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OF THE

AMERICAN AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY,

PRESENTED MAY 9, 1851;

WITH THE

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING,

Anniversary Addresses, Correspondence,

A LIST OF

AUXILIARY SOCIETIES, LIFE DIRECTORS AND MEMBERS, &c.

New-York:

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

INSTITUTED 1837-INCORPORATED 1848.

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Fourteenth Annual Meeting.

THE Fourteenth Anniversary of the American and Foreign Bible Society was held in the meeting-house of the Oliver street Baptist church, in the city of NewYork, on Friday, May 9, 1851, at 9 o'clock A. M.

The President, Rev. B. T. WELCH, D.D., took the chair, and the meeting was opened by singing the 387th Hymn.

Rev. G. S. WEBB, of New-Jersey, led in prayer.

Messrs. H. P. Freeman, of New-York, A. H. Taylor, of Rhode-Island, A. D. Gillette, of Pennsylvania, G. S. Webb, of New-Jersey, and C. Willett, of Connecticut, were appointed a Committee to nominate Officers and Managers for the ensuing year.

The Recording Secretary presented the following communication from the Board of Managers, in reference to the lease from the Corporation of the First Baptist church in the city of New-York, of the premises now occupied by the Society; which, on motion of Rev. I. Wescott, of New-York, was approved :—

Whereas, By resolutions passed Dec. 30, 1841, the Corporation of the First Baptist church in the city of New-York did formally tender to the Board of Managers of the American and Foreign Bible Society, as built for their permanent occupation and use, the rooms now in the possession of the said Board, which rooms were formally accepted by the said Society at its annual meeting in April, 1842, to be held and used so long as the Society might deem such occupation and use advantageous to its interests; and

Whereas, The Corporation of the said church did, on the 2d day of May, 1851, voluntarily tender to the said Board a legal evidence of the subsisting equitable title, reciting and confirming the same by lease, with such covenants and specifications annexed as to them seemed necessary to express the spirit and import of the original arrangements, and this Board felt itself bound, in the ordinary course of executive duties, to accept such lease, and execute it on its part; and Whereas, It is believed by many, both in this Board and out of it, among the friends of this Society, that no title to occupy and use for the future, stronger than the equitable one hitherto subsisting, is necessary or desirable; therefore,

Resolved, That this Board will unite with the Corporation of the First Baptist church in the city of New-York in cancelling said lease; and that the President and Recording Secretary be and are hereby authorized and instructed to execute the necessary papers, under the seal of the Society.

Rev. J. N. Granger, of Rhode-Island, from the Committee on amending the second Article of the Constitution, presented a report, which was read, and made the special order of business at the commencement of the afternoon Session.

The business of the Society was suspended, in order to attend to the public exercises of the Anniversary.

PUBLIC SERVICES.

After singing, Rev. J. Girdwood, of Massachusetts, read the 19th Psalm, and Rev. David Benedict, of Rhode-Island, prayed.

The President then addressed the Society.

The Treasurer, N. C. Platt, Esq., presented and read an abstract from his Annual Report; which, on motion of Rev. S. J. Drake, of New-Jersey, seconded by Thomas Purser, Esq., of New-York, was accepted and ordered to be printed.

The Corresponding Secretary read the Annual Report of the Board of Managers. On motion of Rev. M. J. Rhees, of New-York, accompanied with a brief address,

and seconded by Rev. R. Babcock, D.D., the report was accepted and ordered to be printed.

Rev. R. A. Fyfe, of Rhode Island, offered the following resolution, and accompanied it with an address. The resolution was seconded by Rev. C. G. Sommers, of NewYork, and adopted :

Resolved, That the distribution of the pure Word of God among all nations is not only practicable, but is essential to the evangelization of the world; and we recognize in the existing state of our own, as well as that of foreign countries, an increase of encouragement and consequent obligation to prosecute this work with zeal, faith, and hope.

Adjourned till half-past 2 o'clock P. M.

Benediction by the President.

HALF-PAST 2 O'CLOCK P. M.

The Society met. Prayer by Rev. A. D. Gillette, of Pennsylvania.

The special business was suspended, in order to receive the report of the Committee on Nominations.

The Committee then reported a list of officers and managers, who were duly elected. (See page 2.)

