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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..89d3907 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #62232 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62232) diff --git a/old/62232-0.txt b/old/62232-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 88724a9..0000000 --- a/old/62232-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1909 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, A letter to a country clergyman, occasioned -by his address to Lord Teignmouth, by John Owen - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: A letter to a country clergyman, occasioned by his address to Lord Teignmouth - - -Author: John Owen - - - -Release Date: May 25, 2020 [eBook #62232] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LETTER TO A COUNTRY CLERGYMAN, -OCCASIONED BY HIS ADDRESS TO LORD TEIGNMOUTH*** - - -Transcribed from the 1805 J. Hatchard edition by David Price, email -ccx074@pglaf.org, using scans from the British Library. - - [Picture: Pamphlet cover] - - - - - - A - LETTER - TO A - _COUNTRY CLERGYMAN_, - OCCASIONED BY - HIS ADDRESS - TO - _LORD TEIGNMOUTH_, - PRESIDENT OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN - BIBLE SOCIETY. - - - * * * * * - - BY - _A SUB-URBAN CLERGYMAN_. - - * * * * * - - “Unum gestit interdum, ne _ignorata_ damnetur.”—TERTULL. APOL. - - * * * * * - - LONDON: - PRINTED FOR J. HATCHARD, BOOKSELLER TO HER MAJESTY, - NO. 190, OPPOSITE ALBANY HOUSE, PICCADILLY. - - 1805. - - * * * * * - - - - -A LETTER, &c. - - -REV. SIR, - -ONE of those good-natured friends with which the world abounds, took an -early opportunity of conveying to my hands a copy of your Address to Lord -Teignmouth as President of the British and Foreign Bible Society; and I -can really assume you, that its effect upon my nerves was almost as great -as that which his Lordship’s circular letter produced upon yours. “The -emotions of my mind,” too, “upon the receipt of it, were such as I am not -inclined, for several reasons, to describe.” {1} - -You must know, Sir, that it had been my fortune to fall into the same -ugly snare as the worthy Nobleman whose eyes you have so graciously -endeavoured to open. I too had been drawn into the horrid Bible-plot, -without dreaming that there was any plot in the business; and, to tell -you the honest truth, before your pamphlet reached me, I had actually -lent all the name I possessed, and all the money I could spare, in order -to assist in carrying its designs into execution. - -Judge then, Sir, what must have been my feelings upon learning from you, -that our Noble President, instead of being, as I thought, most loyally, -usefully, and religiously employed, had “bestowed his patronage and -protection upon every description of the church’s enemies;” that he had -deserted “the cause of sound religion;” and that he was actually -“confederating with persons openly labouring the destruction of all that -is sober and established.” {2} - -The inference was too much against me to leave me at rest. I called to -my recollection, how prone the world is to say, “like master, like man;” -and in the first paroxysms of my fear, had half a mind to send a line to -the Secretary, and request that my name might be withdrawn. This seemed, -however, too strong a measure to be adopted in so early a stage of the -business; besides, though I could not wholly suppress my alarms, yet I -had some little scruple about proclaiming them publicly to the world. In -these moments of irresolution, it occurred to my mind, that you might -perhaps, without any malicious design, have overstated the mischief; that -the evils which you predicted as likely to follow from this unhallowed -project, might in reality have nothing to do with it; and that, at all -events, your frightful statement exhibited only _one side_ of the case. -Perhaps, thought I, some “liberal-basis’d” {3a} gentleman will overthrow -this high-church reasoning, and try to bring this bilious Country Priest -to a better temper: I may then be inclined to wish, that I had paid less -homage to that ex-parte evidence by which he sought to discredit a noble -cause. - -Unluckily for me, the printers had scarcely struck off the large -impression of your Address, when they came to a resolution to print -nothing further. {3b} Now though I did not suspect any confederacy in -the business, yet I could not help thinking that _you_ were much obliged -to them. However that may be, it was evidently in vain to wait for -Replies: if fifty had been written (and I suppose that at least as many -were expected), not one could find its way before the public. At length -I hit upon a project; and what do you think it was? But _you_ would be -the last to guess. It was that of _reading your pamphlet over again_. I -had observed that the birds in my garden who were scared away by the -first sight of my man-of-straw, would, after a second view, pursue their -instinctive robberies with as much composure as if they had really -discovered how little mischief he could do them. I was pleased with the -thought, and anticipated much the same consequences. Well, Sir, I made -the experiment; and the event, I assure you, exceeded my highest -expectation. I rose from the _second_ reading of your Address with -feelings so different from those of conviction or alarm, that if I did -not think it would ruffle a temper so irritable as yours, I could almost -find it in my heart to tell you what they were. However, as I shall have -occasion to speak my mind pretty freely in the course of this Letter, you -will have no difficulty in discovering what I ultimately thought both of -you and your performance. - -But now, Sir, to business. You open your Address to Lord Teignmouth with -a preamble, which sets forth, that you are “not inclined, for several -reasons, to describe the emotions of your mind upon the receipt of his -Lordship’s Address, as President of the British and Foreign Bible -Society.” There is an air of mystery in these words, which recommended -them strongly to my notice; and if you do me the favour to turn back to -my first page, you will find that I have employed them as you have done, -_in fronte operis_. I am, however, upon reflection, inclined to think -that “there is,” to use your own words upon another occasion, “more of -sound than sense” in this affectation of reserve on both sides. For, to -say the truth, I have already revealed _my_ emotions, and I am sure you -have taken no pains to conceal _yours_: and yet it must be manifest that -if each of us had not been _inclined_ to do it, neither of us would have -done it. However, the preamble has its use; for it invites the reader to -believe, that we are both of us men of peace and charity, and very -unwilling to injure the feelings and reputation of our neighbour: an -assumption which, in your case, it was the more necessary to make; as -otherwise the reader of your pages might, innocently enough, have -concluded the reverse. - -This brief exordium dispatched, you enter, pell-mell, upon the matter of -your indictment, and prefer your charges against the Noble Lord with as -little ceremony, as if you had borrowed the robes of his Majesty’s -Attorney General, and were prosecuting the Noble delinquent at the suit -of the Crown. But let us hear the accusation opened. His Lordship (you -say), by taking the presidency of the Bible Society, has “bestowed his -patronage and protection upon every description of the church’s enemies.” -Now here I doubt the accuracy of your representation: I am strongly -inclined to think that you do not mean to affirm quite so much as you -say. The church’s enemies are so numerous, and some of them so little -known, that I think it very probable many descriptions could be -mentioned, which have never obtained a place in your enumeration. I have -_your_ authority for setting down all the individuals who dissent from -the church’s communion as her decided enemies, for they wish to a man to -blow up the national establishment, “clergy and all:” you know they -do—“_one_ of them said” so. Such evidence as this, to be sure, must not -for a moment be questioned; though I should have thought better of it, if -your informer had shown his instructions for saying so much in the name -of the rest. But if I concede to you that _these_ are the church’s -enemies, I cannot admit, what I suspect you wish to imply, that these are -the _only_ enemies with which she has to contend. What think you of -“those men of influence and consideration, who continue to revile the -church, and still think proper to remain nominal members of her -community?” {6a} Into what class do you throw those “men of the world, -who, in their sober moments, think it more creditable to be accounted -members of our venerable church, than a subscriber to the meeting-house?” -{6b} And lastly, where do you place those partisans, whether priests or -laymen, who, while they contend for the church as the “chaste spouse of -Christ,” {6c} confound most unwittingly both her pretensions and her -character, with those by which that spiritual harlot is known, who has -committed fornication with the kings of the earth? {6d} For my part, I -recognise among such _false friends_ as the two first descriptions, and -such _injudicious __advocates_ as the last, some of those enemies, from -which the church has most to fear. But I think I do you no injustice -when I say, that it does not seem to have been your intention to include -such characters as these within those “descriptions of the church’s -enemies,” upon which his Lordship is blameable for having bestowed his -patronage and protection. - -But, waiving these considerations, let me ask the Country Clergyman, -wherein he designs to make the Noble President’s guilt consist. It -cannot be in the _bare and simple act_ of bestowing his patronage and -protection upon every description of “the church’s enemies.” For such an -_act_ his Lordship has the highest precedent, and the least questionable -authority. For every time the several denominations of Christians meet -to worship God according to their various rites (and they may meet just -as often as they will), they enjoy the patronage and protection of that -exalted Personage, who, as the guardian of the constitution, is present -wherever there are rights to protect, and laws to protect them. Upon -this point, therefore, no controversy can arise: and the main question -between us will be, whether the _object_ for which this patronage and -protection are bestowed be of a nature to favour the assumed hostilities -of the different denominations of Christians against the established -church. Now that object, as defined by his Lordship, is, “to promote the -circulation of the Scriptures at home and abroad;” and this you admit “is -an object in which every one, who professes the religion of Christ, must -feel a deep interest.” I am glad to find you admitting as much as this; -and I hope I do not misunderstand you. Indeed I am so desirous of -tracing an agreement between us, wherever I can find a ground for doing -it, that I will endeavour to persuade myself, though the delusion should -prove never so short, that the circulation of the Scriptures is not among -the points on which we differ. But you question whether _this_ be the -object; since “the object of a society is not to be known from its public -declaration in print;” {8} and yet, shrewd as this remark appears, I -cannot but think that “the declaration in print,” of a large body of men, -subscribed with their names, is rather better authority for judging of -their specific object, than _the insinuation in print_ of an anonymous -individual: and I believe that most of the world will be of the same -opinion. I know indeed that declarations in print are not to be credited -merely because they are _made_: but yet I cannot think that the mere act -of _making_ them is a reason why they should be discredited. For, if the -rule were established for interpreting every “declaration in print” into -its opposite, I should be justified at once in concluding that _your -object_ is to become a member of this obnoxious Association; _merely_ -because you declare in print, “I cannot join myself to your Bible -Society.” {9a} - -Surely, Sir, as a Country Clergyman, you must have heard of the vaccine -inoculation. Now there is an association in the metropolis to which that -ingenious invention has given birth, and which is publicly known as the -_Jennerian Society_. I see no reason why it might not as properly be -called “the British and Foreign Vaccine Society,” since its object is “to -promote the circulation of vaccine matter at home and abroad.” Now -indulge yourself for a moment with the supposition, that when this -Society had printed their “object, their principles, and their reasons,” -and solicited the countenance and support of the faculty and persons of -every denomination, some country physician had stepped from his -obscurity, and opened a smart attack upon them. Suppose him to have -contended with all the gravity in the world, “that the object of a -Society is not to be known from its public declaration in print;” {9b} -that Societies which afterwards found their way “to the Old Bailey, or -the Maidstone assizes,” had announced themselves to the world by “printed -declarations of their reasons, objects, and principles;” {9c} and that -for his own part, though he saw in their President a nobleman, “for whose -head and heart he had the highest respect,” and among their supporters -“many respectable names, with which he should be happy to place his own;” -{10a} yet because they received guineas from quacks and empirics, as well -as from regulars and licentiates in medicine, he considered the whole -Society as a dangerous combination against the health of the community, -and a conspiracy for effecting the diabolical design of poisoning his -Majesty’s subjects. What, Sir, would you think of such a worthy -gentleman? You would not question his sincerity, for no man who was not -“horribly afraid” {10b} would intimate suspicions for which he was likely -to gain so little credit among mankind: but I think you would feel -yourself at liberty to question something about him, which if it did not -provoke your resentment, might deservedly enough excite your compassion. - -I am glad to find, as I advance farther into your pages, that things are -not quite so bad as I had apprehended. “Far be it from me to say,” you -tell his Lordship, “that you preside over an association of men combined -for designs altogether bad; that you patronize and protect a Society, -whose objects and principles are wilfully nefarious.” {10c} Now though -this apology for insinuations which might as well have been withheld, is -not wholly purged from bile, yet I confess it gives me pleasure to see it -made at all; because it delivers _me_ from the logical difficulty of -proving a negative, and _you_ from the logical disgrace of requiring it. - -At present then it seems, that the majority of this Society, though weak -and deceivable, are not Jacobinical or designing men. It is not within -their _present_ intention to “pursue an object of an evil tendency in a -close and clandestine manner, under favour of a public declaration of -different, and” even “a contrary character.” {11a} Nay, so little are -they suspected of being _as yet_ “wilfully nefarious,” that if his -Lordship can give you such a security as you require, for the maintenance -of its original intentions, you think the Society “will be what it -proposes,” and you “shall be proud to rank” your “name, and make exertion -under his protection.” {11b} - -I do assure you, Sir, that my jealousies on this particular are quite as -much alive as yours can be. I know how apt Societies are to depart from -the principles upon which their original association was formed; and I am -half inclined to think, that in this and other parts of your pamphlet you -are reading a lesson to some Societies in the metropolis, that I could -name. However, I do not absolutely affirm that such is your intention; -for though I might take advantage of your own axiom, and suspect your -“declaration in print” to be _one_ thing and your real object _another_, -yet I should think it scarcely decorous to say so. Besides, it is very -possible after all, that the whole may have been the result of accident; -and that you had no design whatever of publishing the _actual_ state of -one Society, when you were merely predicting the _future_ state of -another. - -But, Sir, let me ask you now, in the best humour in the world, what -security you would require for the maintenance of an original object -which the Bible Society has not already given you. I grant, if you had -been invited to join a Society, whose object was the promotion of -Christianity, the reformation of manners, or the suppression of vice, you -might reasonably enough have doubted whether the nature of the object -sufficiently explained the views of the associators, and gave you any -competent pledge for the purity of those measures which they might in -process of time adopt. You might then have argued with some show of -plausibility, that “the _real object_ will take its colour from the -opinions and pursuits of those _effective members_, who shall contrive, -either by an actual majority, or an _assiduity and activity equivalent in -force to the power of a majority_, to give direction to the energy of the -association;” {12} and the event, in certain cases, would have proved, -that you were not very greatly mistaken. But in the case under -consideration, the object is definite. For the Bible (_which_ and which -_alone_ constitutes that object) is specific; and is further secured, by -its authorized translation into all the languages of the United Kingdom, -against the possibility of losing its specific character. Now since the -Society are bound, by a law of their constitution, to circulate the -_authorized_ version of the Scriptures, and that _alone_, their object -must remain so uniform and determinate, that no deviation from it can -occur, without a perceivable, an obvious, a felonious sacrifice of -justice, honor, and good faith. Of such departure therefore, if ever it -should be attempted, the public will most infallibly be apprized. For -those respectable characters _at least_, with whom you would be proud to -rank your name, will be the witnesses, the opposers, and (if unsuccessful -in their opposition) the reporters of such apostacy; and I hardly need -remind you that the efficiency of their exertions under all these -characters, will be diminished in the same proportion, in which you may -contrive to reduce their numbers, and discredit their association. - -So much for that security which the object of the Society affords. But -let us hear what sort of security you, in the exercise of your -moderation, are disposed to require. “If Lord T. will pledge himself -that the six hundred members of his Society are, like himself, honourable -and upright men, who speak what they mean, and practise what they -profess, who abhor duplicity and deceit, and know no discordance between -the object they _profess_ and the object they _pursue_—if Lord T. can -assure me this, I shall be proud to rank my name, and make exertion under -his protection.” {14a} - -And are these really, Sir, the lowest terms upon which the benefit of -your name can be obtained for the British and Foreign Bible Society? If -they are, I must fairly own, humiliating as the confession may appear, I -have no hope of hearing that the Secretary has been called upon “to -insert your name and accept your donation.” {14b} No Sir; his Lordship -cannot go such lengths as you require. I dare say he would do every -thing in his power to satisfy you; but I think I may venture to say, -without consulting him, that this exceeds his power. His Lordship is a -student of human nature, and the situations which he has filled, have -afforded him opportunities of pursuing his favorite study. How he has -employed those opportunities, and what fruit he has derived from them, I -need not tell you. I dare say you have not lost your respect for the -biographer of Sir William Jones, in your resentment against the President -of the Bible Society. But, with all his powers of discrimination, his -Lordship has his limits as well as _other_ men; and I hope you would not -wish him to vouch _for_ or _against_ a large class of individuals, as you -may have found some people inclined to do, merely on account of certain -peculiar specimens which he has seen, or some indistinct reports which he -has heard. - -But surely, Sir, I may be excused for doubting whether you “be in jest or -earnest,” {15} when you meet his Lordship’s proposition with such -exorbitant demands. Did you ever know a President who could engage for -quite so much as you require? Or did you ever see “six hundred” names -together, that stood for nothing less than so many “honorable and upright -men?” I am sure I venerate every useful Society throughout the kingdom, -from the Society for _promoting Christian Knowledge_, down to the Society -for _superseding the Necessity of Climbing Boys_; and yet I should not be -surprised if their respective Presidents should decline bearing their -testimony to the individual characters of the first _six hundred_ members -of those several Societies upon which I might choose to lay my hand. -Besides, Sir, consider—a rule for _one_, in such a case is a rule for -_all_. What you require _before_ you subscribe your name, others may -think themselves justified in requiring _after_ you have subscribed it. -And what will be the consequence?