MARCH, 1865.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE BIBLE.
THE SEE OF DOWN AND CONNOR.
DR. COLENSO AND THE OLD TESTAMENT.
LITURGICAL QUESTIONS.
CORRESPONDENCE.
DOCUMENTS.
NOTICES OF BOOKS.
There are few so foolish as to close their eyes against the brilliantrays of the mid-day sun, and, at the same time, to assert deliberatelythat the sun is not yet risen, and that the world is still enveloped indarkness.
Nevertheless, something like this has been done quite recently by anestimable Protestant nobleman, who has assured his Irish fellow-countrymenthat the Catholic Church, before the Reformation, "neither furtheredthe interests of science nor disseminated the knowledge of God's writtenword". 1 There was a time, indeed, when such a calumny would have beenreceived by the British public with applause, and when it would havebeen echoed from Protestant pulpits by the predecessors of Colenso, andby the ancestors of many who now hold a place in the councils of herMajesty. But that calumny has been long since abandoned, even by theenemies of our holy faith. Our assailants have laid aside the mask, andrevealed to the world the important fact, that whilst they clamoured forthe Bible, they were themselves its true enemies; and that, combatingthe Church, their secret aim was to sap the foundations of inspired truth,and thus undermine the very citadel which they pretended to defend. It isnot in England alone, but in France and Italy, and throughout the whole[254] continent, that this striking fact is seen. Everywhere society presentsthe singular phenomenon of a sifting of its elements; and whilst all thataspires to the supernatural life, or clings to revelation, virtue, ortruth, is gathered into the bosom of our holy Church, all that is withoutthe Catholic pale is hurried down the inclined plane of Protestantism,and cast into the abyss of infidelity and rationalism. And yet, in theface of this social miracle, a Protestant peer is bold enough to assertthat the Catholic Church is opposed to the progress of science andinspired truth;—thus insulting the memory of his own illustriousforefathers, and outraging the feelings of his fellow-countrymen. It isnot, however, as a matter of controversy that we wish to enter on thepresent inquiry: we wish to view it merely as a matter of pure historictruth. In a future number we hope to consider the relations of the Churchto science; our remarks to-day will only regard her solicitude during theante-Reformation period to diffuse among her children a salutary knowledgeof inspired truth as contained in the Holy Scriptures.
1. The first question that naturally suggests itself is, did the Churchseek to remove the sacred volume from the hands of her own ministers,that is, of those whom she destined to teach her faithful children, andto gather all nations into her hallowed fold? The whole daily life ofthese sacred ministers of itself responds to such a question. Ask theirdiurnal hours, or any page of the daily Li