"On Thursday, May 8^th, 1823, was held at the City Hotel, New York, the Seventh Anniversary of the American Bible Society. The Hon. JOHN JAY, President of the Society, by reason of his advanced age and infirmity, not being able to be present, the chair was taken by Gen. Matthew Clarkson, senior Vice President, who was supported by the Hon. De Witt Clinton and Richard Varick, Esq., Vice Presidents."

Such was the announcement at the commencement of the Report of proceedings of the Seventh Anniversary of the American Bible Society. The venerable and distinguished men, alike the pride and the ornament of the State of New York, who then constituted its officers, and who are named above, have all gone to their rest; but their names will be remembered while literature and law, philosophy and religion, have their votaries among us.

The aged and honored President sent a written address to the Society, which was read by the Rev. James Milnor, D.D., then the Secretary for Foreign Correspondence; and who has also joined the great company of the redeemed, and whose name is associated with almost all the enterprises of benevolence in the land; and who, by his talents and his exalted Christian character, commanded the respect and received the affection of all who knew him.

On this occasion DE WITT CLINTON delivered the following Address:

When I had the satisfaction to attend, some years since, an Anniversary Meeting of this Society, it was honored, I believe for the last time, by the presence of its venerable President, who has been since numbered among the illustrious dead. His mortal remains are mouldering in the grave; but it is humbly hoped that his immortal spirit is in heaven, enjoying the rewards of a well-spent life, the communion of saints and angels, and the smiles of the Almighty Father of the universe. His worthy successor is, I learn with deep regret, disabled by bodily infirmity from attending in his place, but he has favored us with an emanation from his highly-gifted mind. Like his predecessor, he was a statesman of the revolution, and has rendered eminent services to the Republic. After a live devoted to patriotism, illuminated by talents, and distinguished for independence and integrity, he has dedicated his setting sun to the diffusion of the light of the Gospel, and has given all the weight of his elevated character to the support of an Institution, which embraces within its purview the highest interest of the human race. He too, will, in the course of nature, follow, ere long, his distinguished predecessor. Let us render him, when living, the honors due to his high office in this Institution – to his exalted merit – to the purity of his private, and the usefulness of his public life: And under this impression I have the honor to propose the following resolution: --

On this occasion, and as intimately connected with this subject, I shall endeavor, with great diffidence, to illustrate the principles, enforce the objects, and elucidate the merits of associations established for diffusing the Holy Scriptures. If it be admitted that the bible is a revelation from God, intended for the benefit of man in this world, and for his happiness in a future state, it follows, as in inevitable corollary, that its extensive circulation is a duty of the most imperative nature, and an interest of the highest character. However the various members of the Christian community may differ about doctrine or discipline, they must all, notwithstanding, recognize the divine origin, and the sacred character of the Bible; like the radii of a circle, they must all emanate from a common center, and all terminate in the same periphery.

As this place is neutral ground, on which all the contending sects of Christendom may assemble in peace, for the purpose of diffusing with pious zeal the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and of promoting, with concentrated effort, the great cause of religion, how deeply is it to be regretted that different views should be taken of this subject, and that controversy should be excited as to the dispensation of the highest charity. For alas! it has been contended that the Revelation of God to man should be modified or restrained by human agency. While this opposition proceeds from quarters entitled to the highest respect, and is enforced by the most ingenious appeals to sectarian feeling, to the passions and the imagination, it is our incumbent duty to resist all attempts to intercept the light of heaven from striking the earth. In maintaining the preëminent merits of Bible Societies, let us not, however, lose sight of that charity which is the brightest ornament of the Christian character; and let us not mingle acrimonious imputations in our vindication of a great and glorious cause. The citadel of benevolence and Christian charity may be defended without the use of poisoned weapons, and we may refute the arguments without impeaching the motives or wounding the feelings of our opponents. And let it be indelibly impressed on our minds, that the errors of wise men are, at least, entitled to sympathy, and that even the obliquities of good men incline towards heaven.

