others, which taught that by grace we are saved, through faith, and that not of ourselves, for it was the gift of God. The poor man seemed astonished, and cried out, 'Is it possible that it can be so? is it possible that I can be saved?' and then listened to the instructions that were given to him. Mr. Gobat then related another instance of the effects of superstition. About two years ago, the Cholera raged dreadfully ; the people were alarmed and began to pray. The Christians and Mahomedans went about, the Mahomedans calling out, Allah, Allah!' and the Christians, Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon us!' After two days, both parties seemed to have lost all hope of the mercy of God, and they went about the streets shouting and laughing, as if they had been mad. They said that finding God not hear and answer the prayers, they thought that they would try and reconcile the Devil to them, as they considered him to be the author of the evil. He called upon Christians, therefore, and besought them, while they called upon God in every time of trouble, to remember that there were thousands who knew of no other refuge but the will and pleasure of the Devil. Perhaps they might think that there was but little hope for such persons; but having twice visited them, he did indulge a hope that many of them would be brought to God, if Christians were but mindful to send them missionaries. One missionary had died there, and the natives confessed that they had never seen a man die like him; and one of those who were present, a Mussulman, said that he had often

heard of persons dying in faith, but that till then he had never seen one die in faith. One thing which gave him encouragement was, the readiness of the natives to receive copies of the word of God, or portions of that word. On one occasion, when he had given a New Testament to a priest, several persons came immediately, and earnestly requested copies of the New Testament. Some had been brought by reading them, to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. In some instances, persons had given all their property to purchase one copy of the Scriptures. One man, who had two oxen, gave them for two of the Gospels; and another man, who had four oxen, gave them in exchange for four Gospels. Mr. Gobat said, that he should conclude by delivering a message which was entrusted to bim some time since by a great assembly of the learned at Gondar. Conversations had been held as to how the word of God might be obtained, and a revival of religion promoted. They said, "You have seen our ignorance, and our misery, and how we have been destroyed by wars, and famine, and disease, and how the curse of God seems to be upon us, on account of our sins. We cannot help ourselves. But do you pray the people of England to help us. That was the message he had to deliver from the poor ignorant and miserable inhabitants of Abyssinia. It was not for him to prescribe the means of help, but he trusted that the Society would send them ten or twelve missionaries, and thousands of Bibles and New Testaments.

THE Thirty-Fourth Anniversary of this Society took place on Wednesday May 2, and was as usual very numerously attended.

The Report stated that in the last year, 120,654 copies of the Scriptures had been issued from the depot at Paris, being 32,500 more than that of the previous year. To Germany, Switzerland, and Poland, 47,634 copies. 50,800 copies had issued from the press at Frankfort. In Belgium there had been an ex

traordinary increase in the circulation, owing to the activity of the colporteurs employed by the Society. They had distributed upwards of 20,000; but in doing so they had encountered much opposition and violent abuse from the Roman Catholics. In Petersburgh, 7,444 copies of the Scriptures had been put into circulation. In Stockholm there had been distributed 8,047 copies of the Old, 11,411 Testaments, besides 1,450 Finnish Testa

ments. In Berlin there had been a great increase in the distribution; 8,000 copies had been issued for the use of the Prussian troops, in the German, Polish, and Flemish languages. The Committee stated, with mingled feelings of gratitude and astonishment, the extraordinary progress of Bible circulation in Spain. In that long benighted country, and amidst all the disorder and confusion incidental to a civil war, the Holy Scriptures were making a silent entrance into many parts of the land. They were now openly issued in considerable numbers from the Spanish press, and were publicly bought and sold in many of the chief towns, and in some of them they were in extensive demand. In Malta, Greece, Wallachia, Smyrna, and Constantinople, there had been a great increase in the number of copies of the Scriptures put into circulation. In British India, on which the Society had expended the sum of £112,000. the Scriptures had been translated into the languages and dialects of many districts; but still, though much had been effected, the supply was inadequate to meet the wants of a population of 134 millions of people. In all parts of British India there had been a great increase in the circulation of the Scriptures. In China, the progress of the Society had not proved as great as had been expected, owing to the vigilance with which every attempt to introduce the Scriptures was resisted by the Chinese authorities. In New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land there had been an increased demand for the Scriptures. In Madagascar, the Queen of that island still continued to persecute the Christians, some of whom had suffered martyrdom, which they had borne with a patience and fortitude worthy of the early martyrs. In western and southern Africa, considerable progress had been made in the translation of the Scriptures into the languages of several of the

