land, for what it has given to the Sunday-schools, and what it has done for the London Hibernian Society, and I am only acting consistently with my duty, after having attended that Society for the purpose of strengthening the cause of Christianity in Ireland, before I go away, in coming here and thanking you for the Bibles you have sent us. Nor can I forget the obligations which the Irish Societies are under to this Society. I cannot forget the time when there was no Bible in the Irish language, and how I came here and pleaded that while the Society printed the Scriptures in 140 languages, they would not leave the Irish people without an opportunity of hearing in their own language the wonderful works of God. You gave us the Bible in that language, and it has brought forth fruits. I have seen in Ireland, in that great work, a practical proof, that the Bible and the Bible alone is a "light unto men's feet, and a lanthern to their paths," and there are now hundreds in Ireland who have been born again by the word of God.

The Right Rev. Prelate then adverted to the Protestant character of the Bible Society, and concluded by seconding the Resolution.

The resolution was then carried unanimously.

The Right Rev. the Bishop of WORCESTER then rose to move the second Resolution :-That this Meeting desires gratefully to recognise the goodness of Almighty God in having enabled the Society to take so large a share in the distribution of the holy Scriptures among the nations of the earth, and feels encouraged by the success which has attended its operations during the past year, by the enlarged resources now intrusted to it, and by the prospect of most important labours still opening before it, to redouble their zeal in carrying out its simple and beneficient design.

The Rev. Mr. TREFIL of the Episcopal Methodist Church in New York, seconded the Resolution, which was passed unanimously.

The Hon. and Rev. B. W. NOEL next proposed the third Resolution: -"That the thanks of this Meeting be given to the President and VicePresidents, for their continued patronage and support."

The reverend gentleman spoke at great length; the following extract from his speech are all that our limited space will admit of.

Often has it been said by those who looked with a strange indifference, or with a still stranger suspicion, on these proceedings, that the book itself cannot convert mankind nor teach wisdom to those who, after having received the gift, might disregard it. But whence do such objectors draw their information on this subject? If the Almighty has said, "My word shall not return unto me void, but shall accomplish that which I please," and has illustrated the meaning of that his gracious promise by the rain that descends from heaven, which is ever meant to fertilize the earth on which it falls; who can venture to declare, that that word, because it is not accompanied with oral instruction, shall therefore fall useless to the earth? Innumerable facts, indeed, have proved the contrary. The records of this very Society ought to be enough to refute such an imagination.

Those who would object to this Society, that it only distributes the Bible, must wholly overlook the facts of the case. The truth is, that throughout the world the book is distributed by the agents, who are exacly the most fitted to give it effect. Good men in every land are combined to effect this distribution. The ministers of religion, the missionaries of Evangelical Societies, every man who has most at heart the welfare of his neighbourhood,-these are the persons found to distribute this sacred volume; and if oral instruction, and the aid of example and of exhortation, be supposed effectual to give this boon its highest value, then do the facts show that this Society ought to be supported in its exertions. Yet, again, it has been said, that we idolize the Scriptures themselves: that we suppose they are capable, of themselves, of penetrating the alienated heart of man, and recovering it to piety and to God. If he has ordained the instrumentality, it would seem to be dishonouring him to question its utility. It is not idolizing it, but it is honouring him, when we believe it to be calculated to be of important service to mankind at large. In honouring his word we honour him. If he has spoken, the whole human

He

race ought to hear what he has said; and surely never is this world in an attitude more likely to receive the Divine blessing than when it is humbly listening to those words of authority and power which he has himself dictated. But why should this book go alone? It is not its solitary pages, it is not that book, even in the hands of missionaries or Christian philanthropists, on which this Society trusts for the success of its labours. who indited it has told us that it is his sword-the sword he wields to give victory to the truth through the world. He can wield it, if he will, where there is no human agency to give it power; he can give effect to the human agency when he brings that into operation too. And every minister of religion, and every missionary of the Gospel, knows well, that when he gives this sacred volume to those around him, he may give it with the hope that the blessed Spirit who indited it will carry it through every obstacle that prejudice or vice can raise, to the heart of the man who receives it, and make it a blessing to him for time and for eternity. Viewing it, then, in this light, as the sword of the Spirit in the hands of faithful men throughout the world, to whose trust this Society commits it, to benefit the neighbourhoods in which they dwell, what humane (I will not say religious) man can fail to contemplate with the liveliest interest such details as those which have been presented to us today? Look where you will, this gift thus bestowed becomes, in the hands of God, an instrument of the greatest usefulness to the different nations of the earth.

