part those patriotic sufferers with this fountain of all comfort. With what earnestness the scriptures are desired by the poorest classes of the inhabitants, we have had the most moving evidence, in that individuals, sunk in poverty, who had been plundered of their all by the enemy, have sent us in their last mite to obtain a Bible; therefore, such we have suppliod gratis.

"The attention of the Committee has also been turned to the situation of the prisoners of war, whom Providence had placed in our hands; and in obedience to the precepts of the Holy Scriptures, to reward evil with good, they had resolved to furnish them with copies of the Scriptures in different languages. The very great number of Bibles and New Testaments voted by the British and Foreign Bible Society for this purpose, was therefore to us a most welcome present; and we immediately adopted the necessary measures for having them conveyed to those unfortunate men. After having obtained the requisite information concerning the places of their imprisonment, and their number in each district, a sufficient proportion of Bibles

and Testaments were sent to the different governments and Bible Societies, which were received with great thank fulness. The like favorable reception has been given to copies of the Scriptures in the prisons of this city, in which a considerable number of copies have been distributed.

"In order to meet the multiplied wants of the numerous different people united under the Russian sceptre, our Society has entered into several engagements; the execution of some of which is only commencing, and others are pretty far advanced.

"As to what concerns the funds of the Society, it is with pleasure I state, that through the liberality of our Gracious Monarch, and the subscriptions which are daily coming in from all ranks, they already amount to more than 100,000 rubles. The donations for the first year amounted to 59,497 rubles, and the yearly sub. scriptions to 16,791 rubles, besides the donation and subscription of the Emperor. In addition to this, copies of the Scriptures have been sold to

the amount of about 5000 rubles.

"From the above mentioned very propitious circumstances, it evidently appears that the hand of Divine Providence has visibly directed the whole, during the distresses of war; and while Europe, from the one extremity even to the other was shaken, and dyed with streams of blood, a society has arisen for the consolation of suffering humanity, which has for its object, by a more general diffusion of the Divine Word, to compose the minds of the sufferers, and to act as an antidote against that spirit of infidelity, which in our times has been daily increasing."

The agreeable letter from which these extracts were taken was signed by ALEXANDER TOURGENOFF.

From Dr. Amon, first Chaplain to the Court of Saxony.

March 12, 1814. "You have rendered an important service to Germany in general, and to Saxony in particular, by directing the attention of the British and Foreign religious spirit in Germany, and by Bible Society to the decline of the procuring for us those valuable presents of Bibles; a considerable number of which I have distributed. I

clearly perceive from this, the just noble Society had taken of the miseand comprehensive view which that ries and desolations of our times; you fix your eye on the primary cause of all our misfortunes, and point out vine Revelation, which alone can supto us the heavenly power of that Diport, comfort, cheer and bless us. May the blessing of God rest upon you and all our English friends! With true British generosity, they have also hastened to the relief of our temporal necessities, for which they will re

ceive the most cordial thanks from all quarters: But still I must acknowledge the design and aim of your spiritual gift, to be the higher and superior one."

From His Excellency Baron Rosenblad, Minister of state for the Home Department, to the Rev. Dr. Brunmark.

Stockholm, Oct. 18, 1813. "My dear Dr., I have received much

pleasure in the perusal of your letter of the eleventh instant, and can assure you that your important arguments had their full weight in my resolve, to accept of the Presidentship of the Evangelical Society. Your enlightened zeal for the gospel of Christ, and the most satisfactory exposition you have afforded me of the Constitution, activity and excellences of the British and Foreign Bible Society, convinced me that by the help of our common Lord I might also become in my measure helpful to our Zion. In point of fact I viewed the call made on me, as the finger of God, and felt apprehensive lest a refusal might carry with it a reproof to my conscience of some thing like shyness "in confessing Him before men."

"I cannot describe to you my admiration of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Their enlightened zeal, their labors, their progress, and their success, are so far beyond common occurrences, that I should have thought the hand of God must have been visible to all that did not wilful ly shut their eyes upon them. We must follow their footsteps in our humble measure.

