USA > New York > New York City > Recollections of persons and events, chiefly in the city of New York; being selections from his journal > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17
"The impulse which that institution, ten thou- sand times more glorious than all the exploits of the sword, has given to the conscience of Europe, and to the slumbering hope of millions in the region and shadow of death, demonstrates to Chris- tians of every country what they cannot do by isolated zeal; and what they can do by co-operation.
"In the United States we want nothing but concert to perform achievements astonishing to our- selves, dismaying to the adversaries of truth and piety, and most encouraging to every evangelical effort, on the surface of the globe.
" No spectacle can be so illustrious in itself, so touching to man, or so grateful to God, as a nation pouring forth its devotion, its talent, and its treasures, for that kingdom of the Saviour which is righteousness and peace.
.
138
RECOLLECTIONS OF
.
" If there be a single measure which can over- rule objection, subdue opposition, and command exertion, this is the measure. That all our voices, all our affections, all our hands, should be joined in the grand design of promoting 'peace on earth and good-will toward man'-that they should resist the advance of misery-should carry the light of instruction into the dominions of ignorance; and the balm of joy to the soul of anguish ; and all this by diffusing the oracles of God-addresses to the understanding an argu- ment which cannot be encountered; and to the heart an appeal which its holiest emotions rise up to second.
" Under such impressions, and with such views, fathers, brethren, fellow-citizens, the American Bible Society has been formed. Local feelings, party prejudices, sectarian jealousies, are excluded by its very nature. Its members are leagued in that, and in that alone, which calls up every hal- lowed, and puts down every unhallowed principle -the dissemination of the Scriptures in the received versions where they exist, and in the most faithful where they may be required. In such a work, whatever is dignified, kind, venerable, true,
139
PERSONS AND EVENTS.
has ample scope; while sectarian littleness and rivalries can find no avenue of admission.
"The only question is, whether an object of such undisputed magnitude can be best attained by. a National Society, or by independent associations in friendly understanding and correspondence.
" Without entering into the details of this inquiry, we may be permitted to state, in a few words, our reasons of preference to a National Soci- ety supported by local Societies, and by individ- uals throughout our country.
" Concentrated action is powerful action. The same powers, when applied by a common direction, will produce results impossible to their divided and partial exercise. Unity of a great system, com- bines energy of effort with economy of means. Accumulated intelligence interests and animates the public mind, and the catholic efforts of a country, thus harmonized, give her a place in the moral convention of the world ; and enable her to act directly upon the universal plans of happiness which are now pervading the nations.
" It is true, that the prodigious territory of the United States -- the increase of their population, , which is gaining every day upon their moral culti-
140
RECOLLECTIONS OF
vation-and the dreadful consequences which will ensue from a people's outgrowing the knowledge of eternal life, and reverting to a species of heathen- ism, which shall have all the address and profligacy of civilized society, without any religious control, present a sphere of action, which may for a long time employ and engross the cares of this Society, and of all the local Bible Societies of the land.
"In the distinct anticipation of such an urgency, one of the main objects of the American Bible Society is, not merely to provide a sufficiency of well printed and accurate editions of the Scrip- tures; but also to furnish great districts of the American Continent with well executed stereotype plates, for their cheap and extensive diffusion throughout regions which are now scantily sup- plied, at a discouraging expense; and which, never- theless, open a wide and prepared field for the reception of revealed truth.
"Yet, let it not be supposed, that geographical or political limits are to be the limits of the Amer- ican Bible Society. That designation is meant to indicate, not the restriction of their labor, but the source of its emanation. They will embrace, with thankfulness and pleasure, every opportunity of
141
PERSONS AND EVENTS.
raying out, by means of the Bible, according to their ability, the light of life and immortality, to such parts of the world as are destitute of the blessing, and are within their reach. In this high vocation, their ambition is to be fellow-workers with them who are fellow-workers with God.
"PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES :
"Have you ever been invited to an enterprise of such grandeur and glory ? Do you not value the Holy Scriptures? Value them as containing your sweetest hope; your most thrilling joy? Can you submit to the thought that you should be torpid in your endeavors to disperse them, while the rest of Christendom is awake and alert ? Shall you hang back in heartless indifference, when Princes come down from their thrones, to bless the cottage of the poor with the gospel of peace; and Imperial Sov- ereigns are gathering their fairest honors from spreading abroad the oracles of the Lord your God? Is it possible that you should not see, in this state of human things, a mighty motion of Divine Providence ? The most Heavenly charity treads close upon the march of conflict and blood ! The world is at peace! Scarce has the soldier time
142
RECOLLECTIONS OF
to unbind his helmet, and to wipe away the sweat from his brow, ere the voice of mercy succeeds to the clarion of battle, and calls the nations from enmity to love! Crowned heads bow to the Head which is to wear " many crowns ;" and, for the first time since the promulgation of Christianity, appear to act in unison for the recognition of its gracious principles, as being fraught alike with happiness to man and honor to God.
" What has created so strange, so beneficent an alteration ? This is no doubt the doing of the Lord; it is marvellous in our eyes. But what instrument has he thought fit chiefly to use ? That which contributes, in all latitudes and climes, to make Christians feel their unity, to rebuke the spirit of strife, and to open upon them the day of brotherly concord-the Bible! the Bible! through Bible Societies !
" Come then, fellow-citizens, fellow-Christians, let us join in the sacred covenant. Let no heart be cold; no hand be idle; no purse reluctant ! Come, while room is left for us in the ranks whose toil is goodness, and whose recompense is victory. Come, cheerfully, eagerly, generally, Be it impressed on your souls, that a contribution, saved from even a
143
PERSONS AND EVENTS.
cheap indulgence, may send a Bible to a desolate family; may become a radiating point of 'grace and truth' to a neighborhood of error and vice; and that a number of such contributions, made at really no expense, may illumine a large tract of country, and successive generations of immortals, in that celestial knowledge, which shall secure their present and their future felicity.
" But whatever be the proportion between ex- · pectation and experience, this much is certain: We shall satisfy our conviction of duty-we shall have the praise of high endeavors for the highest ends- we shall minister to the blessedness of thousands and tens of thousands of whom we may never see the faces, nor hear the names. We shall set for- ward a system of happiness which will go on with accelerated motion and augmented vigor, after we shall have finished our career; and confer upon our children, and our children's children, the delight of seeing the wilderness turned into a fruitful field, by the blessing of God upon that seed which their fathers sowed and themselves watered. In fine, we shall do our part toward that expansion and inten- sity of light divine, which shall visit, in its pro- gress, the palaces of the great, and the hamlets of
144
RECOLLECTIONS OF
the small, until the whole 'earth be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea !'"
This powerful appeal met with a hearty response. Indeed, the more the measure was contemplated, the more heartily did Christians of all Protestant denominations unite in a movement which, while it has multiplied Bibles to an extent previously unknown, has also indirectly produced results of great importance to religion, though perhaps not distinctly contemplated when the Bible Society was first formed.
It was to circulate the Bible " without note or comment," thus giving scope and occasion for the pure, unmixed truth of the Bible to reveal its own intrinsic evidence as the "wisdom of God, and the power of God unto salvation." Valuable as Commentaries are, the Bible had been too much considered as of little value without them. We had all somewhat lost sight of the self- evidencing, and soul-converting power of the word of God simply as His word; and since the Christian Church has been engaged in spreading the Bible " without note or comment," I have seen abundant proof that Christians have acquired more
PERSONS AND EVENTS. 145
just and adequate views of the fulness and power which are the great distinctive marks of the Holy Scriptures.
