they esteem them far too lightly. A great good book
is one of the richest treasures on earth. There is still less danger
that you should think too much of the Bible. The man does not live that
has erred in that direction. The best friends the Bible has, the most
strenuous advocates of its divinity, do not estimate the Book above its
worth. They do not value it according to its worth. It is richer in its
contents, it is better and mightier in its influences, than its
devoutest friends are aware.

"There are men who prate about Bibliolatry, and labor to lower men's
estimate of the Bible. They may spare their breath. The people who
idolize the Bible too much are creatures of their own imagination only,
and not living men and women. 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. I saw rivers and lakes,
and mountains and plains, and forests and prairies in great abundance,
and in almost endless variety. And I compared them one with another, and
marked their points of difference and resemblance. And then after my
many and long wanderings, I returned to the place of my birth, and
looked on the scenes of my childhood again; and I was lost in ecstacies.
I was amazed that I had seen so little of their beauty, and been so
little transported