"My dear Doctor, your zeal for the glory of God, and the good of your native land, has made you a welcome visitor to us. Your reward will not linger, either from your Lord or your country, when you have finished your service to both, and wish, after your labors are over, to sit down in quiet in your native land.

"I remain, &c.

ROSENBLAD."

APOLOGY.

Ir any apology be needful for publishing so long a Report in this Number, to the exclusion of other articles, we may say, that the Report has

been long desired by many christians in this country, and we had no evidence that any copy had arrived, except the one in our possession. That we might give all the important facts in this Number, we have abridged the Report by the omission of a few short paragraphs, some sentences, and parts of sentences, which would have been uninteresting to readers in this country. Except such omissions, no designed alteration has been made in copying the Report. But for the convenience of the reader, we divided it into distinct portions, by inserting the names, "Russian Empire," "India," &c.

Ordinations.

IN Mendon, Rev. Simeon Dogget; Sermon by the Rev. Mr. Pipon of Taunton.

In Bristol R. I. Rev. Walter Cranston: Sermon by the Rev. Bishop Griswold.

In East-Sudbury, Jan. 25, Rev. John B. Wight. The Dedication of the meeting house was connected with the ordination. Dedicatory address by Rev. Mr. Packard of Marlborough; Dedicatory prayer by Rev. Dr. Stearns of Lincoln; Prayer introductory to the ordination by Rev. Mr. Foster of Brighton; Sermon by Professor M'Kean of Harvard University; Ordaining prayer by Rev. Mr. Kellog of Framingham; Charge by Rev. Mr. Wight of Bristol, R. I. Right Hand by Rev. Mr. Hilliard of Sudbury; Concluding prayer by Rev. Mr Wright of Medway.

Obituary.

Died, in Fayetteville, N. C. Rev. Henry Whitlock, late Recter of Trinity Church, New Haven.

In New York, Matthew Franklin, a distinguished minister of the Society of Friends.

Mr. Lemuel Capen, Cambridge.

Mr. John E. Abbot, Boston.

Mr. David Reed, Cambridge.

Mr. Joseph Allen,

do.

[The following affecting narrative of the sufferings of Mr. JOHN HOBBS, who died at Weston on the 15th of December, 1802, aged 32, is compiled from an obituary notice, published soon after the event by the Rev. Dr. KENDAL, and from a more detailed account in the Sermon, preached the Lord's day after his decease.]

THE circumstances of the life and death of Mr. HOBBS, it is believed, will be interesting to the public, as they were affecting to all who witnessed them.

When a lad he was amiable, promising, and active. At about fourteen years of age, he was most painfully afflicted with a fever sore, the anguish of which was so great, as for awhile to deprive him of reason. The complaint at first was supposed to be the rheumatism, and remedies for that disorder were applied. The disease spread till the whole system became affected. The bone in the left thigh, and in the right arm above the elbow, became carious. The tendons in the thigh and leg were contracted, the knee stiff, and that limb considerbly withered. His left wrist suffered in a similar manner, though not to an equal

Vol. III.

degree. In this situation he was attacked by the real rheumatism, which dislocated both hips and the right elbow.

Thus crippled, and for the most part of the time in extreme pain, he would apply himself to some profitable business, which for he could not bear to think of he could perform with his hands, being an inactive, useless being, or wholly dependent upon others. Even when we should suppose that he was totally unable to attend to any thing but his own pain, and that he needed the constant assistance of a friend, he would diligently employ himself in knitting, sewing, binding boots and shoes, and braiding whips; each of which he was soon able to perform with surprising dexterity and neatness. His attention to these, and the conversation of friends, in which he would join with remarkable cheerfulness, served to beguile the hours of wearisome confinement and unmitigated suffering.

At about 21 years of age, his head became affected, and his hearing impaired for several days, till rising one morning he

found that he had totally lost it. This afflicted and unmanned him more than all his pains, which had rarely extorted a sigh or a groan. That he should be denied the alleviation which conversation afforded, was a thought that for a day or two melted him into tears. But he soon recovered the usual tone of his mind; observing that it was the will of heaven that he should no more enjoy his hearing, and that it did not become him to discover such weakness and impatience.

