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THE RISE OF THE
MEDIAEVAL CHURCH
AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE CIVILISATION OF
WESTERN EUROPE FROM THE FIRST TO THE
THIRTEENTH CENTURY

BY

ALEXANDER CLARENCE FLICK, Ph. D., Litt. D.

BURT FRANKLIN

New York, N. Y.

TO

HENRY C. LEA

Who through his numerous scholarly monographs has earned the foremost
place among American Church historians, both at home and abroad,

AND TO

PROFESSOR DOCTOR ADOLPH HARNACK

To whom both the Old and the New World are profoundly indebted for his
scholarly labours, and from whose inspiration in public lectures and
private conferences this work derived much that is best in it,

This Book is Gratefully Dedicated.

PREFACE

The educational value of any subject depends primarily upon its own intrinsic value. The teaching of Church history for ten years as a regular course in liberal arts, side by side with the "orthodox" courses in history, has demonstrated beyond question that this subject can be made at once very popular and very valuable. It has proved its right to exist as a cultural subject. Yet the lack of intelligent information, even among educated people, concerning the history of the Christian Church, both in early and modern days, is simply appalling.

The comparatively recent revival of interest in Church history has given birth to many general Church histories from English and American scholars. Numerous translations of discriminating and painstaking German authors are also available. A large number of intensive monographs has likewise appeared. But all these texts are written for classes in theological schools. Not a single Church history suitable either for regular college work, or for popular reading, is available; and yet all the standard courses in history are provided with up-to-date texts and illustrative material.

This work is intended to meet the need I have felt in my own classes, and have heard expressed from fellow teachers and laymen, for a simple account of

the evolution of the old Church minus all theological and dogmatic discussions. The purpose has been to show the origin of the Christian Church, its development in organisation, the forces which produced the Papacy, and the marvellous, formative influence of the Roman Church upon the civilisation of Western Europe. To that end the principal lines of development are emphasised at every point, while the subordinate influences have been minimised. Causes and results, continuity and differentiation, and unity have been constantly kept in mind.

The subject-matter of this volume was worked out during a prolonged residence in Europe. Most of that time was spent in Germany under the inspiration of the foremost authorities in Church history, among whom may be mentioned Professor Nippold of Jena, Professor Loofs of Halle, Professor Hauck of Leipzig, and particularly Professor Harnack of Berlin. The work of the lecture-room and seminar was supplemented by investigation in the Royal Library of Berlin, the Vatican Library at Rome, the National Library at Paris, and the Library of the British Museum. The materials thus gathered were further organised and elaborated in a course of lectures on Church history given in Syracuse University.

The references in the text and the bibliographies at the end of chapters are given, so far as possible, to English sources. It is believed that the exclusion of a pedantic list of foreign works will make the work more useful. It is hoped that the student will be induced to go to the library, the laboratory of the historian, and there by extensive and intensive reading supplement the text.

Should this volume prove to be of service, it will be followed by two companion volumes—one on the Reformation and another on the modern Church. It is further planned to publish a source-book on Church history to supplement the texts.

My indebtedness to books and men is so great that it would be impossible to enumerate them here. While all sources have been laid under tribute, special obligation is felt to many monographs and intensive studies.

Alexander C. Flick.

Syracuse University.

CONTENTS

Outline: I.—Present status of history in college work. II.—Ecclesiastical history excluded since the Reformation by political history. III.—New view of the Mediæval Church and its influence. IV.—Renaissance of interest in Church history. V.—Pedagogical value and treatment of Church history. VI.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Primary materials. II.—Secondary materials. III.—Sketch of the writing of Church history. IV.—Most important collections of primary sources. V.—Most important general Church histories. VI.—Dictionaries and encyclopedias. VII.—Atlases and chronologies. VIII.—Text-books. IX.—Sources.

Outline: I.—The ancient world. II.—Condition of the civilised world at the time Jesus came. III.—How the condition of the world prepared the way for Christianity. IV.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Origin of the Christian Church. II.—Spread of the Apostolic Church. III.—Organisation of the Early Church. IV.—Conclusions. V.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Planting of the Church in Rome and its organisation there. II.—The two opposing views of the Petrine theory. III.—Proofs advanced for the Petrine theory. IV.—Evidence given against the Petrine theory. V.—Historical conclusions. VI.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Religious persecutions before the Christian era. II.—Christians first persecuted by the Jews. III.—Causes and motives of persecution by the Roman government. IV.—Number and general character of the persecutions. V.—Results of persecutions. VI.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Condition of the Empire in 300. II.—How Constantine became Emperor. III.—Constantine's conversion to Christianity. IV.—Constantine's favours to Christianity. V.—Constantine's character. VI.—Constantine's historical significance. VII.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Diversion of Christian thought in the early Church. II.—The Arian controversy. III.—The Council of Nicæa and its actions. IV.—Later history of Arianism. V.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Favourable conditions when the Christian era began. II.—Forces at work up to 313. III.—Description of the Roman Church in 313. IV.—Growth of the Papacy from 313 to 604. V.—Condition of the Papacy at the close of this period, 604. VI.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Importance of the institution of monasticism. II.—Antecedents and analogies. III.—Causes of the origin of Christian monasticism. IV.—Evolution of Christian monasticism. V.—Spread of group monasticism from the East to the West. VI.—Development of monasticism in Western Europe. VII.—Opposition to monasticism. VIII.—Results and influences of monasticism. IX.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Extent of Christianity under Gregory the Great. II.—Character of missionary work from the sixth to the tenth century. III.—Conversion of the British Isles. IV.—Conversion of the Franks. V.—Conversion of the Germans. VI.—Conversion of Scandinavia. VII.—Planting of the Church among the Slavs. VIII.—Efforts to convert the Mohammedans. IX.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Relation of the Greek and Roman Churches before 325. II.—Effect of the Arian Controversy on the situation. III.—The history of image worship. IV.—Character and results of the Iconoclastic Controversy. V.—Final separation. VI.—Resemblances and differences between the two churches. VII.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Church and state before Constantine. II.—Church and state from Constantine to 476. III.—Period of the Ostrogothic rule (476-552). IV.—Reunion of Italy with the Eastern Empire. V.—Alliance between the Papacy and the Franks. VI.—Restoration of the Empire in the West in 800. VII.—Effect of the rise of national states on the Church. VIII.—Sources.

Outline: I.—What were the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals? II.—Condition of Europe when the Decretals appeared. III.—Purpose of the forgery. IV.—Character and composition. V.—Time, place, and personality of authorship. VI.—Significance and results. VII.—Nicholas I. and papal supremacy. VIII.—Decline of spirituality in the Church. IX.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Organisation of the papal hierarchy. II.—Moral condition of the clergy and laity. III.—Great activity and wide influence of the Church. IV.—The ordeals and the Church. V.—Church discipline: excommunication and interdict, and penance. VI.—Worship; the mass; preaching; hymns. VII.—The sacraments. VIII.—Relics and saints. IX.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Decline of the Empire under the later Carolingians. II.—Preparations to restore the Empire on a German basis. III.—Otto the Great creates the Holy Roman Empire. IV.—Holy Roman Empire attains its height under Henry III. V.—Results of the creation of the Holy Roman Empire. VI.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Decline of the Papacy after Nicholas I. (858-867). II.—Reform efforts before the time of Hildebrand. III.—The youth and education of Hildebrand. IV.—The Hildebrandine Popes. V.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Condition of the Church in 1073. II.—Election of Hildebrand as Pope. III.—Gregory VII.'s matured papal theory and reform ideas. IV.—His efforts to realise his ideals. V.—The investiture strife. VI.—Conclusions. VII.—Sources.

