PAM. 
 
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 ADDRESSES 
 
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 THE CELEBRATION 
 
 
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 OF THE 
 
 .FIFTY-FIRST ANNIVERSARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY. 
 
 AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY'S PRESS, 
 
 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK. 
 
 1 8 67 . 
 
 
 V 
 

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 [Each speaker delivers his own thoughts, for which the Managers and ofliccrs 
 of the Society arc not responsible.] 
 
 The Anniversary exercises were held in Steinway Hall, Fourteenth Street, 
 May 9, 1867, James Lenox, Esq., President of the Society, in the chair. 
 
 The exercises were commenced by reading the nineteenth Psalm, and prayer 
 by Rev. Mark Hopkins, D.D., of Massachusetts. 
 
 The Rev. C. S. Robinson, D.D., of Brooklyn, moved the adoption of the 
 first resolution : 
 
 Resolved, That the Report, an abstract of which has been presented, be 
 printed and circulated under the direction of the Board of Managers. 
 
 He took occasion to call attention to the attitude in which the two antago- 
 nists of the Protestant faith are now standing, the Papal and the Mohammedan 
 systems. He stated that when in London a year ago, the order came from the 
 Pope, addressed to all English and American travellers, that they should leave 
 behind them their Bibles and their revolvers , or they would be stopped at the 
 frontier. These then are the things Rome most fears : arms for the hands of 
 her restive and oppressed populace, and the free Gospel for their hearts. It 
 was no mission of ours to supply revolvers, but the prohibition of Bibles should 
 urge to a yet more liberal distribution ; thus Rome could be hastened to its 
 downfall. And Mohammedanism has the same fear of the Word, and should 
 be attacked the more vigorously by it. He related a conversation held in one 
 of the mosques of Cairo, in which an intelligent follower of the false prophet 
 had admitted the great anxiety of Mussulmans concerning the Bible. The 
 indistinct notions they had, have been gathering form for several years. Vague 
 rumours concerning the expeditions in Palestine reach the ears of the faithful, 
 and especially the endeavours made to obtain possession of the ancieut Penta- 
 teuch, cherished with such religious care among the Samaritans at Shechem, 
 have aroused the solicitude of their leaders; they anticipate nothing less than 
 an overthrow before long, from what they mysteriously term “ That Book: 1 
 From all the successes of the past year, the speaker drew only renewed encour- 
 agement for fre^h endeavours during the y'ear to come. 
 
 Remarks of Rev. Dr. Rodgers : 
 
 A very important reason why this Report should be printed is, that the more 
 you print of your doings, the larger will be the interest which the public will 
 take in the operations of the American Bible Society. It appears to me, sir, if 
 ever there was a time when those who have the charge of this Institution 
 should thank God and take courage, it is the present. If through the influence 
 of truth, souls can be converted to God, what may we not hope for as bringing 
 sinners to the acknowledgment of the truth, and to the foot of the Cross, that 
 
4 : 
 
 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 they may rejoice in Him who died upon the tree ? What may we not hope for, 
 from the millions of copies of the Bible spread broadcast upon our ruined 
 world? What may we not hope for, from the light now springing up to en- 
 lighten the nations that have long been sitting in darkness, and in the shadow 
 of death ? Oh, sir, angels and ransomed souls will rejoice over such scenes as 
 these. They will look forward to the time when through such influences as 
 these, the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom from 
 under the whole heavens, shall be given to the people of the saints of the 
 Most High. Surely, sir, we have abundant reasons to rejoice in God’s rich 
 blessing upon the efforts already put forth by the American Bible Society. 
 Let us thank God for what has been done. It is the Lord’s doing. It is 
 marvellous in our eyes. I believe, sir, if by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, 
 we are ever permitted, when we shall have done our work here, to hear the 
 welcome, “ Come, ye blessed,” we shall find thousands and thousands from 
 every nation, kindred, and clime, under heaven, around the throne of God, 
 praising the grace that brought them there through the instrumentality of the 
 Bible, which this Institution has spread abroad, far and wide. I second this 
 resolution with great pleasure. 
 
 The Rev. Rufus W. Clark, D.D., of Albany, N. Y., offered the following 
 resolution : 
 
 Resolved , That the history of the world shows that the Bible is the source 
 of true civilization. 
 
 In rising, sir, to speak of the Holy Bible, I feel the same embarrassment that 
 I should, were I invited to pronounce a eulogy upon the sun. I might speak of 
 the splendor and the importance of this central orb of light and heat ; I might 
 attempt to describe how the light pours along the valleys, and over the plains, 
 and upon the mountains, and shines upon tens of thousands of happy homes : 
 but all my word-pictures would fall far short of the reality. There is the 
 sun in the heavens, that every day and every hour speaks for itself. I 
 must search, therefore, for some image that shall come within the range of 
 human thought and comprehension ; 'and, among the various images presented, 
 I find the Apostle John views the Bible, or religion, as the Tree of Life, 
 planted by the river of salvation, yielding her fruits every month, abounding in 
 all the variety of rich fruits for the soul, for man’s spiritual nourishment and 
 development. 
 
 But I shall not enter, sir, upon a consideration of the fruits of this 
 great tree ; for, he adds, “ The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the 
 nations.” I shall confine my remarks, therefore, simply to the leaves of this 
 tree. While the fruits are for immortality, yet the incidental advantages of 
 the Bible falling upon the nations prove to my mind its Divine origin, prove 
 that those who will take the leaves and be healed, shall, on another shoro, and 
 in a world of greater beauty and glory, pluck the fruits. 
 
 In endeavouring to speak upon this thought, I will first call your attention 
 to the influence of the Bible upon the human intellect. All allow that no 
 book in ancient or modern times has made the impression upon the human 
 intellect, has quickened to such an extent the power of thought, as the Holy 
 
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 5 
 
 Bible ; that book written by men of the highest genius, men of Ihe purest 
 principles and ihe noblest achievements, men who had added to their natural 
 qualities the fire of inspiration. Wherever that book has touched the human 
 soul, it has vitalized its energies ; it has placed those who believe in it in the 
 front rank of the civilization of the world. I know, sir, that skeptics have 
 claimed that the men most gifted in genius, and men who have made the 
 greatest progress in the natural sciences have not been believers in Divine 
 revelation. I deny, sir, that assertion. I will allow that men of attainments, 
 who have been without genius, have collected and applied the facts of science ; 
 they have used the discoveries made by others; but the original thinkers, the 
 men who have presided in the councils of human learning, have been believers 
 in the Bible, or in the God of the Bible. 
 
 Were we permitted to go back to ancient times, to the time of Plato, we 
 would find an illustration of this fact. There were schools of philosophy based 
 upon a belief in God ; there were atheistical schools of which Democritus was 
 an exponent, a man as industrious as Plato, a man who wrote volume after 
 volume, and endeavoured to establish his philosophy upon a firm basis ; but 
 where are the works of that atheistical school ? They have all long since 
 perished ; while the works of Plato, and those who believed in God, may be 
 found in all the libraries of the world. 
 
 If we come down to modern times, had I time, I could show that the men 
 most eminent in astronomy, in chemistry, in botany, in the science of mathe- 
 matics, have been men who believed in God and in the Bible. It is said of 
 Galileo, that, in his researches in nature, he endeavoured to follow the attri- 
 butes of Deity. He believed in a God, and believing in those attributes, he 
 made them the basis of his arguments, and endeavoured to search out in 
 nature the thoughts of God. Pascal, a writer of keen intellectual researches, 
 throws his fame as a philosopher in the background by the lustre of his 
 Christian fame. Galileo acknowledged, and Copernicus acknowledged, they 
 were searching for the thoughts and designs of God in nature. Newton 
 said that science had no other worth, except to bring the human race nearer in 
 sympathy, obedience, and love, to the God of the Bible. 
 
