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diff --git a/36610-h/36610-h.htm b/36610-h/36610-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ccd02e --- /dev/null +++ b/36610-h/36610-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6022 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Influence of the Bible on Civilisation, by Ernst Von Dobschütz. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + width: 60%; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .negin {text-indent: -2em; margin-left: 2em;} + .noin {text-indent: 0em;} + .center {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold; font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Influence of the Bible on Civilisation, by +Ernst Von Dobschutz + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Influence of the Bible on Civilisation + +Author: Ernst Von Dobschutz + +Release Date: July 4, 2011 [EBook #36610] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE *** + + + + +Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<p> </p> +<h3>THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE<br /> +ON CIVILISATION</h3> +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p> </p> + +<h1>THE<br /> +INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE<br /> +ON CIVILISATION</h1> + +<p> </p> +<h4>BY<br /> +<big>ERNST VON DOBSCHÜTZ</big><br /> +<small>PROFESSOR OF THE NEW TESTAMENT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF<br /> +HALLE-WITTENBERG</small></h4> + +<p> </p> +<h3>NEW YORK<br /> +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS<br /> +1914</h3> + + +<p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p> </p> + +<h5><i>Copyright</i>, 1914<br /> +<span class="smcap">By Charles Scribner's Sons</span><br /> +<br /> +Published April, 1914</h5> + +<p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>One of the greatest questions of our day is how +modern civilisation and Christianity can go on in +harmony. One can approach this question by several +ways, but historical investigation has always +proved to be the surest. The author has in mind +to write in German a full "History of the Bible," +when time will allow. Meanwhile this brief sketch +may prove useful. Readers who look for references +will find most of them in an article contributed by +the present writer to Dr. J. Hastings's Encyclopædia +of Religion and Ethics, vol. II, on "The +Bible in the Christian Church."</p> + +<p>The author wishes to express his thanks to his +friend, Professor J. H. Ropes, for kindly reading +the proofs for him, to Mr. W. J. Wilson and Mr. +H. A. Sherman, who helped him in improving the +diction, and to Professor Williston Walker for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> +valuable information regarding early American documents. +If any reader should find fault with the +English style of this book, he must not blame any +translator—the author himself is responsible.</p> + +<p style='text-align: right'> +<span class="smcap">Ernst von Dobschütz.</span></p> + +<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Cambridge, Mass.</span><br /> + <i>January</i>, 1914.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='right'><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>I.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Bible Makes Itself Indispensable for the Church</span> (<span class="smcap">to 325 a. d.</span>)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>II.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Bible Begins to Rule the Christian Empire</span> (325-600 <span class="smcap">a. d.</span>)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>III.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Bible Teaches the German Nations</span> (500-800 <span class="smcap">a. d.</span> )</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Bible Becomes One Basis of Mediæval Civilisation</span> (800-1150 <span class="smcap">a. d.</span>)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>V.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Bible Stirs Non-Conformist Movements</span> (1150-1450)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Bible Trains Printers and Translators</span> (1450-1611)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Bible Rules Daily Life</span> (1550-1850)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VIII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Bible Becomes Once More the Book of Devotion</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'><small>PLATE</small></td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><small>TO FACE PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>I.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Harvard Papyrus. Romans 1 : 1-7</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>II.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Origen's Hexapla</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>III.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Codex Sinaiticus</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Roll and Book</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>V.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Vienna Genesis</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Joshua Roll</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Lord's Prayer on a Potsherd</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VIII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Gothic Bible</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IX.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Alcuin's Bible</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>X.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Theodulf's Bible</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Lindisfarne Gospels</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Byzantine Miniature</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">English Miniature</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Wycliffe's Bible</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Gutenberg's First Printed Bible</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">First Printed German Bible</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h3> +THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE<br /> +ON CIVILISATION<br /> +</h3> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>THE INFLUENCE OF THE<br /> +BIBLE ON CIVILISATION</h1> + + + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<h3>THE BIBLE MAKES ITSELF INDISPENSABLE +FOR THE CHURCH (UNTIL 325 A. D.)</h3> + + +<p>There is a small book; one can put it in one's +pocket, and yet all the libraries of America, numerous +as they are, would hardly be large enough to +hold all the books which have been inspired by this +one little volume. The reader will know what I am +speaking of; it is the Bible, as we are used to call +it—the Book, the book of mankind, as it has properly +been called. It has been commented upon, +treated in every way, but, curious to say, hardly +any one has attempted to trace its history through +the centuries and mark the influence which it exerted +upon our civilisation.</p> + +<p>In order to do this we follow the traces of the +Bible through the different periods of human or, +to speak more accurately, of Christian civilisation. +In the first period of Christian history, the time of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +persecutions during the first three centuries of our +era, there is not much to say about the Bible as +influencing civilisation. Christianity was but starting +on its way and fighting for its place in the world. +The Bible could not exert a civilising influence upon +a hostile world. But by impressing its value upon +the Christian mind it made itself indispensable for +the church and thereby laid the foundation for the +future development.</p> + +<p>Christianity was a living religion. The first congregations +were dwelling in an atmosphere of enthusiasm. +There was a general outpouring of the Holy +Spirit. The prophet's words seemed to be fulfilled: +"They shall teach no more every man his neighbour +and every man his brother, saying: know the +Lord; for they shall all know me." Christianity +was not a religion of a sacred book, whose dead letter +was to be artificially kept alive by learned men. +It was a religion of living experiences. Nevertheless, +Christianity from the beginning had a sacred +book. Jesus and his disciples used the Bible of +their people, the Old Testament, and Saint Paul +carried it to the Christian communities of gentile +origin, which had not known of it before.</p> + +<p>Christianity could not do without it. If it was +necessary to convince Jews that Jesus was the +Messiah, how could this be done without arguing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +from the Scriptures as proof? If the gospel was to +be announced to the heathen they would give less +heed to the new tidings than to the statement that +it was really the most ancient form of religion as +attested by this sacred book, which was superior to +all the books of poets and philosophers and legislators +by reason of its venerable age. Christianity +without any hesitation claimed the Old Testament +as its own book, its own Bible. Not only was Jesus +the content of this book, he was even believed to +be its author. It was the spirit of Jesus which +dwelt in the prophets and made them seek and +search concerning the salvation offered by Christ +(I Peter 1 : 10-11). "The prophets having their +grace from him, did prophesy unto him," we are +told in the so-called letter of Barnabas. So the Old +Testament seemed to be a Christian book both in +content and in origin, and it was easy enough to add +some properly Christian pamphlets, as Saint Paul's +letters and some gospels, the Acts and other letters, +and some books of revelation. It was as necessary +as it was easy, if Christianity was not to lose contact +with its proper origin.</p> + +<p>The New Testament, as we have it now, was not +complete at the start. It was a collection of primitive +Christian writings, larger in some ways than +it is now; on the other hand lacking some of its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +present elements. Its precise content did not become +finally established until a very late period, not +earlier than the end of the fourth century.</p> + +<p>So also the size of the Old Testament was not +quite fixed. There were more books in the Greek +Bible of the Alexandrian Jews than in the Hebrew +Bible of the Palestinian rabbis. The Christian +church at first adopted the Greek Bible, but from +time to time some scholar pointed out the difference, +and many people thought they had better keep +to the Hebrew canon. This view, championed by +Saint Jerome, led to a partial rejection of the books +which nowadays we usually call the Old Testament +Apocrypha, until in the sixteenth century the +churches accentuated their difference by a different +attitude toward these books, the Calvinists rejecting +them altogether, the Roman church including them +as an integral part of the Bible, and the Lutherans +giving them an intermediate position as books to +be read with safety but without canonical authority. +When, in 1902, King Edward VII was to be crowned, +the British and Foreign Bible Society intended to present +to his Majesty the copy of the Bible on which +he was to take his oath. Then it was discovered +that according to the old regulations the king of +England had to take his oath on a complete Bible, +that is a Bible containing the Apocrypha. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +British and Foreign Bible Society on its part, by its +statutes, was prevented from printing Bibles including +the Apocrypha; so they presented to the king +a most beautiful copy, but the king did not use it +for the coronation service. It is the difference between +the Alexandrian and the Palestinian canon +which reappears in this little struggle and thereby is +seen surviving to our own time.</p> + +<p>Unsettled as the size of the Old and of the New +Testament may have been, nevertheless the principle +was established at a very early date that +Christianity was to have a holy Scripture in two +parts, one taken over from Judaism, the other +added from its own stores.</p> + +<p>Let us stop here for a moment and try to realise +what this meant. Mohammed, when founding his +new religion, acknowledged, it is true, the books of +the former religions, but for his own believers the +unique authority is the Koran, a book which originated +within a single generation and therefore is +pervaded by one uniform spirit. Christianity adhered +to a Bible whose larger part originated in a +period much anterior to its own and in a religion +inferior to Christianity. The Bible covers a period +of over a thousand years. What a difference in +civilisation between the nomadic life of the patriarchs +and the time of Jesus! What a difference in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +spirit between the sons of Jacob killing the whole +population of Sichem in order to avenge their sister +and Jesus' parable of the good Samaritan! or between +the prophet Elijah killing four hundred and +fifty prophets of Baal and Jesus preaching the love +of one's enemies! In fact, it was possible to overcome +this difference only in an age which did not +read the Bible with historical notions. Even so, +the juxtaposition caused much difficulty. We shall +see the problem of the Law troubling the church +through all the centuries. We shall find the notions +of sacrifice and priesthood adapted to Christian institutions. +Looking at Charlemagne or Calvin, we +realise that the Old Testament is ever introducing +its views into Christian minds, as authoritative as +any word of the gospel.</p> + +<p>Now, at the beginning the influence was rather +the other way; the Old Testament was to be interpreted +in the light of the New. And, in truth, much +light came from the life of Jesus to the history of +the ancient people and to the prophecies. We do +not wonder that Christian minds were excited by +all this fresh illumination, and we must not wonder +that sometimes they remodelled the tradition of the +life of Christ to accord with the Old Testament.</p> + +<p>The harmony between the two Testaments soon +became a leading idea in Christian doctrine. Some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +heretics, indeed, would not accept the Old Testament. +Marcion maintained that it came from an +inferior god, while the supreme God, the father of +our Lord Jesus Christ, had revealed himself only +through his Son. He found a great many contrasts +between the Old and the New Testament, and this +criticism was supported by pagan philosophers, as, +for example, Porphyry. The church, therefore, was +most anxious to establish the harmony of the Testaments +by any means at its command. Taste varies +from century to century; the minute parallelism +constructed by some early Christian writers, and +evidently much admired by their contemporaries, +seems to us rather ridiculous and fanciful. On the +other hand, the church was right in maintaining the +harmony. The New Testament needs to be explained +from the Old Testament; it is open to much +misunderstanding when taken apart. There was +almost no sense for historical development at that +time; the criticism of Ptolemæus, in his famous letter +to Flora, where he speaks of several strata of +revelation running through the Old and the New +Testament, is an exceptional one. For most of the +faithful the Christian doctrine was directly looked +for and found in the Old Testament; the gospel +was contained in every one of its books, from Genesis +to Malachi. Unity was conceived as uniformity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> + +<p>This was the system which appealed most to the +average Christian mind. And the Bible was open +to all Christians, as Harnack has brilliantly demonstrated +in a recent publication. The ancient church +laid stress upon this publicity and never tried to +withdraw the Bible from the people. There was +no hidden mystery regarding the Bible. On the +contrary, all members of the church were anxiously +urged to make themselves as familiar with the Bible +as possible. They were supposed to have copies of +their own and to read them privately as well as in +the congregation. Even when the struggles about +the right doctrine began and the heretics sometimes +held to the Bible as their champion against the +doctrine of the church, the church did not remove +the Bible from public discussion. The ecclesiastical +party maintained that the Bible was always in +favour of the true doctrine; one needs but to know +how to read it. Tertullian, it is true, once in the +heat of controversy declared that it was no use +arguing against heretics from the Bible, but he did +it, nevertheless, and so did the other fathers.</p> + +<p>The Bible proved its spiritual value to the experience +of every reader. A man familiar with the +Psalms has a treasure which cannot be lost; in any +situation he will find what is suitable for his needs. +If one looks for examples of faith, the author of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +epistle to the Hebrews in his eleventh chapter gives +a splendid model for finding heroes of faith all +through the Bible. The book of Genesis, especially +its first chapters, was of particular interest for +most of the readers on account of the sublime +description there given of the beginnings of mankind. +The creation story in Genesis implies much +more than even the finest of all Greek myths, +namely, the myth in Plato's Timæus, with which it +was compared by the emperor Julian. The mighty +words, "In the beginning God created heaven and +earth," proved to be the one true answer to all the +cosmological questions of Greek philosophy, and besides +there was ample room for introducing whatever +was wanted—such as the creation and the fall +of the angels—if only one knew how to read between +the lines.</p> + +<p>In an old Christian book dealing with church +regulations and the rules for individual Christian +life we find the following admonition to use no +other book at all except the Bible, because, as the +author says, the Bible contains literature of every +kind. The passage runs:<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Stay at home and read in the Law and in the Book +of the Kings and in the Prophets and in the Gospel +(which is) the fulness of these things. Keep far away +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>from all the books of the heathen; for what hast thou +to do with foreign words or with false laws or prophecies +which also easily cause young people to wander +from the faith? What then is wanting to thee in the +Word of God, that thou throwest thyself upon these +myths of the heathen? If thou wishest to read the +tales of the fathers, thou hast the Book of the Kings; +or of wise men and philosophers, thou hast the Prophets +amongst whom thou wilt find more wisdom and +science than among the wise men and the philosophers, +because they are the words of God, of the one only wise +God. If thou desirest song, thou hast the Psalms of +David or if the beginning of the world, thou hast the +Genesis of great Moses; if law and commandments, +thou hast the book of Exodus of the Lord our God. +Therefore keep entirely away from all these foreign +things, which are contrary to them.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Didascalia, ch. ii, p. 5 in Mrs. M. D. Gibson's translation.</p></div> + +<p>The Bible, in fact, pervaded the whole life of a +Christian. It was the Bible, its history, its commandments, +that he was taught as a child in his +parents' home. When the girls gathered in the +women's hall to spin, they would sing and talk +about God's revelations more eagerly than even +Sappho had praised her luxurious love—according +to an expression used by Tatian in his Apology. +The prayers, private as well as ecclesiastical, all +echoed Biblical phrases, and even at burials the +Christians sang joyful psalms.</p> + +<p>So the Bible became familiar to the Christians +of that time. We are astonished to find how well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +they knew it. The sermons of this period are full +of Biblical allusions, and evidently the preacher +could expect them to be understood.</p> + +<p>This is the more remarkable as the circulating of +the Bible in this time met with the greatest difficulties. +There was, of course, a large amount of Bible +reading in the congregations. According to Justin's +description of early Christian worship about 150 <span class="smcap">a. d.</span>, +the service began with continuous reading of the +Bible through many chapters, as far as time would +allow. Then an officer, bishop or elder, would begin +to preach. The office of reading was esteemed so +highly that it was regarded as based on a special +spiritual gift; the anagnostes, <i>i. e.</i>, the reader, in +the earliest time had his place among the prophets +and spirit-gifted teachers. And, in fact, if we look +at the earliest manuscripts of the Bible which have +come down to us, we shall almost think that supernatural +assistance was necessary for reading them: +no punctuation, no accent, no space between the +words, no breaking off at the end of a sentence. +The reader had to know his text almost entirely by +heart to do it well. From the "Shepherd of Hermas," +a very interesting book written by a Roman +layman about 140 <span class="smcap">a. d.</span>, we learn that some people +gathered often, probably daily, for the special +purpose of common reading and learning. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +even granted that the memory of these men was not +spoiled by too much reading, as is ours, so that by +hearing they were able to learn by heart—it is said +of some rabbis that they did not lose one word of +all their master had told them, and, in fact, the Talmudic +literature was transmitted orally for centuries—nevertheless, +we must assume that these Christians +had their private copies of the Bible at home. The +evidence from the allusions of preachers to private +reading is strong. Cyprian addresses a Christian: +"Your life should be one of assiduous prayer or +reading (of the Bible): now you speaking to God, +now God to you."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 800px;"> +<img src="images/image014.jpg" width="800" height="604" alt="Plate I" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate I—HARVARD PAPYRUS</span> + +<p class="center">An attempt to copy the letters of St. Paul (Romans counts as A = first letter) giving the text only unto Romans 1 : 7; +late third or early fourth century.</p> + +<p class="center">From Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Vol. II, PI. II, Egypt Exploration Fund—London.</p> +</div> + +<p>Here begins our difficulty: how did they get so +many copies? There was an organised book-trade +in the ancient world; publishers had their offices, +using (instead of printing-presses) slaves who were +trained in copying; they had shorthand writers, as +well as calligraphers to do the fine writing. But as +long as Christianity was still an oppressed religion +it is doubtful if the Bible was among the books +which publishers would care to take. The Christians +were, most of them, poor people who could +not spend much money for procuring Bibles. Besides, +it was no easy thing to get a complete Bible. +At that time the books were still written on papyrus +rolls, not in book form. Only one side of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +papyrus could be used; the roll would become unwieldy +if too long. So, in order to get all the books +of the Old and the New Testament, at least two +dozen rolls had to be written. Maybe a simple Christian +copied for himself one gospel or some letters +or even one or more books from the Old Testament. +There are preserved on papyrus some unfinished attempts +which show what hard work it was (Plate I). +We can scarcely imagine a man going with this +heavy hand through all the books of the Bible.</p> + +<p>We are told that wealthy Christians helped their +brethren by procuring copies for them. Origen, the +greatest Bible scholar of the ancient church, is said +to have been supported by a rich admirer, who put +at his disposal a number of slave copyists. With +their help he succeeded in creating one of the greatest +works which Bible criticism ever undertook, his +so-called Hexapla, which is a comparison of more +than six various Greek translations of the Old Testament. +Scholars in the nineteenth century held that +scarcely more than one copy of this enormous work +had ever been written, but by recent discoveries we +know that it was copied several times (Plate II). +A later admirer of Origen, Pamphilus, is said always +to have carried with him several rolls in order to +provide poor brethren. Now that was the third +century. Christianity had already begun to spread<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +among the higher classes and to become a feature +in the world's life.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image016.jpg" width="600" height="853" alt="Plate II" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate II—ORIGEN'S HEXAPLA</span> + +<p class="negin">Fragment found in the Cairo-Genizah and published by E. Taylor in 1900; parchment, +fifth century, with part of second, third, and fourth columns: Ps 22 : 25-28; +used later for copying Hebrew texts.</p> + +<p class="center">From "Hexapla of Origen," by E. Taylor, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons.</p> +</div> + +<p>Devotional reading of the Bible was accompanied +by scholarly interpretation. We mentioned Origen +as the greatest Bible scholar of his time, if not of +all times. It may be worth while to insert here a +few words on his life. A native of Alexandria, he +saw as a boy his father dying as a martyr for his +Christian faith; he longed to become a martyr himself, +and was only prevented from giving himself up +by a trick of his mother's, who concealed all his +clothes. He got a good training at the catechetical +school of Alexandria, not restricting himself to mere +Christian and Biblical studies, but reading the pagan +philosophers of his time as well as the Greek classics. +A youth of only eighteen years, he became the head +of the school, and his fame spread all over the empire. +He travelled to Rome, to Greece; he was +even asked by the Roman governor to come to +Arabia to settle certain questions. So zealous was +he to fulfil the commandments of the gospel that, +misunderstanding one of the Lord's sayings, he +made himself a eunuch for the kingdom of heaven's +sake, which brought him into trouble in his +later life. When once on a journey through Palestine +he, being still a layman, had preached before +the bishop of Cæsarea, he was summoned by his +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +own bishop and ordered not to preach. Some years +afterward the bishop of Cæsarea, who was among +his strongest admirers, ordained him a priest, which +caused his bishop to banish him from Alexandria. +He settled at Cæsarea and lived there for twenty +years without ever aiming at any ecclesiastical position, +pursuing his study of the Bible and gathering +around his chair the best men from every part +of Christianity. So great was his fame that the +empress Julia Mammæa, being still a pagan, asked +him to see her when she was travelling in the East. +He was the one man to refute the vigorous attack +made against the truth of Christian doctrine by the +philosopher Celsus. When persecution began again +he wrote a tractate of comfort, "On Martyrdom," +and another, "On Prayer." He himself suffered +imprisonment and torture, and died after his release, +as a result of these sufferings, at the age of sixty-nine.</p> + +<p>We can scarcely do honour enough to this man, +who three centuries after his death was proclaimed +to be one of the most dangerous heretics, the church, +however, using his learning in the form of extracts. +The vast amount of reading, the sagacity, and the +perspicuity of the man are alike admirable. He is +said to have commented upon nearly all the books +of the Bible, and this three times. He wrote short<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +annotations, he compiled large and learned commentaries, +and he preached before the congregation. +Only a small part of his works has come down to us, +but this fills volumes. Origen's great merit is that he +brought Christian interpretation to a system which +enabled the church to retain the plain historical +sense alongside the so-called higher meaning.</p> + +<p>For a long time gentile philosophers as well as +Jewish preachers had adopted the method of treating +their sacred books allegorically. Homer, it was +assumed, in telling his stories of battles of gods and +heroes, meant quite another thing; otherwise he +would be guilty of irreligion. He meant that the +powers of nature and the energies of the human soul +came into struggle, and therefore virtues and vices +were fighting one with another. The same thing was +done by Philo for the Old Testament. There was no +real history; all was symbolical, allegory. Christianity +tried to follow in this path. The gnostics indulged +in the wildest form of allegory. But it was +not safe to give up the idea of historicity altogether. +Jesus and his gospel were historical facts, not mere +ideas; they were emptied of all meaning if turned +into allegory. And likewise the history of the Old +Testament could not simply be reduced to allegorical +metaphors. Origen saved the situation by asserting +that each of these two views had its proper place.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +His theory is that as man consists of body, soul, and +spirit, so the holy Scripture has a threefold nature, to +which corresponds a threefold interpretation. The +body stands for the plain historical meaning: Jesus +did cast out of the temple those that sold oxen +and sheep and doves and the changers of money. +There are some historical difficulties, Origen admits, +if we compare the different gospel narratives and if +we take account of the fact that a single man did +this; Origen explains that it was a miracle showing +the divine power in Jesus. But there are other aspects +too. The soul represents the higher moral +view: Christ is always casting out of his church, +which belongs to the heavenly Jerusalem, the men +who are profaning it by their money-making. +And, lastly, there is the spirit, that is, the supreme +mystical understanding. The spirit of Christ, +entering its temple, the man's soul, casts out of +it all earthly desires and makes it a house of +prayer. Now that is very ingenious. These three +strata of interpretation allow for a great variety +in explanation and adaptation. Origen succeeds +by this method in keeping the essential historical +basis and adding what in those days was thought +to be most significant. The Bible, being a divine +book, seemed to require a higher form of interpretation; +the Holy Ghost of God was supposed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +to be a spirit of mysteries; it was assumed that +to interpret the Bible in a plain way was to think +of God meanly.</p> + +<p>Of course, the Bible contained some allegories +which might seem to support this theory of allegorical +interpretation; for instance, the beautiful vision +of Ezekiel, told in the thirty-seventh chapter of his +book: he sees the valley full of dry bones, and at the +command of God he prophesies over them and they +begin to come together, and flesh came up and skin +covered them above and at last breath came into +them and they lived. It is a magnificent allegory +of the people of Israel, scattered in the exile and +brought to life again by the power of God. It +is irritating to see the fathers just at this point declining +to follow the path of allegorical interpretation. +They insist upon the reality of the occurrence; +it is to be taken literally as resurrection of the dead—so +it has influenced all mediæval pictures of the +last judgment! I need only add that the rabbis took +Ezekiel's description in the same way, as a real occurrence, +arguing for the historicity by showing the +phylacteries which the risen persons had worn—and +one feels what a pity it is to treat allegory as history. +But the opposite fault is still worse: the +spiritualising and allegorising of real history is the +greatest damage ever done to religion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<p>Theologians tried to establish the authority of the +Bible. This had already been done in some measure +by the rabbis of the synagogue. In taking +over the Bible the Christians had only to accept +their estimate of it, but they were not quite satisfied +with it. The rabbinical doctrine was a rather +mechanical one: God had used men, just as a man +uses a pencil to write with. The pencil does not +act consciously: so the Old Testament writers, according +to this theory, did not take any part in +what they were writing; it was to them as another +man's script. Commenting upon the last chapter +of Deuteronomy, where the death of Moses is described, +a rabbinical authority remarks: "Until this +passage God dictated and Moses wrote; henceforth +God dictated and Moses wrote weeping"—namely, +the account of his own death. There was so little +interest in the human author that he could be eliminated +altogether. We are told by an early Jewish +legend that all books of the Old Testament had been +destroyed at the time of Nebuchadnezzar, when the +temple was burned; so God dictated them all to Ezra. +According to this theory Ezra would be the real +author of the whole Old Testament. This is the +most mechanical way of representing the equal inspiration +of all parts of the Old Testament. The +Jews of the dispersion had a somewhat similar theory<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +about the inspiration of their Greek Bible; when +Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, gathered at +Alexandria seventy elders of the Jews to make the +Greek translation of their law, he put each one of +them in a separate cell in order to avoid any communication +between them, so the legend runs. Then, +after working for seventy days, all at once they +shouted "Amen" from their cells, having accomplished +their task, and when the seventy copies had +been compared they were found to agree even in the +smallest detail. Here we have again an attempt to +assert inspiration not only for the book itself but +also for its translation. It is as mechanical as the +former, all human co-operation being excluded.