Part 1

Transcribed from the 1839 Josiah Fletcher edition by David Price, email [email protected]

[Picture: Public domain book cover]

REPORT OF THE CROMER LADIES’ BIBLE ASSOCIATION,

MDCCCXXXVIII.

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NORWICH: PRINTED BY JOSIAH FLETCHER, UPPER HAYMARKET. 1839.

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STATEMENT UPON THE ELEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE Cromer Ladies’ Bible Association, 1838.

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PRESIDENTS.

THE HONORABLE MRS. UPCHER, AND MRS. BUXTON.

VICE-PRESIDENT.

MISS BUXTON.

TREASURER.

MISS JOHNSON.

SECRETARIES.

MISS EARLE, MRS. B. RUST, MRS. J. W. RUST.

COMMITTEE.

MRS. UPCHER MISS PEELE MISS BUXTON MISS PANK MISS JOHNSON MISS SANDFORD MISS FIELD MISS RICHARDSON MISS FULLER MRS. SIDLE

Cash Secretary’s Statement.

_£_ _s._ _d._ _£_ _s._ _d._ Amount received 42 15 9 this year, FREE Ditto BIBLES 15 5 0½ 58 0 9½ Amount received 507 2 8 since the establishment, FREE Ditto BIBLES 407 13 2½ 914 15 10½ Amount paid since 896 10 3½ the establishment for Bibles, Testaments, & Grants Incidental 18 5 7 expenses 914 15 10½ Grant to Norwich 37 8 4½ Auxiliary Bible Society, 1838

Bible Secretary’s Statement.

BIBLES TESTAMENTS TOTAL Received this year 62 24 86 Distributed this year 73 29 102 Received since the 1465 1072 2537 establishment, Distributed ditto 1418 1032 2450 Remaining on hand 47 40 87

Received free since the establishment.

_£_ _s._ _d._ 1828 45 9 3 1829 45 10 9 1830 47 5 8 1831 45 13 3 1832 43 12 0 1833 49 7 1 1834 51 10 8 1835 51 19 2 1836 36 6 8 1837 46 0 4 1838 42 15 9 505 10 7 Interest 1 12 1 507 2 8 914 15 19½

Received for Bibles and Tests. since the establishment.

_£_ _s._ _d._ 1828 52 17 9 1829 43 16 9 1830 39 5 4½ 1831 44 13 7½ 1832 39 2 11 1833 52 11 0 1834 40 0 3 1835 35 6 6 1836 23 2 1 1837 21 11 11 1838 15 5 0½ 407 13 2½ 507 2 8 914 15 10½

Paid for Bibles & Testaments.

_£_ _s._ _d._ 1828 75 8 8 1829 56 1 6 1830 59 4 6 1831 59 7 4 1832 51 10 3 1833 69 19 5 1834 48 14 3 1835 47 1 9 1836 32 18 5 1837 31 17 10 1838 19 11 5 551 15 4 Grants 344 14 11½ Inc. Exp. 18 5 7 914 15 10½

Grants.

_£_ _s._ _d._ 1828–9 40 0 0 1830 35 0 0 1831 29 13 2 1832 29 18 0 1833 30 10 7 1834 41 13 2 1835 38 14 10 1836 25 10 8 1837 36 6 2 1838 37 8 4½ 344 14 11½

Annual Subscribers.

_£_ _s._ _d._ LADY SOPHIA WINDHAM 1 1 0 MRS. GURNEY, 1 10 0 _Grove_ MRS. BARING 1 1 0 MRS. MORRIS 1 1 0 MRS. PAUL 1 1 0 MRS. FOX 1 1 0

DISTRICTS.

