The sacrifice on the part of the Poor is voluntary.

nected with this particular branch of the subject, are too valuable to be omitted:

"It has, however, been objected by some benevolent persons, who appear to have confined their attention to one view of the subject, that the poor are oppressed by the contributions required from them, and that they are induced to give what would be better spent upon their families. In answer to this, it may be observed, that all that the collectors undertake, is to explain the purpose of their errand, and set before them the advantages of possessing a Bible. They are then left to decide for themselves-either to give or to withhold-and to proportion their contributions to their means; and as the smallest sum is never rejected, or received with contempt, they can have no inducement to give beyond their means. Free contributions from the labouring classes bear a very small proportion to the whole amount collected, and, where they have been received, have always been voluntarily given: nor have the collectors been willing, by refusing them, to deprive others of a participation in those benevolent feelings, which have contributed so largely to their own gratification. By such conduct, the poor are elevated from the rank of beggars, to that of the benefactors of mankind; and in teaching them to be generous towards others, they learn to be just to themselves, to rise from that state of helpless dependence which degrades their moral character, and to cultivate those virtues which ennoble and adorn it. To teach the poor man to respect himself, is the only method of restoring to him that feeling of honest independence, the want of which is so universally acknowledged and lamented. But to accomplish this, it is necessary to shew him his own powers and resources; and whether this can be more effectually done, than by giving him habits of liberal feeling, and prudent economy in order to gratify such feelings, your Committee willingly leave it to the candour of the public to decide."

66 At a period like this, when the minds of the lower orders have been exasperated by the heavy pressure of calamity, the peaceful influence of the Bible Society is peculiarly needed. Steeped in poverty, and drinking the bitter cup of suffering to its last dregs, the poor have been artfully taught to regard their superiors with suspicion and dislike. Left to struggle alone with the complicated hardships of their lot, unpitied and unknown; and driven almost to desperation by the distresses, which they have been made to believe were wantonly entailed upon them by the great; revenge for imaginary wrongs, and what they called their injured rights, has appeared, in too many instances, to usurp the place of better principles. Such instances have been met with by the collectors, in their respective districts. But the voice of compassion has struck upon their ears, and their hearts have vibrated to the unwonted sound: the look of pity, or the tear of sympathy, has awoke the kindlier feelings of humanity from their long and death-like sleep: their bosom has expanded to the reception of better sentiments; and envy, hate, and vengeance, the demons of the human mind, have fled before the benignant influence of love and pity; while resigned submission, and patient hope, have occupied their place.

"Ye who mingle in the scenes of gaiety and splendour, revel in the luxuries of imagination, or tread the fairy fields of pleasure, and, dazzled by the gay and brilliant prospect that surrounds you, alike forget that a clouded atmosphere may ere long eclipse in darkness those sun-beams that now shine upon your meridian of happiness, or that there is beyond the limits of your horizon a dark and dreary region, inhabited by want and wretchedness and woe-listen to the voice of those who have awakened from 'the dream that hitherto has enchanted you; hear them tell what they have

Testimony of the Glasgow Auxiliary Committee.

:

witnessed, in their visits of mercy, of human misery and of more than human joys; hear them declare what they have too frequently found the poor, and what they have sometimes had the happiness to leave them; hear them describe the pure and holy pleasure that attends the consciousness of their awakening the miserable to the perception of happiness and then say, whether the cause they advocate is not wisest, best, and happiest; and whether the enjoyment which selfish pleasure yields, can for a moment bear comparison with that which flows from benevolent exertion. Your Committee do not say that you will have no difficulties to encounter, and no personal sacrifices to make; but they assure you, that the pleasure you will receive in the performance of these kind acts of charity, will more than a thousand times repay you for any others that you may forego."

5. To these admirable observations it would be unnecessary to add any thing in the way of defence, if those who still entertain a doubt on the subject admitted a Committee of Ladies to be competent judges of the case. The following extract from the Sixth Annual Report of the Glasgow Auxiliary Society may therefore be perused, by such individuals, with more attention, as expressive of the unanimous sentiments of a body of gentlemen, comprising no common portion of intellect, acuteness, and discretion:

