"To the churches where no ministers can be had pres- entlie must be appointed the most apt men that distinct- lie can read the common praiers and the Scriptures, to exercise both themselves and the Church, till they grow to greater perfection : and in process of time he that is but a reader may attain to a farther degree, and, by con- sent of the Church and discreet ministers, may be permit- ted to minister the sacraments; but not before that he be able somewhat to perswade by wholesome doctrine, be- side his reading, and be admitted to the ministerie, as be- fore is said. . . . Nothing have we spoken of the stipend of readers, because, if they can do nothing but reade, they neither can be called nor judged true ministers, and yet regard must be had to their labors; but so that they may be spurred forward to vertue, and not by any stipend ap- pointed for their reading to be retained in that estate. To a reader, therefore, that is newly entered, fourty merkes, or more or lesse, as parishioners and readers can agree, is sufficient: provided that he teach the children of the par- ish, which he must doe, besides the reading of the com-
READING
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READING-IN
mon prayer?, and bookes of Hie Old and New Testament. If from reading he begin to exhort and explain the Script- be augmented, till finally he come to the honour of a minister. But if he be found unable after two yeares, then must he be removed from . .1 of ail stipend, that another may be proved as long; for this alwaies i- to !><■ avoided, that none who is judged unable to come at any time to some reasonable knowledge, whereby he may edifle the Kirk, shall be perpetually susteined upon the charge of the Kirk. Farther, it must be avoided that no child, nor ■hiii age— that is. within twentie-one yeares of idmitted to the ofiice of a reader." The name occurs, however, in Church records long after that period, for in many places the office was tacitly permitted. The precentor sometimes bore ii : and ex- torters—persons who read the Scriptures and added a few words of remark — were found in various towns. — Eadie, Eccles. Cyclop, s. v. See Precentor,
Reading, <>i:ii;ntai. Modi: of (Ueb. ^7~- to rail aloud; nvaytvwcwrw). Mr. Jowetl remarks, in his Christian Researches in Syria, etc.. that "when persons are reading privately in a book, they usually go on reading aloud with a kind of singing voice, moving their lead- and bodies in time, and making a monoto- nous cadence a! regular intervals, thus giving empha- sis, although nol Mich an emphasis as would please an English ear. Very often they seem to read without perceiving the sense, and to be pleased with themselves merely because they can go through the mechanical art of reading in any way." This practice may enable us to "understand how it was that Philip should bear at what passage in Isaiah the Ethiopian eunuch was read- ing before be was 'united to come up and sit with him in tic chariol (Acts \ i ii, 30, 31). The eunuch, though probably reading to bimself, and not particularly de- signing to be heard by bis attendants, would read loud enough to be understood by a person at some distance." See Book.
Reading, Councils op (Concilia Redingensia). The iirst of these was held in July, 1279, by archbishop Peckham oft lanterbury, assisted by bis suffragans. The twelve following constitutions were published:
1. Renews the twenty-ninth constitution of Othobon against pluralities, and directs bishops to cause a register to be kept of all incumbents in their dioceses, with all
ars relating to them and their livings.
2. Relates to Commendaries, and declares such as are held otherwise than the constitution of Gregory, made in the Council of Lyons, 1273, permits, to he vacant.
3. Orders all priests, on the Sunday after every rural Chapter, to explain to the people the sentences ,,| excom- mumcntion decreed by the Council of Oxford in 1222; and to publish four times in each year the constitutions of Othobon concerning baptism at Easter and Pentecost, and that concerning concubinaries at the four principal rural chapters, the laity being fust dismissed.
i. Orders that children born within eight days of Pen- tecost and Easter shall be reserved to be baptized at these times; bnl that children horn at other tunes shall be bap- tized at once, for fear of sudden death.
5. Orders the eighth constitution of Othobon (1368)
oncubinary priests to be read openly in the four principal rural chapters, and declares that snch reading shall he taken as a monition. If the dean or his deputy neglect this, he is directed to fast every Friday on bread ami w iter urn ii i he ne\t chapter.
6. Relates i<> the i hrism: orders that what remains of
iiii-m shall be burned when the new is conse- crated; directs that priests shall be bound to fetch the churches every year from their bishops I ister; forbids to use" any other than the new chrism, under the heaviest penalties.
uiseerated host be kept in a fair pyx, within a tabernacle : that a fresh host be consecrated I's day j that it be carried to the sick by a priest in surplice and stole, a lantern being carried before and n i the people may "make humble adora- tion win' e-.H \ t the K;ng of Glory is carried uudei the