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LTBEARY 
 
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 PRINCETON, X. J 
 
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 BX 1765 ,P7 1854 
 Plumer, William S. 180Z 
 
 Rome against the Bible 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/romeagainstbibleOOplum 
 
ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE, 
 
 BIBLE AGAINST ROME; 
 
 OR, 
 
 PHARISAISM, JEWISH AND PAPAL. 
 
 BY WM. S. PLUMER, D.D. 
 
 "The law of the Lord i3 perfect, converting the soul." — Ps. xix. 7. 
 " Ye have taken away the key of knowledge."— Luke xi. 52. 
 
 jpljilaitrlpjjia : 
 
 AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 
 
 IIS ARCH STREET. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by the 
 
 AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION 7 SOCIETY, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in 
 and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
 STEREOTYPIC!) BY GEORGE CHARLES. 
 PRINTED BY KING & BAIRD. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Pharisaism among the Jews — how it kept the 
 People in ignorance of God's Word 5 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Papists practise the Arts of their Jewish 
 forerunners, and with like effects, 25 
 
 ' CHAPTER III. 
 
 Papists go beyond the Pharisees, and are hos- 
 tile to the free use and general circulation 
 of God's Word, 46 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Same subject continued — Additional Proofs, 62 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 This opposition is unreasonable and unscrip- 
 
 TURAL, 78 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 It is condemned by the voice of Antiquity,. 98 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Conclusion. Address to Romish Priests, to 
 Private Members of the Romish Church, 
 
 and to Protestants, 112 
 
 13) 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 PHARISAISM AMONG THE JEWS HOW IT KEPT THE PEO- 
 PLE IN IGNORANCE OF GOD'S WORD. 
 
 In the days of his flesh, Jesus Christ charged 
 upon the expounders of the Mosaic institute, that 
 they had taken away the key of knowledge. They 
 deprived the people of the means of attaining to 
 the knowledge of the kingdom of God. 
 
 Sound knowledge is a key to unlock the myste- 
 ries of redemption. Without it no man can effect 
 an entrance into life. " Where there is no vision, 
 the people perish." So important is divine know- 
 ledge that by a figure of speech it is often put 
 for the whole of religion. The great duty of all 
 religious teachers is to make known the truths of 
 revelation, to open and explain the Scriptures. 
 Thus men are led to understand, love and prac- 
 tise the will of God revealed for their salvation. 
 
 Yet in every age many slight or omit the duties 
 of their office ; while others turn light into dark- 
 ness. They even obstruct the way of life. They 
 practise all the arts of deception. With a pre- 
 tended reverence for God's word, they neither 
 1* (5) 
 
6 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 love nor obey it, nor wish nor encourage others 
 to do so. 
 
 Thus it was with many in our Saviour's day. 
 The Pharisees were the leaders in this system of 
 perversion. With their scribes and lawyers they 
 were prepared for any deed of hypocrisy and 
 wickedness. Let us look at their errors. 
 
 One of them respected the rule of faith and 
 practice. They held that it consisted not only of 
 the written, but also of the unwritten word. Not 
 Scripture alone, but Scripture and tradition united 
 formed their canon. The five books of Moses 
 and all the canonical Scriptures were received ; 
 so also was a mass of corruptions called the oral 
 law. Whenever a conflict arose between the 
 written word and tradition, the latter always bore 
 away the palm of victory. The lawyers held that 
 their traditions were as truly God's word as the 
 sacred writings, and that the officers of the Jewish 
 nation were appointed to transmit the oral law 
 from generation to generation. And they pre- 
 tended to show a list of those through whom, in 
 unbroken succession, they had received these tra- 
 ditions. This list began with Moses ; then came 
 Joshua, the seventy elders, the prophets, the rab- 
 bies, &c. They held that these traditions had no 
 less authority than Moses and the prophets, and 
 that the written law could not be well understood 
 
PHARISAISM AMONG THE JEWS. 7 
 
 without the oral. So they were " exceedingly 
 zealous of the traditions of the fathers," and re- 
 garded all, who forsook them, as forsaking Moses 
 and God himself. Thus by adopting maxims and 
 sentiments never sanctioned by Heaven, they 
 "made the commandment of God of none effect 
 by their tradition." 
 
 These doctors had also their Apocrypha, which 
 they put side by side with God's word. This 
 consisted of the writings of ancient uninspired 
 Rabbies. Thus they held that the Targum of 
 Jonathan had "been received from the mouths of 
 Haggai and Malachi, which two prophets were 
 keepers of the oral law in the consistory of Ezra." 
 Thus they had a part of the oral law in writing, 
 as well as much still handed down by unwritten 
 tradition. 
 
 They also greatly erred respecting the interpre- 
 tation of Scripture. They held that not the text, 
 but the living teacher was the sure guide. The 
 great question between them and Christ, respected 
 the interpretation of God's word. He contended 
 for the plain declarations of Moses and the pro- 
 phets, for the obvious, grammatical sense of the 
 inspired writers. They insisted that God's word 
 was to be understood according to the Talmuds 
 and Targums, (the Mishnas and Gemaras,) the 
 agreement of the Rabbies and the decisions of 
 
8 • ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 the Great Council, as expounded by the living 
 teacher. In the Talmud it is said we "must 
 attend more to the words of the Scribes than to 
 those of the law." The lawyers claimed prece- 
 dence of the prophets. The former held that the 
 latter must work miracles, or give infallible signs 
 of their heavenly mission ; but that a Rabbi was 
 to be believed without any miracle. In proof 
 they quoted Deut. xvii. 12. " The man that will 
 do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the 
 priest that standeth to minister there before the 
 Lord thy God, or unto the judge, that man shall 
 die." One of their rules was that " if a thousand 
 such prophets as Elias and Elisha bring one inter- 
 pretation, and a thousand and one, a contrary, 
 we must incline to the interpretation which has a 
 majority of one, and take the Rabbles, rather than 
 the prophets." Josephus, himself a Pharisee, 
 says, that "the Pharisees held it necessary to 
 observe and contend for everything, which their 
 guide commands." Here we have the clue to the 
 right understanding of those sayings of Christ : 
 " Be ye not called Rabbi : for one is your Master, 
 even Christ ; and all ye are brethren. And call 
 no man your father upon earth : for one is your 
 Father which is in heaven. Neither be ye called 
 masters: for one is your Master, even Christ." 
 Matt, xxiii. 8 — 10. The meaning plainly is, 
 
PHARISAISM AMONG THE JEWS. 9 
 
 1 never seek to have dominion over men's faith, nor 
 permit men to have dominion over your faith.' 
 We must receive our doctrine from the Father 
 and the Son. No man has original knowledge in 
 the things of God. The Scriptures must teach 
 us. All mere men are fallible, and so cannot be 
 implicitly trusted. God alone is great. 
 
 In coincidence with the foregoing, these an- 
 cient errorists denied the right of private judg- 
 ment. When the officers, who had been sent to 
 apprehend Christ, returned without him, they 
 assigned as a reason the great power of his 
 speech and teaching : " Never man spake as this 
 man." To this the Jewish authorities replied 
 with an air of triumph, " Have any of the 
 rulers believed on him ?" They added, that 
 the masses of the people, who seemed inclined 
 to hear Christ, were no judges in religious mat- 
 ters. " This people that knoweth not the law 
 are cursed." John vii. 48, 49. The rulers, the 
 guides, the Rabbies, were to be followed ; but 
 the people were ignorant, and to be despised of 
 men as they were cursed of God. 
 
 All these men stood quite aloof from the 
 people. The word Pharisee means Separatist. 
 It designated one who withdrew from familiar 
 intercourse with the body of the people. The 
 whole sect was exclusive and ready to curse the 
 
10 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 rest of mankind. Their favorite maxim was, 
 that out of their communion, and aside from their 
 teachings, there was no salvation, but that all 
 others belonged to a vile herd, made up of pub- 
 licans and sinners, dogs and cursed. They were 
 highly offended even at the offer of life to others. 
 Paul says : " They were contrary to all men : for- 
 bidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they 
 might be saved, to fill up their sins alway ; for 
 the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." 
 1 Thess. ii. 15, 16. 
 
 Moses and the prophets taught no doctrine 
 contrary to the belief, that a penitent sinner of 
 any nation might be saved. Yet so deeply im- 
 pressed on the Jewish mind was the idea, that 
 salvation was exclusively for the children of Abra- 
 ham, that nothing but a revelation could bring 
 Peter to say : " Of a truth I perceive that God is 
 no respecter of persons : but in every nation, he 
 that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is 
 accepted with him." Acts x. 34, 35. This is the 
 more remarkable, as the Old Testament frequently 
 uses such language as this : " I will confess to 
 thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy 
 name. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, 
 with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, 
 all ye Gentiles, and laud him, all ye people." 
 Rom. xv. 9-11. "Behold my servant, whom I 
 
PHARISAISM AMONG THE JEWS. 11 
 
 have chosen ; my beloved, in whom my soul is 
 well pleased : I will put my spirit upon him, and 
 he shall show judgment to the Gentiles .... And 
 in his name shall the Gentiles trust." Matt. xii. 
 18, 21. It was only as Jews, like Simeon, w T ere 
 taught by the Holy Ghost, that they clearly saw 
 that Messiah was a light to lighten the Gentiles, 
 and, at the same time, the glory of the people 
 Israel. Luke ii. 32. 
 
 It also evinced the capricious state of the 
 minds of the Scribes and Lawyers, when they 
 declared against Christ, on the ground that no 
 prophet arose out of Galilee. The same people 
 had all admitted Jonah, who was of Galilee, to 
 be a true prophet of Jehovah. Nazareth was an 
 obscure place, and bore a bad name, and because 
 Jesus had resided there a part of his life, they 
 rejected this greatest of teachers. Jesus Christ 
 belonged not to their company, followed not their 
 teachings, and joined not himself to their assem- 
 bly ; therefore, they rejected him, called him a 
 glutton and a wine-bibber, 'this fellow,' Beelzebub 
 and a blasphemer. 
 
 It is not surprising, that with such a rule of 
 faith and practice, and with such modes of inter- 
 pretation, these people embraced the doctrine, 
 and trusted in the efficacy of the intercession of 
 saints. In the book of Tobit, chap. xii. 12, 15, 
 
12 ROME AGAINST THE BIELE. 
 
 an angel is brought in, saying: "When thou 
 didst pray, and Sarah, thy daughter-in-law, I did 
 bring the remembrance of your prayers before 
 the Holy One. I am Raphael, one of the seven 
 holy angels, which present the prayers of the 
 saints, and which go in and out before the glory 
 of the Holy One." How long before this time 
 the belief of the efficacy of the prayers of saints 
 began to prevail is not clear. It is, however, cer- 
 tain, that it received no countenance from the 
 holy Scriptures. It continued to be held, more 
 or less by the Pharisees, for a long time after the 
 days of Tobit. 
 
 In like manner they prayed for the dead, as 
 you may see in 2 Maccabees, xii. 39-45, where 
 we are told that "Judas and his company came 
 to take up the bodies of them (their brethren) 
 that were slain, and to bury them with their kins- 
 men in their fathers' graves. ~Now, under the 
 coats of every one that was slain, they found 
 things consecrated to the idols of the Jamnites, 
 which is forbidden the Jews by the law. Then 
 every man saw that this was the cause wherefore 
 they were slain. All men therefore praising the 
 Lord, the righteous Judge, who had opened the 
 things that were hid, betook themselves unto 
 prayer, and besought him that the sin committed 
 might wholly be put out of remembrance. Be- 
 
PHARISAISM AMONG THE JEWS. 13 
 
 sides, that noble Judas exhorted the people to 
 keep themselves from sin, forasmuch as they saw 
 before their eyes the things that came to pass for 
 the sins of those that were slain. And when he 
 had made a gathering throughout the company, 
 to the sum of two thousand drachms of silver, he 
 sent it to Jerusalem to offer a sin-offering, doing 
 therein very well and honestly, in that he "was 
 mindful of the resurrection : for if he had not 
 hoped that they that were slain should have risen 
 again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray 
 for the dead. And also in that he perceived that 
 there was great favor laid up for those that died 
 godly. (It was a holy and good thought.) 
 Whereupon he made a reconciliation for the 
 dead, that they might be delivered from sin." 
 This is the first instance of the use of prayers for 
 the dead, of which we have any record. But the 
 practice is very agreeable to the natural darkened 
 reason, and sinful affections of men. It was com- 
 mon among the Pharisees just in proportion as 
 they fell into general corruption. 
 
 The same teachers were very corrupt casuists. 
 They strained at a gnat, but swallowed a camel. 
 They would not admit Judas 's thirty pieces of 
 silver into the treasury, because it was the price 
 of blood ; yet they did not hesitate to pay that 
 sum to the traitor in order to secure the shedding 
 
14 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 of innocent blood. They scrupled to enter the 
 judgment hall lest they should be denied; yet 
 they denied the Holy One, and the Just, and de- 
 sired a murderer to be granted unto them, and 
 killed the Prince of Life. They were very zealous 
 about a mote in the eye of another, but perceived 
 not the beam in their own eye. They held it 
 very obligatory to pay tithes of rue, mint, anise, 
 cummin, and all herbs and fruits ; yet it was quite 
 consistent with their principles to rob widows' 
 houses. Their law forbade them to kill ; but they 
 said it was not wicked to indulge the most vio- 
 lent anger. They said it was wicked in common 
 conversation to swear by God ; but not sinful to 
 swear by heaven. They held that to meditate 
 wrong and desire to do it, without accomplishing 
 it, was no sin. Thus Josephus in a given case 
 says that Antiochus Epiphanes " deserved no pu- 
 nishment for what he only would have done, but 
 did not." And Kimchi, commenting on Ps. lxvi : 
 18, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord 
 will not hear me," says : " He will not impute it 
 to me for sin ; for God does not look upon an 
 evil thought as sin, unless it be conceived against 
 God, or religion." How different this is from 
 God's sentence, where he pronounces '< every ima- 
 gination of the thoughts of the heart only evil 
 continually." Gen. vi : 5. Their law clearly re- 
 
PHARISAISM AMONG THE JEWS. 15 
 
 quired them to love their neighbor. This they 
 expounded by adding these words, " and hate 
 thine enemy." They were required to honor 
 their father and mother ; but they decided that if 
 a child devoted to religious use any thing, by 
 which a parent might be profited, the fifth com- 
 mandment was not of force against him. Their 
 rule was, that "vows take place, even in things 
 commanded by the law, as well as in things indif- 
 ferent : and then any one is bound by them, that 
 he cannot, without great sin, do that which is 
 commanded." 
 
 Thus the more these people were given to their 
 false religion, the more corrupt they were in mo- 
 rals. Their law forbade them to use, or make 
 any likeness of any thing in religious worship. 
 This was undeniable. Their solution of the dif- 
 ficulty was, that to worship an idol was sin, but 
 that it was permitted to worship God by means 
 of an image. 
 
 They were also strict ritualists. They were 
 very precise respecting attire, gestures and punc- 
 tilios in worship. There was hardly any end to 
 their washings of hands. One of their sayings 
 was, that "Whosoever despiseth the washing of 
 hands is worthy to be excommunicated ; he comes 
 to poverty, and will be extirpated out of the 
 world." Another of their sayings made eating 
 
16 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 bread with unwashen hands as bad as the grossest 
 violation of the seventh commandment. Maimo- 
 nides says, that "the religious of old did eat their 
 common food in cleanness, and took care to avoid 
 all uncleanness all their days, and they were called 
 Pharisees ; and this is a matter of the highest 
 sanctity, and the way of the highest religion ; 
 namely, that a man separate himself, and go aside 
 from the vulgar, and that he neither touch them, 
 nor eat, or drink with them ; for such separation 
 conduces to the purity of the body from evil works, 
 the purity of the body conduces to the cleansing 
 of the soul from evil affections, and the sanctity 
 of the soul conduces to the likeness of God." 
 Accordingly it came to be said among them that 
 "Whosoever has his seat in the land of Israel, 
 and eats his common food in cleanness, and 
 speaks the holy language, and recites his phylac- 
 teries morning and evening, let him be confident 
 that he shall obtain the life of the world to come." 
 To such a people Christ could have said no- 
 thing more offensive than that "to eat with un- 
 washen hands defileth not a man." Matt. xv. 20. 
 They tell us that one of their number, R. Aquiba 
 being in prison, and not having water enough to 
 drink and to wash his hands also, chose to do the 
 latter, saying, "It is better to die of thirst than 
 transgress the tradition of the elders." Among 
 
PHARISAISM AMONG THE JEWS. 17 
 
 them such a man was held in great veneration for 
 sanctity. In their eyes his virtue was of a very 
 exalted character. 
 
 From such persons you would naturally expect 
 much ostentation. They wore long garments to 
 give them a solemn air. They made broad their 
 phylacteries, which were pieces of parchment 
 with portions of Scripture written upon them. 
 One of the Targums introduces the Jews, saying, 
 " I am chosen above all people, because I bind 
 my frontals to my head and my left hand, and my 
 parchment is fixed to the right side of my door, 
 so that a third part of it comes up to my bed, 
 that the evil spirits may not hurt me." They dis- 
 figured their faces, that they might appear unto 
 men to fast. They well understood the whole 
 art and mystery of sanctimonious grimaces. In 
 that business there has been no improvement 
 since their time. When they were about to give 
 alms they blew a trumpet that it might be known 
 what they were doing. They also went to the 
 corners of the streets, to the synagogues, and to 
 other public places to offer up their personal de- 
 votions. All this and much more they did to be 
 seen of men. For a pretence they made long 
 prayers. Some of them prayed three long hours 
 together. They used vain repetitions, and thought 
 they should be heard for their much speaking. 
 2* 
 
18 HOME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 Their religion was all for show. To worship 
 God where none but God was witness was to 
 them a dull, uninteresting employment. 
 
 Such persons were swollen with spiritual pride. 
 Even their prayers were full of vain-glory. 
 11 God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men 
 are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as 
 this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give 
 tithes of all that I possess." This was a model 
 prayer for a Pharisee. It made him feel good. 
 One of their converts was more self-conceited and 
 every way more wicked than before he fell under 
 their influence ; and that just in proportion as he 
 was zealous in their cause. They "compassed 
 sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he 
 was made, they made him two-fold more the child 
 of hell than themselves." Justin Martyr says, that 
 these " proselytes did not only disbelieve Christ's 
 doctrine, but were twice more blasphemous 
 against him than the Jews themselves, endea- 
 voring to torment the Christians, and cut them 
 off wherever they could. In this they were the 
 instruments of the Scribes and Pharisees." They 
 seem to have brought all the brutality and mali- 
 ciousness of heathenism into their profession of 
 Judaism. They were monsters of depravity. 
 
 The system of the Pharisees was also full of 
 ridiculous legends and degrading superstitions. 
 
PHARISAISM AMONG THE JEWS. 19 
 
 Old wives' fables, endless genealogies and foolish 
 questions took the place of solemn inquiries after 
 truth. A question deemed worthy of earnest 
 discussion among them was this — Is it lawful to 
 kill a flea on the Sabbath day ? They supersti- 
 tiously regarded it wicked for Christ to work his 
 miracles of healing on that day ; or for him and 
 his disciples to pluck and eat the fruits of the 
 earth, even if hungry, on that day. They in- 
 vented endless and foolish distinctions. They 
 threw away the kernel, but held fast the shell. 
 They cast away the wheat and garnered up the 
 chaff. The gravest questions in religion were 
 little cared for; but those, which were con- 
 temptibly frivolous, were much dwelt upon. 
 