Outline: I.—The rise and spread of Mohammedanism. II.—Positive and negative causes of the Crusades. III.—Character and description of the Crusades. IV.—Results and influences of the Crusades. V.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Monasticism before the Crusades. II.—Effect of the Crusades on monasticism. III.—Origin of the begging orders. IV.—Rise and influence of the Dominicans. V.—Origin and power of the Franciscans. VI.—Wide-spread results of mediæval monasticism. VII.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Antecedent preparation for this period. II.—Career of Innocent III. up to 1198. III.—Innocent III.'s plans and ideals as Pope. IV.—Condition of Europe at the close of the twelfth century. V.—Innocent III. makes himself the political head of Europe. VI.—Innocent III.'s efforts to root out heresy and reform the Church. VII.—Innocent III.'s character and the general results of his pontificate. VIII.—Sources.

Outline: I.—Characteristics of the thirteenth century. II.—Territorial extent and wealth of the Church. III.—Organisation of the papal hierarchy completed. IV.—The legal system of the Church. V.—The official language and ritual of the Church. VI.—The sacramental system. VII.—The employment of art. VIII.—The Church moulded the civilisation of Europe. IX.—Sources.

THE RISE OF THE
MEDIÆVAL CHURCH

CHAPTER I
THE STUDY OF CHURCH HISTORY[1:1]

Outline: I.—Present status of history in college work. II.—Ecclesiastical history excluded since the Reformation by political history. III.—New view of the mediæval Church and its influence. IV.—Renaissance of interest in Church history. V.—Pedagogical value and treatment of Church history. VI.—Sources.

Half a century ago a prominent educator observed: "There is something remarkable in the actual condition of the study of Church history. While it seems to be receiving more and more cultivation from a few of us, it fails to command the attention of the educated public in the same proportion. We are strongly of the opinion that beyond the requisitions of academical and professional examination there is very little reading of Church history in any way."[1:2] Only twenty-five years ago Professor Emerton, upon taking the chair of ecclesiastical history in Harvard University, could say with truth: "There

are to-day not more than half a dozen colleges in the country where any adequate provision for an independent department of history has been made."[2:1] At the present time, happily, the condition so much deplored in the last quotation has been remedied to a very large degree. Every great university in America has a well-organised faculty of history and allied subjects, while a large majority of the smaller institutions of higher education have regularly organised departments of history with instructors, well-trained at home or abroad, who devote all their time to the subject.

But, notwithstanding these facts, the statement made about Church history still remains essentially true. The political, industrial, educational, and social sides of history have been emphasised by the creation of new departments with new courses of study, and by the writing of many text-books, monographs, and general treatises. Professorships of sociology, political economy, political science, constitutional law, education, and literature have been created in unprecedented numbers. Ecclesiastical history, on the contrary, has been all but ignored. Even in Germany, where the greatest strides have been made in the subject, it is still relegated to the theological faculty, though the number of philosophical students selecting it often exceeds that of the theological—a very significant fact. In America it would be difficult to point out more than a very few universities or colleges where a chair in Church history is put on an equality with chairs of other branches of history or of correlated subjects. Its proper place, in both scholastic and popular estimation, is in the theological seminary,

and there it has always remained as a "professional" study. Even in this restricted sense, however, its intrinsic worth has placed it among the most important courses in the curriculum, and has given it a standing beyond "professional" circles. Some of America's greatest scholars have contributed powerfully, through the class-room, lectures, and books, to give Church history its rightful place both as a "professional" and as a "liberal" branch of learning.

Until Luther led the great reformatory schism in the sixteenth century, all historians, crude and unscientific though much of their work was, recognised the necessary union of political and ecclesiastical history. The Venerable Bede began his celebrated history not with the coming of Abbot Augustine and his monks, but with the landing of Cæsar and his Roman cohorts. As modern civilisation crept over western Europe and crossed the mighty deep to Columbia's shores, carrying with it the revolutionising Teutonic conception of the national state with its new duties and relationships, the tendency was to magnify the political and social sides of history at the expense of the religious. The hatreds and misunderstandings of the Reformation, though doing something to rectify the "orthodox" history of the old Church, really put members of the old organisation wholly on the defensive, and checked for centuries anything like a genuinely sympathetic and scientific study of the old Church by Protestant historians. With Neander, that sympathetic Christian of Jewish descent, and the scholarly Gieseler, a new era opened. The growing doctrine of the separation of Church and state accentuated the breach between political and religious history. The early crude conception of specialisation also separated sacred from profane

history, and turned the former over wholly to the theologian. Secular historians took the position of Napoleon when invited to enter the Holy City: "Jerusalem does not enter into the line of my operations."

At last the Church historian and the civic historian have joined hands, and look each other in the face. They see that their aim is essentially common: to know the truth about the past. This search for truth for its own sake is purely modern—almost contemporaneous. Formerly, history was written to justify or disprove some theory of political or ecclesiastical polity, or to glorify some dynasty, sect, party, or hero, or to vindicate some hypothesis or set of ideas. The historian was not a searcher for truth, but a lawyer with a cause to plead. It is generally realised now that the historian, whether he deals with the state, the Church, society, education, or industry, is working an important part of the field of general history. A knowledge of each one of these institutions is necessary to supplement and explain any or all of the others.

This institutional interdependence seems to be generally recognised now. "The web of history," said Professor Hatch in beginning his great work at Oxford, "is woven of one piece; it reflects the unity of human life, of which it is the record. We cannot isolate any group of facts and consider that no links of causation connect them with their predecessors or their contemporaries. Just as Professor Freeman insists on the continuity of history, so I wish to insist on its solidarity."[4:1] The mutual labours of scholars in

correlating fields have revolutionised our historical knowledge of the early and later Middle Ages. A multitude of controverted points have vanished like ghosts. We see the old Church now as we never saw it before. The Catholic Church and the mediæval papacy were the greatest of the creations of the first fifteen centuries of the Christian era. The mediæval Church was not exclusively a religious organisation. It was more of an ecclesiastical state. It had laws, lawyers, courts, and prisons. If not born into it, all the people of western Europe were at least baptised into it. It levied taxes on its subjects. Standards of patriotism and treason were more sharply defined than in the modern state.[5:1] The evolution of this great organisation is the central fact of the first thirteen centuries after Christ. It aimed to control the whole life of its subjects here and to determine their destiny hereafter. Well may our greatest American Church historian, Henry C. Lea, ask: "What would have been the condition of the world if that organisation had not succeeded in bearing the ark of Christianity through the wilderness of the first fifteen centuries?"[5:2]

The history of Europe, then, after the Roman period must be looked at through the eyes of the Church. The character and works of that great institution must first be studied, not pathologically but sympathetically. The historian, if honest, dare not show a "lack of appreciation of the service rendered to humanity by the organisation which in all ages has assumed for itself the monopoly of the heritage of Christ."[5:3] He must recognise the fact that "ecclesiastical history is simply

the spiritual side of universal history."[6:1] "The value of a science depends on its own intrinsic merits," says Alzog.[6:2] When the great Teacher commanded from the Mount of Olives, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel," that mount became the pivot on which the whole world's history has turned.

If the Christian religion be a matter, not of mint, anise, and cummin, but of justice, mercy, and truth; if the Christian religion be not a priestly caste, or a monastic order, or a little sect, or a handful of opinions, but the whole congregation of faithful men dispersed throughout the world; if the very word which of old represented the chosen "people" is now to be found in the "laity"; if the biblical usage of the phrase "ecclesia" literally justifies Tertullian's definition: Ubi tres sunt laici, ibi est ecclesia; then the range of the history of the Church is as wide as the range of the world which it was designed to penetrate.[6:3]

The great difficulty with the study of Church history in the past has been that teachers treated it wholly from a theological standpoint. That may have been proper when the subject was viewed as a narrow "professional" study only. A new and better conception of the subject, however, as a part of the pregnant history of humanity, has brought with it a higher estimation of its value as a cultural study. All that can be claimed for historical studies in general can be claimed for it: mental discipline, broad culture, a view of practical life, enlarged sympathies and lessened prejudices, a truer conception of duty, and a saner estimate of the significance of current events. In addition it may be ventured that no subject can be of greater

vital importance to the student for the very reason that it deals with the most important of all subjects. In order to do the most good as a liberal branch of learning, Church history must be taught not as theology or dogma, but as a powerful civilising institution like the state or the school. Then it will be true that "neither can the profane historian, the jurist, the statesman, the man of letters, the artist, nor the philosopher safely neglect the study of Church history."[7:1] For each one of these persons, as well as the minister, needs that "pragmatic view" of all the changes and developments of the Christian Church and the influence it has exerted on all other human relations.[7:2]

Within the last few years, however, there has been a noticeable awakening of interest in Church history both within and without college walls. The indefatigable labours of a few men like Henry C. Lea, who has given us a series of invaluable monographs on the history of the old Church, have had much to do with the new status of Church history. Universities are already recognising courses in Church history offered by divinity schools as "liberal arts" electives for undergraduate and postgraduate study. The writers of recent text-books on general history, as well as in particular fields, recognise the revolution and try to make amends for the sin of omission by giving the Church a prominence never recognised before by secular historians.[7:3] Publishers have felt the popular pulse and, consequently, "Studies" and "Epochs"

covering the whole range of Church history have appeared in cheap and popular form from the pen of scholar and compiler. Foreign works have been translated. Journals devoted to the study of Church history have been established. Lectureships have been created and endowed. Societies have been organised to further the work. Convenient editions of the "sources" are appearing. Everywhere there seems to be a reaction in favour of this misunderstood and neglected subject. An army of scholars is at work digging valuable material out of old monasteries, royal archives, private libraries, cemeteries and churches, catacombs, and every conceivable place of concealment. These labours are being rewarded by rich discoveries of valuable materials, which are immediately critically edited by competent hands and printed in translations suitable for all students. Huge collections of these sources are appearing in most of the European countries.[8:1]

The most significant evidence of reaction, however, lies in the fact that the most recent courses offered on the Middle Ages in our leading universities are essentially courses in Church history. The name matters little so long as students approach the instructive history of western Europe from the right standpoint. Thus, at length, has come the fulfilment of the prophecy of Professor Koethe (d. 1850), made many years ago: "It is reserved to future ages, and in a special sense to the institutions of learning, to give to Church history its proper place in the curriculum of studies. When its nature and importance come to be fully known and appreciated it will be no longer limited to one faculty."

The best pedagogical methods must be applied to Church history in order to obtain the best results. To that end these practical suggestions are offered:

1. Emphasis ought to be laid on ideas back of events rather than on the events themselves.

2. The important ought to be distinguished from the unimportant at every step. Athanasius and Augustine are worthier subjects of study than Flavian and Optatus. The invasion and conversion of the Teutons are more important than disputes over Easter or the shape of the tonsure.

3. Original sources ought to be used so far as possible. History should be studied "from the sources of friend and foe, in the spirit of truth and love, sine ira et studio."[9:1]

4. Both Protestant and Catholic secondary authorities ought to be read on every important controverted point.

5. Origins ought to be studied with special care.

6. Transition periods rather than crises ought to be given the most time.

7. Biographies of epoch-making men like Constantine, Gregory the Great, Charlemagne, Hildebrand, St. Francis, Innocent III., etc., ought to be carefully considered.

8. Causes and results ought to be closely worked out and classified.[9:2]

9. The continuity of the Church as a great force in the world ought to be ever kept in mind.[9:3]

10. Differentiation ought to be thoughtfully noted through the ages.

11. The unity of history—the influence of the Church upon every other institution—ought to be followed from one transitional period to another.

12. The sympathetic attitude ought to be taken at all times in judging men and movements. The student ought to stand in the centre of the circle so that he may see all points of the circumference—all persons, all events, all parties, all creeds, all sects, all shades of opinion—and see their true historical relations.

Sources

See the introductions of the Church histories of Schaff, Gieseler, Alzog, Moeller, Kurtz, Hase, Döllinger, and Hergenröther.

FOOTNOTES:

[1:1] Reprinted from The Methodist Review, Jan., 1905.

[1:2] Bib. Rep., vol. xxvi.

[2:1] Unit. Rev., vol. xix.

[4:1] Hatch, An Introductory Lecture on the Study of Ecclesiastical History, London, 1885. Comp. Gwatkin, The Meaning of Ecclesiastical History, Cambridge, 1891.

[5:1] Maitland, Canon Law in the Church of England, London, 1898, 100, 101.

[5:2] Lea, Studies in Church History, p. iii.

[5:3] Ibid.

[6:1] Gwatkin, The Meaning of Ecclesiastical History, 8.

[6:2] Alzog, Universal Church History, i., § 13.

[6:3] Stanley, Eastern Church, Introduction, 25.

[7:1] Alzog, i., 32.

[7:2] Gieseler, Ecclesiastical History, sec. 3 and 7.

[7:3] Examine recently published texts like Emerton, Mediæval Europe, Robinson, History of Western Europe, Munro, A History of the Middle Ages, etc.

[8:1] The Monumenta in Germany, the Rolls Series in England, etc.

[9:1] Schaff, Church History, preface.

[9:2] Mace, Method in History, 27-39.

[9:3] Freeman, Methods of Historical Study, Lond. and N. Y., 1886.

CHAPTER II
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY ON CHURCH HISTORY

Outline: I.—Primary materials. II.—Secondary materials. III.—Sketch of the writing of Church history. IV.—Most important collections of primary sources. V.—Most important general Church histories. VI.—Dictionaries and encyclopedias. VII.—Atlases and chronologies. VIII.—Text-books. IX.—Sources.

All our information about the origin, life, and growth of the Christian Church comes from the revelation of evidence which is termed sources. These sources are partly original, or primary, and partly secondary. For the student of history both kinds of sources have a definite character and value, and are, therefore, of peculiar interest. Some knowledge about the scope and nature of the sources is necessary for an intelligent view of any field of history. At the same time it is clear that any person presuming to pose as an authority on a given phase of history must not only be thoroughly acquainted with the varied contributions of all secondary works, but must also be a master of the character and worth of all first-hand materials.

