tutor to the Crown Prince; and at Dresden a Saxen Bible Society, under the minister of state who superintended religious affairs. In consideration of their efforts and difficulties, grants were made by the Bible Society here of L.500 each to the Amsterdam, Hanoverian, Prussian, and Saxon societies; of L.300 to Berg and L.100 more each to Saxony and Prussia. At St. Petersburgh the Russian Bible Society was formed under the patronage of the Emperor, and means were already taking for printing the Bible in seven languages; 5000 Bibles and 5000 Testaments were already, printed in the Sclavonian language, one in which only 60,000 copies had been printed in the course of two hundred years; 50,000 Georgian Bibles were also about to be printed. A copy of the Bible in Persian, under the superintendance of Sir Gore Ousely, was also printing there. The intelligence from the Crimea made it probable that the Tartar translation of the Bible would be favourably received there, and a Mufti had already subscribed fifty rubles a year to the printing. The royal family of Georgia were subscribers to the Georgian Bible. In Mingrelia, Georgia, and Circassia, there were half a million of men professing Christianity, with 200 churches, and among them not more than 260 Bibles. The zeal of the foreign priesthood was astonishing at the meeting of the St. Petersburgh Bible Society, in last January, there were present five metropolitans and the Armenian and Catholic primates came in their full robes of dignity. A Moscow Bible Society had been formed in conjunction with that of St. Petersburgh; eight more were forming; they were spreading through all parts of the empire, and the zeal of the Russians to possess a copy of the Bible was beyond all belief. The Committee voted L.1000 in aid of the St. Petersburgh Socie ty. Turning to Sweden, a Society had been formed in Stockholm, which had already printed 33,000 Bibles. Three auxiliary societies had been formed. The King had

given his approbation to the Society · on the 2d of February last: the Crown Prince desiring to be considered as first honorary member.L.500 had been voted to this Society. In Norway a Bible Society had been formed. A Society was also formed in Copenhagen, with the Bishop of Zealand, a most distinguished and learned person, for-ita president, and sanctioned by the King's rescript. In the course of the summer Zealand had been visited by order of the Committee, and the visitors were received with the kindest welcome by clergy and lai ty; they found much Christian feeling, but a great want of the Scriptures universally felt and expressed throughout their difficult and dangerous journey. Returning to the north of Germany; there were a. Bible Society at Lubec—a Hamburg and Altona, a Bremen, a Dantzic, an Erfurth, and in Switzerland, Lausanne, a Pays de Vaud, and a Geneva Bible Society, all lately formed. In looking to the West, in America, zeal was active. In March 1814, there were 38 Bible Societies; in March 1815 there were 70. (Applause.) A vessel carrying Bibles to the Cape of Good Hope. had been taken by an American privateer; they were at once purchased by the Bible Society of Mussachusetts, and an intimation conveyed here that they were once more at the disposal of the British Society. (Loud applause.) They were returned again as the property of the American Society, with due acknowledgments. In Nova Scotia there was a Bible Society, which had sent L.800 home. In Antigua a Bible Society was founded the 9th of last February. In Jamaica there was also a Society. With the south of Africa the connexion of the Bible Society was extending. The Scriptures were beginning to be much read by the Hottentot Christians. On a late visit to the King of Bullum, the missionaries found him reading the Bible with two Mussulmans, who promised to extend its knowledge on their return to their own country. He should now look

