munion with his Saviour, and never complained; but, Dec. 14, 1787, grew so weak that he required constant attendance day and night. He spoke with cheerfulness of that happy moment when he should be released from all his pain and trouble, and when he should see his Saviour face to face. His last words were, "O Lord Jesus, come quickly!" During his ill ness he used to give out several hymns that had been his particular favourites, desiring those present to sing them for him, in which he joined now and then with great fervour. On the 21st of Dec. 1787, towards evening, he departed into the joy of his Lord, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, and now rests from all his labour with the Lord for ever. Reports of Societies. NINETEENTH REPORT OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN PRESENTED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING IN FREE-MASONS' HALL, LONDON, MAY 7, 1823. The Report before us occupies sixty-six large octavo pages. Of these, ten are devoted to a view of the domestic concerns of the Society, and fifty-six to its foreign operations, in connexion with the progress and present state of kindred Institutions in various parts of the Christian world. very brief abstract is all that our limits will admit. A FRANCE. stereotype edition of Ostervald's Bible, After a concise account of the last anniversary by the Paris Society. Your committee of the Protestant Bible Society of Paris, the Report proceeds :: The Central Society at Paris is rapidly exhausting, by the distribution of the Scriptures in its own immediate sphere, and supplies to auxiliary societies, those large editions with which its depository has been stocked. To meet the demands, which are great and urgent, the committee have adopted vigorous measures. Observing that a deficiency existed chiefly among the readers of Ostervald's version, which is used in almost all the Protestant churches in the eastern and northern extremities of France, they have undertaken a stereotype edition of this Bible in octavo. Of Martin's Bible 36,000 copies have been already provided; of the same version stereotype plates, of a large octavo edition, have been completed; and a pocket edition of the New Testament, which is much in request, has been undertaken by your committee, in consideration of the heavy expenses incurred in the have also consigned 2,000 copies of their stock of Martin's octavo Bible, and 1,000 copies of the pocket Bible, to the Paris committee, and have added a donation of 500 German New Testaments for the use of the German Protestants resident in the French capital. The Paris Society is now supported by thirty-six Auxiliaries, one Consistorial Society, twenty-eight Branch Societies, venteen exist in Paris alone; making the and forty-nine Associations, of which senumber of one hundred and fourteen Biblical Institutions in various parts of France. In relation to the distribution of the Scriptures among the French Catholics, the Report thus remarks: Your committee proceed to report some of the principal results of their own endeavours to satisfy, through the medium of their correspondents, the desire for the Scriptures among the Roman Catholics in France. Among the Catholics," it is stated in one of the letters received, "the demand for the Scriptures is great. One 66 individual has distributed, among those in his neighbourhood, 550 copies of De Sacy's Testament in a short period, and has now requests in writing from various individuals for 200 more. Though many of these books, from the poverty of the people, are bestowed gratuitously, yet they are not given without inquiry into the character and circumstances of the applicant, and a persuasion that he has really a claim for the gift which he solicits." A gratifying report has been received from another correspondent, engaged in distributing Catholic versions in prisons, hospitals, penitentiaries, and regimental schools. He found several of the physicians disposed to co-operate with him. "It is no longer rare," he observes, when referring to the Royal Hospital of Invalids at Paris, "to see the brave veteran inmates of that asylum reading the New Testament to their children, or hearing it read by them." Many similar instances of a disposition to receive the Scriptures, on the part of their Catholic brethren, have come to the knowledge of your committee; but they confine themselves to the single statement, that upwards of twelve thousand Bibles and Testaments, of the French Catholic version, have been circulated during the last year; and that an additional donation of 5.000 New Testaments has been recently made to the Society for Mutual Instruction. The assistance which the committee have re ceived from distinguished men in Paris, in the difficult labour of translating the Scriptures into the state ready for circulation. The printing of the Bible in the same language advances, though slowly, through the anxiety of its editor to see it executed with accuracy. Your committee have also to announce the completion of the translation of the four Gospels into the modern Armenian language, from the ancient Armenian text, being part of a version of the whole New Testament, undertaken by a learned Armenian residing at Paris. An opportunity of ascertaining experimentally the merit of this work, was provided by Dr. Pinkerton, who had a specimen printed at St. Petersburgh, and sent into different parts of Turkey for examination. Your committee look forward to the most valuable assistance in the execution of their Oriental translations from the recent formation of an Institution at Paris, under the denomination of "The Asiatic Society for the encouragement of Oriental Literature." It only remains for your committee to acknowledge, under this head, the advantages which they have derived from the free access to the Parisian libraries which has been afforded to their friends and agents; and to express further their gratitude to the French government for its indulgent remission of the duties upon copies of the Scriptures imported into France. UNITED NETHERLANDS. From the Bible Society of the UNITED NETHERLANDS, your committee have received very encouraging accounts during the last year. The Central Society at Amsterdam has presented its eighth Rether supplied by its subscribers, or by the port to your committee. Its funds, whesteady, and, upon the