 Now, sir, the point may be fully established that, while men of intellectual 
 power and literary eminence have denied the inspiration of this volume, the 
 great thinkers of the world have believed in the truths of our religion. 
 
 Then, again, look at the influence of the Bible upon the poetry of the 
 world. For sublimity of thought, for vividness of imagery, for purity of diction, 
 the poetry of the Bible is unsurpassed, and we may readily imagine its in- 
 fluence upon the poetic mind, adding to native genius its own blessed light- 
 Those poems that we most highly value for genius, imagery, and power, are 
 based upon the Scriptures. I need but allude to Dante or to Milton, who 
 drew his inspiration from the sacred volume, and by its aid was permitted to 
 present to the world those marvellous creations of his gifted intellect. Al- 
 though deprived of his natural vision, he had a vision that has rendered his 
 name immortal. 
 
 If I should speak of the biography of the Scriptures, we have there presented 
 living witnesses of the power of God’s truth. We have religion in action, and 
 
6 
 
 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 what else have we ? We have the influence of that book upon this department 
 of literature, prompting authors to *THher up the details in the lives of the 
 most eminent’ Christians, so that in our Christian literature, religious biography 
 holds a very high rank, and is in itself another agency for advancing the 
 civilization of the world. 
 
 Were I to speak of the orators and the eloquence of the Bible, I could trace 
 that power upon the great Protestant nations of the earth. They are the na- 
 tions’ safeguards, and men have uttered words for liberty, for truth, and for 
 God, that shall never die. 
 
 Again, let us consider for a moment the influence of the Bible upon man’s 
 social nature. That book is just as full of heavenly fruits as the sky is full of 
 stars, and they shine with equal brilliancy upon the world. Did our time 
 permit, we could show that no system outside of Christianity has done for 
 man in his social relations what the Bible has. Under literary culture and 
 scientific researches, the Grecian Republic and the Roman Empire obtained 
 great eminence and power ; but what was the condition of the lower classes 
 of people? The Bible is the only book that has presented to the world the 
 idea of the universal brotherhood of mankind. That is the book that tells us 
 to love our neighbours as ourselves. It is the book that carries its influence, 
 not through the higher circles alone, but through all classes; teaching our 
 relations one to another, teaching that every man is our brother ; and, under 
 the influence of that gospel ideal, civilization has advanced as it never did in 
 any other age of the world. 
 
 I may speak also of the influence of this book upon the governments of the 
 world. When God established a theocracy over the Jewish nation, under 
 which that nation was brought from a state of barbarism to a high position, He 
 gave to the world the principles of all free and just governments. When the 
 finger of God wrote the ten commandments on the tables of stone, He gave the 
 fundamental principles of all law, as well as social government. Well, now, 
 what does the history of the world prove ? It proves that those governments 
 that have since adopted the principles presented by Jehovah, who was king of 
 Israel for a series of years, have conferred upon society the greatest domestic, 
 social, and civil blessings that have ever been enjoyed by the masses of the 
 people. And then, it creates a government in the soul itself. This audience, ‘ 
 which I am addressing here, is loyal to the American government, not because 
 of fear of the penalties of breaking the laws. No. We have accepted the 
 government of the Bible. We have accepted the ideas of righteousness, and 
 truth, and humanity, that the Bible teaches. We are true to this ideal, inward 
 government, and this gives to us our national freedom ; for, paradoxical as it 
 may seem, the freer the people are, the more rigidly they adhere to law. If 
 man can be governed by the great principles of the Holy Scriptures, he will be 
 true to a just government. The American government might be swept away 
 to-day, and those whom I address, and the five millions of Christians in 
 America, would bo all true to the ideal government representing the great 
 principles of truth. What an element is that in civilization ! 
 
 What was it, Mr. President, that carried us recently through the great 
 struggle to maintain our nation, to maintain this free republic ? The belief in 
 
ANN IV KR8 A R Y A1U>E ES8E8. 
 
 ( 
 
 the Holy Scriptures. We have taken the leaves from the tree of life, and they 
 have been far the healing of our nation. What sustained our late martyred 
 President in ea rying the nation through the severe struggle? Ho believed in 
 the Scriptures, « "1 that enabled him to put his foot upon the rock of our 
 nationality, and to . dare, “ I have recorded a vow in heaven that I will defend 
 and maintain the sd States’ government.” He read in that volume these 
 words, “ Proclaim libwly throughout all the land, and to all the inhabitants 
 thereof,” and that enabled him to put his name to the Emancipation Act that 
 caused the chains to fall from three millions of people. It is the Bible that 
 gives to us our national existence, that gives to us our freedom, our civil 
 rights, and our domestic peace. 
 
 Were I not trespassing too long, I might prove my assertions by allusions 
 to the different nations of the earth. My brother, Doctor Robinson, has referred 
 to the condition of Italy. We find that the light of God is entering that nation. 
 But what has crushed Italy ? What has made Rome simply a city of magnif- 
 icent ruins ? The cause lies in the fact that the Bible is not permitted to 
 pass the gates. 
 
 You may look at Spain under the light of Luther’s reformation. That na- 
 tion first hailed the Bible. That was the period of Spain’s highest prosperity. 
 With a noble situation for commerce, with intelligence and enterprise of the 
 people, and with an open Bible, that nation stood the foremost, when this con- 
 tinent was discovered, in all the elements of national prosperity. But ere long 
 there comes upon the throne a king, who shuts the Bible and establishes the 
 Inquisition. What has been the history of Spain since that time ? Waning, 
 declining in all the elements of national prosperity, of all civil power, as well 
 as religious influence. 
 
 Look at Ireland and Scotland, the one with a Bible, the other without it. 
 See what is the condition of a large portion of Ireland to-day with the Bible 
 excluded, and then look at Scotland with her enterprise, her marvellous array 
 of intellectual men, her Scott, her Sir William Hamilton, her Carlyle, Allison. 
 Montgomery, Reid, Hugh Miller, and a host of others, all forming a galaxy of 
 intellectual power and literary ability. 
 
 Wherever the leaves of the tree of life have fallen they have been for the 
 healing of the nations; and all that was said by my brethren in regard to the 
 future prospects of this Society, meets with a cordial response in my heart ; 
 and I trust, sir, before your next Jubilee — (for I believe the next fifty years are 
 to be years of more marked progress in the circulation, the reading, and the 
 power of the Scriptures, than even the past fifty years have been) — I trust, sir, 
 that those who shall meet on that occasion may be able to rejoice over the fact that 
 this tree has been planted in every nation ; that the leaves have been for the 
 healing of all the people, and tens of thousands shall have been prepared to 
 pluck the fruits of this tree, and live for ever. Then will there be a jubilee, 
 that shall encircle the whole earth with its song of praise. 
 
 I have somewhere read that among the mountains of Switzerland, when the 
 sun goes down, a Swiss mountaineer will ascend to the summit of one of his 
 native hills, and through his Alpine horn will give utterance to the notes of 
 the psalm, “ Praise the Lord and then another Swiss mountaineer on a dis- 
 
8 
 
 AN!NTVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 tant mountain, will take up the notes and sound them forth, and another, and 
 another; and all the Swiss within the sound of those trumpets uncover their 
 heads, and bow in the act of evening worship. May we not hope that the time 
 will come when the nations will say, “ How beautiful upon the mountains are 
 the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that saith 
 unto Zion, Thy God reigneth.” May we not anticipate the day when all 
 along these mountains the trumpet shall sound, and the nations respond, 
 “Praise God,” and when all will say, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed 
 us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto 
 God, and his Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. 
 Amen.” 
 