The primary sources are simply the records and remains left by the people who lived at any given time. Such materials, it will be readily seen, give the nearest and truest account of the ideas, feelings, motives, and beliefs, as well as of the deeds and actions, of man. An original source is, therefore, merely a source back

of which one cannot go for historical information. It is apparent, consequently, that the primary sources are the more important because they are the very foundations of history. "No documents, no history," tersely declared Langlois. The primary sources put us in vital connection with the thoughts, doings, and institutions of past times. In them one sees reflected the spirit of the age. Every line, every word, is a revelation. The student is led to feel history, to actually know men and women of the past, and thus to comprehend our own civilisation in the earlier periods of its evolution. The primary sources cannot be accepted and assigned their true value, however, until their authenticity and genuineness are determined, and the element of personal equation is taken into account. Even then final judgment can never be absolute.

For the sake of giving a clear conception of the range of the primary sources the following classification may be of assistance:

The secondary sources are those that are compiled from a study of the original sources, or from other secondary works, or from both, as is more likely to be the case. This class of material is very abundant, and varies greatly in character and value because of the striking difference in authorship, style, and purpose. It is always necessary, therefore, carefully to discriminate the wheat from the chaff and to be able easily to recognise the "earmarks" of a reliable authority. Many of the works produced by modern scientific

scholarship are excellent in every respect, and, in many fields of historical study, absolutely indispensable. Secondary sources may be divided as follows:

The earliest account of the history of the Christian Church extant is the New Testament. The "Memoirs" of Hegesippus, a converted Jew of the second century, is the first known effort to record the growth of the Church, but all his books are lost.[15:1] Eusebius, the Greek bishop, called the "Father of Church history," wrote a comprehensive Ecclesiastical History to 324. Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, each after his own ideal, continued the narrative of Eusebius. Rufinus translated the work of Eusebius into Latin and continued it to 395, while Epiphanius translated Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret into Latin and brought the record to 518. Theodorus and Evagrius were also continuators of these early works.

Sulpicius Severus, a Gallic monk of noble birth, penned a fabulous chronicle of little worth.

The Middle Ages produced little of real value in the field of Church history. The chronicles represent the best output. A few scholars of the Eastern Church, the Byzantine historians, the annalists of the Latin Church, and several specialists like Gregory of Tours and the Venerable Bede, complete the list. The lives of saints, however, abound.

The fierce controversial spirit of the Reformation produced two monumental works. Matthias Flacius, aided by other Protestant scholars, in the Magdeburg Centuries, sought to reveal the whole disreputable career of the old Church. This keen voluminous work of the Reformers called forth from the learned Italian, Baronius, a powerful defence of the Roman Church in his Ecclesiastical Annals. Bossuet, a Frenchman, in his Discourse on Universal History, made a severe attack on Protestantism, while Tillemont, a Gallic nobleman of Jansenist faith, wrote critically and with more moderation. In Germany, Hottinger, Spanheim, and Arnold vindicated the Reformation. Following the earlier age of fierce theological controversy, Semler, Henke, Schmidt, Hume, and Gibbon wrote in a very rationalistic style and spirit.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, German scholars have led the world in their contributions to Church history. The great Mosheim made a pronounced improvement in the writing of Church history and introduced the modern scientific method. He was not alone the most learned theologian of his age in Germany, but was critical in the best sense, honest and impartial. His disciple, Schroeckh, wrote a work of forty-five volumes of considerable value.

Gieseler improved on Mosheim's method and wrote an ideal outline of Church history with full citations to all the known sources. Neander, "a giant in learning, and a saint in piety," gave the world an epoch-making General History of the Christian Religion and Church (1825-52). His writings and his ideals have influenced nearly every Church historian since his death, when it was said, "The last of the Church Fathers has gone." Among his immediate pupils are Hagenbach, Kurtz, Guericke, Niedner, and Semisch.

Baur founded the celebrated "Tübingen School" and did some excellent work in the Ante-Nicene period. Strauss, Zeller, Schenkel, Rothe, and Nippold are the most prominent among his followers.

The names of other German historians who have laboured in this domain of knowledge are so numerous that only a few of the most prominent will be mentioned. Chief among the Protestants are Hase, Gfroerer, Ebrard, Herzog, Moeller, Müller, Loofs, Hauck, and Harnack; among the Roman Catholic writers are Stolberg, Katerkamp, Döllinger, Alzog, Pastor, Hefele, Hergenröther and Janssen.

Although British scholarship has not devoted itself so zealously to the writing of Church history, yet some excellent contributions have been made by such men as Pusey, Keble, Newman, Waddington, Milman, Stanley, Stubbs, Robertson, Greenwood, Vaughan, Perry, Lingard, Creighton, Gwatkin, Tozer, Hatch, and Orr.

American interest in the field of Church history is largely the product of the last thirty years. Most conspicuous among the contributors are Smith, Lanson, Shedd, Schaff, Fisher, Sheldon, Dryer, Hurst, Newman, McGiffert, and Henry C. Lea.

At the present time in every Christian country a

corps of well-trained scholars are devoting their lives to nearly every phase of Church history, and the outlook is most gratifying.

The literature on Church history, taken as a whole, is perhaps more voluminous than that on any other phase of history. The use of the sources is, in consequence, at the very outset a problem of selection. It is apparent, therefore, that the following brief lists are not meant to be exhaustive. Only the most valuable collections of original documents, and also the most reliable books of a secondary character are included. Special care has been taken to mention all useful collections of sources in the English language. At the conclusion of each chapter will be found references to the sources on special topics.

The Most Important Collections of Primary Sources Are:

Most Important General Church Historians:

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Atlases and Chronologies

Text-books on Church History

It is a matter of deep regret that such excellent books by Catholic writers like Hergenröther, Kraus, Möhler, Funk, etc., have not yet been translated into English.

Sources

FOOTNOTES:

[15:1] Extracts in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History and in Ante-Nic. Ch. Fathers (Chr. Lit. ed.), viii., 762.

CHAPTER III
PREPARATION OF THE CIVILISED WORLD FOR THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Outline: I.—The ancient world. II.—Condition of the civilised world at the time Jesus came. III.—How the condition of the world prepared the way for Christianity. IV.—Sources.

The ancient world included the many independent tribes surrounding the Mediterranean Sea and spreading into the interior. This independence was institutional. Each tribe had its own government, laws, and customs; its own religion and gods; its own ideals of education; its own commercial and industrial methods. But all these diversities of life and thought were broken down by the ascendancy of Rome. The independent laws, gods, and institutions fell before the onward march of those of the Mistress of the World.

When Jesus was born, the Roman Empire extended from the Euphrates to the Atlantic, and from the African desert to the Danube, Rhine, and Weser. It formed a wide fringe around the Mediterranean Sea, included the best parts of three continents, and had a population of 100,000,000.[40:1] The Empire was called "the world." Roman law was predominant throughout the provinces as well as at Rome, but local usages were tolerated. Citizenship had become so widely

extended that the different peoples began to feel themselves a single race, bound together by one Emperor, one government, and one code of laws.

The era of the boyhood of Jesus was one of comparative peace, since there was no important war after the naval battle of Actium (31 B.C.).[41:1] Hence the industries of the Empire prospered greatly. Across the Mediterranean as the great highway, up and down the rivers, and along the incomparable Roman roads, an enormous trade was carried on between the colonies and the capital, Rome.[41:2] Factories thrived in every direction and commerce flourished. Showers of wealth fairly fell upon the Eternal City.

