The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-03-15
-fi,e Rule of Faith Concluded.

fhe Rule of Faith Conciuded.
Of We haye seen that it is impossible for an
man to acquire complete certainty, eithe
i by private study or by private authorit
: about the canon of the Scriptures, and there
fore, in the system Of private Interpretation
the Bible is not only a dead letter, hat evei
a perfect blank, in which it is impossibl
to prove that one single verse is inspired.
i But if it be utterly impossible, without "a
infalible authority, to ascertain the inspired
character of any book, studied in the ori
ginal and native language Of its author, tn,
impossibility, if we may say SO, becomes
far greater when applied to translation o
the book. Was the translator inspired o.
nots II he was himself inspired as well o.
the original author, how can we know it, %,
that we may rely with complete certitud,
on his translation If he was not inspired
how can we know for certain that his trans
lation is faithful and correct, and gives on
purely and sincerely the genuine word o
God? -,
There are, comparatively, very few WIKI
4 can read the Scnptural books in Greek anG
Hebrew, and compare the translation with
the original text And even those who
could do it, could acquire by that means
nothing more than a natural certainty Of
the correctness of the translation. But q
| natural certainty does not give sufficient
ground to supernatural belief, such as
is faith. AS to those who cannot attend to
such studies, they would be compelled to
rely for the correctness of the translation
on the authority of learned men, that is, on
human authority, which, as we have seen,
can never be sufficient ground to our faith.
AS to us Catholics, we do not meet with
such impossibilities. The Catholic Church
having pronounced, with her systematically
infallible authority, that the Latin transla-
ton, commonly called the Vulgate, is cor
rect; we rely on that decision of the Church
with complete and supernatural certainty.
And the TRANSACTIONS in modern languages
are not accepted by Catholics, unless they
be authorized by the sanction of the bisllops.
and implicitly recognized by the Church, at
least by a tacit liberation. Such is the trans
latlon universally made use of by Catholics
OF the English language, and commonly
called the Douay Bible.
Now, we come to the great practical diff
Guilty of the Protestant system. If the Bible
be, by itself, the only rule of faith, then the
reading of the Bible will he absolutely ne
cessary to all men. But what will become
OF those who are not able to read9 viii
Protestants say that others will read the
Bible to them? Such substitute cannot do
Men who must judge for themselves and by
themselves, must also read for themselves
and by themselves; otherwise, they will
have nothing to rely upon but the truthful
ness OF the reader,-that is, human ar-
thority, at which Professionals are stumbling
at every step, since they have rejected the
infallible authority of the Church, which
alone can be the basis of true faith.
When st. Paul says: +" Faith then cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of
Christ he does not speak of the word of
Christ read, but of the word of Christ heard.
as 1t is evident from the preceding verses
=" How then shall they call on him, in whom
they have not believed 2 Or how shall they
believe him, of whom they have not heard 2
And how shall they hear, without a preacher?
And how can they preach, unless they be
sent p In this important text st. Paul does
not speak in the le;ist of reading the Bible.
And -fretestants, when they say that faith
cometh by reading, give the lie to st. Paul.
who says, on the contrary, that faith cometh
by hearing those who are sent, that is, who
have authority to eNpound and to explain
the word of God.
but let us come to stern and undeniable
facts, which are, in many cases, the most
powerful argument. 1t is so plain that the
Scripture alone cannot be the only rule of
faith, that Professionals themselves, by an in