Whatever glosses may be thrown on this subject, and whatever disguises may be adopted, it is obvious that the opposition must finally entrench itself in the obsolete exploded doctrine of the danger of illuminating mankind. And no person can take this ground without entertaining erroneous views of the fabric of human society and of the high destinies of religion. In its full latitude and unqualified extent, it compels us to consider the ruler every thing and the people nothing, and to substitute the exposition of the priest for the will of the Deity. As ignorance is the patron of error and the enemy of truth, the diffusion of knowledge is friendly to the propagation of religion and the ascendancy of good government. If it teach man his rights, it also teaches him his duties. "Truth and goodness," said an illustrious philosopher, "differs but as the seal and the print; for truth prints goodness, and they be the clouds of error which descend in the storms of passions and perturbations."

To deny the full benefit of the Scriptures, in the most unlimited and unsophisticated shape, to all the family of mankind, is to assume the ground of our incapacity for the full reception of the revealed will of heaven; and the whole assumption is predicated on the most untenable premises. If the Almighty, in the plentitude of his goodness, has graciously condescended to promulgate his will to the human race, we cannot deny our capacity to understand the revelation without charging Divine Providence with an useless dispensation. And if we take refuge in the pale of sectarian pretensions, and insist that the light of the Gospel shall only reach us through the refracting medium of human illustration, is not this a virtual abandonment of the controversy? The Deity, in declaring his will, announced that man was able to receive, and ought to enjoy the full benefit of the revelation. And in contending that it must be conveyed in an exclusive channel, or only through certain selected organs, we fully concede that human nature may be rendered a fit depository as well as channel of divine truth. And to borrow the language of a great philosopher, "to say that a blind custom of obedience should be a surer obligation than duty taught and understood, is to affirm that a blind man may tread surer by a guide, than a seeing man can by a light." Within this narrow compass is comprised the whole philosophy of the debate.

I believe that it is not generally understood that human reason cannot in itself furnish certain demonstration of a future state. The aspirations of the soul after immortality -- the general impressions of mankind -- the constitution of the human mind, and the benign attributes of the Deity, render it highly probable that our existence is not bounded by the narrow limits of this world. But it is well known that every link in this concatenation of reasoning, every circumstance in this enumeration of consideration has been assailed with no inconsiderable force. And it must be admitted that the highest efforts of the human mind have been unable to afford suitable and distinct views of our mode of existence in a future state. Even the end of our creation has been the subject of doubt and debate: and the powers of philosophy, the fictions of mythology, and the subtilties of metaphysics have been unsuccessfully employed in dispelling the clouds and darkness that rested for ages over the destinies of mankind. Some have suppose that this world was created to punish man for the sins committed in a preexistent state. Others have imagined that it sprung from a fortuitous concourse of atoms, or an infinite series of causes, and that man is the creature of chance, has no fixed destination, and will experience the fate of other organic matter. Some have considered him as created to afford amusement to superior beings, and to be "the standing jest of heaven," while others have contended that his existence is essential to complete the series of created substances, and to supply a necessary link in the chain of being.

If the end and aim of our being in this world have appeared so obscure to the benighted vision of human reasons, what may we not expect from its views of a future state? The most sublime flights of poetry, and the most profound elaborations of philosophy have altogether failed in furnishing luminous, distinct, and cheering prospects of immortality. The most alluring views of heaven were entirely derived from the earth; and the final allotment of the virtuous was only a transit from this world to a material paradise.

Some safer world in depth of woods embrac’d,
Some happier island in the wat’ry waste.

In the bowers of bliss; in the gardens of delight; in the fields of Elysium; in the seats of the illustrious and beatified dead, there was always a retrospective longing, lingering look, and the superior fascinations of this world. The great epic bard of Rome, after he had exhausted the powers of his creative mind in describing the delights of the Elysian Fields, asserts the return of the souls of the departed to this world, in order to reanimate other bodies. And the father of heroic poetry, "whose magic muse soared to the topmost heaven of grandeur," describes his heroes as dissatisfied with their portion in the regions of blessedness. When Ulysses congratulates Achilles on his supremacy over the mighty dead, the latter indignantly exclaims, that he would rather be a servile hind, and eat the bread of poverty on earth, that exercise imperial authority over all the Shades.

