The Eleventh Anniversary

WAS held at Freemasons' Hall, on Wednesday the 3d of May. At Twelve o'Clock, his Lordship the President took the Chair; and, with the occasional assistance of the Rev. William Dealtry, read to the Meeting the principal parts of the Report, it being found necessary, from the great extension of the Society's exertions during the year, to reserve many of the details for the press.

It appeared from the Report, that the issue of copies of the Scriptures from March 31, 1814, to March 31, 1815, has been

126,156 Bibles,

123,776 Testaments;

making a total issued, from the commencement of the Institution to that period, of

516,479 Bibles,

718,779 Testaments;

in all, 1,235,257 copies: exclusive of a very considerable number circulated at the charge of the Society abroad.

M

The receipts of the year have beenAnnual Subscriptions... £. 3272 10 6 Donations and Life Sub

scriptions........

}

2429 9 11

Congregational Collections 1406 7 8

The expenditure of the year was 81,0217. 12s. 6d. and the obligations of the Society, including orders given for Bibles and Testaments, about 38,000l.

The Report having been read, his Lordship, after stating that the Lord Bishop of Salisbury would have attended, but for urgent business, and the Lord Bishop of Cloyne, but for sickness, addressed the Meeting with his accustomed judgment and piety-asserting, in strong terms, the elevation of the Society above all interference with the politics of the world, and its proposal to all the friends of man to unite in one common effort of mercy. "Wherever," said his Lordship, "the British and Foreign Bible Society moves, it confers and it receives blessings. It is holy in its object: it is pure in its means: and it is charitable in its end;-for its object is, the glory of God; its means, the Bible; and its end, the temporal and eternal welfare of all mankind."

The Hon. and Very Rev. the Dean of Wells, in moving the adoption of the Report, took an able survey of the great efforts and the future prospects of the Society; and

especially congratulated the Meeting, that Britain had communicated to restored Holland the blessing of a sacred zeal for diffusing the Scriptures-a country from which she herself had received the restorer of her civil and religious liberties. He feelingly adverted to the President's early and long connection with the East, and that delight with which his Lordship must have read that portion of the Report which stated the successful operations of the Society in India—a country deeply indebted to his Lordship's own efforts and example for all the moral and religious blessings which it now enjoys.

Edward Stackhouse, Esq. one of the Vice-Presidents of the Cornwall Auxiliary Society, having in a few expressive words seconded the motion of the Dean of Wells, the Report was unanimously adopted.

The Rev. Mr. Kierulf, Minister of the Danish Church in London, gratefully expressed the thanks of his country for the benefit conferred on it by the Society. He stated, that nearly all the people in Denmark can read, and that a Bible Society was wanted to furnish them with the Scriptures, for the establishment of which they were indebted to the example and encouragement of the British and Foreign Bible Society.

The Duke of Kent, while he thought himself called on to listen rather to those Clergymen who had uttered such pious sentiments as he had just heard from the Very Rev. Dean, did not think it derogatory to one who had the honour to be a soldier to say, that the knowledge and use of the Bible is the best support of a soldier in the field. The soldier who mounts the breach with the almost certainty of meeting death, or those wounds which may lead to death, will do his duty with courage, when he feels that he is obeying that book which commands the steady and faithful discharge of every duty, and which opens to the good immortality beyond the grave.

Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bart. in a very feeling and delicate manner seconded the Royal Duke's motion of thanks to the noble President of the Society.

Robert H. Inglis, Esq., in moving thanks to the VicePresidents, paid an eloquent tribute to the memory of the late Treasurer of the Society, Henry Thornton, Esq. He urged the extension of Bible Asso

ciations by the consideration, that if but one person in thirty could be induced to contribute his weekly penny, a sum of 100,0001. would be secured annually to the Society.

The Rev. Dr. Collyer, in seconding thanks to the VicePresidents, repelled the insinuation, that the Members of the Society had entered into a conspiracy against the Establishment and the State; "a conspiracy, at the head of which," said he, "I find their Royal Highnesses the Dukes of York, of Kent, of Cumberland, of Sussex, and of Cambridge-a conspiracy in which I see combined the Right Rev. Prelates of Norwich, of St. David's, and many others-a conspiracy, in which I see the Liberator of Africa, and the Pacificator of Americaa conspiracy, in which the Opposition and the Ministry are agreed a conspiracy never to be overthrown by that mode of attack which is employed against this Institution."

"The Bishop of Norwich, in proposing thanks to the Royal Dukes for their continued patronage, paid a warm tribute of respect to his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent in particular, for his support of many charitable Institutions, and especially of the Bible Society. His Lordship observed; “If we did not but too well know that Prejudice has neither Eye nor Ear, it would be difficult to conceive how this Institution could find an enemy in this country. Yet we have found an enemy; who, by the aid of distorted facts ill supported by inconclusive reasoning, has succeeded in raising suspicion in some quarters against the Society. I am happy to say that a Reverend Friend near me has within these few days published an answer, which, if it do not make a convert of every man in the kingdom, will at least secure us from the attacks of ignorance, prejudice, or malevolence."

Capt. Hawtrey, in seconding the Bishop, gratefully acknowledged his obligations to his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, when serving under him at Gibraltar; and expressed his delight in now beholding him, not only the protector of the widow and the orphan, but. the patron of the outcasts of Israel and the friend of the Bible. When a soldier himself, he had found a Saviour by the means of the Bible alone; and he could not but heartily congratulate the Society on its successful labours.

Robert Grant, Esq. traced in a very forcible manner the importance which the objects of the Society derived from a comparison with the fleeting and changing scenes of the world; and eloquently eulogized the memory of departed friends of the Society of Professor Jowett

of the Rev. Thomas Charles of the Rev. Dr. Buchanan-of the Rev. Dr. Brunmarck-of the Rev. David Brown of the Rev. Henry Martyn-" And as the march of a victorious army," said he, "may be traced by the graves of its heroes, so may the swift progress of the Bible Society be marked by the tombs of these its friends which rise in the far distant regions of the, earth, and which connect this Institution with the re motest countries."

The Rev. Dr. Thorpe, as the Representative of the Hibernian Bible Society, communicated much important information respecting the progress of that Institution. Before the establishment of the Society, the Scriptures could be purchased only in a few of the principal towns, and at a high price: now the Society has opened Depositories for their sale in more than a hundred towns. Dr. Thorpe stated many interesting facts, in proof of the increasing demand for the Scriptures throughout Ireland, and that among the Roman Catholics themselves.

Mr. Wilberforce, in moving thanks to the Treasurer, Mr. John Thornton, bore a most affecting testimony to his lamented predecessor. His long friendship revived recollections which almost overwhelmed him. He eloquently traced the delight of such Meetings, as contrasted with others often jarring and tumultuous.

The Right Hon. Lord Headley having seconded Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. John Thornton, in acknowledging the thanks of the Meeting, expressed himself persuaded that the Society would rejoice to hear that the Word of God, which, in the minor as well as the greater concerns of life, had been his uncle's guide, was his support in the hour of death, and is now the consolation of his widow and family.

Thanks to the Secretaries being moved by John Thornton, Esq., the Rev. Peter Roe, Minister of St. Mary's, Kilkenny, in seconding the motion, assured the Meeting, that a great moral improvement had taken place within a short period in Ireland, chiefly by the circulation of the Scriptures; and stated some affect