the impenitent: and strong, for “mighty men shall be mightily tormented.”
</blockquote>
<ref>John Mason Neale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 7, p. 136, [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/e-books/neale_j-m/psalms_vol-1_neale.pdf digitized edition at BiblicalStudies.org.uk].</ref>

This commentary does not separate patience from judgment: the possibility of turning matters in verse 13. Augustine, reading the appeal to righteousness alongside the speaker's treatment of enemies, also attributes the worshipper's goodness to God:

<blockquote>
By which addition he shows that this very thing, that the soul is righteous and harmless, she has not by herself, but by God who gives brightness and light.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 7'', §8, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised by Kevin Knight, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801007.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

Augustine's exposition interprets righteousness as a gift, rather than independent human merit. His text's “harmlessness” reflects the translation of the psalm on which he comments; the 1928 Psalter reads “innocency.”

== Wickedness and the response to enemies ==
The sword and bow in verses 13–14 portray the danger of refusing to turn. The following images change from weapons to birth and a dug pit: mischief produces falsehood, and the person who prepares destruction falls into it. The 1928 wording of verse 15 also differs from the earlier American text: it describes the ungodly person as conceiving mischief and bringing forth falsehood.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Psalter, Psalm 7:15 and textual note, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref> These images expose the self-destructive course of wickedness; they do not authorize the congregation to inflict the imagined punishment. The final verse returns to thanksgiving for God's righteousness, not celebration of personal revenge.

The New Testament places suffering and righteous judgment together in its account of Christ:

<blockquote>
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, 1 Peter 2:22–23, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%202%3A21-23&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

The resemblance to Psalm 7's appeal to the righteous judge offers a Christian way of praying the psalm in the light of Christ's suffering; it does not erase the psalmist's own urgent cry for protection. Paul's teaching makes the consequence for the believer's conduct explicit:

<blockquote>
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Romans 12:19–21, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2012%3A19-21&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

The appeal for divine justice can therefore coexist with refusing retaliation and caring for an enemy. It gives words to those facing wrongdoing without requiring them to pretend that wrongdoing is harmless.

== Evening Prayer ==
Psalm 7 follows Psalm 6 in the first day's evening portion. The 1928 Evening Prayer rubric directs a portion of psalms and provides for the Gloria Patri at the end of the whole portion or selection, with the Gloria in excelsis as an alternative.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Psalter, First Day, and The Order for Daily Evening Prayer, psalm rubric, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Psalter] and [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/EP.htm Evening Prayer], Society of Archbishop Justus transcriptions.</ref> When the confession is used in that office, the congregation also prays:

<blockquote>
We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Daily Evening Prayer, A General Confession, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/EP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The office thus permits worshippers to plead against a particular injustice while also confessing their own need of mercy. The psalm's conclusion in praise and the office's doxology direct the congregation's attention to God rather than leave it fixed on an adversary.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 6 (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm The 1928 Psalter, Psalms 1–50, Society of Archbishop Justus]
* [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801007.htm Augustine's exposition of Psalm 7, New Advent]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Psalter]]
[[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Psalm 7 (1928 BCP)

2026-10-19T23:06:50Z

SteveMacias: Revise Psalm 7 with complete Psalter text and verified commentary

'''Psalm 7 (1928 BCP)''' is a prayer for deliverance from persecution and for judgment by the righteous God. Its speaker protests innocence in a particular dispute, asks God to bring wickedness to an end, and closes with thanksgiving. The [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]] places it in the first day's evening portion of [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)|the Psalter]], where its appeal to justice becomes part of the Church's common prayer.

== Text of the Psalm ==
The Prayer Book gives the Latin opening as ''Domine, Deus meus''. The asterisks mark the verse divisions used in reading or chanting:

<blockquote>
O LORD my God, in thee have I put my trust: * save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me; 
2 Lest he devour my soul like a lion, and tear it in pieces, * while there is none to help. 
3 O LORD my God, if I have done any such thing; * or if there be any wickedness in my hands; 
4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that dealt friendly with me; * (yea, I have delivered him that without any cause is mine enemy;) 
5 Then let mine enemy persecute my soul, and take me; * yea, let him tread my life down upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. 
6 Stand up, O LORD, in thy wrath, and lift up thyself, because of the indignation of mine enemies; * arise up for me in the judgment that thou hast commanded. 
7 And so shall the congregation of the peoples come about thee: * for their sakes therefore lift up thyself again. 
8 The LORD shall judge the peoples: give sentence with me, O LORD, * according to my righteousness, and according to the innocency that is in me. 
9 O let the wickedness of the ungodly come to an end; * but guide thou the just. 
10 For the righteous God * trieth the very hearts and reins. 
11 My help cometh of God, * who preserveth them that are true of heart. 
12 God is a righteous Judge, strong, and patient; * and God is provoked every day. 
13 If a man will not turn, he will whet his sword; * he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. 
14 He hath prepared for him the instruments of death; * he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. 
15 Behold, the ungodly travaileth with iniquity; * he hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. 
16 He hath graven and digged up a pit, * and is fallen himself into the destruction that he made for other. 
17 For his travail shall come upon his own head, * and his wickedness shall fall on his own pate. 
18 I will give thanks unto the LORD, according to his righteousness; * and I will praise the Name of the LORD Most High.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Psalter, First Day, Evening Prayer, Psalm 7, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Refuge and appeal to judgment ==
The opening places trust in God before describing the enemy as a lion. Verses 3–5 ask God to consider the speaker's conduct: the claim concerns the alleged wrong and treatment of an enemy, not an assertion that the speaker has never sinned. The prayer accepts judgment if the accusation is true, and then asks God to rise in judgment for the sake of the gathered peoples. The Prayer Book's “peoples” in verses 7–8 widens the scene beyond a private quarrel. The transcription records that the earlier American text had “people” and that the parentheses around the claim to have delivered an enemy in verse 4 were introduced in 1928.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Psalter, Psalm 7:7–8 and textual note, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

God's testing of “hearts and reins” reaches beyond appearances to inward life. In the commentary published by the Anglican priest John Mason Neale, a passage marked “Ay.” relates the description of the judge to both hope and accountability:

<blockquote>
And hereby are we stirred up both to hope and to fear. Patient, or who could hope to escape? and yet righteous, to execute justice on the impenitent: and strong, for “mighty men shall be mightily tormented.”
</blockquote>
<ref>John Mason Neale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 7, p. 136, [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/e-books/neale_j-m/psalms_vol-1_neale.pdf digitized edition at BiblicalStudies.org.uk].</ref>

This commentary does not separate patience from judgment: the possibility of turning matters in verse 13. Augustine, reading the appeal to righteousness alongside the speaker's treatment of enemies, also attributes the worshipper's goodness to God:

<blockquote>
By which addition he shows that this very thing, that the soul is righteous and harmless, she has not by herself, but by God who gives brightness and light.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 7'', §8, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised by Kevin Knight, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801007.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

Augustine's exposition interprets righteousness as a gift, rather than independent human merit. His text's “harmlessness” reflects the translation of the psalm on which he comments; the 1928 Psalter reads “innocency.”

== Wickedness and the response to enemies ==
The sword and bow in verses 13–14 portray the danger of refusing to turn. The following images change from weapons to birth and a dug pit: mischief produces falsehood, and the person who prepares destruction falls into it. The 1928 wording of verse 15 also differs from the earlier American text: it describes the ungodly person as conceiving mischief and bringing forth falsehood.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Psalter, Psalm 7:15 and textual note, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref> These images expose the self-destructive course of wickedness; they do not authorize the congregation to inflict the imagined punishment. The final verse returns to thanksgiving for God's righteousness, not celebration of personal revenge.

The New Testament places suffering and righteous judgment together in its account of Christ:

<blockquote>
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, 1 Peter 2:22–23, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%202%3A21-23&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

The resemblance to Psalm 7's appeal to the righteous judge offers a Christian way of praying the psalm in the light of Christ's suffering; it does not erase the psalmist's own urgent cry for protection. Paul's teaching makes the consequence for the believer's conduct explicit:

<blockquote>
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Romans 12:19–21, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2012%3A19-21&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

The appeal for divine justice can therefore coexist with refusing retaliation and caring for an enemy. It gives words to those facing wrongdoing without requiring them to pretend that wrongdoing is harmless.

== Evening Prayer ==
Psalm 7 follows Psalm 6 in the first day's evening portion. The 1928 Evening Prayer rubric directs a portion of psalms and provides for the Gloria Patri at the end of the whole portion or selection, with the Gloria in excelsis as an alternative.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Psalter, First Day, and The Order for Daily Evening Prayer, psalm rubric, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Psalter] and [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/EP.htm Evening Prayer], Society of Archbishop Justus transcriptions.</ref> When the confession is used in that office, the congregation also prays:

<blockquote>
We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Daily Evening Prayer, A General Confession, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/EP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The office thus permits worshippers to plead against a particular injustice while also confessing their own need of mercy. The psalm's conclusion in praise and the office's doxology direct the congregation's attention to God rather than leave it fixed on an adversary.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 6 (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm The 1928 Psalter, Psalms 1–50, Society of Archbishop Justus]
* [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801007.htm Augustine's exposition of Psalm 7, New Advent]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Psalter]]
[[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Psalm 6 (1928 BCP)

2026-10-19T21:49:48Z

SteveMacias: Revise Psalm 6 with complete Psalter text and verified commentary

'''Psalm 6 (1928 BCP)''' is a plea for mercy and healing that moves from bodily and inward distress to confidence that God hears. In the [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]], it begins the first day's evening portion of [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)|the Psalter]]. Its traditional place among the penitential psalms has given its language a special role in Christian prayer, while its vivid lament also gives voice to weakness, tears, and fear.

== Text of the Psalm ==
The Prayer Book gives the Latin opening as ''Domine, ne in furore''. Asterisks mark the division of verses for reading or chanting:

<blockquote>
O LORD, rebuke me not in thine indignation, * neither chasten me in thy displeasure. 
2 Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am weak; * O LORD, heal me, for my bones are vexed. 
3 My soul also is sore troubled: * but, LORD, how long wilt thou punish me? 
4 Turn thee, O LORD, and deliver my soul; * O save me, for thy mercy's sake. 
5 For in death no man remembereth thee; * and who will give thee thanks in the pit? 
6 I am weary of my groaning; * every night wash I my bed, and water my couch with my tears. 
7 My beauty is gone for very trouble, * and worn away because of all mine enemies. 
8 Away from me, all ye that work iniquity; * for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping. 
9 The LORD hath heard my petition; * the LORD will receive my prayer. 
10 All mine enemies shall be confounded, and sore vexed; * they shall be turned back, and put to shame suddenly.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Psalter, First Day, Evening Prayer, Psalm 6, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Mercy and the long wait ==
The opening asks not to be rebuked in indignation, then pleads for mercy precisely because the speaker is weak. Bones and soul are both troubled; “how long” refuses to conceal the duration of suffering. The petition to be saved “for thy mercy's sake” rests on God's character rather than on a claim to deserving relief. The fear of death and the pit intensifies the plea: the psalmist asks to live and give thanks, rather than offering a systematic account of the afterlife.

The Anglican priest John Mason Neale comments on the question “how long”:

<blockquote>
Note: God hears, though He answers not. The verb is in the present, to show the readiness with which God gives: “Unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened.” Here it is in the future, to teach us that the visible effects of God's gifts do not always at once appear.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Mason Neale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 6, p. 126, [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/e-books/neale_j-m/psalms_vol-1_neale.pdf digitized edition at BiblicalStudies.org.uk].</ref>

Neale distinguishes God's hearing from the visible arrival of an answer; his interpretation does not resolve the sufferer's question by denying its force. Augustine likewise reads the prayer for God to “turn” as part of the soul's difficult return to God:

<blockquote>
And in such difficulty we say, “Turn, O Lord,” that is, help us, that that turning may be perfected in us, which finds You ready, and offering Yourself for the fruition of them that love You.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 6'', §5, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised by Kevin Knight, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801006.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

For Augustine, turning requires God's help as well as human repentance. This is an explicitly theological interpretation of the psalm's plea, not an explanation that every illness is caused by the sufferer's personal sin.

== Tears, penitence, and pastoral care ==
The repeated washing of bed and couch with tears makes the lament concrete. Neale identifies Psalm 6 as the first of the seven penitential psalms; he interprets its night-long weeping in relation to a continuing practice of repentance.<ref>Neale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (1869), Psalm 6, pp. 124, 126–127, [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/e-books/neale_j-m/psalms_vol-1_neale.pdf digitized edition].</ref> The psalm itself does not specify a particular offence; it gives a shared form to a plea for mercy without assigning a diagnosis to another person's suffering.

The 1928 office for the [[Visitation of the Sick (1928 BCP)|Visitation of the Sick]] permits the minister, at discretion, to use one of the penitential psalms after the antiphon “Remember not, Lord, our iniquities.” The rubric does not single out Psalm 6 by name.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for the Visitation of the Sick, opening rubric and antiphon, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Visitation_Sick.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref> Read in pastoral care, the prayer's weakness and hope invite compassion, not an assumption that a particular sickness proves a particular sin. Jesus resists such a conclusion when asked about a man born blind:

<blockquote>
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, John 9:2–3, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%209%3A1-3&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

== From weeping to being heard ==
At verse 8 the speaker addresses those who work iniquity, announcing that the Lord has heard the voice of weeping. The repeated “hath heard” and “will receive” shift the psalm from urgent request to trust; the final verse envisages the enemies' shame. The text does not say what outward event produced this change, nor does it give the worshipper a license to punish enemies personally.

Jesus uses closely related words in a warning about judgment:

<blockquote>
But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Luke 13:27, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2013%3A25-27&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

In Luke the words are spoken by the master to those who claim familiarity with him. Hearing the echo alongside Psalm 6 turns the question toward the worshipper's own conduct, as well as toward the evil that threatens the psalmist.

== Evening Prayer ==
The monthly arrangement places Psalm 6 at the beginning of the first day's Evening Prayer; the office rubric also allows a selection of psalms.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Psalter, First Day, and The Order for Daily Evening Prayer, psalm rubric, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Psalter] and [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/EP.htm Evening Prayer], Society of Archbishop Justus transcriptions.</ref> Later in the same office the congregation prays:

<blockquote>
LIGHTEN our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Daily Evening Prayer, A Collect for Aid against Perils, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/EP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Both psalm and collect bring the night and an appeal to divine mercy into common prayer. The collect's plural “us” lets a congregation ask protection together even when the psalm's first-person lament is being prayed on behalf of one who suffers.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 5 (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm The 1928 Psalter, Psalms 1–50, Society of Archbishop Justus]
* [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801006.htm Augustine's exposition of Psalm 6, New Advent]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Psalter]]
[[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Psalm 5 (1928 BCP)

2026-10-18T16:55:30Z

SteveMacias: Revise Psalm 5 with complete Psalter text and verified commentary

'''Psalm 5 (1928 BCP)''' is a morning prayer for God to hear, guide, and defend the worshipper amid deceit and violence. In the [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]], it concludes the first day's morning portion of [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)|the Psalter]]. Its movement from an individual's plea to joy for all who trust God makes it suited to the common voice of the [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)|Daily Office]].

== Text of the Psalm ==
The Prayer Book supplies the Latin opening ''Verba mea auribus''. The asterisks divide the verses for reading or chanting:

<blockquote>
PONDER my words, O LORD, * consider my meditation. 
2 O hearken thou unto the voice of my calling, my King and my God: * for unto thee will I make my prayer. 
3 My voice shalt thou hear betimes, O LORD; * early in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. 
4 For thou art the God that hast no pleasure in wickedness; * neither shall any evil dwell with thee. 
5 Such as be foolish shall not stand in thy sight; * for thou hatest all them that work iniquity. 
6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak lies: * the LORD will abhor both the blood-thirsty and deceitful man. 
7 But as for me, in the multitude of thy mercy I will come into thine house; * and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. 
8 Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness, because of mine enemies; * make thy way plain before my face. 
9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; * their inward parts are very wickedness. 
10 Their throat is an open sepulchre; * they flatter with their tongue. 
11 Destroy thou them, O God; let them perish through their own imaginations; * cast them out in the multitude of their ungodliness; for they have rebelled against thee. 
12 And let all them that put their trust in thee rejoice: * they shall ever be giving of thanks, because thou defendest them; they that love thy Name shall be joyful in thee; 
13 For thou, LORD, wilt give thy blessing unto the righteous, * and with thy favourable kindness wilt thou defend him as with a shield.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Psalter, First Day, Morning Prayer, Psalm 5, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Words, meditation, and morning prayer ==
The opening asks God to attend both to spoken words and to meditation. The speaker addresses God as “my King and my God,” and resolves to direct prayer to him early and to look up. The psalm does not describe prayer as a way of controlling the day's outcome: it begins in dependence on the one addressed.

Anglican priest John Mason Neale distinguishes the verbal and inward dimensions of the first verse:

<blockquote>
Here we distinguish two kinds of prayer: words and meditations.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Mason Neale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 5, p. 117, [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/e-books/neale_j-m/psalms_vol-1_neale.pdf digitized edition at BiblicalStudies.org.uk].</ref>

Neale includes both the Church's forms of prayer and the thoughts and desires of the heart in his exposition. The distinction illuminates the Office: a congregation can use shared words while bringing to them concerns that are not spoken aloud.

== Holiness, mercy, and guidance ==
The psalm's sharp denial that wickedness can dwell with God is followed by an appeal to divine mercy, not by a claim that the speaker has earned entry to the house. “In the multitude of thy mercy” and “in thy fear” hold confidence and reverence together. From worship the prayer turns outward: God's righteousness must make the way plain in the presence of enemies. The dishonesty of their mouths and the violence associated with them give a concrete urgency to that request.

The letter to the Romans takes up the psalm's image of the open grave within a larger chain of scriptural accusations:

<blockquote>
Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Romans 3:13–14, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%203%3A10-14&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

Paul's argument places both Jews and Gentiles under sin (Romans 3:9); the words are therefore not a warrant for a congregation to assume that deceit belongs only to other people. The psalm's plea for guidance can also be prayed as a request for truthfulness in one's own speech.

== Judgment, mercy, and hope ==
The prayer that the wicked be destroyed is difficult and should not be softened into a merely general dislike of wrongdoing. It entrusts judgment to God in the face of real deception and bloodshed; it does not instruct the worshipper to take vengeance. Christians also hear it alongside Jesus' command:

<blockquote>
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Matthew 5:44, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205%3A43-45&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

The two texts leave a genuine tension for prayer: longing for God's judgment upon evil must be held with Christ's command to love and pray for enemies. Neither requires calling violence or deceit good.

The ending widens the prayer to all who take refuge in God, rejoicing because he defends them. Augustine links the shield to the assurance that Christ died for the ungodly and that God reconciles and saves; he writes:

<blockquote>
This is that unconquerable shield, whereby the enemy is driven back, when he suggests despair of our salvation through the multitude of tribulations and temptations.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 5'', §17, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised by Kevin Knight, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801005.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

This is Augustine's Christian interpretation of the image, not a claim that the psalm explicitly names Christ. It reads God's favour as protection against despair, while the psalm itself moves from the threatened individual's plea to thanksgiving by a community that loves God's name.

== Prayer Book use ==
The monthly Psalter assigns Psalms 1–5 to Morning Prayer on the first day; Psalm 6 begins that day's evening portion. The morning office also permits a selection of psalms, so Psalm 5 can be used beyond that monthly appointment.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Psalter, First Day, and The Order for Daily Morning Prayer, rubric after the Venite, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Psalter] and [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm Morning Prayer], Society of Archbishop Justus transcriptions.</ref>

The office's Collect for Grace asks for the same day's conduct to be governed toward righteousness:

<blockquote>
O LORD, our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day; Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings, being ordered by thy governance, may be righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Daily Morning Prayer, A Collect for Grace, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Both psalm and collect join divine defence to a request for a righteous path. The collect's corporate “we” makes explicit the congregation's shared need for that guidance throughout the day.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 4 (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm The 1928 Psalter, Psalms 1–50, Society of Archbishop Justus]
* [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801005.htm Augustine's exposition of Psalm 5, New Advent]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Psalter]]
[[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Psalm 4 (1928 BCP)

2026-10-18T15:36:46Z

SteveMacias: Revise Psalm 4 with complete Psalter text and verified commentary

'''Psalm 4 (1928 BCP)''' is a prayer that moves from distress and an appeal for mercy to gladness and peaceful rest in God. The [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]] places it in the first morning's portion of [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)|the Psalter]], although its words about the chamber and sleep have an especially evident evening resonance.

== Text of the Psalm ==
The Prayer Book gives the Latin opening ''Cum invocarem''. Its asterisks mark divisions for reading or chanting. The complete psalm in the 1928 Psalter reads:

<blockquote>
HEAR me when I call, O God of my righteousness: * thou hast set me at liberty when I was in trouble; have mercy upon me, and hearken unto my prayer. 
2 O ye sons of men, how long will ye blaspheme mine honour, * and have such pleasure in vanity, and seek after falsehood? 
3 Know this also, that the LORD hath chosen to himself the man that is godly; * when I call upon the LORD he will hear me. 
4 Stand in awe, and sin not; * commune with your own heart, and in your chamber, and be still. 
5 Offer the sacrifice of righteousness, * and put your trust in the LORD. 
6 There be many that say, * Who will show us any good? 
7 LORD, lift thou up* the light of thy countenance upon us. 
8 Thou hast put gladness in my heart; * yea, more than when their corn and wine and oil increase. 
9 I will lay me down in peace, and take my rest; * for it is thou, LORD, only, that makest me dwell in safety.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Psalter, First Day, Morning Prayer, Psalm 4, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Distress, truth, and trust ==
The opening holds remembrance and petition together: the speaker recalls God's past deliverance from trouble and asks to be heard now. The address to the “sons of men” turns from prayer to a challenge against dishonour, vanity, and falsehood. The assertion that God hears does not remove the need for prayer; it gives the psalmist confidence to call.

The summons to reverence and self-examination leads to a positive response: offer righteousness and trust the LORD. Augustine, commenting on the Greek and Latin form of the psalm, connects the “sacrifice of righteousness” with repentance and with the life that follows it:

<blockquote>
Or are righteous works after repentance the sacrifice of righteousness? For the interposition of Diapsalma not unreasonably perhaps intimates even a transition from the old life to the new life: that on the old man being destroyed or weakened by repentance, the sacrifice of righteousness, according to the regeneration of the new man, may be offered to God; when the soul now cleansed offers and places itself on the altar of faith, to be encompassed by heavenly fire, that is, by the Holy Ghost.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 4'', §7, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised by Kevin Knight, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801004.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

Augustine offers an interpretation of the sacrifice, not a claim that the psalm abolishes Israel's sacrificial worship. For him repentance and renewed conduct belong together. His text also renders the fourth verse “Be angry, and sin not”; the 1928 Psalter instead has “Stand in awe, and sin not.” The Authorized Version of Ephesians uses the former wording in an appeal to communal truthfulness and a warning against sin:

<blockquote>
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Ephesians 4:25–27, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%204%3A25-27&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

The different English renderings should not be silently equated: Ephesians follows the Greek form of the psalm, whereas the Prayer Book's familiar wording calls the worshipper to awe and inward examination. In both settings the warning against sin has ethical force; in Ephesians it is applied to life among neighbours. Thiago Bitencourt interprets the Ephesians passage as a call to confront what threatens the unity of the community, and relates it to the Greek Psalm 4.<ref>Thiago Bitencourt, “Righteous or Dangerous? An Investigation of Ὀργίζεσθε in Ephesians 4:26,” ''Southeastern Theological Review'' 13, no. 1 (Spring 2022), pp. 25–39, [https://www.sebts.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/STRIssue13.1_BenMerkle.pdf Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary].</ref>

== The light of God's countenance ==
To the anxious question “Who will show us any good?” the psalm answers with a request for the light of God's countenance. That request echoes the priestly blessing in Numbers:

<blockquote>
The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Numbers 6:24–26, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%206%3A24-26&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

In each text light and the divine face speak of God's gracious favour, while peace is a gift sought from God. The psalm's gladness exceeds the joy of an abundant harvest; it need not deny that food and prosperity are good, but locates the speaker's deepest security in God's presence. Anglican priest John Mason Neale traces the movement through the last three verses:

<blockquote>
In opposition to such vain inquiries after good, in this and the two following verses, we have the three sources whence the servants of God obtain it. In this verse, light, in the 8th, gladness, in the 9th, peace.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Mason Neale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 4, p. 113, [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/e-books/neale_j-m/psalms_vol-1_neale.pdf digitized edition at BiblicalStudies.org.uk].</ref>

Neale reads these as gifts sought from God in answer to the question about good. His sequence helps explain how the psalm moves from a shared petition (“upon us”) to the psalmist's personal gladness and rest.

== Prayer Book use ==
The monthly arrangement places Psalm 4 between [[Psalm 3 (1928 BCP)|Psalm 3]] and Psalm 5 in the first day's Morning Prayer, not in that day's evening portion. The 1928 office also permits a selection of psalms; the psalm's words about lying down make it apt for reflection at day's end without changing its printed appointment.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Psalter, First Day, and The Order for Daily Morning Prayer, rubric following the Venite, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Psalter] and [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm Morning Prayer], Society of Archbishop Justus transcriptions.</ref>

The Evening Prayer Collect for Aid against Perils asks for light and protection in language that can be prayed alongside the psalm:

<blockquote>
LIGHTEN our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Daily Evening Prayer, Collect for Aid against Perils, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/EP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The collect is a plea for protection, while the psalm closes with confidence that God grants rest. Neither text requires a worshipper to pretend that danger is absent: both direct fear and hope toward the God who hears.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 3 (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Collect for Aid against Perils]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm The 1928 Psalter, Psalms 1–50, Society of Archbishop Justus]
* [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801004.htm Augustine's exposition of Psalm 4, New Advent]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Psalter]]
[[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Psalm 3 (1928 BCP)

2026-10-18T05:10:25Z

SteveMacias: Revise Psalm 3 with complete Psalter text and verified commentary

'''Psalm 3 (1928 BCP)''' is a prayer for deliverance from enemies, moving from a cry of distress to confidence in the LORD's protection and a blessing on his people. The [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]] places it among Psalms 1–5 in the first morning's portion of [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)|the Psalter]]. Its remembrance of sleep and waking gives a distinctive voice to morning prayer; Christian commentators have also read that verse in relation to Christ's death and resurrection.

== Text of the Psalm ==
The Prayer Book gives the Latin opening ''Domine, quid multiplicati?'' The asterisks mark the division of each verse for reading or chanting.

<blockquote>
LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! * many are they that rise against me. 
2 Many one there be that say of my soul, * There is no help for him in his God. 
3 But thou, O LORD, art my defender; * thou art my worship, and the lifter up of my head. 
4 I did call upon the LORD with my voice, * and he heard me out of his holy hill. 
5 I laid me down and slept, and rose up again; * for the LORD sustained me. 
6 I will not be afraid for ten thousands of the people, * that have set themselves against me round about. 
7 Up, LORD, and help me, O my God, * for thou smitest all mine enemies upon the cheekbone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. 
8 Salvation belongeth unto the LORD; * and thy blessing is upon thy people.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Psalter, First Day, Morning Prayer, Psalm 3, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== From distress to trust ==
The repeated “many” gives weight to both the number of opponents and their claim that God will not help. The psalmist answers that taunt by addressing God directly as defender and lifter of the head. The appeal rests on remembered experience: the LORD heard the cry from his holy hill and sustained the sleeper through the night. Confidence in verse 6 does not suppress the plea in verse 7; trust and urgent prayer stand together.

The image of striking enemies and breaking teeth is violent. In the poem it accompanies an appeal for God to deliver the threatened speaker, not an instruction for worshippers to strike their own opponents. The final verse moves beyond the individual: salvation belongs to the LORD, and the blessing is invoked upon his people.

