and he read it in their hearing-they were impressed, and soon both were hopefully brought into the marvellous light of the Gospel. Again, many proud and haughty scorners who attend no place of worship, will yet buy and read these books; and many who will not encourage their families to go to church, will buy such books for them, and encourage the reading of them. I could recite some affecting incidents under this head. I will just say, that a man and his wife, who seldom, if ever, went to any church, were thus lead to a prayer-meeting held by a distributer on the Sabbath, after he had given them a book— then to church-then to a hope of salvation. An infidel of wealth, who discourages the attendance of his family at church, and whose house the agent feared to approach, bought several volumes, saying he was willing his family should read on the subject of religion. Again, the effect of these books has been felt in tippling-houses, and such like places. A keeper of a grog-shop spent three days reading these books. Again, the sick and the afflicted will thus be visited and cheered. Our great Naval Hospital, at Norfolk, is an instance on a large scale. Thousands of such occur. In fine, good must result, or evil be prevented, wherever these books are read. "7. Preachers, seeing their people becoming a reading people, will perceive the importance of giving themselves to closer study, that they may be able to give sound and copious instruction. Thus the character of the ministry will be elevated. "8. In many cases these books will be carried to school and used as school-books. One man who opposed this work of love is a school-teacher, many of whose pupils are reading, in the hearing of the whole school, these very books, instead of ordinary school-books. The children generally are pleased with the neatness of the volumes, not less, perhaps, than with what one called 'the pretty reading' in the book. Thus our schools will be improved in moral character. "9. This enterprise, more than almost any other, will unite good men of different denominations. Pious members of the society of Friends, zealous and humble members of the Protestant Episcopal, Regular Baptist, Protestant Methodist, and Presbyterian churches, are almost invariably warm and useful friends; and many, very many, of our dear brethren of the Methodist Episcopal church are not a whit behind their neighbors. Now, how important to keep all good men working together as much as possible in these days of division and coldness of love. "10. These books will never lose their power until they lose their existence. The famous copy of Alleine's Alarm, of which you have heard so much as being the means of a revival in two colleges and many congregations in Virginia, in the days of the Rev. John Blair Smith, was still in use a few years ago, and when read in the presence of a young lady, made her cry aloud for mercy, and soon she thought she found Christ. The famous copy of Flavel's Sermons, of which I told you last spring, is still in existence, and has been the means of converting a poor wicked sinner, who is now a valuable minister of the Gospel in the Methodist Episcopal church. “11. The reflex influence of the enterprise on the religious character of the voluntary distributers will be, in almost every instance, admirable. I know no instance to the contrary of this remark, and I know some very striking instances of spiritual improvement from this cause. We may confidently expect to see thus raised up a harvest of working, enterprising men. This, in its ultimate results, will be a very important benefit. "12. Lastly, this enterprise, boldly carried on, will, more than any one thing I now think of, cause your Society to be generally regarded as one of the grand and commanding institutions of this great and growing country. Every family in the nation will thus become acquainted with you, and feel your good and kindly influences in their own happy little circles; and thus you will remove the vulgar prejudice that Tract operations are penny matters; and having so many and so warm friends, you can go on to assist in filling the world with the knowledge of God. "It may be difficult to get the money, but a difficulty is not an impossibility. It will not be half so difficult to get all the money necessary, as it is for one rich man to enter heaven. See Matt. 19:24. And shall not rich men try to go to heaven? And shall not you try to get this money? "And now, 'What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brother's heart faint as well as his heart.' Deut. 20:8," About the time the above correspondence was received, the Baptist General Convention, at their Triennial meeting in Richmond, Va., unanimously adopted the following minute, viz. "Whereas, the American Tract Society are engaged in placing one or more of their bound volumes in every family willing to receive them, within the southern states; and whereas this Society is contemplating the extension of this work throughout the United States; therefore "Resolved, That this Convention approve of these operations of the American Tract Society, and warmly commend them to the prayers and active support of all the friends of the Redeemer." We here insert the following from an Address of Rev. "1. A catalogue of subjects of the volumes, that would show their interesting variety and adaptation to all the varying states of mind. There were such books as Jenyns, Leslie, Lyttelton, Bogue, and Morison, to meet and refute the infidel. There is a large class of books like Baxter's 'Call,' and Alleine's 'Alarm,' to awaken the thoughtless. There are books of Pike, and others, to guide the inquiring; others, in large variety, to instruct and establish the Christian; and others still, like the Mother and Child at Home, and the series of Scripture Biography and other Christian Memoirs, to bless the domestic circle, and teach by example the path of the righteous. What must be the effect of scattering annually hundreds of thousands of volumes such as these through the community. Why, it was enough to move old Roger Williams from his grave, to hear that 10,000 such books had been placed in Rhode Island the last year! "2. A chronological catalogue. Who are the men that are thus installed as teachers in all our families, and when did they live? It is a striking fact that the earliest publications suited to the practical purposes of the Society, are the productions of men who were cotemporary with the settlement of this country. Baxter's Saints' Rest was the first written of the series. Let us call up Baxter, and imagine him as he was, thin and spare, looking in upon this assembly. He sees us planning to scatter his 'Call' and 'Saints' Rest,' which were translated into many of the languages of the earth while he lived, through a country of boundless extent, having scarce a name when he went to glory. He lived long enough to know that his 'Call to the Unconverted' was the second book ever printed in this country, translated by Eliot into the language of the Massachusetts Indians-Eliot's Indian Bible being the first; and he heard before he departed, that an Indian chief, who was converted by a blessing on that book, died in the faith while reading its pages. "Bunyan was next, of the same class with Flavel and the noble men who were imprisoned for their non-conformity and strict adherence to the truth. And who was Bunyan? He was the man who has written the only allegorical poem which has been acceptable alike to the common people and to minds of the highest cultivation. He was one of the men who raised the storm that shook the world, and brought down religion for the people—the whole people. The devil outwitted himself, says Baxter, when he shut 2,000 ministers out of the pulpit, and put many of them in prison; for when they could no longer preach, they would write books for the people, and thus undermine his kingdom. And that wonderful vision which Bunyan saw, brighter than any other but that seen by him of Patmos, though Bunyan saw not what we now do |