istles to the Thessalonians) were not written
for twenty years after the Day of Pentecost; the earliest Gospel (St.
Mark) was not committed to writing before A.D. 65. And, even if the
Bible had been written earlier, few could have read it; and even then
few could have possessed it. It was a rare book, wholly out of reach
of "the people". The first Bible was not printed until 1445.

But, thank God, the Church, which wrote the book, could teach without
the book; and we may be sure that no single soul was lost for the want
of what it could not possess. "Without a Bible," says St. Irenaeus,
writing in the second century, "they received, from the Church,
teaching sufficient for the salvation of their souls."

Then, again, the Church alone could decide which books were, and which
books were not, "the Scriptures". How else could we know? The society
authorizes its publications. It affixes {23} its seal only to the
books it has issued. So with the Divine Society, the Church. It
affixes its seal to the books we now know as the Bible. How do we
know, for instance, that St. Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians are
part of the Bible, and that St. Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians is
not part of the Bible? Because, and only because, the Church has so
decided. If we had lived in the days of persecution it would have made
a considerable difference to us whether this or that sacred book was
included in the Christian Scriptures. Thus, when the early Christians
were ordered by Diocletian to "bring out their books," and either burn
them or die for them, it became a matter of vital importance to know
which these books were. Who could tell them this? Only the society
which published them, only the Church.

Again, the Church, and only the Church, is the final _interpreter_ of
the Bible--it is the "_witness_ and keeper of holy writ".[1] The
society which publishes a statement must be the final interpreter of
that statement. Probably no book ever published needed authoritative
interpretation more than the Bible. We call it "the book of {24}
peace"; it is in reality a book of war. No book has spread more
discord than the Bible. Every sect in the world quotes the Bible as
the source and justification of its existence. Men, equally learned,
devout, prayerful, deduce the most opposite conclusions from the very
same words. Two men, we will say, honestly and earnestly seek to know
what the Bible teaches about Baptismal Regen