A MEETING will be held in the Scot's School, on Tuesday evening the 14th instant, at Seven o'clock, for the purpose of forming in Port Phillip an Auxiliary to the British and Foreign Bible Society.

His Honor Charles Joseph La Trobe, Esq., has kindly consented to take the chair.

A collection will be made in aid of the Funds.

Bible Society. - We observe by a notice in our advertising columns, that a meeting is to be held at the Scot's School tomorrow (Tuesday) evening, for the purpose of forming in Port Phillip an auxiliary to the British and Foreign Bible Society. His Honor Mr. La Trobe, will take the chair, and we trust that our fellow citizens will show, by their attendance, that they duly appreciate the object of the meeting. It behoves every Christian to lend their cordial support to any institution founded on the philanthropic and benevolent principles of this society.

A very large and respectable Meeting was held at the Scot's School room on Tuesday Evening last, for the purpose of forming an Auxiliary Branch of this Society. His Honor took the chair, and the meeting was opened with a prayer by the Reverend James Forbes. In the absence of a report, Rev. Mr. Forbes read a document giving a history of the Parent Society.

The first resolution to form the Auxiliary Society was moved by the Rev. James Clow, and seconded by the Rev. William Waterfield. An amendment was moved by Mr. David Ogilvie, but not being seconded, the original motion was carried.

The second resolution containing the rules and regulations of the Auxiliary Society was also moved by the Rev. James Forbes and seconded by Edward Stone Parker, Esq.

The third, naming and appointing the Office Bearers and Committee of the Society was moved by Mr. Dredge, and seconded by Mr. Robert Reeves.

Immediately after this resolution a collection was made in aid of the funds amounting to £16 15s. 6d. A vote of thanks to His Honor for his kindness in presiding on the occasion and for his patronage was moved by Dr. John Patterson. The Meeting, having sung "Praise God from whom all blessings flow," and the benediction having been pronounced by the Rev. James Clow, then broke up.

We are much gratified to find the a Branch of this Society has been established here, and we trust that its objects will be fully realised. His Honor is appointed Patron; Captain William Lonsdale, President; and Edward Jones Brewster, Esq., and the Rev. James Clow, Vice Presidents.

The formation of a Bible Society in Melbourne, as an Auxiliary to the great British and Foreign Bible Society in England, is an event most interesting to its inhabitants. It is an event also highly important to their position as a people. It cannot fail to attract the sympathies of reflecting minds, for it is an institution which seeks only in the most simple and direct mode to stimulate the moral capabilities of the colonists, by teaching them the value of the Bible.

Its avowed object is the dissemination of the word without note or comment, leaving to the supreme influence the appreciation of its valuable doctrines in the true spirit of Christianity. It is a Society, therefore, to which all may render their support, for it carries at heart the happiness of every human being upon Earth; while considered as a system for the advancement of religion it is the only association besides that of the Missionaries which strictly avoids controversy, and welcomes the support and assistance of every sectarian, whether Churchmen or Dissenter. To find a society based upon religious views and supported with religious objects, still advocating the only point where all believers in the Christian religion can meet without discussion and distrust, forms a matter for observation as rare as it is beautiful; for while it enables serious men of all sects to join in obeying that behest of their master which told them to preach the Gospel to every nation, it leads - - - it must lead to a more extended combination of creeds and spirits that now stand apart, tarnished with jealousy and pride.

Interesting, however, as the circumstances of a Bible Society may make it to the feelings of a religious mind, its importance to the moral and social position of the country is equally acknowledged by the politician and hailed by the philosopher.

History has taught them that Religion is the strongest curb upon the unformed unguided principles of human intellect; that the brightest monuments of civilization, the productions of literature, and the creations of art, were the property of those nations to whom the philosophy of nature had revealed such principles of virtue as are exceeded in purity by Christian precepts alone. Such were the Greeks and Romans, under the example and authority of their sages; civilization with them had arrived at its destined pinnacle, and the arts and sciences partook and were indicative of the grandeur and beauty of their moral and religious doctrines.

It was the same with their social and political institutions; these were pregnant of their national philosophy, and were hallowed by the better morality of their religion. The converse of this picture is equally true as regards the countries where men were plunged in dark and cruel superstitions. It is true of the worshippers of Moloch in Persia, the Scandinavian adorers of Odin and the victims of Druidical belief. So also where the Christian religion has been desecrated, as in Portugal, the mind has been darkened and the body enslaved; while England and Germany present a picture of power, wisdom, and prosperity hitherto unattained by mankind.

The enthusiastic Christian then, while he rejoices in the visible outpouring of that light which can alone lead to a knowledge of things heavenly, sees himself joined by the calculating sophist who foretells the growth of knowledge and happiness among the people, through the extension of the same spotless wisdom. Ought not, therefore, a contemplation of such a society, and its probable influence upon the present and future state of our adopted country, urge the mind to an advocacy of its principles, and leave in the soul a boundless admiration for its powerful and extended results.

The British and Foreign Bible Society was established in 1804. When this society commenced its truly magnificent career, public opinion on religious matters was fast approximating to that most sultry state in which the right of private judgement is equally claimed and conceded, throughout the extent of its probable and practical results. This crisis, so favourable to the production of a mighty and consistent scheme of diffusing religious wisdom, had been gradually progressing since the date of the reformation; for at that period the illiberal assumption of the Church was shaken off; and however the poison and pride of prelacy may have crept into the State Religion in Britain, yet the frequent and renewed struggles of various protestant denominations has secured at length a perfect freedom and equality in civil and religious matters, leaving only that wholesome spirit of emulation which tolerates difference of opinion and incites to combination of principle.

