SURPLICED CHOIRS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6947, 22 February 1884, Page 6

SURPLICED CHOIRS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sib,- —The mild controversy in St. Thomas's about the .choir ' wearing surplices aeeras a fitting ..occasion l for',;; saying ..a few words of explanation" regarding tbe surplice and one or two other articles of dress .worn by the" clergy \of.. the Church of England in their ministrations. lA bttle correct information. mayv,remove prejudices on the part of thelaity, and show* what little cause .any . of the clergy! have - for'laying great 'stress on. the surplice, &c., as being something very priestly and sacred.'. First I would premise that for' severalfcentnries ministers of 'religion .were; content to follow the example of the Anthor of Christianity and. 1 of; the.: ; Apostles,'; and Bimply: dress as 1 all other men did,- ■ There; was no distinction whatever in the matter of dress between the clergy and the laity. Tbb ministers of the present day who most neirly conform to A postolic ' and'iprimitive practice . are those:: who most '.nearly conform, both When ministering and when not, to the dress of . ordinary; laymen of; their - day and country. Let us now take the . surplice. Dean - Stanley, in liis admirable work; Christian (Institutions," gives a great deal 1 of .interesting; information on clerical dre&s. postures, . practices, &c. To him 1 am indebted. The:'«sarplice then was "the shirt worn over the'fur coat, sheepskin, or other : skin '—the ares 3 of the Northern barbarians. Its name arose, in the twelfth, dentury; mpcr-pclliciuniy surplice, the over-fur.. .It ; was the general, ordinary dress of all classes of men. Laymen; however; ceased to wear it. But its lineal: descendant' is.still to be :found in the;shape.of the waggoner's smock' frock, which he wears over his other clothes, ! just as his ancestors wore the over-fur, the surplice, and as our clergy.now wear it over their other clothes. The black band of silk — the stole—worn round the neck, and hanging down in front over the surplice, is a survival of the pocket handkerchief of a bygone age. "On State occasions these handkerchiefs were used as ribbons, ptreamers, or scarfs; and were eventually adopted by the. deacons, who had little else to distinguish.th.em." 'I hey were thus practically very much what, the scarfs worn by members cf fribndly societies now are. The clergy generally have long worn them, though only deacons did so originally. Latterly some of the clergy* those generally belonging to a particular school, have introduced a shortened surplice.: This is in imitation of toe short surplice worh by a Roman priest'. Dean Stanley says the Roman surplice had a deep, border or flounce of lace, which made it long. The lace became dear, and priests were not always able to obtain it, and so had to.go without, aud to wear their surplice so much: the shorter. Hence, the. short affected by the ; Ritualists as being something very priestly. Latterly some of have again begun to . wear, the disusr d cassock under their surplice:— a long black close-fitting coat: coming to the beds, exactly as does its successor to a certain,extent; the modern ulster. Well this, we are -told, is simply the "long over-all brought from France by the Emperor Antoninus Bassianus." "It was. called caracalta ca.iaca, and .finally cassock." It av»b ,a coat worn over all,, and worn generally by prince and peasant; , it. was indeed a progenitor of our ulster,, save that it. was more generally worn by all. classes. It thus appears that no matter vwhat a section of the clergy may tell us about-this' or that article of clerical costume;,its shape,. its colonr;. its distinctive uses'and, symbolism, that there is really nothing " sacred, nothing symbolical, sacerdotal, or mystical" in any of these once ordinary clothes of all classes; but gradually discarded by the laity, just as wigs have been; .though the latter are still'worn by Judges and. barristers in Court, as 1 did. Bishops 'until'' a few years.ago ; and-the great, fact remains that the founder, of Christianity, the Apostles; and >.the Primitive. Christians; knew no. dis? : tinction of dress between clergy and laity.— I am, Sc., , ' A. B. P.