unavoidable while the arrangements of so large an establishment were making. A much longer suspension was caused by the prevalence of the epidemic fever, in New-York, during a part of the last summer and autumn. This lamentable visitation of Divine Providence did not, in deed, prevent the meetings of the Managers, nor the correspondence of the Society; but it put an entire stop to all issues of books and publications for a period, and it allowed of very little being done by the Printer or Binder. More than two months of the year passed away before it was deemed safe to return to the lower parts of the city, and to resume the suspended business of the Society. In the recollection of the recent season of alarm, peril, sickness, and death, the Managers have much pleasure in stating, that the new Depository is situated on elevated ground, and in a quarter of the city which is considered as one of those least likely to be afflicted by the ravages of pestilential disease. The Managers hope, that in this new situation, the officers of the Society, and the workmen in the Institution, will not again have to flee from the pestilence, and that their operations will be continued uninterrupted through all seasons of the year. Bibles printed and purchased. Notwithstanding these serious impediments just mentioned, there have been printed at the Depository of the American Bible Society, during the seventh Making a total of Two Hundred and Forty-eight Thousand, Six Hundred and Twenty-three Bibles and Testaments and parts of the New Testament, issued by the American Bible Society since its establishment. Of the Bibles issued from the Depository during the seventh year, there were, German, 444; French, 296; Spanish, 335; Gælic, 3; Welsh, 1. Of the Testaments, 2343 were Spanish, and 712 were French. The issues of Scriptures in the Spanish language, (as the preceding statement shows,) have materially increased. The Board have much pleasure in adding, that there are strong reasons to believe, that in a short time there will be a far greater demand for Spanish Scriptures, and more numerous opportunities of diffusing them. Already individuals have been found in many places in South America, and in other quarters, where the Spanish language is spoken, individuals of undoubted discretion and fidelity, who have undertaken to act as agents in receiving and circulating the Scriptures. Already some of high standing, holding civil or ecclesiastical offices, have expressed their warm approbation of the design and plans of the Society, and their readiness to cooperate in its foreign transactions. Already some hundreds of copies of the Scriptures have been confided to such gentlemen, and are in a course of distri bution. Accounts have been received, by which the Managers have been assured that, in many parts of the Spanish possessions, the introduction of the Holy Oracles is unattended with difficulty or danger; that the need is very great even among the ministers of religion; that the desire of possessing the precious volume is manifested to be ardent by multitudes who are able to read it; that the copies sent to several places have been purchased or received, with much alacrity and gladness, by persons of rank in church and state, as well as many others; and that numbers, particularly ladies, have been observed reading the Scriptures placed in their hands, with avidity and with fixed attention. With such ac counts before them, with the prospect of such opportunities of usefulness, and of such assistance from men of respectability, of intelligence, of piety, the Managers have determined to extend the scale of their labours, as to those countries where the Spanish language is spoken. They have printed several new editions of the Spanish Testament. They have thrown into circulation some hundreds of copies of the Spanish Bible, with which they have been most seasonably furnished. They have contracted for a set of stereotype plates of the Spanish Bible in the version of Padre Scio, and as soon as they can be procured an edition will be printed and issued. The Board feel the hope expressed in the last report, very strongly confirmed, that the time is near when the light of Divine truth will have dispelled the darkness in which Spanish America has been so long enveloped, and when the inestimable benefits of religious knowledge will be diffused over that interesting section of the world. Gratuitous Distribution. Twelve thousand nine hundred and twenty-three Bibles and Testaments, valued at seven thousand five hundred and ninety-two dollars and twenty-four cents, were issued gratuitously, during the seventh year of the Society. These gratuities have been followed by many thankful acknowledgments, and there is abundant evidence that they have been very seasonably bestowed, and are likely to produce great and permanent benefits. Several of the donations have been made to Societies, which had been recently formed at the time assistance was furnished them. This was done, in consequence of experience having demonstrated, that early aid from the Parent Society often proves the means of rendering an infant institution stable and durable; that such aid often silences those who were ready to avow and to manifest hostility, and sometimes even changes opponents into friends; and that, by being enabled to commence their work of distributing the Scriptures, speedily after their formation as a society, the members of a new Auxiliary often have their ardour increased and their exertions animated, and others are induced to unite with them, when witnessing the usefulness of their association, and the advantage of their connexion with the National Institution. But far the greater number of the donations made during the seventh year have been bestowed on Auxiliary Societies, who were unable to supply the wants of the Scriptures within their respective districts, from the lamentable extent of