—His Lordship will next be called upon -to pledge himself for _you_; and though I dare say he could do it with -perfect safety, yet I think he might have reasons for wishing to be -excused. - -The object of this extravagant demand at length comes out; and it seems I -was perfectly justified in doubting whether you were in jest or earnest -when you advanced it. “All (you say) that I here assert” (and questions -of a certain description are the strongest of all assertions) “is this; -that your Lordship, for whose head and heart I have the highest respect, -appears to have undertaken the patronage of you know not whom or what.” -{16} Now, Sir, there is but one portion of this _assertion_ to which I -have any objection. His Lordship certainly does know _what_ he has -undertaken to patronize; for to the circulation of the Scriptures, the -Scriptures as printed by authority, the Scriptures without any addition, -deduction, or variation, both his patronage and that of the truly -venerable characters associated with him, are restrained. The rest of -the assertion is perfectly harmless. His Lordship has undertaken the -patronage of he _knows not whom_: this is strictly true; nor would it be -less so, if his Lordship filled the chair of any other Society, or if the -Country Clergyman and his friends occupied the place of the six hundred -members over whom his Lordship _actually does_ preside. - -It seems, however, that if his Lordship does not know over _whom_ he -presides, the Country Clergyman can tell him. Lord T. does not know “the -men and their communication” to whom he has joined himself; but you, it -should seem, can explain them both. No sooner do you cast your eye over -the List of Subscribers which his Lordship has sent you, than you see “a -very large proportion” of persons “with which, as an honest man,” you -“can have nothing to do;” men of whose company you “have hitherto always -been horribly afraid, being frightened at the idea of having the national -establishment blown up, as one of them said, clergy and all;”—“wolves,” -who design to worry your “poor sheep;”—“crafty beasts;” and, finally, -“those who openly and fairly avow that their object is to eat up both -sheep and shepherd.” {17} This is indeed, Sir, a very alarming -discovery; and I could almost wish, for the honor of the Society, it had -never been made. However, though I love the Society much, I love truth -more; and therefore, whatever sacrifice it may cost me, I trust it will -always prevail. - -But now, Sir, though I make no doubt you believe every thing you say, -what ground have you for expecting that I should? If you tell me you -have seen a ghost, and that he frightened you out of your wits, I may -have the best reasons in the world for believing that you have seen a -ghost; and yet I may doubt all the time whether there were a ghost to be -seen. In like manner, though I dare say you are a devout believer in the -threats of these incendiaries, the howlings of these wolves, and the -voracious declarations of these cannibals; yet, I may after all have -liberty to doubt, whether such stories are entitled to a moment’s regard. -Travellers, you know, Sir, with the best intentions in the world, often -play a trick upon us; and I think it very possible, that a Country -Clergyman, with no worse intentions, may be led to do the same. When -Bruce described the Abyssinian as cutting a steak from the rump of a -living animal, and then driving him on as if nothing had happened, the -world smiled at the easy credulity of the honest traveller, and did not -believe one particle of the matter: I am inclined to think that the -marvellous tales of the Country Clergyman will scarcely meet with a -better fate. - -But let me, Sir, expostulate with you for a moment. I know how -unreasonable a passion fear is, and I think it is always worth while to -take every honest method of getting rid of it. - -As a Country Clergyman, I dare say, you are a pretty good horseman; and -though I do not suspect you of appearing upon a race-course, or galloping -after the hounds, yet I suppose you are no enemy to a pleasant ride. Now -it must have happened to you, at least once in your life, as well as to -inferior horsemen, to be in imminent danger of breaking your neck by the -sudden and unaccountable starting of your horse. Irritable and -overbearing men will, you know, under such circumstances, make a furious -application of the whip and the spur to the back and sides of the -terrified animal. The consequence is, that if he was afraid of the -object at first, he will be “horribly afraid” of it ever after. You and -I know a better way; and that is, to lead the animal up to the object -which occasioned his alarm, and to give him an opportunity of forming a -more correct judgment of it. I cannot help thinking, that if you had -adopted some such steps, under your first impressions of alarm at the -Subscribers to the Bible Society; if, without _venturing yourself_ “into -the company of men of whom you have hitherto been always horribly -afraid,” you had yet _ventured yourself_ near enough to them, to see -whether they were likely men to blow you up in the air, or bury you in -their stomachs; you would have been saved from the humiliating necessity -of soliciting “the charity of the Noble President to pity your weakness -and excuse your unconquerable fears.” {19} - -But let me tell you a story—A friend of mine (who by the way is a Country -Clergyman as well as yourself) was lately invited to dine with a Mohawk -Chief, of whose visit to this country the provincial papers have -doubtless informed you. My friend was very much in your situation. His -head was full of stories against this “denomination” of people. He had -been credibly assured, that they were “the enemies of all that is sober -or established;” that they enjoyed nothing so much as pulling men’s -scalps over their ears, and eating them up, _clothes and all_. He could -not therefore, for some time, be induced to _venture himself_ “into the -company of men of whom he had hitherto been always horribly afraid.” At -length, however, he was prevailed upon to accept the invitation; not -without some apprehensions on his own part, that he “should feel uneasy, -and be illiberally, perhaps, looking towards the door.” {20} How he -actually behaved, I am not told; but what do you think was the event of -his visit?—Why, he returned from the interview, with his flesh upon his -bones, his scalp upon his head, and not a single mark of the tomahawk all -over his body. Add to this, he received so favorable an impression of -this “denomination” of people, that he resolved hereafter to consider -them as _brethren_, and to co-operate with them in every object which -might promise to promote their common welfare, without interfering with -their separate, local, and independent interests. I leave the Country -Clergyman to use his discretion about trying such experiments as these; -but, whether he try them or not, I make no question, that, in many cases, -they would be attended with similar success. - -It seems, however, that such Associations are forbidden by that least -forbidding of all the Christian graces, _Charity_. “Christian charity -(you tell us) no where recommends associations of discordant principles, -combinations of men professedly at variance and in hostility with each -other: but Christian charity enjoins that which renders all these -elaborate societies useless; it teaches and _obliges_ Christians to be -_like-minded_, to have one faith, one baptism, one speech, and one hope -of their calling.” {21a} Now, Sir, though I am far from thinking that -you are singular in your notion of Christian charity; for the church of -Rome entertained the same opinions, and does, I dare say, entertain them -to this day—yet I think you will have a difficulty in turning this notion -to any important use. The fact is, that Christian Charity, much as she -may _enjoin_ an uniformity of opinion upon questions of a controvertible -nature, cannot succeed in effecting it without the aid of those -_compelling_ means, of which she has been so long deprived. From the -time that some prototype of Lord T. prevailed upon the church “to throw -away that natural defence” of whips, and screws, and faggots, “which God -Almighty had given her,” {21b} Christian Charity has assumed a new -character, and taken up an employment the very opposite to that in which -she had been for ages before engaged. Her attention is now turned from -the _heads_ to the _hearts_ of men; and when she cannot succeed in making -them _like-minded_, she tries to make them _love one another_. She is -said to have actually disclaimed all the sentiments and measures which -were ascribed to her during her alliance with the Holy Father. The -account which is given of the matter, is plausible enough; and as it does -not appear to have reached your ears, I will give it you just as I -received it. - -Somewhere about the time when the churches of the West came under the -dominion of the Holy See, the successor of St. Peter was observed to cool -in his regard for _Charity_, and to withdraw his affections very sensibly -from _her_. The cause of this decline in his attachment was at length -discovered. A rival, not unknown for many ages before, had now acquired -a very formidable ascendancy in the breast of the Holy Pontiff; and the -new attachment was not a little cherished by the leading members of the -subjugated church. The influence of the favorite rapidly increased, and -that of _Charity_ proportionably declined; till at length, matters went -so far that the latter was deposed and imprisoned, and the former -enthroned in her place. The name of _Bigotry_ (for so she had been -called from her birth) was against her, and so was her countenance. The -first of these difficulties she got over by assuming the name of her -disgraced predecessor; the latter, it is said, remains a difficulty to -this very day. In the mean time, _Charity_ continued immured in the -closest confinement; and when the monasteries were pulled down at the -Reformation, this queen of all the virtues was found pale and almost -lifeless in a subterraneous cell. Her health had been so much impaired -by confinement, and her character misrepresented by the artifices of her -rival, that it took her a great deal of time to regain her strength and -make herself properly known. In both these respects she has now to a -great degree succeeded: and though the Pope denies her rights, and many -persons, who ought to know better, continue to question them, yet her -countenance and temper most clearly identify her with that heavenly -original, whose office it is to sanctify the confidence of faith and the -fervor of hope; and to make them the instruments of promoting glory to -God in the highest, and peace and good-will among men. - -Now though this looks very much like an allegorical account of the -matter, yet I think it accords so well with the fact, that I trust both -you and I shall be the better for the moral of it. I am sure if I -thought that uniformity of opinion upon the details of Christianity, -could be brought about among those who agree in the fundamentals of it, I -should rejoice to contribute my proportion to the advancement of so -desirable an event. But I do not expect, what in the present -constitution of human nature I believe to be impossible. I think that -the nearest advances to such uniformity may be made by resolving to unite -as far as we are _like-minded_, and to be reciprocally forbearing where -we are _not_, and thus to fulfil our Saviour’s commandment of loving one -another. I am sure that if every Country Clergyman will substitute this -species of Charity for the adulterous idol which you have set up (and I -have little doubt but they will), the church will then maintain herself -in vigour, usefulness, and beauty; “and the gates of nonconformity” {24a} -will not prevail against her. - -I have hitherto been reasoning upon the presumption, that circulating the -Holy Scriptures was an act upon the excellence of which no question could -arise between us; but it seems that I have been mistaken: for his -Lordship is cautioned (and every member of the Society through him) not -to be “deceived with the notion, that the _bare act of distributing -Bibles_, _is the act of disseminating truth_.” {24b} - -This species of caution, and the reasons by which it is supported, have -acquired so much the air of novelty by having been shut up for more than -two hundred years, that I confess I was not a little struck with them; -and I dare say, the feelings of most of your readers will be in unison -with mine. But I will give the passage at length: - - “Be not then deceived, my Lord, with the notion that the _bare act of - distributing Bibles is the __act of disseminating the sacred truth_. - The word of God in itself is pure, and perfect, and more to be - desired than much fine gold; but as the finest gold may be turned to - base purposes, so may the Scriptures. For, alas! through the lusts - of men and the covetousness of the world, the precious book of life - is made the instrument of error as well as of truth; of much evil as - well as of infinite good. When it is remembered that to the - Scriptures, not only the true church of Christ appeals for - confirmation of its divine doctrine; but likewise that every sect and - heresy, by which it ever was defaced, has regularly pretended - likewise to produce its error; when we observe the Papist, and - Puritan, the Socinian, and Calvinist, the Baptist, and Quaker, all - appealing to the Bible for the truth of their principles, and - pretending to prove them thereby;—it will not be maintained, I think, - that the _mere distribution of Bibles_ under the present - circumstances of the times, is likely to spread the truth. On the - contrary, it is to be expected that each member of your heterogeneous - Society will draw his portion of books for the promotion of his - particular opinion; for it is easily seen, that a Bible given away by - a Papist, will be productive of Popery. The Socinian will make his - Bible speak, and spread Socinianism; while the Calvinist, the - Baptist, and the Quaker, will teach the opinions peculiar to their - sects. Supply these men with Bibles (I speak as to a true - churchman), and you supply them with arms against yourself.” {26} - -Really, Sir, in reading over this extraordinary morceau, which I do -assure you I have done again and again, I have found my astonishment -continually increase, and am now as much at a loss as ever, to account -for your raising up again those notions, which have been buried by public -authority for so many ages. An old parishioner of mine, who scarcely -reads any books but the Bible and Fox’s Martyrology, was ready to swoon -when she came to this part of your pamphlet; and I could not, for the -life of me, prevail upon her to go any farther. She was utterly -astonished at my being able to smile at what she was pleased to call, the -_rankest Popery she had_ ever read. I told her, it could not be Popery; -for it was written by a Country Clergyman: she said, the whole was a -trick; and that the Papists abounded in such tricks. It was in vain that -I repeated to her my conviction, that the author was a Protestant -Clergyman, and that, I feared, he was not singular in holding these -opinions: I could not get her to believe one syllable of either. She -persisted in her declaration, that, whatever you might call yourself, you -were some Romish Priest in the interest of the Catholics; and that you -only wanted to prepare the people for parting with their Bibles. - -Now, Sir, though I by no means go the same lengths as my orthodox -parishioner, yet I am free to confess, that I agree with her in the main. -I dare believe, that you have no more intention of bringing back the Pope -than I have; and yet I do not know how you could have written more to the -purpose, if you had wished to accomplish such a measure. The dangers -which you point out as accompanying the perusal of the Holy Scriptures by -the unlearned, were matters of constant anxiety to his Papal bosom all -the time that he acted as visible head of the English church; and many a -Country Clergyman was employed, under his direction, to enforce upon -Lords and Commoners that prudent caution against _distributing Bibles_, -which you so earnestly press upon the Noble President of the British and -Foreign Bible Society. Our forefathers, however, were too much of his -Lordship’s way of thinking to yield to such considerations: having -derived so much benefit from reading the Bible themselves, they would not -endure the thought of refusing it to others; and they were, therefore, -among the foremost “to promote the circulation of the Scriptures at home -and abroad.” - -I lament with you that “the Holy Book is made a nose of wax;” I, too, am -“_sadly_ experiencing” this, “daily before my eyes;” {27} and, the -strange interpretation which you have given of “Christian Charity,” is -another proof of the _sad_ extent to which this practice has spread. But -I could not consent on that account to deprive _you_ of your Bible, nor -even to refuse you another if you wanted it. Indeed, Sir, the conduct -which you blame, and of which you have condescended to become an example, -is a grievous evil: but the remedy which you propose, and which the -Council of Trent proposed before you, is abundantly worse than the -disease. - -By the way, Sir, I wonder you were not a little afraid of venturing such -sentiments abroad, without first consulting those of your friends who are -better acquainted with the principles of the Reformation than you appear -to be. You talk of _the church_, in the same language, with the same -pride of appropriation, and with the same prerogative of limiting the -course and interpretation of Scripture, as if you had never heard that -the church of Rome disputes all these things with you, or as if you had -never heard of a separation from her. Had no such separation taken -place, your observations would have been perfectly in order. You might -then have followed them up too with this precautionary proposition, that -Bibles should be suppressed; and that every subject of the empire should -engage (in the language of the Douay Catechism) to “believe whatsoever -the Catholic church proposes to be believed.” This would certainly (if -it could have been carried into effect) have rendered “all such elaborate -Societies” as confine themselves to “the _bare act of distributing -Bibles_, useless;” and consequently the growth of _heresy_, _error_, and -_delusion_, impossible. - -But, Sir, you and I must take things as we find them: and it does so -happen, that things _are not_, in the church established in these realms, -as they _once were_. Whether it be a wise or an unwise measure to open -the Scriptures to the people at large, it is now too late to dispute: to -the people at large they _are_ opened; and their distribution is -legitimated both by canon and precedent, as an act of the strictest -justice, and the purest benevolence. - -Indeed I must take upon myself to tell you, that your fears for the -church, from “the circulation of the Scriptures,” are not calculated to -do her any honor in the world. She either does not think with you, that, -in supplying the different denominations of Christians with Bibles, she -is really supplying them “with arms against herself;” or if she does, she -has the magnanimity to promote their salvation, though it were at her own -expense. I dare say you will set me down for no “true churchman,” when I -say this; but I will give you an authority to this effect, which has much -weight with me, and which _you_ will scarcely venture to dispute. In a -little tract, called “Questions and Answers concerning the respective -Tenets of the Church of England and the Church of Rome,” I find the -following passage: - - “Question. Why do you find fault with the church of ROME for not - suffering the common people _to read the Bible_? - - “Answer. 1. Because in so doing they act contrary to the command - Christ gives to _all_, ‘Search the Scriptures,’ John, v. 39. - - “2. Because what they forbid, the Apostles commend, as we see in the - example of the Bereans, who are _commended_ for reading the - Scriptures, Acts, xvii. 11. - - “3. It is contrary to the practice of the primitive church, in which - the fathers _earnestly exhorted_ the people to an assiduous and - diligent reading of the Scriptures. - - “4. It agrees not with St. Paul’s counsel and exhortation, 1 Thess. - v. 7. ‘_I charge you_ that this Epistle be read to all the holy - brethren.’ - - “5. It was a duty of the Jews to have the law in their houses, and - to read it to their children, Deut. vi. 7, and therefore must be much - more the duty of Christians to read or peruse the Gospel, as being a - people living under a greater and richer economy. - - “6. Whereas it is pretended that the Scriptures are obscure, and - that this prohibition is _to prevent heresies_: _we_ answer, that the - Scriptures are not so obscure, in places relating to things necessary - to salvation, but that they may be understood by the laity: and as to - the plea of _preventing heresies_, that is only a pretence, no - argument, since _they __might as well forbid people to eat and - drink_, _for_, _fear they should abuse that liberty_.” - -Now, as this tract is issued by the Society for promoting Christian -Knowledge, I cannot but think it a misfortune, that, as a _Country -Clergyman_, you should not have seen it before you wrote your Address to -Lord T.: you would scarcely then have challenged the Noble Lord to show -that he was “a true churchman,” by fearing and restraining the -circulation of the Scriptures. As it is, you can scarcely, I should -think, expect to escape rebuke. Like that “officer of the Society,” {31} -whose secret history you seem to have studied so well, you have stepped a -little out of your regular line, and, like him too, have been guilty of -some “indecorum towards the church and its spiritual superiors.” - -But supposing, Sir, that I could admit your dubious proposition, that the -dissemination of truth did not depend upon the _Bible_ which was given, -but upon the _hand_ which might give it; a proposition, which, if true to -the extent of your statement, would prove equally, that the effect of -your pamphlet upon the interests of the Bible Society will depend less -upon the merits of your work, than upon the hands through which it may -pass;—what expedient would you propose, in the exercise of your sagacity, -for providing against the consequences you fear? I am aware of your -answer—“_Dissolve the Bible Society_.” Suppose that done; though there -would, I think, be difficulties in the way of doing it: still the tares -are sowing in a thousand directions, and the business of prevention is -scarcely yet begun. Your expedient must provide for putting Bibles into -the hands of churchmen _only_, or of those who will _infallibly_ become -churchmen by reading them; or it will never succeed. But what will you -do with those wholesale Bible-mongers, the universities of Oxford and -Cambridge, and his Majesty’s Printer, and all their subordinate agents -and instruments, the book and Bible sellers throughout the country? -While such merchants as these may dispose of Bibles _ad libitum_ as an -article of trade, and such bodies as the Society for promoting Christian -Knowledge, and others of the same description, will continue to favor the -traffic, I cannot see how you will contrive to dam up the waters of life -to any orthodox purpose; or to prevent their irrigating those lands that -are alienated from the established church. - -Perhaps it might forward your purpose to put the printing and -distributing of Bibles under some new and more definite limitation. As -the members of the church of England do not exceed four fifths of the -population of the country, and the chance of converting a sectary is -scarcely worth the risk of supplying him with “arms against yourself,” -what think you of a petition to the Legislature against uselessly and -dangerously multiplying copies of the Holy Scriptures? I will suppose -your application successful, and that only four Bibles are printed for -every five individuals upon the records of the population. I will also -suppose, which is quite as necessary, that these Bibles, when printed, -are consigned to an ecclesiastical depot, of which the whole and sole -custody shall be vested in the Country Clergyman; and that not a single -copy of the Bible shall be issued but under his direction. And now, Sir, -do you really think, that, “old as you are in the business,” you would be -able to detect all _the dogs_ that, under various disguises, would be -seeking _the children’s meat_? If you find in the little range of your -own parish such “hard work with these crafty beasts,” how much would your -work be increased, and your difficulties multiplied, by the daily care of -all the churches? - -But you must go farther, Sir, or else you had better not have begun.—You -must interdict the free circulation of all “Apologies for the Bible,” all -dissertations upon its authenticity and evidence, and particularly all -discourses upon its excellence and usefulness. You must prevail upon the -many venerable prelates, archdeacons’, and priests, of the present day, -who have done themselves so much honor by advocating the cause of -Christianity, to expunge from their writings all unguarded commendations -of the Holy Scriptures; or to provide for their works, if they know how, -an exclusive circulation in ecclesiastical channels. Nor is this all: -you must invite, solicit, and (if you can find the means) compel, all the -different denominations of Christians, to deliver up forthwith the Bibles -they possess into the hands of the nearest parish priest. When all this -is accomplished (and until it is, your end will be very imperfectly -obtained) it will only remain for those well-meaning Societies, in -connexion with the established church, to ask a bill of indemnity for the -degree in which they have contributed to the propagation of error, by -their incautious distribution of Bibles; and to bind themselves over to -commit no more such acts of ecclesiastical suicide. Your business, it -shall be supposed, is now accomplished; and what is the result?