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INTEODUCTION 
 
 TO THE 
 
 SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 3n Zwo pnvte. 
 
 , THE ABBEY OF 
 
 ' ' tlSi, 
 
 EEV. JOHN MacDEVITT, D.D., .^t««**' 
 
 PEOFESSOE OF THE INTEODUCTION TO SCEIPTUEE, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTOEY, ETC. 
 ALL HALLOWS FOEEIGN MISSIONAEY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. 
 
 BENZIGEE BEOTHERS, 
 
 New Yoek, Cincinnati, and Chicago. 
 
 1889. 
 
 lAUm^hts Reserved. 
 
mm oDstat, 
 
 Thomas A. Finlay, S.J., 
 
 Censor Theohgm Deputus, 
 
 5mpninatur, 
 
 •^ GuLiELMUS J. Walsh 
 
 A rch iep I'scopus D uUinensis, 
 nUernice Primaa. 
 
 LOAN STAC* 
 
 PRINTED BY SBALY, BRYEIiS AND WALKER, MIDDLE ABBEY STRKKT, DUBLIN. 
 
 \ 
 
Ms 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 TO THL 
 
 SACRED SCRIPTURES, 
 
 601 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 PART I.—GENERAL INTRODUCTION— PREFACE. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. — THE SCmPTUHE OEIGINALS 1 
 
 II. VERSIONS OF THE OLD AKD NEW TESTAMENTS 20 
 
 III. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, AND ANTI-CATHOLIC SYSTEMS 
 
 IN CONNECTION WITH THE BIBLE 44 
 
 IV. — GENUINENESS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS... 58 
 
 V. — INTEGRITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 75 
 
 VI. — CREDIBILITY OP THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS.... 91 
 
 VII. — INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 105 
 
 VIII. — CANON OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES 122 
 
 IX . — INTERPRETATION OF THE SACRED SCRIPT URES 144 
 
 X. — AUTHORITY OF THE LATIN VULGATE AND THE READING 
 
 OF THE BIBLE IN THE VERNACULAR 153 
 
 XL — THE BOOK OF GENESIS AND NATURAL SCIENCE 1G4 
 
 PART II.— SPECIAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Old Testament Books. 
 
 i.— the pentateuch 187 
 
 il historical books of the old testament 195 
 
 iii. moral books of the old testament, and the 
 
 prophets 213 
 
 The New Testament Books. 
 
 I. — the four gospels. acts OF THE APOSTLES. THE 
 
 APOCALYPSE » * * * 219 
 
 II. — THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL 233 
 
 III. — THE SEVEN CATHOLIC EPISTLE > 262 
 
gf ■' *'• ■■ "' " 
 
 «» " ^g " " "^ 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ' The terminology of Latin has a fixed meaning, no 
 longer subject to tlie cliangcs incidental to a living 
 tongue. Hence the unfolding of the Sacred Sciences 
 in that language, according to the time-honoured 
 practice of the Catholic Church, possesses advantages, 
 so many and so obvious, that almost every Catholic 
 work on the Introduction to Scripture is written in 
 Latin. "While, however, the Catholic Church uses 
 in her liturgy, and legislation, the Latin tongue, 
 which is one and the same for the Italian, and 
 the Scandinavian, she is careful to expound her 
 ritual and laws in the vernacular of every country. 
 Acting in this spirit I have employed the English, a 
 language which is now spoken by 80 or 100 millions 
 throughout the world, in the hope that by aiding 
 towards a wider knowledge of God's written-word, 
 the love of Catholics for it will be deepened, and 
 that amongst non- Catholics, earnest minds may be 
 led to see the truth about the Bible. I feel, too, 
 that at a time when the age is embittered with 
 angry controversy on the author it// of Scripture, it 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 is desirable to have a direct statement of Catholic 
 teaching on this solemn question. 
 
 It is right to add, in affectionate memory of ni}' 
 dear brother, the late Bishop of Eaphoe, that in a 
 few jolaces I have di'aAvn npon notes he bequeathed 
 to me. I am also under obligations to the lamented 
 Dr. Dixon, who, before his elevation to the Primatial 
 See of Armagh, filled the chair oi Scripture in 
 Maynooth, and left an enduring record of his pro- 
 found Eiblical erudition, in his ^'General Introduction 
 to the Sacred Scriptures," published in 1852. 
 
 In conclusion, I hope this little book will help 
 to foster tender associations in the many loving and 
 generous hearts, who pass year after year out of 
 these halls, away from home, to the holy work of 
 keeping the faith active among the sons and 
 daughters of Ireland in foreign countries. / 
 
 All Hallows Fobeign Missionaey College, 
 Dublin-, Easter, 1889. 
 
CHAPTEE I. 
 
 THE SCRIPTURE ORIGINALS. 
 
 Eeligion — Eevelation — Bible — Its original material and form — 
 Its division into Old and New Testament— Language of the Old 
 Testament Originals— Hebrew believed to be the primeval tongue 
 — Jewish distribution and classification of the Old Testament — 
 When and how the Hebrew character of the Old Testament was 
 modified — When and how the words and sentences in the Old 
 Testament Text were separated— How the Text of the Old Testa- 
 ment was arranged before the introduction of chapters and of 
 verses — The Old Testament Originals — Their oldest copies — The 
 Samaritan Pentateuch — Copy of Esdras — The Masora — Mishna — 
 Gemara — Talmud— Keri—Ketib— Hebrew vowel Points— Copies of 
 the Masora by Ben-Ascher and Ben-Nepthali — Present copies — 
 Language of the New Testament Originals— Their change in form 
 of Greek letter — The separation of their words and sentences — 
 Ancient divisions of the New Testament— Its modern chapters and 
 verses— Autographs of New Testament Originals— Their copies — 
 The Codex Sinai ticus— Codex Vaticanus — Codex Alexandrinus — 
 Codex Ephrem, etc. / 
 
 Eeligion: — Seeing that the Sacred Scriptures con- 
 tain a large proportion of the truths of Eeligion, it 
 is right that this Introduction should begin with a 
 short notice of Eeligion and its teaching. God 
 created man and placed him in a state of probation 
 where he may earn for himseK eternal beatitude. 
 Hence every human being finds rooted in his 
 rational nature a feeling of entire dependence on 
 the Creator, a desire to propitiate Him, and a longing 
 after blessed immortality. This solemn sense ol 
 
L IXTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 conscience tmites man with his God, prompting 
 and guiding him in his efforts to know Him, to 
 love Him, and to serve Him, and it is called Religion 
 from the Latin, religo to bind, because it constitutes 
 a bond between the creature and his Creator. / 
 
 Eevelation : — While some of the truths con- 
 cerning the knowledge of God had been imprinted 
 9n the heart of man at the moment it was formed, 
 most of them were communicated by special mes- 
 sengers, directly appointed to this office. They 
 delivered part of their divine message orally, and 
 part in writing. The first is the unwritten word 
 of God or Tradition^ being handed on by an un- 
 broken line of supematurally guided teachers, 
 and the second is the written word, the Sacred 
 Scriptures^ similarly safe-guarded from above. / 
 
 The Bible : — The ancients, while their laws 
 and public inscriptions were engraved on stone or 
 other hard substance, wrote their books upon soft 
 materials, and of these the one most in use 
 was made from the Papyrus or bulrush on the banks 
 of the Nile. The Greek for this is Bi/3Xios (Bible), 
 which was ultimately applied to the Sacred Scrip- 
 ture, to express its superiority over all other books. 
 The inner bark of trees, called liher^ in Latin, was 
 also used as a material upon which to Avrite, and 
 from this circumstance the word " liber " came to 
 signify a book in process of time. Parchment or 
 vellum was introduced by the King of Pergamus, 
 
THE SCRIPTURE ORIGINALS. 
 
 about 250 b.c. On these soft substances the 
 writing was done by a Calamus or reed, dipped 
 in a fluid like our ink. The prophet Jeremias 
 (xxxiii. 18, 19) mentions this, and the Yulgate 
 translates it atramentum^ which is described to be 
 a preparation of charcoal, gum, and water. / 
 
 In Ezechiel (ii. 9), and Apocalypse (v. 1), the 
 phrase '' writing within and without" occurs, from 
 which it would appear that both sides of the parch- 
 ment were covered ; but this was the exception, and 
 one side only the rule. When a number of these 
 leaves had been thus written upon, they were sewed 
 together, not in pages, but one to the bottom of the 
 other, and the end of the last fastened to a round 
 stick, upon which the whole was wound. This is 
 the Hebrew megillagh^ the Latin Volumen, and 
 seems to be the oldest form of book. The Jews 
 believe that their Sacred Scripture was first 'written 
 on vellum, and hence they have it invariably read in 
 the Synagogue from rolls of parchment. 
 
 Testaments : — St. Paul has divided theEible into 
 the Old and !N'ew i^iaOriKq (Covenant) because it sets 
 forth the covenant which God made with the Jews 
 when He constituted them His chosen people, and 
 afterwards with Jews and Gentiles when Christ 
 redeemed the world (2 Corinthians iii. 14, and 
 Hebrews ix. 15). This Aia%r; of St. Paul is trans- 
 lated Testamentum in the Latin Yulgate, and 
 Testament in English. / 
 
4 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 The Old Testament: — In the Catliolic list of 
 Canonical Scriptures, which coming down from the 
 Apostles, has been solemnly defined by the Council 
 of Trent, there are forty-five books in the Old 
 Testament The first five, or Pentateuch, as they are 
 styled in Greek, contain the Law^ that is the divine 
 precepts summed up in the Decalogue, and the rules 
 regulating the morals and public worship of the 
 chosen people of God. I 
 
 Language of the Old Testament Originals : — 
 The primeval tongue of our race was, if we are to 
 believe Jewish tradition, the Hebrew, Some of the 
 most eminent Doctors of the Christian Church 
 endorse this belief. St. Jerome, in his commentary 
 on Sophonias (iii. 18) says this, and St. Augustine in 
 the City of God (Qook xvi.) holds the language of 
 our first parents to have been preserved from the 
 shock of the confusion at Babel, in the family of 
 Sem, the head of which was Heher, It would appear 
 that he declined taking any part as regards the 
 building of the Tower of Babel, and as a reward, he 
 and his posterity were secured in the possession of 
 man's first language, which thenceforward received 
 the name oi Hebrew^ from this Heber, and in regular 
 succession it came to Abraham, who conveyed it to 
 the whole Jewish people, of whom he was the 
 father. Hebrew is the language in which was 
 written not only the Pentateuch ; but every old 
 Testament book in the Canon, except a few which 
 
THE SCRIPTURE ORIGIXALS. 
 
 were written in Chaldaic; viz., Tobias and Judith, 
 with nearly three chapters of the First Book of 
 Esdras, and about an equal portion of the prophecy 
 of Daniel. Greek was the original language of the 
 Eook of "Wisdom, and of the Second Book of the 
 Machabees. / 
 
 Chai^ges m THE Old Testament Originals: — 
 These originals of the Old Testament in reaching 
 us had a longer journey to accomplish than those 
 of the New Testament,; but the changes they 
 underwent were somewhat similar both in number 
 and in character. The Old and the New Testament 
 consisted always of distinct parts ; thus, in the 
 former, Genesis was separated from Exodus, etc., 
 just as in the latter the various Gospels and Epistles 
 were separated from one another. In addition to 
 this natural division the Jews distributed the books 
 of the Old Testament into as many parts as there 
 are letters in the Hebrew alphabet. How many 
 letters, however, there were in this alphabet was a 
 matter on which they did not agree. Not a few 
 put forward twenty -two as the correct enumeration; 
 but others following the triple repetition of the letter 
 yod for Jehovah^ which reverence forbade them to 
 write, were in favour of twenty -four. Then a large 
 body reckoned as many as twenty-seven, on the 
 ground that the five final letters should be exclusive 
 of the twenty-two, and thus in the Old Testament 
 books of ten twenty-two ; but sometimes twenty-four 
 
6 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 or twenty-seven parts were counted. All the 
 writings of the Old Testament were by the Jews 
 classified under three heads, viz.: the Law, the 
 Prophets, and ^c^^^mjt?/^^^ or Sacred writings. / 
 
 The old Hebrew letter was modified into the 
 Chaldaic character, most probably when Esdras 
 revised the Jewish Canon, 512 B.C. But the words, 
 sentences, and clauses of sentences, were not 
 properly separated until the present punctuation 
 was adopted in the eighth or ninth century. So too 
 the old divisions into Parashioth^ Haptaroth^ and 
 Siderim^ which set out the Hebrew books equally 
 over the Sabbaths of the year for the purpose 
 of Divine Service, prepared the way for our chapters. 
 The division of the Yulgate into chapters was first 
 introduced by Cardinal Hugo a Sancto Charo in 
 1244, and from, it they were transferred into the 
 Hebrew text by Mardochai Nathan, a learned 
 Jewish Eabbiii of the fifteenth century. Subse- 
 quently the further division into verses came into 
 existence in 1548, and were the institution of Eobert 
 Etienne (Stephen), but they did not find their way 
 into the Hebrew Bible until 1661, when they were 
 marked off for the first time in a very expensive 
 edition of the Hebrew Bible, published by Athias, 
 a wealthy Jewish printer of Amsterdam. | 
 
 The Old Testament Originals being perishable, 
 did not last long; but the most ancient copy 
 of the first five books exists in the Samaritan 
 
THE SCRIPTURE ORIGINALS. 
 
 Pentateuch, Eoboam succeeded his father, Solomon, 
 as King of Judah, in 975 B.C. By imposing 
 heavy taxes, and enforcing their payment harshly, 
 he drove a large body of his subjects into open 
 rebellion, and thus was fulfilled the prophecy sent 
 by God to Solomon, that for his sins the kingdom 
 would be divided and given to another. Ten of the 
 twelve tribes renounced their allegiance to Eoboam, 
 and withdrew into Samaria, where they formed 
 themselves into the independent Kingdom of Israel. 
 The secessionists brought with them a copy of the 
 Pentateuch or Law^ which they ascribed to Phineas, 
 grandson of Aaron, and with this precious Scripture 
 they set up in Samaria, a worship of their own. 
 Jeroboam, whom they made their king, encouraged 
 this step, in order that he might render impossible 
 for ever the healing of the schism. He knew well 
 that sectarian differences make those of the same 
 race hate each other with the most bitter hatred. 
 It happened accordingly ; so that from the moment 
 the revolted tribes proclaimed their religious inde- 
 pendence, a feeling of vindictive animosity sprang 
 up between them and their brethren of Juda, which 
 became more intensified by time. The rival system 
 of Jewish ceremonial, thus instituted in Samaria, 
 had a deep tinge of idolatry. A golden calf was 
 installed there by Jeroboam, in the place of the 
 true God, and crowds flocked to it. In vain did 
 the prophets, under threat of the Divine wrath, 
 
O INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 warn the people off from tlie unholy practice. At 
 length, in 722 B.C., Salmanasar, King of Assyria, 
 conquered Israel, and carried away most of the 
 Israelites into exile at Nineveh, leaving a few to 
 amalgamate with the Chaldaean colonists, migrated 
 by the conqueror. From this fusion came the 
 Samaritans, who, with their preponderating element 
 of idolatry, combined something of the Mosaic rites./ 
 In 530 B.C., the Kingdom of Juda was restored 
 from its protracted captivity in Babylon. After 
 a little time, Manasses, who discharged the 
 duties of ministering in the Temple at Jerusalem, 
 and brother of the High Priest then, incurred 
 the excommunication of the Sanhedrim for obsti- 
 nately persisting in his union with a Pagan 
 wife. He at once joined the Schismatics in Samaria, 
 and to revenge his expulsion on Orthodox Juda, he 
 had a rival temple built on Mount Garizim, and 
 there offered sacrifices with all the details of the 
 Mosaic ritual. It was given out that idolatry had 
 ceased in Samaria, and the Samaritans suddenly 
 proclaimed themselves ihe chosen people of God, in 
 opposition to their brethren of Juda. The' mutual 
 hatred thus aggravated was maintained for 200 
 years, when Jolin Hircanus, son of the High Priest, 
 Simeon, made a raid into Samaria, where he demol- 
 ished the temple on Mount Garizim, and scattered 
 the Samaritans, with the exception of a few, whose 
 descendants still exist at Nablousc, the ancient 
 
THE SCRIPTURE ORIGINALS. 
 
 Shechem, This people refuse to hold any commu- 
 nication with the race of Juda ; but they keep the 
 Jewish pasch, and the whole of the Mosaic law, as 
 contained in this rare copy of the Pentateuch, which 
 they hold in great veneration. In 1616, the learned 
 Italian, Pietro Delia Yalla, purchased from the 
 Samaritans, in Damascus, a copy belonging to 
 the tenth century, of this much-prized manuscript, 
 and since then other copies found their way into 
 European libraries. It is the oldest of the Hebrew 
 originals, but, as already stated, contains only the 
 Pentateuch. It was first printed in the Paris 
 Polyglot, 1632./ 
 
 Copy of Esdras : — The entire Hebrew text has, 
 however, come down in the Copy of Esdras, which 
 dates from 530 B.C. Seventy years previously to 
 this Jerusalem was taken by JN'abuchodonosor, King 
 of Babylon, and in the wreck which followed, 
 nearly all the copies of the Jewish Scriptures, 
 including the very autographs, supposed to have 
 been kept in the temple, disappeared. In the 
 troubles of the long exile that succeeded to this 
 E^ational calamity the sacred book of the Jews 
 was transcribed by so many careless hands, that the 
 people as soon as released, begged Esdras, "the 
 Prince of the Doctors of the Law," to purge it of 
 its numerous inaccuracies. He did so by consulting 
 the few correct copies that escaped the overthrow 
 of Jerusalem. The whole of the text thus revised, 
 
10 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 he wrote with his own hand, not in the old Hebrew, 
 most probably, but in the Chaldaic character, with 
 which the Jews were then most familiar. To enable 
 Esdras to reproduce the text as contained in the 
 originals that were burned, some of the ancient 
 Fathers thought the Holy Ghost co-operated with 
 him specially. But such inspiration was not needed 
 for the work which Esdras accomplished. In the 
 terrible conflagration which reduced the Temple 
 and City of Jerusalem to ashes, when taken by 
 IN'abuchodonosor, every copy of the sacred book 
 did not perish. Some eighteen years before this 
 last blow fell upon the doomed city, a number 
 of its most distinguished citizens were tran- 
 sported to Eabylon. Among them was Daniel, 
 the prophet, and it is certain that he brought with 
 him into captivity a copy of. the sacred volume, 
 for he mentions his having consulted it: — "I 
 Daniel understood by books, the number of the 
 years concerning which the word of the Lord came 
 to Jeremias, the prophet " (Daniel ix. 2). Afterwards 
 when the total extinction of Jerusalem was effected, 
 Jeremias, the prophet, who elected to stay and sing 
 his lamentations over that ruin which he had so often 
 foretold, took a last farewell of his sorrowing 
 countrymen, as they were being banished into 
 Babylon, by presenting them with a copy of the 
 Scriptures: — ^^And, how he gave them the law 
 that they should not forget the commandments of 
 
THE SCRIPTURE ORIGINALS. 11 
 
 the Lord " (2 Machabees ii. 2). The liberation of 
 the Jews from their long captivity was due to the 
 action of Cyrus, the Persian monarch and con- 
 queror of Babylon, who had his attention called to 
 the mention of his own name in a passage of the 
 Jewish Scriptures^ and this so moved him, that he 
 at once ordered the exiles to be released (Esdras i. 1). 
 Therefore the Jews in going into captivity, and 
 during it, were not without copies of their Sacred 
 Scriptures, so that these copies easily supplied 
 Esdras with the ground work of his revision./ 
 
 The Masora : — During succeeding centuries 
 the copy of Esdras suffered so much at the 
 hands of numerous transcribers, that the Jews in 
 the fifth century of our era resolved to restore it 
 to the state in. which it came from his pen. 
 Accordingly the services of. competent scholars were 
 employed, and that, these might be stimulated to a 
 supreme effort, they were located in two rival 
 institutions— one at; Tiberias and another at Babylon. 
 Their labours spread over centuries, and were of the 
 most searching character. Every word was examined 
 with scrupulous care, and amended if necessary, 
 according to the form, found to be duly handed down 
 in the Synagogue from generation to generation. 
 The Hebrew for this tradition is Masora^ and being 
 made the standard of correction, it gave the name 
 Masora to the work itself, and Masorets to those 
 engaged upon it. This body of authoritative 
 
12 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 teaching in the Synagogue was conveyed from age 
 to age, partly in the Mishna or oral law, which 
 accompanied the written or Mosaic code, and partly 
 in the Gemara or commentary of the Jewish Doctors 
 upon the Mkhna^ both being united in one collection, 
 called the Talmud. With the Jews the authority of 
 this teaching was final, and as it transmitted the 
 constant teaching of their highest authority, its 
 voice commanded the most unqualified respect. 
 Such is the character of the guide that conducted 
 the learned Eabbins at Tiberias and Babylon 
 through their anxious inquiry. If after patient 
 examination they found a word to be erroneously 
 set down, a special mark (Ketib) was attached, 
 and opposite on the margin they wrote the 
 correct word or Keri. In arriving at this result 
 the process of investigation became exhaustive 
 in the extreme, for it embraced not only words but 
 letters, and how often the same word was repeated 
 in different meanings, while the gaps were detected, 
 and the missing parts supplied, as far as their 
 traditions and other means at their command 
 enabled them to do so. Then if the word 
 happened to be short of a letter, or had one in 
 excess, this was noticed, and even the defective 
 formation or other peculiarity of any letter occupied 
 attention. Every change, in fact, no matter how 
 trivial, was marked, and these annotations accumu- 
 lated to such dimensions that they covered both 
 
THE SCRIPTURE ORIGINALS 13 
 
 lateral margins of the page, as well as the top and 
 bottom. This is the great Masora, which, when 
 compressed into a summary, shrunk into the small 
 Masora^ while the final Masora is merely an appen- 
 dix, consisting of extracts from the great Masora. / 
 Having thus fixed the correct reading, the Masorets 
 determined to prevent as far as possible, the danger 
 of any future departure from it. With this object 
 they introduced an accent over the last word of 
 every line, thereby laying the foundation in the 
 Hebrew text of the present punctuation, as well as 
 of the division into verses. Then by separating the 
 Hagiographa or moral books of the old Testament 
 into giderim or Orders^ they prepared the way for 
 our chapters in the Hebrew Bible. But the vowel- 
 points were the most successful plan adopted by 
 the Masorets for preserving the purity of the 
 Hebrew text. Previous to this four Hebrew con- 
 sonants — Aleph, He, Yau, Yod — were made to do 
 the work of vowels. But, how was the reader 
 to know when these letters were to be read as 
 consonants, and when as vowels? This difficulty 
 was solved by the invention of Hebrew vowel-points, 
 that is, those small particles within or about the 
 Hebrew letters. Thus, the dot (•) within the 
 letter n (Yau) represents the long vowel w, and the 
 short vowel e is indicated by the three dots (*.•) 
 under the letter ^'. (Aleph). The labours of the 
 Masorets were not completed until early in the 
 
14 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 eleventh century, when two corrected copies of the 
 Hebrew Scriptures were published, one by Ben- 
 Ascher, the last President of the celebrated Academy 
 at Tiberias, and another by Ben-Nepthali, head of the 
 rival institution at Babylon. The Eastern Jews hold 
 fast to the revision of Ben-Nepthali, while their 
 brethren of the West follow that of Ben-Ascher, and 
 from both these sources all existing Hebrew manu- 
 scripts have grown into four large families — Spanish^ 
 German^ French^ and Italian, They represent the 
 Masoretic text exclusively, and because the Spanish 
 manuscripts are closest to it, they are pronounced 
 the most faithful, as well as the oldest, though 
 not one can be produced dating earlier than the 
 ninth century. ( 
 
 New Testament: — The twenty-seven Noav 
 Testament books, enumerated in the Catholic Canon 
 were, with the exception of St. Matthew's Gospel, 
 written in the Greek of the Colonies, which began 
 to be established after the war of Troy in the islands 
 of the Egean Sea, and along the coasts of Asia 
 Minor. This colonial Greek, Alexander the Great 
 (330 B.C.), made the language of the world, which 
 he had conquered ; but in the New Testament^ 
 it was diluted with Syro-Chaldaic, into which, the 
 old Hebrew of the Jews, degenerated during their 
 seventy years of captivity in Babylon. This 
 New Testament Greek, however, in time began to 
 undergo a change in the form of written character. 
 
THE SCRIPTURE ORIGINALS. 15 
 
 The ill-shaped Uncials or Capitals were gradually 
 modified into the graceful cursives or small letters 
 of the tenth century. And again, before a.d. 462 no 
 separation of the text existed, into words, sentences 
 or clauses. In that year Euthalius, an Egyptian 
 Bishop, introduced into his edition of the ]N"ew Testa- 
 ment, a small cross to mark off what he termed a o-nxos 
 or liQe. The larger divisions, however, had their 
 origin in one of the Apostolic Constitutions ^ which 
 directed that a part of the Gospels be read and 
 explained to the people on every solemn occasion they 
 were obliged to attend Mass. To meet this rule the 
 Gospels had to be cast into as many TrcptKOTrot', as there 
 were Sundays and holidays of obligation in the year. 
 This plan was extended under the name of amyi/wo-zAaTa 
 (lessons) to the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles 
 in the fifth century, by the same Euthalius, who 
 fixed the oTtxos. To the tt^plkottol succeeded what 
 were called after the name of their author, Ammonian 
 sections. This Ammonius, an eminent Christian 
 scholar of Alexandria in the third century, was the 
 first to conceive a harmony of the Gospels, and in 
 carrying it out he broke up the text into K€</)aXata. / 
 
 Eusebius, Bishop of Csesarea, about the beginning 
 of the fourth century, in order to perfect the 
 work of Ammonius, arranged the Gospel narrative 
 under ten Canons, viz. : — The 1st contained what 
 is common to the four Evangelists ; the 2nd to St. 
 Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke; the 3rd to St. 
 
16 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 Matthew, St. Luke, and St. Jolm ; the 4th to St. 
 Matthew, St. Mark, and St. John ; the 5th to St. 
 Matthew and St. Lnke ; the 6th to St. Matthew and. 
 St. Mark ; the 7th to St. Matthew and St. John ; 
 the 8th to St. Matthew and 6t. Mark ; the 9th to 
 St. Luke and St. John, and the iOth to what was 
 peculiar to one only of the four. / 
 
 ■ Another division was into tltXol (titles), because 
 each opened with a summary of what it contained, 
 and thus the way had been prepared for our chapters. 
 In 1244, as already observed, Hugo a Sancto Charo, 
 a distinguished member of the Dominican Order in 
 Paris, and Doctor of the University of the Sarbonne, 
 was raised to the eminent dignity of Cardinal by 
 Innocent lY. in recognition of his vast Scriptural 
 learning. The fame he acquired in this department 
 rested chiefly on his celebrated Concordance, based 
 on the Vulgate. In this he grouped under the 
 letters of the alphabet, all the more important words 
 of the Latin Bible, and every passage in the Scrip- 
 ture where they occur. It was truly a formidable 
 undertaking ; but he was at last enabled to bring 
 it to a successful issue by adopting the division of 
 the Vulgate into chapters, and these soon found 
 their way into the Greek Testament. / 
 
 The verses were comparatively a modem institu- 
 tion. They appeared for the first time in an edition 
 of the Latin Vulgate, printed in 1548 by Eobert 
 Etienne (Stephen), an enterprising publisher in 
 
THE SCRIPTURE ORIGINALS. 
 
 Paris. Soon after this he brought out in saccession, 
 four editions of the Greek Testament, and in the 
 fourth he marked the verses on the margin, but 
 Theodore Eeza, Calvin's successor in Geneva, 
 transferred them into the body of the text of his 
 Greek Testament, published in 1565. / 
 
 The originals of the Neiu Testament which were 
 written, as a rule, by an amanuensis on vellum, 
 wore away very soon from continual use. These 
 originals before they perished were extensively 
 transcribed to satisfy the wants of the eager converts. 
 The copies, therefore, older than the tenth cen- 
 tury and in Uncial characters, must have been very 
 numerous ; still not more than about sixty have 
 survived, and one only of these contains the whole 
 of thejN'ew Testament. This is the Codex Sinaiticus^ 
 which was discovered at the Monastery of St. 
 Catherine, Mt. Sinai, in 1859, by Tischendorf, 
 famous for his skill in Oriental studies, and at 
 his suggestion, the monks presented it to the Czar, 
 Alexander 11. , who deposited the invaluable gift in 
 the Eoyal Library of St. Petersburgh. In 1862 
 by Imperial command, an edition de luxe^ of this 
 rare codex was printed under the editorship of 
 Tischendorf, who in his preface tries to prove by 
 exhaustive, but inconclusive arguments, its supe- 
 riority, in point of age, over the celebrated "Vatican 
 manuscript. The Codex Sinaiticus is marked by 
 Eiblical critics for convenience of reference with 
 the letter E, and B indicates the Yatican manuscript, 
 
 B 
 
18 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 which is pronouiiced by the weight of critical 
 opinion, to have been made in the first half of the 
 fourth century for the Christian community of 
 Alexandria, and is therefore the oldest existing 
 copy of the New Testament Greek. It was 
 added to the treasures of the Vatican Library by 
 the illustrious Pontiff, Sixtus lY., towards the end 
 of the fifteenth century, and, though regarded by 
 the best authority to be the oldest, it is not the 
 most complete, of the Greek Testament copies. The 
 late Cardinal Mai, the most distinguished editor and 
 critical scholar of this (and, perhaps, of any age) 
 began to fill the lacunce in the Vatican Codex, but 
 he died while his task was progressing, in 1854. 
 Fortunately, Father Vercellone took his vacant place, 
 and published the work at Eome in 1857, which 
 was also printed two years later at London and 
 Leipzig. This, however, could not be regarded as 
 a faithful reproduction of the Vatican manuscript, 
 seeing that the learned editors introduced much of 
 what was their own. It was this consideration that 
 made the late Pope Pius IX. employ Fathers 
 Vercellone and Cozza to superintend the Vatican 
 Codex as it was forwarded in its entirety through 
 the Propaganda press in 1870. / 
 
 Inferior in antiquity and completeness to both 
 the Vatican and Sinaitic Codices, is MS. A or 
 Alexandrian, as it is called, from the circumstance 
 of Cyril Lucar, the Patriarch of Alexandria, having 
 presented it in 1G82 to the unfortunate Charles I. 
 
THE SCRIPTURE ORIGINALS. 19 
 
 of England, and it is now in the British Museum. 
 The first twenty-four chapters and first five verses 
 of the twenty -fifth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, 
 together with some of St. John's Gospel, and the 
 second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, have 
 dropped out. So far it is defective, while in the 
 matter of age it is fixed by Montfaucon in the 'first 
 half of the fifth century. / 
 
 The Codex, C, or Ephrem in the Imperial Library 
 at Paris, is chiefly remarkable for its being one of 
 the best specimens of Palimiosest^ that is parchment 
 or other similar material, from which one writing 
 had been rubbed out to make room for another. 
 In the present instance the original Greek text was 
 removed for the works of St. Ephrem, the Syrian. 
 The erasure, however, was imperfect, so that the 
 first writing, ^>., the text of the !N"ew Testament, 
 re-appeared under the skilful hand of Tischcndorf , 
 who had copies of it printed at Leipzig in 1843. 
 It contains some fragments only of the New Testa- 
 ment, and is believed to belong to the beginning of 
 the fifth century. 
 
 There are two Codices under the letter D, one 
 in the Library of Cambridge University, and the 
 other in the Eoyal Library at Paris. Both were 
 the gift of Theodore Beza, who found the second 
 in the Monastery of Clermont in France. It has 
 only the Epistles, and is not as old as the first, 
 which is ascribed to the fifth century, and contains 
 the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles. / 
 
^ 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 VERSIOJs^S OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 \ AxciENT Versions : — Greek Septuagint Version of the Old 
 Testament — Its origin, age, and name — Story of a mirciculous 
 intervention in favour of the Septuagint — Chiistians have always 
 treated the Septuagint with reverence — The Jews gave up their 
 religious veneration for the Septuagint in end of the first cen- 
 tury — Origen's celebrated Hexaplarian revision of the Septuagint 
 — This followed in the Alexandrian Codex — Septuagint revision 
 by St. Xiucian, the Martyr — This praised by St. Jerome, and it has 
 sui-vived in the Vatican Codex — From it Sixtus V. (1587) took the 
 best edition of the Septuagint that has ever been printed — The 
 Greek of the Septuagint not pure, and its literalness varies— The 
 Septuagint from the time of its first appearance contained the 
 translation of every book in. the Jewish Canon — The Septuagint 
 the best witness to the state of the Old Testament originals — The 
 Targums or Chaldaic Versions — The Comphitensian, Royal, Paris, 
 and London Polyglot Bibles — The Peshito or Syriac Version— The 
 Samaritan Version— The Coptic Version — The Gothic Version — 
 Slavonic Version — Among the earliest Latin Versions the Vetus 
 Italica (old Italic) held the first place — Its New Testament part, as 
 corrected by St. Jerome in 382, is retained in the present Latin 
 Vulgate— The Old Testament part of the Vulgate is directly trans- 
 lated from the originals by St. Jerome, except in the Psalms, 
 "Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, the two Books of Machabees, Baruch with 
 its Epistle of Jeremias, and fragments of Esther and Daniel — The 
 Old Testament Vulgate does not throw much light on the state of 
 the Hebrew and Chaldaic originals — The Now Testament Vulgate 
 is the highest existing authority, excej^t the Peshito, on the state 
 of the Greek originals — Latin Catholic Versions of the Scriptures 
 from the sixteenth century down — Latin Protestant Versions of 
 the Scriptures from the sixteenth century down— Catholic Versions 
 of the Bible in modern languages— Catholic Version in Irish — The 
 Douay Bible — Protestant Versions of the Bible in modern lan- 
 guages — Protestant Version in Irish — Protestant Versions in 
 English— Tyndal's Version — The Geneva, or Breeches Bible— The 
 Bishop's Bible— The Authorized Version— Its recent levision. i 
 
VERSIONS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. 21 
 
 ANCIE^^T YEESIO^'S. 
 
 \ The Septuagint Yersioi^ : — IN'early 300 years 
 before Ckrist the Old Testament Hebrew was trans- 
 lated into Greek under the high sanction of the 
 Jewish Sanhedrim, or Supreme Council of Seventy- 
 two, whence the term, Septuagint^ has been derived. 
 On the death of Alexander the Great the vast 
 dominions he had won by the sword were divided 
 amongst his four favourite generals. One of them, 
 Laomedon, obtained Palestine and Syria; but in a 
 short time he was expelled by another, \who became 
 King of Egypt. This was Ptolemy Lagus, who, in 
 his victorious progress against Laomedon, captured 
 many prisoners of Jewish nationality, . and carried 
 them away into Egypt. These adopted with such 
 readiness the Greek language and Greek customs, 
 which prevailed in the land of their exile, that they 
 came to be called Hellenist Jews like their country- 
 men, who had settled an.ong the Greek colonies after 
 the dissolution of the Babylonish captivity. Owing 
 to the fecundity of their race they formed so large a 
 body in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, who 
 succeeded his father, Ptolemy Lagus, in 288 e.g., 
 that he deemed it his duty to have their Sacred 
 Scriptures translated into the language of their 
 adoption. This he accordingly did, and the result 
 having been endorsed by the local Sanhedrim^ or 
 Jewish Council of Seventy-two, the Sejpiuagint 
 
22 INTRODUCTION TO THK SACRKI) SCRIPTURES. 
 
 derived its name and authority from this circum- 
 stance. / 
 
 There is a tradition among the Jews that this 
 remarkable Yersion was made by six of the best 
 Hebrew scholars, taken from each of the twelve 
 tribes. They were, it is saidj sent by the High 
 Priest from Jerusalem^ at the request of Ptolemy 
 Philadelphus, to Alexandria, where they accom- 
 plished their task under the direct influence of a 
 heavenly light* On their arrival at one of the 
 royal residences on the island of Pharos, they are 
 represented by Philo, a Jewish historian of the 
 first century, by St. Justin the Martyr, and St. 
 Epiphanius, to have been put into either seventy- 
 two or thirty-six apartments, so separated as to 
 render communication with each othi r impossible. 
 After an interval of seventy-two days in their 
 guarded seclusion, the learned, company, without a 
 single exception, announced the close of their 
 anxious labours, and on meeting together to com- 
 pare notes, they were startled to find amongst all 
 an agreement even to the very ktter. But, this 
 story of a miraculous intervention in i'avour of the 
 Septuagint is not believed as a rule, and, therefore, 
 the notion, based upon it, of its authors being 
 divinely assisted, which seems to have been accepted 
 by St. Augustine among the Lai in Fathers, by St. 
 Irenaius, St. Justin the Martyr, and otiicrs among 
 the Greek Fathers, has long since been given up. 
 
VERSIONS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. 23 
 
 That a special proYidence of God, however, watched 
 over its origin and progress there can be no doubt. 
 Hebrew was then so little known that the prophecies 
 pointing to the corning of the Messiah in the near 
 future could not become generally known unless 
 through the medium of a Greek version of the Old 
 Testament Eooks. It is to be observed that 
 our Blessed Lord and the Apostles commonly 
 appealed to the Septuagint when addressing the 
 people, and the earliest defenders of the faith 
 drew from it their most crushing arguments. 
 Indeed no sooner had the invincible Eoman legions 
 planted their rule and language on the ruins of the 
 great Macedonian empire, than the foremost of the 
 numerous Latin translations (the Yetus Itala) was 
 taken word for word from the Septuagint. Surely, 
 then, it is not too much to expect that the finger 
 of God should be recognised in this Yersion by 
 Christians generally, and Catholics in particular, in 
 every age./ 
 
 The Jews themselves regarded the Septuagint with 
 religious veneration, for Philo Judseus, their learned 
 historian at Alexandria, describes, in his ^'Life of 
 Moses," the enthusiastic demonstration made by his 
 countrymen in honour of the Septuagint every year 
 in the island of Pharos. He wrote in the first 
 century, but not long after this, the object of their 
 joy was turned into a source of mourning. The 
 Septuagint contained those passages from the Pro- 
 
24 IXTRODUCTIOX TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 phets, which pointed unmistakably to Jesus as the 
 promised Messias. The Jews, therefore, denounced 
 the Septuagint as a gross misrepresentation of the 
 originals. They even went so far as to declare its 
 existence the greatest calamity that befel their 
 nation, and to atone for this they ordered the 
 Hebrew text to be read for the future in the 
 Synagogues, and the anniversary of the issue of the 
 Septuagint to be kept as a day of Jewish fasting and 
 repentance. They hoped that among the strenuous 
 advocates of the Christian religion there was not even 
 one sufficiently skilled in the knowledge of Hebrew 
 to be able to detect their imputation on the Septua- 
 gint. But their hopes were not realized. Their 
 malice was soon exposed, and by none more ably 
 than Or i gen in his celebrated dialogue with Tryphon, 
 the Jew. This timely publication of their guilt was 
 a triumphant proof of how the Jews appreciated and 
 feared the high character of the Septuagint, for 
 they would never have adopted such foul means 
 to destroy its reputation, if it had been always 
 under their ban. / 
 
 The eminent position which the Sepluagint thus 
 occupied among Jews and Christians caused it 
 to be transcribed extensively. It was to rid the 
 Septuagint text of the differences between it and its 
 many copies, as well as to prove the genuineness 
 of its prophetical passages, which sustained the 
 truth of the Christian arguments, that Origcn 
 
VERSIONS OF THE OLD AND NhW TESTAMENT. 25 
 
 compared it with the oldest copies of the 
 Hebrew originals. The result was a work of 
 gigantic proportions in fifty volumes, which for 
 twenty-eight years severely taxed Origen's intel- 
 lectual and physical powers. In six parallel 
 columns (e^airXovs) he placed first the Hebrew text, 
 then a transcript of that text in Greek characters, 
 followed by the Septuagint text itseK, and the 
 Greek Yer.-ions of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theo- 
 dotion. By the aid of these standards of correction, 
 to which he added in the course of the work, three 
 anonymous Greek Versions, thus bringing up the 
 number of columns to nine (cwcaTrXa), the common 
 text of the Septuagint was most rigidly revised. 
 In some places, links from the Hebrew originals 
 had been found missing, and these Origen supplied 
 in the Septuagint, mostly from the Greek Version of 
 Theodotion, by writing them over where they ought 
 to be, with an asterisk. But any word or words 
 not to be found in the Hebrew and in the Septua- 
 gint was simply indicated there by an obelisk. The 
 result Origen enriched with most exhaustive mar- 
 ginal notes, explaining the Hebrew names, as well 
 as the different readings in the Samaritan, Hebrew, 
 and Syriac manuscripts. This is the celebrated 
 Hexapta, which was deposited in the library of 
 Csesarea, and there copied by the learned Bishop 
 and historian, Eusebius, with the assistance of one 
 of his priests, the accomplished Pamphilius, who 
 
26 IXTRODUCTIOX TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 afterwards won tlie Martyr's crown. This copy was 
 all of the Hexapla that escaped the flames when 
 Csesarea was burned in 653 by the Saracens. Even 
 it, as a whole, has been lost; but the fragments 
 have been collected and printed by the celebrated 
 Montfaucon in 2 vols., foL, Paris, 1784./ 
 
 A much more perfect revision of the Septuagint 
 than this of Origen, was one made by St. Lucian, a 
 priest of Antioch, who suffered martyrdom in a.d. 
 311. St. Jerome gives his opinion to this effect 
 very freely in his letter to Suria and Fretela, and 
 in this he is joined by modern critics. This excel- 
 lent revision has survived in the Vatican Codex or 
 MS. B., from which the best edition of the Septua- 
 gint was printed in 1587 at Eome. This is the 
 Sixtine edition, so called because it was executed at 
 the expense, and with the approbation of Pope Sixtus 
 y., who engaged the services of the most able 
 Biblical scholars. The Septuagint which has come 
 down in the Alexandrian Codex, or MS. A., follows 
 closely the Ilexapla of Origen, and upon it Grabbe, 
 a distinguished Oxford professor, based his printed 
 edition in 1720. \ 
 
 The Greek of the Septuagint is not at all pure. 
 It is, like that of the New Testament, colonial Greek, 
 and it is also diluted with some Coptic words in Greek 
 dress, which show its Egyptian origin. Then the 
 first five books, or the Pentateuch, are a very faithful 
 translation ; but in the rest its literalness varies a 
 
VERSIONS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. 27 
 
 good deal. From this circumstance some infer tliat 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus had only the Pentateuch trans- 
 lated. But this surmise is not of much account, since 
 the author of the Greek translation of Ecclesiasticus 
 states in his preface, that when he began his work 
 every other book in the Jewish Canon was already 
 in Greek, and he lived in the reign of Ptolemy 
 Evergetes, the immediate successor of Ptolemy 
 Philadelphus. As a witnesss, however, to the 
 state of the Old Testament originals the Septuagint 
 Version is incomparably the best. It can give evi- 
 dence of how the Hebrew text stood nearly 300 
 years before the Christian era, while no existing 
 Hebrew manuscript is older than the ninth century./ 
 
 The 'J'argums: — The next best witness in this 
 
 respect is furnished by the Targums^ that is 
 
 the Chaldaic Versions, which became necessary for 
 
 the Jews, after they had lost the original Hebrew 
 
 tongue, and adopted the Chaldee in the Babylonish 
 
 captivity. Eleven or twelve of these Targums are 
 
 known to Biblical scholars, who give the first place 
 
 to that of OnJcelos, This favourite Targum has been 
 
 printed with some few others of inferior authority 
 
 in the Pohjglot Bibles^ which owe their institution 
 
 to the illustrious Cardinal Ximenes, Archbishop of 
 
 Toledo in Spain, and founder of the University of 
 
 Alcala De Henares. It was in 1502 he conceived the 
 
 idea of the Complutensian Polyglot, so called from 
 
 Complutum^ the Latia name for Alcala De Henares, 
 
28 INTRODUCTIOX TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 and having surrounded himself with the most ancient 
 manuscripts, and assisted by the best talent to be 
 found for the purpose, he watched and directed its 
 progress for fifteen years. The total expenditure 
 incurred in this noble undertaiN!:ing amounted to 
 nearly £40,000. It was published in 1517, and 
 contains, together with the Hebrew text, the Septua- 
 gint Greek, and the Chaldee, each with a literal Latin 
 translation, as well as the text of the Latin Yulgate. 
 This splendid conception, and still more splendid 
 result, sprang from a genuine love of sacred learning, 
 and evoked the admiration of the literary and religious 
 world. It roused others to a still greater effort in 
 the same direction, for in the year 1569 Chistopher 
 Plantin, the proprietor of a fine printing establish- 
 ment in Antwerp, resolved to bring out a Polyglot 
 Bible on a much more extensive scale than the 
 Complutensian. He wrote to his sovereign, Philip 
 II. of Spain, for patronage and support. The king 
 not only responded with a munificent donation, but 
 sent the learned Spaniard Benedict Arias Montanus 
 to preside over the editorial staff. The work, 
 therefore, received the title of JRo?/al, and was 
 published in 1572 in eight folio volumes. It has 
 the Hebrew, the Greek, the Targum of Onkelos, 
 the other Chaldaic paraphrases, and the Latin 
 Yulgate in the Old Testament, together with the 
 Greek, Latin, and a Syriac version, printed both in 
 Syriac and Hebrew characters in the New Testa- 
 
VERSIONS OF THE OLD AXD NEW TESTAMENT. 29 
 
 ment. !N" early a hundred years passed, leaving the 
 Eoyal Polyglot without a rival, when a distin- 
 guished Orientalist, and profound Biblical student, 
 Gui Michel Le Jay, determined to gratify his 
 tastes by devoting his large fortune and extensive 
 learning to produce, what he called, the Paris 
 Poluglot. It appeared in 1645 in ten folio volumes, 
 containing everything in the Eoyal Polyglot, and 
 in addition, another Syriac Version and an Arabic 
 Yersion, together with the Samaritan Version, and 
 the Samaritan Pentateuch, each accompanied with 
 a literal translation. The last but not the least of 
 the four great Polyglot Bibles was edited by Brian 
 Walton, the learned Bishop of Chester. It is called 
 the London Polyglot because it was published at 
 London in 1645, and contains a good part of the 
 Bible in nine languages, viz. : — Hebrew, Greek, 
 Latin, Samaritan, Chaldaic, Syriac, Arabic, Ethiop- 
 ian and Persian. \ 
 
 The Samaritan Version : — The third place 
 among the Witnesses to the state of the Hebrew 
 originals is accorded to the Samaritan Version. It 
 belongs to the first century of the Christian era, 
 and is a literal translation of the Samaritan Pen- 
 tateuch^ which has been fully noticed, l^ext is the 
 famous Syriac Version Peschito. It is taken literally 
 from the Septuagint in the Old and from the Greek 
 originals in the !N'ew Testament, and is marked 
 thus: — "This translation was finished in the year 
 
30 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 of the Greeks, 389, by the hand of Achseus, 
 the Apostle." According to this inscription St. 
 Thaddaeus or Jude, who evangelized Syria, was the 
 author of this translation, which certainly goes 
 back to his time. Such is the tradition of the 
 Syrians themselves, and it is borne out by the 
 arguments of Cardinal Wiseman in his Horce 
 Syriacce, The Apocalypse and four of the Epistles 
 are wanting in it, because their canonical autho- 
 rity was not commonly known, or universally 
 acknowledged at the time this version was made. 
 A splendid edition of it was printed at Vienna 
 in 1555 with the assistance of a distinguished 
 Maronite priest, who had visited Eome with the 
 object of presenting to the Chair of Peter in the 
 person of Julius III. the allegiance of the Maronite 
 Christians. \ 
 
 The Coptic Version : — St. Anthony was a young 
 man, living in affluent circumstances in Upper 
 Egypt, when he determined to leave all and go 
 among the Anchorites in the desert, where he became 
 the founder of Monasticism. The resolution came 
 to him one Sunday at Mass from hearing this pointed 
 text read in the Gospel of the day : — '^ If thou wilt 
 be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the 
 poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and 
 come, follow me ' ' (Matt. xix. 21). Now, these words 
 must have been read in Coptic, for it is recorded of 
 St. Anthony, by his biographer, Paccomius, that he 
 
VERSIONS OP THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. 31 
 
 knew no otlier language. This occurred in the year 
 270, so that the Egyptian Version of the Bible must 
 have been in use long before that time. It is there- 
 fore among the oldest of the ancient versions, and 
 one of the most reliable, for in the Old Testament it 
 is a faithful rendering of the Septuagint, while the 
 IN'ew Testament part is a direct and scrupulous 
 translation of the originals. The Ethiopian and 
 Armenian versions, which are set down to the 
 beginning of the fifth century, are also taken from 
 the Septuagint and I^ew Testament originals, and a 
 beautiful edition of the latter has been printed in 
 1816 in the Armenian Convent at Venice. / 
 
 The Gothic Version : — Back in that early 
 period, when the waves of migration from 
 distant Asia inundated Europe, the Goths came 
 and settled on the Danube. Here they expanded 
 into Ostrogoths and Visigoths, so powerful as to 
 tax all the resources of Constantine, the Great, 
 to annex them to his empire. Soon after their 
 conversion to Christianity, Uphilas, one of their 
 bishops, in turning the whole Bible into their 
 native tongue, produced a scrupulous rendering of 
 the original Greek of the ]N'ew and of the Septuagint 
 in the Old Testament. Time has also made inroads 
 upon it, which have been repaired by the famous 
 Cardinal Mai, who discovered many of the missing 
 parts in the library at Milan. The four Gospels 
 of this version, in tolerable preservation, and called 
 
32 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 the silver manuscript^ because written in silver 
 letters, are still preserved in the library of Upsal 
 in Sweden. 
 