</p> + +<p>Christians did not want this. In Jesus they had +experienced living revelation; they had prophets +among themselves. So, at least at the beginning, +they had a much higher view of inspiration. God +enters a man's soul and fills it with his spirit; now the +man acts and speaks in the power of this spirit, and +yet he is not unconscious of his own doing and speaking. +There are two ways of inspiration, we are told +by Clement of Alexandria: either God snatches up +the man's soul and conducts it to the unseen world +and shows to it whatever he wishes it to know—this +is ecstasy—or God enters the man and fills him +and makes him his organ. The latter, less striking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +though it appears, is nevertheless the higher and +more valuable concept. Therefore the fathers do +not so much use the metaphor of the pencil as the +similitude of a musical instrument, whether a flute +through which the Holy Spirit is playing, or a harp +which he touches with a plectrum.</p> + +<p>Much as they appreciate the holy Scripture, the +early fathers usually talk about it in a very unpretentious +manner. They have not yet developed +those gorgeous formulas of quotation which are used +in later times. They quote simply: "Scripture +says," or "Paul says," not "the holy and glorious +apostle in his most excellent epistle to the Romans +says exceedingly well." They talk in simple words, +but they are prepared even to die for this Bible.</p> + +<p>Eusebius, the first historian of the Christian +church, to whom we are indebted for so much invaluable +information, tells us a moving story about +Marinus, a young Christian officer in the Roman +army, at Cæsarea, in Palestine. He had the confidence +of his superiors and was to be promoted to +the higher rank of captain. Then out of jealousy +one of his comrades denounced him as a Christian. +Summoned before his colonel, he was asked if this +was true, and when he confessed he was urged to +abjure his faith. The colonel gave him three hours' +time. So he went to the small Christian church,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +where he found the venerable old bishop. The +bishop, hearing his story, took the Bible in one +hand and the soldier's sword in the other. "This +is your choice," he said. And the soldier, without +hesitating, grasped the Bible, went back, and declared +himself to be and to remain a Christian. +And instead of receiving military promotion he +became a martyr.</p> + +<p>It is a significant little story. Indeed, after a hard +struggle, lasting through nearly three centuries, when +the Roman empire found it necessary to attempt the +final destruction of Christianity the attack was +mostly directed against the Bible. Diocletian, in +303 <span class="smcap">a. d.</span>, on the 24th of February, issued an edict +ordering all Christian churches to be destroyed and +all Bibles to be burned. He relied on the Roman +law, which forbids not only the exercise of magical +arts, but the science of magic, too, and therefore +condemns all books of magic to be burned. The +Christians were accused of employing magic, and +their Bible was treated as a magical book.</p> + +<p>We have thrilling accounts of Christians trying +to conceal their treasured Bible rolls from the +eyes of the inquiring officials. They took them +from the church into their private homes, securing +the Bible in safety but many a time bringing persecution +upon themselves. To the officials they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +surrendered books of various kinds in order to +escape from surrendering the Scriptures. Asked if +they had sacred books in their houses, many of +them would answer: "Yes, in our hearts." The enthusiasm +was so great that they believed the story +of any miracle in support of the Bible. They maintained +that copies of the Bible which had been +thrown into the fire by the heathen were not burned +or even touched by the flame.</p> + +<p>Naturally there were others who were not strong +enough in their faith to resist, but these "surrenderers," +as they were called, were cast out of the church +and never admitted again. During the fourth century +to bring against a clergyman the charge of +having surrendered sacred books at that period of +persecution was felt to be the most serious accusation +possible. Even to be ordained by a bishop who +was under suspicion of having surrendered his +church's holy Scriptures was held a disgrace by a +large party of zealous Christians who demanded +that orders of this kind be invalidated. The records +of a trial held at Carthage in 329 <span class="smcap">a. d.</span> dealing with +this question have come down to us. Here documents +from 303 <span class="smcap">a. d.</span> were introduced as evidence +against the clergy, and the whole forms one of the +most illuminating pages of church history.</p> + +<p>Even to be found reading the Bible made a man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +guilty of obstinate resistance to the emperor's law +and involved him in penalty. There was a deacon +at Catania in Sicily named Euplus. He was reading +the holy Scripture when the sheriff laid hold of +him. Brought before the judge he takes his copy of +the Gospel and reads from it (Matt. 5 : 10): "Blessed +are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' +sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," +and (Matt. 10 : 38): "And he that doth not take +his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me." +The judge asks him: "Why did you not surrender +those volumes which the emperors forbade?" "Because," +he replies, "I am a Christian and it was +not loyal to surrender. It is better to die than to +surrender." We do not need the addition made by a +late Byzantine hagiographer that the copy of the +Gospels was hung on his neck when he was conducted +to execution. It is clear enough that he +was suffering for his devotion toward the Bible and +that it was the gospel which inspired his boldness.</p> + +<p>Euplus does not stand alone. I could mention a +dozen martyrs whose acts all give the same impression. +Sometimes a gathering of men and women +is apprehended while reading the Bible, and the +whole company is forthwith carried away to the +most painful tortures.</p> + +<p>These Christians knew what the Bible was to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +them. All declamations of later theologians about +the inspiration and the authority of the Bible count +for nothing compared with this testimony.</p> + +<p>After all, we do not wonder that the Bible became +a civilising power as soon as Christianity had won +its victory.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + + +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h3>THE BIBLE BEGINS TO RULE THE CHRISTIAN +EMPIRE (325-600 A. D.)</h3> + + +<p>After the persecution by Diocletian a new era +began. Constantine proclaimed tolerance, and by +and by Christianity became the religion of the empire. +The victory of Christianity was a victory +of the Bible as well. This finds its expression in +the remarkable fact that the first Christian emperor, +the immediate successor of those who persecuted the +Bible and tried to destroy it, ordered fifty splendid +copies of the Bible to be prepared at his expense +for the churches of the newly founded capital, Constantinople. +Some scholars have thought that one +or two of these copies still survive in the famous +manuscript discovered by Tischendorf in the Convent +of Mount Sinai (Plate III), or in the Codex +Vaticanus at Rome. I venture rather to think that +both copies belong to the period of Constantine's +sons. But the fact that the Bible, after a period of +destruction when most of the earlier copies were +burned, got a surprising circulation under official +direction accounts, I think, for a puzzling feature in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +the transmission of the text. From the Old Latin +and the Old Syriac, as well as from the testimony of +the fathers, we can infer that various forms of the +Greek text must once have been widely circulated, +which have now almost disappeared, whereas most +of our present Greek manuscripts give a text evidently +based on a late official recension. Looking +at Diocletian's attempt to destroy the Bible +altogether and at Constantine's official order to provide +a large number of manuscripts, we easily understand +the situation. The older forms of text +had been swept away; now there was room to supply +their place with the learned attempts of later +scholars from the schools of Origen or Lucian who +endeavoured to bring in more critical texts.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 694px;"> +<img src="images/image028.jpg" width="694" height="450" alt="Plate III" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate III—CODEX SINAITICUS</span> + +<p class="negin">End of St. Mark (15 : 16-16 : 8) and beginning of St. Luke (1 : 1-18); Mark 16 : 9-20 is missing; 15 : 47 is added at the lower margin by +a later hand; remark the numbers of Eusebius's sections and canons. The eight columns of the open book recall the roll-system.</p> + +<p class="center">Reduced one-fifth from the fac-simile edited by Prof. Lake and published by the Clarendon Press<br />(Oxford and London).</p> +</div> + +<p>Another change is to be mentioned at the same +time. The old form of papyrus rolls became obsolete +and the parchment book took its place. The +use of this latter form seems to originate in the law +schools; the codex, or parchment book, is at first +the designation of a Roman law-book. But at +an early date the Christian church adopted this +form as the more convenient one and gave it its +circulation. We hardly say too much when we call +the Bible the means by which our present form of +book came into general use. Even if the Bible had +done nothing else for civilisation than to give man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>kind +the shape of its books that would be a great +deal (Plate IV).</p> + +<p>The form of a parchment book, or codex, would +admit of the copying of several books in one volume. +The great Bibles of the fourth and fifth centuries of +which we know contained all the books; they formed +one volume. So the internal unity running through +the Bible as a whole came to be represented even +in the outward form.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image030.jpg" width="600" height="871" alt="Plate IV" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate IV—ROLL AND BOOK</span> + +<p class="negin">St. Luke the Evangelist copying from a roll into a book (codex form): miniature +from a Greek manuscript at the Vatican library (gr. 1158), eleventh century.</p> + +<p class="center">From "Vatikanische Miniaturen." Copyright by B. Herder, Freiburg.</p> +</div> + +<p>The copying of the Bible went on rapidly, monks +and noble Christian ladies undertaking it as a form +of ascetic work, providing a heavenly merit and +sometimes earning bread and butter, too. Instead +of the plain copies in an unskilled hand we now find +sumptuous books of the finest parchment with +purple colouring, in the most luxurious manuscripts +the sacred text being written in gold and silver, and +the margin sometimes being covered with beautiful +paintings. A copy of Genesis in Greek at the +Vienna library has forty-eight water-colours, one at +the bottom of each page, telling the same story as +the text. The manuscript when complete must have +had sixty folios: this gives one hundred and twenty +of such decorated pages for Genesis, and if it contained +the whole Pentateuch we may allow for five +hundred and ten illustrations (Plate V). And this +manuscript does not stand alone; it is but one of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +a large group of illuminated manuscripts. This +sumptuous appearance may be taken as a sign of +the value attached to the Bible. Persecuted hitherto, +it became the ruler of the Christian empire, invested +with all the glory of royalty.</p> + +<p>The place given to the Bible is best shown by the +fact that it presided over the great councils, a copy +of the Bible lying upon the presidential chair. It +was meant as a symbol for Christ himself taking the +place of honour and deciding the great questions of +faith. The same holds true for non-ecclesiastical +assemblies. In an ordinance of the emperor Theodosius +it is required that a copy of the Bible be +present in every court-room. The Bible, or rather +the Gospels, or to speak even more precisely the +most prominent page in them, the beginning of the +first chapter of St. John's Gospel, was used for taking +an oath. The worn condition of this page in +many a manuscript still attests this use.</p> + +<p>Presiding over the courts, the Bible began at once +to exercise its influence upon the Law. We can already +trace this influence in the legislation of Constantine +himself: when he forbids to brand a criminal +on his face, giving as reason that the image of +God ought not to be marred, it is the Biblical notion +of the man's face being the likeness of God which +underlies this law. When, in a law published in 334,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +he insists that no man, whoever he is and whatever +rank he has, shall be admitted as a solitary witness +unless supported by another witness, it is the well-known +Biblical rule that at the mouth of two or +three witnesses every word shall be established. +When he makes divorce more difficult, denying the +right of remarriage to the man who repudiates his +wife without sufficient reason on her part, we feel +that it is the injunction of Jesus which is behind +this law. I would not say the same of all parts of +this legislation which various scholars have adduced +as proving Christian influence. Roman law from +the second century was influenced to a large extent +by the Stoa, all the famous lawyers such as Gaius +and Paulus belonging to this school and introducing +its ideas into the practice of the courts and into the +legislation of the magistrates, especially of the emperor. +There is an evident development in the +Roman law toward a more humane conception of +slavery; this is due to the Stoa. The views on marriage +and divorce, the position of "natural children," +as the Roman law calls illegitimates, all this +is largely due to non-Christian influences. Nevertheless, +there are unmistakable traces of a particular +influence of the Bible upon the legislation of the +Christian emperors, and this influence increases from +decade to decade. Constantine gives a rather vague +ordinance for keeping Sunday as a day on which +courts are not to be held. Theodosius is much +stricter; and the climax is reached with Justinian, +when Sunday has become a legal holiday.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image032.jpg" width="600" height="875" alt="Plate V" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate V—VIENNA GENESIS</span> + +<p class="negin">The paradise: Adam and Eve appear three times: (1) under the tree of knowledge, +Gen. 3 : 6; (2) when discovering their nakedness, 3 : 7; (3) when hiding themselves +from the Lord among the trees, 3 : 8. The divine voice, represented +by the hand from heaven, belongs to this third scene; it is put in the centre +merely for artistic reasons.</p> + +<p class="center">From "Die Wiener Genesis." F. Tempsky, Vienna.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> +<p>Justinian, of course, codifies the Roman law, but +his Novellæ, the laws issued by himself, show the +new spirit of a legislation ruled by the Bible. He +sometimes refers directly to the Bible as authority. +Still more is this spirit prevalent in some provincial +codes. One of these says that everything has to +be judged according to the ancient and to the modern +law, i. e., the law of Moses, which antedates the +laws of all other nations, and the law of Christ, as +it is contained in the laws of the emperors Constantine, +Theodosius, and Leo. Lawyers of this period +indulge in comparisons between the Roman law +and the law of Moses.</p> + +<p>The Roman empire was Latin in some respects, +Greek in others. Latin was the official language of +the court, of the law, of the army. But the population +spoke mostly Greek, though from the third +century on large parts used their native language, +Syriac and Coptic, as well. The Bible had been +translated into these languages during the former +period. Now the general political situation brings +the empire into contact with the Goths in the North, +with Armenians and Georgians in the East, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +Libyans and Ethiopians in the South. As soon as the +empire gains any influence among these neighbouring +peoples, the Christian mission tries to get hold +of them and we see the Bible translated into these +languages, which hitherto have had no writing. The +Bible marks for these peoples the beginning of a +national literature. Their alphabets were made +up from the Greek, thus showing that the reading +of the Bible with these nations began in connection +with their intercourse with the Roman +empire.</p> + +<p>The Bible ruled even the Greek language of this +empire. There are many changes in the later Greek +which are surely due to familiarity with the Bible. +Words previously unknown in Greek or used in a +different sense became quite familiar; everybody +knows what is the meaning of Beelzebub, Messiah, +Paradise, Satan, and that an angel is not a mere +messenger, but is a messenger from God, a spiritual +being, and that the word demon always means an +unclean spirit.</p> + +<p>Moreover, the Bible influenced the style of the +writers, especially of the great preachers. One may +distinguish three forms of influence in this department: +artificial imitation; naïve use of Biblical +names and phrases (what is usually called in Germany +the language of Canaan); and, lastly, the un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>conscious +influence which the style of any book exerts +upon a careful reader. I do not think that there +are many instances of artificial imitation in this period. +Sometimes a preacher skilfully composed his +whole sermon by adding Biblical quotation to quotation; +asked to preach a sermon on a saint's day, +he did nothing else than comment upon the saint's +life in Biblical phrases. The second type of influence +is very common; the present emperor is usually +spoken of as the new David; the story of a war is +always told as if David were fighting the Philistines; +each heretic is entitled to be called the new Judas +Iscariot who betrays his Lord. The most famous +example of this kind is the sermon attributed to +Chrysostom after his first return to Constantinople, +when he had fled from the wrath of the empress: +"Again Herodias is furious, again she flurries, again +she dances, again she desires the Baptist's head to +be cut off by Herod." The preacher's own Christian +name, of course, was John, and the empress was +trying to get rid of him for political reasons.</p> + +<p>The most important influence, however, is the +unconscious influence simply from the use of the +Bible. The great power of Chrysostom's sermons +was partly due to his eminent rhetorical talent and +training. He knew how to gain his hearers' attention; +yet for the greater part his thorough ac<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>quaintance +with the Bible seems to be responsible. +Reading the sermons of those great Greek Christian +orators of the fourth century, we are often struck +by the embedded quotations from the Bible. In +the midst of this fluent Greek there is something +quite different, something stern, something austere, +something dignified and solemn, which immediately +appeals to the hearer. As a matter of fact, the +preachers themselves, proud as they were of their +classical training, had rather the opposite impression; +they apologise for introducing barbarous language. +Chrysostom insists, in many a sermon, on +the idea that the apostles were fishermen, unskilled +in literary style, and that it is one of the proofs of +inspiration that those men could write at all. He +evidently is not aware of the fact, clear to us, that +it is just the vigour and strength of Biblical language +which gave to his own sermons their magnificent +effect. He was filled with Biblical phraseology +as was no other preacher of his time. He +himself did not realise it, nor did, I presume, the +greater part of his congregation, yet it was this +which so impressed them. If only the modern editors +would note all the Biblical allusions in his works! +Yet they are hardly able even to recognise them. +We find preachers noted for their brilliancy in extemporaneous +speaking, and usually the remark is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +added, it was because the speaker knew the Scriptures +by heart.</p> + +<p>In this way the people became accustomed to +Biblical phraseology, and we do not wonder that +at last the colloquial Greek also was influenced by +the Bible. We can trace its influence even in the +romances.</p> + +<p>The Bible ruled the home and the daily life; +people had their furniture decorated with Biblical +symbols; lamps showed Noah's ark or Jonah's +whale, Jesus with his disciples in a ship or Jesus +treading upon the lion and adder, the serpent and +dragon (according to Psalm 91). At the Strassburg +Museum there is a beautiful engraved glass cup +made probably in a Roman manufactory in Cologne. +On one side is engraved Abraham sacrificing Isaac, +on the other side Moses striking water from the rock. +Rich people wore sumptuous garments embroidered +with representations of Biblical scenes. The preachers +complain that these people wear the miracles of +Christ on their coats instead of taking them to +their heart and conscience.</p> + +<p>The great officials of the empire used to give to +their friends ivory tablets commemorating their +honours. In former times they had represented on +them the emperor, the empress, or their own portraits, +and scenes from the circus; now they chose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +Biblical subjects. People liked to have long rolls +exhibiting the wars and triumphs of an emperor in +a continuous series of drawings. Two gigantic rolls +of this kind may still be seen at Rome; I mean the +columns of Trajan and of Marcus Aurelius. Christian +art produced rolls of the same kind, exhibiting +the story of Joshua's battles (Plate VI). Senators +and noble ladies vied with each other in arranging +the history of the Bible and especially the life of +Jesus in the form of poems, each word of which was +taken either from Homer or from Vergil. It is a +wonderful mixture of Bible and classical culture.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 800px;"> +<img src="images/image038.jpg" width="800" height="606" alt="Plate VI" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate VI—JOSHUA ROLL</span> +<p class="center"><b>(At the Vatican)</b></p> + +<p class="center">Joshua is sending from Jericho (at the left, walls tumbling down) to Ai two men to spy out the land, Joshua 7 : 2. The towns +are represented by edifices as well as by allegorical figures (Tyche of the City).</p> + +<p class="center">From "Vatikanische Miniaturen," by St. Beissel. Copyright by B. Herder, Freiburg.</p> +</div> + +<p>The Bible rules not only the public and the private +life, but also the church and its organisations. +At the beginning the Christians were afraid of +comparing the Old Testament rites with the ecclesiastical +institutions. The Law of the Old Testament +belonged to an earlier form of religion; it was +abolished by the New Testament. Christ, according +to Saint Paul, was the end of the Law. But by +and by the Old and the New Testament were brought +nearer together. An author of the first century +remarks that God by his commandments in the Old +Testament has shown himself to be a lover of order, +therefore in the Christian congregation, too, order +ought to rule. He does not call the Christian communion +a sacrifice, the Christian minister a priest; +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +but his parallelism comes very near to this, and a +century later the step is taken. It becomes usual +to speak of bishop, elders, and deacons as high-priest, +priests, and Levites. Later on, even the +minor degrees were taken back to Biblical models: +the subdeacon, lector, exorcist, acolyte, janitor were +found represented in the Old Testament. The +clergy formed a separate class as distinct from other +people as the tribe of Levi was among the tribes of +Israel. It was upon the authority of the Old Testament +that they claimed rights and prerogatives to +be given and guaranteed by the empire. The +monks found their models in Elijah and Elisha; +common life was represented by the apostles; penitents +were Job, David, and the people of Nineveh; +widows (as ecclesiastical functionaries) had their +models in Naomi, Hannah, Tabitha, etc. The church +was the tabernacle of Moses and the temple of Solomon, +and each detail in the description of these +Biblical buildings was made to agree with a feature +in the Christian church by means of allegorical interpretation. +The feasts of the church correspond +to the feasts of the Old Testament; Easter is usually +called Passover, and Whitsuntide Pentecost. At +a rather early date a festival of the dedication of the +individual church was introduced to correspond +with the festival of the dedication of the temple.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +As the Jews kept two days in the week for fasting, +so did the Christians, choosing Wednesday and +Friday instead of Monday and Thursday; and in +doing so they remembered that it was on a Wednesday +that Jesus was betrayed by Judas and on a +Friday that he died on the cross. Even the usual +hours for prayers were based on Old Testament authority; +David, saying in Psalm 141 : 2 "The lifting +up of my hands as the evening sacrifice," means +vespers, while in the 131st Psalm he is speaking of +compline, in the 63d of matins. The vigil was +observed as well as commanded by Christ himself +(Luke 6 : 12 and 12 : 37). The whole liturgy was +explained as being in every detail a representation +of the life of Christ. The sacraments, too, were +prefigured in the Old Testament. This symbolism +is very old and very commonly used; it has influenced +Christian art. We see Noah's ark as a +symbol of baptism (<i>cf.</i> I Peter 3 : 20); Abel's sacrifice, +and Melchisedek offering bread and wine to +Abraham, as symbols of the holy eucharist. Abraham +entertaining at his home the three angels reveals +the holy Trinity. All this is represented in +splendid mosaics on the walls of the churches, as +for instance in San Vitale at Ravenna.</p> + +<p>To us this system of Biblical references for everything +in the Christian service seems strange. We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +feel that the worship of the Christian congregation +rests on other principles than the ritual of the Old +Testament and does not gain anything by such +hazardous comparisons. It looks like comparing +the stars in heaven with beasts on earth. But +the fathers thought that this was the highest +achievement at which they could arrive: to allegorise +and spiritualise the Old Testament law in order +to deduce from it the Christian liturgy. That was +what they called worship in spirit and truth. It +is exactly opposite to the great idea which Jesus conveyed +in those words; it is one of the greatest +confusions to which the juxtaposition of the Old +and the New Testament in one Bible was leading. +Nevertheless, it was of great influence upon civilisation +for centuries.</p> + +<p>The church and the laity were ruled by the Bible; +but the real Bible folk of this time were the monks. +There had been a tendency toward asceticism from +the very beginning of Christianity. At the moment +when the church came into power this tendency increased +rapidly. In Egypt as well as in Syria, wherever +there was a desert place hermits gathered and +monasteries were built. Now, in these monasteries +the life was really filled with the reading of the +Bible. Even the poorest monk would have a copy +of the Gospels to read. Some of the monks, of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +course, were very simple, unlearned people. They +could not read, so they learned it all by heart. And +sometimes—we are told in the legendary tales of +the monks—it happened that a monk who never +before had learned to read was miraculously given +the art of reading, God granting it to him as a recompense +for his zeal. The monks had their hours +for common worship and reading, but they were +supposed to read each by himself as much as possible. +"The rising sun shall find the Bible in thy +hands," is one of the monastic rules, and legend +illustrates how the divine grace recompensed assiduous +reading: filled with heavenly light all +through the night was the cell of a hermit as long +as he was reading the Bible. When visitors came +the talk was over questions raised by the Bible. +It was with quotations from the Bible that the celebrated +anchorite entertained the people who called +upon him to ask for spiritual help.</p> + +<p>Among all Biblical books the Psalter was the one +most favoured by the monks. They knew it by +heart, almost all of them, and they used to recite +it during their manual labour. The Psalter was +their spiritual weapon against the temptations of +the demons; the demon liked nothing so much as +to turn a monk from reciting his Psalter. But besides +the Psalter it was the Gospel which prevailed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +over all other books in these ascetic circles. Many +of the hermits were induced to leave the world by +attending a Gospel lesson in their church at home. +"If thou wouldest be perfect, go, sell that thou hast +and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure +in heaven: and come follow me," or "And every one +that hath left houses or brethren or sisters or father +or mother or children or lands for my name's sake +shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit eternal +life." These are the words which occur again and +again in the lives of saints as the decisive ones for +their "conversion," that is for leaving the world +and going to the desert or entering a monastery. +The first saying quoted above is referred to in the +life of Saint Anthony, the greatest of all hermits, and +Saint Augustine had this in his mind when the time +came for him to change his life. The second saying +makes Saint Hypatius go away from home; his +biographer, however, is honest enough to add that +the saint, a youth of eighteen, had just received +punishment from his father. An actor living luxuriously +with two concubines chances to enter a +church, and hears read from the Gospel, "Repent +ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"; so he +repents and becomes a monk. I do not mean to +say that these tales of the monks are historical and +trustworthy in every point, but I venture to think<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +that this statement about the motives for conversion +is, after all, a correct one. The gospel is what +appeals to the human heart, in all centuries and in +all nations. And then the man will try to make +the gospel the rule of his life. I think it is remarkable +that whereas the church and the empire both +were ruled mainly by the Old Testament, these ascetic +circles took the gospel as their main rule, that +is to say, the gospel as understood by the men of +that time. It was to them a new law, a law of +asceticism, of self-denial, and they kept to it as +strictly as possible. Even if for other Christians +it meant an almost inaccessible ideal, the monastery +ought to be the place to fulfil it literally.