in the Church, they shall easily perceive just cause to reform their judgements. And if they think much, that any of the old do remain, and would rather have all devised anew: then such men granting some Ceremonies convenient to be had, surely where the old may be well used, there they cannot reasonably reprove the old only for their age, without bewraying of their own folly. For in such a case they ought rather to have reverence unto them for their antiquity, if they will declare themselves to be more studious of unity and concord, than of innovations and new-fangleness, which (as much as may be with true setting forth of Christ's religion) is always to be eschewed. Further more, such shall have no just cause with the Ceremonies reserved to be offended. For as those be taken away which were most abused, and did burden men's consciences without any cause; so the other that remain, are retained for a discipline and order, which (upon just causes) may be altered and changed, and therefore are not to be esteemed equal with God's law. And moreover, they be neither dark nor dumb Ceremonies, but are so set forth, that every man may understand what they do mean, and to what use they do serve. So that it is not like that they in time to come should be abused as other have been. And in these our doings we condemn no other nations, nor prescribe any thing but to our own people only: for we think it convenient that every country should use such Ceremonies as they shall think best to the setting forth of God's honour and glory, and to the reducing of the people to a most perfect and godly living, without error or superstition; and that they should put away other things, which from time to time they perceive to be most abused, as in men's ordinances it often chanceth diversely in divers countries. THE ORDER HOW THE PSALTER IS APPOINTED TO BE READ. THE Psalter shall be read through once every Month, as it is there appointed, both for Morning and Evening Prayer. But in February it shall be read only to the twenty-eighth, or twenty-ninth day of the month. And, whereas January, March, May, July, August, October, and December have one-andthirty days apiece; It is ordered, that the same Psalms shall be read the last day of the said months, which were read the day before: so that the Psalter may begin again the first day of the next month ensuing. And, whereas the 119th Psalm is divided into twenty-two portions, and is over-long to be read at one time; It is so ordered, that at one time shall not be read above four or five of the said portions. And at the end of every Psalm, and of every such part of the 119th Psalm, shall be repeated this Hymn, the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever Note, that the Psalter followeth the division of the Hebrews, and the translation of the great English Bible, set forth and used in the time of King Henry the Eighth, and Edward the Sixth. THE ORDER HOW THE REST OF HOLY SCRIPTURE IS APPOINTED TO BE READ. THE Old Testament is appointed for the First Lessons at Morning and Evening Prayer, so as the most part thereof will be read every year once, as in the Calendar is appointed. chapter from the four Gospels, or any Lesson appointed in the Table of Lessons from the four Gospels. Upon occasions, to be approved by the OrdiSe-nary, other Lessons may, with his consent, be substituted for those which are appointed in the Calendar The New Testament is appointed for the cond Lessons at Morning and Evening Prayer, and shall be read over orderly every year twice, once in the morning and once in the evening, besides the Epistles and Gospels, except the Apocalypse, out of which there are only certain Lessons appointed at the end of the year, and certain Proper Lessons appointed upon divers feasts. And to know what Lessons shall be read every day, look for the day of the month in the Calendar following, and there ye shall find the chapters and portions of chapters that shall be read for the Lessons, both at Morning and Evening Prayer, except only the moveable feasts, which are not in the Calendar, and the immove able, where there is a blank left in the column of Lessons, the Proper Lessons for all which days are to be found in the Table of Proper Lessons. If Evening Prayer is said at two different times in the same place of worship on any Sunday (except a bunday for which alternative Second Lessons are specially appointed in the Table,) the Second Lesson at the second time may, at the discretion of the minister, be any And note, that whensoever Proper Psalms or Lessons are appointed, then the Psalms and Lessons of ordinary course appointed in the Psalter and Calendar (if they be different) shall be omitted for that time. Note also that upon occasions to be appointed by the Ordinary, other Psalms may, with his consent, be substituted for those appointed in the Psalter. If any of the Holy-days for which Proper Lessons are appointed in the Table fall upon a Sunday which is the first Sunday in