YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

y^ETVER!^'

THE LIBRARY OF THE
DIVINITY SCHOOL

*

THE DAY MISSIONS LIBRARY

THE

JUBILEE MEMORIAL
or THE
Skittajr anii ^Farngu %ihlt iariefti;
U v '
it
1853-1854.

CONTAINING A

SELECTION OF THE DOCUMENTS

ISSUED DURING

THE JUBILEE YEAR,
A REPORT OF THE JUBILEE PROCEEDINGS,
TOGETHER WITH A
SUMMARY OF CONTRIBUTIONS,
AND
VARIOUS TABULAR STATEMENTS.

LONDON:
SOLD AT THE
SOCIETY'S HOUSE, 10 EARL STREET, BLACKFRIARS.
1854.

I'TUNTED UY W. M. WATTS, CROWN COURT, TEMTLE BAR.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
Introduction  v
Address of the Committee, Jubilee Paper, No. I. . . . 1
Jubilee Celebration —
Meeting at the London Tavern . . „ . . . 5
Meeting at Exeter Hall  tf 7
Address ofthe President .... .8
Speeches ......... 9
Jubilee Statement  44
Jubilee Papers —
No. II. Facts and Observations  54
„ III. Address to the Young . . . . .58
,, IV. An Address to Ministers and Missionaries . . 62
„ V. Recollections and Counsels . . . .75
„ VI. A Plea for the Benevolent Fund . . . . 83
„ VII. Bible Colportage on the Continent . . .88
„ VIII. The providence of God traced in the Origin and
Progress of the Society . . . . .104
„ IX. An Appeal for enlarged support . . . . 120
„ X. What is the Bible, and What has it done ? . . 135
„ XI. Second Address ofthe Committee . . . . 149
Single-leaf Series of Jubilee Papers —
A. Questions and Answers for the Year of Jubilee . . 152
B. Letter from the Bishop of Calcutta .... 155
C. Address to the Working Classes ... . 158
China — The Million New Testament Fund —
China Paper, No. 1  161
Ditto No. II  ' • 164
Conclusion of the Jubilee Year, Meeting at Freemasons'
Hall  168
Address ofthe President  168
Rev. Dr. Steinkopff  169
Rev. J. H. Gurney ... . 173
Rev. Dr. Archer . . . • . . 179
Edward Corderoy, Esq  183
Rev. George Browne . . . . 188

( iv ) PAGE
Jubilee Report  191
Preliminary Proceedings . . .... 193
Jubilee Meetings .... . . 197
The Jubilee Fund  205
Appropriation of the Jubilee Fund ..... 207
Special Deputations ..... . . 216
Benevolent Fund  216
Future Appropriations ....... 217
The Million New Testament Fund for China . . .217
Close of the Jubilee Year ....... 219
Appendix, No. I. to VII. ... . 221
Addenda ......... 249
Donations of Ten Guineas and upwards, to the Jubilee
Fund, paid direct to the Parent Society . . . . 251
Contributions to the Jubilee Fund from Auxiliary
Societies, &c  253
Donations of Ten Guineas and Upwards, to the Chi
nese New Testament Fund, paid direct to the Parent
Society  " . . ' . 262
Tabular Statements 
No. I. The Officers and Committee in the Year 1804 —
1805  263
,, II. The Officers and Committee in the Year of Ju
bilee 1853—1854  264
„ III. Place of Meeting, Presidents, Issues, and Expen
diture, from 1804 to 1854 inclusive . . . 265
„ IV. Alphabetical List of Speakers at the Annual
Meetings from the Year 1805 to 1854 . . 266
„ V. Bible Societies connected with the British and
Foreign Bible Society  269
„ VI. Foreign Bible Societies formerly or at present
assisted, &c  . 270
,, VII. Editions of the Scriptures and integral portions
thereof, &c. &c  272
,, VIII. Table of Languages and Dialects, &c. . . 276
„ IX. Recapitulation ....... 282
„ X. Form of a Bequest  282

INTRODUCTION.

A Jubilee, occurring only once in Fifty years, is necessarily a period
of considerable interest, and, in the present instance, the interest is
proportionably heightened by the value and importance of the Society
with which it is identified.
It was after some hesitation, that the Committee ofthe British and
Foreign Bible Society resolved on celebrating the Fiftieth year, as
one of Jubilee. This hesitation arose in part from the apparent absence
of objects of sufficient magnitude to justify an Appeal for a Special Fund,
and in part, also, from the difficulty of constructing a machinery to
carry on such additional operations as the exigencies of a Jubilee Year
might possibly require.
The anxious deliberations of the Committee resulted in an earnest deter
mination to embrace such opportunities, and to improve such advantages,
as this special period in the history of the Society should furnish. The
preliminary arrangements having been made, such as the appointment
of a Secretary and a Special Committee, the attention of the public was
called to the approaching period, and the Auxiliary Societies throughout
the world were invited to celebrate the year, commencing on the 7th
of March 1853, as the Jubilee of the Institution. The invitation was
cheerfully accepted, and the various objects proposed, were not only
approved of, but practically carried into execution to a far greater
extent than the Committee ventured to anticipate. The deep and
general interest awakened throughout the country soon banished their
early misgivings, and, as the year proceeded, they witnessed the earnest-

VI

ness and zeal of individuals and Societies with growing satisfaction and
delight. The Volume now presented, is intended to be a permanent record of
the labours and successes of the Jubilee year, and of the deep sense of
gratitude to the Author of every good, felt by those who were privi
leged to conduct its various operations.
It is a source of satisfaction to the Committee, to review the Una
nimity and Liberality which characterized the proceedings of the
Jubilee year. No discordant elements from within — no organized
opposition from without— interfered with the Agents of the Society, and
its numerous friends throughout the land, in announcing and executing
their various plans. Never were the Officers, Committee, and Mem
bers of our affiliated Societies more unanimous in carrying out any special
measures proposed to them. When invited to acknowledge the good
ness of God in raising up the Society, at a time when it was so greatly
needed ; in preserving it when assailed by many opponents ; in pro
spering its efforts so largely in the translation, printing, and circulation
of the Scriptures, there were not wanting hearts to respond to the call,
and to present to the throne of heaven their overflowing and grateful
praise. When it was thought well, in connection with the claims of
the Society, to re-assert the divine origin and authority of the Bible,
and the right of all men to possess it, there were found at hand,
both in this country and abroad, able, learned, and pious men, whose
lips, or whose pens, poured forth, from the pulpit and the press, words
of wisdom and power. When urged, still further, to give a practical
proof of the interest they felt in the Jubilee objects, multitudes came
forward to offer willingly and liberally of their worldly substance,
thereby enabling the Society to engage in works of usefulness on a
scale of greater magnitude than ever. A few gave much ; the List
of Contributions contains the names of donors of Fifty, Five Hun
dred, and even of One Thousand Pounds each. Many gave little ; and
it is the combination of all — the rich with their " talents," the poor
with their " mites,"— which has produced the munificent amount placed
at the disposal of the Committee.

The Jubilee Report, which forms a part of this Volume, enume
rates the various channels in which the benevolence of the Society, thus
replenished and enlarged, has flowed ; and although the Jubilee Fund
has only been partially appropriated, the Committee are grateful for
the amount of good already accomplished, while they are still pro
ceeding with the work, and waiting for further openings for the
prosecution of their designs.
The following, as will be seen by the Jubilee Report, is the
direction which the appropriation has taken, up to the present time.
Colportage has been established in rural districts, and in crowded
manufacturing towns, to supplement, by an effective mode of agency,
the valuable services of our Auxiliary Societies, and to meet the
wants of those who cannot be reached by the existing plans of operation.
The Principality of Wales has been largely supplied with Jubilee
Bibles at a reduced price, — a measure which has served to endear the
Society to a very large number of persons in that portion of the king
dom. The Union-Houses, Hospitals, Infirmaries, and Prisons of
England and Wales have been supplied, to a considerable extent, with
Bibles and Testaments of a suitable size, for the permanent use of the
inmates. Various City and Town Missions, with other Benevolent and
Religious Societies, have been supplied at the expense of the Jubilee
Fund. Ireland also has received a considerable share of attention, and the
grants of Jubilee Bibles and Testaments forwarded to the sister island
have involved an expenditure of about Five thousand pounds.
The Continent of Europe, more especially Holland, Bel
gium, and Germany, has received large grants of Bibles and Testa
ments in various languages, for the use of Schools, Workhouses,

vm
Prisons, &c, while the Universities of Bonn and Upsala have
gladly received the proffered Jubilee grant.
The Committee have endeavoured to benefit India by means of the
Jubilee Fund, and the grants to the various Presidencies, and the island
of Ceylon, have already exceeded Five thousand pounds,
Special Deputations have been sent to the British Possessions of
North America, and to the Colonies of Australia, with a view to
strengthen and encourage the existing Auxiliaries, and to assist in
extending the Society's influence and usefulness beyond its present
boundaries, and thereby to lay the foundation of a great Bible-circula
ting Agency, more especially in the last-named Colonies of the British
Empire. This brief enumeration of the various ways in which the Jubilee
Fund has been expended cannot be closed without noticing the truly
gratifying fact, that the Committee have been enabled to originate a
Benevolent Fund, the object of which is, to administer, at least
in some degree, when circumstances shall seem to demand it, to the
relief and comfort of such as have become old or disabled in the ser
vice ofthe Society.
Although the printing of a Million New Testaments for China,
by means of a separate Fund, formed no part of the original Jubilee
Scheme, yet, as China was included in its special objects, the Com
mittee readily adopted the proposal, and this Volume will contain the
particulars of the Fund, and the steps which have been taken for its
appropriation. The events which gave rise to this effort, and the
promptitude with which the appeal was responded to, are alike re
markable, and it is hoped that the measures in progress will be instru
mental in spreading throughout that extraordinary empire, the blessings
which accompany the free circulation of the Holy Scriptures.
It will be observed that the present volume consists chiefly of docu
ments, which have already appeared at different periods. The series of

IX

Jubilee Papers, numbered from One to Eleven inclusive, are reprinted;
and it is believed, that many of them contain matter of permanent
interest and utility. Two ofthe papers called the Jubilee Record are
also preserved, because they contain the valuable and truly appropriate
addresses delivered at the commencement and close of the Jubilee
Year. The Jubilee Statement, prepared by the late Secretary, the Rev.
G. J. Collinson, is given in an abridged form, and chiefly as read at the
Jubilee Meeting in Exeter Hall. The document, as originally pre
pared, and which contains much interesting matter, has been con
sidered too long for the purposes of this Memorial. Many valuable
papers prepared by the Foreign Agents of the Society, to assist in the
compilation of the above statement, will probably be used to some
extent, in a History of the Society,* now in course of preparation,
at the request of the Committee.
The Jubilee Report has been in part already noticed : it need
only be added, that in its compilation the utmost brevity has been
studied, and that the Appendix contains only a small selection from a
large accumulation of interesting materials. As several months have
elapsed since the adoption of the Report, the proceedings of the inter
vening period will be given in the form of Addenda.
An abridged List op Contributors to the Jubilee Fund has been
carefully prepared, containing the names of those, who have remitted
directly to the Parent Society the sum of Ten Guineas and upwards, and
also the remittances of various amounts from Auxiliary Societies. As the
Individual Contributions, and Congregational Collections would require
too much space, they are given only in the aggregate ; and it is hoped,
that this plan will be deemed satisfactory, inasmuch as every Contri
bution has been already acknowledged in the "Jubilee Record" while
its publication was continued, and subsequently in the successive num
bers of the "Monthly Extracts." A similar List of Donations of Ten
* By the Rev. George Browne.

Guineas and upwards to the Chinese Million New-Testament Fund, is
added to the above, the Donors being constituted Members for Life.
A few Tabular Statements are given at the end of the Volume,
which may be useful to the public advocates of the Society, and inter
esting to all who value accurate information respecting its past and
present position.
The cordial thanks of the Committee are due to those valuable friends
who furnished several Jubilee Papers; and although all the docu
ments sent could not be used, for reasons given to their authors at the
time, the Committee are not the less grateful for the readiness evinced
to promote in this way, the interests and objects of the Jubilee.
It may be remarked, in conclusion, that while the successful termi
nation of the first fifty years inspires the Committee with feelings of
thankfulness and joy, they cannot conceal from themselves and their
friends the solemn fact, that, the circumstances under which they com
mence the second fifty are calculated to awaken anxious thought, and
to fill them with a deep sense of responsibility. As, at the commence
ment ofthe Society in 1804, there were elements of danger at home,
and a fearful war, with its attendant evils, abroad; so also at the present
time, there exist evils not less appalling ! Notwithstanding the large
circulation of the Scriptures amongst our own population, the masses
of the community are still exposed to the seductive and ruinous in
fluences of error, superstition, and vice. Abroad, the flames of war
are again enkindled; — again is our beloved country involved in the
struggle of arms ; and still we have to deplore, that notwithstanding
the large measure of success vouchsafed to the distribution of the
Bible amongst the nations, its dictates of truth and righteousness —
its principles of peace and charity — too often fail to govern, as they
ought, either in the cabinets of Princes, or in the hearts of their "people ;
and that, even within the precincts of the nominal Christian Church, the
Scriptures are yet far from having gained their deserved and looked-for
ascendancy, while the great majority of earth's inhabitants are " sitting in
darkness and the shadow of death." All these circumstances should lead

XI

to solemn inquiry, and render imperative the speedy employment of means
to benefit our own and other lands. This is the more necessary, inas
much as the time for labour is very short, and the opportunities for
usefulness are fast passing away. How few, if any, of those who have
laboured in connection with this Jubilee will live to see the next ! It is
a solemn fact that only one of the Founders of the Society was spared
to assist personally in celebrating the first Jubilee ; and before the Cen
tenary of the Society is completed, the present generation of officers
and members, with few exceptions, will be " gathered to their fathers !"
The Committee and Officers of the Society, more especially those of
their number to whom the Jubilee work was chiefly entrusted, while
they are ready to acknowledge their manifold deficiencies, record it
as one of their greatest earthly privileges that they were permitted
to take part in those arrangements, which, through the divine
blessing, have issued in such successful results. If, from the absence
of precedents or the want of forethought and earlier preparations,
they have not rendered the Jubilee Year more interesting and
effective, they hope that their successors will be stimulated by their
short-comings ; and if, in any of their plans, they have been led to choose
the right means for the accomplishment of the ends proposed, they are
truly thankful, and with much satisfaction they leave those plans on
record for the information — it may be, for the guidance of those, who
shall come after them. This Volume, therefore, will be regarded as a
Memorial of the first Jubilee, and a preparation for the second; while it
may serve, in the mean time, as a link of connection between the gene
ration now passing away, and that which shall succeed them in the
work of the Society, — all rejoicing alike in the consolatory truth, that
although " the grass withereth, and the flower thereof fadeth, the word
of the Lord endureth for ever :" and that the Master whom they serve
is immortal and unchangeable— " Jesus Christ the same yester
day, AND TO-DAY, AND FOR EVER."
Bible Society's House,
10, Earl Street, Blackfriars, London,
Bee. 30, 1854.

Jubilee Paper No I.]
JUBILEE
OF THE
SrittBJr ani /arngtt lilile laruft},
1853.

ADDRESS AND RESOLUTIONS
or THE
COMMITTEE.

TO THE AUXILIARIES AND FRIENDS OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN
BIBLE SOCIETY, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
Dear Friends —
A period now approaches in the history of the British and Foreign
Bible Society, when it will be most becoming in all its supporters and
friends to pause and review the past dealings of God with it, and to take
counsel together, and to stir up one another to a more full accomplishment
of the mission with which it is entrusted.
On the 7th of March 1853 the Society enters on its Fiftieth Year— its
Year of Jubilee. The Committee would not fulfil their own sense of
duty, nor do justice to what they are assured is the feeling ofthe Society's
innumerable friends, if they did not devise some means by which an event so
full of interest may be extensively, and profitably, and devoutly celebrated.
They are aware that, in proposing to observe a Year of Jubilee, they are
following in the wake of a number of important and valuable Institutions
which have already passed this period of their history, and which may
therefore be supposed to have anticipated much of the excitement which
such seasons are adapted to inspire : still, the prominent place which the
British and Foreign Bible Society occupies before our country and the
world, and the deep hold which it has on the affections of its constituents,
and, above all, its sublime and simple object, in connection with the best
welfare of men and the glory of God, justify, and even demand, that a
season like the approaching one should not be allowed to pass without some
special commemoration.
The Resolutions which accompany this Circular embody the senti
ments and views of the Committee of the Parent Society on the subject of
the Year of Jubilee. They contain, also, a variety of suggestions and

recommendations, which the Committee beg respectfully to place before the
friends of the Society, and to which they invite their candid and serious
consideration. The Committee are far from supposing that they have
exhausted the plans in which Christian ingenuity and liberality and piety
may combine to promote the object in view : they rather wish to be consi
dered as throwing out a general, though not a hastily-formed, scheme, to
be applied and acted upon as opportunities and other circumstances may
dictate. The Committee cannot hejp reminding their friends of the singular im
portance now attaching to the Bible — and, in its degree, to the Bible
Society — from the aspect of the present times, and the condition of the
world at large, both civilized and unenlightened. But they forbear to
enlarge on this or any other topic, hoping, as they do, that they may have
the privilege of dispersing, in the course of the ensuing year, numerous
Appeals and Addresses from some of the Society's best friends. They
wish, however, in conclusion, deeply to impress on the minds of all whom
this Circular may reach, as well as on their own, that the Divine interposi
tion and blessing are required to give efficiency and success to this move
ment ; — that prayer and supplications, with thanksgiving, should especially
accompany and sanctify the doings and offerings of the Jubilee Year.
Signed, in behalf of the Committee,
G. J. COLLINSON,, „
Dec. 6th, 1852. G. BROWNE, I Secretaries.

At a Meeting of the Committee, specially summoned, held at
the Society's House, 10 Earl Street, Blackfriars, London,
on Monday, December 6, 1852, the Right Honourable the
Earl of Shaftesbury, President of the Society, in the
Chair, it was —
Resolved —
I. That the year commencing March 7, 1853, being the Society's
Fiftieth Year, be observed as a Year of Jubilee, with the view 
Of specially commemorating the Divine goodness, so abundantly
vouchsafed to the Society in its origin, early history, and subsequent
progress ;
Of bearing a renewed public testimony to the Divine character and
claims of the Bible, and to the right of every individual of the
human family to possess and read the same ; and
Of promoting, by new and vigorous efforts, the widest possible circu
lation of the Scriptures, both at home and abroad.

II. That on Monday, March 7, 1853, at Eleven o'clock in the forenoon
a Special Meeting of the Committee be held at the London Tavern,
Bishopsgate Street (in the room where the Society was formed in
1804) ; — the Committee to be open to all Presidents and Officers of
Auxiliary and Branch Societies.
That on Tuesday, March 8, a Special Public Meeting be held in
Exeter Hall, in the Strand, at Twelve o'clock precisely ; when a
Statement shall be presented, containing a brief Review of the
History and Operations of the Society ; to be followed by other
Public Meetings in the Metropolis in the autumn of the year, should
it be found desirable.
III. That all Clergymen and Ministers throughout the Empire, friendly to
the Society, be respectfully requested to present its Objects and
Claims to their Congregations, by preaching Sermons, and making
Collections in its behalf. Where there is no local impediment, it is
submitted that March 13, being the first Lord's Day in the Jubilee
Year, would be appropriate for the purpose.
IV. That it be recommended to all the Auxiliaries, Branches, and Associa
tions in the United Kingdom, and the Colonies, to celebrate the
Jubilee, by setting apart a day, most convenient to themselves, for
a Special Public Meeting ; to be preceded (if not already done) by
Sermons and, Collections in the various Places of Worship.
Note. — The Committee have thought it desirable to propose to the
Auxiliaries, Branches, and Associations, in Great Britain,
and throughout the World, to hold their JUBILEE MEETINGS
on a fixed day. Wednesday the V&th of October is named as a
suitable day for this purpose ; and it is now recommended that
the Meetings be held on that day, or, where this is not practicable,
during the week in which that day occurs.
V. That a Special Fund be opened, to consist of Donations, Congrega
tional Collections, Sunday-School Contributions, Juvenile and other
Offerings, and to be called "The Jubilee Fund" of the British
and Foreign Bible Society.
VI. That the Jubilee Fund be appropriated to the furtherance of the
following objects, the Contributors to be at liberty to specify to
which of those objects their offering shall be devoted —
1. The adoption, as far as practicable, of an extensive and efficient
system of Colportage, throughout Great Britain, in the Year of
Jubilee; the supply of Emigrants; together with Special Grants
of Bibles and Testaments to Prisons, Schools, Missions, and
other Charitable and Benevolent Institutions in this country.
b 2

2. Special Grants to Ireland, in such ways as may hereafter be de
termined upon.
3. Special efforts in India, Australia, and other British Colonies,
by Agencies, Grants, or otherwise.
4. Special Grants to China, and such other parts ofthe world as may
appear open to special operations.
5 The establishment of a Special and separate Fund, from the annual
produce of which pecuniary aid may be granted, at the discretion
of the Committee, to persons in the employ of the Society, in
cluding the Colporteurs abroad ; and to their widows and children,
when in circumstances to require such aid.
VII. That these Resolutions, together with an Address from the Com
mittee, be sent to all the Auxiliaries and principal Subscribers in
this and other countries, to be followed at intervals, throughout the
Jubilee Year, by such other Papers and Circulars as may be calcu
lated to diffuse correct information respecting the Society, awaken
an interest in the present movement, and secure the permanent co
operation of all professing Christians in the accomplishment of the
Society's great and glorious designs.

The Secretaries of Auxiliaries, Branches, and Associations are requested
to convene Special Meetings of their respective Committees, in order to
take the subject ofthe Address and Resolutions into consideration.

THE
JUBILEE CELEBRATION
OF THE
JUBILEE MEETINGS.
On Monday, March 7th, 1853, at Eleven o'clock, the first Meeting to
celebrate the commencement ofthe Society's Fiftieth Year was held at the
London Tavern, Bishopsgate Street, in the room where it was established
in 1804 ; the Right Honourable the Earl of Shaftesbury, the President, in
the Chair, succeeded by the Right Rev. Dr. Carr, late Bishop of Bombay.
In addition to the Officers ofthe Society, and Members ofthe Committee,
there were present on the occasion nearly all the Foreign and Domestic
Agents, the Secretaries of the various Missionary Societies, Officers of
Auxiliary Societies, and a large number of influential friends of the Society
in London and from different parts of the country.
The proceedings were commenced by reading the 97th Psalm, after
which the Noble Chairman alluded to the extraordinary circumstances under
which the Committee and friends ofthe Society had assembled.
After announcing the order of proceedings, the Minutes ofthe last Meeting
ofthe Committee, and of various Sub-Committees, embracing the Editorial,
Agency, Finance, and other Departments, were read and confirmed.
The Jubilee Secretary read interesting letters from several distinguished
friends ofthe Society, from the Officers and Committees of Foreign Bible
Societies, and of other Institutions; whereupon it was
Resolved — That this Committee have received, with much pleasure, the friendly con
gratulations from the American, the Central Prussian, the Netherlands, the Basle,
and the Berg Bible Societies ; from the Committees of the Geneva and Belgian
Evangelical Societies ; from the French Congregational Church in Brussels ; the
Society for the Propagation of the Truth at Amsterdam ; from Mr. Samuel Eisner,
of Berlin ; and from the Messrs. Courtois, of Toulouse ; and beg to recipro
cate their good wishes and prayers, and to hail them, in the name of the Lord, as
fellow-labourers in the great cause of disseminating throughout the world, the
scriptures of truth.
The following Resolutions were also moved, seconded, and supported by
various Members ofthe Committee.
Resolved — That the Committee, on being assembled this day in the room in which
the Society was formed forty-nine years ago — namely, on the 7th of March

1804 — would place on record their deep and thankful sense of the good provi
dence of God, which has watched over the Society from its institution to the present
hour ; raising it from small beginnings to unanticipated magnitude and eminence ;
rescuing it when exposed to assaults and perils ; keeping it unchanged in its
constitution and principles; enabling it steadily to pursue its course and to ex
tend its influence ; and giving it a position this day not surpassed in any former
period of its history : in the review of all which the Committee would desire to
say, "Not unto us, O Lord " — not unto any who have preceded us — "but unto Thy
name be all the glory.''
Resolved — That this Committee, while calling into solemn remembrance the many
holy and illustriousmen, both at home and abroad, who have at different times been
found in the ranks of the Society, but now have passed away, would offer their
affectionate and cordial congratulation to their venerable friend, Dr. Steinkopff,
whom they are happy to see this day in the midst of them, and who for twenty-
two years held the office of Foreign Secretary ; and they would also convey the
same congratulation, with expressions of their sympathy, to W. Alers Hankey,
Esq. (the sole survivor of the first Committee)^ — who, by the infirmities of years,
is compelled to be absent from this Meeting ; both of whom took an active part
in the formation of the Society, and alone, of its original founders, survive to
witness and welcome its year of Jubilee. That, in these congratulations, the
Committee wish to include the respected Treasurer of the Society, John Thorn
ton, Esq., who was first appointed on the Committee in the year 1805, and after
wards, in the year 1815, succeeded his honoured uncle, Henry Thornton, Esq.,
in the Treasurership, in which office he has continued faithfully and advan
tageously to serve the Society to the present time.
The above Resolution was acknowledged by the Rev. Dr. Steinkopff in
a lengthened address, in the course of which he feelingly alluded to the for
mer office-bearers of the Society, and expressed the deep attachment which
he continued to cherish towards it.
Resolved — That the Committee, having the pleasure of seeing amongst them, on this
interesting occasion, a large proportion of their Foreign as well as their Domestic
Agents, on whom devolves so much of the responsibility of carrying out the
Society's work, would seize this opportunity of re-assuring their valued friends
of the cordial sympathy of the Committee in all their labours, their trials, and
their success.
On the passing ofthe above Resolution, the Rev. George Browne introduced
the Foreign and Domestic Agents of the Society who were present, indi
vidually to the Committee; and expressed his regret at the absence of
M. de Pressense, the Agent of the Society at Paris, and of their well-
known and valued Senior Domestic Agent, Mr. Dudley ; furnishino-, at the
same time, various particulars connected with the spheres of labour respec
tively occupied by the Foreign Agents ; after which Dr. Pinkerton, as
Senior Foreign Agent, acknowledged the Resolution on behalf of himself
and fellow Agents ; and gave the Committee some interesting statements
respecting his own labours on behalf of the Society, since his appointment
in 1814.

The Rev. E. Panchaud, deputed to represent the Belgian Evangelical
Society of Brussels at the Jubilee Meetings of this Society, was then intro
duced ; and gave some gratifying statements of the results of the operations
carried on by Mr. Tiddy on behalf of the Society in Belgium, stating that
the Church in Brussels, of which he is the Pastor, owes its existence instru-
mentally to those operations, and that the same could be said as regards
twelve or thirteen other Protestant Churches in Beloium.
Resolved — That the Committee are very much gratified with the attendance of so
many of the Officers of Auxiliary Societies and of kindred Institutions, and also
of other distinguished and attached friends of the Society, regarding it as an
encouraging token of the wide and deep interest that is likely to be felt in the
celebration of the Society's Jubilee.
Mr. William Jones, one of the Secretaries of the Religious Tract Society,
addressed the Committee in acknowledgment of the above Resolution, and
presented a Minute Book of the Committee of that Society, containing the
proceedings at their Meeting on Tuesday, December 7, 1802, among which
is inserted the first Minute put on record concerning the formation of this
Society, and which is as follows : —
" Mr. Charles, of Bala, having introduced the subject which had been
previously mentioned by Mr. Tarn, of dispersing Bibles in Wales, the Com
mittee resolved that it would be highly desirable to stir up the public mind
to the dispersion of Bibles generally, and that a paper in a magazine to this
effect may be singularly useful. The object was deemed sufficiently con
nected with the objects of the Society thus generally to appear on the
Minutes ; and the Secretary, who suggested it, was accordingly desired to
enter it."
The Rev. Dr. Bunting also addressed to the Committee a few words of
congratulation on the entrance of the Society on its Jubilee Year, and gave
utterance to his best wishes for the continued blessing of God to rest on the
Society's efforts.
After reading letters containing contributions to the Jubilee Fund, several
votes of thanks were passed, and the Meeting adjourned.
On Tuesday, March 8, at Twelve o'clock, the Special Public Meeting
was held at Exeter Hall, in the Strand. The Right Hon. the Earl of Shaftes
bury, President, in the Chair, was well supported by the attendance of several
Vice-Presidents, and an unusually large number of Ministers and others,
who occupied the platform, while the body of the Hall was thronged in
every part.
The Rev. T. W. Meller, Editorial Superintendent, opened the pro
ceedings by reading the 61st Chapter of Isaiah.
The Noble Chairman, after reading a Letter from Chevalier Bunsen,

8
expressing deep interest in the Society, and referring to the celebration
ofthe Jubilee in theChurches ofPrussia on the 13th ofMarch,then said —
We are now at the commencement of the Fiftieth year of the life of
the British and Foreign Bible Society, and most thankful ought we
to be to Almighty God, who has permitted us to see and to enjoy an
event, the like of which, until this day, has never been known in the
whole history of the Christian world. This Society, from the smallest
beginnings, and with the slenderest means, but with the highest design — a
design to spread over the surface ofthe whole habitable globe the word of
God in every tongue and for every nation — has passed through half a
century of successful progress, and now finds itself with many friends in
almost every country in the world, and is the mother and mistress of more
than 8000 Bible Societies. The mother and mistress, I say ; not as having
dominion over their faith, but as helpers of their joy. Now, it will be
necessary on this day to set before you the results of many years of anxious
and arduous labour ; but it will be done, not in the spirit of boasting or
vain glory, but that you may see, by what has been done, what may be
done, so that, from the retrospect, you may derive strength and encourage
ment to enter upon far greater and more vigorous efforts in the future.
Let me state, in a few words, some of the results which, by the blessing
of Almighty God, we have this day attained. The Scriptures have been
rendered into 148 languages or dialects : all these have been reduced to
printing, and of these, 121 had never before appeared in type. The com
bined Societies of England and other countries have circulated not less than
43,000,000 copies of the Holy Scriptures, in whole or in part ; and thus the
records of Inspired Truth, it is believed, have, within the present century,
been rendered accessible to about 600 millions ofthe human race. There is
one matter to which I must call your especial attention, because it has
struck my own mind and heart with more force than, perhaps, any other
incident in the Statement that will be set before you. Of these languages so
reduced to printing, upwards of twenty existed only in an oral form, had no
alphabet, and were not reduced to writing until such time as they were
worked upon by the intellectual power of Christian Missionaries and others.
Let this fact be treasured up by those who are talking much of intellec
tual improvement, and ofthe march of intellect; and let them tell me if, in
the whole range of intellectual power, there is any thing that shows more of
mind, of thought, and of capacity, than must have been expended in reducing
those twenty-five languages to a written form, which were thus made the
means of giving thousands of minds access to the word ofthe living God. So
much for our acts. I think we can say no less for our principles. We assert
much more than the mere right of every individual to possess and to read the
Holy Scriptures; we assert the right of private judgement, and of private re
sponsibility ; we assert that right for which confessors and martyrs have

suffered in olden times ; and we assert that right for which confessors and
martyrs of the present day — for which the blessed Madiai — are suffering in
the dungeons of Tuscany, confessors to the present hour, and martyrs, in all
probability, unless it shall please God to bless our intervention — that prin
ciple for which there will be yet many confessors and many martyrs, I
doubt not, in future times. It is but a small thing to have the right of
access, or to possess and read the word of God, if every thing we feel,
every thing we think, and every thing we say, is to be under the inter
pretation, and at the will, of a dominant hierarchy. Now, it is an
immense honour that has been put upon this country by Almighty
God, that it should be the earthly depository of His Truth, to flow forth in
refreshing streams to all the nations of the world. It is a great and mighty
honour that He has conferred upon us, and we must rise to the height of
that responsibility. I can hardly believe that the great and good men
who, under God's grace, were the founders of this Society, could have
imagined when they met, few in numbers, and in a retired locality, that
their faith would remove such mighty mountains. I can hardly think
that they ventured to believe that they were then instituting the greatest
effort that ever has been made by uninspired men for the temporal and
eternal welfare of the human race. But so it is ; and gainsayers may say
what they will, but the events of this day will prove, that whether we re
gard man politically on this earth, or spiritually in the world to come, his
last and greatest happiness will have been attained when the word of the
Lord shall have " free course and be glorified." ¦«
The Rev. George Browne, one of the Secretaries, stated that Letters
had been received expressive of sincere regret that they were not able to
attend the Meeting, from the Earl of Roden, the Marquis of Cholmondeley,
the Bishop of Meath, Sir Robert H. Inglis, M.P., W. Evans, Esq., M.P.,
the Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, M.P., and others. Mr. Browne then announced
that a Statement had been prepared, comprising a review of the history
and operations of the Society ; but it had been found impracticable to
render this so brief as to permit it to be read on the present occasion : a few
extracts from it, however, would be read to the Meeting, by his colleague,
Mr. Collinson.
The Rev. George John Collinson accordingly came forward, and
read the abstract alluded to. (See p. 44.)
The BISHOP op WINCHESTER— I must beg this vast Meeting to
recall for a few moments to their recollection some of those Societies so suc-
cintly mentioned in the Statement just read, but each of which will form,
as it were, a page in^Juture history, and in each and all of which our
honoured President andRChairman takes a lively and fitting interest. If I

10
am not mistaken, important as are the objects of all those Institutions, and
numerous as are the occasions when, in connection with them, His Lord
ship has met assemblies of his fellow-Christians, there is not one amongst
them in which he could have felt a deeper interest— I may say so deep
an interest— as in the great Society whose objects we have met to promote
on the present occasion. I am satisfied, if I interpret aright the sentiments
which fell from His Lordship in that striking address with which he opened
the proceedings of the day, or rather, with which he inaugurated our
Jubilee, that he fully appreciated the importance of the event. You must
all have felt, indeed, that His Lordship rose to the exigencies of the occa
sion. I rejoice in thinking that the Resolution which has been entrusted
to me is not out of keeping with the spirit inculcated by the address of His
Lordship, and with the tone of feeling by which he desired that this Meet
ing should be governed.
The Resolution is as follows —
That this Meeting welcome the Society's Year op Jubilee, hailing it as a fitting
occasion —
For commemorating the Divine goodness, so abundantly vouchsafed to the Society
in its origin, early history, and subsequent progress ;
For bearing a renewed public testimony to the Divine character and claims of the
Bible, and to the right of every individual of the human family to possess and
read the same ; and
For promoting, by new and vigorous efforts, the widest possible circulation of the
Scriptures, both at home and abroad.
It will be observed, that, in this Resolution, we are led at once to disregard
self, and elevate our thoughts to God. Further, we are reminded, that, as
the success which has attended this Society is not to be attributed to our
selves, so we ought to mix, even with our Jubilee, the language of humilia
tion. And this, in truth, is but fitting ; for we cannot but remember, that,
in the Jubilee of old, the day on which it commenced was emphatically
called the Day of Atonement. We are called upon at the present time " to
commemorate the Divine goodness, so abundantly vouchsafed to this
Society." Every syllable of that brief but pregnant history ofthe Society's
life of half a century just read must remind us, if it reminded us of no
thing else, — of the Divine goodness. Surely we may say, in reference to
the Society, mercy and goodness have followed us from the beginning of it,
and in each of those fields of labour which were barely enumerated by the
Secretary. We have great cause, then, to recognise what is called in the
Resolution, " the Divine goodness." But, in order to observe this, we need
not direct our attention exclusively to the more distant operations of the
Society : at home we may similarly recognise that the mercy of God has been
vouchsafed to us from the beginning. This is apparent, whether we look
at the councils of the Society, or at those by whom those councils were re-

11
gulated. We see the Divine goodness in directing the choice ofthe founders
of the Society. A more suitable or efficient man than Lord Teignmouth
could not have been found for its President : and the same might be said of
his successor, Lord Bexley. We see the manifestations of the providence of
God again in the choice of one whom I will not name. In his presence I
dare say nothing of him ; but for him I think I may venture to say this,
that of all the tributes to worth which have been rendered to him by a
grateful Christian nation, there is not one His Lordship appreciates more
highly than that he has been thought worthy to succeed to the chair of a
Teignmouth and a Bexley. I might remind the audience of others to whom
the friends of the Society owe a debt of gratitude, and for whom we have
reason to be thankful. I allude to our Secretaries, our earliest Secretaries,
those men of God, Owen and Hughes. A more candid, a more kind, a
more devoted, a more catholic-spirited man never existed than the late
Joseph Hughes. And to him I must add one, who though not now in our
secretariat, still lives to rejoice in this day of Jubilee ; and if he join not in
the note of praise with his voice, still sounds the same acclamation by
means of his pen, and aids the Society in its work and labour of love — I
mean Dr. Steinkopff.* Another name will occur to you all, of one not now
with us, but gone to his rest, I mean the late Rev. A. Brandram. May I
not also refer to our twofriends now in office, Mr. Collinson and Mr. Browne ?
In them, also, we witness the evidences of the Divine goodness and mercy.
I will not weary the Meeting by enumerating further the various points
which might be referred to in proof of the mercy and goodness of God
vouchsafed to this Society ; but there is one point on which I must venture
to make a few observations. We have been reminded that this Society
first sprang into existence in the year 1804. Now I think I see the Divine
goodness specially marked in God's having put it into the hearts of His ser
vants to establish this Society at that particular epoch. Never, perhaps,
according to human observations, was there a period in the history of the
world when such a Society was less likely to have had a sphere of labour.
It was in that year the power of Napoleon had culminated to the zenith, and
the French empire was founded. It was then that the ports of the Con
tinent were hermetically sealed. It was then that all commerce was inter
dicted, and that all enterprise was prohibited between this island and the
nations ofthe Continent ; and yet, it was at this period that the little seed
was dropped which was destined to become so great a tree, whose leaves
were to be for the healing of the nations. Well might the Scriptures declare
that the ways of God are not as our ways, nor His thoughts as our thoughts.
The Society had passed the infancy of its existence, prepared its Bibles, and
got its machinery into order, when the ports ofthe Continent were opened as
* Alluding to the Jubilee Paper, No. V., prepared by Dr. Steinkopff.

