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THE CLAIMS OF THE BIBLE.

AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE BIBLE SOCIETY.*

CHRISTIAN charity is, we trust, beginning to develope her genuine character throughout the Christian world. Christian people are beginning to feel and to acknowledge that the Saviour's valedictory command-"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," (Mark, xvi. 15)—is addressed to them-collectively and individually; and that a dreadful wo is denounced against those who slight or seek to evade it. It is impossible to retain the blessings of the gospel in any community, large or small, where no active and faithful efforts are made to impart the same blessings to others. The gospel cannot be monopolized or hid in a corner and those who hazard the profane and impotent attempt, are sure, in the end, to lose themselves what they so covetously withhold. The very spirit of the gospel impels its friends to communicate it to the ignorant and the needy, to the labouring and heavy laden, to the guilty and the perishing. They cannot do otherwise, without giving infallible evidence that they are but enemies in disguise. "Freely ye have

*Delivered at the Anniversary Meeting of the Davidson County Bible Society, October, 1830.

received, freely give," (Matt. x. 8,) is inscribed in golden capitals, upon every page of the Christian charter. To believe the gospel, and yet to be indifferent, or backward, or slothful in recommending it, and in furnishing it to the destitute, according to our ability, involves a palpable contradiction; and if any one lesson, more distinctly than another, can be learned from the history of the church and of mankind, it is this—namely, that those who neglect the duty of teaching and extending, as far as practicable, the true religion, do invariably incur the severest frowns of Heaven, and involve their posterity in the most awful calamities-including always either the utter forfeiture, or the most deplorable perversion, of the truth itself.

The command then has gone forth-"Preach the gospel to every creature." creature." This command is binding on all those who already enjoy the light and blessings of the gospel. It is their duty to send it where it is not. It is our duty to do this; and this is precisely the object of our present meeting. It is to contribute a reasonable portion of our superfluous or useless dollars to aid in circulating the Holy Scriptures among our ignorant, guilty, perishing fellow-men-not merely as a matter of grace and favour on our part-but as an imperative duty and a high privilege.

If the Bible be the word of God-if its pages speak truth-then there is an end of all cavilling, or doubt, or hesitation. The course of duty is obvious, plain, direct, straightforward-and cannot be mistaken.

But admitting the truth and inspiration of the Bible,

do you ask what special benefits it confers on the world -or why you should be urged to aid in sending it to the destitute?

I shall not attempt to point out all the benefits which the Bible has conferred upon our world, or which it is calculated to bestow. It would be impracticable to do this, within the limits of an ordinary address, even were I competent to the task. To candid well-informed men, who have carefully studied the history of mankind, nothing need be urged in the way of contrast between the general character and condition of Heathen and Christian nations. The distance of the one from the other, in a political, civil, religious and social point of view, is so immense, that no representation of ours could render it more obvious or more striking. It is as the cheering light of perpetual day opposed to the gloom and horror of endless night.

But all Christendom is not Christian. Only a small number of any Christian land live and act up to the standard of Bible principles: while the great mass of nominal Christians are still strangers to its purifying and transforming influence. We must therefore recur to the sacred volume itself, to ascertain the genuine nature and tendency of its doctrines and precepts: and how these ought to operate on the life and practice of The question is not, what men, calling themselves Christians and professing to believe the Bible, actually are; but what they ought to be, and would be, were they sincere in their professions. A Judas was found even in the original little band of our Lord's VOL. III.-31

men.

apparently devoted and disinterested disciples, when scarcely a motive for hypocrisy or treachery could have been imagined. That the fires of persecution were not sufficient, even in the apostolic age, to repress that spirit of worldly avarice and ambition which is so natural to mankind, the cases of Ananias and Sapphira, of Simon Magus and many others, will abundantly testify. How much more then may we expect hypocrites and knaves in the bosom of the Christian Church, when so many sinister ends may be compassed by the mere assumption of the Christian name? But does the Bible countenance hypocrisy or fraud or deception in any form? Does the Bible sanction false, empty, vain, selfish, ostentatious parade or profession of religion in any degree? If not, then the Bible is not chargeable with the errors or crimes or delusions of any of its pretended friends. Are Christians irascible, revengeful, implacable, illiberal, intolerant, avaricious, proud, vain-glorious, ambitious, envious, cruel, haughty, overbearing, unjust, sensual, luxurious? Does the Bible inculcate or permit, or in any wise excuse or justify anger, revenge, unkindness, intolerance, covetousness, pride, envy, ambition, cruelty, injustice, sensuality, or any unhallowed passion or practice?

But what does the Bible reveal and teach? It reveals the whole truth concerning the origin, character, condition and destiny of man; and the whole truth, so far as is adapted to mortal capacity, respecting the glorious perfections, laws and purposes of the one living and true God. It teaches man how to become holy and happyhow to escape deserved punishment-how to conquer sin

and death and hell-how to triumph over all the enemies of his peace-and how to enter the gates of the New Jerusalem with songs of victory upon his lips and the joys of salvation in his heart. All this the Bible has done, is doing, and will do, to the end of time. It is specially calculated-purposely designed-to make men. better, wiser and happier, than they could otherwise possibly become. Were it perfectly obeyed by all mankind, our world would be a universal Eden-a paradise of angels-and peace, purity and happiness would be the inheritance of every individual of our race.

If the Bible should have free course and be duly honoured, the great work of improvement and reformationthe plans and systems for ameliorating the moral, intellectual and physical condition of the people, about which statesmen and philanthropists are so much busied at the present day, would be speedily brought to a successful issue. We should hear no more of prisons, and jails, and penitentiaries, and houses of refuge and correction; or of any other clumsy contrivances for the punishment of crime or the suppression of vice. Nor should we hear of any visionary schemes for the reformation of hardened veteran offenders, which oppress an innocent community by their enormous expensiveness, without the slightest tendency to benefit the criminal,-for no unprincipled convict was ever yet reformed by any course of prison. discipline which has hitherto been devised; nor will such a result ever be witnessed while human nature remains unchanged. The Bible-the religion of the Bible-has, indeed, transformed a thief upon the cross,

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