is after all not cleared up and the discrepancy seems to remain, the contest must not be abandoned; tru th cannot contradict "truth, an d we may be sure that some mistake hfe been made either in the interpretation of the sacred words or in the polemical discussion itseK; and if no such mistake can be detected, we must then suspend judgment for the time being. There have been objections without number perseveringly directed against the Scripture for many a long year, which have been proved to be futile and are now never heard of; and not infrequently interpretations have been" placed on certain passages of Scripture (not belonging to the rule of faith or morals) which have been rectified by more careful investigations. As time goes on, mistaken views die and disappear; but truth remaineth and groweth stronger forever and ever} Wherefore, as no one should be so presumptuous as to think that he understands the whole of the Scripture, in which St. Augustine himself confessed that there was more that he did not know than that he knew,^ so, if he should come on anything that seems incapable of solution, he must take to heart the cautious rule of the same holy doctor: "It is better even to be oppressed by unknown but useful signs than to interpret them uselessly, and thus to throw off the yoke only to be caught in the trap of error." ^
As to those who pursue the subsidiary studies of which We have spoken, if they honestly and modestly follow the counsels We have given — if by their pen and their voice they make their studies profitable against the enemies of truth, and useful in saving the young from the loss of their faith — they may justly congratulate themselves on their worthy service to the sacred writings, and on affording to Catholicism that assistance which the Church has a right to expect from the piety and learning of her children.
Such, Venerable Brethren, are the admonitions and the instructions which, by the help of God, We have thought
» 3 Esdr. iv. 38. ^ Ad lanuar. ep. Iv. 21.
^ De doctr. chr. iii. 9, 18.
