therefore considered part of the functions of a parish clerk, and the
whole lesson derived from a study of _The Clerk's Book_ is the very
important part which he took in the services. As the title of the book
shows, it contains "All that appertein to the clerkes to say or syng at
the Ministracion of the Communion, and when there is no Communion. At
Confirmacion. At Matrimonie. The Visitacion of the Sicke. The Buriall of
the Dedde. At the Purification of Women. And the first daie of Lent."

He began the service of Holy Communion by singing the Psalm appointed
for the introit. In the book only the first words of the part taken by
the priest are given, whereas all the clerk's part is printed in full.
He leads the responses in the Lesser Litany, the _Gloria in excelsis_,
the Nicene Creed. He reads the offertory sentences and says the _Ter
Sanctus_, sings or says the _Agnus Dei_, besides the responses. In the
Marriage Service he said or sang the Psalm with the priest, and
responded diligently. As in pre-Reformation times he accompanied the
priest in the visitation of the sick, and besides making the responses
sang the anthems, "Remember not, Lord, our iniquities," etc., and "O
Saviour of the world, save us, which by thy crosse and precious blood
hast redeemed us, help us, we beseech thee, O God." In the Communion of
the Sick the epistle is written out in full, showing that it was the
clerk's privilege to read it. A great part of the service for the Burial
of the Dead was ordered to be said or sung by the "priest or clerk," and
"at the communion when there was a burial" he apparently sang the
introit and read the epistle. In the Communion Service the clerk with
the priest said the fifty-first Psalm and the anthem, "Turn thou us, O
good Lord," etc. In Matins and Evensong the clerk sang the Psalms and
canticles and made responses, and from other sources we gather that he
used to read either one or both of the lessons. In some churches he was
called the dekyn or deacon, and at Ludlow, in 1551, he received 3 s. 4