Actes and monuments of matters most speciall and memorable, happenyng in the Church. [vol. 2, part 1] with an vniuersall history of the same, wherein is set forth at large the whole race and course of the Church, from the primitiue age to these latter tymes of ours, with the bloudy times, horrible troubles, and great persecutions agaynst the true martyrs of Christ, sought and wrought as well by heathen emperours, as nowe lately practised by Romish prelates, especially in this realme of England and Scotland. Newly reuised and recognised, partly also augmented, and now the fourth time agayne published and recommended to the studious reader, by the author (through the helpe of Christ our Lord) Iohn Foxe, which desireth thee good reader to helpe him with thy prayer.

¶The Epistle and the Gospell.

The reading of the Epistle and the Gospell, although it was not vsed in the Apostles time: yet it seemeth to bee of auncient continuaunce: as Hugo sayth, Primis tempori∣bus ab Epistola Pauli, missa incipiebatur, post quam sequebatur Euangelium, sicut nunc. i. In former time, the Masse begon first with the Epistle of S. Paule: after which Epistle thē folowed the Gospell, as also now. &c.

Walafridus sayth: it is vncerteine who first ordered & disposed them so to be.

Some attribute them to Hierome, some to Damasus, some to Telesphorus aforesayde. This is certayne, that Pope Anastasius ordeined to stand vp at the hearing of y^e Gospell read, about the yeare of our sauiour .406.

Petrus Ciruelus, writeth thus: Legimus & circa annos Christianae Salutis .500. fere, iam institutas Epistolas in officio missali. &c. About 500. yeares almoste, the Epistle sayth he, was first brought into the masse.

Honorius lib. 1. Epistolam & Euangelium Alexander Papa legi ad missam cōstituit. Hieronimus autem praesbiter lexionariū, & Euangeliarium, vt hodie habet Ecclesia, collegit. Sed Damasus Papa, vt nunc moris est, legi censuit. Alexander sayth he, ap∣poynted the Epistle, and the Gospell, to be read at Masse. The translation and the disposition of them, in that order, as they stand, Hierome the Priest collected: but Damasus would them to be read in the Churche, so as the vse is now

Betwixt the Epistle and the Gospell, the olde Canons of the Spanyardes did forbid any Hymne or Canticle to be songe, in the order of the Masse, which now by the Ro∣mish order is broken.

Notes

• ••ugo de S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• 〈1 paragraph〉〈1 paragraph〉
• 〈1 paragraph〉〈1 paragraph〉
• 〈…〉〈…〉 ••onorius 〈◊〉〈◊〉 summa. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 1. cap. 88.
• 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Ibid.