I. We have noted afore, that the priest, in the celebra-

tion of Mass, when it is not High Mass, himself readeth the gospel. But when a bishop or priest celebrateth High Mass with the highest solemnity, then, in some churches, as at Rome, the deacon having kissed the
'^ This section is in several places corrupt : for example — from Damas- cenus the quotation in the sixth head belongs properly to the seventh.
Our readers may perhaps be reminded of the anecdote of the good Earl of Derby (who, if the Reformed Church in England should ever have a calendar of her own, will assuredly be one of its martyrs), when on the scaffold. The church of Bolton was in sight : and the Earl requested that he might be allowed to kneel on the western side of the block, so that the last object on which his eyes were fixed might be God's house. His executioners showed their poor malice to the last, by denying him this wish.
i8o The Syinbolisin of Churches
right hand of the bishop, taketh the book of the gospel from the altar, and giveth it to the sub-deacon to bear, and asketh and receiveth the bishop's or priest's blessing. But in other churches, he first asketh for the blessing before he taketh the book. The benediction having been bestowed, the deacon proceedeth along the south side ^ of the choir to the rood loft, and before him goeth the sub-deacon with the volume of the gospel, and be- fore him the incense-bearer with incense ; and before him the torch-bearer with lighted tapers, and before him in some churches the banner of the cross : and thus they ascend the rood loft. And the deacon readeth the gospel : the which being finished, they return to the priest or bishop together. Which things we will more particularly go through. It is also to be noted, that in some churches, the deacon, when about to go to the rood loft, beginneth the antiphon which followeth benedictus in the nocturns, and while he is going thither, it is taken up, and finished by the chorus, to set forth charity : and it is sung without instruments, to denote that God com- mandeth us to have love alone. And now is the figure changed : for the deacon, who before represented S. John Baptist, now setteth forth S. John Evangelist : be- cause ' the law and the prophets were until John : ^ and after him the kingdom of heaven is preached.'
2. And the word evangelimn meaneth good tidings ; from eu, well, and dyyeAos, a messenger. For the preach- ing of Christ and His apostles is indeed a gospel, as pro- claiming Life after death, Rest after labour, a Kingdom after slavery.
3. And ye are to wit, that as the head hath pre- eminence over the other members of the body, and as
^ As is well known, double staircases to rood lofts appear to have been almost as common in England as single ones : and there are sometimes, especially in Norfolk churches, two corresponding rood turrets. 2 S. Luke xvi, 16.
Appendix i8i
the other members obey it : so the gospel is the principal thing of all that are said in the office of the Mass, and hath the pre-eminence, and whatever things be there read, or sung, they consent to it, as may well be per- ceived.
4. The deacon therefore first kisseth the hand of the bishop in silence, because the preacher must proclaim the gospel for the sake of eternal glory, as saith the spouse in the Canticles, ' His right hand shall embrace me.' ^ Also because the angel which came to announce the glory of Christ's Resurrection did sit on the right hand, clothed in white.^ In other churches, however, he doth not kiss, but only bowing asketh for a blessing. But the sub-deacon or deacon doth not kiss the hands, but the feet, of the Roman Pontiff, that he may exhibit the greatest reverence to the greatest bishop, and show that he is His Vicar, Whose feet the woman that was a sinner kissed.^ For his footstool is to be adored because it is holy. Whose feet also, when He had risen from the dead, the woman held and adored. Generally, none ought to kiss the hand of the Roman Pontiff, unless when he receiveth something from his hands, or giveth something to them : to show that we ought on both accounts to give thanks unto Him, Who giveth to all of His own, and receiveth from none.
5. The deacon incontinently thereafter taketh the book of the gospel from the altar, because the ' Law shall go forth out of Sion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem ' : ^ not the Mosaic Law which went forth of Sinai, but the Gospel Law, of which the Prophet saith, ' Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Jacob and with the house of Israel' '' The book is also taken from
^ Canticles ii, 6. * S. Mark xvi, 5.
^ S. Luke vii, 37. ^ Alicah iv, 2. " Jeremiah xxxi, 31.