The trade of the Empire was carried on in Latin, the official language of the Empire for law and war. Greek was also a universal tongue, but used more especially for art, science, philosophy, education, and religion.[41:3] Cicero complained: "Greek is read in almost all nations. Latin is confined by its own natural boundaries." Hebrew and other tongues were sectional. The literature of the opening century of the Christian era, however, was largely in Latin,[41:4] which had been fertilised by Greek culture.

Education had made far greater progress in this old world than is generally thought. Judea,[41:5] Greece,[41:6]

and Rome[42:1] had excellent systems of education, though differing much in purpose and in subjects studied. Pronounced schools of philosophy grew up. Art, comparatively little developed among the Jews, culminated with the Greeks, and from them was transplanted to Rome. Travel, always liberalising and educational, was widespread among scholars, tradesmen, soldiers, and public officials. All these factors had produced a superior intelligence and general culture throughout the Empire.

The religious condition of the Empire was very significant. The Roman religion, a mixture of Grecian and Etrurian religions[42:2]—of licentiousness and puritanism—was alone legal over the whole Empire.[42:3] The Emperor, as Pontifex Maximus, was head of the religion. Worship, however, had become mere form—even priests ridiculed the gods. Cicero declared: "One soothsayer could not look another in the face without laughing," and "even old women would no longer believe either in the fables of Tartarus or the joys of Elysium." This loss of faith engendered skepticism and superstition, and gave magicians and necromancers a wide patronage. The best men in Rome were demanding reformation, and were longing for and predicting a new era. Cicero prophesied: "There shall no longer be one law at Rome, and another at Athens; nor shall it decree one thing to-day, and

another to-morrow; but one and the same law, eternal and immutable, shall be prescribed for all nations and all times, and the God who shall prescribe, introduce, and promulgate this law shall be the one common Lord and Supreme Ruler of all."[43:1]

The Grecian religion,[43:2] so closely resembling the Roman, was of course tolerated in the Empire. The gods were ideal Greeks with virtues and vices magnified. They were born, had passions, senses, and bodies like men, but never died. They committed crimes, had troubles, and were given to wrath, hatred, lust, cruelty, perjury, deception, and adultery, yet were omnipotent and omniscient.[43:3] While the conception of Zeus, as the father of the gods, ruled by fate, had a vague idea of monotheism in it, still the Greek religion lacked the Christian conception of sin and righteousness, for with the Greeks sin was only a folly of the understanding—even the gods sinned. Small wonder then that Plato banished the gods from his ideal republic.[43:4] Pindar, Eschylus, and Sophocles also urged loftier views of the gods, and preached a higher morality.[43:5] With the Roman conquest national honour and patriotism died out, and superstition, infidelity,

refined materialism, and outright atheism came in. The best hearts were longing for a new and purer religion, and were ready to accept it when it came.

The Jews,[44:1] intensely religious, with several thousand years of spiritual history back of them, divided the known world into the followers of the true God and the heathen idolaters. Even they were separated into factions:

(1) The Pharisees,[44:2] numbering 6000, stoical casuists, rigidly orthodox, prone to analyse the Mosaic law to death, intensely patriotic, and bitter against all non-Jewish tendencies, were very popular, guided public worship, and controlled the Jews in politics.

(2) The Sadducees,[44:3] rationalistic and skeptical, were aristocratic Epicureans who rejected oral traditions, and denied resurrection,[44:4] angels,[44:5] and an all-ruling, foreknowing Providence. They formed a smaller political party in opposition to the Pharisees, held many priestly offices, were in league with the Romans, and therefore had less influence with the people.[44:6]

(3) The Essenes,[44:7] a mystic brotherhood of 4000 whose purpose was to attain holiness, received their

ideas from eastern Theosophists; lived communal lives on the shores of the Dead Sea; took the Old Testament allegorically; wore a white dress; were over-scrupulously clean for the purpose of purification; and rejected animal food, bloody sacrifices, oaths, slavery, and marriage. They had little to do with politics; were forerunners of Christian monasticism; and may have influenced the ideas of Jesus.[45:1]

(4) The Samaritans,[45:2] in origin half Jewish and half heathen Babylonian, practised their reformed Judaism about Gerizim under an established Levitical priesthood. They rejected all Scriptures but the Pentateuch, held pure Messianic expectations, looked with favour upon Christianity, and were bitterly hated by the orthodox Jews.[45:3]

(5) The Zealots, led by Judas of Galilee, a sort of a nationalistic party, were imbued by a very materialistic conception of the hope of Israel. They sprang from the Pharisees and followed them in religious things. They confidently expected the realisation of the kingdom of God, the Messiah, and a new Israel. In their patriotic zeal they did not hesitate to use the sword and dagger to drive out their Roman foes in order to realise their dreams for a purely Jewish kingdom. Their followers came mostly from the lowest classes.[45:4]

(6) The common people accepted the Pharisees, in a general way, as leaders. They believed in tradition and in the resurrection, but they were prone to

neglect the law and formalism so stoutly insisted upon by the scribes. This class of Jews had a vital, living fellowship with God, and might be called pietists. Such characters as Simeon and Anna, Zachariah and Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary, and most of those influenced by John's call to repentance were of this class. They stood for the pure religion of the early prophets, and in a way opposed the sacerdotalism of the Jewish Church. They were in a spiritual and ethical mood to accept the great teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, and were consequently his first converts. While they constituted the majority of the Jews, and were scattered all over the Roman Empire yet they were not organised as a political party. To these Christianity meant a great and much needed reformation.[46:1]

The moral condition of the Empire, east and west, makes a dark picture as drawn by such men as Paul,[46:2] Seneca,[46:3] Tacitus,[46:4] Juvenal, Persius, and Sallust. "The world is full of crimes and vices" moaned Seneca. Foreign conquest and plunder brought in their wake luxury, sensuality, cruelty, and licentiousness. Slavery was fostered; infanticide tolerated; marriage lax, and divorce shamefully common. Amusements became bloody and brutal; 20,000 lives were sacrificed in one month to appease the populace, who cared only for "panem et circenses." The stern virtue and morality of old Greece and Rome were dead. The huge

Empire was a giant body without a soul going to final destruction.

It is evident, then, that forces both positive and negative were at work to prepare the civilised world for the reception of Christianity:

(1) The universal Empire of Rome was a positive groundwork for the universal empire of the Gospel. The imperial organisation suggested a form of organisation for the Church, so that Latin Christianity was simply Rome baptised. The unity of the Empire afforded concrete illustration of God's spiritual kingdom, and implied fatherhood and brotherhood.[47:1] Imperial toleration of harmless provincial religions protected Christianity, and thus enabled it to get a foothold before persecution came. Universal peace also was a boon to the Christian crusade.

The flourishing commerce, the good roads uniting the Empire, the extensive travel, and the various military expeditions all made the spread of new ideas easier and quicker.

(2) Pagan theology became a stepping-stone to Christian theology.[47:2] The decay of polytheism, because of its unspiritual and unsatisfying character, made spiritual monotheism acceptable. Pagan temples, priests, and rites made the conception of, and the transition to, Christianity easier. Even the low

moral condition and widespread skepticism strongly emphasised the need of a better religion.

