The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-01-26 00:00:00


...

BIBLE .3trE7'l NG.
A numerous meeting of the Subscribers to the Bible Association
for the parishes of St. Clement Danes, St. Mary-k-Strand, and
Savoy, was last evening held at the Crown and Anchor l'asern.
The chair was to have been taken by the Rev. Mr. Gurney, but in
consequence of that gentleman's ❑lness, the Rev. Mr. IVebster
was unanimously called to it.
The Rev. CHAIR MAX said, that as he was called on unexpect-
edly to fill his present situation, he was convinced his best rule
would be, to obey implicitly the directions of those who had under-
taken the management of the meeting: He could not but regret the
absence of ►is friend Mr. Gurney ; still it was to him a satisfaction
to state, that though he kept his house at present, it was as a mat-
ter of prudent precaution, and that ere long he would again be able
to come forward and assist in that great cause they had met then
to support. To those present the Bible Societies were no new sub.
ject—they had been long and actively engaged in distributing the
word of God; they had already reaped from it a rich reward—a re-
ward that must always attend those who lay themselves rut in well-
gluing. Convinced that this was their feeling, he would not longer
occupy their time, but request the Report for the last year to be
read.
The Rev. Mr. You)ro -then read the Report, and we regret that
I the low tone of voice in which the Rev. Gentleman spoke rendered
• it impassible for us to catch much of its import. The Report was
very voluminous, and was principaNy an exhortation to continue
the same pious activity from which hitherto such good results had
followed.

