, 1880-10-24

! pinchtng, but ho finally reduced them to twe'
I tytwo.
| I cannot take any more time. to speak Of II
] early canUuS OF tho Church-alth0uKh l. nj
not half exhausted them; and to show eve
now how faiatly tho subject has been prescnte
compared with what tho facts will warr"nt, tak
k.the eptstlc to thc Laodicea!'s, which t'as nc
lnby some Ms much tue Worl Of Cod ms M
epist!e. The first trace Of it Is in the siSt
Il circulation tWestcott Hist Canon. 4ss1. Il VA
hserocd to Paul, for 1t begins Us his eplstcs dt
asui; an apostle ,tt not Of men, 1n hrofhro nor Q
fthat be i ut Laodicc, Eruco to YOU. ett
f33regory the Great 1T the close OF the stxt
'seatury said that Paul wrote it; Alfrsc, Aohot
Of Cernc, $50 4. D., declared 1t WIS one OF Paul.
eRlstIes: John of Salisbury. l1sQ \. D., said
WA written by Paul; it Is in tue specs:!tn1, pub
hshcd o. NM: and tn the manuscript ot tne vai
+! gate vt La tavil. Abour the sixth century i
I was given place iii the manuscrlpt or u
4Latin New Testament. and from that time It /
xery often found in Western manuscripts of 4 tn
FRiblc. 1t WIS In tho great Gothic Nible of 10
hlcdo in tho eighth century; in Chnrle,nagne
Einible, in the British Museum. Of the nintt
century; III the greut Bible OF tho Kings librar,
}ltponrently intended for church use; and It
many other magnificent Bibles. {Wcstcott, Hist
l'Eanor, 4ss'> Fourteen editions Of one or moro
itisrmaq versions are said to havo ~ been printes
I!Bibt N4sS). and is in the Aloiyc!lsan version Il
shyons Yer where is it now7 Did the reader
} EScT aElfT III IL before?
+, cWc come to the time Of the Reformation
Luther clatmed the right Ut private 1nterpreta,
ton, anu Made other, and fur that TING, unusual
Eaemands concerning the Bible, and he was R SC
IlpowcrfulIy sustained by the North. that tho
Cnthoiic Church found it necessary to tahc the
whole Bible Question III hand. settle it once for
hti, anu put an cnd to indtvlduals having any
! thing to do with it, as had been the case. The
Church hau, during past centuries, grown moro
and more restrictive, and nor It's demands cul-
minated in one final act. Tho Council of Trent
In u nj ffl1E Nf
'the canon Feb l., i54G. 1t was discussed III nll
Its bearings, and in all its relations to Luthcr's
movement There we're fur factions striving
to have as many different, views adopted, and
they had 70 compromise. They did so. and on
AErll s, l510, this dccrce was ntnpted:
- The Holy Ecumenical and General Council
Trent. following the examples Of tho
oil tho books OF tho Old and Now Testn-
@ss ersforc to The annex Synod 9o t9Sns1 Ss eep
cntaloe Of the Sacred Books, lest any doubt
might 9rise. concerning those that were
approved OF. They arp the following ithen fol-
-Cathoi!c bible tU-tlhya Now. if amy one reading
over these books in all their parts. as they arc
'suaily ~ al, rent in the cahos Church and being
the1n Tor Sacred and canonical t:bserxe. "ca-
n%ica not ,inspirea ana snowng tho
demn them. let him be annthema-
and that Is where tho doctrine began that we
must believe the Bible or be damned. Just
thsn one thousand i've hnndrsd u M i;.a Years after after
Jesus Christ w.,s dead. the superstition arose.
.il Mark 1t; That is the bcEinn[ns Of the whole
iassf u asptraon M Tor Auiso is seids %s mo- 70
the authority Of tradition, ruu1or, hearsay; nnd
gtssip aud inspiration do not always agree. aud
ao tH, Tue , ht established this
This intal deeree-in which the Council, ha-
rassed by the fenr of luy critics and xrattnarns,
cnno1l-,vas r:itftied by tifty-teSco prelates,
among whom there was noe one scholar DIS
ttngu.shcd for historical learning, mot onc who
Of Il subject in which the truth could only be de-
tcrlIllned by the voice of antiquity. tWestcottr
Ihut IS the character Of tho men who declared
thnr their work was the work Of God. For, re-
member, the buoks which are III tue Cuthoic
Bible arc not books which God said should be
there but whlth these men said should be.
