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Continuing
LEHRE UND WEHRE
MAGAZIN FUER Ev.-LuTH. HOMILETIK
THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLy-THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY
Vol. xm August, 1942 No.8
Page
Verbal Inspiration - a Stumbling-Block to the Jews and Foolish-
ness to the Greeks. Th. £ng<:lder ...................................... .......... _ .. _ .. 561
Leading Thoughts on Eschatology in the Epistles to the Thessa-
lonians. L. Fuerbringer .......................... .. ......................... __ ........... 591
The Principillnl Cognoscendi in Theology. W. H. T. Dan _._ .. _. ___ ... (,11 ..
Outlmes on lh\: Vllcr 'temb, g Ellbll . : · ' ct '(ttl!> .
Miscellanea ................... . "
Theological Observer. - IGHlllich.Zeitgeschichtlith." _ ............. _ ....... 623
ook Review. - Liter 'I II' ................................................................... _ . 633
Ein Prediger muss nlcht alleln wei-
den. also dass er die Schafe unter-
weise. wle sle rechte Christen sollen
aein. sondem auch daneben den Woel-
fen tDehTen. dass e dIe "chafe nlcht
w und m it al I:h~r Lebre ver-
fuehren und Trrtum einfu en.
Luthe-r
Es 1st kein Ding. das die Leuie
mehr bel der Kirche behaelt denn
die gute Predigt. - Apologie. Art. 24
If the trunpet give an lCertain
sound. who shall prepare hlm~t 1 to
the battle? -1 COT. 14:B
Published for the
Ev. Lutb. S)"Uod of Missouri, Ohio, and Otber St. tcs
CONCO I). PUBLlS NG HOUSE, St. Lou , Mo.
620 Miscellanea
Miscellanea
Concerning Chancel Choirs
"The chancel should not be crowded with benches and desks, which
has a very bad effect, but should be kept as open as possible. In small
chancels it is certainly best not to have a surpliced choir, so that only
stalls for the clergy and a few seats for servers are needed. Whatever
choir there is can then be accommodated in a gallery with the organ,
which will increase reverence, economize space, and improve the quality
of the singing.
"I do not think there can be much doubt that this is the ideal
arrangement even in most large churches. Except in 'Quires and Places
where they sing,' that is to say in cathedral, collegiate, and suchlike
churches, surpliced choirs are a nineteenth century innovation, and
still in the experimental stage. And surely the old plan was a wise
one: cathedral and collegiate churches have two qualifications for such
choirs, which most parish churches have not; they possess real structural
quires a good distance from the sanctuary - not merely chancels; and
their foundations allow of careful supervision and constant musical
training of the boys. There is something to be said for exceptionally
large, rich, and central churches starting foundations, becoming, in fact,
collegiate; but many parsons are beginning to ask themselves whether
in ordinary parish churches the innovation has justified itself. Its
ethical and musical bearings are beyond the province of this book;
one can only say that the behavior of choirs and the qualtity of the
music they produce in average parish churches suggests that we are
in need of some reformation in the matter.
"For these reasons alone it is probable that such choirs will tend
to decrease amongst us. Weare not at present a musical nation, as is
proved by the fact that we maintain a great company of organ-grinders,
and in other ways batten on -the musical refuse of other countries.
As we become more musical, the number of men and boys in our choirs
will probably decrease; we shall no longer try to herd in as many
as the chancel can possibly hold, for we shall seek less for noise and more
for music; we shall have more practices and insist that they are
attended, and the braver choirmasters will even refuse to admit choristers
who cannot sing. Consequently choirs will become much smaller. Many
churches will be content with four or even two paid rulers, to lead the
singing and chant the alternate verses of the psalms and canticles.
I think that as the choirs decrease, the congregations will increase.
"Perhaps with these modifications the surpliced choir will survive,
at least in places. The question will no doubt settle itself on musical
grounds. But the artist and the ecclesiologist would come to pretty
much the same conclusion as I have prophesied for the musician.
Ecclesiastical precedent is against surpliced choirs in ordinary parish
churches, and large choirs are not conducive to reverence. Esthetically,
there is a distinct loss in crowding the chancel with a mass of white;
indeed, in the days when color effect was understood, the surplices
Miscellanea 621
(in the cathedral churches, which had choirs) were covered nearly all
the year with black cloth copes (which were more like black gowns
than ceremonial copes), and traces of this still remain in the boys'
gowns at Lincoln and the purple gowns at Norwich Cathedral. As for
parish churches, the inventories show an extraordinarily small number
of surplices and rochets, which puts the non-existence of surpliced
choirs in the ordinary church beyond a doubt. There were just a few
exceptionally placed churches where a few boys sang in the choir, as
St. Peter's, Cornhill, where there were seven boys' surplices. In the
same way there is evidence that in large parish churches there were
rulers who had seats in the midst of the choir in imitation of the
cathedrals. We learn also, from an interesting passage in the Sarum
Customary, that provision was made for such an imitation of the
cathedral use in parish churches, the boys ('if there are any') standing in
front of the choir stalls, while other 'clerks' occupied places to the east
of what we should call the clergy-stalls, just as they do nowadays.
I do not suggest that we are to be bound by medieval precedent as to the
number of choristers we employ; but I do say that surpliced choirs
have been largely introduced simply because they were thought to be
'high church,' and that this idea was a mistaken one, whether a 'high
churchman' be regarded as a scrupulous obeyer of the Prayer Book, or
as a follower of Caroline, or Medieval, or even of modern Continental
customs. This idea, then, being disposed of, we must judge surpliced
choirs by their fruits - musical, moral, artistic, and devotional. That
judgment is now being formed; and I, for one, shall not be surprised
if the result is not to prove, as usual, that the old ways are best."
(Quoted from Dearmer, The Parson's Handbook, pp. 46-49.)
Which Is the Proper Parament Color for the Epiphany Season?
In reply to a number of inquiries received concerning this question,
we have again consulted some of the foremost authorities in the field
of paramentics, specifically those of the Anglican Church and of the
Lutheran Church of Germany. There is a practical unanimity on this
point: the color is properly green. Dearmer (Episcopalian) in The
Parson's Handbook, p. 115 f., says: Epiphany Octave to Septuagesima,
green. Lee (Episcopalian) in the Directorium Anglicanum, states: White
for the evening of Christmas Eve to the Octave of Epiphany inclusive;
green on all other days. Smart (Protestant Episc.) in his The Altar,
Its Ornaments, and Its Care, p. 50, writes: "Green is used for the period
between the Octave of Epiphany and Septuagesima." Meurer (Lu-
theran) in his Altarschmuck, p. 52 f., says: "Gruen fuer die Epiphanien-
und Trinitatiszeit." And Koch (Evangelical) in his book Das Kirchen-
geraet im evangelischen Gottesdienst, p. 48 f., has the same direction:
"Erster Sonntag nach Epiphanias bis Estomihi, Gruen." P. E. K.
Sur 2el)re bom mntidirift
lffitr Iefen in "Beljre unb lffieljre" , 1888,