by his liberal donation, has been pleased to permit the Committee to enrol his name as the patron; and the crown prince has likewise joined the Society. From the Report of the Finnish Bible Society, it appears that 3000 Bibles, of the Finnish version, had been printed from the standing types; and two editions of the New Testament, of 5600 copies each, were published during the year then closing. A quarto edition of the Finnish Bible was on the point of leaving the press; and plates for a stereotype edition of the New Testament had considerably advanced. The Russian Bible Society has adapted itself with prodigious energy and effect to the vast dimensions of a field, comprehending all the European and Asiatic provinces of the Russian empire. The ultimate publication of the Scriptures in more than thirty languages, the circulation of them, the correspondence of the Committee with the different auxiliary societies, scattered over all Russia, from the shores of the White and the Baltic Seas to those of the Euxine and the Caspian, and from the frontiers of Germany to the confines of China, are the objects which occupy the exertions of the Committee. Already translations of the word of God are advancing in many new dialects; and proposals of co-operation, and solicitations for assistance, pour in upon the Committee from all quarters. We cannot find space to enumerate the many works undertaken by the Russian Bible Society. The most important is the translation of the Scriptures into the vernacular Russ. On the 12th of December, the birth-day of the Emperor Alexander, Prince Galitzin presented his majesty with the first copy of the Modern Russ New Testament. "Blessed for ever be God," writes Dr. Pinkerton, "who has enabled us to behold this work of infinite value to the many millions of Russians completed. The first edition consists of 5,000 copies, and is now in the hands of the bookbinder; second, of 20,000, is nearly half printed off; and a third edition of 5,000 is printing in Moscow. The Gospels and Acts, and the first Epistles of this version, have hitherto been in greater demand than we have as yet been able to furnish." Dr. Pinkerton has undertaken the superintendence of the following works:-The Tartar-Turkish Bible, the printing of which has been entrusted to the missionaries at Astrachan; the New Testament in the Mandjur-Chinese; a Persian version of the Old Testament, the first sheets of which have been examined and approved by Professor Lee; a Servian version of the Scriptures; and a Tartar Old Testament, according to the manuscript found by Doctor Pinkerton in the Crimea, with such alterations as the missionaries at Astrachan may deem necessary. The Committee close this part of their Report, with quoting the emphatic prayer with which the pious Metropolitan of Moscow concluded his address, at the anniversary of the Moscow Society: "O thou hypostatical Word of the Father! thou hast thyself said, that without thee we can do nothing. Come, therefore, Infinite Goodness, and dwell in us. Then shall the good seed of thy word, sown in our hearts, grow by thy power; and by thy grace bring forth fruit to the sanctificatiou and salvation of our souls." In Spain and Portugal, and their dependencies, the Committee have not been without the means and opportunities of doing something towards awakening a desire for the holy Scriptures, and of gratifying it where it has been found to exist. The distribution at Madeira proceeds, under encouraging prospects. Schools, founded on the British system, increase, and the Scriptures are introduced into them. A very pleasing commencement has been made in the island of St. Michael, one of the Azores, containing a population of nearly 100,000 souls: 50 copies of the Portuguese Testament were distributed by a pious captain who visited that island; and among the willing and thankful receivers were some persons of the first station in the island, and seven priests and friars; to the latter of whom it was an unknown book, the most learned among them having seen it only in Latin. "At my first attempt to distribute them," says a correspondent, "none were seemingly inclined to receive them; but, before I left the island, I had repeated applications for copies, and could have distributed double the number to great advantage: I was, at the same time, very cautious in disposing of them, to see that the parties could read, and that they were truly desirous to have them for their own use." The connexions of the Society with Italy, from the circumstances of that country, have not experienced any improvement. The obstacles thrown in the way of its measures by the existing governments have hitherto proved for the most part insurmountable. The fathers of the Armenian convent of St. Lazaro, at Venice, have however sent out, at the Society's expense, very copious supplies of Bibles and Testaments, printed in their establishment, to the poor of that nation in different parts of Asia. Very gratifying testimonies have been received of the seasonableness and acceptableness of this gift. In adverting to the progress of the biblical cause among the Catholics, the Committee observe that some of the operations of the Society in this department have been alluded to under the head of the particular countries to which they relate; but that it would be impossible, without taking a general and unrestrained survey of the great moral contest in which the prevailing prejudices of a large part of the Roman Catholic body have involved this institution, to form CHRIST. OBSERV. APP. an adequate conception of its nature and extent, or to appreciate duly the courage and perseverance of those who have stood foremost in advocating its cause against the hostility which those prejudices have opposed to it. The demand for the Scriptures among the Catholics has been greater, and the opportunities of gratifying it have been more frequent and more promising, in the last than in any previous year of the institution; but on the other hand, the counteraction of the adversaries of a free dissemination of the sacred