native tribes. The attempt to introduce the Scriptures into South America had not been attended with any great results, but still an opening was made for their introduction into some of the States. The copies of the Scriptures circulated by the United States Bible Society had been 206,240, making a total circulation, from the commencement of the Society, of 2,195,670 copies. The income of the British and Foreign Bible Society in the last year had amounted to £97,237. 1s. 11d. of which £31,892. 16s. had been derived from the free contributions of Auxiliary Associations, being an excess from that source of £1,258. 16s. 4d. beyond the amount of any preceding year. The donations had amounted to £4,845. the legacies to £11,911. 15s. The total expenditure of the year had amounted to £91,179. 14s. 11d. The issues for home circulation had been 369,764 copies, and for foreign circulation there had been issued 224,634 copies, being the greatest number issued for foreign circulation in any year since the formation of the Society; making a total distribution of 4,216,580 Bibles, and of 6,671,460 Testaments -in all 10,888,043 copies. In the course of the past year there had been formed seventy new Associations, making in the whole 2,374 Associations at home, and of 265 in the colonies, Considerable progress had been made in the publication of books printed in raised letters, by which the blind might be taught to read. Copies of the Psalms, and portions of the New Testament have been completed in this manner. The Report, in conclusion, made a brief recapitulation of the progress of the Society in the past year, and pointed out the necessity of going forward and being active in giving the Bible, and never ceasing until the Bible was given to every man, in every tongue, and until they could say, "O earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord."

The Rev. M. Merle D'Aubigne was happy to say that the Bible had begun to be received with great joy in France, and one of their colporteurs, who had gone there as a missionary, had written them word, JUNE 1838.

that he had been sent for to a village in that country, where the mayor of the place had caused all the inhabitants to be assembled with the drum, for the purpose of enabling him to have a more abundant sale of the 2 H

Bibles he had taken with him for that purpose. But the missionary informed the mayor, that he could never think of selling the Bible at an auction, assembled by the sound of the drum, and that he would much prefer going from house to house, and taking his chance. This he consequently did, and with the greatest success, for he sold a very great number in that place. Three years afterwards, one of the missionaries of the Paris or Geneva Societies, had found the word of God making great progress in that very village. There was also a village in Normandy, called Siouville, which in former times had been altogether a Protestant village, but which the French Revolution had succeeded in rendering Roman Catholic. In that village there was left an old church, and one solitary copy of the Protestant Bible. This Bible had been miraculously preserved in the village for an extraordinary number of years, and a colporteur happening to go there, chanced to see it. The effect of this visit was, that not long afterwards all the inhabitants of the village, with its chief magistrate at their head, went in a body to the Roman Catholic priest of the parish, and said to him-Sir, you must leave this place, for we can no longer have any thing to do with your doctrine.' They then sent into the neighbourhood for a Protestant minister, who had, no later than last July, preached to the extraordinary number of 2000 hearers the Gospel of Christ. Thus then through the means of that one Bible, which had been preserved in this village for a period of nearly two centuries, had a great multitude of people been restored to the light and to the blessings of the Gospel. With respect to what had been urged about distributing the Bible without note or comment, he could mention to them as a fact, that an old Protes

tant soldier, and some others, who had left Paris during the revolution of 1830, had, when they, after that event, returned to Paris, the greatest possible difficulty in finding a church where they could hear the word of God preached as they had formerly heard it. They went about from church to church, but could not succeed in discovering one which appeared to them to be the church of their own God. At last they went to the church of the Paris Evangelical Society, and there they at length heard a minister preaching the word of life. One of the poor men called to the preacher, "Your God is my God;' and this, he thought, was a sufficient illustration of the folly of saying that notes and comments were necessary. He had himself left Geneva, that cradle of the Reformed faith-the town of Calvin-and had lately crossed the channel and come to this great city of the west. I have (continued the Reverend Gentleman) seen and visited your places of worship, and I too can readily say, "Your God is my God." I have been received at the houses of friends and at the domestic altar, and can there say that "Your God is my God." And I have come to this great and interesting meeting, and here again I can say, "Your God is my God." You know what is the condition of the continent, and of France in particular. You must, therefore, work with zeal and energy, and never cease your exertions until the time shall come when a Christian can cross the channel, and going to Paris, there enter the churches, and be enabled to say to those he finds there, "My God is your God." Above all, you must pray that the time may soon arrive when the word of God and the light of the Gospel shall pervade every part of the earth, and each shall be able to say to the other, "Your God is my God, and your Father is my Father."

Yagouba Asaad Ei Kehaya said -My costume already proves I am not master of the English tongue. I do not only introduce myself to this honourable and most noble assembly through the kindness I have received, both in my first and second visit to this country, but also

in dependence on the principle expressed by the Apostle, that in the community of the Gospel there should be distinctions of neither Greek nor Jew, bond nor free, barbarian or Scythian. Perhaps my dress may make me look as if I come from China; but whether Christians

come from China, or Persia, or any other part of the world, they are all brethren in the Lord. I am come from that country where the Lord appeared, and where the first Apostolic Church was formed, and that honourable name of Christian was first made in my beloved country, the city of Antioch. Many are fond of studying history, and you have more books than we have; you know very well what was the state of our country both before our Lord's era and afterwards. But now it is sunk in a dreadful state, and has been since the second Caliph Mahmoud. But the providence of God kept some countries from being subdued by our foes; and from them have come the Scriptures to us. I am exceedingly indebted, first, to the missionaries who came from the United States of America to our country; and, secondly, to the noble British and Foreign Bible Society, who enabled those missionaries to bring us the Bible in Our own language. My father thought from the state of the country, that I must make up my mind not to stay in it; and by the providence of God he was able to give me some education, with a view to my becoming a monk. I went to some missionaries who came from Rome, and I learnt Arabic, and Greek. I then thought it was a pity I should go to the convent; so I went to some of the other missionaries, who received me kindly, and assisted me with a little more education, which has enabled me to address you this day. I now see that the providence of God sent those missionaries into my country. I began to study with great interest, feeling

