YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE LIBRARY OF THE
DIVINITY SCHOOL

One rlundred and Ten Years
of
Bible Society Work
¦
in
Maryland 18104920 By
BERNARD C. STEINER, Pt.D.

The First Bible House on the Present Site. Erected 1852
PUBLISHED BY
Tke Marylancl Bible Society
1921

The Present Bible House,
10 E. Payette Street.
Erected 1905.

One rlundred and Ten Years
of
Bible Society Work

in

Maryland

1810-1920

By
BERNARD C. STEINER, PLD.

The First Bible House on the Present Site. Erected 1852

PUBLISHED BY
Tke Marylancl Bible Society
1921

FORM OF BEQUEST

I give and bequeath to The Maryland Bible
Society (here state the sum of money, or name, and
describe the property), to be applied to the charitable
uses and purposes of the Society.

Contributions from churches, individuals and firms are solicited for the
further extension of the work of the Maryland Bible Society. The con
tribution will be a one hundred per cent, benevolence and will be applied
specifically as the contributor directs. Receipts for money forwarded to
the Bible House will be mailed to contributors.

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

Rev. John F. Goucher LL. D.,
Goucher College, Baltimore, Md.

VICE-PRESIDENTS James Carey, Jr.,
119-131 E. Lombard Street, Baltimore, Md.
Rev. Arthur Chilton P'owell, D. D.,
University Parkway and Stony Run Lane, Baltimore.

RECORDING SECRETARY
Henry C. Miller,
1423 Bolton Street, Baltimore, Md.

TREASURER

Henry S: Dulaney,
517 "W". Lombard Street, Baltimore, Md.

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
Rev. James H. Hyatt, D. D.,
Bible House,
12 E. Fayette Street, Baltimore, Md.

Tke Marylancl Bible Society
( 1810 : 1833 : 1920 )
By Bernard C. Steiner, Ph. D.

The triumphs of the 19th Century were many, and, among the
greatest of them, was the wide distribution of the Holy Scriptures.
Had not Christians been inspired with a missionary zeal that led
them to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the uttermost parts of the
earth, in a manner never before attempted, it may well be doubted
whether there would have been enough idealism and faith in the
cause of righteousness to secure the overthrow of German arrogance,
duplicity, and, militarism in the second decade of the 20th Century.
"The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are
not seen are eternal," and the effort to bring about the success of
the unseen things which must be spiritually discerned, was necessary
to counterbalance the scientific progress of the Century. Even Bis
marck, man of blood and iron as he was, perceived the immense value
of the "imponderable1" things, and Villari, whose historical works
showed a clear vision of truth, well said that ' ' in life there is nothing
more real than the ideal. ' '
The modern Protestant missionary movement is usually said to
have begun with the organization in England of the London Mission
ary Society, through the endeavors of William Carey, whose watch
word, "Attempt great things for God; expect great things from
God," has thrilled1 thousands of hearts. In the United Slates, the
missionary movement is usually held to have had its inception in
1804, in the Haystack prayer-meeting at Williamstown, Massachusetts,
held by Samuel J. Mills and his four fellow college students, which
gathering led to the formation of the American Board of Com
missioners for Foreign Missions.
-England took the leadership in the matter of distributing Bibles,
as well as in sending missionaries to the heathen, being induced
thereto by a double motive : the necessity of providing versions of the
Scriptures which could be placed in the hands of those to whom the
missionaries preached, and the importance of multiplying the num
ber of copies of the Bible, so that the masses of the British people
might have free access to the Word of God. The only wonder is that
the matter had been delayed so long. The first important Bible
Society formed in the world is the British and Foreign Bible Society,
which was organized in 1804. Its usefulness became very great from
the first years, and its third report spoke of the range of its bounties

as extending "from North to South, from Iceland to the Cape of
Good' Hope, and Van Dieman's Land; from East to West, from
Hindustan and the shores of the Caspian to Buenos Ayres and the
Lakes of North America." Its work has steadily grown, and to it
and its American fellow society is largely due the fact that the
number of languages into which the Bible had been translated, in
whole or in part, has increased from less than 100, to over 500, within
the Century. In 1808, the first Bible Society in the United States was
instituted in Philadelphia, and it was followed by similar societies,
m at least six other states, during the next four years.
The original records concerning the foundation of the Baltimore
Bible Society have not been found, and the newspapers seem to have
taken no notice of the event. In 1815, the Board of Managers issued
a 22-page pamphlet, of which the Rev. John F. Goucher, LL. D.,
possesses the only copy known to me, entitled "An Address to the
Public * * to which are subjoined the successive annual reports
of the Board." This pamphlet reprints Dr. McHenry's Address,
spoken of further on in this sketch, with the signatures of the Board
of Managers in 1812, when the Address was first issued, which shows
that the most prominent citizens of the City, including the Protestant
clergymen, were interested in the enterprise. The list is as follows:
George Dashiell, John Hagerty, James Inglis, John Daniel Kurtz,
Joseph G. J. Bend, Robert Annan, John Glendy, Alexander McCaine,
Frederick Beasley, John Healy, John Hargrove, George Roberts,
Lewis Richards, Adam Vonerden, Baltzer Schaeffer, James H. Mc-
Culloeh, Isaac Burneston, William H. Dorsey, James McHenry, John
Livingston, John Crawford, Andrew Ellicott, James Campbell, John
Kelso. Rev. George Dashiell was Rector of St. Peter's Protestant Episco
pal Church; Rev. J.. Daniel Kurtz was pastor of the Lutheran
Church; Rev. Joseph G. J. Bend was Rector of St. Paul's Protestant
Episcopal Church, and Rev. Frederick Beasley was the assistant
rector; Rev. John Glendy was pastor of the Second Presbyterian
Church; Rev. John Hargrove was the pastor of the Swedenborgian
or New Jerusalem Church; Rev. Alexander McCaine and Rev. George
Roberts were Methodist clergymen, and! Rev. Lewis Richards was a
Baptist. Dr. McHenry had retired from active life ; John Crawford
was a physician; James H. McCulloch was Collector of the Port of
Baltimore; John Livingston was a teacher; Andrew Ellicott was a
surveyor; Isaac Burneston was president of the Athenian Society;
the occupations of Robert Annan and James Campbell are not known ;
John Hagerty was a stationer; John Healy, a silk dyer; John Kelso',
a butcher; Adam Vonerden, a dealer in fancy goods and millinery;
Baltzer Schaeffer, a dry goods merchant, and William H. Dorsey
was in business on Bowley 's wharf.
The pamphlet also contains the first four annual reports of the
Board of Managers, only the last of which is dated, and that was
10

made on September 26, 1814. Consequently, the first annual report
must have been >made in 1811. We are not informed who were the
officers for the year, 1810-1811, but it is probable that, they were
the same as those chosen to serve for the ensuing year at the first
annual meeting held on October 2, 1811, viz. : Rev. J. G. J. Bend, Presi
dent, Dr. James McHenry and Rev. John Glendy, vice-presidents,
Rev. James Inglis and Rev. J. Daniel Kurtz, Corresponding Secre
taries, Mr. Thomas W. Griffith, the author of the Annals of Balti
more, Recording Secretary, and Mr. Baltzer Schaeffer, Treasurer.
Rev. Dr. Bend had been Rector of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal
Church since 1791, and in 1796, had been one of the Founders of the
Baltimore Library Company, of which he became vice-president in
1802. On January 1, 1800, he preached a funeral sermon com
memorating George Washington, and in that year, he was one of the
originators of the Maryland Society for Promoting Useful Knowl
edge. He also was one of those who united in 1810 to form a society
for promoting vaccination generally. He closed his useful life on
November 25, 1812, and, in tihe second annual report, the Board of
Managers notice this bereavement in "the language of affectionate
and respectful recollection," and speak of him as "a man eminent
in all walks and offices of life, and whose services, in particular,
at the head of this institution, entitle his memory to the benedic
tions of all its friends and patrons."
In the first annual report, the statement is made that the treasurer
had received from the beginning, $1,427.50, and had disbursed
$558.75, so that there remained a balance of $868.75, "Solicitors,
by order and in behalf of tihe Board," we are told, "have made
partial visits to the different wards of the 'City of Baltimore, and
circular letters have been addressed to most of the ministers of re
ligion of all denominations, throughout the State of Maryland, as
well as to many among the people, who, it was concluded, would be
inclined to co-operate in the important work of carrying divine in
struction, hope, and comfort into the dwellings of the poor," The
Society had bought 500 English and 151 German Bibles and 100 Ger
man New Testaments, and had distributed 240 English Bibles and
32 German volumes. Dr. Bend had given the Society 100 English
New Testaments, which he had received as a part of a bequest made
by John Hancock, a resident of New Jersey, "for the purpose of dis
tributing the New Testament, and other religious books among the
poor." Twenty-five of these had been given away, and the Board
expressed a "fervent wish that the prosperous and the wealthy, who
have learned to estimate the value of the Holy Scriptures, and the
comforts of the Christian faith and hope, would redeem from uses
merely secular, a portion of the property which they are about to
abandon in death, and in this way make heirs of their indigent breth
ren for whom Christ died."
Correspondence had been entered into with the Bible Societies of
Philadelphia, New York and Albany, and counsel and 'assistance had
11