(3) The schools of the Empire prepared men's minds for an intellectual consideration of the new faith, though not necessarily for its adoption. The Greek and Latin tongues were excellent mediums for propagating the new doctrines. Greek particularly was excellent for the expression of abstract and lofty truth, and the Old Testament had been translated into it more than two centuries before Jesus.[48:1] Grecian eloquence became the model for sacred oratory. The philosophy of Plato and Aristotle formed the scientific basis for Christian theology. The spiritual flights of Plato,[48:2] the religious reflections of Plutarch, and the moral precepts of Seneca were all used as arguments of revealed religion. Even pagan art, with its love for the beautiful, was early employed to give material expression to Christian ideas.

(4) The Jews, scattered over the world,[48:3] befriended by Julius Cæsar, given legal status as a sect by Augustus, expelled in vain by Tiberius and Claudius, spread a knowledge of the living God over the whole Empire before Christ appeared. Synagogues were numerous, and many Gentiles became converts to monotheism.[48:4] These converts were the first to accept the teachings of Jesus, and in this way formed the nuclei of the Christian Church.

Thus Jerusalem the Holy City, Athens the city of culture, and Rome the city of power, combined to prepare the world so that the matchless ethical and religious

teaching of Jesus of Nazareth could capture the hearts and heads of men, replace the national religions, and become realised in the outward forms and inward beliefs of the Christian Church, which was soon to exercise a controlling power in the civilised world.

Sources

FOOTNOTES:

[40:1] Mommsen, v., chs. 11-12; Merivale, i., ch. 1; iv., ch. 39; Liddell, ii., ch. 71; Bury's Gibbon, i., chs. 1-3; Finlay, i., ch. 1.

[41:1] 1 Tim. ii., 2. Epictetus wrote: "Cæsar has promised us a profound peace; there are neither wars, nor battles, nor great robberies, nor piracy."—Dis., iii., 13.

[41:2] Lewin, Life and Epistles of St. Paul. Lond., 1878. Bergier, Histoire des Grands Chemins de l'Empire Romain.

[41:3] Merivale, iv., ch. 41.

[41:4] The chief writers were: Ovid, d. 17; Livy, d. 17; Lucan, d. 65; Seneca, d. 65; Pliny, d. 115; Tacitus, d. 119; Juvenal, d. 130.

[41:5] Schürer, ii., § 22; Graetz, i., ch. 20.

[41:6] Plato, Protagoras, tr. by Jowett; Aristotle, Politics, bk. 8, tr. by Jowett; Mahaffy, Old Greek Ed.; St. John, The Hellenes, bk. 2, ch. 4; Davidson, Aristotle, bk. 1, ch. 4; The Nation, March 24, 1892, pp. 230-231; Zeller, Socrates and the Socratic Schools, ch. 3; Capes, University Life in Ancient Athens, ch. 1; Newman, Hist. Sketches, ch. 4; Thirlwell, Hist. of Greece, i., ch. 8.

[42:1] Döllinger, Gentile and Jew, ii., 294-296; Kirkpatrick, Hist. Develop. of Super. Instr.; Am. Jour. of Ed., xxiv., 468-470.

[42:2] Gieseler, i., § 11.

[42:3] Döllinger, Gentile and Jew, i., bk. 7.

[43:1] About the Republic, iii., 6; Virgil, Eclogues, iv., 4-10; 13, 14; Lactantius, Divine Inst., vi., 8; Suetonius, Life of Vesp., ch. 4; Tacitus, Histories, v., 13.

[43:2] Gladstone, Gods and Men of the Heroic Age; Tyler, Theol. of the Greeks; Cocker, Christ and Greek Philos.; Niebuhr, Stories of Gr. Heroes; Berens, Myths and Legends of Anc. Gr.; Taylor, Anc. Ideals; Parnell, Cults of the Gr. States; Ely, Olympus; Francillon, Gods and Heroes; Grote; Curtius; Thirlwell.

[43:3] Read Iliad, Odyssey and Hesiod, Theogeny.

[43:4] Concerning the Republic, ii.

[43:5] Adam, The Religious Teachers of Greece, Edinb., 1908. Baur, The Christian Element in Plato, Edinb., 1861; Hatch, The Greek Influence on Christianity. Hibbert Lectures, 1888.

[44:1] Schürer, Hist. of Jewish People; Milman, Hist. of the Jews; Stanley Lect. on Hist. of Jewish Ch.; Ewald, Hist. of Jewish People; Edersheim, Prophecy and Hist. in Rel. to the Messiah; Kent, Hist. of Heb. People; Graetz, Hist. of Jews; Newman, Christianity in its Cradle. See Josephus for full account.

[44:2] Jewish Encyc. See Josephus, Antiq., XIII., x., 5, 6; v., 9; XVII., ii., 4; XVIII., i., 2.

[44:3] Jewish Encyc. See Josephus, Antiq., XIII., v., 9; x., 6; XVIII., i., 3; Wars, II., viii., 14.

[44:4] Matt. xxii., 23; Mark xii., 18; Luke xx., 27; Josephus, Antiq., XVIII., i., 4.

[44:5] Acts xxiii., 8.

[44:6] It must be remembered that Nicodemus, Gamaliel, and others came from this class.

[44:7] Jewish Encyc.

[45:1] Josephus; Philo; Pliny; Lightfoot, Ep. to Gal.; Schürer, ii., 188; Jewish Encyc.

[45:2] Jewish Encyc.

[45:3] John iv., 4; viii., 48; Luke ix., 52, 53; x., 25-37.

[45:4] Josephus, Antiq., XVIII., i., 1-6; Rhees, Life of Jesus; Jewish Encyc. Hastings, Dict. of the Bible.

[46:1] Schürer, Jewish People, div. II., ii., 154-187; Wendt, Teachings of Jesus, i., 33-89; Graetz, Hist. of the Jews, ii., 122-123, 140-147; Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus, i., 160-179; Rhees, Life of Jesus, sec. 13; Mathews, Hist. of N. T. Times, ch. 13.

[46:2] Rom. i., 18-32.

[46:3] De Ira, I., ii., c. 8.

[46:4] Politica, I., ii., c. 2-18.

[47:1] Tacitus felt a common humanity when he wrote: "Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto." Cicero and Virgil expressed like ideas. In the Middle Ages it was even said that Virgil in the Fourth Eclogue prophesied the advent of Jesus. See Princeton Rev., Sept. 1879, 403 ff.

[47:2] Ackerman, The Christian Element in Plato; Cocker, Christianity and Greek Philosophy; Hatch, Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages upon the Christian Church; Addis, Christianity and the Roman Empire, 22-25; Farrar, Seekers after God; Davidson, The Stoic Creed, N. Y. 1907.

[48:1] The Septuagint version, 284-247 B.C.

[48:2] Ackerman, The Christian Element in Plato.

[48:3] Josephus and Strabo. Gieseler, i., § 17.

[48:4] Apion, ii., 10, 39.

CHAPTER IV
ORIGIN, SPREAD, AND ORGANISATION OF THE CHURCH DURING THE APOSTOLIC AGE

Outline: I.—Origin of the Christian Church. II.—Spread of the Apostolic Church. III.—Organisation of the Early Church. IV.—Conclusions. V.—Sources.

