Bible-Burning: the substance of a sermon preached in St. Martin's Church, Birmingham, on Sunday evening, Dec. 10, 1848 — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Bible-Burning: the substance of a sermon preached in St. Martin's Church, Birmingham, on Sunday evening, Dec. 10, 1848
John Stuart Mill · en
If there be any who have come up hither from a feeling of idle curiosity,
it is my earnest prayer that they may not leave this Church without
obtaining a blessing, though unsought by themselves.
It _is now_, my beloved Brethren, and it _has been_ this day, my earnest
and heartfelt prayer that, while I discharge what, perhaps mistakenly,
yet conscientiously, I feel to be my bounden duty, I may not forget that
I am called upon as a minister of Christ to manifest the spirit of my
Master; and that while I speak _the truth_, I may do it _in love_. And
if, at the close of this discourse, my memory should recall one bitter
expression towards the members of that Church whose corruptions I feel it
my duty to expose, no one in this congregation could deplore it more than
the preacher himself.
May God, in His infinite mercy, send down His blessing on my present
endeavours! May He send on us the spirit of candour, the spirit of love,
the spirit of faithfulness, that while we strive, as far as in us lies,
to “live peaceably with all men,” we may not forget that there is one
thing dearer than peace—HIS TRUTH!
I shall say but little on the text itself. The roll which is here spoken
of as having been cut and consumed by Johoiakim was written, as you will
observe from the previous context, by Baruch, at the dictation of
Jeremiah, a prophet inspired of God; and contained God’s threatenings
against the corrupt and degenerate Jews. When this roll had been read in
the hearing of the king, his conduct was that which is narrated in the
text.
Without further reference to my text, I conceive that the most open and
honourable manner in which I can proceed is, first to read to you the
simple account of the circumstance which has given rise to the delivery
of this discourse. Some of my own dear people will remember with
gratitude the ministrations of one of the Clergy in this town, now the
Incumbent of St. Peter’s Church, who was for some months the senior
Curate of this parish. That gentleman, I need not say to you, is of such
unimpeachable integrity and Christian character as not to admit of any
doubt of the truth of his public statement. A little girl attending the
Free Industrial School which has been set on foot by my beloved and
zealous brother the Rector of St. Philip’s, became possessed, it does not
appear by what means, of a copy of the Protestant authorised version of
the New Testament. To this Testament Mr. Greaves’s Letter has reference.
TO THE EDITOR OF ARIS’S GAZETTE.
SIR—I see in your paper of last Monday a statement that a Testament
was burnt by a Priest of the Church of Rome in a house in London
’Prentice-street, in this town.