been received from the "first mentioned of these societies,^ in tihe
original and early history of the Bible Society of Baltimore.
The second annual meeting was held on September 29, 1812, but
the annual report was not issued until later, for it refers to Dr.
Bend's death. For the next year, Dr. McHenry "was elected Presi
dent, Rev. Messrs. Dashiell and McCaine, Vice-Presidents, Rev.
Messrs. Inglis and Kurtz, Corresponding Secretaries, Evan Thomas,
Jr., Recording Secretary, and' Alexander Fridge, Treasurer. The
treasurer had received $418.30, and disbursed $213.59, and the total
balance on hand was $1,073.46. A few Bibles had been distributed
through Dr. McHenry in Allegany County, where he had relations,
and a few more through Rev. Oliver Norris in Anne Arundel County.
Other Bibles had been given to the poor of St. Paul's Church and
among the Germans.
Before the declaration of war between the United States and
Great Britain, an official intercourse had been opened with the
British and Foreign Bible Society. New Testaments had been placed
in the hands of the Rev. Thaddeus, Osgood for distribution in the
mission which he contemplated. Bibles had been given to the Wash
ington Society of Maryland and to the Benevolent Society of Balti
more, to be presented to the poor children educated by these Societies.
It was intended to "extend the liberality" of the Society in "any
similar direction."
The Society had augmented its stock by purchasing 100 Bibles
and the same number of New Testaments of the "common school
quality, ' ' as well as 24 quarto Bibles ' ' for the accommodation of pious
readers of an advanced age and defective vision. ' '
Dr. James McHenry was a native of Ulster, who had emigrated to
America in early life, and had fought through the Revolutionary
War, serving for a large part of the time as one of Washington's
aides-de-camp. He had also served in the Maryland legislature and
in the Continental Congress, and was an intimate friend of Alex
ander Hamilton, of the Marquis de la Fayette, and Timothy Picker
ing. He had amassed a comfortable fortune in business, but had
been called back to public life by Washington in 1796, to become
Secretary of War, a position he continued to hold throughout the
most of the administration of John Adams. Since 1800, he had lived
in retirement in Baltimore, and the probability is that he was in
duced1 to accept this position through the persuasion of the Rev.
James Inglis of the First Presbyterian Church, of which McHenry
was one of the Trustees. It was McHenry 's last public office, and he
closed his long and useful life in 1816. He did not long hold the
Presidency, but he was so much interested in the subject that he
wrote out in his own hand an address to the people, which is re
printed m the Report of the Maryland Bible Society for 1903 The
new Society had been formed for the sole purpose "of distributing
the Holy Scriptures more effectually and extensively among the
multitudes, whose circumstances render assistance in this way a
12

solemn duty. "McHenry deemed that "it may not be improper to
state, for the information of the public, two of the fundamental
articles of our association. One of them provides, that "all copies of
the scriptures distributed or published by this Society shall be with
out notes, and of the versions in common use among the churches in
whose languages 'respectively it may be deemed useful to distribute
or publish them." The other, that "every person becoming a mem
ber, shall at the time of subscribing to its constitution, pay the sum
of five dollars, and the sum of two dollars every year afterwards.
Persons subscribing or giving thirty dollars or upwards, shall be
members for life without any further contribution."
"Such are the terms of admission, with respect to the principle
upon which this Society is formed. From the nature of the insti
tution, you will perceive, it disclaims every distinction arising out
of diffff erent religious denominations. It receives Christians of
every sect. And inasmuch as its object is simple, and concerns all
Christians alike, it is therefore, expected that those who enter it will be
actuated1 by the same motive, having only the one and same abject
in view. ' '
Although' the Society bore the name of the City of Baltimore, it
was not Intended to limit its activities thereto. The address stated
that "we should fail in respect to, and belie our confidence in the
rest of our fellow citizens, did we confine this appeal to the limits of
Baltimore. We think we can rely on the character of the State, and
flatter ourselves that tenderness and humanity will be equally mani
fested, wherever the knowledge of our undertaking shall reach.
There are within its boundaries alone, multitudes of poor and in
digent persons who are without Bibles. Such subjects are found in
every country where there are men. -We call, therefore, upon the rich
and all whose circumstances admit of their promoting this under
taking; in the words Moses addressed to the Israelites, "open thy
hand unto thy brother, to the poor, and to thy needy in thy land,
for such shall never cease out of this land." Open thy hand to
procure for thy poor and needy, the only books which can teach them
patience and resignation, and enable them to invisage without envy
or heartburning, the various bounties of the creation enjoyed by
others, while they are doomed to linger out life in labour, pain and
sorrow. ' '
The importance of the distribution of God 's word was strongly em
phasized, "All Christians allow that the Old and New Testaments
taken together, are the only books in the world which clearly reveal the
nature of God, contain a perfect law for our government, propose the
most powerful persuasions to obey this law, and furnish the best
motives for patience and resignation, under every circumstance and
vicissitude of life. Even those writers who deny their divinity, have
yet acknowledged that the matters contained in them are, at least,
calculated to make mankind wiser and better. These surprising and
salutary effects the scriptures have unequivocally produced1, and
13

whenever they are read and attended to, will continue to produce.
Facts so fully ascertained1 and so clearly demonstrating the great im
portance of circulating the sacred writings have (within these few
years past) called the attention of men more particularly to this
subject, and given rise to the establishment of Societies whose, object
is to encourage their circulation, by promoting the printing of them
in all languages, and their distribution gratis, whenever they could
not be otherwise obtained. ' '
In elevated style, McHenry drew attention to the need of carrying
out the purposes of the Society and of placing Bibles in the hands of
all the people: "Neither, in considering this subject, let it be over
looked, that public utility pleads most forcibly for the general distri
bution of the Holy Scriptures. The doctrine they preach, the obliga
tions they impose, the punishment they threaten, the rewards they
promise, the stamp and image of divinity they bear, which produces
a conviction of their truths, can alone secure to society, order and
peace, and to our courts of justice and constitutions of government,
purity, stability and usefulness. In vain, without the Bible, we in
crease penal laws and draw intrenchments around our institutions.
Bibles are strong intrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot
pursue wicked courses, and at the samfe time enjoy quiet con
science. "Consider also, the rich do not possess aught more precious than
their Bible, and that the poor cannot be presented by the rich with
anything of greater value. Withhold it not from the poor. It is a
book of councils and directions, fitted to every situation in which man
can be placed. It is an oracle which reveals to mortals the secrets
of heaven and the hidden will of the Almighty. It is a power that
can eject the heaviest burthen. It is an armory which furnishes a
sure defence against oppression and calumny. It is the genuine
balm for wounded hearts. It is an antidote to the poisons which lie
concealed in the cup of pleasure. It is a mountain from whose sum
mit are seen the height and depth, the bearings and the boundaries
of sin and iniquity. It is a fountain of delight which no drought
can dry up. It is a country lofty and serene, laid out into beautiful
landscapes, the view of which never satiates or wearies It is an
estate, whose title is guaranteed by Christ, whose delicious fruits.
ripen every season, survive the worm, and keep through eternity.
It is for the purpose of distributing this divine book more effectually
and extensively among the multitudes, whose circumstances render
requested" neeessarJr> that y°ur cooperation is most earnestly
rt,°E NT^e/ 8' 1813> Rev- Dr- Inglis submitted to a meeting of
the Board of Managers of the Society, a printed copy of a letter lent
by^Samuel J. Mills and John L. Schemerhorn to the PhSpMa
Bible Society, concerning the need of copies of the Scriptures in tht
Western part of the United States, wherein they were travelling oS
14

a missionary tour, this need being found not only among the English
speaking settlers, but also among the French and Spanish inhabitants
of Louisiana, who ought to be supplied with copies of the Bible in
their own languages. The Board was so impressed with this letter,
that it ordered the re-printing of 1,000 copies of it in English, and 500
copies in German, which was done, and the pamphlet, containing 24
pages, was distributed at a small charge.
The Third Annual Report made in 1813, contains no list of officers.
We are told of the distribution of Bibles in the Penitentiary, the
City and Marine Hospitals, and the Almshouse, in the hope that the
"Holy Scriptures may be instrumental in bringing the unfortunate
'inmates' to reflection and repentance, as well as in soothing their
distresses and lightening the pressure of their afflictions. ' ' From the
Bible Society of Philadelphia, 441 Stereotype Bibles had been ob
tained, and communication had been opened with the new Bible
Society of Ohio. Though war was being waged between the United
States and Great Britain, the British and Foreign Bible Society had
given the Bible Society of Baltimore £100 sterling. Well might the
Board of Managers ejaculate: "The zeal and the munificence of this
Society, the Managers hardly know how to mention in suitable
terms ! ' '
The Corresponding Secretaries had written to all clergymen in
the State, informing them that Bibles were at their disposal, and the
Society had expended $459.82. The receipts amounted to $723.46, and
$1,063.64 were in the treasury.
The Managers suggested ' ' to the Society the propriety of forming a
fund, in conjunction with other Bible Societies in America, for hav
ing the Holy Scriptures translated into the language in most common
use, among the American Indians. Through its work, the Society
wished to extend the "glorious light and divine influence of the
Gospel of Christ."
To the Annual Meeting on September 28, 1814, the Managers made
their fourth annual report, "The sphere of their exertions" had
"been greatly enlarged," and the Managers could "not doubt, that
were it not for the calamitous circumstances in which our country
is at this period of alarm and insecurity involved, it would be still
more extended." The echoes of the British cannon, firing at North
Point and on Fort McHenry, had scarcely died away. More than
double the number of volumes distributed during the first three
years, had been given out in the fourth— 1,333 English, and 66 Ger
man Bibles, 31 English and 16 German Testaments during the year.
These gifts had been made not. only to individuals, but also to
charity, schools and manufacturing establishments in Baltimore, and
its vicinity, and 200 Bibles had been sent to the distant East Tennes
see Misionary Society. Six hundred' dollars had been given to the
New York and Phiadelphia Societies toward printing a French
version of the Scriptures, for the especial use of the people in
Louisiana. 15

