The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-05-14
CATHOLICS.AND THE Bible
The Bible Was Not Intended To Be the
TEXT BOOK of the Christian
Religion, Because

1t was not completed until the
Christian religion was widely estab-
lished; the Apostles and their imme-
date successors never saw what we
now call the New Testament
The whole Western world was con-
verified to Christ before the Bible ex-
millions had faith SO strong that they
died for it
The printing press, on which the
extensive diffusion of the Bible de-
pended, was not invented until four
teen centuries after Christ; yet all
Europe then profesSed the religion OF
Jesus.
Without the backing of the Catho-
lie Church the Bible would lack au-
thority.
The world is not only indebted to
the Catholic Church for the preserva-
ton of the Bible ("Horae Biblicae,"
Butler, PIP. 1886; Whittier" DR..
Briggs, p. 21); but
On the sole authority-of the Catho-
lie Church is the present canon of
and therefore its reliability rests on
the authority of the Church, which
has assured us that it is the word of
God. Mark and Luke were not
Apostles. =
The four hundred divisions in Prot
fact that without a divinely protected
interpreter the Bible is no authority
at ALL
Luther did NOT accidentally dis
cover the Bible. AS a priest Luther
was obliged to read his Breviary
every day, and this book is three
fourths Scripture. Says Dr. McGilfert
("Martin Luther and His Work. page
273): The notion that Bible-reading
was frowned upon by ecclesiastical
authorities of that age is quite un-
founded" DIR. Preserve Smith ('Life
and Letters of Martin Luther" page
1D: The book was very common
one, there having been no less than
one hundred editions of the Latin
Vu1gate published before 1900. as well
as number of German translations; :"
DIR. Maitland OZARK Ages" page
469): THE fact is the
writings of the Dark Ages are; if
may use the expression, made of the
Scriptures" The historians, who so
testify, are Protestant.
The Church did NOT chain the
Bible in the Middle Ages to keep it
was an OPEN Bible as much as a
chained railroad timetable at the
ticket office window is an open book.
The Bible was in manuscript, written
on expensive vellum, and was placed
where the people could consult it, but
was chained for its protection from
theft.
The Church does NOT forbid her
people to read the Bible. She forbids
them only to read faulty versions.
There have been many such through
the centuries, such as the Albigensian
translation, the Wycliffe, the Lollard.
the Tyndale, the Cranmer, the
Bishops, the King James versions.
One single important error in trans
lation would make the title The
Word of God" a lie.
One Reformer claimed that the
other Reformer corrupted the Word
of Cod; ZwingH so accuses Luther:
another so accuses Calvin. (Cf. Mo-
linaeus part XI, p. 10: Burgess
apology" sect. 6; Whitaker's Ans
wer to Rein, p. $3.50.
Protestants do NOT get their re-
ligion by reading the Bible. They be-
gin to read the Bible as church MEM
bers, or at least after they confess
Christianity. Most people are Chris
tians because their parents were, or
because of Sunday School attendance,
or because of revival preaching
From Sunday Visitor. Local Chapter
of the National Council of Catholic
Men.-Adv