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Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

14 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

rmmmp—^««— rirew^'»> 1 ~ NO'NT'KSQ'O…

.,GLAMORGANSHIRE.

MONMOUTHSHIRE.

BRECONSHIRE.

[No title]

A-\Mi'ERSARY MEETING of the…

[No title]

CXIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE. .

TO Tif I' EDITOR OF THE GAZETTE…

,THE BIBLE.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

THE BIBLE. TO THE EDITOR OF THE GAZETTE AND GUARDIAN. SIR,—I am aware that the columns of a newspaper are n°t the fittest place for polemical discussion or religi°us criticism, and I am unwilling to make an approach even to convert your's into an arena for either. But we live in a Christian country, and, heaven be praised the great mass of our population profess, and I trust and believe, practice, Christian principles; and, therefore, viewing yon as a guardian of public morals, and of civil and religious liberty, whenever eit-her are assailed within the sphere ot m.V knowledge and your usefulness, I shall not hesitate to lift my warning voice through the medium of your high- principled journal. I am induced to do so now in consequence of an anony- mous pamphlet recently published at Cardiff, the authorship of which public rumour variously ascribes to various individuals, all of the highest respectability, but whose politics are identified with those of the party now holding ascendancy in the State, and whose professed religion is of that, sect which denies the Divinity of our blessed Saviour. Of its origin from some such source the pamphlet itself bears ample internal evidence and with some it may not be matter of much surprise that a stream issuing from such a fountain should be of a foaming, noisy, and turbid cha- racter—struggling in its floundering current to tear up by the roots those venerable institutions in Church and State which, planted by the fostering care of our forefathers, have" grown with the growth, and strengthened with the strength," of the country, and under whose benign shade and influence, those who have gone down the stream of time before us, and whose memories have our kindest filial remembrance, lived in happiness, and died in peace. It is not, however, the attack, unmeasured though it be, which this pamphlet containl upon our venerable Church Establishment, that I purpose here to combat forturiitely the attack itself is of far too laboured, ponderous, and unwieldy a nature,-the arguments (if arguments they can to, be called, which are so loosely strung together) are of too unconnected a kind; and although Truth -1., it be truth —" is Truth by wHomsoever it be spoken, yet, in the present instance, there is so much of error, so much per- version, so many false deductions from arbitrary assumed premises, that the pamphlet in question is little likely to acquire much general reading or celebrity- I shall, there- fore, at present at least, not even open its pages, but confine myself solely to its title-page, at which I feel no alarm for the public odium which it points at our Established Church but I do feel the most unaffected horror at an epithet applied, not to our Establishment and her Hierarchy, but to that imperishable rock, on which not she alone, but every other denomination of Christian worshippers ground their faith, and build their hope,—and which is here rashly, ignorantly, or I will charitably hope, st,^ma- tised as our present DISHON-EST versionoj the new 1 esta- Yes: such on the very title-page of this palpably Uni- tarian production, as on the very threshold of < ocimanism, is the unhallowed attempt made to knock t »e very "crutch from under the arm of impotency and age, and to vilify as spurious, aye, even as dishonest," that authorised and received version of the Holy Scriptures, wnic i has stood the ground and pillar, not of our faith aJone> hut of that of the thousands of our non conforming and dissenting fellow-christians, who, however they may stray from the discipline of the Church of England, are umted with her in the faith and hope derived from the New 1 estwnent. What must these, in common with ourselves of the national Church, teel at such an epithet applied to such a Book! Let us not, however, he led away by our feelings, but rather, under this wanton attack upon our Bibles, to strengthen and confirm our faith," let us contemplate the following authorities in its favour !—authorities, opposed to which what can Infidelity or Unitarianism adduce that is. comparable ? There never was found," said the great Lord Chan- cellor BACON, in any age of the world, either philoso- pher, or sect, or law, or discipline, which did so highly exalt the public good as the Christian Faith." There is no Book," said Lord Chief Justice HALE to his children," like the Bible, for excellent learning, wis- dom, and use. It is want of understanding in them wllO think and speak otherwise. By frequent reading it with due observation, it will make you wise for this world, and for that which is to come." Let us exhort you," said Sir JOHN FARDLI-'Y Wlt-NIOT to his son', to read with the greatest attention 'both the Old and New Testaments. You will find your mind ex- tremely becalmed by so doing, and every tumultuous passion bridled by that firm belief in a resurrection, which is So evidently impressed upon mankind by Christianity." "There are no songs" said MILTON, "comparable to the songs of Zion; no orations equal to those of the Prophets and no politics like those 'which the Scriptures teach." Had Cicero lived, said AQDISON, to see all that the Gospel has brought to light, how would lie, who so fondly hoped for immortality, have lavished out all the force of eloquence in those noblest of contemplations, the Resur rection, and the Judgment that will follow it How had his breast glowed with pleasure, wheh the whole compass of futurity, revealed in the Scriptures, lay open to his view How would he have entered, with the force of lightning, into the affections of his hearers, upon the glorious themes which are contained in those piges." In his own Bible thus wrote the learned Sir WILLIAM JONES I have regularly and attentively perused these Holy Scriptures; and am of opinion that this Volume (independently of its divine origin) contains more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, more pure morality, more important history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than can be collected from all other books, in •whatever age or language they may have l;.een.wdtten." In his last moments, when his penitence was as great,(1S had previously been hisv infidelity and his vices, Lord ROCHESTER, laying his hand on his Bible, exclaimed, A h here is true philosophy* Here is wisdom that speaks to the heart. A bad life is the only graadobjectioa to this I nook." There is no s-,iiti the learned SEt DEN." upon which we can rest in a dying moment but the Bible." The Bible is a matchless Vollitne," sai,l the-learned BOYLE «« it is impossible we can study it too much, or esteem it too highly." rt is," said the profound LOCKE," all pure, all sincere, nothing too much, nothing wanting. Therein are contained the words of Eternal Life. It has God for its author, Salvation for its end, and Truth, without any Error, for its iiatlet- Young man," said the learned Dr. JOHNSON, in his last illness, to a gentleman who set by his bedside," attend to the advice of one who has possessed some degree of fame in the world, and who will shortly appear before his Makei1: —Read the 13iblc every day of your life. These are the deliberate and disinterested opinions of eminently great and celebrated men,—of men whose pro found learning enabled them to read their Bibles and Testaments in the languages in which they were first written, and to compare our translations with their divine originals:—their opinions were given upon the fullest consideration some of them on the bed of death, when disguise is least likely to take place and be it observed, these are all the opinions of LAYMEN, whose honourable host might easily he enlarged by such distinguished cha- racters as Grotius, West, Lyttelton, Bryant, Beattic, Cum- berland—Laymen also: and from that profession, whose provinco it is to act as conservators of Divine Truth, the sacred witnesses in behalf of the Bible might be multiplied a hundred fold. To the flippant sarcasms of unbelievers it needs only to oppose, with dispassionate minds, the authorities here produced, and concerning the result I have little apprehension. Here, Sir, for the present at least, I will close my observations, conceiving that a work, bearing such a title- page, merits no further notice and, that this defensive advocacy may not be imputed to the interested zeal of a Parson," I beg to add that I also am May 5, 1833. 0 A LAYMAN.

FOR THE MERTHYR GUARDIAN.

ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG LADY…

Family Notices

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