This Collect in The Book of Common Prayer (1662, 1928, 1960) is a free translation by Archbishop Cranmer from the Latin original for this Sunday in the Gregorian Sacramentary & "The Use of Sarum."
"Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
One of the great spiritual diseases is lethargy. We remain content with where we are on the highway of holiness and in the climbing on Mount Zion. There is always tomorrow to strive the more; today we can relax! We rest as pilgrims and do not seek to conquer more of the path in front of us.
It is all too easy not to press on towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).
So the major petition of this Collect is that God the Father will cause the Holy Ghost to stir up our lazy and inactive wills and to rouse us from the slumber of complacency. Yet, as we know, a fire when stirred does not always blaze and a sleeper, when roused, does not always get up! In the final analysis we are given a measure of freedom by our Creator so that we can respond to his call in freedom and love. This said, it is also true to say that our wills in and of themselves need divine inspiration and assistance in order to be directed towards the glorifying of God in good works.
Thus there must be stirring up and there must be wholehearted cooperation by ourselves to the motions of the Spirit in our souls.
The idea of plenteous reward for good works freely and lovingly done is a scriptural doctrine. "Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Galatians 6:9); "Be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58). Of course, the rewards are at the end of the age and pertain to the life of the world to come.
We offer this prayer not on the basis of our own merits and achievements (assuming we have any!) but through the one Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, in and through whom there will be reward for the faithful in the age to come.
Finally, what would this Collect have been like if Cranmer had translated it fairly literally.
"Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, more readily following after the effect of thy divine working, may obtain from thy fatherly goodness larger assistances [of grace]. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
We may note that "the effect of thy divine working" and "the fruit of good works" are not the same thing, However, there is an intimate connection between them and both Collects fall within related biblical themes and theology. Probably Cranmer went the way he did was to preserve good sounding English for all the Collects were intended to be read aloud.
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
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