The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1910-05-21
THE BOOKS OF GOD.

The scholarly presentation by Bishop Grimes of
the mind of the Catholic Church towards the Bible,
and which lately appeared for some weeks In serial
form in The Intermountain Catholic invited careful
reading for it gave a lucid and fairly exhaustive
statement of the Catholic position on the inspiration
and canonicity of the Sacred Scriptures The Old
and the New Testaments considered simply as pro-
auctions of the human intellect, are unlike anything
the world has yet offered us. There is nothing in
any literature that can compare with the prophe-
cies of Isaas and the writings Of Ezechiel in maj
esty of conception in nobility of diction, in force
and felicity of expression In beautiful simplicity
of language, in compact and portable thought, IN
subimity of conception, they above human eff
fort They are the productions of minds infinite In
ability and capacity, with wonderful vocabulary,
and the apprehension or imagination of divinity.
They are the conceptions of accomplished intel
ects of minds trained in the school Of human
perience and of souls brought up to companionship
with God and the creations of God. They are the
conceptions of meditative men, profound in pllilos
ophy and suggesting the deep student Of first prin-
ciples; in history reminding of historians, who,
in analyzing the events Of the ages, pursue
course of philosophy; of men versed in the expert
ences of their times and familiar with the sources
and springs of human passions, They were artif
icers in words and wrought such beautiful things
that after thousands of years, they yet impress the
memory and are held in affection to this day.
But the whole Bible so little regarded outside
the Catholic Church in our time, is, from Genesis
to Apocalypse the grandest of all books in force
funess in direction, lofty and unaffected phrase
ology, in sincerity and in almost entire freedom
from rhetorical faults, in entire absence of all strain
ing after effect and artificial ornament, the great
est production of the human intellect the world has
ever seen or is ever likely to
Shakespeare, who, humanity speaking was per-
haps the greatest intellect that ever shone upon
earth, drew the inspiration for many Of his strik
ing analogies from the Sacred Scriptures, and his
style of expression was founded on these wonderful
writings.
All this every scholar outside the unalterable
Church of God admits 1t is when we come to the
question, "Has God spoken to men in the Old and
New Testaments7" that the way diviIes Protest
ant ministers and Protestant critics of the Sacred
Writings now refuse to admit that the voice of the
Bible is the Voice of God.
But the Old Testament reveals the belief of its
writers when they assure us ''God spoke to Abra-
Hanl, uou feVealeo hlnlselI unUo moses, and IN
the New Testament on the very first page, the same
belief is confessed in the words, "The Word of God
to John" Did these holy lie, and did they
determine to perpetuate lie? No one who believes
in God may deny that revelation was possible, for
God is almighty. revelation also was probable, for
it is natural and necessary for man to communi-
cate with man, so it was reasonable that as God, by
the Incarnation, has mans nature, God would wish
to communicate with man. A revelation from God