numbers, for particular objects of charity, or by persons who would attend themselves to the distribution.

Thirty-six Bibles were taken by Mr. Thomas Savage, for distribution in the western country. Jonesborough and its vicinity, in the county of Washington, seem to have become a field for our charity. About 40 have been there distributed the last year, under the care of a gentleman from this town, by whose faithful attention we are much obliged. Some of these have been sold at a low rate, and the receipts accounted for.

Some Bibles have also been distributed in the same way at Franconia, N. H. which were received with strong expressions of gratitude.

About 50 have also been distributed in the county of Hancock. Some charity schools, particularly the female school for coloured people, in Salem, have also received assistance from us.

The remainder were distributed in this county, where several families were still found without a Bible.

The whole amount distributed since the formation of the Society is 2430 Bibles, and 482 Testaments.

There are now in the treasury, at the disposal of the Society, two hundred and six dollars 77 cents, besides an investment of thirteen hundred dollars in United States stock, &c.

Extract from the Annual Report of the BIBLE SOCIETY OF MAINE, May 7, 1818.

Since the 5th of June, 1817, 264 Bibles have been distributed; 100 have been sent to the Oxford Bible Society, 66 have been sold to subscribers, and 256 remain on hand.

The whole number of Bibles distributed by this Institution sincé its establishment, is 3450, together with 261 Testaments.

To put the Bible without note or comment into the hands of men is an attempt to instruct and improve them, which is liable to no objections that must not be first advanced against the scriptures themselves; those sacred oracles, that are able to make us wise unto salvation, that are most propitious to the present happiness of human beings in all the various relations in which they are placed, and that strike the only effectual blow at vice and the evils of which it is productive.

Let therefore the great experiment be made, must every well wisher to his fellow-creatures exclaim. the word of God have a free course, and let it be seen what the effect will be of passing its purifying streams over the corruptions of mankind. Those who believe its prophecies know that this experiment will be made; and that the word that shall go forth shall not return void; but it shall accomplish the pleasure of the Lord, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto he sends it.

Extract from the Fourth Report of the NEWARK BIBLE SOCIETY, June 25th, 1818.

On this occasion the Managers are happy to state, that the institution committed to their direction has not ceased to flourish—and its concerns were never more hopeful than at the present time. Hitherto the smiles of Heaven have succeeded our humble endeavours to diffuse the Word of Life-and in proportion to the evidences of usefulness to our fellow-men, have our hearts been cheered, and our labours made light. As the benevolent objects of the Society have become distinctly known, so has its influence extended, and its means of doing good augmented. Public beneficence has kept pace with its growth-tenderness and brotherly affection have characterized the Society-and the utmost cordiality and coincidence of sentiment have distinguished all the deliberations of the Board.

It is scarcely necessary for the Managers to remark, that two years have elapsed since this Society became auxiliary to the AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY-a Society not less distinguished for its liberality than for its exertion-a Society which may truly be said to be a national monument of christian labour and benevolence. Consequently our field of operation has been retrenched-our labours located to the Society's immediate vicinity. While we have supplied the wants of the needy among ourselves, our surplus funds have been consecrated to the use of the National Institution. And though much has been done by us in this place and its vicinity, we are sensible there still remains great room for the exercise of our charity and benevolence.

From the report of the Treasurer of this Society, it appears that at the commencement of the year now expired, the unexpended funds, at that time amounted to $9 59. That subsequently, at the delivery of the anniversary address, $82 2 cents were collected; and $142 have been received from annual subscriptions; which, including some small donations, &c. make the receipts of the Society to amount the present year to $256 37 cents. The disbursements during the same period amount to $231 4 cents; leaving in the hands of the Treasurer, at the present time, only $25 83 cents. The principal items of expenditure are $118 46 cents paid to the Philadelphia Bible Society, for Bibles furnished our order the preceding year to the Rev. Mr. Burr Baldwin in his missionary tour in the Western country; and a donation of $100 to the American Bible Society. The Managers notice with thankfulness a number of private donations from their fellow townsmen.

NEW JERSEY BIBLE SOCIETY.

The eighth anniversary of this institution was celebrated at Burlington, New-Jersey, the 26th August, 1818. The meeting was attended by a numerous and respectable assemblage of citizens of

both sexes. No religious exercises were performed except the reading of a chapter in the Bible. The venerable President of the Society, Dr. Elias Boudinot, opened the business of the day by an address, the substance of which, we understand, will be shortly published. After the reading of the Annual Report, addresses were delivered by the Rector of St. Mary's church, Burlington, Rev. Dr. A. Green, President, Rev. Dr. Charles Wharton of Nassau Hall College, and Rev. Dr. S. Miller, Professor of Theological Seminary at Princeton.

A resolution was unanimously passed by the Society, recommending the establishment of Bible Associations in every city, town, and neighbourhood throughout the State, where the numbers, sentiments, and circumstances of the people may render the same expedient and practicable.

MR. PRESIDENT,

Rev. Dr. Wharton's Address.

It is with great diffidence that I rise to address you before this respectable assembly. It would indeed be presumption in me to flatter myself, that whatever I can say respecting the design, the excellence, and the advantages of Bible institutions, should add new feelings to the high and sacred estimation in which they are now held. The pious acclamations with which the establishment of these Societies has been welcomed by the voice of Christendom, and the astonishing, I had almost said, the miraculous success which has attended their operations, are sufficient evidence of the deep, and I trust lasting impression, which their importance has made upon the public mind and the hearts of their members.

