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present to the Society. They feel bound, however, to express their unanimous and anxious conviction, that the Home operations of the Society should be continued; and that the remedy for any evils which exist in connection with those operations should be sought in improvements of practical administration.

APPROPRIATIONS.

The appropriations of Bibles and Testaments during the past year have been as follows:

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In some cases the calls for appropriations have been of the most urgent character, and instances of appropriations have been attended with happy results. The Home field, though shared by many laborers, presents demands which all laborers combined fail to meet. Our immense domain is filling up, not by natural increase only, but by unparalleled immigration. The foreign population which comes in upon us, so far as it is Catholic, comes without Bibles, and without Bibles will remain, till Protestant benevolence tenders the Word of Life. Every consideration of patriotism and religion requires it at the hands of all who love our institutions, and the Book which has made them what they are, and of all who love the souls of men, that they bear a suitable part in dispensing the heavenly gift. In the great Central Valley, in the distant States rising on the Pacific shore, in the strange interior recently brought within our borders by conquest, and even here in the Atlantic States, beneath the very shadow of our churches, are to be found all forms of spiritual destitution, the grossest superstition, and bold and vaunting irreligion. It may be a limited share only in the work of Bible distribution on this field which will fall to this Society, but certainly the contributors to this Society will not be content to bear no part in such a work.

The Board are happy to announce, that by a recent arrangement with the American Tract Society 1,000 German Bibles, published by this Society, will be put in circulation by the colporteurs of that noble institution. These Bibles are furnished at $1,000, and of this sum this Society makes a grant of $250, to meet the necessities of such as may be too poor to purchase. Bibles thus circulated go accompanied with the instructions. of godly and self-denying men; and the harvests which shall spring up from such sowing eternity alone can disclose. The promises of God insure an ample reward. The hope is entertained that this movement may prove the pledge of long and happy co-operation in the same direction.

PUBLICATIONS.

The number of copies of the Sacred Scriptures published at the Depository during the year has been 34,087. These, added to those of former years, make the whole number 368,414.

ISSUES.

The issues of the year have been 10,940 Bibles, and 28,078 Testaments, making a total of 39,018.

BOOKS ON HAND.

There were on hand at the Depository, at the close of the fiscal year, 6,494 Bibles, and 6,338 Testaments; total, 12,832. Of these, 681 are German, 1,600 are Welsh, 467 are French, and 71 Italian.

LIFE MEMBERS AND DIRECTORS.

Four hundred and twenty-five Members for Life have been added during the year, and eighteen Directors. The Life Members and Directors

have received from the Depository during the year 884 Bibles, and 1,842 Testaments; and the total value of their quotas received at the Depository, and at other places, has been $1,089 41.

It is to be feared that the purpose of this grant by the Society is not in all cases understood by the recipients. It is not the purpose to pay back to Life Members and Life Directors a certain per centage on the money which they have paid into the treasury of the Society, but to enable the Life Members and Life Directors to aid the Society in supplying the destitute with the Word of God. The books which they receive are placed in their hands to be circulated among the needy. Grants of high-priced books, or of books for complimentary presents to friends, are not designed; and it is to be hoped that calls for such purposes will be in all cases avoided.

RECEIPTS, AND DISBURSEMENTS.

The receipts for the year, including a balance of $389 68 from last year's account, have been $45,373 41. The disbursements have been $45,729 88. The balance due the Treasurer at the end of the year was $356 47. By comparing the Treasurer's account with that of the previous year, it will be seen that the amount received from sales of Bibles and Testaments was increased by the sum of $386 91; that the amount from legacies was increased by the sum of $3,319 60; that the amount from donations from churches, individuals, &c., was increased by the sum of $3,888 34; and that the amount received from donations from Auxiliaries was diminished by the sum of $5,916 82,-a fact which is to a large degree explained by the withdrawal of the auxiliaryship of the Kentucky and Foreign Bible Society. The resignation of four agents, the Rev. Dr. Maclay, and Messrs. J. Farquharson, I. Moore, and G. Williams, rendered extensive changes necessary in this department of service, and in some cases the employment of individuals for a short time. These circumstances slightly increased the amount paid in salaries to agents, the difference between the two years being $165 01. The total receipts from all sources exceed those of the preceding year by the sum of $3,990 67. LEGACIES.

