The fact, that the Word of God was scarce among us, has, every year, been more and more clearly demonstrated; and a hearty desire to obtain the Sacred Volume has been awakened in the same proportion. This Society can furnish many pleasing instances, in which the population of whole parishes have united in making application for this best earthly treasure; and, with the utmost delight, have entered into engagements with their Ministers, to read, to hear, and to meditate on the statutes and testimonies of the Lord, instead of spending His own Day, or their leisure hours, (as had usually been the case,) in vain and sinful amusements. By these means, the ignorant and careless have been warned; bold and secure sinners have been excited to reflect on the ruin which threatened them; and not a few backsliders have been reclaimed from the error of their way. In the Volume for 1817, pp. 96 and 97, is printed an earnest and devout Address of the Archbishop of Upsala to his Clergy on the subject of Bible Societies. This distinguished Prelate is now taken to his rest in heaven. His sentiments, therefore, delivered in a Speech at the Anniversary of the Society, will be read with peculiar interest. Adverting to the prevalence of Infidelity, and the counteraction which it received by the Bible Society, the Archbishop exclaims "Yes, He, who has built his Church, not on the loose sand, but on a rock, where it defies the storm and the flood; and who has said, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it—He, in whose hands the Father has placed the government of his Church, even Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; He it is, who, during all the storms through which we have passed, has main tained his work; always possessing a chosen number of faithful friends and confessors, that have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal, but have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb-He it is, also, who, through his Spirit, has effected this wonderful alteration, over which we now rejoice, and in consequence of which we are here assembled. I do not presume to entertain the hope, that no further tempests shall assail the Christian Church: I rather believe, that it always must continue in a state of conflict on earth; but, if the Holy Scriptures be not the word of man' but of God; if they be the power of God and the wisdom of God, and the source of all genuine light, all real improvement, all durable satisfaction; then the general publication and reading thereof cannot be without blessed consequences to the people." The Archbishop closed his Address as follows:-" Let us work while it is day, and in the best manner we can. The Lord, who watches over the interests of His Church, will surely conduct all to the glory of His Holy Name, and to the salvation of the souls which He has ran somed. We have seen enough of the work of the Lord, to be qualified, whenever it may please Him to call us away from our labour upon earth, to join in the triumphant strain of the aged Simeon : Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace; for mine eyes have seen thy sal vation; which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel!" Pious and indefatigable Catholics, the Rev. Messrs. Gossner, Wittman, Leander Van Ess, and others, have laboured in the good work of disseminating the Holy Scriptures among the Members of their Communion, with the greatest diligence, and the most abundant success. "In the midst of all contradictions, blasphemies, and persecutions," says the first of these, "the peaceful kingdom of God makes rapid advances: many, both of the Clergy and Laity, are awakened and illumined by the Word of Truth, and the Gospel of our Salvation. God himself seems to have excited a hunger after this wholesome food; and there are many flocking to me—soldiers and students, citizens and peasants, servant-men and servant-women-whose hearts I can gladden by nothing more than the gift of a New Testament." The Rev. Mr. Wittman (Director of the Ratisbon Bible Institution, and who has distributed 60,000 copies of the New Tes tament) has received from a brother Cler. gyman the following gratifying communi. cation: "It is impossible for me to express in words, the gratitude, comfort, and satisfaction that I feel, in viewing the spiri tual advantages which my parish has re ceived. Wherever I go, I am accosted by my parishioners, either to explain to them some difficult passages; or to instruct them how to find out such portions of Scripture as are adapted to their circum stances; or to refer to those which had been quoted in the catechetical instructions given to Adults. All these are, certainly, visible signs of the diligent reading of the Holy Scriptures, and of the fruits with which it is attended." Baron Von Wessenberg, Pro-Vicar Reininger, and many other respectable individuals, of both the Clergy and Laity, have also, on their parts, distributed largely the Catholic Testaments of Van Ess, Gossner, and De Sacy, among the German and French Catholics in Switzerland and the contiguous countries. But, without disparagement of others, Professor Van Ess claims to be regarded as the most active and powerful instrument of disseminating the Word of God among the Members of the Catholic Church. The Appendix will furnish such documents, in attestation of his great and sucsessful labours in this respect, of his en terprising journeys, and of his copious and well-regulated distributions, that your Committee may satisfy themselves