 The Rev. Thomas S. Hastings, D.D., of New York, on rising to second the 
 resolution, spoke as follows : 
 
 I rise to second the important resolution which has now been offered and 
 so ably enforced by my brother who has just taken his seat. I believe, in 
 according me the privilege of seconding this resolution, it is not expected that 
 I shall consume time with a speech ; and yet a word or two I cannot forbear 
 saying, the subject seems to me so full of interest, so full of importance, par- 
 ticularly at this stage of our Christian work. If I understand the theology of 
 this subject, it is this : Shall we put the Bible before education and civilization, 
 or education and civilization before the Bible ? Shall we take human deprav- 
 ity as it wallows in its corruption, rank, ruined, full of the venom of sin, the 
 poison of Satan, and endow that depravity with all the weapons and machinery 
 of our civilization ? Shall we intrust to the service of the devil the knowl- 
 edge and power that were meant only for the service of the Most High? 
 Look to the history of India. England sharpened the sword that struck down 
 some of her choice and w r ell beloved sons, by giving civilization first, and 
 hoping to give the Bible next. Our beloved organization, the American Board 
 of Foreign Missions, for many years tried that experiment of civilization first, 
 as the entering wedge for the gift of the Bible. The schools educated young 
 men for the service of the state, and kindled a flame of ambition that the devil 
 used ; and the schools w r ere change'd from English schools to vernacular, as 
 a necessity, to save us from the mistake of putting civilization before the 
 Bible ; and now w r e have come to this calm, deliberate, experienced conclusion, 
 that if we would put edged tools into the hands of the depraved, if we would 
 give them the sword and the rifle, if we would give them the schoolhouse and 
 all organizing and disciplining agencies, we must first, with God’s appointed 
 remedy, the Bible, go down to their depravity and lift it, and by the grace 
 of God regenerate it, and then we can trust it with all the implements and all 
 the elements of civilization ; and the force thus disciplined and thus organized 
 will be for the evangelization of the w'orld. 
 
 It gives me great pleasure to second so important a resolution. 
 
 The Rev. John Cotton Smith, D.D., of New r York, moved the adoption of 
 the following resolution, and spoke as follows : 
 
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 9 
 
 Mr. President : The resolution which I have the honour to offer is as 
 follows : 
 
 Resolved, That the universal diffusion of the Bible is in the highest degree 
 important, since it alone furnishes the solution of the great social and religious 
 problems of the present age. 
 
 Celebrating, as we do to-day, the first anniversary of the second half of a 
 oentury in the existence of this Society ; with such glorious memories of the 
 past, it may be well to inquire what are reasonable anticipations of the future. 
 
 This Society was established on the ground that the universal diffusion of 
 the Bible is one of the greatest benefits which can be conferred upon mankind. 
 In view of all the results which have attended the carrying on of this work 
 during these fifty years, are we not prepared to realfirm this principle ? And 
 with the larger experience and wider observation of to-day, can we not confi- 
 dently declare the paramount importance of the universal diffusion of the 
 Scriptures, as containing the only solution of the social and religious problems 
 which are now agitating society ? 
 
 Nothing is more wonderful than the intense vitality of the Bible. Nothing 
 else has ever been the subject of such assaults and lived. The most powerful 
 of church, organizations would consign it to the oblivion of an unknown 
 tongue, and has forbidden its use to the common people, and yet in Italy, 
 beneath the very shadow of the seven hills, the peasant tremblingly reads the 
 words of Jesus ; and even in benighted Spain, over which, more than anywhere 
 else on earth, the darkness of the middle ages still hangs like a pall, the light 
 of God's holy word shines upon the mountain’s side and in the lowly valley. 
 Infidelity has assailed it, but infidelity has been driven first from one, and then 
 from another position which it had assumed. Strauss, who denied altogether 
 the historical credibility of the Gospels, and treated the history of Christ as a 
 myth, has been followed by Renan, who admits the credibility of the Gospel 
 history, but denies the supernatural element in Jesus. And Renan has been 
 followed by the author of that extraordinary book, £: Ecce Homo,” who, whatever 
 may be said of the position and influence of his work, at least, after his careful 
 analysis of the life of Christ, leaves you with the impression that this cannot 
 be the life of a mere man. And then li Ecce Homo” has been followed by “ Ecce 
 Deus,” which, whatever may be its defects of statement, places upon an im- 
 pregnable foundation the divinity as well as the humanity of Jesus. 
 
 These works to which I have referred are an index to the progress of public 
 sentiment during the last fifty years. They clearly indicate that there is 
 something in these Scriptures which man’s deepest needs require, and that 
 therefore they will live and reassert themselves in all their mighty power in 
 every generation of the world. 
 
 The element in the Bible which gives it this indestructible power is to be 
 found in the life and work of Christ. And this element is everywhere 
 present. It is in the history of the patriarchal ages ; it pervades the account 
 which is given us of God's ancient people ; it presents itself in type and cere- 
 mony; it reappears in poetry and prophecy; it shines forth with effulgent 
 glory in the narrative of the Gospels; it is commented upon and illustrated in 
 the Epistles of Christ’s Aposiles, and in the Apocalypse it clothes itself with 
 
10 
 
 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 the beauty and majesty of the world to come. The whole Bible therefore, 
 from the first chapter of Genesis to the last of Revelation, is one magnificent 
 and complete unveiling to us of the person and work of Christ. 
 
 Our position then is, that in the person and work of Christ, which it is the 
 one great object of the Bible to set before us, is to be found that which is an 
 imperative necessity for the temporal and eternal welfare of mankind. 
 
 The resolution which I have read leads me to speak particularly of the 
 relation of the Bible to the great social and religious problems of tho age. In 
 the world’s progress, the Bible, presenting as it does, the life and work of 
 Christ, constantly subjects every social and religious theory to the test of 
 Christ’s teachings and example. The consequence has been that since the 
 Bible has been opened to the masses of mankind, error and superstition, in a 
 thousand forms, have disappeared, and a new era of light and liberty has been 
 introduced. 
 
 A fact occurred during the Protestant Reformation, which seems to be 
 invested with a symbolic character. Tyndale, the English reformer, not 
 daring to publish his translation of the New Testament in England, caused it 
 to be printed on the Continent ; and being followed there by the emissaries of 
 the Pope, he took the copies which he had, placed them in a boat, and by night 
 sailed with them down the Rhine. On that beautiful river he passed, with 
 his sacred freight, by those ancient castles, frowning amid peaceful vineyards, 
 the emblems of feudal oppression and wrong. They stood that night in all 
 their strength and grandeur, the embodiment of a civilization which had not 
 been prevaded by the spirit of God’s word. But from that hour, when the 
 Gospel of Jesus Christ in the English tongue passed down the Rhine, a blight 
 seems to have fallen upon the old feudal institutions. The ancient castles 
 which enshrined and protected them have since then been crumbling into dust : 
 and the traveller on the Rhine to-day gazes thoughtfully upon the ruins of a 
 dark and terrible era in the world’s history. This is but the outward and 
 symbolical expression of the fact, that all forms of superstition and wrong van- 
 ish in the presence of the word of God. 
 
 But if we would see how much is involved in this assertion, we shall do 
 well to consider the relation of the Bible to the great social and religious 
 problems which present themselves to the present age. 
 