Whole nations were ignorant of a future state; and others had but feeble glimmerings of light on this subject. The ancient philosophers were divided in their views. Many of them utterly discredited, and some openly ridiculed an hereafter. The consequences of this state of things were in every respect most deplorable: they were felt in every vein and artery of social combination, and in every aspect and conformation of conduct and character. The ancients, who disbelieved in a future state, were utterly unable to account for the moral phenomena of this world. When they considered the events and vicissitudes of life -- when they beheld the accumulation of laurels on the brow of the tyrant, the oppressor rolling in affluence, and the murderer defying punishment -- when they perceived the wise and the virtuous shrouded in obscurity and overwhelmed with calamity -- when they saw Cato driven to suicide, Socrates to hemlock, an Aristides in exile, and heard the dying Brutus exclaim, that virtue was an empty name -- in what a dreadful position did they stand? A knowledge of a future world would have elucidated all incongruities, solved all doubts, dispelled all darkness. They sometimes, indeed, endeavored to vindicate the ways of God to man, by alleging that in this sublunary state virtue was its own reward; that vice was attended by an appropriate punishment, and that a man’s enormities were at least visited on his posterity; and when forced from the full extent of their positions by the testimony of daily experience, they took refuge in atheism, or inculcated that the Deity had no agency in the concerns of this world, or adopted the system of polytheism, and believed in

Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust;
Whose attributes were rage, revenge, or lust.

In this state of moral darkness, Jesus Christ appeared, pointing out the way to heaven, and shedding light over the world. What was before uncertain he rendered certain: for to adopt the words of the great apostle, "he hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel." And herein consists a characteristic feature and a peculiar excellence of the Christian dispensation. It lifted the vail which concealed futurity from view, and that separated time from eternity; and it afforded clear demonstrations of the life to come. All doubts on this subject have vanished, for a belief in the Christian religion is utterly incompatible with a disbelief of a future state. Christianity not only ascertains its existence, but points out our destinies in it. Instead of the sensual enjoyments of a Mahometan Paradise -- instead of the Elysian Fields of Pagan superstition, or the transmigrations of the Metempsychosis, "our minds are lifted up from the dungeon of the body to the enjoyment of the divine essence of the Almighty," and we are endowed with

Perfections absolute, graces divine,
And amplitude of mind to greatest deeds.

Christianity may be contemplated in two important aspects. First, in reference to our destiny in the world to come. And whatever may be intimated to the contrary by the sneers of infidelity, or the cavils of scepticism, it may be asserted boldly, and can be demonstrated conclusively, that to its celestial influence we are indebted for the blessings of civilization, the elevation of the female character, and enjoyment of domestic happiness, the successful cultivation of knowledge, the establishment of free government, and the dominion of good order and peace, wherever they prevail in the great communities of mankind.

Had I the time and the talent, I would proceed with pleasure to establish these positions; but restricted as I am in both respects, I can only glance at some of the leading topics.