to the East. In the mission of Serampore they were translating the Bible into twenty-five languages, of which twenty-one were already in the press. The grants of the Committee to the Corresponding Society in Bengal now amounted to L.13,000. The Calcutta Bible Society had already printed 10,000 copies of the Bible, and had received a donation of 1000 dollars from an American Bible Society. Mr. Carey's report was, that though they had ten presses constantly at work, they had not a copy on their hands these six months, and that each was carried off eagerly the moment it came from the press. The sum contributed by the Committee to this operation was L.8000. In Madras the Scriptures had excited the attention of the people; and in one instance three Bramins had applied for Bibles, and offered to translate them, on condition of their being given. In Java, a Batavian Bible Society had been formed, July 14, 1814. In China there had been already distributions of the New Testament and Genesis, in Chinese, and there had been a particular sup ply given to the schools. In the United Kingdom the Society had advanced. In June the Committee had waited on the Emperor of Russia and King of Prussia, and were permitted to give them a copy of the last Report. Notwithstanding the number of societies already flourishing, twenty-six new ones were formed since 1814. The total sum contributed by the auxiliaries was L.52,678. The Report concluded by recommending the prineiple of forming auxiliary societies; not merely as sources of contribution, but as, from their locality, better acquainted with the immediate wants of the people. By urging the value of the smaller, but regular subscriptions, they interested the lower orders in the distribution of the Bible; and this again raised their veneration of the Bible itself; the very act of thus providing for the greatest of all necessities generated a spirit of mutual kindness among the people. The Bible Society of Glasgow had thus ob

tained and transmitted L.994. In Ireland the exertion was increasing. Auxiliary societies had taken place in the counties of Kildare, Kerry, Galway, and Longford. The IIbernian Bible Society had already, thus put nearly 200,000 Bibles in reach of purchase by the common, people. A translation of the entire in Irish was arranging. The Socie ty had to lament the deaths of three most distinguished members since their last meeting: the Rev. Mr. Charles, of Bala, Mr. Thornton, and Dr. Claudius Buchanan, who was translating the New Testament into Syriac, and had gone as far as the Acts of the Apostles. The whole number of Bibles and Testaments already published was not less than 1,255,257. His Lordship then read apologies from the Bishops of Salisbury and Cloyne, for absence-the first having been prevented by indispensable business; the second being ill, and confined to his bed. He concluded with a most touching speech, recommending it to the Society to presevere. It was not given to men to know the times of God; but we had our duty to do, and that was, to obey the great command, which bade the Scriptures be preached to every living creature. might happen that this distribution was preparatory to some mighty influx of knowledge; but the divine will be done. He prayed the blessing of God on the labours of the Society, and that they might be found among the glorious and the redeemed at the day that judged all

men.

It

The Hon. and Very Rev. the Dean of Wells rose to move the printing of the Report, under the direction of the Committee. That Report was a most striking and im portant document. What did it tell?-Of successes and labours the most extensive, the most rapid, the most triumphant. The first success was that in Europe. In the Netherlands a great work had been performed. From that country came, about a century since, our deliverer from civil and religious thraldom; it was a proud gratitude now to return to it the only greater liberty—

the liberty of the soul. We regret that our limits will not allow us to give at length this speech, which breathed a truly Christian spirit.

Stackhouse, Esq. Vice-President of the Cornwall Bible Socie. ty, seconded the motion. It was then carried by a show of hands.

Mr. Heerer, a Danish clergyman, returned thanks for Bibles in the name of his countrymen, who had been in English prisons in the course of the war.

The Duke of Kent moved the thanks of the Meeting to Lord Teignmouth, for his indefatigable zeal and services to the Society. His Royal Highnesss would only say a few words; but he felt it incumbent on him to express his full and entire concurrence in all the objects of the Bible Society. He should leave the peculiar praise of the institution to those whose profession led them more immediately to estimate its value; but he must say it, in the feeling of a man who had the good fortune to be a soldier of the state, and he thought it no derogation to the high and gallant spirit of soldiership to say so, that the Bible was the surest support even of military courage. In all the services it was the same. Would not the sailor expose himself, if not with a more desperate fearlessness, at least with a more unfailing intrepidity, when he felt that exposure was not ruin-that to die in battle was not to perish-that in yielding up life, he only entered into final and unchangeable glory? The Bible spoke the same language to the soldier; and he could find no better study of his profession, than that book which taught him-first, reverence to his God; and next, obedience to his king.