The Female Auxiliary Bible Society of Baltimore had been estab
lished, and, in (the quaint language of the report, "this institution
* * in resources prosperous to a most encouraging degree, has al
ready carried its benevolent and useful exertions to a very con
siderable extent, and affords new evidence in confirmation of a fact
so honorable to the feminine character, that woman delights in good
works, and is never second in the labors of charity and mercy. ' ' To
foster this "inestimable association of female piety and benevolence,"
the "parent society" had accommodated the "auxiliary institution"
with 150 English Bibles and 20 German Testaments, at first cost.
To raise money for the Society's work, "discourses were by request
delivered and collections made in several churches in the City of
Baltimore, with the result that $136 came from the congregation of
the Associate Reformed (now the Associate Congregational) Church,
$350 from the First Presbyterian Congregation, $469.80 from the
Methodist Congregations, and $21.97 from the Second Baptist con
gregation. The Managers had "determined to procure from London, as soon
as the relations of amity between this country and Great Britain
shall, through divine goodness, be restored, a set of octavo stereotype
plates of the Bible for the use of the Society. ' ' We shall see further
on, in our study of the Society's history, how this determination was
earned out.
During the past year, $2,454.22 had been received, and $2,577.46
had been disbursed. The balance of the last report had included a
debt to the Society of $800. We fear that this amount must have
been lost, for the remainder of that balance, viz. $263.64, is all that
is now referred to and a balance of $140.40 was carried over to the
fifth year.
At the December, 1813, Session of the General Assembly, the Society
had been incorporated. Although a Century had passed since the re
port was made, we, who stand, looking back on a more terrible war,
may read some of the 'sentences of this old report with profit: "No
favor so inestimable can be conferred on a suffering world, as the
diffusion of evangelical light. When the knowledge of. the Lord
shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the depth of the sea, then,
and not before, the distress of nations shall be at end. Give man
kind the Bible, and you, in effect, give them virtue, liberty and peace.
b-ive mankind the Bible, and you, in effect, dethrone tyranny, sheath
the sword of war, soften the ruthless oppressor, and quiet the per
turbed spirit of the seditious ; for the spirit of God will be more likely
to work m company with his word than at a distance from it In
such unbloody revolutions of human principle and human conduct.
we would gladly be agents. "
™^ ^1 ™nual meetin£ of !814, Rev. George Roberts, M D a
Methodist Clergyman and a physician, who died on November "27
1827, was chosen President for the ensuing year. The vice-presidents
16

were Rev. John Glendy and Rev. William E. Wyatt, who had become
rector of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, and the other
officers continued to be the same in 1812.
Our next record of the Society, is found in the "Report of the
Board of Managers at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Society, Sep
tember 25, 1815." This meeting came to be called the fifth, although
McHenry distinctly placed the foundation in 1813, because 1810 was
doubtless, the year of its first beginnings. A broadside list of mem
bers was also published. At this time, the President was the Rt,
Rev. James Kemp, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of
Maryland. Rev. Abner Neal and Rev. John M. Duncan were Vice-
Presidents; Rev. Daniel Kurtz and Rev. W. E. Wyatt, Correspond
ing Secretaries; Evan Thomas, Recording Secretary, and Alexander
Fridge, Treasurer. The Female Auxiliary Bible Society, with Mrs.
Dr. Inglis as President, had held its first Anniversary in the First
Presbyterian Church, at the corner of North and Fayette Streets, on
April 3, 1815. In their report, the Female Auxiliary Society refers
to the fact that they had collected $1,246, and had a membership, the
enumeration of whose names covers nine pages. The money collected
had been given the Bible Society, in payment for books received for
distribution, except $500, which had been donated to the Society
towards the purchase in London of stereotype plates of the Bible
which it was proposed to issue in Baltimore, where, by the way, an
edition of the Bible had been printed in 1811. In April, 1815, only
a little more than six months had elapsed since the bombardment of
Baltimore by the British, and the Managers expressed thanks "that,
though the distressful scenes of war, alarm, and difficulty through
which this city, in common with the country at large, has passed,
were inauspicious to the extension of their sphere of useful exertion,
yet they are permitted to cherish the hope that their efforts, in the
cause of the Bible and human happiness have not been altogether un
profitable. Some, they hope, may have imbibed salutary knowledge,
who were wandering along the cheerless paths of ignorance; some
may have been confronted, whose hearts might have remained sad';
some have been strengthened and animated to encounter the perilous
exposures of the times, their hearts and minds kept by the peace of
God in the knowledge of him, whilst without were fightings and
around them were rumors of battle and sights of blood1. ' '
In this "Fifth Annual -Report, " the Managers of the Baltimore
Society reported collections of $1,519.31, in addition to the sum re
ceived from the Female Auxiliary, and that they had remitted £410
to London, on acount of the stereotype Bible, of which 320 plates had
already been imported to Philadelphia on the ship Electra. The re
maining two-thirds of the plates soon followed, being brought to Bal
timore directly upon the ship Joseph. There was a duty upon these
plates, and the Managers, upon February 2, 1816, petitioned Congress
for the remission of this duty, inasmuch as the plates were imported
17

for printing the Bible for gratuituous distribution, the petition being
signed by Rev. Daniel Kurtz, Rt. Rev. James Kemp, Rev. John
Glendy, Alexander Fridge, and Samuel I. Donaldson. The petition
was sent both to William Pinkney and Robert Goodloe Harper. The
latter took up the matter, and had a bill reported in Congress for this
purpose, which bill was passed and signed by the President on April
20, 1816.
In the Sixth Annual Report of the. Society in 1816, it was stated
that a first edition of 500 copies of this stereotype Bible had been
issued, and that a second edition of 2,500 was in press. Some copies
of this edition must be extant, though I have never seen any, and it
will be interesting to; recover one of them and place it among the
treasures of the Maryland Bible Society.
The Fifth Annual Report also states that: "To give the early
history of this Society a more durable form, all the documents,, re
lating to their proceedings to this period, have been collected and to
gether reprinted, and they are placed in the hands of members of the
Board, for an extensive circulation." They seem all to have van
ished, and, as the minutes of the Board's meetings have likewise dis
appeared, the only available sources of information are a few
scattered reports.* At this time, the Managers rather quaintly, re
mark that they "would be filled with painful emotions, when they re
mark, in how few words, the abstract of their proceedings may be
comprised, were they not conscious that, to the disasters and
actual privations, together with the anticipation of still greater evils,
arising out of the war, now Providentially terminated, were owing
their exhausted treasury, and consequently limited efforts. ' '
The war was finished, and "from those, to whom domestic security,
rescued property, home, friends, the' inviolated shrines of religion are
dear, to whom the hope of the gospel is precious, from these we now
cherish the confident expectation of an active and effectual aid."
An appeal is made, perseveringly, to the citizens of Baltimore, "to
be instrumental in giving" to souls purchased by Christ's blood,
"through the gospel, a life, void of offence toward God and man, and
a blessedness, unutterable and imperishable in the bosom of Jesus
Christ." The Female Auxiliary Society held its second Anniversary in the
First Presbyterian Church, on April 1, 1816, and, on September 1,
following, the Bible Society held its anniversary in the same place.
In the endeavor to place the Bible in the hands of everyone it had
appropriated $100 toward the issue of the Bible in the Chinese lan
guage, a translation upon which the Rev. Robert Morrison had been
engaged for several years. It had also sent $10 to buy Bibles for
the people in the West, as also the Female Auxiliary had done, that
Samuel J Mills might distribute the Scriptures "among the deplorably
destitute people in Illinois and Louisiana. In all, $4,278 had
.t^VKe'gSS?1^ Kef0 r°POrtS * tH B'We S0Ciet? H*USe »»** was de,
18

been received. The American Bible Society had been organized, but
the Maryland Bible Society declined to become one of its auxiliaries}
as the United States was thought to be too vast an area for one Society
to cover, and its was felt that "an intimate, epistolary correspond
ence" between National, State and County Societies, would serve,
the same purpose. The Society, moreover, gave opportunity to learn
what was being done elsewhere, by printing the address of the Ameri
can Bible Society and a compendium of the report of the British and
Foreign Bible Society in its own report.
In 1817, Rev. Dr. Inglis was President. Although $1,585 had been
received, more money was neeeded to complete the payment for
the second edition of the stereotype Bible. In addition to sending
Bibles to the West, the Jail, Penitentiary, Almshouse, and Hospital
had been supplied, and the Collector of the Port had promised to
assist in the supply of shipping.
In 1818, the anniversary was held in May, instead of September,
in St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church. Bishop Kemp was again
President ; but, as he was delayed in coming to the meeting, Rev. Dr.
Kurtz was called to the chair, and, when he declined,. Rev. Dr. Samuel
K. Jennings of the Metholist Church was chosen to preside. "The
Union Board of Delegates from the Male Sunday School Societies of
Baltimore" had asked for Bibles, and these had been given to Sun
day Schools, which had begun to be established throughout the
churches of the City during the last five years. The report stated
that, "Next to the Bible Society in importance and in the means of
diffusing the several truths of the Gospel, may be ranked the Sunday
School Associations." Indifference was reported. The Methodist
Churches had collected $321 for the Society, and other collections
amounted to only $65.31. Although continuing independent, . the
Baltimore Society felt that "it is with no inconsiderable pleasure
that we have to notice a brilliant star on the Christian horizon — the
American Bible Society — which promises to shine with increasing
lustre." Alexander Contee Hanson, when called upon to speak, talked of
the interest in the Bible in England and Russia, and hoped that Bal
timore might escape punishment for failure to support the Society.
"May no awful judgment as a visitation for its contempt for God's
word prove a just retribution ! ' '
Robert H, Goldsborough, of Talbot County, also spoke, in advocacy
of the establishment of auxiliaries throught the State.
In the years 1819 and 1820, Honorable Nicholas Brice, Chief
Judge of the City, served the Society as its President.
In 1821, a Maryland Auxiliary Bible Society was organized in
connection with the American Bible Society, and, with Robert Smith,
formerly Secretary of the Navy and of State, as its President, but it
does not seem to have lived very long. 19

