Collegiate church

“ Although Grantham was never incorporated as a [25] collegiate church, the body of clergy which served it seem to have had common services in quire together, and to have been known as the ‘college.’ The chantry priests of a large church would benefit from incorporation in the ordinary course of things, and it very often happened that they were formed into a regular college, or that provisions were made affecting their common life. St William’s college at York was founded for the chantry priests of the minster in 1461 by archbishop Neville and his brother, the king-maker. ”

“ The minor corporations of the universities, and those of Eton and Winchester, are specially so termed: and residences for the members, a chapel, hall, and library, are considered as essential features of the college. As it is unquestionable that our academical colleges were all instituted for the promotion of godliness, as well as of human knowledge, that they were intended to be handmaids of the Church, as their highest function, besides nurseries of good learning, they deserve special notice in a Church Dictionary. All cathedral and collegiate churches are colleges ”

“ And by Canon 51, “the deans, presidents, and residentiaries of any cathedral or collegiate church, shall suffer no stranger to preach unto the people in their churches, except they be allowed by the archbishop of the province, or by the bishop of the same diocese, or by either of the universities. ”

“ PROVOST. The designation of heads of some colleges in our universities. It was also the title given to the heads of several collegiate churches in England, suppressed at the Reformation, and was their usual designation in Scotland, except in cathedrals. In some foreign cathedrals the head of the chapter is the provost, though there be a dean besides; and in others the dean is head, the provost subordinate. The latter was formerly the case in five out of the six of the cathedrals in the province of Tuam: the name is still retained in some; in others it has been exchanged for that of precentor. ”

“ The Holy Council desires that a “preference be given to the children of poor parents,” though the rich are not to be excluded. The college, which is to be “a perpetual seminary for the service of God,” is entirely under the direction of the bishop, who is to be assisted by two canons chosen by himself. The students, on their entrance, are to wear the tonsure and ecclesiastical habit; to learn grammar, church music, the ecclesiastical computation, and the other liberal arts ”

“ Every important Christian denomination has come to have its distinctive college, and many an argument has been framed to prove that sectarian colleges are better than those which seek to promote the union of several religious bodies. It has not been thought sufficient that a college should be pervaded by an enlightened Christianity, nor even that it should be the stronghold of{570} a simple evangelical life and doctrine, nor that it should be orthodox as to the fundamental teachings of the Church ”

“ The presidents and professors of leading universities are usually prominent in some evangelical sect, and this is probably owing to the fact that every seminary of higher knowledge is under the control of a branch of the Christian Church, whose influence is predominant in the faculty, and which regards the college as a filial institution, with traditions intertwined with its own. ”

“ The word, according to Isidore, is derived from chorus circumstantium, because the clergy stood round the altar. Custom has usually restricted the name of chancel to parish churches, that of choir to cathedrals, and such churches or chapels as are collegiate. In the choirs of cathedrals, (see Cathedral,) which are very large, the congregation also assemble; but the clergy and other members of the foundation occupy the seats on each side, (which are called stalls,) according to the immemorial custom of all Christian countries. ”

“ The work of this college was to be the preparation of young men for the Christian ministry, that they might go into all the world and preach the Gospel. One truth he bade them bear in mind: that this training was to be given without sectarian theology; that his brethren themselves represented a revolution among believers, having cast aside the dogmas of modern teachers, and taken, as the one infallible guide of their faith and practice, the Bible simply; so making it their sole work to bring all modern believers together into one church, and that one church the church of the apostles. ”

“ The existence and support of colleges are largely due to the Christian Church. They are the offspring of a dominant desire to promote the cause of Christ, and make them powerful agencies for a positive and aggressive Christianity. ”

“ It is truly inspiring to behold the work which such a college as this is doing for the colored race, not only in providing good schools and teachers, but in raising up an intelligent ministry, and in planting the right kind of Christian churches.
Here, for example, at A., where we were the other day, there is the old established Episcopal Church, for white folks, and, perhaps, a colored church or two, where “faith” is more insisted on than “works.” A new order now comes in, which is at first looked upon with distrust as an innovation. ”

“ And in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, and Colleges, where there are many Priests and Deacons, they shall all receive the Communion with the Priest every Sunday at the least, except they have a reasonable cause to the contrary. ”

“ But the college men are not blind to what the church has accomplished. In this phase of the subject they are peculiarly catholic. But it is taught now in practically all the departments of philosophy in the great universities that a new revelation is quickening this age, and that it is not only the right but the duty of the colleges to stand, if they can, as interpreters of the acceptable year of the Lord. ”

“ Another college, still inferior to the above-mentioned, is superintended by the Catholic clergy. Excepting the elements of reading, writing, mathematics, and latin, it affords no intellectual information. The best of these schools is kept by Mr. Shute, rector of the Episcopalian church, an enlightened and clever man, who fully deserves the popularity he has acquired. ”

“ In all the church services citizens and students mingle, with always a sprinkling of members from other churches. In the social gatherings of the students, the members of the church are always welcomed, and enter heartily into their pleasures. Thus the college is anchored by means of the church in the hearts of the people themselves. ”