 Respecting justification before God their sys- 
 tem was utterly false and dangerous. They put 
 the types in the place of the great anti-type ; the 
 blood of bulls and goats in the place of the 
 blood of God's dear Son : the imperfect works 
 of men in place of the finished work of the Re- 
 deemer. They went about to establish their own 
 righteousness, and did not submit themselves to 
 the righteousness of God. They justified them- 
 selves. They thought that they were whole and 
 needed not any physician. They thought that 
 they were rich, and increased in goods, and had 
 need of nothing ; and knew not that they were 
 
20 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked, and 
 had need of wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, 
 and redemption through the Lord of life and 
 glory. They trusted in themselves that they were 
 righteous and despised others. To every other 
 man they said, " Stand by thyself, come not near 
 to me; for I am holier than thou." Is. lxv. 5. 
 Such were a smoke in God's nose, a fire that 
 burnt all the day. To them he said : " To what 
 purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto 
 me ? I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, 
 and the fat of fed beasts. . . . Bring no more 
 vain oblations : incense is an abomination unto 
 me. ... It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 
 Is. i. 11, 13. 
 
 As might be expected, the spirit of those 
 who embraced this corrupt system was cruel 
 and persecuting. They are well described in the 
 prophet Micah, iii. 5. See also Acts xxiv. 5. 
 The more strict any one was, the more bitter 
 were his animosities. They killed the prophets ; 
 they murdered God's Son ; they persecuted his 
 people. The more Saul of Tarsus prized his 
 religion, the more did he breathe threatenings 
 and slaughter against the church of God. He 
 haled men and women to prison and to judg- 
 ment, to mockings and to death. He was ex- 
 ceeding mad against all who dared to profess 
 
PHARISAISM AMONG THE JEWS. 21 
 
 faith in the only Saviour of sinners. The tender 
 mercies of such a system are cruel. Those who 
 embrace it sit down in perfect coolness to medi- 
 tate torture. They gloat over the miseries of 
 their helpless victims. They wag the head and 
 taunt even those who are at their hands suffering 
 the agonies of crucifixion. They kill the body, 
 and, if they had the power, they would kill the 
 soul. They have no mercy. They are the ene- 
 mies of the cross of Christ, haters of true godli- 
 ness, and opposers of all goodness. They enl^er 
 not the kingdom of God themselves, and them 
 that are entering they hinder. Thus the Phari- 
 sees took away the key of knowledge, and left the 
 blind, who followed them, to perish in ignorance 
 of the truth of God. 
 
 Yet, with many, these people had a great repu- 
 tation for piety. They managed to win the confi- 
 dence of thousands ; so that it was often said, " if 
 but two men are saved, one of them will be a 
 Pharisee and the other a scribe." Indeed, with 
 many, their religion was highly popular. The 
 reason was that it required no love, no meekness, 
 no humility, no self-denial of the strong inclina- 
 tions of the wicked heart. One could come away 
 from his street-corner devotions as full of self- 
 righteousness as it was possible for man to be. 
 Even burdensome rituals are but slightly repug- 
 
22 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 nant to the carnal mind, compared with its 
 hatred of spiritual religion. It always has been 
 so. It is so at this day. It will be so to 
 the end of time. The very hardest thing in reli- 
 gion is, to confess that even our righteousnesses 
 are filthy rags, that all outward services without 
 supreme love to God are worthless, and that if we 
 shall ever be saved, it must be solely by the rich, 
 free, sovereign, unmerited grace of God in Christ 
 Jesus, our Lord. 
 
 t It was of these people that our Saviour said : — 
 "Except your righteousness shall exceed the 
 righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye 
 shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven :" 
 Matt. v. 20. If by the word righteousness is 
 here meant personal virtue, as some think, this is 
 a good sense, and is very true. The holiness of 
 these men was outward, official, ceremonial, and 
 left sin undisturbed on the throne of the heart. 
 The holiness God requires is inward, personal, 
 spiritual — of the heart, and universal as to the 
 precepts of God's law. It was the most difficult 
 thing imaginable, to convince a Pharisee that he 
 was a sinner at all. Paul, who had been one of 
 their number, says, " I had not known sin, but 
 by the law : for I had not known lust, except the 
 law had said, Thou shalt not covet." If one 
 repeated the ten commandments to one of these 
 
PHARISAISM AMONG THE JEWS. 23 
 
 deluded men, his prompt reply was, "All these 
 have I kept from my youth tip." Outwardly he 
 had done it, perhaps, even where the heart was a 
 whited sepulchre, full of dead men's bones and all 
 uncleanness. But if the word righteousness in 
 Matt. v. 20, means justifying righteousness, as 
 some think it does, then the sense is also good, 
 and the doctrine most true ; for the Scribes and 
 Pharisees never sought nor desired any other 
 ground of acceptance with God than their own 
 merits, and God abhors all such pretensions. 
 The grand difference between the worship of Cain 
 and Abel was, that Cain's offerings were fit only 
 for an unfallen creature, while Abel's well suited 
 a sinner, who felt his lost, guilty and helpless con- 
 dition. These first two men that were ever born, 
 well represent the two classes of men that have 
 ever since been in the world; one trusting in 
 themselves that they are righteous, and despising 
 others, the other crying, "God be merciful to 
 me, a sinner." 
 
 Is it surprising, that the great infallible Teacher 
 denounced many woes on these people ? They 
 and their followers were fearfully hardened by 
 all their perversion of Scripture, and by all 
 their opposition to the plain teachings of 
 God's word. A soul steeped in falsehood and 
 dead in unbelief is in a sad way. Very few 
 
24 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 of the leaders in these errors were converted 
 by our Saviour's miracles and preaching. The 
 publicans and harlots entered into the kingdom 
 of God before them. Nor did the conversion of 
 great sinners seem at all to make any good im- 
 pression on their minds. They were hardened in 
 pride. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 PAPISTS PRACTISE THE ARTS OF THEIR JEWISH FORE- 
 RUNNERS, AND WITH LIKE EFFECTS. 
 
 Pharisaism is quite congenial with the carnal 
 mind of man. The false teachers in the days of 
 our Saviour have been closely followed by the 
 ministers of Anti-Christ. All the essential prin- 
 ciples of the old school of Pharisees are revived 
 in the church of Rome. The Pope, his Bishops 
 and Priests practise very much the same arts as 
 the Scribes and Lawyers of old, and with very 
 much the same design and effect. 
 
 Like the Pharisees, Papists hold that the Scrip- 
 tures are not the only and whole rule of faith and 
 practice. The Council of Trent expressly says, 
 that all " saving truth and discipline are contained 
 both in written books and in unwritten traditions, 
 which have come down to us, either received by 
 the apostles from the lips of Christ himself, or 
 transmitted by the hands of the same apostles 
 under the dictation of the Holy Spirit ;" and de- 
 clares that it " doth receive and reverence, with 
 equal piety and veneration, all the books, as well 
 3 (25) 
 
26 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 of the Old as of the New Testament, the same 
 God being the author of both — and also the 
 aforesaid traditions, pertaining both to faith and 
 manners, whether received from Christ himself, 
 or dictated by the Holy Spirit, and preserved in 
 the Catholic Church by continual succession." 
 It also says, "that whoever shall knowingly and 
 deliberately despise the aforesaid traditions, let 
 him be accursed." This is explicit and unmis- 
 takable. With this agrees the Canon Law, 
 " That all do with such reverence regard the apos- 
 tolic seal, that they rather desire to know the 
 ancient institution of the Christian religion from 
 the mouth of the Pope, than from the sacred 
 pages." Cardinal Hosius says : " Much the great- 
 est part of the Gospel is come to us by tradition, 
 very little of it is committed to writing." 
 
 How contrary all this doctrine is to the divine 
 teachings is evident from the Holy Scriptures 
 themselves. This can be shown from the Do way 
 Bible, which in all matters of dispute between 
 Romanists and Protestants will be quoted in this 
 treatise unless notice to the contrary shall be given. 
 This is done, not because that translation is the 
 best, but for the purpose of cutting off all dis- 
 putes about the rendering of the sacred text. 
 The first proof adduced from Scripture is found 
 in Deut xii. 32. "What I command thee, that 
 
PAPISTS IMITATE THE PHARISEES. 27 
 
 only do thou to the Lord : neither add any thing 
 nor diminish." To this a note is affixed : " They 
 are forbid here to follow the ceremonies of the 
 heathens ; or to make any alteration in the divine 
 ordinances." That is a good note. Yet how 
 much Rome adds and diminishes, it is hard to say. 
 According to Hosius " very little" of the rule 
 adopted at Rome is written. The next text is 
 found in Gal. i. 8, 9. "But though we or an 
 angel from heaven preach a gospel to you beside 
 that which we have preached to you, let him be 
 anathema. As we said before, so I say now 
 again : if any one preach to you a gospel besides 
 that which you have received, let him be anath- 
 ema." Could the apostle in more solemn words 
 have warned men not to add anything to God's 
 word? In 2 Tim. iii. 16, IT, Paul asserts that 
 " all Scripture divinely inspired is profitable to 
 teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice : 
 that the man of God may be perfect, furnished 
 unto every good work." By " the man of God" 
 is certainly to be understood a minister of Christ. 
 Yet Paul says that even he, having the Scriptures, 
 is " perfect," "furnished." He needs no Bishops, 
 Popes, or Councils to furnish him for his work. 
 Such is a sample of divine teachings on this sub- 
 ject. See also Ps. xviii. [King James' Bible, 
 Ps. xix.] 7-12, and Apocalypse xxii. 18, 19. 
 
28 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 The Church of Rome has also incorporated the 
 Apocrypha of the Old Testament into her canon, 
 and " receives and reverences with equal piety 
 and veneration" the five books of Moses and the 
 two books of Esdras, the books of Joshua and 
 Tobit, Esther and Judith, the Song of Solomon 
 and the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiastes and 
 Ecclesiasticus, Hosea and Baruch, the first and 
 second epistles to the Corinthians, and the first 
 and second books of Maccabees. Thus Rome 
 honors the story of Tobit and his dog as no less 
 inspired than the narrative of Christ's trium- 
 phant entry into Jerusalem. She takes up the 
 old rags, which even the ancient Pharisees refused 
 to wear, and calls them beautiful garments ; for 
 the Jews never received, as canonical Scripture, 
 any of the books held by Protestants to be apo- 
 cryphal ; and the Doway Bible, in a note prefixed 
 to the first book of Maccabees, acknowledges that 
 neither of those books was received by the Jews. 
 A note prefixed to Ecclesiasticus also says that 
 book "is not in the Jewish canon." That these 
 books should not be received as the word of God 
 is evident many ways ; but we shall not now enter 
 at length into the argument. The author of the 
 second book of Maccabees fairly disclaims inspi- 
 ration. Indeed he apologizes for the imperfec- 
 tion of his work. He says: "I will here make 
 
PAPISTS IMITATE THE PHARISEES. 29 
 
 an end of my narration ; which if I have done 
 well, and as it becometh the history, it is what I 
 desired ; but if not so perfectly, it must be par- 
 doned me." 2 Mac. xv. 38, 39. The same book 
 contains the clearest internal evidence that it is 
 not from God, because it commends an attempt 
 to commit suicide, which God abhors. Speaking 
 of Rasias it says, (chap. xiv. 41, 42,) " as the 
 multitude sought to rush into his house, and to 
 break open the door and to set fire to it, when he 
 was ready to be taken, he struck himself with his 
 sword : choosing to die nobly rather than to fall 
 into the hands of the wicked, and to suffer abuses 
 unbecoming his noble birth." Clearly that doc- 
 trine is not from heaven. Suicide is not noble in 
 God's esteem. But the object here sought is not 
 so much to argue this point, as to show to the 
 intelligent reader how Rome imitates the Phari- 
 sees, by honoring, as of divine authority, uncano- 
 nical books, adopting those which even the 
 Pharisees rejected. 
 
 Having erroneously settled the canon of Scrip- 
 ture and the rule of faith, the church of Rome in- 
 sists upon her interpretations as absolutely neces- 
 sary. She contends that the written word is to 
 be interpreted by tradition, by the fathers, by 
 councils, by Popes, and by bishops. Thus the 
 Council of Trent, decreed, "that in matters of 
 3* 
 
80 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 faith and morals, and whatever relates to the 
 maintenance of Christian doctrine, no one confid- 
 ing in his own judgment, shall dare to wrest the 
 sacred Scriptures to his own sense of them, con- 
 trary to that which hath been held and is held by- 
 holy Mother Church, whose right it is to judge 
 of the true meaning and interpretation of Sacred 
 Writ ; or contrary to the unanimous consent of 
 the fathers ; even though such interpretations 
 should never be published." Romanists endea- 
 vor to maintain this ground by the very argument 
 employed by the Jewish lawyers, and attempt, 
 says Whitby, "to prove that private men, laics 
 and inferior priests are not to be governed by 
 their own sentiments of Christ's doctrine ; but 
 must submit to their general councils, and to the 
 major part of their church-guides. And .... 
 it is as strong in the mouth of the Pharisees 
 against Christ being the Messiah, as in the mouth 
 of Papists against Protestants." 
 
 Papists deny that God's word is to be taken in 
 its obvious sense. The true mode of interpreting 
 Scripture is well expressed by Luther : " The 
 literal meaning of Scripture is the whole founda- 
 tion of faith, the only thing that stands its ground 
 in distress and temptation." Melancthon ex- 
 presses the same rule, thus, "It is necessary in 
 the Church, diligently to investigate and adhere 
 
PAPISTS IMITATE THE PHARISEES. 31 
 
 to the simple, natural, grammatical sense of Scrip- 
 ture. We are to listen to the Divine word, not 
 to corrupt it. We must not play tricks with it, 
 by fanciful interpretations, as many, in all ages, 
 have done. The plain, natural sense of Scripture 
 always carries with it the richest and most valua- 
 ble instruction." Richard Hooker also says : "I 
 hold it for a most infallible rule in exposition of 
 sacred Scripture, that where a literal construc- 
 tion will stand, the furthest from the letter is 
 commonly the worst." But Rome puts Church 
 authority above all rules and reason, in interpret- 
 ing the lively oracles. 
 
 With such a canon of Scriptures, such a rule 
 of faith and practice, such a denial of the right of 
 individuals to judge of what God says, and with 
 such arrogant pretensions to an exclusive right to 
 interpret God's word, the results reached by the 
 Church of Rome are much the same as those 
 reached by the Pharisees of old. The Council of 
 Trent, everywhere, pronounces those who differ 
 from her, accursed, even to the extent of declar- 
 ing that "whoever shall affirm, that the conjugal 
 state is to be preferred to a life of virginity or celi- 
 bacy, and that it is not better and more conducive 
 to happiness, [beatius,~] to remain in virginity or 
 celibacy, than to be married, let him be accursed." 
 Indeed, all the canons of that Council, (there are, 
 
32 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 in all, about one hundred and thirty of them,) 
 end with the awful anathema sit, u Let him be 
 accursed." And we all know how, everywhere, 
 the Church of Rome declares, that out of her 
 communion there is no salvation, although Jesus 
 Christ said : " He that believeth in the Son, hath 
 life everlasting ; but he that believeth not the 
 Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God 
 abideth on him ." John iii. 36. Like the 
 Jews of old, Papists are fond of cursing other 
 people, and of delivering them over to uncove- 
 nanted mercies, that is, to perdition. Surely, if 
 of any people it is true, that their mouth is full 
 of cursing and bitterness, it is true of the priest- 
 hood of Rome. Yet they profess to be followers 
 of Him who said, "Bless them that curse you. 
 Bless and curse not." 
 
 The doctrine and usage of the church of Rome 
 respecting the invocation of saints are just the 
 same with those of the old Pharisees, in their 
 most corrupt days. On this subject the fathers of 
 Trent teach that "the saints, who reign together 
 with Christ, offer their prayers to God for men ; 
 that it is a good and useful thing suppliantly to 
 invoke them, and to flee to their prayers, help, 
 and assistance, because of the benefits bestowed 
 by God through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, 
 who is our only Redeemer and Saviour ; and that 
 
PAPISTS IMITATE THE PHARISEES. 33 
 
 those are men of impious sentiments, who deny 
 that the saints, who enjoy eternal happiness in 
 heaven, are to be invoked — or who affirm that 
 they do not pray for men ; or that to beseech 
 them to pray for us is idolatry, or that it is con- 
 trary to the word of God, and opposed to the 
 honor of Jesus Christ, the one Mediator between 
 God and man ; or that it is foolish to supplicate, 
 verbally or mentally, those who reign in heaven." 
 This is clear and decided. The practice of that 
 church in this behalf agrees with her decrees. 
 Open any of her books of devotion, and you will 
 find Mary, Michael, Paul and Peter, and many 
 others, addressed much more frequently than God, 
 the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And what is 
 well worthy of notice is, that Romanists every- 
 where rely on the passage already quoted from 
 Tobit, in vindication of their belief and practice 
 on this subject. But Colossians ii. 18, presents a 
 very difficult text for Papists to dispose of. That 
 text in the Doway Bible reads thus : " Let no 
 man seduce you, willing in humility, and religion 
 of angels, walking in the things which he hath 
 not seen, in vain puffed up by the sense of his 
 flesh." The note to this passage says : " That is, 
 by a self-willed, self-invented, superstitious wor- 
 ship, falsely pretending humility, but really pro- 
 ceeding from pride. Such was the worship that 
 
34 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 many of the philosophers paid to angels or de- 
 mons, by sacrificing to them, as carriers of intel- 
 ligence betwixt God and men ; pretending humi- 
 lity in so doing, as if God was too great to be 
 addressed by men ; and setting aside the media- 
 torship of Jesus Christ ; who is the head both of 
 angels and men." This note thus far seems well 
 to accord with the text, and with other portions 
 of Scripture. But then the note adds, what Paul 
 "writes here, no way touches the Catholic doc- 
 trine and practice, of desiring our good angels to 
 pray to God for us, through Jesus Christ." The 
 text is one thing : the denial is quite another. 
 
 Papists also, like the Pharisees, pray for the 
 dead. Their whole doctrine of purgatory is based 
 upon the efficacy of prayers for those who have 
 gone to eternity. The Council of Trent taught 
 that "there is a purgatory, and that the souls de- 
 tained there are assisted by the suffrages of the 
 faithful, but especially by the acceptable sacrifice 
 of the mass;" and commanded "all bishops dili- 
 gently to endeavor that the wholesome doctrine 
 of purgatory, delivered to us by venerable fathers 
 and holy councils, be believed and held by 
 Christ's faithful, and everywhere taught and 
 preached." .... "Let the bishops take care 
 that the suffrages of the living faithful, masses, 
 prayers, alms, and other works of piety, which the 
 
PAPISTS IMITATE THE PHARISEES. 35 
 
 faithful have been accustomed to perform for de- 
 parted believers, be piously and religiously ren- 
 dered, according to the institutes of the church : 
 and whatsoever services are due to the dead, 
 through the endowments of deceased persons, or 
 in any other way, let them not be performed 
 slightly, but diligently and carefully," &c. In 
 justification of prayers for the dead, Papists in- 
 variably quote 2 Maccabees xii. 43-46 ; thus 
 building up the system on the example of their 
 forerunners, the Jewish errorists of old. 
 