12
the result ofthe downfall of the French Emperor ; and thus the British and
Foreign Bible Society was enabled to carry to the people of those nations
the book of peace, instead ofthe implements of war.
I am reminded, by the second part of the Resolution, of that which is the
glory of the Bible Society, that it has ever borne its " testimony to the
Divine character and claims of the Bible ;" and it would have been
strange indeed if it had not. We might expect to find that the supremacy
of the word of God would be the motto of the Bible Society, and that it
would proclaim, with daily voice, that men " had a right to possess and
read the same." The Society could not go forth with note or comment
on the Scriptures, but it could accompany the volumes with prayers, and
see that its Agents were men of devotion ; and, in fact, it is a standing
testimony against Infidelity, Latitudinarianism, Popery, and nominal Chris
tianity under every form, and in every place, throughout the nations of the
earth. This very Resolution illustrates what I say, that the Society pro
claims the right of every individual to possess and read the Bible ; and some
of the best friends of the Society, in their writings, have zealously inculcated
this truth. The late John Joseph Gurney said, on one occasion, to the Rev.
Edward Bickersteth, " We have given the people Bibles, and now we must
teach them to read them ; and out of this suggestion grew the " Help to
Devotion," which has indeed proved to many Christians a help to the
study of the Holy Scriptures. Now, a retrospect of the whole life of this
Society encourages energy and action. Notwithstanding the vast issue of
Bibles of which they had heard, — from 4,000,000, (the number supposed
to have been printed before the formation ofthe Society,)— to 43,000,000, the
supply, whether at home or abroad, is by no means equal to the demand.
The progress of the past, however successful it may have been, should serve
only as a stimulant to further exertion, remembering that dying people are
waiting upon the energy and faithfulness of Christian men. All the records
of this Society go to prove the fact, that there is an increased desire on the
part ofthe people to possess the book of Life. The communications of all
our Agents prove this. There is a growing consciousness that nothing but
the word of God is capable of stopping the progress of error; and it becomes
the duty, therefore, of Christians, to place it within easy access. Popery, of
course, will oppose with all its might the success of our efforts, and the
reason is plain. It is remarkable how Popish priests themselves have borne
witness to the fact, that their system and the Bible are diametrically opposed.
Pope Paul V. said, on one occasion, " The Holy Scripture is a book to which,
if any man will keep close, he will quite ruin our faith." That is the testimony
of Rome herself to the danger she is in from the circulation of the Holy
Scriptures. Upon real Protestant Christians such testimony will have no
other effect than this, that it will stimulate them to increased exertion for
the circulation of the word of God, looking to Him for a blessing, and doing

13
all with the simple desire of being made the humble instruments of promot
ing the glory of His adorable name. In conclusion, I will just observe, that
there is just this difference between a modern Jubilee and the Jubilee ofthe
Israelites of old— the Jewish Jubilee cancelled debts ; our Jubilee doubles
them. It reminds us of past obligations very imperfectly discharged, or
perhaps not at all, and of the obligations which rest upon us for the future.
Let the result, then, of this Jubilee, be the making up of past obligations, as
well as the putting forth of an earnest effort for the present.
The Rev. J. A. JAMES— I rise to second the Resolution, which has
been moved with such chastened eloquence, such Christian piety, and in a
spirit of such true catholicity, by the Right Reverend Prelate, with whom
I feel it at once an honour and a happiness to be associated in this " work
of faith and labour of love ;" — an association for which we are indebted to
the Society which has brought us together on this platform. And I am
sure that the Right Reverend Prelate will agree with the sentiment which I
now avow, that this is just as it should be, and as our Society exhibits it —
the Churchman with the Dissenter, the Dissenter with the Churchman, and
both together with the Bible ; a position which is not altogether unlike
that which was occupied by the cherubim on the ark of the covenant,
with their faces towards each other, and both bending with lowly reverence
towards the mercy-seat, under the overshadowings of the cloud ofthe Divine
presence. I have been invited to this Jubilee Feast as one of the earliest,
and therefore one of the oldest, and I claim, also, to be one of the warmest,
friends of the British and Foreign Bible Society. After a period of forty-
seven years spent in promoting its interests, with something of the homage
of a lover and the fidelity of a servant, it is no injustice on my part to claim
the distinction, nor any usurpation to wear it. I can assure the assembly,
that, among the highest objects of my desire, and what I consider to be
one of the richest glories that can lie upon my humble brow, is to be
regarded as one ofthe patriarchs ofthe British and Foreign Bible Society.
Birmingham was once designated by that great philosophic statesman,
Edmund Burke, " the toy-shop of Europe," and he might also have added,
its armoury. But Birmingham has other things to boast of besides the
manufacturing of jewels for the fair, or arms for the brave : it has the
distinction of giving birth to John Rogers, the proto-martyr in the reign of
Mary. It is therefore meet that Birmingham should erect perhaps the
most appropriate monument to his memory, by being the first provincial
town in the kingdom to perceive the advantages of this noble Institution,
and to organize in its support. I appear on this platform, therefore, as the
representative ofthe first-born of that numerous family of affiliated Societies
to which reference has been made, to present — which I now do with reve
rent affection—to our august, and, I think I may add, our prolific mother,

14
our cordial congratulations on the arrival of this happy day of her existence,
fervent expressions of undiminished filial regard, and profound wishes for
many, many happy returns of this her natal day, sincere assurances of
co-operation with her in the future, and, at the same time, our earnest and
believing prayers to Him for His blessing, " without whom nothing is wise,
nothing is strong, nothing is holy."
It may be permitted, perhaps, to one like myself, who has almost reached
the period of senility, to be a little garrulous, perhaps a little egotistical, on
the present occasion. It is one ofthe most precious, and therefore cherished
recollections of my humble history, that the very day after I was ordained
to the pastoral office according to the rites of Protestant Dissenters, I
attended the first Public Meeting in the town of Birmingham for the for
mation of an Association in support of the Bible Society. On the first day
I bowed with reverence at the altar of truth, and pledged myself before
God and many witnesses to preach the faith as I understood it ; and on
the next day, with no less reverence, I bowed before the altar of charity,
and pledged myself before other witnesses to be a minister of love. It was
the conviction of my youth, and which still cleaves to me in maturer age,
that the chiefest homage that can be paid to truth is to offer it the sacri
fice of love ; and indeed he is but an imperfect Minister of the one, who
does not take care to enforce the other. On the first of these days, I went
within the barrier of one particular section of the Church of Christ ; and on
the next, I soared above those barriers into the amplitude ofthe Church of
the First-born, breathed its pure air, basked in its sunshine, and enjoyed
the brotherhood and liberty of those whose names are written in heaven.
On the first day, I stood before the witnesses I have alluded to, and said,
"I believe in the principles of Congregational Independency;" on the
second, with a mightier swell of the bosom, and a loftier utterance of the
tongue, I said, "I believe in the Holy Catholic Church, and in the
communion of Saints." Nearly half a century since that time has rolled
over me, and I am here with the shades of evening gathering around me, not
to speak of the good that I have done to the Society, but of the benefit I
have received from it. Like most young men, I set out in life with a cha
racter compounded of principles and prejudices ; but in the communion of
such men as the Rev. Edward Bum — a name ever to be cherished by this
Society — and subsequently in the communion of the Rev. Thomas Moseley,
late Rector of St. Martin's, and then in the society of the venerable Dr.
Marsh, now sitting at my side, and still in communion with my excellent
friend, the Rev. John C. Miller, the present Rector of St. Martin's, I have
dropped my prejudices, but retain my principles.
I will take the liberty to allude to the first Bible Meeting it was my
privilege to attend. Of course I was very young, and had all the ardour
and rapture of youth in seeing what was novel. The Meeting was not

15
held in Exeter Hall; we had not at that time emerged into so much
publicity; but it was in Freemasons' Tavern. Here, thought I, is a
meeting of men of all creeds in religion, men of all parties in politics,
and all grades in society, and it appears to have something about it of the
solemnity of a funeral and the merriment of a wedding ; in fact, there was
something of both; and it struck me that we had met together at the
burial of bigotry, and, by a very strange conjunction of circumstances, at
the marriage of truth and love. There was one peculiarity in that
Meeting which happily does not exist in the present. There were ample
folds of broadcloth, but not costly folds of silk and satin ; abundance of
hats, but not one humble bonnet reared its form : no feather waved, no rib
bons streamed ; for, with oriental delicacy and monkish prudery, that sex
which is now the grace, ornament, and efficiency of our Meetings and
our Society, were all excluded, except a few heroines, who, venturing
into the gallery, threw furtive glances on the proceedings, and went forth
animated with a desire that gallantry should take its place by the side of
charity, and that our efforts should be shared and participated in by them.
And since that illustrious friend of the Bible Society, now grown grey in
its service, Charles Stokes Dudley, has marshalled the energies of the female
friends ofthe Society, they have to be spoken of with gratitude and affection,
as the most important agency connected with its operations. But to go up
from the area to the platform — and what a platform ! I am not going to look
back on past times with regret, considering whom we have had, and whom we
have lost, when I look around upon those who are occupying seats on this
platform. When I see the nobleman who at present occupies the Chair, and
presides over, not merely the business of this morning, but of the Society,
had I tears I would wipe them away, and bless God that there have been
found those who are willing to be " baptized for the dead," and worthy of
them. But on that platform, as to day, there were peers of the realm, dig
nitaries ofthe Church, and members ofthe Council. There was Vansittart,
afterwards Lord Bexley, the warm and eloquent defender of the Society,
and author of an able pamphlet, which floated over the land with that
beautiful sentiment upon which the friends ofthe Society had ever acted,
" If we cannot reconcile all opinions, let us endeavour to unite all hearts."
There was Grant, who always lent his influence to the Society. There was
Thornton, a name dear to every one with any feelings of philanthropy in his
soul. There was Macaulay— the father of the most eloquent of our English
historians. There also was Stephen, father of the present Professor of
History at Cambridge. What a galaxy then surrounded the chair of the
noble President, Lord Teignmouth ! There was the eloquent and accom
plished Owen, the charm of every assembly whom he addressed ; there was
the silver-tongued Hughes, the father, as we have been told, of the Society ;
and there was the venerable man who sits by my side on this platform, Dr.

16
Steinkopff, and the only member of the original Committee present at this
Meeting. It is most delightful for me to reflect upon those names, and to
remember that I have been privileged to act with them. But there is one
name I distinctly remember being announced from the Chair, the very sound
of which in an instant brought up a thunder of applause that shook Free
masons' Tavern to its very foundation, and made even the pictures of the
Royal personages that adorn its walls vibrate with sympathy — it was the
name of Wilberforce. There he stood, with his laurels green upon him,
which he had lately won as the liberator of Africa. His diminutive, and,
to all outward appearance, insignificant frame, seemed instinct in every
muscle, as well as every limb, with life ; and the intelligence with which
he wielded the great cause of negro emancipation through twenty long
years beamed in his eye, and all the benevolence which he carried to the
cause sat on his countenance, and it seemed as if a glory from heaven
irradiated his brow. I remember, and shall remember to the latest period
of my existence, one part ofthe speech which Mr. Wilberforce delivered on
that occasion, so characteristic ofthe man, and ofthe Society which he rose
to advocate. Alluding to the treaty of alliance which had been formed be
tween the King of France and the King of Spain, the former, rejoicing
in the act, exclaimed, " The Pyrennees are no more ! the Pyrennees are
no more!" So Wilberforce, at the top of his shrill, but musical voice, alluding
to the fact ofthe formation of the Bible Society, and the sinking of our
prejudices, exclaimed, " The Pyrennees are no more ! the Pyrennees are no
more ! Would that that illustrious man were present to-day, with all his
catholocity of feeling, with all his philanthropy, with all his wisdom, and with
all his eloquence. Perhaps, unseen by sense, he is present ; and who would
not say, " Enjoy thy repose illustrious man ! thy name is still fragrant, and
thy example is animating the minds of multitudes, who are still endeavouring
to break off the shackles of slavery from the body as well as from the mind."
Before I refer to the Society itself, I will make a passing allusion,
and for a purpose which will be immediately apparent, to another
Society, more exclusive in its constitution than this, but which deserves
great honour for the zeal it displays in the circulation of the Holy Scrip
tures, but, of course, according to its constitution, it circulates other books
besides ; and I allude to that Society, in order to bring forward an incident
which I am sure will be gratifying to the audience, referring, as it does, to no
less a personage than Dr. Watts— a name which will never be listened to but
with respect, reverence, and affection, by those who love the songs of Zion,
in whatever section of the Christian Church they pour forth his songs. A
Letter has come into my possession, written by Dr. Watts not long before
bis death, and addressed to the Secretary ofthe Society for Promoting Chris
tian-Knowledge, agreeing to take 1500 copies of the Welsh Bible printed
by that Society. Now, when we remember that Dr. Watts was a poor man,

17
and that those Bibles were four or five times the price paid for them at the
present time, it might fairly be asked, Whose zeal for the circulation ofthe
Bible, in the present day, can compare with the zeal of this great Noncon
formist, whose name is connected with those songs, some of which will never
cease to be sung till they are lost in the new song of heaven ?
Just for a moment or two, let me refer to the Society. I will not
traverse the ground which has been covered by the arithmetic of
millions, and to which we have just listened in the Statement made
by the Secretary, but there are one or two general features to which I
will allude. In the first place, it has solved the problem never pro
posed, perhaps never thought of, from the commencement of English
history down to the formation of the British and Foreign Bible Society,
whether it is possible to have unity without uniformity; co-operation
without incorporation ; practical working without heretical latitudi-
narianism : and this has taught the bigots of all churches, all countries,
and all future ages, that there may be freedom of thought, expression, and
action, but all combined with union, among those that differ, without sub
verting the throne of truth, relaxing the bonds of society, or dis
organising any Church in existence. This is a great lesson for the
world — a lesson for all time, and will go through all ages. We have
been told that the principle upon which this Society is founded is cal
culated to disorganise society ; that it is a vast quicksand ; that it will
crumble to pieces by its own weight. Now, has it ? Where are the
prophets? Where are their anticipations? The prophets are dead, and
their predictions, like the leaves of Sybil, are scattered to the winds. But
where is the Society ? Here, in all its integrity, and bearing full proof, not
merely of its past success, but its present usefulness, and giving promise of
yet much greater glory in the future. This Society has done much towards
repelling the rising tide of Popery. I confess that I did not partake of the
panic of many people on this subject. It was once said by Sheridan, in
relation to a corrupt ministry, " Give it the prerogative of the Crown, the
keys of the Treasury, a venal House of Commons, but give me the liberty
ofthe press, and I will explode it all." Now I will say something like this
of Popery — Give it a triple crown, give it all its claims of keys and swords,
give it the Inquisition, give it that detestable grant to Maynooth, give it
a Cardinal Wiseman, canon law, and a hierarchy, and with that little instru
ment, the Bible, with freedom for its universal circulation, and, by the
blessing of God, I will effect its complete destruction. With the Bible at
the low price of tenpence, with education going out, as I hope it will
go out, over the length and breadth of the country, on Bible principles, and
that Bible in every man's hand, and every man taught to read it, to under
stand, and to practise it, I think we may allay some of our fears about
the aggressions of Popery.

18
But, not to trespass more than another minute on the attention of
the Meeting, I will just turn from the past to the future. I am full
of hope, not, however, I must confess, unmixed with fear. In taking
a retrospective view, we have more reason to feel humiliated that
we have done so little, and not done it better, rather than elevated by
the thought that we have done so much. Let us regard our position
with the spirit concerning which the Right Reverend Prelate has so beauti
fully admonished us, ascribing all the glory to God and none to ourselves,
and let us go forth to the future with earnest prayer, and in the spirit of
dependence upon God. The next generation — the present will soon be off
the stage — will see greater things than have yet been witnessed. Let none
of us, however, forget that a time of success is a time of danger. When an
instrument becomes mighty, there is a tendency to repose upon itself: and
it becomes all the more important, therefore, that we should not forget
that our sole dependence must ever be upon the Most High. Go on,
then, I would say ; go on, my country, to support this and kindred Insti
tutions ; go on to guard the sanctity of thy Sabbath from desecration ; go
on to circulate God's word, and exhibit it in all thy conduct ; go on to
consecrate thy power, thy commerce, thy wealth, thy science, thy art, to
Him from whom all thy greatness proceeds, and then never will come the
time when thou shalt be seen, like ancient Tyre, a dreary and barren rock
for fishermen to dry their nets upon ; but thou wilt be preserved in thy
strength and thy majesty, and be foremost among the nations that shall
bring their glory and their honour into the new Jerusalem, the most muni
ficent contributor to the splendour ofthe millennium, and the largest and
happiest sharer of its ineffable felicity.
The DUKE of ARGYLL supported the Resolution. I will detain the
Meeting only a very short time, because, after the very able speeches we
have heard, and with others about to succeed, I am convinced no words of
mine are necessary to impress upon the public mind the duty and the
necessity of contributing to the spread of the Bible over all the regions of
the globe. I am present at this Meeting partly in an official character. I
come here as President of the Scottish Bible Society. The Meeting may
perhaps be aware that at one time between the English and Scottish Bible
Societies there existed certain differences of opinion, which led to difference
of operation. Scotchmen are very apt to adopt some separate line of
action in order to show their national independence. But I believe these
two Societies have long been in a position of earnest co-operation ; while
I dare say that our English brethren will acknowledge- that we have
done something in the great work of Bible circulation. I am anxious
to explain, however, that I am not present at this Meeting simply in my
official character ; I come urged also by personal feelings and affections.

19
The fact has been referred to, in the course of the addresses which have been
delivered, that the original institution of this Society had been opposed as
being ofthe nature of an unprincipled coalition. Perhaps, on this subject,
I shall be supposed to entertain a bias toward coalition. I confess that I
have a great bias for coalitions of the kind which I see around me. I am
not one of those who would depreciate the importance of the labours of those
good men, whether in ancient or modern times, who have set themselves to
define within stricter limits their own views of God's truth, so that they
might gather around them those among their own countrymen, or the nations
at large, who accorded in their views. I am not one of those who would
depreciate the importance of separate religious communities, apart alto
gether from the question, whether or no these forms of worship or of disci
pline are in accordance with the word of God. But I must confess, that
at times I fear some individuals are found to attach undue importance to
this secondary matter. I rejoice, therefore, when I can go from the creeds
and catechisms, whether they be those of my own church or of other
churches, to the broad light of Christian truth. I feel, as I have heard it
expressed on a former occasion, as if I had passed from the dry leaves of an
herbarium into the glorious face of nature. I rejoice, however important
these bodies may be, when we come into the presence of that great authority
before which every separate flag is lowered. I rejoice when the great
standard is raised around which the whole armies of Christendom may collect
themselves. Did I say the whole armies of Christendom ? Alas ! I am re
minded of certain expressions which have fallen from some previous speakers,
which met with a very natural response from the Meeting. I am deeply
grieved to reflect, that a large portion of what I feel nevertheless constrained
to include in the Christian world is not united with this Society, in its
efforts to circulate the word of God. It is, however, my sincere conviction,
that we ought never, especially on such occasions as the present, to speak
of the Roman-Catholic Church as, in this respect, a great united body. It
is my firm conviction that the great mass of the people in Roman-Catholic
countries would be ready and willing to read and acknowledge the autho
rity of the Bible if allowed to act freely for themselves. I am very de
sirous, not only upon this occasion, and upon this platform — where ex
treme language is sometimes said to be used— but upon no occasion what
ever, to utter one word disrespectful towards the religious convictions of
any body of people in the world ; but I will say to those with whom I
disagree — If such be your religious convictions, come and defend them
upon that one ground upon which Christian doctrine must ever be founded
and defended. I entertain no feeling of bitterness whatever against the
Roman-Catholic Church, but I confess that I mean by that word not the
priesthood, but the great mass ofthe laity of that Church; and the only
feeling of indignation which has been excited in my mind against that part
c2

20
of the Christian world is occasioned by the fact that the office-bearers in
that Church should dare to stand between the people and access to the
word of God. Why can they not defend their doctrines upon that ground ?
They say, " We hold the keys of Peter." Why do they not refer to his
living words ? Why do they not come to the ground upon which the
Apostles preached, and defend their opinions as all other communities of
professed Christians do, and upon that ground alone ? There is one other
point to which I will refer before sitting down — the part which has been
taken by some of the civil governments of the Continent for the purpose of
preventing the free circulation of the Bible. I can conceive no insanity,
no madness, so great as is indicated in the course pursued by those govern
ments. It is impossible to look around, and reflect upon the state of the
Christian Church, without being convinced that in many Catholic countries
the ancient principles of authority are being thoroughly and entirely
broken up. This will not prevent, but, on the contrary, it will increase
the danger attendant upon those governments ; and nothing can prevent
men, when once they have arrived at a certain state of intellectual develope-
ment, by which old restraints are disregarded, rushing to an extreme of
lawlessness, unless some other authority should be introduced to supply its
place. I say, therefore, it is the greatest possible insanity on the part of
civil governments, which have any regard for law and order and the safety
of their subjects, to oppose the free circulation of the Bible, or to fail in
doing every thing in their power to increase its circulation. But it is
neither on account of the effect which the circulation of the Bible may
have in supporting any particular doctrinal views of the Christian faith, nor
with regard to its effect upon the question of civil liberty, and the authority
of just government, that I feel the greatest interest in the operations of this
Society ; it is for its effects upon individual minds and spirits that I am
grateful for the blessings which have been diffused by the exertions of this
Society. We ought to consider how many young men the 25,000,000
copies which have been circulated by this Society since its institution have
strengthened in habits of virtue ; how many old men have been comforted
in. declining years — and to how many, of all ages, have they opened up the
prospect of immortal happiness.
The Rev. Dr. DUFF.— My Lord, The Resolution which has been
put into my hands is as follows —
That this Meeting approves of the measures and plans of the Committee for the
celebration of the Year of Jubilee, including the institution of a Jubilee Fund, to
be appropriated to the following purposes, namely —
(1.) The adoption, as far as practicable, of an extensive and efficient system of
Colfortage, throughout Great Britain, in the Year of Jubilee ; the supply of
Emigrants ; together with Special Grants of Bibles and Testaments to Prisons,

21
Schools, Missions, and other Charitable and Benevolent Institutions in this
country.
(2.) Special Grants to Ireland, in such ways as may hereafter be determined upon.
(3.) Special efforts in India, Australia, and other British Colonies, by Agencies,
Grants, or otherwise,
(4.) Special Grants to China, and such other parts of the world as may appear
open to special operations.
(5.) The establishment of a Special and separate Fund, from the annual produce of
which pecuniary aid may be granted, at the discretion of the Committee, to per
sons in the employ of the Society, including the Colporteurs abroad, and to their
widows and children, when in circumstances to require such aid.
Often as I have been called upon to address Public Meetings, I have
seldom had such a tremendous Resolution put into my hands before. It
embraces the whole world. To attempt to exhaust it is wholly out of the
question : it were a great thing if one could get even within the threshold
of it. You have heard this day ofthe ground occupied by this Society,
extending, as it does, over the whole globe. And what I desire at the out
set to impress upon the Meeting is, a real, heartfelt conviction, as in
the sight of God, with regard to the peculiar position occupied by this land
as concerns the distribution of His glorious word throughout the world. At
the beginning of last century this little island ofthe ocean could scarcely be
said to have any connection with foreign regions, except, perhaps, North
America. At that time, too, this island-home of ours had almost entirely
lost its living Christianity. But towards the middle of the century began a
wonderful series of events in two directions. We recognise, according; to our
creed, Christ, not only as King and Head of His Church, but King and
Governor among the nations. Behold Him, then, in the twofold exercise
of these Royal functions ! As King and Governor among the nations,
giving the kingdom to whom He will, we find Him raising up this little
island so that its power and dominion gradually spreads over all the conti
nents of earth. As King and Head of His Church, we find Him, at the
same time, re-entering, as it were, the bosom of the Evangelical Churches,
re-kindling the lost light, and the lost life ; and that, too, by a series of
awakenings and revivals well-nigh unprecedented in modern times. About
the beginning of the present century, we find these two parallel and appa
rently unconnected series of events meeting in one. In other words, this
little island, in its civil capacity, is raised up to paramount power and domi
nion ; while the decayed Churches are re-animated by the breath of a resus
citated Christianity. If there were a voice from heaven addressing us, could
it speak more emphatically in our ears than these events put together speak?
It is Christ, as King and Governor among the nations, as well as King and
Head of His Church, by the voice of His providence saying, " Not for your
sakes, but for the manifestation of my own glory, have I raised you up to
this pre-eminence of power and dominion over the nations of the world ;

22
and, at the same time, bestowed upon you a larger measure of pure evange
lical knowledge, and means and ordinances of grace, than on any other
realm in Christendom. Have you thus freely received ? Go, then, and freely
give, in order that this bread of life may be distributed over all the nations."
And, then, mark the wondrous fitness in the very constitution of our dis
severed and widely-scattered empire for the accomplishment of this glorious
end ! If it were one continuous whole, like Russia, Austria, China, or the
United States, then were it not fit to be the evangelist of the nations, as it
is now. But He, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords, hath given us
power in North America, the West-India islands, South America, and on
wards to the ice-bound regions of the Antarctic circle. He has given us
the stupendous fortresses of the Mediterranean. He has sent us to colonize
West Africa and South Africa. He has sent us to Aden, which overawes
Arabia and the opposite African shores. He has given us India in its
gorgeous magnificence, with commanding positions in the Eastern Archi
pelago, along the coast of China, and throughout the islands of the Southern
Ocean. And if, as a nation, we are apt sometimes to boast of our having
these naval and military stations, which, as citadels of strength and entrepots
of commerce, begirdle the globe, are we not bound this day, as the British
and Foreign Bible Society, to look upon these, under the overruling provi
dence of God, as so many radiating centres of evangelization, — as fortresses
for the defence of Jehovah's truth, — as asylums for the refuge of God's per
secuted people, — as depdts for Bibles, where they may be stored up ill readi
ness for distribution in all tongues and languages, — and as training schools
for our spiritual warriors to go forth upon the spiritual conquest ofthe sur
rounding nations ? Let us look at the world in this respect as compared
with what it would have been if Portugal and France had been the predo
minant power. Why, if Portugal or France, who promised at one time to
bestride the whole globe — if they were in possession of these mighty strong
holds in wide-spread realms, where would be the Bible this day ? Look at
the case of Madeira and Dr. Kalley, and tell me, if Portugal were where
Britain is, where would be the inlet and protection to our Bibles or to our
Missionaries ? Or, if France were the predominant power over the world
instead of Britain— look at the case of Tahiti, and tell me, where now
would have been our Bibles and our Christian Missionaries ? In all this,
then, let us note the unmistakeable designs of a gracious Providence, and
the peculiarity of honour and dignity which God hath stamped on this
nation of ours, with reference to the outspreading of His word and the evan
gelization ofthe globe. And let us note our correspondent responsibilities,
that we may rise to the height ofthe great duties which these so plainly in
volve. From these generalities, let us descend to a few particulars. Allusion
has been already made to-day to India, and my Resolution bears upon India

23
as a land of promise. At one time Portugal threatened to be the predomi
nant power there : it strove to introduce the Popish religion there. But
the conduct of the Bible-hating Papists only enables us to show forth in
brighter colours the proceedings of Bible-honouring Protestants. Their
first great Missionary to India had not seen a New Testament till just before
he sailed to that distant land. He took it, however, as he thought it might
be of some use to him. The Portuguese power was put forth in the esta
blishment of the Inquisition, and in frequent massacres also, in order to pro
pagate their faith. Thousands were violently seized, confined, tortured ;
and thousands of children were caught, and often, on the pretence -of admi
nistering medicine to them, the sign of the cross was put upon their brow,
and water sprinkled on theiv body. These were now designated Christians :
numbers of them knowing nothing of what Christianity meant, except sprin
kling the body with some water. And then they imitated the heathen in all
manner of monstrous pomps and ceremonies ; they set up their Popish cars
alongside of the heathen cars ; pulled them in the same manner as the
heathen pulled theirs : but instead of heathen gods, they had tinselled and
idolatrously-ornamented statues of the Virgin and the Saints ; brought them
out amid the discordant sounds and revolting gesticulations of musicians and
dancers, often borrowed from the neighbouring pagodas, with fire works,
rockets, and all sorts of wildly fantastic phenomena. In these and similar
ways they pretended to be advancing the cause of Christianity ; but instead
of that, what has been the result ? We find, in point of fact, that the hun
dreds of thousands so frequently and so vauntfully boasted of as converts in
Southern India by intruding viceroys of Rome and insolent usurpers of
illegal titles in Westminster and elsewhere, may be said to be men who had
assumed the European vices and follies alongside of the native vices and
follies, without any of the better qualities either of Europeans or natives.
And then, what could you expect of ignorant Bible-less Christians like these 1
Why, when the day of trial and persecution came, we know that in whole
districts scarce any, even according to Popish testimony, confessed their
faith in Jesus, but thousands at once apostatized. Yea, on one memo
rable occasion, when a tyrant of Mysore seized 60,000 of these nominal
Christians, a Popish Missionary declares that not one of the 60,000 had
the faithfulness or the courage to confess the name of Christ, but igno-
miniously submitted to the bloody rites of Mahomedanism. Oh, how
opposite, how contrary such an exhibition to that which has been so illus
triously set before the world in the case of the Bible-taught Christians at
Madagascar, . thousands of whom, rather than deny their faith, betook
themselves to the forests, and the dens and caverns of the earth, and to the
fastnesses of the everlasting hills ; many of whom chose to fall by the
sword and the spear, and allowed themselves to be precipitated from rocks
and dashed to pieces as they fell ; others burnt alive in the capital of their

24
country rather than deny their faith. How contrary to the example
presented to us, and already alluded to this day, by the Bible-taught
Christians of North Italy, who, in the very face of dungeons and guillotines,
did dare confess the name of Jesus ; — the case of two of whom recently
called forth the letter of a celebrated statesman — a letter, every sentence of
which seemed as if it had been steeped and come forth purified from the
pellucid stream of civil and religious liberty, flowing direct from its
fountain-head in Jehovah's holy oracles — a letter which proves that the
blood ofthe martyred Lord Russell does not lie stagnant in the veins ofthe
late Prime Minister of England.
Let us now, for a moment, glance at the contrast presented in India by
our Protestant Missionaries and the Agents of this great Society. Allusion
has been made this day already to the fact, that the moment the first Pro
testant Missionary arrived in that land of idols, the very first effort was to
begin to translate the Bible, and give the word of life to the perishing
heathen. A more honoured name does not appear in the whole history of
Missions than that of Ziegebalg. He translated the New Testament and
part of the Old Testament, and this, long before the British and Foreign
Bible Society commenced its labours. Another successor of his, a foreigner,
too, Schulze, translated nearly the whole Bible into the Teliigu and partly,
also, into Hindustani. Then came the modern period, properly so called.
But the work was begun before this Society was instituted — was begun
towards the end of last century by Carey, than which there is not a more
venerable name in the history of Missions. Yea, and a nobler triumvirate,
take them all in all, than the triumvirate of Serampore — Marshman, Ward,
and Carey — has not yet appeared, as coadjutors, in any portion of the .
world-wide Mission-field. These, at the beginning of this century, gave us
the New Testament in Bengali, the language of upwards of thirty millions
of people ; and afterwards in many other languages besides. And though
these never could become standard versions, they were, as pioneers, of
essential service to subsequent labourers in the same department. It was
in the year 1810 that Henry Martyn, a man whose faith was so strong that
he delivered himself in these terms — " Were I never to see one single native
convert among the Hindus I should still labour on, believing that the
design of God with me was, that by my patience and continued per
severance I might encourage future Missionaries ;" — it was in the year 1810
that he preached a Sermon in Calcutta, out of which sprang the Calcutta
Auxiliary to the British and Foreign Bible Society. It was the first in
Asia ; but, by its energy and encouragement, it soon became the prolific
mother of many more. By-and-bye a vigorous Auxiliary was formed at
Bombay, then another at Colombo, then another at Madras, and, lastly, ano
ther at Agra, with many subordinate Agencies. And here, in the name of all
my coadjutors, of every evangelical denomination in India, I must publicly

25
and gratefully acknowledge the promptitude and munificence with which this
Society has ever responded to all our calls, as well as its ever-anxious earnest
ness respecting the fidelity and accuracy of our versions. And as the result
ofthe labours, originated or effectually assisted by this Society, separate
altogether from the labours of the Serampore Missionaries, who, for years,
also were largely aided by this Society, the whole Bible has been trans
lated and re-translated, revised and re-revised, a hundred times over, by com
petent persons, so as to be now rendered into the ten principal languages
of India ; the New Testament into five more ; besides portions translated
into the strange dialects of the barbarians who inhabit the forests and the
hills. And here, in passing, one is naturally led to ask, What has been the
effect of these varied operations on the stability of the British empire in
India ? At the beginning of the work of the British and Foreign Bible
Society in that land therejwas a hue and cry raised from the banks of the
Ganges, which was reverberated from the banks of the Thames, that theirs
was a most dangerous proceeding ; yea, a plot against the integrity of our
dominion. On that occasion, some one — methinks he belonged to some
extinctgeologicalspecies of megatherium — came forward, in substance saying,
If Napoleon Bonaparte, with all his ingenuity, had contrived any plan more
effective than another for destroying the British empire in India, he could
not have devised one better suited to his purpose than this plan of the
British and Foreign Bible Society. Now what has been the actual result ?
Since then, the British and Foreign Bible Society has helped to translate
the Bible into all the principal languages and dialects of India, and, from
notice given to us this day, has circulated about 2,000,000 of copies of the
Bible throughout its provinces ; and since then — so far from the British
power gradually diminishing, or going to extinction — it has been adding
kingdom to kingdom, principality to principality, until, at last, its ascen
dancy has been established from Cape Comorin on the south, to the awful
defiles of Affghanistan on the north, from beyond the mouths ofthe Indus on
the west to beyond the Delta of the Irrawadi on the east ; in short, the whole
of India has been consolidated into one mighty empire. And what an em
pire ! Oh if there were only time to enter into some account of it ! but there
is not. I must, therefore, forbear, and rest contented with simply expressing
my heartfelt sorrow that people in this country are still so strangely ignorant
of the amazing trust God has given them in that vast empire— such a trust !
—an empire territorially nearly as large as all Europe', and containing about
as many millions of human beings ! In short, our Sovereign Queen Vic
toria at this moment there wields a sceptre of absolute authority over about
one-sixth part of this world's inhabitants. The very thought of so tremen
dous a trust being committed to us by Him who is King and Governor
among the nations is enough to make one reel and stagger. Let us dis-

26
charge it aright, and what a reversion of blessings are in store for us ! Let
us, through negligence or selfishness, neglect it, and what a terrible retri
bution must, sooner or later, overtake us !
But I must now hasten to the main object of my Resolution. This great
Society has done its work nobly. The Bible has been translated into nearly
all languages ; dep6ts are planted throughout every region ; men are ready
to go forth to distribute them : and the Resolution which is in my hand is
to the effect that this Society ought to institute a grand Jubilee Fund, in
order that thereby it may be enabled to work still more effectively through
out those vast realms. And why should there not he got up immediately by
this Jubilee effort, not 50,000Z., nor 100,OOOZ., but 500,000Z., for your
Jubilee Fund, and do something worthy of this great Society — worthy of
its Jubilee ? There is wealth among us to do this. It is not the want of
means, but want of will. Create the will, and the means will flow like the
Ganges. We have had a little drop this day from a noble donor — a glorious
donation — I call it a drop : that is 100Z. But methinks that a single pound
from a poor man may be a larger donation. I would say, then, let the
wealthy, who can well afford it, give us their thousands of pounds. Look,
here is an income of 10,OOOZ. a year ; one man gives 100Z. out of it. Is that
a tithe of it ? It is the tithe of a tithe, the hundredth part of it. If I had
20Z. for my annual income, and I gave the hundredth part of my 201., what
will it come to ? not a pound, but a very few shillings. This would be my
proportion. Let, therefore, the great men give their great sums suited to
their great incomes, and then let us look down to the pious poor throughout
this realm, and I venture to say that not only will they emulate them, but
relatively surpass them all. I plead, then, for high contributions from the
wealthy. In then1 case I utterly dislike dribblets ; I hate them : I have a
mortal antipathy to scanty droppings from huge and well-replenished reser
voirs. I always think of these when I go into your cayerns where stalac
tites are to be found. Look at that drop at the end of one of them. It
hangs a little ; it does not come down ; it moves and quivers as if it did not
like to part from its support, the stalactite above : at last one drop falls,
and then the next begins to gather ; but with what reluctance they drop, and
they drop. Is it not in this way that the money comes squeezed, reluctantly,
out ofthe pockets of multitudes of the' rich ? Perhaps they make objec
tions ; — so many calls and claims, and we cannot give to every thing. And
those who make these excuses are, generally speaking, those that do the
least of all — yea, many of them almost nothing at all. Let us be done with
these excuses. We do not like any thing coming out in the squeezing way :
it is not pleasant, nor profitable. Indeed, all real beneficence ought to be
regular, systematic, and proportional. And, this day, we plead for large,
generous, spontaneous, special free-will offerings to the Bible cause. What
I propose is, that we have an enormous fund — something quite prodi-

27
gious even for Great Britain. I mean something real in making such a
proposal. I am thoroughly in earnest in this matter. I cannot help being so.
Then what I venture to recommend is this, that we get such a fund as will
enable the Bible Society to strike out a grand Jubilee Edition in all the 148
languages in which the Bible has been circulated, and have thern emblazoned
with a suitable Jubilee device and inscription. And in the distribution, let
us, by all means, begin at home. Let us supply the Agents of our City Mis
sions with copies for the willing readers in the dark lanes and horrid dens of
our home heathenism. And why not furnish with a Jubilee Bible every
juvenile reader in our Noble Chairman's Ragged Schools ? And then Ire
land is included — Ireland, poor, unhappy Ireland ! Ah, was it not once
a glorious land ? What made it glorious ? The Bible ! The Bible shone
upon it with glorious illumination. Then was Ireland free. And Ireland
was the sanctuary, not of scholarship only, but of sanctity itself; so that
disciples went to it from all the nations of Europe to learn, and apostles
went forth from it to propagate the Gospel among surrounding nations.
But in an evil day the man of Rome put his iron hoof upon it, trod down its
schools and colleges, and put the Bible either into the flames or the caverns,
so that it could not be found. Then came darkness — a darkness that might
be felt ; until at last, according to the testimony of a recent traveller, belonging
to a class not usually much in favour of these Protestant Meetings — " It
would seem the result has been " — remember, these are not my words —
" the result has been to transmute the great masses of Ireland into rebels
against the Government, conspirators against the landlord, and slaves of the
priest." Now, then, what will make Ireland free ? The Bible ! Send it
the Bible, the great, the divinely-appointed liberator, and Ireland will soon
rise np in renovated beauty and strength, and vindicate to itself the glorious
title of its earlier days, and become once more the Isle of Saints. And let us
resolve that not an emigrant shall go to the Canadas or to Australia without
a copy ofthe Bible — that Australia, so soon to become an empire ; that
Australia, a land so strange, that an eminent naturalist, unable to account
for its geological peculiarities, seemed to think it a small comet drawn down
by the attraction of the earth and fallen into the Southern Sea ; so that the
auriferous deposits of Australia, according to him, have come from the immea
surable vacancies of space ! Then why should we not go through the whole
world in like manner, and resolve that the Jubilee Bible in all tongues shall
be sent to all nations ; to all adults who can read in all Mission Families
throughout the realms of heathenism; to every pupil in every Mission
school, " From Greenland's icy mountains to India's coral strand,"
and onwards to New Zealand and the multitudinous isles ofthe ocean ? And
if this were done, we should soon solve many problems. It was only the
other day, for example, that a petition was presented to the House of Lords

28
from Madras; and the Noble Duke (Argyll) whose voice was heard here
this day pleading the cause of this great Society was led to express his re
gret and surprise at the language employed in that petition with reference to
the rulers of India as foreigners, and Christianity as a foreign creed. But
the wonder would have been, however, had the language been otherwise.
Any one that has been there could solve the question soon. Why did these
men give utterance to such sentiments ? Because they were Bible-less men ;
men taught, I am sorry to say, by the British Government, professing to be
a Bible-believing Government; taught without the Bible, and taught, there
fore, practically to despise the Bible; and, by fair inference, taught to
despise the men who profess to believe the Bible when they hid it in their
pockets, or kept it locked up in their cabins, or, at all events, would not let
it be seen or perused. We venture to say you will not find the name of one
single native Christian attached to that petition. We would say, then, to
that Noble Duke, whose ancestral name has for generations been a household
term in all the families of Scottish piety, from John o' Groat's to Sol way
Frith — and why ? because it has in its genealogical tree the names of two
noble martyrs ; men who loved not their lives unto the death, but who, in
defence of the free Bible we are met to honour, and in defence of Bible-
rights and Bible-privileges, with all civil and religious immunities flowing
therefrom, were willing to lay down their lives on the scaffold ; — the dying
words of one of whom, just as his soul was about to wing its flight to glory,
have sunk deep into the innermost heart of the Scottish nation — the ever-
memorable words — " I die with a heart-hatred of Popery ;" — we say, then,
to that Noble Duke, that the grand remedy is for him and his noble asso
ciates, not in their official capacity as British statesmen, hut in their private
capacity as British citizens, to rally round this grand Society, and resolve to
help us in giving the Bible — the whole, the unmutilated Bible — to every
reading man throughout the realm of India, and all the world besides.
In conclusion, let me say how delighted, how exhilarated I was to find
this day this Bible Society already pronounced to be the greatest Peace
Society. And so it is : — a Peace Society, not based upon tame and cowardly
concession to the ravings of wounded vanity and lawless ambition; not
based on passive submission to the outrages that would be perpetrated by an
invading horde of pirates and murderers ; but based upon the fact, that
human nature has in it a cavern of corruptions, in which the passions sleep
that are ready in a moment to burst out into volcanic fury ; a Society that
goes forth to all the ravening tribes of earth, with the offer ofthe Bible, and
armed with mighty power from the Spirit of all grace, to sanctify and
regulate those wayward impulses and passions, and turn them into reno
vated energies for the welfare of man ; bearing the inscription emblazoned
on its brow, " Here I am, with glory to God in the highest, on earth peace,
goodwill toward men." And then, truly, this is the greatest of all National

29
Defence Societies. Let us bear in mind the great and the true saying, that
" the Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants." And let
us also remember that this is a Protestant country ; that it is pre-eminently
Protestant ; that its strength, its beauty, its glory, its stability, consist in its
Protestantism. And what is Protestantism? Not, as it is reckoned in
vulgar estimation, a mere negative, a mere protest against the errors of the
Church of Rome. It has in its bosom something vastly greater than this —
something wondrously positive. For the real import and significancy of
the term, go to the Diet of Spires, and see what originated the term Pro
testant. The attempt was, to put down the Reformation : this was found
too much : then did the enemies of Reform, in substance, say, " Let there
be no further reformation or innovation ; let those who are reformed remain
so ; let those who are Popish remain so ; let the whole be stereotyped."
What did the noble Reformers do ? They, in substance, replied, " No ; we
cannot submit to this stereotyping. God has said, ' Go ye into all the
world, and preach the Gospel unto every creature.' We therefore acknow
ledge, not indeed the natural right, but the divinely constituted right of all
men to hear the Gospel, and to be put in possession of the Scriptures which
contain the Gospel ; and therefore we protest against any of this stereo
typing; we protest in favour of an unfettered and unrestricted Gospel — a
free, unfettered, unrestricted Bible circulation." This was the real origin
of Protestantism. And remembering that the grand object of this Society,
in the universal circulation of the Bible, and consequent universal establish
ment of that righteousness which alone exalteth a nation, is to promote the
ends of a living evangelistic Protestantism, and thereby subserve the pur
poses of the Eternal with reference to the salvation of a lost world, may
we not, as a covenant reward, expect His special favour and protection ?
Looking at the records of past history, do we not actually find that God
did continually, and even marvellously, interpose for our deliverance when
we were most thoroughly Protestant ? Yes ; in the time of the great Pro
testant Queen Elizabeth, when the blasphemously styled Invincible Armada
appeared covering the ocean, and when the country was ill prepared to
receive it, did not He, who holds the winds in His treasury, let them loose upon
the surface of the waters, and down went the fleets and the warriors to the
bottom of the deep ? Then again, in the time of James II., when this
country was threatened with a Popish ascendancy, and the faithful prayed
earnestly to heaven, and were preparing to suffer rather than sin, did not
the deliverer, in the very crisis of the nation's extremity, come over from
Holland ? Yes, the winds and the waves, according to Bishop Burnett,
strangely and unexpectedly prospered his way, and landed him safely on
our shores. So, also, when our French neighbour again and again sent his
formidable armaments against this land while strenuously maintaining its
Protestant ascendancy, again and again did the unstable winds and