The first Society in Maryland, outside of Baltimore, was the
Female Bible Society of Roekville, Montgomery County, and the
Frederick Bible and Charity Fund Society came second. It was
formed on December 11, 1817, "at early candlelight," at tihe
Academy building, in pursuance of a notice placed in the newspapers
of the preceding week, summoning together "all those that are dis
posed to contribute their aid in disseminating the glorious plan of
Salvation, revealed to a sinful world." These persons were "in
vited without distinction of party, sect, or denomination, to attend,
with a view to the formation of a Society that may tend to accelerate
the important objects promised." After some consideration, it was
decided that the plan was too wide a one, and on January 5, 1818, at
a second meeting, "The Frederick County Bible Society" was
formed, "for the sole purpose of disseminating Gospel truths." Sub
scriptions were solicited, and, in April, $80 was appropriated for the
purchase of Bibles in Baltimore, which Bibles were distributed soon
after they were received. The Society continued its existence until
1825, when it transferred its assets and liabilities to the Young Men's
Bible Society of Frederick City. The latter organization was formed
as an auxiliary to the American Bible Society in the School House
of the Lutheran Church on Friday evening, June 1, 1821. Fourteen
men were then present, viz : from the German Reformed Church : Chris
tian Steiner, Valentine J. Brunner, Henry Bantz, and David Steiner ;
from the Methodist Church : James F. Houston, David Boyd, George
Salmon, and Dr. Thomas Sim; from the Presbyterion Church: Single
ton Duvall and John Lee Potts; from the Lutheran Church: Cyrus
Mantz, who was chosen the first President, George Englebreeht, and
Lewis Medtart. This Society changed its name to the Young Men's
Bible Society of Frederick County at its annual meeting in 1826,
and was incorporated by the State Legislature on March 14/1828.
It has stood for the unity of the churches in Frederick, from
its foundation unto this day, and will soon celebrate the centennial
of its honored work.
The Worcester County Bible Society was recognized by the Ameri
can Bible Society in September, 1821, but has long since died.
On October 3, 1820, at the invitation of Robert Beveridge, steps were
taken in Baltimore toward, the organization of a Young Men's Bible
Society, which was fully organized on October 26, with S W Presst-
man as its first President. It met the criticism that it was composed
o± young mien, with the statement that the energy and enthusiasm of
young men were needed for such an enterprise. Each church in the
City was myated to send delegates to the first meeting, and it is
rather amusing to find the Roman Catholic Churches recorded as
having sent none as indeed they could not to an organization which
proposed to circulate the Scriptures without notes. The minute book
of the Society is m the possession of the Maryland Bible Society
This Society fromuts first establishment, was an auxiliary to the
American Bible Society. When we talk of the federation of churchS
20

and of church unity, we must riot forget the influence of Bible
Societies in this direction. In Maryland, these organizations were
the first in which members of different denominations met upon an
equal footing and in common fellowship. In the Second Annual
Report for 1822, we read that "It is pleasing, on such an occasion as
the present, to behold all sects and denominations of Christians, ex
tending to each other the right hand of fellowship and brotherhood ;
animated with one common anxiety to promote the glory of the Lord
and Master of the harvest." The death of Elias Boudinot is men
tioned, as is the successful distribution of copies of the Scriptures
in Russia, in India, and among the American Indians. The Ladies'
Branch Bible Society had been organized and had contributed $160.
An African Branch Bible Society had been organized among the
negroes, and had' contributed $30. The report expressed a deep
sense of the duty of its members, "not only as Christians, but also
as men, to do all in their power to amend and to repair such glaring
injustice" as was suffered by the negroes, "doomed to servitude in a
land of liberty." The hope is expressed that, through the American
negroes, Africa may be converted. Bibles have been sent to Monte
video in Uruguay and to the Maryland Penitentiary. It was pro
posed' to "insure to every family in Baltimore the possession of a
Bible." Sunday School scholars were saving a cent a week toward
the purchase of Bibles. In the third report of the Young Men's
Bible Society in 1823, this meeting together is alluded to thus: "as to
ourselves, it has been of the happiest influence in softening the as
perities of sectarian feeling." They then reported that they had col
lected $602, and that the Ladies' Branch Bible Society, which had
recently been organized, and of which Mrs. Stewart was president
for many years, had secured' 452 members, had sent 150 Bibles into
different parts of the State, and had collected more money..
So had the Bible Society of Queen Anne's Parish, Prince George's
County, of which the Rector was Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, later to have
a high reputation, when in charge of a Protestant Episcopal Church
in New York City. He issued a printed report of his Society in
this year, from which we learn thai there were 29 members, but that
some opposition to the Society, or indifference, had appeared in the
Parish. The Society had raised $328.70, no inconsiderable sum, and
had bought 300 Bibles ; of which 101 had been sold, 178 given away,
and 21 were on hand.
In all, the Young Men's Society received $1,253. In this report,
reference is made to the regrettable early death of Colonel John
McHenry, a son of Dr. James McHenry, who was the Society's
Vice-President, Mr. Presstman, the first President, was succeeded
in 1822 by Andrew Adgate, who continued to hold the Presidency
until his death in 1826.
In the fourth report, issued in 1824, reference is made to the
establishment of a Marine Brancih Bible Society on Fell's Point and
21

to the gift of 250 Spanish Testaments from the American Bible
Society, which is already referred to as the "parent society." These
Testaments were a part of an interesting attempt to circulate the
Bible in South America, with which continent Baltimore had a con
siderable trade. The books were sent out to a missionary at Lima,
to be distributed by him. This report refers to the unity of Chris
tians and to the Church, as the ' ' one great Society, of whom we, both
as individuals and as a Society, are a component part."
On December 24, 1824, a public annual meeting was held at St.
Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, and the report showed that a
beginning had been made in the supply of shipping.
There seems to have been no sixth, report. The one for 1825 is
called the seventh, and laments the indifference of the people. In
1823, $1,020 were remitted, in 1825 only $425. The need was great
and an urgent appeal was made for contributions.
The eighth report for 1827, announces the death of Mr. Adgate
and the election of T. R. Rutter as president. An annual meeting.
was held in the First Baptist Church, at which other Bible Societies
were represented, and a resolve was made to supply each destitute
family in Maryland with a copy of the Bible, within one year. It
was estimated that 15,000 families in the State were without the
Bible. The ministers' meeting of Baltimore had approved the project,
and, in the discussion concerning such approval, the lead had been
taken by the Rev. William Nevins, D. D., the successor of Dr. Inglis
in the Pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church. Dr. Nevins, of
whom we shall hear again, was a man of remarkably sweet and
charming character, who was witty and brilliant in his literary style.
His life was cut short by consumption in 1835, but his influence on
the "Bible cause," as it was called as early as 1828, was very notable.
A special report was made on March 24, 1828, detailing the pro
gress made toward carrying into effect the resolution to supply each
family with the Bible. Great interest was aroused. The Baltimore
Bible Society gave $300 and 1,000 Bibles, the women's societies and
those m the counties cooperated. .New county societies were forin-
^ 7 The Washington City Society agreed to supply St. Mary's,
Charles Prince George's and Montgomery Counties. Rev John G
Morris took a journey" to Frederick and Maryland to quicken the
zeal of the people of Western Maryland. Liberality in gifts is urged
that Maryland may not be "dependent upon her neighbors for the
word of life." In Baltimore City, 1,452 famines found without
Bibles, were given them.
In the Ninth Report for the year 1828, it was stated that auxiliary
societies had been established in all the counties,, flffut difficulties 5n
securing colporteurs and the depressed state of trade and commerce
had caused the task still to remain incomplete- Polities "alS
impeded the work." "As the time for our recent State elections*™
proached the baneful influence of party spirit began to acquire such
22

an ascendency; that the Bible Cause sustained a powerful check in its
advance, "•-throughout every part of the State. "In some counties,
the leading members of the Bible Society were candidates for office,
or closely connected with those who were, and in the absorbing in
fluence of party contest, the Bible cause for the time was forgotten
and neglected. ' '
The Tenth Report for 1829, tells of an annual meeting in the
Associate Reformed Church on Tammany (now Fayette) Street, of
collections amounting to $4,631, and of the success of the effort to
distribute Bibles, although about $500 more were needed to com
plete the work. Local Societies and agents in the Counties had
aided in the work. The Sunday School Union had offered the use of
its rooms, which had been accepted, and the Female Bible Society
sold stock which it had acquired and gave the proceeds to the Society.
At the Annual Meeting in 1830, held in the First Presbyterian
Church, a colection of $728 was taken up for the American Bible
Society. The first donation to that Society's treasury, one of $500,
was made in that year. The debt had been paid, through the
generosity of one member, and the distribution throughout the State
was practically complete. In 1828 and 1829, 20,000 copies of the
Bible had been distributed throughout the State and 10,000 more
were distributed in 1830. The Society, however, was urged not to
relax its efforts, but rather to beware of lukewarmness. Apprentices
especially should be reached, and this could not well be done through
Sunday Schools, in which few youths remained after they were 15
or 16 years of age.-
Mr. Rutter retired from the Presidency in 1831, and was succeeded
by Conrad R. Fite. In the report for 1831, we learn that it was pro
posed to re-supply every destitute family in Baltimore.
Mr. Fite held office for one year only, when. William P. Lemmon
succeeded him and served until 1833,' when William Gwynn Jones
became President, and he, in turn was succeeded in 1835, by Rev.
John G. Morris, the only clergyman in the list, who was pastor of
the First English Lutheran Church, and who continued in office so
long as the Society existed.
In the report for 1832, we learn that the "Old Baltimore Bible
Society" had proposed to consolidate with the Young Men's Bible
Society, and' had given the latter $300 toward the project of supply
ing every destitute family in Baltimore with the Bible. For some
reason, this consolidation did not occur. At this time, Rev. Andrew
B. Cross, a young Presbyterian clergyman, was appointed to revive
the auxiliaries, emigrants were given German Bibles, Spanish Bibles
were sent to South America, and the re-exploration of Maryland was
taken up.
The last proposal was one involving work of such magnitude, that
a State Bible Convention was called which met in the First Presby
terian Church on May 1, 1833, with Dr. Samuel Baker in the Chair.
Sessions were held for three days, and on the last of these, in the
23