</p> + +<p>Our picture would be inadequate, however, if we +should neglect the abuse of the Bible, the Bible showing +its importance and ruling force even by its influence +upon the dark domain of human superstition. +The ancient world was full of magic. We remember +the story in Acts 19 of how Saint Paul overcame +some Jewish exorcists, with the result that "not +a few of them that practised curious arts brought +their books together and burned them in the sight +of all, and they counted the price of them and found +it fifty thousand pieces of silver." I suspect many +a scholar or librarian of to-day would like very much +to have those books among his treasures, but they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +were burned; and Christianity scored its first triumph +over superstition. Superstition, however, did +not give way at this first defeat; on the contrary, +it made a strenuous effort to draw over all the forces +of Christendom to its own side. There was the +name of Jesus, frightening the demons; black magic +took this name and converted it to its detestable +uses. There was the Gospel, representative of Jesus +himself in his heavenly power; superstition made it +a vehicle of its own magical rites. There was the +Bible, the book of divine oracles; human inquisitiveness +turned it into a book from which to read +the dark future. The heathen had done this with +the poems of Homer and Vergil. Turning over the +pages they suddenly stopped at a verse and then +tried to find in this verse the answer to their question. +The fathers of the early church detested this +method as something quite alien to a Christian mind, +but as early as the end of the fourth century people +came to feel that it was all right if only they used +the Bible for the same purpose. In the sixth century +even church officials kept to this practice. When a +bishop had to be elected they almost always consulted +the Psalter first on behalf of the man to be +elected. Bible verses written on parchment were +attached to easy chairs in order to keep away the +evil spirits. Gospels in the smallest form were hung<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +on the necks of the babies. It is astonishing to +see how great was the esteem in which the Bible was +held and how terribly contrary to the spirit of the +Bible this practice was, especially when the Bible was +used to do harm. Lead, by its dull lustre, always +has reminded mankind of the realm of death; so it +was used in black magic for bringing upon an enemy +a curse from the gods of the underworld. A rolled +sheet of lead, inscribed with a psalm and a dreadful +curse against any robber, has been found on one of +the Ægean Islands hidden in the ground of a vineyard. +Evidently the psalm was supposed to be one +of the most effective spells. Even the Lord's Prayer +and other parts of the Gospels have been abused in +the same way (Plate VII). Nothing is so holy that +it cannot be turned into a crime by human sin.</p> + +<p>It is a dark page of human civilisation. I am +afraid it is a large page, too. I could accumulate +instance upon instance. But however interesting +this might be, it would give a wrong impression. +The Bible was not primarily used as a magical means +in those centuries. It was acknowledged as something +superhuman, bearing supernatural powers, and +therefore ruling everything. It ruled the empire +as well as the church. It influenced law, language, +art, habits, and even magic.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image046.jpg" width="600" height="769" alt="Plate VII" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate VII—THE LORD'S PRAYER</span> + +<p class="center">On a potsherd found at Megara, sixth century; used probably as a spell.</p> + +<p class="center">From "Mitteilungen des K. Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts," Athen. +Published by G. Reimer, Berlin.</p> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h3>THE BIBLE TEACHES THE GERMAN NATIONS +(500-800 A. D.)</h3> + + +<p>From the fourth century on the Germans, tribe by +tribe, crossed the Danube and the Rhine and entered +the boundaries of the Roman empire. Here +part of them settled near the frontier, part took +service in the Roman army. But the more numerous +they became, the more hostile they were. At +last the Roman empire in the West broke down, +German kingdoms taking its place. It is a long and +cruel history, this period of "Völkerwanderungen" +as it is usually called in German, the period of the +great migrations. And only after some centuries +did the new Roman empire of German nationality +come to be established by Charlemagne.</p> + +<p>At first the Germans made a brilliant start in +taking over Roman civilisation. The Goths had +been Christianised and civilised at an early period. +While it is true that the Visigoths under Alaric captured +Rome and did not refrain from plundering it, +the behaviour of the Vandals under Gaiseric was +even worse, so that for all time to come their name<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +is connected with the most brutal pillage. But the +noble tribe of the Ostrogoths under their celebrated +king Theodoric—called Dietrich von Bern in the +German songs—tried another plan; they adopted +Roman civilisation as far as possible and endeavoured +to combine both nations under one dominion. +Theodoric had as his minister or secretary of state +a member of the Roman nobility, the most cultivated +man of letters of the time, Cassiodorus. We +have his collection of reports and letters, and we may +infer from them how much, aside from his training in +the Roman law school, he was influenced by his +Christian belief and Biblical reading. Later on, +when he retired into the monastery which he had +founded on his estates at Vivarium, all his devotion +was given to the study of the Bible. He is the man +who inculcated on Western monasticism that love for +scholarship which has been ever since a characteristic +of the Order of Saint Benedict. Cassiodorus was +a Roman, of course, but we have ample evidence +that even among the Goths the Bible was read and +studied. There was a Gothic translation of the +Bible, which is supposed to have been made in the +fourth century by Ulfilas. In order not to encourage +the warlike spirit in his people he is said to have +omitted the books of the Kings, wherein so many +wars and battles are described. The educational<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +aspect of the Bible as teaching the German nations +comes out here distinctly. We are able to trace +the history of the Goths by their Bible, which, having +been translated in the East from Greek manuscripts, +shows traces of a Latin influence, evidently +introduced when the Goths settled in Italy. There +still exist some copies, among them the famous Codex +Argenteus, now at Upsala, which in its silver writing +on purple ground, is a wonderful specimen of luxurious +calligraphy, giving testimony to the degree of +civilisation which these Ostrogoths had taken over +from Rome (Plate VIII).</p> + +<p>There was, however, one great difference between +the Germans and the Romans; the latter were Catholics, +the former Arians. This religious difference is +responsible for many troubles and persecutions +brought by the Germans upon the population of the +conquered land. The Germans had a church organisation +of their own; they had their own clergy, and +this clergy was well trained in Bible reading. We +find the remarkable fact that the German Arian +bishops show an even larger knowledge of the Bible +than their Roman Catholic colleagues. The complaint +was often heard that the watchwords of Catholicism, +as, for example, <i>homoûsios</i>, had no Biblical +foundation, while, on the other hand, the Arians +were always ready to fill their creeds with Biblical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +phrases. These Germans had a profound reverence +for the holy Scripture and bowed down to it. It +was only by Scriptural proofs that the Catholic +clergy of Spain succeeded in converting the Arian +king to their faith.</p> + +<p>Theodoric built at Ravenna some churches which +still exist. Here we see mosaics exhibiting the life +of Jesus in a very simple way, but with that unmistakable +touch of awe which is so characteristic +of German piety. How different are the pictures +which were added after Ravenna had become Byzantine! +They are highly ceremonial, representing, +among others, the emperor Justinian and the empress +Theodora with all their suite.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image050.jpg" width="600" height="861" alt="Plate VIII" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate VIII—GOTHIC BIBLE</span> + +<p class="negin">Codex Argenteus, now at Upsala. Sixth century, written on purple parchment in +silver and (some words) in gold. The figures at the bottom give Eusebius's +harmony of the Gospels: this particular scheme is found in Syrian manuscripts +and in the Old Latin Codex Rehdigerianus at Breslau.</p> + +<p class="center">From "Deutsche Kulturgeschichte," by O. Henne am Rhyn. Grote, Berlin, +Germany.</p> +</div> + +<p>These were the first centuries of German invasion. +The ancient civilisation, championed by the Roman +church, was still strong enough to impose itself upon +these invaders. Time went on and civilisation more +and more lost its energy. Especially in Gaul, in +the kingdom of the Merovingians, intellectual darkness +spread all over the country. There was no +layman who could read, hardly any member of the +clergy. We hear of great monasteries, which were +rich royal foundations, where no complete Bible was +to be found. We see the troubles of a missionary +like Boniface. In order to procure the necessary +books, he has to apply to his English lady friends, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +who send him copies of the books he wants, finely +written by their own delicate hands. It was a time +when a book, a Bible, was a treasure, and to own +one was a fact to be recorded by a biographer. +This enables us to trace the history of more than +one famous manuscript. We are surprised to find +what journeys they made. One was sent from +Naples to England, and then a century later again +removed to the German shore and finally treasured +among the rarities of the Fulda library. Another +manuscript, now at Florence, came originally from +the monastery of Cassiodorus in the extreme south +of Italy and found its way to the monastery of +Mount Amiata, near Florence, only by a roundabout +route through the famous English monasteries, +where it was copied. The few scholars of that +period had to go a long way before they could get +a copy of the Bible worth their attention, and they +had to go a long way to find a monastery with +hands able to copy manuscripts.</p> + +<p>A new epoch begins with Charlemagne, who has +a real right to the name of the Great. If one wants +to know a great man, one has only to see what attention +he pays to minor things. It is simply wonderful +how this German king, who restored the old +notion of the Roman empire, whose dominion contained +France, Germany, Spain, Italy, was taking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +care of the schoolboys and fixing his eyes on the +way in which the Bible was being copied in the +monasteries of his vast realm. In one of his ordinances +he complains that they use unskilled boys +for copying the most sacred book. It needs, he +says, grammar—nay, good grammar—to understand +what you are copying. It is no religion to pray to +God in ungrammatical language and to have his +holy Scriptures in a grammatically incorrect text. +From the fact that the monasteries in their letters +of application used a bad style he infers that Bible +reading here was being neglected. Therefore, Charlemagne +tried, in the first place, to bring the schools +of his kingdom to a higher standard. Each monastery +had to have a well-conducted school for the +monks and for the young people who were sent there +for education (as they are now sent to public schools). +At his own court he had the <i>Schola palatina</i> and +the great emperor himself went there often and took +lessons together with the boys. But he did not stop +here. His intention was to secure a really good, +trustworthy text of the Bible. He therefore invited +scholars from everywhere; even some Orientals are +said to have shared in the work. The leading man, +the chairman of the Committee for the revision of +the Bible, as we should say at present, was Alcuin, +a monk from England, who by his great learning +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +had won the confidence of Charlemagne and was +appointed by him abbot of the famous monastery +of Tours. Here, at the school of Tours, most of +the work of revision was done (Plate IX); through +Alcuin's influence the revision was mainly based on +the text current in England. That this was the +best text available at that time is now generally +acknowledged by all competent scholars. This was +not so in Charlemagne's time; other scholars, Frankish +bishops, disapproved of Alcuin's work. They +thought the revision would have come out much +better if conducted according to the text prevailing +in Spain. So Theodulf, bishop of Orleans, issued +a version of his own (Plate X). It is always instructive +to see how men were the same in former +times as they are now: scholars seldom agree one +with another. The result was that henceforth two +forms of the Latin Bible were used through the +next centuries—in the North, Alcuin's revision, in +the South, the revision made by Theodulf.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image052.jpg" width="600" height="882" alt="Plate IX" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate IX—ALCUIN'S BIBLE</span> + +<p class="center"><b>(Brit. Mus. add. 10546)</b></p> + +<p class="center">Written at Tours, soon after Alcuin's death: a very good example of fine Carolingian +minuscule. The lines are of equal length.</p> + +<p class="center">From F. G. Kenyon, "Fac-similes of Biblical Manuscripts." By permission of +the Trustees of the British Museum.</p> +</div> + +<p>Charlemagne would not have cared so much for +the text of the Bible had he not esteemed the Bible +to be the one great text-book for his people. He +himself was filled with Biblical notions. In his private +circle, a club for promoting classical reading, +he was called David. And it was, indeed, the Old +Testament idea of the theocratic king which gov<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>erned +his mind. The king chosen by God and +elected by the people, the king a representative of +God and the head of the people, the king a valiant +warrior and a royal psalmist at the same time, this +was his ideal, in which old German notions were +combined with Old Testament views. While revering +the priest, he always felt himself superior +even to the bishop of Rome. He willingly accepted +the rôle of a defender, of a protector; he never would +have accepted his crown from the hand of a priest. +Nothing is so alien to Charlemagne as the later +mediæval theory of the two swords, both given by +God to Saint Peter, the one spiritual, kept by himself +and his successors, the other worldly, given by +them to the emperor. No, he had his sword from +God directly, and his royalty included the power and +the duty of looking after the church's affairs as well. +The Bible tells of a king of Judah, called Josiah, who, +on being informed that the book of the Law given +by Moses and hidden for a long time had been rediscovered, +forthwith ordered everything to be reformed +and restored according to this law. That +served as the model for Charlemagne's own ecclesiastical +work. Being the king, he felt responsible +for the purity of worship and of doctrine. Therefore, +when the question arose in the East if worship +was due to the pictures of Christ and the saints, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +and the bishop of Rome did not please him in his +answer, Charlemagne himself, assisted by Alcuin and +other theologians of his staff, wrote a treatise on the +subject, which he himself thought to be decisive, +the so-called <i>Libri Carolini</i>, a document of a rather +Puritan character, showing the austere spirit of +early Western theology. When in Spain a discussion +began about the divine nature of Christ, he +again interfered, sending his theologians to discuss +the matter according to the true teaching of the +Bible—as is said expressly in their instructions—and +after they had decided he even took political measures +against those whom he believed to be heretics. +We can scarcely understand his attitude in those +cases without keeping in mind that he felt himself +a new David and a new Josiah.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image054.jpg" width="600" height="878" alt="Plate X" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate X—THEODULF'S BIBLE</span> + +<p class="center"><b>(Brit. Mus. add. 24142)</b></p> + +<p class="center">Written in three columns like many Spanish manuscripts, and in lines of various +length, "cata cola et commata," as St. Jerome says.</p> + +<p class="center">From "Fac-similes of Biblical Manuscripts." By permission of the Trustees of +the British Museum.</p> +</div> + +<p>Sometimes it is a true evangelical spirit which pervades +his ordinances for the church. In a proclamation +of 811 he says: "We will ask the clergy themselves, +those who are not only to read the holy +Scriptures by themselves but are to teach them to +others also: who are those to whom the apostle says, +Be my imitators? or who is the man of whom he says, +No soldier on service entangleth himself with the affairs +of this life?—or how to imitate the apostle and +how to do service to God? What is it to leave the +world? does it mean simply not to wear weapons and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +not to be married publicly? does it mean to enlarge +one's property daily, oppress the poor and induce +men to perjury?" Charlemagne is particularly +strict about avoiding perjury, not only in the solemn +form of public oath, which is taken on the holy Gospel +or on the altar or on the relics of the saints, but +in common conversation as well. He tries to introduce +Matt. 5 : 16, "Even so let your light shine +before men that they may see your good works and +glorify your father which is in heaven," as the motto +for every Christian's life. That is quite evangelical. +But it is from the Old Testament that the tenor of +his laws comes. They all have a strong mark of severity, +in particular the so-called Saxon laws, which +were imposed upon the Saxon tribes when after a +very hard resistance they were finally defeated and +subdued. Through this law runs, like a bloody +thread, the frightful menace: <i>morte moriatur</i>, by +death shall he die. This sounds harsh, but it is nothing +else than the adaptation of a well-known Biblical +phrase (Ex. 19 : 12; 21 : 12: "He shall surely +be put to death," R. V.). That is an example of +Biblical phraseology. But the Bible influenced the +legislation of Charlemagne also in content. I choose +three instances: in all three cases the work of Charlemagne +was prepared for by church councils. Christianity +had begun by voluntarily adopting Old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +Testament laws; then the church had made their +observance compulsory; now Charlemagne gives to +the ecclesiastical ordinances the sanction of the state +and inflicts penalty upon trespassers. The first instance +is Sunday; it was called the Lord's Day; +from the sixth century synods and councils had tried +to make the people keep this day in a more solemn +fashion. They did not refer to the Old Testament +commandment at first; they did not even demand +that all manual work should be stopped. The frequent +repetition of the decree seems to prove that +it was rather unsuccessful even in this limited form. +Now the government interferes, and its injunctions +secure at once to the Lord's Day the strictest observance. +It is remarkable that Charlemagne expressly +refers to the Old Testament commandment. It is +according to the Bible that the day was counted +from sunset to sunset. This is the beginning of the +Sabbatarian question in the West, the East preceding +the West, as we have seen, by about two centuries.</p> + +<p>Our second instance is the tithe; it was to be +paid, according to the Bible, by all the other tribes +to the tribe of Levi, who served at the temple. Now +Christians began to pay voluntarily a tithe to their +priests, accommodating themselves to the Old Testament +rule; but by and by the clergy derived from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +the Old Testament a right of asking for the tithe. +The farmer had to pay his tithe to his parish priest. +Charlemagne proclaimed this as a law of his kingdom, +referring expressly to God's commandments.</p> + +<p>The third instance is given in the prohibition +against taking interest. It is said in Deut. 23 : 19: +"Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother." +Ecclesiastical authorities took this as forbidding to +take any interest in lending money, and they tried +to impress this prohibition upon the minds of the +Christian people. Here, again, Charlemagne gave +his sanction to this ecclesiastical view and made the +prohibition against taking interest a part of the public +law. It is obvious that the economic life of the +nation was deeply influenced by this compulsory +adoption of Old Testament laws.</p> + +<p>Justice, with the Germans, was to a large extent +exercised by means of the ordeals. We scarcely +realise the importance these proceedings had at that +time. People believed in a divine power bringing +out guilt and innocence by means of these curious +trials. It was but natural that the Bible, representing +the divine oracles, should be present at the ceremony, +that both parties should revere and kiss it. +But people did more; they made the Bible itself a +means of deciding between guilty and innocent. +They had a particular kind of ordeal which they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +called determining by means of the Gospels, and +another which was called the ordeal of the Psalter, +a copy of the Psalter being swung over the head of +the suspected person.</p> + +<p>I have referred to the palace school. This had +its continuation in a graduate school, if we may so +call a Bible circle among the theologians attending +the court. These theologians, headed by Alcuin +himself, were first-rate Bible scholars. They knew +great parts of the Bible by heart; they had read all +accessible commentaries of the fathers. They had +ideas of their own, too, but they were traditionalists +to such an extent that they would not say anything +of their own unless it was said and supported +by the fathers. When asked to write brief commentaries +on Biblical books, because the patristic +commentaries were too large and comprehensive for +the students of this time, they simply gave extracts +from the fathers and carefully avoided adding anything +of their own. One went so far as to take +even the connecting words from the works of Saint +Augustine; another, whose mental energy was too +strong to keep him within the boundaries of pure +traditionalism, excuses himself whenever he introduces +an interpretation of his own.</p> + +<p>In these studies the ladies and gentlemen of the +court took part. It is very interesting and often<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +amusing to see what kind of questions they bring +before Alcuin as the great oracle of learning. One +lady reading her Psalter was puzzled by the words +in Psalm 116, "All men are liars." How can babies +be liars before they begin to speak, or dumb men? +"The sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon +by night" (Psalm 121 : 6) seemed to be incompatible +with the fact that the moon never burns. A +scholar who had come from Greece troubled the +court by putting the question: To whom was paid +the price with which we were bought according +to I Cor. 6 : 20; 7 : 23. Charlemagne himself has +other questions. He is troubled by finding that the +hymn sung by Christ and his disciples after the Last +Supper has not been recorded by any of the Gospels. +I wonder if he really was satisfied by Alcuin's answer. +After a very learned explanation of the term hymn, +Alcuin gives, first, three views of different interpreters: +(1) That there was no special hymn, only +a general praisegiving; (2) that they had sung the +twenty-second Psalm; (3) that it was some Jewish +prayer. Then he proceeds to establish his own +solution: that it is, in fact, the prayer of Jesus, recorded +in John 17, which was meant by the word +hymn here. Incidentally, he makes some important +remarks upon the harmony of the Gospels: "Although +we see in the Gospels some things told simi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>larly, +others in a different way, we nevertheless +believe that everything is true." That was the +leading idea for the criticism of the fathers, and it +was the same for nearly all the mediæval centuries. +Historical criticism, directed upon the Gospels, +would have seemed to show intolerable lack of +piety or certain evidence of heretical views.</p> + +<p>Theological thinking does not go beyond the limits +of Biblical doctrine. Scarcely one or two men +dare to think in their own way or speculate on +such problems as darkness and nothing (that is, +what was before the creation) or on the nature of +miracle. There was hardly any attempt at scientific +theories. And the best men, indeed, as, for +instance, Alcuin, were proud of basing their theology +entirely on Biblical ideas.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>The one great event in the expansion of Christianity +among the German nations is the mission of +Saint Augustine to England. When Pope Gregory +found some Anglo-Saxon youths at the slave market +of Rome and perceived that in the North there +was still a pagan nation to be baptised, he sent one +of his monks to England, and this monk, who was +Saint Augustine, took with him the Bible and introduced +it to the Anglo-Saxons, and one of his followers +brought with him from Rome pictures show<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>ing +the Biblical history, and decorated the walls of +the church in the monastery of Wearmouth. We +do not enter here into the difficult question of the +relations between this newly founded Anglo-Saxon +church and the old Iro-Scottish church. Differences +of Bible text had something to do with the pitiful +struggles which arose between the churches and +ended in the devastation of the older one. The one +point which interests us here is the fact that both +Iro-Scottish and Anglo-Saxon monks were driven +into missionary work by the Bible. When, in the +service, they heard read from the Old Testament or +from the epistle to the Hebrews that Abraham and +the patriarchs had all left their home, their parents, +their native country, and had gone to a foreign land +which they did not know, simply in order to please +God, then they felt bound to do the same. When at +the mass the Gospel was read, "And every one that +hath left houses or brethren or sisters or father or +mother or children or lands for my name's sake, +shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit eternal +life," then they hurried away, not knowing where +to go, looking only for a far-distant and desert place. +It was this ascetic view of the Bible which drove +the Iro-Scottish monks over the sea to France, Italy, +Germany, which made them preach the gospel to +the Germans who had not yet heard of it. It was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +this same motive which caused Willibrord and +Boniface to cross the North Sea and come to preach +among the Frisians and Saxons. Boniface is said +to have received the deadly stroke from a pagan +while holding his Bible over his head. They still +show the copy at Fulda.</p> + +<p>Again, it was the Bible which determined Charlemagne +to use force against the Saxons in order to +bring them to baptism and Christian faith. Saint +Augustine had discovered the passage in the Lord's +parable of the great supper, where the servant is +told to go out into the highways and hedges and +"constrain" them to come in. This <i>coge intrare</i>, +he explained, might excuse the using of secular power +for the purpose of bringing heretics back to the +church or of causing pagans to join the church. +Charlemagne knew no better than to suppose that +this was the true meaning of the saying of our Lord, +and so he felt in conscience bound to use military +force and the full strength of the law in christianising +the Saxons.</p> + +<p>But it was the Bible itself and not Charlemagne's +sharp sword and his cruel law which brought over +the wild Saxon tribes into Christendom. They had +among themselves a poet who had the gift of singing +the gospel into their hearts. Charlemagne himself +was fond of the national songs; he loved his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +German language as much as he esteemed Latin. +He was convinced that a man ought to pray to God +in his native tongue. There are not only three sacred +languages, he says, in which to pray and to +praise God—Hebrew, Greek, Latin—you may praise +him in your German as well. Therefore he arranged +that a priest should translate the Biblical +lessons and the sermon to the people who did not +understand Latin. He would probably have approved +a German translation of the Bible; but the +clergy were not prepared to do this. They took +Latin as the basis of civilisation, and only a few +of them had any regard for the uncultivated people. +There are preserved some few attempts at translating +parts of the Bible into German; they attest what +might have come out of this Carolingian movement +if the bigotry and narrowness of Charlemagne's son +Louis had not stopped it. Among the Saxons a +fresh and vigorous spirit was still alive. Having +been introduced to Christianity by brute force of +war, they embraced the gospel, trying to make it +their own by putting it into the form of their national +song. We do not know the name of the poet; +he seems to have been a clergyman, instructed in +the best commentaries of his time, such as were +available at the monastery of Fulda. For the +framework he used a Gospel harmony which is con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>tained +in the famous Codex Fuldensis of the Vulgate, +originating at Capua (in south Italy) and brought +probably by Boniface himself from England to +Fulda. This Gospel harmony he translated freely +into some six thousand Saxon verses. His poem is +one of the finest assimilations of the Gospel history +to national German feeling, to be compared only +with Dürer's engravings and Eduard von Gebhardt's +paintings. Christ is the heavenly king; the +apostles are his loyal kinsmen; he wanders with +them through the Saxon wood; he stops at a native +spring; all Oriental character has gone, but the +gospel has lost nothing. It is as fresh and as real +as it ever had been. The fact our author detests +most is Christ's betrayal by one of his own men; +nothing is so bad as this according to the German +mind. Christ on the cross is not suffering; he dies +as a victorious warrior. When he says, "I thirst," +he expresses by this the fact that he is thirsting +after the souls of men, to bring them into paradise. +It is wonderful how the gospel has penetrated the +German soul in order to produce a harmony like +this.</p> + +<p>This "Heliand" by the anonymous Saxon poet +we shall admire even more if we compare it with the +other attempt at bringing the life of Christ into +German poesy. It is by Otfried of Strassburg, whose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +"Christ" is a very learned elaboration, partly in +German, partly in Latin, therefore undoubtedly +much preferred in the literary circles of that time, +but infinitely inferior to the "Heliand" in freshness +and popular quality.</p> + +<p>It is remarkable that there is something similar +to the "Heliand" in the Anglo-Saxon poem, +the "Genesis." The theory has been successfully +started and proved by later discoveries that both +have the same origin. The Saxons of Germany and +the Saxons of England were not so far away one +from the other that they could not have intercourse +and exchange (Plate XI).</p> + +<p>However this may be, it is evident that the Bible +had an influence in teaching the German nations +from the beginning, and that the new civilisation +which was to be built would have the Bible as one +of its foundations.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image066.jpg" width="600" height="880" alt="Plate XI" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate XI—LINDISFARNE GOSPELS</span> + +<p class="center"><b>(Brit. Mus. Cotton: Nero D IV.)</b></p> + +<p class="negin">Written about 690 in honour of St. Cuthbert († 687), in English round style. +The interlinear version was added two hundred and fifty years later—remark +in the midst of the left-hand column the words: <i>xpi</i> (=Christi) <i>evangelium</i> +with <i>Cristes godspell</i> above it.</p> + +<p class="center">From "Fac-similes of Biblical Manuscripts." By permission of the Trustees of +the British Museum.</p> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h3>THE BIBLE BECOMES ONE BASIS OF MEDIÆVAL +CIVILISATION (800-1150 A. D.)</h3> + + +<p>The Middle Ages, the dark Middle Ages, that is +what we are wont to call the period we now enter +in our journey through the centuries. Scholars of +the sixteenth century called it so, when they looked +back to the classical period, from which they drew +all their light and inspiration. The centuries between +counted for nothing; they seemed to be barbarous, +uneducated; the humanistic scholar would +simply drop them out of the world's history. Time +passed and men became enthusiastic about the +beauties of these Middle Ages. At the beginning +of the nineteenth century Europe was enchanted by +romanticism. Nothing was fashionable that was +not mediæval in art, customs, manners. At present +we view these centuries more calmly in the +light of their own time; we see what was their +defect, and we see at the same time what was their +merit. It is true that civilisation had only begun +to recover from the shock which the great migrations +had given to it. If a chronicler thinks it worth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +while to mention that the emperor Henry IV was +able to read to himself the petitions brought before +him, we must infer that the art of reading was not +wide-spread, even among the nobility. And the +famous poet Wolfram von Eschenbach tells us himself +that he was no friend of this art. On the other +hand, I need only remind my readers of the beautiful +buildings we still admire at Cologne: the +massive old church of Saint Gereon in Romanesque +style and the light and airy cathedral, whose +Gothic arches and spires reach up toward heaven—to +mention only these two well-known examples—in +order to make them realise the power and the +splendour of this civilisation, which never will cease +to impress the human mind. We cannot drop this +period from our history; nor can Americans deny +that this mediæval civilisation is an element even +in their modern civilisation.