The Faith of Our Fathers

ch And T

een, is the only Divinely con

the divinely appointed Custodian and Interpreter of the Bible. For, her office of infa

's rule of faith, independently of the living authori

heir glory. It was their national song in time of peace; it was their meditation and solace in time of tribulation and

under penalty of [pg 078] death. "If thou perceive," says the Book of Deuteronomy, "that there be among you a hard and doubtful matter in judgment, ... thou shalt come to the Priests of the Levitical race and to the judge, ... and they shall show thee the truth o

lement of their controversies to the letter of the law, but to the living authority

ositaries of God's law, and were its expounders to the people. "The lips of the Priest shall keep knowledge, and

might have an opportunity of hearing the Scriptures? Did He command the sacred volume to be multiplied? No; but He ordered the Priests and the Levites to be distributed through the different tribes, that t

means; but He commands them to obey their constituted teachers, no matter how disedifying might be their private lives. "Then said Jesus to the multitud

and modern, express the verb in the indicative mood: "Ye search the Scriptures." At all events, our Savior speaks here only of the Old Testament because the New Testament was not yet written. He addresses not the multitude, but the Pharisees, who were the teachers of the law, and reproaches them for not admitting His Divi

He showed it [pg 080] First-By the testimony of John the Baptist (v. 33), who had said, "Be

racles which He

He said: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well

e unwilling to receive these three proofs, though they are most cogent, at leas

ng is not left to the private interpretation of every chance reader. It is, therefore, a grave pervers

the Bible, or by the living voice of His disciples? This is a vital question. I answer most emphatically, that it was by preaching alone that He in

ures already [pg 081] existing. When He sends them on their Apostolic errand, He says: "Go teach all nations."140 "Preach the Gospel to

ons or particular churches. They were written on the occasion of some emergency, just as Bishops issue Pastoral letters to correct abuses which may spring up in the Church, or to lay down some rules

he people were to be guided by a living authority, and

the dead letter of the law either in civil or ecclesiastical affairs. How are your civil affairs regulated in this State, for instance? Certainly not in acc

Christian. The Word of God, [pg 082] as well as the civil law, mu

of your preaching sermons and catechizing the young, if the Bible at home is a sufficient guide for your people? The fact is, you reverend gentlemen contradict in practice what you so vehe

lic, and will proceed to show him that he cannot consistently

d; for every part of the Bible is far from possessing intrinsic evidences of inspiration? It may, for ought you know, contain more than the Word of God, or it may not contain all the Word of God. We must not suppose that the Bible was always, as it is now, a compact book, bound in a neat form. It was for s

l, and what were apocryphal. Even to this day the Christian sects do not agree among themselves as to what books are to be accepted as genuine. Some Christians of continental E

The Books of Scripture were originally written in Hebrew and Greek, and you have only the translation. Before you are certain that the translation is fa

iged to receive it on the authority of the Catholic Church, who w

thful, still the Scriptures can never serve as a complete Rule of Faith and a

cs. It must be within the reach of everyone; it must be clear [pg 084] and intelli

saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth;"144 and therefore He must have placed within the reach of everyone the me

bout twenty years when St. Luke wrote his Gospel. And St. John's Gospel did not come to light till toward the end of the first century. For many years after the Gospels and Epistles were written the knowledge of them was confined to the churches to which they were addressed. It was not till the close of the fourth century that the Church framed

em in the Christian world, and these were in the hands of the clergy and the learned. "According to the Protestant system, the art of printing would have been much more necessary to the Apostles than the gift of tongues. It was well for Luther that he did not come into the world until a century af

ng through this country and England, and supported at enormous expense, it taxes all their energies to supply ev

ing our own age of boasted enlightenment, who are not accessible to the Bible because they are incapable of reading the Word

is full of obscurities and [pg 086] difficulties not only for the illiterate, but even for the learned. St. Peter himself informs us that in the Epistles of St. Paul there are "certain things hard to be understood, wh

ing asked by St. Philip whether he understood the meaning of the prophecy he replied: "How can I understand unless s

Bible a book full of knotty difficulties. And yet we find in our days pedants, with a mere smattering of Biblical knowledge, who see no

complete Babel. The sons of Noe attempted in their pride to ascend to heaven by building the tower of Babel, [pg 087] and their scheme ended in the confusion and multiplication of tongues. The children of the Reformation endeavored in their conceit to lead men to heaven by the private interpretation of the Bible, and their efforts led to the confusion and the multipl

nations. No one can deny that these divisions in the Christian family are traceable to the assumption of the right of private judgment. Every new-fledged divine, with a superficial education, imagines that he has received a call from heaven to

nation will assert on the authority of Scripture that infant baptism is not necessary for salvation, while others will hold that it is. Some Christians, with Bible in hand, will teach that there are no sacraments. Others will say that there are only two. Some will declare that the inspired Word does not preach the eternity of punishments. Others w

nt at Washington protesting against any interference with their abominable poly

ted authorities. No one in his senses would allow our laws to be interpreted, and war to be declared by sensational journals, or

h more dangerous is it to trust to contending captains in the journey to heaven! Nothing short of an infallible authority [pg 089] should satisfy you when it is a question of steering your course to eternity. On this vit

all the duties which he is obliged to practice. Not to mention other examples, is not every Christian obliged to sanctify Sunday and to abstain on that day from unnecessary servile work? Is not the observance of this law among the most prominent

mportant duties of religion which are not recorded by the inspired writers.150 For instan

not, at any time, be within the reach of every inquirer; because they are not of themselves clear and intelligible eve

ble! Good God! What monstrous ingratitude! What base calumny is contained in that assertion! As well might you accuse the Virgin Mother of trying to crush the Infant Savior at her breast as to accuse the Church, our Mother, of attempt

ok, who was to prevent her, during that long period, from tearing it in shreds and scattering it to the winds? She could ha

ry monument like the Pyramids of Egypt amid the surrounding wastes. That venerable Volume has survived the wars and revolutions and the barbaric invasions of fifteen centuries. Who re

Scriptures. Learned monks, who are now abused in their graves by thoughtless men, were constantly employed in copying with the pen th

show the pains which the Church has

ope Damasus commanded a new and complete translation of the Scriptures to be made into the Latin

le should see the light, this was a s

e most learned Hebrew scholar of his time. This new translation was disseminated thr

on found their way into these languages. The Venerable Bede, who lived in England in the eighth century, and whose name is profoundly reverenced in that count

ichard II., pronounced in 1394, praises her for her diligence in reading the four Gospels. T

e was an English version of the Scriptures, "by good and godly

were occasioned by the conduct of Wycliffe and his followers, who not only issued a new translation, on which they engrafted thei

well as the right of the Church, as the guardian of faith,

on, that the first edition of the Bible ever published after the invention of printing was the edition of Martin Luther. The fact is, that before Luther put his pen to paper, no fewer than fifty-six editions of the Scriptures had appea

ends the pious reading of the Holy Scriptures. A Pope's letter is the most weighty authority in the Church. You will also find in Haydock's Bible the l

that the Church, far from being opposed to the reading of

prised at witnessing on the shelves an imposing array of Bibles for sale. Up to that moment he had believed the

, not because my case is exceptional, but, on the contrary, because my example will serve to illustrate the system pur

f the Sacred Scriptures formed an important part of our education. We read, besides, every day a chapter of the New Testament, not standing or sitting, but on our knees, a

to a few verses, could tell from what portion of the Scriptures you were reading. The only dre

upwards of an hour each day to the perusal of the Word of God. I am not

u become a Catholic you will never be forbidden to read the Bible. It is our earnest

g