with having thus generally pointed them out, as continuing to deserve the confidence, the assistance, and the gratitude, of the British and Foreign Bible Society. It adds greatly to the satisfaction with which your Committee maintain a correspondence with this extraordinary man, and recommend him to the continued countenance of your Society, that, in the interview which your Secretary and the Rev. Dr. Pinkerton had with him, in their visit to Bâsle, such arrangements were concerted, as afford unquestionable security for the most regular and effectual attainment of the object to which his labours are directed. Subsequently to the date of that interview, the Professor has made considerable progress in ripening his measures for a more extended and effectual dissemination of the Holy Scriptures; as well by an interesting journey, as by correspondence with several individuals (many of them distinguished, not more by their piety, than by their intelligence and their station) who co-operate with him in his benevolent designs. After noticing the recognition of the Professor's labours by the Netherlands and Russian Societies, and the vote to him by that of Russia of 5000 rubles, with the interest taken in his labours by the Catholic Metropolitan of Russia (see pp. 225 and 226 of our Number for May), the Committee close this subject with the following generous sentiments of the Professor, extracted from the Public Thanks which he has issued to his friends and co-adjutors. All good men will certainly rejoice, wherever, and by whomsoever, good is done; particularly if the effect be, to glorify the Word and the Name of Christ: and this is surely the case now, when such earnest zeal is displayed to make known His great Salvation, and proclaim His Infinite Merits. This grateful joy will be much heightened by the pleasing intelligence which I have to communicate, and which is the result, not only of my own observations, but also of an extensive correspondence that the dissemination of the Holy Scriptures is attended with a signal blessing, both among our Catholie and our Protestant Brethren, whose hearts have been drawn to the God of the Bible, by the perusal of His Holy Word. RUSSIA. Proceedings of the Bible Societies Our reason for enlarging on the of this Empire may be found in the following passage of the Report: Russia opens so vast a field, possesses so many co-operating Societies and Associa tions, and combines such a mass of Biblical Labours, going forward perpetually, and perpetually increasing, both in the Capital of the Empire and the chief Cities of the several Governments and Provinces, that your Committee acknowledge their utter inability to exhibit any thing like an adequate representation of the share which she is taking in the great work of disseminating the Holy Scriptures. From the Extracts of Correspondence, and other do. cuments contained in the Appendix, some idea (though a very faint one) may be formed of the interest which is felt, and the exertions which are making, by all orders of the Russian Community; on behalf of an object, which appears to have roused all their moral energies, and to have united Monarch and People, as the heart of one man, in promoting the kingdom of God. In the Numbers for May and October was given some of the intelligence respecting Russia, which appears in the Report. We shall extract further particulars. Of the increase of Societies in the circulation of the Scriptures by the Empire, it is saldSociety; and it is added To such a degree have the Provincial Societies and Associations multiplied, that, in the month of June last, they were computed at 128; and, in the ten months which have since elapsed, there is reason to believe that their number has greatly increased. The East-Sea Provinces are completely occupied with Bible Societies. That of Georgievsk has supplied the only link that was wanting, to connect the chain between Astrachan and Tiflis; at the last of which places, the Georgian Society, so long projected and delayed, has at length been established: while the Society at Krasnojarsk brings into communication with the Parent Society at Petersburg, an extensive district in Siberia, whose inhabitants have shewn so favourable a dis position, that the operations of the newlyformed Auxiliary have already commenced with the most promising activity. On the labours and prospects of the Society, the Report states The exertions which are making, both in the Central Society at Petersburg, and in the several Auxiliaries and Associations throughout the Empire, correspond with the magnitude of the common undertaking, and the importance of the end to which it is directed. So rapidly is the work carried forward, on every opening that offers for the entrance of the Scriptures into a territory in which they are either unknown or exist but in name, that Translations are commenced with a promptitude and liberality truly astonishing. Of this assertion, a proof may be given by referring to what has been undertaken for the population of Siberia alone. Not fewer than Seven Versions are preparing, in different dialects of that country; one of which has been completed, and is printing at Astrachan; and others are in a state of considerable forwardness, The Monthly Paper, which is regularly issued, exhibits, at once, the vastness of the business with which the Committee are charged, and the systematic regularity as well as zealous perseverance, with which its details are conducted. In proof of the labour and