30
treacherous waves dash them back, wrecked and ruined, on their own
shore. Thus are we warranted in concluding, that it is when we most
stoutly maintain the Bible, circulate the Bible, and thereby uphold the
Protestantism of the Bible, that this realm can be gloriously free and
gloriously strong. And now that we are blessed by heaven with another
Queen — a truly British, a truly Protestant Queen — a Queen whose personal
and social virtues and domestic charities have entwined her round the in
most heart of every one of her loving subjects —a Queen whose reverence
for the Bible, and for the Bible Protestant Institutions of the land, have
secured to her the homage and reverence of all the wise, intelligent, and good
of our land; — let us, under her auspices, arise and rally round this greatest of
our Protestant — greatest of our Peace and National Defence — Societies, and
then, with the smile and approbation of God, we shall be safe. As in the eastern
world one of our most terrible visitants is the cyclone, or circular storm,
which moves forward with prodigious rapidity, and is at the same time
whirling round and round in a cycle, — levelling in its progress entire villages
and forests — violently stranding vessels and engulphing whole navies ; — but
the centre, technically called the eye ofthe hurricane, instead of being an all-
absorbing vortex, like a Norwegian maelstrom, is a spot of wondrous calm,
where they who enter it can enjoy tranquillity and rest ; — so now, when
called upon to gaze at the sky that is at this moment reddening with fearful
omen around the confines of Papal apostate Christendom, and overhead at
the clouds that are now gathering in lurid gloom, let us not be daunted or
afraid ; let us, faithful to our glorious mission, arise and rally round this
great Protestant Society ; and in so doing, let us be very sure, that when the
tempest, which now sleeps in those portentous masses, will burst forth, we
shall still be safe — safe under the shadow of the Almighty — safe in the very
eye of that hurricane that shall sweep over surrounding nations, tearing up
the foundations of corrupt society, shattering all regal and imperial
dynasties, and tossing the crowns, and sceptres, and thrones of civil and
ecclesiastical despotism, like chaff that is driven before the whirlwind on
the summer threshing-floor.
The EARL of CARLISLE seconded the Resolution. I trust I shall
obtain credit for sincerity when I state that I consider it a happy dis
tinction to bear any part whatever in the Jubilee Meeting of the British
and Foreign Bible Society. I feel that I shall best show my sense of the
privilege conferred on me, both by making no undue trespass on your time
and attention — upon which there are such varied and eminent claims — and
also by steering wholly clear of what you will feel to be more legitimately
within the province of others, either the detail of the past transactions and
historical statistics ofthe Institution, which have been so well entrusted to the
eloquent Statement with which our proceedings opened, or the suggestions for

31
the employment ofthe Jubilee Fund and other resources hereafter to accrue,
which have been touched upon with so much unction by the eloquent
speaker who preceded me, and which I leave to the riper and closer expe
rience of those long engaged in the business of the Society, who can
therefore take a more accurate view of work already done, and the wants still
existing. Amid this array of willingness and power now gathered upon this
platform to join in a great act of filial love and homage to the parent Bible
Society, I feel profoundly that every ministrant who is called upon to take part
in the rite should keep rigidly to that which will have least risk of marring or
overlaying the general effect, or grating upon the combined harmony. Dis
avowing for myself all claim to any special service on this occasion, I shall
only endeavour to make my weak note of praise chime in with the general
chorus of acclamation and triumph at the progress and prospects of the Bible
cause throughout the world. I think, indeed, it is well for us to be thus as
sembled. Our common Christianity — as far, at least, as it is likely to be re
presented here — does not exact or encourage many outward exhibitions of
pomp or pageantry ; but if it does not, like the elder faith of which it is the
complement and consummation, lead forth its solemn dances by the brook of
Siloah, or ascend amidst the clang of trumpet and graduated songs the
long flight of steps to the portals of the temple ; if, in its ordinary modes of
working, its ministrations are principally to be found in acts of self-denying
labour and unostentatious love, its shrines in the hearts of its worshippers,
yet there are seasons when we may point to such occasions and to such assem
blies as the present, and feel that we, too, have our festivals, our galas, and
our strains of triumph ; there is a Christian as well as a Jewish Jubilee; and
that the achievements of which you have this day heard the recital, and of
which we now perpetuate the memory, are not unworthy of lending a new
chord to the harp of David or the lyre of Isaiah. It cannot be necessary for
me to offer any caution to an auditory like the present not to indulge in any
spirit of undue individual exultation. You will all feel that, primarily, the whole
praise, honour, and victory, are due to the Omnipotent; and you will feel next,
that, so far as He has been pleased to own and bless human instruments, the
praise then chiefly belongs to the humble and laborious agents and servants
ofthe Society, whether at home or abroad — to the travelling agent plying
his unwearied round of visits, even amidst the listless and indifferent, to the
secretary working at his desk, to the translator amidst overwhelming
difficulties and intricacies of idiom and dialect, to the colporteur toiling
under unkind and chilly skies, and often amidst the even unkinder threats
of his fellow-men, to the Missionary, a word always synonymous with the
exile, and often with the martyr. It is to their persevering, often unob
served, and seemingly unrewarded labours^ we are to trace our 8000 Bible
Societies, our 148 languages, and 43,000,000 copies of the Scriptures. This
is indeed a magnificent result. Within the first half century of the ex-

32
istence of this Society — since it issued from its single room, even as the
original publishers and messengers of the Gospel issued from their upper
chamber to communicate glad tidings to the world — how continuous and how
triumphant has been the series of its operations, how innumerable its fields
of labour, how unflagging the wing of that angel who flies in the midst ofthe
heavens, " having the everlasting Gospel to preach to them that dwell upon
the face of the earth !" It is not only in the polished and cultivated realms of
Europe that the healing has been manifested ; — in that France, from which
we mostly derived so much learning and piety through her exiled ministers and
servants at the time of the revocation ofthe edict of Nantes, and to which this
country has now in some degree repaid the debt; that Germany, which has
so much kinsmanship with us both in blood and character, the country ofthe
Reformation and of Luther ; that Italy, pale and fair sister of sorrow, with
whom it would seem hardly to be in keeping with the holy calm of this occasion
if we gave full vent to our sympathies. But besides all these, Asia, with its
worn-out civilisation and obliterated dynasties, caste-ridden India, mysterious
China, the swarthy Arab, and the coal-black African, together with the new
world, America — now entering into such noble competition with the old in
the Bible and Missionary cause— all, all these— shores scarcely open to com
merce, and islands new to geography, are now welcoming the foot-prints of
the messenger of peace — are drinking in the accents of Almighty love. Yet,
thrilling and glowing as this statement is of what has been done, and
what is still doing, in this noblest of all undertakings — the sobriety of
the truth and the force of the obligation devolving on us all — forbid it
to be concealed how much, how enormously much, remains still to be
done; to what countless numbers, over what unmeasured spaces, the
message of the Redeemer has not yet come ; and until it does come, what
dark abodes of superstition and cruelty must still remain, what obscene rites
must still insult the face of heaven, and what altars of false gods reek
with human victims ! Well, then, if these things exist, let me call on
you to say whether they shall still continue. In the midst even of this
our legitimate Jubilee, this recollection arises before us, and arouses us
to continued, aye to increased zeal, hope, and prayer, and their only trust
worthy fruits, personal liberality and personal exertion. Let this be the real
trumpet-call of our Christian Jubilee. How long, I say, is the state of things
to which I have alluded and lamented to continue ? If we were not deal
ing  I hope I may say it without irreverence — if we were not dealing with
the work of Him to whom " a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand
years but as a day," 1 might be tempted to say, " Let not the full centenary of
the Bible Society be completed before the whole world has become the domi
nion of the Gospel, and paganism and infidelity, false doctrines and unsound
belief been swept away for ever from its ransomed population." But although I
feel most emphatically that, with respect to the future, it is not for man to feel

33
assured, far less to dogmatise; and though the whole field of unfulfilled pro
phecy is by no means thrown open to familiar and presumptuous access, yet,
judging by the tenor of past predictions, and comparing them with their as
certained fulfilment; comparing them, again, with the tenor of predictions still
remaining unfulfilled, I cannot resist the impression that the world around us
may even now be big with the throes of crisis and of conflict, and may I not
add, of deliverance. Oh ! and while the waters of the mystic Euphrates
seem to be daily drying up, and we cannot read a single leading article in our
intelligent, though on this point apparently unconscious, press, which does
not serve as an illustration ofthe views of the chief commentators on Bible
prophecy ; — while in the whole of the western empire, Rome seems to be
redoubling her ancient, though now somewhat spasmodic, efforts, and re
furbishing the weapons of her ancient armoury ; while infidelity scarcely
ever before exhibited such bold malignity ; superstition such shameless
effrontery ; or priestcraft such subtle ambition ; — while through all these,
above all these, conquering and to conquer all these, the blessed Gospel
summons, even in this our Jubilee strain of triumph, is gathering strength
from resistance and exaltation from depression, mingling our prayers of
earth with the hallelujahs of heaven, it is impossible not to think that
prophecy may touch on its fulfilment, and the mystery of time be heaving to
its completion; and even the intenser gloom we now witness and shudder
at may be fringed with the uprising rays of the coming glory. What,
then, my kind hearers, before whom I have ventured to touch, all unworthy as
I may be, on such majestic themes — what is the warning and admonition
they convey to all of us ? Is it not that, next to the great work of personal
holiness, and, of course, in subordination to those immediate duties belonging
to the position in which Providence has placed us, we ought to labour
intently, as our opportunities and spheres of action permit, in the sublime
work of the evangelization of the world, which, we must all of us think,
will be probably the prelude and preparation for the world's final happiness.
And, at least, it seems to me, that we who are now here assembled shall be
justified in embracing fully this conviction, that, whatever else may pass
away and perish in a perishing and passing world — its pleasures, its pomp,
its labours, its heroism, its genius, its winning comeliness, and its dazzling
grandeur — that at least the work of the Bible Society will not be amongst
the things that will be included in the final dissolution ofthe passing and pe
rishable, but that it will leave its traces, aye, even in the succeeding eternity.
JOSIAH FORSTER, Esq.— I wish to be indulged by saying a very
few plain words. I have watched the progress ofthe Bible Society from
its rise to the present day, with warm interest. I rejoice in what it has done,
and in what the prospect before it presents, of its still doing. But I wish to
give utterance, in this large and interesting Meeting, to one simple important

34
sentiment. I believe that the Bible Society, under the Divine blessing,
owes its existence at this day to the maintenance of those principles on which
it was founded, the simplicity of its object, the catholicity of its character,
the constitution of its Committee, and the carrying out of these principles
in the various operations of the Society by the Auxiliaries throughout the
country. And it is with the earnest desire that these principles may
henceforth be maintained inviolate, that I venture to intrude on the Meeting,
believing, as I do, that the future prosperity and welfare ofthe Society is in
timately connected with these principles.
Rev. HUGH STOWELL— The Resolution entrusted to me is as
follows : —
That the Jubilee Fund be now regarded as open, and that all ranks and ages
be invited and encouraged to contribute thereto, with a liberality commensurate
with the importance and magnitude of the objects contemplated.
The few remarks which the advanced hour of the Meeting will
authorise me in making, shall he confined to the immediate purport
of the Resolution. I cannot but feel that the Jubilee of the British
and Foreign Bible Society is needed, in order to arouse and rally the
attention of Christian England to the noblest gem that shines in her
diadem. The secret, still operation of the Society has led Christian
people, comparatively speaking, to overlook its claims, and to be unac
quainted with its triumphs. The Missionaries it sends forth, voiceless,
though " mighty through God," cannot chronicle their own achievements
or proclaim their own fame ; they move to and fro in majestic secrecy
through the world: but the effects and the fruits that follow shall be
gathered in the harvest ofthe great day. The influence of this hallowed
Institution may be compared to the influence of the sap that at this season
is rising up through all the trees and shrubs that embroider our country. It
will appear by and by in the beautiful foliage and the rich fruits ; but many,
while admiring the foliage and gathering the fruits, will forget the secret sap
that brought forth all. The progress and influence of the Society may also
be compared to the wondrous process of vegetation. The seed is cast into
the earth, it springs and grows up, men cannot tell how, " first the blade,
then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear ;" and how often do they
who put in the sickle to gather the harvest forget the incorruptible seed that
is cast into the ground ! But, be it so ; " the kingdom of God cometh not
with observation :" in its silent and secret progress it is like the " leaven
hid in three measures of meal, till the whole be leavened." Suffice it, then,
that the work of the Society is secret, and comparatively unseen by the eye
of man : its record is in heaven, and its reckoning in eternity. I cannot
but feel that one reason why the Bible Society has commanded so little of
that supreme attention and paramount support which it ought to receive,

35
arises from the narrowness and sectarian feeling of some of its supporters.
They seem never to get out of the little docks of their own separate system
and launch abroad on the glorious ocean of a common faith, and a common
Christianity. If, indeed, their creeds, and articles, and formularies, their
peculiar catechisms and modes of church government, are paramount to the
word of truth, then let them stand back from the British and Foreign Bible
Society ; but if the word of God is infinitely above all their formularies, and
systems, and peculiarities, let them rally round the Society which circulates
it. I for one, as a conscientious Churchman, regard it as a glorious security
of my Church, that the word of God should be put into every man's hand,
from the peasant in his cottage to the monarch on his throne ; because I
believe that my Church will stand by the Bible ; and if she will not — what
ever is contrary to it, the sooner she gets rid of it, the better for her. It is
a noble pledge that the Church of England, whatever some of her recreant
sons may pretend, however they may attempt to prove that the word of
God is unauthorised, except as the Church endorses it — incomplete, except
as the Church supplements it — unintelligible, except as the Church inter
prets it, — it is a glorious pledge that the Church of which we are unworthy
ministers and members holds such doctrines, that the Primate of that Church
is to-morrow to preach in the noblest ecclesiastical structure ofthe land that
owes its birth to Protestant architectural taste and Protestant liberality — to
preach within those walls the Jubilee Sermon of the British and Foreign
Bible Society : and I do not hesitate to say, that never was Primate of
England more honoured^ and never was Cathedral of England more worthily
used for a Protestant Christian purpose. The Primate of England
preaching the Jubilee Sermon of the Bible Society is just as it ought
to be. I have no sympathy with the men, whether in or out of the
Church, who look with a grudging eye^ or with an unfriendly feeling, upon
such a fact : I venture to say that it will tell upon all Europe, that it will
stand out in noble contrast to the bulls launched by the pretended head ofthe
Church — the usurping vicar of Christ — from his dark den in the Vatican.
We own no spiritual head but Jesus Christ : not even our beloved Queen
is the head of our Church, except in civil and temporal matters ; but in doc
trine and faith we own none but the " King of kings and Lord of lords :"
yet if there be any temporal head to the Church in England, it is the Metro
politan of all England ; and it will be a noble contrast to the Metropolitan of
Italy that the Metropolitan of Protestant England should preach the Jubilee
Sermon of the Society against which the petty usurper of Rome dared to
launch his puny bulls. But even those bulls are more eulogistic of the
Bible Society than the Sermon of the Primate will be ; for the haters of
light prove best how pure and bright is the heavenly light, by the antagonism
and opposition that they show towards it. Poor puny mortals, that dare
to withstand the course of the word of God ! " Whosoever falls on
d2

36
that stone shall be hroken, but on whomsoever it falls it shall grind him
to powder." * * # * «
The present is a critical juncture : the doors for the circulation of the word
of God are so vast, that there is no over-estimating their extent. China alone,
with a reading population, probably, of a hundred millions, wants a hundred
million copies of the word of God ; and the translation of the Bible into the
Chinese tongue is one of the greatest events that have happened since the
Bible was given to the world. Let us look again at Popish Europe,
groaning under the dark thraldom ofthe man of sin. What is its great want 1
What is to be the great remedy for all its woes? What is to burst
its chains asunder, to lift it from its degradation, and to raise it into light
and liberty? It is the Bible; which, thank God! is not bound — though
the Madiai are — and which neither Pope, nor priest, nor conclave, can
bind. It pursues its secret way up and down ; it is read at the midnight
hour in many a sequestered spot ; and there is going on throughout Popish
Europe a silent movement, that by and by will spring up marvellously ; so
that when the storm shall come and shake all Europe, there will be found
still a blessed multitude, which the Bible Society has mainly been the
means of calling out from mystic Babylon, that they might not be partakers
of her sins, nor receive of her plagues. And for my own beloved country,
I can wish nothing better and brighter than that it should deserve the
title that has been given her— the land of Bibles ; and I can desire for her
no loftier mission than that she shall never cease her efforts until she has
put a copy of the word of God into every human hand, and seen that every
human being has the power, the right, the privilege, and the liberty, to
read it for himself, and, through the grace of God, to understand it, and
apply it to his own heart. Let us pray, then, for the progress of the
Bible Society.
The Rev. T. Phillips, Jubilee Secretary, then read a list of Contri
butors to the Jubilee Fund.
Rev. W. ARTHUR. — In rising to second the Resolution, I find that
the terms of it are exceedingly plain, and substantiated by the facts,
namely, that the Jubilee Fund be now regarded as open. With regard to
that fact the evidence is before the Meeting. " The Jubilee Fund is now
open, and all ages and ranks are hereby invited to contribute to it in a
manner commensurate with the importance and magnitude ofthe objects
contemplated." I believe no one- will doubt that there does seem
to be a peculiar mercy in the ways of Divine Providence, that just at the
present juncture of European affairs, and the affairs of the world generally,
as to its religious aspect, the Protestantism of the whole world should

37
be called upon, in the most peculiar way, to come out and make a demon
stration in favour of its common faith. If ever there was a time when such
a demonstration was peculiarly needed, and, at the same moment, the facilities
for which were so peculiarly great, this is the time ; whether we look at
Europe, at the internal state of the British Isles, or whether we extend
our view far hence and embrace the entire world. Everywhere we see
that within the last century, or the last half century, this Bible, about
which we are met this day to consider, has had a most wonderful exten
sion as to its access to the human mind. A century ago that Bible was
known to comparatively few of the human race, although that few, blessed
with European lights and opportunities, thought themselves almost the world.
And as to the rest of the world, the people were left to follow their Koran,
their Shastre, their Vedah, their Confucius, or whatever else they might.
In some parts ofthe world a century ago the Bible was forgotten, as in the
villages of our own country and its towns. In other parts of the world
the Bible was forbidden ; and in all the territories of Popery, and
in yet larger parts of the world, the Bible was unheard of and un
known. Thank God ! though there are parts of the world to-day
where the Bible is forgotten, they are not so extensive as then. Though
there are parts where it is forbidden, it is not forbidden with aught
like the same power or security. It is forbidden now, not on the strength
of power, but under the apprehension of danger. For while, half a century
ago, the Bible was like the Nile running low within its own channel, at this
moment the Bible is like the Nile out and abroad upon the land. And they
that would not feel its influence, they of Rome and elsewhere, are battling —
and they feel it — are battling against a swelling flood, which the nations feel
is bringing bliss on its bosom wherever it comes. Then, not only has this
Bible, by God's great mercy, seen a wonderful extension, but it has equally
seen, by the same mercy and power, a wonderful influence on the sympa
thies with which it is received throughout the world. Half a century ago,
and in all the lands of the East there was not one man who loved the Bible
in his native tongue. Now, thank God ! on the eastern shores of Asia, and
beyond those shores to the most distant spot upon the earth, you will
find men who love the Bible as much as we love it here. We find
men, of all varieties of the human species, in all possible circumstances of
social and political condition, ready to join with us to-day and send the
Gospel ofthe grace of God onward. But if we look at the increase of
evidence which the Bible has received, or to its confirmation of evidence
within this last half century, I know not that any thing can affect us
more. The nations have been groping about for something to lay
hold by, and live by. During the half century before the formation of
the Bible Society, all existing foundations except one had been cast loose ;
and on the continent of Europe men were looking for new systems,

38
and new foundations, whereon to build human things. We have
seen, in that time, every conceivable system arise and test itself. We
have heard every kind of Gospel preached ; and now we stand with our
Bible before the old world and before the new. We meet all men
everywhere. Take their present or their past views, and they point
to this, to that, and to another thing as that whereby men may be
ennobled and a nation may become great. We hearken to one, and
he tells us, Nature. Nature is the great light and emollient of humanity :
let but men see her face and they will become good and wise. Others,
again, come forth, and Civilization is their glad tidings of great joy.
We turn to Nature, and we say, Thou art fair, thou art great, thou
art good, thou hast had a long reign in many a part of the earth : they say
thou art the teacher of men, bring us forth thy children. Nature comes to
us from the snows of the north, and her child is the poor Esquimaux.
She comes to us from the forests of America, and her child is the wild men
of tomahawks and scalping-knives. She comes to us from the magnificent
forests of Western Africa, and her child is a bloody savage, reigning in a
palace, the walls of which are formed of human skulls. She comes to us from
the smiling islands of the South Seas, and her children are all feasting on
human flesh. Nature ! thou art not our light. We turn to Civilization
then, and say, Thou that art fair, thou that art beautiful, thou that art good,
they say that thou art the bliss ofthe individual and the honour ofthe com
munity : bring forth thy children. She takes up Italy in her arms ; and
there it is — the land of the muses, and all the arts and all the sciences ; the
garden of civilization, and the garden it is still. But in the garden there is
a sepulchre, and in that sepulchre liberty and morality and all good things lie
buried, and the masses are adorning the corruption they cannot arrest. We
find, by simple experience, that Nature, without the Bible, makes man a
savage ; that Civilization, without the Bible, makes man a sensualist. Nature,
without the Bible, never forms communities, worthy to be called commu
nities at all. Civilization, without the Bible, forms communities to perfect
the vices, to finish corruption, and to sink down at last in a fall of fearful
depth and gloom. We take, then, the experience of these years^and we
take these nations that have excluded the Bible, that have trusted to their
arts, to their civilization — that have said to God's word, We can do without
thee — where are they to-day ? They are all drifting upon an ocean of trou
ble ; and as one new scheme starts up after another, they are ready to think,
" There ! upon that we may plant our feet and be firm." But the moment
they plant their foot on it they find it is not a rock, it is only a billow : and
we, looking to that scene of darkness, turn to the one strength whereby we
have hitherto abided, and, astonished at the transiency of human things, we
cry from the depths of our hearts, rejoicing in the foundation whereupon we
have been led to build, " For ever, for ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in

39
heaven !" ¦ It is the one settled thing, and all other things are shifting now.
We look then at the facilities which within this half century have been given
for the spread of that word. Take the world a century ago, and take
the world to-day. A century ago the Bible-refusing nations were the
nations that were proud and strong. France was great then, and mighty
and powerful in Europe and America, holding Canada and much of the
West Indies ; Spain then was glorious ; Portugal then was magnificent.
But look at the world now. Within that short time the hand ofthe Great
Ruler has shorn the Bible-hating nations of all extra European power what
soever ; and within that time the only Popish nation that can be said to have
risen in the state of things is that one Popish nation in which there has
been a grand emancipation, that is, the nation of Sardinia, which has at
length set the Bible free. It now happens that the issues of the world are
in the hands of the Protestants. Then look at the new lands that have
sprung up ; for during all that time the non-biblical nations had succeeded
in creating nothing ; — new lands have sprung up. Look at America,
our great auxiliary in this work. Look at Australia, held vacant from
the hour of creation until this day ; — vacant, although China was be
side it, although India was beside it ;— -vacant, although its climate and its
soil invited possession ; — vacant, until men are brought from the very
farthest part of the world ; and then, when they have founded communities
that cannot be unchristianized, attractions are opened that will draw to it a
population from all the world — and that population must act upon the
great India, and China, and the vast archipelago of that part ofthe earth.
Rev. D. CHARLES, President of Treveca College, South Wales.
When I received, through my friend, the Jubilee Secretary, the request of
the Committee that I would say a few words on this most interesting occasion,
I felt that I could not refuse to accede to that request, however diffident
I might be to stand upon this platform ; and having done so, I have only to
throw myself at once upon the indulgence and sympathies of the Meeting.
Perhaps I may be pardoned a slight reference to myself, when I say that
I do consider it a very high honour indeed, in being a descendant of the in
dividual already mentioned, who, under Providence, was one of the first that
moved directly towards the formation of this great Institution. I am
a native of that little town in Wales, of which it is said, that " when
the arrival of the cart was announced, which carried the first sacred
load of the Welsh Bible, printed by the British and Foreign Bible
Society, the Welsh peasants went out in crowds to meet it ; welcomed
it, as the Israelites did the ark of old, drew it into the town, and eagerly
bore off every copy as rapidly as they could be dispersed. The young
people," it is added, " were to be seen consuming the whole night in reading
it. Labourers carried it with them to the fields, that they might enjoy it during

40
the intervals of their labour, and lose no opportunity of becoming acquainted
with its sacred truths."
I am also privileged in having been a member of one of those Welsh Sab
bath Schools, the formation of which conduced to the feeling of the want
of Bibles which eventually led to the establishment of the glorious Society,
whose Jubilee we are this day celebrating ; and I may add, that the volume
in which I was first taught to read the words of eternal life was presented
me, while yet an infant, by my revered grandfather, being a copy of the first
edition ofthe Welsh Bible printed under the auspices ofthe Bible Society;
and it was an unusual impulse indeed that I yesterday felt at the sight of
the Minute Book, presented to the Meeting by the Secretary ofthe Religious-
Tract Society, which contained the record of what took place when the
claims of Wales, and then the world, with regard to Bibles, were first taken
into special consideration. That country, to which I belong, has thus been
particularly honoured in being the immediate occasion, by its necessities, of
the great and glorious consummation which we this day witness — the existence
of upwards of 8000 Societies for the circulation of the Bible; the translation
and printing ofthe Holy Scriptures into as many as 148 languages or dialects,
and the distribution of 43,000,000 copies of the sacred volume, entire or in
part : that country has itself reaped the greatest benefit of all, in those ines
timable blessings which result from the wide circulation of the Scriptures.
Wales, notwithstanding all its disadvantages, has one attraction for
which I love it, and feel a pride that I can call it my home; — it is
emphatically the land of Bibles. While in Ireland last summer, I could not
help contrasting the state ofthe sister country with that of my own native land :
and when I inquired what could make such a difference between the two,
separated as they are, only by a narrow channel, I was forced to the conclu
sion that it mainly arose from the fact that in Wales we have the Bible
circulated ; the Bible read ; the Bible taught ; the Bible preached, in the
language of the people : and hence its tranquillity, its comparative advance
ment in the arts of life and the morals of an enlightened community. We
talk of Greece as famous in being the cradle of liberty: Rome is renowned
for her prowess : but our beloved Cambria, with her rugged mountains and
beautiful valleys, has reached a higher pinnacle than this, in that it has been
blessed with a deeper and a more pervading influence ofthe word of God than
many other countries. Greece, with its liberty, has long ago been brought
low ; and pagan Rome, with all its might and splendour, has fallen ; but
that which is emphatically the hallowed glory of my country — namely, the
influence of the Bible — shall wax stronger and stronger, until it shall have
been absorbed in that full blaze of light which shall burst upon the dark
ened world, when the Sun of Righteousness shall rise in His millennial bright
ness. There is a work going on, quietly and unobserved, on the mountains and
in the valleys of Wales which shall last, I believe, through all the revolutions

41
of time, and receive its full consummation in the glorified state ofthe Church
of God. It is on this account that I feel a clinging to my native country ; and
it is on this account that Welshmen entertain such warm sentiments of affection
for this great Society, that has been the means of throwing this halo around
us : for what other country is there besides which can show a distribution of a
million of copies ofthe word of God in proportion to every million of its in
habitants ? This is the high position which we occupy : and all this has come
to us principally through the agency of this noble Institution. And in the
name of my countrymen do I here this day return our heartfelt thanks to the
Committee for the special attention which they at all times have bestowed on
Wales. As evidence of our gratitude, I may mention the large remittances
which have been forwarded, not only willingly, but with full hearts, from the
first year of the Society's formation even to this. Yes, your Society has ele
vated the moral feeling of my countrymen to a wider extent than is often ad
mitted : it has supplied our Sabbath Schools, which are numbered by the
thousands, with materials of religious instruction : it has gladdened many a
sorrowful heart in our mountain glens : it has cheered the poor man while
struggling with the ills of life, with the inspiring hope of eternal rest in the city
of God : it has solaced the bed of affliction, and lighted up the dark valley of
death with light, beaming forth over Calvary's cross from the land of life and
immortality. Our language may at some future day be lost in your wide-
spreading and influential English : our nationality may be taken from us too :
but "we won't give up the Bible !" No, we love it too well : we have reaped
too much from it in the way of benefits untold and unappreciable. We
have tasted too much of its hopes and joys, its practical worth and its in-
working, energetic power, ever to part with this precious treasure. And I
am free to state, from what I have myself witnessed of the power of this
sacred book (I speak to facts — let the infidel secularist draw his conclusion),
that were the world to be imbued with its spirit and influence to that degree
with which my native country has been favoured, it would be all the better
for it — the more elevated, the more holy, the more happy; for, as was stated
by one lately in an able article on Inspiration, " The Bible has so gathered
up in itself all the rudiments of the future, and the seeds of advancement,
that its eclipse would be the return of chaos, and its extinction the epitaph
of history."
The Society upon whose Jubilee year we have just entered was but a
small rivulet at its rise. We must never despise the day of small things —
from apparently the most trivial incidents God brings about the greatest
results. The tears of a little Welsh girl, when asked for the text of a
sermon, because she had no Bible in which to look for that text, were the
first visible indications of this life-stream that has issued forth from the gra
cious purposes of heaven, Year after year has the stream widened in its
course, until, at this day, it has swollen into a mighty river, conveying

42
the waters of life to the perishing millions of the human race. And
when its next Jubilee shall arrive, who can tell how large that stream shall
be ? Shall it not have enlarged itself into the expanse of an ocean, whose
waters shall cover the earth ?
I would even now look forward through the vista of futurity ; and I can
already see, at the celebration ofthe next Jubilee of the British and Foreign
Bible Society, India, with its teeming population, having cast its idols to the
moles and to the bats ; China, with its untold millions, sitting humbly at the
foot of the cross of Jesus of Nazareth ; Africa, with its swarthy sons, re
joicing in the benignant rays of the Sun of Righteousness ; America, with
its dark spot of slavery for ever washed away; and, (shall I say ?) " Baby
lon, Babylon the Great, fallen — fallen as a millstone into the sea ; " while
peace and righteousness and truth shall cover the earth.
The Rev. Dr. CUMMING moved the following Resolution : —
That this Meeting, while calling on all the friends of the Society to unite in
commemorating its Year of Jubilee, would express their earnest desire and
hope, that whatsoever is done may be in humble dependence on the blessing of
Almighty God, and to His glory.
In closing the proceedings' of the Jubilee Meeting, one cannot but notice
how every feeling, every sympathy, every recollection, has been addressed
and appealed to on this occasion. The Duke of Argyll gave his
clear and logical statement; the Earl of Carlisle has made a beautiful
and severely classical appeal to our tastes and feelings, giving an im
pulse to our better efforts. Dr. Duff has aroused us by the elo
quent and earnest appeal which he made; but I must say, that, in a
survey of the addresses delivered at this Meeting, I am most touched by
the deeply-affecting and impressive statement of the Secretary of the
Birmingham Auxiliary, the Rev. J. Angell James. I remember reading a
sketch of the Catalogue of Demosthenes : I have read of a more glorious
catalogue still — that in Hebrews xi. ; and, in reading it, I have been
reminded of an expression applied to that beautiful list by one who drew it
from a single instance — the roll-call ofthe illustrious dead ; and he said the
name was given because, in a certain German regiment, a celebrated hero
fell in the midst of the action, and he was so dear to those whom he left
behind, that, when the muster-roll of the regiment was called, the answer
was, " Died upon the field." Mr. James has called the roll ofthe illustrious
dead : the reply is, " Died upon the field " — dead as to their sleeping dust-
spectators, it may be, of the glorious spectacle within these walls. Let us,
then, run the race set before us, not looking to the noblest that ever fought,
to the holiest that ever lived, but to Jesus, " the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame."
Let us feel that to carry on this great work is the noblest monument to the

43
memory of the dead who commenced it ; and I am sure that the green
turf that lies upon the humblest of them all, with nothing but a dewdrop
and the sunbeams of the morning to gild it, is a nobler sight than the
mausolea of all the Pharaohs. " Lives of such men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time —
Footprints which perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's stormy main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, may take heart again."
W. Jones, Esq., Secretary ofthe Religious-Tract Society, said— I rise to
connect the commencement of the Religious-Tract Society with the Society
whose Meeting is about to terminate. In a little book which I hold in my
hand there is recorded the first official minute of the desirableness of esta
blishing that noble Institution ; and, so small was the beginning, that the
founders of this Society actually borrowed two or three pages of the minute-
book of the Tract Society for the purpose of making a record of their pro
ceedings on the occasion.
Lord C. RUSSELL. — The Resolution which is entrusted to me, though
the last, cannot, I am sure, be considered of no importance. We have had
our gratitude enlisted by allusions to those who took part in the origination
of the Society, and now we have to express our thankfulness to the Chairman
of this day. Such a Resolution ought, I think, to have been entrusted to
the descendant of the first President of the Society ; but as it has been given
to me, I will observe, that long before I had the pleasure of the Chairman's
acquaintance, I, like many others, watched his career with great interest.
No doubt his Lordship is much indebted for the formation of his Christian
character to this Society : and I believe I speak the sentiments of the people
of England when I say they are quite contented that a Society which is the
glory of the land should be presided over by the Noble Earl.
The Rev. George Browne briefly seconded the Resolution.
The Chairman, in returning thanks, said — I trust you will all continue
to manifest increased interest in a Society which, I have said before, and will
now repeat, is the greatest effort of uninspired man for the benefit, temporal
and eternal, of the human race.

44
EXTRACTS FROM THE
JUBILEE STATEMENT*
OF THE
Srrtiajf auii ^nrrigu M'Mt §>mtly,
AS READ AT THE PUBLIC MEETING, MARCH 8, 1853.

The British and Foreign Bible Society dates its existence from the
year 1804. It arose more immediately in consequence of the known and
pressing wants of Wales, and the inability of procuring any adequate supply
of copies ofthe Holy Scriptures. As early as the year 1787 complaints
had been made of the great dearth ofthe Scriptures in the Principality,
and some efforts were made to obtain supplies from the Society for Pro
moting Christian Knowledge. From that source five hundred copies were
obtained ; but all further supplies were refused, until the year 1796, when
an edition of ten thousand copies was conceded, and eventually brought
out three years afterwards, and put into immediate circulation. This large
edition, however, so far from meeting the necessities ofthe case, only served
to discover the destitution of Wales, and to stimulate a general desire to
possess the Book of God. Another application was made to the same
Society for a larger edition of twenty thousand copies, which was declined ;
— various other projects were set on foot by the late Rev. Thomas Jones,
of Creaton, and others, for printing smaller editions, at Chester, Shrewsbury,
and elsewhere, by private subscription, but all without success : and it was
in this emergency, that, in the month of December 1802, the Rev. Thomas
Charles, of Bala, came to London, to try what could be done, by means of
private friends, to procure a fresh supply of the Welsh Bible. He was
introduced to the Committee of the Religious Tract Society, and the subject
was deliberately considered at several of their meetings. In the course of
these discussions it was suggested that probably Wales was not the only
part of the empire destitute of the word of God, and requiring assistance ;
and that Great Britain itself was not the only part of Christendom which
needed to be supplied. * Ste Introduction, p. 9.

45
The powerful appeals of Mr. Charles stirred the thoughts of one
member present, whose sympathies, extending beyond the narrow en
closures of the Welsh mountains, gave utterance to these memorable
words — " Surely a Society might be formed for the purpose ; and if for
Wales, why not, also, for the empire and the world?" In this one
sentence of the Rev. Joseph Hughes was hidden the germ of that noble
tree whose branches are now spread far and wide ; for the thought, once
expressed, was not allowed to die : — at the request of all present Mr.
Hughes prepared a paper on the excellency of the Holy Scriptures, in
which Christians of every name were invited to unite for the one simple
yet sublime object of sending forth the Bible, without note or comment,
amongst all nations.
By the wide dispersion of this valuable document publicity was at
tained, and, as a result, a general outline of the Society was prepared,
and the present definite and comprehensive designation adopted.
These preliminaries settled, a Public Meeting was held, on March 7,
1804, at the London Tavern, under the presidency of the venerable
Granville Sharp, when the foundation was laid in due form. The
assembly consisted of about 300 persons, and the first list of subscriptions
amounted to .£700.
Five days afterwards three Secretaries were appointed — two for the
Home operations — the Rev. John Owen, and the Rev. Joseph Hughes,
and one for the Foreign — the venerable Dr. Steinkopff, still living. The
broad and Catholic principle of the Society was fully carried out in
the formation of the Committee. Thirty-six laymen were selected,
six of whom were foreigners resident in London or its vicinity ; and of
the remainder, fifteen were members of the Church of England, and
fifteen connected with other sections of the Christian Church.
The President, Vice-Presidents, Treasurer, and Secretaries, were con
stituted ex-qfficio members of the Committee ; and with a view to secure
the zealous co-operation of Clergymen and other Ministers, the privilege
to sit and vote at the Meetings of the Committee was extended to those
who should become members of the Society.
These arrangements being completed, a second Public Meeting was
held in the same place on May 2, which has given occasion for holding
the Anniversary on the first Wednesday of that month.
Lord Teignmouth was soon afterwards elected President, and the
Committee, ever after, had great reason to be satisfied with their choice.
He presided most assiduously at their several Meetings ; and always
took an active interest in all their proceedings. His pen supplied the
first five Annual Reports. The Society was indebted to him for opening
a communication with the Bishop of Iceland, the Archbishop Platon, of
Moscow, and other distinguished foreigners ; and by the weight of his

46
arguments, and the general influence of his character, he contributed
much to the progress of the Institution.
Nor should we omit to state that the adhesion of Dr. Porteus, the
Bishop of London, Mr. Wilberforce, and other distinguished characters,
proved of essential service to the Society during the early years of its
existence. From an extensive inquiry that was immediately set on foot in our
own country, as well as on the continent of Europe, the destitution of
the Scriptures was found to be most lamentable, and far beyond the
power of the then existing agencies in any adequate measure to supply.
It has been computed that the whole number of Bibles then in exis
tence throughout the world, did not exceed four millions of copies ;
and when we consider the number of those that must have been kept in
libraries as curiosities, from their rareness and antiquity, those in use
must have been considerably less.
Since the Society has been in operation, it has been permitted to issue
from its own Depositories twenty-five millions four hundred and
two thousand, three hundred and nine copies ; whilst, through
kindred Institutions which have sprung up in Europe, Asia, Africa, and
America, the number has been increased to upwards of forty-three
millions of copies ofthe Sacred Scriptures, in whole or in part;* a
number, we may safely believe, greater than the whole aggregate issues
of all previous years.
Again, if we look at the list of languages and dialects, we shall find
that the Society now tells forth the wonderful works of God in no less
than 148 ; whilst the number of Versions of the Bible, in whole or in
part, hitherto completed, is 175, and of these 121 are Translations never
before printed. In connection with this amazing fact, it should be
borne in mind that it thus renders accessible the truth of God, in a
printed form, to nearly six-sevenths of the human family.
Another point to be touched upon, and one which forms a most im
portant feature in the history of the Society, is the Auxiliary system.
In Great Britain there are now 3249 Auxiliaries, Branches, and Asso
ciations, whilst the Hibernian Bible Society numbers 510. The colonies,
and other dependencies of this great empire, still further increase the
sum by 498, making a total of 4257. The Foreign Bible Societies
throughout the World, called into existence by the example and assist
ance of our own, are about 4000 in number ; and thus we may fairly
conclude, that at this moment there are not less than 8000 Institutions,
* The Society's Issues up to the present year (1854) are 27,938,631 copies, and the
total Issues, including those of kindred Institutions, 47,000,000 copies.