Session Room of the church, under the chairmanship of George
Brown, of the firm of Alexander Brown & Sons, the Maryland State
Bible Society was organized. An- address, written by William Wirt,
was adopted and was ordered to be printed, in an edition of 6,000
copies, and distributed throughout the State. Mr. Wirt was elected
the first President of the Society, but rarely attended the meetings
of the Board of Managers, and died in the next year. The consent
of that eminent lawyer, who had been Attorney-General of the United
States, to assume the Presidency, was probably due to the persuasion
of Dr. Nevins, who was his pastor and intimate friend, and through
whose influence Mr. Wirt had become a communicant member of the
Church in 1831.
About this time, Dr. Nevins wrote an article for a religious news
paper, which article, entitled, "Why the World Should have the
Bible," was republished in a volume of religious essays written by
him and entitled "Practical Thoughts." He had just lost his wife in
the cholera epidemic, and naturally felt that "the Bible is the
mourner's only book. There is nothing will do for him but this.
* t * Like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth. Such
ideas as these never crossed a pagan mind. It never even occurred to
him that God is a Father."
"I would not like to go along the vale of tears and through the
valley of the shadow of death, without the 23rd Psalm in our pos
session." All the article is not gloomy, however, for he wrote:
"Truth is recorded in the Bible, as the stars are sprinkled upon
the firmament. There is no appearance of system in either and yet
in astronomy is there not order, arrangement, the most perfect sys
tem? And may not the same be true of the Bible? Is there har
mony in created objects, and not in revealed truth? Is not the
truth one and concordant?
"It is wonderful that profaneness it not awed into veneration, and
infidelity disarmed of its doubts and objections by the amazing
grandeur of even the descriptions of the Bible. There is in them a
simplicity that attempts nothing, and yet' a sublimity that towers
above everything."
Dr. Nevins was then ill with consumption, from which he died in
fi. T^K^ Ms traet' entitled "Why Everybody Should Have
the Bible which was written in 1834, and was posthumously issued
\-}e ^e-lean,£ract Society> was later included in the volume
entitled Nevins "Select Remains." The American Bible Society
had endeavored to supply the United States with copies of the Bible
and Nevin s imagination was fired1 with the thought of a far wider
project-that of distributing the Bible in 20 years to every inhabi
tant of this planet and thus evangelizing the world in a generation
through the united effort of all Bible Societies. "Ever? year 20
mihons of Pagans go," he wrote, "unlit by revelations' cheer into
eternity." The -Bible, directed to all men, should be delivered to
24

--all men. All have an equal right, an equal need of it. If God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, "surely the world
should1 be informed of the stupendous and deeply interesting fact.
* * All supremely, intensely need 'the Bible,' and need nothing
rso much, and need nothing in comparison with this."
Is the attempt practicable ? Nevins replied that the attempt ought
to be made, to put its practicability to the test. The progress of
Christianity in the First Century was an example. "If we have not
the immediate gift of tongues, yet we have the facility of acquiring
languages, and, if we cannot work miracles, yet we have the benefit
of the argument in favor of Christianity, which miracles furnish. ' '
The Christian commission commanded that the gospel be given to
-all nations. To supply the world was only to do, on a larger scale,
what had been done in the United States, so that there was nothing
a priori against the practicability of the plan, and God's help will
make it practicable. Translations can be made, and were being made,
into all languages and were being printed. Money to pay for them
existed, and "it is — all of it — the Lord's, whose .the Bible is, and the
hearts of those who have it in trust are in his hand." It will cost
millions of dollars, but that fact would not deter men of the world
from business enterprises. The cost would not be a twentieth part
of the cost of a war. Missionaries, aided by native agents and volun
teers, could conduct the work. If any tribe of man can not be
reached, they are not in the accessible world, but "God is opening
the world to his word., Enough is accessible to begin with, and
who can doubt that, as we go on, the openings will be multiplied."
WTiy delay the work?, "Twenty years may pass away, aye, 40, 60,
and the work not be done, and the Church may have to look back
with blushes and tears to hear her neglected, broken, resolution."
' ' The work is not to be done by a simple resolution to do it, but by
the consentaneous, appropriate, and persevering action of those who
agree to the resolution — this action commencing, immediately upon
the adoption of the resolution, and proceeding vigorously, from year
to year."
It shall be done sometime. "The earth shall be full of the knowl
edge of Lord as the waters cover the sea, for the mouth of the
Lord hath spoken it." It is to be done by men and God orders them
to go about it immediately. "They are to make the Bible universal,
as they would make any other Book universal. The only difference
is that, in the case of the Bible, they have encouragements and ad
vantages which, in giving circulation to any other book, they could
not have." The American Bible Society should act first, since the
idea was an American one.
Why should there be delay? No more information was needed,
nor need we wait for others. It is time the church should resolve
"to do, in the strength of God; what it has been so long expressing
Iher desire to have done." She is instructed to pray and labor for
26

the conversion of the world, and "may as well limit her prayers, as;
her labor. We have prayed for the world, without acting for the
world long enough. Now let us pray and act. ' '
Nevins felt a "pity for the present generation of heathen" who
"are groping their way through darkness to the darker, grave."
The world is a more "Scriptural object" to strive to reach, than any
one continent.
We have provided' for America, and, "having passed the limits
which patriotism defines, it now behooves us to go forth, in the spirit
of philanthropy, whose object is man, and her limits only the ends oi
the earth. Next to our country, stands the world. In undertaking
the great enterprise, "we turn Christ's commandment into a reso
lution. * * We do not propose to open the way, but to move for
ward in the path which Providence has opened and is opening, and
to reach what He has rendered accessible." Private enterprise will
supply part of the needed means. It is enough to create a demand,
and "selfishness will be sure to aid in supplying it. The emergency
is great. The income of the American Bible Society is decreasing,
because the United States have been supplied, but a greater work
ought to be unlertaken." There is an impression not only existing
in the minds of men of the world, but far from being effaced from the
minds of the disciples of Jesus, that men cannot afford to give, in
any proportion to what they can afford to spend. * * This is a
mistake, that must be corrected. The truth is, there is nothing we can
afford to do more largely and liberally, than to give into the treasury
of God's Providence." Men may save their expenditures for lotteries
and for liquor, "without any inconvenient economy," and may earn
more to give, without any "additional labor that would be injurious"
to them.
More will agree to a period of 20 years than to any other period;
we should agee to what we can do, not what our successors can do ;
we should help the existing generation of heathen, and we can ac
complish the task in the next 20 years, without great increase of our
efforts in the past 20 years. After adopting this resolve, we may cal
culate "on a more abundant blessing from God than the world ever
yet experienced."
"The Church has never yet fully proved God." If we fail it will
not be our fault "but it will be the first great scheme of benevolence
that {« ever failed." Nevins closed with the heart-searching
thought that perhaps America was not ready to take this resolution,
and alas! he was right in his doubt. She was not ready.
The Fourteenth Report of the Young Men's Society for 1833 re
ferred to the rt-exploration hi the Counties of the State, and to the
organization of the Maryland Bible Society, which hoped to have an
auxiliary Association m every election district of the State and ?
IS7 m ^^ COUnty' reservinS Baltimore to the Young Men's
26

Mr. Wirt was born in 1772, and died on February 18, 1834. After-
his death, Dr. Nevins wrote of him: "As life advanced, his convic
tions of the truth and value of Christian revelation, and of the duties
it imposed upon him, became more earnest and profound. He de
voted a portion of his time every day to the reading of the Scrip
tures; engaged in a comprehensive study of theology; cultivated
habits of prayer and meditation, which he promoted and encouraged
throughout his family, and frequently employed his leisure in the
composition of religious essays and records of private devotion. He
took great interest in the promotion of moral and religious institu
tions, in the missionary labors of the churches, in the extension of the
schools, in the success of the Bible Societies."
He was succeeded as President of the Maryland State Bible Society
by Hon. R. B. Magruder, Associate Judge of the Sixth Judicial
District — the Baltimore County Court — a man whom John H. B.
Latrobe described as "a kindly hearted gentleman of a very full!
face. ' ' He died suddenly on February 12, 1844.
Most of the Society's reports are lost in those early years. From
the Fourth Report in 1837, we learn that H. S. Keppler was agent,.
and Francis T. King, in later years, recorded that until 1853, the
Society's place of business was usually in the small parlor of the
agent's dwelling, except when it occupied quarters as a guest of the
Maryland Sunday School Depository.
In 1836, the old, or Baltimore Bible Society, disbanded and turned
over to the treasury of the Maryland Society its funds, and, in 1837,
the Young Men's Bible Society also amalgamated with it, as had been
suggested by Rev. Dr. Nevins, "the unwavering friend of the Bible
Cause." There was then left only one of the four Societies which
had been organized in Baltimore, and it represented the three impor
tant earlier ones. In 1837, it was reported that every county had
been visited, and all the County Societies had become auxilaries. A
colored society existed in Baltimore. The receipts for the year had
been $2,043, and the issue of books since organization had risen from
640 in 1833, to 882 in 1834, to 4,082 in 1835, to 10,320 in 1836, and
had fallen to 2,231 in 1837.
Judge Magruder continued as President of the Society until 1842,.
when he was succeeded by the Rev. John G. Morris, D. D., the pastor
of the First English Lutheran Church, whom we have already found
as President. of the Young Men's Bible Society. He held office for
six years, and was then succeeded by Rev. Thomas Atkinson, D. D.,
who was then rector of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church.
During Dr. Morris's presidency, the receipts of the Society were a
little over $3,000 a year, on the average. Dr. Atkinson was born in
Virginia in 1807, studied at Yale and Hampden Sidney Colleges, and
practiced law for eight years at Winchester, Virginia, before enter
ing the ministry. He was ordained in 1836, and, after holding
pastorates in Norfolk and Lynchburg, came to Baltimore in 1843. He
27