 The Slavonic Yersiox: — The Slavs, like the 
 Goths, in the wandering of the hnman race from its 
 home in remote Asia, settled in the [N'orth of Europe, 
 where they became the founders of the Eussian people. 
 In the ninth century this powerful nation was con- 
 verted to Christianity by the preaching of Saints 
 Cyril and Methodius, two brothers, who were invited 
 thither by the King of Bulgaria. These holy 
 missioners, to render the work in which they were 
 engaged abiding and fruitful, translated into the 
 Slavonic tongue, the Old Testament from the 
 Scptuagint and the IN^ew Testament from its original 
 Greek. It is greatly admired for its fidelity and 
 has been often printed. / 
 
 The Latin Vijlgate : — At the outset of Christi- 
 anity, Eome ruled a vast empire in the East and 
 West. The Greek, which had been diffused first by 
 colonization from Greece, and then by the victories 
 of Alexander the Great, lingered for a time among 
 the conquered races. Soon, however, the knoAvledge 
 of Greek began to fade, and then arose the need of a 
 translation of the Scriptures into the language of 
 the Eoman conquerors. A large number of Latin 
 translations came forth, and among them there was 
 one, made from the Scptuagint in the Old and from 
 the Greek originals in the JS'ew Testament, which 
 
VERSIONS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. 33 
 
 St. Augustine pointed out as the favourite, because 
 "to perspicuity it joined a more literal rendering of 
 the words." He speaks of it, in his book on 
 Christian Doctrine, as Itala or Itallca^ because in 
 common use throughout the Italian Churches. It is 
 generally believed to have been a revision of a very 
 superior one, mentioned by Tertullian (ISO) as 
 existing in Africa in his time, and made there 
 shortly before, probably not by one person, but by 
 many. Its fame spread to Italy, where it was 
 revised, and continued to gain in popularity year 
 after year, and St. Gregory the Great, in a.d. 600, 
 mentions it as the Vetus Italica. / 
 
 St. Jerome came of noble family, in Dalmatia, in 
 331, and because of his great thirst for learning, he 
 was sent by his father to Eome, that he might 
 have the benefit of the best masters in Latin, 
 Ehetoric, and Philosophy. While yet young, he felt 
 disgusted with the pleasures of Eoman society, and 
 being received into the Christian Church, he resolved 
 to retire from the world, and devote himself exclu- 
 sively to the study of the Scriptures. With this 
 object he buried himself, about 374, in the burning 
 desert of Chalcis, in Syria, where he spent four 
 years pursuing his favourite studies, living a life of 
 great austerity. In this desert, under the tuition 
 of another recluse, converted from Judaism, St. 
 Jerome acquired a knowledge of Hebrew and 
 Chaldaic, which he afterwards perfected at 
 
34 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 Eethlehem by similar assistance. His solitude 
 was so invaded in 379 that lie left; received 
 priest's orders in Antioch, and then went on to 
 Constantinople, where he spent three years in 
 mastering the Greek language, enjoying at the 
 same time the society of St. Gregory IS'azianzen. 
 Happening to come to Eome in 382 on a mission, 
 connected with the Miletian Schism, he was 
 received with much attention by the learned 
 Pope, Damasus, who made him his secretary and 
 read the Scriptures with him. After some experi- 
 ence of St. Jerome's profound Scriptural learning, 
 the Holy Father begged him to undertake what he, 
 the Pope, had long at heart, and what was then 
 sorely needed by the Church, namely, to purge the 
 old Italic of those defects, which began in the 
 translation, and increased in the copying. Thus, 
 the Sovereign Pontiff would be in a position to 
 secure uniformity of quotation from the Gospels, on 
 the part of those engaged in championing the faith 
 against the Aiians. This wish of the Yicar of 
 Christ St. Jerome regarded as a command. In a 
 comparatively short time he corrected the Gospels 
 in the old Itala by comparing them with the Greek 
 originals, and in a dedication to the Pope, he says : 
 *^ I have corrected those words onhj which seem to 
 ^' affect the sense of the originals, and let the others 
 " stand, that the Latin text to which the people are 
 "accustomed might not be altered too much." 
 
VERSIONS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. 35 
 
 The Pope was so pleased with this result, that St. 
 Jerome, to gratify him still more, revised the whole 
 of the New Testament in the old Latin Version on 
 the same plan as set forth in his dedication above 
 quoted. Turning his attention then to the Psalms 
 in the Vetus Itala he corrected them according to 
 the KOLv-q or St. Lucian's common edition of the 
 Septuagint. This is the Eoman Psalter, because 
 made for the use of the clergy in Eome at the 
 Pontiff's request. It was, however, done hastily 
 so that on returning to his hermitage at Beth- 
 lehem, upon the death of Pope Damasus, St. 
 Jerome at once set to work and produced the 
 best revision he could of .the Latin Psalter by 
 collating it with Origen's Hexapla. This is 
 now what is in the Vulgate, and it is called 
 the Galilean Psalter, from the fact of its having 
 been introduced into Gaul by St. Gregory, of 
 Tours./ 
 
 In the rest of the Old Testament, as St. Jerome 
 did not consider the Latin Version before him, that 
 is the old Italic, remarkable for its accuracy, he put 
 it aside, and beginning with the Kings, made a 
 direct translation into Latin of all the Proto -canonical 
 books in the Old Testament from their HebreAv 
 originals, which was duly published with his famous 
 Helmet preface (Prologus galeatiis). He did the 
 same in reference to the Chaldaic originals of Judith 
 and Tobias, as well as the Chaldaic parts of Esdras 
 
db INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPrURES. 
 
 and Daniel, bnt his translation of the Dentoro- 
 Canonical portions of Esther was from the Greek of 
 the Septuagint, and of the Deutoro-Canonical portions 
 of Daniel from the Greek of Theodotion. Wisdom, 
 Ecclesiasticus, the two books of Machabees, the 
 Prophecy of Baruch, with its united Epistle of 
 Jeremias, he did not touch, so that their Latin text 
 in the Yulgate is that of the old Italic Version. 
 The outcome of these labours was the Latin 
 Vulgate^ which is truly a noble monument of 
 the perfection with which St. Jerome mastered the 
 original languages of the Bible. Still, the Church 
 in the beginning was very slow to adopt it, lest the 
 novelty might offend the faithful who were accus- 
 tomed to the words of the Vetus Italica. Little by 
 little, however, this timidity disappeared until the 
 Vulgate took possession of the whole field, vacated 
 by the old Latin Version. / 
 
 As a translation, the Old Testament part of the 
 Vulgate was a marvellous performance on the part 
 of St. Jerome. It does not, however, throw much 
 light on the state of the Hebrew originals, for the 
 copies of these from which St. Jerome made his 
 Latin translation could not go back very far. Much 
 higher in this matter of critical value is the character 
 of the New Testament Vulgate^ because the Vetus 
 Italica (old Latin) has been retained there, and Dr. 
 Westcott, an eminent Protestant authority, says : — 
 " This translation was fixed and current more than 
 
VERSIONS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. 37 
 
 '' a century before the transcription of the oldest 
 '^ Greek manuscript. Thus it is a witness to a 
 '^ text more ancient and, cateris payihus^ more valu- 
 ^^able than is represented by any other authority, 
 " unless the J^^^Mo in its present form be excepted." 
 This old Latin text was corrected by St. Jerome in 
 producing his l^ew Testament Yulgate, by consult- 
 ing Greek copies, dating not only beyond the fourth 
 century, when he lived, but beyond any manuscript 
 of the Greek Testament at present existing, seeing 
 that not one has been found older than, and two 
 only as old as, the fourth century. / 
 
 In the sixteenth century, and later, some CatholicSr 
 skilled in the ancient languages of the Scripture, 
 produced a few Latin Versions of the Old and New 
 Testaments, from the Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Greek 
 originals. This was done in regard to the whole 
 Eible, in 1527, by Sanctes Pagninus, head of the 
 Yatican Library. His work was revised in 1572 by 
 Arias Montanus, a learned Spaniard, and its 
 faithfulness secured for it a place in the London 
 Polyglot. Then followed at intervals Father 
 Houbigant's Latin translation of the Old Testament, 
 sida by side with his Hebrew text ; Father "Weite- 
 nauer's Old and !N'ew Testament in Latin, and in 
 the same language the IN'ew Testament alone, which 
 its author, the celebrated Erasmus, dedicated to 
 Pope Leo X. During the same time, Protestants, 
 eminent for their oriental learning, turned either the 
 
38 INTRODUCTOX TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 Old or the New Testament, or both, into Latin from 
 the Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Greek. These men 
 proudly boasted of adhering strictly to the ancient 
 text,, while in: reality they made the originals bend 
 to their own- sectarian views. Such was the Latin 
 Yersion of the Old Testament by Sebastian Munster, 
 in 1534, and still more that of Leo Juda, a prominent 
 Zuinglian, in 1543.. Two years after the latter 
 appeared, Yatable, a distinguished Hebrew scholar, 
 enriched it with notes of great critical yalue, and 
 with these it was brought out as a second edition 
 by Etienne, (Stephen) of Paris. In 1789, 
 Professor Dathe, of Leipzic, published a Latin 
 translation of the Old Testament originals, and so 
 did Junius and Tremellius at an earlier date, lioth 
 are in favour with Protestants, but not to the same 
 extent as the Latin Version of the New Testament 
 by Theodore Beza, who became spiritual head of the 
 Galvinists on the death of their founder. He has. 
 However, notoriously perverted the sense of the 
 original Greek, to season his Latin for the Calvin- 
 istic palate./ 
 
 Versions of the Bible in Modern Languages: — 
 For about a hundred years before the Eeformation, 
 German Catholics had the Bible more than once 
 translated into their own language. Their Bishops 
 at present recommend the German Version of 
 AUioli, which is very faithfully rendered word for 
 word from the Latin Vulgate and is furnished with 
 
YERSIOXS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. 39 
 
 very fine explanatory notes. It appeared in 1830. 
 So too in French there are many Catholic yersions, 
 dating so far back as 1294 ; bnt the latest and 
 best is that published with excellent notes in 
 1861, by the Abb^ Glaire, who has faitlifuUy 
 rendered the text of the Latin Yulgate. In Italy, 
 of all the Catholic Yersions, the one that holds the 
 highest place was translated literally from the "Vul- 
 gate, in 1779, by Anthony Martini, Archbishop of 
 Florence, who has also added valuable notes. The 
 Spanish Catholics have a favourite Yersion on 
 the same plan, by Don Felipe de San Miguel, 
 published in 1793, and the Portuguese one by 
 Antonio Pereira, which appeared in. 1781, while 
 the Belgian or Dutch Catholics have the Yersion 
 of Nicholas Yan Winghe, printed in Louvain 
 so early as 1548. In short, there is no Catholic 
 country without its native Yersion of the Scriptures, 
 approved and circulated by Episcopal authority. 
 In the sweet and expressive language of holy Ireland 
 there is a Catholic Bible, as old as 1347, which 
 emanated, as is supposed, from the pen of Eichard 
 Fitz-Ealph, Archbishop of Armagh. Dr. MacHale, 
 the late Archbishop of Tuam, was actually engaged 
 in correcting the old Irish translation according to 
 the Latin Yulgate; but failing health prevented the 
 completion of the undertaking. English-speaking 
 Catholics all use the Douay Bible, It is an English 
 translation, made directly from the Yulgate, in the 
 
40 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 English College at Eheims, in France, about 1582 ; 
 but as the Old Testament part was not published until 
 1610, in the English College at Douay, the whole 
 has got the name of the Douay Bible, Dr. Challoner, 
 Catholic Bishop of London, revised it in 1750, and 
 the Catholic hierarchy of Ireland soon circulated it 
 amongst their flocks. Th3 Catholic Eishops 
 of America adopted it in 1810, and Scrivener, the 
 learned Protestant editor, in his supplement to the 
 Authorized Protestant Version^ says that '^ the Douay 
 translation is highly commendable for its scrupulous 
 accuracy and fidelity P/ 
 
 Protestants, as soon as they parted from the rock 
 of Peter, initiated their grand doctrine of every 
 man being his own teacher in religion, by turning the 
 Scriptures into every modern language, from secon- 
 dary and adulterated sources like the Latin of 
 Theodore Beza, and not scrupulously, as they 
 pretended, from the originals. Thus, Luther, in 
 his famous German Bible of 1532, shows but a 
 very imperfect knowledge of Hebrew and Greek, 
 though he boasts of having drawn straight from 
 these fountains. In 1629, Dr. Bedell, Protestant 
 Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, had the Old Testa- 
 ment translated into Irish by a Mr. Xing, who knew 
 little or nothing of the original languages, with 
 which it is stated to have been compared by Bedell 
 himself; but in some places only. The New 
 Testament of this Irish Protestant Bible had been 
 
VERSIONS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. 41 
 
 previously produced by a Protestant Archbishop of 
 Tuam, Dr. William Daniel. In French, the Protes- 
 tant Version most in repute is by Beausobre, printed 
 in 1718, and in Italian, the one by Diodati is bit- 
 terly flavoured with Protestantism. The apostate, 
 William Tyndale, in 1526, became the author of the 
 first Yersion in English of the IN'ew, and part only 
 of the Old Testament. It was, however, full of 
 wilful corruptions, and these were well exposed at 
 the time by Sir Thomas More, the learned Chancellor 
 of England. The whole Bible in English, by Miles 
 Coverdale, Protestant Bishop of Exeter, was printed 
 in 1535; but is considered inferior to Tyndale' s 
 effort. Then came the well-known Geneva or 
 Breeches Bihle^ which was the joint production of 
 Gilby, Whittingham, perhaps John Knox, and other 
 prominent divines of the Puritan stamp, who, when 
 the Catholic, Queen Mary, came to the throne of 
 England, fled to the more congenial atmosphere of 
 their Calvinistic centre in Switzerland. It is 
 saturated with Swiss Protestantism, and derives its 
 most familiar name from the rendering it gives of 
 Genesis iii. 7, to this effect : — ^' Then the eyes of 
 them both were opened, and they knew that they 
 were naked, and they sewed fig-tree leaves together, 
 and made themselves breeches y The Bishoph Bihle^ 
 brought out in 1568, got its title from being the 
 work of eight Protestant Bishops, who, with the 
 assistance of other scholars, executed their com- 
 
42 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 mission by command of Queen Elizabeth, and 
 under the superintendence of Matthew Parker, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. The Authorized Versmi 
 is the one which has been acknowledged in the 
 Church of England for more than the last two 
 centuries and a half. "When King James I. ascended 
 the Throne of England, an address was presented to 
 his Majesty by the clergy of Lincoln diocese, who 
 declared among other things, that '^the English 
 Versions in common use were absurd and senseless, 
 perverting in many places the sense of the Holy 
 Ghost." In consequence of this and other such repre- 
 sentations, the King ordered fifty-four of the most 
 eminent divines from Oxford and Cambridge to 
 produce a new Version of the Hebrew and Greek 
 Testaments. Four years were devoted to the task, 
 and the outcome was the present Authorized Pro- 
 testant Version^ which received the Eoyal sanction 
 in 1605. It is the Version appointed by the Cro^Ti 
 to be used in all the Churches belonging to the 
 English communion, so that no Anglican clergyman 
 can ase any other in public worship. From it alone, 
 and in conformity with it, is taken the formidable 
 array of Scripture Versions, issued in almost all the 
 different languages and dialects of the world, by the 
 Biblical Societies in England. This Authorised 
 Version, after the long interval of over 260 years, 
 was lately revised by a learned company, under 
 the presidency of Dr. Ellicott, Protestant Bishop of 
 
VEUSIOXS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. 43 
 
 Gloucester and Bristol. These distinguislied scholars 
 devoted ten years to their arduous work, and some 
 of their corrections, like the lew mentioned in 
 another chapter, are in harmony with the Catholic 
 Yulgate. / 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AXD ANTI-CATHOLIC SYSTEMS. 
 m CONNECTION WITH THE BIBLE. 
 
 Christ constituted His Church CatJwUc — TnfallihiUly of the 
 Catholic Church — St. Peter's personal infalliUliiy — St. Peter's 
 primacy of honour and jurisdiction — These prerogatives of St. Peter 
 passed by divine institution to the Bishop of Rome, and hence the 
 Catholic Church has been always called Roman — The commission 
 of teaching His whole Church infallibly^ with whioh Christ 
 invested the other Apostles descended to their successors, the 
 Bishops of the Catholic Church in their corporate capacity — That 
 the Pope, when speaking ex-Cathedra has the power of teaching 
 infallibly, was explicitly • defined in the Vatican Council — Old 
 Catholics — Definitions like the personal infallibility of the Pope, 
 when teaching ex-Cathedra do not constitute additions to the faith — 
 Protestants — Deism — Materialism — Rationalism — The vicious 
 teaching of Strauss, author of the Leben Jesu (Life of Jesus) — 
 The Essays and Reviews — The Eccc JlomOy or *' a Survey of the 
 life and works of Jesus Christ."^ 
 
 This is tlie place to give an account of the Catholic 
 Church, because, soon after Christianity was estab- 
 lished, she began that splendid struggle for the 
 character of the Bible, which has since been main- 
 tained by her against the heretics, who ventured to 
 attack it. This persistent defence of the authority 
 of the Sacred Scriptures on part of the Catholic 
 Church has been challenged in later times by 
 Luther and his followers, so that Protestantism and 
 
THR CATTIOLIC CHURCH AND THK BIBLE. 45 
 
 the various systems that have grown out of it for 
 the past 300 years, demand also some notice in 
 these pages. / 
 
 • Catholic Chuech : — Christ not only left on 
 earth a body of revealed doctrine, which He required 
 men to believe, but also the means of communicating 
 the knowledge of these saving truths throughout all 
 nations. Therefore, Jesus selected from amongst His 
 immediate disciples some who were to act as teachers, 
 that is ihe Apostles, whose divinely authorised mis- 
 sion was to continue in their lawful successors 
 until the end of the world* This is recorded by 
 St. Matthew in his Gospel (xxviii. 18, 19, 20) :— 
 '^ And Jesus coming spoke to them saying: All 
 " power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going 
 '^ therefore teach ye all Eations : baptizing them in 
 '' the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 '' Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things 
 ^* whatsoever I have commanded you : and behold I 
 '^ am with you all days, even to the consummation of 
 " the world." Thus Jesus constituted His Church 
 Catholic in extent by placing all nations under its 
 sway, and Catholic in doctrine by determining " all 
 things whatsoever I have commanded you" to be the 
 subject of her teaching, and Catholic as to ti^ne by 
 His promise that she would last for ever, "even 
 to the consummation of the world."/ 
 
 Infallibility of the Catholic Church : — In 
 order that men might feel certain that the faith 
 
46 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 taught by Christ, had been transmitted to them in 
 all its purity, those divinely chosen teachers should 
 be protected by God from error. Hence the Apostles 
 and their successors '^for ever " received authority 
 from Christ not only to teach His doctrines, but 
 to decide controversies regarding their true 
 meaning, and to do so infallibly : — '' And I will 
 ^' ask the Father, that He may abide with you for 
 " ever. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot 
 " receive, because it seeth him not, nor knoweth 
 " him ; but you shall know him, because he shall 
 " abide with you, and shall be in you. I will not 
 "leave you orphans. .. .. . But the Paraclete 
 
 " the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my 
 " name, he will teach you all things, and bring all 
 " things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said 
 " to you" (Gospel of St. John xiv. 16-26). / 
 
 Personal Infallibility of St. Peter : — And 
 again, "from among the Apostles themselves, 
 one has been chosen," says St. Jerome, "that 
 a head being appointed, the occasion of schism 
 might be taken away." This was done when 
 our Blessed Lord conferred upon St. Peter personally 
 and independently the authority of infallible teaching, 
 which He had just given to all the Apostles 
 dependently on and suhovdinately to St. Peter. At 
 the last Supper Jesus singled out St. Peter from 
 the other Apostles, and addressed him thus : — 
 " Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have 
 
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE BIBLE 47 
 
 '^ you that lie may sift you as wheat. But I have 
 ^ Sprayed for thee that thy faith fail not : and thou 
 " being once converted, confirm thy brethren " 
 (Gospel of St. Luke xxii. 31, 32). St. Peter was 
 thus made personally infallible in his teaching 
 as head of the Church, for if he himseK were 
 capable of erring, he could not confirm his 
 brethren. / 
 
 The fact that our Blessed Lord gave St. Peter 
 personally and independently, the power of teaching 
 infallibly, is the foundation of what was always 
 held in the Catholic Church as her general and 
 approved teaching. It is that when the Pope, who 
 is the Bishop of Eome, and consequently St. Peter's 
 successor, publishes any decree in ihe matter of 
 faith and morals to which he requires submission 
 from all the faithful, that is when teaching ex- 
 Cathedra^ he is infallible in such decrees. This 
 doctrine, though dragged into controversy, so far 
 back as the fifteenth century, was not solemnly 
 defined until 1870 in the Yatican Council. It 
 was then assailed with the utmost virulence by 
 Non-Catholics, and in Germany a few, who called 
 themselves Old Catholics^ were condemned as heretics 
 for having stubbornly repudiated it, on the grounds 
 that by its promulgation the faith of the Church 
 had been changed. But, in defining this dogma, it 
 is not true to say that the Yatican Council added to 
 what was taught by Christ. The Catholic Church, 
 
48 INTRODUCTIOX TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 in her teaching office, whether through an 
 Ecumenical Council, or through the Eoman 
 Pontiif, speaking as head of the Church, cannot 
 define any truth unless it be contained in the 
 revealed Word of God, communicated to men by 
 Christ and His Apostles. Her authority, as infallible 
 teacher, is restricted to the faith, confided to her 
 safe-keeping by Christ Himself, and she has no 
 power to add to or take from this divine deposit. 
 J3efinitions like that of the infallibility of the Pope, 
 and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed 
 "Virgin, do not constitute additions to the faith. 
 They propose, for the belief of the faithful 
 only, such of those revealed doctrines as have been 
 controverted. I 
 
 St. Peter's Primacy of Honour and Jurisdic- 
 Tiox : — AgainatCaesarea-Philippi where Jesus came 
 after the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. He 
 asked the Apostles whom did they believe him to 
 be? St. Peter answered for them: — ^^Thou ait 
 Christ, the Son of the living God." This glorious 
 profession of faith Jesus met at once by an assurance 
 that it did not proceed from fiesh and blood, but 
 from divine revelation, and He proceeded to declare 
 its reward, namely, the primacy of honour^ in these 
 words: — "Thou art Peter ; and upon this rock T will 
 "build my church, and the gates of hell shall not 
 "prevail against it" (Gospel of St. Matt. xvi. 
 lG-18). Then continuing to address St. Peter 
 
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE BIBLE. 49 
 
 alone, Jesus added : — " And I wDl give to yon tlic 
 '' keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever 
 '' thou shalt bind upon earth, shall be bound also in 
 '^ heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it 
 ^^ shall be loosed also in heaven" (Matt. xvi. 19). 
 ]N'ow, the keys are the emblem of jurisdiction, from 
 which it follows that Christ gave to St. Peter, 
 whom He had appointed head of His Church the 
 primacy of jurisdiction, / 
 
 This primacy of jurisdiction was confirmed after- 
 wards when Jesus commissioned St. Peter to feed 
 His lambs and sheep, that is, to govern the whole 
 flock — pastors as well as people. (St. John xxi. 15, 
 16, 17.) And this double primacy of honour and 
 jurisdiction should be transmitted to St. Peter's suc- 
 cessors, because it could not otherwise serve the end 
 intended by our Blessed Lord. So too the authority 
 of teaching infallibly, which was conferred upon St. 
 Peter personalhj and independently^ must pass to the 
 Bishops of Eome, seeing that it was given to make 
 fast the principle of unity in doctrine, and, therefore, 
 to continue as long as the Church of Christ should 
 last, and this is the reason why the Catholic Church 
 has been always called Roman, It was in Eome 
 that St. Peter established his See, and died there 
 after presiding over it for a quarter of a century. 
 It was from this centre he exercised his primacy, 
 and since then, every Bishop of Eome, as St. Peter's 
 legitimate successor, governed the Universal or 
 
50 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 Catholic Church of Christ, as its Sovereign or 
 Supreme Pontiff. 
 
 Tn the same way the commission of teaching the 
 whole Church infallibly with which Christ invested 
 the other Apostles dependently on and subordinatelij 
 to St. Peter, descended to their successors, the 
 Bishops of the Catholic Church in their corporate 
 capacity. Christ promised that He would be with 
 ^^them to the consummation of the world," and that 
 the Paraclete "would abide with them for ever." 
 By this divine assistance the whole body of the 
 Catholic Episcopate, united with the Eoman 
 Pontiff, are protected against every error when 
 teaching the faithful in matters connected with 
 faith and morals. \ 
 
 Protestants : — Christ not only established in 
 the Church a body whose oflB.ce it is to teach 
 infallibly and to govern, but He required obedience 
 to their authority. In sending His seventy-two 
 disciples, '^two and two before His face," into the 
 harvest, He said to them: — ''He that heareth you, 
 '' heareth me ; and he that despiseth you, despiseth 
 " me ; and he that despiseth me, despiseth Him that 
 ''sent me" (Luke x. 16.) And St. Paul in his 
 Epistle to the Hebrews (xiii. 17) enjoins upon that 
 people to "obey your prelates, and be subject to 
 "them, for they watch as having to render an 
 " account of your souls ; that they may do this 
 "with joy and not with grief." For over 1,500 
 
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE BIBLE. 51 
 
 years this obedience was, with, some few 
 exceptions, dutifully accorded to the legitimate 
 successor of St. Peter at Eome, and to the 
 lawful successors of the other Apostles through- 
 out the world. In the middle of the sixteenth 
 century, however, some in Germany first, then in 
 Switzerland, England, and other countries, contended 
 that this ancient infallible and living authority to 
 teach the true Christian faith had failed, and with 
 a protest they went out from its jurisdiction. 
 Since then they are known as Protestants ^ which is 
 a general term for those who profess Christianity, 
 but belong to one of the sects that sprang from the 
 rebellion of the sixteenth century./ 
 
 Deism : — Protestants having thus emancipated 
 themselves from the infallible authority which 
 Christ had established in His Church, set up in its 
 stead the shifting rule of private judgment. Starting 
 from this fundamental principle of Protestantism, 
 John Locke, a graduate of Oxford, published about 
 the year 1666, after nineteen years' study, his 
 ^* Essay on the Human Understanding." In it, he 
 investigated the source of all truth, and arrived at the 
 conclusion that the mind of man is a ^' tabula rasa'''' 
 before receiving knowledge, which it imbibes in 
 every branch, through the five senses, that is from 
 experience. This is the doctrine of Sensism or 
 Empiricism, which Toland, the disciple of Locke, 
 and master of the English infidel school, applied to 
 
62 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 the principal truths of Christianity. He insisted 
 that since the doctrines of the Christian faith are 
 derived, not from the testimony of the senses, but 
 from supernatural revelation, they must be set 
 aside. He accordingly rejected them, and the 
 Natural Religion or Deism^ which he put in their 
 place, made faith consist merely in the belief of 
 God, and His truths, so far as they are discoverable 
 by the contemplation of the external world, or 
 ^Nature. / 
 
 Materialism : — Deism^ however, did not make a 
 deep; impression on the English mind, but trans- 
 ferred' to /France, it was warmly adopted by Voltaire, 
 who had resolved to^ devote his whole life to 
 the effort of destroying Christianity, and with it all 
 positive religioui His« most active agents were 
 D'Alembert and Diderot, by whom the Deism 
 or Naturalism, imported, from, England, was 
 soon developed into Materialism, Matter, they 
 taught, is the efficient and supreme cause of all 
 things. It is seK-existing and self-directing with- 
 out a God to sustain or govern it. Man's soul 
 being but a part of his body, dies with it, so that 
 there is^no future state of reward or punishment ; 
 no distinction between moral good or evil ; no divine 
 faith; no- Church; no sacred ministry. Such were 
 the theories circulated throughout France in the 
 columns of the infamous Encyclopedia I 
 
 Kationalism : — It was in this way the English 
 
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE BIBLE. 53 
 
 Deists and Erench Materialists sensualized religion, 
 but it remained for the German philosophers of the 
 last hundred years to Rationalize it. They hold that 
 truth of whatever description must not be accepted 
 on any authority, no matter how high, tunless it 
 be demonstrated by the reason of the a-ational man. 
 The senses assure every human being that there 
 exists an external Avorld . No on a has even been able 
 to doubt it, but i^a^f/o^za/^m.rejects the testimony of 
 the senses. The dictate of inward consciousness 
 commands one to believe that he exists when he 
 is conscious that he exists, and so foith. But 
 Etitionalists pronounce this dictate to be a chimera. 
 Then Eevelation proclaims that there are in God 
 three Divine Persons really distinct, that the second 
 Person assumed human nature, and so on with 
 the other mysteries of the Christian faith. But 
 the Eatioualist repudiates this evidence. There is, 
 he contends, no supernatural order. / 
 
 Idealism : — The Idealist accounts for religion 
 on the principle which makes all knowledge 
 come to man from ideas. But an idea cannot 
 testify to the truth of what it represents, so that 
 t!ie existence of the objects must be ascertained 
 from other authority. If they belong to the physical 
 world, they are known by the senses ; should they 
 be a part of the spiritual world — primary or original 
 notions — the dictate of inward consciousness pro- 
 claims them, and positive revelation does the same 
 
54 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 with the truths of the Christian faith. The advocates 
 of Idealism^ however, hold that nothing is true 
 except what is assured on the evidence of ideas. 
 This startling theory was systematized in his 
 " Critik of Pure Eeason," published in 1781, by 
 Emanuel Kant^, who taught Logic and Metaphysics 
 in the University of Koenigsburg, his native city. 
 There are^ he said, in the mind categorical ideas, or 
 certain necessary unchangeable forms, and it is upon 
 their evidence alone the existence of ideas and their 
 objects must be accepted. How, he was asked, can 
 these categories, which are only ideas, furnish the 
 knowledge of objects ? And his answer was that 
 they belong to the sphere of practical and not 
 theoretical reason. Eut practical reason is simply a 
 practical judgment of reason, which is a matter of 
 positive faith without strict evidence, and it is upon 
 its authority Kant tells us to take all the know- 
 ledge of external objects. This, he says, is the source 
 of that true religion, which is to be found in the 
 dictates of practical reason and not in the dogmas 
 of revelation. / 
 
 Such was the origin of Idealism^ by which the 
 evidence of ideas was constituted the only criterion 
 of truth. But, Kant made the object really distinct 
 from reason or the mind apprehending it, and this 
 could not hold long. The theory was repudiated 
 by Fichte, a- friend of Kant, and Professor of 
 Philosophy in the University of Jena about 1792, 
 
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE BIBLE. 55 
 
 to make way for Ms own notion that there is no real 
 distinction between the ideas and their objects. He 
 maintained that the mind apprehending was the 
 bearer of every true existence, and that the objects 
 outside were merely its manifestations or modifica- 
 tions. Hence, the thinking mind is the one true 
 real existence, in which everything is identified ; 
 the objects or what is spoken of as endowed with 
 real existences are mere appearances or phenomena, 
 so that when the mind attributes to them a- distinct 
 existence it is in a dream. Therefore, in identify- 
 ing the mind, apprehending, with the object, Fichte 
 was forced to reduce external objects, that is, bodies 
 and intelligent beings, to mere appearances, and so 
 strip them of real existence. This evidently was an 
 error, much more fatal to Idealism than the one he 
 ventured to remedy in the system of his friend, 
 Kant. It was at once perceived by the keen vision 
 of F. W. Schelling, a distinguished professor in 
 Berlin, who followed Fichte's lectures at Jena, and 
 was an enthusiastic student of Idealism, He saw 
 that so long as the objects were confined to the 
 thinking mind only, their existence was purely ideal 
 and not real. They were therefore removed by him 
 from the thinking mind, or subjective-self to the 
 absolute-self, but what this absolute-self was he did 
 not explain in a manner intelligible to ordinary 
 readers. He said it was the great absolute Being 
 in which all diversities and oppositions as of ideal 
 
56 INTRODUCT OX TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 and real, subject and object are confounded, and out 
 of which they grow. This Great Being is the one 
 sole existence, or God, according to Schelling, while 
 Hegel, who succeeded him as leader of the German 
 philosophical school, declared the one sole existence 
 to be the idea itself which he styled the greed all, / 
 These German philosophers summoned before the 
 tribunal of their reason the truths of the Bible, hither- 
 to held sacred and certain by the whole Christian 
 world, and condemned them as unworthy of belief, 
 since they were beyond the region of ideas. They 
 were, they said, either inventions of the ^vriters, 
 or historically true but superstitions, which Jesus, 
 who was only a man, and His immediate followers 
 embodied in their own religion to make it acceptable 
 to the Jews, and the miracles put forward in con- 
 firmation of these superstitions were the result of 
 natural causes. Others went further and declared 
 the Christian truths, as well as the miracles, with 
 which they were sealed, to be mere myths. These 
 views found the strongest expression in the lectures 
 of F. Baur, who expounded divinity in the Univer- 
 sity of Tubingen about 1826. Here one of his 
 most assiduous pupils was David Strauss, who pub- 
 lished his ^'Leben Jesu" (Life of Jesus), in 1835, 
 and a revised edition for the German people in 
 1864. In it he put forth this proposition: — 
 ^^A personality which on one side indeed is of a 
 " man, but on the other is a Being born of a human 
 
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE BIBLE. 57 
 
 " mother, is begotten of no human father, such an 
 "' object we hand over to fable and to poetry, but 
 " never think of making it the theme of serious 
 ^' historical statement." It was this book that 
 suggested to Ernest Eenan, once a student of the 
 great Ecclesiastical Seminary of S. Sulpice, at Paris, 
 his own '^ Yie de Jesus," in which he modified the 
 myths of Strauss into legends. He is now the 
 recognised apostle in France of the doctrines which 
 Strauss propagated in Germany. / 
 
 Though the vicious teaching of Dr. Strauss had 
 not a popular following in England, still many 
 works having a rationalistic tendency have come 
 from the pens of some prominent members of the 
 English Universities, within recent years. Thus in 
 1860 appeared the " Essay sand Eeviews," edited 
 by the Professor of Greek at Oxford, and in 1868 
 Macmillan and Co. brought out the ^' Ecce Homo, 
 a Survey of the Life and "Works of Jesus Christ," 
 which was accepted at the time, by the public 
 generally, as the work of an eminent Oxford Pro- 
 fessor. No doubt Protestants, as a body, repudiate 
 with horror these monstrous systems of modern 
 philosophy, and shrink from any association with 
 them. But, nevertheless, they proceed en exactly 
 the same rule as that upon which Protestantism set 
 out, namely, private judgment in the interpretation 
 of the Bible. / 
 
T^' " " " " " '■ " ■' " =X 
 
 CB APTEE lY. 
 
 GENUINENESS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 
 
 Definition of New Testament genuineness — The genuineness of 
 all the books of Scripture on the Catholic Canon, intimated but 
 not defined by Council of Trent — The Christian Church, from 
 time of the Apostles, believed the New Testament books to be 
 genuine — External evidence of this belief — Not necessary that the 
 ■witnesses testifying to this belief should be all contemporary — 
 God would not allow the faithful to be mistaken in this belief — 
 This belief not challenged by enemies of Christian Religion — This 
 uniform belief of the whole Church not to be rejected because one 
 or two of the early Christian writers are found quoting from 
 spurious Scripture — Impossible to have imposed fraudulently 
 upon the faithful the New Testament Scriptures — Internal 
 evidence for genuineness of New Testament — Arguments of 
 some German freethinkers, from internal evidence, against the 
 genuineness of the Synoptics or three first Gospels, as well as the 
 fourth Gospel — Genuineness of Old Testament — Proved by external 
 and internal evidence — Arguments of the German and English 
 nationalistic Schools against the genuineness of the Pentateuch. / 
 
 ''Genuineness of the New Testament : — When the 
 writers are specified, as in the case of the New 
 Testament, the genuineness of its books consists in 
 this, that they have been written by the persons 
 whose names they bear. This fact has been inti- 
 mated, but not defined by the Council of Trent. 
 The Tridentine Fathers, in their IVth Session, 
 proclaimed, by solemn decree, the Scriptures, one 
 by one, which constitute the Catholic Canon, and 
 
GENUINENESS OP THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 59 
 
 in doing so they significantly entered the name of 
 the writer after each book. 
 
 That the Christian Church, from the time of the 
 Apostles, believed the genuineness of the New 
 Testament is conclusively proved by external 
 evidence^ that is the testimony of the early Chris- 
 tian writers, as well as by internal evidence^ or 
 qualities that distinguish the character of the IN'ew 
 Testament waitings. / 
 
 External Evidence : — As regards the external 
 evidence, perhaps, the very best proof of the belief 
 of the primitive Church in this matter is contained 
 in those ancient liturgies, mentioned in the 
 '^ Apostolic Constitutions," attributed by some 
 to the Apostles themselves, and quoted by Benedict 
 XIY., in his work on the Sacrifice of the Mass. 
 Here it is commanded that a part of the New Testa- 
 ment be read and explained at the Mass or Synaxis ; 
 but this ordinance cannot be accounted for unless 
 the New Testament was believed to be a genuine 
 book by the early Christians. Next there are many 
 individual witnesses to the same fact. St. Clement, 
 of Eome, who enjoyed the confidence of St. Paul, 
 and was third in succession in the Chair of Peter, 
 furnishes splendid testimony of this belief iu the 
 Christian Church when he lived. In order to 
 reform the sensual and divided Christian commu- 
 nity at Corinth, he admonishes them by letter : — 
 ^* To remember the Epistles of the blessed Paul the 
 
/ 
 
 60 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURP:S. 
 
 '' Apostle, which, he wrote to you in the very 
 ^^ beginning of the Gospel. Truly in the Holy 
 " Ghost he sent letters to you anent himself, Cephas 
 " and Apollo, because even you were split into 
 ^' factions." St. Clement here states that St. Paul 
 was the writer of the Epistles to the Corinthians in 
 the New Testament. / 
 
 St. Polycarp, as well as St. Ignatius, the Martyr, 
 were disciples of St. John the Evangelist, and they 
 are still more pronounced than St. Clement of 
 Eome, in their testimony. St. Polycarp, who was 
 Bishop of Smyrna, wrote to the Philippians : — ^' To 
 " rise with Christ by keeping His Commandments," 
 and accompanied his exhortation with the following 
 important declaration : — These things I write to you 
 " in justice, because you incited me, for neither I 
 " nor any other like me can attain to the wisdom of 
 " the blessed and glorious Paul, into whose Epistles 
 "if you look you may raise your spiritual fabric by 
 " strengthening faith, -which is our mother, hope 
 " following and charity towards God and our neigh- 
 "bour preceding us. He who has charity is far 
 *' from all sin." The arguments with which this 
 remarkable document abounds are supported by 
 passages from Matthew, Mark, and Luke, with the 
 well-known formula "the Sacred Scriptures,'' 
 implying, of course, that they were taken from the 
 Gospels. \ 
 
 Among the seven Epistles of St. Ignatius, the 
 
GENUINENESS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 61 
 
 Martyr, there is one to the Philadelphians, where he 
 speaks of the whole New Testament in the language 
 of the time as Gospels and Apostles, At Chapter y. 
 he says : — '' But your prayer with God will make 
 '' me perfect, that I may attain the portion which 
 "' His mercy assigns me, flying to the Gospel as to 
 ^^ Christ present in body, and to the Apostles as to 
 '' the real living priesthood of the Church." 
 
