The Catholic World, Vol. 05, April 1867 to September 1867Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 05, April 1867 to September 1867
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
We concur in what Dr. Bacon has written on this point, so far as its
general scope is concerned. He establishes all we desire to maintain,
namely, that the truths of revelation are not given in the form of
systematized dogmatic teachings in the Scripture. Therefore it is that we
need to be imbued with the sense of the Scripture by traditional teaching,
and to be furnished with a dogmatic formula in which its doctrines are
clearly defined, in order to be able easily and certainly to perceive in
their sublimity and completeness the divine truths contained in it.
{118}
Hence, the Jews, for want of this, cannot see Christ in the Old Testament.
Unitarians cannot see the Trinity or Incarnation in the New Testament.
Catholics, Anglicans, Congregationalists, Calvinists, Armenians,
Rationalists, Friends, Campbellites, and many others, cannot agree as to
the combination principle which will unlock the whole meaning of the
Scripture. We do not attribute this to the Scriptures themselves, but to
the incapability of the individual mind or spirit to take the place of the
divinely appointed, infallible witness, teacher, and judge of
controversies, to whose keeping the sacred Scriptures have been committed.
When faith is fixed as regards the great universal dogmas, and the canon
authoritatively settled, a perfect universe is opened to the student of the
Holy Scriptures, where he may prosecute his studies uncontrolled by
anything except reason, conscience, and a just humility. We have no
question whatever that all the articles of the Catholic Faith can be
conclusively proved by Scripture. None whatever that the principles on
which sound criticism and exegesis are conducted are truly scientific. We
believe that the books of Scripture are intelligible, and a perfect mine of
intellectual, spiritual, and moral treasure. This is true, eminently, of
the sacred books as they are studied in their original languages. It is no
less true, however, that its most important treasures of knowledge are
equally open to those who can read the best versions. No book has ever been
so many times well translated as the Bible. Let a version be warranted by a
competent authority, and one may expatiate in it with as much freedom and
confidence that his mind is really borne up on the ocean of divine truth,
as if he could read the Hebrew and Greek with the readiness of a Mai or a
Hengstenberg. It is, therefore, without doubt, a most excellent and
profitable exercise for good, plain people, able to read and understand the
English Bible, to read it continually and attentively. In proportion as one
become capable of understanding the Holy Scriptures, and has the means of
prosecuting his studies, in the same proportion will the advantage to be
gained increase. We have no fear of any intelligent, instructed Catholic
being injured by reading the Bible. Nor do we consider the very general and
high esteem of King James's version among English-speaking Protestants, and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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