 In like manner Papists follow the example of 
 the most corrupt Jews of the olden times, and 
 employ images in worship. The Council of 
 Trent, addressing "all bishops and others, who 
 have the care and charge of teaching," says, " let 
 them teach that the images of Christ, of the Vir- 
 gin, Mother of God, and of other saints, are to 
 be had and retained, especially in churches, and 
 due honor and veneration rendered to them. Not 
 that it is believed that any divinity or power re- 
 sides in them, on account of which they are to be 
 worshiped, . or that any benefit is to be sought 
 from them, or any confidence placed in images, 
 as was formerly by the Gentiles, who fixed their 
 hope in idols. But the honor with which they 
 are regarded is referred to those who are repre- 
 sented by them ; so that we adore Christ and ve- 
 
36 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 nerate the saints, whose likenesses these images 
 bear, when we kiss them, and uncover our heads 
 in their presence, and prostrate ourselves. All 
 which has been sanctioned by the decrees of 
 Councils against the impugners of images, espe- 
 cially the second Council of Nice." Yet they 
 add that, " it is not to be supposed that the Deity 
 can be seen by our bodily eyes, or that a likeness 
 of God can be given in color or figure." A Hin- 
 doo might say, and often does say, just the same 
 in worshiping his images. The corrupt Jews of 
 old used the very same plea respecting their use 
 of images. 
 
 In this corrupt practice of Rome is found the 
 probable cause of the omission of the second com- 
 mandment from many Komish catechisms. For 
 it would be terrible for one, who in the sanctuary 
 was kissing or prostrating himself before an 
 image, to remember the awful words of Jehovah 
 from Mount Sinai, which in our Bible are cor- 
 rectly translated thus: "Thou shalt not make 
 unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of 
 any tiling that is in heaven above, or that is in 
 the earth beneath, or that is in the water under 
 the earth : thou shalt not bow down thyself to 
 them, nor serve them : for I the Lord thy God am 
 a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers 
 upon the children, unto the third and fourth gene- 
 
PAPISTS IMITATE THE PHARISEES. 37 
 
 ration of them that hate me ; and showing mercy 
 unto thousands of them that love me, and keep 
 my commandments." The precept is as clear as 
 the threatening is dreadful. Let men beware 
 how they trifle with God's worship. Nor are 
 other portions of Scripture less explicit in prohi- 
 biting the use of images in worship, than this se- 
 cond commandment. See especially, Deut. iv. 
 15-18, and parallel passages. 
 
 From such principles as have been shown to 
 belong to Rome, naturally proceeds a corrupt 
 system of casuistry, full of endless distinctions 
 and absurd decisions. At one time, it was de- 
 signed to insert specimens of the decisions of 
 Papal doctors and casuists ; but this might lead 
 too far from the main object, now in view. It is 
 sufficient to say, that every commandment is sub- 
 verted by their glosses, their refinements, their 
 distinctions. In particular, their casuists adopt, 
 to a fearful extent, the principle, that a man may 
 do evil that good may come. " They lengthen 
 the creed and shorten the decalogue." They hold 
 to as corrupt principles as can, by any possibility, 
 be formed. Lying, theft, murder, idolatry, Sab- 
 bath-breaking, Jasciviousness, every vice, every 
 crime, can be justified by their code or their au- 
 thority. 
 
 Those who go thus far, have yet no objection 
 4 
 
38 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 to a strict ritual. They will fast even more than 
 twice in the week. They will even pretend to 
 fast forty days, if required. It does not make 
 war on any of their corruptions to believe that 
 they will please the Almighty better by dining 
 on cod or salmon, rock or shad, than on beef or 
 mutton, pig or venison ; or that it would be much 
 more pleasing to God, for them to dress their food 
 with hog's lard than with butter of kine. They 
 often believe that they are serving God by dis- 
 honoring their own bodies, by whipping them- 
 selves, and by many acts entirely contrary to the 
 natural duty of loving and cherishing their own 
 flesh. The rules of the different orders, all duly 
 sanctioned, impose almost endless observances. 
 Among the most zealous of their ritualists may be 
 found, not only the priest, the monk, the nun, and 
 the respectable citizen, but also the robber in the 
 Alps and Pyrennees, and the pirate on the high 
 seas. These often carry their images of the Vir- 
 gin, say their beads with carefulness, and fast on 
 Friday, just as if they were the most innocent in 
 society. 
 
 Such people may, very naturally, be expected 
 to exhibit a fondness for public religious shows. 
 They will have their processions, they will wear 
 their long robes, and may be found offering their 
 personal devotions in churches, just as the Phari- 
 
PAPISTS IMITATE THE PHARISEES. 39 
 
 sees did in the synagogues ; and they will thor- 
 oughly study the science and art of grimaces. 
 Who has not noticed the demure looks of Popish 
 priests ? Many know not that all this sanc- 
 timoniousness is practised by rule. Yet such is 
 the fact. Here are some of the rules by which 
 the Jesuits direct their members: "They must 
 not lightly turn their heads this way and that 
 way, but with gravity, when need shall require ; 
 and if there be no need, they must hold it 
 straight, bending it a little forward, not leaning 
 it on either side." — "For the most part, they 
 must look downward, neither immoderately lifting 
 up their eyes, nor casting them now one way, 
 now another." — " When they converse, especially 
 with men in authority, they must not fix their 
 sight upon their eyes, but rather a little below 
 them." — "Wrinkles in their forehead, and much 
 more in their nose, are to be avoided, that there 
 may appear outwardly, a kind of serenity which 
 may be a token of the inward." — "Their lips 
 must neither be too much shut nor too much open." 
 " Their hands, if they be not employed in holding 
 up their garments, must be held decently quiet." 
 And these rules are in force in America. Could 
 the old Jewish Pharisees exceed these moderns in 
 rules for looks and gestures ? I trow not. 
 
 Their religious ceremonies will very naturally be 
 
40 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 as pompous and gorgeous as possible. Romanists 
 do, in fact, conduct their public worship in a dead 
 language, unknown to the people. 
 
 This practice is directly in the teeth of their 
 own translation of the 14th chapter of 1st Corin- 
 thians. There we find such passages as these : 
 " Greater is he that prophesieth, [in a note pro- 
 phesying is correctly explained to mean declaring 
 or expounding the mysteries of faith] than he 
 that speaketh with tongues ; unless, perhaps, he 
 interpret, that the church may receive edification. 
 But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with 
 tongues, what shall I profit you, unless I speak to 
 you either in revelation or in knowledge, or in pro- 
 phecy or in doctrine ? . . . " Unless you utter, 
 by the tongue, plain speech, how shall it be known 
 what is spoken ? For you shall be speaking into 
 the air." . . . " Let him that speaketh a tongue 
 pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a 
 tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is 
 without fruit. What is it then ? I will pray in the 
 spirit : I will pray also in the understanding : I 
 will sing with the spirit : I will sing also with the 
 understanding." . . . ''In the church I had 
 rather speak five words with the understanding, 
 that 1 may instruct others also ; than ten thou- 
 sand in a tongue." 
 
PAPISTS IMITATE THE PHARISEES. 41 
 
 These and other similar teachings in the same 
 chapter are felt to be hard sayings against a lit- 
 urgy in an unknown tongue. Therefore a note 
 is affixed to the 16th verse, in which it says : 
 " The use or abuse of strange tongues, of which 
 the apostle here speaks, does not regard the pub- 
 lic liturgy of the church, (in which strange tongues 
 were never used)." . . . Afterwards it adds, 
 " Xote, that the Latin, used in our liturgy, is so 
 far from being a strange or unknown tongue, that 
 it is perhaps the best known tongue in the world." 
 Was ever sophistry more shallow, or perversion 
 of the plain sense of a writer more manifest ? 
 Strange tongues never used in the liturgy or in 
 the church ! ! ! None other than a strange tongue 
 in the sense in which Paul speaks of tongues, is 
 used in the Romish liturgy any where. And how 
 atrocious the statement that the Latin is perhaps 
 the best known tongue in the world, when the 
 truth is, that in the modern sense of the word it 
 is no longer a tongue (or spoken language) at all, 
 but a dead language, the correct pronunciation of 
 which is lost, nor is there a mother on earth that 
 speaks it to her little ones, though it is studied by 
 learned persons. Yet the English is spoken by 
 sixty millions of people, and understood by many 
 millions besides, and the French by probably 
 more. 
 
 4* 
 
42 ROME AGAIXST THE BIBLE. 
 
 Nor need we be surprised at finding Romanists 
 following the footsteps of Pharisees in cruelty and 
 persecution. Every Romish Bishop is a sworn 
 persecutor, to the extent of his power, of all who 
 reject the ghostly authority of the Pope. The 
 very language of his oath is: "Heretics, schis- 
 matics, and rebels to our said lord [the Pope] or 
 his foresaid successors, I will to my power per- 
 secute and oppose." In 1845, Francis Patrick 
 Kenrick, then Bishop of Philadelphia, now Arch- 
 bishop of Baltimore, published a work, entitled 
 11 The Primacy of the Apostolic See Vindicated. " 
 He dedicated it to the Hon. Roger B. Taney, 
 Chief Justice of the United States. The 20th 
 chapter is devoted to the Inquisition. More than 
 21 large 8vo. pages are devoted not to the 
 condemnation of that most wicked tribunal, but 
 to an apology, for it. In his apology he uses 
 such language as this: "The Inquisition is not 
 directed to the punishment of heretics, but rather 
 to their conversion." p. 329. " The appoint- 
 ment of Inquisitors by Innocent III., seems to 
 have been designed to prevent civil wars, on the 
 score of religion." p. 332. The Inquisitors 
 "did not thirst for human blood, nor act indis- 
 criminately and hastily, but sought by persuasion, 
 and every mild influence, to gain the culprits, 
 During a long period they were members of reli- 
 
PAPISTS IMITATE THE PHARISEES. 43 
 
 gious orders, chiefly Dominicans and Franciscans, 
 men advanced in age and of unblemished reputa- 
 tion, whose mild and peaceful habits rendered 
 them unlikely to delight in blood. The most 
 beautiful examples of a Christian spirit have been 
 left by several of them." p. 333. On page 339 
 he tells us that " St. Theresa, and St. Ignatius of 
 Loyola, and other holy persons commended its 
 influence and results." He is here speaking of 
 the Spanish Inquisition. On page 343 he says : 
 " Although all its officers and the accuser, culprit, 
 witnesses, and advocate were bound to secrecy, yet 
 the number of persons engaged in the process, 
 and the character of the judges, precluded all rea- 
 sonable danger of injustice." No free man can 
 read this chapter without indignation. 
 
 His Holiness perhaps never had two dearer 
 sons than the Duke of Alva, and Charles IX. the 
 king of France. How bloody their career was, 
 history abundantly declares. In her arrogance 
 Rome claims to be the mother and mistress of all 
 churches. She always aims to lord it over God's 
 heritage. She has her dungeons for the refrac- 
 tory. Wherever the law and public opinion allow 
 it, Romish Bishops have their jails, and imprison 
 whom they will. Religious liberty is an offence 
 to Rome. Even toleration is not her habit, nor 
 her principle. It is only to be extended where 
 she' can do no otherwise. 
 
44 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 As to the superstitions of Rome, they are innu- 
 merable. Her trade in dead men's bones has 
 brought her millions. It is quite active even at 
 this day. In purely Roman Catholic countries, 
 few people are found without their amulets of 
 some kind. Even the poor savage in the wilds 
 of America is taught by Jesuit priests to rely 
 on his cross, his crucifix, or his picture of the 
 Yirgin, just as the African does on his Greegree. 
 But this field is too wide to be traversed or sur- 
 veyed at this time. 
 
 As to the justification of man before God, the 
 error of Rome is as great as that of the Phari- 
 sees. Trent declares that " whoever shall affirm, 
 that the good works of a justified man are in 
 such sense the gifts of God, that they are not also 
 his worthy [bona] merits ; or that he being justi- 
 fied by his good works, which are wrought by him 
 through the grace of God, and the merits of Jesus 
 Christ, of whom he is a living member, does not 
 really deserve increase of grace, eternal life, the 
 enjoyment of that life if he dies in a state of grace, 
 and even an increase of glory : let him be ac- 
 cursed." How fully this doctrine is taught by 
 the doctors of that church, many have declared, 
 and their own works show. The authors of the 
 notes on the Romish Testament are full and clear 
 beyond all dispute, and almost beyond belief in 
 
PAPISTS IMITATE THE PHARISEES. 45 
 
 maintaining these views, and pushing them to the 
 utmost extremes. 
 
 Such a religious system will naturally have 
 friends among various classes of persons. All, 
 who are indolent and have no heart to work out 
 their own salvation, will be very glad to employ 
 some one to be their agent, to negotiate salvation 
 for them. All, who dislike spiritual worship and 
 vital godliness, will find relief in such a system as 
 has been portrayed. In short, the mass of igno- 
 rance, vice, superstition and folly ever existing in 
 large communities will, at least for a season, be 
 pleased with some things in Popery. Many will 
 praise them for one thing, and many for another. 
 Like the Pharisees, they will by many be regarded 
 as on the high road to heaven. 
 
 It would have been easy to trace these resem- 
 blances between Popery and the old Jewish errors 
 much further. But enough has been said to show 
 their substantial agreement, and especially their 
 utter contrariety to the Holy Scriptures, the 
 Word of God that liveth and abideth forever. 
 The resemblance between Pharisaism in the Jew- 
 ish Church and in the Papal communion having 
 been briefly traced, other things will now claim 
 our atteution. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 PAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES, AND ARE HOS- 
 TILE TO THE FREE USE AND GENERAL CIRCULATION 
 OF GOD'S WORD. 
 
 The church of Rome quite outstrips the old 
 Pharisees, in taking away the key of knowledge. 
 So far as we learn they never discouraged any 
 one from owning or reading the Scriptures. But 
 she is hostile to their free use and general circu- 
 lation. This is a grave charge, but it is not 
 rashly made. If it is true, it is not uncharitable 
 to believe and publish it. That it is true shall 
 now be proven. 
 
 There is no fair ground of dispute between 
 Protestants and Romanists, respecting the lawful- 
 ness of translating the Scriptures out of the origi- 
 nal languages. Most men concede that Jesus 
 Christ, and all agree that his Apostles freely 
 quoted the translation of the Old Testament, 
 called the Septuagint. If Protestants have Lu- 
 ther's and King James's Bibles, Papists have the 
 Do way Bible in English, and Martini's in Italian. 
 There cannot therefore be any fair ground of dis- 
 
PAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES. 4*7 
 
 pute between Protestants and Romanists, respect- 
 ing the lawfulness of making translations out of 
 the Hebrew and Greek into the vernacular lan- 
 guages of the nations. The Yulgate itself, when 
 made, was a translation into the vernacular of the 
 great mass of the then existing generation. 
 
 Both Romanists and Protestants have made 
 translations, though the latter have made many 
 more than the former. But in allowing and doing 
 it at all, Papists have conceded the principle. 
 Alphonsus a Castro says, " Fatemur sacros libros 
 olim in linguam vulgarem fuisse translatos." 
 ''We confess that formerly the holy books were 
 translated into the vulgar tongue." In a discus- 
 sion with Protestants, perhaps but few Romish 
 doctors would refuse to concede as much ; but 
 where Popery has undisputed sway, it is different. 
 Azorius maintains that it is a heresy to say that 
 the Scriptures ought to be translated into vulgar 
 languages, yet even he admits that "all were al- 
 lowed to read the Scriptures for several cen- 
 turies." 
 
 Many things may be found in the writings of 
 high authorities in the Romish church, which at 
 first sight look like a desire to bring the Bible 
 into common use. Thus in the Ursuline Manual, 
 "approved by the Right Rev. Bishop Hughes," 
 of New York, it is said, " The New Testament, 
 
48 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 the Lives of the Saints, the Introduction to a De- 
 vout Life, the Imitation of Christ, the Spiritual 
 Combat, the Think Well OnH, and the Characters 
 of Real Devotion, are works from which young 
 persons may undoubtedly draw the two great be- 
 nefits to be derived from spiritual reading, viz., 
 instruction in the maxims of virtue, and encourage- 
 ment for reducing those maxims to practice." 
 
 At the first glance this has a plausible appear- 
 ance. But you will observe that while the New 
 Testament is mentioned, not a word is said of any 
 part of the Old Testament. "Why must Moses, 
 and David, and Solomon, and Isaiah, and all the 
 old prophets be thus ignored ? Did not all of 
 them say things savory and wholesome ? Did 
 not Solomon address large portions of his writings 
 to the young ? And is it not intolerable that 
 such miserable fables, as abound in those books, 
 called " The Lives of the Saints," should be al- 
 lowed to supplant and supersede the sublime 
 teachings of Moses, the admirable and holy songs 
 of David, the proverbial wisdom of Solomon, and 
 the hallowed fire and evangelical prophecies of 
 Isaiah ? What is the chaff to the wheat ? 
 
 But the key of rightly interpreting this seeming 
 recommendation of a portion of Holy Scripture, 
 is to be found on the same page, where among 
 the "means necessary for promoting immediate 
 
PAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES. 49 
 
 sanctification," the first, which is stated, is "the 
 advice of a director, which is necessary to all 
 Christians, but indispensably requisite for youth." 
 So, after all, even the New Testament is good for 
 young people only when the priest recommends 
 it, and how often he does that may be inferred 
 from the great scarcity of Bibles in the families of 
 Romanists, even in this country. In purely Pa- 
 pal lands are millions of adults, who never owned 
 nor read one book of the New Testament ; yet 
 they were encouraged to read the Lives of the 
 Saints. 
 
 We come now to consider the charge that the 
 Church of Rome is, and for a long time has been, 
 hostile to the free use and general circulation of 
 the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 At the very threshold of the discussion some 
 remarkable facts present themselves. One is, that 
 although for more than three centuries the church 
 cf Rome has been engaged in missions, and 
 boasts of converts among more than sixty differ- 
 ent tribes of heathen, yet in all that time her mis- 
 sionaries have not, it is believed, translated the 
 Word of God into the language of any of these 
 people. If there be an exception, it has as yet 
 eluded a pretty diligent search. Is it not strange 
 that men should avowedly go forth to spread the 
 knowledge of Christianity, and yet never let peo- 
 5 
 
50 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 pie see the documents on which that system of 
 truth depends ? These missionaries do translate 
 other books. Why do they thus pass by God's 
 Word ? Does not this look like an intentional 
 slight, a uniform hostility to the Bible ? 
 
 Another striking fact that meets us is, that 
 there is not now known to be one Popish Bible 
 Society on the face of all the earth, nor a single 
 dignitary of that communion engaged in promot- 
 ing the objects of such institutions. Here is 
 something more than curious : Methodists, Bap- 
 tists, Independents, Episcopalians, Lutherans, 
 Friends, Moravians, Presbyterians, and even 
 thousands, who belong to no communion, but are 
 merely friends of man and of liberty, are very de- 
 sirous that all the people should have God's pure 
 word. But the authorities of the Church of 
 Rome never send out, nor encourage others in 
 sending out the Bible in the vulgar tongue with- 
 out note or comment. They never send out 
 agents to distribute the Scriptures, even when 
 they have many notes, and never speak a word of 
 encouragement to those who do these things. The 
 consequence is that while you can get all over 
 this land a copy of our common English Bible 
 for twenty-five cents, or even less, a copy of the 
 Doway Bible costs much more, often four or five 
 times that sum. Romanists have societies for 
 
PAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES. 51 
 
 other objects, such as buying cups, boxes for the 
 holy wafer, rosaries, or strings of beads, and cru- 
 cifixes "for their converts." The priests of this 
 country have sent forth some very earnest appeals 
 to their brethren in Austria and elsewhere, to 
 send them such like gew-gaws, or money with 
 which to buy them. But who has ever seen a 
 petition from a priest of Rome to his distant 
 brethren, to send him a good supply of Bibles, or 
 money to buy them, to be given to the ignorant 
 or the learned ? 
 