He soon learnt to understand any speech addressed to him by the moving of the speaker's lips; and so expert was he in conjecturing what was said, that his loss of hearing was hardly suspected by those that spoke to him.

For fourteen years he was unable to move from his chair to his couch without assistance; and nearly half that time was wholly confined to his bed, or exercised with racking pain. For the last three years of his life, how ever, he enjoyed more ease and health, and was even able by the help of crutches to walk; and, to the astonishment of all who saw him, would drill rocks with almost the vigour of a well man. By his ingenuity and industry, he had with the labor of his own hands accumulated about a thousaud dollars. As his sufferings interested all the tender feelings of his acquaintance, his patience, fortitude, cheerfulness, and amiable disposition commanded their ad.niration and affection. Few men appear more contented and happy than he did for several years; and none can

he

endure what he did with greater fortitude. Seldom was known to utter a groan or complaining word. When asked, he would give an impressive account of what he endured, but in such a manner, and with such a sweet expression of countenance, as almost to constrain one to believe that he had suffered nothing.

In better health than usual, and with better accommodations, he began to indulge the hope that he might enjoy some comfort and satisfaction in life; but death soon closed the scene.

On the seventh of November, [1802] a dog belonging to the family discovered symptoms of madness by snapping at flies, and at a brother's children, and by other unusual motions and ac tions. Apprehending that the children were in danger, and having greater command over the dog than any one else, Mr. Hobbs called him to himself, and as much as he could kept him under his own legs. The animal showed no ill temper to him, or disposition to bite him, but with apparent good nature licked his master's hand. If a child or a fly approached him he would snap at it with fury. At length a fly lighting on the hand of Mr. Hobbs, the dog snapped at it, and in catching it wounded the hand in a very small degree with the fore teeth. The scratch was followed by a slight inflammation and scab, but soon entirely healed. Some alarm was excited, but several circumstances conspirel to quiet the apprehensions of himself and family; of course nothing was done to counteract the poison and prevent the fatal

effects. On the tenth of December he began to feel some complaints which he thought indicated an attack of his old disor der. These complaints continued, increasing moderately through the eleventh, twelfth, and to the middle of the thirteenth, when on taking a cup of drink and raising it to his lips, not in the least suspecting that he was unable to taste it, he was instantly thrown into a violent spasm. Still he repeated the trial to put the eup to his lips, but each succeeding attempt produced a more violent effect. In a few minutes he could not endure to have the cup in the room. The sight or even thought of the smallest quantity of liquid, or of a vessel that might contain it, would severely affect and agitate him, though exercised with distressing and increasing thirst. A spoonful of water he said appeared to him like an ocean that would instantly drown him, and filled him with the greatest imaginable terror, though death itself had no terrors in his view. Perfectly rational and even pleasant and communicative, when not affected by his spasms, he well understood his situation, and freely conversed upon it, giving a minute account of the behavior of the dog, of the wound he received, and of his own feelings. He said that he felt a strong propensity to bite, and expressed a concern lest he should involuntarily communicate the deadly poison to some of his attendants. At times recollecting the cup that was handed him, or the thought, but more particularly the sight of any

thing liquid, filled him with the greatest agitation. His very looks seemed emphatically to express the language of the text, [Job xxi. 5, 6.] "Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth. Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh," When there was no apparent agitation, we learnt-not from sighs and groans, (for no such thing was observed,) but from his answers to questions-ti:at his distress was extreme, and such as he had never experienced in all his former sufferings. He was fully apprized of the speedy ap proach of death, and said, "I shall soon be gone to a better world, and I long for the happy hour." Upon being questioned in writing, whether he had nev er been ready to think that God had dealt hardly with him? he turned, and with marks of surprize at the inquiry replied, "never, never;" and with a composed and solemn air, said, "God's will be done!" He alone appeared unconcerned about the event before him. While many surrounding friends, neighbours, and even strangers, looked upon him with emotion, he was calm, and requested them to suppress their grief.

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