that He would not make
additional truths, almost equally essential to our happiness, either of
impossible attainment, or encompassed by difficulties which could not,
with a little diligence and perseverance, be overcome.'

'It would seem so, certainly,' said Marcus; 'but it is so long since I
have bestowed any thought upon philosophical inquiries, that to me the
labor would be very great, and the difficulties extreme--for, at
present, there is scarcely so much as a mere shred or particle of faith,
to which as a nucleus other truths may attach themselves. In truth, I
never look even to possess any clear faith in a God--it seems to be a
subject wholly beyond the scope and grasp of my mind. I cannot entertain
the idea of self-existence. I can conceive of God neither as one, nor as
divided into parts. Is he infinite and everywhere, himself constituting
his universe?--then he is scarcely a God; or, is he a being dwelling
apart from his works, and watching their obedience to their imposed
laws? In neither of these conceptions can I rest.'

'It is not strange,' I replied; 'nor that, refusing to believe in the
fact of a God until you should be able to comprehend him perfectly, you
should to this hour be without faith. If I had waited before believing,
until I understood, I should at this moment be as faithless as you, or
as I was before I received Christianity. Do I comprehend the Deity? Can
I describe the mode of his being? Can I tell you in what manner he
sprang into existence? And whether he is necessarily everywhere in his
works, and as it were constituting them? Or whether he has power to
contract himself, and dwell apart from them, their omniscient observer,
and omnipotent Lord? I know nothing of all this; the religion which I
receive, teaches nothing of all this. Christianity does not demonstrate
the being of a God, it simply proclaims it; hardly so much as that
indeed. It supposes it, as what was already well known and generally
believed. I cannot doubt that it is left thus standing by itself,
untaught and unexplained, only because the subject is intrinsically
incomprehensible by us. It is a great fact or truth, which all can
receive, but which none can explain or prove. If it is not believed,
either instinctively, or through the recognition of it, and declaration
of it, in some revelation, it cannot be believed at all. It needs the
mind of God to comprehend God. The mind of man is no more competent to
reach and grasp