BIBLE READING IN THE EARLY CHURCH.*
PRoFEssoit HARNACICS latest book is in a sense controveraiat It is written to prove that the Protestant attitude towards the- Scripture is primitive, while the claim of the Catholic) Church to be the guardian and sole- exponent of Scripture is "am innovation." A" tendency to religious independence" belonged,. he urges, to "the essence" of Christianity. "The publicity,. the wide circulation, and the easy accessibility of the Soripturee. of the Old Testament are presupposed in the writings of all the apologists of the second century." Naturally we must SO* imagine from this that it was considered essential for mit lettered Christians to be familiar with the- Bible. The majority of Christian laymen were ignorant. Even "the layman Hernias, though he shows himself to be a prophet and a prolific writer, evidently has very little or no knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and such laymen were naturally always in the majority." Nevertheless.
• Bale Reading in. the Early Church. By Adolf Hamrick. Tram:Wed' hi) t4e 80v. J, B, vinkenee, 4. ii,oesios; Wilitesoe awl I-forgets. f.k.
this tespect he stands alone among Christian authors. Professor Harnack insists more than once upon the of ton- .overlooked fact that the Holy Scriptures in the mouth of :Christian writers of the first two centuries meant the Old 'Testament books, and those only. It was long before the authority of the Christian writers was regarded as equal to that of the Hebrew prophets.
Later, in the time of Tertullian, it was plain that the -Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament "were brought into the field to support stubborn and varied assaults eipon the most precious beliefs of Catholic Christianity." It would, so Professor Harnack declares, have been possible for the Church to discourage the reading of Scripture in such a manner as gradually to rei3trict it to the clergy, but
one in the Church ever thought of this. Surely one of the most astounding facts in the internal history of the Church, and -one-which affords more conclusive testimony than any other that .a by no means small measure of religious independence continued to be regarded as smatter of course, or—perhaps more correctly— that it was thought that no limits should be set to the edifying -and sanctifying influence of the sacred writings !"
'Outside the Christian Church "about the year A.D. 200 the -*sacred writings of the Christians were no more regarded as literature than the tracts of the Salvation Army at the present time." Even among Christians the Bible was thought to need defence from the point of view of literature, and .Origen says that "it was the purpose of the Holy Spirit to be intelligible to those also who were uneducated and insignificant
in the eyes of the world." Even in the time of Theodoret we :find it presupposed that the sacred writings do not stand -very high as literature, though Theodoret in a passage of enarvellous eloquence turns this want to gain :—
"All the heralds of the truth, to wit the Prophets and Apostles, ;though unendowed with the Greek gift of eloquence, were yet .filled with true wisdom, brought to all nations both Hellenic and barbarian the divine doctrine, and filled all lands and seas with their writings, whose content is virtue and piety. And now all anenrhaving renounced the follies of the philosophers, feast upon the doctrines of fishermen and publicans and reverence the words -of the Tent-maker."
'Theodoret, so Professor Harnack tells us, exaggerated, but his words were prophetic; he described a time which was Pehortly to come
"Who governs according to the Laws of Plato? Who swears try his Republic? Ye can produce no single teacher of these 'doctrines : while we can point to the doctrines of the Apostles and Prophets as now standing in force; for all lands upon which the sun -shines are filled with them ; and what was once said in the Hebrew language is now translated not only into Greek but also into Latin, -Egyptian, Persian, Indian, Armenian, Scythian, and Sauromatian- ,in short, into the languages of all nations. Plato the wise, who -composed numerous works concerning the immortality of the soul, "vas not able to convince even his own pupil Aristotle ; our fisher- mien, publicans, and tent-makers have convinced both Greeks as 'well as Romans and Egyptians, and in a word all nations, of the immortality and self-consciousness of the soul. . . . And it is not -only teachers of the Church who know these doctrines, but also tent-makers, smiths, wool-workers, and other artisans ; women ;besides, not only the educated but also workwoMen and midwives, indeed even slaves ; and not only citizens but also countrymen IL:tossess this knowledge."
Origen describes the Bible-reading which made a part of his own education. Chrysostom recommends that the sight of a Bible should be so familiar to children as to become a necessary part of the home scenery, and says—there is a touch of
poetry or of superstition in his words, according as we read hem—" the very touch of the book of the Gospels of itself awakens the -bent."
Professor Harnack maintains that the great false step of the Church was made when she began to withdraw the Scripture from the laity. While every man read and inter- preted as he saw fit,- no extreme of narrow dogmatism could get a permanent hold.
if it is asked how it happened that Christianity was able to preserve in principle its distinctive character and to defend its sacred writings from the encroachment of the priesthood amid a world of mystery-religion we answer—it was because Christianity was the daughter of Judaism: it was because Christianity, in so far as it was distinct from Judaism, was more spiritual, more lucid, snore free, more universal, more simple than that religion ; and became, with even greater energy than Judaisth, it strove to make not only the faith, but also the sacred discipline of the life, the central point of its system. Soon, indeed, the faith and the cultus attracted to themselves and acquiesced in very mutb that belonged. to 'thi3 nlyatery-feitgfChts, birt the ellterithal cliaatteristiCs Of Chrietianitr—the belief- in God as the Ainileity 'WV&
and earthh as the Father of mankind; as the Father of Jesus Christ, the good news addressed to all men, the faith in the Saviour of the world, the regula disciplinae for a new humanity—all these funda- mental characteristics could not possibly be proclaimed in mysteries, and at the same time implied and demanded an unrestricted use of the Bible. This unrestricted right to listen daily to the direct voice of God might have proved the strongest bulwark of Christian independence, freedom, and equality, and a lasting defence against complete subjection to saeerdotalism and mystery. But as time went on the laity made less and less use of their privilege : is medioerite fonda l'autorite."
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