The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-04-12 00:00:00

TRINITARIAN BIBLE SOCIETY.

yesterday, at twelve o'clock, a meeting of this society was
held -at St. Luke's SChoob:room,. Cropper-street, and was
very respectably though not numerously attended. Amongst
those present were a considerable number of ladies. The
Rev. Mr. Bates, Assistant Minister of St. Bride's Church,
was called to the chair, and opened the meeting by an appro-
priate prayer.

The CHAIRMAN then stated that the meeting had originated
in the circumstance of its being known that his rev. friend
then present (Mr. Thelwall) would pass through the town on
his way to Ireland, it was thought desirable not to let the op-
portunity pass without inviting him to express his opinions
of the objects and progress of the parent society. He (the
Chairman) regretted that owing to the shortness of the notice
and other circumstances, the attendance was not so numerous
as it doubtless would otherwise have been, and concluded by
introducing his rev. friend to the meeting.
The Rev. A. S. THELWALL, M.A., Secretary of the Pa-
rent Society, in London, then came forward. lie lamented
that his brother, the Rev. G. Washington Philips, who had
been expected to attend, and who had written that, if possi-
ble, he would be in Liverpool last night, had not yet arrived,
being, as it appeared, delayed by some unforeseen circum-
stance ; thus showing how often the most sanguine expecta-
tions may be defeated by events over which man had no con-
trol, and how much all ought in every undertaking to put
their trust and dependence on God. He then proceeded to
call the attention of the meeting first to the principles upon
which the society was founded ; and, secondly, to increased
exertions required from every one belonging to it, in order to
the wider distribution of the_ pure word of God in this and
other countries. With regard to the doctrines upon which
they stood, these, though few and simple, were capable of
great variety of application and of great extension. They
were based on those principles of Christian union to be found
in the Bible ; on the recognition of the glorious doctrine of
the Trinity as revealed in that sacred volume. All who were
received as members of their society must believe and confess
the eternal truths necessary' to salvation. There might be
differences amongst true Christians on some points, and
these differences were to be lamented ; but they agreed
in great principles, and it had truly been said, that
the points on which they agreed were much greater than
those on which they disagreed. The reverend gentleman then
proceeded, at considerable length to point out, those parts of
scriptural doctrines the reception of which he considered as
essential to salvation; those that were important, but not
absolutely essential; and those which might be considered
as indifferent, and which might be left to the consideration
of individuals. The reverend gentleman proceeded to illus-
trate his position by several quotations from the New Testa-
ment,' enjoining the necessity for salvation of a belief in the
trinity. On that doctrine the society acted, conjointly with
the
.sacred injunction to love their brethren, and welcome
them into their union. To such it society nothing could be
more delightful than the circulation of the word of God ; and
no one could deny that much remained to be done 'in this
good work. Let them but circulate what was the proportion
of the circulation of the Bible in the population, and this fact
would be apparent. Even if all the Bibles ever printed since
the glorious reformation were yet extant, a 'twofold quantity
would be required for an adequate supply. Even in this
comparatively favoured land, there were thousands, and even
millions, without the word of God. In these districts the
want was very great, for the population had greatly increased
of late years. When he first knew Liverpool, and he was
not yet an old man, it was much smaller than now : he might
safely say it had increased three or four fold. A wide field
was, therefore, open for their benevolent exertions in the
distribution of the Scriptures ; for, independent 'of the in-
creased population, Bibles' were soon worn out. He should
illustrate this by stating, that a friend of his in Buckingham-
shire had, at a recent meeting, shewn him two Bibles, one of
his own, and one belonging to a poor man, a neighbour.
The former had been purchased new eight or ten years be-
fore, and had been taken as much care of as a book could be
that was in pretty frequent use : the other had been bought
five years before, and both were almost useless, particularly
that of the poor man, which, from use amongst children and
others, had been so transposed and defective, that a particu-
lat passage could scarcely have been found. . The work of
the society required, therefore, to be assiduous and conti-
nuous, in order to provide a regular and constant supply of
the Scriptures in this favoured country alone. Even in this
town, it would be found by an enquiry by visitors from street
to street, that there were thousands of families wholly unsup-
plied. Besides the distribution of the sacred volume, the
society had especially directed their exertion to supplying
faithful translations. Out of all the many versions that had
hitherto appeared, there were only three, he might almost,
indeed, say only two, our own authorised version, published
in 1611, and the Dutch translation, published in 1637, which
could be considered as standard translations. There were
others, some of thein from the Vulgate, but none such as a
truly christian society would put it into the -hands of any one
as the word of God, they were so loose and paraphrastic,
so enlarged here, and so contracted' there. The Vulgtite,
itself, was very unequal,. though in some passages an effort
was made at pure translation ; but as a whole, compared with
the original, the difference in many points was surprising.
He next noticed some slight discrepancies between portions
of the bible and the prayer-book. arising from defective
translation, and, pie also referred to some passages, which,
from the same, would appear to sanction- transubstantiation,
and other fatal doctrines of the Roman Catholic; Church.
He repeated, that on this account the society were especially
careful to put into the hands of their brethren, a faithful
translation of the sacred volume,—that in place of mislead-
ing them, it might be " a lamp unto their feet,' and a light
unto their path." Time would not permit him to explain
the transactions of the society, but in a short time a publi-
cation would be put forth explanatory of their views and
operations. He called upon all those who valued the word
of God to come forward and assist in the work of distributing
it, and especially to aid them by their prayers.—(Applause.)
The Rev. Mr. M'CoNKey then addressed the meeting at
some length, and with much eloquence, in behalf of the so-
ciety. He said the Christian Society was much indebted to
the British and Foreign Bible Society, for 'their exertion's in
the distribution of the scriptures ; but the present society
had separated from them, because they did not sufficiently,
as it appeared to them, rely for success Upon their prayers to
Almighty God. The Society did indeed sing a psalm ; but
this he considered rather a compromise of prayer than an
open supplication to the throne of grace. The present Soci-
ety had resolved to begin their labours, to carry them on,
and to conclude them, in the humble spirit of prayer. He..
stated that the society was by no means exclusive, but liberal
and extensive in its principles, and not dependant on Church
government, but upon what was superior,—on the creed of
the apostles. He concluded by an affecting account of a
visit he had that morning, made to a poor' female on her
death bed, who had since died, and who was destitute of the
Word of God, or of any one that could read it. He added,
that there were thousands of the poor equally destitute of
the necessaries of life as well as of the means of salvation ;
and concluded by imploring them to come forward in the
good cause, iplacing their dependance for success upon the
blessings of God.
The CHAIRMAN said, that after the statements they had
heard, it became them to consider what was to be done, and'-
he should state what plan the society had chalked out. They
purposed to engage a visitor, qualified from his piety and ex-
perience, to visit the poor in their abodes, and to urge them
to the necessity of reading the word of God. Their funds
were, however, inadequate to the demands upon them. The
present society, indeed, had liberally awarded them £25 out
of their funds towards the work,lbut this was insufficient. He
hoped, however, he need but make this known to them to se-
cure their own aid and that of their friends, and he humbly
trusted the Lord would crown their efforts with success.—
(Hear, hear.)
The ineeting, after singing a hymn, then separated.