this conviction of the value of the soul of motion relates: and I am sure it will be man, that this Society has been organized. most acceptable to them, if, instead of comAnd I must be allowed to say, that, if all pliment, I request you to give them your the energies of the Society-if all the money fervent prayers at the throne of grace. which it has expended-all the prayers that have been offered-all the labours of all the MR. MARTEN, various institutions which it has contributed In seconding the motion said—I should, if time had permitted, have had much to say in their commendation. They claim the reward of your thanks for all those anxieties which they have manifested for the best in to originate, had been instrumental but to the salvation of one soul, that effort would have been worthy of Christian benevolence, and acceptable to our Saviour and our God. And when we connect with that re-terests of this Society. Having held in other flection, the multitude of those who now are institutions the offices both of Treasurer and perishing for lack of knowledge—the many Secretary, I know that the duties of such millions of the human race who are per- offices are not performed without much petually sinking into a state of eternal labour and anxiety. One of the greatest wretchedness and torment-when we think anxieties of a Treasurer is, that he may not how perpetually the human race are in-have an empty purse: another is, that he creasing, and doubling their population; may have an empty purse; for he wishes we then feel, that no efforts which can be to pay away the money as fast as he remade, can be too great, too arduous, or important, in order to carry the measures of such a Society as this into instantaneous effect. It is therefore, Sir, that I second this motion with peculiar pleasure. ceives it. We have heard from one of our brethren, that it is not this Missionary Society, nor that Missionary Society, but that Christianity itself is one great Missionary Society: and that, in a sense, neither man, woman, nor child, who loves Christianity, can be cause: in that cause we must live, and in that cause we must die. [We lament that, the time being nearly elapsed, the motion of the audience in with-consistent, without being a Missionary in its drawing, in order to attend the succeeding service, prevented the Reporter from distinctly hearing this and the following speeches. The Chairman, aware of this, informed the meeting that only two Resolu-be Missionaries at home-we may be Mistions more remained to be proposed.] REV. THOMAS STRUTHERS. It is not necessary to go ten thousand miles, in order to be Missionaries. We may sionaries to the poor sailors-[alluding to the laudable efforts made in the port of London for merchant seamen, and the open The Resolution I have the honour to ing a Floating Chapel for their use on the Thames]-all are engaged in the same propose, isIV. That the cordial thanks of this meet-cause-all put their hands to the same ing be given to the Treasurer, the Secre- work: and only recollect, that those who tary, and the Directors of this Society, and labour day and night to promote the great to all who by their personal services have cause, deserve your thanks; and the best thanks you can render will be, to supply promoted the welfare of the Institution. them with the means of doing more good. I could have wished that this Resolution had fallen into the hands of some gentleman better qualified to do justice to the object of it, than I feel myself able to do. I have not the honour of being personally known to the respectable individuals to whom this Mr. Burder, in a few words, acknowledged the honour conferred by this resolution on the persons it respected. Resolution V. That the Treasurer and Secretary be requested to continue in their labours of this Society have added to the numbers of the redeemed, and promoted the happines of heaven: it will be found a higher honour to have been an officer or director of this Society, than to have occ.pied the most elevated station in the world. appointments, and that the following gentlemen be chosen Directors for the year ensuing, in the room of those who by rotation, or otherwise, have retired. [The list read.] The Rev. J. Philip, of Aberdeen, and the Rev. E. Young, of Whitby, moved and seconded this resolution; but we regret that the audience being impatient to re- Rev. E. Young, (of Whitby.) move, for the purpose of procuring admisIn rising to second the motion, permit me sion to Tottenham Court, for the evening simply to state the joy which I feel in comservice, these gentlemen had not an oppor-mon with my brethren in the glad tidings tunity fully to express their sentiments, and this day communicated-particularly the were scarcely heard. glad tidings of the distant islands of the South Seas; and in connexion with these REV. JOHN PHILIP (of Aberdeen.) tidings, allow me to call upon you, to look Mr. Philip began by observing, that when back to that period, when those islands were our Lord made his last journey to Jerusa- first brought to the knowledge of the civilem, the whole city was moved; so, when lized world. What were the designs of those Christ appears to be approaching to estab-who first discovered them? The great delish his kingdom throughout the world, the sign of those who went thither, was to enChurch at large is in motion. large the field of human knowledge—to disOur Fathers (said he) told us the great cover new sources for commercial enterthings which they had seen; but we have prise; but behold! how God has overruled seen far greater things than they. The work the designs of men, for the accomplishment of God is in progress; it is in operation, and of his own gracious purposes. I might go will gradually destroy all opposition-every on to notice not only how the commendable link in the chain of caste-the influence of designs of men, but the designs of men every false deity, and will finally change the hostile to truth, have been overruled by character of the interesting population of In-God, for the advancement of his own kingdia. I was happy to observe in your report, dom; but at this late hour I will simply exthat the civilization of Africa is carried on press my humble concurrence with the moin conjunction with the labours of the Mis- tion that has now been made. sionaries. When the Lord created man, he placed