ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF OUR HOLY FATHER, LEO XIII., BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE POPE ON THE STUDY OF SACRED SCRIPTURE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 43, 23 February 1894, Page 18

ENCYC L ICAL LETTER OF OUR HOLY FATHER, LEO XIII., BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE POPE ON THE STUDY OF SA C RED S CRIPTURE.

After weighing the reading with every care where it is necessary then will be the time for research and putting forward an opinion. And it i 8 o f the first importance that the commonly approved rules of interpreting snoald be followed all the more exactly the more bitter tbe attacke of adversaries. Therefore, with the study of the meaning of the words, of the order which is followed, of parallels and the lik-, let there be combined opposite and learned illustrations from outside sources , let this be done cautiously, however, lest more time and labour should be thus expended than in obtaining a knowledge of the sacred books, and lest the multiplicity of the points submitted for instruction should prove more injurious than useful to the minds of the of youth. From this the progress to the use of the Sacred Scripture in theology will be safe. And here attention should be paid to the fact that in addition to the othej causes of difficnlty which arc usually met with in certain works of tbe ancients there are some peculiar to the sacred books. For according to the authority of the Holy Spirit ia the words of Holy ff.it are laid down many things which far surpass tbe strength, power, and acuteness of human reason, that is to say, Divine mysteries and various other things connected with them, and this sometimes to a larger extent and in a more recondite manner, than the letter of the text and the laws of hermeneutics appear to indicate ; besides the literal meaning itself ceitainry admits of other senses either to illustrate dogma or to commend the precepts of life. Accordingly it is not to be denied that the Sacred Books are involved in a certain religious obscurity, so that no one can approach them without a guide (S. Hier. ad Pau'lin de studio Scriptoras ep. liii., 4), God, according to the common opinion of the Fathers, arranging it so in order that men might examine them with greater earnestness and zeal, and should more deeply impress upon their minds and hearts the precepts so fully Bet forth therein ; and should understand especially that God had delivered the Scriptures to the Church, which on that account in the reading and treatment of His Word should be followed as a more sure guide and teacher. For where the graces of the Lord have been bestowed there the truth is to be learned and already St Irena.n. taught that the Scriptures are expounded without danger by those who hold the Apostolic succession. (C. Haer. iv.. 26, 5.) This view indeed, which was also the view of the other Fathers, was adopted by tbe Vatican Synod when renewing the Tridentine Decree concerning the interpretation of the Inspired Written Word, "it declared that its meaning was that in matters of Faith and morals pertaining to the promotion of Christian doctrine that is to be considered the trae senae of the Sacred Scripture which Holy Mother Church bas held and hold?, wbose province it is to judge respecting the true sense and interpretation of the Sacred Scripture : and therefore no one is permitted to interpret the Sacred Scriptures contrary to this sense or even contrary to tbe unanimous consensus of the Fathers ' (Sess 111 , cap. II ,de Bevel, of Cone. Trid. Sess. IV., deer, de edit, et usu Saer hbor.) By this law, fall of wisdom, the Church does cot at all retard or check ths investigation of Biblical scienc, but rather exhibits it free from error and greatly furthers it true progress For a wide field is open to each private teacher in which, pursuing safe methods, he may by his own industry in interpre.ing brilliantly and usefully enter into rivalry with the Church. Indeed in the parts of Divine Scripture which yet require a fixed and definite exposition such measures can be taken that in the design of God's loving providence tbe judgment of the Church may be hastened, as it were by this diligent investigation ; and in points already defined the private teacher can be equally of service if he places them before the faithful in a clearer light and before the learned with greater ability or if be proves himself more successful in repelling adversaries. Wherefore, let it be the sacred and primary duty of the Catholic interpreter to see that those testimonies of the Scripturn, of which the sense has been authentically declared either through sacred authors with the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, as is the case in many parts of the New Testament- or through the Church with the assistance of the s*me Holy Spirit, « either by a solemn decision or by the ordinary and universal magisterium " (Cone. Vat Sess iii 3 de fide), are txpla.ned by him in .he same sense ; and with the aid of his knowledge let him show that interpretation alone can be rightly approved of according to the laws of sound hermeneutics In other ihings the analogy of Faith ia to be followed and the Catholic doctrine as accepted by the authority of tbt Church can be taken as the supreme standard ; for as the same God is the Author of the Sicred Books and of the doctrine deposited with the Church a different sense to tbat which she adopts cannot by any legitimate interpretation be deduced from those books. Whence it appears that that interpretation is to be rejected as false and absurd wh.ch places the inspired authors at variance with one another or which is opposed to the doctr.ne of the Church. It a Uo behoves teachers in this department of religious education to be so endowed mentally as to have a thorough grasp of all theology and to be well versed in tbe

commentaries of the Fathers, Doctors, and beat interpreters. Thia ia inculcated by St Jerome (ibid., 6, 7) and emphatically by St Augustine, who justly complains « if every study, however humble ane easy in order to be understood requires a teacher or master, what greater presumption can there be than to be unwilling to learn the inspired books from their interpreters " (Ad Homrat, de vtil it, cred ■vni., Jo). This was relt and confirmed by the example ot the otber Fathers " who sought to understand the Divine Scriptures, not by I heir own presumption, but from the writings and author.ty of their predecessors, who themselves, it is certain, received the rule of inter pretation by Apostolic succession " (Rufin, Hist. Bcol., ii., 9). ( To be continued )