bute to their Royal Highnesses. To the Duke of Kent he found himself inclined to acknowledge great satisfaction in what he had heard from him that day-the clear good sense, the princely dignity, the fine and affecting mixture of military ardour and Christian zeal. He must congratulate the Meeting on this, the eleventh anniversay of their incomparable institution. If we did not know that prejudice had neither eyes nor ears, it would be almost incredible that any one could be found in a Christian country hostile to the purposes of that institution. But that prejudice had started up under the pretence of detecting danger to theEstablishment, and this had been embodied in a work latelypublished. That work, grounded upon false facts, was sustained by inconclusive reasoning, and must speedi➡ ly be forgotten; but if, while it still lived, there were those who desired to see it treated as it deserved, he had the gratification to state, that a learned friend of his (Mr. Dealtry) had, within these few days, given it an answer which, if it could not convert, must at least put to silence for ever ignorance and malevolence.

The Bishop of Norwich moved thanks to their Royal Highnesses the Dukes of York, Cambridge, Cumberland, Kent, Sussex, and Gloucester, for their patronage; and to the Dukes of Kent and Sussex in particular, for their marked attention to the interests of the Society. His Lordship expressed himself glad to have been appointed to pay this tri

The Rev. Gerard Noel begged leave to mention, that when objections had arisen in Nova Scotia to the Bible Society, and it was said that the mind of the Royal Family was decidedly against it, the Duke of Kent had, without hesitation, written to express his own attachment to the institution, and the Ha lifax Bible Society feel to this hour the benefits of that interference.

Mr. Robert Grant moved thanks to the Committee of last year.

The Rev. Dr. Thorpe, Secretary of the Hibernian Society, seconded the motion. At that late hour of the day he should confine himself to the mere mention of some matters relative to Ireland. The Hibernian Bible Society was an institution of late growth; its existence was owing to the great Society here. A few years since, the Bible was to be found only in a few of the larger towns in Ireland, and in those at a price decidedly beyond the means of

the lower orders. Now Bibles were for sale in more than a hundred towns, and the greatest desire was manifested to receive a copy. The Catholics exhibited a zeal not less striking than that said to exist among them on the continent. Of a large number of Bibles lately sent to one of the counties, one half of the entire had been already sold, and of those every copy had been the actual purchase of a Catholic. In many instances the Bible was not only purchased, but its consolations felt. One which lately occurred, he wonld submit to the Assembly. In a mountainous district in the county of Roscommon, a family had been visited with sickness. In their solitude there was as little help from the world as intercourse with it. The father died, the mother was soon on her death-bed. As she felt the hand of death upon her, her agony was for her five children, almost infants, that must be left to famine; her eldest girl brought the Bible, which she had been taught to read,-pointed out the promise of God to be a father to the fatherless, and soothed the last hours of her parent. She was found thus engaged by a charitable person who traversed that district; and provision was made for her necessities. In a Blind Asylum, in Dublin, five Catholic boys got a person to read the Bible to them. They in some time, after refused to go to chapel. The Romish priest applied to the Committee; the boys said they would not go till they found something of his Reverence and the mass in the Bible. At the meeting of the Committee, composed of Catholics and Protestants, a Protestant governor, wishing to spare the feelings of his Catholic friends, turned to one of them with the words, "Let these boys take their way: half a dozen poor blind beings can be no great accession to us, and no great loss to you." The Catholic gentleman replied, "I see, sir, ours is a religion which can but address itself to the eye; yours is a religion which can reach the heart through the ear."

Mr. Wilberforce rose to move

thanks to John Thornton, Esq. for his conduct as Treasurer during the last year, and a request that he would hold the same office for the year ensuing. He was reluctant to speak of individual merit where the object of the day was so wide; but he could not resist giving his testimony of respect to the present and the departed. Of his dear friend Mr. Henry Thornton, he could almost find no language too strong for-praise. He had now the melan choly privilege of offering him the tribute which his living modesty would have rejected. It had been currently and slightly said, that respect decayed as intimacy grew close, and that no man was great to those who viewed him nearly.➡ Here at least the maxim was untrue. Virtuous and pure, zealous and active, with a manly intellect and a noble heart, no man earned the gifts of fortune with more justice--no man dispensed them with more liberality. Distinguished by great and good qualities, they were all at the service of religion. Sustaining the rank of a legislator, no man threw round his public,pursuits more of the purity of his pri vate belief; a father and a friend, no man brought into his private intercourse more of the wisdom, more of the unselfish spirit, more of the broad and generous principle of public duty. The death of such a man was to the community the loss of a most important member; to his family and friends, a deep and heavy affliction; to the Bible Society, the deprivation of services most zealous, pure, and effectual. Another individual, of the same respected name, had taken up his functions. It was no slight honour to be selected as the successor of such a man. no loss should make men, assembled in such a cause, despair. He relied upon it, that neither talent, nor zeal, nor virtue, nor knowledge, would ever be wanting for this great work. It would have afforded us real gratification to have inserted the whole of this interesting speech, which produced the most striking effect upon the highly enlightened assembly..

