While these general instructions are offered, the committee conceive that confidence should be placed in our brother Rice in making such incidental variations as the providence of God may direct.

Resolved, that a Circular be issued by the Corresponding Secretary of the Board, addressed to the associations and mission societies, with a view of exciting their endeavours in the common cause, and facilitating their general unity with this Board.

Resolved, that 1000 dollars be forwarded to Brethren Carey, Marshman, and Ward, at Serampore, for the use of our missionary brethren Judson and Hough, and their families, at Rangoon.

OFFICERS OF THE BOARD.

Rev. Thomas Baldwin, D. D. President, Boston, Massachusetts; Thomas Shields, Esq. 1st Vice-President, Philadelphia; Rev. Burgiss Allison, D.D. 2d Vice-President, Burlington, N. J.; Rev. William Staughton, D.D. Corresponding Secretary, Philadelphia; Rev. William White, A.M. Recording Secretary, Philadelphia; John Cauldwell, Esq. Treasurer, New-York.

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AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY.

At a meeting of a number of gentlemen of Portsmouth, Oct. 15, 1816, to consider if any measures, and if any what, should be taken to aid the funds of the American Bible Society, it was thought something ought to be done. A committee was appointed, consisting of Deacon Amos Tappan, the Rev. N. Parker, and the Rev. I. W. Putnam, for the following purposes, viz.

1. To prepare an address to the public on the subject of Bible Institutions, to be inserted in the papers of the town.

2. To engage the clergymen of the town and vicinity to address their several societies on the subject of the American Bible Society.

3. To circulate subscription papers, to solicit patronage, either to the A. B. S. or the N. H. Bible Society, the latter having become auxiliary to the former.

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At a meeting of a number of respectable inhabitants of the county of Madison, convened in the Village of Cazenovia, at the house of Wm. Hatch, innkeeper, on Tuesday evening, the 1st of October, 1816, for the purpose of taking into consideration the expediency of forming a Bible Society, in this county.

The hon. PETER SMITH, Esq. was called to the chair, and Col. JOHN LINCKLAEN, was chosen Secretary.

The Rev. Mr. Brown, being present, was requested to open the meeting with prayer, after which, the Secretary read the address to the people of the United States, published at the formation of the American Bible Society, whereupon, various observations were made suitable to the occasion by the Rev. Mr. Brown, and Mr. Madock. When, on motion, it was

Resolved unanimously, That this meeting now organize itself inte a county Bible Society, Auxiliary to the American Bible Society.

The following persons were elected officers of the society for the ensuing year, viz.

Col. JOHN LINCKLAEN, President.

Hon. PETER SMITH, Esq. Vice-President.
Rev. JOHN BROWN, Secretary.

PERRY G. CHILDS, Esq. Treasurer.

The following address drafted by a Committee consisting of Messrs. Brown, Lincklaen, and John Peck, was presented at the meeting, on the following day.

To the Inhabitants of Madison County, State of N. Y.

You have heard much within a short period, of the efforts hitherto unequalled now making for the diffusion of Christian knowledge in every part of the world. Of the vast progress already attained towards the accomplishment of this immensely desirable object, by the exertions of Bible Societies in the east, you have frequently been informed. To the existence, and wisely directed efforts of similar institutions in our own country, you have not, it is presumed, been strangers. Recently you have seen, and, as we would hope with joy too, inscribed on the annals of this nation, the name of the American Bible Society.

But, fellow-citizens, you have already been merely spectators of such scenes too long. It is time that you become yourselves actors, and achieve something of the same character, of which others may be spectators.

The preceding paragraphs inform you of the establishment of a society, auxiliary to the one last mentioned, intended for the whole of this county, whose sole object is "to encourage a wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures."

The design of this address is to solicit your co-operation, by becoming its members, and lending to its funds such aid as may be within your power.

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Your co-operation in this respect is necessary. It is necessary within our own limits, and in places immediately adjacent. opinion very naturally and generally embraced, that all living in a Christian Country possess the Holy Scriptures, is a great and dangerous mistake.-In parts of our land most highly favoured, and for the longest period too, with religious privileges, many, on inquiry, have been found destitute of these invaluable treasures. What, then, would be the result of a careful inquiry among ourselves? Multitudes-yes multitudes, were such an inquiry to be made, would, no doubt, be found without a Bible in their dwellings, on which they could lay their hand or fasten their eye! Nor 'would the fact be found the reverse beyond our limits. All reports concur in representing the western and southern part of our country as being, in an alarming degree, destitute of the word of life. And more deplorable still is the condition of thousands and

thousands living to the north, and particularly to the west and south of the United States! And, if possible, far more wretched still is the condition of millions sunken in the darkness of paganism, or bound in Mahommedan imposture.

Your co-operation, therefore, is necessary-imperiously necessary. There is among ourselves, in other parts of our country, and through the greater portion of the world, a demand for Bibles which no existing establishments can supply.

To put forth your exertions in behalf of the object of this Society is your indispensable duty. Are we under obligations, so far as our abilities will admit, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the afflicted; and, is it not equally our duty-nay, is it not far more our duty, so far as our ability will admit, to bestow upon those destitute of it, the gospel of the Grace of God-a Gospel that brings life and immortality to light-revealing a Saviour and whatever can cheer the life that now is, or the one which is to come? Ah! what must be the character of that heart which can witness a neighbour living in ignorance-countrymen walking in darkness, and fellow creatures bowing down to idols, or settled in the most confirmed delusion, through the want of that light contained in the Bible, and yet have no sincere desire to bestow the sacred bequest !!

