ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

AMERICAN AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY,

PRESENTED, MAY 2d, 1850.

WITH THE

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING,

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES, CORRESPONDENCE,

A LIST OF

AUXILIARY SOCIETIES, LIFE DIRECTORS AND MEMBERS, &o

NEW-YORK:

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY, INSTITUTED 1837-INCORPORATED 1848.

OP THE

AMERICAN & FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

WHEREAS, the inspired Scriptures, the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament, are the only authoritative Divine standard containing the revelation of God for the whole human family: And whereas, the Council of Trent, in 1546, declares that a Latin translation, called the Vulgate, "shall be held as authentic, and that no one shall dare or presume to reject it under any pretence whatever," and the Rheimish Testament was translated from the Vulgate into English, in 1582,--the translators declaring that the Vulgate is not only better than all other Latin translations, but than the Greek text itself in those places where they disagree;" which assumptions have been generally repudiated by all enlightened Christians, not in the Romish Church :

And whereas, the American Bible Society, in 1836, approved of the following resolution, viz:

"Resolved, That in appropriating money for the translating, printing or distributing of the Sacred Scriptures in foreign languages, the Managers feel at liberty to encourage only such versions as conform in the principle of their translation to the common English version; at least so far as that all the religious denominations represented in this Society can consistently use and circulate said versions, in their several schools and communities : "

The remonstrants against this resolution, believing it to be a virtual abandonment of the great principle of Protestantism, and the adoption of that of the Council of Trent, as well as a departure from the basis of the original compact of the Society, which states their object to be the dissemination of the Scriptures in the received versions where they xist, and in the most faithful where they may be required," and having

vain taken every Christian measure to prevent its passage and enforcement, were constrained to form, provisionally, in 1836, and fully organize in 1837, THE AMERICAN AND FOREIGN BIRLE SOCIETY: FOUNDED UPON THE PRINCIPLE, that the originals in the Hebrew and Greek are the only authentic standards of the Sacred Scriptures; and that aid for the translating, printing, or distributing of them in foreign languages, should be afforded to such versions only as are conformed as nearly as possible to the original text; it being understood that no words are to be transferred which are susceptible of being literally translated.

ARTICLE I. The name of this Society shall be, THE AMERICAN and FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

ART. II. It shall be the object of the Society to aid in the wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures IN ALL LANDS.

ART. III. Each contributor of three dollars annually shall be a member; each contributor of thirty dollars, a member for life; and each contributor of one hundred and fifty dollars, a director for life.. Lifedirectors shall have the privilege of participating in the deliberations of the Board.

ART. IV. All Bible Societies agreeing to place their surplus funds in the treasury of the Society, shall be auxiliaries, and the officers of such societies shall, while in office, have the privilege of life-direc tors.

ART. V. A Board of twenty-five Managers, residing in the city of New York, or its vicinity, shall be annually elected to conduct the business of the Society, with power to fill their own vacancies.

ART. VI. The President, one Vice-President, the Secretaries and Treasurer, shall be members of the Board

ART. VII. The Managers shall meet monthly, or oftener if nece: Isary, at such time and place as they shall adjourn to, a majority of whom shall be a quorum.

ART. VIII. The Managers shall have the power of appointing such persons as may have rendered essential services to the Society, eithe members for life or directors for life.

ART. IX. The Annual Meeting of the Society shall be held at New York, on the day after the Second Thursday in May in each year, or at any other time or place, at the option of the Society; when the accounts of the Treasurer shall be presented, and a President, Vice-Presidents. Secretaries, Treasurer, and such other officers as they may deem neces-sary, together with a Board of Managers, shall be chosen for the ensu ing year, by the members entitled to vote on the treasurer's books the beginning of the said month.

ART. X. The President shall, at the written request of six members of the Board, call a special meeting of the Board of Managers, causing at least three days' notice of such meetings to be given

ART. XI. The whole of the minutes of every meeting shall be signed by the Chairman and Secretary.

ART. XII. No alteration shall be made in this Constitution, except by the vote of two-thirds of the members of the Society present at an annual meeting.

Thirteenth Annual Meeting.

The Society held its Thirteenth Anniversary in the meeting house of the Norfolk street Baptist church, New York, Wednesday, the 22d day of May, 1850.

The Society was called to order by the President, at 9 o'clock, A. M. After singing, prayer was offered by Professor G. W. Eaton, of Madison University.

