Note 737 — Chapter II

We have frequent evidence of the zeal of the early Christians in the study of the Scriptures. The Bible was not the sealed book that it is in modern Rome. Jerome counsels that it be frequently read and scarcely ever laid aside, that it be studied not as a task but for delight and instruction, and that some of it be learned by heart every day.—Divinas Scripturas sæpius lege, imo nunquam de manibus tuis sacra lectio deponatur.—Ep. ad Nepotian., 7. Non ad laborem, sed ad delectationem et instructionem animæ.—Ep. ad Demetriad., 15. Nec licebat cuiquam sororum ignorare psalmos, et non de Scripturis sanctis quotidie aliquid discere.—Ep. ad Eustoch., 19.

We find no traces in the early period of the church of the fierce intolerance and dreadful anathemas that mark modern Romanism. Tertullian in golden words asserts that liberty of conscience which a Dominic and Torquemada afterward so ruthlessly trampled under foot. “It is a fundamental human right,” he exclaims, “that every man should worship according to his own conviction. It is no part of religion to compel religion.”—Ad Scap., 2. Compare also the wise words of Cassiodorus: “Cum divinitas patiatur multas religiones esse, nos unam non audemus imponere. Retinemus enim legisse, voluntarie sacrificandum esse domino, non cujusquam cogentis imperio.”