RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Bible Christians Bible Reading
the Church enjoyed undisturbed prosperity, establishing three publishing houses, and a denominational college at Shebbear, Devonshire, England. In 1882, 300 ministers and 34,000 members were reported. This was the high- water mark numerically. These years of extension had awakened, in a much divided Methodism, a sense of the advisability of " union," in both England and the colonies. The center of discussion was Canada, where five Methodist sects wasted their energy in vigorous, if not unseemly, rivalry. As early as 1866 the Bible Christians and Methodist New Connection approached the Methodist Protes-
5. Union tants of the United States upon the
with the question of union, but the overture Methodists ended in friendly expressions only, in Canada. In 1870 the Methodist New Connection made overtures to the Bible Christians, and in 1874 the former were absorbed by the Wesleyan Methodists of Canada. The Bible Christians announced as their policy — a policy consistently held since organization — " That any basis of union to be acceptable to this Conference must secure to the laity their full share of privileges in the government of the Church." In 1882 a committee was appointed by the Bible Christians to meet with three other committees, representing the Wesleyan Methodists, the Primitive Methodists, and the Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada. This committee was explicitly instructed to reaffirm " That no union would be possible for their Church that did not provide for a representation of the laity in all church courts." A basis of union was provided acceptable to all parties, voted upon by every society, and in 1884 union was fully and legally perfected. The uniting churches chose as a name " The Methodist Church of Canada." The parent body graciously consented to the separation, which affected the work in Canada and the United States only.
The energy and resources of the English and
Australian conferences were now devoted to an
enlargement of home missions and
6. Union in the establishment of a foreign mission
Australia in China, which has been successful.
and Eng- A union of the Australian conference land. with other Methodist sects in that colony left but the parent body bearing the name; and in Aug., 1906, this Church voted unanimously to unite with the Methodist New Connection and the United Methodists, the union to be formally and legally consummated in 1907. The name of " United Methodist Church " was chosen for the new organization. At the time of approving the union the Bible Christians had M8 chapels, 202 ministers, and 30,000 members. Francis Metherall Whitlock.
B!^0GdAPHT: J- Thorne, A Jubilee Memorial of the Rise ?£fifi t°° n't,"' the Bible Christian Connexion, London, H.Y7 Sn Hayman. A Hist, of the Methodist Revival of me Uist Century i„ Relation to North Devon, ib. 1885; [John laornej, James Thome of Shebbear, a Memoir . . from in* Diary and Letters, by his Son, ib. 1873; F. W. Bourne. ito LenUnary Life of James Thorne, ib. 1895; Brief Biographical Sketches of Bible Christians, Jersey, 1905; The Boon, of Discipline for the People Known as Bible Christians, London, the Bible Christian Book Room.
BIBLE READING BY THE LAITY, RESTRIC- TIONS ON.
I. The Ancient Church. II. The Middle Ages.
III. The Roman Catholic Church since the Reformation Action by the Council of Trent (§1).
Rules of Various Popes (§ 2).
Rules and Practise in Different Countries (5 31
IV. The Greek Church.
V. The Evangelical Churches.
I. The Ancient Church: It is indisputable that in Apostolic times the Old Testament was commonly read (John v, 47; Acts viii, 28; xvii, 11; II Tim. iii, 15). Roman Catholics admit that this reading was not restricted in the first centuries, in spite of its abuse by Gnostics and other heretics. On the contrary, the reading of Scripture was urged (Justin Martyr, xliv, ANF, i, 177-178; Jerome, Adv. libros Rufini, i, 9, NPNF, 2d ser., iii, 487); and Pamphilus, the friend of Eusebius, kept copies of Scripture to furnish to those who desired them. Chrysostom attached considerable importance to the reading of Scripture on the part of the laity and denounced the error that it was to be permitted only to monks and priests (De Lazaro concio, iii, MPG, xlviii, 992; Hom.ii in Matt., MPG, lvii, 30, NPNF, 2d ser., x, 13). He insisted upon access being given to the entire Bible, or at least to the New Testament (Horn, ix in Col., MPG, lxii, 361, NPNF, xiii, 301). The women also, who were always at home, were diligently to read the Bible (Horn, xxxv on Gen. xii, MPG, liii, 323). Jerome recommended the reading and studying of Scripture on the part of the women (Epist., cxxviii, 3, MPL, xxii, 1098, NPNF, 2d ser., vi, 259; Epist., Ixxix, 9, MPG, xxii, 730-731, NPNF, 2d ser., vi, 167). The translations of the Bible, Augustine considered a blessed means of propagating the Word of God among the nations (De doctr. christ., ii, 5, NPNF, 1st ser., ii, 536); Gregory I recommended the reading of the Bible without placing any limitations on it (Horn, iii in Ezek., MPL, lxxvi, 968).
II. The Middle Ages: Owing to lack of culture among the Germanic and Romanic peoples, there was for a long time no thought of restricting access to the Bible there. Translations of Biblical books into German began only in the Carolingian period and were not originally intended for the laity. Nevertheless the people were anxious to have the divine service and the Scripture lessons read in the vernacular. John VIII in 880 permitted, after the reading of the Latin gospel, a translation into Slavonic; but Gregory VII, in a letter to Duke Vratislav of Bohemia in 1080 characterized the custom as unwise, bold, and forbidden (Epist., vii, 11; P. Jaffe, BRG, ii, 392 sqq.). This was a formal prohibition, not of Bible reading in general, but of divine service in the vernacular.
With the appearance, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, of the Albigenses and Waldenses, who appealed to the Bible in all their disputes with the Church, the hierarchy was furnished with a reason for shutting up the Word of God. The Synod of Toulouse in 1229 forbade the laity to have in their possession any copy of the books of the Old and the New Testament except the Psalter and
Bible Beading'