those wants, and from the pecuniary pressure of the times. In the last report, statements were inserted, which showed the need of the Oracles of GoD to be truly vast in various parts of the country. To those statements it would be easy for the Managers now to add many others of a similar purport. In one county in the State of New-York, the Board have received an official assurance, that after several hundreds of Bibles and Testaments have been circulated, there still remain more than 800 families who are destitute. In another county in the same State, after a large distribution in the course of a number of years, it is officially stated that from 1000 to 1500 families are not supplied with the Sacred Volume. In the western part of a southern State, it was computed by one who travelled through the country, and who carefully made his inquiries on the sub ject, that among about 40,000 families, 10,000 had not the Scriptures. A western county society, after having circulated many Bibles and Testaments, adopted measures to ascertain the precise number of the needy within its bounds; and before all the returns were received, it appeared that 404 families, and 3446 individuals who were able to read, had not the Holy Oracles within their reach. From another source it has been represented to your Managers, that in a county in a western state, 400 families were found to be without the Bible, although a considerable distribution had been made. An individual in another part of the same state, wrote to your Secretary for Domestic Correspondence, "I find nearly one-third here to be destitute of the Scriptures." Another individual, as to another western state, wrote that 8000 families in that state were yet to be supplied. The report of an auxiliary in another state in the west, asserts, that many thousands of Bibles and Testaments are needed at the present time to supply the necessities of the inhabitants." These statements are calculated to affect the hearts of all who are aware of the immense importance of moral and religious instruction, to the temporal comfort and the everlasting happiness of men. They show the necessity of continued liberality and exertions on the part of those who possess the Scriptures themselves, and who have the means of aiding in the work of sending the Holy Volume to the destitute. And these statements, assuredly, are more than sufficient to warrant all the gratuities which the Board have had the pleasure of bestowing on their fellow-citizens in many parts of the Union. Pecuniary Grants. During the past year, the Managers have granted one thousand dollars to the Rev. Dr. Carey and his associates, at Serampore, to be applied by them towards defraying the expense of translating and printing the Scriptures in the various languages of India. Another grant, of five hundred dollars, has been made to the Missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in the Island of Ceylon, to be employed by them in the purchase of Scriptures in the Tamul language, for distribution in that island. The first of these donations in money was made in consequence of a memorial from the Rev. Dr. Carey and his associates, soliciting assistance from the American Bible Society. It appeared that they had published, at the date of their memorial, the whole Bible in five of the languages of India, and the New Testament, six more, the New Testament was brought and parts of the Old, in ten more; that in more than half through the press; and that in the remaining ten, some one of the gospels was printed, and, in several, all four of the gospels. It also appeared, that, of the New Testament, in the five languages in which the Scriptures are most read in India, the Sanskrit, Bengalee, Hindee, Mahratta, and Orissa, and of the Old Testament in the first two of these languages, the editions heretofore published were exhausted, and the demand con tinued to be very great and urgent. To assist in preparing and publishing new editions, was the particular object of the grant made by your Managers. They rejoiced to aid the pious and able labourers at Serampore, in their works of benevolence, and to encourage them in their have devoted themselves, and which have most laudable exertions to which they already been so vast, and so successful. As to the grant to the Missionaries at Ceylon, the Managers have to state, that the memorial of those gentlemen represents the Tamul or Malabar language as spoken by the inhabitants of the northern part of that island, from Batticaloe to Jaffnapatam; and in the neighbouring continent, from Cape Comorin to Madras. In Ceylon alone it was supposed that the Tamul was the language of about 300,000; and on the continent, it was computed that about 8,000,000 used this language. The number who could read it was very considerable, and some such were to be found in every neighbourhood, both of Roman Catholics and Heathen. The Scriptures in Tamul had been published, and were to be procured on reasonable terms. The donation made by your Managers, was designed to enable the Missionaries to purchase a considerable number of copies, and to proceed immediately to their distribution among the needy around them. By these gifts, the American Bible Soeiety has extended its beneficial influence to far distant lands. The amount of the grants is small indeed, when compared with the vastness of the work in which they are designed to aid; but they could not have been enlarged, perhaps, without some restrictions upon the gifts to the destitute in our own country: and, small as they are, they will not be unnoticed by HIM, for whose glory they were bestowed. On His blessing, and on the exertions and liberality of the pious and benevolent in our land, it must depend when, and to what extent, the Managers may again be able to aid in the work of circulating the Scriptures in the most remote regions, and among millions of Heathen. The assistance which