ant, and I had become a slave; and
though I _wished_ I could be a Christian, I could indulge no hope of
ever experiencing so great a happiness. But I would do Christianity
justice, to the best of my ability. I would exhibit its excellencies. I
would defend it against false accusations. I would preach it so far as I
honestly could. I would practise its precepts so far as I was able. I
would cherish its spirit. "If it is not from God," said I, "it is the
best production of the mind of man. If I cannot hold it forth as a
divine revelation, I can extol it as the perfection of human wisdom. And
some of its teachings are evidently true, and others are easily proved
to be so. It is true throughout, so far as I can test it; and it may be
true--perhaps I shall some day find it to be true--on points on which I
am unable to test it at present. I will wait, and labor meanwhile to
promote its beneficent influence!"

I looked on the other side. I read the Secularists' Bible: I reviewed
the history of unbelief; I examined the character and working of infidel
communities. And what was the result! The Secularists' Bible I found to
be a huge and revolting mass of filth and loathsomeness; the most
shameless attack on virtue and happiness that ever came under my view. I
remembered that Carlisle and Robert Owen had published books of the same
immoral and dehumanizing tendency. The history of infidelity I found to
be a history of licentiousness, and of every abomination. The infidel
communities I found to be hot-beds of depravity. The leaders of the
party were teachers and examples of deceit, of dishonesty, of
intemperance, of gambling, and of unbounded licentiousness. They had no
virtue; they had no conscience; and it was only when they were in the
presence of men of other views, that they had any shame, or modesty, or
regard for decency. And they were fearfully intolerant and malignant
towards those who crossed them, or thwarted them, in their projects.
They were no great workers, but they would exert themselves to the
utmost to annoy or vilify the objects of their displeasure. The facts
that came to my knowledge with regard to the morals of the Secularists
contributed to my deliverance from the thraldom of unbelief.

The honor awarded to Christ, and the infamy attached to infidelity, are
no mistakes. Jesus has never been exalted beyond His merits, and
infidelity has never been hated or dreaded beyond its deserts.
Christianity is the sum