 Among these social problems there is none moro important than the 
 relations of capital to labour. No interest of society at the present day is 
 subject to greater disturbance that that which depends upon these relations, 
 and scarcely any subject is receiving, in a greater degree, the attention of think- 
 ing men. Now let us see what the science of political economy can furnish 
 for the solution of this problom. This science is based upon self interest. It 
 necessarily follows that so far as this science is concerned, there is an inevita- 
 ble antagonism between capital and labour. It is manifestly for the interest of 
 the capitalist to get all the labour ho can at tlio lowest possiblo price, and the 
 
 interest of tho labourer to do as little work as he can, and for that 
 
 little to receive the highest possible price. Now, on the principle of 
 self interest, can there be any reconciliation of these antagonisms ? 
 
 If we mean to include in the scope of self interest all that belongs 
 
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 11 
 
 to the highest welfare of man, there will indeed be no difficulty, for 
 then self interest will become identical with self sacrifice. But this is 
 not the meaning of self interest in the science of political economy. In that 
 science it includes only the accumulation of wealth. It has been gravely 
 proposed of late to cut the knot of the difficulty by making all men capitalists. 
 You might with as little absurdity propose to make all men labourers. The 
 result of this antagonism, notwithstanding all the fine theories on the subject, 
 is, that there is an irrepressible conflict between capital and labour ; that, as 
 a general rule, the capitalist becomes richer, while the labourer does little more 
 than to sustain life, and that these antagonisms are, from time to time, adjusted 
 only by “combinations” and “strikes,” hurtful both to capital and labour 
 alike. 
 
 What is needed, is manifestly not any mere cool calculation of interest, but 
 the qualifying of that calculation by a high and noble spirit which political 
 economy is impotent to inspire. And where can such a spirit find its source of 
 inspiration but in the life of Christ? When you put yourself under the influ- 
 ence of the life and teachings of Jesus, all these relations assume an entirely 
 different aspect. Jesus Christ treated the principles which lie at the basis of 
 our science of political economy with holy contempt. He declared, and he 
 meant that it should be a practical principle, that man should love his fellow- 
 man as himself, and he set the example of this by loving others better than 
 himself. Just so far as the spirit of Christ’s life and teachings prevades 
 society, just so far the difficulties of this question are removed. Jesus Christ, 
 in his precepts and in his example, never stopped short at mere justice. He 
 assumed at once a higher level, and issued his teachings and commands from a 
 loftier elevation. He made magnanimity and benevolence positive duties, and 
 admits of no relations in which they are not controlling principles. Now-, it 
 cannot be denied that the prevalence of these principles in society would 
 harmonize the antagonisms of which we have spoken, for under their influence 
 men would “ bear each other’s burdens” in matters of business, as well as in 
 the bestowing of charity. These conflicts between capital and labour involve 
 the selfishness of the capitalist or of the labourer, or of both. The labourer 
 must be either selfish or oppressed, and the powder of Christ’s life w-ould 
 remedy the difficulty by removing his selfishness in the one case, or his 
 employer’s in the other. 
 
 It may be said that this is utterly impracticable, and that men, in business 
 matters, will always continue to be influenced by considerations of mere self 
 interest. Then, I say, it follows, and there is no evading the conclusion, that 
 the teachings and example of Christ are not adapted to human society, and 
 that the time will never come when they are to prevail. Let no man assert 
 or believe this. During all these eighteen hundred years the power of that 
 holy life of Christ has been working on earth : humanizing institutions, soften- 
 ing and refining manners, and elevating all the relations of society towards the 
 standard which He has set up. The time will come towards which all this 
 movement is tending, and when the standard will be fully reached. How- 
 clear is it then, that in the Bible is to be found the solution of this great social 
 question, which human philosophy has never been able to furnish ! And so it 
 
12 
 
 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 is with all the social questions which agitate the present age. Diffuse the 
 Bible, and you diffuse the answers to them. This Revelation is built into the 
 basis of eternal truth, which underlies this vast ocean of human life. It rises 
 through it and towers above it. No surging waves or beating tempests can 
 move or shake it ; and lifting itself to the very skies, it pours forth from its 
 translucent dome a flood of light, dispelling the darkness of the deep, and 
 illumining even the remotest shores of time. 
 
 As an example of the religious problems of this age, let us consider for a 
 moment the question of the personal existence of God. It may seem strange 
 to the Christian mind, reverent and devout in all its thoughts of God, but it is 
 nevertheless true, that many thoughtful men have been revolving this 
 question. It has invariably agitated the human mind whenever and wherever 
 the Bible has been unknown ; and just in proportion as the authority of the 
 Bible is weakened, or its inspiration denied, or loosely held, will this question 
 re-appear and torture the soul with its demands for solution. Without Ihe 
 Bible, men will attempt to solve it by Atheism, which denies a personal God 
 by denying God altogether; or by Pantheism, which denies a personal God 
 by denying that there is any personality but God. 
 
 If you trace the history in modern times of those systems which deny a 
 personal God, you will find that they grow out of and accompany that 
 destructive criticism of the Scriptures which has prevailed of late years, espe- 
 cially in Germany, and seems to flourish in exact proportion to the extent of 
 that criticism. When the light of God’s word began to be obscured, some fifty 
 years since, by the clouds of Rationalism, a nebulous Pantheism rose above the 
 religious horizon. And now that the clouds are dispersing, and the light 
 beginning once more to shine in all its brightness, these huge nebulous forms 
 are vanishing in the clearing heavens. 
 
 The reason of this is plain. We cannot arrive at any absolute certainty in 
 nature as to the personality of God. We find ourselves surrounded by a vast 
 mechanism, with its gigantic forces working ceaselessly and invariably. We 
 find law. But it is doubtful, at least, whether we can pass beyond the law to a 
 personal lawgiver, and penetrate through the phenomena of nature to their hidden 
 personal cause. Besides this, the mind is led by a sort of fatal fascination to 
 destroy the distinction between matter and mind ; between the inwardly per- 
 ceiving subject and the outwardly existing object; and to arrive at a 
 conviction of the fundamental unity of all existence, and thus to the denial of 
 any distinction between God and his works. 
 
 But this silence, or doubtful utterance of nature, in regard to a personal 
 God, and this fatal tendency of the mind to confound the Creator with the 
 creation, is abundantly met in Revelation, not by any mere abstract reasoning 
 or philosophical statements, but by displaying to us the personality of God, in 
 holding up before us “God manifest in the flesh.” It brings within our view 
 and the range of our finite faculties God as a personal being. We see God in 
 the face of Jesus Christ. The awful silence is broken, and God is revealed to 
 us in a personality distinct from our personality, and yet in intense sympathy 
 with us. In nature we have the works of God ; in Revelation we have God 
 himself. We need both to assure us of the absolute distinction between Him 
 
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 13 
 
 who creates, and that which is created, and thus to establish for us, on the 
 surest foundations, the’personality of God. 
 
 I have thus glanced at two great questions with which the minds of think- 
 inn men at the present day arc intensely occupied. One of them in the practi- 
 cal sphere of social life, the other in the higher sphere of religious speculation. 
 The argument which I have indicated, rather than followed out, will be found 
 to prove the truth of the statement that the Bible alone furnishes the solution of 
 great social and religious problems. Now, if the welfare of mankind is depend- 
 ent, as it certainly is, upon right conclusions as to these social questions ; if 
 all tho higher and nobler faculties of man are called into exercise only when 
 they are quickened into being by true conceptions of God ; and if, in addition to 
 leading to these conclusions and conceptions, the word of God convinces man 
 of guilt, shows him the way of pardon, teaches him how he may be reconciled 
 to God his heavenly Father, and opens to him the gates of eternal life and 
 felicity, in what higher and nobler work can we be engaged, than in diffusing 
 it through every country, and bringing it into living contact with every mind? 
 For so shall we bo permitted to put our hands to the chariot wheels of God’s 
 providence, and aid in moving the world onward to its great consummation. 
 So shall it be our privilege to hasten the pealing of those chimes which mark 
 the periods of the world’s progress towards the attainment of the true, and the 
 pure, and the good ; those bells of the ages which Tennyson apostrophizes in a 
 noble passage of the u In Memoriam 
 
 “ Ring out the grief that saps the mind. 
 
