once at Strasburg, five times at Nuremberg, and ten times at Augsburg. Three distinct editions also appeared at Wittenberg in 1470, 1483, and 1490, so that before Luther was heard of, or even born, the Bible must have been well known and well read.

In France the "Bible Historiale" of Des Moulins was published about 1478, and was reprinted sixteen times prior to 1546. Lefèvre published an edition of the Scriptures in 1512. According to Simon, edition after edition appeared, among which are the wellknown translations of De Sacy, Corbin, Amelotte, Maralles, Godeau, and Huré.

In the Flemish language the first printed Bible is that published at Cologne in 1475. It was reprinted at least seven times before 1530.

In Spain the translation ascribed to St. Vincent Ferrer was printed at Valencia in 1478 with the formal permission of the Inquisition, and reprinted in 1515, and of it numerous editions were published at Antwerp, Barcelona, and Madrid.

In Italy, in 1290, Jacobus à Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, published the entire Bible in Italian. Another translation, prepared by the Camaldolese monk Nicholas Malermi, was printed at Venice in 1471, and again in Rome in the same year. It was so eagerly purchased that before the year 1525 no fewer than thirteen editions of it had issued from the press.

They were all published with the permission of the Inquisition, as were also eight other editions which were printed before 1567.

In England the translations of the Protestants, Tyndale and Coverdale, bear the date of 1535. The edition called the "Bishops' Bible" appeared in 1568. In 1582 the New Testament was published at Rheims, and the Old Testament was completed at Douay in 1609. This is the authorized English translation among the Catholics of England and the United States. Since that date the editions of this Bible, with various corrections and emendations, have been very numerous.

*

The version of King James, published 1611, is the one generally used among Protestants.

We have, then, conclusively proved that the Bible was generally known and circulated before the time of Luther, not only in the original and Latin text, but also in the vernacular of the principal countries of Europe. Any one must have been lamentably ignorant who did not know the Scriptures and their principal lessons. These lessons were taught to the people constantly, and impressed with authority upon their hearts. As for Martin Luther, he was instructed by intelligent and pious parents, and is said to have made

* Waterworth, "English Reformation,” chap. x.

great proficiency in his studies at Magdeburg and Eisenach, and at the University of Erfurt. There he applied himself to learn the philosophy of the middle ages in the writings of Occam, Scotus, Thomas Aquinas, and Bonaventure. "These writings," to use the words of Dr. Maitland, "are made of the Scriptures. These writers not only constantly quoted the Scriptures, and appealed to them as authorities on all occasions, but they thought and spoke the thoughts, words, and phrases of the Bible as the natural mode of expressing themselves."* One can hardly understand these great writers without a certain familiarity with the sacred text. Moreover, Luther had made his vows as an Augustinian monk, and was ordained priest. The preparation for the sacred office of priesthood, not to speak of his obligations as a religious, required patient and laborious study of the inspired word. In addition to this, the breviary, which he was bound to recite, consists almost entirely of the Psalms of David and other quotations from the sacred books. Ignorance, therefore, of the Scriptures in his case was impossible, and is only a false pretence, too baseless to be accepted or repeated by any intelligent mind. The most wonderful expositions of the word of God were written before the Reformation, and we must admit that in deep and devout study the middle ages * Maitland, p. 470.

have exceeded our own. Luther, by position and education, had especial advantages which are not the portion of every one, even in our own age.

Even Zwinglius, who made many false boasts for himself, says to Luther: "You are unjust in putting forth the boastful claim of dragging the Bible from beneath the dusty benches of the schools. You forget that we have gained a knowledge of the Scriptures through the translations of others. You are very well aware, with all your blustering, that previously to your time there existed a host of scholars who, in Biblical knowledge and philological attainments, were incomparably your superiors.

2. In face of these facts it seems hardly necessary to reply to the accusation that the Catholic Church had suppressed the Bible and prevented its general use. To the care and zeal of the Church, as we have seen, the Sacred Scriptures owe their preservation in the midst of all dangers, wars, conflagrations, and torrents of barbarian and Moslem fury. We have briefly given testimony of the patient labor and anxious solicitude with which her priesthood and religious devoted themselves to the copying of the inspired writings, and the study and exposition of their meaning. In her seminaries the candidates for the

* Alzog, III. 49.

sacerdotal office were diligently trained in the knowledge of the divine word, and her monasteries were the homes of sacred learning. Careful selections from the Bible were read to the people on every Sunday and festival during the year.

There is no possible denial of these facts, and therefore the advocates of the Reformation resort to two assertions which are plain evasions of the truth.

They say that the Bible was preserved in the Latin tongue only, and that the Church, by decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Index, had prohibited its general use. Inconsistent as these accusations are with the whole policy of the Apostolic See, they yet deserve here a brief notice.

We have already seen how carefully, by the solicitude of the Church, the original manuscripts were preserved and copied. These manuscripts were of course in the language in which they were written. The preservation of this text was in the highest degree necessary. The translation into the Latin tongue was made while that language was a living one, and well known among all the educated classes. Even to the reign of Charlemagne, in the beginning of the ninth century, the Latin language was that which was most generally understood and spoken in Europe. Down to the sixteenth century, and even afterwards, it was the only language of literature, of theology, of medi