—Why, you -may now congratulate yourself upon having withdrawn the _antidote_ and -left the _poison_ in circulation; for the different denominations of -Christians are still in possession of the privilege of multiplying -_tracts_ ad infinitum, and you have deprived their readers of the only -means of detecting the _heresy_ they contain. - -But really, Sir, to be serious—“I feel very strong objections to the -whole plan, not indeed the simple, pure object of” securing the -Scriptures from perversion; “the mischief lies in the _manner_ and -means,” which must at all events be employed for “carrying that object -into effect.” {34} - -The word of God, which is a savour of life unto life, _may_ also, I know, -become a savour of death unto death. I am sorry for it: but to restrain -the circulation of it, in order to provide against this _contingent_ -evil, would, I continue to think, with the authority before cited, be at -once as unreasonable and unjust, as to “forbid people to eat or drink, -for fear they should abuse that liberty.” - -I am really sorry, Sir, you were so much at a loss to interpret the -meaning of that “liberal basis,” upon which his Lordship recommended the -Society to your notice. The terms “broad bottom,” {35a} which you -substitute in their place, would have expressed well enough his -Lordship’s intention; but as he was writing to a _Country Clergyman_, and -not to “a preaching blacksmith,” he would not “fail in the respect” that -is due to “a gentleman and a Christian.” {35b}—“Those who are used to -good company (you say) know how to behave.” {35c} What then is his -Lordship to think of _you_, when you tell him, that you have “not been -educated on liberal-basis’d or broad-bottomed principles,” {35d} but that -either you have not put on your prettiest behaviour, or that you would -“feel” less “uneasy,” than you pretend, in that class of company to -which, as a member of the Bible Society, you would expect to be -introduced? - -But were there no other authorities to which you could have recourse, -when the lexicographer failed you, than the mouths of the “_vulgar_?” -{36} I have an authority before me, which throws so much more light upon -his Lordship’s “liberal basis,” than either the synonyms of the -“lexicographer,” the slang of the “vulgar,” or the etymological quirks of -the “Country Clergyman,” that I shall make no apology for producing it: - - “Give us all grace, to put away from us all rancour of religious - dissension, that they who agree in the essentials of our most holy - faith, and look for pardon through the merits and intercession of the - Saviour, may, notwithstanding the differences upon points of doubtful - opinion, and in the forms of external worship, still be united in the - bonds of Christian charity, and fulfil thy blessed Son’s commandment, - of loving one another as he hath loved them.”—_Form of Prayer for the - Fast_, _October_ 19, 1803. - -Now here, Sir, I found that “liberal basis” upon which the Society is -erected, and I am surprised you did not think of looking for it in the -same place. But perhaps the liberal basis of the prayer, like that of -the Society, “has no charms for” _you_. I will not presume such a fact; -but if you were to affirm that it is so, I should have very little -difficulty in believing you. - -You do not however intend “to deny the possibility of any _sort or -degree_ of union among certain descriptions of persons composing the -Society.” {37a} You are “perfectly aware that all the various and -discordant tribes of dissenters from the church of England may unite from -the Papist down to the Quaker; for they frequently have, and frequently -do unite _against_ the church.” {37b}—“But when (say you) was it ever -known that they have united _with_ the church? Show me the history, lay -your finger on the page, and say, my Lord, _when_, _where_, and upon what -_occasion_, did they ever unite _with_ the church for any important and -righteous design. I must be satisfied on this point; I must request some -fair example and precedent, to prove that the thing is neither impossible -nor improbable, before it can be even prudent to listen to your -Lordship’s proposal.” {37c} - -Now here, Sir, you throw out a challenge, which, with his Lordship’s -permission, I am willing to accept. I will show you the history of such -union as you indirectly deny: I will lay my finger on the page, and say, -_when_, and _where_, and upon what _occasion_ the different tribes of -Dissenters _did_ unite with the church for an important and righteous -design. The _history_ then to which I refer is that portion of our -country’s annals which commenced with the autumn of 1803, and which is -not yet completed. The _page_ upon which I lay my finger is that which -displays the voluntary creation of a national force; in which, if one -feature was more illustrious than another, it was the magnanimity with -which the subjects of the same government agreed “to put away all rancour -of religious dissension,” and to unite in the prosecution of that -_righteous_ and _important_ design in which they had embarked, -“notwithstanding their differences upon points of doubtful opinion, and -in the forms of external worship.” Let the Country Clergyman peruse this -awful yet luminous page of our history; let him weigh well the danger -which threatened the throne, the church, and the nation; let him read in -those discourses, which gratitude will not allow us to forget, how that -danger was proclaimed by preachers of every denomination; let him walk -through the land, in the length of it and the breadth of it, and see how -many myriads were added to the national force by those powerful and -seasonable appeals to the feelings, the conscience, and the spirit of -Britons; and he will want, I think, no other “example and precedent” to -prove that an union of the various tribes of Dissenters WITH the church -of England, for an important and righteous design, “is neither impossible -nor improbable.” - -With such a recent portion of history before your eyes, I cannot see, I -confess, either the justice or the policy of your travelling back over a -century and half of ground in order to find matter of accusation against -those of our fellow-subjects, with whom a sense of common danger has -united us, and with whom it is as important now as it was two years ago, -that we should continue united. The politico-religious strife which -subsisted between our ancestors and theirs is not a sacred inheritance. -I trust the various denominations of Christians of the present day would -think themselves as much disgraced by the events of “the grand -rebellion,” {39a} as the modern members of the establishment would by the -revenge with which it was followed. “The church” has, I know, “her sores -and scars;” and so, I lament to say, have those who dissented from her. -Let us own the truth—“the heavenly dove” {39b} has been sometimes -encouraged to make a little too free with “the wings and feathers” of the -smaller birds, and it must not therefore be wondered if her own have -suffered. Let her but act up to the sweetness of her nature, and allow -the other tenants of the air to have their note; she then may plume her -golden breast without annoyance, and bear her grateful blessings on -outstretched wings to every nation under heaven. - -Your zeal for extending the boundaries of that church in which you -minister, is both natural and just: I participate in it with all the -feelings of my heart. It is an object which has my prayers, and shall, -by God’s assistance, through life command my services. But I will not -set her up as the entire and only spouse of Christ: for how can I then -curse those whom God hath not cursed?—Away with those superannuated -fears, that she must grow barren because her younger sisters are -fruitful. I have no doubt but both she and they have “borne many an -illustrious child of God” {40a} to their heavenly bridegroom, and will -continue to bear many more. I lament with you, that they prefer their -_Gerizim_ to our _Zion_: but I must not therefore refuse to have any -dealings {40b} with them, or to entertain any charity for them. If they -worship God in spirit and truth, if with the heart they believe on the -Lord Jesus unto righteousness, if they “agree in the essentials of our -most holy faith, and look for pardon through the merits and intercession -of the Saviour,” I cannot, I dare not, I will not put them out of the -covenant of grace and mercy and peace. Aliens from our external -commonwealth, they are yet fellow-citizens with the saints: and though -the earthly Jerusalem disclaim them, they will hereafter be acknowledged -by the Jerusalem above—the mother of us all. {40c} - -But the treason can no longer be dissembled; the eleventh article of the -Society’s constitution proclaims it: that article purports, that “the -committee (which is to conduct the business of the Society, appoint all -officers except the treasurer, have power to call special meetings, and -are charged with procuring for the Society suitable patronage) shall -consist of thirty-six laymen; of whom, twenty-four, who shall have most -frequently attended, shall be eligible for re-election for the ensuing -year; six shall be foreigners resident in London or its vicinity; half -the remainder shall be members of the church of England, and the other -half members of other denominations of Christians!!!” - -“_We have here_ (say you) _a standing majority against the church_!” and -then, after declaiming, with all the art of the buskin, upon this -“death-warrant of the established church,” and with all the prescience of -the seer upon the return of the “halcyon days of 1648,” you surround -yourself with the imaginary ruins of “our” demolished “Zion,” and make -your exit “weeping.” {41} I thought indeed when you played such awkward -antics upon “his Lordship’s liberal basis,” that every thing was not -right. I could not but regard the laugh in which you indulged, as a -symptom of something very different from humour; and I have not been -deceived. It was, I perceive, a _moody laugh_, and has ended, as all -such hysterical affections do, in _a flood of tears_. As the fit is now -over, we may examine this treasonable article, with a better chance of -coming to a mutual understanding upon it. - -I will then indulge you for a moment with the full benefit of your -assertion, that there is in this committee “_a standing majority against -the church_;” and what will you gain by such a concession? The object, -you must now bear in mind, is specific—the circulation of the Scriptures; -that object, you must also recollect, is limited, within the kingdom, to -the _authorized_, versions in use among us. The same sort of limitation -is not resorted to in case of foreign versions, for the best of all -reasons; that it _cannot_ in the nature of things be applied. The -different Protestant churches on the European continent have their -authorized versions, and _there_ the line of proceeding is direct: but -where the church of Rome, or, as she calls herself _the church_, -prevails; _there_, the Country Clergyman would scarcely wish the rule for -circulating the _authorized_ version to be observed. As for those -languages into which translations remain to be made, they are for the -most part so remote from the ordinary sphere of study and commerce, that -the office of executing such translations, and judging of their merits, -must generally be consigned to foreigners; who probably neither -understand the distinctions to which we annex importance, nor could be -made to understand them. No questions, therefore, can arise in this -committee, which might bring into discussion the points of disagreement -between the church of England and Dissenters: so that if there should be -in such committee, a standing majority of members _out of_ the church, -that will by no means constitute a Standing majority _against_ her. - -But let us see whether your _hypothesis_ does not assume rather too much. -The Society is denominated _British_ and _Foreign_. In the constitution -of its committee, it was but just to pay respect to both parts of its -designation: nor does it appear extravagant to have assigned a sixth part -of that committee to the members of those foreign churches, with which -the Society sought a friendly co-operation, and with which, I understand, -she _is_ actually co-operating to a very considerable extent. Now these -foreigners cannot be identified with the Dissenters from the established -church, without as much violence to speech as makes a _solecism_, and to -the rights of hospitality, as constitutes a _calumny_. Neither these men -have sinned, nor their parents, in the way which the Country Clergyman -_supposes_: they brought their religion with them, as they did their -language; and they might as truly be said to have dissented from a -language which they never spake, as from a mode of religious worship -which neither they nor their fathers ever professed. They are, it should -be observed, for the most part members of sister churches, from which the -Society for promoting Christian Knowledge has obtained some of its most -laborious missionaries, and the established church of this country has -derived, and must continue to derive, her nursing mothers. {44} On many -grounds, these foreigners would feel the ties which bind them to the -established church; and she may therefore fairly reckon upon their -_neutrality_, if she may not promise herself their _support_. - -Let these _neutrals_ (for such _at least_ I am privileged to call them) -be withdrawn, and there remain fifteen members to support the church’s -interests, and fifteen, as it is supposed by the Country Clergyman, to -impugn them. The former will naturally be links of the same chain; -common interest, and pledges of a peculiar nature, dictate to them an -uniformity of reciprocal support, from which they may not be expected to -depart. They may therefore be reckoned upon to the extent of their -number. But will you, Sir, who seem to know something of the world, will -you allow yourself to believe, that the same uniformity of co-operation -may be expected from the fifteen members who are to fight the battles of -_dissent_? Some among them are advocates for _infant_ baptism, some for -_adult_ baptism, and some for _no_ baptism at all. Some hold the tenets -of Calvin, some of Arminius, and some of neither. Their sentiments upon -church government are also scarcely less various, than their opinions -upon matters of faith: so that, widely as they may seem to dissent from -the church of England, many of them would be found, if controverted -questions could arise, to differ still more widely from each other. Yet -all these discordant members must harmonize together; and the foreigners, -who probably differ from them all, must harmonize with them; or else _the -standing majority against the church_ must remain a mere _standing_ -bugbear, to scare the Country Clergyman, and terrify those who choose to -participate his alarms. - -I am, however, no enemy to strong improbabilities where a pleasant -argument is concerned. The fifteen members of all denominations of -British Christians _shall_ unite together; the six members of foreign -churches shall do the same: and then, like the miraculous pieces of St. -Peter’s chain {45} (of which _the church_ makes such notable mention), -these two parties shall form a junction; _a majority_ shall thus be -created _against_ the church. What then? Are not the presidents, -vice-presidents, and treasurer, by virtue of their respective offices, -members of the committee? Suppose then for a moment, that the committee -should entertain so foul a proposition as that for “blowing up the -establishment, clergy and all;” suppose, that the Quakers should consent -to renounce, _pro hâc vice_, their objections to the employment of -gunpowder; suppose further that the foreigners should concur, nobody -knows why, in voting for such a measure; the terrified minority would not -be without a remedy. It would still be in their power, by the accession -of these honorary members, to outnumber their dissenting adversaries at -the ensuing meeting; and, by objecting to the confirmation of the -minutes, prevent the explosion of this nefarious plot. But indeed there -is no end of remedies. Every clergyman subscribing a guinea a year, is a -_member of the committee_. (Art. 12.) Every subscriber of five guineas a -year, is a _member of the committee_. (Art. 5 and 7.) Every subscriber -of 50_l._ at one time, is a _member of the committee_. (Art. 6.) And -lastly, every executor paying a bequest of 100_l._ is a _member of the -committee_. (Art. 8 and 7.) Now, Sir, supposing the members of the -church of England to be (upon your own estimate) to those of other -denominations as four to one, _whose_ fault do you think it will be, if -the balance of influence in the committee of the Bible Society should be -against her? Will _you_ be wholly innocent?—“Oh, Sir, how could you join -in such a plot? What could induce you to lend your” professional “name -to such a business as this? And why should you think so basely of the -clergy as to tempt them by your example,” and the presumption of your -fair reputation, to believe, that, in strengthening the hands of their -ecclesiastical brethren, they would “sign the death-warrant of the -established church, and the instrument of their own ruin?” {47a} Do, -Sir, lose no time in writing your palinodia. I will not ask you to alter -your opinion of the Society, or to part with one of your suspicions of -its mischievous designs. You shall still be at liberty to talk, as -freely as ever, of “preaching blacksmiths and fanatical ranters in holy -orders;” and of such “doves,” as you and your friends, becoming “a -luscious and inviting morsel to all the several hungry denominations of -Christians;” provided you do but seek to multiply the number of our -ecclesiastical subscribers, as much as you have hitherto laboured to -diminish it. I will not promise, in return, that your “liberality will -be sounded forth by every gospel-preacher in the church, and every -twanging teacher in the conventicle;” {47b} but I may then venture to -promise you, what I should think would afford you quite as much -pleasure—the satisfaction of having converted a standing majority -_against_ the church into a standing majority _in her favor_. - -I will not dispute with you, whether the established church will be a -gainer by this new connexion on the score of _dignity_ and fashion. I am -told, indeed, that there are among the nonconformists those who can wear -as gay a coat, play as good a hand at whist, and give as modish an -account of an opera or a play, as “those men of the world” among us, who -“think it more creditable to be accounted members of our venerable -church, than a subscriber to the meeting-house:” but I cannot say how -many there may be of this description among the subscribers to the Bible -Society. However, though “few men of opulence, and fewer still of rank, -frequent the meeting-house or conventicle,” there is “influence and -consideration” {48a} enough among the members of our communion to give -respectability to both. I grant, indeed, that “the presence of _a -nobleman_ cannot make the company which he honours with his presence -either creditable or polite,” yet surely the presence of a _number_ will -go a great way towards doing it: but then I admit with you, that they -must not be “wandering stars,” {48b} which shed a momentary lustre, but -luminaries which keep a _fixed_ position, and dispense a _certain_ light. - -You expect, as the result of this new association, that all will become -unity, and charity, and Christian benevolence, and that you shall see -“realized the pretty hand-in-hand frontispiece to the Christian Ladies -Pocket-Book 1803.” {48c} Now though I am not so sanguine in my -expectations as you are, yet I trust you will not be wholly disappointed. -And, in my opinion, a Protestant clergy will be not acting less out of -their character by promoting “unity, charity, and Christian benevolence,” -than by disturbing them: nor can Christian prelates be quite so much -disgraced by shaking the hands of Dissenting ministers in the -frontispiece of a pocket-book, {49} as they would be if represented as -drawing those hands through the holes of a pillory. - -Your fears are awakened for the _purity_ of the church:—I am certainly -more tender of her _purity_ than I am of her _dignity_; and that because -I have been taught to regard her _white raiment_ as her truest _glory_. -But what defilement has she to apprehend from a co-operation with persons -differing from her, in an object upon which they are agreed? If -Socinians are to be feared, if Calvinists are to be shunned, I question -whether the Bible Society will furnish dangers nearly so great as those -which the established church incurs from members of her own communion. -Socinians are not remarkable for their zeal in promoting the circulation -of the Scriptures; and I question whether half a dozen of them have -subscribed their names as members of the Bible Society. As for the -Calvinists, they constitute, it must be remembered, only a proportion of -those denominations which are represented in the committee. The Wesleian -Methodists are not _Calvinists_; many of the Presbyterians are not -_Calvinists_; the Quakers are not _Calvinists_; the Lutherans are not -_Calvinists_; and individuals of other persuasions, which might be named, -are not _Calvinists_. Besides, though “scratchings and fightings” may be -“usual with the parties when on the outside of the tavern walls,” {50} -that is not a reason for there being theological wranglings within. The -line of business is, with few exceptions, as direct at the Bible -Committee as it is at Lloyd’s; and there is as little reason to expect -the peculiar tenets of Calvin or Socinus to enter into a debate for -dispersing an edition of the Scriptures, as there would be if the same -men were met to underwrite a policy of insurance. But why may it not be -hoped that churchmen will not be the only losers by this connexion? What -if some of _us_ should grow less proud and phlegmatic, may not some of -_them_ become less snarlish and fanatical? The friction which takes off -our asperities will assuredly do the same by theirs. It is therefore -highly probable, that we may severally bring away with us our faith, our -hope, and our charity, which are all we wish to save; and leave nothing -behind us but that “bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and -evil-speaking, and malice,” {51a} which can very well be spared. - -You ask, “what concord hath a mitre with a meeting-house?” The Pharisees -of old were fond of asking questions of the same sort—“Why eateth your -Master with publicans and sinners?” The Pharisees were very little -satisfied with the answer they received; and, I dare say, any answer that -could be given to the Country Clergyman would satisfy him as little. I -must therefore leave him to doubt whether _any concord_ can subsist -between kindred souls, pursuing the same object under different forms, -and in unequal stations, till he shall see how near the spirits of an -Usher and a Baxter, of a Taylor and a Henry, of a Tillotson and a Watts, -of a Seeker and a Doddridge, will _venture_ to approach each other, in -the new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth _righteousness_. - -And pray what are we to understand by your merry question about the -_unequal yoke_? “Why (you ask) should a clergyman of the church of -England be unequally yoked with a lovely sister of the conventicle?” And -then you desire “a certain officer of the Society” {51b} to be consulted. -What sort of an answer that “officer” might think proper to give, it -belongs to himself to determine; but I confess I see nothing in the -question which I should be afraid to meet. I am at a loss to see what -harm “a lovely sister of the conventicle” can do to any man. I am sure -there is every probability that such an “unequal yoke” would do the -Country Clergyman’s temper a great deal of good. But I cannot give him -any great encouragement, if he should _venture himself_ upon such a -speculation, _into the company of those of whom he has always hitherto -been horribly afraid_. The sectaries, on whom he has laid such heavy -blows, will keep (I fear) their “lovely sisters” for priests of a gentler -nature and better breeding; and leave the Country Clergyman to whisper -his tale of love into some high-church ear, and to be as “equally yoked” -as Richard Hooker, {52} or any other country clergyman ever was before -him. - -But though I can pardon in this “certain officer of the Society,” his -_hymeneal_ error (for matches, you know, Sir, are made in heaven), yet I -have no such allowance to make for those other transgressions, in which -he is, or ought to be, a freer agent. “Perhaps (you say) he