47
consisting of Christians of every name and sect, united to disseminate
in their own immediate districts that word which is able to make " wise
unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
We would not omit to mention the debt of gratitude which the Society
owes to those many self-denying and devoted Christians who have
co-operated in the accomplishment of our design, by visiting amongst
their neighbours, as Collectors, and not only acquainting themselves
with their wants, but also pressing upon their acceptance that word
which can correct their every error, support them under every trial, and
guide them in every perplexity.
Such facts as these are well calculated to arrest the mind, make it
pause, and encourage it with hope, when we think that such success has
been vouchsafed, such widely-ramified agencies are still at work, and
that, wherever they exist, the actual benefit they confer, by the dispersion
of the oracles of God, is not their only use. Amongst the many collateral
advantages that accompany their formation, we may notice their tendency,
in days like these, to promote a right understanding among Christians of
different denominations, to concentrate their thoughts upon one object,
and to sink all minor considerations in the great work of circulating the
sacred Scriptures throughout the world.
The Funds by which the cause has been sustained next demand our
observation. The Contributions, which were considerable at first,
rapidly increased, and the receipts of the fourth year doubled those of
the preceding. In all parts of England the Society found warm friends
and liberal support. In Scotland, for some years, congregational col
lections were recommended by several of the Presbyteries. This example
was followed by the whole Wesleyan body in the year 1808, when the
sum of £1278 . 16*. 0\d. was collected.
The Calvinistic Methodists of Wales were among the earliest friends
of the Institution. In the year 1805 their congregational collections in
North Wales alone amounted to Eight Hundred Pounds.
The total Expenditure has exceeded Four Millions sterling —
a sum indeed noble and magnificent, if considered by itself, but a mere
unit if we contrast it with the outlay of a single war, or the annual
expenditure in Great Britain for articles of luxury alone.
A considerable part of the Receipts has arisen from Legacies — a
species of income uncertain and fluctuating, it is true : but we think it
will be found, upon comparison, that no Religious Institution in this
country has derived more than the Bible Society from this source.
The Donations from the wealthy have formed another considerable
portion of the Society's income; but it must ever be remembered that
the chief support ofthe Society is derived from the masses ofthe people,

48
who send their willing contributions through the Auxiliaries, Branches,
and Associations.
In regard to the Issues, it may be stated that, out of the Forty-three
Million copies which have been circulated over the whole habitable
world, no less than Seventeen Millions have been circulated in the
languages spoken in the British Isles; and whilst many have found
their way to every portion of our colonial empire, doubtless the far
larger number have been dispersed at home, chiefly through the valu
able aid of our different Auxiliary Societies.
To every class in this country has the beneficence of the Society been
extended. From its earliest days prisoners and convicts, the poor, the sick,
and the degraded, have been approached with its bestowment. Many a
culprit in his solitary cell has felt the power of the Saviour's voice ; whilst
the sick man on his pallet — whether at the hospital or in his private home
— has been cheered by its kind words of solace. To the peasants in their
seclusion, and the artisans in their hives of industry, as well as to the
barracks and the battle-field, has this Book been made known. Thou
sands of copies have been circulated amongst prisoners of war. To
Frenchmen, Spaniards, Dutch, Swedes, and others, no fewer than
30,000 were thus supplied during the period of their exile in England.
For the benefit of the Young large sacrifices have been made. Grants
of Bibles and Testaments have been liberally bestowed wherever Schools
have been formed ; and in many lonely, neglected hamlets are seen the
stamped books of this Society in the hands of those who are too poor to
purchase. Since the establishment, in 1845, of a Special Fund for grants
to Schools, 118,387 Bibles and Testaments have been issued to 2096
Schools. Our Seamen and our Emigrants are not overlooked. The Merchant
Seamen's Bible Society for the river Thames will, by its chronicles for
thirty-four years, furnish abundant proof that they are not forgotten.
Even during the past two years, no fewer than 35,902 visits were made
to vessels within the limits of the port of London, when 12,300 copies
were sold. More than 2300 of these were placed in the hands of
foreign seamen — in the hands of many who, had they wished it, could
not have supplied themselves in their own country, such as Spaniards,
Italians, &c. In this port alone 174,938 copies have been supplied to
seafaring people. Nor have the efforts been less at Newcastle, Liver
pool, Bristol, Plymouth, &c. The Committee are fully alive to the
peculiar claims our seamen possess to sympathy and care.
To the London City Mission the Committee have gladly ren
dered their assistance. Nearly 50,000 copies of the Scriptures were, at
one time, consigned to the care of its several Missionaries, to be used as

49
loan stock. Similar Institutions at Birmingham, Manchester, and Liver
pool, have received grants for a like purpose.
The system of Colportage has for some few years been adopted in
some of our counties and many of our larger towns ; and the success
which has attended its employment encourages the hope that its use will
be still further extended. At the present time some efficient men are
labouring in the north of England, and in the metropolis. The results
of this special agency are very satisfactory.
To Literary and Theological Institutions grants of different
versions have been made. To different Benevolent Institutions
which abound in this country supplies have been afforded. The claims of
all have been received and treated with kindness. To the shipwrecked
mariners on our coast ; to the foreigners who frequent our shores ; to the
indigent blind who need our sympathy ; to the inmates in our prisons
and hospitals ; in short, to the needy, helpless, and distressed, does the
hand of the Society stretch forth its inestimable boon.
The Committee cannot now trace fully the various enterprises in which
the Society has been engaged abroad : they must content themselves with
observing, that, in the mysterious providence of God, from the apparently
casual remark of a solitary individual, in a Meeting convened for a dif
ferent purpose, sprang up an Institution which stretches its sympathy
over the globe, and which tends to unite the whole family of man in one
bond of Christian brotherhood— an Institution which seeks to bring before
the minds of all, the pure and unadulterated truth of God ; which re
minds each one who receives its gift of the relationship in which he
stands to his Maker ; which points to the endless series of blessings set
before the view of all; which concentrates every thought, and terminates
every hope, in the person and work of the blessed Redeemer ; which
gives comfort for the present by retracing the path of God's counsels in
His dealings with His people of old, and which lights up with radiant
glory the future, as it reveals to us a consummation of all that can
be hoped, or desired, or loved.
At the time that the Institution commenced its career, Europe had
long been under the feverish excitement of war, when there was but little
opportunity for reflection upon any measures conducive to repose, improve
ment, and happiness. The pestiferous influence of the infidel writers of
France had spread far and wide. Voltaire, Diderot, D'Alembert, and
Rousseau, had had their day. The result of the supremacy of their
principles had been witnessed when the reigns of atheism and terror
became identical, when the goddess of reason was enthroned at Notre
Dame, the sanctuaries for Christian assemblings were closed, the
worship of God abolished, and death pronounced an everlasting sleep.

50
There can be but little doubt that the impiety, sensuality, and cruelty,
which had been then displayed and practised, produced a strong re-action
in the minds of the Christian men of England. They felt that the only
great means to counteract infidelity was to circulate the Bible freely,
largely, and universally. Hence it was, that when the establishment of
the Society was announced, it met with so cordial a response in the
hearts of the people.
For many years the Scriptures had become more and more scarce ; and
the inquiries which were set on foot in the different countries of Europe
served to bring that fact into greater prominence. In England, the
Bible was comparatively known ; in the Highlands of Scotland, and the
wilder districts of Ireland, it was scarcely to be found. In France,
with the exception of a few family Bibles in the hands of the descendants
of the Huguenots in the south, it was rarely to be met with. Spain,
Portugal, and Italy ignored its existence. In the several States of Ger
many, the noble version of Luther was confined exclusively to the Protes
tant population. The Lapponese, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Lettish,
and Danish Scriptures were restricted to those of higher rank, and of
more wealthy circumstances. Towards the south of Europe, Greece had
the ancient version, which was unintelligible but to the priesthood and
the educated. To Turkey, Moldavia, Albania, Wallachia, Bosnia, S wabia,
the Bible was a fountain sealed. As we pass over the Straits, and enter
upon the land of Asia Minor, so often trodden by the feet of the apostles,
and renowned in its memorials both sacred and profane, there again we
met the ancient Armenian version used as an ornament in its churches,
but its contents were not brought beneath the eye of sense, nor addressed
to the ear of thought. The whole continent of Asia was almost barred
against the truth, for even the portion which had been translated into
Chinese lay immured in manuscript, in the National Museum of Eng
land : of the fifteen polished languages of India, the Tamil of Ziegen-
balg was the only medium of access to the revealed mind of God. Over
the Islands of the Pacific and the Indian Archipelago was a veil of deep
darkness thrown.
Of Africa, the state was similar : the margin of the south was here
and there illumined by the sacred pages received from Holland; but to the
tribes of the interior was no voice sent. The western coast had not yet
become an object of interest to ihe Missionary. The only region upon
which the light of Revelation could in any way be said to shine, was
the northern line, where Arabic is spoken ; for although, in the earliest
days, the versions in the Coptic and Ethiopic had been made, yet, by the
mass, they were unsearched, and not understood.
America, in her northern regions, had fared more generously : the
colonies of England were partially supplied. Of the magnificent Union

51
of the States the Bible constituted the inheritance ; the Pilgrim Fathers
conveyed it in the " May-flower." Oglethorpe, when intent upon deeds of
philanthropy, bore it to Georgia, and thus it was embalmed in the
memory of her people ; but in Mexico, the Western Isles, and the king
doms of the Southern Hemisphere, although their generations had, for
nearly three centuries, been baptized in the name of the adorable Trinity,
were called Christians, and were acknowledged as believers in Revela
tion, yet to them was the Book so utterly unknown, that most had never
seen or heard it, and to others its existence was a fable.
Such was the state of the world when the Bible, with renewed energy,
again commenced its mission, and its rapid progress might be compared
to the angel in the Apocalypse, " flying in the midst of heaven, having
the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and
to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people."
Every district of our own rocky isle has been visited by the Mes
senger of Peace. Over Ireland the sword of the Spirit has been
waved, and we see, in the movement of its people, bursting from the
charm which for centuries has held them, the promise of a speedy
coming liberty from superstition and degrading bondage. The dep6ts
of France have poured forth their healing streams, and multitudes in
many parts are " feeling, if haply they may find " the Saviour. In
Belgium a victory has been won in the very heart of the citadel of
Romanism. To Holland the word has recalled the early days of the
Reformers. Germany, in spots, has released herself from scepticism
and neology ; whilst to the poor in Sweden, in Lapland, and the Baltic
Provinces, the blessed promises have awakened a hope full of immor
tality. In Italy, stern despotism restrains the freedom of opinion, but
the incarcerated witnesses for truth show that the Bible has lost none of
its power to elevate above the fear of death, and to cause its confessors
to take joyfully the spoiling of their goods, or, if needs be, to submit
without a murmur to bonds and imprisonment. In the East, too, has
the sign been seen of coming change. Look at the Protestant Armenian
congregations ; the shaking of the mind of the Hindoos, the gradual
diminution ofthe numbers who attend as worshippers the great public
festivals, the mouldering into decay of its venerable temples, the will
ingness to discuss the merits of Christianity, the readiness to accept of
its acknowledged sacred books, the' conviction of its superior purity, the
marked contrast of its holy mysteries to their secret impurities, and the
now not rare spectacle of her public baptisms ;— look also to China, a
land occupied by three hundred and sixty millions of human beings,
where a mighty movement is now progressing, where the foundations
of ancient error and superstition are breaking up, and where, notwith-
e2

52
standing many imperfections, and some serious errors, the cause of
Christianity is gaining ground ; — all portend a time which prophecy has
painted in its most glowing colours, when the kingdoms of this world
shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
We mark, too, the change which has come over the islands of
the sea : the polluted savage of the Polynesian groups has become the
Christianised man ; the hideous forms of a dark polytheism have given
way before the simplicity and beauty of a spiritual worship ; and
regions, which in former years revelled in Nature's wildness, have been
moulded into the milder forms of a cultivated garden. Of many places
may it be said; that the hallowed truths drawn from the Bible have com
forted all their waste places, have made their wilderness like Eden, their
desert like the garden of the Lord ; joy and gladness have been found
therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
We might traverse every country into which that word has entered,
and select some trophy of its power to subdue. And herein lies the
glory of its victory, that each captive is made willing in the day of
Christ's power, and is no sooner transferred to the number of the re
deemed, than, re-accoutred in the panoply of love and truth, and sin
cerity and peace, he becomes the uncompromising adversary of evil, of
sin, of the world, and of the devil.
We might take you to each portion of the African coast, to tribes the
most degraded, — we might take you to Europe, to nations the most
polished, — and each would give proof of the adaptation of the written
word to the soul of man. This blessed tree will flourish in every clime ;
the snows of the north do not nip it, the parching heats of the tropics do
not cause it to wither : everywhere it blooms, it blossoms, it bears fruit
to the praise of the glory of God's grace.
Who, then, but must rejoice in an Institution such as this, and who
does not find another tie to bind him in love to the land of his birth
when he contemplates it, not as the magazine of arms to destroy, but as
¦the grand dep6t of Bibles to save ? It is not when we look upon our belted
ocean that we feel that we are secure from every foreign foe ; nor when
we look upon our wooden walls, which have ever been our boast, do we
regard our empire as fixed, our might as permanent. No ! But it is
as we feel that the God of the Bible is honoured in our houses, in our
hearts, and in our lives, that we become sure that He will be our wall
of fire round about us, and the glory in the midst of us.
One word more, and we close. There is something striking and pecu
liar in the place which our island occupies on the surface ofthe globe. It
sands, as it were, in an advanced position between the Old World and the

53
New. How fitting, then, that from it should be given forth the first burst of
the trumpet of Jubilee ! May the sound which issues from hence be taken
up throughout the land ; may its echo resound from mountain and from
hill, in glen, in vale, in plain ; may it be wafted o'er the sea, and roll from
shore to shore, until earth's remotest bound hath caught its richest note !
May the blessings which it recalls to mind — the cancelling of debt, the
restoration of inheritance, the cessation from all toil — the rich, the joyous,
the free communion, where heart meets heart as hand joins hand — be so
impressed upon each soul, that it shall be a means to hasten on the time,
when, in one overwhelming chorus, shall be uplifted the exhilarating cry,
Hallelujah ! the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth !

Jubilee Paper, No, II.]

JUBILEE op the
Sritisjj anil ^nreign 9&ikl* famtq.

1853.

FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS
fob the
¥HAIR ©IP JJUTIBIIILIBIB,

I. THE FORMATION OF THE SOCIETY.
The British and Foreign Bible Society was established on the Seventh
day of March 1804; consequently it enters on its Fiftieth Year — its
Year of Jubilee — on the same day in 1853.
II. ITS OBJECT.
The Society is formed for one great and glorious object — the circulation
ofthe Holy Scriptures, without note or comment, both at home and abroad.
The copies circulated in the languages ofthe United Kingdom must be those
of the Authorised Version alone. In other countries, the best ancient or
received versions are printed ; and in the case of new translations, all prac
ticable means are adopted in order to ascertain their strict fidelity and
general merit. III. ITS CONSTITUTION.
In order to accomplish so great a work as the distribution ofthe Bible in
all lands and in all languages, it is necessary to combine, as far as practi
cable, the exertions, the liberality, the learning, and the piety, of all Christian
people. The constitution ofthe Society is so framed as to admit ofthe cor
dial co-operation of all persons favourable to its object. The Committee by
whom the proceedings are conducted, consists of thirty-six laymen six of
whom are foreigners resident in London and its vicinity : of the remainder
one-half are members of the Church of England, and the other half are
members of other denominations of Christians.

55
IV. ITS OPERATIONS AND SUCCESS.
The commencement of the Society was small, its progress gradual, but
by God's blessing, its success has been truly wonderful. This will be 'seen
by the following statement— *
(1) The Bible Society, formed in London in 1804, soon became the
parent of many others. At the present time, the Societies in connec
tion with it are —
In Great Britain  3315
In the Colonies and other Dependencies . . 575
Irelandhas  ~ Vl
Foreign Societies, with Branches, about  4000
Making a total of 8401
When the Society was first established, the Translations of the
Bible, in whole or in part, may have been about Fifty ; but
since then the number has greatly increased. There are now
One Hundred and Fifty-two Languages or Dialects in which
the Society has promoted the Distribution, Printing, or Translation
of the Scriptures,
Directly . . in 101 Languages or Dialects »
Indirectly. . 51 ditto ] Total, 152.
The number of Versions omitting those which are printed in different
Characters only) is 179. Of these, 125 are Translations never before
printed. (3) The Circulation of the Bible shows also a great increase : —
During the first four years the number was, 81,157 copies.
Last year alone, at home and abroad . . 1,367,528
The total from the commencement . . . 27,938,631
Assistance has been given to other Societies in the distribution of about
Twenty Millions more ; so that the circulation, by means of these com
bined Societies, cannot be less than Forty-seven Millions of copies ofthe
Holy Scriptures, in whole or in part. It is not too much to say, that, by the
translation, printing, and circulation of the Bible, within the present cen
tury, the Records of inspired Truth have been rendered accessible to about
Six Hundred Millions of the human family.
Such is a brief summary of the operations of the British and Foreign
Bible Society. These statements are given, not in the spirit of self-boasting,
but with humble thanldulness to that gracious Being, who has condescended to
employ the Society to do His work, and thereby to accomplish His purposes.
* The figures now given are those of 1854.

56
V. THE YEAR OF JUBILEE.
It has been resolved to celebrate the Society's Fiftieth Year as a Year of
JUBILEE. No special authority is claimed for its observance; but, deeming
it a season peculiarly calculated to call forth the best feelings of the Society's
friends, it is intended to take advantage of the opportunity thus afforded —
(1) To commemorate the Divine goodness, so abundantly vouchsafed
to the Society in its origin, early history, and subsequent progress ;
(2) To bear a renewed public testimony to the Divine character and
claims of the Bible, and to the right of every individual of the human
family to possess and read the same ; and
(3) To promote, by new and vigorous efforts, the widest possible cir
culation of the Scriptures, both at home and abroad.
VI. OBJECTS OF THE JUBILEE FUND.
As the Year of JUBILEE is expected to be one of great liberality on the
part of the numerous friends ofthe Society, it is necessary that objects of cor
responding magnitude and importance should be presented to their view. It is
intended, therefore, that the Jubilee Contributions of Individuals, Congrega
tions, Sunday Schools, Auxiliary, and other Societies, shall form a Fund, to
be appropriated to the furtherance of the following objects : —
(1) The adoption, as far as practicable, of an extensive and efficient sys
tem of Colportage, throughout Great Britain, in the Year of Jubilee;
the supply of Emigrants ; together with Special Grants of Bibles and
Testaments to Prisons, Schools, Missions, and other Charitable and
Benevolent Institutions, in this country.
(2) Special Grants to Ireland, in such ways as may hereafter be deter
mined upon.
(3) Special efforts in India, Australia, and other British Colonies, by
Agencies, Grants, or otherwise.
(4) Special Grants to China, and such other parts ofthe world as may
appear open to special operations.
(5) The establishment of a Special and separate Fund, from the annual
produce of which pecuniary aid may be granted, at the discretion of
the Committee, to persons in the employ of the Society, including the
Colporteurs abroad ; and to their widows and children, when in circum
stances to require such aid.
It is believed that the above objects, embracing, as they do, our own
country, the Colonies, India, China, and whatever other portions of the
globe may in God's providence claim special efforts, will secure the appro-

57
bation and co-operation of the patriot and the Christian. Contributors will
be at liberty to specify to which of these objects they intend their donations
to be applied, or, they may direct a division ofthe amount between them all.
VII. WHAT CAN I DO FOR THE JUBILEE FUND?
The object in communicating this information respecting the Society is
to awaken an interest in its behalf, and such an interest as will not die away
at the termination of the Jubilee Year. May we hope that the reading of
this paper thus far has led to the above inquiry ? If the question is sincerely
asked, it will not be difficult to find a suitable answer. All may assist —
some as Collectors, others as Contributors ; and the humblest Christians
may give the Society the aid of their prayers. The rich may contribute
largely out of their abundance ; and the poor may enjoy the luxury of doing
good by giving a little out of their poverty. We hope to receive large dona
tions from those to whom the Lord has given the silver and the gold ; and
that the Congregational Collections will be neither few nor small. The
conductors and teachers of Sunday Schools will doubtless feel their peculiar
obligations to the Society, and manifest it by giving the children an oppor
tunity to present a Jubilee Offering. The Officers of the Auxiliaries,
Branches, and Associations, while they sustain with vigour the ordinary
operations ofthe Society, will also employ all their influence to obtain Special
Contributions for the Jubilee Fund. We look with confident expectation
to the proceeds of the Jubilee Collecting Booh, placed in the hands of the
children and young people of our families and Schools. We do not choose
to say, all ought to assist, but we repeat, all may assist ; and we would fain
hope that all will assist, and deem it a privilege to show their love to the
Bible by their liberal and cheerful assistance to the Bible Society.
These " Facts and Observations " may be well concluded in the words
of the late Rev. Joseph Hughes, one of the Founders, and for many years a
Secretary of the Institution : — " Let every man give according to his
ability ; let him give with cheerfulness ; let him give in the name of the
adorable Mediator; and may the God for whose glory he brings forth
the Talent, the Shekel, or the Mite, accept the offering and bless the
application !"

Jubilee Paper, No. HI.]
JUBILEE
OF THE
Srifajr anil /orngtt Mile fatitln.
1853.

ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG.

My Dear Young Friends—
You are invited to engage in a blessed work. It is one which will not
interfere with any other duty ; while, if undertaken from right motives, it
will make every other duty sweet and pleasant.
God, in His infinite mercy, has given to us a Revelation of His holy
mind and will, in that Sacred Volume which we call the Bible. In that
Book He has declared that every child of Adam is born in a sinful state,
and can obtain pardon, peace, and salvation, only by and through oui
Lord Jesus Christ, who is " the Way, the Truth, and the Life !"
This world is inhabited by about One Thousand Millions of People ;
that is, about forty times as many as all the inhabitants of England,
Ireland, Scotland,, and Wales. More than half of these are poor benighted
Heathen ; and of those who are called " Christians," many millions have
not a Bible, and are ignorant of the Way of Salvation.
Nearly fifty years ago a Society was formed in London, for the sole
purpose of encouraging a wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures both at
home and abroad. It is called "The British and Foreign Bible
Society," and all persons, who believe the Bible to be a Revelation from
God, are invited to join it. You will see that the Divine Blessing has
rested on this Society when I tell you what has been already done.
By its example and assistance, about Ten Thousand Bible Societies
and Associations have been established in the world. Of these, nearly one
half are in our own country and in the British Colonies.
Fifty years ago, the Holy Scriptures had not been printed in more
than Fifty Languages. They are now translated, in whole or in part, into
One Hundred and Fifty Languages and Dialects.
Fifty years ago, it was estimated that there could not then be more
than Four Millions of Bibles and Testaments in the world. By means
of Bible Societies, more than Forty-five Millions have been already
distributed, about Seventeen Millions of which are in the languages of
Great Britain and Ireland.
For this altered state of things, my dear young friends, we should be

59
thaukful to Almighty God : but let us never forget that the work is not
done. Supposing that as many as Ten Millions have been distributed by
other Societies, and by private sale ; and supposing every Bible and Testa
ment of the Fifty-five Millions to have been preserved, and to be in the
possession of a family of five persons, there must be Seven Hundred
Millions of mankind still destitute of this blessed guide to heaven !
Children were among the very earliest friends of the Bible Society ; and
thousands of children in Great Britain, America, and other countries, are
collecting money to assist it in supplying the World with that Holy Book
which you possess, and are taught to love. Do not suppose that you
cannot do much : little streams make great rivers. The contributions and
collections of dear children who love their Bibles, and that adorable Saviour
whom it reveals, have enabled the Bible Society to send to hundreds of thou
sands of their fellow-creatures those " Holy Scriptures which are able to
make wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
Let me give you a few proofs of what the Young may do in this good work.
1. Not only were children among the earliest friends ofthe Bible Society,
but it is a very interesting fact, that the first Bible Association ever formed
was established in 1804, by a young lady about fifteen years of age, at
Sheffield, without her having the slightest knowledge of the existence of
the British and Foreign Bible Society, which was formed in the same
year. The name of this young lady was Catherine Elliott, and the begin
ning of this first "Juvenile Bible Association" was very small: it was,
indeed, " the least of all seeds." This dear young lady observing, in her
kind visits to the poor, a deplorable want of the Holy Scriptures, deter
mined to do what she could towards supplying this want. She mentioned
to her younger brother her intentions of contributing something every week
towards purchasing a Testament; for at this time she had no idea of being
able to give away a Bible. She began with a Penny, and he with a Half
penny. They procured a tin box, in which they kept their savings, until
at length they amounted to Sixteen Pence, with which they bought a Testa
ment. This young lady next drew up a short appeal, which she sent to her
school-fellows. The proposal was received and entered upon with ardour,
and the Testaments were given away as fast as they could be procured.
The number of Subscribers gradually increased, and a degree of system was
adopted. The Committee consisted of four Subscribers, who met every fort
night. The total number of Bibles and Testaments distributed by this little
Society in sixteen years exceeded Two Thousand Five Hundred. Only
suppose each copy to have been read by five persons, then more than Twelve
Thousand have been enabled, by means of a young girl, to become acquainted
with the all-important truths of " the glorious Gospel of the blessed God !"
Cannot children, then, do something ?

00
2. In 1812 the first "Juvenile Association" on a regular and systematic
plan was established, in connection with the Southwark Auxiliary Bible
Society, under the title ofthe " Surrey Chapel Bible Association," and con
sisting ofthe children and teachers of the Sunday Schools under the super
intendence of the " Southwark Sunday School Society." This extraordi
nary Association continues in full activity, and you will be" surprised when
I tell you, that, during Thirty-nine years, it has distributed more than
Thirty-nine Thousand Bibles and Testaments, and paid to the Southwark
Auxiliary Society more than Six Thousand Five Hundred Pounds.
According to the calculation already made, nearly Two Hundred Thousand
persons may thus have been made acquainted with the Way of Salvation.
Cannot children do much ?
3. A Juvenile Bible Association was formed in a Ladies' Boarding
School at Broughton, near Manchester, in April 1851. It consists of only
twelve collectors. The total amount collected within only eighteen months
has been 421. 18s. lOd. Of this sum nearly one half was derived from the
sale of needlework, &c. This interesting little Association does not distri
bute any Bibles, so that the whole amount collected is sent to help the
Parent Society to supply the World.
4. There is, however, my dear young friends, another way in which you
may not only assist the Bible Society, but may assist in the accomplishment
of the glorious object for which a God of infinite mercy has given the Bible
unto man. You may not only " adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in
all things," but may commend that blessed Book to others who were pre
viously ignorant of its value. Let me explain my meaning by one fact.
You have doubtless all heard, that, nearly twenty years ago, that foul plague-
spot which had so long disgraced the character of our country was removed,
by the emancipation of the slaves in all the colonies of Great Britain. The
Committee of the Bible Society, at the suggestion of the Rev. Hugh Stowell,
unanimously resolved to present to every emancipated Negro, capable of read
ing, a New Testament of a suitable size. A special fund was raised for this
purpose, and Public Meetings were held in many parts of England and Wales
in furtherance of this design. On the morning after one of these Meetings,
at a town where I was the guest of a dear friend, one of his little daughters,
accompanied by two or three of her younger sisters, presented me with a
sealed packet, requesting it might not be opened until I should have left the
house, saying, " We hope it may be accepted as a small contribution from
four little girls, to assist in the supply of the Holy Scriptures to the poor
Negro children in the West Indies." Her parents had left the room, but there
was a gentleman present who had breakfasted with us — a stranger to me,
but an intimate friend of the family — and who had listened to the words of
the dear child with marked interest. That gentleman was my only com-

61
panion in a long journey during the rest ofthe day, and, shortly after taking
our seats in the coach, I broke the seal of the little packet, and to my sur
prise found it contained nearly Five Pounds. On my alluding to the scene
we had just witnessed, his eyes filled with tears as he said, " Yes, Sir, she is
indeed an interesting child ; but she is much more, for she is a pious Chris
tian." And after a pause, he added, with evidently deep feeling, " To that
child, Sir, I am indebted for all my happiness upon earth, and all my hopes
for eternity." On my soliciting an explanation, he said he had been con
nected in business with her excellent father, but, unlike him, was not a
believer in the truths of the Bible, and had made no secret of his unbelief.
On one occasion this dear child, then only nine years old, was present when
her father was endeavouring, but in vain, to convince this gentleman of his
fatal error. When the painful conversation had ended, and her father had
left the room, she asked this gentleman to take a walk with her in the gar
den ; and when no one could overhear them, she inquired whether she might
ask him a question. " Certainly," he replied, " any question you please."
" Then," said she, " have you ever read the New Testament through with a
desire to understand it ?" " No," he answered, " I never have." " I
thought so," said she; " for I am sure you would not have spoken of it to
my father as you did just now if you had ;" and in an earnest manner she
added, " Oh ! do read it, and do wish to understand it." His concluding
words to me were, " My dear Sir, that child's entreaties and tears did far
more than any argument had ever done : they led me to the Bible, and the
Bible led me to my Saviour."
I might tell you much more of what the Bible, by the Holy Spirit's
teaching, has done for dear children ; and much more of what children
have done to make that Bible known to others ; but I prefer asking you,
individually, to put three questions to your own heart —
1. Do I love the Bible myself?
2. Do I pity those poor people who are without the Bible ?
3. Can I send to a fellow-creature a better gift than the Book of God ?
May the Lord bless you in your work, and bless His work in your hand
and to your hearts ! Your's affectionately,
C. S. DUDLEY.
Broadlands, Taunton.

Jubilee Paper, No. IV.]

JUBILEE
OF THE
1853.

AN ADDRESS TO
MINISTERS AND MISSIONARIES
ON THE BLESSED DUTY OF
CIRCULATING THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
BY THE REV. WILLIAM JOWETT, M.A.
INCUMBENT OF ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, CLAFJTAM RISE.

PART I. -MINISTERS.
Since we possess in the Bible an all-sufficient Revelation — the only true
Revelation — of the will of God to Mankind, it is evidently our duty to
dispense this inestimable treasure to the greatest possible extent, amongst all
the families ofthe earth. Under a sense of this obligation the British and
Foreign Bible Society was projected half a century ago. The circumstances
which attended its formation are at this distance of time seen to have been
few and simple. An extreme want of Bibles had begun to be felt in the
principality of Wales. Even so early as 1791 this necessity had been dis
cerned and urged by the venerable Jones of Creaton, and other zealous
Ministers corresponding with Wales. The apostolic Charles of Bala, visit
ing London in 1802, renewed the urgent appeal : and as a great Society,
previously almost the sole channel of supply, hesitated to meet this increasing
demand, the practical mind of a Hughes, aided by other kindred spirits, was
led to draw from these elements the project of a comprehensive plan for the
circulation ofthe Sacred Scriptures, not in Great Britain only, but throughout
the world. The pathetic statements of aSTEiNKOPFF were as dew to soften the
affections of all who listened to his plea for the continent of Europe : while the
fervid eloquence of an Owen stirred the hearts of thousands with the liveliest
admiration of the new Institution. The sagacious, constructive talents of a
Pratt were present to suggest arrangements. An individual highly distin
guished in the cause of humanity, Granville Sharp, as Chairman ofthe

63
first Public Meeting, laid the foundation-stone. Porteus, the aged Bishop
of our metropolitan city, and others of his brethren, obeyed the heavenly
call to give God's word to men. A retired Governor-General of India,
Lord Teignmouth— a devout man, and one that prayed to God always —
added his administrative abilities as President: and the plan ofthe British
and Foreign Bible Society was completed.
Nearly all those who took an active part in these primary measures, are
now gathered to their fathers. But the work perishes not; nor will it ever
cease, until the arrival of that period, when the earth shall be filled with the
knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

There are two classes to whom this glorious Institution is entitled to look,
as comprehending persons eminently fitted to promote its holy object.
Two classes they are, geographically considered : the one pledged to
Domestic, the other to Foreign labours : yet they form in reality but one body :
these are, Ministers and Missionaries. Wherever they may be called
in the providence of God, their work is, to teach and to preach Jesus
Christ. How exalted, how benevolent, how godlike is that office !
It is to these two classes that I have been requested, by the Com
mittee, to draw up an Address on the interesting occasion of their Year
of Jubilee. Ministers and Missionaries I regard as, in the noblest sense,
brethren beloved and honoured in the Lord. Having moreover, through
my intimate knowledge of some of its founders, been from the very first
connected with this Institution, and having spent all my public life in
Ministerial and Missionary pursuits, I cannot but feel that the Society has
a special claim upon my allegiance. It is a Society essentially bound up
with the Ministry ofthe word. The request of the Committee, therefore,
must not be declined, however inadequate I may, and do feel my powers
to be, for treating so high a theme. Among brethren I am sure to meet
with indulgence : from my Master I humbly expect forgiveness for all that
He sees amiss in my attempt ; and a gracious acceptance of all that shall be
offered, agreeable to. His will.

In speaking of the Bible Society, we unavoidably speak of the excel
lences ofthe Bible itself. My first observation then is, that we possess
in this Book, the sure Basis of religious knowledge and experience.
It contains all Truth necessary to be understood and felt, for our salvation.
It is able to make us wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Upon this point it is scarcely necessary to enlarge. If the Bible were
merely a book of Instruction, it would simply take its place among others
on our shelves : but it ranks far above them all. It claims the absolute

04
allegiance of the understanding, the purest love of the heart, and the entire
obedience ofthe life. It is our standard book in youth, in manhood, in old
age : When thou goest, it shall lead thee ; when thou sleepest, it shall keep
thee ; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. According to this
Book, all our deeds, words, and motives will be judged at the last day.

The Sacred Volume, it may be further observed, is not only a universal
guide in whatever concerns experimental religion ; but it is in a most
especial sense our grand Instrument of Ministerial Usefulness.
What is the fact ? A Minister making the Bible his grand Instrument,
finds in it passages innumerable, commending this very Book, as being most
forcibly and accurately fitted for his use. Look only at the titles "which it
bears, and the things to which it is compared. It is called the sword ofthe
Spirit, which is the word of God: (Eph. vi. 17.) it is sharper than any
two-edged sword : (Heb. iv. 12.) it is a hammer that breaketh the rock
in pieces : (Jeremiah xxiii. 29.) it is as an hatchet : I have hewed them
by the prophets : (Hosea vi. 9.) it is a saw, grating the conscience of
sinners ; they were cut (Greek, sawed) to the heart : (Acts v. 33, and vii. 37.)
it is as a goad : they were pricked in their hearts : (Acts ii. 37.) it is a rod :
he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth: (Isaiah xi. 4.) : it is as a
blast of fire : With the breath of his mouth shall he slay the wicked : Is
not my word a fire? (Is. xi. 4. Jerem. xxiii. 20.) Sometimes it is as a
trumpet, to alarm sinners ; (Is. lviii. 1.) at other times it is a still small
voice to comfort and warn the servant of the Lord : (1 Kings xix. 12.) It
is a witness; it is a judge : (Deut. xxxi. 19. John xii. 48.) It is a mirror,
in which to see our character : (James i. 23.) It is a light and a lamp, to
shew our path : (Ps. cxix. 105.) It is a mine of wisdom, a pearl of great
price, hidden treasures : (Prov. ii. 4^—6. Matt. xiii. 44.) It is rain and
dew, snow and showers : (Deut. xxxii. 2. Is. Iv.) It is sincere milk for babes
in Christ: it is strong meat for them that are of full age in the school
and service of Christ : (1 Peter i. 2. Heb. v. 14.) — What can a Minister
need, that he does not find here ? Is he a fisherman ? This is his net
and hook, to catch men. Is he a husbandman? The seed is the word
of God ; this — not chaff, but this seed alone — he is to sow widely. Is he
a shepherd ? Here is his crook, his rod and staff: and here are the green
pastures, the still waters, whither to lead the footsteps of his flock. Is he a
good soldier of Jesus Christ? Here, in the Bible, he is equipped with the
whole armour of God.
Now it is worthy the consideration of re fleeting men, whether during the
existence of the Bible Society there has not been a marked influence pro
duced by the exertions of that Institution. Such an influence we actually
behold: and we cannot but attribute it to the increased use ofthe Bible by

65
Christian Ministers themselves. We see Bible principles, and even the
very language of Sacred Scripture, in various degrees recognised in the
Court, the Senate, and the Camp : in the tribunals of Justice, the Halls of
Science and Literature, the Chambers of Commerce, and even in that ever-
fluctuating Tide of public opinion, the Press.
To Ministers of Christ, and others assisting them in works of mercy
and usefulness, the Bible is now the constant Manual. Let the appeal be
made to those who have enjoyed any fair opportunities of guaging public
opinion and public acts during the last forty or fifty years. Have not
Ministers themselves been drawing nearer to the Apostolic model — We will
give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry ofthe word. Are
not their Sabbath sermons, and their week-day lectures, both more numerous
and more richly fraught with Bible-doctrine, and Bible-language ? What
shall we say of their Bible-studies before entering the Sacred Ministry ; and
their Bible-Conferences with one another afterwards 1 On this last topic
much of a deeply-interesting nature might be adduced, by those who have
witnessed the earnestness of their own friends and acquaintance, in select
Ministerial parties; how they collate their opinions; correcting, coun
selling, or confirming one another in their views of truth, their judgment of
passing events, their plans of usefulness, and their personal spiritual edifica
tion. Hence they go forth better fitted to conduct the Bible-Experiences
of new Converts, or of established believers. Hence the extended religious
Exercises of the Family, in the Nursery, in regular Family Worship, and in
social parties. Hence Bible-catechising in Sunday Schools and elsewhere.
Hence pastoral Visits to the Sick and Afflicted, more searching, more in
structive, more comforting : seeing that Bible-Tracts, and Bible-Manuals
are now greatly multiplied : far exceeding what we know to have been the
case fifty years ago. The Poor, too, far more extensively than formerly,
have the Gospel preached to them, by means of Bible-Readings in the
cottage. Bible-Classes, moreover, so admirably adapted to cause the word
of Christ to dwell in us richly in all wisdom, are now universally valued.
Is not all this the consequence of the increased diffusion of the Scriptures ?
and is it not mainly attributable, therefore, to a Society which takes the
lead in that diffusion ? In these results I see so much to gladden the heart,
and to assure the judgment, that I cheerfully invite my Brethren in the
Ministry to strengthen the cause of the Bible Society, as one of the very best
methods of strengthening their own hands.

Thus far we have considered the Bible and the Bible Society as the
direct guide to religious experience, suitable for all persons, and more
particularly the instrument of usefulness adapted for those engaged in the
Ministry. But there is also an indirect operation of the Society, of im-
F

66
mense value ; as regulating and bringing up to one point the tortuous
movements ofthe human mind, when engaged in religious controversies.
Such have in every age arisen, and probably will arise to the very end of
time. There must also be heresies among you, that they which are ap
proved maybe made manifest among yon. (1 Cor. xi. 19.) Ministers of
Religion will generally have the principal share in conducting controversies.
This topic may properly find a place therefore in an appeal to them. And
what I would submit, is, that the Bible Society is the fittest Guardian of
Genuine Religious Freedom.
Freedom to think, and freedom reverentially to speak on religious
subjects, is a privilege essential to the healthy existence of Christianity.
Difference of opinion may be inseparable from Religious Freedom : but as
long as the Bible is appealed to as the Supreme Law, from which alone
any opinion claims to derive its authority, so long there is a security for
Truth : discussion, free and temperate, will in time establish, under the
Divine Blessing, the interests of that most invaluable possession, "The
Truth." But Intolerance, cramping, repressing, and coercing the privilege
of free discussion, operates only to the obscuring and extinction of the
Light. No marvel that Rome should start at the prospect of the free circulation
of a-Book, in which the features of her system are so accurately pourtrayed.
For " Romanist " is only a change of name. While depicting the Pharisees
and Scribes of old, Scripture has unveiled every corruption of Rome.
The superseding of God's word by tradition; the encumbering of pure
worship with frivolous ceremonials ; rapacity disguised by hypocrisy ; lordly
assumption of power, and contemptuous depression of a laity kept in igno
rance by their professed instructors ; the taking away of the key of know
ledge — a thorough Anti-Bible-Society principle ! — all these things are so
minutely, so severely exposed, that Rome must either seal up the twenty-
third chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, or succumb to the common sense of
mankind. Intolerance is her state-engine, the sole engine left her ; but Intolerance
cannot flourish where the Bible Society is established. The existence of
the Bible Society is therefore an insufferable stumbling-block to Rome.
A struggle between these two is inevitable, until one of them shall perish.
They cannot perpetually co-exist in the world. Rome knows this well :
and would more exult in the downfall of the Bible Society than in any
other event on earth. But the Bible-cause— like the stone "cut out
without hands," which smote the image of Pagan Rome, and all ante
cedent heathen dominations — will prove eventually no less formidable to
Rome Papal : becoming at length " a great mountain," filling the whole
earth. And yet before the arrival of this consummation, there will probably be

67

many controversies revolving around the Bible Society, that Society remain
ing as a quiescent centre. Ministers of Christ will do well to observe whe
ther there be not a dangerous opinion gaining some ground even now ; and,
even in our own enlightened country, threatening the cause of genuine
Religious Freedom. The notion I refer to, is that of" A perpetual Inspi
ration inherent in the Church :" which is the essence of Popery. With Rome
it is a dogma. In some parts of Britain and her dependencies it exists at pre
sent rather as an infection; an internal corruption ofthe humours; ready in
time to break out as a leprosy of the whole body. The antidote to this is the
Bible Society; a sure antidote ! Her voice declares to all Ecclesiastics, whe
ther ruminating in the closet or debating in the conclave, and equally to the
whole body of the professing Church—" You are seeking Inspiration : here
then it exists, in that Book which we distribute." All #«asi-inspiration is a
part of that mystery of iniquity which began to work even in the Apostolic
age, " lording it over God's heritage :" which Rome has carried to its utmost
height ; and which Englishmen not a few, at the present moment, while
sipping the cup of Rome, are attempting to introduce among ourselves.*

My brethren in the sacred Ministry will perhaps allow me one suggestion
more; namely, that the Bible Society is a Barrier against all Irreligious
Freedom. In the present day, as at the Reformation, and in the Apostolic
age, men claim to think for themselves : yet in doing so, what multitudes,
through their own ignorance and passion, wrought upon by the seductive
arts of corrupt and inflammatory teachers, are tempted, and actually led, to
think and to act wrong ! Through the pride of intellect, what multitudes
are there who from Free-thinkers, so called, become not mere abstract Neo-
logists, but Infidels and desperadoes ! It was nobly said by one of the first
Christian orators of his day, Robert Hall, " The Bible Society is a solemn
and public recognition, calculated beyond any other event that has tran
spired, to confound infidelity, and to expel from the nation the last relics
of that detestable impiety ; to shut up every crevice of the infernal pit, and
* The following remarks, uttered ten years ago, still suggest seasonable and weighty
considerations : — "When I send out the Bible, I know what I send: — when I send out
the Holy Scriptures, I know what I do not send. I know that in sending out the Holy
Scriptures, I am not sending out the gospel of man, but the Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. I know that, in sending out this holy Book, I am not sending out any admixture
of error, but I am sending out the pure word of God. I know that when I send out this
Book, I am not sending out a gospel of tradition — I am not sending out a gospel of
superstition — I am not sending out a gospel of corruption — I am not sending out the
interpretation of men : but I am sending out the word of God, ' the sincere milk of the
word,' pure and unadulterated, as it came from the hand of God himself." — (Bishop of
Winchester, at the Anniversary Meeting, 1843.)
f2

68
disperse every atom of the pestilential steam." But the mouth of that
bottomless pit is not yet closed : the air is yet darkened by its emitted
smoke : infidelity, in the judgment of many, is even now more rampant
and active than ever ; both insidiously and openly denying the inspiration
of Scripture, unhinging the golden gates of the Sabbath, and assaulting
public opinion at the innumerable avenues of a free press. Let but the
Bible Society have free course, and Infidelity as well as Popery will wax
pale. For Infidelity as well as Popery has the picture of her votaries
drawn in the Scriptures of truth. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are
not afraid to speak evil of dignities. While they promise them liberty, they
themselves are the servants of corruption. Let us warn our people against
such workers of evil ; and let us do this in accordance with the volume of
Inspiration. We are Ministers of peace, and we are Ministers of truth.
As Truth is the health of the Church, so is Peace the health of our nation
and of all mankind : and there is no lasting peace without truth. As
genuine patriots never let us forget the motto of John Owen, who had a
truly British heart : on his seal was graven — An open Bible, with these
three words beneath — England's best hope.

