d a report, that I
have become insane; and others, that I have become a heretic; I have
wished to write an account of myself in few words, and then let every
reflecting man judge for himself, whether I am mad, or am slandered;
whether following after heresy, or after the truth of the orthodox
faith. Every serious man of understanding will concede, that true
religion is not that of compulsion, nor that which may be bought and
sold; but that which proceeds from attending to the word of God,
believing it, and endeavouring to walk according to it to the glory of
God, and that every one, whose object is solely contention, and who does
not obey the truth, but follows after unrighteousness, is far distant
from the true religion. This is the standard, by which I would be judged
by every one who reads this narrative.

About eight or nine months ago, I was employed, by an American by the
name of J. King, in teaching him the Syriac language. At that time, I
was very fond of engaging with him in disputatious conversations, to
prove him to be in error; but with none but worldly motives, to display
my talents and knowledge, and acquire the praise of men. After this, I
applied myself to reading of the word of God with intense interest. Now
this person wrote a farewell letter to his friends, in which he excuses
himself from uniting himself with the Roman Catholic church. After
reading this letter, I found, in the Holy scriptures, many passages,
which made against the opinions of the writer. These passages I
selected, and from them and other evidences, composed a reply to him.
But when I was copying the first rough draught of the same, and had
arrived to the answer to the last of the objections, which he said
prevented his becoming a member of the Roman Catholic church, viz: that
the Roman Catholic church teaches, that it is wrong for the common
people to possess or read the word of God but that they ought to learn
from the popes and councils, I observed the writer brings a proof
against the doctrine from the prophet Isaiah, viz: "To the law and to
the testimony, if they speak not according to my word, it is because
there is no light in them."

While I was endeavouring to explain this passage also, according to the
views of the Roman Catholic church, with no other object than the praise
of men, and other worldly motives, I chanced to read the 29th chapter
of Isaiah, from the 15th verse to the end. I read, and was afraid. I
meditated u