Let us add that faith does not reason:  which does not mean, as so many misbelievers feign, that faith is fulfilled by blindness or ignorance of the objects of its veneration.  Quite the contrary.  Faith dispenses with reason because of the perfection of its sight.  It is, finally, because it is superior to reason and sees things from a higher plane.  This is what so many short-sighted people cannot see; and, to return to our analogy, it seems to them able to see nothing save through the glasses of reason.  It seems to them, I say, that any man who does not wear glasses must see crooked.  Keep your glasses, my good souls!  They suit short limits of sight.  But we, who, thank God, have sound sight, are only troubled and clouded by them.

It is thus that reason, which is given us to make clear what is not evident, frequently obscures even the very evidence itself.  We might confirm this declaration by a thousand examples.  To cite but one, let us point out how plainly the spectacle of the universe of thought and the idea of a Divine Creator prove that no glasses are required to contemplate God in His works.  Well! scientists have felt obliged to direct theirs upon these simple notions, and have thus, i.e., by force of reasoning, succeeded in confusing out of all recognition a question sparkling with evidence, so much so that they will fall into such a state of blindness that they can no longer see in this world any trace of the Supreme Intelligence which is yet manifested with glory in the least of His creatures.  Consequently, they will bluntly deny the existence of God; but as they still must needs admit a creative cause, they have to that end invented moving atoms and have made from these strange corpuscles something so perfectly invisible that they can spare themselves the trouble of providing public curiosity with a living proof of their theory.

The scientist is born perverted, as was said of the Frenchman who created the vaudeville; and men, too strong-minded and above all too full of reason to give any credence to the mysteries taught by the church, have displayed a blind faith in respect to moving atoms.  They think thus to set themselves free from what they call the prejudices of their fathers.  They find no difficulty in attributing to invisible corpuscles both the plan and the execution of the beings who people the universe.

This is the fine conception attributed to what is called a higher reason—­a conception before which bow legions of strong minds.  To such a degree of degradation can reason drag man down.

It is, therefore, dangerous to consult the reason in any case where evidence is likely to be called into play.  But, before proceeding farther in the course of our demonstrations, a question presents itself.  It may be asked what we think of another kind of reason—­pure reason; for it appears that in the opinion of certain philosophers pure reason does exist.  I do not know where they