And the same thing is going on in our day. "_Wisdom preacheth abroad: she uttereth her voice in the streets_." [Footnote 146] The Catholic Church publishes those startling doctrines which have come down to her from the beginning, which have been held everywhere and by all--the principality of the Roman See, the Power of Forgiveness of Sins, the necessity of Penance, the grace of the Sacraments--and what is the result? The children of wisdom, they whose hearts are tender, enter her sacred fold and are blessed. But many listen and say: "It is all very well, if we could believe it. If we could believe it! And is it, then, not credible? Has not God given His revelation complete credibility? Can we not believe Jesus Christ? "_God, Who in times past spoke to the father's by the prophets, hath in these days spoken unto us by His Son_." [Footnote 147] "_No one knoweth the Father but the Son and He to whom the Son will reveal Him_." [Footnote 148] [Footnote 146: Prov. i. 20.] [Footnote 147: Heb. i. 1, 2.] [Footnote 148: Matt. xi. 27.] Jesus Christ has spoken. Miracles and prophecy attest His Truth and Authority. Can you, then, innocently refuse to listen? "_Surely they will reverence my son_," was the language of the father in the parable; will not God the Father Almighty look for an equal submission to His Eternal and Coequal Son? Can He speak, and you go on as if He had not spoken? Can you pick and choose among His doctrines, and take up one and reject another? No, to turn back, to stand still, to falter, is a crime. The trumpet has sounded: men are marshalling themselves for the valley of decision. Oh, take your part with the generation of faithful men, the true children of Abraham, who have "attested by their seal that God is true." Have courage to believe. Plunge into the waters with St. Peter, for it is Christ that is beckoning you on. To believe is an act of duty--of fidelity to your own intelligence, of generosity and devotion to God. {407} "_Without faith it is not possible to please God_." [Footnote 149] Faith is the door to all supernatural blessings. There is a whole world that exists not to a man that has not faith. Faith enlarges our thoughts, opens our hearts, elevates us above ourselves and multiplies a thousand-fold our happiness. Why do men grope in darkness? Why do they remain in ignorance, when by one generous resolve, one courageous act of faith, an act so noble, so meritorious, they might enter into that Glorious Temple of Truth that has come down out of heaven to man, might enter and dwell therein, and their hearts wonder and be enlarged? Happy those who can say with the Psalmist: "_Thy testimonies are wonderful; therefore hath my soul sought them_." [Footnote 150] They are wonderful--they rest for their evidence on Thy Word and Thy Truth, therefore I believe them and love them, for to believe Thee is my first duty and my highest wisdom. [Footnote 149: Heb. xi. 6.] [Footnote 150: Ps. cxviii 129.]