I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, because
it is true. This is my first reason. The religion is
true, and no consideration but this could induce me to
defend it. I adopt it, not because it is popular, for false
and ruinous systems have enjoyed equal reputation; nor
because it is thought to uphold the order of society, for
I believe that nothing but truth can be permanently
useful. It is true; and I say this not lightly, but after
deliberate examination. I am not repeating the accents
of the nursery. I do not affirm the truth of Christian-
ity, because I was so taught before I could inquire, or
because I was brought up in a community pledged to
this belief. It is not unlikely, that my faith and zeal
will be traced by some to these sources; and believing
such imputations to be groundless, fidelity to the cause
of truth binds me to repel them. The circumstance of
having been born and educated under Christianity, so
far from disposing me to implicit faith, has often been
to me the occasion of serious distrust of our religion.
On observing how common it is for men of all countries
and names, whether Christians, Jews, or Mahometans,
to receive the religion of their fathers, I have again
and again asked myself, whether I too was not a slave,
whether I too was not blindly walking in the path of
tradition, and yielding myself as passively as others to
an hereditary faith. I distrust and fear the power of
numbers and of general opinion over my judgment;
and few things incite me more to repel a doctrine than
intolerant attempts to force it on my understanding.
Perhaps my Christian education and connexions have
inclined me to skepticism, rather than bowed my mind
to authority.

It may still be said, that the pride and prejudices

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