Your exertions for a wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures, can be put forth with far greater effect in unison with those of the American Bible Society, than in any other way. By purchasing of that body the Bibles which you would distribute among destitute neighbours, you will obtain them at a price considerably reduced from what they can elsewhere be obtained, and by placing in their hands those sums which you would bestow on the destitute in remote places the avails of your charity would be transmitted with far greater facility, and with much less expense than could possibly be accomplished by any care or exertion of your own. Your charity, therefore, would avail more, and with far less care and trouble to yourselves, by acting in a way of co-operation, than in any insulated or divided manner whatever.

In concurring with our wishes, you will only act agreeably to the character of the times in which we live. The present is emphatically a period of exertion. Beneficent action rather than beneficent profession, is now the prevailing criterion of Christian character. He who does not act in subserviency to the advancement of the Redeemer's Kingdom, let his religious creed or connexion be what it may, is no longer numbered among the righteous in the world. The individual whose treasures are penuriously withholden from benevolent objects, or grudgingly bestowed for their accomplishment, is, without hesitation, placed in the ranks of those who are seeking their own things and not the things of Christ. The inhabitants, therefore, of this county; in remaining only admiring spectators of the wonders of charity now wrought in the earth, would,

in the estimation of all enlightened appraisers of Christian character, only sit in the seat of those in whose hearts and lives the spirit of the gospel is a stranger.

To the co-operation which we solicit, you are bound by the obligations of gratitude Parents or benefactors, who are now perhaps in the world of spirits, gave unto you the treasures which we solicit your aid in bestowing upon those who have neither parents nor benefactors to seek their spiritual welfare. Entirely within your own recollection also-the territory you inhabit was a field over which the eye of beneficence cast a compassionate look. Here Bibles in great numbers have been sent at the direction of Bible Socities. Your condition is now changed. The howling wilderness has become a fruitful field, and its inhabitants are generally able to bestow upon others the charity which many of their own number once received.

Fellow-citizens-You now have an opportunity for expressing to the Supreme Disposer of events, your gratitude for all the means you enjoy for receiving and communicating good. The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof, and it is infinite condescension in him to form any purposes dependent in their accomplishment on the liberal and beneficent exertions of his creatures. But such are his purposes respecting the universal diffusion of his truth. This truth must irradiate every clime, and be transmitted to every age, and human exertions must accomplish it.

Come forward, then, with your aid-gladly and extensively cooperate with the liberal and the good, with emperors on their thrones, and peasants in their cottages, in diffusing those "leaves" which are for the healing of the nations.

Some of you are opulent. Plenty is in your dwellings. From you much may be reasonably expected. From your abundance the treasury of the Lord must receive in no small degree every year.

Some of you, poor when you left the land of your nativity, have here risen to affluence. Providence has smiled upon your pursuits, and most which you have undertaken has prospered. As an expres sion of gratitude to that Providence, you are now under obligations to make remittances proportionate to your possessions, for the immortal welfare of the poor and destitute even in other lands.

Some of you are in circumstances less favourable. The exigences of the year demand most of what the year furnishes. But think not that you are exempt from the claims of those who are famishing for the bread of life. Their circumstances demand one Bible or more at your hands every year. And this demand, without the least injury to yourselves or families, you can answer by retrenching only a little from a few of the indulgences which you now practise.

Some, nay many of you, are the professors of that religion whose essence and whose glory is, that charity which seeketh not her own. You we fondly expect will act in character, as the decided friends

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of those Scriptures which, if your professions be not insincere, are the joy and the rejoicing of your hearts. No parsimonious or reluctant giver will be expected or excused in your number. spirit of Christianity will prompt you in behalf of such an object as the present-to exceed your ability rather than fall short of itto cast all your living into the treasury of the Lord, rather than dePosit nothing.

And now, fellow-citizens, need further considerations in respect to any of you be urged? If so, reflect one moment on the success which has already crowned the species of exertions we solicit, and the reward in store for those who, from proper motives, have put these exertions forth.

Look to the British and Foreign Bible Society, an institution a few years since without existence. Already has it distributed more than a million of Bibles and Testaments, gladdening not only the British empire and other parts of Christendom, but many portions of the Heathen world with the fruits of its beneficence ! Behold also the kindred Societies which it has been the means of forming, already beginning to emulate it in exertion and usefulness: How many have these efforts made the children of the light, who otherwise would have continued, and probably have perished in the dominions of darkness.

God is able to crown your efforts with similar success-but should he not, in making them in a proper manner, you will not only perform your duty, but will be sure of a glorious and an eternal reward. The pencil of inspiration hath written-It is more blessed to give than to receive. He that watereth shall be watered also himself. The liberal deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall

he stand.

New Missionary Establishment Proposed.

MARIETTA, Sept. 26, 1816. SIR-Viewing it of great utility, that Christian Missionaries act in concert; and, whereas no such concert is known in this Western country;-We, the subscribers, do respectfully submit to the consideration of the Missionary Societies in the Eastern section of the Union, the following Plan of a Missionary Establishment for the State of Ohio.

1. It is recommended that all the Missionaries appointed to labour in this state, hold a General Meeting at Granville*, Licking county, on the first Wednesday of October, 1817.

2. That each Missionary bestow his labours on such county, as shall be thought most advisable by the Establishment.

*This is not only about the centre of that of the state, in point of territory, but also the centre of that part of the population of the state, which are most the objects of Missionary charity.