The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-03-25

THE HISTORICITY OF CHRIST

tile, there is one place where He has
received fair treatment, and that is
at the hands Of His followers; in the
works of the Christian writer's.
Christian Evidence.
| Practically from the days of Christ
Himself, the Christian testimony re-
garding His life and existence com
mences. First come the momentous
letters of the Apostle Paul. Critl-
cism places his earliest writings
about the year Sc A. d. And what
writings they are! They throb with
life and human, nay, even divine, in
terest. They bear upon their face
the impression of frankness and
sincerity. They show forth, better
than could any psychological study,
the nature, the shortcomings, and the
| abilities of the Apostle. In short,
they are the personal letters of a
friend to his friends. And what is
more, their every page, their every
line, breathes forth the Christ. They
| treat OF Him, and Him crucified,
they tell of His actions and His teach
ings, they preach His resurrection and
His religion. Taken all in all, they
are so much concerned with Christ,
that If we take Him out Of the letters,
| their entire meaning and their entire
value would disappear. Are we to
suppose that man, who lays bare
his most intimate feelings to the
world, man whose every statement
regarding himself, fairly shrieks out,
This is the truth" would stoop to
invent a character so sublime, mere
ly for the purpose of deceiving the
world? Would a man SO humble as
the Apostle, resort to fraud, in order
to further his own glory? The sup
position is absurd. And even the
most radical critics are forced to
admit that the Apostle Paul, formerly
Saul of Tarsus and bitter enemy of
Christ and everything Christian,
wrote the epistles in question.
EpistIes of ST. Paul.
The Epistles of st. Paul alone
would be unintelligible to one
wholly unacquainted with the Gospels.
But this was not true at the time
of their publication. They were
written to various Christian COM
munities, all of which had heard of
Christ from other sources, as the
Gospels were not published until
several years later. This alone would
prove that the fact Of Christ's ex-
istence was quite widely known at
the time when the Epistles were cir
culated; that is, between twenty and
thirty years after the death of Christ.
Surely the enemies of nascent Chris
tendon would have taken advantage
of this opportunity to prove it
gigantic fraud. The only reason why
they did not do so is because they
knew that Christ had really lived.
The Four Gospels
Next in line come four books, COM
posed by four different men, at diverse
times, which resemble one another
and the Epistles of st. Paul so much,
but are at the same time SO different
both in style and content, that
although narrating the same events,
they give no indication of collision.
They are nothing less than the bio
graphy or rather the memoirs of
Christ, written by four different
authors. Like the letters of st. Paul,
the Gospels give every evidence of
genuineness. They are accurate in
every detail; they are unsparing in
telling even the failings of the
writer's: they tell cold, matter-of-fact
tales; and give forth simply the SUBJ
lime teachings of the Master; they
contain no fanciful stories regarding
the Lord, but portray Him as they saw
Him, as one wonderfully gifted by
God. And they do all this in an age
not given to imaginative writings:
What more can we do than suppose
them genuine?
Strong as the evidence furnished
by the Epistles of st. Paul is in it.
self, it is rendered still stronger by
the testimony of the Gospels, which
confirm the different narratives of ST.
Paul, and fill out the gaps left by
the Apostle. They give us the key
to his letters, and clear up the OBJ
scurities found therein. AS has been
said before, they are personal mem
oirs" of Christ AS in the Epistles,
SO in the Gospels, we see pictured
wildly before us the Lord. Nor do
we see five different portraits, but
rather five reproductions of the same
portrait: the same characteristics;
humility, kindness, meekness, firm
ness and sanctity; the same lofty
teachings,-in other words, the same
personality. Take Him out OF the
Gospels and nothing remains but a
shell, nothing but an empty frame.
Can we suppose that four unskilled
men, from different parts OF the
country, with different characteristics,
and different ideals, could have in
vented at different times, characters
coinciding so closely even to the
smallest details? No; the only
explanation possible is that the Cos
pels are historical narratives, treat
ing of an historical parsonage. For,
in the words of Professor Andrews,
.''the man who could create that
figure out of his Imagination would
be a greater genius than the Christ
of his dream, and it would be i'm
possible to credit the historians of
10 fro