The object of the Society is twofold—embracing both the purposes which I have just been enforcing:—The conversion of souls, sought by direct and appropriate means; and the general benefit of all classes of society, by a supply of works in general literature purified by the presiding power of Christian truth, righteousness, love, and wisdom. The first object was originally the only one, and has ever been the chief; and the good done by the religious tracts which the Society has circulated, nobody can calculate. Who can tell the blessings conveyed in “The Dairyman’s Daughter” and “The Young Cottager,” tracts which, though old, can never be out of date—tracts which have been very rarely equalled, and, I believe, never surpassed? Others less striking have been the instruments of vast usefulness. The annual circulation from the London depot, I see, is 41,044,772; the total of issues, including those which are from foreign societies, connected with this, 49,000,000. The total circulation of tracts for seventy-one years reaches the enormous amount of nearly 1,335,000,000. It would seem, looking at these almost incredible numbers, as if the world could not contain so many books written of Him; and yet how many, many millions of the men and women in the world know nothing of Him, and have never yet been reached by any of these publications! What shoals have been and still are coming forth on the other side, full of infidelity and superstition and vice! So that, after all, the work of this Society is not half done. The second object—the hallowing of literature with a Christian spirit—has increasingly occupied the attention of the Society of late years, but never, in the slightest degree, to the neglect of the first. The catalogue of its published books includes, besides solid divinity, lively histories, pleasant biographies, sparkling fictions, religious, moral, and descriptive poetry. Old works are brought out in modern dress under the care of competent editors; works entirely new are issued under the sanction of the Committee, which renders itself responsible for their contents. The pencil of the artist, the burin of the engraver, are employed in the illustration and adornment of many of the publications; and in an artistic as well as literary respect, “The Leisure Hour” and the “Sunday at Home” stand deservedly high amongst our popular periodicals. They are making way amongst the intelligent and the tasteful, conciliating prejudice, producing favourable impressions of Christian truth, and guiding the young into right paths.