The Portland daily press., 1897-06-21
REV. PAPINEAU.
The Episcopalians and the Bible So
ciety.


ciety.
The Oldtown Rector Defines His Position
with Some Remarks on the Protestant
Bible.
The following letter from the Rev. A
B. Papinean of Oldtown on the recent
action of the diocesan convention Of the
Episcopal church in relation to the Maine
Bible Society appears in Saturday
nights Bangor Commercial:
To the Editor of the Commercial:
When l first received your request to
write something for the Commercial with
reference to the numerous newspaper ar
ticles on my treatment of the agent OF the
Maine Bible society, my first impulse
was to say nothing whatever. And wish
it distinctly understood that what L am
about to write is not put forth as
defence of myself against any charges
that may have been made. l am not re-
Sponsible to the public or to the news
papers for my conduct as clergyman.
The bishop of Maine is the only. person
to whom I am responsible. The self
appointed judges who have been making
so much noise have never Ventured to
make complaint to the proper author1-
v. L
of the case that they have avoided the one
honorable course open to them and have
had recourse to gossip and insinuation.
write what follows to enlighten the
minds of many who are more or less in
terested in the Episcopal church and yet
who do not fully understand her doctrines
or methods or her official attitude toward
sectarian or the So-called sundenomina-
tional' societies.
wish to call attention to the following
facts:
l. The Maine Bible society has never
been Endorsed by the Episcopal church.
2. The officers of this society know per-
fectly well that they never could get any
such Endorsement
3. Hence they have never asked the
Episcopal church to indorse their society
until this year when the attitude they as
sumed before the public compelled them
to make what they knew was desperate
attempt.
4. The polite reply which the Episcopal
Diocesan convention voted to send them
has already been announced by the news
papers as an Endorsement, but no candid
person can call it such since the report Of
the committee which that message con-
tains distinctly states:
"While we recognize the fact that for
many years our parishes have been recip-
tents of the benefactions of societies in
our own church and therefore feel our
selves under obligations to send our con-
tributions to these societies. -
3. The majority of the clergy men pres
ent at this convention voted against send
ing the Bible society any reply at all.
e. The inference from the above facts
is plain. We have Bible societies of our
own. We prefer that our people should
support these.
I. We have never questioned the fact
that much good is done by religious socie
ties not recognized by the Episcopal
church, but believing as we do that we
can do all the good they do and do it bet
ter we are accustomed to use the offer
ings of our people in our own church's
work.
8. We are accustomed to attend strict
1y to our own affairs and expect others
to do the same.
9. We do not question for one moment
the rights of any Protestant society to
distribute Bibles, teach its doctrines, con-
denim and oppose the doctrines of the
Episcopal church, nor do we question
their right to call in the prosecution of
their work upon any of our people who
open their doors to them.
10. But when a society which has never
asked for nor obtained the approval of
the Episcopal church, tries to get a rector
to give an implied approval of its work
by sending to him its agent, with reports
and receipts for money contributed by
his parishioners-the society in question
(not its agent) is guilty of impertinence.
IL. No one would question my right
to distribute prayer books to every house
hold in Old Town that was willing to
receive one, or to ask everyone called
on for contributions to the funds of the
New York Bible and Common Prayer
book society. But if after having done
this I should call on the Protestant min
listers and hand them receipts of the
amounts their several f1ocks had contri-
buted l should expect the rebuff such i'm
pertinence would justify.
Now a word about the protestant
Translation of the Bible.'' The Catholic
translation of the Bible into English is
the King James version. 1t does not
claim to be absolutely perfect, but it is
the most faithful translation that has
ever been made. 1t does not twist and
turn words to favor the doctrines of any
particular denomination. This is the
only translation of the Bible authorized
by the Church of England and the Epis-
copal church of this country.
Protestants, however, have made vari-
Gus changes. Somtimes they publish ii
without the Apocrypha, still calling
it the King James version. More often
they put the imprint of some Bible soci-
ETY. on the title page and leave out words
to suit themselves. have not space here
ting ''immerse'' for 'baptize' will suffice
for an example. Now by protestant
Bibles I mean Bibles which have been
tempered with in this way. 1t is probab.
~ true that some of these changes are of
slight importance, but the fact that
Protestant Bible societies have made
changes in the past justifies the suspicion
that at any time new editions OF the Bible
may be offered to the public without
warning. Every man who buys Bible
cannot stop to compare it from beginning
to end with the authorized version. Il
may interest my readers to know that
some years ago several of the bishops Of
the Episcopal church made vigorous
protest against these departures from
King James's version, as mischievous
and uncalled for. Their voices had so
much weight that large publishing firms
declined kto publish these improved e,
Bibles.
Now final word about the term
protestant Episcopal church, Every
well informed man knows that the
Episcopal church is not Protestant il
the sense that word is used by the SC
called Protestant denominations. 1t il
true that we do protest against certain