Ecclesiastical Vestments: Their development and historyMacalister, Robert Alexander Stewart
History
Ecclesiastical Vestments: Their development and history
Macalister, Robert Alexander Stewart
Church vestments
'The difference in the sandal sets forth a difference in the minister.
The offices of the priest and of the bishop are almost identical; but
because there is a distinction in their titles and honours there is a
distinction in their sandals, that we may not fall into error upon
beholding them, which we might well do, owing to the similarity of their
offices. The bishop has a band (_ligatura_) in his sandals, which the
presbyter has not. It is the duty of the bishop to travel throughout the
length and breadth of his diocese (_parochia_) to govern the
inhabitants; and lest they should fall from his feet, his sandals are
bound. The moral of this is, that he who mingles with the vulgar crowd
must secure fast the courses of his mind (_gressus mentis_). The priest,
who remains in one spot and offers the sacrifice there, walks more
securely. The deacon, because his office is different from that of the
bishop, needs not different sandals; he therefore wears them bound,
because it is his to go on attendance. The subdeacon, because he assists
the deacon, and has almost the same office, must have different sandals,
that he be not thought a deacon. The inner meaning is this: Because the
sandals set forth the way of the preacher, the sole, which is
underneath, warns the preacher not to mingle with earthly matters. The
tongue of white leather, which is under the "tread"[56] of the foot,
shows that there ought to be the same separation, guiltless and
guileless; that it may be said of him, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in
whom there is no guile;" let him not be such as were the false apostles,
who preached in malice and disputation. The tongue, which rises thence,
and is separated from the leather of the sandals, sets forth the tongue
of those who ought to bear good testimony to the preacher, of whom Paul
said, "He must have a good report of them that are without." These are
in the lower rank, and to some extent are separated from spiritual
intercourse. The upper tongue is the tongue of the spirits
(_spiritalium_), who lead the preacher into the work of preaching. These
search into the past life of the preacher. But the sandals are bound
round within with white leather; so must the desire of the preacher be
pure before God, out of a clean conscience; and without appears the
black, since the life of the preacher seems despised by them that are
worldly on account of the myriad afflictions of this present life. The
upper part of the sandal, through which the foot enters, is sewn
together with many threads, that the two leather bands be not separated;
for at first the preacher should apply himself to the many virtues and
sayings of the Scriptures, that his outward acts may not be at variance
with those which are secret and known to God only. The tongue of the
sandals, which is over the foot, sets forth the tongue of the preacher.
The line made by the craft of the shoemaker, stretching from the tongue
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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