'The Rev. Mr. MACLEAN (Wesleyan minister), seconded the Motion.

He rejoiced to hear the fact stated in the report and by the speakers who preceded him this was indeed a Protestant Institution. That it adopted the one great Protestant principle, that every man had given to him from God, the right to read for himself the words of eternal truth, in his own tongue, whenever he had an opportunity to do so. And when was there a period in which this was more necessary than at present? I will not, however, said Mr. Maclean, touch further upon this point, than just to allude to a remarkable circumstance, in which some years

ago a good missionary satisfied a poor Roman Catholic that it was his duty, notwithstanding the menaces of his priest and his Church, to read for himself the word of eternal life. A poor Irishman had been reading the word of the blessed God, and had been tempted to give it up for fear of the consequences which such a proceeding was represented to be likely to entail upon him. The missionary sat down by his side one day and said "Now, sure your priest must be all wrong in this matter. Here is an Epistle of Paul the apostle. If he were to come in and find you reading it, would you not say,

Indeed I am glad you are

come

just at this time when I am reading your letter?' And here is an Epistle of St. Peter. If he were to come to see you while you were reading it, would you not say the same thing? But if Father Maguire called upon you, you would put up the book and hide it in your breast. Does not this prove that to read the word of God is according to the doctrines of the apostles, and that only apostates from the truth, like Father Maguire would prevent you from reading God's word?"

The Rev. Dr. WILSON (one of the Secretaries of the Bombay Auxiliary, and for several years a member of the Translation Committee there) said-I have lived and toiled for fifteen years in the dark empires of Heathenism, Mahomedanism, and Popery; and have witnessed the power of the Prince of darkness. I therefore rejoice to appear here this day upon Protestant and Catholic ground. My connexion with one of the most important Auxiliaries of this Society has been mentioned, and I would say a word respecting the translation and circulation of the

the past, and I hope it will be so through many unnumbered years to come; I am most thankful to express the unshaken attachment of my own venerated Diocesan to the Society, though he is not here to-day. However rash it may appear, I will also venture to express a hope that the Society may survive every remaining indifference, and, I will not say hostility to its cause, but to its mode of carrying that cause into execution. I hope it will outlive all indifference from the very highest to the lowest member of our Established Church, and of every Christian orthodox community in the world. I hope it may live to see the time when every brother in the Lord will be associated with it. I pray that such a spirit may be kindled by the means adopted by this Institution, that if it cannot unite all opinions, it will produce a union of all hearts, such as we witness here this day. The Venerable Archdeacon concluded by moving the following Resolution:-" That

the warmest thanks of this Meeting be given to the Right Honourable Lord Bexley, president; and to the Earl of Chichester, for their Lordships' kind attention to the business of the day."

General Sir JAS. BATHURST said,— Without attempting to offer any observations to this assembly, but with a cordial and sincere attachment to this Society, I cheerfully second the Motion.

Lord TEIGNMOUTH put the Resolution, which was carried by acclamation.

The Earl of CHICHESTER then dismissed the assembly :-Hoping that their continued support of the Society, and their connection with one another in that capacity, would lead to an increased knowledge of that truth which alone could make them Christians indeed, and that it would lead to the extension and to the strengthening among them of that Christian love which can alone form any true bond of union.

THE Forty-fourth Anniversary Meeting of the friends and subscribers of this Institution was held in the Great Room, Exeter Hall, on Tuesday, April 30, and was most numerously and respectably attended.