1 82 The Symbolisin of Churches
the altar, because the apostles received the gospel from the altar, when they went about preaching the Passion of Christ Or the altar in this place signifieth the Jews, from whom the kingdom of God is taken, and given unto a nation that will do its fruits : and from this, that the gospel is taken from the altar, we learn, that it is the Word of God, which is signified by the altar, according to that saying, ' An altar of earth shall ye make unto me.'^
6. But he taketh it, according to some, from the right side of the altar : because the Church of the Jews, whence our Church springeth, was situate in the east : and placeth it on the left, as it is written, ' His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me ' : ^ and that for a threefold cause. Firstly, the gospel teacheth that things celestial, which be signified by the right, be preferred to things terrestrial, which the left hand setteth forth. Secondly, the book is inclined on the left shoulder, to signify that the preaching of Christ shall pass from the Gentiles, as it is written : ' In those days Israel shall be saved.' ^^ Thirdly, because in temporal life, which is set forth by that side, needful is it that Christ should be preached : and the book of the gospel is in some churches adorned on the outside with gold and gems. But the book remaineth on the altar, from the time that the priest goeth there, till the gospel be read, because it, in this respect, signifieth Jerusalem : since the gospel was first preached in Jerusalem, and remained there from the advent of the Lord till it was published to the Gentiles. As he saith, ' From Sion shall go forth the laws.' ^^ For Jerusalem was the place of the Passion, which is also set forth by the altar.
7. Thereafter he seeketh the benediction : because
** Exodus XX, 24. " Canticles ii, 6. '" Romans xi, 26.
" Micah iv, 2.
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none must preach unless he be sent. According to that saying, ' How shall they preach, except they be sent ? ' ^^ And the Lord saith to His disciples, ' Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He may send forth labourers into His harvest' ^^ But Esaias, when he had heard the voice of the Lord, saying, * Whom shall I send, and who will go for us ? ' ^-^ made answer and said, ' Here am I, send me.' And the Lord said, ' Go and tell this people,' etc.
8. Again, Moses prefigured this kind of blessing : who, when he had ascended unto the mountain, received the tables of the law and the blessing, and gave the com- mandment to the people. And the Lord also Himself blessed the order of deacons, and gave it the Holy Spirit and sent it to preach through the whole world. The bishop therefore, or the priest, visibly blesseth the deacon who is about to read the gospel, which he did not do to the sub-deacon when about to read the epistle, because Christ sent the law and the prophets, which be signified by the epistle, while he remained hidden from the world : but after that he had visited it, and conversed with men He sent forth His apostles and evangelists, and taught them, saying, ' Go and teach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' ^^ ' And they went through the villages, evangelising, and doing cures everywhere.' And he sendeth him to read the gospel, to note that Christ sent the apostles to preach the kingdom of God.
9. But the deacon, laying up in his heart the things which were said in the benediction, must study to show himself pure in heart, clean in words, chaste in deed, that he may be able to set forth the gospel worthily, because the fountain of living waters, that is, the gospel, doth not flow freely, except from Libanus, that is, from a chaste
'•- Romans x, 15. ^^ S. Matt, ix, 38. '^ Isaiah vi, 8, 9. '5 S. Matthew x, 7.
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heart, and a pure mouth. For praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner ; nay rather of the sinner saith God, ' What hast thou to do to set forth My ordinances, and take My covenant into thy mouth.' ^^ And therefore he is fortified by the sign of the cross, and then having received Hcense and benediction, as is aforesaid, and having made the sign of the cross, that he may walk in safety, proceedeth to the rood loft in silence, with his eyes fixed on the ground : bearing, according to the custom of some churches, nothing in his hand, as the Lord commanded the apostles whom He sent to preach the kingdom of God. ' Take,' saith He, ' nothing for the journey, and salute no one.' ^'^ But in other churches the deacon beareth a book, as shall be said hereafter. But when he cometh to the rood loft, he saluteth it, as entering into a house to which he offereth peace, and passeth from the right side of the choir to the left, as he had before transferred the book from the right to the left side. For when the Jews had refused the Word of God, it was preached to the Gentiles, who are understood by the left side.
10. In the Roman Church, and in certain others, the sub-deacon ascendeth the rood loft one way,^^ and the deacon another : because the one proceedeth to an in- crease of knowledge by teaching, the other by learning : and because the minister by the merit of his works, and the preacher by the merit of his words, proceedeth to an increase of righteousness. Whence the Psalmist : ' Thy rig-hteousness standeth like the mountains of God':^^ but they both return to the bishop by the same way, because by final perseverance they attain their reward,
i*^ Psalm 1 (^Deiis Deorwn) 16. i' S. Matthew x, 10.
1** Per dextram partem. We are to imag^ine, in the whole of this descrip- tion, the spectators supposed to face the altar. So in the fifteenth chapter of this book, the epistle is said to be read in dextera parte. '" Psalm xxxvi {dixit injustns)^ 6.
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as the Lord testifieth, saying : ' He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.' '^^ And that preaching sufficeth not without good deeds. For ' Jesus began both to do and to teach.' ^^ Therefore the preacher returneth by the same way by the which the minister had gone up. Moreover, he that is about to read the gospel goeth and ascendeth by one way, and returneth by another, according to that saying, ' They returned into their own country another way ' : 2- because the apostles did first preach to the Jews and then to the Gentiles : as it is written, ' Since ye have cast from you the Word of God,' ^^ and the rest.