and to the social and national welfare of the whole human race. And the
doctrines of Christianity must be in harmony with the constitution, and
laws, and phenomena of the visible universe. If there be one Great,
All-perfect Creator and Governor of the world and of man, then man and
the universe, the universe and religion, science and revelation,
philosophy and Christianity, the laws of nature and the laws of Christ,
must all be one. I wanted to see this oneness, and to feel the sweet
sense of it in my soul.

4. I wanted further to see the foundations on which my belief in God and
Christ and in the Sacred Scriptures rested, that I might be able to
justify my belief both to myself and to others. I wished to have the
fullest evidence and assurance of the truth of Christianity I could get,
that I might both feel at rest and happy myself, and be able to give
rest and comfort to the souls of others.

5. With these objects in view I set to work. I prayed to God, the Great
Father of lights, and the Giver of every good and perfect gift, to lead
me into all truth, and to furnish me to every good work. I read the
Bible with the greatest care. I searched it through and through. I
studied it daily, desirous to learn the whole scope and substance of its
teachings, on every point both of truth and duty. I marked on the margin
of the pages all those passages that struck me by their peculiar
clearness, and their fulness of important meaning. These passages I read
over again and again, till I got great numbers of them off by heart. I
gave each passage a particular mark according to the subject on which it
treated. I then copied the whole of these passages into large Note
Books, placing all that spake on any particular subject together. I also
arranged the passages so far as I was able, in their natural order, that
they might throw light on one another, and present the subject on which