In viewing the rise and progress, and in looking forward to the probable issue of these associations, the only danger is, lest the mind should be carried beyond the bound of temperate exultation; or, recollecting the ages that are past, should experience too painful a sensation that this blessed work has been so long deferred. But, Sir, as from many other distressing recollections, so from this also, may spring up fresh motives for exertion. When we behold with the eye of pity, the manifold and awful calamities which, from the early days of Christianity, haye grieviously afflicted and debased its professors; leaving them little more than a name : when we strive to account for the numerous and destructive heresies, the disgusting immoralities, the puerile hallucinations, and the contemptible superstitions, which in many ages of the church have obscured the splendour of her doctrines, the purity of her morals, and the rationality of her worship, we do not immediately perceive that these mighty evils sprang, principally, either from the difficulties in procuring, or from withholding from the general use the volume of revelation. True indeed it is, that, within the four first centuries of the Christian era, the gospel had been preached to all the civilized world. Beyond the frozen Caucasus its standard had

been erected on the plains of Persia, and its votaries had established themselves on the shores of Hindostan. From Egypt it had penetrated beyond the sources of the Nile; and Nubia and Abyssinia had been gladdened with the tidings of salvation. The southern shores of the Mediterranean had beheld very flourishing churches rising over the ruins of idolatry; and the western Provinces of the Empire having submitted to the gentle yoke of Christianity, the victorious eagles of Rome had at last crouched to the banner of the Cross.

In the mean time the precious seeds of divine truth had been scattered over the regions of the north; and before the end of the seventh century, the praises of God and his Christ were echoed along the frozen gulphs of the Baltic, and among the lakes and mountains north of the Tweed. Thus was Christianity established in a manner most wonderful and miraculous. "The sound of twelve obscure Gallileans" went into all the earth, "and their words to the end of the world." The Christian Church, soon after its rise, is already of wider extent than the empire of the Cossacs. Seven hundred years of victory were necessary to build up the empire of Rome; but Christianity, without any arms but the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," reigns over all nations. In vain does the whole world exert all its force to suppress it. In vain do sages, and philosophers, and emperors, unite to overthrow it. Every thing proves weak when opposed to the Christians. The Apostles are reviled, abused, imprisoned, and murdered; but this does not check the march of their enterprise. They are replaced by their disciples, the inheritors of their constancy and courage, which surmount every obstacle which men and devils oppose to their labours. Death, the fatal principle of destruction to other Societies, serves only to multiply the number of christians until at length the generality of men open their eyes to the light, the temples are forsaken, sacrifices cease to be offered, marble and bronze are no longer divinities, and JESUS, by a kind of triumph totally unprecedented, and peculiar to himself, converts his bitter enemies into worshippers of his name. With Constantine, the cross ascends the imperial throne; and Rome, who holds in her hands all the sceptres of the earth, employs them for the protection of the Gospel. This city, mistress of the nations, falls soon after a prey to the barbarous swarms of the north, who overturn that monarchy which had swallowed up all others. The greatest part of the States formed out of these ruins fall likewise in their turn; but in the midst of concussions which shake the nations, the church of Christ alone, immoveable as her Divine Head, bids defiance to the powers of Hell and Death, which were never to prevail against her; and at length beholds these conquerors who have held the capital of the world in chains, submitting to her yoke, and glorying in being her children. Now, Sir, I trust it will readily be admitted, that after the miraculous powers had been withdrawn from the church, her astonishing triumph over a flagitious and

idolatrous world could only be attributed, under Providence, to the faithful labours of her ministers, and a constant appeal to the law and the testimony contained in the scriptures. As long as this continued, so long was she assailed in vain by hosts of heretics, rabbies, and subtle philosophists. The calumnies of Trypho, the plausi bilities of Platonism, the powerful weapons of extensive erudition, and refined ridicule, wielded by Celcus, Porphyry, and Julian, fell harmless at her feet while cased in the heavenly panoply of the written word. Secure in this impenetrable armour, she defied the fiery darts of her wicked or deluded assailants. When heresies began to abound, and the mystery of iniquity began already to work, "heaven-taught champions arose, and knew where to find weapons to combat the threatening monsters." The Apostles, "says Ireneus, preached the gospel, but afterwards delivered it to us in the scriptures, to be the foundation and pillar of our faith."

M

"I do not follow men, "says Justin Martyr, in his controversy with Trypho the Jew, or human doctrines, but I follow God, and what he taught." And the great defender of the Trinity, the illustrious Athanasius, when confuting the gentiles, lays it down as a principle, that," the holy and divinely inspired scriptures suffice for our instruction in all truth."

Sir, nothing would be more easy than to produce a multitude of citations from the primitive Fathers, all tending to declare the sufficiency, perspicuity, and potency of the Scriptures, in defending and elucidating the doctrines of salvation. "All things," says one of them "are clear and perspicuous, and nothing contradictory can be found in the Scriptures." "The Scripture," says another, "expounds itself, and does not suffer the reader to err." "Whatever," says another, "has no authority from the Scriptures, is despised as easily as it is alleged." In a word, the great doctor of grace, St. Austin, with his usual force and accuracy, thus sums up the only method by which the church in his day maintained the purity of the faith. "Let no one say this is true, because this or that -has wrought such and such miracles, or because some are heard who pray at the monuments (ad memorias) of the martyrs, or because such and such things happen there, or because he or she has seen such a vision when awake, or dreamed while asleep. Away with these fictions of lying men, or prodigies of deceitful spirits. Insist on their showing you some manifest testimonies from the Canonical Books. Remember the saying of our Lord, they have Moses and the Prophets."

person

Thus it was, Sir, that the church was nourished, propagated, and defended, in her primitive days. The BIBLE was the charter of her rights, and the umpire of her decisions. To this she always appealed, and never appealed in vain. But the day of her trial was rapidly approaching. By the eruption of the Northern hordes of Barbarians, the Christian world was thrown into utter confusion, and rapine and ignorance pervaded the western empire. The lukewarmness