Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-01-08
The ApOcrgypha.

The Roman Catholic church, in defining
I by the 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 canon
ical, has ceased to be faithful conserva-
tor of the holy scripture, has committed
herself to all the mistakes and interpola-
tions of the past, and has bid defiance to
| Christian scholarship.
Bishop Ireland, in replying to my lee
ture, says: "The thesis is very clearly
stated, and nothing is needed, confess,
but the proof of the premises to blow into
minute fragments the citadel of the Gath
olio church and to explode forever her
dogma of infallibility. Has Mr.. Thomas
proved his premises? Hoe opus hic Ia
bor."
The premises to which the bishop refers
are two:
First-That the council of Trent erred
in pronouncing the Apocrypha sacred and
canonical."
Second-That the council of Trent erred
in pronouncing the old edition of the val
gate authentic"
1t was the object of my first lecture to
prove these premises, and the object has
certainly been accomplished if 1 may
judge from the meagerness, yet voluble as
sum ption of the bishops reply. The only
legitimate arguments which he advanced
in behalf of the canonicity Of the apocry-
pha were we'll known to me and were fully
considered before fashioned my thesis.
His admission in reply to my second
specification, that the 'vulgate may
| be revised even in minor mat
ters Of no substantial Importance"
was great surprise, nor can reconcile it
either with the language of the decree or
the stalwart delamations of the bishop.
The defense OF Bishop Ireland takes
| two grounds: First, he denies the correct
ness of my Interpretation OF conciliar Ian
guage. He seems to think that Protestant
divines have very little ability and few
rights in this direction; and secondly, ne
opposes my allegation in regard to the
Apocrypha. Anticipating the first defense,
selected the full and careful definition of
the council of Trent as the basis Of my
thesis. Rome, when pressed by
advancing scholarship, has a
way of whiting down her DEGREES
to keep abreast Of that very sienoe which
she affects to despise. do not blame
her for this. 1t shows desire to return
the confidence of her disciples even at the
expense of the dogma of infallibility. The
| fathers of the Roman church will never al
low cher citadel to be blown into freg-
/ ments" by defending to the lotter any de-
| cree 80 evidently at fault as the council of
Trent.
The decree had not been promulgated q
| single century before tho scholars Of the
Roman church began to undermine and
invalidate its language.
It would seem that there could be no
| mistaking language so fully and clearly
| expressed as the following: "Hasc ipsa
| vetus ct vulgata editio pro a1shsntiea ha-
bsatur."
''This very edition, the oldssvulgass, s.nust
eheld as authentic"
After such a declaration the direction
ITO print as correctly as possible" would
hardly imply the right to change and cor
rect.
And yet Sixtus v. interpreted the decree
80 loosely that he made 5000 changes, and
changes not only Of single words bat Of
entire clauses and sentences extending
sometimes to whole verse.
No wonder that such temerity, after the
stringent decree of Trent was met With an
outcry from the people! No wonder that
the edition had to be recalled, and to save
the honor Of the council as we'll as the pope
a new edition put forth which restored in
great measure the old readingsi
The Latin word aUthsnticos 10 one OF
the strongest and most anwsyering
of Roman iurisprudence-an a~thentieAsn
testimentun-an authentic testament or
will, was either the original will or one
that conformed to the original will in
every particular. An authentic document
would scarcely be one which contained
5000 mistakes!
Cardinal Manning hnds the pressrs Of
this strong conciliar word go uncomforte-
BILE that he tries, at great length, to sum-
marize its meaning.
He says Authenticity may be intrinsic
or eItrinsio"
Intrinsic authenticity signifies that the
writing is original and in the hand Of the
writer. Extrinsic authority is the external
evidence by which the intrinsic authority
is established.
Authenticity, he says, is again
divided into absolute and Tetdttoe.
Absolute authenticity signifies conformity
with the original, both in matter and form.
Relative authenticity signifies conformity
as a whole, but not to the exclusion of
lesser faults and defects. "Theologians
of great weight" he adds, "intsrpret the
declaration to signify that the authsntiei-
ty is not absolute extending to
jots and TITLES, but relative OF respective,
extending to the substance and all the
chief parts Of the text" That Cardinal
Manning agrees with the Interpretation of
these weighty theologians, (for confessedly
there are two interpretations Of this decree
among Catholic theologians theRselves,)
is evident from the following words: "The
church has hitherto only dslassd the yul-
gate to be authentic, and that as
Ii have said with the
relative or respective authenticity which
does not exclude the errors Of troHsIatsrs
or traHscribers."
Such bare faced carving down of
good honest Latin word I never before
met. It shows to what desperate straits
great Roman scholar has been forced by
the logic of facts.
A similar history attaches 80 another
word of this remarkable Trentine decree. L
! refer to the adjective conontcoI.
Its meaning has been unsettled but IN a
4 rwoUIH ha