'A 
 
 
 Testimony 
 
 of 
 
 Dlstingulshea Laymen 
 
 to the value of 
 
 THE SACRED SCRIPTUKES 
 
 134 
 
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 % JG1CALSB J^ 
 
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TESTIMONY 
 
 OF 
 
 JJIIi0tin9tti0l)etr Cajimtn 
 
 TO THE VALUE OF 
 
 ' THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 PARTICULARLY IN THEIR BEARING ON 
 
 CIVIL AND SOCIAL LIFE, 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, 
 
 ASTOR PLACE. 
 
 1853. 
 
cy 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 While the people of our country are more generally supplied with the Bible, 
 and make more use of it, probably, than the people of any other country, there 
 are still many among us who treat it with neglect, and not a few who 
 question its divine claims. Those who thus neglect or trifle with this book 
 are, usually, as is every where the case, those who have never given it an 
 honest and careful perusal. They are more generally young men, who seem 
 to assume that it is a book unsuited to minds in their condition, and to be 
 read, if read at all, by those only who are sinking under the sorrows of a 
 worn out hfe. No small portion of those who come to dwell among us from 
 abroad are found to be well nigh strangers to this Sacred Volume, and not un- 
 frequently express their surprise that it should here be held in such reverence 
 by many whom they meet. Far indeed are all these from knowing what this 
 book has done in giving birth to the civil and rehgious freedom which we en- 
 joy ; and they have no conception of the value which the wisest and best of 
 our public men attach to its instrumentality in preserving our institutions. 
 
 It has therefore been thought by the Managers of the American Bible So- 
 ciety, that good would result to our favoured land by collecting, to some ex- 
 tent, and publishing the opinions, not of the clergy, but of distinguished lay- 
 men, as to the worth of the Scriptures, particularly in their influence on civil 
 and social life. To give this testimony the more scope and weight, it has 
 been sought from the wise of other times and countries as well as of our own. 
 
 The testimony thus brought together is arranged in the following order : 
 
 I. That which is found in the writings of men now deceased, but whose 
 names are still widely known and respected. 
 
 II. That which is gathered from the pubHc letters and addresses of worthy 
 and distinguished men, at different times, Avho are still living. 
 
 III. From that contained in letters, which the Board of Managers have ob- 
 tained on special request for the present publication. 
 
 It can hardly be doubted, that such a series of opinions as is here presented, 
 if carefully pondered, will lead many a mind to " search the Scriptures," and 
 see " whether these things were so. " It may be hoped, too, that by searching 
 many will be persuaded of the great truths revealed, and thus be prepared in 
 future to take part in the dissemination of a book which, beyond all others 
 combined, is to enlighten and save the race 
 
TESTIMONY 
 
 OF 
 
 DISTINGUISHED LAYMEN 
 
 TO 
 
 THE VALUE OF THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 SIR FRANCIS BACOK— Born 1561. 
 «' That form of writing in divinity, which in my judgment is 
 of all others most rich and precious, is positive divinity, collected 
 upon particular texts of Scriptures in brief observations, not di- 
 lated into common places ; not chasing after controversies ; not 
 reduced into method of art, a thing abounding in sermons, which 
 will vanish, but defective in books, which will remain, and a 
 thing wherein this age excelleth. For I am persuaded, and I 
 may speak it with an absit invidia verba, and no ways in dero- 
 gation of antiquity, but as in good emulation between the vine 
 and the olive, that if the choice and best of these observations 
 upon texts of Scriptures which have been made dispersedly in 
 sermons within the island of Britain by the space of these forty 
 years and more (leaving out the largeness of exhortations, and 
 applications thereupon) had been set down in a continuance, it 
 had been the best work on divinity which had been written since 
 the Apostles' times. 
 
 '' Thy creatures have been my books ; but thy Scriptures much 
 more : I have sought thee in the courts, fields, and gardens, but 
 I have found thee in thy temples. 
 
 " I believe that the Word of Grod, whereby his will is revealed, 
 continued in revelation and tradition with Moses ; and that the 
 Scriptures were from Moses' time to the time of the Apostles 
 and Evangelists ; in whose ages, after the coming of the Holy 
 Ghost, the book of Scripture was shut and closed, so as not to 
 receive any new addition, and that the church hath no power 
 after the Scriptures to teach and command any thing contrary to 
 the written Word." 
 
6 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 HUGO GROTIUS.— Born in Holland ]583. 
 ''"VVe say, then, that the writings, about which there is no dis- 
 pute amongst Christians, and which have any particular person's 
 name affixed to them, are that author's whose title they are 
 marked with ; because the first writers, such as Justin, Irenfeus, 
 Clemens, and others after them, quote those books under those 
 names ; and besides, Tertullian says that in his time some of the 
 original copies of those books were extant. 
 
 " Neither did any Heathens or Jews raise any controversy, as 
 if they were not the works of those whose they were said to be. 
 And Julian openly confesses, that those were Peter's, Paul's, 
 Matthew's, Mark's, and Luke's, which were read by the Christians 
 under those names. Nobody in his senses makes any doubt of 
 Homer's or Yirgil's works being theirs, by reason of the constant 
 testimony of the G-reeks concerning the one, and of the Latins 
 concerning the other ; how much more, then, ought we to stand 
 by the testimony of almost all the nations in the world for the 
 authors of these books ? 
 
 " But since Clod has been pleased to leave us the records of the 
 Jewish religion, which was true of old, and affords no small testi- 
 mony to the Christian religion, it is not foreign to our purpose to 
 see upon what foundation the credibility of these is built. That 
 these books are theirs to whom they are ascribed, appears in the 
 same manner as we have proved of our books ; and they whose 
 names they bear were either prophets or men worthy to be cred- 
 ited; such as Esdras, who is supposed to have collected them 
 into one volume, at that time when the prophets Haggai, Mala- 
 chi, and Zacharias were yet alive. 
 
 " But there is no reason for us Christians to doubt of the cred- 
 ibility of these books, because there are testimonies in our books, 
 out of almost every one of them, the same as they are found in 
 the Hebrew. Nor did Christ, when he reproved many things in 
 the teachers of the Law, and in the Pharisees of his time, ever 
 accuse them of falsifying the books of Moses and the Prophets, or 
 of using supposititious or altered books. 
 
 " And it can never be proved, or made credible, that after 
 Christ's time the Scripture should be corrupted in any thing of 
 moment, if we do but consider how far and wide the Jewish na- 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. V 
 
 tion, who every where kept these books, was dispersed over the 
 whole world." 
 
 SIR MATTHEW HALE.— Born 1600. 
 
 From Letters to his Children. 
 
 "Every morning read seriously and reverently a portion of the 
 Holy Scriptures, and acquaint yourselves with the history and 
 doctrine thereof. It is a book full of light and wisdom, will make 
 you wise to eternal life, and furnish you with directions and prin- 
 ciples to guide and order your life safely and prudently. 
 
 " There is no book like the Bible for excellent learning, wis- 
 dom, and use." 
 
 JOHN MILTON".— Born 1608. 
 
 " God having to this end ordained his G-ospel to be the revela- 
 tion of his power and wisdom in Christ Jesus. And this is one 
 depth of his wisdom, that He could so plainly reveal so great a 
 measure of it to the gross, distorted apprehension of decayed man- 
 kind. Let others, therefore, dread and shun the Scriptures for 
 their darkness ; I shall wish I may deserve to be reekoned among 
 those who admire and dwell upon them for their clearness. 
 
 " True religion is the true worship and service of God, learnt 
 and believed from the "Word of God only. No man or angel can 
 know how God would be worshipped and served, unless God 
 reveal it ; he hath revealed and taught it us in the Holy Scrip- 
 tLires by inspired ministers, and in the Gospel by his own Son, and 
 his Apostles, with strictest command to reject all other tradi- 
 tions or additions whatsoever. According to that of St. Paul, 
 * Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel 
 unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him 
 be anathema, or accursed.' And, Deut. 4 : 2, 'Ye shall not add 
 to the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish 
 aught from it.' Rev. 22 : 18, 19, ' If any man shall add,' &c. 
 ' If any man shall take away from the words,' &c. "With good 
 and religious reason therefore, all Protestant churches, with one 
 consent, and particularly the Church of England in her Thirty- 
 nine Articles, art. 6, 19, 20, and 21, and elsewhere, maintain 
 these two points, as the main principles of true religion ; that the 
 
8 Testimony of Distinguishsd Laymen 
 
 rule of true religion is the Word of God only ; and that their faith 
 ought not to be an implicit faith, that is, to believe, though as the 
 church believes, against or without express authority of Scrip- 
 ture." 
 
 JOHN LOCKE.— Born 1632, 
 
 *' That the Holy Scriptures are one of the greatest blessings 
 ^Yhich Grod bestows upon the sons of men, is generally acknowl- 
 edged by all who know any thing of the value and worth of them. 
 In them the Lord hath dilucidly displayed that counsel of his will 
 that is of infinite concernment to us to understand, in order to 
 our present being accepted of him here, and at last brought to 
 the fullest enjoyment of himself in glory. 'Tis wonderful to 
 behold, how full and perfect this world is, with respect to this 
 end: what can man desire to know, which is necessary hereunto, 
 that the light thereof discovers not? What direction can he 
 expect, by which he may be fortified against all enemies of his 
 good, either within or without him, that is not there given? 
 What encouragements would he have, which are not therein dis- 
 played before him ? And what cavils can be brought against any 
 part of truth contained therein, to which they themselves yield 
 not a full resolve, one place of Scripture so exactly clearing, ex- 
 pounding, and illustrating another ? Yet, to amazement, it is 
 observed, that man, who is so highly and principally concerned in 
 it, doth too little value it : he can weary himself in any secular 
 affair, but diligently to search the Scriptures according to our 
 Lord's advice, is to him tedious and burdensome." 
 
 SIR ISAAC NEWTOK— Born 1642. 
 
 "We account the Scriptures of G-od to be the most sublime 
 philosophy. 
 
 " I find more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in 
 any profane history whatever." 
 
 WILLIAM PENK— Born in London in 1644. 
 "Nor would we be thought to lessen the virtue, use, and 
 reputation of the Holy Scriptures, whilst we endeavour the 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 9 
 
 vindication of the Holy Spirit in his office of revelation to be- 
 lievers. 
 
 *' They are useful in two eminent respects : 
 
 " 1st. Historically; as giving us a true narrative of the trans- 
 actions of those ages of the world, in reference to the church or 
 state of both Jews and Christians ; their trials, troubles, tempta- 
 tions, lapses, recoveries, and perfect victories. 
 
 "2d. Doctrinally; as presenting us with a true account of the 
 principles and doctrines of the people of Grod ; their holy faith and 
 patience : I cannot phrase it better than a divine glass in which 
 we see (I say, we see, who first have that heavenly organ, an eye 
 opened by inspiration and revelation) the states and conditions of 
 the primitive saints, which is matter of unspeakable comfort and 
 confirmation, as w^ell as of good example to us. 
 
 " I do declare to the whole world, that we believe the Scrip- 
 tures to contain a declaration of the mind and will of God in 
 and to those ages in which they were written ; being given forth 
 by the Holy Grhost, moving in the hearts of holy men of G-od ; 
 that they ought also to be read, believed, and fulfilled in our 
 day; being useful for reproof and instruction, that the man of 
 God may be perfect. 
 
 " They are a declaration and testimony of heavenly things, but 
 not the heavenly things themselves ; and, as such, we carry an 
 high respect unto them. "We accept them as the words of God 
 himself; and, by the assistance of his Spirit, they are read with 
 great instruction and comfort." 
 
 JOSEPH ADDISOK— BoRX 16*72. 
 
 " The Scriptures are full of pathetical and warm pictures of the 
 condition of an happy or miserable futurity ; and I am confident, 
 that the frequent reading of them would make the way to an 
 happy eternity so agreeable and pleasant, that he who tries it 
 will find the difficulties which he before suffered in shunning the 
 allurements of vice, absorbed in pleasure he will take in the pur- 
 suit of virtue ; and how happy must that mortal be, who thinks 
 himself in the favour of an Almighty, and can think of death as 
 a thing which it is an infirmity not to desire." 
 
10 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 SIR WILLIAM JOI^ES.— Born 1748. 
 
 " But I cannot refrain from adding, that the collection of tracts, 
 which we call, from their excellence, the Scriptures, contain, in- 
 dependently of a divine origin, more true sublimity, more exquis- 
 ite beauty, more pure morality, more important history, and 
 finer strains both of poetry and eloquence, than could be collected 
 from all other books that were ever composed in any age or in 
 any idiom. The two parts of which the Scriptures consist are 
 connected by a chain of compositions, which bear no resemblance, 
 in form of style, to any that can be produced from the stores of 
 Grecian, Indian, Persian, or even Arabian learning; the antiquity 
 of those compositions, no man doubts ; and the unrestrained ap- 
 plication of them to events long subsequent to their publication 
 is a solid ground of belief that they were genuine productions, and 
 consequently inspired." 
 
 THOMAS LORD ERSKINE.— Born 1750. 
 " I have been ever deeply devoted to the truths of Christianity ; 
 and my firm belief in the Holy G-ospel is by no means owing to 
 the prejudices of education (though I was religiously educated 
 by the best of parents), but it arises from the most continued 
 reflections of my riper years and understanding. It forms, at 
 this moment, the great consolation of a life, which, as a shadow, 
 must pass away ; and without it, indeed, I should consider my 
 long course of health and prosperity (perhaps too long and too 
 uninterrupted to be good for any man) only as the dust which 
 the wind scatters, rather as a snare than as a blessing." 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON". 
 
 Extracts from Circular Letter to the several States upon disbanding the Army, June 8, 1783. 
 
 '' The free cultivation of letters, the unbounded extension of 
 commerce, the progressive refinement of manners, the growing 
 liberality of sentiment, and, above all, the pure and benign light 
 of Revelation, have had a meliorating influence on mankind, and 
 increased the blessings of society. 
 
 " I now malve my earnest prayer that God would have you, and 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 11 
 
 the State over ^Yhich you preside, under his holy protection ; that 
 He would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate the spirit 
 of subordination and obedience to government; to entertain a 
 brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow citi- 
 zens of the United States at large, and particularly for their 
 brethren who have served in the field ; and, finally, that He would 
 be most graciously pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love 
 mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and 
 pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the 
 Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble 
 imitation of whose example in these things ive can never hope to 
 be a happy nation.'''' 
 
 Farewell Address to the People of the United States, Sept. 17, 1796. 
 
 '•Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political pros- 
 perity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In 
 vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should 
 labour to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these 
 firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere poli- 
 tician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish 
 them. A volume could not trace all their connexion with private 
 and public felicity. Let it simply be asked. Where is the secu- 
 rity for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious 
 obligation desert the oaths which are tlie instruments of inves- 
 tigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge 
 the supposition that morality can be sustained without religion. 
 Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education 
 on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid 
 us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of 
 religious principle." 
 
 HOX. JOHN JAY. 
 
 From an Address while President of the American Bible Society in 1834. 
 
 <'We have the satisfaction of again observing, that by the 
 blessing of Providence on the zeal of our fellow citizens, and on 
 the fidelity, diligence, and prudence with which our affairs are 
 conducted, they continue in a state of progressive improvement. 
 The pleasure we derive from it is not a little increased by the 
 
12 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 consideration that we are transmitting essential benefits to mul- 
 titudes in various regions ; and that the value and important 
 consequences of these benefits extend and will endure beyond the 
 limits of time. By so doing we render obedience to the com- 
 mandment by which He who ' made of one blood all nations of 
 men,' and established a fraternal relation between the individuals 
 of the human race, hath made it their duty to love and be kind to 
 one another. 
 
