PAM. le MISC. SAGE FUND BULLETIN No. 2 ~) WW Weighty Indorsements OME may suppose that appeals for the Endowment Fund are one-sided, coming from the American Bible Society alone. In May, 1908, several great ecclesiastical bodies formulated opinions on this subject. We repeat them here because they show hearty sympathy with the aims, work, and needs of the Society. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the U. S. A. (North) took the fol- lowing action at Kansas City: The Assembly calls the especial attention of all the churches under its jurisdiction to the American Bible Society, the agency by which ourchurch, in common with many others, acts in securing the translation, publication, and distribution of the Holy Scriptures, both at home and abroad. The Society has always been the effective servant and fellow-helper of all our missionary agencies. The diverse populations of this country and the vast masses in non-Christian coun- tries, accessible to the colporteur as never before, are so taxing its resources that an increased and certain revenue is imperatively needed. The Assembly notes with pleasure the generous offer of Mrs. Russell Sage, of New York City, to give $500,000, provided the Society shall raise a like amount during this calendar year, the whole to be used as a perpetual endowment fund. This Assembly repeats the urgent exhortation of 1 previous Assemblies that all our churches make an annual offering for the Society; that standing com- mittees be appointed in each Presbytery to co-operate with the officers of the Society in forwarding its work and meeting its necessities. It advises that the churches, without diminishing their regular annual gifts, shall lend a hand so far as possible to aid the Society in raising this money, and it commends to men, and especially to women of large wealth, the propriety of completing the endowment made possible by Mrs. Sage’s offer. The Assembly urges the women of the Presbyterian Church to do their share in giving the Bible to their sisters in every land who so greatly need its blessed influence. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. (South) called on the women to help, and gave the strong indorse- ment to the endowment plan which follows: 1. In view of the fact that Mrs. Russell Sage, of New York, has offered to the American Bible Society a half-million dollars on condition that the Society shall raise a like sum during this calendar year, this whole to be used as an endowment of its work, the Assembly commends to its churches the efforts of the Society to secure this amount without lessening its ordinary yearly receipts, which should be enlarged. As this is a woman’s offer, there may be other rich women who can and will follow her example. 2. That our pastors and people be called upon for larger contributions and for contributions from all the churches. 3. That they be further urged to hearty co-opera- tion with the American Bible Society and its aims and purposes for meeting the destitution of the living Word that exists within our bounds. The General Synod of the Reformed Church in America deserves thanks for pointing to this Society’s work as binding together the Protestant Church. ue resolution follows: Resolved, That the Synod has heard with great pleasure the report of the American Bible Society, and renews the commendations of former Synods concerning the said Society, whose enlarged work now urges enlarged income. ‘That all our churches and consistories are earnestly urged to exert them- selves to secure this result by taking an annual col- lection for this Society. We call especial attention to the generous offer of Mrs. Russell Sage of New York to give half a million dollars provided another half million be raised this year, the said amount to be a permanent endowment fund. Such an offer should awaken an earnest endeavor to complete the necessary endowment of this Society, whose work binds together the Protestant Churches. The General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held at Baltimore, said: The annual collection ordered by the Methodist Episcopal Church ought to receive attention and recommendation. We especially commend the work of the Agents of the Society and its Auxiliaries in the country districts, which are so largely neglected by all the Churches, and we earnestly recommend to all our Conferences covering such a territory that public anniversaries of the Society be held at Conference sessions at least once during each quadrennial. Turning back over the pages of the reports we come upon two other weighty declarations made some six months before Mrs. Russell Sage’s generous purpose was known, refer- ring to the work of the Society and not to the endowment. One of these is from the House of Bishops in the General Conference of the Protestant Episcopal Church held at Rich- mond, Va., in October, 1907. The action of the Bishops follows: The American Bible Society has been used of God 3 in giving to the Chinese Church the two versions in Mandarin and in Wenli, the results of the heroic toil of Bishop Schereschewsky. It has published the New Testament also in the languages needed by our North American Indians. At the present time, in conjunc- tion with the British and Foreign Bible Society, it is carrying forward, at a cost of many thousands of dol- lars, a revised translation of the Portuguese Scriptures for use in Brazil. ‘These instances of its wide useful- ness, both at home and abroad, constitute a valid plea for our sympathy and our prayers, and make it a proper subject for the benevolence of all who love God’s Holy Word. Resolved, That the House of Bishops commends anew to the generous consideration of all the congre- gations of this Church the service rendered for more than ninety years by this historic Society. The other ecclesiastical document which belongs in this connection is the action of the National Council of Congregational Churches held at Cleveland, Ohio, in October, 1907. This is the resolution adopted by the National Council: Whereas, There is a vital relation between circu- lation of the Bible and the success of evangelistic effort in all its forms; and Whereas, The American Bible Society, in carry- ing out its aim of increasing the circulation of the Bible throughout the world, renders important services to our churches in their missionary and Sunday-school enterprises, both in the United States and in foreign lands ; Voted, That we recommend to Congregational churches that they aquaint their people with the work of the American Bible Society, and that they include, where practicable, an annual contribution for that work in their scheme of systematic church benevo- lence. Many of the religious newspapers might be quoted to show the importance of the appeal 4 for an endowment under Mrs. Russell Sage’s offer to the American Bible Society. We reprint only the editorial utterance of the February, 1909, issue of the Wsstonary Herald, the organ of the American Board: The endowment of this Society is of vital interest to mission workers in all parts of the world, as it fur- nishes them the chief implement with which their work is to be done—the Bible in the vernacular of the people to whom they go. When the missionary has to make a new translation of the Bible into a lan- guage or dialect perhaps unwritten before, he has the treasury of the Bible Society behind him as a kind of insurance that his version will expeditiously and serviceably be put in print. An object which has thus impressed great and good men has claims upon all. We need, March 20, 1909, $364,030.96 in order to secure Mrs. Sage’s gift of $500,000. Do what you can to help raise this money. Send subscriptions to WILLIAM FOoULKE, TREASURER, AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, BisLE House, Astor PLACE, NEw York, or to any one of the Agency Secretaries. Addresses of the Agency Secretaries on the next page. Home Agencies of the American Bible Society. Agency for the Colored People of the South ; Rev. J. P. Wrace, D.D., Agency Secretary, South Atlanta, Ga. Northwestern Agency : Wlinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Da- kota. Rey. J. F. Horton, Agency Secretary, 42 East Madison Street, Chicago, Ill. South Atlantic Agency ; Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Rev. M. B. Porter, Agency Secretary, 204 Bank of Rich- mond Building, Richmond, Va. Central Agency; Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Arizona. Rev. S. H. KirKsripE, D.D., Agency Secretary, 1025 Fourteenth Street, Denver, Colo. Pacific Agency : California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Rev. A. WesLtEY MeEtt, Agency Secretary, 216 Pacific Building, Fourth and Market Streets, San Francisco, Cal. Southwestern Agency; Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Ar- kansas. Rev. GLENN Fiinn, Agency Secretary, 422 Main Street, Dallas, Texas.