in an elegant but extemporary style, on the vigil before the passion. 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's Canon Paschalis, which, as I have shewn before, no less men than Scaliger and Gothofred take to be a rule appointing lessons proper for the festivals. But Bucherius and others give another account of it, which leaves the matter uncertain. There goes also under the name of St. Jerom, 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. Jerom'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 Vienna, Anno 450. And Gennadius says,5 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 published from a manuscript, which he judges by the hand to be above a thousand years old, but wrote after the time 4 'Chrys. Hom. x. in Joan. al. xi. Edit. Savil. p. 597. Book. xiii. chap. v. sect. 6. 8 Vid. Stilling. Orig. Britan. chap. iv. p. 229, et Cave Hist. Literar. vol. i. p. 225. 4 Sidon. lib. iv. ep. 11. Hic solennibus annuis paravit, quæ quo tempore lecta convenirent. 5 Gennad. de Scriptor. cap. lxxix. Excerpsit de Seripturis lectiones totius anni festivis diebus aptas; responsoria psalmorum capitula temporibus et lectionibus congruentia. of Gregory the Great, because it mentions the festival of Genouefa,' who is supposed to have lived after his time. 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 festivals required: and for the rest they were either read in order as they lie in the Bible, as Mabillon shews from the Rules of Cæsarius and Aurelian; or else were arbitrarily appointed by the bishops at discretion, as sometimes particular psalms were upon emergent occasions, according to the observation, that has been made in speaking of that subject. St. Austin says expressly, he sometimes ordered a lesson to be read agreeable to the subject of the psalm upon which he was preaching. And Ferrarius gives several other instances, both out of St. Austin and Chrysologus, to the same purpose, which need not here be repeated. SECT. 4. By whom the Scriptures were anciently read in the Church. The next question may be concerning the persons, by whom the Scriptures were publicly read in the Church. Which is a question that has been in some measure answered before, in speaking of the order of readers. Where I shewed, that for the two first centuries, before the order of readers was instituted, it is probable the Scriptures were read by the deacons, or else, in imitation of the Jewish Church, by such as the bishop or president for that time appointed. But in the time of St. Cyprian, it was the peculiar office of the readers, which were become an inferior order of the clergy, to read all the lessons of Scripture, and even the Gospel, as well as other parts, as appears from 'Lectionar. Gallic. ap. Mabil. p. 114. Gallicano. p. 406. 3 Book. xiv. chap. i. sect. 6. in Psal. xc. ser. ii. p. 412. Propterea fecimus ipsam lectionem Evangelii recitari, ubi Dominus tentatus est, per ea verba Psalmi quæ hic audistis. 5 Ferrar. de Ritu Concionum. lib. i. cap. 17. 6 Aug. Ser. 23. de Verbis Domini. Ser. 121. de Diversi. Tract. xii. in. Joan. 7 Chrysolog. Ser. 66, et 118. Book. iii. chap. v. several of Cyprian's Epistles. Here I must add, that in after-ages the reading of the Gospel was in some Churches confined to the office of the deacons and presbyters. For so the Author of the Constitutions words it, "After the other lessons are read by the readers, let a deacon or a presbyter read the Gospels. And so St. Jerom reminds Sabinianus the deacon," how he had read the Gospels in the Church." And Socrates notes the same of Sabbatius, a presbyter in the Novatian Church. Sozomen says,” at Alexandria the Gospel was read only by the archdeacon; in other places by the deacons; in others only by the presbyters, and on the greater festivals by the bishop, as at Constantinople on Easter-day. In the French Churches it was the ordinary office of deacons, as appears from that canon of the Council of Vaison, which says, that if the presbyter was sick, the deacon might read an Homily, giving this reason for it," that they, who were thought worthy to read the Gospels of Christ, were not unworthy to read the expositions of the holy Fathers." Yet in the Spanish Churches the ancient custom continued, that the readers read the Gospel as well as other lessons. Which may be collected from that canon of the first Council of Toledo," which allows no one, that had done public penance, ever to be ordained, unless it were to the office of a reader, in case of great necessity, and then he should read neither the Epistle nor the Gospel. Which implies, that other readers, who were never under penance, read both the Gospel and all other lessons, as Albaspinæus in his Notes rightly observes upon it.s SECT. 5. Whether the Epistle and Gospel were read twice, first to the Catechumens, and then to the Faithful at the Altar. But in one thing that learned person seems to be mistaken, 2 Constit. lib. ii. cap. 57. 