Collect for St. John Baptist (1928 BCP)

Collect for St. John Baptist (1928 BCP) is the proper collect appointed for Saint John Baptist's Day, June 24, in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. The prayer remembers John's providential birth, his preaching of repentance, and his witness to Christ, then asks that the Church may repent truly, speak truth constantly, rebuke vice boldly, and suffer patiently for the truth's sake.

Text of the Collect

ALMIGHTY God, by whose providence thy servant John Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of thy Son our Saviour by preaching repentance; Make us so to follow his doctrine and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and after his example constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The collect has four main movements. "By whose providence" places John's birth inside God's saving governance, not merely inside family history. "Wonderfully born" points to the Gospel story of Elisabeth, Zacharias, and the child whose name is given by divine command. "Sent to prepare the way" joins Isaiah's promise to the Baptist's ministry. The petition then turns commemoration into discipleship: the Church asks to follow John's "doctrine and holy life" by repentance, truth-speaking, rebuke of vice, and patient suffering.

Appointed Epistle and Gospel

The appointed Epistle is Isaiah xl. 1. It supplies the prophetic background for "prepare the way":

COMFORT ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

The collect's phrase "by preaching repentance" is therefore not moralism detached from grace. Isaiah begins with pardon and comfort, then speaks of a way made ready for the Lord. The Baptist's call to repentance is the appointed human response to the coming of God in mercy and judgment.

The Gospel is St. Luke i. 57. It begins with John's birth and ends with Zacharias' prophecy:

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

This Gospel explains why the collect says John was "wonderfully born." His birth is surrounded by mercy, fear, prophecy, and the loosening of Zacharias' tongue. The collect also echoes the Benedictus when it asks the Church to repent "according to his preaching": John's doctrine gives "knowledge of salvation" by remission of sins, and it directs hearers to the Lord whose way he prepares.

Repentance, Truth, and Suffering

The collect asks for repentance "according to his preaching." St. Matthew gives the brief form of that preaching:

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The same petition then turns from repentance to public witness: "constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice." The Prayer Book is not asking merely for admiration of John as an historical saint. It asks for the moral courage seen in John's rebuke of Herod:

For John said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.

The final phrase, "patiently suffer for the truth's sake," completes the collect's moral arc. John's preaching led not to influence at court, but to imprisonment and death:

For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

The clause-by-clause movement is therefore tightly scriptural. Providence gives John. His birth fulfills the Gospel. His preaching calls for true repentance. His life shows truthful speech and rebuke of vice. His death shows patient suffering for truth. The Church prays not simply to remember these things, but to be made like them by grace.

Prayer Book History and Anglican Interpretation

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere identify the collect as part of the Reformation series of holy-day collects and also explain why John's feast differs from the ordinary saints' days:

Then follows a series of Reformation Collects for the festivals of SS. Philip and James (which has also a new Epistle), of S. Barnabas (which has the Roman in place of the Sarum Gospel), of S. John Baptist (with a new Epistle), of S. Peter and of S. James (with a new Epistle). The feast of S. John the Baptist differs from the other festivals in commemorating his birth.

Procter and Frere continue by connecting the nativity itself with John's office:

The reason for this difference appears to be, that the birth of the Baptist was foretold by an angel, and brought to pass after an uncommon manner. He was also the forerunner of our Blessed Lord, and by preaching repentance prepared the road for the publishing of the Gospel.

This historical note confirms the collect's structure. The 1928 prayer does not commemorate John generically; it names the two reasons the feast itself emphasizes: his wonderful birth and his preparatory preaching.

An Anglican devotional reading of John's ministry also appears in Tracts for the Times, no. 16, "Advent." The tract links John's preaching with the Church's preparation for Christ:

Just so the Jewish Church was awakened by one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the LORD;" the message of John the Baptist was the same as the Apostles to us--"Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

The same tract later draws John's example into prayer for the Church's ministers:

Wisdom would be justified of all her children, even in our judgment; we should see them all to be Ministers and Ambassadors of GOD, and our commendations and censures would be turned into prayers on their behalf, such as the Church has taught us, that like the Baptist they 'may likewise so prepare and make ready CHRIST'S way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at His second coming to judge the world, we may be found an acceptable people in His sight.'

This is not the collect for Saint John Baptist's Day, but it shows how classical Anglican liturgical interpretation receives John's ministry: repentance is ordered toward Christ's coming, and the Baptist's preparatory office becomes a pattern for the Church's own witness.

Use in Worship

In the 1928 BCP this collect is appointed for Saint John Baptist's Day, June 24, within "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels." It may be used at Holy Communion with the appointed Epistle and Gospel, and it also supplies the collect of the day when the feast is observed in the Daily Office according to Prayer Book use.

Liturgically, the prayer is unusually concrete. Many saints' day collects ask for apostolic doctrine, grace, or imitation; this one names the actions to be imitated: repent, speak, rebuke, suffer. It therefore keeps the feast from becoming merely antiquarian. To pray it is to ask that John's witness before Christ, Scripture, sin, rulers, and death may be reproduced in the Church by grace.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)
• Church Calendar (1928 BCP)
• Benedictus (1928 BCP)
• Holy Communion (1928 BCP)

External Links

• The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book
• Procter and Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, chapter XIII
• Project Canterbury, Tracts for the Times, no. 16, "Advent"