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Show Why the Bible Exists. THE CHRISTIAN world ought to rejoice re-joice at the action of Pope Leo XIII in appointing a commission for the thorough study and explanation explana-tion of the Bible and of everything appertaining to it, In order to rescue it from the impious hands of the so-called so-called "higher criticism" which are now engaged in tearing it to pieces. The appointment of such:a commission will serve to remove any impression still lingering in the minds of. some that the Catholic church has been or is inimical to the sacred scriptures; and, at the same time, to call attention anew of the world to certain fa its connected con-nected with her and them. In the first place, it is not generally known that the Catholic church' could, absolutely speaking, do . without the scriptures. As a matter of fact, she did exist and teach Christianity in all its fullness and purity foj yt.ars before be-fore a line of the New Testament was written. And, when it was written, it was under her supervision, by her own bishops and disciples, some of whom had heard the Christian truths from the lips of Christ himself. The Catholic church is, therefore, anterior to the Christian scriptures, and had from the beginning, and still has her existence, her plenitude of power and authority, independent of them. She received her existence, power and authority, au-thority, not from the Bible for she possessed them long before its appearance ap-pearance but from Jesus Christ himself. him-self. The church, then, exists, not because of the Bible, but the Bibie exists because be-cause of the church. The church could, because she did, exist without the Bible, Bi-ble, but the Bible could not exist, or, at least, could not be of any practical use without the church, as the witness the only witness of its origin and inspiration, in-spiration, and the only authority and power necessary for its' preservation and interpretation. The Catholic church is the only witness wit-ness living today that lived at the birth of the Christian Bible. She alone can truthfully tell us, now, all about that sacred volume. She alone can vouch, and has vouched, from the beginning, be-ginning, for its inspiration, "he inspiration in-spiration of the Bible is a hidden, invisible in-visible fact. No one ever claimed that he or she saw or heard the Holy Ghost dictate to those men who wrote it. Tt is not, therefore', a fact that can be attested by human testimony. How, then, know of its inspiration? A book no more than man is inspired because it says so. The only authority and witness there is for that all important im-portant fact is the Catholic church. As each writer finished his gospel, or epistle, he submitted it to the authority of the church, which carefully examined exam-ined and compared it with what it had heard - from the lips of Jesus Christ himself, and having found that it was in accord with his teaching, it declared it to be inspired, and taught that it should be henceforth received as sucft by all Christians. All Christians knew that this teaching was simply the teaching of Christ by virtue of his words to his church: "He who heareth you heareth me." This is how the Christian world received a rational proof of the inspiration of the Bible. The commission to be appointed is an act of condescension to the weakness weak-ness and , blindness of men "who have eyes and see not." It is not, strictly speaking, necessary for the church or Catholics, for the church has already j defined and declared the inspiration of I the Bible as an article of faith, and all Catholics to be in communion must accept and believe this decision. The commission, however, will serve to bring out more fully and clearly the I reason for such a decision, and for the faith that is in us. The scope of the commission is very broad and liberal. The great pontiff gives its members carte blanche to avail themselves of the modern researches re-searches and discoveries of secular science, sci-ence, and to embrace truth, light and facts wherever they may be found. Of course, there is one barrier set to their investigations, and that is they must not tamper with any defined doctrine of the church, any article of Catholic faith. These, because already infallibly infalli-bly declared to be revealed truths, are forever closed to all discussion and investigation. in-vestigation. The Catholic church is thoroughly consistent. Whatever she once "officially teaches as truth she always al-ways teaches,' and' all the powers on earth cannot make her take it back. She may, as she has during her long life, -call a council for the examination, examina-tion, discussion and definition of new-questions; new-questions; but for the revision of her creed, never. |
