Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-12-04

northern Africa, however corrupt, remains
to testify to its ancient Bible. The "Old
ITALIA" was revised by foreign scholar and
adopted by foreign church.
Now the council of Carthage held in 395,
at which st. Augustine, the celebrated Afri-
can bishop, was the leading spirit, did just
what might have been expected of any
provincial council.
In SO far as the Eastern and Western ira
ditions supplemented each other they
united them, giving US the New Testament
as we have it to-day; but in so far as the
two traditions were contradictory they gave
the preference to their own province. But
in neglecting the Oriental tradition in re-
gard to the Apocrypha the council of Car
thage perpetuated the Alexandrian blundsr
and entailed upon the councils of Florence
and Trent an error which the dogma of in
fallibility has fossilized and made impos-
sible to correct.
When we hear the exalted claims of the
Roman vulgate let it ever be remembered
that this famous translation came not from
the Jordan but from the Nile, not from
Palestine but from Egypt.
The Roman Catholic prelate of st. Paul,
so famed for his acute dialetics, has boast
ed much of this council of Carthage. BE
would have US think that tbs testimony
of the early church in regard to the limits
of inspiration was completed by its action.
SIT was the council of Carthage" he says,
(which gave Protestants their Bible."' This
is very far from the truth. Carthage as
we have seen was Western council, pro-
vincial council, an African council. 1t had
no general authority whatever.
True it fixed the canon of the Roman vul-
gate, but in doing SO it fastened upon it
an Egyptian theory of inspiration which
| the Roman church has tacitly adopted in
| order to bolster up the pretensions of papal
infallibility. Following the Alexandrian
| formula that ''divine wisdom is subject to
no interruption in the constancy of its
| influence" the Roman church has decreed
that inspiration did not cease under the
| old dispensation with the prophets, nor
| under the new dispensation with the apos-
| ties, but that the successor of st. Peter
when he speaks &c cdthetirG has divine as
| sistance and can exercise the prophetic
gift as well as the naughty BALKAN, or that
wicked high priest who declared ''that one
should die for the people"
We turn now from tho history of the
Latin canon which has shown US as plainly
as possible the mistake into which the
Trentine fathers 50 naturally fell in regard
to the Apocrypha, to the history of the
Latin text.
The history of this text will shows us
quite as clearly the utter absurdity of the
Roman claim to such perfection as war
ranted the language of the Trentine decree.
The first translation of the Greek script
| ures into Latin took place as we have seen
in Africa. This version, commonly spoken
of as the Old italia, was transcribed and
| transplanted into Italy sometime during
| the third century. Who the transcribers
were no one knows, but of early transcript
| tons in general. st. Augustine makes this
damaging assertion, s'every one in the first
times of the faith who gained possession
of Greek manuscript and fancied that
he had any little acquaintance with both
Greek and Latin ventured to translate it."
The result of such undue zeal was Just
what might have been expected. 1t gave
| to the Western church great variety of
readings. Much distressed by the con-
fusion into which the Latin text had been
thrown, ST. Jerome in the early part of the
| fifth century undertook just what our mod
| ern revissrs have undertaken, namely,a re-
vision of the text.
He first corrected the Latin version of
the gospels by such Greek manuscripts as
| he could obtain, then he corrected the
Latin of the Old Testament according to
the best edition of the Septuagint that he
could find and finally encouraged by the
bishop of Rome, who as yet had put forth
no claim to infallibility, he went to Pales-
tine and entered on greater undertaking
of vast Importance for the ages which
were to follow, direct translation from
the Hebrew. It was Jerome's Hebrew
studies in Palestine which revealed to him
the blunder of the Alexandrine translators
in admitting the books of the Apocrypha
into the sacred canon. Those books he
regarded so lightly that he translated only
two of them, namely, Judith and Tebit,
giving to each single day. These labors
of Jerome and especially this opinion in
regard to tho Apocrypha excited great
odium against him. For there were then
as there are now many persons by whom
the reverence which regards Gods word
as sacred is ignorantly extended to the de-
fects of the versions which they had been
of the gospels had startled the faith of the
uninstructed- to improve on the Septua-
gint which was supposed to be itself in
opireu was IcSoIuCu DIS d OdA1uS 1uiPiCty.
One Rufinus 'sin the bitterness OF con-
troversy,'' it is said, denounced Jerome
for bringing the knowledge which he had
bought from Barrabbas of the synagogue
to disparage the books which the, apostles
had delivered to the church" Even Angus
tine became alarmed and dissuaded HIM
from prosecuting his task.
On account of this timidity of the
learned as well as the prejudice of the ig-
norant the Latin Bible as translated by
Jerome did no. find Immediate acceptance.
The Old italia was still read in the churches
and held the affections of the masses pre-
cisely as the King James version is read
to-day and will be read a long time de-
spite the late revision, on account of pop
ular affection.
But as time wore on and prejudices
wore of, the superior merits Of Jerome's
version began to be recognized. In the
fifth century it was adopted in Gaul. In
the sixth century it was received by Africa
and Britain. In the seventh century it was
received by Latin scholars everywhere.
In the eighth century it had quite sup
planted the ''Oid ITALIA From this time
without any direct ecclesiastical authority
it became the common version Of the
Western church.
But LAT II not ba tho,Jpht for q rnOnant