 How can this be accounted for, except on the 
 ground that Romish priests do not like the Bible ? 
 It makes their people ask hard questions, encour- 
 ages them to think for themselves, and finally 
 converts them to Protestantism. There never 
 was, there is not now, and there never will be a 
 nation of Bible-reading Papists. The teachings 
 of God's word and Papal dogmas, are at per- 
 petual and irreconcilable war. When the editor 
 of the Freeman's Journal recently said: "With 
 an Italian, the possession of a Protestant Bible 
 with the pretence of reading it, is a sure sign that 
 he is a member of one of the secret revolutionary 
 clubs, and a conspirator against the State," what 
 a confession did he make concerning the enor- 
 mous corruptions of those governments, the eyes 
 
52 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 of whose people are opened by the simple word 
 of God ! 
 
 Another fact is, that Romanists oppose the 
 reading of the Scripture in Schools. This oppo- 
 sition is not only to our translation, but it is to 
 any translation whatever. In the " Pastoral Let- 
 ter" of 1840, sent out from Baltimore by the 
 highest authorities of that communion in this 
 land, in general council assembled, these words 
 occur : " We are disposed to doubt, seriously, 
 whether the introduction of this sacred volume as 
 an ordinary class-book into schools, is beneficial 
 to religion." Soon they wax more bold, and say : 
 " If the authorized version be used in a school, it 
 should be under circumstances very different from 
 those which are usually found in the public insti- 
 tutions of our States." There is a great variety 
 of " public institutions in our States," yet, accord- 
 ing to this pastoral letter, none of them "usually 
 found," are fit to have the Word of God; nay, 
 the children shall not have even the Doway Bible, 
 with its notes and comments, and bad translation. 
 Yes, it is a bad translation. In Job, xlii. 6, of 
 our translation, Job says, " I abhor myself and 
 repent in dust and ashes." In the Doway it 
 reads thus : " I reprehend myself and do penance 
 in dust and ashes." In Matt. iii. 2, our Bible 
 says : "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is 
 
PAPISTS GO BEYOXD THE PHARISEES. 53 
 
 at hand." The Doway reads : " Do penance, for 
 the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Then a note 
 says : "Do penance. Penitentiam agite. fxsra- 
 tosctf. Which word, according to the use of the 
 Scriptures and the holy fathers, does not only 
 signify repentance and amendment of life, but also 
 punishing past sins by fasting and such like peni- 
 tential exercises." Every scholar knows how er- 
 roneous are both this translation and this note. 
 In Luke xv. 1, our Bible reads : " joy shall be in 
 heaven over one sinner that repenteth." In the 
 Doway Bible it is, " There shall be joy in heaven 
 upon one sinner that doeth penance." So obvi- 
 ously is our translation correct in this case that 
 in 2 Tim. ii. 25, even the Doway Bible renders the 
 noun of the same derivation, "Repentance." In 
 Heb. xi. 21, our translation reads: "By faith, 
 Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons 
 of Joseph ; and worshiped, leaning upon the top 
 of his staff." In the Doway it reads : "By faith, 
 Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the 
 sons of Joseph ; and worshiped the top of his 
 rod," meaning Joseph's rod. A note says, that 
 Jacob paid "a relative honor to the top of the 
 rod or sceptre of Joseph, as to a figure of Christ's 
 sceptre and kingdom. " Yet with these and many 
 other perversions of God's word in favor of 
 Popery, found in the Doway Bible, these Ameri- 
 5* 
 
54 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 can bishops "doubt seriously," not jestingly, 
 whether children ought to have it ; nay, they are 
 pretty confident that if used at all in school, it 
 must be in some institution different from those 
 we usually have in the United States. Is this 
 fulfilling Christ's command to Peter, " Feed my 
 lambs ?" 
 
 The Metropolitan Magazine, published in Balti- 
 more, May, 1853, says : "We must be permitted 
 to observe here also, that there is a special folly, 
 and a special disregard for the respect due to 
 the sacred book, in insisting, as the Biblicals do, 
 that it [the Bible] shall be used as a school- 
 book." It then quotes, with approbation, Ben- 
 jamin Martin, who censures the "putting of the 
 sacred book into the hands of every bawling 
 school-mistress, and of thoughtless children, to 
 he torn, trampled upon, and made the early ob- 
 ject of their aversion, by being their most tedi- 
 ous task and their punishment." A bawling 
 woman is not fit to be a school-mistress with or 
 without the Bible. Nor is the holy book put 
 into the hands of children to be torn and trampled 
 upon, much less as a punishment to them. But 
 such quotations show the virulence of those who 
 make them towards the volume of inspiration. 
 
 One would think this was going far enough. 
 But they stop not here. The Bible must not 
 
PAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES. 55 
 
 be read by any class of persons found in any 
 country. In the Doway Bible, printed in 1840, 
 and approved by Archbishop Eccleston of Balti- 
 more, and by Bishops Connell and Kenrick of 
 Philadelphia, and by Bishop Hughes of New 
 York, we find the same hostility to its free use. 
 When I first saw it, I said : Surely now, if these 
 men approve the translation as correct, the people, 
 at least the grown people, may indiscriminately 
 buy and read it. No ! In the third page of the 
 book, just following the recommendations, and 
 before a verse of the Bible is reached, there is 
 printed what is called the "ADMONITION," 
 in which are these words : "It was judged neces- 
 sary to forbid the reading of the Scriptures in 
 the vulgar languages, without the advice and per- 
 mission of the pastors and spiritual guides whom 
 G-od has appointed to govern his church. Nor is 
 this due submission to the Catholic Church to 
 be understood of the ignorant and unlearned 
 only, but also of men accomplished in all kind of 
 learning." 
 
 Here then is a Bible, approved as correct in 
 the translation, in the notes and comments, and 
 in the typography, and yet before we reach the 
 first verse of Genesis we are admonished that we 
 must not read it at all without permission from 
 Rome, or from her emissaries. Nor is this pro- 
 
56 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 hibitiou confined to the ignorant people. It ex- 
 tends also to " men accomplished in all kind of 
 learning." 
 
 Is not here a marvellous thing ? This is all 
 published in the nineteenth century, and in the 
 United States of America. If one had read in 
 the title-page of an old manuscript volume the 
 same admonition, and the date at Naples, Lisbon, 
 or Rome, 1340, it would not have sounded so 
 strange. But it is published in Philadelphia in 
 1840, in plain English, by Romish Bishops, that 
 the most learned men in the nation must not read 
 the very Bible approved by themselves without 
 permission. In reading it, I have been doing so 
 without permission. Is it a mortal sin ? Can 
 any man bring his mind to embrace the opinion, 
 that Milton, Locke, Bacon, Hale, Washington, 
 and Marshall could not lawfully read the Scrip- 
 tures without getting permission from some poor, 
 erring worm of the dust ? Who is any ecclesias- 
 tic, that he should step in between man and his 
 Maker's laws, between man and the promises of 
 the Gospel ? If this is not taking away the key 
 of knowledge, what is ? 
 
 Nor is this all. Papists not only have no Bible 
 Societies of their own, but they make war on 
 those which are formed by other people. Pope 
 Leo XIL, in his Encyclical Letter, dated at 
 
PAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES. 5T 
 
 Rome, May 3d, 1824, addressing the dignitaries 
 of his own communion, says: "You are aware, 
 venerable Brethren, that a certain Society, com- 
 monly called the Bible Society, strolls with auda- 
 city throughout the world ; which Society, con- 
 temning the traditions of the Holy Fathers, and 
 contrary to the well-known decree of the Council 
 of Trent, labors with all its might to translate, 
 or rather pervert the Holy Bible into the vulgar 
 languages of every nation : from which proceed- 
 ing, it is greatly to be feared, that what is ascer- 
 tained to have happened as to some passages, 
 may also occcur with regard to others, to wit : 
 that by a perverse interpretation the Gospel of 
 Christ be turned into a human Gospel, or what 
 is still worse, into the Gospel of the Devi] [dia- 
 boli.] To avert this plague [pestem] our pre- 
 decessors published many ordinances ; and in his 
 latter days, Pius YIL, of blessed memory, sent 
 two briefs, one to Ignatius, Bishop of Gnesen, the 
 other to Stanislaus, Archbishop to Mohilow ; in 
 which are mauy proofs, accurately and wisely col- 
 lected from the Sacred Scriptures, and from Tra- 
 dition, to show how noxious this most wicked 
 novelty is both to faith and morals. We also, 
 venerable Brethren, in conformity to our apos- 
 tolic duty, exhort you to turn away your flock 
 by all means [omnimodo] from these poisonous 
 
53 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 [lethiferis] pastures. Reprove, beseech, be in- 
 stant in season and out of season, in all patience 
 and doctrine, that the faithful, intrusted to you, 
 adhering strictly to the rules of our congregation 
 of "the Index, be persuaded, that if the Sacred 
 Scriptures be everywhere published, more evil 
 than advantage will arise thence, on account of 
 the rashness of men." 
 
 Thus spoke Leo XII. in 1824. The brief of 
 Pius VII. to Ignatius referred to above calls the 
 Bible Society " a most crafty device, by which 
 the very foundations of religion are undermined," 
 a " pestilence " and " defilement of the faith most 
 dangerous to souls." 
 
 Gregory XYI. sang the same song. Indeed 
 he seems to have been peculiarly afflicted by the 
 existence and labors of Bible Societies and kin- 
 dred institutions, for he closes one of his bulls on 
 the subject with the words : "We are in sorrow 
 both by night and by day." 
 
 And to come to the present time — Pio Nono 
 thus delivers himself on the same subject : 
 "Among the various insidious measures of which 
 the malicious enemies of the church, and of so- 
 ciety, endeavor to avail themselves for seducing 
 the people, one may be specified as more spe- 
 cially prominent, which they find eminently 
 adapted to their wicked designs, namely, the re- 
 
PAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES. 59 
 
 cent improvement in tlte art of printing. Accord- 
 ingly they busy themselves in publishing pro- 
 fane, lying journals and pamphlets teeming with 
 falsehoods, which they assiduously circulate in 
 multiplied editions. Hence too, at the instiga- 
 gation and with the aid of Bible Societies , which 
 have been denounced again and again by the Holy 
 See, they have the hardihood to carry on the dis- 
 tribution of the Sacred Scriptures, translated con- 
 trary to the rules of the church, in the vulgar 
 tongue, and most wretchedly perverted; and, 
 with a wicked and almost incredible effrontery, 
 they scruple not, under the name of religion, to 
 recommend them to the careful perusal of the 
 faithful. From all this you will understand, most 
 venerable brethren, with what vigilance and soli- 
 citude it behooves you to act, so that the faithful 
 under your charge may be put upon their guard 
 against the poison, which cannot fail to be im- 
 bibed by the reading of such books ; and may be 
 earnestly reminded, with especial reference to the 
 Holy Scriptures, that no person, whatever, is war- 
 ranted to confide in his own judgment, as to their 
 true meaning, if opposed to the Holy Mother 
 Church, who alone, and no other, has received the 
 commission from Christ to watch over the faith 
 committed to her trust, and to decide upon the 
 true sense and interpretation of the Sacred Writ- 
 
GO ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 nigs." All this seems intelligible and unmis- 
 takable. 
 
 We have here the reigning Pope making open 
 war on the free use and general circulation of 
 God's Word. As to the charge of mis-transla- 
 tions, it may be replied that this is not the real 
 ground of objection among Papists to Bible Soci- 
 eties, else they would zealously circulate what 
 they esteem correct translations. Besides, none 
 of our translations are as bad as the Yulgate or the 
 Doway. None of them so far vary from the obvi- 
 ous sense of the original. Let any scholar com- 
 pare them and judge. Moreover, as to the essen- 
 tials of salvation, we find them in all the versions 
 yet given, not excepting the Yulgate and Doway. 
 
 On this snbject we may safely say with Walton, 
 Bochartus, Buxtorf, Gerard, Michaelis and others, 
 that there are variations in the translations, as there 
 are also in the ancient manuscripts of the Scrip- 
 tures, but these differences do not destroy a single 
 doctrine of Scripture, do not set aside a single duty 
 of practical religion, do not present any doctrine 
 to our belief that cannot be disproven by the same 
 translation. I have compared many translations 
 of the third chapter of John's Gospel, beginning 
 with the Vulgate, and I am not able to say which 
 impressed the saving truths it contains in the 
 most affecting manner. 
 
PAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES. 61 
 
 Some years since there was published in Eng- 
 land a document entitled, "Declaration of the 
 Catholic Bishops, the Vicars Apostolic, and their 
 coadjutors in Britain," in which it is declared 
 that the unauthorized reading and circulation of 
 the Scriptures, and the interpretation of them by 
 private judgment, are calculated to lead men to 
 error and fanaticism in religion, and to seditions 
 and the greatest disorders in States and King- 
 doms." If the reading and circulation of the 
 Scriptures, " are calculated" to produce such evils, 
 it must be because the Word of God breathes a 
 spirit of rebellion and contumacy — to utter which 
 is blasphemy against the Almighty. 
 
 As there are many more proofs of the truth of 
 this charge, preferred against the Church of 
 Rome, it may be a relief to the reader to have 
 them presented in the next chapter. 
 
CHAPTER IT. 
 
 SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED ADDITIONAL PROOFS. 
 
 As the charge of hostility to the free use and 
 general circulation of God's Word is one of the 
 heaviest that can be brought against any body of 
 professed Christians, it ought not to be preferred 
 unless it can be proven beyond all reasonable 
 doubt. Additional evidence is therefore given in 
 this chapter. 
 
 We have seen a Pope referring to the Council 
 of Trent, which is the highest authority that 
 Romanists acknowledge. Hear Trent : " Trans- 
 lations of the Old Testament may also be allowed, 
 but only to learned and pious men, at the discre- 
 tion of the Bishop ; provided they use them 
 merely as elucidations of the Vulgate version, in 
 order to understand the Holy Scriptures, and not 
 as the sacred text itself. But translations of the 
 New Testament made by authors of the first class 
 of this Index are allowed to no one, since little 
 advantage, but much danger generally arises from 
 leading them. If notes accompany the versions, 
 which are allowed to be read, or are joined to the 
 
 (62) 
 
PAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES. 63 
 
 Vulgate edition, they maybe permitted to be read 
 by the same persons as the versions, after the sus- 
 pected places have been expunged by the theolo- 
 gical faculty of some Catholic University, or by 
 the general Inquisitor. Inasmuch as it is mani- 
 fest from experience, that if the Holy Bible, 
 translated into the vulgar tongue, be indiscrimi- 
 nately allowed to every one, the temerity of men 
 will cause more evil than good to arise from it, it 
 is, on this point, referred to the Bishops, or 
 Inquisitors, who may by the advice of the Priest 
 or confessor, permit the reading of the Bible, 
 translated into the vulgar tongue, by Catholic 
 authors, to those persons, whose faith and piety, 
 they apprehend, will be augmented, and not 
 injured by it ; and this permission they must have 
 in writing. But if any one shall have the pre- 
 sumption to read or possess it without such writ- 
 ten permission, he shall not receive absolution 
 until he have first delivered up such Bible to the 
 ordinary. Booksellers, however, who shall sell, 
 or otherwise dispose of Bibles in the vulgar tongue 
 to any person, not having such permission, shall 
 forfeit the value of the books, to be applied by 
 the Bishop to some pious use ; and be subjected 
 by the Bishop to such other penalties as the 
 Bishop shall judge proper, according to the qual- 
 ity of the offence. But regulars shall neither 
 
64 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 read nor purchase such Bibles without a special 
 license from their superiors." 
 
 This is plain enough. Who can mistake its 
 import ? Trent is out strongly and clearly 
 against the free use of God's Word, and Trent 
 was the last general council of the church of 
 Rome. Its edicts stand unrepealed, unmodified. 
 
 Evidence of the same thing is found almost 
 everywhere in the books of Romanists. In the 
 " Larger Catechism of the Most Reverend Dr. 
 James Butler, to which is added the Scriptural 
 Catechism of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Milner, the whole 
 approved by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Kenrick," now 
 Archbishop of Baltimore, and printed in 1841, 
 on pp. 81 and 82, we read as follows : 
 
 Q. Is there any obligation of reading the 
 Scriptures ? 
 
 A. The Catholic Clergy are required to read 
 and pray out of it every day. A more strict ob- 
 ligation of studying both the written and un- 
 written Word of God, lies on the Pastors, whose 
 duty it is to inculcate it to the faithful. But 
 there is no such general obligation incumbent on 
 the Laity ; it being sufficient that they listen to it 
 from their Pastors. 
 
 Q. Is it lawful for the Laity to read the Holy 
 Scriptures ? 
 
 A. They may read them in the language in 
 
PAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES. 65 
 
 which they were written, as likewise in the an- 
 cient Yulgate translation, which the Church 
 vouches to be authentic. They may also read 
 them in approved modern versions ; but with due 
 submission to the interpretation and authority of 
 the Church. 
 
 Q. Have any great evils ensued from an unre- 
 stricted reading of the Bible, in vulgar languages, 
 by the unlearned and unstable ? 
 
 A. Yes ; numberless heresies and impieties, as 
 also many rebellions and civil wars. " 
 
 This Catechism is published in Pittsburgh, Pa., 
 by George Quigiey, in 1841. It is not from the 
 press of Vienna or Madrid. It was not printed 
 in the dark ages. 
 
 Victor Hugo, in a speech made about the year 
 1848, used the following language : "There is a 
 book — a book which is from one end to the other 
 of superior emanation — a book which is for the 
 whole world what the Koran is for Islamism, 
 what the Yedas are for India — a book which con- 
 tains all human wisdom — a book which the vene- 
 ration of the people has called the book — The 
 Bible. Ah ! well ; your censure " (he is speaking 
 of the Jesuits,) " has mounted up even to that. 
 An unheard-of thing ! the Popes have proscribed 
 the Bible ! What astonishment for wise minds, 
 what terror to simple hearts, to see the finger of 
 6* 
 
66 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 Rome put upon the Book of God !" In like 
 manner we might record the outbursts of a just 
 indignation on this point from the lips or pens of 
 many others, who have felt the debasing power of 
 Popery at work all around them. 
 
 When we examine the writings of the most 
 distinguished theologians of the Romish Church, 
 on the point before us, we find their teachings in 
 full accordance with the bulls of Popes and the 
 decrees of Councils. Indeed, they are but a 
 repetition of the same monstrous opinions with 
 here and there an attempt to justify them by rea- 
 soning. 
 
 Thus Ligori, who was canonized by Pope 
 Pius VII., on the 13th of December, 1816, and 
 who stands at the head of all their Theologians, 
 says : In the Council of Toledo, which was held 
 A. D. 1239, the laity, of whatsoever rank or class 
 they might be, were prohibited from having in 
 their possession, during the heresy, any book of 
 the sacred Scriptures whatsoever, except the 
 Psalter and the Breviary." He also says, that 
 the Council of Bitterensis, A. D. 1245, "prohi- 
 bited the translation of any of the books of Scrip- 
 ture into the vulgar tongue. The same," he 
 adds, " was also prohibited by the councils of 
 Jerusalem, Mechlin, Camarace, and by many 
 other Councils, as may be seen in a work pub- 
 
TAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES. 6t 
 
 • lished at Paris, A. D. 1661, by command of the 
 clergy of France, under the title of A collection 
 of the authors who have expressly condemned the 
 translation of the sacred Scriptures into the vul- 
 gar tongue." He also refers to the fourth rule 
 of the Index, and says that Pope Clement XL, 
 condemned the 79th proposition of Quesnelle ; 
 which maintained that "It is always useful and 
 necessary at all times and in every place, and for 
 all sorts of persons, to study and to make them- 
 selves acquainted with the spirit, the piety, and 
 the mysteries of the sacred Scriptures." 
 
