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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 47, 22 February 1873, Page 2

Sir Smith Child, M.P., on the Influence of the Bible.—At a meeting at Wolverhampton Sir Smith Child said, that their might exist various differences amongst those present, but they met on common ground, combined, be hoped, heart and soul iv a great work. Various sects—as of old the Crusaders, composed of various nations, joined together in tbe foolish scheme to rescue the Holy Land from the Saracens —but his audience were various denominations combined together carrying on a crusade against ignorance and vice, and that crusade, he trusted, would never cease, till the "earth was filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters covered the deep." Men might differ on various matters connected with religious notions. There had beeu and there always would be controversies upon subjects, but they were combined together in one great work which did not interfere with a man belonging to any denomination. It seemed to him that as there had been forms so there must be certain forms which religious principle must take, otberwise they would be likely to become a vague idea, and from a hazy obstruction they would be likely to degenerate into something far worse. He could not understand the belief that a man was a mere

creature of chance, nor could he accept the suggestion of many who said that a man was the result of a series of developments, nor could he entertain the notion that the belief in a Deity could be the invention pf man's heavenly intelligence. Looking around the world, they saw nowhere true civilisation except in those countries where Christianity was the professed faith of the people. By true civilisation he meant something more than wbat existed in the great empires of tbe world. A due appreciation of freedom was derived from the teaching of the Bible. Civil liberty was derived from relisious liberty; they were linked together. A Christian people would not submit to tyranny, nor would a truly Christian people degenerate into the licanliousness of a mob. Let them, therefore, honour the Bible, for it was the rock o.f their faith and freedom.