Observations on an Anonymous Pamphlet, Which Has Been Distributed in Lowestoft, and Its Neighbourhood, Entitled Reasons Why a Churchman May with Great Justice Refuse to Subscribe to the British and Foreign Bible Society

by Francis Cunningham

Transcribed from the [1817] J. Keymer edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

OBSERVATIONS
ON AN
ANONYMOUS PAMPHLET,

WHICH
HAS BEEN DISTRIBUTED
IN
Lowestoft, and its Neighbourhood,
ENTITLED
REASONS
WHY
A CHURCHMAN MAY WITH GREAT JUSTICE REFUSE TO
SUBSCRIBE TO THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN
BIBLE SOCIETY.

BY
FRANCIS CUNNINGHAM, A.B
RECTOR OF PAKEFIELD;
And Secretary of the Lowestoft Branch Bible Society.

YARMOUTH:
Printed and Sold by J. Keymer, King-Street;

SOLD ALSO BY GOWING, LOWESTOFT; PARSONS, NORWICH;
HATCHARD, AND SEELEY, LONDON.

OBSERVATIONS
ON AN
ANONYMOUS PAMPHLET.

There are many circumstances which might have induced a friend of the Bible Society to refrain from noticing a work, under the circumstances of the present pamphlet. And, had it strictly adhered to its title, and simply stated the reasons why a churchman might properly refuse to subscribe to this institution, it would probably have remained unnoticed by me. It might, in that case, have been hoped, that statements which are unacknowledged would not have been believed, and the reasonings of the work might have been left, without much alarm, to do their worst. But, as it has been observed to me, that the very circumstance of putting even the most improbable statements in print, invests them with a species of authority; and as there are many persons still unacquainted with the nature and operations of the Bible Society, and who, therefore, may mistake the boldness of assertion in this little work for the confidence of truth, I have yielded to the advice of some of my friends, in attempting to reply to it. Before I proceed, however, to this reply, I will beg leave to make a single observation on the temper in which this attempt will, I trust, be made.

The author of this pamphlet has, in the first page of his work, reprobated the “arrogant and dogmatical style” of his opponents; and, in the conclusion of it, he has called their measures “wicked, cruel, and unchristian.” It is my hope, that I shall not fall into the same error. I desire “nothing to extenuate, nor set down aught in malice;” to state facts, not from the mere authority of the parties concerned in this controversy, but upon that of the most authentic documents; and, should I fail to convince my readers, it is my confident intention not at once to conclude their opinions “unchristian” and “cruel,” because they differ from my own; hard words, I may venture to say, ought not to be the weapons of our warfare, and I trust they never will be of mine. I desire to remember the declaration of our Lord, “they that take the sword, shall perish by the sword.”

I may be permitted also to add, that in entering upon the consideration of this question, I consider myself as approaching a subject of the highest importance. When I am canvassing the merits of an instrument for circulating the Word of God over every part of the world, I tremble lest the ark should suffer in my hands; and I desire to go out to the warfare, not so much with a “sword and a shield” of human fabrication, as, “in the name of the Lord,” for the circulation of whose Word I wish to contend.