Charles Davidson — JEnglish Mystery Plays. 131 



rist. That this did not, however, become a fixed form within the 

 first century is evident, since The Teaching of the Twelve Apos- 

 tles, after the short outline of a service, adds "But permit the proph- 

 ets to give thanks in what terms they will,"^ and Clemens Romanus 

 (97 A. D.) exhorts the Corinthian Church to preserve due order and 

 unity, and makes mention of the Jewish system of priests and sacri- 

 fices as furnishing patterns for Christians to follow.^ Such instruc- 

 tions reveal the pervading influence of Jewish rites and the fluidity 

 of prevailing customs. 



The Church, however, was passing into the hands of the Greeks, 

 whose logical and artistic bent of mind sought immediate expression 

 in their adopted worship. There are many evidences to show that 

 the Greeks from the first sought to adorn and extend the ritual from 

 the stores of their own civilization. Dr. Schaff^ declares that " the 

 Hellenists were much more liberal than the Palestinian Jews. This 

 is evident in the whole Church at Antioch." To the Greeks, then, 

 must we look for the liberalizing of the provincial notions of the Jew. 



From such sources, combining Jewish and Grecian elements, the 

 Christian liturgy slowly grew up, until in 103 A. D. Pliny could 

 report* to the Emperor Trajan, on the testimony of renegade 

 Christians, 



That they had been acciistomed on a stated day to assemble before light, and 

 sing amongst themselves in turn a hymn to Christ as God, and to bind them- 

 selves by an oath not to commit any crime, but that they would not commit theft 

 or robbery or adultery, nor break their word, nor be false in that which was en- 

 trusted to them ; and that after this it was their custom to separate, and to 

 meet again to take a meal, but that it was in common and harmless. 



This report would seem to reveal to us a divided service ; in the 

 early morning a song service with a solemn oath before the day's 

 duties, and later the communion ; but we must remember that this 

 is the report of an outsider who may have understood the matter but 

 imperfectly. The Christians adopted fixed hours of prayer from the 

 Jews,^ one of which was in the early morning. It is quite possible 

 that Pliny confused the morning hour of prayer with the day serv- 

 ice. This seems the more probable, since thirty-six years later 

 (A. D. 139) Justin Martyr reports a much more developed service. 

 He says :" 



1 Burbidge, p. 20. 2 Burbidge, p. 5. 3 Solmll", vol. 1, p. 87. 



4 Burbidg-e, p. 2«. •''• Burbidge, p. 112, 6 Burbidge, p. 27. 