As another happy result of the Bible move. ment, we may add, it has enabled "Christians of different denominations better to understand the common ground on which all can unite in the service of their common Lord. "One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one hope of our calling," how- ever prominently set forth as the true spirit of the apostolic Church, had been long greatly overlooked by Christians. They seemed rather to be governed by the spirit described by the apostle when, writing to the Corinthians, he says, "Every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation." The jealousy of sect and the spirit of sect had so overrun, divided, and entangled the Church of God, as to render her, in a measure, unconscious of what she might accomplish by uniting her energies in a common cause. She was too much like Samson, not only shorn of her strength, but bound with withs of her own creating, through the divisions that had afflicted her. The Bible Society, bringing together in one harmo-
10
146
RECOLLECTIONS OF
1
nious effort, for the spread of the Scriptures, all who hold to them as the supreme rule of faith and practice, not only gives us strength to do more for our object than would be accomplished by separate action, but also increases our zeal and happiness in the service, by bringing heart to heart in the great Christian Family, and helping us to realize " how good and how pleas- ant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." The coals of fire which have been kept apart, and lie smouldering under the ashes of their own creating, brighten and glow with increased heat when brought together.
But apart from these incidental benefits growing out of Bible Societies, is the multiplica- tion of Bibles which they have produced, both in Christian lands and throughout the world; and this indeed is to be viewed as their great and primary object. Previous to their formation, it has been reckoned that about four million copies of the Scriptures were in circulation. The num- ber is supposed now to have reached ninety million, and of this large number, about two- thirds are in the English language. At the same time the entire Scriptures, or parts of
--
147
PERSONS AND EVENTS.
them, have been translated into one hundred and seventy-four dialects and languages in which they had not previously appeared. All these Bibles indeed have not been issued from the presses of Bible Societies. Perhaps from one-third to one- half of them have been published on private account. But the demand for their increased issues from individual publishers has been pro- duced in a great degree by the newly awakened desire for the holy volume which Bible Societies have been the means of creating. Individuals would not have done so much had not the Societies done more.
I cannot reflect upon these movements for the circulation of the Holy Scriptures without noticing some things in connection with them which illustrate the wisdom and goodness of God in carrying out His purposes of mercy, and which serve to show that "this also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts," who is wonderful in counsel.
It is a memorable and gratifying fact, that the first entire volume ever printed with types was the Bible, as if at once to " denote the greatest honor that could be bestowed on the art of printing, and the infinitely highest pur-
148
RECOLLECTIONS OF
pose to which it was ever to be applied." The work was issued about the middle of the fifteenth century, when Guttenberg and Faust gave unend- ing celebrity to their own names, and also to Mentz, a town in Germany, by making it the place where was first seen what the press may be made to accomplish for the illumination of our race. But from that period onward,-to the time when a new zeal was felt among Christians for the spread of the Bible among all classes and all nations, the art of printing may be said to have been in its infancy. It was comparatively a slow and costly process.
But by recent great improvements, with the intro- duction of machinery, one man can do in twenty-four hours, work which would formerly have required ten or twelve men, and can do it in greater perfection as well as with more expedition. The price of a volume is thus greatly reduced, and the number of copies at the same time greatly multiplied. Now be it remembered, these unexampled improvements in the art of printing were introduced just after the Church of God began to pour forth her prayers, and put forth her strength for the spread of the Bible. The Most High thus promptly answered
149
PERSONS AND EVENTS.
her prayers and smiled upon her efforts by furnish- ing new and more efficient means for the accom- plishment of her object; nor is His hand the less visible because these improvements in the art of printing were effected, at least in part, by men who "meant not so, neither did their heart think so." When Solomon desired to build the temple, and the purpose called for a "worker in brass, Hiram of Tyre was filled with wisdom and understanding and cunning to work all work in brass; and he came to King Solomon and wrought all his work."
Another consideration: The majority of the multiplied translations of the Scriptures into foreign languages have been made by men to whom the English language was vernacular; and of course the versions coming from their hands would be more or less imbued with the spirit of our English Bibles. They no doubt had the Hebrew and Greek texts before them when they engaged in their work, as their highest authority. But they could not avoid carrying along with them, recollections and associations of the Bibles which they had read and reverenced as such from their earliest days. A native of France or of Germany would have felt the same influence from
6
1.
