"You think I rave-you think I am mad, when I declare to you that it may not be surprising to see one of the members of this detestable association at the head of every murderous party which is sent out, and each of the poor degraded instruments of slaughter recommended by him to keep a BIBLE in his possession! And when the work of destruction has been eminently successful, to see these teachers in prayers to the Deity, and in discourses from the very book we are distributing among them, feed the passions of of the multitude, and transfuse all their prejudices, all their religious and devotional feelings, into the principles and spirit of WAR!! "Gentlemen, you burn-the subject is too much for you -let me relieve it by a more pleasing consideration.-The imposing magnitude, the vastness of the operations, of the British and Foreign Bible Society, have been ably delineated by one of your speakers; you purpose to send the Bible over the whole earth! From the British and Foreign Bible Society, as one Gentleman has eloquently observed, we discern the rays of truth diverging from a common centre in all directions and in all distances.'* SIR, I am in imagination present in India, when our Bible arrives-I behold the eagerness with which the native Indian receives our present-I observe his joy, his thankfulness, his overflowing feelings, when he finds that the God of the Christians is kind and good-that his throne is established in justice and mercy-that in his sight all the nations of the earth are equal, and all men his children-when he reads that the Master of the Christians taught men to love one another as brethren, and to shun pride, and ambition, and oppression when he finds there is no command to deprive him of his corn and his rice, to steep his harvests in blood, to tear him from his wife and his little ones, and to condemn him to slavery in a foreign land-Oh! ye generous Britons! how will he bless you! how will his streaming eyes turn towards England! how will his poor heart beat with gratitude, when he remembers all your former kindnesses towards him, and when he sees how consistent your actions have been with your religion!!! Very different from these will be his feelings, if the vile emissaries of that noxious institution which I have laid before you, are shipped off with our Bibles, and become the distributors of them, and this they will do if we are not aware of them-they will add religious phrenzy to the natural stupidity of the Indian, and extend their Report, page 22. spiritual oppression over those countries that have heretofore been accustomed to the mild sway of the East India Company. Gentlemen, if you intend any important good in distriting the Bible, these men must be stopped-their machinations must be brought to light-their power must be crushed. We must begin with our own nation-our ancestors hunted the wolves from this country- our legislature expelled the Jesuits from England-and can we be inactive when greater plagues infest us? But the evil must not be exterminated by violence-reason and argument alone can be employedMen of ability and influence must exert themselves in showing and in demonstrating the deleterious effects of this order of men-your society must distribute tracts and pamphlets among the people, calculated to unveil the deadly sys tem I have presented to their view! In such a work the TaJent, the Worth, the Intellect with which I am surrounded would be well employed-the resources of your Institution, the energies of your minds, must he brought to bear against this threatening enemy to our cause--this would be a glori ous task, and in the excution of it, my NOBLE FRIENDS, all that is wise and good in the world would go along with you your names would be enrolled in the imperishable scroll of Virtue-the monuments of your fame would be in the improving excellence of the species-Mothers would teach your goodness to their children, and babes would lisp your praises! Heaven would shower down its choisest blessings upon you, and man preserve your memories for ever!!! "I move then, your Royal Highness-that this meeting in furtherance of its grand object do agree to adopt, and to recommend to all the other branches of the Institution, such means as shall to them appear effectual in checking the influ ence of the enemies to the Bible, commonly known by the name of Priests, Divines, or Ministers of the Gospel.' EXTRACTS FROM A PORT-FOLIO. CEREMONIES. Plainness and simplicity are not more inseparable marks of truth, than they are of true religion, which wants neither paint nor pageantry to recommend itself to the hearts of men. It wins the affections, by the force of its persuasions; and the understanding, by the reasonableness of its precepts. It abhors violence, as opposite to its nature; and despises art and policy, as below its dignity. Human ornaments may hide and disfigure, but cannot preserve nor improve its intrinsic beauty and divine lustre: and pomp and grimace, as they are no wise akin to it, so neither are they the effects of it, nor bring any advantage to it. On the contrary, they tend to fill the mind with gross ideas, or sullen fear; and to create superstition instead of piety, and farce instead of worship. God himself has told us, that he will be worshipped in spirit and in truth: which shews, that love and sincerity constitute devotion, and that religion resides in the mind. It is justly esteemed the glory and felicity of the Christian religion, that by it we are released from that grievous yoke and bondage of