1. _Aylmerton & Felbrigg_. _£_ _s._ _d._ Mrs. Fuller 4 0 Mrs. Knights 4 0 Mr. Daniel 4 0 Smaller subscriptions 6 0 2. _Alby & Aldboro’_. Mr. Springall 12 0 Rev. Mr. Shuckburgh 6 0 Mrs. Clarke 6 0 Mrs. Hacon 6 0 Mr. Press 6 0 Miss Press 6 0 3. _Beeston_. Smaller subscriptions 2 0 4. _Baconsthorpe & Bodham_. Miss Mayes 6 0 Miss S. Mayes 6 0 Mrs. Bumfry 3 0 Mrs. Beales 6 0 5. _Beckham_. Cook Flower, Esq. 12 0 Mr. Fuller 6 0 Mr. Sayers 6 0 6. _Cromer_. Miss Earle 6 0 Mr. Betts 6 0 7. _Cromer_. Mrs. Sharpe 6 0 Mrs. Goodwin 12 0 Mrs. Bunnett 12 0 Miss Press 6 0 Miss Pank, _Lodge_ 6 0 8. _Cromer_. Mrs. J. Rust 6 0 Mrs. B. Rust 6 0 Mrs. Hogg 6 0 Mrs. Sidle 6 0 9. _Cromer_. Miss Peele 6 0 Miss Field 6 0 10. _Cromer_. Mr. F. Pank 6 0 Mr. E. Heath 12 0 11. _Gimingham & Trimingham_. 12. _Hanworth_. Miss Mayow 6 0 Miss U. Mayow 6 0 Mr. Press 6 0 Mrs. Press 6 0 Mr. Amis 6 0 13. _North Repps_. Miss Gurney 12 0 Miss Buxton 12 0 Miss Richardson 6 0 14. _North Repps Hall_. T. P. Buxton Esq. £1 10 0 Mrs. Buxton £1 10 0 A. Johnston, Esq. 12 0 Mrs. Johnston 12 0 Mr. T. F. Buxton 12 0 Mr. C. Buxton 12 0 Miss Buxton 12 0 Mrs. Cook 6 0 Mrs. Hyde 4 0 M. Kealey 4 0 E. Rix 4 0 M. Holmes 4 0 S. Bourne 4 0 15. _Overstrand and Sydestrand Village Association_. Miss Gurney £2 2 0 Miss Buxton £2 10 0 Mrs. Cubitt 6 0 Miss Carr 6 0 Mrs. Cross 6 0 M. J. Cross 6 0 Miss Emery 6 0 Mrs. Moore 4 0 Mrs. Field 4 0 Miss Field 4 0 Miss M. Field 4 0 Mr. R. Curtis 6 0 Mr. J. Curtis 4 0 H. Roper 4 0 L. Rushmore 4 0 E. Goodwin 4 0 E. Greenaker 4 0 S. A. Nichols 4 0 John Spinks 4 0 Stephen Rogers 4 0 John Howes 6 0 Smaller subsns. £2 10 0 16. _Roughton_. 17. _Runton_. H. J. Johnson, Esq. 12 0 Miss Johnson 6 0 Miss E. Johnson 6 0 Mr. I. Pank 6 0 Mrs. Yearham 3 0 Mrs. Bumfry 3 0 Mr. Wright 3 0 Miss Wright 3 0 Mrs. Baker 3 0 Mrs. Covell 3 0 Miss Carr 3 0 Miss Ellis 3 0 Smaller subscriptions 7 0 18. _South Repps_. Mrs. Weeds 6 0 19. _Saxthorpe & Corpusty_. Mr. Kelly 4 0 Mr. Goldsmith 4 0 20. _Sheringham_. The Hon. Mrs. Upcher 12 0 H. Upcher, Esq. 12 0 Mrs. Upcher 12 0 Mrs. E. C. Buxton 12 0 Arthur Upcher, Esq. 12 0 Mr. Overton 12 0 Mr. Long 6 0 Rowland 4 0 21. _Stody_. Alice Pigott 6 0 Mrs. Ladle 6 0 Mr. Paul 4 0 Smaller subscriptions 11 0 22. _Weybourne_. T. F. Buxton, Esq. 12 0 S. Hoare, Esq. 12 0 The Hon. Mrs. Upcher 6 0 Mrs. Copling 6 0 Mr. Arms 6 0 Stephen Eades 6 0 Mr. Pigott 6 0

REPORT.

WE, the committee of the Ladies’ Bible Association for Cromer and its neighbourhood, consider it our duty to lay before our subscribers, the prefixed statement of the condition of our charge; and in doing so, we think it may be expedient to accompany the same with some extracts from the slight records which we have kept of our proceedings, since Nov. 1827, when our friend, Mr. J. J. Gurney, now on a christian mission in America, first called us together.

We may premise that in our note of the first year, (1828,) we find the need of the society indicated by the fact, that in one outlying district, a poor woman had lately given three shillings for the tattered remains of a bible. The announcement of the formation of our association, and of the facility which it afforded for obtaining bibles, was received with pleasure throughout the neighbourhood. Many parents were desirous to avail themselves of the opportunity of providing bibles for their children, and even some solitary old couples who could not read themselves subscribed, that they might have a bible in the house for their neighbours to read to them.

The young people were generally found eager to subscribe. All the girls (but one) of one school gave their names as soon as the plan was proposed to them, and several having supplied themselves with bibles, continue as free subscribers, and take much interest in reading the monthly extracts. It was pleasant too, to see the desire of children in various places, to devise a way to earn their own subscriptions. One little girl, who had a hen, set aside the first chickens for the payment of hers, and an errand boy volunteered to run some additional miles, to obtain a few pence for his.

