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

"A Thesis IN Reply TO B1ShOp Ifelanu--Ser
mon by Rev. DIR. r. :. Thorn rs, of st
Paul's Episcopal Church, Last Evening.
Rev. E. S. Thomas, rector of st. Paurs
{EpiscopaD church, commenced his series
of lectures last evening, being the first OF
his Advent course, his subject being the
ssLatin Vulgate," or thesis in reply to
Bishop Ireland. Notwithstanding the in.
clemency of the evening an audience
which fairly filled the spacious auditorium
of the church assembled to hear the lecture
of the learned speaker. The GLOBE this
morning affords its audience of thousands
an opportunity to read the full text of the
lecture, which as as follows:
Is tie Tmlgatc InfaUibic:
THESIS.
The Roman Catholic church in defining
by its Trentine decree concerning the
canonical scriptures that the old Latin
vulgate edition of the Bible entire, with
all its parts as has been used to be read in
the Catholic church is sacred and canoni-
cal, has ceased to be faithful CONSERVATION
of holy scri pture, has committed herself
to all the mistakes and interpretations of
the past and has bid defiance to Christian
scholarship.
To this thesis, announced in the public
press more than year ago, it was my in
tention to have spoken last winter, but
owing to continued i'll health it has been
postponed to the present time.
Meanwhile DR.. Ireland, the bishop CO.
adjutor of st. Paul, has seen fit to refer
to this announcement in published PAM
phlet entitled s'The Apostolic Church. in
the following words: "You are aware that
an esteemed clergyman!of st. Paul has
promised lecture to prove that while
scripture was originally inspired, no in
SEPARATION or infallibility has attached to the
transcripts of the first records of scripture.
A lecture on this subject is not needed, as
in the present state of biblical chaos into
which the Protestant world is thrown it is
but too evident that no one, separating
himself from the guidance of the Catholic
church, knoaUs acith certainty what is or
what is not genuine part of scripture. -
The assumption is here made that the
Roman Catholic church knows with GER
tainty what is or what is not genuine
part of scripture, while the remainder of
the Christian world is in a state of help
less uncertainty. Now what is the ground
on. which this Roman gertrude rests? Why
is this claim SO positively made?
Because, forsooth of another claim con-
tinually asserted but never proved, namely
that the Roman church is infalli-
BILE. Therefore, when the council of Trent
which then voiced the Roman church, (for
at that time it had not been discovered that
the pope of Rome was the mouthpiece OF
infallibility) declared that the commonly
received vulgate "entire," with all its
parts" was sacred and canonical, it was an
infallible utterance, an utterance which
the church itself had no power to withdraw
or change. An uttsrance as immutable
as the word of revelation. From that
moment no Romanist has had the intellect
ual right to doubt that the vulgate as COM
monty used in the days of the Trentine
council ''entire," that is every book and
every chapter of the same, with all its
parts" that is, every verse, every clause,
every word, and for aught know for de-
crees must be privately interpreted) every
letter of the same is sacred and canonical.
This, then, is the position in which Rome
by virtue of her dogma sof infallibility
finds herself to-day. She is bound, no mat
ter what in the meantime has been dis
covered or in the future may be discovered,
to reiterate this old rusty decree, namely,
that every word of the vulgate from Gen
esis to Revelations, including the Apocry-
pho, is sacred and canonical, and this dec
laration is made under anathema.
Now the thesis to which I would speak is
this, that church which has stultified it.
self by an unchanable decree like this has
ceased to be a faithful conservator of holy
scripture
It is one of the most sacred Offices of
that church which is ''the pillar and ground
of the truth" not only to make the canon
of scripture, that is to decide what is and
what is not a part of the inspired volume,
but to preserve that canon from every pos
sible blunder of transcription by means of
her Christian scholarship. If, therefore,
some branch of the Christian church in hot
haste or ignorance has set up an erroneous
text as the infallible standard of holy writ
and has so guarded its action as to render
it impossible for the mistake ever to be
corrected, she has thereby committed an
act of ecclesiastical suicide. In so far
as the conservation of the holy scriptures
is concerned she has become schismatic,
she has destroyed one of the notes of true
CdInOl]ClSHl. FOr DO IL ever FoIneIHDereu
that one of the worst forms of schism IS
that which cuts itself away from the Catholic
church by an act of deliberate usurpation.
As Firmiblan said in regard to his promuI-
gated communication by Stephen, sin
attempting to cut off another from the full
life flow of the Catholic church Rome has
simply cut off herself"
Now it is this, precisely this, which pro-
pose to show that Rome has done by means
of her Trentine decree. She has forfeited
her right either to guard or interpret reve@
lation by setting up under anathema an
erroneous canon and an impure text as the
infallibIe word of God.
make two specifications. First, the
council of Trent erred in determining the
books of the Bible. She destroyed without
even an assigned reason the distinction
which the Hebrew church has ever main
tanned between books cauonlcaI and books
apocryphal. Second, the council of Trent
erred in determining the correct text of
the Bible. She declared the ''old vulgate
edition" Of the Bible was ''authentic'' with
out any qualification whatever, although
at the time there was no standard copy in
existence.
Under the first specification we make
these serious counts against the Roman
church, namely, that she has imposed upon
A., am "a of bor OrprpupioD a Sacrad