became first Rector of Grace Church when it was organized, and,
after declining twice a call to become Bishop of Indiana, accepted one
in* 1853 to become Bishop of North Carolina, in which office he con
tinued, until his death in 1881. He was largely instrumental m the
reunion of the Northern and Southern Dioceses of his Church m 1865.
Under Dr. Morris's presidency, the Society was incorporated by the
Legislature of Maryland, on March 10, 1843, for a period of thirty
years. The series of printed reports is incomplete but, in 1850, we find,
from the 17th Annual Report, that the Society was located at 13
Payette Street, one door West of Charles, and that it was sending out
colporteurs, one of whom worked among the German immigrants.
Most of the Auxiliary Societies had died, there remaining only 1)
the Young Men's Bible Society of Frederick, which will celebrate its>
centennial in 1921, and which has always typified church unity in that'
prosperous and important county. (At that time, Dr. Albert Ritchie
was President; and John A. Steiner was Vice-President) ; 2) the Ladies'
Branch Bible Society of Baltimore (which recently, in its 98th year,
became an auxiliary to the Maryland Tract Society; 3) the Carroll
County Bible Society ; 4) and the Clear Spring Bible Society of Wash
ington County. Hotels, as well as the hospitals and the Almshouse,
were supplied with Bibles, and an anniversary was held, according to
custom, this year, on January 21, 1851, in the First English Lutheran
Church. In the next report, read at the Anniversary in the Associate Re
formed Church in 1852, we read of a quickened activity. Auxiliary
societies had been formed in Queen Anne's, Caroline, Kent, Talbot,
Cecil, and Worcester Counties, in the Eastern Shore, and we read as
well of the Ladies' Bible Society of Princess Anne in Somerset County,
which alone survives them all.
We learn of the survival of the Female Bible Society of Baltimore,
which, "venerable in its existence, being now in its 35th year, still
holds on its way in doing good." An East Baltimore Bible Society
is reported, which began its work in 1846, and a Female Bible Society
at Salisbury, on the Eastern Shore, which was organized1 in 1847 A
committee was appointed to prepare a* history of Bible distribution
m Maryland, but I can find no report of it. In February 1851 a
movement was inaugurated to raise a fund of $10,000, to erect a
Bible Depository Francis T. King being chairman of the Committee.
Dr Atkinson then retired and Dr. Morris became President again,
ly^ll^M? M&oBto f°-r a year> *** **«* ™tired in
favor of William McKim. Dr. Morris, a few years afterwards re
tired from the pastorate and became the first librarian of the Peabody
Institute His later years were filled with study and writing and at
n^arv' 189b4CT ^f "* ? ^ ^ndffiEriS Sott^
S,wT^' 1 ^e £led 0n the 12th of the following October
Mr McKim was born m Baltimore in 1808, graduated at It MarS
College, and studied law. He became a banker and held slveral^
28

portant positions, among them the presidency of the Baltimore Marine
Insurance Company. He served in the bank riots, and for fifteen
years thereafter, as a militia officer on the staff of General John Spear
Smith. He was a Whig, a trustee of the Peabody Institute at its or
ganization, and a Union man in 1861. He served the Society as.
President, for four years, from 1853 to 1857, and was later its Treas
urer, from 1868 to 1872. He died on September 11, 1879. The new
Bible House was opened in 1852 on Fayette Street, east of Charles,
occupying a part of the site of the present Bible House.
At the Anniversary, held in 1853 in the Associate Reformed Church,.
the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng came back from New York City to make an
address in the cause in which he had been active thirty years before.
The receipts of the Society, which had increased under Dr. Atkinson 's-
Presidency, to an average of $7,000 a year, now leaped to $12,782 ; but,
in spite of that increase, a debt of $4,577 remained on the house.
From 1834, the Society had elected an agent : Rev. Ira Foster serving
for a year, Rev. H. S. Kepler from 1835 to 1839, Rev. J. S. Mitchell
from 1839 to 1845, Rev. J. P. Carter from 1845 to 1848, Rev. J. H.
Kennard from 1848 to 1856. A City Agent as a separate officer had
been elected in 1841 and Mr. J. W. Tillyard, who had filled the posi
tion until 1850, had been then succeeded by Rev. Thomas H. Quinan,
who held the office until 1868. In 1854, there were 22 Auxiliaries. In
addition to those previously named : the Taneytown Society, founded
in 1843, had come into relations with the State Society, and Societies
had been formed in Anne Arundel, Calvert, Harford, Montgomery,
and' Baltimore Counties. The last named was the strongest of them
all — for several years supported a salaried agent, and published' an
annual report as late as 1881.
On January 28, 1857, the Anniversary should have been held in
the Associate Reformed Church and Rev. George W. Bethune came
from Brooklyn to deliver the address, but did not do so, for the
"severity of the weather prevented' the friends of the Bible Cause
from attending." The report for 1856, alluded to the second effort
of the American Bible Society to reach every one, and urged that
assistance be. given this exploration of the country. A Society had
been formed in Allegany County and one at St. Michael's, in Talbot
County. Galloway Cheston was elected President, and held the office
for two years, from 1857 to 1859. During his Presidency, the re
ceipts averaged about $12,000 a year. He was a member of the
Society of Friends (Orthodox), a native of Anne Arundel County,
and a prosperous flour merchant. He was one of the original trustees
of the Peabody Institute and of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, having
been one of the Executors of Mr. Hopkins's will. He was a Union
man in 1861, and died in 1882. Under him, the Society employed 6
agents, or colporteurs, and had 18 active auxiliaries. The report for
1858 lamented "the increased proportion of listless auxiliaries." In.
Somerset County, there was progress, but "d'eadness pervades all
other counties on the Eastern Shore." Midshipmen at the Naval
29

Academy were suppled with Bibles in 1858, and, in that year, the
Female Bible Society of Annapolis dissolved relations with the Ameri
can Bible Society, and became an Auxiliary of the Maryland Society.
In 1857, the Maryland Society was disturbed, and protested because
the American Bible Society's new standard Bible did not conform
to the generally received editions of the English Bible in 1816. The
American Bible Society promised to correct it, and then the Maryland
Society gave that Society $1,000. In 1856, Rev, John Baer, became
agent of the Baltimore County Bible Society. In 1859, over $18,000
were collected for the Society, an amount never again equalled..
Rev. Isaac P. Cook, a Methodist Episcopal clergyman, was chosen
President, in January 1859, and continued in office until 1868.
The 27th Report, for the year 1860, refers to the experiment entered
on by the Ladies' Branch Bible Society, of employing three "females"
to go about, from house to house, reading the Bible. About 20,000
volumes were then being issued, every year ; but, during the past year,
"civil commotions, such as it was our cherished hope could never be
fall us, racked the nation to its centre, paralyzing trade, withdrawing
men's minds from the peaceful avocations of life, and filling all with
apprehension for the future. ' ' The Report was made in April, 1861,
when the "widespread derangement in business and social rela
tions, ' ' diminished the issue of books, and curtailed the monied re-
•ceipts. However, the great Civil War gave the Bible Society new and re
markable opportunities. Rev. Thomas Myers became general agent
in 1861, and the report for that year refers to a "vigorous rally, and
measure of prosperity astonishing to those who fail to recognize the
hand of Providence in all things." The issue of volumes amounted
to 18,816, but, as a large part of these were Testaments, the monied
value was diminished. To soldiers, 6,020 were given, and this "mili
tary distribution" was an "absorbing item." On the other hand,
the 7 colporteurs had been reduced to 3. The report states that,
with the good feeling and harmony which has always characterized
the operations of the Board, which is especially called for in carrying
on such an enterprise as ours, the Managers early resolved, in meet
ing the obligation devolving upon them as Christians, to ignore the
e?C1llng„1SSUe? of Tthe day' in view of the Paramount duty in the spread
of the Gospel. It was, therefore, determined to afford the further
gratuitous circulation of the Scriptures among those who from the
demoralizing tendencies of camp life, and the daily dangers of dis
ease and battle, loudly called for the safeguards and comforts of God's
mrd. TlusdutebiitiMj has been applied to Marylanders in the field,
without reference to the political differences of the day: the Federal
-exception m favor of religious matter enabling us to direct a lafge
supply to Maryland troops in the Southern service." g
a £? * k i.rep0rt- tells us that the BiWe House was free from
debt, and that the auxiliaries continued at work. AmonTth sokS
there had been distributed 28,541 volumes. Naval vefsels Tad re-
30