150
RECOLLECTIONS OF
his own vernacular. But among all translations of our Bible into languages modern or ancient, our English Bible is confessedly the best. This is 1 becoming, very generally, the conviction of the learned world. It was prepared with a care and labor that could hardly be exceeded. The ability and learning of the choice scholars and divines of their day were enlisted in the service. In all these respects it claims a pre-eminence which can be conceded to no other, however to be commended in various respects. Of course, men who had spoken the English language and read the English Bible from their childhood, other things being equal, are the men best qualified for the work of making new translations of the Holy Scriptures. If early associations in favor of any translations must be expected to influence their views, on every account let it be the best translation which the world had previously seen.
It should still farther be observed, that of all the nations of the earth, none are found so widely spread through various countries and climes, as the nations who claim the English as their native tongue. You may call them Anglo-Saxon, or Anglo-American, you find them everywhere, pur-
PERSONS AND EVENTS. 151
suing commerce, or art, or some object which has enlisted their enterprise and ambition. Especially in Pagan lands, you find more of them than of all other nations in Christendom combined. Their sway in India, and indeed in all Asia, and in every accessible part of Africa, stands, and is likely to stand, unrivalled ; and, thank God ! wherever these pioneers go, some of their countrymen are sure to follow, bringing with them the Word of Life for the healing of the nations which others may have first visited for purposes of worldly gain. They are there to translate the Bible, to circulate the Bible, so that every man of every nation should know and read the wonderful works of God in his own tongue wherein he was born; and the men chosen to do the work are the very men who, from the advantages furnished by their own language, are qualified to do it best.
This is a point which should be carefully weighed. It throws upon the Saxon race, heavy responsibilities respecting the future destinies of the world. As a fresh illustration of it, I subjoin the following extract from the Christian " Citizen," of 1861 :--
"Britain has frequently been denominated the
..
*
152
RECOLLECTIONS OF
mother of nations. Whatever may be her title to this appellation, nothing is more evident and true, than the fact, that her island has been the laboratory of a most remarkable race, in which nearly all the races that peopled Europe, from the Roman to the Norman conquest, were combined. All that is vigorous in the Celt, the Saxon, the Scandinavian, and the Norman, is absorbed into what we call the Anglo-Saxon race; and when the combination was completed on the Island of Great Britain, a new world was discovered, as if it were on purpose for the irresistible expansion of that mighty race. As an illustration of one of its physical qualities, it is estimated that its popula- tion doubles itself in thirty-five years, while that of Germany doubles itself in seventy-six ; of Holland, in one hundred; of Spain, in one hundred and six; of Italy, in one hundred and thirty-five; of France in one hundred and thirty-eight; of Portu- gal, in two hundred and thirty-eight; and that of Turkey, in five hundred and fifty-five years.
"When one or two vessels crossed the ocean, and planted here and there along the coast of North America a few germs of that race, its whole population in the Old World did not exceed six
153
PERSONS AND EVENTS.
millions. England, Wales, and Scotland, num- bered fewer inhabitants at that time, than New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio do now. Hardly two centuries and a half have elapsed since that epoch, and now there are at least twenty-five millions of that race in North America and its adjacent islands, or a number exceeding the whole population of Great Britain.
"In 1620, the Anglo-Saxon race numbered about six millions, and was confined to England, Wales, and Scotland, and the combination of which it is the result, was not then more than half perfected -- for neither Wales nor Scotland was more than half Saxonized at that time. Now it numbers sixty millions of human beings, planted upon all the islands and continents of the earth, and increasing everywhere by an intense ratio of progression. It is fast absorbing or displacing all the sluggish races of barbarous tribes of men that have occupied the continents of America, Africa, Asia, and the islands of the ocean. See it girdling them from year to year, with its vigorous planta- tions. If no great physical revolution supervene to check its propagation, it will number eight hundred millions of human beings in less than one
154
RECOLLECTIONS OF
hundred and fifty years from the present time; all speaking the same language, centred to the same literature and religion, and exhibiting all its inherent and inalienable characteristics.
