inhabiting the Grisons. The Ratisbon Roman Catholic Bible Society, by October, 1810, had completed a third edition of the German Testament, distributed in Austria, Bavaria, and Switzerland.

The British and Foreign Bible Society continued to encourage the depressed Prussians; and, by a seasonable loan, enabled the Berlin Society to complete this year, the edition of the Bible for the Polish Christians. By the liberality of the Committee, the Evangelical Society at Stockholm produced their first edition of the Swedish New Testament; and by the close of the year, they increased the number to 11,000 copies. They directed attention to Lapland; and, in the Report they state, " It must be noticed, to the honour of the British and Foreign Bible Society in London, that here again did their unbounded Christian love step in-they have undertaken to bear the cost of an edition of 5,000 New Testaments. Their directors prescribe that these should be distributed among the three nations of Laplanders subject to Sweden, Russia, and Norway."

America continued to be greatly benefited by the labours of the Philadelphia Bible Society, and six new institutions of the same kind were formed this year, "the Connecticut Bible Society," at Hartford; the "Massachusets" at Boston; the "New Jersey" at Princeton; and the "New York Bible Society," the "Young Men's Bible Society;" and the "New York Bible and Common Prayer Book Society." Various grants were made from London to these transatlantic Societies, who own the British and Foreign Bible Society as their common Parent.

Reviewing the domestic operations of the Society this year, we find that the Committee ordered 2,000 copies of the New Testament in the Irish language. The sum of £500 was granted in aid of the Hibernian Bible Society, and £200 to the Cork Bible Society. To the former were added £50 from the East Lothian, and £300 from the Edinburgh Bible Society. How great was the need of the Scriptures in Ireland, and how strongly the Hibernian Society felt its obligation to the Parent Committee for their liberality, may be understood from the following passage in its "Address to the People of Ireland," in 1810,-"The demands on the Committee for Bibles and Testaments during the last year were so great, that had it not been for the liberality of the British and Foreign Bible Society, they would have been compelled to put a stop to their operations."

A liberal hand was extended also to foreign nations during this year. Among the first enterprises was an edition of the Gospel of St. John in the Esquimaux language, at the expense of the Society; besides an engagement to print the translation of the Gospel of St. Luke, for the Esquimaux on the coast of Labrador, converted by the Moravian Missionaries.

Divine Providence had hitherto been manifest in the direction of the Committee of the Bible Society, but their object was misunderstood, and the need of their operations was not perceived by all who might have been expected to become the friends of the institution. The excellent Dr. Porteus, having been succeeded by a prelate of another spirit, the Bible

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Society was assailed from the highest ecclesiastical quarters.

Early in the year 1810, a "provisional Committee was formed, consisting wholly of Ministers of the Established Church," the Dissenting Ministers left. it to the clergy for the sake of the cause, and nearly thirty clergymen attended a meeting, January 19th, to form a Bible Society for Essex. The chairman transmitted an address to the Bishop of London, "whose reply was so decidedly hostile to the principle of the Bible Society," that it was deemed imprudent to proceed further. "The Bishop's reply was dated January 28, 1810; and early in the month of February, the provisional Committee was formally dissolved."*

"A Letter" of still higher pretensions was employed to deter the clergy from joining the Society. It was entitled, "Reasons for declining to become a Subscriber to the British and Foreign Bible Society, by C. Wordsworth, D.D. Dean and Rector of Bocking and Domestic Chaplain to his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury." Dr. Wordsworth's "Letter" was dated, "Lambeth Palace, January 12." In reply to this, Lord Teignmouth vindicated the Society,, in "A Letter to Dr. Wordsworth.” The learned Doctor replied, vaunting, "When your Lordship is seen to have buckled on your armour, to have left your throne of state, and to have come into the plain, it will be thought that this circumstance denotes some thing of a more than ordinary alarm in the citadel, &c." But on this piece of

* Owen's History, vol. i., pp. 470, 471.

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misplaced exultation, Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Dealtry, Examining Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Bristol," thus pertinently remarks,—“Do not im agine that his Lordship 'buckled on his armour,' and left his throne of state,' because of the arguments with which the Society was assailed. No: it was 'Lambeth Palace' which called him to the field. He knew that this hint would be tolerably understood by many a country clergyman,' who is far beyond the reach of argument; and, like a wise man, he opposed name to name, and authority to authority. Your Reasons for not subscribing' might safely have been left to a person of my mediocrity of situation and talent. 'Lambeth Palace'

demanded rank and dignity."*

Other publications, including certain respectable periodicals, nobly vindicated the Bible Society; especially a pamphlet by the Rev. W. Ward, a clergyman near Colchester. And the Society was most powerfully advocated by "the luminous and dignified Address of the Leicester Auxiliary Bible Society, a most masterly composition, which bears throughout, the stamp of the great and liberal mind from which it proceeded,"+ the Rev. Robert Hall, M.A. Baptist Minister of Leicester. That address states, "Notwithstanding the diversity of sentiment which unhappily prevails among Christians, we may fairly presume on the concurrence of all parties and denominations, in promoting a design so disinterested as that of diffusing the light of revelation. In the prosecution of this design, our party is the ↑ Ibid p. 466.

*Owens History, pp. 472, 473.

world; the only distinction we contemplate, is between the disciples of revelation and the unhappy victims of superstition and idolatry, and as we propose to circulate the Bible alone, without notes or comments, truth only can be a gainer by the measure. The aim of the Society in London, as far as it may please God in his providence to smile upon their efforts, is, by imparting the Holy Scriptures, to open the fountain of revelation to all nations."

Truth and charity now triumphed, and the year closed with the joyful celebration of the sixth Anniversary of the Society, including a greater number in its public meeting, and more persons of rank,— peers, prelates, and distinguished persons than at any previous assembly. One subject only of regret seemed to moderate the general joy of the occasion, which was the lamented decease of one of the Society's most enlightened and cordial patrons, Dr. Porteus, Bishop of London.

THE SEVENTH YEAR OF THE SOCIETY, 1810-1811.

THOUGH the past had been a year of conflict, the seventh year of the Bible Society commenced auspiciously. The result of its anniversary meeting was the addition of the Bishops of Cloyne and of Clogher to the list of Vice-Presidents, and a large accession of funds.

India appears to have been the most interesting field of labour for the Society, in the years 1810 and 1811. Difficulties had arisen from the government impeding its progress, by the reduction of the Col