The National Register.
London, England, 1813-11-21 00:00:00

750

'IONA Ti Ti-EGIg

THE N

THE WATCHMAN.

No. 3.
•
What of the Night?
Ye can disetrn.the face of the sky but, can ye no! discern the Sipes of

Ike Timesl• • • • BIBLE:.

BIBLE CLUBS.

Dryden, had he flourished in our day, might have dis--
covered an opp, utunltv for contra,rin• the biblical penuri-
ousness of past ti!;ic cid) the hil;lic:il luxurianey of the pre-
sent. No longer would this poet have to remaik, at any
rate, that

Scripture wa,, scaree • and, as the market went,
Po,r lamer. cook salvation on content!
Whoever may be famished for wsnt of ford, none can corn-
plain of perishing for lack of knowledge.' Scripture is
row every whet e in circulation. Rit.s i-here we may',
through cities or towns, hamlets or villages, streets or lanes, •
every where do we belt, Id notices for the formation of Bible
Societies, Bible Auxiliary Societies, and Bible Associaqous ;
insomuch thiA the Stranger in England' might be led to
infer, from wha' he !hos sees, that (,r•-at itain bad but
recently been visited with the light of Divine Revelation,
• and was for the first time about ro communicate and pro-
pagate that light ; or that, at least, her benighted offspring
bad just emerged from the gloom of tint superstition
When mother-church did mightily pre
And parcell'd out the Bible by ret4i!.
While meetings for the institution of Bible Societies were
composed of persons who constituted the upper and middling
ranks in this country, and while the pi incipal object of t'-sir
associating was for the purpose of diffusing; the KnOwledge
of the Scriptures over foreign countries and amongst .bar-
barous tribes, these a.,soc'ations had an appearance of dig-
nity in their character, -and might not be unbenefical in
their consequences; their object was great, and !heir effect
:night be good. It cannot well be proved, however, tha'
the same necessity existed for Domestic Bible Societies,—
that, although it were expedient and excellent to. attempt
the evangelization of the heathen, there was any absolute
dearth of scriptural information in this highly civilized and
truly enlightened portion of the globe, where he who runs
may read, and where ieligious knowledge is at least as much
cul'ivated as knowledge of any other description.
Supposing, nevertheless, the necessity of what are called
Bible AssOciations to be incontrovertible,—supposing the
lower classes of society to be destitute of bibles, and really
desirous of
.obtaining them for the purpose of improvement,
—still there appears much to object to, as to the manner in
which such associations are proposed) and the statements by
which they are generally supported.
It forms not the least objectionable circumstance attend-
ing the.formation of Bible Associations, that their expediency
is attempted to be illustrated by repeating a series of gossip
stories; of which many are fiequently most irrelevant to
the point at issue, while not a few are either ridicub)us or
disguEting. Every one who has, accidentally or intentionally,
aitended such associations, has beard such stories. Our in-
formation must be seriously augmented, and our pleasure
inexpressibly heightened, by hearing of one boy, stopping
on his way to a fair, and, seeing a notice where bibles might
be.purehased of a society, buying one for himself, with the.
pence he had saved for his pastime; and it must be equally
• gratifying, especially to parents, to listen to eulogiums on
another boy, who, we are told, defied his father to•bleak
every bone in his skin, before he would come tit to deliver

RI

V. 21.

.
him urr his own bible to pawn I , Husbands will also have
the consolation to hear, more•or less, of wives who have left
'
i off scolding id consequence of eking to mail the bible.
1 .Pleasant tales, truly, when told upon grave occasions, by
grave men.
Bot tl.is is not all. Considerate minds will deem it no
trivial evil, respecting the associations here designated, that
! such foolish speeches should come from the lips Of serioes
!speakers; of men who are elsehlicre li4ened to with so-
lemnity—of chi istiao teachers, and established clergywien !
Look at the arguments they here use. Affecting for their
poorer hrethr en the most condescending lore,
corneas-
-1
i sionating their situation and Circumstances, they neyerthe-
less 'call upon. these to-abi Wee theirse;ves of the liKle Com-
' fort they still possess, for the nurrose of levying upon them
a species of Peter-Once. under'he odious pretence ef fur-
. thering the interests of their (eligion. How insultingly does
it soond; to these who know the actual state of society, to
hear the poor•thos exhorted to leave off their pun,,/um sty
cil of porter, when, perhaps, they are already 'educed to
-,mall-lreer :—to hear them exhorted to desist from frequent-
ing teL-gardens, when it is known that they caprot acquire
the means:—to hear them counselled to consume less tb-
bacem, IN men who themselves are most addicted to smoak.
ing :—to hear, in fine, even old women admonished to lOs•
sets their allowance ‘:f snuff and tea, for the advancement
cif the kini:dom thet ;s not of this world!
Clergymen should be solicitous to preserve the regard
that attaches to their prolessieli. When they thrust them-
-selves for Ward in the eublic eye, they, in some sense, Fut
themelves out of the protection of their cloth. Pt. pits a-re
sat ,ed things, and shield !lin e who fill ti-em ; hut when the
preacher descends froth the pulpit, and thinks proper to
harangue on the floor, or on chesplatform, his anditors, be-
come now his equils, wll not set uple to erect themselves
into his censors, and determine his merits. Few preachers
know. there is reason to think, how miserably numbers .of
the profe:sion now figure at public meetings, in the , ha-
-1 racter of public speakers; or they would be less ambitious
of enacting parts for which they are so generally unfitted,
and more anxious to preserve that personal reverence which
seems essential to their impression. Preachers have uo
business on the pavement.
Another consideration should induce the ministers of the
establishment, at least, to be difrident as to standing fore-
most in associations where their motive may be popularly
suspected. It has been hinted, from another quarter, that
bibles are but the heralds of preachers; that, the more
bibles are dispersed, the more preachers will be wanted to
explain them. Those preachers, therefere, who shew them.
selves more than decently anxious for the formatimenf Bib-
lical Associations, after *hat has been stated, may incur the
imputation of being not altogether ' single-minded ;' an
imputation, which, though it should fail to touclethe clergy,
init'ht deserve the attention of other men, when they re-
maik the vast-increase of preachers during late years, and
anticipate its effects on the habits and prospects of the coml.
try. England is becoming an emporium of preachers.
Ought it to be Wondered at, considering the present
complexion of Bible Associations, that the highest Digni.
' taxies of our Establishment should ••have abstained from
lending their counlenance•.to societies somewhat similar ;
when it appears evident that such, patronage must have
equally-involved their individual reputation, and the respec-
tabiniy of their Church? This their caution, therefore, de-
serves our praise. It must, indeed, be matter for sertOos
. pleasure, to every Well-disposed mind, that the legitimate
guardian of the national religion have thus steadily resists