can resolve -us, how a clergyman of the church can attend the meeting-house, without -danger to his principles, or gross indecorum towards the church and its -spiritual superior. He perhaps can show us too, how a clergyman of the -church can securely, and without breach of trust, take his pupils to hear -the harangues of those who daily revile her. This, to common -understandings, does not appear to be the likely way ‘to banish and drive -away all erroneous and strange doctrines, contrary to God’s word,’ which -every clergyman at his ordination solemnly promises to do. It wants some -clearing up.” {53} - -There is really, Sir, no accounting for the fancies of some of our order. -Dean Swift was fond of vulgar manners, and therefore he would take his -dinner in a cellar; some clergymen love the sports of the field, and -therefore join the hounds at a fox-chase: I suppose this “certain officer -of the Society” has a sort of ear for public speaking, and has sometimes -stepped a little out of his way in order to gratify it. But then (as you -might naturally say) are not the _theatres_ open for him, as well as for -his brethren; and if he wants a slice of good oratory, cannot he give six -shillings to a box-keeper, and take it like a gentleman? _He_ may -perhaps have a doubt (for he seems to hold opinions of his own) “how a -clergyman of the church can attend” _the theatre_, “without danger to his -principles, or gross indecorum towards the church and its spiritual -superior.” Perhaps also he may entertain a doubt “how a clergyman of the -church can, securely, and without breach of trust, take his pupils to -hear the harangues of those” dramatic characters, “which,” as Archbishop -Tillotson says, “do most notoriously minister to infidelity and vice.” -{54a} Possibly “this,” to his understanding, may “not appear to be the -likely way ‘to frame and fashion himself and his family according to the -doctrine of Christ, and to make both himself and them, as much as in him -lieth, wholesome examples and patterns to the flock of Christ,’ {54b} -which every clergyman at his ordination solemnly promises to do.” But I -think with you, that the whole of this matter “wants clearing up.” I -have, I confess, some difficulty about conceiving how this priest can -execute either such, or so many duties as he is said to do, of a -parochial and domestic nature; and yet find either time to conduct his -pupils to hear the church reviled, or pupils tractable enough to be -conducted by him. But, as I said before, the whole matter “wants -clearing up;” and if you should be found to have aimed a blow at his -professional character, which he has not quite deserved, you have nothing -to do but to say, as the Roman assassins are reported to do when they -stab the wrong man in the dark, “_Padrone è un sbaglio_,”—“I beg your -pardon, it was _a mistake_.” - -Your last objection respects “the purity of the Holy Scriptures,” which, -you think, will be endangered “if the translation and edition of the -Sacred Book are to be intrusted to all the different denominations of -Christians.” {55} The greater part of this objection has been -anticipated. It has been already stated that the Society is restrained -to editing and distributing the versions, _printed by authority_, -throughout the united kingdom. In supplying the different parts of the -European continent, the Society will find the versions already in -circulation among the Protestant churches; and its proceedings in these -cases will be chiefly directed by those Lutheran prelates and ministers, -with whom a confidential communication has, I understand, been already -opened, through the medium of its foreign secretary. Nor can there be -any danger of the Bible Society intrusting “either the translating or the -editing the Holy Scriptures to the care of that denomination of -Christians called Papists;” {56a} for, besides the _improbability_ of -“that denomination of Christians” joining the Bible Society, there is the -absolute _certainty_, that there would always be in the committee a -_standing majority against them_. With regard to _new_ translations, -they relate, as has been already observed, to languages, over which the -jurisdiction of the church of England would be as nugatory as that of any -other denomination of Christians. The manner of conducting these must be -almost, if not entirely, matter of discretion; and such a committee as -the Bible Society has been shown to possess, affords the best security -that such discretion will never be wanted. So far as the influence of -the church in these cases is of importance, she has it, by the natural -constitution of the committee; and if a preponderating influence be -desirable, the doors are opened for obtaining it by proportional -subscription. Should she adopt this measure, as I trust she will, “you -see the consequences as well as I can.” The Society will then contain, -beyond all question, _a standing majority in favor of the church_; and -there will be no room for apprehending that “our present pure English -Bible will be thrust aside to make way for others:” but while “every -different party has its doctrine and its interpretation,” all parties -will have but ONE BIBLE. {56b} - -But, it seems, you have got possession of a fact which strengthens all -your fears: you have been “credibly informed that the British and Foreign -Bible Society are at this time preparing an edition of the Holy -Scriptures in the Welsh language, in which such liberties are taken in -the translation as are by no means warrantable.” You are right in saying -you give this “merely as a _report_;” however, I cannot help suspecting -that, where the Bible Society, or any of its _officers_, are likely to -suffer by it, you have no particular objection to publishing what are -“merely _reports_.” Others before you have charged upon the Society the -nefarious crime of taking “unwarrantable liberties with the -_translation_” and they had just as good authority for saying so as you -have. The fact is, that _the original informer_ never imputed to the -Society the guilt of altering the _translation_, but the _orthography_ of -the text; and he, it must be observed, had never seen any portion of the -corrected copy. But before your pamphlet left the press—perhaps before -it went there; the parties, to whom the information had been originally -conveyed, were in possession of another sort of _report_—a Report from -the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society; in which the -corrections that had occasioned this alarm, were shown to have been made -(whether right or wrong, _judicent periti_), upon a collation of the -orthographical variations, in the several _authorized editions only_. -However, the question between the parties is in a train of arbitration, -under the direction of the syndics of the Cambridge University-press; -_who_, and _not the Committee of the Bible Society_, are to be the -printers of the Welsh impression. - -But lest the Welsh rumour should subside before the Society is -overthrown, you have another little story to keep up the public prejudice -against it. “The author (you say) has likewise been _told_, that the -distribution of tracts as well as Bibles, was in the original plan of -some of the first projectors of this scheme, one of whom is known to be a -zealous adversary of the establishment.” {58a} Now, Sir, it is very -possible that the original projector of this Society, and his project -too, may have been very exceptionable, and yet the present institution be -entitled to a very honorable character. I have never thought the worse -of the Reformation, because I could not for the life of me think well of -Henry the Eighth and his “original plan.” The “Philanthropic Society” is -founded upon a supposition, which I think a very just one, that something -may be made of the _offspring_, when nothing can be made of the _parent_; -{58b} and I suppose the Country Clergyman would rather have his pamphlet -judged from the _fair copy_ which he sent to the press, than from any one -of those “original plans” of it, which were projected by his busy and -inquisitive _reporters_. The question is, whether the _actual_ plan of -the Society comprehends or excludes the distribution of _tracts_. The -answer to this is, that the _first article_ of the constitution -peremptorily _excludes_ them. After such a declaration, it is as -unreasonable to dispute the _present_ object of the Bible Society, by a -reference to any _antecedent_ designs; as it would be to question whether -the Paradise Lost be an _epic poem_, merely because it stood as a _drama_ -in Milton’s “original plan.” - -But I have done.—My business was not to proclaim the _excellence_ of the -Bible Society; but only to rescue it from _reproach_. I have therefore -confined my remarks to those specific objections with which you have -opposed it. - -What _further_ objections you could have produced (and, it seems, you -have nine times as many in reserve) {59} I shall not concern myself to -inquire: if they resemble those, which have been already considered, I -rejoice that you have had the grace to conceal them. You have already -condescended enough “to do the enemy’s work:” and deserved sufficiently -well of those who seek the church’s degradation. If this be _really_ the -object of the several denominations of Christians, they are abundantly -more indebted to the hostility of the _cassock_ than to the friendship of -the _mitre_. _Yours_, Sir, is the description of services upon which -they will set the most value: and, if they do you justice, “not a single -nonconformist, Papist, Socinian, or Quaker, will be silent in your -praise.”—“Ungrateful wretches would they be, were they to pass by -unnoticed and un-eulogized so great a friend to their cause.” {60a} But -I trust you have mistaken _them_, as much as you have dishonored _us_: -_they_ will hope to get to heaven, though they should not have pulled -down the church in their way; and _we_ shall hope to get there too, -though we should not have _compelled_ them “to be like-minded,” nor -refused them the free use of Bibles, and the offices of brotherly love. - -And now, Sir, before I take my leave (a ceremony to which we are -hastening with mutual impatience), let me challenge your acknowledgment -of that courteousness and suavity with which I have treated you. It was -natural for you to expect revilings and reproaches; you esteem them an -“honor;” you “have enjoyed them before;” {60b} and I must do you the -justice to say, that you take some pains to deserve them. However, in -the present instance, you have been disappointed. I have neither reviled -nor reproached you: I have not once called you “Beelzebub,” through the -whole of my letter: I have never once insinuated that you were a wolf in -sheep’s clothing: I have never once pried into the table of your -alliances, nor dodged you from your house to your favorite places of -amusement, nor pretended to know any more of your private history, than -was strictly consistent with “a gentleman and a Christian.” - -I owe this self-government to “those liberal-basis’d and broad-bottomed -principles,” to which you appear so profound a stranger: and I trust, -this consideration will do a great deal towards recommending them to your -favor. They are, Sir, be assured, the genuine principles of -Christianity, as well as those of the British constitution. They are -calculated to reflect honor on the church, and to promote harmony through -the nation. On them the British and Foreign Bible Society has been -erected; and from such an institution, resting upon such “a basis,” the -happiest events may, under God, be expected, to the country—to Europe—and -to the habitable world. - - I am, Rev. Sir, - - Your humble Servant. - - * * * * * - - * * * * * - - THE END. - - * * * * * - - * * * * * - - * * * * * - - S. GOSNELL, Printer, Little Queen Street. - - - - -FOOTNOTES. - - -{1} Address, p. 1. - -{2} Address, p. 1 and 2. - -{3a} Address, p. 16. - -{3b} This resolution was occasioned by the combination of the journeymen -printers, &c. against their masters. - -{6a} Address, p. 28. - -{6b} Ibid. - -{6c} P. 21. - -{6d} “History proves that none but _the church_ have enjoyed the -_splendour and favour of princes_.” Address, p. 27. - -{8} Address, p. 5. - -{9a} Address, p. 32. - -{9b} P. 5. - -{9c} P. 6. - -{10a} Address, p.8. - -{10b} P. 9. - -{10c} P. 8. - -{11a} Address, p. 5. - -{11b} P. 7. - -{12} Address, p. 5. - -{14a} Address, p. 7. - -{14b} P. 10. - -{15} Address, p. 8. - -{16} Address, p. 8. - -{17} Address, p. 8, 9. - -{19} Address, p. 9. - -{20} Address, p. 16. - -{21a} Address, p. 11. - -{21b} P. 26. - -{24a} Address, p. 21. - -{24b} P. 12. - -{26} Address, p. 18. - -{27} Address, p. 13. - -{31} Address, p. 32. - -{34} Address, p. 11. - -{35a} Address, p. 16. - -{35b} P. 2. - -{35c} P. 16. - -{35d} Ibid. - -{36} It struck me suddenly at last, that your Lordship must intend by -these classical words, only what the vulgar would call “broad bottom.” -Address, p. 16. - -{37a} Address, p. 17. - -{37b} Ibid. - -{37c} P. 18. - -{39a} Address, p. 21. - -{39b} “Whose delight,” speaking of the Dissenters, “has always been to -clip the silver wings of the heavenly dove, and to pluck her golden -feathers from her breast.” Address, p. 20. - -{40a} Address, p. 21. - -{40b} John, iv. 9. - -{40c} Gal. iv. 26. - -{41} Address, p. 25. - -{44} It need scarcely be observed, that our virtuous Queen, and the -wives of her royal sons, were of the Lutheran church. - -{45} A church at Rome, called _San Pietro in Vincolis_, is said to have -been built in consequence of such a miraculous event. - -{47a} Address, p. 23. - -{47b} P. 24. - -{48a} Address, p. 28. - -{48b} P. 27. - -{48c} Ibid. - -{49} The reader, who is not acquainted with this part of ecclesiastical -history, must be told, that a bookseller, desirous, it is presumed, of -reconciling all “denominations of Christians” to the purchase of his -Christian “Ladies’ Pocket-book, for 1803,” took the liberty of -representing three ministers, respectively of the Presbyterian, Baptist, -and Independent denominations of Protestant Dissenters, and a prelate of -the established church, together with an union of hands, in the -frontispiece of his work. - -{50} Address, p. 22. - -{51a} Ephes. iv. 3. - -{51b} Address, p. 32. - -{52} Richard Hooker was prevailed upon by Mrs. _Churchman_, the wife of -“a draper of good note,” as honest Isaac Walton calls him, to let her -choose a wife for him. “Now,” continues the pleasant biographer, “the -wife provided for him was her daughter Joan, who brought him neither -beauty nor portion; and for her conditions, they were too like that -wife’s, which is by Solomon compared to a dripping house: so that he had -no reason to _rejoice in the wife of his youth_, but rather to say with -the holy prophet, ‘_Wo is me_, _that I am constrained to have my -habitation in the tents of Kedar_’.” Walton’s Life of Hooker. - -{53} Address, p. 32. - -{54a} Vide Archbishop Tillotson on the Stage (as quoted by Law). - -{54b} Vide Ordination Service. - -{55} Address, p. 32. - -{56a} Address, p. 33. - -{56b} P. 34. - -{58a} Address, p. 36. - -{58b} This Society provides for educating the _children of felons_. - -{59} “I have mentioned not a tenth part.” Address, p. 35. - -{60a} Address, p. 24. - -{60b} P. 4. - - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LETTER TO A COUNTRY CLERGYMAN, -OCCASIONED BY HIS ADDRESS TO LORD TEIGNMOUTH*** - - -******* This file should be named 62232-0.txt or 62232-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/2/2/3/62232 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: A letter to a country clergyman, occasioned by his address to Lord Teignmouth - - -Author: John Owen - - - -Release Date: May 25, 2020 [eBook #62232] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LETTER TO A COUNTRY CLERGYMAN, -OCCASIONED BY HIS ADDRESS TO LORD TEIGNMOUTH*** -</pre> -<p>Transcribed from the 1805 J. Hatchard edition by David Price, -email ccx074@pglaf.org, using scans from the British Library.</p> -<p style="text-align: center"> -<a href="images/cover.jpg"> -<img alt= -"Pamphlet cover" -title= -"Pamphlet cover" - src="images/cover.jpg" /> -</a></p> -<h1><span class="GutSmall">A</span><br /> -LETTER<br /> -<span class="GutSmall">TO A</span><br /> -<i>COUNTRY CLERGYMAN</i>,<br /> -<span class="GutSmall">OCCASIONED BY</span><br /> -HIS ADDRESS<br /> -<span class="GutSmall">TO</span><br /> -<i>LORD TEIGNMOUTH</i>,<br /> -<span class="GutSmall">PRESIDENT OF THE BRITISH AND -FOREIGN</span><br /> -<span class="GutSmall">BIBLE SOCIETY.</span></h1> - -<div class="gapshortline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BY</span><br -/> -<i>A SUB-URBAN CLERGYMAN</i>.</p> - -<div class="gapshortline"> </div> -<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">“Unum gestit -interdum, ne <i>ignorata</i> damnetur.”—<span -class="smcap">Tertull</span>. <span -class="smcap">Apol</span>.</p> -</blockquote> - -<div class="gapmediumdoubleline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"><span -class="GutSmall">LONDON:</span><br /> -<span class="GutSmall">PRINTED FOR J. HATCHARD, BOOKSELLER TO HER -MAJESTY,</span><br /> -<span class="GutSmall">NO. 190, OPPOSITE ALBANY HOUSE, -PICCADILLY.</span></p> -<p style="text-align: center">1805.</p> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> -<h2><a name="page1"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 1</span>A -LETTER, &c.</h2> -<p><span class="GutSmall">REV. SIR,</span></p> -<p><span class="smcap">One</span> of those good-natured friends -with which the world abounds, took an early opportunity of -conveying to my hands a copy of your Address to Lord Teignmouth -as President of the British and Foreign Bible Society; and I can -really assume you, that its effect upon my nerves was almost as -great as that which his Lordship’s circular letter produced -upon yours. “The emotions of my mind,” too, -“upon the receipt of it, were such as I am not inclined, -for several reasons, to describe.” <a -name="citation1"></a><a href="#footnote1" -class="citation">[1]</a></p> -<p>You must know, Sir, that it had been my fortune to fall into -the same ugly snare as the worthy Nobleman whose eyes you have so -graciously endeavoured to open. I too had been drawn into -the horrid Bible-plot, without dreaming that there was any plot -in the business; and, to tell you the honest truth, before your -pamphlet reached me, <a name="page2"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -2</span>I had actually lent all the name I possessed, and all the -money I could spare, in order to assist in carrying its designs -into execution.</p> -<p>Judge then, Sir, what must have been my feelings upon learning -from you, that our Noble President, instead of being, as I -thought, most loyally, usefully, and religiously employed, had -“bestowed his patronage and protection upon every -description of the church’s enemies;” that he had -deserted “the cause of sound religion;” and that he -was actually “confederating with persons openly labouring -the destruction of all that is sober and established.” <a -name="citation2"></a><a href="#footnote2" -class="citation">[2]</a></p> -<p>The inference was too much against me to leave me at -rest. I called to my recollection, how prone the world is -to say, “like master, like man;” and in the first -paroxysms of my fear, had half a mind to send a line to the -Secretary, and request that my name might be withdrawn. -This seemed, however, too strong a measure to be adopted in so -early a stage of the business; besides, though I could not wholly -suppress my alarms, yet I had some little scruple about -proclaiming them publicly to the world. In these moments of -irresolution, it occurred to my mind, that you might perhaps, -without any malicious design, have overstated the mischief; that -the evils which you predicted as likely to follow from this -unhallowed <a name="page3"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -3</span>project, might in reality have nothing to do with it; and -that, at all events, your frightful statement exhibited only -<i>one side</i> of the case. Perhaps, thought I, some -“liberal-basis’d” <a name="citation3a"></a><a -href="#footnote3a" class="citation">[3a]</a> gentleman will -overthrow this high-church reasoning, and try to bring this -bilious Country Priest to a better temper: I may then be inclined -to wish, that I had paid less homage to that ex-parte evidence by -which he sought to discredit a noble cause.</p> -<p>Unluckily for me, the printers had scarcely struck off the -large impression of your Address, when they came to a resolution -to print nothing further. <a name="citation3b"></a><a -href="#footnote3b" class="citation">[3b]</a> Now though I -did not suspect any confederacy in the business, yet I could not -help thinking that <i>you</i> were much obliged to them. -However that may be, it was evidently in vain to wait for -Replies: if fifty had been written (and I suppose that at least -as many were expected), not one could find its way before the -public. At length I hit upon a project; and what do you -think it was? But <i>you</i> would be the last to -guess. It was that of <i>reading your pamphlet over -again</i>. I had observed that the birds in my garden who -were scared away by the first sight of my man-of-straw, would, -after a second view, pursue their instinctive robberies with as -much composure as if they had really discovered how little -mischief he <a name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -4</span>could do them. I was pleased with the thought, and -anticipated much the same consequences. Well, Sir, I made -the experiment; and the event, I assure you, exceeded my highest -expectation. I rose from the <i>second</i> reading of your -Address with feelings so different from those of conviction or -alarm, that if I did not think it would ruffle a temper so -irritable as yours, I could almost find it in my heart to tell -you what they were. However, as I shall have occasion to -speak my mind pretty freely in the course of this Letter, you -will have no difficulty in discovering what I ultimately thought -both of you and your performance.</p> -<p>But now, Sir, to business. You open your Address to Lord -Teignmouth with a preamble, which sets forth, that you are -“not inclined, for several reasons, to describe the -emotions of your mind upon the receipt of his Lordship’s -Address, as President of the British and Foreign Bible -Society.” There is an air of mystery in these words, -which recommended them strongly to my notice; and if you do me -the favour to turn back to my first page, you will find that I -have employed them as you have done, <i>in fronte -operis</i>. I am, however, upon reflection, inclined to -think that “there is,” to use your own words upon -another occasion, “more of sound than sense” in this -affectation of reserve on both sides. For, to say the -truth, I have already revealed <i>my</i> emotions, and I am sure -you have taken no pains to conceal <a name="page5"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 5</span><i>yours</i>: and yet it must be -manifest that if each of us had not been <i>inclined</i> to do -it, neither of us would have done it. However, the preamble -has its use; for it invites the reader to believe, that we are -both of us men of peace and charity, and very unwilling to injure -the feelings and reputation of our neighbour: an assumption -which, in your case, it was the more necessary to make; as -otherwise the reader of your pages might, innocently enough, have -concluded the reverse.