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LETTER XII.

THE BIBLE AND PRAYER BOOK.

MY DEAR

IN a former letter upon the proper employment of your time, I made a brief allusion to those useful institutions branching out of the parent society, the District Committees for promoting Christian Knowledge among the Poor; I should neglect an important duty did I not say a few words on the subject of other societies, the children of a different parent.

When I tell you that it is the object of these charitable institutions to circulate the Holy Scriptures among the poor at home, and to preach "Christ crucified

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among those who "sit in darkness" on other shores, you will naturally be surprised that two such venerable parents should not go hand in hand in promoting their benevolent and truly Christian designs. You will naturally say, surely, there cannot be a difference of opinion as to the propriety, as to the obligation, upon every disciple of the Church of Christ to disseminate among his fellow Christians and his fellow creatures those good books which will make them "wise to their own salvation!" That each society has this glorious end in view cannot be for a moment doubted. As a Christian and as a man, you will eagerly join with me in the ardent prayer that, under a powerful, though imperceptible, guidance, by mighty hand and a stretched-out arm," the cheering light of the Scriptures may continue to illumine the remotest and darkest corners of the earth. It cannot but be a grateful reflection to the disciples of Christi

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anity, that, as well from the extraordinary exertions of individuals as from the purity of the common cause, their labours of love are reaping an abundant harvest, not only at home, in the soil best calculated to repay their holy toils, but in hitherto barren and unprofitable deserts.

But it is not only as a Christian and as a man that you will regard these mighty sister Institutions, (for, so far as we have hitherto considered them, they may be truly said to be united in their objects,) but as a Christian clergyman also. And here you have to learn, that, whereas it is the object of both to spread the saving truths of the Bible over the face of the world, the one has an additional and most important object in her view, namely, to recommend the doctrines of a particular creed, the liturgy of a particular church, expressly and intentionally circulated with the Bible, that the world may

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see on what good basis her tenets are founded, on what good and unquestionable authority her peculiar opinions are formed.

Here, then, subsides that sisterly union which had thus far prevailed. Hence may you easily conclude that the one Society emanates more immediately from the Established Church,-the other, from those who are conscientiously opposed to the Establishment. But do not hastily infer that I therefore consider the support of each as incompatible with the fidelity of the Churchman. So long as the regulations of the Bible Society are complied with, and the Bible circulated without note or comment, I cannot conceive that the interests of the Church will be endangered, or the fidelity of her supporters compromised, by the assistance they may give to the rival Institution. But, be it repeated, it is to you, as the appointed servant of the Church of England, as the

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