In the biblical psalm's superscription, David is fleeing from Absalom; the 1928 Psalter prints the psalm without that historical heading. The narrative describes the grief of David's departure:<ref>United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, ''New American Bible, Revised Edition'', Psalm 3:1 and note on the superscription, [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/3 USCCB Bible].</ref>

<blockquote>
And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, 2 Samuel 15:30, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Samuel%2015%3A30&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

The connection with the rebellion gives a concrete setting for the prayer, without requiring every detail in the psalm to be assigned to a particular event. In the 1869 edition of his Anglican commentary, John Mason Neale describes the prayer's appeal to previous help:

<blockquote>
The Church continues to cry to God for help, drawing from past deliverances present comfort.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Mason Neale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 3, p. 108, [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/e-books/neale_j-m/psalms_vol-1_neale.pdf digitized edition at BiblicalStudies.org.uk].</ref>

Neale's observation illuminates the way verse 7 brings remembered deliverance into a present petition; it does not promise that danger or grief will never return.

== A Christian reading of sleep and waking ==
Augustine reads the speaker's sleep and rising as words spoken in the person of Christ. In explaining the image, he connects it to Jesus' willing death and to Scripture's use of sleep for death:

<blockquote>
Scripture contains numberless instances of sleep being put for death; as the Apostle says, “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep.”
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 3'', §5, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised by Kevin Knight, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801003.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

Augustine appeals to the words of Jesus in John 10. The Authorized Version reads:

<blockquote>
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, John 10:17–18, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2010%3A17-18&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

This is a theological interpretation of the psalm rather than an assertion that its literal words name Jesus. The psalm's ordinary image of a night survived remains significant in its own right; Augustine's reading places that image alongside Christian hope in Christ's resurrection.

== In Morning Prayer ==
The first day's sequence places Psalm 3 between the royal psalm of [[Psalm 2 (1928 BCP)|Psalm 2]] and the evening-like prayer of Psalm 4. In the [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)|Daily Office]], the psalm is one portion of the appointed monthly Psalter; Morning Prayer also permits a selection of psalms. Its gratitude for waking can be heard alongside the office's Collect for Grace:

<blockquote>
O LORD, our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day; Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings, being ordered by thy governance, may be righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Daily Morning Prayer, Collect for Grace, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The psalm recalls preservation through sleep; the collect asks for God's direction and defense through the day ahead. Together they make thanksgiving and petition part of common prayer, while the psalm's final blessing widens the worshipper's concern to the whole people of God.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 2 (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm The 1928 Psalter, Psalms 1–50, Society of Archbishop Justus]
* [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801003.htm Augustine's exposition of Psalm 3, New Advent]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Psalter]]
[[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Psalm 2 (1928 BCP)

2026-10-18T04:40:21Z

SteveMacias: Revise Psalm 2 with complete Psalter text and verified commentary

'''Psalm 2 (1928 BCP)''' is a royal psalm of opposition to the LORD and his anointed king, divine judgment, and refuge in the king. The [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]] places it in the first morning's portion of [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)|the Psalter]], immediately after [[Psalm 1 (1928 BCP)|Psalm 1]]. Christian readings connect its anointed king and Son with Jesus Christ, following passages in Acts that apply the psalm to his rejection and resurrection.

== Text of the Psalm ==
The Prayer Book gives the Latin opening ''Quare fremuerunt gentes?'' The asterisks divide the verses for recitation or chanting.

<blockquote>
WHY do the heathen so furiously rage together? * and why do the people imagine a vain thing? 
2 The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together * against the LORD, and against his Anointed: 
3 Let us break their bonds asunder, * and cast away their cords from us. 
4 He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn: * the Lord shall have them in derision. 
5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, * and vex them in his sore displeasure: 
6 Yet have I set my King * upon my holy hill of Sion. 
7 I will rehearse the decree; * the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. 
8 Desire of me, and I shall give thee the nations for thine inheritance, * and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession. 
9 Thou shalt bruise them with a rod of iron, * and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel. 
10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings; * be instructed, ye that are judges of the earth. 
11 Serve the LORD in fear, * and rejoice unto him with reverence. 
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and so ye perish from the right way, if his wrath be kindled, yea but a little. * Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Psalter, First Day, Morning Prayer, Psalm 2, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Rebellion, kingship, and refuge ==
The psalm moves through several voices. The opening asks why nations and rulers conspire; their own words describe the rule they resist as bonds and cords. The heavenly response reverses their expectation: God declares that he has set his king on Sion. The king then recites the decree of sonship and the promise of an inheritance extending to the ends of the earth. Finally, the rulers themselves are urged to learn wisdom and serve the LORD. The imagery of the iron rod and shattered pottery makes judgment unmistakable, yet the last word is a blessing on those who take refuge.

The psalm speaks in the language of Israel's kingship and Sion. Its opening rebellion is answered by God's commitment to his anointed; its closing appeal addresses the same earthly rulers who appeared at the beginning. The word “Anointed” is the basis for the title Messiah, rendered “Christ” in Greek. Neither the violent image of verse 9 nor the warning of verse 12 should be detached from the summons to reverence and the promise of refuge that frame them.

John Mason Neale's Anglican commentary describes the gesture in the Prayer Book's “Kiss the Son” as:

<blockquote>
expressing thereby, as to a monarch, both love and awe.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Mason Neale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 2, p. 103, [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/e-books/neale_j-m/psalms_vol-1_neale.pdf digitized edition at BiblicalStudies.org.uk].</ref>

Neale's interpretation relates the command to allegiance rather than mere fear. On the same page he notes that ancient translations differ at this point; the Prayer Book's “Kiss the Son” is one rendering of a difficult expression.

== The psalm in Acts ==
In Acts 4 the disciples pray the opening of the psalm after Peter and John have been threatened. The Authorized Version gives the second verse of their citation:

<blockquote>
The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Acts 4:26, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%204%3A24-28&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

Their prayer goes on to name Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel in relation to Jesus (Acts 4:27–28). The passage interprets the psalm in light of Jesus' rejection while presenting it as a prayer for the disciples' own situation. Augustine similarly reads the opening with reference to Christ's persecutors:

<blockquote>
For what they wished, namely, Christ's destruction, they accomplished not; for this is spoken of our Lord's persecutors, of whom also mention is made in the Acts of the Apostles.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 2'', §1, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised by Kevin Knight, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801002.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

Augustine's reading is a Christian theological interpretation of the psalm, grounded here in Acts rather than a claim that the psalm names Jesus in its own text. Later in Acts, Paul's speech at Antioch cites the sonship decree in announcing God's fulfillment of his promise:

<blockquote>
God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, Acts 13:33, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2013%3A32-33&version=KJV Bible Gateway].</ref>

The speech connects the decree with God raising Jesus; it does not require the “today” of the psalm to be read as the beginning of the Son's divine existence. The New Testament's use of the psalm gives Christian worshippers grounds for reading its royal hope in relation to Christ's death and resurrection.

== In the Daily Office ==
Psalm 2 follows Psalm 1 in the first day's Morning Prayer portion and precedes Psalms 3–5. The arrangement joins Psalm 1's blessing on the person who delights in the LORD's law to Psalm 2's blessing on those who trust in him. The [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)|Daily Office]] also allows a selection of psalms; the monthly sequence is therefore an appointed course, not a requirement to recite Psalm 2 at every Morning Prayer.

After the Venite the Office directs:

<blockquote>
Then shall follow a Portion of the Psalms, according to the Use of this Church. And at the end of every Psalm, and likewise at the end of the Venite, Benedictus es, Benedictus, Jubilate, may be, and at the end of the whole Portion, or Selection from the Psalter, shall be, sung or said the Gloria Patri:
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Daily Morning Prayer, rubric after the Venite, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The rubric permits the Gloria after each psalm and requires it after the whole portion or selection. Thus the royal psalm is prayed within the Church's Trinitarian praise, while its summons to rulers remains a warning against treating earthly power as ultimate. Its final blessing offers a response to that warning: trust in the one whom God has established.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Psalm 1 (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm The 1928 Psalter, Psalms 1–50, Society of Archbishop Justus]
* [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801002.htm Augustine's exposition of Psalm 2, New Advent]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Psalter]]
[[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Psalm 1 (1928 BCP)

2026-10-18T04:11:04Z

SteveMacias: Revise Psalm 1 with complete Psalter text and verified commentary

'''Psalm 1 (1928 BCP)''' opens [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)|the Psalter]] with a contrast between the way of those who delight in God's law and the way of the ungodly. In the [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]], it begins Morning Prayer on the first day of the month. Its images of a watered tree and windblown chaff invite worshippers to consider both the nourishment of a life attentive to God and the seriousness of judgment.

== Text of the Psalm ==
The Prayer Book prints the psalm under its Latin opening, ''Beatus vir qui non abiit''. Its verse divisions differ from those in many English Bibles: the Prayer Book divides the psalm into seven verses, the opening verse being unnumbered in the printed text.

<blockquote>
BLESSED is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, * and hath not sat in the seat of the scornful. 
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; * and in his law will he exercise himself day and night. 
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the water-side, * that will bring forth his fruit in due season. 
4 His leaf also shall not wither; * and look, whatsoever he doeth, it shall prosper. 
5 As for the ungodly, it is not so with them; * but they are like the chaff, which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth. 
6 Therefore the ungodly shall not be able to stand in the judgment, * neither the sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 
7 But the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous; * and the way of the ungodly shall perish.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Psalter, First Day, Morning Prayer, Psalm 1, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Two ways and the law of the Lord ==
The first verse describes a pattern of association and conduct: walking in counsel, standing in a way, and sitting in a seat. The contrast is positive as well as negative. The blessed person delights in the Lord's law and exercises himself in it “day and night”; attention to God's instruction shapes a life over time. The image of a planted tree adds dependence and growth: fruit arrives “in due season,” sustained by water rather than produced by a momentary effort.

The Anglican priest John Mason Neale, gathering older Christian interpretations, sees the opening movement as both renunciation and action:

<blockquote>
And in the respective position of the two verses we learn that the beginning of God's fear is to depart from sin,—its progress, to do good; as it is written, “Cease to do evil, learn to do well.”
</blockquote>
<ref>John Mason Neale, ''A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 1, p. 92, [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/e-books/neale_j-m/psalms_vol-1_neale.pdf digitized edition at BiblicalStudies.org.uk]. Neale invokes Isaiah 1:16–17.</ref>

Neale reads the paired verses as an invitation to turn from evil and practice good, not simply to avoid disreputable company. His interpretation belongs to a tradition of spiritual exposition; it does not make the tree a guarantee that the faithful will never suffer.

== Prosperity and judgment in the Psalter ==
The tree's enduring leaf and fruit contrast with chaff, which has no root and is scattered by wind. The conclusion locates the difference in God's knowledge of the righteous way and in the fate of the other way. The contrast is a statement of moral and divine judgment, not a timetable for visible rewards.

Psalm 73 gives the congregation language for the difficulty of seeing the wicked prosper:

<blockquote>
Nevertheless, my feet were almost gone, * my treadings had well-nigh slipt. 
And why? I was grieved at the wicked: * I do also see the ungodly in such prosperity.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), Psalter, Psalm 73:2–3 in Prayer Book numbering, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms2.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Read together, the two psalms leave room for distress at injustice while directing attention to its ultimate judgment (Psalm 73:16–18). Psalm 1's “prosper” should therefore not be reduced to wealth or immunity from trouble. The final line points to the Lord's knowledge and judgment, rather than to a technique for obtaining success.

== A Christian reading ==
Augustine begins his exposition by identifying the blessed man with Jesus Christ:

<blockquote>
This is to be understood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Man.
</blockquote>
<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Exposition on Psalm 1'', §1, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised by Kevin Knight, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801001.htm New Advent transcription].</ref>

This is Augustine's Christological interpretation of Israel's psalm. It allows Christian worshippers to hear the blessed life in relation to Christ's obedience, without requiring them to deny the psalm's original contrast between righteous and wicked ways. John 15:4–5 offers a related, though different, image: branches bear fruit by abiding in Christ. In prayer the image of fruitfulness can thus call Christians to dependence on Christ as well as to sustained attention to God's word.

== Morning Prayer ==
The monthly division places Psalm 1 before Psalms 2–5 on the first morning. The Office also provides for a portion or selection of psalms, so this is an appointment in the monthly course rather than a claim that the psalm must be used at every celebration of Morning Prayer. After the Venite, the Office directs:

<blockquote>
Then shall follow a Portion of the Psalms, according to the Use of this Church. And at the end of every Psalm, and likewise at the end of the Venite, Benedictus es, Benedictus, Jubilate, may be, and at the end of the whole Portion, or Selection from the Psalter, shall be, sung or said the Gloria Patri:
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Daily Morning Prayer, rubric after the Venite, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The rubric permits the doxology after each psalm and requires it at the end of the whole portion or selection. It gives the Church's recitation an explicitly Trinitarian ending:

<blockquote>
GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost; 
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, * world without end. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Daily Morning Prayer, Gloria Patri after the Psalter rubric, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The recurring monthly use places the psalm's call to delight in the law within common prayer: the congregation hears and offers Scripture before proceeding to the lessons. Its language can also guide private reflection on the habits, company, and sources of counsel that shape one's life.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[The Psalter (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Daily Office (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm The 1928 Psalter, Psalms 1–50, Society of Archbishop Justus]
* [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801001.htm Augustine's exposition of Psalm 1, New Advent]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Psalter]]
[[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Lord's Supper in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-18T00:26:05Z

SteveMacias: Revise Lord's Supper catechesis with verified Anglican sources

'''Lord's Supper in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' is the instruction on Holy Communion in the [[Catechism (1928 BCP)|Catechism]] of the American [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]]. Following its account of Baptism, the Catechism asks why the Supper was instituted, what is received, what benefit follows, and how communicants should prepare. It names Baptism and the Supper as the two sacraments generally necessary to salvation and describes a sacrament as a Christ-ordained sign, means, and pledge of grace.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, questions on the number and nature of sacraments, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Remembrance of Christ's sacrifice ==
Asked why the Lord's Supper was ordained, the Catechism answers:

<blockquote>
For the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we receive thereby.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, purpose of the Lord's Supper, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The remembrance is both of Christ's death and of the benefits flowing from it. In 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 Paul recounts the Lord's commands over bread and cup and says that eating and drinking proclaim his death until he comes. The Prayer of Consecration similarly gives thanks for Christ's one offering and calls for a perpetual memory until his coming again.<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, [https://www.bible.com/bible/1/1CO.11.KJV 1 Corinthians 11:23–26], YouVersion; The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Holy Communion, Prayer of Consecration, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Writing before the 1928 revision, Bishop Manton Eastburn explained this remembrance and then described the Supper's nourishing purpose:

<blockquote>
One principal aspect in which the Holy Communion stands before us, is that of a commemorative institution. It was enjoined, for the purpose of calling to mind, through all the generations of the Christian church, the Redeemer's dying love.
</blockquote>
<ref>Manton Eastburn, ''A Brief View of the Nature of the Holy Communion; and of Certain Erroneous Conceptions of Its Character'' (New York: Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge, 1857), p. 4, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/meastburn/brief_view1857.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Eastburn goes on to call the Supper a means of spiritual nourishment as well as a commemoration. His interpretation makes clear why the Catechism proceeds from remembrance to questions about reception and benefit; it is a nineteenth-century explanation, not an additional answer in the 1928 text.<ref>Eastburn, ''A Brief View'' (1857), pp. 5–7, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/meastburn/brief_view1857.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

== Sign, gift, and benefit ==
The Catechism identifies the outward part or sign as:

<blockquote>
Bread and Wine, which the Lord hath commanded to be received.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, outward part of the Lord's Supper, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

It then distinguishes this from the inward part, or thing signified:

<blockquote>
The Body and Blood of Christ, which are spiritually taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, inward part of the Lord's Supper, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The following answer describes the benefit of this reception:

<blockquote>
The strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the Body and Blood of Christ, as our bodies are by the Bread and Wine.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, benefits of the Lord's Supper, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The bodily nourishment provided by bread and wine serves as an analogy for the strengthening of souls. In 1 Corinthians 10:16–17, Paul describes the cup and the bread as communion in Christ's blood and body, and the one bread as related to the one body of those who partake. The Catechism's account therefore joins Christ's gift and the life of his people.<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, [https://www.bible.com/bible/1/1CO.10.KJV 1 Corinthians 10:16–17], YouVersion.</ref>

Morgan Dix, an American priest lecturing in 1892, drew attention to the order of these catechetical distinctions:

<blockquote>
Three terms are to be considered: the sign, signum; the thing signified, res; the benefit received, beneficia, or virtus.
</blockquote>
<ref>Morgan Dix, ''The Sacramental System Considered as the Extension of the Incarnation: The Bishop Paddock Lectures, 1892'' (New York: Longmans, 1893), lecture V, “Holy Communion,” [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/mdix/paddock/05.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Dix uses the distinction to develop a high-church account of Christ's objective presence; that further argument belongs to his own interpretation. Eastburn, by contrast, emphasizes spiritual nourishment of the faithful recipient. Both help locate the Catechism's concise answers in a history of Anglican eucharistic reflection without making either writer's full position the text of the 1928 Catechism.<ref>Dix, ''The Sacramental System'' (1893), lecture V, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/mdix/paddock/05.html Project Canterbury transcription]; Eastburn, ''A Brief View'' (1857), pp. 5–6, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/meastburn/brief_view1857.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

== Preparation and the Communion rite ==
The Catechism's final answer on the Supper asks those who come to examine themselves:

<blockquote>
To examine themselves, whether they repent them truly of their former sins, stedfastly purposing to lead a new life; have a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his death; and be in charity with all men.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, preparation for the Lord's Supper, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Repentance entails a purpose of amendment; faith looks to God's mercy through Christ; thanksgiving remembers his death; and charity reaches the neighbor. Paul's instruction to examine oneself and then eat and drink, in 1 Corinthians 11:27–29, supplies the scriptural connection. The answer directs preparation toward participation and a life of reconciliation.<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, [https://www.bible.com/bible/1/1CO.11.KJV 1 Corinthians 11:27–29], YouVersion.</ref>

The [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)|Communion office]] puts the same themes on the lips of the minister when the bread is delivered:

<blockquote>
The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith, with thanksgiving.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Holy Communion, words at delivery of the bread, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The words bring together Christ's gift, remembrance, faith, and thanksgiving. After Communion, the prayer of thanksgiving also speaks of the faithful as members of Christ's mystical body and asks grace to continue in fellowship and good works. The teaching is thus ordered toward worship and a shared Christian life, not merely a definition to be memorized.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Holy Communion, post-Communion thanksgiving, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The [[Thirty-Nine Articles|Articles of Religion]] printed in the Prayer Book likewise describe faithful reception in Article XXVIII and say that the Body of Christ is received and eaten in a heavenly and spiritual manner, by faith. Article XXIX warns against reception without lively faith; Article XXX calls for both bread and cup to be administered to the laity.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), Articles of Religion, Articles XXVIII–XXX, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Articles.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Inward and Spiritual Grace in the 1928 BCP Catechism]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm The 1928 Catechism, Society of Archbishop Justus]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Inward and Spiritual Grace in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-17T23:28:11Z

SteveMacias: Revise inward grace catechesis with verified liturgy and Anglican sources

'''Inward and Spiritual Grace in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' is the divine gift distinguished from, yet joined to, the outward sign in the [[Catechism (1928 BCP)|Catechism]]'s account of a sacrament. In [[Baptism (1928 BCP)|Baptism]] the Catechism describes that grace as death to sin and new birth to righteousness. In the [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)|Lord's Supper]] it identifies the inward part as Christ's Body and Blood spiritually received by the faithful, and the benefit as the strengthening and refreshing of their souls.

== The sacramental definition ==
The Catechism names Baptism and the Lord's Supper as the two sacraments generally necessary to salvation. Its definition ties the gift to Christ's institution and to the Church's sacramental action:

<blockquote>
I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us; ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, answer defining a sacrament, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The sign is visible; the grace is inward and spiritual. Yet the answer calls the sacrament both a means of receiving that grace and a pledge of assurance, not simply a picture to be contemplated. The two terms lead the student to ask what God gives in each rite as well as what the worshipper sees and does.

Granville Mercer Williams, writing in 1928, explained the efficacy of sacramental signs by appeal to God's will:

<blockquote>
The Christian Sacraments are effectual symbols of God's grace because God has set them forth for us, because we use them in obedience to His Will, and because He wills to give to those who so use them the graces which He has attached to their use.
</blockquote>
<ref>Granville Mercer Williams, S.S.J.E., ''The Touch of Christ: Lectures on the Christian Sacraments'' (New York: Edwin S. Gorham, 1928), chapter II, “The Christian Sacraments,” [https://anglicanhistory.org/ssje/williams/touch/02.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Williams's interpretation locates the gift in God's action, rather than in an independent power of the material sign. He also stresses the recipient's response of faith and love; his account is a theological explanation, not an additional answer in the Catechism.<ref>Williams, ''The Touch of Christ'' (1928), chapter II, [https://anglicanhistory.org/ssje/williams/touch/02.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

== Baptism: death and new birth ==
After identifying water used in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as Baptism's outward sign, the Catechism asks for the inward grace:

<blockquote>
A death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness: for being by nature born in sin, and the children of wrath, we are hereby made the children of grace.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, answer on the inward and spiritual grace of Baptism, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The paired images describe both a break with sin and entry into a new life. Romans 6:3–4 connects baptism into Christ's death and burial with walking in newness of life; John 3:5 speaks of birth of water and the Spirit. The Catechism's “children of grace” also recalls its opening answer, in which the baptized person is a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%206%3A3-4%3BJohn%203%3A5&version=KJV Romans 6:3–4 and John 3:5], Bible Gateway; The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, opening answer and Baptism questions, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The [[Holy Baptism (1928 BCP)|Baptism office]] makes the connection between water and God's gift in its prayer before the administration:

<blockquote>
sanctify this Water to the mystical washing away of sin; and grant that this Child (this thy Servant), now to be baptized therein, may receive the fulness of thy grace, and ever remain in the number of thy faithful children;
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Ministration of Holy Baptism, prayer before the administration of water, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Baptism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription]; excerpt from the prayer.</ref>

The prayer asks for grace and perseverance, rather than treating the water as acting apart from God. The Catechism also requires repentance and faith from those baptized; infants promise these through sureties and are bound to perform the promise when they come of age. Grace and subsequent Christian responsibility therefore belong together in its instruction.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, questions on repentance, faith, and infant Baptism, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== The Lord's Supper: Christ and his benefits ==
The Catechism names bread and wine as the outward part, then asks what is the inward part, or thing signified:

<blockquote>
The Body and Blood of Christ, which are spiritually taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, answer on the inward part of the Lord's Supper, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Its next answer distinguishes that inward part from the benefit of receiving it:

<blockquote>
The strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the Body and Blood of Christ, as our bodies are by the Bread and Wine.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, answer on the benefits of the Lord's Supper, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The comparison with bodily nourishment explains the benefit without reducing it to the bread and wine alone. In 1 Corinthians 10:16–17 Paul describes the cup and bread as communion in Christ's blood and body and connects the one bread with the one body. In 1 Corinthians 11:23–29 the Lord's command to remember his death stands alongside the call to self-examination. The Catechism likewise asks communicants for repentance, faith in God's mercy through Christ, thankful remembrance, and charity toward all.<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2010%3A16-17%3B1%20Corinthians%2011%3A23-29&version=KJV 1 Corinthians 10:16–17 and 11:23–29], Bible Gateway; The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, preparation for the Lord's Supper, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

In the Prayer of Consecration, the Church asks the Father to bless and sanctify the bread and wine with his Word and Holy Spirit, so that those receiving according to Christ's institution may partake of his Body and Blood. At delivery of the bread the minister says:

<blockquote>
The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith, with thanksgiving.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Holy Communion, words at delivery of the bread, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The words hold together the gift, remembrance of Christ's death, faith, and thanksgiving. They give liturgical expression to the Catechism's account of spiritual reception and nourishment.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Holy Communion, Prayer of Consecration and administration, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== An Anglican interpretation ==
In an 1892 lecture, the American priest Morgan Dix drew attention to the Catechism's separate questions about the eucharistic sign, the thing signified, and the benefit:

<blockquote>
Three terms are to be considered: the sign, signum; the thing signified, res; the benefit received, beneficia, or virtus.
</blockquote>
<ref>Morgan Dix, ''The Sacramental System Considered as the Extension of the Incarnation: The Bishop Paddock Lectures, 1892'' (New York: Longmans, 1893), lecture V, “Holy Communion,” [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/mdix/paddock/05.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Dix's distinction helps a reader follow the sequence of the Catechism's questions: bread and wine, Christ's Body and Blood, and the strengthening and refreshing of souls. His further account of Christ's objective presence is a particular high-church interpretation, given before the 1928 revision; it should be read as his interpretation rather than as wording supplied by the Catechism itself.<ref>Dix, ''The Sacramental System'' (1893), lecture V, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/mdix/paddock/05.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Sacraments in the 1928 BCP Catechism]]
* [[Outward and Visible Sign in the 1928 BCP Catechism]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/BCP_1928.htm The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Society of Archbishop Justus]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Outward and Visible Sign in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-17T20:24:38Z

SteveMacias: Revise sacramental signs with verified Catechism, rites, and Anglican sources

'''Outward and Visible Sign in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' is the phrase by which the [[Catechism (1928 BCP)|Catechism]] describes the perceptible part of a sacrament. In [[Baptism (1928 BCP)|Baptism]] the sign is water used with the Trinitarian name; in the [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)|Lord's Supper]] it is bread and wine received as Christ commanded. The Catechism distinguishes these outward acts from inward grace while calling the sacrament both a means of receiving grace and a pledge of its assurance.