</p> -<p>This brief exordium dispatched, you enter, pell-mell, upon the -matter of your indictment, and prefer your charges against the -Noble Lord with as little ceremony, as if you had borrowed the -robes of his Majesty’s Attorney General, and were -prosecuting the Noble delinquent at the suit of the Crown. -But let us hear the accusation opened. His Lordship (you -say), by taking the presidency of the Bible Society, has -“bestowed his patronage and protection upon every -description of the church’s enemies.” Now here -I doubt the accuracy of your representation: I am strongly -inclined to think that you do not mean to affirm quite so much as -you say. The church’s enemies are so numerous, and -some of them so little known, that I think it very probable many -descriptions could be mentioned, which have never obtained a -place in your enumeration. I have <i>your</i> authority for -setting down all the individuals who dissent from the -church’s communion as her decided enemies, <a -name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 6</span>for they wish -to a man to blow up the national establishment, “clergy and -all:” you know they do—“<i>one</i> of them -said” so. Such evidence as this, to be sure, must not -for a moment be questioned; though I should have thought better -of it, if your informer had shown his instructions for saying so -much in the name of the rest. But if I concede to you that -<i>these</i> are the church’s enemies, I cannot admit, what -I suspect you wish to imply, that these are the <i>only</i> -enemies with which she has to contend. What think you of -“those men of influence and consideration, who continue to -revile the church, and still think proper to remain nominal -members of her community?” <a name="citation6a"></a><a -href="#footnote6a" class="citation">[6a]</a> Into what -class do you throw those “men of the world, who, in their -sober moments, think it more creditable to be accounted members -of our venerable church, than a subscriber to the -meeting-house?” <a name="citation6b"></a><a -href="#footnote6b" class="citation">[6b]</a> And lastly, -where do you place those partisans, whether priests or laymen, -who, while they contend for the church as the “chaste -spouse of Christ,” <a name="citation6c"></a><a -href="#footnote6c" class="citation">[6c]</a> confound most -unwittingly both her pretensions and her character, with those by -which that spiritual harlot is known, who has committed -fornication with the kings of the earth? <a -name="citation6d"></a><a href="#footnote6d" -class="citation">[6d]</a> For my part, I recognise among -such <i>false friends</i> as the two first descriptions, and such -<i>injudicious </i><a name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -7</span><i>advocates</i> as the last, some of those enemies, from -which the church has most to fear. But I think I do you no -injustice when I say, that it does not seem to have been your -intention to include such characters as these within those -“descriptions of the church’s enemies,” upon -which his Lordship is blameable for having bestowed his patronage -and protection.</p> -<p>But, waiving these considerations, let me ask the Country -Clergyman, wherein he designs to make the Noble President’s -guilt consist. It cannot be in the <i>bare and simple -act</i> of bestowing his patronage and protection upon every -description of “the church’s enemies.” -For such an <i>act</i> his Lordship has the highest precedent, -and the least questionable authority. For every time the -several denominations of Christians meet to worship God according -to their various rites (and they may meet just as often as they -will), they enjoy the patronage and protection of that exalted -Personage, who, as the guardian of the constitution, is present -wherever there are rights to protect, and laws to protect -them. Upon this point, therefore, no controversy can arise: -and the main question between us will be, whether the -<i>object</i> for which this patronage and protection are -bestowed be of a nature to favour the assumed hostilities of the -different denominations of Christians against the established -church. Now that object, as defined by his Lordship, is, -“to promote the circulation of the Scriptures at home and -abroad;” and this <a name="page8"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 8</span>you admit “is an object in which -every one, who professes the religion of Christ, must feel a deep -interest.” I am glad to find you admitting as much as -this; and I hope I do not misunderstand you. Indeed I am so -desirous of tracing an agreement between us, wherever I can find -a ground for doing it, that I will endeavour to persuade myself, -though the delusion should prove never so short, that the -circulation of the Scriptures is not among the points on which we -differ. But you question whether <i>this</i> be the object; -since “the object of a society is not to be known from its -public declaration in print;” <a name="citation8"></a><a -href="#footnote8" class="citation">[8]</a> and yet, shrewd as -this remark appears, I cannot but think that “the -declaration in print,” of a large body of men, subscribed -with their names, is rather better authority for judging of their -specific object, than <i>the insinuation in print</i> of an -anonymous individual: and I believe that most of the world will -be of the same opinion. I know indeed that declarations in -print are not to be credited merely because they are <i>made</i>: -but yet I cannot think that the mere act of <i>making</i> them is -a reason why they should be discredited. For, if the rule -were established for interpreting every “declaration in -print” into its opposite, I should be justified at once in -concluding that <i>your object</i> is to become a member of this -obnoxious Association; <i>merely</i> because you <a -name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 9</span>declare in -print, “I cannot join myself to your Bible Society.” -<a name="citation9a"></a><a href="#footnote9a" -class="citation">[9a]</a></p> -<p>Surely, Sir, as a Country Clergyman, you must have heard of -the vaccine inoculation. Now there is an association in the -metropolis to which that ingenious invention has given birth, and -which is publicly known as the <i>Jennerian Society</i>. I -see no reason why it might not as properly be called “the -British and Foreign Vaccine Society,” since its object is -“to promote the circulation of vaccine matter at home and -abroad.” Now indulge yourself for a moment with the -supposition, that when this Society had printed their -“object, their principles, and their reasons,” and -solicited the countenance and support of the faculty and persons -of every denomination, some country physician had stepped from -his obscurity, and opened a smart attack upon them. Suppose -him to have contended with all the gravity in the world, -“that the object of a Society is not to be known from its -public declaration in print;” <a name="citation9b"></a><a -href="#footnote9b" class="citation">[9b]</a> that Societies which -afterwards found their way “to the Old Bailey, or the -Maidstone assizes,” had announced themselves to the world -by “printed declarations of their reasons, objects, and -principles;” <a name="citation9c"></a><a href="#footnote9c" -class="citation">[9c]</a> and that for his own part, though he -saw in their President a nobleman, “for whose head and -heart he had the highest respect,” and <a -name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 10</span>among their -supporters “many respectable names, with which he should be -happy to place his own;” <a name="citation10a"></a><a -href="#footnote10a" class="citation">[10a]</a> yet because they -received guineas from quacks and empirics, as well as from -regulars and licentiates in medicine, he considered the whole -Society as a dangerous combination against the health of the -community, and a conspiracy for effecting the diabolical design -of poisoning his Majesty’s subjects. What, Sir, would -you think of such a worthy gentleman? You would not -question his sincerity, for no man who was not “horribly -afraid” <a name="citation10b"></a><a href="#footnote10b" -class="citation">[10b]</a> would intimate suspicions for which he -was likely to gain so little credit among mankind: but I think -you would feel yourself at liberty to question something about -him, which if it did not provoke your resentment, might -deservedly enough excite your compassion.</p> -<p>I am glad to find, as I advance farther into your pages, that -things are not quite so bad as I had apprehended. -“Far be it from me to say,” you tell his Lordship, -“that you preside over an association of men combined for -designs altogether bad; that you patronize and protect a Society, -whose objects and principles are wilfully nefarious.” <a -name="citation10c"></a><a href="#footnote10c" -class="citation">[10c]</a> Now though this apology for -insinuations which might as well have been withheld, is not -wholly purged from bile, yet I confess it gives me pleasure to -see it made at all; because it <a name="page11"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 11</span>delivers <i>me</i> from the logical -difficulty of proving a negative, and <i>you</i> from the logical -disgrace of requiring it.</p> -<p>At present then it seems, that the majority of this Society, -though weak and deceivable, are not Jacobinical or designing -men. It is not within their <i>present</i> intention to -“pursue an object of an evil tendency in a close and -clandestine manner, under favour of a public declaration of -different, and” even “a contrary character.” <a -name="citation11a"></a><a href="#footnote11a" -class="citation">[11a]</a> Nay, so little are they -suspected of being <i>as yet</i> “wilfully -nefarious,” that if his Lordship can give you such a -security as you require, for the maintenance of its original -intentions, you think the Society “will be what it -proposes,” and you “shall be proud to rank” -your “name, and make exertion under his protection.” -<a name="citation11b"></a><a href="#footnote11b" -class="citation">[11b]</a></p> -<p>I do assure you, Sir, that my jealousies on this particular -are quite as much alive as yours can be. I know how apt -Societies are to depart from the principles upon which their -original association was formed; and I am half inclined to think, -that in this and other parts of your pamphlet you are reading a -lesson to some Societies in the metropolis, that I could -name. However, I do not absolutely affirm that such is your -intention; for though I might take advantage of your own axiom, -and suspect your “declaration in print” to be -<i>one</i> <a name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -12</span>thing and your real object <i>another</i>, yet I should -think it scarcely decorous to say so. Besides, it is very -possible after all, that the whole may have been the result of -accident; and that you had no design whatever of publishing the -<i>actual</i> state of one Society, when you were merely -predicting the <i>future</i> state of another.</p> -<p>But, Sir, let me ask you now, in the best humour in the world, -what security you would require for the maintenance of an -original object which the Bible Society has not already given -you. I grant, if you had been invited to join a Society, -whose object was the promotion of Christianity, the reformation -of manners, or the suppression of vice, you might reasonably -enough have doubted whether the nature of the object sufficiently -explained the views of the associators, and gave you any -competent pledge for the purity of those measures which they -might in process of time adopt. You might then have argued -with some show of plausibility, that “the <i>real -object</i> will take its colour from the opinions and pursuits of -those <i>effective members</i>, who shall contrive, either by an -actual majority, or an <i>assiduity and activity equivalent in -force to the power of a majority</i>, to give direction to the -energy of the association;” <a name="citation12"></a><a -href="#footnote12" class="citation">[12]</a> and the event, in -certain cases, would have proved, that you were not very greatly -mistaken. But in the case under consideration, the object -is definite. <a name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -13</span>For the Bible (<i>which</i> and which <i>alone</i> -constitutes that object) is specific; and is further secured, by -its authorized translation into all the languages of the United -Kingdom, against the possibility of losing its specific -character. Now since the Society are bound, by a law of -their constitution, to circulate the <i>authorized</i> version of -the Scriptures, and that <i>alone</i>, their object must remain -so uniform and determinate, that no deviation from it can occur, -without a perceivable, an obvious, a felonious sacrifice of -justice, honor, and good faith. Of such departure -therefore, if ever it should be attempted, the public will most -infallibly be apprized. For those respectable characters -<i>at least</i>, with whom you would be proud to rank your name, -will be the witnesses, the opposers, and (if unsuccessful in -their opposition) the reporters of such apostacy; and I hardly -need remind you that the efficiency of their exertions under all -these characters, will be diminished in the same proportion, in -which you may contrive to reduce their numbers, and discredit -their association.</p> -<p>So much for that security which the object of the Society -affords. But let us hear what sort of security you, in the -exercise of your moderation, are disposed to require. -“If Lord T. will pledge himself that the six hundred -members of his Society are, like himself, honourable and upright -men, who speak what they mean, and practise what they profess, -who abhor duplicity and deceit, <a name="page14"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 14</span>and know no discordance between the -object they <i>profess</i> and the object they -<i>pursue</i>—if Lord T. can assure me this, I shall be -proud to rank my name, and make exertion under his -protection.” <a name="citation14a"></a><a -href="#footnote14a" class="citation">[14a]</a></p> -<p>And are these really, Sir, the lowest terms upon which the -benefit of your name can be obtained for the British and Foreign -Bible Society? If they are, I must fairly own, humiliating -as the confession may appear, I have no hope of hearing that the -Secretary has been called upon “to insert your name and -accept your donation.” <a name="citation14b"></a><a -href="#footnote14b" class="citation">[14b]</a> No Sir; his -Lordship cannot go such lengths as you require. I dare say -he would do every thing in his power to satisfy you; but I think -I may venture to say, without consulting him, that this exceeds -his power. His Lordship is a student of human nature, and -the situations which he has filled, have afforded him -opportunities of pursuing his favorite study. How he has -employed those opportunities, and what fruit he has derived from -them, I need not tell you. I dare say you have not lost -your respect for the biographer of Sir William Jones, in your -resentment against the President of the Bible Society. But, -with all his powers of discrimination, his Lordship has his -limits as well as <i>other</i> men; and I hope you would not wish -him to vouch <i>for</i> or <i>against</i> a large class of -individuals, as you may have found some people inclined to <a -name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 15</span>do, merely on -account of certain peculiar specimens which he has seen, or some -indistinct reports which he has heard.</p> -<p>But surely, Sir, I may be excused for doubting whether you -“be in jest or earnest,” <a name="citation15"></a><a -href="#footnote15" class="citation">[15]</a> when you meet his -Lordship’s proposition with such exorbitant demands. -Did you ever know a President who could engage for quite so much -as you require? Or did you ever see “six -hundred” names together, that stood for nothing less than -so many “honorable and upright men?” I am sure -I venerate every useful Society throughout the kingdom, from the -Society for <i>promoting Christian Knowledge</i>, down to the -Society for <i>superseding the Necessity of Climbing Boys</i>; -and yet I should not be surprised if their respective Presidents -should decline bearing their testimony to the individual -characters of the first <i>six hundred</i> members of those -several Societies upon which I might choose to lay my hand. -Besides, Sir, consider—a rule for <i>one</i>, in such a -case is a rule for <i>all</i>. What you require -<i>before</i> you subscribe your name, others may think -themselves justified in requiring <i>after</i> you have -subscribed it. And what will be the consequence?—His -Lordship will next be called upon to pledge himself for -<i>you</i>; and though I dare say he could do it with perfect -safety, yet I think he might have reasons for wishing to be -excused.</p> -<p><a name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 16</span>The -object of this extravagant demand at length comes out; and it -seems I was perfectly justified in doubting whether you were in -jest or earnest when you advanced it. “All (you say) -that I here assert” (and questions of a certain description -are the strongest of all assertions) “is this; that your -Lordship, for whose head and heart I have the highest respect, -appears to have undertaken the patronage of you know not whom or -what.” <a name="citation16"></a><a href="#footnote16" -class="citation">[16]</a> Now, Sir, there is but one -portion of this <i>assertion</i> to which I have any -objection. His Lordship certainly does know <i>what</i> he -has undertaken to patronize; for to the circulation of the -Scriptures, the Scriptures as printed by authority, the -Scriptures without any addition, deduction, or variation, both -his patronage and that of the truly venerable characters -associated with him, are restrained. The rest of the -assertion is perfectly harmless. His Lordship has -undertaken the patronage of he <i>knows not whom</i>: this is -strictly true; nor would it be less so, if his Lordship filled -the chair of any other Society, or if the Country Clergyman and -his friends occupied the place of the six hundred members over -whom his Lordship <i>actually does</i> preside.</p> -<p>It seems, however, that if his Lordship does not know over -<i>whom</i> he presides, the Country Clergyman can tell -him. Lord T. does not know “the <a -name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span>men and their -communication” to whom he has joined himself; but you, it -should seem, can explain them both. No sooner do you cast -your eye over the List of Subscribers which his Lordship has sent -you, than you see “a very large proportion” of -persons “with which, as an honest man,” you -“can have nothing to do;” men of whose company you -“have hitherto always been horribly afraid, being -frightened at the idea of having the national establishment blown -up, as one of them said, clergy and -all;”—“wolves,” who design to worry your -“poor sheep;”—“crafty beasts;” and, -finally, “those who openly and fairly avow that their -object is to eat up both sheep and shepherd.” <a -name="citation17"></a><a href="#footnote17" -class="citation">[17]</a> This is indeed, Sir, a very -alarming discovery; and I could almost wish, for the honor of the -Society, it had never been made. However, though I love the -Society much, I love truth more; and therefore, whatever -sacrifice it may cost me, I trust it will always prevail.</p> -<p>But now, Sir, though I make no doubt you believe every thing -you say, what ground have you for expecting that I should? -If you tell me you have seen a ghost, and that he frightened you -out of your wits, I may have the best reasons in the world for -believing that you have seen a ghost; and yet I may doubt all the -time whether there were a ghost to be seen. In like manner, -though <a name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 18</span>I -dare say you are a devout believer in the threats of these -incendiaries, the howlings of these wolves, and the voracious -declarations of these cannibals; yet, I may after all have -liberty to doubt, whether such stories are entitled to a -moment’s regard. Travellers, you know, Sir, with the -best intentions in the world, often play a trick upon us; and I -think it very possible, that a Country Clergyman, with no worse -intentions, may be led to do the same. When Bruce described -the Abyssinian as cutting a steak from the rump of a living -animal, and then driving him on as if nothing had happened, the -world smiled at the easy credulity of the honest traveller, and -did not believe one particle of the matter: I am inclined to -think that the marvellous tales of the Country Clergyman will -scarcely meet with a better fate.</p> -<p>But let me, Sir, expostulate with you for a moment. I -know how unreasonable a passion fear is, and I think it is always -worth while to take every honest method of getting rid of it.</p> -<p>As a Country Clergyman, I dare say, you are a pretty good -horseman; and though I do not suspect you of appearing upon a -race-course, or galloping after the hounds, yet I suppose you are -no enemy to a pleasant ride. Now it must have happened to -you, at least once in your life, as well as to inferior horsemen, -to be in imminent danger of breaking your neck by the sudden and -unaccountable starting of your horse. Irritable and <a -name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 19</span>overbearing -men will, you know, under such circumstances, make a furious -application of the whip and the spur to the back and sides of the -terrified animal. The consequence is, that if he was afraid -of the object at first, he will be “horribly afraid” -of it ever after. You and I know a better way; and that is, -to lead the animal up to the object which occasioned his alarm, -and to give him an opportunity of forming a more correct judgment -of it. I cannot help thinking, that if you had adopted some -such steps, under your first impressions of alarm at the -Subscribers to the Bible Society; if, without <i>venturing -yourself</i> “into the company of men of whom you have -hitherto been always horribly afraid,” you had yet -<i>ventured yourself</i> near enough to them, to see whether they -were likely men to blow you up in the air, or bury you in their -stomachs; you would have been saved from the humiliating -necessity of soliciting “the charity of the Noble President -to pity your weakness and excuse your unconquerable fears.” -<a name="citation19"></a><a href="#footnote19" -class="citation">[19]</a></p> -<p>But let me tell you a story—A friend of mine (who by the -way is a Country Clergyman as well as yourself) was lately -invited to dine with a Mohawk Chief, of whose visit to this -country the provincial papers have doubtless informed you. -My friend was very much in your situation. His head was -full of stories against this “denomination” <a -name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>of -people. He had been credibly assured, that they were -“the enemies of all that is sober or established;” -that they enjoyed nothing so much as pulling men’s scalps -over their ears, and eating them up, <i>clothes and -all</i>. He could not therefore, for some time, be induced -to <i>venture himself</i> “into the company of men of whom -he had hitherto been always horribly afraid.” At -length, however, he was prevailed upon to accept the invitation; -not without some apprehensions on his own part, that he -“should feel uneasy, and be illiberally, perhaps, looking -towards the door.” <a name="citation20"></a><a -href="#footnote20" class="citation">[20]</a> How he -actually behaved, I am not told; but what do you think was the -event of his visit?—Why, he returned from the interview, -with his flesh upon his bones, his scalp upon his head, and not a -single mark of the tomahawk all over his body. Add to this, -he received so favorable an impression of this -“denomination” of people, that he resolved hereafter -to consider them as <i>brethren</i>, and to co-operate with them -in every object which might promise to promote their common -welfare, without interfering with their separate, local, and -independent interests. I leave the Country Clergyman to use -his discretion about trying such experiments as these; but, -whether he try them or not, I make no question, that, in many -cases, they would be attended with similar success.