 Peter Dens, whose Theology is said to be a 
 text-book at Maynooth, argues at length to the 
 same purport. Having quoted the fourth rule of 
 the Index, he says, " This law has been received 
 and hitherto kept (with some variation on account 
 of the prevailing spirit of some regions,) in, by 
 far, the greatest part of the Catholic world. More 
 indulgence has been granted, only when it was 
 necessary to live among heretics." And he calls 
 special attention to the fact that "the power of 
 granting permission to read the sacred Scriptures 
 in the vernacular tongue belongs to the bishop, 
 or inquisitor, not to the priest or confessor, unless 
 the power has been conceded to them." And he 
 maintains that even "the reading of sacred Scrip- 
 tures in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, must be 
 
G8 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 abstained from, if through defect of capacity or 
 disposition of the mind, it would be of evil ten- 
 dency." One belonging to the hierarchy, is 
 always, of course, to be the judge of such ten- 
 dency. 
 
 The fact, stated by Dens, that in purely Papal 
 countries, the law of prohibition is more rigor- 
 ously enforced, than where there is some mixture 
 of Protestantism, is certainly true. 
 
 The Rev. M. Hobart Seymour, in his " Morn- 
 ings with the Jesuits," says : I had heard that it 
 was impossible to procure a copy of the Holy 
 Scriptures in the Italian tongue. * * I wished 
 to ascertain the matter for my own information ; 
 I had gone to every bookselling establishment in 
 the city of Rome. * * I found that the Holy 
 Scriptures were not for sale. I could not procure 
 a single copy in the Roman language and of a 
 portable size in the whole city of Rome ; and 
 when I asked each bookseller the reason of his 
 not having so important a volume, I was an- 
 swered in every instance, that the volume was 
 prohibited, or not permitted to be sold. Marti- 
 ni's edition was offered to me in two places, but 
 it was in twenty-four volumes, and at a cost of 
 105 francs, that is, four pounds sterling." Many 
 others have borne a like testimony. 
 
 Cardinal Bellarmine says: "That the people 
 
PAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES. 69 
 
 would not only get no good, but much hurt from 
 the Scriptures ; for they would easily take occa- 
 sion of erring both in doctrines of faith, and in 
 precepts concerning life and manners." 
 
 The council of Toulouse holds this language : 
 " We strictly forbid the Laity to have the books 
 of the Old and New Testaments in the vulgar 
 tongue." 
 
 Peresius says : " Shall no bounds be set to 
 popular, rude, and carnal men? Shall old men, 
 before they have put off the filth of their mind, and 
 young men, that yet speak like children, be ad- 
 mitted to read the Scriptures ? I suppose, ve- 
 rily, (and my opinion fails me not) this ordinance, 
 under the pretence of piety, was invented by the 
 devil." 
 
 Dr. Milner, in his " End of Controversy," twice 
 says, that Christ wrote no part of the Scriptures 
 himself, and gave no orders to his apostles to 
 write it. He is trying to show that we are not 
 bound to read the word of God. And yet in a 
 subsequent portion of his work he says : " The 
 Catholic Clergy must and do employ no small 
 portion of their time every day in reading dif- 
 ferent portions of Holy Writ." [Xo doubt he 
 calls the Breviary Holy Writ.] " But no such 
 obligation is generally incumbent on the flock." 
 Yet he says : " The Catholic Church never did 
 
TO ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 prohibit the reading of the Scriptures to the 
 Laity.'' But he durst not say she did not forbid 
 the reading of the Scriptures hy the Laity. The 
 priest may read some of it to them if he chooses, 
 perhaps ; but he is not going to read the whole 
 of God's Word to the people. 
 
 A few years ago, Cardinal Pacca, who held 
 office for upwards of forty years, delivered him- 
 self thus in Rome respecting Bible Societies in 
 France : " Biblical Societies are engaged in sow- 
 ing with a profuse hand copies of the Scriptures, 
 and Protestants arm themselves with new hardi- 
 hood." 
 
 The Protestant world has long looked with 
 great charity upon the character and actions of 
 Fenelon ; yet so deeply seated are the prejudices 
 of the Romish priesthood against the Bible, that 
 Fenelon himself was led into the same error, and 
 in his letter to the Bishop of Arras, as published 
 by Romish papers in this country, he says : " Ger- 
 son cannot be reproached with having favored the 
 maxims of ultramontanists." This author never- 
 theless has thus written : " It is from this pesti- 
 lent fountain that have issued, and that daily 
 increase the errors of the Begards, of the poor 
 men of Lyons, and others like them, among whom 
 many laymen produce the Bible translated into 
 the vulgar tongue, to the great prejudice of Ca- 
 
PAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES. 71 
 
 tholic truth. It is this which it has been pro- 
 posed to correct by the project of a reforma- 
 tion." 
 
 In another place "the translation into the ver- 
 nacular of the holy books should be prevented, 
 especially of our Bible, except the moral and 
 historical books." 
 
 He further says : " It is a thing too dangerous 
 to give to simple persons who have no learning, 
 the books of Holy Scripture translated into 
 French," &c. All these things are quoted with 
 approbation by Fenelon, and much more is said 
 by him in confirmation of them. 
 
 And as if all the foregoing proofs were insuffi- 
 cient, " The Metropolitan," a monthly magazine, 
 edited by a Romish Priest, and published in Bal- 
 timore, has come out on the same side. In the 
 'number for April, 1853, is an extract from 
 Dixon's Introduction, which had previously ap- 
 peared in another magazine across the water. 
 The following sentiments are here found without 
 any qualification : " The practice of the Christian 
 Church, at all times upon this head, has been 
 quite irreconcilable with the supposition, that 
 the Founder of that Church, or his apostles, im- 
 posed any obligation upon all Christians, gene- 
 rally, to read the Scriptures." . . . . " The private 
 study and perusal of the sacred volume has never 
 
72 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 been made obligatory upon them" [the simple 
 faithful.] The prohibitions are then stated, and by 
 whom and when made. And " this discipline " is 
 " vindicated " at length in the number of the Me- 
 tropolitan for May, 1853, in such language as 
 this : " In the first place, then, we lay it down as 
 certain, that no divine precept exists, imposing 
 upon the laity an obligation to read the Scrip- 
 ture." " In fine, there is no passage of Scripture 
 in which it is expressed or implied, that all Chris- 
 tians are under an obligation of reading the 
 Bible." " The right which the simple faithful 
 have to read the Scripture, is not a right inde- 
 pendent of the sanction and approval of the pas- 
 tors of the church." 
 
 Such are some of the proofs of the hostility of 
 the Church of Rome to the free use and general 
 circulation of God's Word. They might easily 
 have been multiplied. Everywhere you find in 
 that apostate church the proofs of her hatred of 
 the free use of Scripture. Indeed the Church of 
 Home does not stop when she has spoken and de- 
 creed against the free use of the Bible. 
 
 She goes yet further, and well merits the title 
 of the Bible-burning Church. This has been her 
 character for centuries. Her gravest doctors de- 
 fend this Bible-burning. Ligori says : " I cannot 
 comprehend with what face certain persons assert 
 
PAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES. 13 
 
 that the church has the right only of condemning 
 bad books, but not the right of prohibiting or of 
 burning them." Here is the doctrine. What is 
 the practice under it ? In Llorente's History of 
 the Inquisition, we read thus on p. 42 : "In 1490, 
 several Hebrew Bibles and books written by Jews 
 were burnt at Seville." On p. 43 we read of a 
 period about sixty years later, where, speaking of 
 Pope Julius III., and his zeal against books, he 
 says the Pope showed his zeal, " particularly 
 against Spanish Bibles." On the same page he 
 tells us that Carranza, who composed the cata- 
 logue of prohibited books for the Council of Trent, 
 coming into England, he "caused many Bibles 
 which had been translated, to be burned." He 
 immediately adds, "some Bibles, which had been 
 introduced into Spain, and were not upon the 
 list, were also prohibited." On p. 44, he says 
 the Supreme Council of Spain, in 1558, " decreed 
 that those theologians in the university, who had 
 studied the Oriental languages, should be obliged, 
 as well as other persons, to give up their Hebrew 
 and Greek Bibles to the commissaries of the Holy 
 Office, on pain of excommunication." Besides 
 many similar things, he tells us on p. 46, that Pe- 
 rez del Prado thus lamented the misfortunes of 
 his age: "That some individuals had carried 
 their audacity to the execrable extremity of de- 
 
 i 
 
74 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 manding permission to read the Holy Scriptures 
 in the vulgar tongue, without fearing to encoun- 
 ter mortal poison therein." 
 
 But this Bible-burning has not been confined 
 to Spain, Italy, and Ireland ; nor to centuries long 
 since gone by. It is the order of the day in this 
 century, and in this country. I have seen in the 
 hands of Rev. J. P. Carter, of Maryland, a pam- 
 phlet respecting the burning of Bibles in St. Ma- 
 ry's Co., in that State, in the year 1819, and 
 have been permitted to copy the following ex- 
 tract from a letter there published, written by the 
 Rev. Leonard Edelen, a Roman Catholic priest, 
 in answer to a letter of the Rev. John Brady, of 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church. The priest 
 says, " Never was my surprise carried to a higher 
 pitch than on finding, in these enlightened days, 
 a Protestant minister so little acquainted with the 
 ancient and uniform practice of the Roman Ca- 
 tholic Church, as to call in question the propriety 
 of her pastors' conduct, for prohibiting those en- 
 trusted to their charge from the perusal of Pro- 
 testant Bibles, and other heterodox books. Had 
 you, sir, taken a deliberate and impartial view of 
 the past ages of the Christian world, you would 
 have been spared the trouble of writing a lengthy 
 epistle ; you must soon have discovered that Ca- 
 tholics, although exceedingly numerous, and 
 
PAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES. 75 
 
 spread throughout the whole known world, and 
 differing in almost every thing else, in their coun- 
 try, language, customs, laws, government, humors, 
 interests, and often at war with each other, yet 
 they were all perfectly united in faith : they had 
 the same books and sense of Scripture, in all con- 
 troverted points, the same rule for expounding 
 them ; in fine, one and the same supreme judge of 
 controversies, to which all were obliged to sub- 
 mit. Hence, sir, you might have inferred why I 
 called upon Catholics to deliver up Protestant 
 Bibles, and all other heretical books in their pos- 
 session ; and why I was determined to commit 
 them to the flames, or doom them to destruction 
 in any way that I thought proper :" pp. 6 and 7. 
 
 It is true this priest does not say he had burned 
 the Bibles, but he admits that he had "called 
 upon Catholics to deliver up Protestant Bibles," 
 and that he " was determined to commit them to 
 the flames or doom them to destruction in any 
 way that " he " thought proper." It is not pro- 
 bable that a determination so boldly avowed, 
 finally gave way, or that he ever restored the 
 Bibles to their legal owners. 
 
 In Nov., 1842, there was a great burning of 
 Bibles by Romish Priests at a protracted meeting, 
 which they held at the Carbo, in the township and 
 county of Champlain N. T. Hundreds of copies 
 
76 HOME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 of God's "Word were by these men piled together 
 and burned. And still more recently in Mexico, 
 N. Y., a. Romish Priest gathered all the Bibles he 
 could collect from Romanists and burned them. 
 Americans will understand these people after a 
 while. The only persons in this land, who burn 
 Bibles are Papists. Even Atheists, Infidels, and 
 Mormons refrain from burning God's word, but 
 Romanists put it in the fire. This work of 
 burning Bibles, so far as we know, was begun by 
 the heathen persecutor, Antiochus. It was after- 
 wards taken up by that monster of depravity, 
 Dioclesian. Since his time the trade has been 
 chiefly carried on by the Pope, his Inquisitors and 
 myrmidons. 
 
 I set out to prove that the Church of Rome is 
 and for a long time has been, hostile to the free 
 use and general circulation of God's word. Doc- 
 uments old and new, European and American, 
 have been submitted to you. You must judge of 
 their relevancy and weight. To my mind they 
 are conclusive and overwhelming, and establish 
 the charge beyond all reasonable doubt. The 
 Church of Rome, as far as she can, excludes 
 every Bible from the schools, she denounces all 
 Bible Societies, she puts the flaming sword of her 
 own prohibitory authority before the first verse 
 of Genesis, warning all her people not to read 
 
PAPISTS GO BEYOND THE PHARISEES. 77 
 
 her own translations without permission. She 
 is a Bible-hating, Bible-burning Church. iShe 
 has long been and still is so. She has taken 
 away the key of knowledge. When her child- 
 ren ask bread she gives them a stone; when 
 they ask an egg, she gives them a scorpion. 
 When they long for God's holy word, she gives 
 them cart-loads of traditions, silly fables, bulls, 
 extravagants, encyclical letters, rosaries, cruci- 
 fixes, and such like ware. Cruel, cruel Rome ! 
 
 7* 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THIS OPPOSITION IS UNREASONABLE AND UNSCRIPTURAL. 
 
 It shall now be shown that this hostility of 
 the Church of Rome to the free use and general 
 circulation of the Scriptures is unreasonable and 
 unscriptural. One of our countrymen has well 
 said : "I wonder, and have always wondered that 
 the Catholics, in prohibiting the free use and cir- 
 culation of the Scriptures, did not except St. 
 Peter's epistles. Was ever any Catholic forbidden 
 to read the letters of a Pope ! I believe not. 
 But if they may and should read the Encyclical 
 Letters of the Popes, why not let them read the 
 1 General Epistles' of the first of Popes, Peter ? 
 Why is it any more criminal to read the letters 
 of Pope Peter than those of Pope Gregory ? I 
 cannot explain this." 
 
 Such conduct is the more inexplicable when 
 we look at the epistles of Peter. In the Doway 
 Bible a note prefixed to the first epistle says : 
 " This Epistle, though brief, contains much doc- 
 trine concerning Faith, Hope and Charity, with 
 divers instructions to all persons, of what state or 
 
 (78) 
 
THIS OPPOSITION UNJUSTIFIABLE. 79 
 
 condition soever. The apostle commands sub- 
 mission to rulers and superiors ; and exhorts all 
 to the practice of a virtuous life, in imitation of 
 Christ. This epistle is written with such apostol- 
 ical dignity as to manifest the supreme authority 
 with which its writer, the Prince of the Apostles, 
 had been invested by his Lord and Master Jesus 
 Christ. He wrote it at Rome, which figuratively 
 he calls Babylon, about fifteen years after our 
 Lord's ascension." 
 
 Now if the epistle is very fine on "faith, 
 hope, and charity," why not let the people have 
 it, especially as.it is confessedly addressed to "all 
 persons of what state or condition soever ?" And 
 if it proves, as here stated, the supremacy of 
 Peter, why not send it broad-cast over the world 
 by the aid of bulls and bishops ? 
 
 As to any " supreme authority " claimed in this 
 epistle by Peter, there is nothing farther from 
 him. In chap- v. 1, he says, in our translation, 
 " The elders which are among you I exhort, who 
 am also an elder." This is far from all arro- 
 gancy. He could not more effectually renounce 
 all right and desire to lord it over God's heritage. 
 The words translated elders and elder in the text 
 above cited are literally "presbyters" and "co- 
 presbyter." 
 
 As to the second epistle, Peter expressly says, 
 
80 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 in the 15th verse of the first chapter, that he 
 wrote it that after his decease, his views on reli- 
 gion might be in possession of the Church. In 
 the Do way Bible, that verse reads thus : " I will 
 endeavor that you frequently have, after my de- 
 cease, whereby you may keep a memory of these 
 things." Why do not Papists aid so praise- 
 worthy an endeavor ? Indeed the note prefixed 
 admits it was written just before his martyrdom. 
 Surely a Pope about to die, and giving his views 
 in this way, might, one would think, be allowed 
 to speak. 
 
 But no ! The Romish Church does not freely 
 circulate, even Peter's Epistles. I wish they 
 would. Perhaps the reason why they do not is, 
 that he very earnestly recommends that his breth- 
 ren should attend to God's word with much 
 care. His language is very explicit. Even the 
 Do way translation is very strong : " We have the 
 word of prophecy more firm : to which you do 
 well to attend, as to a light shining in a dark place 
 until the day dawn, and the morning star rise in 
 your hearts." This prophecy here spoken of, 
 means either all Scripture in general, or it means 
 specifically those portions of Scripture, which 
 contain predictions of future events, and which 
 are confessedly the most difficult parts of revela- 
 tion to be understood. Yet Peter says, " You do 
 
THIS OPPOSITION UNJUSTIFIABLE. 81 
 
 well to attend to the worel of prophecy more 
 firm : to which you do well to attend, as to a 
 light shining in a dark place until the day dawn, 
 and the morning star rise in your hearts." This 
 epistle is general, and calls upon God's people 
 without distinction to attend unto the word of 
 prophecy. Would that Pio Nono would say as 
 much, and not oppose Bible Societies. 
 
 It will save time to say, that the Do way Bible 
 is here and elsewhere, in this discourse, freely 
 quoted, that no advantage may seem to be taken 
 by the translation used, and thus an outcry be 
 made by Romanists of erroneous renderings of 
 the sacred text. 
 
 Another thing is very wonderful, that in her 
 hostility to the free use of the Bible generally, 
 the Church of Rome does not except Paul's 
 epistle to the Romans. According to the Doway 
 version, it is expressly addressed "to all that are 
 at Rome, the beloved of God, called to be 
 saints." And yet at this very day, no book is 
 more inaccessible to the masses of the people in 
 the city of Rome, than this very epistle of Paul 
 to the Romans. How is this to be accounted 
 for? 
 
 In a note prefixed in the Doway Bible it is 
 said : " It was written in Greek ; but, at the 
 same time, translated into Latin, for the benefit 
 
82 ROUE AGAIXST THE BIBLE. 
 
 of those who did not understand that language. 
 And though it is not the first of his epistles, in 
 the order of time ; yet it is first placed, on ac- 
 count of the sublimity of the matter contained in 
 it, of the pre-emineuce of the place to which it 
 was sent, and in veneration of the church." If 
 all this is true, why not circulate the epistle every- 
 where ? 
 
 It is true, that Paul does state in this epistle 
 many things which look as if his doctrinal views 
 were quite different from those of modern Popes 
 and of Trent. Yet surely Paul ought to be read 
 at Rome, at least so far as he wrote to that 
 church. In this epistle too, he several times makes 
 very honorable mention of all God's word. In 
 the 2d verse of the 1st chapter, he says that God 
 had promised the Gospel " by his prophets in the 
 Holy Scriptures." And in the 4th verse of the 
 15th chapter he says, "What things soever were 
 written, were written for our instruction ; that, 
 through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, 
 we might have hope." And in the 26th verse of 
 the 16th chapter it is expressly stated, that the 
 mystery of the Gospel is now "made manifest by 
 the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the 
 commandment of the eternal God, for the obe- 
 dience of faith." Can it be that the Church of 
 Koine opposes the free use of the Epistle to the 
 
THIS OPPOSITION - UNJUSTIFIABLE. 83 
 
 Romans because it puts such abundant honor on 
 the whole of the Old Testament, declares that it 
 contains much of the promised blessings of the 
 New, asserts that the Scriptures are vastly conso- 
 latory, and that God would have the Gospel made 
 known by the Scriptures of the prophets ? This 
 conduct is the more remarkable and the more re- 
 prehensible, as the first Pope, Peter, makes very 
 honorable mention of all the epistles " of our 
 most dear brother Paul." 2 Pet. iii. 15, 16. 
 
