APPENDIX. 237 



thought it desirable for us to know about him, the God ; about his 

 purposes in creating the world and us, and what now he wanted of us. 

 Something of this he said in words, Hebrew words, which some of the 

 people translated into Greek, and they have been again turned into 

 English, and in this way I have read considerable of it ; but more he 

 told in the actions of the life of that man. If a stranger comes to me, 

 and says that he loves me, I don t well know what he means, for there s 

 all sorts of love, and some of it not worth many thanks. I should be 

 still more uncertain if he spake in the Chinese tongue, and it had to be 

 carried through Portuguese into English ; but if I had been detected in 

 some disgraceful crime, and every body scorned and hissed at me, and a 

 man should come, alone of all a crowd, and lift me out of the dust 

 where I lay in expectation of death, and cheer me with hopeful and 

 encouraging words, I should not need to be told that he loved me, to be 

 grateful to him; and if you were an Indian, and it was told to you in 

 Choctaw, you d understand it exactly as I would, and have no mistake 

 and no doubt about what he meant. Now supposing the great power 

 and wisdom that contrived and executed this world, and all we know 

 of material things, was showing itself in that man that so pretended, 

 and we have a reliable account of the way he lived, we can infer what 

 at least is the general character and tendency of his motives and pur 

 poses, and judge pretty well what he wants of us.&quot; 



&quot; But is it not altogether more likely a man making such pretensions, 

 was an impostor ?&quot; 



&quot; We must judge of that too by his character as displayed otherwise 

 than in professions. Now what do we find ? An earnest, serious man, 

 seemingly living only to do and be good; subduing extraordinary temp 

 tations of passion and ambition; helping and healing the sick, and the 

 crippled, and the outcast, in season and out of season ; speaking his 

 mind truly and freely, no matter who he hits ; persevering in what he 

 thinks is right, and just, and merciful, though it is disreputable and 

 directly in the teeth of the prevailing standard of morals ; sticking to 

 it, though he is misunderstood, reproached, and forsaken for it, as a 

 wilful, stubborn fanatic, by his friends, and it destroys his influence 

 over all the respectable part of the community.&quot; 



&quot; Good for him, by jingo ! They didn t excommunicate him, did they ? 

 If it had been in the United States or in England, they would have said 

 he was damned, body and soul, past recovery, and utterly unworthy of 

 the means of grace !&quot; 



