Robert Wallace

“ We are thankful for the Church and its ordinances and means, and if we may distinguish between the Church and its ministers, we are thankful for them too; but we value the Sacred Volume above all institutions, however sacred, and above all men of whatever character. It is not our intention at this time to elaborate arguments for the necessity of a divine revelation; suffice to say, that without one we could have no certainty in matters of faith, and no authorised standard in matters of morality. ”

“ And for this burning God threatened the king with early death; informed him he should have the burial of an ass; should have no man to sit upon his throne, and that the nation he ruled over should be visited with wasting desolation. Now, to all these judgments is the nation liable that can be guilty of a crime like this. All who approve of the deed, or who do not protest against it, must be in danger of God’s displeasure; and we remember that Bible burning was practised just before the judgments of 1846. ”

“ It therefore seems to teach with great force the tendency of our nature to some religious system, and to us it appears plain that whether we trace that tendency to traditions of the past, to some law of the mind, or to the “light which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world,” the fact itself is indisputable. ”

“ Whether, therefore, the dictum be inspired or uninspired, it cannot with any certainty and authority be transmitted through the medium of tradition. God, therefore, not only spoke from heaven, but commanded that the Scriptures should be “written for our learning.” But the passage before us not only speaks of a record of the teachings and commandments of God, it also informs us that in the absence or neglect of that record men will be not merely ignorant of God’s character, but corrupt themselves, and fall into idolatry. ”

“ No one can be pleased with that which bears testimony against conduct he is not prepared to abandon. “Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” ”

“ What God will do unto the nation that turns away from and despises the holy Word of God may be seen in such threatenings as the following: “If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, The Lord Thy God, then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sickness, and of long continuance. ”

“ It must not be pleaded, as any mitigation of the daring impiety, that it was the Protestant version that was burned: for many Roman Catholics of high authority have admitted this version to be the Word of God, and the difference between it and the Douay version, in all essential matters, is not such as to allow any candid man of either creed to hesitate to confess that either is the Holy Bible. This deed was done under the most aggravating circumstances. It would have been great rebellion against God to have burned his Word alone in one’s own chamber ”

“ Perhaps, indeed, no age of the world, and no portion of the human race, could more fully verify the fact than the times in which we live, and the men whose conduct is the occasion of these remarks. They have not thought it needful to consult the Word of God to remember his TEN commandments, and have therefore forgotten that God is not represented by any similitudes, and have made to themselves images, the likeness of male and of female. ”

“ We hope no one will be so foolish as to say—none. The persons concerned in this act are our fellow-subjects—our next-door neighbours—and with whom we are brought into contact every day in the duties of life; it is therefore impossible to consider ourselves mere disinterested hearers or spectators of the deed. As citizens, as Christians—and, above all, as lovers of the Bible, we are deeply concerned therein. ”

“ Should God of his infinite mercy, as the result of these doings, give us that grace, that will unite us more closely among ourselves, give us more singleness of eye in our efforts, and supply us with greater zeal for the salvation of our fellow-countrymen—what was intended by the Redemptorist Fathers as the laying of the topstone of their triumph may turn out the loosening of a stone in the mystic building, and accelerate the period when heaven and earth will unite in the cry—“BABYLON THE GREAT IS FALLEN!” ”

“ What tradition can do as a medium of supplying knowledge from the past may be seen in the case of those nations which bordered the kingdom of Israel—whose fathers, descending from the patriarchs, must have had some knowledge of both God’s character and his claims ”

“ The uncertainty of tradition may be further seen by a reference to the days of our Lord, when we find that by it the elders made void the law of God. Tradition is often at fault in its very origin. Look at one which rose among the disciples themselves. ”

“ God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, and by whom also he made the worlds. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. ”

“ We must apprehend the danger of living in contact with a system that could sanction it, and rouse ourselves to action. We must not, indeed, transfer the hatred we bear to the act to those who committed it. ”

“ The classic times of Greece and Rome were as destitute of correct knowledge of the true God as were the times most distant and barbaric, while the highest culture of arts and science did nothing whatever for pure morality; God, therefore, for his own glory and man’s good, condescended to speak from heaven, and give us a revelation of his will. It was necessary that this revelation should be a written one: for in matters of such importance no man could be satisfied with its transmission by tradition. Tradition never p. ”

“ Whether this be so or not, we have no means to determine, and God forbid that we should interfere with the fullest exercise of the understanding or liberty of conscience, but if there have been any who, from levity of disposition or sinister motives, have forsaken the teaching of the Scriptures, and have aided in this deed or given it their countenance, we dare not address to them other language than that of this holy book: “For if we sin wilfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin ”

“ Man every where seems to feel a need of something beyond himself to which to look, on which to lean—the object of his hope, or the object of his dread. And where is it that men do not realize the warning of the text, that without the Word of God they will corrupt themselves p. ”

“ Suppose the deed to have been done—if I may venture upon such a supposition—by a minister of any Protestant community, would not every minister and every man of that community throughout the kingdom be held accountable for the outrage? And we do not hesitate to tell the Roman Catholics that their Protestant fellow countrymen can place no confidence in any profession of moderation or liberality p. ”