1824.] Relig. Intel.-Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty. 553 Religious Intelligence. Religious Liberty. On Saturday, May 16th, the thirteenth anniversary meeting of the Protestant Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty, was held at the city of London Tavern. The great room was filled at an early hour by a very respectable assemblage of ladies and gentlemen. At eleven o'clock Lord Holland took the chair by invitation of the Committee. His Lordship was received with very warm and general applause. After a powerful address of three hours, from Mr. John Wilks, the following resolutions were unanimously carried. 1. That this Society, composed of members of the established church, as well as hundreds of congregations of Protestant Dissenters, again express their unabated devotedness to the cause of religious freedom in England, and throughout the world -and again declare, that they esteem the right publicly to worship God according to the conscience, to be a right which the sincere and the wise never can concede, and which it is unjust and impolitic and and impious to infringe." 2. "That every new demonstration of the importance and utility, of The Protestant Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty,' occasions regret and gratitude; and that while this meeting annually celebrates the success of the Committee, in exposing or resisting wrongs, they deplore the intolerant spirit whence those wrongs originate, by which such unabating efforts are required. That they now lament the continuance of attempts to assess places of religious worship to the poor; to extort turnpike tolls that have been repealed; to disturb, by offensive riots, religious worship protected by the law to withhold the rites of interment from the dead; to enforce assessed taxes that are not payable, and to deprive the conscientious poor of all relief." 3. "That this meeting regard the Test and Corporation acts as laws which no necessity could originally justify, and for which no practical necessity now exists, and as measures producing disgust and grief to pious Churchmen, and degrading to millions of Britons, equal to any of their countrymen in cultivated talent, in public virtue, in patriotic zeal, and philanthropic usefulness, and therefore earnestly desire their speedy abrogation and that whilst this meeting approve the conduct their committee, in declining to concur in any application to Parliament during the remainder of the Session, they would inVol. VI. No. 10. 70 vite liberal Episcopalians, and Dissenters of all denominations, and the Wesleyan Methodists, to prepare, by temperate, but firm and simultaneous efforts (as soon as a new Parliament shall be elected,) to obtain their total and long needed repeal." 5. "That this meeting lament the rejection of the Unitarian Marriage Bill, not only as a refusal of just relief, but as an indication of the existence, among high authorities of a potent spirit, hostile to liberal principles-a spirit hopeless to propitiate, and difficult to overcome. But that their regret is mitigated by their perception, that this spirit does not influence persons in such elevated situations as the Right Revernd the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishop of London, and the Right Hon. the Earl of Liverpool, and that to those distinguished personages, as well as to the noble Whig supporters of the Bill, this meeting offer, for their more liberal conduct, their public and most cordial thanks." 5. "That this meeting are deeply affected by recent events in the British Colonies, especially such as are connected with the loss of the Missionary, Mr. Smith, all circumstances relating to whom they are anxious to see earnestly and thoroughly investigated; that they are assured of the vast individual, local, and national advantages that have resulted from the disinterested and holy labours of Missionaries in those distant regions; and that, by experience, they are apprehensive that ecclesiastical establishments may discour age those labours, may retard improvement, and may impede the progress of civilization and Christian truth, and that they therefore approve the purpose of the committee to petition Parliament against all needless restrictions of religious worship in the West India Isles; and direct their committee to watch, with the greatest caution, every measure by which the interests of Protestant Dissenters, and the cause of religious freedom, may be assailed in any part of the British Empire, now wide spreading over so many realms, and so many millions of the human race." 6. "That this meeting desire that some measures be speedily adopted, whereby the baptismal registers of Protestant Dissenters and Methodists shall be rendered as availing as the parochial registers of the Established Church, and whereby the numerous Baptist brethren should have some valid register of births, and be no longer subject to those peculiar oppres sions to which they have been so long and cruelly exposed." 7. "That although this Society have not hitherto opposed grants of public money for the erection of new churches connected with the Established Church; yet, as they are convinced that the vast wealth of that church supplies resources sufficient for all such purposes, as such buildings are frequently erected without necessity, and converted into means of individual gain; as themselves, at their own charges, erect and uphold all their thousands of religious edifices, and support their ministers, and yet contribute equally with their countrymen to tithes, church rates, and all the charges of the Established Church; and as Episcopalians would freely erect such edifices if the privilege of presenting their own ministers was not withheld. This society now specially instruct their committee to oppose any further grants for those purposes, and pledge themselves strenuously to co-operate for the prevention of the increase of burdens which ought not to be imposed.