Also that we may imitate our Lord, Who went up into a mountain, [Footnote 652] that He might preach the gospel. The gospel is also read in a lofty and eminent place, because it hath been preached throughout all the world: as it is written: 'Their sound is gone out unto all lands.' [Footnote 653] But the epistle is read in a lower place, as typifying the law, which was confined to Judea alone, as it is written: 'In Jewry is God known.' [Footnote 654] [Footnote 652: S. Matthew v, i.] [Footnote 653: Psalm xix (_Coeli enarrant_), 4.] [Footnote 654: Psalm lxxv (_Notus in Judea_), I.] . . . . . 19. But in a Mass of requiem the gospel is not read in that exalted place, but at the altar, to signify that preaching profiteth not the departed. . . . . . 20. Also the gospel is read from an eagle, according to that saying, 'He came flying upon the wings of the winds.' [Footnote 655] And the eagle itself is covered with a covering of cloth or silk, on certain feasts, to signify the softness of the heart: as he saith, 'I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh.' [Footnote 656] [Footnote 655: Psalm xviii (_Diligam Te_), 10] [Footnote 656: Ezekiel xi, 19. ] . . . . . {188} 21. But he that readeth the gospel passeth to the left side: and setteth his face to the north, that the saying may be fulfilled, which is written, 'I will say to the north give up, and to the south keep not back' [Footnote 657] (Durandus, Book IV, chap. xxiv). [Footnote 657: Isaiah xliii, 6.] APPENDIX D ON THE SIGN OF THE CROSS In the second chapter of his fifth book Durandus enters at great length into this subject. The reason for making the sign is to drive away evil spirits, who, as S. Chrysostome says, 'always flee when they see the sign of the cross, as fearing that staff by which they have been wounded.' The pole on which the brazen serpent was raised, the crossing of Jacob's hands when blessing Joseph's children, the mark _tau_ (Ezekiel ix, 4) on the forehead, and the seal on the forehead in the Apocalypse, are some of the representations of the cross here alleged. The cross is to be made with three fingers, that is, the thumb and two fingers, in honour of the Trinity. The Jacobites and Eutychians use only one finger. Next the different methods of crossing are discussed. The sign ought to be made at the end of the gospel, the creeds, the Lord's Prayer, the _Gloria in excelsis_, the _Sanctus_, the _Agnus Dei_, the _Benedictus_, _Magnificat_, _Nunc dimittis_, at the beginning of the hours, the end of the Mass, when the priest gives the benediction, and whenever mention is made of the Cross of the Crucified. See also our author in his sixth book _De die Parasceu_. {189} APPENDIX E ON THE FOUR COLOURS USED IN CHURCH HANGINGS, ETC.