</p> + +<p>There is an ingenious theory that history always +repeats itself: the German migrations corresponded +to the migrations of the Greek tribes; the time of +chivalry was like the time of Homer's heroes; humanism +represents the age of Plato and Aristotle; +only the repetition always has the advantage of +using the results of the former cycle. But we must +not forget that from time to time new forces enter +those cycles and change their relation. At the end<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +of the classical period Christianity has come in and +now runs as a straight line through the parallel cycles; +therefore nothing in this parallelism is quite +exact.</p> + +<p>It was the Christian church which served to keep +the old civilisation alive through all troubles and +dangers. When classical training had nearly vanished +everywhere else, it was found in some remote +monasteries. Esteem of good style, love of ancient +poetry, some chance bits of philosophy had safely +weathered the storm. But it was only in combination +with the Bible that those remains of classical +reading were allowed to persist. The mediæval civilisation +was Biblical at its base.</p> + +<p>Saint Jerome, who was a great admirer of classical +eloquence but a stern defender of pure Christianity, +tells in a friendly letter to a certain lady a +sad experience of his own. He had read much of +Vergil and Cicero and other pagan books, when +one night he found himself suddenly summoned before +the heavenly judge. "Who are you?" he was +questioned. "I am a Christian," he replied. +"Thou liest, thou art a Ciceronian," was the judge's +answer. And forthwith he was given over to cruel +constables, who beat him frightfully until he promised +never to touch a pagan book again. When he +awoke in the morning he still felt the blows. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +story is mere fancy, and Saint Jerome never proves +so guilty of imitating his adored classical models +as in this very letter. He was an actor who knew +how to pose. But by this letter he has caused plenty +of people in later time to dream over again the +frightful experience he describes so suggestively. +Dozens of monks and nuns have felt blows struck +upon them by invisible hands for having given +themselves too much to the seduction of reading +classical books instead of the Bible. Again and +again the leaders of monastic institutions had to +insist upon the rule that the Bible must be read +and no pagan books. Hrotswitha of Gandersheim, +the nun who celebrated the great acts of the emperor +Otto I, wrote some Biblical comedies, in order +to prevent the nuns from enjoying the comedies +of Plautus and Terence.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image070.jpg" width="600" height="795" alt="Plate XII" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate XII—BYZANTINE MINIATURE</span> + +<p class="center"><b>(Psalter, Paris B. N. gr. 139)</b></p> + +<p class="negin">David, playing harp while watching his sheep, looks like Orpheus in Greek art. +The female figure at the left represents Melody, while at the right-hand corner +Echo, also personified, is listening behind a pillar. The man in the cave to +the right is Mount Bethlehem.</p> + +<p class="center">From "Die Wiener Genesis." F. Tempsky, Vienna.</p> +</div> + +<p>On the other hand, all the great fathers of the +church insisted upon classical training; so did Saint +Jerome himself and Saint Augustine, not to speak of +the great classical scholars in Christian bishoprics in +the East (Plate XII). And even in the later centuries, +when classical civilisation had gone and was only +kept up artificially by assiduous reading, it was the +church which maintained the right and the necessity +of a classical training for its clergy. Alcuin +was proud of the classical training he had had at +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +home, at the famous monastic school of York under +the direction of Abbot Ælbert. He enjoyed finding +kernels of truth in the writings of the heathen, and +he pointed out that Saint Paul had done the same. +There was a time when there was no reading at all +outside the clergy and the monasteries, but this +reading was a combination of classical and Biblical. +That is the great merit of the mediæval church.</p> + +<p>Mediæval civilisation had various foundations, +but the Bible was one of them, and the most important +one. That is what we find wherever we try +to analyse mediæval culture.</p> + +<p>What was the aspect of the world at this period? +The world seemed to be an edifice of three floors. +Above was the heaven, a compact dome, in which +the stars were fixed, while the planets moved in their +own sphere; over the sky was the space where God +or, let us say, according to the usual expression of +that time, the holy Trinity dwells, surrounded and +adored by millions upon millions of angels, who keep +heaven and earth in continuous communication. +Besides, the heaven can be rent asunder; then the +angels look down to earth, and from time to time +a pious man is allowed to enter and see the heavenly +mysteries and the glory of the saints. The earth, +the abode of man, is a large round plane; its centre +Jerusalem, where, at the same place, Adam was bur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>ied +and Christ was crucified, so that the blood of +the Saviour dropping down reached Adam's skull. +The earth was surrounded by the ocean. At its +boundaries all kinds of strange beings—men with +dogs' faces, giants, pygmies—were to be found. +There was still an earthly paradise—not to be confounded +with the paradise in heaven, the goal of +human longing. This earthly paradise was unknown +and inaccessible to the greater part of men, +but from time to time a pious hermit or a favourite +of fortune reached it; the lucky man on his return +had exciting stories to tell about the wealth and the +bliss of this paradise, but he never could find the +way again. I have read an accurate description of +the way from paradise to Rome, giving the exact +number of days and months, but there was nothing +said about how to come from Rome to paradise!</p> + +<p>Below the earth was the great dark cellar called +hell; here the devil was at home with his companions. +But these demons did not like their abode; +they preferred to roam the earth and play jokes +on men and women. As the angels from above were +kind and helpful to man, so the devils were cunning +and malicious. But many a time the devil showed +himself stupid; a clever boy might easily cheat him. +The devil's aim was to capture the frivolous and +to seduce the pious in order to bring them all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +into hell. Here the various categories of sinners +had their separate compartments, where they were +punished according to the varying nature of their +sins. Mediæval writers describe these various tortures, +and they know more about the geography of +hell than they usually know about the geography of +the earth.</p> + +<p>Now, according to the view of that time this is all +Biblical. A modern reader would find difficulties +in looking for it in his Bible; but he will recognise +some of the motives as clearly Biblical. Further +investigation will show him that other notions are +brought in from the late classical philosophy, and +finally he will discover a large amount of folk-lore, +German folk-lore. All this mingled together made +a very curious combination, and the most curious +point was that this combination was regarded as +Biblical. It was upon the authority of the Bible +that the church accepted this whole view of the +world and put it before the people, judging all +doubts and divergences from its teaching as intolerable +heresy. It is this naïve way of reading +between the lines, this allegorical method of making +the Bible say what it does not say, which +we have already found in the Greek fathers of the +fourth century when, in commenting upon the <i>hexaëmeron</i>, +the six days' work of creation, they intro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>duced +whatever they had read about the world and +nature in the works of Plato and Aristotle. In the +time of which we are speaking these great Greek +philosophers were known only indirectly, but nevertheless +they exercised much influence through later +imitators. Boëthius was the one great authority of +this time, besides the Bible.</p> + +<p>The Bible's influence is still more evident if we +turn to the mediæval view of history. What was +history? People at this time had few notions about +what was happening in the world; there were no +means of communication, nor had they a conception +of history as a coherent series of events in which +each link is the effect of what precedes as well as +the cause of what comes after. They simply registered +the facts which chance made known to them. +The chronicle is the form of record which prevails +at this period. There was no history of the world; +what passed for such was the history of the Jewish +people as given in the Bible and the history of the +Christian church as recorded by certain chronicles. +Both together made up the history of mankind. The +first part, the history of the Old Testament, was not +regarded as the history of the Jews, but as the +history of the people of God; it was the history of +our fathers the patriarchs, the history of the first +covenant finding its direct continuation in the his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>tory +of the new covenant and the Christian church. +There was only a very slight conception of chronology; +everything was arranged according to the +system of a week, the duration of the present world +corresponding to one week, whose days, according +to the 90th Psalm, each counted a thousand years. +The world was not expected to endure beyond +six thousand years, the seventh day being reserved +for the millennium. Into this history of the world +a few fragments of Greek and Roman history +found their way by means of an odd synchronism: +David was said to have been a contemporary of +the Trojan War, and a correspondence was invented +between the king of Troy and the king of +Israel, in which the latter excuses himself for not +coming to join the Trojan army. It was in the +beginning of the twelfth century that a famous +professor of the university of Paris called Petrus +Comestor wrote his <i>Historia Scholastica</i>, which for +all the Middle Ages served as the text-book of +Biblical history.</p> + +<p>But, like the mediæval aspect of the world, so +the history of the world was not purely Biblical. +The Bible always had to suffer the strong rivalry +of apocryphal and legendary fiction. Already the +Jews had invented a life of Adam, full of miraculous +events, which appealed to the taste of the average<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +man much more than the simple and severe story of +the Bible itself; the lives of Abraham, of Moses, +of Solomon were enriched in the same way. +Christianity continued this kind of fancy. The +story of the holy root was traced back into paradise; +it was a branch from the tree of life, given +to Adam's son Seth and planted by him on his +father's tomb. It had been used as a bridge over +the Kidron until the queen of Sheba arrived at +Jerusalem. Being a prophetess, she worshipped this +holy root; consequently Solomon tried to use it in +his temple, but the carpenter did not succeed in +cutting it to the necessary length; therefore it lay +unused, "rejected by the builders," until the time +came when a tree was wanted to crucify Jesus; so +Jesus died—on the cross which was the tree of life—a +splendid symbolism, indeed, but set forth in a +strange legend. Or they investigated the earlier +history of the thirty pieces of silver given to Judas +Iscariot as the reward for the betrayal of his +master, tracing the money back as far as Abraham. +The life of Christ was surrounded by apocryphal +legends of all kinds: the story of his birth and of +his childhood; his stay in Egypt; how in their +flight lions and all kinds of wild beasts accompanied +the holy family; how a palm-tree bowed +down before them in order to provide them with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +its fruits; how at Jesus' arrival in Egypt all the +idols of the Egyptians fell down; how he helped +his father Joseph in his carpenter shop; and so on. +Again the miracles at his death, the descent to +hell, the resurrection and ascension, everything was +covered with an abundance of miraculous narratives, +partly enlargements, developments of the canonical +accounts, partly mere fiction. In addition to this +apocryphal life of Jesus there is the life of the +Virgin, giving a most curious description of her +birth and childhood and again of her death, making +every detail parallel to the life of Christ himself +and yet keeping hers subordinate. The mediæval +life of Christ begins—one may say—with the birth +of Mary (or with the story of her parents, Joachim +and Anna) and ends with the death and assumption +of Mary. The history of the apostles as read in +this period is nearly all apocryphal except the few +data taken from the canonical book of Acts. Then +the history of Christianity is continued as the +history of the church according to the scheme of +Saint Augustine's <i>De civitate dei</i> (the City of God): +the church is the city of God and beside it is the +city of this age, the kingdom of this world, the one +spiritual, the other secular, with two parallel lines +of development. This is best shown by the mural +decoration in Charlemagne's palace at Ingelheim on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +the Rhine, where two series of pictures, one giving +the Biblical history according to the Old and New +Testaments, the other tracing the profane history +from Ninus, king of Babylon, down to Charlemagne +himself, were painted on opposite walls. That is +the mediæval view of history. We may add that, +according to this view, history begins in heaven +when the holy Trinity conceives the idea of creation, +and ends in heaven at the last judgment. Our view +of history is a different one, but we cannot help +agreeing that this is a magnificent conception and +that it is Biblical, too, in its main points.</p> + +<p>It is partly built upon the Apocrypha, of course. +Regarding these Apocrypha the attitude of the +church changed a good deal during our period. The +early view is set forth in several utterances from +the Roman bishops of the fifth and sixth centuries, +and is represented in its sharpest form in the so-called +decree of Pope Gelasius, which condemns all +Apocrypha as heretical writings totally to be rejected +and detested and not to be used in any way by a +Catholic Christian. We found this Puritan view +prevailing in Charlemagne's <i>Libri Carolini</i>. It is +predominant among the theologians of the Carolingian +time. They scarcely use apocryphal books, +and when they do they always refer to them as to +doubtful books devoid of all authority. But gradu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>ally +the Apocrypha came into favour; they are used +freely alongside the canonical books. They are very +much of the same kind as the legends of the saints; +and those legends of the saints are favoured by the +people, too. At last, in the thirteenth century, even +theologians do not distinguish between canonical +and apocryphal books. They quote the Gospel of +Nicodemus alongside the Gospel of Matthew or of +John; they call it the fifth Gospel and have it +copied in their Bible manuscripts. So they have a +letter from Saint Paul to the Laodiceans and other +Apocrypha inserted in or attached to the Bible. +And the common people were fond of these Apocrypha +and delighted to hear the preacher quote them +because the bizarre miracles appealed to their taste.</p> + +<p>There was almost no science, no medicine in this +time; the world seemed to be full of miracles having +no rational connection with one another. There +was no causality, no law of nature. This was exactly +the same view that we have in most parts of +the Bible. Therefore people did not feel any difficulty +in identifying their own notions about miracle +and nature with the Biblical ones. Nay, we +may say that many of the legendary miracle stories +are copied after Biblical patterns. Even the wording +is often modelled according to Biblical phraseology. +"Healing all manner of disease and all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +manner of sickness," from Matt. 9 : 35, is repeated +in many a saint's life.</p> + +<p>Bible history in the embellished form which we +have just now observed inspired mediæval art. In +the first place, there were the inner walls of the +churches, usually painted from top to bottom. If +we remember that a Romanesque church had only +very small windows, we understand what a large +space was given to painting. Pictures are the text-book +for those who cannot read; so Pope Gregory +the Great had said, and this dictum was repeated +many a time. It is true, of course. These plain +mural paintings, awkward as they often are, make +a greater impression on a simple mind than even +the best written account could produce. The art is +nothing but illustration; the painter tries to bring +before the people who view his work the main +features of the Biblical text. One must, indeed, +know the text in order to understand the pictures. +Sometimes the spectator is helped by additional inscriptions. +To the illiterates these may be read and +explained by the priest; and then even the simplest +peasant will understand and always remember the +story. Some churches were decorated in this way +twice or even oftener, the first painting being covered +with lime and whitewashed and then another +painting being put upon it, according to the style<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +of the later time. Here, again, we see the Biblical +history, pure and plain at the beginning, but by and +by combined with motives taken from the apocryphal +sources and the lives of the saints. At the +annunciation the angel meets the Virgin Mary at +a well; it is to his mother Mary that the risen +Christ appears before he reveals himself to his disciples.</p> + +<p>In the Gothic period sculpture is more favoured, +the walls being broken up into groups of columns +and large windows. This arrangement lent itself +more to the representation of individual figures of +saints; but even so Biblical personalities, and sometimes +even Biblical scenes, were chosen, and the +large windows, with their stained glass, offered another +possibility for decoration based on Bible stories. +Besides, the whole building is directed by a +scheme of Biblical symbolism difficult for us to understand +but dear to the men of that period. They +loved symbolism. The cult of the Virgin Mary was +surrounded by it. She was the queen of heaven, +she was paradise, she was the tower, she was the +unicorn, she was the well, and so on, and all these +symbols were taken from or related to the Bible.</p> + +<p>The growing wealth and the higher standard of +civilisation created a new demand for illuminated +manuscripts. The artists of this period did not fol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>low +the classical scheme of filling the lower margin +with representations in water-colour; they put little +pictures, framed like those on the walls, into the +text itself, or they decorated the initials of each book +or chapter (Plate XIII). In turning over the pages +we admire the skill of these artists, their simplicity, +and sometimes their sense of humour. We seldom +recognise what an amount of reading and interpretation +of the Bible is contained in these little pictures; +and how, on the other hand, they helped and stimulated +Bible reading. We are told of King Charles +V of France (1364-80), that he read the Bible all +through once a year during his reign. This means +a period of sixteen years. We are quite sure that +he had a beautifully illuminated copy, and we may +assume that the pictures helped him in performing +this religious exercise.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<p class="center"><b><span class="smcap">Plate XIII</span>—ENGLISH MINIATURE</b><br /> +(Latin Bible, Brit. Mus. Royal I D I)</p> + +<p class="negin">Written in England, early thirteenth century. Initial I, Gen. 1 : 1, shows creation, +fall, and redemption.</p> + +<p class="negin">The three upper little compartments give each of them the work of two days: +Christ is the creator; the fourth brings the seventh day's rest: Christ on the +throne; the next three compartments contain the story of Adam and Eve: +temptation, expulsion, and their working under the curse; the eighth compartment +shows the Redemption as prophesied in Gen. 3 : 15.</p> + +<p class="negin">The grotesque little figures are a beautiful illustration of mediæval sense of +humour.</p> + +<p class="center">From "Fac-similes of Biblical Manuscripts." By permission of the Trustees of +the British Museum.</p> + +<img src="images/image083.jpg" width="600" height="1043" alt="Plate XIII" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate XIII—ENGLISH MINIATURE</span> + +<p class="center"><b>(Latin Bible, Brit. Mus. Royal I D I)</b></p> + +<p class="center">From "Fac-similes of Biblical Manuscripts." By permission of the Trustees of +the British Museum.</p> +</div> + +<p>The art of painting is often accompanied by the +art of making verses, as I would rather call this +mediæval poesy. And again it is the Bible or, to +speak more accurately, the Biblical history which +finds its expression in this art. Besides the inscriptions +added to the pictures and often given in versified +form, there are a number of rhymed Bibles, +as these versifications of the Biblical history are +called. There are short verses giving the content +of each book or chapter of the Bible for mnemonic +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +purposes. There are some real poems, too, dealing +with Biblical subjects.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>The Bible and mediæval art brings before us another +feature of civilisation, which is important, indeed, +in our own time and which one would scarcely +think of as originating with the Bible. I mean the +theatre. The old classical drama and comedy had +entirely died out. Plautus and Terence were read +in the monasteries, not played, and so were the +Biblical comedies by Hrotswitha, of which we +have spoken, intended to be read only, not played. +There was nothing but jugglers, jesters, and dancers. +On festival days people amused themselves by +frivolous masquerades, which were looked upon by +the church authorities with suspicion and contempt +as survivals of heathen rites and therefore to be +frowned upon and abolished. Things took quite a +different turn when some of the clergy began at +Christmas and at Easter to present the sacred story +in acted form in order to illustrate the lesson. They +did it inside the church, directly before the altar. +It was nothing but a dialogue, developed out of the +lessons from the Scripture, the angel addressing +Mary, the shepherds coming to see the child, the +three Marys at the tomb and the angel speaking +to them, and so on, as simply and plainly as it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +was told in the Bible and as it was usually painted +on the walls of the church. The people took delight +in these representations and they were soon enlarged. +They had to be removed from the choir +to the front of the church, the steps of the entrance +forming the stage. Soon more and more persons +appeared on the stage; the laity joined the performers; +the guilds (the trade-unions) undertook +the performance of the play, and out of these naïve +little representations of the birth of Christ or his +passion and resurrection sprang gorgeous miracle-plays +which sometimes lasted four days and brought +the whole story from the creation to the last judgment +before the bewildered eyes of the spectators. +Nothing could make the Biblical history so familiar +to the people as these plays, in which hundreds took +part as performers and thousands attended as onlookers. +There was but little art. They had no +scenery; the actors simply moved about in the +open space. But it was highly realistic. We are +told that they nearly killed the man who was acting +Judas Iscariot. It was also amusing. Mediæval +piety did not refrain from putting in just +before the crucifixion a sarcastic dialogue between +the blacksmith, who had to provide the nails, +and his wife, ending in a scuffle between them. +People liked to see this. It was on account of these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +undignified scenes, which kept increasing, that the +plays were abolished by secular and ecclesiastical +authorities in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, +when through humanism and the Reformation +taste and piety had been refined. There are +still a few survivals, such as the Passion Play of +Oberammergau, which, however, has undergone a +thorough change. There is now a revival of these +popular plays, but I doubt if it will be successful. +Possibly the film will take the place, as it has +entered some churches already.</p> + +<p>Men nearly always like to travel and the Germans +liked it exceedingly well. This tendency received +a special direction from the Bible; there were so +many sacred sites in Palestine which a Christian +wanted to see. So since the fourth century we +see many people from the West—from Gaul, Spain, +later on from Germany and England—travelling +to the Holy Land in order to visit all the places +connected with the sacred history of the Bible. At +the end of the eleventh century the pilgrims suddenly +turned into crusaders, sailing by thousands, +fighting, settling down for a while, going back again. +Then after a period of nearly two centuries of vain +struggle for the possession of the Holy Land they +changed again into pilgrims. Meanwhile, the Holy +Land had changed also, and Christian piety, too.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +They were now not so much interested in visiting +the sacred sites themselves as in gaining the indulgences +which were granted in abundance to the visitors +to each of these places. We still possess a long +series of descriptions of these pilgrimages, increasing +from century to century not only in number but +also in size. The pilgrims did not rest until they +had fixed upon a certain location in Palestine for +every event in the Bible. Sometimes we seem to +catch the process of fixation. The hermit or monk +who served as guide had just told the company +everything he himself knew about the resurrection +of Lazarus. Then suddenly some one broke in with +the question, "And where was it that Jesus met +Martha?" and the poor hermit would be sure to +show him a rock or a doorway, of which he had +never thought before. They showed the pilgrims +the place where Abraham and Melchisedek met, +the tomb of Rachel, the monastery of Elijah on +Mount Carmel. They would show also the mantle +Elijah left to Elisha or the widow's cruse of oil +which was always full. At Nazareth one could see +the rock from which the citizens tried to throw down +Jesus headlong, and one could see on the rock the +imprint of his body, which he left there—according +to a legendary addition to the story—when passing +through the crowd unhurt. On the Mount of Olives<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +was the Chapel of the Ascension. Here the pilgrims +could see and worship the footprints made +by Jesus when he leaped up toward heaven. Nay, +we are told that people used to carry away dust +from this place to use for charms, and yet the footprints +never disappeared. I am giving these examples +in order to show how even here sacred +history and legend were mixed together. It is +obvious, however, from what I have said that the +pilgrimages contributed a great deal to make people +familiar with the Bible stories; for not only the pilgrims +themselves but all their people at home were +mightily interested in what they had seen and heard +in the Holy Land. We see them build churches +representing the Holy Sepulchre. In the later centuries +they make calvaries and stations on the way +to them, representing the main points on Jesus' way +to the cross, on the so-called Via Dolorosa at Jerusalem. +There is even (as I have pointed out in my +book on <i>Christusbilder</i>) a mutual influence between +the pilgrimages and the passion plays, which accounts +for some changes in the order of scenes and +the fixing of places at Jerusalem.</p> + +<p>The Bible continued to exercise its influence upon +the Law. As King Alfred of England when collecting +the laws of his people put the ten commandments +at the beginning, so likewise the German col<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>lections, +<i>Schwabenspiegel</i>, <i>Sachsenspiegel</i>, and so on, +have prefaces which present the national law as an +emanation from the law of God as contained in the +Old and New Testaments. Still more important +than these national laws was the so-called canon +law, the collection of ecclesiastical canons and decrees +of the Roman bishops. It is remarkable that +this canon law, while incorporating naturally a good +deal of Biblical matter, such as the degrees of relationship +within which marriage is forbidden, does +not make so much use of Biblical authority as one +might expect. The decrees of the popes, it is true, +usually begin with a quotation from the Bible, but +that is more for the sake of appearances. The fact +that the law of the church, in spite of all references +to the Bible, was derived essentially from other +sources, and that the study and the knowledge of +this law were appreciated as the most important +attainment of a bishop or even a clergyman, is very +striking.</p> + +<p>We have already noted the influence which the +Bible exerted upon social and commercial life. +The German notion of the king as representative +of the nation was easily combined with the theocratic +theory of the Old Testament. David's court, +with his mighty men (II Sam. 23), furnished a +good example for any royal court of this period.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +Feudalism seemed to agree with the stories of the +patriarchs, as when Abraham led forth his trained +men, three hundred and eighteen in number, and +pursued the invaders who had taken captive his +brother's son Lot. Bondage, serfdom, even slavery, +seemed to be sanctioned by the Bible. The church +did not object to slavery provided the Christian +faith of the slave was respected; he was never to +be sold to a Jew or a pagan. The opposition against +slavery in the Middle Ages came from the monasteries. +Here the ancient Stoic doctrine that all men +are equal and no man is to be treated as a brute +animal had been combined with the Christian view +of brotherhood that all are children of God, and +with the doctrine of the simple life. But this theory, +championed by the monasteries, spread only slowly. +It did not put an end to slavery in the northern +countries of Europe before the thirteenth century. +In the eastern and southern countries, where Christianity +bordered on Mohammedanism, slavery did +not die out before the sixteenth century, and bondage +remained everywhere until the eighteenth and +nineteenth centuries. The Bible defined the position +of the Jews, who as murderers of Jesus were +thought of as living under the divine punishment. +Whatever happened to them was regarded as a penalty +due to the crime of their fathers. So they were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +exposed to all kinds of insults if they were not protected +by the king, whose personal serfs they were +held to be. A large part of this general hatred of +the Jews was due to the fact that they were making +money out of their trade and their medical science, +being allowed by their own law to take usury from +the Christians. The law of Moses (in Deut. 23 : 20) +expressly says that a Jew may lend upon usury to a +foreigner, while he is forbidden to do so dealing +with a brother. Now, as we have already seen, +the Christian church adopted this law as forbidding +the Christians to lend at interest. The fatal result +was that trade on the basis of credit was made +almost impossible, and that the Jew was the only +one who could lend money at interest. As he +abused this opportunity by taking enormous usury, +it became evident that the one remedy to be used +from time to time was to take away from him by +force all the money he had made, thus restoring it +to its proper source. The Jew might be thankful +if he got off with his life. Among the many accusations +brought against the Jews on such occasions, +one of the most effective was the indictment that +they had falsified their Bibles, putting in curses +against the Christians, or that they had insulted and +destroyed Christian Bibles. The criminal charge of +falsifying the holy Scriptures had been raised against<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +many heretics, too, and in most cases had been +proved to be untrue. It could be retorted that +the Christian church itself, during the first centuries, +had "improved" the Psalter in many a +place by slight Christian interpolations. Destroying +books by fire was at this time one of the most +common means used by the church in fighting Jews +and heretics, and vice versa. The Bible recorded +not only the burning of the magical books at Ephesus +but also the burning of the holy Scriptures by Antiochus +Epiphanes. So this also was "Bible tradition."