</p> -<p><a name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 21</span>It -seems, however, that such Associations are forbidden by that -least forbidding of all the Christian graces, -<i>Charity</i>. “Christian charity (you tell us) no -where recommends associations of discordant principles, -combinations of men professedly at variance and in hostility with -each other: but Christian charity enjoins that which renders all -these elaborate societies useless; it teaches and <i>obliges</i> -Christians to be <i>like-minded</i>, to have one faith, one -baptism, one speech, and one hope of their calling.” <a -name="citation21a"></a><a href="#footnote21a" -class="citation">[21a]</a> Now, Sir, though I am far from -thinking that you are singular in your notion of Christian -charity; for the church of Rome entertained the same opinions, -and does, I dare say, entertain them to this day—yet I -think you will have a difficulty in turning this notion to any -important use. The fact is, that Christian Charity, much as -she may <i>enjoin</i> an uniformity of opinion upon questions of -a controvertible nature, cannot succeed in effecting it without -the aid of those <i>compelling</i> means, of which she has been -so long deprived. From the time that some prototype of Lord -T. prevailed upon the church “to throw away that natural -defence” of whips, and screws, and faggots, “which -God Almighty had given her,” <a name="citation21b"></a><a -href="#footnote21b" class="citation">[21b]</a> Christian Charity -has assumed a new character, and taken up an employment the very -opposite to that in which she had been for ages before -engaged. Her <a name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -22</span>attention is now turned from the <i>heads</i> to the -<i>hearts</i> of men; and when she cannot succeed in making them -<i>like-minded</i>, she tries to make them <i>love one -another</i>. She is said to have actually disclaimed all -the sentiments and measures which were ascribed to her during her -alliance with the Holy Father. The account which is given -of the matter, is plausible enough; and as it does not appear to -have reached your ears, I will give it you just as I received -it.</p> -<p>Somewhere about the time when the churches of the West came -under the dominion of the Holy See, the successor of St. Peter -was observed to cool in his regard for <i>Charity</i>, and to -withdraw his affections very sensibly from <i>her</i>. The -cause of this decline in his attachment was at length -discovered. A rival, not unknown for many ages before, had -now acquired a very formidable ascendancy in the breast of the -Holy Pontiff; and the new attachment was not a little cherished -by the leading members of the subjugated church. The -influence of the favorite rapidly increased, and that of -<i>Charity</i> proportionably declined; till at length, matters -went so far that the latter was deposed and imprisoned, and the -former enthroned in her place. The name of <i>Bigotry</i> -(for so she had been called from her birth) was against her, and -so was her countenance. The first of these difficulties she -got over by assuming the name of her disgraced predecessor; the -latter, it is said, remains a <a name="page23"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 23</span>difficulty to this very day. In -the mean time, <i>Charity</i> continued immured in the closest -confinement; and when the monasteries were pulled down at the -Reformation, this queen of all the virtues was found pale and -almost lifeless in a subterraneous cell. Her health had -been so much impaired by confinement, and her character -misrepresented by the artifices of her rival, that it took her a -great deal of time to regain her strength and make herself -properly known. In both these respects she has now to a -great degree succeeded: and though the Pope denies her rights, -and many persons, who ought to know better, continue to question -them, yet her countenance and temper most clearly identify her -with that heavenly original, whose office it is to sanctify the -confidence of faith and the fervor of hope; and to make them the -instruments of promoting glory to God in the highest, and peace -and good-will among men.</p> -<p>Now though this looks very much like an allegorical account of -the matter, yet I think it accords so well with the fact, that I -trust both you and I shall be the better for the moral of -it. I am sure if I thought that uniformity of opinion upon -the details of Christianity, could be brought about among those -who agree in the fundamentals of it, I should rejoice to -contribute my proportion to the advancement of so desirable an -event. But I do not expect, what in the present -constitution of human nature I believe to be impossible. I -think <a name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 24</span>that -the nearest advances to such uniformity may be made by resolving -to unite as far as we are <i>like-minded</i>, and to be -reciprocally forbearing where we are <i>not</i>, and thus to -fulfil our Saviour’s commandment of loving one -another. I am sure that if every Country Clergyman will -substitute this species of Charity for the adulterous idol which -you have set up (and I have little doubt but they will), the -church will then maintain herself in vigour, usefulness, and -beauty; “and the gates of nonconformity” <a -name="citation24a"></a><a href="#footnote24a" -class="citation">[24a]</a> will not prevail against her.</p> -<p>I have hitherto been reasoning upon the presumption, that -circulating the Holy Scriptures was an act upon the excellence of -which no question could arise between us; but it seems that I -have been mistaken: for his Lordship is cautioned (and every -member of the Society through him) not to be “deceived with -the notion, that the <i>bare act of distributing Bibles</i>, -<i>is the act of disseminating truth</i>.” <a -name="citation24b"></a><a href="#footnote24b" -class="citation">[24b]</a></p> -<p>This species of caution, and the reasons by which it is -supported, have acquired so much the air of novelty by having -been shut up for more than two hundred years, that I confess I -was not a little struck with them; and I dare say, the feelings -of most of your readers will be in unison with mine. But I -will give the passage at length:</p> -<blockquote><p>“Be not then deceived, my Lord, with the -notion that the <i>bare act of distributing Bibles is the </i><a -name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 25</span><i>act of -disseminating the sacred truth</i>. The word of God in -itself is pure, and perfect, and more to be desired than much -fine gold; but as the finest gold may be turned to base purposes, -so may the Scriptures. For, alas! through the lusts of men -and the covetousness of the world, the precious book of life is -made the instrument of error as well as of truth; of much evil as -well as of infinite good. When it is remembered that to the -Scriptures, not only the true church of Christ appeals for -confirmation of its divine doctrine; but likewise that every sect -and heresy, by which it ever was defaced, has regularly pretended -likewise to produce its error; when we observe the Papist, and -Puritan, the Socinian, and Calvinist, the Baptist, and Quaker, -all appealing to the Bible for the truth of their principles, and -pretending to prove them thereby;—it will not be -maintained, I think, that the <i>mere distribution of Bibles</i> -under the present circumstances of the times, is likely to spread -the truth. On the contrary, it is to be expected that each -member of your heterogeneous Society will draw his portion of -books for the promotion of his particular opinion; for it is -easily seen, that a Bible given away by a Papist, will be -productive of Popery. The Socinian will make his Bible -speak, and spread Socinianism; while the Calvinist, the Baptist, -and the Quaker, will teach the opinions peculiar to their -sects. Supply these <a name="page26"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 26</span>men with Bibles (I speak as to a true -churchman), and you supply them with arms against -yourself.” <a name="citation26"></a><a href="#footnote26" -class="citation">[26]</a></p> -</blockquote> -<p>Really, Sir, in reading over this extraordinary morceau, which -I do assure you I have done again and again, I have found my -astonishment continually increase, and am now as much at a loss -as ever, to account for your raising up again those notions, -which have been buried by public authority for so many -ages. An old parishioner of mine, who scarcely reads any -books but the Bible and Fox’s Martyrology, was ready to -swoon when she came to this part of your pamphlet; and I could -not, for the life of me, prevail upon her to go any -farther. She was utterly astonished at my being able to -smile at what she was pleased to call, the <i>rankest Popery she -had</i> ever read. I told her, it could not be Popery; for -it was written by a Country Clergyman: she said, the whole was a -trick; and that the Papists abounded in such tricks. It was -in vain that I repeated to her my conviction, that the author was -a Protestant Clergyman, and that, I feared, he was not singular -in holding these opinions: I could not get her to believe one -syllable of either. She persisted in her declaration, that, -whatever you might call yourself, you were some Romish Priest in -the interest of the Catholics; and that you only wanted to -prepare the people for parting with their Bibles.</p> -<p><a name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 27</span>Now, -Sir, though I by no means go the same lengths as my orthodox -parishioner, yet I am free to confess, that I agree with her in -the main. I dare believe, that you have no more intention -of bringing back the Pope than I have; and yet I do not know how -you could have written more to the purpose, if you had wished to -accomplish such a measure. The dangers which you point out -as accompanying the perusal of the Holy Scriptures by the -unlearned, were matters of constant anxiety to his Papal bosom -all the time that he acted as visible head of the English church; -and many a Country Clergyman was employed, under his direction, -to enforce upon Lords and Commoners that prudent caution against -<i>distributing Bibles</i>, which you so earnestly press upon the -Noble President of the British and Foreign Bible Society. -Our forefathers, however, were too much of his Lordship’s -way of thinking to yield to such considerations: having derived -so much benefit from reading the Bible themselves, they would not -endure the thought of refusing it to others; and they were, -therefore, among the foremost “to promote the circulation -of the Scriptures at home and abroad.”</p> -<p>I lament with you that “the Holy Book is made a nose of -wax;” I, too, am “<i>sadly</i> experiencing” -this, “daily before my eyes;” <a -name="citation27"></a><a href="#footnote27" -class="citation">[27]</a> and, the strange interpretation which -you have given of <a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -28</span>“Christian Charity,” is another proof of the -<i>sad</i> extent to which this practice has spread. But I -could not consent on that account to deprive <i>you</i> of your -Bible, nor even to refuse you another if you wanted it. -Indeed, Sir, the conduct which you blame, and of which you have -condescended to become an example, is a grievous evil: but the -remedy which you propose, and which the Council of Trent proposed -before you, is abundantly worse than the disease.</p> -<p>By the way, Sir, I wonder you were not a little afraid of -venturing such sentiments abroad, without first consulting those -of your friends who are better acquainted with the principles of -the Reformation than you appear to be. You talk of <i>the -church</i>, in the same language, with the same pride of -appropriation, and with the same prerogative of limiting the -course and interpretation of Scripture, as if you had never heard -that the church of Rome disputes all these things with you, or as -if you had never heard of a separation from her. Had no -such separation taken place, your observations would have been -perfectly in order. You might then have followed them up -too with this precautionary proposition, that Bibles should be -suppressed; and that every subject of the empire should engage -(in the language of the Douay Catechism) to “believe -whatsoever the Catholic church proposes to be -believed.” This would certainly (if it could have -been carried into effect) have rendered “all such <a -name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 29</span>elaborate -Societies” as confine themselves to “the <i>bare act -of distributing Bibles</i>, useless;” and consequently the -growth of <i>heresy</i>, <i>error</i>, and <i>delusion</i>, -impossible.</p> -<p>But, Sir, you and I must take things as we find them: and it -does so happen, that things <i>are not</i>, in the church -established in these realms, as they <i>once were</i>. -Whether it be a wise or an unwise measure to open the Scriptures -to the people at large, it is now too late to dispute: to the -people at large they <i>are</i> opened; and their distribution is -legitimated both by canon and precedent, as an act of the -strictest justice, and the purest benevolence.</p> -<p>Indeed I must take upon myself to tell you, that your fears -for the church, from “the circulation of the -Scriptures,” are not calculated to do her any honor in the -world. She either does not think with you, that, in -supplying the different denominations of Christians with Bibles, -she is really supplying them “with arms against -herself;” or if she does, she has the magnanimity to -promote their salvation, though it were at her own expense. -I dare say you will set me down for no “true -churchman,” when I say this; but I will give you an -authority to this effect, which has much weight with me, and -which <i>you</i> will scarcely venture to dispute. In a -little tract, called “Questions and Answers concerning the -respective Tenets of the Church of England and the Church of -Rome,” I find the following passage:</p> -<blockquote><p><a name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -30</span>“Question. Why do you find fault with the -church of <span class="smcap">Rome</span> for not suffering the -common people <i>to read the Bible</i>?</p> -<p>“Answer. 1. Because in so doing they act contrary -to the command Christ gives to <i>all</i>, ‘Search the -Scriptures,’ John, v. 39.</p> -<p>“2. Because what they forbid, the Apostles -commend, as we see in the example of the Bereans, who are -<i>commended</i> for reading the Scriptures, Acts, xvii. 11.</p> -<p>“3. It is contrary to the practice of the -primitive church, in which the fathers <i>earnestly exhorted</i> -the people to an assiduous and diligent reading of the -Scriptures.</p> -<p>“4. It agrees not with St. Paul’s counsel -and exhortation, 1 Thess. v. 7. ‘<i>I charge you</i> -that this Epistle be read to all the holy brethren.’</p> -<p>“5. It was a duty of the Jews to have the law in -their houses, and to read it to their children, Deut. vi. 7, and -therefore must be much more the duty of Christians to read or -peruse the Gospel, as being a people living under a greater and -richer economy.</p> -<p>“6. Whereas it is pretended that the Scriptures -are obscure, and that this prohibition is <i>to prevent -heresies</i>: <i>we</i> answer, that the Scriptures are not so -obscure, in places relating to things necessary to salvation, but -that they may be understood by the laity: and as to the plea of -<i>preventing heresies</i>, that is only a pretence, no argument, -since <i>they </i><a name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -31</span><i>might as well forbid people to eat and drink</i>, -<i>for</i>, <i>fear they should abuse that -liberty</i>.”</p> -</blockquote> -<p>Now, as this tract is issued by the Society for promoting -Christian Knowledge, I cannot but think it a misfortune, that, as -a <i>Country Clergyman</i>, you should not have seen it before -you wrote your Address to Lord T.: you would scarcely then have -challenged the Noble Lord to show that he was “a true -churchman,” by fearing and restraining the circulation of -the Scriptures. As it is, you can scarcely, I should think, -expect to escape rebuke. Like that “officer of the -Society,” <a name="citation31"></a><a href="#footnote31" -class="citation">[31]</a> whose secret history you seem to have -studied so well, you have stepped a little out of your regular -line, and, like him too, have been guilty of some -“indecorum towards the church and its spiritual -superiors.”</p> -<p>But supposing, Sir, that I could admit your dubious -proposition, that the dissemination of truth did not depend upon -the <i>Bible</i> which was given, but upon the <i>hand</i> which -might give it; a proposition, which, if true to the extent of -your statement, would prove equally, that the effect of your -pamphlet upon the interests of the Bible Society will depend less -upon the merits of your work, than upon the hands through which -it may pass;—what expedient would you propose, in the -exercise of your sagacity, for providing against the consequences -you fear? I am aware of your -answer—“<i>Dissolve the Bible -Society</i>.” Suppose that <a name="page32"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 32</span>done; though there would, I think, be -difficulties in the way of doing it: still the tares are sowing -in a thousand directions, and the business of prevention is -scarcely yet begun. Your expedient must provide for putting -Bibles into the hands of churchmen <i>only</i>, or of those who -will <i>infallibly</i> become churchmen by reading them; or it -will never succeed. But what will you do with those -wholesale Bible-mongers, the universities of Oxford and -Cambridge, and his Majesty’s Printer, and all their -subordinate agents and instruments, the book and Bible sellers -throughout the country? While such merchants as these may -dispose of Bibles <i>ad libitum</i> as an article of trade, and -such bodies as the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, and -others of the same description, will continue to favor the -traffic, I cannot see how you will contrive to dam up the waters -of life to any orthodox purpose; or to prevent their irrigating -those lands that are alienated from the established church.</p> -<p>Perhaps it might forward your purpose to put the printing and -distributing of Bibles under some new and more definite -limitation. As the members of the church of England do not -exceed four fifths of the population of the country, and the -chance of converting a sectary is scarcely worth the risk of -supplying him with “arms against yourself,” what -think you of a petition to the Legislature against uselessly and -dangerously multiplying <a name="page33"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 33</span>copies of the Holy Scriptures? -I will suppose your application successful, and that only four -Bibles are printed for every five individuals upon the records of -the population. I will also suppose, which is quite as -necessary, that these Bibles, when printed, are consigned to an -ecclesiastical depot, of which the whole and sole custody shall -be vested in the Country Clergyman; and that not a single copy of -the Bible shall be issued but under his direction. And now, -Sir, do you really think, that, “old as you are in the -business,” you would be able to detect all <i>the dogs</i> -that, under various disguises, would be seeking <i>the -children’s meat</i>? If you find in the little range -of your own parish such “hard work with these crafty -beasts,” how much would your work be increased, and your -difficulties multiplied, by the daily care of all the -churches?</p> -<p>But you must go farther, Sir, or else you had better not have -begun.—You must interdict the free circulation of all -“Apologies for the Bible,” all dissertations upon its -authenticity and evidence, and particularly all discourses upon -its excellence and usefulness. You must prevail upon the -many venerable prelates, archdeacons’, and priests, of the -present day, who have done themselves so much honor by advocating -the cause of Christianity, to expunge from their writings all -unguarded commendations of the Holy Scriptures; or to provide for -their works, if they know how, an exclusive <a -name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 34</span>circulation -in ecclesiastical channels. Nor is this all: you must -invite, solicit, and (if you can find the means) compel, all the -different denominations of Christians, to deliver up forthwith -the Bibles they possess into the hands of the nearest parish -priest. When all this is accomplished (and until it is, -your end will be very imperfectly obtained) it will only remain -for those well-meaning Societies, in connexion with the -established church, to ask a bill of indemnity for the degree in -which they have contributed to the propagation of error, by their -incautious distribution of Bibles; and to bind themselves over to -commit no more such acts of ecclesiastical suicide. Your -business, it shall be supposed, is now accomplished; and what is -the result?—Why, you may now congratulate yourself upon -having withdrawn the <i>antidote</i> and left the <i>poison</i> -in circulation; for the different denominations of Christians are -still in possession of the privilege of multiplying <i>tracts</i> -ad infinitum, and you have deprived their readers of the only -means of detecting the <i>heresy</i> they contain.</p> -<p>But really, Sir, to be serious—“I feel very strong -objections to the whole plan, not indeed the simple, pure object -of” securing the Scriptures from perversion; “the -mischief lies in the <i>manner</i> and means,” which must -at all events be employed for “carrying that object into -effect.” <a name="citation34"></a><a href="#footnote34" -class="citation">[34]</a></p> -<p><a name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 35</span>The -word of God, which is a savour of life unto life, <i>may</i> -also, I know, become a savour of death unto death. I am -sorry for it: but to restrain the circulation of it, in order to -provide against this <i>contingent</i> evil, would, I continue to -think, with the authority before cited, be at once as -unreasonable and unjust, as to “forbid people to eat or -drink, for fear they should abuse that liberty.”</p> -<p>I am really sorry, Sir, you were so much at a loss to -interpret the meaning of that “liberal basis,” upon -which his Lordship recommended the Society to your notice. -The terms “broad bottom,” <a -name="citation35a"></a><a href="#footnote35a" -class="citation">[35a]</a> which you substitute in their place, -would have expressed well enough his Lordship’s intention; -but as he was writing to a <i>Country Clergyman</i>, and not to -“a preaching blacksmith,” he would not “fail in -the respect” that is due to “a gentleman and a -Christian.” <a name="citation35b"></a><a -href="#footnote35b" class="citation">[35b]</a>—“Those -who are used to good company (you say) know how to behave.” -<a name="citation35c"></a><a href="#footnote35c" -class="citation">[35c]</a> What then is his Lordship to -think of <i>you</i>, when you tell him, that you have “not -been educated on liberal-basis’d or broad-bottomed -principles,” <a name="citation35d"></a><a -href="#footnote35d" class="citation">[35d]</a> but that either -you have not put on your prettiest behaviour, or that you would -“feel” less “uneasy,” than you pretend, -in that class of company to which, as a member of the Bible -Society, you would expect to be introduced?</p> -<p><a name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 36</span>But -were there no other authorities to which you could have recourse, -when the lexicographer failed you, than the mouths of the -“<i>vulgar</i>?” <a name="citation36"></a><a -href="#footnote36" class="citation">[36]</a> I have an -authority before me, which throws so much more light upon his -Lordship’s “liberal basis,” than either the -synonyms of the “lexicographer,” the slang of the -“vulgar,” or the etymological quirks of the -“Country Clergyman,” that I shall make no apology for -producing it:</p> -<blockquote><p>“Give us all grace, to put away from us all -rancour of religious dissension, that they who agree in the -essentials of our most holy faith, and look for pardon through -the merits and intercession of the Saviour, may, notwithstanding -the differences upon points of doubtful opinion, and in the forms -of external worship, still be united in the bonds of Christian -charity, and fulfil thy blessed Son’s commandment, of -loving one another as he hath loved them.”