The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

""THE CHURCH AND THE BIBLE. 107Bibles printed in the languages of the tribes andpeoples for whom they are intended.But even if the Bible were at all times accessibleto every one, how many millions exist in every ageand country, not excepting our own age of boastedenlightenment, who are not accessible to the Bible,because they are incapable of reading the Word ofGod !Hence, the doctrine of private interpretationwould render many men s salvation not onlydifficult, but impossible.2d. A competent religious guide must be clearand intelligible to all, so that every one may fullyunderstand the true meaningof the instructions itcontains. Is the Bible a book intelligibleto all?Far from it ;it is full of obscurities and difficultiesnot only forthe illiterate, but even for the learned.St. Peter himself informs us that in the Epistlesof St. Paul there are certain things hard to beunderstood, which the unlearned and the unstablewrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, to theirown destruction." l And consequently he tells uselsewhere that no prophecy of Scriptureis madeby private interpretation."We read in the Acts of the Apostles that a certain man was riding in his chariot, reading the Bookrf Isaiah, and being asked by St. Philip whether heanderstood the meaning of the prophecy, he replied :u"*How can I understand unless some man show me ?21 II. Pet. iii. 16.* Ibid. i. 20.8Acts viii 31.