ment and resignation on depraved and disconsolate hearts? when did they ever reclaim whole communities from profligacy and wretchedness, and conduct them to industry, order and exalted happiness? when did they ever

"Direct one mortal in the path to heav'n,

Renew one soul, or show one sin forgiv'n."

But the principles of the Bible have still a wider range. They reach from the cottage to the throne, from the untutored savage to the most polished members of civilized society. There is no rank so elevated, nor any class or condition so humble, which they are not calculated to bless. From individuals, families, and neighbourhoods, they extend to nations and the world. Where the principles of the gospel have their just influence on the rulers of states and empires, they produce equity, order and peace. No maxim is more universally true than that "rightousness exalteth a nation, while sin is the reproach of any people." Where divine truth enlightens the mind and directs the conduct of persons in high authority, there we discern integrity and economy in the expenditure of public money-wisdom and moderation in government-respect abroad and confidence at 'home: the nation is at once enlightened, flourishing and happy.

But we advance one step further, and assert, that the principles of the gospel are calculated to advance the happiness of the WORLD. They tend to promote "peace on earth and good will among men;" they enjoin, under the most awful sanctions, the forgiveness of injuries; they teach nations, as well as individuals, to be contented with the allotments of Heaven, and to cultivate toward each other the affection of brethren. No matter whether they inhabit a torrid or a temperate zone-no matter what language they speak, or what complexion they wear--no matter whether bond or free, savage or civilized, if they are but enlightened by the gospel and live agreeably to its rules, they become reformed, renewed, regenerated beings-they become "heirs of God," a "chosen generation, a holy nation, a peculiar people."*

The great and learned Lord Bacon declares, that "There never was found in any age of the world either philosophy or sect, religion or discipline, which did so highly exalt the public good as the Christian faith."

And the eloquent Lord Bolingbroke, with all his infidel prejudices, was con strained to acknowledge, that "No religion ever appeared in the world, whose natural tendency was so directed to promote the peace and happiness of mankind as Christianity. It is one continued lesson (says he) of the strictest morality, of justice, of benevolence and of universal charity."

"No truth (says our own immortal WASHINGTON, in his inaugural address as President of the United States,) is more thoroughly established, than that there exists in the economy and course of Nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness-between duty and advantage-between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public pros

Looking forward to that happy period when "the whole earth shall be given to the Saviour for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession," does not the Christian's eye brighten with joy, and his heart expand with a pure and generous exultation?

Happy period! when man shall no longer oppress or enslave his brother man-when war shall no longer desolate the fields of the husbandman, or the abodes of industry and peace-when this earth, so long an ACELDAMA moistened and fertilized by the blood of its children, shall become a second paradise-when angels shall once more visit it on errands of mercy, and all creation join in one sublime tribute of devotion and gratitude to the Redeemer of our race.

"Come then, INCARNATE WORD!

And added to thy many crowns

Receive yet one-the crown of all the earth:
Thou who alone art worthy. It was thine
By ancient covenant ere Nature's birth;
And thou hast made it thine, by purchase since,
And overpaid its value, with thy blood.
Receive yet one, as radiant as the rest;
Due to thy last and most effectual work,

Thy word fulfilled-THE CONQUEst of a world.”

We have now given a very brief and hasty sketch of the effects of the Bible on individuals, on families, on society, and on the world. There are however two classes, constituting by far the largest portion of the human race, on whose condition the principles of the Bible have had a peculiar and most salutary influence. These are the female sex and the poor.

Before the advent of the Son of God, how degraded and miserable was the lot of woman in every state of society, and in every region of the globe!-the subject of brutal and unfeeling power--the slave of passion and caprice-the submissive victim of unchastened and illicit desire. Even under the Mosaic dispensation, under a code of laws that emanated from the Legislator of the universe, how shameless and profligate was the conduct of many of the loftiest pretenders to ceremonial sanctity.*

Among the Jews polygamy was permitted and practised; and the self-righteous Pharisee, without consulting any monitor but his own caprice, thought it no offence against the decalogue, to "put away" the most affectionate and obedient wife, and to legalize the atrocious act by "giving her a bill of divorcement."

But among all the heathen nations, ancient as well as modern,

perity and felicity; nor ought we to be less persuaded, that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation, that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which HEAVEN ITSELF has ordained.”

* Sec Jeremiah, v. 8. John, viii. 9.

the condition of the female sex has been wretched in the extreme. Among Pagans they are considered as without rights; and by the disciples of Mahomet as without souls. It is only under the benign radiance of Christian principles that woman has attained her proper rank in society. Here her gentle virtues have been fostered; here all those lovely traits of sympathy, of tenderness, of piety and benevolence, have expanded and elevated her character in many instances to a resemblance of angelic natures.

True, indeed, by the fatal curiosity of our first mother, man forfeited all claim to the joys of paradise; but much have her daughters done, under the light of gospel truth, to compensate us for this loss. Much have they done, in the endeared relations of domestic life, to change this "wilderness of wo into a paradise of bliss."

That such lovely and estimable traits have ever been fully developed in the female character, is owing pre-eminently to the influence of Christianity. To woman, this has been truly a revelation of transcendent mercy. It has raised her from degradation to importance; it has called into exercise all those fine sensibilities, all those sweet charities, which smooth the rugged path of life, which bind society together by silken cords, and which become the foretaste and the pledge of a purer and more permanent felicity in the life to come.