</p> + +<p>To sum up our survey of mediæval civilisation +we find the Bible recognised as one, if not as the +one, foundation. Its influence was to be seen in +every department: the view of the world, the view +of history, arts and sciences, social life and commerce. +It was to the Bible that people referred, +even if the thing had not been deduced from the +Bible; they made it appear Biblical, though it was +not so in itself, because they felt that it had to be +Biblical if it was to be recognised as an integral part +of Christian civilisation. That is what makes it so +difficult for us to define the real influence of the +Bible, there is so much artificial Biblicality.</p> + +<p>The Bible was the leading norm, and it was recognised +as such. Never had the Bible had a higher +estimation or a more undisputed influence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> + +<p>And yet the real influence of the Bible was a +limited one. It had not only to face the rivalry +of the classics on one side but of the Apocrypha, +legends, ecclesiastical traditions on the other. Its +real influence was mostly indirect. Biblical ideas +had been incorporated into the works on the world +and nature; Biblical history had been used for the +text-books of history, and now these books came +to be substitutes for the Bible. All read the <i>Historia +Scholastica</i> of Peter Comestor; very few read +the Bible. And those few again read mostly the +historical parts of the Bible without caring for the +books of the prophets and the letters of the apostles. +A wide-spread substitute for the Bible was the +so-called <i>Biblia Historialis</i>, which gave the Biblical +history in a convenient not to say entertaining +and even amusing form. Another well-known substitute +was the so-called <i>Biblia Pauperum</i> ("Bible +of the poor)," showing the most important features +of the life of Christ, together with typical +scenes from the Old Testament and some verses +from the Bible. By means of all these substitutes +the people became very familiar with Biblical history, +but they knew nothing about doctrines. Theologians, +of course, did, but their eyes were blinded +by the tradition of the church, the doctrine of the +fathers. They interpreted the Bible according to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +tradition. That is the great demerit of this age; +the people had free access to the Bible, but the Bible +became alien to them by reason of its many substitutes +and its successful rivals. The reaction against +this will furnish the subject for our next chapter.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h3>THE BIBLE STIRS NON-CONFORMIST MOVEMENTS +(1150-1450)</h3> + + +<p>Mediæval civilisation has a twofold aspect. It +looks backward, to the old church and the old +Roman empire; so far it is Biblical and classical. +But it also looks forward, to the development of the +nations and later to the development of the individual +personality, as this has been realised in the +Renaissance; so far it is secular and, in a way, +modern. In the earlier part of the Middle Ages the +nations did not feel strong enough by themselves. +They were parts of the empire, and all children of +the one mother church. The church was training +them, and it fulfilled this task in an admirable way. +But the children grew up and the church lost its +power over them. They declared themselves of age +and independent at the very moment when the +church seemed to have the largest and most undoubted +influence.</p> + +<p>The church was training the nations by means of +the Bible, and now it is the Bible which stirs the +anti-ecclesiastical movements. The Bible had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +used by the church chiefly in an indirect way; parts +of the Bible or substitutes for it had taken its place. +Now the complete Bible made its appeal to the +people and gave directions which were exactly opposite +to the training given by the church.</p> + +<p>The Bible had originally been accessible to everybody. +In the first centuries the church itself had +insisted upon this publicity, as we have seen in +the first chapter. Then came a time when almost +no one could read and the clergy had the Bible +practically to themselves. They did not take away +the Bible from the hands of the laymen; the laymen +themselves did not care for it because they +could not read it; they were totally dependent on +the clergy. But now civilisation had made a new +start; the art of reading became again popular. +And suddenly a desire for reading the Bible spread +among the people. The clergy were astonished to +find the laymen using their right of reading the +Bible themselves. That was something new, and +we see the clergy puzzled, we hear them complain. +They did not want people to read the Bible, for—as +they said—this would introduce them to heresy. +And so it proved.</p> + +<p>The movement starts from the south of France. +As early as the eleventh century we hear of people +here who gather in order to hear the Bible read.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +It is the cardinal Pietro Damiani, a friend of Gregory +VII, who complains of their presumption. They +are plain, simple folk, shopkeepers, farmers, women, +having no theological education, and yet aiming +at understanding the Bible. The theologians +of this period treated the Bible as a book of secrets. +In order to understand it aright one had to be +initiated into the art of interpreting everything by +allegory according to the authority of the fathers. +They used to quote Saint Jerome, that the Bible +was a mysterious stream; one man can walk through +in safety while another would be drowned. They +therefore disapproved earnestly of this reading of +the Bible by unprepared tradesmen, women, and +children. But reading did not stop. The same +complaint occurs again and again during the next +decades. We hear of people in the diocese of Metz, +simple country folk, reading the Bible. The church +authorities already began to be alarmed and to take +a more severe attitude toward the offenders.</p> + +<p>The main movement, to be mentioned here, is the +one connected with the name of Peter Waldo, a +merchant of Lyons, who was a zealous reader of the +Bible himself, and travelling about held frequent +meetings with people of the same sort. The story +of his "conversion," as given by the best authorities, +runs as follows. It was in 1176, the year of a great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +famine, that one Sunday afternoon he listened to a +jongleur reciting the famous legend of Saint Alexis +the poor. He was struck by this heroism of poverty, +and the next day he asked a well-known master of +theology what was the surest way to God. The +master, following the best tradition of the mediæval +church, told him to follow Christ's advice: "If thou +wouldst be perfect, go, sell whatsoever thou hast, +and give to the poor." So Peter separates himself +from wife and children and begins to live the life of +a poor man—a beggar. Others join him; two by +two, on foot, they go preaching the gospel. They +are not anxious for the morrow; they do not work; +they have faith that whatever they need will be +supplied to them. Thus they try to fulfil Christ's +commandments and to imitate his disciples. They +refuse to take an oath; they censure lying as a +deadly sin; they condemn all shedding of blood +either in war or in the execution of justice. The +fraternity called itself the Poor in Spirit. At the +beginning they thought themselves to be true members +of the church; only later, when the church +denied to them the right of preaching, did they form +a sect, Peter being ordained bishop and giving orders +to other members of the community.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile a similar fraternity of poor men, or +<i>humiliati</i> as they were called here, had made their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +appearance in the north of Italy. It was a kind of +workmen's union. So far as we know there was +no connection at the beginning between this movement +and the one at Lyons. Both started independently, +and it was only later that they came into contact, +without, however, amalgamating. The Italian +fraternity spread from Milan all through that region +and was rapidly extended into Germany, while from +Lyons the Poor went through France and even +through Spain. It was an enormous movement +among the laity, and it was stirred by the Bible. +Peter Waldo desired to have the Bible translated +into his own vernacular; and it was by reading the +Bible that these people got their enthusiasm and +their eagerness even to suffer persecution and death.</p> + +<p>Many scholars in former days treated this +Waldensian movement as truly Protestant; they +used to call Peter Waldo and his followers reformers +before the Reformation. The Protestant +church in Italy, calling itself Waldensian and growing +in our own day more and more vigorously in +the spirit of Calvinistic Protestantism, seemed to +support this view. And yet it is wrong. The true +Protestantism of the Waldensians dates only from +the sixteenth century, when they came in contact +with Geneva, and then went over to Calvinism. +Before this they had been something quite different,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +a purely mediæval form of Christianity. The characteristic +point is that they take the gospel as a +law, exactly as the monks did. If the monks kept +to poverty, fasting, praying, and so on, in order +to fulfil the gospel's commands, these people did +the same; only they did not become monks and +enter a monastery; they continued to live in the +world, carrying on their ordinary business, because, +they said, the commands of the gospel were not +given to the monks only, but to every Christian. +They abolished the double standard of morality +which the church had established, the standard +of perfection, reached only by the clergy and monks, +and the standard of secular morality, kept by the +average Christian; but they abolished it in the +opposite way from the reformers, by making the +ascetic ideal the rule for every Christian. It was +from the Bible that they deduced this ideal and its +binding force for every Christian, but it was, of +course, the mediæval understanding of the Bible +which they followed.</p> + +<p>It is important to distinguish clearly this Waldensian +movement from the so-called Albigensian +one. This also has to do with the Bible, and +sometimes seems closely akin to the former, but +is based on an entirely different principle. It goes +back to a very early time and originates outside<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +of Christianity. It was in the third century after +Christ in Persia, that a certain Mani tried to +reform the religion of Zoroaster by adding Gnostic +speculations. He failed, and was put to death together +with some of his adherents. But the movement +spread and reached as far as Gaul and North +Africa in the West. Here this Gnostic doctrine of +Persian origin took the form of a Christian heresy. +Manicheism, as it was called, accepted the Christian +Bible, or at least some parts of it. It accepted still +more heartily the Christian Apocrypha, which +seemed to be written for the very purpose of supporting +its favourite doctrines. Saint Augustine, +having been for a long time an adherent of Manicheism, +afterward spent a great deal of his energy +in arguing with this sect and refuting their theories +and their criticism. The leading idea was a strictly +dualistic conception of the world such as is characteristic +of Persian religion: there are two gods, +a good one and a bad one; in other words, God +and the devil are of the same rank. The devil +is the author of this bodily creation; whatsoever +is material comes from him; while God, the good +god, is purely spiritual and does not create anything +but spiritual beings. So man, who is of a +mixed nature, having a divine soul in a material +body, is bound to defy the devil by weakening the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +material part of his being. He has to refrain from +meat and wine, from marriage, and from a number of +things which belong to the devil's dominion. This +highest degree of perfection only few could reach. +Therefore the Manicheans had several classes of +members: the lower classes living in the world had +to support the higher by their manual labour; the +higher class of the so-called "perfect" lived entirely +for prayer and spiritual exercises. It was a well-organised +body, extending over all the countries. +They had their own Pope, residing usually in the +East. They were persecuted in Persia, persecuted +in the Roman empire, persecuted later both by the +church and by the secular powers; but in spite of +all difficulties they kept on, living in secrecy and +trying to conform as much as possible in outward +appearance to the requirements for church members. +They went to the Catholic church, even attended +mass and took the holy communion—one charge +brought against them was that instead of eating the +consecrated bread they concealed it in their mouth +and spit it out afterward—but they had their own +clandestine congregations, often by night, often outside +of the town. They appear here and there under +different names. They call themselves Cathari, +or the pure ones, from which is derived "Ketzer," +the German word for heretics. In the East they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +often are called Bogomils or Paulicians; in the West +the usual name given to them was Albigensians, +from a town, Albi, in the south of France, where +they had their headquarters.</p> + +<p>The attitude of these Albigensians toward the +Bible was a somewhat divided one. They accepted +the New Testament and interpreted it according to +their dualistic theory as a law of asceticism, herein +corresponding to the church's interpretation. They +praised exceedingly the fourth Gospel, and used its +opening verses at their solemn initiation, the so-called +<i>consolamentum</i>, by which an adherent got the +degree of "perfect" and became a member of the +highest class. But they rejected the Old Testament, +either the whole of it or the greater part, some admitting +that the Psalter, Job, the books of Solomon, +and the books of the prophets were inspired by the +good god or (as they used to say) were written in +heaven. The rest, they said, came from the devil, +and they criticised strongly the historical parts of +the Old Testament, in particular the account of +the creation given in Genesis. They took this and +all the other stories in a strictly literal sense, not +allowing for any allegorical interpretation. It was +in the discussions against the Manicheans that Saint +Augustine, and through him the Western church, +learned to value the allegorical method of interpre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>tation. +It was the easiest way of evading all the +difficulties which were raised by the criticism of the +Manicheans.</p> + +<p>This Manichean or, to use the mediæval expression, +Albigensian heresy could hardly be defined as +a movement incited by the Bible. It was wholly +different from the Waldensian movement and its +allies. The Waldensians were at the beginning +loyal members of the Catholic church, and were +driven into opposition only by the resistance of the +clergy, not being allowed to read and to use their +Bible and being opposed and disturbed in their +harmless meetings; but after having been separated +from the church they kept aloof from it. The +Albigensians, on the other hand, were at heart opposed +to everything in Christianity. They were, in +fact, adherents of another religion, pretending for the +sake of safety to be members of the Catholic church. +Yet just this attitude of the Albigensians was what +made it so difficult to distinguish between the two +movements, and has caused a curious confusion. +The Waldensians, with their frank and open opposition +to certain institutions of the church, were taken +by many to be the more dangerous, and were therefore +attacked and persecuted more severely than +the Albigensians, who knew how to conform themselves +to the outward appearance of church life.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + +<p>What was the attitude of the church toward these +non-conformist movements? According to the current +theory of the time there was no salvation outside +the church; there was no room for various denominations. +A man belonged to the church by the +very fact that he was born in a Catholic community +and consequently was baptised. He <i>had</i> to +attend the church, which procured for him eternal +salvation, and if he neglected his duties, he was +compelled to perform them by the church authorities +perhaps with the help of the secular power. A man +had no right to try his own way to salvation; he +was forced to use the means provided for him by +the church. And if he did not submit he was to +be extinguished in order that his devilish spirit of +heresy might not infect others; possibly he himself +could be saved by being deprived of his sinful body +and godless life. This theory gave a legal sanction +for using all kinds of persuasion by force, for applying +cruel tortures, and for inflicting death by +burning, hanging, beheading.</p> + +<p>But the church found that the movements could +not be mastered in this way. In order to extirpate +the evil, the underlying cause had to be rooted out +or else its energy turned in another direction.</p> + +<p>The first method was tried for the Bible. It +was the Bible which had stirred the Waldensian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +and similar movements; so the Bible was to be kept +away from the people. When asked by the bishop +of Metz what he ought to do with regard to the +associations of Bible readers in his diocese, Pope +Innocent III replies (1199) that of course the study +of the Bible is to be encouraged among the clergy, +but that all laymen are to be kept from it, the +Bible being so profound in its mysteries that even +scholars sometimes get beyond their depth and are +drowned. At the end of his letter he refers to the +holiness of Mount Sinai as expressed in Ex. 19 : 12, 13: +"Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up +into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever +toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: +no hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be +stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, +it shall not live." Likewise, the Pope says, if a layman +touches the Bible he is guilty of sacrilege and +ought to be stoned or shot through. This amounts +to a general prohibition of Bible reading for the +laity. It was especially against the translations +of the Bible into the vernacular tongues that the +church's ordinances were directed. In the later +centuries of the Middle Ages the prohibitions against +Bible reading by the laity, against translating the +Bible, and against selling the Bible became more +frequent. But it is exactly this frequent repetition<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +which makes it evident that the prohibitions were +for the most part neglected. The best known is a +book ordinance, issued by Bishop Berthold of Mainz +in 1485-6, in which the bishop forbids the printing +and selling of Bibles unless they are annotated by +approved church theologians, the Bibles in the vernacular +language being forbidden altogether. We +know of a Strassburg printer who was at work +printing a German Bible at the very time this ordinance +was issued. He did not stop printing, he only +took care not to mention his name in the book. +Evidently he was sure that he could find a sale for +his book.</p> + +<p>There was another way of overcoming these non-conformist +tendencies, and it proved to be more +successful; the church tried to direct them and put +them to its own service. A good example of this +method is given in the history of the movement +started by Saint Francis of Assisi. At the beginning +this was exactly like the Waldensian movement +that spread through the south of France and the +north of Italy, and may have received some influence +from it; for we know that the family of Saint +Francis had French relations and that the business +of his father brought him into contact with +people from the North. But the conversion of Saint +Francis was independent, so far as we know. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +again was caused by the Bible. Once at mass he +heard the lesson from the Gospel, and was struck by +the same words which had struck so many thoughtful +Christians before him: "If thou wouldest be +perfect, go, sell that which thou hast and give to +the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; +and come follow me." He at once throws away stick, +bag, purse, shoes to become the true follower of the +poor Jesus and of his poor apostles, to be himself +the apostle of the gospel of poverty, the lover of his +good lady Poverty, as he likes to call her. When the +first two disciples had joined him he takes them at +daybreak to a small chapel, takes from the altar the +book of the Gospels, and (so the legend tells us), +opening it three times, every time comes upon the +words quoted above. Therefore they were made the +basis of Saint Francis' rule for his community, together +with the instruction given to Christ's disciples +in Luke 9 : 1-6, and Matt. 16 : 24-27: "If any man +would come after me, let him deny himself and take +up his cross and follow me; for whosoever would +save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose +his life for my sake shall find it; for what shall a man +be profited if he shall gain the whole world and forfeit +his life, or what shall a man give in exchange for +his life?" It was the desire for martyrdom inspired +by this passage which caused Saint Francis to go to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +Palestine and preach the gospel to the Moslems. +In his retreat at Mount Alverno he assiduously read +the history of the passion, until he became so deeply +impressed by it that it had a corporal effect upon +him. He became stigmatised, the five wounds of +Christ appeared on his body. Saint Francis composed +an interesting paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer, +and his famous hymn to the sun is nothing else +than a beautiful reproduction of the 148th Psalm. +When dying he asked for John 13 to be read to him. +Thus all his life is accompanied and profoundly affected +by the Bible. His preaching is an attempt +at bringing the pure gospel of poverty before the +people as simply and plainly as he found it in the +Gospels according to the ascetic understanding of +that time.</p> + +<p>Now this would have turned into a non-conformist +movement, like that of the Poor of Lyons or the +Poor of Milan, had not the bishop from the beginning +protected Saint Francis from his father's wrath. +Then at a later period Cardinal Ugolino of Ostia, +known from his later life as Pope Gregory IX, became +a protector of Saint Francis and his fraternity +and managed to make of it a regular order in +the service of the church. It was not Saint Francis +who founded the order of the Franciscans or Friars, +but some of his first pupils and friends, and certain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +high dignitaries of the church abused him for their +own purposes. They put upon Saint Francis and +his fraternity the whole machinery of a religious +body of the church. There was to be a general, and +numerous provincials, and an annual meeting of +delegates; there were monasteries ruled by abbots +or guardians, and later these monasteries received +endowments. Besides the monks and the nuns +who formed the first and second orders, there was +a third order of Saint Francis including those laymen +who wished to belong to the order and enjoy +its religious benefits but were prevented by their +families from entering the monastery. This comes +very near to the ideal put forth by the Poor of +Lyons, but the organisation kept the whole body +always in touch with the church and its authority. +The non-conformist tendency of the movement had +been taken out and it had been turned into an instrument +of ecclesiastical policy.</p> + +<p>To be sure, the spirit of Saint Francis reacted +against this system, inspired, as it was, more by ecclesiastical +shrewdness than by Christian piety. The +saint himself at the end of his life fell out with his +friends and especially with the cardinal protector. +He felt himself too much the gallant knight of his +lady Poverty to make himself a tool of ecclesiastical +policy. He detected a spirit of worldliness, and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +his last will he warned his monks not to yield themselves +to it. Nevertheless, the cardinal when promoted +to be Pope ordered Saint Francis, two years +after his death, to be worshipped as a saint, in a +bull of canonisation very characteristic for the style +of this time, filled as it is with Biblical allusions. +"From this bull," says one of Saint Francis' recent +biographers, "you learn much more about the +history of David and the Philistines than about +the life of Saint Francis."</p> + +<p>But the spirit of Saint Francis reacted even more +after his death. One part of his followers insisted +upon the strict rule of having no possessions at all; +they treated the other part, which permitted possessions +in common, as a set of worldly apostates +from the master's ideals, far from the law of the +gospel. And as the church authorities decided in +favour of the less strict group, the spiritual party, +as they called themselves, openly rebelled against +the church, while the emperor, being on bad terms +with the Pope, granted them his protection. From +the book of Revelation they deduced that the official +church was the great Babylon and the Pope +the antichrist. So even this movement, started by +the Bible, ended partly as a non-conformist anti-ecclesiastical +undertaking.</p> + +<p>But the main part of the Franciscans, or Friars,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +as they are called from the Italian <i>frari</i> (brothers), +kept to the straight line of ecclesiastical discipline, +and, together with the other order founded nearly at +the same time by Saint Dominic the Spaniard for +the special purpose of repelling heresy, they became +the powerful army of the church directed against all +non-conformist movements such as the Waldensians +and Albigensians. Both orders made themselves at +home at the universities—at this period Bologna and +Paris, later Oxford and Cambridge—and soon became +very influential. They had rich monasteries +and great libraries, and made Bible study their favourite +subject. It is a remarkable contrast between +Saint Francis, who, having only one book, a New +Testament, gives this away in order to help a poor +widow, and the great stores of books in the convents +of Saint Francis' fraternity. The saint himself did +not wish his monks to possess, privately, anything, +not even a Psalter, and now they owned huge Bibles +and commentaries and read and studied like any +scholar of the secular clergy. Saint Francis did +not wish scholarship among his brethren; it was to +him something worldly, opposed to the true principles +of poverty. Now members of his order sat +in the chairs of the universities and were among the +leading teachers of the church.</p> + +<p>It is due to the Friars that Bible study is again<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +favoured at the mediæval universities. But even +these Friars were taken away from the Bible by +the current tendency toward scholasticism. Dogmatics, +systematics, dialectics were what everybody +wanted. The curriculum of a student of theology +required first a training in Biblical studies, then he +had to go to attend lectures on the <i>Sententiæ</i>, as they +called the text-book for systematics. Likewise the +professor was bound first for two or three years to +teach Biblical matters before he could touch upon +systematics. In a number of German universities +there still remain some traces of this mediæval regulation. +But we are told that both professors and +students hurried on to get rid of their Bible course +as quickly as possible in order to reach the higher +level of dialectics and systematics. The Bible among +these theologians was a text-book for the junior +classes, but not held in great esteem as compared +with the treasured text-book of the senior classes, +the <i>Liber sententiarum.</i></p> + +<p>It is no wonder that a reaction against this system +of scholasticism was stimulated by the Bible itself. +Two streams we may distinguish, both starting +within the boundaries of the church and of ecclesiastical +theology, both inclined to overflow these +boundaries, and both ending in non-conformist +movements.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<p>One stream is represented by the mystics. They +are pious people, led by high-church preachers, +Master Eckhard, Tauler, Suso, and others. These +preachers are given to thorough study of the Bible. +But their allegory turns out to be far different +from that traditional with the fathers. They care +for God and the soul, and for nothing else in the +world. Their favourite text-book is Canticles: the +Christian soul as the bride of God or of Christ. +This mysticism sometimes comes into collision with +the sacramental view of the church. Being in complete +spiritual union with God, the mystic wished +no outward sign; piety was love, not creed. The +church instinctively felt that where these ideas were +prevailing the whole ecclesiastical system was in +danger, and tried to stop the movement. But by +this very opposition the movement became more +anti-ecclesiastical than it had been before. The +mystic circles withdrew themselves from the superintendence +of the church, they read the Bible, they +read the books of their spiritual fathers, and they +became more and more sure of their own mystical +theory as opposed to the doctrine of the church.</p> + +<p>The second stream is still more important. Some +theologians reading the works of Saint Augustine +discovered that the present church doctrine was not +what it pretended to be, the true representation of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +the doctrine of the fathers, that there was a large +difference between the real tradition of the old +church and the scholastic doctrines of their own +time. And, as they went on, they found that the +Bible, viewed according to the interpretation of the +fathers, did not support the theories of the modern +scholars. So they departed from scholasticism and +built their own systems on the basis of the Bible as +interpreted by Saint Augustine. It was a general +movement; men of this kind were found in many +places. It is difficult to say how far they were dependent +one upon another. Some were quiet men +of letters; some gained high positions, like John +Gerson, who was elected chancellor of the University +of Paris; others were aggressive reformers. +Mixing in politics, these became leaders of an anti-hierarchical +and at last anti-ecclesiastical movement. +We are not concerned here with the political side +of the question, which sometimes seems to be predominant. +Thus in England John Wycliffe stirred +up a long-lived struggle. Influenced by his writings +John Huss in Bohemia entered on a campaign +for true Christianity which instead led to +a national Czech movement. In 1409 the German +students of the University of Prague left the city +and moved to Leipzig. After the martyrdom of their +hero at Constance in 1415 the Hussites became an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +aggressive national and militant party, constantly +invading and devastating Germany. It needed +shrewd politics and the united forces of the empire +to keep them back from the Silesian and Saxon +frontiers.</p> + +<p>As so often happens in history, at the end it is +hard to recognise the causes which have led to +the result. In spite of all political appearances it is +true that it was really the Bible which stirred +up these two movements, the Wycliffite and the +Hussite. The proof is given in the fact that both +Wycliffe and Huss not only were fond of reading +the Bible, but both tried also to make their people +familiar with the Bible by procuring translations +into the vernacular. In this way they aimed to +provide the laity with the evidence of this one +true authority and so to protect them against the +adulteration of Christianity due to scholasticism +and hierarchy.</p> + +<p>The circulation and influence of the English version +made by Wycliffe—or, as some scholars think, +at Wycliffe's instance—is shown by the fact that +in spite of persecution and destruction one hundred +and seventy copies are still preserved, one +hundred and forty of which belong to a second +revision, made by a younger friend of Wycliffe's, +John Purvey (Plate XIV). It was the first English<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +translation of the whole Bible, a good specimen of +English, but, like most mediæval translations based +upon the Latin Vulgate, preserving the faults of +that version and adding others of its own. There +are numbers of Czech Bibles in existence, both in +manuscript and in print, but not yet thoroughly +studied. It is remarkable that in this Hussite Bible, +as well as in some German translations of the same +time, readings are found which go back to the very +earliest period of textual development. They belong +to the southern branch of French tradition and +are supplied probably by Latin, French, or Italian +copies which came from Lyons or Milan. This is +clear evidence that it was through the Waldensians +that the Bible spread in the vernacular of Italy, Bohemia, +and Germany, and that the later movements, +while originating independently, were in close relation +with the earlier ones. It is the Bible which +not only stirred all these movements but connected +them one with the other.