Collect for Seventh Sunday after Trinity (1928 BCP)
Collect for Seventh Sunday after Trinity (1928 BCP) is the collect appointed in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity. It prays to the Lord of all power and might for implanted love, increased true religion, nourishment in goodness, and merciful preservation. In the 1928 propers it stands with Romans vi.19-23, on liberation from sin and fruit unto holiness, and St. Mark viii.1-9, on Christ's compassionate feeding of the four thousand.
Text of the Collect
LORD of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer Book Setting
The collect opens with God's sovereignty and generosity before asking for moral and spiritual increase. "Lord of all power and might" names God as the one able to do what is requested; "author and giver of all good things" identifies goodness itself as God's gift before the prayer asks for goodness to be nourished in the faithful. The petitions then move inward and forward: love must be grafted, true religion increased, goodness nourished, and the whole work kept by mercy.
The appointed Epistle, Romans vi.19-23, explains the collect's movement from implanted love to holy fruit. The prayer does not ask merely for religious feeling. It asks that those set free from sin may bear "fruit unto holiness":
But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The appointed Gospel, St. Mark viii.1-9, gives the collect a further shape. The Lord who gives all good things sees human need, has compassion, blesses the loaves, and feeds the multitude. The prayer's "nourish us with all goodness" is therefore heard beside a Gospel in which Christ literally nourishes hungry people:
Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: and if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far.
And he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. So they did eat, and were filled.
Clause by Clause
"Lord of all power and might" is a theological address before it is a poetic phrase. The Church prays for an inward work because the one addressed has both authority and strength. Edward Meyrick Goulburn, commenting on this collect, notes that Cranmer's English expands the Latin invocation rather than translating it woodenly:
Cranmer's rendering of the invocation of this Collect is rather a paraphrase than a translation. But it is a happy paraphrase, conveying more to English ears than a translation would have done.
The address "who art the author and giver of all good things" grounds all four petitions in grace. The good sought in the collect is not self-originating. Goulburn stresses that Cranmer's rendering is stronger than the bare Latin because it speaks of God's authorship and munificence:
The translation points, not merely to ownership on the part of God, but also to authorship and munificence--"the author" (originator) "and giver of all good things."
"Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name" is the collect's first petition. The verb assumes that love of God is not native to fallen nature in its saving form; it must be implanted. Goulburn reads "Name" as God's revealed character, not a mere label:
"Graft" (or implant) "in our hearts the love of thy name." What an implication that this love is not there originally! what a testimony to the corruption of our nature; for, if it lacks the love of God, it must be corrupt!
"Increase in us true religion" turns that implanted love toward practiced obedience. Goulburn's interpretation is especially useful because it refuses to separate affection from works:
What has to be increased in us is "true religion," that is, fruits of love and works of love.
"Nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same" gathers the Epistle and Gospel together. Romans speaks of fruit unto holiness; Mark shows Christ feeding the fainting multitude. Goulburn connects the final petitions to two divine actions, nurturing and guarding:
The Latin indicates, what it is difficult to express in a translation, that the increase of religion in us can only be brought about by two processes--one, God's nurturing what He has implanted, the other, His guarding and keeping what He has nurtured.
Confirmation and Catechesis
The same prayer appears in the 1928 Order of Confirmation, immediately after the bishop lays hands on the candidates and prays for the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Ghost. Its placement there shows why the Seventh Sunday collect is more than a seasonal devotion. The Prayer Book also uses it as a catechetical prayer for confirmed Christian life:
LORD of all power and might, Who art the author and giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, Increase in us true religion, Nourish us with all goodness, And of thy great mercy keep us in the same; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This Confirmation use confirms the collect's theological sequence. The baptized and confirmed need the love of God's Name implanted; that love must mature into "true religion"; the goodness given by God must be nourished; and the faithful must be kept by mercy. The collect is therefore well suited for preaching on sanctification, catechesis after Confirmation, and pastoral teaching on the difference between moral self-improvement and grace-enabled holiness.
Historical Development
The collect is inherited from the older Western liturgical tradition. Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere print the Latin source for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity among the Trinitytide collect series:
Seventh. Deus virtutum, cujus est totum quod est optimum; insere pectoribus nostris amorem tui nominis, et praesta in nobis religionis augmentum: ut quae sunt bona nutrias ac pietatis studio quae sunt nutrita custodias.
A modern Anglican source index likewise identifies the collect as Sarum in origin:
The Seventh Sunday after Trinity
Sarum
"Lord of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things..."
