A VINDICATION

OF THE

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY,

IN A

LETTER TO THE REV. DR. WORDSWORTH.

My dear Friend,

THOUGH the mode of address which I adopted in my former Letter to you, on the subject of the Bible Society, appeared to some persons* rather inconsistent with that freedom of discussion which I thought it right to maintain, yet, in resuming the question, I cannot prevail upon myself to adopt another. My intention, however, is on no account, by any semblance of misplaced courtesy, to sacrifice the great cause which I have come forward to vindicate. Our arguments are to be estimated simply by their value. I shall therefore deliver my sentiments without reserve, and with the full liberty which is allowed to literary combatants. Only let the question be decided by its merits, and I fear nothing for the result.

I shall not, I hope, be thought to disparage the * See Antijacobin Review,

B

merits of your Letter, lately addressed to Lord Teignmouth, if I state my conviction, that the impression which it is calculated to make upon ordinary readers arises chiefly from its length. Let an assertion, however vague in itself, and however unsupported by proof, be urged with confidence, and frequently repeated, and it is generally found to produce an effect.

You have justly observed, that the subject of discussion between us is far too important to be “bandied about merely for purposes of controversy It is in truth a question of deep interest and serious consideration. If the tendency of those measures which are adopted by the Bible Society, correspond with your statement, then are the members of it indeed incurring a most awful responsibility. But if my notion of the subject be correct; if they are promoting the knowledge and practice of Christianity; if they are conferring benefits upon man and exalting the glory of the Most High; then let me venture to warn you in turn, and to advise that take heed and consider "lest happily you be you found even to fight against God." My appeal is to Scripture, and reason, and fact: by them I am content that this institution be tried; and, as they shall determine, let it stand or fall,

In one respect, our discussion is somewhat peculiar. The readers of your pamphlet, entitled "Reasons for declining to become a Subscriber to the British and Foreign Bible Society," naturally expected to find your chief reasons, at least, distinct

* Dr. Wordsworth, p. 13.

ly stated in that publication. It appears now that this expectation was founded in error. You were writing in haste-"a clergyman writing to clergymen*"-and therefore, it seems, you wrapt yourself up in hints and allusions, which, whatever impression they might make upon the ignorant and uninitiated, would to your brethren in the church be clear; as the alchemists of old addressed each other in a language understood only by themselves †. Little could Lord Teignmouth or myself imagine, that your hints were the reasons; and what you pleasantly called reasons, were merely hints. We therefore took the arguments as we found them, and dealt with them as we thought they deserved. The Antijacobin Reviewers, though they admit that I attempted to reply to the reasons which I found in your pamphlet, are very angry that I did not answer the reasons which I could not find. I am not much versed in the secrets of clerical masonry; and Lord Teignmouth seems to have suspected as little as I did, a war of ambuscades.

It now turns out, that the part of the discussion which you then made incomparably the most prominent, is of very subordinate consequence in your estimation: the ground, therefore, is to be changed, and the obscure hints must be fully developed.

The manifesto is at length published, and I trust that the whole of the charge is before us. I confess, however, that I have at times a little misgiving, lest there should, after all, be lurking, in some secret corner of your second performance-perhaps in the

* Dr. Wordsworth, p. 12.

1

+ See Dr. Wordsworth, pp. 7, 79, 83, &c.

recess of a note, or within the folds of a parenthesisa little germ, which is hereafter to be unfolded into the principal argument; and which is then to be brought forward as a proof of my want of discernment, and of my utter unfitness to take any share in the controversy.

Nothing is more important to controversialists, than that they should agree in their leading facts. I am sorry to be under the necessity of stating, that in two very material points your intelligence has been extremely defective, and that your narrative is on this account very incorrect: I allude to the origin of the Bible Society, and to the history of their Welsh edition of the Scriptures. The assertions which you have made upon these subjects appear to be so important, and can be so easily separated from the arguments founded on them, that I think it highly expedient to discuss them at large in this place. I will therefore lay the history before the public, and the world shall judge.

For the purpose of giving correctness and authenticity to my statement, I considered it my duty to apply to those gentlemen who were immediately connected with the history and institution of the Bible Society. In pursuance of this plan, I addressed the following letter to the Rev. John Owen, Secretary to the Society.

My dear Sir,

Hertford, Aug. 29, 1810.

"Dr. Wordsworth, in his Letter to Lord Teignmouth, having made several observations about an edition of Welsh Bibles, published by the British and Foreign Bible Society, I beg to request of the Com

mittee, through you, a transcript of such minutes of their proceedings as may bear upon this subject. "I am, my dear Sir,

"I laid your letter before the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, at their meeting of yesterday; and am instructed by them to acquaint you, that you are at liberty to inspect the Society's Minutes and Correspondence books, and to have such extracts made therefrom by the Assistant Secretary as you may consider necessary to the purposes of your present investigation.

"I am, my dear Sir,

"Yours very faithfully,

"The Rev. W. Dealtry," &c.

"JOHN OWEN, Sec."

I have availed myself of the privilege which the Committee did me the honour to grant; and you will readily admit that I could not have recourse to better authority.

The want of Bibles in Wales had been long felt and deeply lamented: several years ago it attracted the attention of some gentlemen in England. The records of the Society in Bartlett's Buildings will prove, that, during the years 1792 and 1793, repeated applications were made for a supply of Bibles: but they were made in vain.

At length, in 1799, an edition of 10,000 copies was issued by that Society. How much this edition