indolent spirit of an establishment; and the last act of public importance, by which it is known, was the refusing to the worthiest members of its communion release from a useless obligation, which it went against their consciences to take.

In this country, a country reserved as it seems by providence, for the last experiment whether man can bear and consent to be free, good, intelligent, and happy, whether those principles may yet prevail which have hitherto been kept down by his ignorance, his vices and his pride, it is not perhaps much to be feared, that institutions, the poor relic of a catholic and feudal age, the naked marrowless skeleton of the gaudy thing they were, should ever gain a permanent establishment. They seem to have no congeniality with the spirit of the times. They grow in an unpropitious soil, and when the sun is up, they will be scorched, and because they have no root will wither away. But if we should prove to be deceived in this,-if here too the best hopes of philanthropy were doomed to be again struck down, if hither too, religion, pure and undefiled, should be pursued,-pursued to her last retreat, where, for the sake of rendering a spontaneous obedience, and breathing an unfettered prayer, she was willing to sit at her board with famine, and lay herself to rest on rocks, we trust that the spirit will not be dead which spoke in the words of one of our own divines,-" if the land will not help the woman, let her go into another wilderness."

much of that bad Spirit, it is acknowledged, they have each shewn. But surely there is no comparison betwixt the cruelties and oppressions of your Church, and of their's. Your little finger has been thicker than their loins."*-Dissenting Gentleman's Letters, p. 82-84.

Acts of Parliament were the artillery of the establishment. Its smallarms discharged such missiles as these, in a tract ascribed to archbishop Parker, and quoted by Neal, i. 572. He calls the non-conformists “schismatics, bellie-gods, decevers, flatterers, fools, such as have been unlearnedlie brought up in profan occupations; puffed up in arrogancie of themselves, chargeable to vanities of assertions: of whom it is feared that they make posthast to be anabaptists and libertines, gone out from us, but belike never of us; differing not much from donatists, shrinking and refusing ministers of London; disturbers, factious, willful entanglers, and encumberers of the consciences of their herers, girders, nippers, scoffers, biters, snappers at superiors, having the spirit of irony, like to audiani, smelling of donatistrie, or of papistrie, rogatianes, circumcellians, and pelagians.”

The English presbyterians and independents are not to be acquitted of a persecuting spirit, but their acts of oppression were of a much milder character. Cromwell's ordinance for ejecting scandalous, ignorant and insufficient ministers and schoolmasters (passed in 1654) allowed to the party ejected a convenient time for his removal, and reserved three fifths for the support of his family. There is no religious tyranny of his on record like that of the Act of Uniformity The spirit of religious establishments is uniformly the The expressions of bishop Magee with regard to Unitarians do not yield in indecency to those of archbishop Parker respecting the dissenters of his day.

same.

INTELLIGENCE.

British and Foreign Bible Society.-The 16th anniversary of this magnificent institution was held May 3d. The Report of the Committee commenced with the foreign relations of the society. In France their exertions had answered their most sanguine expectations. The duke d'Angoulême had expressed himself most friendly to the society and their objects, and the duke de Cazes had subscribed 1000 livres in support of their funds.In the United States and their dependencies, Christians of every denomination, and even Jews, exhibit the most earnest desire to possess the Scriptures, and to support the societies by which they are distributed.-From Switzerland, Hanover, Saxony, Wirtemberg, Prussia, Denmark, Russia, Sweden, and Norway, the intelligence was of the most gratifying kind. Similar accounts had been received from the Ionian Islands, and from Athens, where Bible societies had been established.--The Eighth Report of the Calcutta Bible society, and that from Madras and its dependencies, furnished abundant proof of its advantages.--In China, though the jealous power of the government still operates to prevent the admission of the holy Scriptures; yet well founded hopes are entertained, that the exertions which are making will eventually succeed in diffusing the light of the Gospel over that vast empire. Under the direction of Dr. Morrison, the whole Bible has now been translated into the Chinese language, and the one thousand pounds voted by the Society for that object had been duly appropriated.-The New South Wales Bible Society had been zealously supported by all the civil, military, and ecclesiastical authorities in the colony, and its establishment promised the most beneficial results.-The reports which had been made from the South Sea Islands were most gratifying. The whole Gospel of St. Luke had been translated into the Otaheitan language, and three thousand copies had been printed and nearly distributed.-In Africa and America, the kingdom of Hayti, and the Western Archipelago, there was unquestionable evidence of the great and growing success of that holy cause in which the Society is engaged.

Dr. Adam Clarke introduced to the meeting two Ceylonese priests. These young men had been brought up in the temple of Vishnu from the time they were five years of age. About three years ago a translation of the Bible fell into their hands, and their faith in the worship of Vishnu was immediately shaken.

They happen to be of the class, or caste of fishermen in Ceylon, and were particularly struck with that part of the Scripture in which our Saviour tells the sons of Zebedee to follow him, and he would make them fishers of men. They became curious to see the people who had the means of sending throughout the world the glorious truths of the Gospel. They applied to the then governor, who was about to return to England, to be allowed a passage in the same vessel, but were refused. So great, however, was their desire to visit England, that they actually took a boat, followed the vessel to sea, and were taken on board whilst she was under way. The Governor having put their sincerity to sufficient proof, treated them with the utmost kindness; and on their arrival in England, Dr. Clarke took them into his house, gave them every instruction in his power, and eventually admitted them into the bosom of the church by Christian baptism; and he had now the pleasure of presenting them as the first-fruits of the British and Foreign Bible Society in the island of Ceylon.