has been granted, was loudly demanded by the evident necessities of the case, and was urged by not a few of the Auxiliary Societies. The period was thought to have arrived, when the pledge given in the second article of the Constitution of the Society, and in the Address published at the time of its formation, should be redeemed; and the hope is humbly but confidently entertained, that the fact that the American Bible Society is thus doing good to many who are very far off, as well as to thousands in our own country, will be a stimulus to the zeal and the efforts of its members and friends throughout our land. Funds. Remittances for Bibles, from Auxiliary Societies Contributions to constitute Contributions to constitute other individuals Directors 18,041 83 654 14 250 12 610 00 150 00 350 00 Contributions to constitute 607 00 554 00 216 50 1,946 75 Fifty-nine Auxiliary Societies were recognised during the last year, making the whole number of Bible Societies, which have been recognised as auxiliary to the National Institution, Three Hundred and Sixty. auxiliaries, the Society is indebted, For a large proportion of these new cious and faithful exertions of the Rev. through the favour of God, to the judiRichard D. Hall, who has spent one year as an agent of the Society, and who has just entered upon the duties of an agency for another year. The Managers have much pleasure in expressing their approbation of this gentleman while he has joice in the hope that he will continue to been in their employment; and they rebe the instrument of essential good to the Bible cause. His catholic spirit, his well regulated zeal, his indefatigable industry $8,505 20 and perseverance, render him eminently qualified for the labours in which he 283 29 has engaged; and there is great reason to expect that, in forming auxiliaries in sections of the country where none exist, and in visiting others which have been already formed, he will be the means of enlisting many in the good work who have not yet joined in it, and of exciting to more ardour, and of guiding to more efficiency and usefulness, those who have united in the hallowed undertaking. He has now gone forth again with the best wishes of the Managers; and their tender solicitude, and their frequent prayers, will accompany him during the period of his engagement. Another agent is probably by this time employed, who has the state of Mississippi for the field of his exertions; and another has entered upon an agency in the state of South Carolina. Reports have been transmitted from a large portion of the auxiliaries during the past year. But there are far too many who have omitted to forward an annual account of their condition and operations. The Board respectfully and earnestly request that this duty may be attended to scrupulously; and that every auxiliary will send at least one copy of its annual report, as soon as may be after it has been presented, to the secretary for domestic correspondence. The Managers state with delight, that the auxiliaries, generally, manifest increased stability, zeal, and activity; and some deserve the warmest approbation and the highest praise. The Board may not be particular. They must, however, be allowed to mention, that Female Associations in the Bible cause have become more numerous; and that many ladies in various cities and districts of this country have nobly imitated the example set them by those of the same sex in other parts of the world. There are not a few who have persevered during the past year, in the self-denying, the fatigueing, the difficult work of visiting the poor, the careless, the ignorant, in their habitations, and of inducing them to feel some desire, and to make some exertion to possess the Sacred Volume. They have succeeded in a goodly number of instances; and by their instrumentality many an abode of darkness, and poverty, and wretchedness, has become illumined with " that light, of which neither the lapse of centuries nor the vicissitudes of life can extinguish the splendour." The remembrance of such labours is deeply imprinted on the hearts of the Managers. It is cherished with grateful emotions and with holy delight, by numbers who have received the benefit, who have learned to seek the good of their souls, who pour forth ardent supplications for the Divine blessing, not only on themselves, but also on their amiable benefactors. The record of such efforts is in heaven; and will be neither forgotten nor unrewarded by HIM in whose service they were performed. The Board affectionately recommend to the auxiliaries the adoption of measures calculated to render their annual meetings more interesting, to draw together a large assemblage on those occasions, to excite more attention to the local institutions, and to induce persons to become members and assistants. They also deem it expedient to renew their recommendation to the auxiliaries to sell the Scriptures at cost, or at reduced prices, in preference to distributing them gratuitously. There are some, and even many, cases in which it may be advisable to give a Bible or a Testament without receiving any amount as the price of its purchase; but, in general, this is found in our country and in other countries not to be the wisest course. Whatever sum may be obtained for a Bible or a Testament, is so much preserved to the funds whence the really needy are to be supplied. Men ordinarily value that which they have bought, far more than that which they have received for the asking, or which they have been pressed to accept. The best pledge which commonly can be given, of the sincere desire to have the Sacred Volume, and of the careful and proper use which will be made of it, is the willingness to buy it, and to forego some pleasure, or to perform some labour, to obtain the means to pay for it. These considerations are submitted to the auxiliaries; the Managers wish them to renew their attention to the |