Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

and has also expressed a solicitude to obtain a copy of the Bible in Turkish. A version of the Calmuc New Testament, translated at St. Petersburg, is printing there, at the charge of the British and Foreign Bible Society. This dialect is understood by other tribes in Siberia, and on the confines of China.

The Georgian Archbishop, Dositheos, is a member of the Russian Bible Society; and by his influence, the Royal Family of Georgia, and many of his countrymen, have also become members of it. The number of professed Christians in the three provinces under his charge, exceeds half a million; and in the 2000 churches which they contain, there are not 200 copies of the Bible Not only is an edition of the Georgian New Testament printing at Moscow, but the Archbishop has heartily agreed to promote the establishment of a Georgian Bible Society on his arrival at Tiflis, the capital.

"It is my opinion," says the ecclesiastical head of the Græco-Georgian Church, “that the Bible Societies will be the means of spreading the knowledge of the Gospel among all nations, and of fulfilling the prophecies of our Lord in regard to this part of our faith. But such institutions are not only most eminently calculated fo bring the heathens to the faith of the Gospel, but also to rouse the churches of Christ, in different lands, from that spiritual ignorance and slumber in which many of them are lying, and to bring them again to the fountain of all truth and blessings."

As a token of his esteem for the Society, he has presented to them, a copy of a Georgian Bible, with an inscription expressing his "hearty desire to co-operate with them in their exertions, to spread the word of the Lord among all nations of the earth."

The first annual meeting of the Russian Bible Society was held at St. Petersburg on the 20th of last September. On this occasion, the first dignitaries of the Greek, Catholic, Armenian, and Georgian churches attended, in their sacerdotal garments, united in amity and peace. The proceedings of the day were conducted by the President, Prince Galitzin. The Report of the Committee, when reading, produced a burst of astonishment, gratitude, and joy, over the gloriously simple principles and blessed effects of their beneficent

institution. The immediate effect of this meeting was the accession of three metropolitans, five archbishops, and two distinguished laymen, to the list of vice-presidents of the Society.

Nine Auxiliary Societies are connected with that of St. Petersburgh. More are in contemplation; and the plan for Bible Associations has been considered, and unanimously approved; and each vice-president and director had his district assigned to him, in order to carry the plan into effect.

The Armenian Bible is now printing in Russia, and the Committee have agreed to assist the undertaking, by a donation of 5001. The Armenian inhabitants of Russia have themselves subscribed for half the edition of the New Testament, consisting of 5000 copies, now printing.

The following is a quotation from a letter addressed to Lord Teignmouth, by Prince Galitzin :

"The object of the Society is from day to day becoming more generally known and understood from its beneficent effects: its funds are increasing by the subscriptions and donations of many thousands of new members, Thus our institution is enabled, as it advances, to extend the sphere of its operations, through the increasing aid which it receives from all classes of people in the empire; among whom the Russian Clergy, by their own liberality and per suasion of others, are peculiarly dis tinguished. The peasantry in the vil lages lay together their rubles and kopecs, to support the good cause of the Society; thus manifesting, that they have right ideas of its pious work. The demand for Bibles increases from day to day so much, that the Society knows not how to satisfy it. Such, my lord, are evident marks of the grace of God, that bringeth salvation to all men, and leadeth them, therefore, to the knowledge of the word of life."

Such a description suggests heartfelt prayers to God, for his blessing on an institution formed for supplying the spiritual wants of the Russian empire, The Committee have voted a third donation of 10001. in aid of the Russian Bible Society.

The Committee have received a donation from that Society, of 1000 copies of the Armenian New Testament: in return, they have placed at its disposal a considerable quantity of Bibles and Testaments, which remained on band is

Russia, after supplying the prisoners of war in that empire, as well as nearly 500 Testaments in the Ancient and Modern Greek, together with a set of stereotype plates for the Modern Greek Testament, which will facilitate the circulation of the Scriptures in the provinces using the Greek language, where the demand is increasing.

SWEDEN.

Of the activity displayed by the Evangelical Society at Stockholm, no further proof is necessary than that it has printed 40,600 Testaments, and 13,500 Bibles. The Committee has granted the sum of 3001. to this Society, to aid the printing of a pocket Swedish Testament, on standing types, which was much wanted; and a further sum of 2001. to enable the Society to extend the distribution of Bibles among the poor in Sweden.

The three Auxiliary Societies of Gothenburg, Westeras, and Gothland, are no less actively employed in circulating the holy Scriptures within their several departments; and their exertions have been assisted by donations from this Society.