received some books. Distribution to minors had been discontinued.
Ine activity of the Society had been varied. Volumes "have been
distributed among both the invalid and active troops in the numerous
hospitals or camps throughout the State, and wherever, within our
State limits, the judicious colporteurs and agents, or committees, have
deemed it advisable to present the volumes." The "general condi
tion of our Society" was "prosperous and healthy," "we have fairly
weathered the difficulties which so recently surrounded' us, and are
now in a full career of usefulness and extending activity. The ut
most harmony has pervaded the Board, in all its operations, and we
have passed through the fierce civil turmoil which racks the land,
without a single clash of thought or feeling to jar upon the Christian
kindness and courtesy which should pervade a body charged with the
distribution of the Gospel. ' ' Large numbers of Bibles, freely donated
by the Parent Board, for Southern armies, had been "forwarded,
with the full concurrence of the proper authorities, to Southern
destinations and will continue to be so forwarded."
The impression that the South would not accept such volumes, had
been proven incorrect, and volumes had even been sold for the South
ern field. In the early spring of 1863, 5,000 Testaments were sent
to the Virginia Bible Society, and warm thanks were received for
them. In May, 1863, 9,000 more Testaments were sent thither.
The emancipation of slaves in the South by Lincoln's proclamation
in 1863, and in Maryland by the new State Constitution in 1864, led
to an urgent appeal in the latter year for funds, because of the "large
accession to the numbers requiring our Christian care, by the recent
social changes in the colored population of our State. ' ' In that year,
five colporteurs were employed, and 50,425 volumes were distributed,
as against 52,685 volumes in the previous year. Through the Mary
land Bible Society, the American Bible Society had sent into the
Southern States, 2,000 Bibles and 24,500 Testaments. The demand
from prisoners of war, was decreasing. During the past year, 12,837
volumes had 'been given them, 25,000 had been distributed to soldiers
in Maryland, and 441 sent to Fort Monroe.
When the Society's year ended, on March 31, 1866, it reported
1,476 books given freedmeri, the employment of six colporteurs, and
gifts of 3,395 volumes to soldiers, 12,493 to prisoners of war, and
3,300 to Virginia. Books had been circulated in the German, French,
Italian, Welsh, Greek, and Dutch languages. 'The South had still
been supplied through the Society, and a donation of $5,000 had been
sent to the American Bible Society, making, with private contribu
tions; about $13,000 from the State from the beginning. The war
was over, and the Society looked forward with!, hopefulness to a re
sumption of its more immediate work within the State.
A year later, in 1867, the gifts to the soldiers reported were 543
volumes and that item then disappears from the records. Books were
still sent "to Virginia, but a temporary falling off of interest was re
ported, after the effort of the years of War. In 1865-66, the Ameri-
31

ean Bible Society sent the South, ^^.^J^^Z^^
volumes. In 1866, urgency was expressed for help of the fmerican,
BibTsociety, in its attempt to make a third general supply of the
United [States with Bibles Four new auxiliaries were reported at
Newtown (nowTcomoke City), in Worcester County; Westminster
and TlSeytown in Carroll County; and Cumberland in Allegany
County ^he recent change in the condition of our eoored I peo
ple "we are told, "has increased their demand for the Holy Scrip
tures, both for domestic and Sabbath School use. They have, accord
ingly', been largely aided."
In 1868 Mr. Francis T. King became president of the Society and
continued to hold the position until 1885 like Ifr. ^^J™™
an orthodox Friend, a Union man, a wealthy merchant (having been
a dealer in dry goods), an executor of the will of Johns Hopkins and
one of the first trustees of the institutions founded by him. The re
port of April, 1868, stated that 22,636 volumes had been distributed
and $3,000 had been sent the American Bible Society. A large part
of the distribution had been among the colored people, and an appeal
was made for more money, so that the State might! be more quickly
covered by the Society's agents. During the summer of 1867, five-
students from the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary at
Alexandria, Virginia, had been employed as colporteurs throughout
the State.
In 1868, William H. Cole was elected sole agent, Rev. Messrs.
Quinan & Myers retiring. He was a faithful Presbyterian layman, a
good bookkeeper and office mjan, but no public speaker, and the new
policy was probably responsible for a decline in interest, and, conse
quently, in donations to the Society. It was hoped that, in giving up
a traveling agent, the congregations of the churches would be reached'
through their pastors, who are "all friends of the Bible, and under
stand the importance of the work in which we are engaged, and, we
cannot doubt, will willingly relieve us of the large expense of a
traveling agent." In response to an appeal from the American
Bible Society, $1,000 had been sent thither. Little had been received
from the counties. Four colporteurs had been employed throughout
the year, and the services of eight others had been used for part of
the time.
In pursuance of the new policy, resolutions were secured favoring-
the cause of 'the Bible Societies, from various bodies representing the
Reformed, Lutheran, Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Protestant,
Methodist Episcopal South, and Presbyterian denominations, and
these resolutions were printed in the Annual Report for 1869-70. In
that year, the gift was announced of two dwellings in the rear of the
Bible Hpuse, which would allow a needed enlargement, $4,000 was
sent to the American Bible Society, and distribution was begun of
Bibles to immigrants from. Europe, arriving in Baltimore by the
North German Lloyd line of steamships. 32

Between the years 1867 and 1871, the State, except St. Mary's and
Charles counties, was supplied with Bibles, the number of copies dis
tributed each year being respectively: 22,636; 25,618; 23,347 and
20,071. To immigrants 30 Bibles and 901 Testaments were given in
1870-71. Separate itemization of gifts to colored persons had been
discontinued. Over 1,800 vessels were visited. The Frederick
County Young Men's Bible Society celebrated its semi-centennial in
January 1, 2 and 3, 1871, reporting that it had distributed 26,194
volumes, and collected $17,912 during the half century. The value
of the translations of the Bible into foreign languages in aid of mis
sionaries, was emphasized and especial attention was called to the
fact that the complete Arabic Bible had been published. The Ameri
can Bible Society received $3,700 from the Maryland Society.
The thirty years of the charter were about to expire, and an
amendatory act was secured in Chapter 148, of the Laws of 1872, by
which the word, State was dropped from the name of the Society, so
that it read merely, the Maryland Bible Society. The amount of in
come from investments allowed annually, was increased to $10,000,
while the duration of the corporation was unlimited. In that year,
21,151 volumes were distributed, $3,000 sent to the "Parent Society,"
and $1,000 spent on improvements to the building. Southern grants,
to the amount of 605 volumes, were announced, and the grand total of
the Society's distribution from its organization, was stated as 620,235
volumes. The work among immigrants was given up, as the Ameri
can Bible Society began to carry on such work at Bremen at the other
end of the steamship line.
At the end of 40 years, the Society had given the American Bible
Society $54,357.80, had distributed 222,269 Bibles and 427,449 Testa
ments, and had received $362,157.84. The Ladies' Branch Society
was employing 4 Bible readers in 1872-3, $2,000 were sent to the
American Society, and 19,493 volumes were distributed. It was
felt that the situation of the Bible House was unsuitable, and there
was considerable agitation for a removal of the Society's home on
Charles Street. The report states that there was "great multiplica
tion of special forms of charity, ' ' and that in the ' ' midst of this mul
tiform solicitation, there is danger that our cause, so quietly con
ducted and relying mainly upon not only the voluntary, but the
spontaneous contributions of its friends, may be made overlooked, or
made to yield to what seems, at the moment, more imperative claims. ' '
In 1874, we find the new Bible House was built on the east side of
Charles Street, above Fayette Sreet, at an expense of $30,000 for lot
and building. The Fayette Street building was mortgaged for
$10,000, a ground rent of $10,000 was placed on the Charles Street
lot, and $10,000 was paid in cash to meet the cost. The upper floors
of the new house were occupied "by the offices of the Johns Hopkins
University and Hospital. A new auxiliary was reported in the new
Garrett County. Four Bibles had been placed for reading by the
passengers in each coach of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and on
33

each mail and baggage oar for the employees. For J^^cS
1 ,005 volumes had been given. The Western Maryland Raih oad _cars.
had also been supplied in like manner, and it was h£P^,raPrEj^
Zb of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore gg^'g^g
the new Bible Bouse was occupied m June, 1874 : ur terest m tne bo
™tv declined the American Society was sent only $1,ZUU m tnat
yet, 16,617 volumes were issued, and only part of the time four men
as colporteurs was used. _
In 1875-76, the report read at the anniversary m the Mt Vernon
Place Methodist Episcopal Church, showed collections of $5,898, is-
sues of 15 453 volumes, and $1,000 sent to the American Society.
The record for the Centennial year of the United States was worse:
$4 406 coZcted, $400 for the American Society 13,579 volumes ; is
sued In 1878 the record was about the same; there was no donation.

The Second Bible House, 113 N. Charles Street
Erected 1874 Destroyed by the Great Fire 1904

to the American Society, though $4,634 were collected, and 18,975'
volumes were distributed. Four theological students in the summer -
were the only colporteurs.
In 1878-79 the receipts were $4,517; the distribution was 19,801 ;
and, in 1879-80, $5,650 were collected, and 20,708 volumes distributed.
During 1881-82, a legacy was received from the estate of Galloway
Cheston, and 10 colporteurs were employed, but their total service
amounted to only 28 months. In that year, $4,358 were given, and.
34