volume, has been more systematic and determined. The intrepid Leander Van Ess has resolved to dedicate all his remaining strength entirely in this service. The success of the Society in the countries bordering on the Mediterranean and its islands, has been checked by the intestine commotions which distract the Turkish empire. Meanwhile, the Malta Society has not been inactive in its peculiar and extensive sphere, having distributed the Italian, Greek, Armenian, Syriac, and Arabic, Scriptures, and the Ethiopic Psalters, besides various European versions, to the shipping in its barbour. The translation of the New Testament into modern Greek, as well as its revision by the Archbishop of Mount Sinai, have been nearly accomplished; and measures are taking for publishing the first edition of this work. The translation of the Albanian New Testament has also been finished, and is under a course of revision. The Turkish New Testament has undergone a revision by Professor Kieffer, of Paris, and the revision and printing of the whole of this version of the Bible are in progress. The copies of Armenian and Arabic Scriptures entrusted to the care of confidential friends at Constantinople, are still disseminated, as opportunities offer, through the regions of the Levant. The Ionian Society goes on with 5 R spirit. The Committee have distributed many copies of the Scriptures, in both Corfu and other islands. They have also engag ed priests to read the New Testament, in the different villages, on Sundays and other particular days, and also in the prisons in the town of Corfu. Abyssinia will, it is hoped, enjoy at no distant period the privilege of being admitted to a participation in the benefits of Scriptural light. The four Gospels in the Amharic, the vulgar dialect of a large portion of Abyssinia, were prepared for the press, and were to be immediately printed. East Indies.-The first event which the Committee announce in adverting to the Eastern operations of the Bible Societies, is the institution of an Auxiliary at Madras. A depository has been established at the Black Town. In the native languages, 2474 copies of the Scriptures, either entire or in part, have been issued; in the English and other European languages, 606: the soldiery and the prisoners in the gaol have shared the benefit of the latter. Various versions and other important designs are in progress. The Calcutta Auxiliary Society proceeds diligently in executing and distributing various versions of the Scriptures. The list of places to which copies of the Scriptures have been remitted, comprehends all the most important places in the presidency. Gratifying intelligence of the progress of the translations at Serampore has been conveyed to the Committee. No less than twenty-four were either printed, printing, or in a state of preparation for the press. The translators engaged at Canton and Malacca state, that during the year 500 copies of the Chinese New Testament, as many of Genesis and of Exodus, St. Luke, and Isaiah, with 200 copies of Joshua, Deuteronomy, and the Psalms, respectively, had been printed at Malacca, and the greater part were in circulation. Other portions of the Bible are in a state of preparation. Dr. Morrison had not been able to distribute any part of the sacred Scriptures in China. The Auxiliary Society in New South Wales continues to receive many gratifying proofs of the effects produced among the inhabitants of the villages, and the prisoners on board the convict ships, by the distribution of the Scriptures. During the year 898 Bibles and Testaments had been issued from the Society's depository, and 296/. 10s. 9d. collected; making a total of 1,210l. 15s. 7d. received since the formation of the Society. The Gospel of St. John has been printed, and is circulating in Tahiti. The missionaries are also printing at this station a second edition of 3000 copies for the Leeward Islands. Africa, though still enveloped for the most part in the shades of midnight darkness, has yet some bright spots on which the beams of the Sun of Righteousness bave fallen. The impression made on the western coast by the Christian labourers in the settlement of Sierra Leone, is truly gratifying; and the account of the Auxiliary Bible Society at Free Town is as encouraging as, from the circumstances of the country, it were reasonable to expect. Copies of the Scriptures, which at first were received gratuitously, are now readily purchased at a reduced price; and there is ground for believing that they have proved a real blessing to many settlers, Maroons, and liberated captives, by whom they have been seriously and diligently perused. In tracing the progress of the Society in the New World, from the Straits of Magellan to the confines of the Polar Sea, the Committee announce, with satisfaction, that the Bible had found a new and unexpected inlet into an unfrequented region of South America. A chieftain of Patagonia had been discovered in possession of a New Testament, printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society. He procured it at Buenos Ayres, whither he had repaired for trading purposes, and thence conveyed it to his home, that he might explain its contents to his fellow-country. men. A native of Rio Negro (a small fort under the Brazilian Government), on the river of that name, on the east coast of Patagonia, was so pleased with a copy of the New Testament, that he requested the person who had brought it thither to bring several copies with him on his return from Buenos Ayres, for the use of his family and friends. In the region of Rio de la Plata, in Chili, at Rio Janeiro and Pernambuco, the Spanish and Portuguese Scriptures were sought with eagerness; and the number of copies in circulation cannot be inconsiderable. The progress of education in these vast regions will afford increasing facilities to the efforts of the kindred institutions. In Demerara the instruction of the Slaves is advancing, under the direct encouragement of his Excel lency the Governor. "A few of the adult Negroes," writes a correspondent, are very