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IMPORTANCE OF INCREASED EFFORTS FOR EDUCATING THE POOR OF IRELAND.

SIR,-I take the liberty of intruding upon your valuable time, for the purpose of suggesting the propriety of a joint and vigorous effort, on the part of the English Clergy, to emancipate our fellow-subjects in Ireland from a mental bondage the most degrading that can be well imagined. You will at once conjecture I allude to Popery. Our brethren in the sister country are fighting nobly the battles of the Lord: they have already endured some persecution in this best of causes; and, if I mistake not, they will be called on to endure yet more. Satan will not give up his dominion without a struggle: "the strong man armed keepeth possession;" and though the issue of the conflict is by no means doubtful, yet the victory assuredly will be most obstinately disputed. The question is, Shall we in England look on with apathy during such a struggle? Shall we even forbear to make the utmost exertions in

of en

our power? Shall the cry treaty, "Come over and help us," be disregarded?

I am far from insinuating that the religious community in this country have done nothing. On the contrary, I am persuaded they have done much. All I desire to impress upon their consideration is, that much, very much, remains yet to be performed; and that supineness in such a cause is, to use the mildest language, extremely impolitic. Ireland is at this moment a mill-stone round the neck of England; and whatever may be said of the influence of Absentees in causing the wretchedness of the country, I have no doubt the source of every evil under which she groans may be traced to the prevalence of that religion, if such it may be called, which is equally hostile to the interests of man in this world and that which is to come. In

spite then, of the clamours of the priests, and the efforts of their advocates in Parliament, I trust the attempts to enlighten the Irish population will be steady and persevering; that the Scriptures will be circulated, both in English and Irish; and that no opportunity of public discussion will be omitted.

I could, indeed, almost wish to see every other scheme of benevolence or utility sacrificed to this. What are our Missions, what are our Foreign Bible Societies, what our schemes for evangelizing the Continent, or emancipating the West Indies, compared with this? Far am I from entertaining hostility to such excellent designs: I warmly approve of them: what I mean to assert is, that the danger nearer home is more immediate, the call more urgent; that, if any scheme of benevolence is to be interrupted or suspended, it ought to be one of the above, in order that we may bestow our undivided energies upon unhappy Ireland, and bestow upon her emancipation, in the best sense of the appellation. With this conviction on my mind, I could wish to see large contributions pouring in to those excellent societies, the Hibernian and the Irish. I could wish, that, instead of being distinct institutions, they might, if possible, become two arms or branches of one society, the distinct object of which should be to diffuse Scriptural information throughout the sister country. The whole strength of the Romish hierarchy is arrayed against us. Oh, let us not be slow to combat, with "the whole armour of God," in this greatest of conflicts. If I might presume to throw out a hint, it should be, that a page or two of your excellent miscellany should be devoted to this subject; that your readers might be informed from time to time what the two societies

are doing, the state of their funds, the opposition they are encountering, and the prospects of usefulness that are opening before them. This might awaken the attention of many who are at present very ignorant on the subject; and, by increasing exertion, and, above all, quickening supplication at the Throne of Grace, without which all exertion is unavailing, might afford no unreasonable hope of triumph. Yours, &c.

MINIMUS.

We are not aware of any one object which the Irish Society attempts, which had not been undertaken long before by the London Hibernian Society, with the exception of distributing the Liturgy. At the same time, the Irish Society has many supporters, who, from various causes, might not be disposed to transfer their aid to the Hibernian Society, or assent to that union which is here suggested. If MINIMUS will look over our late numbers, he will discover that Ireland occupies there a very prominent place; and we cannot but express our most

earnest wish that other religious and literary publications would join their efforts with ours, in endeavouring to excite the public attention to that most important country. Ireland, enlightened and tranquillized, will be the decus et tutamen, the brightest jewel and the strongest support, of the British empire; but Ireland, under the guidance of crafty politicians, and brutalized by Papal ignorance, superstition, and tyranny, must eventually endanger, if not overthrow, the prosperity of this country. The subject demands the most serious attention of the Patriot and the Christian. It is, however, to the Scriptural Education of Ireland we look for the lasting improvement of that country; and in this point of view the London Hibernian Society is, to the British Christian, the most important society in existence. Ireland, properly christianized, will furnish us with numerous and admirable missionaries for many situations; and her renovation is therefore intimately connected with the conversion of the world.

THE BIBLE SOCIETY.

FROM JOWETT'S CHRISTIAN RESEARCHES IN SYRIA.