The following legacies have been received during the year :

Mrs. Rebecca Thompson, late of Amenia, N. Y., (in part,)

Daniel Baldwin, late of Pennsylvania,

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Mrs. P. Cunningham, late of Ohio, yearly instalment,

Nicholas Brown, late of Providence, R. I., ninth payment,

Mrs. Rachel Jones, late of Pennsylvania,

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282 75

29.00

50 00

250

200 00

171 20

200 00

18.00

50.00 300 00

$1,803 45

Amount brought forward,

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Miss Minot, late of Boston, Mass.,

Thomas Cartwright, late of Leroy, N. Y.,

Deacon Finley McLarrin, late of Leroy, N. Y.,
Thomas Burton, late of Warren, Me.,

Josiah Kendall, late of Groton, Mass.,

Ann Van Horn, late of Lebanon, Ohio,
James Vanderpool, late of Newark, N. J.,

Edmund Scofield, late of Stamford, Conn.,

Oliver Olcott, late of Illinois, (avails of lands sold,)
Deacon Abel Beardsley, late of Stamford, Conn.,

Mrs. Content Welden, late of Mystic, Conn.,

Mrs. Rebecca Thompson, late of Amenia, N. Y., (balance,)

Total,

$1,803 45 100 00 25 00 25.00 1,000 00 750 00

58 25 100 00

100 00

59 15 150 00

10 00

301 00

$4,481 85

It is gratifying to observe that so many of the departed friends of this Society have remembered it in the final disposition of their worldly possessions. Themselves passing to the eternal world in the hope which the gospel reveals, they would still communicate to others the inestimable blessing. In the case of Mr. Thomas Burton, late of Warren, Me., the legacy, amounting to $1,000, was left with the provision that the principal should be invested, and the interest only be used, for ever. In conformity with this provision, the Board have sought a safe investment, on bond and mortgage, at seven per cent., and the writings in the case have been duly executed.

The Board would take this occasion to say to those who may contemplate similar remembrances of the Society, that their benevolent intentions may be frustrated, without proper attention to details in the solemn instruments in which they dispense their estates. The name of this Society might be supposed to be well known among its friends, but it is found not unfrequently misstated in wills; and in all such cases there is liability to doubt and controversy, and perhaps to loss. A little care would obviate every difficulty, and secure, beyond question, the fulfilment of the testator's intention. A form in blank is always inserted upon the cover of the Annual Report.

CONCLUSION.

In concluding this summary of the year's operations, the Board cannot refrain from expressing their profound regret that they have found the work of the Society obstructed by misapprehensions concerning the force and intent of the doings of the last annual meeting in relation to a revision of the English Scriptures. These misapprehensions the Board have, to a certain extent, labored to remove, not at all by embarking in controversial discussions or appeals, but by explanations which they believed to be reasonable, and which they hoped would be satisfactory. Something, they are assured, has been gained by these explanations, but the objection has been raised, that it is the Board only, and not the Society, which has

spoken, and that the explanations therefore have no authoritative force. To remove this objection, the Board would here refer to this point, and submit their views to the Society,

The Constitution of this Society proposes as its object "to aid in the wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures in all lands." The circumstances of the rise of the Society, and all its history, however, prove beyond question that it proposes this object on certain principles, well defined and understood; viz., that all mankind are entitled to receive, and that it is the duty of those who enjoy the precious possession to give, the Bible fully and faithfully translated; so that every man may read in his own tongue, wherein he was born, the complete record of God's revealed will. It is not expected that this Society, either now or at any future time, will actually reach all mankind with its benefactions, for, according to the Constitution, its object is only "to aid" in the work; but it is expected that whatever it does in this great and noble enterprise will be done with a careful regard to the principles here stated. Hence the excellence of the versions which it circulates becomes to the Society a matter of just solicitude; and accordingly, at the very meeting of the Society at which it was determined to make the field of the Society's operations as boundless as the world, we find significant resolutions relating to this point:

1. Resolved, That this Society will expect of their Board of Managers, in carrying into effect the second article of the Constitution, [" It shall be the object of the Society to aid in the wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures in all lands,"] the most sedulous care in patronizing such versions only of the Sacred Scriptures into the languages of the heathen as have been or may be faithfully made, and are approved by competent examiners.

2. Resolved, That in the distribution of the Scriptures in the English language, they will use the commonly received version, until otherwise directed by the Society.

These resolutions, it will be seen, covered the ground of versions in "the languages of the heathen" and the version to be distributed in our own tongue. For some reason, no allusion was made to any language not heathen, excepting the English. It is a fair inference, however, that the principles governing in the specified cases respectively, would properly govern in corresponding cases not specified, as they might arise.

No practical difficulty or misunderstanding under these general rules has ever arisen, except in the case of the English Scriptures. In "the sedulous care" exercised in relation to versions in heathen languages, there has been unanimous concurrence. The resolution pertaining to the English Scriptures was, as any specific resolution in such case should be, either in form or fact, qualified and temporary. There were special reasons in this case why it should be so in form as well as fact. There had been fears widely expressed at that time that it was the purpose of leading brethren in this Society to bring out a new English version under its patronage, and these brethren now affirm that this was their purpose. Under such circumstances, a resolution defining a present rule of action, and waiving the disputed question in such form as to involve no sacrifice

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