palian, the Presbyterian, the Independ ant, and the religious of all denominations, whose jarring principles and inte rests hand so long produced a mutual deeper into the earth; that, ere he was called to render his account at the tribunal of his insulted Maker, it would extend its branches over the world, and shed its leaves for the heal-ly repulsive alienation of heart, who should all at once, as by the attractive. virtue of some unseen magnet, feel themselves drawn into a friendly asso ing of many heathen nations. Little did he imagine that, when the Age of Reason was sunk in the waters of oblivion, to rise no more, millions in ev-ciation, where, actuated by one spirit, ery land would sit and sing under its they would combine to promote one shadow, and find the fruits thereof and the same object; if he had gone still sweet to their taste. The time when further, and ventured to predict, that, this revival took place renders it the within a few years after the establishmore astonishing, and the more clear- ment of this Society, the Scriptures ly displays the work of an Almighty would be translated into twelve Euro hand-When an extensive trade and pean, and nine Oriental languages, and commerce, favorable to the views of that translations in twenty-four foreign Avarice and Ambition, had long en-languages would be going forward*, grossed the attention of mankind, and and that near two hundred thousand steeled the heart against religious im- copies of the Old, and near three hunpressions;—when, in the bustle of bu-dred thousand copies of the New-Tessiness, and the noise of riot-behind tament, would be dispersed, in the the counter, and around the convivial space of six years, by the efforts of this board-the still, small voice of Reli-society, would he not have been deemgion was unheard or treated with in-ed a visionary and a madman? Would dignant scorn;-when politics absorb- not a cell have been assigned him next ed every sentiment of another class, to that of the celebrated Brothers, of and the affairs of eternity were forgot famous memory? Yet all this has been ten;-amidst scepticism, atheism, and actually accomplished. Upon what crimes-monsters engendered in the principle? The principle of union and confusion of the French Revolution, co-operation. Yet some gentlemen of stalking abroad, and threatening the high respectability, it seems, object ta destruction of every thing sacred-a-the society for this reason: It is com mid the demolition of thrones, the dis-pounded, say they of different sects, all ruption of kingdoms, and the wailings of whose principles cannot be conform, of nations driven mad with despair:ed to the standard of truth. This objec in this awful state of things, the happy tion night, perhaps, have had some revolution in favor of Christianity, of force, if the object of the society had which we are now speaking, was ac- not been so simple in its nature, so accomplished. Then it was that the curately defined, and so strongly witnesses rose from the dead, glowing||guarded. What is that object? The with immortal vigour: then was the dispersion of the authorised version of British and Foreign Bible Society in-the Old and New Testament, without stituted to speed their progress, that they might deliver their testimony to all nations before the end of the world. Gentlemen, is this the work of man? Verily the finger of God is here! In the year of our Lord 1804, if any man By the aid of the Bible Society, the Sa had ventured to predict, that an insti- cred Scriptures, either in the whole or in tution would soon be founded, under part, are at present translating, printing, or the patronagee of the mitre and the co-circulating in fifty-eight different languages and dialects; whereof about twenty-five are -onet, with the sanction of genius and li-translations into languages in which the terature, comprehending the Episco- Scriptures have not been published before. note or comment. Every honest Christian believes his own system to be founded upon the word of God; and if different parties were to consult their private sentiments, each would issue * Who of infinite wisdom and benevolence, what object can be conceived of higher importance than its universal circulation? It is the declared will of the Great Parent of the universe, and clear &c. were keen and severe satirists ;|| of infinite wisdom; in the judgment of but, in my opinion, most legal writings impartial reason, its divinity is estabtestify the vices and villainy of the lished upon the basis of demonstration. world with a much sharper lash than An eulogium on the Sacred Book their writings. A deed of sale, a mar- would be a wasteful excess. rige settlement, or a bill and answer, would hold up a torch to enlighten the expose the dishonesty of the world meridian sun? If, then, the Bible be with such truth and seriousness, as in-indeed the word of God, a revelation finitely exceed the most pointed wit. The vast length of such writings, the preciseness of every clause, the long strings of synonimous words, &e. are, it