The Church of the Bible

by Arnold Damen, S.J.

My Dearly Beloved Christians:

      When Our Divine Savior sent His Apostles and HisDisciples throughout the whole universe to preach the Gospel to every creature,He laid down the conditions of salvation thus: "He that believeth and isBaptized," said the Son of the Living God, "shall be saved; but he thatbelieveth not shall be condemned." ( Mark 16:16 ). Here, then, Our BlessedLord laid down the two conditions of salvation: Faith and Baptism.  Hethat believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shallbe condemned -- or is damned. Hence, then, two conditions of salvation: Faithand Baptism. I will speak this evening on the condition of Faith. We must haveFaith in order to be saved, and we must have Divine Faith, not human faith.Human faith will not save a man, but only Divine Faith. What is Divine Faith?It is to believe, upon the authority of God, all the Truths that God hasrevealed; that is Divine Faith. To believe all that God has taught upon theauthority of God, and to believe without doubting, without hesitating; for themoment you commence to doubt or hesitate; that moment you commence to distrustthe authority of God, and, therefore, insult God by doubting His Word. DivineFaith, therefore, is to believe without doubting, without hesitating. Humanfaith is when we believe a thing upon the authority of men -- on humanauthority. That is human Faith. But Divine Faith is to believe withouthesitating, whatsoever God has revealed upon the authority of God, upon theWord of God.  Therefore, my dear people, it is not a matter ofindifference what religion a man professes, providing he be a good man. Youhear it said nowadays in this Nineteenth Century of little faith that itmatters not what religion a man professes, providing he be a good man. That isheresy, my dear people, and I will prove it to you to be such. If it be amatter of indifference what a man believes, providing he be a good man, whythen it is useless for God to make any revelation whatever. If a man is atliberty to reject what God revealeth, what use for Christ to send out HisApostles and disciples to teach all nations, if those nations are at liberty tobelieve or reject the teachings of the Apostles or disciples? You see at oncethat this would be insulting God. If God reveals a thing or teaches a thing, Hemeans to be believed. He wants to be believed whenever He teaches or reveals athing. Man is bound to believe whatsoever God has revealed, for, my dearpeople, we are bound to worship God, both with our reason and intellect, aswell as with our heart and will. God is master of the whole man. He claims hiswill, his heart, his reason, and his intellect. Where is the man in his reason,no matter what denomination, church, or religion he belongs to, that will denythat we are bound to believe what God has taught? I am sure there is not aChristian who will deny that we are bound to believe whatsoever God hasrevealed. Therefore, it is not a matter of indifference what religion a manprofesses. He must profess that true religion if he would be saved. But what isthe true religion? To believe all that God has taught. I am sure that even myProtestant friends will admit this is right; for, if they do not, I would saythey are no Christians at all. "But what is the true Faith?" "The true Faith,"say Protestant friends, "is to believe in the Lord Jesus." Agreed, Christiansbelieve in that. Tell me what you mean by believing in the Lord Jesus? "Why youmust believe that he is the Son of the Living God." Agreed again. Thanks be toGod, we can agree on something. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of theLiving God, that He is God. To this we all agree, excepting the Unitarians andSocinians, but we will leave them alone tonight. If Christ be God, then we mustbelieve all He teaches. Is this not so, my dearly beloved Protestant brethrenand sisters? And that's the right Faith, isn't it ? "Well, yes," says myProtestant friend "I guess that is the right Faith. To believe that Jesus isthe Son of the Living God we must believe all that Christ has taught." WeCatholics say the same, and here we agree again. Christ, then, we must believe,We must believe all that Christ has taught-that God has revealed-and, withoutthat Faith there is no salvation; without that Faith there is no hope ofHeaven; without that Faith there is eternal damnation! We have the words ofChrist for it: "He that believeth not shall be condemned," says Christ.

 

     II But if Christ, my dearly beloved people, commands me under painof eternal damnation to believe all that He has taught, He must give me themeans to know what He has taught. If, therefore, Christ commands me upon painof eternal damnation, He is bound to give me the means of knowing what He hastaught. And the means Christ gives us of knowing this must have been at alltimes within the reach of all people. Secondly, the means that God gives us toknow what He has taught must be a means adapted to the capacities of allintellects- even the dullest. For even those of the dullest of understandingshave a right to salvation, and consequently they have a right to the meanswhereby they shall learn the truths that God has taught, that they may believethem and be saved. The means that God gives us to know what he has taught mustbe an infallible means. For if it be a means that can lead us astray , it canbe no means at all. It must be an infallible means, so that if a man makes useof that means, he will infallibly, without fear of mistake or error, be broughtto a knowledge of all the truths that God has taught. I don't think there canbe anyone present here-I care not what he is, a Christian or an unbeliever-whocan object to my premises. And these premises are the groundwork of mydiscourse and of all my reasoning, and therefore, I want you to bear them inmind. I will repeat them, for on these premises rests all the strength of mydiscourse and reasoning. If God commands me under pain of eternal damnation tobelieve all that He has taught, He is bound to give me the means to know whatHe has taught. And the means that God gives me must have been at all timeswithin the reach of all people- must be adapted to the capacities of allintellects, must be an infallible means to us, so that if a man makes use of ithe will be brought to a knowledge of all the truths that God has taught.

