Francis Cunningham

“ If we believe that the tenets of dissenters are plainly contradicted in the Bible, should we not then as churchmen, be thankful that they are willing to circulate, throughout the world, a refutation of their own system? Can the distribution of the word of truth, under any circumstances, be injurious to a true church? To say that the circulation of the Bible can injure the Establishment, seems to me an unwarranted scandal upon it ”

“ There, is to be seen, pouring through this sacred channel, the homage of an admiring and grateful world, to the zeal, the piety, and the liberality of Britain! and there, may be seen, how many prayers are continually rising up in her behalf,—those prayers, which have success in heaven,—those prayers, which will I trust, bring upon our country the choicest blessings, and upon this society, which has caused these petitions, a growth which shall continually extend till all the kingdoms of the earth shall see the salvation of God. ”

“ As you value your own souls, look upon those who, not having the Bible, are living without comfort, and dying without the consolations of the gospel. Look upon them for they call upon you for help; neglect them not, for to have refused a cup of cold water, will not at the day of judgment be unaccounted for: grant them your support and your blessings, so shall you meet them with joy, when you with them, are called to receive your last eternal sentence. ”

“ It has been said, that the Bible Society is an instrument of dissenters to overturn the church. But if so, it is a work in which the greatest, the most wise and attached friends of the Establishment have joined; it has been supported by bishops, and ministers, and princes: men of all parties, and of no precisely similar views, or interests, or feelings. It is urged, that remote evils may arise, that the present principle of the Bible Society may be departed from; that dissenters may in time preponderate, and direct this instrument against ourselves. ”

“ So let us now reason when we have the Bible, and a disposition has sprung up in this country to give it to all the world; so let us reason about our own hindrances in co-operating in this work, and the urgent calls of the world upon us, for the dissemination of the Scriptures. We do not however give up our establishment, by distributing the word of p. 15God, we hope to strengthen and support it; we hold out the best test by which any church can be tried, and we shew our confidence that it is built upon a right foundation, and that therefore no enemy shall prevail against it. ”

“ Whatever country has been searched into, whether catholic countries, where the Bible has never been fully circulated; or protestant countries, where once the fire of religion blazed with a pure flame, and spread a warmth around, which even reached, and animated our own shores, the Bible is now scarcely known, p. 13or known only as a monument of departed piety, as a relic treasured up, of other, and of better times. Europe has not suffered more political, than it has religious convulsions. Whatever may have been the effect of the one, all the changes of religion seem to have been for the worse. ”

“ None of those secret dark designs, none of those plots and conspiracies to subvert the establishment, and devour both the shepherds and their flocks, which were so confidently predicted by a certain set of men as the inevitable effect of this society, have yet been discovered in it. It is in fact much better employed. ”

“ This income has every year been increasing, but as the supplies are made, the wants of the world are more known; and the demand at this time, seems almost to be infinite. I will now lay before you, some of the cases in which the wants of the world have been remarkably shewn. In the province of Georgia, where a Christian church has existed about one thousand four hundred years, and where there are about half a million of inhabitants, there have not been found, in two thousand churches, two hundred copies of the Scriptures; i.e. not one Bible for ten churches. ”

“ In Europe forty different societies have been established: in Asia four: in Africa two: and in America upwards of eighty. Most of the capitals of Europe have a society formed in them; and these are again, as in England, subdivided. In the Netherlands, for example, there are thirty-two subordinate societies ”

“ It offers to sinners, to all who are weary and heavy laden, a free invitation to come, without any merit of their own, to receive the benefits of Jesus Christ’s death; it affords to those who are assured of their salvation, a measure by which they can determine whether their hope of salvation be reasonable, or whether it be founded upon their own delusions; it gives us a standard for every duty, an encouragement for every exertion, a wanting against every sin ”

“ Both amongst churchmen and dissenters, a considerable abatement of hostility has taken place. Whilst, on the one hand, churchmen have, in general, fulfilled more carefully the duties of their profession; I may say, that on the other, the spirit of dissenters has exceedingly changed. ”

“ At this period the principle of the co-operation of all parties, who took the Bible as the basis of their religion, began to be understood, and the Bible Society was formed, which admitted all subscribers of whatever denomination into its ranks ”

“ Would he not account the union, even the partial and temporary union of all parties, to be in itself a great benefit? Would he not be glad, if by any influence, and especially by a good influence, he could lay to rest the evil spirit of bigotry or malevolence? He would surely say, My plan has in it two great benefits: in the first place, by bringing all persons together, I shall be enabled to effect my p. ”