deepening awe and reverence upon a book which though so human is so majestically impersonal; whose utterance is the august voice of a mighty race, coming to us as the sound of many waters? THE COMPLETELY GRADED SERIES The Story of Our Bible BY HAROLD B. HUNTING CHARLES F. KENT, PH.D., LITT.D. Teacher's Manual CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS CHAPTER XXXVII. "THE BOOKS" IN A SECOND CENTURY CHURCH. THE BIBLE AMONG THE EARLY CHRISTIANS. PURPOSE OF THE LESSON. To stimulate the practice of regular Bible study. TELLING THE LESSON STORY. Those who have studied the preceding chapters of the Story of Our Bible have learned how the various biblical books came to be written. We now pass on to a sequel to this story. The very latest of the New Testament books was completed before 150 A.D. Since that time nearly two thousand years have passed. During a considerable portion of this intervening period, there was an almost universal collapse of civilization-the so-called Dark Ages when only a few — men in each generation could read or write. Yet the Bible has been safely preserved and handed down to us, across the centuries. How this was done is the story to which we now turn. In this lesson we shall see what place the Bible occupied among the Christians of the first three or four centuries of our era that is, before the fall of the Roman Empire. (Touch on some of the most interesting points in the chapter.) DISCUSSING THE LESSON. Bring to the class some specimen of a very small book, if possible a vest-pocket edition of the New Testament. Ask the class if they have ever seen smaller books, and if so how small. Suppose we wished to keep in our possession some unlawful book; in what form would we prefer to have it, as large as a dictionary, or small enough to slip up one's sleeve? This leads to question 1, and the three reasons why it was not easy for the early Christians to be Bible readers. The first reason was of course that the Bible was under the ban of the Roman government. It was dangerous to have a copy in one's possession. This danger was increased by the large size of the old-style rolls. Show picture of the old roll at Shechem. (Opposite page 276 in third quarter of pupil's book.) Another reason was the fact that the letters and words were not clear and plain, like our print; but the words were run together |