stand the sacred text over which he sat poring in deep
meditation.

Lastly, Catholic critics have pronounced Luther intellectually
disqualified for translating the Bible. His Greek scholarship, they say,
was poor. He had barely begun to study that language. It stands to
reason that his translation must be very faulty. They also emphasize the
rapidity with which Luther worked. The translation of the entire New
Testament was completed between December 8, 1521, and September 22 the
following year. (It will be remembered that Luther had returned to
Wittenberg in the first days of March, 1522, and all through the spring
and summer of that year was busily engaged, with the aid of friends, on
his German New Testament.) Finally, Catholics, in their efforts to
belittle Luther's works, have claimed that he plagiarized a German
translation already in existence, the so-called Codex Teplensis.

It seems a mere waste of time to answer these criticisms. They remind
one of a scene in the life of Columbus: the learned Catholic divines of
Salamanca had to their own satisfaction routed the bold navigator with
their arguments that he could not possibly start out by his proposed
route. No doubt, some of them contended that he never made his famous
voyage even after his return. What profit can there be in arguing the
impossibility of a thing when the reality confronts you? Luther's
translation is before the world; everybody who knows Greek can compare
it with the original text. The Teplensian translation, too, can be
looked into. In fact, all this has been done by competent scholars, and
Luther's translation has been pronounced a masterpiece. Not only does it
reproduce the original text faithfully, but it speaks a good and correct
German. Luther's translation of the Bible is now regarded as one of the
classics of German literature. It is true that the philological
attainments of the world have increased since Luther, and that
improvements in his translations have been suggested, but they do not
affect any essential teaching of the Christian religion. Bible
commentators to-day are still citing Luther's rendering as an authority.
The movement recently started in Germany to replace Luther's translation
by a modern one deserves little consideration because it originated in
quarters that are professedly hostile to Christianity. The things in
Luther's German Bible which vex Catholics most are in the original Greek
text. Luther did not manufacture