State and Territory of the Union; in the Canadas, South America, Greece and other foreign countries.

Besides these issues of Bibles and Testaments, large sums of money for several years past have been granted to missionary establishments under the care of various religious denominations, at Constantinople, Bombay, Ceylon, Burmah, China, the Sandwich Islands, and other places, to aid in printing and circulating the Scriptures among the heathen.

The number of Auxiliary Societies now connected with the Parent Institution cannot be determined with great precision; the total is not far from nine hundred, with two thousand Branch Associations.

Besides its Annual Reports, the Society publishes a Monthly containing its pecuniary receipts, correspondence, etc.

The Anniversary of the Society is held at New York, or Philadelphia, at the option of the Society, on the second Thursday of May. Up to the time of the annual meeting, in May, 1832, the principal field of the Society's operations had been the United States, in which it might be considered as having succeeded in putting a Bible into every family where there was not one already, in accordance with the noble resolution, which was adopted at the twelfth anniversary, in May, 1829, and which is as follows:

"That this Society, with a humble reliance on divine aid, will endeavor to supply all the destitute families of the United States with the Holy Scriptures, that may be willing to purchase or receive them, within the space of two years, provided means be furnished, by its auxiliaries and benevolent individuals, in season to enable the Board of Managers to carry this resolution into effect."

At the annual meeting in 1835, the following resolution was passed:

"Resolved, That the friends of the Bible throughout the country, of every religious denomination, be respectfully invited to cooperate in furnishing, as soon as practicable, a copy of the Bible or the New Testament to every child in the United States under fifteen years of age, who is able to read, and is destitute of the sacred volume."

The American Bible Society and the British and Foreign Bible Society are the two principal Bible Societies in the world. There are, however, others of considerable importance, and the whole number in all the different countries, including some missionary stations where they have been formed, may be reckoned at from 25,000 to 30,000.

(B. p. 86.)

Tract Societies.

The Religious Tract Society, at London, is the parent of all Tract Societies, and was instituted at London, in the year 1799. The first article of its Constitution is: "That this Society be denominated THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY; the object of which is, the circulation of small religious books and treatises in foreign countries, as well as throughout the British dominions."

The credit of originating this Society is due directly to the Rev. George Burder, and the Rev. Samuel Greathead, who had themselves published pamphlets denominated "Village Tracts." What also more remotely led to its establishment was the publication of the "Cheap Repository," by Mrs. Hannah More and others, about the year 1795. Previously to this, however, the Society in England for promoting Christian Knowledge, incorporated in 1647, had published and distributed books and tracts.

The officers of the Society are a Committee, a Board of Trustees, three Secretaries, Treasurer, and a Superintendent.

The Honorary Secretaries for the year 1838, were Rev. Robert Monro, M. A. and Rev. Ebenezer Henderson, D. P; Travelling and Corresponding Secretary, Mr. William Jones, Treasurer, Samuel Hoare, Esq., and Superintendent, Mr. John Davis.

The Society began its operations by publishing and distributing Tracts in England only, and only in the English language. Now it publishes and distributes them in no less than seventy different languages, and in almost all the countries of the world.

The Society has printed important books and tracts in about eighty different languages; its annual circulation from the Depository in London, and from various foreign Societies amounts to nearly twenty millions, and its total distribution has been about 272,000,000 of copies of its publications. The number circulated during the year 1838, amounts to fifteen millions nine hundred and thirty-nine thousand five hundred and sixty-seven. The Tracts included in the above amount, with the Cottage and other sermons, are 7,748,454; and the books for the young, 2,911,213. The Society's receipts for the year were £62,054 9s. 2d. Among the publications of the Society, we notice the memoirs of Drs. Bedell, Payson, and Cotton Mather, President Edwards, David Brainerd, John Eliot; Mrs. Graham, Mrs. Judson, H. Newell, and Mrs. Huntington, and some of the works of President Edwards, Dr.

Payson, Dr. J. M. Mason, J. Abbott, J. S. C. Abbott, Dr. Bedell, Dr. Dwight, etc.

The Society next in order of time to the London, grew out of a small association, formed at Bâsle, in 1802, which in 1812, became a regularly organized Society. It never has greatly extended its operations.

To the Bâsle Society succeeded, the same year, (1812,) an Institution formed at Berne. This Society has been more efficient than the Bâsle Society.

The first Society in the United States partaking of the nature of a Tract Society, was the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, instituted at Boston, in the year 1803. The Hon. Samuel Phillips and Professor Tappan, of Harvard University, took a very active part in its formation. For a number of years its operations were considerable; but it has, since the formation of the American Tract Society at Boston, in May, 1814, and the American Tract Society at New York, in 1825, turned its attention principally to Domestic Missions. Considering its means, it has accomplished great good. The Society has printed and distributed 8,224 books, 30,350 tracts.