The British and Foreign Bible Society, to which the one now established in Australia is an humble, but, we trust, zealous, auxiliary, was fitted as it was intended, to call all the followers of Christianity together, and show them a field where the members of every sect might labour together, tilling (in the figurative language of scripture) the 'vineyard' that its Lord had projected for all.

The arrangements of the first Bible Society, entering as its members did upon so vast a scheme, their field the world, their object the civilization of mankind, was necessarily attended with many and great difficulties; for among their principle objects, was, first, the translation of the Scriptures into every known tongue; second, the printing and publishing of these translations at home; third, the distribution of their copies throughout the nations for whom they were intended; fourth, the establishment of Auxiliary Societies in various parts of the world. Objects of such magnitude, business of such importance, exclusive of the internal economy of the society and the correspondence abroad must have been attended with proportionate expense and toil not seldom embittered with disappointment and failure; notwithstanding which, the institution flourished until it has become incomparably the most valuable, the most important, and the most effective institution that owes its origin to human agency; and so far as human exertion is clogged, as this must ever be, with human errors, it is the most perfect.

The amicable, liberal, and enlightened arrangements which marked the foundation of the Society, and so kept at bay all controversial points, that Christians of every denomination found themselves bound warmly together by ties of the purest sympathy and fellow feeling, and wrought at one time upon the same grand object, were happily extended to every measure of importance that came under the direct control of the society, or was intimately blended with its existence. The first question which arose as to what they were to distribute, was decided by declaring the authorised English version of the Scripture, which was in the hands alike of dissenters and churchmen, and was equally esteemed by all, the standard of the concurrent belief; and consequently of the society's printing and circulation. This version strictly excludes the Apocryphal books, and therefore formed at once a barrier to any communication with Roman Catholic Christians, unless the members of that Church should consent to assist them in the distribution of their peculiar version. It is pleasing to know that many good Catholics, especially in Germany, formed corresponding associations, and cheerfully consented to abide by the rules of the British Society, in circulating the English version or translations sanctioned by that body, content to exclude their particular dogmas, with a view to the enlightenment of mankind, by the diffusion of any portion of the Word.

In 1805, Auxiliary Societies were formed, whose intention was to unite the energies of a district or country. Each Auxiliary to possess, as the one now established in Melbourne, its own Patrons, President, Treasurer, and Secretaries, which, by transacting business upon the fundamental principles of the Parent Society, secured to its members all the same privileges.

These Auxiliaries receive subscriptions, obtain the Society's Bibles, and distribute their copies either at the cost or reduced price, gratuitously, or even at an advanced price, as local circumstances may dictate. Among these branch associations it has always been recognised as a proper principle that any surplus money should be remitted to the Parent Society; by which method it is known such funds could be expended more advantageously in the publication of cheap bibles for the use of the Auxiliaries and their districts, than by any single and unsupported scheme of their own.

We may close the present article by quoting from the speech of the Rev. Mr. Forbes, on the occasion of the late Bible Society Meeting, a compendium of the immense good which has already been accomplished by the truly wise and single-minded institution.

"Large stereotyped impressions of the sacred volume were executed in Welsh, in English, and the venerable Irish tongue. In Wales about 500,000 copies of the Scriptures have been circulated. In Ireland about 100,000 copies of the Bible and Testament. Connected with the circulation of the Bible in the native Irish tongue, there is a striking fact that deserves to be recorded. In the year 1686, an edition of the Irish Bible was printed under the auspices and at the expense of that distinguished Christian and philosopher, the Honorable Robert Boyle. This edition is understood to have consisted of only five hundred copies. It was the only edition of the scriptures circulated in Ireland, in the ancient native language of the Irish people until 1811, when an edition of the New Testament was completed by the Society, and in 1813 the whole bible was stereotyped."

"Large editions of the Scriptures in the different languages of Continental Europe, have also been printed partly or wholly at its own expense; and is following out the simple but magnificient principle of its original constitution, it has expanded its sympathies and extended its operations to the nations of Asia, of Africa, the aboriginal tribes of America, and the deeply interesting races of Polynesia and Madagascar. The Bible has under the auspices of the Society, and with its aid been translated into the language of China, a language spoken by a population comprising probably one-fourth of the inhabitants of the globe, and one half of the whole heathen world. The whole Bible has been rendered into the language of Tahiti. The New Testament has been printed in the language of Madagascar, and also a considerable portion of the Old; large portions have also been published in the language of Karotongo, and various others of the South Sea Islands."

"In short, the Society had issued of Bibles, Testaments, or integral portions of the Scriptures no fewer than 11,546,111 copies, at the date of the report of 1839, the latest that has reached this country. Since its formation it has expended £2,529,985. It has printed the Bible or parts thereof in one hundred and thirty-six languages or dialects, and of these one hundred and five are translations never before printed. Latterly it has aided in furnishing the Scriptures to the blind - thus furnishing the light of heaven to those from whom Providence has with-held or withdrawn the light of natural day."