The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-07-28
POPULAR APoLoGETlcS.
Adapted from the German of Rev.
Peter Mikes, S. j., by Rev.
James Watcher.
Y s. Lessing's Three Rings.

thinker Leasing (T11SD, who has
clearly proved for every educated
man, that even after revelation the
true religion can be known just as
little as the true ring in his parable
and hence one must stand aloof from
all revealed religion. The parable is
this: A father had a precious ring
which he could, of course, leave only
to one of his three sons. But in
order to sadden none of them, he had
two exact limitations made. He now
presented a ring to each son, SO that
each believed he had the genuine one
Just so it is with the Jews, Christians
and Mohammedans; each believes to
have the true religion, but in reality
all three are wrong.
Answer: Indeed? Don't you see
that you turn your parable against
yourself? How so?
According to the parable one of the
sons had the true ring. In like man
ner one of the parties mentioned has
the true religion, whilst the others are
false. And you say all three are
wrong.
Well, for all l care! But one could
not know which was the true ring.
In like manner no one can know which
is the religion which God wants.
Indeed? Do you really think that
God is such childish father like the
one in the parable? He promised the
genuine ring to each son, but could of
course not keep his foolish promise,
and hence he deceived two of them.
God does not act that way. He gave
man true religion and He takes
care that it can be known and dis
tinguished from false. religions. (Cf.
Won Hammerstein, S. j., Christentum
-Christianity-p. 81.
9. A Classical Comparison.
Objections: The comparison lust
alluded to, the parable of the three
rings, is called classical comparison,
and you consider it of such little
value
Answer: The famous author of it
is classical (relating to first class or
rank, especially in literature or art)
as critic of art and letters, but he
is not classical as critic of religion.
And even as to the form of the com
parison one can not but think of the
saying: Quandoque dormitat ct bonus
Homerus even the good
Homer sleeps, i.e., makes mistakes
All comparisons are imperfect in
minor things, hence the Latin saying:
oTnt oil
comparison limps; but this one is
wrong i'll most important points.
u The father in the parable is
indifferent as to the truth or error of
his sons. But God cannot be indiffer-
ent in this respect.
y The father deceives his sons;
God can not deceive.
81 The reason of this deception is
that only one son can have the genu-
inc ring But the true and genuine
religion can be had by all men; a
deception on the part of God is abso-
lutely groundless and unreasonable,
nay blasphemous to assume.
~ The deception of the sons in the
parable can only satisfy them if they
do not know that there is only one
genuine ring, or if no one knows of
the rings of the others. But in mat
tiers of religion every reasonable man
knows that there can be only one
truth as there is only one God; and
every one knows that there are diff
ferent religions and hence also false
ones.
81 Three rings may be so much
alike as to deceive the casual OBJ
server; but three religions like the
Jewish, Christian and Mohammedan
are so different that even a simpleton
can see that they are not alike.
g. A ring is only an external orna-
ment, whose genuineness or ungenu-
ineness does not affect the worth of a
man. But religion is a norm of ones
moral conduct, and on it depends the
inner worth of man. Even if the
father is Indifferent which son has the
genuine ring, God can not be indiffer-
ent whether man or a people have
the true religion.
y The father makes the knowl-
edge of the genuine ring difficult; God,
on the contrary, makes the finding of
the true religion easy. He even came
down on earth Himself to found and
show us the true religion and to keep
us from the false.
If ever a comparison was at fault,
it certainly is this one. With such
classic comparisons" the unwary and
unthinking are deceived by an un-
scrupulous man 0essing) who can
write in beautiful language about
things about which he knows nothing.
10. Faith and Education.
objection: AS an educated man |
accept only what | see and have ex-
perienced. Faith is all right for the
common people, but not for the edu-
Gated.
Answer: You do, therefore, not ac-
cept that your parents are married,
that you descended from your par
ents, that you are baptized, etc.; for
all this you have not seen; you would
have to believe that, and believing is
all right for the common people.
Did you go with hansen to the
polar regions, or with Stanley through
Africa? Did YOU fight along in the
bo++Ioe of Sadan SaJamis Marathon