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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
will do justice to the purity of my intentions * Indeed every man , who loves hfs country ? will be ready to adopt a pr inciple , which Is calculated to promote political good , without producing religious evil . hct us apply this principle to the modern Bible Society , as far as relates to the conduct of Churchmen : for
nothing which is here said is intended as a restraint on the conduct of those , who dissent from the Established Church . They have full liberty to distribute Bibles , either alone , or accompanied with such religious tracts , as they may think proper : and if a Society consisting solely of T > issenters had been formed for this
purpose , the members of the establishment would have had no right s either to interfere , or even to . complain of it . Such a Society would fcave been perfectly consistent with those principles of toleration ; which are happily established in
these realms . But it is certainly a question for consideration among Churchmen , whether it is prudent to augment the power of such a Society , by throwing into its scale the weight of the Establishment . If Churchmen give the whole of their influence to the aniient
Bible Society , they retain the strengh of the Established Church within its own channel , and thus contribute to preserve it . If they divide Iheir influence > and still , more , if they give it wholly to the vhodern Bible Society , they divert the strength of the Establishment into a / b reign channel , where the current may
at least be turned against them . In supporting the antient Bible Society , they have ample security , that they are supporting at the same time the Established Church : but in supporting the modern Bible Society , they have wo such
security , either in its constitution , or in the general friendship of its members . It is true ^ that the professed object of the modern Bible Society is to distribute Bibles without note or comment , and , in this country , according to the authorized versibn . But were it certain , that ,
as the power of this Society increases , the present avowed object would still be retained , we can have no guarantee that oMer objects ., inimical to the Church , will not in time be associated with ^ he main object . The experience of only seven years , under circumstances where circumspection has been peculiarly necessary , is a poor ground of consolation . Tfoq Dissented , however well affected
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in mther respects , canhoi'he well affected to trie Chuech , or they wouLd not be Dissenters from it . Their interests Jn respect to religion are different from ours , and therefore must lead them a , different way : and though we know from
experience , that they can combine for the purpose of opposing the Church , it would be contrary both to experience and to the common principles of human action , to expect * their co-operation , if the object in view was the interest of the Church .
If we apply then the principle abovementioned , that Churchmen should tolerate , but not encourage Dissenters , we shall find in it a strong argument against the promotion of the modern Bible Society . For , independently of the reason above-stated , that Churchmen should unite the Liturgy with the Bible , and thus prevent its , misapplication to
otlier doctrines , the very constitution of the modern Bible Society gives an importance to the dissenting interest , which otherwise it would never h ' ave obtained , and consequently brings afresh accession of danger to the Established Church * That Churchmen by their association with Dissenters in this modern Bible
Society , increase both the political and the religious importance of the latter , is too obvious to require illustration . And that this increase of influence may hereafter be applied in a manner not
contemplated by those , who . now inadvertently promote it , is likewise a positipn which cannot be controverted . But by increasing" the influence of the ancient Bible Society , we necessarily increase the influence of the Established Church :
( or the ancient Bible Society is one of its firmest bulwarks . On the one hand , therefore , our encouragement of the ancient Society must contribute to the welfare of the Established Church , while on the other hand , our encouragement of the modern Society , not only contributes nothing to it in preference to other churches , but may contribute even to its
dissolution . Now if we injure , or even neglect to support our own Church , we shall hardly make compensation by our own distribution of Bibles in foreign parts . If our own Church , as we have reason to believe , professes Christianity in its purest form , the downfall of such a church , would be an irreparable loss , not to this nation only , but to the whofe World * Under these circumstances , I respectfully submit the question to the consi-
Untitled Article
Inttlligence . —Dr . Marsh ' s Address , on the Bible Society . V 2 J
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1812, page 127, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1745/page/63/
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