I was the second son of this unhappy marriage, and, ere ever I
was born, my father according to the flesh disclaimed all relation
or connection with me, and all interest in me, save what the law
compelled him to take, which was to grant me a scanty
maintenance; and had it not been for a faithful minister of the
gospel, my mother's early instructor, I should have remained an
outcast from the church visible. He took pity on me, admitting me
not only into that, but into the bosom of his own household and
ministry also, and to him am I indebted, under Heaven, for the
high conceptions and glorious discernment between good and
evil, right and wrong, which I attained even at an early age. It was
he who directed my studies aright, both in the learning of the
ancient fathers and the doctrines of the reformed church, and
designed me for his assistant and successor in the holy office. I
missed no opportunity of perfecting myself particularly in all the
minute points of theology in which my reverend father and
mother took great delight; but at length I acquired so much skill
that I astonished my teachers, and made them gaze at one
another.
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