whole, increasing contributions of nearly sixty Auxiliary Societies, are in a flourishing state, exhibiting a balance in favour of its income of upwards of 80,000 guilders, or £6,000. It appears that 5,896 Bibles and 4,339 New Testaments have issued during the last year from the depository of the Amsterdam Society. The dissemination of the Scriptures in Flanders, though small in comparison to the extent of the field over which they have been scattered, has been by no means inconsiderable. The Catholic versions of the New Testament, of De Sacy and Maurentorf, in the French and Flemish languages, have obtained a wide circulation in Ghent, in Ostende, and in other places; and a small depôt for the Scriptures has been established at Antwerp, destined for the supply of seamen from all countries, who frequent the harbour of that city. The translation into the Javanese language had been carried on by the Rev. M. Brückner, as far as St. Paul's Epistle to the Colossians, and the four Gospels had been revised for the press. The Netherlands committee suspend the printing of this work until it shall have undergone the examination of competent persons. The Malay Bible, in the Arabic character, had been carried on as far as the Book of Job, and is probably nearly completed. Every opportunity for conveying the New Testament of this version to the coasts of Sumatra, and other parts, has been improved. The whole remaining stock of your Malay Bible with Roman characters, formerly in the depository of your Society, has been transferred, by sale, to the Netherlands Bible Society, as the Moluccas, and other Islands, for the use of which it was designed, are included in the sphere of that Institution. Among the reasons for instant compliance with the wish expressed by the Netherlands Society, to obtain possession of this version, one was furnished by the gratifying intelligence communicated by the Rev. Mr. Kam, of Amboyna, that the distribution of the New Testament had excited a great desire for the whole Bible. In the meantime the Amsterdam committee are engaged in printing an edition of the whole Bible in this character; and the utmost care is taken to secure its correctness. SWITZERLAND. The numerous Bible Societies in the different cantons of Switzerland, labour with emulative zeal, to ascertain and to supply the want of the Scriptures among the natives of their more populous or thinly inhabited districts, whether speak VOL. IV. 46 ing the French, German, or Italian languages. The anniversaries of these peaceful and prosperous Institutions have been solemnized in the true spirit of concord. The Basle Society has continued with judgment and activity an extensive distri bution of the Scriptures, in French, German, and Italian. It has also undertaken, on account of the London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews, the printing of the Hebrew Bible according to Van der Hoogt's edition, with the Hebrew translation of the New Testament. The expense of a certain number of copies of this work, your committee have agreed to defray. The progress of distributing the Scriptures among the Roman Catholics is described in the following terms by the treasurer of this Society :-"We often feared lest our efforts in this quarter should be entirely stopped; but new doors are continually opening, whilst old ones close. A letter was yesterday laid before our committee, from a schoolmaster who instructs the children of four very poor villages, expressing, at the instance of his scholars and their parents, a desire for a number of Van Ess's New Testaments. He informs us that his parish minister, who has eighteen villages to supply, is friendly to the distribution of the Scriptures." The Zurich Society, the last report of which has just reached your committee, continues, in conjunction with its auxiliary at Winterthur, to prosecute its labours with success, and has circulated, during the ten years which have elapsed since its formation, nearly 6,000 Bibles and Testaments. A fresh edition of a large octavo Bible is now in the press under its direction. The venerable Antistes Hess still takes an active part in the concerns of the Zurich Society with a zeal unsubdued by age and increasing infirmities. To the following passage of a letter, addressed by that distinguished minister to the aged President of the Bern Society, your committee attach that weight which his sentiments must ever derive from his piety, his experience, the exalted station which he occupies in the church to which he belongs, and the eminent services which he has rendered to the cause of your Institution. "If we take a retrospective glance, (he observes,) how much have we seen, that we are happy to have outlived; and again, how much have we experienced, which it has afforded us joy to have witnessed; for instance, this blessed promulgation of the word of God. What glorious things do we anticipate by the eye of faith, as about to develope themselves, when we are no longer on earth. For my part, I consider myself happy in being able to devote the remnant of my days to that study which has been my favourite employment for sixty years past. As I entered the list of authors with the Life of Jesus,' so now I leave it with the same inexhaustible theme of meditation and reflection, of faith and hope." The Lausanne Bible Society has, during the last year, disposed of 5,000 copies of its quarto edition of the Bible, 2,000 of which were reserved for circulation in the Canton, and 3,000 transmitted to Geneva and Neufchatel. Previously to this seasonable supply in this Canton, the committee of the Lausanne Society had received most affecting statements respecting the want of the Scriptures, and considerable contributions towards relieving it, from nearly 40 parishes. In one of them the minister had discovered, during an investigation which occupied six days, the want of 120 Bibles. Your committee conclude their article relative to the Swiss Societies, by stating that they have assisted Lausanne, Geneva, and Neufchatel, respectively, with a supply of 500 copies of the Basle edition of Ostervald's version, in 12mo. GERMANY. By the efforts of the Wurtemberg Bible Society, 5,528 Bibles and 2,620 Testaments had been distributed within the kingdom in the year ending October, 1822. The total amount of its issues, for domestic purposes only, has thus been 