the beauty of face or form that was the most attractive to me in young
gentlemen, or ladies, but that of the mind. Seeing this the case with myself,
I tried to acquire knowledge to make my company agreeable. I see
young ladies, and gentlemen, who entertain each other with their silly
jokes and gigglings that are disgusting. When I had company I always
directed the conversation so that my friend would teach me something, or
I would teach him. I would read the poets, and Scott's writings and history.
Read Josephus, mythology and the Bible together, and never read a course
that taught me as much. I would go to the country dances and sometimes
to balls in the City. The church did not object to this: I would
teach Sunday school at the same time. No one taught me that this was
wrong. One thing was a tower of defense to me. I always, when possible,
read the Bible and would pray. After retiring would get up and kneel,
feeling that to pray in bed only, was disrespectful to God. If the angels in
heaven would prostrate themselves before Him, I a poor sinner should.
And right here, I believe in "advancing on your knees." Abraham prostrated
himself, so did David and Solomon, Elijah, Daniel, Paul, and even
our sinless Advocate. Why did the Holy Ghost state the position so often?
For our example, of course. There are no space writers in the Scriptures.
I often had doubts as to whether the Bible was the work of God or man.
I kept these doubts to myself, for I thought infidelity a disgrace. I
wanted to believe the Bible the word of God. I early saw that to close
the Bible was to shut out all knowledge of the purpose of life. Without
its revelations one does not know why we are born, why we live, or
where we go after death. We can see the purpose of all nature, but not
of this life of ours, and God had, by revelation, to make this known.

The Bible was a mystery to me. It often seemed to be a contradiction.
I did not love to read it, but above all things, I did not want to be a
hypocrite. I was determined to try to do my part. I would pray for the same