Newspaper Page Text
12
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM, ETC.
(Continued from Page Four)
Alford, Baumgarten, Crucius, Neander, DeWette,
Ewald, Bleek, Holtzman, Weiss, Godet, Westcott, Hort,
and others.
The last two mentioned above, Westcott and Hort,
are among the most eminent Greek critics in the
world. Their edition of the Greek Testament is the
standard Greek Text used by all the Protestant theo
logical seminaries, 1 believe, all over the world. The
words, “For Thine Is the Power, Etc.,’’ are omitted
from this Testament.
In 1870 the Convocation of Canterbury appointed
a committee to revise the Authorized (King James)
Version of the Bible. This committee held 407 meet
ings, distributed over more than 1 0 years, and finally
presented to the Convocation in 1881 the Revised
Version,” which omits the ending, “For Thine Is the
Kingdom, Etc.,” to the Lord’s Prayer. An examina
tion of almost any modern critical Protestant com
mentary on the New Testament will show that the
view that this ending of the Lord’s Prayer is an in
terpolation, is practically uniform among scholars.
In “The Expositor’s Greek Testament” (Vol. 1,
p. 122), this ending is called “a liturgical ending,
which is no part of the original prayer.” Canon
Gore (of the Church of England), in his book, “The
Sermon on the Mount” (p. 129), says, “The familiar
Doxology, ‘for Thine, etc.,’ was not in the original
Lord’s Prayer. It was used in the early Church as a
Doxology at the end of many different prayers, and in
very early times came to be attached to the Lord s
Prayer in some of the MSS. It was thus given a
place which it can not rightly claim.” In “The Bible
Commentary” (Vol. 1, p. 34), it is said: ‘The
Doxology is omitted by the majority of modern edi
tors of the Greek Text, who regard it as an interpola
tion.”
The Syriac version, referred to in the letter to you
as being of as early date as the Old Latin, must be
the “Diatesseron” of Tatian; but that does not pur
port to be a literal translation of the four Gospels of
the New Testament, but is a continuous narrative of
the principal events in the life of our Lord. More
over, Tatian’s ending up as a Gnostic of the Encratite
sect reflects some discredit on his work, and while
it was widely used in Syria in the third century, Rab-
bula, Bishop of Edessa, condemned it, and Theodoret,
Bishop of Cyrus, early in the fifth century, ordered it
removed from the churches. The Thebaic version
mentioned by your correspondent has not the stand
ing among the Coptic versions that the Memphitic
version has, for the reason that the former exists
only in fragments, while the latter is entirely extant.
The Memphitic, otherwise known as the Bohairic ver
sion, corresponds to the Catholic Bible, and since
the eleventh or twelfth century has been the standard
of the Church in Egypt.
The reference to versions written for the Jews
made by your correspondent is not clear to me, as I
know of no early versions of the Scriptures written
expressly for the Jews. If this reference is to the
versions made during the sixteenth century and after
by Tillet, Herbest, Giona, and others, it seems they
are not in that case alluded to as primary evidence.
There are some MS versions of the Scriptures in He
brew as old as the eighth century (none older), but
most, if not all, of these of any standing are of the
Old Testament.
Finally, in the early Christian document kiiown as
the Didache, the only ancient MS of authoritative
value which contains this ending of the Lord s Prayer,
it is clearly an interpolation, because it is found at
tached to other prayers also, thus proving it to be,
as said by the Protestant authorities quoted above,
“a liturgical ending, which is no part of the original
prayer,” “used in the early Church as a Doxology at
the end of many different prayers,” “thus given a
place which it can not rightly claim.”
As to the reason for basing the Douay translation
on the Latin and Vulgate versions, your question im
plies that the Latin and Vulgate versions are on a
par, but this is not correct. The Vulgate is a re
vision of the Latin version, and the only version that
ever received the authoritative sanction of the Church.
Pope Damasus in 385 commissioned St. Jerome to
revise the Latin version, and after spending many
years in the work, St. Jerome presented the com
pleted work to the Council of Carthage in 397, and
it was then that the Bible took the form in which we
have it today. The work of the Council of Carthage
was approved by the Pope, and not a book, chapter
or verse has since been added or taken away.
Very truly,
YOUR HOME.
Make your home a Sanctuary. In it let no harsh
word, no angry, indelicate or profane word, be ut
tered.
If not always feasible in the morning, at least
every evening, at a fixed hour, let the entire family
be assembled for night prayers.
Let the adornments of your home be chaste and
holy pictures, sound and profitable books. No in
delicate representation should ever be permitted in
a Christian home. No child ought to be subjected
to temptation by its own parents and in its own
home.
Let the walls of your home be beautified with
suggestions of Our Divine Lord, of His Blessed Mother,
and the Saints; with such pictures of the great and
good as will be incentives to civic and religious
virtue.
The immoral, vulgar, sensational novel, the inde
cently illustrated newspaper, and publications tend
ing to weaken faith in religion and Jesus Christ should
be rigidly excluded from every home.
Have in your home, your sitting room, your bed
room, no matter how small or cheap, a blessed
Crucifix.
Have at the head of your bed, a small vessel
containing Holy Water. If you can not set apart a
room “for God,” at least have some corner of a room
for him. Let it be your oratory.