Chapter LXIX.—Faith and Reason.

Then Peter:  “Do not think that we say that these things are only to be received by faith, but also that they are to be asserted by reason.  For indeed it is not safe to commit these things to bare faith without reason, since assuredly truth cannot be without reason.  And therefore he who has received these things fortified by reason, can never lose them; whereas he who receives them without proofs, by an assent to a simple statement of them, can neither keep them safely, nor is certain if they are true; because he who easily believes, also easily yields.  But he who has sought reason for those things which he has believed and received, as though bound by chains of reason itself, can never be torn away or separated from those things which he hath believed.  And therefore, according as any one is more anxious in demanding a reason, by so much will he be the firmer in preserving his faith.”