The Committee here alludes, with feelings of unfeigned regret, to the death of the Rev. Dr. Brunnmark, whose life was a sacrifice to his indefatigable exertions in this cause. He had the satisfaction, however, to witness the happy effects of the three societies he had planted; and to observe a growing interest in Sweden, both in the circulation and perusal of the holy Scriptures. He assisted to form the plan of a general Swedish Bible Society, which was submitted to the King, with a request that he would become its Patron; to which his Majesty assented; and the crown prince, at the same time, assented to be the first honorary member of the Society, which obtained the royal confirmation on the 22d of February last. Count Rosenblad, the President, has already demonstrated the deep interest which he feels in the success of the institution, by the measures he has adopted for forming Auxiliary Societies in Sweden, as well as a Bible Society in Norway. The Committee have voted 6001. in aid of the Swedish Bible So ciety.

DENMARK.

On the 22d of May, 1814, at a most respectable Meeting convened in Copenhagen, at which Dr. Münter, the CHRIST. OBSERV. No, 163,

Bishop of Zealand, presided, a Danish Bible Society was formed, with his Danish Majesty's approbation, and with the promise of his highest protection. The objects of this Institution are to supply Denmark with the Danish Scriptures; to provide the Germans settled there with the German Scriptures; to provide for the exigencies of Iceland, Greenland, the Danish West-India Islands, and the Danish Settlements on the Coast of Africa.

Iceland was last year visited by the Rev. Mr. Henderson. The main object of his journey was to give the natives the full benefit of the measures adopted for supplying them with the holy Scriptures. He carried with him the recom mendation of Bishop Münter, and received the greatest encouragement from the Bishop and Clergy of Iceland, as well as from the Civil Authorities he employed two months in perilous journeys into the interior, and, wherever he went, he was welcomed with enthusiasm, and followed by the benediction of the inhabitants. The want of the Scriptures was lamentably felt, and the ardour of the people to obtain a copy excessive; yet, notwithstanding this scarcity, he received frequent proofs of the acquaintance of the Icelanders with the contents of the sacred volume; and, taken as a body, they exhibited the strongest marks of a religious dispo sition.

FINLAND.

The Finnish Bible Society flourishes, and the grant of 2001. for supplying the Swedish inhabitants of Finland with the Scriptures has produced the happiest effects. This Society had agreed to adopt the plan of establishing Auxiliary Societies. The Committee have granted 5001. to promote the printing of a quarto edition of the Finnish Scriptures. This fresh donation has been acknowledged in terms of the warmest gratitude by the Governor general of Finland.

GERMANY.

A Bible Society has been formed at Lubeck, with the sanction of the Burgomaster and first members of the Government. It has been assisted by a grant of 1001.-To the Hamburg-Altona Bible Society recently established, the Committee have granted 3001.—At Bremen, a Society has also been recently established, to which a donation of 1001 has been presented.

3 Q

A Bible Society has been instituted at Dantzick, after the plan of the Prussian Bible Society, his Excellency J. W. de Weikman, Privy Counsellor of bis Prussian Majesty, President. A donation has been made to it of 2001. besides 501. for the gratuitous distribution of Bibles among the inhabitants of that city, who had most severely suffer ed from its bombardment.

To a Bible Society formed at Erfurt, for the province of Thuringia, 3001. have been granted in aid of its funds.

The Wurtemberg Bible Institution has made progress, both in collecting subscriptions and in printing a large 8vo. edition of the German Bible. The King of Wurtemberg, has granted the Institution the freedom of postage for all its letters and parcels, and allowed it the useof a seal.

A Branch Bible Society has been formed by the United Brethren, for Herrnhut Niesky, and Kleinwelke, in connexion with the Saxon Bible Society.

[SWITZERLAND.

An additional grant of 2001. has enabled the Zurich Society to undertake a large edition of the German Bible. The Bible Society at St. Gall men tions that the Canton of St. Gall contains upwards of 100 Catholic parishes, in which the reading of the Scriptures was formerly prohibited to the people, but that eighty or ninety of the parish es have received permission to peruse them; and that the acquaintance of the Catholics with the Scriptures becomes more and more general. The situation of this society, as well as that of Bâsle, being calculated for promoting the cir culation of the Scriptures among the Roman Catholics, the Committee have presented to each 1001.

The Bible Society at Bâsle has printed and circulated the Italian and Romanese New Testament. The Romanese Old Testament was also in progress. All these works are materially assisted by the Bible Committee at Chur. The Bâsle Society has also completed an edition of 10,000 copies of a German Bible, on small types. Its Bibles and Testaments are circulating, not only in Switzerland, but also in several parts of Germany and France; both among Protestants and Roman Catholics,

Bible Societies have been instituted at Lausanne, for the Canton de Vaud, and at Geneva, to each of which the, Committee have voted 2001

MALTA.