SIR, I beg leave to forward for insertion the following extract from Mr. Jowett's recent volume, entitled "Christian Researches in Syria and the Holy Land, in 1823 and 1824,"-a work which I have read with interest, and yet with a painful feeling of disappointment, at seeing how little he has been able to effect. I could wish, indeed, that you would insert the whole of Mr. Jowett's "Notices, Remarks, and Suggestions," which deserve more extensive circulation than the volume itself will probably obtain; but the present extract has so important a bearing on the Apocryphal discussion, that

I hope you will allow it a place in your next number. The arguments for the dispersion of the Apocrypha appear to me to be founded on mistaken ideas as to what the Holy Scriptures are; on low and imperfect views of their sufficiency and Divine inspiration; and on an undue deference to the decisions of certain councils, synods, churches, &c. I had therefore great pleasure in observing the view which Mr. Jowett takes on all these points; especially when I recollect that he is on the very spot which would have led him to advocate the dispersion of the Apocrypha, if, as some pretend, such dispersion was

indispensably necessary to the circulation of the the Holy Scriptures.

COLLECTOR.

"The Bible Society being a kind of central standard, by which the opinions and measures of many Societies and individuals are, and long will continue to be, influenced, it may be useful to delineate somewhat in detail the several principles on which the Bible Society is established. In proportion as each is developed and distinctly marked, different persons will, according to the gifts bestowed upon them, take up that department which he can best cultivate. That noble institution, worthy of all praise and of all aid, will, when its various component parts shall each of them be efficiently supported, stretch forth its munificent hands, scattering over the face of the habitable globe a larger measure of blessings than has ever yet been known by mankind.

"Not with any desire to excite needless offence, but from the necessity which exists for correcting or repelling such offences, we purpose, at each succeeding step of the following argument, to state those principles, which operate to counteract or to retard the work of the Bible Society.

"1. The first and most essential principle is, THE DIVINE INSPIRA

TION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

"If it were not the fact that the Bible was written by men moved by the Holy Ghost, we should have no ground on which to stand, better than mere human opinion. But when our faith in the being and attributes of God is accompanied with the conviction that this holy volume is His own revelation of His will, so far as He intended us to know that will here on earth, our reverence for this book must exceed our reverence for any thing else existing in the world.

How deeply, then, are they to be pitied, who, under the darkness of Paganism, or the blindness of Ju

daism, or the illusions of Mohamedanism, or the madness of Infidelity, reject or resist this volume of truth! How high is the obligation, which rests on all true Christians, to establish the evidences of the Divine inspiration of the Scriptures; accompanying all their proofs with the persuasive example of personal piety!

2. The Bible Society implies, further, the principle of THE SUFFI

CIENCY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE FOR

SALVATION: for, if any thing were admitted to be deficient, it ought to be supplied;

and thus note and comment would be introduced, contrary to the fundamental rule of the Society. No censure is passed on notes, as being useless: but they are omitted, as being not essential; the Scriptures containing in themselves all things necessary to salvation.

"It is on this fundamental principle, that a large body of professing Christians are at variance with the Bible Society. The doctrine of oral traditions, handed down continually in the church, and equal in value with the Scripture; the lex non scripta, as well as lex scripta-and the doctrine of the perpetual inspiration of the Holy Ghost, conveyed to a certain body of men, congregated after a particular manner, under a certain visible head (although it is much controverted among themselves, whether that individual at the head does of himself speak inspired things, or whether the head and the whole body together be the organ of inspiration)-these two dogmas, namely, the necessity of oral traditions, and the Divine inspiration and unerring authority either of the Bishop of Rome or of a Council assembled under his directions, are wholly neglected and passed over by the Bible Society. But these are dogmas which Rome feels to be essential to the maintenance of her high pretensions in the world: she has, consequently, not been backward to display her resent

ment at the operations of so great, so nobly patronized, and so efficient an institution.

"Let Rome, however, be judged of by mankind, according to her own strict principle. Agreeably to this, the lex scripta is, in truth, not what we term the Holy Scriptures merely; but, together with them, the Acts at least of the first seven General Councils, and of the Council of Trent: not less than this total amount is their BIBLE. In addition to this, it is impossible for any man to divine what may, at a future period, be declared binding by a council similar to that assembled at Trent. The opening clause of the 28th verse of Acts xv. is the principle which was arrogated by that council; and the construction put on that expression by every genuine Romanist secures a privilege, at which the world might tremble-the privilege of legislating as Gods.

"3. The Bible Society virtually implies, and really acts upon, the principle of THE RIGHT OF All

MEN TO READ THE SCRIPTURES.

For, since all ought to have a knowlege of the will of God, and the Bible contains an all-sufficient revelation of His will, and reading is ⚫ one of the methods of knowing these contents of the Scripture, it follows, that, for the promotion of the universal knowledge of God's will, one of the most efficient methods is the universal reading of the Bible.

