The church at Lichfield, in
which we had a seat, wanted reparation, so I was to go and find a seat
in other churches; and having bad eyes, and being awkward about this, I
used to go and read in the fields on Sunday. This habit continued till
my fourteenth year; and still I find a great reluctance to go to church.
I then became a sort of lax TALKER against religion, for I did not much
THINK against it; and this lasted till I went to Oxford, where it would
not be SUFFERED. When at Oxford, I took up Law's Serious Call to a Holy
Life, expecting to find it a dull book (as such books generally are),
and perhaps to laugh at it. But I found Law quite an overmatch for me;
and this was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest of religion,
after I became capable of rational inquiry.' From this time forward
religion was the predominant object of his thoughts; though, with the
just sentiments of a conscientious Christian, he lamented that his
practice of its duties fell far short of what it ought to be.
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