The National Register.
London, England, 1819-11-07 00:00:00

562

THE SEVENTH ANNIVELOARY OF TILE
POREIGS AN I) 111111TNII A U.:Cal.-WY
BIBLE .sUCIEIT.

Thi, meeting, which was held or Thins lay et the
MJtision-hawse, was most uutnerously and ttsln•ctably
sitt-nded.
- -

Ois taking the Chair, the Lotto MAT** said, he was
highly gratified in settneseitig a meeting so respectable
and onistermis as the present.—lie trusted they would
is,dulge him while he iiriefly detailed die cause of call-
ing the inectitig together. His Loulahip then went on
to state the objects of the Instituitun lie concluded by
observing. that the Secretary %%mild teed the lt:port to
the Meeiog.
. ,

-
Mr. Poe WDER, the Secretary, then came forward, and
'Cad the Repent of the Counnitt e; its great length
as ill not allow us to insert it all, but see seleci the lead-
ing passages, It began by adverting to the nature and
iitnantalice of the Society, and alter observing that there
was. scarcely an arg 1111 l ent which recommended the
leading the Bible.which did lint also go tosupport the. S-
ociety which distribute it, and that scarcely any reasoning
.raisted in opposition to the litstittition, which, if can-
didly rxintiued, would not he )hurt to oppose /tie vitt.
civic of distributing the at all,. or at legat to the
extent of its importance, it went on thus—
" Lf this observation be fonntled upon;fact, and con-
firmed by experience, the dilly of contributing to the
support of the BibL Society becomes es ident. But if
In ordinary times the value or such a Society is acknow-
ledged, of what peculiar importance does it appear to
rally round its standard, at a moment when the ene-
mies of divine truth appear to he engaged in the most
vigorous exertions ; when Infidelity has openly avowed
the worst designs upon our best mid hi,.:llest mien sts ;
and wher. Use Sacred Scriptures themselves have been
held up to contempt by the perverse dtsputings of men
of ' corrupt minds.' I'he friends of the Bible Society
are as unwilling to advert to any controverted opinions,
at it is istmecesstery to their cause that they should do
so,. but when publications of the most flagitious ten-
dency bate been thrown into the widest circulation,
when a:l' hope in death has been sought to be taken
away from our expiring nature ; when the most solemn
and sacred truths of our holy religion have bent im-
pugned atilt derided ; there appears a peculiar call upon
the fiends of divine truth to show themselves in earnest
in the cause of their insulted Lord, awl to redouble their
activity in sapient of this sacred and useful Institution.
" 'llie last Report of this Col ttttt Mee cot ttttt enced by
noticing the formation of the ,Merchant Seamen's Aux-
iliary Bible Society (which arose out of the Thames
Marine Committee), the object of which enlarged plan
was to supply abuse 100,000 British seamen with the
Sacred Scriptures. That Co 11111 l ince had then supplied
above 1,91./0 vessels with Bibles and Testaments, by
which means 160,000 sea.uen had received and carried
out, as the best chart and compass of their perilous
wiyagcs, the word of everlasting life. It is with much
pleasure that the extension of that Soviets, is here re-
corded. Their labours have continued to. be abundant,
allil their success has fern proportioni,e. the
last teat months 645 vessels have been.visited and sup-
plied, containing 9,717 seamen, of whom 8,438 are
able to read, and who have been furnished gratuitously
with 452 Bihles, and 1.372 Testaments,. white' .20
Bibles and 417 Testaments have bests sold at half oust
price to seamen in the foreign trade, and in little inure
than three months 330 Bibles and 172 Testaments have
been sold at reduced prices to leilaSC:l la the ;toasting
ses.els.

" The Fleet Bison continues to share the attention 1
of the Association within whose district it is situated
(the B!ackfriars and Parringdon), and is reported by that
Association to have received IA copies of the Holy
Scriptures within the space of three years.
"The sift of a single [ri•hTestament in a coon in
(7,4ldett.lane, and the sale of one in ►he neiglii:otahnod
of Saffron-hill, appear from the Report of the North
City Association to have been attended with the most
beneficial consequences—a fact which may,. perhaps,
u nd to excite a more general attention to that large class
• of natives of Ireland, who are either entirely or partially
nsident among us.
"The Conon nag statement will strew the nature of
the hocict)'•progresi in the past year, and its actual con-
di:kit

B deuce in baud lest year
Amount of Donatione to the Auxiliary 76 I 2 0
Amine, Subscriptions ....
Total Cash paid by As,oci moils
C.. 11 hceirttl for Sale of Bibles to Subs 8 5 4

1. 1,3:43 7 3

" Your Committee would finallt express an ardent
wish, that all the members of the Bible Society may be
careful to evince, more than ever, its influence upon
their personal characters. While, therefore, we desire
to ascribe the eietiie praise to the Autnor and Giver of
all Good, let us anticiTate still brightt r class. 11 the
c tuse of the Bible Society be indeed (as we doubt not)
the cause of God, who appears to be rendering it enti-
uently instrumental in ennieying to the nations the
knowledge of his will, is it not probable that this may
be one of the principal means employed in hastening
that happy period which forms the sullect of prophecy,
when the principles contained in that blessed book will
he univeronly lilt and iccrignbted, and when the in-
flounce of soot hallowed principles will be at length
seen in their full anti sensible optraiion upon the prac-
tice and conduct of Mankind at huge: whet, happiness,
the inseparable attendant of holiness, will be univer-
sally diffused, and when 'the ruin and desolation of
man's fern!' shall he. repaired even on earth by the
benign anti healing loam:ice of the Gospel of Peace."