I am able, however, by a convincing document, to shew what is the real estimate taken of the Bible Society by the Neological party in Germany. There is published at Darmstadt what is called the Church Newspaper, which is devoted to the consideration of subjects connected with religion. The editor of this paper, as you will judge by the following extract, is a Neologian, and let us hear the language in which he speaks of the Bible Societies.
Extract from the Church Newspaper of Germany, Kirchen Allgemeine Zeitung, published at Darmstadt, Sept. 28th 1826.
Heading of the Number.
“Verily were Christ now to appear again he would say, ‘Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites,’ for ye anxiously cling to the letter of the Scriptures, which ye misunderstand; and the spirit, of which ye cannot comprehend; ye insist on the doctrine of a dead faith, but neglect the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy; and ye appear outwardly pious whilst within ye are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Depart from me, he would exclaim, ye workers of iniquity, projectors of heresy, slanderers, and breakers of the peace, I never knew you.”
“ON BIBLE SOCIETIES.”
After stating some general advantages which might result from the distribution of the Scriptures amongst the Heathen, such as “calling into action the slumbering energies of man,” “ameliorating his nature,” and laying the “foundation of his moral improvement;” the editor goes on to mention the ordinary arguments which are made use of against Bible Institutions in Germany, and which arise chiefly from the part which foreigners have taken in their establishment.
He then states some particular reasons which should lead his readers more carefully to consider the mode of conducting Bible Societies, and to greater caution in lending them their support and patronage, particularly at the present period.
I now give the translation of an extract.
“In the first place we feel ourselves constrained to assert, that the dissemination of the Scriptures does not appear to us to be conducted in a proper spirit, and with proper views. If we investigate the character of many of those who distinguish themselves by more than ordinary activity in the cause, it cannot be denied that they very frequently seem to possess only a narrow view of theology, and exceeding littleness of mind. That laudable veneration, which they feel for the word of God, easily acts in them, in the absence of more solid theological attainments, as a check to the liberty of thought and judgment, to which Christianity leads; they confound an ecclesiastical system of doctrine with the Gospel, they adhere with enthusiastic devotedness to exterior forms, and sacrifice to these the heavenly spirit of Christianity; they seek the essentials of our religion in the blood and wound theology [15] (blut und wunden theologie) of former centuries, and it is sufficiently clear that, by the exertions of such men, a blind adherence to the mere letter of the word of God is again sought to be brought into use, to the great injury of genuine Christianity and moral improvement. The peculiar interest which Mystics and Pietists of the present day take in the advancement of Bible Societies, and the connection in which they frequently stand with those who create disorders, by dissent and separation from the church, is a sign of the times which ought not to be passed over unnoticed.”
The editor next objects to the resolution taken in England on the subject of the Apocrypha. This the editor thinks should be opposed, on the ground, amongst other reasons, that two thirds of the canonical books of the Old Testament might with far less injury be withheld than one single book of the Apocrypha, for instance, the book of Sirach, &c. &c.
I think from this extract it will be obvious, that the Bible Society abroad is regarded by the enemies of the truth as a great instrument for promoting evangelical religion; and, in spite of what has been said against its agents and its apocryphal books, I cannot but concur with the German editor, in his general argument. It is my deliberate conviction, that the Bible Society has been in Germany the instrument of the greatest good; and, if some of the heads of this institution have not profited by it as they ought, the poor at least, in many considerable districts, have been gainers to an extent of which those are little aware who have not carefully investigated the subject.
In another part of the continent, I certainly found some persons, professedly heterodox in their opinions, who were nevertheless, active friends of the Bible Society. In one case, I heard that the public meeting of a very large city; and in another, that the welfare of a society, in an immense Protestant district, depended upon the exertions of persons of the class above described. But could I fail, in such cases, to thank God, who had kindly placed the antidote so near to the bane, and had employed an enemy of the truth as the destroyer of his own principles?