In the west we find Augustine in the fifth century considering the psalm as a lesson. "We have heard," said he, "the apostle, we have heard the psalm, we have heard the gospel; all the divine lessons agree." In another sermon he says, "We have heard the first lesson from the apostle, .... then we have sung a psalm, .... after this came the lesson from the gospel; these three lessons we will discourse upon, as far as time permits P." Ambrose says, "When the psalm is read, it causes silence by its own means 9." It appears, therefore, that the gradual was anciently looked upon as a lesson from scripture even when it was sung; and if we regard it as a lesson, I see no reason to consider it less ancient than the epistle or the gospel which have been used since the apostolic age. It appears from Augustine, that the psalm was sung between the epistle and gospel in the fifth century by the African church. But this was probably not its original position. As a lesson from the Old Testament it would have come naturally in the order of the Apostolical Constitutions, namely, after the law and the prophets. In the time of Augustine, however, it is certain that the lessons from the Old Testament were often omitted, and the liturgy be gan even then with the epistle, to which, on certain occasions, lessons from the Old Testament were prefixed. It is probable, that when the western churches began to discontinue the lessons from the Old Testament, they placed the psalm between the epistle and gospel, to preserve the semblance of the ancient custom, according to which the psalm had always intervened between the Old and New Testament. Even to the present time the Roman liturgy prefixes lessons from the Old Testament to the epistle and gospel on some particular days, and these lessons are followed by a tractus, or psalm. This is probably a relic of the ancient custom. In the patriarchate of Constantinople the lessons from the epistles and gospels are often preceded by lessons from the Old Testament; and these latter are separated from the epistle and gospel by a psalm'. Even on ordinary occasions, when the Old Testament is not read, there is a psalm, or some verses of it, read before the epistle, and it is preceded by the customary solemnity which takes place when a lesson is to be read. The deacon proclaims to the people Eopía, "Wisdom”—the reader begins "Alleluia! a psalm of David." The deacon exclaims again, "Pay attention;" and the reader proceeds to read the pKeiμev, as this psalm or anthem is called. The churches of Spain which did not adopt the Roman position of the gradual and alleluia, had a custom "Orientales Christiani Græcorum exemplo, plures sacræ scripturæ lectiones in liturgia celebrant, et in quibusdam diebus aut solemnibus festis, legunt primo caput aliquod ex Veteri Testamento, et ex Pro- which approaches nearly to the eastern form just alluded to. After the reading of the prophet, and before the epistle, they sung the hymn of "the Three Childrent." This was a fixed lesson, which had probably taken the place of the ancient psalm. And even now the church of Milan places the psalm after the lesson of the Old Testament which they always read, and before the epistle. This psalm they call Psalmellus, not tractus, or gradual. The Alleluia which is often sung in the Roman liturgy after the epistle, is said to have been first brought into use by Damasus, bishop of Rome, in imitation of the church of Jerusalem. Gregory the Great affirms this", but the tradition seems very doubtful. In the eighth century Notker, abbot of St. Gall in Switzerland, composed several hymns in verse, which acquired the name of prosa, or sequentiæ, and were sung after the gradual". Many other authors followed the example of Notker, and the church of England used several of these hymns before the reformation; but as they were in many instances unwisely composed, and had no claim to primitive antiquity, the revisers of our liturgy, in the reign of Edward the Sixth, entirely omitted them. t In Gaul, however, the Song of the Three Children was sung between the apostle and the gospel. See Germanus de Missa, Martene Anecdota, tom. v. p. 92. Pamelii Liturgica Latin. tom. i. p. 295. See vol. i. p. 159, 173. u Gregor. Mag. Epist. ad Johan. Syracus. lib. ix. Epist. 