12. Payson as a Bible Student.

Payson as a Bible Student

He seems to have concentrated all his powers upon the acquisition of scriptural knowledge, and the cultivation of Christian and ministerial graces. He entertained the most exalted views of the office of the ministry, and of the qualifications requisite, and sought them with a corresponding zeal.

He regarded himself not so much as a student of systems of divinity, drawn up by men, as a student of the Bible. He regarded these systems with jealousy. Doubtless the works of eminent divines, which he had already read, exerted some influence upon his mind; but in his independence as a thinker, and in his deep reverence for the word of God, he placed them all in subordination to that divine word, embracing that one book as an adequate foundation for his faith, and an infallible guide to duty. His reading was confined principally to such writings as helped to elucidate and unfold the literal meaning of the Bible. In this manner he studied the whole of the inspired book, so that there was not a verse on which he had not formed an opinion. In this way he acquired an unparalleled readiness to meet every question, on every occasion, whether proposed by a caviler or conscientious inquirer. This ready knowledge of the Bible gave him the confidence of the people, as a man mighty in the Scriptures, to confound and silence gainsayers, and to ornament his discourses with the brilliant diamonds of truth, and to set apples of gold in pictures of silver.