diligent in reading their Bibles; a Slave, of the name of Gabriel, reads in his house to his fellow-slaves." In Jamaica, the Auxiliary Society of the People of Colour at Kingston continues to prosecute the object of this Society, as far as circumstances will admit; and having generously offered to purchase some Spanish Testaments, for the purpose of sending them, as opportunities might offer, into the Spanish colonies, the Committee have placed a larger quantity at their disposal for sale, or gratuitous distribution, through such channels. From the Bahama Islands the Committee have received very gratifying intelligence. In these, and likewise in Cuba, the Scriptures are sought for. From Nassau, New Providence,a correspondent writes, "Several of those who had purchased Spanish New Testaments, seem desirous of circulating them among their brethren in those quarters. Send me one hundred more copies." In the United States of America, the national institution, under the designation of the American Bible Society, continues to extend the scale of its operations by the enlargement of its funds, the increase of its issues, and the multiplication of its auxiliaries. The publication of Monthly Extracts of Correspondence has been adopted by the American Society. From April 1821, to January 1822, there had been printed, or were in the press 13,500 Bibles, 23,250 Testaments, and 250 German Bibles purchased; total, 37,000. Bibles and Testaments printed, or procured for circulation, during the first five years, were 231,552; total, 208,.552 The present number of auxiliaries in connexion with the American Bible Society, is 267. The receipts during nine months were 27,170 dollars. From the continent of British North-America the Committee continue to receive encouraging reports of the progressive distribution of the Scriptures, through the exertions of the various societies in Upper and Lower Canada, in New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The Committee announce the establishment of an Auxiliary Bible Society in the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company. It had received the support of the Governors and Directors of that Company, and had already commenced its operations. In Labrador the grant of New Testaments to the poor Esquimaux has been received with extreme gratitude. "Several of our Esquimaux," writes one of the missionaries of the United Brethren from Nain, "who had been informed of the nature of the Bible Society, and its aim in the distribution of the sacred Scriptures throughout the world, of their own accord began to collect seals' blubber, by way of making up a small contribution towards the expenses of the Bible Society. The expressions they made use of in presenting their gifts deeply affected us all." A new version of the New Testament in the Greenland language has been completed; and the first edition of 1000 copies is now print. ing in London. Returning homewards, the Committee state that the Hibernian Bible Society has added, during the past year, twenty-six new auxiliaries, or associations, to those previously in connexion with it; making the total number of Bible institutions in connexion with the Hibernian Bible Society throughout Ireland, one hundred and thirteen. The following numbers of copies ofthe Scriptures have been issued from the Society's depository during the year : 118,766 Bibles, and 136,973 Testaments; making, with those issued at the expense of the Society from foreign presses, since the commencement of the institution, three millions five bun dred and sixty-three thousand nine hundred and seventy-four Bibles and Testaments! With this simple but astonishing fact, which needs no comment, we close our abstract; adding only, in the impressive words of the conclusion of the Report before us, that "those who have found in the word of God a balm for the cure of all natural and moral evil, prepared by their heavenly Physician himself, can never contemplate the calamities attending human existence, and the future eternal destinies of their fellow-creatures, without an anxious wish and correspondent efforts to put them in possession of that remedy from which they themselves have derived health, comfort, and hope; even that blessed book which opens to those who believe its promises, and practise its precepts, a perennial fountain of inward peace and consolation amidst their severest trials and afflictions, and enables them to exclaim triumphantly, amidst the pangs of dissolution, O death, where is thy sting ! O grave, where is thy victory!'" PARIS SOCIETY FOR ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION. THE following is the substance of the Report of the Society for elementary Instruction at Paris, read at the last general meeting of the Society. During the year, the total number of schools had not increased; it appears even to have lessened; but the recent formation of several new ones and the continual improvement of others amply compensate for this deficiency. The number of schools established during the last year is 157. "It furnishes cause not only for surprise but admiration," remarks the Report, "that 157 schools should have been esta blished in 1821, in the midst of the unjust opposition which arrests the progress and paralyses the generous efforts of the friends of education." An interesting application of the system has been made in the formation of schools for adults. The first adult school at Paris was opened by M. Delahaye, of the Isle of Saint Louis; it is free, and is supported entirely at his own expense. M. Sarrasin, superintendent of the Normal School, animated by this example, has requested the Prefect to allow him to open one in the evening at the Normal School: the offer bas been accepted,and the plan already accomplished: labourers and domestic servants attend it with zeal and earnestness, and the very rapid progress they make, it is stated, would scarcely be believed by those who are ignoraut of the method, The departments of the Rhine containa large number of adult schools. At Munster, Metz, Troyes, and |