== The sign in the Catechism ==
The Catechism names Baptism and the Lord's Supper as the two sacraments “generally necessary to salvation” and defines the word sacrament:

<blockquote>
I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us; ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, questions on the number and meaning of sacraments, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

“Outward” identifies what can be perceived in the rite; “inward and spiritual” describes the grace God gives. The definition attributes institution to Christ and says more than that the action reminds the worshipper of an absent gift: it calls the sacrament a means of reception and a pledge of assurance. The next answer distinguishes its two parts without suggesting they are independent sacraments:<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, questions on the meaning and parts of a sacrament, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

<blockquote>
Two; the outward visible sign, and the inward spiritual grace.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, answer on the parts of a sacrament, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Granville Mercer Williams, writing in 1928, interpreted the effectiveness of the signs in terms of God's will rather than a power possessed by the material itself:

<blockquote>
The Christian Sacraments are effectual symbols of God's grace because God has set them forth for us, because we use them in obedience to His Will, and because He wills to give to those who so use them the graces which He has attached to their use.
</blockquote>
<ref>Granville Mercer Williams, S.S.J.E., ''The Touch of Christ: Lectures on the Christian Sacraments'' (New York: Edwin S. Gorham, 1928), chapter II, “The Christian Sacraments,” [https://anglicanhistory.org/ssje/williams/touch/02.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Williams's account is an Anglican interpretation, not an additional Catechism answer. In the same chapter he rejects an idea of ritual as a means of compelling God and stresses the recipient's response of faith and love.<ref>Williams, ''The Touch of Christ'' (1928), chapter II, [https://anglicanhistory.org/ssje/williams/touch/02.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

== Baptism: water and the divine name ==
Asked for the outward sign or form of Baptism, the Catechism answers:

<blockquote>
Water; wherein the person is baptized, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, answer on the outward sign of Baptism, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The sign is not water considered in isolation: the answer joins its use to the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Baptism office directs the minister to dip the candidate or pour water, saying:

<blockquote>
N. I baptize thee In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Ministration of Holy Baptism, form at the administration of water, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Baptism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The office also appoints Matthew 28:18–20 as a Gospel option: Christ sends the disciples to baptize in that name and to teach obedience. Its prayer asks God to sanctify the water to the mystical washing away of sin, locating the outward act within the Church's prayer for divine grace.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Ministration of Holy Baptism, Gospel option and prayer before Baptism, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Baptism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The Catechism describes the inward grace in terms of death and birth:

<blockquote>
A death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness: for being by nature born in sin, and the children of wrath, we are hereby made the children of grace.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, answer on the inward grace of Baptism, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Romans 6:3–4 connects baptism into Christ's death with walking in newness of life. The Catechism also asks for repentance and faith; in the case of infants, sureties promise these on their behalf and the children are bound to perform the promise when of age. Its treatment thus joins the gift of grace to a continuing Christian response.<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%206%3A3-4%3B%201%20Corinthians%2010%3A16-17%3B%201%20Corinthians%2011%3A23-29&version=KJV Romans 6:3–4], Bible Gateway; and The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, questions on repentance, faith, and infants, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== The Lord's Supper: bread and wine ==
In the Lord's Supper the outward part is not a washing but nourishment received at Christ's command:

<blockquote>
Bread and Wine, which the Lord hath commanded to be received.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, answer on the outward part of the Lord's Supper, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The answer immediately following names the inward part:

<blockquote>
The Body and Blood of Christ, which are spiritually taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, answer on the inward part of the Lord's Supper, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The following answer speaks of strengthening and refreshing the soul, as bread and wine nourish the body. In 1 Corinthians 10:16–17, the cup and bread are associated with participation in Christ's blood and body and with the unity of the one body; 1 Corinthians 11:23–29 links the Lord's command to remembrance and self-examination. The Catechism similarly calls communicants to repentance, faith, thankful remembrance, and charity.<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%206%3A3-4%3B%201%20Corinthians%2010%3A16-17%3B%201%20Corinthians%2011%3A23-29&version=KJV 1 Corinthians 10:16–17 and 11:23–29], Bible Gateway; The Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, questions on the benefits of and preparation for the Lord's Supper, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The Communion prayer asks God to bless and sanctify the bread and wine by his Word and Holy Spirit, so that those receiving them according to Christ's institution may be partakers of his Body and Blood. The words at delivery of the bread connect the gift with remembrance, faith, and thanksgiving:<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Holy Communion, Prayer of Consecration, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

<blockquote>
The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith, with thanksgiving.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Holy Communion, words at delivery of the bread, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Anglican teaching and other rites ==
Article XXV of the [[Thirty-Nine Articles]] distinguishes Baptism and the Lord's Supper from five other rites or states of life, including [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)|Confirmation]], which it says do not have the same nature as the Gospel sacraments. Its distinction concerns the Christ-appointed visible sign; it does not remove those other rites from the Prayer Book.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), Articles of Religion, Article XXV, “Of the Sacraments,” [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Articles.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Earlier, Bishop John Henry Hobart explained the distinction by pointing to the two material signs:

<blockquote>
Her authority for this is, that there are outward and visible signs in baptism and the Lord's Supper-water in the one, and bread and wine in the other.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Henry Hobart, ''A Catechism for Confirmation'' (New York: Protestant Episcopal Tract Society, printed by T. & J. Swords, 1819), p. 7, question on Confirmation and a sacrament, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/jhhobart/catechism_confirmation.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Hobart wrote more than a century before the American 1928 revision; his explanation is a historical interpretation of Anglican teaching, not a statement that Confirmation has no place in Christian formation. The 1928 Catechism's closing rubrics provide for instruction and presentation to the bishop, placing teaching about Baptism and Communion within the continuing formation of the baptized.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, concluding rubrics, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Sacraments in the 1928 BCP Catechism]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/BCP_1928.htm The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Society of Archbishop Justus]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Sacraments in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-17T17:21:57Z

SteveMacias: Revise sacramental catechesis with verified liturgy and Anglican sources

'''Sacraments in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' are taught as Christ-ordained signs that both signify and convey divine grace. The [[Catechism (1928 BCP)|Catechism]] names Baptism and the Lord's Supper as the two sacraments generally necessary to salvation, and then explains each by its outward sign, inward gift, and the response called for from its recipients.

== The Catechism's definition ==
The Catechism asks how many sacraments Christ ordained in his Church:

<blockquote>
Two only, as generally necessary to salvation; that is to say, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, question on the number of sacraments, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Its definition joins the visible act to God's gift and promise:

<blockquote>
I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us; ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, definition of a sacrament, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The sign is perceptible; the grace is spiritual and given by God. Christ's institution distinguishes the Church's sacramental acts from a symbol invented at will. The words “means” and “pledge” describe both the gift received and the assurance attached to it. The two parts are distinguished for teaching, but the Catechism does not invite the learner to discard either.

The Catechism places this teaching after its account of the Creed, commandments, and prayer: the child who has learned to ask God for grace is then taught about the sacramental means and pledge of grace. Article XXVI adds a distinction relevant to assurance: the unworthiness of a minister does not take away the effect of Christ's ordinance for those who receive it rightly and by faith, though the Church is still to discipline an offending minister.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, questions on prayer and the sacraments, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription]; and Articles of Religion, Article XXVI, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Articles.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

A contemporary Anglican interpreter, Granville Mercer Williams, explained the link between divine institution and sacramental efficacy in 1928:

<blockquote>
The Christian Sacraments are effectual symbols of God's grace because God has set them forth for us, because we use them in obedience to His Will, and because He wills to give to those who so use them the graces which He has attached to their use.
</blockquote>
<ref>Granville Mercer Williams, S.S.J.E., ''The Touch of Christ: Lectures on the Christian Sacraments'' (New York: Edwin S. Gorham, 1928), chapter II, “The Christian Sacraments,” [https://anglicanhistory.org/ssje/williams/touch/02.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Williams's account is an interpretation of the Catechism, not an additional Prayer Book definition. In the same chapter he stresses the recipient's response in faith and love and denies that sacramental rites compel God.<ref>Granville Mercer Williams, ''The Touch of Christ'' (1928), chapter II, “The Christian Sacraments,” [https://anglicanhistory.org/ssje/williams/touch/02.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

== Baptism: water and new birth ==
The Catechism identifies the water and the Trinitarian name together, and explains the grace associated with Baptism:

<blockquote>
Water; wherein the person is baptized, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

A death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness: for being by nature born in sin, and the children of wrath, we are hereby made the children of grace.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, answers on the outward sign and inward grace of Baptism, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The two paragraphs answer consecutive questions; water is the sign, while death to sin and new birth describe the gift. Matthew 28:19 supplies the Trinitarian baptismal commission, and Romans 6:3–4 associates baptism into Christ's death with walking in newness of life.<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028%3A19%3B%20Romans%206%3A3-4&version=KJV Matthew 28:19 and Romans 6:3–4], Bible Gateway.</ref> In the Prayer Book's [[Baptism (1928 BCP)|Baptism]] office, the Church prays for the candidate to be baptized with water and the Holy Ghost and received into Christ's Church, showing how the catechetical account belongs to a rite of prayer and admission.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Ministration of Holy Baptism, opening exhortation, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Baptism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The answer on preparation names “Repentance” and “Faith”; for infants the Catechism says that sureties promise these on their behalf and that the children, when of age, are bound to perform them. Baptismal grace is thus presented alongside a lifelong response, not as a reason for indifference.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, questions on repentance, faith, and infant Baptism, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The Baptism office gives that continuing response a liturgical form. After the water and baptismal words, the minister gives thanks for the person grafted into Christ's Church and asks the congregation to pray that the person may live according to this beginning. Its later thanksgiving prays that, being dead to sin and buried with Christ, the baptized may also share his resurrection. The Catechism's concise answer and the office's prayer therefore illuminate each other without making the beginning of Christian life identical with its completion.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Ministration of Holy Baptism, declaration and thanksgiving after Baptism, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Baptism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== The Lord's Supper: remembrance and participation ==
The Catechism first states the purpose of the Supper, then names what is received:

<blockquote>
For the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we receive thereby.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, question on the purpose of the Lord's Supper, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

<blockquote>
The Body and Blood of Christ, which are spiritually taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, question on the inward part of the Lord's Supper, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The outward part is bread and wine; the next answer names the benefit as the strengthening and refreshing of the soul. The Catechism thus keeps remembrance of Christ's death together with spiritual reception and its benefit. Paul's account of the institution and his call to self-examination (1 Corinthians 11:23–29) illuminate both the remembrance and the preparation; 1 Corinthians 10:16–17 also speaks of participation and the unity of the one body.<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2010%3A16-17%3B%2011%3A23-29&version=KJV 1 Corinthians 10:16–17 and 11:23–29], Bible Gateway.</ref>

In [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)|Holy Communion]], the words used to deliver the bread connect the gift to faith and thanksgiving:

<blockquote>
The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith, with thanksgiving.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion, words at the delivery of the Bread, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

For those coming to the Supper, the Catechism asks for self-examination: repentance and a purpose of amendment, lively faith in God's mercy through Christ, thankful remembrance of his death, and charity toward all. These are concrete directions for reception, not a substitute for Christ's gift.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, final question on preparation for the Lord's Supper, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The Communion invitation makes the same preparation communal and practical: those who repent, intend a new life, and are in love and charity with their neighbours are invited to draw near in faith. The thanksgiving after reception then asks for grace to continue in holy fellowship and do good works. The movement from examination to reception and thanksgiving places the sacrament within a life of reconciliation and service.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion, invitation and thanksgiving after Communion, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== The two sacraments and other rites ==
The qualification “generally necessary to salvation” should be retained when explaining the Catechism's number. Article XXV of the [[Thirty-Nine Articles]] calls Baptism and the Lord's Supper sacraments ordained by Christ in the Gospel; it distinguishes five other rites and states of life from them because they lack the same nature and a visible sign or ceremony ordained by God. That distinction does not erase the Prayer Book's provision for other rites such as [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)|Confirmation]].<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), Articles of Religion, Article XXV, “Of the Sacraments,” [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Articles.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Writing before the 1928 revision, Bishop John Henry Hobart explained his distinction between Confirmation and the two sacraments by referring to their material signs:

<blockquote>
Our Church deems one essential sign of a sacrament-"an outward and visible sign"--that is, some material substance, denoting "an inward and spiritual grace." Her authority for this is, that there are outward and visible signs in baptism and the Lord's Supper-water in the one, and bread and wine in the other.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Henry Hobart, ''A Catechism for Confirmation'' (New York: Protestant Episcopal Tract Society, printed by T. & J. Swords, 1819), p. 7, question on Confirmation and a sacrament, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/jhhobart/catechism_confirmation.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Hobart's explanation is one historical Anglican account of the distinction; it does not make Confirmation unimportant. The Catechism's closing rubrics provide for instruction and presentation to the bishop, setting sacramental teaching within the continuing formation of the baptized.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, concluding rubrics, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/BCP_1928.htm The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Society of Archbishop Justus]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Lord's Prayer in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-17T16:24:36Z

SteveMacias: Revise Lord's Prayer catechesis with verified Prayer Book and Anglican sources

'''Lord's Prayer in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' is the prayer taught to candidates for Confirmation after the explanation of their duties toward God and their neighbors. In the [[Catechism (1928 BCP)|Catechism]], learning to pray is joined to the recognition that obedience requires God's grace. The candidate both recites the prayer and explains what is asked for in it.

== Prayer and the need for grace ==
Having rehearsed the commandments and the two duties, the learner hears the catechist's instruction:

<blockquote>
My good Child, know this; that thou art not able to do these things of thyself, nor to walk in the Commandments of God, and to serve him, without his special grace; which thou must learn at all times to call for by diligent prayer. Let me hear, therefore, if thou canst say the Lord's Prayer.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, p. 580, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The command to pray follows the moral teaching rather than replacing it: the baptized person asks God for the help needed to worship and obey. The earlier baptismal answer already gives thanks for being called into a state of salvation and asks for grace to continue in it. Prayer is thus part of the life of faith and obedience taught throughout the Catechism.<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, opening questions and duty section, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== The prayer as recited ==
The answer given in the Catechism reads:

<blockquote>
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, p. 580, the Lord's Prayer, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The wording follows the prayer Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:9–13; Luke 11:1–4 also records his instruction in response to a disciple's request. In Matthew, Jesus goes on to connect forgiveness received with forgiveness offered to others. The Catechism's “trespasses” wording differs from the King James Version's “debts” in Matthew 6:12, though Matthew 6:14–15 speaks of trespasses.<ref>''The Holy Bible'', King James Version, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206%3A9-15&version=KJV Matthew 6:9–15] and [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2011%3A1-4&version=KJV Luke 11:1–4], Bible Gateway.</ref>

== What the petitions ask ==
Asked what is desired of God in the prayer, the candidate answers:

<blockquote>
I desire my Lord God, our heavenly Father, who is the giver of all goodness, to send his grace unto me, and to all people; that we may worship him, serve him, and obey him, as we ought to do. And I pray unto God, that he will send us all things that are needful both for our souls and bodies; and that he will be merciful unto us, and forgive us our sins; and that it will please him to save and defend us in all dangers both of soul and body; and that he will keep us from all sin and wickedness, and from our spiritual enemy, and from everlasting death. And this I trust he will do of his mercy and goodness, through our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore I say, Amen, So be it.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, pp. 580–581, answer to “What desirest thou of God in this Prayer?”, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

“Our Father” places the individual among others who pray to the giver of all goodness: the Catechism asks grace for “me, and to all people.” The petitions for God's name, kingdom, and will are reflected in the desire that all may worship, serve, and obey him. Daily bread directs prayer toward need; the Catechism describes the things requested as necessary for both soul and body. Forgiveness is sought from God's mercy, while the prayer itself binds the petition to the forgiveness of those who trespass against us. The final petitions ask for protection in temptation and danger; the explanation extends this hope to deliverance from sin, the spiritual enemy, and everlasting death. “Amen” expresses trust in God's mercy through Jesus Christ, not confidence in the learner's own power.

The Reformation preacher Hugh Latimer interpreted daily bread broadly in a sermon on the prayer:

<blockquote>
This word "bread" signifieth all manner of sustenance for the preservation of this life; all things whereby man should live are contained in this word "bread."
</blockquote>
<ref>Hugh Latimer, “The Fifth Sermon upon the Lord's Prayer,” in ''Sermons'' (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1906), [https://anglicanhistory.org/reformation/latimer/sermons/lords5.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Latimer's reading illuminates the Catechism's concern for bodily needs, while its own answer explicitly includes the needs of the soul as well. He also stresses that “us” makes the request intercession for others. His sermon is a sixteenth-century interpretation preserved in a later edition, not a commentary written for the 1928 book.<ref>Latimer, “The Fifth Sermon upon the Lord's Prayer,” in ''Sermons'' (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1906), discussion of “us,” [https://anglicanhistory.org/reformation/latimer/sermons/lords5.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

== Learning and common worship ==
A rubric at the end of the Catechism links learning the prayer with preparation for Confirmation:

<blockquote>
So soon as Children are come to a competent age, and can say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, and can answer to the other questions of this short Catechism, they shall be brought to the Bishop.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, concluding rubric, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Writing before the 1928 revision, Bishop John Henry Hobart explained the purpose of a similar requirement in his confirmation instruction:

<blockquote>
By this order, she evidently designs more than that they should be able merely to say the words of the Catechism. They must have a full knowledge of its meaning.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Henry Hobart, ''A Catechism for Confirmation'' (New York: Protestant Episcopal Tract Society, printed by T. & J. Swords, 1819), pp. 8–9, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/jhhobart/catechism_confirmation.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Hobart's distinction between recitation and understanding helps explain the Catechism's two questions: the learner says the prayer and then describes its meaning. The prayer learned here is also prayed by the congregation. The rubric in [[Morning Prayer (1928 BCP)|Morning Prayer]] directs:

<blockquote>
Then the Minister shall kneel, and say the Lord's Prayer; the People still kneeling, and repeating it with him, both here, and wheresoever else it is used in Divine Service.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for Daily Morning Prayer, rubric before the Lord's Prayer, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The Catechism's form ends “deliver us from evil. Amen”; Morning Prayer adds “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever” before its Amen. The difference should be observed when teaching the particular text appointed in each place.<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm A Catechism] and [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm The Order for Daily Morning Prayer], Society of Archbishop Justus transcriptions.</ref>

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Morning Prayer (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm The 1928 Catechism, Society of Archbishop Justus]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Duty Toward Neighbor in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-17T14:18:43Z

SteveMacias: Revise neighborly duty with verified Catechism, Communion, and Anglican sources

'''Duty Toward Neighbor in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' is the second of the two duties the Catechism draws from the Ten Commandments. It gives practical shape to love of neighbor in family, civil society, speech, work, conduct, and inward desire. The answer belongs to instruction for baptized persons preparing for [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)|Confirmation]], and is followed immediately by a reminder that obedience requires God's grace and prayer.

== The Catechism's answer ==
After the Commandments and its account of [[Duty Toward God in the 1928 BCP Catechism|duty toward God]], the [[Catechism (1928 BCP)|Catechism]] asks, “What is thy duty towards thy Neighbour?” The answer is:

<blockquote>
My duty towards my Neighbour is To love him as myself, and to do to all men as I would they should do unto me: To love, honour, and succour my father and mother: To honour and obey the civil authority: To submit myself to all my governors, teachers, spiritual pastors and masters: To order myself lowly and reverently to all my betters: To hurt nobody by word or deed: To be true and just in all my dealings: To bear no malice nor hatred in my heart: To keep my hands from picking and stealing, and my tongue from evil speaking, lying, and slandering: To keep my body in temperance, soberness, and chastity: Not to covet nor desire other men's goods; But to learn and labour truly to get mine own living, And to do my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please God to call me.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, answer on duty towards one's neighbour, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The opening joins the command to love the neighbor as oneself (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39) to the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12). “Succour” means to help or support: the answer therefore asks for active care of parents as well as respect. Its references to “betters,” masters, and submission reflect the social language of its inherited catechetical setting; they should be read in light of the opening rule of love owed to all, not as permission to injure or exploit anyone.

The remaining clauses reach beyond outward compliance. The prohibitions of hurt and malice connect the sixth commandment with both deeds and inward anger (compare Matthew 5:21–22); truth in dealings and the rejection of slander give the ninth commandment social reach. Chastity and temperance concern the body, while the rejection of covetousness concerns desire. Earning a living honestly and carrying out one's calling give positive expression to duties that also prohibit theft and envy. The list connects the later Commandments to everyday relations without reducing neighbor-love to a checklist.

== Scripture and the Communion service ==
The [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)|Communion service]] places Jesus' twofold summary of the law before the congregation:

<blockquote>
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), Holy Communion, Summary of the Law, echoing Matthew 22:37–40, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The Catechism's two duties belong together: love of God is not displaced by concern for others, and the second commandment gives that concern its place in the law. Luke 10:25–37 presses the question of who is a neighbor through the Samaritan's mercy to an injured stranger. The Communion Offertory applies the test of love to material need:

<blockquote>
Whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), Holy Communion, Offertory sentence from 1 John 3:17, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The Eucharistic invitation also makes charity toward neighbors part of preparation for receiving the sacrament, alongside repentance and faith:

<blockquote>
YE who do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways; Draw near with faith, and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort; and make your humble confession to Almighty God, devoutly kneeling.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), Holy Communion, Invitation to Confession, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The longer Communion exhortation spells out what reconciliation can require where one has injured another:

<blockquote>
And if ye shall perceive your offences to be such as are not only against God, but also against your neighbours; then ye shall reconcile yourselves unto them; being ready to make restitution and satisfaction, according to the uttermost of your powers, for all injuries and wrongs done by you to any other; and being likewise ready to forgive others who have offended you, as ye would have forgiveness of your offences at God's hand
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), Holy Communion, exhortation concerning preparation for Communion, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription]; excerpt from a longer sentence.</ref>

This exhortation joins repentance to restitution and forgiveness. It gives the Catechism's call to justice a liturgical setting: examination of conscience is directed toward mending relationships, not only naming private faults.

== Grace, repentance, and catechetical teaching ==
The Catechism does not leave the pupil relying on moral effort alone. Immediately after the two duties the catechist says:

<blockquote>
My good Child, know this; that thou art not able to do these things of thyself, nor to walk in the Commandments of God, and to serve him, without his special grace; which thou must learn at all times to call for by diligent prayer. Let me hear, therefore, if thou canst say the Lord's Prayer.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, transition from the duties to the Lord's Prayer, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The ensuing Lord's Prayer joins the request for forgiveness to forgiving others. Asked what the prayer seeks, the pupil begins:

<blockquote>
I desire my Lord God, our heavenly Father, who is the giver of all goodness, to send his grace unto me, and to all people; that we may worship him, serve him, and obey him, as we ought to do.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, explanation of the Lord's Prayer, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription]; opening sentence of the answer.</ref>

Prayer for grace is thus offered for “all people,” not the pupil alone. The connection encourages examination of failures in charity, repentance, and reliance on divine mercy, rather than treating the answer as evidence of self-sufficiency.

Two earlier American Episcopal teachers illustrate how the inherited obligations were used in preparation for Confirmation. John Henry Hobart's 1819 manual turns them into a personal resolution:

<blockquote>
I do resolve, by God's grace, on all occasions, to observe the dictates of truth and justice; to love, honour and obey my parents; to be submissive to all those whom God in his providence hath set over me; to discharge all my duties to my relations, my friends, and my fellow men; at all times seeking to do unto them as I should wish that they in like circumstances should do unto me.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Henry Hobart, ''A Catechism for Confirmation'' (New York: Protestant Episcopal Tract Society, printed by T. & J. Swords, 1819), p. 14, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/jhhobart/catechism_confirmation.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Hobart's resolution moves from family and social obligations to the Golden Rule, explicitly considering what one would wish in the other person's circumstances. His repeated appeal to God's grace relates this moral effort to prayer. James DeKoven's 1867 confirmation catechism gives a concrete account of repentance when a neighbor has been wronged:

<blockquote>
Making amends and restoration for every thing in which we have done wrong to our neighbours.
</blockquote>
<ref>James DeKoven, ''A Catechism on Confirmation'', in Morgan Dix, ed., ''A Manual of Instruction for Confirmation Classes'' (New York: E. & J. B. Young, 1867), “The Christian Life,” answer on restitution, [https://anglicanhistory.org/dekoven/catechism.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

DeKoven's emphasis on restitution develops the Catechism's demand for justice: repentance involves seeking to repair harm as well as acknowledging it. These works predate the 1928 book and illustrate related Anglican instruction; they are not official commentaries on that edition.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Ten Commandments in the 1928 BCP Catechism]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: A Catechism]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Duty Toward God in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-17T10:14:13Z

SteveMacias: Revise duty toward God with verified Catechism and Anglican sources

'''Duty Toward God in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' is the first of two duties the [[Catechism (1928 BCP)|Catechism]] draws from the Ten Commandments. Its answer describes a life of belief, reverence, love, worship, trust, prayer, and service. The second duty, toward one's neighbour, follows immediately; together they give concrete shape to the obedience promised in Baptism.

== The Catechism's answer ==

After reciting the commandments, the candidate is asked what they chiefly teach:

<blockquote>
I learn two things; my duty towards God, and my duty towards my Neighbour.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, question following the Ten Commandments, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The next answer gives the duty toward God in full:

<blockquote>
My duty towards God is To believe in him, to fear him, And to love him with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my strength: To worship him, to give him thanks: To put my whole trust in him, to call upon him: To honour his holy Name and his Word: And to serve him truly all the days of my life.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, “What is thy duty towards God?”, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The answer begins with belief and reverent fear, but it does not stop with an inward attitude. Love engages heart, mind, soul, and strength; worship and thanksgiving give that love expression. Trust and calling upon God belong together: dependence is enacted in prayer. Honouring God's Name and Word concerns both speech about God and attention to what God has made known. The final clause makes true service a lifelong calling.

== The commandments and the love of God ==

The Catechism introduces the commandments with God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt (Exodus 20:1–17). Its language of wholehearted love also recalls Deuteronomy 6:4–5 and Jesus' answer in Mark 12:29–31. The [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)|Communion]] service sets the two duties side by side in the Summary of the Law:

<blockquote>
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), Holy Communion, Summary of the Law (Matthew 22:37–40), [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Love of God is thus paired with love of neighbour, not treated as permission to disregard others. The first commandments concerning other gods, images, God's Name, and holy time also give the positive answer practical content. In an earlier American confirmation manual, James DeKoven summarized their scope as follows:

<blockquote>
Q. What duty towards GOD does the First Commandment enjoin? A. Inward affection.

Q. The Second? A. Outward Worship.

Q. The Third? A. To honor Him with the tongue.

Q. The Fourth? A. To honor Him with our time.
</blockquote>
<ref>James DeKoven, “A Catechism on Confirmation,” in Morgan Dix, ''A Manual of Instruction for Confirmation Classes'' (New York: E. & J. B. Young, 1867), section IV, “The Vows of Confirmation,” subsection “The Vow of Obedience,” [https://anglicanhistory.org/dekoven/catechism.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

DeKoven's scheme is a nineteenth-century Anglican interpretation, not a rubric added to the 1928 Catechism. It helps a teacher connect inward devotion with worship, speech, and the use of time, while the Prayer Book's own answer gathers those particulars into lifelong service.

== Grace and prayer ==

The Catechism places this duty within the baptismal promise to keep God's will and commandments; the candidate accepts it “by God's help.” After the answers concerning God and neighbour, the catechist makes that dependence explicit:

<blockquote>
My good Child, know this; that thou art not able to do these things of thyself, nor to walk in the Commandments of God, and to serve him, without his special grace; which thou must learn at all times to call for by diligent prayer.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, instruction immediately before the Lord's Prayer, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription]. The transcription's line-break hyphen in “Commandments” is removed.</ref>

The Lord's Prayer follows: its petitions for God's name to be hallowed and God's will to be done give words to the duty just learned, while the petitions for forgiveness and deliverance acknowledge need. Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells, turned the inherited catechetical answer into a prayer for grace:

<blockquote>
O my God, give me grace to believe in thee, and to love thee with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my strength; to worship thee, to give thee thanks, to put my whole trust in thee, to call upon thee, to honor thy holy Name and thy Word, and to serve thee truly all the days of my life, for the sake of Jesus thy Beloved. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>Thomas Ken, ''An Exposition on the Church-Catechism, or, The Practice of Divine Love, Composed for the Diocese of Bath & Wells'' (London: Charles Brome and William Clarke, 1685), “Prayer at Noon,” [https://anglicanhistory.org/ken/divine_poor.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Ken's prayer illustrates his pastoral method of turning catechetical instruction into devotion. It is an earlier witness to the shared tradition, not the wording of the 1928 answer: in his prayer the duties are addressed to God as requests for grace.

== Worship and teaching ==

In Holy Communion, the congregation prays after each of the first nine commandments:

<blockquote>
Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), Holy Communion, people's response to the commandments, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

This response brings mercy and obedience together in public worship. The Communion prayer for the Church likewise asks grace for the congregation to hear and receive God's Word and to serve him in holiness and righteousness throughout life. The Catechism's closing rubric directs that children who can say the Creed, Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments, and answer its other questions, be brought to the bishop. Thus [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)|Confirmation]] preparation joins learning these words to participation in the Church's prayer and continuing service.<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), Holy Communion, prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church; A Catechism, closing rubric on presentation to the bishop, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Holy Communion] and [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Catechism], Society of Archbishop Justus transcriptions.</ref>

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Ten Commandments in the 1928 BCP Catechism]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm The 1928 Catechism, Society of Archbishop Justus]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Ten Commandments in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-17T08:12:05Z

SteveMacias: Revise Catechism Ten Commandments with verified Prayer Book and Anglican sources

'''Ten Commandments in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' are taught as part of the baptismal life of faith, obedience, and prayer. The [[Catechism (1928 BCP)|Catechism]] asks candidates for [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)|Confirmation]] to learn the commandments, to understand their duty to God and neighbour, and to seek the grace needed to keep them.

== From baptismal promise to the law ==
The Catechism places the commandments after the Apostles' Creed. The candidate first recalls that the baptismal sponsors promised renunciation, Christian belief, and obedience; the third promise is:

<blockquote>
that I should keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, question on the sponsors' promises, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm transcription at the Society of Archbishop Justus].</ref>

The candidate answers that this obligation is to be fulfilled “by God's help,” and thanks God for the state of salvation through Jesus Christ. Obedience therefore appears within a baptismal account of divine calling and grace, not as an isolated condition for earning admission to the Church.