seems, all little enough to defend justice against the many and artful at-ly manifest, from all the contents of the tacks to be expected. There is in short, an universal corruption and depravity among mankind, arise it from whence it will." Such is the concurrent opinion and practice of mankind. It plainly says, Every imagination of the thoughts of our hearts are only evil continually-none are righteous, none doth good, no, not one." Substance of a Speech delivered at the revelation with which he hath favored mankind, that it was intended, not for local, but for general utility. Its records are an authentic history of the gradual introduction and final accomplishment of redemption, in which people of all nations are interested. Its prophecies lift up the vail of futurity, and exhibit to view an auspicious day, when the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall fill the whole earth. Its doctrines are adapted to relieve human misery in every form, and to heal all the diseases of the moral world. Its precepts impose a restraint upon the sensual and the malevolent passions; inculcate universal benevolence; and, extending their empire over the barriers which divide political states, tend to unite all mankind, as one happy family, in bonds of brotherly love. But what I mean principally to insist upon is, that the very style in which Scripture is written, clearly evinces that it was designed, not for this or that people exclusively; not for the Hebrew or the Egyptian, the Greek or the Roman, the Asiatic or the European, but for man, in all ages, in all places, of every colour and of every language. Its style is such as is not to be found in the works of human compo SHRINKING, as I really do, under a sense of my own insignificance, nothing but an ardent attachment to the cause for which we are assembled, could have inspired confidence sufficient to enable me to deliver my sentiments before an audience so truly respectable. If by so doing I should seem to obtrude upon your notice, let the feelings which Christianity awakens in the heart of man at the contemplation of human wretchedness-let the consideration of the dark places still to be found in half-enlightened Europe-let the deplorable state of whole empires, entangled in the mazes of superstition and idolatry-and, above all, let the grandeur of the attempt to rescue a perishing world from the bond-sition. It consists of figures borrowage of corruption, be admitted as my apology.-Sir, I thank God that I now speak, not to an infidel, but to a Christian auditory. An attempt to vindicaie the truth of Scripture before an assembly like this, is unnecessary. To the enlightened eye, it presents the seal ed from all that is familiar, beautiful, or sublime in nature; not merely as. embelishments of diction, or in conformity to the custom of the Orientals, but as signs and images of the spiritual and invisible realities of a spiritual and an invisible world. Words are arbi trary, ambiguous, changeable; and the || eminence. Ideas received by this speech of one people is unintelligible channel are the most clear and disjargon to another; but Nature is im-tinct: they find the readiest way to the mutable-her leading characteristics heart, and stamp the most lasting im are every where the same: and in the pression upon the memory. Such is style of the sacred writers, all the ob- the nature of that mysterious being jects of nature, in heaven, on earth,|| called man, whether blackened by au and under the earth, form the ele-Afrić sun or shivering upon the mounments of an universal language, which tains of Lapland. The savage and the can never be confounded, and in which courtier, the philosopher and the peaall nations have a common interest.- sant, in this view, are cast in the same Gentlemen, may I claim your indul- mould, and stand on the same level. gence one moment, while I amplify || The Creator of man, is the author of this argument? All Scripture, if I mis-revelation. In this revelation he hath take not, rises in its support. The Cre-consulted the weakness and exigency ator of the world has always spoken to|| of human nature, and accommodated man in a language perfectly suited to the method of instruction to all the his constitution. Man consists of two avenues of the understanding and the componant parts-an immortal soul, heart. In conformity to the constituwhich advances him to an alliance tion of human nature, which is every with the world of spirits; and a perish-where the same, he employs a lanable body, which connects him with a||guage, taken from things seen, wherematerial system, which, like himself, by, exhibiting to our eyes the images is hastening to dissolution. The first of things spiritual, he gives a kind of objects which draw his attention, are || visibility to objects in themselves invithe objects of his senses; and he is ob-sible. This he does, not only that he viously so formed as to receive his in- may convey to us some notices of himstruction (for man is a creature of in- self, and of the invisible