 This leads to the observation that every where 
 the word of God claims to be read by all, who 
 can read, and to be made known in every possi- 
 ble way, and asserts its own divinity and suffi- 
 ciency with great clearness. The first passage 
 adduced in proof is Deut. xi. 18 — 21, and reads 
 thus: " Lay up these my words in your hearts 
 and minds, and hang them for a sign on your 
 hands, and place them between your eyes. Teach 
 your children that they meditate on them, when 
 thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest 
 on the way, and when thou liest down, and when 
 thou risest up. Thou shalt write them upon the 
 posts of the doors of thy house, that thy days may 
 be multiplied and the days of thy children" &c. 
 
 Greater variety and clearness of expression 
 could not be used in the same space to teach, 1, 
 that the word of God is in every way to be made 
 
84 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 easy of access, and familiar to all the inmates of 
 a family ; and 2, that children, who are here twice 
 named, are as proper subjects of instruction in 
 God's word, and are as large sharers in the bene- 
 fits of such truths as their parents. Indeed the 
 whole passage is but an enlarged form of asserting 
 what Moses more briefly expresses in Deut. xxix. 
 29. " Things which are revealed belong unto us 
 and to our children forever, that we may do all 
 the words of this law." Although the Doway 
 translation of this verse is elliptical, yet the note 
 at the bottom acknowledges that the sense is the 
 same as that given by our translation. 
 
 The Doway Bible also admits, (Josh. viii. 34, 
 35,) that Joshua, M read all the words of the bless- 
 ing and the cursing, and all things that were 
 written in the book of the law. He left out 
 nothing of those things, which Moses had com- 
 manded ; but he repeated all before the people of 
 Israel, with the women and children and strangers 
 that dwelt among them " To this no note is 
 affixed. Here Joshua brought every thing in the 
 law right before the minds of women and children 
 and strangers. I will not stop to argue that 
 whatever it is proper for one man to read to 
 another the world over, it is proper for each man 
 to read for himself. 
 
 The three texts just quoted make special men- 
 
THIS OPPOSITION UNJUSTIFIABLE. 85 
 
 tion of children as fit persons to know and be 
 familiar with the Scriptures. We may as well 
 here examine some other passages which relate 
 to young persons reading the Scriptures. In Ps. 
 cxix. 9, [in the Do way Bihle it is numbered cxviii.] 
 we read: " By what doth a young man correct 
 his way ?" The answer given is, ''by observiug 
 thy words." The Psalmist and Trent do by no 
 means agree. He says that even a young man 
 will "correct his way by observing God's word." 
 Trent says that " if any one shall possess or have 
 it without written permission, he shall not receive 
 absolution until he shall first deliver it up." In 
 the same Psalm, verses 98, 99, 100, we read, 
 " Through thy commandment thou has made me 
 wiser than my enemies : for it is ever with me. 
 I have understood more than all my teachers ; 
 because thy testimonies are my meditation. I 
 have understanding above ancients ; because I 
 have sought thy commandments." In this en- 
 lightening influence of the word of God, which is 
 here said to make men wiser than their enemies, 
 than their teachers, than the ancients, is found the 
 grand objection of Romanists to men's possessing 
 and reading Holy Scripture. There never was a 
 Bible-reading, Priest-ridden community, and no 
 people know this better than the Papal hierarchy. 
 But to return to children and youth. In his 
 8 
 
86 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 second epistle to Timothy, iii. 15, Paul says, 
 " From thy infancy thou hast known the Holy 
 Scriptures, which can instruct thee unto salvation, 
 through the faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All 
 Scripture, divinely inspired, is profitable to teach, 
 to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice. " 
 This would seem to be plain enough on the mat- 
 ter in debate. The Scriptures, which Timothy 
 knew from childhood, were those of the Old Tes- 
 tament, and are confessed to have belonged to a 
 dispensation far less luminous than the present. 
 If they alone could make men wise unto salvation, 
 how much more can both the Testaments, reflect- 
 ing light on each other, accomplish that happy 
 result. 
 
 But as this passage puts a powerful weapon 
 into the hands of those, who maintain the free use 
 of the Bible, even by children, it must not pass 
 without an antidote. Hence the Doway Bible 
 has this note. "Every part of Scripture is cer- 
 tainly profitable for all these ends. But if we 
 would have the ivkole rule of Christian faith, we 
 must not be content with those Scriptures, which 
 Timothy knew from his infancy, that is, with the 
 Old Testament alone." So far you will agree 
 this is a good note. This is the very doctrine of 
 Protestants. Let us have all the Scriptures. 
 But the note proceeds to say that we must not be 
 
THIS OPPOSITION UNJUSTIFIABLE. 81 
 
 content "yet with the New Testament, without 
 taking along with it the traditions of the Apostles, 
 and the interpretations of the Church, to which 
 the Apostles delivered both' the book, and the 
 true meaning of it." This last part of the note 
 is right in the teeth of the text. 
 
 Still, here is the Doway Bible teaching that 
 Timothy knew the Scriptures from his infancy, 
 and yet in the Pastoral letter from the Archbishop 
 and Bishops, met in Baltimore, in 1840, about a 
 page is taken up in discussing whether children 
 and youth should use the Bible in schools, and 
 the decision reached is that they should not, at 
 least in any such school as is usually found in the 
 United States of America. Their own transla- 
 tion says the Scriptures can instruct unto salva- 
 tion, and yet Romanists, led on by Popes and 
 Councils, will not aid existing Bible Societies, 
 nor form one for themselves, nor desist from de- 
 nouncing those who industriously circulate God's 
 Word, calling their Society a "pestilence," "a 
 defilement of the faith," and " most dangerous to 
 souls." Paul says God's Word is not dangerous 
 to souls. He says it is profitable. However, 
 Paul was no Papist, nor has the world ever seen 
 a book (no larger than Paul's epistles,) which 
 was more utterly hostile to all the claims of the 
 Roman Anti-Christ. Indeed, in several of his 
 
83 ROME AGAINST THE EIBLE. 
 
 Epistles, lie plainly utters the most weighty pro- 
 phecies and arguments against Popery, the spirit 
 of which had already begun to appear and to 
 work. See especially 2 Thess. ii. 3-10, and 1 
 Tim. iv. 1-3. 
 
 And Peter was as much in favor of all Chris- 
 tians, even the youngest, having the Bible, as 
 Paul was. In his first epistle, ii. 2, in our En- 
 glish Bible, we read thus: "As new-born babes 
 desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may 
 grow thereby." This from Pope Peter was felt 
 to be a rather strong statement. So in the Do- 
 way Bible there is an attempt to darken it by a 
 false translation. " As new-born infants, desire 
 the rational milk without guile, that thereby you 
 may grow unto salvation." Still, Papists will, 
 perhaps, hardly deny that, the " rational milk" is 
 the milk of God's word. 
 
 Having shown from the Scriptures that people, 
 even from infancy, should know God's Word, and 
 that it will make them wiser than the ancients, 
 and even wise unto salvation, let us now further 
 examine and see whether a perusal of Scripture, 
 wherever people can read God's truth, is not re- 
 quired by his authority. In John v. 39, we have 
 Christ's own words, addressed to a promiscuous 
 audience in Jerusalem, at one of the great feasts 
 of the Jews. Though most who heard him were 
 
THIS OPPOSITION UNJUSTIFIABLE. 89 
 
 unbelievers in his Messiahship, yet he said to all, 
 11 Search the Scriptures, for you think in them to 
 have eternal life, and the same are they that give 
 testimony of me." There is a remarkable note 
 affixed to this passage in the Doway Bible, say- 
 ing, "It is not a command to all to read the 
 Scriptures." Why then does their own Bible 
 translate it as a command ? For shame they were 
 compelled to let Christ's word come forth, 
 "Search the Scriptures;" and yet here is a flat 
 denial of the only sense which can be drawn from 
 that command. Origen, Athanasius, Basil, 
 Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Augustine, all 
 agree that the word rendered " search," is in this 
 place in the imperative. 
 
 So also, Luke tells us, i. 3, 4. " It seemed 
 good to me also, having diligently attained to all 
 things from the beginning, to write to thee in 
 order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mayest 
 know the truth of those words in which thou hast 
 been instructed." Could that evangelist have de- 
 clared in stronger terms, the use and confirmatory 
 nature of Scripture records ? And in Luke x. 
 25, 26, when a lawyer stood up, tempting Christ, 
 and saying, " What must I do to possess eternal 
 life ?" Jesus said to him, " what is written in the 
 law? How readest thou ?" Could Christ have 
 8* 
 
90 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 more clearly declared that the Scriptures were for 
 all and to be read by all, than when he thus re- 
 ferred even an opposer, a bitter, subtle, carping 
 enemy to that one infallible standard ? 
 
 The next passage of Scripture, showing that 
 people, indiscriminately, as they can, ought often 
 and diligently, to read God's word, is found in 
 Acts xvii. 10, 11, where it is said that Paul and 
 Silas coming to Berea, " entered into the syna- 
 gogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble 
 than those of Thessalonica, who received the word 
 with all eagerness, daily searching the Scriptures, 
 whether these things were so." In the margin is 
 this note : " The Jews of Berea are justly com- 
 mended for their eagerly embracing the truth 
 and searching the Scriptures to find out the texts 
 alleged by the Apostles ; which was a far more 
 generous proceeding than that of their country- 
 men at Thessalonica, who persecuted the preachers 
 of the Gospel without examining the grounds they 
 alleged for what they taught." All must agree 
 that this is a good note. But if it were " noble" 
 and " a generous proceeding," in a congregation 
 of Bereans, to search the Scriptures and bring the 
 doctrines of Paul and Silas, though inspired, to 
 the test of God's word, to see whether they were 
 true, why is it not " noble " and " generous " for 
 
THIS OPPOSITION UNJUSTIFIABLE. 91 
 
 a congregation in Rome, Paris, Lisbon, Genoa, 
 Mexico, or New York to do the same thing, when 
 modern and uninspired men preach ?* 
 
 Afterwards, when Paul wrote to the Thessalo- 
 nians, (1 Thess. v. 21,) he said, "prove all 
 things." How could they do this if they were 
 implicitly to believe whatever men should say to 
 them ? Pope Hormisdas, who lived in the sixth 
 century, gave to this passage, the correct inter- 
 pretation. He says : "We ought not to blame 
 that diligence which runs through and examines 
 many things, but only the inclination which leads 
 ns from the truth. By this, we often lay in a store 
 of instruction, that is necessary for the convincing 
 of our very rivals themselves. Neither ought it to 
 be looked upon as a fault to know what we are to 
 shun. Therefore, it is not those who read unsuit- 
 
 * The "Metropolitan" for May, 1853, p. 146 and 147, tries, 
 by bold assertions, to set aside the clear point and teachings 
 of this passage, and says that if the Bereans had "been Chris- 
 tians, their conduct upon the occasion in question, would have 
 been altogether unjustifiable." The Doway Bible, both in the 
 text and in the note, admits that the Bereans acted nobly. 
 Now, if it is noble in a Jew to compare the preaching of an 
 Apostle with the Old Testament, why is it not noble for a 
 Christian to compare the preaching of a modern minister with 
 all God's word, and see if it is true ? To say that it is " alto- 
 gether unjustifiable/' is to make a bold assertion without evi- 
 dence. If a Jew may search the Scriptures, much more a 
 Christian. 
 
92 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 able tilings that do wrong by reading, but those 
 who follow that which is wrong. If it were not 
 so, the teacher of the Gentiles would never have 
 told the faithful, 'Prove afl things; hold fast to 
 that which is good. ' " 
 
 And did not John, in his first epistle ii. 12, 14, 
 say, " I write to you, little children. ... I 
 write unto you, fathers, ... I write unto 
 you, infants ?" But what was the use of his writ- 
 ing to them if they might not know all that he 
 wrote, either by reading it, or by hearing it 
 read ? 
 
 It will hardly be denied that one of the darkest 
 and most difficult books of Scripture, is that of 
 the Apocalypse. Oftentimes it perplexes the 
 learned as well as the ignorant. Yet in the 3d 
 verse of the 1st chapter, the Do way version reads 
 thus : '• Blessed is he that readeth and heareth the 
 words of this prophecy ; and keepeth these things 
 which are written in it." To this passage no note 
 is affixed. By confession of Romanists, there- 
 fore, the thing is plain, and needs no comment. 
 Blessed is he that readeth even the Apocalypse, 
 or heareth it and keepeth its sayings. 
 
 And does not Paul often speak of his epistles 
 as though they were to be made known to the 
 people ? Did he not write them for that very 
 purpose ? Thus in the Doway Bible we read in 
 
THIS OPPOSITION UNJUSTIFIABLE. 93 
 
 Col. iv. 16, "When this epistle shall be read 
 among yon, cause that it be read also in the 
 chnreh of the Laodieeans ; and read you that, 
 which is of the Laodieeans." So in 1 Thess. v. 21, 
 11 1 charge you, by the Lord, that this epistle be 
 read to all the holy brethren. " And in 2 Thess. iii. 
 14, " And if any man obey not our word by this 
 epistle, note that man, and do not keep company 
 with him, that he may be ashamed." Surely 
 Paul did not advise the church to censure any 
 man for not obeying an epistle, of which he had 
 been kept in utter ignorance. 
 
 All these views derive great force from the 
 fact, that according to the clearest teachings of 
 God's word, a knowledge of the Scriptures is the 
 very means appointed by Heaven for our regene- 
 ration, conversion, and sanctification. A few out 
 of many passages must suffice. We read in 
 James i. 18, " Of his own will hath he begotten 
 us by the word of truth ;" 1 Pet. i. 23, " Being 
 born again, not of corruptible seed, but incor- 
 ruptible, by the word of God ;" Ps. cxix. 59, " I 
 have thought on my ways and turned my feet 
 unto thy testimonies;" John xvii. 17, "Sanctify 
 them in truth ; thy word is truth ;" Eph. v. 25, 
 26, " Christ also loved the church, and delivered 
 himself up for it, that he might sanctify it, cleans- 
 
 
94 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 ing it by the laver of water in the word of 
 life." 
 
 Indeed the possession of God's written word 
 was, according to inspired teachings, the greatest 
 distinction between his ancient people, the Jews, 
 and the rest of mankind. So we find in the 
 Doway Bible, Deut. iv. 8, "For what other na- 
 tion is there so renowned, that hath ceremonies, 
 and just judgments, and all the law, which I will 
 set forth before your eyes. Keep thyself there- 
 fore, and thy soul carefully. Forget not the 
 words that thy eyes have seen, and let them not 
 go out of thy heart all the days of thy life. Thou 
 shalt teach them to thy sons, and to thy grand- 
 sons." So also in Ps. cxlvii. 19, the same is 
 taught : "Who declareth his word to Jacob; his 
 justices and judgments to Israel. He hath not 
 done in like manner to every nation ; and his 
 judgments he hath not made manifest to them. 
 Alleluiah !" 
 
 With this view well agrees the New Testament. 
 In Romans iii. 1, 2, Paul says: "What advan- 
 tage then hath the Jew, or what is the profit of 
 circumcision ? Much every way. First, indeed, 
 because the words of God were committed to 
 them." 
 
 And in the great commission given by Christ 
 to his disciples he said: "Go ye, therefore, and 
 
THIS OPPOSITION UNJUSTIFIABLE. 95 
 
 teach all nations ; baptizing them in the name of 
 the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy- 
 Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things what- 
 soever I have commanded you." Now, we know 
 that there are many ways of teaching. One is by- 
 oral instruction. Another is by example. An- 
 other is by putting books into men's hands, and 
 inducing them to read and study them. Very- 
 early in their ministry the apostles called men to 
 reading their epistles and all the sacred books. 
 Men may be saved without learning to read, but 
 in civilized communities that knowledge will be 
 very imperfect which is not reduced to writing, 
 and studied in private. Indeed so convincing is 
 the pure Scripture, that our Lord Jesus himself 
 taught us that nothing could be better suited to 
 bring men to repentance, and gave us a parable, 
 the very last sentence of which is : "If they hear 
 not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be- 
 lieve if one rise again from the dead." Lukexvi. 
 29. And in John v. 46, Christ says expressly, 
 " Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed 
 me; for he wrote of me." The Doway Bible 
 labors to weaken this passage by erroneously ren- 
 dering it thus : " For if you did believe Moses, 
 you would, perhaps, believe me also : for he 
 wrote of me." But even this translation cannot 
 destroy the force of the argument Reading and 
 
96 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 believing Moses will prepare the heart for receiv- 
 ing Christ and his truth. 
 
 And all the Scriptures teach, that whenever 
 the doctrine of* any man is opposed to God's 
 word, it is to be promptly rejected. Isa. viii. 20. 
 "To the law rather and to the testimony." So 
 also in Deut. xiii 1-5, " If there rise in the midst 
 of thee a prophet, or one that saith he hath 
 dreamed a dream, and he foretell a sign and a 
 wonder, and that come to pass which he spake, 
 and he say to thee : Let us go and follow strange 
 gods, which thou knowest not, and let us serve 
 them : thou shalt not hear the words of that pro- 
 phet or dreamer : for the Lord your God trieth 
 you, that it may appear whether you love him 
 with all your heart, and with all your soul, or no. 
 Follow the Lord your God, and fear him and keep 
 his commandments, and hear his voice ; him you 
 shall serve, and to him you shall cleave. " 
 
 Here the test, by which a false teacher, however 
 high his pretensions, should be tried, was whether 
 his teachings tended to withdraw men from the 
 commandments and voice or teachings of God. 
 So also in 2 John verse 10, we read: "If any 
 man come to you, and bring not this doctrine, 
 receive him not into the house, nor say to him, 
 God save you." 
 
 And as we are to know teachers true or false 
 by their doctrine, so we must judge of the church 
 
THIS OPPOSITION UNJUSTIFIABLE. 97 
 
 itself by the same rule, for Christ lays it down as 
 a universal rule without exception: "My sheep 
 hear my voice ; and I know them, and they follow 
 me." John x. 27. Again; "You shall know 
 the truth, and the truth shall make you free." 
 John viii. 32. So that the Church herself is to 
 be known by the truths which she teaches, and 
 not by pomps, and vanities and lying wonders. 
 
 It seems strange that we should be compelled 
 to argue such a point as this at large, when John 
 tells us that he wrote his Gospel for the very pur- 
 pose of settling the faith of the people in a man- 
 ner that would secure salvation : " 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." John xx. 31. 
 
 And now has it not been proven by Moses, by 
 Joshua, by David, by Jesus Christ, by Luke, by 
 Paul, by Peter, and by John, that it is the privilege 
 and duty of all men, as they can, to have and to 
 read God's blessed word ? Could an argument be 
 more scriptural, more conclusive than that fairly 
 drawn from the texts cited? Yerily Tillotson 
 spoke well when he said, " It is a hard case the 
 Church of Rome reduces men to, who will neither 
 allow them any salvation out of their Church, nor 
 the best and most effectual means of salvation 
 when in it." 
 
