The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

IV. Printing Press Spells Doom of Papal Control

1. PRINTING PRESS BRINGS REVIVAL OF ANCIENT LITERATURE

Under the Renaissance, dormant intellectual forces awakened from their long slumber. Universities, raised up in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries—at Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, Montpellier, Bologna, Padua, Salamanca, and Prague—were thronged with students. Mankind entered a new era of study and investigation. Many libraries were founded. And, marching hand in hand with this revival of learning, came the invention of printing. ⁴¹ PFF2 137.3

Printing brought a revival of ancient literature, secular and sacred. Preceding and following the fall of Constantinople, Greek scholars, with their manuscript books and learning, fled westward, seeking refuge from the Turkish woe. Not only did dead languages become the object of revived study, but the Scriptures in the originals began to be consulted again. The diffused light that resulted could no longer be hidden under a bushel. Therefore the printing press became one of the most powerful instruments not only in populaing the Renaissance but in merging it into the coming Reformation. It contributed materially to the regeneration of Christendom. PFF2 137.4

2. PROHIBITIVE COSTS OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS RESTRICTED CIRCULATION

The coming of the printing press in the fifteenth century, with its amazing power of multiplication—and consequently reduced costs—wrought a miracle in Europe. It flooded the Continent with thousands of important but hitherto rare and virtually inaccessible books. This relative scarcity of books and their consequent inaccessibility, arose from the cost of transcribing and materials—for example, of parchment as against modern book paper. Labor, however, was a heavy factor. It is difficult today to realise the vast toil involved in laboriously copying an entire volume by hand. PFF2 138.1

Think, for instance, of the sheer labor of reproducing the entire Bible in this way—a year’s task for an industrious scribe. That is one reason why complete copies of the Bible were not common before the days of printing, but only portions of books. These rare volumes were lettered with great care, and illuminated and embellished with incredible industry, until they were treasures of costly beauty. Private individuals seldom possessed such books because of the prohibitive cost, these being reserved for churches, monasteries, and universities. PFF2 138.2

Another cost factor was the necessity of individual verification. Now, when one copy of an edition has been scrutinied in the modern multiplication of printed books, the entire edition has been seen in facsimile. But in ages past, every manuscript copy had its own individuality, and the correctness of one manuscript was no pledge of the accuracy of other copies. The individual correctness could only be established by minute and laborious comparison—likewise a wearisome, time-consuming, and costly process. The value was therefore determined by the reliability of the scribe. No wonder a complete Bible would sometimes cost “two hundred sheep, five quarters [30 sacks] of wheat, and the same quantity of rye and millet.” ⁴² PFF2 138.3

That is not alone why the common folk seldom possessed such books, but was the chief reason for the chaining of books—not simply Bibles—in the Middle Ages. The very costliness, and the danger of mutilation or loss, often made access difficult and involved. When books were borrowed, a heavy pledge deposit was required-a thousand pounds, for example, for some from the Bodleian Library, Oxford. ⁴³ And books could not always be obtained even on such terms. PFF2 139.1

3. DOOMS PAPAL CONTROL OVER MEN’S MINDS

The pitiless light of learning, which printing multiplied and popularized a thousand fold, was turned upon the abuses and corruptions of the church. Among other things, it brought men into intimate acquaintance with early church history and writers. It revealed those centuries that were without the papal edifice of later times, as well as exposing the changes and perversions that had then been introduced. And now it provided an adequate vehicle for that swelling chorus of remonstrance against ecclesiastical abuses, affording facility of communication. It was easy now to expose forgeries like the false decretals. All this caused discontent with the medieval church, for it made the Bible an open book, explained the past, diffused contemporary knowledge, and enabled public opinion to form and be expressed. ⁴⁴ Thus the invention of printing doomed the exclusive control of the Papacy over the minds of men. The rough-appearing book or tract, with ill-cut type and crude illustration, was none the less potent in awakening the minds of men. No longer could priests and scholars monopolize knowledge. The intellectual awakening passed from the scholar downward to the common man, until the whole intellectual life of Europe was revolutionized. ⁴⁵ PFF2 139.2

4. VERNACULAR BIBLES HIGH IN RISING TIDE OF BOOKS

Many German cities became centers of the new industry, with thousands of artisans in the printing field. From Mainz, the noble art was carried to other countries. By 1500 there were printing establishments in 220 places; ⁴⁶ cloisters and universities, such as the Sorbonne, had their own, and friars changed from scribes to printers. Wood cuts were used to interest the masses. ⁴⁷ It is estimated that 8,000,000 volumes had been printed and circulated by 1500. PFF2 139.3

Significantly enough, the first printed book of any size was the Bible, in 1456, followed by the earliest dated book—the famous Mainz Psalter—and the first dated Bible in 1462. ⁴⁸ In fact, the press was definitely enlisted for the production of vernacular translations of the Scriptures, many of these finding their way into the hands of those suspected of unorthodoxy. ⁴⁹ PFF2 140.1

Various editions of the Bible began to come forth-in German (1466), Italian (1471), Dutch (1477), French (1487), and Bohemian (1488). The Jews produced a complete edition of the Old Testament at Soncino in 1488. The Complutensian Polyglot was produced in 1514—containing the Old Testament in Hebrew, with the Chalder paraphrase of the Pentateuch, the Septuagint Old Testament, the Greek New Testament, and the Latin Vulgate. ⁵⁰ By 1500 there were ninety-eight full editions of the Latin Vulgate, ⁵¹ and by 1535 the Waldenses had availed themselves of the press for the production of the French Bible. PFF2 140.2

5. CENSORSHIP CONTROL SOUGHT OVER NEW INVENTION

It did not take the Papacy long to scent the potential trouble that printing had introduced. Censorship and an Index of Prohibited Books helped to counteract its perils, but much escaped, or defied, the most vigilant control. This began when Sixtus IV, as early as 1479, empowered the University of Cologne to proceed with censures against printers, purchasers, and readers of heretical books. In 1486 the archbishop of Mainz—where the Gutenberg Bible was produced-endeavored to establish a crude censorship against translations of the Bible into the vernacular. And Alexander VI took a more comprehensive step in 1501, when he declared that no book should be printed without preliminary examination and license, and existing books be inspected. In 1502 censorship was established in Spain. ⁵² PFF2 140.3

By the time of the Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1517), a decree by Pope Leo X was adopted (in session 10) calling for a board of censors for all books, the board consisting of the bishop of each diocese, and the local Inquisitor. ⁵³ In order to check the dissemination of heretical ideas, no printing was lawful without previous censorship and sanction by the pope’s Inquisitor of the district and the bishop, or the pope. ⁵⁴ Thus the battle lines were drawn for the impending Reformation conflict, as Rome sought to extend her repressive control over this new instrument of enlightenment and exposure that was destined to be so potent in the hands of the Reformers. PFF2 141.1