t we are all Christians, that I can bear
anything." God bless his dear good soul. We did trust in God, and He
sustained us. He supplied our wants. He overruled all things for our
good. And we can now say, "The lines have fallen to us in pleasant
places; we have a goodly heritage."

22. I have met with some unpleasantnesses since my return to Christ; but
I am not sure that they are worth naming; and for the present they shall
remain unnamed. I have met with many things of a very pleasant
character. Thousands that followed me into doubt have come back with me
to Christianity. Thousands that were sinking, were saved by my
conversion. I believe I may say thousands of unbelievers that were not
led into doubt by me, have been redeemed from their wretchedness through
my example and labors. Some young ministers have been kept from rash and
ruinous steps by the story of my experience. Many believers have been
strengthened in their faith and encouraged in their Christian labors
under my sermons and lectures. Many have been benefited by my
publications. My family has been greatly comforted and blessed. The
power of the infidel class has been diminished. I have myself enjoyed a
kind and a degree of happiness that I never enjoyed while the slave of
doubt and unbelief. And it is a great consolation to think that I was
brought to God while in my health and strength, and that I have now been
permitted to spend from eleven to twelve years in the work of Christ.
Another great comfort is, that my circumstances are such as to enable me
to give some proof of my devotion to the cause of Christ; of my infinite
preference of the religion of Christ, both to the miserable philosophy
of unbelief, and to the wretched fictions of ignorant or anti-Christian
divines.

23. I read quite a multitude of books on my way back to Christ, and if I
had time, I would give some account of the influence which some of them
made on my mind. But I have not. It may seem strange, but I had sunk
below the level of ancient Paganism, and the books which I read on my
first awaking to a consciousness that I was wrong, were Pagan works. I
read much in Plato and Aristotle, Cicero and Seneca, for a time, and
then in Plutarch, M. A. Antonine, and Epictetus. The works of Epictetus,
with the comments of Simplicius, proved exceedingly profitable. I then
read the writings of Theodore Parker, Dr. Channing, and some of the
works of Dr. Priestley, and got good from all. They all he