These are sometimes attacked with extreme
violence as full of fables, superstitions, and impieties--apocryphal in
the worst sense. But they deserve to be saved from this unmerited
contempt, indulged in usually for polemical purposes, and only rendered
possible by an insufficient study of the works themselves and the many
admirable points which they contain.
Our own Church indulges in no rash or sweeping assertions, but follows
the golden mean. She states in Art. VI. her present practical view of
this and the other Additions in common with the rest of the Apocrypha.
While not making any special doctrine to turn upon an apocryphal text,
she directs the perusal of this, with the other books of its class, for
purposes of practical edification. In singularly guarded and cautious
terms she is careful not to commit herself to anything more than a
statement of her authorized practice. Thus she has not closed the door,
as the Council of Trent is supposed to have done,[82] against the entry
of fresh knowledge, with its corresponding changes of view or
modifications of usage.
Pages:
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263