Part 2
Such is the society for which I beg to claim your support. I would use every argument by which you might be most liberally affected towards it, for I know not of any public institution which has so purely and directly for its object the temporal and spiritual interests of mankind; I know of no institution where so large a sum can be so well used, and which no money can be well misused, whilst the simple object of the society is acted upon, viz. to circulate the word of God without note or comment. I would then call upon you by every plea, according to your utmost ability, to give liberally towards the great purposes of this institution. Only let us place ourselves in the situation of those millions who have not had the word of God given to them. Let us suppose, that another nation were now deliberating whether the Bible should be sent to _our_ shores; let us conceive that nation, now arguing whether some local attachment, some municipal regulation, some system of church-government, should not restrain its hands, when it had the power and disposition to give the Bible to Britain. How should we, who value the word of God, who feel that we owe to it our pure religion, and all that is excellent in our manners, and all that is pre-eminent in our character; how should we bear _from others_ those arguments about giving the Scriptures to ourselves, which we are compelled every day to hear, now that the case is reversed? Would an argument of a Russian, for instance, satisfy _us_, that the Bible should not be given to England, because the Greek, and the Georgian, the Armenian, and Roman catholic churches, could not, without danger, unite in a public meeting? Should we be satisfied, that England ought not to have the word of God, because a Roman catholic establishment might fear the prevalence of what it might call heresy? As then we should say, what can be the evils arising from a meeting of Christians of all the Russian churches, in comparison of the sin of refusing the Bible to England? what would be the relative importance even of taking away an established church in another country, when the alternative is, that Britain should not have the word of God? So let us now reason when _we_ have the Bible, and a disposition has sprung up in this country to give it to all the world; so let us reason about our own hindrances in co-operating in this work, and the urgent calls of the world upon us, for the dissemination of the Scriptures. We do not however give up our establishment, by distributing the word of God, we hope to strengthen and support it; we hold out the best test by which any church can be tried, and we shew our confidence that it is built upon a right foundation, and that therefore no enemy shall prevail against it.
Is there any one here, I may ask, who would willingly give up the effects of Christian principles upon his own happiness, or the value of Christian comfort to his own heart? Is there any one here, who would consent to have no knowledge of the true God; no hope in Jesus Christ; never to witness again the peaceful joy of the sabbath; never to feel the consolation which the gospel affords; when it may teach us that afflictions are but the chastisements of a tender father; when it points out a hope concerning our departed friends, that our brother Lazarus, that our child, our parent, is not dead, but sleepeth? If then we value these things so much ourselves, let us not seek to shut them out from others; but let us on the other hand, endeavour to disseminate them through the whole world. Let us seek that every nation may experience, as we do, the blessings of religion, of peace, of a humble submission to a good government. Let us give them the Bible, which is, I may say, the corner-stone of all that we can boast as a nation; and then they may be as wise, as happy, as pious, as useful, as we are. O let the cries and tears of the heathen, let their wants and misery, let their ignorance and sin, come up before you! and let these prevail upon you, to open your hearts, and to supply them out of your abundance. As you value your own souls, look upon those who, not having the Bible, are living without comfort, and dying without the consolations of the gospel. Look upon them for they call upon you for help; neglect them not, for to have refused a cup of cold water, will not at the day of judgment be unaccounted for: grant them your support and your blessings, so shall you meet them with joy, when you with them, are called to receive your last eternal sentence.
_FINIS_.
* * * * *
_Brightly and Childs_, _Printers_, _Bungay_.
FOOTNOTES.
{6} The sentiments of the late venerable Dr. PORTEUS, Lord BISHOP of LONDON, are thus delivered to the world, in great part as recorded by the bishop himself, in his life written by his relative, the Dean of Chester.
“A limitation thus absolute and unequivocal,” viz. “that the sole and exclusive object of the society should be the circulation of the Scriptures, and the Scriptures only, without note or comment,” removed from the Bishop’s mind all doubt and hesitation. He saw instantly that a design of such magnitude, which aimed at nothing less than the dispersion of the Bible over every accessible part of the world, _could only be accomplished by the association of men of all religious persuations_. He looked forward to great results from such a combination of effort. He entertained the hope that it might operate as a bond of union between contending parties; and that by bringing them together in one point of vast moment, about which there could hardly be a diversity of opinion, it might gradually allay that bitterness of dispute, and put an end to those unhappy divisions which have so long tarnished the credit of the Christian world. Whilst, therefore, he remained firmly attached to the original society, (for promoting Christian knowledge) whose exertions, as far as its limited sphere allowed, no one ever held in higher estimation, he gave at the same time the sanction of his name without scruple to the new one: _and the more he considered its object_, _and the longer experience he had of the spirit ant principles on which it was conducted_, _the more deeply he was convinced that it merited all the support which the Church of England could give_.
“It is now,” he observes in a passage which strongly marks his sentiments; “it is now well known and firmly established, and has completely triumphed over all the attempts made to destroy it. None of those secret dark designs, none of those plots and conspiracies to subvert the establishment, and devour both the shepherds and their flocks, which were so confidently predicted by a certain set of men as the inevitable effect of this society, have yet been discovered in it. It is in fact much better employed. It goes on quietly and steadily, in the prosecution of its great object, and pays no sort of regard to the sneers and cavils of its intemperate opponents.”—In another passage, written at a still later date, he says, “that he cannot but add, in justice to this society, which has been so much opposed, misrepresented, and traduced, that all the important works in which it has been engaged have been carried on with the utmost harmony and unanimity; without any difference of opinion; without the slightest symptom of any hostile or treacherous design against the church; and without any other idea upon their minds but that of extending as widely as possible, the knowledge of the Christian Scriptures.” The bishops of Durham and Salisbury attended _several of their meetings_, and were delighted with the decorum, calmness, and good temper with which their proceedings were conducted. In short, _all the apprehensions to which this society has given rise are now found to be but vain terrors_; and all the prophecies of the mischief and evil, that would result from it, are _falsified by facts_. It is rising uniformly in reputation and credit; gaining new accessions of strength and revenues and _attaching to itself more and more the approbation and support of every real friend to the church and to religion_.
{10} Extract of a speech made by the earl of Liverpool, on accepting the office of president, of the Cinque Ports’ Bible Society, Dec. 5th. 1815.
As a member of the Established Church, from education and habit, but much more so from consideration and conviction, he was particularly desirous of promoting its interests, to the utmost of his ability, under this impression he had recently appeared, on a public occasion, as a supporter of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge. He was anxious to extend the influences and advantages of that institution; but he saw no reason why he should not, at the same time, afford to the British and Foreign Bible Society every assistance in his power, and evince an equal anxiety to promote its success. The objects of the two Societies were one—that of dispersing the uncorrupted word of God; and, as the means in each were pure, he should always consider it an honour to aid them, or any other society which had the same object in view, and was labouring to effect the same end—the dissemination of Christianity over the habitable globe. His lordship was a friend to the Bible Society, because it would operate where, from national custom, or prevalence of different sentiments, the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge would not obtain admission. The universality of the object proposed by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and its tendency to unite all Christians (however divided on subjects of minor concern) in the bonds of Christian sympathy and benevolence, gave it, in his lordship’s mind, a powerful claim to universal support.