h consisted of a duet between the parson and
clerk. The clerk has certain stated fees for his assistance at
marriages and funerals.

CLOISTER. A covered walk attached to monastic and collegiate
buildings and Cathedrals.

COLLATION. The appointment to a benefice by a Bishop is called a
_collation_.

COLLECT. A short concentrated prayer. The derivation of the word
is doubtful. The greater part of our Collects are found in the
Sacramentaries of St. Leo (A.D. 420), Gelasius (A.D. 494), and
Gregory the Great (A.D. 590.) Fifty-seven out of tie existing
eighty-two Prayer Book Collects are thus translations from the
Latin. The later Collects may sometimes be distinguished from these
ancient ones by their lack of terseness, and by their greater use
of scriptural language.

COLLEGE. A corporation or community. The Colleges of our Universities
are independent societies, governed by their own statutes and
officers. Still, they are connected in certain ways with the greater
Corporation, called the _University_ (which see.)

COLLEGIATE CHURCHES. Churches with a _College_, or body of Canons or
Prebendaries attached, such as Westminster Abbey, and St. George's,
Windsor. The only others remaining now are Wolverhampton, Middleham,
and Brecon.

COMMANDMENTS, The TEN. The recital of the Decalogue is peculiar to
our English Communion Service. It was ordered in 1552, possibly to
counteract the growth of Antinomianism (which see.) While other
parts of the Levitical Law relating to _ceremonies_ and the like
are not binding on Christians, the Commandments are so, because they
embody the _Moral_ Law, which is for all time and all people.

For the sense in which the Commandments are to be understood, see
the explanation of them in the Catechism. The reason of their being
placed in the Communion Service is to remind us of the duty of
self-examination before we "presume to eat of that bread and drink
of that cup," and to give us a standard whereby we may measure
ourselves. For the alteration from the _seventh_ day to the _first_,
see _Sunday_.

COMMENDATORY PRAYER. One of the four extra prayers added to the
Office for the Visitation of the Sick in 1662. It is a most
beautiful commendation of a "sick person at the point of departure"
to God's gracious mercy.

COMMINATION. The word means a _threat_, or _denunciation of
vengeance_. The Service, so-called in our Prayer Book, took its
present shape in 1549. It is, as the first exhortation