-Lond. Bapt. Mag. for July. BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY. From an abstract of the Report, published in the Theological Repertory, it appears that in the last year there had been issued from the depository, 123,197 Bibles, 167,298 Testaments, making with the issues of former years, an aggregate of three millions, four hundred and forty-two thousand, three hundred and thirty two copies of the Scriptures dispersed by the Society in the British dominions since its formation. It also stated, that about 800,000 copies had been circulated by the Society on the continent of Europe; and that Ladies Branch Societies, Bible Associations had been formed within the year. The total Net Receipts of the Society during the year, were which included Free Contributions from Auxiliary Societies, £42,007 6 6 And Receipts for Bibles and Testaments, Reports, and £42,386 12 10 Donations from individuals, £4,150 3 The total Net Payments were, £97,718 17 6 £89,493 17 8 It appeared that the Society was under engagements at home and abroad, amounting to 43,0981. 1s. 3d. The Earl of Harrowby, Lord President of the Council, on moving that the Report be received and printed, expressed Rimelf as follows: My Lord, I am satisfied that I need use no argument to induce you to accede to this motion, because, after the gratification which this meeting has received from hearing only an abstract of that Report, I am perfectly satisfied that you will wish the Report itself, containing fuller and more detailed information, should be circulated as widely as the knowledge of this Society extends. Permit me to make a few remarks upon those parts which most struck me. The first question that would arise from such a Report, considering the immense proportion of the world to which the labours of this Society have been directed, and the great effects which it has produced, would be: "Is this the Report of a Society which has existed for centuries? Is this the result of the accumulated labours of a vast succession of generations?"-And when the answer is, that we are now meeting on the Twentieth Anniversary of this Institution, that during perhaps the first half of its existence it extended slowly, with great obstacles to its progress, and that during only the latter half of that period it may be considered to have been in full vigour of operation, we shall see abundant cause for exultation in considering the great success which it has pleased the Almighty to bestow upon the labours of those who have been associated together to extend the blessings of his kingdom. It is gratifying to perceive, that though these extensive views have occupied, as well they might, a large share of your consid eration, yet your more immediate and do. mestic concerns have not less engaged your attention; for though the distant heathen have a strong claim upon your exertions, yet your nearest and dearest claims are those which arise from home; and if you wish even to extend your ultimate objects, and to succeed in the prosecution of them, this will best be done by spreading more widely at home that spirit which will lead those who are at home to exert themselves with greater vigour and energy in this cause. It is peculiarly gratifying to me to hear from the Report of this year, that your attention has been directed to the neighbouring island also, because that is a sphere in which your benevolence may be most usefully exerted. But, my Lord, looking to this report, there are two or three other points with which it is impossible not to be particularly struck; if we look to the islands in the Pacific Ocean, the very existence of which was unknown till discovered by the naval enterprise of one of our illustrious countrymen; if we look at the state in which they were represented to be, stained by human sacrifices, and involved in the most disgusting licentiousness, and now behold them delivered from those practices by the exertions of Missionaries carrying the word of God in their hands, the whole state of society in many of them totally changed, and the natives, by the consistency of their conduct, reading a lesson of practice, as well as of doctrine, to those very Christians who first sent to them the glad tidings of the Gospel, we may well thank God, and take courage. Again, if we look at the vast empire of China, although the impression made there can hitherto be extremely slight, yet it is wonderful that the difficulties of the most singular language in the world have been so far mastered, that a translation of the entire Scriptures has been produced, which sooner or later, under the blessing of that God, who gave the learning necessary to make that translation, will effect its full impression upon the largest mass of human beings known to exist under one government on the earth. One other country will admit of a remark. It appears from the Report, that at Jerusalem and in the Holy Land, the exertions of the Society have proved beneficial. When we consider that at the time the Saviour of Mankind appeared at Jerusalem, this country was almost unknown; and that when Cæsar made his expedition hither, it was one almost as much of discovery as of conquest; and that now from this once barbarous land, the light of Revelation should be reflected back upon that country where first its blessed sun arose, we must feel that it is one of the most striking in stances of the overruling providence of God, which thus connects distant ages and distant countries together. EARL OF RODEN.