world, but, alstruction) through the medium of sen- so, that thereby the things unseen may sation. Hence sensible images neces-|| reach our hearts with a full conviction sarily form the basis of all the know- of their reality, and that the world to ledge which he is capable of acquir- come may be a powerful rival in our ing, whether as an inhabitant of this affections to the world that now is,— world or a candidate for eternal happi- || It would be easy to multiply examples But man is not formed merely to elucidate and confirm these observThe difficulty is to make a -he is accountable for his actions to a proper selection. The sun ruling the Divine tribunal. Passions are implant-day, and the moon and stars governing ed in his nature for the most benevo the night; the outgoings of the mornlent purposes; and it is essential to his ing and of the evening; the seasons of well-being, that he be united, by su- the year, from the beginning of winter, preme love, to the Greatest of all be- onward to the close of the harvest; the ings and the Source of all happiness. || power and operations of the elements, Thus fearfully and wonderfully made, in all their varied forms; the mould not only the understanding but the that covers, with the vegetable proheart of man is most accessible by the ductions that adorn the surface, and avenues of sense. Nothing makes so the treasures which are deposited in deep an impression upon his mind as the caverns of the globe; the inhabithat which first affects his bodily sensa- tants of the air, the ocean, and the tions. The senses, however, are not land-all are pressed into the service all qualified alike for admitting such of the sanctuary; all furnish thêir quoimpressions. By the ear, indeed, we ta of that imagery of which the style receive much of our knowledge; yet of the sacred writers is composed.--the eye, in this respect, has the pre-Thus adapted and intended for genera! ness. for contemplation; he is a moral agent||ations. from the dead, no more to prophesy in sackcloth, but in the garments of joy and immortality. The return of vital motion was soon felt in our much-loved country--the admonitions of these ministers were again heard as the voice of God-their message was again re they were received with the welcome of friends recovered from the tombthey rose to honor and dignity in the presence of their enemies--they enter ed, says the prophet, into the cloud, the symbol of the Divine protection, while, in the mean time, a society was form empire, to accelerate their speed through the world, that they may prophesy to multitudes, and to peo ple, and to tongues, and to nations, How rapid has been their flight?How extensive is their range! What millions, within these few years, have received their testimony, who before had not heard a Saviour's name, or seen his glory! How simple, and yet how effective, the means by which the whole has been brought to pass! This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. Gentlemen, how dark would this world be if there were no prophets to enlighten it! But when circulation, when the Bible (as it shortly will be by the efforts of this society and others) is translated into every language and sent to every nation, its doctrines will be found to correspond with the characteristics of nature which the hand of God hath sketched and hung out in the system around us;--garded as a message from Heavenand an eternal world will be laid open to the inhabitants, by means of images taken from things with which they have been long familiarly acquainted. Wherever the sacred volume is sent, man is the pupil-nature is his school, and prophets and apostles are his instructors. This book contains two es-ing, combining the energies of a great sential parts, the Old and the New Testament. Whether, as some of our ablest commentators suppose, these are the two witnesses spoken in the A- || pocalypse, I presume not to determine; but certainly, the predictions of the prophet have been remarkably verefied in the fate of the Holy Scriptures. These witnesses prophesied in sackcloth during the continuance of the dark ages, and the whole reign of popery. They received a fatal wound from the society, proudly styling itself the illuminated; and expired, with convulsive throes, in the chaos of the French Revolution. Their bodies, as the prophet had foretold, lay unburi-a man turns prophet, without his creed, but the vital principle was extinct. The mortality was felt, not only on the continent, but in this favored island. Gentlemen, we remember those days, and we tremble at the recollection, Infidelity distilled its fatal poison, in the paroxysm of the political mania which had infected all Europe; infidels let fall the mask, and avowed their principles; nominal Christians abandoned their standard, and joined the forces of the enemy; real Christians, supine and timid became almost ashamed of their religion, and afraid to advocate its cause; and wherever the tree of liberty was planted, a cross was set up, to which Christianity was nailed, while her friends stood