him in the garden of Eden; and he was to labour in that garden with his hands; if this was the case with man in a state of The meeting concluded about 2 o'clock.. innocence, how much more should we think ANNIVERSARY COLLECTIONS, MAY, 1818. Surrey Chapel it necessary that the heathen should be Tottenham Court Do. 1. s. d. 422 12 10 178 9 0 28 0 0 116 17 3 146 14 0 131 0 9 116 1 0 37 10 3 85 0 0 1262 5 1 MEMOIR translated and published-the New Testa RELATIVE TO THE TRANSLATION OF THE ment, the Pentateuch, and the Historical SACRED SCRIPTURES, BY THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES AT SERAMPORE. Very dear Brethren, Books. Two remain, the Hagiographa, which is now put to press, and the Prophetic Books, the translation of which is nearly In the Hindee language, the Historical Books are printed off: three-fifths of the whole Scriptures are therefore published in this language. The Hagiographa is also put to press, and the Prophetic Books translated. It was mentioned in the last Memoir, that the second edition of the New Testament in this language was nearly finished: it is now in circulation. Both the season of the year, and the pre-finished. sent state of our funds, now call on us to lay before you the state of the Translations in which we are engaged. In doing this, however, it does not seem necessary this year to particularize every translation in our hands: in some of them there can, of course, have been but little progress made, as they are chiefly in a state of preparation; while in others, which have been longer in hand, the progress made in printing has been more rapid. In the Mahratta language, the Historica! Books are nearly printed off: the Pentateuch and the New Testament have been long in circulation. These five are the languages in which the Old Testament is most considerably advanced at press. After these, ranks the Shikh, in which the New Testament is printed off, and the Pentateuch printed nearly to the end of Exodus. It is now ten years since we matured the plan of giving the Scriptures in the various languages of India, taken in its widest sense, as embracing China and the countries which lie between that country and Bengal. In this, our object was not to act on the plan of excluding others, but to secure, to the utmost of our power, the accomplishment of the work. At that time, indeed, there was not an individual within the verge of our knowledge, who had engaged in the work; and that others have since been excited to engage in the same undertaking, we account clear gain to the cause. At the end of ten years, it may not be improper to pause, and take a review of what has been actually accomplished, as it may afford matter for gratitude, and ground for encouragement, relative to what remains. What has been done will appear from the present state of the different versions as they stand at press. In the course of the past year, the Penta-sed in little more than the size of an English teuch has been printed off in the Orissa language. This fully completes that version of the Scriptures, and thus the whole of the Sacred Oracles are now published in two of the languages of India, the Bengalee and the Orissa. In the Chinese, the Pentateuch is put to press; but various circumstances have concurred to retard the printing. The method of printing with moveable types, being entirely new in that language, much time is necessarily requisite to bring it to a due degree of perfection. The present type in which we are printing, is the fourth in size which we have cut, each of which has sustained a gradual reduction. This last, in which we are printing both the Pentateuch and the Epistles, is so far reduced, that, while a beautiful legibility is preserved, the whole of the Old Testament will be compri Octavo Bible, and the New Testament will be brought into nearly the same number of pages as an English New Testament. The importance of this, in saving paper, and in rendering the Scriptures portable, appeared such as to induce us to risk the delay which would be unavoidably occasioned from every character being cut anew both for the New and Old Testament. Another circumstance, however, has added to the delay: while In the Sungskrit, the Historical Books have been completed at press. In this ancient language, therefore, the parent of nearly all the rest, three of the five parts into which we divide th Scriptures, are both preparing these types, we put to press an others, types are prepared, and the Gospel of St. Matthew in the press. To those who examine, with a critical eye, the languages of India already enumerated, it will appear, that they form two classes; Elementary work in Chinese, under the name of "Clavis Sinica," which, when once begun, it was requisite to finish. This work, Having thus given a brief view of the together with the text and a translation of present state of the various versions, relative the Ta-hyoh, a small Chinese work, added to both translating and printing, we now by way of appendix, forms a volume of more wish to lay before the public a few ideas than six hundred quarto pages. Before it respecting the various languages spoken in vas fully completed, however, we were re-India, of which the present advanced state quested to print Brother Morrison's Gram- of the work has put us in possession, but mar; and this work it appeared desirable with which we were not fully acquainted at to finish also with as little delay as possible. the beginning of the work. The unavoidable employment of our Chinese types and workmen in printing these Elementary works, which together exceed nine hundred pages, has, of course, much those which owe their origin wholly to the retarded the printing of the Scriptures; but | Sungskrit, and those which have a certain as the last of these works will be finished by the end of August, we hope in future to proceed in printing the Scriptures with little or no interruption. This preparatory work, however, if it has retarded the mere printing of the Scriptures, has not been without its advantages in improving the translation of them. In this department much progress has been made: in addition to the New Testament, the translation of the Old is advan-known from its deficiency in certain sounds, ged nearly to the end of the propet Ezekiel. In the Telinga language, the New Testament is more than half through the press. In the Bruj also, the New Testament is printed nearly to the end of the Epistle to the Romans.