When asked which commandments are meant, the answer introduces them with Israel's deliverance:

<blockquote>
The same which God spake in the twentieth Chapter of Exodus, saying, I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, introduction to the Ten Commandments, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Exodus 20:1–17 sets the commands in the story of God's deliverance of Israel. The Catechism repeats all ten, from the prohibition of other gods and idolatry through the prohibition of coveting. Their ordering addresses worship, speech, time, family, life, sexual conduct, possessions, truth, and desire. The final command makes the learner consider inward desire as well as outward action.

== Love of God and neighbour ==
The Catechism asks what is chiefly learned from the commandments and answers, “my duty towards God, and my duty towards my Neighbour.” Its account of the first duty is positive as well as prohibitive:

<blockquote>
My duty towards God is To believe in him, to fear him, And to love him with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my strength: To worship him, to give him thanks: To put my whole trust in him, to call upon him: To honour his holy Name and his Word: And to serve him truly all the days of my life.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, “What is thy duty towards God?”, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The corresponding answer on neighbour begins with love and reciprocity, then applies them to family, public authority, conduct, speech, self-control, coveting, and work:

<blockquote>
My duty towards my Neighbour is To love him as myself, and to do to all men as I would they should do unto me: To love, honour, and succour my father and mother: To honour and obey the civil authority: To submit myself to all my governors, teachers, spiritual pastors and masters: To order myself lowly and reverently to all my betters: To hurt nobody by word or deed: To be true and just in all my dealings: To bear no malice nor hatred in my heart: [...]
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, opening of “What is thy duty towards thy Neighbour?”, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription]. The quotation ends before the rest of the answer.</ref>

The language of social rank reflects the inherited wording of the Catechism. Its duties of truth, care, and protection from harm should also be heard alongside the love of neighbour that frames the answer. In Matthew 22:37–40 and Mark 12:28–34 Jesus joins the love of God to love of neighbour; the Catechism uses the same twofold framework to explain what the commandments require.

== Grace and prayer ==
After the moral instruction, the Catechist immediately tells the learner:

<blockquote>
My good Child, know this; that thou art not able to do these things of thyself, nor to walk in the Commandments of God, and to serve him, without his special grace; which thou must learn at all times to call for by diligent prayer.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, introduction to the Lord's Prayer, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription]. The transcription's line-break hyphen in “Commandments” is silently removed.</ref>

The Lord's Prayer follows this instruction. The sequence teaches that God's commands call for actual obedience, while the ability to serve God is sought as a gift. Its petitions for forgiveness and deliverance also give the learner words with which to return to God when obedience fails.

== Preparation and worship ==
The Catechism's concluding rubric joins learning the commandments with learning the Creed and the Lord's Prayer before presentation to the bishop:

<blockquote>
So soon as Children are come to a competent age, and can say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, and can answer to the other questions of this short Catechism, they shall be brought to the Bishop.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, rubric on presentation to the bishop, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Writing more than a century before the 1928 revision, Bishop John Henry Hobart interpreted the comparable catechetical requirement as a call to understanding:

<blockquote>
By this order, she evidently designs more than that they should be able merely to say the words of the Catechism. They must have a full knowledge of its meaning.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Henry Hobart, ''A Catechism for Confirmation'' (New York: Protestant Episcopal Tract Society, printed by T. & J. Swords, 1819), p. 9, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/jhhobart/catechism_confirmation.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Hobart's interpretation encourages catechists to ask how the commandments shape conduct rather than treating recitation as the whole of preparation. In another nineteenth-century confirmation manual, James DeKoven connects repentance with repair of harm:

<blockquote>
Q. What is restitution? A. Making amends and restoration for every thing in which we have done wrong to our neighbours.
</blockquote>
<ref>James DeKoven, “A Catechism on Confirmation,” in Morgan Dix, ed., ''A Manual of Instruction for Confirmation Classes'' (New York: E. & J. B. Young, 1867), section I, “The Christian Life,” [https://anglicanhistory.org/dekoven/catechism.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

DeKoven's example gives practical content to the Catechism's duty to be true and just. Both authors are witnesses to earlier Anglican teaching, rather than explanations issued with the 1928 text itself.

The same instruction is reinforced in [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)|Holy Communion]]. The 1928 rite directs the Decalogue to be said at least one Sunday each month; when it is omitted the Summary of the Law is required. After the commandments the people pray for mercy and grace, ending:

<blockquote>
Lord, have mercy upon us, and write all these thy laws in our hearts, we beseech thee.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), Holy Communion, response after the tenth commandment, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Thus instruction and worship meet: the law is learned, examined, and prayed, while the congregation asks God to write it on the heart (compare Jeremiah 31:33).

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Decalogue in Holy Communion]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm The 1928 Catechism at the Society of Archbishop Justus]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Confirmation Preparation in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-17T08:11:55Z

SteveMacias: Revise Confirmation preparation with verified 1928 BCP and Anglican sources

'''Confirmation Preparation in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' joins instruction in the Christian faith to the public renewal of baptismal promises and the Church's prayer for the Holy Spirit. The [[Catechism (1928 BCP)|Catechism]] is intended to be learned before a person is brought to the bishop; the related [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)|Offices of Instruction]] and [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)|Confirmation]] service show how this learning is used in worship and continued Christian life.

== From Baptism to personal profession ==

The Catechism begins with the name given by sponsors in Baptism and asks what they promised: renunciation of evil, belief in the Christian faith, and obedience to God's commandments. Its answer to the question whether the child is bound by those promises does not treat preparation as self-sufficient moral effort:

<blockquote>
Yes, verily; and by God's help so I will. And I heartily thank our heavenly Father, that he hath called me to this state of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to give me his grace, that I may continue in the same unto my life's end.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 577, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The child is taught to give thanks for what God has already given in Baptism and to seek grace for perseverance. In the baptismal office, sponsors also undertake to see that the child learns the Creed, Lord's Prayer, Commandments, and other necessary Christian teaching, and is brought to the bishop when sufficiently instructed. The Catechism makes that undertaking the starting point of the learner's own answer.<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), “The Ministration of Holy Baptism,” p. 277, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Baptism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== What must be learned ==

The Catechism's concluding rubric specifies a “competent age” and a defined body of instruction; it does not set a numerical age:

<blockquote>
So soon as Children are come to a competent age, and can say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, and can answer to the other questions of this short Catechism, they shall be brought to the Bishop.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), “A Catechism,” concluding rubric, pp. 582–583, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

These are not unrelated items to memorize. The Creed gives the faith confessed; the Commandments unfold duty to God and neighbour; the Lord's Prayer teaches the baptized to ask for grace. The Catechism also teaches Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Its rubric entrusts public instruction or examination to the parish minister and assigns families and households responsibility for bringing learners to it. Its historical language about household authority reflects its own setting; the practical point is that formation involves both parish and household.

The Offices of Instruction supply additional questions and arrange instruction as worship. Their final rubric similarly requires the Creed, Lord's Prayer, and Commandments, but adds sufficient instruction in the matter contained in the Offices. Edward W. Averill, writing immediately after the American revision, described their devotional method:

<blockquote>
The whole has been cast into the form of two services with verses, responses and prayers ...
</blockquote>
<ref>Edward W. Averill, ''Talks on the Prayer Book'' (Fond du Lac, Wisconsin: The Parish Press, 1929), pp. 49–50, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/ewaverill/prayer_book1929.html Project Canterbury transcription]. Averill offers a contemporary interpretation of the new Offices' teaching method.</ref>

The difference matters: the older Catechism's rubric asks for answers to its questions; the Offices' rubric asks for sufficient instruction in their expanded contents. Neither makes the candidate's ability to recite the only purpose of instruction. In the Second Office, the candidate connects Confirmation with baptismal vows, allegiance to Christ, and the Spirit's help:

<blockquote>
The Church provides the Laying on of Hands, or Confirmation, wherein, after renewing the promises and vows of my Baptism, and declaring my loyalty and devotion to Christ as my Master, I receive the strengthening gifts of the Holy Spirit.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), “The Offices of Instruction,” Second Office, p. 291, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Confirnation.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Scripture and the Confirmation rite ==

The order permits the bishop or an appointed minister to read Acts 8:14–17. The passage concerns those already baptized in Samaria and the apostles' prayer and laying on of hands:

<blockquote>
When the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: for as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), “The Order of Confirmation,” optional reading from Acts 8:14–17, p. 296, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Confirnation.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The service places that biblical episode before a contemporary rite; it does not repeat Baptism. The candidate publicly renews the baptismal promise and acknowledges its obligations, answering “I do.” A second question makes the personal centre of that promise explicit:

<blockquote>
Do ye promise to follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour?
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), “The Order of Confirmation,” p. 297, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Confirnation.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription]. The rubric directs each candidate to answer “I do.”</ref>

John Henry Hobart, Bishop of New York, explained the educational purpose of preparation in an earlier American Confirmation manual:

<blockquote>
It tends to increase Christian knowledge in both the young and the old ...
</blockquote>
<ref>John Henry Hobart, ''A Catechism for Confirmation, Proper to be Learned by Those Who Are Preparing for That Holy Ordinance'' (New York: Protestant Episcopal Tract Society; printed by T. & J. Swords, 1819), pp. 10–11, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/jhhobart/catechism_confirmation.html Project Canterbury transcription]. Hobart's answer goes on to describe young people reviewing Christian truth and duty while their elders guide them.</ref>

Hobart's account is a historical Anglican interpretation, not a claim that every candidate must be a child. The 1928 order itself is for baptized persons who have come to years of discretion. After the public promises, its prayer recalls regeneration by water and the Holy Ghost and asks for the Spirit's strengthening gifts. The bishop then lays a hand on each candidate with the prayer:

<blockquote>
Defend, O Lord, this thy Child with thy heavenly grace; that he may continue thine for ever; and daily increase in thy Holy Spirit more and more, until he come unto thy everlasting kingdom. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), “The Order of Confirmation,” laying on of hands, p. 297, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Confirnation.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The prayer is directed to God, not to the candidate's capacity to strengthen himself. It asks for protection and growth throughout life, so preparation points beyond the day of Confirmation to continuing discipleship.

== Preparation for Communion and continuing life ==

The Office of Instruction immediately follows its answer about Confirmation with an answer about Holy Communion as the continual strengthening and refreshing of the soul. The Confirmation rite directs the minister to urge those confirmed to come without delay to the Lord's Supper. Its admission rubric also includes an important qualification:

<blockquote>
And there shall none be admitted to the Holy Communion, until such time as he be confirmed, or be ready and desirous to be confirmed.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), “The Order of Confirmation,” final rubric, p. 299, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Confirnation.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The qualification “ready and desirous” should not be omitted when describing the 1928 rule. The Catechism also teaches how to approach the Supper: with repentance, a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ, thankful remembrance of his death, and charity toward others.<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), “A Catechism,” p. 582, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref> Thus preparation is not merely a test passed once; it introduces the learner to a life of prayer, worship, moral responsibility, and sacramental participation.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/BCP_1928.htm Society of Archbishop Justus: 1928 Book of Common Prayer]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Ten Commandments in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-17T05:18:54Z

SteveMacias: Revise Ten Commandments Catechism article with verified Prayer Book and Anglican sources

'''Ten Commandments in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' are the Decalogue taught in the [[Catechism (1928 BCP)|Catechism]] of the American [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]. The candidate learns them after confessing the Apostles' Creed and before learning the Lord's Prayer. The Catechism presents obedience as part of the baptismal promise, summarizes the commandments as duty to God and neighbour, and directs the learner to ask God for grace to perform that duty.

== Baptism and the commandments ==
The Catechism recalls that the sponsors promised renunciation, Christian belief, and obedience on the baptized person's behalf. After the Creed and its explanation, the catechist returns to that promise:

<blockquote>
Question. You said that your Sponsors did promise for you, that you should keep God's Commandments. Tell me how many there are?

Answer. Ten.

Question. Which are they?

Answer. The same which God spake in the twentieth Chapter of Exodus, saying, I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, questions introducing the Ten Commandments; Society of Archbishop Justus, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 Catechism transcription].</ref>

The opening identifies the speaker as the God who delivered Israel from bondage (Exodus 20:1–2): the commands follow the declaration of deliverance. The first four concern allegiance to God, images and worship, God's name, and the Sabbath. The remaining six address parents, murder, adultery, theft, false witness, and coveting. The Catechism follows the numbering in which the prohibition of other gods and that of images are distinct commandments, while coveting is the tenth.

The 1928 text does not stop at recitation. In its own words, the learner's chief lesson is:

<blockquote>
Question. What dost thou chiefly learn by these Commandments?

Answer. I learn two things; my duty towards God, and my duty towards my Neighbour.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, question following the Ten Commandments; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Duty toward God and neighbour ==
The answer on duty to God moves from belief and love to worship, thanksgiving, trust, prayer, honouring God's name and word, and lifelong service:

<blockquote>
My duty towards God is To believe in him, to fear him, And to love him with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my strength: To worship him, to give him thanks: To put my whole trust in him, to call upon him: To honour his holy Name and his Word: And to serve him truly all the days of my life.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, answer on duty towards God; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

This answer echoes the command to love God in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Mark 12:29–30. Its companion answer begins with love of neighbour and the Golden Rule (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 7:12); it applies these to family, civil and other responsibilities, justice, speech, bodily conduct, and the desires of the heart. Among its directions are:

<blockquote>
To hurt nobody by word or deed: To be true and just in all my dealings: To bear no malice nor hatred in my heart: To keep my hands from picking and stealing, and my tongue from evil speaking, lying, and slandering:
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, excerpt from the answer on duty towards the neighbour; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The focus is not merely on outward violations: malice, hatred, and covetous desire are also named. Conversely, the positive duty to be true and just explains what love of neighbour requires in everyday dealings. The language of social rank in the full historical answer belongs to its inherited form; it should be read alongside the answer's comprehensive rule of doing to others as one would have them do to oneself.

== Anglican teaching and the life of prayer ==
In an earlier English exposition of the Church Catechism, Bishop Thomas Ken interprets the commandments as the practice, not merely the vocabulary, of love:

<blockquote>
When divine love is once produc'd, my next care is to put it in practice, and that is, by bringing forth the fruits, or effects of Love, which are all contain'd in the Ten Commandments.
</blockquote>
<ref>Thomas Ken, ''An Exposition on the Church-Catechism, or, The Practice of Divine Love'' (London: Charles Brome and William Clarke, 1685), opening exposition of the Catechism; Project Canterbury, [https://anglicanhistory.org/ken/divine_love.html The Practice of Divine Love].</ref>

Ken is interpreting the earlier English Catechism, not claiming to comment on the later 1928 American edition. His account helps explain why the American answers expand prohibitions into love, worship, and neighbourly conduct. James DeKoven's nineteenth-century American confirmation manual similarly makes the twofold structure explicit:

<blockquote>
Q. Into how many duties are the Ten Commandments divided?
A. Two. The duty towards GOD, contained in the first four, and the Duty towards our neighbor, contained in the last six Commandments.
</blockquote>
<ref>James DeKoven, ''A Catechism on Confirmation'', in ''A Manual of Instruction for Confirmation Classes'', prepared by Morgan Dix (New York: E. & J. B. Young, 1867), section on the commandments; Project Canterbury, [https://anglicanhistory.org/dekoven/catechism.html A Catechism on Confirmation].</ref>

The 1928 Catechism immediately qualifies any notion that this moral instruction can be fulfilled by unaided effort:

<blockquote>
My good Child, know this; that thou art not able to do these things of thyself, nor to walk in the Commandments of God, and to serve him, without his special grace; which thou must learn at all times to call for by diligent prayer. Let me hear, therefore, if thou canst say the Lord’s Prayer.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), A Catechism, catechist's instruction immediately before the Lord's Prayer; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription]. The transcription's line-break hyphen in “Commandments” is removed.</ref>

Prayer is therefore the Catechism's response to human need, not an alternative to obedience. The learner asks for grace for all people, forgiveness, and deliverance from evil. The baptismal answer already joins the resolve to believe and do with God's help; the later instruction makes that dependence explicit.

== The commandments in worship ==
In the 1928 Communion office, the Decalogue is likewise addressed to a praying congregation. Its rubric says:

<blockquote>
Then shall the Priest, turning to the People, rehearse distinctly The Ten Commandments; and the People, still kneeling, shall, after every Commandment, ask God mercy for their transgressions for the time past, and grace to keep the law for the time to come.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion, rubric before the Decalogue; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The office permits the Decalogue to be omitted provided it is said at least one Sunday each month; when omitted, the Summary of the Law must be said. That summary cites Jesus' commandments to love God and neighbour (Matthew 22:37–40). The responses to the Decalogue ask both mercy for past transgression and grace for future obedience, giving liturgical expression to the Catechism's movement from commandments to prayer. Learning the commandments also forms part of the book's stated preparation for [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)|Confirmation]], alongside the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the rest of the Catechism.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm The 1928 Catechism, Society of Archbishop Justus]
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/ken/divine_love.html Thomas Ken, The Practice of Divine Love, Project Canterbury]
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/dekoven/catechism.html James DeKoven, A Catechism on Confirmation, Project Canterbury]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Common Prayer and Anglican Unity

2026-10-17T05:03:03Z

SteveMacias: Revise Common Prayer and Anglican Unity with verified BCP and Anglican sources

'''Common Prayer and Anglican Unity''' describes the way the [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]] forms a congregation by giving it a shared scriptural confession, intercession, praise, and sacramental worship. In this sense, “common” does not mean merely familiar or uniform: the Prayer Book asks God to make a people one in truth, charity, and holy living.

== Prayer Book Texts ==

In the daily office the Church prays not only for its own members, but for the whole Church and the world:

<blockquote>
O GOD, the Creator and Preserver of all mankind, we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men; that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them, thy saving health unto all nations. More especially we pray for thy holy Church universal; that it may be so guided and governed by thy good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Prayer for all Conditions of Men,” Morning Prayer; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Morning Prayer].</ref>

The conclusion of the office names the action as shared petition, not an aggregation of private devotions:

<blockquote>
ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests; Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Prayer of St. Chrysostom,” Morning Prayer; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Morning Prayer].</ref>

At Holy Communion, the intercession for the Church makes the content of that unity explicit:

<blockquote>
Let us pray for the whole state of Christ’s Church. ALMIGHTY and everliving God, who by thy holy Apostle hast taught us to make prayers, and supplications, and to give thanks for all men; We humbly beseech thee most mercifully to accept our [alms and] oblations, and to receive these our prayers, which we offer unto thy Divine Majesty; beseeching thee to inspire continually the Universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord: And grant that all those who do confess thy holy Name may agree in the truth of thy holy Word, and live in unity and godly love.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “Prayer for the whole state of Christ’s Church,” Holy Communion; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Holy Communion].</ref>

The catechetical material supplies an ecclesiology for those petitions:

<blockquote>
The Church is the Body of which Jesus Christ is the Head, and all baptized people are the members. … The Church is described in the Creeds as One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. … One; because it is one Body under one Head.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “An Office of Instruction,” instruction concerning the Church; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Confirnation.htm The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Instruction and Confirmation].</ref>

== Scripture, doctrine, and shared voice ==

Common Prayer is ordered toward the unity Christ gives rather than toward a lowest-common-denominator agreement. Saint Paul urges Christians to preserve “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” grounding that exhortation in the confession of one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism ([[Ephesians 4:3–6]]). The 1928 office answers that apostolic pattern by putting the Church’s common confession and its common intercessions on the lips of minister and people.

The Prayer Book also makes participation audible. The priest’s prayers, the people’s responses, the Psalter, the Creeds, and the ''Amen'' make worship a corporate act. The General Thanksgiving even directs that it “may be said by the Congregation with the Minister.”

<blockquote>
ALMIGHTY God, Father of all mercies, we, thine unworthy servants, do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men; … [give us] that we show forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A General Thanksgiving” and its rubric, Morning Prayer; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Morning Prayer].</ref>

This guards against treating liturgical unity as a merely verbal achievement. The common voice asks for a common life: truth, peace, righteousness, and service.

== Historical Anglican judgment ==

The 1662 English Preface provides a useful historical account of why a received liturgy may serve unity without making every ceremony unchangeable. Its argument distinguishes the Church’s enduring worship from rites that may be altered for grave reasons.

<blockquote>
It hath been the wisdom of the Church of England, ever since the first compiling of her Publick Liturgy, to keep the mean between the two extremes, of too much stiffness in refusing, and of too much easiness in admitting any variation from it. … the particular Forms of Divine worship, and the Rites and Ceremonies appointed to be used therein, [are] in their own nature indifferent, and alterable.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Church of England, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1662), “The Preface,” official Church of England text; [https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer/preface The Preface].</ref>

The same Preface states its public end with unusual clarity:

<blockquote>
Our general aim therefore in this undertaking was, not to gratify this or that party in any their unreasonable demands; but to do that, which to our best understandings we conceived might most tend to the preservation of Peace and Unity in the Church; the procuring of Reverence, and exciting of Piety and Devotion in the Publick Worship of God.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Church of England, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1662), “The Preface,” paragraph beginning “Our general aim,” official Church of England text; [https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer/preface The Preface].</ref>

That historical judgment is not a claim that any one national book exhausts the Church’s catholic unity. It does, however, illuminate the 1928 book’s disciplined pattern: a Church can pray recognizably together while its authorized forms are revised by lawful ecclesial authority.

Thomas Ken gave the pastoral side of the same conviction. In his 1688 Lenten pastoral letter, he urged devotion to the offices and Litany because public prayer joins Christians in intercession rather than leaving prayer only to private choice.

<blockquote>
be sure then to offer up to God every day the Morning and Evening Prayer; offer it up in your Family at least, or rather as far as your circumstances may possibly permit, offer it up in the Church, especially if you live in a great Town, and say over the Litany every Morning during the whole Lent.
</blockquote>
<ref>Thomas Ken, ''A Pastoral Letter from the Bishop of Bath and Wells'' (1688), pp. 2–3, transcription by Project Canterbury; [https://anglicanhistory.org/ken/lent1688.html A Pastoral Letter from the Bishop of Bath and Wells].</ref>

== Use in parish life ==

For a parish, Common Prayer and Anglican Unity are practiced by preparing the appointed lessons, making the responses deliberately, joining the Church’s intercessions, and receiving the Sacraments in faith. Clergy should not use the phrase as a slogan for superficial harmony: the 1928 text asks the Church to agree in the truth of God’s Word and to live in godly love. Lay worshippers can test that unity in ordinary habits—praying for the whole Church, bearing one another’s needs in the intercessions, and allowing the shared words to form shared obedience.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Morning Prayer (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Theology of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer]]
* [[Thirty-Nine Articles]]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Anglican Theology]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Common Prayer and Anglican Unity

2026-10-16T19:32:45Z

SteveMacias: Revise Common Prayer and Anglican Unity with verified BCP and Anglican sources

'''Common Prayer and Anglican Unity''' describes the way the [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]] forms a congregation by giving it a shared scriptural confession, intercession, praise, and sacramental worship. In this sense, “common” does not mean merely familiar or uniform: the Prayer Book asks God to make a people one in truth, charity, and holy living.

== Prayer Book Texts ==

In the daily office the Church prays not only for its own members, but for the whole Church and the world:

<blockquote>
O GOD, the Creator and Preserver of all mankind, we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men; that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them, thy saving health unto all nations. More especially we pray for thy holy Church universal; that it may be so guided and governed by thy good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Prayer for all Conditions of Men,” Morning Prayer; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Morning Prayer].</ref>

The conclusion of the office names the action as shared petition, not an aggregation of private devotions:

<blockquote>
ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests; Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Prayer of St. Chrysostom,” Morning Prayer; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Morning Prayer].</ref>

At Holy Communion, the intercession for the Church makes the content of that unity explicit:

<blockquote>
Let us pray for the whole state of Christ’s Church. ALMIGHTY and everliving God, who by thy holy Apostle hast taught us to make prayers, and supplications, and to give thanks for all men; We humbly beseech thee most mercifully to accept our [alms and] oblations, and to receive these our prayers, which we offer unto thy Divine Majesty; beseeching thee to inspire continually the Universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord: And grant that all those who do confess thy holy Name may agree in the truth of thy holy Word, and live in unity and godly love.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “Prayer for the whole state of Christ’s Church,” Holy Communion; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/HC.htm The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Holy Communion].</ref>

The catechetical material supplies an ecclesiology for those petitions:

<blockquote>
The Church is the Body of which Jesus Christ is the Head, and all baptized people are the members. … The Church is described in the Creeds as One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. … One; because it is one Body under one Head.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “An Office of Instruction,” instruction concerning the Church; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/BCP_1928.htm The 1928 Book of Common Prayer].</ref>

== Scripture, doctrine, and shared voice ==

Common Prayer is ordered toward the unity Christ gives rather than toward a lowest-common-denominator agreement. Saint Paul urges Christians to preserve “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” grounding that exhortation in the confession of one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism ([[Ephesians 4:3–6]]). The 1928 office answers that apostolic pattern by putting the Church’s common confession and its common intercessions on the lips of minister and people.

The Prayer Book also makes participation audible. The priest’s prayers, the people’s responses, the Psalter, the Creeds, and the ''Amen'' make worship a corporate act. The General Thanksgiving even directs that it “may be said by the Congregation with the Minister.”

<blockquote>
ALMIGHTY God, Father of all mercies, we, thine unworthy servants, do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men; … [give us] that we show forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A General Thanksgiving” and its rubric, Morning Prayer; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Morning Prayer].</ref>

This guards against treating liturgical unity as a merely verbal achievement. The common voice asks for a common life: truth, peace, righteousness, and service.

== Historical Anglican judgment ==

The 1662 English Preface provides a useful historical account of why a received liturgy may serve unity without making every ceremony unchangeable. Its argument distinguishes the Church’s enduring worship from rites that may be altered for grave reasons.

<blockquote>
It hath been the wisdom of the Church of England, ever since the first compiling of her Publick Liturgy, to keep the mean between the two extremes, of too much stiffness in refusing, and of too much easiness in admitting any variation from it. … the particular Forms of Divine worship, and the Rites and Ceremonies appointed to be used therein, [are] in their own nature indifferent, and alterable.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Church of England, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1662), “The Preface,” official Church of England text; [https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer/preface The Preface].</ref>

The same Preface states its public end with unusual clarity:

<blockquote>
Our general aim therefore in this undertaking was, not to gratify this or that party in any their unreasonable demands; but to do that, which to our best understandings we conceived might most tend to the preservation of Peace and Unity in the Church; the procuring of Reverence, and exciting of Piety and Devotion in the Publick Worship of God.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Church of England, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1662), “The Preface,” paragraph beginning “Our general aim,” official Church of England text; [https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer/preface The Preface].</ref>

That historical judgment is not a claim that any one national book exhausts the Church’s catholic unity. It does, however, illuminate the 1928 book’s disciplined pattern: a Church can pray recognizably together while its authorized forms are revised by lawful ecclesial authority.

Thomas Ken gave the pastoral side of the same conviction. In his 1688 Lenten pastoral letter, he urged devotion to the offices and Litany because public prayer joins Christians in intercession rather than leaving prayer only to private choice.

<blockquote>
But your greatest Zeal must be spent for the Public Prayers, in the constant devout use of which, the Publick Safety both of Church and State is highly concern’d: be sure then to offer up to God every day the Morning and Evening Prayer; offer it up in your Family at least, or rather as far as your circumstances may possibly permit, offer it up in the Church.
</blockquote>
<ref>Thomas Ken, ''A Pastoral Letter from the Bishop of Bath and Wells'' (1688), pp. 2–3, transcription by Project Canterbury; [https://anglicanhistory.org/ken/lent1688.html A Pastoral Letter from the Bishop of Bath and Wells].</ref>

== Use in parish life ==

For a parish, Common Prayer and Anglican Unity are practiced by preparing the appointed lessons, making the responses deliberately, joining the Church’s intercessions, and receiving the Sacraments in faith. Clergy should not use the phrase as a slogan for superficial harmony: the 1928 text asks the Church to agree in the truth of God’s Word and to live in godly love. Lay worshippers can test that unity in ordinary habits—praying for the whole Church, bearing one another’s needs in the intercessions, and allowing the shared words to form shared obedience.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Morning Prayer (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Theology of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer]]
* [[Thirty-Nine Articles]]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Anglican Theology]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Obedience in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-16T19:25:26Z

SteveMacias: Revise Obedience in the 1928 BCP Catechism with verified BCP and Anglican sources

'''Obedience in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' is the Prayer Book's account of the Christian life as the grateful keeping of the baptismal promise: to "keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life." It is not an alternative way of earning God's favour. The Catechism places duty after baptism and the Creed, derives it from the Ten Commandments and Christ's summary of the law, and immediately directs the learner to ask for grace in the Lord's Prayer.

