of the North! From some 30,000 souls when I last visited it in 1805, it is now spread abroad over four times the area, with some four times the population! The famine and the pestilence had, however, thrown a gloom over it, and it was not, as I was not, so elate and gay as when I visited its infant institutions more than forty years ago. Brother Henshall met my engagements here. On his arrival he found that the Rev. Mr. Nelson had redeemed the pledge that Mr. Robertson had staked for him-viz. that he would see to it that I would not have a favorable hearing in Belfast. In anticipation of my arrival, the town was placarded in Edinburgh and Glasgow style. A large concourse on the evening appointed for me, had, notwithstanding, assembled-clergy and laity, gentle and simple, all ranks and castes were in attendance. From all quarters, on my arrival in Ireland, I heard but one voice-that brother Henshall was equal to the occasion, and gave a clear expose of the matter on hand, as well as our views of original Christianity. After his discourse he was assailed by the Anti-Slavery men-the Rev. Mr. Nelson himself appearing on the arena. On being asked for my views of American slavery, Mr. Henshall responded that, as I was not present, he would not presume to state my views, but would give his own, if desired, and answer any questions that might be propounded pertinent to them. His remarks were so judicious and convincing that many present clearly saw that he occupied the vantage ground. Mr. Nelson saw it too, and felt it so keenly that he sought to make a diversion on the subject of religion and certain popular leaders to abstract the auditory's attention from himself. This failing, public feeling and public indications ceased to be ambiguous, and Mr. Nelson and his resolute cohort were compelled to give way, while brother Henshall left the arena with evident triumph and the high consideration and respect of the assembly. So matters stood in Belfast.Meantime, the hope of meeting a few of my appoinments in the interior, and the state of my health, together with what had been done in Belfast by my friends and my opponents, induced me to pass over next morning to the counties of Tyrone and Armagh. When leaving Glasgow I placed a portion of my baggage under the care of sister Euphemia Dron, who, via Greenock, was about to visit her relatives in Belfast-sister Gilmore and family. The steamer being at sea during the storm before mentioned, I felt solicitous to learn her fortune. While attending to some business in an office in Belfast, I heard some one inquire, "Any news from the Glasgow steamer?" "No news" was the response. I felt, of course, excited to inquire, Had she not arrived! "No, sir," was the response, "and nothing heard from her although due almost two days!" You may imagine my feelings better than I can describe them. I hastened to Mrs. Gilmore's, and on finding her residence inquired as to her information and expectation. The reputation of the Captain of the steamer for prudence and discretion, together with the information that a steamer was announced as within sight of the city, allayed my fears and inspired me with the hope of a favorable issue. The evening brought us all together, in company with Elder Foster and some of his family, at the residence of Mrs. Gilmore, and was spent in agreeable conversation, full of grateful reminiscences of the past and in pleasing anticipations of the future. It appeared that the Captain of the Glasgow and Belfast Steamer, caught in the storm, being overladen with passengers, some of whom in danger of being carried off the deck, returned about twenty miles to Greenock, and landed a portion of them. Then, by lying to under the lee side of a mountain, he succeeded in riding the storm and in making good the desired port only some two days after the usual time. Next morning, accompanied with three ladies-sisters Dron and Gilmores-we took passage in the rail cars to Portadown, on our way to Dungannon and Moree, and safely arrived at our destiny that same evening. Belfast being in Antrim, my native county, I left it after a single night, with some reluctance, and more especially as I had not only failed to speak there, but an appointment at Ballymena, near Shane's Castle, the place of my nativity, some twelve miles from Belfast, had been frustrated by my detention in Glasgow. As I passed along the southern side of Lough Neagh, I frequently cast a longing and anxious look across to descry, if possible, any indications of the ancient and beautiful castle. I either had, or thought I had, a glimpse of that most fascinating spot, and probably enjoyed as much as though all doubt had been removed on the subject. I had the pleasure a few days after, on inquiry, to learn that some portions of my mother's family still resided on the premises occupied by the family ever since their exile from France in 1685. You are conversant with the Huguenots, or French Protestants, who, on the revocation of the Edict of Nantz, passed in 1598, and annulled by Louis XIV. in 1685, suffered so much, not only in the massacre of St. Bartholomew's day in 1572, and some thirty days after, in which 30,000 persons were slain; but also in 1681, when SERIES III-VOL. V. 38* some half million of them were exiled to Switzerland, Germany, Holland, England, and Ireland. Amongst these exiles, as tradition goes, were my mother's people-a large connexion of whom, named Corneigles and Boners, purchased one township of land in the north of Ireland, bordering on Lough Neagh, some of whom still live on the lands of their exiled ancestors. In my travels I have occasionally fallen in with the descendants of these ancient Protestants-Calvinists, indeed, they are, though nicknamed Huguenots-and have uniformly found them not only devoted Protestants, but generally great advocates for Bible Christianity. In Kentucky, Virginia, and in divers other places, I find them generally in the current reformation, emphatically distinguished for its advocacy of the Bible alone as the only authoritative rule of faith and manners. For my own part, I confess that I feel more pride, I had better said pleasure, in being descended from an ancestry distinguished because of their respect for the Bible and their sufferings for it, than I could feel on account of an ancestry adorned with "the boast of heraldry and the pomp of power." Still neither faith nor honor run in the blood nor in any lineage of earth. Yet if there has been noted by an Apostle an "unfeigned faith" running through three generations, why may we not suppose it possible to extend even to the seventh or the tenth? But my sheet is full, and I must leave something for another letter from Ireland. Farewel!! Your affectionate Father, A. CAMPBELL. PREAMBLE AND CONSTITUTION OF THE AMERICAN AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY. WHEREAS the inspired scriptures, the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament, are the only authoritative divine standard containing the revelation of God for the whole human family: And whereas the Council of Trent, in 1546, declares that a Latin translation, called the Vulgate, "shall be held as authentic, and that no one shall dare or presume to reject it under any pretence whatever," and the Rheimish Testament was translated from the Vulgate into English in 1582,-the translators declaring that the Vulgate "is not only better than all other Latin translations, but than the Greek text itself in those places where they disagree;" which assumptions have been generally repudiated. by all enlightened Christians, not in the Romish church: And whereas the American Bible Society, in 1836, approved of the following resolution, viz. "Resolved, That in appropriating money for the translating, printing, or distributing of the Sacred Scriptures in foreign languages, the Managers feel at liberty to encourage only such versions as conform in the principle of their translation to the common English version; at least so far as that all the religions denominations represented in the Society can consistently use and circulate said versions in their several schools and communities." The remonstrants against this resolution, believing it to be a virtual abandonment of the great principle of Protestantism, and the adoption of that of the Council of Trent, as well as a departure from the basis of the original compact of the Society, which states their object to be "the dissemination of the Scriptures in the received versions where they exist, and in the most faithful where they may be required," and having in vain taken every Christian measure to prevent its passage and enforcement, were constrained to form provisionally, in 1836, and fully organize in 1837, The AMERICAN AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY; founded upon the principle that the originals in the Hebrew and Greek are the only authentic standards of the Sacred Scriptures; and that aid for the translating, printing, or distributing of them in foreign languages, should be afforded to such versions only as are conformed as nearly as possible to the original text; it being understood that no words are to be transferred which are susceptible of being literally translated. CONSTITUTION. Article I. The name of this Society shall be THE AMERICAN AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY. Art. II. It shall be the object of the Society to aid in the wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures in all lands. Art. III. Each contributor of three dollars annually shall be a member; each contributor of thirty dollars, a member for life; and each contributor of one hundred and fifty dollars, a director for life. Life-directors shall have the privilege of participating in the deliberations of the Board. Art. IV. All Bible Societies agreeing to place their surplus funds in the treasury of the Society, shall be auxiliaries; and the officers. of such Societies shall, while in office, have the privilege of lifedirectors. Art. V. A Board of twenty-five Managers, residing in the city of New York or its vicinity, shall be annually elected to conduct the business of the Society, with power to fill their own vacancies. Art. VI. The President, one Vice-President, the Secretaries, and Treasurer, shall be members of the Board. Art. VII. The Managers shall meet monthly, or oftener if necessary, at such time and place as they shall adjourn to,. a majority of whom shall be a quorum. Art. VIII. The Managers shall have the power of appointing. such persons as may have rendered essential services to the Society,. either members for life or directors for life. Art. IX. The annual meeting of the Society shall be held at New. York, on the day after the second Thursday of May in each year, or at any other time or place at the option of the Society; when the accounts of the Treasurer shall be presented, and a President, Vice-Presidents, Secretaries, Treasurer, and such other officers as they may deem necessary, together with a Board of Managers, shall be chosen for the ensuing year, by the members entitled to vote on the Treasurer's books the beginning of the said month. Art. X. The President shall, at the written request of six members of the Board, call a special meeting of the Board of Managers, causing at least three days' notice of such meetings to be given. Art. XI. The whole of the minutes of every meeting shall be signed by the Chairman and Secretary. Art. XII. No alteration shall be made in this Constitution, except by the vote of two-thirds of the members of the Society present at an annual meeting. Extracts from the Corresponding Secretary's Report, New York, June 1st, 1848. The Society, by the favor of God, is prosperous. It has become incorporated under a general law, passed by the Legislature. Its operations are annually increasing in extent and usefulness. The fiscal year just closed was shorter than any of its predecessors, consisting of only eleven months and six days. In this time a larger amount of money has been received than in any period of the same length since the Society was organized. It exceeds the amount received during the same period last year, by more than $3300, while the expense of agencies has been less by nearly $1200. The receipts for the financial year amounted to $31,521 14. The disbursements were $34,421 92. In consequence, not only was the balance from the last year, $2013 66, exhausted, but the Society became indebted to its Treasurer in the sum of $887 12. Still much was left unattempted, that, with adequate pecuniary means, might have been accomplished; and much that was done, only partially met the demand. Earnest appeals for aid, with statements of the needs of missions, were responded to with appropriations of half, or less than half of the sums specified. The word of God was restricted in its circulation, not because destitution was supplied, or men were unwilling to receive or read it, but because contributions were scanty, and the Board dared not to venture far upon the dangerous expedient of debt. We here present, in the briefest form possible, some of the facts and sentiments contained in the report: There have been published in foreign countries, upon appropriations furnished by this institution previously to May, 1846, three hundred thousand volumes of Saered Scriptures, (300,000,) and a tour Depository in this city up to the present date, 262,734. The two sums united make the gross amount of 562,734 volumes. Foreign Appropriations. To the Am. Bap. Miss. Union for Peguan Scriptures, Asamese, Chinese, $2000 00 1000 00 1000 00 1000 00 |