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Although, in contravention of this principle, there be no where laid down by any church the broad declaration, that the people are not allowed to read the Scriptures; and although the utmost that is censured by the Council of Trent be, the 'indiscriminate reading' of the Bible: yet, in practice, it is well known,

ост. 1825.

that, in various Papal countries, there exists a feeling diametrically hostile to the free circulation of the Scriptures. The principle avowed is, the exclusive right of the priesthood to INTERPRET Scripture. But what should hinder the priest, when he has expounded a chapter of the Bible, from putting that chapter, printed, into the hands of his hearers; so that they may, by perusing it at home, refresh their memories? And, in like manner, what should hinder him, while expounding the whole Bible, from putting into their hands a printed Bible, in order that their attention to the text and their hearing of the interpretation may go hand in hand? A priesthood, acting according to the Bible, would certainly desire this; and from no priesthood, thinking or acting otherwise, would it be expedient for the Bible Society to take counsel.

"4. A further principle implied in the very term Holy Scriptures,' is, that they are THOSE BOOKS WHICH, ON GOOD EVIDENCE, ARE PROVED TO HAVE BEEN OF DIVINE

INSPIRATION.

"The usual term by which this has been expressed, is, the CANONICAL books of the Old and New Testament. The books commonly called Apocryphal have no good evidence, either external or internal, to demonstrate them to have been divinely inspired; while there is much of both kinds of evidence on the contrary side.

"5. Another principle for which the Bible Society is responsible, is the MAINTENANCE, AS NEARLY AS POSSIBLE, OF A PURE AND ORI

GINAL TEXT. The effort to give the word of God to all mankind brings this subject forward as one of great importance."

3 D

ON THE ECLECTIC REVIEWER'S "REMARKS" RESPECTING THE APOCRYPHAL CONTROVERSY.

SIR,-Although, up to the present moment, I am unconnected with the Christian Guardian, either as a reader or as a correspondent, I request admission in your pages for a few observations on a most extraordinary and dangerous production, which has only just come to my notice. I allude to a pamphlet, "reprinted from the Eclectic Review" of the apocryphal controversy. In the second edition of my "Statement," I declared that I was disinclined to renew a painful discussion of which I am weary; but I know not how to retire from this controversy in peace, until I have endeavoured to warn the religious public of the dangerous tendency of such a pernicious article as that which I have just mentioned. Personally, I have every reason to rest satisfied with the handsome terms in which my pamphlet has been alluded to; but a few smooth (and doubtless sincere) expressions, complimentary to myself, cannot deter me from avowing my reprobation of some of the positions of this production. I must premise however, that I have neither the time nor the disposition to do more than touch upon the principal points which have been suggested to my mind on the perusal of this paper; which I understand is circulated with great industry throughout the country.

I. The most serious subject to which I have to call the attention of your readers, is, the indecorous

ATTACK ON THE CANON OF HOLY

SCRIPTURE, and the attempt to undermine the integrity of the sacred volume, which this pamphlet so plainly exhibits.

The unhappy discussions which have taken place on this subject, had in some measure prepared us to expect, that doubts would be east upon the inspiration and au

thority of the holy book of God. A serious consideration of this fearful evil, forms one of the points of my "Statement" (pp. 46, 47); and I warned my readers, that the arguments used by our opponents would "instil the suspicion, that the alleged inspiration of the books acknowledged by Protestant churches, is, after all, a matter of mere opinion or of considerable uncertainty." The writer in question has come forth as the avowed advocate of this pernicious doctrine; and though the position which he has advanced is sometimes brought forward in the way of insinuation, sometimes of assertion,-yet it is easy to see that, whether the indicative or the conditional mood be used, it is the object of the writer to cast a shade of doubt over the inspiration of some books included even in the Protestant's Bible.

The question of the canon, it is asserted, "comes within the range of human opinion." of human opinion." It is "not clear" whether the whole of the books called "Hagiographa, though of undoubted genuineness as historical documents, can be considered as indited by the Holy Ghost." "Many pious persons have doubted" whether "Esther," or "Solomon's Song," are inspired; and "might plead for a canon, more literally conformable to our Lord's three-fold classification of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms." "In their view, the books of Chronicles and 1 Maccabees would rank in the same class.” "It is lawful to concur in the circulation of a canon of Scripture which we believe not to be genuine, seeing there is a difference of opinion in the Christian church." "There is no inspired catalogue of the canonical books. canon, may possibly include books not inspired." (pp. 5, 12, 15.)— More might be quoted to the same

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