demn the solid principles of the church. My little education gave me some influence in my own country. I began to read Arabic and Persian, and, of course, the Koran. I made acquaintance with some Mahomedans, who taught me the Koran secretly, and I had the opportunity of reading many of their books; but in the mean time I had about me that beloved fountain of truth, the Bible. I wanted to compare them to see what it was that made one hundred and sixty millions of people embrace the doctrines of that man who came from the deserts, Mahomed. My Mahomedan teachers began to flatter me, and to say that of course I was not a Christian, but a Mahomedan in heart, though a Christian in profession, and that by God's predestination I should become a Mahomedan. I was not then a real Christian, but only professed to be so for the sake of worldly honour. Still I said, I am a Christian, and I do not find any thing solid in your principles to make me embrace them, although you give me every sort of compliment, and flatter me with your worldly manners. The Sheik of the Mullahs was surprised that I was not convinced. While discharging my office at Damascus, I corresponded with the missionaries, and asked them how I could be useful. In the mean time some people introduced me to the Pasha, to whom I acted as interpreter, when he was visited by many noblemen and gentlemen from your country.—

He said, England is very fine, very good, and so forth; but the British Government owes debts of eight hundred millions.' The En

answered, What of that? Twentynine persons in my own country, and my father the thirtieth, will at any time form such a sum together.' The Pasha was astonished, and so was I; and I wished to come to this country to see its riches. I came over as interpreter to some princes, who were Mahomedans, and all the way we talked about religion. They said, 'All would be happy if all were of one religion.' I said, ' Of course.' I was then obliged to think seriously, and to read much of the Bible, in order to meet the difficulties of the Koran. When we came

to this country, we visited different places; and those noble princes could not have omitted seeing the light of your country. Afterwards we returned to Constantinople, and proceeded on our journey, talking of religion all the way. At last one of them said, 'If you come to Bagdad, I shall make one of the great Mullahs there convince you, and give you all proofs.' I went home, and as a member of the Greek Church, I began to think it my duty to do something for my country; and first, to get education on Christian principles, particularly for females. Many said I was wrong; some called me mad; but a great many liked it. But I did not mind what they said, this or that. I said, I must do it. The people said I came from the moon. I gave up my office to the Consul, and told him he must get some other person for interpreter, because I felt that I could do something for my country, especially to introduce female education on Christian principles, in order to bring in Christianity among the Mahomedans. I began to travel, and every man was glad to see me, because I gave them accounts of England and other countries, and also of the history of their own country, of which they were ignorant. They asked me the reason why England and Europe flourished so much? I told them it was a difficult question to answer; but my own mind was satisfied that England began to flourish, since religion and Christianity flourished .there, by the blessing of God through the Bible, and these benevolent institutions. I said their religion led them to have their Universities, and their great philosophers, so that though their language is not so rich as ours, their philosophers make it richer and larger every year, and print thousands of books every year. They were very much astonished, and could hardly believe it, but I said I am satisfied that as long as these institutions proceed, the country will flourish. Allow me to say how the Bible can be introduced among the Mahomedans, by education of the females. I told the English Christian ladies, that they were very handsome, and very clean, and very good; but they don't do any thing for my poor

countrywomen. I know that by nature, women have great influence everywhere. When a party of seven of us were travelling in the desert, and were robbed by the Bedouins, I said to a woman who belonged to them, We are strangers; why do you injure us, and do all this to us who have done no harm to you?' And then she began to speak in our favour, and even she had influence. The women in our country are the most civilized and polite in the East, but they are short of instruction. We think if we instruct them we shall spoil them. But when we see that ladies had some honour in prophesying and carrying on the word of God, and in serving and attending the apostles, we should teach women religion. I told them, moreover, I may be wrong; but it is my opinion, that nothing can restrain any person from vice more than Christanity and education. Every person would be ashamed for his honour and name's sake, to act any violation of good, or to have any bad manners; but you see a low person, who is not educated, act vice. Oh,' they said, ' but we don't want it.' I went to Bagdad, to the Mullahs, to hear their great proofs. I was introduced by the princes. They said I was an unclean person. They said, They would be happy to form my acquaintance, but they were sorry that our friendship would last only a few years, for in a little time we should be separated, for they would go to paradise, and I should go to hell.' I said, I should be sorry indeed to go to that place which they had mentioned, but that I looked to God for mercy. I don't see by my not following my own religion, any thing but wickedness and danger; but we have one person who takes into paradise-the Lord Jesus Christ. When the noble Mullahs heard that, they said, 'Is it possible?' We began to converse every day, and continued for a year discussing religion, bringing the gospel on the one hand, and the Koran on the other. I said, I can prove from your own book, which I have studied as much as you, that this book is a real book. They admitted that Christians went to heaven through Christ, up to the time of Mahomed. I then said, if you