PART H. -MISSIONARIES.
Fifty years ago — full well do some of us remember it— the term " Mis
sionary " conveyed the idea of a person nearly lost to his native land, and
little remembered by friends at home : certain only of exposure to the heat
or cold, the insalubrity, and the savage habits of remote inhospitable
regions. Those were the days, in which the spirit of Henry Martyn was
pained by the remarks of an individual otherwise friendly to him ; but who
regarded the Scripture- texts quoted by Martyn " as applicable only to the
times ofthe Apostles ; and despised all labours of love among the Heathen,
as wild and visionary." India and West Africa were then brought fully
into view : but the one soon became the battlefield of an Anti- Missionary
controversy ; the other had long been the legalised victim of treachery,
carnage, incendiarism, and deportation, as practised by rich, polite, literary,
powerful England and her various European allies in the far-extending Slave
Trade. There were also Missions from England, commencing in the Pacific,
the West Indies, and at the Cape of Good Hope. Besides these, there were
Moravian Missions in the West Indies and Labrador, and at the Cape.
Intercourse between nations was then difficult : partly on account of the
universal Continental war, partly because the use of steam in travelling was
then unknown. My first voyage from London to Malta, thirty-eight
years ago, took me nearly two months : an easy transit now of two weeks.
But the state of the whole world is immensely changed since that time.

Nations now freely and rapidly communicate with one another : and Great
Britain stands in friendly relations with the whole earth. New Zealand at
the antipodes is now Christian. The Pacific Ocean will be to us but as a
neighbouring lake. China with her vast frontier is accessible. Africa is
begirded, if not penetrated by Missionary plans. Asia everywhere is open
to our visits. A Missionary moves now in any direction upon the face of
the globe under the highest patronage and with ample assistance. If he be
a right-minded man, true to his Master, his embassy is welcomed in many
a foreign land, as it had been the visit of an angel.
I desire ever to remember with gratitude the cordiality with which I was
received by the late President of the Bible Society (then Mr. Vansittart,
Chancellor of the Exchequer), when in 1815 I was presented to the Com
mittee, previously to my first departure for Malta. I had in brief terms
expressed the identity of object and interest existing between Bible and
Missionary Societies ; on which idea he as Chairman commented with
marked approval. Experience has confirmed this. The Bible Society would
never have effected her great work without the aid of Missionaries ; nor
would Missions have enjoyed that success which has crowned their labours,
without the liberal co-operation ofthe Bible Society.
Feelings of gratitude then, as well as the dictates of my judgment, lead me
to impress as strongly as possible these sentiments on my younger brethren,
the Missionaries of the present day : namely, that they cannot work well
without the Bible Society ; and therefore, that the Bible Society is entitled
to the fullest benefit of their co-operation.

It may be interesting and encouraging to notice, in the first place, some
of those Circumstances providentially favouring the Bible Society,
for which its history is so remarkable. I shall touch principally on those
which have occurred in my own particular sphere.
The translation of the entire Bible into the principal modern language of
Abyssinia, the Amharic, is one of the most interesting events of the pre
sent era. This important work was commenced at a time when the Society
was in its infancy; "its limbs not fashioned, and its joints not knit;" and
when its cradle was tossed by the winds of early English controversy. It
was set on foot by a French gentleman in Egypt, without any concert with
the Bible Society. M. Asselin, meeting with a learned Abyssinian, for
merly preceptor to Sir William Jones in India, and having been instrumental
in saving his life, employed this man on a literary speculation : leading
him on, book by book, to the translation eventually of the whole of the
Scriptures. The work long remained on his hands ; and in his search for
a patron he had the mortification of being coolly regarded by the French
King, the Emperor of Russia, and the authorities of the Vatican. At

70
length, the resources of the Bible Society being fully adequate, and my
services being at their command, I went on a second visit to Egypt (1820),
and treated for the purchase of this treasure ; having first ascertained its
completeness : which I did by the collation of the first, middle, and last
verse of every chapter of the Bible : an operation which took me eleven
days at Cairo. The cost of this unique work, consisting of nearly 10,000
MS. pages, was considerably above 1000Z. The New Testament I brought
to England, and the remainder soon followed. Next, a learned editor was
needed : this was speedily found in the person of the late T. P. Piatt, Esq.,
then Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. To the literary powers of this
gentleman we are indebted for the production of the entire Amharic Bible
in print : and copies of this work are now distributed in Abyssinia. Great
undertakings in the Bible cause have occurred in various parts of the
world : but a greater than this, and one more truly providential, it has not
been my lot ever personally to witness.
To another Version ofthe Sacred Scriptures, the Turkish, edited by the
late Professor Kieffer, I refer, as connected with circumstances of a very
providential character. The Version had been in existence more than a
century and a half. A learned person, Baron Von Diez, was the first to
draw the attention of the Society to this work : he had edited four books of
the Pentateuch, when he was removed by death. At this juncture there
was brought to view a competent scholar, perhaps the only one adequately
skilled in the language, to carry the work through the press. Professor
Kieffer had been attached as Interpreter to the French Embassy at Constan
tinople, when that court fell under the displeasure of the Porte. He suffered
confinement therefore for some considerable time in the " Seven Towers,"
the State Prison at Constantinople. " My confinement here," I have heard
him pleasantly remark, " was to me like the imprisonment of Joseph in
Egypt: it improved my knowledge ofthe Turkish language: it led to my
subsequent promotion: and above all, it has enabled me to requite the
Turkish nation by supplying them with the Bread of life."
The history of the Modern Greek Bible has in it some remarkable parti.
culars. This language was early brought under the notice of the Bible
Society, by the circumstance that the Rev. H. Lindsay, then Chaplain to
our Embassy at the Porte, had obtained from the Patriarch of Constan
tinople a written document recommending the universal reading of the
Modern Greek Testament, which had been printed a century before by
Professor Franke at Halle. It may serve to show how ignorant our country
then was concerning the state of Modern Greece, to mention the fact,
that on applying to all the booksellers in London (1815) for Modern
Greek books, I found only three : one being this newly-recommended Tes
tament. Having spent some months in Greece in 1816, 1 proposed the next
year to go to Vienna, to set on foot a translation of the Old Testament into

71
Modern Greek ; but this project was overruled by the Church Missionary
Committee. Mean time that enterprising and indefatigable agent of the
Bible Society, the Rev. Dr. Pinkerton, found a Greek Bishop of great
learning, Hilarion, whom he engaged to make this translation. After a
while, however— this Version having been made from the Septuagint, and
the Committee ofthe Bible Society having judged that the Version should
be conformed to the original Hebrew— the services of another distinguished
literary agent, Professor Bambas, were engaged. The result has been, that
more than two hundred and fifty thousand copies of the Modern Greek
Scriptures, in whole or in part, have been printed, the last two Editions
(each of 3000 copies) having proceeded from the University Presses at
Oxford and Cambridge.
Time would fail me to enumerate other remarkable incidents concerning
the Arabic and Maltese Sacred Scriptures, which have fallen under my
notice. Highly important in this department were the early labours of
Dr. Adam Clarke ; and, subsequently, the peculiar talents of that eminent
Orientalist, lately deceased, Professor Lee. But when those who are soli
citous in this kind of research survey what has been done in Persia, in India,
(especially Serampore), in China, in New Zealand, in the islands ofthe South
Seas, and many other regions of the world,* they are constrained to feel
that the history of the Bible Society is a history of wonders of bene
volence ; and to acknowledge, at many a providential turn in that history,
This is the finger of God !
The remark to be drawn from these facts, as worthy to be impressed on
Missionaries, is this — That there is great need to contribute the utmost
Exploratory enterprise and Literary talent, in the service of the
Bible Society.
Let this suggestion be illustrated in the single instance of that huge,
unpenetrated, massive continent, Africa. Our travellers from time to time
achieve something in the way of exploring the arid deserts, and the yet more
perilous savage kingdoms of the interior : but most of them either sink under
their fatigues, or retreat to the coast, as if repelled by some centrifugal force
from the heart of Africa. What we really know of a large part of those
regions is but as the hem of a garment. One of the most enterprising of
modern Missionaries, Dr. Krapf, acknowledges that the passion for research
was at the first kindled in his breast, from his observing in a Map of Africa
how very few names of places and even of kingdoms were to be seen. — The
same was often my topic of contemplation, when in sultry days at Malta I
was wont to spend a weary hour in gazing on the Mediterranean chart, feel-
* Bagster's interesting work, "The Bible of every Land," contains a large mass of
very curious information on this subject.

72
ing myself surrounded by three continents : two of these comparatively well
known both to antiquity and modern times; the third, seemingly a lasting
monument ofthe geographical ignorance of mankind. " As to the tongues
and dialects of Africa (methought), who knows them, who has cared to
know them !" Previously to the year 1829 a version of a portion of
Scripture in the dialect of the Kabayles (or "Tribes" south of Algiers)
was said to exist : this in due season was purchased by the British and
Foreign Bible Society, and sent to this country : but none could interpret it !
Preaching about that time in Mr. Simeon's pulpit at Cambridge, I alluded
to this circumstance ; intimating that, possibly, twenty years might elapse
ere those Tribes should receive the word of God : when such a deep-fetched
sigh arose from that good man's breast, as even now seems to be audible in
my ears. Those who knew him, and are able to appreciate the tenderness
and fervour of his spirit, will readily conceive that the prayer of faith
accompanied that sigh : and yet our prayers are not answered : that ver
sion is not yet printed, nor even interpreted ! — We are naturally looking to
see what the literary powers of Bishop Vidal, recently appointed to Sierra
Leone, may produce : but what is one able scholar, what are ten, among so
many African tribes ; what are a hundred enterprising and literary Missio
naries, when scattered over the whole Earth ?
Here let me note, that the self-denying patience of those Missionaries is
highly to be esteemed, who have for a while, or partially, withdrawn from
more active scenes, that they might the more effectually pursue the work of
Scriptural Translation. Thus Martyn sequestered himself for many months
in Persia, when friends in Calcutta told him that there were English Con
gregations in that city thirsting for his presence and pastoral teaching. So
Carey, Marsbman, and Ward at Serampore, Morrison in China, and Goodell
the American translator (whom I affectionately remember as my host in
Mount Lebanon in 1824), and various others — men apt for preaching, and
not wholly relinquishing that high office — yet for many years went on
toiling at the desk, with a view to render the word of God accessible to
millions. For it is a difficult task to translate the Sacred Scriptures correctly.
Let a student only take up Cruden's Concordance, and mark some ofthe preli
minary comments of that laborious writer on particular words ; and he will
soon apprehend, that accurately to give the sense of Sacred Scripture requires
much more logical acumen, more literary taste, more theological knowledge,
and more of a devotional spirit, than the duties of literary life in this
country ordinarily demand.
To this work then let Missionaries allow me to invite their earnest, syste
matic," unwearied attention. The saying of Carey must not be forgotten —
" Expect great things : attempt great things." Nor the saying of Buchanan —
" He that produces a new Version of the Bible is a greater man than he who
founds a kingdom." The experience of Buchanan is also very consola-

73

tory to those who thus labour. He described himself as completely overcome
with the recollection of the delight which he had enjoyed in editing the
Syriac Testament. « At first," said he, « I was disposed to shrink from the
task as irksome, and apprehended that I should find even the Scriptures
pall by the frequency of this critical examination. But so far from it, every
fresh perusal seemed to throw fresh light on the word of God, and to con
vey additional joy and consolation to my mind." This was a few days
only before his death. — All may be explained by the excellent advice
which the Missionary Tutor, M. Blumhardt of Basle, used to give to
his pupils : " Whatever you are studying, even if it be the driest grammar,
think that you are doing it for Christ ; and you will find it easy and pleasant."
How great need there is for more of such Missionary exertions, must be
apparent from a statistical view of the very deficient past results. During
the last fifty years it is estimated that forty-three millions of the Sacred
Scriptures, or parts of them, have been circulated : but out of these about
fifteen millions have been in foreign languages: and probably not more
than two millions of copies have been given to those Mahomedan and heathen
lands, which are covered with darkness and the shadow of death ! Truly
may it be said, There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed!

To take possession of this unoccupied ground — almost to take possession
of the whole world — pertains therefore to the profession of Missionaries —
of Missionaries carrying out the great design of the British and Foreign
Bible Society. This is their high vocation! And that they may neither
slacken nor be discouraged, let them reflect on that holy sympathy among
all lovers of the Bible throughout the world, which will attend The Out
pouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh. Truly, without this gift, vain
were it to expect any real blessing on the Society's labours. As soon might
we expect to divert the earth from her orbit, or remove the sun from his centre,
as to turn one heart from the power of Satan unto God. But through the
promised aid of the Spirit, pleaded for in importunate prayer, many souls
will be converted : and being thus moved, they will become instrumental
in turning many, even millions, unto righteousness. The Lord will give the
word : great will be the company of those that shall publish it. Often have
we been reminded that "Prayer moves the Hand that moves the world."
What we need is, to cast away our narrow views, our selfish schemes,
our minor political and ecclesiastical controversies; and make a perse
vering, united effort for the Bible. " If there he one point common in our
nature (said an early and eloquent advocate for the Society) a point as much
to be deplored a3 hated, it is, Narrowness. We must remember the ten
dency of our nature to narrowness : we must remember the tendency of our
nature to shrink from our brethren : we must cultivate that Oneness of heart,

74
which, as the golden chain, comes down from heaven ; and first binds us to
God, and then to one another."
And surely the aspect ofthe times is such, as urgently to demand sympathy
among all lovers ofthe Bible. Let One heart and one way (Jeremiah
xxxii. 39.) be our motto : that One way being the good old path ofthe word of
God. Missions are now like an in-coming tide, flowing into every region ofthe
earth, and penetrating into every crevice of society. We have Missions both
small and great, to civilized countries and uncivilized : — Missions to China,
Missions to the City of London: — Missions to the barbarous deserts of Africa,
and Missions to the fastnesses of Popish lands. Let all range under one
banner, The Mission of the Bible ! Then may we expect that God will
bless us ; and that, long ere another fifty years shall have passed, our chil
dren will celebrate a Universal Jubilee in every part of the habitable globe !

Jubilee Paper No. V,]

JUBILEE
OF THE
1853.

RECOLLECTIONS AND COUNSELS
FOR THE
BY THE REV. DR. STEINKOPFF,
MINISTER OF THE GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH, IN THE SAVOY, LONDON,
AND FOR MANY YEARS FOREIGN SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY.

When I represent to my mind the 7th of March 1804, placing myself in
spirit in the assembly-room of the London Tavern, I behold there a grain
of mustard-seed committed to the ground with a trembling hand, but with
a prayerful heart. On that ever-memorable day our Bible Society feebly
rose, which ever since has continually increased in vigour and strength, till it
has reached the vast number of about8000 Auxiliaries, Branches, and Associa
tions, in this and other countries. I felt delighted when, at the first Meeting
of the Society, a sum of no less than .£700 was subscribed ; but, blessed be
God, at whose supreme command is all .the silver and gold, these few
hundred pounds have now multiplied to — hundreds of thousands ; —
indeed, from this live coal of Christian charity a flame of generous
ardour and exertion has been kindled, which, burning brighter and brighter
into one focus, (collecting the munificent gifts of the rich and the humble
mites of the poor,) has wonderfully contributed to the illumination of many
a benighted spot with the light of Divine truth. The number of those gen
tlemen who attended the first Meeting, both ministers and laymen, was
about three hundred; but, though connected with various Christian churches
and nations, they all felt animated by one and the same spirit, cordially to
promote the most extensive circulation of that Sacred Volume, which is the
standard of faith and rule of practice for all who profess and call themselves
Christians, and which has justly been designated, by a late Archbishop of
Canterbury, " the common property of mankind ;" while thousands, yea,
tens of thousands, have, in rapid succession, joined the ranks of the

76
Parent Institution, all determined cordially to co-operate in the benevolent
effort to enrich their destitute fellow-men with the inestimable treasure of
that word of truth and salvation, from which millions, in every age, and in
every condition and class of society, have derived instruction, consolation,
and hope, in life and in death.
It deserves to be mentioned as an interesting fact, that as the So
ciety proceeded in the investigation of the actually existing want ofthe
Holy Scriptures, they ascertained it to prevail to a far greater degree than
they had originally conceived. Still more striking is the fact, that, after a
successful issue of upwards of twenty-five millions of Bibles, or por
tions of the same, at home or abroad, in more than 148 languages, there is
reason to infer that, considering the increase of population since 1804 — the
multitudes of adults and the young who have been taught to read — the
progress of civilization — the growing estimation in which the sacred oracles
are held, combined with an ardent desire to obtain them — there is as great, if
not a greater destitution of the Scriptures, than was the case at its formation.
Here let us call to mind the kindred Institutions which have since been
brought into active operation, especially Missionary and Education So
cieties, and which have been assisted by this Society ; the accomplished
scholars and active agents raised up to aid this sacred and benevolent work
by their diversified talents, acquirements, piety, ardent zeal, prayers, per
sonal exertions, and perseverance : let us consider, further, the facility of com
munication by land and by sea ; the easy access to countries almost inacces
sible before to European influence ; the fresh channels frequently opening
for disseminating the incorruptible seed of the word of God : still more,
contemplate so many hands eagerly stretched forth to receive the precious
boon, so freely and generously offered to them ; the intense gratitude felt,
and, in a variety of ways, evinced, by word and deed ; and the undeniable
blessing, which, amidst all infirmities and imperfections attached to so
arduous and complicated a work, has rested on the wide diffusion of the
volume of inspiration, by the hallowed influence of the Spirit of truth and
holiness which accompanied its perusal ; and we must surely feel constrained
to exclaim with the royal Psalmist, "The Lord hath done great things for us,
whereof we are glad !" " Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good,
for His mercy endureth for ever." For the records of the Society furnish
many an authentic and cheering proof that the Scriptures thus distributed
have been read, searched, received into a good heart, and been instrumental in
regenerating, purifying, and sanctifying that heart, converting the soul, and
influencing the whole life. Mere nominal Christians have become real fol
lowers of Christ; the dishonest, honest; the riotous, sober; the impure,
pure; the angry, mild; the hostile, peaceable; bigoted persecutors, en
lightened promoters of that faith they endeavoured to destroy. Jews, who
once blasphemed the name of Jesus, now call Him blessed; some disciples of
Mahomet now follow Christ as the true Prophet and High Priest of our pro-

77
fession ; and once devoted Idolaters are now bending their knees before the
only true God, and Him whom He hath sent, Jesus Christ our Lord. The
awful desolations of war, and the advantages of returning peace, have each,
in their turn, contributed to the promotion of one and the same blessed cause ;
the former, by leading many a troubled individual and family, who had lost
their earthly all, to resort again to that inexhaustible fountain of true con
solation and hope, which they had too much neglected, or even despised,
before. In confirmation of this, I may refer to the French prisoners of
war, who, during their confinement in England, had the Scriptures put
into their hands in their own tongue, one of whom, an officer, came to my
house on the return of peace, with a request that I would return his
warmest thanks to the Society for a French Bible, using the remarkable
expression, " I came to England a disciple of Voltaire, and I leave it a dis
ciple of Christ." On the restoration of peace, the friendly feelings che
rished between hostile parties and nations made many disposed freely to
receive the Scriptures generously presented to them, and to establish kindred
Institutions in their own respective countries, which have since contributed
to the circulation of millions of copies of the Holy Scriptures in almost
every European language.
But their diffusion is not confined to the languages and dialects of Europe :
no, the vast field presenting itself to the operations of the Society is the
world. There are the remnants of ancient Christian Churches widely dis
persed over Syria, Palestine, Armenia, Egypt, Abyssinia (ancient Ethiopia),
and other parts of Asia and Africa. For their benefit successive editions of
the New Testament, or the entire Bible, have been printed, of versions pre
viously existing, or of new translations more recently executed in Syriac,
Ancient and Modern Greek and Armenian, Ethiopic and Amharic, in
Coptic, &c, the eager reception and devout perusal of which has proved to
numbers, especially among the Armenian nation, the happy means of a
gracious revival and true regeneration in heart and life. Nor were the
descendants of Ishmael forgotten, on whose behalf the venerated Father
of the faithful so earnestly pleaded with his God: "Oh, that Ishmael
might live before thee !" Among the Arab and other Mahometan tribes
the principal languages spoken are the Arabic, Persian, and Turkish.
In all these languages, either ancient versions have been reprinted, or
recent translations encouraged. Among the latter is the translation of the
New Testament in Persian, undertaken and — even to the sacrifice of health
and life — accomplished by the late revered Henry Martyn, one of the most
distinguished scholars of the University of Cambridge; which, together
With several portions of the Old Testament more recently translated, was
presented to the Persian Monarch, kindly received by him, and read by
not a few of the noble and learned inhabitants of the kingdom.
And here it may not be improper to refer to the intimate and most benefi-

78
cial connection of Bible andMissionary Societies. Whilst the active labourers
of the latter translate, circulate, and expound the Holy Scriptures, Bible
Societies encourage and aid them in their sacred work by grants in money
and printing-paper, and by supplying them, from their ample storehouse and
reservoir, with the bread and water of life. How many Missionaries con
nected with various sections ofthe Christian Church, as well as other Christian
gentlemen, stationed in the most diversified portions ofthe benighted heathen
world, have spent, and are still spending, years of labour and toil in carrying
on that most important but arduous task, the translation of the word of God
into the vernacular tongues of large nations or of smaller tribes. To use the
expression of one of them, the Rev. W. Keane, from Calcutta—" The Bible is
to the Missionary the source of his daily strength and comfort ; and the
Bible Society is to all Societies in the land (India) the source from whence
their armour is taken ; and it moreover supplies life and energy to the
Christian soldier in his daily toil." " It is the quiver," adds another Mis
sionary, the Rev. J. Kennedy, in Benares, " from which he has to draw
the arrow which he is to fasten in the hearts of the King's enemies : it is
the weapon with which he has to level those mighty systems of^superstition
and image-worship, which he is to assist in overthrowing."
Thus, to select only a few specimens, translations of the entire Bible, or
integral portions ofthe same, have already been effected in the Hindostanee,
Hindee, Bengalee, Burman, Chinese, Mongolian, Mantchou, Sechuana,
Malagasse, Tahitian, Rarotongan, and Samoan languages ; and it is really
affecting to learn, from a variety of documents lately received, with what
eagerness hundreds, yea, thousands, even among those who had belonged
to the rudest barbarians, have hastened to receive the Sacred Volume thus
prepared for their use, not minding even long voyages by sea or journeys by
land, bringing pieces of money in their hands, or offering some of the
natural productions of their soil, as arrow-root, cocoa-nut oil, or seal-oil, in
grateful return for the testimony of the Lord, which appeared to them more
desirable than gold, yea, than much fine gold ; at the same time pouring
forth their thanksgivings and praises, first to God, and then to their earthly
benefactors. Though the Society, at its formation, was unsupported by those who oc
cupied the highest places either in church or state, God was afterwards
pleased to raise up on its behalf distinguished patrons, generous contributors,
and active promoters from both, as well as from royal and princely families,
who felt it an honour and privilege to consecrate their talents, rank, and in
fluence, to so great and good a work ; and though others, equally eminent in
dignity and station, kept back, or even assumed an unfriendly or hostile posi
tion, yet the very opposition which this Society experienced from a variety of
quarters was overruled by the Supreme Ruler of human affairs for its real
good. By these means its members and friends were kept constantly depen-

79
dent upon Him, without whose sanction, support, and blessing, nothing is
wise, nothing strong, nothing permanently successful : they were taught the
important lesson, not to rely upon an arm of flesh, but constantly to look up
for protection and guidance to Him who is the blessed and only potentate,
King of kings, and Lord of lords ; not to suffer themselves to be carried
away by the delusive voice of human applause ; not to sacrifice unto their
net, to burn incense unto their drag, but to give all the glory to Him to
whom alone it is due. Then they have found reason to thank Him, not
only for every friendly criticism, but even for the most bitter reproaches ;
not only for every wholesome reproof where they deserved it, but even for
the most unfounded misrepresentations of their actions, principles, and mo
tives. Sensibly as they may have felt the necessity of deep and unfeigned
humility before a holy and heart-searching God, who had pleased to
vouchsafe great and unexpected success to their sincere, but yet imperfect
exertions, they were led by their various assailants still more cautiously to
measure all their steps, and more maturely to examine all their proceedings.
For the more closely we are watched, and the more any errors or mistakes of
ours are calculated to depreciate any great work in which we are engaged,
the more earnestly we should pray for enabling grace to exhibit in all our
transactions a happy combination of the simplicity of the dove and the
wisdom of the serpent ; even of that " wisdom which is from above, and
which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full
of mercy and good fruit, without partiality and without hypocrisy."
Approaching, as we now do, the celebration of its Jubilee, let us stir up
our minds by way of remembrance ; let us recal to our memories the past
mercies of our God, and calmly reflect upon all the way in which He has led
the Parent Society, with all its Branches. May He himself penetrate our
inmost souls with a deep sense of our own unworthiness, and His unme
rited goodness ! may we forget none of His benefits ; but abound in
thanksgivings and praises to the primary Giver of every good and perfect
gift ! " O magnify the Lord with us, and let us exalt His name together!"
At the same time, may we combine with these preponderating emotions of
lively gratitude the feelings of unfeigned humiliation. Let us not con
ceal it from ourselves, that we have not done all we ought, or even all
we might, in furtherance of so grand a scheme of true Christian bene
volence. Let us honestly acknowledge, that we have not fully requited
the immeasurable bounty of our God by corresponding exertions ; that,
slackening our zeal, we have suffered ourselves to be discouraged in our
noble cause ; that we have not invariably acted from the purest motives
of true Christian simplicity and godly sincerity. Looking too much to
man, and too little to God, we have lost sight of that perfect pattern and
bright example left us by our blessed Lord, of whom His very enemies
were constrained to testify, " Master, we know that thou art true, and

80
teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man, for thou
regardest not the person of men :" let us, therefore, be " clothed with humi
lity, for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble."
Considering, also, the magnitude of our work, and that, compared with
what has already been done, much more remains to be accomplished, " let us
gird up the loins of our mind, be sober, and hope to the end." Many are the
difficulties with which the universal diffusion of the word of God has to
contend. Infidelity and superstition equally oppose it ; human ingenuity is
stretched to the utmost to counteract our efforts ; carnal weapons of every
kind are forming against us : but let not " the weapons of our warfare be
carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against
the knowledge of God." Let us boldly, yet meekly, face our difficulties ;
never casting away our confidence, which hath great recompense of
reward, let us first of all encourage ourselves in the God of our life
and salvation, as David did in every emergency of his troubled life,
and then mutually encourage each other to be " stedfast, unmoveable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as we know
that our labour is not in vain in the Lord." The more busily the great
enemy of God and man is employed in sowing, by his instruments, the
seeds of discord, the more zealously let us endeavour, by every means
in our power, to keep " the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace ;" the
more cordially, disinterestedly, and generously, let us co-operate in carrying
on this arduous, yet delightful enterprise of Christian benevolence : bearing
and forbearing one another, mutually sacrificing minor differences : let our
only provocation be " to love and good works," and our only strife and
emulation, which of our various component parties may do the greatest
amount of good to the bodies and souls of our fellow-men. And may the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has hitherto so graciously
maintained and strengthened this sacred bond of union and harmonious co
operation among so many thousands of the earlier and later friends and sup
porters of the Society, continue to preserve and increase this generous
temper, disposition, and conduct, on the present most interesting occasion !
" As we have many members in our bodies, and all members have not the
same office, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one
members one of another. Having, then, gifts differing according to the
grace given to us, let us improve them for the edification of the whole body."
It cannot but strike every attentive observer of the Parent Society what
numerous and severe bereavements, in all its departments and branches, it
has had to sustain since its rise, and during the whole course of its progress. A
Teignmouth and Bexley, a Porteus andBarrington, a Wilberforce and Henry
Thornton, an Owen, Hughes, and Brandram, a Macaulay and Butterworth,
a Richard Phillips, a Birkbeck, a Samuel Mills, and Nathaniel Robarts,

81
a Charles of Bala, a Tarn, and a Cockle, have all passed away, with many
other distinguished Patrons, Officers, and useful Agents and active members
of the Society. Are we not forcibly reminded of the declaration of the royal
Psalmist—" As for man, his days are as grass, as a flower ofthe field, so he
flourisheth ; for the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof
shall know it no more." But how cheering, amidst this constant fluctua
tion of human things, is the consideration, that " the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto
children's children !" How elevating the assurance, that to all who loved
their Bible, believed its doctrines, relied upon its promises, and obeyed its
precepts— to all who lived by the faith ofthe Son of God, who loved them,
and gave Himself for them — may be safely applied, what is so beautifully
expressed in the Book of Revelation, " Blessed are the dead which die in
the Lord ; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and
their works do follow them." Yes, it may be confidently asserted of our
dear departed fellow-labourers, that their earthly toils are all ended : they
have fought a good fight, they have finished their course, they have kept
the faith, they have won a crown of life and glory. But as for us, let us
follow their footsteps ; let us sow in the Spirit ; let us never be weary in well
doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. At the same time,
let us wrestle with God, with whom is the residue of the Spirit, that He
the great Lord of the harvest, may send forth a fresh host of vigorous and
faithful labourers into His harvest, encouraging them by His cheering
words, " Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white
already to harvest; and he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth
fruit unto eternal life, that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth, may
rejoice together."
It is both affecting and cheering to observe, when Moses ealled upon the
people of Israel to present their offerings unto the Lord for the building
and service of the tabernacle, with what stirring of the heart, and willing
ness of spirit, the rulers and the ruled, the rich and the poor, both men
and women, hastened forward to bring their bracelets and ear-rings, and
rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold ; the women, what they had spun of
blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen; and the rulers
onyx stones. Still more ample, yea, munificent, were the offerings of gold,
silver, brass, iron, wood, and all manner of precious stones, which king
David, with all ranks and classes of his people, prepared with all their
might for the building of the house of God ; so that it could be truly
stated, " The people rejoiced, because with perfect heart they offered will
ingly unto the Lord ; and David the king also rejoiced with great joy."
Oh, may such bright examples, set by the ancient people of God, prove a
mighty stimulus and powerful encouragement to all Christians of our day,
and especially to the friends of our Society, in this Year of our Jubilee,

82
to follow such noble acts of devotedness to the service of God, and to
enter into the very spirit of that truly sublime and admirable prayer,
offered up by that aged monarch (1 Chron. xxix. 10— 18) — "Blessed be
thou, Lord God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is
the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the
majesty : for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine ; thine
is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both
riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all ; and in thine
hand is power and might ; and in thine hand it is to make great, and
to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and
praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that
we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things
come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. For we are strangers
before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers : our days on the
earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. O Lord our God, all
this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy
name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own. I know also, my God,
that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for
me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these
things : and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here,
to offer willingly unto thee. O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel,
our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts ofthe
heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee."

Jubilee Paper, Ho. VI.]

JUBILEE
OF THE
Irifi4 attfr ^nrngn J&ittt $nittyt
1853.

A PLEA FOR THE BENEVOLENT FUND.

The Committee have long felt the importance of further consideration
being given to the case of those who have been for a longer or shorter pe
riod in the employ of the Society, without having been able to make ade
quate provision for themselves when disabled by sickness, accident, or age,
or, in the case of death — perhaps sudden or premature — for their families.
Unwilling to divert from the direct purposes of the Society any part of
the funds contributed towards its benevolent and sacred objects, the Com
mittee have been restrained from rendering such assistance as they could
have wished in the circumstances above referred to. Hitherto they have
confined themselves to particular instances of great emergency, and, in
these, to a small temporary relief only, chiefly in the form of a continua
tion of the salary for a few weeks or months, trusting to private benevo
lence to meet somewhat further those urgent claims to sympathy and aid.
And they are happy to think, that in this way they have been enabled,
especially in a few prominent cases, to lighten the woes of indigent widow
hood, and to make some provision for the immediate necessities of young
and fatherless children. But it is clear that the resources of private con
tribution cannot be regularly relied upon, and ought not to be too frequently
taxed, especially as the application in such cases is necessarily restricted to
a small circle, for the most part consisting of the same individuals.
There is one class of deserving and meritorious persons, not exactly
in the employ of the Society, but still most usefully occupied in doing its
work. Allusion is here made to the Colporteurs on the Continent, who
have been hitherto almost entirely excluded even from the above limited
and precarious assistance. The regulations under which they are placed
are very strict, their wages being suspended whenever their work is stopped,
g 2

84
whether by private or even political causes. Hitherto it has not been
thought well to extend extra relief to them or their families, lest they
should be lured to the work, not for the " work's sake," but by the prospect
of such future benefit ; nor is it wished, by any provision that may be
made, to foster such expectations : but there have been cases, some of
which are found at the close of this Appeal, in which it would have been
very grateful to the feelings of the Committee, and scarcely, they think,
exceeding what was due from the Society, to have administered, at least
temporarily, towards the mitigation of pressing and urgent wants.
To such purposes as the above a special and reserved Fund has been
thought to be highly desirable, not with the view of establishing general
and permanent claims upon it, but that the proceeds may be appropriated,
from time to time, at the discretion of the Committee, who will judge of
each individual case by its own merits.
It has been further thought that the Year of Jubilee is a very appropriate
occasion for commencing such a Fund, which, when once instituted, may,
it is hoped, be subsequently augmented by the special contributions of
benevolent and Christian friends, who may feel themselves moved to adopt
this mode of soothing the anxieties, and meeting the needs, of some of the
more humble and retired, but laborious and devoted, servants of Christ,
and useful fellow-helpers in the work of the Society.
In immediate connection with the institution of the ancient Jubilee
we meet with the Divine command, "If thy brother be waxen poor, and
fallen into decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him, yea, though he
be a stranger." And when, with evident allusion to the Jubilee, the prophet
speaks of the acceptable year of the Lord, this is included among the
benefits by which it was to be distinguished — to " comfort all that mourn."
Perhaps we can furnish no better evidence of our gratitude to Almighty
God for the remarkable blessing which has descended on the Society, than by
the expression of our sympathy with the families of those by whom its
labours have been carried on, and its distributions have been effected.
Whatever measures may be taken in connection with the Jubilee for the
wider circulation ofthe Scriptures, it cannot be doubted that such an offering
will be acceptable to Him who styles himself " the Father of the fatherless,
and the Judge of the widow," supplying, as it does, a practical illustration
ofthe Holy Book which the Society circulates, in which we find it solemnly
declared, " Pure religion, and undefiled before God and the Father, is this,
— to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep our
selves unspotted from the world."

85

CASES.

The space being limited, a few Cases only can be furnished, with a view to illustrate the
preceding statements, and to strengthen the Appeal now made.

Ladam, the Paris Colporteur. — He entered the army in 1812, and quitted
it in 1815. From this circumstance in his history he was sometimes called
the old Napoleon soldier. He was converted in 1820, and from this period
he devoted himself to the work of Bible Colportage, and was privileged to
put in circulation nearly 12,000 copies of the Holy Scriptures. In 1839 he
entered the service of the Bible Society in a more direct manner, and from
that time his labours were most abundant. In almost every place where this
faithful Colporteur went, individuals were awakened, and the establishment
of several Protestant congregations may be regarded as the result of his efforts.
He suffered for a considerable time the most excruciating agony from
cancer in the face ; and in the year 1846, after having devoted twenty-six
years to the work of spreading the Holy Scriptures, he fell asleep in Jesus,
leaving a widow totally unprovided for, and in truly distressing circumstances.
Dussaussory. — This active and zealous Colporteur disposed of 6000
copies of the Scriptures between November 1842 and August 1846. His
activity and zeal frequently induced indisposition, but immediately on
recovering a little strength he applied himself to his work with renewed
ardour. The excessive fatigue attending his labours during the heat of
summer brought on disease. At length he was compelled to give up his
work, and repair to the hospital of St. Joseph at Moulines, where he died a
happy death, leaving a wife and children with very scanty means for their
future support.
Grassard. — The following letter was sent by this Colporteur to M. de
Pressense in December 1846, detailing his great afflictions and distressed
circumstances : —
" Dear Brother in Christ, — I address you for the purpose of making
known to you my present troubles. God has thought fit to try me in an
extraordinary degree. My family consisted of seven persons, namely, my
mother, my wife, myself, and four children. The Lord has visited our
village with a sickness called the dysentery, which has carried off a great
number of persons. All the inmates of our house were attacked together.
Lissa, aged ten and a half, died on the 26th of August ; my son Apollos,
eight years old, fell a victim to the disease on the 31st of August ; another

86
son, Henry, aged thirteen, died September 6th; and my dear wife followed on
the 10th of the same month. My aged mother, who is labouring under
the disease, seems scarcely able to hold out many days longer; but my
youngest child, twenty-two months old, begins to get somewhat better : this
is the case with myself also, though I am still very weak. From what is
here stated, I leave you to judge of my situation. Independent of the grief
into which I am plunged, the heavy expenses attending the sickness of my
family have reduced me to want. I trust you will not forget me but bear
in mind the words of the Apostle — ' Let us do good unto all men, and espe
cially unto them who are of the household of faith ;' and consider my case
as that of a person who is not only one. of your brethren in the faith, but
also one of the labourers of your Society. It is a great consolation to me
to know that my dear wife is with the Lord, having died in the faith. She
was nearly forty years old, and the Lord in mercy called her to the know
ledge of himself at the age of seventeen. She was brought to hear the
Gospel at the time when M. Pyt and the worthy Ladam were amongst us.
" (Signed) Henry Grassard, Colporteur."
Osee Derbecq, a Belgian Colporteur. — At the age of twenty-two he
was drawn as a soldier into the Royal Guards, and at the fall of Charles X.,
his regiment being disbanded, entered into the service of Admiral ver Huell
as butler. The admiral highly appreciated his Christian character. In
1839 he was appointed Colporteur, and the Bible Society never had a more
zealous and faithful servant. His whole soul was absorbed in his work.
The Lord blessed him with a most remarkable degree of success. It is cal
culated he distributed at least 18,000 volumes during his eleven years'
service, and offered the Scriptures to more than 200,000 persons. His deep-
toned piety and profound humility made him a welcome visitor wherever
he went ; and many persons who had persecuted him became afterwards
his warmest friends. His discussions with the Roman Catholic priests and
their adherents were full of holy boldness and faithful testimony to the
grace of God. A Colporteur, who visited one of his old fields of labour,
wrote thus — " Derbecq had been here, and had penetrated, as everywhere
else, into the most humble cabin. Every moment my heart is pained at the
thought of his death, when I see the esteem in which he is held by the inha
bitants of this province, who have been for a long time awaiting his return."
In more than one locality, where now there is a flourishing congregation,
he was the sower of the seed.
In June 1847 the commencement of consumption took place, and, though
under much bodily suffering/he continued his work until September 1848 :
afterwards he had a donkey to carry his books, and he persevered as long as
he could. During his illness he frequently complained of the hard and
unfeeling state of his heart ; but when he died his soul was full of bliss.

87
He addressed each of his relatives, and to his children his expressions were
most affectionate and edifying. He gave excellent and faithful counsel to
the minister, exhorting him not to be cast down by difficulties, but to pray
without ceasing. Having requested all to withdraw except his wife, he
advised her what to do as to the education of the children, gave directions
about his funeral, and sent affectionate remembrance to the Agent ofthe Bible
Society at Brussels. He fell asleep in the Lord on the 3d of May 1850, at the
age of forty-two. His death made a lively impression on those around him,
and was a source of great edification. His funeral was numerously
attended. He was called " the king of Colporteurs ;" and it may be truly
said, he died a martyr to the Bible Society's work.
He left a wife and four small children almost destitute ; and after the
death of Mr. Maton, her father, who is now upwards of eighty years of
age, she will have nothing to subsist on but the proceeds of a small orchard.

