Battle of the Bibles - Present Truth

standing before the fire drying his wet garments. He turned around to see Newman
prostrate at his feet, begging his blessing, and asking him to hear his confession" (ibid p
135).
Newman, the traitor had indeed arrived "home" where he belonged, and the
mantle of leadership now fell on Pusey's shoulders. From now on, the Church of
England rapidly took on a ritualistic form of service:
"The passion to introduce the Mass, the confession, the burning of candles, holy
water, the blessing of oils, and all other gorgeous accompaniments of Catholic ritualism
went forward so strongly that the movement since 1845 is known rather under the name
of Ritualism" ("Our Authorised Bible Vindicated", p 136).
The ritualistic climate was very favourable to the spread of Catholicism.
According to Ward, during the period from 1830 to 1863 the number of priests in
England alone increased from 434 to 1242! During this time, the convents increased
from a mere sixteen to one-hundred and sixty-two! ("Life of Wiseman", Vol. II p 459).
And now came the opening salvo of the expected attack on the Authorised Bible
of King James. In 1860 there appeared a series of essays by prominent Church of
England clergymen against such vital Protestant doctrines as "the inspiration of the
Bible" and "justification by faith"; also the Protestant stand against purgatory was
attacked.
Dr Fenton J.A. Hort was invited to contribute to the attack on the Scriptures but
he declined - probably because he was already secretly engaged with Bishop Brooke F.
Westcott in translating their Greek New Testament from the corrupted Alexandrian
manuscripts of Rome. He realised that without a Catholic slanted English Bible any
attempt to refute Protestantism in England was premature and likely to fail.
In recognition of the role which the Received Text had played in the success of
the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholics and their sympathisers displayed bitter
hostility towards the King James Bible. Dr Faber, a passionate Romaniser and associate
of Newman, referred to the King James Bible as "That stronghold of heresy in England"
and Newman claimed that it could not be a true comment on the original text as it was
made and authorised by "Royal commands" (Newman, "Tract 90").
Soon after declaring himself a Roman Catholic, Newman was invited to return to
Rome. The Vatican had concluded that Newman could be entrusted with the task of
bringing about the demise of the King James Bible, disparagingly referred to by the
papists as: "The paper Pope of the Protestants" (Von Dobschutz, "The Influence of the
Bible" p 136)
In a letter written from Rome to his compatriot Wiseman, dated January 17, 1847
Newman, disclosed some details of his mission to Rome:
"The Superior of the Franciscans, Father Benigno, in the Trastevere, wished us
out of his own head to engage in an English Authorised Translation of the Bible. He is a
learned man, and on the Congregation of the Index. 10 What he wished was, that we
would take the Protestant translation, correct it by the Vulgate ... and get it sanctioned
here. This might be our first work if you Lordship approved of it. If we undertook it, I
should try to get a number of persons at work (not merely our own party). First, it should
be overseen and corrected by ourselves, then it should go to a few select revisers, eg.
Dr Tait of Ushaw, Dr Whiny of St Edmunds, (a Jesuit)" (Ward, "Life of Wiseman", Vol. I p
454 - Cited in "Our Authorised Bible Vindicated", p 147).
10 The Index is a list of books or writings prohibited by the papacy. Obviously,
this included the Protestant Bible.
5