His Majesty's Sicilian Regiment, by the permission of the Colonel, has been supplied with Italian Testaments. The French and Italian prisoners of war on board the transports at Valletta, were also furnished with Bibles and Testa ments, previously to their return. These Testaments were eagerly and gratefully received; and, from the report of the English Surgeon in charge of these men, it appears, that they were perused with great avidity, and the most gratifying effect.

FRANCE.

The Committee have endeavour. ed to promote the circulation of the holy Scriptures in that country, by a donation of 5001. to the Consistories in Paris, for French Stereotype Testaments for the use of Protestants; and have also subscribed 2501. to a stereotype edition of Maitre de Sacy's version of the New Testament for the use of the Catholics in France*.

TURKEY.

TheCommittee having received infor mation of a Turkish translation of the whole Bible in manuscript, which had been deposited for a century and a half in the archives of the University of Leyden, have happily obtained possession of it, through the kindness of Mr. Professor Kemper. It is now consigned to the care of Baron Von Diez, Coun sellor of Legation to his Prussian Majesty, and formerly Ambassador at Con stantinople, for the purpose of being printed at Berlin. This venerable nobleman, who, with the knowledge and talents requisite for the task, unites a cordial zeal for the propagation of Divine truth, has undertaken to superin tend the printing of this valuable manuscript. He has pronounced the translation accurate, and the style most excellent.

The Official Declaration from the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Greek Church, in favour of the accuracy of the Modern Greek Testament, printed by this Society, and authorizing the free sale and perusal of it, has already ap peared in our pages.

(To be continned.).

* Both these editions have been prepared under the care and superinten dance of Mr. Leo.

PRAYER-BOOK AND HOMILY

SOCIETY.

The Third Annual Report of this Society is before us, and we proceed to give our readers an abstract of it.

The Committee have taken a house in Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, where the meetings of the Committee are held, and where the sale of books, together with all other business of the Institution, is carried on.

The Folio Edition of the entire Book of Homilies has been completed; and, through the care of the Rev. Henry Budd and the Rev. C. R. Pritchett, it has been edited with peculiar judgment and accuracy. The copies will be delivered to Subscribers, as soon as they' can be bound without injury. It was necessary that those already bound should be hotpressed. The Society has lost above two shillings by every copy, the subscription price of One Guinea proving too low. In future it will be 258.

The issue of Prayer-books has in creased. In the first year it was 3500; in the second, 7660; in the third, 9,331, besides 975 Psalters. The Homily Tracts issued have amounted to 55,500, besides 625 copies of the Articles.

The Committee have supplied the Hulks with 1000 Homily Tracts. A letter was afterwards received by the Secretary, signed by 21 of the convicts, of which the following is an extract.

"Having through the medium of our much-esteemed and worthy Chaplain, the Rev. Mr. -, received your valuable present of Homilies, &c. for our use and edification, we most hum Bly beg permission to return our sin cere and grateful acknowledgments for the same, assuring you, Reve rend Sir, that the value of your present is justly appreciated by us, from the inconvenience which we re cently experienced from the want of them.

“Your condescension and benevolence to us, in this our secluded and unhappy situation, has revived our depressed spirits, and stirred us up to emulation of each other in religious and moral duties; and we humbly hope, that from your humane goodness, the unremitting exertions and laudable example of our worthy Chaplain, and the arduous endeavours of Captain Mears, to be brought to a due conviction of our late sinful course of life, and by our most anxious endeavours (through Divine Providence) to pursue such a line of

conduct (during the remaining period of our unhappy seclusion from society) as may fix upon our minds a just abhorrence of sin, and deter us (when it shall please the Almighty to restore us to the blessings of liberty) from again relapsing into a similar unhappy condition."

Through the assistance of the present worthy Ordinary of Newgate, they have likewise supplied that prison with 20 quarto Prayer-books, to which will be added, as many folio copies of the Ho. milies at cost price; the whole to be properly secured for the use of the prisoners. Some copies of the smaller Prayer-books and Homilies have been supplied gratuitously.

The Committee have also sent Prayer books and Homily Tracts to New South Wales, Sierra Leone, and Ceylon, and have opened a correspondence with Ire land, tlie Cape of Good Hope, and Ben! gal. The packages for New South Wales, containing 1000 Prayer-books, and an assortment of Homily Tracts; were sent thither by means of an order from Earl Bathurst, who was pleased also to recommend the object to the Governor of the Colony. Means have been taken for distributing Prayer books and Homily Traets among the soldiers embarking for foreign service."

