I was delighted, transported, with many of Wesley's hymns. I found in
them an amount of truth, and beauty, and richness of good feeling, I had
never found in them before. I read many of the hymns of Watts with great
pleasure, as well as several collections of hymns and poetry by Roundell
Palmer and others. I also read the writings of Chalmers, Whewell, and
Lord Brougham on natural theology, and the works of several other
authors on that subject.
At a later period I read something in Neander, Lange, and others on the
life of Christ. Still later I read Young's _Christ of History_, with
Renan and _Ecce Homo_. Renan tried me very much. He seemed to write in
the scoffing spirit of Voltaire, and I laid the book aside before I got
to the end. _Ecce Homo_ delighted me exceedingly. I read it a dozen
times. I studied it, and it did me a great deal of good. It both
strengthened my faith in Christ, and increased my love to Him. Still
later I read _Ecce Deus_ with pleasure and profit.
The book however that did me most good was the Bible. I came to it
continually, as to an overflowing fountain, and drank of its waters with
ever-increasing delight.
24. I began to preach before I was fit; but I never might have been fit,
if I had not begun.
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