how far, or by what means,
I might be qualified to receive the sacrament. Such almost incredible
neglect was productive of the worst mischiefs. From my childhood I had
been fond of religious disputation: my poor aunt has been often puzzled
by the mysteries which she strove to believe; nor had the elastic spring
been totally broken by the weight of the atmosphere of Oxford. The
blind activity of idleness urged me to advance without armour into the
dangerous mazes of controversy; and at the age of sixteen, I bewildered
myself in the errors of the church of Rome.

The progress of my conversion may tend to illustrate, at least, the
history of my own mind. It was not long since Dr. Middleton's free
inquiry had founded an alarm in the theological world: much ink and much
gall had been spilt in the defence of the primitive miracles; and the
two dullest of their champions were crowned with academic honours by
the university of Oxford. The name of Middleton was unpopular; and his
proscription very naturally led me to peruse his writings, and those of
his antagonists. His bold criticism, which approaches the precipice of
infidelity, produced on my mind a singular effect; and had I persevered
in the communion of Rome, I should now apply to my own fortune the
prediction of the Sibyl,

--Via prima salutis,
Quod minime reris, Graia, pandetur ab urbe.

The elegance of style and freedom of argument were repelled by a shield
of prejudice. I still revered the character, or rather the names, of the
saints and fathers whom Dr. Middleton exposes; nor could he destroy my
implicit belief, that the gift of miraculous powers was continued in the
church, during the first four or five centuries of Christianity. But I
was unable to resist the weight of historical evidence, that within
the same period most of the leading doctrines of popery were already
introduced in theory and practice: nor was my conclusion absurd, that
miracles are the test of truth, and that the church must be orthodox and
pure, which was so often approved by the visible interposition of the
Deity. The marvellous tales which are so boldly attested by the Basils
and Chrysostoms, the Austins and Jeroms, compelled me to embrace the
superior merits of celibacy, the institution of the monastic life,
the use of the sign of the cross, of holy oil, and even of images, the
invocation of saints, the worship of relics, the rudiments of purgatory
in prayers for