Some interesting particulars of the effect of passages of the word of God upon individuals, have occasionally been related in conversation with the collectors. On one of these applying to a young man, the latter said, that though he had a bible, he would willingly subscribe five shillings for another, (as a gift we suppose, to some friend,) and he proceeded to say, that when very young he was very thoughtless, and, for a length of time, had feared neither God nor man. Being alone one day in his father’s house, he saw a bible lying on a window seat; he opened it in a careless manner, and his eye was caught by a verse of awful denunciation against sinners. He could not bear it, and flung the bible into a corner of the room, and went out. The words still haunted him, and, on his return after some time, seeing the bible still on the floor, he picked it up, and opening it again, observed a passage containing, as he said, “a promise, a blessed invitation.” His attention was happily attracted, he read on, and from that time, formed a habit of reading the scriptures, which has proved, as he thankfully acknowledged, a blessing to his soul.

We may now mention an instance of the utility of reading the bible freely and undauntedly to others. A gentleman, who had been in the practice of reading in the cottages, went into one for this purpose on the evening of a fair held in the neighbourhood. He found the old woman on whom he had called gone to bed, but five or six rough-looking men were sitting round the fire, and hesitatingly he asked, if they would let him read a chapter to them. They, with at least equal hesitation, assented, and our friend asked for a bible. They brought him first a Latin testament, but at last a large bible was brought from another cottage, and he read to them the 26th chapter of St. Matthew’s gospel, and spoke to them on the injunctions there given. They all became attentive. One of the men who had been a smuggler, and much addicted to drinking, and who would probably have finished his evening by intoxication at the fair, appeared particularly struck by what he then heard. On his going home, his wife was astonished at his altered demeanor, but dared not speak to him; his daughter, however, asked him, “what he had been doing?” On which, he answered her in his uncouth way, that he had “been praying and would pray again, for so the gentleman had told him from the book.” The man entirely changed his habits from this time. The following harvest he was seen by the same gentleman, coming out of a farm house with a party of fellow-labourers, and his kind friend spoke to him, fearing he had as formerly indulged himself. The poor man replied, “I have been doing, sir, what I never in my life did before, I have refused a pint of beer, for I did not want it;” and his companions confirmed his words. His resolution was put to a severer test the next summer, for being lame he was set to keep the birds from a field directly opposite one of the new public-houses. “Was it not a temptation to you?” said the same gentleman. “A sad temptation, sir, and very hard it is; but I have resisted and kept out.” The poor man’s conduct to his family was equally improved; and we have perhaps the more pleasure in giving this little history, as it happened that the bible, which was rendered the instrument of convincing this poor man of the error of his ways, was furnished by our association.

We must here acknowledge that it in the spirit with which subscriptions are offered, and the prayers with which they are accompanied, which give value to the little collections, and we trust that the prevailing motive in most of the givers, is the honest desire to spread the knowledge of that gospel which they have themselves learnt to prize. It is however pleasant, when such a desire is expressed. Thus on one of our districts being lately revisited with a view more especially to the promotion of free subscriptions, a fisherman came forward with his twopence a month, saying. “May a blessing go with it; and perhaps even that, may be the means of saving one soul.” A poor woman too, on giving her offering, said to the collectors, “If I have to work ever so hard, I will have the penny ready when you come again; for I will pay it for the sake of the cause.”

One more instance of the same kind, we cannot refrain from giving as related by a beloved and lamented young member of our committee, who laboured diligently during her brief career, to lead others to the knowledge of those promises of the Redeemer, of which we may thankfully believe she has experienced the blessed fulfilment.

“December 13th, 1833. We called on a poor woman to-day, who wished to subscribe for a bible for her son. After she had told us the size, she said, ‘I am afraid of being troublesome, but might I give a trifle to the Bible Society?’ God, she said, had done so much for her, and she felt such a great desire to do something for his glory; then she thought what a poor, miserable, sinful creature she was, could she be permitted to do anything in his service? What to do she could not guess! Then she thought she would set to work, and what she could spare of her earnings, she would give with all her heart to the Bible Society, if I would be so kind as to receive it. She made many more acknowledgments of God’s mercy, particularly that of opening her mind, to understand the word of God, which though she had read, it was without profit to herself, till lately, and when people used to speak to her of the benefit of reading it, she hardly believed them, but now she found it was her greatest comfort; when she opened her bible, she seemed directed to the particular passage that suited her case; and when she went to a place of worship, whatever the minister said, seemed meant for her. She could not express all she felt for these mercies, but still to be silent, she knew would be wrong. It was settled that she should pay one penny a week, and when she gave me her first penny, she said, ‘May God’s blessing go with my mite, that it may be useful.’”—A. U.