—<i>Form of -Prayer for the Fast</i>, <i>October</i> 19, 1803.</p> -</blockquote> -<p>Now here, Sir, I found that “liberal basis” upon -which the Society is erected, and I am surprised you did not -think of looking for it in the same place. But perhaps the -liberal basis of the prayer, like that of the Society, “has -no charms for” <i>you</i>. I will not presume such a -fact; but if you <a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -37</span>were to affirm that it is so, I should have very little -difficulty in believing you.</p> -<p>You do not however intend “to deny the possibility of -any <i>sort or degree</i> of union among certain descriptions of -persons composing the Society.” <a -name="citation37a"></a><a href="#footnote37a" -class="citation">[37a]</a> You are “perfectly aware -that all the various and discordant tribes of dissenters from the -church of England may unite from the Papist down to the Quaker; -for they frequently have, and frequently do unite <i>against</i> -the church.” <a name="citation37b"></a><a -href="#footnote37b" class="citation">[37b]</a>—“But -when (say you) was it ever known that they have united -<i>with</i> the church? Show me the history, lay your -finger on the page, and say, my Lord, <i>when</i>, <i>where</i>, -and upon what <i>occasion</i>, did they ever unite <i>with</i> -the church for any important and righteous design. I must -be satisfied on this point; I must request some fair example and -precedent, to prove that the thing is neither impossible nor -improbable, before it can be even prudent to listen to your -Lordship’s proposal.” <a name="citation37c"></a><a -href="#footnote37c" class="citation">[37c]</a></p> -<p>Now here, Sir, you throw out a challenge, which, with his -Lordship’s permission, I am willing to accept. I will -show you the history of such union as you indirectly deny: I will -lay my finger on the page, and say, <i>when</i>, and -<i>where</i>, and upon what <i>occasion</i> the different tribes -of Dissenters <i>did</i> unite with the church for an important -and righteous design. The <i>history</i> then to which I -refer is that portion of our country’s annals which <a -name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 38</span>commenced -with the autumn of 1803, and which is not yet completed. -The <i>page</i> upon which I lay my finger is that which displays -the voluntary creation of a national force; in which, if one -feature was more illustrious than another, it was the magnanimity -with which the subjects of the same government agreed “to -put away all rancour of religious dissension,” and to unite -in the prosecution of that <i>righteous</i> and <i>important</i> -design in which they had embarked, “notwithstanding their -differences upon points of doubtful opinion, and in the forms of -external worship.” Let the Country Clergyman peruse -this awful yet luminous page of our history; let him weigh well -the danger which threatened the throne, the church, and the -nation; let him read in those discourses, which gratitude will -not allow us to forget, how that danger was proclaimed by -preachers of every denomination; let him walk through the land, -in the length of it and the breadth of it, and see how many -myriads were added to the national force by those powerful and -seasonable appeals to the feelings, the conscience, and the -spirit of Britons; and he will want, I think, no other -“example and precedent” to prove that an union of the -various tribes of Dissenters <span class="GutSmall">WITH</span> -the church of England, for an important and righteous design, -“is neither impossible nor improbable.”</p> -<p>With such a recent portion of history before your eyes, I -cannot see, I confess, either the <a name="page39"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 39</span>justice or the policy of your -travelling back over a century and half of ground in order to -find matter of accusation against those of our fellow-subjects, -with whom a sense of common danger has united us, and with whom -it is as important now as it was two years ago, that we should -continue united. The politico-religious strife which -subsisted between our ancestors and theirs is not a sacred -inheritance. I trust the various denominations of -Christians of the present day would think themselves as much -disgraced by the events of “the grand rebellion,” <a -name="citation39a"></a><a href="#footnote39a" -class="citation">[39a]</a> as the modern members of the -establishment would by the revenge with which it was -followed. “The church” has, I know, “her -sores and scars;” and so, I lament to say, have those who -dissented from her. Let us own the truth—“the -heavenly dove” <a name="citation39b"></a><a -href="#footnote39b" class="citation">[39b]</a> has been sometimes -encouraged to make a little too free with “the wings and -feathers” of the smaller birds, and it must not therefore -be wondered if her own have suffered. Let her but act up to -the sweetness of her nature, and allow the other tenants of the -air to have their note; she then may plume her golden breast -without annoyance, and bear her grateful blessings on -outstretched wings to every nation under heaven.</p> -<p><a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 40</span>Your -zeal for extending the boundaries of that church in which you -minister, is both natural and just: I participate in it with all -the feelings of my heart. It is an object which has my -prayers, and shall, by God’s assistance, through life -command my services. But I will not set her up as the -entire and only spouse of Christ: for how can I then curse those -whom God hath not cursed?—Away with those superannuated -fears, that she must grow barren because her younger sisters are -fruitful. I have no doubt but both she and they have -“borne many an illustrious child of God” <a -name="citation40a"></a><a href="#footnote40a" -class="citation">[40a]</a> to their heavenly bridegroom, and will -continue to bear many more. I lament with you, that they -prefer their <i>Gerizim</i> to our <i>Zion</i>: but I must not -therefore refuse to have any dealings <a -name="citation40b"></a><a href="#footnote40b" -class="citation">[40b]</a> with them, or to entertain any charity -for them. If they worship God in spirit and truth, if with -the heart they believe on the Lord Jesus unto righteousness, if -they “agree in the essentials of our most holy faith, and -look for pardon through the merits and intercession of the -Saviour,” I cannot, I dare not, I will not put them out of -the covenant of grace and mercy and peace. Aliens from our -external commonwealth, they are yet fellow-citizens with the -saints: and though the earthly Jerusalem disclaim them, they will -hereafter be acknowledged by the Jerusalem above—the mother -of us all. <a name="citation40c"></a><a href="#footnote40c" -class="citation">[40c]</a></p> -<p><a name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 41</span>But the -treason can no longer be dissembled; the eleventh article of the -Society’s constitution proclaims it: that article purports, -that “the committee (which is to conduct the business of -the Society, appoint all officers except the treasurer, have -power to call special meetings, and are charged with procuring -for the Society suitable patronage) shall consist of thirty-six -laymen; of whom, twenty-four, who shall have most frequently -attended, shall be eligible for re-election for the ensuing year; -six shall be foreigners resident in London or its vicinity; half -the remainder shall be members of the church of England, and the -other half members of other denominations of -Christians!!!”</p> -<p>“<i>We have here</i> (say you) <i>a standing majority -against the church</i>!” and then, after declaiming, with -all the art of the buskin, upon this “death-warrant of the -established church,” and with all the prescience of the -seer upon the return of the “halcyon days of 1648,” -you surround yourself with the imaginary ruins of -“our” demolished “Zion,” and make your -exit “weeping.” <a name="citation41"></a><a -href="#footnote41" class="citation">[41]</a> I thought -indeed when you played such awkward antics upon “his -Lordship’s liberal basis,” that every thing was not -right. I could not but regard the laugh in which you -indulged, as a symptom of something very different from humour; -and I <a name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 42</span>have -not been deceived. It was, I perceive, a <i>moody -laugh</i>, and has ended, as all such hysterical affections do, -in <i>a flood of tears</i>. As the fit is now over, we may -examine this treasonable article, with a better chance of coming -to a mutual understanding upon it.</p> -<p>I will then indulge you for a moment with the full benefit of -your assertion, that there is in this committee “<i>a -standing majority against the church</i>;” and what will -you gain by such a concession? The object, you must now -bear in mind, is specific—the circulation of the -Scriptures; that object, you must also recollect, is limited, -within the kingdom, to the <i>authorized</i>, versions in use -among us. The same sort of limitation is not resorted to in -case of foreign versions, for the best of all reasons; that it -<i>cannot</i> in the nature of things be applied. The -different Protestant churches on the European continent have -their authorized versions, and <i>there</i> the line of -proceeding is direct: but where the church of Rome, or, as she -calls herself <i>the church</i>, prevails; <i>there</i>, the -Country Clergyman would scarcely wish the rule for circulating -the <i>authorized</i> version to be observed. As for those -languages into which translations remain to be made, they are for -the most part so remote from the ordinary sphere of study and -commerce, that the office of executing such translations, and -judging of their merits, must generally be consigned to -foreigners; who probably <a name="page43"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 43</span>neither understand the distinctions -to which we annex importance, nor could be made to understand -them. No questions, therefore, can arise in this committee, -which might bring into discussion the points of disagreement -between the church of England and Dissenters: so that if there -should be in such committee, a standing majority of members -<i>out of</i> the church, that will by no means constitute a -Standing majority <i>against</i> her.</p> -<p>But let us see whether your <i>hypothesis</i> does not assume -rather too much. The Society is denominated <i>British</i> -and <i>Foreign</i>. In the constitution of its committee, -it was but just to pay respect to both parts of its designation: -nor does it appear extravagant to have assigned a sixth part of -that committee to the members of those foreign churches, with -which the Society sought a friendly co-operation, and with which, -I understand, she <i>is</i> actually co-operating to a very -considerable extent. Now these foreigners cannot be -identified with the Dissenters from the established church, -without as much violence to speech as makes a <i>solecism</i>, -and to the rights of hospitality, as constitutes a -<i>calumny</i>. Neither these men have sinned, nor their -parents, in the way which the Country Clergyman <i>supposes</i>: -they brought their religion with them, as they did their -language; and they might as truly be said to have dissented from -a language which they never spake, as from a mode of religious -worship which neither they nor their fathers ever -professed. They <a name="page44"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 44</span>are, it should be observed, for the -most part members of sister churches, from which the Society for -promoting Christian Knowledge has obtained some of its most -laborious missionaries, and the established church of this -country has derived, and must continue to derive, her nursing -mothers. <a name="citation44"></a><a href="#footnote44" -class="citation">[44]</a> On many grounds, these foreigners -would feel the ties which bind them to the established church; -and she may therefore fairly reckon upon their <i>neutrality</i>, -if she may not promise herself their <i>support</i>.</p> -<p>Let these <i>neutrals</i> (for such <i>at least</i> I am -privileged to call them) be withdrawn, and there remain fifteen -members to support the church’s interests, and fifteen, as -it is supposed by the Country Clergyman, to impugn them. -The former will naturally be links of the same chain; common -interest, and pledges of a peculiar nature, dictate to them an -uniformity of reciprocal support, from which they may not be -expected to depart. They may therefore be reckoned upon to -the extent of their number. But will you, Sir, who seem to -know something of the world, will you allow yourself to believe, -that the same uniformity of co-operation may be expected from the -fifteen members who are to fight the battles of -<i>dissent</i>? Some among them are advocates for -<i>infant</i> baptism, some for <i>adult</i> baptism, and some -for <i>no</i> baptism at all. Some <a -name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 45</span>hold the -tenets of Calvin, some of Arminius, and some of neither. -Their sentiments upon church government are also scarcely less -various, than their opinions upon matters of faith: so that, -widely as they may seem to dissent from the church of England, -many of them would be found, if controverted questions could -arise, to differ still more widely from each other. Yet all -these discordant members must harmonize together; and the -foreigners, who probably differ from them all, must harmonize -with them; or else <i>the standing majority against the -church</i> must remain a mere <i>standing</i> bugbear, to scare -the Country Clergyman, and terrify those who choose to -participate his alarms.</p> -<p>I am, however, no enemy to strong improbabilities where a -pleasant argument is concerned. The fifteen members of all -denominations of British Christians <i>shall</i> unite together; -the six members of foreign churches shall do the same: and then, -like the miraculous pieces of St. Peter’s chain <a -name="citation45"></a><a href="#footnote45" -class="citation">[45]</a> (of which <i>the church</i> makes such -notable mention), these two parties shall form a junction; <i>a -majority</i> shall thus be created <i>against</i> the -church. What then? Are not the presidents, -vice-presidents, and treasurer, by virtue of their respective -offices, members of the committee? Suppose then for a -moment, that the committee should entertain <a -name="page46"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 46</span>so foul a -proposition as that for “blowing up the establishment, -clergy and all;” suppose, that the Quakers should consent -to renounce, <i>pro hâc vice</i>, their objections to the -employment of gunpowder; suppose further that the foreigners -should concur, nobody knows why, in voting for such a measure; -the terrified minority would not be without a remedy. It -would still be in their power, by the accession of these honorary -members, to outnumber their dissenting adversaries at the ensuing -meeting; and, by objecting to the confirmation of the minutes, -prevent the explosion of this nefarious plot. But indeed -there is no end of remedies. Every clergyman subscribing a -guinea a year, is a <i>member of the committee</i>. (Art. -12.) Every subscriber of five guineas a year, is a -<i>member of the committee</i>. (Art. 5 and 7.) Every -subscriber of 50<i>l.</i> at one time, is a <i>member of the -committee</i>. (Art. 6.) And lastly, every executor paying -a bequest of 100<i>l.</i> is a <i>member of the committee</i>. -(Art. 8 and 7.) Now, Sir, supposing the members of the -church of England to be (upon your own estimate) to those of -other denominations as four to one, <i>whose</i> fault do you -think it will be, if the balance of influence in the committee of -the Bible Society should be against her? Will <i>you</i> be -wholly innocent?—“Oh, Sir, how could you join in such -a plot? What could induce you to lend your” -professional “name to such a business as this? And -why should you think so basely of the clergy as <a -name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span>to tempt them -by your example,” and the presumption of your fair -reputation, to believe, that, in strengthening the hands of their -ecclesiastical brethren, they would “sign the death-warrant -of the established church, and the instrument of their own -ruin?” <a name="citation47a"></a><a href="#footnote47a" -class="citation">[47a]</a> Do, Sir, lose no time in writing -your palinodia. I will not ask you to alter your opinion of -the Society, or to part with one of your suspicions of its -mischievous designs. You shall still be at liberty to talk, -as freely as ever, of “preaching blacksmiths and fanatical -ranters in holy orders;” and of such “doves,” -as you and your friends, becoming “a luscious and inviting -morsel to all the several hungry denominations of -Christians;” provided you do but seek to multiply the -number of our ecclesiastical subscribers, as much as you have -hitherto laboured to diminish it. I will not promise, in -return, that your “liberality will be sounded forth by -every gospel-preacher in the church, and every twanging teacher -in the conventicle;” <a name="citation47b"></a><a -href="#footnote47b" class="citation">[47b]</a> but I may then -venture to promise you, what I should think would afford you -quite as much pleasure—the satisfaction of having converted -a standing majority <i>against</i> the church into a standing -majority <i>in her favor</i>.</p> -<p>I will not dispute with you, whether the established church -will be a gainer by this new connexion on the score of -<i>dignity</i> and fashion. I am <a name="page48"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 48</span>told, indeed, that there are among -the nonconformists those who can wear as gay a coat, play as good -a hand at whist, and give as modish an account of an opera or a -play, as “those men of the world” among us, who -“think it more creditable to be accounted members of our -venerable church, than a subscriber to the meeting-house:” -but I cannot say how many there may be of this description among -the subscribers to the Bible Society. However, though -“few men of opulence, and fewer still of rank, frequent the -meeting-house or conventicle,” there is “influence -and consideration” <a name="citation48a"></a><a -href="#footnote48a" class="citation">[48a]</a> enough among the -members of our communion to give respectability to both. I -grant, indeed, that “the presence of <i>a nobleman</i> -cannot make the company which he honours with his presence either -creditable or polite,” yet surely the presence of a -<i>number</i> will go a great way towards doing it: but then I -admit with you, that they must not be “wandering -stars,” <a name="citation48b"></a><a href="#footnote48b" -class="citation">[48b]</a> which shed a momentary lustre, but -luminaries which keep a <i>fixed</i> position, and dispense a -<i>certain</i> light.</p> -<p>You expect, as the result of this new association, that all -will become unity, and charity, and Christian benevolence, and -that you shall see “realized the pretty hand-in-hand -frontispiece to the Christian Ladies Pocket-Book 1803.” <a -name="citation48c"></a><a href="#footnote48c" -class="citation">[48c]</a> Now though I am not so sanguine -in my expectations <a name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -49</span>as you are, yet I trust you will not be wholly -disappointed. And, in my opinion, a Protestant clergy will -be not acting less out of their character by promoting -“unity, charity, and Christian benevolence,” than by -disturbing them: nor can Christian prelates be quite so much -disgraced by shaking the hands of Dissenting ministers in the -frontispiece of a pocket-book, <a name="citation49"></a><a -href="#footnote49" class="citation">[49]</a> as they would be if -represented as drawing those hands through the holes of a -pillory.</p> -<p>Your fears are awakened for the <i>purity</i> of the -church:—I am certainly more tender of her <i>purity</i> -than I am of her <i>dignity</i>; and that because I have been -taught to regard her <i>white raiment</i> as her truest -<i>glory</i>. But what defilement has she to apprehend from -a co-operation with persons differing from her, in an object upon -which they are agreed? If Socinians are to be feared, if -Calvinists are to be shunned, I question whether the Bible -Society will furnish dangers nearly so great as those which the -established church incurs from members of her own -communion. Socinians are <a name="page50"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 50</span>not remarkable for their zeal in -promoting the circulation of the Scriptures; and I question -whether half a dozen of them have subscribed their names as -members of the Bible Society. As for the Calvinists, they -constitute, it must be remembered, only a proportion of those -denominations which are represented in the committee. The -Wesleian Methodists are not <i>Calvinists</i>; many of the -Presbyterians are not <i>Calvinists</i>; the Quakers are not -<i>Calvinists</i>; the Lutherans are not <i>Calvinists</i>; and -individuals of other persuasions, which might be named, are not -<i>Calvinists</i>. Besides, though “scratchings and -fightings” may be “usual with the parties when on the -outside of the tavern walls,” <a name="citation50"></a><a -href="#footnote50" class="citation">[50]</a> that is not a reason -for there being theological wranglings within. The line of -business is, with few exceptions, as direct at the Bible -Committee as it is at Lloyd’s; and there is as little -reason to expect the peculiar tenets of Calvin or Socinus to -enter into a debate for dispersing an edition of the Scriptures, -as there would be if the same men were met to underwrite a policy -of insurance. But why may it not be hoped that churchmen -will not be the only losers by this connexion? What if some -of <i>us</i> should grow less proud and phlegmatic, may not some -of <i>them</i> become less snarlish and fanatical? The -friction which takes off our asperities will assuredly do the -same by theirs. It is <a name="page51"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 51</span>therefore highly probable, that we -may severally bring away with us our faith, our hope, and our -charity, which are all we wish to save; and leave nothing behind -us but that “bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, -and evil-speaking, and malice,” <a -name="citation51a"></a><a href="#footnote51a" -class="citation">[51a]</a> which can very well be spared.</p> -<p>You ask, “what concord hath a mitre with a -meeting-house?” The Pharisees of old were fond of -asking questions of the same sort—“Why eateth your -Master with publicans and sinners?” The Pharisees -were very little satisfied with the answer they received; and, I -dare say, any answer that could be given to the Country Clergyman -would satisfy him as little. I must therefore leave him to -doubt whether <i>any concord</i> can subsist between kindred -souls, pursuing the same object under different forms, and in -unequal stations, till he shall see how near the spirits of an -Usher and a Baxter, of a Taylor and a Henry, of a Tillotson and a -Watts, of a Seeker and a Doddridge, will <i>venture</i> to -approach each other, in the new heaven and new earth wherein -dwelleth <i>righteousness</i>.