 Therefore, St. Clement of Eome, St. Polycarp, 
 and St. Ignatius, who were on terms of the closest 
 relationship with the writers, implicitly declare 
 that the Christian Church in the time of the 
 Apostles regarded the books of the New Testament 
 as genuine./ 
 
 This evidence of Christian belief, coming from 
 the time of the Apostles, is carried down in an un- 
 broken chain, by those who lived immediately 
 afterwards. Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia, 
 about 140 A.D., left the following statement: — 
 ''Mark, the disciple of St. Peter, wrote faithfully 
 "from memory Avhat he learned of the acts and 
 " sayings of the Lord, but not in the order in which 
 " they happened. Matthew wrote in Hebrew the 
 '- divine oracles." Eusebius, who recorded these 
 words of Papias in his Ecclesiastical History, 
 added : — " Moreover, the same Papias has given 
 " extracts from the first Epistle of St. John and 
 '' the first Epistle of St. Peter."/ 
 
 Hermas wrote the Pastor some time between 
 
62 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 141 and 157 a.d., when his brother, Pius I., was 
 Bishop of Eome, and in it he has quoted largely 
 from St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John ; 
 from the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of St. 
 Paul to the Eomans and Ephesians, and from the 
 first Epistle of St. Peter. But to do this would be, 
 indeed, utterly futile on his part, unless the source, 
 from which he has drawn so abundantly, was com- 
 monly regarded as genuine. \ 
 
 St. Justin the Martyr, an eminent Platonic 
 philosopher, embraced the true faith with great 
 fervour, in his native Samaria, and came to Eome. 
 Here he addressed to -the Emperor, Antoninus Pius, 
 his famous Apology, in which he advocated the cause 
 of the Christians with such force, that the perse- 
 cution, then directed against them, was arrested. 
 In this appeal he mentions the Gospels, and 
 says they were written by the Apostles. A 
 part of his treatise on the Eesurrection is given 
 by the learned Grabbe in his Miscellanies of 
 the Fathers of the second century (page 177), 
 and it contains long extracts from the Gospels of 
 St. Mark and St. Luke, and from the Acts of the 
 Apostles. / 
 
 St. Irenaeus after his conversion in Asia Minor 
 also visited Eome, and there vigorously assailed the 
 errors of the Gnostic heresy in the last quarter of 
 the second century. In his third book against 
 these errors, he furnished splendid testimony to the 
 
GENUINENESS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 63 
 
 genuineness of the !N'ew Testament. At chapter i. 
 he declares that " The way of salvation was made 
 *' known to us by those who announced the Gospel, 
 '' and afterwards embodied it in writing. . . . 
 "• Matthew it was who, among the Hebrews, 
 '' brought out in their own language a written 
 '* Gospel when Peter and Paul were preaching in 
 '^ Eome, and founding the Church. Then after their 
 ^'departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of 
 ^' Peter : he too delivered to us in writing what 
 ^' Peter preached. And Luke, moreover the fol- 
 '' lower of Paul, set down in a book the Gospel 
 ''' preached by Paul. Then John, the disciple of the 
 " Lord, who also lay on His breast, John too 
 '' published his Gospel, living at that time at 
 " Ephesus in Asia." And at chapters xii. and xv., 
 he gives long extracts from the Acts of the Apostles 
 and the Epistles of St. Paul. / 
 
 The testimony of this period is well supported 
 by the fragment of a Canon of the New Testament 
 books, discovered by the celebrated antiquary, 
 Muratori, about the year 1700, while in charge of 
 the great Ambrosian library in Milan. This frag- 
 ment begins with a broken sentence, which is 
 followed by these words: — -^^ In the third place is 
 '^ the hook of the Gospel according to St, Luke ; the 
 ''fourth, the Gospel of St, John,'^ It may be fairly 
 concluded that the Gospels of St. Matthew and 
 St. Mark occupied the first and second places on 
 
64 INTRODXJCriON TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 tlie list. This iragment also mentions the two 
 first Epistles of St. Peter and St. John, the Acts of 
 the Apostles, and all the Epistles of St. Paul, 
 except the one to the Hebrews, and contains an 
 important statement to the effect that the book 
 called '' the Fastor^ by Hermas," was written 
 ^' quite lately, in our own time, while Pius, the 
 "brother of Hermas, was filling the Episcopal chair 
 " ill Eome." IS'ow Pius T. died in a.d. 157, so thit 
 the date of this fragment is fixed at furthest in the 
 year 175 or 180./ 
 
 In the third century, Origen, in his homily on 
 the 7th Chapter of Josue, after explaining the 
 mystical signification of the fall of Jericho, speaks 
 explicitly of every book of the New Testament : — 
 " The priests," he says, " destroyed Jericho by the 
 " blast of their trumpets, etc., etc., but our Lord 
 " Jesus Christ, when He came, sent priests also, 
 " viz., His Apostles, with trumpets to preach His 
 " heavenly doctrines. Matthew in the first place 
 " blew his trumpet, by writing his Gospel, and 
 " Mark, Luke and John followed. Peter also by 
 " his two Epistles, and James and Jude. Lastly 
 " also, he who said, ^ For I think that God hath set 
 " forth us Apostles ' (1 Cor. iv. 9), and by the blast 
 " of his fourteen Epistles he scattered to the winds 
 " all the machinations of idolatry, and the various 
 " systems of philosophy."/ 
 
 In this century too, Tcrtullian, after his conver- 
 
GENUINENESS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 65 
 
 sion in 202 a.d. at Carthage, where he was the 
 omament of the Bar, employed his splendid talents 
 in combating the rising heresies. His most power- 
 ful defence of the Catholic faith was made in four 
 books against Marcion, an apostate, who, among 
 other blasphemies, denied the Incarnation of our 
 Lord, as well as the resurrection of the body, and 
 to support his views, rejected the Old and New 
 Testaments, except a few Epistles, and the Gospeb 
 of St. liuke, which he tried to corrupt. TertuUian 
 in his refutation mentions all the books of the 
 "New Testament, giving the writer's name in every 
 single instance./ 
 
 Against most of these witnesses it may be 
 urged that they were not contemporary with 
 the New Testament writers. But when there 
 is question of documents which were public 
 property, and as such well-known to all the 
 Christian congregations, contemporary evidence 
 is not necessary to establish their genuineness. It 
 must be remembered too that there was here 
 a strong supernatural element, for God would not 
 allow the faithful to be deceived in reference to 
 the genuineness of a book that, contained doctrines 
 they were bound to know and believe in order to be 
 saved. Then if this belief of the Christian commu- 
 nity could have been challenged, the founders of 
 heresy in those times would have done so in order 
 to get rid of the doctrines of the New Testament, 
 
66 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 wliich they denied. Celsus, a Pagan pMlosoplier, 
 attacked the doctrines of the 'New Testament about 
 the middle of the second century, but did not ques- 
 tion its genuineness, ^Neither did Porphyrins, an- 
 other Pagan philosopher, in the third century, nor 
 the Emperor Julian, the Apostate, and thus some 
 of the most determined foes of the early Christian 
 Church join in bearing testimony to the genuineness 
 of the New Testament books. \ 
 
 It is true that there was quite a number of forged 
 Gospels, Acts and Apocalypses in existence during 
 the first centuries of the Church. Some of these 
 spurious Scriptures may have been accepted as 
 genuine by one or two of the early Christian 
 writers. But the unfounded impression of a few, 
 and for a brief period, is not the uniform belief of 
 the whole Church, upon which the genuineness of 
 the Scripture rests. Then it would be impos- 
 sible at any time to palm upon the public the New 
 Testament writings. The Apostles would have 
 denounced any such attempt in their day, and, 
 in after times, the pastors of the Church would have 
 warned their flocks against receiving them. Tertul- 
 lian, in his book on Baptism (chap, ix.), relates 
 a fact which shows how sharply the Bishops 
 of his day visited any attempt to pass off fictitious 
 Scriptures. He says that an African priest, a con- 
 temporary of his own, published some treatises on 
 devout life, under the name of an Apostle. The 
 
GENUINENESS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 67 
 
 act was merely a pious fraud, and yet when it came 
 to the knowledge of his bishop, the offender was 
 suspended from his office and benefice. And when 
 the heretic Marcion tried to circulate a false gospel 
 of St. Luke, Tertullian it was who exposed the 
 rash attempt./ 
 
 Intern'al Evide:n^ce : — The internal evidence for 
 the genuineness of the New Testament may be 
 given in a few lines. The actions and doctrines 
 of our Lord are there stated with such accuracy 
 and minuteness, that the writers mu^ have 
 been present, or had them immediately from 
 personal witnesses. I^ow, St. Matthew and St. 
 John wrote only what i:hey 'themselves heard 
 and saw, while St. Luke, St. Mark, and St. Paul, 
 had what they have stated from the testimony 
 of eye-witnesses. \ 
 
 The first three Gospels are commonly called 
 Synoptics, because each gives a collective view of 
 our Blessed Lord's teaching and acts. Upon this 
 circumstance, as well as the remarkable resemblance 
 between these books, some few German Free- 
 thinkers build a fanciful theory to the effect that 
 the Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark and St. Luke 
 are merely editions of one popular Scripture, pub- 
 lished in the beginning of the Christian Church 
 to silence the Jewish converts, who were clamouring 
 for the right of retaining the Mosaic ritual in the 
 ISTew Dispensation. From the same quarter the 
 
QS INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 force of internal evidence is also directed against 
 the authorship of the fourth Gospel. This book, 
 they say, with its strong flavour of Gnosticism, is 
 so sublime in sense, and so finished in style, that it 
 could, not possibly be the work of an illiterate 
 fisherman of Galilee ; but of some accomplished 
 scholar and profound thinker, belonging to the 
 Gnostics of the second century. 1 
 
 The three first books of the ^N'ew Testament, 
 however, are singularly alike, inasmuch as they go 
 over the same ground, and not from any connection 
 with a document, which no early Christian writer 
 mentions, and never existed except in imagination. 
 As to St. John being incapable from his antecedents 
 of producing the fourth Gospel, it is enough to 
 observe that he was ^' the disciple whom Jesus 
 loved " (John xxi. 7), and thus received from his 
 Divine Master that heavenly light which enabled 
 him to rise to the height of his lofty production. \ 
 
 Genuineness of the Old Testament: — Coming 
 now to the Old Testament, some of its books, as 
 for instance. Judges, Euth, the four books of 
 Kings, the two • books of Paralipomenon or Chron- 
 icles, Judith, Esther and Job, are not signed by the 
 writers ; , but their genuineness consists in this, that 
 they are the work of persons, who lived near the 
 time and were well acquainted with what they have 
 recorded. This fact, together with that of all the 
 other Old Testament books, having been written by 
 
GENUINENESS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 69 
 
 the persons whose names are affixed to them, is 
 proved by external and internal evidence. I 
 
 External Evidence : — ^The witnesses who supply 
 the external evidence, are .the Jews themselves, 
 and surely their testimony cannot be questioned. 
 The Old Testament contained the doctrines and 
 laws that controlled the supreme spiritual, as -well 
 as temporal, interests of the Jews, and consequently 
 their authority as to its genuineness is final, like that 
 of the early Christian community in reference to 
 the genuineness of the New Testament. 'Now the 
 Jews always and everywhere paid the most pro- 
 found religious respect to the canon ' or list of their ' 
 sacred books. It was kept in the side of the ark 
 (Deuteronomy xxxi. 26), and the Jewish monarch 
 was bound to have a copy before him and '' read it 
 all the days of his life" (Deuteronomy xvii. 19). 
 When the Feast of Tabernacles — one of the i;hree 
 great annual festivals of the Jews —returned, the 
 sacred volume was solemnly produced, and read 
 aloud before the multitude. This persistent rev- 
 erence of the Jews for the Old Testament is the 
 best proof of their belief in its genuineness, for 
 they would have been glad of the slightest grounds 
 to reject it altogether, since, giving as it did, 
 prominently the account of their sins, it was a 
 standing monument of their shocking ingratitude 
 to God. f 
 
 Then the Jewish historian, Josephus, in his book 
 
70 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 against Apion, mentions the consistent and uni- 
 versal tradition of his countrymen regarding their 
 Sacred Scripture to be in significant accord 
 witL that oi the Christian Church from the 
 time of the Apostles:. This uninterrupted belief of 
 both Jews and Christians insists that while those 
 Old. Testament books, which begin with Josue and 
 end in the second of Machabees, were compiled by 
 competent men from records, made at the time by 
 official Scribes, and kept with religious care, while 
 the first five books were written by Moses, partly 
 from, personal experience, and partly from historical 
 monuments, as well as information, obtained through 
 the long lives of the six preceding generations. 
 This belief also held that Moses, born about 1600 
 B.C. in Egypt, the great prophet, legislator and 
 liberator- o£ the Israelites, wrote these five books 
 betweenithe years 1490. and 1450 B.C., an interval 
 which he spent ini nomadic journeyings through the 
 desert, at the head, ofi his countrymen, who had 
 been miraculously delivered from their Egyptian 
 bondage; After, iiiis period of long and dreary 
 wandering, his pusillanimity at the last moment, 
 and his disobedience to the letter of the Divine 
 command, displeased God, who condemned him to 
 die within a short distance of that '^Promised 
 Land," for which he had so long sighed. This sad 
 scene closed one of the most eventful and important 
 lives in the Old Testament. The oldest and most 
 
GENUIXENFSS OF THE OLD AND N' W TESTAMENTS. 71 
 
 reliable Pagan historians bear the same testimony. 
 Thus Manetho in Egypt, Strabo in Greece, Dio- 
 dorus, the Sicilian, and Tacitus, the Eoman, speak 
 of Moses by name in their allusions to the sacred 
 book of the Jews. \ 
 
 Internal Evidence :-~The Old Testament pos- 
 sesses also internal marks, which place beyond all 
 reasonable doubt the fact of its genuineness. For 
 instance, the way in which the institution of the 
 Divine worship and civil polity of the Jewish nation 
 is narrated in the Pentateuch, points unmistakably to 
 Moses as the writer. All the details are described, 
 and this could be done only by one, who, like 
 Moses, had been actually engaged in the proceedings. 
 Thus there is an account of every timber, decora- 
 tion, and measurement in the plan, sketched by the 
 Divine Architect for the Tabernacle or portable 
 temple. It was to be of square formation, thirty 
 cubits long, ten high, and ten broad. Its walls of 
 '^ settim-wood " to be overlaid with gold, and resting 
 on blocks of solid silver. The interior to consist of 
 a sanctuary, twenty cubits by ten, and of *^ a holy of 
 holies," ten cubits square. In this ^^holy of holies" 
 the ark was to rest, having within the ten command- 
 ments, engraved on two tables of stone, and without, 
 on the roof, a rich throne for the SheMnah or symbol 
 of God's presence, under a golden canopy of winged 
 cherubim. The great candlestick, and the incense- 
 altar, supporting a golden bowl, filled with sacred 
 
72 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 fire, were to occupy the outer sanctuary. Then, 
 the laws given by God for the religious and civil 
 government of His '' chosen people " are set forth 
 with such exactness, that they were evidently 
 dictated to the writer, and such was Moses. So, 
 too, in Josue, Judges, Kings, etc., the intimate 
 acquaintance, with everything related therein, is so 
 striking as to render it impossible for any one to 
 have written these books except some person, who 
 had been closely connected, both by time and know- 
 ledge, with the events. / 
 
 Still, the enemies of God's written word seek to 
 set aside the genuineness of all the ' Old Testament 
 books by directing their shafts principally against 
 the Pentateuch and its author. Yater, De Wette, 
 and Colenso, representing, respectively, the Eation- 
 alistic schools of Germany and England, make out 
 the Pentateuch to be a tissue -of tales tradi- 
 tionary, 'touching the boasted beginnings of the 
 Jewish nation. These legends, they say, came to 
 be woven into popular ballads, which were collected, 
 and written. out in their present form by different 
 persons, during the long interval between the 
 establishment of the Hebrew monarchy (1090 B.C.) 
 and the end of the Babylonish captivity (530 b.c.) 
 In support of this, it is assumed that because, 
 throughout the first five books of the Old Testa- 
 ment, God is variously termed Elohim and Jehovah^ 
 there must be corresponding Jchovistic and Elohistic 
 
GENUINENESS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 73 
 
 authors. Per a similar reason it is taken for granted 
 that one and the same writer could neither have 
 called Genesis '^the generations of the heaven and 
 the earth " in one place (ii. 4), and in another (v. 1), 
 ^'the book of the generation of Adam," nor Levi- 
 ticus, ^^ the law of holocaust," in chapter vii. 37, 
 and ^Hhe law touching the leprosy of any woollen 
 or linen garment," in chapter xiii., and 59t]i 
 verse. The want of similarity in the diction of the 
 Pentateuch, as well as those remark^vble gaps, like 
 that from the third to the fortieth year in the 
 nomad life of the Israelites, demand, they say, a 
 plurality of writers. Besides, Moses could neither 
 be the author of the last chapter in Deuter- 
 onomy, where his own death is described, nor 
 of those passages, such as Exodus (xvi. 35), in 
 which it is stated that the Israelites had arrived on 
 the borders of Chanaan. But the tribes of Eeuben 
 and Manasses did obtain a footing in the " promised 
 land " before their great legislator departed this 
 life, and the circumstances of his death are given 
 by the faithful Josue in the closing chapter of 
 Deuteronomy. That there would be an occasional 
 void in the story of the Pentateuch, and a variety 
 of language, is what must be expected from 
 one like Moses, who had to do his work during 
 forty years, in the midst of great hardships 
 up and down the wilderness. As to Jehovah it 
 corresponds with Almighty, AU-zvise, The word 
 
74 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 designates God in all His omnipotence and -wisdom, 
 etc. ; but Elohim is the Hebrew for the Supreme 
 Being without His attributes ; and with regard to 
 the different titles in Genesis and Leviticus, they 
 are merely the headings of those parts into which 
 the subject is divided. / 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 INTEGRITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 
 
 Substantial integrity of Scripture Text — Church teaches that 
 God safe-guarded this integrity — Many Rationalists hold it to have 
 been essentially altered by number and nature of changes which 
 it underwent — That these changes touched the letter only and not 
 the substance, proved by exhaustive labours of Biblical critics — 
 Triumphant support to Catholic teaching by this textual investi- 
 gation — Classification of Greek Testament manuscript copies into 
 families — the highest critical authority belongs to the Alexandrian 
 family — Rules of Biblical criticism for fixing correct reading of 
 any disputed passage in the Bible — Printed editions of Old Testa- 
 ment Hebrew Text, and of New Testament Greek Text. \ 
 
 Substantial Integrity : — The Bible is one of 
 the channels, adopted by God to transmit the pre- 
 cepts, which the faithful must observe, the doctrines 
 they are to accept, and the miracles, confirming this 
 divine code of laws and belief. This collection of 
 precepts, doctrines, and facts, constitute the substance, 
 which in the Old and New Testaments God has 
 confided to the safe-keeping of a divinely-appointed 
 guardian. Hence, Catholics hold that the Bible 
 text has not suffered essential variation. / 
 
 Against this Catholic teaching many Eationalists 
 allege the changes to which the original Scripture 
 text was subjected from the beginning. Of these 
 
76 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 wearing influences, transcribing, they say, was 
 perhaps, the most injurious because, in reference 
 to the 'New Testament especially, as soon as it 
 appeared, every congregation sought a copy, and 
 so did many rich converts. Under this urgency 
 copies multiplied to meet the pressing demand. In 
 making these the transcribers had often to deal with 
 letters so imperfectly formed that the keenest sight 
 could not identify them. For this reason, and 
 also from similarity of sound, if the work 
 were done from dictation, whole words have 
 been misapprehended. The skill of the trans- 
 criber was more severely taxed when he 
 encountered words written into each other in 
 one undivided line without punctuation or separa- 
 tion of any kind, as was often the case. It also 
 happened that marginal notes found their way into 
 the body of the text. The various readings were 
 largely increased under this action, and so con- 
 tinued at every stage of copying through which 
 the manuscripts passed until printing was invented. 
 Then the original text of the Bible was exten- 
 sively quoted, as well as printed, so that this, 
 together with the turning of it into languages, 
 different from those in which it was composed, that 
 is Versions, have changed it materially. Such is 
 the anti-Catholic argument, taken from the varia- 
 tions, that mark every stage of the Old and jS'ew 
 Testament text.\ 
 
INTEGRITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 77 
 
 Biblical Criticism : — But these differences have 
 been critically examined, and found in every in- 
 stance to touch the letter and not the substance. It 
 has been described how Origen in the second century 
 produced his celebrated Hexapla, in which he cor- 
 rected the Septuagint by comparing it with the oldest 
 copies of the Hebrew originals, and other existing 
 Greek versions. Nearly a hundred years after- 
 wards, Lucian, a priest of Antioch, and Hesychius, 
 an Egyptian Bishop, effected a similar revision, and 
 St. Jerome, in 388, at the request of Pope Damasus, 
 corrected the old Latin; version or* Vetus Italica^ 
 which was then somewhat defective. . This Biblical 
 criticism has been pursued with special activity for 
 the last 200 • years and more, not alone by distin- 
 guished Catholic talent, but by some of the ripest 
 scholars in this department on the Protestant side. 
 Benjamin Kennicott, a Fellow of Oxford, in 1750, 
 explored the state of Yan-der Hooght's Hebrew 
 text of the Old Testament, by comparing it with 
 upwards of 600 Hebrew copies and sixteen manu- 
 scripts of the Samaritan Pentateuch. With the 
 assistance of other accomplished Orientalists he 
 worked from ten to fourteen hours a day for ten 
 years, when his health broke down under the strain. / 
 
 The world was filled with the praises of Kenni- 
 cott' s labours, when De Eossi appeared upon the 
 same field, and performed still greater wonders. 
 He was a Catholic priest, occupying a chair in the 
 
78 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURE-?. 
 
 University of Parma, and by far the best a\itliority 
 of his day on the ancient languages of the Bible. 
 With this profound knowledge he applied himself 
 to fix the correct reading of the Hebrew text, and 
 in doing so no less than 751 copies of the original 
 passed through his hands, besides some Samaritan 
 manuscripts and ancient versions. All these were 
 collated, and the variations, as well as his own 
 critical remarks, filled five volumes, of which 
 Davidson speaks in the following complimentary 
 terms : — '' This immense collection was made with 
 '' marvellous industry and singular care by one who 
 " displayed a better (judgment than Kennicott in 
 '' such matters.'' (" Biblical Criticism," p. 225.) 
 The result of this highly finished examination and 
 comparison has made it certain that the Masoretic, 
 the only Hebrew text now existing, is substantially 
 correct. This is only what could be expected, 
 seeing how careful the Jews always were of pre- 
 serving the purity of their sacred wiitings, as 
 has been abundantly proved by the history, already 
 given, of the labours of Esdras and the Masorets./ 
 
 The Greek text ^of the JVeiv Testament has been 
 also closely examined by distinguished experts. On 
 the Protestant side, Griesbach (1796), is pronounced 
 to be '' the most consummate critic that ever under- 
 took an edition of the iPTew Testament," and yet in 
 our own day he has been surpassed by Tischendorf 
 (1841-1873), who is said to have '^crowned the 
 
INTEGRITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 79 
 
 edifice" of l^ew Testament criticism. At great 
 expense of time, and after much patient study, lie 
 inspected every manuscript copy, version and frag- 
 ment of the Grreek text, to be found in all countries, 
 and from these he reaped a rich harvest of materials 
 for the purposes of correction. The multitude of 
 various readings, thus collected, he set forth in order, 
 with an account of the sources from which they were 
 drawn, and this is the Apparatus criticus with 
 which his own emended text was fortified. But 
 like spots upon the sun, the virus of his religious 
 principles obscures the brilliancy of his critical 
 faculty. For instance, in the fifth verse of the 
 ninth chapter from the Epistle of St. Paul to the 
 Eomans — '' Whose are the father, and of whom 
 '^ is Christ according to the flesh-: who is over all 
 '^ things, God blessed for ever. Amen." Tischen- 
 dorf has arbitrarily inserted a full stop between 
 '' things " and '^ God," in order to strengthen the 
 views held by the Socinians, who deny the divinity 
 of our Lord. With the same object he has dropped 
 out of his text the well-known seventh verse, in 
 defence of the doctrine of the Trinity, from the fifth 
 chapter of St. John's first Epistle : — '' And there 
 ^'are three who give testimony in heaven, the 
 ^^ Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost. And 
 these three are one." Thus bigotry has shattered 
 one of the finest monument of critical scholarship./ 
 Among the Catholic scholars, who devoted them- 
 
80 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 selves to the criticism of the "New Testament a high 
 place is occupied by Dr. Scholz, Professor in the 
 University of Bonn, about 1830. During twelve 
 years he visited all the libraries of the world, and 
 discovered sources hitherto unknown, for helping to 
 arrive at the original reading. / 
 
 The thorough nature of this textual investigation 
 of the Bible, and its triumph to the Catholic Church 
 has been eloquently described by the late Cardinal 
 Wiseman: — '^ But in all their mass," he says, 
 ^^ although every attainable source has been ex- 
 *^ hausted ; although the writings of Fathers of 
 *' every age have been; gleaned for their readings ; 
 '' although the versions of every nation, Arabic, 
 " Syrian, Coptic, Armenian, and Ethiopian 
 " have been ransacked for their renderings ; 
 ^^ although manuscripts of every age from the 
 ^^ sixteenth upwards to the third, and of every 
 '' country, have been again and again visited by 
 ^^ industrious savants to rifle them of their treasures ; 
 ^^ although having exhausted the stores of the 
 *^ West, critics have travelled like naturalists into 
 ^* distant lands to discover new specimens, have 
 " visited, like Scholz or Sebastiani, the recesses of 
 ** Mount Athos, or the unexplored libraries of the 
 ** Egyptian and Syrian deserts — yet has nothing 
 " been discovered — no, not one single various read- 
 *' ing which can thi'ow doubt upon any passage 
 " before considered certain, or decisive in favour of 
 
INTEGRITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 81 
 
 '^ any important doctrine." (Lecture x. on Science 
 and Eevealed Eeligion, p. 145). And at page 354, 
 '' We must feel great satisfaction at the small 
 ^' difference between the best and the most inferior 
 '^ manuscripts, and consequently at the consoling 
 " manner in which the integrity of the inspired 
 '^ records has been preserved. '^ Therefore the 
 grand fact stands out that the stream of time and 
 use which is continually corroding the fabrics of 
 other writings, passes by the imperishable text of 
 the Scriptures without inflicting inaterial injury./ 
 
 At the same time it must be admitted that there 
 were a few distinguished Catholic theologians of good 
 reputation in the 16th century, who characterized 
 the Hebrew text as tainted even, in essentials. 
 This happened when the champions of the 
 '^ Eeformation '^ attacked the reputation of the 
 Latin Vulgate. They flaunted before the public gaze 
 a number of passages in the* Old Testament where 
 the Yulgate differed merely in form from the Hebrew. 
 Melchior Canus (Book ii., Chapter xii., de locis 
 theologicis), and Salmeron (in Prolegomeno iv"* in 
 Evangelia), met this charge by a declaration to the 
 effect that the Jews wilfully and unscrupulously 
 falsified the Hebrew text, to set aside the argu- 
 ments taken from it in support of the Christian 
 religion. No doubt this motive had an influence 
 for evil on the Jews, but never to the extent of 
 mutilating or interpolating what they held most 
 
82 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 sacred, namely, the Hebrew text. It drove tliein 
 to pervert the true meaning of some of the ancient 
 prophecies in Greek versions of their owd, made 
 purposely to set aside the authority of the Septua- 
 gint, which was adverse to their system. This was 
 the crime which called forth the erudition of Origen, 
 and evoked St. Jerome's, St. Justin's, and St. 
 Chrysostom's scathing denunciation. / 
 
 The Eules for Determining the True Eeading 
 OF ANY Disputed Passage in the Bible: — These 
 great labours of Biblical critics have done more than 
 prove the truth of the Catholic teaching that God has 
 safeguarded the substantial integrity of the Bible; 
 they have furnished an effectual means of discovering 
 those non-essential variations, which made their 
 way into the Scripture text on account of the vicissi- 
 tudes through which it passed, as well as of deter- 
 mining the true reading of any disputed passage in 
 either the Old or !N'ew Testament. For instance, in 
 Matthew (xxvi. 26), the Latin of the Yulgate trans- 
 lated faithfully into English is : — ^' Jesus took 
 ^' bread, and blessed, and broke : and gave to his 
 '' disciples, and said : take ye and eat ; this is my 
 *'body," which literally shows that what was 
 merely bread in coming into the hands of Jesus, 
 passed through an entire change into His real body, 
 as soon as "He blessed, broke, and gave it to His 
 disciples." But in the authorized Protestant version 
 the particle "it" occurs after blessed, broke, and 
 
IXTEGRITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 83. 
 
 gave : — '^ Jesus took bread and blessed ^V, and broke 
 " ttj and gave it to His disciples, and said, Take, eat, 
 " this is my body," to convey the anti-Catholic 
 meaning that what Jesus took into His hands was 
 simply bread and nothing more from beginning to 
 end. It is a curious fact that in the revision of the 
 Authorized Yersion (1881), the word it is omitted 
 in two places but retained in the third, thus : — 
 ^^ Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it; and he 
 gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat ; this is my 
 body." To decide this issue the readings of the 
 various manuscripts and printed copies of the Greek 
 Testament are to be compared with the Yulgate, and 
 the way in which the passage is found written in 
 the greater number of these sources is so far 
 the correct one. This majority, however, must 
 be made up of independent witnesses, that is, 
 each manuscript and printed copy is to repre- 
 sent a distinct origin, so that in no instance 
 can one be a transcript from the other. Now, if 
 the disputed reading came from a Hebrew source, 
 one will not have to consult more than the 750 
 copies, which number passed through the hands of 
 the learned De Eossi, and not even one of them 
 is older than the ninth century, while all represent 
 the text as corrected by the Masorets. If the 
 question turns upon the originals of the New 
 Testament, nearly twice that number of copies must 
 be scanned./ 
 
84 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 Classificatioit of the Greek New Testament 
 MSS. INTO Families : — As the Greek transcripts 
 were being examined separately by Bengel, a 
 distinguished German commentator, in 1742, he 
 detected such a striking resemblance between 
 the manuscripts of a collection, made from the 
 large heap before him, that one fairly represented 
 all the others, belonging to the same assemblage. 
 The remaining unexamined manuscripts were 
 then inspected by him, when each disclosed the 
 same remarkable likeness as that presented by 
 the members of the first group, and thus the 
 numerous ISTew Testament Greek copies came to 
 be classified mio families. The cause of this resem- 
 blance was also discovered by Bengel at the same 
 time. He traced it, for the copies of the first 
 family, to the fact that they were taken from a 
 Greek Testament revision, founded on quotations, 
 made by Origen in. his Homilies. The second 
 family, he believed, had evidently inherited their 
 uniform appearance from St. Lucian's and Hesy- 
 chius's revisions, which incurred the censure of St. 
 Jerome for replacing the rough but honest Hebrew- 
 isms of the old text with polished but ambiguous 
 Greek. This happy thought of Bengel's was still 
 cnide in 1796, when Griesbach matured it by 
 arranging all the Greek manuscripts, to be found, 
 into three families — the "Western, Alexandrian, and 
 Bvzantine. The Greek Testament quotations, with / 
 
INTEGRITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 85 
 
 which the works of Origen and of St. Clement of 
 Alexandria abounded, were, in Griesbach's estima- 
 tion, equivalent to a new revision, out of which he 
 drew the whole Alexandrian family of Greek copies. 
 The writings of Tertullian, St. Cyprian of Carthage, 
 and other lights of the Western Church, suggested 
 another large and important family — the Western ; 
 while the third, or Byzantine family had its origin 
 in a revision belonging to the fourth century, and 
 universally adopted throughout the Patriarchate of 
 Constantinople or Byzantium. And thus instead of 
 being obliged to collate the 1,400 Greek copies, 
 known at present, as well as the many more that 
 might be found in the future, one will have to 
 consult a solitary member only from each of the 
 three families. This is most decidedly a relief from 
 the Herculean labours previously borne by indefati- 
 gable workers like Walton (1667) and Mill (1707). 
 It is not, however, pretended that this division of 
 Giiesbach's is perfect in every minute detail, and 
 yet some Biblical scholars reject it on this account, 
 but critics of the greatest weight, like Tischendorf, 
 have adopted if, with slight modifications, while 
 all do not join Griesbach in setting the highest 
 critical value on the Alexandrian family. At the 
 same time it is right to state that the Greek Testa- 
 ment manuscripts which approach nearest to the 
 autographs in point of time, are, by a consensus of 
 learned opinion, those of the Alexandrian family. 
 
86 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 and so they stand highest in critical authority. 
 The truth is that the old Latin Yersion (Yetus 
 Italica), whieh St. Jerome made the substratum 
 of the Yulgate edition, has been taken from the 
 Alexandrian collection, and hence the bulk of 
 Protestant critics affect ta depreciate the superiority 
 of the Alexandrian family, by making it inferior 
 for instance to the Byzantine. 
 
 Whether the manuscripts of the Alexandrian 
 family approach nearer than those of the Byzantine 
 collection to the originals in point of time, may be 
 disputed, but it is beyond controversy that some of 
 the Greek manuscripts now existing are as old as 
 the fourth century, and therefore- are better witnesses 
 for the true- reading in the New^ than existing 
 Hebrew manuscripts, are for the Old Testament./ 
 
 Printed Editions: — And, now, it is well to notice 
 these printed editions of the Bible, which may be 
 usefully consulted in fixing the correct reading of 
 the Scripture text. The- Greek Testament was first 
 printed (1514) by Cardinal Ximenes in his cele- 
 brated Complutensian Polyglot,, already described. 
 This was followed in succession from 1516 to 1535 
 by five editions, frem the fertile but not very 
 accurate pen of Erasmus, and from these, together 
 with the Complutensian Polyglot came the many 
 splendid editions of the Greek Testament, which 
 constitute the glory of Biblical criticism in these later 
 times. Then the Erench publisher, Etienne, subsi- 
 
INTEGRITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 87 
 
 dized by a grant from the Eoyal purse, sent forth no 
 fewer than four editions in the five years between 
 1546 and 1551. Theodore Beza, taking Etienne's 
 third edition as his groundwork, produced from 1546 
 to 1598, five editions, severely critical, but highly 
 seasoned with his own Calvinistic tendencies. These, 
 in turn, supplied the Elzevirs, enterprising printers 
 at Ley den in 1624, with the material for several 
 new editions. In their preface to the third edition 
 they called their text receptus^ and since then it is 
 known as the common Greek text. It was this 
 third edition that formed the basis of Walton's 
 excellent Greek Testament in his London Polyglot 
 (1657), and of the still more correct edition of Dr. 
 Mill (Oxford, 1707), which cost him thirty years 
 hard work, and in that time he collected and com- 
 pared some 30,000 various readings. / 
 
 Bengel (1734), Wetstein (1751), and Griesbach 
 (1796), occupied in Germany the same place as 
 Walton and Mill did in England, namely, that of 
 the first men of the age in publishing the most 
 correct New Testament Greek text. Among the 
 most recent contributors to this important depart- 
 ment of Biblical criticism may be mentioned Dr. 
 Scholz (1830), and Lachman (1831). But Tis- 
 chendorf (1841-1873), is justly entitled to the 
 praise of having published a purer Greek text than 
 any hitherto known, though it is here and there 
 disfigured with the traces of his own tenets./ 
 
88 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 The whole of the Old Testament in Hebrew with 
 vowel points, but not the Masora, was printed for 
 the first time in 1488, at Soncino, a town in Lom- 
 bardy. An improved edition was published six 
 years later in Brescia, and it is remarkable for 
 being the basis of Luther's German translation of 
 the Old Testament. The second Hebrew Bible was 
 printed also with the vowel points in the Compluten- 
 sian Polyglot (1514). After this Daniel Bomberg, a 
 wealthy printer of Venice, employed the distinguished 
 Eabbi Ben-Chajim in bringing through the press a 
 new edition of the Hebrew Bible. It came out in 
 1526, with the commentaries of the Eabbins attached, 
 and hence its name of the Eabbinical Bible. This 
 held the field for some 140 years, when it made 
 way first for the fine Hebrew Bible edited by the 
 learned Leusden, and, secondly, for the edition of 
 Yan-der-Hooght, the best yet produced, and which 
 has been followed in every edition of the Hebrew 
 Scriptures since published. / 
 
 The ancient and modern versions throw great 
 light upon the state of the text, and must not, 
 therefore, be ignored in deciding the true reading 
 of any passage in the Greek or Hebrew of 
 the Bible. In this matter, however, it is well 
 to remember that the ancient are of more 
 weight than the modern versions, since they carry 
 the reader back nearer to the originals. Then the 
 closer a version follows the text which it represents, 
 
INTEGRITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 89 
 
 the better it is as a witness of th.e true reading. 
 Yersions, therefore, are an important factor in this 
 and similar investigations, and the older and more 
 literal they are the greater is their authority, 
 provided they have been made by persons well 
 acquainted with the Hebrew and Greek, and 
 especially if they belong to a time when the 
 language of the originals was still living. 
 
 The correct reading is confirmed by examining 
 and comparing the quotation of the passage in the 
 writings of the early Fathers and the Liturgy of 
 the Church. The same Old Testament quotations, if 
 found in the New Testament, in the writings of 
 Josephus, in the Talmud, in the marginal notes of 
 the Masora, will help to dispel any difficulties that 
 may darken the readings of the Hebrew text. 
 This extrinsic evidence can be greatly strengthened 
 by such intrinsic testimony as is supplied by the 
 scope and style of the writers, by the context and 
 parallelism, so that whenever a link is found wanting 
 in the chain of extrinsic evidence this can be 
 supplied by intrinsic criteria. / 
 
 To sum up, therefore, the Greek Testament has 
 been collated with its various manuscripts and 
 printed editions; with its ancient and modern ver- 
 sions, as well as fragments, found in the writings of 
 the Fathers and in the Liturgies of the early Church. 
 So too, the Hebrew Bible has been critically com- 
 pared with its own copies and editions, its versions. 
 
90 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 its quotations in the "New Testament, in the Jewish 
 commentaries, and writings of the Christian Church. 
 And now what is the outcome ? That the substance 
 of the text has been found to be untouched, while 
 the alterations are removed and the true reading 
 fixed. / 
 

 CEAPTEE YI. 
 
 CREDIBILITY OF THE OLD AXD NEW TESTAMENTS. 
 
 / Definition of Credibility — Credibility of New Testament proved 
 1° by character of those sent to teach truths of the New Testa- 
 ment and 11° by miracles — By these miracles the established order 
 of nature was neither violated nor suspended — Hume in his ' ' Essay 
 on Miracles" (1742), failed to prove these miracles incredible — 
 Between these miracles and the laws of nature harmony prevails — 
 In these miracles one sees that the Divine will works out its bene- 
 ficent object not in the ordinary way — The fact of the New Testa- 
 ment miracles is certain — The miracles of New Testament not 
 produced by any secondary cause — ^The- Catholic argument 
 regarding these miracles cogently put by St. Thomas of Aquin — 
 The Atheistic or Rationalistic mode of accounting for the 
 miracles of New Testament — ^These miracles treated by Strauss 
 and Renan as mythical traditions — How German Rationalists 
 of the Heidelberg School explain these miracles — Knowledge 
 of laws and properties of nature possessed by Spirits — Miracles of 
 New Testament were not effected by the agency of Spirits — The 
 miraculous cures in the Gospel — Some facts taken from Gospel 
 history to cast suspicion on its credibility — Credibility of Old 
 Testament proved by testimony of Christ and His Apostles. / 
 
 '^Credibility is the quality of being worthy of 
 belief, and this belongs to the Eible if its doctrines 
 and facts command the fullest confidence. 
 
 The Credibility of the New Testament is 
 established : — I. By the character of the men sent 
 to promulgate its truths. Some of these divine 
 legates were present at what they relate, while the 
 
92 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTUIIES. 
 
 olhers had their information from immediate 
 witnesses. The Evangelist, St. John, says: — "That 
 " Avhich was from the beginning, which we have 
 " heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which 
 " we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, 
 " of the word of life. . . . That which we have 
 " seen and have heard, we declare unto you, tha*: 
 " you also may have fellowship with us, and our 
 " fellowship may be with the Father, and with His 
 *-Scn, Jesus Christ" (I Epistle i. 1-3). And St. 
 Luke declares : — " According as they have delivered 
 " them unto us, Avho from the beginning were eye- 
 *• witnesses, and ministers of the word " (St. Lukei. 
 2). What they thus acquired was faithfully delivered 
 because it was impossible for unlearned men as they 
 were, to fabricate ih.e moral sublimity of the char- 
 acter of Christ. Besides they could not impose upon 
 the public for purposes of gain or other selfish objects. 
 Their doctrines were preached in some of the great 
 centres of civilization, and warmly adopted by many, 
 who were sure to satisfy themselves, antecedently, 
 that the faith, proposed for their acceptance, was 
 what it professed to be. There was question of their 
 embracing the system of: — " Christ crucified, unto 
 the Jews, indeed, a stumbling block, and unto the 
 Gentiles foolishness " (1 Corinthians i. 23). They 
 were asked therefore, to profess the Christian religion, 
 Avhich, in its practice, required from them an uncon- 
 ditional surrender of m:my things they held dear. \ 
 
CREDIBILITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 93 
 
 II. By the Miracles of the Old and ISTew 
 Testament: — That these miracles furnish an irre- 
 fragable argument for the credibility of the Bible 
 follows from the fact that by them God wished to 
 confirm what was taught in His name. He accord- 
 ingly directed His official representatives to work 
 these miracles as a proof that it was God Himself 
 who spoke. It was with these credentials Moses 
 and the Prophets were commissioned to carry the 
 Divine message to the chosen people. Again when 
 Jesus appointed the Apostles to teach His doctrines, 
 He told them to " heal the sick, raise the dead, 
 cleanse the lepers, cast out devils " (Mathew x. 8). 
 They acted accordingly: — "But they going forth 
 preached everywhere, the Lord working withal, and 
 confirming the word with signs that followed '' 
 (Mark xvi. 20). / 
 
 Our Blessed Lord avowed more than once that 
 His miracles were intended to be a public proof 
 of His Divine teaching. When the Pharisees up- 
 braided Him with " casting out devils by Beelzebub, 
 the prince of devils," He forcibly answered : — "But 
 if I by the finger of God cast out devils, doubtless 
 the Kingdom of God has come upon you" (Luke 
 xi. 20). And on a memorable occasion when the 
 Jews threatened "to stone" Jesus because He said, 
 "I and the Father are one," His gentle remon- 
 strance was : — " If I do not the works of my Father, 
 " believe me not. But if I do, though you will not 
 
94 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 " believe me, believe the works, that you may know 
 " and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the 
 • "Father" (John X. 37, 38)./ 
 
 The Apostles, like their Divine Master, appeal to 
 these miracles as a proof that the Gospel, which they 
 announced, was from God. For instance, St. John 
 says: — " Many other signs also did Jesus in the sight 
 ** of His disciples, which are not written in this book. 
 *^But these are written^ that you may believe that 
 '^ Jesus is the Christ, the Sou of God, and that 
 "believing you may have life in His name'' (John 
 XX. 30, 31), and St. Peter in his discourse at the 
 time of Pentecost spoke thus : — " Ye men of Israel, 
 "hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man 
 "approved of God among you, by miracles and 
 "wonders and signs, which God did by him in the 
 " midst of you, as you also know " (Acts ii. 22)./ 
 
 Py these miracles the established order of nature 
 has neither been violated nor suspended, and conse- 
 quently Hume has failed to prove these miracles 
 incredible when he argues in his " Essay on 
 Miracles " (1742) that such a violation or suspension 
 was absolutely impossible. The laws that govern 
 the world have their source in the providence of 
 God, so that they cannot be in opposition to the 
 Divine will. Now God wishes that miracles be 
 performed for certain ends, and, therefore, between 
 them and the laws of nature a perfect harmony 
 prevails. How this concord may be effected is not 
 
CREDIBILITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 95 
 
 given to man here below to understand. In these 
 miracles, without being able to ascertain the 
 way by which the marvellous effect has been pro- 
 duced, one sees that the Divine Will, works 
 out its beneficent object not in the ordinary way. 
 And thus it happens that the acceptance of the 
 Scripture miracles neither subverts the government 
 of this world by certain fixed laws, nor tends to 
 reduce the universe to its original chaos. / 
 
 The fact of the New Testament miracles is 
 CERTAIN : — This fact was confidently brought for- 
 ward in the presence of our Blessed Lord's determined 
 enemies, who were in the position to contradict it if 
 they could, for they were near the time when, and 
 close to the scene where Jesus lived and died. 
 Therefore to delude the public mind was impossible 
 in the circumstances. Then again, these miracles 
 took place in the open light of day, and were pub- 
 lished on the authority of personal witnesses, who 
 could not be deceived, and who had nothing to 
 expect here except bitter trials, persecution, and 
 even death itself, for steadfastly proclaiming them. / 
 
 The Miracles of the ISTew Testament were 
 not produced by any secondary cause: — one 
 of the most impressive of the 'New Testament 
 miracles was the raising of Lazarus from the dead, 
 which is told by St. John as follows: — '^When 
 " Mary therefore was come where Jesus was, seeing 
 "Him she fell down at His feet, and saith to Him : 
 
96 INTRODUCTIOX TO THE SACRED SCRIPl'URES. 
 
 "• Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not 
 " died. Jesus, therefore, when He saw her weeping, 
 *^and the Jews that were come with her, weeping, 
 ^^ groaned in the spirit, and troubled Himself. And 
 ^'said: Where have you laid him? They say to 
 '^ Him : Lord come and see. And Jesus wept. 
 '^ The Jews, therefore, said : Behold how He loved 
 ^^ him. But some of them said : Could not He that 
 '^ opened the eyes of the man bom blind, have 
 ^' caused that this man should not die ? Jesus, 
 '^therefore, again groaning in Himself, cometh to 
 'Hhe sepulchre. Now it w^as a cave, and a stone 
 ^^was laid over it. Jesus saith : Take away the 
 '' stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, 
 '^ saith to Him : Lord, by this time he stinketh, for 
 '^ he is now of four days. Jesus saith to her : Did 
 " not I say to thee, that if thou believe, thou shalt 
 '^ see the glory of God ? They took, therefore, the 
 " stone away. And Jesus, lifting up His eyes said : 
 " Father I give Thee thanks that Thou hast heard 
 ^^Me. And I know that Thou hearest me always, 
 "but because of the people, who stand about, have 
 "I said it; that they may believe that Thou hast 
 " sent Me. When He had said these things. He cried 
 ** with a loud voice : Lazarus, come forth. And 
 "presently he, that had been dead, came forth, 
 "bound feet and hands with winding-bands, and his 
 " face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said 
 "to them: Loose him and let him go. Many,/ 
 
CREDIBILITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 97 
 
 " therefore, of the Jews, who were come to Mary 
 " and Martha, and had seen the things that Jesus 
 " did, believed in Him " (Gospel of St. John xi. 
 32-45). And again: — "Jesus, therefore, six days 
 " before the pasch came to Bethania, where Lazarus 
 "had been dead, whom Jesus raised to life. And 
 " they made Him a supper there : and Martha 
 " served, but Lazarus was one of them that were at 
 " table with Him " (Gospel of St. John xii. 1, 2). 
 Here then it is related that Lazarus, who had been 
 so long dead and buried as to be rotting in the 
 grave, was brought back to life by our Blessed Lord, 
 and that after being thus restored, took his- place 
 once more among the family- circle, filling his 
 vacant seat at the table, and joining: in the daily 
 duties: — "And they made Him a. supper there, 
 "and Martha served, but. Lazarus was one of 
 " them that were at table with Him." Now one is 
 forced to conclude that^ this miracle was effected, 
 not by any secondary cause, but by God alone, 
 " Father, I give Thee thanks that Thou hast heard 
 " Me. And I knew that Thou hearest Me always, but 
 " because of the people who stand about, have I said 
 " it ; that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me." 
 So too when the disciples of St. John, the Baptist, 
 came direct from their master to ask our Divine 
 Lord : — "Art Thou He that art to come, or look we 
 " for another ? And Jesus making answer, said to 
 * them: Go and relate to John what you have 
 
 
 
98 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 '' heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, 
 ^^ the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise 
 ^' again, the poor have the Gospel preached to them " 
 (Matthew xi. 3-5). No power of man, except he get it 
 from God, could make "the blind see, the deaf hear, 
 the lame walk, and the dead rise again." The "Angel 
 of the Schools,'' St. Thomas, writing on this subject 
 in his work against the Gentiles (Book i. Chapter vi.) 
 puts the Catholic argument cogently when he says : 
 — " That a few men having no learning or temporal 
 " influence, could succeed without the aid of miracles 
 "in converting the world to the Christian religion, 
 " so difficult of assent in its doctrines, so irksome in 
 " its precepts, and so unreal in its hopes, was the 
 "greatest of all miracles. "\ 
 The Atheistio and Eationalistic method of 
 
 ACGOUNTINa FOR THE MIRACLES OF THE NeW TESTA- 
 MENT : — These miracles, therefore, were undoubted 
 facts, and they were not effected by any secondary 
 cause. The argument, furnished by these miracles 
 is so conclusive against the enemies of the Christian 
 religion that they have been expending their 
 energies in a childish efi'ort to destroy trust in their 
 evidence. And so in the " Leben Jesu " of Strauss, 
 as well as in the "Yic de Jesus" and "Les 
 Apotres" of Eenan, to which allusion has been 
 made, the miracles of the New Testament are 
 explained as mythical traditions, that prevailed 
 among the Jews, regarding their expected Messias, 
 
CREDIBILITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 99 v 
 
 and which, were falsely, but cleverly ascribed 
 by the Evangelists to their own favourite. This 
 assertion, however, is so impossible in its conception, 
 as to excite contempt rather than serious notice. / 
 
 German Eationalists, of the Heidelberg School, 
 while admitting the fact of these miracles, try to 
 show that some of them, as the raising of Lazarus 
 from the dead, were the result af collusion, either 
 between the parties themselves, or between the 
 miracle-worker and the evil spirits, as in the case of 
 multiplying " the five loaves and two fishes," so as to 
 satisfy ^^ five thousand'' hungry men. (Matthew xiv.) 
 But on these, as on other occasions of the kind, 
 Jesus was closely watched by very sharp-witted 
 men, who were employed by the Synagogue for the 
 express purpose of detecting even the semblance of 
 any such deceit. So it remained for the modem 
 enemies of the Divinity of Christ to make 
 the pitiful attempt, to say nothing of its blas- 
 phemous character. It is to be observed, in 
 reference to the power of the spirits, that, as 
 incorporeal beings, even had they received from 
 God a knowledge of the laws and properties of 
 nature, which might render them equal to any 
 of the miracles of the Bible, including those of 
 the Gospel, still it is absolutely certain that these 
 miracles were not accomplished by the agency of 
 either angel or fiend. God decreed, as we have seen, 
 by these miracles, to give probative force to the 
 
100 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 doctrines, tauglit in His name, and surely He would 
 not permit the spirits to usurp this divine warrant, 
 which was committed exclusively to His authorized 
 teachers. 
 