Jubilee Paper No. Vn.]
JUBILEE
OF THE
SriitJt} Etta- jFontgtt $iMt lamitj-
1853.

BIBLE COLPORTAGE ON THE CONTINENT.
BY AN AGENT OF THE SOCIETY.

A Bible Society for the whole world was the blessed object proposed in
1804 by the founders of the British and Foreign Bible Society : that
noble end has been steadily kept in view by those friends who have since
continued to direct the labours of this excellent Institution. Other papers
will give a faithful and full account of the manner in which the Master of
the harvest has been pleased to bless the seed sown throughout the whole
world. These lines are intended to set forth the Society's efforts on the
Continent of Europe, and more especially those carried on by means of
Colportage. From its earliest days the Committee ofthe Bible Society sought to extend
the circulation of God's word on the Continent, by engaging in this delightful
work such persons as were willing to aid it, either individually, or by
forming themselves into Bible Societies, or Associations. Agents from the
Parent Society visited the Continent, and entered into correspondence with
ministers, and other friends able to work in the good cause. Editions of
the Scriptures were put to press, and, comparatively, a wide dissemination
was the happy result. As years rolled on, the Lord opened other and
wider doors for the Society to make new efforts ; and, with the deepest
gratitude to God, the Committee embraced the opportunities as they were
offered. ORIGIN OF COLPORTAGE.
The exertions of the Continental Bible Societies, and of private Chris
tians, supplied, to a certain degree, the wants of Protestants ; but the
necessities of the Roman-Catholic population were almost entirely neg
lected. Throughout all the Continent Popery and Infidelity reigned. The
former hides the Bible; the latter rejects it. A new agency was re
quired to meet these adversaries, and to counteract their deadly in
fluence. God " hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the
mighty ;" a most striking confirmation of which has been furnished by the
Holy Spirit's blessing on the labours of those who literally " go out into
the highways and hedges."
From their humble rank in society, the Colporteurs have a free entrance
among the great mass of Roman Catholics, who more willingly listen to

89
one_ of their own class than to a Minister of the Gospel. " Their ac
quaintance with the Bible proves to all that the truths of salvation, so pro
found in their nature, are, nevertheless, comprehended and believed by the
simplest person, who sincerely and cordially receives them with humble
prayer for the teaching ofthe Spirit of God."
COLPORTAGE IN FRANCE.
During the year 1830, some friends in France, encouraged by the libe
rality ofthe British and Foreign Bible Society, sent out two or three
Colporteurs,* or hawkers, of the Scriptures. It was very quickly mani
fested, by the success with which the Lord blessed them, that the system of
Colportage was pre-eminently the one suited to the Continent of Europe.
At first the Colportage was only employed on a small and very cautious
scale ; but in a few years the circulation of the Scriptures had so increased
through its means, that in France, where the system was first tried, the
issues became as many, in one year, as they had been during the preceding
four. In 1833-34 the number of Scriptures circulated by Colporteurs was
only 8000 copies : in 1835-36 nearly 45,000 copies were sold by the one
hundred and fifty Colporteurs who were at work.
It was not until 1837 that Colporteurs were engaged in France by the
British and Foreign Bible Society. Before that time those useful
labourers had been sent out by the Paris and Geneva Evangelical Societies,
or by the Geneva Bible Society ; the British and Foreign Bible
Society supplying them with the Scriptures at a very reduced price. The
inconveniences which arose from the Colporteur's taking religious Tracts
with him, led Mr. de Pressense to beg the Committee in London to send
out Colporteurs expressly on the Society's account.
The wisdom of such a step is most visible. The Colporteurs employed
by the Evangelical Societies not only sell religious Tracts, but are fre
quently itinerant preachers. The Tracts, however good, gave the priests a
certain advantage in opposing the Colporteur. They said to the parish
ioners, " The offering you the word of God is only a cloak to cover the Col
porteur's sinister designs of protestantizing you. His Tracts are full of
poison ; and under pretence of reading the Scriptures with you, he will
instil into your minds the most frightful heresies."
When Mr. de Pressense, in 1837, made an appeal to only a very small
number of Churches in France, for such men as were fitted for the impor
tant post of Bible-Colporteur, he received one hundred applications. " It
would have been a matter of difficulty, twenty years before, to find a dozen
Bible-distributors truly qualified as such, even if they had been sought for
among all the Churches in the country." One half the number of those
who offered themselves as Colporteurs formerly belonged to the Roman-
Catholic Church. "That which principally induced these brethren to
tender their services to Mr. de Pressense, was the urgent need they felt of
putting into the hands of their countrymen that Sacred Volume by which
they themselves had been delivered from the bonds of error and superstition,
which had led them to a knowledge of the truth, and now rendered them
perfectly happy." Forty-four were chosen ; and in four months they sold
nearly 45,000 copies of the Scriptures : the distributions by Colportage for
* From col (the neclc) and porter (to carry). The Colporteur carries his books in a
leather bag, slung over his shoulders.

90
that year, 1837-38, were above 60,000 volumes. In 1847-48, 101,430
copies were disseminated ; making a total of 1,237,820 copies of the Scrip
tures circulated in France by Colporteurs within fifteen years ! The num
ber is now increased to 1,692,988 copies.
COLPORTAGE IN BELGIUM.
A similar success has attended the exertions ofthe British and Foreign
Bible Society in Belgium. In the year 1834 Mr. Tiddy, visiting that
country on private business, was led to ask for a grant of Flemish Scrip
tures. Having quickly disposed of the Testaments confided to his care, he
made a further application to the Committee. Taking a man with him to
carry his carpet bag, he went into the villages near the town in which he
resided, and with great success offered the Scriptures for sale from house to
house ; so that the Society's remaining stock of Flemish Testaments was
quickly disposed of. In 1835 Mr. Tiddy returned to Belgium as the
Agent of the Society, with authority to take such measures as should ap
pear best calculated to increase the circulation of the word of God in that
hitherto doubly-barred* country. At first there was great difficulty
in finding Christian men fitted for the task ; but the Lord, " who is
wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working," soon removed that ob
stacle, and accorded a remarkable degree of His blessing to the Colporteurs'
labours. In March 1837 a distribution of 11,218 volumes was reported.
The issues in 1838 were 20,548 volumes ; 17,129 of which were by means
of Colportage. The total number of Scriptures circulated in Belgium to
the present time may be stated at 196,000 volumes.
COLPORTAGE IN HOLLAND.
In Holland, which is mostly considered as a Protestant country, the
system of Colportage has also proved itself to be admirably adapted for
securing an extensive circulation of God's holy word. " The Netherlands
Bible Society was one of the earliest in the field of Biblical labour on the
Continent of Europe ;" but its distributions were carried on without the
aid of Colportage, amounting to about 12,000 copies per annum ; and
many of these were distributed gratuitously.
In 1844 the British and Foreign Bible Society began the Colpor
tage also in that country, convinced that God's favour would attend the
system there, as it had done in Belgium and in France. Many persons in
Holland were very doubtful, at first, whether the Colporteurs would be
allowed to carry their Bibles about the street ! Some said it would shock
the feelings of the Dutch Protestants to see the Scriptures hawked from
door to door for sale ! Others feared it would so irritate the Roman
Catholics as to provoke a collision ; but all these fears and prophesyings
came to nought. The practical utility of the system was quickly mani
fested by the rapid and extensive sales which were made. The most timid
were encouraged, the fearful rejoiced, and all the friends of Bible circula
tion felt a lively gratitude to the Author of every good and every perfect
gift for the great success which attended the work. In five weeks after
the Colporteurs had begun their labours, nearly 10,000 copies of God's
word had been sold : this number could have been easily doubled had there
* Expression of the Rev. A. Brandram, when Mr. Tiddy's first application for a
grant was made, and referring to the great difficulties with which the circulation of the
Scriptures had to contend.

91
been sufficient stock provided to supply all the demands. The desire to
buy the Scriptures was so urgent in one town, that the Colporteur's house
was besieged oftentimes till eleven o'clock at night, and by persons of every
age and of every rank.
In 1844-45 above 46,000 volumes were circulated in Holland. The
next year the distributions reached the astonishing number of 76,515 vo
lumes ; and to the present time no less than 324,000 copies of the word of
God have been disseminated in that country. This remarkable circulation
has not been obtained by diminishing the distributions of the Netherlands
Bible Society : on the contrary, these have been nearly doubled in amount.
Stimulated by the extraordinary sales ofthe Colporteurs, its Committee was
aroused to increased action : new and cheaper editions of the Scriptures
were brought out with better paper, printing, and binding. Instead of a
gratuitous distribution, as formerly, a system of sales at reduced prices was
adopted, which measures being energetically seconded by the Branch So
cieties in Holland, the result was, as already stated, an increase of double
the amount of sales. COLPORTAGE IN GERMANY.
The Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, wit
nessing the wonderful success of their Agents in those countries in which
they had introduced the Colportage, embraced the first favourable moment
which was offered them to make trial of it in Germany. It was not, how
ever, without great trepidation, they entered, in August 1847, on this part
ofthe Bible-field.
Many were the difficulties with which the first efforts to colport the
Scriptures in the Rhenish Provinces had to contend. It is true, the Berg
Bible Society had sent out Colporteurs from the year 1832 ; but they were
in connexion with the ecclesiastical authorities of Elberfeld, and conse
quently in a different position to that of regular hawkers of Bibles and
Testaments. This was a new work in the eyes of the magistrates, and the Colporteurs
had considerable difficulty in getting the necessary licences ; but when they
were fairly at work their sales became most encouraging. The following
table will show how the circulation from the Cologne Depot has gradually
increased, a large portion of which belongs to the Colportage : —
From 1847 to 1848, 9493 volumes ; 1848 to 1849, 28,089 ; 1849 to
1850, 48,344 ; 1850 to 1851, 55,082; 1851 to 1852, 68,014, or 209,022
volumes ; and if the sales effected up to the present moment are included,
the total amount will not be less than 270,000 copies.
In May 1848 Dr. Pinkerton began to send out Colporteurs into that
part of Germany confided to his care, who met with the same cheering re
ception as had elsewhere been the lot of their fellow-labourers. " Some of
the very Governments, which were before most opposed to a system of
Colportage, then granted the Colporteurs legal permission to carry on the
work under their protection."* The sales effected between May 1848 and
March 1849 amounted to 26,699 volumes ; the next year the Colporteurs
sold 40,426 volumes ; the year following 32,157 volumes; and 20,169 in
* By an order of .the Prussian Government, dated 9th of June 1849, licences are
generously granted duty free to £i«e-Colporteurs. The price of a licence is about
11. 16s. per annum

92
1851-52 : making a total of nearly 120,000 copies of the Scriptures in less
than four years ! extent of the colporteurs' labours.
It has thus been shown that the British and Foreign Bible Society
traverses the Continent of Europe, from the shores of the Mediterranean to
those of the Baltic, with a band of zealous and valiant followers of the
Cross. " Their weapons are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of the strongholds of Satan ;" and " sharper than any two-
edged sword." Unfurling the Gospel banner, these faithful soldiers go
forth more than conquerors through Him that loved them, and gave Him
self for them. Their song is, " Blessed be the Lord my strength, who
teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight." They believe, and
therefore speak, the love of Christ constraining them.
Could this little band be viewed at work, their every step followed, what
interesting scenes would be discovered, what cheering prospects revealed !
If placed on an eminence sufficiently elevated to see every effort put
forth during the day, and yet near enough to hear each Colporteur's
witness for the truth, how would the Christian's heart rejoice, and his
soul go forth in earnest, ardent supplications for the blessing of the Holy
Spirit ! Well, there is One, sufficiently high to see, sufficiently nigh to
hear ! One to whom every feeling, desire, struggle, and difficulty is known,
the great Captain of our salvation, the Bishop and Shepherd of the Church
of God ! And will He not bless the efforts made to spread the knowledge
of Hi3 holy name?
The Annual Reports published by the Committee of the Bible Society
contain abundant evidence that their labours are not in vain in the Lord.
It is true, the Bible Society does enter into the full reward of its work, its
Colporteurs sow the seed, the Agents of the Evangelical Societies reap the
harvest. Wherever on the Continent the Scriptures have been freely cir
culated and read, urgent demands for Evangelists and Teachers have
speedily followed. RESULTS OF COLPORTAGE IN FRANCE.
Mr. de Pressense, in his Report for 1844, writes —
" After the visits of several of our Colporteurs through a large district
of the country, embracing more than a hundred communes, a lively in
terest manifested itself, not merely for the reading of the New Testament,
but also for a practical adherence to the truths revealed in it. Our Colpor
teurs, being unable to satisfy these fresh wants without overstepping the
instructions laid down for them, were followed in their operations by Evan
gelists. Two persons of this description accordingly entered upon the field
hitherto occupied by our Bible distributors, and were received with an
eagerness and a welcome truly astonishing.
******
"In a different part ofthe country, an extensive commune, consisting of
more than six hundred inhabitants, assembled together, en masse, after a
visit paid to them by a Colporteur, to declare themselves favourable to the
Protestant religion. ***** *
" What is more particularly gratifying is this, that whereas the opera
tions of the Colporteurs are not confined to one place, but extend over a

93
large district, the sensation brought about by a desire to adhere to the
truths ot the Gospel has also reached several other communes. In two
small towns a considerable number of the more enligh ed class ofthe in
habitants have openly declared that, if the Protestant worship be established
in the locality, they will cheerfully unite with it.
" In another part of France, wholly distinct from that mentioned before,
and comprehending an extensive range, inasmuch as two of the principal
departments are included in it, the inhabitants of several communes, after
being visited at various times by our Colporteurs, came to a resolution to
follow the advice which they gave them. Accordingly they invited a
Minister of the Gospel, who resided at no great distance, to come to them
for the purpose of instructing them in the Protestant religion, which they
were desirous of embracing. The authorities there, however, far from ap
proving of such a movement, did all in their power to put a stop to it ; but
so little success did they meet with, that their opposition only served to
induce the inhabitants to declare themselves more strongly in favour of
Protestantism. Several small but interesting congregations have already
been formed among them."
This spirit of inquiry has not diminished in France, as an extract from
the Society's Report of last year will abundantly show —
" You may recollect that I have already informed you that I had des
patched to the arrondissement of Mamers the same Colporteur whom the
Lord was pleased to make use of for commencing the important movement
in the department ofthe Yonne, which was attended with so much blessing.
I mentioned, also, the great facility with which the Holy Scriptures were
sold in that arrondissement, and the urgency with which our Colporteur
was entreated to hold meetings for the purpose of expounding the Scrip
tures. Not feeling at liberty to act contrary to the spirit of the regulations
imposed upon him, our friend declined responding to their entreaties, and
continued as before to prosecute his calling as a Bible Colporteur, taking
care, however, to request the assistance of the Rev. Mr. Audebez. This
worthy Minister immediately repaired to Mamers, and soon felt convinced
that there existed there the elements of a great work of evangelization.
Two days after his arrival, he preached in an apartment, that could scarcely
accommodate 200 persons, to more than 400 individuals, squeezed together
almost to suffocation, who, nevertheless, listened to him with the deepest
interest and the most marked attention ; while around the place 400 or 500
persons were stationed, who eagerly sought to catch a few of the speaker's
words. " A fortnight after this interview with the Rev. Mr. Audebez, our Col
porteur wrote to me to say, that, so far from the interest awakened in behalf
of the Gospel being diminished, it was generally increasing around him, and
that a petition had been drawn up, addressed to the French Evangelical
Society, applying for a regular minister."
" A circumstance," writes our friend, " which proves to me that there is
a necessity for acceding to their request is, that the number of those is daily
increasing who purchase the Sacred Volume for the purpose of gaining in
struction from it, relative to the salvation of their souls. Thus, a woman,
who, according to general report, had for a long time led a wicked life
happening recently to meet me in the street, and seeing me with a Bible in
my hand, accosted me by inquiring what kind of book it was. ' The word
of God,' returned I. ' The word of God !' said she : ' can it be the same

04
book out of which le bon pere Protestant read to us the other day ? If so,
I must buy a copy; for though I myself cannot read, I shall meet with
some charitable neighbour to read it to me ; and I feel an absolute compul
sion to wish to know all that is contained in that book.' In fact, from that
very day this woman has been constantly on the look out for some friendly
reader, and has been so fortunate as to meet with two or three regularly in
the course of the day. She is very careful to indicate, by certain marks,
the passages which have particularly struck her, or from which she has
derived comfort. In one place you might see a ribbon, in another a piece
of thread ; again, a dried leaf, or a tiny scrap of paper ; here a page fully
doubled down, there another doubled down at the corner above, or another
at the corner below : and so well is she acquainted with the meaning of
each mark, that she will at once desire you to read the particular passage
to which it refers, intimating that at it you will find such and such a
subject. "The petition got up by the inhabitants of Mamers, of which I have just
now spoken, has arrived in Paris, and is, I assure you, a most interesting
document. The parties who have signed it, consisting of 109 persons,
mostly heads of families, are very plain on the subject of their spiritual
state; declaring candidly that they are destitute of true religion — that
hitherto they had been professed infidels, but that since the New Testament
has come among them they have been brought to see that they are in a
perilous condition, from which it is necessary that they should be delivered."
RESULTS OF COLPORTEURS' LABOURS IN BELGIUM.
Perhaps Belgium offers a still more remarkable proof of the importance
of Bible circulation by Colporteurs, as it was for some time the only instru
mentality at work, and gave rise to all the Missionary exertions now carry
ing on in that Popish country. There are, at the present moment, in Bel
gium, thirteen or fourteen Protestant congregations, consisting of at least
three thousand proselytes from Popery, not one of which existed when the
Bible Society commenced its Colportage in 1835. Several Day and Sunday
Schools have also been established.
The following is copied from the Annual Report of 1843, pages lix.
and lx. —
" One of my Colporteurs," writes Mr. Tiddy, " who used formerly to col-
port in the neighbourhood of Charleroi, returned last week to the field of
his former labours. He says he is filled with admiration at the work going
on there. The word of God has not been distributed in vain. Those who
once were amongst the foremost to ill-treat him when he offered them the
Bible, are at present the most zealous followers of the Gospel. As soon as
they heard that the Colporteur was in the town, they sent word to him to
be sure not to go away without calling on them. A minister writes that the
movement is most extraordinary : the rooms inside are crowded when he
preaches, and he has had in one place six hundred people outside the doors
and windows. He says there are a hundred places where he could preach,
if he had time and strength.
******
" That you may fully appreciate the blessing God has granted us, I must
recall to your memory that, from the first, our Colporteurs regularly visited
Charleroi and its environs : month after month they colported, and always

95

with increased success, till at last every village was stocked with Bibles
and Testaments. This brought the people to make diligent inquiries after
the truth. * * * Many pressing demands were made for personal
instruction.

" When the minister was fixed there, he found the fallow-ground broken
up. * * * It was easily seen who amongst the people had
been accustomed to read the word of God, and who had not : there was a
most remarkable difference between them ; the former being so much more
easily instructed in the word, their views being clearer and their faith
stronger." In one of the largest towns of Belgium a most flourishing congregation
exists, whose origin may be ascribed, instrumentally, to the colportage. A
Roman Catholic possessed an old edition of the Bible, read it carefully, and
was soon convinced of the errors of his Church. He tried in vain to per
suade his son to study the Scriptures, until one day the priests preached
very violently against the Bibles sold in the market by a Colporteur. He
would not believe his father's assertions, that his and the Colporteur's
Bibles were alike. The son purchased a Bible, examined it with his father,
found it the same. His confidence in the priests was shaken : he read
further on, and at last renounced Popery. He was quickly followed by
his sister, who had been a still greater bigot. These three persons regularly
read the Scriptures, and on Sundays met together for worship ; which being
known to some friends in another town, a minister was placed there, and
this family was the nucleus of a congregation now numbering three or four
hundred persons, all of whom, with one or two exceptions, are proselytes
from Popery.
A Colporteur, labouring in the village of W  , sold a Bible to a Ro
man Catholic, who became so interested in its contents as to spend the
greater part of his spare time in reading it. The priest attempted to dis
suade his parishioner from studying that book, as it was not a faithful ver
sion. He asked if there was a faithful one to be had. ''Yes." "Then
purchase a copy for me," replied the man ; " for I am determined to have
one, if I sell my best coat to buy it." As often as the priest was asked for
the Bible, he made excuses for not furnishing it; till at last, the man's
patience being tired, he determined to read the copy he possessed. His eyes
were opened by the Spirit of God, he left the Church of Rome, frequented a
Protestant Place of Worship in an adjoining village, and became an active
and zealous Christian. His efforts to spread the knowledge of the Saviour's
name have been abundantly blessed. He gathered round him some other
Roman Catholics, and for several years they met together in hired rooms
to read the word of God ; but their Roman-Catholic landlords, one after
another, obliging them to leave their Places of Worship, and at iast, unable
to find a convenient room in the village, they determined on building a
small Chapel. They are all persons belonging to the working class, and
yet they purchased the ground on which their Chapel stands. They helped
with their own hands to raise the house of prayer. One sent wood, others
stone, others gave a day's work ; so that the Chapel was built at compara
tively a small cost. Some friends in other parts of the country, as well as
in England and Holland, hearing of their faith and zeal, gave them money.
The person referred to as being at the head of this movement has now given

96
up his place of engine-driver in an iron foundry. During the week he
holds a School in the Chapel, and on Sundays he preaches the Gospel. This
he does gratuitously, his sister keeping a little shop in order to provide him
and herself with their daily bread.
" A gentleman near B  employed a man who was a regular reader
of the Bible. This coming to the knowledge of the priest, he induced the
master to forbid the reading of the Scriptures. The gentleman said, ' If
you continue to read that book, you shall not work for me.' ' Very well,'
replied the man, ' I shall not give up my Bible ;' and, gathering his tools
together, he was going away. ' Stop,' cries the gentleman, ' I must pay
you.' ' No ;' answered he, ' if another man does the remainder of the work
he will charge you as much as if he had done the whole, and I do not wish
you to lose any thing by me.' The gentleman, struck with such language,
began to think that the book could not be so very bad, and desired to see
it. In the mean time the priest came by. The man asked him if he had
the true word of God. ' Yes,' answered the priest. ' Then let us compare
it with mine,' replied the workman. The gentleman gladly agreeing to the
proposition, the priest fetched his Bible, and, comparing it with the other,
both were found word for word the same. Great was the astonishment of
the gentleman, and equally great the confusion of the priest, who had no
thing to reply when asked, ' How can you dare to preach against a book
which you acknowledge to be the word of God?' The man was quickly
sent back to his work, with full permission to study the Bible : the gentle
man also promised to read it."
" A poor woman of L  , had been much persecuted and ill-treated
by her husband, because she read the Bible and attended Divine Service in
the Protestant Chapel. One day he took the Testament she was reading and
dashed it into the grate. She plunged her hand into the fire and withdrew
the book, saying, at the same time, ' I am your wife ; I know that I must
obey you, and will do so : you have a right to command me ; you may ill-
treat my body as much as you please, but you shall never use the word of
God in such a manner : before you burn my Testament, you shall kill me.'
The result was, that the husband not only softened down, but read the
Scriptures for himself, and, with his wife, now attends the house of God."
Could we here record the heart-rending scenes which sometimes present
themselves to the Colporteurs, many a tear would drop from the Christian's
eye. As the humble servant of God. has stood in the presence of some poor
afflicted sinner, and pointed him to " the surer word of prophecy," he has
heard confessions of guilt, and tales of afflictions and sorrow, which have
brought both to a throne of grace to cry for mercy.
The following is from a Colporteur's report —
" I have spent some blessed hours and received much comfort at the bed
side of the sick. * * * *
" I entered a hut of misery, but, at the same time, of glory. I found an
aged father fast wearing out hy consumption ; his daughter, a young woman
of twenty-two, deformed by cramp and convulsions. She could scarcely
move her hands. Near her sat a boy twelve years old, also in a decline.
There was another daughter, who attended on the old man. The house
was a picture of poverty and misery. Though this man is a Roman
Catholic, yet, when I entered, he was reading a beautiful hymn from a
Protestant hymn-book. He is a believer, and has felt the power of the
word of God. In answer to some remarks, the poor cripple said, with the

97
greatest simplicity, <¦ When I go to heaven, Jesus will heal me.' * *
In another house a woman expressed her joy at the fine books, for now
she could read again. The print of her old Bible was so small that she
had been for a long time deprived of the pleasure of reading it. She felt
much indebted to the Society. * * * I next went to the military
guard in the market-place, and sold several books to the soldiers who were
lounging about on the benches. ' Hearken/ said one, ' I will not play at
cards any more; I am going to read this book, that is much better.'
' Mind you don't get holy too fast,' was the answer of another soldier. ' I
can give you capital advice against becoming holy,' I replied ; ' If you are
afraid of that, pray to the Lord Jesus every day on your knees for the pardon
of your sins, and read this book diligently : this is a tried remedy against get
ting too holy.' * * * As I stepped into his house I heard a man, on a
sick bed, reading these words, ' The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.'
I added, ' He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me
beside the still waters, for His name's sake.' His daughter had met me a
few days before, on her way to school, and had bought a Testament and
Psalms. ' So, you are the man who sells these books ?' he exclaimed. ' I
have not been able to read the Bible for a long time, my eyes being very
weak ; but this I can see to read. It is my constant companion. I am
really much indebted to you.' ' Not to me,' I said, ' my good friend, but
to the English Bible Society, which sends me.'
" A little before Christmas, a lady bought a New Testament. She
always stopped when she came to the name of Jesus. She detested this
name, and could not bring herself to pronounce it ; yet, as the little book
was an elegant one, she kept it nigh at hand, frequently took it up, and
almost unconsciously read a few lines. After a while she began to feel
alarmed at what it contained. Her heart was full of fear and trembling.
Many an hour had she spent before in reading novels, but now she could
relish these no more. This change was soon observed by her friends, and,
feeling anxious to drive away the fits of melancholy, they took her daily to
theatres, balls, and other worldly amusements. But in vain. Her anxiety
still increased, and at last she resolved to put an end to her miserable exist
ence. Already had her wandering eye measured the depth of a neighbour
ing pond, when God mercifully interposed, and drove her back to her
home, bewildered and affrighted. ' It is that horrid book which has brought
me to this state of misery,' exclaimed she, seeing the New Testament on
the table : the next moment it was hurled into the fire. But, woe unto
her ! those flames increase her anguish, and kindle a fire within which
threatens to consume her. She takes up a hymn-book, but there again is
that fearful name of Jesus. At last she has recourse to novels, and prays
God to give her rest through these books, which she once read with so
much pleasure ! But a voice within cries, ' How dare you lift up your
eyes to God, whose holy word you have burnt V She sees the sparks still
flying upwards, as for vengeance, her agitated mind pictures herself in the
midst of flames, ready to consume her guilty soul. This is more than she
can bear ; she sinks on her knees and cries, ' For Jesus' sake, have mercy
on me, O God, and deliver me from this torment !' Her prayer was heard;
she rose up full of peace and hope. Her daily walk is a proof of her re
surrection. But she cannot forgive herself for having cast into the flames
that which she now knows to be the precious word of God."

98
CHARACTER AND NUMBER OF THE MEN EMPLOYED AS COLPORTEURS.
Some short time since the Colporteurs employed in the North of Ger
many were called together, and underwent an examination of at least two
hours. The friend who examined them reported to the Committee of the
Parent Society that " their answers would have done honour to students of
any theological college he knew."
Their kind, frank, and pious conversation commends them to those to
whom they offer the Scriptures, and frequently there is a degree of readi
ness to open the heart to the simple Bible-seller that would not be shown to
a minister, nor even to a Christian friend ofthe neighbourhood.
It is calculated that one of these excellent men offered the Scriptures and
spoke of their contents to more than 200,000 persons ! He had been col-
porting eleven years before he died, and sold at least 18,000 copies ofthe
word of God. When it is remembered that the Society employs on the
Continent from 100 to 120 Colporteurs, the extent of good done directly
and indirectly must be incalculable : eternity alone can reveal it.
There is another feature in their labours well' wwthy of the most serious
attention. No town, no village, no street, no house, no family in a country
can remain unvisited ! Rich and poor have alike the Scriptures presented
to them; the attention of each is equally called to their all-important truths.
Time would fail to tell of all the good accomplished by the daily and
self-denying labours of those devoted men. No wretchedness is too great
for them to visit — no opportunity lost of pointing the sinner to those " holy
Scriptures which are able to make wise unto salvation, through faith which
is in Christ Jesus." Surely no plan could be adopted so effectual for seeking
out those who lack knowledge ; no mission more blessed could be confided
to man. However painful may have been the discoveries made, the balm
which has been poured into the wounded heart by the often reiterated visits
ofthe Colporteurs, has filled their own souls with joy, and constrained them
to continue their valuable services, in spite of every difficulty. They are
men of God, deeply read in the Scriptures, and having a practical ac
quaintance with their power, they are able to speak of that "which they
have handled ofthe word of life."
ADVANTAGE OF COLPORTAGE.
Colportage is also advantageous to the Society in a pecuniary point of
view, notwithstanding the heavy expense it involves. Before that system
was introduced into France, the dissemination of the Scriptures was effected
chiefly by a gratuitous distribution. In Belgium, even a gratuitous distri
bution could not secure a circulation of any amount. The issues have not
only increased in a wonderful manner, through the means of colportage,
but they have been accomplished by sale, and not by gift. This plan has
caused a greater value to be set on the book, and at the same time it
testifies the sincerity of the desire to possess and to read it. All gilt-edged
copies are invariably sold at cost price ; a Bible in common binding for
about two-thirds, and the New Testament for one-half. To this sacrifice
of the Society's funds must be added the salaries and expenses of the
Colporteurs, varying from twelve to twenty shillings per week, according
to the country in which they are employed. The total amount of money
expended for this work on the Continent last year, including cost of the
Scriptures, deducting the money received from sales, was above 20,000/.
It will be readily conceived that such extensive demands for the Scriptures

99
would tend to improve the quality of the books distributed. The type,
paper, binding, and workmanship have been carefully attended to, and a
remarkable improvement in all these points has been the consequence,
whilst at the same time the cost of production has been lessened. This has
been the case to a very remarkable degree in Holland ; and both in that
country and in Germany, many persons have sold their old and almost
illegible Bibles to purchase those published by the British and Foreign
Bible Society.
Another fact which ought not to be omitted is, that now three or four
copies of the Scriptures are to be found in houses in which formerly only
one could be met with, and that one oftentimes a large cumbersome volume,
seldom taken from the bookshelf. Every child can have its pretty and
useful Testament ; and many persons purchase the pocket editions, so as to
have the Scriptures always with them.
OPPOSITION OF THE ROMAN-CATHOLIC CLERGY.
Perhaps it may be asked whether all this wonderful and interesting
work is carried on without opposition and persecution. No ; from the
very first attempt to circulate the word of God, the adversaries of truth,
whose name is Legion, brought all their energies into the battle. First in
rank stand the Archbishops and Bishops of Rome. Episcopal ordinances
successively appeared in Belgium, France, and Holland, denouncing, in no
measured terms, both the Bible and the Colporteur.
One Bishop says : " Bibles translated into the vulgar tongue, or, to speak
more truly, abominably mutilated by a sacrilegious hand, are distributed
amongst the people. We have one of these Bibles before us ; and, with a
perfidy worthy of the cause of error, several books which the Catholic
Church acknowledges as canonical have been omitted. In vain will you
look for the books of Tobit," &c. &c*
Again he writes : " A year and a half ago, impressed with the duties of
our charge, we enjoined you, worthy pastors, to fortify yourselves against
the subtle machinations of a Society alike hostile to God and the holy
Church, a Society which would rob you of all that is most dear to you, the
precious deposit of your faith."
Another Bishop adds : " There are persons grieved to see the people
religious ; at least they neglect nothing that is calculated to weaken
religious feelings in our towns and villages : every means is considered
good, so that they may only attain the impious object they have in view.
They are not content with doing all they can to induce the people to join
in low amusements, and to witness the most disgusting sights of immorality
and irreligion in order to corrupt their hearts, but to be the more sure of
seducing the faithful, as did their worthy prototypes of the sixteenth
century with such deplorable success, they distribute the Holy Scriptures
translated into the vulgar tongue."
A Cardinal Archbishop says : " He that keeps or reads a Bible without
permission shall not receive absolution unless he gives it up."
The following is from another Bishop's ordinance : "Beloved and faithful,
we again perceive you exposed to a danger which is daily becoming more
alarming ; and again we are constrained by the love which we bear to your
souls in their Creator and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, to lift up our pastoral
voice. * * * It is not one particular virtue of which the devil is
now striving to deprive you, nor any special duty which he is seeking to
hinder you from accomplishing ; it is nothing less than the foundation of
*- TKo PiM. finwotv -IftM r.r.i pJ.rnlnio iho 4pOCrypha.

100
the whole Christian edifice which he is labouring to undermine. It is the
root of the tree of eternal life he is seeking to destroy. It is your holy
faith, beloved Christians, which the devil is trying to take away.
******
" Scarcely a year has elapsed since the successor ofthe holy Peter, the
substitute on earth of Jesus Christ, raised his voice to warn the whole
Christian Church against the renewed efforts of the self-called Bible So
cieties ; and now with the greatest grief we see established in the diocese of
the Church committed to our pastoral care a branch of one of those fatal
Societies. Yes, faithful and beloved, so near to us is the danger, that in
our very midst the darts are forged with which the devil aims at the ' heart-
artery' of our faith ; we have been assured that in our very midst are
printed those books which, being by a sacrilegious presumption called Bible
writings, God's word, or some such like name, must tend to make you
disobedient and rebellious against God's authority, intrusted by Jesus
Christ to His holy Church. Those books are distributed with such impu
dence, that the persons who sell them are not contented with publicly
advertising in the newspapers where and of whom they may be purchased ;
but they even dare, under every kind of pretence, and with plausible but
hypocritical and poisonous words, to hawk them about amongst Roman
Catholics, to press these to purchase at ridiculously low prices, and even to
offer them the books gratis. Much-beloved and faithful brethren, whom I
love in Jesus Christ, I beseech you by the love of your Saviour, and by
the love of your own souls, be carefully on your guard, especially against
this artifice of your hellish foe, whom resist stedfast in your faith (1 Peter
v. 9). Give not the least attention to the workmen of Satan, who are ever
on the watch to ruin your souls, nor to their hypocritical and high-
sounding words. * * * * * *
" Should any among you have already bought or received the books of
the Bible Society, do not keep them in your house, or even look in them ;
but follow the example of the Ephesians, who, at the voice of Paul, threw
into the fire and burned those books they were not permitted to keep
(Acts xix. 19) ; or, if you prefer it, and can conveniently do so, bring them
to your priest or to your father-confessor, whose advice you can follow."
The moment a Bishop issues an ordinance every pulpit in the diocese is
a faithful tongue to echo its precepts. Priests have followed the Col
porteurs step by step to prevent persons from buying the Scriptures; or
if they did not take that trouble, they have afterwards sent their servants
round to give the purchasers double the sum paid the Colporteur, in order
to get possession ofthe Scriptures he had sold. In one town a priest stated
in his sermon that his hearers would do better to give their children arsenic
to eat than to allow them to read the books which the Colporteurs were
offering for sale : the former could only kill the body : the latter would kill
both body and soul in hell.
At the markets, priests have openly excited the people against the Scrip
tures, and prevented them from buying. In a trial arising out of a serious
disturbance, which took place in a town through the rage of a priest, it was
proved by two witnesses that he had given money to persons to buy and to
tear up Testaments, hoping to encourage others to follow their example.
He also paid men to call out that the books were damnable books, that
those who read them would be damned. The poor Colporteurs had
their boxes overturned, and their books stolen and destroyed. In another
locality, not contented with tearing up the Testaments, some Roman

101
Catholics dipped one in turpentine, and setting it on fire, carried it round
the town, burning on the top of a pole, whilst the remainder of the mob
pelted the Colporteurs. In one instance, a Colporteur, after encountering
a day of unusual hardship, came to a large farm-house, where he found
several labourers met together. On offering to sell a Bible to the farmer,
so greatly was the man exasperated that he actually let loose an enormous
dog upon him, from whose fury he escaped only as by a miracle.
The following extract from the Journal of a Colporteur will show the
conduct of a priest in France —
" I have gone over the commune of B — , and have visited every house
in it for the purpose of offering the Scriptures for sale. On reaching the
street of the Presbytery, the vicar came out of his house to ascertain what
books I was selling, but before he had time to question me I offered him a
Bible. The sight of the book put him in a rage, and seizing hold of my
arm with violence, he cried out, ' You infamous monster ! is this the way
you dare to come and infect the village with your bad books, and poison
the minds of the people with your vile discourse and impious conversation ?'
' Be calm, sir,' answered I, ' and see if you are warranted in treating me so
harshly.' — ' Are you not,' asked he, ' the garde champetre of Fluy ? ' ' No,
I am not.' — 'But you have been?' 'Certainly; but why that question?'
' Because it proves that you are a Protestant, a renegade, a heretic !' ' Ah !
.sir,' resumed I, ' your anger has taken away your memory, and you no
longer recollect the precept of the Apostle, to reply with mildness and
charity to those who differ in sentiment from you, and by so doing to avoid
all irritating disputes. But moderate yourself, I beseech you, and see if the
copies of the Holy Scriptures which I offer to you for sale are not faithful
translations from the Vulgate version sanctioned by your Church.' Instead
of attending to my counsel, the vicar became more enraged, and demanded
to know if I had legal permission to sell my books, upon which I exhibited
mj licence. ' That is not enough,' cried he, ' and I shall soon let you know
it in the presence of the magistrate.' He then seized me again violently by
the arm ; but I told him quietly to leave his hold, adding that I had no
objection whatever to accompany him to the mayor. Finding this to be
the case, he suffered me to go away, and turning towards his own house he
cried out to me, ' Begone from hence, you are a monster, a beggar ;' and
so saying he shut the door after him."
DANGERS AND DIFFICULTIES.
One Colporteur is seen standing at the bed of a man dying of the cholera,
proclaiming to him the efficacy of the blood of Christ, and, as he kneels by
the bed-side in prayer, the spirit of the poor man takes its flight into eter-
lity ! In the same room the wife and child are struggling with the same
dreadful disease, the latter evidently near death. Another of these faithful
labourers finds himself in one of those haunts of vice where the sound of
the Gospel is never heard. He opens the Bible, he reads of the Saviour's
love to the lost and the ruined : the word is blessed to the rescue of a mother
and her child. In a second similar abode, a young woman is also snatched
from her evil course, and induced to return to her father's house.
A short time since, as a Colporteur on the banks ofthe Rhine offered his
Testaments to some sailors, he was followed by several Roman Catholics,
who shouted, " Throw him into the river, his books are false." In vain
did he reply, " My Testaments are translated by a Roman-Catholic priest,
and bear the approbation of a Roman-Catholic bishop ;" the enemies of

102
the Bible still continued, " Throw him into the river." In another locality
some persons rejoiced that there would soon be a second Saint-Bartholomew-
day for all the Protestants, and that then they would be able to wash their
hands in the blood of the pietists. The Colporteur is sometimes addressed
thus — " You Bible- Mamalukes, you shall be the first to be got rid of:
ever since you have been going about in the world the times have become
worse, our pleasures fewer. Other persons have declared that the " blue
ones " (Protestants) will be chopped to mince-meat when the storm breaks
loose." After such facts as these, it will not be surprising that the Colporteurs
have been frequently insulted and their lives even endangered ; in some
instances only saved, humanly speaking, by the intervention of armed force.
Another means of opposing Colportage is that of getting up nicely
printed and bound books, issued by a " Society instituted for the propa
gation of good Roman- Catholic books." These are sent forth with the full
approbation of the Roman-Catholic clergy. An Archbishop, in this matter
most certainly an infallible authority, tells us that their object is — " To offer
devotional books to the faithful, so that they may have no occasion to read
the Bible." One of the publications has for its title, " The Life of Christ,
being an Antidote to the distribution of heretical Bibles." This Society
is well supported by the rich. The number of its publications is large, ana
it offers them at such prices as to put them within the reach of the poorest
Roman Catholic. Books suited to the higher classes of society are also
prepared for them.
There are other adversaries who have not the power and influence of the
priests, but whose hatred to God's word is equally inveterate. We refer
to infideh. The Colporteurs are oftentimes roughly driven from their
doors with, " You ought to be exterminated, you sneaks !" or, " You ought
to be ashamed to offer such books for sale ;" or again, " All you offer for
sale is a mass of absurdities. Napoleon is our Jesus Christ."
The omission of the Apocrypha is a source of very great difficulty and
opposition, even in Protestant countries. Many Protestant Ministers in
Germany do not hesitate to say that " It is a shame to the Society, a
mortal sin." " I wish the English would give up their whims : your Bibles
are not complete, they are of no use to us." In one part of the kingdom
of Hanover the local authorities have forbidden the sale ofthe British and
Foreign Bible Society's editions, and withdrawn the Colporteur's licence,
merely because the Bibles do not contain the apocryphal books.
Every reader of these pages will be convinced that the men employed in
such a difficult and arduous calling must be Christians of deep piety,
earnest zeal, untiring activity, and ardent love for souls, added to which
they must possess a large amount of patience and perseverance. Constant
and abundant demands are made on their self-denial. Insult is often
heaped on insult, and ill-usage follows ill-usage. It not unfrequently
happens that, after a long and harassing day's labour, having visited farm
houses and cottages scattered far apart from each other, the Colporteur
directs his weary footsteps to the nearest village for the purpose of seeking
a night's lodging : reaching the door ofthe first public-house, he asks for a
bed, which is rudely refused, because he sells such wicked books ! In vain
does he knock at other doors, the Cure has preached against him, or warned
the people not to harbour such a wretch ! The poor, weary, and hungry
Bible-seller is obliged to walk on to the next village, or, which has some
times been the case, to pass the night in the open air. If fortunate enough

103
to reach another house, he is sure to find in the morning that he has to" pay
double the price charged other travellers.
COLPORTAGE, THE CHIEF MEANS OF BIBLE DISTRIBUTION ON THE
CONTINENT.
Yes, it is the Colporteur who is called to bear the burden and heat of
the day, to go forth to the battle, to meet the opposition and rage ofthe
priests, to suffer fatigue and difficulties. It is to him that, under the
blessing of God, the Bible Society owes its distributions in Roman-
Catholic countries. It would be impossible to disseminate such a number
of the Scriptures by any other means. It can only be done by persons
making it their sole employment. It is not by once offering the Bible that
the Colporteurs sell ; they are obliged to wait patiently the result of repeated
visits and conversations.
If all the circumstances here related are taken into consideration, the
number of volumes circulated by these excellent labourers in the Lord's
vineyard will appear immense, and call forth the most devout thanksgiving
to God, who alone could have wrought such marvellous things. Evidently
the Lord's finger pointed out the plan of colporting His Holy Word, and
His blessing has never for a moment forsaken it. On all the glory there
shall be a defence, the cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night,
Darkness to our adversaries, but a bright, shining, and cheering light to
the Lord's servants. To His name be glory for evermore ! Amen.
JUBILEE PAPERS.
No. I. Address and Resolutions of the Committee.
II. Facts and Observations for the Year of Jubilee.
Jubilee Collecting Book.
III. Address to the Young.
IV. Address to Ministers and Missionaries.
V. Recollections and Counsels for the Year of Jubilee.
VI. A Plea for the Benevolent Fund.
VII. Bible Colportage on the Continent.
VIII. The Providence of God traced in the Origin and Progress of
the Society.
IX. An Appeal for Enlarged Support, &c.
X. What is the Bible? and, What has it done?
XI. Second Address ofthe Committee.
There are several other Papers in course of preparation.
The " Jubilee Record " will be published monthly, or occasionally,
during the Jubilee Year ; and will contain Resolutions of Auxiliaries,
Reports of Meetings, Sermons, Collections, and other information connected
with the Jubilee movement, both at home and abroad.
Copies of the " Jubilee Record," together with other Jubilee Papers,
Jubilee Collecting Book, &c, will be sent with the " Monthly Extracts,"
or in any way the Correspondents and Friends of the Society may direct.
All communications respecting the Jubilee to be addressed to the
Rev. T. Phillips, Jubilee Secretary, 10 Earl Street, Blackfriars, London.
Contributions may be sent to Messrs. Williams, Deacon, and Co.,
Birchin Lane, London ; advice being sent to Mr. William Hitchin,
Accountant, at the Society's House, 10, Earl Street, Blackfriars, London:
or to the Treasurers and Secretaries of local Bible Associations.