The Christian Church has both an internal and an external side—a soul and a body. Thoughts, feelings, and beliefs constitute the inner Church, the creed. These, in turn, aided by physical conditions, determine the outward organisation of the Church. In a broad sense the Church was a product of certain forces already in the world at the opening of the Christian era, which were utilised by the believers in the teachings of Jesus. From pagan and Jewish sources contributions were made to both the form and content of the Christian Church in the following ways:

1. The Jews[52:1] gave in ideas: (a) a belief in Jehovah as God, (b) the conception of sin, (c) a consciousness of the need of repentance and reconciliation, (d) the doctrine of immortality, (e) the conception of Heaven and Hell, (f) angels and the devil, (g) miracles, (h) the Old Testament as God's word, and (i) the Sabbath. To the form of the Christian Church they suggested:

(a) the synagogue, (b) officials like the elders, (c) ceremonies, (d) feasts,[53:1] and (e) organisation.[53:2]

2. The pagans contributed in ideas: (a) Greek philosophy and culture,[53:3] (b) concepts of morality,[53:4] (c) the idea of absolute sovereignty, and (d) universality.[53:5] In form they gave: (a) local organisations like the democratic Hellenistic guild or municipality,[53:6] or the numerous Roman social or religious associations known as collegia and sodalitia (especially the collegia funeraticia), and the general organisation of the Empire[53:7]; (b) rites and ceremonies; (c) the evening meal,[53:8] (d) festivals like Easter and Christmas; (e) the use of images, and (f) architecture, painting, and ornamentation.

3. The real founder of the Church, however, was Jesus Christ. He supplied the fundamental ideas of: (a) the universal fatherhood of God, (b) the divine sonship of the Saviour of the world, (c) the brotherhood of man, and (d) the ethical law of self-sacrifice. He created the Church: (a) by choosing twelve Apostles, by teaching them and by commissioning them to continue the work; (b) by winning a number of converts to His doctrines; (c) by leaving certain sacraments for His followers—Catholics say seven; most Protestants, two. But He left no written Church constitution giving

the details of organisation. The work of Jesus and His immediate followers in founding the Church is described in the New Testament. Broadly, then, the Church of Jesus Christ is composed of all the believers in the teachings of Jesus, although differing greatly in interpretation and in organisation.[54:1]

From Jerusalem the Apostles and disciples of Jesus spread his teachings to Syria, Asia Minor, Africa, Greece, and Rome. From these fields the propagation was continued until by the time of Constantine every point within and some places without the Empire were reached. "Throughout every city and village," enthusiastically exclaimed Eusebius, "churches were quickly established and filled with members from every people."[54:2] The fruitful labours of Paul and Timothy were explained thus: "And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in numbers daily."[54:3] Other Apostles were, no doubt, equally active in various parts of the Empire. The "Christians"—a term of derision first used by the heathen of Antioch,[54:4]—numbering 500 in 30 A.D.,[54:5] grew to 500,000 by 100 A.D.,[54:6] and increased to 30,000,000 by 311 A.D.[54:7]—a growth almost unparalleled in the world's religious history. They included all the social classes in the Empire from slave to Emperor, though

the great middle class was in all probability most numerously represented.[55:1]

The causes for this marvellous growth[55:2] are found in: (a) the revolutionary teachings of Jesus, particularly the idea of immortality, which was very vague in heathen minds, and the law of love and self-sacrifice; (b) the miraculous powers attributed to the first Christians; (c) the purer and austerer morality of the early Christians; (d) the unity and discipline of the Church, making it a powerful organisation within the Empire; (e) the preparation and ripeness of the Empire for Christianity, and (f) the subjective vividness of the constant presence of Jesus with the early Christians, as explained by Paul, and their zealous propagandism.

The results of this new life, brought into the world so dramatically, must be measured in terms of all subsequent history.[55:3] Every institution in the Empire was modified by this new spiritual force[55:4] so that as old pagan imperial Rome gradually fell, new Christian Rome took its place to rule all western Europe for more than a thousand years in every sphere of human activity and endeavour.

The exact form of the organisation of the early Christian Church is extremely difficult to determine, because of the lack of sufficient positive authority in the New Testament and in patristic literature. The Acts of the Apostles and the letters of Paul and others to the first Christian communities tell nearly all

any one can know about the origin and organisation of the Apostolic Church. From these sources it is clear that Jesus left certain great teachings, and many devoted believers in those truths. After His departure, the Apostles, not limited to twelve,[56:1] receiving authority directly from the Master,[56:2] like the prophets of old, spread the new pregnant faith over the world, organised their converts according to individual ideas and local needs,[56:3] and practically monopolised all direction of the Church.[56:4] With the increase of these Christian societies in size and numbers, came the necessity of appointing local officers, or of having them elected by the "brethren." In this way, at an early date, began the outward organisation of the Church. The development of the Jewish Kingdom of God into the Ecclesia of the Christians was a comparatively easy transition, especially for the Jewish converts.

Next to the Apostles in point of time, but not authority, in the Biblical account, came the deacons. At Jerusalem the Apostles had the "brethren" select "seven men of honest report" to minister to the poor and unfortunate, and to wait on the table in the daily love-feasts.[56:5] They were installed by "laying on of hands." This democratic example apparently was followed elsewhere.[56:6] Both sexes were eligible.[56:7] The high qualifications for the office suggest its importance.[56:8]

St. Paul tells us that the earliest Christian communities found it necessary to have some organisation, hence they chose bishops, or overseers, and presbyters, or elders. But throughout the New Testament the words elder, presbyter, and bishop seem to be used interchangeably.[57:1] The qualifications for the offices were the same. Bishops and elders are never joined together like bishops and deacons as if they were two distinct classes of officers. Timothy, for example, appoints bishops and deacons; Titus, elders and deacons. Paul sends greetings to bishops and deacons at Philippi, but omits all mention of elders and presbyters because, presumably, they were included in the conception of bishops.[57:2] In his pastoral epistles he describes all Church officers, but mentions only two classes, bishops or elders, and deacons.[57:3] Peter, who calls himself "also an elder," urges the elders to "tend the flock of God" and to "fulfil the office of bishop."[57:4] Even Clement of Rome uses bishop and presbyter interchangeably as late as 95 A.D.[57:5] Irenæus (d. 190) and Tertullian (d. 220), however, were conscious of a distinct division and differentiation.

That the official titles, bishop and presbyter or elder, were used from early apostolic days, all must admit, for the New Testament evidence is unmistakable. But perplexity and doubt arise at once when an attempt is made to determine the resemblances and differences

in their duties and powers. The term elder, or presbyter, may have been used merely to designate the personal relation of the most highly respected members to the congregation, while the name bishop, or overseer, may have been the official designation of leadership. Indeed some scholars, like Hatch and Harnack, believe that the functions of presbyters and bishops were distinct and different from the beginning. They assert that the college of presbyters assumed the leadership, or government proper, of the Christian community, with jurisdiction and disciplinary power, while the bishops had charge of the administration of the Church, including worship and finance, and were also largely occupied with charitable work, in co-operation with the deacons, such as care for the sick, the poor, and strangers. According to this view each congregation was organised with three sets of officers, namely, deacons, presbyters, and bishops, from the very outset. Gradually, however, an amalgamation took place. The bishops, with their practical information, received seats and votes in the presbytery and finally came to fill the office of presidency.