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image116.jpg" width="600" height="982" alt="Plate XIV" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate XIV—WYCLIFFE'S BIBLE</span> + +<p class="center"><b>(Brit. Mus. Egerton, 617-8)</b></p> + +<p class="center">A beautiful copy in folio of the first edition; it is interesting to compare Egerton, +1171, a small octavo copy of the second edition, written for private use.</p> + +<p class="center">From "Fac-similes of Biblical Manuscripts." By permission of the Trustees of +the British Museum.</p> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>THE BIBLE TRAINS PRINTERS AND TRANSLATORS +(1450-1611)</h3> + + +<p>We have been led in the last chapters far back into +the Middle Ages. Now we approach the great time +of discoveries. It is difficult to say who made the +most important discovery, Columbus crossing the +Atlantic to find a new world, in which a new civilisation +was to arise, or Gutenberg inventing the art +of printing and thereby revolutionising the world +of intellectual life and consequently the history of +the Bible.</p> + +<p>During the last centuries of the Middle Ages the +Bible had been much copied. At the University of +Paris booksellers, helped by some scholars, undertook +to issue a special edition for the benefit of the +students. This Paris edition, easily recognised by +its fine type of handwriting and its blue and red +decoration, became the standard Bible text for men +of learning. At the same time many a pious member +of the Fraternity of the Common Life, which was +founded by Gerhard de Groot at Zutphen (in Holland), +copied the Bible in his miserable cell with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +great skill. The monasteries began to have large +collections of Bible editions. There were large copies +consisting of four or eight volumes in folio, for use +in chapel, and smaller ones, in one volume, for private +reading. We know of a regulation made for +all monasteries of the Order of Saint Augustine, that +in the catalogues of their libraries all Bibles should +be put under the letter A. There was no need for +such a regulation in the pre-Carolingian time, when +a monastery would scarcely have one complete Bible.</p> + +<p>But now let us try to realise what it meant that +each copy should be made by itself, the writer painting +(as we may say) letter by letter, and this through +hundreds and thousands of pages. The copyists +showed wonderful skill. Some of these manuscripts +look exactly like printed books; one letter is just +like the other; no slipping of the pen! Nevertheless +it was inevitable that the copyist should make mistakes +from time to time. He dropped a letter, a +word, even a line; unconsciously he changed the +order of the words. He brought in something which +he happened to have in his mind. When he was +familiar with his Bible, some parallel confused him. +It is only natural that in copying a book of this size +even the best copyist should make some hundreds +of blunders; the next copyist would introduce +other hundreds, sometimes even by an un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>happy +attempt at correcting the blunders of the +former. So it went on till in the end the text became +filled with mistakes. Of course, there was a +remedy. After having finished the copy the writer +himself or some one else was expected to compare +it carefully with the original and correct all the +blunders. But from personal experience in reading +proofs we know how easily a real blunder escapes +our attention. One ought to go over a proof-sheet +three times at least in order to avoid all mistakes. +So we cannot wonder that the Bibles copied by +hand contained errors, and considering all the difficulties +it is surprising that the copies were most +of them so nearly correct.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>It was Johann Gutenberg, a native of Mainz, residing +some time at Strassburg as a silversmith, then +again returning to Mainz, who made the great discovery +that several copies could be printed at once +by using letters cut out of wood or metal. People +had used woodcuts before his time. Engraving +large blocks of wood with pictures and letters, they +printed the so-called block-books, as a cheap substitute +for illuminated manuscripts. Gutenberg's +great idea was that instead of using a woodcut block +for the page one might compose a page by using separate, +movable letters, putting them together accord<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>ing +to the present need, then separating them and +using them again. We are not interested here in +the technical part of the work; imperfect as it was, +it was surely a great advance. Now one got a hundred +copies, two hundred, or even more without +any difference between them. When the proofs had +been corrected carefully the Bible was sure to have +as few mistakes as possible; and if the printer still +found some errors, he could easily correct them for +the whole edition by adding a printed list of errata, +or necessary corrections, at the end of the volume. +It was only by printing that uniformity of text +became possible.</p> + +<p>The important fact for our present investigation is +that it was the Bible which Gutenberg chose to be the +first printed book. This fact illustrates the estimation +in which the Bible was held. It shows at the +same time the demand for Bible copies; the printer +felt sure that it would sell and pay. It was an enormous +enterprise to put the fresh, inexperienced art +of printing straightway at a task so big as this. It +took four years to print the first Bible, from 1453 +to 1456. While working at it Gutenberg had to +try some smaller things which would bring him +money immediately, school-books, letters of indulgence, +and so on, but his main care was given to +the Bible. It contained six hundred and forty-one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +leaves, with two columns on each page, and forty-two +lines in each column (Plate XV). The initials +were not printed, but were supposed to be illuminated +by hand; a small letter was printed in the +free space to indicate what kind of letter the illuminator +had to paint. Probably not more than one +hundred copies were printed, a third part of them +on parchment. Out of the thirty-one copies which +have been preserved, or, to speak more accurately, +are known as such, ten are luxuriously printed on +parchment and illuminated, each in a different way, +but all very fine and costly. It is obvious that +Gutenberg put into this printing not only a great +amount of labour but much money, too; and there +was no assurance that it would come in again +in a short time. Like many ingenious discoverers +and inventors, he was no business man; he was always +in need of money. So when his first Bible was +not yet finished one of his creditors, John Fust, of +Mainz, took all his apparatus from him and, associating +himself with an apprentice of Gutenberg's, Peter +Schöffer by name, brought the printing of the first +Bible to completion, thus depriving the inventor of +the financial success as well as of the glory. But +Gutenberg was not discouraged. He immediately +began, with a new set of letters, the printing of a +second Bible, containing thirty-six lines in each col<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>umn +and so amounting to eight hundred and eighty-one +leaves in size. He printed it in the years 1456 +to 1458. Again his rivals, Fust and Schöffer, published, +in 1462, a third Bible, called sometimes the +Bible of Mainz. It has forty-eight lines in each +column.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image122.jpg" width="600" height="982" alt="Plate XV" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate XV—GUTENBERG'S FIRST BIBLE</span> + +<p class="center"><b>(42 lines, Mainz, 1453-1456)</b></p> + +<p class="center">Copy at Leipzig, on parchment, beautifully illuminated. The capitals are +painted by hand, but indicated by small printed letters.</p> + +<p class="center">From "Erfindung der Buchdruckerkunst." Published by Velhagen & Klasing, +Bielefeld, Germany.</p> +</div> + +<p>Thus the printing of the Bible was inaugurated. +The new art quickly spread all over Germany, +and printing-presses were established at Strassburg, +Bamberg, Nuremberg, Basel, Cologne, Lübeck, and +many other places. The art entered France and +England with less success, the government in both +countries being partly opposed to it and partly +trying to make it a royal privilege. Good printers +worked at Paris and Lyons. The most splendid +presses were at Venice, where the Doge championed +the new art even against attacks from Rome. +Before the year 1500 ninety-two editions of the +Latin Bible were issued by these various presses, +according to Mr. Copinger, who possessed the largest +collection of printed Bibles. (He registers four +hundred and thirty-eight editions of the Latin Bible +during the sixteenth century.) In addition to these +we have a great number of printed Bibles in the vernacular +of Germany, France, Italy, Bohemia, and so +on. There was a sudden outpouring of Bibles. But +we must not overestimate the circulation. These +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +editions contained scarcely more than two hundred +copies each; they were most of them in large folio, +very unwieldy, and the price was enormous, though, +of course, not so high as it is now, when for one +copy of Gutenberg's first Bible $20,000 is paid. +The Bible was not available for the average man. +We know of scholars copying for themselves the +Bible or the New Testament from a printed Bible. +The clergy were rather opposed to this printing. +They did not in the least encourage the printers; +on the contrary, they tried to cause as many difficulties +as possible. Therefore the circulation was +a limited one. Copies were bought by churches +for their services, by princes, and by very rich +merchants, as to-day a splendid work is bought +more as a luxury than as something for daily use. +One cannot say that at this period the Bible, even +by printing, acquired a circulation among the people.</p> + +<p>This was accomplished only through the Reformation. +It was Luther's German translation which +made the printed Bible popular and caused a number +of similar translations. In order to make the +Bible what it was destined to be, the book of the +people, the printer and the translator had to work +together.</p> + +<p>In former times many Protestants held the view<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +that Luther rediscovered the Bible, which had been +almost entirely forgotten. They thought that there +had been a meagre transmission of the Bible and +no translation into the vernacular at all. This +view, of course, is untenable. We have seen +what a circulation the Bible had in the last century +before the Reformation, and that it had been +translated into almost every vernacular. Nevertheless, +Luther's version is a landmark in the history +of translation; it marks a new period and represents +the beginning of a new sort of translation.</p> + +<p>In order to realise this, let us look back over the +former history of translations. In the first period +we found the Bible translated from the Greek into +Latin, Syriac, Coptic; in the next period Gothic, +Armenian, Georgian, Libyan, and Ethiopic were +added, not to mention the several revisions of the +former translations. About 600 <span class="smcap">a. d.</span> the Bible was +known in eight languages; in each of them there had +been several attempts at translating. There were +different dialects, too; in Coptic no less than five. +The spread of Christianity in the next period is shown +by the fact that the Bible is translated—and this +again several times—into Arabic and Slavonic from +the Greek, and into German, Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, +and French from the Latin—rather, I should say, +parts of the Bible, for it was only parts which people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +at this period tried to translate. We hear of a Gospel, +of a Psalter, of one or another book translated +into the vernacular. Only when stimulated by the +popular movements of the next period, as we have +seen in the fifth chapter, was the work of translating +into the vernacular prosecuted on a larger scale; from +the thirteenth century on we may speak of Bibles +in the vernacular. Beginning in the southeast of +France, the tendency spread over Italy and Germany. +We can still trace the influence of the French Waldensian +Bible in the earliest Italian translations and +also in some of the German ones. Another circle +is defined by the northern French translation, which +influenced the Flemish and Dutch and possibly even +the Scandinavian. All these are based not so much +upon the Bible itself as on a rearrangement known +as the Historical Bible, telling the stories and omitting +the doctrinal portions. A new start was made +in England by Wycliffe, and this caused the Bohemian +translation into Czech, which was again influenced +by the Waldensian Bible. It is like a net +thrown all over Europe. We may count more than +a dozen languages, many of them represented by +different dialects and by several separate renditions, +which were added to the eight languages of the +former periods. The culmination came in the fifteenth +century, when everywhere fresh translations<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +were attempted. In Germany more than forty different +types of translation can be counted, and +one of them, containing the whole Bible, was printed +fourteen times before the period of the Reformation +(Plate XVI). There was only one translation, however, +with a value of its own, and that was the +Spanish, for this was made from the Hebrew Old +Testament by the help of some Spanish Jews. Both +the king of Spain and the high clergy showed at that +time a remarkable breadth of view in trying to get a +trustworthy translation. All other versions in the +West were based upon the Latin Vulgate as the +recognised Bible of the church, and they were made +with more devotion than knowledge. The translators +usually did not know Latin well nor were +they masters of their own language. They translated +word for word, and the result was sometimes +strange. It is of no great importance that, not +recognising in "Tertius" and "Quartus" proper +names, one of these translators said "the third" and +"the fourth." It was worse when another explained +"encænia" in John 10 : 22, the feast of dedication, +as meaning "wedding," or declared the words in +Matt. 27 : 46, "Eli, Eli," to be Greek. Sometimes +the translation resulted in pure nonsense, and even +where it made sense, it was difficult and often far +from the true meaning. Now humanism insisted +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +upon going back to the original languages. Erasmus, +in 1516, published the first edition of the +New Testament in Greek. We see how Luther, +at this time professor at the University of Wittenberg, +lecturing upon Romans when this edition +came into his hands, was impressed by this new +source of information. He eagerly set himself +to learn Greek with the help of his friend Melanchthon, +and so he was prepared for the great task +of translating the New Testament directly out +of the Greek into German. It was during his +exile in the Wartburg that he found the necessary +time to make this translation. It appeared +in print in September, 1522, and it is astonishing +in how short a time this New Testament circulated +all through Germany. It was reprinted +everywhere, and often very carelessly, so that Luther +had to complain against the printers as falsifying +his translation. He himself did not take any +payment for his work; he wanted the publishers to +sell it as cheaply as possible. And it was a masterpiece, +not only for the beauty of the language, which +was the best and most popular German that had +ever been written but also in the way Luther +translated, giving not the single words but the +meaning of the sentences, not transferring from +one vocabulary to the other but transmuting (if one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +may say so) the whole expression of thought from +Greek into German. The Bible became a German +book; one hardly feels that he is reading a translation. +Luther had more trouble with the Old Testament. +In order to master the Hebrew he had to +rely on friends; he even asked some Jewish rabbis +to join their meetings. He tells us that they often +had to look for a single word three or four weeks; +that in particular Job was so difficult that they +scarcely finished three lines in four days. The Pentateuch +was ready in the year 1523; then year after +year the work went on. The prophets were not +finished until 1532, and in 1534 the first complete +Bible was issued. The work was highly praised by +Luther's friends and unduly criticised by his antagonists. +He himself replied sharply to such +criticism, and he had a right to do so because the +attempts made by Eck and Emser, the champions of +Roman Catholicism, to translate the Bible themselves +were feeble and betrayed much dependence +on Luther's translation, which they had so severely +criticised. Luther himself never felt satisfied with +his own work and always tried to improve it. At +two different periods he held meetings with his +friends for the purpose of revising the Bible. The +records of these meetings of the committee for the +revision of the Bible (if one may call it so) have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +come down to us, and it is highly interesting to see +how carefully they discussed every word and how +it is always Luther himself who at last finds the +most apt expression.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image126.jpg" width="600" height="898" alt="Plate XVI" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Plate XVI—FIRST GERMAN BIBLE</span> + +<p class="center">Printed at Strassburg by G. Mentell in 1466: the progress in printing made in +these ten years is remarkable.</p> + +<p class="center">Entnommen aus W. Walthers "Deutsche Bibelübersetzung des Mittelalters." +Verlag von Hellmuth Wollermann in Braunschweig.</p> +</div> + +<p>It is a great privilege of the German nation +that it received this excellent Bible at the very +beginning of the new era. The German language +is moulded by this Bible. In Luther's time the dialects +still prevailed. Luther's Bible had to be +translated into the dialect of lower Germany. The +south of Germany and Switzerland had quite another +dialect. The Zürich reformers, in 1529, published +a Bible in this dialect, translating from Luther's +Bible as far as it existed at this time and providing +for the rest a translation of their own. It is unquestionably +due to Luther's Bible that the Germans +have now one language for all literary purposes. +The German classic writers Herder, Wieland, Klopstock, +Lessing, Schiller, Goethe were all trained from +their childhood by the language of this Bible. Even +now there is a remarkable difference in style between +authors of Protestant and of Roman Catholic +origin in Germany. In the easy and fluent language +of the former we see the influence of Luther +and Goethe, whereas the latter often show a certain +stiffness and a greater number of provincialisms. +The attempts to translate the Bible inde<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>pendently +of Luther have never succeeded in +gaining any large circulation, although there have +been many such, not only from the Roman Catholic +side but also from Protestants. A famous +one is the so-called Berleburg Bible, by certain +mystics, published in 1726-42 in eight volumes. In +the nineteenth century scholars undertook to give +more scientific and more exact translations, but, +valuable as these may be for scholarly purposes, the +German people will never abandon its classic Bible. +It is difficult even to introduce a revision. There +was a revision some twenty years ago, but in this +Luther's text was retouched and altered only at +a very few points, most of the corrections introduced +by the revision committee being rather +restitutions of Luther's original renderings, which +had been badly "improved" by former printers. +It is remarkable that even the printed Bible never +stands still, but is always changing, the printers +acting as the copyists did in former times. The +copies of the revised text printed at Stuttgart differ +slightly from the copies printed at Halle and Berlin, +to mention three of the modern centres of German +Bible printing.</p> + +<p>Luther's translation was the signal for a general +movement in this direction. It is not so much +translating the Bible into new languages—only a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +few which had no Bible before were added to the list +given above—as rather the making of new translations +in all languages of the Christian world as far +as this was influenced by the Reformation. Of +course some of these translations were inspired by +humanism more than by the spirit of the Reformation. +The humanists abhorred the vulgarity of the +monkish Latin, and they extended their aversion +to the official Bible of the church, the Vulgate of +Saint Jerome; therefore they tried to translate the +Bible into what they thought to be Ciceronian Latin, +and some of them translated this again into French +or German. But most of the translators were simply +following Luther's model; nay, they used +Luther's translation even more than the original. +King Christian III of Denmark gave orders that +the translators should follow Luther's version as +closely as possible. In this way the Dutch, the +Danish, the Swedish, the Finnish, the Lettish, and +the Lithuanian Bibles were more or less influenced +by or even based upon Luther's.</p> + +<p>It is different with the English and the French +Bible. Wycliffe's translation never had been printed. +William Tindale, a pupil of Erasmus, translated +the New Testament and parts of the Old during his +exile in Germany and Holland, whither he had gone +under Henry VIII because, as he says, there was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +no place to translate the New Testament in all +England. Printed copies of them were brought to +England, but most of them were confiscated and +destroyed. Once again the Bible was burned, +but this time by the Christian king in agreement +with the bishops of the English church; and with +the Bible suffered many of its zealous readers. +Tindale himself died a martyr for his faith and his +Bible in October, 1536, at the hands of the imperial +authorities in Flanders. But the work of Bible +translation went on, nevertheless, and Henry VIII +was still on the throne when the Bible gained the +victory. Miles Coverdale, who had undertaken another +translation, issued the year before Tindale's +death, failed to get royal sanction for its publication, +but the book was not suppressed. John Rogers, +a friend of Tindale's, the year after his death, under +the assumed name of Thomas Matthew, published +a Bible, chiefly made up from Tindale's and Coverdale's +work. Through Crumwell's mediation Cranmer +secured the king's permission to sell this +Bible in the realm. But the convocation was not +satisfied with it. It asked for another translation, +and therefore the so-called Great Bible was published +in 1539, Coverdale revising his former work +under the direction of Crumwell, Cranmer, and +others. This Great Bible was ordered by a royal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +warrant to be exhibited in all parish churches; copies +were fastened to the pulpits by means of chains, and +the public was allowed to read them "with discretion, +honest intent, charity, reverence, quiet behavior," +as is said in the admonition published by +Bishop Bonner. This happened in the last years of +Henry VIII. Under Queen Mary—bloody Mary, +as she was called—the printing of Bibles was stopped, +but the exiles who went to Geneva undertook +a new revision, which was much more radical and +had the privilege of bearing an introductory letter +by Calvin himself. At the very moment of Queen +Elizabeth's coronation, among other prisoners (according +to the expression of one of her courtiers) the +four evangelists and Saint Paul were released, having +been long shut up in an unknown tongue, as it +were in prison. The Great Bible was revised by +some of the bishops under direction of Archbishop +Parker, who did not shrink from using improvements +from the Geneva Bible. This Bishops' +Bible, published in 1568, was the official one, but +the Geneva Bible was far more popular, while the +Roman Catholics made a translation of their own, +printed in France at Rheims and Douai. The rivalry +between the Bishops' Bible and the Geneva Bible +was confusing. Therefore, in order to overcome it, +King James, in 1604, appointed a committee for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +revision of the Bible, consisting of about fifty +members, and divided into six groups, two of which +met at Westminster, Oxford, and Cambridge respectively. +They did excellent work, the result of which +was published in 1611 and is known as the Authorised +Version. It is in this version that the English +translation attained its highest excellence. It +is this form which gained the largest circulation and +the greatest popularity among all English-speaking +peoples. It still survives the recent attempt at revision, +which was made by an English and an American +committee, both working on the same principles +and in constant communication with one another. +It is a well-known fact that the final corrections +were cabled from England to America in order to +procure a simultaneous publication on both sides of +the Atlantic. Here again, as in the German revision, +the two issues are not identical. It marks, +however, a clear distinction between the German +and the English Bible that the former reached its +final form at its very beginning, whereas the latter +did not achieve this result until a hundred years +later. The Bible of Luther was creative of the +German language, as we have seen, while the English +Bible is rather a product of the period of highest +literary culture in England. Luther produced +Goethe. Shakespeare (d. April 23, 1616) is prac<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>tically +contemporaneous with the Authorised Version.</p> + +<p>The development of the French Bible is still more +slow and varied. There was a pre-Reformation +translation, printed several times, at Lyons and at +Paris; but it was of a purely mediæval character. +Then a humanist, Jacques Lefèvres d'Étaples (Faber +Stapulensis, d. 1536), undertook a new French translation +from the Vulgate. The first French Bible +translated from the original Hebrew and Greek was +published in 1535 by Peter Robert Olivetan, a cousin +of Calvin. The author himself, and Calvin, and +others corrected and improved it from time to time, +and nearly every twenty or thirty years a new +editor would try to revise it. In this series of revisions +one of the most successful was that of Frédéric +Ostervald of Neuchâtel, in 1744. But the +process is still going on, French and Swiss theologians +vying one with another in fair competition. Moreover, +the Protestant translation found many rivals +in the work of Roman Catholics, especially in the +great period of French literature in the reign of +Louis XIV. Some of these translators, for example +Bossuet, aimed at making the style of their translation +as elegant as possible, while others, under the +influence of Port Royal, paraphrased the text with +a view rather to clearness. None of these versions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +had real success; none has become final. France still +suffers from the lack of a classic form for its Bible.</p> + +<p>The attitude of a nation toward its Bible is largely +determined by the development of the translation. +It is obvious that the Germans hold to Luther's +Bible even more insistently than the English do to +their Authorised Version, and that in France there +is an open field for every fresh attempt at revising +and translating. The nation has not become united +with its Bible, and, as regards language, the famous +"Dictionnaire de l'Académie," aiming at a standard +of literary uniformity, is but a poor and artificial +substitute for the influence exercised in a living +and natural way by the Bible.</p> + +<p>It is not our task here to trace the history of +translations in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, +and elsewhere. It is to a large extent a history of +enthusiasm, devotion, and martyrdom, and at the +same time of failure and oppression. Wherever the +so-called Counter-Reformation, started by the Jesuits, +gained hold of the people, the vernacular was +suppressed and the Bible kept from the laity. So +eager were the Jesuits to destroy the authority of +the Bible—the paper pope of the Protestants, as +they contemptuously called it—that they even did +not refrain from criticising its genuineness and historical +value.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + +<p>To sum up: it was the Bible which trained printers +and translators and thereby made a noble contribution +to modern civilisation and literature; on the +other hand, it was printing and translating which +made it possible for the Bible to become the popular +book that ruled daily life.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h3>THE BIBLE RULES DAILY LIFE (1550-1850)</h3> + + +<p>The Reformation gave the Bible a new position—not +that there had been no Bible before, nor that +the Bible had had no influence. We have seen +that there were numbers of Bibles, in Latin as +well as in the vernacular, and that the Bible had +been one of the foundations of mediæval civilisation, +yet it was only by Luther's translation and +the other versions made on his model that the +Bible became a really popular book, and it was +only by the Reformation that the Bible was established +as the authority for daily life in a modern, +that is, non-ascetic, sense.</p> + +<p>The two points insisted on by all the reformers +were, first, that the Bible is perspicuous, that is, +that every reader can by himself find out in his +Bible what is essential for salvation; and, secondly, +that the Bible is sufficient. The Christian +does not need anything else; the Bible tells him +everything which he requires—of course in its own +domain, religion, or, to use the language of that +time, the "doctrine of salvation." By the Refor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>mation +the Bible got rid of all its rivals, such as +tradition, Apocrypha, legend, canon law, and so on. +It is wonderful to see—and I doubt if modern Christianity +has realised the fact in all its importance—how +by the preaching of the reformers all these +things, which hitherto had been thought of as integral +parts of Christianity, simply fell away. No cult +of the saints, no adoration of their images, no legends, +no fancy, no merriment connected with religion, +but the pure Bible and the stern doctrine of it and +the austere attitude of Puritanism corresponding +to it were now uppermost. Nay, the letter of +the Bible was binding in a stricter sense than it had +ever been before. Catholicism made it possible to +mitigate the strictness by allegorical interpretation; +Protestantism insisted upon taking the Bible in its +literal sense. There was now no way of escape; a +man had to take whatever the Bible said or refuse +the Bible altogether. In principle the mystery had +gone; the Bible was plain and made itself understood.</p> + +<p>It was the literal sense, as established by lexicon +and grammar, which was to be followed. This +caused the reformers to encourage and facilitate the +study of the original languages of the Bible. When +they tried to improve the grammar-schools and to +found as many new ones as possible, it was not so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +much the humanistic delight in the classical languages +as the desire to secure a sure knowledge of +Greek and Hebrew which might enable a boy to +read and to interpret the Bible. It is evident from +many utterances both of Luther and Calvin that +their aim in all their school work was to provide +good preachers of the true gospel, or good teachers +of the genuine doctrine of the Bible.</p> + +<p>To be sure, there are differences of character, both +personal and national, between the two great reformers, +which account for a somewhat different development +of their churches. In Luther's piety the +joyful experience of salvation brings in a happy note; +the children of God praise his love and grace. +In Calvin's devotion the feeling prevails that God's +majesty is above all creatures and that his holy will +is the supreme rule for our life. Religion with +Luther is bright and cheerful, whereas with Calvin +it has a darker tinge. But both are building on the +same foundation and with the same end in view: +from salvation to salvation, from grace to grace. +The difference is but one of attitude toward the +present life.