religious bodies; and he hesitated. He tried in vain to solve
the mystery presented to him in the warring factions of what
professed to be the Church of Christ. Surely, thought he, these
several churches, opposed as they are to one another on what
appear to be the vital points of religion, cannot all be right.
While puzzling over this anomaly he chanced upon this verse in
the epistle of St. James:

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that
giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and
it shall be given him."

In common with so many others, the earnest youth found here
within the scriptures, admonition and counsel as directly
applicable to his case and circumstances as if the lines had been
addressed to him by name. A brief period of hesitation, in which
he shrank from the thought that a mortal like himself, weak,
youthful, and unlearned, should approach the Creator with a
personal request, was followed by a humble and contrite
resolution to act upon the counsel of the ancient apostle. The
result, to which he bore solemn record (testifying at first with
the simplicity and enthusiasm of youth, afterward confirming the
declaration with manhood's increasing powers, and at last
voluntarily sealing the testimony with his life's blood,) proved
most startling to the sectarian world--a world in which according
to popular belief no new revelation of truth was possible. It is
a surprising fact that while growth, progress, advancement,
development of known truths and the acquisition of new ones,
characterize every living science, the sectarian world has
declared that nothing new must be expected as direct revelation