 It is also pretended that the persons, represented 
 in the Gospel history as possessed^ were merely 
 epileptics and maniacs, who recovered through the 
 application of the usual remedies, and that 
 the sick, mentioned in the New Testament, had 
 their health restored by medicine, while the blind^ 
 the lame, and, the deaf were healed by surgical treat- 
 ment. These cures, however, were not only com- 
 plete, but instantaneous, and; consequently could not 
 be effected by any natural agency.\ 
 
 There are in the Gospels themselves some parts, 
 
 which are commonly brought forward to weaken 
 
 the credibility of the New Testament writers. 
 
 Thus in St. Luke's Gospel^ (Chapter ii. 1-5) 
 
 it is stated that our Lord was born in the year in 
 
 which Augustus Caesar ordered a census of his 
 
 Empire, and that this census was made under the 
 
 supervision of Cyrinus, Governor of Syria. Now the 
 
 Emperor Augustus, they say, instituted no such census 
 
 in that year, for it is not mentioned by Tacitus, 
 
 Suetonius, or Dion Cassius, who faithfully record all 
 
 the acts of the reign of Augustus Csesar. Besides 
 
 Josephus in his Antiquities (xvii. and xviii.), says 
 
 that this Cyrinus or Quirinus, did not become 
 
 Governor of Syria until some years after our Lord's 
 
CREDIBILITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 101 
 
 birth. The second argument advanced against this 
 credibility is that St. Luke does not say one word 
 about the coining of the Magi to the crib, the flight 
 into Egypt, or the Massacre of the Innocents, though 
 his object in writing the Gospel wa« to record every 
 detail of our Lord's birth and infancy. Then, St. 
 Matthew (ii. 1, 2, 3) fixes the flight into Egypt 
 immediately after the departure of the Magi, and 
 thus leaves no interval for the Purification, and 
 Presentation, related by St. Luke. While St. Luke 
 (ii. 7-43) states that immediately after the Presenta- 
 tion the Holy Family came to Nazareth, and dwelt 
 there permanently, thus leaving no room for the 
 flight into Egypt, mentioned by St. Mathew. But, 
 in answer to the first allegation, Tacitus, Suetonius, 
 and Dion Cassius, do record a census, commanded 
 by Augustus Caesar in the eighth year before the 
 Christian era, that is, three years previous to the 
 birth of Christ, for the Christian era dates from the 
 fifth year after our Lord's birth. Thus the census 
 would be instituted in the third year before the 
 birth of Jesus, and completed when He was born. It 
 is not improbable too that Cyrinus was specially sent 
 to Syria and Palestine to preside over this census, 
 and that thirteen years after when Quinctilius Varus 
 died, he was appointed to succeed as governor of 
 the province with which he had official connection.^ 
 As to the second allegation, it is no doubt true 
 that St. Luke, in writing his Gospel, proposed to 
 
102 INTRODUCTION TO THE SjaCRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 give the Purification and Presentation, etc., which 
 were not mentioned by the other Evangelists ; but 
 his object was not certainly ta touch upon every 
 detail of our Lord's life-. Then St. Luke's account 
 does not contradict that of St. Matthew, for St. Luke 
 states that the Presentation and Purification took 
 place forty days after the birth of our Lord, while 
 St. Matthew begins his narrative at this point, and 
 follows with the account of the coming of the 
 Magi, and of the flight into Egypt.. This explana- 
 tion would require, no doubt, that the Magi adored 
 the Divine infant in Nazareth, and not in Bethlehem, 
 and such an event is very probable. V 
 
 Credibility of the Old Testament: — Christ and 
 His Apostles pronounced the Old Testament Scrip- 
 tures to be credible. Their declaration to this 
 effect is given in the New Testament Scriptures, 
 and the testimony of these writings is conclusive, 
 seeing that they are not only genuine, but written 
 by truthful men, as has been amply demonstrated. 
 St. John, the Evangelist, in his account of the well- 
 known scene at the "pond called Probatica," states 
 that the wonderful cure, by our Blessed Lord of "a 
 certain man there, who had been eight and thirty 
 years under his infirmity," so irritated the Jews that: 
 — " Hereupon, they sought the more to kill Him, 
 because He did not only break the Sabbath, but also 
 said God was His Father, making Himself equal to 
 God," The veracity of Jesus in thus *' making 
 
CREDIBILITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 103 
 
 himself equal to God " was publicly impeached by 
 the Jews, and He met the challenge by referring 
 them to their Scriptures as the collection of the Old 
 Testament books was then familiarly designated : 
 "Search the Scriptures, for you think in them to 
 "have life everlasting, and the same are they that 
 " give testimony of Me » . . For if you did believe 
 " Moses, you would, perhaps, believe Me also. For 
 "he wrote of Me. But if you do nt)t believe his 
 "writings, how will you believe My words?" 
 (John V. 18-47.) Here our Blessed Lord rested the 
 proof of His Divinity on the credibility of the Old 
 Testament, and in particular on the part of it, which 
 He attributed to Moses. \ 
 
 St. Paul exhorted his favourite disciple, Timothy, 
 to study the Old Testament assiduously, because, he 
 said it "is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, 
 to instruct in justice " (2 Epistle to Timothy iii. 
 16). And St. Peter, speaking of the Old Testament 
 as " the prophecy of Scripture," declared it to have 
 been written by " the holy men of God .. . . inspired 
 by the Holy Ghost" (2 Epistle- of St. Peter i. 21). 
 Would these Apostles have talked so confidently, if 
 they had not been fully convinced of the credibility 
 of the Old Testament ? And what they published 
 in this way is infallibly true. They worked miracles, 
 and it has been shown that the power thus exercised, 
 was given expressly by God, as a guarantee that the 
 persons who performed these miracles, were clothed 
 
104 INTRODUCTTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 ■with His authority, so that God HimseK is security 
 for what Christ and His apostles taught.\ 
 
 Then, there is nothing in the Pentateuch but 
 what Moses could know either from personal 
 experience, or upon the testimony of persons, whose 
 exceptionally long lives, brought them into close 
 connection with the circumstances mentioned. The 
 information obtained, through these channels, 
 Moses faithfully registered, for he neither palliated 
 nor denied his own sins, nor those of his 
 brother, Aaron, and his sister, Miriam. The same 
 candour marks the narrative of every other 
 writer of the Old Testament books, and it is the very 
 best evidence of their having been truthful through- 
 out, not to speak of their repeatedly appealing to 
 the public annals, or official records, in support of 
 what they affirm. \ 
 
CHAPTEE YII. 
 
 INSPIEATION OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 \ Inspiration ; what it is — ^That the writers of the Bible were inspired 
 is of divine and catholic faith — Evidence for inspiration of the whole 
 Bible to be found in Tradition alone — Nature of inspiration never 
 solemnly declared by Catholic Church ; but she has defined what 
 it is not — Negative and positive assistance; what they are — It is 
 theologically certain that inspiration consists not in negative but 
 in Positive Assistance — Extent of inspiration — It covers every 
 truth, either doctrinal or moral in Scripture ; every doctrinal fact, 
 and every historical fact, as far as it regards its substance — 
 Cardinal Newman on the extent of inspiration — Verbal inspiration 
 — Not only the sentences in the Scripture are inspired, but the 
 words, where such are necessary to express correctly any of the 
 truths or facts — No translation of the Bible inspired, but it is 
 defide that the Latin vulgate is authentic — Protestants, but not 
 all, admit the inspiration of the Bible — The arguments they 
 advance fail to prove it. \ 
 
 \ Inspiration of the Bible: — Inspiration is the 
 divine influence on the writers of the Scripture, 
 moving their wills to write, enlightening their 
 minds to know the truths they are .to write, and 
 safeguarding them against error in writing what 
 God has thus proposed to them to be written. 
 St. Paul, in his Second Epistle to Timothy 
 (iii. 16), assures him that "all the holy Scrip- 
 ture," known to this favourite disciple from his 
 infancy, was " ©eoTrveuo-ros," literally breathed into by 
 
106 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 God. This divine afflatus under tlie name of 
 Inspiration belongs to the Old and New Testament 
 Books. The Catholic Church proposes this truth 
 in these words of the Vatican Council (1870) : — 
 " Further, this supernatural revelation, according 
 *Ho the universal belief of the Catholic Church, 
 '^ declared by the Sacred Synod of Trent, is 
 *^ contained in the written books, and unwritten 
 "traditions which have reached us, having been 
 "received by the Apostles from the mouth of 
 " Christ Himself, or delivered as if by the hands 
 " of the Apostles from the dictation of the 
 "Holy Ghost. And these books of the Old and 
 " I^ew Testament are to. be received as Sacred and 
 " Canonical in their integrity with all their parts, 
 " as they are enumerated in the decree of the 
 " Sacred Council, and are contained in the old 
 "Latin edition of the Vulgate. And the Church 
 "holds them Sacred and Canonical . . . because 
 " having been written hy the inspiration of the Holy 
 " Ghost (^Spiritu Sancto inspirante conscriptae), 
 " they have God for their author, and have been 
 "delivered as such by the Church herself." 
 (Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith. 
 Chapter ii. of Eevelation, Sess. iii.) That God, 
 therefore, inspired the writers of the Old and New 
 Testament, is of divine and catholic faith, and, 
 like every other catholic dogma, must be contained 
 cither in Scripture or Tradition. \ 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 107 
 
 In the Scripture mention is made of tlie Old 
 Testament having been written by command of God 
 (Exodus xvii. 14 ; Jeremias xxx. 2 ; Isaias viii. 1 ; 
 Ezechiel xxiv. 2 ; Habacuc ii. 2 ; and Daniel 
 xxii. 4) ; and St. Paul (2 Timothy iii. 16), says : — 
 "All Scripture inspired of God is profitable to 
 teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice." 
 St. Peter, too (2nd Epistle i. 19-21), writes :— " And 
 " we have the more firm prophetical word : where- 
 "unto you da well to attend, as ta a light that 
 " shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and 
 " the day-star arise in your hearts. Understanding 
 " this first that no prophecy of Scripture is made 
 " by private interpretation. For prophecy came 
 "not by the will of man at any time; but the 
 " holy men of God spoke, inspired hy the Holy Ghost 
 " (vTTo TTvcv/AttTos aytov <|)epo/xci/oi)." This testimony of 
 the Apostles, unlike that quoted above from 
 Exodus and the Prophets, is sufiiciently explicit ; 
 but it can have reference to the inspiration of the 
 Old Testament only.\ 
 
 The Scripture evidence for the inspiration of the 
 IS'ew Testament writers is taken 1** from the 2nd 
 Epistle of St. Peter (iii. 15), recommending to the 
 faithful St. Paul's Epistles, because they are " written 
 according to the wisdom, given himP This announce- 
 ment of inspiration begins and ends with St. Paul's 
 Epistles, and they are not the whole of the Kew 
 Testament. 2**. In St. John's Gospel (xiv., xv. and 
 
108 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 xvi.), Jesus promised to make tlie Apostles and their 
 successors infallible for ever. '^ The Holy Ghost 
 Avhom the Father will send in my name, he will 
 teach you all things." But infallibility and 
 insi'iration are not convertible terms. Hence 
 it follows that the fact of the inspiration of the whole 
 Eible can be found in Tradition alone, that is, the 
 collection of Divine truths, delivered orally by the 
 Apostles, and the pastors of the Church in regular 
 succession, under the active presence of the Paraclete. 
 The value of this oral teaching in the Catholic 
 Church is estimated by St. Augustine when he 
 writes : — '^ I would not believe the Gospel if the 
 authority of the Church did not move me thereto." 
 (Book against Manes' s Epistle of the Foundation, 
 Chap. Y.J V 
 
 Nature of Inspiration. — The Catholic Church 
 has finally decided not only that the inspiration of 
 the Old and New Testament is part of the Christian 
 faith; but that this inspiration does not consist 
 either in these Scriptures '^ containing revelation 
 without error," or in their being the writer's 
 own work, and then approved by the Holy 
 Ghost. This is what the Vatican Council pro- 
 poses in the following terms : — ^' And the Church 
 holds them " (the books of the Old and Is ew Testa- 
 ment), " Sacred and Canonical, not because having 
 ^' been composed by human industry alone, they 
 '' were afterwards approved by her authority, nor 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. lUi) 
 
 '' merely because they contain the revelation without 
 '' error." (Dogmatic Constitution of the Catholic 
 Faith, Chap. II. of Revelation, Sess. III.) There- 
 fore, while the Catholic Church has not declared 
 what is the nature of inspiration, she has defined 
 what it is not. 
 
 Positive Assistance : — God is said to have 
 given the writers of the Old and IN'ew Testament 
 positive assistance by Istly, moving their wills 
 to write ; 2ndly, proposing to the mind of these 
 writers not merely the truths they were to set forth 
 in the holy Scripture ; but His divine wish that 
 these truths only should be written; and 3rdly, 
 making the writer's minds proof against error in 
 recording what He thus conveyed to them to be 
 written. \ 
 
 Negative Assista:nce : — The divine concurrence 
 with the sacred writers, that lies in the third or last 
 constituent principle of positive assistance is called 
 negative assistance, because by it God exercised a 
 mere negative influence on their minds by pre- 
 venting them from the possibility of error. Assuredly 
 this negative assistance would render the writers of 
 the Old and New Testament infallible. But it is one 
 thing to protect their minds from the danger of 
 error, and quite a different thing to make them 
 acquainted with the divine truths to be written. 
 The Fathers of a General Council are infallible, 
 and their decrees without taint of error ; but it has 
 
110 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 never been even contended, that these Fathers and 
 their decrees are inspired. \ 
 
 Though the nature of inspiration has not 
 been solemnly settled by the Church it is theo- 
 logically certain that inspiration consists not in 
 negative, but in positive assistance. And, indeed, 
 the dogma of inspiration proclaimed by the Vatican 
 Council (1870), merely affirms in more explicit 
 language that God is the Author of the Old and 
 New Testament, an article of divine and Catholic 
 faith defined by the Council of Florence (1439), 
 and of Trent (1545-1563), !N'ow, it is impossible 
 that God could be what He is here solemnly pro- 
 nounced to be, namely, the principal Author of the 
 Old and ^N'ew Testament, unless He disposed the wills 
 of the immediate writers of these sacred books to 
 their work, and at the same time enlightened their 
 intellects so as to know whatever He proposed to 
 them to write, and in the second place His wish 
 that neither more nor less than what He com- 
 mitted to them should be written. The truths 
 which God thus ordained to be communicated to 
 men through the channel of the Old and 'New 
 Testament were 1**, mysteries, that surpass all 
 human understanding, as well as truths not above 
 the ken of reason, and the light by which He made 
 known the doctrines contained under these two 
 heads, is revelation, though strictly speaking 
 this is applied to imparting the secrets of the 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. Ill 
 
 Christian faith. 2**. Those things which they them- 
 selves witnessed or received from persons on the spot. 
 This St. John mentions in the opening words 
 of his first Epistle: — ^^That which was from 
 '^ the beginning, which we have heard, which 
 " we have seen with our eyes, which we 
 '' have looked upon, and our hands have handled, 
 '^ of the Word of Life : for the life was mani- 
 '' fested; and we have seen, and do bear witness, 
 ^^ and declare unto you the life eternal, which was 
 '' with the Father, and hath appeared to us ; that 
 '^ which we have seen and heard we declare unto 
 " unto you." As to these facts God required 
 merely to bring them back to the the writer's 
 memory, 3^. Passages taken out of profane 
 
 authors like Epimenides, from whom St, Paul 
 quotes in his Epistle to Titus: — "The Cretians 
 are always liars, evil beasts, slothful bellies " 
 (i. 12), Again, the reproaches of Job's friends, 
 the vain reasonings of the wicked in the 
 Book of Wisdom (chap, ii.), and the words of the 
 man bom blind in St. John's Gospel : — '' Now we 
 know that God doth not hear sinners ..." (ix. 
 31). In all this the divine operation on the minds 
 of the sacred writers consisted in intimating to 
 them to relate these expressions of other people. 
 God inspired the quoting of these expressions, 
 which, therefore, must have been truly spoken by 
 the persons to whom they are attributed ; but He 
 
112 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 did not inspire the utterances themselves, 4"^. 
 Finally, God by His light so fortified the intellects 
 of the Old and Xew Testament v^riters, as to 
 prevent, on their part, the possibility of error in 
 recording what He thus put before them to be 
 written. Inspiration, therefore, while it includes 
 revelation, and negative assistance, does not consist 
 in either one or the other, or both ; but in positive 
 assistance. \ 
 
 Extent of Inspiration : — Having determined 
 the nature of inspiration it now remains to fix its 
 limits. 1°. "With respect to the truths and facts, 
 inspiration extends to every truth, either doctrinal 
 or moral in the Scripture ; to every doctrinal 
 fact and to every historical fact, so far as it 
 regards its substance. This is a necessary con- 
 clusion from the same Dogmatic Constitution of 
 the Vatican Council, which has been mentioned 
 already: — '^And these books of the Old and 
 '^ 'New Testament are to be received as Sacred 
 '' and Canonical in their integrity zvith all their 
 ^^ parts, as they are enumerated in the decree of 
 " the Sacred Council (Trent), and are contained in 
 " the old Latin edition of the Vulgate. And the 
 '* Church holds them Sacred and Canonical . , . 
 " because having been tvritten by the inspiration oj 
 '^ the Holy Ghost (Spiritu Sancto inspirante con- 
 •"* scriptae) they have God for their author,''^ (I^og- 
 matic Constitution of the Catholic Faith, Ch. II. 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 113 
 
 of Eevelation, Sess. III). Here the Yatican Fathers 
 chose as the object of their particular legislation 
 '^ the decree concerning the Canonical Scriptures " 
 passed in Session lY. of the Council of Trent: — 
 "But if any one receive not as Sacred and 
 '^ Canonical the said books entire with all their 
 ''parts, as they have been used to be read in the 
 " Catholic Church, and as they are contained in the 
 "old Latin Yulgate Edition . . . let him be 
 " anathema." Therefore the Church has infallibly 
 pronounced every part in the Old and New Testa- 
 ment {cum omnibus suis partibus) to be sacred and 
 canonical, ''because they are inspired^'^ that is every 
 doctrine, every moral precept, every doctrinal fact, 
 and also every historical fact, as far as- its substance 
 is concerned, forms a part of the Bible, and is, 
 therefore, inspired. St. Paul tells the Eomans :■ — 
 "For what things soever were written, were 
 written for our learning " (Epistle to the Eomans 
 XV. 4).- This is what Cardinal Newman has 
 expressed in an- article in the February Number 
 (1884) of The Nineteenth Century Review: — "As 
 "to the authority of Scripture, we hold it to be, in 
 " all matters of faith and morals, divinely inspired 
 " throughout." He then points out the field covered 
 by his word throughout'. — "But while the Coun- 
 "cils, as has been shown, lay down so emphatically 
 "the inspiration of Scripture in respect to * faith 
 " and morals,' it is remarkable that they do not say 
 
 H 
 
114 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 " a word directly as to its inspiration in matters of 
 ** fact. Yet are we, therefore, to conclude that the 
 ^^ record of facts in Scripture does not come under 
 ** the guarantee of its inspiration ? We are not so to 
 *' conclude, and for this plain reason : — The sacred 
 '' narrative, carried on through so many ages, what is 
 " it but the very matter for our faith, and rule of our 
 '^ obedience ? What but that narrative itself is the 
 " supernatural teaching, in order to which inspira- 
 ^^ tion is given ? What is the whole history, traced 
 '' out in Scripture from Genesis to Esdras, and 
 '' thence on to the end of the Acts of the Apostles, 
 '' but a manifestation of Divine Providence, on the 
 ^' one hand interpretative, on a large scale and with 
 '' analogical applications of universal history, and 
 '' on the other preparatory, typical and predictive, 
 *^ of the Evangelical Dispensation ? Its pages 
 " breathe of providence and grace, of our Lord, 
 '' and of His work and teaching, from beginning to 
 " end. It views facts in those relations in which 
 '' neither ancients, such as the Greek and Latin 
 '^ classical historians, nor moderns, such as Niebuhr, 
 ^' Grote, Ewald, or Michelet, can view them. In 
 ^' this point of view it has God for its author, even 
 " though the finger of God traced no words but the 
 " Decalogue. Such is the claim of Bible history in 
 " its substantial fulness to be accepted de JideSiS 
 "true. In this point of view, Scripture is in- 
 " spired, not only in faith and morals, but in all 
 
INSPIKATION OF THE BIBLE. 115 
 
 "parts which bear on faith, including matters of 
 "fact."/ 
 
 There are, however, in the historical part of the 
 Eible, some small circumstances, or details, which 
 do not touch the substance of the fact. Hence the 
 Cardinal adds : — " And here I am led to inquire 
 " whether obiter dicta are conceivable in an inspired 
 " document. . . . By oUter dicta I also mean such 
 " statements as we find in the Book of Judith, that 
 " Nabuchodonosor was King of Ninive. Now it is in 
 " favour of there being such unauthoritative ohiter 
 " dicta^ . . . not doctrinal, but mere unimportant 
 " statements of fact. . . . There does not then seem 
 " any serious difficulty in admitting their existence 
 " in Scripture. Let it be observed, its miracles are 
 " doctrinal facts, and in no sense of the phrase 
 " can be considered ohiter dictaJ^^ In this there 
 is nothing to offend the most sensitive theological 
 acumen, for there are in the Sacred Scripture 
 what the Cardinal calls "' oUter dicta, mere unim- 
 portant statements of fact," and since they do not 
 belong essentially to the faithful record of the 
 fact itself, they can only serve to make the 
 narrative more complete and more vivid, as for 
 example, what is told of the dog of Tobias 
 " showing his joy by his fawning and wagging his 
 tail " (Tobias xi. 9). Now to relate an historical 
 fact with more vividness and completeness is purely 
 ornamental. It is entirely a matter of taste as well 
 
116 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 as of education, and the keenest theologian can 
 aardly advocate such plenary inspiration as would 
 deprive the sacred penmen of the exercise of their 
 own taste and education in all that is not necessary 
 lor the faithful record of the facts, proposed to them 
 "by God to be written. But since the Scripture 
 narrative cannot be false in any particular, even 
 chese ^'-obiter dicta^ mere unimportant statements of 
 fact," are safe-guarded from error by negative assist- 
 ance, which is all that can be required, and not by 
 positive assistance, or inspiration proper, which 
 would be superfluous in the circumstances, and God 
 never performs a superfluous act. / 
 
 Cardinal Newman sums up all in a postcript 
 to his article : — '' These two Councils (Le.^ Trent 
 '' and the Vatican), decide that the Scriptures are 
 ^- inspired throughout, but not inspired by an imme- 
 ^' diately divine act, but through the instrumentality 
 '^ of inspired men; that they are inspired in all 
 '^matters of faith and morals, meaning thereby, 
 *^ not only theological doctrine, but also the historical 
 '^ and prophetical narratives, which they contain, 
 "from Genesis to the Acts of the Apostles; and 
 " lastly, that being inspired because WTitten by 
 "inspired men, they have a human side, which 
 " manifests itself in language, style, tone of thought, 
 " character, intellectual peculiarities, and such infir- 
 " milies, not sinful as belong to our nature, and 
 " which in important matters may issue in what in 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 117 
 
 " doctrinal definitions is called an obiter dictum, 
 '' At the same time, the gift of inspiration being 
 '' divine, a Catholic must never forget that what he 
 ^^is handling is in a true sense the Word of God, 
 ^' which, as I said in my Article by reason of the 
 '' difficulty of always drawing the line between what 
 *' is human and what is divine, cannot be put on the 
 ^' level with other books, as it is now the fashion 
 '' to do, but has the nature of a Sacrament, which 
 ^' is outward and inward, and a channel of super- 
 '' natural grace."/ 
 
 Verbal Inspiration :~2nd. With regard to the 
 words of 'the Scripture, and its style of composition, 
 inspiration extends not only to the sentences in the 
 context ; but to a particular word or words where 
 such are necessary to exhibit accurately any truth or 
 fact contained in the Holy Scriptures. The reason 
 is that by negative assistance, which is an essential 
 element in inspiration, the Old and ]N'ew Testament 
 writers are secured from the possibility of error in 
 recording whatever God instructed them to set 
 forth, and they are consequently infallible in the 
 choice of the word or words that truly represent the 
 doctrines, moral precepts, and facts to be entered in 
 the Bible. If these doctrines, precepts, and facts 
 can be as accurately announced in one set of words, 
 as in another, then God leaves the choice of the 
 words to the writers themselves. Hence, in the Scrip- 
 tures generally, the phrases and their combination 
 
118 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 bear the impress of the intellectual training and dis- 
 position of each of the writers. Thus, for example, 
 though our Blessed Lord used one set of words only 
 in teaching the> institution of the Blessed Eucharist, 
 they are variously givem by the four Evangelists. 
 This shows that the writers of the Old and 'New 
 Testament were not mere mechanical transcribers, 
 but intelligent men, who were permitted by God to 
 exercise their own taste in selecting their vocabulary 
 and style in all that did not appertain essentially to 
 the faithful expression of the truths, which God 
 wished them to publish in their writings. This is 
 precisely what the author of the II Book of Macha- 
 bees did when he says : — '^ If I have done my 
 " narration well, and as it becometh the history, 
 ^' it is what I desired ; but if not so perfectly, it 
 '' must be pardoned me ; for as it is hurtful to drink 
 '' always wine, or always water, but pleasant to 
 '^ use sometimes the one, and sometimes the other ; 
 ^^ so if the speech be always nicely framed, it will 
 *'not be grateful to the readers" (xv. 39, 40). 
 Here it is well to add that no translation of the 
 Bible is inspired ; but it has been conclusively 
 shown in the chapter on the Beading the Scriptures 
 in the Yemacular, that the Catholic Church has 
 solemnly pronounced the Old Latin Vulgate to be 
 authentic, that is, to give the originals without 
 substantial error. 1 
 
 Protestants, but not all, admit the inspiration of 
 
INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 119 
 
 the Bible. I^ow what are their proofs for this 
 belief? There are external proofs which most 
 Protestants make to consist in the fact of the 
 writers being Apostles, and performing miracles. 
 The fact that one is an Apostle, and performs 
 miracles, does not necessarily imply that what he 
 writes is inspired. Luther, according to his own 
 testimony as well as that of very many Protestants, 
 was divinely sent, and performed miracles. Yet no 
 Protestant will say that Luther's writings are divinely 
 inspired. The messengers, sent by God, to propose 
 His revelation, wrought miracles in proof of their 
 divine mission, and of the truth of what they taught. 
 Miracles and prophecies are evidence of the truth 
 of a revelation ; but not of the inspiration of any 
 document. / 
 
 Some Protestants, however, derive the external 
 argument for the inspiration of the Bible from the 
 testimony of the Christian people. It is a fact, they 
 say, just as the definition of any dogma of belief by 
 a general council of the Catholic Church is a fact, 
 or as the supreme sanction of a body of laws is a 
 fact, and as such is attested by a number of wit- 
 nesses, large enough to render certain the truth of 
 its existence. Then, there are not a few Protestants 
 who deduce an external argument for the inspiration 
 of the Scriptures from the Bible itself, by taking 
 some passages from the New Testament to prove 
 the inspiration of the whole Bible. As to the proof, 
 
120 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 drawn from the testimony of the Christian people, 
 there is an essential flaw in this testimony, and it 
 is from the nature of the fact itself. Facts, resting 
 on the testimony of men, must have certain con- 
 ditions, which may be reduced to this that those 
 persons, who witnessed them, were neither deceived, 
 nor deceivers. IN'ow, the inspiration of the Bible 
 is not a fact of this kind;; it is purely internal, 
 unseen by all except by God HimseK. It is, there- 
 fore, a fact of which no one, not even the writer, 
 can have certain testimony without anew revelation 
 that he was moved by the Spirit of light, and not 
 by the Spirit of darkness. ( 
 
 Coming now to the proof of Biblical inspiration 
 from the Scripture itself, what is wanted from 
 Protestants is a satisfactory proof that these texts, 
 brought forward, are themselves inspired; that taken 
 together they refer to each and all the books of the 
 Bible, and that they clearly assert the inspiration of 
 •the writings m question. Now, the first point 
 Protestants can scarcely know unless by a new 
 revelation ; in the second they must ever fail, as 
 the passages, in their greatest amplitude, refer to 
 very few books ; and in the third they are equally 
 at fault, for most of these texts are not at all clear 
 as to what is meant by inspiration, and some do not 
 touch it even remotely. 
 
 And if the Protestant cannot ground the inspira- 
 tion on external evidence, he will not fare better 
 
IXSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 121 
 
 with his internal proofs, as for instance the harmony 
 of parts, sanctity of doctrines, and the spiritual 
 feelings excited by the reading of the Sacred 
 Yolume. One reflection will suffice to give as a 
 reason for refusing to admit the inspiration on this 
 internal evidence, and it is that all these arguments, 
 adduced from this source, may be applied to many 
 other writings besides the Bible. / 
 
CHAPTEE YIII. 
 
 CANON OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 \ Canon — Sacred Canon — Fixed infallibly for Catholics — Found 
 in Tradition alone — How Protestants prove the Sacred Canon — The 
 Apocrypha — Use of this term perverted by Protestants — Catholic 
 teaching as to the Protocanonical and Deuterocanonical Scriptures 
 — List of the Deutero-canonical Scriptures— Jews and the Deutero- 
 canonical books of the Old Testament — Protestants and the 
 Deuterocanonical books of the Old and New Testaments— Genuine- 
 ness of the New Testament Deuterocanonical books vindicated — 
 Epistle of St. James— II. Epistle of St. Peter— II. and III. Epistles 
 of St. John— Epistle of St. Jude— The Apocalypse— Gospel of St. 
 Matthew, i. and ii. chapters — Gospel of St. Mark xvi. 8-20 — Gospel 
 of St. Luke xxii. 43, 44 — Gospel of St. John viiL 1-11 and xxi. — 
 I. Epistle of St. John v. 7. \ 
 
 Canon of the Sacred Scriptures : — Canon, 
 Greek (KavZv) a piece of rod or stick, with which 
 lines were drawn, and quantities measured. The 
 name of this instrument came to denote the standard 
 by which the qualities of things were fixed, and in 
 the middle of the fourth century it was employed 
 to distinguish the collection of Old and New Testa- 
 ment Scriptures, accepted in the Church as the Word 
 of God, or inspired, i 
 
 Catholics and the Sacred Canon : — The Fathers 
 of the Council of Trent declared the books of the 
 Bible, as they are contained in the old Latin Vulgate 
 
CANON OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 123 
 
 edition to form this list. They are : — " Of the Old 
 " Testament, the five books of Moses; that is Genesis, 
 '^ Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy ; 
 ^' Josue, Judges, Euth, the four books of Kings, two 
 '' of Paralipomenon, the first book of Esdras, and the 
 ^^ second, which is entitled Nehemias; Tobias, Judith, 
 " Esther, Job, the Davidical psaltery, consisting of 
 " a hundred and fifty psalms ; the Proverbs, Ecclesi- 
 ^^astes, the Canticle of Canticles, Wisdom, 
 ^^ Ecclesiasticus, Isaias^ Jeremias, with Baruch; 
 ^'Ezechiel, Daniel; the twelve minor prophets, to 
 '^wit, Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, 
 " Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharias, 
 ^' Malachias ; two books of the Machabees, the first 
 '' and the second. Of the New Testament : the four 
 " Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 
 '' John ; the Acts of the Apostles, written by Luke, 
 'Hhe Evangelist; fourteen Epistles of Paul the 
 '^ Apostle, one to the Eomans, two to the Corinthians, 
 ^' one to the Galatians, to> the Ephesians, to the 
 " Philippians, to the Colossian^, two to the Thessa- 
 ^' lonians, two to Timothy, one to Titus, to Philemon, 
 ^' to the Hebrews, two of Peter the Apostle, three 
 '' of John the Apostle, one of the Apostle James, 
 '' one of Jude the Apostle, and the Apocalypse of 
 ^^ John the Apostle." (Decree concerning the Can- 
 onical Scriptures. Session iv.)/ 
 
 That these particular Scriptures, and these only, 
 are canonical, is a fact, like that of the inspiration. 
 
124 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 which must be contained in God's written or un- 
 written word, seeing that the Church, in general 
 council, has thus solemnly adopted and proposed it. 
 Is^ow the well-known Scripture passage, produced as 
 certifying to this fact, is St. Paul's statement : — 
 *^A11 Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to 
 teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice " 
 (2 Timothy iii. 16). This, however, refers to the 
 Old Testament exclusively, and even here the 
 Apostle does not specify the parts, of his inspired 
 series. / 
 
 The fact, therefore, of the Sacred Canon is 
 found in God's unwritten word only, and to the 
 existence of this uniform and universal tradition in 
 the Church of Christ, Pope Innocent I. bears 
 splendid testimony. In a letter to Exuperius, 
 Eishop of Toulouse in 405, the Supreme Pontiff 
 gives the inspired books in number and name, 
 exactly as defined by the Council of Trent, with 
 the important assurance that such was " consecrated 
 by the reading and fostering care of ages." Again 
 the Councils of Hippo (393), of Carthage (397), and 
 of Eome (493), publish a similar catalogue among 
 their decrees. The voice of this tradition is also 
 heard with no uncertain sound so late as 1440 in 
 the message of Pope Eugene YI. to the Armenians. 
 And so this fact came doAvn from the Apostles in 
 the channel of tradition until it was called in ques- 
 tion by the heretics of the sixteenth century and 
 
CANOX OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURKS. 12o 
 
 finally decided by the Bishops of the whole Church, 
 assembled ia Council at Trent (1545-1563). / 
 
 Protestants and the Sacred Canon : — Such then 
 is the proof, such the infallible authority of Catholics 
 for the collection of those books, which constitute 
 the canonical Scriptures. Protestants generally first 
 prove the canon icity of the New Testament, and 
 make it a necessary step towards proving the canon 
 of the Old Testament. With regard to the 'New 
 Testament many Protestants conclude from the fact 
 of its books having been written by an apostle, or 
 the disciple of an apostle, that it is, therefore, 
 canonical. But it does not follow that because an 
 Apostle has written a- document, it is, therefore, 
 canonical, for Protestants do not object to the 
 opinion that much of what some of the Apostles 
 wrote, and notably St. Paul, has been lost. Then, 
 a writing need not have emanated from the pen of 
 an Apostle in order to be canonical, for some very 
 prominent books of the New Testament were written 
 by disciples of Apostles. Nor is the authorship by 
 the disciple of an Apostle to be made the criterion, 
 for St. Barnabas, and St. Clement of Eome were 
 disciples of Apostles, and yet their writings, though 
 genuine, are not on the Canon. / 
 
 Most Protestants also appear to take it for granted 
 that the same act, which inspires a writing, inserts 
 it on the roll of holy Scripture, and thus they con- 
 found inspiration with canonicity. But there is 
 
126 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 notliing absurd in the notion of a book being 
 inspired, while it has no place on the sacred list. 
 This is evident from the fact that several inspired 
 books were not admitted to the Jewish Canon till the 
 time of Esdras, though they were published long 
 before. It is confirmed by another fact, namely, 
 that some of the books, at present enumerated in the 
 Latin Yulgate, and sealed by the Council of Trent, 
 were not acknowledged as inspired by the Fathers 
 unanimously until the seventh century. / 
 
 The Protestant position regarding the Sacred 
 Canon is still further emphasized in the following 
 extract from a modern writer : — " The Epistle to 
 ^' the Hebrews, though received in the East, was 
 *^ not received in the Latin Church till St. 
 ^' Jerome's time. St. Irenaeus either does not affirm, 
 *' or denies that it is St. PauPs. Tertullian ascribes 
 *^ it to St. Barnabas. Caius excludes it from bis list. 
 " St. Hippolytus does not receive it. St. Cyprian 
 "is silent about it." And again: — "The I^ew 
 " Testament consists of twenty-seven books in all of 
 " varying importance. Of these, fourteen are not 
 " mentioned at all from 80 to 100 years after St. 
 " John's death, in which number are the Acts, the 
 " II. Corinthians, the Galatians, the Colossians, the 
 "two to Timothy, and the Epistle of St. James." 
 {Tracts for the Tmes, IKTumbers 75, 78 and 80). \ 
 
 The Canon, therefore, as it is in the Protestant 
 Church, was not framed before the fourth or fifth 
 
CANON OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 127 
 
 century. It remains that the only way the Canon 
 could have been fixed at that period was to collect 
 the teaching of the various Churches, and then pro- 
 nounce by a definitive judgment that certain books 
 were canonical. But, it is a leading doctrine of 
 Protestantism that no Church has power to decide 
 infallibly in matters of the kind. / 
 
 Lastly there are Protestants, who say, that in 
 fixing the Sacred Canon they are following with the 
 same certainty, the same plan as that adopted by the 
 Pathers of the early Church in determining the 
 genuine, and consequently the Canonical books of 
 the Scripture by the rules of sound criticism. Le 
 Clerc is put forward as one of their most orthodox 
 exponents of this doctrine : — " The primitive 
 '^ Christians, "he writes, " regarded the Scriptures as 
 " divine, because they saw that these books con- 
 '^tained nothing unworthy of inspired writers, 
 ^'nothing contrary to the Old Testament, to right 
 ^^ reason, nothing which characterises authors 
 '' more recent than Apostles." Thus the examina- 
 tion of the doctrine is made the standard by which 
 the claims of certain books to a place on the 
 Canon are to be tested. But what Protestant is 
 able by his rule of faith to judge the doctrines of the 
 Bible, and apply this test ?/ 
 
 The Apocrypha :— Even if it were true that the 
 examination of the doctrines determined the 
 genuineness, it does not follow, by any means, that 
 
128 INTRODrCTTON TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 this rule establislies the canonicity of a book of 
 Scripture. Genuineness and canonicity are not 
 inseparable, for a document may be genuine with- 
 out being canonical. Thus the Epistles of St. 
 Barnabas, and of St. Clement of Eome, the Shepherd 
 of Hermas, the third and 4th of Esdras, 3rd and 4th 
 of Machabees, and the 151st Psalm, were all very 
 sacred, and truly genuine; but they never were 
 canonical. The fact that these writings were not 
 among the books of the Sacred Canon, was so 
 hidden (aTroVput^os) from some of the early Christian 
 writers that they unwittingly, but erroneously 
 referred to- them as being on the roll of inspired 
 Scriptures. Hence the Apocrypha ; but Protestauts 
 have perverted the use of this term by misapplying 
 it to the Deuterocanoiiical parts of the Bible, namely 
 those Sacred Scriptures, whose place on the Canon 
 was not universally admitted in the Church until 
 the seventh century. \ 
 
 Catholics and the Protoganonical and Deutoro- 
 CANONiCAL Scriptures : — For the first five centuries 
 and more after Christianity began, the recognised 
 Canon of inspired Scriptures did not find its way into 
 every corner of the Church's wide domain. It 
 happened, therefore, that the leaders of the Christian 
 movement were not all correctly informed as to the 
 collection, which the whole Church acknowledged 
 to be God's written word. This, and the fear of 
 confounding any of the Canonical Scriptures with 
 
CANON OF THE SACRED SCEIPTXIRES. 129 
 
 the Apocryplia, then in circulation, had the effect 
 of causing not a few of the highest authority among 
 the ancient Fathers, to suspect the divine character 
 of several Old and N'ew Testament books which 
 Eusebius (Eccl. Hist.) consequently named 
 (^avTLXeyofxevoi), The Scripturcs thus challenged are 
 Deuterocanonicalj because the fact of their being 
 actually on the Canon was not generally known 
 until the seventh century. These books and parts 
 of books were ranked second (Aevrepos), while the first 
 (iTpoTo^^ place has been assigned to those Scriptures 
 (Protocanonical) whose inspiration was never 
 doubted (o/xoXoyor/^o/ot according to Eusebius) by any 
 one in the Church. Eoth enjoy the same authority, 
 for both are declared to be canonical by the 
 infallible decree of the Church. / 
 
 In the New Testament the D enter o canonical 
 Scriptures are the Epistle of St. Paul to the 
 Hebrews, the Epistle of St. James, Epistle of St. 
 Jude, II. Epistle of St. Peter, II. and III. Epistles 
 of St. John, together with his j^pocalypse ; the last 
 twelve verses of St. Mark's Gospel, the passage 
 regarding our Lord's bloody sweat (Luke xxii.) and 
 the history of the woman, taken in adultery (John 
 viii.). In the Old Testament the Deuterocanonical 
 Scriptures are Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesias- 
 ticus, Baruch, the two books of Machabees, the part 
 of the book of Daniel containing the history of 
 Susanna (xiii.), of Bel and the Dragon (xiv.), the 
 
130 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 Canticle of the three children in the fiery furnace 
 (iii.), and the last seven chapters of Esther. / 
 
 Jews and the Deuterocanonical Books of the 
 Old Testament : — These Old Testament writings 
 are not in the canon, drawn up by Esdras for his 
 Jewish countrymen, at the close of their Babylonish 
 captivity, 512 b.c. He could not have included 
 Baruch, Tobias, Judith, "Wisdom, or the Deutero- 
 canonical parts of Daniel and Esther, because he 
 did not know even of their existence, and the two 
 books of Machabees were not written until long 
 after the time of Esdras. However, all those that 
 Esdras could not have noticed found their way into 
 the Septuagint^ and hence their inspiration was 
 accepted by those Jews, who adopted the Septuagint 
 collection of the Scriptures. These were Hellenist 
 Jews J who had settled from time to time among the 
 Greek colonies. But the Hebreio Jews^ who never 
 abandoned the language and home of their fathers, 
 declined to count the Deuterocanonical parts of the 
 Old Testament among their sacred Scriptures, on 
 the ground, as Josephus remarks, that " there had 
 been no succession of Prophets from the time of 
 Esdras." In controversy, therefore, with these 
 Hebrew Jews it was perfectly useless for the 
 champions of the Christian faith to quote from the 
 Deuterocanonical Old Testament books. Thus it 
 happened that these were not mentioned in the 
 enumeration of the Catholic Canon as early as 
 
CAXOX OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 131 
 
 A.D. 160 by Miletus, Bishop of Sardis, and other 
 ancient Tatliers of the time, not as a profession of 
 their own belief ; but solely for the purpose of 
 meeting the Hebrew Jews from their own standpoint. / 
 
 Peotestants and tiie Deuterocanonical Eooks 
 OF THE Old and ^ew Testament : — Luther in his 
 German translation of the Hebrew Bible, says the 
 Deuterocanonical Scriptures of the Old Testament 
 are not the Word of God, but profitable for reading. 
 He also puts in the same category the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews as well as the Apocalypse from the 
 !N'ew Testament, where the Epistle of St. James 
 elicited his biting jest of '^ a downright strawy 
 Epistle," because it directly contradicted his heresy 
 of justification by faith alone. Anglican Protes- 
 tants use the Deuterocanonical parts of the Old 
 Testament ^'for edification, but not for the establish- 
 ment of doctrine," on the plea that they are not of 
 divine origin, wMe with strange inconsistency they 
 receive the Deuterocanonical books of the ;N"ew 
 Testament into their collection of inspired Scriptures ! 
 Most of all the Protestant Churches, hov/ever, regard 
 as doubtful the authorship of the iNew Testament 
 Deuterocanonical books, and therefore exclude 
 them from the collection of inspired Scriptures. But 
 this is not a conclusive argument, for TertuUian and 
 St. Cyprian believed in the divine authority of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, though they were of opinion 
 that St. Paul, himself, did not write it. TertuUian, 
 
132 IXTEODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 St. Cyprian, St. Clement of Eome, St. Irenseus^ 
 Origen, St. Clement of Alexandria, and St. Jerome, 
 perceiving in this some difference of style from St. 
 PanPs other Epistles, concluded that he was not tha 
 immediate writer of it, but only supplied the matter 
 in Hebrew, which either St. Luke or St. Barnabas 
 clothed in its present Greek dress. This will 
 explain why this Pauline Epistle is not mentioned 
 in the ancient canon of Muratori, nor in the works 
 of some of the early Fathers. Finally, unlike St. 
 Paul's other Epistles this one to the Hebrews does 
 not begin with : — '' Paul a servant of Jesus Christ," 
 or words to that effect, because the very name of 
 St. Paul was obnoxious to the Jews, and the 
 mention of it would defeat the object of the 
 Apostle. / 
 
 Epistle of St. James: — This important deutero- 
 canonical book of the ISTew Testament has been 
 stigmatized by Luther as: — *^The work of some 
 nnknown James, who misunderstood the doctrines of 
 the Apostle Paul." This the arch-reformer did in 
 order to damage, in the opinion of his followers, the 
 character of an Epistle which he disliked most. But 
 the best witnesses of the belief of the early Church, 
 as represented in the "West by St. Clement of Eomo 
 (1 Corinthians xxxviii.), St. Ireneeus (Against 
 Heresies, Bk. iv), St. Jerome (Illustrious Men, 
 chap. 23); and in the east by St. Clement, of 
 Alexandria, Origen, and St. Athanasius, as quoted 
 
