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AN

ANALYSIS

OF THE

System

OF

THE BIBLE SOCIETY,

THROUGHOUT

ITS VARIOUS PARTS.

INCLUDING

A SKETCH OF THE ORIGIN AND RESULTS

OF

AUXILIARY AND BRANCH SOCIETIES

AND

Bible Associations :

WITH HINTS FOR THEIR BETTER REGULATION.

INTERSPERSED WITH PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS, AND A CONSIDERATION OF SOME

POPULAR OBJECTIONS.

BY CS DUDLEY.

"Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world."

PSALM XIX, 4.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY R. WATTS:

AND SOLD BY

J. AND A. ARCH, CORNHILL; HAMILTON, PATERNOSTER ROW;
HATCHARD, PICCADILLY; SEELEY, FLEET STREET;

AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS.

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PI

PREFACE.

WERE it possible to realize the idea, that only a single copy of the BIBLE was upon earth, and that all mankind knew where it was deposited, with what delight would myriads hasten to the favoured spot! what pilgrimages would be undertaken, to catch even a glimpse of the inestimable treasure! Kings would lay down their crowns before it; and Sages press, from the shades of retirement and the schools of science, to partake of wisdom at the fountain which Mercy had unlocked.

And is the value of this treasure impaired, because means are devised to render it accessible to all? Is the light of Revelation the less valuable, because it no longer emits "a struggling ray" through the jealous door-ways and narrow windows of the temple, but bursts forth in all the brightness of its majesty, to console, and cheer, and animate the universal family of man?

The application of the system detailed in the following pages has been the subject of surprise to some, and of ridicule to others:-but it is by the nature and importance of the object in view, and the adaptation of the means provided for its attainment, that the candid and judicious will decide. It is no longer a question, whether the Bible Society be entitled to general support:-its claims are felt and acknowledged by the public: and the only matter of astonishment is, how, in a country professedly Christian, a doubt could have arisen in reference to the subject. If the religion we profess, be THE TRUTH; if the BIBLE be the basis on which it rests; if "life and immortality" are indeed "brought

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