But

Mr. John Thornton, the Treasurer, moved thanks to the Secretaries. He felt grateful for the honour done to the memory of his relative. The word of God had been in life his guide, and in death his consolation. He should now make some brief statements respecting the property of the Society. Notwithstanding the number of Bible Societies previously established, the funds last year bore a larger increase than those of the preceding year. The increase in 1814 was about L.11,000; in 1814, ending the 1st March, L.12,000 and upwards. The whole income of the year was 1.99,951; the expenditure L.81,000. The engagements of the Society for grants to Foreign Societies and Bibles for the ensuing year were L.38,000, (we give only the round numbers). He would not speak of the further exertions required, when it was computed that of the population of the world but one eighth was Christian. It had been stated, that there were tribes of Christians who had never seen a Bible, He had happened, a few years since, to travel for commercial purposes in the neighbourhood of the range of Cau casus; he found in those provinces a-race of wild and fierce men, calling themselves Christians, but who new nothing of Christianity beyond a.superstitious worship of the cross --a worship so marked, that the Russian settlers who cut wood (a remarkably valuable possession in that country) had only to erect a cross upon a heap of it, to insure its security from those roving and savage men. At sight of this strange reverence, he could not restrain himself from expressing to a pious fellow-traveller, his desire that the God whom they ignorantly worship ped should be preached to them.→ There were 2000 churches in those provinces; there were not, as far as he could ascertain, 200 Bibles among them all. The Christian population was almost 500,000. But now there was some hope of seeing his wish realized. The St. Petersburgh Bible Society were now printing the Bible in Russian, Armenian, Persian, Calmise of a day of illumination among a people almost worthy of its bright

muc, and Turkish. A number of minor societies were starting up through the darkness of that vast empire, and the light was spread almost to the wall of China. The object of the English Bible Society had been adopted in Russia with stres nuous zeal. He himself had the ho nour of announcing its first establishment to the metropolitan Platow; and it was received with congratulation and joy by that venerable man, now gone to receive his reward. The spirit had spread: the wildest tribes of the interior were now receiving the Bible--the Cure dees, Nogays, and Calues, were to be seen awakening in the dawn of the Gospel. It was mentioned in the Report that a mufti of the Crimea had subscribed fifty roubles a year to the St. Petersburgh Society the sum seemed trifling, but the cir cumstances gave it a peculiar im portance. In passing through the southern dominions of Russia, he had found it impossible not to at tach a peculiar interest to the people of the Crimea; their modesty, their hospitality, their simplicity, their pastoral manners, caught the eye of the traveller in the most attractive manner; but there was one fea ture of their habits that excited a stronger feeling than that of a stranger's curiosity he had seen no people more impressed by a sentiment of devotion; their worship was Mahometan, but they seemed penetrated with its dictates; they all, he believed, knew how to read; the children were all taught to read in schools, and the Koran was the universal study. Must it not touch the heart of a man acquainted with the truths of God, to see those noble dispositions clouded by error? It was impossible not to feel the ardent desire, that the hearts which could thus be disciplined under the reveries of Mahomet should know the full and glorious expansion of the religion of Jesus. He had experienced in this sense the highest gratification on hearing of the subscription of the Tartar mufti: he looked on it as the first opening to the admission of the truth, and the proness.

[To be concluded in our next.]