 For those that here we see no more ; 
 
 Ring out the feud of rich and poor, 
 
 Ring in redress for all mankind. 
 
 “ Ring out a slowly dying cause, 
 
 And ancient forms of party strife ; 
 
 Ring in the nobler modes of life. 
 
 With sweeter manners, purer laws. 
 
 “ Ring in the va' ant man. and free ; 
 
 The larger heart, the kindlier hand : 
 
 Ring out the darkness of the land. 
 
 Ring in the Christ that is to be ” 
 
 The Hon. Peter Parker, M.D., President of the Washington City Bible 
 Society, D. C., on rising to second the third resolution, spoke as follows : 
 
 It gives me great pleasure to second the resolution that has heen so ably ad- 
 vocated by my brother, and in so doing I shall restrict myself to a single remark 
 or two. The society that I have the honour to represent here to-day. has been 
 deeply impressed with the sentiment that is conveyed in the resolution that 
 has been now offered — the importance of the universal diffusion of the Bible. 
 They have felt it particularly in relation to their own city, the metropolis of 
 the nation : and for more than a year past a very judicious, efficient, and able 
 agent has been employed in canvassing the city, to ascertain the destitution 
 that prevails there of this inestimable blessing of God to man, and to supply 
 all who would receive it. When the proposition was first made to employ 
 such an agency, an opinion was expressed that there might be found in the city 
 of Washington eight hundred families destitute of the word of God. The idea 
 
14 
 
 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 was appalling. “ Impossible,” was the response. But what is the result ? 
 A canvass of six wards of the city discloses the painful fact, that there were 
 three thousand and two hundred families in the metropolis of this nation with- 
 out the word of God. You may well conceive that it is with interest that I 
 rise to second a resolution of this character. I would remark, however, in 
 relation to this destitution, that a portion of those who are destitute of the 
 Bible are Roman Catholics, and a large portion also are freedmen, who have 
 been in the recent revolution, in the providence of God, brought within the 
 limits of the District the past few years. But there is also a great destitution, 
 in addition to this, among the foreign and native population ; and it is with 
 peculiar interest that this investigation has been made, and that the society is 
 engaged in endeavouring to supply the deficiency. We rejoice in the success 
 which has attended the efforts, not only of this auxiliary, but of all auxiliary 
 societies of the Parent Society, in this direction. My brother (Rev. Dr. Clark), 
 one of the early speakers, states that it would be futile to attempt to describe 
 to us the sun. To us who behold its light and feel its heat — what descrip- 
 tion can compare with that experience ? I rejoice to hear eulogies upon the 
 Bible. I rejoice in all those far reaching, those glorious views, that have 
 been presented in the series of sermons, called the Jubilee sermons. I 
 have heard them with unspeakable satisfaction; but, after all that we hear, 
 after all that we can read, we appeal to the Christian’s own experience for the 
 highest conception of the importance and the blessedness of that precious book. 
 
 My Christian friends, as we look forward, as many of us do, to the day not 
 distant when we must walk through the valley of the shadow of death, oh, 
 what a consolation to us personally is it, that we have the light of that volume 
 to shine upon our way ; and with that volume in our hands, we can say, 
 “ Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no 
 evil ; for Thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” We 
 know that the same consolation which wc feel and need is equally necessary 
 to the millions of our country, to the millions of our race. And let us, as we 
 feel the presence of this religion of God, the eternal God it reveals, the truths 
 that it makes known to us, and the prospects beyond the grave that it opens 
 to us; as we cherish these as personal blessings,' let us show our gratitude in 
 doing all that we can, and as speedily as possible, to give the same boon ’o all, 
 in every tongue, in every land. 
 
 I have great pleasure, sir, in seconding this resolution. 
 
 The Rev. Albert L. Long, of Constantinople, moved the adoption of the 
 fourth resolution, and spoke as follows : 
 
 Resolved , That we recognise with devout thanksgiving the blessings with 
 which God has attended the third general resupply of our whole country with 
 his holy word, and that the results already secured encourage its vigorous 
 prosecution until it shall bo completed. 
 
 During the recent fearful visitation of the cholera in the city of Constanti- 
 nople, by which more than 50,000 inhabitants were swept away, a missionary 
 brother and myself in that city, in our efforts to minister as far as we could to 
 the sick and the dying, treated among others the son of a poor old Turk, who 
 
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 15 
 
 was a common scavenger, and lived in a kind of stable. The old man mani- 
 fested for his son an affection strongly contrasting with the shocking heartless- 
 ness manifested by many of the higher classes during that time of universal 
 panic ; and when he saw that son raised, as it w r ero, from the very grave, he 
 turned to us with deep emotion, and said, “ What can I do for you for saving 
 the life of my son?” We replied, “God has restored to you your son; now 
 show your gratitude to Him by doing what you can to save the lives of those 
 who are dying all around you.” We were pleased to see that this advice was 
 taken; and from that hour until the abatement of the fearful pestilence, that 
 poor old man was a faithful assistant through all those trying scenes. Now, 
 as has been already suggested by the gentleman who seconded the last resolu- 
 tion, the most practical way in which we can manifest our appreciation of any 
 favour or blessing which we have received at the hands of our Creator is by 
 labouring to extend the same privileges and blessings to our fellow men. And 
 while wo look around us, and behold upon every side what God’s word has 
 done and is doing for us as a nation; and while we regard with heartfelt satis- 
 faction and devout thanksgiving the near approach of that period when, through 
 the efficient agencies now in operation throughout our whole country, not a 
 single family shall remain destitute of the word of God who are willing to 
 accept it — I ask, in what way can we better manifest our gratitude to God for 
 these privileges than by extending our hands beyond the seas in every direction, 
 reaching out to those nations the leaves of the Tree of Life, and bidding all men 
 to come and share with us these inexhaustible riches which wo have received 
 from God himself. I rejoice in the fact that the American Bible Society is not 
 remiss in this respect, but she is from year to year pushing out into new fields, 
 into the regions beyond, constantly widening and deepening the streams of her 
 influence among distant nations. My personal connexion, in some humble de- 
 gree, with one of these new fields of the Society’s operations, emboldens me upon 
 the present occasion to risk the charge of not sticking closely to my text, and to 
 occupy the few moments allotted to me in a plain and simple presentation of 
 some facts (new perhaps to many of you, and of interest, I trust, to all) in con- 
 nexion with the Slavic and Bulgarian work, which is a new undertaking by 
 the Society within the past year. Allow me, then, Mr. President, to say, that 
 among the many antagonistic elements of that polyglot empire which has for 
 so many years past attracted the attention of the nations of the earth, and 
 about whose probable destiny diplomatic speculation is still so busy, are 
 found the Bulgarian people, whose importance has been strangely overlooked, 
 but who, notwithstanding all their obstacles, are steadily coming up and 
 demanding the attention of all who are interested in the administration of 
 “ the sick man’s estate.” This people, numbering in European Turkey alone 
 four and a half millions (more than double the number, be it remembered, 
 of the Greeks, about whom so much is heard), and in addition to this num- 
 ber having about one million and a half more outside of their province, 
 found chiefly in Wallachia, Moldavia, and Bessarabia — this people, from 
 their numerical strength as well as their favourable characteristics in com- 
 parison with the other races of that empire, present to the friends of the 
 Bible a wide field of great interest and full of promise. Connected by ties 
 