 

     III Has God given us such means? "Yes," say my Protestant friends,"He has." And so says the Catholic: God has given us such a means. What is themeans God has given us whereby we shall learn the Truth that God has revealed?"The Bible," says my Protestant friends, "the Bible, the whole of the Bible,and nothing but the Bible." But we Catholics say, "No; not the Bible and itsprivate interpretation, but the Church of the Living God." I will prove thefacts, and I defy all my separated brethren -- and all the preachers into thebargain -- to disprove what I will say tonight. I say, then, it is not theprivate interpretation of the Bible that has been appointed by God to be theteacher of man, but the Church of the living God. For, my dear people, if Godhas intended that man should learn His (God's) religion from a book -- theBible -- surely God would have given that book to man; Christ would have giventhat book to man. Did He do it? He did not. Christ sent His Apostles throughoutthe whole universe and said: "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the HolyGhost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."Christ did not say, "Sit down and write Bibles and scatter them over the earth,and let every man read his Bible and judge for himself." If Christ had saidthat, there would never have been a Christianity on the earth at all, but aBabylon and confusion instead, and never one Church, the union of one body.Hence, Christ never said to His Apostles, "Go and write Bibles and distributethem, and let everyone judge for himself."

 

    That injunction was reserved for the Sixteenth Century, and we have seen theresult of it. Ever since the Sixteenth Century there have been springing upreligion upon religion, and churches upon churches, all fighting and quarrelingwith one another. And all because of private interpretation of the Bible.Christ sent His Apostles with the authority to teach all nations, and nevergave them any command of writing the Bible. And the Apostles went forth andpreached everywhere, and planted the Church of God throughout the earth, butnever thought of writing. The first word written was by St. Matthew (aCatholic), and he wrote for the benefit of a few individuals. He wrote theGospel about seven years after Christ left this earth, so that the Church ofGod, established by Christ, existed seven years before a line was written ofthe New Testament. St. Mark (also a Catholic) wrote about ten years afterChrist left this earth; St. Luke (another Catholic) about twenty-five years,and St. John (still another Catholic) about sixty-three years after Christ hadestablished the Church of God. St. John wrote the last portion of the Bible --the Book of the Apocalypse (or Revelation as the Protestants call it) -- aboutsixty-five years after Christ had left this earth and the Church of God hadbeen established. The Catholic religion had existed sixty-five years before theBible was completed, before it was written. Now, I ask you, my dearly belovedseparated brethren, were these Christian people, who lived during the periodbetween the establishment of the Church of Jesus and the finishing of theBible, were they really Christians, good Christians, enlightened Christians?Did they know the religion of Jesus? Where is the man that will dare to saythat those who lived from the time that Christ went up to Heaven to the timethat the Bible was completed were not Christians? It is admitted on all sides,by all denominations, that they were the very best of Christians, the firstfruit of the Blood of Jesus Christ. But how did they know what they had to doto save their souls? Was it from the Bible that they learned it? No, becausethe Bible had yet to be written. And would our Divine Savior have left HisChurch for sixty-five years without a teacher of man? Most assuredly not. Werethe Apostles Christians, I ask you, my dear Protestant friends? You say, "Yes,sir; they were the very founders of Christianity." Now, my dear friends, noneof the Apostles ever read the Bible; not one of them except, perhaps, SaintJohn. For all of them had died martyrs for the Faith of Jesus Christ and neversaw the cover of a Bible. Every one of them died martyrs and heroes for theChurch of Jesus before the Bible was completed How, then, did those Christiansthat lived in the first sixty-five years after Christ ascended --- how did theyknow what they had to do to save their souls? They knew it precisely the sameway that you know it, my dear Catholic friends. You know it from the teachingof the Church of God, and so did the primitive Christians know it.

