Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1908-07-23
Exegi Monumentum.

The completion and dedication OF the
new Lutheran Church in Shepherds
town is an event of peculiar Importance.
and this community may well repeat
the boastful line OF Horace, 81 have
built my monument" and one OF such
beauty that we can point to 1T with
pride and self-complaisance.
For as the extinct races Of animate
nature write their history in the geolo-
gic strata, 50 men write their records in
the temples they build as the embiems
Of national heroism or of religious faith:
Architecture, though the most silent OF
the arts. yet speaks forth in its massive
muteness, the ideas that underlle the
creeds and professions ofthe differing ma
tions and epochs. The pagan Greek, with
his exaltatioD vi every delight and pleas
ure in sensual life, symbolized this IN
the readily comprehended marble IA
cade, supported by the rows OF rlcnly
ornamented columns; the browning lines
were horizontal, holding on TO the plane
~ earth. His gods were the ideallZatlon
of human forms, that carried their hu-
man failings and sensualities into their
OIvmnian heaven. This faith was we'll
expressed by the broad, massive seton
earth temple, but, in keen contrast, the
Gothic or poi nted style, where the speak
inc lines all trended upward, pile
building and rising aloft into the heav-
en.piercing spire or tower, became thlS
emblem of Christianity with It's asplra'
tions and beliefs in a higher, nooler
world.
The contrast between the classic
Greek and the Gothic German is likely
the result of the climatic intluence-the
bright skies of Greece and around the
Mediterranean toned their minds tosun
lit brilliancy, the whlteness OF IhelT
marble temples while the clouded
skies of Scandinavia impaired agloomy
grandeur and weird mystery TO the
Northern race that expressed ltselt In
the Gothic cathedral, which ever looms
more grandly under clouded sky or In
the witchery of moonlight, while the
Greek temple courts the broad open
sunshine. Another contrast is the ao-
sence of color in the latter it reveals
only the beauty of form in either build
ing or sculpture, while the Gothic en-
ploys all the richness Of cOloring in its
gorgeous blazonry of painted windows
and It's flamboyant tracery OF ornament
1t may be we'll TO point out that two
fine examples Of these styles stand op-.
nosite on the street, the State Normal
College. with its broad Grecian facade,
while the hill opposite grows into the
Norman Gothic Church. 1t is also pc
culiarly appropriate that the latter
should have been built by the descend
ants and representatives OF the dothlc
Germans and SaXOnS here in America
1t is generally presumed that TINS
style OF architecture belongs to the high
and ritualistlc forms of Christianity,
but il must be remembered that Martin
Luther was by no means an lconoclast,
but believed in preserving all that was
noble, beautiful or faith-inspiring in the
old Mother Church. He was a keen
lover of art aud music. In the latter he
strove TO provide the new church with
a grander, richer form than the old, as
NAV be instanced by "Ein Feste Berg,
for which he wrote both hymn and mu-
sic. This transcends any of the cathe-
dral music of that day, and has been
used by Meyerbeer, Mendelssohn and
Wagner as text-motif for grand opera,
symphony and overture, an honor never
accorded any other choral.
The exquisite painted windows In
this new church call forth the commen-
dation that there is no form of religious
teaching so inspiring and elevatlng as
this Illuminated blazonry OF the scenes
of Sacred Scripture.
Surely temple with such pictorial
scenery must have hallowlng influence
and induce a reverence for religion.
And, Furthermore, the church should be
the receptacle for the monuments OF
those of our ancestors worthy OF being
mbered-memorial windows, mu-
raj tablets and sculptural monuments,
even as Westminster is for England,
and Standardization has the bust and
memorial of England's greatest poet
To cite an instance here, there is a
beautiful marble angel standing out in
Elmwood Cemetery, becoming weather
beaten, soiled and soon.tob e-ruined, that
should have been placed in Trinity
Episcopal Church, where under the dim
shadowed light, il would have added
an inspiration of religion and an ear
nest of our belief in an angelic world.
One more pertinent contrast AS the
classic institution On the opposite side
of the street should give the foundation
learning, science and all pertaining to
the mental or mere knowledge, so the
Christian church should impart that
finer culture that belongs to the spir-
itual life, and is above and beyond all
mental attainment. This is done by
theologic teaching which is inthe men.
tai department, but by means OF the
higher spiritual art of music, poetry and
pictorial observation-disclosures the
church should be the temple, the altar
upon which art should lay its no5lest
treasures, and it should be the plan to
show forth the grandest dreams OF
either architect or painter, even as IL
does in this new church.
1t must be remembered that this ed
ifce is not built like the old brick tab
ernacles, for the convenience OF one
generation, perchance to be turned into
a warehouse by the next, but is a speak
ing monument of those religious ideals
of the German and Saxon race, who
have dominated the world for the last
thousand years, as the Greek and Ro-
man ruled the preceding millennium.
Like the abbeys of England, of which
it stands good picture, even in ruin
it would be an interesting monument
and memento Of the people who erected
it, Tor many coming centuries.
st. J. B.