party; and at its expense a family of Friends is settled among them, provided with the means of furnishing them with the implements of husbandry, oxen, seed, &c., as well as with the instruction requisite to an improved cultivation of their land, and the increase of their animal stock. Among those, their late visitors had the gratification of observing much improvement in many respects; more particularly evident in the general disuse of intoxicating liquors, and the increased fruits of their industry; having a sufficiency for their own sustenance, and the prospect of having some for sale. The Onondago Reservation is upwards of thirty miles westward of the Oneidas, and afforded yet stronger proofs of the good effects of the labour bestowed. The Indians on it (says the writer) are mostly sober, and have been so several years; continuing to retain their integrity, although living contiguous to the white inhabitants. Friends have furnished them with oxen and some implements of husbandry, for which they appear grateful. They seem to be a very harmless body, and desirous of being preserved in a life of innocency, being sensible that the Great Spirit beholds them, and that they are accountable to him for all their actions. They have raised so much corn that the interpreter informed us they will have one thousand bushels to sell. We visited them in their huts, and met them collected in their council chamber; and they received us gladly, acknowledging our kindness to them. They signified a wish to send their children to school, provided we would send a school-master to reside among them; and their unwillingness that their children should mix with the white children of the neighbourhood, lest they should be contaminated by the prevailing vices."

In the second Number of The Philanthropist (p. 116) was submitted to the consideration of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the propriety of extending the distribution of The Gospel of St. John, translated and printed under its direction, to such of the Indians in various parts of the United States where the Mohawk language, if not quite vernacular, is easily understood. In the several accounts from which the Compiler has extracted the progress of Indian Civilization, he has yet observed no trace of the appearance of that translation, or indeed of any other of the inspired writings. When the children have learned to read, the mere curiosity of their parents and seniors will naturally incline them to listen to the subject; and even by this means the sublime truths of the Gospel may be gradually inculcated on those, whose entire ignorance of any

other language than their own must expose them to the misinterpretations of the juvenile readers of the English version (at present the only one to which they can have access), or to the accidental errors of a professed translation. The Indian Chief already quoted by the Compiler, told him that in a translation of St. Matthew, made many years ago, the excellent precept (ch. vii. 12.) well distinguished by the appellation of the golden rule, was rendered, "Therefore whatsoever men do to you, do ye even so to them," a doctrine the direct reverse of that of the divine promulgation; and, as the Chief observed, quite congenial to the sense of the Indians,

"By whom 'twas practised long before 'twas writ.”

To this account of the progress of Indian Civilization in North America, the Compiler regrets his inability to add the proceedings of the Society formed in London, " For civilizing and improving the North American Indians within the British Boundary," as he has not heard that any Report has been yet published. The settlement on the Grand River in Upper Canada has doubtless been a particular object of the attention of that respectable association, so well qualified, by the rank and talents of many of its members, to protect that important Reservation in the enjoyment of the rights solemnly guarantied to its possessors by the British Government, and so essential to the attainment of their benevolent object.

A Plan for supplying the Poor with Bibles.

THE Constitution of the British and Foreign Bible Society, its objects, and its unparalleled success, are so well known as to render any statement here superfluous. We have contemplated the glorious tendency of its labours with unmingled satisfaction, and feel pleasure in giving publicity to a plan which seems well calculated to put the poorest of the people in possession of that invaluable treasure, the Scriptures of Truth: and we hope before long to see a portion of the same zeal exerted in the same quarters, to enable the poor more generally to avail themselves of the blessing, by the extension of schools on the same liberal principles as those which have raised and distinguished this first of Societies.

"The Advantages of distributing the Holy Scriptures among the Lower Orders of Society, chiefly by their own Agency*. "Whoever is acquainted with the history of the Reformation, cannot fail to have observed the extreme anxiety displayed by our Martyrs and Reformers for the free circulation of the Bible. The same feeling has been found to animate wise and good men in every age since the promulgation of the Gospel; and some of the charitable institutions which have arisen in modern times, hold out the pleasing assurance that this Christian principle still survives; that many are still emulous to follow the example before them, and are in some degree influenced by the spirit of those who have long since gone to the restingplace of the just.

"One of the most important and effective institutions which the world has ever seen, is the British and Foreign Bible Society. Its means are great, but its projects are magnificent. It proposes to do nothing less than to diffuse the blessings of Revelation to all men. Its operations must be considered in a twofold view: as a British Society, it directs its first regards to the wants at home; and as a Foreign Society, it encourages the reprinting and dissemination of acknowledged versions, where they already exist, and promotes translations, and the circulation of the Scriptures, where they are wholly unknown.