16 
 
 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 of kindred and language with the great Slavic family of European nations, 
 the wave of western civilization and European progress has already touch- 
 ed them. They are destined to rise from their obscurity, and their voice 
 will yet be heard in the councils of the nations, in their plans for the re- 
 construction of the map of Europe. I may say also, that from their connexion 
 with that race who long before Luther’s time kindled the watch-fires of the 
 Reformation upon the hills of Bohemia and upon the plains of Moravia, and 
 who have ever been a strong bulwark against the arrogant assumptions of 
 the Papacy, they have a special claim upon the attention and sympathy of 
 Protestant Christians. Converted to Christianity in the ninth century through 
 the pious labours of the zealous Slavic apostles, the two brothers, Cyril and 
 Methodius, they received as much of the spirit of the Gospel as we could prob- 
 ably expect at a time when the gloom of the dark ages still hung, like a funer- 
 al pall, over the whole of Christendom. It was in connexion with them, it 
 should be remembered, that that famous and exceptional decision was obtained 
 from the papal chair, authorizing the reading of the Scriptures in the language 
 of the people ; and that decision still shines like a ray of sunlight upon the 
 dark page of the ecclesiastical history of those times, and it has frequently been 
 used with great power in confronting that system of spiritual despotism, which 
 seals up the blessed word of God and the sacred offices of the church from the 
 understanding of the masses. In the fierce contests which resulted in the final 
 separation of the Eastern and Western Churches, the Bulgarian people were 
 for a long time between the two fires; but finally, after many oscillations, 
 according to the turn of political aliiirs, they fell under the jurisdiction of the 
 Greek Church, where they have remained until the present day. In the 
 fifteenth century, after many a hard fought battle with the Turks, the brave 
 Ivan Shishman, the last of the Bulgarian kings, fell with sword in hand — the 
 Bulgarian lion was trampled in the dust — and the blood-red banner of the 
 Turk bearing the Moslem crescent waved triumphant over all Bulgaria. The 
 subjugation of the Bulgarians, from a combination of unfavourable circum- 
 stances, was more complete than that of their co-religionists, the Servians and 
 the Wallachians, and their national organization was completely broken up. 
 In the government of their church affairs, they were permitted for a long time 
 to retain a patriarch of their own, subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantino- 
 ple. About one hundred years ago, however, the Turkish government for 
 political reasons abolished the Bulgarian patriarchate, and they fell under the 
 absolute ecclesiastical control of the Greeks. The political aspirations of 
 the Greeks led them to institute a system of the most rigorous measures 
 for the Hellenizing of this large element of the population, and crushing 
 out of them all ideas of a separate national existence. To this end they 
 persecuted their lauguage, and a systematic attempt was made to impress 
 them with a belief that they were of a poor and despised race, and that there 
 was no future before them save only as they adopted the habits, language, and 
 oven the name of their ecclesiastical masters. These attempts, so favourable 
 to Greek political influence, but so disastrous to Bulgarian nationality, had 
 very nearly been successful. In most of the churches the Greek language only 
 was used, although perfectly unintelligible to the masses of the people ; in no 
 
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 17 
 
 school was the Bulgarian language taught; and the whole nation remained 
 buried in a night of superstition and ignorance as profound as that of middle 
 Europe in the tenth century. I will not dwell upon that sad picture, but will 
 only say that a great change has come over that nation. A spark has fallen 
 there which has fired the national heart and awakened it to a new life. 
 Schools for instruction in their own language have been established in almost 
 every town and village; books, newspapers, and magazines are being multi- 
 plied ; and now, “ Education, education !” is the rallying cry of young Bulgaria. 
 Time would fail me, upon the present occasion, to mention the various causes 
 which have contributed to bring about this great revolution ; but I will call your 
 attention to one prominent agency, as I know you will rejoice with me in this 
 indication of the power of that divine word in whose dissemination we are all 
 so deeply interested. More than thirty years ago, when there were no Bulga- 
 rian schools and not half a dozen books published in the modern Bulgarian 
 tongue, the Spirit of God put it into the heart of a pious, and for the time in 
 which he lived a learned, Bulgarian monk, named Neophyte, to translate the 
 New Testament from the ancient Slavic language into his own language, the 
 Western or Macedonian dialect of the Bulgarian tongue. lie did his work 
 faithfully and well, considering the facilities which he enjoyed, and the book 
 was published by that noble association, the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
 and thousands of copies found their way among that oppressed people. That 
 book, sir, was like an electric spark upon the Bulgarian heart, and many Bul- 
 garians were by it incited to a study of their own language, and thereby awoke 
 to a consciousness of national life. It was God’s word which contributed more 
 than any other cause to that result; and I am happy to add, that instances 
 are not wanting where it has led them to a spiritual knowledge of Him who is 
 the Way, the Truth, and the Life. A young Bulgarian, in relating to me some 
 of the history of his life, told me how, when a poor, friendless shepherd boy, he 
 had found a copy of that book in a shop. The sight of it inspired his young heart 
 with a flaming desire to learn to read it. He bought it, paying for it all the 
 money he possessed ; and then availing himself of the assistance of one who was 
 more fortunate than himself in knowing how to read, he set himself eagerly to 
 work learning his letters, that he might peruse the Sacred Volume, and drink 
 in its inspired instructions. “ That book,” said he to me with tears — il that 
 book let light into my soul.” It is always so. and that is the reason why 
 tyrants fear it. The entrance of that divine word always gives light. In 
 process of time this idea of nationality became developed, and the Bulgarians 
 in the principal towns and villages began to banish from their churches the 
 unintelligible (and what was to them still worse, foreign) Greek liturgy, and 
 to substitute for it their own Slavic liturgy, the language of their forefathers. 
 Inasmuch as this is the same ecclesiastical language which is in use through- 
 out Russia in all the churches, the Russians having received their Christianity 
 and early church literature from the Bulgarians, and as all their church books 
 were obtained from Russia, far-seeing British diplomatists, in their zeal for the 
 integrity of the Ottoman empire and the equilibrium of the nations, and in 
 their keen-scented suspicion of everything Russian, thought they saw in this 
 movement a deep-laid and dangerous Russian conspiracy ; but I see in it 
 
18 
 
 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 plainly the hand of Divine Providence, leading that people on step by step, and 
 preparing them for a higher spiritual as well as national life. This change of 
 their liturgical language was a step in the right direction, and will, I doubt not, 
 form a bright link in their chain of history. The next step will be the intro- 
 duction of the vernacular — that is, the modern spoken language of the people. 
 That step we trust will be taken just so soon as the people are prepared for it. 
 One great obstacle in the accomplishment of this end has been the unsettled 
 or formative state of the modern Bulgarian language itself, and the want of 
 authoritative standards in its literature. The version of the New Testament 
 to which I have alluded was in the Western, or Macedonian dialect, and that 
 portion of Bulgaria first commenced to show signs of literary life; but subse- 
 quently the Eastern dialect, or that spoken with slight variations throughout 
 Danubian, Middle, and Upper Bulgaria, took the lead in literary enterprise, 
 until now it may fairly be said to have superseded the other, and have estab- 
 lished itself as the literary language of Bulgaria. Neophyte’s version hence 
 became antiquated and unacceptable ; so that, aside from the desirableness of 
 a more accurate translation made directly from the original, a new version 
 became an absolute necessity, in order to secure its introduction into the 
 schools and its general diffusion among the people. Hence a new version has 
 been prepared within the past few years with great care to meet this want, and 
 that is the version now being electrotyped at the Bible House, for a parallel 
 edition with the ancient Slavic text. Among the different advantages which 
 it isjfioped will accrue from this parallel edition I may mention the following : 
 
 1 . By placing the two side by side, thus affording a ready means of com- 
 parison to all educated Bulgarians, it is hoped confidence will be established in 
 the new Bulgarian version, and the mouths of fanatical opponents will be 
 stopped, who are endeavouring, as in papal countries, to prejudice the people 
 against what they term a corrupted and distorted Protestant gospel.” 
 