"Far be it from your Committee to recommend any scheme for your adoption, incompatible with that retiring delicacy, which is the loveliest beauty of the female character,-any scheme that would divest the Christian Fair of that ornament 'which is in the sight of GoD of great price, the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit;'-that would quench the blushes' of feminine sensibility, or fix, in the openness of masculine effrontery, the downcast eyelids of modesty. But, in the inspired records of Christianity, your Committee read of the Marys and Priscillas, the Tryphenas and Tryphosas, of early times, on whom, for their active co-operation in the cause of the Gospel, apostolic commendation is bestowed; and in whom respectively, by such commendation, the words of the Saviour, with regard to another female, when she gave a silent but costly expression of her grateful attachment, have been verified,- Verily, I say unto you, Wheresoever this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached, throughout the whole world, there also shall this, which this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.' Your Committee feel themselves warranted in assuming, that, where inspired approbation is bestowed, there could be no departure from the delicacies and proprieties of female deportment. And if, without such departure, Christian women of old rendered essential service to the progress of truth, it seems a reasonable inference that, by the same description of agency, similar service may and ought to be rendered still. This conviction, indeed, has already been acted upon by the Ladies of Glasgow, in support of various benevolent objects, in a way eminently to their credit: and your Committee are fully persuaded, that there is nothing wanting, but the marking out of a field of appropriate exertion, and an invitation from you to occupy it, to bring forward multitudes, whose hearts GOD has touched,' to consecrate the energies of youth, and the experience of maturer years, to the all-important interests of the Bible Society."

6. In selecting from the mass of testimonies in favour of Ladies' Bible Societies, those which may place the subject in every point of view of which it is susceptible, it would be

1

Address of the Right Rev. Bishop White.

unjust to omit that of a venerable prelate of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America, the right reverend Bishop White, from whose admirable Address to the Female Bible Society of Philadelphia the following extracts appear peculiarly appropriate :

"If there should press on the minds of any of you, the apprehension of exceeding the bounds which the modesty of your sex prescribes, it does not appear to me that there is the least ground for such reproach, so long as the Association is within yourselves. As to the circumstance, that some of you will be called upon to act in certain official characters necessary for the conducting of business, if we look beyond names, there is nothing in the subject itself, but what would apply, with equal force, against the presiding at a dinner, or at a tea-table; unless, indeed, it could be alleged, that this is less alien from the female character than the gathering and the dispensing of alms. But this is a sentiment which, it is supposed, will hardly be hazarded by the most jealous assertors of the prerogatives of the men.

"It is one of the most conspicuous of the many beneficent properties of the Scriptures, that they are the charter of the female sex against degradation and oppression. Look at the condition of women in the countries where the religion of the Gospel is unknown; and all the arrangements of domestic life will be found a comment on the position. Can it then be out of the sphere of your sex, to be actively engaged in disseminating a system of truth and morals, which has so excellent a bearing immediately on your interests; and, through you, on whatever contributes to the rectitude, to the decorum, and to the rational enjoyments of social life?

:

"You have also this especial interest in the same sacred treasure, that, of our sex, as well as of your own, you are the earliest instructors in morality and in religion and what is there deserving to be commended as moral or religious, if detached from the lessons which speak so immediately from the oracles of God to the best sensibilities of the human heart? Under so loud a call as this, to the estimation of the Bible, surely you cannot be stepping out of your proper sphere, by being prominent in measures for the depositing of it in such needy families as would otherwise be without the means which you enjoy, of rendering it salutary to their rising hopes.

"If there were nothing more than the undeniable property of the human condition, that, under all states of society, the women sustain the greatest share of its sorrows, it must give them an essential interest in the best source of countervailing consolation: that source is, the Word of truth. This being the case, can it be out of character, where pecuniary means are within the power, to add their personal attention and exertion for the extending of so inestimable a benefit?

"It has been thought an incidental advantage arising from Bible Societies, that, by combining persons of different religious denominations, they have the effect of promoting unity of affection, under irreconcileable differences of opinion. The British and Foreign Bible Society set off on the fundamental principle, of avoiding whatever could bring such diversity into view. They professed to deliver the Book of God without note or comment. The societies instituted in America have trodden in their steps. While this plan shall be pursued, there can be no dissatisfaction on account of interfering opinions or modes of worship. Is it possible that such a course can be persevered in, without its contributing to all the charities of life? And if this is the natural consequence, can any scruple be well-founded which would restrict the benefit to men ?

Official testimony of the Parent Society.

