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

pope threatens to recall it, and a third
pope, influenced by the shrewd advice of a
famous French divine, makes an ingenious
compromise, really undoing the work of
Sixtus, and yet protesting to correct the
mistakes of printers.
And this SiXtUS Clementine edition.
born as it was in artifce and nursed in
falsehood, is the standard text of the Ro-
man Catholic church to-day. This, for
sooth, is the old Latin vulgate which salts
fies the Trentine decree! This is sacred,
canonical, and alone authentic!
1 will not pause here to show how later
Catholic theologians like Cardi-
nal Manning have tried to white
down the force of this decree,
for the Roman Catholic bishop of st.
Paul has no sympathy with this apologetic
attitude. He is a stalwart of the rarest
sort. He believes that every chapter and
every verse of the Sixtus-C lementine
vulgate is sacred and canonical. He de-
fsnds interpretations which have been pro-
nounced such by the best scholarship of
the world. Even the old Jewish supersti-
ton that an angel stirred the water at
Bethesda's pool, he defends with zeal
If Bishop Ireland believes with Cardinal
Manning that there are uncertainties in the
text' of the standard vulgate, and there
fore that revision of that text is matter
entirely consistent with the Trentine decree.
he could not, without laying himself
open to the charge of playing
the demagogue, declaim so strenuously
against the recent revision of st. James
%Lo
world is thrown thereby into state Of
biblical chaos"
No, Bishop Ireland believes in the au-
thenticity of the vulgate. He accepts the
decree as it reads. He never would say
that authenticity, as used by Trent, is ''rel
alive" and consistent with uncertainty ANY
more than he would say that canonicity is
relative and consistent with doubt, as he
believes that the church can never remove
the Apochrapha from the canon of the vul-
gate. So he believes that the church, after
the Trentine decree, can never remove ''ths
three witnesses" or the ''angel of Bethesda
from the commonly received text. In
other words, he believes that tho text, as
well as the canon of the vulgate, is ire
formable.
The origin and history of the
vulgate, as above given, has
proved beyond a peradventure our two
specifications. It has shown that the
Trentine decree, in regard to the canenic.
al books of scripture, was incorrect, mas
much As it has admitted into the catalogue
of inspired writings certain books which
tho Palestlnlan Jews never received, and
that it, decree in regard to the authsntici.
ty Of tho old vulgate text is broad def
ancs Of Christian scholarship.
And now, having shown these two speci-
fications of error to be true, I hold that
my thesis is proved, namely, that the Ro-
man Catholic church has ceased to be q
faithful conse'-rator Of holy scrip
turc, for she has made mis-
takes and refused to correct them.
Before the council of Trent I do not
accuse Rome of any wilful delinquency
Tho admission of the Apochrapha into the
canon was grave mistake, but it was at
first the mistake of ignorance.
The scholarship of the church and g.
pscially the influence of Jerome was
thrown to the side of truth. But such
was the prejudice of long usage, that il
was Impossible to get the majority vote of
any Western council to remove it.
So far IS the preservation of tho sacred
tsxt was concerned, Rome did her duty as
we'll as could be expected when every
Bible was copied in manuscript. The
wonder is not that there are some mistakes
but that the mistakes are so few.
Ny chief and only charge Sc
far IS the Bible is concerned, in
regard to the Roman church, grows out of
her claim to infallibility, for do not be-
leieve, and, SO far as have been able to
examine the subject, have I found any
cause to believe that any part of tho Chris
tian church has wilfully interpolated the
scriptures.
But for the infallible decree of Trent
the canon and text of the vulgate would
have been open for correction, as it had
been for more than thousand years, and
Rome might have continued to claim her
full share in the privilege of guarding and
keeping the oraclss of God.
But now she has forfeited that right, for
she has deliberately closed an erroneous
canon and adopted faulty text. She has
put the seal of infallibility upon Apochra-
pha, and compels the church to receive as
authentic many verses and clauses of the
vulgate, which originated by some annota-
ton or fault of an ignorant or over Jealous
transcriber.
It is fact,as sure as it is solemn, that the
keeping of the Bible, henceforth, is in the
hands of the historic churches, other than
the Roman Catholic. Rome's work, in this
regard, is done. She has made her final
utterance. She cannot change that utter
ance without destroying the highest claim
to Catholic faith. If we are to have rigid
~ pure text-a text that viii defy the most
avh oucfivQ PrItiPjSm IL TnuSt from
those branches of the Christian church
which have not stultified themselves by
any DEGREES Of conciliar or papal infalii-
bility.
The Prince Of Wales' Medicine.
From London Truth.
The other day, during the pheasant
shooting in the Due d'Aumale's park at
Chantilly, the following anecdote was re-
counted: Last year, in the course of bat
tue, one OF the members of the party I'M
luckily happened to wound, very slightly