lessons were taken from the Gos- pels and from the Epistles, or the Apostle (in part also from the Prophets), and were therefore called the Gospel and the Epistle for the particular Sunday or festival. Some churches, however, had three, or even four lessons, a Gospel, an Epistle, and a section from the Old Testament and from the Acts. Many m'anuscripts of the New Testament contained only the pericopes or lessons for puhlic worship,' and many of these again, only the Gospel pericopes." The Alexandrian deacon Euthalius, about 460, divided the Gospel and the Apostle, ex- cepting the Eevelation, into fifty-seven portions each, for the Sundays and feast days of the year ; but they were not gener- ally received, and the Eastern church still adhered for a long time to the lectio continua. Among the Latin lectionaries still extant, the Lectionarium Gallicanum, dating from the sixth or seventh century', and edited by Mabillon, and the so-called Comes (i. e.. Clergyman's ComDanion) or Liber Comitis, were in especial repute. The latter is traced by tradition to the learned Jerome, and forms the groundwork of the Koman lectionary and the entire "Western system of pericopes, which has passed from the Latin chm'cli into the Anglican and the Lutheran, but has undergone many changes in the course of time.^ This se- lection of Scripture portions was in general better fitted to the church year, but had the disadvantage of withholding large parts of the holy Scriptui-es from the people. The lessons were read from the ambo or reading desk by the lector, with suitable formulas of introduction ; usually the ' Hence called Lectionaria, sc. volumina, or Lectionaru, sc. libri ; also Evangelia cum Upistolis, Cojnes (manual of the clergy) ; in Greek, avayvwartKo., ei/ayye- \i(TTa.pia, i K\oya.5 la. '' Hence Evangelistaria, or EvangelistaHum, in distinction from the Epistolaria, Epistolare, or Apostolus. '•* The high antiquity of the Comes appears at any rate in its beginning with the Christmas Vigils instead of the Advent Sunday, and its lack of the festival of the Trinity and most of the saints' days. There are different recensions of it, the oldest edited by Pamelius, another by Baluze, a third (made by Alcuin at the command of Charlemagne) by Thomasi. E. Ranke, 1. c, has made it out probable that Jerome composed the Comes under commission from Pope Damasus, and is consequently the original author of the Western pericope system. 472 THIKD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590. Epistle first, and then the Gospel ; closing with the doxology or the singing of a psalm. Sometimes the deacon read the Gospel from the altar, to give it special distinction as the word of the Lord Himself. The church fathers earnestly enjoined, besides this, diligent private reading of the Scriptures ; especially Chrysostom, who attributed all corruption in the church to the want of knowl- edge of the Scriptures, Yet he already found himself com- pelled to combat the assumption that the Bible is a book only for clergy and