d of receiving a creed blindly, and without
thought?"

"If what you call thought could better the matter; if it were sufficient
to comprehend and master this subject, there might be force in what you
say. But what is this boasted reason, after all? It is not sufficient to
explain a single mystery of the creation, though there are thousands. I
know there are, nay there _must_ be, a variety of opinions among those who
look to their reasons, instead of accepting the doctrine of revelation,
for the character of Christ; but I believe all, who are not open infidels,
admit that the atonement of his death was sufficient for the salvation of
men: now, can you explain this part of the theory of our religion any more
than you can explain the divine nature of the Redeemer? Can you _reason_
any more wisely touching the fall, than touching the redemption itself? I
know I am unfit to treat of matters of this profound nature," continued
Mary, modestly, though with great earnestness and beauty of manner; "but,
to me, it seems very plain that the instant circumstances lead us beyond
the limits of our means of comprehension, we are to _believe_ in, and not
to reason on, revelation. The whole history of Christianity teaches this.
Its first ministers were uneducated men; men who were totally ignorant
until enlightened by their faith; and all the lessons it teaches are to
raise faith, and faith in the Redeemer, high above all other attainments,
as the one great acquisition that includes and colours every other. When
such is the fact, the heart does not make a stumbling-block of every thing
that the head cannot understand."

"I do not know how it is," answered Roswell Gardiner, influenced, though
unconvinced; "but when I talk with you on this subject, Mary, I cannot do
justice to my opinions, or to the manner in which I reason on them with my
male friends and acquaintance. I confess it does appear to me illogical,
unreasonable--I scarce know how to designate what I mean--but,
improbable, that God should suffer himself, or his Son, to be crucified by
beings that he himself created, or that he should feel a necessity for any
such course, in order to redeem beings he had himself brought into
existence."

"If there be any argument in the last, Roswell, it is an argument as much
against the crucifixion of a man, as against the crucifixion of one of the
Trinity itself. I understand you to believe that such a being as Jesus of
Nazareth did exist;