Part 21 (1/2)

What can be more natural,--what more plausible,--what etfulness of God, forgetfulness of Christ, forgetfulness of duty, forgetfulness of immortality It means self, and sin, and ruin And so it is with a ers that ever received a poetic soul fronores Christ and Christianity His works are full of truth, but it is truth turned into a lie, and made to do the work of sin and death It is Satan clad as an angel of light

Every day a Sabbath, means no day a Sabbath All places holy,worshi+p All honest labor religious, ious Freedom ress radation Liberality means leniency to error and evil, and severity towards truth and goodness In short, darkness ood ood; bitter means sweet, and sweet bitter Reforradation, and all these chars mean wretchedness and ruin

Weall the sentireat deceiver Many of theood They are Christian

Satan is too wise to preach un truth so as to serve the ends of falsehood It is enough for him if he can sever men's souls froion from Christianity, the Church, and the Bible Allow hi to you a world of sords and lofty sentioodness, and heaven But Satan has found out that there is a way _down_ the ladder as well as _up_, and that to praise the ladder to the descending crowd is the surest way to draw them ever further doard, till they lose the smoke of the abyss beneath We love, we cherish every sord of truth, but we value nothing apart fro when people are taught things in their youth that are not true They are sure, when they become students, if they are honest and able, to find out the errors, and to lay the aside errors, has a tendency to ht a s in ard to the doctrines and the evidences of Christianity These things I detected and set aside in riper years

And I had so s to set aside, that I came to look with suspicion on al for round for suspicion I rejected truth as well as error I held in doubt doctrines that I ought to have cherished as ment too hasty; and error and unbelief were naturally the result

It is especially a bad thing when an earnest young student sees signs of carelessness in religious writers; a readiness to repeat what has been said before; to support what is popular, without endeavoring to ascertain whether it be true or not It is still worse when a student discovers in religious writers signs of dishonesty and fraud I discovered both I saw cases in which false doctrines were passed on froeneration, and from writer to writer, without the least attempt to ascertain their true character I saw other cases in which dishonesty was manifest, in which fraud was used, in support of doctrines Old creeds were allowed to re after portions of them had been found to be unscriptural; and error was subscribed as aheld by such parties, unless it was supported by the plainest and most decisive proofs

29 I was now in a state of o down quietly and almost unconsciously into utter unbelief And I _went_ down I did not _reject_ the doctrine of the divine origin of the Bible and Christianity, but gradually _lost_ it My faith died a natural death I was in the world, and becaradually came down to their level I had supposed that a ious outside the Church as inside; but I found it otherwise It was a sad, an awful change I underwent; but I not only did not see it, at the ti ti place

In November 1852, I attended a Bible convention at Salem, Columbiana County, Ohio It lasted three days I spoke repeatedly, and at considerable length, at its ainst the Bible, but against what I regarded as unauthorized theories of Scripture inspiration I contended that those theories were injurious to the interests of virtue and humanity

I also spoke about the darkness in which the human authorshi+p of portions of the Bible rapt My reeneral tenor they were unjust, and could hardly fail to be injurious

Henry C Wright spoke at this convention, contending that raven on his own nature, independent of instruction froant in his res which he could not ood

The Rev Jonas Harzell and others spoke in defence of the Bible

On the last evening the hall in which the convention was held was densely crowded, and the audience was greatly excited A Mr Ath, and seeainst the assailants of the Bible When he closed, a large portion of the audience seemed bent on ot the attention of the audience Their rage quickly subsided, and at the close of my address, the people separated in peace

In June 1853, I attended another Bible convention at Hartford, Connecticut I was appointed President A J Davis, the celebrated spiritualist, gave the first address It was on the propriety of free discussion on religious subjects Henry C Wright spoke next,re overwithharder

The Rev George Storrs replied He set hiht, and he spoke with much effect

In the afternoon of the second day, W L Garrison proposed six resolutions, bearing partly on the Bible, and partly on the church and clergy They were very strong There was a considerable amount of truth in them, but their spirit and tendency were bad Parker Pillsbury folloith a speech, in which he praised natural religion, but conde Mr Garrison spoke He spoke with much power He dwelt chiefly on as called the doctrine of _plenary inspiration_ His strength was in the extreians, and in the inconsistencies of the church and the clergy

Mr Garrisonon the theory of _plenary inspiration_ Before he got through his speech the ical students, froe in the city They threatened er

Confusion followed Some of the speakers fled, and others were alarmed

I kept my place, but soon found I had the platfore froe Lynch better than I did, and their discretion, under the circuht be the better part of valor My rashness, however, ended in no mishap

And the only bad effect which the violence of our opponents had on me was, to increase y It is not wise in professing Christians to resort to carnal weapons in defence of their views

In Deceave a course of lectures in Philadelphia I was brought to the city by the Sunday Institute The object of the lectures was to show, that the Bible was of hus were not of divine authority, and that the doctrine of its absolute perfection was injurious in its tendency The room in which I lectured was crowded, and the audience wasto say against anything that was true and good in the Bible,--that virtue was essential to man's happiness, and that I had no sympathy with those who rejected the Bible because it rebuked their vices I was sincere in these rearded therossly immoral, and hated the Bible for its hostility to their evil ways

After each lecture discussion followed But the ability of norant of both sides of the question, and injured the cause they sought to aid

These lectures led to a public discussion between yhts, but ended on the fourth We met first in the Chinese asse too small for the crohich were anxious to hear the debate, we adjourned to the large hall

Dr McCalla was very abusive He was so intent on calling s, that he forgot his argument