3. I was further wishful to see an agreement between the doctrines which
I gathered from the Sacred Scriptures, and the oracles which came to me
from the works of God in nature. If nature and Christianity were from
the same All-perfect God, as I believed, their voices must be one. Their
lessons of truth and duty must agree. They must have the same end and
tendency. Christian precepts must be in harmony with man's mental and
bodily constitution. They must be conducive to the development of all
man's powers; to the perfection and happiness of his whole being. They
must be friendly to the improvement of his condition. They must favor
every thing that is conducive to his personal and domestic happiness,
and to the social and national welfare of the whole human race. And the
doctrines of Christianity must be in harmony with the constitution, and
laws, and phenomena of the visible universe. If there be one Great,
All-perfect Creator and Governor of the world and of man, then man and
the universe, the universe and religion, science and revelation,
philosophy and Christianity, the laws of nature and the laws of Christ,
must all be one. I wanted to see this oneness, and to feel the sweet
sense of it in my soul.
4. I wanted further to see the foundations on which my belief in God and
Christ and in the Sacred Scriptures rested, that I might be able to
justify my belief both to myself and to others.
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