 2. A wider circulation will be given to God’s word in both languages. The 
 ancient language is studied as it should be in all the schools. Being the basis 
 of the present language, it is the great storehouse from which to enrich their 
 vocabulary, impoverished by centuries of ignorance and contact with foreign 
 races and foreign idioms. In the progress of thought and the development of 
 new ideas among any people there will of necessity arise new forms of ex- 
 pression. The complicated and artificial structure of classic languages will 
 crumble away, and give place to simpler and more lively forms in which to 
 embody the progressive thoughts of the present age. The Bulgarians, in their 
 revival of literature aro fortunate in having such a copious and flexible lan- 
 guage as the ancient Slavic, upon which to draw in supplying their vocabu- 
 lary with the capital stock of a new and vigorous medium for the communica- 
 tion of thought. 
 
 3. By placing thisdiglot edition in the hands of the clergy and teachers, it 
 is to be hoped that it will materially aid in the important movement already 
 begun of substituting the spoken language of the people for the ancient lan- 
 guage in the church liturgy and the public Scripture readings. The errors of 
 the Roman church, as well as the Greek, retain their hold upon the masses of 
 the people by a liturgy which is in a dead language. So long as the Scripture 
 
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 19 
 
 readings, prayers, and praises of any people are in a dead language, the service 
 will be dead also, and their worship will be devoid of that life and spirituality 
 which ever characterizes true devotion. The adoption of the vernacular in the 
 churches would be a grand step toward ecclesiastical reform, well worthy a 
 life’s labour. The Greek church has this to be said in her praise, that she has 
 never yet by any church canon prohibited the reading of the Scriptures by the 
 masses in the common language, although her ignorant and corrupt clergy prac- 
 tically oppose it, well fearing the elfect of a comparison of the sacred teachings 
 with their profligate and corrupt lives. I will relate an incident connected 
 with the way in which the priests regard these movements. In one of the 
 prominent cities of Bulgaria, some time ago, the principal citizens met together 
 to discuss the affairs of their community ; and it was proposed that they should 
 call the priests, and request them to read the Scriptures hereafter in the modern 
 language. The senior priest, on hearing the request, made this characteristic 
 reply by way of objection to the proposition : “ It is all very true, as you say, 
 that the people ought to be instructed in the Scriptures ; but, then, most of the 
 priests are like myself, ignorant men, and in reading we frequently make mis- 
 takes. So long as we read in the old language, only the schoolmasters and a 
 few others can detect our blunders ; but let us begin once to read in Bulgarian, 
 and even the women and children will be paying attention to what we say, 
 and they will all laugh at our mistakes, and thus our holy religion will fall 
 into contempt and ridicule.” The proposition was defeated, but the old priest 
 was admonished to spend less of his leisure time in the wine shops, and give 
 more time to reading the Scriptures in private, that he might be able to read 
 in public without fear of such sad consequences. 
 
 In regard to the ancient Slavic version, it should be remembered that it 
 is in the classic language of from eighty to ninety millions of people, who are 
 but meagerly supplied with the word of God. It is one of the most verbal 
 translations ever made, transferring with a fidelity impossible in any modern 
 language, even the forms and idiomatical expressions of the original Greek. 
 The first printed copy of the four Gospels was published in 1512, the same year 
 in which the first printed copy of the Gospels in the original Greek text appear- 
 ed, and four years before the first complete Greek Testament was printed. The 
 first edition of the whole Slavic New Testament appeared in the year 1580. 
 Numerous editions have been published in Russia ; and within the past five 
 years praiseworthy attempts have been made by the Holy Synod of Russia for 
 a wider dissemination of God’s word. It is hoped that this edition, an exact 
 reprint of the authorized text, will be allowed free circulation throughout that 
 empire. 
 
 We have also in America, I have been told, nearly 200.000 Slavonians, 
 to very many of whom this edition of the Gospel in their own sacred tongue 
 will be specially acceptable. All Slavic-speaking people, Russians, Bohemians, 
 Croatians, Servians, Bulgarians, and others, cannot help regarding with a pe- 
 culiar veneration this ancient version, a thousand years old, which is in their 
 minds associated with all the glory of their past history. The language itself 
 with its complex structure, its elevated style, and majestic movement, seems 
 to them to have a religious intonation, and to be too sacred for secular purposes 
 
20 
 
 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 In conclusion, allow me to congratulate the American Bible Society upon 
 her entrance in harmonious co-operation with her great sister society across the 
 water upon a field so vast and so full of promise. I hope that it may be the 
 beginning of a nearer acquaintance upon the part of this Society, not only with 
 the Bulgarians and other branches of the Slavic family, but especially with 
 that vast empire which is now to-day stretching out its iron arms in every di- 
 rection, and foreshadowing such a great future. While w T e should not fall into 
 the too prevalent error of shutting our eyes to the vast depths of barbarism 
 within the bounds of that Russian empire, yet we cannot fail to award to 
 Russia the meed of praise for what she has really accomplished within the 
 past decade, and wish her success in every advance toward civil and religious 
 liberty. I trust there are those present to-day who will live to see the time 
 when Russia shall not only permit, but invite the American Bible Society to 
 assist her in scattering broadcast throughout all her wide domain, and in her 
 forty different languages, the lifegiving and ennobling word of God, until Rus- 
 sia, Turkey, and every other nation, shall become like our own happy country, 
 a land of Bibles, and a land of civil and religious liberty. 
 
 The Rev. M. M’G. Dana, of Norwich, Conn., in seconding the fourth 
 resolution, said : 
 
 I cordially second the resolution the general importance of which has just 
 been set before us. I believe that every lover of God’s truth and its resultant 
 freedom is most deeply interested in this grand work of giving the Bible to 
 every resident in our land. At this stage of our exercises, I will only remind 
 you, in a word, of that sublime fact, which must ever be, as it seems to me, 
 our inspiration in this great undertaking, and that is, that the Bible is the 
 source and safeguard of American liberties ; and that we can never safely 
 permit a single generation to grow up without a copy of it in every home. 
 
 In seconding this resolution, therefore, I design to give expression to our 
 gratitude for the success which has thus far attended this effort, and also to our 
 renewed purpose to prosecute this work to its glorious consummation. 
 
 The Rev. Samuel H. Cox, D.D., of New York, in moving the adoption of 
 the fifth resolution, spoke as follows: 
 
 Mr. President: I have sometimes been called semper paratus ; but I w r arn 
 you that I am not particularly paratus , and do not intend to be very long. In 
 the absence of Dr. Van Dyck, I offer this resolution with great pleasure : 
 
 Resolved, That in the convulsions among the kingdoms of the old world, we 
 recognise the hand of God in opening the w'ay for the spread of his own Truth, 
 and for raising up new evidences of the power of that Truth over nations. 
 