ceremonies, which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. It is a religion of reason, void of all superfluities, and trifling impertinences. THE DEVIL KILLED.. A country parson once, in a merry mood, passing by a waggon which which was overturned, told the carter that he had killed the Devil; to which he replied, that he was glad of it with all his heart; because then, quoth Ralph, I have spoiled your trade. DIFFERENCE OF OPINION. Differences of opinion, when accompanied with mutual charity, which Christianity forbids them to violate, are for the most part innocent, and for some purposes useful. They promote enquiry, discussion, and knowledge. They help to keep up an attention to religious subjects, and a concern about them, which might be apt to die away in the calm and silence of universal agreement. I do not know that it is in any degree true, that the influence of religion is the greatest where there are the fewest differences.--Paley. REASON. Reason is the only guide given to men in a state of nature, to find out the will of God, and the means of self-preservation. The senses are its subordinate instruments and spies; they bring it intelligence; and it forms a judgment, and takes measures, according to the discoveries which they make. It compares things one with another, and chooses them, if they are good; or neglects them, if they are indifferent; or shuns them, if they are bad. It discovers a first cause, the maker, contriver, and preserver, of all things, and therefore it teaches submission to his will, admiration of his wisdom and power, and thankfulness for his goodness and mercy. It distinguishes subjects from slaves; and shews the loveliness of liberty, and the vileness of vassalage. It shews that as to political privileges, all men are born equal; and consequently that he who is no better than others, can have no right to command others, who are as good as himself, unless for the ends of their own interest and safety they confer that right upon him during their good pleasure, or his good behaviour. PEACE OF THE CHURCH. In Popish and Mahometan countries you see neither true religion nor the practice of it; and yet the peace of the church there is wonderfully well secured by great armies and heavy penalties. Fire and sword, halters and dungeons, are all employed to protect the peace of the church. And in every nation under the sun, where the church enjoys the most profound peace, the people enjoy the most profound misery, ignorance, and slavery. Civil and religious liberty are certain signs of each other, and live and die together; but, I believe I may lay it down for a maxim, that in any country where there is not a separatist from the church, there is not a freeman in the state. To which maxim I may venture to add another, namely, that, in the ecclesiastical style, the peace of the church is but another phrase for the power of the priests.--Gordon ORIGINAL POETRY. A MOONLIGHT INVOCATION. 1 SEEK a friend; speak, Cynthia, if you can, J. M. THE PLEASURES OF RETIREMENT. HOW sweet beside yon wand'ring rill, Appears the glorious orb of day. How sweet beneath the shade of trees. When summer suns are warm and high, To sit in contemplative ease, "And watch the wave that murmurs by." How sweet 'mid evening's cooling shade, To view the verdant plains below. Ye sons of fashion, vain and proud, Your joys can ever equal mine! E. B MAGAZINE. No. 32.] A AUGUST, 1813. "EGCE HOMO!"-BEHOLD THE MAN! [VOL. 3. To the Editor of the Freethinking Christians' Magazine. SIR, WORK has lately been ushered into the world under the above title, professing to be " a Critical Enquiry into the History of Jesus Christ, and a Rational Analysis of the Gospels." The writer, after having made some preliminary remarks, says, (page 7) "we proceed to examine without any prejudice the life of Jesus Christ. We shall deduce our facts from the gospels only, memorials reverenced and acknowledged by the doctors of the Christian religion. To illustrate these facts we shall employ the aid of criticism, we shall exhibit in the simplest manner the conduct, maxims, and policy, of an obscure legislator, who after his death, ac ́quired a celebrity to which there is no reason for presuming that he pretended while alive." Anticipating the objections that may be made to the freedom of his remarks by the priests, the author says (p. 17) to such men we would state that criticism gives a lustre to truth." In page 21, he lays it down as a maxim, that "injuries are not reasons;" and (page 18)" He ventures to flatter himself that such of his readers as peruse this enquiry with coolness, will acknowledge that it is very possible to doubt of the inspiration of the Gospels, and of the divine mission of Jesus, without ceasing notwithstanding that to be a rational and honest man." But (page 21) "the author does himself the justice to believe, that he has written enough to be allowed the privilege of expecting to be attacked by a cloud of writers, obliged by situation to repel his blows, and to defend right or wrong a cause wherein they are so much interested." Here, then, I have exhibited from the work itself the professed intention of the writer, and the principles he has proposed to himself as proper to regulate his conduct upon such an occasion; and if it shall appear that he conducts himself upon those principles, I shall consider him as an honourable and useful member of society, notwithstanding he may doubt the inspiration of the gospels, or the divine mission of Jesus. If he has criticised and analyzed the four gos. |