Rome, the Antagonist of the Nation 305 other Jewish writings were translated also, and used by the Alexandrian Jews of the dispersion, although they did not hold them as part of the Old Testament. In course of time the Latin language superseded the Greek in the West, and in their ignorance of Hebrew, Latin translations were made, not from the original Hebrew, but from the Greek version, and the Apocrypha was translated with it. Most of the Chris tian fathers had no knowledge of Hebrew, and read the Scrip tures in Greek and Latin. They distinguished the Bible from the Apocryphal writings. So did Jerome, in his Latin Vul gate, 404 A. D., translated from Hebrew and Chaldee. So did Philo and Melito, A. D. 160, and the Jewish Talmud of the fifth century, and the great Roman Cardinal Cajetan (1518) and the learned Roman Catholic Archbishop Ximenes, to whom we owe the famous Complutensian Polyglot (1517), and Josephus (who lived about the time of Christ). Augus tine differed from Jerome as to the authority of the Apoc rypha, but Augustine did not know Hebrew and his testimony is valueless. But not one of the thirty bishops in the Council of Trent could read Hebrew, and only a few knew the Greek And yet that utterly incompetent Council decreed the Apoc rypha to be a part of God’s Holy Word, and to be accepted under pain of anathema. 3. Rome accepts tradition as of equal authority with the Scriptures. The Council of Trent (Session IV) : “Seeing clearly that this (saving) truth and (moral) discipline are contained in the written books and the written traditions re ceived by the Apostles from the mouth of Christ Himself or from the Apostles themselves, the Holy Ghost dictating, have come down even unto us, transmitted, as it were, from hand to hand;” and again: “Every sort of doctrine which is to be delivered to the faithful is contained in the Word of God, which is divided into Scripture and tradition.” But such stupendous assertions require clear evidence. Where is “tra dition” found ? Has Rome recorded and registered it?
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