at a distance and looked on with apparent indifference. But after three days and a half, a short But terrible interval, the witnesses rose dentials, we may safely pronounce hira an impostor, or an enthusiast. David Hume prophesied that, at the conclusion of the last, or the beginning of this century, Christianity would be exter minated from the earth. The transactions of this day give the lie to his prediction. Another prophet of infidelity boasted that (to use his own languge) he had cut down every tree in the spiritual Eden. Priests, says he, may stick them in the ground again, but they will never take root. Foolish man! why didst thou not pluck them up by the roots? Art thou ignorant that there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and through the scent of water, bring forth boughs like a plant? Little did that vain mortal imagine that the tree of life, the glory of paradise, was at that time striking its roots deeper into the earth; that, ere he palian, the Presbyterian, the Independ was called to render his account at ant, and the religious of all denominathe tribunal of his insulted Maker, it tions, whose jarring principles and inte would extend its branches over the rests hand so long produced a mutualworld, and shed its leaves for the heal-ly repulsive alienation of heart, who ing of many heathen nations. Little should all at once, as by the attractive. did he imagine that, when the Age of virtue of some unseen magnet, feel Reason was sunk in the waters of ob-themselves drawn into a friendly assolivion, to rise no more, millions in ev-ciation, where, actuated by one spirit, ery land would sit and sing under its they would combine to promote one shadow, and find the fruits thereof and the same object; if he had gone still sweet to their taste. The time when further, and ventured to predict, that, this revival took place renders it the within a few years after the establishmore astonishing, and the more clear-ment of this Society, the Scriptures ly displays the work of an Almighty would be translated into twelve Euro: hand-When an extensive trade and pean, and nine Oriental languages, and commerce, favorable to the views of that translations in twenty-four foreign Avarice and Ambition, had long en-languages would be going forward*, grossed the attention of mankind, and and that near two hundred thousand steeled the heart against religious im- copies of the Old, and near three hunpressions; when, in the bustle of bu-dred thousand copies of the New-Tes siness, and the noise of riot-behind tament, would be dispersed, in the the counter, and around the convivial space of six years, by the efforts of this board-the still, small voice of Reli-society, would he not have been deemgion was unheard or treated with in-ed a visionary and a madman? Would dignant scorn;—when politics absorb-not a cell have been assigned him next ed every sentiment of another class, to that of the celebrated Brothers, of and the affairs of eternity were forgot famous memory? Yet all this has been ten;-amidst scepticism, atheism, and actually accomplished. Upon what crimes-monsters engendered in the principle? The principle of union and confusion of the French Revolution, co-operation. Yet some gentlemen of stalking abroad, and threatening the high respectability, it seems, object ta destruction of every thing sacred:-a-the society for this reason: It is com mid the demolition of thrones, the dis-pounded, say they of different sects, all ruption of kingdoms, and the wailings of whose principles cannot be conform of nations driven mad with despair:ed to the standard of truth. This objecin this awful state of things, the happy tion aight, perhaps, have had some revolution in favor of Christianity, of force, if the object of the society had which we are now speaking, was ac- not been so simple in its nature, so ac, complished. Then it was that the curately defined, and so strongly witnesses rose from the dead, glowing||guarded. What is that object? The with immortal vigour: then was the dispersion of the authorised version of British and Foreign Bible Society in- the Old and New Testament, without stituted to speed their progress, that note or comment. Every honest Christhey might deliver their testimony to tian believes his own system to be all nations before the end of the world. founded upon the word of God; and Gentlemen, is this the work of man?if different parties were to consult their Verily the finger of God is here! In private sentiments, each would issue the year of our Lord 1804, if any man *By the aid of the Bible Society, the Sa. had ventured to predict, that an insti-cred Scriptures, either in the whole or in tution would soon be founded, under part, are at present translating, printing, or the patronagee of the mitre and the co- and dialects; whereof about twenty-five are circulating in fifty-eight different languages ronet, with the sanction of genius and li-translations into languages in which the terature, comprehending the Episco- Scriptures have not been published before. |