The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-08-26 00:00:00

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ctftcuLATloxpr THE PIBLB.
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The following speech, 'Which was made by the Earl of
Liverpool at a recent Meeting of the Kingston Auxiliary
Bible Society, is copied from the monthly extracts of the li
parent Institution, in the shape it Was taken down by the
Reporter, and corrected (we are Informed) by his Lord-
ship himself.
" LADIES avii GeNTLIMEN,—I cannot return thanks for
the honour you have just dooe metteithout trdttbling you with a
few remarks. It it now ten years Since I fir* attended a meet.'
ing of a Bible Society in another part of tbe country ; and I can
truly by, that le edicts of the Society ever since that time have
confirmed me in t le opinion I then formed, that it was calculated
in an eminent degree to promote the interests of religion and vie.
tue. The character peculiar it is universality. It confines itself
not to one country alone, but extends to every country in the four
quarters of the globe, and to every region, however remote ;- and
how could we go to foreign countries, and to people of difTerent
religious persuasions—how could we go to the Lutheran; to the
Calvinist, to the Great, 01 to the Reman Catholic, without lint
laying it down as our fdundatioa at horse, that we admit all our
fellow Christians of whatever description ss members of this
Society; and that if there are any who refuse to accept the
Scriptures from us, there are none to whom we refuse to give
them ?

" Standing upon this broad basis, we wish to look upon all
Christians as brothers ; and desire to regard all the nations of the
earth as united in one comma tie under the same God, and acting
under the direction of the same general code of laws given by his
sacred word. If I could imagine that this Institution, universal
as it is, could in some degree have affected other Senevolent in.
stitutions antecedently formed, but having more limited objects
in view, I will freely own that the greatness of the object would
not have suffered me to withdraw from it; but it is a satisfaction
to reflect, that the effects of it have been, what I should have an-
ticipated they must have ban, to increase the zeal, to augment the
funds, and to improve the character of all; because the same prin-
ciples on which this Society is formed may be applied in a degree
to all others, and the motives which lead to subscribe to this, would
lead to subscribe to others.
" We live in a time when great efforts are making towards the
general education of all classes and all descriptions of men ;
and God forbid that any -one-should suppose that there is any
branch of education er,whlarfeetilthe acquisition of which any
classaheuld be excludwd," tegift eke knowledge of whit some
benefit might not he acq ; yet I cannot but loot to religions
education as the only sure foundation of all useful knowledge.—
If the Bible is the Book of Piety, the Bible is not less the
Book of Wisdom ; and if there are any who have the knowledge of
this Book, and scarcely any other knowledge, or what is called
knowledge, besides, they !ti ham from this Book to discharge
every duty of life; they will learn, principally and chiefly, their
duty towards God ; but they will also learn the duties of good
subjects, good husbands, good parents, good children, and good
neighbours: they will learn to stifle and to smother the tumult of
passion in their bread, and to rest contented in the condition of life
in which it has pleased God to place them. But if there arc any
who possess all other knowledge, and are yet ignorant or neglect.
ful of the Bible. they may become the disputers of this world ;
they may be knowing to souse purposa, but they will find them.,
selves involved in all those mazes of error in which the great men of
antiquity were involved, who looked forward distantly and remotely
to a revelation like that which the Christian dispensation has
given to the world.
" The object of the Bible Society is to circulate the word of God
among all nations. It has already circulated it in every quarter
of the Globe. The Scriptures have been provided in 140,
languages, in fifty of which t!Wy had never existed before. It is
our object to convey this blaming to every nation, however remote;
but it is our object, and more especially our duty, to circulate them
amongst our own fellow subjects ; to bing up the rising generation
in the knowledge of them, and to make them feel, without depre-
ciating any human knowledge, that it Is from the knowledge of God,
DA conveyed in his word, that their happiness in this world, and
their salvation in the world to cane, must depend."
O'CONNELL versus COIiBETT.