life is illustrated, as in the earlier portion the life of faith and worship receives the chief emphasis.1 Readings from the Old Testament must necessarily have been the only lections possible in Divine Service until the New Testament came gradually into being. It is to be remembered that the Holy Communion was celebrated for twenty years before the earliest book of the New Testament was written, namely, the first Epistle of S. Paul to the Thessalonians; and probably a longer period before the first Gospel was written. The passages of the Old Testament would naturally be such as those in which our Lord unfolded "all things written in the Law, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms" concerning Himself. This "prophetic" lection, as it was called, continued for many centuries. The Armenian Liturgy has preserved the "prophetic" lection, and that of Milan still makes use of it on certain days.3 The origin of the EPISTLE, which for several centuries was called the "Apostle," is evidently to be found in the injunction of S. Paul that his letters should be "read," that is publicly, "in the Church." The immemorial place for reading the Epistle is the south-west corner of the altar, and from a lower step, sometimes from a lectern; and for the Gospel the north-west corner (cornu sinistrum, or cornu Evangelii), and from an upper step. Though the Gospels, at least in their written form, did not come until after the Church had spread into Europe, there is no extant liturgy that does not contain a provision for a 1 For a full consideration of this subject, see the Author's The Christian Year: Its Purpose and its History. • S. Luke xxiv, 44. Duchense, p. 195. Scudamore, Not. Euch. VI, iii, 24. 5 Col. iv, 16; 1 Thess. v, 27. 6 Not. Euch. VI, vi, 258. GOSPEL lection. It was the custom of the Primitive Church, as seen in the Apostolical Constitutions, to sit at the reading of the Scriptures (except the Gospel), and at the sermon. "To sit during the Epistle is the ancient custom, and to stand during the Gospel."1 Kneeling at the Epistle, which has been somewhat practised of late, has no good authority anywhere. In the First Book of Edward (1549) the ancient custom of saying "Glory to Thee, O Lord" (Gloria Tibi) was continued, and though omitted from the English Book since 1552, the tradition has been universally preserved. It was restored to the Scottish Prayer Book in 1637, and to the American in 1789. The Scottish Book has at the end of the Gospel the response, "Thanks be to Thee, O Lord, for this Thy glorious Gospel," but there was no response in the old English liturgies.2 There is no direction to say "Here endeth the Gospel," after the example of the ending of the Epistle, because the Creed which immediately follows is the continuation and the full declaration of the Gospel, of which the portion read is but a fragment.3 The proper CREED for the Holy Eucharist is that which is called the Nicene from having been drawn up, so far as the clear declaration of our Lord's perfect Godhead is concerned, at the First General Council held in Nice in Asia Minor in 325. From the beginning there had been a brief "form of sound words," or "form of doctrine," summing up in simple language the great fundamental facts of the Gospel, and framed around the three-fold formula given by our Lord for the admission of disciples into His sacred school." The Nicene Creed did not add to this belief in Father, 1 Dearmer, Parson's Handbook, p. 199; Maskell, Anct. Lit., p. 50; Not. Euch., 248. Not. Euch. 264. • Rev. xiv, 9. 4 2 Tim. i, 13; Rom. vi, 17. S. Matt. xxviii, 19. Son, and Holy Ghost, but brought out more clearly its meaning in opposition to the heresy of Arius, a priest of Alexandria, who denied the true Godhead of the Lord Jesus. Though taught to all the baptized from the earliest days, the Creed was not formally introduced into the Liturgy until the year 471 in Antioch, and until 511 in Constantinople. In Rome it was not so used until the first half of the eleventh century.1 The custom of bowing at the Name of Jesus is said to have originated at the Council of Nice, to emphasize the reverence due to the Son of Man whose true Deity had been despised by Arius. The rule of bowing the head at every mention of this holy Name is required by Canon 18 of the Church of England, "As it hath been accustomed; testifying by these outward ceremonies and gestures . . . their due acknow 1 Duchesne, pp. 84, 172. For a history of the three forms of the Creed see chap. xxv. The original Creed of Nice, or Nicaea, ended with the words, "We believe in the Holy Ghost." (In the acts of the councils "we" is always employed, but in the Greek liturgies it is the singular, “I,” as with us.) The rest of the Creed was added at the Second General Council in Constantinople in 381, chiefly for the purpose of condemning the heresy of Macedonius, who denied the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. The addition of the words, "and from the Son," commonly known as "the Filioque" from the words in Latin, is said to have been made in the Spanish Church in the fifth or sixth century in order to guard some new attempt to deny the true Divinity of our Lord. It was finally inserted in the Roman Creed about the year 850, chiefly, it is said, through the influence of Charlemagne, to whom is ascribed the authorship of the great hymn to the Holy Ghost, "Veni Creator Spiritus." "It has never been accepted by the whole Church, and however true the doctrine which it sets forth, its introduction into the Creed, without sufficient authority, has been the cause of the schism of the Church of Christ into Eastern and Western Christendom, the most extensive division, and the most lamentable occurence in ecclesiastical history" (F. E. Warren, Pr. Bk. Comm., p. 20). ledgment that the Lord Jesus Christ, the true eternal Son of God, is the only Saviour of the world." 1 This is the only place where a SERMON is provided for. In the Middle Ages sermons were only occasional. Though there is no provision in the Book for a prayer before the Sermon, some form of invocation or prayer is appropriate, and is customary. The fifty-fifth Canon of the Church of England, and the Scottish Book provide forms of a Bidding Prayer to be used by preachers. The English form begins, "Ye shall pray for Christ's Holy Catholic Church, . . . and especially for the Churches of England, Scotland, and Ireland." It then specifies rulers and magistrates, clergy and people, and concludes with the Lord's Prayer. It is still used in cathedrals, college chapels, and some parish churches.2 ... 1 See also S. Paul's remarkable reverence for this Name, as pointed out in the author's, "The Christian Year, etc., pp. 59, 60. 2 "These addresses to the people, or 'biddings,' called 'Prefaces' in the Gallican Liturgies, are a distinct mark of Ephesine origin." Warren, Lit. of Celtic Church, p. 167, note. CHAPTER XVI THE OFFERTORY, PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH, EXHORTATION, "Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before N the Primitive Church there was no such thing as a IN pewed church building. All the support of the Clergy, the care of the poor, and of buildings, came from the voluntary offerings of the people, and "the altar," according to our Lord's command in the Sermon on the Mount,1 was naturally considered the most fitting place for such gifts. In the earliest days the opportunity to make an offering at the altar was a privilege, and only those who were in the full communion of the Church were allowed to do so. It is important to remember in this connection that the endowments, glebe lands, tithes, and invested funds, as well as the Church buildings, in all old Christian lands, are very rarely the gift of the State. They are the voluntary gifts, for the most part, of the Church's own members, high and low, rich and poor alike, through many centuries. Exactly the same process is going on in new countries today, where endowments for parish, and school, and college, and hospital are being created by the voluntary offerings of Christian people.2 An essential part of the OFFERTORY (which is correctly applied also to the sentences said or sung at this part of the service) consists of the bread and wine for the Holy Com 1 S. Matt., v, 23, 24. * See the author's Gospel in the Church, Senior Grade, p. 221, for the character of endowments in the Church of England. |