</p> + +<p>The difference finds its best expression in a +varying use of the phrase Word of God. Both, of +course, believed in an historical revelation of God +to mankind, and they were convinced that this rev<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>elation +was to be found in the holy Scriptures. God +had spoken through his prophets; he had given his +promises to his people; he had sent his Son and had +fulfilled his promises through him. All this was to +be found in the Bible and only in the Bible. The +reformers refused the authority of tradition, just as +they declined to acknowledge the present individual +inspiration of enthusiasts, or "Schwarmgeister," as +Luther contemptuously called them. It was in the +Bible that Christianity had to look for all necessary +information about God and salvation. And yet +Luther, when using the expression Word of God, +scarcely thinks of the written book. It is the living +word as represented by the preaching of the prophets +and the apostles, and perpetuated by the preaching +of the ministers of the church. It is to him not a +formal authority but an energising inspiration. Not +everything in the Bible is authoritative, merely by +the fact that it stands in the Bible; only what witnesses +to Christ is authoritative and is to be taken +as the Word of God. On the other hand, Zwingli +and Calvin frequently use the term Word of God +when speaking of the holy Scriptures themselves. +It is characteristic that the reformed churches of +Switzerland felt it their duty to fix the exact number +of writings included in this Word of God, just +as the Roman Catholic church did at the Council<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +of Trent, while no Lutheran creed ever defines the +exact content of the Bible. To the former it was a +book of law, to the latter a book of inspiration.</p> + +<p>Luther, owing to his familiarity with Saint Paul, +understood that Christianity had nothing to do with +the Law; the whole notion of the Law had to be +dropped out from the field of religion. Law there +must be in the government of the state—it would +not be necessary even there, if all people were true +Christians—but for the wicked there must be a law +and there must be punishment. The Christian's life, +however, is not a slave's obedience to injunctions +but a child's glad doing of his father's will; he knows +what his father wants him to do and he does it +joyfully. Luther is especially interested in proving +that Jesus' teaching, in particular the Sermon on +the Mount, does not exhibit an ascetic law, but gives +principles for the moral life of every Christian. One +need not enter a monastery in order to fulfil Christ's +commandments. It is in the tasks of the daily life +that a Christian has to prove himself a true disciple +of Jesus. The Bible is to rule the daily life of the +Christian, but not in the sense of a law. When, in +1523, a preacher at Weimar aimed to introduce the +Mosaic law instead of the common law, Luther +treated him as a "Schwarmgeist," and, in fact, it +was that proposal which lay at the basis of all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +"Schwarmgeisterei." Such experiments, aiming to +constitute a kingdom of the Saints on earth, as the +Anabaptists made at Münster and elsewhere, always +failed, and made Luther and his friends suspicious +of any such attempt.</p> + +<p>It is different with Calvin. He is interested in +realising the kingdom of God in the Christian congregation, +or, to put it more accurately, in the commonwealth +of Geneva, which is to him identical with +the Christian congregation of that place. So it is +the commonwealth which is to be ruled by the Bible, +and the Bible in this rôle acts as a law to which +the whole community as well as the individual has to +submit. And again it is characteristic that Calvin +takes the Bible as a unit. It is the Old Testament +law as well as the gospel which is to be regarded as +the indispensable rule both of public and private +life. With the Calvinists the ten commandments +become an integral part of the regular Sunday service.</p> + +<p>Of course there are many gradations between these +two positions. Zwingli, the Zürich reformer, was of +a different type from Calvin, while he was even more +opposed to Luther than was the Genevan. Luther's +rule was to abolish whatsoever was contrary to +the Bible. Zwingli would permit only what was +based upon or commanded by the Bible; he objected +to the use of an organ, to the keeping of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +festival days except Sunday, and so on. Luther +even tolerated pictures in the church. He was +sure that no one would adore them if pervaded +by the true spirit of the gospel, and he was convinced +that this spirit could be successfully inculcated +by means of preaching. Zwingli and Calvin +both did away with all pictures in the churches. +They had the walls whitewashed and the ten commandments +and other passages from the Bible +painted on them. Nothing is so characteristic of +this difference between the Lutheran and the Calvinistic +feeling as the history of an epitaph in an +East Prussian church, the monument of the noble +family of the earls of Dohna. At the time of the +Reformation they joined the Grand Master, later +Duke, Albrecht of Brandenburg in taking Luther's +part. The epitaph, which was erected in the church +of Mohrungen on the death of Earl Peter in 1553, +was decorated with a picture showing the holy +Trinity adored by the family of the donor. At the +beginning of the seventeenth century the family +went over to Calvinism, and the painting was altered +by covering the image of the holy Trinity with +black varnish and putting over it some Bible verses +in gold letters.</p> + +<p>The different attitude toward the Bible finds its +expression also in the fact that the Lutherans used<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> +hymns, whereas the Calvinists adhered to the Biblical +Psalter. Of course the vigorous songs composed +by Luther are most of them based upon Psalms +and other Biblical passages, and so were the greater +number of hymns in the Lutheran church. On the +other hand, the Calvinists did not agree with the +English church in taking over the alternative recitation +of the Psalter from the mediæval exercises of +the monasteries and large cathedral choirs. They +used the Psalter in a rhythmical paraphrase adapted +to modern singing, but keeping so near to the wording +of the Psalms that they even called it the Psalm-book. +The difference was, in fact, slight, but they +felt it to be essential. The Lutherans followed the +usage of the church, the Calvinists the very word +of the Bible. It is remarkable, however, that +hymns gradually gained more importance among +the Calvinists, especially since the time of the +eighteenth-century revivals, and that nowadays +the hymn-book, enriched by the contributions of +recent time from poets of all denominations, is in +favour with all Protestants and in some circles is even +in danger of becoming a substitute for the Bible.</p> + +<p>In spite of all these differences, these two great +forms of Protestantism manifest almost the same attitude +toward the Bible, and we see them changing +their attitude almost at the same time and in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +same direction. The theologians of the orthodox +period exaggerated the authority of the Bible to such +an extent that critics like Lessing could speak of Bibliolatry +or Bible-worship. They extended the notion +of inspiration even to the smallest details in the +printed text which lay before them, with no regard +for the fact that those details were late additions, +sometimes even misprints, and that the various +editions did not agree in these details. True scholastics +as they were, they had no sense for facts but +an unlimited desire for theory; the facts had to +submit to the theory, and whoever would appeal +to the facts against the theory was denounced as a +heretic and driven out as a disreputable person. +This doctrinal attitude changed when, at the end of +the seventeenth century, Pietism in Germany and +Methodism in England once again turned religion +from ecclesiastical doctrine to personal devotion. +The estimation of the Bible is not diminished—quite +the contrary; yet it finds its expression not in stiff +formulas of dogmatics but in beautiful hymns. +Under the direction of P. J. Spener (d. 1705) people +once more gather in private circles to read +and to interpret the Bible; once more the students +are drawn away from dead scholasticism to the living +study of the Bible. To the <i>theologia dogmatica</i> +is opposed a <i>theologia biblica</i>. People begin to real<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>ise +again what is the true use of the Bible, not as a +text-book for dogmatic competitions and controversies, +but as the divine word of comfort and exhortation, +a guide to salvation, and an expression of salvation +already gained. There is a beautiful tract +written by A. H. Francke of Halle (d. 1727) and +very often printed as a preface to the Bible in German, +"A brief direction how to read the Bible for +edification." It sounds thoroughly modern, as it +deals not with questions of theology but entirely with +piety. This attitude was again changed by the so-called +rationalism. That movement, too, entered the +Protestantism of Germany as well as of England and +America in various forms and under various names +(deism, unitarianism), but with the same tendency. +It may be that it had an easier start and a wider +spread in the Lutheran church of Germany. We +shall speak of its influence in the next chapter. The +Bible was submitted to reason or explained according +to reason. The Bible was to be followed for +the sake of the precepts of reason contained in +it or else not at all. It was, however, the common +conviction that the Bible gave the most reasonable +injunctions, and whereas orthodoxy had +been mostly intellectual and Pietism emotional, +rationalism by its moral strictness helped the Bible +to retain its influence on daily life.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p> + +<p>This influence was due to the fact that since +Luther's time the Bible was in every house; it was +the centre of the regular morning and evening +prayers, the father reading and explaining to his +family some chapters of the Bible. What a knowledge +of the Bible had been gained by the laity soon +after the Reformation is shown by the prince elector +of Saxony Johann Friedrich, who at the important +meetings held at Augsburg in 1530 was able to +quote from memory all necessary passages of the +Bible.</p> + +<p>In Lutheran countries the influence of the Bible +found expression in arts and crafts. Not only were +the walls of the churches decorated with pictures +taken from the Bible but also the walls of private +houses. The furniture of a farmhouse was painted +with Biblical stories, very awkward paintings, +indeed, but showing the spirit of simple and plain +devotion. It is otherwise when a rich lady's +dressing-table in baroque or rococo is decorated +with such scenes. We feel that they are out of place +there and that scenes taken from ancient mythology +would suit such a purpose much better. We should +consider it a little profane that, at a wedding dinner +in the sixteenth century, between the several courses +elaborate dishes were passed, representing Biblical +scenes. We cannot help remembering the re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>mark +of that preacher of the old church who exclaimed: +"Oh, that they had these stories painted +in their hearts!"</p> + +<p>Much more important is the art of music. Luther +was fond of it; he would never have given up a choir +and an organ. He made it possible for the Lutheran +church to produce the greatest masterpieces +that music has ever achieved—Bach's oratorios. +While the Roman church directed the work of its +great musicians toward the glorification of the mass, +and the Calvinistic church became rigorously opposed +to the very art of music, the Lutheran composers +were inspired by the Bible itself. The +Biblical sonatas of Johann Kuhnau (d. 1722) seem +to us mere trifling. The real work was done by +Heinrich Schütz (d. 1672) and Johann Sebastian +Bach, the cantor of Saint Thomas in Leipzig (d. +1750), who succeeded in giving to the Bible a +new voice, a voice which is still sounding and +entering circles where the printed Bible would +scarcely be read. The combination in Bach's +oratorios is very striking—the majestic church +hymns sung by the choir, the simple recitative +of Scripture, and, last but not least, the arias +giving the response of the pious individual to the +words of God in the Bible. This is the most characteristic +part of it. Protestant piety cannot be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +without the personal expression of individual feeling; +it is thoroughly subjective in the highest sense. +As Luther in his catechism explains the Apostles' +Creed thus, "I believe that God has created me...; +I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord, +who has saved me...; I believe that it is impossible +for me to come to Jesus Christ without the +help of the Holy Ghost...," so Protestant piety +gives to everything this subjective note. There is +a Greek manuscript of the Gospels from the fourteenth +century, written in several colours to distinguish +the words of Jesus, of his apostles, of his +enemies, and of the evangelist. The narrative of +the evangelist is given in green ink, the words of the +Pharisees and other adversaries of Jesus in black, +the words of the disciples in blue, and the sayings +of Jesus himself are in red. It is a curious piece of +work, showing the tendency of the Greek church to +dramatise the sacred history of the Gospel. With +this Greek copy we may compare a Protestant family +Bible mentioned by a modern German preacher. +It is a plain old printed Bible, but the pious great-grandfather +has marked it all through with various +colours, which he explains in a note: "What touched +the sin of my heart:—Black. What inspired me to +good:—Blue. What comforted me in sorrow:—Red. +What promised me the grace of God in eternity:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>—Gold." +The difference between objective facts and +subjective relation to them, between apprehension +and appreciation, is evident. This is the new spirit +which pervades the Protestant reader of the Bible, +and therefore the Bible is much more to him than it +had been to Christianity in former times.</p> + +<p>Where the Bible was read in such a spirit it was +bound to gain an influence upon the daily life. We +must admit this even if we have no direct evidence. +The inward acting of the spirit in the individual is +inaccessible to scientific observation and statistics.</p> + +<p>We are in a much better position regarding the +Calvinistic circles, for here the influence of the +Bible was a public one. The Bible here was recognised +as the only rule to be followed in public life as +well as in private. The most characteristic feature +is the attitude toward the Sabbath. Luther had +explained the third commandment (according to his +numeration, the fourth according to the Calvinists) +as meaning "den Feiertag heiligen," to use the +day, granted by God as a holiday, for going to +church and listening to the preaching of the gospel; +so the Lutherans, who never called it Sabbath, did +not insist upon avoiding all work, but upon attending +the holy service; besides, human feeling led +them to relieve their servants and employees so far +as possible from their labour. The Calvinists kept<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +the Sabbath, as they said, exactly according to +the Old Testament commandment: "Thou shalt +not do any work." It reminds us sometimes of +the minuteness of rabbinical Sabbath controversies +when we see how carefully the Sabbath is kept +as a day for doing no work whatever; even the children +are forbidden to play with their toys. It is a +concession made to the gospel if works of piety, of +charity, or of necessity are permitted.</p> + +<p>Another prominent feature is the use of Biblical +names. Among Lutherans and members of the English +church the use of Christian names, mostly derived +from famous saints or kings, as Edward, +George, Richard, Robert, Thomas, William, continued; +while the Calvinists preferred Biblical +names such as Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Joshua, Elijah, +Jeremiah, Nathaniel. They often chose the +names of obscure persons from the Bible, such as +Abia, Abiel, Ammi, Eliphalet, Jared, Jedidiah, Jerathmeel, +Reuben, Uriah. It was not so much the +admiration for this or that hero in the Bible as the +simple demand for something Biblical which gave to +the children such unfamiliar names. Parents did not +care for the real character of the man to whom the +name first belonged provided he was mentioned in +the Bible; neither Delilah nor Archelaus had a reputation +which would make their names desirable; but,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +nevertheless, they were given. Gamaliel was a +Pharisee, a scribe, very far from being a Christian, +but the name, being in the Bible, became a Christian +name among the descendants of one of the +Pilgrim fathers. Biblical reminiscences also are to +be found in Christian names, such as Faithful, +Faintnot, Hopestill, Strong; Praise-God Barbone, +one of Cromwell's followers, is said to have had two +brothers, baptised with the Christian names of +"Christ-came-into-the-world-to-save Barbone" and +"If-Christ-had-not-died-thou-hadst-been-damned +Barbone" respectively; but this is apocryphal, and +so is probably the American counterpart: "Through-many-trials-and-tribulations-we-must-enter-into-the-kingdom-of-God" +(Acts 15 : 22) as a Christian name.</p> + +<p>One can hardly deny that this Biblicism sometimes +became an abuse of the Bible. The Scriptures +were used for investigating the future. This +method, which we have already noted in the second +chapter, was made an official one in the Moravian +church. People used Bible verses in their games; +riddles were taken from the Bible. As the one and +only book the Bible had to serve as a whole library +and provide all kinds of entertainment. That is the +other side of the matter.</p> + +<p>The influence of the Bible on public life in the +time of Puritanism is illustrated best by the records<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +of the first plantations in New England.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> When, +in June, 1639, "all the free planters" of the colony +of New Haven "assembled together in a general +meeting to consult about settling civil government +according to God," the first question +laid before them by John Davenport was: "Whether +the Scriptures do hold forth a perfect rule for the +direction and government of all men in all duties +which they are to perform to God and men as well +in the government of families and commonwealth +as in matters of the church." "This was assented +unto by all, no man dissenting, as was expressed by +holding up of hands." The second question was +whether all do hold themselves bound by that +(plantation) covenant that "in all public offices, +etc., we would all of us be ordered by those rules +which the Scripture holds forth to us." This was +answered in the same way. Therefore it was voted +unanimously, "that the Word of God shall be the +only rule to be attended unto in ordering the affairs +of government in this plantation." Before they go +on to select officials from their number, the chapter on +the institution of the seventy elders (Ex. 18) is read, +together with Deut. 1 : 13 and 17 : 15 and I Cor. 6 : 1-7, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>and one of the planters declares that he had +felt scruples about it, but that these had been +removed by reading Deut. 17 : 15 at morning +prayers. When a difference arises between two +members of the colony they refer it for arbitration to +brethren, in accordance with I Cor. 6 : 1-7. A +prisoner is pressed to confess his crime by reminding +him of that passage of Scripture: "He that +hideth his sin shall not prosper, but he that confesseth +and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy" +(Prov. 28 : 13). When a murder has been committed +they sentence the guilty to death "according +to the nature of the fact and the rule in that case, +He that sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood +be shed" (Gen. 9 : 6). They refer to Lev. 20 : 15 +in a case of bestiality in order to justify the sentence +of death. When questions and scruples arise +between New Haven and Massachusetts about the +justice of an offensive war, New Haven refers to +the story of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, "who +sinned and was rebuked by two prophets Jehu and +Eliezer for joining with and helping Ahab and +Ahaziah, kings of Israel" (II Chron. 17-20). From +this, they say, one might infer that even a defensive +war and all leagues are forbidden by the law of God. +On the other hand, they rely on the conquest of +Canaan and David's war against the Ammonites<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> +(II Sam. 10) as examples for the justice of an offensive +war and even a vindictive war of revenge.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Cf.</i> C. T. Hoadly, <i>Records of the Colony and Plantation of +New Haven from 1638 to 1649</i>, Hartford, 1857, and <i>Records +of the Colony or Jurisdiction of New Haven from May, 1653, to +the Union</i> (1665), Hartford, 1858.</p></div> + +<p>It is their fundamental agreement, not to be disputed +or questioned hereafter, "that the judicial +law of God given by Moses and expounded in other +parts of Scripture, so far as it is a hedge and a fence +to the moral law and neither ceremonial nor typical +nor had any reference to Canaan, has an everlasting +equity in it and should be the rule of their proceedings." +This fundamental law, as it is fixed in 1639 +and reinforced in 1642 and 1644, shows clearly the +spirit of this legislation. At the same time we learn +from the many restrictions how difficult it was to +adapt the Old Testament law to the needs of this +Christian commonwealth.</p> + +<p>The first records of the Massachusetts Bay Company<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +show indeed a marked difference. They +are less Scriptural. In the royal charter given to +the company by Charles I in 1628 the Bible is not +mentioned; the aim of the colony is said to be "to +win and incite the natives of the country to the +knowledge and obedience of the only true God and +Saviour of mankind and the Christian faith." The +governor is bound by his oath "to do his best endeavour +to draw on the natives of this country, called +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>New England, to the knowledge of the true God +and to conserve the planters and others coming +hither in the same knowledge and fear of God," or, +according to another form of oath, "to act according +to the law of God and for the advancement of +his Gospel, the laws of this land, and the good of this +plantation."</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts +Bay</i>, edited by N. B. Shurtleff. Boston, 1853.</p></div> + +<p>But in the laws framed by the colonists themselves, +the Bible is constantly appealed to. Passing +a law against drinking healths, in 1639, the +General Court declared this to be a mere useless +ceremony and also the occasion of many sins, "which +as they ought in all places and times to be prevented +carefully, so especially in plantations of churches +and commonwealths wherein the least known evils +are not to be tolerated by such as are bound by +solemn covenant <i>to walk by the rule of God's word</i> +in all their conversation." This statement is a +solemn one, and they put it into effect as far as +possible. When discussing in the General Court the +question whether a certain number of magistrates +should be chosen for life, a question which had a +good deal of importance for the future development +of the colony, they decided in favour of it, "for +that it was shown from the word of God, etc., that +the principal magistrates ought to be for life." Nay, +even a question of minor importance raised by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +the Scriptures, whether women must wear veils, +was eagerly discussed, both parties relying on Scriptural +proofs.</p> + +<p>When, in 1646, the General Court found it necessary +to convoke a public assembly of the elders, +they did so, protesting, however, that "their lawful +power <i>by the word of God</i> to assemble the churches +or their messengers upon occasion of counsel" is +not to be questioned, and therefore the said assembly +of elders, after having "discussed, disputed, and +cleared up <i>by the word of God</i> such questions of +church government and discipline ... as they shall +think needful and meet," is to report to the General +Court, "to the end that the same being found <i>agreeable +to the word of God</i>, it may receive from the said +General Court such approbation as is meet, that the +Lord being thus acknowledged by church and state +to be our Judge, our Lawgiver, and our King, he may +be graciously pleased still to save us as hitherto he +has done ... and so the churches in New England +may be Jehovah's and he may be to us a God from +generation to generation." It is remarkable that +not only the church synod is to judge what is +"agreeable to the holy Scriptures" but the civil +government takes it as its own duty to make +sure that the resolutions of the synod are really in +accordance with the Scripture and only then to give<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +their approbation. It is the secular power which +feels bound to the Word of God and to superintend +its strict observance. But in fact state and church +are not to be distinguished in this period of New +England history.</p> + +<p>In 1641 the Rev. John Cotton, "teacher of the +Boston church," published at London "An Abstract +or the Laws of New England as they are now established." +The first edition does not mention Cotton's +name; this was added only after his death in +a second edition, published in 1655 by his friend +William Aspinwall. This Abstract by John Cotton +does not represent, as its title seems to indicate, the +actual law; it is a proposed code of laws for New +England. But it has influenced to a great extent, +if not the legislation of Massachusetts, at any rate +the "Laws for Government, published for the use +of New Haven Colony" in 1656. The remarkable +feature is that Cotton gives marginal references to +the Bible for each one of his rules, for instance: "All +magistrates are to be chosen (1) by the free Burgesses—Deut. +1 : 13; (2) out of the free Burgesses—Deut. +17 : 15; (3) out of the ablest men and most +approved amongst them—Ex. 18 : 21; (4) out of the +rank of Noblemen or Gentlemen amongst them—Eccles. +10 : 17, Jer. 30 : 21," and so on. It is according +to the Old Testament rule that the eldest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +son ought to inherit twice as much as his brothers; +it is a true expression of the Old Testament +meaning when punishment is extended even to animals +which kill a man (cp. Ex. 21 : 28). The spirit +of this legislation is almost as severe, not to say +cruel, as the spirit of Charlemagne's Saxon law. +Twenty-four kinds of trespassing are enumerated +which are to be punished with death. It is evidently +against the legislator's own view that an +exemption is made for simple fornication, "not to +be punished with death according to God's own +law," as he adds by way of apology. In the second +edition the Bible verses are printed at length +in the text itself, the margin being devoted to +learned remarks on different translations. The +motto which expresses the character of this abstract +is taken from Isaiah 33 : 22: "The Lord is our +Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our +King; He will save us."</p> + +<p>The official Laws of Massachusetts, as established +in 1658 and printed in 1660, have no Bible references +in the margin; but in the restriction of flogging +to the effect that no more than forty stripes +should be applied, and in the requirement that +sentence of death may be imposed only when +two or three witnesses testify to the guilt, the +Biblical rules given in Deut. 25 : 5 and 19 : 15<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +are seen to be at work. Sabbath-breaking is to +be punished with a fine of ten shillings, the penalty +being doubled in the second case. In 1630 a man +had been whipped for shooting on the Sabbath.</p> + +<p>In 1647 the General Court passed a law ordering +that each township containing over fifty households +should appoint a schoolmaster, and if there were +more than a hundred families, a grammar-school +was to be supported. This care for education is inspired +by the desire of securing a true interpretation +of the Bible, as is proved by the following statement +of motives: "It being the chief project of that +old deluder Satan to keep men from the knowledge +of the Scriptures, as in former times by keeping them +in an unknown tongue, so in these latter times by +persuading from the use of tongues, that so at least +the true sense and meaning of the original might +be clouded by false glosses of saint-seeming deceivers; +that learning may not be buried in the grave +of our fathers in the church and commonwealth, +therefore ordered," etc.</p> + +<p>After the college had been founded in 1636, they +chose in 1643 for its seal a shield containing three +books with <i>Ve-ri-tas</i> written on them, two open and +one seen from the back. Oxford has between +three crowns one book with seven clasps. This book +evidently is the Bible; it has <i>Dominus illuminatio<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +mea</i> (Psalm 27 : 1) written on it. The seven clasps +are said to indicate the seven liberal arts and the +three crowns the three modes of philosophy. It is +characteristic of the Puritan spirit that their shield +had nothing but three Bibles. The meaning of <i>Veritas</i>, +of course, is not (as it has been taken in recent +times) that the aim of all research is truth. The +Puritan fathers were not concerned with research; +they believed in revelation, and it was by the +revelation laid down in the Bible that truth was +transmitted to mankind. The three Bibles may or +may not be a symbol of the holy Trinity; the +script on the front and on the back recalls the +book written within and on the back in Rev. 5 : 1. +They meant that the Bible was the fundamental +source of all knowledge. Harvard College was +founded to be a training-school for ministers, who +should know the truth and its source. <i>Christo et +ecclesiæ</i> became the second motto of the college. +That it has developed into a university, containing, +besides a college and the divinity school, schools for +law, medicine, applied science, etc., is due to a total +change of public opinion at a much later time. The +Puritan use of the Bible has disappeared, but something +of the Puritan spirit may still be seen in the +inscription on the front of the modern building of +the Harvard Law School, drawn from Ex. 18 : 20:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +"Thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws and +shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, +and the work that they must do."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE BIBLE BECOMES ONCE MORE THE BOOK +OF DEVOTION</h3> + + +<p>Having made our way through the centuries, we +now approach our own time, and at once we +remark two facts: Never before had the Bible +such a circulation as it has now gained. On the +other hand, it seems to have lost most of its influence. +We must look at these two facts before +we raise the question what value the Bible has for +the civilisation of to-day.</p> + +<p>Printing greatly facilitated the circulation of +the Bible and, as the result of the Reformation, it +had become the book of the Christian family. And +yet during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries +the circulation of the Bible was rather limited. +The Bible might be a treasure of the household, but +not the personal property of the individual. The +first editions, as we have seen, scarcely exceeded one +or two hundred copies. In contrast, one of the most +assiduous and industrious promoters of Bible reading, +Baron von Canstein, who settled at Halle in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +A. H. Francke's institute, published during the last +nine years of his life (d. 1719) forty thousand Bibles +and one hundred thousand New Testaments. To-day +the British and Foreign Bible Society issues +more than five million copies—one million Bibles, +one and a half million New Testaments, and two +and a half million parts of the Bible—yearly. The +progress is due to the invention of the rotary press +and other improvements in printing machinery.</p> + +<p>Besides, the circulation of the Bible has received +strong support through the foundation of Bible +societies. The story is well known how Thomas +Charles discovered the great desire for copies of the +Bible among his Welsh countrymen, how, when he +gathered some friends for the purpose of providing +them with Bibles, the Baptist preacher Thomas +Hughes put in the question, "And why not for other +peoples, too?" and how on his motion the Society +was started on March 7, 1804, as the British and +Foreign Bible Society. It is wonderful to hear of +the work done by this Society in the last hundred +years. If one visits the Bible House in Queen +Victoria Street in London he gets an impression +of the extent and the importance of the work done +there. The Society has its presses as well as +its translators all over the world; it has its agents +scattered through all the nations, and it has be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>gun +to do not only a publishers' business proper +but scholarly work as well. A vast collection of +Bible editions from all times and in all tongues has +been gathered, and a valuable catalogue published +which is of great importance for bibliography in +general.