The report of the Committee on Article second of the Constitution was then taken up, and after discussion, was ordered to be printed with the proceedings of this meeting, and was referred to the Board of Managers, with power.

On motion of Rev. J. N. Granger, the Board was instructed to report in detail, at the next Annual Meeting, the disposition they may make of the suggestions contained in the Report.

The following alterations to the Constitution were made on the recommendation of the Board of Managers:

Add to Art. IX.: "The Board of Managers shall have power to fill all vacancies that may occur in the executive offices during the year."

Add to Art. X.: "He shall also, on the certified request of the Board of Managers, call special meetings of the Society; giving one month's public notice thereof."

On motion of Rev. J. Dowling, D.D., the newly elected Board of Managers were directed to hold the first meeting for organization, on Saturday, the 10th inst., at 4 o'clock P. M., at the Bible Rooms.

The time and place of the next Anniversary of the Society were referred to the Board of Managers.

The Minutes were read and approved, and ordered to be published under the direction of the Board.

Adjourned with singing the Doxology, and the Benediction by the President.

M. J. RHEES, Recording Secretary.

B. T. WELCH, President.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE

ON THE SECOND ARTICLE OF THE CONSTITUTION.

NEW-YORK, May 9th, 1851.

To the American and Foreign Bible Society:

Ar the last annual meeting of the Society, the undersigned were appointed a committee, to whom was referred the consideration of the following resolution, to wit:

Resolved, That the second article of the Constitution be so amended as to read as follows:

"It shall be the object of this Society to aid in the wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures in foreign lands."

Your Committee were instructed to report at the present anniversary, and, having attended to the duties assigned to them, respectfully submit the following statements and recommendations.

The proposition to confine the operations of the Society to the circulation of the Holy Scriptures in foreign lands, contemplates the relinquishment of the existing department of the Society's operations for the publication, sale, and donation of copies of the English Scriptures. The change which the proposed alteration of the Constitution would effect in the present methods of the business of the Society would be the discontinuance of what is called the Publication or Home Department. The property of the Society, now held for the benefit of this Department, and consisting of books now on hand, bound and unbound, stereotype plates, debts due, &c., would in that case be disposed of either in the common market, or to some local Society whose operations were confined exclusively to the publication and distribution of the English Scriptures.

The question submitted to this committee is then, in fact, the original question which was discussed in the Convention of the Baptist denommation in the city of Philadelphia, in 1887, subsequently to the formation of this Society in 1836. It is well known that at that time opposing views were held of the question, whether the new Society should confine its operations to the foreign field, or engage also in home distribution.

Under the peculiar circumstances in which the Society found itself placed at the time of its last anniversary, this question, evidently suggested by those circumstances, was again raised. After a careful examination of the published reports of the deliberations in that Convention, your committee are satisfied that had the language of some of those who were then the prominent advocates of a Home Department been understood as it was interpreted to the Society at its last annual meeting, and it could have been supposed that a department for the publication of English Bibles was to be maintained with a view to the issue of some amended or altered version of the Holy Scriptures, the decision of that Convention would have confined the operations of the Society to the foreign field.

After a lapse of fourteen years circumstances with which we are all familiar have again brought this important subject to the attention of the Society. It is not now, however, to be considered as an independent question. New facts are to be taken into the account. The Home Department is now an existing institution. Its affairs and history are interwoven with those of the Society for many years past. It has its auxiliaries and personal friends and customers in many parts of the land. It is not easy to ascertain what indirect benefit its ordinary business transactions may confer upon the foreign work of the Society. In the opinion of many persons the Home Department is made necessary by the demand for copies of the English Scriptures, which could be supplied in no other manner so well as by this Society. It is supposed that this Society has opened channels through which to reach the destitute, not open to the same extent to any other similar institution. It is supposed by many that the Home Department is indispensably necessary, as an advertising agency, to make known the foreign work in which the Society is engaged, and thus to increase the contributions to the general and more missionary purposes of the institution. On the other hand, there are those who take an entirely different view, and regarding the Home Department simply as a publishing firm, would place the question of its continuance on the same grounds as those on which this question was discussed in 1837. Such persons, especially in view of the unauthorized alterations in the received text of the English Bible which this Department has

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