life, so long must they repel many whom they might convince and win."
Dr. Porter, _President of Yale College_.

5. Then again: the divisions of the Church, and the uncharitable spirit
in which points of difference between contending sects are discussed,
and the disposition sometimes shown by religious disputants to impugn
each other's motives, to call each other offensive names, and to consign
each other to perdition, are occasions of stumbling to some.

6. And again: many advocates of Christianity, more zealous than wise,
say more about the Bible and Christianity than is true, and attempt to
prove points which do not admit of proof; and by their unguarded
assertions, and their failures in argument, bring the truth itself into
discredit. Others use unsound arguments in support of the truth, and
when men discover the unsoundness of the arguments, they are led
sometimes to suspect the soundness of the doctrine in behalf of which
they are employed. The pious frauds of ancient and modern fanatics have
proved a stumbling-block to thousands.

Albert Barnes says, "There is no class of men that are so liable to rely
on weak and inconclusive reasonings as preachers of the Gospel. Many a
young man in a Theological Seminary is on the verge of infidelity from
the nature of the reasoning employed by his instructor in defence of
that which is true, and which might be well defended: and many a youth
in our congregations is almost or quite a skeptic, not because he wishes
to be so, but because that which is true is supported by such worthless
arguments."

7. Again; theological students sometimes adopt erroneous principles or
unwise methods of reasoning in their search after truth, and do not