     IV Not only sixty-five years did Christ leave the Church He hadestablished without a Bible, but over three hundred years. The Church of Godwas established and went on spreading itself over the whole globe without aBible for more than three hundred years. In all that time the people did notknow what constituted the Bible. In the days of the Apostles there were manyfalse gospels. There was the Gospel of Simon, the Gospel of Nicodemus, of Mary,of Barnabas, and the Gospel of the infancy of Jesus. All of these gospels werespread among the people, and the people did not know which of these wereinspired and which were false and spurious. Even the learned themselves weredisputing whether preference should be given to the Gospel of Simon or that ofMatthew -- to the Gospel of Nicodemus or the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Maryor that of Luke, the Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus or the Gospel of St. Johnthe Evangelist. And so it was in regard to the epistles: Many spurious epistleswere written, and the people were at a loss for over three hundred years toknow which was false or spurious, or which inspired. And, therefore, they didnot know what constituted the books of the Bible. It was not until the FourthCentury that the Pope of Rome, the Head of the Church, the successor of SaintPeter, assembled together the Bishops of the world in a council. And there inthat council it was decided that the Bible, as we Catholics now have it, is theWord of God, and that the Gospels of Simon, Nicodemus, Mary, the Infancy ofJesus, and Barnabas, and all those other epistles were spurious or, at least,un-authentic; at least, that there was no evidence of their inspiration, andthat the Gospels of Saints Luke, Matthew, Mark and John, and the Book of theApocalypse (Revelation), were inspired by the Holy Ghost. Up to that time thewhole world for three hundred years did not know what the Bible was (Note: TheCatholics at that time did know about the Old Testament, but there was no NewTestament in existence. DB); hence, they could not take the Bible for theirguide, for they did not know what constituted the Bible. Would our DivineSavior, if He intended man to learn his religion from a book, have left theChristian world for three hundred years without that book? Most assuredly not.

     V Not only for three hundred years was the world left without theBible, but for one thousand four hundred years the Christian world was leftwithout the Sacred Book. Before the art of printing was invented, Bibles wererare things; Bibles were costly things. Now, you must all be aware, if you haveread history at all, that the art of printing was invented only a little morethan four hundred years ago (Note: Four hundred years as of this writing; late19th Century) -- about the middle of the Fifteenth Century -- and about onehundred years before there was a single Protestant in the world. As I havesaid, before printing was invented books were rare and costly things.Historians tell us that in the Eleventh Century -- eight hundred years ago --Bibles were so rare and costly that it took a fortune, a considerable fortune,to buy oneself a copy of the Bible! Before the art of printing, everything hadto be done with the pen upon parchment or sheepskin. It was, therefore, atedious and slow operation -- a costly operation. Now, in order to arrive atthe probably cost of a Bible at that time, let us suppose that a man shouldwork ten years to make a copy of the Bible and earn a dollar a day. Well, then,the cost of that Bible would be nearly $3,650! Now, let us suppose that a manshould work at the copying of the Bible for twenty years, as historians say itwould have taken him that long, not having the conveniences and improvements toaid him that we have now. Then, at a dollar a day, for twenty years, the costof a Bible would be nearly $8,000. Suppose I came and said to you, "My dearpeople, save your soul, for if you lose your soul all is lost." You would ask,"What are we to do to save your souls?" The Protestant preacher would say toyou, "You must get a Bible; you can get one at such-and-such a shop." You wouldask the cost, and be told it was $8,000. You would exclaim: "The Lord save us!And can we not go to Heaven without that book?" The answer would be: "No, youmust have the Bible and read it." You murmur at the price, but are asked, "isnot your soul worth $8,000?" Yes, of course it is, but you say you do not havethe money, and if you cannot get a Bible, and our salvation depends upon it,evidently you would have to remain outside the Kingdom of Heaven. This would bea hopeless condition, indeed. For fourteen hundred years the world was leftwithout a Bible --- not one in ten thousand, not one in twenty thousand, beforethe art of printing was invented, had the Bible. And would our Divine Lord haveleft the world without that book if it was necessary to man's salvation? Mostassuredly not.

