eration, or the Blessed
Sacrament. They have exactly the same _data_ to go upon, precisely the
same statements before them; yet, from the same premises, they will
deduce a diametrically opposite conclusion. Hence, party wrangling,
and sectarian bitterness; hence, the confusion of tongues, which has
changed our Zion into Babel. Indeed, as we all know, so sharp was the
contention in the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, that translations
of the Bible were actually forbidden by two local Church Councils.[2]

An interpreter is as much needed now, as in the days of the Ethiopian
Eunuch. "_How_ readest thou?"[3] is a question second only in {25}
importance (if, indeed, it is second) to "_What_ is written?" Upon
"how" we read, will very largely depend the value of "what" we read.
We go, then, to the Church to interpret the book which it gave us.

And notice--to say this, is not to disparage the Scriptures because we
exalt the Church. It is to put both Church and Scriptures in their
true, historical place. We do not disparage a publication because we
exalt the society which issues that publication; rather, we honour the
one by exalting the other. Thus, when we say that the creeds interpret
the Bible, we do not disparage the Bible because we exalt the creeds,
any more than we disparage the Church when we say that the Bible proves
the creeds. Take the "Virgin Birth," as a single illustration. Are we
to believe that our Blessed Lord was "born of the Virgin Mary"? Church
and Bible give the same reply. The Church taught it before the Bible
recorded it; the Bible recorded it because the Church taught it. For
us, as Churchmen, the matter is settled once and for all by the
Apostles' Creed. Here we have the official and authoritative teaching
of the Catholic Church, as proved by the New Testament; "born of the
Virgin Mary".

{26}

It is this Bible, the Church's Manual of doctrine and devotion, that we
are to think of.

We will think of it under five familiar names:--

(I) The Scriptures.
(II) The Bible.
(III) The Word of God.
(IV) Inspiration.
(V) Revelation.

(I) THE SCRIPTURES.

This was the earliest name by which the Bible was known--the name by
which it was called for the first 1200 years in Church history. It was
so named by the Latin Fathers in the fifth century, and it means, of
course, "The Writings". These "Scriptures," or "Writings," were not,
as the plural form of the word reminds