The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-03-27

the Inspiration of the Bible that it was
the doctrine of the Primitive Church.
THY believe her to have been infallt.
BILE. That is, she was infallible till she
became corrupt and began to teach or-
rcr. In palmer words, her infallibil'ty
consisted in this, that she could nc.
teach error till she did teach, error
all infallibility to which most men
could lay claim. Another body appes is
to the agreement of all Christian
Churches as the ground Of that belief.
That agreement. when we ask what it
is in the concrete. we find in the wor Is
Of a hampton lecturer to be like TIE
wind of which thou nearest the sound,
but canst not tell whence it comcth
~ whittier it goeth." shall not g 'e
you my opinion Of these various at
tempts to state the ground of heir be-
lief in the Inspiration of Scripture. Let
me cite for you the opinion of one who
is not a Catholic, but who has rep"
tation for clear, logical thinking. "r[
III three days of anxious and inevitable
thought. no surer ground than
this for continuance in Christian
faith is offered we may surely
say The hungry sheep look up and are
not fed Their insufficiency COT these
erounds) consisted in the fact ttat
even if we started with assuming them
to be true they would in the first plaL C
lltify our assumption by being logi-
cally inconsistent with themselves, and
in the second place would be entirely
unable to lead us to the conclusion we
oesiderate." Hence we fail to get no:.
only a true but even logically con-
sistent answer from those bodies whey,
we put them the simple question, "Why
do you believe the Bible is irspired7"
What answer does the Catholic
Church give her children and these
outside her fold to that same question: !:
1t is no new answer. 1t is not an an
swer she has continually to remoulG
and re-fashion. 1t Is the answer she
gave centuries ago, it is the answer
she gives today, it is the answer she
will ever give. She. says to all: u
am q living teacher. T am the sarle
Church who speaks to you today as
the Church who spoke on tho day OF
Pentecost. To my custody was the err
tire body Of revealed doctrine commit
ted by Christ and His Apostles. l:
constituted what I call my loctrinal
mind. I kept those doctrines and ap-
pretended them and pondered over
them. In the custody of those revea! ed
doctrines, in keeping them pure and
free from all taint Of error, the Spirit
them I was, and am, infallible by tho
gift of Him who was my Founder. A
part of that revealed truth was Goes
testimony that the documents which ]
afterwards gathered together. and
which now are known as Scripture
were indeed inspired, were tine very
words Of Cod" There is the answer OF
the Catholic Church. shall not give
you Catholic criticism of that answer
but the opinion Of one who is not a
Catholic, who was brought up in sur
roandings giving him every facility to
know the religious tenets Of the Egg
iish Church--a man eminent as clear
subtle thinker. In one Of his lates:
works Mr.. Mallock says: "rhere is
one body of Christians, and it is oldcr
and incomparab1y more numerous thai,
any of those other Christian bodies
distinguished from it, which does give
to those questions a distinct and CO.
herent answer which has ever beer
given or attempted-the answer of tire
Church Of Rome. The fact. therefore,
that Rome is provided by the Roman
theory with a teaching authority
Which it never has lost, or will loce
which is living today as on the day cf
the first Council, which is as ready to
meet the scientific discoveries of The
future as it ever was to meet the phil
osophic thought of the past, and which
is destined perhaps, to unfcid us q
Lody of Christian doctrine wider AMI
deeper even than that which II has un-
folded and defined already: the fact
that Rome is provided with an author
ity of this undestructible kind is the
feature by which that Church is most
clearly known to be the only Chrstip1
be dy still possessing the means of pre-
senting Christian doctrine to the mod
ern world as a body Of truths support
ca by a system of definite proofs. and
destined, like other truths. to develop
as knowledge widens." There is t:,e
opinion of one who is regarded as one
Of the keenest thinkers Of modern
times. To avoid Misunderstanding
may / put what have said briefly: