Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/305



THE STUDY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. 299

shamelessly tha ^aith is the enemy of s cience, when they s^that scientific men of eminence~n their proffssiun show'ToW aidy - f t tilh lli e niusl mar ked honor and Tesp'ect. Seeing, then, that those can do so much for the advantage of rehgion on whom the goodness of Almighty God has bestowed, together with the grace of the faith, great natural talent, let such men, in this bitter conflict of which the Holy Scripture is the object, select each of them the branch of study most suitable to his circumstances, and endeavor to excel therein, and thus be prepared to repulse with credit and distinction the assaults on the Word of God. And it is Our pleasing duty to give deserved praise to a work which certain Catholics have taken up â€” that is to say, the formation of societies and the contribution of considerable sums of money for the purpose of sup- plying studios and learned men with every kind of help and assistance in carrj'ing out complete studies. Truly an excellent fashion of investing money, and well suited to the times in which we live! The less hope of public pat- ronage there is for Catholic study, the more ready and the more abundant should be the liberality of private persons â€” those to whom God has given riches thus willingly making use of their means to safeguard the treasure of His revealed doctrine.

In order that all these endeavors and exertions may really prove advantageous to the cause of the Bible, let scholars keep steadfastly to the principles which We have in this Letter laid down. Let them loyally hold that God, the Creator and Ruler of all things, is also the Author of the Scriptures â€” .and that, therefore, nothing; can b e D roved either by physical science or archaeology which can really contradict the Scriptures. If, then, apparent con- tradiction be met with, every effort should be made to remove it. Judicious theologians and commentators should be consulted as to what is the true or most probable meaning of the passage in discussion, and hostile arguments should be carefully weighed. Even if the difficulty