Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-11-27

!. DISCUSS BIBLE

AtlICuut VI Liz 4ChlHOllC SHuiCII "
wards the Bible" The speaker said
in part. "The teaching Of Christ Is
the essence of christianity, whether
it be written down or taught by
word of mouth. The new testament
contains the written record of the
sayings and doings of Christ. It is
not exhaustive of Christ's teachings
even according to one Of the evange.
lists. However, what it teaches is
inspired. God is it's author, being
written down under the guidance and
inspiration Of the Holy Spirit. The
Catholic church reveres it as the book
of God. So much so that If a Ca
tholic deny that it is not the book
of God, that God is not it's anthor,
he thereby and therefore ceases to
be. a Catholic and relinqnishes all
rights as a member of the church.
The Bible is not contradictory Of
the teachings Of the church, nor is
the church the enemy of the Bible.
The writer's of the new testament
were members of tn church, II they
were christians at all. Why should
the church be an enemy of The book
written under God by members OF
her own communion?
"'The new testament was put toge-
Their by the members of the church.
It was not created by the church, but
it was the church that put together
the various documents that we now
look upon as our new testament. 1t
was not written at one time @ by
one mar nor at one place. There
were many writings held as sacred
in the early church and read together
with what we now know as our new
testament which are not now in our
bibles. What Eower was it that sep
arated what was no. from what was
and is the New Testament? Clearly
the only church that then existed,
under the direction Of the Holy Spirit.
The church has been the guardian
of the Bible throughout the centur-
les that have elapsed since the time
Of Christ. If the church were the
enemy that we are at times asked
to believe she was, then what was
there to have prevented her from des-
troving it utterly?
IT was the despiesed Catholic
and nuns who did work on the
Bible in transcribing and embellish'
ing it, so beautifully that their work
is held as treasures by the MOST ia
nous libraries in the world.
Not everybody had C could have
a Bible before the invention OF print
Not everybody could have. MOI
has everybody today a book that has
cost them from between $4,000 and
5000 dollars, which is the estimated
cost of the bible before the inven-
ton of the printing press. This will
help us to understand why every
Catholic did not own a Bible. This
will help us too to understand why
the Bible was chained. Why is a
directory chained in a drug store?
The Bible was not first put into
the %vernacular by the reformers.
There we're in the cernacular edi-
lions Of the Bible t26 in French, 20 in
Italian and 80 in German, before Lu-
theirs German version in 1884.
The only prohibition against read
ing the Bible was that Of reading YER
sions that were false. Catholics are
urged to read the Bible, spiritual ia
vors being granted for the same.
Pauiist Fathers Discuss Bible.
Christ did not write a line Of the
Bible. The earliest christians who
are credited with being the best of
christians never knew what a new
testament was. If they knew Christ
thenfi, how did they come to know
Him and His teachings? Not by
reading them for they we're not writ
ten until some time after Christ had
gone back to heaven. So we cannot
say that the possession or the reading
of the Bible b. every individual is
necessary for salvation.
Let each man have a Bible. How
does he know that or when he has
interpreted it according to the mind
of Christ. Christ never intended that
each one for himself should get out
Of the Bible what the content of
Christianity is.
For Christ intended that every one
should follow him should be in agree
ment with every christian in His
teachings. He intended that His fol-
lowers should have unity in behalf
and diversity and contradiction. Be.
cause it does not reach that for the
individual which Christ intended the
individual should have, the Catholic
says, the reading Of the Bible is not
the means left by Christ for us to
reach His mind. Christ prayed for
unity among His followers. The pri-
vate interpretation of the Bible has
not resulted III unity but in variety
and contradiction.
Neither has the Bible as interpret
ed by the individual brought certain
ty to him. Christ must have left to
us a certain means of arriving with
certainty at His mind.
So the Catholic holds that though
the Bible is the Hottest of Books, yet
it was not intended by Christ to be
the only means whereby we should
come to a knowledge Of christianity,
because it does not in principle or
fact bring his followers into unity Of
belief nor into certainty about the
same.
Thursday night the lecture will be