1 Cypr. Ep. 34. al. 39. Ep. 38. • Con. Vasens ii. can. 2. Si enim digni sunt diaconi, quæ Christus in Evan- when he supposes that reading of the Gospel to have been in the communion-service. For anciently the Scriptures, and even the Gospel itself, were only read in the service of the catechumens. Cardinal Bona indeed says, the ancient custom was to read the Gospel only to the faithful, and that the Council of Orange in France, and the Council of Valentia in Spain, were the first that ordered it otherwise. But nothing is plainer, than that the reading of the Gospel was always before the sermon, and the sermon was always before the communion-service began, in the presence of the catechumens, and before their dismission ordinarily, being designed chiefly for their instruction. Therefore, though some ill custom might have crept into the Churches of France and Spain, excluding the catechumens from hearing the Gospel and the sermon, which those Councils endeavoured to correct; yet that is far from proving it to be the ancient custom, to confine the hearing of the Gospel to the faithful only and a man cannot look into the Homilies of St. Austin or St, Chrysostom, but he will find this mistake, every where confuted. For they always speak of reading the Gospel before the Homily, and the Homily made in the presence of the catechumens: and the contrary supposition is merely owing to a common prejudice and conceit, that the ancient service was in all things like the modern, where the Gospel is twice read, first among the lessons, and then with the Epistle, by itself in the communion-service; whereas, anciently, they were both read in the ordinary course of the lessons, in that part of the service only, which was properly called the service of the catechumens. SECT. 6.-The Solemnity and Ceremonies of Reading the Lessons. Where first of the Salutation, "Paz vobis," before Reading. The next thing worthy our observation is, the solemnity and ceremony, with which the Ancients appointed the Scriptures to be read. The reader, before he began to read, Albaspin. Not. in can. iv. Con. Carthag. iii. Liturg. lib. ii. cap. vii. n. 1. Con. Valentin. can. i. 2 Bona Rer. 3 Con. Arausican, i, can. 18. 6 was commonly used to say, "Pax vobis, Peace be with you!” which was the usual form of salutation at the entrance of all offices in the Church. St. Cyprian plainly alludes to this,' when speaking of a new reader, whom he had ordained to the office the Lord's day before, he says, " Auspicatus est pacem, dum dedicat lectionem,-He began to use the salutation, Peace be with you! when he first began to read." I know none of the Commentators that take notice of this custom in Cyprian, or make any remark upon the phrase but this is evidently the sense of it, and so the learned Albaspinæus understands it. This custom seems to have continued in Afric, till the third Council of Carthage made an order to the contrary, that the readers should no longer salute the people. This form of salutation, "Peace be with you!" to which the people usually answered," And with thy spirit!" was commonly the office of a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, in the performance of their several functions in the Church, as is noted by Chrysostom in many places: and therefore this Council took away this power from the readers, and put it into the hands of the deacons or the other superior ministers of the Church. So that as the reader had used to say before reading, "Peace be with you!" this canon only ordered, that it should be said by some other minister. For that it was used either by the reader, or some other minister before he began to read, appears from St. Austin, who, writing against the Donatists, says, nothing could be more perverse than their own practice, who, before the reader began to read the Epistle, said to him, "Peace be with thee!" and yet separated from the peace of those Churches, to which the Epistles were written. 1 Cypr. Ep. 33. al. 38. ad Cler. Carthag. p. 75. in Con. Carthag. iii. can. 4. tores populum non salutent. 2 Albaspin. Not. 3 Con. Carth. iii. can. iv. Ut lecChrys. Hom. xviii. in 2. Cor. p. 5 Aug. ep. 165. Quid 873. Hom. iii. in Colos. p. 1337, et 1338. autem perversius et insanius, quam lectoribus easdem Epistolas legentibus dicere, Pax tecum,' et ab earun Ecclesiarum pace separare, quibus ipsæ Epistolæ scriptæ sunt? |