One of our committee gives the following account of a poor old deaf widow, well known for twenty years past, as a consistent earnest christian:—

“She is thankful to have been enabled to read and understand her bible.—It was for some time a sealed book to her; she read it as a duty, but did not feel its power; she was convinced something was wrong in herself, and one evening, after having suffered much unhappiness at not being able to enjoy her bible as some did, she locked her cottage door, closed her shutter, spread her bible on her little table, and with tears, in earnest prayer, begged that God would show her her error, and the way of true happiness. She chanced to have opened her bible at the 16th of St. John, and her eye caught the verse, ‘Hitherto hast thou asked nothing in my name, ask and thou shalt receive, that thy joy may be full.’ This verse powerfully impressed her mind with the mistake she had been guilty of. She pleaded ever after the intercession of her Mediator, and has constantly enjoyed that peace and comfort his blessed word so fully promises.”

The same lady writes:—

“The simplicity of a little child may not be uninteresting to those who wish to trace the use of the bible, in its effects upon the poor.—A boy of eight years old, seeing his old grand-mother overwhelmed with grief at a severe loss of property, which she was quite unequal to retrieve, went up and kissing her, said, ‘Pray don’t grieve, God will be sure to take care of you.—The bible tells us, he is a friend to the widow, and that must be true.’ The poor woman was so struck by the earnestness of the child, that she made up her mind not to grieve, but to trust in God, and she is now happy and cheerful again.”

She adds of another person who had lingered many years in acute suffering, and whose departure was at length drawing near:—

“Poor Mrs. W. continues to evince most strikingly the power of the bible to give comfort and support in the greatest need. She said to me,—‘What would have become of me, had I been born in a heathen land, without a bible to rest upon?’”

A gentleman, who was looking after some crews that had been wrecked in the storm of Sept. 1st, 1833, went into a room at the public house where they were staying, and found one young man alone, with a book before him. He observed it was a bible, issued by our British and Foreign Society, and asked him if he was reading it. The young man said, “Yes, he did not know that he could read a better book, for it was worth the saving.” He then said, he had bought it “because it was so cheap, only three shillings, and a very fine book!” Our friend remarked to him, that he “must know such bibles could not be built for that price, but that it was afforded by means of a subscription.” This he said he knew, and then observed, that sailors were now reading their bibles at his port, Shields, more than they used to do. The gentleman said, he hoped that they were not hypocrites. “No,” the sailor said, “he thought not; he believed the prayer meetings and bible readings at the time of the cholera, had had a real effect upon numbers of them.”

We would earnestly recommend our associates not to lose the opportunities, which their proximity to a dangerous coast too frequently affords, of applying the word of God to the comfort of the ship-wrecked mariner, and of fixing religious impressions which may have arisen in hours of peril. We possess a small depôt of Dutch and French testaments, for the use of foreigners under such circumstances, and have occasionally found them acceptable. Our local position also calls for our unremitting efforts to enlighten our fishermen, whose lives are so often in jeopardy. The precariousness of their situation is an argument to which persons of this class will be found peculiarly accessible, when pressed to acquaint themselves betimes with the way of salvation. Fishermen, too, have many spare hours, while waiting for the tide, or detained by bad weather, on shore or in harbour: we remember the pleasure with which a fisherman, who had lately learnt to read, spoke to us of the delight he enjoyed in spelling out a chapter of the testament, in the cuddy of his herring boat, during many dreary winter evenings that he was moored in Boston Bay.

For the sake of suggesting profitable topics of discourse, and of obtaining from time to time correct information respecting the progress of our work, and the moral condition of our districts, a set of queries for our collectors was drawn up soon after the beginning of our association, and it is from the answers to these, that most of our facts are gathered. Some advantage is gained by keeping notes of our visits, the state of a family is the better remembered, and appropriate remarks may be made. Thus in one house, which was without a bible, the woman on being asked if she would subscribe, answered, she would consider about it. The visitor turned to her book and said, “Mrs. L. you gave me that very answer when I called before, and that is four years ago to-morrow; time flies.” She was so struck that she immediately paid a penny towards a half-crown testament, evidently frightened at her own procrastination.

Many of our stories bear on the desirableness of a diligent and frequent revision of our work. We give an extract from the notes of one of our committee, in 1833:—