Jubilee Paper No. VTA,]
JUBILEE
OF THE
3kttt4 Ettb jFnrngn ItUe lumftj.
1853.

THE PROVIDENCE OP GOD
TRACED IN THE
ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE SOCIETY.
BY A MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE.

" Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these
forty years in the wilderness." Such was the injunction of the Jewish
lawgiver, addressed to the ancient people of God at an eventful period of
their history, when their weary wanderings were brought to a close, and
when their fondest hopes were about to be realised. With two solitary
exceptions, the men of that generation had wasted away in the desert, beneath
the Divine displeasure. Even Moses himself was only permitted to behold
from some mountain top the distant outline ofthe land of promise, and then
to lay down his office, together with his life, without a friend to witness his
departure, or a stone to mark his final resting-place. But their children,
in unbroken strength and numbers, had now the prospect before them of
entering with Joshua upon the inheritance of Canaan, there to renew their
covenant with God, and to stand forth, as the sole depositaries of His
truth, and ordinances, and worship, in the midst of an idolatrous world.
There was every thing in their past history to humble and reprove them,
as they thought of the murmuring at Marah, and the worship of the golden
calf at Horeb — of their rebellion at Kadesh Barnea, and of their number
less other provocations in the wilderness. But there was enough, and more
than enough, to encourage their confidence in God, when they recollected
the high hand and the outstretched arm which had brought them forth out
of Egypt ; the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, under
which they had been guided and guarded ; and the train of miracles by
which they had been fed and sustained, from day to day, in their passage
from Egypt even to the very banks of Jordan. Whatever difficulties
awaited them in Canaan, and whatever enemies might be opposed to. them —
though its cities were walled and very great, and though the children of
Anak might be there — nothing was insuperable to the power engaged for
their success, and nothing could fail them of the promise which guaranteed
to them in due time its full possession.
We are living under no such dispensation of wondrous miracles and

105
special promise; yet, nevertheless, God has not left Himself without witness
in this lower world. His providence is universal, and it is not more strongly
marked in the history of nations than in the daily occurrences of life; and
there are periods when we are more especially called upon, both in our pri
vate and social relations, to remember all the way which the Lord our God
has led us, and to record our grateful " Ebenezer." However humbling the
recollection of our own infirmities and deficiencies, we can hardly fail to
gather from the retrospect fresh motives to a humble confidence in God,
and for the renewed dedication of ourselves to His service.
Such a period, we think, has now arrived in the history ofthe British
and Foreign Bible Society, on entering the fiftieth year of its important
labours, when, as from some vantage ground, we may take a survey of its
extraordinary course ; and when, assuredly, we ought to thank God and
take courage. It is true, indeed, that our Society can point to no apostolic
precept, — can plead no authoritative sanction ; and, like every thing human,
it may bear upon it the marks of man's infirmity,— for ofthe works and ways
of God alone can it be said that they are perfect. With all the integrity of
purpose with which its affairs have been conducted, many errors have
doubtless been committed, its confidence has occasionally been misplaced,
and the zeal of its warmest friends may never have been proportionate to
the mighty interests involved in the enterprise. But it is not permitted us
to doubt that it is an instrumentality which God has been graciously pleased
to accept, and to bless. He will have all men to be saved, and come to the
knowledge of the truth. And we think it is hardly possible to take a can
did review of the formation, the early history, and the later progress of the
British and Foreign Bible Society, without a strong conviction that
the work is of God, or that which he has put into the hearts of His people
to effect, for the furtherance of His gracious purposes towards our world.
I. In looking back to the formation of the Society, the first point that
strikes us is its one simple and exclusive object — the circulation of the Holy
Scriptures without note, or comment, or any human appendage. God has
ever put honour upon His own word. It is said to be " perfect, converting
the soul ;" and if we are born again, " not of corruptible seed, but of incor
ruptible," it is declared to be " by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
for ever." Hence did the Psalmist exclaim — " O how I love thy law : it
is my meditation all the day. Thou, through thy commandments, hast
made me wiser than mine enemies, for they are ever with me." Hence did
our Lord command—" Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have
eternal life, and they are they that testify of me." Hence were the Bereans
commended,"as more noble than those in Thessalonica, because they searched
the Scriptures daily," and therefore, we are told, many of them believed.
And so, when the Apostle sets forth the advantages ofthe Jewish people,
he counts it as their highest distinction, that to them had been committed
the oracles of God : or when he reminds his beloved Timothy of his pecu
liar privileges, he places this as in the foreground, that from a child he had
known the Holy Scriptures, " which are able to make wise unto salvation,
through faith which is in Christ Jesus." Yes; "All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works." It is the only revelation of
God's mercy, addressed to every child of Adam ; and we can conceive of

106
nothing more perfectly in harmony with the Divine will than such a well.
combined effort to make " the Scriptures known to all nations for the obe
dience of faith."
We may look, in the second place, at the circumstances which originated the
Society, and we shall still find reason to acknowledge the leadings of a gracious
Providence in its formation. It arose more immediately in consequence ofthe
known and pressing wants of Wales, and the inability of procuring any ade
quate supply of copies of the Holy Scriptures. As early as the year 1787
complaints had been made of the great dearth ofthe Scriptures in the Principa
lity, and some efforts were made by the Rev. T. Jones, of Creaton, and others,
to obtain supplies from the only existing Society that could furnish them. From
that source five hundred copies were obtained ; but all further supplies were re
fused, until the year 1796, when an edition often thousand copies was conceded,
and eventually brought out three years afterwards, and put into immediate
circulation. This large edition, however, so far from meeting the necessi
ties ofthe case, only served to discover the destitution of Wales, and to
stimulate a general desire to possess the Book of God. Another application
was made to the same Society for a larger edition of twenty thousand
copies, which was declined, and various other projects were set on foot for
printing several smaller editions, at Chester, Shrewsbury, and elsewhere, by
private subscription, but all without success ; and it was in this emergency,
that, in the month of Decemberl802, the Rev. Thomas Charles, of Bala, came
to London, to try what could be done, by means of private friends, to procure
a fresh supply of the Welsh Bible. He was introduced to the Committee
ofthe Religious Tract Society, and the subject was deliberately considered
at several of their meetings. In the course of these discussions, it was
suggested, that probably Wales was not the only part of the empire destitute
of the word of God, and requiring assistance ; and that Great Britain
itself was not the only part of Christendom which needed to be sup
plied. It was accordingly proposed to form a Society, which, while
it met the demands of Wales, and the necessities of our country at
large, should be comprehensive enough to embrace within its range the
entire world ; and, on the 7th March 1804 the British and Foreign
Bible Society was formally instituted, under the presidency of Lord
Teignmouth. The inquiries which immediately followed upon its formation
discovered at once the great need of such a Society, and brought to light
the extreme scarcity of the Sacred Scriptures both at home and abroad. This
appeared in every part of our own country, and throughout the continent of
Europe, so far as any investigations could be prosecuted ; while for heathen
countries nearly every thing in the way of translation was yet to be attempted :
and, at the same time, it was clearly shown that no existing Society, either in
respect to its funds or its constitution, was competent to meet the exigencies
of the case. Thus did the wants of a poor people, in a mountainous district,
lead on to the formation of a Society destined to be a blessing to the ends of
the earth ; and nobly has Wales contributed, by her prayers and her liberali
ties, that every nation may be enriched with the precious treasure, of which
she was once so destitute. Her numerous Christian congregations, her
schools, and the religious habits of her people, all attest that she has not
received the grace of God in vain.
In the third place, we think the same kind Providence apparent in the
constitution of the Society. Based upon the largest principles, it " proposed
to embrace the common support of Christians at large, and to invite the

107
concurrence of all who profess to regard the Scriptures as the proper stan
dard of faith." If the Society was to effect any thing commensurate with
its object, it was evident that it must obtain the largest possible means of
public support, and enlist the services of every section of the Church, for a
purpose as dear to one as to another. Upon any other principle, large bodies
of professing Christians at home must have been left in a great measure un
provided for ; neither would the Society have been able to carry out its
operations in other countries, and among the members of foreign churches,
or been able to avail itself of the various translations that have been made
— some by Episcopalians, some by Baptists, some by Independents, some by
Wesleyans, and other Missionaries — for the use of heathen nations, which,
under the blessing of God, have wrought such wonders in the South Seas,
in New Zealand, in India, and even in great China itself. And why should
those not meet on earth who are to be part ofthe one family in heaven —
children of the same Father, and followers of the same Saviour ? Why
should they not combine to spread abroad a book which each holds so pre
cious, and, in so doing, make known the common salvation ? All the fears
entertained upon this subject have been groundless. There has been no
rivalry with any other Society — no attempt to make it subservient to any
party purposes. Churchmen and Dissenters have worked harmoniously
together ; a kindlier feeling towards each other has sprung up, and they
have rejoiced to find a point on which they could cordially agree, and a
course of action in which they could freely co-operate. Well may we say,
with the great and the good Robert Hall, " Who but the Author and
Giver of all concord could have put into the hearts of the children of men
a design so beneficial and so godlike ; so adapted to allay the heats and
animosities which have so often disturbed the peace of society, and dis
figured our common Christianity?"
Once more, there was something remarkable in the period chosen for
its formation. We are told by the Preacher " there is a time for every
purpose under heaven ;" and it appears that there was a season of prepara
tion required, — much to be brought about in the domestic condition and
foreign relations of our country, before such a Society as the British and
Foreign Bible Society could labour to any great extent. Never had
the country sunk to such a state of irreligion and gross corruption as during
the last twenty years ofthe House of the Stuarts ; but in the following reign
the Christian Knowledge Society was formed, and, subsequently, the Society
for the Propagation ofthe Gospel ; and, coincident with these, various move
ments among the Dissenters, which all contributed to revive the piety of a
former age. Some thirty years .later arose Wesley and Whitfield, whose
awakening ministrations were carried through the length and breadth of
the land, kindling the spirit of a second Reformation, which has burned on
with ever-increasing intensity to the present day, never, we hope, to be ex
tinguished. Later still was established, by Robert Raikes of Gloucester,
the system of Sunday Schools, under which hundreds of thousands of our
children were taught to read ; and, nearly cotemporaneously with the for
mation of the British and Foreign Bible Society, were set up the two
great systems of national instruction which have placed the advantages of
education within the reach of all. It would .have been useless to provide
large editions of the Holy Scriptures for the masses who could not read,
and were unable to appreciate them ; but now arose an increasing demand
for the word of God, and, in the course of a few years, so pressing did it

108
become, that all existing Institutions were found incompetent to furnish the
requisite supply, and the formation of a new Society was absolutely required,
which, by confining itself to one simple object, might address itself effec
tually to the new necessity.
Turning, however, from the domestic circumstances of the country to its
foreign relations, it must be confessed that, at the commencement of the
present century, they were painfully interesting. Hostile fleets were com
bined against us, our shores were threatened with invasion, and armies were
assembled on the heights of Boulogne for the very purpose by our insatiate
foe ; but it was something that we, even then, were preparing to bless our
enemies by the communication of God's best gift, next to the gift of His
Son and the promise of His Spirit. On the other hand, the events of the
war had handed over to us nearly all the colonies of the world, and given
to us possession, not only of Southern Africa, but of the vast continent of
India ; and in this way there was opened up to the enterprise of the British
and Foreign Bible Society a sphere of usefulness unknown at any for
mer period. Not only so, but the Society appears to have been especially
raised up to meet the evils which at that time threatened the Church of
Christ and the existence of Christianity. The plague-spot of infidelity had
become fully manifested in the body of the European commonwealth, fol
lowed by all its attendant miseries and horrors ; and among ourselves some
recent attempts had been made on the part of infidelity to discredit the
evidence, vilify the character, and destroy the influence of Christianity.
We have heard of one, stouter than his fellows, who vainly pronounced
Christianity to be in her twilight, and dared to predict, that, when the
nineteenth century should dawn, the Bible would be laid aside as a for
gotten book : but then — then it was, that, by means of the Bible Society,
the Sacred Volume was to go forth in greater numbers than the world had
ever seen, and in languages more numerous, than were ever sounded at a
Jewish Pentecost ; then — then was it to penetrate every town, village, and
hamlet of our own happy land, and every corner of the habitable earth, to
be more read and prized than ever, to be cherished by the poor man as his
best treasure, and valued by many a Nobleman above his coronet ; thus afford
ing another illustration of the promise, that " when the enemy cometh in
like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him."
Infidel principles may yet unhappily be working their disastrous influence
upon certain classes at home and abroad ; but the antidote has also gone
forth ; and though the struggle between light and darkness, good and evil,
may be still prolonged, it is not for us to doubt the final result, or the pro
mised triumphs of our Redeemer.
And, finally, in connection with the formation of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, let it be remembered, as a fact established by the
entire history of the Church, that no great revival of religion, or any great
extension of the knowledge of the truth, has ever been effected without the
instrumentality ofthe written word.
Without adverting to the revival effected in the Church of old, when the
lost book ofthe covenant was found in the days of Josiah, or dwelling on
the reformation produced by the publication of the Scriptures under Ezra,
when means were taken to secure the reading of them in the Jewish syna
gogues, it will be enough to refer to certain facts connected with the Chris
tian Church. Thus, when the time was drawing near for the manifestation
of the Saviour, and the revelation of the true God to all mankind, by

109
breaking down the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, the minds of
His people at Alexandria were stirred up to execute that translation of the
Hebrew Scriptures into Greek which we call the Septuagint, from the
number of persons supposed to have been engaged in it. This was a great
mercy. Many Jews residing in the provinces where Greek had become
the international language were enabled to read their own Scriptures, and
Gentiles, not a few, were prepared to receive the promised Messiah, when
they found so many ancient prophecies fulfilled in the person of Jesus of
Nazareth. No sooner was the mission of our Lord terminated, than the records of
His life, as detailed by the Evangelists, and the doctrines of His Gospel
as unfolded by the Apostles, were circulated through the churches • and
copies were multiplied as fast as they could be executed by the slow process
of writing, by a very poor, and, for the most part, an unlettered people.
The same providential care for the spread of the word was manifest in dis
posing the minds of men, not only to translate the New Testament Scrip
tures, but the entire Bibie, into the languages of the nations among whom
the Gospel had been preached and churches had been founded. At a very
early period they were translated into the Latin, the Syriac, the Coptic, and
the Ethiopic, and ultimately into the Armenian and Gothic; and, at the
end of the fourth century, both Chrysostom and Theodoret bear testimony
to the fact that the Scriptures had been translated into the languages of
many other nations. " It is beyond all doubt," says the ecclesiastical his
torian Mosheim, " that the pious diligence and zeal with which many
learned and worthy men recommended the sacred writings, and spread
them abroad in translations, contributed much to the success and propaga
tion ofthe Christian doctrine."
On the revival of learning in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, after
a long night of darkness in subjection to the Papal Hierarchy, the minds of
men were again directed to the translation ofthe Scriptures, and various ver
sions were made in most of the modern languages of Europe. But every one
is aware that the Reformation, which arose out of the exactions and corrup
tions of the Romish Church, was grounded and maintained simply on the
authority ofthe word of God. We will not quote the glowing language of
Merle d'Aubigne on this subject : it is quite enough to cite the authority of
Dr. Robertson, who will not be suspected of any partiality for the great
Reformer. Speaking of Luther's translation ofthe New Testament, he tells
us, " It was read with wonderful avidity and attention by persons of every
rank. They were astonished at discovering how contrary were the precepts of
the Author of our Religion to the inventions of those priests who pretended
to be His viceregents ; and having now in their hands the rule of faith, they
thought themselves qualified, by applying it, to judge of the established
opinions, and to pronounce when they were conformable to the standard,
or when they departed from it. The great advantages arising out of Luther's
translation of the Bible encouraged the advocates for reformation in other
countries of Europe to imitate his example, and to publish versions of the
Scriptures in their respective languages." To those Scriptures the Re
formers appealed, as the warrant of their faith, and their practical guide in
the path of holiness ; and on the same Scriptures do all Protestants rest, ac
knowledging, in common consent with the Church of England, that " they
contain all things necessary to salvation ; so that whatsoever is not contained
therein, or may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it

110
should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary
to salvation."
We might go on to speak of the religious awakenings of the present day
in France, in Belgium, in Armenia, and even in Italy, by the simple reading
of the word of God ; and we might refer to the experience of our Missio
naries in the South Seas, in India, and in China, to show that few converts
were gained until they had effected a translation of some portion of the
Holy Scriptures ; but enough has been said in proof of the fact, that, apart
from their circulation, we can hope for no great religious revival at home,
or any success in our Missionary enterprises abroad. And such being the
case, it is impossible to look at the formation of the British and Foreign
Bible Society without a conviction that " the hand of the Lord hath
wrought this," and that it has been raised up to meet the peculiar circum
stances of our times; providing, moreover, what was little contemplated
at the time, our most effectual guard against a traditional system, and the
Romanising tendencies of the last few years.
II. Proceeding, in the second place, to review the early history of the
Society, we shall find occasion to acknowledge the care and goodness of
God in preserving it from successive attacks, and in affording it increasing
spheres of usefulness.
It might have been supposed that an object so pure and simple as the
circulation of God's own word would have secured for it the hearty co
operation of all who set a value upon the Scriptures of truth. But it was
not so. The Society was cradled in storms, and every page of its history
has been more or less one of controversy; and we might wonder at the
fact, did we not know that nothing great or good has been accomplished
in our world without being exposed to similar difficulties and trials.
Some objected to the indiscriminate and unfettered circulation of the
Scriptures, and augured from it the most mischievous consequences ;
but what is this but to impeach the perfection and sufficiency of the
Divine Oracles, and, in effect, to say that a Revelation from Heaven
must not be trusted alone ? What better is it, than to admit one of the
worst principles of Romanism, which enacts that the common people
are not to be entrusted with the Bible at all, and forbids it to be read by
any without the express and written permission of some priestly official ?
Others demanded that the written word should be accompanied and guarded
by the Prayer Book ; but recent events have shown that all are not agreed
about the interpretation of the Prayer Book, and the most opposite conclu
sions have been arrived at by different parties. And then, where was such
a demand to terminate ? The people of Scotland might have insisted upon
some other accompaniment, and the members of foreign churches would
have required other and very different appendages ; when, after all, the cri
terion of truth must be found in the Scriptures themselves, and, if the judg
ment is to be exercised at all, we are brought back to the careful reading
and examination of the Sacred Volume. Others again insisted, in the face
of facts, that the Christian Knowledge Society was sufficient, and they ven
tured to claim that all distributions of the Scriptures should be made at
the discretion of the Parochial Minister, which was virtually to confine
the circulation to members of the Established Church, and to leave all
other classes unprovided for ; forgetting how little had been effected upon
these principles, and forgetting, too, the indifference of many clergymen

Ill
on this subject, and the inability of the best among them to carry out a
general distribution throughout the overgrown parishes of our land. But
perhaps the strongest objection was that made to the recognition of other
Christian denominations, and the appearance of Dissenters, and especially of
Dissenting Ministers, on equal terms with the Clergyman, at the same Com
mittee and on the same platform. But the recognition was already made in
the social relations and laws of our country ; and so far as any fears were en
tertained for the Church of England, time has shown that these apprehensions
were groundless ; and it is manifest that her ministers have in no respect
suffered from the operations of the Bible Society, but that the interests of
religion, both within the Establishment and out of it, have been greatly
promoted by it. The danger, if any, has been found within the pale — from
those who, living upon the provisions of a Protestant Church, are abetting
some of the worst errors and superstitions of Romanism.
We allude to these controversies, not with any wish to revive them,
but simply for the purpose of showing some of the early difficulties of the
Society. Truth, however, never suffers from inquiry, and a good cause
can submit to be tested by the fullest examination. These controversies,
though painful at the time, were overruled for good. The claims of the
British and Foreign Bible Society were in this way brought before
the public attention, and freely canvassed. The defences of Dealtry, and
Milner, and other attached friends of the Society, sufficiently vindicated it
from every objection ; and in the course of a few years it acquired a name,
a patronage, and an influence, such as no other Institution had obtained,
and which was appreciated, not only at home, but in the most distant coun
tries, and in either hemisphere.
The progress of the Society, however, was not at first very rapid. Its
first year's receipts did not much exceed five thousand pounds, and the en
tire issues ofthe first three years did not amount to more than its present
issues in the course of a single month. It was at once evident to the Founders,
that a Society, which contemplated the ministry ofthe word of God to the
world, required to be made widely and fully known ; and it was determined
to establish Depositories of Bibles and Testaments, through the agency
and under the control of Local Societies, in our large county towns, and, in
connection with these, Sub-Depositories also in the towns of secondary
importance. This was ultimately effected by the establishment of Auxiliary
and Branch Societies and their minor Associations throughout the country,
by means of which the wants of the poor were ascertained; and, as the
best means of disseminating the Scriptures, the people were induced to
purchase copies for themselves.
The first demonstration in favour ofthe Society upon a principle of com
bined action was made at Glasgow'in the year 1805, when the Presbytery
of that city set the example so speedily and honourably followed by the
Synods of Glasgow and Ayrshire, and afterwards by different Presbyteries,
of a collection at all the parish churches and chapels within their bounds :
and it is painful that any thing has since arisen to detach from our ranks
those early and ardent friends of the Society. Within the same year the
congregational collections of the Calvinistic Methodists of North Wales
amounted to Eight hundred pounds ; and shortly afterwards, the Wesleyan
congregations in England made a general collection, amounting to upwards
of One thousand pounds. Soon afterwards Associations were formed in
London and Birmingham in aid of its funds, leading on very quickly to

112
that system of Auxiliary and Branch Societies, which has worked so well
in every part of the country, and enabled the very poorest to purchase at
a low price copies ofthe Sacred Volume.
Abroad, and immediately after the formation of our Society, a kindred
Institution was set up at Nuremburg, afterwards transferred to Basle,
which has become the centre of a large distribution of Scriptures in various
parts of France, Switzerland, and Germany. But for some years little
could be attempted for the Continent generally, in consequence of the
revolutionary war, which desolated every province, and subjected every
capital in succession to the horrors and calamities of a siege. Large sup
plies of the Scriptures in various languages were provided for the prisoners
of war detained at Portsmouth and elsewhere, which were made a great
blessing; and some ofthe results of which, in a saving conversion to God,
occasionally reach us even in the present day. Considerable grants, moreover,
were made from time to time to every part ofthe Continent to which access
could be obtained, and some small Societies were formed at Berlin, Wur-
temburg, and elsewhere ; but no other measures could at that time be under
taken for a wide-spread and general distribution. We ought to admire
and acknowledge the providence of God to our country, that it was spared
amidst the overthrow of states. We heard the thunders from afar, and not
a hostile foot was suffered to tread our shores, or desolate our cities ; yet all
was designed, as we believe, not only to awaken us as a nation to repentance,
but to prepare us for carrying out His purposes of mercy to the continental
nations at a later period. In America the impulse was felt; and in the
year 1808 a Society, kindred to our own, if not derived from it, was formed ;
and in 1816 the National Society at New York, which now numbers 1250
Auxiliaries, besides many Branches and Associations, and which has cir
culated more than six millions of copies of the Holy Scriptures ; a result
which could never have been contemplated, when a few Christian friends were
brought together for the supply of Wales, which we can only attribute to Him,
"from whom allholy desires, all good counsels, and alljust works do proceed."
Meanwhile, the system of Auxiliaries and Associations proceeded at home
with increasing activity, until the aristocracy of our land, its nobles, and
its princes, were enrolled among the supporters of our Society ; and it was
about this time that the Rev. Dr. Chalmers gave vent to his feelings
in the following address : — " The whole surface of England," said he,
" is in a blaze of enthusiam. The Society already enrols among her
supporters the best, the purest, the most enlightened, the most venerable
names in our sister Establishment. She is drawing round her all that is great
in politics, and all that is venerable in theology. The nobles of the land are
throwing in their splendid donations ; and the poor widow is casting in her
mite into the treasury of Christian beneficerice. The Bible Society of Lon
don has given an impulse to the whole population of Christendom ; and the
general demand is for the law and the testimony. Every eye is with
drawing from the paltry modifications of sect and system, and pointing to
that light which beams pure and unvitiated from the original sources of in
spiration. To have circulated the Book of God in 127 languages — to
have put forth no less than two millions and a half of copies in the hands
of the great human family — to have originated many new translations, and
to have revived and put into circulation many old ones— to have sent forth
emissaries to every corner of the globe, and that, too, at a time when the
din of hostility was loud among the nations — to have found a way for its

113
peaceful embassies among the regions which they occupy — to have plied
its enterprise with so much vigour, when war rang its alarms all over
Europe — to have made its silent progress, and moved on magnificently in
the prosecution of its task, when the panorama of armies and fleets, and
shifting monarchies, was fastening almost every eye, and the general mind of
the world was nearly taken up with the strife and eagerness of its restless
politics — these are noble doings, and to my mind constitute one ofthe finest
and most imposing spectacles in the moral history of the species."
III. With this brief outline of the early history of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, we have only its later progress and success
to notice.
The formation of Auxiliary Societies and Associations was altogether so
accidental and unforeseen, that no provision had been made for modelling
their constitution, or defining their operations. " They were," as Mr. Owen
observes, " springing up with a sort of wild luxuriance ;" and to the late
Richard Phillips, Esq., we are indebted for the plan, with all its Rules and
Regulations, which has brought them into a system of uniform and effective
co-operation. The invaluable services and experience of Mr. Dudley were
subsequently engaged in promoting their formation, and extending their in
fluence ; and in the course of a few years they may be said to have covered
the land. But it required more than the untiring assiduities of Mr. Dudley
to superintend such a large machinery, and to attend its numerous Anniver
saries. Other Agencies, hardly less valuable, have been since employed;
and the southern part of the kingdom has been divided into appropriate
districts, under their several superintendents, which have been followed by
important results. The number of Auxiliary and Branch Societies, with
their affiliated Associations, is at this time no less than 3249 , and by their
means it may be fairly calculated that some millions of copies of the
Scriptures have been distributed, chiefly at cost price, — a result to which
the ladies of Great Britain have mainly contributed.
But, apart from these efforts, the Schools of our country have been largely
supplied at reduced prices, ensuring to the rising generation the advantages
of a sound scriptural education. Prisons, hospitals, and the numerous Chari
table Institutions, of which we are so justly proud, have never asked in vain.
And to the crowds of emigrants who leave our shores every opportunity
has been afforded to furnish themselves, before their departure, with copies
of the Sacred Volume.
In Ireland it was felt that local efforts could be best made by those who
were acquainted with the habits of the people and circumstances of the
country ; and in 1806 the Hibernian Bible Society was formed upon the
model of our own, but perfectly independent in its mode of action. The
British and Foreign Bible Society has been happy to assist it with
pecuniary grants from time to time, when required, and with large supplies
of Bibles and Testaments. We may well rejoice in its distribution of
2,029,832 copies ofthe Scriptures; but, in addition to these, nearly an equal
number has gone forth directly from the British and Foreign Bible So
ciety in grants to the Hibernian, and Sunday-School, and Irish Societies,
which have doubtless prepared the minds of the Irish people for those
recent movements which have been attended with such a remarkable blessing.
As we have already stated, although some small Societies were formed on
the Continent, and every opportunity was taken from time to time to send

114

out supplies of the Scriptures, it was not until the close of the disastrous
war, which for twenty years had desolated the face of Europe, that the
British and Foreign Bible Society could undertake an3' measures
upon a large scale to supply the want so generally felt by the continental
nations. On the return of peace, the Rev. Drs. Paterson, Pinkerton, and
Henderson, were engaged to visit Europe throughout its vast extent, and
by these means kindred Societies were formed in Russia, and in all the
Protestant states, by which a large circulation was effected, and many of
which are in active operation at the present day. The Societies of Russia
were suspended by imperial Ukase in the year 1826, not without having made
considerable distributions ; and the following table will show the general
results : —

Protestant Bible Society,

Hamburg . . .

97,631

Paris ....

261,303

Bremen . . . .

26,913

Strasburg Society .

73,918

Lauenburgh . .

10,675

Swedish ....

660,432

Eostock . . . .

19,154

Norwegian . . .

33,733

Hanover ....

125,539

Stavanger . . .

7017

3569

Finnish ....

110,561

Waldeck ....

2800

Danish ....

193,692

Hesse Cassel . .

30,000

Netherlands . .

456,420

Marburg . . .

7832

Sleswic ....

130,296

Hanau . . . .

3316

5296

Hesse Darmstadt .

31,484

Lubeck ....

14,644

Baden . . . .

18,585

Wurtemburg . .
Bavarian . . .
Saxon . . . .
Anhalt and others,
Prussian ....
Basle 
Switzerland gene
rally . . . .
Total . .
Russian . . . .
Total

601,797 169,849
209,664 17,507
1,678,677 423,814
283,327
5,708,445 861,105

. 6,569,550
With scarcely an exception, these Societies, however, are no longer con
nected with the British and Foreign Bible Society, but, continuing to
circulate the Apocrypha, they have ceased for many years to derive any
pecuniary assistance from its funds.
The unhappy controversy to which the Apocryphal books gave rise
is yet in the recollection of very many as the heaviest trial to which the
Society has been subjected ; and perhaps it was needed as a check to undue
elation, under the very great success with which it had been attended.
Closed as the Continent had been for so long a period, we had yet to learn
the principles and character of many who entered into correspondence
with the Society ; and in the exercise of that charity which hopeth all
things, its confidence was in many cases misplaced. And it was perhaps
without due consideration of the subject that the Committee were content to
let the Scriptures go forth, in the form usual in the Foreign Protestant
Churches, with the Apocryphal books appended, and, in the case of Roman
Catholics, with an intermingled Apocrypha according to the form ofthe
Vulgate, although at variance with all proceedings of the Society in this
country, where the Apocryphal books had been carefully excluded. Yet
the controversy, painful as it was, was overruled for good. Nowhere does
the Society now circulate the Apocrypha, either directly or indirectly ; and
we are able to say, with greater confidence than in its original prospectus,
that, " promoting nothing but the Inspired Volume, it will be sure to circu
late truth, and truth alone, hereby avoiding the occasions of controversy,
and opening a channel into which Christians of every name may, without
scruple, pour their charitable contributions."
Another important result of that controversy was the establishment of
those independent Agencies which have wrought such wonderful effects in
the wide-spread circulation of the Sacred Volume, and which are conducted
and supported by the Society itself. Thus, in 1830 was instituted the

115
Agency at Frankfort, for the especial benefit of Germany, under the care
of its old friend, Dr. Pinkerton, and which has issued 1,230,880 copies of the
Scriptures. Similar Agencies were established at Stockholm for Sweden,
and at Christiania for Norway, which have put into circulation, respectively,
508,463 and 71,302 copies. Another most important Agency was esta
blished at Brussels in 1835, which has since been extended to Holland, and
more recently to the Rhenish provinces ; and from its several dep6ts at
Brussels, Breda, Amsterdam, and Cologne, the issues have been no less than
703,686 copies. Again, when the imperial Ukase in 1826 suspended the.
operations of the Russian Bible Society, a Protestant Bible Society was
established in St. Petersburgh, in direct connection. with our Society, which
has put into circulation 308,505 copies of the Holy Scriptures ; forming a
grand total of 2,822,836 copies put forth by these several Agencies.
But the most diffusive, and perhaps the most effective of all the Euro
pean Agencies of the Society, and the first in point of time, is that which
was established in Paris in 1820, under the care of Professor Kieffer ; but for
the last twenty years under the more valuable superintendence of Monsieur
de Pressense, from which have issued, under Kieffer, 730,650, and under M.
de Pressense, 2,198,366; and, together, a grand total of two millions, nine
hundred and twenty-nine thousand, and sixteen copies. It is impossible to
estimate too highly the value of this vast distribution, when we recollect
the position which France occupies in the European commonwealth, or the
electric influence of French principles. In connection with the Paris
Agency was employed the most important system of Colportage, which
had already been tried with considerable success, by Mr. Tiddy in Bel
gium. In France it has been the means of carrying the distribution of the
Scriptures throughout its eighty-six departments. The Colporteurs are
pious men in humble life, who, from love to the truth, and at the smallest
remuneration, have braved difficulties, and dangers, and reproach, to spread
abroad " the Gospel ofthe grace of God ;" and, each occupying a particular
district, they have gone from town to town, and from village to village,
offering for sale their various editions of the New Testament, or ofthe
entire Bible. The effect has been marvellous, leading thousands of their
countrymen, and in many parts entire districts, to abandon their Romish
superstitions, and to embrace a purer faith. The system has since been
adopted in various parts of Germany, and even in our own country ; and it
deserves consideration whether such a system, well carried out, would not
be followed with important results among the masses of our home popu
lation. We admit that the omission of the Apocryphal books has presented a.
serious obstacle in some countries, and in some communities, as offensive
to their long-cherished habits and prejudices ; but the point of these obser
vations is to show that, by means of these different Agencies ofthe Society,
a circulation has been obtained of 5,951,852 copies, and nearly equal to
the issues of all the Societies retaining the Apocrypha from their com
mencement to the present day, and is a further proof that the controversy,
painful as it was, has, by the good providence of God, been overruled for
greater good.
Other Agencies have been established for Switzerland and Northern Italy,
which have been followed by the most striking results, in awakening thou
sands of our Roman-Catholic brethren from their superstitions; and many of
whom alas ! are now suffering in prisons and in dungeons for no other crime
t2

116
than that of reading and searching the Holy Scriptures, for which the
Bereans were so much commended. At Malta a dep6t has been formed
for Greece and the countries bordering on the Mediterranean ; another at
Smyrna for Asia Minor and Turkey ; and at Vienna was settled, until
lately, a valuable Agent, who laboured there with extraordinary success, but
who, expelled from the Austrian dominions, has withdrawn to Breslau, not
without the prospect of extensive usefulness in the Silesian provinces.
Our Canadian and West-Indian Colonies have been largely provided for, yet
still affording wide fields for our Christian enterprise. At every Missionary
Station the most prompt and liberal assistance has been rendered; and for
the South Seas in particular, large and successive editions have been printed
in nearly all the languages of those interesting groups of islands, and ver
sions, too, of the most satisfactory character ; insomuch that it was lately
said, in reference to the Tahitian, by one well competent to form an opinion,
" It has been quite a pleasure to me, with the Greek in one hand, and the
translation in the other, to find such a beautiful and exact transcript ofthe
sacred original."
At China, too, to which every Missionary body is directing its attention,
a new and revised translation has been prepared, very much at the expense
of the Society ; and, whenever required, large grants have been made for
putting it into general circulation. There the first fruits to Christ have been
gathered — the pledge in due time of an abundant harvest, and of the conver
sion of Confucians and Buddhists to the faith ofthe Gospel.
But least of all must India be forgotten in the general review of the So
ciety's labours — that vast empire which has been committed to our trust for
the most important of all purposes. " Nothing," said Major-General
Reynell, "nothing can ever persuade me, that we, with all our peculiarities,
differences, and distinctions — the creatures of another clime, the children of
an opposite hemisphere — can have been transplanted to this remote region
for the bare purpose of satisfying commercial speculations, and for the ag
grandisement of one only favoured nation. No ; I am convinced that a
design of a far more benevolent and comprehensive character was contem
plated; and that we have been, perhaps, selected by Divine arrangement, as
the fittest instruments in the hands of Providence for diffusing the blessings
of Christian knowledge over the vast tracts of Asia which still remain en
veloped in the clouds of ignorance and idolatry."
India had long been an almost interdicted sphere of labour to Bible ope
rations ; but simultaneously with the opening of the European continent,
or rather earlier, an entrance was obtained under the new charter of the
Company in 1812 for the enterprise of Christian Missionaries. " To Dr.
Carey and his associates, then protected at the Danish Settlement of Seram
pore, chiefly belongs," says Dr. Buchanan, " the honour of reviving the
spirit for promoting Christian knowledge by translations of the Holy
Scriptures ;" but .whose way had been remarkably prepared by the learned
labours of Sir William Jones in unlocking the treasures of the Sanscrit —
the sacred language of the Brahmins, and the parent stock of all the Indian
dialects. For some years the British and Foreign Bible Society had
liberally assisted in printing the Serampore versions, together with those
ofthe devoted Henry Martyn in Persic and Hindustani — the Tamil, Malay-
alim, and Singhalese versions, by grants amounting to more than 10,000/.
Immediately, however, on the opening of India, and the settlement of
various Missionary bodies in the midst of its teeming population of idolaters,

117

Auxiliary Bible Societies were formed in the several Presidencies, in which
all denominations were united. Upon any other principle we must have had
the strife of sects, and rival versions, to the no small scandal of the natives
and the serious disadvantage of the Missionaries. Their chief suppoit has
been derived from our Society ; and their issues have amounted to no less
than two millions of copies ofthe Holy Scriptures, in whole or in part, as
may be seen from the following table : —

Calcutta .... 861,105
Serampore . . . 200,000
Agra  46,574
Madras .... 701,409

Bombay .... 185,632
Colombo .... 39,263
Jaffna .... ¦ 102,323
Total . . 1,949,855

In proof ofthe rapid spread of Christianity in that country, where, forty
years ago, scarcely a single convert was gathered, it is enough to refer to the
fact, that four Bishops have been sent out for the government ofthe Episco
pal congregations ; and other Missionary bodies have had reason to rejoice
in a similar success.
An interesting pamphlet has lately appeared, entitled, " Results of Missio
nary labour in India," from which the following statistics may be given —
In connection with the various Missionary Societies labouring in that
country, there are 403 Missionaries, and 551 native Preachers, or a grand
total of 953 individuals employed in the evangelization of India. Under
their care are found 309 Churches, with 17,356 Communicants, and 103,154
regular attendants ; and their Mission-Schools are no less than 1881 in
number, containing 99,855 boys, and 14,095 girls.
But extraordinary and cheering as are these results, it is only to repeat
the testimony of every Missionary, when we say that they have been very
much aided, if not mainly brought about, under the blessing of God, by the
translations ofthe Scriptures which have been circulated principally by the
grants of the British and Foreign Bible Society. " The transla
tion ofthe Bible," says the author of this pamphlet, "ranks first in im
portance among the agencies employed for India's conversion." The work
of evangelization is still in rapid progress, insomuch that Mr. Wylie, the
invaluable Correspondent of the Society at Calcutta, tells us, that before
long " baptism will be as common there as here, and that it will hardly
be creditable to any one, of the smallest respectability, to be found an ab
sentee from Christian worship."
On a review of the whole, it may be enough to state, that the expendi
ture of the Society, from its commencement, has been the large sum of
3,855,486/. 4s. lid.; that it has circulated the Scriptures in 148 languages,
of which 121 have been entirely new Yersions ; and that its issues have
reached the vast number of 25,402,309 copies ofthe Scripures. If to these
be added the circulation of the independent Society in America, and ofthe
Continental Societies which depend upon their own resources, the entire and
grand total will amount to no less than 43,344,132. Who can forbear to
exclaim, " What hath God wrought !" The effort has no parallel in the re
cords of the Christian Church ; and if it be indeed the fact, as the most
competent to form an opinion have estimated, that, at the commencement of
the Society's labours, not more than five millions of copies of the Sacred
Volume were in existence, what gratitude do we owe to the Author of all
good, that He has led the Society formed more immediately for Wales to
embrace the world, and to bring about such a magnificent result ?