The Church of England's official 1662 text preserves the same collect, Epistle, and Gospel sequence, with minor punctuation and capitalization differences from the 1928 American printing:
Lord of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of thy name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Theological Use
The collect teaches a compact doctrine of sanctification. God is the author and giver; love of his Name must be grafted; true religion must increase as the fruit and work of love; goodness must be nourished; and perseverance depends on mercy. The Epistle names the end of this work as holiness and everlasting life. The Gospel displays the compassionate Lord who feeds the hungry and leaves overflowing fragments. The Confirmation office then applies the same prayer to those being strengthened by the Holy Ghost for mature Christian obedience.
For preaching and catechesis, the collect can be read in four movements. First, Christian goodness begins in God's own authorship and gift. Second, the heart must receive implanted love for God's revealed Name. Third, true religion is love made practical in holiness, self-restraint, sympathy, purity, and works of mercy. Fourth, the goodness God nourishes must also be guarded by his mercy, lest spiritual gains be lost through negligence or sin.
See Also
- Book of Common Prayer (1928)
- Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)
- Sundays after Trinity (1928 BCP)
- Trinitytide in the 1928 BCP
- Confirmation (1928 BCP)
- Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
References
- ↑ Collect for Seventh Sunday after Trinity, in Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, Standard Book accepted in 1928), the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," exact prayer "Collect for Seventh Sunday after Trinity" under "The Seventh Sunday after Trinity," p. 198; 1928 Common Prayer, "The Book of Common Prayer: Standard Book of 1928". Complete collect compared word for word with the Society of Archbishop Justus transcription; OCR spacing artifacts were corrected from the Standard Book text. URL verified HTTP 200.
- ↑ Epistle for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity, Romans vi.22-23, Authorized Version text as appointed in The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," "The Seventh Sunday after Trinity," p. 198; Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), 1928 Common Prayer, "The Book of Common Prayer: Standard Book of 1928". URL verified HTTP 200.
- ↑ Gospel for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity, St. Mark viii.1-3, Authorized Version text as appointed in The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," "The Seventh Sunday after Trinity," p. 198; Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), 1928 Common Prayer, "The Book of Common Prayer: Standard Book of 1928". URL verified HTTP 200.
- ↑ Gospel for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity, St. Mark viii.6-8, Authorized Version text as appointed in The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," "The Seventh Sunday after Trinity," p. 198; Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), 1928 Common Prayer, "The Book of Common Prayer: Standard Book of 1928". URL verified HTTP 200.
- ↑ Edward Meyrick Goulburn, The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer: An Exposition, Critical and Devotional, abridged from The Collects of the Day (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1883), p. 266, exposition of the Seventh Sunday after Trinity; scan/OCR, Internet Archive, "The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer". OCR spelling and line breaks normalized against context. URL verified HTTP 200.
- ↑ Edward Meyrick Goulburn, The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer: An Exposition, Critical and Devotional, abridged from The Collects of the Day (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1883), p. 267, exposition of the Seventh Sunday after Trinity; scan/OCR, Internet Archive, "The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer". OCR word division normalized. URL verified HTTP 200.
- ↑ Edward Meyrick Goulburn, The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer: An Exposition, Critical and Devotional, abridged from The Collects of the Day (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1883), p. 268, exposition of the Seventh Sunday after Trinity; scan/OCR, Internet Archive, "The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer". OCR spacing normalized. URL verified HTTP 200.
- ↑ Edward Meyrick Goulburn, The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer: An Exposition, Critical and Devotional, abridged from The Collects of the Day (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1883), p. 269, exposition of the Seventh Sunday after Trinity; scan/OCR, Internet Archive, "The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer". OCR punctuation normalized. URL verified HTTP 200.
- ↑ Edward Meyrick Goulburn, The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer: An Exposition, Critical and Devotional, abridged from The Collects of the Day (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1883), pp. 267-268, exposition of the Seventh Sunday after Trinity; scan/OCR, Internet Archive, "The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer". OCR spacing and spelling normalized. URL verified HTTP 200.
- ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, Standard Book accepted in 1928), "The Order of Confirmation," prayer after the salutation "The Lord be with you," p. 297; 1928 Common Prayer, "The Book of Common Prayer: Standard Book of 1928". URL verified HTTP 200.
- ↑ 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), p. 552, additional note to chapter XIII, "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels"; scan/OCR, Internet Archive, "A New History of the Book of Common Prayer". Latin ligatures and OCR errors normalized. URL verified HTTP 200.
- ↑ New Every Morning Anglican Fellowship, "Sources of the Seasonal Collects," section VIII, "The Sundays after Trinity"; 1928 Common Prayer, "Sources of the Seasonal Collects". URL verified HTTP 200.
- ↑ Church of England, The Book of Common Prayer (1662; Cambridge University Press, 2006 online edition), "The Seventh Sunday after Trinity," "The Collect"; official Church of England text, Church of England, "The Seventh Sunday after Trinity". URL verified HTTP 200.