through any evil motive, be kept from
speaking anything that ought to be said. I am Thine, O my God; use me
according to Thy will, for the service of Thy Church, and for the
welfare of the world. I am every moment accountable to Thee; help me so
to speak that I may be at peace with my own soul, and have a sweet
assurance of Thy approbation. Fill my soul, O my Father, with the spirit
of love, of truth, of tenderness, and of all goodness. Guide Thou my
pen, and control my spirit. Grant that I may so write, that I may do
some good and no harm. May Thy people endeavor to do justice to what I
say. If any one, through error or evil disposition, should do me wrong,
help me to bear the trial with Christian meekness and patience. And may
the time at length come, when the religion of Christ, so full of truth
and love, shall be understood and embraced by all mankind, and when by
its blessed and transforming power the earth shall become the abode of
purity, and love, and bliss. AMEN.

* * * * *

It may not be amiss to state now, how far I had gone at this time, with
regard to my views on the Bible.

1. I remember a time, when I believed that the Bible in which my father
read, came down direct from God out of heaven, just as it was. I looked
on it as simply and purely divine.

2. I afterwards learnt that the Bible was printed on earth, and that it
was a translation from other books which had been written in Greek and
Hebrew.

3. But I still supposed that the Greek and Hebrew Bible was wholly
divine, and that the translation was as perfect as the original.

4. I next learned that the translation was _not_ perfect,--that the
translators were sometimes in doubt as to the meaning of the original,
and put one meaning in the body of the page, and another in the
margin,--that in other cases they had misunderstood the original, and
given erroneous translations. I sometimes heard preachers correcting the
translation of passages, and when I came to read commentaries and other
theological works, I found the authors doing the same thing.

5. I then found that there were several translations of the Scriptures,
one by Wesley, one by Campbell, and others by other men, and that they
all differed from each other, and that none of them could be regarded as
wholly correct. When I read the Notes of Adam Clarke on the Bible, I
found that he often differed from all the translators, and that in some
cases he differed