</p> + +<p>The greatest merit of the British and Foreign +Bible Society, however, is the fact that it stimulated +the foundation of other great Bible societies. There +were some small beginnings in Germany and +Switzerland. They suddenly became strong and +influential in consequence of the report made +concerning the British and Foreign Bible Society +by its secretary, Doctor Steinkopf, and Basel and +Stuttgart made a new start in 1804 and 1812. +After the Napoleonic War in 1814, Mr. Pinkerton +travelled through Germany with the result that +Bible societies were started at Berlin, Dresden, Elberfeld, +and Copenhagen, and in Holland, Norway, +and even Russia. In 1808 Philadelphia joined +the movement. The American Bible Society has +twice canvassed the entire United States, finding +that five hundred thousand families were without +any Bible, and selling sixty million Bibles. +It is remarkable that in the beginning Roman +Catholics joined the Bible societies enthusiastically. +A Bible society was founded at Regens<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>burg +in 1805, supported almost exclusively by +the Roman Catholic clergy. But as early as 1817, +soon after the restoration of the Jesuits by Pope +Pius VII, these Bible societies were dissolved; the +Roman Catholics were forbidden to be members +of the other Bible societies, and in the syllabus of +Pius IX, in 1864, the Bible societies are reckoned +among the dangers of our time, together with +Masonry and other secret societies.</p> + +<p>By the help of the Bible societies it has become +possible that Bibles should really spread among the +people. In Germany each boy and girl who goes +to school has his own Bible. Bibles and New +Testaments are distributed among the soldiers. +Most churches make a present of a Bible to each +couple who are to be married. There is rather a +superabundance of Bibles, which contrasts sharply +with the estimation in which the Bible is held. As +Spurgeon, in his drastic way, said in one of his stimulating +sermons: "The Bible is in every house, but +in many the dust on it is so thick that you might +write on it: <i>Damnation</i>." It was a veteran Bible +agent who, after thirty years' experience, said: "It +is easy to give away dozens of Bibles, but only the +one which you sell will be valued."</p> + +<p>The circulation has been greatly enlarged by numbers +of translations. We remember that the first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +translations of the Bible were connected with Christian +missions; they were epoch-making for the languages, +creating a written alphabet and a national +literature. The translations of the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries were of a different character; +they were the result of a religious reformation; they +represented for the nation the culmination point +in language and a remarkable stage in literature. +Now again Christian missions revived, and started +on a wonderful career all over the world, and they +needed to have the Bible translated. The Bible +societies did their best to provide as many translations +as possible. From the eight languages of +600 <span class="smcap">a. d.</span> and some twenty-four in the sixteenth +century the number of languages into which the +Bible has been translated has grown up to four +hundred, and if we count the dialects separately +we have over six hundred. The whole Bible has +not been translated into all these languages and +dialects, but in every case parts of it, sometimes +the New Testament, sometimes only one Gospel, +have been translated, and other parts will follow. +It is interesting to hear the translators +speak of the difficulties they have to overcome. +One sees what influence the Bible has on civilisation. +Often a language lacks some word which +is indispensable for the translator; he has to adapt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +one or coin a new one. There is no idea more +frequent in the Bible than the idea of God. The +Chinese had no word which exactly corresponded, +the usual words indicating either spirits or the sun +or something of that sort. The Amshara lacks the +idea of righteousness, the Bantu the idea of holiness. +If the translator uses as an equivalent the word for +separateness, his reader will get rather the notion of +something split. Sometimes the translator will prefer +to keep the Greek word, as in the case of <i>baptise</i>, +but he must be careful, for <i>batisa</i> in Bantu means +"treat some one badly." So the language has to be +remodelled in order to become suitable for the purpose +of translating the Bible. The Bible once again +exercises a civilising influence on the languages of +many peoples. With very few exceptions, such as +a Malayan Bible of 1621 and a translation by John +Eliot into the Massachusetts Indian dialect published +in 1666, most of these translations originated +in the nineteenth century and are due to the present +missionary energy of Christianity. Here again it +is mortifying to see how the Bible is spread among +peoples who never had had civilisation before, while +among the Christian nations, who, to a large extent, +owe their civilisation to this very Bible, it is +disregarded.</p> + +<p>Besides the circulation we may also mention the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +enormous amount of mental energy spent on Bible +studies by the scholars of this last century. Not +only students of theology but also classical and +Oriental scholars have joined to study the Bible, to +comment upon it, and make everything in it understood. +Specialisation in its inevitable course has +caused a separation of Old Testament and New Testament +studies. In order to understand and explain +thoroughly the Old Testament one has to know +several Oriental languages and follow up the daily +increasing evidence for Oriental history, culture, and +religion, whereas the New Testament scholar is +bound to study the development of the Greek language +and the whole civilisation of the Hellenistic +period. Nay, even the Old and the New Testament +departments are each specialising into the +textual and the higher criticism, the theology +or the religious history both of the Jewish people +and of primitive Christianity. One scholar studies +the life of Christ, another makes the apostolic age +the topic of his special research; one is commenting +upon the Gospels, another upon the letters of Saint +Paul. The literature in these different departments +has grown so rapidly that it is almost impossible to +follow it and to survey the whole field. Nevertheless, +we need a comprehensive view, and a large +number of scientific journals, in German, English,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +French, some few also in other languages, are devoted +to the summing up of results which have been +attained by special research. There are dozens of +dictionaries and encyclopedias dealing with Biblical +matters either separately or in connection with other +material. It is, indeed, wonderful what progress has +been and is being made. One is astonished to find +that every day brings new problems and new attempts +at solution, and one cannot help admiring +the energy and sagacity which are put into these +studies.</p> + +<p>But in spite of this circulation never attained before, +and in spite of this active work of research, +the fact remains indisputable that the Bible has +lost its former position. There was a time, in the +Middle Ages, when the Bible was at least one foundation +of Christian civilisation, not to say the one +foundation (as the men of that period would have +said). Then there was a time, during recent centuries, +when the Bible ruled daily life almost completely. +Whether we regret the fact or approve of +it, it remains a fact, and we have to face it, that +those times are gone.</p> + +<p>The Bible nowadays is one book among a thousand +others. It is still revered by the majority of +the people, but it is not so much read as it was in +the time when it was the one book the people pos<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>sessed. +The enormous statistics for Bible circulation +lose in effect if we compare the figures of the +book-trade in general, the number of books published +every year, and the numbers of editions and +copies which some of the notable successes have attained.</p> + +<p>The old problem, the Bible or the classics or a +combination of both, is revived in a new form. +There is a neopaganism in literature, and often it +seems incompatible to read both the Bible and +modern literature, and most people decide in favour +of the latter. Once again the Bible has its rivals +very numerous and strong.</p> + +<p>The Bible in former times was held to be the +divinely inspired text-book for all human knowledge. +It was in the Bible that one had to look for information +not only about God and God's will and +everything connected with God, but also about philosophy, +natural science, history, and so on. Now a +secularisation of science has taken place by which +all these departments of human knowledge are withdrawn +from the ecclesiastical, theological, and Biblical +authority.</p> + +<p>The mediæval view of the world as taken from +the Bible, or at least believed to be taken from it, +had been utterly shattered by the great discoveries +of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. When Co<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>lumbus +found the way to America and Vasco da +Gama sailed around the Cape to India, and later +others crossed the Pacific Ocean, the earth could no +longer be considered as a round plane, it was +proved to be a globe. Copernicus deciphered the +mystery of heaven, the movement of the earth +around the sun; Galileo Galilei followed in the same +studies, and Kepler reached the climax of probability +for the new theory. The church did not follow +at once. It is remarkable that Copernicus did not +win the assent of Luther. The great reformer, critical +as he was, felt bound in this question to the +authority of the Bible, and called the contradicting +Copernicus a fool. It is well known how the Roman +church by its inquisition treated Galileo until he +withdrew his theory—formally, still holding it in +his heart (<i>è pur si muove</i>, "and yet the earth does +move"). Johannes Kepler, himself a Protestant +and brought up with the fullest reverence for the +Bible, found his own way out of the difficulty by +distinguishing between the religious and the scientific +aspect of the Bible, an anticipation of the modern +solution. And if one is willing to maintain +the modern scientific view of the universe as it has +been established by the three men just named, and +strengthened by their followers, he must renounce +the Bible as authority in matters of science. It is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> +a notable fact that even the Roman church, in 1817, +withdrew the verdict against Galileo's theory and +similar theses, thereby admitting that a Christian +may safely deny the Biblical assumption that the sun +moves round the earth.</p> + +<p>The Bible in its first chapter tells us that the +world was created in six days; geology now speaks +of twenty million years and more. The Bible says +that man was created on the sixth day by a special +act of God; Darwin's theory is that the human +race is the result of an evolution which eliminated +numbers of former beings and developed ever higher +species. The Bible tells of many miracles which +can have no other meaning than that in certain +cases the law of gravitation and other laws of +nature are suspended; the scientist tells us that a +law loses all meaning if it admits of exceptions. Of +course, there are miracles and miracles: the healings +of Jesus we may accept as historical without any +hesitation, but the standing still of the sun in Josh. +10 : 12 is nothing but a poetical form of speech, and +the floating axe-head is as legendary in the story of +Elisha (II Kings 6 : 6) as it would be in any other +legend.</p> + +<p>In former times scholars wrote large volumes on +the animals mentioned in the Bible and the flowers +and the stones and so on; this they called sacred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +zoölogy and sacred botany and sacred mineralogy. +It was not for their amusement: it was a serious +study. The Bible was thought to be a text-book +for every science, and it seemed to be much more +valuable to get information of all kinds from the +Bible than to collect real animals, flowers, or stones. +Likewise the human body was dealt with in the same +scholastic way; it is a comparatively modern thing +for physicians to be allowed to study the body and +find out its real structure by dissection. Nowadays +it is universally agreed that science and medicine +are autonomous and are not dependent on the +Bible.</p> + +<p>The Bible was also the text-book for history, as +we have seen. The history of mankind, according +to this view, was limited to six thousand years. A +great amount of mental energy was spent upon the +question of Biblical chronology, which, however, +proved to be hopelessly confused by the fact that +various systems were used by the Biblical authors +themselves. History was the history of the Jewish +people, enriched by some glimpses of contemporaneous +pagan history. Now, the discoveries in +Egypt and Babylon and the deciphering of the Oriental +inscriptions have illustrated the fact that the +Jewish people was only one among others and one +of the weakest of all these Oriental nations. Assyr<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>ian +kingdoms were established as early as 6000 <span class="smcap">B. C.</span> +The famous code of Hammurabi is much older than +the Mosaic law. If we compare them, we find that +the former represents a high level of civilisation, +while the latter establishes rules for nomadic life, +a relation similar to that which exists between +the Roman law and the national laws of the German +tribes: though codified later, they represent, +nevertheless, an earlier stage. The occupation +of Canaan has come to be viewed in a new light +through the exploration of Palestine. The history +of the kings of Judah and Israel is now seen +much more clearly than before to have been determined +by politics; they are for ever steering between +the influence of Egypt and that of Babylon. The +accounts given in the Babylonian archives and the +Egyptian inscriptions are to be compared with the +Biblical account, and some may feel that the comparison +is not always in favour of the latter. Even +the social and religious position of the prophets is +nowadays compared with contemporaneous facts in +Greece, Persia, and India. The life of Jesus and the +Acts of the Apostles have changed their aspect with +the possibility of literary comparison. It is not so +much the literary criticism of the Gospels and the +Acts by themselves as it is this facility of comparison +which contributes to shake the authority<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +of the Bible. We find the same miracles told of +Jesus and of the emperor Vespasian; some sayings +of Jesus can be compared with utterances of +Cæsar and Pompey. Many of his words have parallels +in the Jewish literature as well as in the writings +of the Stoa. I feel sure that the originality of Jesus +will but gain by such comparison, but it is obvious +that originality must be taken in a higher sense +than is often the case; it is not the wording but the +meaning attached to it which is new and original.</p> + +<p>In this way everything which loomed so large +when viewed standing by itself in the Bible has +been reduced to its natural size; the earth has lost +its central position; man is only one in a long line +of similar beings; the history of Israel enters the +large field of universal history; and even the personality +of Jesus is subject to comparison and +analogy.</p> + +<p>This reduction is the necessary complement of the +independence and autonomy attained for human science +as the result of a long development. Already +in the sixteenth century the humanists claimed for +science the right to follow its own rules without +being led and limited by the church's authoritative +doctrine. They aimed at a civilisation free from +ecclesiastical tutelage; going back to the classicism +of pre-Christian times, they did not want the guard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>ianship +of the Christian church and its clergy. But +the time was not yet ripe for this view. Even the +reformers, Luther as well as Calvin, while they +broke with the authority of mediæval scholasticism +and of the Roman church, were not prepared to acknowledge +the autonomy of science; they established +the primacy of the Bible in an even stricter +sense than it had borne in the Middle Ages. The +Bible was to rule everything, and it was the Bible +in its plain and simple meaning, without the mitigations +which tradition and allegory had allowed in +former times. To be sure, Luther occasionally +granted some independence to secular science. He +was furious when Aristotle was quoted as an authority +in matters of religion, but would himself +introduce him as an authority for civil government +or for logic. He had a curious proof for this from +the Bible itself. It was on the advice of his father-in-law, +Jethro, a pagan, that Moses appointed the +seventy elders to help him judge the people. +Therefore for secular organisation one may take the +counsel of the heathen, of the philosophers. But +Luther was not consistent; as we have already seen, +against Copernicus he insisted upon the authority +of the Bible. He did not see that it was a question +of astronomy without any relation to religion. In +the seventeenth century the philosophers began to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +claim independence for the human reason, and soon +they established reason as the highest authority, +even in religious matters. It is very interesting to +see the effect of this claim at the beginning. Even +the most advanced liberals were so convinced of the +infallible authority of the Bible that they tried by +all means at their disposal to reconcile with the contents +of the Bible the principles which the rational +philosophy of Descartes or Spinoza had established. +They started a new method of interpretation in order +to make the Bible agree with reason. A long time +had to pass before it became obvious to all competent +minds that the Bible and reason were not +to be reconciled by means of a makeshift harmony. +It was only in the nineteenth century that the view +forced itself upon all scholars that the Bible has +to be understood in an historical way; that it does +not give inspired information upon natural science +and history, its revelation dealing with God and +religion only.</p> + +<p>By recent discoveries it is proved that the creation +story in Gen. 1 is by no means a unique and +original one; there is something similar in the Babylonian +mythology; it may have been taken from +there. The same holds true regarding the story of +the deluge and others. So there is no reason for +claiming for these stories the authority of revealed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +science; the Biblical author simply shares the ideas +of his time. We are not bound to the scientific notions +of a period two thousand years before Christ +and four thousand years before our own time. And +yet there is something unique in this creation story, +as told in Gen. 1, for which one looks in vain in all the +alleged parallels in Babylonian and other religions; +it is the idea of the one God Almighty, who by his +supreme will creates heaven and earth. That is the +revelation conveyed to mankind by this chapter. +We must not trouble about the specific description +of creation; that belongs to the historical +form. We cling with all our heart to the wonderful +idea of the one creating God, and we realise +that here revelation is given to us.</p> + +<p>It is only by comparison that the real importance +of a thing comes out. On a map of America, made +on a small scale, the distances may seem short; +comparing a map of Europe on the same scale one +realises how long they are in fact. We are always +in danger of taking some accidental feature for the +main point. The frame does not make the worth +of the painting.</p> + +<p>As the Bible has lost its exclusive authority in +the domain of science, so in the fine arts it has ceased +to be the single source of inspiration. Since the +Renaissance motifs taken from ancient mythology<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +and poetry have come into competition with the +Biblical scenes; the Dutch school cultivated the illustration +of the life of the people and presented even +the sacred story in this fashion—the mystery of +sacredness has gone; it is purely human, not to say +profane. The French liked landscapes and used Biblical +subjects only as accessories. Pictures of battles, +triumphs, apotheoses filled the galleries. Art +to-day is anything but Biblical; modern painters +have, most of them, no sense for sacred art. I venture +to think they do better to keep away from it. +For if a modern painter, when trying to illustrate +the parable of the prodigal son in a triptychon, puts +in the large middle field the man feeding the swine, +giving only the left-hand corner to the return to +the father, he has proved himself incapable of a +religious understanding of the story, however finished +a work of art his painting may be.</p> + +<p>By all this process of secularisation the Bible has +been drawn back from general civilisation and restricted +to its own proper domain, religion. We must +not insist on the fact that even here the Bible seems +to have lost somewhat of its infallible authority. +It is in the domain of theology as distinct from religion +that this holds true. Strange as it may seem, +it is a fact that the Bible is no more the text-book +of theology. Theology, of course, can never do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +without the Bible, but here also the Bible is the +source of historical information, not the authoritative +proof for doctrine. Already in the period when +the orthodox Protestants vied with one another in +asserting the inspiration of the Bible in the boldest +terms and relied on the Bible for answers to every +question, Samuel Werenfels (d. 1740), a professor +at Basel, wrote the distich:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="noin"> +"Hic liber est in quo quærit sua dogmata quisque,<br /> +Invenit et pariter dogmata quisque sua."<br /> +<br /> +"This is the book where each man seeketh his own ideas,<br /> +In it accordingly each findeth his own beliefs."<br /> +</p></div> + +<p>It was the support given by the Bible to every doctrine +and every theory which made critical people +doubt the propriety of proving truth by adducing +proof-texts; and this not only for dogmatical questions +but also for moral ones. It is well known how +both parties in the controversy over slavery appealed +to the authority of the Bible, and it would be difficult +to say which party found the stronger support +in the letter of the text. The same holds true +regarding other questions of modern life; one +can argue from the Bible pro and con regarding +the use of wine. The Bible has been adduced in +the question of polygamy. It can be quoted on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +both sides with reference to woman suffrage. It is +indicative of the present attitude toward the Bible +that this is so seldom done. The use of the Bible for +the settling of modern social problems has brought +upon many Christian minds a pitiful confusion. +It has proved impossible to deduce from the Bible, +even from the teaching of Jesus, rules for modern +life. Times have changed and the conditions of +life have altered.</p> + +<p>All this prepared the way for the historical view +of the Bible. Then the period of higher criticism +began. It was to many a hard lesson; but we had +to learn it. It was started—curious to say—by +Roman Catholic scholars in France. Having the +authority of the church behind them, they felt more +free as regards the Bible than the Protestants did. +Richard Simon made it evident that the transmission +of the Bible excludes a mechanical view of inspiration. +Astruc, a doctor, the physician of Louis +XIV, discovered that in the Pentateuch two different +sources were used. During the eighteenth century +the theories of literary criticism were applied +to all the books of the Old and the New Testament, +and the scholarship of the nineteenth century has +taken up the task, perfected the method, and reached +in some questions a general agreement. To-day +the principles of literary criticism in their appli<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>cation +to the Bible are generally acknowledged. +The books of the Bible are like other books; they +are not to be treated as divine Scriptures but as +human writings. One has to inquire in each instance +about the author, his methods of writing, +the sources of his information, his tendencies, and +so on.</p> + +<p>Criticism did not stop here; it overstepped the +boundaries of purely literary criticism; it became +historical criticism, too. The historicity of the facts +reported in the Bible was called in question; recently +the historicity of Jesus has been denied; and where +his existence was admitted, still his teaching was +criticised. Some people found it too ascetic, to +others it was purely eschatological; in either case it +could not be adapted to our own time. So even in its +central points the Bible seemed to be attacked and +its authority shaken. Instead of being restricted to +the domain of religion, the Bible seemed to be denied +even to the uses of devotion. But the present +situation is not so desperate for the pious Bible +reader as it looks.</p> + +<p>We have once more to face the two facts: the +circulation of the Bible has grown rapidly—immensely—and +the estimation of the Bible has been +reduced in nearly every field. Many a pious Christian, +while rejoicing in the first fact, is greatly troub<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>led +by the second. Has the Bible ceased to be authoritative? +Has it lost its infallibility? If the +Bible is not true from cover to cover, then it seems +to be not trustworthy at all. We had better put it +aside and leave it to deserved oblivion. That is an +argument frequently brought forward nowadays, +both by people who disbelieve in the authority of the +Bible and the truth of the Christian religion and +by those who eagerly try to assert the old authority +of the Bible as the inspired Word of God which reveals +everything. They argue, and apparently not +without plausibility, that if you destroy the authority +of the Bible at any point, it is lost altogether; +there is no limit to the destructive energy of our time. +Therefore do not touch this question; leave the Bible +as it stands—the sacred book, undisturbed by profane +hands. It is the book by which our fathers +were taught. Why should we disbelieve in it? Both +these positions seem to be logically consistent: everything +or nothing; infallible or no authority. But, +in fact, the truth is never on one side. Hard as +it may sound to our philosophers, the truth is +very seldom logical. What seems to be consistency +is, in fact, a confusion of two different aspects +which ought to be kept separate. The Bible is not +a text-book for any science—nay, not even for the +science of theology. It is the book for Christian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +devotion. This was its original intention, and I +venture to think that it is not a loss but a gain if +the Bible is once more applied to its proper purpose.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>As we have seen in the first chapter, the Bible +proved itself to be an inexhaustible source of comfort +and strength, of exhortation and inspiration to +the Christians of the first period. They would not +leave this book for any consideration—nay, they +would even die for it. And so whenever the Bible +was read by a pious Christian a new stream of life +flowed through him and through the church. And +this new life has always caused a strong desire for +the Bible. There is a reciprocal influence between +Bible and piety; the Bible creates piety, and piety +demands the Bible. This is the experience of nineteen +centuries; it is impossible that the twentieth +century should alter it. As long as a pious Christian +lives on earth, the Bible will exercise its influence +upon him, and as long as there is such thing as the +Bible there will be Christians. That is sure! It is +not always easy to measure this private influence +of the Bible on individual piety and devotion. +People who read the Bible for edification usually do +not talk much about it. In biographies it is not +mentioned, either because the biographer took it for +granted or because he did not care for it himself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +Seldom do we have an opportunity, like the one +given in Bismarck's letters to his wife, where he +mentions frequently what Psalm or passage of the +Bible he read before going to bed and discusses some +points which have struck him. It is impossible to +say how many people read the Bible privately for +their own edification. Seeing how few know the +Bible thoroughly, we might suppose that very +few read it, but it is said that Bible reading among +the boys in the English public schools is again +increasing. And I feel sure that the time must +come, and will come, when private reading of the +Bible will again be a common practice among Christians.</p> + +<p>But the Bible's task is not only to sustain individual +piety; it has a second duty to perform. +Christianity is not a mere aggregation of Christian +individuals but a community—a church, if you +will. It is necessary for any community to have +a standard, for any church to have a creed. It is +the Bible which has to supply this. Herein lies the +danger of aberration, as we have seen in the second +and the following chapters. The history of the +church and of its doctrine gives ample proof of the +fact that, taking the Bible as a rule for the church's +dogma, Christianity not only missed the right path +for the development of doctrine, but even lost the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +right use of the Bible. It is only by aiming at an +historical orientation that the church can gain from +the Bible the right direction for the setting forth of +its doctrine. The doctrine of the church never can +be, and never has been, identical with the doctrine +of the Bible, because it is impossible to stop the +development of history; besides, there are as many +doctrines in the Bible itself as men who wrote the +several books of the Bible, or even more. Saint +Paul has not one doctrine of the atonement but +half a dozen theories about it. The church has +to formulate its own doctrine consistently with the +Bible; that means a doctrine which keeps to the main +line of religious development as testified to by the +Bible; or, rather, to do justice to the variety of +Biblical doctrines, permits a modern adaptation of +the several modes in which religious experience is +expressed. This seems vague, but it is the path +which Christianity is bound to follow; and it promises +success.</p> + +<p>The modern view is that it is the religious experience +of men, as testified to in the Bible, from +which both the individual and the church take their +start. But Christians believe that through this human +experience God himself is revealing his grace. +Therefore it is still, as our fathers said, God's +Word. And God will teach the church to formulate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +the common experience by the help of his Word. +That is the present position.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>But now what of the influence of the Bible on +civilisation? Has it gone? It seems under present +conditions reduced to very small proportions, if +not made impossible altogether. I am prepared, +however, to declare that just the opposite is true. +The influence of the Bible on civilisation still continues, +and it will grow greater the more the Bible +is used in the proper way, as an influence not on +outward form but in inward inspiration.</p> + +<p>The results of the influence exerted by the Bible +in former centuries, when it was an outward rule of +life, still go on. We cannot imagine what would +have become of mankind if there had been no Bible. +We cannot drop the previous history out of our life. +We still speak the language which was modelled by +our Bible; we still quote many proverbs which originate +in the Bible, even without knowing that they +come from the Bible. Our artists will go on choosing +motifs from the Bible. The civilised nations +will never give up Sunday, although not keeping it +as a Sabbath. They will continue to aim at a fuller +measure of legal and social equality, convinced as +many may be that it is impossible to create an outward +equality among men as long as there is no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +equal sense of responsibility and duty in all members +of the nation.</p> + +<p>The influence of the Bible in its present position +as the book of devotion is of supreme importance +for civilisation. Progress in civilisation is +guaranteed not by constitution nor by law but only +by the spirit which rules the individual and through +the individual the community. We need strong +characters who know the great truth of self-sacrifice. +Such characters are formed by the inward inspiration +given by devotional reading of the Bible. +Making men devout, it makes them strong and influential +in the common effort to promote civilisation +by removing everything which is contrary to +the welfare of others. That is the most important +influence which the Bible can have; and that influence +it still exerts and ever will exert on civilisation.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Influence of the Bible on +Civilisation, by Ernst Von Dobschutz + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE *** + +***** This file should be named 36610-h.htm or 36610-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/6/1/36610/ + +Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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