"I will only add, that, contemplating the recent institution of Bible Societies, begun in England, and extending rapidly throughout the world, as a prodigious effort for the raising of a mound against the threatening inundation of infidelity; as being also one of the happiest expedients which have been devised, for spreading the knowledge of the Gospel of Christ; and as tending directly to the accomplishment of the assurances given, that His kingdom will at last be co-extensive with the world; I will not suffer myself to believe that your sex, any more than ours, are debarred from promoting these blessed ends, in your distinctive character. Accordingly, I take the liberty of exhorting you to persevere in the work begun, and of assuring you of my best wishes, and my prayers for your success."

7. That the results of Ladies' Bible Associations, and the conduct of those who take an active part in their concerns, have fully justified the observations just quoted, and amply satisfied the warmest friends to these institutions, is a fact which, however gratifying, excites no surprise. It is precisely what was anticipated from British and from Christian Females:-they have remembered, that it was by honoured individuals of their sex the REDEEMER of the World was attended, during his sojourn upon earth; that they "ministered to Him of their substance;"-followed Him even unto Calvary; and were the last to leave His cross, and the first to announce His glorious resurrection from the dead:-they have borne in mind, that it was to a Woman the encouraging language was addressed, " She hath done what she could:" and in assisting to distribute the divine legacy of His Gospel, they have found they were fulfilling one of their highest duties, exercising one of their dearest privileges, and promoting their own happiness and peace.

The following official testimony to the value of those institutions, extracted from the Sixteenth Report of the Parent Society, supplies an appropriate conclusion of these remarks:

"Your Committee have often expressed their high opinion of the various advantages derivable from Bible Associations; and in that opinion they find themselves, by progressive experience, continually more confirmed. Whether they look to the increase of the funds of the Society, or the improving tendency of its local operations, they find ample ground for regarding Bible Associations as deserving the warmest commendation, and the most decided encouragement and support. These remarks, which comprehend Bible Associations in general, are particularly applicable to those which are constituted and conducted by the Female portion of the community. In every part of the country, where the trial has been correctly made, Ladies' Bible Associations have justified the strong language in which your Committee have recommended, and in which they think it their duty again to recommend, their establishment in connexion with the Auxiliary Societies of the District."

Letter from Pastor Oberlin, of Walbach.-Sophia Bernard.

SECTION I.

ORIGIN OF FEMALE BIBLE SOCIETIES.

1. In tracing this stream of Christian charity to its source, we shall find the spring among the mountains of Alsace. If there be any man to whom the merit of opening the fountain appertains, it is Pastor OBERLIN, of Walbach, in the Ban de la Roche. It was the perusal of a letter from this extraordinary man, in the Appendix to the First Annual Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, that originally suggested to the author of the present work, the possibility of interesting the Females of Great Britain in the cause of that institution: and as this communication breathes a spirit which cannot be too widely diffused, no apology will be necessary for introducing the following extracts.* expressing his gratitude for a donation of 30%. for the purpose of purchasing and distributing French and German Bibles among the poor inhabitants of that sequestered region, he observes:

After

"I have made a list of such persons as I consider most deserving of such a present. Among the large number of individuals and families to whom a Bible is a most welcome present, I first put down such characters as are most active in promoting the Redeemer's kingdom, and in doing good to the bodies and souls of their fellow-men.

1. "The first Bible shall be given as a present to SOPHIA Bernard, who is one of the most excellent women I know, and, indeed, an ornament to my parish. While unmarried, she undertook, with the consent of her parents, the support and education of three helpless boys, whom their wicked father had often trampled under his feet, and treated in a manner too shocking to relate, when nearly starving with hunger they dared to cry out for food. Soon afterwards, she proved the happy means of saving the lives of four Roman-Catholic children, who, without her assistance, would have fallen a prey to want and famine. Thus she had the management of seven children, to whom several more were added, belonging to members of three several denominations: she now hired a house and a servant-girl, and supported the whole of the family entirely with her own work, and the little money she got from the industry of the children, whom she taught to spin cotton. At the same time, she proved the greatest blessing to the whole village where she lived: for it is impossible to be more industrious, frugal, clean, cheerful, edifying by her whole walk and conversation; more ready for every good word and work; more mild and affectionate, more firm and resolute in dangers, than she was. Satan so enraged some of her enemies, that they threatened to destroy her old tottering cottage; but God was graciously pleased to preserve her. A fine youth, of a noble mind, made her an offer of his hand. She first refused, but he declared he would wait

See Owen's History, Volume III. page 420 et seq. for an animated sketch of this venerable character, who, "with the simplicity of a patriarch, and the zeal of an Apostle, has done so much to promote both the temporal and the spiritual welfare of his charge."

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