The Right Hon. the Earl of CHICHESTER presided, and was supported by the Bishop of Chester; the Bishop of Ripon; and the Bishop of Cashel; the Dean of Salisbury; Archdeacon Hoare; Viscount Sandon, M.P.; Sir R. H. Inglis, Bart. M.P.; J. P. Plumptre, Esq., M.P.; Round, M.P.: Sir George Rose, Bart., the Revds. Professor Scholefield, J. W. Cunningham, Hugh Stowell; John Thornton, Esq.; E. Hoare, Esq.; Rev. Dr. Marsh; Rev. Haldane Stewart; Henry Greame, Esq.; Major. General Latter; the Hon. Sydney Roper Curzon; Hon. Captain Waldegrave, R.N.; Hon. Captain Maude, R.N.; Captain H. Hope, R.N., &c.

The Rev. R. DAVIES read prayers. The Noble CHAIRMAN having introduced the business of the Meeting by a few prefatory remarks, the Report was read, which was of a length which totally precludes its admission into our confined limits.

which an abstract has now been read, be received, and printed under the direction of the Committee; that the thanks of this Meeting be given to the Right Honourable and Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of London, for his Sermon before the Society last evening; to his Grace the VicePatron, to the Right Hon. the President, and the Vice-Presidents; and to all those friends who, during the past year, have exerted themselves in its behalf; and that the gentlemen named be appointed the Committee for the ensuing year, with power to fill up vacancies." I confess I cannot help congratulating myself that I should be appointed to this duty, and be the first who may arise as the organ of those feelings which I am sure must be now filling the hearts of all those who have heard the Report which has just been read, and to which my Resolution refers. I am sure that we must all be full, at this moment, of gratitude and thankfulness to Almighty God, who has given us so much to reward our humble exertions and to excite our future hopes. All prosperity is the more gratifying when it comes in the way of contrast. After what we have been hearing, we cannot but remember what we heard in this very room two years ago. The Right Rev. Prelate, then proceeded to vindicate the Society from certain charges which had been brought against it, and concluded by moving the Resolution which he had read.

The Rev. Professor SCHOLEFIELD, in seconding the Resolution, said he would not occupy the time of the Meeting by going through the Report, and enlarging on the triumphs of the Gospel in New Zealand, but would leave that and other histories to tell their own tale; but, if he might be permitted, he would carry them back to the Meeting of the earliest Mission-that to Western Africa. I am the more disposed to this, (said Mr. S.) because from my situation-and it may, perhaps, be the same with many who hear me-while at home, and occupied in my parochial and academical business, I have not time to read the most interesting records of the Society; but while journeying to the Meeting yesterday, I carried one of them with me, and I was deeply gratified with what I read relating to Africa. I was carried

back a quarter of a century, and remembered what I then witnessed when I was present at a Meeting in a country town, where Mr. Johnson was present, for the first time, to tell the tale of what had been done by him. I speak without the language of hyperbole or metaphor, when I say that in the Meeting which he then addressed, there was not a dry eye to be seen. How gratifying ought it to be-how ought it to stir up our love towards our Lord and Saviour, to find to-day that the candle which was then lighted in Africa has not yet gone out; and, I trust, will never be extinguished. The remarkable circumstances which have been detailed to-day of the present state of that Mission, furnish encouragement to believe that our Lord and Saviour has been dealing with the Society in all its several Missions. I think we are beginning to see the development of God's purpose in Sierra Leone; after half a century of darkness, light has dawned there, after having been called on many times to mourn the deaths of missionaries who have dropped into an early grave, ought we not to rejoice and praise God for the manifestations of his grace in Africa; and are we not beginning now to see the purpose for which the colony was given us, and the wisdom which directed us to send our earliest Mission to that quarter? For many long and weary years the Mission has been pent up, like our great General in his narrow lines, at Sierra Leone; but the time is now come when our armies have reached the length and breadth of the interior of Africa, amongst Yorubans and the Nufis; and into that wretched country into which we could never secure an entrance, we have now introduced the name of our Lord and Saviour. Let it be remembered that we used to be told many a long year ago, that among our converts and scholars at Sierra Leone, we had persons from different parts of the interior, speaking not less than thirty different languages; and we thought that in that great variety of language we had some elements prepared, by which, under God's blessing, we might work for the benefit of inward Africa, and up to this time how very little has been done? Oh! blessed be God, for the testimony which Samuel Crowther has been enabled to bear