tures were at that time very little known in the world." * The Rev. Dr. Maitland, a Protestant clergyman, thus writes: "I believe that the idea which many persons have of ecclesiastical history may be briefly stated thus that the Christian Church was a small, scattered, and persecuted flock until the time of Constantine; that then, at once, and as if by magic, the Roman world became Christian; that this universal Christianity, not being of a very pure, solid, or durable nature, melted down into, a filthy mass called Popery, which held its place during the dark ages, until the revival of pagan literature and the consequent march of intellect sharpened men's wits and brought about the Reformation, when it was discovered that the Pope was Antichrist, and that the saints had been in the hands of the little horn predicted by the prophet Daniel, for hundreds of years, without knowing so awful a fact or suspecting anything of the kind." + In connection with this common view of the middle ages among Protestants is the almost universal opinion that the Bible was nearly unknown, and that, discovered by their religious progenitors, it is in a special sense their property. They brought it * Milner, Vol. IV. p. 324. + Maitland, "Dark Ages," p. 188. : into light, and made it the rule of faith and practice. But for the labors of the Reformers it would have long slumbered in obscurity. So says Martin Luther in his "Table-Talk": "Thirty years ago the Bible was an unknown book; the Prophets were not understood it was thought they could not be translated." 2. The inference from these assertions is that the Catholic Church, so long the custodian of the Scriptures, had suppressed them and prevented their use. The principal versions of the Bible were in the Latin tongue, and the conclusion is drawn that the people were not allowed to have recourse to them, and that even the priesthood were restricted in their use. The Church was afraid of the Bible and unwilling to expose its dogmas to its light. Moreover, the Papal authority had by special edict prohibited the common reading of the inspired word. Such were the constant accusations of the Reformers, while they professed, in opposition to Catholic tradition which they despised, to rely upon the Holy Scriptures alone as interpreted by every individual man. They even claimed that the sacred text was free from any obscurity and intelligible to every reader. "Should any one," says Luther, "attack you, saying that the Bible is obscure, or that it should be read with the aid of the commentaries of the Fathers, you will reply: This is not true, for there never existed on earth a book more easily intelligible than the Bible." Tyndale, one of the most prominent of the English Reformers, declares "that the abbots took the Scriptures from their monks, lest some should bark against them; and set up such long service and singing withal, that they should have no time to read in the Bible but with their lips." The following language from a popular Protestant sermon is quoted by Maitland in his "Dark Ages": "Sunk in the lowest state of earthly depression, pressed by every art and engine of human hostility, by the blind hatred of the half-barbarian kings of feudal Europe, by the fanatical furies of their ignorant people, and, above all, by the great spiritual domination, containing in itself a mass of solid and despotic strength unequalled in the annals of power, vivified and envenomed by a reckless antipathy unknown in the annals of the passions, what had the Scriptures to do but perish?" There is no need to dwell upon this point, inasmuch as the Bible was confessedly in the hands of the Church, and the responsibility of the alleged suppression of the same must be laid at her door. It is even asserted that the Papal authority had prohibited the general reading of the Scriptures, by a decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Index, and that this was the natural expression * Maitland, p. 203. of the hostility of the Holy See to the study and knowledge of the inspired word. Such allegations have been made in the ears of all Protestants since their childhood, and have been almost universally received. 3. On this ignorance of the sacred writings, which was so carefully provided for, the whole fabric of priestly domination was built. Fearful to meet the light of the inspired text, the Pope of Rome hid the Bible in the cells of monasteries, or chained it to the desks of the churches, where there could be no danger of the dissemination of its life-giving truths. The alleged suppression of the Scriptures could have naturally no other motive. Rome trembled for her dominion, and, when the unlucky discovery was made by Luther, hastened up all her forces and fought for her life, seeing that her hour was come. With the free and unrestricted reading of the word of God came the hour of liberty from the despotism of priests; and Antichrist, so vividly portrayed in the Apocalypse, was forced to flee before the unsheathed sword of the Spirit. Nations fell away from the Catholic Church. Priests and religious embraced the new gospel, and the bright light which beamed from the sacred text shone upon a restored Christianity in its primitive purity. II. We are now to examine in detail these assertions and pretensions which not even the disasters of three centuries have dissipated. Let us see what the real truth is. There is neither time nor space here for a full demonstration, but a few words of unquestioned history will suffice. 1. Before the date of the Reformation the Holy Scriptures were not generally unknown to priests and people, but, considering the circumstances of the times, were well known and carefully studied. Martin Luther was born at Eisleben, in Saxony, in the year 1483. He made his profession at the Augustinian Convent at Erfurt in 1507, and was ordained priest. Let us look at the facts in regard to the Scriptures before the date on which he is said to have made his great discovery of the unknown word of God. The invention of printing took place in A.D. 1438. Before that time the sacred books were all preserved in writing. First they were copied on skins duly prepared. Then they were transcribed on parchment, which was first in the shape of rolls, and afterwards in the more convenient form of a book. There were three celebrated and principal manuscripts: the Alexandrine, the Latin, and the Byzantine. The arrangement of the Bible in chapters was made by Cardinal |