----Three of the four Gospels are finished in the Pushtoo or Afghan language, the Bulochee, and the Assamese. Those in which St. Matthew is either finished or nearly so, are the Kurnata, the Kunkuna, the Mooltanee, the Sindhee, the Kashmeer, the Bikaneer, the Nepal, the Ooduypore, the Marawar, the Juypore, the Khassee, and the Burman languages. From this sketch, the present state of the Translations may easily be seen. It will appear, that the whole of the Scriptures have been published in two of the languages of India; the New Testament, the Pentateuch and the Historical Books, in four; the New Testament, and the Pentateuch, in five; the New Testament alone, in six; four of the Gospels, in eight; and three of them in twelve of the languages of India; while in twelve affinity with the Chinese in its colloquial medium, the only way, indeed, wherein any language can be connected with the Chinese, as its written medium stands distinct from every alphabetic language, its characters being formed on a totally different principle. The monosyllabic system, however, with its tones, and the peculiar pronunciation of the Chinese colloquial medium, have evidently so affected certain languages spoken near China, as to alter the sound of many letters of the alphabet, and to give the languages themselves a cast of so peculiar a nature as cannot be accounted for without a reference to the Chinese system. Such is the case in various degrees with the Siamese, the Burman, the Khassee, and the Tibet languages. That the Chinese language had either originated, or greatly af fected, the languages in the vicinity of China, was more than suspected by us many years ago, as well as that a knowledge of Chinese would throw much light on these languages; which added to its own intrinsic value, induced us to determine on commencing the study of this language, as early as thirteen years ago. But it is to those languages which owe their origin to the Sungskrit, a class by far the most numerous, that we would now call the attention of the public. To give the Scriptures in these, after the acquisition of the parent language, and one or two of the cognized as distinct languages, by the natives of India, almost from time immemorial. chief cognate branches, appeared, from the the Harutee, the Koshula, &c. languages, beginning, a work by no means involving the very names of which have scarcely insuperable difficulties; and our opinion re-reached Europe, but which have been relative to the importance of the object, and the certainty with which it can be accomplished, is now by no means altered. But in our prosecution of it, we have found, that our ideas relative to the number of languages which spring from the Sungskrit, were far from being accurate. The fact is, that in this point of view, India is to this day almost an unexplored country. That eight or nine branches had sprung from that grand philological root, the Sungskrit, we well knew. But we imagined that the Tamul, the Kurnata, the Telinga, the Guzrattee, the Orissa, the Bengalee, the Mahratta, the Punjabee, and the Hindoostanee, comprised nearly all the collateral branches springing from the Sungskrit language; and that all the rest were varieties of the Hindee, and some of them, indeed, little better than jargons scarcely capable of conveying ideas. But although we entered on our work with these ideas, we were ultimately constrained to relinquish them. First, one language was found to differ widely from the Hindee in point of termination, then another, and in so great a degree, that the idea of their being dialects of the Hindee seemed scarcely tenable. Yet, while they were found to possess terminations for the nouns and verbs distinct from the Hindee, they were found as complete as the Hindee itself; and we at length perceived, that we might, with as much propriety, term them dialects of the Mahratta or the Bengalee language, as of the Hindee. In fact, we have ascertained, that there are more than twenty languages, composed, it is true, of nearly the same words, and all equally related to the common parent, the Sungskrit, but each possessing a distinct set of terminations, and, therefore, having equal claims to the title of distinct cognate languages. Among these, we number the Juypore, the Bruj, the Ooduypore, the Bikaneer, the Mooltanee, the Marawar, the Maguda (or South Bahar,) the Sindh, the Mythil, the Wuch, the Kutch, That these languages, though differing from each other only in their terminations and a few of the words they contain, can scarcely be termed dialects, will appear, if we reflect, that there is in India no general language current, of which they can be supposed to be dialects. The Sungskrit, the parent of them all, is at present the current language of no country, though spoken by the learned nearly throughout India. Its grammatical apparatus too, the most copious and complex perhaps on earth, is totally unlike that of any of its various branches. To term them dialects of the Hindee is prepos terous, when some of them, in their terminations, approach nearer the Bengalee than the Hindee, while others approximate more nearly to the Mahratta. The fact is, indeed, that the latest and most exact researches have shown, that the Hindee has no country which it can exclusively claim as its own. Being the language of the Mussulman courts and camps, it is spoken in those cities and towns which have been formerly, or are now, the seat of Mussulman princes; and in general by those Mussulmans who attend on the persons of European gentlemen in almost every part of India. Hence, it is the language of which most Europeans get an idea before any other, and which, indeed, in many instances, terminates their philological researches. These circumstances have led to the supposition, that it is the language of the greater part of Hindoostan; while the fact is, that it is not always understood among the common people at the distance of only twenty miles from the great towns in which it is spoken. These speak their own vernacular language, in Bengal the Bengalee, and in other countries that which is appropriately the language of the country, which may account for a circumstance well known to those gentlemen who fill the judicial department; namely, that the publish |