" It is true that Christ proposed to our
faith a series of mysteries. He commands,
with authority, that we should believe them,
giving no other reason than those tremendous
words, ' I am God.' He declares it. What
an abyss He creates by that declaration be-
tween Himself and all the fabrications of
religion. What audacity, what sacrilege,
what blasphemy, if it were not true. I say
more: The universal triumph of an affirma-
tion of that kind, if the triumph were not



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really that of God Himself, would be a
plausible excuse and a reason for Atheism.
" Moreover, in propounding mysteries
Christ is harmonious with nature, which is
profoundly mysterious. From whence do I
come? Whither do I go? Who am I?
Human life is a mystery in its origin, its
organization, and its end. In man, and out
of man, in nature, everything is mysterious.
And can one wish that religion should not
be mysterious? The creation and the des-
tiny of the world are an unfathomable abyss,
as also is the creation and the destiny of
each individual. Christianity at least does
not evade these great questions. It meets
them boldly. And our doctrines are a solu-
tion of them for every one who believes.
