'To express veneration for the words of our Lord': the reading of the Epistle and Gospel at the Holy Communion
After one of the two Collects for the King, in which we prayed for the external prosperity of the Church, this Rubric directs, that the Collect for the day shall follow, which is commonly a prayer for internal grace; and that immediately after the Collect, the priest shall read the Epistle, the Gospel, and the Creed.
Before the celebration of the Passover the Jews read the history of their deliverance from Egypt, and the voice of antiquity uniformly proclaims, that at the celebration of the Eucharist, the Christians have always read select portions from the New Testament. The practice is mentioned by Justin Martyr, and Tertullian, Chrysostom, Austin, Origen, Leo, and others, delivered Homilies, or Sermons, which still appear among their respective works, upon the portions of Scripture, that in their times were appointed to be read ...
Why do we read the Scriptures in divine service? Because it is what Christians do and what Christians have always done, inheriting the practice from the Jewish people.
The priority given to the reading of the Gospel - the "most honourable" of the readings - is also rightly recognised by Shepherd as significant. This, as he points out, is given liturgical expression in the 1662 rite:
It is remarkable that the reading of the Epistle, should have always preceded the reading of the Gospel. The Epistle appears to have been regarded as a kind of harbinger, or messenger to the Gospel. It was considered as the words of the servant, and the Gospel as the words of the master, for whom the last, or most honourable place was reserved ...
During the reading of the Epistle, the people are permitted to sit; but when the Gospel is read we all stand up, to express our veneration for the words of our Lord, to shew our readiness to execute his Commands, and to denote our determination to follow whithersoever he may call ...
That these four texts, written after many of the canonical epistles, should have a priority expressed by a particular veneration is witness to the Church's Christological centre: these four accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ have priority over the epistles because it is His person and these saving events which constitute the Church's confession, the confession proclaimed by the epistles. The simple practice, therefore, of the people standing for the Gospel reading carries with it significant weight, in terms of both doctrine and piety.
It is, of course, the case that the 1662 rite has no liturgical veneration for the Gospel reading apart from the people standing. This provision itself, however, should not be overlooked, as Shepherd states. Interestingly, however, he also makes mention of a practice which was not provided for in 1662:
In ancient Liturgies, and in our first book of Common Prayer, when the passage to be read out of the Gospel was announced by the minister, the people, to evince the joy with which they received it, were directed to say, "Glory be to thee, O Lord." Though in all the subsequent editions of our book this direction has been omitted; yet the practice is very generally retained. It was likewise customary in the ancient Church, after the ending of the Gospel, to say, "Thanks be to God for his Holy Gospel;" a practice in some places still continued.
That such an acclamation could be described in 1801 as "very generally retained" is noteworthy. It does, perhaps, explain the re-introduction of the Gospel acclamation by the American 1789 and Irish 1878 revisions, the former pre-dating Tractarianism and the latter firmly against Tractarian influences. In other words, both revisions were accepting a "very generally retained" and uncontroversial practice in pre-1833 Anglicanism.
If the practice was as widespread as implied by Shepherd (and by the American and Irish revisions), it illustrates an enduring Anglican piety regarding the Gospel reading, of what it means to be addressed by the words of our Lord, particularly as we prepare to approach to the Holy Sacrament; of how the words of our Lord in the Gospels define it means to "Draw near with faith ... in love and charity with your neighbours".
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