be, but are either startling effects which are not beyond the force of nature, or else mere tricks and myths. The Gospels and apostolic writings are not, they say, the work of the authors to whom they are assigned" (Ibid.). To confute these errors Leo bids us engage voice and pen. In the limited space allowed us we have only been able to indicate the arguments which prove the historical authenticity and the essentially divine character which points to the true origin of the Sacred Text, and at the same time to lead the earnest student into the way of reading with pleasure and profit the grandest of all written works. [1] Litterae Encyclicae, "Providentissimus Deus," Nov. 17, A.D. 1893. THE END. APPENDIX. _Encyclical Letter of Leo XIII._ ON THE STUDY OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. _To Our Venerable brethren, all Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic World, in grace and communion with the Apostolic See._ LEO P. P. XIII. VENERABLE BRETHREN, _Health and Apostolic Benediction._ The God of all Providence, who in the wondrous counsel of His love raised the human race in its beginning to participation of the divine nature, and afterwards delivered it from universal guilt and ruin, restoring it to its primitive dignity, has, in consequence, bestowed upon man a singular safeguard--making known to him, by supernatural means, the hidden mysteries of His divinity, His wisdom, and His mercy. Although in divine revelation some things are comprehended which are not beyond the reach of human reason, they are made the objects of revelation in order that all may come to know them with facility, certainty, and freedom from all error. It is not, however, on this account that revelation can be said to be absolutely necessary; but because God of His infinite goodness has ordained man to a supernatural end. This supernatural revelation, according to the belief of the universal Church, is contained both in unwritten Tradition and in written Books. These are called sacred and canonical because, being written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their author, and as such have been delivered to the Church. This belief has been perpetually held and professed by the Church with regard to the Books of both Testaments. There are well-known documents of the gravest character, coming down to us from the earliest times, which proclaim that God, who spoke first by the Prophets, then by Himself, and thereafter by the Apostles, composed the Canonical Scriptures. These are divine oracles and utterances--a Letter, written by our heavenly Father, and transmitted by the sacred writers to the human race on its pilgrimage afar from its fatherland. If, then, such and so great is the excellence and the dignity of the Scriptures that God Himself has, as the author of them, composed them, and that they treat of God's deepest mysteries, counsels, and works, it follows that