New-York tribune., 1900-08-01

One OF the curious phenomena which present
day religious thought presents is the growing
interest in the origins Of Christianity in its al
legged historical facts. and at the same time an
increasing tendency TO shift the defence Of the
Christian position from the field OF history to
that Of psychology I'VE never can be sure Of
anything in history" say the adherents Of the
latter view. And. truly. there is much in mod
ern writing about the early history of the
Church which would seem to corroborate such
& pessimistic doctrine. Writers for the most part
tel US about history. and thrust in our way
their own comments and theories. Very often
they 90 not write history; that is. they do not
tell US what actually happened The truth is.
the phenomena Of tie Apostolic Age are so
much bound up in mems minds with the sup
posed interests os modern ecclesiastical parties
that il is very hard 10 clear ones self OF dog
matte prejudicee and TO become simply an
organ through which history may speak 1t is
much easier TO read our own preconceived ideas
into the New Testament documents, or, at any
rate. TO keep a fearful eye now on them and now
OF the Thirty-nire Articles in the West
minister Confession Of Faith. than to make the
resolute effort TO things as they really took
shape in the first century. These moral refiec-
tions-the obviousness Of which by no means
detracts from their signihcance-have been
forced uDon US rv the law Of contraries. after
reading MI. Vernon Bartlet's work on the
Apostolic Age in the "Epochs OF Church His
tory series For here is attempt largely
successful We believe. 10 get at the facts to re-
construct q vanished order Of things and to
make Us see with own eyes the men and the
movements Of the period commencing with the
year 80 A. D.. when our Lord was crucifed, and
ending with the death OF St. John, about the
year 100 A D Mr.. Bartlet's sketch is charac-
ter1zed by those qualities which expect in
Ia Of Of SRndaV
namely. scholarly accuracy, thorough mastery
OF the original sources. and excellent ac-
ouaintance witt the investigations Of modern
scholars. foreign. and British. Just because OF
this thorough scholarship which the book re-
veals we fear its appearance in a series Of
popular monographs will seriously diminish the
recognition II unques1tonably deserves. For it is
in no sense popular" It assumes knowledge
which the ordinary las-man is far from possess
ing, ana its style is without that vitality or
rhetoric fuluess which is necessary TO gain and
hold the attention of the plain man. What We
mean will become clear If compare this
writing with, say. that Of the late Professor
Etokes, OF Dublin University, in his work on the
Celtic Church. But the explanation is at hand
DR.. Stokes was an Irishman, Mr.. Bartlett is an
Englishman It would be most unfair to re-
proach an historian for the unfortunate umita-
tons Of his nationality. We hope that clergy
men ana cOuese lecturers VIII cdl dtleilllOu
Of those under their care TO this volume, and
thus supplement the deficiencies created partly
by its modest appearance and partly by its
servatisu, sane and critical though it be, which
will preserve the author from the fate Of most
scholars nowadays a trial for heresy, and, there
fore viii make impossible q too glaring no
toriety.
The work falls into four divisions OF books
Book I deals with the period 1852 A D.. which
the disciples to Jerusalem; the Day of Pentecost;
the death Of Stephen; the growth of the Church;
the missionary activity and end of St Paul; the
teaching and martyrdom of St James It is in
teresting 20 note that the author explains the
difficulty raised by the apparently discprdant
accounts Of the Gift of Tongues given by the
writer Of the Acts and by St Paul, by supposing
that the ambiguity in the phrase strange
tongues crept into the account in the Acts
This explanation does not sound convincing. We
note also that our author does not follow o.
Holtzmann. Harnack and MoGiffert in their
theory that the ordinary Pauline chronology
is about five years too late. OF course the
reason for this lies in authors view Of the
Acts as genuine history Book II discusses the
Transition period C62-7O A D. Here we have
an Illuminating section of the older parts of the
Didactic in Teaching Of the Twelve Apostles"
and their affinity with the type Of doctrine we
find IN St James is dWelt upon. The progress
and Issue Of the Jewish is indicated, and
the place Of the fall Of Jerusalem in the history
OF Christianity is strikngly described. To this
period about 62 A. D. the Epistle to the
Hebrews is ascribed. Who the writer is
one Of the mysteries Of New Testament Iitera-
ture." But Harnack, in a paper recently pub
hshed, claims TO have cleared up the mystery.
The Episrle was the work of woman-Pris-
cdna-and later ant-feminine prejudice in the
Church accounts for the fact that the name
was lost TO tradition.
Book III follows the fortunes Of the Church
from the fall Of Jerusalem "A. D. 70) TO the
death Of St John "a. L. 100 Here
concerned with the relations Of the Church and
he Empire, reflected IL the Acts and the
Apocalypse; the emergence Of heresy in Asia
Minor, and the significance of the Johannine
writings Book " gathers together the scat
tered notices Of doctrinal types, Of Church
polity and institutions. We are rather sur
prised that author has nothing to say about
the theory advocated by some German liberals
and IN this country by Professor McGiffert,
that the Lords Supper was not instituted as a
memorial feast by our Lord, but rather became
such at q later time. This question deserves a
more thorough examination than il has yet
received We would in conclusion call atten-
ton TO the translations from the Greek which
81 every case are the fruits Of a genuine ac-
quaintance with New Testament language and
literature Nor can we fail 70 commend the
revelations Of q truly Christian spirit and a
thorough sympathy with the subject which oc-
casionally break through the scholarly reserve
with which the book has been written. Taking
it z whole. and apart from a certain ten
dency 10 give the conservative position the