The need of a new revision has been recognized, and an effort to supply the want was made by the late Archbishop Kenrick, whose translation was recommended by the Council of Baltimore in 1858, although it has not been generally adopted. However, the changes to be made in the translation of the Catholic Bible in English cannot be very numerous nor affecting doctrines defined by the Church; nor is any accidental change of words or expressions so vital a matter to the Catholic mind as it must be with those who have but the Bible as their one primary rule of faith. So far Protestant revisions have done Catholics a service in removing by successive corrections one error after another from the "reformed" Bible, thus demonstrating the correctness of the old Vulgate; but they have also led Protestants to reflect seriously, and to realize that the "Bible only" principle is proved to be false and dangerous. They must see that the Scripture is powerless without the Church as the witness to its inspiration, the safeguard of its integrity, and the exponent of its meaning. [1] Cf. a paper on the subject of the New Revision in the _Dublin Review_, 1881, vol. VI., ser. iii. [2] These books have been mostly retained in the Protestant Bible under the name of _Apocryphal_, _i.e._, not inspired. The Church accepts and defines their inspiration, and in this is supported by the strong testimony of apostolic tradition. [3] "Pastoral Epistles," p. 13. [4] Vol. VI., ser. iii. [5] _Dublin Review_, _l.c._ XXI. THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH IN THE PRESENT STATE OF THE SCIENTIFIC CONTROVERSY REGARDING THE BIBLE. In one of the old churches of Wales you may see the Ten Commandments written upon the wall, and beneath them the following inscription, the meaning of which, it is said, had for a long time remained a mystery to the people: P R S V R Y P R F C T M N, V R K P T H S P R C P T S T N. Some one supplied the key to the interpretation by suggesting the letter E. Then everybody read the lines, and the old folks told their children, who inform the casual visitor that the strange letters plainly mean: _Persevere ye perfect men, ever keep these precepts ten_. The inscription in the old Welsh church is a good illustration of the old text of the Bible, which had no vowels, no division of words and sentences. God gave the key to its meaning through an intelligent interpreter, and the men of learning supply the divisions--even in this sense that they sometimes dispute the place where to insert and where to omit the E.