The Rev. Doctor WINTER moved that it be received by the
meeting.
The Rev. Mr. EVANsoN said, that in rising to second the mo-
tion, he felt strongly inclined to expect an orthrly and a decorous
hearing. lie was inclined to expect it from the respectability of
the meeting, and he was sure that though a disagreeable word should
jar on the ear of any one present, it would excite so angry feeling.
Without any further remark, he would therefore apply himself to
the subject on which they had met. When it was proposed to in.
crease the funds of the Bible Associations, by a subscription of a
penny a week among the poorer classes, it was called a serious en-
croachment, and, in Ireland particularly. it was said they were ton
poor, and the friends of the Bible Associations had to combat that
feeling, but a proof was lately given of the fallacy of that assertion.
It was given, indeed, not by their friends, but by their enemies.
It was shown that from this poor, this wretched, this starving peo•
ple, a sum of 56,0001. could he annually extracted. ( Hear, bear.)
One fact of this kind was more convincing than any thing hai could
address to them. Another Society more analogous and. more
kindred to their own. had attempted and succeeded in a eirnibs
place ; lie alluded to the Sunday bthool Society. There was also
an outcry raised against them ; they were said to be monstrously
unreasonable; and for what—for asking from their scholars not at
penny a week, not a penny a month, but a penny a year ; and would
It bee/edited, that, before the first year was over, they had actually
realized no less a sum than 60W.? This surely was a strong argument
for its adoption - and lie begged to say, that in the Ladies his
principal hope Of success rested. A Clergyman residing at Bir-
mingham, anxious for the dissemination of the Scriptures, esta-
blished a society for that purpose ; at brat he was able to effect
scarcely any thing ; he at length pressed the ladies into his service,
and before that new steam-engine was long at work. he found he
could do exactly 2iii times as much as heave. Now this led him
to the conclusion that one lady was as good as 20i gentlemen. (A
laugh.) The Reverend Gentleman then proceeded to say, that, in
alluding to the Parent Society from whence this and all other so-
cieties had sprung, he trusted he would not be introducing extra-
neous matter. It appeared from the Reports of that areelety, that
four million copies of the Testament had been distributed by it,
but he suspected this referred only to those issuing directly front its
own repositories ; he was the more inclined to think so, as he lately
heard from Mr. Canning that at least seven million copies of the
Bible Kul been distributed by the agents to the Foreign Bible So-
cizty. He would beg now to allude to a subject which (to use an
English phrase) should be handled gingerly, anti which it was
dangerous to touch on ; he meant a personage who had long stool.
up 1,- infallibility, and from whose palace a nocument lately issued,
setting forth, that if the dissemination of the Scriptures became go.
neral, a certain system could not stand • but though lie (Mr. Evan-'
son) thus railed at the system, he was ;he very antipodes to enter-1
mining a hostility towards any man on account of his belief—he
could meet him as an acquaintance, he could hold him to his heart
as a friend,—in fact, he could make all imaginable difference be-
tween the system and the person ' • but it was all useless,—he and
his friends must succeed though opposed to the Pope of Rome,
the Emperor of Austria, the King of Persia, and their brother of
Constantinople. It was now too late to muzzle men, or to stop the
march of intellect, and least of all could such an attempt succeed in
that Green Isle of the Ocean, where lately such desperate efforts
were made to perpetuate that system of ignorance and darkness
that had so long prevailed there. He would mention a fact that
seemed to shew the inefficacy of those attempts in a parish in Ire-
land. Orders had Matted that no person should, on any account,
keep a Testament or Bible. A poor old woman, who was so for-
tunate as to have a copy, not wishing to part with what had been
long her comfort, concealed it in a tea-pot, and thus it escaped the
general search (for persons were sent round to examine all the
houses)! A wealthy lady in the neighbourhood. whether struck
with the singularity of the anathema, far these indices e.rpurgatocii
always excite, and not damp, curiosity, or whether the flavour of
the Testament became good and palatable, front its late biding-
place, front which cause it was he would not pretend to say, but
she actually read it, and sent five guineas to the Association in
Sackville-street. This is a day of light, and not a fitting time for
these attempts to keep the world in moral thraldom, and they must
end in the confusion and discomfiture of those who make them, for
there is in man that elasticity that will burst open his chains,
that will ensure hint a moral emancipation, and make him stand
forth the independent keeper of his own conscience. If there was
a place above others that &fielded n held for the study of the mor-
bid anatomy of politics, or where an experiment might be made
on the regeneration of man, it was Ireland. There they would
soon find hint burst his cords, like another Sampson, and the thun-
ders of the Vatican would roll around hint, harmless as a pop-
gun, or as a &man from Syria. Nor was it to be wondered at that
the friends to the distribution of the Word of Truth met with
opposition, for it was but natural that the great enemy of
man should stir up the evil heart to cast impediments and ob-
structions in the way of God's word. The Catholics, it was
true, had lately acquired an advocate in a great political reformer,
who, after veering through all points, had at length settled in
a faith which he found to be older than the creation. The
Bible distributors hail been charged by one party with doing
too little, and by another with doing too much. It is said to
them, " What, though you distribute Bibles to such an extent,
are the gaols less crowded?—has crime decreased ?" But we
(said the Rev. Gentleman) never professed to clear the streets of
vagrants, nor the prisons of criminals—that Herculean, that
Augean task, we promised not to do; our hutuble object was, if
possible, to cast salt into the bitter waters of life, and sweeten
the bitterness of the world. The Rev. Gentleman proceeded to
say, that, as a proof of the want of books in Ireland, there
were in that country, three years ago, but fifty-three booksellers,
exclusive of those in Dublin ; whilst in Scotland, that contained
about one-third of the population of Ireland, there were, exclu-
sive of Edinburgh and Glasgow, 350. In that dearth of books,
how could the people become educated? And was it from the
Bible Captain Rock derived his doctrines ?—was it by a torch
lighted from this sacred book that the incendiary and the as-
sassin went forth? No: for it was notorious that crime dimi-
nished as the Bible circulated. The Rev. Gentleman concluded
by seconding the motion, which was carried unanimously.
The next Resolution was proposed by the Rev. Mr. ()Rue. and
seconded by the Rev. Dr. STYLES. It was a vote of thanks to
Mr. and Mrs. Gurney for their great exertions in support of the
Society. The Officers of the Society were also included in the Re-
solution.
The Rev. S. Daew proposed the next Resolution. After a few
remarks on the necessity there existed for union among Protestants
of all denominations at the present moment, he said, truth lately
presented itself to him in an allegory. It was like a cone, whose
bottom was on earth and whose head was in the sky. The rustics
wondered at it—their amazement grew into admiration—they in-
voluntarily drew near—they admired its fine proportions and its 1
enchanting symmetry—they had gone round and round it, and con-
cluding all was the same—they cast anchor before it. One party
seeing in it precepts, doctrines, and morality, reduced them to 39
articles ; another party saw in it Divine sovereignty, and became
Calvinists; another saw in it moral liberty, and became Armenian
Methodists; and there was a party who endeavoured to excavate
it, and who bored holes in it for the purpose of extracting the
the spirit (as they called it), and these became Quakers ; so far all
was well ; but from selfish passions they( were induced to tug at
the cone, and they tugged at it till they tore it asunder,
and each dragged home his valuable prise. They soon dis-
covered the detect of the fracture. It has been said that a hand
may destroy a palace, but would not be able to erect a hovel. 1
So it was with them : to make up the deficiencies they procured a
kind of unteinpered mortar, they filled uo the cone, and they per-
suaded their followers that all suss genuine ; and it so happened
that when the cone was broken the finest particles of it mixed with
the atmosphere, and destroyed the organs of vision. At length there
came a person named Impartial Inquiry ; he was furnished with al
probe ; it possessed the qualities of the spear, with which the angel '
in " Paradise Lost," is furnished ; it was qualified for the detec-
tion of error; when he touched with it the real cone it was invul-
nerable, but it immediately pierced the mortar. They then em-
ployed the finest artisans, for the purpose of burnishing, polishing,
and reducing it to a fine consistency, so that it was hard to say
where the real cone ended or the false one commenced. There
were, however, souse points less open, and these th covered with
papers, on which were written • blasphemy," and" everlasting
perdition ;" and it was remelt keel, they always placed over a defence-.
less part an anathema. At length, after a lapse of about twenty'
years, liberal-minded men agreed to separate the real parts from
the others, and bring them to a meeting something like this ; and
it was found, on comparing them, that the protuberances on one
fitted the indentations in the other, tad the cone looked as it was
originally ; and so will it remain, washed by the waters of life, and
on which the faithful may mount guard. And now (said the Rev.
Gentleman) I leave it with you, as I would leave the Great Book
of Life, without note or comment. (Cheers.)
Two other Resolutions were then proposed and carried. They
were declaratory of the benefit resultlug from the distribution of the
Bible, and expressed a sense of the great good effected by the Bible
Societies.
The Rev. Mr. ANDERSON, in seconding the last Resolution,
said, that he would commence as an honest Irishman once did,
and say, " Now that all is said I must say the rest." Great deli-
cacy had been here observed by some gentlemen in talking of a
certain personage, who was, by some, called Papa, by others Pope,
he meant that person who was properly designated the " Man of
Sin," and aim was long showing himself in llod's glory.—lle