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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA THE CHURCH AND THE BIBLE AS TEACHERS The Catholic Laymen’s Association publicity bu reau was recently asked why we always hear priests say the Church teaches” this or that, and not ‘‘the Bible teaches.” The answer sent out is reproduced here. The Bible does not teach. To teach is to put forth, to expound, to explain. The Bible does not do any of these things. It is passive, inert; it merely contains. The first quality of real teaching is that it be adapted to the understanding of the one taught. In the case of a universal teacher, this quality must be of universal aptitude; that is to say, it must be adapt ed to the understanding of all persons. This is not possible of a book, which can be written in a limited number of languages only. There are several hundred languages in which the Bible is not written and several hundred more in which it is not possible to write it because they are languages without a written alphabet. It stands in the nature of things, therefore, that the Bible, even though in a loose sense it might be said to teach, cannot be considered a universal teacher. Moreover, even where a people has a written lan guage and the Bible is written in their language, we are reminded by reading in the Sacred text itself that it contains some things hard to understand. Speaking of the working of St. Paul, St. Peter in his 2nd Epistle (iii, 16) says, that they contain ‘‘some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and un stable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” Finally, the Bible cannot be said to be a universal teacher in the sense of containing all truth. We read in the last verse of the Gospel of St. John that there are many other things than those related in the Scrip ture which Jesus Christ did, ‘‘which if they should be written everyone,” says St. John, ‘‘I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” It is plain truth, therefore, that even though we should depart from the strict meaning of the word and consider the Bible as “teaching,” it is by no means al lowable to consider it as a universal teacher, either as adapted to the understanding of all persons to be taught or as teaching all the things which Jesus Christ did. The Church, on the other hand, is a true teacher. It puts forth, expounds, explains. It has a living voice and can be adapted to the understanding of all per sons throughout the world. Though there are tribes and nations without a written language and which cannot therefore receive the Bible, no tribe ever existed without a spoken language. The Church, therefore, is not only a true teacher but a universal teacher. Moreover, as we read in the Gospel of St. John (iv, 26) Jesus Christ said to his Apostles that “the Holy Ghost Whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.” Hence both in its quality of adaptibility to the understanding of all persons and in its power to expound all things whatsoever that Jesus Christ taught, the Church is a universal teacher. That a universal teacher is essential to the promul gation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we know from His words to His Apostles, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature—teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” (Mark xvi, 15; Matthew xxviii, 20). Jesus Christ did not write anything; He preached. He taught by the living voice. He did not command His Apostles to write, but to preach. He conferred on them the gift of tongues in order that they might teach the people of every language. The earliest writing contained in the New Testa ment was not written until many years after our Lord ascended into Heaven; not until after Churches had been established by the Apostles in many countries. The last part of the Bible (the Book of Revelation) was not written for 60 years after our Lord ascended into Heaven, not till Churches had been established in every part of the known world, not till many years after the death of all the Apostles except St. John. When first written the books contained in the New Testament weie scattered all over the world, in the possession of the different Churches where they had been written and not a single book of the Bible was possessed by all the Churches for many hundred years after Christ. The books of the New Testament were not gathered together in one volume until after the Roman Empire had become Christian, more than three hundred years after our Lord ascended into Heaven. Moreover, it was the Church that gathered together the different parts of the Scripture, pronounced them canonical, that is to cay inspired, translated them into one language and incorporated them in one volume. It was the Church that rejected the Gospel written by St. Barnabus, the Apostle, as uninspired, and accepted the Gospel of St. Luke, who was not an Apostle, as an inspired writing. It was the Church that taught us that the Bible is the word of God. Catholic priests are, therefore, in every sense cor rect when instead of saying that the Bible teaches, they tell us that “the Church teaches.” The Church alone has the word of God from Jesus Christ Himself. To her alone did Christ say. “he that heareth you heareth Me. The Bible is a sacred book, the very word of God. We know it because the Church, to whom the Holy Ghost teaches all things, whom Christ promised to be with always, and against whom He said the gates of Hell shall not prevail, she teaches us that the Bible is the word of God. The Church alone is the living voice having author ity and power to fulfill the commands of the Saviour, Go into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature.” CLERICAL LIFE—SOME OF ITS SERIOUS AND HUMOROUS SIDES (Continued from page 5.) fore him and saying nothing. “Is there anything else,” I asked him, “which you would Hike to know about the services of yesterday?” “I have more to think about now than I can get through my brain,” he said, “and I must confess that what you have told me has made a great impression on me. But I think I had better go home and try to piece all these things to gether; it puts things in a new light to me, and it does look now that the Catholic Church has a good deal to say for herself which appeals to those, who, like my self, believe in the Saviour; but there is one question which 1 would like to ask you; Do you mean to say that the Catholic Church of today is the same as the Christian Church of the early days of Christianity. I have read my Bible very attentively and I don’t find in it anything which corresponds to the way things are done today in your Church. Your Church, so it seems to me, claims to dictate what a man must be lieve and allows him no freedom of judging for him self what to believe. I can’t find in my Bible anything about the Mass and the other ornate services of the Church, but I do find that we must search the Scrip tures, and you will not permit one to do that.” , The Mass in the Catacombs “It’s quite certain,” I replied, “that Mass was said in the first Christian age in the Catacombs; and if there was no other proof of it, it would be sufficient to recall that Christ commanded the Apostles to do what He did at the Last Supper, and He then and there did what every priest does at Mass. Besides the history of the days of which you speak, as recorded in the writ ings of the Fathers, shows conclusively, that the es sential part of our Mass dates from the days of the (Continued to page 12.)