The catholic may use the term _mystery_ as a cover for absurdity and contempt of reason, or in support of a contradiction, and as an excuse for idolatry; but surely God's Bible contains nothing but truth, and that revealed in a manner adapted to the human understanding. But what says archbishop Fenelon in defending transubstantiation or the imagined change of the bread in the sacrament into the body of Christ? He says of the doctrine――"in believing its mysteries one immolates his ideas [or sacrifices his common sense] out of respect to eternal truth." Thus his blunder, his misunderstanding of Christ's words, "this is my body," he represents as "eternal truth." So Bourdaloue says――"I make to God a sacrifice of the most noble part of myself, which is my reason:" and he professes to believe a mystery "although it seems to be directly repugnant to my reason;"――or one "which shocks reason itself and contradicts all its lights," referring to the received doctrine concerning God's nature. Massillon thinks it is "necessary to believe certain apparent contradictions:" he says, "it is faith and not reason, which makes us Christians." All this in my view is a pernicious error: for _reason_ is the intellectual power, which discerns truth. God himself is perfect reason, pure intellect, infinite understanding. To him the universe is all light. But our reason is restricted: man may grow in knowledge forever; yet he never will know an absurdity or contradiction to be true. To us one great source of truth is God's testimony or revelation. _Faith_ is the belief of God's testimony. As to the word _mystery_, the common meaning of it in scripture, is not something unintelligible, but a _doctrine, once hidden or secret, which is now revealed and intelligible_. Thus in teaching the resurrection Paul says, "Behold, I _shew_ you a mystery; we shall not all sleep," &c. 1 Cor. 15:51. See also Rom. 16:25. It is clear beyond a question, that there cannot be two contradictory truths; for truth is one; it is but an expression of the reality of things. But some metaphysicians have lent their aid to the catholic theologians by asserting that, there are contradictory truths in philosophy; but the instances adduced are all fallacious, as Achilles walking 20 times as fast as the turtle, but never able to overtake him.