People may love the Bible unwisely, but
not too well. To place it too high as a means of instructing,
regenerating and blessing mankind, is not in man's power.
"I esteem it myself more highly than I ever did. My ramblings in the
regions of doubt and unbelief; my larger acquaintance with the works of
infidel philosophers, atheistical reformers, fanatical dreamers,
re-organizers of society, makers of new moral worlds, skeptical
historians of civilization, Essays and Reviews, Elements of Social
Science, Phases of Faith, and Phases of no Faith, and a world of other
books; my enlarged acquaintance with men, my sense of spiritual want and
wretchedness when shut out from religious consolations, have led me to
value the Bible, skeptical as I yet am, as I never valued it before.
"I was born in a town on a hill, from which I had delightful views of a
rich and beautiful valley. I looked on those beautiful prospects spread
out before me, with their charming variety of scenery, from my earliest
days, to the time I left my native land, but I have no recollection that
I ever experienced in those early times any large amount of pleasure
from the sight. In course of time I left the place of my birth and the
home of my childhood, and visited other lands.
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