Advent, Easter Day, Whitsunday, or Trinity Sunday, the Lessons appointed for such Sunday shall be read, but if it fall upon any other Sunday, the Lessons appointed either for the Sunday or for the Holy-day may be read at the discretion of the minister. Note also, that the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel appointed for the Sunday shall serve all the week after, where it is not in this book otherwise ordered. OF PROPER LESSONS AND PSALMS. THERE is no table of Proper Lessons and Psalms in Edward's First Prayerbook (1549), but the Proper Lessons and Psalms are attached to the respective Sundays and Holy-days, to which they are appropriated, under the head of "The Introits, Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, &c.-with Proper Psalms and Lessons for divers Feasts and Days." The only Sundays, for which Proper Lessons were appointed, were Easter-day, Whitsunday, and Trinity Sunday. Some of the Holydays had Proper First Lessons and some Proper Second Lessons assigned to them. The only Proper Lesson from the Apocrypha was that for All Saints' day. In 1559 the first regular table of Sunday Lessons was put forth. It is almost identical with that put forth in 1662. The Apocryphal Proper Lessons for Holydays were added in 1559. The custom of reading Holy Scripture in the service of the Church prevailed from the very first. "Justin Martyr says that the writings of the Prophets and Apostles were read in the Congregation on Sunday. In the 4th century the Psalmody, which formed a large portion of the service, was ordered not to be continuous but to be mingled with reading. In the Gallican Church, in the fifth century, the Psalms were sung between the reading of the Lessons: and four lessons were read in an appointed order from the books of Moses, the Prophets, the Gospels, and the Epistles. After the sixth century many of the Western Churches read three, five, seven, or nine lessons. In the English Church there were either three or nine lections in the nocturns and matins: but these were generally very short, some consisting only of a few verses of Scripture, and some being short extracts from Expositions or Homilies of the Fathers, or Lives of the Saints. Hence although the Lessons were numerous, but little Scripture was read; and that small portion was interrupted by anthems." PROCTER. "Cassian (A.D. 424) says, in Egypt, after the singing of the Psalms, they had two Lessons read, one out of the Old Testament, and the other out of the New. Only on Saturdays and Sundays and the fifty days of Pentecost they were both out of the New Testament, one out of the Acts of the Apostles or the Epistles, and the other out of the Gospels. The author of the Constitutions (before A.D. 325) speaks of four Lessons, two out of Moses and the Prophets, besides the Psalms, and then two out of the Epistles or Acts of the Apostles and the Gospels. Again he mentions the reading of the Prophets In on Sundays. And in another place, the Law and the Prophets, the Psalms and the Gospels. And again, the Law and the Prophets, and the Epistles, and the Acts, and the Gospels...In like manner Chrysostom (A.D. 398) reproving some, who were very negligent at Church, says, Tell me what Prophet was read to-day, what Apostle? implying that the one was read as well as the other. Particularly he tells us that the Book of Genesis was always read in Lent...St Basil (A.D. 370), in one of his Homilies upon baptism in Lent, takes notice of the several Lessons that were read that day, besides the Psalms, whereof one was out of the 1st of Isaiah, the second out of Acts ii, and the third out of Matthew xi.... Maximus Taurinensis (A.D. 422), in one of his Homilies upon the Epiphany, says the Lessons were out of Isaiah Ix. Matthew ii. and John i. for that Festival....... the French Churches there is still more evidence for the practice: for Cæsarius Arelatensis (A.D. 500), in one of his Homilies cited by Mabillon, uses this argument to the people, why they should stay the whole time of Divine Service, because the Lessons were not so properly called Missa or Divine Service, as was the oblation or consecration of the body and blood of Christ: for they might read at home, or hear others read the Lessons, whether out of the Prophets, or Apostles, or Evangelists; but they could not hear or see the consecration any where else but only in the house of God.... And in the old Lectionarium Gallicanum, published by Mabillon, there is always a Lesson out of the Old Testament before the Epistle and Gospel; and on the Sabbatum Sanctum, or Saturday before Easter, there are no less than twelve Lessons appointed out of Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and Jonah, beside the Epistle and Gospel which follow after. It farther appears from the Canons of the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 361), and the third Council of Carthage (A.D. 397), that all the books of the Old Testament were then read in the Church, as well as the New." BINGHAM. "The next observation to be made is upon their method of reading the Scriptures, which seems always to be done by some rule, though this might vary in different churches. St Austin (A.D. 398) tells us there were some Lessons so fixed and appropriated to certain times and seasons, that no others might be read in their stead....All the time between Easter and Pentecost, he says, they read the Acts of the Apostles. This last particular is frequently mentioned by St Chryso PROPER LESSONS TO BE READ AT MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER, ON THE SUNDAYS AND OTHER HOLY-DAYS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. stom (A.D. 398)... Cassian (A.D. 424) says the same order was observed among the Egyptians, and it appears from the ancient Lectionarium Gallicanum, that it was so in the French Churches...(Chrysostom) preached two whole Lents upon the book of Genesis, because it was then read of course in the Church.... It appears farther from St Ambrose (A.D. 374), that the books of Job and Jonah were both read in the Passion Week... And that this was an ancient rule of the Church appears from Origen's (A.D. 230) comment upon Job... St Chrysostom in one of his Homilies upon the Gospel of St John, which he was then expounding, advises his auditors to read at home, in the week-days before, such portions of the Gospel as they knew were to be read and expounded on the Lord's day following in the Church: which implies some certain rule and order. So that though we have not any complete Lectionarium, or Calendar of Lessons now remaining, yet we are sure their reading of Scripture was some way methodised and brought under rule, especially for the greater solemnities and festivals of the Church. The first Calendar of this kind is thought by some to be Hippolytus' Canon Paschalis" (A.D. 220). (The Paschal Canon of Hippolytus is now admitted to have been an Easter cycle). "There goes also under the name of St Jerome a book called his Comes or Lectionarium; but critics of the best rank reckon this a counterfeit, and the work of a much later writer because it mentions Lessons out of the Prophets and Old Testament, whereas in St Jerome's time, as we have noted before, there were no Lessons read besides Epistles and Gospels in the Church of Rome. However, some time after there were several books of this kind composed for the use of the French churches. Sidonius Apollinaris says, Claudianus Mamercus made one for the Church of Vienne A.D. 450. And Gennadius says, Musæus made another for the Church of Marseilles about the year 458. But both these are now lost, and the oldest of this kind is the Lectionarium Gallicanum, which Mabillon lately (A.D. 1685) published from a manuscript, which he judges by the hand to be above a thousand years old...... But though we have no more ancient calendar now remaining, yet the authorities alleged before do indisputably evince the thing itself, that the Lessons of Scripture were generally appropriated to times and seasons, according as the festival required." BINGHAM. In the Lectionarium Gallicanum there are Lessons appointed for Matins as well as for Mass. "The first Lessons appointed for Sundays form a distinct yearly course of selected chapters from the Old Testament. These are taken from Isaiah during Advent and Epiphany: Genesis is commenced on Septuagesima Sunday, which is the first step in the preparation for Lent, and when the Sundays begin to be reckoned with reference to the coming Easter.... The selections then proceed through the historical and prophetical books, the Book of Proverbs being reserved for the concluding Sundays after Trinity. Another course is provided for Holy-days: proper chapters are appointed, usually for the first and second Lessons, which are suited to the Commemoration, either prophetical of it, or if possible relating to the history of it: the Lessons appointed for Saints' days are mostly taken from the Books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, or from the apocryphal Books of Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom." PROCTER. A new Table of Lessons was put forth in 1871; but the use of the old Table of 1662 was permitted till the 1st of January, 1879. The Calendar with the new Table of Lessons is placed in this book immediately after the Calendar with the Table of Lessons of 1662. The remarks on the appointment of the Proper Lessons for Holy-Days, in the following notes on the Calendar, refer to the Table of Lessons of 1662. The Proper Psalms for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday were added in 1652. The rest come down from 1549, except that then the morning psalms for Whitsunday were Pss. 48, 67, 145. "The Church had not only proper Lessons, but proper Psalms read upon greater festivals, suited to the occasion. .For St Austin (A.D. 398) plainly informs us, that the 22nd Psalm was always read upon the day of our Saviour's Passion in the African Church." BINGHAM. |