No. 30.

JUNE, 1815.

No. 6. Vol. III.

Home Proceedings.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

IN our last Number, we gave an outline of the Proceedings at the Eleventh Anniversary of the Society, with the amount of copies of the Scriptures issued, and the State of the Funds.

The Eleventh Report is just published; and, though we were filled with grateful surprise as we followed his Lordship, the President, through the details of the Proceedings, as the Report was read at the Meeting, we confess that our surprise is greatly augmented, on a calm contemplation of this extraor dinary record the most extraordinary, as a report of the progress of the Word of God, we will venture to say, that was ever presented to the world.

We cannot answer the great ends of our work better than by presenting our readers with the following

ABSTRACT OF THE ELEVENTH REPORT OF THE SOCIETY.

The details which we shall extract might be given, perhaps, more properly under the head of Foreign Intelligence; but we think it best to bring them together in this place at one view.

At the last Annual Meeting, the Members of the British and Foreign Bible Society were encouraged to indulge the pleasing

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hope, that the pacification of Europe, which then happily prevailed, would lead to a more extensive adoption of the principle of their Institution; and your Committee, in reporting their Proceedings during the Eleventh Year of its establishment, have the satisfaction to be able to state that this expectation has been amply verified.

The Bible Societies which have been instituted on the Continent, during the period in question, are equally numerous and important.

Your Committee will first notice, in regular succession, those Societies, the formation of which was materially assisted by the presence, advice, and exertions of their zealous and active coadjutor, the Rev. Robert Pinkerton, during the course of his return to Russia.

The Netherlands National Bible Society

Was established at Amsterdam, under the Presidency of his Excellency Mr. Roel, Minister of the Interior. Among other encou raging circumstances attending its formation, it is gratifying to remark that many Catholics subscribed themselves Members of it.

The example of Amsterdam was almost immediately followed by Rotterdam and other places. There are now 31 Bible Societies in the United Netherlands, all of them considered divisions of the Parent Institution at Amsterdam.

A plan has been adopted for instituting Bible Associations at Amsterdam and in its environs. That city and its suburbs, comprising nearly 200,000 inhabitants, will be divided into 32 districts, in each of which a Bible Association will be formed.

The Grand Duchy of Berg National Bible Society Is the next in order. It was established at Elberfield, in Wupper Valley, equally famous in Germany for the extent of its manufactories, its diversity of religions denominations, and the pious character of its inhabitants. In the cause of the Bible they were all united. The sphere of operation of this Society includes a very large population, of which a great proportion are Catholics.

It is affecting to add the information reported by Mr. Pinkerton on good authority, that many thousands of them never saw a Bible; and that among some, even the meaning of the word Bible was totally unknown. Of this Society his Excellency Baron Von Gruener, Governor-General of the Grand Duchy of Berg, was chosen President.

A letter from one of the Secretaries of the Society concludes with these words: "We thank you for having drawn our district also into the circle of your union; and join our prayers to your's,

that the Spirit of our Lord Jesus may powerfully carry his word to

the hearts of men."

The Hanoverian National Bible Society

Is next to be noticed. "In Hanover, as in Petersburg, I saw," says Mr. Pinkerton, the Lutheran, Calvinistic, and Catholic Clergy, join hands to promote the good cause; and some of these persons assured me, after the Meeting, that though they had been teachers of the same religion in this city for many years, yet they had never had an opportunity of speaking to each other. Oh! what a blessed plan, which is capable of bringing together the long divided parts of the Christian Church!

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"When the chief Catholic Priest entered the room, he came straight to me, grasped my hand in the most cordial manner, and, with a countenance beaming with joy, said, I rejoice that I have an opportunity of uniting in such a glorious cause. decidedly of opinion that the Scriptures should be put into the hands of every class of men, and that even the poorest and the meanest should have it in their power to draw Divine Instruction from the Fountain Head.""

The President of this Society is his Excellency Baron Von Arnswalt, Minister of State, Privy Counsellor, and President of the Ecclesiastical Court.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge has obligingly complied with a solicitation to be its Patron.

Prussian National Bible Society.

The zeal of Mr. Pinkerton was no less favourably received at Berlin, where the Prussian Bible Society has been established under the Presidency of his Excellency Lieutenant-General Von Dierecke, Tutor to the Crown Prince of Prussia. The Plan of the Society having been presented to his Prussian Majesty, he wasgraciously pleased to approve it, and to confirm its Laws; and as a further proof of the interest which his Majesty feels in its success, he has granted to the Society the freedom of the LetterPost.

Your Committee cannot resist the temptation of gratifying the 'General Meeting with an extract from a letter, addressed to the British and Foreign Bible Society, by the President, Vice-Presidents, and Committee of the Prussian Bible Society.