 "We know that a great proportion of mankind are ignorant 
 of the revealed will of Grod, and that they have strong claims to 
 the sympathy and compassion which we, who are favoured with 
 it, feel, and are manifesting for them. To the most sagacious 
 among the heathen, it must appear wonderful and inexplicable 
 that such a vicious, suffering being as man should have proceeded 
 in such a condition from the hands of his Creator. 
 
 '' Having obscure and confused ideas of a future state, and 
 unable to ascertain how far justice may yield to mercy, or mercy 
 to justice, they live and die (as our heathen ancestors did) in- 
 volved in darkness and perplexities. 
 
 " By conveying the Bible to people thus circumstanced, we 
 certainly do them a most interesting act of kindness. We thereby 
 enable them to learn that man was originally created and placed 
 in a state of happiness, but becoming disobedient, was subjected to 
 the degradation and evils which he and his posterity have since 
 experienced. The Bible will also inform them that our gi*acious 
 Creator has provided for us a Redeemer, in whom all the nations 
 of the earth should be blessed ; that this Redeemer has made 
 atonement ' for the sins of the whole world,' and thereby recon- 
 ciling the divine justice with the Divine mercy, has opened a way 
 for our redemption and salvation; and that these inestimable 
 benefits are of the free gift and grace of Grod, not of our deserving, 
 nor in our power to deserve. 
 
 " The Bible will also animate them with many explicit and 
 consoling assurances of the Divine mercy to our fallen race, and 
 with repeated invitations to accept the offers of pardon and recon- 
 ciliation. The truth of these facts and the sincerity of these as- 
 surances being unquestionable, they cannot fail to promote the 
 happiness of those by whom they are gratefully received, and of 
 those by whom they are benevolently communicated." 
 
To THE Value op the Scriptures. 13 
 
 HON. DE WITT CLl^'TOJ^. 
 
 In taking the Chair as a Vice President of the American Bible Society. 
 
 " The inefficiency of human laws for their intended objects is 
 palpable from the daily operations of society, and the accumu- 
 lated experience of ages. Secret crimes are of course unpunish- 
 ed ; and how many of the guilty escape from the want of testi- 
 mony, from casualties, and from the imperfect or perverse dis- 
 pensation of justice and mercy ? And there are many aberra- 
 tions from virtue, which do not come within the cognizance or the 
 policy of human legislation. Violations of what are termed the 
 duties of imperfect obligation answer to this description. ' In- 
 gratitude, infidelity in friendship, the want of charity, an in- 
 fraction of hospitality, are not punished by the tribunals of men. 
 And deeds of the most dangerous character, which strike at the 
 very foundation of private happiness and public prosperity, are 
 sometimes not considered criminal. Lying and adultery, for in- 
 stance, escape with impunity. 
 
 '' The efficacy of the law of opinion is also limited, and has 
 all the imperfections attached to humanity. It cannot reach 
 those who are hardened in infamy and plunged in iniquity ; and 
 its sanctions do not extend beyond the limits of this world. Hy- 
 pocrisy braves its denunciations ; and exalted rank and great 
 opulence feel, in some degree, superior to its terrors. 
 
 *' The sanctions of the Divine law supply all these deficiencies ; 
 cover the whole area of human action, reach every case, punish 
 every sin, and recompense every virtue. Its rewards and its 
 punishments are graduated with perfect justice ; and its appeals 
 to the hopes and fears of man are of the most potent character 
 and transcendent influence. 
 
 '' The codes of men and the laws of opinion derive a great 
 portion of their weight from the influence of a future world. 
 Justice cannot be administered without the sanctity of truth; 
 and the great security against perjury is the amenability of 
 another state. The sanctions of religion compose the founda- 
 tions of good government ; and the ethics, doctrines, and exam- 
 ples furnished by Christianity exhibit the best models for the 
 laws of opinion." 
 
14 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 DYING WORDS OF WILBERFORCE. 
 '^ Read the Bible — read the Bible ! Let no religious book take 
 its place. Through all my perplexities and distresses I never 
 read any other book, and 1 never felt the want of any other. It 
 has been my hourly study ; and all my knowledge of the doc- 
 trines, and all my acquaintance with the experience and realities 
 of religion, have been derived from the Bible only. I think reli- 
 gious people do not read the Bible enough. Books abou^ religion 
 may be useful enough, but they will not do instead of the simple 
 truth of the Bible." 
 
 HOK JOHN COTTON SMITH. 
 
 In an Address before the American Bible Society. 
 
 " Would that a history of the American Revolution could have 
 been written by one who, like Xenophon, was a distinguished 
 actor in the scenes described, and who, imbued with the right 
 spirit, could illustrate by appropriate facts the influence which 
 animated and upheld the agents in that mighty struggle! In 
 such a work, if I mistake not, the present and future generations 
 would perceive the fruits of early Biblical instruction, and learn 
 the value of the Bible in the day of adversity. They would see 
 the effect of a mother's early faithfulness to the immortal Wash- 
 ington, who suffered not a day to pass over him without consult- 
 ing his Bible. They would behold, in an American Congress, 
 fully exemplified, the union of humble piety with exalted patriot- 
 ism ; a body on whom the whole conduct of the war was devolv- 
 ed, but who nevertheless could anxiously deliberate on the means 
 of obtaining from abroad (such was their estimate of its worth) 
 copies of the Sacred Volume for their destitute and imploring 
 fellow citizens ; in short, they would perceive not only the gallant 
 bearing of a patriot army, but their patient endurance under un- 
 paralleled privations, and the invincible spirit displayed by all 
 classes of a suffering people plainly ascribable in no moderate 
 degree to an early and deeply impressed acquaintance with the 
 Bible, through the medium of maternal faithfulness and the com- 
 mon school. And, my respected hearers, if we would long pre- 
 serve the inestimable boon thus acquired, we must recur to the 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 15 
 
 well tried expedient by which it was gained. We must restore 
 the Bible to the schools. Who can tell how much of the delin- 
 quency which stains our judicial records may be attributed to 
 ignorance of its divine precepts and sanctions ? Who can esti- 
 mate the number of thoughtless parents— a number fearfully 
 increased by the exclusion already mentioned — who neglect, or 
 refuse to impress upon their children, the duty of attentively 
 reading the Bible, even when it may have been presented to such 
 parents by this Society? But establish it as an exercise in the 
 common schools, and you make every child and youth in the 
 republic acquainted, of course, with a book which of all others it 
 behooves them to know — a book whose divine origin, if there were 
 no other proof, is demonstrated by its perfect adaptation to every 
 capacity, the humblest and the highest ; to the condition of man 
 through every stage and vicissitude of his earthly existence as 
 well as to his immortal destiny. Who can withhold such a book 
 from the children of our country, and be blameless?" 
 
 BARON DE STAEL. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Baron de Stael, (Son of the celebrated Madame de Stael,) Secretary of a Bible So- 
 ciety in Paris, to the American Bible Society, in 1822. 
 
 ^'/It is a grand subject for meditation, to behold in our modern 
 societies the love of the holy doctrines of the Gospel advancing 
 with the progress of philosophy and of political institutions, so 
 that the nations which are most advanced in civilization and in 
 liberty, are also the most religious, the most truly Christian. 
 
 " It appears that Providence has reserved this blessing for our 
 age, and that the Bible Societies are the instruments by which 
 it is to be accomplished. How consoling, then, it is to be- 
 hold your country, this classic land of reason and liberty, embra- 
 cing the cause of the Gospel with so much zeal and success. 
 And what salutary influence will not the authority of your ex- 
 ample have on those, whom a narrow philosophy or a false shame 
 has hitherto kept at a distance from the religion of Jesus Christ. 
 We constrain ourselves to walk in your footsteps ; and although 
 our Bible Societies are not as numerous and active as they might 
 be, and ought to be, we have every reason to thank God for the 
 good which they begin already to produce." 
 
16 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 ADMIRAL COUNT VER HUELL, OF FRANCE. 
 
 From an Address before the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
 
 " I consider Biblical institutions as real promoters of that light 
 before which all the erroneous principles of false philosophy will 
 disappear ; and I cannot but hope, that ere long all the govern- 
 ments of the civilized world will find it to their interest to 
 protect institutions, whose fundamental principle is the love of 
 peace, tranquillity, and order. 
 
 *' Your sublime institution has rendered the greatest service in 
 reviving the sacred love of religion, and distributing so liberally 
 the Holy Scriptures, of which multitudes were deprived. 
 
 ''Religion, like a tree often beaten by the storm, may lose its 
 branches, but cannot be rooted up. Exposed to the seasons and 
 the tempest, it offers to admiring spectators a great example, 
 that wherever the providence of God has struck deep its roots, it 
 preserves its life and vigour, in spite of the power and the multi- 
 plicity of those events which seemed to menace it with destruc- 
 tion." 
 
 HON. SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD. 
 
 From an Address before a Literary Society of Nassau Hall. 
 
 " Of all men, American scholars ought not to be ignorant of 
 any thing which the Bible contains. If Cicero could declare that 
 the laws of the twelve tables were worth all the libraries of the 
 philosophers ; if they were the carmen necessarium of the Roman 
 youth, how laboriously ought you to investigate its contents, 
 and inscribe them upon your hearts. You owe to them the bless- 
 ed civil institutions under which you live, and the glorious free- 
 dom which you enjoy; and. if these are to be perpetuated, it can 
 only be by a regard to those principles. Civil and religious 
 liberty is more indebted to Luther and Calvin, and their com- 
 peers of the Reformation, and to the Puritans and Protestants of 
 England, and the Huguenots of France, than to any other men 
 who ever lived in the annals of time. They led the way to that 
 freedom, and firmness, and independence of thought and investi- 
 gation, and the adoption of these principles as the guide in social 
 government as well as private actions, which created a personal 
 self respect and firmness in its defence, which conducted us to a 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 17 
 
 sense of equal rights and privileges, and eventually to the adop- 
 tion of free written constitutions as the limitations of power. Be 
 you imitators of them. Make your scholarship subservient to 
 the support of the same unchanging principles. They are as ne- 
 cessary now as they ever were, to the salvation of your country, 
 and all that is dear to your hopes. Religion and liberty must go 
 hand in hand, or America cannot be established. Even here we 
 are not without peril. Look abroad ; are not the pillars of our 
 edifice shaken? Is not law disregarded? Are not moral and 
 social principles weakened ? Are not the wretched advocates of 
 infidelity busy ? The sun has indeed risen upon our mountain 
 tops, but it has not yet scattered the damps and the darkness of 
 the valleys. The passions are roused and misled. Ancient in- 
 stitutions are scorned. Our refuge is in the firm purpose of edu- 
 cated and moral men. Draw, then, your rules of action from the 
 only safe authority. Having your banner on the outer wall, 
 stand by them in trial and in triumph. Dare to maintain them 
 in every position and in every vicissitude ; and make your appeal 
 to the source from which they are drawn. And then, come what 
 may, contempt or fame, you cannot fall ; and your progress at 
 every step will be greeted by the benedictions of the wise and the 
 good." 
 
 HON. WILLIAM WIRT. 
 
 In 1838, he was invited to address a meeting in New York, whose desisn was to increase the circulation 
 of the Scriptures tlirousrhout tlie world. Not being able to accept the invitation, he sent a letter in 
 place, of which the following is an extract : 
 
 " I regret that my time is not more at my command, that I 
 might evince the interest I feel in the Bible Cause, by something 
 of more account than mere profession. It is delightful to witness 
 the exertions that are now making by the Christian world to dis- 
 pel the night of ignorance that yet obscures so large a portion 
 of this planet, and to supply its place by the light of the cross. 
 The manifestations of Divine support are well fitted to awaken 
 all our energies, and excite us to higher efforts than have ever 
 yet been made. Even if we should not succeed to the full 
 extent of our hopes and wishes, we shall make such an impres- 
 sion as shall shake the heathen world, and prepare the way for 
 a complete victory by those who are to follow us. Nay, even if 
 
18 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 we fail, we fail in a great attempt ; and the grandeur and philan- 
 thropy of the enterprise must be reward enough for all our ex- 
 ertions. But we shall not fail. There is a God who looks down 
 upon us, and witnesses our efforts, and a Saviour who approves, 
 and will sustain us by his intercession. The cause is good, the 
 hearts that support it are true and good, and the God who up- 
 holds it is almighty. Let us go on, then, with courage and con- 
 stancy, nothing doubting, and the Red Sea will open before us, 
 the rock of the desert will pour forth its stream, and the eastern 
 wilderness will once more bud and blossom like the rose." 
 
 CHANCELLOR KENT. 
 
 In an Address before the American Bible Society. 
 
 '' The Bible is equally adapted to the wants and infirmities of 
 every human being. It is the vehicle of the most awful truths, 
 and which are at the same time of universal application, and 
 accompanied by the most efficacious sanctions. No other book 
 ever addressed itself so authoritatively and so pathetically to the 
 judgment and moral sense of mankind. It contains the most 
 sublime and fearful displays of the attributes of that perfect 
 Being who inhabiteth eternity, and pervades and governs the 
 universe. It brings life and immortality to light, which, until 
 the publication of the Gospel, were hidden from the scrutiny of 
 ages. This gracious revelation of a future state is calculated to 
 solve the mysteries of Providence in the dispensations of this life. 
 to reconcile us to the inequalities of our present condition, and to 
 inspire unconquerable fortitude and the most animating consola- 
 tion when all other consolations fail ; in the midst of the abodes 
 of age, disease, and sorrow, and under the pressure of the sharp- 
 est pangs of human misery. The Bible also unfolds the origin 
 and the deep foundations of depravity and guilt, and the means 
 and the hopes of salvation through the mediation of the Redeemer. 
 Its doctrines, its discoveries, its code of morals, and its means of 
 grace, are not only overwhelming evidence of its divine origin, 
 but they confound the pretensions of all other systems, by show- 
 ing the narrow range and the feeble efforts of human reason, even 
 when under the sway of the most exalted understanding, and en- 
 lightened by the accumulated treasures of science and learning. 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 19 
 
 " The Scriptures, resplendent with these truths, we have good 
 grounds to believe, are to be eventually brought home to the 
 knowledge and acceptance of every people, and to carry with 
 them the inestimable blessings of peace, humanity, purity, and 
 happiness over every part of the habitable globe. 
 
 '' The general diffusion of the Bible is the most effectual way 
 to civilize and humanize mankind ; to purify and exalt the gen- 
 eral system of public morals ; to give efficacy to the just precepts 
 of international and municipal law ; to enforce the observance of 
 prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude, and to improve all 
 the relations of social and domestic life. 
 
 '' Human laws labour under many other great imperfections. 
 They extend to external actions only. They cannot reach that 
 catalogue of secret crimes which are committed without any 
 witness, save the all-seeing eye of that Being, whose presence is 
 every where, and whose laws reach the hidden recesses of vice, 
 and carry their sanctions to the thoughts and intents of the heart. 
 In this view, the doctrines of the Bible supply all the deficiencies 
 of human laws, and lend an essential aid to the administration 
 of justice." 
 
 HOX. JOHX QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 From an Address at a Bible ^Meeting in Washinsrton, D. C. 
 
 *' Fellow Citizens and Members of the Bible Society : In taking 
 the chair as the oldest Vice President of the Society, I deem my- 
 self fortunate in having the opportunity, at a stage of a long life 
 drawing rapidly to its close, to bear at this place, the capital of 
 our National Union, in the Hall of Representation of the North 
 American people, in the chair of the presiding officer of the as- 
 sembly representing the whole people, the personification of the 
 great and mighty nation ; to bear my solemn testimonial of rev- 
 erence and gratitude to that Book of books, the Holy Bible. 
 
 " In the midst of the painful and perilous conflicts inseparable 
 from public life, and at the eve of that moment when the grave 
 shall close over them for ever, I may be permitted to indulge the 
 pleasing reflection, that, having been taught in childhood the un- 
 parallefed blessings of the Christian Gospel, in the maturity of 
 manhood I associated with my brethren of that age for spreading 
 the light of that Gospel over the face of the earth, by the simple 
 
20 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 and silent process of placing in the hands of every human being 
 who needed, and could not otherwise procure it, the Book which 
 contains the duties, admonitions, the promises, and the rewards 
 of the Christian G-ospel. 
 
 *' It is a soothing consolation to my last hours, that having so 
 long since been associated in this cause with the fathers, I still 
 find myself associated in it with the sons ; that it has, in the in- 
 terval, been perseveringly and unceasingly prosecuted with in- 
 tense ardour, with untiring assiduity, and with animating and 
 eminent success. 
 
 " In contemplating what may be the life and adventures of one 
 whole generation of the race of man, the only members of the 
 animal creation susceptible of the perception of good and evil, 
 of virtue and vice, of right and wrong, there are in this, as there 
 have been in all former ages, observing and reflecting men, es- 
 pecially in the decline of life, prone to depreciate the moral and 
 nhysical character of the present age, and to glorify the past. 
 
 " Far more pleasing, and, I believe, more correct, is the conclu- 
 sion, that the race of man in his fallen state is placed by succes- 
 sive generations on the earth to improve his own condition and 
 that of his kind, and that this book has been furnished him by 
 the special providence of his Maker, to enable him, by faith in his 
 Redeemer, and by works conformable to that faith, to secure 
 salvation in a future world, and to promote his well being in the 
 present. 
 
 "If this be true, the improvement of successive generations of 
 men in their condition upon the earth, and preparation for eter- 
 nity, depends, in no small degree, on the diffusion and inculcation 
 of this volume amono^ all the tribes of men throuHiout the habit- 
 able globe. This is the great and exclusive object for which, in 
 the last generation, this society was instituted. The whole book 
 had then existed upward of eighteen hundred years ; and wherev- 
 er it had penetrated, and been received, it had purified and ex- 
 alted the character of man. 
 
 "Reposing upon three fundamental pillars — the unity and 
 omnipotence of God, the G-overnor of all the worlds ; the immor- 
 tality of the human soul, and its responsibility to that Creator in 
 a future state ; and a system of morals embracing in one precept 
 the whole duty of man upon the earth, ^ Thou shalt love the 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 21 
 
 Lord thy G-od with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all 
 thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself — the Bible carries 
 with it the history of the creation, the fall and redemption of 
 man, and discloses to him, in the infant born at Bethlehem, the 
 Legislator and Saviour of the world. The faith in him and in 
 his divine mission is inseparably connected with the performance 
 of his will, and that will is all comprised in the song of the 
 angel at his birth, ' Glory to G-od in the highest, and on earth 
 peace, good will to man.' In whatever region of the earth, in 
 whatever condition of .the human being, this blissful sound first 
 salutes his ears, the depravities of his nature fall before it. The 
 selfish and rancorous passions which had absorbed his soul and 
 ruled his conduct under the impulses of hatred and revenge, sink 
 with him into impotence. He bathes in the waters of Jordan, 
 and rises cleansed from his leprosy, in the freshness and vigour of 
 health, and the purity of benevolence and mercy. 
 
 *' Such has been the progress of the G-ospel wherever the Bible 
 has been carried and suffered to be read. In the mysterious 
 providence of G-od, its influence has been counteracted by the 
 spirit of evil in all its thousand forms, throughout a long succes- 
 sion of ages. Its advancement has been slow ; its victories des- 
 perately contested; its triumphs subject to cruel vicissitudes; 
 its war against the world, the flesh, and the serpent, a perpetual, 
 never-ceasing struggle. Yet its march has been uniform in puri- 
 fying and ennobling the moral, intellectual, and physical condi- 
 tion and character of man. To circulate and distribute among 
 great multitudes of men in every quarter of the globe this blessed 
 volume, was the purpose for which this society was instituted." 
 
 SIR ROBERT PEEL. 
 
 From an Address at a Bible Meeting at Tamworth in 1827. 
 
 " There is a great movement of the public mind relative to 
 public education ; all parties, of whatever creed or religious de- 
 nomination, are beginning to be convinced that there has been 
 upon the part of all of us a great deficiency in that respect. We 
 have permitted our religious differences to operate against educa- 
 tion, and it has now become necessary that that great object of 
 national education shall be obtained by a sacrifice, on the part of 
 
22 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 all of us, of some of those scruples which have hitherto prevent- 
 ed it. 
 
 " Be the character of that education what it may — whether 
 complete religious instruction constitutes a part of it — whether, 
 to accommodate some, the religious instruction be not so com- 
 plete — whether the instruction be complete or deficient, believe 
 me, it is absolutely necessary to provide for the distribution of 
 the "Word of God. 
 
 " If youth are educated with a knowledge of the Word of God, 
 it is necessary that they should have access to it in after life ; 
 and if they are not so educated, it is the more incumbent on us 
 to provide them in after life with the means of receiving it. 
 
 " Whether the system of public education be religious or not, 
 the necessity of giving access to the Word of God remains the 
 same. So far respecting this view of the subject. But the ob- 
 ject of the Bible Society is to circulate the Word of God in the 
 most remote regions ; and you are aware that, in consequence of 
 recent relations with the Chinese government, we have received 
 increased facilities for the distribution of the Word of God in that 
 country. If we can place confidence upon the reports of the mis- 
 sionaries labouring in China — and I know we can — we have 
 every reason for believing that a great moral revolution may be 
 effected in that land ; and it may be that the present is that 
 special occasion, when the knowledge of Divine Truth is to be 
 conveyed through those missionaries to that immense region, if 
 they had the means of distributing the Word of God. This may 
 be the special occasion upon which millions and hundreds of mil- 
 lions may be converted from heathenism to the knowledge and 
 Word of God, which will make them wise unto salvation. Again, 
 we are now founding, in different parts of the world, great em- 
 pires. In New Zealand, and other parts of the world, we are 
 laying the foundation of new societies ; and the future character 
 and moral tendency of those societies which may spring up into 
 great kingdoms, may be, and no doubt will be, determined by the 
 basis of moral and religious instruction upon which we now es- 
 tablish them. 
 
 " If, at their first institution, there be no pains taken to instil 
 into their minds the principles of true religion, in place of becom- 
 ing great and valuable kingdoms, the inhabitants may become 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 23 
 
 pests to all around them, corrupting all within their reach ; but 
 if, in laying the foundation of their future empire, we shall sow 
 the truth of real religion, hereafter this land may claim for itself 
 the proud and high distinction of having propagated the knowU 
 edge and Word of God, and of having laid the foundation, not 
 only of great, but moral kingdoms." 
 
 HOK HENRY CLAY. 
 
 His religious views as-given by his Pastor, the Rev. E. F. Berkely, of Lexington. 
 
 " I never knew a person to be more deeply interested in ar- 
 riving at the truth in religion, than Mr. Clay. He did nothing 
 by halves. In all that relates to man's salvation, he wished to 
 understand the Christian system thoroughly — the nature and 
 evidences of regeneration, justification by faith alone in the 
 merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, &c. After his mind had been 
 drawn to an investigation of the claims of religion upon himself, 
 I scarcely ever met him at his office, or at his house, that conver- 
 sation did not turn upon this subject, in the course of which he 
 would ask many questions in reference to the doctrines and teach- 
 ings of vScripture. 
 
 "On one occasion, about three years ago, he became very ill. 
 Being absent from the city, I did not see him until he had gotten 
 better. "When I entered his room, he arose, and taking my hand 
 in both of his, he said, with tears in his eyes : ' My dear sir, I am 
 very glad to see you. I have been ill. I have been very near the 
 grave ; and I was surprised at the composure, and even pleasure, 
 with which I was permitted to look into it ; and my feelings kin- 
 dled almost into rapture when I thought of that better world 
 beyond.' 
 
 "Of his deep earnestness in a preparation for that better world, 
 from his first assumption of the vows of religion, I have always 
 been well assured." 
 
 HON. JOHN SERGEANT. 
 
 From an Address before the Alumni of Nassau Hall. 
 
 "Our fathers thought learning and religion inseparable. AYhen 
 they were to build up an edifice for instruction, they laid its 
 foundation in piety, and they humbly invoked the Divine aid to 
 
24 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 fill the whole structure with the light of truth. Nor did they 
 neglect the ap}3ointed means. Within its walls they fixed an 
 altar, not like that in Athens, inscribed to the ' Unknown Grod,' 
 but to Him who, having always manifested himself in the works 
 of creation and providence, has also made himself known by the 
 revelation of his attributes and of his holy will. Around this 
 altar, they thought it right to assemble daily the youth commit- 
 ted to their care, and to endeavour to provide that its fire should 
 be fed, and its services be performed by pious and learned mxcn ; 
 that so the perfume of its offerings might fill the atmosphere of 
 the nursery of youth — all human learning be accomplished with 
 the spirit of devotion, and the recollection of our dependence and 
 our duties be continually present with the effort to improve the 
 faculties of the mind. 
 
 "Here, then, the body of educated men must take their stand. 
 By all the means in their power they must endeavour to avert the 
 pestilent mischief of desecrating the places of instruction, of sep- 
 arating the culture of the heart from that of the mind, and, un- 
 der the pretence of a liberal morality, of rejecting the only moral- 
 ity that is clear in its source, pure in its precepts, and efficacious 
 in its influence — the morality of the Gospel. All else is, at last, 
 but idolatry, the worship of something of men's own creation; 
 and that thing imperfect and feeble like himself, and wholly in- 
 sufficient to give him support and strength." 
 
 GENERAL TAYLOR. 
 
 A Bible, beautifully bound with the Constitution of the United States, was presented to Gen. Taylor by 
 the ladies at Frankfort. He replied as follows : 
 
 "I accept with gratitude and pleasure your gift of this inesti- 
 mable Volume. It was for the love of the truths of this great and 
 good book that our fathers abandoned their native shores for the 
 wilderness. Animated by its lofty principles, they toiled and suf- 
 fered till the desert blossomed as the rose. These same truths 
 sustained them in their resolution to become a free nation ; and 
 guided by the wisdom of this book, they founded a government, 
 vmder which we have grown from three millions to more than 
 twenty millions of people, and from bein^ but as a stock on the 
 borders of this Continent, we have spread from the Atlantic to 
 the Pacific. I trust that their principles of liberty may extend, 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 25 
 
 if without bloodshed, from the northern to the southern extremi- 
 ties of the continent. If there were in that book nothing but its 
 great precept, ' All things whatsoever ye would that men should do 
 unto you, do ye even so to them ;' and if that precept were obeyed, 
 our government might extend over the whole continent. Accept, 
 sir, my sincere thanks for the kind manner in which you have 
 discharged this duty ; and expressing again my sincere thanks to 
 the ladies for their beautiful gift, I pray that health, peace, and 
 prosperity may long be continued to them." 
 
 GEORGE GRIFFIN, Esq, of New York. 
 
 In an Address before the American Bible Society. 
 
 "The efficacy of the Bible in preparing man for the great and 
 decisive interview betwixt him and his Creator is a theme which 
 I leave to consecrated lips. Nor will I now attempt to portray its 
 inlluence upon individual man in his earthly pilgrimage — how it 
 elevates him from a worm of the dust into a candidate for the 
 skies — how it smooths the pillow of disease and pain — how it 
 sustains him in those scenes of deep aflliction, when the liand of 
 Grod hath riven his heart, and nothing but the balm of Clod can 
 heal it. My present object is to hint at the intimate connection 
 between the Bible and our national prosperity. The destinies of 
 our beloved country are peculiarly associated with the Bible. It 
 was under the auspices of the Bible that our country was settled : 
 it was the Bible that conducted the Pilgrim to our eastern, and 
 the Friend to our central wilderness. 
 
 "If the revolution which made us free differed in mildness of 
 character from all previous revolutions, it was because the Bible 
 mitigated its severity. If our emancipated country has risen 
 from infancy to vigorous youth — if she is now hailed as the hope 
 of the world, the tyrant's dread, and the patriot's boast, let her 
 thank her statesmen much ; let her thank her Bible more. 
 
 "A despotic government may subsist, and perhaps prosperously 
 too, without the Bible ; a republic cannot. A republic cannot, 
 like a despotic government, be sustained by force. She cannot, 
 like the despot, tame her children into heartless submission by 
 the bayonets of a mercenary army ; her bayonets are reserved for 
 the invading foe. 
 
26 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 ^' She must depend for domestic tranquillity — for preserving 
 her mild institutions pure and unimpaired, on the wide diffusion 
 of moral principle. Were men angels, they would need no gov- 
 ernment but the precepts of their Creator ; were they devils, they 
 must be bound in adamantine chains ; and as they approximate 
 the one state or the other, their government may be free, or must 
 be severe. The patriot then, as well as the Christian, may anx- 
 iously inquire what are the best means of promoting, what the 
 surest foundation of human virtue. 
 
 " The melioration of the moral condition of fallen man has 
 been in every age a favourite object with the philanthropic legis- 
 lator. For this object, Solon propounded his theory, and Lycur- 
 gus his theory, and the Roman Numa his. The Being who made 
 man has also condescended to propose a plan for his moral im- 
 provement ; a plan exceeding in effect all human systems, as far 
 as the Legislator of the heavens surpasses in wisdom the states- 
 man of the earth. The Bible is not a scheme of abstract faith 
 and doctrine : its great object is to render man virtuous here, and 
 thus prepare him for happiness hereafter. 
 
 ^' For this purpose it addresses itself to all his fears and to all 
 his hopes : it fastens its benign influence upon him at the dawn 
 of childhood, and never leaves or forsakes him unless his con- 
 science becomes seared ; and even then it hangs up before his in- 
 tellectual vision 'a fearful looking for of judgment,' which, though 
 it cannot melt him into penitence, makes him falter in the career 
 of guilt. Not confined, like the code of honour, to the circles of 
 the great, it visits, too, the abodes of penury ; it sees the orphari 
 destitute, friendless, perhaps about to become the victim of tempt-* 
 ation, and kindly provides an asylum for the little outcast, and 
 trains him up for future usefulness ; it finds the spendthrift bank- 
 rupt in fortune, character, and hope, 'fit for treasons, stratagems, 
 and spoils,' and with a father's voice calls back the desperate and 
 starving prodigal to the rich banquet of virtue ; in short, it per- 
 vades every department of society, and brings its variegated mass 
 within the influence of that high moral principle which is the 
 only substitute for despotic power. This controlling and sus- 
 taining principle has no substantial basis but the Bible ; its other 
 foundations have ever proved to be sand : the Bible is found to be 
 its only rock. 
 
To THE Value of the Scrittures. 27 
 
 "A republic without the Bible will inevitably become the vic- 
 tim of licentiousness ; it contains within itself the turbulent and 
 untamable elements of its own destruction. 
 
 " There is no political Eden for fallen man save what the Bible 
 protects." 
 
 HOX. JOHN C. "HORNBLOWER, late Chief Justice of New Jersey. 
 " Let this precious Volume have its proper influence on the 
 hearts of men, and our liberties are safe, our country blessed, and 
 the world happy. There is not a tie that unites us to our fami- 
 lies, not a virtue that endears us to our country, nor a hope that 
 thrills your bosoms in the prospect of future happiness, that has 
 nv>t its foundation in this sacred Book. It is the charter of char- 
 ters—the palladium of liberty— the standard of righteousness. 
 Its divine influence can soften the heart of the tyrant — can break 
 the rod of the oppressor, and exalt the humblest peasant to the 
 dignified rank of an immortal being — an heir of eternal glory. 
 Fellow citizens— friends of liberty ! wiU you not rejoice, then, 
 with me, in the triumphs of the Bible, and bless the day that 
 gave to our country a Society, whose benevolent object is to ex- 
 tend the influence of the Scriptures throughout the world ?" 
 
 HON. LEWIS CASS. 
 
 In 1846 a gentleman in New York wrote this distinsruished senator, then at Washington, for his views on 
 the value of the Bible and of the Christian Sabbath. The following is from what he then furnished on 
 the first topic : 
 
 "That we are fearfully and loonderfulhj made, we learn 
 equally from the book of nature and from the Book of Revelation. 
 Our faculties and our moral perceptions are in strange combina- 
 tion ; and any system of education which confines its eftbrts to 
 the head, and leaves the heart untouched, will be faithless to one 
 of the great purposes of human discipline. And what can touch 
 the heart like the plan of redemption, and the revelation of the 
 designs of God for the progress of man in knowledge and happi- 
 ness, commencing here, and continuing, but never terminating, 
 hereafter ? It is vain to expect that the impulses and passions, 
 which make part of our moral and physical constitutions, can be 
 regulated and restrained by the cool deductions of reason. Cer- 
 
28 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 tainly, as the sphere of knowledge is extended, we discover higher 
 and higher motives of action, and ought to feel stronger and 
 stronger inducements to virtuous exertion. But experience shows 
 that the improvement of the intellectual powers has no necessary- 
 connection with the heart and conscience. God, in his provi- 
 dence, has given us the Book of his revealed will to be with us, 
 at the commencement of our career in life, and at its termina- 
 tion ; and to accompany us during all the chances and changes 
 of its trying and fitful progress, to control the passions, to en- 
 lighten the judgment, to guide the conscience, to teach us what 
 \ve ought to be here, and what we shall be hereafter, and to show 
 the inseparable union which exists between our duty and our 
 destiny. 
 
 ''To send this Book to all, and to persuade all to read, to 
 study, and to believe it, is worthy of our age and country, and 
 is worthy of the zealous co-operation of every man interested in 
 the improvement and moral advancement of the human family. 
 
 " The youth of America have a glorious theatre of exertion be- 
 fore them. That they may appreciate its duties and its rewards, 
 and may be prepared for its offers and demands, by the lessons of 
 the Sabbath and of the Bible, must be the sincere wish of ev- 
 ery one interested in the progress and prospects of our country, 
 and especially of those who must soon pass from its councils, and 
 see its destinies committed to a new generation. Impressed 
 with these considerations, I earnestly hope that God's Day may 
 be hallowed, and his Word studied through this whole land, till 
 their obligations are felt and acknowledged by all its people." 
 
 HON. H. L. PINCKNEY, M. C. from S. Carolixa. 
 
 From an Address at a Bible jVIeeting in the District of Columbia, in 1834. 
 
 " There is a saying, as true as it is trite, that we seldom esti- 
 mate blessings properly until we have lost them ; and perhaps, 
 therefore, the vast importance of the Bible, not only to ourselves, 
 but to those unhappy beings who have never known it, may be 
 best imagined, and most strongly impressed upon our minds, by 
 considering, for a moment, what we ourselves would be without 
 it. Suppose, then, that at this very moment the Bible, with all 
 the institutions connected with it, were blotted from existence : 
 
To THE Value of the Script u res. 29 
 
 what would be the effect even upon this happy and enlightened 
 laud? Would it not become, comparatively, a scene of worse 
 than Egyptian darkness and savage barbarism ? Would it not 
 become, compared with what it now is, a most melancholy scene 
 of civil, political, and moral degradation ; and exhibit the same 
 relation to its present palmy state, that is now presented by the 
 pagan and heathen nations of the world ? Can there be a doubt 
 of this ? Is it not a fact, that exactly in proportion as the princi- 
 ples of the Gospel prevail among a people, or they are ignorant 
 of, and unactuated by them, so they are either distinguished by 
 all the qualities and endowments that elevate, and purify, and 
 adorn our nature, or debased by the vices and abominations that 
 degrade it ? Is it not a fact, that heathen nations, generally, are 
 the most ignorant and barbarous on earth ; and that while all 
 Christian nations are immeasurably elevated above the heathen 
 in knowledge, virtue, and benevolence, so the relative rank and 
 attainments of Christian nations themselves are governed by the 
 exact degree in which they possess and practise the G-ospel in 
 its purity ? And if it be true, as it unquestionably is, that the 
 remarkable superiority of our country over others is altogether 
 ow4ng to the superior degree to which it is moulded and regula- 
 ted by the meliorating and reforming influences of the Gospel, 
 preached in its purity, and extensively practised in its spirit, is 
 it not equally true, that exactly in proportion as those blessed in- 
 fluences should be lost or withdrawn, our people would sink, rap- 
 idly and inevitably sink, into one general and undistinguishable 
 mass of ignorance and superstition, degradation and debasement ? 
 '' Who that thinks of these things, but must see and acknowl- 
 edge the vast importance of the Bible, as well to the temporal 
 improvement as to the eternal happiness of man, and the conse- 
 quent duty and obligation of diffusing it through every portion of 
 our country, and among all classes and conditions of society? 
 What cause, indeed, is there, or can there be, more truly and em- 
 phatically the cause both of God and man, or that can appeal 
 more strongly to the hearts and judgments, not only of all those 
 who profess to love and serve their God, but of all wdio desire the 
 improvement and happiness of their fellow men ? Does the pa- 
 triot mourn the extensive prevalence of vice ? Let him apply the 
 only adequate corrective — the dissemination of the Bible. Would 
 
30 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 the philanthropist arrest the progress of corruption, and mitigate 
 the causes and sorrows of misfortune ? Let him aid in the dis- 
 semination of the Bible. Would they arrest the march of intem- 
 perance, and inculcate habits of sobriety and industry ; would 
 they inspire a reverence for virtue, and a hatred of vice ; would 
 they have oaths held sacred, and a promise to be regarded as 
 binding as an oath ; would they have fraud and imposture 
 frowned down as infamous, and cruelty and deception banished 
 from among us ; would they have the Sabbath respected, the 
 name of God revered, and the sacred institutions of religion hon- 
 oured and supported as they should be? Let them aid in the 
 dissemination of the Bible. Would they reform the vicious, in- 
 struct the ignorant, repress profanity, check the pernicious 
 growth of infidelity, elevate the standard of morals, and thus 
 exalt the character and promote the true happiness of our coun- 
 try ? Let them aid in the dissemination of the Bible. The dif- 
 fusion of the Bible is not only eminently important in itself, but 
 it lies at the foundation of the whole system of moral machinery 
 which has been organized for the general improvement and reno- 
 vation of society. In vain may we undertake any moral enter- 
 prise whatever, unless the minds of the people have been pre- 
 viously enlightened and prepared by the circulation of the Bible. 
 In vain may we expect any thing like a general attendance on 
 religious institutions, or extensive revivals of religion, in places 
 in which the people generally are unacquainted with the Bible. 
 To produce these great ends, the attention of the people must be 
 first directed to the Holy Volume. They must be persuaded to 
 peruse its pages, and to understand the true import of its denun- 
 ciations and its promises. When this is done, and the proper 
 foundation has thus been laid for the preacher, the ivord is then 
 carried home effectually to their hearts and consciences, even by 
 the power and demonstration of the Spirit." 
 
 HON. BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 
 
 From an Address delivered by Mr. B. at Alexandria, D. C, in 1834, when he was Attorney General of 
 
 the United States. 
 
 " Men of all classes and pursuits, in every part of Christendom, 
 are proposing schemes to meliorate the condition of their own com- 
 munities, and for the civilization and improvement of the rest of 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 31 
 
 mankind. These schemes naturally take their complexion from 
 the feelings and pursuits of their authors. The mere politician 
 tells us, that the end may be accomplished by wise and pater- 
 nal institutions of government, and by the faithful administration 
 of their various functions. And surely no one — in our country at 
 least — will underrate the value of such institutions. But all ex- 
 perience has shown, that human legislation can only reach a 
 small part of the ills to which the individual members of every 
 community are liable ; and that, unless the mass of the commu- 
 nity are sufficiently instructed to be capable of self-government, 
 the wisest institutions will fail of their object, and soon fall into 
 decay. And we are therefore told, that to well adapted schemes 
 of government there must be added the thorough education of the 
 people by means of primary schools, academies, and other institu- 
 tions ; the general diffusion of useful knowledge by a free press ; 
 the cultivation of the sciences, and the general improvement of 
 the intellectual faculties. But although education and knowledge 
 ought ever to be cherished as sources of abundant and incalcula- 
 ble good, yet in numerous instances, it has been found that vicious 
 practices and sentiments, and much individual and social miser}^, 
 may co-exist with the cultivation of knowledge, and with the arts 
 of refined and elegant society. In view of this fact, the political 
 economist and the social reformer advance another step, and in- 
 sist upon the indispensable necessity of such arrangements as 
 will check the growth of pauperism and crime, and promote the 
 more certain acquisition and the more advantageous distribution 
 of national and of private wealth. 
 
 " That immense good may be effected by the adoption of ju- 
 dicious economical and social arrangements, and that many im- 
 provements in these respects are indispensable to the well being 
 of the most enlightened nations, is not to be doubted. But the 
 most perfect system of political economy and of social life will 
 still fall short of reachins^ the sources of the universal evil. This 
 truth is so deeply impressed on the hearts of those amiable and 
 exemplary men whose morality possesses every claim to the 
 epithet of Christian, except that it does not flow from ' repent- 
 ance towards G-od' and 'faith in our Lord Jesus Christ,' that 
 they are earnest in their endeavours to inculcate the precepts 
 and to enforce the practice of a pure and operative morality 
 
32 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 They feel and know that vh'tue is indispensable to individual 
 happiness and public prosperity ; and they would therefore make 
 all men sober and orderly, industrious and, upright, benevolent 
 and patriotic. In all this, they think and act wisely ; but, unfor- 
 tunately, they do not wield an instrumentality powerful enough 
 to accomplish their benevolent designs. For here again we have 
 the testimony of experience, which has shown that only a small 
 portion of mankind can be induced to yield obedience to any 
 system of morals, which does not proceed from, and is not sanc- 
 tioned by, a supernatural authority. All systems merely human 
 are so deficient in the sanctions which accompany them, that 
 many of those who adopt them feel themselves at liberty to 
 violate at pleasure their most solemn injunctions. This was the 
 case with many celebrated teachers among the Stoics, the most 
 rigid moralists of pagan antiquity ; and the same thing has been 
 exemplified in the lives of some of the most eloquent expositors 
 of natural religion among the moderns. 
 
 " Now the reason of all this is perfectly familiar to every 
 experienced and well instructed Christian who takes his philos- 
 ophy from the Bible. He is informed, and he believes, ' that out 
 of the heart are the issues of life ;' and he therefore traces all 
 moral action to that capacious source. He is further informed, 
 and he feels and knows it to be true, that ' the heart is deceitful 
 above all things, and desperately wicked;' and because it is 
 so, he understands the reason of the authoritative declaration, 
 that from within, out of the hearty ' proceed evil thoughts,' and 
 all the abominations 'that defile the man,' and make him at 
 once the victim and the author of sorrows, suffering, and crime. 
 To reach the origin of these evils, and, so far as our present con- 
 dition will permit, to banish tliem from the world, the Christian 
 knows some remedy must be found, which shall reach and purify 
 the heart ; and he also knows, that the sincere and vivid appre- 
 hension of the Christian faith is the only thing that can accom- 
 plish this most desirable result. But though, for this reason, 
 he regards all the mere human instrumentalities recommended 
 by statesmen, lovers of learning and science, economists, moral 
 philosophers and reformers, as inadequate, yet he does not reject 
 any one of them. He would employ them all ; but to each and 
 to all he would superadd the Grospel of Christ — the ' wisdom of 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 33 
 
 God,' and 'the power of God' — and the knowledge that the 
 practical reception of this system is indispensable to complete suc- 
 cess makes even the humblest Christian to be ' wiser than his 
 enemies,' and to ' understand more' than the most erudite 
 * teachers' of a barren philosopliy. 
 
 " Not that the general prevalence of Christianity would banish 
 poverty or sickness, suffering or sorrow, from the earth. The 
 poor we have always with us ; the ordinary ills of life are inci- 
 dent to our present state, and the Christian is not exempt from 
 them. On the contrary, he is exposed to many peculiar trials, 
 and in matters personal to himself is seldom free from anxiety 
 and disquietude. But the universal adoption and practice of our 
 religion would dry up many sources of misery ; and by promoting 
 the love and fear of God, peace, virtue, and benevolence, and 
 giving a new impulse and a proper direction to the intellectual 
 faculties, and to all the arts and arrangements of social life, 
 would insure to humanity the highest happiness of which it is 
 susceptible. And though many trials would still remain to be 
 encountered, it needs no argument to show, that the blessedness 
 of heaven will constitute an overflowing indemnity for all thft 
 sufferings of life. He is truly happy, whatever may be hi* 
 temporal condition, who can call God his father in the full 
 assurance of faith and hope. And amid all his trials, and 
 conflicts, and doubts, the feeblest Christian is still compar- 
 atively happy ; because cheered by the hope — faint and hum- 
 ble though it be — that the hour is coming, when he shall be 
 delivered from ' this body of sin and death,' and in the vision of 
 his Redeemer, and by a never-ending progression in knowledge 
 and virtue, approximate to the perfection and felicity of angels. 
 
 " Not only does the Bible inculcate, with sanctions of highest 
 import, a system of the purest morality ; but in the person and 
 character of our blessed Saviour it exhibits a tangible illustration 
 of that system. In him, we have set before us — what, till the 
 publication of the Gospel, the world had never seen — a model of 
 feeling and action, adapted to all times, places, and circum- 
 stances ; and combining so much of wisdom, benevolence, and 
 holiness, that none can fathom its sublimity ; and yet, presented 
 in a form so simple, that even a child may be made to understand 
 and tausfht to love it. 
 
34 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 " The strictness and fervour of his devotions, the justice, meek- 
 ness, and benevolence of his conduct, may be imitated by the hum- 
 blest of his followers ; and each of them is bound to make the 
 effort to do so. Those who truly embrace the Gospel will assur- 
 edly make such an effort ; and on those who do not thus receive it, 
 this living exemplification of perfect virtue will yet produce a 
 much greater influence than any merely preceptive code, however 
 useful or complete. Many men, who have never believed in Jesus 
 Christ as the 'Lamb of G-od who taketh away the sin of the world,' 
 have yet been attracted by the simplicity and loveliness of his 
 character, as drawn by the evangelists, to the practice of benevo- 
 lence and virtue. With a view to even such an influence as this, 
 the universal dissemination of the Bible deserves the support of 
 every well wisher to the happiness of mankind." 
 
 HOK LUTHER BRADISH. 
 
 From an Address before the American Bible Society. 
 
 " That * The Bible is not less conducive to the well being of 
 man in this life, than it is essential to his hopes in that which is 
 to come,' as a theoretical truth, might in advance be deduced 
 from the character of the Sacred Volume, the nature of its con- 
 tents, and their adaptation to the character and condition of man, 
 both as an isolated individual, and as a member of organized 
 society. As a practical truth, it is established by our experience 
 of the past, and is therefore an historical fact : indeed, the course 
 of the sun in the progress of the seasons is not more distinctly 
 marked by its impress on vegetable life, than has been the dis- 
 semination of the Bible in its influence upon the individual 
 character and the social condition of man. 
 
 " As an individual, wherever the Bible has been circulated it 
 has every where reclaimed him from that superstition and idola- 
 try which are the result of his ignorance and the strong natural 
 tendency of his character ; and has enlightened, purified, and 
 given a true direction to that religious principle which seems to 
 be a constituent element in his nature and a universal instinct 
 of his beins^. It has tausfht him the oris^in and s^reat end of 
 his existence. From it he has learned his true relations to Grod 
 and to his fellow men, and his duty to both resulting from those 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 36 
 
 relations. While it has inculcated the duty of obedience, of 
 reverence, and of worship of the former, it has taught hiin those 
 heaven-born precepts, to love his neighbour as himself, and to do 
 unto others as he would that others should do unto him. It has 
 instructed him in the necessity and the wisdom of self-govern- 
 ment, the regulation of his passions, and the cultivation and 
 exercise of every virtue. 
 
 '' But if such has been the effect of a dissemination of the Bible 
 upon man's individual character, equally apparent and still more 
 extensive has been its influence upon his social condition. It 
 has raised him from a degraded state of savage barbarity to the 
 condition and pursuits of civilized life. It has diminished the 
 frequency and softened the features of that great scourge of man 
 in all conditions, war ; and has introduced into the policy and the 
 intercourse of nations greater justice, forbearance, and love of 
 peace. It has every where been favourable alike to public liberty 
 and individual freedom. Wherever the Bible has gone, it has 
 carried with it juster notions of individual rights and sounder 
 views of the true end and object of government. It has exerted 
 a great and benign influence upon the enactment of laws and 
 their execution. It has given its solemn sanction to the estab- 
 lishment of right, and has tempered with mercy the adminis- 
 tration of justice. And while it has meliorated the punishment 
 of offences by the introduction and improvement of penitentiary 
 and correctional systems, it has greatly strengthened those of 
 preventive police, by imposing its binding restraints upon the 
 indulgence of the passions and the commission of crimes. 
 
 '• Equally great and salutary has been the influence of the 
 Bible upon the mental labours and the intellectual condition of 
 man in all ages and in all countries. It has chastened his 
 imagination and invigorated his judgment. It has purified liter- 
 ature, elevated philosophy, directed science to its true ends and 
 aims, and thus effectually contributed to the advancement of 
 civilization and the melioration of the world. 
 
 *' All this has the Bible accomplished for man in regard to this 
 life. But this precious Revelation of God to man is not limited 
 to his brief existence here. It has a far higher aim, and was 
 destined to achieve for him a far greater and more enduring good 
 in reference to that which is to come. 
 
36 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 ^' That cloud of doubt, of darkness, and of silent gloom which 
 for ages had brooded over the resting-place of the dead, and which 
 no light of human philosophy, however brilliant, could either 
 dispel or penetrate, is removed for ever ; and to the aching heart 
 of dying man, thirsting for immortality, that tomb, which before 
 had been viewed by him as the final termination of all things, 
 is now presented as only the illuminated passage from earth to 
 heaven — from a world of imperfection, of sin, and of sorrow, to a 
 far higher and happier state of being." 
 
 JOHN" THOMPSO]N', Esq., of Poughkeepsie. 
 
 From an Address on the theme, " That the Bible, in its letter and spirit, furnishes the best of all 
 standards b}' which to test the numerous theories of the day for improving the condition and prospects 
 of the race." 
 
 "If there be," said he, "any one subject that at this day com- 
 mands general attention, it is that of national and social oppres- 
 sion. This is not confined to one country or one people, but it is 
 so throughout all Christendom. Humanity every where rises up 
 and denies the law of its bondage. In sullen murmurs or in loud 
 clamours it utters its remonstrances ; the great multitudes have 
 lifted up their voices like the sound of many waters, and kings 
 and rulers have fled fugitives along the highways. How were 
 the American people electrified by the masses of Europe linking 
 together in one brotherhood, the high and the low, under im- 
 pulses common to our nature. It seemed as if Destiny was 
 standing upon the summit of the Alps and arousing the nations. 
 Over France, Germany, Hungary, and Italy armed men rushed 
 forth to strike for life and liberty. 
 
 "All this we saw with amazement and delight; and then we 
 beheld the ground so nobly won all lost. Despotism and treach- 
 ery decimated and crushed the forces of the free. Why was tliis? 
 We changed our form of government, and peace and quiet follow- 
 ed. They made the same attempt, and failed. The cause did 
 not exist in mere outward circumstances, but in the want of 
 those early associations derived from the Word of Grod. A free 
 Bible makes free men the world over. 
 
 "Without Bible views of liberty and equality the American 
 Revolution would have been smothered in its own blood. The 
 blood shed at Bunker Hill would have been her last. That lofty 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 37 
 
 monument, instead of marking the foundation of an empire, 
 would have commemorated a rebellion crushed and overthrown. 
 "We hear much of the mission of the Anglo-^Saxon race and of the 
 American people. One mission at least we have, but it should 
 be understood that our success lies not in outward constitutions, 
 but in those inner principles that are the seeds of a Christian 
 democracy. Constitutions and charters are all well ; but they 
 must have their basis in that great Charter given by the King 
 eternal, immortal, and invisible, as a foundation on which to 
 erect the superstructure of human rights. The late lamented 
 Legare said that every man who stepped from the Mayflower was 
 himself a living Constitution; and until Europe possesses such 
 men, she will pant for liberty in vain. We can be liberty propa- 
 gandists only by becoming Bible propagandists. Carlyle may 
 write his latter-day pamphlets to try to stay the progress of 
 democracy, but here in the Bible is the great latter-day pamphlet 
 which will survive that great day for which all other days were 
 made. It needs no eulogy. Christianity has written it — written 
 it on the whole course of her history. It is written in the dilapi- 
 dation of the Coliseum and the Parthenon, in the dethronement 
 of the Olympian Jupiter, in the rent vail of Isis, in the fall of 
 Odin and of Thor. It is written in the broken fetter and the 
 tenantless dungeon ; in the wing of commerce and the smile of 
 labour ; in the voice of prayer and song of praise. These all record 
 her goings forth, and vindicate her glory." 
 
 HOK T. FRELIN'GHUYSEN', late U. S. Sexator from Xe^t Jersey, xow Presi- 
 dent OF Rutger's College. 
 
 " Whence has sprung this redeeming spirit that has already 
 borne its blessings to every clime ? that floats in the Bethel flag ; 
 penetrates the gloom of the prison ; that soothes the orphan's cry, 
 and pleads the cause of the widow ; that opens the stores of 
 thought and memory to the long bound intellects of the deaf and 
 dumb ; that is now closing the door of the dram-shop — that broad 
 and crowded gateway to death and despair — and is sounding the 
 alarm, and concentrating the efforts of the wise and good, in 
 view of the Sabbath's profanation ? 
 
 " The Bible has done all, sir. Seal up this one volume, and in 
 half a century all these hopes would wither, and these prospects 
 
38 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 perish for ever. These sacred temples would crumble, or become 
 the receptacles of pollution and crime. 
 
 '' But how animating are these prospects now ! Spread out 
 the map of the world, and to what portion of its surface can Ave 
 be pointed that has not come up in remembrance, and enlisted 
 Christian sympathy? Europe, Asia, and America have been 
 refreshed with these living waters ; and while I am speaking, the 
 light is struggling through that dark cloud which has for ages 
 rested upon unhappy Africa. There we can perceive how gra- 
 ciously the benignity of Grod often reaches over the designs of his 
 people. The friends of the infant colony planted on her shores 
 would have enjoyed the fulness of their reward had it become a 
 secure refuge for wretched outcasts from the world's sympathy ; 
 and yet more than this has been accomplished. The Lord intends 
 it for a radiating point from which the full blaze of his truth shall 
 beam upon that benighted continent ; and, ere long, this Holy Bi- 
 ble shall be, in all her tribes, the black man's counsellor and con- 
 solation. The temples of worship that lift their spires to heaven 
 on the heights of Liberia are the signals to an oppressed and for- 
 saken people of approaching deliverance. The day of Africa's re- 
 demption is on its way. The Grod of the Bible has promised it, 
 
 '' The United States are furnishing the materials for an event- 
 ful history that shall record the triumphs or defeat of a politi- 
 cal experiment the noblest the world ever beheld. A republic 
 of sovereignties, that has extended itself to a mighty continent, 
 is testing the stability of its institutions. Shall they endure ? 
 Shall we convince the world that the tyrant's plea of necessity is 
 false ? "We may, sir ; but the way is straight. The influence of 
 this Sacred Volume alone can achieve it. Let your Society be 
 aided to dispense this treasure fast as the rapidly increasing 
 wants of the people. Let it circulate through all our States, pro- 
 claiming its precepts and sanctions, its rules of life and duty. 
 Let it find its way into every cottage of the West, until the 
 whole mass of our population shall yield to its elevating moral 
 power ; and under the benignant smiles of Him who delights to 
 bless his own Word, our government, the last hope of liberty, will 
 rest on foundations against which the winds and waves shall beat 
 in vain. 
 
 "And it is a most encouraging reflection that the conviction of 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 39 
 
 this truth has become national. Its demonstration may be read 
 in a resolution already adopted for the supply of nearly six 
 millions of our citizens with the Word of Life, and soon the 
 American Bible Society will have secured a perpetual title to the 
 name it bears. And what new interesting relations will then be 
 developed, when every family in this great brotherhood will be 
 bound to your Society and to each other by the Bible ! The Lord 
 hath said, ' My word shall not return unto me void.' You have 
 sent it forth, and you will then have left it, as a sacred deposit, 
 with every household ; and where shall we look for the hope of 
 our country, for the preservation of its union^ for the blessing of 
 the God of our fathers, if we may not here ? 
 
 " But the charity that will have reached this glorious accom- 
 plishment cannot retire from its active labours while other 
 nations and climes are destitute of the light of truth. The hero 
 of Macedon is said to have wept that conquest and carnage were 
 stayed for the want of victims, that no more worlds remained to 
 plunder. Shall Christian ardour be surpassed by a spirit that 
 seeks its aliment in evil? No, sir; I trust that the struggles of 
 benevolence will never subside, while a single tribe ^ or family^ or 
 soul of all earth'' s population shall need a BibleP 
 
 HON. PETER D. VROOM, formerly Governor of New Jersey, and now Am- 
 bassador OF THE United States to Prussia. 
 
 " Our country is a moral wonder. It is rapidly advancing 
 in population, enterprise, improvement, and intellectual culture. 
 New States, which in extent of territory may vie with some of 
 the kingdoms of the old world, rise up before us as if by enchant- 
 ment. Honest labour meets its recompense. The early and tho 
 latter rains shower down their blessings upon the evil and the 
 good ; and the prolific earth teems with the richest productions of 
 nature. The spirit of liberty, that indomitable principle in the 
 American people, is cultivated with jealous care, and the tem- 
 poral prosperity of the country advances with a giant's step. 
 The ocean, like a friendly barrier, separates us from the wars, the 
 desolations, and the blood-drenched fields of Europe. Under these 
 favourable circumstances, the increase of our population from 
 nafura 1 causes must necessarily be great ; and if our people were 
 to remain stationary in their location, it would require strict at- 
 
40 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 tention on the part of our auxiliaries to supply the increasing 
 demand. 
 
 " But, sir, we are not a stationary people. We have the rest- 
 less spirit of freemen, and are fond of change. The advancement 
 of worldly interests and all the various incentives of unsanctified 
 ambition induce our citizens to leave the altars and the graves 
 of their fathers, and make to themselves a home in the wilder- 
 ness. Now if we would do our work effectually, we must follow 
 them there with the Bible. They cannot go without carrying 
 sin with them ; it is a constant inmate, and takes up no room ; 
 but the Bible may be left behind, and its use and value forgotten 
 together. Or if a single copy be taken along, how soon is it lost 
 in the rapid changes that follow ! 
 
 " The tide of emigration is setting onward with unabated 
 power. AYhile I speak, the spirit of enterprise is pushing its way 
 to the far "West ; now striking into the dark bosom of the forest, 
 and now pursuing its course along the margin of some stream, 
 which for ages has rolled along toward the ocean in unbroken 
 solitude ; in either case far removed from the influence of re- 
 ligion and the Bible. Can we, who know the value of Grospel 
 truth, who have partaken of its blessings, and are constantly re- 
 freshed by the rich streams that flow for ever from this spiritual 
 fountain — can we be insensible to their wants ? 
 
 "We all know that our favoured country is a retreat for the 
 oppressed of every land. No matter what may be their character 
 or condition, she welcomes them to her shores, and invests them 
 with the privileges of freemen. Thousands and ten thousands 
 are annually escaping from civil misrule or religious intolerance, 
 and scattering themselves on the face of our land. They form an 
 important part of our population, and must necessarily exert an 
 influence on the destinies of our country. Among these, there 
 are many, very many, who, like multitudes of our own brethren, 
 are groping in darkness, and perishing for lack of vision. These 
 it is our duty to search out and to aid ; and this should be done 
 year after year. We would approach them, not as sectarians in 
 religion any more than sectarians in politics ; but in the higher 
 and nobler feelings we would proffer to them in one hand the 
 charter of our earthly rights, and in the other the dearer charter 
 of our heavenly inheritance. In thus approaching them, our 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 41 
 
 adopted brethren may rest satisfied that our motives are pure ; 
 we meet them on the broad and catholic basis of the Bible loith- 
 out note or comment. We believe it to be the best hope of that 
 country in which we have now a common interest ; and, what is 
 of infinitely more importance, we believe it to be ' the power of 
 Grod and the wisdom of God' unto the salvation of their souls." 
 
 HON. EMORY WASHBURN", of Worcester, Massachusetts. 
 
 On the topic, "That the general diffusion of the Holy Scriptures, as an efficient measure of domestic police 
 in a Republic, deserves the countenance and support of every friend of our free institutions." 
 
 " The tendency of the Christian religion to improve the con- 
 dition of man under every form of government is now universally 
 acknowledged ; but its imperative necessity to the permanence of 
 a free government is not so clearly and generally seen. History 
 shows that the Bible is aiding the advance of liberal principles 
 throughout the world. The spirit of the resolution directly contra- 
 dicts the proclamation from the Vatican, that the object of the 
 Bible Societies is to subvert civil as well as ecclesiastical govern- 
 ments. By government, we are to understand the power that 
 makes and administers law. Every government has certain du- 
 ties to discharge ; foremost among which is the restraint of the 
 passions of man, the repression of turbulence and disorder ; and 
 this is the direct object of a police. The necessity for such action 
 grows out of the universal prevalence of passions that need to be 
 repressed. The form of this police depends upon the genius of 
 the people who are governed. In a despotic nation, it is very 
 simple — consisting merely in the exercise of terror and of force. 
 So in decayed and false republics, like that of Venice, the police 
 has a secret and unbounded power. But in such a country as 
 ours, the problem is one not so easily solved. Yet here it must 
 be manifest, that a vigilant and effective police is absolutely ne- 
 cessary to the prevalence of order and of quiet. The unbounded 
 liberty of speech and opinion which prevails renders this essential; 
 and to accomplish this object we must look to something more 
 than the array of civil officers. There is little in our form of 
 government to inspire awe or fear ; it operates silently, and almost 
 unnoticed. "We must have other and stronger support than the 
 array of authority affords. And although the intelligence of the 
 people is one great element of this reliance, still, to the Bible, and 
 
42 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 to the power of the truths which it contains, are we far more in- 
 debted than to any other cause for the preservation of order and 
 of peace throughout the land. Even this city, with a vastly in- 
 creased police, without the Bible, without the pulpit, without any 
 of the influences that now flow from the power of religious truth, 
 could not preserve peace and order, and security of person and of 
 property, for a single year The Bible makes a man afraid to do 
 wrong ; because it teaches him that he thereby violates the laws 
 of his conscience and his Grod. And by this influence alone it 
 contributes immensely to the peace and good order of the com- 
 munity. The Bible, moreover, infuses into the bosom of every 
 man a feeling of self-control; and in so doing it lays the founda- 
 tion for a simple, thorough, and effective government of the coun- 
 try. The cheapness of this method of police, moreover, should 
 commend it to the favour of this money-loving age. In all re- 
 spects it is infinitely superior to every measure of secret espionage 
 to which a Napoleon or a Nicholas may resort. The elements of 
 such a moral police, it is evident, must be every where diffused ; 
 must pervade all classes; purify all motives, and inspire every 
 where a regard for justice, and for the high and holy truths of the 
 AYord of Grod. To accomplish this, the Bible must find its way 
 into every family and every school-house in the country. Noth- 
 ing short of this will insure success. Men must be fed, and 
 fed abundantly, with the Bread of Life." 
 
 HON. CHEVALIER BUNSEN, Formerly Prussian Ambassador at Rome, and 
 
 NOW AT London. 
 
 From an Address before the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1852. 
 
 " I was struck most forcibly with the conclusion of the report 
 of last year, and particularly with two remarks, which have turn- 
 ed out to be prophetically true. One was, your committee said to 
 the Christian friends whom it addressed, that we had to expect 
 greater and more fierce resistance to the Bible and to its propa- 
 gation than ever ; and the other was, that the impious and 
 blasphemous contempt of the "Word of God which, in many parts 
 of the Continent, during past years has burst out from the revo- 
 lutionary party, was producing and would produce a most sal- 
 utary Christian reaction upon the great mass of the people, and 
 that this would be proved by a continued demand for the Bible, 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 43 
 
 and by an increased issue of Old and New Testaments, among 
 the G-ermans in particular. If I look back at those two expecta- 
 tions, I am reminded of what I had the honour to say thirteen 
 years ago, when I first came to this country, and had the privi- 
 lege and the happiness of addressing an assembly like the pres- 
 ent, and upon a similar occasion. I then offered some observa- 
 tions of the very same import ; and we have certainly lived to 
 see them fulfilled. I have seen in the report of last year, and I 
 have heard it to-day, that there are but few agents, compara- 
 tively, employed in Germany. I hope next year their number 
 will be increased ; because I know the German Christian wishes 
 the Bible to be brought to his home, not by the bookseller, or the 
 bookbinder, or by men whom he does not know, but by native 
 men — colporteurs — men who can give a reason for the hope that 
 is in them, and can look on them and say, ' This is the Book on 
 which I place my faith for this life, and for that which is to 
 come : read that Book, which has made me happy, and many 
 others, and will also make you happy.' Such men you will find 
 in the Bible Society, and in that most excellent and blessed in- 
 stitution of the Moravian Brethren, to whom not only my coun- 
 try, bat the world is so much indebted. My lord, I would say, 
 in conclusion, we shall have to encounter many dangers ; and T 
 will tell you why that is certain ; because the enemies of religion 
 and the Bible know, more than they did in the last century, that 
 the Bible is a fire which consumes iniquity. There is a life and 
 a power in it which nobody can quench. I have seen in a coun- 
 try where I have spent a great part of my life, people who lived 
 when Italy was overrun, sixty years ago, by the French revolu- 
 tionary armies; and I have seen the books which then were 
 asked for, and which came in shoals over the Alps, the infidel 
 books of the Encyclopaedists of France in the eighteenth century, 
 the worst books that were ever written. The people were sick 
 of the Christianity they saw before them ; they thought that 
 there must be comfort in the works of those who were opposed 
 to it. But before I left that country, I saw myself the applica- 
 tions which were made by thousands, when, by the revolutionary 
 events of 1830, political changes took place, not for Voltaire and 
 Diderot, but for the Bible. They took it, they hid it, and they 
 perused it. Uy lord, is there not hope for us ? Most of us will 
 
44 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 probably not see any kind of conflict ; but I hope that our chil- 
 dren and our children's children will see religious liberty, not only 
 in this land and in my own country, but over the whole world ; 
 when the Bible and the faith of the G-ospel will form the basis, as 
 it is the only basis, of civil and religious liberty, for the Bible is 
 the only real cement of nations, and the only cement that can 
 bind religious hearts together ; and that this great and glorious 
 institution, the mother of hundreds of blessed institutions all 
 over the world, will be at the head of all, proclaiming the Word 
 of God as the foundation of all peace and happiness in this world, 
 and in that which is to come." 
 
 HOX. EDWARD EVERETT, of the United States Senate, and late Secretary 
 
 OF State. 
 
 Washington, November 20, 1652. 
 
 Dear Sir : — I have much pleasure in complying with your re- 
 quest, that I would express my opinion of the importance of the 
 Bible in connexion with the concerns of political and public life. 
 In this respect, I am convinced that very inadequate ideas of its 
 value are entertained by many persons, who otherwise regard it 
 with veneration. They reverence it as the record of our religion, 
 and consequently as a suitable book to be read in places of wor- 
 ship, and studied by serious persons in aid of their private devo- 
 tions ; but they have a vague notion that the practical business 
 of life is carried on without reference to it, and that the Bible is 
 not and cannot be applied to the management of what they call 
 w^orldly aflairs on a great or a small scale. 
 
 This I consider a very erroneous view, though it has been 
 encouraged, perhaps, by the discrimination, often stated in the 
 pulpit, between Religion and what is called the World, as if their 
 spheres were totally distinct. 
 
 In a letter addressed to the Committee of the Maryland Bible 
 Society, three or four years ago, I expressed the opinion, that the 
 Bible is the ultimate foundation of the most characteristic portion 
 of our modern European and American civilization, that is, of all 
 those portions of our intellectaal and moral system not derived 
 from Greece and Rome, and not belonging to us in common with 
 the Mohammedan nations of the East. 
 
 Among these, I do not hesitate to class our whole system of 
 
To THE Value oftheScriptcres. 45 
 
 international law. This is so certainly Christian in its origin 
 and character, that it has been declared by the highest author- 
 ities, among others by Sir William Scott, not to apply in all re- 
 spects to Mohammedans. Not less certainly was the idea of a 
 system of international law altogether unknown to the ancient 
 Greeks, and but little more developed among the Romans, although 
 the latter, as far as municipal law is concerned, were eminently 
 a juridical people. 
 
 It would be easy to show, if this were the proper place, that the 
 religious system of the Grreeks and Romans — in fact, of all the 
 great states of antiquity — was the chief obstacle to the concep- 
 tion of a great principle of international law. Such a conception, 
 on the contrary, sprang, by a moral necessity, from the new spir- 
 itual religion taught in the New Testament. The public law of 
 Christendom, in its utmost comprehension, is but the expansion 
 and application to the affairs of nations of the principle incul- 
 cated in our Saviour's sermon on the mount, "All things what- 
 soever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to 
 them." 
 
 As in its principle, so in its literary development and culture, 
 the law of nations is the offspring of Christianity. Its first gen- 
 eral lessons are found in the Fathers of the Church. Broader g:en- 
 eralizations occur in the writings of the scholastic divines, min- 
 gled, it is true, with grave errors, expressed in arid formulas, and 
 buried under a mass of subtle distinctions which repel the modern 
 student. But among the latest of the writers of that class, and 
 just upon the dawn of the Baconian philosophy, we find noble 
 conceptions of public law, expressed in language not to be mended 
 at the present day. In this remark, I have particularly in view 
 the treatise of the Jesuit Suarez. In the noble title of his 
 book, I find more significance than in many a wordy tome : " De 
 legibus, et Deo Legislatore ;" Oflaws^ ami God the Laiogiver. No 
 common mind is seen in that combination of ideas. It compresses 
 a treatise into a title page. There is no historical illustration, 
 nor much forensic reasoning in the work of Suarez ; but, as you 
 might expect from the title, the religious principle of law, both 
 in the general, and all its kinds, is well laid down. To those who 
 deplore the divisions in the great household of Christian faith, 
 (and who does not ?) it is peculiarly gratifying to see how little 
 
46 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 there is in this work of a Spanish Jesuit from which any serious 
 Protestant would dissent. It is quite a curious fact, first pointed 
 out, I believe, by Mr. Hallam, that the celebrated and constantly 
 quoted passage on the universality of law, at the close of the first 
 book of Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, is found, substantially, in 
 the work of Suarez. 
 
 Grotius, the great founder of our modern science of interna- 
 tional law, was a most assiduous student of the Bible. His com- 
 mentary upon the Old and New Testament, pronounced by Leib- 
 nitz the best work of its class, is, as far as I may venture to give 
 an opinion on such a subject, still entitled to that praise. I do 
 not, of course, refer to his exposition of a few contested doctrinal 
 texts, but to the learning, ingenuity, and good sense with which 
 he illustrates the whole body of Scripture. He was a profoundly 
 religious man. The foundations of his immortal treatise on the 
 Law of Nations are laid in the Scriptures of the Old and New 
 Testament ; and the original conception of the work was in the 
 genuine spirit of Christian philanthropy. His golden treatise 
 on the truth of the Christian religion was intended by him as a 
 manual for his adventurous fellow citizens, then just engaging in 
 the trade with the East ; by the aid of which they might scatter 
 the seeds of sacred truth on distant and heathen shores. That it 
 might be the more easily remembered, he wrote it in verse, and 
 in his native language, (the Dutch,) at a time when all treatises of 
 this kind were composed in Latin. 
 
 I scarce know of a more beautiful illustration of the adaptation 
 of the religion of the Bible to the purposes of active life, than is 
 thus afforded by this model Christian statesman, who, on the one 
 hand, continually fortifies the maxims of the public law by Scrip- 
 ture authority ; and, on the other hand, composed a treatise on 
 the evidences of Christianity, to be used by his seafaring country- 
 men in their voyages to remote regions. 
 
 One great end, I may say, the chief end, of the law of na- 
 tions, is to protect weak states against the strong. Just in 
 proportion as that one text of Scripture which I have already 
 quoted — Do unto others as ye would that others should do unto 
 you — is observed by governments in their intercourse with each 
 other, this end is accomplished. It says to the powerful state, 
 " Treat that weak neighbour as you would like to be treated, if 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 47 
 
 he were strong, and you were weak." This one rule is worth all 
 Yattel ; or, rather, all diplomacy which deserves the name is ulti- 
 mately resolvable into this maxim. 
 
 I remain, dear sir, with great respect, 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 Edward Everett. 
 
 HO:Nr. W>L C. RIYES, United States MI^^STER to France. 
 
 Paris, November 4th, 1852. 
 
 My Dear Sir : — I have just received your letter of the 19th 
 ultimo, requesting the communication of any opinions which 
 observation or reflection may have led me to form on the connex- 
 ion between civil and political liberty, and the study and rever- 
 ence of the Holy Scriptures. On this subject I have long enter- 
 tained the deepest convictions ; and though I have no leisure to 
 embody my thoughts in a suitable form of expression, I cannot 
 withhold my testimony, however imperfectly given, from a great 
 cause in which the interests of humanity every where, and the 
 future destinies of my own country especially, are, as I believe, 
 vitally involved. 
 
 Many and ingenious speculations have been given to the world 
 to account for the repeated and disastrous failure of the successive 
 attempts which have been made, during the last seventy years, to 
 establish and sustain a system of free government in this country. 
 However numerous and various the secondary causes to which 
 this melancholy and remarkable fact may be ascribed, the one 
 efficient and primary cause, I am convinced, is to be found in the 
 general eradication from the national mind of divine truth and 
 divine authority, by the philosophy, " falsely so called," of the 
 last century, which had its origin, and has continued to maintain 
 its fatal influence here. The French nation has not been wanting 
 in many of the circumstances ordinarily deemed the most essen- 
 tial to the practice and support of free government. They have 
 undoubtedly had, in their successive essays at constitutional lib- 
 erty, the aid and direction of many men of great and distinguish- 
 ed talents, in a worldly sense, both in the cabinet and the senate. 
 Nor are the mass of the people so ignorant and uninformed on 
 general topics as is by some imagined. With the exception of 
 
48 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 the mere rural labourers, it would be hard to find any country 
 in which the population engaged in the ordinary industrious call- 
 ings of life are more intelligent, nimble- witted, and even exer- 
 cised in readins: of certain kinds. 
 
 There is one book, however, which remains sealed, for the most 
 part, to all classes of society, and that is the Book of eternal wis- 
 dom, with all its precious lessons of duty to G-od and man, of 
 temperance, of moderation, of self-control, of conscientious obe- 
 dience to the '• still small voice" within. Hence it is, that in the 
 agitations and struggles inseparable from the existence of civil 
 and political freedom, abandoned to the infirmities of our com- 
 mon nature, without the chastening discipline of the G-ospel, they 
 have had no internal strength to fortify and keep them erect 
 against the disturbing influences from without, and to restrain 
 the violence and fury of the passions ; no monitor to recall them, 
 from time to time, from the eagerness of their worldly contentions 
 and pursuits to the recollection of their immortal destinies and 
 responsibilities ; no standard of infallible truth by which to try 
 the inventions of mere human reason. And thus have we seen 
 in so many instances in this country a fitful and spurious liberty 
 degenerating into license and crime, or torn and distracted by 
 factions, or frightening mankind by the proclamation of new and 
 disorganizing theories, to be swallowed up at last in a degrading 
 and relentless despotism. 
 
 The lesson which the melancholy experience of France teaches 
 on this subject is one of universal application. The blessings of 
 a free popular government cannot, I am convinced, be long pre- 
 served any where but by the influence and discipline of the 
 Christian religion deeply implanted in the hearts and lives of all 
 classes of society. In proportion to the amount of power exer- 
 cised by the body of the people, should they be constantly anima- 
 ted and guided by higher and purer principles of action, in order 
 to guard that power from abuse on the one hand, and the danger 
 of subversion on the other. Power, in whatsoever hands depos- 
 ited, is an awful trust. One of the greatest teachers of political 
 wisdom in ancient or modern times ^' has said, ^' That all persons 
 possessing any portion of power ought to be strongly and awfully 
 impressed with an idea that they act in trusty and that they are 
 
 ^ Burke. 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 49 
 
 to account for their conduct in that trust to the one Great Mas- 
 ter, author, and founder of society." 
 
 In a free popular government, then, where all power is primar- 
 ily lodged in the hands of the people, how vital the necessity that 
 this sense of responsibility should be fortified and enforced, in the 
 minds of both the people and their agents, by those solemn sanc- 
 tions which the Word of Grod only can supply. There is no solid 
 security but this, in the greatest of all human trusts, against the 
 temptations and delusions of ambition, against the violence or 
 sophistry of the passions, the seductions of interest, and the 
 blunders of a shallow and short-sighted self-sufficiency. Build 
 upon this sure foundation — the records of Divine Truth in the 
 hands and in the hearts of the people, as the ever present rule and 
 guide of life — and the rain of adversity may descend, and the 
 floods of temptation come, and the winds of passion blow and 
 beat upon that house, and it will fall not ; for it is founded on a 
 rock. Upon any other foundation the presumptuous fabric will 
 be like the house of the " foolish man" who built upon the satid^ 
 and when the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds 
 blew and beat upon that house, it fell ; and great was the fall of it. 
 
 If this be so, and that it is I am most deeply and thoroughly 
 convinced, there would be matter for the most serious apprehen- 
 sion in what you tell me of the growing tendency to infidelity in 
 a portion of the periodical literature of our country, did I not per- 
 suade myself that the poison will meet an eftectual antidote in 
 the firm religious cast and habits of the American mind. It is 
 this national sobriety and steadiness of principle which has 
 hitherto preserved us from impious and dangerous novelties that 
 would, at the same time, sap our liberties and our faith. The 
 holy religion, before which the mighty intellects of Bacon, and 
 IN'ewton, and Locke, bowed in reverential acknowledgment and 
 submission, should have nothing to fear from the assaults, open or 
 disguised, of modern witlings. 
 
 Let the educated young men of our country, who are now pre- 
 paring themselves for a course of political usefulness, recollect 
 what the greatest genius and scholar of our race,^ after having 
 amassed all the treasures of human learning, ancient and mod- 
 ern, said of the Bible, as a book of political wisdom, compared 
 
 * Milton. 
 4 
 
50 Testimony of Distixguished Laymen 
 
 with the most renowned writings of professed philosophers, states- 
 men, and orators : 
 
 " But herein to our Prophets far beneath, 
 As men divinelj^ taught, and better teaching 
 The soUd rules of civil government 
 In their majestic, unaffected style, 
 Than all the oratory of Greece and Rome. 
 In them is plainest taught and easiest learnt 
 What makes a nation happy, and keeps it so, 
 What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat." 
 
 Let them call to mind the solemn and impressive terms in 
 which the same inspired patriot and lover of republican liberty 
 describes the duties of the statesman, and the divine helps he so 
 constantly needs. '' To make," he says, ''the anxious mind and 
 thoughts penetrate the remotest quarters — to watch, to foresee, to 
 decline no labour, to spurn every blandishment of pleasure — these 
 are those arduous tasks, in comparison with which war is but 
 sport ; these will winnow and sift you ; these require a man 
 supported by the Divine assistance ; a man advised, warned, and 
 instructed almost by a conference with the Deity." 
 
 Here are noble sentiments and precepts, which commend them- 
 selves to the hearts of Christian patriots and freemen. They 
 point out the path of safety and true glory to states, as well as 
 of duty and happiness to individuals. " Li keeping of them, there 
 is great reward ;" and my humble prayer is, that our land, hither- 
 to so blessed by Providence, will through long ages present to the 
 nations the example of a people whose God is the Lord, and 
 whose liberties are devoutly placed beneath the shadow of his 
 almighty wings. 
 
 I remain, my dear sir, with great respect, 
 
 Your most faithful and obedient servant, 
 
 W. C. Rives. 
 
 HON. JOHjS" McLEAX, of Ohio, Justice of the United States Supreme Court. 
 
 Chapel Wood, November 4, 1652. 
 
 G-ENTLEMEN : — I am requested to say something as to , the 
 wholesome influence of the Bible on our social and civil life. I 
 agree with the sentiment expressed, that a "wide-spread, open 
 infidelity, if uncorrected, must ere long put in peril all our free 
 institutions." 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 51 
 
 No one can estimate or describe the salutary influences of the 
 Bible. What would the world be without it? Compare the dark 
 places of the earth, where the light of the Gospel has not penetra- 
 ted, with those where it has been proclaimed, and embraced in all 
 its purity. 
 
 Life and immortality arc brought to light by the Scriptures. 
 Aside from Revelation, darkness rests upon this world, and upon 
 the future. There is no ray of light to shine upon our pathway ; 
 there is no star of hope. We begin our speculations as to our 
 destiny in conjecture, and they end in uncertainty. We know, 
 not that there is a God, a heaven, or a hell, or any day of gen- 
 eral account, when the wicked and the righteous shall be judged. 
 
 The Bible has shed a glorious light upon our world. It shows 
 us that in a coming day we must answer for the deeds done in 
 the body. It has opened up to us a new and living way, so plain- 
 ly marked that no one can mistake it. The price paid for our 
 redemption shows the value of our immortal souls. 
 
 The Bible has given us a sublime and pure morality, of whicli 
 the world was a stranger. Before this, there was no fixed stand- 
 ard of morals. Certain rules were observed among some nations, 
 which, to some extent, restrained the selfishness of human na- 
 ture ; but they rested upon imaginary foundations, and they tol- 
 erated acts inconsistent with a pure morality. Self-destruction 
 was not only an admitted principle in that code, but it received 
 public commendation. And tliere were other acts allowed, if not 
 equally false and destructive, were repugnant to the advancement 
 of the social condition. 
 
 No system out of the Bible recognizes an omniscient pov^^er 
 which scrutinizes the actions of men, and, looking behind the act, 
 takes cognizance of the motive. This was a new principle to the 
 world; and it is the one by which we shall be judged. 
 
 The laws which belong to the social relation are found in the 
 Bible. The duties of husband and wife, parent and child, and all 
 other connexions which necessarily belong to a refined civiliza- 
 tion, are prescribed in the Scriptures. We are commanded to 
 love our neighbour, and in all things " to do unto others as we 
 should wish them to do unto us." If these rules were faithfully 
 observed by individuals and communities, the highest degree of 
 earthly happiness would be attained. , 
 
52 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 For our unparalleled advance in civilization and physical pros- 
 perity, our country is mainly indebted to the Bible. Our free in- 
 stitutions are the fruits of religious persecution. With the Bible 
 in their hands, and the love of Grod in their hearts, the Pilgrims 
 sought a resting-place on this continent. And in the process of 
 time, under the same principles and motives, they resolved to be 
 free and independent. Having that wisdom which comes of ex- 
 perience, they formed a government to secure and perpetuate the 
 great principles of civil and religious liberty. 
 . How is this government to be transmitted in its purity and 
 vigour to those who shall come after us ? This can only be done 
 by the use of the same means through which it was established 
 We must not be forgetful of the G-od of our fathers. We must 
 respect and obey his laws. The morality of the Bible must con- 
 tinue to be the basis of our government. There is no other foun- 
 dation for free institutions. I say this emphatically, and from the 
 deepest conviction of its truth. This morality is an element of 
 which the free governments of the Old World had no knowledge. 
 It is the ground, and the only ground, on which my hope of this 
 government rests. And I tremble when I see a departure from 
 this highway of liberty. Recently as our government has been 
 established, there have already been many departures from this 
 vital principle. 
 
 Let any one who doubts this compare the action of the govern- 
 ment of this day w^ith that of its earlier date. Are our politicians 
 now as pure, and elevated, and patriotic as politicians then were ? 
 Ai'e they as well qualified to discharge high and important pub- 
 lic duties as our leading men were of the past generation ? Has 
 not a low and selfish policy been substituted for the interests of 
 the country ? Is not the power of the state wielded by a few, by 
 party machinery ? What can be more corrupting than such a 
 state of things ? It has been fatal to all free governments which 
 have heretofore existed, and, unless checked, will be fatal to ours. 
 
 The great moral principle of action applies equally to private 
 and public life, to individuals, communities, and nations. And 
 this rule cannot be violated without incurring guilt. We should 
 not forget that there is a Judge of nations as well as of individ- 
 uals, and, although He may bear long, his judgment will come. 
 
 How beautiful is our government in theory, and how potent for 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 53 
 
 good would it be if administered in all things according to its 
 spirit. It would soon embody a moral power which would shake 
 the thrones of tyranny throughout the civilized world. Here lies 
 our strength— our power to break the bonds of despotism. But, 
 alas! alas! a strange voice is heard in the land. It is a voice 
 miscalled progress. A voice in defiance of the admonitions of 
 Washington, and of all the fathers of the republic. A voice of 
 war and bloodshed. War uncalled for by any redress of injuries, 
 or by the national honour, but to subvert and overturn the govern- 
 ments of neighbouring countries in defiance of our settled and 
 avowed policy, and in contempt of our own laws. Are not the 
 words of our Saviour true, " For all they that take the sword 
 shall perish with the sword?" These words have never yet been 
 falsified, and never will be. When this policy shall be adopted, 
 it will be the beginning of the end of our glorious government. 
 With the greatest respect, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 John McLean. 
 
 HOK SIMON" GREEN'LEAF, late Law Professor in Cambridge University, 
 
 Mass. 
 
 Cambridge, November 6th, 1852. 
 
 GrENTLEMEN : — I havc received the communication of your Sec- 
 retary, of October 20, containing the highly gratifying intelligence 
 that an increased effort is about to be made for the more general 
 distribution of the Holy Scriptures. I cannot refrain from ex- 
 pressing the thankfulness I feel for this intelligence. AVhatever 
 is done in this direction is done for the happiness and the best in- 
 terest of our country. The experience of all ages has taught us 
 that republican institutions can have no permanent basis but in 
 the moral virtue of the people. Intelligence alone has proved in- 
 sufficient for this purpose. " Intellect without principle" is the 
 attribute of the worst of beings. Despotism may exist independ- 
 ent of morality ; but republics soon perish when the people be- 
 come corrupt. The efforts of Christian patriots, therefore, must 
 be directed to elevate and sustain the moral character of our 
 citizens ; and no method is so efficient to this end as to imbue 
 them with the knowledge and wisdom of the Bible. Of its Di- 
 vine character, I think no man who deals honestly with his own 
 
54 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 mind and heart can entertain a reasonable doubt. For myself, I 
 must say, that having for many years made the evidences of 
 Christianity the subject of close and patient study, the result has 
 been a firm and increasing conviction of the authenticity and 
 plenary inspiration of the Bible. It is indeed the Word of G-od. 
 It opens up to our view the only true source of moral obligation, 
 or of public and private duty, and enforces these with the only 
 sanctions that can affect the mind, and reach the conscience of 
 man; namely, the omniscience, and goodness, and mercy of Grod, 
 and the certain retributions of the life to come. Without these 
 sanctions, the laws are no longer observed ; oaths lose their hold on 
 the conscience; promises are violated; frauds are multiplied, and 
 moral obligation is dissolved. And these securities natural reli- 
 gion does not furnish : they are found in the Bible alone. In sub- 
 limity of thought, in grandeur of conception, in purity and eleva- 
 tion of moral principle, in the practical wisdom of its teachings, 
 and the universality and perpetuity of their application, and, 
 above all, in the high and important character of its themes, the 
 Holy Bible is not even approached by any human composition. 
 It is only this tliat can make men wise unto salvation. 
 
 Our republican institutions have been the admiration of in- 
 telligent men of all nations, both for the profound wisdom exhib- 
 ited in their construction, and for the success with which they 
 have been administered. But it should never be forgotten, that 
 these foundations were laid by men trained with the Bible in 
 their hands as their household book, and the book of their com- 
 mon schools, and early taught to hold its precepts in deep rever- 
 ence as the rule of their conduct in after life. This made them 
 what they were, and led our nation to its present height of pros- 
 perity and renown. I am deeply convinced, that the continuance 
 of these blessings and the happiness of the whole people will de- 
 pend mainly on the degree in which the Holy Scriptures are fa- 
 miliarly studied and known, and held in reverence by each mem- 
 ber of the community. The distribution, therefore, of the Bible, 
 and its introduction into all the schools, belongs to the highest 
 class of patriotic duties. While others are administering the 
 constitution and the laws, your labours supply the vital element 
 of them both ; and in the consciousness of this you doubtless find 
 one of the highest incentives to perseverance in the glorious work. 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 55 
 
 Trusting that this free expression of my views of this subject 
 may find its apology in the wish of the Secretary that I would so 
 express them, permit me to remain, 
 
 "With the highest respect, gentlemen, 
 
 Your faithful servant, 
 
 Simon Gtreenleaf. 
 
 HOX. WM. H. SEWARD, of the United States Senate. 
 
 "AUBURX, November 4th, 1852. 
 
 "What is that which has enabled the Scriptures of the Jews to 
 supplant all other writings of antiquity, and to maintain an au- 
 thority and veneration unapproachable by even modern learning? 
 It is the fact that they describe the Creator and man more ac- 
 curately according to the standard of enlightened reason, and de- 
 fine the relations between them more justly according to the 
 suggestions of the human heart. I am asked, what is my opinion 
 of the influence of the Holy Scriptures on human society? I 
 answer, that I do not believe human society, including not merely 
 a few persons in any state, but whole masses of men, ever has 
 attained, or ever can attain, a high state of intelligence, virtue, 
 security, liberty, or happiness, without them ; and that the whole 
 hope of human progress is suspended on the ever-growing influ- 
 ence of the Bible." 
 
 The writer of the above, when G-overnor of the State of New 
 York, in 1S39, being present at the anniversary of the Ameri- 
 can Bible Society, made then, in a brief address, the following 
 statement, which is in harmony with the sentiments now ad- 
 vanced : 
 
 " He would offer to the assembly but one suggestion : the 
 Constitution of the United States established a republican form of 
 government for the free people of this Union ; and it had ordained 
 that once in every ten years the number of souls under the pro- 
 tection of that Constitution, and in the enjoyment of the freedom 
 which it secured, should be ascertained, in order that their polit- 
 ical rights should be secured, and that each portion of the country 
 should enjoy its just and proper proportion of power. He knew 
 not how long a republican form of government could flourish 
 among a people who had not the Bible : the experiment had never 
 been tried; but this he did know, that the existing government 
 
o6 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 of this country never could have had an existence but for the Bi- 
 ble. And further : he did in his conscience believe, that if at 
 every decade of years a copy of the Bible should be found in 
 every family of the land, its republican institutions would be per- 
 petual." 
 
 HOK DAYID SWAIN, formerly Goyerxor of North Carolina, now President 
 OF THE State University. 
 
 I was incited by pious parents to the frequent perusal of the 
 Holy Scriptures in my childhood. The foundation of a habit laid 
 so early by such hands has been strengthened by the lapse of 
 time. Some years since, influenced by the suggestion of the 
 younger Adams to his son, I determined to read the Sacred Vol- 
 ume through once a year, by assigning five chapters as the ordi- 
 nary and appropriate duty of each day. In the regular prosecu- 
 tion of this diurnal course, my attention is at present directed to 
 the G-ospels, and I find my interest in them increased, and my 
 knowledge systematized, by the use of G-reenleaf s and Lord's 
 Harmonies, the most recent works of this character which have 
 fallen into my hands. 
 
 During the seventeen years that I have been connected with 
 the University of North Carolina, it has been a part of my routine 
 of duty to hear a recitation of the senior class every Sabbath day 
 throughout the scholastic year. I have uniformly availed myself 
 of this opportunity to direct the attention of the class, sometimes 
 by systematic instruction in the text, and always by frequent 
 references, to the Holy Scriptures. For the encouragement of 
 those engaged in like pursuits, and as an inducement to others to 
 enter upon this branch of instruction, I state as the result of ex- 
 perience thus derived, that there is no portion of my duties the 
 discharge of which has been more pleasant to me, or, in my 
 opinion, so profitable to the classes. I have indeed been agreeably 
 surprised in many instances, not merely by the punctuality of 
 attendance, but the cheerfulness and earnestness with which 
 young men have entered into these recitations who had little pre- 
 vious familiarity with such subjects. 
 
 Similar results will, I am satisfied, follow faithful instruction 
 every where. If a skeptic even were to engage sincerely in the 
 performance of such a duty, the declaration of our Saviour, that 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 57 
 
 " if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine," 
 might find a practical exemplification. 
 
 If the Scriptures are true, they are a revelation, and the only 
 revelation, from the most high God upon the most important 
 subject that can engage the attention of man. They are there- 
 fore not merely of great, but of inconceivable interest and im- 
 portance. But supposing them to be false, have they no claims 
 to the consideration of the scholar and the philosopher ? 
 
 The antiquary will turn with no ordinary curiosity to the ear- 
 liest complete volume that remains to us of ancient manuscript, 
 and the first that issued from the press after the invention of 
 printing. The historian, if he regards it of no higher authority 
 than Herodotus, will prize it as the precursor of that author, and 
 the foundation of his department. The statesman will trace the 
 outlines of the earliest legislation and jurisprudence known to his- 
 tory, and the most perfect moral code of any age or country. 
 The lawyer, in the details of the professional pursuits which en- 
 gage his attention through life, will meet with many pertinent 
 examples and instructions : " And Abram said to the King of 
 Sodom, I have lifted up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high 
 God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from 
 a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing 
 that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich." 
 Swearing " with the uplifted hand," as practised by Abram 
 thirty-seven centuries ago, is recognized by the earliest enact- 
 ment on our statute book subsequent to the adoption of our 
 State Constitution, as the proper mode to be observed by those 
 who have scruples about taking a book oath. The model of 
 a feoffment in the purchase of the field of Ephron, "the field, 
 and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in 
 the field, that were in all the borders round about," will not 
 escape the attention of the lawyer ; and the political economist 
 will observe in the recital of the consideration the earliest in- 
 stance recorded in history of the use of the precious metals as a 
 medium of exchange: "And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; 
 and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named 
 in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of sil- 
 ver, current money with the merchant." These references are 
 confined to the first book of the Old Testament, a book which, in 
 
58 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 the compass of fifty chapters, comprised in an equal number of 
 ordinary octavo pages, contains all that is known of the world be- 
 fore the Flood ; of the history of the human race during nearly as 
 many centuries as have elapsed since the advent of our Saviour. 
 
 If the history of the miracles which are relied upon as estab- 
 lishing the authenticity of Revelation is to be regarded as a cun- 
 ningly devised fable, no higher or more interesting exercise for 
 logical acumen and metaphysical research can be proposed to the 
 mental philosopher, than to detect and expose the subtle fallacy 
 which deluded the minds of Bacon and Newton, and Milton and 
 Locke, and continues to the present time to exert a controlling 
 influence over the minds and hearts of many estimable and 
 amiable men. 
 
 COMMODORE SKmNER, United States I^ayy. 
 
 Washington, October 30th, 1852. 
 
 I am asked my sentiments as to the value of the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures, and their bearing on civil and social life. It affords me 
 heartfelt pleasure to bear my feeble testimony to their blessed 
 influence on communities and individuals by whom they are re- 
 ceived and embraced as a revelation by G-od to man, of himself, 
 his attributes, and his will; teaching man his duty to his Creator 
 and to his fellow-men; admonishing him of his weakness and 
 helplessness ; pointing out the only source from which he can de- 
 rive help, and graciously promising to bestow it on all who call 
 upon him in truth. They also teach, that to derive all the benefit 
 which Grod designed to bestow in revealing himself to his fallen 
 creatures, man, on his part, must strive to do God's will. Let 
 man do this, and he will know Avhether the Bible is the "Word of 
 G-od or a cunningly devised fable. Men of any experience and 
 observation must have seen those who have been reclaimed from 
 a profane and immoral course of conduct, to sobriety, truth, piety, 
 and happiness, by studying and obeying the Sacred Oracles of 
 eternal truth. Nor do I believe there can be any solid happiness 
 in this world, or the world to come, unless derived from that holy 
 religion contained in the Sacred Volume. Observation shows us, 
 that men in the enjoyment of health may smother conscience, 
 and sneer at relis^ion in fancied securitv ; but when the hour of 
 death arrives, the honest hour, the world receding, and all the 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 59 
 
 props on whicli he leaned for support are falling round him, how 
 changed is the scene then; how bitterly he laments that he 
 neglected to call on God when he was near, and did not seek 
 him while he was to be found. We have all seen such thinofs ; 
 and yet how many are pursuing the same course, deterred by 
 the jeers of the ungodly from closing with the offers of salvation 
 contained in the Bible. Let all such remember that the hour of 
 death will come ; and that an everlasting separation will take 
 place between those who served God, and those who served him 
 not. 
 
 It behooves all the friends of religion, at this particular juncture, 
 while infidelity is stalking through the land, to do all in their 
 power, with the help of God, to stay the destructive influences of 
 a moral poison that threatens to destroy all that is dear to us as 
 Christians and as men. 
 
 I am, respectfully, 
 
 Charles AY. Skinner. 
 
 COLONEL LOOMIS, United States Army. 
 
 Fort Belknap, Texas, December 11, 1&'52. 
 
 Gentlemen : — My opinion of the Sacred Volume is, that it is 
 to a nation, as the keystone to the arch. No nation can long ex- 
 ist in peace that does not respect it. It carries peace and happi- 
 ness into every society where its precepts are loved, and its com- 
 mands obeyed. To the young its value and importance are be- 
 yond compare. From my own experience, I believe, that if the 
 young will take it as their guide — make it the "man of their 
 counsel," it will lead them in ways of wisdom, and guide them 
 into paths of peace ; and that all who obey its precepts in their 
 journey through life will be respectful and obedient children, 
 good and respected fathers and mothers, and good and honoured 
 members of society. All will find it in this life a never-failing 
 source of comfort and consolation ; and it will lead them in sure 
 paths to mansions of bliss, in the enjoyment of his smiles and 
 his presence, who is the way, and the truth, and the life. 
 
 May the American Bible Society be an honoured instrument to 
 disseminate the Sacred Volume, so that it may be found in every 
 part and in every family, and with every individual of our land, 
 shedding its benign influence upon every heart, and extending 
 
60 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 to all lands, until the whole earth shall be filled with the knowl- 
 edge and glory of God our Saviour. " To Him be glory, both 
 now and for ever. Amen." 
 
 Very truly yours, in the best of bonds, 
 
 S. LooMis. 
 
 HOK JOSEPH HENRY LUMPKIN, Chief Justice of Georgia. 
 
 Athens, Novembei 4th, IS52. 
 
 Gentlemen: — You ask my opinion "as to the value of the 
 Bible, particularly in its bearings on civil and social life." 
 
 Would that 1 could speak of this olde&t and best of books as it 
 deserves ! As the king among his subjects, as the sun among 
 the stars, so is the Bible compared with every other book. 
 "Would that I could induce others to prize as it deserves, a vol- 
 ume which is not only profitable for the life that now is, but 
 which, to borrow its own forcible language, makes man "wise 
 unto salvation." "What other book possesses the same unrivalled 
 claims to attention ? To what other source shall we go to learn 
 the origin and destiny of our race ; its history before the flood, 
 and for many centuries after; the fact of the deluge, and the 
 physical phenomena which it has impressed upon our globe ; the 
 multiplicity of tongues, and innumerable other important matters, 
 which are satisfactorily accounted for nowhere else ? 
 
 Most cheerfully, as a man and a magistrate, while life and 
 breath endure, and until my voice is hushed, and my pen para- 
 lyzed in death, will I bear my humble testimony " to the value of 
 the Bible." Had I the wealth of the world, and there was but 
 one copy of the Scriptures extant, and that was hid away in the 
 uttermost parts of the earth, I would gladly dispose of all my 
 treasure, and traverse sea and land to possess myself of this 
 pearl of great price. 
 
 It is to this Blessed Volume that we are indebted for the gen- 
 eral temperance, industry, and contentment of the teeming mil- 
 lions of this happy and highly favoured country ; for the churches, 
 hospitals, and asylums, and countless benevolent institutions 
 which adorn every city, town, and village, and rural landscape 
 in this glorious confederacy. For it, our fathers — ever blessed be 
 their memory — forsook the land of their nativity, and fled to this 
 western wilderness. They made it the man of their counsel 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 61 
 
 while living, built upon it as the foundation of all their social and 
 civil freedom, and bequeathed it as a rich legacy to their posterity 
 
 Thank God for having, in his great mercy, organized this as a 
 Christian nation. The Bible is necessary to man. It is the sum, 
 and sun, and soul of his felicity. Tell me not of the physical 
 improvements, the intellectual attainments of this wonderful 
 age. Conscience must be convinced, enlightened, quickened ; 
 the lightning of the passions bridled and restrained ; and the Bible 
 is the only book which has arrayed vividly before the mind the 
 retributions of eternity, which has brought life and immortality 
 to light. 
 
 Banish the Bible from the land, or, what is the same thing, 
 succeed in loosing its hold on the public mind, and my word 
 for it, the experiment of self-government will prove a failure. 
 The reign of fear and force, which characterizes the despotisms 
 of the Old World, will be reared upon the ruins of our fair Repub- 
 lic. There can be no stability 'u^ government, where infidelity 
 predominates. If a people sow to the wind, they can reap noth- 
 ing but the whirlwind. Let the day come when our rulers and 
 people shall cease to reverence the Bible and its ordinances, and 
 the press shall lend its influence to sap the foundations of the re- 
 ligion of the Bible, and Ichabod will be inscribed on tlie proud 
 dome of our Capitol. For truly our greatness and glory will 
 have departed. Ignore Christianity, and what security will be 
 left for life, liberty, or property? We boast of our written con- 
 stitutions ; and well we may : they constitute the eighth wonder of 
 the world. They are the imperishable monuments of the justice, 
 wisdom, and moderation of our sages and sires. But strike from 
 beneath them the props on which they rest — the retributions of 
 the Bible, the Christian's heaven, and the Christian's hell — and 
 freedom of conscience, and of debate, and of the press, with every 
 other rampart of our liberty, will totter and tumble to the ground ; 
 and in their stead will be substituted the torture, and tyrarmy, and 
 all the other insignia of barbarism, which disgrace the darker ages. 
 
 Socrates and Seneca taught the people to be honest and just, 
 virtuous and benevolent ; yet, contemplate the morality of pagan 
 Greece and Rome, as delineated by the pencil of inspiratiooj. 
 Full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, proud, boastful, 
 disobedient to parents, covenant-breakers, without natural affec- 
 
62 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen 
 
 tion, implacable, unmerciful. AYhat a practical commentary 
 upon the wisdom of this world! Human systems are utterly 
 powerless to reform the life, awaken and purify the conscience, 
 and impart vitality, power, and constancy to principle. G-ive 
 me the Bible, which, while it dispels the darkness of the mind, 
 warms and softens the moral winter of the heart ; which sees G-od 
 and his providence, and his manifold wisdom, above, beneath, 
 within, and around ; which teaches the doctrine of man's fall and 
 depravity, and reveals the plan of his recovery ; which opens up 
 a way through the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, to a 
 Paradise for the posterity of the firsts where the serpent shall no 
 more deceive, and where the forbidden fruit shall never enchant. 
 Look to modern Europe, and what a spectacle does it exhibit! 
 Revolution following revolution, like the successive waves of the 
 sea, and all ending in fastening the fetters of arbitrary power 
 firmer than ever upon the down- trodden people. Kossuth and 
 his coadjutors may preach u^ crusade, like another Peter the 
 Hermit, against the despots of the Old World— popular govern- 
 ment can never be permanently maintained on the Continent, 
 until the Bible becomes a household book in every family. 
 
 Let the patriot and the philanthropist unite, then, in scatter- 
 ing the Bible broadcast throughout this and every other land, 
 breathing, as it does, peace on earth, and good will to man : 
 teach the people to submit cheerfully to the government of their 
 choice ; instructing rulers, that they are to be ministers for good ; 
 reasoning before the judge upon the bench, of righteousness, 
 temperance, and judgment to come ; saying authoritatively to 
 masters, be just to your servants, knowing that you have a Mas- 
 ter in heaven; and to servants, obey your masters in the flesh. 
 Let this be done, and soon this sin-disordered habitation of ours 
 will be renovated, and converted into a scene of surpassing beauty 
 and loveliness. Again it will stand out before the ravished eyes 
 of the spectator, as it did at first, when 
 
 " Awaking nature heard 
 The new-creating Avord, and started to life. 
 In every heightened form 
 This finished fabric rose." 
 
 Please accept the assurance of the high respect, with which 
 
 I am, gentlemen, yours truly, 
 
 Jos. Henry Lumpkin. 
 
To THE Value of the Scriptures. 63 
 
 PROFESSOR SILLIMAN, Senior. 
 
 New Haven, December 10, 1S53. 
 
 Dear Sir : — In compliance with your request, I am ready to 
 give my opinion as to the '' influence of the Bible on civil and 
 social life, and as to its harmony with geology." 
 
 It is the grand charter of man's political and civil equality, 
 liberty, and order. It is the guardian and the only adequate pro- 
 tector of his social happiness. 
 
 Should the human race ever come fully under its influence, 
 both national wars and personal dissensions would cease, and this 
 world would become a terrestrial paradise. 
 
 The relation of geology as well as astronomy to the Bible, ivhen 
 both are well understood^ is that of perfect harmony. The Bible 
 no where limits the age of our globe, while its chronology assigns 
 a recent origin to the human race ; and geology not only confirms 
 the truth of the history of man, but it affords decisive evidence 
 that the Genesis presents a true statement of the progress of the 
 terrestrial arrangements, and of this introduction of living beings 
 in the order in w^hich their fossil remains are found entombed in 
 the strata. The Word and the works of God cannot be in conflict, 
 and the more they are studied, the more perfect will their har- 
 mony appear. I remain, dear sir. 
 
 Very respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 B. SiLLiMAN, Senior. 
 
 EX-CHANCELLOR WALWORTH. 
 
 Saratoga Springs, December IT, 1853. 
 
 To those who have carefully observed or considered the prog- 
 ress of civil and religious freedom, at diflerent times and in va- 
 rious countries, it can hardly be necessary to say, it has always 
 been the most rapid, as well as the most healthy, where the 
 Bible was most widely disseminated ; and where the sacred 
 truths contained therein were brought home to the greatest num- 
 bers of the people. Indeed, there is no nation, although nominally 
 civilized and Christianized, which has made any very great ad- 
 vancement in the amelioration and. improvement of the social 
 condition of the masses, except those nations where the Sacred 
 Scriptures were in the hands of, and studied by the people gen- 
 erally. For it is in the Bible alone that man is fully instructed 
 
64 Testimony of Distinguished Laymen, &c. 
 
 in all the great duties he owes to his fellow-men, as well as in 
 those duties that he owes to himself and to his Creator. 
 
 In the Bible, man is instructed in that general civilization, 
 which consists in subduing and controlling his passions, cultiva- 
 ting the social virtues, and in regarding the rights of others as 
 commensurate with his own. No where else does he find that 
 great precept of true Christian charity and benevolence, to do 
 unto others as he would wish them to do unto him in like cir- 
 cumstances, urged upon his attention as a binding duty. To 
 the mind of a mere worldly moralist, indeed, this duty may have 
 suggested itself, but as one of imperfect obligation. In the Bible 
 alone, however, do we learn, that the practice of benevolence, 
 and the love of our fellow-men, are perfect and indispensable 
 Christian duties. Here we are enjoined "• to do justly and to 
 love mercy." 
 
 The statesman, the scholar, and even the politician, as well as 
 the philanthropist and the Christian, by a careful and diligent 
 study of the Scriptures, will find himself a much wiser, if not a 
 much better man, and will also be able to discharge his social 
 and political duties, or to pursue the rugged paths of Science, with 
 more credit to himself, and more benefit to his country and his 
 kind, than if he had confined his investigations to mere worldly 
 wisdom. In the language of another, I may say, " what a bless- 
 ing it is to beings of such limited capacities as ours confessedly 
 are, to have G-od himself for our instructor in every thing which 
 it much concerns us to know." And we cannot be sufficiently 
 thankful to him for having revealed his existence to us, and dis- 
 closed to us something of his attributes ; especially that attribute 
 of mercy which sent our Divine Redeemer upon his mission of 
 love to the apostate race of man. 
 
 I hope and trust, therefore, that this Holy Book, which exceeds 
 all others " in the weight of its authority, and the extent of its 
 utility ;" which has successfully withstood the blasphemous sar- 
 casms of a Paine, and the more refined wit of a Yoltaire, as well 
 as the attacks of a host of others, many of whom, probably, have 
 seldom examined its sacred pages, will soon be found and studied in 
 all the cottages of the poor, as well as in the habitations of the more 
 wealthy, not only in our own country, but throughout the world. 
 
 R. H. Walworth. 
 
PAM PHLET BINOER 
 
 :^i: Syracuse, N. Y. 
 Stockton, Calif. 
 
m. yif- 
 
 Testimony of distinguished laymen to the ! 
 
 Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library i 
 
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