responsibility of those who direct this mighty machine, some of the facts are mentioned which we gave at page 452 of our Number for October, in reference to the great In St. Petersburg alone, editions have been simultaneously preparing in Eleven Languages. The distribution of the Scriptures, last year, was double that of the preceding: the number of copies printed was 72,000, in eight different languages; and the total, either printed or printing, by the Russian Bible Society, amounts to FIFTY NINE EDITIONS, COMPRISING TWO. HUNDRED AND SEVENTY THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED COPIES, IN TWENTY-ONE LANGUAGES. Nor do the Committees and Directors of the Auxiliary Societies shew less zeal and activity, in conducting the affairs of their respective Associations. In illustration of this remark, and as particularly honourable to the individual himself, the fact is stated, which has been already mentioned (p. 226 of the Number for May), that the Bishop of Kazan corresponds with more than a thousand Clergy on the affairs of the Bible Society! It is then added To co-operate with an Institution, cha racterized by so much energy and devotedness to its object, is a duty to which your Committee have attached the most sacred obligation and : on this ground they have acted, in voting to the Moscow Auxiliary Bible Society, whose resources had suffered by its unmeasured exertions, a Donation of 5001. The cause of the Bible is too strongly felt by your Committee, (as, they are persuaded, it is by the Members of the British and Foreign Bible Society at large,) to allow them to sacrifice the prospect of assisting its diffusion, to a cold and sordid calculation: and when they read such sentiments as the following, from the Imperial Head of the Russian Bible Society -sentiments on which the conduct of the Monarch continues to be uniformly re gulated-they feel more than ever confirmed, in the propriety of affording it the most substantial testimonies of their friendship and affection. "The dissemination of the Book of God's Word among all nations of the earth," says the Emperor Alexander, in his Address to the Frankfort Bible Society, "is a new and extraordinary blessing, from God our Saviour, to the children of men; and it is calculated to promote the work of their salvation. Blessed are they who take the designs of your Society. It is due also to the British Chaplain at that Capital, to observe, that he has co-operated with your Society in a very friendly manner, and favoured it with several useful communications. a part in it for such gather fruit unto eternal life; when those who sow, and those who reap, shall rejoice together. I find this undertaking, not merely worthy of my attention: no, I am penetrated by it to the inmost recesses of my soul; and I reckon the promotion of it my most sacred duty, because on it depends the temporal and eternal happiness of those whom Providence has committed to my care." MEDITERRANEAN. Of the proceedings in these parts, our Readers have received full information. To these particulars it must be added, that an offer has been made by Hilarion, a learned Archimandrite from Mount Lebanon, now resident at Constantinople, to undertake a translation of the whole Bible into Modern Greek; no part but the New Testament having yet been pub lished, and the style of that being thought to admit of considerable improvement. Your Committee, anxious to avail them Of the Malta Bible Society, the selves of assistance in a line which may Report thus speaks: The Malta Bible Society, formed on the 26th of May, 1817, constitutes the principal centre of all the operations which are going forward in this quarter. Aided with a grant, from the British and Foreign Bible Society, of 500., together with more than 6000 copies of the Scriptures, in nineteen languages, this Society has opened an intercourse with the Bible Societies at Petersburg, Calcutta, and Bombay; and its proceedings, which appear to be conducted with great judgment, have been attended with good success, not only within the Island, but also in the Ionian Islands, and on the shores of Egypt and of the Archipelago. The two latter objects have been greatly promoted by the travels of the Rev. Messrs. Burckhardt, Jowett, and Connor. The Committee pay a just tribute to the memory of Mr. Burckhardt. With his character, labours, and death, our Readers are well acquainted. On the subject of the Smyrna Bible Society, we refer to our last Number, pp. 480-482. From the following passage of the Report, it will appear that the Society is to be considered as formed: A Bible Society has also been formed at Smyrna, from the operations of which, much good is anticipated. For the establishment of this important Ally, your Committee are indebted to the active and judicious exertions of the Rev. Mr. WilTiamson, the British Chaplain at that commercial station. Mr. Williamson has extended his services in the same cause, by visiting Constantinople, with the view of promoting lead to the acquisition, not only of an excellent Version of the Scriptures, but also of the authoritative sanction of their free circulation, have embraced the offer, on conditions, which will place the work un Smyrna Bible Societies, and thereby af der the superintendence of the Malta and ford a competent security for the fidelity and correctness of its execution. Some particulars were given respecting this Version, in a communication from Mr. Connor, quoted at p. 409 of the Number for Sep tember. INDIA. The