But the gospel is also an incalculable blessing to the poor. When these "good tidings" were first proclaimed to mankind, one of their peculiar characteristics was, that "to the poor the gospel is preached." Its divine Author was born of an obscure virgin, and was brought up in circumstances of laborious poverty. HE whose throne was the heaven of heavens, condescended to be cradled in a manger. He who could have commanded the treasures of the universe, had not a spot on earth he could call his own: "The foxes have holes," said he," and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay his head.”

Long after his reascension to heaven, it is recorded of his followers, that "not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called;"* but that "God hath chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he hath promised to those that love him."

The extremes of poverty and wealth are both trials of no inconsiderable magnitude. It requires not merely strength of mind, but substantial religious principle, to support the one with patience and fortitude, and the other with temperance and humility. Never was a wiser prayer offered to Heaven than that of Agur, when he asked "neither for poverty nor riches," but for "food convenient for him.”

Our blessed Saviour represents the salvation of those who trust in riches, as an event next to impossible, while to the poor his kindest promises and his richest consolations were addressed. Indeed throughout the Old as well as the New Testament, the poor seem to have engaged the peculiar compassion and regard of the Supreme Being.

Those who are in humble circumstances may indeed want some of the superfluities, or perhaps of the comforts of life; but they are exempt also, from the trials and fearful responsibilities of the rich. If they have fewer enjoyments, they have also fewer anxieties and cares. But whatever else they may want, they need not to want a Bible. Here they will find heavenly wealth: here is the pearl of great price: here are deposited the unsearchable riches of Christ, treasures which wax not old, which moth will not corrupt nor rust corrode, and which death itself cannot wrest from their possession.

Christian Brethren--The very brief survey we have now taken of the nature, purport, and effects of the sacred scriptures, suggests some precious consolations and some impressive admonitions.

It is delightful to reflect that we live at a period when this inestimable volume is attainable at a small expense, and can be read without any personal risk of liberty or estate. The poorest labourer, from the earnings of a day, can procure a copy of the New Testament, or of the entire Bible; and if from his scanty funds he cannot afford enough for this object, the public liberality will interpose and supply his wants.

It was not always so. Before the discovery of the art of printing, it would have required years of labour to procure a single copy of the Bible. And there are periods in the history of the church, when the possession of any part of the scriptures would have exposed the possessor to persecution, to corporal punishment, or to death.*

For ages it has been the avowed system of one denomination of Christians to keep the knowledge of the sacred scriptures

* By an edict of the emperor Diocletian, all the Christians subject to his authority were required, under the severest penalties, to commit their copies of the scriptures to the flames.

The first translation that was made of the whole Bible into English, was in the 14th century, by the intrepid and zealous John Wickliff, of Oxford. In what light this important work was regarded by the contemporary clergy, may be inferred from what is said by KNIGHTON, a canon of Leicester, who wrote shortly after the death of Wickliff. "Christ (says this zealous priest) entrusted his gospel to the clergy and doctors of the church, to minister to the laity and weaker sort, according to their exigencies and several occasions. But this Master John Wykliff, by translating it, has made it vulgar, and has laid it open to the laity and even to women who can read, more than it used to be to the most learned of the clergy and those of the best understanding; and thus the gospeljewel, the evangelical pearl, is thrown about and trodde under foot of swine."

from the laity. And even at the present day, amidst all the science which is diffused through the different ranks of society, the same system is pursued in Italy, Austria, and wherever the influence of the Pope predominates.

So in Pagan countries, the common people are debarred from all access to the light of religious truth.f

How incomparably preferable to this is the condition of the poorest person in countries where the Christian religion, as professed by Reformed Protestants, is in full exercise! How happy the citizens of this land of civil and religious freedom, in the rights and privileges they enjoy, without distinction of sect or class! While more than six hundred millions of the human race are sunk in gross idolatry and superstition, with little enjoyment in the present life, and at death quitting the world shrouded in dark and hopeless delusion; we are cheered with the light of true religion, irradiating all the path of life, and opening to sincere believers the prospect of endless bliss.

Supported by such prospects and animated by such hopes, how diligent should professing Christians be, to diffuse more widely that inestimable book, which contains those instructions and precepts which make us wise unto salvation. And let us be admonished, brethren, that the period for the discharge of this important duty is, to each of us, at once precarious and brief. The members of this society are on the present occasion urged to renew their exertions in this blessed cause, by incidents that cast a deep shade of melancholy over the anniversary we now celebrate. Only two short years have this day elapsed since the worthy and eloquent FRELINGHUYSEN Occupied the place where I now stand. He is gone--gone to the land of silence and oblivion, followed by the tears and benedictions of many who now hear me. He is gone from a scene of conflict and of pain, to a "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," to a region where "the wicked cease from troubling and where the weary are at rest." But this blow, at once so unexpected and so afflicting, in a little more than a year was followed by another melancholy public loss.

"Rare are solitary woes:

They love a train-they tread each other's heel." Since the last annual meeting of this society, its pious and de

Under the reign of Henry the Fifth, while England was subject to the spiritual control of the Pope, an act of Parliament was passed, to prevent the reading of the scriptures in English. It enacted that "whosoever they were that should read the scriptures in their mother tongue they should forfeit lande, catel, lif, and godes, from theyr heyres for ever, and be condemned for heretykes to God, enemys to the krowne, and most errant traytorres to the lande."

One of the laws of MENU, the Hindoo legislator, directs that if a Soodra (a person in one of the inferior casts of India) shall dare to listen to the Veda, (one of the sacred books of the nation) melted lead shall be poured into his

ears.