As I have said, I re-read the Bible. I reviewed Church
history. I examined the character and workings of religious communities.
And I found the Bible a better and a wiser book than I had ever
imagined. And I found Christianity, as presented in the teachings and
life of Jesus, the fairest and loveliest, the most glorious and
beneficent of all systems. I found Jesus Himself to be the most
beautiful and exalted of all characters. I saw in Paul a dignity and a
glory second only to those of Christ. I found in the New Testament the
perfection of wisdom and beneficence. I found in the history of the
Church a record of the grandest movement, and of the most glorious and
beneficent reformation, the world had ever witnessed. I found in the
churches the mightiest agencies and the most manifold operations for the
salvation of mankind. "Christianity," said I, "whether supernatural or
not, is a wondrous power. It is good, if it is not true. It is glorious.
It _deserves_ to be Divine, whether it be so or not. What a world we
should have,--what a heaven on earth--if men could be brought to believe
its teachings, to imbibe its spirit, and to obey its precepts. What a
heaven of bliss it would be to one's soul if one could see it and feel
it to be really true.
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