Not until November 17, 1893, did Pope Leo XIII issue an encyclical enjoining upon Catholics the study of the Bible, always, however, in editions approved by the Roman Church. (Kurtz, Kirchengesch.  II, 2, 94. 217; Univers.  Encycl., under title “Bible”; Peter Heylyn, Ecclesia Restaurata I, 99; Denzinger, Enchiridion, 1429. 1439. 1567. 1607.)

Catholic writers seek to make a great impression in favor of their Church by enumerating, on the authority of Protestant scholars, the number of German translations of the Bible that are known to have been in existence before Luther.  But they omit to inform the public that not a single one of those translations obtained the approbation of a bishop.  One cannot view but with a pathetic interest these sacred relies of an age that was hungering for the Word of God.  The origin of these early German Bibles has been traced by scholars to Wycliffite and Hussite influences, which Rome never stamped out, though her inquisitors tried their best to do so.  The earliest of these Bibles do not state the place nor the year of publication.  Can the reader guess why?  They were not published at the seat of the German Archbishop, Mainz, but most of them at the free imperial city of Augsburg.  Can the reader suggest a reason?  Many of them are printed in abnormally small sizes, facilitating quick concealment.  Can the reader imagine a cause for this phenomenon?  In these old German Bibles particular texts are emphasized, for example, Rom. 8, 18; 1 Cor. 4, 9; 2 Cor. 4, 8 ; 11, 23; 1 Pet. 2, 19; 4, 16; 5, 9; Acts 5, 18. 41; 8, 1; 12, 4; 14, 19.  If the reader will take the trouble to look up these texts, he will find that they warn Christians to be prepared to be persecuted for their faith.  Has the reader ever heard of such an officer of the Roman Church as the inquisitor, one of whose duties it was to hunt for Bibles among the people?  In places these old German Bibles contain significant marginal glosses, for example, at 1 Tim. 2, 5 one of them has this gloss:  “Ain mitler Christus, ach merk!” that is:  One mediator, Christ—­note this well!

In 1486, Archbishop Berchtold of Mainz, Primate of Germany, issued an edict, full of impassioned malice against German translations of the Bible, and against laymen who sought edification from them.  He says that “no prudent person will deny that there is need of many supplements and explanations from other writings” than the Bible, to the end, namely, that a person may construe from the German Bibles the true Catholic faith.  Fact is, that faith is not in the Bible.  This happened three years after the birth of Luther. (Kurtz, II, 2, 304.)

Instead of finding fault, then, with Luther’s ignorance of the Bible prior to 1505, we feel surprised that the young man knew as much of the Bible as he did.  He must in this respect have surpassed many in his age.