Choice Leaves, Finer than Gold, from the Word of GodTaste and see! It's sweeter than honey!! Psalm 19THEBIBILICAL ARCHIVESPresents Lyra GermanicaSinging and Hearing the Word of GodHigh Victorian Arts and Crafts MovementThis BIBLICAL ARCHIVES offering is of ONE original printed leaf hand painted in a medieval Renaissance style and illuminated in real gold from the 1855 first edition of the Lyra Germanica. All original leaves come wi...th a Certificate of Historicity. Measurements: 6 1/2" x 4 3/4" Since the early days of the Reformation the Reformed Churches have embraced congregational signing. Desiderius Erasmus wrote in the preface to his Greek New Testament, "I would have the weakest woman read the Gospels and the Epistles of Paul. I would have those words translated into all languages, so that not only Scots and Irishmen but Turks and Saracens might read them. I long for the ploughboy to sing them to himself as he follows the plow, the weaver to hum them to the tune of his shuttle, the traveler to beguile with them the dullness of his journey." Singing has become so much a part of our worship that we forget that it was not so before the Reformation. Then it was official choirs of priests and nuns who were the choristers and the officiating priest was the soloist all echoing the same tired Gregorian chants. When Martin Luther introduced hymn singing in the 16th Century it was a milestone for the way in which people professed their faith and praised their God. Now the whole community in unison, with one voice made a "Joyful noise unto the Lord." In the very beginning congregational signing, for the most part but not always, was confined to singing the scriptures including the Ten Commandments and in particular the Psalms during both public and private times of worship. This practice has for its basis the regulative principle and is rooted in 2 Chronicles 29:30 Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped. Metrical Psalters were often appended to personal sized Bibles to enable their owners to easily reference the music to be sung during times of worship. As time went on the psalters gave way to the hymn book and today we access the words via the large AV screens in our homes and churches. Adorning the Word of GodThe artistic adornment of the Bible and hymn books is an important aspect of the Biblical tradition. Much emphasis was placed on the visual so that medieval manuscripts are today often sold as works of art. The reformation, however, refocused the emphasis to the audible and the visual faded over time until it was revived in printed form in the Victorian age. This BIBLICAL ARCHIVES offer is about that artistic revival of the adornment of the Word of God in the form of hymns embellished in real gold leaf illumination. Catherine WinkworthCatherine Winkworth was born in London in 1827, and spent most of her life in Manchester. In 1845 she went to Dresden, Germany, to stay for a year. In 1855 she published a collection of translations of German hymns into English, called Lyra Germanica. It was an instant success, and went into 23 editions. Her second series, published in 1858, went into 12 editions. In 1863 she published The Chorale Book For England, and in 1869 Christian Singers of Germany. Her work is one of the principal means by which the great German chorale tradition of the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries has been incorporated into English-language worship. This BIBLICAL ARCHIVES offering is of ONE original printed leaf hand painted in a medieval Renaissance style and illuminated in real gold from the 1855 first edition of the Lyra Germanica. All original leaves come with a Certificate of Historicity. Measurements: 6 1/2" x 4 3/4" This offer makes a splendid gift and is visually spectacular. Frame it and