302 ANDREW J. SHIPMAN MEMORIAL 



the worshipper in the nave saw around him. And, with our 

 art knowledge of to-day, with the experience and results of 

 centuries behind us, we cannot excel those wonderful minia- 

 tures and illuminations of the past, but are fain, as in so many 

 other regards, merely to copy them. 



The needle, too, contributed its share. From the earliest 

 times the worship of the emancipated Christian Church was 

 performed in the noblest and best apparel the wealth and piety 

 of the worshippers could bestow. If earthly courtiers ought 

 to approach their sovereigns clad in their best, why, then, 

 should not the King of kings be approached and served with 

 magnificence? When the courtly apparel of Roman days be- 

 came ancient and unfamiliar, it was peculiarly consecrated to 

 the service of the Church and was adorned as fully and mag- 

 nificently as possible. Thus the Church consecrated em- 

 broidery and afterwards lacework to its service. Art work of 

 the noblest kind is found in the decoration and ornamenta- 

 tion of chasubles, stoles, capes, mitres and the coverings of the 

 sacred vessels and the altar. In figure and color, to say noth- 

 ing of the beauty of the design, these vestments vie with illu- 

 mination and painting, differing from it only in degree. The 

 brilliant, filmy surplices and albs and other ecclesiastical vest- 

 ments brought forth the finest examples of the lacemaker's 

 art in the service of the Church. 



The jeweler's art was always sought after and fostered by 

 the Church. The sacred vessels in which the Blessed Sacra- 

 ment reposed, and those which were used on the altar, were 

 always highly adorned and made of the most precious metals. 

 The arts which wrought in gold and silver and precious stones 

 had their finest outlet here ; for no reverent idea of sacred 

 adornment which made for artistic worth and embellishment 

 was overlooked. And in a less degree the working out of 

 crosses, croziers, sanctuary lamps and all the precious orna- 

 ments connected with the altar and its ministry commanded 

 the highest artistic skill of the worker in gold, silver and 

 precious stones. The whole history of the Church glows with 

 the splendor and brilliancy of this form of art, so intimately 

 connected with its sacred mysteries. 



Thus the Church has laid all forms of art under contribu- 

 tion. It has been as universal almost in its promotion of art, 

 as it has been in the spread and the teaching of the Gospel 