“ Hence we speak of an episcopal college, or college of bishops. It was an old maxim of Roman law, that by fewer than three persons a college could not be formed. Hence, as a bishop is to be consecrated not by a single bishop, but by a synod or college, at least three are required to be present at each consecration. Every corporation, in the civil law, is called a college, and so it has been applied in England, in some rare instances, irrespective of social combinations: and abroad it was very extensively applied to incorporated boards. ”

“ Gradually Falling into Our Hands.—There is not a diocese in the Union which has not profited by sheriff's sales of Protestant educational property. The great seminary at Troy was once a Methodist college. Last month Archbishop Ryan bought out a Protestant college building and gave it over to the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. For thirty-five years it had been the Alma Mater of a local Protestant body. The Baptist College at Chicago will soon have a cross upon it. So the story goes—Protestantism receding and the Church making progress on every side. Next? Many of the school houses. ”

“ The decision reached by the Council was to erect, in connection with some of the colored universities in the South, a hall under Episcopal control for colored Episcopal students for the ministry, who should also attend the college classes in the University. So far as the principle is concerned, we regret this decision. How much better if the wealthy and intelligent Episcopal Church in this country had lent its vast influence in repudiating the spirit of caste by introducing colored theological students into its own excellent seminaries. ”

“ Then, they are producing most of the recruits that the churches need for their work. Since the churches began to care for their members in the State Universities, a rather larger number of candidates for Christian service are coming out of the universities, but until the last year or two nearly all came, and the very large majority still comes, and probably for years will come, from the church colleges. And there's another reason that you State advocates ought to remember. Our Methodist colleges in this country have about fifty thousand students. ”

“ Whilst some of our colleges are somewhat prophetic, yet the long list of our institutions and the honorable records they have made place us in the front rank of American educators. It has been well said that "The Methodist Episcopal Church began the century with the ashes of one college." In 1900 it had 56 colleges and universities, 60 academies and seminaries, 8 institutions exclusively for women, 4 missionary institutions and training schools, 25 schools of theology, and 99 foreign mission schools—228 in all. These schools have more than 3,000 instructors, and about 50,000 students. ”

“ All the organizations named are strictly within the pale of the Priesthood. In addition, there are a number of auxiliary organizations—helps to the Priesthood in the government of the Church—such as relief societies, Sabbath schools, young peoples' mutual improvement associations, primary associations, and religion classes. Church schools, of which the religion classes are an adjunct, exist in many of the stakes. The more notable of the schools are the Brigham Young University at Provo, the Brigham Young College at Logan, and the Latter-day Saints University at Salt Lake City. ”

“ From 1784, the year of its organization, to 1884, the Methodist Episcopal Church established 225 classical seminaries and colleges; in other words, established a classical seminary or college every fifth month through a hundred toilsome years. No other organization in human history ever made so honorable a record in the higher education, or was entitled to celebrate so jubilant a centennial. ”

“ Where chantry colleges have existed, the fact is by no means always obvious in the plan of the church. It is sometimes disclosed by the presence of stall-work of unusual richness in the chancel, as at Higham Ferrers; and sometimes, as in the same place, the altar in the main chancel may have been reserved for the services of the college, while another altar was provided for the ordinary parochial services. But it must be borne in mind that a chantry college was not a monastery. The church appropriated to the college was a parish church. ”

“ But God had shown them their work and they could not shirk it.
"For seven years I have felt a firm conviction that the great work, the special duty of our church, is to establish the College," said Dr. Conwell, in speaking of the matter to his congregation. "We are now face to face with it. How distinctly we have been led of God to this point! Never before in the history of this nation have a people had committed to them a movement more important for the welfare of mankind than that which is now committed to your trust in connection with the permanent establishment of The Temple College. ”

“ The authorities of the college have always been anxious to make the college in every way useful to the Church. Its professors have taken a very active part in the home mission work and Indian missions, and its students have been strongly possessed with the missionary spirit. Before the college had the status of a theological college, in co-operation with the Presbytery of Manitoba, it gave instruction to students in theology with the approval of the General Assembly. ”

“ Moreover, churches must furnish zealous men and woman, whom education may prepare to do the Lord’s work. It is not enough to rely upon the possibility of conversion while the students are in college. The Church has an earlier and a broader opportunity. It forms the homes and the influences that form the children. A vast proportion of the pastors and missionaries of the North have gone to college as Christians, instead of becoming Christians when there. They have come from Christian homes. They were sent by Christian parents whose love for God and man was planted and trained in Christ’s Church. ”

“ No one can afford to be indifferent to the power and influence for good of the Christian college. These are immeasurable. The Christian Church and all the friends of human progress and welfare must, more and more, emphasize the lesson that, if we educate in our colleges the leading minds of the nation, we will be able so to control the prevailing habits and modes of thought throughout the country as to secure the permanency and glory of Christian liberty and religious institutions. ”

“ Although this body shall have no incorporated theological seminary under their care, nor any particular treasury for its support, nevertheless they consider it highly beneficial to the Church for every minister to understand the original tongues of the Scriptures, and to be well skilled in theology. But such qualifications may be acquired without an incorporated theological seminary. There are already a goodly number of academies dispersed throughout our country which are not under the care of any particular denomination, in which the student may acquire a classical education. ”