arrest his attention. He might, in this way, read through the whole Scriptures without finding anything that could bear the name of a dogmatic contradiction." Yet the opposition of the Roman Catholic church to the common English Bible, or, as they call it, the "Protestant Bible," is well known as no new thing. John Wickliffe (= Wycliffe), the herald of the Reformation, and the earliest translator of the Bible into English, made his translation from the Vulgate; but the council of Constance in 1415, more than 30 years after his death, anathematized him as a notorious and scandalous heretic, and ordered his body and bones to be disinterred and cast out from ecclesiastical burial. William Tyndale (= Tyndal or Tindal), another English reformer and a translator of the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek originals into clear and simple English, was, through the efforts and influence of Henry VIII. and others, arrested at his retreat on the continent, imprisoned a year and a half in a strong castle, condemned as a heretic, and finally, after uttering his last prayer, "Lord, open the king of England's eyes," was strangled and then burned at the stake, at Vilvoorden (now in Belgium), Oct. 6, 1536. Some of the early English versions of the Bible gave much offense to the Roman Catholics by their notes in opposition to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church; but Cranmer's Bible (1540, &c.) and the authorized or Common English Version (published "by authority" of king James I. of England) omit all controversial or doctrinal notes, without satisfying the Roman Catholic demand at all. The council of Baltimore, giving law to the Roman Catholics in this country, only echo the prevalent and authoritative sentiment of their church when they speak of all but their own versions as "the bibles corrupted by non-Catholics." The Encyclical Letter of pope Gregory XVI. against Bible Societies, &c., is given in Chapter IV. The 4th of the "10 rules respecting prohibited books prepared by the fathers chosen by the council of Trent, and ap proved by pope Pius IV.," allowed bibles in the vulgar tongue only on the written permission of a bishop or inquisitor, and to those persons who, in the bishop's or inquisitor's judgment, with the advice of the parish-priest or confessor, might thus have their faith and piety increased and not injured, the offender to be refused absolution till he should give up his bible to the bishop, the bookseller who sold him a copy being also subject to a fine equal to the value of the bible and to further punishment. But this rule, made more stringent by Clement VIII., was so modified by Benedict XIV. "that the perusal of such versions may be considered permitted, as have been published with the approbation of the apostolic see, or with annotations taken from the holy fathers of the church or from learned and Catholic men." Bible-burning has been practiced by Roman Catholic priests. both in this and in other countries. In November, 1842, Father Telmon, an Oblate missionary from Canada, who held a protracted meeting in the town of Champlain, N. Y., publicly burned 42 (Dr. Coté said, more than 100) Bibles given to the Catholics by Protestant agents of the Bible Society; but the resident priest, Father Dugas, disapproved of the burning, and the bishop of Montreal, who visited the place 5 days afterwards, expressed disapprobation in strong terms, though it does not appear that any penalty was inflicted on the Oblate father. Bibles were also burned in York, Pa., in 1852 and 1854. Another Bible, loaned to a poor sick Roman Catholic, was taken by the priest (an Austrian immigrant), and returned to the treasurer of the York County Bible Society, with the following letter (printed as it was written): "YORK, March 19th, 1854. "SIR,-I send you back the Bible you loaned to Gregory Berger. The reason I do so is, because that book is against Christianity itself.— I pray, You shall not judge me as opposed to the reading of Bible, sopposed that, what pretends to be the bible, is realy the bible. But that book which I send to You is party adulterated, partly interppolated, partly mutilated in those parts of it, which you and your fellows and mastors can not and could not onderstand, or which are opposed to what you call faith. "I ask you therefore that you would not spare Yourself the trouble of loaning books of that kind to people of my congregation. If I should find more such bibles I would not send them back, but I would burn them for they are worth it. "Respectfully "FRANCIS JOSEPH WACHTer, "Pastor of St. Mary's Rom. Catholic Church. Bibles and Testaments, even if translated from the Vulgate, have been classed among the prohibited books, and burned, unless they had the prescribed notes or approbation. Thus in Chili, South America, the agent of the American Bible Society in 1834-5 saw New Testaments of an approved version, but without the notes, publicly and ceremoniously burned by a priest in the public square of one of the cities. Another Bibleburning took place in Chili about 4 years ago. Bibles translated from the Vulgate, and furnished by the British and Foreign Bible Society, were likewise burned in Brazil a few years since. Numerous other cases might be mentioned, in Spain, France, Italy, Syria, &c., were it necessary. Bibles published with notes are necessarily more expensive than those without note or comment. The Douay Bible is easily obtained in the United States or in England at prices varying from $1.25 or $1.50 up to $35. But in Roman Catholic countries Bibles in the language of the people have usually been costly and scarce, if obtainable at all. Said Kirwan (Rev. Nicholas Murray, D.D.), in his Letters to Chief Justice Taney, published in 1852 under the title "Romanism at Home"; "The Bible as a rule is unknown in Italy." A correspondent of the New York Commercial Advertiser writing from Aosta in Piedmont about 20 years ago, says: "I have traveled from Mount Etna, in Sicily, through the different capitals of the Italian kingdom to the vale of Aosta; and in all my wanderings I have only seen 3 copies of the Word of God in the Italian language, namely, one at Pompeii, one at a bookstall in Milan, which had been put in circulation by some English Bible agent, and another at a library in Milan, a very elaborate edition in 12 volumes, with copious notes by the archbishop of Florence-price $10." |