" Thus the population of the earth is fast be- coming Anglo-Saxonized by blood. But the Eng- lish language is more self-expansive and -aggressive than the blood of that race. When a community begins to speak and read the English language, it is half Saxonized, even if not a drop of Anglo- Saxon blood runs in its veins. Ireland was never colonized from England, like North America or Australia ; but nearly the whole of its seven or eight millions already speak the English language, which is the preparatory state to being entirely absorbed into the Anglo-Saxon race, as one of its most vigorous and useful elements. Everywhere the English language is gaining upon the lan- guages of the earth, and preparing those who speak it for this absorption. The young genera- tion of the East Indies is learning it, and it is probable that within fifty years, twenty-five millions of human beings, of Asiatic race, will speak the language on that continent. So it is in the United States. About fifty thousand emi-
155
PERSONS AND EVENTS.
grants from Germany, and other countries of con- tinental Europe, are arriving in this country every year. Perhaps they cannot speak a word of English when they first land on our shores; but in the course of a few years they master the language to some extent. Their children sit upon the same benches in our common schools with those of our native Americans, and become, as they grow up and diffuse themselves among the rest of the population, completely Anglo-Saxonized.
" Thus the race, by its wonderful self-expansive power of language and blood, is fast occupying and subduing to its genius, all the continents and islands of the earth. The grandson of many a young man who reads these lines, will probably live to see the day when that race will number its eight hundred millions of human beings. Perhaps they may comprise a hundred nations or distinct governments. Perhaps they may become a grand constellation and commonwealth of republics, per- vaded by the same laws, literature, and religion. Their unity, harmony, and brotherhood must be de- termined by the relations between Great Britain and the United States. Their union will be the union of the two worlds. If they discharge their duty
156
· RECOLLECTIONS OF
to each other, and to mankind, they must become the united heart of the mighty race they represent, feeding its myriad veins with the blood of moral and political life. Upon the state of their fellow- ship, then, more than upon the union of any two nations on earth, depend the well-being of human- ity, the peace and progress of the world."
PERSONS AND EVENTS.
CHAPTER X.
DECLENSION IN RELIGION AFTER THE DAYS OF EDWARDS AND WHITFIELD .- VIEWS OF DR. GREEN AND BISHOP MEADE .- APA- THY PREVAILING AS TO FOREIGN MISSIONS .- RISE OF THE A. B. C. F. M .- SUBSEQUENT REVIVAL OF RELIGION IN THE CHURCHES. -NEW YORK MISSIONARY SOCIETY .- INFLUENCE OF DR. MOR- RISON IN AWAKENING SYMPATHY FOR THE HEATHEN .- INCREASING ACTIVITY OF THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT. - RESPONSIBILITY OF THE AMERICAN CHURCHES IN EVANGELIZING THE PAGAN WORLD .- GREAT IMPORTANCE OF INSTITUTIONS FOR THE SPECIAL TRAINING OF FOREIGN MISSIONARIES.
I HAVE always looked upon it as a subject for thankfulness, that I was allowed to enter the gos- pel ministry in the early part of the present century. Subsequent to the revivals of religion which overspread the country under Edwards, Whitfield, and others, from 1740 to 1770, a fearful declension had taken place. It lasted for more than forty years. "During this period," says the venerable Dr. Green, "the spirit of the Revolu- tionary War, and the sympathy with the French Revolutionists, and the spirit of Tom Paineism, spread over all our land." Other venerable fathers of the church have given the same account of that
W
158
RECOLLECTIONS OF
mournful epoch. "From 1805 to 1812," says Bishop Meade of Virginia, "it seemed as if the worst hopes of the Church's enemies and the most painful fears of her friends were about to be real- ized." But a visible reaction in favor of religion began to show itself from 1810 to 1812 or 1813; and it deserves especial note, that this happy change followed very closely, if it was not simultaneous with, the incipient movements of our churches for the evangelization of the world. There had previ- ously been a guilty and lamentable apathy on this subject. The great duty of the Church on earth is read in the command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature;" and if, as the words intimate, the Church would expect the Lord to manifest his presence with her at home, she must engage in fulfilling her duty to the nations abroad. So the American Church found it
in this memorable period of her history. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was formed, and took its first steps to awaken American Christians to her great work, in 1810; and from that time onward, a new era was inaugurated among us, for the conversion of the world. A little, and a very little, had been for.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.