12. p. 940. tom. ii. Oper. ed. Benedict. ▾ Bona Rer. Liturg. lib. ii. c. 6. p. 370. w Miss. Sar. fol. 11, 12. et passim. VOL. II. E SECTION V. THE GOSPEL. The gospel, being the more immediate history of the Saviour of mankind, has always been read in the catholic church with peculiar respect and devotion. It was generally the office of the deacon to read the gospel in the primitive ages. Thus we find it to have been in the patriarchate of Antioch, in the time of Jeromex; and the same custom prevailed in the churches of Gauly and Spain2 at an early period. In the patriarchate of Alexandria it was read by the archdeacon, or chief of the deacons; but in some churches it was read by the priest only, and on the Lord's day by the bishopa. In the church of Constantinople it has always been read by a deacon, except on some particular feasts when the bishop reads. The church of England permits it to be read either by a deacon or a priest. In the fourth century the deacon was preceded by x"Evangelium Christi, quasi Diaconus lectitabas." Hieron. Epist. ad Sabinianum lapsum, p. 758. tom. iv. ed. Benedict. y Concil. Vasense 3. anno 529. canon ii. Si Presbyter, aliqua infirmitate prohibente, per seipsum non potuerit prædicere, sanctorum Patrum Homiliæ a Diaconibus recitentur. Si enim digni sunt Diacones quod Christus in Evangelio locutus est legere ; quare indigni judicentur sanctorum Patrum expositiones publice recitare." Labbé, Concilia, tom. iv. z Isidorus Hispalens.de Eccl. Off. lib. ii. c. 8. 66 Ipsi enim (Diaconi) clara voce in mo dum præconis admonent cunctos sive in orando, sive in flectendo genua, sive in psallendo, sive in lectionibus audiendo: ipsi etiam, ut aures habeamus ad Dominum, clamant: ipsi quoque evangelizant." 2 Ταύτην δὲ τὴν ἱερὰν βίβλον (εὐαγγελίων) ἀναγινώσκει ἐνθάδε μόνος ὁ ἀρχιδιάκονος. παρὰ δὲ ἄλ λοις, διάκονοι. ἐν πολλαῖς δὲ ἐκκλησίαις, οἱ ἱερεῖς μόνοι· ἐν δὲ ἐπισήμοις ἡμέραις, ἐπισκόποι, ὡς ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει, κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ἡμέραν τῆς ἀναστασίμου Eoprns. Sozomen. Hist. Eccl. lib. vii. c. 19. p. 735. ed. Valesii. Paris. 1668. lighted wax tapers to the pulpit, in the eastern churches, as a sign of rejoicing for the advent of him who was the light of men. The bells also were rung in some churches before the gospel, and in Æthiopia this ceremony has continued to the present day. When the deacon had ascended the pulpit, or ambon, and announced the title of the gospel, the people with one voice exclaimed, "Glory be to thee, O Lord!" This custom of giving glory to God for his holy gospel appears to have prevailed from remote antiquity in all the churches of the east and westd; and the church of England has not ceased for many centuries to follow so pious and laudable an example. It was also usual for all persons to arise before the gospel, and stand while it was recited. "When the gospel is read," says the ancient author of the Apostolical Constitutions, "let all the presbyters and deacons, and all the people, stand in great silencee." It was considered a peculiar custom of the church of Alexandria in the fifth century, that the pope or patriarch of Alexandria continued sitting during the reading of the gospelf. In the church of Constantinople the custom is preserved still. The b" Per totas Orientis Ecclesias, quando legendum est Evangelium, accenduntur luminaria, jam sole rutilante: non utique ad fugandas tenebras, sed ad signum lætitiæ demonstrandum." Hieronymus adv. Vigilantium, tom. iv. pars 2. p. 284. ed. Benedict. c Renaudot. Liturg. Oriental. tom. i. p. 213. The bells of the oriental churches are made of boards, which are struck with a hammer. d Goar, Rituale Græc. p. 69. Rupertus Abbas, lib. i. de Div. Officiis, c. 36. "Respondemus, gloria tibi Domine, glorificantes Dominum, quod misit nobis verbum salutis." e Apost. Const. lib. ii. c. 57. f Ξένον δὲ κἀκεῖνο παρὰ ̓Αλεξανδρεῦσι τούτοις· ἀναγινωσκομένων γὰρ τῶν εὐαγγελίων, οὐκ ἐπανιστάται ὁ ἐπίσκοπος· ὃ παρ ̓ ἄλλοις οὔτ ̓ ἔγνων οὔτε ἀκήκοα. Sozom. Hist. Eccl. lib. vii. c. 19. |