CAXOX OF THE SACRED SCRIPTITRES. 133 
 
 by Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History, ii., iii.), all 
 testify to the genuineness of this Epistle. Eusebius 
 himself, no doubt, speaks of its canonicity, but not 
 of its genuineness, "with reserve, and this cautious 
 manner of reference, wliicli is to be found also in a 
 few other early Christian writers, while it has no 
 bearing on the genuineness of this Epistle, may 
 account for its absence from the canon of Muratori./ 
 11. Epistle of St. Petee : — The next of the 
 deutero-canonical books of the IsTew Testament is 
 St. Peter's 2nd Epistle, and its authorship has been 
 impugned because, l"", it is rarely or not at all quoted 
 by any Apostolic writer; S"", it is not among the 
 IN'ew Testament books, translated in the famous old 
 Syriac version, Peschito; S"", there is said to be a re- 
 markable difference of style between it and St. 
 Peter's 1st Epistle ; and 4'', St. Jerome, Origen, and 
 Eusebius, the historian, are not in favour of its 
 acceptance. But the alleged silence of every 
 Apostolic writer, as well as that of the Peschito, in 
 all its copies, is not a fact, and even if it were, it 
 w^ould amoimt to a negative argument only. Then 
 we must not expect to find St. Peter's usual style 
 in this Epistle, seeing that, as St. Jerome and St, 
 Clement of Alexandria think, its Greek was not St. 
 Peter's but that of St. Mark or Sylvanus, who acted 
 as his amanuensis. Lastly, the disfavour with 
 which this Epistle was regarded by Origen, Eusebius, 
 and St. Jerome, has reference to its authority as a 
 
134 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 divine or inspired Scripture, but not to its genuine- 
 ness. / 
 
 TI. and III. Epistles of St. Jolin. The genuineness 
 of these Epistles is impeached on the grounds — l"", 
 that they are not in the Peschito, and some other- 
 ancient versions ; 2"^, the author signs himself the 
 ancient^ who is alleged not to have been St. John, the 
 Apostle ; and S'', Origen, Eusebius, and St. Jerome 
 are very guarded in their observations regarding 
 the genuineness of these [N'ew Testament books. 
 But this dubious attitude of these eminent autho- 
 rities was, doubtless, due to the remarkable brevity 
 of these Epistles, which are not found in some of 
 the later copies of the Peschito, but this does 
 not prove that they are wanting in the earlier- 
 copies of this celebrated Syriac version, especially 
 as they are given in such an old version as the- 
 Veins Itala^ and in so early a canon as that of 
 Muratori (a.d. 175). And as to the argument from 
 the signature of '' the ancient^'''' so far from weak- 
 ening, it strengthens immensely the genuineness of 
 these Epistles for St. John, the Evangelist, lived to a 
 very old age — long after the other Apostles had gone 
 to their reward — and he was consequently the ancient 
 or senior amongst those immediately succeeding the 
 time of the Apostles. | 
 
 Epistle of St. Jude : — Anti-Catholic authorities 
 also pronounce this deutero-canonical book of the 
 New Testament spurious, because it is not quoted by 
 
CANON OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 135 
 
 any of tlie prominent writers of the Eastern or 
 "Western Church nntil the fourth century. Subse- 
 quently, when St. Clement, of Alexandria, St. Jerome, 
 and Origen, noticed it, they did so with manifest 
 misgivings. Again the writer seems to convey that 
 he lived after all the Apostles had passed away, for 
 he says : — " But you, my dearly beloved, be mindful 
 of the words which have been spoken before by the 
 Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ " (Jude i. 17). 
 And that the ^\Titer was not the Apostle St. Jude, 
 seems to be further confirmed by his doing what an 
 Apostle neither would, nor could be accused of, 
 namely, quoting not only from the Book of Enoch, 
 but also from another apocryphal Scripture, '' the 
 Assumption of Moses " where he found the story of 
 the Archangel Michael's combat with the devil for the 
 possession of the body of Moses. But 1°, the earliest 
 writers of the Eastern and Western Church make 
 no mention of St. Jude's Epistle, for the simple 
 reason that it consisted of one chapter only, and 
 even in that there was nothing to call for their 
 special attention. 2°. The hesitating tone which 
 later Fathers adopted towards this Epistle arose 
 from their doubts respecting its canonicity and not 
 its genuineness. S*". The expression, "Apostles of 
 our Lord," is intended by St. Jude to apply to 
 SS. Peter and Paul, and other Apostles, who had 
 just won their crown of martyrdom in circumstances 
 of great triumph for the infant Church, whence 
 
136 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 St. Jude takes the opportimity of exhorting the 
 faithful "to be mindful of their words." Thus it 
 happened that the place held by several of the 
 deutero-eanonical Scriptures on the canon escaped 
 the notice of a few early Christian writers, while 
 suspicion hardly ever touched the question of their 
 genuineness, f 
 
 The Apocalypse : — The arguments against the 
 genuineness of this, the last book of the 'New 
 Testament Scriptures, are, 1°, that in Greek copies it 
 is ascribed to St. John, the theologian, and not to 
 St. John, the Apostle ; 2"" that it is not mentioned by 
 any writer of the Apostolic age ; and o"", that soon 
 after the first few centuries of the Church, St. 
 Dionysius, of Alexandria, speaks of it as not the 
 work of St. John, while St. Jerome, in his Epistle 
 to Dardanus, says the Greek Fathers did not 
 believe it to be a genuine production, and conse- 
 quently never gave it a place in any of their canons. 
 For these reasons, and because it is totally different 
 in phraseology from St. John's other acknowledged 
 writings, the belief in his authorship of it is rejected 
 by many outside the Catholic Church. In answer 
 to these objections it is to be observed, I'', that St. 
 John earned the name of the theologian on account 
 of the marked doctrinal character of his Gospel. 
 2**. The statement of Dionysius, of Alexandria, even 
 if well founded, does not represent the authority of 
 all the early Christian writers. There is no doubt, 
 
CANON OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 137 
 
 whatever, that the Greek Fathers declined, as 
 St. Jerome wrote to Dardanus, to recognise the 
 genuineness and canonicity of the Apocalypse. But 
 this arose from a holy fear that this book should 
 favour in any way the foul doctrine to which its 
 4th verse, chapter xx., was prostituted by the 
 Millenarian or Chiliast heretics, namely, that the 
 martyrs would reign a thousand years before the end 
 of the world with Christ in the enjoyment of carnal 
 delights. 3^. As regards the apparent difference of 
 style it must be noticed that prophecy, more than 
 any other subject, has a vocabulary of its own, and 
 therefore, it is to be expected that hi^ revelation 
 would be told by St. John in phraseology somewhat 
 different from that adopted by him elsewhere. ^ 
 
 I. A^D II. Chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel : — 
 The interpolation of this particular part of the first 
 Gospel is maintained by not a few outside the 
 Catholic Church, for the reason that these chapters 
 do not appear in the oldest existing copy of this 
 Scripture, and the matter they treat of is not 
 touched upon by St. Mark, though his Gospel is, 
 to a great extent, a compendium of St. Matthew's. 
 But l"", to produce this, the most ancient copy of 
 St. Matthew's Gospel, is to appeal to the authority 
 of heretics, known as the Ebionites, Avho denied the 
 Incarnation, and consequently eliminated from their 
 copy of St. Matthew these two chapters, where 
 this mystery is so clearly and so prominently put 
 
138 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 forward. 2°. St. Mark's object appears to have 
 been to give an epitome of what St. Matthew had 
 already written, and he passed over the subject of 
 these two chapters just as he did the Sermon upon 
 the Mount. / 
 
 St. Maek's Gospel, xvi. 8-20 : — These thirteen 
 verses are also brought forward as the work of a 
 strange hand, because 1°, they do not appear, it is 
 said, in either the Vatican or Sinaitic Codices, and 
 St. Jerome, Eusebius, and St. Gregory of ^yssa, 
 declare they could not find this part of St. Mark's 
 Gospel in any of the ^ew Testament manuscript 
 copies, belonging to the first three centuries. Then 
 it is wanting in the Armenian and Arabic versions 
 as well as in the Vetus Italica (Old Latin) version, 
 or rather in a rare copy of it, discovered in the 
 monastery of Bobbio ; 2"", the style of the alleged 
 interpolation is said to differ widely from the rest 
 of St. Mark's Gospel ; and 3°, if St. Mark was the 
 author of this passage, he would not, as he does in 
 the 9th verse, state the reverse of what St. Matthew 
 records in the 1st verse, chapter xxviii. of his Gospel. 
 But I'', in the matter of JSTew Testament copies of the 
 originals. Mill, Bcngcl, "Wettstein, are, perhaps, 
 unsurpassed in critical authority, and they have 
 retained these disputed verses of St. Mark in their 
 respective editions of the Greek Testament. Then 
 as to ancient versions, the weight of evidence is in 
 favour of St. Mark being the author of this passage, 
 
CAXON OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 139^ 
 
 since it is found in the Peshito, theYulgatej and in all 
 the copies of the Old Latin version, except this one 
 discovered in the Monastery of Bobbio ; in short, it 
 is to be seen in the bnlk of ancient versions, and in 
 all the ancient liturgies. 2"", the supposed peculiarity 
 of diction is wholly imaginary, as is also the contra- 
 diction between the 9th verse, chapter xvi. of St. 
 Mark's Gospel : — '^But he rising early the first day 
 of the week, appeared first to Mary Magdalen, out 
 of whom he had cast seven devils," and the 1st 
 verse, chapter xxviii. of St. Matthew's Gospel: — 
 *' Andin the end of the Sabbath, when it began to 
 dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary 
 Magdalen, and the other Mary to see the sepulchre." 
 Here St. Matthew distinctly mentions the time of 
 this tender episode to be '4n the end of the 
 Sabbath," and between this and St. Mark's ^^ first 
 day of the week, there is a perfect agreement, for- 
 the Jewish Sabbath, which began Friday evening, 
 ended on Sunday morning, '' the first day of the 
 week." Then when St. Mark says ^^the sun being 
 now risen," he refers to the time when the two 
 Marys and Salome had actually reached the sepul- 
 chre, whereas St. Matthew's words, ''when it began 
 to dawn," fix the time when these pious women left 
 home to pay their loving tribute of affection at the 
 tomb of their Saviour. \ 
 
 St. Luke's Gospel, xxii. 43, 44 : — There are 
 Protestant critics who contend that the narrative 
 
140 IXTKODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 contained in this part of St. Luke's Gospel was 
 a subsequent addition to the original. They pretend 
 the statement which represents Jesus to be so over- 
 whelmed with anguish as to need a comforter, is 
 incompatible with His divinity, and that it would 
 be impossible for His human nature to su^Dport the 
 terrible strain, implied in the sweat of blood. 
 2°. The incident, they say, is not recorded in most 
 •copies of the ISTew Testament originals, notably the 
 Vatican and Alexandrian manuscripts. But this 
 vivid description of our Blessed Lord's agony in 
 the garden, has reference not to His divine but true 
 human nature, and it is not incompatible with the 
 human nature of Jesus that he should be weighed 
 down by overwhelming sorrow in the manner here 
 mentioned by St. Luke. The fact only proves that 
 our Lord had a true human nature, and medical 
 testimony in no way contravenes the assertion of 
 the sacred penman. 2^. The absence of these two 
 verses from ancient copies is accounted for by St. 
 Jerome, who remarks that some copyists suppressed 
 the words of the text in their manuscripts lest they 
 might be turned to account by the enemies of our 
 Blessed Lord's divinity. / 
 
 Gospel of St. Joii:^ viii. 1-11 : — Protestant 
 critics insist also that these eleven verses belong to 
 an author other than St. John, because I'', they are 
 not in keeping with the context ; and 2'', they 
 do not appear in many ancient copies and versions. 
 
CAXOX OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 141 
 
 The first argument, however, is an unfounded asser- 
 tion, as an examination of the context will show. 
 Jesus is in Jerusalem teaching the crowds, gathered 
 there for the feast of Tabernacles. The numbers 
 attracted by Him are so great that the jealous 
 Pharisees conspire to entrap Him into some breach 
 of the law so as to weaken His authority with the 
 people, and this they tried to effect by the strata- 
 gem, related by St. Luke, which, therefore, fits in 
 with the preceding narrative. 2°. St. Augustine 
 has accounted for the disappearance of this 
 passage by attributing it to an intentional act on 
 the part of some pious copyists, who thought 
 they ought to remove what they feared would en- 
 courage the faithful to commit adultery with impu- 
 nity. This mistaken zeal St. Augustine condemned, 
 saying that Jesus significantly added, '' Go, and now 
 sin no more."/ 
 
 Gospel or St. John xxi. : — These deuterocanoni- 
 cal passages of the New Testament are not the only 
 ones which have received the censure of Protestant 
 critics. They would expunge the 21st or last chapter 
 of St. John's Gospel, and their ground for doing so is 
 that the Evangelist concluded chapter xx. as fol- 
 lows : — *^Many other signs also did Jesus in the 
 '^ sight of His disciples, which are not written in 
 "this book. But these are written, that you may 
 "believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God : 
 "and that believing, you may have life in His name.''' 
 
142 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 That these were the last words of this Gospel, no 
 one, they say, can doubt, and yet they are followed 
 immediately by another chapter (xxi.), which it 
 might be argued cannot belong to St. John. To 
 this it may be said that the words quoted do not 
 clearly indicate any intention on the part of the 
 •sacred writer to conclude his Gospel, whereas the 
 final passage of chapter xxi. is evidently the close of 
 the narrative. / 
 
 I. Epistle of St. John v. 7 : — The Socinians, 
 and the more modern Unitarians, who deny the 
 divinity of Jesus Christ, assert that this seventh 
 verse is interpolated. Yet the words are read in all 
 the more recent, and in almost all the ancient manu- 
 scripts of the Latin Vulgate, There are also good 
 grounds for concluding that St. Jerome himseK, 
 when engaged upon the translation of the Vulgate, 
 inserted this passage in his own copy; for the 
 Tulda MS., written in 546 by "Vincent of Capua, 
 contains a prologue by St. Jerome in which he 
 defends the genuineness of this verse. ]N'ow, it 
 has been proved that as a witness of the state of the 
 original text, the Vulgate is far more reliable than 
 any existing Greek Testament copy or version, with 
 or without the controverted passage. It is true that 
 this seventh verse is not to be found in the Vatican, 
 Alexandrian, Sinaitic, and other early Greek codices. 
 Eut the explanation usually given seems quite rea- 
 sonable, namely, that the omission by the copyist in 
 
CANON OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 143 
 
 the case of these ancient Greek manuscripts, was due 
 to the apparent similarity between the 7th and 8th 
 verses, which thus led him to pass over the former 
 verse as having been copied. The copies with this 
 omission were the only ones available to many of 
 the distinguished scholars, who fought the battle of 
 the Church against the Arians, and hence they could 
 not have quoted this seventh verse, no matter how 
 important it was for their argument. Such then were 
 the assaults persistently made by the enemy on the 
 Sacred canon. They have, however, been success- 
 fully repelled at every stage by the Catholic Church, 
 and thus she has secured to her children, with infal- 
 lible certainty, God's wiitten word, no more and no 
 less than was handed down from the Apostles. / 
 
CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 INTEEPRETATION OF THE SACRED SCRIPTUEES. 
 
 \ The Holy Ghost has committed to the teaching-body of the 
 Church the true m.eariiiig of every Scripture word and sentence, 
 bearing upon faith and morals — This declared by the Council of 
 Trent, and affirmed in the Vatican Council — In publishing this 
 sense the Church bears witness to the fact that such was the inter- 
 pretation received by the Christian community everywhere from 
 the beginning — What was believed in the Church everywhercy 
 aliuays and hy all, has come from the teaching of Christ and His 
 Apostles — The testimony of the Church to the existence of this 
 uniform and general belief is infallible — The Church testifies to the 
 faith of the Christian community directly and indirectly — The true 
 sense of the Scripture may be ascertained, but not with unerring 
 certainty, by the science of Sacred Hermeneutics — Usage of Language 
 — Examination of the Context — Parallelism— The literal and 
 mystical sense of the Scripture— Anti-Catholics, as a rule, deny 
 that any mystical or spiritual sense is to be found distinct from 
 the literal sense in the Bible — Exegesis, or the science of making' 
 known the true sense of the Scriptures — The system of accom- 
 modation — Anti-Catholic systems of Biblical interpretation — 
 Evangelicals and Calvinists claim an internal illustration of the 
 Holy Spirit — Protestants generally hold that each individual is 
 quite capable by his own light of discovering the true meaning of 
 God's written word. \ 
 
 1 IntePvPretation of THE Sacred Scriptures: — 
 The Holy Ghost, as principal Author of all the 
 books on the Canon, has committed to the teaching- 
 body of the Chui'ch the power of arriving at the true 
 sense of every Scriptural word and sentence, bearing 
 
INTERPRETATION OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 145 
 
 upon faith and morals. The Conncil of Trent defined 
 this three hundred years ago, and its solemn pro- 
 nouncement has been afiirmed (1870), by the Vatican 
 Council in the following words : — And as the 
 '' things which the Holy Synod of Trent decreed 
 *' soundly concerning the interpretation of Divine 
 " Scripture, in order to curb rebellious spirits, have 
 " been wrongly explained by some men, "We renewing 
 " the said Decree, declare this to be their sense, 
 '' That in matters of faith and morals appertaining 
 ^' to the edification of Christian faith and doctrine, 
 '^ that is to be held as the true sense of Holy Scripture, 
 ^' which Holy Mother Church hath held and holds, 
 " to whom it belongs to judge of the true sense and 
 '^ interpretation of the Holy Scripture ; and, there- 
 " fore, that it is permitted to no one to interpret 
 ^'the Sacred Scripture contrary to this sense, or 
 '' even contrary to the unanimous consent of the 
 '' Fathers " (Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic 
 Faith, chap. ii. of Eevelation). / 
 
 It is, therefore an article of Catholic faith that 
 the Church has from the Holy Ghost the power of 
 interpreting whatever there is in the Bible of faith 
 and morals. In declaring this sense the Church 
 does nothing more than bear witness to the fact that 
 such was the acceptation received by the entire 
 Christian community from the beginning. Now it 
 is a fundamental principle, that what was believed 
 in the Church, everywhere, always, and by all fqtcod 
 
 K 
 
146 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 uUque^ quod semper^ quod ah om^iihus crediturj^ 
 must have emanated from the teaching of Christ or 
 His Apostles. The testimony of the Church to the 
 existence of this uniform and general belief is infal- 
 lible inasmuch as it rests upon the assistance of the 
 Holy Ghost : — " Eut the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, 
 " whom the Father will send in my name, he will 
 *' teach you all things, and bring all things to your 
 "mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you" 
 (Gospel of St. John xiv. 26). / 
 
 How does the Church testify to this faith of the 
 Christian community from its inception ? l"", directly 
 by solemnly publishing, under pain of heresy, the 
 meaning to be attached to a disputed passage. Thus 
 when the so-called Reformers of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury controverted the Catholic interpretation of 
 our Lord's well-known words on the Sacrament 
 of Penance in St. John's Gospel (xx. 22, 23), 
 the Council of Trent decreed : — " If anyone saith, 
 "that those words of the Lord, the Saviour, 
 " 'Eeceive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins you shall 
 "forgive they are forgiven them, and whose sins 
 "you e-hall retain, they are retained,' are not to be 
 "understood of the power of forgiving sins in the 
 " Sacrament of penance, as the Catholic Church has 
 ^^ always from the heginning understood them; but 
 "wrests them, contrary to the institution of this 
 " Sacrament, to the power of preaching the Gospel; 
 "let him be anathema." (Session xiv., Canon iii.) 
 
INTERPRETATION OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 147 
 
 2^, indirectly^ when the Cliiircli testifies to this Chris- 
 tian belief by appealing to the morally unanimous 
 consent of the Fathers as witnesses of the interpre- 
 tation that prevailed, down to their time, throughout 
 the household of faith. The sense which they pro- 
 claim was, beyond doubt, the true one ilien^ and 
 because the faith of Christ never changes it must be 
 so now. The Fathers of the Vatican Council, like 
 their predecessors of Trent, decreed that the Sacred 
 Scriptures shall be always interpreted strictly in 
 accordance "with the true sense which Holy Mother 
 " Church hath held and holds, . . . and, therefore, 
 " that it is permitted to no one to interpret the Sacred 
 ^' Scripture contrary to their sense, or even contrary 
 *^ to the unanimous consent of the Fathers." 3° The 
 Church also proposes indirectly the true sense of 
 God's written word by the analogy of faitJi^ that is, 
 the essential unity that joins together the whole 
 body of her divine doctrines. This is the principle 
 that renders false any Biblical interpretation which 
 may be found to contradict a point of Catholic faith. / 
 
 Hermeneutics: — It is only by this teaching of 
 the Church, contained in the belief of the whole 
 Christian community from the beginning, and pro- 
 claimed by her definitive judgment or gathered from 
 the unanimous consent of the Fathers, that the true 
 sense of the Scripture can be discovered in such a 
 manner as to exclude all possibility of doubt. The 
 same sense may be ascertained, not, however, with 
 
148 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 the same uncrrmg certainty, by making use of those 
 purely human critical tests for arriving at the mean- 
 ing of the sacred text. These constitute what is 
 knoAvn as the science of Hermeneutics from the 
 Greek epixrjvevoi to explain, and among its rules the 
 first is the usage of language. This consists in 
 grasping thoroughly the meaning, which the princi- 
 pal Author of the Sacred Scriptures wished to con- 
 vey through the language employed. To discover 
 this sense correctly one must l"", be acquainted with 
 the Hebrew, Chaldaic and Greek of the originals, as 
 well as the cognate languages. A knowledge of 
 Latin is not enough, because the Yulgate, though 
 an authentic translation, does not reflect the full 
 force of the originals ; 2'', the signification attached 
 to the words of these ancient languages at the time 
 they were written must be ascertained as far as 
 possible. This is the more necessary, because 
 the people, then addressed, understoood some wcll- 
 knoAvn Biblical terms in a manner different from 
 their posterity, just as the present generation in 
 these countries gives to some English words quite 
 another meaning from that attached to them by 
 their ancestors of even a hundred years ago. f 
 
 The examination of the context is a second most 
 important law in the science of Hermeneutics. 
 A skilful author will endeavour to arrange his 
 matter so that the thoughts appear to grow out of 
 each other. This is what is known as logical 
 
INTERPRETATION OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 149 
 
 sequence, and we must expect to find it in absolute 
 perfection in the Scripture. Hence, by tracing this 
 mutual relation of one sentence with another in 
 Holy writ, the true sense will be brought to light 
 and stamped with all the security that this human 
 aid is capable of giving. / 
 
 When this examination of the context and the 
 usage of language will not suffice, parallelism may be 
 usefully applied. Thus it often happens that the 
 same thoughts, and even the same words recur in 
 various parts of the Bible. These are called parallel 
 passages, and when closely compared, the result 
 is sure, though not infallibly, to lead to the 
 true meaning. The concordance of the Latin Yul- 
 gate exhibits at a glance these parallel passages, so 
 that they are easily collated. / 
 
 In arriving at the true sense of the Scripture, 
 valuable assistance may be derived, too, from a 
 careful consideration of the attendant circumstances, 
 namely, the character of the audience, the occasion 
 that gave rise to the discourse, as well as its scope. 
 These and other scientific rules of Biblical interpre- 
 tation are not ignored in the Catholic Church. 
 They are as dear to Catholics as to the Protest- 
 ants of every shade, and in employing them on the 
 Sacred text, a Catholic exercises the same liberty of 
 interpretation as the Protestant. While, however, 
 Catholics diligently and profitably apply all these 
 laws of Sacred Hermeneutics they are infallibly 
 
150 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 secured by the Holy Ghost, speaking through His 
 teaching Church, from straying out of the right 
 path that leads to the true meaning of the text. 
 
 The SejS'se of the Sacred Scripture : — Under 
 the influence of this divine light, which guides the 
 teaching Church, Catholics are enabled to deter- 
 mine, without danger of error, the literal as well as 
 the spiritual or mystical signification of God's writ- 
 ten word. 
 
 The Literal Sense of the Bible : — The literal 
 sense is the simple, original signification, which 
 belongs to the letter of the Bible, like any other 
 book. A word or sentence in this literal significa- 
 tion is sometimes used by the Holy Ghost as a 
 figure of another thing to which it has a resemblance 
 As, for example, when the Sacred writer designated 
 Jesus as the Lamh of God (John i. 29), he means 
 that, because of its innocence and meekness, the 
 lamb is a figure of the Saviour. / 
 
 The Mystical or Spiritual Sense of the 
 Bible : — The sense which is now and then, not 
 always, hidden beneath the literal signification of 
 the word or words of the Sacred text, is the mystical 
 or spiritual sense, and occurs, in the use of the word 
 Jerusalem, which is literally the capital of Judoca ; 
 but mystically heaven, the home of the blessed- 
 Anti-Catholics, as a rule, deny that any spiritual 
 sense is to be found, distinct from the literal, in the 
 Bible. But the existence of this mystical sense, in 
 
INTERPRETATIOX OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 151 
 
 many parts of the Old Testament, is certified by St» 
 Paul. Thus he declares in his first Epistle to the 
 Corinthians, that the things, which happened to the 
 Israelites in the Eed Sea, and in the desert were 
 ^^ done in a figure of us" (x. 6). Again, in his 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, he states, unequivocally, 
 that the whole of the Old Law was a figure of the 
 new dispensation : — " For the law having a shadow 
 ^' of the good things to come, not the very image of 
 "the things; by the self -same sacrifices, which 
 " they offer continually every year, can never make 
 "the comers thereunto perfect" (x. 1). Much, 
 therefore, of the old Testament, has a spiritual 
 sense, because, as St. Augustine says : — " The 
 Old Testament is the promise in figure." Now, 
 since this mystical sense is that which is hidden 
 under the letter, every passage with a spiritual 
 sense has also a literal one ; but that any word or 
 sentence has more than one literal sense, is not 
 admitted by Catholic authorities generally. / 
 
 Exegesis : — Having thus obtained the true mean- 
 ing of the Scriptures, the next step is to make this 
 meaning intelligible to others. This is the office of 
 Exegesis, which bears the same relation to Herme- 
 neutics as practice does to theory, and consists in 
 expounding the true sense of the Scriptures, which 
 is done chiefly by commentators. Preachers often 
 travel outside the province of Exegesis when they 
 apply the words of Scripture to every-day matters, 
 
152 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 which do not belong either to the literal or mystical 
 sense. It is known as the system of accommodation 
 in Scripture, for it accommodates the Sacred text to 
 subjects not treated therein. J 
 
 Anti-Catholic Systems of Eiblical Inter- 
 peetation: — Evangelicals and Calvinists claim an 
 internal illustration of the Holy Spirit to instruct 
 them in the true meaning of every Scriptural doc- 
 trine, necessary for salvation. This is a strange 
 imitation of the infallible principle of Catholic 
 interpretation ; but the great body of Protestants 
 hold the doctrine that each individual is quite 
 capable by his own lights of discovering the true 
 sense of God's written word. To rest Christian 
 faith, however, on man's own impressions or con- 
 victions is to Imow little of the wild vagaries of the 
 human mind, and to forget the fate of the primitive 
 revelation among the bulk of mankind. / 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 AUTHORITY OF THE LATIN VULGATE AND THE READINO 
 OF THE BIBLE IN THE VEENACULAR. 
 
 / That the Latm Vulgate is an authentic translation solemnly de- 
 fined by Catholic Church— What Catholics are obliged to believe 
 by this— The Latin Vulgate by this not elevated above the originals 
 or ancient versions— Latin Vulgate identified — Its revision — It 
 alone lawfully used in Catholic liturgy and worship— From it alone 
 translations into the people's language must be made— It has been 
 pronounced by Protestants not to be faithful to the originals — 
 They set it aside and profess to make their versions direct from the 
 Hebrew and Greek texts— It represents Hebrew and Greek copies 
 nearer in point of age to the originals than any existing manu- 
 script copies— Safer to follow the Vulgate than modern transla- 
 lations, made from existing copies of originals — Perversion of 
 datholic meaning of inspired text in Protestant versions — Instances 
 of this in Luther's and Beza's translations as well as in the English 
 Protestant versions— Catholic doctrine on the reading the Scrip- 
 tures by the faithful— Well expressed by Dr. Dixon — Conditions 
 imposed by Catholic Church for reading the Bible in the mother- 
 tongue. / 
 
 ^Catholics and the Latin Yulgate : — Catliolics 
 hold as an article of faith that the Latin Yulgate is 
 an authentic translation of God's written word, that 
 is, they believe with infallible certainty that the 
 Latin Vulgate is free from the taint of corruption, 
 so that between it and the originals there is no ma- 
 
154 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 terial difference. This is what the Council of Trent 
 solemnly affirmed in the following words : — " More- 
 '^ over the same Sacred and holy Synod, considering 
 '^ that no small utility may accrue to the Church of 
 ^' God, if it be made known which out of all the 
 ^^ Latin editions now in circulation of the Sacred 
 " Books is to be held as authentic, ordains and de- 
 *' clares that the said old and Yulgate edition, which 
 *^by the lengthened usage of so many ages has 
 ''been approved of in the Church, be in public lec- 
 ^'tures, disputations, sermons, and expositions held 
 '^ as authentic, and that no one is to dare to reject it 
 "under any pretence whatever." (Session lY., 
 Decree concerning the edition and the use of the 
 sacred books.) / 
 
 In this decree it is not defined either that the 
 Latin "Vulgate is an immaculate translation, or more 
 perfect than any other version, or equal to the 
 originals themselves. The Council has even made 
 public profession to the contrary ; for after the 
 Fathers had just solemnly pronounced the Yulgate 
 to be authentic, they directed that '' henceforth the 
 '' Sacred Scripture, and especially the said old Yul- 
 " gate edition, be printed in the most correct maimer 
 "possible." This supposes that there were eri'ors 
 then existing to be corrected and will be hence- 
 forth, though not of a serious character. Now these 
 cannot be detected without a knowledge of the 
 ancient languages in which the Scripture originals 
 
THE LATIN VULGATE, ETC. 15 5- 
 
 "were written, and also of those into which it was 
 translated. It follows that, so far from elevating 
 the Yulgate above the originals or any other ancient 
 versions, the Tridentine Fathers have made it de- 
 pendent for its revision on the study not only of the 
 languages of the original, but of those of the ancient 
 versions. At the same time, in the words of the 
 decree just quoted, the Yulgate is contrasted with the 
 Latin versions then in circulation, and is identified 
 as : — '' the old and Yulgate edition which has been 
 "approved by the long use of so many ages in the 
 *' Church," that is St. Jerome's Latin text of the 
 Eible which was called Vulgate in the seventh cen- 
 tury, because as St. Isidore of Seville (630) says, it 
 was then in common use throughout the whole Church 
 ^^ generaliter omnes Ecclesice usquequaqiie lUunturP/ 
 
 The Fathers of the Council of Trent by no means 
 authorize every one who may possess a knowledge 
 of the ancient languages to engage in the correction 
 of the Yulgate, and Pope Clement YIIL positively 
 forbids any such attempt to be made, unless by one 
 commissioned by the Church. In the Bull attached 
 to his own revised edition, he says : — " Let the 
 " Yulgate edition be read in all the Churches with- 
 " out the least particle being added or taken away." 
 When, therefore, the Council of Trent commanded 
 the Yulgate edition to be first corrected, and then 
 printed, no uninvited person or persons dared to 
 carry out this ordinance ; but two great Popes in 
 
156 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 succession, namely, Sixtus V. and Clement YIII., 
 employed upon the work the services of the most 
 eminent Biblical scholars of the time, like Caraffa 
 and Bellarmine. "When Sixtus Y. brought out his 
 edition in 1590, it came to be considered unsatisfac- 
 tory, so that the revision of the Yulgate was 
 resumed by orders of Clement YIII., and having 
 extended, with interruptions, over a period of forty 
 years, it was happily brought to a close in 1592, by 
 this illustrious Pope, who published the Yulgate 
 Bible, which bears his name. \ 
 
 Lastly, the Fathers of the Council of Trent in 
 this Decree ordain : — " That the said old and 
 " Yulgate edition, be in public lectures, disputations, 
 " sermons, and expositions held as authentic." Thus 
 the Catholic Chui'ch has solemnly approved of the 
 Latin Yulgate, that it alone may be lawfully used 
 in her liturgy and worship. "No priest, therefore, 
 officiating in his public capacity, can use a translation 
 made by himself from the Hebrew and Greek, and 
 no Catholic layman is free to read a translation of 
 the whole Bible into the vernacular unless it be 
 taken from the Latin Yulgate. This is confirmed 
 by the practice of the Church since the Decree of 
 the Council of Trent in giving her approbation to 
 vernacular translations of the Bible, only when they 
 arc in strict conformity to the Latin Yulgate. \ 
 
 Protestants and the Latin Yulgate : — In the 
 sixteenth century, when the founders of Pro- 
 
THE LATIN VULGATE, ETC. 157 
 
 testantism were met by the authority of the 
 Yulgate, they said that this translation did not 
 faithfully represent the originals. Accordingly they 
 professed to set it aside, and to make their versions 
 direct from the Hebrew and Greek text. But the 
 Latin Yulgate text is 600 years older than any 
 existing copy of the Hebrew original, and 200 years^ 
 earlier than the date of any known manuscript of the 
 Greek text. The Latin Yulgate, therefore, repre- 
 sents Hebrew and Greek copies, nearer by far, in 
 point of age, to the originals, than any of the 
 manuscripts, which were to be found in the six- 
 teenth century or have since been discovered. 
 Therefore in determining the correct meaning of the 
 Scripture text there will be greater certainty of 
 arriving at the true sense of what was first written 
 by following the Latin Yulgate, which was derived 
 from the most ancient copies of the originals, at a 
 time when the text was more pure, and the Hebrew 
 and Greek better understood, than by adopting as^ 
 a guide those versions taken by Protestants from 
 comparatively modern copies, and made when tho 
 knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek of the originals 
 was undoubtedly less perfect. | 
 
 Then the most prominent among the authors of 
 these Protestant versions did not hesitate at times 
 to corrupt the sacred text in their translations to 
 make it favour their new doctrines. For instance, 
 in his German translation of the well-laiown 
 
158 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 text from St. Paul's Epistle to the Eomans : — 
 ^' For we account a man to be justified by faith 
 ^^ without the works of the law" (Eomans iii. 28), 
 Luther inserted the word, 'alone,' after ' justified,' to 
 establish his anti-Catholic teaching of the sufficiency 
 of faith for justification. XJiDon being remonstrated 
 with for this interpolation he replied : — '' So I will, so 
 '^ I command, let my wish stand for the reason. The 
 '^word, alone, must remain in my "New Testament, 
 "although all the Papists run mad, they shall not 
 ^' take it from thence. It grieves me that I did not 
 "add also those other two words without all works 
 " of all laws."/ 
 
 Theodore Beza, the immediate successor of Calvin 
 as head of the Swiss Protestants (1564), translated 
 the Greek Testament into Latin, and his mode of 
 altering the original to give colour to his Calvinistic 
 notions is well described by Dr. MacKnight, a Pro- 
 testant -writer of acknowledged authority. In the 
 t)reface to his Commentary on the Epistles, he says: — 
 " He (Beza) hath mistranslated a number of texts 
 " for the purpose, it would seem, of establishing his 
 '^peculiar doctrines and confuting his opponents. 
 "Eurther by omitting some of the original words, 
 " and by adding others without any necessity, ho 
 "hath, in his translation, perverted, or at least 
 " darkened some passages, so that to speak imparti- 
 "ally his translation is neither literal, faithful, nor 
 " perspicuous. Nevertheless, Beza having acquii-ed 
 
THE LA.TIN VULGATE, ETC. 159 
 
 ^' great fame, both as a linguist and as a divine, the 
 "learned men who afterwards translated the l^ew 
 " Testament for the use of the reformed Churches 
 '• were too much swayed by his opinions." / 
 
 In the first Protestant translations of the Eible 
 into English by Tyndale and Coverdale (1530 and 
 1535), the original word ciSwXov (idol) (2 Corinthi- 
 ans vi. 16, and 1st Epistle of St. John v. 21) is turned 
 into image. This erroneous rendering, directed no 
 doubt, against the Catholic use and veneration of 
 images, was repeated in the Geneva Bible (1557) as 
 well as in the Bishop^ s Bible (1568). "With the 
 same anti-Catholic object the original words cK/cXr^o-ia 
 (church) and ©vo-tao-n^ptov (altar) were translated into 
 congregation and temple. And in the Authorised 
 Yersion (1605) the Catholic practice of receiving 
 holy communion in one kind is insidiously attacked 
 by having the Greek y literally or, translated into 
 and, " The meaning of this ry," writes Dean AKord, 
 " is not to be changed to Kut, as is most unfairly done 
 "in our English Version, and the comjileteness 
 "of the argument thereby destroyed." And 
 Dean Stanley, another Protestant authority, on 
 1 Corinth, (xi. 27) note, p. 202, says :—" Probably 
 "from the wish to accommodate the text to the 
 '^ change of custom, or from hostility to the Eoman 
 " Catholic practice of administering the bread with- 
 " out the cup, the English translators have umvar- 
 '' rantabli/ TendGYed rj, 'and,' Km for r; occurs only in 
 
160 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 "A. and in tkree cursive MSS." It is right to state 
 that this rendering has been corrected in the revi- 
 sion of the Authorized Version (Cambridge, 1881), 
 and is made to read thus : — '' "Wherefore, whoever 
 '^ shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord 
 *^ unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood 
 "of the Lord." \ 
 
 Catholic Church and the reading of the Bible 
 IN the mother-tongue : — It is an essential part of 
 Catholic doctrine that the reading of the Scriptures 
 in their own language is not necessary for the faith- 
 ful in order to know what they are bound to believe 
 and practise to gain eternal life. This knowledge 
 they can and must receive by divine arrangement, 
 from authorized teachers, whom God has provided 
 in His Church: — '^As to the simple faithful," says 
 the learned Dr. Dixon, " the rule in the Chiistian 
 " Church has always been that they should learn the 
 *' doctrines of religion and their duty to God, by 
 " means of the instructions of the constituted teachers 
 "in the Church. The private study or perusal of 
 " the sacred volume has never been obligatory upon 
 •'them.'' (General Introduction to Sacred Scrip- 
 tures, Vol. I., p. 228.) At the same time the pious 
 and well-instructed are earnestly exhorted to 
 procure the Bible and to read it in the language they 
 understand best, and to foster this Catholic practice 
 the publication of cheap translations of the 
 Bible is warmly encouraged by the Holy See. 
 
THE LATIN VULGATI!, ETC. 161 
 
 From the history of the Scripture versions in 
 another chapter no one can doubt that at a very 
 early period it was common in the Catholic Church 
 to have the Bible turned into the languages of the 
 various peoples, who came into her fold. After the 
 invention of printing, a great number of these verna- 
 cular translations spread over the West, as is shown 
 by the circulation of twenty-three German transla- 
 tions, and more than fifty other versions in the 
 various European idioms, long before Luther pub- 
 lished his German Protestant version. Thus the 
 use of translations in the native tongues was adopted 
 by the Church as good and useful^ but a time- came 
 when this good and useful practice was abused. It 
 has been shown that Luther availed himself of it 
 to try to sap the foundation of the Catholic faith, 
 and that his example- w'as followed by other 
 notorious propagandists of heterodox opinions. The 
 Church, believing that Christ confided to her trust, 
 His saving doctrines, was bound to prevent these 
 truths from the danger of being lost or even 
 obscured through means of versions of the Scrip- 
 tures, in which the true meaning was intentionally 
 distorted with the avowed object of putting it into 
 opposition with what is most sacred in Catholic 
 belief. This she did in the Rules of the Index 
 (No. 4), drawn up at the Council of Trent, where 
 it is set down authoritatively : — " Since experi- 
 ^' ence has made it manifest that the reading of 
 
 L 
 
162 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED Sr^HlPTURES. 
 
 '' the Bible in the vulgar tongue, if it is permitted 
 ''to all indiscriminately, causes, through the 
 ''temerity of men, more detriment than utility, 
 "let the judgment of the bishops or the inquisitor 
 " be followed in the matter, who, with the advice of 
 "the parish priest or confessor, can permit the 
 "reading of these versions in the vulgar tongue, 
 "that have been made by Catholic authors, to those 
 " whom they shall know to be fit to derive from 
 " this reading not detriment, but an increase 
 " of faith and piety — and let this permission be in 
 " writing."/ 
 
 In June, 1757, the congregation of the Index, 
 under Pope Benedict XIY., not only confirmed this 
 fourth rule of the Council of Trent, but added to it 
 the following clause : — " These versions of the 
 " Bible in the vulgar tongue are permitted, when 
 " they have been approved by the Holy See, or are 
 " published with notes dra^vn from the Holy 
 " Fathers, or from learned Catholic writers." Thus 
 to render a version in the native language accessible 
 to the faithful, it is not enough that it be the 
 work of a Catholic, and sanctioned by episcopal 
 authority. It must be furnished also with notes 
 explaining those obscure and difficult passages, 
 which ordinary readers may " wrest to their own 
 destruction" (2nd Epistle of St. Peter iii. 15). 
 Hence it is perfectly legitimate for Catholics to 
 read any vernacular translation of the Sacred Scrip- 
 
THE LATIN VULGATE, ETC. 163 
 
 tures made from the Latin Vulgate by a Catholic, 
 furnished with explanatory notes, and having the 
 episcopal sanction, or the approbation of the Holy 
 See, though this latter is not needed, nor has it been 
 actually accorded to most of the Catholic versions 
 of the Eible in the modern languages. The action 
 of the Church in this matter is wise and practical, 
 and is, moreover, analogous to the course pursued 
 by the civil authority ; for the State visits with 
 punishment the publication and circulation of 
 seditious and indecent books to save her subjects 
 from being corrupted " in their duties as good 
 citizens, and yet the State cannot be said to pro- 
 scribe the diffusion of sound literature^ So the 
 Catholic Church, in the faithful discharge of her 
 sacred office, has subjected to restriction the verna- 
 cular versions of the Bible in order to prevent the 
 circulation of any which might be directed to 
 undermine the faith of her people. / 
 

 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE BOOK OP GENESIS AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 
 
 / I. Mosaic Age of the World :— Day — Morning and Evening 
 — Catholics free to hold that the six days of Moses indicate six 
 great Epochs — Demands of Geology satisfied. 
 
 II. Mosaic Antiquity of Man :— The age of man, as given in 
 Genesis — Though not bound to accept this total as necessarily 
 complete Catholics hold that Science has not proved the age of 
 man to exceed this computation — Examination of the arguments 
 from Geology, Philology, ani Chronology against this. 
 
 III. Mosaic Origin of Plants and Animals:— That each 
 species of plants and animals had an independent origin, apparently 
 taught in Genesis — This, though not declared by the Church, is 
 believed by Catholics to .bo the true sense of the words of Moses — 
 Darwin's theory inhis. ** Origin of Species." 
 
 IV. Mosaic Origin of Man :— Creation of man's body— Crea- 
 tion of man's soul — Darwin's views on the origin of man. 
 
 V. Original Unity of the Human Race :— Every man who 
 came into the world, since Adam, is descended from him— Pre- 
 Adamite heresy — Examination of arguments against unity of the 
 human race. 
 
