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 d. for reading the first lesson.

In the accounts of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, there is an item in the year 1553 for the repair of the pulpit where, it is stated, “the curate and the clark did read the chapters at service time.”

Archbishop Grindal, in 1571, laid down the following injunction for his province of York:  “That no parish clerk be appointed against the goodwill or without the consent of the parson, vicar, or curate of any parish, and that he be obedient to the parson, vicar, and curate, specially in the time of celebration of divine service or of sacraments, or in any preparation thereunto; and that he be able also to read the first lesson, the Epistle, and the Psalms, with answers to the suffrages as is used, and also that he endeavour himself to teach young children to read, if he be able so to do.”  When this archbishop was translated to Canterbury he issued very similar injunctions in the southern province.  Other bishops followed his example, and issued questions in their dioceses relating to clerkly duties, and these injunctions show that to read the first lesson and the epistle and to sing the Psalms constituted the principal functions of a parish clerk.

Evidences of the continuance of this practice are not wanting[38].  Indeed, within the memory of living men at one church at least the custom was observed.  At Keighley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, some thirty or forty years ago the parish clerk wore a black gown and bands.  He read the first lesson and the epistle.  To read the latter he left his seat below the pulpit and went up to the altar and took down the book:  after reading the epistle within the altar rails he replaced the book and returned to his place.  At Wimborne Minster the clerk used to read the Lessons.