Asia.

The transactions in the Eastern part of the world continue to preserve their importance, both with respect to the multiplicity of their objects, and the zeal and perseverance with which they are carried on. The translation and printing of the Scriptures in the various dialects of the East, are continued with out relaxation. The Corresponding Committee are diligently proceeding with the works in hand, and, together with the Calcutta Bible Society, are making rapid advances towards the accomplishment of their common object.

Of the exertions of the Baptist Missionaries, in effecting translations on their own account, an interesting report will appear in the Appendix. These diligent labourers, "in addition to their numerous versions of the Scriptures," (observes Mr. Thomason,) "publish Grammars and Dictionaries in various languages, which will be of inestimable service to future students. "There is," (he adds) "the best understanding between us.'

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In the confidence authorized by this intelligence, and under a conviction that the wants were great and urgent, your Committee have resolved to encourage and assist the proceedings in India, by renewing to their Corresponding Committee at Calcutta the annual grant of 2000. for three successive years, commencing with 1816.

A translation of the Gospel of St. John into the Bengalee language, has also been executed by Vol. IV. No. 11.

41

Mr. Ellerton, of Malda, a gen tleman thoroughly acquainted with that dialect; and a hope is expressed that the remainder will soon follow.

In the last Report, a discourag ing prospect was held out respecting the circulation of the Portuguese New Testaments among the Roman Catholicks in India; your Committee are now happy to announce, that the demand for the Portuguese Scriptures by the Catholicks has very considerably increased, and even among the Priests at Goa.

In consequence of this information, they have sent 1000 Portuguese Testaments to Calcutta and Bombay, respectively; and to the latter place 300 Arabick Bibles, for circulation chiefly among the Mahomedans in Surat.

From Colombo your Committee have received intelligence, which represents the progress of the Auxiliary Bible Society, established in that capital for the Island of Ceylon, as highly satis factory and encouraging.

Of the new translations in which W. Tolfrey, Esq. is engaged, (with suitable assistants,) the four Gospels have been finished, in the Pali; and in the Cingalese, the entire New Testament.

A small edition of St. Matthew and St. Mark in the latter having been printed and issued by way of experiment, the Colombo Committee had the gratification to learn, from the decision of numerous and competent judges, that the language and style of the new version are not only pure and suitable to the dignity

of the subject, but also plain and intelligible.

To further this work, the Calcutta Auxiliary Bible Society have presented a donation of 5000 rupees; an act munificent in itself, and rendered still more valuable by the indication it affords of a disinterested friendship on the part of the elder Asiatick Auxiliary.

Nor have your Committee been inattentive to their duty in reference to a work of such merit and importance. In addition to a pecuniary grant of 300l. they have furnished materials for binding 5000 copies of it, as soon as they shall be ready for delivery.

In China, the Rev. Mr. Morrison, having nearly circulated the 2000 copies of his Chinese translation of the New Testament, has entered upon a duodecimo edition; a specimen of which he has transmitted to England, accompanied with a request for assistance, to enable him to enlarge the impression. He has also finished a translation of the Book of Genesis, of which a copy has been received. grieved" (says Mr. Morrison) "that I cannot obtain particulars respecting the effects of the Divine Book sent into China. They are but a drop thrown into

"I am

the ocean; them to the care of Providence, hoping that they will produce a certain though a silent effect.”

we must commit

In this encouraging hope, your Committee unite, and have accordingly voted to Mr. Morrison the sum of 1000l. to enable him to print and circulate more exten

sively the Chinese New Testaments, as well as such Books of the Old, as he may be able to complete.

Of the Arabick Bibles and Testaments sent to Java, a very considerable number have been sold: some of the Arabian Merchants and Sheiks are described, as sitting in company whole nights together, reading them with the greatest eagerness and attention.

One Merchant actually delayed his departure from Batavia for many days, in order to read a Bible which he had received from Mr. Supper, with tranquillity and reflection; "he promised to recommend it to his countrymen, and implored a thousand blessings on the Bible.

The sum of 2201. has been received by your Committee from the Treasurer of the Bible Society in the Island of Mauritius, in payment for Bibles and Testaments sent thither: the circumstance is mentioned, as affording a proof of the circulation of the Scriptures in that Island.

Your Committee take this opportunity of reporting, that the Missionaries at Eimeo, in the South Seas under the patronage of the London Missionary Society, had translated the Gospel of St. Luke into the Taheitan language; and that the above Society had sent out a printing press and types, with a Missionary who understands the business of printing.

Anxious to assist this desirable and new undertaking, your Committee have supplied the

paper necessary for printing it. The information upon which this grant was made, states, that in the School at Eimeo there are nearly 300 pupils, mostly adults.

United Kingdom of Great Britain.

Your Committee have now to report the transactions connected with the British and Foreign Bible Society within the United Kingdom; and, under this head, they have the satisfaction to state, generally, that the object of the Institution continues to excite an increasing interest in the publick mind; and that, while through the medium of Auxiliary and Branch Societies, and Bible Associations, the local wants of the Scriptures within the United Kingdom have been largely supplied, the contributions from these sources have enabled your Committee to extend the benefits, and enlarge the efficiency, of the Society abroad.