It seems more probable, on the contrary, that these two titles simply signify the twofold origin of the early Christians, namely, from the Jews and the pagans. The word presbyter is of Hebraic derivation, while bishop is a pure Greek term. Consequently the tendency developed to use presbyter wherever the Hebrew element predominated, and, on the other hand, to employ bishop for Greek communities. It was but natural, too, that these two terms should come to signify the same thing and should come to be used interchangeably.

The derivation of these terms is not clear.[59:1] Both presbyter and bishop appear to have been in use in Syria and Asia Minor to designate officers of municipal and private corporations. In Grecian civic organisations, the word bishop or superintendent was likewise commonly used. Then there were the well-known elders of the Jewish synagogue,[59:2] and the senators of Roman municipalities—in fact a universal respect for seniority existed in the old world. It was very natural, therefore, that the Christians should adopt the known forms, names, and offices of those organisations with which they were familiar.[59:3] This method of procedure is precisely the one followed over the world to-day in propagating any idea through organised effort.

These elders were apparently organised into boards, or councils, for the purpose of better furthering the interests of the Church. They were not teachers at first so much as the administrators, or business managers, of the general concerns of the Church.[59:4] They helped to enact ordinances[59:5]; discussed important questions with the Apostles and assisted them in every possible way; enforced discipline[59:6]; settled disputes between Christians; and prayed for the sick and anointed them.[59:7]

The first Christians, eagerly awaiting the literal second

coming of Christ, and imbued with great enthusiasm for the Gospel, did not feel the need of an elaborate constitution. But in time, as numbers increased, as severe persecution fell upon the Christians, and as the original fervour and spirituality decreased with the conversion of so many pagans, it became necessary to develop a regular system of Church government, which would more effectively meet the new conditions. The fact of differentiation in organisation is easily established, because the earliest and later forms may be determined with reasonable accuracy, but the transitional process is much more difficult of comprehension. This evolution, however, appears to have taken this course:

1. The board of presbyters, at least in the larger congregations, naturally and logically developed a head with a priority in rank. The office of president was universal in contemporary Jewish associations, and in Roman and Greek organisations. The creation of a chairman of the administrative body became a political necessity to expedite business, and to enforce discipline in the Christian societies. Moreover there was the example of the Apostles, who actually designated officers to continue their work (a) of teaching the true doctrines,[60:1] (b) of organising new churches, (c) of ordaining deacons and elders, and (d) in acting as head of the whole congregation.[60:2] Hence this change was natural, imperative, and easy; but the transition must have been gradual and must have lacked uniformity.

2. The president of the board of presbyters came, in course of time, to have a recognised supremacy in power as well as in rank, and the title of bishop was

gradually restricted to his high office. After the death of the Apostles more duties devolved upon the president of the council, and it was in the course of things that the special word bishop, i. e., overseer or superintendent, should be applied to him. By the second century, at least, if not indeed before, the differentiation had begun and from that time on it can be plainly traced in the Church Fathers. Jerome states that at Alexandria until the middle of the third century the presbyters elected one of their number as president and called him bishop.[61:1] Hilarius says: "Every bishop is a presbyter, but not every presbyter a bishop; for he only is bishop who is the primate among the presbyters."[61:2] Examples, secular and ecclesiastical, were not lacking to warrant the change: (a) the Old Testament priesthood, (b) Christ and his Apostles, (c) the Apostles and their appointees, (d) the Emperor and his officials. The bishop soon professed to occupy the place of an Apostle instead of Christ as earlier, hence arose the idea of an "Apostolic seat" and "Apostolic succession."[61:3] He represented Christian unity of doctrine and discipline, and ruled over a recognised territory—first a single church, then a city, then a province. From the bishop it was only another step to the archbishop, the metropolitan, the patriarch, and the Pope.

3. The position of the presbyter changes, likewise, from that of the highest officer in the Church to one subordinate (a) to the board of elders and then (b) to the bishop. This distinction once made between bishop and presbyter, there was a

tendency for the bishops to usurp more and more power, while the presbyters opposed it. The third century is full of these quarrels.[62:1] Here began the conflict between the principles of monarchy and aristocracy in the Church. Soon, from acting as a member of a council, the presbyter came to act alone under the bishop—i. e., the presbyter became a priest, just as the president became a bishop. Presbyters also assumed new functions: (a) "ministry of the word" and (b) "ministry of the sacraments." New detached communities were ruled not infrequently by single presbyters under the city bishop. Indeed it seems that from the outset the smaller and weaker Christian communities were ruled by single elders.

4. The status and functions of the deacon likewise were altered. At first he visited the sick and unfortunate, collected and disbursed alms, and reported on discipline. Stephen taught; Philip baptised. With the growth of Christian civilisation, however, institutions of relief—hospitals, orphanages, infant asylums, almshouses, poorhouses, guest-houses, etc.—took the place of the earlier personal ministrations of the deacons. Each institution had its own head, not necessarily a deacon. From being distributors of alms, therefore, the deacon first became an assistant of the bishop,[62:2] and later the chief helper of the priest in the administration of the sacraments. With the multiplication of the duties of this office came the archdeacons and subdeacons.

5. The many duties incident to a complex organisation gradually produced a new set of subordinate officials—the minor orders: (a) lectors to read the

Scriptures in public and to keep the books, (b) acolytes to assist the bishops, (c) exorcists to pray for those possessed of evil spirits, (d) janitors to care for the buildings and preserve order, (e) precentors to conduct public praise service, (f) catechists to instruct the catechumens, (g) interpreters to translate the Scripture lesson.[63:1]

6. The clergy came to be distinct from the laity—a sacerdotal class was developed. In the early Church the priesthood was universal, i. e., laymen as well as Church officers could preach, baptise, administer the sacraments, and exercise discipline. The relation of clergy to laity was merely that of leadership as in non-Christian organisations. "Ordination" simply meant appointment, and was used in civic installations, while "laying on of hands" was only a symbol of prayer and even used by the Jews for secular affairs.

Gradually, however, the tendency to put the Church officials above the laity grew stronger until something akin to the Old Testament idea of the priesthood was revived. By the fourth century the Church officers had lost their primitive character and had become a separate class mediating between God and man. The causes of this separation are not difficult to see, namely: (a) the peculiar duties of the Church officials tended to give them a distinct character; (b) the persecutions to which the Roman government subjected them threw them into conspicuous relief; (c) the legalisation of Christianity bestowed upon them a distinct civil status, made them immune from public burdens like taxes and military service, exempted them from civil courts, and permitted them to acquire property; and (d) the rise

of asceticism forced the clergy to observe a code of morals different from that of the laity, demanded celibacy, originated the badge of the tonsure, and created clergy-houses.

The laity were early organised in congregations. Membership in the Church was open to all believers in Jesus. The election of officers was, for the most part, democratic. The life of each congregation was socialistic and communistic. All possessions were sold for the common good and to create a common fund for the needy.[64:1] The members enjoyed a common evening meal and their common love-feast which was to them the highest act of worship.[64:2] Disobedience, or infidelity, might be punished by private admonition, public correction, and in stubborn cases excommunication.[64:3] But after the first century these communistic-democratic societies were gradually replaced by a hierarchical organisation with new or modified institutions. The monarchio-episcopal principle of church government was gradually evolved but, nevertheless, much of the primitive democracy remained. This evolution in the government of the Church may be clearly seen by the end of the second century.