== The Catechism's account of duty ==

After rehearsing the Decalogue, the Catechism does not leave the commandments as a list. It asks what is chiefly learned from them and gives a twofold answer:

<blockquote>
I learn two things; my duty towards God, and my duty towards my Neighbour.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, According to the Use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), '''A Catechism''', p. 579, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 BCP: A Catechism] (accessed 16 October 2026).</ref>

The first duty is worshipful and trusting love, deliberately echoing the great commandment (Matthew 22:37):

<blockquote>
My duty towards God is To believe in him, to fear him, And to love him with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my strength: To worship him, to give him thanks: To put my whole trust in him, to call upon him: To honour his holy Name and his Word: And to serve him truly all the days of my life.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), '''A Catechism''', p. 579, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 BCP: A Catechism].</ref>

Faith, fear, love, worship, thanksgiving, trust, prayer, honouring God's name and word, and service are therefore one pattern of obedience. “Fear” here belongs with love and trust, not with servile dread: the learner acknowledges God as God and receives his word as authoritative. The sequence also prevents devotion from becoming merely inward. To believe and trust issue in worship, thanksgiving, prayer, and a life of service.

== Love of neighbour ==

The second duty interprets the latter commandments through the golden rule (Matthew 7:12) and carries obedience into family, public, ecclesial, economic, and bodily life:

<blockquote>
My duty towards my Neighbour is To love him as myself, and to do to all men as I would they should do unto me: To love, honour, and succour my father and mother: To honour and obey the civil authority: To submit myself to all my governors, teachers, spiritual pastors and masters: To order myself lowly and reverently to all my betters: To hurt nobody by word or deed: To be true and just in all my dealings: To bear no malice nor hatred in my heart: To keep my hands from picking and stealing, and my tongue from evil speaking, lying, and slandering: To keep my body in temperance, soberness, and chastity: Not to covet nor desire other men's goods; But to learn and labour truly to get mine own living, And to do my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please God to call me.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), '''A Catechism''', pp. 579–580, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 BCP: A Catechism].</ref>

This passage must be read as a whole. It begins with love of neighbour and the golden rule, so its instructions concerning parents, civil authority, pastors, teachers, and social station cannot be separated from the preceding prohibition on harming another by word or deed, nor from the duties of truth, justice, mercy, chastity, honest labour, and contentment. The Catechism forms habits rather than offering a single political theory of obedience. Where human authority commands what contradicts God's command, the apostles' answer remains normative: “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29, Authorized Version).

John Henry Hobart, Bishop of New York, made the same connection between baptismal profession and practical discipleship when preparing candidates for Confirmation:

<blockquote>
Thus, living a life of faith in the Son of God; humble and fervent in prayer and devotion, in secret, in his family, and in the house of God; walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless; and evermore studying, through God's grace, to keep a conscience void of offense towards God and towards man; the Christian will continually advance in piety and virtue.
</blockquote>
<ref>John Henry Hobart, ''A Catechism for Confirmation, Proper to be Learned by Those Who Are Preparing for That Holy Ordinance'' (New York: Protestant Episcopal Tract Society; T. & J. Swords, 1819), pp. 25–26, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/jhhobart/catechism_confirmation.html Project Canterbury transcription]. Hobart's exposition is a historical Anglican interpretation of the relation of faith, grace, prayer, and moral duty.</ref>

== Grace, prayer, and baptismal promise ==

The Catechism explicitly rejects self-reliance. Its moral teaching ends by returning the learner to grace and prayer:

<blockquote>
My good Child, know this; that thou art not able to do these things of thyself, nor to walk in the Commandments of God, and to serve him, without his special grace; which thou must learn at all times to call for by diligent prayer.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), '''A Catechism''', p. 580, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 BCP: A Catechism].</ref>

Thus the Catechism's next move is the Lord's Prayer. Obedience is neither autonomous achievement nor bare assent; it is the baptized person's response to grace, continually sustained by asking the Father for what he commands. Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells, gave a close Anglican reading of this line in an exposition written for his diocese:

<blockquote>
The Catechism truly teaches all Christians, that they are not able of themselves to do those things they have vow'd in their Baptism to do, namely, To walk in the Commandments of God, and to serve him, without his special Grace, or favorable Assistance, and this they are to learn at all times to call upon God for, by diligent Prayer.
</blockquote>
<ref>Thomas Ken, ''An Exposition on the Church-Catechism, or, The Practice of Divine Love, Composed for the Diocese of Bath & Wells'' (London: Charles Brome and William Clarke, 1685), opening address, [https://anglicanhistory.org/ken/divine_poor.html Project Canterbury transcription]. Ken identifies the Catechism's theological logic: baptismal obligation depends upon divine grace sought in prayer.</ref>

The 1928 Prayer Book connects this catechesis to the Church's pastoral practice. Its rubric requires parish clergy to instruct or examine children in the Catechism and directs that those able to say the Creed, Lord's Prayer, Ten Commandments, and answers be brought to the bishop for Confirmation. Obedience is therefore taught within the worshipping and accountable life of the Church, not as private moralism.<ref>''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), '''A Catechism''', pp. 581–582, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 BCP: rubric following the Catechism].</ref>

== Place in the 1928 Prayer Book ==

The sequence of the Catechism is itself theological: Christian Covenant, Faith, Duty, Prayer, and Sacraments. Edward W. Averill's 1929 explanation of the newly revised American Prayer Book observes:

<blockquote>
Turning now to the content of the Catechism, it divides itself into five parts which explain respectively the Christian Covenant, the Faith, Duty, Prayer, and Sacraments. With the additional matter in the Office of Instruction, it contains in epitome what a Christian ought to know to his soul's health.
</blockquote>
<ref>Edward W. Averill, ''Talks on the Prayer Book'' (Fond du Lac, WI: The Parish Press, 1929), p. 50, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/ewaverill/prayer_book1929.html Project Canterbury transcription]. This near-contemporary Anglican commentary interprets the Catechism's ordered place in the 1928 Prayer Book.</ref>

For teaching, this order matters. [[Baptism (1928 BCP)]] names the promise; the Creed sets the promise within the faith confessed; the Commandments give its shape in love of God and neighbour; the Lord's Prayer asks for the grace required; and the [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)]] nourishes those called to continue in that life. The Catechism therefore holds together evangelical grace and concrete duty, formation in the home and parish, and preparation for [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]].

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Baptism (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Catechism]
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/ken/divine_poor.html Thomas Ken, ''The Practice of Divine Love'' (1685)]
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/jhhobart/catechism_confirmation.html John Henry Hobart, ''A Catechism for Confirmation'' (1819)]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Faith in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-16T19:22:32Z

SteveMacias: Revise Faith in the 1928 BCP Catechism with verified BCP and Anglican sources

'''Faith in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' is not a private opinion or a merely intellectual exercise. The Catechism places faith within the baptismal promise, gives it public content in the Apostles' Creed, and directs it toward a persevering life of worship, repentance, and charity. It therefore connects [[Holy Baptism (1928 BCP)]], [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]], and [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)]].

== The baptismal promise ==
The Catechism recalls the promise made at Baptism in a threefold order: renunciation, faith, and obedience. Faith is neither detached from conversion nor treated as a reward for moral achievement; it is the promise to receive and confess what God has made known in Christ.

<blockquote>
They did promise and vow three things in my name: First, that I should renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh; Secondly, that I should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith; And Thirdly, that I should keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''A Catechism'', p. 577, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The answer that follows is equally important. The baptized person acknowledges a present call to salvation through Christ and asks for grace to continue. Thus the Catechism's faith is personal and ecclesial: it is spoken by the believer, but received in the Church's teaching and sacramental life.

<blockquote>
Yes, verily; and by God's help so I will. And I heartily thank our heavenly Father, that he hath called me to this state of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to give me his grace, that I may continue in the same unto my life's end.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''A Catechism'', p. 577, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Faith confessed in the Creed ==
The Catechist then asks for the Articles of Belief and the Catechism expounds the Creed according to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This gives the word “faith” a definite Christian content, rather than leaving it as a general religious feeling.

<blockquote>
First, I learn to believe in God the Father, who hath made me, and all the world. Secondly, in God the Son, who hath redeemed me, and all mankind. Thirdly, in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me, and all the elect people of God.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''A Catechism'', pp. 577–578, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The biblical language of faith embraces both trust in God and the Gospel that is confessed. Hebrews joins confidence in God with seeking him; it does not define faith as bare possession of religious information.

<blockquote>
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments'', Authorized (King James) Version (Cambridge: John Baskerville, 1769), Hebrews 11:6, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%2011%3A6&version=KJV Bible Gateway text].</ref>

M. F. Sadler's nineteenth-century Anglican manual distinguishes these related uses. He calls faith both the grace by which a person believes God's word and the body of truth which God gives the Church to believe. That distinction clarifies why the Catechism can require belief in “all the Articles” and immediately rehearse a Creed.

<blockquote>
It first means that power, or faculty, or virtue in the soul or spirit, which believes a thing to be true on God's word. It means, secondly, that body of truth which God gives to us to be believed by us. (In which latter case it is usually designated “the faith.”)
</blockquote>
<ref>M. F. Sadler, ''The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction'', 3rd ed. (London: Bell & Daldy, 1872), section XIII, “The Faith,” pp. 44–45, [https://archive.org/details/churchteachersma00sadlrich/page/44/mode/2up Internet Archive scan].</ref>

== Faith in worship and formation ==
The Prayer Book does not reserve the Creed for private study. It puts it into the Daily Offices and joins the baptismal promises to the public profession of the Apostles' Creed. Anthony Sparrow, writing in his 1672 rationale of the Prayer Book, explains this use as a common confession by which the Church recognizes its faith; his historical explanation should be read as an early modern Anglican rationale, not as a modern claim that the Apostles themselves composed the present wording.

<blockquote>
For as Souldiers know their own side from the Enemy by their Word, so the Apostles and the Church should know who were the Churches friends, and who were enemies; who were right believers, who false, by this word of Faith.
</blockquote>
<ref>Anthony Sparrow, D.D., ''A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer'' (London, 1672), “The Apostles Creed,” [https://anglicanhistory.org/sparrow/rationale/apostles.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Sparrow also observes that the Creed is repeated in the Church's daily prayer. The practical point is not repetition for its own sake: repeated confession forms a believer to receive, remember, and articulate the faith in the worshipping assembly.

<blockquote>
Say your Creed daily Morning and Evening. Rehearse your Creed to God; say not, I said it yesterday, I have said it to day already, say it again, say it every day: guard your selves with your Faith.
</blockquote>
<ref>Anthony Sparrow, D.D., ''A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer'' (London, 1672), “The Apostles Creed,” citing Augustine on daily rehearsal, [https://anglicanhistory.org/sparrow/rationale/apostles.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

== Faith, sacrament, and Christian life ==
The Catechism names faith among the requirements for Baptism: repentance turns from sin, while faith steadfastly receives God's promise in the sacrament. It also requires communicants to have a “lively faith in God's mercy through Christ.” Faith therefore cannot be isolated from repentance, thankful remembrance of Christ's death, or charity with others.

<blockquote>
Repentance, whereby they forsake sin; and Faith, whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that Sacrament.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''A Catechism'', p. 582, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

<blockquote>
To examine themselves, whether they repent them truly of their former sins, stedfastly purposing to lead a new life; have a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his death; and be in charity with all men.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''A Catechism'', p. 583, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

For teaching, then, the Catechism's sequence is worth preserving: learn the Creed, confess it in worship, and live its baptismal implications by God's grace. [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)|Confirmation]] gives the Church's setting for a mature renewal of the promises; [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)|Holy Communion]] keeps faith joined to repentance, thanksgiving, and charity.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Faith in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-16T18:42:36Z

SteveMacias: Revise Faith in the 1928 BCP Catechism with verified BCP and Anglican sources

'''Faith in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' is not a private opinion or a merely intellectual exercise. The Catechism places faith within the baptismal promise, gives it public content in the Apostles' Creed, and directs it toward a persevering life of worship, repentance, and charity. It therefore connects [[Holy Baptism (1928 BCP)]], [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]], and [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)]].

== The baptismal promise ==
The Catechism recalls the promise made at Baptism in a threefold order: renunciation, faith, and obedience. Faith is neither detached from conversion nor treated as a reward for moral achievement; it is the promise to receive and confess what God has made known in Christ.

<blockquote>
They did promise and vow three things in my name: First, that I should renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh; Secondly, that I should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith; And Thirdly, that I should keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''A Catechism'', p. 577, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The answer that follows is equally important. The baptized person acknowledges a present call to salvation through Christ and asks for grace to continue. Thus the Catechism's faith is personal and ecclesial: it is spoken by the believer, but received in the Church's teaching and sacramental life.

<blockquote>
Yes, verily; and by God's help so I will. And I heartily thank our heavenly Father, that he hath called me to this state of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to give me his grace, that I may continue in the same unto my life's end.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''A Catechism'', p. 577, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

== Faith confessed in the Creed ==
The Catechist then asks for the Articles of Belief and the Catechism expounds the Creed according to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This gives the word “faith” a definite Christian content, rather than leaving it as a general religious feeling.

<blockquote>
First, I learn to believe in God the Father, who hath made me, and all the world. Secondly, in God the Son, who hath redeemed me, and all mankind. Thirdly, in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me, and all the elect people of God.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''A Catechism'', pp. 577–578, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

The biblical language of faith embraces both trust in God and the Gospel that is confessed. Hebrews joins confidence in God with seeking him; it does not define faith as bare possession of religious information.

<blockquote>
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments'', Authorized (King James) Version (Cambridge: John Baskerville, 1769), Hebrews 11:6, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%2011%3A6&version=KJV Bible Gateway text].</ref>

M. F. Sadler's nineteenth-century Anglican manual distinguishes these related uses. He calls faith both the grace by which a person believes God's word and the body of truth which God gives the Church to believe. That distinction clarifies why the Catechism can require belief in “all the Articles” and immediately rehearse a Creed.

<blockquote>
It first means that power, or faculty, or virtue in the soul or spirit, which believes a thing to be true on God's word. It means, secondly, that body of truth which God gives to us to be believed by us. (In which latter case it is usually designated “the faith.”)
</blockquote>
<ref>M. F. Sadler, ''The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction'', 3rd ed. (London: Bell & Daldy, 1872), section XIII, “The Faith,” pp. 44–45, [https://archive.org/details/churchteachersma00sadlrich/page/44/mode/2up Internet Archive scan].</ref>

== Faith in worship and formation ==
The Prayer Book does not reserve the Creed for private study. It puts it into the Daily Offices and joins the baptismal promises to the public profession of the Apostles' Creed. Anthony Sparrow, writing in his 1672 rationale of the Prayer Book, explains this use as a common confession by which the Church recognizes its faith; his historical explanation should be read as an early modern Anglican rationale, not as a modern claim that the Apostles themselves composed the present wording.

<blockquote>
For as Souldiers know their own side from the Enemy by their Word, so the Apostles and the Church should know who were the Churches friends, and who were enemies; who were right believers, who false, by this word of Faith.
</blockquote>
<ref>Anthony Sparrow, D.D., ''A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer'' (London, 1672), “The Apostles Creed,” [https://anglicanhistory.org/sparrow/rationale/apostles.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Sparrow also observes that the Creed is repeated in the Church's daily prayer. The practical point is not repetition for its own sake: repeated confession forms a believer to receive, remember, and articulate the faith in the worshipping assembly.

<blockquote>
Say your Creed daily Morning and Evening. Rehearse your Creed to God; say not, I said it yesterday, I have said it to day already, say it again, say it every day: guard your selves with your Faith.
</blockquote>
<ref>Anthony Sparrow, D.D., ''A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer'' (London, 1672), “The Apostles Creed,” citing Augustine on daily rehearsal, [https://anglicanhistory.org/sparrow/rationale/apostles.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

== Faith, sacrament, and Christian life ==
The Catechism names faith among the requirements for Baptism: repentance turns from sin, while faith steadfastly receives God's promise in the sacrament. It also requires communicants to have a “lively faith in God's mercy through Christ.” Faith therefore cannot be isolated from repentance, thankful remembrance of Christ's death, or charity with others.

<blockquote>
Repentance, whereby they forsake sin; and Faith, whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that Sacrament.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''A Catechism'', p. 581, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

<blockquote>
To examine themselves, whether they repent them truly of their former sins, stedfastly purposing to lead a new life; have a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his death; and be in charity with all men.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''A Catechism'', p. 582, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

For teaching, then, the Catechism's sequence is worth preserving: learn the Creed, confess it in worship, and live its baptismal implications by God's grace. [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)|Confirmation]] gives the Church's setting for a mature renewal of the promises; [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)|Holy Communion]] keeps faith joined to repentance, thanksgiving, and charity.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Renunciation in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-16T17:05:25Z

SteveMacias: Revise Renunciation in the 1928 BCP Catechism with verified 1928 BCP and Anglican sources

'''Renunciation in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' is the first of the three baptismal promises which the Catechism asks every baptized person to own before Confirmation. It is not an isolated warning about evil. The Prayer Book joins renunciation to faith in the Creed and to the lifelong keeping of God's commandments; the movement is from turning from the enemies of Christian life to trusting Christ and walking in his way.

== The Catechism's baptismal promise ==
The Catechism makes clear both that the promise was first made by sponsors and that the baptized person must later answer for it. Its threefold shape is important: renunciation, belief, and obedience belong together.

<blockquote>
They did promise and vow three things in my name: First, that I should renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh; Secondly, that I should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith; And Thirdly, that I should keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 577, answer to “What did your Sponsors then for you?” [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Project Canterbury transcription of the 1928 Catechism].</ref>

The language is deliberately personal—“in my name”—but not autonomous. The next answer requires assent “by God's help” and gives thanks for God's prior call “to this state of salvation.” Thus renunciation is a baptismal response to grace, not an attempt to earn it.

<blockquote>
Yes, verily; and by God's help so I will. And I heartily thank our heavenly Father, that he hath called me to this state of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to give me his grace, that I may continue in the same unto my life's end.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 577, answer to “Dost thou not think that thou art bound to believe, and to do, as they have promised for thee?” [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm Project Canterbury transcription of the 1928 Catechism].</ref>

== In the rite of Holy Baptism ==
The Catechism condenses the baptismal interrogatories. In the Ministration of Holy Baptism, sponsors answer the question for an infant; the adult office asks the candidate directly. The more expansive rite explains what the shorthand “pomps and vanity” and “sinful lusts” is doing: it refuses the powers and desires that lead a person rather than following them.

<blockquote>
Dost thou, therefore, in the name of this Child, renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the sinful desires of the flesh, so that thou wilt not follow, nor be led by them?
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Ministration of Holy Baptism to Children,” interrogatory beginning “Dost thou, therefore,” pp. 275–276. [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Baptism.htm Project Canterbury transcription of the 1928 Baptism office].</ref>

<blockquote>
I renounce them all; and, by God's help, will endeavor not to follow, nor be led by them.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Ministration of Holy Baptism to Children,” response to the baptismal renunciation, p. 276. [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Baptism.htm Project Canterbury transcription of the 1928 Baptism office].</ref>

The answer does not claim that temptation has vanished. Its “by God's help” and “will endeavor” describe a continuing conflict in which the baptized resist what would govern their loves and conduct. This is why the Catechism does not end with rejection: it immediately requires belief in the Articles of the Christian Faith and the keeping of God's commandments.

== Scripture and theological interpretation ==
The Prayer Book's “devil, world, and flesh” is a compact pastoral account of the sources of temptation, rather than permission to despise creation or other people. The New Testament calls the Christian to vigilance and resistance, while grounding that resistance in God’s care.

<blockquote>
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith.
</blockquote>
<ref>1 Peter 5:8–9, ''The Holy Bible, King James Version'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1769), text available at [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%205%3A8-9&version=KJV Bible Gateway, KJV].</ref>

<blockquote>
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
</blockquote>
<ref>1 John 2:15, ''The Holy Bible, King James Version'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1769), text available at [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%202%3A15&version=KJV Bible Gateway, KJV].</ref>

Michael Ferrebee Sadler’s nineteenth-century expansion of the Church Catechism identifies the logic of the first renunciation with baptismal union with Christ. His point is not that a baptized person is left to resist alone, but that the person belongs to the One who overcomes the devil’s works.

<blockquote>
Because in Baptism I was made a member of Him Who came amongst us that He might destroy the works of the devil.
</blockquote>
<ref>M. F. Sadler, ''The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction: Being the Church Catechism Expanded and Explained in Question and Answer'' (London: Bell & Daldy, 1872), 25, section VII, “Renouncing the Devil,” answer 7. [https://archive.org/details/churchteachersma00sadlrich Internet Archive scan].</ref>

Sadler also gives a useful guard against a false reading of “the world.” The Prayer Book does not require withdrawal from the created order or abandonment of one’s calling; it renounces the world’s vain and sinful claim to rule the Christian.

<blockquote>
No: I renounce the pomps and vanity of this wicked world.
</blockquote>
<ref>M. F. Sadler, ''The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction: Being the Church Catechism Expanded and Explained in Question and Answer'' (London: Bell & Daldy, 1872), 30, section VIII, “The World,” answer 6. [https://archive.org/details/churchteachersma00sadlrich Internet Archive scan].</ref>

This reading is consistent with the catechetical order itself. Faith is not an afterthought to moral effort: the Creed is the answer by which the baptized confess the God in whose help they trust, and the commandments name the concrete form of their continuing obedience.

== History and confirmation ==
The form is older than the 1928 American book. Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere record an analogous threefold sequence—faith, renunciation, and commandments—in their account of the proposed 1689 revision. Their history helps explain why the Prayer Book treats the baptismal answers as a coherent profession rather than three unrelated questions.

<blockquote>
Dost thou renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil? Ans. I renounce them all. Min. Wilt thou keep the commandments of Christ, and persevere in them? Ans. I will, God being my helper.
</blockquote>
<ref>Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, ''A New History of the Book of Common Prayer'' (London: Macmillan, 1901), ch. VIII, “The Prayer Book of 1689,” section “Private Baptism.” [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Procter%26Frere/ch8.htm Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

At Confirmation the 1928 Prayer Book has candidates rehearse the same promise publicly. Confirmation therefore does not replace Baptism or invent a new pledge; it is the baptized person’s own ratification of what sponsors promised and vowed.

<blockquote>
My Sponsors did promise and vow three things in my name: First, that I should renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh; Secondly, that I should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith; And Thirdly, that I should keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Order of Confirmation,” catechetical question and answer, p. 298. [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Confirnation.htm Project Canterbury transcription of the 1928 Confirmation office].</ref>

For teaching and pastoral use, the sequence should remain intact: name the evil that must be refused, confess the faith by which it is resisted, and practise the obedience that follows. The 1928 Catechism thereby frames renunciation as a lifelong, grace-dependent consequence of belonging to Christ.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm The 1928 Catechism at Project Canterbury]
* [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Baptism.htm The 1928 Baptism office at Project Canterbury]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Theophilus Anglicanus

2026-10-16T16:46:41Z

SteveMacias: Add direct PDF link to the fifteenth edition of Theophilus Anglicanus

'''''Theophilus Anglicanus; or, Manual of Instruction on the Church, and the Anglican Branch of It''''' is a catechetical exposition of the Church and the Church of England by '''Christopher Wordsworth''', identified on the title page as sometime Bishop of Lincoln. The fifteenth edition bears the imprint of Longmans, Green, and Co., London and New York, 1890.<ref name="title">Christopher Wordsworth, ''Theophilus Anglicanus; or, Manual of Instruction on the Church, and the Anglican Branch of It'', 15th ed. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1890), unnumbered title page.</ref>

== Purpose and method ==
The work teaches through questions and answers accompanied by biblical references and substantial notes drawn from earlier Christian writers. Its treatment of Scripture, for example, moves from the Church's preservation and reception of the biblical books to the believer's recognition of their divine authority. Its discussion of the Reformation similarly presents objections and replies, supporting its argument with earlier Anglican and other authorities.<ref>Wordsworth, ''Theophilus Anglicanus'' (1890), I.vi, pp. 43-52; II.v, pp. 170-186.</ref>

== Structure ==
The book contains four parts and thirty-four chapters. Part I, ''On the Church'', begins on p. 1 and covers ecclesial attributes, Scripture, sacraments, ministry, discipline, absolution, intercession, and public prayer. Part II, ''On the Anglican Branch of the Catholic Church'', begins on p. 134 and examines English ecclesiastical origins, relations with Rome, the Reformation, succession, and catholicity. Part III, ''The Church of England in its Civil Relations'', begins on p. 234. Part IV, ''Rites and Ceremonies in the Church of England'', begins on p. 312. The index of matters begins on p. 325 and the index of authors and places cited on p. 332.<ref>Wordsworth, ''Theophilus Anglicanus'' (1890), contents, pp. ix-xi; indexes, pp. 325-344.</ref>

== Theological character ==
Wordsworth combines a strong account of ecclesiastical ministry with the subordination of the Church's teaching to God's written word. The Church receives and transmits Scripture, instructs Christians, and interprets the text; its office does not authorize it to impose additional necessities of salvation. In his terminology, its interpretation is judicial rather than legislative.<ref>Wordsworth, ''Theophilus Anglicanus'' (1890), I.vi-vii, pp. 43, 47-49, 52-54.</ref>

His interpretation of the English Reformation is explicitly restorative. He argues that the English Church retained its essential identity while removing errors, and that its Protestant opposition to Roman teaching served its catholic vocation. The work presents an Anglican apologetic account of these controversies, rather than a history written from a perspective independent of them.<ref>Wordsworth, ''Theophilus Anglicanus'' (1890), II.v, pp. 170-178, 185-186.</ref>

== Publication history ==
The fifteenth edition retains a preface headed “Preface to the Ninth Edition,” dated July 1865. In it Wordsworth recalls assistance from Joshua Watson and his father, the late Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. The preface also reports an American adaptation, ''Theophilus Americanus'', by H. Davey Evans, a Modern Greek translation in 1847, a French publication in 1861, and an Italian publication in 1863. The preface thus records Wordsworth's own account of the work's adaptation and translation.<ref>Wordsworth, ''Theophilus Anglicanus'' (1890), preface, pp. vii-viii.</ref>

== Research value ==
The work can support connected study of Anglican ecclesiology and the historical arguments by which English churchmen defended continuity through reform. Its notes also provide leads into patristic and Anglican sources. Its value as a guide to earlier authorities is distinct from its value as evidence for Wordsworth's own theological position.<ref>For examples, see Wordsworth, ''Theophilus Anglicanus'' (1890), I.vi, pp. 45-51, and II.v, pp. 172-180.</ref>

== See also ==
* [[English Reformation]]

== Sources and further reading ==
* Wordsworth, Christopher. ''Theophilus Anglicanus''. Fifteenth edition. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1890. [http://www.stevemacias.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Theophilus-.pdf Digitized fifteenth edition (PDF)].
* [https://www.anglicancommunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Thirty-Nine-Articles-of-Religion.pdf Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion], especially VI, XIX, XX, and XXXIV.

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Anglican Theology]]

Name and Christian Identity in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-16T16:36:58Z

SteveMacias: Revise Name and Christian Identity with verified 1928 BCP and Anglican sources

'''Name and Christian Identity in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' concerns the opening exchange of ''A Catechism'' in the American 1928 ''[[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|Book of Common Prayer]]''. The question about a name is not a stand-alone christening custom. It introduces the baptized Christian's identity as received in Baptism, lived in the baptismal covenant, and brought to personal confession in [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)|Confirmation]].

== The name received in Baptism ==
The Catechism begins with a question simple enough for a child to answer, but immediately directs the answer beyond private family identity to the Church's baptismal act.

