The "Religious Tract Society" was instituted in 1799, of which Mr. Hughes was appointed Secretary, and which office he retained to the period of his death. But it was as the Secretary of the "British and Foreign Bible Society" that he was universally known and admired. This noble institution, which he seems, in conversation with the Rev. T. Waters, of Worcester, to have admitted originated in a suggestion from himself, was publicly formed March 7th, 1804, at the London Tavern, Cheapside; Granville Sharp, Esq., in the chair. To the discharge of the delightful but onerous duties of this honourable office, he consecrated his distinguished talents and eminent piety, during nearly the last thirty years of his life. Towards the close of his life, in consequence of some trying occurrences at Battersea, certain efforts were made to remove him into the metropolis. This movement, however, called forth renewed feelings and expressions of mutual attachment between himself and the persons who had so long enjoyed his ministration; and he respectfully declined the overture which had been made to him from London. For a considerable time before his death, Mr. Hughes had been afflicted with a pain in one part of his foot. This did not at first occasion any alarm; but early in July 1833, having set out on a long journey to Wales, and other places, on behalf of the Bible Society, the affection in his foot so increased, and, by the necessary exertion in prosecuting the object of his journey, became so aggravated, that he was obliged to retire to the house of a friend in the vale of Abbey Tintern, and give up what remained of his projected tour. This sickness was to be unto death; rest and retirement did not mitigate the symptoms of his complaint. Amidst great suffering he was removed to Bath; and when it was found that little hope remained of a cure being obtained, he was conveyed in an invalid carriage from Bath to the house of his son, where, after continuing a few days, he was taken to his own residence. Throughout his affliction, though his sufferings appear often to have been exceedingly acute, he discovered the most exemplary patience and resignation; the frame of his mind seems to have been uniformly devout and serene, and his confidence in the person and work of the divine Redeemer, strong and unwavering. At length, the time of his departure arrived. On the evening of October the 3rd, 1833, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, he peacefully left these mortal shores.