American Bible Society.-There have been printed at the Depository of the American Bible Society, during the past year, Bibles,

47,000

16,250

100,820

One hundred and seventy-one thousand seven hundred and fifty-two Bibles and Testaments, or parts of the latter, have been printed from the stereotype plates of the American Bible Society, or on common type, or obtained for circulation since the commencement of its operations.

Several other editions of Bibles and Testaments have been put to press, among which is an edition of two thousand French Bibles, from the stereotype plates belonging to the Society. There have been issued from the Depository, from the 30th April, 1819, to the same period in the present year,

Bibles,

Testaments,

Epistles of St. John, in Delaware,

Gospel of St. John, in Mohawk,

26,800

14,393

259

62

41,514

In the three preceding years there were issued,
Bibles and Testaments,

Epistles of St. John, in Delaware,

55,122

467-55,589

Making a total of ninety-seven thousand one hundred and two Bibles and Testaments, and parts of the latter, issued from the Depository of the National Bible Society from its establishment. Of the above Bibles, there were, German, 281-French, 227-Gælic, 71—Welsh, 1.

Of the above Testaments, 563 were Spanish. Of these, there were gratuitously sent to Valparaiso, 248-to New Orleans, 187-to Trinidad, 6-and to St. Croix, 50.

The remaining 72 copies have been sent to Societies, or disposed of to individuals.

Third Report of the Peace Society in London.-No new Tract has been added to its publications since last year. A new edition of Tract No. 3, consisting of 10,000 copies, one of No. 5, consisting of 5,000 copies, and 10,000 copies of the Second Report, have been printed since last year, making a grand total of 153,000 Tracts, Reports, &c. printed since the formation of the Society. The circulation of Tracts has been continued, and about 30,000 have been distributed and disposed of. An edition of 5000 copies of the Solemn Review has been printed at Pyrmont, in Germany; and these have been circulated through the hands of the booksellers in the principal towns in Germany and Switzerland, from the grand fair at Leipzig. Inquiries have been made for the other Tracts, but your Committee having taken some preliminary measures with a view to publishing in French and Dutch, have not yet thought it prudent to add to the number of Tracts in German.

The amount of Subscriptions and Donations ending June 14, 1819, is 4947. 11s. 8d. making the total receipts of the society 1073l. 16s. 1d. Between two and three hundred new Subscribers are reported since last year. Additional Auxiliary Societies have been established within the year at Worcester, Frome, and Dundee; and a Ladies' Association at Lymington, Hants. The progress of the Societies previously established, which have reported to your Committee, is encouraging; and some of them have been actively engaged in pursuing the objects of the Society. A Society in communication with your Committee has been established at Glasgow, from whose zealous and active cooperation your Committee anticipate the greatest assistance in this work. This Society has circulated some thousands of your publications, besides several editions of Tracts of their own

selection, and an excellent Address adapted for general circulation.

The accounts from America continue to give a favourable statement of the progress of Peace Societies, upwards of twenty being now formed on that continent. The Massachusetts Society in the year 1818 had distributed upwards of 8000 Tracts, and had received an accession of 246 new Members. The Society at New York had also circulated some thousands of Tracts, and is reported to be in a state of progressive increase. Besides these efforts, different individuals have exerted themselves with activity in the distribution of pamphlets. One individual, a mechanic in the State of New York, has published at his own expense 14,000 copies of the Friend of Peace, and 2,500 copies of the Solemn Review of the Custom of War.

New York Peace Society.-The operations of the Society during the past year, though not very extensive, have, your Committee believe, contributed in no small degree to the furtherance of their object. The exertions of the Committee have been chiefly occupied in the circulation of the best publications, tending to show that war is inconsistent with the Christian religion, and the real interests of mankind. Besides a large edition of the Report of last year, of" Tract No. III, The Question of War reviewed," a considerable number of the Tracts previously published by the Society, Letters to Governor Strong, and some minor publications, the Committee have distributed about 1500 of different numbers of " The Friend of Peace," and some hundreds of Tracts and Addresses, received from the London, Glasgow, and other Peace Soeieties. One hundred copies of the Report read at our last Anniversary, and one entire set and 25 copies of No. XIV. of the Friend of Peace, have been sent to the London Peace Society; 50 copies of the Report, and a few copies of the other publications, to the Glasgow Peace Society; 50 copies of the Report to the Massachusetts, and 50 to the Rhode Island, Peace Societies; 300 copies of the Report, 100 each of Nos. XIV, XV, and XVI, of the Friend of Peace, 6 Reports of the London Society, and 6 each of their Tracts I. to IV, and 24 Addresses of the Glasgow Society, were forwarded to Yale College, in New Haven, for distribution at the Commencement.

Rhode Island Peace Society.-There have been printed and purchased the past year, in behalf of the Society, 8736 Tracts, of which 8000 copies of the "Address of the Glasgow Peace Society" were attached to the Rhode Island Almanack. This mode of circulating information upon the subject of war we find