 VI. The Deluge— The fact that God sent the Flood upon the 
 earth is inspired — It is denied by some — A hsolute universality of 
 the Flood, though not defined by the Church, is Catholic teaching 
 — Examination of the arguments of Sceptics against it. f 
 
 1 I. Mosaic Age of the World: — Belief and 
 unbelief have fought so. long and so desperately 
 over the history of the creation, that the Book of 
 Genesis, wherein it is contained, may be well con- 
 sidered the battle-field of the Bible. It is the 
 religious controversy that is occupying public 
 
THE BOOK OF GENESIS AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 165 
 
 attention at present, more than at any time in the 
 world's history, and men, professing the principles 
 of Christianity, have been found to range themselves 
 on the side of those, who refuse to recognise in this 
 part of the Sacred Scriptures the ^unerring word 
 of God. / 
 
 "In the beginning God 'created heaven and 
 "earth. And the earth was void and empty, and 
 " darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the 
 " Spirit of God moved over the waters " (Genesis i, 
 1,2). Such are the terms in which Moses relates 
 the creation of the universe, and he then proceeds 
 to tell in succession that " God made^' the light 
 and heat, which are necessary to render the globe 
 habitable ; also " the firmament for dividing the 
 waters from the waters;" the vegetable world ; the 
 fishes and the birds ; " cattle and ^creeping things? 
 and beasts of the earth ; " and last, but not least, 
 he says : — " That God created man to His own 
 " image, to the image of God He created him, male 
 " and female He created them " (Genesis i. 27). / 
 
 The Sacred writer uses the word Day ; but that 
 he meant by it to denote a space of indeterminate 
 duration has been taught by the Yenerable Bede 
 in his commentary on this passage : — " It is mani- 
 "fest that in this place the Sacred writer has put 
 "the word Day for all that time during which the 
 "primeval creation was brought into existence, 
 " For it was not upon one of the six days that thei 
 
166 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 <^ sky was made and adorned with stars, and the 
 *^ dry land was separated from the waters, and 
 ^' furnished with trees and plants. But, according 
 " to its accustomed practice. Scripture here uses the 
 " word Day in the sense of time." Then as the 
 day opens with the morning, and closes with the 
 evening, Moses employed these terms to indicate 
 the beginning and ending of the different stages, 
 accomplished by the Divine Architect in preparing 
 here below a temporary home for man. / 
 
 In all this Mosaic account of the creation there is 
 nothing but what is infallibly certain, for infalli- 
 bility is an essential part of the inspiration, which 
 the sacred writer undoubtedly possessed. There are, 
 however, some outside the Catholic Church who 
 refuse to accept the truth of this record, on the 
 ground that it does not harmonize with the theories, 
 based upon the recent investigations of the strata 
 beneath the earth's surface. It has been ascer- 
 tained, they say, that these formations are the 
 growth not of six days, but of countless ages. 
 It is, however, to be noted that wherever in the 
 Bible any statement occurs touching history, geo- 
 graphy, or any branch of natural science, the 
 Catholic Church invariably leaves the meaning of 
 the expression employed to be determined by ordi- 
 nary humaji lights. But since these parts of the 
 Sacred Scripture, like those that relate to doctrine, 
 are covered by inspiration, the Church insists that 
 
THE BOOK OF GENESIS AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 167 
 
 the scientific explanation put upon them shall neither 
 clash with any certain discovery in nature, nor create 
 a direct contradiction between one inspired writer 
 and another. Catholics are perfectly free, therefore, 
 to hold that Moses, by these six days^ did not mean 
 six ordinary days of twenty-four hours each, but six 
 great epochs, corresponding with the successive 
 stages which seem to be reflected in the life of the 
 globe. Geologists, relying on the vegetable and 
 animal remains, imbedded in the rocks, require vast 
 spaces of time for the necessarily tedious and gradual 
 development of the various layers where these relics 
 of the past are found; and this geological demand is 
 amply satisfied by the long periods to which these 
 days of Genesis may be expanded. / 
 
 Moses, in this description of how ali things came 
 into existence, proposes to- teach his people such 
 truths as would save them from their besetting sin 
 of giving to creatures the supreme worship that 
 belonged to God alone. With this object he told 
 them that the whole world, with its manifold and 
 teeming life, came from God, and not from any seK- 
 existing principle, or by chance. Consequently, to 
 pay divine honour either to the stones, brutes, and 
 men on the earth, or to the sun, moon and stars in 
 the sky, would be an insult to the Creator and 
 Sovereign Lord of these things, as well as a flagrant 
 violation of the fundamental doctrine of the true 
 religion, namely, the unity of God. In explaining 
 
168 INTRODUCTIOX TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 tMs, Moses did not speak above the intelligence of 
 tliose whom he addressed, by making use of the 
 language of scientific terminology. Still all his 
 statements touching the origin of things, are 
 perfectly consistent, and have never been proved to 
 contain error. \ 
 
 II. The Mosaic ANTiauiTY of Man : — Moses has 
 not left the age of the human race undefined as he did 
 that of the world. In the fifth and eleventh chap- 
 ters of Genesis the genealogical succession is duly 
 registered with the number of years from Adam to 
 ZS"oe, and from Xoe to Abraham, which, according 
 to the Latin Vulgate, amounts to a period of 2,021 
 years. The Septuagint or ancient Greek version 
 fixes the number at 3,387 years. !N'ow, taking even 
 the longer of these two periods, and adding some 
 2,000 years for the interval between the call of 
 Abraham and the birth of Christ, together with the 
 1889 of the Christian era, the present age of man, 
 as given in Genesis, is not quite 8,000 years. 
 Though Catholics are not bound by any solemn 
 decree of the Church to accept this total of 8,000 
 years as necessarily complete, still they hold that 
 the evidence produced by science on the matter does 
 not prove the age of man to exceed this computation. / 
 
 Some Geologists maintain that 200,000 years and 
 more would not suffice to bake the '' drift " lately 
 explored in a few caves of Great Britain and else- 
 where. Yet mai^i, they say, must have trodden the 
 
THE BOOK OF GENESIS AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 169 
 
 original soil upon which these deposits rest, since 
 they exhibit unmistakable evidence of his existence 
 in the shape of rough weapons and implements, 
 made by his hands. Other Geologists, however, 
 from the same facts arrive at a different conclusion./ 
 
 These rude specimens have also furnished an 
 argument to some Geologists for believing that at 
 the time they were made man was roaming wild 
 over the earth, and that it took tens of thousands of 
 years to lift him out of barbarism to the state of 
 civilization, represented by the neat workmanship 
 exhibited in the bronze and iron tools lying in 
 later deposits of the earth. Now if this were true 
 it would follow that man was created in a savage 
 state; but thcvcivilization of primitive man is^vTitten 
 on the monuments of the most ancient nations. 
 That all barbarous races show the clearest proofs of 
 a civilized origia is .now .generally admitted by 
 ethnologists, and -amongst others, by Professor 
 Max Mliller, who says : — " What do we know 
 ^^of savage tribes beyond the last chapter of 
 ^' their history? Do we ever get an insight into 
 '' their antecedents.? Can we understand what after 
 ^^ all is everywhere the most important and the most 
 ^^ instructive lesson to learn, how they have come to 
 ^fbe what they are? ... Their language proves, 
 ^' indeed, that these so-called heathens with their 
 ^' complicated systems of mythology, their artificial 
 '^ customs, their unintelligible whims and savageries. 
 
170 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 "are not the creatures of to-day or yesterday. 
 ''Unless we admit a special creation for these 
 " savages, they must be as old as the Hindus, the 
 '' Greeks and Eomans, as old as we ourselves . . . 
 '' They may have passed through ever so many 
 ''vicissitudes, and what we consider as primitive 
 " may be, for all we know, a relapse into savagery, 
 " or a corruption of something that was more rational 
 "and intelligible in former stages.'' [Indla^ by F. 
 Max Mliller, 1883.) / 
 
 To contravene the statement of man's age as 
 inferred from Genesis, others appeal to a system of 
 their own on the origin of language. They argue that 
 language was not a divine gift, but developed by 
 man himseK from rude beginnings into a state of 
 perfection. This process, they say, was gradual, 
 and necessarily so slow as to extend far beyond the 
 time assigned by Moses to the age of man. Indeed, 
 Bunsen lays it down that "twenty-one thousand 
 "years is a very probable term for the development 
 " of human language in the shortest line" ("Egypt's 
 Place in Universal History,'' Yol. iv., p. 563). But 
 this is merely bold assertion, and upon such grounds 
 no one can reasonably reject the Bible history of 
 the origin of language. Upon this narrative the 
 Church has pronounced no authoritative decision ; 
 but Catholics hold it to be singularly in keeping 
 with the conclusion arrived at by the latest and most 
 earnest students of comparative philology. These 
 
THE BOOK OF GENESIS AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 171 
 
 high authorities declare the outcome of their labo- 
 rious researches to be that every language now 
 spoken in the world is lineally descended, in different 
 degrees of relationship, from one of three parent- 
 stocks. Hence all the existing varieties of human 
 speech, according to their likeness either in words, 
 or grammatical forms, or both, are grouped into the 
 ShemitiCy Aryan^ and Turanian families, which, 
 though perfectly distinct and independent in them- 
 selves, yet bear trace of one primeval tongue. Now, 
 this is exactly the- account given by Moses of the 
 origin of language (Genesis ii. 19, 20, and xi. 1-8). 
 According to this the language revealed to Adam 
 and Eve was the only one upon the earth, until the 
 children of Noe, incurred the divine displeasure by 
 building the tower of BabeL God punished them by 
 confounding their speech, so that they could not 
 understand one another, a result which corresponds 
 exactly with scientific investigation to the effect that 
 the first language of the human race was broken up 
 into three parent-stocks from which all the languages, 
 now spoken in the world, have been produced. / 
 
 Again it has been urged on chronological grounds 
 that many of the most ancient nations require for 
 the antiquity of their people a much longer period 
 than the 8,000 years intimated by Moses. Thus, 
 the Egyptians, on the authority of Manetho, their 
 great historian, claim 53,000 years, or at least 
 11,500 according to Herodotus. Then the Babylo- 
 
172 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 nians say their first king ascended the throne about 
 468,330 years before Christ; the Indians demand 
 a similar space of time, and the Chinese allege the 
 possession of documents, proving their nation to be 
 flourishing thirty or forty thousand years previous 
 to the establishment of the Celestial Empire under 
 Fo-hi. But the important discoveries of M. 
 Champollion and Dr. Young have finally disposed 
 of the Egyptian pretensions, while other recent 
 investigations prove the assertions of the Baby- 
 lonians, Indians, and Chinese, to be without solid 
 foundation. / 
 
 III. The Mosaic Origin of Plants and 
 Animals : — In the I2th, 21st, and 24th verses of 
 the first chapter of Genesis it is stated that : — " The 
 '' earth brought forth the green herb, and such as 
 ^^yieldeth seed according to its kind, and the tree that 
 ''' beareth fruit, having seed each one according to its 
 " Jcind, And God created the great whales, and every 
 >* living and moving creature which the waters 
 ^' brought forth according to their kinds ^ and every 
 '' winged fowl according to its kind. And God 
 '^ said let the earth bring forth the living creature in 
 " its Jcind^ cattle and creeping things, and beasts of 
 ^^ the earth after its kind. And God saw that it 
 " was good." Here Moses appears to teach 
 that each species of plants and animals had an 
 independent origin ; but it is to be observed that 
 the Church has not declared this to bo the true 
 
THE BOOK OF GENESIS AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 173 
 
 meaning of the inspired text. At the same time 
 Catholics do believe that each species of plants and 
 animals was separately created, and that this is 
 the true sense of what Moses has sketched in the 
 passage just quoted. / 
 
 The late Mr. Charles Darwin in his '' Origin of 
 Species " (1859-60), undertakes to prove by an 
 array of evidence, irom his own observation of the 
 organic world, that each species of plant, as well as 
 each species of animal, was evolved from one 
 common ancestor, that is some pre-existing organ- 
 ism. This process of species-making began, 
 according to Darwin, back in the mists of anti- 
 quity. Whether the first organism was only oiie, 
 or many, and whence this or these derived its or 
 their own existence, he does not say. This original 
 existence he takes for granted, and proceeds to 
 build upon it as follows^: — ^^ Can it be thought 
 " improbable, seeing that variations, useful to man, 
 ^^ have undoubtedly occurred,. that other variations, 
 '^useful in the same way to each. being in the great 
 "and complex battle of life, should sometimes occur 
 "in the course of thousands of generations? If 
 " such do occur can we doubt — remembering that 
 " many more individuals are bom than can possibly 
 " survive — that individuals having any advantage, 
 " however slight, over others, would have the best 
 " chance of surviving and of pro-creating their kind ? 
 " On the other hand, we may feel sure that any 
 
174 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 " variation, in the least degree injurious, would be 
 '^ rigidly destroyed. This preservation of favourable 
 'S'ariations and the rejection of unfavourable varia- 
 ^'tions I call Natural Selection, Yariations neithir 
 ^^ useful nor injurious would not be affected by 
 ^^ natural selection, and would be left a fluctu- 
 ^' ating element as, perhaps, we see in the species 
 ^^ called polymorphic." He goes on to show that 
 the principle of natural selection works best 
 under certain influences: — ^'In such cases," he says, 
 ^^ every slight modification, which in the course of 
 ''ages chanced to arise, and which in any way 
 ''favoured the individuals of any of the species by 
 " better adapting to their altered conditions would 
 "tend to be preserved, and natural selection would 
 " thus have free scope for the work of improvement." 
 And as a result of this natural selection, he adds : — 
 "Now I cannot see any insuperable difficulty in 
 "further believing that the membrane-connected 
 " fingers and forearm of the Galeopithecus might be 
 " greatly lengthened by natural selection, and this, 
 "as far as the organs of flight are concerned, would 
 " convert it into a bat." Darwin, therefore, observes 
 the rate of production in plants and animals to be 
 such that if the whole were allowed to survive 
 the world would not contain them. Thus the weak 
 must make room for the strong ; and to determine 
 this issue all are plunged into a "struggle for 
 existence," either in contending with their own 
 
THE BOOK OF GENESIS AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 175 
 
 species for the same food-supply where there is 
 question of animals, and for their share of the soil, 
 the rainfall, and the sunshine where there is ques- 
 tion of plants. This combat has never ceased, and 
 will never cease, so that in each succeeding genera- 
 tion a great many must remain vanquished. These 
 are left ^^ unimproved or but little improved," and 
 they soon disappear, leaving the stronger to procre- 
 ate their kind. Thus '^ the fittest survive," and a 
 change for the better is imparted at every stage, 
 until the external form and internal structure of the 
 original stock is so improved after the lapse of ages 
 as to be quite different from what it was in the 
 beginning — a new species in fact. Such then is the 
 theory of ^'!N"atural Selection" as applied by Dar- 
 win to the origin of plants and animals ; but he has 
 not succeeded in producing even one instance of 
 such ^ Variation" which could be regarded as a 
 truly distinct species. Plants and animals may be 
 developed into varieties within the same species, 
 but, as far as experience shows, never have been 
 improved out of their own into a new species. / 
 
 ly. The Mosaic Origin op Man : — The creation 
 of man is given in the book of Genesis as follows : — 
 '' And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the 
 ^' earth, and breathed into his face the breath of 
 ^4ife, and man became a living soul" (ii. 7). As 
 regards man's body, the plain meaning of this state- 
 ment of Moses is that God created it immediately 
 
176 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 from "the slime of the earth," and the majority of 
 those, who hold the very highest place among the 
 expounders of the Christian faith, believe such to 
 be the true sense of the inspired passage. No doubt 
 the Sacred writer does not expressly say that God 
 converted " the slime of the earth " immediately into 
 flesh, and hence there are persons, who contend that 
 God did not form the body of Adam immediately 
 from ''the slime of the earth," but from some 
 animal substance already existing. This opinion, 
 no matter how it may differ from that of the 
 bulk of the best theologians, is not certainly a 
 heresy, since the Church has never formally declared 
 what is the true meaning of these words. / 
 
 In reference to the statement in Genesis about 
 the origin of the part of man that is immortal, it is 
 certain that the rational soul, breathed into the body 
 of Adam, and into that of every child of Adam, 
 that is into the body of every member of the human 
 race from the beginning, was the result of a special 
 creation immediately by God.. This truth, though 
 not expressly defined by the Church, is so manifestly 
 contained in some of her dogmatic decrees, that 
 among Catholics the doctrine > cannot be one of 
 speculation. Ilence, so far as the creation of the 
 soul is concerned, Catholics feel themselves bound 
 to hold that it has come immediately from the hands 
 of God. \ 
 
 On this question of the origin of man Darwin 
 
THE BOOK OF GENESIS AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 177 
 
 has expressed certain views in his *^ Descent of 
 Man" (1871):— 
 
 " Yon Baer," lie says, '* has defined advancement or 
 " progress in the original scale better than any one else, 
 " as resting on the amount of difierentiation and speciali- 
 " zation of the several parts of a being, when arrived at 
 "maturity, as I should be inclined to add. Now, as 
 " organisms have become slowly adapted to diversified 
 " lines of Kfe by means of natural selection, their parts 
 " will become more and more differentiated and specialised 
 '' for various functions, from the advantage gained by the 
 *' division of physiological labour. The same part appears 
 " often to have been modified first for one purpose, 
 "and then, long afterwards, for some other and quite 
 "distinct purpose; and thus all the parts are rendered 
 " more and more complex. But each organism still retains 
 "the general type of structure of the progenitor from 
 " which it was aboriginally derived. In accordance with 
 " this view it seems, if we turn to geological evidence, 
 " that organization on the whole has advanced throughout 
 " the world by slow and interrupted- steps. In tha great 
 " kingdom of the Yertebrata it. has culminated in man. 
 " It must not, however, be supposed that groups of organic 
 " beings are always supplanted, and disappear as soon as 
 " they have given birth to other and more perfect groups. 
 " The latter, though victorious over their predecessors. 
 " may not have become better adapted for all places in the 
 " economy of nature. Some old forms appear to have sur- 
 " vived from inhabiting protected sites, where they have not 
 "been exposed to very severe competition, and these often 
 " aid us in constructing our genealogies by giving us a fair 
 " idea of former and lost populations. But we must not 
 " fall into the error of looking at the existing members 
 " of any lowly organised group as perfect representatives 
 " of their ancient predecessors.''/ 
 
 " The most ancient progenitors in the kingdom of the 
 " Yertebrata, at which we are able to obtain an obscure 
 "glance, apparently consisted of a group of marine 
 " animals representing the larvae of existing Ascidians. 
 *' These animals probably gave rise to a group of fishes 
 
178 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 " as lowly organised as tlie lancelet ; and from these the 
 " Ganvods, and other fishes like the Lepidosiren must have 
 " been developed. From such fish a very small advance 
 ** would carry us on to the Amphibians. We have seen 
 " that birds and reptiles were once intimately connected 
 "together; and the Monotremata now connect mammals 
 "with reptiles in a slight degree. But no one can at 
 "present say by what line of descent the three higher 
 " and related classes, namely, mammals, birds, and reptiles, 
 " were derived from the two lower Yertebrate classes, 
 "namely, amphibians and fishes. In the class of mammals 
 " the steps are not difficult to conceive which led from 
 " the ancient Monotremata to the ancient Marsupials ; and 
 " from these to the early progenitors of the placental 
 " mammals. We may thus ascend to the Lemuridae ; and 
 " the interval is not very wide from these to the Semiadae. 
 " The Semiadae then branched off into two great stems, 
 " the new world and the old world monkeys ; and from 
 " the latter, at a remote period, man, the wonder and 
 " glory of the universe, proceeded." 
 
 And again : — 
 
 " Whether primeval man, when he possessed but few 
 " arts, and those of the rudest kind, and when the power 
 " of language was extremely imperfect, would have 
 " deserved to be called man, must depend on the definition 
 " we employ. In a series of forms graduating insensibly 
 " from some ape-like creature to man as he now exists, 
 " it would be impossible to fix any definite point when 
 " the term * man * ought to be used.' V 
 
 Darwin, therefore, maintains that the internal, as 
 well as the external human form, rounded to its 
 present perfection, is the result of an evolution^ that 
 began perhaps, millions of years ago, in some " ape- 
 like creature." From this highest type of ape, 
 man, according to Darwin, has been produced by 
 slow degrees on the principle of "natural selection " 
 through " variation," just as it is said the Chim- 
 
THE BOOK OF GENESIS AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 179 
 
 panzee and Gorilla have been developed from the 
 lowest type of ape. / 
 
 The advocates of this Darwinian system on the 
 origin of man try to support it by the oldest human 
 skulls, dug out of the cave-deposits, which skulls, 
 they say, bear a striking resemblance to those of apes. 
 Bat the oldest human skulls and bones as yet brought 
 to the surface by Geologists differ from those of the 
 ape as much as the skull and bones of man now 
 living, and the chasm between these is wide indeed. 
 It is quite certain that in the physical constitution 
 of primitive man, nothing has been found, so far, 
 to prove either the transition from the ape to the 
 man, or the man to the ape. Professor Huxley 
 declares this, and in these countries he is the highest 
 living authority on such matters. ^^ Every bone," 
 he says, ^^ of a gorilla bears marks by Avhich it might 
 ''be distinguished from the corresponding bone of 
 "a man; and in the present creation, at any rate, 
 " no intermediate link bridges over the gap between 
 "Homo and Troglodytes.'^/ 
 
 Original Unity of the Human Eace : — That 
 every man who came into the world since Adam 
 has descended from him is explicitly declared by 
 Moses when he says that his wife. Eve, "was the 
 " mother of all the living " (iii. 20). St. Paul puts 
 the same, not more clearly but more forcibly when 
 in the Areopagus of Athens he proclaimed : — " And 
 " (God) hath made of one all mankind to dwell upon 
 
180 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 '' the face of the earth " (Acts xvii. 26). In 1655 
 Isaac De la Peyrere, a prominent Calvinist, who 
 afterwards renounced his errors and embraced the 
 Catholic faith, wrote a commentary on the twelfth, 
 thirteenth and fourteenth verses, fifth chapter of St. 
 Paul's Epistle to the Eomans. In this and in a 
 special treatise, which soon followed, he taught that 
 before Adam other races of men existed upon the 
 earth; that the Jews only were descended from 
 Adam, and the Bible is exclusively taken up with 
 them. The Church condemned this doctrine, and it 
 is since known as. the Pre- Adamite heresy.^ 
 
 To this Catholic- doctrine some object on the 
 authority of comparative anatomy, physiology, and 
 philology. They say that there is a radical oi 
 specific difference in the relative size and form ol 
 the human crania, as well, as between the white 
 and coloured races. Put universally acknowledged 
 authority, in this department of Scientific research, 
 has pronounced the differences between the white 
 man, the red Indian and the Negro, not only in 
 respect to the peculiar make and proportions of the 
 skull, but the colour of the skin, the quality of 
 the hair, etc., to be derived from the slow influence 
 of food, climate and other circumstances. That 
 there are among the descendants of Adam and Eve 
 many with yellow, and black skins, as well as a 
 peculiar formation of head, is not to be wondered 
 at when the absence of long years under the influ- 
 
THE BOOK OF GENESIS AKl) NATURAL SCIENCE. 181 
 
 ence of Indian heat, unwholesome diet, can effect 
 so great a change as to make it difficult to recognise 
 a once-familiar presence ; and if this be continued 
 from generation to generation for some hundreds of 
 years, the original complexion will be quite different 
 from what it was. In the Yankees of ta-day, for 
 instance, it would be difficult to trace anything of 
 the well-shaped head, round features, and soft 
 fair skin of their pilgrim fathers./ 
 
 It is urged that, according to savans of high 
 standing, the four thousand languages which, it is 
 said, are now upon the earth, have nothing absolutely 
 in common except the end at which they aim. From 
 this it is concluded that since the languages of men 
 did not come from one primitive tongue, men them- 
 selves have not descended from one pair. But there 
 has been so much said already to confirm the Bib- 
 lical truth of the common origin of all existing 
 languages, that nothing remains to be added here. 
 It is a powerful argument, no doubt, for the original 
 unity of the human race, and not in the least shaken 
 by the unsupported opinion of a few. / 
 
 The recent investigations into the language, 
 tradition, and religion of America, ISTorth and South, 
 prove that they are of Eastern origin, and that 
 these lands were peopled from Asia. How any of 
 the dispersed human race got to those countries, 
 separated by va^t oceans, is not mentioned in 
 history ; but there is no reason why their acquaint- 
 
182 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 aiice with, ship -building and navigation should not 
 bo equal to ihe task, seeing that Noe's knowledge 
 in the same department was able to cope with the 
 di^cuities of the jDA^^.. / 
 
 The Deluge : — The history of this awful cata- 
 clysm with wbicli the earth was visited about the 
 year of the world, 1656, is given in the 6th, 7th, 
 and 8th Chapters of Genesis.. The one great 
 fact in this Sacred history, namely, that God sent 
 the Flood, upon the earth is covered by inspiration, 
 so that it cannot be false. And yet there are persons 
 who venture to deny this inspired fact. Dr. Colenso, in 
 his preface to ^' The Pentateuch, and Book of Joshua 
 critically Examined," speaking of the Deluge, makes 
 a sad declaration of his unbelief :—'' I felt," he says, 
 ^' that I dared not, as a servant of the God of truth, 
 urge my brother-man- to believe that which I did 
 not myself believe, which I knew to be untrue." 
 In respect,, however, to the absolute universality 
 of the Flood, it is right to: point out that this is 
 neither so perspicuously set forth in the Mosaic 
 account, as to. render it undeniable, nor has the 
 Catholic Church infallibly attached to it this 
 meaning. About the year 1 675, a remarkable trea- 
 tise appeared on the Flood oi'Noe.: This work 
 was attributed to Isaac Voss, who gave up his posi- 
 tion of leader of the Dutch Calvinists for a rich 
 canonry in the Anglican Church. He held that 
 the Deluge was partial, as well as local, • and in 
 
THE BOOK OF GENESIS AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 183 
 
 1686, at Eome, his book was put upon the Index, 
 but not condemned as heretical. Therefore, the fact 
 of this particular kind of universality of the Flood, 
 namely, that it covered every spot upon the earth's 
 surface, and drowned every human being, every 
 beast, bird and creeping thing, is neither necessarily 
 inspired, nor has the Catholic Church, so far, 
 defined it solemnly. At the same time it is Catholic 
 teaching, for it is implied in the statement of the 
 inspired writer, and that every human being then 
 alive, was swallowed up in the Flood, St. Peter 
 teaches when he says : — " In the days of Noe, 
 when the Ark was a building, wherein a few, that 
 is eight souls, were saved by water. Y/hereunto 
 baptism being of the like form, now saveth you 
 also" (1st Epistle of St. Peter, iii. 20, 22). / 
 
 Most Sceptics take exception, not to the fact of 
 the Deluge ; but to its universality. It was, they say, 
 of a limited character, because, 1°, neither was there 
 water enough in existence to submerge all the low 
 lands on the globe, and to rise fifteen cubits above 
 the peaks of the highest mountains ; nor was there 
 room enough for all the beasts, birds, and other 
 creatures, represented to have been stowed away in 
 the ark. But, in this stupendous display of God's 
 power, must His avenging arm be shortened to meet 
 what is regarded, by some only, as too small a space 
 and too limited a supply of water ? 2°. It is asserted 
 to be on record that immense populations, flourished 
 
184 INTRODUCTION TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 in Egypt, China, India, etc., abont two hundred 
 years after the date of this alleged overwhelming 
 act of God's anger . To account for this appears 
 impossible to Sceptical minds, if every man, woman 
 and child, in the world at the time, were swept 
 away by the Flood. But did not God give a special 
 blessing of fecundity to ^N'oe and his family ? On 
 their leaving the Ark he told them to : — '' Increase 
 and multiply, and fill the earth ; let the fear and 
 dread of you be upon all the beasts of the 
 earth, and upon all the fowls of the air, and all 
 that move upon the earth " (Genesis ix. 1, 2). 
 Therefore by the peculiar arrangement of Divine 
 Providence, Noe and his children were to multi- 
 ply with a rapidity truly miraculous, and the 
 animal kingdom was to extend accordingly. Is it 
 not also a well-ascertained fact that unmistakable 
 traces of a Deluge, such as Moses describes, are 
 engraved in indelible lines on the face of thoeaith? 
 The late Cardinal Wiseman, in his sixth lecture on 
 " Science and Eevealed Eeligion," has proved this by 
 an abundance of the most reliable Geological testi- 
 mony. / 
 
PART II. 
 
 SPECIAL INTRODUCTION, 
 
THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 -^ 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 THE PENTATEUCH. 
 Genesis — Exodus — Leviticus — ^Numbers — Deuteronomy. 
 
 / Genesis: — The opening Book of the Pentateuch 
 derives its Greek name from the subject of which 
 it treats. This is the creation (yevco-ts) of the world, 
 and with it the history of man till the death of 
 Joseph in Egypt. Into this narrative, extending 
 over a period of 2,369 years, is woven an account 
 of all that God did to keep alive in the hearts of 
 men the revelation He communicated to Adam and 
 the Patriarchs. / 
 
 Exodus is a most suggestive title for the 
 Second Book of the Pentateuch, since it is 
 chiefly devoted to the departure of the Israelites 
 from Egypt, about 143 years after the death of 
 Joseph in that country. Its opening chapter is 
 occupied with a detailed description of the heavy 
 burden laid by their Egyptian taskmasters upon 
 
f 
 
 188 THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 the Hebrews, in order to break down their spirit 
 and diminish their number. Then follows an 
 account of the birth of Moses, his education, and 
 the events of his early life, marked by his fearless 
 sympathy with his oppressed countrymen, whom, in 
 the wonderful Providence of God, he Avas raised up 
 to deliver. This relief came when they had been in 
 Egypt 215 years, for St. Paul says (Gal. iii. 17), 
 that the solemn promulgation of the law happened 
 480 years after the covenant with Abraham, which 
 took place about 215 years before Jacob and his 
 sons went down into Egypt, so that the Israelites 
 could have been in Egypt only 215 years. At the 
 end of this period Moses and Aaron appeared for 
 the last time before the Egyptian monarch with the 
 Divine command to let *' the children of Israel go 
 out of his land." But Pharao again stubbornly 
 refused, for " his heart was hardened,'' and God 
 sent the tenth plague with all its terrible conse- 
 quences. This awful calamity came at midnight, 
 when the destroying angel went forth and ^'slew 
 every first-born in the land of Egypt, from the 
 first-bom of Pharao, who sat on his throne, unto the 
 first-boi*n of the captive woman that was in prison, 
 and all the first-born of cattle ^' (Exodus xii. 29). 
 The groans of the dying in dead of night filled the 
 living with horror and confusion : — " And Pharao 
 *^ arose in the night, and all his servants, and all 
 " Egypt ; and there arose a great cry in Egypt, for 
 
THK PENTATEUCH. 189 
 
 ^^ there was not a house wherein there lay not 
 ^^ one dead. And Pharao calling Moses and Aaron 
 '^ in the night said : Arise, and go forth from 
 '' among my people, you and the children of Israel " 
 (Exodus xii. 30, 31). Accordingly the children of 
 Israel went out from bondage, 600,000 "men on 
 foot " with Moses at their head. If the number of 
 *' men on foot," that is men fit to bear arms, be 
 multiplied by four (for their proportion is about 
 one-fourth cf th3 population), the total of eman- 
 cipated Israelites must have been about two millions 
 and a-half. This is an enormous increase upon the 
 three score and ten souls who went do '.yn into Egypt 
 only 215 years before. To prevent His people from 
 straying in the wilderness God placed before them 
 a miraculous column of cloud, which at night became 
 a pillar of fire to light up their encampment. After 
 a few days' journey they found themselves in a 
 narrow defile, opening out upon the shore of the 
 Eed Sea. Here they were overtaken by the 
 Egyptians, who had repented having allowed them 
 to depart, and coming up in pursuit, closed the 
 ravine from behind, thus rendering all escape, 
 humanly speaking, impossible. The Israelites 
 trembled at the sight of their old oppressors, but 
 Moses calmed their fears by telling them to trust 
 in God, who would surely protect them. Accord- 
 ingly that very night, the Lord directed them to 
 march forward to the sea, when Moses waved his 
 
190 THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 rod over the deep, and instantly the waters divided, 
 leaving a dry road all the way across to the oppo- 
 site shore. Then the pillar of fire shifted from 
 front to rere, and guided the fugitives over, while 
 it effectually concealed their movements from the 
 enemy. But as soon as the Israelites were found to 
 have advanced the Egyptians followed, quite unpre- 
 pared for the terrible reality of being actually on the 
 bed of the sea. The break of day, however, revealed 
 their situation. They saw the Israelites all safely 
 landed on the opposite shore, and themselves pass- 
 ing between two swelling bodies of water, which 
 threatened to fall and swallow them. In their terror 
 they cried out, ^^Let us flee from the face of Israel, for 
 Jehovah fighteth for them against the Egyptians." 
 Just then Moses "^^ stretched forth his hand over the 
 sea," and the heaped-up flood rolled down, burying 
 in its depths the whole Egyptian army. From this 
 point the Israelites journeyed through the wilder- 
 ness for about a month, when their provisions 
 ran out. But God rained do^^Ti manna from 
 heaven, which, when ground like corn, and made 
 into cakes, became to them ^^a staff of life" during 
 their protracted wandering. Thus they were 
 enabled to reach the foot of Mount Sinai, and 
 here commenced the forming of this chosen people 
 into a holy nation, for which all the great events 
 just recorded were a preparation. On the morning 
 of the 50th day after the Israelites left Egypt, 
 
THE PENTATEUCH. 191 
 
 when they were, by God's orders, drawn up outside 
 their camp, the mountain began to quake with 
 thunder, lightning flashing around, and high above 
 all could be heard the blast of a trumpet, so loud as 
 to make the hearers tremble with fear. From out 
 the thick darkness, in which the summit of Mount 
 Sinai was enveloped, a voice announced the Ten 
 Commandments, God also, for the guidance of His 
 people, dictated to Moses a regulated series of laws, 
 designed to secure the purpose for which they were 
 set apart, viz., the preservation and transmission of 
 the true religion. That there is but one God was 
 made the fundamental law of this code, and as 
 He was also their temporal king, idolatry became 
 high treason. In this way the religion of the 
 Jews was so welded into their civil constitution, 
 that any violation of the one was an infringement 
 on the precepts of the other. This was the period of 
 theocracy^ when God Himself immediately enacted 
 the civil and religious laws, and by them governed 
 His people. Here too God enjoined an elaborate 
 ceremonial with symbolical appendages. The 
 tribe of Levi was set apart for the sacred 
 ministry, and a portable temple or tabernacle was 
 constructed according to a plan given to Moses on 
 the mountain. All these important events make 
 up the subject of the Eook oi Exodus,/ 
 
 Leviticus: — This name of the Third Book of 
 the Pentateuch, had its origin in the ordinances 
 
192 TIIK OLD TESTAMF.\T BOOKS. 
 
 relating to the Levites, to which it is chiefly 
 devoted. The sacrifices to be offered were either 
 bloody, and a figure of the Sacrifice of Christ upon 
 the Cross, or unbloody, and were a type of the 
 Sacrifice of the Mass. The religious feasts of the 
 Jews were the Pasch, in memory of their deliver- 
 ance from Egypt, and the Pentecost, seven weeks 
 after the Pasch, to celebrate the promulgation of 
 the law on Mount Sinai. There was also the annual 
 feast of Tabernacles, to commemorate their long 
 wandering in the desert, and the feast of Expiation, 
 when the Priests offered sacrifice for their own 
 sins, and the sins of the people. At the head of 
 the ministry, charged with this public worship came 
 the High Priest, Aaron, being the first to fill this 
 office. His sons were the first priests, and the 
 Levites took care of. the tabernacle as well as the 
 sacred vessels, etc. / 
 
 Numbers : — Before leaving Mount Sinai, Moses 
 had a census taken of the adult male population 
 under his command, and the total was 625,850, 
 exclusive of the tribe of Levi. It was now the 
 beginning of the second year after the Exodus, and 
 the people of God were approaching the promised 
 land, when the report of ten of the twelve 
 commissioners, sent to reconnoitre the condition 
 of affairs, created a panic. Caleb and Josue, 
 two members of the party, represented the 
 situation on the contrary as encouraging. Their 
 
THE PENTATEUCH. 193 
 
 assurances, howeyer, did not satisfy this ungrateful 
 race, who distrusted the Lord, and rebelled against 
 Him. God declared He would destroy them off the 
 face of the earth ; but at the prayer of Moses, He 
 commuted the dread sentence into one of forty years 
 sojourn in the wilderness. Josue and Caleb were 
 the only two who survived to enter the promised 
 land. At the expiration of this term Moses ordered 
 a second census of the men of twenty years and 
 upwards. They numbered 625,030, so that the 
 census of the forty years before, showed an excess 
 over the present of only 820. By adding the 
 number of adult females, which is about the same 
 as that of males, and doubling the result to include 
 in a population the proportion of those under twenty 
 years, Abraham's descendants were found to have 
 already reached^ 2,400,000.. The history of these 
 two census gives the name of Numbers to this book, 
 which also contains^ the history of some other re- 
 markable events that occurred, during its interval of 
 39 years. / 
 
 Deuteronomy : — This Greek term, which means 
 literally the second law, was given to the fifth 
 Eook of the Pentateuch, because it is to some extent 
 a repetition of what is contained in Leviticus, Isum- 
 bers and Exodus. In it Moses, finding his end 
 near, delivered a farewell address, in which he goes 
 over again all the most prominent enactments in 
 the Divine legislation, and concludes with a strong 
 
 N 
 
194 THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 exhortation to fulfil these laws to the letter, since 
 npon this faithful observance would depend God's 
 special care for them. Moses then [having installed 
 Josue as his successor, prophesied the future dis- 
 obedience of his fickle countrymen, their repentance 
 and pardon, then, ascending Mount Nebo, to take a 
 view of the ^^ Land of Promise," he died at the 
 age of 120, "and," says the Scripture, "the Lord 
 " buried him in the valley of the land of Moab, 
 '' over against Phogor, and no man hath known of 
 " his sepulchre until this present day." (Deutero- 
 nomy xxxiv. 6). / 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 Josue — Judges — Euth — The four Books of Kings— First and 
 Second Paralipomenon — First and Second Books of Esdras — Tobias 
 — Judith — Esther — Job — First and Second Books of Machabees. 
 
 / 
 
 The Historical Books of the Old Testament 
 cover a space of 1,017 years, and are 17 in number, 
 viz. : — Josue, Judges, Euth, four Books of Kings, 
 two of ParalipomenoUj two of Esdras, Tobias, 
 Judith, Esther, Job, and two of Machabees. They 
 give the history of the Israelites fron the death of 
 Moses to the time when Esdras brought back the 
 Jews from the captivity of Babylon to revive the 
 worship of God in the new Temple at Jerusalem. 
 The writer of two only (the first and second of 
 Esdras) is known by tradition^ but the authorship 
 of the remaining fifteen is uncertain. / 
 
 Josue : — This book, except the last five verses, 
 which may have been supplied by Samuel, was pro- 
 bably written by Josue himseK after leading the 
 Israelites into Chanaan, where he died about 1448 
 B.C. It relates the history of the 25 years between 
 1451 and 1426 B.C., during which Chanaan was 
 conquered and occupied by the Israelites under 
 
196 THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 Josue. In the third and fourth chapters is de- 
 scribed the miracle of a dry passage having been 
 opened in the Jordan for the Israelites, and in the 
 sixth chapter is told how the strongly fortified city 
 of Jericho, the first to offer resistance, was con- 
 quered by a stupendous display of the Divine power. 
 In the tenth chapter a similar manifestation is 
 related, when in answer to the prayer of Josue, 
 the daylight was protracted for twelve or four- 
 teen hours to give time to complete the victory 
 over the combined forces of the five Kings who ven- 
 tured to oppose the progress of the Israelitic host. 
 *^Move not, sun, toward Gabaon, nor thou, moon, 
 *^ toward the valley of Ajalon. And the sun and 
 " the moon stood still, tiU the people revenged them- 
 '' selves of their enemies" ( Josue x. 12-13). | 
 
 Judges i — The history of. the people of Israel for 
 long after the death of Josue is but a record of their 
 scandalous relapses into the abominations of idol- 
 worship. Eor these sins of high treason against 
 their heavenly King they fell, under the lash of the 
 neighbouring tyrants. J3roken by extreme suffering 
 they, from the depths of bleeding hearts sought 
 mercy, and, on each, occasion,. God raised up a Judge^ 
 i.e,, a leader, who. rescued them, by supernatural aid, 
 from the calamitous consequences of their intimate 
 and forbidden relations with the idolatrous nations 
 around. \ 
 
 These Judges were thirteen in number, and the 
 
HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 197 
 
 wonders they performed, though not following in 
 regular succession, are described, and occupy a 
 period of not less than 350 years. Some think that 
 this, like most Old Testament books, was compiled 
 from a register of events deposited in the Taber- 
 nacle and kept by the Scribes, who became an 
 institution among the Jews after the establishment 
 of the theocracy. These official records were put 
 into book-form in the present instance, they say, 
 most probably by Samuel, because the writer often 
 refers to the time when : — " There was no king in 
 Israel;" and, therefore, he must have lived, as 
 Samuel did, under the Jewish monarchy. / 
 
 The book was written, doubtless, to show that 
 the Israelites prospered so long as they were 
 faithful to the Divine commands. When, however, 
 they began to intermarry with the Chanaanites 
 and to join in their idolatrous practices, God 
 allowed them to be vanquished and opppressed. 
 Accordingly, when the iron heel of the Philistines 
 pressed most heavily on the Israelites, Samson was 
 promised by Heaven to the prayers of his parents as 
 a "IS'azarite of God from his mother's womb," that 
 is, one consecrated, like Samuel and St. John the 
 Baptist, by a perpetual vow neither to drink wine, 
 cut the hair, nor touch the dead. Samson in due 
 time was appointed Jud^e to break the Philistine 
 yoke. Por this task God gave him incredible mus- 
 cular strength, with an express intimation that his 
 
198 THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 prowess entirely depended on the faithful perform- 
 ance of his vow. In the display of his supernatural 
 might he tore a lion limb from limb, slew 1,000 
 men of the brave> Philistines with the jaw-bone of 
 an ass, and carried! ofE the ponderous gates of Gaza, 
 a strong town of that nation.. At last the secret of 
 his strength was^ wrested from him by Dalila, ^' a 
 woman who dwelt ia the valley of Sorec." She 
 treacherously revealed it to? the Philistines, and 
 having shaved his head while asleep, handed him 
 over in a helpless condition to them. They put out 
 his eyes and flung him into a prison where he re- 
 pented, and when his hair grew again he received 
 back his strength. / 
 
 It was arranged to exhibit him in a great show to 
 be given to the Philistine nobility in the temple of 
 Dagon, in honour of this favourite idol. On Sam- 
 son being led in he asked to be allowed to rest him- 
 self for a moment, when the spirit of God coming 
 upon him he wrenched the two great supports of the 
 temple from their sockets and buried himself 
 with 3,000 others in the ruins. St. Paul proposes 
 Samson as a model of those who died in defence of 
 the faith, and, indeed, all his feats of prodigious 
 strength were done by the Divine will to enable him 
 to fulfil his mission of setting the people of God 
 free. \ 
 
 Book of Kuth : — This is an appendix to the 
 Book of Judges, and, at the same time, an introdue- 
 
HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 199 
 
 tion to the Books of Kings. It gives the beautiful 
 story of Euth, a Moabitess, who fervently embraced 
 the religion of an Israelite, whom she married in 
 the land of Moab. The pious Euth, after the death 
 of her husband, went to Bethlehem, where she 
 supported her destitute mother-in-law by " gleaning 
 the ears of corn" that escaped the hands of the 
 reapers in the fields of Booz, a rich man of the tribe 
 of Juda. Her virtues soon attracted the notice of 
 Booz, who made her his wife. They had a son, 
 Obed, who was the grandfather of David. Samuel 
 is supposed to have written this episode in order to 
 show the descent of David from the line of Juda, 
 and thus trace the genealogy of the Messias, who 
 was to come from that royal tribe, according to the 
 prophecy of Jacob. / 
 
 The Four Books of Kings : — About 1091 B.C., 
 Samuel, the last of the Judges, being now too old 
 for the weighty cares of office, transferred them to 
 his sons; but they *' turned aside after lucre, and 
 took bribes and perverted judgment" (1 Kings 
 viii. 3). Their infamous conduct, and the mena- 
 cing attitude of the Ammonites, made the anxious 
 Israelites importune Samuel to give them a monarch. 
 The holy man, to dissuade them, pointed to the 
 tyranny of the surrounding autocrats, and asked 
 why did they seek a change which, for all they 
 knew, might degenerate, like those neighbouring 
 systems, into the worst despotism ? But they were 
 
200 THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 deaf to his appeal and insisted on the appointment 
 of a king over them. Saul was accordingly selected, 
 and appointed by Samuel as King. Jews and Pro- 
 testants call the first two Books of Kings "1st and 
 2nd of Samuel," and no doubt Samuel is the author of 
 twenty -four chapters of the first book ; but as his 
 death is announced in the twenty-fifth chapter, he 
 cannot be regarded as the writer of the second book. 
 The material for the remainder of the first book, 
 as well as the whole of the second, third and fourth 
 books, was no doubt, taken from the ofiicial records 
 already described, and arranged, probably, either by 
 Jeremias, Ezechiel or Esdras. In the first book there 
 is a sketch of the life of Heli, the High Priest, fol- 
 lowed by an account of the virtues of Samuel, of the 
 appointment of Saul, as well as the career of David 
 and Jonathan. The second book is a history of 
 King David's reign, and in the third it is told how 
 this monarch, about 1015 jb.c, on the eve of his 
 death, summoned an assembly of the nation, and 
 announced to them that the succession to his throne 
 belonged to the tribe of Juda, and named his son, 
 Solomon, as his heir. Then, after exhorting Solomon 
 to build the Temple for which the materials were 
 already prepared, he breathed his last. Fidelity to 
 God was the special feature in the character of this 
 great monarch, and it is to be remembered that his 
 sins of adultery and murder were entirely effaced by 
 an humble confession and sincere repentance. / 
 
HISTORICAL POORS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 201 
 
 . The reign of David's son Solomon, is the most 
 splendid period of Hebrew history. His kingdom was 
 considerable, extending from the Euphrates to the 
 Mediterranean, and from Phoenicia to the Eed Sea. 
 His devotedness to the true faith was so acceptable 
 that on one occasion God promised to grant what- 
 ever he would ask. The Holy Scripture tells us 
 that his demand was for '' an understanding heart 
 ^' to judge Thy people, and discern between good and 
 ^' evil, for who shall be able to judge this Thy people 
 '^ which is so numerous" (3 Kings iii. 9). God was 
 so pleased with this request that He endowed Solo- 
 mon with a degree of wisdom such as no man 
 possessed. In the height of great national peace 
 and prosperity Solomon began the building of 
 the Temple. In this work he was assisted by 
 Hiram, King of Tyre, who lordered the cedars of 
 Lebanon to be felled and sent to Jerusalem, whither 
 he also despatched skilled workers in gold, silver, 
 jewels, and the dyeing of precious stuffs. The plan 
 of the tabernacle was folloAved exactly in the con- 
 struction of the Temple, and over seven years were 
 expended upon the work. It measured 'Hhree score 
 cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and 
 thirty cubits in height." Its proportions were grace- 
 fully broken on the outside by porticoes and courts, 
 while the walls and roofs of the interior, which 
 was divided into ^'the Holy of Holies," and an 
 outer Sanctuary, were of cedar :—" haying the 
 
202 THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 "turnings and the joints thereof artfully wrought, 
 '^ and carvings projecting out. And there was 
 " nothing in the Temple that was not covered with 
 "gold" (3 Kings vi. 18 and 22). When this 
 "House of the Lord" was completed, the glory of 
 God filled it, and the ark with the stone-tables of 
 the law were deposited within its sanctuary. It was 
 about this time that the Queen of Saba, attracted 
 by the fame of Solomon, came to Jerusalem 
 to "try him with hard questions." His answers 
 made her exclaim, " Blessed are thy men, and 
 "blessed are thy servants who stand before thee 
 " always and hear thy wisdom " (3 Kings x. 8). 
 But " the understanding heart " of this wise and 
 gentle monarch was soon turned away by his 
 idolatrous wives, whom he indulged in the practice 
 of their rites of polytheisai. They gradually gained 
 him over to their false divinities, and in punishment 
 for this God declared that He would " divide and 
 rend " his kingdom. This sentence was conveyed 
 by the prophet Ahias, the Silonite, to Jeroboam, a 
 distinguished member of the tribe of Ephraim, with 
 the assurance that he would be kiug of ten 
 tribes, leaving two only to the royal line of David. 
 This threatened disruption of the kingdom, however, 
 did not take place until after the death of Solomou, 
 as God had declared by the mouth of the prophet. / 
 Eevolt of the Ten Tribes : — Eoboam succeeded 
 Solomon, and to meet the debts contracted in his 
 
HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 203 
 
 father's reign lie imposed a grinding tax upon the 
 whole nation. The elders of the people petitioned 
 for a remission, but their prayer was rejected by the 
 young king, who threatened them with even greater 
 severity, saying : " My father put a heavy yoke 
 "upon you, but T will add to your yoke ; my father 
 " beat you with whips, but I will beat you with 
 "scorpions" (3 Kings xii. 11). The moment had 
 now arrived for the fulfilment of the Divine sen- 
 tence, and ten tribes revolted with Jeroboam for their 
 king. They retired to Samaria and made that the 
 centre of the new Kingdom of Israel, The two tribes 
 that remained loyal to Eoboam were Juda and Ben- 
 jamin, and they constituted the Kingdom of Juda. / 
 Captivities: — About 971 b.c. began the rapid 
 decline of the two kingdoms into which the chosen 
 people were now divided. This was due to the con- 
 duct of depraved Sovereigns, who not only fell into 
 idolatrous practices themselves, but encouraged idol- 
 worship among their subjects. Prophets were sent 
 by God at various periods to remind them of their 
 duty, but their warnings were for the most part 
 unheeded by the misguided and perverse people. 
 In punishment of this grievous sin, calamity suc- 
 ceeded calamity until it ended in the overthrow of 
 the Kingdom of Israel by Salman asar, the Assyrian 
 monarch, about 722 B.C., and of the Kingdom of Juda 
 in 606 B.C. by Nabuchodonosor, King of Babylon. 
 Sedecias, the last of the kings of Juda, disregarding 
 
204 THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 the advice of Jeremias tlie prophet, was taken before 
 Nabuchodonosor, his eyes put out, his sons slain, 
 aod he himself sent in chains to Babylon. Jerusa- 
 lem was burned down and its unhappy people carried 
 into captivity. The exiles, who were principally 
 of the royal tribe, after seventy years, were 
 permitted to return and rebuild the Temple, and 
 thus Jacob's memorable prophecy of the sceptre being 
 retained in the tribe of Juda till the coming of the 
 Messias was fulfilled to the letter. 
 
