e Christian truth. And hence the freedom and eagerness of
my investigations, and the liberty I took in modifying my belief.

It may be said that many of the doctrines which I have set down as
unscriptural, are of little importance; and that is really the case. We
ought, therefore, to be the more ready to give them up. Why contend for
doctrines of no moment? But some of them _are_ important. They are
revolting and mischievous errors, and when they are regarded as parts of
Christianity, they tend to make men infidels. And in many cases they
stagger the faith, and lessen the comfort, and injure the souls of
Christians. And even the less important ones do harm when taken to be
parts of the religion of Christ. You cannot make thoughtful,
sharp-visioned men believe that Jesus came into the world, and lived and
died to propagate trifles. Trifles therefore are no longer trifles when
set forth as Christian doctrines. And we have enough to believe and
think about without occupying our minds with childish fancies. And we
have things enough of high importance to preach and write about, without
spending our time and strength on idle dreams.

And the apparently harmless fictions prop up the hurtful ones. And they
lessen the influence of great truths. And they make religion appear
suspicious or contemptible to men of sense. They disgust some. They give
occasion to the adversaries to speak reproachfully.

And if you tolerate fictions at all in Christianity, where will you
stop? And if you do not stop somewhere, Christianity will disappear, and
a mass of worthless and disgusting follies will take its place. The new
creation will vanish, and chaos come again.

And again. A large proportion of the controversies of the Church are
about men's inventions. Christ's own doctrines do not so often provoke
opposition as the traditions of the elders; nor do they, when assailed,
require so much defending. They defend themselves. "The devil's way of
undoing," says Baxter, "is by overdoing. To bring religious zeal into
disrepute, he makes some zealous to madness, to persecution, to blood.
To discredit freedom he urges its advocates into lawlessness. To
discredit Christian morality, he induces some to carry it to the extreme
of asceticism. To discredit needful authority, he makes rulers of the
State into despots, and persuades the rulers of the Church to claim
infallibility. To discredit Christianity, he adds to it human
inventions." Wesley has a s