"Blessed are ye, revered Gentlemen, for devoting the earthly treasures with which the goodness of the Most High has enriched your favoured Isle, not only to the alleviation of the temporal distresses, but also to the propagation of heavenly blessings, that you may communicate the glad tidings of that salvation procured to the human race at a price infinitely more precious than that of..

silver and gold, to all nations, for their permanent benefit. The Divine Author of this salvation pronounced the preaching of the Gospel to the poor, one of the symptoms of his first advent; and thus may the dissemination of the same blessed Gospel in the cottages of the indigent, prove an auspicious omen, that He, whom so many have entirely disowned, is again at hand; and that the children of men are preparing themselves anew to receive Him into their hearts, and to consecrate their life, in all its various relations, to Him in whose name alone salvation and true joy are promised to the world."

Your Committee feel authorised to indulge the pleasing expectation of the happiest results from the proceedings of a Society, under the direction of persons impressed with such feelings, particularly as its object is so fully in unison with the sentiments of the King, and the Ministers presiding in the principal departments of the Government.

It may be proper to add in this place, that the Bible Society, which had existed at Berlin since the year 1805, and with which your Committee had maintained a most pleasing and useful cor respondence, has now merged in the National Institution of the Prussian Bible Society.

Saxon National Bible Society.

From Berlin Mr. Pinkerton proceeded to Dresden, where he had the happiness to witness the establishment of the Saxon Bible Society, under the Presidency of his Excellency Count Hohenthal, the Minister for Religion. For a most interesting account of the formation of this Institution, your Committee must refer to a letter from the Rev. Dr. Daering, Chaplain of the Court of Saxony, regretting that the limits of their Report admit only the following selection from om the conclusion of it:

Thus the Saxon Bible Society was formed. Universal was the impression, and loud the gratitude expressed both towards the Parent Institution in London, and its worthy Member, Mr. Pinkerton. Tears of joy glittered in many an eye, and the name of the Lord was glorified. May he command his blessing this holy union!"

Polish National Bible Society.

Mr. Pinkerton, in passing through Warsaw, held also a prelimi nary meeting in the palace of Prince Czartorisky, a nobleman, of the first rank, talents, and respectability, for the purpose of form. ing a Polish Bible Society; at which meeting, certain regulations were proposed and adopted, subject to the approbation of his Majesty the Emperor of Russia.

Of Poland, it is asserted, there is such a want of the Scriptures

in that country, that a copy of the Bible is scarcely to be ob tained at any price. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the proposed Institution will be regularly formed, and that its exertions will be commensurate to the spiritual wants of the people, and bestow on them that blessing which they so greatly need.

The Societies which have been enumerated, were established in less than three months after the last Annual Meeting. Of all, it may be observed, that the proposal for their institution received a most ready and cheerful acquiescence; that at the Meetings convened for this purpose, the greatest joy and harmony prevailed; and finally, that from the rank, abilities, and respectability of the Presidents, Vice-Presidents, and Directors of these Associations, there is every reason to hope, that their example will have an extensive influence, and their exertions a most beneficial effect.

Russian National Bible Society.

The course of their Report having conducted your Committee towards the Russian Dominions, they will now advert to the trans actions of this Society, in connexion with the North of Europe, beginning with the Bible Society at St. Petersburg, which has now assumed the title of "The Russian Bible Society." Of this Institution, formed under the immediate patronage of his Imperial Majesty, and superintended by a nobleman not less distinguished by his piety and abilities than by his high rank, it may be generally observed, that its proceedings are conducted with a zeal and energy which promise substantial benefits to the inhabitants of the widely extended Russian Empire. The great object to which its exertions are directed, is, to procure a-large number of copies of the Holy Scriptures for distribution at the lowest rate; and for the accommodation of various classes, its Committee have ordered them to be printed in seven different languages, while the Committees of Auxiliary Societies in connexion with the Parent Institution at St. Petersburg, are printing them in several other dialects. The number of Bibles and Testaments now. printing by the Russian Bible Society, is stated at 92,000 copies.

Among other works now in the course of execution by the Bible Society at St. Petersburg, your Committee point out to the particular notice of the General Meeting, the printing of the Persian Translation of the New Testament, by the late revered and lamented Henry Martyn. A copy of it was brought to St. Petersburg by his Excellency Sir Gore Ousely, Bart. Ambassador Extraordinary from his Britannic Maiesty to the Court of Persia,, ́ who has obligingly undertaken, during his continuance in Russia,, to superintend the press.

The zeal, the learning, piety, and diligence of Mr. Martyn afford the most satisfactory assurance of the accuracy of this