Francis Cunningham

“ I consider this society as privileged, in no ordinary degree, in having such an agent and friend on the continent. The assistance which he has already rendered to the Society has been very considerable. He has a great work on his hands. Communications are always to be kept open, letters to be written; and, in a country where there is a fastidiousness in receiving any religious offering from abroad, no one, who has not tried the experiment, can judge how much judgment, care, and delicacy it requires to bestow the gift without injuring the cause it is intended to promote. ”

“ It is my deliberate conviction, that the Bible Society has been in Germany the instrument of the greatest good; and, if some of the heads of this institution have not profited by it as they ought, the poor at least, in many considerable districts, have been gainers to an extent of which those are little aware who have not carefully investigated the subject. ”

“ Let them commit every endeavour to the blessing of Him to whom the souls of the multitudes scattered over the continent are unspeakably dear; let them be confident that the word of the Lord will have free course and be glorified; and that millions will arise, at the last day, to p. 22acknowledge with gratitude and joy the labours of this Society. Let the temper of the Society remain unimpaired at home; and it need not be disquieted at objections or assaults which will not at least commend themselves to the world at large, by the general spirit in which they have been defended. ”

“ This was the leading principle of our Society in the infancy of its institution; and, now that we are more matured in age, let us labour not to depart from it. Far then from advising the officers of this Society to suffer themselves, in their communications with the continent, to be lectured into a cold, dry, measured style of writing, I would exhort them to give vent to their warm and generous feelings. They may, in so doing, err in the sight of those disposed to make men “offenders for a word;” but they will better please the compassionate Master they serve ”

“ It is impossible that any one who reads the religious publications of the day should be ignorant of the severe measures adopted by the government of the Canton de Vaud, within a few years, to prevent religious meetings, and otherwise obstruct the course of true religion. But the advancement in piety, and especially amongst the members of the Established Church, is not a little conspicuous. ”

“ As to talents, diligence, vigilance, and zeal, as an agent of this society, he has few equals, and can scarcely have a superior. As a man of business, of regularity, vigour, and dispatch, he is very conspicuous—and those who know the immense deficiency of business-like habits on the continent, will know how to value such important qualities in the agent they employ.
The other subject respects the decision of the British and Foreign Bible Society, as to the distribution of the Apocryphal books. ”

“ I could name another place, where forty ministers were lately assembled for purposes of religious and spiritual communion. I might also allege the fact, that at different universities there are professors who openly, and from the heart, confess the true faith. I may indeed affirm that, from the cottages of the poor to the palaces of kings, there are those who walk worthy their high vocation as Christians and as men. The admitted evils are every day diminishing. The number of converts is increasing. ”

“ In Heidelburg for instance the fundamental rules of the Society placed all the professors of divinity attached to the university, ex-officio, upon the Committee of the Bible Society. One of these individuals is the professor Paulus. But from all the inquiries I was able to make, I could never learn that any individual in Germany, publicly holding neological opinions, was an active agent of the Bible Society. And how could any thing like an active agency be expected of such individuals. After the Bible Society had been formed in Germany, it soon spread very rapidly. ”

“ Much of the fruit will be discovered only on the great day, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed. But in the mean time no man can follow the course of the Bible without perceiving the benefits resulting from its circulation. In one instance, I cannot but doubt that the conversion of a large body from Popery to Protestantism, in a city in the south of France, has been materially assisted by the operations of this society. ”

“ A person, they apprehend, in this country may bind up with the Bible he receives from the Bible Society whatever tract he pleases, without forfeiting his right as a member of that Society.—Some persons desire to retain the Apocryphal books as valuable historical documents; others fear the ill consequences which might result from appearing to the ill-informed to take away a part of Scripture.—Of all these reasons it may be said that they are founded, rather on views of expediency, than conscience ”

“ Wherever he has appeared, either as the officer of your Society or as a private individual, he has left a name behind him which, next to the favour of the Master he has so affectionately and devotedly served, and the good which he has been the instrument of effecting for his fellow-creatures, may be his comfort in his hours of sickness and of solitude. ”

“ The piety of the people has increased. Is it unfair to consider as one of the instruments of this improvement, that, in addition to the number of Bibles before in circulation there has been circulated, by the Bible Society of that place, 15,000 copies of the word of God, amongst a population of 160,000 persons? ”

“ In those cases amongst the protestants where the societies may refuse to act as agents for the distribution of our canonical books, which cases will, I apprehend, eventually be very few; those societies may be prompted to greater exertion to secure their independent existence; and in the case of most Bible Societies, it will be found that they are capable of doing much more for themselves, and others, than they have done, whilst they continued to receive assistance from this country. ”

“ IV. A point, which I must bring before your notice, is the actual state of true religion on the continent, and more especially in Germany. It is certainly true that Neology has to a lamentable extent taken possession of the universities, the public prints, and the higher orders of society. ”

“ The original principle on which the Foreign Societies formed their alliance with the British and Foreign Bible Society was conciliatory. The Anti-apocryphal resolution they hold to be reforming; and they think that no Bible Society has a right to establish a reforming principle as a law to other Bible Societies. 4th. The question being, as they conceive, whether each Bible Society shall be permitted to bind the Apocrypha together with the canonical books, at their own expence ”

“ That laudable veneration, which they feel for the word of God, easily acts in them, in the absence of more solid theological attainments, as a check to the liberty of thought and judgment, to which Christianity leads ”

“ That the Committee is not framed upon a more comprehensive and generous principle, is to be regretted; but it labours assiduously and successfully as to the great object for which it is brought together.
The Bible Society of the Canton de Vaud has acted upon the principle of securing to itself a permanent income, for the perpetual distribution of the Holy Scriptures, independent of new contributions—by funding its capital. This measure has displeased many individuals in the Canton ”

“ The religious body were the originators of these societies, but they were soon compelled to seek the protection of others in authority, because the existence of societies in many countries must depend upon their sanction ”

“ In the first place we feel ourselves constrained to assert, that the dissemination of the Scriptures does not appear to us to be conducted in a proper spirit, and with proper views. If we investigate the character of p. 15many of those who distinguish themselves by more than ordinary activity in the cause, it cannot be denied that they very frequently seem to possess only a narrow view of theology, and exceeding littleness of mind. ”

“ And, secondly, The evil which has existed, and does exist, may be said to be every day diminishing. As to the first of these facts, I could point out individuals, parishes, and districts, where real religion is in active operation; places and persons altogether unconnected with those agents from England, who have been said to be the only instruments of doing important good on the continent, and which are therefore unrecognised p. ”

“ I. As to the question of the Apocrypha.
The German Societies labour under great difficulty respecting p. 10the Apocryphal Books; and the greater part of them are not at present disposed to give them up. They ground their determination in general upon the following reasons. 1st. In all cases in Germany the Societies are sanctioned by the government of the respective countries, on the implied condition of distributing the Scriptures as approved by the ecclesiastical authority, i.e. ”