During the year, six more of the Ho milies have been added to the Tracts, and two more are in the press. The re maining five will soon be published. The number printed since the last meeting has been 82,000.

The Committee express their acknow ledgments to Thomas Bates, Esq. of Hatton Castle, Northumberland, for a subscription of 200 guineas to the Folio Edition of the Homilies. He is now furnishing the parish churches in his neighbourhood with copies. They likewise express their obligations to various Clergymen who have preached, or lent their pulpits, for the benefit of the Institution. It is strongly recommended that associations should be formed for supplying local wants, by means of sub seriptions of a penny a week.

Several valuable testimonies have re cently been borne to the usefulness of the Homilies as tracts, little differing in substance from those already re corded.

Joseph Wilson, Esq. has been chosen Treasurer of the Society, in the room of the late lamented Henry Thornton, Esq.

The funds of this valuable Institution continue to be very inadequate to its'

objects. The annual subscriptions do not amount to 5001.; and the whole sum obtained during the year, in donations and collections, has only been 2931. The Committee have undertaken to pre pare an edition of the Prayer-book in Hindustanee, for the use of the Natives of India. The translation is the work of the late Rev. Henry Martyn. This is an object to which all who love the Church of England, and desire ber increase, and long to see her shadow extending into distant lands, will be glad

to contribute.

The Report is preceded by an excellent sermon preached before the Society, by the Rev. John Sargent, M.A. Rector of Graffham in Sussex. The subject is Christian simplicity, and the sermon itself affords a pleasing illustration of this grace. An extract or two will close this article: they will speak more pow erfully in favour of the Society, than any thing which we ourselves could substitute.

"With regard to the Homilies, we have in them the same truths set forth to us as in the Articles; with this exception, that they are there proposed, as might be expected from the didactic nature of such discourses, in a different man ner. In the one, they are stated definite, Jy and formally; in the other, in a more popular mode: for it is not one of the least of the many excellencies of the Homilies, that, though they are accurate in defining, where that is necessary, they are by no means systematic; they set forth the truths of the Gospel, as they are generally set forth to us in the holy Scrip tures; and in this, they imitate their simplicity. In conformity also with these Divine oracles, they inculcate those points the most earnestly which lie at the foundation of faith and practice: they observe a due proportion between doctrines and precepts: they are replete with energetic warnings and exhortations; they are most remote from any thing metaphysical, wild, and fanciful; they are frequent in their reference to the Scripture, and the Scripture is fairly and honestly quoted; they are full likewise of the examples of Scripture, and do not consider them, as too often is done, as exempt cases. And to all this we must add, that their lan guage, though eloquent, is not that eloquence which soars above the compre, hensions of the common people, and which, on that account perhaps, is not of the highest cast; but that which con,

[ocr errors]

descends to their capacities, and which speaks, as the Angels to the Shepherds, in sublime but intelligible accents, Unto you is born a Saviour, Christ the Lord.'

"How fully do the Homilies set forth the excellence of the Scriptures; and exhort men to speak, think, believe, live, and depart, according to them! How faithfully do they declare the condition of man; that it is one of extreme misery; that he is wretched, sinful, and condemned," without one spark of goodness in himt" but what he derives from the Holy Spirit! How evangelically do they preach the glad tidings of the Gospel; holding forth the mercy and merits of Jesus, as the only grounds of our justification, and that we partake of the benefits of this justification in the simpliest possible way, even by faith; for that we are justified by faith only; which faith they affirm to be the gift of God! Again; how careful, therefore, are they to distinguish a true from a false faith; shewing that true faith is ever productive of holiness. And, as holiness itself may be mistaken, how well do they distinguish that which is genuine from that which is spurious; declaring that they are to be known by their re spective motives and ends! How earnestly do they press upon the conscience, the necessity of submitting to lawful authority, and of labouring after purity and peace! How openly do they display the dangerous extremes of presumption and despair: and yet, how would they have the Christian animated against the fears of death; viewing it, with the most comfortable assurance, not as an enemy, but as a friend; not as a cruel tyrant, but as a gentle guide; leading him not to mortality but immortality, not to sorrow and pain but to joy and pleasure, and that to endure for ever, moret,"

After a similar exposition of the excellence of the Liturgy, he adds,—

"Need we then, my brethren, when we say that an institution has this exclusive object, add one word more to recommend it? Does it not bear its own recommendation inscribed upon the

* See particularly the Second Homily throughout.

+ See Homily for Whitsunday, Socie ty's Fol. Ed, p. 315,

Homily" against the Fear of Death," Society's Fol.. ..Ed. P. 63.

« AnteriorContinuar »