 Paralipomenon (1st and 2nd), is a Greek 
 word for things omitted, and has been applied to 
 these books because they contain many particulars 
 which did not find room in the books of Kings. 
 They are also called the books of Chronicles, and are 
 supposed to have been compiled by Esdras from 
 the public records. ( 
 
 First and Second Eooks of Esdras : — In the 
 first of these books it is related that Esdras or Ezra, 
 '' the prince of the Synagogue," revised the Book of 
 the Law and took care that its provisions should be 
 observed. Mention is also made of King Cyrus 
 breaking up the Babylonish captivity, by permitting 
 the expatriated Jews to return to Jerusalem and re- 
 build their Temple. This edict of Cyrus was not, 
 however, acted upon until 458 B.C. in the reign of 
 Assuerus, when Esdras led the emancipated Jews 
 back to the land from which they had been exiled. 
 !Nehemias succeeded to Ezra, and how he expounded 
 
HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 205 
 
 as well as enforced the law is told in the Second 
 Book of Esdras by JSTehemias himself. / 
 
 Tobias : — Amongst the captive Israelites whom 
 Salmanasar, King of Ninive, carried off from Sa- 
 maria to Ninive in 721 b.o. was a member of the 
 tribe of I^epthali. This was Tobias, a good man 
 who was remarkable for his conscientious observance 
 of the laws of God. It is said of him that he never 
 bent the knee to the golden calf, set np in Samaria, 
 but reserved his adoration for "the Lord God of 
 Israel " (Tobias i. 6). He taught his son, the young 
 Tobias, " to fear God and abstain from all sin " 
 (Tobias i. 10). While a captive in Mnive the 
 elder Tobias was constantly going amongst his 
 afflicted countrymen : — '^ Feeding the hungry, 
 "giving clothes to the naked, burying the dead, 
 "and those that were slain" (Tobias i. 20). On 
 one occasion, when he entertained some friends, it 
 was announced that an Israelite had been murdered 
 in the street. Tobias leaped from the table and 
 carried the body to his own house, in order to bury 
 it privately after sunset.. This was against the law; 
 still "he feared God more than the king" (Tobias 
 ii. 9). It is related that subsequently he lost his 
 sight, but in this severe trial he gave splendid proof 
 of resignation and patience. At last, when his span 
 of life was about to close, he called the young Tobias 
 and directed him to set out for the distant city of 
 Eages and ask oue Gabelus there for the ten talents 
 
206 THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 lie owed him. The son, not knowing the way, 
 sought, with the father's approval, some faithful 
 guide. The Archangel Gabriel, under the appear- 
 ance of a young man, presented himself and was 
 accepted. He not only conducted his charge suc- 
 cessfully to and from Eages, but procured him a 
 devoted wife and supplied the means of curing his 
 father. Both the elder and younger Tobias in their 
 gratitude offered a substantial remuneration, but 
 this was declined and the Archangel disappeared. 
 
 This book, which abounds in moral instructions, 
 would appear to be the work of both father and son, 
 because the Archangel told them, " It is time there- 
 *' fore that I return to Him that sent me; but bless 
 *'ye God, and publish all His wonderful works" 
 (Tobias xii. 20), In this (twelfth) chapter there is 
 also an account of the death of the elder Tobias, evi- 
 dently written by the son, while from the 1 6th verse 
 of the same chapter to the end, the death of young 
 Tobias is described. It is not known by whom this 
 portion has been written, / 
 
 Judith : — In the reign of King Manasscs, 636 
 B.C., Nabuchodonosor, King of Nineve, not the 
 same as the Nabuchodonosor who afterwards reigned 
 in Babylon, sent his general, Holofernes, with an 
 army to subjugate the land of Israel. The invader 
 had a triumphant march until he reached Bethulia, 
 not far from Jerusalem, where the citizens offered a 
 determined resistance. By cutting off the water 
 
HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 207 
 
 and other supplies Holofemes reduced the besieged 
 to such straits that the governor, Ozias, promised to 
 surrender in a few days unless, in the meantime, 
 heaven came to their relief. Judith, a pious young 
 widow of great wealth and beauty, who wore hair- 
 cloth, and fasted every day, reproached Ozias for 
 thus putting a term to the Divine mercy, and ex- 
 horted her fellow citizens to join in earnest prayer 
 to the offended majesty of God. Then substituting 
 for her widow's dress rich robes, and adorned with 
 jewels of rare value, she proceeded to the Assyrian 
 camp and asked to see their leader. Holofernes, 
 captivated by the singular beauty of his visitor, 
 gave her a friendly welcome. One evening, Judith, 
 being invited by the general to his tent with im- 
 proper design, found him in a drunken fit, and 
 snatching a sword that hung upon the wall, she 
 struck off the head of the sensual Holofernes. Still 
 holding the ghastly object in her hands, Judith 
 hurried with it into the beleagured city and roused 
 the fainting courage of the citizens by recounting 
 what she had done. Filled with a spirit of ardour, 
 they attacked the Assyrians, who were thrown into 
 confusion by the death of their leader, and suffered 
 a total defeat. At the news, Joachim, the High 
 Priest, came down from Jerusalem, and on seeing 
 JuiHth, cried out : — '' Thou art the glory of Jeru- 
 ^'salem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the 
 *' honour of our people" (Judith xv. 10). In 
 
208 THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 response Judith burst forth, into a canticle of tender 
 thanksgiving, which closes this book, supp'jsed to 
 have been written by Joachim, the High Priest. / 
 
 Esther: — Assuerus, the third King of Babylon 
 in succession from Cyrus, about 417 B.C., divorced 
 his queen, Yasthi, and married Esther, a Jewess. 
 Esther being an orphan, had been brought up in 
 the practice of solid virtue by her uncle, Mar- 
 dochai, who, now that his niece was queen, often 
 visited the palace. Upon^ one occasion he over- 
 heard the eunuchs planning to take away the king's 
 life. Esther was told at once of the wicked design, 
 and lost no time in informing her royal husband 
 of the conspiracy, who had the eunuchs put to 
 death, and Mardochai raised to a high position 
 at court. This so- roused the jealousy of Aman, 
 the prime minister, that he procured a royal edict 
 to expel all the Jews in the kingdom. Mardochai 
 brought this document to Esther, and she induced 
 his majesty to cancel it. In the meantime Aman 
 made every arrangement to hang Mardochai, but the 
 night before the execution, Assuerus, starting out 
 of a horrible dream, commanded the public annals 
 to be read aloud to him. When the passage relating 
 the terrible plot of the eunuchs, and its discovery 
 by Mardochai, had been gone over, the prime 
 minister was summoned into the royal presence, and 
 asked : " What ought to be done to the man whom 
 f* the king desireth to honour ?" (Esther vi. 6). Aman, 
 
HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 209 
 
 believing the distinction to be intended for himself^ 
 made a proposal which Assuerus ordered to be con- 
 ferred on Mardochai. Just then Esther told Assu- 
 erus of Aman's bitter hostility to her uncle, and 
 the king condemned his minister to be hanged upon 
 the same gallows-tree that had been prepared for 
 Mardochai. The authorship of this book is generally 
 attributed to Mardochai, because in the 9th chapter 
 it is stated that '' Mardochai wrote all these 
 things."/ 
 
 Job : — Job was an Arabian remarkable for a holy 
 life. The fact of his riches, consisting in flocks and 
 pasturage, and his acting as priest in his own family, 
 places him certainly in the patriarchal times, though 
 there are some who think he was a contemporary of 
 Moses about 1520 B.C. God allowed Satan to afflict 
 this devout man in order to test his virtue. This 
 was begun by the destruction of every beast on Job's 
 extensive plains, and the murder of the herdsmen, 
 except two, who escaped to tell the sad tale to the 
 unhappy owner. Soon after this calamity Job was 
 informed that his seven sons and three daughters, 
 while together in a brother's house, were crushed 
 to death by the falling in of the roof. Eut, though 
 these misfortunes came rapidly upon him. Job did 
 not complain. He said: "The Lord gave and the 
 ''Lord hath taken away, . . . blessed be the name 
 of the Lord'' (Job i. 21). But the last suffering 
 sent to him by God was excruciating, for his whole 
 
210 THE OLD TESTAMENT IJOOKS. 
 
 body became a mass of festering sores, so loathsome 
 that his wife bade him '' bless God and die " (Job 
 ii. 9). Still he meekly observed: — ''If we have 
 received good things at the hand of God why should 
 we not receive evil" (Job ii. 10). In this state 
 he was visited by some friends who sat at his feet 
 for seven days Avithout uttering a single word of 
 sympathy. At last they broke this silence, with 
 bitter remarks, to the effect that sinners only are 
 afflicted by such painful diseases. Job replied that 
 God, no doubt, being infinitely good, disposes all 
 things justly and wisely ; but He allows sometimes 
 the wicked in this life to prosper, and the good to be 
 sorely tried for an end known to Himself alone. 
 [N^otwithstanding this glorious profession of faith 
 Job ventured rashly to sound the Divine secrets in 
 connection with his own case. God, from a whirl- 
 wind, reprehended this temerity. Job, seeing his 
 error, humbled himself in dust and ashes, when God, 
 after defending him from the cruel taunts of false 
 friends, rewarded his patience and repentance by 
 restoring him to his former prosperous condition and 
 raising up a new family to him. / 
 
 Job prophesied the coming of the Messias and the 
 resurrection of the body in these words : — '' For I 
 ''know that my Eedeemer liveth, and in the last 
 " day I shall rise out of the eartL And I shall be 
 " clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall, 
 " see my God. Whom I myself shall see, and my 
 
HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 211 
 
 •^^ eyes shall behold, and not another; this my hope 
 '" is laid up in my bosom " (Job xix. 25, 26). 
 
 The writer of this book is supposed to be Job 
 himself, and his object was doubtless, to show that 
 human ills are sent to the wicked in punishment of 
 sin, and to the just as a proof of their virtue, but 
 to determine when they are sent as a test, and when 
 as a punishment, is known to God alone, and there- 
 fore rash for any man to inquire. Job is mentioned 
 by Ezechiel (xiv. 14), and St. James in his Epistle 
 (v. 14) speaks of him : — '^ You have heard," he says, 
 ^' of the patience of Job." / 
 
 Machabees I. and II. Eooks : — These the last of 
 the historical books of the Old Testament recount 
 the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes, 
 a descendant of one of the four generals to whom 
 Alexander the great left his vast dominions. This 
 Antiochus during his reign over Syria and Palestine, 
 which began in 1G7 B.C., drove the Jews into rebel- 
 lion by endeavouring to force them to worship idols 
 which he caused to be sacrilegiously installed in the 
 Temple at Jerusalem. Mathathias, the High Priest, 
 who belonged to the family of the Asmoneans, took 
 the field at the head of his outraged people. He 
 was succeeded by his son Judas, surnamed Macha- 
 beus from the Hebrew words inscribed on his banner. 
 "When Judas fell, his brother Jonathan, took his 
 place, and lastly his brother Simon ; but they were 
 all slain in battle. God visited Antiochus with 
 
21^ THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 grievous suffering and a terrible death, while He 
 gave extraordinary success to the army of the brave 
 and pious Machabees. By their heroic deeds not only 
 was the true religion preserved, but they brought 
 peace to Judea, and consolidated this national bles- 
 sing by passing wise laws and improving the internal 
 administration of the government. The writer of 
 this eventful part of the inspired volume, as far as 
 regards the first Book of Machabees, is believed to 
 be John Hyrcanus, son of Simon Machabeus, but 
 who the ^vriter of the second Book may be it is. 
 difficult even to conjecture. / 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 MORAL BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE 
 PROPHETS. 
 
 The Psalms — Proverbs — Ecclesiastes— Canticle of Canticles — 
 "Wisdom — Ecclesiasticus — Prophets. 
 
 ^ The Psalm?, which St. Athanasius pronounces to 
 1)6 an epitome of the whole Scripture, are a collection 
 of hymns sung to the Lord by the Levites. They 
 are umivalled by anything either in sacred or 
 profane writing, as regards force of argument, sub- 
 limity of poetry, boldness of figure, or strength of 
 expression. / 
 
 There are 1 50 Psalms in the Canon, of which those 
 from the 119th to the 133rd are called Gradual^ 
 because they were chaunted by the Jews on their 
 return from the Babylonish captivity. The titles 
 which they have, as ''unto the end," St. Augustine 
 believes to be canonical, but this is denied by others. 
 The word psalm is derived from the Greek i/^aXAw, 
 to sing with harp -accompaniment, and hence the 
 latin Psalterium, the English Psalter. Some of the 
 Psalms praise God's perfections, others supplicate 
 Him for favours, while not a few breathe deep re- 
 
214 THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 pentance for sin, and many of them prophesy the 
 Adventj Passion^ and Resurrection of our Blessed 
 Lord. In reference to their authorship, the name of 
 David is attached to 73, but more are attributed to 
 him in the iNTew Testament. Then 12 are ascribed 
 to Asaph, 7 to the sons of Core, 2 to Solomon, one- 
 to Elihu the Ezrahite, and one to Moses ; but these 
 also, according to Bellarmine, were composed by 
 David and the names written upon them belong to 
 the persons by whom they were sung. The Psalms 
 in the original Hebrew are numbered differently 
 from the Latin Yulgate, though the total (150) is 
 the same in both. In the Hebrew the 9 th Psalm is. 
 divided into two parts at verse 22, and the 113th 
 Psalm at the 9th verse. The original has, therefore, 
 two Psalms more than the Yulgate at this point ; but 
 in the 114th Psalm the Hebrew drops one by joining 
 the 114th with the 115th, and a second at the 14Gth 
 Psalm, where the difference disappears. / 
 
 The Pho verbs: — Are short pregnant sentences 
 exhorting the reader to cultivate wisdom that is. 
 virtue, the truest wisdom, and avoid vice. Hence, 
 St. Jerome says that Solomon wrote them for the 
 instruction of the young, just as he wrote Ecclesi- 
 astes for persons of mature age to impress upon them 
 the vanity of all human things, and the Canticle of 
 Canticles for the old to set before them a perfect 
 model of chastity, i 
 
 EccLESiASTES : — This is an exhortation by the same 
 
MORAL BOOKS OF OLD TESTAMENT AND THE PROPHETS. 215 
 
 author addressed to the whole Church (EKKXeo-ta), de- 
 signed to show that in this world there is nothing 
 abiding, true or great, except to fear God and obey 
 His commandments, so as to appear well before His 
 judgment seat. Hence the oft-repeated exclamation, 
 '^ Vanity of vanities and all is vanity . . . Fear God 
 and keep His commandments, for this is all man." 
 
 Canticle of Canticles is the greatest Canticle. 
 In it under the symbol of a chaste spouse, repre- 
 sented as a shepherd, and his wife as the keeper of 
 a vineyard, or the king's daughter, Solomon, who is 
 believed to be the author, describes the love with 
 which God cherishes the Synagogue, as well as the 
 Christian Church of which the Synagogue was but 
 the figure. The words of this Canticle of Canticles 
 are applied to the union of Christ with all the just 
 members of His Church, and especially with our 
 Blessed Lady. 
 
 Wisdom : — Here, by striking examples taken from 
 early Jewish history, kings and others in power are 
 urged to study wisdom and the fear of God. It is 
 styled "the Wisdom of Solomon," but St. Jerome 
 and St. Augustine think it was the work of some 
 other person now unknown. / 
 
 EccLESiASTicus : — This book was written by 
 "Jesus, the son of Sirach," who was a citizen of 
 Jerusalem, remarkable for his piety in the time of 
 Simon, the High Priest, in the third century before 
 Christ. Wisdom is declared to consist in the fear of 
 
216 THK OLD TESTAMENT IJOOKS. 
 
 God, and in order to assist in the cultivation of this 
 heavenly virtue, rules adapted to all conditions of 
 life are set forth in the fullest and most impressive 
 manner. / 
 
 Peophets : — The name Prophet is applied to one 
 who predicts future events by his own or a super- 
 natural light. The Scripture prophets received the 
 Divine communication, either by a vision as in the 
 case of Isaias, Daniel, Ezechiel and Zacharias, or 
 in di'eams as regards Jacob and Joseph, or by the 
 apparition of Angels, as with Daniel, or even through 
 the human voice as when God spoke to Moses from 
 the burning bush, and to Samuel in the sleeping 
 chamber, all of which had regard to future events. 
 The special mission of the prophets in the old Law 
 was to keep alive in the minds and hearts of the 
 people of God the recollection of the true faith and 
 its observances. They did so by working on the 
 obstinate wills of the Jews with repeated assurances 
 of the near coming of the Eedeemer, while by the 
 strongest motives of hope and fear, they endeavoured 
 to deter this sensual people from idol-worship. As 
 the two great prophets and mii-acle workers, Elias 
 and Eliseus, did not commit their prophetic utter- 
 ances to writing they are not mentioned amongst 
 the seventeen prophets of the Old Testament. These 
 seventeen are classified into four Major Prophets, 
 viz. : Isaias, Jeremias, with Paruch, Ezechiel, and 
 Daniel, so called because their writings are some- 
 
MORAL BOOKS OF OLD TESTAMENT AND THE PROPHETS. 217 
 
 ^Iiat extended, and the twelve 3Iinor Prophets 
 whose writings are of a much more restricted char- 
 acter. The time covered hy all these seventeen 
 prophets was about 300 years, beginning with 750 
 
 E.G./ 
 
f n It m n n n ii ■» j^ »■- 
 
 \ \i tf H IL,J* H^ If, H ij__]iyi_x* vi »T 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 The Four Gospels — Acts of the Apostles — The Apocalypse. 
 / 
 
 The first four Books of the 'New Testament contain 
 the " Good tidings of great joy '' announced to the 
 world by Jesus Christ, and hence they are called in 
 English Gosjwls, from the Saxon ^ood tidings^ which 
 correspond to the Greek EuayyeXtov, Latin Evangelium, / 
 
 The Gospel of St. Matthew: — The Aviiter of 
 this first gospel is Matthew or Levi, a native of 
 Galilee, who held the post of collector of public 
 taxes. St. Matthew was located at Capharnaum, 
 an important station on the Lake of Gennesareth, 
 when Jesus came there to preach. The simple 
 fervour with which he followed the words of his 
 Divine Teacher, won for him a call to the 
 Apostolate, and the promptitude with which he 
 obeyed this summons to a laborious and painful 
 mission is attested by both St. Luke and St. Mark. 
 Like the other Apostles he was engaged in evan- 
 gelizing Judea until the time had arrived to "teach 
 all nations " (Matthew xxviii. 1 9). This was either 
 
220 THE NEW TESTAMENT 3300KS. 
 
 in 51 A.D., immediately after the Council of Jeru- 
 salem, or in 42 a.d., when Herod Agrippa determined 
 to exterminate the Christian name. 
 
 St. Matthew's zeal had so endeared him to the 
 Jewish converts that on the eve of his departure 
 they asked for some record of his holy teaching. 
 Their request he ' gratified by writing his Gospel, 
 and Eusebius, the historian (Hist. Eccl. iii. 42) in 
 his notice of this fact, adds that ^^ after having 
 preached to the Jews St. Matthew left for other 
 countries," Ethiopia, or perhaps Parthia, where 
 according to tradition, he laid down his life for the 
 faith. \ 
 
 This Gospel opens with the human generation of 
 Jesus Christ, and hence St. Matthew is represented 
 by a man, one of the four mystical animals, men- 
 tioned in Ezechiel (i. 1), and in the Aj)ocalypse 
 (iv. 7). The birth and infancy of our Divine Lord, as 
 well as His forty day's fast, occupy four chapters, 
 and sixteen are devoted to His public life, passion, 
 deaths and resurrection. He has grouped together 
 the most prominent facts in these various stages in 
 the life of the Eedeemer, and shows that they 
 •accord exactly with the prophecies in the Old Testa- 
 ment regarding the promised Messias.X 
 
 As the Gospel was intended chiefly for his 
 -countrymen, St. Matthew addressed them in their 
 own language. This was the Syro-Chaldaic, that is 
 the Hebrew modified by the Chaldaic or Syriac, 
 
THE FOUR GOSPELS. 221 
 
 which the Je\YS were obliged to adopt during the 
 seventy years' captivity in Babylon. Papias, 
 Bishop of Hierapolis, in Phrygia, speaking of St. 
 Matthew, soon after his martyrdom, says '' Matthew 
 wrote the Divine oracles in the Hebrew language." 
 This statement is confirmed not only by Irenasus 
 and Origen, but in a very beautiful story told by 
 Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. iii. 29) of St. Pantenus, the 
 founder of the famous School of Alexandria, in 179 
 A.D. It is to the effect that this eminent scholar, 
 who gave up his high office for the burning sands 
 of India to water the seed of the faith that St. 
 Bartholomew had sown there, found during his 
 missionary progress the original of St. Matthew's 
 Gospel written in Hehreiu. The Jewish converts, 
 who were anxious for the retention of the Mosaie 
 ritual, are said to have tampered -with the text 
 of this Gospel in order to have the authority of St. 
 Matthew in support of their errors. The Hebrew 
 original therefore, disappeared, and its place Avas 
 supplied with a Greek translation, made probably 
 under St. Matthew's own supervision. This circum- 
 stance doubtless furnished grounds for the opinion, 
 held by some, that Greek was the original language 
 of St. Matthew's Gospel. / 
 
 It may not be out of place to bring forward the 
 objection that in Matthew xxiii. 35, our Lord is re- 
 presented as denouncing the hypocrisy of the Scribes- 
 and Pharisees in these words: — ^'That upon you 
 
222 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 ^' may come all tlie just blood of Abel tlie just, even 
 *^ unto the blood of Zacharias, the son of Earachias, 
 ^'whom you killed between the temple and the 
 " altar." !N'ow Josephus, in his minute details of 
 the terrible siege of Jerusalem, mentions that a 
 certain Zacharias, son of Baruch, was killed by some 
 fanatics. There is nothing, however, in this state- 
 ment to prove that the writer of the first Gosioel was 
 not St. Matthew. The murder to which our Lord 
 alluded is described in II. Paralipomenon (xxiv. 20, 
 21) : — ^' The spirit of God then came upon Zacha- 
 ^4'ias, the son of Joiada, the priest, and he stood in 
 ^^the sight of the people, and said to them: Thus 
 '-'• saith the Lord God : Why transgress you the com- 
 " mandment of the Lord which will not be for your 
 ^' good, and have forsaken the Lord, to make himfor- 
 ^^ sake you ? And they gathered themselves together 
 *' against him, and stoned him at the King's com- 
 '^ mandment in the court of the house of the Lord." 
 Zacharias, the subject of this episode, was really the 
 son of Joiada, the High Priest ; but because of his 
 eminent piety and zeal, our Lord spoke of him as 
 the son of Barachias, or "blessed of the Lord." 
 This Zacharias was so zealous in rescuing his people 
 from the worship of idols that the Apostate King, 
 Joas, incited the Jews to murder him under circum- 
 stances of great cruelty between the vestibule of the 
 sanctuary and the altar of holocausts. \ 
 The Gospel of St. Mark, which St. Augustine calls 
 
THE FOUR GOSPKLS. 223 
 
 a compendium of that of St. Matthew's, was written 
 by St. Mark or John Mark (Acts xii. 12). In order 
 to dedicate himself to the preaching of the Christian 
 faith, St. Mark left his home at Jerusalem and 
 joined St. Peter at Rome, where he acted as his 
 secretary. He thus acquired an intimate knowledge 
 of what the chief of the Apostles taught, and this, 
 with the assistance and approval of his master he 
 set forth in his Gospel, about 47 or 48 a.d., to 
 gratify the converts at Eome; This incident we learn 
 from St. Clement of Alexandria in the Eccl. Hist. 
 of Eusebius (vi. 14). And indeed, the spirit of St. 
 Peter is reflected in the pages of St. Mark's Gospel; 
 for his denial of Christ is given most fully, while 
 his confession of the divinity of Jesus, and the fact 
 of his own elevation to the primacy of the whole 
 Church is passed over in silence. / 
 
 St. Mark begins with our Blessed Lord's royal 
 descent. On this account, or perhaps because of the 
 opening allusion to St. John the Baptist, crying in 
 the desert : " Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make 
 ^^ straight his paths," commentators generally re- 
 gard the lion mentioned by Ezechiel as typical of 
 St. Mark. This Gospel St. Mark wrote in Greek, 
 which was very generally understood all over the 
 East. / 
 
 The eminent annalist. Cardinal Baronius, was so 
 struck with a very ancient Latin translation of this 
 Gospel; which found its way from the archives of 
 
224 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 Aquileia in 420 to the library of St. Mark in 
 Yenice, that he assumed it to be the original of St. 
 Mark's Gospel. But the most competent authorities 
 have pronounced the document to be part of a manu- 
 script belonging to the fourth century. / 
 
 According to the Bollandists St. Mark, after leav- 
 ing Eonie about 50 a.d., evangelized Egypt for 
 twelve years, and then fixed his see at Alexandria. 
 His success roused the the jealousy of Pagan priests, 
 who tracked him in his flight to a hiding place near 
 the sea. While celebrating Mass they dragged him 
 out over sharp-pointed rocks till he was dead, and 
 then flung his mangled corpse to the sea birds. 
 Some pious souls, who witnessed the martyrdom, 
 carried the body into the catacombs at Alexandria. 
 It was afterwards laid in a marble tomb in the great 
 church of that city, where it remained until 815, 
 when the prosperous republic of Yenice had it re- 
 moved to the noble temple raised to the saint' & 
 memory in their beautiful city. / 
 
 The Gospel of St. Luke: — St. Luke, an emi- 
 nent medical man, gave up a lucrative practice 
 to attach himself to St. Paul, who converted him to 
 the faith of Christ at Antioch, about a.d. 53. Hi^ 
 cultivated style proves him to have been a finished 
 scholar, nor does this exhaust the list of his accom- 
 plishments, for in the Church of St. Mary, in the Via 
 Lata at Eome, there is a celebrated painting of 
 Our BlessWl Lady inscribed thus : *' One of the 
 
THE FOUR GOSPELS. 225 
 
 seven painted by St. Luke," wliicli would entitle 
 him to be ranked as an artist of merit. / 
 
 About 60 or 61 a.d. St. Luke resolved ^' to set 
 " forth, in order a narration of the things that have 
 " been accomplished among us; according as they 
 ^' have delivered them unto us. who from the begin- 
 "ning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the 
 ^' word " (Luke i. 1 and 2). His object therefore, 
 was to give from the information of eye-witnesses, 
 a more detailed account than the two preceding 
 Evangelists of what Jesus did and taught. Hence 
 he relates the Annunciation of Our Blessed Lady, 
 the Circumcision and Presentation of Our Blessed 
 Lord, and various other important particulars, not 
 recorded in the preceding Gospels, He intended 
 his book to strengthen the faith of the converts 
 from paganism, and for this reason he dedicated it 
 to Theophilus, their most prominent representative 
 in Antioch : ^^ It seemed good to me also, having 
 '^ diligently attained to all things from the begin- 
 *'ning, to write to thee in order most excellent 
 *^ Theophilus, that thou may est know the verity of 
 "those words in which thou hast been instructed'' 
 (Luke i. 3 and 4). 
 
 The priestly office of our Saviour is the most 
 
 prominent feature in this Gospel, and therefore, 
 
 St. Luke is represented by the ox, or emblem of 
 
 sacrifice. / 
 
 Acts of the Apostles : — So far there was no 
 
 p 
 
226 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 connected history of the beginnings of the Church, 
 and to meet this want St. Luke, a few years after 
 completing his Gospel, wrote the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles, a name derived from the fact that the first half 
 is devoted to the labours of St Peter ; and in the 
 second half St. Luke gives, from his own personal 
 knowledge, a sketch of the missionary career of St. 
 Paul. / 
 
 St. John's Gospel : — The author of this Gospel 
 was called to the high office of Apostle, with his 
 brother St. James, the greater, when our Lord ^^came 
 into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom 
 of God " (Mark i. 14). Their father, Zebedee, was 
 actually engaged in his own humble business of 
 fishing on the sea of Galilee, when Jesus invited 
 the two sons to follow Him. The simplicity of St. 
 John's youth, and the life of angelic purity which 
 he had embraced, made him very dear to our Blessed 
 Lord, who permitted him to recline on His sacred 
 breast, at the last supper. It was his virginity 
 that gained for this favourite Apostle the inestim- 
 able privilege of attending the Mother of God at 
 the foot of the cross, and by his sympathy lessening 
 the bitterness of her great sorrow. " Thus,'* says 
 St. Jerome, " Jesus confided in his last moments 
 His Virgin mother to the care of the virgin dis- 
 ciple.'' And faithfully did St. John fulfil his charge 
 during the years the Virgin Mother survived her 
 Divine Son. \ 
 
THE FOUR GOSPELS. 227 
 
 Asia Minor was the scene of St. John's labours. 
 His success there attracted such public attention 
 that in 95 a.d., during the persecution of Domitian, 
 lie was dragged a prisoner to Eome, where, having 
 escaped unhurt from his immersion in a caldron of 
 boiling oil, he was banished to Patmos. In 96 
 A.D., upon the death of the Emperor, he was 
 allowed to return to Ephesus, where he found 
 that in his absence, Ebion and Cerinthus, who 
 denied the divinity of Christ, had succeeded in 
 introducing their heresy among his flock. This 
 attempt to corrupt the faith of his people so moved 
 St. John that he determined to defeat it by every 
 means in his power. This pious resolve found 
 immediate effect from the following incident related 
 by St. Jerome. The apostle was earnestly pressed 
 by the brethren to write a Gospel. He consented, 
 if, observing a common fast, they would all send up 
 their prayers to God to attain for him all the grace 
 necessary for this arduous undertaking, which being 
 done, he, with the clearest and fullest revelation 
 from Heaven, burst forth " In the beginning was 
 ^'the Word, and the Word was with God." Some 
 important details connected with the Passion and 
 Eesurrection, not found in the previous Gospels are 
 supplied, and to remove the danger of misinterpre- 
 tation he explains some mystical sayings of our Lord, 
 like the " destroying of the Temple, and raising it 
 up in three days."/ 
 
22S THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 This Gospel holds in the Yulgate the last place, 
 because it is latest in the point of time. It is to. 
 be remarked that the sequence of facts and doctrines 
 is not exactly the same in each of the four Gospels, 
 for they were written by men differing widely in 
 character and disposition, and each having some 
 peculiar ob j ect to attain. This distinct individuality 
 is also stamped upon whatever the Evangelists relate 
 in common, but it never amounts to a contradiction. 
 In short, the agreement between them is remarkable, 
 and has been appropriately styled the harmony of 
 the Gospels, / 
 
 The Apocalypse : — One Sunday morning during 
 the term of his banishment in Patmos, St. John,, 
 while engaged in prayer, saw before him His Divine^ 
 Saviour, clothed in a garment down to the feet* 
 The vision changed to the throne of God, and the 
 trials and triumphs of the Church of Christ were 
 revealed to the Evangelist in grand symbolic 
 imagery : — "After these things I looked, and behold 
 " a door was opened in heaven, and the first voice 
 " which I heard, as it were, of a trumpet speaking 
 " with me, said : Come up hither and I will show 
 '' thee the things which must be done hereafter. And 
 "immediately I was in the spirit, and behold there 
 " was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne 
 " one sitting. And he that sat was to the sight like 
 "the jasper and the sardine-stone: and there was 
 "a rainbow round about the thi'one, in sight like 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 229 
 
 ^'unto an emerald. And round about the tlirone 
 ^^were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats 
 ^^four and twenty ancients sitting, clothed in white 
 " garments, and on their heads were crowns of gold. 
 ^'And from the throne proceeded lightnings and 
 ^^ voices and thunders, and there were seven lamps 
 '^burning before the throne, which are the seven 
 '^ spirits of God. And in the sight of the throne 
 *^ Avas, as it were, a sea of glass like to crystal : and 
 "in the midst of the throne and round about the 
 ''throne were four living creatures full of eyes be- 
 ''fore and behind " (Apocalypse iv. 1-6). / 
 
 The mysterious book, sealed with the seven seals, 
 being now produced, the Apostle learned that no 
 man was worthy to open it. He wept bitterly, 
 whereupon the Lamb appeared and began to undo 
 the seals one by one. During this operation, horses 
 of various colours appeared in view before him car- 
 rying knights in armour, who met in the shock of 
 battle. Then came the removal of the fifth seal, 
 followed by a petition from the army of martyrs, 
 praying punishment on the persecutors of the 
 Church. / 
 
 At this stage the sixth seal was unfastened, lay- 
 ing open the awful accompaniments which make the 
 last Judgment so terrible: — ''And I saw, when he 
 "had opened the sixth seal, and behold there was a 
 '"great earthquake, and the sun became black as 
 ^' sack-cloth of hair: and the whole moon became as 
 
230 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 ^' blood : And the stars from heaven fell upon 
 " the earth as the fig-tree casteth its green figs when 
 ^4t is shaken by a great wind: And the heaven 
 *' departed as a book folded up : and every mountain, 
 "and the islands were moved out of their places" 
 (Apocalypse vi. 12-14). There was profound 
 silence after the removal of the seventh seal, when 
 the seven angels announced, with loud trumpets, a 
 visitation of seven desolating plagues, and then camo 
 the vision of the woman clothed with the sun, which 
 was followed by the war between the Church 
 and Antichrist: — "And I saw a beast coming up 
 " out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, 
 "and upon his horns ten diadems, and upon his 
 '' heads names of blasphemy " (Apocalypse xiii. 1). 
 To this fearful picture succeeded that of " The 
 " virgins who follow the Lamb whithersoever he 
 "goeth, having his name and the name of his 
 " Father written on their foreheads to the number 
 "of 144,000." The triumph of these virgins over 
 the " beast " is celebrated by the singing of a new 
 canticle to the accompaniment of many harps ; while 
 the doom that awaits the wicked is set down in 
 these words : " And the third Angel followed them, 
 " saying with a loud voice : If any man shall adore 
 "the beast and his image, and receive his character 
 " in his forehead, or in his hand. He also shall 
 " drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which i& 
 " mingled with pure wine in the cup of his wrath^ 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 231 
 
 ^^ and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in 
 *^ the sight of the holy Angels, and in the sight of 
 ^^the Lamb. And the smoke of their torments 
 " shall ascend up for ever and ever, neither have 
 *'they rest day nor night, who have adored the 
 " beast, and his image, and whosoever receiveth the 
 *' character of his name" (Apocalypse xiv. 9-11). 
 
 To complete this appalling description of the 
 punishment of the wicked, the seven vials of the 
 wrath of God, are poured out upon the earth, and 
 Babylon, or the world of sin, after being drenched 
 with the blood of martyrs is destroyed in the midst 
 of great rejoicing. / 
 
 Christ's triumphant victory in the end, and the 
 imperishable joys of the heavenly Jerusalem, make 
 up the closing visions of this wonderful book, 
 which ^^ possesses," according to St. Jerome, ''as 
 many sacraments as words.'* All this Jesus com- 
 manded St. John '' to write in a book for the seven 
 Churches of Asia Minor." The Apostle did so 
 with the following dedication : " The Eevelation of 
 '' Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to make 
 ''known to his servants the things which must 
 " shortly come to pass : and signified, sending by 
 " His angel to His servant, John, who hath given 
 " testimony to the Word of God, and the testimony 
 " of Jesus Christ, what things soever he hath seen 
 (Apocalypse i. 1-2.) The weight of St. John's 
 own name is appended to prevent the smallest 
 
232 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 suspicion of incredibility, for he alone was in the 
 position to address with authority the Bishops of the 
 seven Churches of Asia Minor. His identity is more 
 distinctly defined in the Greek manuscripts where 
 the book is styled : ^' The Apocalypse of 8t. John, 
 the theologian/' and in the oldest Latin Versions, 
 in which it is mentioned as ^' The Apocalypse of 
 St. John the Apostle.' V 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. 
 
 St. Paul's antecedents — His conversion — His three Apostolic 
 journeys — Epistle to the Romans — First and second Epistles to 
 the Corinthians — Epistle to the Galatians — Epistle to the Ephe- 
 sians — Epistle to the Phillippians — Epistle to the Colossians — First 
 •and Second Epistle to the Thessalonians — The two Epistles to 
 Timothy and one to Titus— Epistle to Philemon — Epistle to the 
 Hebrews. 
 
 St. Paul: — The fourteen l^ew Testament books, 
 following in order the Acts of the Apostles, were 
 written by St. Paul, who says that he was ^' of the 
 stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an He- 
 brew of the Hebrews" (Philippians iii. 5); and 
 again: — ^^I am a Jew, born at Tarsus, in Cilicia 
 . . . Men, brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of 
 Pharisees " (Acts xxii. 3, and xxiii. 6). The Pha- 
 risees were those Jews who publicly affected great 
 austerity in the practice of their religion, but undei: 
 a sanctimonious exterior concealed a depraved heart. 
 The parents of St. Paul belonged to this sect, and 
 resolved to make their son a leading advocate of its 
 principles. With this view they sent him from his 
 native Tarsus to Jerusalem, where he studied under 
 
234 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 Gamaliel, tlie most eminent teacher of the Jewish law 
 at the time. He joined earnestly in the work of 
 extirpating the Christian religion, and after assist- 
 ing at the martyrdom of St. Stephen, he pursued the 
 converts at Jerusalem into their hiding places. Find- 
 ing that some escaped to Damascus, he was soon in 
 pursuit. On the way God struck him down in the 
 midst of awful accompaniments in which he heard 
 our Blessed Lord address him : — ^' Saul, Saul, why 
 ^^ persecutest thou me ? ... ]^ow the men who 
 ^^ went in company with him stood amazed, hearing 
 ^^ indeed a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul 
 ''' arose from the ground, and when his eyes were 
 ^^ opened he saw nothing. But they leading him 
 ^'by the hands, brought him to Damascus, and he 
 ^^was there three days without sight, and he did 
 "neither eat nor drink'' (Acts ix. 4-9). 1 
 
 While Saul was still suffering from his blindness 
 his Divine Master in a vision, directed Ananias, a 
 holy man then in Damascus, to proceed to the house 
 and lay hands upon him that he might recover his 
 sight, saying : — " For this man is to me a vessel of 
 election to carry my name before the Gentiles, and 
 kings, and the children of Israel" (Acts ix. 15). 
 Called thus in a special manner to the Apostolate, 
 St. Paul for the remainder of his eventful life never 
 wearied in his great mission of carrying the name of 
 Christ before the Gentiles. He visited all the Syna- 
 gogues in Damascus, and there by boldly "preaching 
 
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. 235 
 
 Jesus that lie is the son of God," aroused such, a 
 strong feeling against him amongst the entire Jewish, 
 community tliat lie felt obliged to withdraw into the 
 desert for three years. After this term lie reap- 
 peared in Damascus, and renewing his preaching he 
 became again the object of Jewish hatred : — '' And 
 "when many days were past, the Jews consulted 
 "together to kill him . . . And they watched 
 "the gates also day and night that they might 
 "kill him. But the disciples taking him in the 
 "night, conveyed him away by the wall, letting 
 "him down in a basket" (Acts ix. 23-24). The 
 fugitive having reached Jerusalem, was greeted by 
 St. Peter with a warm welcome; but while praying 
 in the temple he heard from above a voice which 
 said : — " Make haste, and get thee quickly out of 
 Jerusalem, because they will not receive thy testi- 
 mony concerning me'' (Acts xx. 18). Immediately 
 he obeyed, and departed from the great city to revisit 
 the scenes of his youth. Here he was cheered 
 by the unexpected arrival of St. Barnabas, on his 
 way to take charge of the congregation, established 
 by St. Peter at Antioch. St. Barnabas pressed 
 St. Paul to join him in his mission, and drew such 
 a vivid picture of the wants of the Church at An- 
 tioch, that the heart of the listener readily responded 
 to the invitation. The zeal with which the two ser- 
 vants of God applied themselves to their holy work 
 was speedily and abundantly blessed, for in the brief 
 
236 THE JsEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 space of one year tlie converts at Antioch became so 
 numerous as to form an important section of the 
 population under the distinctive name of Christians. 
 In these chxumstances the Divine will was inti- 
 mated to Saul and Barnabas to seek new pastures : — 
 "!N'ow there were in the Church which was at 
 ^'Antioch prophets and doctors, among whom was 
 ^^ Barnabas and Simon, who was called Mger, and 
 ^'Lucius of Cyrene, and Manahen, who was the 
 ^'foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 
 "And as they were ministering to the Lord, and 
 " fasting, the Holy Ghost said to them: separate me 
 " Saul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have 
 '' taken them. Then they, fasting and praying, and 
 " imposing their hands upon them, sent them away" 
 (Acts xiii. 1-3). Fresh with this grace, and accom- 
 panied by St. Mark, who had joined his cousin, Bar- 
 nabas, they started upon the three famous Apostolic 
 journeys^ which make up St. Paul's missionary career. 
 In the island of Cjrprus, which was soon reached, 
 they had the happiness of receiving into the Church 
 the pro-consul or governor. The name of this dis- 
 tinguished convert was Faulus, which some think, 
 was adopted by the Apostle on this occasion. Leaving 
 Cyprus, St. Paul and his companions planted the 
 standard of the cross in Perge of Pamphylia, Antioch 
 of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe, and so ended 
 the first of the Apostle's missionary expeditions. 
 -St. Paul was now resting at Antioch, where Jewish 
 
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. 23T 
 
 converts came pouring in. These were filled with 
 the pride of their race, and St. Peter, who hap- 
 pened to be in Antioch at the time, feared they 
 would, on the slightest provocation, revive the 
 controversy, which had been so happily closed 
 in the Council of Jerusalem (a.d. 51), where 
 it was authoritatively decided that the Mosaic 
 observances had no force in the Christian dispensa- 
 tion. To meet this danger of again dividing the 
 Christian community, St. Peter left the company 
 of the Gentile Christians, and gave up the use of 
 unclean meats, inducing St. Barnabas to do the 
 same. St. Paul regarded this proceeding as an 
 indiscretion, and without in the least infringing on 
 the respect due to the supreme authority of the 
 prince of the Apostles, mentioned the matter to him 
 in words of humble remonstrance : "I withstood 
 him to the face because he was to be blamed.'' 
 (Galatians ii. 11). St. Gregory the Great, referring 
 to this incident says: ^^He, St. Peter, forgot his 
 ^' own dignity for fear of losing any degree of 
 ^' humility. He afterwards commended the Epistles 
 ''of St. Paul as full of wisdom, though wo 
 '' read in them something which seems derogatory 
 
 , '' from his honour. But this lover of truth rejoiced 
 ''that all should know that he had been re- 
 
 ' " proved, and should believe the reproof was just" 
 (2 Homily on Ezechiel). / 
 
 In this a&ir some search in vain for an argu- 
 
238 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 ment to support a fanciful theory in favour with, 
 a certain school of Eationalists. They say that a 
 violent rupture took place between St. Peter and 
 St. Paul, and one of the causes which led to it was 
 this very question of the converts to Christianity 
 being bound by the law of Moses. This difference 
 was never healed, they say, and it extended to the 
 other Apostles, who did not carry on a calm and 
 friendly dispute, but reviled and persecuted each 
 other with the utmost acrimony. They became in 
 fact, two adverse factions — the Pauline, or the 
 followers of St. Paul, and the Pillar-Apostles^ a 
 name given in the Epistle to the Galatians (ii. 9) 
 to St. Peter, St. John, and St. James. But evidence 
 of this rupture, and of these contending factions, 
 there is none in the present instance. St. Peter 
 received this blame '^to the face" as perfectly 
 just, and made it the occasion of a splendid proof of 
 liis humility, as St. Augustine reminds us: ^^St. 
 ^' Peter sets an example of a more wonderful and 
 *' difficult virtue. For it is a much easier task for 
 " one to see what to reprehend in another, and to put 
 **him in mind of a fault than for us publicly to 
 *' acknowledge our own faults and to correct them. 
 ^*How heroic a virtue is it to be willing to be 
 ^^ rebuked by another, by an inferior, and in sight of 
 '' the world " (Homily on the Galatians ii). There 
 is no foundation for the existence of this seditious 
 spirit among the Apostles. St. Paul himself says : 
 
THE epistles; of ST. PAUL. 239 
 
 ^' James, and Ceplias and Jolin, who seemed to be 
 ^^ pillars, gave to me and Earnabas the right hands 
 ^' of Fellowship " (Galatians ii. 9). / 
 
 St. Paul had now rested sufficiently, and it was 
 time to resume his second Apostolic journey, St. 
 Barnabas believed the voice of God called him to 
 Cyprus, where his cousin, Mark, was to meet him, 
 and thus he and St. Paul, the partners of so many 
 joys and sorrows, separated at the call of duty, 
 to use the apt and graceful remark of St. John 
 Chrysostom : — ^^Both sought only the greater glory 
 ^' of God, and they parted in perfect charity " 
 (Homily xxxiv. on the Acts of the Apostles). 
 Shortly after the Council of Jerusalem, Silas, or 
 Sylvanus, was sent to assist in the mission, and 
 taking him, together with St. Timothy, a native of 
 Lystra, in Lycaonia, St. Paul evangelized the ex- 
 tensive provinces of Phrygia and Galatia. He now 
 made Troas his centre, and thither St. Luke fol- 
 lowed. This learned convert conceived a deep 
 affection for St. Paul at Antioch, in Syria, his 
 native place, and finding it growing stronger by 
 distance, he left his home and the lucrative practice 
 of his profession to share with the Apostle the holy 
 work of saving souls. / 
 
 Prom Troas, St. Paul, accompanied by St. Silas, 
 St. Timothy and St. Luke, sailed to Macedonia. In 
 Philippi their preaching produced a rich harvest, and 
 in Thessalonica it won so many that it gave promise 
 
240 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 of absorbing the entire population. The Jews, 
 therefore, incited the mob to make a murderous 
 assault on the missionaries, who, by hiding in the 
 house of one Jason, were able in the night to 
 escape to the neighbouring city of Beroea. Here 
 St. Sylvanus took charge, while St. Timothy- 
 returned to Thessalonica, and St Paul's own desti- 
 nation was Athens, face to face with the greatest 
 scholars of the age that he might bring them 
 captive to the saving truth, which surpasseth all 
 human understanding. Among the learned bodies 
 of Athens were the Judges of the Supreme Court 
 who presided over the Areopagus, and here St. Paul 
 ventured to address them on the resurrection of the 
 body. They proposed to hear him a second time ; 
 but these proud philosophers hardened their hearts 
 against St. Paul's persuasive reasoning, so that the 
 only one of them, who had the courage to embrace 
 the Christian faith was St. Dionysius. In these 
 circumstances St. Paul turned his thoughts to 
 Corinth, and here he brought his second Apostolic 
 journey to a close. Ephesus with its central posi- 
 tion, and fine harbour was the great mart of 
 western Asia, and foreigners came there in crowds 
 for purposes of trade. Here St. Paul spent a 
 considerable part of his third and last mission, and 
 this was, perhaps, the most , fruitful period of his 
 Apostlcship. In the extraordinary success, which 
 thus attended the Gospel in Ephesus, Apollo, a 
 
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. 241 
 
 very fervent convert, had a large share. He no 
 sooner embraced the faith in Alexandria, his native 
 city, than a warm zeal for the cause of Christ, filled 
 his heart, and coming to Ephesus he there '' taught 
 diligently the things that are of Jesus " (Acts 
 xviii. 25). / 
 
 The interests of the Church in Corinth again 
 demanded the presence of St. Paul, and he set out 
 immediately, in company with his favourite dis- 
 ciple Titus, whom he had converted during the 
 progress of his first Apostolic journey. On his 
 way back to Ephesus St. Paul visited Crete, and 
 made Titus Bishop of that Church. After two 
 years St. Paul retired from Ephesus leaving St. 
 Timothy Bishop there, and after passing through 
 Macedonia and Greece he paid a long farewell visit 
 to Corinth. Then, seeing that his life was no longer 
 safe in that place from the intense hostility of the 
 unbelieving Jews, he left abruptly for Macedonia, 
 and thence by ship to Troas. Here his mission 
 brought an immense blessing, for though it could 
 not be extended beyond a month, a vast number of 
 souls were converted to God. 1 
 
 Erom Troas the Apostle crossed the JEgean Sea, 
 and landed at Miletus, a prosperous port about 
 thirty miles from Ephesus, where the clergy of that 
 city came, and understanding that their beloved 
 Paul was about to leave them, so as to see his face 
 no more, they followed him in a crowd to the ship, 
 
 Q 
 
242 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 which was to bear him away, and weeping and falling 
 on his neck they kissed him (Acts xx. 36-38). 
 
