The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-02-23
POPULAR APoLoGETIcs.
Adapted from the German of Rev
Peter Mikes, S. j., by Rev.
James WaIcher.-
"A. GENUINENESS OF THE Cos
PELS. (Concluded.)

N. B. BY printing mistake in arti-
Gle AZ it was said: THE church au-
thorities will propose to your belief
the non-biblical miracles, e. g., those
we read in the lives of the Saints or
those of Lourdes." 1t should read, of
course: The church authorities will
not propose to your belief" etc.
GU OF the genuineness of the Cos
pels were convinced the heather writ
ers and philosophers CELSIUS lin the
second century,, Porphyrius (died
about 303), who maligned the contents
of the Gospels, but never got the idea,
simple as it is, to cast doubt on
their genuineness; convinced were
also the heretics of the first centuries:
Basilides (died about 1907, Valentius
(died about 1900, his disciples Herac-
leon, Marcion Gin the middle of the
second century,, and others who ap-
peal to the Gospels, explained them in
their favor, but did not dare to doubt
their apostolic origin.
Father Knabenbauer S. j., the great
biblical scholar, remarks: eve have
the remarkable fact that the heretics
go to the trouble to twist the mean
ing of the texts and present the words
of the Gospels for their several doe
trines in a favorable light Would it
not have been a good deal simpler and
more convenient to deny, like our mod
ern rationalists, the genuineness and
apostolic origin of the Gospels and
thus free themselves with one blow of
all objections? That certainly would
have been easy; but the conviction of
he apostolic origin was so evident and
undeniable that the heretics, whether
they liked it or not, had to come to a
kind of an understanding with them,
without being able to doubt their
apostolic origin" (Cf. Simmer aus
Maria-Laach, vol. %, p. 1920.
Such a unanimous testimony attest
ed by the enemies of Christianity de
serves so much a firmer faith the more
the Christians must have desired to
uncover any deception, if such there
should have been, and the easier it was
10 discover it. The books contained
ity, and hence its professors (adher-
ents) must have been just as anxious
about their genuineneSS as about the
religion itself. But every deception
they could discover so much the easier
the nearer they were to the apos-
tolic times and the more copies there
were in existence. Their cautiousnesS
FI,n AZ
fact that they refused constantly to ac-
cept the apocryphal or forged gospels,
mostly writer by heretics, some Of
which they even destroyed complete
ly, yea, even writings, which now are
universally acknowledged as genuine,
they objected to for q long time Be-
sides, the Bishops with the greatest
watchfulness knew how to Illustrate
every forgery
Finally, the assumption that the
books of the New Testament were not
written by the men to whom they are
attributed is both groundless and alb
surd. 1t is groundless because there
is not a single witness on which to
base this assumption to refute the
many contrary witnesses 1t is alb
surd because it presupposes the i'm
possible. The forgery would have had
to take place either during or after
the lifetime of the Apostles. 1t could
not have taken place during the life
time of the Apostles but that
these men, who, as we read in the
writings of the Fathers, most jealous
ly watched over the purity of the faith,
certainly would have raised their
voice against this fraud. Later it
could not have happened but that
the Christians, who had known the
Apostles or their disciples, would have
detected the fraud, which regularly
happened as often as heretics came
forth with a forged gospel" (Wil-
ers-Hontheim, Lehrbuch der Religion
Manual of Religion-7th ed, 1909, l.
p. 100 f..
DR.. Johannes Won Belser, the learned
author and professor of New Tesla
+ a1t eXegesis explanation of the
1lciptures) at the University of Tueb-
ingen, gives the following list of the
time of the composition of the princi-
pal books of the New Testament:
The Gospel of st. Matthew, 41-42
The Gospel of st. Mark, about A.
The Gospel of st. Luke, 61-62.
The Gospel of ST. John, 1885,
Acts of the Apostles, IS.
Epistle to the Romans, 5S
1 Epistle to the Corinthians, Sc.
Epistle to the Corinthians, 81.
Epistle TO the Galatians, 40.
Epistle of st. James, 42-49
(Einleitung in das Neue Testament
Introduction to the New Testament
-2nd ed, 1905).
as. Original or Copy.
Objection: The Gospels which we
have are copies (reprintsl; but the
originals exist no more.
Answer: Also of the CLASSICAL writ
ings there are no original manuscripts,
but only copies. But he who would on
that account doubt the genuineness of
the classics would not be refuted by
the men of science, but simply laugh