herefore, conclude that the Scriptures _alone_ cannot be a
sufficient guide and rule of faith because they cannot, at any time, be
within the reach of every inquirer; because they are not of themselves
clear and intelligible even in matters of the highest importance, and
because they do not contain all the truths necessary for salvation.

God forbid that any of my readers should be tempted to conclude from what
I have said that the Catholic Church is opposed to the reading of the
Scriptures, or that she is the enemy of the Bible. The Catholic Church the
enemy of the Bible! Good God! What monstrous ingratitude! What base
calumny is contained in that assertion! As well might you accuse the
Virgin Mother of trying to crush the Infant Savior at her breast as to
accuse the Church, our Mother, of attempting to crush out of existence the
Word of God. As well might you charge the patriotic statesman with
attempting to destroy the constitution of his country, while he strove to
protect it from being mutilated by unprincipled demagogues.

For fifteen centuries the Church was the sole guardian and depository of
the Bible, and if she really feared that sacred Book, who was to prevent
her, during that long period, from tearing it in shreds and scattering it
to the winds? She could have thrown it into the sea, as the unnatural
mother would have thrown away her off-spring, and who would have been the
wiser?

What has become of those millions of once famous books written in past
ages? They have nearly all perished. But amid this wreck of ancient
literature, the Bible stands almost a solitary monument like the Pyramids
of Egypt amid the surrounding wastes. That venerable Volume has survived
the wars and revolutions and the barbaric invasions of fifteen centuries.
Who rescued it from destruction? The Catholic Church. Without her
fostering care the New Testament would probably be as little known today
as "the Book of the days of the kings of Israel."(151)

Little do we imagine, in our age of steam printing, how much labor it cost
the Church to preserve and perpetuate the Sacred Scriptures. Learned
monks, who are now abused in their graves by thoughtless men, were
constantly employed in copying with the pen the Holy Bible. When one monk
died at his post another took his place, watching like a faithful sentinel
over the treasure of God's Word.

Let me give you a few plain facts to show the pains which the Church has
taken to perpetuate