suggest, that one's first duty would be to convince oneself that God
did communicate these truths; and if so, then to accept them without
further dally or comment. There is nothing to be done, once God
reveals, but to receive His revelation.

Outside the Church, this procedure is not always followed, because of
the rationalistic tendencies of latter-day Protestantism. It is a
glaring fact that many do not accept all that God says because He says,
but because it meets the requirements of their condition, feelings or
fancy. They lay down the principle that a truth, to be a truth, must be
understood by the human intelligence. This is paramount to asserting
that God cannot know more than men--blasphemy on the face of it. Thus
the divine rock-bed of faith is torn away, and a human basis
substituted. Faith itself is destroyed in the process.

It is, therefore, important, before examining whence comes our faith,
to remember why we believe, and not to forget it. This much gained, and
for all time, we can go farther; without it, all advance is impossible.



CHAPTER XIX.
WHENCE OUR BELIEF: REASON.

MY faith is the most reasonable thing in the world, and it must needs
be such. The Almighty gave me intelligence to direct my life. When He
speaks He reveals Himself to me as to an intelligent being: and He
expects that I receive His word intelligently. Were I to abdicate my
reason in the acceptance of His truths, I would do my Maker as great an
injury as myself. All the rest of creation offers Him an homage of pure