circulated by various means. Copies of them have reached the distant habitations of the Buriats, and the still more distant inhabitants of the shores of Russian North America. On the other hand, the Kirgisians and Persians are supplied with them; the natives around the Caspian and Black Seas are partaking of them the Georgians and Bessarabians are furnished with these silent preachers of salvation."

Your Committee will terminate their abstract of the Russian Bible Society's proceedings of the present year, with the simple expression of congenial sentiments on the part of some peasants, in a letter which accompanied their united contribution :

"We humbly beg the generous Committee of the Russian Bible Society to send, with the receipt, copies of their Report for 1818, and a few addresses on the progress and design of the Society. By reading these, people are roused from a deep sleep, are filled with zeal for the holy cause, and bring their contributions to support it. Even poor widows and orphans give their mites. Fathers of families write down the names of their children of three and four years old as members, and bring the money from their earnings. Thus encouraging each other to peace, love, and good works, they serve God and the Emperor. How different is this from what it used to be! Our neighbours give up all their former ruinous and contemptible vanities, and take refuge in the word of God."

CATHOLIC DISTRIBUTION.

In this part of the Report, the Committee give a concise view of the circulation of the Scriptures among the Roman Catholics in Europe. From this view, we select the following passages, which will be pe

rused with interest :

It would have afforded your committee real satisfaction, to have been able to announce, that the opposition made

in certain parts of Europe to the circulation of the Holy Scriptures among the members of the Roman Catholic church, had given way to a kinder and more liberal feeling. They regret to say, that such has not been the case It is, however, pleasing to observe, that, under all the circumstances of discouragement and counteraction, the word of God mightily grows and prevails. The Catholic distributors, for the most part, persevere in their truly Christian work, unintimidated by the threats, and unarrested by the prohibitions, of those of their spiritual superiors, who wish to uphold the spurious and unauthorized practice of interdicting to the laity the free use of the Holy Scriptures.

In Germany, in France, in Italy, in Spain, the thirst for Scriptural knowledge is making sensible progress; and your Committee have not been backward to avail themselves of the various opportunities to impart encouragement and assistance towards cherishing that auspicious feeling, and providing it with the means of suitable gratification. In the immaturity of those measures which respect the lastnamed country, your Committee forbear saying more than that they are of a nature to inspire hope; and that, if the issue should correspond with the course in which they have hitherto proceeded, they will lay a foundation for Establishments in Spain, from which both the Government and the people will derive the most solid and durable advantages.

many to Russia, has left Professor Leander Van Ess almost alone in that portion of the Biblical field. Armed with courage from on high, he abides the conflict, and fights the good fight with unabated resolution. The number of copies of the Scriptures which he has distributed, amounts to no fewer than 408,210, of which, nearly 400,000 were of the Catholic version. "The astonishing success, (observes his Committee of accounts, in their address to your Society,) with which the Lord has been pleased to attend the labours of this his valiant soldier, who has so nobly defended the cause of light against the powers of darkness, has filled our hearts with the warmest gratitude. With unwearied zeal he devotes all his energies to the diffusion of the Gospel of salvation, and by the strengthening influence of redeeming love, braves the storms which assail him, and remains firm as a rock in the midst of the ocean, continually buffeted by the raging waves."

MEDITERRANEAN.

In that department of your Society's labours which includes the ISLANDS of the MEDITERRANEAN, and the countries with which it is surrounded, much has been done in the course of the last year towards creating facilities, and organizing measures, for carrying the benevolent designs of your Society, very extensively, into effect.

The Malta Bible Society has acquired a consistency and importance highly favourable to those distant and complicated operations in which, from its central situation and commanding means of intercourse, it is likely to be engaged. Already, through its instrumentality, many thousands of Syriac, Arabic, Greek, and Hebrew New Testaments have been conveyed into Greece, and different parts of the Levant: Italian New Testaments have also been distributed by it in various directions; and, at its suggestion, pocket editions of the latter, and of the Modern Greek, as well

as an edition of the Psalms, in Latin and Italian, are preparing by your Committee, and by your Society's agent at Constantinople, the Rev. Henry Leeves.

The Ionian Bible Society at Corfu appears to have struck its roots, and may be expected in time to gratify the expectations which the respectability of its Patrons, and the zeal of its Directors and supporters, have excited, by yielding abundant fruits. The principal cause of the operations of the Ionian Society not having become more active, has been, the delay occasioned to the publication of Hilarion's Version of the Modern Greek Testament at Constantinople, by the scrupulous revision it is undergoing. In the mean time, however, it has not been idle; and two new Auxiliaries have been added to it, in Ithaca and Paxos. The state of the Society at the close of the first year may be generally inferred from the following extract from its Report

"The hopes of the founder of this Society were by no means disappointed. The Ionian Bible Society has received very considerable donations; the number of its members increased in proportion, as its establishment became known; its stability was greatly consolidated by the most Reverend the Ecumenical Patriarch Gregorio, as conspicuous for his virtues as he is distinguished for learning; and its labours, if they have not been very important during the first year for benefiting the neighbouring countries, have certainly been of great utility to the interior of the Ionian States."

At Zante and Cephalonia a similar expectation of the new version of the Modern Greek Testament prevails, as that which has been mentioned in reference to Corfu; a feeling indeed in which all Greece participates; and it is hoped that the appearance of that version will draw forth the dormant energies of the several Bible Societies, and engage them in the performance of those services by which they may become most important benefactors to the whole Greek nation.

In this work the Athens' Society, of which the Archbishop Dionysius has now accepted the Presidency, may be expected to take its full share; as the best disposition appears to actuate the Directors of the Society, and both the necessities and the desires of the people invite to a liberal distribution of the word of God among them. For this opinion your Committee have the following authority, in the words of the Vice-President and Secretary of the Athens' Society:

"We have now the satisfaction of announcing to you, that our good Archbishop, Dionysius, has accepted the Presidency of our Society. The work of God goes forward, and does not fail to extend daily, not only in Attica, but in the Peloponnesus, Boeotia, and the neighbouring countries; so that we hope soon to be in want of many more copies of the Divine Book, to satisfy so many people, who are asking for it with eagerness."

LEVANT.

plans which his precursor, Dr. Pinkerton, had arranged.

By the unexpected decease of the Rev. Charles Williamson, and the return of Mr. Connor to England, Mr. Leeves found himself deprived of much necessary assistance; but as the Society has engaged the services of Benjamin Barker, Esq. of Aleppo; a gentleman from whose knowledge of the country, and the languages of Syria, much advantage is likely to be derived, the deficiency occasioned by a part of that loss, will be soon very beneficially supplied.

It only remains to speak of the Armenian Scriptures sent out, at the expense of your Society, from the college of St. Lazaro, at Venice; and for which the people of the Armenian nation, among whom they were discreetly distributed, have expressed their warmest gratitude and of the translation of the entire Bible into the Amharic dialect of Abyssinia. The purchase of this invaluable manuscript was made for the Society, by the judicious negotiation of the Rev. William Jowett; and, on its safe arrival, after its hazardous passage from Cairo to London, arrangements were made, without loss of time, for preparing a portion of it for circulation, in that part of Abyssinia where the Amharic dialect is used.

Your Committee acknowledged with due gratitude the important assistance they received from the Post-Office, in getting safe possession of a work, which, had it by any casualty been lost, or materially injured, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to have had replaced or repaired. But their more particular thanks are due to the Rev. Mr. Jowett, whose persevering exertions enabled him to surmount the numerous obstacles which stood in the way of the Society's obtaining a treasure, by which they hope, in due course of time, to rekindle among the Abyssinians that Scriptural light which has nearly become extinguished.