In support of these observations, your Committee might refer to the popular feeling in favour of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which is obvious to all; but, for particular proof, they can confidently appeal to the specification which will now be given of Auxiliary Societies, reported to be formed since the last Annual General Meeting, and of the contributions from them, and the old Associates of the Institution.

[Here follows an enumeration of the many Auxiliary Societies, with their several contributions; the amounts of which were given

in the last number of the Christian Disciple. These occupy more than ten pages of the Report.]

Your Committee cannot record this gratifying detail of the publick liberality, without expressing their obligations to Almighty God, who has disposed the hearts of the inhabitants of the United Kingdom, notwithstanding the pressure of the times, and the various calls of a kindred nature, to administer so bountifully to the spiritual wants of their Christian brethren at home and abroad.

In this pure, disinterested benevolence, which can arise, it is presumed, from no other source than love to God and man, and which has no other object than to promote his glory, and the temporal and eternal good of his creatures, your Committee recognise, with heartfelt pleasure, the influence of that holy Book the circulation of which it is directed so essentially to promote.

While they offer their cordial acknowledgments to the various Benefactors of the Society, whether associated or individual, in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, they are persuaded, that the most satisfactory return for these benefactions, is, the proof of the successful application of them to advance the great object of the Institution, and the consideration of the inestimable benefits which they are adapted to convey.

The Auxiliary Societies have justified their claim to that tide in the most extensive interpre

tation, as, independently of their liberality to the Parent Institution, and their local efficiency in distributing the Scriptures, they have contributed, by their influence and example, to excite an attention to the establishment of other Auxiliaries, of Branch Societies, and of Bible Associations-the whole exhibiting a system of benevolent co-operation for the best end, and through the purest means. By these gradations the lowest orders of society become connected with the highest, in one great work of Christian charity; and the bounty of all, accumulated into one stream, is again poured forth to enrich the spots from which it flowed, or to fertilize the barren tracts of distant regions.

The Hibernian Bible Society have continued their exertions, during the past year, to circulate the Scriptures among all classes and denominations of their countrymen. Between 20 and 30,000 Bibles and Testaments have been issued from their Depository since their last Anniversary, in addition to more than 200,000 copies antecedently dispersed. Many thousands more were called for, which the depressed state of their funds, from the unexampled pressure of the times, rendered it impossible for the Society to supply.

It is indeed impossible to contemplate the effects produced by the British and Foreign Bible Society, so conspicuously displayed in the attention which it has excited to the supreme importance of the Holy Scriptures, in the unparallelled efforts for

the diffusion of them, and in the extension and enlargement of charitable feeling, without emotions of the purest delight, the warmest gratitude, and the most cheering anticipation.

Your Committee, most cordially congratulating their fellowlabourers all over the world, on their past success and encouraging prospects, have only to express the confidence which the preceding observations authorize, that this country, which had the honour to give birth to an Institution which has attracted the admiration of foreign nations, and exalted the character of this in their esteem, will, by a continuance of its liberality, enable the British and Foreign Bible Society to prosecute, with unabating zeal, the great object of its formation to its desired and glorious completion.

The gratitude of the United Kingdom is peculiarly called for, under the circumstances of peace and security, in which, by the gracious interposition of God, it has been again so happily and triumphantly placed. Let it then persevere in its endeavours to promote his glory, by extending, to the utmost attainable limits, the circulation of that Divine Book in which his mercy and truth are revealed; and let the Members of this Society, the honoured instruments of his pro vidence for disseminating his Holy Word, unite with their Committee in devout supplication, that the nations and individuals to whom, by means of this and other similar Institutions, the Scriptures are convey.

We have now exhibited the principal facts contained in the Twelfth Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society-a human Institution established on divine principles; the most wonderful, the most powerful, the most prosperous, and the most extensive in its influence, that the world has ever witnessed. The principles and objects of the Institution embrace the whole human family, as brethren and children of the same benevolent Father; and so far as these principles and objects shall be carried into effect, they must eradicate the barbarous prepos sessions by which Christians of different sects, and people of different countries, have felt authorized to invade each other's rights, to destroy each other's comforts, and to shed each other's blood. Every well-informed Christian who cordially prays for the peace of Zion and the peace of the world, or who can from the heart adopt the petition, THY KINGDOM COME," must pray for the prosperity of such an institution. The mutual love, the tender sympathies and kind affections, which the Institution has already occasioned,

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among Christians of different nations, and among men of high rank in different countries, may be regarded as a pledge, that it will eventually operate in favour of universal peace.

In the view of an enlightened posterity, how contemptible will all military conquerors appear, when compared with a Teignmouth, a Galitzin, and a Boudinot, as Presidents of National Bible Societies! Heroes like these may be eulogized for their exploits, without insulting a benevolent God. Christians may pray for success in these enterprises, without implying that they regard the Father of all as a God who can delight in seeing one portion of his children distress and destroy another.

The Report was too long to be given entire in a work like this. It fills nearly seventy pages, exclusive of the Appendix. In making the abridgement, the less important details have been omitted, some things also of a local nature, some of which will probably be hereafter given in extracts from the Appendix, and such things as were given in the last number of the Christian Disciple.