     VI But let us suppose for a moment that all had Bibles, thatBibles were written from the beginning, and that every man, woman, and childhad a copy. What good would that book be to people who did not know how to readit? It is a blind thing to such persons. Even now one-half the inhabitants ofthe earth cannot read. Moreover, as the Bible was written in Greek and Hebrew,it would be necessary to know these languages in order to be able to read it.But it is said that we have a translation now in French, English, and otherlanguages of the day. Yes, but are you sure you have a faithful translation? Ifnot, you have not the Word of God. If you have a false translation, it is thework of man. How shall you ascertain that? How shall you find out if you have afaithful translation from the Greek and Hebrew? "I do not know Greek orHebrew," says my separated friend; "for my translation I must depend upon theopinion of the learned." Well, then, dear friends, suppose the learned shouldbe divided in their opinions, and some of them should say it is good, and somefalse? Then your faith is gone; you must commence doubting and hesitating,because you do not know if the translation is good. Now with regard to theProtestant translation of the Bible, allow me to tell you that the most learnedamong Protestants tell you that your translation -- the King James edition --is a very faulty translation and is full of errors. Your own learned divines,preachers, and bishops have written whole volumes to point out all the errorsthat are there in the King James translation, and Protestants of variousdenominations acknowledge it. Some years ago, when I lived in St. Louis, therewas held in that city a convention of ministers. All denominations wereinvited, the object being to arrange for a new translation of the Bible, andgive it to the world. The proceedings of the convention were published daily inthe Missouri Republican . A very learned Presbyterian, I think it was,stood up, and, urging the necessity of giving a new translation of the Bible,said that in the present Protestant translation of the Bible there were no lessthan thirty thousand errors. And you say, my dear Protestant friends, that theBible is your guide and teacher. What a teacher, with thirty thousand errors!The Lord save us from such a teacher! one error is bad enough, but thirtythousand is a little too much. Another preacher stood up in the convention ---I think he was a Baptist --- and, urging the necessity of giving a newtranslation of the Bible, said for thirty years past the world was without theword of God, for the Bible we have is not the Word of God at all. Here are yourown preachers for you. You all read the newspapers, no doubt, my friends, andmust know what happened in England a few years ago. A petition was sent toparliament for an allowance of a few thousand pounds sterling for the purposeof getting up a new translation of the Bible. And that movement was headed andcarried on by Protestant bishops and clergymen.

    VII But, my dear people, how can you be sure of your faith? Yousay the Bible is your guide, but you do not know if you have it. Let us supposefor a moment that all should have a Bible. Should all read it and have afaithful translation, even then it cannot be the guide of man, because theprivate interpretation of the Bible is not infallible, but, on the contrary,most fallible. it is the source and fountain of all kinds of errors andheresies, and all kinds of blasphemous doctrines. Do not be shocked, my dearfriends; just be calm and listen to my arguments. There are now throughout theworld three hundred and fifty different denominations or churches, and all ofthem say the Bible is their guide and teacher. And we'll suppose they are allsincere. Are all of them true churches? This is an impossibility. Truth is oneas God is one, and there can be no contradiction. Every man in his senses seesthat every one of them cannot be true, for they differ and contradict oneanother, and cannot, therefore, be all true. The Protestants say the man thatreads the Bible right and prayerfully has Truth, and they all say that theyread it right. Let us suppose that here is an Episcopalian minister. He is(just for the sake of argument) a sincere, an honest, a well-meaning andprayerful man. He reads his Bible in a prayerful spirit, and from the Word ofthe Bible, he says it is clear that there must be bishops. For without bishopsthere can be no priests, without priests no Sacraments, and without Sacramentsno Church. The Presbyterian is a sincere and well meaning man. He reads theBible also, and deduces that there should be no bishops, but only presbyters."Here is the Bible," says the Episcopalian; and "here is the Bible to give youa lie," says the Presbyterian. Yet both of them are prayerful and well-meaningmen. Then the Baptist comes in. He is (again for the sake of argument) awell-meaning, honest man, and prayerful also. "Well," says the Baptist, "haveyou ever been baptized?" "I was," says the Episcopalian, "when I was a baby.""And so was I," says the Presbyterian, "when I was a baby." "But," says theBaptist, "you are going to Hell as sure as you live." Next comes the Unitarian,(presumably) well-meaning, honest, and sincere. "Well," says the Unitarian,"allow me to tell you that you are a pack of idolaters. You worship a man for aGod who is no God at all." And he gives several texts from the Bible to proveit, while the others are stopping their ears that they may not hear theblasphemies of the Unitarian. And they all contend that they have the truemeaning of the Bible. Next comes the Methodist, and he says, "My friends, haveyou got any religion at all?" "Of course we have," they say. "Did you ever feelreligion," says the Methodist, "the Spirit of God moving within you?""Nonsense," says the Presbyterian, "we are guided by our reason and judgment.""Well," says the Methodist, "if you have never felt religion, you never had it,and will go to Hell for eternity." The Universalist next comes in, and hearsthem threatening one another with eternal hellfire. "Why," says he, "you are astrange set of people. Do you not understand the Word of God? There is no Hellat all. That idea is good enough to scare old women and children," and heproves it from the Bible. Now comes in the Quaker. He urges them not toquarrel, and advises that they do not baptize at all. He is the sincerest ofmen (not really, but for argument's sake), and gives the Bible for his faith.Another comes in and says: "Baptize the men and let the women alone. For theBible says, 'unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, hecannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.' So," says he, "the women are all right,but baptize the men." Next comes in the Shaker, and says he: "You are apresumptuous people. Do you not know that the Bible tells you that you mustwork out your salvation in fear and trembling, and you do not tremble at all.By brethren, if you want to go to heaven shake , brother, shake!"