 Csesarea was the next stage on the Apostle's 
 journey, and here the Prophet, Agabus, warned 
 him not to go up to Jerusalem, for there he was 
 sure to encounter severe trials. But St. Paul 
 would not turn aside, and his fearless answer to 
 Agabus is worthy of the great Apostle of the 
 Gentiles. " I am ready," he exclaimed, " not only 
 to be bound, but also to die for the name of Jesus 
 Christ" (Actsxxi. 13)./ 
 
 St. James the Less was Bishop of Jerusalem at 
 the time, and gave St. Paul a very kind recep- 
 tion on his arrival there. This holy prelate knew 
 well that the Jews of Jerusalem entertained enmity 
 towards St. Paul, and he, therefore, prevailed upon 
 the Apostle to disarm their malice by publicly appear- 
 ing in the Temple, and conforming with the rites of 
 purification in obedience to his Nazarite vow. He 
 did so, but the very sight of him, even in carrying 
 out their own ritual, goaded the Jews into such 
 fury that they would have murdered him had not 
 the captain of the Eoman guard hurried up and 
 dispersed the threatening crowd. He then arrested 
 St. Paul, but permitted him to address the people 
 from the steps of the castle. This was done in 
 Hebrew, with a power and eloquence that excited 
 the admiration of all who heard him. But, as 
 " Some of the Jews gathered together, and bound 
 
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. 243 
 
 ''• themselves under a curse, saying, that they would 
 " neither eat nor drink, till they killed Paul " (Acts 
 xxiii. 12), he was sent by night, under a strong 
 escort, to the Eoman Governor of Caesarea, who 
 had him brought up and unjustly remanded several 
 times during two years. At last, in the exercise of 
 his right as a Eoman citizen, St. Paul appealed to 
 the Emperor, and to Eome he was accordingly sent, 
 accompanied by his dear friends and fellow-labourers, 
 St. Luke and Aristarchus. On the voyage thither 
 his ship was violently tossed by the winds and the 
 waves, until she became a total wreck on the sands 
 of Melita (Malta) ; but all on board were saved, a 
 fact which made St, Chrysostom exclaim : " Behold 
 " what it is to live in the company of a saint." His 
 stay on this island during the spring of a.d. 61, St. 
 Paul turned to good account in evangelizing the 
 inhabitants. Prom Malta, St. Paul, still wearing 
 his chain, came to Eome, where he was allowed to 
 dwell '^ for two whole years in his own hired 
 house," and in that interval he made many distin- 
 guished converts, even from the Imperial palace : 
 ^^ All the saints salute you, especially they that 
 ^' are of Caesar's household '' (Philippians iv. 22). 
 Having completed his first term of imprisonment 
 St. Paul is represented as bringing the message of 
 salvation to Spain. St. Clement I., who was then Pope, 
 states (1 Corinthians v.), that St. Paul penetrated 
 to the confines of the West, which is supposed to 
 
244 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 be Spain, especially as in a mutilated document of 
 undisputed authority, and given by Muratori in his 
 Italian Antiquities of the Middle Ages, p. 854, 
 mention is made of St. Paul's expedition to Spain. 
 The Apostle, however, is soon again in Greece 
 strengthening the missions there. At Corinth he 
 met St. Peter, when the news of !N'ero's edict 
 against the Christians of Eome reached them, 
 and they resolved to go there at once to encourage 
 their afflicted people. At Eome St. Paul went 
 fearlessly to the post of danger, and by his active 
 attendance on the Christian martyrs drew upon 
 himself the attention of the persecutors. He was 
 sent to prison, and soon afterwards suffered martyr- 
 dom, in A>D. 67 or 68. / 
 
 Epistle to the Eomans: — In Eome, as else- 
 where, the Jewish converts were boasting of having 
 deserved the grace of vocation to the true faith and 
 justification. In this they despised their Gentile 
 brethren, who angrily retorted by pointing to the 
 base ingratitude to God of which the Jews had 
 been guilty, while their own fault was compara- 
 tively a light one, because they sinned in ignorance. 
 After this fashion, severe reproaches were freely 
 exchanged, both sides assuming that they had a 
 right to claim the blessing of being in the true 
 Church as merited. It was to explode this false 
 doctrine, as well as to remove the new danger, 
 arising from it to the peace and growth of the infant 
 
THE EPISTLES OF ST PAUL. 245 
 
 Church, that in a.d. 58, St. Paul indited to the 
 faithful of Eome this, the most doctrinal of his 
 Epistles, and the foremost among the Pauline 
 Epistles. In it he explains how justification is a 
 gratuitous gift, given by God through the merits of 
 Jesus Christ. He shows that the Jews sinned griev- 
 ously against the law of Moses, and the Gentiles 
 against the law of nature, so that both required 
 a Eedeemer, by whom all are sanctified and brought 
 to eternal salvation without any previous merit of 
 their own. / 
 
 Paith, he says, is needed, not as a meritorious 
 cause, but a necessary disposition for the reception 
 of this grace of justification, which imposes upon 
 those to whom it is given the obligation of leading 
 lives, ''not according to the flesh, but according to 
 the spirit." Let them therefore, he adds, be 
 faithful to this solemn duty, and most certainly 
 companionship with Jesus in heaven will be their 
 inheritance, for they are ''the elect of God." Such 
 is the assurance given by the Apostle, and it is based 
 on the doctrine of election: — "Por whom he fore- 
 "knew he also predestinated to be made conformable 
 " to the image of his son, that he might be the first- 
 " born amongst many brethren. And whom he pre- 
 "destinated, them he also called. And whom he 
 "called, them he also justified. And whom he 
 ''justified, them he also glorified" (Eomansviii. 29., 
 30). God, who not only wishes all men to be saved, 
 
24Q THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 but supplies the means to this end, knows even our 
 future free acts depending on a condition: — ^'Wo 
 ^' to thee Corozain, wo to thee Bethsaida ; for if in 
 ^' Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles 
 *^' that have been wrought in you, they had long ago 
 ^'done penance in sackcloth and ashes" (Matthew 
 xi. 21). By this knowledge God is aware from all 
 eternity that a certain number who are making good 
 use of His aids to salvation will be infallibly saved if 
 He helps their fainting free wills with a special grace. 
 God decrees from all eternity to bestow upon them 
 this special grace, and thus He predestinates them to 
 eternal life. The giving of this special grace is 
 entirely independent of any claim on the part of the 
 elect, but their crown of glory in the end is regarded 
 by some Catholic theologians as a reward for good 
 and faithful servicCj and not at all gratuitous or 
 given without merit. It must be^also observed that 
 God does not give this special and gratuitous assist- 
 ance except to those whom He foresees performing 
 good works, that is making good use of the means 
 supplied to them gratuitously by Him to work out 
 their salvation. / 
 
 St. Paul pronounces the Jews as a body to be 
 excluded from this justification because of their per- 
 sistent and perverse rejection of the^ Gospel. At the 
 end of the world, however, when the measure of 
 the Gentile conversion shall be filled up, Israel will 
 believe and be saved : — *' For I would not have you 
 
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. 247 
 
 ^ ignorant, brethren, of this mystery (lest you should 
 ^^be wise in your own conceits) that blindness in 
 '^part has happened in Israel, until the fulness of 
 '^the Gentiles should come in'' (Eomans xi. 25). 
 
 This important exposition of faith was most 
 fittingly addressed to the converts at Eome, because 
 they belonged to the mighty centre from which all 
 the nations of the world were directed. Eome too, 
 possessed the premier Church of Christendom, since 
 it was founded by St. Peter himself (Irenseus against 
 Heresies, Book YII^ chapter 6), and had already 
 attained to a flourishing condition. 
 
 First Epistle to the Corinthians : — Among the 
 Epistles of St. Paul this to the Corinthians is placed 
 second in the !N'ew Testament, because in the 
 importance of the subject and the position of the 
 persons addressed, it is second only to the Epistle to 
 the Eomans. / 
 
 When St. Paul was at Ephesus about a.d. 57, 
 prosecuting his third Apostolic journey, he heard 
 that an eifort was being made by some among the 
 Corinthian converts to divide the seamless robe of 
 Christ by creating a dissentient element within the 
 Catholic body on the pretence of following favourite 
 preachers. Condemning this he wrote : — " The 
 '^ foolish things of the world hath God chosen that 
 '' He may confound the wise ; and the weak things 
 '^ of the world hath God chosen that He may con- 
 ^4ound the strong" (1 Corinthians i. 27). And in 
 
248 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 order to show the magnitude of this evil he ex- 
 plains the doctrine of the unity of the Church 
 by the familiar illustration of the consummate har- 
 mony existing between the members of the human 
 body. The antidote he offers against this tendency 
 towards division is charity, which he eulogises in 
 brilliant laoguage. 
 
 Turning then to the luxurious habits of these 
 Corinthians the Apostle pronounces the sentence of 
 excommunication on one who was living publicly 
 in incest. Warning them against the sin of the 
 flesh he tells them to put on the snow-white robes of 
 purity, and urges this in a train of reasoning that 
 is very beautiful : — " Know you not that your 
 bodies are the members of Christ . . . " (1 Corin- 
 thians vi. 15-20). This brought St. Paul to discuss 
 the relative merits of virginity and matrimony in 
 answer to a request forwarded to him by this people. 
 He extols the excellence of marriage, but declares 
 it to be inferior to the state of virginity (1 Corin- 
 thians vii. 1-9)./ 
 
 Lastly, to spur the Corinthians to their duty 
 in these particulars, the Apostles sets forth the 
 cheering doctrine of the resurrection of the body : — 
 "Behold I tell you a mystery. We shall all indeed 
 " rise again ; but we shall not all be changed. . . . 
 "And when this mortal hath put on immortality, 
 " then shall come to pass the saying that is written : 
 ^^ Death is stvallowed up in victor y, death^ tvhere 
 
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. 249 
 
 ^Hs thy victory? death, where is thy sting V 
 (1 Corintliians xv. 51-55). / 
 
 Second Epistle to the Corinthians: — Towards 
 the end of this same year a.d. 57, St. Paul sent 
 Titus to Corinth, in order to ascertain on the spot 
 the effect produced by the first Epistle to the Corin- 
 thians, and thence to come on direct to Troas. 
 Titus announced that the first Epistle to the Corin- 
 thians wrought a most marked change for the 
 better on that people. This he said, was the more 
 consoling, because certain jealous intruders did all 
 they could to poison the minds of the Corinthian 
 converts generally against the Epistle. To ex- 
 pose their fraud and malice the Second Epistle 
 to the Corinthians was written, which opens with 
 sentiments of the tenderest charity towards this 
 erring people : — '' For out of much affliction and 
 ^^ anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many 
 *^ tears; not that you should be made sorrowful, 
 '^but that you might know the charity I have 
 ^'more abundantly towards you" (2nd Epist. to the 
 Corinthians ii. 4). The writer goes on to tell them 
 that he adopted a severe tone in his first Epistle 
 that a bitter draught might work a cure, and the 
 result was as he anticipated (2 Corinthians vii. 8, 9). / 
 
 To his labours he now turns (2 Corinthians xi. 
 24-31) in no spirit of vain boasting, but to defend 
 the honour of Jesus Christ whose Apostle he thus 
 fearlessly asserted himself to be. The false teachers, 
 
250 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 who had been calumniating him, he denounced with 
 terrible severity: — ^^For such false Apostles are 
 '' deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into 
 ^^the Apostles of Christ. And no wonder; for 
 ^' Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel 
 ^^of light" (2 Corinthians xi. 13, 14). And he 
 concludes by expressing a strong hope of seeing 
 them very soon, but in the meantime : — '^ I 
 ''write these things, being absent, that, being pre- 
 '' sent, I may not deal more severely, according to 
 ''the power which the Lord hath given me unto 
 " edification, and not unto destruction. For the rest, 
 " brethren, rejoice, be perfect, take exhortation, be 
 " of one mind, have peace ; and the God of peace 
 "and of love shall be with yau . . . The grace of 
 " our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of God, 
 " and the communication of the Holy Ghost be with 
 " you all. Amen" (2 Corinthians xiii. 10-13). / 
 
 Epistle to the Galatians : — The most prominent 
 figure in the religion's traditions of the Ephesians 
 was the goddess, Diana. The story was that 
 Jupiter with his own hands made a colossal statue 
 of this his favourite daughter, and dropped it from 
 heaven into Ephesus, which he had chosen to be 
 the city specially devoted to her worship. The 
 Ephesians in their gratitude built a temple, worthy 
 of their sacred trust, and thither pilgrims flocked, 
 while every one of this immense pagan throng 
 procured a small silver model of the miraculous 
 
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. 251 
 
 statue of the goddess, so that there was a brisk sale 
 for these articles. It is not hard, therefore, to 
 realize the keen sense of wrong that seized this 
 people against St. Paul, when they began to per- 
 ceive that his preaching there was fast reducing 
 their profits. Their resentment knew no bounds, 
 and Demetrius, a leader amongst them, by his 
 inflammatory harangues succeeded in' lashing the 
 Ephesians into great fury against the Apostle. 
 Men ran about wildly, mingling threats of death to 
 him, with the fierce shouts of : — '' Great is Diana of 
 the Ephesians." It was when this imminent danger 
 to his life had passed that St. Paul heard at 
 Ephesus that an organized attempt was being made 
 in Galatia to- rob the people of their faith by 
 inducing them to embrace the errors of Judaism. 
 The authors of this were designing Jews from 
 Palestine, who tried to persuade the simple-minded 
 Galatians that St. Paul, from whom they had just 
 received the Gospel, was no divinely-appointed 
 Apostle, but an impostor who quarrelled with St. 
 Peter on the question of circumcision. St. Paul 
 immediately wrote to the Galatians the most inci- 
 sive of his Epistles. After vindicating his Apostle- 
 ship he tells them that even to have listened to 
 the false statements of his relentless enemies was 
 evidence of their inconstancy. He censures this 
 weakness with much emphasis, and to fortify them 
 against it in future he lays down that salvation can 
 
252 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 be obtained not by the precepts of the ceremonial law 
 of the Jews, but by faith in Christ. This is the true 
 faith which he taught them, and he declares : — 
 " Though we or an angel from heaven, preach a 
 " Gospel to you besides that which we have preached 
 ^'to you, let him be anathema" (Galatians i. 8). 
 Upon the truths of this saving faith there is no dif- 
 ference, he says, between himself and the other 
 Apostles, and, touching his remonstrance to St. 
 Peter at Antioch, he gives a true account of that 
 incident. In conclusion, he points out how Christ 
 had emancipated them from the servitude of the 
 Mosaic law, and he exhorts them therefore, ^'to 
 " stand fast, and be not held again under the yoke 
 " of bondage . . . for in Christ Jesus neither circum- 
 '' cision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision ; but 
 "faith that worketh by charity" (Galatians v. 1-6)./ 
 
 Epistle to the Ephesians : — It was during St. 
 Paul's first imprisonment at Eome (a.d. 62), that 
 Epaphras, Bishop of Colossa, came to comfort the 
 Apostle in his chains. The holy prelate in the 
 course of his visit mentioned that some designing 
 Jews contrived to insinuate themselves among his 
 flock, and attempted to weaken theii' faith by repre- 
 senting that it was necessary to observe the Mosaic 
 ordinances, and that the great mystery of the Ee- 
 demption had been effected not by Christ but by 
 angels. St. Paul suspected that the false teachers, who 
 had done so much harm in Colossa, were sure to make 
 
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. 253 
 
 their way to Ephesus, and he immediately set about 
 his Epistle to the Ephesians, to secure the faith of 
 that large and important Church from this threatened 
 invasion. The beginning or doctrinal part of his 
 letter is devoted chiefly to Eedemption, justification, 
 predestination, and in the end or moral part, the 
 Apostle dwells on the unity, charity, obedience, 
 humility, and other virtues demanded by the profes- 
 sion of the Christian faith. His exposition of the 
 unity of the Church (iv. 11-17), and of the sanctity 
 as well as mystical signification of marriage (v. 22, 
 23), is given with great force. / 
 
 Epistle to the Fhilipeians :■. — It was probably 
 in some part of a.d. 63, that St. Paul at Eome 
 was gladdened by the gateful action of the Philip- 
 pians, who were the best fruits of his mission in 
 Macedonia. They sent their devoted Bishop, Epa- 
 phroditus, to tell him, how deeply they felt for his 
 sufferings. In delivering this welcome message, 
 Epaphroditus, accompanied it with a good report of 
 the faithful of his diocese. There was, however, a 
 spirit of dissension beginning to show itself, due 
 partly to pride, and partly to the unbelieving 
 Jewish emissaries, who were trying to tamper with 
 their faith. To stop this mischief, and to recall 
 this earnest people to their fervour, St. Paul wrote 
 his Epistle to them. It contains a tender acknow- 
 ledgment of their loving sympathy, and an expres- 
 sion of his sincere hope that he may soon be free to 
 
254 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 come and thank them in person. He congratulates 
 them on what he heard, from their beloved Bishop, 
 of their edifying obedience to the duties of religion, 
 and prays fervently that they may persevere in 
 this holy course, so as to reach that state of per- 
 fection, which he briefly sketches. They must 
 remember always, he adds, that salvation is not 
 from the law of Moses, but from faith in Christ 
 Jesus, and therefore, to encourage in any way 
 the advances of those false teachers, who were 
 going about amongst them, would render them 
 grievously at fault. They must fight the good 
 fight after his own example, and their reward will 
 be eternal. / 
 
 Epistle to the Colossians : — The false doctrines 
 against which the Epistle to the Ephesians was 
 directed, were being actively propagated by Jewish 
 emissaries among the faithful of Colossa. The news 
 saddened the heart of St. Paul, who was a prisoner 
 in Eome at the time, and in his anxious solici- 
 tude he wrote his Epistle to the Colossians. In it 
 he goes over the same ground as that covered by 
 the Epistle to the Ephesians, namely, the necessity 
 of faith in Christ Jesus : — '^ In whom we have 
 ^^ redemption through His blood, the remission of 
 *^sins" (Colossians i. 14), and he seals this with 
 the following admonition : — '' Beware lest any man 
 " cheat you by philosophy, and vain deceit, accord- 
 *^ ing to the tradition of men, according to the 
 
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. 255 
 
 '' elements of the world, and not according to 
 "Christ" (Colossians ii. 8)./ 
 
 First Epistle to the Thessalonians : — Thessa- 
 lonica, which St. Paul evangelized in the course of 
 his second Apostolic mission, was most devoted to 
 his teaching. Its first pastor was St. Timothy, who 
 visited Corinth to see St. Paul there about a.d. 53 
 or 54, and assured him that the Thessalonians 
 dearly cherished his memory, and wished to see 
 him once more among them. The first Epistle to 
 the Thessalonians is an acknowledgment of their 
 tender message, and in point of time is the first of 
 the Pauline Epistles. In it St. Paul, after offering 
 his warmest congratulations to this fervent people 
 on their unswerving fidelity to the faith in such 
 troubled times, reciprocates the kind assurances con- 
 veyed to him by their good bishop. He promises 
 to take an early opportunity of coming to Thessa- 
 lonica, but in the meantime earnestly exhorts them 
 to persevere in the exercise of charity towards one 
 another. He concludes by instructing them as to 
 the resurrection of the dead and the time of the judg- 
 ment, about which they were unduly agitated. They 
 ought to remember, he says, that the loving ones, 
 whose death they mourn with an excessive grief, 
 seeing that they departed in peace with God will 
 rise again in a more glorious state to dwell for ever 
 in heaven (Thessalonians iv. 12-17). Then, as to 
 the " day of the Lord," it is idle, he says, to specu- 
 
256 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 late, for the only thing certain is that it will come 
 ^^ as a thief in the night." But they must not lose 
 heart at this provided they make their lives in 
 harmony with the precepts and counsels he gives 
 them. / 
 
 The Second Epistle to the Thessaloxians : — 
 The faithful of Thessalonica were deeply touched by 
 the tender solicitude which the Apostle evinced 
 towards them in this letter, when their minds were 
 again unsettled by a document, circulated under the 
 name of St. Paul, announcing in language full of 
 panic that the end of the world was imminent. 
 This was the work of an impostor, and when the 
 apostle knew of its existence he effectually exposed 
 the base deceit in his second Epistle to the Thessa- 
 lonians. He was grieved he said, at the wicked 
 imposition practised upon, them, and without losing 
 a moment he wished to re-assure them by letter 
 that their fears about the last day being near at 
 hand were groundless. It would not come unex- 
 pectedly, but be duly heralded by certain events 
 preceded by ^^the man of sin" (2 Thessalonians 
 ii. 3). Instead of permitting themselves, therefore, 
 to be affrighted by phantoms they must endeavour 
 to be earnest in the performance of their duties. 
 Then follows an eloquent exhortation to avoid asso- 
 ciating with sinners, and to ^^hold the traditions 
 ^' which you have learned, whether by word, or by 
 *' our Epistle " (2 Thessalonians ii. 14). v 
 
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. 257 
 
 The Two Epistles to Timothy, and One to 
 Titus : — The conflagration, kindled by the silver- 
 smiths in Ephesus, though quenched in the flame 
 still lived in the embers. • Under these circum- 
 stances St. Paul thought it wise for the present to 
 withdraw to Macedonia and appoint St. Timothy 
 Bishop of Ephesus. This holy disciple, though 
 unwilling to accept the burthen of the episcopal 
 office, obeyed the command of his superior without 
 a murmur, as Titus did shortly before when pro- 
 moted to the see of Crete. St. Paul loved these 
 two young bishops with a strong affection, and now 
 that he saw them weighed down with the heavy 
 responsibilities which his hands had imposed upon 
 them, he resolved to strengthen and console them by 
 reasonable encouragement and advice. This he did 
 by Epistles respectively addressed to these two pre- 
 lates, one to St. Timothy, being written from Mace- 
 donia, and a second afterwards from behind his prison 
 bars at Eome. These Epistles, especially the one to 
 Titus and the first to Timothy were evidently written 
 hastily, for they have not that finish and idiomatic 
 ease that marked other writings of the Apostle. 
 They are truly the earnest expression of a heart 
 burning with a tender love, and are known as his 
 pastoral letters, because in them he holds up the 
 mirror to the good and faithful pastor, as St. Agus- 
 tine remarks in Book iv., ch. xvi. of his work on 
 Christian Doctrine : — ^^ The man engaged in the work 
 
258 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 " of saving souls ought to meditate on these Epistles 
 ^' day and night." The apostle assures Saints Timo- 
 thy and Titus that the burden of the episcopal 
 office will have no terrors for them, provided they 
 attend, above all, to their own holiness of life. 
 Without a solid substratum of personal sanctity, 
 abilities of the highest order can effect but little 
 towards the saving of souls. A pastor may be 
 gifted with remarkable natural endowments, he 
 may be an erudite theologian, deeply versed in 
 ecclesiastical and secular learning, and may have 
 devoted a vast amount of time to various works of 
 the ministry, but all this will not suffice unless the 
 Lord give the increase, and most assuredly God 
 will not bless the work of any one unless he is per- 
 fect in the spirit of holiness. So too a pastor may be 
 filled with zeal in hearing confessions, preaching, 
 cathechizing, visiting schools, building churches, 
 attending to the sick. He may be most devoted to 
 all these admirable duties, and neglect the work of 
 his own personal sanctification. But how is this to be 
 attained ? Chiefly by mental and vocal prayer : — 
 ^^ Meditate," St. Paul writes to Timothy, "upon 
 " these things, be wholly in these things : that thy 
 "profiting may be manifest to all" (1 Timothy iv. 15), 
 and in another place : — "I will, therefore, that men 
 "pray in every place, lifting up pure hands without 
 "anger and contention" (1 Timothy ii. 8)./ 
 
 Another powerful means for quickening this spirit 
 
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. 259 
 
 of holiness is a persistent and untiring application to 
 «tudy. !N'ot only has it a refining influence on the 
 individual, but it draws away the mind from things 
 which will harm it to objects of a rational nature. It 
 creates in most persons a disgust and abhorrence tow- 
 ards excesses, which otherwise would drag men under 
 their influence. And what is peculiarly beneflcial to 
 a minister of God, reading generates in him a hatred 
 for the miserable tone of conversation which obtains 
 in the world, and no man can feel the want of society, 
 who has a fondness for good books. St. Timothy 
 is, therefore, exhorted to: ^'Attend unto reading, 
 '^^ to exhortation, and to doctrine " (1 Timothy ix. 13), 
 and even the particular kind of study is suggested : 
 ^' And because from thy infancy thou hast known 
 *' the Holy Scriptures, which can instruct thee to 
 ^' salvation, by the faith which is in Christ Jesus. 
 '^'AU Scripture, inspired by God, is profitable to 
 '^^ teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct injustice, 
 ^' That the man of God may be perfect, furnished to 
 '^' every good work " (1 Timothy iii. 15-17). / 
 
 But the good pastor must be active also, ever 
 labouring: — "Labour as a good soldier of Christ 
 "Jesus" (2 Timothy ii. 3), and again: — "I charge 
 " thee before God and Jesus Christ . . . preach the 
 ^' word, be instant in season, out of season ; reprove, 
 ^^ entreat, rebuke, in all patience and doctrine" 
 (2 Timothy iv. 1, 2). There is also a special admoni- 
 tion against avarice : — " But godliness with content- 
 
260 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 " ment is great gain. For we brought nothiiig into 
 " tliis world, and certainly we can carry nothing out. 
 ^'But having food and wherewith to be covered, 
 *^with these we are content" (1 Timothy vi. 6-8). 
 The Epistle to Titus is written on the same lines as 
 the two Epistles to Timothy. 
 
 Epistle to Philemon : — St. Paul in his Epistle 
 to the Colossians mentions that he forwarded it by 
 Tychicus : — '^ Our dearest brother and faithful 
 "minister, and fellow servant in the Lord . . . 
 " whom I have sent to you for this same purpose, 
 "that he may know the things that concern you 
 "and comfort your hearts" (Colossians iv. 8). 
 Under protection of Tychicus St. Paul also sent 
 Onesimus, just converted by him in Eome. This 
 was a poor slave who ran away from his master, 
 Philemon, a respectable citizen of Colossce, to whom 
 he is now restored by the Apostle with a tender 
 appeal in his Epistle to Fliilemon^ to receive back 
 Onesimus into his service and treat him kindly : — 
 "Not now as a servant, but instead of a servant, a 
 "most dear brother."/ 
 
 Epistle to the Hebrews: — This Epistle was 
 written by St. Paul in his prison cell at Eome 
 shortly before his martp^dom in a.d. 67 or 68. The 
 Hebrews to whom it was addressed, though they had 
 embraced the Christian faith, were stubbornly in- 
 sisting upon the doctrine that any convert to Chris- 
 tianity, in order to be saved, must enter the Church 
 
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. 261 
 
 through, the door of the Mosaic ceremonies. This 
 contention was false, and calculated to deter num- 
 bers of Gentiles from becoming Christians, so that 
 St. Paul deemed it necessary to set them right. At 
 the same time to make the faith of these Jewish 
 converts strong in the face of sore and pressing trials, 
 he places before them in striking contrast the infi- 
 nite superiority of the Christian over the Mosaic 
 dispensation. The Jewish religion, he points out, 
 was promulgated by Moses, its high priest was 
 mortal and ]Deccable, its sacrifices were mere figures 
 and ineffectual to cancel sin, but Jesus is not only 
 the author of the Gospel ; He is the victim of its 
 sacrifice, and His blood washeth away the sins of the 
 world. / 
 
 In the last chapter he asks them to " Pray for us. 
 ^^For we trust wo have a good conscience, being 
 ''willing to behave ourselves well in all things. 
 '' And I beseech you the more to do this that I may 
 ^'be restored to you the sooner " (Hebrews xiii. 18, 
 19). The hope of release so fondly expressed here 
 was never realised, for the Apostle soon after 
 received his martyr's crown. / 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 THE SEVEN CATHOLIC EPISTLES. 
 
 St. James, the Less — His Epistle— St. Peter — His first and second: 
 Epistles— First, second, and third Epistles of St. John— Epistle of 
 St. Jude. 
 
 The name Catholic Epistles was adopted in the- 
 Churcli from the time of Eusebius, the historian, 
 to indicate those New Testament books, which 
 were, with the exception of the second and third 
 Epistles of St. John, addressed to the faithful 
 throughout the world. 
 
 The Epistle op St. James the Apostle : — 
 According to St. Augustine this epistle was an 
 answer to false conclusions, drawn from the epistle 
 to the Romans (iii. 28), and the epistle to the 
 Galatians (iii. 8-11). ISTow, the date of these 
 Scriptures was a.d. 58, and St. James the Greater, 
 suffered martyrdom in a.d. 54, so that the wi'iter of 
 this Epistle must be St. James, sometimes called 
 "the brother of the Lord" (Galatians i. 19). It 
 was common among the Jews to speak of near 
 blood-relations as brothers : — " Is not this the car- 
 "penter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and 
 
THE SEVEN CATHOLIC EPISTLES. 263 
 
 " his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and 
 '' Jude " (Mathew xiii. 55). / 
 
 St. James, '^the brother of the Lord," was sur- 
 named the Less^ to distinguish him from St. James, 
 the Greater. !N'ot only does St. Paul in his Epistle 
 to the Galatians (ii. 9), speak of him as one of the 
 Apostles '^who seemed to be pillars;" but his emi- 
 nent sanctity gained for him the title of the Just. 
 The popular voice nominated him the first Bishop 
 of Jerusalem, and the other Apostles ratified the 
 people's choice, especially as it was believed that 
 Jesus had designated St. James for this position. The 
 cares of the high office only served to quicken his 
 zeal, and converts were won from Judaism in such 
 numbers, that Annas, the High Priest, determined 
 to put him to death. This Annas Avas son of the 
 High Priest of the same name, who condemned 
 Jesus, and the Eoman Governor being dead, before 
 a new one could be appointed, he, as High Priest, 
 had the Apostle brought before him and sentenced 
 him to be stoned to death. He was led out to the 
 battlements of the Temple, when, stepping for- 
 ward, he Avas in the act of making a profession of 
 faith, when the executioners hurled him from one 
 of the lofty pinnacles to the pavement below. Still 
 breathing, St. James raised himself up into a 
 kneeling posture, and while praying aloud for his 
 murderers, one of them, rushing upon him, crushed 
 his skull with a clubbed staff. / 
 
264 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 St. Paul in his Epistle to the Eomans (iii. 28) 
 says : — '^ For we account a man to be justified by 
 ''faith without the works of the law;" and in his 
 Epistle to the Galatians (iii. 2), ''But that in the 
 " law no man is justified with God it is manifest : 
 "because the just man liveth by faith." The 
 Apostle is here combatting the erroneous doctrine, 
 that the observance of the outward ceremonies en- 
 joined by the Old Law is necessary for one to be 
 accounted righteous in the sight of God. He 
 meets this assumption by an emphatic statement 
 to the effect that faith alone in Jesus Christ 
 justifies, because through it our works are ren- 
 dered meritorious of eternal life. This declaration 
 of St. Paul to the Eomans and Galatians was, how- 
 ever, distorted by the Jewish converts into an argu- 
 ment that it was sufficient in order to be accounted 
 just before God in the Church of Christ, to have ab- 
 stract faith in the Saviour without performing works 
 of any kind. St. James in his Epistle shows this was 
 a false meaning to attach to these words of the great 
 Apostle of the Gentiles, for abstract faith is dead, 
 whereas the true Christian faith is living, being ani- 
 mated by good works: — "Do you see that by works 
 "a man is justified, and not by faith only" (James 
 ii. 24). St. James contended against one dangerous 
 doctrine of the converted Jews, and St. Paul against 
 another, while both advocated the necessity of good 
 works. St. Paul insisted that the works of the 
 
THE SEVEN CATHOLIC EPISTLES. 265 
 
 Mosaic dispensation are inefEectual towards justi- 
 fication, because faith in Jesus Clirist alone can 
 render our works meritorious of eternal life. St. 
 James in his Epistle teaches that the Christian faith 
 is essentially active, confirmed by good works, and 
 this is exactly the same doctrine as that enunciated 
 by St. Paul from a different standpoint, so that 
 there is no opposition between the teaching of the 
 two Apostles. / 
 
 The First and Second Epistles of St. Peter: — 
 When St. John the Baptist, on the banks of the 
 Jordan, made use in reference to our Blessed Lord 
 of these words : — "Behold the Lamb of God, be^ 
 " hold Him who taketh away the sin of the world" 
 {John i. 29), St. Andrew being present, was so 
 deeply impressed that he at once followed Jesus. 
 His brother, Simon, soon joined, and Christ greeted 
 him: — -''Thou art Simon the son of Jona, thou 
 " shalt be called Cephas, which is interpreted 
 "Peter" (John i. 42). The humble fisherman of 
 Galilee was thus favoured with a prophetic intima- 
 tion of the exalted position to which he was destined, 
 namely, to be head of the Church of Christ. / 
 
 The two brothers, though obliged to toil in the 
 Lake of Genesareth, in Upper Galilee, day after 
 day for their support, were now assiduous in their 
 attendance on Him, whom they regarded as the 
 Messias, when one morning Jesus stepping into 
 their boat told Simon and Andrew to row out into 
 
2Q6 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 the deep and lower their nets, for He knew they 
 had caught nothing during the night. To their 
 amazement the draught of fish taken was so large 
 that not being able to secure it, they signalled 
 for help to James and John, the sons of Zebedee, 
 who were engaged close by, and the two boats were 
 filled. This miracle was intended to convey to the 
 Apostles the success that would attend their mission 
 of saving souls. For when Simon, overwhelmed 
 with gratitude, fell upon his knees, his Divine 
 Master said to him, ^' Fear not : from henceforth 
 " thou shalt catch men " (Luke v. 10), and at the 
 same moment, not only Simon and his brother 
 Andrew, but James and John, the sons of Zebedee, 
 were called to the Apostolate. The incident is also 
 related by St. Matthew (iv. 18-22), and by St. 
 Mark (i. 16-20) ; but it is St. Luke who gives most 
 particulars, adding: — "And having brought their 
 " ships to land, leaving all things, they followed 
 "Him" (St. Luke v. 11). Again at Cesarea 
 Philippi Jesus asked the Apostles, '' "Whom do you 
 "say that I am?" (Matthew xvi. 15). St. Peter 
 answered, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living 
 " God " (Matthew xvi. 16), and he was rewarded 
 with the primacy (Matthew xvi. 18, 19), that is the 
 supreme power of governing the whole flock — 
 pastors and people (John xxi. 16, 17). \ 
 
 Our Lord's three years of active ministry had 
 now drawn to a close, when He went up to 
 
THE SEVEN CATHOLIC EPISTLES. 26T 
 
 Jerusalem to celebrate the Pasch in the Temple^ 
 While there, sitting one evening in the midst of' 
 His Apostles, He made them sorrowful by an- 
 nouncing the beginning of His Passion for that 
 very night, when His o^vn trusted disciples would 
 turn their backs upon Him. St. Peter, carried 
 away by his feelings and leaning solely upon him- 
 self, made this protestation, '' Although all shall be 
 " scandalized in Thee, yet not I " (Mark xiv. 
 29). Jesus to teach even one, who was to 
 be the head of His Church, the forcible but 
 wholesome lesson of not relying solely on his 
 own powers, spoke to him thus : — '' Amen I say 
 *'to thee, to-day even in this night, before the cock 
 ^^ crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice" (Mark 
 xiv. 30), and it happened accordingly. St. Peter, 
 in the full fervour of his resolution, drew his 
 sword that night on the soldiers in the Garden of 
 Gethsemani, and followed his Divine Master even 
 into the house of the High Priest. But while there 
 the servants pointed to him as having connection 
 with one who was charged with being an impostor 
 and blasphemer, and he protested : — "I know not 
 this man of whom you speak" (Mark xiv. 71). St. 
 Peter bewailed this denial ever after, *' not from 
 fear of punishment," as St. Chrysostom observes, 
 ^^but because he denied Him whom he loved" 
 (Homily v. on the Epistle to the Eomans). / 
 
 As soon as the Apostles were filled Avith the: 
 
268 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost St. Peter ap- 
 peared in Jerusalem before an immense multitude, 
 who were celebrating the Jewish Feast, and pro- 
 pounded the truths of the Gospel in language so 
 forcible, that 3,000 begged to be baptized. On a 
 subsequent occasion with St. John he went up to 
 the Temple '^ at the ninth hour of prayer," and 
 by his preaching made such a deep impression that 
 6,000 were received into the Church. This success, 
 as well as the active zeal of these Apostles so 
 stirred up the envy and alarm of the Synagogue, 
 that they were arrested by the Sanhedrim, on 
 the charge of sedition, and sent to jail : '' But 
 ^' an angel of the Lord by night opening the doors 
 ^' of the prison, and leading them out said : Go, and 
 '^ standing speak in the Temple to the people all the 
 '' words of this life " (Acts v. 19, 20). Early next 
 morning the guard was startled to find the heavy 
 doors rolled back, and the two prisoners in the 
 Temple, teaching the truths of salvation. When 
 asked why they did so in defiance of the law, they 
 answered : '' We ought to obey God rather than 
 '' men " (Acts v. 29). / 
 
 At Joppa, St. Peter had a vision, announcing the 
 Divine will for the admission of the Gentiles into 
 the Church, and immediately he began his new 
 mission by baptizing Cornelius, the centurion, in 
 command of the Eoman garrison at Ccsarca. From 
 this he went to Antioch, and thence, after seven 
 
THE SEVEN CATHOLIC EPISTLES. 269 
 
 years to Eome, which he governed as bishop for 
 twenty-five years, and there shed his blood for the 
 faith in a.d. 67 or 68, being crucified head doAvn- 
 wards on the Janiculum. / 
 
 The Fiest Epistle of St. Peter: — It was in 
 Eome, during the persecution of Nero about a.d. Q5, 
 that St. Peter wrote his first Epistle to the 
 " Strangers dispersed through Pontas, Galatia^ 
 " Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia." In it he encourages 
 the converts to brave the severe ordeal through 
 which they were passing, by holding out to them 
 the reward that awaits good and faithful followers 
 of Christ. Some critics think its style is not that 
 of St. Peter ; but this is explained by tradition, 
 which represents St. Peter as having supplied the 
 matter to '^ Sylvanus, a faithful brother unto you, 
 "as I think, I have written briefly" (1st Epistle 
 of St. Peter v. 12). / 
 
 The Epistle is dated from Babylon, not the capital 
 of Chaldea, which became a by-word among the 
 nations for profligacy, and was destroyed by the 
 Emperor Caligula, before a.d. 41. The Babylon of 
 St. Peter's first Epistle is Eome, because in it he 
 addressed the Jewish Christians chiefly, and by 
 them Eo77ie was commonly referred to as Babylon, 
 Like the prosperous but corrupt capital on the 
 Euphrates, Eome was not more notorious for opulence 
 than for the luxury and licentiousness of her inha- 
 bitants. Thus it happened that the great city on 
 
270 THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS. 
 
 the Tiber is often mentioned as Babylon by St. John 
 in the Apocalypse (xvi. 19 ; xvii. 5 ; xviii. 2, etc.); 
 and now that the Jews were groaning under the 
 Eoman yoke, they had a special reason for regard- 
 ing Eome to be to them what Eabylon was to their 
 fathers in the days of JSTabuchodonosor, the scene of 
 their exile. For these reasons, and also as St. 
 Jerome remarks, to conceal his whereabouts from 
 Nero's myrmidons, St. Peter dated his first Epistle 
 from Eabylon. / 
 
 In the Second Epistle of St. Feter (i. 14) these 
 words occur : — " Eeing assured that the laying 
 "away of this my tabernacle is at hand." It must 
 have been therefore written not many days before 
 his martp'dom. Hence it is regarded a last exhorta- 
 tion to his sorrowing children in the Church to 
 cherish the inestimable gift of faith, in order to be 
 prepared for the terrible judgment to come : — "Eut 
 " the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in which 
 " the heavens shall pass away with great violence, 
 "and the elements shall be melted with heat, and 
 "the earth and the works that are in it shall be 
 "burnt up " (2nd Epistle of St. Peter iii. 10). / 
 
 First, Second, and Third Epistles of St. 
 John : — St. John the Evangelist is the writer of 
 three of the Catholic Epistles, and in them he 
 earnestly implores the faithful to make their lives 
 worthy of Jesus Christ, whose Divinity and 
 Incarnation he had just set forth in his Gospel. 
 
THE SEVEN CATHOLIC EPISTLES. 271 
 
 These doctrines he repeats in his Epistles^ with all 
 the weight of his authority, in order that faith 
 in our Blessed Lord may bear good and abundant 
 fruit. The second of these Epistles, though in- 
 tended for the whole Church, was addressed to a 
 pious lady, and the third was forwarded to his 
 '' dearly beloved Gains," a convert of high standing, 
 who opened his purse freely to relieve the distress 
 of his poorer brethren./ 
 
 That St. John is the writer of these Epistles 
 there can be no doubt from their phraseology, 
 which is the same as that of the fourth Gospel. 
 Moreover there is the statement : — "- That which 
 '^ was from the beginning, which we have heard, 
 ^' which we have seen with our eyes, which we 
 '^ have looked upon, and our hands have handled of 
 ^Hhe word of life" (1st Epistle of St. John i. 1), 
 and this exactly corresponds with the character of 
 St. John the Evangelist. 
 
 The Epistle of St. Jude : — The writer of the 
 last of the seven Catholic Epistles is St. Jude, or 
 Thaddeus, for it begins thus : — '^ Jude, the servant 
 of Jesus Christ, and brother of James." Like St. 
 Peter's second Epistle, it warns the faithful against 
 the errors of certain heretics, who were every day 
 becoming more aggressive. It also inculcates the 
 necessity of good works, a doctrine which was 
 denied by the false teachers, against whom St. Jude 
 was contending. / ^^/. 
 
FEINTED BY SEALY, BRYEKS AND WALKEE, MIDDLE ABBEY STEEET, DUBLIN 
 
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