The President welcomed the brethren and friends to the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Society. He stated that the Managers had attended the Meetings of the Board with great regularity; that the officers of the Society had discharged their various duties with vigilance and fidelity; that several special meetings had been held during the year, resulting in the passage of three resolutions, which had been published, and would be presented in the report to be read by the Corresponding Secretary.

The President remarked that as Rev. Amos Sutton of the Orissa Mission was unexpectedly present, and had much useful and interesting information to communicate on the subject of Bible distribution, he would postpone his own address to the Society till the afternoon session, that they might have an opportunity of listening to the statements of an old and successful Missionary among the heathen.

The following Resolution was then offered by Rev. Isaac Westcott, of Stillwater, N. Y. and seconded by J. M. Linnard, Esq., of Philadelphia; and on motion, made the order of the day for 3 o'clock, P. M., viz:

Resolved, That this Society, in its issues and circulation of the English Scriptures, be restricted to the commonly received version without note or comment. The hour appointed for the public Anniversary Exercises having arrived, business was suspended.

PUBLIC SERVICES.

After singing, Rev. J. W. Taggart, of New-York, read a part of the 119th Psalm, and Rev. Zelotes Grenell, of Paterson N. J., offered prayer. The Treasurer, Wm. Colgate, Esq., then presented his annual statement; which, on motion of Wm. Crane, Esq., of Baltimore, seconded by Hon. Friend Humphrey, of Albany, was accepted and ordered to be printed.

Wm. H. Wyckoff, Esq,, Corresponding Secretary, then read an abstract of the Report of the Board.

On motion of Prof. M. B. Anderson, of Waterville, Me., accompanied with an address, seconded by Rev. J. L. Burrows, of Philadelphia, this was accepted and ordered to be published.

The following resolution, offered by Rev. George Kempton, of Phila

delphia, and seconded by Rev. Amos Sutton, an English Baptist Missionary from Orissa, India, was, after interesting addresses from both these brethren, unanimously adopted, viz:

Resolved, That the increased and increasing facilities for distributing the Sacred Scriptures in all countries to which the Society has hitherto directed its attention, demands the renewed exertions, and enlarged liberalities of all who love the Word of God and desire to promote its circulation.

After the Benediction, by the President, the Society adjourned, to meet at three P. M., in the Mulberry Street Tabernacle.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.

Pursuant to adjournment, the President called the meeting to order, at three o'clock, and prayer was offered by Rev. Alonzo Wheelock, of Elbridge, N. Y. The Recording Secretary being absent, Rev. J. R. Stone was chosen pro tem.

The President then delivered his Annual Address.

Proceeding to the order of the day, on motion of Rev. R. H. Neale, of Boston, it was Resolved,

That the speakers upon this subject be confined to 15 minutes each, unless specially permitted to occupy a longer period; and the vote on the main question be taken at 12 o'clock Thursday noon.

The resolution was then discussed by brethren J. Dowling, Wm. H. Wyckoff and Wm. Hague.

On motion, voted to adjourn to the evening at 8 o'clock. Prayer by Rev. C. G. Sommers, of New-York.

EVENING SESSION.

Prayer was offered by Rev. J. H. Kennard, of Philadelphia. The discussion was then continued by Brethren R. Turnbull, G. B Ide, R. Jennings, W. Colgate, I. Westcott, and S. Wallace Cone, Esq. After prayer by Rev. N. Colver, of Boston, adjourned to Thursday morning, 9 o'clock.

THURSDAY MORNING, MAY 23d.

At 9 o'clock, the President called the meeting to order, and Rev. Joseph Matthias, of Pennsylvania, engaged in prayer.

Certain documents from Boston, Buffalo and Baltimore, were presented, and referred to the committee on printing the Report, &c., with discretion

ary power.

Passing to the order of the day, the discussion of Bro. Westcott's resolution was resumed, by Brethren B. C. Grafton, J. J. Woolsey, S. S. Cutting, E. J. Creswell, O. B. Judd, T. Armitage, J. N. Granger, E. Lathrop, and Prof. Eaton.

On motion of Rev. R. Turnbull, of Hartford, Ct., the following resolution was adopted:

Whereas, By the Constitution of this Society, its object is "to aid in the wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures in all lands," therefore

Resolved, That it is not the province and duty of the American and Foreign Bible Society to attempt on their own part, or to procure from others, a revision of the commonly received English version of the Sacred Scriptures.

The resolution of Brother Westcott, so long discussed, was also adopted.