<blockquote>
What is your Name? 
Answer. N. or N. N.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 577, [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 Prayer Book—Catechism].</ref>

The next answer identifies the human occasion of naming with the sacramental occasion in which the name is spoken. It also gives the Prayer Book's concise account of Christian identity: union with Christ, filial relation to God, and eschatological hope belong together.

<blockquote>
My Sponsors in Baptism; wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 577, [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 Prayer Book—Catechism].</ref>

This is closely echoed by the thanksgiving after Baptism, which asks that the baptized, having been received as God's child and incorporated into the Church, may finally inherit the kingdom. The Catechism is therefore teaching children to recognize their own name within the Church's public prayer, not to mistake a baptismal name for a merely sentimental label.

<blockquote>
We yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this Child (or this thy Servant) with thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for thine own Child, and to incorporate him into thy holy Church.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Ministration of Holy Baptism,” pp. 280–281, [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Baptism.htm 1928 Prayer Book—Holy Baptism].</ref>

The language is biblical: those baptized into Christ are put on Christ (Galatians 3:27), receive the Spirit of adoption by whom they cry “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15–17), and are called heirs according to hope (Titus 3:5–7). The Prayer Book does not separate this gift from the life it begins.

== Sponsors, promise, and personal assent ==
The answer about the name is followed by an account of what sponsors promised. Christian identity is received, but it is not impersonal or inert.

<blockquote>
They did promise and vow three things in my name: First, that I should renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh; Secondly, that I should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith; And Thirdly, that I should keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 577, [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 Prayer Book—Catechism].</ref>

The sequence is baptismal rather than merely moral: renunciation, faith, and obedience correspond to the promises made at the font. It also gives content to the Apostle's description of baptismal life as dying and rising with Christ (Romans 6:3–4). The Catechism requires the baptized person eventually to own those promises.

<blockquote>
Yes, verily; and by God's help so I will. And I heartily thank our heavenly Father, that he hath called me to this state of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to give me his grace, that I may continue in the same unto my life's end.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 577, [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 Prayer Book—Catechism].</ref>

George Burgess, Bishop of Maine, explained the same logic for readers encountering Episcopal worship: sponsors do not eliminate the child's future responsibility. In his account, the covenant named in baptism becomes the child's own obligation as maturity makes personal response possible.

<blockquote>
In the name of the child, the sponsors promise that he will keep the Christian covenant, by renouncing the world, the flesh and the devil, believing the articles of the Christian faith, and walking in the way of God's commandments. It is the same promise ... which is given by an adult candidate for baptism, in his own name.
</blockquote>
<ref>George Burgess, ''The Stranger in the Church'' (New York: Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge, 1858), pp. 17–18, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/gburgess/stranger1858.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

== Catechesis and Confirmation ==
The title of the Catechism defines it as instruction to be learned before Confirmation. Thus Christian identity matures in the Church's teaching and prayer, rather than being exhausted in the moment of infancy. The Prayer Book's rubric assigns that teaching to the parish's public ministry.

<blockquote>
The Minister of every Parish shall diligently, upon Sundays and Holy Days, or on some other convenient occasions, openly in the Church, instruct or examine so many Children of his Parish, sent unto him, as he shall think convenient, in some part of this Catechism.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 583, [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 Prayer Book—Catechism].</ref>

The Catechism then directs that children able to say the Creed, Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments, and answer its questions, be brought to the bishop. The Confirmation office makes the link explicit by having candidates renew their baptismal vow and confess Christ as Lord and Saviour. This is the Prayer Book's pastoral movement from sponsors' promise to the baptized person's own confession.

Edward W. Averill, writing in the year after the American revision, described the Catechism and Offices of Instruction as a coherent course rather than disconnected memorization:

<blockquote>
Following the Baptismal service are the Offices of Instruction which supplement the Catechism ... They contain in epitome what a Christian ought to know to his soul's health. The Catechism is to be learned by children before they are confirmed.
</blockquote>
<ref>Edward W. Averill, ''Talks on the Prayer Book'' (Fond du Lac, Wis.: The Parish Press, 1929), pp. 49–50, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/ewaverill/prayer_book1929.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Percy Dearmer likewise treated regular catechesis as a practical means by which baptized children grow into conscious participation in the Church's worship and communion:

<blockquote>
By this regular catechising one can make the children not mere nominal Christians, drifting to nothing as they grow up, but conscious, keen, devout Churchmen and communicants.
</blockquote>
<ref>Percy Dearmer, ''Loyalty to the Prayer Book'' (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co., 1904), pp. 9–10, [https://anglicanhistory.org/dearmer/loyalty1904.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

== Reading the threefold identity ==
“Member of Christ” names incorporation into his body; “child of God” names adoption by grace; and “inheritor of the kingdom of heaven” turns that identity toward the promised future. None of the three clauses licenses presumption. In the Catechism's own order, the one called to this state is taught the Creed, Commandments, Lord's Prayer, repentance, faith, and the sacraments. The name spoken at Baptism is therefore remembered as a call to belong to Christ and to continue, by God's grace, in the life begun there.

== See Also ==
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Baptism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Baptismal Sponsors in the 1928 BCP Catechism]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Catechism]
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/gburgess/stranger1858.html George Burgess, ''The Stranger in the Church'']
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/ewaverill/prayer_book1929.html Edward W. Averill, ''Talks on the Prayer Book'']

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Theophilus Anglicanus

2026-10-16T16:21:14Z

SteveMacias: Create sourced overview of Theophilus Anglicanus, its structure, theological character, and publication history

'''''Theophilus Anglicanus; or, Manual of Instruction on the Church, and the Anglican Branch of It''''' is a catechetical exposition of the Church and the Church of England by '''Christopher Wordsworth''', identified on the title page as sometime Bishop of Lincoln. The fifteenth edition bears the imprint of Longmans, Green, and Co., London and New York, 1890.<ref name="title">Christopher Wordsworth, ''Theophilus Anglicanus; or, Manual of Instruction on the Church, and the Anglican Branch of It'', 15th ed. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1890), unnumbered title page.</ref>

== Purpose and method ==
The work teaches through questions and answers accompanied by biblical references and substantial notes drawn from earlier Christian writers. Its treatment of Scripture, for example, moves from the Church's preservation and reception of the biblical books to the believer's recognition of their divine authority. Its discussion of the Reformation similarly presents objections and replies, supporting its argument with earlier Anglican and other authorities.<ref>Wordsworth, ''Theophilus Anglicanus'' (1890), I.vi, pp. 43-52; II.v, pp. 170-186.</ref>

== Structure ==
The book contains four parts and thirty-four chapters. Part I, ''On the Church'', begins on p. 1 and covers ecclesial attributes, Scripture, sacraments, ministry, discipline, absolution, intercession, and public prayer. Part II, ''On the Anglican Branch of the Catholic Church'', begins on p. 134 and examines English ecclesiastical origins, relations with Rome, the Reformation, succession, and catholicity. Part III, ''The Church of England in its Civil Relations'', begins on p. 234. Part IV, ''Rites and Ceremonies in the Church of England'', begins on p. 312. The index of matters begins on p. 325 and the index of authors and places cited on p. 332.<ref>Wordsworth, ''Theophilus Anglicanus'' (1890), contents, pp. ix-xi; indexes, pp. 325-344.</ref>

== Theological character ==
Wordsworth combines a strong account of ecclesiastical ministry with the subordination of the Church's teaching to God's written word. The Church receives and transmits Scripture, instructs Christians, and interprets the text; its office does not authorize it to impose additional necessities of salvation. In his terminology, its interpretation is judicial rather than legislative.<ref>Wordsworth, ''Theophilus Anglicanus'' (1890), I.vi-vii, pp. 43, 47-49, 52-54.</ref>

His interpretation of the English Reformation is explicitly restorative. He argues that the English Church retained its essential identity while removing errors, and that its Protestant opposition to Roman teaching served its catholic vocation. The work presents an Anglican apologetic account of these controversies, rather than a history written from a perspective independent of them.<ref>Wordsworth, ''Theophilus Anglicanus'' (1890), II.v, pp. 170-178, 185-186.</ref>

== Publication history ==
The fifteenth edition retains a preface headed “Preface to the Ninth Edition,” dated July 1865. In it Wordsworth recalls assistance from Joshua Watson and his father, the late Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. The preface also reports an American adaptation, ''Theophilus Americanus'', by H. Davey Evans, a Modern Greek translation in 1847, a French publication in 1861, and an Italian publication in 1863. The preface thus records Wordsworth's own account of the work's adaptation and translation.<ref>Wordsworth, ''Theophilus Anglicanus'' (1890), preface, pp. vii-viii.</ref>

== Research value ==
The work can support connected study of Anglican ecclesiology and the historical arguments by which English churchmen defended continuity through reform. Its notes also provide leads into patristic and Anglican sources. Its value as a guide to earlier authorities is distinct from its value as evidence for Wordsworth's own theological position.<ref>For examples, see Wordsworth, ''Theophilus Anglicanus'' (1890), I.vi, pp. 45-51, and II.v, pp. 172-180.</ref>

== See also ==
* [[English Reformation]]

== Sources and further reading ==
* Wordsworth, Christopher. ''Theophilus Anglicanus''. Fifteenth edition. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1890.
* [https://www.anglicancommunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Thirty-Nine-Articles-of-Religion.pdf Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion], especially VI, XIX, XX, and XXXIV.

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Anglican Theology]]

Meaning of Baptism in the 1928 BCP Catechism

2026-10-16T16:08:22Z

SteveMacias: Revise Baptism catechism article with verified 1928 BCP and Sadler sources

'''Meaning of Baptism in the 1928 BCP Catechism''' explains the account of Baptism taught in ''A Catechism'' of the American 1928 ''Book of Common Prayer''. The Catechism is not an abstract definition added to the rite: it teaches those baptized in infancy to own the grace, promises, and manner of life to which their baptism points as they prepare to be confirmed.

== Baptismal identity and the Catechism ==
The Catechism begins with the baptized person's name and sponsors before it turns to the Creed, the Commandments, prayer, and the sacraments. It therefore puts Christian identity before a bare account of religious duties.

<blockquote>
My Sponsors in Baptism; wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 577, [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 Prayer Book—Catechism].</ref>

The three phrases are held together: Baptism concerns incorporation into Christ, adoption by God, and hope of the kingdom. They are not a permission to neglect the baptismal promises. The answer that follows requires the candidate personally to believe and do what the sponsors promised; the Catechism thus moves from gift to responsible discipleship.

== Baptism as a sacrament ==
The Prayer Book places Baptism among the two sacraments “generally necessary to salvation” and explains the word ''sacrament'' before it asks about Baptism's particular sign and grace.

<blockquote>
I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us; ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 581, [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 Prayer Book—Catechism].</ref>

The definition prevents two opposite reductions. Water is not a merely private symbol, because Christ ordained the sacrament as a means and pledge; neither is the outward action detachable from the grace named by the Catechism. Sadler's nineteenth-century commentary usefully articulates that reading of the Catechism:

<blockquote>
All merely outward rites would be; but the Sacraments are not merely outward rites, but outward visible means whereby we receive spiritual grace.
</blockquote>
<ref>M. F. Sadler, ''The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction: Being the Church Catechism Expanded and Explained in Question and Answer'', 3rd ed. (London: Bell & Daldy, 1872), p. 279, section LII, question 12, [https://archive.org/details/churchteachersma00sadlrich Internet Archive scan].</ref>

Sadler is offering theological interpretation, not a substitute Prayer Book text: his point is that the Catechism's “means whereby” belongs to its account of Christ's appointed sacrament.

== Sign, Name, and grace ==
The Catechism identifies both the visible form and the inward grace of Baptism in immediately consecutive answers.

<blockquote>
Water; wherein the person is baptized, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 582, [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 Prayer Book—Catechism].</ref>

The form directly follows Christ's command to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). It is therefore a Trinitarian act of the Church, rather than a statement of the candidate's personal religious sentiment.

<blockquote>
A death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness: for being by nature born in sin, and the children of wrath, we are hereby made the children of grace.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 582, [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 Prayer Book—Catechism].</ref>

This language should be read with Romans 6:3–4, where baptism into Christ's death issues in walking “in newness of life,” and with John 3:5, which joins water and Spirit in the new birth. The Prayer Book does not describe grace as an impersonal mechanism; it names deliverance from sin and new life ordered to righteousness.

Sadler's fuller exposition makes explicit why the Catechism does not treat the sign and the grace as rival alternatives:

<blockquote>
To distinguish the two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself from all other rites, such as Confirmation, or Ordination, which have the nature of Sacraments.
</blockquote>
<ref>M. F. Sadler, ''The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction: Being the Church Catechism Expanded and Explained in Question and Answer'', 3rd ed. (London: Bell & Daldy, 1872), p. 278, section LII, question 3, [https://archive.org/details/churchteachersma00sadlrich Internet Archive scan].</ref>

The distinction echoes the Prayer Book's own limited count of the sacraments generally necessary to salvation, while preserving the Church's reverent use of other appointed rites.

== Faith, repentance, and sponsors ==
The Catechism states the proper response required of a person brought for Baptism:

<blockquote>
Repentance, whereby they forsake sin; and Faith, whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that Sacrament.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 582, [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 Prayer Book—Catechism].</ref>

Repentance and faith do not earn the gift named above; they are the fitting conversion and trust to which the sacrament calls. Acts 2:38 similarly joins repentance and baptism in Peter's preaching. The Catechism's wording also explains why its opening account of Baptism goes on to speak of sponsors.

<blockquote>
Because they promise them both by their Sureties; which promise, when they come to age, themselves are bound to perform.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 582, [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 Prayer Book—Catechism].</ref>

Infant Baptism, on this account, neither erases the necessity of faith and repentance nor postpones the Church's duty of formation. Sponsors speak in the child's name; when the child comes to age, the baptized person must make the promised response personally. That is why the Catechism describes itself as instruction to be learned before Confirmation.

== Use in teaching and worship ==
In parish teaching, this sequence is important: begin with the Prayer Book's concrete words about incorporation, sign, grace, faith, and sponsors; then read the cited Scriptures; then ask how the baptized person is to continue in that state of salvation. The Catechism thereby keeps doctrine, baptismal worship, and a life of repentance and faith together.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Catechism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Baptism (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Baptismal Regeneration in Anglican Theology]]
* [[Confirmation (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Catechism.htm 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Catechism]
* [https://archive.org/details/churchteachersma00sadlrich Internet Archive: Sadler's ''Church Teacher's Manual'']

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Catechism]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Collect for At the Burial of the Dead (1928 BCP)

2026-10-16T15:28:18Z

SteveMacias: Revise Burial of the Dead collect with verified 1928 BCP and historical Anglican sources

'''Collect for At the Burial of the Dead (1928 BCP)''' is the first collect appointed for the burial propers in the American [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|Book of Common Prayer]] of 1928. It does not deny grief. Rather, it places the congregation's grief in the hope of Christ, joining the Church “in paradise and on earth” and asking that the living may follow the faithful departed into God's joy.

== Text of the Collect ==
<blockquote>
O ETERNAL Lord God, who holdest all souls in life; Vouchsafe, we beseech thee, to thy whole Church in paradise and on earth, thy light and thy peace; and grant that we, following the good examples of those who have served thee here and are now at rest, may at the last enter with them into thine unending joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church'', 1928, “Collect for At the Burial of the Dead,” p. 268 (Collects, Epistles, and Gospels). The complete text was compared word for word with the local transcription at <code>sources/justuspropers/Readings1928.htm</code>; see [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/BCP1945.pdf Charles Wohlers, ed., “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer” facsimile, p. 268].</ref>

The address, “O eternal Lord God,” begins with God rather than with death. “Who holdest all souls in life” confesses God's preserving power; it is not a definition of the intermediate state. The petition then ranges over the one Church, “in paradise and on earth,” asking God for light and peace. Its final movement is ethical and eschatological: the departed are remembered as examples of service, and those praying ask to enter, through Christ, the same unending joy.

== The appointed Scripture ==
The collect stands with a particular Epistle and Gospel. The Epistle makes Christian mourning intelligible only by the death and resurrection of Jesus:

<blockquote>
I WOULD not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer'', 1928, “At the Burial of the Dead,” p. 268, Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 4:13–14; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/BCP1945.pdf Charles Wohlers, ed., “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer” facsimile, p. 268].</ref>

Thus “those who have served thee here and are now at rest” are not proposed as a rival ground of hope. Their rest is named within the Church's confession that God will bring those who sleep ''in Jesus''. The phrase “following the good examples” therefore concerns the fruit of faith in this life, while the requested joy remains God's gift through Christ.

The Gospel supplies the collect's “at the last” with Jesus' own promise:

<blockquote>
And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer'', 1928, “At the Burial of the Dead,” p. 268, Gospel: John 6:37–40; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/BCP1945.pdf Charles Wohlers, ed., “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer” facsimile, p. 268].</ref>

The collect is consequently a resurrection prayer. “Light and peace” and “unending joy” do not replace the body's future resurrection; they are prayed in the horizon of the Son's promise to raise his people on the last day.

== Church, saints, and hope ==
The collect's reference to the Church in paradise and on earth belongs beside the Burial Office's thanksgiving for faithful Christians who have completed their course:

<blockquote>
ALMIGHTY God, with whom do live the spirits of those who depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity; We give thee hearty thanks for the good examples of all those thy servants, who, having finished their course in faith, do now rest from their labours.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'', 1928, “The Order for the Burial of the Dead,” pp. 324–337, prayer after the Lord's Prayer; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Burial.htm Charles Wohlers, ed., “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Burial”].</ref>

This neighboring prayer helps explain the collect's grammar. The Church gives thanks to God for the examples of the departed; it does not treat them as independent saviours. The prayer asks that those still on pilgrimage may be joined with them only “through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Its language therefore holds together communion in the Church, the continuing care of God, and the final hope of resurrection.

The 1928 revision also made the pastoral scope of the rite less absolute than the older exclusionary rubric:

<blockquote>
It is to be noted that this Office is appropriate to be used only for the faithful departed in Christ, provided that in any other case the Minister may, at his discretion, use such part of this Office, or such devotions taken from other parts of this Book, as may be fitting.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'', 1928, “The Order for the Burial of the Dead,” rubric following the final blessing; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Burial.htm Charles Wohlers, ed., “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Burial”].</ref>

That discretion should not be used to turn the collect into a general theory of every person's final state. It marks the rite as a Christian service of hope, while allowing pastoral judgment in cases not directly covered by its normal use.

== Revision and historical interpretation ==
E. Clowes Chorley, historiographer of the Protestant Episcopal Church, located the 1928 burial prayers within a significant American Prayer Book development:

<blockquote>
This also goes back to the English Book of 1549, but it is the first time in the history of the American Prayer Books that prayers for the departed have been recognized. Others appear in the new Burial Office where their use is permissive.
</blockquote>
<ref>E. Clowes Chorley, ''The New American Prayer Book: Its History and Contents'' (New York: Macmillan Company, 1929), chap. VII, “The New Prayer Book: Revision,” discussion of the Burial Office; [https://anglicanhistory.org/bcp/chorley1929/07.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Chorley's observation is historical rather than a license to detach the 1928 book from its theological frame. The collect's prayer for the whole Church and its appeal to the examples of the departed are set inside the same appointed readings that proclaim Christ's resurrection and his keeping of those given him by the Father.

H. Henry Spoer similarly described the wider recovery of older pastoral forms in the 1928 American revision:

<blockquote>
In 1928 the American Branch of the Church restored, in some degree, that which had been removed from the Service of the Visitation of the Sick in earlier days. A Litany for the Dying is now followed by the Lord's Prayer, with a Collect, an Absolution, a Commendation, and a “Commendatory Prayer when the Soul is Departed,” as well as “Anointing or Laying on of Hands,” if the “sick person shall in humble faith desire” it, thus restoring the office into closer accordance with the ancient forms.
</blockquote>
<ref>H. Henry Spoer, ''An Aid for Churchmen Episcopal and Orthodox: Toward a Mutual Understanding, by Means of a Brief Comparison of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Orthodox Church with Those of the Episcopal (Anglican) Church'' (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1930), chap. IX, “The Visitation and the Burial of the Dead”; [https://anglicanhistory.org/orthodoxy/spoer1930/09.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Spoer's account supplies a useful historical context: the collect belongs to a Prayer Book in which care for the dying, commendation of the departed, and burial were deliberately treated as connected pastoral acts. Yet its own wording remains disciplined: it asks God for light and peace, remembers faithful service, and directs every petition to the Father through Jesus Christ.

== Use in worship ==
The collect is printed among the propers “At the Burial of the Dead,” with an alternative collect, 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 as Epistle, and John 6:37–40 as Gospel. It may therefore be read with the service's central movement from bereavement to resurrection hope, rather than being lifted from that setting as a vague consolation. In private devotion it can teach the same pattern: commend the departed to God, give thanks for faithful examples, and pray for grace to serve Christ until the final joy he promises.

== See also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Church Calendar (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/BCP1945.pdf The 1928 Book of Common Prayer facsimile]
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Burial.htm The Order for the Burial of the Dead (1928 BCP)]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Collects]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Collect for At a Marriage (1928 BCP)

2026-10-16T00:16:37Z

SteveMacias: Revise Collect for At a Marriage with verified 1928 BCP and Anglican sources

'''Collect for At a Marriage (1928 BCP)''' is the collect appointed for the celebration of Holy Communion in connection with the Solemnization of Matrimony in the American [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|Book of Common Prayer]] of 1928. It asks God to look graciously upon a particular couple, to order their life by the kingdom and righteousness of God, and to give the grace whose blessings the prayer does not presume to define in advance.

== Text of the Collect ==
<blockquote>
O eternal God, we humbly beseech thee, favourably to behold these thy servants now (or about to be) joined in wedlock according to thy holy ordinance; and grant that they, seeking first thy kingdom and thy righteousness, may obtain the manifold blessings of thy grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (Church Pension Fund, 1928), “Collect for At a Marriage,” in the office “At a Marriage,” Collect, Epistle, and Gospel; compared word for word with the local 1928 source <code>sources/justuspropers/Readings1928.htm</code>, lines 351–360. [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Propers.pdf Society of Archbishop Justus, ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Propers for Various Occasions''].</ref>

The collect begins with God, not with the couple. “Eternal” names the One before whom the marriage is made; “we humbly beseech” makes the petition the prayer of the worshipping congregation as well as of those to be married. “Favourably to behold” asks for divine mercy, not merely public approval. The parenthesis permits use shortly before as well as at the act of marriage, while “joined in wedlock according to thy holy ordinance” places the union under God’s ordering rather than private preference.

The prayer’s governing petition is deliberately taken from the teaching of Jesus: the couple are to seek God’s kingdom and righteousness. Thus its requested “manifold blessings” are gifts of grace for a Christian vocation, not a promise that marriage will be free of suffering or difficulty. Its Christological conclusion also keeps the petition within the Church’s prayer through Jesus Christ.

== Appointed Scripture and the marriage office ==
The Epistle for the occasion supplies the collect’s most sustained account of love as a Christian discipline. Its language about husbands and wives must be read in the passage’s opening call to mutual submission “in the fear of God” and in the pattern of Christ’s self-giving love.

<blockquote>
Submit yourselves one to another in the fear of God. … Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (Church Pension Fund, 1928), “At a Marriage,” Epistle, Ephesians 5:20–33; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Propers.pdf Society of Archbishop Justus, ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Propers for Various Occasions''].</ref>

The collect’s phrase “thy holy ordinance” is likewise illuminated by the Gospel, which directs the congregation to creation and to Christ’s teaching about the unity of marriage.

<blockquote>
Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (Church Pension Fund, 1928), “At a Marriage,” Gospel, Matthew 19:4–6; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Propers.pdf Society of Archbishop Justus, ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Propers for Various Occasions''].</ref>

The collect does not replace the marriage rite; it gathers its theological logic into a single petition. The rite names marriage an estate instituted by God, signifies Christ’s union with the Church, and summons both persons to enter it reverently.

<blockquote>
Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this company, to join together this Man and this Woman in holy Matrimony; which is an honourable estate, instituted of God, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Form of Solemnization of Matrimony,” opening exhortation; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Marriage.htm Society of Archbishop Justus, ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Form of Solemnization of Matrimony''].</ref>

The collect’s “these thy servants” therefore matters: it prays for named people whom the Church has received before God and the assembled company. The kingdom petition gives the office’s public, covenantal commitments their proper end—faithfulness under Christ rather than self-enclosed fulfilment.

== Liturgical setting and history ==
The 1928 book did not treat these readings as ornamental additions to a wedding. It provided a proper collect, epistle, and gospel for Communion at a marriage. E. Clowes Chorley, historian of the 1928 revision, identified this provision with the older eucharistic setting of Christian marriage.

<blockquote>
A rubric in the First Prayer Book of Edward VI required that the “new married persons (the same day of their marriage) must receive the holy Communion.” The intent of that rubric is carried out in the new American Book by the provision of a Collect, Epistle and Gospel for the Solemnization of Matrimony, or what was known before the Reformation as a Nuptial Mass.
</blockquote>
<ref>E. Clowes Chorley, ''The New American Prayer Book: Its History and Contents'' (New York: Macmillan, 1929), chap. VIII, “Enrichment,” discussion of the 1928 marriage propers; [https://anglicanhistory.org/bcp/chorley1929/08.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Chorley’s observation explains why the collect speaks in the plural “we” and why the propers place the couple’s vocation among Scripture, Communion, and the Church’s intercession. The text is concise, but its setting is ecclesial and eucharistic.

== The collect as common prayer ==
The word “collect” is itself a useful guide to the form of the prayer. Anthony Sparrow’s early Anglican explanation describes the collect as the Church’s gathering and offering of the people’s petitions, completed by their Amen.

<blockquote>
The Collects follow, which are thought by divers to be so called … because the Priest doth herein Collect the Devotions of the people, and offer them up to God. … [T]hey desired that themselves and their devotions should in the close be recommended to God by the Priest, they all joyning their assent and saying Amen to it.
</blockquote>
<ref>Anthony Sparrow, D.D., ''A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer'' (London, 1672), “The Collects”; [https://anglicanhistory.org/sparrow/rationale/collects.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

On Sparrow’s account, this collect is not a private blessing appended to a ceremony. It is the congregation’s corporate request that God look upon the couple, give them the righteousness for which Christ teaches his disciples to seek, and grant grace adequate to their shared life.

== Theological use ==
The collect holds together creation, discipleship, grace, and Christ. It neither treats marriage as a merely civil arrangement nor makes the married pair the source of its own holiness. The appointed Matthew passage grounds “holy ordinance” in the Creator’s work; Ephesians directs love toward Christ’s self-giving and the Church’s sanctification; and the collect itself asks that every good gift be received as grace. It is accordingly well suited to preparation for marriage, to Eucharistic celebration at a marriage, and to the Church’s continuing intercession for married persons.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Matrimony (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Propers.pdf Society of Archbishop Justus: 1928 BCP Propers for Various Occasions]
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/bcp/chorley1929/08.html E. Clowes Chorley on the 1928 marriage propers]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Collects]]
[[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Collect for Thanksgiving Day (1928 BCP)

2026-10-15T23:29:44Z

SteveMacias: Revise Thanksgiving Day collect with verified 1928 propers and Anglican sources

'''Collect for Thanksgiving Day (1928 BCP)''' is the appointed prayer for Thanksgiving Day in the American [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]]. It makes thanksgiving a confession of God's providence: the fruits of the earth are received as the Father's bounty, and the Church asks that their continuance may serve God's glory as well as human comfort.

== Text of the Collect ==
<blockquote>
O MOST merciful Father, who hast blessed the labours of the husbandman in the returns of the fruits of the earth; We give thee humble and hearty thanks for this thy bounty; beseeching thee to continue thy loving-kindness to us, that our land may still yield her increase, to thy glory and our comfort; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>Collect for Thanksgiving Day; Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), ''The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels'', Thanksgiving Day, Collect; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book'']. Complete collect compared word for word with the local 1928 source <code>sources/justuspropers/Readings1928.htm</code>, lines 293-299; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1789/collects_epistles_gospels_1789%261892.htm#Thanksgiving Society of Archbishop Justus, ''The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels'', Thanksgiving Day].</ref>

The address, “most merciful Father,” makes the prayer filial before it is agricultural or civic. “The labours of the husbandman” does not deny work, skill, or the ordinary means by which food is produced; it gives thanks because their fruitful outcome is God's bounty. The final request turns gratitude into dependence: the Church asks for continued loving-kindness, and measures an increase of the land by “thy glory and our comfort,” not by acquisition alone. The phrase “through Jesus Christ our Lord” keeps every material gift within Christian thanksgiving rather than treating it as a self-contained possession.