-My Lord, the noble Earl has so ably touched upon different points of the Report, that there appears little left for me, except merely to second the resolution which he has proposed to the meeting. But I cannot help taking this opportunity of expressing the gratification afforded to me of meeting your lordship upon the present occasion, and of uniting with you and those whom I have the honour of seeing assembled to celebrate the Twentieth Anniversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. It would be idle in me, however, to attempt to take up the time of this meeting by going into any details, as to what my views are of those blessings which have bren derived, which are experienced, and which will continue to be felt from the operations of this glorious Institution, particularly when I see around me so many who, in the course of this day, will state to the meeting facts the most interesting and most calculated to raise the heart of every one to Him to whom alone the praise and glory is due; but, my lord, I think I should be guilty of a great dereliction of my duty, and be justly chargeable with ingratitude, were I not to bring before you a simple fact, common to men; he has experienced some, my lord, calculated to make flesh and blood to wince, but in that blessed book which it is the object of this Society to circulate, he has found a hiding place from the storm, he has found a covert from the wind, and he has found one who has borne his iniquities and carried his sorrows. That individual to whom I have alluded is now permitted to have the great privilege of testifying to this assembly the obligation he is under to Anniversary Meetings of the Bible Society. O, my lord, it is in proportion as we see the necessity of God's word for our own souls, that we shall be anxious to send it to others; it is in proportion as we see the necessity of something substantial to stand upon when the rotten, the flimsy foundation of our own strength is falling under us, that we shall be anxious and eager to send to those around us, and to those belonging to us, that inestimable treasure which it is the object of this Society to circulate, and which God's Spirit has declared is able to make men wise unto salvation. I beg pardon of your lordship and the meeting for occupying your time, but I must be permitted to say, that I cannot conceive any advantage af. forded to us of greater magnitude than that of being permitted to join in a work like this in which we are engaged to day, engaged without reference to sect or name or party, with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours, in promoting the great and glorious work of extending to the north, and to the south, to the east, and to the west, the knowledge of that name which is above every name, of that name at which every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to be Lord, to the glory of God the Father. As a member of the Hibernian Bible Society, I cannot sit down without returning my sincere thanks to your lordship and this Society, for the very great, liberal and necessary assistance which you have given to my country; and perfectly agree with the noble earl, that there is no part of the world more likely to be benefitted by such aid than the country to which I belong. PAGAN APATHY. Mr. Statham, Missionary at Howrah, near Calcutta writes; "You who have never witnessed scenes such as I am daily called to see, cannot form an adequate idea of the extreme apathy of the Hindoos to the misfortunes of their fellow-creatures. Some writers have called them mild, inoffensive, and peaceable: but, alas! if ever there was a nation which needed the influences of the gospel to establish peace and mildness among thom, it is the Hindoo nation. Love either to their gods or to man they know nothing of. I will relate a scene I was called to witness the other evening, which I am sure will fully corroborate these remarks. A small native hut had taken fire about half a mile from where I live, and as it was to windward of the village, consisting of about twenty thatched huts, they were in great danger of being all burnt. The fire was very brilliant from the nature of the materials, bamboos, straw, and mats. I perceived it from the virandah where I was sitting, mounted my horse, and rode down immediately. Before I got there, about five dwellings were totally consumed, and two others were on fire. It was antonishing to see the apparent and total want of sympathy in the minds of the natives present. Though above a thousand of them were assembled from the neighbouring large village of Sulkea, not one would assist in extinguishing the flames, but seemed to enjoy the bonfire. No means were adopted to stay the flames except by those poor wretched creatures whose huts were on fire. On my remonstrating with them, and entreating them to lend a helping hand to their neighbours, these were the answers: My house is not on fire-Who will give me pay?-What power have I over fire?