 9 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THIS OPPOSITION IS CONDEMNED BY THE VOICE OF 
 ANTIQUITY. 
 
 The hostility of the Church of Rome to the 
 free use and general circulation of the Holy 
 Scriptures, is also contrary to the practice of the 
 primitive Church, and the teachings of the early 
 fathers. Roman Catholic Priests profess to re- 
 gard themselves as bound to pay a very sacred 
 regard to the usages and views of the early Chris- 
 tians, and to receive with great deference the 
 opinions of the fathers. Even the Council of 
 Trent professes to "follow the orthodox Fathers." 
 
 Now it is not venturing anything to say that no 
 Christian writer of the first five centuries can fairly 
 be quoted against the free use of God's word. 
 Irenams says : " We have learned the plan of sal- 
 vation from none others than those, by whom the 
 Gospel came to us, which Gospel they first 
 preached, and afterwards by the will of God gave 
 it to us in the Scriptures, as the pillar and lasting 
 foundation of our faith." Again he says that 
 
 (98) 
 
CONDEMNED BY ANTIQUITY. 99 
 
 " prophetical and evangelical Scripture is plain 
 and without ambiguity." 
 
 Chrysostom says: "Is it not absurd, that, in 
 money matters, men will not trust to others, but 
 the counters are produced, and the sum cast up ; 
 yet, in their souls' affairs, men are led and drawn 
 away by the opinions of others, and this when 
 they have an exact scale and an exact rule, viz. : 
 the declaration of the divine laws ? Therefore I 
 entreat and beseech you all, that not minding 
 what this or that man may say about these things, 
 you would consult the Holy Scriptures concern- 
 ing them." Again : " There comes a Gentile and 
 says, ' I wish to become a Christian, but I know 
 not to whom to adhere, for there are among you 
 many disagreements, strifes and broils: I know 
 not which doctrine to prefer or embrace. Each 
 one says, ' I speak the truth,' but whom to believe, 
 I know not, for I am ignorant of the Scriptures, 
 and each one defends his own views ? Verily, 
 this makes much for us ; for if we say that we 
 believe upon the strength of our own reasonings, 
 thou art necessarily confused. But when we receive 
 the Scriptures, which are simple and true, it will be 
 easy for thee to judge. If any man consents to 
 these, he is a Christian ; if he fights against these, 
 he is far from the true precepts of a Christian." 
 Again : " When heresy, which is the working of 
 
ROME AGAIXST THE BIBLE. 100 
 
 Anti- Christ, gains ground, there is no proving a 
 Church, but only by the Scriptures." 
 
 At the Council of Nice, the Emperor Constan- 
 tine thus appealed to the common consent of the 
 Fathers assembled : " The books of the Evange- 
 lists and Apostles, and the prophetic oracles, 
 plainly inform us what opinions and sentiments to 
 entertain concerning God ; therefore, laying aside 
 all unfriendly contention, let us proceed to debate 
 and prove the things in question, from the sacred 
 writings." 
 
 Jerome said : " Love the Scriptures, and wis- 
 dom will love thee :" and " That which has not 
 authority from the Scriptures, is contemned with 
 as much ease, as its nature is proved." 
 
 Tertullian says : " I adore the fullness of Scrip- 
 ture ; I do not admit what thou bringest in of 
 thine own, without Scripture." He also says: 
 "Without doubt that which the Church received 
 from the Apostles, and the Apostles from Christ, 
 and Christ from God, is to be held fast." Again, 
 speaking of certain errorists, he says : " That doc- 
 trine of theirs, if compared with the doctrine of 
 the Apostles, will, by its diversity from it, and by 
 its contrariety to it, be clearly shown not to be 
 the doctrine taught by any Apostle or apostolic 
 man." Again: "Whence arise heretics, alien 
 and hostile to the Apostles, except by a diversity 
 
CONDEMNED BY ANTIQUITY, 101 
 
 of doctrine, which each one has advanced or re- 
 ceived according to his own will, and in opposi- 
 tion to the Apostles." Again he says: "Let 
 Herinogenes show where it is written, and if it is 
 not written, let him fear that woe denounced 
 against those who add to God's Word." 
 
 Basil says : " Let the divinely inspired Scrip- 
 ture determine the whole controversy among us." 
 Again he says : " It is a proof of infidelity, or a 
 sign of pride, to invalidate any thing of all that 
 has been written, or to introduce any thing not 
 found written." 
 
 Theodoret says : " Do not offer reasons and ar- 
 guments that are human, and drawn from the au- 
 thority of men. I believe and obey only the Ho- 
 ly Scripture." 
 
 Justin Martyr says : " We must know, by all 
 means, that it is not lawful or possible to learn 
 any thing of God, or of right piety, save out of 
 the prophets, who teach us by Divine inspiration." 
 
 Augustine says : " Take and read the Scrip- 
 tures, for whatsoever is in them is high and di- 
 vine ; there is verily truth, and a doctrine most fit 
 for the refreshment and renewing of men's minds, 
 and truly so tempered that every one may draw 
 with a devout and pious mind, as true religion re- 
 quires." Again: "Let us not hear, ' I say this 
 and you say that,' but let us hear, l Thus saith 
 9* 
 
102 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 the Lord.' Truly these are the Lord's books, to 
 whose authority we all consent, which we all be- 
 lieve and obey ; there let us seek the church ; 
 there let us discuss our cause." Again : " I have 
 the very clearest voice of my Shepherd without 
 any doubtfulness, setting forth and portraying to 
 me the church. I should therefore have myself 
 to blame, if I should be willingly seduced and led 
 away from his flock, which is the church itself, es- 
 pecially as I should hear him admonishing me 
 with these words, ' As many as are my sheep, hear 
 my voice, and follow me.' This voice is clear, 
 plain, and distinct. He who does not follow it, 
 how dare he say that he is one of Christ's sheep ?" 
 Again : " To this salvation and eternal life no one 
 attains unless he holds the head, Christ. Yet no 
 one can hold the head, Christ, unless he be a 
 member of Christ's body, which is the church, 
 which church we are bound by holy canonical 
 Scripture to acknowledge even as we do the head 
 itself; but we are not in like manner obliged to 
 search into the various stories and opinions of 
 men, as to what they have done and said and 
 seen. Let them, if they can, clearly prove the 
 claims of their church, not by what may have 
 been said and reported in Africa, not by councils 
 composed of their own bishops, not by the letters 
 of disputants, whoever they may be, not by falla- 
 
CONDEMNED BY ANTIQUITY. 103 
 
 cious signs and prodigies, but by the rules laid 
 down in the law of God, in the predictions of the 
 prophets, in the Psalms, in the words of the One 
 Shepherd, in the preachings of the evangelists, 
 that is, in all the canonical authorities of the sa- 
 cred books." Again: "In the Scriptures we 
 have learned Christ, in the Scriptures we have 
 learned the church, we have these Scriptures in 
 common. Why, therefore, should we not hold 
 fast Christ and the church, as presented in them V 
 
 Indeed, Bishop Jewel, preaching at Paul's 
 Cross, before a great assembly, on an exciting oc- 
 casion, gave this challenge, which has not been 
 taken up to this day : "If any one can prove by 
 Scripture, Fathers, Doctors, Councils, for the 
 first six hundred years, that the lay people 
 were forbidden to read the word of god in their 
 own tongue, i will yield and submit." 
 
 So full and uniform is the testimony of the 
 early writers on Christianity, on the duty of stu- 
 dying God's written word, and its fitness to de- 
 cide controversies, and nourish the soul, that Fe- 
 nelon, in his celebrated letter to the bishop of 
 Arras, " On the Reading of the Holy Scriptures 
 in the Vernacular," speaks as follows: "I think 
 that in our days persons have taken useless trou- 
 ble to prove what is incontestable, to wit, that 
 during the primitive ages of the church, lay-per- 
 
104 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 sons were accustomed to read the Holy Scriptures. 
 To be convinced of this, we have only to open 
 the works of St, Chrysostoin. He says, for ex- 
 ample, in his preface to the Epistle to the Ro- 
 mans, that he feels a lively sorrow, because many 
 of the faithful do not understand St. Paul, as they 
 should, and because this ignorance in some is so 
 great that they do not even know the number of 
 his Epistles. He adds, that the disorder proceeds 
 from the fact, that they are unwilling to have his 
 writings in their hands assiduously ; he further de- 
 clares, that ignorance of the holy Scriptures is the 
 source of the contagion of heresies, and of the neg- 
 lect in morals. ' Those,' he says, 'who do not 
 turn their eyes toward the light of the Scriptures, 
 fall necessarily into errors, and into frequent 
 faults.' The whole of this discourse regarded the 
 lay-persons who were accustomed to hear the ser- 
 mons of this Father." 
 
 "St. Jerome speaking to Laeta concerning the 
 education of her grand-daughter, says, that when 
 this child shall commence to be a little older, her 
 parents must find her only in the sanctuary of the 
 Scriptures, consulting the prophets and apostles 
 concerning the spiritual nuptials. He adds : ■ Let 
 her every day bring to you her work in order, 
 which shall be a bouquet of the flowers of Scrip- 
 ture ; let her learn the number of the Greek 
 
CONDEMNED BY ANTIQUITY. 105 
 
 verses, and afterwards let her be instructed in the 
 Latin editions.' 
 
 " He desires that this young maiden should love 
 the holy books instead of jewelry and silken stuffs. 
 .... Let her learn the Psalms Let her in- 
 struct herself in the Proverbs of Solomon on the 
 rules of life ; let her, in Ecclesiastes, accustom 
 herself to trample worldly things under foot ; in 
 the book of Job let her follow the example of 
 Courage and patience ; let her pass to the Gos- 
 pels, never to put them out of her hands ; let 
 her, with an ardent thirst, be filled with the Acts 
 
 of the Apostles, and with their epistles Let 
 
 her learn by heart the prophets, the first seven 
 books of Scripture, those of Kings," &c. 
 
 This language of the Archbishop of Cambray 
 is the more remarkable, as it is the first part of a 
 letter, the object of which is to justify the Church 
 of Rome in putting restrictions upon the reading 
 of God's word. In a subsequent part of the same 
 letter, speaking of the early ages of the Christian 
 Church, he says : " Besides, in those times all 
 the Scriptures, and even all the liturgy, were in 
 the vernacular language. All the West under- 
 stood the Latin, in which was the ancient version 
 of the Bible, called by St. Augustine, the old 
 Italian version. The West also had the liturgy 
 in the same language, which was the language of 
 
106 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 the people. At the East, it was the same thing ; 
 the people there all spoke Greek; they under- 
 stood the Septuagint version, and the Greek 
 liturgy, just as our people understand the French 
 translation. Thus without entering upon any 
 question of criticism, it is clearer than day that 
 the people had in their natural language the Bible 
 and liturgy, which they caused their children to 
 read, that they might be properly educated ; that 
 the holy pastors in their sermons afterwards ex- 
 plained to them the whole Scriptures ; that Uae 
 text was very familiar to the people ; that they 
 were exhorted to read it continually ; that they 
 were reproached for neglecting to read it ; finally, 
 that such neglect was regarded as the source of 
 heresies and of the relaxation of morals. This is 
 something which no one need undertake to prove, 
 because it is evident in the monuments of anti- 
 quity."* 
 
 To every well-ordered mind these concessions 
 of Fenelon must be conclusive as to the usage of 
 the primitive Church. Indeed no Council, for 
 more than six centuries after the death of the 
 oldest apostle, is quoted by Romish authors against 
 the free use of God's word. So that if Roman 
 
 * The foregoing authorities are cited at length in Bennet's 
 Christian Oratory, in Turrettin, and in Fenelon's Letter pub- 
 lished in Roman Catholic newspapers in this country. 
 
CONDEMNED BY ANTIQUITY. 107 
 
 Catholics regard trie unanimous agreement of the 
 Fathers as a rule in such a matter, their conduct 
 is wholly unjustifiable. 
 
 Indeed this exclusion of God's word from the 
 people is so manifestly a modern invention, that 
 Peter Dens confesses: "It must be said that 
 in this point the discipline of the church has been 
 changed, just as communion under both kinds, 
 and daily communion have been changed." 
 
 "The Metropolitan" for May, 1853, p. 151, 
 admits the same: "The Church did not, at its 
 commencement, impose the same restrictions on 
 the reading of the Scripture, as she found it neces- 
 sary to impose in these latter times. And if the 
 Church has never, not even in these latter times, 
 imposed any restriction on the reading of the origi- 
 nal texts and of the ancient versions, the reason is, 
 because the knowledge of the original texts and 
 of these ancient versions soon became limited to 
 the learned and well instructed Christians." Yet 
 the same Xo. p. 147, has the boldness to say that 
 11 no one of the Fathers — not even St. Chrysostom, 
 to whom, above all others, the Biblicals appeal — 
 has ever asserted the existence of a precept bind- 
 ing all Christians to read the Bible. St. Chry- 
 sostom, St. Augustine, and St. Jerome, to all of 
 whom our opponents here refer, at the most, but 
 exhort to the reading of the Scripture." 
 
108 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 The policy and insidiousness of the Church of 
 Rome, in this particular, has been well exposed 
 by Chillingworth : " He, that would usurp an 
 absolute lordship and tyranny over any people, 
 need not put himself to the trouble and difficulty 
 of abrogating and disannulling the laws made to 
 maintain the common liberty ; for he may frus- 
 trate their intent, and compass his own design as 
 well, if he can get the power and authority to 
 interpret them as he pleases, and to have his in- 
 terpretations and additions stand for laws ; if he 
 can rule his people by his laws, and his laws by 
 his lawyers. So the Church of Rome, to estab- 
 lish her tyranny over men's consciences, needed 
 not either to abolish or corrupt the holy Scrip- 
 tures, the pillars and supporters of Christian 
 liberty. But the more expedite way, and there- 
 fore the more likely to be successful, was to gain 
 the opinion and esteem of being the pnblic and 
 authorized interpreter of them, and the authority 
 of adding to them what doctrine she pleased, un- 
 der the title of traditions or definitions. 1 '' Thus 
 Rome has taken away the key of knowledge, and 
 substituted great loads of traditions, glosses, and 
 corruptions for the word of God. 
 
 Some may ask, how do Romanists set aside the 
 numerous teachings of God's word, and the uni- 
 form practice of the primitive church on this sub- 
 
CONDEMNED BY ANTIQUITY. 109 
 
 ject ? This question has already been, in part, 
 answered. More particularly, Romanists claim 
 for their church, power enough to do this or any 
 thing else, however contrary to Scripture. Church 
 authority is the great pillar of all their system. 
 
 But do they not attempt to show that they 
 have some Scriptural authority for their course in 
 this matter ? They do. They rely much on two 
 texts. In Matt, xviii. 15-17, we are told that 
 Christ said : " If thy brother offend thee, go and 
 reprove him between thee and him alone. If he 
 shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. But 
 if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two 
 more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses 
 every word may stand. And if he will not hear 
 them, tell the church, and if he will not hear the 
 church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the 
 publican." This is the favorite passage of Scrip- 
 ture most frequently adduced by Papists, to show 
 that the people must not read the Scriptures 
 without permission. It is quoted in the " Admo- 
 nition " prefixed to the Doway Bible, only Papists 
 do not quote the whole, but merely the last part 
 of it. If they should cite the whole, it would be 
 seen that the text has no more to do with the 
 withholding of God's word from the people than 
 the first verse of Genesis has. In other words, 
 they garble the text so as to make it seem to 
 10 
 
110 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 favor their notions. This is the great foundation 
 of their fearful prohibition to read the Scriptures. 
 God says, that if a man is so wicked and conten- 
 tious, that if you have sought every way to be re- 
 conciled to him, and all the prescribed measures 
 have failed, then you must esteem him no longer 
 as a brother in the Lord. This is the fair, the 
 entire logical sense of the passage. The doctrine 
 of Rome, drawn from it, is that the people must 
 not read the Scriptures ! 
 
 The other passage most commonly quoted by 
 Papists on this subject, and referred to in the 
 Admonition, is that found in 2 Pet. iii. 16, where 
 Peter speaking of Paul's epistles, says, that in 
 them " are some things hard to be understood, 
 which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as also 
 the other Scriptures, to their own perdition." 
 
 There is no doubt that perverting Scripture is 
 a very dangerous practice. It leads to perdition. 
 Nor is it denied that there are in Paul's writings 
 and in other Scriptures also, some things hard to 
 be understood. But if a lesson is hard and a 
 subject difficult, that is one reason why we should 
 study it the more profoundly and humbly, looking 
 to God through Jesus Christ, for the illumination 
 of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 But Peter does not say that every thing Paul 
 says is "hard to be understood." He expressly 
 
CONDEMNED BY ANTIQUITY. Ill 
 
 limits his remark. Why not let the people have 
 at least all except these " some things hard to be 
 understood ?" Nor does he say that the people 
 of honest minds, anxious to know God's will, are 
 likely to be misled ; but he expressly confines his 
 remark to the unlearned and the unstable. Yet 
 even to them, Paul's epistles are harmless, until 
 they " wrest " or pervert them. 
 
 But if Peter had wished to discourage the read- 
 ing of Scripture, what a chance he here had to 
 say so. Instead of that, he says in the very next 
 verse but one, " Increase in grace and in the 
 knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus 
 Christ." Peter, no doubt, well agreed with Paul 
 that "all Scripture divinely inspired, is profitable 
 to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in 
 justice." These apostles never disagreed as to 
 the excellence of God's blessed word. Even 
 Rome does not pretend that there was any differ- 
 ence between them on this vital matter. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. ADDRESS TO ROMISH PRIESTS, TO PRI- 
 VATE MEMBERS OF THE ROMISH CHURCH, AND TO 
 PROTESTANTS. 
 
 I close this discussion by an address to several 
 distinct classes of persons ; wishing to each all the 
 blessings and mercies of the covenant of peace, 
 and an interest in the adorable Redeemer. 
 
 1. To Priests of the church of Rome. 
 
 Friends : You and your people, you and your 
 opposers, are passing rapidly to the bar of the 
 unerring Judge, to whom we must all give ac- 
 count for the deeds done in the body. Robes of 
 office will then be laid aside. Exclusive privileges 
 will shield no one there. Of all the examinations 
 and sentences, none will be more fearful than 
 those of religious teachers who have been unfaith- 
 ful to Christ and his truth. Should you, in that 
 great day, meet one soul that had failed of salva- 
 tion because of your corrupt teachings, or your 
 sinful withholding of the Scriptures, how dreadful 
 will be your reflections ! 
 (1U\ 
 
CONCLUDING ADDRESS. 113 
 
 In your own Bible it is written that, " whoso- 
 ever shall break one of these least commandments, 
 and shall teach men so, he shall be called the 
 least in the kingdom of heaven." Matt. v. 19. In 
 your own Bible I read, " If any man shall add to 
 these things, God shall add upon him the plagues 
 written in this book. And if any man shall take 
 away from the words of the book of this prophecy, 
 God shall take away his part out of the book of 
 life, and out of the holy city, and from these 
 things which are written in this book." Apoca- 
 lypse, xxii. 18-19. 
 
