06.04.2013 Views

Battle of the Bibles - Present Truth

Battle of the Bibles - Present Truth

Battle of the Bibles - Present Truth

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

In 1583, while writing to a Jesuit, Dr Fulke mentioned that Bishop Lindanus had<br />

written a whole book on how he longed to have <strong>the</strong><br />

"errors, vices, corruptions, additions, detractions, mutilations, uncertainties,<br />

obscurities, pollutions, barbarisms and solecisms <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Vulgar Latin translation<br />

corrected and reformed".<br />

He also quoted a monk, Isidarius Clarius, as saying that <strong>the</strong> Catholic Latin<br />

Vulgate was:<br />

'full <strong>of</strong> errors, almost innumerable" (Fulke, "Defence <strong>of</strong> Translations <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Bible"<br />

(1583) p 62, cited in, "Our Authorised Bible Vindicated", p 49).<br />

It was from this Latin Vulgate that <strong>the</strong> Douay Bible was translated into English<br />

(1609) in order to counter <strong>the</strong> English Protestant <strong>Bibles</strong> flowing from Tyndale's<br />

translation which relied on <strong>the</strong> Greek Testament <strong>of</strong> Erasmus. These <strong>Bibles</strong> were<br />

branded and burned by Rome as, "Waldensian <strong>Bibles</strong>" because <strong>the</strong>y had a common<br />

pedigree. When in 1611 <strong>the</strong> King James Version appeared, it too had a pedigree similar<br />

to <strong>the</strong> "Waldensian <strong>Bibles</strong>" or <strong>the</strong> Itala, for <strong>the</strong>y are all <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> traditional Received Text<br />

line.<br />

As <strong>the</strong> Rheims-Douay Bible (1582, 1609) was circulated in an attempt to<br />

counteract <strong>the</strong> "Waldensian <strong>Bibles</strong>", many differences were apparent. Yet, it did not<br />

contain <strong>the</strong> blatant discrepancies that would have existed had <strong>the</strong> Rheims Douay<br />

slavishly followed Constantine's Eusebius Bible.<br />

But this is exactly what happened when in 1881 Westcott and Hort reverted to<br />

<strong>the</strong> Greek Text <strong>of</strong> Eusebius by using <strong>the</strong> Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, for <strong>the</strong>se are<br />

considered to be two surviving Constantine <strong>Bibles</strong>.<br />

There is a second reason why <strong>the</strong> Douay Bible <strong>of</strong> today agrees more <strong>of</strong>ten with<br />

<strong>the</strong> KJ V than with many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> modern versions. Let <strong>the</strong> Roman Catholics explain why:<br />

"The version now in use has been so seriously altered that it can be scarcely<br />

considered identical with that which went by <strong>the</strong> name <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Douay Bible ... Although<br />

<strong>the</strong> <strong>Bibles</strong> in use at <strong>the</strong> present day by <strong>the</strong> Catholics <strong>of</strong> England and Ireland are<br />

popularly styled <strong>the</strong> Douay Version, <strong>the</strong>y are most improperly called; <strong>the</strong>y are founded<br />

with more or less alteration, on a series <strong>of</strong> revisions by Bishop Challoner in 1749-1752 ...<br />

The changes introduced by him are so considerable that, according to Cardinal<br />

Newman, <strong>the</strong>y almost amounted to a new translation. So, also, Cardinal Wiseman wrote,<br />

'to call it any longer <strong>the</strong> Douay or Rheimish Version is an abuse <strong>of</strong> terms. It has been<br />

altered and modified until scarcely any verse remains as it was originally published. In<br />

nearly every case, Challoner's changes took <strong>the</strong> form approximating to <strong>the</strong> Authorised<br />

Version "' ("The Catholic Encyclopedia", Article Douay Bible).<br />

Imitation is <strong>the</strong> sincerest form <strong>of</strong> flattery. Here we have an implied admission by<br />

Rome that her Latin Vulgate is inferior to <strong>the</strong> Received Text. So, in an attempt to gain<br />

credibility in <strong>the</strong> English-speaking world, she was willing to modify what she has<br />

consistently claimed to be <strong>the</strong> true text!<br />

We have noted <strong>the</strong> way in which revised versions have built on <strong>the</strong> doubts<br />

injected into <strong>the</strong> Revised Version by Westcott and Hort. Yet, amazingly, we later find <strong>the</strong><br />

Roman Catholic Jerusalem Bible <strong>of</strong>ten adopting <strong>the</strong> errors <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> RV and RSV thus<br />

placing itself at variance with <strong>the</strong> Douay!<br />

To explain this, we must remember <strong>the</strong> crafty way in which <strong>the</strong> Roman Cardinals,<br />

Wiseman and Newman, brought about <strong>the</strong> so-called revision <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> KJV. They let alleged<br />

Protestants do <strong>the</strong> odious work which <strong>the</strong>y <strong>the</strong>mselves, as open converts to Catholicism<br />

dare not undertake - namely, to insinuate <strong>the</strong> corrupt <strong>Bibles</strong> <strong>of</strong> Eusebius and Jerome into<br />

16

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!