18,383 volumes distributed, and donations to the American Bible So
ciety began again with a gift of $1,000.
InYu88i5 Mr' King retired from< the presidency and was succeeded
by Charles Markell, a prominent merchant and importer of spices,
who had been born in Frederick, but had removed to Baltimore while
quite a young man, and who was a member of the Protestant Epis
copal Church. In the succeeding year, Mr. Cole retired from the
agency, to which position Rev. Thomas Myers returned. He con
tinued to hold the position, until he died in 1895, when he was suc
ceeded by Rev. Robert W. Todd, who was succeeded in turn in 1898
by Rev. L. T. Wddermian, D. D.. a Methodist clergyman, of much
dignity and quiet earnestness, who remained in charge of matters at
the Bible House for many years and until shortly before his death in
1917 he was succeeded by the Rev. James H. Hyatt, D. D. Dr.
Hyatt's title has been changed from agent to executive secretary, and
he is still the Society's efficient administrative officer.
Mr. Markell held office for* a year and was succeeded by Mr. Charles
J. Baker, but, after another year, Mr. Markell returned to the presi
dency, and held it, by successive re-elections until 1894. Mr. Baker,
who was born in 1821, was a graduate of Dickinson College, and was
a devoted member of the Methodist Church. He was a manufacturer
of window glass, bottles and paints ; was president of the City Council
in 1860-62, resigning at the request of the Federal military authori
ties; was editor of the "Baltimore Exchange" newspaper, was presi
dent of the Canton Company and of the Franklin Bank; and was
largely instrumental in building the Union Railroad with its tunnel
under the city. During these two presidencies the average number
of volumes distributed was 21,000 a year.
In 1891 we learn that there were three colporteurs employed in
Baltimore in the winter, and six in the summer in the counties.
Nearly $5,000 were received in gifts, and $1,000 given to the Ameri
can Society, which, however, received nothing in the next year.
In 1894 Mr. John R. Kelso was chosen president. He was a promi
nent hardware merchant, and, in 1892, was chosen on the Republican
ticket to the Second Branch of the City Council. He was born in
1837. Mr. Klelso esteemed the honor conferred on him, highly, say
ing: "I would rather be a member of the Boards of the Bible So
ciety and the Tract Society, than a member of the United States
Senate. ' '
He held the office for a year only, for he died on July 17, 1895, and
was succeeded by Mr. German H. Hunt. Mr. Hjunt was a Methodist,
and was prominent in the organization of the Bialtirmore Trust Com
pany. He was born in 1829, and, learning the trade of a machinist,
associated himself with Robert Poole in 1851, in the firm of Poole and
Hunt, which carried on a very successful business in Woodberry,
from which Mr. Hunt retired in 1889. He served as president of the
Merchants and Manufacturers Association, and of the board of di
rectors of the Maryland Institute. During the later years of his
35

presidency, he was often absent from the meetings of the board of
managers, at which times the chair was taken by one of the vice-
presidents, Mr. John P. Ammddon or Mr. Benjamin F. Bennett.
In 1894, 23,627 volumes were distributed; in 1895, 21, 822 volumes,
and the eollecions were $4,079 and $3,942, respectively, for these
years. The American Bible Society received $1,500 in the former
year, nothing in the latter. For several years, a lethargy came over
the Society. Donations dropped to about $3,500, and the distribu
tion to about 15,000 volumes. The writer may be permitted the per
sonal reference to the fact that in 1899 he became a member of the
board of managers, and was chosen 'recording secretary, an office he
held by annual re-election until 1915. In 1902 Richard K. Cross,
Esq., became president of the Society. He was a strikingly handsome
m|an, of rare charm, a graduate of Princeton, an ardent yachtsman, an
elder in the Presbyterian Church, a lawyer of good ability, who gave
much time to the Society's interests.
In the great fire of February 7, 1904, the Bible House was burned.
Mr. Cross at once rose to the emergency. Temporary quarters were
secured in the Young Men's Christian Asociation Building, at the
corner of Charles and Saratoga streets, while the board of managers
met at Mr. Cross's law office at 10 East Lexington street. The
Charles-street site was sold, additional ground was secured on East
Fayette street, and the present Bible House was erected on the site
of the first one, and was ready for occupancy in August, 1905. In
spite of difficulties, 14,635 volumes were distributed in 1903-4, and
$500 sent the American Bible Society ; and 12,652 volumes distributed
in 1904-5, with a contribution of $1,000 to the National Society. For
the purchase of the additional lot on Fayette street, $6,679 was paid,
and the sale of the Charles street lot brought in $29,802. The upper
part of the new building was rented for offices, the Society occupied"
the west store room on the first floor, having the board room behind
it. This arrangement lasted until 1916, when the Society removed to
the East store room, and the board meetings were transferred to the
rear room on the second story. A mortgage was placed upon the
building, which was paid off in four years. On August 27, 1909.
L'S Jed suddenly. Be had been a member of the Board since
character^ ^ hTS ^T^ ^ testimony to his "high Christian
character, and his love for the inspired word of God toaether with
siLTon?' aananirtnrti™ abilit^ *** tact in dealSg wiCdiffiTulr
At the next annual election Rev. John F. Goucher LL D was
had been paid in th%e Wars a SJ S ' a£d' ^n the ascription
made to th'at Society to be "aid i^^K £ $1?°° ™
gigtor the revision and sSreotypfpLK £ SS^SSS
36

Bible House — Cristobal — Panama Canal Zone

After complying with that obligation, in 1916, a third pledge was
made to pay $50,000 in ten years, so that a Bible House might be
erected at Cristobal in the Panama Canal Zone. This building is now
complete and bears a bronze tablet with this inscription —
The word of our God shall stand forever
1816 1916
The Maryland Bible Society
Presents to
The American Bible Society
In commemoration of its centennial anniversary
This building
With thanksgiving to God for the marvellous
opening of the Gospel to the peoples of the
Earth through the ministry of the
Society during these first one
hundred years
Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowl
edge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

In 1816, the Society received the large legacy of $55,000 from the
estate of John K. McCulloh.
The work has so changed that, in 1916-17, $12,491 were received
from income of investments and rent of rooms in the building, and
only $2,340 from donations. In 1916, the Ladies' Branch Bible
Society transferred its work to the Maryland Tract Society, so that
the Young Men's Bible Society of Frederick County and Ladies' Bible
Society of Princess Anne, are the only ones remaining. In 1917, a
new constitution, was adopted, simplifying the organization of the
Society. During the year 1917-18, 34,472 volumes were distributed,
of which 13,570 were given away, and $3,858 were collected. In 1917,
summer colportage by -students, was again taken up, two students
from Princeton being employed.
When the United States entered the Great War, the Society felt
that there must be a distribution of the Scriptures to the soldiers.
Copies of the well-known khaki Testament were procured, and in
each one was placed this message, secured from President Woodrow
Wilson by Dr. Goucher: "This book speaks both the voice of God
and the voice of humanity, for there is told in it the most convincing
story of human experience that has ever been written, take it all in all,
and those who heed that story will know that strength and happiness
and success are all summed up in the exhortation. 'Fear God and
keep his commandments." This Testament was given to the mem
bers of all the Maryland military commands and was received by
them with pleasure. One cannot estimate the far reaching influence
of this achievement.
At Camp Gaither, Laurel, Md., one thousand New Testaments
were presented to the regiment, and a khaki bound Bible was
given to the Chaplain, Rev. F. C. Reynolds. At Oockeysville,
Maryland, twelve hundred men of the Fifth Maryland Infantry
were assembled by Colonel Washington Bowie. Rev. John F.
Goucher, LL. D., read Ephesians VT. 10-17. The Executive Secretary,
Rev. James H. Hyatt, D. D., assisted by helpers, then handed each
man a New Testament. "It was an inspiring sight, as each soldier
passing by, Roman Catholic as well as Protestant, Jew as well as Gen
tile, marching single file, gratefully received the volume, saying, "I
thank you for the Testament."
A little later, September 14th, 1917, at Cockeysville, six hundred'
more received Testaments just before their departure for Camp Mc-
Uellan, Anmston, Alabama. Similar exercises took place at Fort
McHenry, Fort Howard and Camp Meade. "Reports have been
made since the war to the Society by Chaplains, telling how the boys
carried these little books with them to the battle-fields in Flanders,
and how over there some of the boys made the supreme sacrifice, hav
ing the Word of God with them as they closed their eyes in death
• 1 ^ Zt loe&1 a Wo'rd ot eounsel in life and a Word of comfort
in death. In addition to the grants made to the soldiers volumes
were given to the Y. M. C. A. and the Red Cross for use in their work

Distribution of Testaments at Fort McHenry to Soldiers in' the Great War

Throughout the whole period of one hundred and ten years, the
Maryland Bible Society and its predecessors have faithfully striven
to distribute the Word of God to men. No attempt has been made to
place other religious works in the hands of the people, but the entire
effort has been centered in the sale or gift to men of the Bible the
New Testament, or smaller portions of the whole Bible. The chief
effort has properly been made in Maryland. Through a suitable
stock of books kept at the Central Bible House in Baltimore, as well
as through colportage carried' on in all parts of the State, from year
to year, much has been accomplished to prevent the citizens of Mary
land from becoming destitute of the Scriptures. Bound by no narrow
conception of its duty, however, the Society early became an aux
iliary of the American Bible Society and has regularly sent contri
butions there to. Toward its endowment, the Maryland Society made
a liberal contribution. The plates of the Arabic reference Bible— a
great work through which it becomes possible to carry the Gospel
message to the Moslem world — were paid for with Maryland money.
The fine Bible House at Cristobal, in the Panama Canal Zone, stands
as a monument to the liberality and missionary zeal of the Maryland
Bible Society.
During the eighty-seven years which have passed, since its reorgani
zation under its present name, the Maryland Bible Society has dis
tributed 1,633,423 volumes of the Scriptures, including Testaments
and smaller portions of the Bible — and has paid from its surplus
funds $140,207.63 to the American Bible Society, "for the circulation
of the Scriptures throughout the United States and Territories, and
other countries, whether Christian, Mohammedan, or pagan." .The
sale of Bibles at the Maryland Bible House is increasing and, in
December, 1920, more copies were sold than in the same month in any
other year since the Bible Society began its work in 1910. This fact
shows that the interest in reading the Bible is increasing and that the
Society may look forward to a larger work in the future than at any
time in the past.
_ The Society has been faithful to its duty in times of peace and has
risen to meet the greater emergency in time of war. In the Civil War
and the Great World War, care was taken to see that the soldiers
were equipped with "the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of
God." The future is "bright as the promises of God;" for the
Society is not one whose life is alone in the past. Rather does it
press forward to meet the needs of future years, confident that the
Lord, who has blessed its work hitherto, Avill grant it still oreater
usefulness in the coming time.

YALE I

= '¦: \"