63,994. "Still, (its committee state in their Tenth Report,) a great field within the borders of Wurtemberg remains for our active exertions: many wants have not yet been supplied-many petitioners have been requested to wait with patience, and we have often felt ourselves constrained to withhold the willing hand, from a consideration of our circumscribed means." The Bible Society of the Grand Duchy of Baden has adopted active measures to ascertain the want of the Scriptures in Carlsruhe, the seat of its central committee, and in the surrounding territories. Returns of the estimated deficiency from thirty-three districts make it exceed ten thousand copies, a number still supposed to fall far short of the real amount. This society has been liberally assisted by your committee; from its own funds it has purchased 2,860 Bibles, and distributed, since its establishment in 1820, nearly 6,000 Bibles, and 731 New Testaments. The Hesse Darmstadt Society has issued nearly 3,000 Bibles and Testaments. "Yet" (says the account recently transmitted to your Committee) "the demand for the Word of God is great from every quarter, and cannot be fully satisfied." Your committee have supplied the Protestant Consistory at Munich with 1,000 Bibles and 1,000 Testaments, from the presses of Stuttgardt; and have offered to that body, in the event of a Bible Society being established for the Protestants in the kingdom of Bavaria, the sum of £500. One instance of generous and persevering zeal merits particular commendation. A magistrate of the city of Bayreuth, M. Leers, and the Rev. Dean Pflaum, have printed by subscription two cheap editions of Luther's German Testament, each consisting of 6,600 copies, of which 600 were distributed gratis to the poor. Your committee have seconded the benevolent efforts of these individuals, by a grant of 1,000 New Testaments, and an offer to assist them in the publication of a third edition of the New Testament, on condition of its being free from note or comment. The grant, together with this offer, was acknowledged in the following terms:-"Your cheering communication afforded the highest gratification both to Counsellor Leers and myself. What pure delight and heavenly blessings are thus dispensed to our poor brethren in our town and neighbourhood! Assure your committee that the grant of 1,000 New Testaments shall be distributed with the most conscientious care, and that an account of the mode in which their benevolent views are carried into effect, shall be rendered in due time. Still, however, the remainder of the principality, embracing a Protestant population of 150,000 souls, is in great want of the Scriptures; we shall, therefore, print immediately a third edition of 7,000 Testaments, relying on the kind assurance which you hold out to us in the name of your committee.” The Saxon Bible Society has distributed, in the course of the last year, according to the statement contained in its Eighth Report, 3,641 Bibles, and 423 Testaments, a number exceeding the circulation of the preceding year. Of the Hernnhut Branch of the Saxon Bible Society, it is sufficient to state that it has circulated, during the past year, with the aid of your committee, 10,875 New Testaments, of Gosner's and Van Ess's versions, and 1,710 Bibles in the German and Bohemian languages, together with a number of copies of the NewTestament of Luther's version; many of these copies have been disposed of by sale at reduced prices. Notwithstanding its past efforts, this institution describes the demand upon its means as continuing unabated, and labours with unremitting industry to supply it. The Leipzig Bible Society has increased its distribution of the Scriptures to a considerable extent among the residents in that city, and also among the numerous strangers who resort to its fairs. The Bible Societies of Weimar and of Eisenach respectively prosecute their labours under the patronage of their Royal Highnesses the Grand Duke and Duchess of Weimar. The Weimar committee have distributed upwards of 1,000 Bibles in four, out of eighteen, dioceses, comprised within their sphere. The wants of the remaining fourteen which have not been supplied, may be appreciated, when it is mentioned, that in their schools alone no less than 2,000 Bibles are required for the use of the indigent children. The Society of Eisenach has extended its relief to neighbouring districts. Her Highness the Dowager Duchess of Saxe Meiningen has expressed her desire of distributing copies with her own hand. The Hanoverian Bible Society has considerably advanced towards the completion of its edition of Luther's version, in large types, the want of which has been much felt by the old, and those whose sight is imperfect. The issues of this institution, from the period of its establishment, amount to 16,784 copies. By the Seventh Report of the Hambroinstitution has circulated, since its estaAltona Bible Society, it appears that this blishment, 18,839 Bibles, and 1,908 Testaof Luther's version, consisting of 20,000 ments, and has commenced a new edition copies. Your committee have contributed the sum of £200 to the New Testament, forming part of this edition. PRUSSIA. Your committee not having yet received the Eighth Report of the Central Prussian Bible Society, are unable to present a summary view of the progress of that institution, and of its numerous and well connected auxiliaries, in the various parts of the Prussian dominions. The defect produced by the absence of this important document, is in a great measure supplied, with regard to the more general tendency and efforts of those institutions, by information conveyed to your committee, in an official letter from the Central Society, written on the event of its eighth anniversary, and by communications from several of its auxiliaries. The official letter, to which allusion is made, ascribes to the direct influence of the Bible Society, that growing spirit of harmony which is observable among all classes of Christians in Prussia; and Dr. Pinkerton confirms the general tenor of this opinion, by the following interesting statements and reflections, contained in a letter dated Berlin, February 3, 1823. "The cause of the Prussian Bible Society, and of every other Christian and humane institution, continues to prosper in Berlin, and genuine Christianity is now making very encouraging progress in eve |