== The Appointed Psalmody ==
The 1928 proper replaces the ordinary ''Venite'' at Morning Prayer with selected verses of Psalm 147. Its first movement joins praise for creation to God's gathering and healing of his people.

<blockquote>
O PRAISE the Lord, for it is a good thing to sing praises unto our God; * yea, a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful. 
The Lord doth build up Jerusalem, * and gather together the outcasts of Israel. 
He healeth those that are broken in heart, * and giveth medicine to heal their sickness. 
O sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; * sing praises upon the harp unto our God: 
Who covereth the heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth; * and maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains, and herb for the use of men.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), ''The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels'', Thanksgiving Day, psalmody appointed “Instead of the Venite”; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book'']. Quotation checked against <code>sources/justuspropers/Readings1928.htm</code>, lines 266-291.</ref>

This is an important guard against reducing the day to private abundance. The God who prepares rain and grass is also the God who gathers the outcasts and heals the broken-hearted. The collect's “our land” is therefore prayed within the worship of a people whose gratitude must be answerable to mercy.

== Epistle and Gospel ==
The Epistle is James 1:16-27. It grounds the collect's language of bounty in the unchanging generosity of the “Father of lights,” and then tests thankful religion by its fruit.

<blockquote>
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
</blockquote>
<ref>Epistle for Thanksgiving Day, St. James 1:16-18, as appointed in Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), ''The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels'', Thanksgiving Day; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book'']. Quotation checked against <code>sources/justuspropers/Readings1928.htm</code>, lines 301-307.</ref>

James's “firstfruits” gives the harvest imagery a theological horizon. Created gifts descend from God, but the apostle also names the new birth by the word of truth. Thanksgiving is consequently not only recognition of provision; it is a response formed by God's gracious action.

<blockquote>
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
</blockquote>
<ref>Epistle for Thanksgiving Day, St. James 1:27, as appointed in Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), ''The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels'', Thanksgiving Day; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book'']. Quotation checked against <code>sources/justuspropers/Readings1928.htm</code>, lines 315-321.</ref>

The collect asks for “our comfort,” but the Epistle prevents that comfort from becoming indifference. Gratitude receives God's gifts humbly and is expressed in care for people exposed to affliction.

The Gospel, Matthew 6:25-34, reads the needs of food and clothing through the Father's care. It does not make work or bread unreal; it forbids anxious life from becoming the ruling purpose.

<blockquote>
Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.
</blockquote>
<ref>Gospel for Thanksgiving Day, St. Matthew 6:25-26, as appointed in Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), ''The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels'', Thanksgiving Day; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book'']. Quotation checked against <code>sources/justuspropers/Readings1928.htm</code>, lines 323-336.</ref>

<blockquote>
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.
</blockquote>
<ref>Gospel for Thanksgiving Day, St. Matthew 6:33-34, as appointed in Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), ''The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels'', Thanksgiving Day; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book'']. Quotation checked against <code>sources/justuspropers/Readings1928.htm</code>, lines 339-343.</ref>

The connection with the collect is exact: it asks for the land's increase, while the Gospel teaches that the increase is neither the object of ultimate trust nor a warrant for anxiety. The Father knows bodily need; the Church therefore gives thanks and seeks his kingdom first.

== American Prayer Book Context ==
Thanksgiving Day has a distinct American Prayer Book history. E. Clowes Chorley, Historiographer of the Protestant Episcopal Church, records that the 1785 proposed American book supplied a form for the fruits of the earth, to be used on the first Thursday in November or on a day appointed by civil authority.

<blockquote>
Then followed “A Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the Fruits of the Earth” which was appointed to be used on the first Thursday in November, or on another day appointed by the Civil Authority.
</blockquote>
<ref>E. Clowes Chorley, D.D., ''The New American Prayer Book: Its History and Contents'' (New York: Macmillan Company, 1929), chapter III, “The Proposed Book of 1785,” section describing its additions; Project Canterbury, [https://anglicanhistory.org/bcp/chorley1929/03.html ''The New American Prayer Book'', chapter III]. The Project Canterbury edition identifies Chorley as Historiographer of the Protestant Episcopal Church and supplies the 1929 Macmillan publication details.</ref>

Chorley also explains a key point about the 1928 revision: an older, separate Thanksgiving service was omitted, but its material did not simply disappear. This helps explain why the 1928 book places Thanksgiving Day's collect, appointed Psalmody, Epistle, and Gospel together among the propers instead of presenting the day as only an occasional civil office.

<blockquote>
Three services found in the previous Prayer Book are omitted entirely from the new--The “Forms of Prayer To Be Used at Sea”; The “Form of Prayer for the Visitation of Prisoners” and “A Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God” used at the service on Thanksgiving Day. While the latter disappears as a separate service its component parts are found elsewhere in the new Prayer Book.
</blockquote>
<ref>E. Clowes Chorley, D.D., ''The New American Prayer Book: Its History and Contents'' (New York: Macmillan Company, 1929), chapter VII, “The New Prayer Book: Revision,” discussion of omitted services; Project Canterbury, [https://anglicanhistory.org/bcp/chorley1929/07.html ''The New American Prayer Book'', chapter VII]. This historical interpretation directly supports the account of the 1928 arrangement.</ref>

Bayard Hale Jones offers a complementary liturgical interpretation. He distinguishes Thanksgiving Day and Rogation Days as the Prayer Book's intentionally agricultural observances, rather than relics of a pagan seasonal cult.

<blockquote>
But we also have two deliberately agricultural occasions for appropriate prayers for seedtime and harvest, namely the Rogation Days and Thanksgiving Day. These both originated within the Church and owe nothing to pagan influences.
</blockquote>
<ref>Bayard Hale Jones, ''Dynamic Redemption: Reflections on the Book of Common Prayer'' (Greenwich, Connecticut: The Seabury Press, 1961), chapter I, “Ancient Elements in the Prayer Book”; [https://1928commonprayer.org/dynamic-redemption/ 1928 Common Prayer digital edition]. The edition identifies Jones, title, publisher, place, year, and chapter; the quotation is his liturgical interpretation of the Prayer Book calendar.</ref>

That interpretation clarifies the collect's scope. It is a Christian prayer over the actual gifts and vulnerabilities of agricultural life, not a ritual affirmation of nature as divine. Its praise is offered to the merciful Father, its petition is made through Jesus Christ, and its appointed readings train thanksgiving toward trust, obedience, and care for the afflicted.

== Use in Worship ==
On Thanksgiving Day the 1928 BCP appoints this collect with the Psalm 147 substitute for the ''Venite'', James 1:16-27, and Matthew 6:25-34. At Holy Communion the collect and lessons frame the day; at Morning Prayer the altered invitatory psalmody makes the same thanksgiving audible in the Daily Office. In either setting, the collect serves well as a short rule for devotion: name God's bounty, ask for continued loving-kindness, and receive ordinary provision in a manner ordered to God's glory and the neighbour's good.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Thanksgiving Day Proper (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Rogation Days (1928 BCP)]]
* [[General Thanksgiving in Morning Prayer (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer: Standard Book PDF]
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1789/collects_epistles_gospels_1789%261892.htm#Thanksgiving Society of Archbishop Justus: Thanksgiving Day propers]
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/bcp/chorley1929/03.html E. Clowes Chorley, ''The New American Prayer Book'', chapter III]
* [https://1928commonprayer.org/dynamic-redemption/ Bayard Hale Jones, ''Dynamic Redemption'']

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Collects]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Collect for Independence Day (1928 BCP)

2026-10-15T23:18:30Z

SteveMacias: Revise Independence Day collect with verified 1928 BCP and Anglican sources

'''Collect for Independence Day (1928 BCP)''' is the collect appointed for July 4 in the American [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|Book of Common Prayer]]. It gives civic thanksgiving a deliberately Christian form: God is thanked as the giver of liberty, and the Church asks for grace to preserve it in righteousness and peace.

== Text of the Collect ==
<blockquote>
O ETERNAL God, through whose mighty power our fathers won their liberties of old; Grant, we beseech thee, that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain these liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), ''Collects, Epistles, and Gospels'', “Independence Day [July 4],” ''The Collect'', p. 263 (PDF page 270). This complete Collect for Independence Day was compared word for word with <code>sources/justuspropers/Readings1928.htm</code>, lines 231-239, and the local Standard Book extraction <code>tmp/revision-research/collect-for-a-saint-s-day/bcp1928-standard-book-pypdf.txt</code>, lines 10907-10926. [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Readings_1928.htm#July4 Society of Archbishop Justus, “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Propers for Various Occasions”].</ref>

“O eternal God” puts nation and people beneath God's eternity; “through whose mighty power” attributes deliverance to providence rather than political self-sufficiency. “Our fathers” gives thanks for an inherited good, while “we and all the people of this land” makes the petition public rather than partisan. The governing request is not simply that liberty endure, but that it be maintained “in righteousness and peace”; the conclusion offers every civic good through Jesus Christ.

== The Appointed Lessons ==
The 1928 Epistle, Deuteronomy 10:17-21, names God as impartial judge and immediately joins fear of God to justice for the fatherless, widow, and stranger. That choice prevents the collect's liberty from becoming a claim of national exemption from moral judgment.

<blockquote>
THE Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: he doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), ''Collects, Epistles, and Gospels'', “Independence Day [July 4],” “For the Epistle. Deuteronomy x. 17,” p. 263. The local transcription's line-break OCR “judg-ment” is normalized to the Standard Book's “judgment.” [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Readings_1928.htm#July4 Society of Archbishop Justus, “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Propers for Various Occasions”].</ref>

The Gospel, Matthew 5:43-48, gives the collect's “peace” a still more demanding content. The congregation hears Christ forbid a righteousness restricted to one's own side and command prayer for persecutors.

<blockquote>
JESUS said, Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), ''Collects, Epistles, and Gospels'', “Independence Day [July 4],” “The Gospel. St. Matthew v. 43,” pp. 263-264. [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Readings_1928.htm#July4 Society of Archbishop Justus, “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Propers for Various Occasions”].</ref>

The collect and lessons interpret one another: Deuteronomy makes justice toward the vulnerable and stranger part of righteousness; Matthew makes enemy-love part of peace. The proper asks Christians to give thanks for temporal liberty while receiving it as a trust answerable to God.

== Civil Authority in the Prayer Book ==
The Independence Day collect belongs beside, rather than instead of, the Prayer Book's habitual intercession for civil authority. Morning Prayer asks that those in authority be replenished with the Spirit in order to will and walk in God's way.

<blockquote>
O LORD, our heavenly Father, the high and mighty Ruler of the universe, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers upon earth; Most heartily we beseech thee, with thy favour to behold and bless thy servant THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, and all others in authority; and so replenish them with the grace of thy Holy Spirit, that they may always incline to thy will, and walk in thy way.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), ''The Order for Daily Morning Prayer'', “A Prayer for The President of the United States, and all in Civil Authority,” p. 18. [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/MP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus, “The Order for Daily Morning Prayer”].</ref>

Evening Prayer calls rulers God's servants and asks the people to honour authority according to God's Word. Thus the July 4 collect does not sacralize civil power; it prays for liberty within a theology of delegated and accountable authority.

<blockquote>
ALMIGHTY God, whose kingdom is everlasting and power infinite; Have mercy upon this whole land; and so rule the hearts of thy servants THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, The Governor of this State, and all others in authority, that they, knowing whose ministers they are, may above all things seek thy honour and glory; and that we and all the People, duly considering whose authority they bear, may faithfully and obediently honour them, according to thy blessed Word and ordinance; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), ''The Order for Daily Evening Prayer'', “A Prayer for The President of the United States, and all in Civil Authority,” p. 41. [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/EP.htm Society of Archbishop Justus, “The Order for Daily Evening Prayer”].</ref>

== American Prayer Book History ==
An earlier Independence Day office appeared in the 1786 Proposed Book, not in the Prayer Book adopted in 1789. Its title describes an annual Fourth of July thanksgiving for religious and civil liberty.

<blockquote>
A FORM OF PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING TO ALMIGHTY GOD, For the inestimable Blessings of Religious and Civil Liberty; to be used yearly Fourth Day of July, unless it happen to be on Sunday, and then on following.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer ... as revised and proposed to the use of The Protestant Episcopal Church'' (Philadelphia: Hall and Sellers, 1786), “A Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God, For the inestimable Blessings of Religious and Civil Liberty.” [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1786/Independence_Day_1786.htm Society of Archbishop Justus, “1786 Proposed Book of Common Prayer: Independence Day”].</ref>

The proposed collect made providential thanksgiving explicit and directed praise away from the people and toward God's name.

<blockquote>
Almighty God, who hast in all ages shewed forth thy power and mercy in the wonderful preservation of thy church, and in the protection of every nation and people professing thy holy and eternal Truth, and putting their sure trust in thee; We yield thee our unfeigned thanks and praise for all thy public mercies, and more especially for that signal and wonderful manifestation of thy providence which we commemorate this day; Wherefore not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name be ascribed all honor and glory, in all churches of the Saints, from generation to generation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church, ''The Book of Common Prayer ... as revised and proposed to the use of The Protestant Episcopal Church'' (Philadelphia: Hall and Sellers, 1786), Independence Day collect. [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1786/Independence_Day_1786.htm Society of Archbishop Justus, “1786 Proposed Book of Common Prayer: Independence Day”].</ref>

E. Clowes Chorley, Historiographer of the Protestant Episcopal Church, supplies the historical interpretation: the 1785 convention altered state prayers after the Revolution, supplied a Fourth of July observance, and then encountered controversy over it.

<blockquote>
A service was provided for the Fourth of July to be observed as a day of thanksgiving “for the inestimable blessings of civil and religious liberty vouchsafed to the United States of America.” It included this Collect:
</blockquote>
<ref>E. Clowes Chorley, ''The New American Prayer Book: Its History and Contents'' (New York: Macmillan, 1929), chapter III, “The Proposed Book of 1785.” [https://anglicanhistory.org/bcp/chorley1929/03.html Project Canterbury, “The New American Prayer Book: Chapter III”].</ref>

<blockquote>
The service thus adopted was directed “to be used in this Church for ever.” It called forth, however, sharp difference of opinion in the convention and was not retained in the Prayer Book of 1789.
</blockquote>
<ref>E. Clowes Chorley, ''The New American Prayer Book: Its History and Contents'' (New York: Macmillan, 1929), chapter III, “The Proposed Book of 1785.” [https://anglicanhistory.org/bcp/chorley1929/03.html Project Canterbury, “The New American Prayer Book: Chapter III”].</ref>

Bishop William White's retrospective identifies why the early office was contentious: it could make political agreement a test for clergy in a Church still being organized after the Revolution. His criticism was directed at the prudence of that observance, not at prayer for civil authorities.

<blockquote>
The next material question, to the best of the recollection retained, was on a motion for framing a service for the Fourth of July. This was the most injudicious step taken by the convention. Might they not have foreseen, that every clergyman whose political principles interfered with the appointment, would be under a strong temptation to cry down the intended book, if it were only to get rid of the offensive holiday?
</blockquote>
<ref>William White, ''Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America'', ed. B. F. DeCosta, 3rd ed. (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1880), “Additional Statements,” p. 117. [https://archive.org/details/memoirsofprotest00whitiala Internet Archive, “Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America”].</ref>

<blockquote>
Had the question been concerning the praying for the prosperity of the commonwealths, and for the persons of those who rule in them, the argument would have been conclusive; and, indeed, this had been done by all the remaining clergy, however disaffected they might have been.
</blockquote>
<ref>William White, ''Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America'', ed. B. F. DeCosta, 3rd ed. (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1880), “Additional Statements,” p. 117. [https://archive.org/details/memoirsofprotest00whitiala Internet Archive, “Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America”].</ref>

== Theological Use ==
The 1928 collect is thanksgiving under judgment. It does not ask God to ratify every national action. It asks for grace to maintain liberty rightly; its Epistle identifies righteousness with impartial justice and love of the stranger, and its Gospel identifies peace with the costly love of enemies. In preaching and catechesis, the proper can distinguish Christian gratitude for temporal goods from uncritical civil religion.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Church Calendar (1928 BCP)]]
* [[The Litany (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Prayers and Thanksgivings (1928 BCP)]]

== References ==
<references />

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Readings_1928.htm#July4 The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Independence Day proper]
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/bcp/chorley1929/03.html E. Clowes Chorley, ''The New American Prayer Book'', chapter III]
* [https://archive.org/details/memoirsofprotest00whitiala William White, ''Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America'']

[[Category:1928 BCP Collects]][[Category:1928 BCP Calendar]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Collect for Rogation Days (1928 BCP)

2026-10-15T22:25:59Z

SteveMacias: Revise Collect for Rogation Days with verified 1928 BCP and Anglican sources

'''Collect for Rogation Days (1928 BCP)''' is the prayer appointed for the three days before [[Ascension Day (1928 BCP)|Ascension Day]] in the American [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]]. It asks the Creator for a fruitful season, receives material good as divine bounty rather than a human entitlement, and turns that reception into thanksgiving in the Church.

== Text of the Collect ==
<blockquote>
ALMIGHTY God, Lord of heaven and earth; We beseech thee to pour forth thy blessing upon this land, and to give us a fruitful season; that we, constantly receiving thy bounty, may evermore give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer'', “Collect for Rogation Days,” in ''The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), the collect for “the Three Days before Ascension Day.” Text checked word for word against the local transcription at <code>sources/justuspropers/Readings1928.htm</code>, and against [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/BCP_1928.htm ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer''].</ref>

== Place in the Prayer Book ==
The heading identifies both the time and the character of the observance:

<blockquote>
The Rogation Days. Being the Three Days before Ascension Day.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer'', “The Rogation Days,” in ''The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels'' (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), occasion heading; [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/BCP_1928.htm stable transcription].</ref>

“Rogation” means asking. The Prayer Book therefore does not treat the season as an agricultural charm. It puts petition for the land within the Church’s common prayer, immediately before the feast which confesses Christ’s ascension and lordship. The contemporary Episcopal Church glossary preserves this liturgical emphasis:

<blockquote>
Traditionally, these are the three days before Ascension Day on which the litany is sung in procession as an act of intercession.
</blockquote>
<ref>The Episcopal Church, “[https://www.episcopalchurch.org/glossary/rogation-days/ Rogation Days],” ''The Episcopal Church Glossary'', accessed 15 October 2026. This institutional definition interprets the days as corporate intercession, not simply private seasonal devotion.</ref>

An Episcopal Tract Society explanation, digitized from a copy held by the Archives of St. Clement’s Church, Philadelphia, gives the older devotional account of their origin:

<blockquote>
The Rogation or Supplication Days are the three days immediately preceding the Festival of our Lord’s Ascension. They were first appointed in the fifth century, by Mamertus, Bishop of Vienne, in Gaul, as a season of public humiliation, for averting the calamities which threatened his Diocese.
</blockquote>
<ref>Episcopal Church, ''[https://archive.org/details/what-are-the-rogation-days What are the Rogation Days?]'' (Philadelphia: Episcopal Tract Society, n.d.), p. [1], digitized by Richard Mammana in 2025 from the Archives of St. Clement’s Church, Philadelphia. The tract is a historical Episcopal witness; its account should be read as devotional historical interpretation rather than as a modern critical edition.</ref>

== Scripture appointed for the days ==
The Epistle makes the collect’s “fruitful season” a covenantal gift. It speaks not only of rain and yield, but of God’s protection and of the people’s knowledge that the Lord is with them:

<blockquote>
I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land.
</blockquote>
<ref>Ezekiel 34:26–27, Authorized (King James) Version; appointed “For the Epistle” on Rogation Days in ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer'', “The Rogation Days,” [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/BCP_1928.htm stable transcription].</ref>

The Gospel gives the season its discipline of confident and persevering asking:

<blockquote>
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
</blockquote>
<ref>Luke 11:9–10, Authorized (King James) Version; appointed “The Gospel” on Rogation Days in ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer'', “The Rogation Days,” [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/BCP_1928.htm stable transcription].</ref>

These lessons keep the collect from two errors: it does not promise a mechanical result from religious performance, and it does not separate bodily need from reconciliation with God. Ezekiel’s showers are “showers of blessing”; Luke’s command to ask makes the Church’s petition dependent on the Father’s generosity.

== Reading the prayer clause by clause ==
“Almighty God, Lord of heaven and earth” addresses the Creator, so the land is neither an autonomous possession nor an accidental backdrop to worship. “Pour forth thy blessing upon this land” asks for God’s good gift without presuming to control it. The next clause—“give us a fruitful season”—is illuminated by the appointed Ezekiel reading and can properly include rain, harvest, safety, and freedom from hunger.

The purpose clause is decisive: “that we, constantly receiving thy bounty, may evermore give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church.” The prayer is not only for production; it seeks a people formed in gratitude. Saint Paul likewise connects created food with thanksgiving:

<blockquote>
Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
</blockquote>
<ref>1 Timothy 4:4–5, Authorized (King James) Version. The passage explains the collect’s movement from receiving bounty to thanksgiving and prayer.</ref>

The phrase “in thy holy Church” gives that gratitude a public and ecclesial home. It accords with the traditional procession and Litany described by the Episcopal Church: the community asks together, names its dependence together, and gives thanks together. Finally, “through Jesus Christ our Lord” directs the petition to the Father through Christ, rather than treating the season as a self-contained concern.

== Use in worship ==
The 1928 Prayer Book appoints this collect with Ezekiel 34:25–31 and Luke 11:5–13 for the three days before Ascension Day. It is particularly fitting with [[The Litany (1928 BCP)|the Litany]], whose intercessions locate harvest, public danger, and the needs of the Church within the mercy of God. Used devotionally, the collect retains its corporate grammar—“we,” “us,” and “thy holy Church”—and teaches thanksgiving as the end for which bounty is sought.

== See Also ==
* [[Ascension Day (1928 BCP)]]
* [[The Litany (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Church Calendar (1928 BCP)]]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Collects]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Collect for Ember Days (1928 BCP)

2026-10-15T22:00:12Z

SteveMacias: Revise Collect for Ember Days with verified 1928 BCP and Anglican sources

'''Collect for Ember Days (1928 BCP)''' is the collect appointed for [[Ember Days (1928 BCP)|Ember Days]] in the American [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|Book of Common Prayer]] of 1928. It makes the Church's prayer for vocations a petition to the Father, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the reconciling ministry entrusted to human beings in Christ.

== Text of the Collect ==
<blockquote>
O ALMIGHTY God, who hast committed to the hands of men the ministry of reconciliation; We humbly beseech thee, by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, to put it into the hearts of many to offer themselves for this ministry; that thereby mankind may be drawn to thy blessed kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), “Collect for Ember Days,” under “The Ember Days: At the Four Seasons,” p. 257, transcribed by the Society of Archbishop Justus, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Readings_1928.htm 1928 BCP: Propers for various occasions].</ref>

The first clause names reconciliation as a ministry God has committed to human hands; it does not say that reconciliation originates in those hands. The next clause therefore asks for the Spirit's prior action—“to put it into the hearts”—before it asks that people offer themselves. The final clause gives the end of ordained ministry: not the enlargement of a clerical caste, but that humanity may be drawn to God's kingdom through Christ.

== Scriptural shape ==
The collect's phrase “ministry of reconciliation” deliberately echoes St Paul. Its grammar keeps Paul's order: God reconciles in Christ, entrusts the message, and then makes an appeal through ministers.

<blockquote>
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
</blockquote>
<ref>''The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments: Translated out of the Original Tongues'' (Oxford: University Press, 1769), 2 Corinthians 5:18–19, Authorized Version, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%205%3A18-19&version=KJV Bible Gateway: 2 Corinthians 5:18–19].</ref>

The appointed Epistle supplies the mission horizon of the petition. Paul and Barnabas speak the word, and the text moves from proclamation to the Gentiles' glorifying the word of the Lord. The collect turns that apostolic pattern into prayer for those who will be called to preach.

<blockquote>
For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Ember Days,” “For the Epistle. Acts xiii. 44,” pp. 257–258, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Readings_1928.htm 1928 BCP: Ember Days Epistle].</ref>

The Gospel makes equally plain that the Spirit's anointing is for proclamation and mercy. Thus “many” in the collect is not an abstract request for recruitment: the ministry sought is one conformed to Christ's own Spirit-anointed mission.

<blockquote>
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Ember Days,” “The Gospel. St. Luke iv. 16,” p. 258, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Readings_1928.htm 1928 BCP: Ember Days Gospel].</ref>

== Ember intercession and vocation ==
The 1928 Prayer Book places this proper among occasional propers under the heading “The Ember Days: At the Four Seasons.” In the inherited Western pattern, Ember Days are quarterly fasts and prayers; in Anglican use they have a particular relation to ordination. The collect is accordingly the congregation's intercession for those who discern a call and for the Church's reception of their ministry, rather than a private prayer for an individual candidate.

<blockquote>
In addition to the other days of prayer and abstinence, there are twelve Ember Days, three for each of the four seasons of the year, on which prayer is said for those entering the sacred ministry, and for all the clergy. A special Collect, Epistle and Gospel has been inserted in the Prayer Book for Ember Days.
</blockquote>
<ref>Edward W. Averill, ''Talks on the Prayer Book'' (New York: The Parish Press, 1929), ch. III, “The Church Year,” p. 31, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/ewaverill/prayer_book1929.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

This interpretation also guards the collect from being used as though it promised that every desire for ordained ministry is self-authenticating. It asks God to give the desire; it asks the whole Church to pray; and its purpose is the kingdom to which Christ draws mankind.

== Historical setting ==
The relation of Ember seasons to ordination is old but historically developed. Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere describe the Four Seasons as having Roman and agricultural antecedents, spreading from Rome, and becoming recognised times for ordinations; their discussion cautions against treating the original seasonal observance and its later ordination association as one undifferentiated origin story.<ref>Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, ''A New History of the Book of Common Prayer: with a Rationale of Its Offices'', rev. ed. (London: Macmillan, 1907), ch. IX, “The Kalendar,” pp. 332–333, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6VY_AQAAMAAJ Google Books].</ref>

The nineteenth-century Anglican tract printed as ''The Ember Days'' gives a useful witness to the devotional logic later assumed by the American proper: the laity pray and fast not because clergy are detached from them, but because the ministry is for the Church's common good.

<blockquote>
The subjects for Prayer on the Ember days will be the Church of GOD of which we are members; especially those who are called to bear office in the same; and of these, more particularly those who are either ordaining or being ordained.
</blockquote>
<ref>Anonymous, ''The Ember Days'', ''Tracts for the Times'', no. 14 (Oxford: J. G. & F. Rivington, 1833), section beginning “The subjects for Prayer,” [https://anglicanhistory.org/tracts/tract14.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

<blockquote>
In conformity to this Apostolical custom, the Church of England views with peculiar solemnity the times at which her Ministers are ordained; and invites all her members to join, at these sacred seasons, in prayer and fasting in their behalf.
</blockquote>
<ref>Anonymous, ''The Ember Days'', ''Tracts for the Times'', no. 14 (Oxford: J. G. & F. Rivington, 1833), opening exposition, [https://anglicanhistory.org/tracts/tract14.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

== Reading and praying the collect ==
The collect can therefore be read clause by clause as a theology of vocation. “Almighty God” confesses that the Church cannot manufacture ministers by its own power. “Who hast committed” identifies a real ecclesial office, while “by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit” makes clear that it is a gift sought from God. “Put it into the hearts of many” is a prayer for vocations, and “that thereby mankind may be drawn” measures those vocations by the reconciling and liberating Gospel heard in Acts 13 and Luke 4. Prayed at Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, or Holy Communion, it also gives lay people a definite part in the Church's discernment and care for ordained ministry.