-To be burnt will be worse than to see fire. Thus they suffered the flames to spread, until they had now consumed near. ly half the place, and from one of the huts which had just taken fire a dreadful screaming and lamentation issued. On inquiry, I found it was from a poor old decrepit woman: I urged them to fly to her rescue. Oh the horrid feelings they evinced: She is not my mother--She is too old to gain salt-Her time is come-We shall see a suttee. I offered them bukshees (gifts) if they would go into the house with me and bring her out. The name of rupees has something of an electric charm upon them, for no sooner was this heard than so many ran to her relief, that they could not all touch even the cot on which she lay. However, the poor creature was saved (for that time;) but none but those of the lowest caste dared, even for lucre's sake, to carry a sick person. The lofty Brahmins stood unconcerned spectators, and reprobated the conduct of some Lascars from the ships whom I had prevailed on to endeavour to extinguish the flames, which was soon effected by pulling down a small hut that was in the line of communication to the others. With regard to the poor woman thus saved, she had been so terrified that her illness was increased, and the merciless sons she had borne conveyed her to the river side to die. There I found her, three days after, just able to speak once, but no more: she died in about half an hour-it was evident that mud had been put into her mouth. Oh, when, when shall we behold the glorious day of deliverance approach! Nothing but the gospel's rays can dispel such horrid clouds of superstition! The other day I sent a poor man, who had met with a sad accident, over to Calcutta to the native hospital: I sent one of my native Christian servants with him. In a short time the man returned, saying, no boatman would carry him over because he was sick. I went immediately and found the poor man lying at the ghaut (or landing place,) surrounded by a multitude who laughed and joked at his groans. I took him in my arms and placed him in the first boat I came to, and got in my. self; but no promises or threats would induce the men to come in to row, till I fortunately remembered the poor sick man was a Brahmin of their caste. I told them this, and at length they rowed us over, as it is lawful to attend on a sick Brahmin. When we got over the water we were just in the same dilemma with the palanquin bearers; however, by the powerful assistance of an extra rupee, they carried him. THE POPE'S CIRCULAR. In a late Circular of the Pope, in which he attempts to suppress the circulation of the scriptures among Catholics, he thus addresses his brethren: “What shall I say more? The iniquity of our enemies has so increased, that beside the deluge of pernicious books, contrary to the faith, it even goes so far as to convert to the detriment of religion the Holy Scriptures, which have been given us from above for the general edification." "You are not ignorant my venerable brethren,,' says his holiness, "that a society commonly called a Bible Society, is audaciously spreading through the earth, and that in contempt of the traditions of the holy fathers, and against the celebrated decree of the Council of Trent, it endeavours with all its power, and by every means, to translate, or rather to corrupt the Holy Scriptures into the vulgar tongues of all nations; which gives just reason to fear that in all the translations the same thing may happen which has happened with regard to those already known-namely, that we may there find a bad interpretation, aud instead of the gospel of Christ, the gospel of men, or what is worse, the gospel of the devil! "Many of our predecessors have made laws to turn the scourge, and in these latter times, Pius the VII, of sacred memory, sent two briefs, the one to Ignatius, the other to Stanislaus, archbishop of Mohilow. In these briefs are found passages taken as well from the Holy Scriptures as from tradition, and collated with care and judgment, to show how injurious'this subtle invention is to faith and morality. "And we also, venerable brethren, in the discharge of our apostolic duty, exhort you to remove your flocks with care and earnestness from the fatal pasture. Reprove, entreat, insist on all occasions, with all doctrine and patience, in order that the faithful, attaching themselves exactly to the rulers of our congregation of the Index, may be persuaded, that if they let the Holy Scriptures be indiscrimi nately translated into the vulgar tongues, there will result, in consequence of the rashness of men, more evil than good. "This is a truth demonstrated by experience, and which St. Augustine more than all the other fathers, has made known by these words :-there have been formed heresies and perverse dogmas, which involve the souls of men in their snares, and drag them down the abyss only because the Holy Scriptures have not been well understood; and, because having ill understood them, men have supported their false interpretations with rashness and audacity! "Such, venerable brethren, is the tendency of this society, which, besides, omits nothing for the accomplishment of its im pious wishes; for it boasts not only of printing the translations, but of disseminating them by going through the towns; fidious liberality, choose to distribute them and even, to seduce the simple by a pergratuitously. "We exhort you not to let your courage be cast down. You will have for you, and for this we rely with confidence on the Lord, the power of secular princes, who, as reason and experience show, defend their own cause in defending that of the authority of the church; for never will it be possible for man to render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's, without rendering unto God the things which are God's. You will also have for you, to speak as St. Leon did, the good offices of our ministry towards you all. In your cessities, have recourse to this Apostolic crosses, in your doubts, and all your neguidance. For God, as St. Augustine said, has placed the doctrine of truth in the chair of unity.' IRISH SUPERSTITION. As a comment upon the foregoing extract from the Pope's Circular, may be given the following notice of the Catholic peasantry of Ireland. Upon these children of the Catholic communion his holiness does no doubt look with complacency, while he exerts his paternal authority to |