 Men can assume no higher responsibility than 
 by perverting, denying or withholding from the 
 people the Holy Scriptures. By his prophets, by 
 his Son, and by his apostles, God has spoken to 
 all classes of men, rulers and ruled, ministers and 
 people, husbands and wives, fathers and sons, 
 mothers and daughters, masters and servants, rich 
 and poor, old and young. Can it be safe for you 
 to step forward, and say to the people that they 
 shall not hear Jehovah speak, though they may 
 hear you ? If the Pope sends out any writing, 
 any man may buy and read it ; but if the King 
 Eternal, immortal and invisible, who made man, 
 and knows his sins, and sorrows, and wants, in- 
 spires men to write his will and laws, his promises 
 and threatenings, who are you, that you should 
 10* 
 
114 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 withstand God by saying that your fellow-men 
 must not read the writing, unless one of your 
 number, as fallible and as sinful as themselves, 
 shall deign to give permission, and that too "in 
 writing V 
 
 By your own Bible it appears that Timothy 
 might know the Scriptures " from infancy." But 
 who was Timothy ? He was no prodigy ; he was 
 no exception to the general rule. He was the 
 son of the pious Eunice, and the grandson of the 
 pious Lois. If these handmaids of the Lord 
 might instruct their little boy in the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, why may not every man's child have his 
 mind stored with the very words of the Holy 
 Ghost ? In his word God often addresses child- 
 ren, and says many things not a whit above their 
 capacities. If any doubt this statement, let child- 
 ren be tried, let them read the Bible, and you 
 will see how their minds will go eagerly to work, 
 and what questions they will ask. It is in the 
 knowledge of many great and good men, that the 
 impressions which they received early in life, from 
 reading the history of Joseph, of David, and of 
 Christ, were as just and as salutary, though not 
 as adequate, as those of riper years. 
 
 But if you will not feed the lambs, why will 
 you not feed the sheep ? Take up the language 
 of Christ, and say to all your hearers, " Search 
 
CONCLUDING ADDRESS. 115 
 
 the Scriptures." Are there not among your hear- 
 ers many hungry souls, to whom God's Word 
 would be the bread of life ; and who, on reading 
 the Scriptures, would say, as one of old, " How 
 sweet are thy words to my palate ! more than 
 honey to my mouth. By thy commandments I 
 have had understanding : therefore have I hated 
 every way of iniquity." Doway Bible, Ps. 118, 
 (English Bible, 119,) 103, 104. If some parts of 
 God's Word are mysteries, others, and those of 
 the highest importance, are plain. " He that 
 readeth it may run over it." " Fools shall not 
 err therein." One of your popes, a thousand 
 years ago, said : "In the Scriptures are shallows 
 where a lamb may wade, and depths where an 
 elephant may swim." And Pope Pius the Sixth 
 said to Martini, respecting his translation into 
 Italian : "You judge exceedingly well, that the 
 faithful should be excited to the reading of the 
 Holy Scriptures ; for these are the most abundant 
 sources which ought to be left open to every one, 
 to draw from them purity of morals and of doc- 
 trine, to eradicate the errors which are so widely 
 disseminated in these corrupt times." This was 
 the doctrine of that Pope in "the calends of 
 April, m8." And Clement XIV., better known 
 to the literary world as Ganganelli, goes so far as 
 to say, that " the Gospels contain the religion of 
 
116 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 Christ, and are so plain that the meanest capacity 
 can comprehend them." 
 
 If the Gospels are so plain, why will you not 
 grant unrestricted access to them ? Why will you 
 not circulate them ? The promises and invita- 
 tions of God's word are almost all plain. Those 
 relatiug to the salvation of the soul, are peculiarly 
 so. The moral law is very clear. Every honest 
 man may know the correct rule of living, if he has 
 the Scriptures. The threatenings of God- are 
 very plain and pungent. Many of them are rather 
 weakened than strengthened by explanations. 
 From God's word nothing is clearer than that we 
 must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with the 
 heart, or be rejected at last, that we must truly 
 repent of all sin or perish, that we must love God 
 and keep his commandments, or lie down in 
 sorrow. 
 
 Your Bible, like our own, says : " Follow 
 peace with all men, and holiness, without which 
 no man shall see the Lord." Heb. xii. 14. Your 
 Bible as well as ours, says : " God forbid that I 
 should glory but in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ : by whom the world is crucified to me, 
 and I to the world. * For in Christ Jesus, neither 
 circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircum- 
 cision, but a new creature." Gal. vi. 15, 16. Let 
 these and other kindred truths come to all your 
 
CONCLUDING ApDRESS. 117 
 
 people in the written word. Labor and pray that 
 all under your charge " may be filled with the 
 knowledge of his will, in all wisdom, and spiritual 
 understanding ; that they may walk in all things 
 pleasing ; being fruitful in every good work, and 
 increasing in the knowledge of God ; strengthened 
 with all might, according to the power of his 
 glory, in all patience and long-suffering, with joy." 
 Col. i. 9, 11. 
 
 Stand aside, ye mortals ! yea, retreat into your 
 own littleness, and let Jehovah speak to his crea- 
 tures ; let him warn, instruct, reprove, command, 
 comfort, invite and encourage in the very words 
 which he has chosen, "not in the learned words 
 of human wisdom, but in the doctrine of the 
 Spirit." 1 Cor. ii. 13. 
 
 I am the more impelled to urge this matter be- 
 cause I read in your own Bible, these blessed 
 words : " The Spirit and the bride say : Come, 
 and he that heareth, let him say : Come, and he 
 that thirsteth, let him come : and he that will, 
 let him take the water of life, gratis." Apoca- 
 lypse, xxii. 17. 
 
 One of your own number, Archbishop Hughes, 
 of New York, lately scouted the idea that "the 
 Jesuits, the Pope, and the members of the Catho- 
 lic Church throughout the world, have a mortal 
 dread of the Bible." He says : "This would be 
 
118 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 strange, indeed;" and adds, that "the Church 
 availed herself with eagerness, of the art of print- 
 ing for the purpose of multiplying copies of the 
 Holy Scriptures." Now if this is so,, and if you 
 are of the same mind, you will, of course, do all 
 you can to get God's word among the people. 
 Ask the world for money to print Bibles, and you 
 will as surely get it as you are believed to be 
 sincere. But, until you do this, your leader of 
 New York will in vain, say : " It is not surpris- 
 ing that our Protestant neighbors will persist in 
 supposing that we are afraid of our original and 
 hereditary documents that have never been out of 
 our possession ?" The proper reply is, that there 
 is nothing surprising about it, except that men 
 will stand aloof from spreading so good a book, 
 and then express surprise that others should think 
 them afraid of that book. 
 
 Those of you, who are Jesuits, know very well 
 that this is one of your rules : " Those that are 
 admitted to do the particular offices of the house 
 must not learn either to read or write ; or, if they 
 know anything, they must not learn any more. 
 And no man must teach them without leave of 
 the general ; but it shall be sufficient for them to 
 serve Christ our Lord, in holy simplicity and 
 humility." How dare you thus perpetuate igno- 
 rance in your own houses ? How can you thus 
 
CONCLUDING ADDRESS. 119 
 
 act, and then set up for teachers of the rest of 
 mankind? Are ignorance and simplicity the 
 same thing in your esteem ? 
 
 2. To private members of the Roman Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 You will not, I trust, forget these words found 
 in your own Bible : " Every one shall bear his 
 own burden." Gal. vi. 5. Again : "Every one 
 of us shall render account for himself to God." 
 Rom. xiv. 12. I know indeed that your Priests 
 are in the habit of saying to you that if you will 
 obey them, they will answer for you in the last 
 day ; but I know that they and every other man 
 will have to answer for himself. You cannot 
 send a substitute to that war. "We shall all 
 stand before the judgment seat of Christ." Rom. 
 xiv. 10. You cannot divest yourselves, no crea- 
 ture can divest you of your individual accounta- 
 bility to God. 
 
 Your own Bible also says : " Brethren do not 
 become children in sense ; but in malice be 
 children; and in sense be perfect." 1 Cor. xiv. 
 20. The plain meaning of this is clear : " Breth- 
 ren, be not children in understanding : howbeit, 
 in malice be ye children, but in understanding be 
 men." The verse just quoted is clearly parallel to 
 that in 1 Cor. x. 15, where Paul says : " I speak as 
 to wise men : judge ye yourselvse what I say." 
 
120 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 In God's blessed word you have the key to the 
 saving knowledge of God in Christ. Take it, 
 and unlock the store-house of Heaven's richest, 
 choicest mercies, and make them yours. They are 
 offered to you by the Lord. Use your faculties 
 with zeal and diligence in learning God's will. 
 Lift up your voice for understanding. Cry after 
 knowledge. Be in good earnest. Your great 
 Doctor, Peter Dens, quotes from the 9th Homily 
 of Chrysostom on the epistle to the Colossians 
 this excellent advice : " Hear, I beseech you, 
 ye laymen, all of you get Bibles for yourselves, as 
 medicine for the soul." Oh that you would fol- 
 low this advice. 
 
 Well does Dr. Manning in his Moral Enter- 
 tainments say : " The answer of Christ to the 
 young man who wished to know from him the 
 way of salvation, saying, ' How readest thou V 
 teaches us that if we will be rightly instructed, 
 we must go to the divinely inspired writings. 
 The Gospel is that, which we must follow ; by it 
 we must be judged, and by it stand or fall in that 
 day ; and happy is he that shall be found able to 
 meet that awful question of the great Judge, 
 1 How readest thou V " 
 
 Your position in a land of religious liberty and 
 spiritual privileges cannot be divested of the 
 deepest solemnity. You may avoid reflection and 
 
CONCLUDING ADDRESS. 121 
 
 action respecting your soul's affairs, and leave the 
 matter to the care of the Priest; but this will 
 not avail in the last day. He, who shall at last 
 decide your destiny, has already told you that he 
 will not hold any one innocent that slights the 
 Scriptures : " He that despiseth me, and receiveth 
 not my words hath one that judgeth him. The 
 word that I have spoken, the same shall judge 
 him in the last day." John xii. 48. 
 
 God has put you in a land full of open Bibles. 
 Here " the word of God is not bound" by legal 
 enactment. It is free, it is accessible to all. Take 
 and read, search and meditate upon it. Nothing 
 can be of so great value to you and your children 
 as the life-giving truths of the Gospel. 
 
 If you should not understand any passage of 
 Scripture, you may ask others for their views. 
 Only you must judge whether they prove their 
 opinion to be scriptural. Philip did not take the 
 Bible from the Ethiopian, nor chide him for pry- 
 ing into the meaning of the prophet Isaiah, but 
 like a good minister " beginning at that scripture 
 preached to him Jesus." 
 
 And if you should be still in doubt, cry to God 
 for the illumination of his Spirit. Your own 
 Bible gives you the example of pious David in 
 such a case: "Open thou my eyes: and I will 
 consider the wondrous things of thy law. " " Give 
 11 
 
122 ROUE AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 me understanding, and I will search thy law ; and 
 I will keep it with my whole heart." Ps. cxviii. 
 [King James' Bible cxix.] 18, 34. That blessed 
 apostle, James, according to your own translation 
 says : " If any of you want wisdom, let him ask 
 of God, who giveth to all abundantly, and up- 
 braideth not : and it shall be given him." James 
 i- 5. The same apostle says : " The continual 
 prayer of a just man availeth much." James 
 v. IT. 
 
 By leaving some things dark and mysterious, 
 God may for a long time test your submission 
 and docility. Even to your doctors many things 
 in the Bible are dark. Not one of them pretends 
 to tell who is meant by the beast, whose " number 
 is six hundred and sixty-six." See Apoc. xiii. 
 18. At least all the light found in the notes of 
 the Doway Bible is simply this : " The numeral 
 letters of his name shall make up this number." 
 To those who are well disposed it is often useful to 
 be tried. Our Heavenly Father proves us by con- 
 cealing some things from us for a time. It is so 
 in all science. At first many things are dark. 
 But even at last some things are mysterious. 
 The stars do not all shine with equal splendor ; 
 neither do the truths of God. But let none be 
 offended at this. Enough is plain to keep us fully 
 occupied, and to lead us to God. 
 
CONCLUDING ADDRESS. 123 
 
 I beseech you therefore to treasure up in your 
 hearts the very words of God. Give ear to the 
 gracious calls of Christ Jesus : " Come unto me 
 all you that labor, and are heavy laden, and 
 I will refresh you. Take up my yoke upon 
 you, and learn of me, because I am meek and 
 humble of heart : and you shall find rest to your 
 souls. For my yoke is sweet, and my burden 
 light." Matt. xi. 28-30. "Him that cometh 
 to me I will not cast out." John vi. 31. " The 
 Son of Man is come to seek and to save that 
 which was lost." Luke xix. 10. "Behold, I 
 stand at the door and knock : if any man shall 
 hear my voice, and open to me the gate, I will 
 come in to him, and will sup with him, and he 
 with me." Apoc. iii. 20. 
 
 Do you wish to know the way of life, and ask 
 like the Jailor at Philippi, " What must I do that 
 I may be saved ?" You have the answer of in- 
 spired men : " Believe in the Lord Jesus : and 
 thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Acts xvi. 
 29, 30. If you would see how fully and kindly 
 God invites men to be saved, listen to his words : 
 "All you that thirst, come to the waters: and 
 you that have no money, make haste, buy and 
 eat : come ye, buy wine and milk without money, ' 
 and without any price. . . . Seek ye the Lord 
 while he may be found : call upon him while he 
 
124 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the 
 unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to 
 the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and 
 to our God : for he is bountiful to forgive. Is. 
 lv. 1, 6, 1. 
 
 And be not satisfied with having the word of 
 God yourself. It is a duty incumbent on every 
 man to make known the will of God to others. 
 Your own Bible makes it your duty not only to 
 "work your salvation with fear and trembling," 
 but also to do good to others by " holding forth 
 the word of life." Phil. ii. 12, 16. 
 
 3. To Protestants : 
 
 You enjoy, without restriction, from church or 
 state, from priest or magistrate, free access to 
 God's Holy Word. If you slight or despise that 
 sacred treasure, you do it at your peril. " To 
 whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much 
 required." Luke xii. 48. By many solemn and 
 tender obligations you are bound to know the 
 truth, to love it, to live according to it, and to 
 bring others to do the same. Let your light 
 shine. Glorify God with all your powers, and 
 submit yourselves to his statutes and ordinances 
 forever. Remember that an open Bible, not 
 loved, not believed, not practised, will at last but 
 flash damnation in your consciences. 
 
 God's word is not an amulet. It possesses no 
 
CONCLUDING ADDRESS. 125 
 
 power to save those who will not obey it. If you 
 shall refuse to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 your destruction will . be both inevitable and 
 dreadful. " How shall we escape, if we neglect 
 so great salvation ; which at the first began to be 
 spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us 
 by them that heard him." Heb. ii. 3. "He 
 that despised Moses' law, died without mercy, 
 under two or three witnesses : of how much sorer 
 punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought wor- 
 thy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, 
 and hath counted the blood of the covenant, 
 wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and 
 hath done despite to the Spirit of grace." Heb. 
 x. 28, 29. If you despise the teachings of that 
 Saviour, whose sermons you are freely permitted 
 to read, it had been good for you if you had never 
 been born. " He that is wise shall be wise for 
 himself." 
 
 And be not satisfied to go alone to heaven, but 
 persuade others to join your pious march. 
 Wherever they are destitute supply them with the 
 word of God. Persuade them to read it for them- 
 selves. Do all in your power to disseminate the 
 Scriptures. You know what your Bible says in 
 Isaiah lv. 10, 11. The Doway translation of 
 that passage is this : " As the rain and the snow 
 come down from heaven, and return not thither, 
 11* 
 
126 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 but soak the earth, and water it, and make it to 
 spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to 
 the eater : so shall my word be, which shall go 
 forth from my mouth : it shall not return to me 
 void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and 
 shall prosper in the things for which I sent it." 
 
 Let nothing discourage you. If One rejects 
 the truth, another will receive it. God's word is 
 quick and powerful. It is sharper than a two- 
 edged sword. " Are not my words as a fire, saith 
 the Lord : and as a hammer that breaketh the 
 rock in pieces ?" Jer. xxiii. 29. " In the morn- 
 ing sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not 
 thy hand : for thou knowest not whether shall 
 prosper, either this or that, or whether they both 
 shall be alike good." Ecc. xi. 6. 
 
 In particular God has in his wonderful provi- 
 dence, opened a wide door of usefulness to you in 
 the Bible Society, the history of which institution 
 has been marked by many infallible tokens of di- 
 vine favor. It has multiplied the copies of God's 
 Word at least five-fold beyond what they were 
 before. It has been a bond of union among thou- 
 sands of good men. It has greatly increased the 
 demand for the Scriptures, and so has enlisted 
 private capital and private enterprise in the work 
 of spreading the Word of God. 
 
 And it is the very best book you could circu- 
 
CONCLUDING ADDRESS. 127 
 
 late to destroy the power of the Man of Sin. A 
 great statesman well said : " The New Testament 
 is the best book ever written against Popery." 
 t pours floods of light on the benighted and su- 
 perstitious. It teaches all persons to call no man 
 master. If you would pour balm into wounded 
 consciences and tortured spirits, send abroad 
 God's Word. It speaks words of unspeakable 
 comfort to all the penitent. It reveals ample re- 
 wards to suffering virtue. It converts the soul. 
 It purines the heart. It is its own witness. It 
 is no cunningly devised fable. 
 
 Sir Isaac Newton said : "I find more marks of 
 authenticity in the Bible than in any profane his- 
 tory whatever." And even Infidelity has often 
 been compelled to pay the tribute of profound 
 respect to the system of truths taught in God's 
 word. Bolinbroke said: " No religion ever ap- 
 peared in the world, whose natural tendency was 
 so much directed to promote the peace and happi- 
 ness of mankind, as Christianity." " The Gospel 
 is, in all cases, one continued lesson of the strictest 
 morality, of justice and benevolence, and of uni- 
 versal charity." "The system of religion which 
 Christ published, and his evangelists recorded, is 
 a complete system to all the purposes of religion, 
 natural and revealed. It contains all the duties 
 of the former, it enforces them by asserting the 
 
128 ROME AGAINST THE BIBLE. 
 
 divine mission of the publisher, who proved his 
 assertion at the same time by his miracles." 
 Scores of infidels have confessed as much. Even 
 Paine says of Jesus Christ, that " he was a virtu- 
 ous and amiable man. The morality he preached 
 and practised was of the most benevolent kind." 
 
 But the Bible still evinces its heavenly origin by 
 its supernatural effects. It proves every day that 
 it came from God. If all mankind, except a thou- 
 sand, were raving infidels, scowling at all that is sa- 
 cred and benevolent, and that thousand were meek, 
 gentle, humble, penitent believers, there would 
 be ample proof in the case of each of their num- 
 ber, that the Gospel was still the wisdom of God 
 and the power of God unto salvation. God has 
 never made the Gospel more efficacious in reclaim- 
 ing the wandering, in purifying the vile, in con- 
 verting the sinner from the error of his ways, than 
 within the last century. In disseminating this 
 book, you do not beat the air, you run not as un- 
 certainly. 
 
 Above all things, let each one of you make sure 
 work for eternity for his own soul. Be not 
 merely speculative believers, but reduce all to 
 practice. Live according to the precepts of 
 Holy Scripture ; live by the faith of the Son 
 of God ; live to the glory of Him that bought you 
 with his blood. Then when your life shall all be 
 
CONCLUDING ADDRESS. 129 
 
 spent, and you shall enter the invisible state, no- 
 thing that occurred on earth will give you more 
 unfeigned delight, than any part you may have 
 had in building up that kingdom, which is right- 
 eousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 
 
 THE END. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 
 1 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GAYLORD 
 
 
 PRINTED IN US A.