204 THE JOURNEYMAN. 



morality, as the masters of the second. The leaders of 

 the former I considered to be good, wise men, (indeed, I 

 am still readier to regret their defects than censure them), 

 while the whole body which composed the latter I re- 

 garded as a band of conspirators against all that is good 

 or noble in human nature. I looked upon the Edin- 

 burgh deist as a pupil of the school last described ; in- 

 deed, the irregularity of the life he led lent this opinion 

 a strong sanction. 



' The more I thought and read, the more wavering 

 and unsettled my opinions became. I began to see that 

 the precepts inculcated by the Christian faith are equal 

 if not superior in purity to those taught in the school of 

 philosophy ; but then the strange, mysterious doctrines 

 which mingled with these precepts had in them some- 

 thing repulsive. I could believe in many things which 

 I did not understand; but how could I believe in things 

 evidently not beyond the reach of reason, but directly 

 opposed to it ? I could believe that man is either a free 

 agent, or chained down by the decrees of God to a pre- 

 destined line of conduct ; but how could I believe that 

 he was at once free and the child of necessity ? And 

 yet the contradiction (as it appeared) seemed to me to 

 be the doctrine of the Bible. 



' I regarded the main doctrine of Christianity as one 

 of those which lie not beyond the reach of reason, but, 

 as I have said, are directly opposed to it. How, thought 

 I, can one man who is a criminal be pardoned and re- 

 warded because another who is none has, after meriting 

 reward, been punished ? How can it be said that He 

 who thus pardons the guilty and punishes the inno- 

 cent is not only just, but that He even does this that He 

 may become just and merciful ? It appeared still more 

 strange than even this that the only way of becoming 



