“ ‘Is not the Creator the author of the constitution of mind? “ ‘If the Creator _had power_ to make it right and yet has made it wrong, is he not proved by _his works_ (the only mode of learning his character) to be unwise and malevolent, and is not a _reliable_ revelation from such a being, to teach the way of virtue and happiness, impossible? “ ‘Do you not claim that the Bible teaches that God _has proved_ his power to make mind perfect by creating angels and Adam with _perfect minds_, and at the same time, as a penalty for the sin of the first parent, has made such a constitution of things, that every human mind comes into existence with a ruined and depraved nature, that never _can_, or never _will_, act right till God re‐ creates it, while as yet, for the great mass of mankind, he never remedies this wrong? “ ‘Do you not claim that the Bible teaches that no human being has any right and acceptable feelings or actions till God thus re‐ creates the mind? “ ‘If the Bible _does_ teach thus, we can find a nobler Creator and more perfect system of religion by the light of nature without any revelation at all, while the God of the Bible, by its own showing, is _proved_ unworthy of confidence as a teacher of the way to virtue and happiness.’ “Pressed by these questions, I have searched the Bible in vain to find any such doctrines in its pages. I find nothing of the kind, and so I acknowledge that I have been in the wrong, and relinquish the Augustinian dogma in which I have been educated, as unsupported either by reason or revelation; and first privately and then publicly ask for _any evidence_ to sustain it. “I come before the public, not as a teacher of metaphysics or theology, but as an _inquirer_ for the truth. I state, as nearly as I am able, the difficulties I have met, and take every possible method to avoid mistake and misrepresentation in regard to the opinions of both those with whom I agree and those from whom I differ. “I assume that theology is capable of improvement; that Protestant divines are no more infallible than Catholic; that a humble and teachable spirit is the distinctive mark of a Christian teacher; and that the courage and manliness that can acknowledge mistakes is not only more Christian, but even in the eye of the world, is more honorable and dignified than any assumption of infallibility, however well sustained.