APPENDIX. No. 1. To the Printer of the Bath Chronicle. Bath, March 30th, 1812. I cannot refrain from expressing the satisfaction I felt, especially under existing circumstances, on reading the advertisement in the last Bath papers, inviting a meeting at the Guildhall of all the friends to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and still more to observe the broad and liberal terms in which the invitation is conveyed. I trust, Sir, that this will prove the signal, not of any renewed party spirit amongst us, but of mutual concession and generous emulation. Friendly, as I own myself to be, both to this and the Bible Society, and a member of both, I never could conceive why, though they may differ somewhat in their views, they should not go on harmoniously together; or why, without danger or reproach, we might not freely countenance and support both. Opposition is a hateful word; and as we generally contrive to employ it, a still more hateful thing: but this is entirely owing to the virulence and rancour we unhappily mix with it : call it difference of opinion, and it not only must and will subsist wherever true Protestantism subsists, but it is a quality implanted in us for the wisest and most beneficial purposes; it provokes inquiry and rouses indifference; and thus the cause of truth is not only eventually promoted, but were it not for the timely stimulus excited by opposition, how many excellent institutions would languish and die away in torpor and inactivity. Let both Societies therefore flourish; it is evident while they both keep on the alert, and mutually watch each other, they must advance the general good. I most cordially admit, Sir, that it is the bounden and sacred duty of every member, and still more of every minister of the Church of England, to stand by that Church, and defend her interests against every attack, whether open or insidious; and I trust, in so doing, I should be prepared to go every length with those able and respectable of my brethren who have lately given their sentiments to the public on this interesting question, except the length which I cannot go, of placing the Church above Christianity. Far be it from me to insinuate that these gentlemen intend, in the remotest degree, to inculcate any such unscriptural doctrine; but I am afraid that, in their zeal to oppose what has conscientiously appeared to them a dangerous measure, they have been hurried into arguments, which, |