The Protestant Church vent further, 1t had
to. The cathdtc Caurch bud the prestige OF
antiquity and ot tett,g considered tho only true
Church of God, and 1t threatened with eternal
damnatton every nl1u who followed Luther. |
The masses of the people in the North, ignorant
and .Grcdulols, were naturally terrified and
md Calvin md the refurucrs had To insist that |
tue Bible was inspired. and that it, and not the |
Church. was the sole source of authority: This |
answer b. e the aSsndrs 81 IT arerf
Armies sscnr across tho fuce Ut Europe, and it |
VAS amid the lt'sr of cannon, the shock OF |
oA1AllEt AlAu tut cua}Ehs VI t11E Q3llE kl1l INC
doctrine Of the Divine and iniallible Inspiration
3f tho Bible grew::I That this is st that tho
loctrine arose withtnen who were in the highest
'tate Of excitement. read this creed, adopted
y the Calvinist churches OF Switzerland in lG15:
Almighty God nst only promises that His
y ord, which iS power 70 every one who be-
vnlched over il viii falheriy circ up to the
,rese, time, and guarded lest it might he cor
u;tcd by tho cl-lfrbr SAt,,n or ahy fraud Of
nan. Thus the Hebrew volume OF the |
Nd Testament, which we huVe received from /
be tradition uf the Jewish church, to which |
tho 0racles If GUu were committed, |
nd which we retain at the present day, buth iu |
Is consa,ints and ia its v0wels tte grin: rerxc-
4 mimi that the ancient Hebrew lafguage had
o yowels). the points themselves, or ut least tho
0rce uf tne points, and both III Its substance |
n IN ,ts tax 95s , h. nvnsl{ aspire 50 that TO-
the single ulld unEOrrupteu rule OF our filth |
nd life, by whose standard, us t,y Il touch t
r Western, must be tried, and wherever they
ury lie made .cohfOrmable to it. (Niemeycr,
OIL Confess. p. 1911
- most Of tue 'evnngelical., churches are
alrfnastic their belief OF The Bible was shaped, |
course. by the Citvin5tic councils; and sumo |
ca who read this article can remember the |
me when they held this view Of the Bible. l
ever dreamed nf such belief. It did not orig
Atc TIL the Reformation.
The Protesthrts had son1e difficulty IN decid- |
Z on canon. however. Calvin .lil not believe t .
at Puui was the author Of Hebrews. buc he eac-
.pted it Us authoritative. Erasmus denied its
iuline authorship, aud Luther did the same
ling. Luther called james I'LL epistle ct straw.
Id said it had no character OF the Gnspel in it.
lde, he said. was compilation from other
orGs. He rejected Revelation, and placed it,
lth the epistlts referred to, in Rn appendix at
Q end OF his E;bte. But finally tho Westusin-
cr Assembly, in lGi7, adopted IL list which has
nee been accepted by the PresbytetiHTs of En- t !
and. ireland. aud America, the Congregation
S OF both countries. and. i'll short, |
tho Protestant orthodox and eyansclic-
churches with which We come in contact
our daily life. 1t is IN the famous NestGnin-
er Confession. and is the same Us the Catholic )
t, except that the assembly threw out the Old | =
~ time printed In Protestant Bibles In an |
pendix to the Ole Testament, but in lSiU the
',eriean and Fs,reiga bible Society decided i
1t II would no longer do 50, and thus it was =,
It our bible received its finishing touch us it
nds to-day.
rhe reader has here, in as brief q manner as it r
8 possible to stnte it, how the Bible came to u
considered the Word Ut God. THE idea OF the
sinc origin Of the hooks did NOT come with
books; it followed rs an aftcrthnught; keep +
It in mind. The orthodox scht'lnrs admit this =
G first idea, then. was Ut "CanOnicfty-"-tMt ;, =
what bouks should be read i'll the churches. =. :.
e idea Of inspiration was inlcfnlt Ana hhzy. &
re like our idea of the inspiration OF Long 81
low and Bryant. The Bblc WAS made up "
the Fathers, and each put in whnt
liked and left out what he liked. In
nobody callcd him Il hereto because be did in
out the. fourth century councils Of the &
lrch took the list In hand. and they ttnkercti h: