,ti Williams, on the Sinfulness, Surreptitiousness, and Inexpe- diency of the Union formed with Socinians, in the British and Foreign Bible Society, 8vo. 6s. 6d. bds. 1827 7? s:^ 5:i o^ i^ .^^ i:^. "^2- OF THE AT PRINCETON, N. J. x> o IV _-v T I o :v c»^~ SAMUEL AONE^V, OF PHILADELPHIA, PA. 'UZ. q4^o. /?1/rr-rz/§^« ^B.ScF.Bible Soc;.ty to ^^^^^^^^ZlZtl, the means of Enemies »f,*''«'>™i";> ,,° . in foreign tongues, and of mistranslatmg *«.S"'P'f „,. stianity. Had your Lord- neutratiringthe <=«'"=f "^ £^"eihe pLes I deposited for ship thought >' P;;P;^„*°3P "^^rtZ iquare, seTen years that pa>^P»!«.'^*5'°"'l„Se of my PamplUet, and to liear ago, co»t-'"'»|j;„''Cnrit 4'«' hav^ greatly abridged my P'»P»''=<'/''P^*f:n Sterably convinced, that nothmg my labors. I am ^'^\ ""^j'^^'e ^^fulness, surreptitiousness can effect my purpose until the Sim , .^ ^^^ and ««er f fusion • where those Clergymen and Dis- under parok discussion , wne ^^^ ^^ _ senting Ministers whose ™«"'°YJ'^iioPed to speak their feet accordance with 'fy'>'"";ZZZ^,^l''^ without fears minds without clamorous merrupt on ^ therefore I llIShttofefrrdftoCuMi^^^^ ™S ptel which.l beg y- Lord^ip to condescem, 1.0 peruse, in connection lierewUh, ha e how ^ _ derable circulation amm,gU>eUer 7 ,_^^ ^^^^ ablelnhabitants of !>!^,f ^™Se"and honorable Members been favorably «f ««^^^JJ^Uy To.ne of the Judges-by ofbothHousesot Paiha,^^ ,^^^ ^,^^^ Dignitar.es ^Hhf Sri -"o/rof ^^^i^^::^ ::i t^ r;;;eTSt„reSt"^^^^^ ; ana .0, one of them has pointed out to me a line, of which he disapproves; although some of them are Members of the Society, and have had the book many months in possession. The difficult task of brinojing these subjects under proper discussion, I have elsewhere resembled to a tedious naval chase, and running engagement. So great is the public apathy, as to the danger of mistranslation, &c. that the majo- rity of the community are totally unconcerned. Those persons who have introduced the change which I have proved to have taken place in the Society's system, or con- nived at its introduction, studiously avoid being engaged in the conflict ; because they foresee their defeat, in parole debate ; there they cannot evade a question, as they contrive to do, in their delusive paper-replies to others. And loudly as they have told me, " The Press is open, — employ that;" and freely as I have, long since, sub- mitted all my pages for their inspection, not one of them, 1 believe, has ever attempted to refute me. They would not suffer my voice to be heard, although I requested, at first, but an audience as private as they pleased to appoint. They have even refrained (as one of the Society's own Dignitaries observed) from introducing my name in their speeches and pages : lest the public should have the curiosity to know, what I have to plead in reply. On the other hand ; a great many of those persons who ■warmly opposed the Society on othei' gronnds; or have charged all its original promoters with the guilt of those who altered its system, feel the reverse of a regard /or the vindication of its original character : these and their friends are willing that the Public should suppose this pernicious alliance to have been contemplated from the first, by all the Society's Founders : without rcfiecting on the * conces- sion to the Plea of Unitarians' the supposition supplies. And the heterodox allies themselves keep Silence, of course. But, the unbiassed lovers of Truth perceive, that if the Alliance were neither sinful nor surreptitious, its Apologists would not so strenuously resist enquiry — that as its surreptitiousness, if proved, nuist render its cha- racter doubtful ; both questions should be seriously consi- dered; — and that neither can be decided without the discus- sion I have proposed and sought. And the serious atten- tion of such I wish to engage. fear. But uX li.t;ve,?fj„^"'' T' 'r^ f ""'« «> Bible Alerchants n S „f fi 9«°>Pany of Socinian- boast of tlie nief'v nf? "'i P'"'"* P^^P'^' and stiJl Committee is op^ to p rso^^f /' "'■ P"?"'" ^"^ «■' choose to qualSy at atiZt ^P'''"'='P'''^'*''"'™ay the Right Hon wfRpv/'Pff' ""'"tlistanding said, that it was "so co.fsti' ,tid a, t'n"'^*"" ^'"^'' "^ich majority of votes on the fSl f .? ^ '**™''<' constantly a and its " ReceTptrfor Bo^k, " » *.' ^^*'»''"^'>ed Chnrch :" of "Free Conutnt^Pl^^H IZetZ^''"' ^■"" sequences however remote Bn? ^f ^««aries to such con- himself out" of breast' the eTvte' "^T "^^ '^ T "^^^- nessed Mr. Irving's writhin^s at X P '^ who wit- last meeting-, under the crlf?.^"'^f^"^^^^^rn though he, coWssedvatternty^f^^^ ^^^ with of his mind, agains Ve 2. *^?^^^^^^^ but a measure ceive it no enviable office ToT^r^Z^Tr''''' '^"^ ^°"- to « throw himself into ?h; nS^of tH '"''T^ «^ ^^^^^ *' and intreat, and aro,ie nni f ^ ^''''^'"^^* assembly, -ust,^e himself r^sL";ifi^cf;"TrtrSt1^ t "^- r submitted the use I made of MV r ' '' n^"^'^ '^^^• to the perusal of those who ma^ stmC ^^'T'^'f'" "leaning, i„ the extracts inserted and t'-"'^"" firmed my previous rnnv.Vt,- Tu ', " *"^ result con- he saw, was tS iZod ; a^^";J^ " fe^..^a6/. state'' and increased witMhe^Sode 1^^'"^ -^^"'^ ^"^""^^"^^d jng popularity. Thot: ^"^^ 'CeT.l S ^(^^T^^^*' SL-i:!j:pSs:;tS;^iii^^ -e the spurLs, ^on/^riil^l^l^c^^^^ tion of 36 laymen, ''f';>»^^^„'^^,^'^ "jtl Established and plain of the presence ot '«' '^'^'j^. ° frequency, which ren- other Churches; '»f/»"f,,^'f J udrSi»/» " In short, ders it very panrtato attend at heir m^^^^.»^_„ since he «nt«^;. „ ^ ''^ " Let and shrink within hunscin by the Rev. Mr. Webster ato^^^^ Memberof the Comnuttee that bem^^^a^^^^ .y additional neither make nor .^f^t^^^^^^T to depreciate the living signs ot'the Society spr^^^^^ ^^^ , Ministry; and ^o pei-secuie settling the Minister ^f^^Z'lt'l^^G^^^^^^ I attempted to question ot right ^^ tne^ ^'''u^^e that question decided, make known my er conflict. On these accounts, he conflned the aimof his former efforts, as it were to their ves^stl's rigging; — hft "Said ni;iny (bins;;:, \iliii!i IMan^^ ini^hl Lli:«putf, And r.ivii at with rapp, hut Fe^v refiite:" witU IV. tbe design of inducing the discussion of the subjects in quertion^ and !nit little of his acquaintance with the Society's Formatioa r-nv.ciples &c. until he should cprae into closer quarters. And that hciuii^ht, if possible, obtain a good opportunity, he respectfully submitted to the serious consideration of the Society's revered Pre- sident, and about thirty Committee members, on the 3rd uh. a we;«orea/ containing these propositions: — First. — That they had widely departed, from that line of conduct, which the Society's law* prescribed; and had conducted its concerns, on principles which are contrary to its stipulations with the Christian Public ; and art totally different, from those on which they were conducted, during the first years of its existence : — and, Secondly. — That the system they have substituted, is incontistent'with the interests, or success of true religion, at home and abroad." These he was also prepared to demonstrate, having an abridgment of his manuscript in readiness to proceed, had they intimated a willingness to hear his explanations. But as they said, before the meeting broke up, that they did not wish for any; it appeared to him, that some of them were welJ aware, that arguments derived from personal k nowledge of facts, as his might be, were not to be easily turned ; although there were very few present, who would have voted in his favour. Hence, con- sidering his first proprisition as tacitly admitted to be incontroverti- ble, he proceeded to the press, and finding that the Foreign Secretary was either going, or gone abroad, he abridged his epistles to him; and finished iiis proofs, of the truth of both, in a prolonged preface^ The author's views of the Apocryphal controversy, resembles those which he has already exhibited of others, in which the Society's advocatt^s and opponents have been engaged. Truth lies between the extremes, to which the combatants have gone, in regard lo the conduct of the Reformers, in placing the Apocrypha in its present jtixta position. While Dr. Steiukopff errs, by absurdly and sin- fully inferring from their practice, eiicourageuient fjr iisroniinu- ance,as if they had interposed it from moUv&soirevere.yice : Mr. Hal- daneis wrong, in saying of their prht;" although he is perfectly right in opposing the present Apocryphal circulation, as he does. Being grieved, therefore, to see, on the one hand, the cutitious example oi ihose "bold men who were possessed of holy courage" dreadfully abused by superstition, and as he fears, still worse by deadly hatred against the truth; through its need- less imitation; and on the other, the reverence due to their blessed memory thus diminished through insufficient attention to the circum- stances in which they stood, he will here beg leave to say, with Elihu, "Hearken to me: I will also shew mine opinion. I will not dishonor the spirits of those just men made perfect, by otTering offensive apologies for their conduct; but will either justify their'S or expose my own to just condemnation, by saying that, had I beeu placed in their situation 1 had done exactly as they did. Itserveson/y as an excuse, indeed, for the conduct of our Reformers, in paying insufficient attention to the Translation of numerous texts, which might hare exhibited lite,i-al proofs of the Divinity of Christ, to say that they had much less to do with Sociuians, than with Catholics, whose tenets are sound in that fundamental Article : but it seems to justify the conduct of the Reformers in general, to say that they were engaged, as it were, in a tedious Chancery suit with the latter; hy whom, I presume they might'expecttwo things to belaid to their charge; 1st. the guilt of mutilating the standard of faith ; aiKl2ndly. that their faith was unfriendly to good works, as the motive of that tnutilation. They purged their Bibles of the Apocrypha, and their Creed of Justification by works. But they thus interposed th« spurious Scriptures, as the rightful possessor of a disputed property would carry, in his bag, a forged Will, known to exist among his title deeds, to the Court of Chancery every hearing day; not that he intends to put it in as evidence; while he knows that its contents would imposeon himself impracticable conditions; nor yet, thathesets any valueuponit : but he lias it with him to beproauced, if appealed to by his opponents, that he may obviate infereulial arguments, dedu- cible from its absence; and may prove its counterfeit and forgery, by exposing its absurdities, and by comparing its Characters with ihoseof the autl.entic Will and Codicil; under the attested signature Tl. and seal of which, his possessions are maintained. And to justify the appointment of certain parts of the Apocrypha, to be read on week days and holidays, as lessons on morals; it is sufficient to say, Althou^-h our Reformers neyer thought those lessons worthy of be- ing compared with the morality of the Scriptures, yet, they wished to "silence theignorance of foolish men," or to shew that Protest- ants are " careful to maintain good works," by reading them," But not a syllable of this tends to justify, or to excuse those who imitate their conduct, under the influence of the infidelity and semi- popery now prevalent. The author is fully aware, that many may be quoted, who have written of the Apocrypha, in terms which ren- der it probable that the Reformers retained it, within the lids of the Bible, from motives of reverence and the like; but the motives of Calvin, Beza, and Stevens, might be easily and ignorantly misrepre- sented; as those of Newton, Cecil, Foster and others, have recently been, by Amicus, Conder and Co. Should any continental Mis- sionary find it advantageous to have the Apocrypha for similar rea- sons, among his "Parchments," in Popish provinces, he may get copies of the same, from more proper sources, than the depositories of a Society whose exclusive object is to circulate the Word of God. The author greatly regrets, that the Committee's declining to dis- cuss his propositions privately, on the 7th Inst, after a month's consideration, should impel him, under a sense of unquestionable duty, to enlarge as he has. But as Solomon says, " He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, &c," Prov. xxix. 1. their refusal confirms Ins former conviction, of the absolute need of a speedy Reformation ; just as a ship's refusal to return a friendly- salute, excites a stronger suspicion, and therefore reminds him of a tedious Naval Chase, which has recently occurred; as follows: — "The Zealous Sloop of War, descried His Majesty's Frigate,, Dkmf.has i ia mounting 36 Guns, and conveying to the different Ports of the Mediteraneaii Arms, Ammunition, and Treasure, being actually boarded by the notorious Capt. Faustus Fitz-Arius, and his piratical Party, under most trying circumstances. Her Captain and Lieutenants, and many of her biavest men, had fallen victims to an epidemical disease; and the Pirates, linding her in this sad predicament, and also knowing that she carried on board, old Commououe Mundus, to be ex- patriated, for previous ill-behaviour, in the presence of his Sovereign's enemy, re- solved on ttltempting to make her their Prize, formidable as she otherwise seemed ; Vll. aiiJ, iMtween the CommixJore's influence, and ihe remaining men's infidelity nod fear, she fell alas ! an easy Prey. The Sloop was scarcely within sight, but she made all the sail she could, under cover of an intervening Promontory : and suddenly arrived, within a tolerable distance. Yet, how to act it was difficult to determine. It was evident, that the Pirate was in complete possession, carous* ing with the old Commodore, in the Captain's cabin ; — that some of the Sailors had slipped oft" by the boat, and had made toward the Northern shore, — and that most of the midshipmen had mutinied, bein^ trepanned by the cashiered Commo- dore, whom the deceased (Jfficers had treated too politely ; so that there were none to make resistance, — the truly loyal part of the Crew that remained, were hud- dled down the hatchway. All that Lieut. Trueman, who commanded the Zealous could do therefore, was to watch the motion of the Demerastia, — shatter her sheets,-— retard her sailing,---and prevent her approaching the Southern Coast J in hopes, that the captured Crew might surprise their Captors, and call for his aid. But his fidelity to his Sovereign proved nearly fatal to himself, his '' small com- pany" became quite dissatisfied, through the severe privations they suffered with him, for thirteen tedious, successive days : while, on the contrary, the disloyal on board the Deaierastia, were revelling in abundance — dividing the treasure which they had seized— -and tempting their pursuers to partake of their spoils. And, as his very mate was ripe for mutiny, his organs of sight were seriously injured through intense, unavoidable vigilance. And while the Parties pursued, pretended to deride his opposition, he was exposed to the shafts of their fellows on shore. "The Archers'' who covered the African coast, " hated and sorely grieved him, who had thus been separated from his brethren and shot at him," with t3arbarian long- bows and poisjned arrows, behind . "But his bow abode in strength, and," (as he gratefully aclcnowledged when all was over) " the arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the .\Iighty God of Jacob." He acted according to his Motto— THE PAIH OF EUTY : THE DEFILE OF HONOR. His safety depended on his perseverance. Had he suffered his Sovereign's Treasure to be transported to .4!gier, or Tunis, his life had been forfeited under the Articles of War. And to have sent it to the bottom, had been nearly as bad. Had he wanton- ) y struck, the PtoPLL's FAVOiiiTii Frigate, between wind and water, he never had dared to look in their fiowning face, and he had suffered more severely still, under self leproach : for his most intimate friends were fast in her Hold: so that, in fact, he was forbidden to give her a Broadside, til! she stranded on the Turkish Coast.' , Not a word is ueedftil by way of explanation of the above, for those who have known but an out-line of the private efforts, which the author has madediiring- the last 13 years, both by correspondence and conversation with leading members of the Bible Society, in or- der to exclude the unjust pretensions of Socinians, to a share in its administration, both at home and abroad. But he will sub- join a Page of a Book, which fell into his handSj but the day before fee submittQil the above-mentioned Propositions to tlie Couwuittee's coasideratio'i. It's late pious and sensible author, speaking of a **Christian's duty ineventful times," after having quoted these words of Bishop Horsley, "These are they who have poisoned Watts's hymns for Children, &c. and after having expressed his disappro- bation q/ oiA*?rj professiiHg very different sentiments, uttered the following soliloquial expressions: — [^ee Cecil's Remains, p. 157.] ** The world is a lying, empty pageant, and these men are en- snared with the show. My part ia it, as a Christian, is to act with simplicity, as the servant of God. What does God bid me do ? What in this minute of time, which wiH be gone and carry me with it into Eternity — what is my path of duty? While enemies blaspheme, Widfriends are boguiledyht mestand on my watch-tower, listening what the Lord shall say to me. Ia any scheme of man I dare not be drunken. We, who are of the day must be sober. Churchman or Dissenter, if I am a true Christian, 1 shall talk thus to my connect tions. The sentiment of the multitude is ensnaring; but the multitude is generally wrong*. I must beware of the contagion. Not tliat I am. to push myself into consequence. The matter is between me and my God. Not one step out a ho!y quiet and obscurity, but in order to utiliti/. Yet we must be active and bold, whenever duty calls us to be so. My own conduct with respect to the religioux ivurld is too much formed on my feelings. I see in it what I deem a lament- able itale; but I geem to say 'AVell ! go on talking, and mistaking and makinga noise; only make not a noise here :' and then I retire into my closet, and shrink within myself. But had I more faith, simplicity, love, and self-denial, I should throw myself into the midst of them, and intreat, and argue and remonstrate. But then such a man must give himself up as a sacrifice. He would be misrepresented and calumniated from many quarters. But he would make up his account for such treatment. — How would St. Paul have acted in such a state of the Church ? Would he not have displayed that warm spirit, which made him say, '^Ofoo/ish Gala- tians / who hath bewitched you ?'^ It is not to be calculated how much a single man may effect, who throws his whole powers into a thing. There are many right-hearted ptople, who hang a long time on the side of pure, simple, silent religion, hei a man who sees things as I do, throv/ himself out with all his powers, to rescue and guide sueh persona,'" * Xote, When misled by interested parties. THE PREFACE. » ♦ " *■ TO THE CHRISTIAN READER. As the British Legislature considered it necessary to enact a law, which disqualified loyal subjects iu Holy Orders, to sit in tlie House of Commons, in. order to prevent the re-admission of the late de- mocratic Home Tooke ; whether morally speaking, there was any reason or not, why their sacred function, should render it improper for Clergymen to sit in the lower house, any more than the superior function of Bishops, should prevent their sitting in the upper : so the Founders of the Bible Society, deemed it necessary to express its Prospectus, in terms which excluded Roman Catholic Christians, in order the more effectually to preclude the claims of all Socinian sects ; whether their conduct towards the former, might be deemed justifiable, in every respect, or not. And as the chief object I have always aimed at, in calling the attention of that Society's leading members, to their grievous devi- ations ; has been the utter exclusion of Unitarian claims, my candid readers will easily perceive, how disadvantageous to my cause, this running engage-' X. mini must be ; and how little impression my hum- ble pieces can, humanly speaking, be expected to make, on the distant stern of a first rate vessel, let my aim be taken, with ever so much precision. But my cause is the Lord^s, and to him alone I look for success. Had the managing Committee con- sented to discuss the matters in question, viva vocey the debate had been very materially abridged: each party could have conceded (without jdelding any improper advantage) all that the other could evi- dently prove : as some parties concerned in Chan- cery suits, find it mutually advantageous to do: but that, I believe, never takes place, where defendants trust that they can retain unjust possession, through the inability of plaintiffs, to persevere ; as it seems here to be the case. In a friendly and serious pa- role debate, I could have asked my opponents whe- ther they considered that a^rm Z^e/zV/" of the doc- trines of the Divinity and atonement of Christ is necessary or not, for the eternal salvation of all those, who are favored with the means of knowing them ; and with sufficient capacity to un4itrstand them? And I presume that most members in the Committee room, would have answered me in the affirmative. I should then Iiave asked whether they believed it possible, for a member of the Church of Rome, where those doctrines, arealways maintained though very confusedly and unfaithfully taught to be saved without forsaking his own communion? And this, I am sure they had allowed me to affirm. Now, from these concessions, I should haye legiti- mately deduced this inference.- If Roman Catholics were considered as Antichristians and excluded by the Society's Prospectus ; because they added their traditions with the Apocryphal books, to the pro- per standard of Faith ; much greater reason there was to preclude the claims of all Unitarian sects, (who take from that standard, some of its most im- portant parts ; and wrest the Scripture's meaning in their impious translations) to any portion or partnership in the Society's concerns. And if they asserted in my presence, what their defenders declare in my absence, viz. "That the Society's founders refused no kind of contributions; excluded no descriptions of persons from partner- ship ; and objected to the circulation of no versions of Scripture, which they were requested to assist in dispersing, in the comm-unions where they were re- spectively awMomec?." I should have i-eplied. "You labor under a mistake. Gentlemen. If you search your archives for the minutes of the original Com- mittee, you will see, among other proofs of scru- pulosity, that early in the year 1805 ; the proffered profi ts of the Eclectic Review, were rejected as in- admissible ; because not tendered in a sum of mo- ney, that had no respect to the source from whence it was to be derived : although it was asserted and admitted, that the said Review, was then conducted in a measure, by some of the most respectable mem- bers, belonging to the Committee: a ground, which Xll has been, by the bj e, long since abandoned ; for the profits of books, containing Socinian quotations; such as the Crusade of the ninteenth Century, have not been objected to. And if there are no such mi- nutes preserved, I can name some living Clergymen, who were present when the subject was debated." But I rest their complete refutation, more particu- larly on the treatment which the Roman Catholics received from the same Committee. As their suc- cessors will not discard Socinian sects of their own accord, I must proceed to prove, that there existed ^t first more dogmatism and scrupulosity, than perhaps there otherwise ought to have existed ; — or I must legally exclude the former, that by reasoning a fortiori^ my end may be completely gained, in the y,per exclusion of the latter, on the same account. , No sooner was the Bible Society established, than enquiries were made about the want of Bibles, and the practicability of their dispersion, among Catho- lics and others on the Continent ; by the Foreign Secretary, whose instructions were, to offer assis- tance to those Christians, who chose to form simi- lar Institutions; and the first was formed by friends of his, at Nurenberg; who had a donation of a 100/ tobegin with ; and who issued, and widely dispersed throughout Germany, circulars, containing the sub- stance of his enquiring and encouraging communi- cations. The most important of all the conse- quences, which followed; was the spontaneous and modest application, of a pious Roman Catholic XIU. Clergyman, in Swabia ; whose name has not trans- pired. "His Letter, addressed to the Foreign Sec- retary, was read with astonishment, and greeted by the Committee, as the indication of an improved temper, in the members of that Church." It was carried to the Bishop of London, and loudly read by his command, at his table, where, as the historian observes, the scene was novel and affecting ; the Catholic Priest, and the Protestant Bishop, appeared to recognise each other, as members and function- aries of the same undivided Church. While "the Lord be with you " was uttered by the one ; the other also seemed to return the corresponding sa- lutation; "and with thy spirit." "The production of this Letter excited, as may be supposed, in the breast of the Committee, a desire to improve, what to their minds appeared a most favorable occur- rence. They accepted the challenge with thankful- ness, and resolved to place at the disposal of this zealous correspondent, a 1000 of the Protestant Testaments then printing at Nurenberg, for distri- bution, by sale or gift, among the Roman Catholics in Swabia and Bavaria ; and directed him to be as- sured, of their sincere disposition, to afford the members of his communion every degree of aid, con- tistent with the principles and means of the Institu- tion." What the historian meant by those empha- tical terms, shall be presently explained. But as he says that " this Letter was the first document which evinced on the part of the Catliolics a desire to co-> XlTi operate in (he distribution of the Scriptures," it will be proper to insert here, " such passages, as may do justice to the principles of this enlightened Priest, and those of his brethren, who participated with him,in sentiments so just and so happily expressed." It commenced as follows: — "You will not, I trust, be displeased, if an entire stranger to you, presumes to address you in a Letter. 1 had the pleasure to learn from a copy of your Letter to Nurenberg, the great number of zealous friends of the Bible in Lon- don, who are filled with a noble desire, to send out the pure word of God, as the best preacher, into the World. This excited in my breast the most heart-^ felt joy and gratitude to God, &c, and affection for you, and for the members of the venerable B. S. for whom I wish a thousand blessings. What particu- larly induced me to write, was, your question, whether the Bible was still prohibited to the Catho- lics ? Being convinced thereby, that you were mindful even of the poor Catholics, — nothing is more affecting than that love that embraces all without the least destinction ; for God is love, &c. 1 felt myself therefore constrained to thank you in the name of all honest and well disposed Catholics, for these your paternal sentiments. Properly speak- ing, the Bible has never been prohibited to the Catholics. Indiscriminata lectio interdicta est, &c. Besides, the prohibition has never been admitted as binding the whole body of R. C. Clergy in Germany, &c. Blind bigots of our ^'hurch, have always spread XT. the opinion, that it was entirelj forbidden, Stc. There are, however, at present, many of our Clergy- men, both in Svvabia and Bavaria, who strongly re- commend the reading of the Bible, &c. I have dis- tributed many Testaments and some Bibles, and several of my dear brethren in Christ do the same. Should an Institution be established among us up- on your plan, I am sure we could dispose of a good number of Bibles, &c ; the people get more and more desirous of the Bible, and the number of Clergymen is increasing, who would not only tole- rate, but commend the reading of it. 1 feel a very great desire, to witness the formation of a similar Bible Society among the Roman Catholics ; and, indeed, I will make some attempts, though I foresee many difficulties, &c. Your question, however, re- specting the Catholics, inspires me with the hope, that your Society is desirous to extend its beneficial influence likewise to them; wishing only to knovi? whether a dispersion of Bibles among them, would be practicable; and, indeed, it would not only be practicable,but desirable in the highest degree. Now I beg you, my dear brother in Clirist, to receive these few lines in love. I write this, trusting it might be acceptable to your venerable Societj'. I cannot express in terms sufficiently strong, the fer- vency of my joy, and of my love, towards all who throughout England, heartily believe in Jesus as their only Saviour, and zealously endeavour to ex- tend the Redeemer's kingdom. 1 embrace them all, XVI. as the beloved and elect of God, as friends and brethren in Christ, let them be of whatever name, or belong to whatever Church or Denomination. May the peace of God, and the all-sufficient grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with you all." Now, as the oft/ec/of this most affectionate, and yet modest appeal to the liberality of British Christians, (whose benevolent feelings are never appealed to in vain) was a little of the assistance proposed to others, toybrmaszW/ar Society among the Catholics, it will astonish many of my readers now, to find, that such assistance to them, was tke7i totally out of the ques- tion. And, although the good man succeeded in conjunction with several of his dear brethren, so far, as to establish such a Society at Ratisbon ; un- der the management of the Rev. the Regens Pater, of the Ecclesiastical Seminary there, upon the re- ceipt of the above assurances of every consistent dfgree of aidy yet, the encouragement which the commutation of the Protestant Testaments, promi- sed him, as above, for as many copies printed under the direction of his own Society at Ratisbon, was peremptorily refused him. (See vol. i. p. 175.) It appears from the history, that he had obtained a promise of commutation from the Nurenberg So- ciety, before he wrote to us on the subject ; and that the order had been transferred, from the latter Society, to the former. But, "it appeared to our Committee, to be a measure which, from the conse- quences wherewith it was pregnant, called for very grare and deliberate consideration/^ And imme- diately on the reeeipt of a direct communication, from him, stating the success with which his re- quest had been attended, "a resolution was passed, declaring that the proposal could not be acceded to. *^ "The effects of this Resolution, the wisdom of which, under the peculiar circumstances of the B. and F. B. S. could not be questioned, was painfully felt, and afFectingly represented, by the Nu- renberg Society ; whose somewhat precipitatCj though certainly well intended procedure, had placed both Societies, in a situation of great em- barrassment. They pleaded in justification, the ac- commodation it afforded to the Catholic Clergyman* and stated that the edition to which the order had been transferred, would be printed, not from a slavish translation of the Vulgate, but from Mr. Schwar- zel's Version of the original Greek, without note or Comment ; a version which, while it satisfied en- lightened Catholics, had been favorably received by Protestants themselves/' But all in vain. "The Committee while they sympathized with them, and saw much in their statement to atone for the preci- pitation,— considered it expedient, after a full and dispassionate discussion of the subject, to confirm their first resolution. Desirous, however, of uphold- ing the credit of the N. S. who had thus become pledged; and anxious to prevent the charge of illi* berality from being brought against the B; and F. B. S. with anv semblance of rea^son, several mem- d xvin. bers of the Committee, united in their private ca- pacity, to pay for the 1000 Testaments, ordered at Ratisbon: so that the Priest, having accepted vf\t\\ grateful acquiescence^ the fulfilment of the Society's original intention, became thus doubly endowed.'* That the arguments used by our Committee, referred to the Principles laid down in the Society's Rules and Prospectus ; or to the necessity they imposed upon them, to be very scrupulous in their choice of Versions and of Coadjutors, most evidently appears from the terms in which that "grateful acquies- cence" was expressed. "I feel," said the Priest "the highest regard, for the wise and prudent zeal of the English Bible Committee ; because it is mi/ own de^ sire to see the pure and genuine word of God spread; and I am so entirely against all corruption of this invaluable treasure that 1 myself would prevent it, by all means in my power. As the degeneracy of all outward Churches is so great and general, I comfort myself with this, that the Lord is retiring into the inner /emy^/f, and more gloriously building up the invisible Church ; — our duty however is to pray more earnestly than ever, "Lord thy kingdom come" and, "Lord abide with us, for itistowards evening." Conducted by the accounts recorded of tliis transac- tion ; and by the Historian's own Comment*tliere* *" The author has been studiously particular in relating the cir- cwmstances of this transaction, because they serve to illustrate the cautious prudence, and conscientious exactitude, with which the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society hare been ac- customed to act. It will appear, from what has been stated, how' XIX. on, I arrive as by a sure road, at my propose d con- clusion; and here settle for ever^ the question at issue, respecting the designs of the framers of the Bible Society ^s Laws, fl5/?royec? by their ''Rrst works." To enlarge on the evidence would be quite superfluous. But there are some points in the Comment, which deserve notice. First : its parenthetical observation probably referred to the "conscientious exactitude,*' with which the Committee tore aicaij, about this time, from St. John's Gospel ; a Preface which Captain John Norton, a Mohawk Chief, bound with his translation of the same, for the use of the Indians in Canada ; although its language glowed with the purest devotion and loyalty ; and was very unlike Professor HafFner's Preface. Moreover, careful they were, in this instance (as they will be found Ip have been in every similar trial,) to guard against being carried away by their best feelings, and by the tempting prospect of an immediate good, so as to adopt a measure which might, by however forced a construction, be interpreted into a violation of the letter or the the spirit of their regulations. The Society was, at this time, in its infancy : its relations with the Protestant churches of Christen- dom were but recently entered into, and partially formed : the prejudices existing against Roman Catholics, and every thing which pertained to them, were in their greatest strength ; and the version in question, though respectably vouched for, was yet very defectively known. These considerations were sufficient to recommend, and to justify extreme caution on the part of the So- ciety, lest an error, in so early a stage of its proceedings, might draw its principles into suspicion, and throw obstacles in the way of its future movements, which no exertions of prudence or energy would afterwards enable it completely to surmount." [Hist. vol. 1, /J. 180.] XX. the Cpimuittee were not then without being tempted U)dp\*.liatwas inconsistent with the Ruks, "bj the prospect oi immediate good ;'^ but they "guarded iheut against being carried away by their best feel* ings.^^ Again: the Committee had cautious pru- dence ; — prej udices existed then in the minds of Mr. AVilberforce^ and other members of the Committee, egainst Roman Catholics ;— the Version was very 4Jefectively known, to the Committee as Biblical Critics ; and to have assisted in the circulation of a Catholic Version, even among Catholics^ had then been deemed an Error, whieh was to "be guarded figainst ;" because the Society was then^ in ks Ik- jAJfCY, and an Error, in so early a stagey had proved fatal to the managers who now remain. But as a spoiled Child, eai-es little for the chid- ings of a doting nurse, at the age of nine ; and less still, at that of nineteen, if in possession of 100, 000/ 9 yjear, we are not astonished., after perusing this eo:tnmefit, at the changes which took place, in the Committee's plans ; on the decease of the Society's Sponsors. The above pious Priest had received assurance "of every degree of aid consistent with (pertain principles and means; which were probably not explained at first to him ; and yet, his "desire to co-operate" could ow wo account be gratified then; lest much greater enemies than the most inimical in his Communion, should "creep in,'' as it were at his heels, "unawares" to the inner temple; seeing his party appealed noi cxclusiveit/, to the inspired vo- XXI. )uine, as the standard of faith; nordidtli^y "recog- iiize the same canon of Scriptures" with us. But lempora, mutantur, et nos, in illis ; and, as the Socie- ty's MEANS increased between (1811) its 7th, and (1813) its 9th year, fi-om 25, 000/ to 76, 000/ ; we marvel not that its principles were in the interim abandojied ; Jehoia. ing the arcana of nature ; and the same I say in searching those of sin. "An hypothesis is never to be depended on "said thelate Dean of Carlisle, "except when it fairly and clearly grows out of the Phe*- nomena, that is, out of the facts for which it is to account." And, in what can we account for the de- flection of Judah,just alluded t-o, but in tbatevil propensity of which the Lord complains by Hoseay paying, "My people are bent to backsliding frotibi XXVI I. me ?*' and this has been the sinful propensity of all men by nature, since the fall. A few remarks on these Phenomena, will serve to shew the resemblance between them. Athaliah, the Jewish Queen Mary, "had broken up the house of God," and the young King, who had been hidden for six years therein, from her bloody hands, and crowned in his seventh year, "was minded to repair it;" and accordingly commanded the Priests to effect the purpose; but they delayed for a long time ; nevertheless God was feared, and worshipped in the dilapidated temple : and at length, Jehoiada the Priest, made a chest, with a hole in its lid to admit the poll-tax, and free-will offerings of God's remaining worshippers; and "a fair object being thus set before the religious world" the matter took a popular turn. "Money and power," in abundance, were "brought into action." "All the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end" of ne** cessary repairs. Means continued to increase ; or- nament was added to usefulness : spleuded services of plate were provided : but the worship of God was continued onli/ till the King's preserver and instructor died, or waxed nearly " a hundred and thirty years old." Then the Princes of Judah Battered Joash, and enticed him to erect Chapels xWT ease, as it were, all over the Kingdom ; under pre^ tences of piety, no doubt ; and the Groves which they Attended, were at first but half-way houses to heat- XXTlll. then idolatry. So puritanical was the temple woiv, ship, that no Gentile could join, without submit-„ ting- to the Cross of circumcision ; and no Jew could mingle with Gentiles, but under the severest penal- ty ; therefore the backsliding hearts of nominal worshippers, left the Lord and his Temple; and ser- ved Groves and idols; "and wrath came upon them; yet he sent prophets to them, who testified against them — but they would not give ear.^' They even stoned the son of their deceased Priest, with the consent of their ungrateful King ; and the end was their joint destruction. "All the Princes, with a very great host of the people" were destroyed by " a small company of men," and the King ; being " left in great diseases; was slain by his servants on his bed, for the blood of tlie sons of Jehoiada." And hisson AmaziahjCame toasimilar end,afterhis forces had suffered a similar defeat. Now, reflect on the parallel case. The poor people of the Principality wanted Bibles, and waited for years in expectation of a supply from the regular source ; but the Le- vites of the Land, disregarded their cry. The work and worship of God, however went on successfully, with only the old Bibles, till at length their cause took a popular turn. Then the jealousy of certain bigoted parties, roused them to resist supposed en- croachments on their province ; and their defeats in controversy, served only to increase the religious world's momentum ; even Royal Princes rallied a- pund the Society's victorious standard; and the XXIX. semi-religious of all sects, seized the opportunity to cast their several Creeds into a crucible, so as to bring forth the Socinian calf, which they have wor- shiped ever since. But ; to be more particular, in explaining to the Christian Reader, how fairly and clearly my hypothesis grows out of the facts, for which it is to account, I will observe, that as the blessing of God had crowned the living ministry with wonderful success, in most parts of Great Brit- ain, during tJie age which preceded the period al- luded to ; there was a witness in the breasts of mili- ons, in favor of religion, who were not "partakers of the divine nature ;" and who therefore loished for "the death of the righteous," while they loved the present world. Of these, many had gone so far, as to make a profession among Dissenters ; and many had been brought up by religious parents, both in, and out, of the established Church : but still their hearts were with the World. And to bring matters more to a point, I will particularize three classes which hailed the "dawn of this new aerain Christen- dom," with peculiar delight. The first that I shall mention, is that portion of the rising generation of both sexes, and of all sects, which was thus semi- piously disposed. Most young persons, brought up under the means of Grace, aflbrded in a faithful ministry, are uneasy under a conviction, of the ne- cessity of cowytssm^j- Christ bejore men: and are gen- erally apprehensive of their spiritual danger, while they dent/ him. Natural conscience is equal to all XXX. this ; but where there is no higher principle, there is an abiding wish that religion and the world were united ; so that the advantages of the one, might be ensured, after the enjoyment of the other. The Servants of corruption always seek liberty. And I presume that there never appeared on earth, (un- less there were in the days of Joash) opportunities so fine, to gratify these half-religious desires in un- renewed youthful minds, as Bible Society exhibitions have afibrded. Here every thing was merry and gay ; gadding about and holiday keeping ; the best opportunities of introduction to society, both at Anniversaries, and in application for subscriptions. And all this fun exempted from the thorn which accompanies worldy mirth in such minds : for all this is Religion ! ! And besides, youth, as they ad^ vance towards manhood, begin to look for profit as well as pleasure ; and as members of the national Church, are not so particular in keeping their cuS" tom^ for those of their own sect exclusively, as some sectarians are; it was natural for such youths, destined forany businessor profession, to wish, that the homage which (heir conscience compelled them to make to religion, Avas to become more and more popular, so that their consciencemightleaveits clam- our ; without loss of customers or clients. Another class, consists of Dissenting Preachers. It cannot be denied, however humiliating the ad- mission must be, that no small number of these, hailed with a greater or less degree of unhallowed XXXI. dielight, the ominous union, effected by the exhibi-* tion of this "fair object;" between the Church and the World, although there has not been a single sacrifice of principle offered by the latter, in the approximation. No marvel, therefore, that they should soothe their former "apprehensions, lest this union should be improved to disseminate Socinian principles." Few of them could object to unite with Unitarians, under the denomination of Christians, in the society of Dukes and Lords. Such meetings^ must be peculiarly gratifying to their remaining worldli-mindedness. These opportunities of ex- hibiting the superiority of their method of educa- tion, to acquire the graceful "gift of tongues;" must have exceeded their expectation ; and be peculiarly pleasing to theirjunior classes. One cannot wondeiv therefore, that no umbrage was taken at the Socin- ian's insolence, in placing that paragraph of the dis- senting Secretary's essay, which I have alluded tOy in the Front of his Sketch Book: although, I pre- sume, it was not originally written, to level the old partition wall; because few of these Great Person- ages, had ever come nigh, but for the abandonment of the Society's principles. But as I know very little of the raw recruits, enlisted for the rear rank; \ will pass on to those who were trained for the van, at the very time. Of all descriptions of subjects in the realm, perhaps none could feel a greater de- sire, to see the World and the Church united iti wedlock; than half-religious Candidates for Holy XXXH. Oi'ders. To them this unholy alliance, administered the most gratifying pleasure. Self-convicted of the necessity of going further than Fox-hunters; inspired perhaps with the ambition of becoming popular preachers; and probably apprehensive of being shunned by the KJor/c?, for puritanical pecu- liarities; and wholly destitute of self-denying grace to cast themselves under the sole protection of the Lord : they were naturally the first to enlist under a banner, which profanely and preposterously blended the cross of Christ and the crown of Anti- christ. Hence the zeal of those whom the late President of Queen's Col: denominated "ingenuous youths," at Cambridge ; and of those whom Secretary Owen described as "alarge body of Undergraduates" at Ox- ford, became so conspicuous. They were accord- ingly the promoters of the auxiliary Bible Societies y^'hich were established at our Universities, in 1811 and ISIS", and which greatly increased the Parent Society's popularity." But "a {ew senior members were zealous" at first in either place. Yet no one seems to have been then awake to real danger. Dean Milner, alas! allowed the ark to be taken out : and although he "was grown old and heavy" like Eli ; unable to "watch the violent motions of this pen- dulum" his heart trembled not like Eli's. He even denied the "danger of contagion," describing the co-operation of Socinians as a "notable instance of Candour" And Bishop Burgess in another part of XXXIII. the Country the following year, ascribed to igno- rance of the Society's principles &c. all apprehension of evils arising from uniting with the same pesti- lential parties ; in a charge to the Clergy of St. Davids— wherein he described those principles, thus. '•The Society is constituted on this simple and com- prehensive principle, that it may not exclude the aid of any persons professing to be Christians." As if that had been the same, with "professing to re- gard the Scriptures as the proper standard of faith." Whereas the Society^s sponsor Cecil, had he lived so long, had begun "to throw in every regulating and directing power he could obtain from any quar- ter." He dreaded the contagion^ and therefore would have shunned the contact. "The writings of Infidels'' said he "must he read with caution arid fear. They are malignant foes of Christianity. I dare uol tamper with such when I am io my right mind. I iiave received a serious injury for a time, even when my duty has called me to read what they have to say. The daring impiety of Bel» sham's answer to Wilberforce rufled the calm of my mind. F read it over, and waked in pain about two o'clock in the Morning. I tried to cheer myself by an exercise of faith in Jesus Christ. I lifted up my heart to him,as sympathiz* ing with me, and engaged to support me. Many times have I thus obtained quiet and repose ; but now I could lay no hold on him ; 1 had given the Enemy an advantage over me >: my habit had imbibed poison My nerves trembled. My strength was gone! Jesus Christ sympathize with you, and relieve you! It is all enthusiasm! It is idolatry ! Jesus Christ has preached his Sermons, has done his duty and is gone to Heaven ! And there he is, as other good men ase. .Address your prayer to the Supreme Being !" Remains, p. 149- This quotation plainly shows how the aged should warn the young, against entering into temptation. But Mr. .Owen particularizes one of this body of Lhidergradiiates, by name, with eulogj^ ; vol. ii. p . 511, as the Writer of Letters inserted in the Ox- / tard Journal, on the Crusade o£ the Nineteenth Cen^ turjvbj Peter the Hermit, and afterward publis^hed in a pamphlet, for the Society's benefit, although, they exhibited the most disgusting vanity and offensive self-sufficiency; and quoted a well kaowo Sqcini^n Writer, as 1 liave noticed elsewhere. Thus, when we trace this awful deflection to i%9r origin^ it appears in its proper chajacter, as the natu^ raj progeny of that love of the World in which it tfrminaUs, and which, considered abstractedly,, isi "Enmi ty against God," and Godly Men, Now, ascon^^ neciion with Roman Catholics, \\\\\c\\\\?i^ originallif, rejected, in order to guard against the approadi of Socinians, Is virtually broken oflf, by the recent de* cision of the General Body, respecting the Apocry- phal books ; there is an especial call for the ex- clusion of Socinian Associates. Pity on the former, no longer pleads excuse for the latter. And» re- flecting on the whole» I feel pain, when i compare with the first and the last works, of the Society ; this remark of my friends at Cambridge, (page 6 ;) a piart of which I have already reviewed. "Ihe2iid. Itule" say they "diiects our efforts to tlie assistance not only of' Pagans and Alahnraet^ins, but also of the foreign Chur('hes. Now could it bare been expactec^ by the framers of the rules that foreign established Churches would consent at once to adopt a new Form of the Bible out of deference to our wiihe*;, or that the Cutholics would depart from their own Canon of Sciiptura on the rf.presfntations of !'rotcstaut» having r^ presented the whole population of his disipated country, computed at twenty-nine inilions, as "ear^ nestly seeking* salvation,'* appears to be on the^ whole, an useful stipendiary agent, justly deserving^ his 270/ per annum, and would have rendered the edition less dangerous than it is ; had not "expresa. lestrictions been laid upon him to depart, in no in- stance, from the text of the Manuscript ;" as Dr. Henderson declares, that, "positive information warrants him to affirm," at p. 91, of his Book, pro- perly entitled : "The Bible Society's Turkisli New IVstament, incapable of defence."* This meed of praise seems due to the Paris Professor, when the^f Turkish Bibky which he edited since, is compared with the husky article^ prepared by the Prusian Am- bassador at Berlin: but the Baron knew from ex- perience ; having sat and fed on the Sultan's sofa ;, that the brownest bread, best suited the taste, of a tawny Turk: and therefore pronounced "the style most excellent.'^ But this appears to have been a- bandoned, after the Pentateuch was printed : a sam- ple of it is as follows :-- *Genesis Chap. i. v. 1. In the begining the Exalted Creator See. 3.— Then God most hi;^h said let lig^ht be and Hg^ht was. v. 4. The: Court of the Creator also saw that light was beautiful : and Tho' Court of the Creator separated the light. — v. 5. And The Court of theCreatornamed the light. — v. 6. AudTheCourtof theCrealor also said, let there be an expanse. — v. 7. The Supreme God then formed^ aaexpanse. — y. 8. And the Supreme Verity gave to the expanse, the* name of Heaven. See ditto p. 94. This is what Dr. P. esteems, "a most valuable treasure for the promotion of the cause of the B. and F. B. S.'' While the late Mr. Charles supposed that dimunition of quantity might be an object, if we could obtain but five Bibles for the price of three the Doctor finds his reckoning- in the reverse. Bui, to proceed; as the purgation of the neid Test- ament, is of the greatest importance, 1 wisli the So- ciety had analyzed that. Some of its objectionable periphrases and synonymes,are as follows: — Matth. i. 16. And Jacob begat Joseph, the spouse of Lady Mary of whom was born his Majesty Jesus, who is called Messiah."— Luke ix. 23. "Let him take up his cross on his shoulder and follow —John vi. 31. "Our fathers did eat of the sweet-meats of Omnipo- tence," i. e. manna. — Acts i.'il. "The illustrous Jesus, the Lord-" Rom. xi 1. "I also am of the seed of Lord Abraham." — Heb. xiii* 20. "The Prefect of Peace, God most High, broiight ugain &c." Rev. xii. 10 "Now is come — The Kingdom of the Court of our Cre- ator." — Rev. viii. 3. "Prayers of the Protectors: of Patrons: of the favorites of God: or of Ministers of State" instead of Holy Persons, or of the Saints. In other words, Tutelary Saints. "The Synonymous terras used improperly, ore these, and the like : Quick and ready, for "swift." Anguish and "sorrow," for the lat- ter only: so are worthy and "deserving." "Glorify" and praised These Periphrases impress on my mind, the truth of this vulgar saying, "Set a beggar on horse- back, and you know whither lie will ride;" for it appears verified in the conduct of the Author, Pur- veyor and Vindicator of this Version ; and serves to shew the discernment, required to select young persons of real pietij, to serve as Missionaries; that they may stand in an . upright though respectful altitude, wherever they have occasion to appear "before Governors and Kings ;" seeing their office xli. is seldom filled hy the naturally noble, of whom, "not many are called:" and as the most impious of Princes, preferred to have the "lowest of the people," for his servile Priests ; his conduct has caused me to suspect, that, let a person's learning or fortune, be what it may, he rarely "stands erect, before a great man :" unless he is born either "of blood," or "of God," i. e. ennobled either by birth, or by Grace. Had Ali Bey, therefore, either been bred and born a Polish Prince ; or reallij believed the Bible ; I presume, that his principles had been less parasitical. And although I know no more of the Purveyor of his Version, than that which appears in print of his official* conduct, 1 will hazard a conjecture, that he • I would here observe, that neither an author, nor a reviewer, has a right to meddle with the private character of individuals ; especially when the virus of religious persecution may so seriously affect, social order, as indirectly to cause encouragement to conspi- racy, and protectioa to consequent perjury; that there can bene security whatever afforded for reputation', even our boasted trial by Jury, cannot protect that; while members on the Grand Inquisition have the opportunities they possess, to protect perjury from deserv- ed punishment, by ignoring Bills of Indictment, wherein their cha- racters as Magistrates may happen to be thus concerned. lam there- fore enquiring into Dr. Pinkerton's character, only in his public capacity, as a hired and accredited agent ; indeed I know nothing of him in any other, and I insinuate nothing. His official character only comes under my review, and 1 have formed my opinion of his total unfitness for his office, from authenticated facts. Mr. Haldane whose assertions 1 do not doubt, says in his second Review, p. 32. "In exact conformity to Dr. Steinkoff's doctrine, about the Popish Cross, Dr. Pinkerton, when lately at Malta, used every argument cannot exclaim, Ast ego Cecropides ! If I am ^vrong let him tell me, and I will expunge this page before •it is published. At present lam of opinion, that to say "He worships the Sun in the East,^^or that he is ea])able of crouching to the Crescent, would comparatively redound to his credit ; for (in his preference of this Scripture flattery); he has courted the smiles of a morning Mooiv. Its Vindicator's opijicial origin, which sheds ad" ff2Vzowa/lustreonhisoriental learning, accounts alike for his parasitical propensity ; unless, as I fear, the injirmity of hisfaith, may be found in the influence of Unitarian Infidelity; whichmustbeinfinitely worse. Some apparent proofs of his favoring Socinian Hy- potheses, shall therefore, relieve my Review of this Turkish ^ ersion. First. That Professor Lee is an advocate for Apochryphal circulation, we know ; for his signa- ture is prefixed to the Cambridge Remarks ; that a period of purgatory awaits the wicked in a future M'orld, is a Socinian Hypothesis ; we are also aware of: and this appears to have been Ali Bey's opinion; to prevent Dr. Naiidi, the Secretary of the Bible Society, there from forsaking' the Roman Catholic Church, and becoming a Pro- testant, assuring him, that he would be of much more use to the cause, of the Bible Society, by continuing a Roman Catholic;" and asks, " is it to be tolerated, that foreign agents holding such sentiments, should represent the Christians of Great Britain abroad, and that the B. and F. B. S. should be permitted in so many ways as jt ucluallv does, to counteract the progress of the Reformation?" xliii. for he rendered "e'is to pur aionioti, in Matt. xxr. 41. by "into the fire of GeJiennah ; instead of, into the eternal fire." And his Vindicator, after having pre- viously pronounced his Version, as "in every respect faithful to the original," declares on this particular text, that "the difference in words is unimportant;" and that "as the word used by the Turkish Trans- lator is not unscriptural, no good reason, can be assigned, why the book should, on this account, be suppressed." Again: Socinians explain away, or re fine such Scripture terms, as "being in Christ ;" and A. B. has rendered Rom. viii. 1 "Those who are Jesus Christ's" instead of "Those who are in Christ Jesus." And the Vindicator asks, p. 96. What does Dr. H. mean by "In Christ Jesus ? I suppose he means in the faith of Christ Jesus." Again : The Translator says, Chap. xvi. 7.— "believed in Christ, before me ;" instead of— "were in Christ &c." "Than which" his Vindicator says, p. 96. "1 will venture to say a better translation cannot be given ;" although the word Gtnomai, which may signify a being by a birth, and not eimi, which signifies existence, is used in the Textits receptus. Again : That man is justi fied by inherent and not by imputed righteousness ; is a Socinian Hypothesis ; and A. B. has translated Rom. iv. 14. thus, "The promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but through the right- eousness and piety of faith :" instead of, "through the righteousness of faith." And yet Professor Lee, xliv, favors this translation at length ; and so he does that of ver. 3. where Ali Bey says, "And that faith he counted instead^ or 2/i p/ace of righteousness ;" and thus the extremes of two heresies meet. Again: That Jesus Christ was son of Joseph and Mary, is a Socinian tenet : and Ali Bey's Version, tends to maintain that heresy; as Luke ii. 5; thus, "To be taxed with Mary, who being his espoused wife, was great with child ;'' instead of "Mary his espoused wife, being great with Child." Yet the Professor vindicates the Mussulman ; although, it is very evident that the former mode of ex- pression, discredits ; while the \2dteY favors the doc- trine of a previous and miraculous conception. A- gain: In as much as a Socinian disbelieves, that "Christ died /or our sins,'' he disbelieves also, that he rose ng'd\nforourjusti/icatio7i; " and in conse- quence, he cannot have any grateful regard for the Christian Sabbath ; although the laws of this happy land, secures for it, a portion of external respect. But where Unitarian inlidelity is at liberty to dis- play its baneful influence ; a Mahometan Sabbath-) has the preference; there the seventh day is distin- guished only by itsbeingdevoted more especially to pleasure. "The University of Prusia, namely Halle, to which, most German Students in Divinity, are sent," says Professor Thulock,now is the seat of In- fidelity." "They who wish to form a notion of the German method of explaining the doctrines of Scripture;" says Mr. Rose, Vicar of Horsham, "need xlv. pnly turn to the pages of history, for a record of the ■various heresies of the early ages : and they will al- so find a tolerable picture of them, in the most vio- lent English Unitarians." As to theirmora Is; The Christian Observer, for April last, says of Berlin^ the Prusian Capital, "The shops are open on Sun- days ; as are also all Public Offices ; the mechanics are all at work ; there is no alteration in family arrangements. Balls are given. Theatres are open and crowded ; they are also warmed with stoves, whiletheChurchesare universally cold and empty." "The state of the Continent," saysthe Rev .L. Way, "is that of^^osz/rye irreligion. I use the term irre- ligion in a sense unknown to the untravelled native of this happy land." "In Germany" says Mr. Hal- dane, (second Review, p. 40.) "The Churches seem to vanish by degrees; they are often seen in ruin." "InStadhagen,]Vlr.Dassel,thef]rstClergyman,wrote a book, in 1818; to prove, that the time is come, w hen all Churches should be turned into Manufact- ories, because the people are now sufficiently eti- lightened to reject; the former use of them." "Several Clergymen in their writings, recommended tlie giv- ing up of the old superstition ; began to preach on the best manner of feeding cattIe,_on choosino- good kind of potatoes,_on agriculture in general. And the people often gave up attendance on public worship altogether, and spent the sabbath in icorld^ It/ pleasures and enjoyments.^^ And as this is the case no marvel that it is difficult to translate the word xlvi. Sabbath, so as to be understood by foreigners, Ali Bej thus translates it, Rev. x. 1. "I was in the spi- rit, on a Market-day ;" instead of "The Lord's Day.'* And Professor Lee replies, ("with the same spirit of levity, which characterizes too many of his Biblical criticisms ;") saying (p. 86) "A very alarming con- clusion truly !" In p. 90 he says, "It should be re- membered, there are certain words and phrases, such as the Lord's Day, the Christian Sabbath, &c. in use in Christian countries, which would either be unintelligible to a Mahomedan or a Heathen, or would give an idea totally different from the scope of the original, if literally translated;"* and con- cludes the defence of this passage, p. 91. by saying, "In a future edition, perhaps the word might be altered with advantage, but I doubt whether a bet- ter word could be proposed now." But of all subjects, the doctrine of the Godhead of Christ is the most important ; because it is the point which imparts importance to all the rest; it is the pivot of the Christian system. And in regard to this : Ali Bey's Version is exceedingly faulty; as that of a Mahomedan Unitarian must be expected to appear, Rom. ix. 5. he renders thus ; "He who is over all a god blessed for ever ;" or, "He who is over all, an eternally blessed object of worship ;" u-,ing the Turk- * Socinian Wakefield says in his notes on Philemon, " I have followed my inclination herein anglicising the peculiar phraseology of the original, and would gladly have followed it on many other occasions, if prejudice would have borne it. Our Society's Vin- xlvii. ish term, Illah, which implies what we would ex- *press with a small g ; as a god, or the god^ instead of Allali^ which implies God. And of the ^rent distinction between God, and a god ; he appears to have been well aware ; for he uses the same characters Illah to express the presumption of Antichrist, in 2 Thess. ii. 4. "Above all that is called god.'^ And also Acts xvii. 23. "To an unknown god.'' We English rea- ders may therefore clearly perceive, this translator's opinion of the person of Christ. And this is one of the passages, cancelled since, by Professor KeifFer; and reprinted with Allah; although it was defend- ed by Professor Lee. Other passages prove the translator's Unitarianism ; such as. Acts xx. 21. rendered thus : "And they preached his Excellency Jesus, and the hand of the Most High God was with them;" which exhibits a marked distinction of per- sons, for which the original affords no foundation whatever. Again: those texts which in the original exhibit the Second Person, as the constituted Lord, under the Gospel dispensation, are very sadly dis- torted; as Acts ii. 47. "Praising the Most High dicator, Professor Lee, says, p. 151. "For my part, I had always supposed, that Versions of the Scripture should be so made as to be intelligible, at least to those for whom they had been intended, and tliat how unbending so ever the phraseology of the originals might be, they must be rendered in a translation by the phraseology in use, among the people for whom such translation is made ; in order that they may understand them, however different their style and taste might be, from that of the original Hebrew and Greek texts." xlviii. Ood^— the Court of Truth, also ?idded to the Church &c/'— Chap. xvi. lO. "We concluded from this, that the Most High God, called usthither ;'^ v. 14. "Whose heartGod Most High, opened_v, 15, "If ye account me faithful to the Most High God ," although this appellation is given to our Saviour, in no part of the book, but is uniformly used of the blessed Trinity; with the exception of Mark, v. 7. and its corres- ponding passage in Luke, where the Father is meant in contra-distinction. Again: Chap, xviii. 8. is ren- dered thus; "And Crispus the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Supreme God, &c '' as if he had been previously given to idolatry ; of which the Jews have seldom been accused, since the Baby- lonish captivity. But Professor Lee attempts to turn aside all ideas of Unitarian taint ; saying at p. 44. "He may have been an Athiest, or idolator in the strict sence of those terms, — he may virtually have denied the God of Israel, in reject^ing his Mes- siah ; and now, for the first time, have been initiated in the true faith. "^Ihere is not much stress, there- fore, to be laid on the Doctor's (Henderson's) dog- matic reasons ; and his critical ones are absurd. Again: the Mussulman has interchanged the terms Rabb Lord, for Allah God, to the obscuration of this momentous truth, in Rom. x. 13. "For whosoever shall call upon the name of tJie Lord shall be sa- ved;" and on this the Vindicator observes, (Rem. p. 110) "It has already been shewn, that, whether the. Translator had used the word Rabb, or Allah, the xlix. Mahomedan reader would have understood none« but the Supreme God." And, moreover, he says that, "The conclusion must be, that Ali Bey, has taken the safe side of the question, leaving the rea- der to determine, whether the context relates or not to our blessed Lord;" although he betrayed the most palpable bias to Mahomedan Unitarianism. Now, it might be desirable to know,what danger the translator had to avoid in this choice of alternatives; besides the ideal danger of idolatry, professed to be dreaded now by Unitarians? And whether there lurks a doubt in the Professor's mind on the sub- ject of Christ's Eternal Godhead? And mark: this is the context of that very passage ; "on the eti' tire misconstruction''^ of which, it is stated in HalFs speech, alluded to (Let. ii. p. 9.) that the adversa- ries of the Bible Society perversely founded, the inference, that "we have no reason to expect the conversion of foreign nations, in consequence of the sole perusal of the Sacred volume" " How shall they call upon him of whom they have not heard ? '* The mode of defence, as well as the conduct of the Translator, favors the Socinian assertion, that "Uni- tarianism is the only religion that can become uni- versal,"~z. e. If left to corrupt reason alone. Ali Bey distorted Rev. vii. 10. thus, "Our salvation is from the Supreme God, and /"rom the Lamb;" instead of Salvation to our, &c. And the Professor defends him p. 113. saying, "The redeemed app^jar to be prais- ing Godf for that Salvation which they have derived i!K>lelj^^ firom him and the Lamb. Now whether this be termed an ascription of praise, or a declaration of that which amounts to the same thing, seems to be but of iitt/e moment. And p. 114. he says, "Instead of derogating liere in any respect from God, he (A. B.) has so rendered this passage as fully to ascribe it to him/' All that he could say, was, If the text is rendered useless for its primari/ purpose, we can still convert it to a secondary. It no longer helps to maintain the doctrine of Christ's Divinity ; but .we may turn it to account, in contending for that of his atonement. But alas! The latter can avail very little, where the former is undermined. Now (to close the Keview of this article;) Dr. Henderson observes, that he had found the terms God; The Supreme God; Divine Majesty; or Supreme Verity substituted for Lord, in the Acts alone, no fewer than twenty-live times; and Professor Lee, remarks at p. 103. "It should be remembered, that the Divinity of our Lord, cannot be maintained by the words adopted in any translation." And, 1 ask, Is this a fact ? Has a certain fatality attended cyer^/ Version ? Is there no text in any language, besides the Greek, in which the Person of Christ is expressly mentioned under some terms or other; and his Divinity, as ex- pressly asserted ?* If not : well might the modern Cerinthus, from whose society, Bishop Porteus's Biographer, withdrew at L^xbridge, run the hazard _ * A pocket edition was printed at Geiievi, in 1557, by one Conrad Oadius, for J n;ilish Kefiigccs, (with a Preface by John Oalvin,) wherein the woiiDi* " ftlighly God" found their way into the English Texl, in Tit. ii. 13 ; thtis»'the fcit«i ii ul U:€ mysj'.t y God, whiclj is of ow Savioui- Jejus Cluist.'' {J^ Imiah ix. 6. lit of his two Guineas, on the chance of finding the words, "God the Son," in the English Testament!! Well might Aspland say, that our Society's spirit is a virtual concession to his Unitarian plea ! Here IS literally, a /iVera/ concession! But injustice to the Committee, I should say, tiiat the Appeal produced some effect. The edition was ultimately put un- der an arrest abroad ; and sheets to supply the places of cancels, and tables of errata, were dispatched as CORRECTORS, to prcvcut mischicf ; after all the illu- sive logic, which resounded in our ears, "That the Bible could not be perverted, but by the readers thereof ;'' andapassage representing the Son of God, as "solemnly interdicting his ovi^n worship," with others containing gross errors, have been expunged. We have in the eighteenth Report, p. 33, accounts ^f another Version, purveyed by the Rev. Dr. Pin- kerton, in a letter of his, dated, Copenhagen, July the 10th, 1821, where he writes as follows: — " The revised Version of the Danish Testament, which has re- ceived the sanction of the King, has been remarkably well received by the public, and some in whose judgment I place full confidence, haveassuredme, that it is now a faithful and excellent Version. Pre- paratory steps are already taken for revising the Old Testament, also by the same six learned men, who have laboured so harmoniously and successfully, in the revision of the New, and it is hoped, that his Majesty will also grant his sanction,'^ Sfc. Those who know what Continental company this Correspondent keeps, will naturaHy anticipate the result, of a brief enquiry, about the Theological Views, of his associates by the side of tlie Baltic lii. Sea ; and easily foresee what sort of Bibles arc^ issued there, under Royal sanction. Mr. Haldane gives, in his second Review, p. p. 92, 93. the recent testimony of a native of the Continent, respecting the University of Copenhagen, thus: — "To characterize one of each Class, i. e. young and old, Profess- ws of this University, I shall state the following facts. One of the younger had giTen a question to the Students to write upon ; viz. How is it to be understood when Christ said, he was tp be raised again the third day? And one answered ; In two ways. First: That he meant, he should only appear to be buried; and that three days signified an uncertain time, after which he should again be seen. Secondly: That he signified his real burial and resurection. And the Student having said, (on being asked, which he thought the jui^t interpretation,) that he thought the last the right one: the Profes- sor asked with contempt ; How could Christ have foreknown it ? One of the old Professors delivering a lecture on the ascen3ion of Christ, said, (ascending up first to a bench, then to the top of a table &c.) 'He went up the mountain as 1 do now, and then, he went down on the other side, so as I do now' said he, descending to the floor on the other side. This was one of the six learned men, wha revised the last edition of the Danish New Testament; and is I am informed, ihe principal person engaged in revising the intended edition of the Old," &c. A sample of their work ensues. Actsxi. 21. "The Lord added daily, some to the congregation, who allowed themselves to be saved." Eph. y. 9. '.'The fruit of the Light, formerly the Spirit, is in all &c." In 1 Cor. X. 28. these words are omitted ; "For the earth is the l.ord's and the fulness thereof.^' Dr. Brunnmark had but one Commandmenl to give these foreigners; and that tliey frequently disobeyed liii. it seems, ^his edition has Socinian Notes and Com- ments 2Cor. X. Q. "Asif we walked according to the flesh." Note. "According to human infirmity." 1 Tim. iii. 16. "God was manifest &c." Note, some have, He was manifest." 1 John v. 7, 8. has this note, which is contradicted by matters of fact in a great measure. "The words which are here enclosed in the 7th aiid 8th verses, are wanting in all old manuscripts, the oldest translations, and all the Fa- thers of the Church." The text w hich they had, is said to have been a very ^ooc? edition. \_See Haldaneh 2nd Report^ p. 93.] Once more: Our Committee assisted in 1822, at Lausanne, parties whom Mr. Haldane's pamphletsde- scribe as "the greatest persecutors of the religion of Jesus, in modern times," to circulate 10,000 copies of Ostervald's Bible, in which Dr. SteinkopfF" fully and fairly admits, that there were too many changes made for the worse." Some of them are the follow- ing, with Amicus'' s Defence, or Glossary. Tit. iii. 5. "Par la regeneration qui donnelabapteme." instead of "par le lavement de regeneration;" as in the reformed French edition. On this ; one of the Trans- lators, (who is reformed himself since,) says, that he had a long dispute; and that the distortion was carried by a majority of voices. And Amicus says "It is not so much erroneous, as absolutely unintel- ligible." Thus, if it serves no false opinion, such as baptismal regeneration, it is stultiHed. Again: ilCor. V. "Si quelqu'uti veut etre en Christ. Qu'ii. iroiT une nouvelle creature/' instead of Si done quelcunc est en Christ, quUsoit nouvelle creature. ^ Amicus says : " This is certainly wrong, though hy a reference to the original, it may be somewhat debateable, from the extremely eliptical style of the passage. It certainly discovers a palpable bias to put out of sight, rather than contradict a prominent idea in the passage." But (this piece being spiked,) the Defender closes saying, " Blessed be God we are not left to a single verse or clause for the support and exposition of this most important doctrine," — Matt. iv. 4. L'homme ne vivra pas seulment de pain, mais de tout ce que Dieu ordonne lui qui serve de nourriture" instead of " mais de tout parole qui sort de la bouchede Dieu." Thus, to live a life of dependance on God, and of obedience to his commands, affords no food for the rationalists or neologists of Lausanne ; therefore they gave a comment in lieu of the text, " Whatever God giveth for nourish- ment." And Amicus cavalierly remarks, "Mr.Malan is particularly indignant at this rendering ; and I will not accuse him of being sufficiently well informed to know, that this is the ti'ue meaning and rendering of the passage, and of disingenuous- ness in not acknowledging it. It is plainly and necessarily the meaning of the passage, in Deut. viii. 3, from which it is copied. The Lausanne rendering is almost verbatim, a translation of Dr. Campbell's which is this j 'Man liveth not by bread Ir. alone, but by every thing that God is pleased to appoint.' Whitby, — and the whole host of Com- mentators concur, in what Mr. Malan\s friend is pleased to terra, ' a sacrilege thus to despoil the Saviour ; ' Mr. Haldane is too good a biblical scholar, not to know all this ; and for the sake of producing an effect on common readers, he ought not to have thus exposed Mr. Malan and his friend to ridicule.^' Now, let common Christian readers compare this rendering with the Bible, and say whether Mr. Malan (who is one of the ministers persecuted by the company of Pastors in Geneva,) is not entitled to their thanks for having exposed such sacrilegious practices; although Amicus said, in the preceding page, that "he is not certain whe* ther Mr. Malan, would have executed the task much better, than these Professors and Pastors;" adding "we would have had a more spiritual or evangelical Bible, perhaps much more spiritual and evangelical, than the original Bible itself!" And, moreover, let the Subscribers of the B. S. reflect on the lengths to which its loose principles of translation are carried, by these stanch Defenders, and see how illusive the logic of its advocates has been ! ! ! How deceit- ful is their talk of the Pure Text ! ! ! I regret the ad- mission, unnecessarly made, by the Edinburgh Com- mittee, in their second statement, where they said that the Bible is the Bible still, however badly translated ; For I cannot possibly recognise the Bible in any man's unnecessary words. Let this Ivi. paraphrase of CampbelPs be mixed with the periphrase of Ali Bej in the same passages, and we shall have the "Pastry of Omnipotence" next; and the prospect of a Mahomedan Paradise, in lieu of a "Life of Faith" with hopes of the Holy Happi- ness, for which we long ! These examples of mistranslations, are enough to prove the justness of the apprehension I printed seven years since, on account of the system's Inse- curitt/; and 1 shall only add a few paragraphs to prove that its proneness to depreciate the preaching ministry, has subsequently proceeded to virulent persecution ; as the natural consequence of its ungodly amalgamation ; for " What communion hath Christ with Belial ! " What description of persons, Continental B. S. Presidents, Professors, &c. generally are, has been already perceived : but a few of them should he particularized , before we come nearer home.. Dr. SteinkopfF says, p. 12. that " if any thing has engaged the serious atten- tion of the Society's Committee, officers and agents, more than another ; it is to open a communication with truly enlightened and respectable persons in the Protestant, Catholic, Greek and other Christian Churches;" and to say, that the Professors and Doctors who call themselves "strict Rationalists," and are called Neologists, are truly respectable and enlightened, had been to retail a truism which the Doctor deigned not to do. But this depends on the different dispositions of persons like Demas Ivii. and Luke; the latter preferred the society of deser- ted Paul. Now for the former's Favorites. We have in our 18th Report, p. 39. a Letter from Dr. Pinkerton, reporting progress ; a. ^art of which runs as follows : — On my way down the Rhine, I spent a night at Carlsruhe ; and a ni^ht at Heidelberg; in both of these Towns, 1 visited the leading Members, of their respective Bible Institutions ; at Heidelberg, I passed about two hours in the society of Professors Schwartz, Kreit- zer, Paulas, and others; and when we separated, Professor Paulus accompanied me to the Inn; where we had a long conversation on various topics. Here also a Paul is preferred ! But when we en- qdire into the quis and qualis est ; our surprise sub- sides: for Demas still loves mammon. Mr. Rose tells us, after having given a description of the prin- ciples of Rationalism, " as hailed in Germany with delight, — taught by her Divines from the pulpit, and by her Professors from the chairs, — to free the old from the hiwden oi aricient prejudices^ — and to send the young into life w ith rational views ,"" that "with the exception of two or three, all the writers Ae alluded to, are at least Doctorsin Divinity. Pau- lus, one of the most atrocious of the parti/, was Pro- fessor of Divinity at Wurtzburg ;'' and adds, "I can not say whether he holds the same office-iit Heidel- berg, where he now resides." — This Paulus is the Author of a Commentary, in which he "degrades the Scriptures, blasphemes the Saviour, denies his God- head, — his miracles,— death and resurrection; and treats him, as an impostor." He accounts for the I Iviii. tribute-money, miraculously obtained by Peter, iw this way, saying in (Kom: vol. ii. p. 658.) "A miracle for about a dollar, had been very superflousat Caper^ naum, where our Saviour had many friends," — "The meaning is, Before you can sell the fish for so much, you must open its mouth, and extract the hook." Our Saviour's walking on the sea, and Peter's going to him, he decides to be, a^'^philologic miracle^ found- ed on a mistranslation of thepreposition epi upon or by ; asserting that our Lord only "walked by the sea" and that " Peter, being a good swimmer, plunged in, and was helped out" And 2iS to xhQ withered hand ; he says, " it was only a luxation of the shoulder, which Jesus observing, pulled it into joint." " The Christians, "say these writers, "weie obliged to elevate their Founder's condition, by wonderful stories." Now, as such characters must have been known to their foreign Secretary and Agents, Can we doubt the assertion, which Mr, Hal- da ne makes after some one well acquainted witb their proceedings; that, the " principles of three- fourths of the Committee are such, that it is a mat-^ ter of indifference with them, whether they circulate the pure Bible, or ' the Bible and Tom 1 hiimb ;' as one of them said lately?" The history of Haffner's preface, already alluded to, proves the truth of the assertion. This was published in the beginning of August, 1819, and information was immediately sent by a conscientious man, at the risk of his life; and was lix. tielivered to the London Committee on the 9th, but they never, returned him thanks. It consisted of 36 pages, in an edition of 10,000 Bibles, and its tenor was as follows : — "The history of the fall is allegorical; and the sjerpent is the seduction of vice. Much of this book (Judges,) breathes a warlike courage; mixed with an immovable and sometimes superstiiious confidence in God. What is extraordinary in the actions of the Judges, ought not to astonish us ; their actions were certainly celebrated in the beginning, by songs of triumph, and embellished with poetical ornaments. It is from these sources, probably, the writer has drawn his narrative. The Prophets were clear-sighted men ; zealous patriots ; their extensive view of the present, dis- covered to them, what would soon take place ; and gave them a presentiment of future distant events. Jesus had conceived, for the good of humanity, a plan which no sage had ever conceived. His moral system, as among others, the danger of riches, was, in n great measure, only for his own time." The Apocrypha is said to be therein felsely eulogized. And the infidel author, who is Vice President of that Society wrote to Lord Teignmouth, Sept, 23, 1819, a Letter in which he said, that in consequence of the prevalence of sceptical principles, the B. S. at Strasburg, had deemed it necessary to publish this Preface, which he said defended " the important contents of thesacred volume." And the Secretary of his Society wrote also, that it was there thought " to be useful as a separate Tract." In the Report of 1821, p. 2, we learn from Dr. SteinkopfPs own Let- ter, dated June 17, 1820 ; that he was " received at Strasburg with regard and affection," bat we do not find that the contents of the Preface had offended ix. either him or the London Committee ; he read their address there, containing a ^'respectful request^ to our Continental fellow-labourers," not to deviatje from the Rule of their Society. Hence it would appear that heretical matter never offends, where it does not openly offend our Rule ; mistranslation appears a trifle. And 500 Bibles and 250 Testaments were bought by Dr. S. "for the poor of Alsace," and about half the edition, with this inlidel pro- logue, was disposed of by Oct. 3rd, 1821,, when Dr. Pinkerton (as Mr. Haldane writes,) arrived at Strasburg; and the remaining 5,000 Copies of th£ Preface were bought up, bj an "■anonymous friend," with some one's money, and as they were not destroyed, thej may have accompanied the Bible after all. Indeed theminister whodenounced them, wrote last September, '• The measure has been in fact illusory in several circumstances." But in the Report of 1822, p. 25, it is written— "Your Committee consider it iheir duty to state that some tempo- rary obstii;..tion to the good uiidersfajidiiig heretofore subsisting' be- tween them, and that Society by the annexation of a preface, from the pen of a distiiigiiished member of the same, to the Bibles issued from its depository."' (Then we are told how the deistical pageswere dispo^^ed of; and evaa oar cordial thanks, are bespoken to the ReT. Author, f(ir a proposal so liberal, as to separate his work from the Holy Word, on being;- " refunded his expences," and for such "gene- rous sacrifices to the principles of our common union, &c." I pre- sume fhut the tut!: Sectttary was there also ; for Amicus writes. Let. ii. j).1^,thus;) Mr. Oioen visited Strasburg, in Oct. 1821, and obtaiuedthe removal of this Preface :" adding, " there is noreasou why we should not do justice even to Mr. Hi, finer, and his coadjutors. To Ixi. appeal to them on the criminality of their conduct, on orihadox a&d religious principles, was out of the question — Mr, Owen antl Ihey could not here meet on common ground. The general pka of expe- diency, or the offence given, to the B. & F. B. S. were all that could be taken into account by them ; against these pleas were arrayed-^ the intelligence and worldly pride of Mr. Haffner, and his colleagues . which had already received so deep a wound, fronj tjhe jSiijcc^es of the humble servant of Christ, who had presunjed, both to denounce and to write against them," This defender eulogizes the conduct of the Nep- logist Professor, pronouncing him a perfect gentle- man, entitled to some courtesy and commendation, whilst he deplores his fearful errors. Here thq COLLISION between the Cause of the B, and F.- JB. S., and the Cause of Christ, cannot be concealed. Dr. SteinkopfF assured me in a letter, dated Auig, 29th, 1813, in reply to my communication on this subject, " that the very idea of undervaluing the ministerial office, would be disavowed by every member of the Committee, &c.;'^ but in less than six years, my apprehensions were more tlian realized; for in the beginning of August, 1819, the minister above mentioned, had occasion to expose this Preface, and the following was the con^ sequence. fSee Mr. Haldane^s 2nd Rev. p. 131.) "The students at Strasburg, irritated to the highest pitclj against this preacher of the Gospel, on account of his exposure pf the infidel Preface, assembled under the windows of his apartments, with stones concealed in their cloaks, and knowing that he was fond of music they sung an hymn, to induce him to look out, while they were ready to knock him in the head, the moment he appeared. The professors, however, not being prepared to carry the matter so Ixii. far, as to commit murder, in cold blood, having heard of the design,** ran in amongst the students, and succeeded in dispersing them." And, the Minister himself informs us, " Mr. HafFner and the Neologists procured an order for my expulsion, but a conversation with the Prefect, prevented the execution of it ; and the Mayor gave me very distinguishing marks of approbation." Of all this, not a line transpired in our Reports. Little appears there but the praise said to be due for moderation. And of the persecuting Pastors of Lausanne it is written, in the Report of 1822. *'The zeal of the Clergy is reviving-,'^ but alas! the revival was that of a cruel persecution. The history given us in modern publications of the sufferings of orthodox ministers on the Continent, is appaling. Our Bible Society ^s Allies there, set themselves in array against the servants of Christ. I have remarked in a former letter, that Bible Societies had nothing to disoblige the world, so as to provoke persecution ; and Mr. Haldane has written in 2nd. Rev. p. 30, to the following effect: Thepreaching of the gospel brings matters to the test ; and often discovers in the state of things, an undesireable sight. Had Continental Bible Societies been composed of the friends of the gospel, preaching had been the best means of promoting their cause in the circulation of the Scriptures ; but from the beginnings the most formidable opposition to preaching, has arisen from this Society and its agents. In the vicinity of a Bible Society, com- posed of infidels, a faithful preacher is an unwelcome neighbour ; for "What communion hath light with darkness?" But for the presence of such a preacher, Haffiier's impious Prologomena had remained unnoticed, in the station which they had usurped. But Vice-President HafFner & Co. had no civil authority to abuse, in the immolation of their victim's moral respectability y such as many parties of Bible Society Vice-Presidents, in British Pro- vinces may have. Hence a faithful Preacher may he in a much more painful predicament still, in the Bible Society's home department ; and, in as much as no minister is at liberty to "remove his integrity from him," or to surrender his " righte- ousness 'till he dies," to gratify the avarice of false accusers, united with the still baser motives of persecutors ; some may remain for years confined in those mental fetters, which retained St. Paul for a period, in a prison-house, after Omnipotence had loosed his corporeal bands; and m such cases they can no more complain, than persons engaged in affairs of false honour, can apply to officers of Police, ajid at the sa?ne time avoid the suspicion and reproach of being in dread of the field oi trial.* I do not say that any one is so situated ; or that such abuse of power would be tolerated anywhere within a hundred miles of the British Metropolis. I only tell what can take place in distant parts: and that, should any ministers he thus maltreated ; their hardships could be known to none besides confidental friends, and the few to whom they must be unavoidably divulged, through repeated efforts to obtain redress ; and also that it is their duty to resist all attempts to tarnish their profession, so long as they have the necessary means remaining ; •Should the persecuting Party create an alaum, the Persecuted's Integrity could not be impeached from prematuie dijclosuies. 1 xir . pf^to say, after being openly and unjustlj accusedj^^ a^ St. Fa;ul said; " Do tiiey thrust us out privily I Nay, verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out/' And if it appears, when the ministers who have had firmness enough to resist the " Serpent's Progress," come to compare riotes^ il^tt in ufvi/' one imtance, "Judgment hath beeii turned thus into wormwood," in the " vast Con*- federacy which this Society combine$,"it will shew in fact, what has been wit/ in its writings ; No man " is justified in neglecting to investigat-e iCs cha* raoiery'dind to consider (not only) it's probable (bat also h^s actual) influence on human society." But of this, Sat vcrbum sapientibiis. "lie that hath ears, let him hear what the Spirit saith, &c." If we search the Scriptures, we shall find that religi- OKS I^eflectionshave always affected civil liberty ? and that Injustice has gone hand in hand, with Idolatry and Infidelity. The doom of Joash was sealed, by the death of Jehoiada's sons ; and the Spirit of Persecution, which it has displayed ; fore- tells the fail of the Bible Society. The Parallel \^ nearly completed. The beginning was good ia both i nstances. A nd , as Nemo repente ihrpissimus ^c, the decline was equally unperceived by many good people, I am persuaded. Some have, I am sure,perv formed a part in this drama, which, had it been predicted to each; had produced the Syrian's surprise, and reply, "What! is thy servant a dog I" That the evil could be remedied I assert ; and I Iieartily wish it may, for the constitution is sound, but I scarcely expect it shall ; what I fear most therefore, is the Society's lingering death. The <;auses, which 1 have described, as accessory to the error's origin and increase, will oppose the applica- -tion of necessary means to restore its health ; no minister whose Weal depends on the will of the JReligiousWorld, in its present state, dares to open liis mouth against it ; the most popular would have to preach to empty pews if he did ; but how longthedeliriummay last, noonecan say. Although the Society's restoration^ or its marked destruction upon that account, would be equally destructive to the cause of Unitarians ; I fear that few of those who joined in the fault, have the "faith of Sampson," to avenge on those Philistines in its fall ; and its advocates have declared that " it may be easier annihilated than altered." But, either it must be. ''^IVhatmy hand hath found to do, in order to effect the latter, "/ will do;^' '''•The Lord being my helper.'* Some must volunteer themselves in this repulsive service, forbidding as the task appears. The con- sciences of many accuse them of inconsistency^ to my knowledge; but they seem like loyal subjects, kept under the hatches by their piratical leaders : and, impressed with this conviction, I will repeat the words of the Rev. Blanco White, the recently reformed Spanish Priest. "Though I am not at Jiberty to mention individual cases, I do attest from the most certain knowledge, that tl?e history k of m-r owii mihd, i« with little varmtioii, that of a great portion of t he Spanish Clergj ." J'he 'interest" of the People, whom I have de- scribed as the Society's Parents, desei-^es bnt little noticeof itself ; yet, as the loyalty of apetty province is important, when a kingdom revolts; so the follow^- in«^ paragraphs, found a place in p. 68, of the 22nd Report just published; although the whole account of operations in the British Isles, occupies but a tenth part of its pages. A considerable part of North Wales was visited during the last Summer by oue of your Secretaries who is rejoiced in being able to report, that \\\ that part of the Principality, the interest in the work appc-ars unabated. Equally satisfactory information has been re- ceived from other quarters.-^Of Scotland, it is recorded with plea- sure, that to the Gaelic School Society" and to other institutions, s(o many "Bibles and Testaments have been presented." &c. But, as there is not a syllable said, of the almost unicer sal Revolt of the latter nation, no marvel that the forin€r should remain firm. It may be s^ifely said, that very Jew of the people whose prayers and pence, laid the Society's foundation, have any idea of the Socinian influence exercised in its foreign department; and of the mischief it is consequently doing under the management of a Committee whose Defenders declare that they are not responsible for even the hook$ w hich the Bibles they assist to cir- culate in foreign communions contain ; nor yet, for the fidelity of their translation. That all those peo- ple are thus innocent 1 do not say. Some of them ar« un -nationally disobedie at Aa.their wmiictions at the Societj^'s capital error, m regard to its union with the enemies of the Cross of Christ It has been observed in the Apocryphal controversy that "if a plan involves in it disobedience to the will of God, we know of no ground on which we can inno- cently and safely accede to it, even though the uni^ v^jjsal diffusion of the Scriptures, were to be the certain and immediate result. Our first and para- mount duty, is to holdfast our personal integrity, and not to let it go. If we deliberately renounce this in vain have we read the Bible for ourselves, and in vain are we zealous to secure the perusal of it among others.'^ Now, when the principle of con- science smites a believing member of this Society, for uniting with heretics notwithstanding the po- sitive command to "reject" them ; the salvo con- stantly applied, is the old hackneyed Petitio Prin- cipii,viz. "thereisnoharmin uniting with Socinians to disperse the Bible ;" a question which is always beorged, because utterly incapable of being affirm- atively solved. Its object is attainable onii/^ by begging. Thus, as an upright Premier may be prevailed on, to sanction an iniquitious decree, in a acorruptcabinet Council ; oras Pilate was persuaded by the Jews, to crucify the Lord Jesus, so conscience, whose prompt decision, in a matter so plainly re- vealed, deserves unqualified obedience, may yet be, and alas! frequently is, silenced, in long debates w:ith our debased passions ; and as this is confessedly the case, with many members of the Bible Society ; ixTiii. siVid eren with the xeryjirst of the People, to whoiir ih:ive just alluded; (as it may be further seen in one of my former letters,) I will confirm my former ar- guments against this desecrating alliance, with additional proofs of its perniciousnes to the souls of both Socinians, and Christians, independently of its being absolutely incompatible with the fidelity re- quired in Scripture Translations. The Holy Ghost wlio positively forbad iti, best knew its evil tend- ency. To shew, therefore, that Socinians feel flat- tered by thisSociety'sconnection; anddopridethem- selves in the liberty now allowed them, to assume the appellation of Christains, 1 will refer to a Dis- course entitled "Unitarianism the only religion that can become universal ;" delivered at Liverpool, April, I9th 1818, by G. Harris, and dedicated to T» Belsham; in which the former quotes tlie following passage, from a l^etter (received from a '• native Uni- tarian Christian," as he is termed, "of Madras,") to which an Introduction is prefixed by the latter : "We have a burying grouad of our own ; and a small place of Worship, opened Dec. IQtli 1813. One of the Agents of tie CaL ciitfa Auxiliary IJible Society in Madrass, is the Rev. Marmaduke Thompson, to whom we are very well known, by the r.anie of ihe Congregation of native Christiaus, of P isevvaukum ." So irrelevant part of this paragrapli appears, that its insertion can not be accounted for, but in the motives which I have just mcntitjned. Again : to shew that tiiis alliance is not only sinful, as a trans- gression of a }X)sitive Command, bat. mornlly speak- iiig, tixti'cnilvinf'ic'iiffs) \ v ill insert ln'rr a f?»w ■''l'V.).^,..r colloquial sentences, from the late Robert Robinson^ of Cambridge's "Plea for the Divinity of Christ" against Arians; for they bear great resemblance, in style and spirit, to the sentiments expressed by the Bible Society's Managers', Defenders, and other Members, reapectuigits dislinguished Socinian allies. May the perusal of them be blessed to save the in- cautious from their Author's awful end ! He makes his supposed querist to ask : *'\Vhy donotyou persecute, at least willi the tongue, those monstrous Unitarians? Because 1 have no warrant from Christ to do so, nor the least inclination to forge one. — Why do you praise them in every rompany? Because a mistaking man may merit praise for that very industry, which has led him into an error, and for that in- tegrity, which makes him against his interest, support it. But Vfhat occasion is there to keep company with them, and lo maintain an intimacy with thtm ? Because on every other article they edify me, and on this we agree to differ. In the possession of this truth I think 1 have the advantage of them. In regard to many others 1 am not worthy to speak to them ; I glory in being their Disciple. In what light then do you consider a sincere man, who denies our Lord's Divinity ? In the light of a mistaking Brother. — All this argues great coldness to your l.oid ! I would rather be frozen into a formalist, then inflamed with the fire of hell; in the first case I should be a harmless Statue ; in the latter a destroyer like the devil, {see his ivorks vol. 3 p. 103 p. 1 Q7.y Christian Reader! Remember Lot's ^Vife! ! This once frozen formal statue, is nov, , 1 jKiiiifuliy fear, really "inflamed withtheMreof heli," forhaving hft his professed "first love," and "crucitied to iiimseif the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." He appears to have preaclied Socinian hex. doctrines during the last two ©r three years of his life; and had he not been snatched away by the hand of Death, he had probably done more mischief than even Priestly ; whom he complimented in a letter, saying ; "But for your friendly aid, 1 fear 1 sho,uld have gone from enthusiasm, to Deism". Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burnt? One tpresumptive argument, used by Priestly in his Hist, of early opinions, (vol .3 p. 236] to prove that Unitarians had fellowship with the primitive Cliurch, was that there was no creed which could exclude them. "The Bishop," said he, "and the principal Clergy, zealous for the doctrine of the Trinity, might, of their own accord, harangue their audiences, on the subject : or they might pray as Trinitarians, but if the Uuilarians could bear with it, they might still continue in communion with them, there being wo law or rule to exclude them*'' This sophistry, truly resembles that of the Bible Society's advocates, who have presumed that its constitution has no laic or rule to exclude either he- retical men or heretical matter. But, as I have proved that, (although the Bishops and Clergy of this So- ciety never offend Unitarian intruders, with prai/er ; or with Trinitarian harangues) we have a Mule and Prospectus, to preclude all Socinian claims ; 1 naill prove also, that we have therein, only copied the example of the Primitive Church. The Successors of the Apostles were no less dogmatical than the Parents and Sponsors of the Bible Society: although- Xhey had no Creeds they had a Rule of Faith, whi^ch was subslaaLially the same, with the Apostles' Creeds, To this Rule irenaeus, the disciple of Polycarp, th« disciple of John, appealed, sajing, that "the uni- versal Church had the same rule o/'/n< forms us ; or Ebion, As Ephiplianius has written, it seems certain that the Apostle avoided unnecessary association with some heretic. And if he, endued as he was, with plenitude of inspiration, would so cautiously act ; how discreetly should we conduct ourselves, if we would, both avoid the theological infection* of infidels ; and be '''pure, from their blood !" These extracts and examples are sufficient to condemn Dr. Pinkerton's official conduct on the Continent. Having occasion to apply to him as the- locum tciiens of Dr. Steinkopft'- I obtained the favour of an interview with him, in our Society's- House, on the 7th Inst, and requested of him, the sight of some un-printed letters, alluded to in my Postcriptjatp. 77, and submittedtohisperusal some oi this preface as it passed through the press. Buty I conceive it proper, to repeat no more of the little conversation that passed, than that Dr. P. denied all consciousness, of his having endeavoured to pre- vent Dr. Naudi to become a Protestant ; which might jierhaps be bettc^r recollected by Dr N. him- self, and the party, said to have remonstrated;— that he declined giving a sight of any documents "in the Society's archives;" which did not signify tnuch: —that he declared that the Society's concerns have * " Haeretici autem nullum habent consortium nostrce dicipimce qnosestraaeos utique testatur ipsaarff mp^/io communicalionis. Noii debeo in iilis cogaoscere quod mihi est praecepium, quia non idem Deus est nobis et illis, nee unus Christus, id est idem, Ideoque Bee baptismus iinus, quia non idem." Terlulh of Bapiism. C. 15. IXXT. been conducted on the same si/stemyeyer lince he be- came connected with it, 13 years ago; in which my opinion previously printed, perfectly agreed with him And that he complained of Mr. Haldane's re- presentation of his having associated with Professor Paulus, at an Inn; adding^ that his motives were pure ; and that he had spent a part of the night, which I shall not name ; in endeavours to convert *fee Infidel from his errors; in which " 1 withstood tiim to the face, because he was to be condemned ; kategnosmenos en.'' His very excuse is inexcusable. Not that an Inn had been an improper place to re- claim any *' mistaking Christian brother." But such was the well-known infidelity of Paulus; that it did not require two minutes^ to accomplish all that the accredited agent of a religious Society, could in duty have to do with him. Since, their " not being spoken disTespeclfully of" by some of the primitive Christians; has been urged by Priestley, as one pre- sumptive argument, to prove that early Unitarians laelonged to the primitive Church ; Dr. P. should liave addressed the Neologist Professor; in the street before Kreitzer and Schwartz, in language as /a^o,s\«7;/y might have been improved : but their Trustees, instead of improving it, have madeof the best Institution; one of the worst in the world; both in theory and practice. That the letter and spirit of its original laws prove the forfeiture of their faith with th6 Public, 1 have shewed from the manner in which its concerns were managed, during its first ye«7\9; and in proving my second proposition, I pursued a similar course. That the liberal system which the Committee h2LS substituted, is inconsistent with the success of religion, (taking both the letter and spirit of the Rule, which Paul prescribed to Titus, as in- terpreted by primitive Christians,) 1 have demonstra- ted ; from the manner in which the ordinances of Christianiti/ were conducted, during its first cen- turies. And, lest I should appear to have laboured to establish untried hypotheses, I added to the writ- insfs of Fathers Irenseus and Tertullian, those of our late cotemporaries, Cecil and Robinson ; men of very superior natural sense, and widely as their cases were " made to diiTer:" they appear both in point. The latter was a Neologist, i. e. an idolizer of natu- ral reason in his best days. He never approached the Holy Bible, %vith that necessary disposition of mind, which the learned Bishop of London, has very self-denyingly described, as " the prostration of the understanding and will \" and, therefore, I fear he never believed its doctrines. Although he added, in the letter to Priestley above quoted, these words, ^'but faith founded on evidence, rests upon a rock ;'* he died a Deist, if his history is correct : for Unita-; rianism is but another name for one and the same thing. All the World is by nature Unitarian : if Pagan Polytheism be a corruption of Revelation, and none but real Trinitarians, do realli/ believe the Bi- ble. The Trinitarian is the Doctrine of Revelation alone ; and it is taught no where else. It was not in vain therefore, that our Reformers, so disposed of the Athanasian Creed, in our National liturgy, (fallen as it is, into disrepute in these Deistical days,) that it can seldom fail of being read, where full Services are performed, once in every month of the year, and that if it be missed in one, it must be read twice in another. But sponsor Cecil had a hmn- bier spirit. Although he added to at least an equal degree of natural abilities, a superior education, and a most refined taste, so that his ideas soared above all suspicion of enthusiasm, nevertheless he eonfessedJy feared the sliafts of Infidelity.* "The ♦ The English Version of Titus, iii. 10. happily expresses the duty of a Bishop towards heterodox candidates, but it conveys t'try inadfijvate ideas of the Canon it contains ; and therefore by obnj- tug it in luig'land, I subject myself to the tin just suspicion of saying f'Ao/i ire tangcrc, I am holier than thou," But the j vim:sry idea is, that of drprecdtiim, the ori|;iiial eTipr^sses tin moral and physi- Ixxxv. writings of iniidels, said he, though ultimately of little or no danger to the Church, are cold, intel- lectual, speculative, malignant foes. 1 dare not tamper with such &c." He sat in the Society of Bel- sham's Book by his own fire side, as Peter did among the enemies of his Master, and "awaked in pain as the Clock struck twice" but "his faith failed not" the Divine Intercessor's prayer prevailed^ though he could not pray, when "Satan sifted him cal, instinctive aversion of the human system, against what is dis- agreeable or dangerous. In Luke xiv. 18, 19. it expresses the aversion felt hy tvorfd/i/ men, to attend Gospel ordinances. — "All began to make excuse, w\th one consent." None of the Apostles used the term, but St. Paul, and he in only six Chapters. And in this place its version is most defective, in 1 Tim. v. 11. it is ren- dered to "refuse." "The younger widows refuse &;c." And when a good man has occasion to put this precept into practice the instinctive mora/aversion I mentioned is exemplified, see Gen. xxxix 8 9. In Heb. xii. 19; it expresses the p/tj/iica/ emotions felt in im- minent danger : there allusion is made to the terrors which the He- brews felt, when they simultaneously retreated under Mount Sinai, and " entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more-" And the Apostle, in ver. 25. exhorts Believers to take heed, lest they should feel such on aversion ; saying, "Ye are come to Mount Sion, — to Jesus, — to the blood of sprinkling, — See that ye refuse not him that speaketh, — if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth. &c." As MnieZ/V/" is the sin described in the J.ii. verse as i^asily hcsctting the Christian ; as clinging around him; circumcingeute peccato, Btza; as a tenaciously inherent sin. tenacitfr inhcprente, Erasmus; the Apostle says, " Beware lest ye feel disposed to withdraw, or toish to be excused, &c. And as unbelief surrounds, as it were, like powder, in every plait of our f lothes ; how important is the caution ! " Beware of the man that is an heretic." It amounts to the same with Eph. vi. 16. "Above all things, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye may quench the tiery darts, &c." The doubts contiiiually thrown out by Unitarian heretics, in words and writings, are the fiery darts of the Dragon, 3nd who in his right mind, would not instinctively withdraw from a forge anvil, when he carries powder about him, in thin garments, lest the sparks penetrate his pockets, and cause ignition? The other texts Acts, xxv. 11. &1 Tim, iv. 7. refuse. 2 Tim. ii. 23. ficoicl. Our Saviour was without sin, — th»' tempter failed. Ixxxvi. as wlieat." Whereas the othpr alas ! like Judas, tampered with his tempters ; — fell headlong into their toils ; and was soon placed by Providence, as a pillar of precaution, to bid us beware of the man that is an heretic! while the experimental writ- ings of Cecil are calculated to "confirm hisbrethren" and to encourage us, who are the "friends of Christ, to bear with patience, the odious charge of dogma- tism, from motives of real benevolence to mankind ; and take everj opportunity of testifying our ab- horence of heresy,^' as the historian Milner admon- ished us, "knowing that primitive Christians, care- fully separated themselves from heretics ; beheld their views with horror ; and could notallowthose to be Christians who denied fundamental doctrines."* Such accumulation of evil this coalition, is cal- culated to produce, that I can not but commiserate posterity on account of the prospect. The learned labors, which our Fathers happily accomplished at the close of the last century, in refuting the im- pious opinions of Priestley, seem to me but mere amusements, compared with those which are being prepared for our children, in the course of this, be- sides the danger to which they are exposed, through the faithless demolition of the old partition wall. And, I consider the sleepless toils of early Fathers, in exploring the East for the holy materials of the • Tertnllian allowed room for recantation, " lest Satan should get an advan- taq^e " Ubiqne tamen propter instructionem et munitiunem quorunduni .daadus tst ctiani retractafibus locus : vt\ ne videatur iinaquppque perversitas, non ex- amiuata, sed pKvjudicata damnari J— — Siraplices esiim quippc, &c. [ Adv. Prax. c. 2 .T] Ixxxvii. blessed Volume, and those of the rtrst Reformers ol' the West, in collectinir the mind of the Holy Spirit among the middles & margins, of numberlessmanu- scripts, as unworthy of comparison, with the diffi- culties to be surmounted, in remedying the mischief, navy being made by the Bible Society's Piles, of So- cinian stereotype Plates, and minor Publications. And, had Mr. Brandram, during his recent tour in the Society's birtli place (as lie termed Wales, in his last speecli at the Paul's Head Tavern) honestly told the Parents, but a moiety of the mischief, which tlieir spoiled child has made, in "merging Christian peculiarities," in mis-translating of Scripture textsy and in fruslrating theeffects of the living ministry, hy persecuting faithful preachers openli/ abroad, and by still more anticliristian means, indirectli/ employ- mi at home ; instead of increasing the vanity of the semi-religious in the Principality, by concealing its vices there, as he does elsewhere ; I believe that they are not so far fallen from the Faith of their own Fathers ; but that they had instantly sacrificed all parental partiality to the imperious injunction of the hardest duty, imposed on man, by the hand of Moses ; in order to put away such evils. They had severely chastised their Child, and, had no amend- mentensued; they had said to the Eldersof theircity, *' this our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice ;" Dent. 7ixi. 20. And since he was not so faithful, I will inform them ; and more than that, I will apply the rod to the rebel myself, in the double capacity of sponsor and kinsman, and if no Ixxxviii. repentance is produced by this public flagellation^ in the streets of the Metropolis, 1 will try what a similar experiment in Provincial places will efFect^i The urchin's stubbornness has long been known in thefamilif .iVlr. Drummond (now Sheriff of Surrey) has said in the preface of a Pamphlet, privately circulated respecting- the Apocrypha, that : — " Conversations were held privately with the Secretaries, th«iy admitted the evil ; they confessed that the fundamental principle of the Society had been departed from, but said, that they had now proceeded to such length, that they did not know how to retrace their steps, and, begged that nothing might be broached to the pub- lic, nor in the Committee. Time was given them to deliberate ; they did so : and then said, that by degrees the evil should be remedied. Under this impiessiou the matter was allowed to rest.," But its Sociuianism shall Jiol rest. If the Secretaries and the Committee-men, know not how to retrace their steps, their constituents w^j/ soon teach them; or take the candlestick from them. I will un- deceive a generous unsuspecting* Community ; and althouoh this desolatinj>: torrent was no more to be stemmed by the higotry of Bishop March, than the fiery fumes of Vesuvius and Mount ^Etna, yet when it is thus exhibited^ as affecting the vitals of true re- ligion; whatever the Unitarian world may say, it will be seen, that the voice o/* God's People is the VOICE of God uiMSELF ; for when the enemy com- eth in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord, by their means, lifteth up a standard against him. Chelsea, August 4:lh, 1826. W. W, INTRODUCTORY LETTER. SIR, Confiding in your sincerity in the profession you have made, at p. 2, of your re- ply to Mr. Haidane's " Review of the Conduct of the Bible Society's Directors," where you said, " If, therefore, any Gentleman, influenced by a sincere desire to promote the sacred in- terests of truth and religion, should consider it his duty to point out what he conceived to be defects in the system or practice of the Society, or to call the attention of its mem- bers to any real or apparent deviation from its fundamental rules, so far from entertaining any unfriendly feeling towards such an indi- vidual, I should feel and acknowledge my ob- ligation, and adopt the language of the Royal Psalmist : " Let the righteous smite me, and it shall be a kindness, &c." I submit to your perusal a Book in which 1 traced, seven years since, the Progress which the " Serpent Error" had previously made in that Society's administration, but of the contents of which, you may not, as yet, have informed yourself: and being influenced solely by the desire which you have induced me to cherish, to do what I can to promote those sacred interests^ by point- ing out " what I know to be defective in the B Society's present system and practice ; and by calling the serious attention of its members once more, to many real and grievous devia- tions, from its original^ fundamental rules, hitherto insufficiently noticed ; I add a few pages, wherein you may trace the further *' Progress'^ which the same " Serpent^' has made, during the seven years' period, that has subsequently elapsed. As you have said in the Jirst sentence, of the Reply alluded to, thus, " 1 have often trembled when, either in public or private, I have heard the British and Foreign Bible Society extravagantly praised ;" I con- ceive that the less 1 praise you, the more you will be pleased ; and yet, I think it right to anticipate a remark, which you will naturally make, in perusing my book, which has but recently occurred to myself, viz. that although I have most seriously called the Society^s par- ticular attention, to Mhat its reverend advo- cate, Edward Cooper, denominated its " Grand Portion, i. e. the translation and dissemination of the Scriptures into all languages and coun- tries," as including the Grand Perils, in which its deviations and defects unavoidably involve its operations ; I have not written a line, which may be said to reflect on you, as its Foreign Secretary ; nor have I even alluded to the in- terviews I had with you, — to the prospectus I sent youj—or to the letters that passed between us on this subject, in August 1813; when, beins: classed in the Committee of a Branch Society at G , with an avowed Soci- nian, licenced to preach in one of my Pa- rishes ; and with an other licenced Dissenter, who was capable of uttering most disloyal sentiments, and occasionally preached in my other Parish, though he had not then been ordained, at the call of any congregation, I relinquished that connection, because they were both admitted ex officio. 1 confess that I was unconsciouf^ly kept from offending, in that respect, or, perhaps, led to have been less faithful than I ought to have been, by a kind of sympathy, which I felt with you, and to which 1 considered you entitled. For, had I been placed by Divine Providence, in your circumstances, at the time the institution was formed, I might have been prevailed upon to take the part you took, in the management of its concerns ; because 1 took it for granted, that its Rules were, by all its Members, un- derstood in their plain and obvious meanings and therefore saw in them no defects, subject- ing to the danger of any deviations, which might not be avoided, by Christian firmness and prudence. But, besides that I had no idea, of the strange constructions to which the chief of those rules, have been forcibly sub- jected, I Avas not then sufficiently well ac- quainted with the people, among whom you and I, sojourned ; to know that they are ever prone to undulate ;--that they are, as the pious Richard Baxter observed, so (pugnaciously) impati- ent of contradiction, that they often defend their errors as themselves ;'^ nor that, in con- sequence, it could be so difficult as it is, for them ever to pause on the brink of precipices, to which " the currents of popular feeling'^ so frequently carry them. Being therefore deeply sensible of the obligations under which I am, to be thankful, that I was not placed in a si- tuation so trying, — wherein my duty might clash with my inclination, — my prepossessions in favor of the Institution, might disincline, as well as disqualify me, to detect its errors and defects ; — and my dislike to expose the misconduct of my associates, might subject me to the severity of self-reproach. I may surely presume, that the " gentle'^ reproof which my Strictures may indirectly convey, cannot fail to be considered by you as "a kindness,^' or to be characterized (according to the expectation which you claim a right to entertain,) by " the wisdom that is pure, peaceable, and easy to be entreated." While, on the one hand, I am aware that it greatly aggravates the guilt of those abettors of an erroneous practice, now reluctantly renounced, to excuse themselves, by saying, " We feel a kind of pugnaciousness, preventiug us to change our line of conduct, so long as our opponents attempt to prevail on us, as it were, by force*," and that it must be as preposterous in them, to expect conscientious Christians to condemn their misconduct, in measured terms, as it would be for the inhabitants of a burning house, to expect their benevolent neighbours, who behold their danger, to refrain from voci- ferous alarms, through fear of giving offence, by disturbing their midnight slumbers. I am, on the other hand, also aware (with the pious author above named), that " nothing so much hindereth the reception of truth, as urging it ou men with too harsh importunity, and falling too heavily on their errors." It cannot, indeed, be too firmly maintained, that the real merits of no question in debate, can be at ail affected, by the temper in which its discussion is conducted ; yet, so little open to conviction, are the minds of persons impru- dently preposst'd, in favor of their own opi- nions ; that they commonly condemn the spirit^ in which the most convincing arguments, are brought against them, in order to weaken their /orc'^, unless all grounds of complaint, are precluded by Christian love. Hence the motto, which you placed on your Banner, * Speech of the Rev. J. W. C ra, at the last Anniversary. ( " Speaking the truth in love ^' ) highly deser- ved, a less indefensible cause. You also evin- ced your prudence, in not entering into the question in dispute, about the circulation of the Apocrapha. It presented only a forlorn hope. But, much as I conceive, the Church of Christ to be indebted to the firmness of those North Britons, who brought that ques- tion to the point, at which it rests ; I must say ; I think that the reformation of abuses, began just where it should have ended. Those imps which have sprung, as it were, about the roots of the tree of life, and are now re- moved, are of incomparably less importance, noisome and cumbersome as they are, than the poisonous misletoes, attached to its sacred trunk, by some of this Society's foreign asso- ciates. You may therefore easily account for the concern I have expressed on that score, while I only anticipated those results which have since arisen. And the exclusive object I had in view, when I published the book sub- mitted to your perusal, was to induce the Society's managers, to pause and reflect on the awful error which Iiad gradually and surrep- titiously crept into its system ; or to consent to a parole discussion of its doubtless deme- rits, wherever it suited them best. I was well aware of the advantages to be derived in the -management of a cause so good as mine, by doming into close action, with muzzle towards muzzle ; and they were equally sensible of the danger attending such an attempt, to defend their indefensible cause ; and therefore they constantly kept aloof; pretending not to have heard the report of my pieces. I have evident- ly, therefore, left me, no other attentive now, than to persevere in a running engagement, if ] may so humorously, express myself, in a theological controversy, with parties I greatly regard ; and this I do, in humble hopes, that, with the aid of heaven's gales in my crowded canvass, I may soon arrive in their sight ; and either triumphantly dissolve their unscrip- tural combination ;" by the woi'd of Truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteous- ness, on the right and left;" or at least, secure the sacred ark, from falling effectually, into the unhallowed hands, of their Socinian Allies. And all tliat I wish the parties concerned in this combat, collectively and individually to pos- sess, is a mind divested of prejudice to weigh my arguments well, and a heart so subdued to the obedience of faith, as promptly to obey the conviction which, they will, in persons thus predisposed, most infallibly produce. With a fervent prayer that the Father of Mercies may- impart these preparations, I close this brief in- troductory Letter, and subscribe myself, Reverend Sir, Yours, &c. LETTER II. On the Society s illusive Logic. It may be proper to observe in this place, that the great success of the various Charitable Institutions with which Britain at present abounds, beyond a parallel, in any part or period of the world ; is owing, in no small de- gree, to the honest enthusiasm of their respec- tive advocates. At whatever Anniversary, one is present, he is almost induced to believe, that the cause which is advocated there, is the most deserving of all ; the several pleaders appear most powerfully impressed with such an idea themselves ; and so earnestly endea- vour to convince others of its reality and truth, that a feeling heart, cannot fail to be influenced in favor of the interest they recom- mend to his bounty. And this may very easily account, for many harmless mistakes committed; but it cannot justify the incon- sistencies observable in the pleadings of many of the Bible Society's most respectable advo- cates. Divine truth disdains the aid of so- phistry, however splendid. Indeed, great incorrectness of reasoning, on a subject so serious as that of dispersing the Bible, is inexcusable, and causes pain to a reflecting mind. Some years ago this Society's advo- cates affirmed, that there " must be, according to its laws," a constant majority of votes in favor of the Established Church, in its Ma- naging Committee ; and, as its opponents -conceded, saying, " it is constituted on the ■basis of equaliti/" the affirmation vt^as taken as true, though evidently false ; even Socinian dissenters cOuld any where prevail, if they pleased to qualify members, to claim each a seat and a voice, at a trifling extra expence. Another position has been as uniformly as- sumed, though equally untenable, to this effect : " the Bible, in authorized versions, is the pure word of God^ therefore it matters not what characters are employed, in providing Bibles, in all the languages of the world ; and, in the celebrated speech of the Rev. Robert Hall, of Leicester, in these very words, *' The perversion of the Bible can proceed only from the corruption of its readers. " On this ground the Society's advocates continu- ally urge their sacred claim to universal sup- port, and, denying it to be possible ever to disprove their right, they deride the idea of its dubitability. This is the postulate^ around which its reasoning runs in a circle, and it must be of the utmost importance to expose 4ts fallaciousness. To bring the subject^ 9i therefore, down to a level with the under* standing of the humblest believer, let us sup- pose that our Institution was designated " The British and Foreign Bread Society," and was formed for the benefit of the poor, at home and abroad ; to increase bread where it is, and to furnish it where it is not known. This would be unquestionably a good work. Bread is justly stiled "The staff of life:" '* it is God that giveth bread to the eater." But, should any one assert, that " the adul- teration of bread could proceed only from the corruption of its eaters," his logic would not be accounted consistent, without supposing that the Lord gave bread already nianufac' iured. If mankind had been provided with bread thus made was extremely bad, composed of chaiF or of buck wheat, and of other improper, and even of poisonous materials ; that, consequently, complaints were repeatedly made against these managers by some of the members ; and 13 that, nerertheless, some leading men among them obstinately maintained, that the al- ledged deviations were no infractions of the Society's laws, that it had not been speci* tically expressed of what materials the bread was to consist ; but that, if any bias was to be allowed in favor of any particular descrip- tion of flour, it should be conceded to the taste of the people who wanted it, vrhether they were sound or insane; that where bark of trees was customarily used, bark dust should be still intermixed ; and that where buck-wheat meal was held in esteem, a mix- ture of that, with flour, should be baked for bread ; and, in short, maintained that their Society's rules did neither authorize, nor re- quire them, to control the parties whom they employed abroad ; so that if, in dispensing their charity in every country, according to the people's taste ; or in accommodating the humours even of patients in lunatic hospitals, who lusted for sugar of lead, in lieu of the staff of life, their agents caused untimely deaths, it " was their concern, not the con- cern of this Society, who were no more re- sponsible for the materials of which, than for the manner in which, their foreign bread was made." And suppose, moreover, that some of the Society's foreign factors, were convicted of having infused arsenic, in making the brea<^ 14 abroad, to the imminent danger of human life; and that, although it had been decided by a vast majority at different meetings, that the *' great body of the Society's members had, from the beginning, intended to supply the wants of the poor abroad, as well as at home, an far as ever their funds afforded it, with wholesome bread, prepared of the ' finest wheat ;* these advocates still maintained that the Society had bound itself by no obliga- tions, in regard to the foreign application of its funds ; and, consequently, the managing committee were guilty of no infraction of its laws, &c/' I ask, what line of conduct would you recommend for the adoption of a society so circumstanced ? AVould you have all its members assembled at the first ensuing anni- versary, to subscribe the doctrines of such advocates, and concur in voting thanks to them, among the rest of its directors ; and, in requesting the continuance of their united services for the ensuing year? Would you not rather exclaim, " My soul, come not thou into th€ir secret : and to their assembly mine honor be not thou united ;" and say, " Let us rather call a special general meeting, and re- quest the attendance of all the original mem- bers that remain alive, so that it may he fair It/ and clearly proved, that these gentlemen have forfeited our confidence, and ought to be dis- 16 charged, as unworthy of trust; and that the sense in which our fundamental rules were understood by the framers thereof, may be explicitly demonstrated., seeing we were at first insufficiently cautious. Let us describe the responsibility of our agents, in terms unal- terably precise to prevent all future abuse of our bounty ; so that nothing pernicious may be substituted for wholesome aliment, with our assistance, or at our expense. Being in- fluenced by the purest benevolence ourselves, we never thought before of weighing every word, as if we feared the tricks of attornies ; but now we bewail the consequences of being so unsuspicious, and must needs take mea- sures to prevent further disasters." Now, since the application is easy, it surely cannot be needful for me to write a line in explana- tion of the parallels drawn in these hypo- theses, or to show at length how they expose the weakness, not to say the sophistry, of this Society\s reasonings. As the Lord has never vouchsafed (with the utmost reverence be it said,) to furnish a mor- sel of " the bread that perisheth" not liable to perversion, in the process of being pre- pared, since the repast he miraculously pro- vided by the sea of Tiberias ; so he has given us no scripture, but what has been, and still continues to be, subject to perversion.^ in being 10 translated from one language into another J the imperious necessity, of the utmost pre- caution, in those who undertake to disperse Bibles all over the universe, is sufficiently ob- vious. As the salvation of souls is infinitely more important than the preservation of bo- dily health, so the mischief, which may be occasioned by a badly conducted Bible So- ciety, exceeds all the evils that dishonest meal- men and bakers can possibly cause. " Holy men of God, spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," and either wrote their words, or dictated to other writers ; and what is ne- cessarj?^ for us to know " for our souls health,'' £;ame down to the hands of Protestants, amidst all the fluctuations of the tide of time, in the careful custody of Trinitarian believers. Not, indeed, in one or two volumes, but in a vast number of sacred manuscripts, and parts of manuscripts ; and these were collaterally kept :and attested, in the numerous quotations of early Fathers, half a dozen at least of whom ^ve know to have been disciples of inspired penmen. Three or four hundred years elapsed, after the ascension of Christ, before the diffe- rent books contained, even in the New Testa- ment, were collected into one volume, and universally received, or accounted as cano- nical ; and above a thousand more, before the discovery of the art of printing. Then the It itiind of the Lord, expressed in those invalua- ble records, was made out, from a great variety of written copies, and parts of copies, collected by learned and faithful men ; the Gospels, it is asserted, from three or four hundreds, and the Epistles of St. Paul from nearly half as many copies : all differing in some degree, iand yet no one possessing superior correct- ness, sufficient to claim for it a preference over all the rest, or entitle it to the credit of being the true copy. And it is probable that what Irenseus, Bishop of Lyons, in France, who was a disciple of Polycarp, the disciple of St. John, says of the Apocalypse : " It was seen not a long time ago, but almost in our own age, at the end of the reign of Domitian,^' is as much as could, even then, have been said of any other part. Had that early father sought over all the East for the autograph, of the Gospel written by Mark, the supposed ama- nuensis of Peter ; or of that which Luke, the companion and supposed amanuensis of Paul, penned, or of that of the " Large letter'* writ- ten by the latter " to the Galatians with his own hand,'' the search had probably been as fruitless, as if he sought for fragments of the Holy Decalogue Tables, which Moses marred " beneath the mount." " Others have la- bored" for us, and " we have entered into D rs their labors ;" and the fruit of their industry and vigilance, contained in the Jewish canon,- and in the Text us rcceplus of the Greek Tes- tament, maj be termed " the fine wheat," mentioned in the Society's preparatory Essay ; this must be ground and manufactured, be- fore it satisfies the souls of many of the na- tions, for whom it has been most graciously provided. Hence the Bible Society may be said to have its grinders, as well as its grana- ries ; its factories, as well as its repositories : and hence it must be truly absurd to say, as one of its Clerical Members said in his Re- marks, published in the year 1813, on a Charge delivered, by the present learned Bishop of Winchester, to the Clergy of his late Diocese ©f Lincoln ; thus— *' When we hear of co-operating \i\\h heretics aftd schis-- matics, we naturally understand it to mean co-operating with them in their heretical character ; but, after what has been said, nothing need be added, to show how far that is from being the case here. With their particular principles we have nothing to do in the Societr/. They never come into view. We unite with such persons, only in their general character of professed believers in the Bible ; and only in a specific object, which is common to all Christians." As little to the purpose, it must be also to say, what the learned Bishop of Salisbury said himself, in a Charge delivered to tlie Clergy 19 of the Diocese of St. David's, in the same year, and quoted by the above member : thus — *• Nothing but great inattentioa to the great principle upon which the Bible Society is conducted, or ignorance of the Society's proceedings ; or of the members who compose it, could induce any one to suppose, that a btliever in Christ's atonement can lose any of his veneration for that evangelical doctrine, because Socinians unite with him in distributing the pure text of the Gospel, from which it.is derived." And if the Society proceeds on its present system, more vague still was the logic of the learned Recorder of Leeds, in October, 1811, which runs as follows : — " The British and Foreign Bible Society, above all other establishments, constitutes an era in the modern history of Christianity, presenting the delightful spectacle of the fol- lowers of the great Founder of our religion, of whatever sect or denomination, and however separated from each other by marked or evanescent lines of distinction on points of doc- trine or of discipline, here at least finding a point of contact, and a bond of union ; gathering themselves together under the banner of the Gospel ; unanimous in the orthodoxy of diffusing through the world that iiniversal text of the faitU and doctrine of them all *," All these pieces appear to have been penned i^n the usually received principle ; viz. that the Bible, in being diffused through all the Worlds is a text that cannot be deterioriated through Socinian alliances. As if the Critic's asser- tion was founded on fact, that it is a gift which * See Hist. vol. i. p. 350. 20 '^cannot be vitiated by the giver." Let our minds, therefore, be duly impressed with the just apprehension, of the ill effects, which such loose, or vague language can extensively pro- duce, and we shall be prepared to enter on thesober discussion of the subject, which claims our primary attention, as original members of this erring Society; namely, the just interpre- tation of its fundamental rules, and proposals, which shall be canvassed in the following let- ters by, Rev. Sir, Yours, &c. P. S. The importance of the subject discussed above, is greatly enhanced by the due consideration of difficulties at- tending the translation of the Scriptures into Pagan and Mahommedan languages, A tedious and acrimonious con- troversy has been carried on, respecting a Turkish transla- tioninwhichDr.Hendersonand Professor Lee are combating; The former appears to be an advocate for a literal and spi- ritual version ; and the latter, for a more liberal diction, which accords vfith the usui loquendi among the different na- tions respectively ; and, from what has transpired, it appears difficult to express the meaning of such a phrase as the Lord's Day in the lai.guage alluded to, so as to accommodate the caprice of the people, or the idioms of their tongue; but having not examined the pamphlets written on both sides, 1 can offer no opinion on their theological merits. I merely refer to the controversy itself, in order to shew, that to give the mind of the Lord in any new language, is no light mat- ter ; and, perhaps, there is no way whatever, in which money can be so detrimentally employed, as in circulating Bibles hadly rendered. 21 LETTER Iir. On the Society's Exposition of its original Designs, REV. SIR, Of all the Cliurches which were planted in the days of Paul, that of Ephesus was the most flourishing, as we may justly suppose, from the spiritual profundity of his Epistle to the Ephesians. But he foretold them, that " grievous wolves would enter in, not sparing the flock ;" and, in the days of John, their way was being prepared. " I have somewhat against thee," said the Lord, by him, " to the Aiigel of that Church," and so he says now to the Bible Society. " Thou hast left thy first love," is the complaint he makes. " Re- member, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works,^* is the admonition he gives. "Or else I will come unto thee quickly, and remove thy candle- stick out of his place, except thou repent," is the alternative he proposes. Now the most prudent method that we, as bewildered travel- lers, can adopt, to find the road we have lost in a strange land, is to retrace our steps until we discover the place where we began to err, even though we should be compelled to retro- 22 grade ever so far. And with this design I will insert four of the most important of our So- ciety's Resolutions, just as they were originally passed and acted upon, together with parts of the Documents which preceded and followed them ; and on which therefore their true inter- pretation depends. The 1st, 2d, 7th, and 8th Resolutions, the Society passed, at its forma- tion, on the 7th day of March, 1804, on the *' day which (as Owen observed. Hist. vol. i. p. 47,) will be recorded as peculiarly honour- able to the character of Great Britain, and as fixing an important epoch in the religious world," were expressed as follow :—• r I. A Society shall be formed, with this designation, The British and Foreign Bible Society, of which the sole oh" ject shall be to encourage a wider dispersion of the Holy Scriptures. 11. This Society shall add its endeavours to those employed by other Societies, for circulating the Scriptures through the British dominions ; and shall also, according to its abi- lity, extend its influence to other countries, whether Chris- tian, Mahomedan, or Pagan. VII. The Annual Meeting of the Society shall be held in the month of May, when the Treasurer and Conmiittee shall be chosen, the Accounts audited, and the Pi-oceedings of the foregoing Year reported. is VIII. Irhe Committee shall consist of Thirty-six Members, who shall conduct the Business of the Society, and shall have power to call an Extraordinary General Meeting. Twenty- four of the Committee, who shall have most frequently at- tended, shall be eligible to a re-election the ensuing year. " These Committee Membei-s were chosen/' says Mr. Owen (do. p. 57,) " indiscriminately, from the Episcopal Clergy, Dissenting Minis- ters, and the Laity at large, with little refe- rence, to any other qualification, than that of known, or reputed attachment to religion, and either ascertained, or probable regard, for the object and success of the Institution." Thus, according to the original Rules, two most invaluable privileges were secured for religion. First, a free course for the word of God, without a slavish recognition of any hu- man control^ and without having the fetters of faulty versions, in which it is already printed; completely rivetted, as they are, under the provision subsequently annexed to the first Resolution : and, secondly, an immunity, in a defined Committee, against the danger of its being perverted, in being revised or trans- lated, by any enemies of its true meaning." For, under that Coristitution, no Socinian could enter the Managing Committee, so long as the majority of the constituted Members, assem- 24 bled at the Society's General Meetings, conti- nued to regard the Holy Scriptures as the proper standard of faith, in the proper sense of those words. But, alas ! it completely lost the latter privilege, in little less than two months, and the former in as little less than fourteen ; for, on the 2d of May following, it was resolved, at the General Meeting of that year, that the thirty-six chosen Members of the Committee should be ail laymen : fifteen of them Churchmen, fifteen native Dissenters, and fifteen Foreigners, resident in, or near London ; and the Resolution which stands now in the 13th place (by which Ministers of Re- ligion subscribing one guinea per year, are admitted ex officio)^ was adopted, as follows : — " Every Clergyman or Dissenting Minister, who is a Member of the Societj^ shall be ad- mitted to attend and vote at all Meetings of the Committee." Hence, according to tlie latitude of interpretation, recommended by the late Reverend Secretary Owen, any Lay Member of the Society may qualify liimself for two shillings and sixpence, the price of a preaching licence, and enter into the Com- mittee, as it were, by a back door ; therefore no conjecture can be formed, as to the number of votes which may be, to be divided in the Committee, on any question whatever ; nor could it be, ever afterwards, said with truth, 25 " that a constant majority was secured on the side of the Church of England,'^ if that could sufficiently preclude all evils attending indefinitude and want of choice. So much must suffice at present of the Society's Reso- lutions ; for it is to be noticed, that before they were written, a preparatory Essay, and a Circular Letter, were issued, in which the Christian Public were invited to join in its formation, as follows : — Essay, p. 28. Circulating- the Bible only, we circulate pure truth, pure morality, pure religion ; and while we thus offer to the hungry multitude the finest wheat,without tares and with- out chaff, we provide what is suitable to every one ; we commit no mistake ; and not being distracted by variety, we lose no time, when applied to for a volume of instruc- tion, in deliberating what to give. Thus, too, we demo- lish the invidious wall of par- tition, &c. Circular. Hist. v. i, p. 35. The projected Society not refusing to co-operale on the same ground, would traverse scenes which other J^ocieties are, by their regulations, for- bidden to occupy ; and pre- senting nothing but the in- spired volume would be sure to circulate truth, and (ruth alone ; hereby avoiding the occasions of controversy, and opening a channel into which Christians of every name might, without scruple, pour their charitable contribu- tions. Greater importance still attaches to the Prospectus printed in a Circular, issued soon after the Society was formed, and included in the Report of the same year's proceedings, and " widely circulated,'' (as the Historian E 26 observes, (vol 1, p. 65,) "in order to make waj for the Society's obtaining respectable patro- nage, and competent support, by a fair expo- sition of its nature, its views, and its qualifi- cations," in which its Objects and Principles are thus described : — Object. The exclusive Object of this Society is to ditfuse the know- ledge of the Holy Scriptures; by circulating them in the different languages, spoken throughout Great Britain, and Ireland, and also according to the extent of its funds by pro- moting the printing of them in foreign languages and the distribution of themin foreign countries. Principles. The Principles upon which this undertaking will be con- ducted, are as comprehensive as the nature of the objectsug- gests that they should be. In the execution of the plan, it is proposed to embrace the com- mon support of Christians at large, and to invite the con- currence of every description of persons; professing to re- gard the Scriptures as the proper standard of Faith. This "exposition" sufficiently shows, accord- ing to the universally approved principles of sound logic, that the original members of the Society, originally intended to exclude from their Bibles all uninspired Matter, and from tlieir Fdllowship all heretical Men; for they could not do the former without doing the lat- ter also; and two ways have been frequently, and as fruitlessly tried, to arrive at a diiferent conclusion; a conclusion which must be as de- grading to the characters, as they are contrary to the desiu,ns of those who framed the law. 11 Thejirst has been lo wrest their words, the last to misrepresent their motives. The letter and the spirit of the above-quoted Resolutions, and Prospectus, have been and continue to be, al- ternately tried in vain. The more tliey are as- sailed, the brighter they shine, in their natural unsophisticated meaning, like the truths which they are intended to circulate. To prove this, let us put them lo the test. That all classes of Trinitarian Protestants in the British Empire, agreed, at the time these rules were written, (if they do not still) with our "Articles of Religion," that no matter but what is there described, as canonical, is to he accounted as a " proper" Test of Christian Doc- trine, or "Standard of Faith," will be, I believe, allowed by all parties; and also, that there is no sect, or party whatever, who, as a donomina- ?£on, are known to deny the inspiration of a sin- gle chapter in the canonical Scriptures, with- out also denying the Divinity of Christ, what tloubts soever, there may be entertained by heretical individiuals, tolerated in different communions. Let it be, but allowed likewise, that up to the period of the Bible Socicty^s birth neither a "serious Churchman," nor a Dissenter esteemed orthodox, ever wrote a Theological work, in which he conceded to Socinian or Uni- tarian heretical men, their presumptous claim, to the sacred appellation of Christians, (as f 28 have alsewed io mv pobiished letters, beyond all cotitradictioii hitherto attempted, to my know- ledge,) and I am furnished with all the critical apparatus I require, to establish my Twin Po- sitions; and, should'anj begrudge me the use, of these assumptions, let them be as illiberal if they please; their Catholicism, will only com- pel me to prove, the Society to have been, by so much the more dogmatical, as I approach my conclusions, by the other road. Perhaps there never were truths debated in the world, capable of better demonstration, by means of Syllogisms technically construct- ed, than these which are now before me, were I disposed so to display them. But fewer words will serve the purpose, while the above •' exposition" is kept in view. For no one could suppose that the Society's object embraced apocryphal matter, under the term Scrip- tures, even with the plural S; who observed, that in the description given of the Society's PRINCIPLES, the Scriptures are represented as *' the proper standard of faitli^^ which all Pro- testants deny, to be descriptive of the Apo- crypha. Neither could any one reasonably think, that the " concurrence of Socinians was invited^^' or their " support embraced^' as mem' hers, among " Christians at large,'' seeing that sacred appellation, (uniformly denied to all who deny the divinity of Christ,) was in the 29 mme sentence explained, as applicable to per- sons who, at least, professed to regard tlie Scriptures as the proper standard of faiths'' which no Socinian could be logically said to have ever done ; for, from their ancestors, Carpocrates and Ebion* (to whom they have honestly traced up their pedigree), down to this very day, they have avowedly regarded only PARTS of the Scriptures. They have most explicitly denied the anthenticity of other parts : they have rejected as spurious, among others, the two first Chapters of St. Mathew's Gospel (with the first verses of the third), which contain the sacred history of our Sa- vior's miraculous conception, &,c. Hence, as *' the Holy Scriptures" is the proper standard of faith," and as the Apocrypha is not applied " to establish any doctrine," the Apocrypha could not be included under the Term Scrip- tures, Quod erat demonstrandum. Again, as it was the concurrence of persons who professed to regard the Holy Scriptures as the proper standard of faith, was the only concurrence invited ; and as Socinians professed not to re- gard the Scriptures, as Protestant I'rinitarians do, their concurrence was not invited. Q. E. D, Now, if any one should still contend that the founders of the Society, and the framersof its Rules and Prospectus, were so liberal as to accept a profession of regard to only parts of * See Hoornbeck, Socin. confut. vol. i. Appar. p. 7. BO the Scriptures, as a qualiification for member- ship, instead of regard for the whole; or, in other words, that although the letter of these rules will not bear this test of logical discus- sion, in the same sense as that, he says^ they in- tended them to be understood ; yet the spirit of the same is favorable to his hypothesis ; he begs the second question, in order to establish his answer to thejirst ; and would giddily run in a circle for ever, if allowed so to do ; I can- not therefore concede his Petitio Principii ; but will proceed to prove that my interpretation of the Resolutions alluded to, accords with them not only in letter, but in spirit also; and that it is the sense in which the original ma- nagers understood them, 1 will prove by their own showing ; after I have contrasted, with what I have already written, the opinions pub- lished on the subject, by some of the Society's advocates, both Churchmen and Dissenters, as follows : — Extracts from a Letter ivrit- ten to the Right Hon. Lord Teignmouth by the Rev. Charles Simeon, M. A. Fellow of King's College ^ Cambridge, Now in these two first rules there is nothing about the Apocrypha, nothing in ex- press terms either for the ad- mission or the rejection of it. Extracts from a Pamphlet reprinted from the Eclec- tic Review of September^ 1825, containing Remarks on the Apocryphal Con- troversy, Sfc. The simple ground on which we have been led to conclude, that it is not unlawful to con- cur in the circulation of ano- ther canon, than that which 31 Episcopalians. But, is there nothing in the spirit of the rules, to shew what was the mind and spirit of those who formed them ? The former shows there was no intention to make our au- thorized version a standard for the whole world. On the contrary, the fair inference is, that a similar deference should be paid to the authoriz- ed versions in every country (without considering whether they accorded with ours or not), that so all jealousies might be avoided, and a greater facility might be given to the circulation of them. — Jt may be replied, that the rules refer to the Holy Scrip- tures, and to them without note or comment. To this I answer, they did refer to the Holy Scriptures, because it ■was the Holy Scriptures alone that the founders of the So- ciety wished to circulate. But they did not take upon themselves to determine what books were canonical, and what were not. As far as the British dominions, and an English version went, the authorized version was to be the standard ; but with re- spect to other countries and other languages, no standard was fixed ; or if any bias was ehewn, itVas in favor of au- Nonconformiits. we, as protestants, hold to be genuine is this, that the canon of Scripture is not an article of faith, — is not a doctrine of Revelation, — or a precept of Christ, which must be re- ceived and submitted to by all, at the peril of their souls. Important in one sense, fun- damentally important as is the question relating to the canon, it is one that, after all, comes within the range of human opinion and private judgment. The evidence by which the genuineness, inte- grity, and completeness of the canon is attested, how satisfactory and irrefragible soever, is of an historical and critical kind, such as every man is not competent to ap- preciate, and respecting which many good and learned men have differed. Nay, the very import of the term canonical is adisputed point. Whether the declaration, that '• all Scrip- ture is given by inspiration of God," can be safely ex- tended to all books included in the Jevt^ish canon; whe- ther the whole of the Hagio- grapha, though of undoubted genuineness and authenticity, as historical documents, can be considered as indited by the Holy Ghost, and as form- ing part of the rule of faith-^ 30, Episcopalians. thorized versions, so far as they could be employed all the world over. Whether fo- reign churches admitted fewer books into their canon of Scripture, or more, was not with them any question at all ; they had nothing- to do with it. Every church must deter- mine that for itself, and on it alone would rest the respon- Ribility of forming an erro- neous or a correct j udgment. If any church either added to the Scripture, or took from it, it was their concern, and not the concern of this So- ciety, who are no more re- sponsible for the books com- prehended by this or that church in their canon of Scripture, than they are for the correctness of the versions that are in use among them. Had the founders of the So- ciety chosen to express any opinion about the Apocrypha at all, they would have been at liberty to say, We will con- fine our bounty to the cir- culation of what we ourselves esteem canonical : but were not at liberty to erect 'them- selves into a Society, that should judge for the whole world, and dogmatize to every people under heaven. But is it not strange, that when we have all agreed to merge our Nonconformists. is by no means so clear as to warrant our demanding an unqualified assent and agree- ment on this point from all Christian men. Many pious persons h'ave doubted whe- ther the Book of Esther, in which the name of Jehovah does not once occur, can be regarded as an inspired com- position, and others have had difficulties in admitting the inspiration of Solomon's Song. Were we to take the word ca- nonical as synonymous with inspired, such persons might conscientiously object to giv- ing away those books as ca- nonical Scripture. — In their view the Books of Chroni- cles, and the first Book of the Maccabees, would rank in the same class of writing ; and although they could not ob- ject to their circulation on the same grounds as apply to the positively exceptionable parts of the Apocrypha, such as Tobit, Baruch, and the spu- rious additions to the Book of Daniel, still they would not be able to recognise them, as given by inspiration of God. Now Mr. Gorham maintains, that an agreement respecting the canon is the basis and li- mit of all co-operation in the circulation of the Scriptures, that universal co-Operation is 33 Episcopalians. own peculiarities, and to for- get every thing that separates us from one another ; for the benefit of the world, we should now be called upon to with- hold that same candour from the churches abroad, and ac- tually to build a wall, that shall separate us for ever from nine-tenths of our Christian brethren, and exclude whole kingdoms from any partici- pation of the benefits which we are endeavouring to be- stow ? The expediency of such conduct is not the pre- sent question ; the question is. Was such conduct contem- plated and enjoined hy the founders of this Society P Extracts of Remarks written at Cambridge, on the Pro- priety of circtilating the Apocrypha. With a Pre- face, by H. Venn, M.A. Though the practice of the Society might be received as the best comment on its rules, yet if the strict letter, or the spirit of the rule, be appealed to, it is contended they do not barely admit, but enjoin its* circulation. It is painful to imagine for a moment that a question of such vital im- portance can depend on the * Viz. the Apocrypha. Nonconformist. 7, neither lawful nor desirable, that it is a mere oratorical figure of speech. " The fun- damental principle of the Bi- ble Society," he says, " is no further universal than we can meet on common ground, and the ground is not common when we differ upon the ca- non of the inspired writings. A more correct notion we con- ceive of the benevolent plan of this Society is, that it was founded upon a principle no less fixed than beautifully simple, and capable of very extensive (thougb not univer- sal) application, an agreement in the truth of God's holy word, and a desire to circu- late nothing but that word. In adhering to this principle we do not interfere with the private regulations of any body of Christians, but be- fore we can effectually co- operate with them, we must be united by this common bond, a recognition of the same canon of Scripture." — Mr. G. speaks of an agree- ment respecting the canon as a term of union, a condition of membership, a sine qjiu non, to be demanded of all whom wc invite to asna- ciation ; allhough the Bibls Sociely certainly nQverlmliX 34 Episcopalians. critical construction of words; istill greater is the reluctance to discuss the question upon this ground, when the first rule is attentively considered, for one half of it is neither re- concilable with g-rammar, or the state of things. ^' The only copies in the languages of the United Kingdom, tobe cir- culated by the Society, shall be the authorized version.^'' To pass by the false grammar, there never were regularly au- thorized versionsin four out of the five languages of the Unit- ed Kingdom. — Let us consider the spirit and general accep- tation of the rules. — It is e\i- dent, that the grand object in the view of the projectors of the Society wr^s to spread the knowledge of the truth over the whole world, by means of a free distribution of Bibles, and to accomplish this, the co-operation of all at home and abroad was invited, and every thing was excluded which could interfere with the private regulations of any body or denominations of Christians. The second rule expressly directs our efforts to the assistance not only of Pagans and Mahomedans, but also of the foreign Christian churches. — The ^nention of Nonconforrmsis . such language, or insisted oa any such terms, but has in- vited, and gladly accepted the co-operation of Jews, as well as Christians of all denomina- tions, who were willing to en- courage a wider circulation of the Scriptures. — We have not the least doubt that if the law had contained a clause to the effect, that all the copies circulated should omit the Apocrypha, offence and alarm would immediately have been taken in many influential quarters. —It is admitted, that there is no inspired catalogue of the canonical books. Our own canon may possibly in- clude books not inspired ; nor can the Bible Society take upon themselves to determine what books are canonical, ancP what are not. They abide by the decision of the Thirty- nine Articles, as respects the versions they circulate at home. If foreign churches have not come to the same de- cision, we are not responsible for their erroneous judgment, any more than for the cor- rectness of the versions that are in use among them. If the Committee do not adhere to this principle, they will be constantly fettered and em- barrassed in their proceed- 35 JEpiscopaiians: Nonconformists . ings ; they will require a standing council of Biblical criticism, and must plunge at once into Theological discus- sions." authorized version — leads us by analogy to expect, that the generally received version should be adopted abroad. — Now if we make a rejection of the Apocrypha — the condi- tion, — we interfere with the ecclesiastical ordinances of some foreign churches, and the prejudices of all, and violate the grand principle of universal co-operation. It is in vain to reply, that some of the original fraraers of the rules are opposed to us in their views and feelings on the subject. We argue, not only for that interpretation we plead for, as the fair and obvious one, but that the Society has acted on it during the first eighteen years of its existence. — An objec- tion has been felt against the association of mere human with divine writings. — This seems to arise from not consi- dering the nature of the means which God has employed for the instruction of mankind. We look for a purity and per- fection in his written word, which are not found in the other ordinary means of grace, and which can never be ob- tained, even in this, to the extent we may desire. — It may be well to remark a fact, of which many — are not aware, viz, that the different versions vary materially from each other, so that any particular passages may not wear the same objec- tionable appearance in a foreign translation, as it does in our own. For instance, few passages have been more generally objected to, than the one in Tobit, which relates the expul- sion of an evil spirit; The most objectionable parts are not found in the Vulgate, from which Catholic translations are made; and some things are- added, which make it, on the whole, an instructive narrative. Note. — When the Apocrypha was more generally regarded than it is, a distinction seems to have been usually observed between Holy Scripture — and Holy Scripture^, similar to the distinction between Son of God and Sons of God. — See also the title and body of the 6th article. 36 Extiacts from Letters jirintcd at Edinburgh, April 7, and May 17, 1826, in Defence (f the Society, or its fundamental Laws, Sfc. Signed Amicus. " I do affirm then, most couGdently, that you and your friends have any thing but a good right to say, that the first Rule of the Society clearly restricted the Committee, in their Continental operations, to the circulation of the Bible with- out the Apocrypha; The question of the expediency, ne- cessity, or lawfulness, on Christian principles of doing so, are altogether distinct from that part of the enquiry, and shall be afterwards considered. — It is an easy matter now for the members of the B. & F. B.^ S., or the Edinburgh Bible Society, to say, that thus they originally understood the words. Sec. It is not only taken for granted, that the ordinary Sub- scribers clearly understood this Rule as excluding Apocry- phal Bibles ; but it has been attempted, to show that the founders of the Society, and the framers of this very law, understood it in the same sense ; and in order to prove this, every insulated expression, general or particular, has been culled out from their speeches, or circulars, or reports, that seems to limit the character, kc. Even if some ambiguity bad been felt respecting the pre- cise meaning and extent of these laws, by some subscribers, it will appear the directors themselves had little difficulty in comjirehending them ; and as they were the framers of the law, they must be considered as the best interpreters of their own meaning and intentions. Now that the direc- tors understootl the term " Holy Scriptures," in what had been its long < stablished sense and usage, 1 presume cannot be a subject of doubt. Look at their conduct their syste- jiiatic conduct, from the very commencement of the Insti- tution. This certainly must be allowed to be the best evi- dence as to their way of understanding them, unless indeed, us is so7netiincf iiivrc th-an insinuated, the directors were 37 tfien not to be trusted, men who could themselves frame laws, and in few weeks after act directly in opposition to them ; and then labour, by every artifice, to conceal their violations of them from the members of the Society, who had chosen them into office, and subscribed their mo- ney, to enable them to carry the objects of the Society into effect : and, moreover, that they were capable of all this, not for any purposes personal to themselves, but for a mere gratuitous contempt for integrity. Let any man, however, look at the list of great, good, and religious men, who formed the first body of directors of the B. & F. B, S. and he will instantly reject such a foul imputation against their characters. What then were their first proceedings on the Continent, &c. ? — The first voice that responded to the ap- peal from Great Britain was from Nurenberg. Did the B. & F. B. S. hesitate to listen to it, &c.? The Committee, like men conscious of no harm, and anxious to fan the rising flame of zeal for the word of God, by the very first act which stands on the records of the B. S., granted the people of Nuremberg 100/. ; and they announce to the world, that one of the first objects of the infant Society was to be — " The printing, with standing types, an edition of The Established Lutheran Version complete.'^ A more ex- press or direct way of telling any person of ordinary intelli- gence, that this edition of the Scriptures contained the Apocrypha, could scarcely have been devised. The Report for 1806, announces a second donation of 200/., to assist them in printing the edition of the Established Lutheran Version complete. —It is sufficient to state, that previously to 1809 the B. &c F. B. S. had, without a single exception, been engaged in encouraging, by repeated grants of money, the circulation of Continental Bibles containing the Apocry- pha ; and that Luther's German Bible, containing not only the Apocrypha, but marginal notes and references, was re- gularly announced for sale in their annual Reports. Such uniformity and openness of conduct is a proof, that the 38 Directors of the B. S. understood the fundaineutal law ia the ordinary sense of its terms, and that they felt themselves warranted by that law in all that they had done. Alas ! had they told the people of Nurenberg that they must not print their own Scriptures, but ours ; not a complete version of Luther, a name so dear to them, but a version, stript of what time, and custom, and education, had unfortunately rendered too venerable in their eyes, we would, in all pro- bability, never have heard of a single Continental B. S. — Now this object, in reference to Continental Bibles, I have deduced from the law itself, and also from the systematic undisguised conduct of the Committee of the B. k F. B. S., which furnishes the best exposition of their way of under- standing the law ; and from their conduct nerer having been to that date questioned, I am surely entitled to conclude, that such also had been the interpretation put on it by the great body of its intelligent members. If the law is a bad one, let it be changed, &c. Some of the advocates of the B. & F. B. S.'s Committee seem •willing to shelter themselves, as far as regards the practice of Continental Societies, by saying, whatever evil there may be in it, they consider themselves as relieved from all responsibility, &c. But this is a principle by no means to be recognized. Quod facit per alterumyacit per se, is a maxim universally' applicable to the moral and religious practices of Societies and individuals. — Had the first Direc- tors of the B. & F. B. S. instead of complying eagerly with the application from Nurenberg, met them by an argument of the exceeding sinfulness of printing the Apocrypha, and made the giving up of the practice a condition, their offer ■would not, and conld not have been accepted. In that free city, perhaps, copies without the Apocrypha might have been permitted, &c. — The Bible Society is a charitable So- ciety, its purpose is to collect money for a religious purpose, and no other qualification can, or ought to be required from its members, but that of subscribing their money." 39 These quotations collected from a few of the Pamphlets written in the Apocryphal Contro- versy ; by Nonconformists and Episcopalians ; as specimens of sentiments now entertained, by the leading members^ the most strenuous advo- cates, 2Liidthe Managing Committee,of the Bible Society ; seeing nothing was retracted, nothing objected to, at their last general meeting, but the circulation of the Apocrypha. It is true that one of the members herein named, (Rev. G. C. Gorham, B. D. Fellow of Qu. Col. Cam.) has lately animadverted a little on the heretical opinions, re-printed from the Eclectic Review of September last, expressing doubts about the Inspiration, of no less than 140 Chapters of the Bible, but as this Pamphlet is still on sale ; (among many such pernicious, minor publications printed in the Society^s favor,) it appears to meet the approbation of the majority ; nor does it appear, to surpass in heretical tendency the Letter addressed to the noble President, any more than the tenets of Pyrrho are surpassed, by those of Pain. That letter also remains unrecalled ; and the writer thereof was publicly thanked, among the rest of the Managing Committee, on the last an- niversary day ; and requested to continue his acceptable services. There may be indeed a distinction between Scepticism and Infidelity ; but when the influ- 40 ence,6f either, affects the minds of persons who would judge of the comparative merits of spu- rious and inspired Scriptures, there is no diff- erence inthe result: todoubt evert/ thing, with the Heathen ; is to believe nothing, with the Infidel. And whosoever declares that it is no concern of his, what Books are contained, in the Bibles he assists in circulating abroad ; he exerts his influence to inspire but little regard, for the ^^true meaning" of what is retained at home. And upon the whole, it appeared scarcely fair, in Mr Gorham, to give the Dissenters their merited punishment first; seeing they were not " first in the transgression." I stated it as my opinion, in my letter to the late Dean Milner, that great veneration is felt, by many pious Dissenters, for the Established Church, on ac- count of its orthodox Articles, and that this feeling, serves as a powerful cheeky on the natu- ral bias of Schism, towards Heresy, so long as serious Churchmen, abide by their prin- ciples ; but that where Priest aud Prophet, do deviate together, they diminish each other's consciousness of deviation ; and the opinion I then hazarded, is now, in a measure, con- firmed by " Amicus ;" who says, (at p. 5, of his 2d Letter,) he " cannot regret too deeply, that our English Reformers, by introducing select portions of the Apocryphal Books into the service of the national Church, should 41 hare encouraged and perpetuated the practice of binding them up, together, till even the sensibility of other denominations of Chris- tians, to so unnatural and pernicious a com- bination, has been extinguished." Thus the dissenters cast the blame of this Apocryphal affection upon the Church, as Adam cast that of his disobedience on Eve. And as Epis- copalians vv^ere in the Van, and Nonconformists in the Rear ; surely ! both parties deserved reproof, (especially as Mr. G. says, that a recog- nition of the same canon of Scripture is d. sine qua non condition of union). The latter, in reviewing the works of the former, redoubled their previous infidel doubts about the Scrip- ture's divine inspiration ; and as most pupils are desirous of improving, on the hints of their tutors, they broached, more boldly, their Scep- tical thoughts. But passing, for the present, their pestilent principles; I will proceed to disprove their principal hypotheses, viz. that the Bible Society^s Founders, and original Supporters, intended to circulate in every country the versions of Scriptures authorized there, wliat- ever their canon contained, and however im- pure it might be ; — that they intended to admit into membership, all descriptions of persons, on account of their Consequence and Cash, without any reference whatever, to the G 42 theological tenets thej maintained ; — and that they have conducted its concerns accordingly, from the very commencement of their career. Oil these points, we are completely at variance. Although it could not be fairly inferred, that the Society ^s Rules had authorized its Directors so to act, had they managed matters from the first, as they have for the last thir- teen or fourteen years ; as it would onlt/ prove, that they were not called till lately to account for their misconduct ; yet, if I, on the contrary, can clearly demonstrate, from their own declaratiojis and deeds, that they strictly adhered to the Rules prescribed, (according to the literal interpretation I give them,) for years at first ; my proof will be positive, and there will be no denying that their Sjuccessors have divialed. All that shall then remain, will be to consider the Kise and Progress of the Errors they have committed. One way to arrive at the real designs of the founders and supporters of the Society in its formation ; is to enquire into the previously knowii dispositions of those, who rendered the earliest and most essential service to its cause ; and learn from thence, what were the means which they were most likely to use, in order to obtain their end ; which shall be done in the next letter, by Reverend Sir, Yours. Sec, ^2 LETTER IV. On the previously known Dispositions of the Society's Founders, and original Supporters. REV. SIR, It cannot be questioned, but that if the projectors and supporters of the Institution, intended to establish such a one as ours now is, and as its advocates above, will have it to have been, they must have been pj^rsons who cared little what matter their Bibles contained abroad, provided they abounded in numbers ; —persons who had not only, no objection, to the present versions authorized at home, faulty as some of them acknowledged the same to be ; but also no objection to the perpetuating of the errors they contain; and to the trans- mitting down to the latest posterity, the more palpable and destructive errors, contained in versions authorized abroad ; — persons who had no regard to the individual character, or theological sentiments; of those, with whom they formed religious alliances ; — persons who *' guarded not against being carried away by their best feelings, and by the tempting pros- pect of an immediate good," to do some ac- knowledged evil ;— persons who agreed with the Poet in saying, " For modes of faith let 44 bigots fight, &c. ;" — persons who must have anticipated a sentiment, published some years afterwards, in " Aspland's Plea for Unitari- anism," p. 25, in these words : — " The spirit of the Bible Society is a virtual concession to this our plea, and we cordially hail it, as an earnest of the speedy approach of that pe- riod, when, according to the Poet, " All man- kind's concerns shall be that, which in the judg- ment of an Apostle, is " greater than faith," namely, "Charity." In a word, they must have been persons who detested the idea of dogmatizing to others ; and, at the same time, refused the universally received maxim. Quod facit per alterum^ facit pir se> But if we briefly enquire into their previously ascer^ tained dispositions, we shall find them to have been directly the reverse of all this. Let us ask, therefore, Qui et quales erantP The Rev. A. Brandram h is said tl at " Wales was the Bible Society's birth-place :" and the " Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, that it was born there." But, to the piety of what party or denomination there, does it owe its origin? Not to that of Aspland's sect. Those General Baptists, those " calm en- quirers," to whom Mr. Evans, the author of the " Sketch of all Sects, &c." belongs, can- not be said to have been its parents ; but the very sect which he holds up to reprehension, as if thej made too numerous quotations of texts, containing the doctrines of vicarious atonement and redeeming grace ; and too fre- quent repetitions of sacred stanzas, ascrib- ing " honor and glory to him who loved them, and washed them from their sins, &.C.". Hence the kindness of their youth, — the love* of their espousals'^ was the " first love," which the Society has " left." That sect also, (among others there) vras in a sense its original nurse ; and consequently it must have greatly partaken of these peo- ple's religious dispositions. We find (in Hist, vol.i. p. 150) that near J1900'' of the ^5592 lOs.5d. which the Sum of its first year's funds amounted to, was contributed m Wales ; where menial Servants sacrificed on its altar, "a third of their annual Wages ; and covered their gold with copper," to conceal the prodi- gality, of their regard for its success. And if so much came from there to its Treasury, the first year ; it is not too much to say, (when we add to this, the subscriptions and donations of those people's relatives in England, and of other persons who contributed at their solicitation in different parts) that it obtained through their means, at least one half, of the fund it possessed at first. For they have above ten * Jer. ii. 9: 46 places of Worship in London and its vicinity t they have some in Bristol ; some in Chester* Shrewsbury; Manchester, and Liverpool. That sect alone has three, I believe, in the latter place ; in one of which it is recorded, that upwards of ^76, were collected at once. These therefore may be for this, as well as for other more important reasons, called Original Projectors, Founders, and Supporters. And if we examine the original motives of their con- duct, we shall find that one evil, which they wished to avoid, in seeking its assistance ; is increased, by its means, ten thousand fold. They were not likely to have encouraged a Society, intended to circulate Bibles, in badly rendered, authorized versions ; for one rea- son, that urged on them the necessity, of ob- taining an immediate, and abundant supply of small Bibles, at the time alluded to; was that which I have hinted at elsewhere, namely their increasing fear, lest the growing demand in their Schools for books, should lead to the circulation of a large edition of Pocket Bibles, previously printed in the country with Canne's references ; and with a few lines of the Sabel- lian or Patripassian Heresy, on some of its nether margins.. The tens of thousands of Quarto Bibles, printed by them, during the previous " thirty years ^' of supposed " drought," wifhoul the ' 4t Apocrypha ; might probably have enabled them, to wait the leisure of the Society for pro- moting Christian Knowledge a little longer ; had they not dreaded the danger, attending the issue of this Edition ; although, one might have, most probably, purged a hundred of its Copies, in less time, than lie can purify one, of the ten thousand Copies which the Bible So- ciety, assisted to printat Lausanne. Again, as those people could not be sup- posed capable, of forming a design, to circu- late Bibles, containing heretical matter^ it is still less supposable, that they intended to connect themselves in a religious union, with any heretical men ; for they were previously known to be very particular in their selection of allies, — extremely nice in their discrimina- tion of character ; — and fastidious, to a fault, in their choice of coadjutors*. They were a * To confirm this, I wiil relate a ludicrous anecdote, ■which shows how shrewdly the founder of the sect, viz. the late Reverend Daniel Rowland, Rector of Llangeitho, in Cardiganshire, who had frequently two thousand commu- nicants ; discovered the motives of such clergymen as came to offer him the assistance he needed, in order to share in his popularity, A candidate requested admission, one day, at a preparatory convocation ; and as the questions put by some Clergymen present, seemed to elicit no satisfactory answers, the old President abruptly addressed them, saying, " Can- not you distinguish between a sheep and a wolf, with less trouble?" — " Kow can we," said they, " if the latter is 48 body of people that stood, at that time, and for some y,ears afterwards,. in a degree of con- nection, with the national Church; and were superintended by many Episcopal Clergy- men ; of whom, the only two that continued, until the time in question, occasionally to visit their fellow countrymen, in the Metro- polis, w^ere the late Rev. D. Jones, then* Rector of Llanganna, in Glamorganshire, and the late Rev. T. Charles, of Bala, in Merionethshire. They had some time previously, expelled the aged Episcopal Clergyman, who edited the Bibles alluded to, under a charge of heresy ; although he was admitted to dissenting Cha- pels, till his death. They had also, more re- cently, silenced two other Clergymen, ad- vanced in life, for insufficient correctness of conduct ; who were, soon after the time al- luded to, re-admitted to the national Church, by the Bishop of the diocese. Now, let us proceed from the birth-place, to the baptismal font; and enquire into the pre- dispositions of its most respectable sponsors. As it so happened that the Rev. J.Hughes, A.M. wrapped in the former's fleece.?"' — "Very easily," added he, " even in the dark. Pinch the tails of both, and the one will bear with you, whereas the other will hite you." The examined did not relish his examination, and his dis- pleasure instantly decided his case. * Mr. R. died in 1790, Mr. J. in 1810, and Mr. C. in 181-. 49 was present in Spa-fields, when the said Mr. Charles requested assistance to open a sub- scription for the Bibles he wanted, on the 2d December, 1802. Nonconformists come first to be noticed. Of them I know very little. I had indeed, met Mr. Hughes previously to tliat, accidentally, at a clergyman's house ; and his being there, appeared to favor the future Secre- tary ; but what mostly weighed with me, when he came to be elected, was the fact of his be- ing a minister much respected by Trinitarian Baptists ; or, of his belonging to that section of dissenters, who have the greatest cause, of holy jealousy, lest the sacred designation which "the Disciples obtained at Antioch," should be abused, through illusive self-complacency, by Pseudo Christian advocates, for the baptism they approve of. For I knew, that the late Rev. A. Fuller, a Baptist minister, had published some Theological Letters, on the Unitarian Heresy, &c. which he said he had written through his fears, that the circumstance of " some Dissenters having united with others of different religious tenets, had been im- proved, as a meanfi to disseminate Socinian principles, although they had only united to petition for the repeal of certain Acts of Par- liament \^' and wherein he observed, '^ that it was a circumstance, at wliich many serious m«n of the Established Church were s^ir- M 60 prized : and that, had it been an union of a religious nature, it had been indeed surpris- ing." The knowledge of these things, satis- fied me, that the writer of the Preparatory Essay, never intended to demolish that wall of partition which his own fellow-labourer had recently been repairing ; especially as it had been said, in the' same Letters, that those who *• consider the divinitr and atonement of Christ, as essential to Christianity, cannot acknowledge them Christians, who deny those doctrines. I could not suppose that such grand oeriod, the pious responses of those enlight- ened German Catholic Priests, whose positive repulses I shall shortly adduce in evidence ; and what is more still, with this your own evidence accords, at p. 12, of the Reply herein alluded to, wherein you say, " In the earlier period of the Society ^s History, the corre- spondence was almost entirely confined to a few religious individuals and communities. Let the letters and documents annexed to the Reports, and many hundred others, which are in the Society's archives, not printed, attest to this fact." Nor are my hypotheses opposed; by what you add as follows. "It is fully ad- mitted, that when in later years, larger Soci- 63 eties were formed, for whole kingdoms or pro- vinces and presidents, vice-presidents, &c. &c. were appointed, (who were, of course chosen by the body of their Constituents, without any interference, on the part of the B. and F. B. S.) there was unavoidably a greater mixture of Characters, differing, as well in their reli- gious views, as in their rank and stations." But when at p. 14, you asked, "Who is finally to determine upon those who deserve the name of Christians, and those who deserve it not ?" You had surely! forgotten the Company's Rules and Prospectus: but still you affirmed, that you were "not advocating the cause of latitudinarian indifference/' If you were, the Society's "first works," confuted you. For all the assertions we hear and read, about uncon- ditional memberships, grand principle of uni- versal co-operation, general invitations of So- cinians, Neologists, and Jews, &c. are the gra- tuitous assumptions, of loose thinking people. The language of the Society's authentic invi- tation, warranted no such notions. It was ex- pressly said, in its Preparatory Essay, at p. 29, that "it would be so dejined as to destroy hesi- tation in the scrupulous^' Christian. That all sorts of heretics have long since been admitted, embraced, and perhaps invited by such people is granted ; but you are very well aware, that " from the begining it was not so;" although 64 the money of all was considered admissible, if they chose to give it wJz7/iow< such invitations. And I will defy any one to produce an inviting document of the kind, that ever received the sanction, of the Divines 1 have quoted : nor dared any managing member, so to commit the Society, during their days. Joash did well while Jehoiada lived, or at least till the latter "waxed very old". Again. The writers in the rear, have hazarded a doubtless opinion, that, had the apocrypha been expressly excluded, *'offence and alarm had been immediately ta- ken in many injiuential Quarters'\ But I des- pise their suspicion. Britions were a//, by far too well informed, to have felt any such affec- tions, and as the reflection they conveyed is too degrading to the classes I suppose they had in view, for me to give birth to their insidious ideas; I wish I could, with propriety, slur over them. Patronage* must have been of impor- tance to the Society's projectors of co urse ; and they knew full well where, the most advan- tageous then, must be found. They looked less to the Ermine and Lawn, of the national estab- lishment; than to its real piety and virtue, for help. And for the sake of repelling the foul insinuation, I will cry, in my turn, "look at the longlist of Laymen, as well as to the Clergy, whose influence was solicited. There were [ * See Postscript. ] 65 none from higher quarters at the first general Meeting. And supposing, (what I know had been then impossible) supposing that all the Nobility, now on that list, had assembled at the London Tavern, avowedly with a view to level the old partition wall, which had resisted the Essays of Unitarians, to surmount, for nearly 1800 years. What then ? Soeinians had join- ed them, I grant ; but doubtless, concientious Christian Commoners of all sects had " taken alarm :" they had neither been accompanied nor countenanced by the faithful ministers I have above quoted: and they are neither the Riches nor the Honours of the Church, that can com- mand a pious Dissenter's veneration ; but the Faith and Holiness, perceivable within its pales, as the native productions of its scrip- tural articles, are they that make its awe in- strumental to check the natural bias of Schism, to unite with its kindred Iniquity. The So- ciety's Projectors relied on real lovers of truth for the needful support. Nor could they dream that any lovers of the memory of Martin Luther, who styled "Justification by faith," Articulus stanlis, aut cadentis Ecclesice, could so highly venerate, (as your countrymen are ge- nerally reported to do) the opposite doctrines, attributed to Raphael ; on which Saint Paul, may be strongly suspected, to have had his eye when he said to the self-justifying people of K 66 Galatia ; " Though an angel from heaven, preach unto you any other Gospel, than that we have preached unto you, let him be accurs- ed. ^^ It was, moreover thought worthy of no- tice, by the writers in the Van, that the Apoc- ryphal books, are greatly improved in the Vul- gatey from which other Catholic Versions are taken ; by means of many omissions, altera- tions and the like ; and I give them credit for the Remark. It is the policy of Popery, to im- prove the spurious, and injure the inspired books ; in order to reduce them all to a level, if possible ; and obtain a passport for their own traditions. But so much the worse for our Society's credit. Amicus says the truths when he asserts, that " Repentance and to repent," are words perverted in the Vulgate, into Pen- ance and doing Peiiancey in almost every place where they occur in the New Testament, that " wrong expressions are there used, which fos- ter a most fearful delusion, that must diffuse its fatal influence, over the whole Catholic system of belief and duty ; so that the grossest, most dangerous, and specific error, is support- ed, not by an insulated verse or clause ; but by an entire, uniform system of mistranslation, in almost every passage where the subject is brought forward in the Testament ; so that it is called the inspired word of God, while in re- ality, a whole iiost of most important verses 67 and clauses have substantially been taken out of it, and a whole host of verses and clauses have been substituted for them and added to it." Ajrain: both Columns accord, indenounc- ing dogmatism ; while their joint production establishes this truth as anaxiom, viz. that noth- ing can be afFectually done in theology, without it. The mischief which they have made, in the Christian Church, by attempting to dispense with its Use, will long remain a monument of their madness : and serve as a signal for all future adventurers ; to show that there is no place of repose, between a due degree of dog- matism, and the aweful labyrinth of sceptism any more than there is between the latter and the down-fall, of infidelity. The Society^s Founders therefore intended to dogmatize ; they knew it was their duty so to do ; and so they did for some time. As there was neither an inspired Canon, nor autograph manuscripts of Holy Writ, to be expected ; they necessarily laid it down as a dogma, or an established Principle, that Canonicity and Inspiration must be taken as convertible terms. And, as on the one hand they deemed it both advise- able and charitable, to embrace the support, and to invite the concurrence of all they could with neither danger of detriment to the true meaning of the Scripture in revision, or trans- lation; nor disobedience to that possitive com- 68 niand, "The man that is a heretic reject;'' they laid it down as a dogma, that all sects of Christians, and none but Christians should be so embodied ; and, as they thought, with you that "it required an intimacy of acquaintance or an insight into the sanctuary of the heart" which none of them pretended to have in order to "determine who deserved the Christian name," they necessarly laid it downasadogma, that the Scriptures^ the whole Scriptures, and nothing but the Scriptures, should be the proper standard of Faith ; and that an avowal of regard to that standard alone, as such, should estab- lish every one's claim to the designation of a Christian, and be the sine qua non condition of membership, so as to avoid "usurping" on their part, "the prerogative of the Allseeing God." All these are positions, supported by stub- born facts. That half^ of the first Rule, which * It cannot reflect on the memory of Mr. Owen, to say, that it would appear from this, that he knew but little of the silent steps which had been taken to settle the Society's principles, before he became a member. He wrote in (vol. i. p. 72,) of the introduction of "this clause, as follows : — " This article, which only expressed what the Framers of the Society had always intended, was adopted on the recom- mendation of the Author, in consequence of a seasonable and judicious suggestion from the Bishop of London." And in a note, thus : — " 111 the Miiuiles of a Meeting held by the Framers of the Society, on the 8th of February, 1803, the following memorandum appears :" — "That the translation of the Scriptures, established by public authority, 69 our learned friends at Cambridge, have pro- perly described, as reconcilable with neither Grammar nor the state of things ; was projected as early as the 8th of Feb. 1803 ; but it gained no admission^ till May 2nd, 1805 : and this circumstance not only deprives thosewho would deduce from that clause a fair analogical in- ference, in favor of all authorized versions, of its force; seeing it was not originally admitted to the Society's code of Laws ; but it also shews, that there was in members of Mr. Sharp's opin- ion relative to faulty versions, every where, a great unwillingness, to sanction a measure that must prevent improvement any where. "Let us go on to perfection'* was their watch-word, according to the examples of Erasmus, Beza, and Stevens of old ; and that it was both their design and their duty to act the important part of a "Council of Biblical Criticism " no one will deny, who admits, that, in forming a Bible Society for the lohole world ; they "took an in- terest in the eternal welfare of their fellow creatures." Their deeds prove their design. Like a dutiful child, the Society dedicated its be the only one in the English bnguage to be adopted by the Society." " The omission of this article iu the draught of the Society's Rules, must have been altogether an oversight ; and the manner in which it was supplied shows the advantage of that superintendence, which the Rulers of the Established Church have it in their power to exercise,as Patrons of the Institution." 70 first edition of Bibles to its own parents ; and consequently the "first work" of this Council very naturally fell on the hands of the late Mr. Charles ; and that he deserved the confi- dence of the rest of the Committee, and of the Syndics of the Press engaged, is sufficiently evinced by Mr. Owen, who says, (vol. i. p. 147) that "many of his corrections were inserted, in the edition stereotyped at Oxford, in 1809, at the expence of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge ; and were represented by the conductors of that work, as having con- ferred an obligation not only on them, but also on the Principality at large : as it appeared from correspondence in the possession of his family," and submitted to the Historian's in- spection. It also deserves notice, that as the So- ciety's determination to print this edition at Cambridge,was contemporaneous with the im- provement made in the art of Printing there through the invention of stereotype plates, it very "materially recommended, the zeal and industry of Mr. Charles, to give it a superior degree of accurracy and correctness;" and, it might have "fixed an important epoch," in the History of Biblical Criticism, as well as in that of Printing. Happily, the revision of the Welsh Bible was as little required, perhaps as any Version. Among other passages in which it excels the English, I will name that in Mat- 71 thew : Ch. xx. 23. where it is free from those Italic expletives, which (as Bishop Burgess j ustly observes) "give," in the latter, "a meaning contrary to the sense of the original, relative to the Divinity of Christ/' But what his Lord- ship says of the one may also be saidof the other. "The warmest advocate of our Translation, cannot pronounce it free from faults ;" for they both contain the expletive pronouns in the 8th of John ; which have served the Socinian hy- pothesis; although the original evidently refers to the Self-existent Being's own declaration, in Exod. iii. 14. The midnight oil that was spent in this revision, was however lost, to our Society ; through the pragmatical interference of a member of another venerable Society; who had corrected the latest edition of such Bibles, published in England; and who prejudged the Revision's orthographical merits, avowedly from other specimens of what he termed "novel orthography.*" The Committee, embarassed by * It is said in Owen's History, vol. i. p. 148, that the arbi- trator, the Rev. W. Davies, gave, in June 1805, a decided opinion against what is there termed "the new orthography'* and said, "1 do not see among the alterations a single item of any weight. The — plenitude of consonants, though considered an eye sore in the new theory of vision, are nevertheless, and have been for a length of time, the appropriate and peculiar characteristics of our language;" but I differed with him, and will be at the expense of adducing one item out of many, and leave others to judge, who is right. Diminution of quan- ii this opposition ; submitted the question to arbitration ; but as they determined on adopt- ing for their standard, an older edition, and likewise on adding this hasty clause to the Rule ; ( to preclude the recurrence, of such a, collision, of opinions, ) before the arbi- trator's award could be delivered ; both the debate and its abandonment, left the original design of improving what was faulty in the Version wholly unaffected. The alterations in- tended in the text, whether many or few, ne- ver became subjects of any public discussion. That improvement was designed wherever it was found necessary, is further evinced by the advertisement, published in 1804, to solicit donations of Scriptures in different Languages that the Society "might not be at a loss for a standard edition and means of collation wher- tityf might have been effected with the greatest possible pro- priety. As z and v are not used, save m foreign names, the former might serve for dd ; as th in the ; and the latter for asingle f, as in of, then the single f, might serve for the double as in off. Ffydd, (Faith,) would be fyz. And at that rate we might have had the New Testament, included within the leaves of the Old ; or a small Pocket Bible in large print, or 5 Bi- bles for 3. So much of the advantage. Now for the pro- priety. That the language of Wales was purer when Welch people emigrated to Brittany in France ; than it has been since the introduciion of Roman letters, few scholars will deny. And the emigrants in Armorica, still use the z for dd : for in- stance, Bedd, {a grave,) is written Bez ; Sepulchrum. Lat. 73 ever an occasion might arise, &c;^* and also by the first fruits of that appeal which this council reaped, in a munificient gift of thirty- nine Copies of the Holy Scriptures, or certain portions of them in various Languages, pre- sented by Granville Sharp Esq. their first Chair- man, who thus improved the Society, by the influence of his example. But I dwell the longer on this article, and the more deeply regret the omission of the lit- tle improvement intended, and the annexation of this Rider to the Rule ; on account of the calamitious consequences, resulting from the ill example afforded to foreigners bi/ the one; and the unfair inference deduced from the other, although it was made under painful circum- stances, at the eve of a General Meeting, as the least of two evils, or to avoid discussion. The Regulation may be comparatively harmless, and even useful to preserve union in distinct communities, where versions are fair, like ours; but the desecrating idea of a sceptical confede- racy, extensively formed, of all descriptions of theologians, to multiply and to perpetuate the grossest errors, propagated in the degenerateed Churches of the present day, on account of het- rodox authorities, is truly horrific ; and must be by so much the worse in a Bible Society, than it could be in a Missionary Institution ; as well- bound books are more durable than frail livee/ 74 aid as badly translated Bibles are easier multi- plied, than bad Missionaries. A few lines on Amicus's representation of the first voice, ^c. shall finish this Letter. — As— the Smug'ler's anxiety to hide his contraband goods, often leads the Revenue Officer to the place of their concealment, so the deceptive pains which this Defender has taken, to force on his readers the belief, that "a more direct, or express way could scarcely be devised, " of tel- ling us that the edition of Bibles about to be printed by the Infant Society of Neuren- burg, in 1804 and 1805, contained the Apocry- pha, has, no doubt, induced many, as it did me to compare his pages with our Society^s first Reports, so as to detect the deception. The first of them, expressly says at p. 8. that "one ofthe first measures of the above Society, was to ♦ The Bible Society cannot be more properly or more honor- ably described, than as a provider of arms and ammunition for Missionaries. The most interesting of all the anecdotes retailed by its advocates, are uniformly connected with mis- sionary exertions. How detrimental therefore it must be tp the glorious cause of Missions, on the Continent of Europe and elsewhere, thus to transport, as it were the Lord's Ord- nance to his enemies hands, before his army can come up to charge and to use them ; so that they are often rendered useless/or them, or turned against them, by his foes ! ! Texts translated like those, of which I have quoted some above would there be turned "against the truth" for want of margi- nal references, &c . A ud texts stiiltified by transialors, would prove encunibniucis at beyt, like so many spiked guns. print 5000 Protestant Testaments, "partly fot distribution among the poor of the Austrian Dominions," and also, expresses a hope that the same would soon have it in its power, to print a large edition of the established Luther- an Bible complete. He suppresses that circum- stance, and makes it appear (see p. 37.) that the sums of 100^ and 200/ were both given ex-* clusively for the purpose of printing with standing types that edition^ including the Apocrypha. Whereas the fact suppressed re- specting the 500 Testaments ; and the language of the Society's History ; from which he quotes other matters, lead to the conclusion, that the Report he appeals to, was designed only to ex- press a hope that an "entire" Bible should soon be printed. As to the Copies, that were brought here with the Apocrypha interposed; they could not induce the supposition, that it should be included in the Bibles to be prin- ted anew, any more than the notes and references which they contained ; and which were so per- fectly well understood to be excluded by the first Rule as originally formed ; that the words notes and comment, were deemed quite unne- cessary or tautological ; as it is shewed by, Rev. Sir, Yours, &c. *P .S. Although the invaluable Patronage of that excellent Prelate, Beilby Porteus, was obtained for our Society, very soon 70 after its formation, I could not, with propriety, include his name among those of it's Sponsors. Its preparatory Essay, had, indeed, been previously presented to his Lordship, but he did not decide in its favor, till he received a " full and circum- stantial account of the entire transaction," which I denom- inate its Baptism, from the late Mr. Owen, who says (vol. 1 p, 49.) that "on his return home he immediately addressed to him, a letter in which he gave that account; and says also that a "plan contemplating as its object, the universal circula. tion of the Scriptures, could scarcely fail, to meet vrith a favor- able reception from such a quarter,'''' that, "after areasonable delay, the Bishop replied in very encouraging terms, — distinct- ly stated that he very much approved the design of the Bible Society — that he had mentioned it to several of his friends, who also approved of it;" and to all this the Historian subjoins a note and also an extract of the pious Prelate's Memoirs^ which prove at once, that his Lordship clearly understood the Rules, and Principles as / did; and that no "offence or alarm was taken in that influential quarter;" although the Bible was to contain no Apocryphal matter, as follows: — •'The Rev. Arch-deacon Hodgson, has expressed the views, which the Bishop had in attatcbing himself to the Society, in tarms, which, while they do justice to the enlarged liberality of his Lordship's mind, reflect nosmall credit outlie discernment, and the candour of his Biographer; the following are the words: ' The plan of this Society embraced a most ex- tensive range of action, and in order to raise an adequate fund, it wm thought necessary to take in, without exception, all denominations of Christians. But then, on the other kanU, it was laid down, as a primary and fundamental rule from which there was, in no instance to be tiie slightest deviation, that its sole and exclusive object, should be the circu- lation of the Scriptures only, without note or comment, a limitation thus absolute and unequivocal, removed from the Bishop's mind all DUUU'C and HESITATION." Now, in justice to the Secretary, who could best inform the Bishop of the Society's Principles, and to the Bicgra- phey who was his Lordship's Nephew, and could therefore, best express his views, we must conclude that, as he became 77 a subscriber to the Society of 5 guineas per An. on May, 15th. 1804, undone of its vice Presidents, with the late Bishop of Durham, in the following month; he understood that the Scriptures were to be circulated, unaccompanied with any thing human, although the toords notes and comment were not introduced to the Code, till the following year. But as 1 shall have occasion to refer again to the part he took in the Socii ety's " first works, " I shall now only observe that he was ano- ther of the Righteous taken aicaij, before the Society's devia* tions took place. He died soon after its fifth Anniversary. I shall therefore feel obliged, if you will have the goodness, to favor me, at your earliest convenience, with a brief account of the mawn;•," or to bring everyone his •'stubborn, rebellious child to the Gate of his City, to be stoned by others;" the duty of religious reproof is quite as sacred and im- perative as ever; nor is its painfulness unworthy of the comparison, portrayed above. Indeed, so afflictive has it frequently been felt, that a process of preparation, has been required, to impel its per- formance. See Isaiah vi. and Jonah i. 2. It has been said, that a certain Slate Prisoner,* apologized for his neglect of his person, by saying, that, as there was a dispute be- tween his Sovereign and himself, about his head, it was needless to trouble a barber to trim his beard; and 1 have been often reminded ot the anecdote, by the Apocryphal controversy ; in which you appear to have taken a principal part. If your Reviewers did you no in- justice, any one might logically decapitate the B. & F. B. Society, with a sword of your own showing; &c. high as you stand in its favor,for you " maintain" say they, " that universal co-operation is neither lawful nor desirable;" and I ask. Whose co-operatioo could be more unlawful andundesirable, than that of the heretical and dis- loyal characters, with whom I was obliged to unite, in my Parishes contrary to the original laws of the Parent Society ; or subject myself to the abuse of such scurrilous scribblers as the London At- torney, whose pamphlet you praised at Queens, and to the virulent persecution, which I have endured ever since, from the Religious World, ior printing my sentiments, in justification of my conduct. So that, I might well say with Amos, (Chap. ii. 12.) "Ye give the Nazarites wine to drink — Behold ! I am pressed under you, as a cart * Sir Thomas Moor*. i« pressed, that is full of sheaves." In vain, therefore, would yoii shave our Society's face, its beard is of a growing nature, and you know, that, had you not been assisted by Mr. Irving, to apply the razor afresh, (on the day I delivered, what I call a Copy of a Writ,) the Committee's beard had grown long enough, to pull down the House in Earl's Street on our heads; not through faith indeed, but through infidelity, and consequently the Philistines in connection, had escaped with impunity ; for you know that a resolution was all but passed, to furnish Dr. Van Ess, with 11,000 copies of Testa- ments in sheets : it was, in fact, about to be entered in the book, when an individual rose up, between you and me, to ask whether the measure might not be contrary to the new regulations; and, after the question was started, the greatest part of two hours was spent in debating; till at length it was agreed, that 5,000 should be given reudij hound. That the new regulation clogs the Society's opera- tions dreadfully, with taxes and difficulties I know; but how can it be dispensed with, where g-oocf yi/if A is forfeited ? That the said Dr. Vann Ess, may be an honest, and a godly man, though he re- mains a Papist, if he is bidden to abide in Babylon, by our Society's agents, I will not hesitate to allow; but, as I cannot believe a sylla- ble of our Secretary's Reports of his piety, after his praise of his disinterstedness, while he was most liberally rewarded, I will say, that he may be a Jesuit. Few men have ever had such inducements to play the hypocrite. That of Judas was a bagatelle in comparison; ' It was that day, said in justification of his conduct, in being so secu- lar, 2iS tobargain with bookbinders, &c. "He has no cure of souls." He is therefore nothing but our Committee's agent, in disposing of Books edited principally hy himself, printed under Ai* ou)n direct- ions, and until now, bound if he chose, with his own hands; and all this at our Society's expence. The fortune which he may have been amassing, may therefore be immense; although his connection with our Society, is condemned by our original Rules, Prospectus, and Practice. And when I consider, that (as Dr. Pinkerton admitted) the Continental Committee, under whose surveillance his operations are supposed to be, is only nominal ; consisting of the Mayor of a Town, ,and ef a Merchant or two; above a lOO miles distant from his resi« 4^pv .^ tbat, ajlthough thejr pass his acco^iirts they "cannot >A? fxpeftfd to see, that he receives tbe bQoks, and disposes of them^ ^Ci'ojrdjog to our regulations;" I must say that his temptations are top great; aud that this sinjfle itew of »tter mis-management, is sjafr fioient to call for a new set of servants: But, necessary as it is to rew^ove a set of faithless Manager?, I consider tluit necessity as no- thing, compared wit|i tbe necessity pf excluding all Sopinians. As Divine Providence never put your Apocryphal pages iu my way for gratuitous perusal, I thought it needless, (for the above reason) to purchase them. I saw, nevertheless enough of their contents, by occasional glances, to know that you apprehended danger, lest some epemies might avail themselves of the division occasioned by the. Apocryphal ques^on, to attack the Soeieiy, --that you feel perfectly satisfied with the system and practice, since the neio regulation was sanc^JQQ^; — and, that you conceive, that the public discussion of t^e 4^po(cryphal question has done good. Iu all this, yptir opinions <|iffer, qotonly with mine, but with those of many most pious mem- hei;s whom 1 have consulted. First, your fears were utterly unfound- ed ; none but t^e Society's best friends, were likely to avail of the press the minds of men too deeply with rever- eijce for the Word of GqA, for their own good ; whether it be heard ii). the ministry, or perused in the closet. It affects the hearts o^ . coiopfjQn peoplp^ ip eiUief ayppointment, in exact proportion, as. it is % thought to ha^e proceeded ^Mre/j/yrom God. And, since the Prat; flamation of truth in controversy, is indirectly, or by consequence, the cqusf of error ; I maintain, that it had been much wiser in the ppponents of Apocryphal circulation; to call a geueral meeting of the Society; and honestly complain of the misconduct of its servants and trustees. Had thta been donCy the new regulation had been etFecttd ; — the poisonous Pamphlets of Simeon, Coiider and Co. had never spread their pestilence; — and those who introduced the spuri- ous Scriptures, had roost probably been dismissed; so that confi- dence had been restored. These being my views of controversial writings, yon need not wonder why 1 should adopt the plan of reform which I have steadily pursued. Knowing that my pages contain only truth ; — that the advocates of the B. and F. B. S. strive only for victory; — and that the grossest errors, sanctioned by that com- pany, pass with many for sterling verity; I have refrained from publishing my mind on the most serious questions ; because the greater the truths I write against this Society; ihe grosser must be the errors propagated, in order to uphold their credit, if they answer me ; and if they keep silence, their unconcern must strength- en the delusion of Unitarians. As it Biaybe well knowu to you, who the ingenuous Youths were, that laboured most zealously to establish th^:' Cambridge Bible Soci- ety, I submit my humble attempts to regulate this pendulum, to your serious consideration. Let no part be thought personal, that is not so specified. Those passages which seem most likely to offend, have provedy prophetical. Those^pages in which I consider the difference between the situations of Country Curates, and of Feliov/s of Col- leges, corrtspond exactly with the scope of the only subjects I ever djiscussedin English, in the hearing of Students and others at Cam- bridge. They are intended to impress on the minds of young Minis- ters ihe j7i}poftance of fidelity and the Necessity of perseverence. My conduct has accorded with my counsel. I remained stationary against my interest, above twenty years ; till a tedious disease ter- minated in the death of one of my Rectors, — an equally tedious lawsuit instituted by the Patron, induced the other to resign the liv- ing (on which I resided) as no longer tepalile; after thirty year's quiet possession, under the previous Patron ; — and the successor of the former's arrival to perform his own duty, was contemporaneous with the latter's resignation ; as nearly as Nov. 23 was to Dec. 3, 1823. But what signalized these events, more particularly was, the exempli6cation of that which I expressed at page 41 of my •• humble attempt," &c. as the " fall of Isaac a victim to fidelity." The sacrifice took place on the 3 1st of January ensuing, in the place of Judgment, where I requested leave to assign my reasons for relinquishing the Bible Society's connection, in Aug. 1813. But I expect his Resurrection soon: — vengance follows persecution ; — mo- tions were made last week, by a High Sheriff's Chaplain, at a Southern County's Auxiliary Society's Anniversary ; the object of which was to sever the same from the Parent Society, on account of its mal-ad- tninistrations. And my present anxious haste, to inflict the deserved castigation arises from Jear, lest the Institution should be dissolved, heforethe cause of the Lord's anger, evinced in its intestine divisions; {viz. its ungodly amalgamation with Socinians,) is so extensively known and acknowleged, that heal Christ iunily may hereby gain whether by its reformation or dissolution. That the Holy Ark will eventually right itself, I am satisfied, "whatever may be the fate of the Demerastia ; for it is under the Pilotage of Heaven. Nevertheless, I feel it my duty to perform with all my little might, what my "hand findeth to do;" knowing,.that God in doing great things, employs means, the most contemptible in the eyes of men ; that he may have all the glory to himself. Bp. Marsh turned with his pen the tide of popular opinion, upon the Continent against the enemies oj" his Country, once during the war, and was deservedly pensioned, but the more his bigotry laboured to regulate the Pendulum of the Religious World; the less regular its motion grew. The Lord never called a Prophet from Aram. He generally raised up for his people, instruments of deliverances, from among themselves. You know that ths Bibk Society obtained no small ac- cession, to that popularity, by which it became intoxicated in 181 1 Sc 12 through the countenance it had at our old house ; and no other House shall have the lead in correcting the Urchin's error. It will add not a little to Queen's well earned Laurels, to have had the homor of hoisting "the standard" desig'iied, to resist this "flood." Esto' perpetua, will again resound in her praises. How can you, My dear Sir, consistently with the principles of common honesty, feel easy, in a Committee, connected with such Theologians, as " Mr. HafFaer and his coadjutors," after having- admitted, in your part of the Apochryphal Controversy, that the ** Bible Society's principle, is no further universal than we can meet on common ground;" since the Committee's defender. Amicus, has truly said, that " the late Secretary Owen, and those Theologians could not meet on common ground ;" and that " to appeal to them on the criminality of their conduct," in binding their inBdel Pre- face with the Bible (which I believe they continue to do) " on orthodox and religious principles, was out of the question?" I demand, on what honest principles, can you expect others to be satisfied with the conduct of a Committee ; who, although they have been compelled to admit, that we have a concern about the books which the Bibles we distribute abroad may contain, i. e. whether they be Apochryphal or not ; have nevertheless uttered not a word in disapprobation, of the lately published denial of our hav- ing any concern about the fidelity of the Versions, in which those books are printed. Mr. Simeon of Cambridge was present on the platform at the last Anniversary Meeting, receiving his meed of the praise then voted to the Committee in general for past services. And as no other person was likely to move a vote of censure on him and others, for such a denial, I went there with the design of calling the attention of the general body to the subject ; but, as I could find no member, willing to second my motion, it could have answered no pur- pose to make it : and the course I have since pursued, was the only one I could adopt. You were in the Committee room on the 5th of June, when 1 had an audience with Mr, Hughes and others, and re- quested a private hearing any when and where, they pleased. You were present on the 3rd of July when I presented the Memorial, in which it was written that I was ready to prove to the Managers from their own shewing ; that they had departed from the line of conduct, which the Laws of the Society prescribed for them; that they conducted its concerns, on principles diametrically oppo- "8 S»le to its stipulatioBS, with the Ch ri&tiao public : and that I wasalstt prepared to demonstrate, that the system which they have sub* stituted, is incompatible wi th the interests of true religion. You were also there {Aug-, 7th) the day oa which I presented the title- page of a pamphlet which I Was compelled by their apparent un^ concern to print, in confirmation of those assertions; and eii- pressed my hopes, that after five Weeks' time to consider them, thrf members present, were prepared' to enter on their serious discussion; And, lastly, you wece present o*i the 4th instant, when the nobltf President made a motion, at my request, for a resolution to convene a. General Meeting according to the 8th rule of tfie originai Plini; and gave notice for me, that if no sucH a meeting-, "was convened by the Committee within ei^ht days of that date, to discuss those pro- positions, &c. Ishould convene ameeting. this week mysdf. And therefore, if the Committee should apply for a Writ of JError, yoa- can prove the cor-rectness of my Pleadings. I am dear Sir, Paradise-row, Yours 5tc* September \^tK\&2&. W. W. P S. Your Reviewers, saiH,** If OTr. Goi»H*M,wa« one of those, who assisted at the framing of the Society's law, we will take his word for it, that the law, or at least those who di-ew it up, contemplated oijly the Canonical Scii[rtui«s; bat' ifiuot« we raast hesitate. Sue, But I would quite as soon compel a neighbour to prove on oath u claim of mine, on a third person for £3, while I foresaw that by piuuiQw lay claim, such a wittoees wouUl forfeit £300 per ami. of Iris own, as I would solemnly catechise Mr. Hughes, or any other Person that was actually, couremed in drawing; the Regulations. You and 1 have learnt from hfs own ntuuthia the Conimitee, that Mr Hughes is irtterly av«i-se to CATBGORll'AL QUESTIONS. Nor do 1 wish any to give weight to my conclusions on account of my knowledge of the Society's origm, &c. There maybe OLD BOOKS which may lead some t4> suppose that I was far off— for the late Rector of Black-friars^ had, some weeks previous to this Society's formation, said, " The positive give* his pulpit to the Superlative ; and wants u Clergyman of the comparative degree, to go and supply the Superlative's place." And although I was not to be com- pared with the excellent Mr Good E, fwhom 1 should have included with the other Sponsors, had he not lingered in life somewhat longer than theyj) yet I went to serve a Mr. Best's Church, above 120 miles from town ; but I returned to the South, soon enough to know what was going on at this Society's Baptism. And its first Ireusuj'er, the late H. Thornton Esq. paid my travelling expences ; I believe out of his t)wn pocket. But still, traces may be seen of that charitable transactiou. 1 had interviews on my return, with our late learned Pioi- dent at Queen's, i)n the said trausaciioii's account : but I am soiry.to say it, the liible Society, and othei things, look away the attention of the Religious world, acid the evil we had to remedy remains a^blot upon its character; and the *' good work we began" was never " finished/' and ^lever can be. Princeton Theological Seminarv Libraries 1 1012 01236 4479 ''^"■^^r-^m^^^^i