</p> -<p>And pray what are we to understand by your merry question -about the <i>unequal yoke</i>? “Why (you ask) should -a clergyman of the church of England be unequally yoked with a -lovely sister of the conventicle?” And then you -desire “a certain officer of the Society” <a -name="citation51b"></a><a href="#footnote51b" -class="citation">[51b]</a> to be consulted. What <a -name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 52</span>sort of an -answer that “officer” might think proper to give, it -belongs to himself to determine; but I confess I see nothing in -the question which I should be afraid to meet. I am at a -loss to see what harm “a lovely sister of the -conventicle” can do to any man. I am sure there is -every probability that such an “unequal yoke” would -do the Country Clergyman’s temper a great deal of -good. But I cannot give him any great encouragement, if he -should <i>venture himself</i> upon such a speculation, <i>into -the company of those of whom he has always hitherto been horribly -afraid</i>. The sectaries, on whom he has laid such heavy -blows, will keep (I fear) their “lovely sisters” for -priests of a gentler nature and better breeding; and leave the -Country Clergyman to whisper his tale of love into some -high-church ear, and to be as “equally yoked” as -Richard Hooker, <a name="citation52"></a><a href="#footnote52" -class="citation">[52]</a> or any other country clergyman ever was -before him.</p> -<p>But though I can pardon in this “certain officer <a -name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 53</span>of the -Society,” his <i>hymeneal</i> error (for matches, you know, -Sir, are made in heaven), yet I have no such allowance to make -for those other transgressions, in which he is, or ought to be, a -freer agent. “Perhaps (you say) he can resolve us, -how a clergyman of the church can attend the meeting-house, -without danger to his principles, or gross indecorum towards the -church and its spiritual superior. He perhaps can show us -too, how a clergyman of the church can securely, and without -breach of trust, take his pupils to hear the harangues of those -who daily revile her. This, to common understandings, does -not appear to be the likely way ‘to banish and drive away -all erroneous and strange doctrines, contrary to God’s -word,’ which every clergyman at his ordination solemnly -promises to do. It wants some clearing up.” <a -name="citation53"></a><a href="#footnote53" -class="citation">[53]</a></p> -<p>There is really, Sir, no accounting for the fancies of some of -our order. Dean Swift was fond of vulgar manners, and -therefore he would take his dinner in a cellar; some clergymen -love the sports of the field, and therefore join the hounds at a -fox-chase: I suppose this “certain officer of the -Society” has a sort of ear for public speaking, and has -sometimes stepped a little out of his way in order to gratify -it. But then (as you might naturally say) are not the -<i>theatres</i> open for <a name="page54"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 54</span>him, as well as for his brethren; and -if he wants a slice of good oratory, cannot he give six shillings -to a box-keeper, and take it like a gentleman? <i>He</i> -may perhaps have a doubt (for he seems to hold opinions of his -own) “how a clergyman of the church can attend” -<i>the theatre</i>, “without danger to his principles, or -gross indecorum towards the church and its spiritual -superior.” Perhaps also he may entertain a doubt -“how a clergyman of the church can, securely, and without -breach of trust, take his pupils to hear the harangues of -those” dramatic characters, “which,” as -Archbishop Tillotson says, “do most notoriously minister to -infidelity and vice.” <a name="citation54a"></a><a -href="#footnote54a" class="citation">[54a]</a> Possibly -“this,” to his understanding, may “not appear -to be the likely way ‘to frame and fashion himself and his -family according to the doctrine of Christ, and to make both -himself and them, as much as in him lieth, wholesome examples and -patterns to the flock of Christ,’ <a -name="citation54b"></a><a href="#footnote54b" -class="citation">[54b]</a> which every clergyman at his -ordination solemnly promises to do.” But I think with -you, that the whole of this matter “wants clearing -up.” I have, I confess, some difficulty about -conceiving how this priest can execute either such, or so many -duties as he is said to do, of a parochial and domestic nature; -and yet find either time to conduct his pupils to hear <a -name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 55</span>the church -reviled, or pupils tractable enough to be conducted by him. -But, as I said before, the whole matter “wants clearing -up;” and if you should be found to have aimed a blow at his -professional character, which he has not quite deserved, you have -nothing to do but to say, as the Roman assassins are reported to -do when they stab the wrong man in the dark, “<i>Padrone -è un sbaglio</i>,”—“I beg your pardon, -it was <i>a mistake</i>.”</p> -<p>Your last objection respects “the purity of the Holy -Scriptures,” which, you think, will be endangered “if -the translation and edition of the Sacred Book are to be -intrusted to all the different denominations of -Christians.” <a name="citation55"></a><a href="#footnote55" -class="citation">[55]</a> The greater part of this -objection has been anticipated. It has been already stated -that the Society is restrained to editing and distributing the -versions, <i>printed by authority</i>, throughout the united -kingdom. In supplying the different parts of the European -continent, the Society will find the versions already in -circulation among the Protestant churches; and its proceedings in -these cases will be chiefly directed by those Lutheran prelates -and ministers, with whom a confidential communication has, I -understand, been already opened, through the medium of its -foreign secretary. Nor can there be any danger of the Bible -Society intrusting “either the translating or the editing -the Holy Scriptures to <a name="page56"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 56</span>the care of that denomination of -Christians called Papists;” <a name="citation56a"></a><a -href="#footnote56a" class="citation">[56a]</a> for, besides the -<i>improbability</i> of “that denomination of -Christians” joining the Bible Society, there is the -absolute <i>certainty</i>, that there would always be in the -committee a <i>standing majority against them</i>. With -regard to <i>new</i> translations, they relate, as has been -already observed, to languages, over which the jurisdiction of -the church of England would be as nugatory as that of any other -denomination of Christians. The manner of conducting these -must be almost, if not entirely, matter of discretion; and such a -committee as the Bible Society has been shown to possess, affords -the best security that such discretion will never be -wanted. So far as the influence of the church in these -cases is of importance, she has it, by the natural constitution -of the committee; and if a preponderating influence be desirable, -the doors are opened for obtaining it by proportional -subscription. Should she adopt this measure, as I trust she -will, “you see the consequences as well as I -can.” The Society will then contain, beyond all -question, <i>a standing majority in favor of the church</i>; and -there will be no room for apprehending that “our present -pure English Bible will be thrust aside to make way for -others:” but while “every different party has its -doctrine and its interpretation,” all parties will have but -<span class="smcap">one Bible</span>. <a -name="citation56b"></a><a href="#footnote56b" -class="citation">[56b]</a></p> -<p><a name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 57</span>But, it -seems, you have got possession of a fact which strengthens all -your fears: you have been “credibly informed that the -British and Foreign Bible Society are at this time preparing an -edition of the Holy Scriptures in the Welsh language, in which -such liberties are taken in the translation as are by no means -warrantable.” You are right in saying you give this -“merely as a <i>report</i>;” however, I cannot help -suspecting that, where the Bible Society, or any of its -<i>officers</i>, are likely to suffer by it, you have no -particular objection to publishing what are “merely -<i>reports</i>.” Others before you have charged upon -the Society the nefarious crime of taking “unwarrantable -liberties with the <i>translation</i>” and they had just as -good authority for saying so as you have. The fact is, that -<i>the original informer</i> never imputed to the Society the -guilt of altering the <i>translation</i>, but the -<i>orthography</i> of the text; and he, it must be observed, had -never seen any portion of the corrected copy. But before -your pamphlet left the press—perhaps before it went there; -the parties, to whom the information had been originally -conveyed, were in possession of another sort of -<i>report</i>—a Report from the Committee of the British -and Foreign Bible Society; in which the corrections that had -occasioned this alarm, were shown to have been made (whether -right or wrong, <i>judicent periti</i>), upon a collation of the -orthographical variations, in the several <i>authorized editions -only</i>. <a name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -58</span>However, the question between the parties is in a train -of arbitration, under the direction of the syndics of the -Cambridge University-press; <i>who</i>, and <i>not the Committee -of the Bible Society</i>, are to be the printers of the Welsh -impression.</p> -<p>But lest the Welsh rumour should subside before the Society is -overthrown, you have another little story to keep up the public -prejudice against it. “The author (you say) has -likewise been <i>told</i>, that the distribution of tracts as -well as Bibles, was in the original plan of some of the first -projectors of this scheme, one of whom is known to be a zealous -adversary of the establishment.” <a -name="citation58a"></a><a href="#footnote58a" -class="citation">[58a]</a> Now, Sir, it is very possible -that the original projector of this Society, and his project too, -may have been very exceptionable, and yet the present institution -be entitled to a very honorable character. I have never -thought the worse of the Reformation, because I could not for the -life of me think well of Henry the Eighth and his “original -plan.” The “Philanthropic Society” is -founded upon a supposition, which I think a very just one, that -something may be made of the <i>offspring</i>, when nothing can -be made of the <i>parent</i>; <a name="citation58b"></a><a -href="#footnote58b" class="citation">[58b]</a> and I suppose the -Country Clergyman would rather have his pamphlet judged from the -<i>fair copy</i> which he sent to the press, than from any one of -those “original plans” of it, which were projected by -his busy and <a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -59</span>inquisitive <i>reporters</i>. The question is, -whether the <i>actual</i> plan of the Society comprehends or -excludes the distribution of <i>tracts</i>. The answer to -this is, that the <i>first article</i> of the constitution -peremptorily <i>excludes</i> them. After such a -declaration, it is as unreasonable to dispute the <i>present</i> -object of the Bible Society, by a reference to any -<i>antecedent</i> designs; as it would be to question whether the -Paradise Lost be an <i>epic poem</i>, merely because it stood as -a <i>drama</i> in Milton’s “original plan.”</p> -<p>But I have done.—My business was not to proclaim the -<i>excellence</i> of the Bible Society; but only to rescue it -from <i>reproach</i>. I have therefore confined my remarks -to those specific objections with which you have opposed it.</p> -<p>What <i>further</i> objections you could have produced (and, -it seems, you have nine times as many in reserve) <a -name="citation59"></a><a href="#footnote59" -class="citation">[59]</a> I shall not concern myself to inquire: -if they resemble those, which have been already considered, I -rejoice that you have had the grace to conceal them. You -have already condescended enough “to do the enemy’s -work:” and deserved sufficiently well of those who seek the -church’s degradation. If this be <i>really</i> the -object of the several denominations of Christians, they are -abundantly more indebted to the hostility of the <i>cassock</i> -than to the friendship of the <i>mitre</i>. <a -name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 60</span><i>Yours</i>, -Sir, is the description of services upon which they will set the -most value: and, if they do you justice, “not a single -nonconformist, Papist, Socinian, or Quaker, will be silent in -your praise.”—“Ungrateful wretches would they -be, were they to pass by unnoticed and un-eulogized so great a -friend to their cause.” <a name="citation60a"></a><a -href="#footnote60a" class="citation">[60a]</a> But I trust -you have mistaken <i>them</i>, as much as you have dishonored -<i>us</i>: <i>they</i> will hope to get to heaven, though they -should not have pulled down the church in their way; and -<i>we</i> shall hope to get there too, though we should not have -<i>compelled</i> them “to be like-minded,” nor -refused them the free use of Bibles, and the offices of brotherly -love.</p> -<p>And now, Sir, before I take my leave (a ceremony to which we -are hastening with mutual impatience), let me challenge your -acknowledgment of that courteousness and suavity with which I -have treated you. It was natural for you to expect -revilings and reproaches; you esteem them an “honor;” -you “have enjoyed them before;” <a -name="citation60b"></a><a href="#footnote60b" -class="citation">[60b]</a> and I must do you the justice to say, -that you take some pains to deserve them. However, in the -present instance, you have been disappointed. I have -neither reviled nor reproached you: I have not once called you -“Beelzebub,” through the whole of my letter: I have -never once insinuated that you were a wolf in sheep’s -clothing: <a name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -61</span>I have never once pried into the table of your -alliances, nor dodged you from your house to your favorite places -of amusement, nor pretended to know any more of your private -history, than was strictly consistent with “a gentleman and -a Christian.”</p> -<p>I owe this self-government to “those -liberal-basis’d and broad-bottomed principles,” to -which you appear so profound a stranger: and I trust, this -consideration will do a great deal towards recommending them to -your favor. They are, Sir, be assured, the genuine -principles of Christianity, as well as those of the British -constitution. They are calculated to reflect honor on the -church, and to promote harmony through the nation. On them -the British and Foreign Bible Society has been erected; and from -such an institution, resting upon such “a basis,” the -happiest events may, under God, be expected, to the -country—to Europe—and to the habitable world.</p> -<p style="text-align: center">I am, Rev. Sir,</p> -<p style="text-align: right">Your humble Servant.</p> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> - -<div class="gapshortdoubleline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">THE -END.</span></p> - -<div class="gapshortdoubleline"> </div> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> - -<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"><a name="page62"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 62</span><span class="smcap">S. -Gosnell</span>, Printer, Little Queen Street.</p> -<h2>FOOTNOTES.</h2> -<p><a name="footnote1"></a><a href="#citation1" -class="footnote">[1]</a> Address, p. 1.</p> -<p><a name="footnote2"></a><a href="#citation2" -class="footnote">[2]</a> Address, p. 1 and 2.</p> -<p><a name="footnote3a"></a><a href="#citation3a" -class="footnote">[3a]</a> Address, p. 16.</p> -<p><a name="footnote3b"></a><a href="#citation3b" -class="footnote">[3b]</a> This resolution was occasioned by -the combination of the journeymen printers, &c. against their -masters.</p> -<p><a name="footnote6a"></a><a href="#citation6a" -class="footnote">[6a]</a> Address, p. 28.</p> -<p><a name="footnote6b"></a><a href="#citation6b" -class="footnote">[6b]</a> Ibid.</p> -<p><a name="footnote6c"></a><a href="#citation6c" -class="footnote">[6c]</a> P. 21.</p> -<p><a name="footnote6d"></a><a href="#citation6d" -class="footnote">[6d]</a> “History proves that none -but <i>the church</i> have enjoyed the <i>splendour and favour of -princes</i>.” Address, p. 27.</p> -<p><a name="footnote8"></a><a href="#citation8" -class="footnote">[8]</a> Address, p. 5.</p> -<p><a name="footnote9a"></a><a href="#citation9a" -class="footnote">[9a]</a> Address, p. 32.</p> -<p><a name="footnote9b"></a><a href="#citation9b" -class="footnote">[9b]</a> P. 5.</p> -<p><a name="footnote9c"></a><a href="#citation9c" -class="footnote">[9c]</a> P. 6.</p> -<p><a name="footnote10a"></a><a href="#citation10a" -class="footnote">[10a]</a> Address, p.8.</p> -<p><a name="footnote10b"></a><a href="#citation10b" -class="footnote">[10b]</a> P. 9.</p> -<p><a name="footnote10c"></a><a href="#citation10c" -class="footnote">[10c]</a> P. 8.</p> -<p><a name="footnote11a"></a><a href="#citation11a" -class="footnote">[11a]</a> Address, p. 5.</p> -<p><a name="footnote11b"></a><a href="#citation11b" -class="footnote">[11b]</a> P. 7.</p> -<p><a name="footnote12"></a><a href="#citation12" -class="footnote">[12]</a> Address, p. 5.</p> -<p><a name="footnote14a"></a><a href="#citation14a" -class="footnote">[14a]</a> Address, p. 7.</p> -<p><a name="footnote14b"></a><a href="#citation14b" -class="footnote">[14b]</a> P. 10.</p> -<p><a name="footnote15"></a><a href="#citation15" -class="footnote">[15]</a> Address, p. 8.</p> -<p><a name="footnote16"></a><a href="#citation16" -class="footnote">[16]</a> Address, p. 8.</p> -<p><a name="footnote17"></a><a href="#citation17" -class="footnote">[17]</a> Address, p. 8, 9.</p> -<p><a name="footnote19"></a><a href="#citation19" -class="footnote">[19]</a> Address, p. 9.</p> -<p><a name="footnote20"></a><a href="#citation20" -class="footnote">[20]</a> Address, p. 16.</p> -<p><a name="footnote21a"></a><a href="#citation21a" -class="footnote">[21a]</a> Address, p. 11.</p> -<p><a name="footnote21b"></a><a href="#citation21b" -class="footnote">[21b]</a> P. 26.</p> -<p><a name="footnote24a"></a><a href="#citation24a" -class="footnote">[24a]</a> Address, p. 21.</p> -<p><a name="footnote24b"></a><a href="#citation24b" -class="footnote">[24b]</a> P. 12.</p> -<p><a name="footnote26"></a><a href="#citation26" -class="footnote">[26]</a> Address, p. 18.</p> -<p><a name="footnote27"></a><a href="#citation27" -class="footnote">[27]</a> Address, p. 13.</p> -<p><a name="footnote31"></a><a href="#citation31" -class="footnote">[31]</a> Address, p. 32.</p> -<p><a name="footnote34"></a><a href="#citation34" -class="footnote">[34]</a> Address, p. 11.</p> -<p><a name="footnote35a"></a><a href="#citation35a" -class="footnote">[35a]</a> Address, p. 16.</p> -<p><a name="footnote35b"></a><a href="#citation35b" -class="footnote">[35b]</a> P. 2.</p> -<p><a name="footnote35c"></a><a href="#citation35c" -class="footnote">[35c]</a> P. 16.</p> -<p><a name="footnote35d"></a><a href="#citation35d" -class="footnote">[35d]</a> Ibid.</p> -<p><a name="footnote36"></a><a href="#citation36" -class="footnote">[36]</a> It struck me suddenly at last, -that your Lordship must intend by these classical words, only -what the vulgar would call “broad bottom.” -Address, p. 16.</p> -<p><a name="footnote37a"></a><a href="#citation37a" -class="footnote">[37a]</a> Address, p. 17.</p> -<p><a name="footnote37b"></a><a href="#citation37b" -class="footnote">[37b]</a> Ibid.</p> -<p><a name="footnote37c"></a><a href="#citation37c" -class="footnote">[37c]</a> P. 18.</p> -<p><a name="footnote39a"></a><a href="#citation39a" -class="footnote">[39a]</a> Address, p. 21.</p> -<p><a name="footnote39b"></a><a href="#citation39b" -class="footnote">[39b]</a> “Whose delight,” -speaking of the Dissenters, “has always been to clip the -silver wings of the heavenly dove, and to pluck her golden -feathers from her breast.” Address, p. 20.</p> -<p><a name="footnote40a"></a><a href="#citation40a" -class="footnote">[40a]</a> Address, p. 21.</p> -<p><a name="footnote40b"></a><a href="#citation40b" -class="footnote">[40b]</a> John, iv. 9.</p> -<p><a name="footnote40c"></a><a href="#citation40c" -class="footnote">[40c]</a> Gal. iv. 26.</p> -<p><a name="footnote41"></a><a href="#citation41" -class="footnote">[41]</a> Address, p. 25.</p> -<p><a name="footnote44"></a><a href="#citation44" -class="footnote">[44]</a> It need scarcely be observed, -that our virtuous Queen, and the wives of her royal sons, were of -the Lutheran church.</p> -<p><a name="footnote45"></a><a href="#citation45" -class="footnote">[45]</a> A church at Rome, called <i>San -Pietro in Vincolis</i>, is said to have been built in consequence -of such a miraculous event.</p> -<p><a name="footnote47a"></a><a href="#citation47a" -class="footnote">[47a]</a> Address, p. 23.</p> -<p><a name="footnote47b"></a><a href="#citation47b" -class="footnote">[47b]</a> P. 24.</p> -<p><a name="footnote48a"></a><a href="#citation48a" -class="footnote">[48a]</a> Address, p. 28.</p> -<p><a name="footnote48b"></a><a href="#citation48b" -class="footnote">[48b]</a> P. 27.</p> -<p><a name="footnote48c"></a><a href="#citation48c" -class="footnote">[48c]</a> Ibid.</p> -<p><a name="footnote49"></a><a href="#citation49" -class="footnote">[49]</a> The reader, who is not acquainted -with this part of ecclesiastical history, must be told, that a -bookseller, desirous, it is presumed, of reconciling all -“denominations of Christians” to the purchase of his -Christian “Ladies’ Pocket-book, for 1803,” took -the liberty of representing three ministers, respectively of the -Presbyterian, Baptist, and Independent denominations of -Protestant Dissenters, and a prelate of the established church, -together with an union of hands, in the frontispiece of his -work.</p> -<p><a name="footnote50"></a><a href="#citation50" -class="footnote">[50]</a> Address, p. 22.</p> -<p><a name="footnote51a"></a><a href="#citation51a" -class="footnote">[51a]</a> Ephes. iv. 3.</p> -<p><a name="footnote51b"></a><a href="#citation51b" -class="footnote">[51b]</a> Address, p. 32.</p> -<p><a name="footnote52"></a><a href="#citation52" -class="footnote">[52]</a> Richard Hooker was prevailed upon -by Mrs. <i>Churchman</i>, the wife of “a draper of good -note,” as honest Isaac Walton calls him, to let her choose -a wife for him. “Now,” continues the pleasant -biographer, “the wife provided for him was her daughter -Joan, who brought him neither beauty nor portion; and for her -conditions, they were too like that wife’s, which is by -Solomon compared to a dripping house: so that he had no reason to -<i>rejoice in the wife of his youth</i>, but rather to say with -the holy prophet, ‘<i>Wo is me</i>, <i>that I am -constrained to have my habitation in the tents of -Kedar</i>’.” Walton’s Life of Hooker.</p> -<p><a name="footnote53"></a><a href="#citation53" -class="footnote">[53]</a> Address, p. 32.</p> -<p><a name="footnote54a"></a><a href="#citation54a" -class="footnote">[54a]</a> Vide Archbishop Tillotson on the -Stage (as quoted by Law).</p> -<p><a name="footnote54b"></a><a href="#citation54b" -class="footnote">[54b]</a> Vide Ordination Service.</p> -<p><a name="footnote55"></a><a href="#citation55" -class="footnote">[55]</a> Address, p. 32.</p> -<p><a name="footnote56a"></a><a href="#citation56a" -class="footnote">[56a]</a> Address, p. 33.</p> -<p><a name="footnote56b"></a><a href="#citation56b" -class="footnote">[56b]</a> P. 34.</p> -<p><a name="footnote58a"></a><a href="#citation58a" -class="footnote">[58a]</a> Address, p. 36.</p> -<p><a name="footnote58b"></a><a href="#citation58b" -class="footnote">[58b]</a> This Society provides for -educating the <i>children of felons</i>.</p> -<p><a name="footnote59"></a><a href="#citation59" -class="footnote">[59]</a> “I have mentioned not a -tenth part.” Address, p. 35.</p> -<p><a name="footnote60a"></a><a href="#citation60a" -class="footnote">[60a]</a> Address, p. 24.</p> -<p><a name="footnote60b"></a><a href="#citation60b" -class="footnote">[60b]</a> P. 4.</p> -<pre> - - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LETTER TO A COUNTRY CLERGYMAN, -OCCASIONED BY HIS ADDRESS TO LORD TEIGNMOUTH*** - - -***** This file should be named 62232-h.htm or 62232-h.zip****** - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/2/2/3/62232 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying 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