The Sun.
London, England, 1818-12-29 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

mi,„
irß7.lll44'H,,rEt Bc r
14BLrEi.lt. •
, .
..
i I hope itliti
tmuso't 1 t ers I 'am doink no mod.
than exerc sin
t i again ill Silbx-
vriVilege:w4. biii be himself en-
,e
joys under your s‘ 0u"?,,-hich concedes to us both..
4il
l -
an opportunity-expreising our respective opi-
nions. You have already vouched for his being
A worthy man, yet I am free to confess I think
him a very inconsistent writer. He has expa-
tiated much on the gentlemanly manner in which
a controversy should be conducted, yet ,whether
casting in his opponents' teeth, that '' Chris-
tianity is ever and anon in their mouths but little

in their hearts, and less in their practice," styling
them "half-witted followers of a Methodist
Preacher," dwelling,on " the splenetic envy of
a rival in his holy fervours," and denominating
him a " sprig of the church," and elsewhere, I
think, " a monk," exactly tallies in beauty of
practice with the beauty of his theory, I leave to
others to determine... The subject in dispute is
one of grave importiance, but it is one on which
opinion may vary. STACKHOUSE animadverts
upon the Catholics for their faith in the .:POPE ;
but he -would fain plant iNlr. BELLAMY in the
chair of infallibility, and expect all Protestants to
bow to his deCISIOH. STACKHOUSE may continue
to- assert, and Air. BELLAMY may continue I'o itna-

give, that " truths divine come mended from his

pen," but something superior to the specimens
of the of e, and more convincing than the argil,
ments.of the other, is yet wanting to compel all
men to coincide. in that opinion. To bring my
idea of STACKHOUSE'S inconsistency to bear upon
tire subject itself, let us see what he says-;--" we
have been misled by a volume of errors, corrup-
tions, and legends, for our rule of faith, and are
now almost assured, that we have been reading a
work of blunderers, rather than of those men who
wrote no more than what was revealed to them,
insomuch, that what we have held to be unex-
ceptionably sacred, is little more than profane,
and may he called the composition of the Trans-
!mars, and not of Moses and the Prophets."—
Bravo ! Mr. STACKI-10diE ! to adopt his own style,
Bravo !—R preity plain declaration this of the un-
worthiness of the Bible ; but concerning which
he nevertheless tells a Christian, that " if he has
only read the New Testament, and has neglected
the Old, 'he will improve himself by turning to it
often ! !"—is not this something like " consecrat-
ing error," though I do not think STaclusousti
means to make his Tyro " appear like a tool."
Again, STACKHOUSE tells us, " the original was
written in Hebrew only, but Mr. BELLAMY'S new
Translation of it is nearer verbally, and literally,

than the old one," and that " Mr. BELLAMY
bringing forth such a one as can be read wit
pleasure and reliance, imperfect as it may be i,
the original Hebrew, of which none can judge."—
Then how dues Mr. BELLAMY judge ot
must in STACKUOUSE'S contemplation be a Pro-
phet ; for STACKHOUSE says, " happily we are
now rescued by Mr. BELLAMY from deception, by
his giving us the truth ot the Almighty, as it flow-
ed in his divine mission to his servants." Grant

this, and there is no occasion to refine,—where
exists the necessity or the authority to refine the
truth of the :11mig,hty ?—Yet STACKIIOUSE is par-
ticulatly solicitous to impress upon us that ►Mr.
BULLAMY'S is a relined Translation of the Holy
Volume. Does not this slim that there is "a stum-
bling-block of our iniquities which must sometimes
be set before our eyes," and that this stumbling-
block exists in the Bible, however Mr. BELLAMY
may endeavour to chip and so►notii it away ? The
Bible is intended for tl►e closet as well as the
reading-desk; and of this our church is so well
aware, that certain portions of it ar•e never read
publicly at all, yet their authenticity is not theist-
by compromised'. The Bible is the foundation of
our faith, but we •re nut at all times to lay the
foundation open, in order to judge of the super-
structure—it is not necessary, I say, it is not de-
corous, on many occasions, to give " chapter
and verse." From the Bible and the New 'Fes-
lament together, may be drawn out a Christian
Essay, as unexceptionable in language as beau-
tiful in spirit, yet at the same time manifestly
evincing the source from whence it apt logs. But
when we give the Bible itself, let us consider that
we are as it were stewards of its mysteries, and
tl►at it is required of stewards that they be found
faithful, and there are, Sir, amongst your Cor-
respondents, those, who, for any thing that ap-
pears to the contrary, knowing as much at least
of the subject as Mr. BELLAMY, have informed us,
that the present Translatiou of• tl►e Bible is eu►i-
nently faithful. The Bible and the New Testament
harmonize together, but let it not be forgotten
bow much of both is histuriectl—and 1 think, con-
sidering► the nature of the transactions which it
has sometimes occasion to detail, the Bible is as
delicate in its language as the subject will allow ;
much more so than are many profane I►istorians
treating on similar mutters. We might indeed
have been merely told that Sodom and, Go-
morrah were destroyed by fire front heaven, be-
cause they committed deadly sin—and we might
also have been told that Cain was accursed of God
because lie committed a deadly sin•—but the evil
propensities of fallen man required more express
definition to deter bins front crime, that he might
start with horror front the bare idea of its com-
mission ; and that lie might not be left to " go
a whoring with his own inventions," in order tf►
discover what «•as the deadly sin which over-
wl►eln►ed tl►e cities of the plain. This knowledge
the Bible presents to us ; but it does not oleic-

fore give us liberty to expatiate upon these sub-
jects. ‘Ve are commanded to abstain From sin ;
but St. Paul was well aware that the com-
muna must sometimes be enforced by more par-
ticularity of expression; yet all tend; to prove
bow necessary, how indispensably necessary, it

We received last night the Paris Papers of Fri-
day last. That being Christmas Day, the Offices
of the Journals • were shut, and none were pub-
lished on Saturday. We have, in consequence,
no arrival of Papers this morning. The follow-
ing are extracts

" PARIS, DEC 25.—The King yesterday heard

mass in his apartments.
" On the Duke de Bourbon's return on Wed•
nesday evening from the chase near Chantilly, his
carriage broke down near his residence, by which

his Royal Highness is much wounded in the
shoulder, but it is hoped the accident will not pro-
duce any serious consequences.

" In the Chamber of Deputies the Bureaux ap-
pointed a Committee for the examination of the
projet respecting the collection of six twelfths of
the taxes, consisting of the following Members :
M M. Beugnot (Rapporteur), Breton, the Duke
de Gaete, the Count de Hautefeuille, the Baron
Delessert, Ganilli, Stendel and Lormand.

" The Diet of Frankfort has adjourned its
Sittings, which will not be resumed till the 20th

January.