ed. Four hundred and twenty millions of pagans were there paying blind devotions to dumb idols, stocks and stones, insects and reptiles. One hundred and thirty millions of Mohammedans were there perfect devotees to the Arabian fanatic and impostor. What an immense multitude, crowding their way down to the abodes of despair and death; passing along into the ocean of eternity into which they fall never to rise. An awful night of gloom and terror overspread the whole. But, blessed be God, on this "darkness visible," a feeble ray from a distant star begins to shine! The friends of Zion have awaked from the slumbers of centuries, and seem resolved to plant the standard of the cross in every land. Bible. Tract, Education, Missionary, Sabbath School and other Societies, in great numbers, in Europe and America have been formed for the universal spread of the gospel.. Hun-' dreds and thousands of young men are in training for the ministry. Missionary establishments have been erected in the four quarters of the globe. Hundreds of missiona-1 ries are now actually laboring in heathen lands. Others are preparing for the same employment-mch of talent, piety and learning. Thousands and hundreds of thousands who have never seen one another in the flesh, and who are of different religious opinions, of all ranks and descriptions, rulers and ruled, ministers and people, are united in this grand, this benevolent, this glorious work. Let us rejoice in the different religious enterprizes. They all help to usher in the latter-day glory of Zion. The day-star has already arisen. The twilight has appeared. Signs burst forth on every side and indicate that the world's redemption draweth nigh. This age of benevolent effort and of pouring out of the Holy Spirit, is the Harbinger of the Millennial day. It is too late a period of the church to doubt of its triumph. The boundaries of the Redeemer's kingdoin will extend from the rising to the going down of the sun. Religion will become the grand business of life, and all men shall see the salvation of God. 6. Far greater things in religion must be attempted and accomplished, than ever yet have been.. The Bible, that great Magna Charta of the liberties, peace, happiness, and salvation of man, must be imparted to all the destitute. Heralds of the cross must be raised up and sent forth to publish the glad tidings of mercy to all people under heaven. The Saviour's mandate, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," given eighteen centuries ago to his disciples, will yet be obeyed. Will any say this cannot be done? It can-it will be done. As a pledge of this, we have the purpose; covenant, veracity, perfections and word of God. This great work then, will be accomplished. And as an earnest of it, nations have already been converted to God. Look at the Sandwich Islands. These are now as much a part of Christendom as London, Edinburgh, New-York, or Boston. Look for a moment at the, success of the Moravian missionaries in Greenland and Labrador. Of Swartz and his fellow-laborers among the natives of Hindoostan. See Vanderkemp convert the wandering and ignorant Hottentots, and Mayhew and Elliot and Brainerd, the Indians of this country. See the wonderful effects attendant upon the modern missionary efforts. What has been,, may be again; yea, and much more will be. The Lord will spread the triumphs of the cross. Soon the whole earth will chant the praises of the Redeemer, and the song of salvation will echo from shore to shore. But in order to this, there must be more fervent prayer, more abundant labors, more enlarged charities. In the conquest of the world to Christ, the church must become well disciplined army, and every member of it must know his "O scenes surpassing fable, and yet true, Scenes of accomplished bliss! which who can see, One song employs all nations. The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks,-- APPENDIX. The object of this Appendix is to give a brief historical and statistical sketch of the principal Benevolent Institutions referred to in the preceding Dissertations. (A.) Bible Societies. "The British and Foreign Bible Society," the largest institution of the kind, was formed at London on Wednesday, March 7, 1804. At this meeting the celebrated Greenville Sharp presided. Addresses were delivered by William Alers, Esq., Robert Cowie, Esq., Samuel Mills, Esq., Rev. Messrs. Steinkopff, Hughes, and Owen. The Rev. Joseph Hughes, the Rev. Josiah Pratt, and the Rev. Mr. Steinkopff were appointed Secretaries. Mr. Pratt chose not to accept the office, and the Rev. John Owen was elected in his place. The first two articles of their constitution are: 1. "The designation of this Society shall be the British and Foreign Bible Society, of which the sole object shall be to encourage a wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures, without note or comment: the only copies in the languages of the United Kingdom, to be circulated by the Society shall be the authorized Version." 2. "This Society shall add its endeavors to those employed by other Societies, for circulating the Scriptures through the British Dominions; and shall also, according to its ability extend its influence to other countries, whether Christian, Mohammedan or Pagan." Its officers are a President, a large number of Vice Presidents, a committee of thirty-six, who meet regularly for business the first Monday in every month; a Treasurer, two Secretaries, an Honorary Librarian, a Superintendent of the Translating and Editorial Department, several Honorary Solicitors, an Accountant, and Assistant Foreign Secretary, a Depositary, a Collector, and seven Accredited Agents. The President is the Rt. Hon. John Lord Teignmouth. The Secretaries, the Rev. Andrew Brandram, and the Rev. Joseph Hughes. John Thornton, Esq. Treasurer. Thomas Pell Platt, Esq. Librarian, and Mr. William Greenfield, Superintendent of the Translating and Editorial Department.* Lord Teignmouth and Mr. Hughes have held their respective offices from the formation of the Society, and Mr. Brandram was chosen in place of the Rev. John Owen, who held the office till his declining health and death terminated his labors in 1832–3. The origin of the Society may be traced to the benevolent efforts of the late Rev. Thomas Scott, D. D. Interesting himself in 1787 to procure a supply of Bibles for the poor in Wales, the circumstance of his correspondence with a clergyman there, turned the attention of the public to the subject of distributing the Bible, wherever it might be needed, and thus prepared the way, after the lapse of seventeen years, for the establishment of the Society.† The Rev. Thomas Charles of the established church in Wales took a very active part on this subject in 1802. The amount of contributions to the funds of the Society at its first anniversary in 1805 was £5,492 10s. 5d. and its disbursements £5485 2s. 6d. For the year ending May 1832 its receipts were £81,735 16s. 4d., and its expendi ture £98,409 10s. 9d. The issues of Bibles for the year were 160,701 and of Testaments 182,444. The total number of Bibles and Testaments issued from the commencement of the Society was 7,608,615, and the whole sum expended in this great charity £1,878,382 16s. 2d. The richest year of the Society, or that in which its income has been the largest, was the year 1820, when its receipts were £123,547 12s. 3d. Nearly all the Societies on the Continent are to a greater or less degree connected with the British and Foreign Bible Society. The auxiliaries of the * Mr. Greenfield died before the last anniversary of the Society in 1832, but whether a successor has been appointed has not been ascertained. Other accounts have been given of the origin of the British and Foreign Bible Society, but for this see Scott's Life, and the History of the British and Foreign Bible Sosiety by Mr. Owen. The first Report of the Society contains no notice of the way in which it originated, |