 

     VIII I have brought together seven or eight denominations,differing one from another, or understanding the Bible in different ways,illustrative of the fruits of private interpretation. What, then, if I broughttogether the three hundred and fifty different denominations, all taking theBible for their guide and teaching, and all differing from one another? Arethey all right? One says there is a Hell, and another says there is no Hell.Are both right? One says Christ is God; another says He is not. One says theyare unessential. One says Baptism is requisite, and another says it is not. Areboth true? This is an impossibility, my dear friends; all cannot be true. Who,then, is true? He that has the true meaning of the Bible, you say. But theBible does not tell us who that is -- the Bible never settles the quarrel. Itis not the teacher. The Bible, my dear people, is a good book. We Catholicsallow that the Bible is the Word of God, the language of inspiration, and everyCatholic is exhorted to read the Bible. But good as it is, the Bible, my dearfriends, does not explain itself. It is a good book, the Word of God, thelanguage of inspiration. Your understanding of the Bible is not inspired -- forsurely you do not pretend to be inspired! Now, then, what is the teaching ofthe Church on the subject? The Catholic Church says the Bible is the Word ofGod, and that God has appointed an authority to give us the true meaning. It iswith the Bible as it is with the Constitution of the United States. WhenWashington and his associates established the Constitution and the Supreme lawof the United States, they did not say to the people of the States: "Let everyman read the Constitution and make a government unto himself; let every manmake his own explanation of the Constitution." If Washington had done that,there never would have been a United States. The people would all have beendivided among themselves, and the country would have been cut up into athousand different divisions or governments. What did Washington do? He gavethe people the Constitution and the Supreme Law, and appointed his SupremeCourt and Supreme Judge of the Constitution. And these are to give the trueexplanation of the Constitution to all the citizens of America --- all withoutexception, from the President to the beggar. All are bound to go by thedecisions of the Supreme Court, and it is this and this alone that can keep thepeople together and preserve the union of the United States. The moment thepeople take the interpretation of the Constitution into their own hands, thatmoment there is an end of union.

 

    And so it is in every government --- so it is here and everywhere. There is aConstitution, a Supreme Court or Law, a Supreme Judge of that Constitution, andthat Supreme Court is to give us the meaning of the Constitution and the Law.In every well-ruled country there must be such a thing as this -- a SupremeLaw, Supreme Court, Supreme Judge, that all the people abide by. There is inevery country a Supreme Law, Supreme Court, Supreme Judge; and all are bound bydecisions, and without that no government could stand. "A house divided againstitself cannot stand." Even among the Indian tribes such a condition of affairsexists. How are they kept together? By their chief, who is their dictator. Soour Divine Savior also has established His Supreme Court -- His Supreme Judge-- to give us the true meaning of the Scriptures, and to give us the truerevelation and doctrines of the Word of Jesus. The Son of the Living God haspledged His Word that this Supreme Court is infallible, and, therefore, thetrue Catholic never doubts. "I believe," says the Catholic, "because the Churchteaches me so. I believe the Church because God has commanded me to believeher. He said: 'Hear the Church, and he that does not hear the Church let him beto thee as a heathen and a publican.' 'He that heareth you heareth Me,' saidChrist, 'and he that despiseth you despiseth Me.'" Therefore, the Catholicbelieves because God has spoken, and upon the authority of God. But ourProtestant friends say, "We believe in the Bible." Very well; how do youunderstand the Bible? "Well," says the Protestant, "to the best of my opinionand judgment this is the meaning of the text." He is not sure of it, but to thebest of his opinion and judgment. This, my friends, is only the testimony of aman -- it is only human faith, not Divine Faith. It is Divine Faith alone bywhich we give honor and glory to God, by which we adore His infinite wisdom andveracity, and that adoration and worship is necessary for salvation. I have nowproved to you that the private interpretation of the Scripture cannot be theguide or teacher of man. In another lecture I shall prove that the CatholicChurch is the only true Church of God, and that there is no other: outside ofwhich there is no salvation.

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