"The efforts and utility of such an institution can be limited only by its means; and in proportion to the augmentation of its funds, will it extend the empire of knowledge and of truth. The assistance which has been afforded by Auxiliary Societies in many parts of the country, can hardly be estimated at too high a rate. By calling the attention of the opulent to the want of Bibles in their own vicinity, they have contributed very essentially to the benefit of thousands, who might otherwise have remained in ignorance; and by aiding the funds of the parent institution, they have enabled it to carry on its foreign operations with great and increasing success. Many are the prayers which have ascended from distant lands on behalf of their benefactors in Britain, and many are the blessings which have been invoked on their heads.

That a project of this godlike tendency, so full of mercy, and so abundant in reward, should be checked or narrowed by the want of resources, is a circumstance deeply to be lamented. Yet nothing is more certain, than that the efforts already made, however glorious and however unexampled, are not com

* Published by B. Şeely, 169, Fleet-street.

mensurate with the magnitude of the case. Here is a world in ignorance! a world to be enlightened and evangelized! To the reflecting mind it must be obvious, that a plan, which shall at the same time adequately supply the demands at home, and effectually meet the hopes and expectations of those myriads of human beings, who, in other lands, suffer a famine of the word of the Lord," must be supported by more general interest, and aided by more extensive means.

"To complete the system which has commenced, and been conducted with such happy results, no measure seems to have occurred of such reasonable promise as Bible Associations*. The contributors to the Institution in London, and to its auxiliaries and branches in differcut parts of the country, consist in general of that class of persons who are somewhat elevated in the scale of society. It is the object of Bible Associations to bring into action also the inferior classes; to collect subscriptions not merely from the opulent, but likewise from that large body of the people, who are unable to give much, and are yet not unwilling to give a little. If the number of contributors be great, the accumulation even of small sums will not be contemptible; and it may be presumed, that most persons, who are not absolutely in the lowest walks of life, can afford a subscription of a penny a week.

"A series of resolutions, recommended for adoption by Bible Associations, is subjoined to this address. In illustration of that paper, it may be proper to observe, that while the committees of such associations are formed from the contributors themselves, yet the stimulus must be afforded by others. On the formation of an Auxiliary or Branch Society, the members of the committee (under the designation of sub-committees) should select certain districts for their own more immediate xertions, and endeavour to awaken the attention of the inferior classes to the importance of rendering whatever aid they can afford. It would be expedient to appoint a numerous committee for each association, in order that a greater interest may be excited, and that the wants of the poor may be more accurately known. Certain members of the Auxiliary or

Bible Associations have been established in many places. The Auxiliary Bible Society for Blackheath and its neighbourhood have ten within its district; and one within the town of Darlington produces after the rate of 70%. a year, being more than adequate to supply the deficiency of the Scriptures amongst the poor of that town; thereby completely liberating the funds of the Auxiliary Bible Society for Darlington and its vicinity, so far as relates to the town of Darlington itself, for the supply of foreign parts.

Branch committees should also be appointed frequently to sit with the committees of Bible Associations. A proper direction will thus be given to their efforts; a similarity of system will be maintained; and the Parent Society, with all its auxiliaries and dependencies, will thus present a perfect whole, correspondent in plan and united in harmony: a noble fabric, in which all the parts are combined at once for beauty and for strength; whose foundations are laid deep in the ground, but its pillars are seen from afar, and its turrets sparkle in the skies.

As the object and tendency of the measure here recommended, is to promote the widest circulation of the Scriptures, and to excite the greatest attention to them through the whole mass of the community, it may seem almost superfluous to enlarge upon the benefits which must result from its adoption. In a land professing to be Christian, where is the man who would arrest the free streams of heavenly mercy? Where is the man, who would not rather rejoice to behold every mound and barrier swept away by the ample tide-to see the liberal current "overflow and pass over" in all its rich and fertilizing influence? that the soil, which has hitherto been parched and unfruitful, or " fertile only to its own disgrace," may smile in new attraction, and cheer the eye with strange luxuriance.

"If, in these awful times, we conceive ourselves to be placed upon an eminence from which we may contemplate the evervarying scenes which are flitting around us, how melancholy is the prospect! The face of nature, indeed, continues the same; the works of creation still reflect the wisdom and goodness of the Creator; seed-time and harvest, and summer and winter, acknowledge their appointed course; the earth expands her beauties to the day, and the lights of heaven still rise and descend obedient to the will that formed them. But the moral world is thrown into convulsions; the image of God is defaced, the impress of the Divine hand seems to be almost obliterated; and the best and chiefest of his works-for the sake of which this fair and fertile earth is commanded to yield her increase, and the lights of heaven to travel on their destined way-presents little else than the fragments of a mighty wreck. Public principle has been violated, public order inverted; the fury of the nations has shaken, even to their base, the pillars of civilized society, and the stately edifice itself seems tottering to its fall. Long have we remained in tranquillity, spectators of the scene. We have heard, indeed, the rolling of the thunder; but it was a distant sound. We have seen the terrors of the lightning; but its