principal part of the intelligence given in the Report respecting the Continent of India has been anticipated by our abstract of the Seventh Report of the Calcutta Auxiliary. See pp. 391-396 of the last Volume. On a subject mentioned in the Fourteenth Report (see p. 167 of our last Volume), it is stated It will be remembered, that, in the last Report, a Resolution was announced, that 500l. would be granted by the British and Foreign Bible Society, for the first thousand copies of every approved Translation of the New Testament into any Dialect of India, in which no translation had previously been printed. Notice of this Re solution having been conveyed to the Corresponding Committee at Calcutta, three Printed Versions, the Pushtoo, the Kun, kun, and the Telinga or Teloogoo, were presented to that body, by the Serampore Translators, in order to their obtaining the proposed remuneration. The Corresponding Committee, from motives of delicacy, (the Translators themselves composing a moiety of its Members,) having declined passing a judgment on the merits of these productions, their claims were submitted to the consideration of those from whom the Resolution proposing the remunera. tion had proceeded; accompanied with an assurance that these Versions had been *the fruit of immense labour and care" that they had been in hand, the Kunkun, six years; the Pushtoo, eight; and the Telinga or Teloogoo, fourteen-that they were," unquestionably, the FIRST Translations of the New Testament ever printed in those languages "—and that, in the advertisement, announcing their publication, "any Gentlemen, throughout India, acquainted with either of those languages, had been requested to furnish remarks on these Translations, as to the STYLE, the CONSTRUCTION, and the RENDERING OF PARTICULAR PASSAGES, with a view to a second and improved edition." Your Committee, having attentively considered the several particulars contained in this statement, were unanimously of opinion, that the claimants were entitled to the benefit of the grant; and accordingly determined, that the sum of 1500l. should be paid to the Serampore Translators, on their presenting 1000 copies of the Pushtoo, Kunkun, and Telinga or Teloogoo New Testaments, respectively, to the Corresponding Committee, or the Calcutta Auxiliary Bible Society. This transaction recalls so forcibly to the minds of your Committee, the venerable individual, William Hey, Esq. of Leeds, in whose generous zeal and enlarged phil anthropy, the plan of extending a more liberal encouragement to Oriental Translations of the Scriptures originated; that, connecting it with his recent removal, at the advanced age of eighty-three, to a better world, they cannot but mingle, with their regret for his loss, their devout acknowledgment that his life was so long preserved, and that the close of it was rendered illustrious by an act from which such advantages are likely to accrue to the cir culation of the Holy Scriptures among the Nations of the East. tianity in India embarked in the arduous duty of superintending an impression of the Syriac New Testament, originating in his own most earnest recommendation. The interruption of that work by his lamented decease, when it had not been carried quite to the close of the Acts of the Apostles, has been already reported; as also the able manner in which his place has been filled up by the learned and laborious Professor Lee: but gratitude to departed worth will not allow your Committee to overlook this opportunity of paying a deserved tribute to the memory of an individual, who first discovered the spiritual wants of this interesting people; and the last act of whose life was, preparing for them that Holy Book, which, through the liberality of your Society, they now possess, and which they peruse with great satisfaction and thankfulness. CEYLON. The COLOMBO Bible Society has found itself, from the pressure of the current expenses, and from the deficiency of its funds, occasioned by war and other local occurrences, greatly embarrassed in prosecuting the expensive undertakings in which it has embarked. So inadequate had its means become, to the demands upon them, that it seemed to be reduced to the necessity of abandoning, either the printing of the Cingalese Old Testament, or the reprinting of the New; each of which appeared to be equally called for, by the circumstances of the Island. Calculating, however, on the liberality, of which it had had such satisfactory experience, the Colombo Bible Society very judiciously determined to continue its exertions, on the scale on which they had been hitherto carried on; and your Committee have, on their part, taken care to justify the confidence reposed in them, by a grant proportioned to the deficiency of the local resources. The following passage from the Secretary's Letter, will shew that encouragement is not wanted to proceed in the good work, so happily begun in this Island. "The demand for the Scriptures, both in Cingalese and English, has certainly increased; and we have every reason to believe, that this increase will, for a long time still, be progressive. Were no other cause to be assigned for this happy symptom of improvement, the great additional number of those who have learned to read in lately-established Schools, might account for it but I hope we may say more; and infer, from this general avidity to possess the Holy Scriptures, that the Gospel of Christ has begun to make its way, as it doubtless will ever spread, where a fair ef |