nst all kinds of Christians. I could believe in
the salvation both of Quakers and Catholics, and of all between, if they
were well disposed, God-fearing, good-living men. I could believe in the
salvation of all, not excepting Jews, Turks, and Pagans, who lived
according to the light they had, and honestly and faithfully sought for
further light. I believed that in every nation he that feared God and
worked righteousness was accepted of Him. I believed that honest,
faithful souls among the pagans of old would be found at last among the
saved. I regarded the moral and spiritual light of the ancient pagans as
light from heaven, as divine revelation. I looked on all mankind as
equally objects of God's care and love, as His children, under His
tuition, though placed for a time in different schools, with different
teachers, and with different lesson-books. I came to believe that God
was as good as a good man, as good as the kindest and best of fathers,
and even better, and I felt assured that He would not permit any
well-disposed soul on earth to perish. I believed that some who were
first in privileges, would be among the last in blessedness; and that
some that were last in privileges would be among the first in
blessedness.

Yet I believed in missions. I believed that it was the duty of all to
share their blessings with others; to give to others the light that God
had bestowed on them,--that though _pagans_ might be saved without
Christian light, if they lived according to the light they had,
_Christians_ could not be saved if they did not, as they had
opportunity, _impart_ their superior light to the pagans.

I respected the good moral principles, and the portions of religious
truth that I found in the ancient Greek and Roman authors, just as I
lamented and condemned the moral and religious errors that I found in
Christian books.

"I seized on truth where'er 'twas found,
On Christian or on Heathen ground,"

and made it part of my creed: and I warred with error though entrenched
in the strong-holds of the Church. I respected what was true and good in
all denominations of Christians; and even in all denominations that
_called_ themselves Christians, whether they came near enough to Christ
to entitle them to that name or not. If I saw anything good in the
creeds or the characters of other denominations I accepted it, and tried
to embody it in my own creed and character.

And I did, as I thought, see good in ev