== See Also ==
* [[Ember Days (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Days of Fasting and Abstinence (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Holy Orders (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Readings_1928.htm The Ember Days in the 1928 BCP]
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/tracts/tract14.html ''The Ember Days'', Tracts for the Times no. 14]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Collects]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Collect for Feast for the Dedication of a Church (1928 BCP)

2026-10-15T21:39:13Z

SteveMacias: Revise church dedication collect with verified 1928 BCP and Anglican sources

'''Collect for Feast for the Dedication of a Church (1928 BCP)''' is the prayer appointed in the American [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 ''Book of Common Prayer'']] for the annual observance of a church's dedication. It gives thanks to God for a particular place of worship, asks him to hear the people who assemble there, and links the building to the Church's vocation as a spiritual house in Christ.

== Text of the Collect ==
<blockquote>
O GOD, whom year by year we praise for the dedication of this church; Hear, we beseech thee, the prayers of thy people, and grant that whosoever shall worship before thee in this place, may obtain thy merciful aid and protection; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>''Collect for Feast for the Dedication of a Church''; Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The 1928 Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church'' (Standard Book, New York: 1928), “Feast of the Dedication of a Church,” pp. 258–259, under “The Collect,” [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928Standard/propers.pdf 1928 Standard Book: Collects, Epistles, and Gospels (PDF)].</ref>

The complete text was compared word for word with the local 1928 transcription at <code>sources/justuspropers/Readings1928.htm</code>, lines 92–101. The prayer is particular without treating the building as a rival to God: it praises God, asks that worship be offered ''before'' him, and seeks his merciful aid rather than a power belonging to the site itself. Its three movements are thanksgiving for the dedication, intercession for the people, and a Christological conclusion.

== The appointed readings ==

The Epistle makes explicit what kind of “church” the worshippers are to become:

<blockquote>
To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
</blockquote>
<ref>1 Peter 2:4–5, Authorized Version; appointed as the Epistle for the Feast of the Dedication of a Church in Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (Standard Book, New York: 1928), p. 259, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928Standard/propers.pdf 1928 Standard Book: Collects, Epistles, and Gospels (PDF)].</ref>

The collect therefore does not make the annual celebration simply an anniversary of masonry. Those who worship in the place are being built, in their coming to Christ, into a spiritual house and holy priesthood. “Merciful aid and protection” serves the end named by the Epistle: sacrifices acceptable to God ''by Jesus Christ.''

The Gospel places the petition for worship within Christ's judgment upon the use of a holy place:

<blockquote>
It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
</blockquote>
<ref>Matthew 21:13, Authorized Version; appointed Gospel for the Feast of the Dedication of a Church in Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (Standard Book, New York: 1928), p. 259, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928Standard/propers.pdf 1928 Standard Book: Collects, Epistles, and Gospels (PDF)].</ref>

<blockquote>
And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
</blockquote>
<ref>Matthew 21:14, Authorized Version; appointed Gospel for the Feast of the Dedication of a Church in Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (Standard Book, New York: 1928), p. 259, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928Standard/propers.pdf 1928 Standard Book: Collects, Epistles, and Gospels (PDF)].</ref>

Together these verses explain both “worship before thee” and “merciful aid.” The collect asks that the church be a house of prayer under Christ's rule, and the Gospel remembers that Christ's temple ministry joined praise, welcome, and healing. Its use of “whosoever” keeps the intercession open to all who come to worship, rather than restricting it to a building's founders or a single generation.

== Anglican account of a collect and a dedication ==

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere describe the older corporate logic of the collect:

<blockquote>
A Collect is a form of prayer with special characteristics of its own; these stand out the more clearly by contrast with two other types of prayer, viz., Litany, which is prayer in dialogue, and Eucharistic prayer, which comprises the developed formulas of worship.
</blockquote>
<ref>Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, ''A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices'', revised and rewritten edition (London: Macmillan and Co., 1907), chapter XIII, “The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels; and Proper Lessons for Sundays and Holy Days,” p. 524, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Procter%26Frere/ch13.htm Society of Archbishop Justus transcription].</ref>

Their historical account also records a specifically American inheritance behind church-consecration rites:

<blockquote>
A form of Consecration of a Church, based on that drawn up by Bishop Andrewes in 1620, ... [was] added to the Prayer Book in 1799.
</blockquote>
<ref>Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, ''A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices'', revised and rewritten edition (London: Macmillan and Co., 1907), chapter XVI, “The American Prayer Book,” p. 497; full bibliographic scan, [https://archive.org/details/newhistoryofbook00proc Internet Archive, ''A New History of the Book of Common Prayer'']. Wording checked against the 1907 Internet Archive text at <code>tmp/revision-research/collect-for-fifth-sunday-after-easter/procter-frere-1907-djvu.txt</code>, lines 23613–23616.</ref>

These observations illuminate the 1928 prayer's plural “prayers of thy people.” A dedication collect is not a private blessing of property; it is the Church's concise common petition in a place set apart for the public worship of God. The Prayer Book's annual observance keeps that original consecratory purpose before a later congregation.

Anthony Sparrow gives a complementary Anglican explanation of why a collect can speak for a gathered people:

<blockquote>
The Priest doth herein Collect the Devotions of the people, and offer them up to God ... they all joyning their assent and saying Amen to it.
</blockquote>
<ref>Anthony Sparrow, D.D., ''A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer'' (London: 1672), “The Collects,” Project Canterbury transcription, [https://anglicanhistory.org/sparrow/rationale/collects.html “A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer: The Collects”].</ref>

Sparrow's interpretation accounts for the collect's direct request that God hear the people's prayers and for its Amen. The prayer gives the congregation words to make its own: praise for God's past mercies, intercession for those now assembled, and confidence that help is received through Christ.

== The building and the Church ==

The distinction between a visible house of prayer and the people who become God's temple remains clear in later official Anglican liturgy. The Church of England's dedication preface says:

<blockquote>
for your blessing on this house of prayer, where through your grace we offer you the sacrifice of praise and are built by your Spirit into a temple made without hands, even the body of your Son Jesus Christ.
</blockquote>
<ref>Church of England, ''Common Worship: Festivals'', “Dedication Festival,” “Preface,” official online text, [https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/festivals/dedication Dedication Festival].</ref>

This is not the source of the 1928 wording, but it states the same scriptural balance found in 1 Peter: the church building visibly gathers the worshipping community, while the true temple is the Spirit-built body of Christ. The 1928 collect's request for aid and protection may thus be read neither as superstition about a sacred structure nor as indifference to place. It is a prayer that worship offered in this local house may form a holy people in Christ.

== See also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Consecration of a Church]]
* [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)]]

== External links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928Standard/propers.pdf 1928 Standard Book: Collects, Epistles, and Gospels]
* [https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/festivals/dedication Church of England, “Dedication Festival”]
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/sparrow/rationale/collects.html Anthony Sparrow, ''A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer'' (1672)]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Collects]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Collect for A Saint's Day (1928 BCP)

2026-10-15T20:52:15Z

SteveMacias: Revise Collect for A Saint's Day with verified 1928 BCP and Anglican sources

'''Collect for A Saint's Day (1928 BCP)''' is the common provision in the American 1928 [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|Book of Common Prayer]] for the commemoration of a saint for whom the book supplies no proper collect, epistle, and gospel. It gives thanks for God's grace at work in the saints and asks that the Church may receive the faith and love displayed in their lives. The prayer is addressed to God, and it ends through Jesus Christ; it asks for imitation, not a prayer to the saint.

== Text of the Collect ==
<blockquote>
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who dost enkindle the name of thy love in the hearts of the Saints; Grant to us, thy humble servants, the same faith and power of love; that, as we rejoice in their triumphs, we may profit by their examples; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>[[The Episcopal Church|Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America]], ''1928 Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the Use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America'' (Standard Book, New York: 1928), “Collect for A Saint's Day,” p. 258, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928Standard/propers.pdf 1928 Standard Book: Collects, Epistles, and Gospels (PDF)].</ref>

The complete collect above was compared word for word with the local transcription at <code>sources/justuspropers/Readings1928.htm</code>, lines 45–53, and with the 1928 Standard Book facsimile, p. 258. The older idiom “the name of thy love” is therefore retained rather than silently modernized. Its clauses move in a deliberate order: God is confessed as the source of sanctity; the congregation asks for the same faith and love; then it asks that joy in the saints' completed course may become practical learning from their example. “Through Jesus Christ” locates both the saints' triumph and the Church's petition in Christ rather than in an independent human achievement.

== The alternative form and its Scripture ==

The Prayer Book immediately offers an alternative which permits the particular saint to be named. It makes its biblical allusion unmistakable:

<blockquote>
O ALMIGHTY God, who hast called us to faith in thee, and hast compassed us about with so great a cloud of witnesses; Grant that we, encouraged by the good examples of thy Saints, and especially of thy servant [Saint ——], may persevere in running the race that is set before us, until at length, through thy mercy, we, with them, attain to thine eternal joy; through him who is the author and finisher of our faith, thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>[[The Episcopal Church|Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America]], ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (Standard Book, New York: 1928), “A Saint’s Day,” p. 258, alternative collect, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928Standard/propers.pdf 1928 Standard Book: Collects, Epistles, and Gospels (PDF)].</ref>

The alternative does not merely add a name to a general sentiment. It draws its images—witnesses, race, perseverance, and Christ as finisher—from the appointed epistle:

<blockquote>
Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
</blockquote>
<ref>[[The Episcopal Church|Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America]], ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (Standard Book, New York: 1928), “A Saint’s Day,” appointed Epistle, Hebrews xii. 1–2, p. 258, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928Standard/propers.pdf 1928 Standard Book: Collects, Epistles, and Gospels (PDF)].</ref>

Thus the “examples” in both forms are not a substitute for Christ. Hebrews presents the witnesses around a race whose goal is fixed by looking to Jesus. The collect accordingly asks not for self-made admiration but for God's gift of “the same faith and power of love,” and the alternative explicitly says that final joy is reached “through thy mercy.”

== The Gospel and holy love ==

The appointed Gospel prevents the language of triumph from becoming mere private moral success. In the judgment of the Son of Man, service to the hungry, stranger, naked, sick, and imprisoned is received as service done to Christ:

<blockquote>
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in.
</blockquote>
<ref>[[The Episcopal Church|Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America]], ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (Standard Book, New York: 1928), “A Saint’s Day,” appointed Gospel, St. Matthew xxv. 34–35, p. 258, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928Standard/propers.pdf 1928 Standard Book: Collects, Epistles, and Gospels (PDF)].</ref>

<blockquote>
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
</blockquote>
<ref>[[The Episcopal Church|Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America]], ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (Standard Book, New York: 1928), “A Saint’s Day,” appointed Gospel, St. Matthew xxv. 40, p. 258, [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928Standard/propers.pdf 1928 Standard Book: Collects, Epistles, and Gospels (PDF)].</ref>

The collect's “power of love” is therefore illuminated by the Gospel's concrete works of mercy. The Church rejoices in the saints' triumphs precisely in order to be formed into this Christ-directed love of neighbour. The collect does not canonize a type of personality; it asks God to reproduce the faith and love that the readings locate in union with Christ and service of his brethren.

== Prayer Book setting and interpretation ==

The common form answers a practical calendrical need. Edward W. Averill, writing soon after the American revision, explains the distinction between days with their own propers and saints for whom a common is required:

<blockquote>
The Red Letter Saints were those of the New Testament and had a special Collect, Epistle and Gospel in the Prayer Book. The Black Letter Saints which appear in the English Calendar are Saints of later days ... and these do not have any special Collect, Epistle and Gospel. However, a new Collect, Epistle and Gospel has now been provided in our Prayer Book with a blank space where the name of any Saint may be inserted. This is called the “Common” of the Saints.
</blockquote>
<ref>Edward W. Averill, ''Talks on the Prayer Book'' (Fond du Lac, Wisconsin: The Parish Press, 1929), chapter II, “Saints Days,” pp. 17–18, transcribed by Wayne Kempton for Project Canterbury, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/ewaverill/prayer_book1929.html “Talks on the Prayer Book”].</ref>

Averill immediately states the devotional logic of the provision:

<blockquote>
The observance of Saints Days is for the very practical purpose of keeping before our minds their good examples, and deriving from them the inspiration of their devotion and self denial.
</blockquote>
<ref>Edward W. Averill, ''Talks on the Prayer Book'' (Fond du Lac, Wisconsin: The Parish Press, 1929), chapter II, “Saints Days,” p. 17, transcribed by Wayne Kempton for Project Canterbury, [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/ewaverill/prayer_book1929.html “Talks on the Prayer Book”].</ref>

That explanation closely fits the collect's petition to “profit by their examples,” while its wording safeguards grace: God kindles love, grants faith and power, and brings the saints and the Church to joy through mercy. It is a corporate prayer, not a biography in miniature.

The prayer's short, concentrated form also belongs to the wider Anglican account of a collect. Anthony Sparrow describes a collect as the priest's gathering and offering of the people's devotions:

<blockquote>
The Priest doth herein Collect the Devotions of the people, and offer them up to God ... they all joyning their assent and saying Amen to it.
</blockquote>
<ref>Anthony Sparrow, D.D., ''A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer'' (London: 1672), “The Collects,” Project Canterbury transcription, [https://anglicanhistory.org/sparrow/rationale/collects.html “A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer: The Collects”].</ref>

This helps explain why the prayer speaks in the plural—“Grant to us”—and why its final Amen matters. At [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)|Holy Communion]], and wherever the collect of the day is used according to the Prayer Book's order, the congregation's Amen makes the petition its own: that the Church may remember a saint truthfully, look to Christ as the author and finisher of faith, and receive grace to love in deeds.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Church Calendar (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928Standard/propers.pdf 1928 Standard Book: Collects, Epistles, and Gospels]
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/ewaverill/prayer_book1929.html Edward W. Averill, ''Talks on the Prayer Book'' (1929)]
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/sparrow/rationale/collects.html Anthony Sparrow, ''A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer'' (1672)]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Collects]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Collect for All Saints' Day (1928 BCP)

2026-10-15T20:21:16Z

SteveMacias: Revise All Saints' Day collect with verified 1928 text and Anglican sources

'''Collect for All Saints' Day (1928 BCP)''' is the appointed prayer for All Saints' Day (November 1) in the American [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|1928 Book of Common Prayer]]. It asks God to form his people in the one Body of Christ, to grant grace for a life that follows the saints' holiness, and finally to bring them to the joy prepared for those who love him. The prayer is therefore addressed to God through Christ; it commemorates the saints without addressing them.

== Text of the Collect ==
<blockquote>
O ALMIGHTY God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord; Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
</blockquote>
<ref>''Collect for All Saints' Day''; Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'', Standard Book accepted in 1928, “All Saints’ Day” [November 1], p. 256, under “The Collect,” with the following octave rubric; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book”]. Complete text compared word for word with the local transcription <code>sources/justuspropers/ReadingsD.htm</code>, lines 1414–1423; its asterisked “through” annotation was corrected by the scanned Standard Book to “through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”</ref>

The collect is appointed not only on the feast but, by the rubric immediately following it, “daily throughout the Octave.” Its first clause names the Church's unity as God's work: he has “knit together” the elect. “Communion and fellowship” are consequently not a merely voluntary association, and “mystical body” does not mean a private spiritual feeling; the body is Christ's and its unity is received in him.

== The communion in Christ ==
<blockquote>
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
</blockquote>
<ref>Ephesians 4:4–6, Authorized Version.</ref>

This Pauline account supplies the collect's grammar. The prayer moves from the Father, through the Son, to a people made one in the Spirit; its “one communion and fellowship” is grounded in the one Lord, faith, and baptism rather than in similarity of temperament or achievement.

The Prayer Book's Eucharistic thanksgiving gives a closely related definition of the Body for which the collect prays:

<blockquote>
We most heartily thank thee, for that thou dost feed us, in these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ; and dost assure us thereby of thy favour and goodness towards us; and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, the blessed company of all faithful people.
</blockquote>
<ref>Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'', Standard Book accepted in 1928, “The Thanksgiving,” p. 83; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book”].</ref>

That language keeps All Saints' Day within the Prayer Book's doctrine of the Church and sacramental life. F. Burgess similarly explains the phrase in the collect as equivalent to “thine elect,” while the post-communion prayer makes its meaning “the blessed company of all faithful people.”<ref>F. Burgess, “Mystical,” in Charles Neil and J. M. Willoughby, eds., ''A Dictionary of the Book of Common Prayer'', London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1913, entry “Mystical”; [https://anglicanhistory.org/bcp/dictionary1913/08.pdf Project Canterbury scan].</ref>

== The saints before the throne ==
The appointed Epistle makes the collect's promised “unspeakable joys” concrete, not vague. John sees the redeemed as a multitude no human being can count, worshipping the Lamb.

<blockquote>
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
</blockquote>
<ref>Revelation 7:9–10, Authorized Version; appointed as the Epistle for All Saints' Day in Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'', Standard Book accepted in 1928, pp. 256–257; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book”].</ref>

The collect's final clause also echoes the conclusion of that reading: God prepares joy for those who truly love him, and the Lamb leads his people to life. The saints are not a rival object of salvation or worship; Revelation's multitude gives salvation and praise to God and the Lamb.

<blockquote>
These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.
</blockquote>
<ref>Revelation 7:14–15, Authorized Version; appointed Epistle for All Saints' Day, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), p. 257; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book”].</ref>

== Following their holy life ==
“Follow thy blessed Saints” is immediately qualified: the collect asks for grace to follow them “in all virtuous and godly living.” It does not ask Christians to reproduce every circumstance of a saint's life. The appointed Gospel gives the pattern in Christ's own beatitudes—poverty of spirit, mercy, purity, peacemaking, endurance in persecution, and hope in God's reward.

<blockquote>
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peace-makers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for their's is the kingdom of heaven.
</blockquote>
<ref>Matthew 5:7–10, Authorized Version; appointed Gospel for All Saints' Day in Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'', Standard Book accepted in 1928, p. 257; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book”].</ref>

The collect accordingly preserves the order of grace and response. God grants grace; Christians are enabled to follow in virtuous and godly living; the end for which they hope is God's prepared joy. The phrase “unfeignedly love thee” recalls the New Testament's description of divine filial love:

<blockquote>
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
</blockquote>
<ref>1 John 3:2–3, Authorized Version.</ref>

== Anglican interpretation and history ==
The collect first appeared in the 1549 English Prayer Book; it was not simply inherited as a translation of the older Latin collect. A. G. Mortimer drew attention to its deliberate pairing of “thine elect” and “thy blessed Saints,” reading the prayer as a distinctive Anglican witness concerning the faithful departed. His conclusion is an interpretation, not an additional rubric, but it rightly observes the collect's careful terms:

<blockquote>
The Collect for All Saints' Day recognizes two classes, the Elect, who are “knit together in one communion and fellowship in [the] mystical Body of Christ,” and the Blessed Saints; and as this collect is not, like so many others in our Prayer Book, a mere translation of an older one, but was written for the first Prayer Book of Edward VI in 1549, the putting of the Blessed Saints in a class by themselves evidently shows the mind of our Church.
</blockquote>
<ref>A. G. Mortimer, ''The Blessed Saints and the Holy Dead'', New York: Guild of All Souls, 1894, pp. 1–2; [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/mortimer/guild1894.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Anthony Sparrow's account of the collect as a liturgical form also explains why this short prayer gathers the feast's doctrine and petition rather than merely describing it:

<blockquote>
The Priest doth herein Collect the Devotions of the people, and offer them up to God.
</blockquote>
<ref>Anthony Sparrow, ''A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England'', London: 1672, “The Collects”; [https://anglicanhistory.org/sparrow/rationale/collects.html Project Canterbury transcription].</ref>

Thus the congregation does not merely admire a distant company of holy persons. In the collect it asks the Father, through Christ, for the grace to share their faithfulness now and their promised joy hereafter.

== Use in worship ==
All Saints' Day’s collect, Epistle (Revelation 7:2–17), and Gospel (Matthew 5:1–12) should be read together. The readings locate sanctity in the Lamb's redemption and in Christ's teaching; the collect turns those texts into the Church's corporate prayer. Its octave rubric also allows the feast's themes—baptismal incorporation, Christian holiness, persevering hope, and the worship of God and the Lamb—to shape the Church's daily prayer through the week.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Collects, Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Church Calendar (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Standard Book]
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/mortimer/guild1894.html A. G. Mortimer, ''The Blessed Saints and the Holy Dead'']
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/sparrow/rationale/collects.html Anthony Sparrow, ''A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer'']

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Collects]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]

Collect for St. Simon and St. Jude (1928 BCP)

2026-10-15T19:50:20Z

SteveMacias: Revise St. Simon and St. Jude collect with verified 1928 text and Anglican sources

'''Collect for St. Simon and St. Jude (1928 BCP)''' is the collect appointed for Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles, on October 28 in the 1928 American [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)|Book of Common Prayer]]. It asks God to make the Church one, not by an undefined religious feeling, but by the apostles' and prophets' doctrine, with Jesus Christ himself as its cornerstone.

== Text of the Collect ==
<blockquote>O ALMIGHTY God, who hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head corner-stone; Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple acceptable unto thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.</blockquote>
<ref>Collect for St. Simon and St. Jude, Apostles; Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'', Standard Book accepted in 1928, “The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels,” Saint Simon and Saint Jude [October 28], printed pp. 254–255; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book”]. Complete collect compared word for word, through “Amen.”, with local source <code>sources/justuspropers/ReadingsD.htm</code>, Saint Simon and Saint Jude section, lines 1328–1337. The local transcription’s display capitalization has been normalized, but its words and punctuation have been retained.</ref>

The collect moves in three clauses. First, it confesses that God has already built the Church; secondly, it names the apostolic and prophetic foundation while preserving Christ's unique place as “the head corner-stone”; finally, it asks that this received doctrine may make a visible, Spirit-given unity. The petition is therefore neither an appeal to private preference nor a claim that Christians manufacture the Church's unity.

== The appointed Epistle ==
The 1928 Prayer Book appoints Ephesians 2:19–22. Its language supplies the collect's principal images—household, foundation, cornerstone, temple, and the Spirit's habitation—and makes clear that “unity of spirit” is not merely institutional agreement.

<blockquote>NOW therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the house-hold of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.</blockquote>
<ref>Epistle for Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Ephesians 2:19–20, Authorized Version text as appointed in Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), “The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels,” Saint Simon and Saint Jude, printed p. 255; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, Standard Book]. Quotation verified against <code>sources/justuspropers/ReadingsD.htm</code>, lines 1371–1379.</ref>

The collect changes “chief corner-stone” to “head corner-stone,” but does not shift the argument: Christ is not a decorative part of the building. He is the one in relation to whom the foundation and the whole joined structure have their coherence. Thus the feast does not honor apostles as alternatives to Christ; it gives thanks for the apostolic witness by which believers are brought into Christ's household.

<blockquote>In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.</blockquote>
<ref>Epistle for Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Ephesians 2:21–22, Authorized Version text as appointed in Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), “The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels,” Saint Simon and Saint Jude, printed p. 255; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, Standard Book]. Quotation verified against <code>sources/justuspropers/ReadingsD.htm</code>, lines 1376–1379.</ref>

This is the collect's final petition in biblical form. To be “joined together” is to be joined ''in Christ''; to become “an holy temple acceptable” is not self-congratulation but the Spirit's work of making God's people his dwelling. The grammatical movement from “built” to “groweth” also prevents the Church from being treated as a completed human monument.

== The appointed Gospel ==
The Gospel, John 15:17–27, places the unity for which the collect prays within Christ's commandment of love and his warning that apostolic witness will meet the world's opposition.

<blockquote>THESE things I command you, that ye love one another. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.</blockquote>
<ref>Gospel for Saint Simon and Saint Jude, St. John 15:17–18, Authorized Version text as appointed in Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), “The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels,” Saint Simon and Saint Jude, printed p. 255; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, Standard Book]. Quotation verified against <code>sources/justuspropers/ReadingsD.htm</code>, lines 1389–1410.</ref>

The collect's “unity of spirit” is therefore not peace at the cost of truth. The doctrine handed on by the apostles belongs with Christ's commandment of love; and the appointed Gospel refuses to describe the Church's unity as a way of escaping the world's hatred.

<blockquote>But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.</blockquote>
<ref>Gospel for Saint Simon and Saint Jude, St. John 15:26–27, Authorized Version text as appointed in Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1928), “The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels,” Saint Simon and Saint Jude, printed p. 255; [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Common Prayer, Standard Book]. Quotation verified against <code>sources/justuspropers/ReadingsD.htm</code>, lines 1403–1410.</ref>

The Gospel supplies the theological force of “unity of spirit.” The Spirit is “the Spirit of truth” who testifies to Christ, while the apostles bear witness to what they have received from him. Accordingly, the collect asks for unity ''by their doctrine'': unity is inseparable from the testimony which the Spirit gives to the Son.

== Prayer Book inheritance and 1928 use ==
The wording is not a novelty of the American revision. The Church of England's authorized presentation of the 1662 Prayer Book prints the same collect for October 28, identifying it as part of the inherited English Prayer Book tradition.

<blockquote>O Almighty God, who hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head corner-stone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple acceptable unto thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.</blockquote>
<ref>Church of England, ''The Book of Common Prayer'' (1662; Cambridge University Press, 2006 edition), “Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles,” October 28, “The Collect”; [https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer/collects-epistles-and-gospels-87 Church of England, “Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles”]. Quotation verified against the official text on 2026-10-15. The 1662 text uses a colon after “corner-stone,” where the 1928 American Standard Book prints a semicolon.</ref>

The historical source table published by New Every Morning identifies this collect as “1662, from 1549,” which situates the prayer in the Reformation-era English collection rather than among the 1928 revision's newly composed collects.

<blockquote>Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles — 1662, from 1549.</blockquote>
<ref>New Every Morning Anglican Fellowship, “Sources of the Seasonal Collects,” ''BCP Reference'', section IX, “The Order for Holy Communion,” entry “Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles”; [https://1928commonprayer.org/bcp-reference/sources-of-seasonal-collects New Every Morning, “Sources of the Seasonal Collects”]. Quotation verified against the cited source on 2026-10-15.</ref>

E. Clowes Chorley, historian of the Protestant Episcopal Church, distinguishes the inherited collect from the revision's change of lesson: in his contemporary account of the 1928 revision, Simon and Jude are among the days receiving new Epistles. That is precisely what the local 1928 propers show: the older Epistle from Jude gives way to Ephesians 2, the passage whose architecture governs the collect.

<blockquote>New Epistles for St. Thomas' Day and for S.S. Simon and Jude and a new Collect for St. Luke's Day.</blockquote>
<ref>E. Clowes Chorley, D.D., ''The New American Prayer Book: Its History and Contents'' (New York: Macmillan Company, 1929), chapter VII, “The New Prayer Book: Revision”; [https://anglicanhistory.org/bcp/chorley1929/07.html Project Canterbury transcription, “The New Prayer Book: Revision”]. Quotation verified against the cited transcription and local copy <code>tmp/revision-research/collect-for-st-simon-and-st-jude/chorley1929-07.html</code>, chapter VII, paragraph beginning “There are many important changes,” on 2026-10-15.</ref>

This revision history sharpens the article's liturgical point. The 1928 editors retained a collect whose clauses draw on Ephesians 2 and then appointed that same passage as the Epistle, making the relation between prayer and lesson unusually explicit.

== Use in worship ==
At Holy Communion on October 28, the collect gathers the feast's readings into one petition. In the Daily Office it may also be used as the collect of the day according to the Prayer Book's calendrical order. Its devotional use should preserve its corporate grammar—“thy Church,” “us,” and “we”—because the prayer is for God to build a people as his holy temple, not merely to improve isolated individuals.

== See Also ==
* [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]]
* [[Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Church Calendar (1928 BCP)]]
* [[Holy Communion (1928 BCP)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://1928commonprayer.org/reference/standard-book/bcp1928-standard-book.pdf 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Standard Book]
* [https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer/collects-epistles-and-gospels-87 Church of England: Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles]
* [https://anglicanhistory.org/bcp/chorley1929/07.html E. Clowes Chorley, ''The New American Prayer Book'', chapter VII]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:1928 BCP Collects]][[Category:1928 Book of Common Prayer]]