Battle of the Bibles - Present Truth

It is very important that the significance of Ward's documentation be noted. Here
is a traitor to Anglicanism confiding instructions from the Congregation of the Papal
Index to another English traitor. Note that the King James Version had obviously been
condemned, banned and damned by the Congregation of the Index and that all
concerned were aware of the vital importance of the King James Version to
Protestantism and therefore, the necessity to nullify it. To achieve this goal, it should be
"corrected" by the Latin Vulgate by a group of Catholics and non-Catholics under the
supervision of both Wiseman and Newman, and then be finally reviewed by Catholic
scholars, one of whom was a Jesuit by the name of Whitty. Patently, the inclusion of
non-Catholics was simply a farcical ploy to make it appear a Protestant initiated effort to
produce an authorised update of the King James Version.
But such a deception was more easily proposed than carried out. In order for the
plan to succeed, important, timeconsuming ground work needed to be put in place. First,
a whole generation of theological students at Oxford and Cambridge, as well as
influential clergy, must become sympathetic to Romanism with its ritualistic forms of
worship. Such subverters would need the moral support of a revitalised Roman
hierarchy in Britain.
In 1850 the pope had invested Wiseman with the princely title of Cardinal and
appointed him Archbishop of Westminster. He soon established a chain of command
throughout England consisting of twelve Catholic bishoprics through which Roman
philosophy and religion could now be broadcast.
A measure of the hostility to this increased Roman activity can be gauged by
Protestant reaction in Salisbury, where effigies of the pope, Wiseman and the twelve
bishops were paraded and then burned. Ward describes the scene:
"Castle Street was so densely crowded that no one could pass to the upper part
of it. Shortly after, some hundreds of torches were lighted which then exhibited a forrest
of heads ... The effigies were taken to the Green croft where, over a large number of
faggots and barrels of tar, a huge platform was erected of timber; the effigies were
placed thereon, and a volley of rockets sent up" ("Life of Wiseman", Vol. I pp 551, 552).
Such outbursts only emphasised the need for further caution and more
preparation on the part of the Romanists.
By this time, Anglican clergymen were being caught up in a new type of theology
engendered by a terrific barrage of German Biblical Criticism. Many tracts appeared
containing essays and reviews attacking the Protestant position on the inspiration of the
Bible, justification by faith and Protestant objections to Roman dogma, such as purgatory
and the Mass.
As an example of the tremendous turn-around taking place in the Protestant
clergy. B. G. Wilkinson cites the case of a Protestant writer:
"One of these essays was written by Professor H.B. Wilson, who earlier had
denounced Newman's "Tract 90" for its views on the Thirty-nine Articles [of the Church
of England]. Twenty years later, however, he argued in favour of the very views which he
had denounced previously" ("Our Authorised Bible Vindicated", p 140).
In his "Tract 90", Newman had also portrayed the King James Bible as a
spurious text, devoid of divine authority, having been authorised by royal command and
he contrasted it with the Catholic Vulgate which was "A true comment on the original
text".
Of the many Anglican clerics who had been influenced by the bombardment of
pro-Catholic writings emanating from the Newman-led Oxford Tractarians, there are two
names, which stand out as examples of the success attending the efforts of the ex-
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