Since the formation of the American Tract Society at Boston, similar Societies have arisen elsewhere, and are now common in all parts of the country. But the largest and most considerable, and that, indeed, to which almost all others, not excepting, in some respects, the one at Boston, are auxiliary, is the American Tract Society, instituted at New York in 1825.

From the greater facilities at New York for circulating tracts, especially in the western parts of our country, as well as for other reasons, it was judged best, in 1825, to establish a Society at New York, which should take the general character of a parent institution. Accordingly, with good understanding on the part of the friends of truth at Boston and at New York, such a Society was formed and has since been the principal Tract Society in the country. It has now 1,138 Branches and Auxiliaries.

The officers of the Society are, a President, a Vice President, a Corresponding, a Visiting and Financial, and an Assistant Secretary, a Treasurer, and thirty-six Directors. S. V. S. Wilder, Esq., President; Rev. William A. Hallock, Corresponding Secretary; Rev. Ornan Eastman, Visiting and Financial Secretary, O. R. Kingsbury, Assistant Secretary, and Moses Allen, Esq. Treasurer.

The following table exhibits a view of the receipts and operations of the Society from its commencement:

The Society publishes a monthly periodical, entitled the American Tract Magazine, which contains much valuable information respecting the cause it advocates-and also the Christian Almanac.

The American Tract Society at Boston, which is incorporated and made a body politic by an act of the Legislature of Massachusetts, may be considered as, in a great measure, the Parent of all other Tract Societies in this country. Some others were formed before it, but it was more active and enterprising in its early operations, than any other; and, in 1825, when the American Tract Society at New York was formed, it stood without a rival in the world, except the London Tract Society. It has since, too, continued its operations, and is now, amid all the Societies in the country, second only to the American Society at New York.

The officers of the Society are, a President, a Vice President, seven Directors, an Executive Committee of five, a Secretary, and a Treasurer, with an Assistant Treasurer. The President is John Tappan, Esq.; Rev. Seth Bliss, Secretary, and Assistant Treasurer; and George Denny, Esq. Treasurer.

The receipts of the Society, ending May, 1838, were $17,226 49, and its expenditures $17,784 43. The amount paid by this Society from 1832 to 1838, for foreign distribution, is $39,885.

The London, the American at New York, and the American at Boston, are the three largest Tract Societies in the world. Their publications may be found in China, Burmah, and in India; in the islands of the sea; in the countries round the Mediterranean, in the different countries of Europe, in North and South America. Many have been saved through their instrumentality, but many are still perishing through lack of knowledge.

There are other Tract Societies in this country, as the Connecticut Religious Tract Society, instituted at New Haven, 1807; the Vermont Religious Tract Society, formed 1808; the Protestant Episcopal Tract Society at New York, established in 1810; and the Baptist General Tract Society at Philadelphia, formed in 1824. This last has a hundred and fifty Auxiliaries and a number of Branches. There is also, the American Doctrinal Tract Society, formed May, 1829. This Society has been very useful in publishing and circulating tracts for the maintenance of the great and fundamental truths of the gospel.

(C. p. 104.)

Foreign Missionary Societies.

The Church itself may be considered as in some respects a Missionary Society, and the Apostles as the first Missionaries.

After it was first extended to Cornelius, the Gospel soon spread abroad among the Gentiles, and though retarded here and there, at various seasons, and sometimes almost lost in obscurity, it has, on the whole, gradually been advancing ever since.

Passing, however, the labors of the Apostles and their successors down to the time of the reformation,-not counting those of the Papacy as worthy to be named, and considering those of the Dutch and Danes, though protestant, as scarcely better on account of the worldliness attending them,-the commencement of what may more appropriately be called modern missions, is to be traced to the Society of the United Brethren, or Moravians, a denomination of Christians of a somewhat peculiar character, which arose among the followers of John Huss, about the middle of the fifteenth century.

The United Brethren, or the Moravian Missionary Society was formed at Litz, 1457, and was then small, consisting, according to some, of not more than six hundred persons in all. Some of the principles of the Brotherhood, are-that of governing themselves simply by the Bible, that of standing prepared to suffer all for conscience' sake, and that of refusing to bear arms in defence of religion.* The present number of the society may be from 18,000 to 20,000.

The Moravians may be said to be a missionary community. As a Christian people, they live in great simplicity, and this

*

History of the Protestant Church of the United Brethren, by the Rev. John Holmes.