 We have been told that the word of God must be accepted as our religious cn. 
 cyclopedia in the interpretation of God’s providence. Providence, in turn, seems 
 to reflect new light upon the encyclopedia, “wonderful in counsel, excellent in 
 working.” — Is. 28: 29. Andif amantcllsme, w’henlrcad the Bible, “ Eeci'Homo,” 
 I tell him I do; and he ought to learn what I could tell him, and prove “ Ecce 
 Deus , ’ the Lord Jesus Christ; for wdiat Isaiah knew tlireo thousand years ago, 
 some gentlemen of profounder wisdom than the depths of sand and mud could 
 
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 21 
 
 give (o their intellect seem not to know — “Unto us a child is born ; unto us a 
 son is given and the first diagnostic of his name is Wonderful, Counsellor, 
 the Mighty God — I will quote the Hebrew here, (“ the Sire of Eternity”), — and 
 the Prince of Peace. On his shoulder shall be the government, and of the in- 
 crease of his kingdom there shall be no end. After He rose from the dead, 
 looking down the roll of the centuries to the end of time — to the glory of his 
 second advent, after his own millennium had peopled many mansions with 
 many millions of our race redeemed, He says. “Go ye into all the world, and 
 preach the gospel to every creature.” “Teaching them to observe all things 
 whatsoever I havo commanded you : and, lo, I am with you alway, even to the 
 end of the world.” I believe it, sir: I think it not at all improbable, that one 
 who has such a plan to execute will show the glory of his providence in man- 
 aging matters to remove mountains, even if a grain of mustard seed in our 
 faith does not always anticipate his movements. 
 
 Sir, the remarks that have been made about the masses please me. I had 
 an old-fashioned idea from my father and mother that “ a man’s a man for a’ 
 that,” as Burns said; and that if the Son of God died for man, I ought not to 
 trample on him. I respect him as a human being. I read lately an anecdote 
 in a religious newspaper that pleased me very much, in reference to the theolo- 
 gy' of the masses. A pious Christian woman in the kitchen had. a colleague 
 there as dark — I won’t say as Egypt, but as Rome could make her, and she 
 used to be saying to her, “ My religion makes me love your soul ; I want you, 
 Polly, to be a Christian.” “I am a Christian.” “No; you were baptized in 
 Latin, were you not ? Did you know what the priest said ?” “ I have been 
 
 thinking of what you have told me, Debby, and I will ask you here, if you 
 dare tell me, where Jesus Christ said, * Read the Scriptures.’ ” “ I cannot do 
 that: I can only tell you where Jesus Christ said, ‘Search the Scriptures.’ 
 There’s no use in reading them, if you don’t search ; and if you will only' 
 search them, they will search you, and let some of the light of heaven down 
 into your soul.” 
 
 What a good idea it w r as, we all know who ever read in the Iliad, which 
 is one of the strongest words which Homer could get, when he described 
 the agony' of the lioness which tracked the footsteps of the depredator upon her 
 whelps, seeing and smelling them with the greatest care, in order to find him 
 and bring him to an account. 
 
 But when we read the Bible, we ought to recollect what the Bible says of 
 itself. “ The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy ;” “the spirit of Christ 
 which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of 
 Christ, and the glory that should follow.” 
 
 Mr. President, I rejoice to think that our country is promising some things 
 which indicate an alliance between the footstool and the throne in our rebel 
 dominions. I rejoice in it, because I am such a republican that I am quite a 
 monarchist. “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in 
 heaven.” We are such lovers of liberty that we want a king over us — one 
 Jesus ; and I believe he is the greatest friend of our republic and of our Bible 
 freedom that there is in the universe. It won’t ruin us at all to have his mon- 
 archy exalted, and that kingdom come which is not meat, and especially not 
 
22 
 
 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 drink, “ but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” That is the 
 kingdom we want. 
 
 Mr. President (you must excuse me if I speak it in his hearing,) it affected 
 me to see the President of Williams’ College come and open our services with 
 prayer. He is the successor of a dear friend of mine who is in heaven. I 
 mean Dr. Griffin. I just thought of these sweet words of the poet, speaking of 
 religion’s being so appropriate to be ensconced in the best educated and disci- 
 plined minds : 
 
 “ Learning has borne such fruit in other days 
 On all her branches. Piety has found 
 Friends in the friends of science ; and true prayer 
 Has flowed from lips wet with Caatalian dews. 
 
 Such was thy wisdom, Newton, child-!ike sage ! 
 
 Sagacious reader of the works of God, 
 
 And in his Word sagacious. Such too thine, 
 
 Milton, whose genius had angelic wings, 
 
 And fed on manna. And such thine, in whom 
 Our British Themis gloried with jnst cause, 
 
 Immortal Hale ! for deep discernment famed, 
 
 And 6ound integrity, not more, than praised 
 For sanctity of manners undefiled.' ’ 
 
 And, sir, as I have got into the vicinity of the muses, I will just recite a thing 
 from another poet, because I want the piety of that kitchen Christian to be imi- 
 tated by ladies in the parlours, and the nurseries, and the streets, and wherever 
 they go, showing that they love the Redeemer, the friend of the ladies of Beth- 
 any, Martha and Mary. It is, sir, that in private ways they have access of 
 means where ministers would frighten — they will run away from them. But 
 sometimes, if you know a wild and worldly brother, uncle, relative, friend, 
 possibly a lover, I would advise you in a proper way to approach him: '“Take 
 this Bible for my sake, and read it ! In the language of the “ Night 
 Thoughts ” — 
 
 “ Retire, and read thy Bible— to be gay ! 
 
 There truths abound of sovereign aid to'peace. 
 
 Ah, do not prize them less because inspired ; 
 
 As thou and thine are fond aud proud to do. I 
 
 If not inspired, that pregnant page had stood 
 Time’s treasure, and the wouder of the wise. 
 
 A page where triumphs immortality; 
 
 Which not the whole creation could produce ! 
 
 Which not the conflagration can destroy. 
 
 In nature's ruins not one letter lost— 
 
 ’Tis printed iu the mind of God for ever.” 
 
 I conclude, my honoured, respected Christian brethren, friends, and coun- 
 trymen, by saying, Oh, let it be printed in living letters of light upon the con- 
 scious tablets of your souls. I am more aged than Paul was, though not as 
 wise; and when he was ready to be offered, only thinking of his coronation, he 
 says : “ I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 
 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 
 henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, 
 the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but (let 
 us come into that appendix for an inheritance) unto all them also that love his 
 appearing.” Blessed Jesus, come ! Hallelujah. Amen. 
 
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES. 
 
 23 
 
 The Rev. Edwin L. Janes, in seconding the resolution, spoke as follows : 
 
 In seconding the adoption of this resolution, I propose to make no extended 
 remarks. I will only say, sir, what a Christian poet said many years ago, and 
 which is as true now as then, that : 
 
 “ God moves in a mysterious way 
 His wonders to perform ; 
 
 He plants his footsteps in the sea, 
 
 And rides upon the storm.” 
 
 The convulsions, sir, of the old world, referred to in this resolution, are, to 
 my mind, but the manifestations of a God of infinite wisdom and power ; and 
 when He moves, and where He moves, in his might and majesty, tyrants, and 
 thrones, and kingdoms, must fall before him, and the masses of the ignorant 
 and superstitious must yield to the power and progress of his revealed truth ; 
 and, sir, it affords me intense gratitude of heart to recognise the fact, to which 
 this resolution points as with the index finger of truth, that God has his hand 
 of wisdom and power upon the helm of this world’s affairs, and is moving for- 
 ward amid the convulsions of the times, with the gracious design to save the 
 nations. 
 
 I therefore, with the utmost pleasure, second the resolution. 
 
 The Rev. Thomas DeWitt, D.D., of New York, pronounced the benedic- 
 tion, and the Society adjourned. 
 
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