We are governed by our hopes and our fears -- by the desire of happiness and the dread of misery. The laws which regulate our conduct, are the laws of man, and the laws of God. To which may be added, as exercising a strong influence, and in many instances, a controlling power over our actions, an anxious desire to acquire the good will, and to avoid the contempt of our fellow creatures by a conformity to the general sense of right and wrong. This is denominated by Mr. Locke the law of opinion. The sanctions of laws, in order to be complete, ought to comprise rewards as well as punishments. The inefficacy of human laws for their intended objects, is palpable from the daily operations of society, and the accumulated experience of ages. Secret crimes are of course unpunished; and how many of the guilty escape from the want of testimony -- from casualties -- and from the imperfect or perverse dispensation of justice and mercy: and there are many aberrations from virtue which do not come within the cognizance or the policy of human legislation. Violations of what are termed the duties of imperfect obligation answer to this description. Ingratitude -- infidelity in friendship -- the want of charity -- an infraction of hospitality -- are not punished by the tribunals of men. And deeds of the most dangerous character, which strike at the very foundation of private happiness and public prosperity, are sometimes not considered criminal. Lying and adultery, for instance, escape with impunity. The complex machinery of government, the arduous administration of justice, and the embarrassment and difficulties which surround the operations of legislation, frequently produce crimes peculiar to the social combinations of man, and generate evils unknown in a state of nature. But in addition to these considerations, it may be remarked, that the innocent are frequently punished instead of the guilty, and that human laws are entirely destitute of the sanction of rewards. To confer honors for obedience would be as ridiculous as unavailing. The honor of many would resolve itself into the honor of none. To dispense pecuniary rewards would be nugatory or impracticable. In an unqualified extent, no government would be able to supply the funds; and even in a restricted form, its operation would be to receive money with one hand as a premium, and to pay it back with the other in the shape of a tax.

The efficacy of the law of opinion is also limited, and has all the imperfections attached to humanity. It cannot reach those who are hardened in infamy and plunged in iniquity; and its sanctions do not extend beyond the limits of this world. Hypocrisy braves its denunciations; exalted rank and great opulence feel, in some degree, superior to its terrors; and the stoic in his apathy, the anchorite in his seclusion, and the misanthrope in his hatred, look with ineffable contempt on the men and the things of this world. And to this it may be added that the law of opinion does not always present an immutable standard of virtue, and an unnerring criterion of excellence; but sometimes connives at departures from the rules of morality.

The sanctions of the Diving law supply all these deficiencies, cover the whole area of human action, reach every case, punish every sin, and recompense every virtue. Its rewards and its punishments are graduated with perfect justice; and its appeals to the hopes and fears of man are of the most potent character and transcendant influence.

The codes of men and the laws of opinion derive a great portion of their weight from the influence of a future world. Justice cannot be administered without the sanctity of truth; and the great security against perjury is the amenability of another state. The sanctions of religion compose the foundations of good government; and the ethics, doctrines, and examples furnished by Christianity exhibit the best models for the laws of opinion.

The imperfect views which the Pagan religion afforded of futurity, had, notwithstanding, considerable influence on the interests of mankind. Herodotus represents the people called the immortal Getæ, on account of their belief in a future state, as the bravest and most upright of the Thracian nations. And Juvenal ascribes the horrible depravity of the age to the reigning infidelity which had exploded from the public creed the Stygian Lake, and other terrors of the ancient mythology.

The Christian religion, armed with power, endowed with light fortified by truth, and revealed by God, foretold in the prophecies, attested by miracles, sealed with the blood of the saints, and sublimed by the mortality of Heaven, is thus presented to man, exhibiting him in a state of probation, and enforcing his good conduct in this transitory state in order to secure his felicity in the regions of eternal bliss. It places what Archimedes wanted, the lever of power on another and a better world, and controls all the operations of man in union with the prescriptions of Divine love.

Feeble and imperfect as this view is, it notwithstanding presents powerful inducements to encourage your animated perseverance and redouble exertions in the cause of philanthropy and religion. Institutions like this unite in the bonds of friendship and charity all their cultivators, without regard to kindred, sect, tongue or nation. In this place an altar is erected to concord -- peace is declared among the most discordant sects -- and the parti-colored coat of Joseph is exchanged for the seamless garment of Christ; and in such a holy cause, be assured that the visitations of Divine approbation will attend your proceedings -- that opposition will prove like the struggles of a river with the ocean -- and that although mountains of sophistry may be piled on mountains of invective, like Ossa on Pelion, yet that all such attempts will terminate like the fabled wars of the Titans, and can never prevail against truth and Heaven.