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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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the Holy . Scriptures does not distinguish the Bible Society from other societies . The Bartlett ' s Building Society * which existed long before the Bible Society was heard of , circulate the Holy Scriptures ; but then it is Dr . Mant ' s Bible which they circulate , containing notes and comments in abundance , and such notes and comments as in their general tendency can be approved only by members of
the Church of England , nor even by all of them , but only by such memhers of the Church as give to the Liturgy and Articles as well as to the Bible an Arminian , and not a Calvinisticj interpretation . Again , the London Unitarian Society for the
promotion of Christian Knowledge , which was formed twelve or thirteen years before the Bible Society existed , circulate the Holy Scriptures ; but then it is the Improved Version which
they circulate , to which , in like manner , are appended numerous notes and comments , principally intended to prove and illustrate the distinguishing tenets of that denomination . It is not , therefore , in the circulation of the
Scriptures , but in the circulation of them without note or comment , that the peculiar excellencv of the Bible Society consists ; ancf in whatever j ) oint of view this restriction may be considered , it reflects the highest honour on those by whom it yvas
originally adopted . It was a dictate of the wisest policy , for it secured the co-operation and support of the various sects of Christians , who , however much they may differ in the modes of interpretation they adopt , or the results to which they come , yet all agree
in acknowledging the truth of the Scriptures , and in appealing to them as the ultimate authority in questions both of faith and practice . It displayed a truly catholic spirit ; for it shewed tlutt the object of the Bible Society was to promote , not the exclusive interests of any particular
denomination , but the general interests of Christianity , by multiplying the copies of that book which is the universally acknowledged standard both of its doctrines and its precepts . It was calculated to prove eminently beneficial in its effects ; for its . manifest tendency was to lead Christians to forget their mutual differences and animosities in the promotion of a
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common object as important in itself as it was dear to them all . Other societies are formed to subserve the interests of some particular church or sect -or party : the Bible Society acknowledges no church or sect or party more than another , but receives all alike within its wide embrace . The
publications of the former will sometimes express sentiments of which only those of the same denomination can approve : those of the latter should contain nothing with which every Christian may not cordially sympathize .
If these views of the Bible Society are correct—and we appeal to the constant and uniform professions of its friends for their correctness—then it follows that doctrinal sentiments do not form the proper bond of union between its members ; that to inculcate the doctrinal sentiments of one
denomination in opposition to those of another , is no part of its original object ; and that to misrepresent the opinions and characters of those who belong to that other denomination , is not only foreign to its purpose , but utterly opposed to it , and calcul ated to abridge its usefulness by introducing endless divisions among its support *
ers * Such , we conceive , is the tendency of some of the statements contained in the Second Report of the Calcutta Bible Association now before us , which we shall endeavour to prove by a few extracts . The first passage to which we would request the attention of our readers is contained in pp % 14 ,
15 " : The associations into which Christians of all communions , formerly po widely separated from each other , haVe now entered for promoting unitedly the universal diffusion and study of the Scriptures , seem to be the means
by which God intends to unite ail believers in the faith and practice ot the one divine religion , not withstanding the multiformity of communions , which , being formed by men , cannot but be differently formed , as to their outward
appearance . At least it has been abundantly proved , by indubitable facts , that the Bible Society forms a principal centre of union , productive of Christian respect and love , ( which is infinitely more than cokl-liearted , passive toleration , ) in which members
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98 Calcutta Bible As&ociativm .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1826, page 98, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2545/page/34/
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