Commentary from
THE ANNOTATED
BOOK OF
COMMON
PRAYER
Edited by JOHN HENRY BLUNT
Rivingtons, London, 1884
FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER
The Collect for this day originally, i.e. in 1549, stood in English
exactly as it stands in the Latin: "Almighty God, Which dost make the minds
of all faithful men to be of one will..." Bishop Cosin altered the
latter words to "make all men to be of one mind," but the present form
was eventually adopted, and the idea of unity was thus taken out of the
Collect. The omission is the more singular, since there is in the
Gospel a reference to the Holy Spirit by Whom this unity is effected.
The Epistle and Gospel point in the same direction as those of the preceding
Sunday, viz. to the good and perfect Gift which would be bestowed upon
the Church after, and through the bodily departure of Christ to heaven.
It seemed strange and hard to bear that it should be expedient for Him
to go away Who had been the Leader and Benefactor of His disciples and
all who were willing to receive Him; but He spoke these words to them beforehand
that they might be comforted with some foreshadowing of the glory and blessing
of the New Dispensation which was to be perfected in His Resurrection and
Ascension; and be prepared for perceiving, when the fruit of the Resurrection
was ripe for gathering, that the departure of Christ to heaven was a greater
gain to them through His mystical Presence than His remaining upon earth
could have been. This good and perfect gift, the gift which the Spirit
of truth bestows upon the Church, and through the corporate Church on all
its individual members, is therefore set before us as we draw near to Ascension
Day as the true reason why all sorrow, because of her Lord's departure,
should be banished from the Church. The Comforter will come to bestow
the Gift of the Word of God engrafted upon human nature, and in that gift
to bestow Light, Truth, and Salvation.