118
If we feel thankful for the remarkable blessing poured out upon the So
ciety, perhaps we can offer no better tribute of our gratitude, than an offering
to the " Benevolent Fund," now proposed to be raised in aid of the widows
and orphans of those who have laboured for it, or who are now growing
grey in its service ; especially of the Colporteurs, whose health is frequently
impaired, and their lives shortened, from the privations and hardships which
they have to endure.
There is something painful in the retrospect that we have lost so many by
the way, who would have rejoiced with us at the period of our Jubilee.
The fathers they are not, and the prophets they do not live for ever. The
two first Presidents of the Society, Teignmouth and Bexley, have va
cated its chair for higher and better honours. Owen, and Hughes, and
Brandram, its former Secretaries, have terminated their self-denying labours,
and entered upon their rest. Only two Members of the Committee yet
survive, the venerable Steinkopff, and the time-honoured and beloved
William Alers Hankey ; and the shades of evening are gathering around
some of its later friends and supporters. What a call to be up and doing,
and to be about our Master's work ! Truly other men laboured, and we
have entered into their labours. For them it was to overcome the difficul
ties and endure the trials which met them at every step ; for them it was to
open up the godlike design, to establish Agencies, to open correspondence, and
to prepare versions ; and it is for us to gather the fruits of their experience,
and to follow in the course where they have led the way. We are living at
an eventful crisis in the world's history, when Popery on the one hand, and
infidelity on the other, are doing their worst to unsettle the peace of society,
and blast every hope of man ; but the antidote is in our hands, and all
passing events, hardly less than the promise of a faithful God, assure us
that the triumphing of the wicked shall be short. Who shall say, that
before the centenary ofthe Society is completed, the cry may not be heard,
" Babylon is fallen, is fallen \" Austria, and Italy, and Spain, may at
present be closed against the introduction of the Scriptures ; but in all these
countries there is an insatiable thirst for the word of God, which must soon
burst all restraints. Persecution ever defeats its own ends. As, under the
iron hand of Pharaoh, the children of Israel multiplied and grew, — as, in the
present day, the two hundred suffering Christians of Madagascar have multi
plied to many thousands, — so the cruel persecutions in Tuscany have only
served to excite a more general and prayerful reading of the Holy Scrip
tures. But excluded from particular countries, the word of God is not
bound. Not yet has its circulation been interdicted in France ; and in
other European states there are no formidable obstacles to its introduc
tion. India, from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas, with its 140,000,000, is
prepared to embrace it ; China, with its 330,000,000, is open to receive
it ; and the vast continent of South America is not inaccessible to its in
fluence. Our own rising Colonies of Canada and Australia demand a new
effort, if we would have a Christian population beneath our sway. At
home there is a vast work projected to pervade the masses of oui manufac
turing towns and rural districts with the word of life; and Ireland at this
time appeals to our warmest sympathies, to help forward the extraordinary
movement, which promises before long to emancipate her from the thraldom
of a tyrannical priesthood, and secure to her the blessings of a purer faith.
God may design, by the recurrence of this Jubilee, to give an impulse to
Bible circulation, which shall he felt throughout the entire world, for the

119
accomplishment of His promises to His Church, and the confusion of its
foes. Be it ours to labour with a simple dependence on His help, and with
a single eye to His glory ; and labour in vain we cannot in the Lord. All
our recollections of His past goodness, like so many pillars of remembrance,
while they awaken our gratitude, at the same time encourage our hope
that He will not forsake the work of His own hands. We are associated
with the wise and good of every country, and of all denominations ; and we
may say, in the words of one already quoted, " Perhaps there is no moment,
night or day, in which some voice does not rise to Heaven in behalf of the
Society ; and prayer is the grand key that unlocks the celestial treasury."

Jubilee Paper, No. IX. 1

JUBILEE
OF THE
frittjfj anil /nrngn IHIik gnmttj.
1853.

AN APPEAL FOR ENLARGED SUPPORT,
FOUNDED UPON A REVIEW OF THE SOCIETY'S FIELD OF OPERATIONS,
AND THE INCREASING DEMAND UPON ITS FUNDS.
BV THE
REV. E. T. M. PHILLIPPS, M.A.,
RECTOR OF HATHERN, LEICESTERSHIRE.

The institution of the Bible Society was not the result of a speculation or
theory, but it was called forth by the fact, that many earnestly desired to
possess a copy of the Bible, who could not obtain one. Their circumstances
did not allow them to pay the cost price for the book, increased by the
profit of the booksellers; and no other adequate sources of supply were open
to them.
In this state of things a suggestion — a very natural one, but, owing to the
unhappy separation of Christians from each other in spirit and communion,
never made before — was presented to the minds of a few friends engaged
in the discussion of the subject ; that, for the effecting of an unlimited cir
culation of the Scriptures, without note or comment, it might be possible to
combine together Christians of all denominations. The suggestion was
acted upon, and the attempt succeeded. The Bible Society arose out of it;
and the principle of union has been found effectual to preserve it in active
operation, from its institution to the present time, when entering upon its
fiftieth year.
The results which have arisen from these combined efforts are certainly
very wonderful. No Institution can record such success in the prosecution of
its object as it has pleased God to bestow on the labours of Bible Societies.
Consider the extension of the Society by the establishment of similar In
stitutions. — In Great Britain it stands connected with 445 Auxiliaries,
365 Branches, and 2460 Associations ; comprehending, in all, 3270 So-

121
cieties. In Ireland there are 510 Institutions of different kinds, under
the direction and auspices of the Hibernian Bible Society. In the colo
nies and dependencies of Great Britain there are 500 kindred Institutions ;
whilst on the Continent of Europe above 50 principal Societies have been
formed in the capitals and chief cities of its kingdoms, connected with many
hundred affiliated Auxiliaries, Branches, and Associations. But, besides
these, the Parent Society in England has, for the better prosecution of her
work on the Continent, established various efficient agencies in different
places ; as at Paris, in Switzerland, at Frankfort, Cologne, Brussels, Amster
dam, and Breda; in Stockholm, Christiania, St. Petersburgh; another for
Austria and Hungary; so also another for European and Asiatic Turkey ;
and, lastly, one for Malta and the shores ofthe Mediterranean generally. All
these are working, by a very varied instrumentality, to accomplish the same
purpose — the communication of the written word to all who desire to
obtain it. If we turn to the United States of America, we find above
1250 Auxiliary Societies connected with the central Institution ; and these,
again, connected with various and very many Branches and Associations :
so that the whole number of Bible Institutions now existing in the world
is supposed to exceed eight thousand.
Again, Consider the number of copies disseminated by these Societies. —
The Parent Society has issued, at home and abroad, twenty-five millions and
a-half; the Hibernian Bible Society has put into circulation two million copies;
the Continental Bible Societies about seven million copies ; the Bible Socie
ties of India have issued two millions, and those of America eight millions and
a-half: in all, forty-five million copies. Other Institutions have issued copies
ofthe Scriptures to the amount of above six millions : but this is the amount
of copies of the inspired word put into circulation by the simple agency of
Bible Institutions. Such a distribution of the Scriptures was never known
in any former age ofthe world ; not even if the difference of circumstances be
taken into the account, and the facilities we enjoy for such a work be fully
estimated and allowed. Never Was there such zeal manifested for this simple
and distinct object — that every one should possess and use his own Bible, and
that the Bible should have full liberty to speak for itself. Nor is this zeal
the fruit of mere enthusiasm, although it has been reproached with the im
putation. A celebrated professor of divinity, when defeated in his opposition
to the Society, could say, in taking leave of the controversy, " I have long
since abandoned the thought of opposing the Bible Society. When an In
stitution is supported with all the fervour of religious enthusiasm, an attempt
to oppose it is like attempting to oppose a torrent, of burning lava that issues
from Etna or Vesuvius." But what might -be hazarded in 1813 cannot be
seriously repeated in 1853 : in far less than forty years, enthusiasm, like the
lava, cools down to the temperature of common life, and has long ceased
to urge on its course. It never remains steady to its object: it is the passion

122
of the current time ; outlives not its generation, but dies with those who
gave the impulse and produced the action, or at furthest with their imme
diate successors. But the work of the Bible Society has been undeviatingly
pursued, and with untiring perseverance. The stirring addresses of former
times may be no longer heard, but the work is equally carried out. The results
ofthe work, in the increasing annual issues of Bible Societies, prove this ; and
it is still prosecuted with the same even temper and determined energy, which
has ever marked its course. The friends of the Society are still as confident
as ever in the purity of the object which they pursue, and in the Divine
sanction given to their work. The amount of blessing reaped from it by
individuals they pretend not to estimate. They would cast all their care, in
respect of this, on the Giver of all grace, assured that in the great day of
account it will be found to have been very abundant to the praise of the
glory of His grace.
What, however, we now wish to submit to the attention ofthe Society's
friends, and to the whole body of Christians, is this — that no part of the
WORK WHICH IT HAS UNDERTAKEN HAS AS YET BEEN COMPLETED ; whilst
the demand for increased exertion in many special parts of its field of labour
become year by year more urgent. The conclusion from this state of things
is obvious: and it is this — that the friends ofthe Society, assured that the work
in which they are engaged has been assigned them by God, must with in
creasing earnestness seek to provide the means for its due fulfilment.
We say that no part of our work has as yet been completed : for
its object is to supply a copy of the Scriptures to every one who wishes to
obtain it ; and to press on all who are ignorant qf its value the deep impor
tance of possessing and using it. The work, therefore, extends as far as the
human race is spread abroad on the earth.
But let us review our work in some of its separate portions, and
consider what, in the first place, lies before us, in respect of our home
population. Our work at home is comprised in offering the Scriptures
to all who do not possess them ; and in maintaining a continued measure
of supply, where the former has been accomplished. Supposing every
family within the British islands to be supplied with two copies of the
Scriptures — one Bible and one Testament— and granting the average
continuance of each copy to be twenty years, it would require the annual
issue of above half a million of copies to maintain even this measure of
supply, without taking into account what is necessary for the schools of
the kingdom, and what the cravings of individuals would require for
the satisfying of their personal wants. But the first part of this work
has not as yet been adequately discharged. A copy of the Scriptures
has not been offered for purchase to every family in the kingdom ; nor
is the machinery yet constructed by which it may be presented. But

123
wherever it has" been made (as, to a great extent, in Manchester and some
other places), the effect has been very extraordinary, and the demand for
the book most unexpected. People have awakened with surprise to a sense
of the importance of having in their possession the charter of eternal life, and
have purchased it with eagerness. Here, then, is a vast field open at home
to the Society's operations. Why is there not a Bible Association in every
village of the kingdom ? Surely there are in every place persons who
feel the value of the Bible, and the importance of its being known and pos
sessed by all. Why cannot these combine together — a labour already done
to so gratifying an extent in many places — and, dividing their place, if neces
sary, into convenient districts, offer to the members of every family within
it the opportunity of purchasing the Scriptures ? Why should any be un
able to purchase at once the copy they wish to possess ? Why cannot the
same parties appoint a collector to receive their weekly subscriptions to
wards it ; and, when the price of the copy has been paid up, put it into their
possession ? Further, why cannot the same parties solicit from those who
are already in possession of the Scriptures, free contributions, to enable the
Parent Society to distribute them to the poor and destitute of all lands ?
Lastly, why cannot the system be pursued year by year, that the neces-.
sary supply, having been once obtained, may be regularly kept up, and
the rising generation continually supplied with their copies ; whilst the free
fund of the Society is as constantly recruited by the annual subscriptions or
benefactions, which the body of the people may be pleased to contribute ?
This is to set up and maintain an effective Bible Association in every place.
Let it, moreover, be remembered, that this is no ministerial work, or part of
that work to which ministers are officially called and ordained. They are
to give themselves to prayer and oral teaching. The work, indeed — of cir
culating the Scriptures — will well comport with their calling ; but it does
not necessarily belong to them : much less is it appropriated to them, or
subjected to their discretion, and made dependent on their will or energy.
It belongs to the private Christian to commence and carry it out, and to sus-.
tain it. And most beneficial, unquestionably, would be the results. They
might not, perhaps, be so great as our sanguine minds may look for and
expect, but they would be very substantial and extensive. Where, however,
places are so circumstanced, that the system, as proposed above, could not
be instituted and followed up (and many places would be found, no doubt, in
this condition) ; still the same object, as far as the local supply of the Scrip-.
tures is involved, might be carried out by the Colporteur, or Bible-hawker. If
every Auxiliary, in connexion with its Branches, maintained an adequate staff
of this description of labourers, how easily might every place in each neighbour
hood, and throughout the country, be visited from house to house, and its
inhabitants supplied with such copies of the Scriptures as they desired to
possess : and, if the system was renewed every two or three years, it would

124
do much to supply the want of permanent Associations. It would abun
dantly furnish to individuals all the cheaper forms of the Bible, and might
prompt families to obtain for themselves the more durable forms, which would
abide as their standard copies. If we remember right, a proposal was made
a few years since, by our American friends, that the existing Bible Socie
ties should bind themselves, within a given period, to offer a copy of the
Scriptures to every family of mankind. For obvious reasons, the proposal
was then, as it still is, impracticable. But it is equally obvious that the
offer of a copy of the Scriptures for purchase by every family residing within
the British Islands is a very practicable scheme. Why, then, should it
not be proposed to the Parent Society to take such measures as will secure
the accomplishment of it in the shortest time ? Would not this be a suit
able act, on the part of the Society, by which to testify its gratitude to that
gracious God who has so wonderfully furthered its plans, and blessed them
with a measure of success so far beyond its original expectations, and, indeed,
its fondest aspirations ?
But to proceed. If the work of supply is by no means terminated in our
own country, in a still less degree has it been completed in any part ofthe
Continent of Europe. The mere rehearsal of the number of copies put into
circulation by our own Agencies abroad, and by the Continental Bible So
cieties, as compared with the population of Europe, will fully establish this;
these numbers may be stated at six millions and a-half and seven millions
respectively ; amounting altogether to thirteen millions and a-half. But
the population of Europe must be considerably above 230 millions, and
comprises probably not less than fifty millions of families. And as a large
proportion of the copies above stated must have been appropriated to
schools and individuals, not a fifth of its families can as yet have obtained a
supply. It is clear, therefore, that a great work is still before us — a work
far beyond that which has been achieved during the past forty-nine years of
our operations. It may be, also, that the time is short in which it will be
permitted us to attempt it. Surely we have need to remember the word,
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might;" for not only is
there no device or working in the grave, whither we are all tending, but there
is commonly no recovery of opportunities to do good, when they have been
once suffered to pass by unimproved. Now we are at peace, and our re
sources comparatively unimpaired; let us improve the season to the utmost;
and, by calling the attention of our home population, and the population of
the continent, directly and distinctly to the Bible — the book of eternal life —
let us strive to stem the strong current of selfishness, of covetousness, and
of worldliness which is carrying away all the wisdom, and energy, and
spirit of the world, in the pursuit of things merely temporal — things termi
nating in nothing better than the embellishment of the present life.

125
But it is not only at home, and in Europe, that we have a great and en
larging sphere of work before us. Various portions of Asia and of Africa
are offering to us yet larger and enlarging fields of labour : whilst the Lord,
in His good providence, has supplied, and is still furnishing us with the
means of their cultivation.
Let us take a survey of these fields qf operation, and of the means we
possess for their cultivation.
It is a remarkable fact, in the history of the Bible Society, that it has
pleased God to transfer to them, and put under their care for circulation,
very large numbers of translations ofthe Scriptures into languages in which
no part of the word of God had ever before appeared, and into languages
spoken altogether by one-half of the human race. Three-fourths of man
kind may now be reached by the word of God : and each individual of
that portion, who can read, may now be presented with that word in the
tongue in which he naturally thinks and speaks. What a field of operation
is here laid open to the Society, when furnished with the means of mul
tiplying at will copies of these Scriptures ! How great is the work to
which we are called ; and how much is the importance of it enhanced when
I add that, among this half of mankind — amounting to five hundred mil
lions — not three million copies ofthe Scriptures, or of portions of them, have
as yet been dispersed. But let us withdraw from these large and general
statements to the consideration of particular portions of the work. Let us
take Asia, for which sixty-nine new translations have been provided, and
survey some of its principal divisions.
The first which presents itself is the country west of the Euphrates and
Tigris, but including also Persia. It cannot comprise a population less
than forty millions. For their use six translations have been printed — the
Turkish, Arabic, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, and Persian ; and no more
are needed. Here is an ample field of labour, and one most interesting to
every Christian, comprising the countries and places where the most im
portant communications of God to man have been made ; and where, also, the
last scenes which are to usher in the consummation will be enacted. We
need not wonder, therefore, that this portion has become the object of much
Missionary zeal. Many European and American Missionaries have been
directed to it, and are earnestly engaged in endeavouring to revive the spirit
of the decayed Churches still subsisting there; to awaken the Jew to the
consideration of his outcast state ; and to enlighten the darkened minds of
Mahommedans. In the pursuit of this work they find that the circulation
ofthe Scriptures opens to them the readiest way of access to the people ; and
when they have to do with professing eastern Christians, it transfers the con
test between the native teacher and the foreigner (against whom national
prejudice would largely operate) to the authority of God's own word. The
question becomes — which party speaks according to this word ? and — let the

126
book decide the matter in dispute. Great already have been the effects
produced. Among the translations executed for this portion of Asia is one
into the modern Armenian tongue (the old translation into ancient Arme
nian having become a mere ecclesiastical book) ; and so great is the effect
produced by it, that a new era has arisen in the Armenian. Church.
Taught by the diligent reading and discussion of God's word, a reformation,
both as to doctrine and practice, has commenced among them. Like all
great changes, it has been met by strenuous opposition from ignorant formal
ists, and the blind adherents to corrupt practices, which ages of ignorance had
introduced and formed : but it still proceeds onward. The reforming body,
also, has obtained, by a firman from the Porte, ample protection from per
secution : so that no interdict is laid upon their opinions, and no barrier in
terposed to stop their progress. The awakening mind of this portion of
Asiatics is becoming year by year more fully convinced of their errors : and
we may add, that there is no portion of the population among whom a
movement of this nature is likely to be so influential, or to produce such ex
tended efforts ; for they are the travelling traders of the East, and by their
very occupation intimately mixed up with all classes of society. Oh ! if it
may please God to quicken the souls of such with spiritual life, a body of
private Missionaries would at once be raised up fully qualified to propagate,
in a multitude of places, the truth with which their own minds have become
imbued. The very opening, however, of this field of work calls for the
ready supply of Armenian Scriptures : they must be freely disseminated,
that the people may be confirmed, and built up, and enlarged in the truth
to which they have attained. In the carrying on of this work, the British
and Foreign Bible Society has an able coadjutor in the American Bible
Society ; and we labour together in it with one mind and in one spirit : but
it must be our business to take care that our own Society does not fail,
through want of funds, in doing her part to sustain it.
Again, look at Syria and Palestine. Both are becoming yearly the scene
of increased Missionary labour, and of the successful circulation of the
Scriptures. The people will not now, as formerly, refuse to receive them or
hear them read. They will not now give them up at the command of their
priests. The authority of the word is obtaining increasing influence over
their minds : and Jerusalem is again enlightened by the hearing ofthe truth
though its progress, from the very composition of its inhabitants, must be
slow and uncertain. As the spot, however, to which both Jews and Chris
tians flock as the end of their respective pilgrimages, it has become a great
centre for the distribution of the word ; whence it is carried to a multitude
of places which it would never reach but by the access and return of such
pilgrims. It becomes, therefore, a matter of the greatest importance that
the supply should be abundantly maintained, and that no opportunity of
sending forth the word be lost.

127
Further, Persia admits of Missionaries ; and though their labours are very
circumscribed, yet in the spread of the word they can co-operate with us :
and let us remember that, whilst the influence of the word is commonly very
gradual, and often hidden, yet it is ever sure ; and as circumstances
favour the discovery, the effect will be manifested.
What an interesting field, then, does Western Asia open to our view !
Surely we are bound to cultivate it. We know it must be the scene of great
changes: the waters ofthe Euphrates must be dried up, that the kings of
the East may confer, and it may be, conflict with the West. The holy land
must be restored to those to whom it has been covenanted from of old for
an everlasting possession; it must become the battle-field on which the
cause of truth will triumph over the many lies ofthe world and its ruler ;
and there mankind will be finally taught the abundant mercy and grace of
the God of their salvation. And shall we not furnish the means by which
the inhabitants of these countries may be prepared to take their part in the
conflict, and acknowledge the hand which achieves the victory ?
But let us proceed onward to India, embracing the whole of the peninsula
from the Indus to the frontier of the Burmese Empire, and from the Hima
layas to Cape Comorin, and the adjacent island of Ceylon. No part of the
world can be more important to us than this is ; nor ought any to be more
interesting. It comprises 130 millions of souls, of whom from 90 to 100
millions are our fellow-subjects ; and all are to a great extent under the
influence of Great Britain. To us, as a professing Christian people, and
remembering that this great mass of human beings are either gross idola
ters or followers of the false prophet, their spiritual interests ought to be
matters of deep importance : and so they will be, to all who know the
truth, and its saving power. In addition, however, to this bond, we cannot
but be conscious of the special responsibility we have incurred to seek their
good, through the political and social relations which, in the providence of
God, have been established between us.
Let us further consider, then, the facilities which we possess of
access TO this multitude of immortal souls — our means of operation
upon them — what their own state of mind is — and what exertions we are
called to make, that we may meet that state of mind, and direct to a right
end the change under which they are passing.
With respect to facility of access. — It is obvious that the many mil
lions, over which our country has been made the rulers, having become
our fellow-subjects, we can mingle among them in the way of peaceful
intercourse without any obstruction. But this does not give us access to
their minds, or enable us to influence them in respect of their principles,
their creed, or their idolatrous practices. To affect and influence them on
all these important points demands a distinct operation, by the teaching of

128
Missionaries and by Christian education. Let us consider the means we
possess of this description. The number of Stations occupied by Missio
naries does not exceed 260. But in some of the most important of
these — as in Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Poonah, Benares, China, &c.
— the Missionaries of different communities are labouring together,
each carrying on the work distinctly, though harmonizing in spirit, and
maintaining a general co-operation with each other. Many of these Sta
tions, also, are centres of operation upon the surrounding districts ; and
with very many of them educational institutions are connected, where the
children, not of native converts only, but of the heathen also, are col
lected for instruction ; and in all the Missionary schools that instruction
is based on the Christian Scriptures. It is true that these Stations, and
the whole number of places in which we operate are very few, and the
entire work is very insignificant, in comparison of what it ought to be ;
for if they were uniformly spread, or rather dotted over, the peninsula,
each would be located in the midst of half a million of human beings — a
poor provision for their spiritual improvement. But the Stations may
be indefinitely increased, according to the zeal of Christians to enter
upon the work, and the liberality manifested by their brethren in sus
taining them. There is no difficulty, therefore, of operating by such in
strumentality on the minds of the people, in proportion to its present mea
sure, or of enlarging that measure to any extent.
Again, there is no difficulty qf operating through this instrumentality in
the circulation of the Scriptures (and this applies immediately to the work
ofthe Bible Society), from the want of translations into the vernacular lan
guages of the inhabitants. Translations have been already produced fully
adequate to meet the demands ofthe whole population.
In the books of writers upon these subjects, sixty-eight languages and
dialects are numbered up as spoken by some portion of the inhabitants of
the peninsula already defined. Of these, thirty-five appear to be distinct
languages, though most of them have their root in the Sanscrit; and from
some of these twenty-five dialects have branched off. There are, besides,
about eight rude, uncultivated tongues, spoken by small tribes amidst re
mote hills, &c. Of these last no versions have been attempted ; nor will any
ever be required : but of the thirty-five distinct languages, translations have
been effected into all excepting eight : and the same may be said of the
twenty-five dialects. So that of the whole number of languages and dia
lects of India (sixty-eight), translations have been effected into forty-four ;
and we may truly say, that in this department of the work more has been
already done than will ever be required for practical purposes. Several of
the translations already produced will never pass through a second edition.
In the issue, probably not more than twenty of these languages will survive
the amalgamation of the people by the spread of education, the knowledge

129
of Christian truth, and other causes of a commercial nature, which must
very materially affect and alter their social relations, and, consequently, the
maintenance of their distinct languages, and, much more, of their varying
dialects. In these translations, then, the Christian world has abundant means by
which to operate on this great body of mankind. Nor has the field been
neglected. Twenty-two Missionary Societies, from different quarters of the
world — from Great Britain, Continental Europe, and America — have en
tered upon it, and according to their means are prosecuting the work. It is,
however, by the circulation of portions of the word of God, and by educa
tional institutions, that the extension of it must at the present moment be
especially sought.
In respect of the use of both these means of light and knowledge of the
truth, a great change has been wrought on a large portion qf the native
mind. In years gone by, a preacher could not address an assembly of na
tives without encountering insult, if not violence : now he will be listened to
with attention and respect. Formerly the offer of a portion of the Scrip
tures, or of a Christian book, was rejected, as carrying with it pollution :
now it is thankfully accepted, and by some diligently read. In the same
manner, the education of the native youth, however desirable on temporal
grounds, was not assented to, if instruction in the Christian Scriptures and
in Christian principles was to be united with it : now there is great willing
ness on the part of the native heathen (not of all, but of many) to obtain the
advantages of education, though the acquisition may overthrow their native
faith. A general impression seems to have been extensively made on the
native mind, that the reign of Brahma is passing away ; that, unsupported
by a pilgrim-tax enforced by government, their temples will crumble into
ruins ; their sutteeship and other self-immolating rites will disappear ; and
that a few years will see the downfall of all Hindoo superstition.
What a season is this for increased and strenuous exertion in the procla
mation of the Gospel ; for the multiplying of the messengers who may teach
the people the way of salvation ; for the institution of schools, both for males
and females, who may be educated in the Christian Scriptures ; and for the
spread of those Scriptures among the people. How important will it be to
multiply them in the form of Diglotts (the English version accompanying
the vernacular translation), by which we may materially aid the native
Indians in acquiring the language of their rulers, and thus fit them for
government employment ; whilst, at the same time, we may hope to
imbue their minds with Christian principles, precepts, and doctrines.
Here, then, is another portion of that great field, the world, which needs
to be cultivated with far more diligence than it ever has been. Instead of
a few patches of cultivation appearing here and there at vast distances (like
the oases in the desert), the Gospel plough ought to break up districts, pro-

130
vinces, and ultimately all India, and the seed of the word he sown broad-cast
over the whole of it. In this work the Missionary, the Schoolmaster, and the
Agents of the Bible Society must unite together; whilst the two former will
often become willing instruments to aid the latter. To supply, however,
such an agency, the funds of the Society must be greatly increased, that the
copies, as they are wanted, may be brought out and freely communicated.
But let us proceed to another quarter, and view the great field of the
monosyllabic languages eastward of the Burrampooter, including the Burm
ese Empire, and reaching from Tibet, on the north, to Siam and Cambogia
on the south, and throughout China to the whole of its sea-board on the east.
The number of these languages is not very many. They are all founded on
the Chinese, and comprise two branches — the Indo-Chinese and the Tibetan.
Translations have been made into a few of them, as the Burmese, the Siam
ese, the Karen, Munipoora, and Khassee ; but the importance of them all
(and all are important according to the extent of their use) must yield to
the Chinese translation, which is applicable to the enlightening of 300 mil
lions of human beings, or above one-fourth of the human race. But upon
this subject, and on this translation, and the interest which the Bible So
ciety naturally has in its progress and circulation, we may be permitted to
make a few remarks.
When considering our Indian field of labour, the thought that it extended
over 130 millions presented a very serious and fearful view of the matter.
What, then, shall we say in respect of 300 millions of human beings]? Yet
the command of the Saviour to His people (and as the first Christians under
stood it, addressed to all His people, Acts viii. 4) still abides : " Go and
disciple all nations ;" " Preach the Gospel to every creature." The com
mand, therefore, is to be carried out to the utmost of His people's power, as
the Lord, in His providence, shall open to them a way in which to prosecute
it. Now the Lord, in His providence, has seen good to open to His people
a way of access to the Chinese nation, and given them the means of extensive
operation upon them. It was a nation closed up by the jealousy of its
rulers, and to a great degree precluded from all intercourse with strangers.
But, by the influence of political and commercial changes, the barrier has
been broken down, and a restricted intercourse admitted on the part of the
Chinese government, fully sufficient to exhaust all the means at present col
lected for their aid. The Lord, also, has provided a translation ofthe entire
Scriptures into their language, which has already obtained great attention,
has received very careful correction, and bids fair soon to become as
good a translation as can be expected from men, who do not think as well as
speak in the language into which they translate. Further, this great advan
tage attends the efforts of Christians in behalf of this peculiar people, that
one language only is used by the great masses of these 300 millions of men.
It is true that the written language is not spoken alike in every part of

131
China. The pronunciation of it, indeed, varies very greatly; so that the
Missionary,1 who has learnt to speak Chinese in Canton, may not be verv
intelligible to his brethren, who have been taught it at Ning-po. This arises,
as we suppose, from the symbolic nature of the language. The meaning of
the sign, or symbol, is understood alike everywhere, whilst the sound ex
pressive of the symbol varies exceedingly.* The same Missionary, there
fore, who has learnt the pronunciation of one district is not competent to
preach the Gospel in every other ; but the same translation will serve for the
instruction of the people throughout the empire : and this greatly facilitates
the work of introducing the knowledge ofthe Gospel to the nation. It also
meets, in a peculiar manner, the habits of the population, who, as a reading
people, are more inclined to learn from the study of a book than from the
hearing of a preacher. Here, then, is a field peculiarly calling for the ope
ration of the Bible Society to cultivate it ; and no doubt, unless some unfore
seen obstruction to the work be interposed, the demand for the Chinese
Scriptures will increase annually, and may ultimately require very large
funds to meet it.
There is yet another portion of the Asiatic fields which must be briefly
noticed — the Polynesian — in many parts of which very extraordinary
changes have been wrought during the last fifty years by the preaching of
the Gospel and the circulation of the word of God. The languages which
prevail throughout this portion of the world are chiefly derived from two
stems — the Malayan and Negritos. The Malays, as they are now the great
roving pirates throughout the Indian Archipelago, so they seem to have
been originally the great colonizers throughout the islands of the Pacific.
Hence dialects of Malayan are found throughout Java, Sumatra, Bor
neo, the Philippine islands, the Moluccas, the Carolinas, the Sandwich, the
Society,Navigators', Friendly, and Feejeean Islands, and various other groups,
together with New Zealand and Australia ; whilst a stream of the Negritos
has entered by Timor and New Guinea, and extended to Louisiade, the New
Hebrides, and New Caledonia. As Missionaries have pursued their enter
prise from one group of islands to another, they have applied themselves to
the reduction ofthe spoken languages to an alphabetical form, to the transla
tion of the Scriptures into the new-formed language, and to their printing
and circulation. Of such translations we number up sixteen. In the
printing of all these (excepting one, the Hawaiian, ofthe Sandwich Islands,
carried out by the American Bible Society) the British and Foreign Bible
* The following statement may be taken as an illustration of this fact. The symbols
for twenty-two do not vary, and are expressed by the same written characters throughout
China ; but when utterance is given to them by a native of Peking, we hear urh-shih-urh ;
when by a native of Ning-po it is gne-a-gne ; and when by a native of Canton it is
e-shap-e. — See Bagster's " Bible of Every Land," page 3.
K2

132
Society has taken an active part, and is very anxious to meet the demands
made upon it. But it is obvious that, as these translations are increased, and
the demand for copies is enlarged, those who minister to the funds of the
Society must endeavour to enlarge them in the same proportion, that there
may be no failure in this work and labour of love through the lack of
means. We now turn to the last portion of that field of labour which we are con
cerned to survey — unhappy and benighted Africa. For this quarter of the
world two ancient ecclesiastical versions have been reprinted, and twelve
versions of portions of the Scriptures have been prepared and printed —
eleven by the British and Foreign Bible Society and one by the American
Bible Society. Of these the Berber is designed for the oases of the
African Desert, from Mount Atlas to Egypt: but of this version only a
portion of St. Luke's Gospel has as yet been published. The entire Bible
has been printed in Amharic, now the vernacular language of Abyssinia:
and a translation of the Gospel of St. Luke has been effected into the
Kinika for the Wanika tribes of Eastern Africa. For the tribes to the north
of the Cape of Good Hope four translations have been made of portions of
the word, and printed and circulated. But in respect of all these languages
and dialects, we must be well aware that they will in time disappear (just
as the Hottentot has ceased to be spoken) before the spread of European
settlers and the progress of civilization. The effects of intercourse, and the
interests of social life, must in time make the English tongue the universal
language of South Africa. In the mean time, however, these translations,
and such as may be added to them, are of the utmost importance for the in
struction in the knowledge of the truth, and therefore for the salvation, of
the existing generation of the different tribes for which they have been made,
and for their immediate successors : and many editions will be required for
their use. Indeed, their instruction in Christianity (the great civilizing power),
which cannot be carried on without those Scriptures, will be essential to the
hastening of the period when they will no longer need them.
But the case of Western Africa is very different. From the Gambia —
indeed from the river Senegal, along the whole western coast, to the mouth
of the Niger, and thence to the coast opposite Fernando Po, and comprehend
ing, also, the whole of the country lying on the right or western bank of the
Niger and Joliba — all this part of Africa is open to the operations of
Missionaries and of the Bible Society, by the printing and circulation of the
Scriptures in the native languages or dialects. Portions have been already
translated and printed by the Society in four of these tongues— the Bullom,
Mandingo, and Yoruba ; and in the Grebo by the American Bible Society.
Such an operation would also be greatly forwarded if a seminary could be
established at Sierra Leone, or in Liberia, or in both, for the simple purpose of
instructing pious natives of competent natural talents (like Mr. Crowther)

133
in the chief Semitic languages — the Arabic and Hebrew — and in the Greek
tongue, that they may be fitted to preach the Gospel to the natives of this
populous part of Africa ; and prepared, likewise, to answer the Mahommedan
priests, who are actively employed in extending their faith throughout the in
terior of Africa, and seeking to establish it in many of its most powerful states.
We said that this was the last part of the Bible-field which we had to
notice : it is obvious, however, that another, and most important part re
mains to be cultivated — the two Americas. But the whole of North Ame
rica connected with the United States will be well and fully attended to by
the American Bible Societies. The introduction of the Scriptures, also,
into the South- American States will perhaps be best effected by them;
though unquestionably we shall continue to supply our quota to the work,
as openings are made for our operations.
Our West-India Islands are and have been the objects of our immediate
superintendence : and our North- American provinces are equally to be pro
vided for by such agencies as the condition of the several parts of that vast
territory may require. These agencies must be very various ; and, as they
are called for, will, we trust, be supplied. All observations, however, upon
them have been anticipated by those already made in reference to the
extension of Bible circulation in our own country. Care must be taken
that from time to time the offer of the Scriptures be renewed to every
family comprised within our Western- American territory.
But for the due and efficient prosecution of these objects at home and
abroad — in Continental Europe, in Western Asia, in the East Indies, in
China, in Polynesia, in Africa, and in our own colonies and dependencies
universally — a vast increase of the means hitherto supplied to our Society
will be necessary.
It has often been a matter of wonder to many that the British and
Foreign Bible Society, which, as the helper of all Missionary and School
Societies, receives the tribute of thanks from each, should yet obtain so
small a portion of support, comparatively, from the collective body of
Christians. Distinct Missionary Societies receive from 50,000/. to 100,000/.
and upwards from the members of their respective communities. Whilst
(exclusive of the money paid for books purchased) the Bible Society only
received last year — and that a fruitful year — free contributions to the amount
of 56,000/. We would not wish one shilling to be withdrawn from any of
the Societies referred to, in order to increase the funds of the Bible Society
— far, far from it : we would gladly hear that the funds of them all were
greatly enlarged : they could well expend far greater sums, were they
committed to them. But we would still crave that the great feeder of
them all, in respect of the Sacred Scriptures, should be liberally and abun
dantly supplied. If all is carried out in behalf of heathen nations, which

134
their existing state requires, a great increase to its funds must be obtained,
or the Society will be unable to meet the demands which will inevitably
be made upon it. We have confidence, however, that what the Lord has
originated — and the Bible Society is His formation and not man's — will be
sustained by Him ; that His people will be made willing to supply what
is lacking, and the Society . be enabled to minister throughout the world
that word which is ordained for the healing of the nations.

Jubilee Paper, No. X.]

JUBILEE
OF THE
1853.

WHAT IS THE BIBLE?
AND,
WHAT HAS IT DONE?*
BY THE REV. J. C. RYLE, B.A.
RECTOR OF HELMINGHAM, SUFFOLK.

Reader — There is a Society of men, which, for nearly fifty years, has been
labouring for one single object. That object has been to print, circulate, and
multiply copies of one single book.
It is a Society composed of men of different nations and languages.
Some of its members are Englishmen, some Scotch, some Americans, some
Germans, some French, and some Dutch. But on one point they are all
agreed, and that is, the immense importance of printing and circulating one
single book.
It is a Society which has had many difficulties to overcome. Some have
opposed it openly, and denounced its proceedings. Multitudes have re-"
garded it with indifference, if not with contempt. Its friends and supporters
have always been few, compared with the rest of mankind. But in spite of
all obstacles, the Society has gone steadily forward, and continues to this
day circulating its one single book.
It is a Society which has been eminently useful to the world. It has
done good to thousands and millions of souls. It has sown seed which has
borne fruit in every part of the globe. It has promoted morality and true
religion. It has strengthened and helped hundreds of good men. All this
* Abridged, altered, and adapted from a larger work, by the same author, entitled
" How readest Thou," published by Hunt and Son, Ipswich, and Wertheim, London.
Price 3s. per dozen.

136
it has done in a very simple way : it has printed and circulated one single
book. Reader— the book of which I have been speaking is the Bible. The
Society is the British and Foreign Bible Society. The point I want to
impress upon you is, the duty of giving this Society your cordial support.
Give me your attention while I try to show you the immense value of the
Bible. I will tell you why the Society attaches so much importance to the
circulation ofthe Bible; and then, if you never supported the Society before,
I will ask you to begin supporting it this year.
I. I ask you to remember, in the first place, that A knowledge of
THE THINGS CONTAINED IN THE BIBLE IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY FOB THE
SALVATION OF A MAN'S SOUL.
We live in days when the words of Daniel are fulfilled before our eyes —
" Many run to and fro, and knowledge is increased." Schools are multi
plying on every side. New colleges are set up. Old universities are
reformed and improved. New books are continually coming forth. More
is being taught, more is being learned, more is being read, than there ever
was since the world began. It is all well. I rejoice at it. An ignorant
population is a perilous and expensive burden to any nation. It is a ready
prey to the first Absalom, or Catiline, or Wat Tyler, or Jack Cade, who
may arise to entice it to do evil. But this I say, we must never forget that
all the education a man's head can receive will not save his soul from hell,
unless he knows the truths of the Bible.
A man may have prodigious learning, and yet never be saved. He may
be master of half the languages spoken round the globe. He may be
acquainted with the highest and deepest things in heaven and earth. He
may have read books till he is like a walking cyclopaedia. He may be
familiar with the stars of heaven, the birds ofthe air, the beasts ofthe earth,
and the fishes of the sea. He may be able to speak of plants, from the
cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows on the wall. He may be able to
discourse of all the secrets of fire, air, earth, and water. And yet, if he dies
ignorant of Bible truths, he dies a miserable man. Chemistry never silenced
a guilty conscience. Mathematics never healed a broken heart. All the
sciences in the world never smoothed down a dying pillow. No earthly
philosophy ever supplied hope in death. No natural theology ever gave
peace in the prospect of meeting a holy God. All these things are of the
earth, earthy, and can never raise a man above the earth's level. They may
enable a man to strut and fret his little season here below with a more dig
nified gait than his fellow-mortals, but they can never give him wings, and
enable him to soar towards heaven. He that has the largest share of them
will find at length, that, without Bible knowledge, he has got no lasting pos
session. Death will make an end of all his attainments, and after death
they will do him no good at all.

137
A man may be a very ignorant man, and yet be saved. He may be un
able to read a word, or write a letter. He may know nothing of geography,
beyond the bounds of his own parish, and be utterly unable to say which is
nearest, Paris or New York. He may know nothing of arithmetic, and not
see any difference between a million and a thousand. He may know no
thing of history, not even of his own land, and be quite ignorant whether
his country owes most to Semiramis, Boadicea, or Queen Elizabeth. He
may know nothing of the affairs of his own times, and be incapable of
telling you whether the Chancellor of the Exchequer, or the Commander-in-
Chief, or the Archbishop of Canterbury, is managing the national finances.
He may know nothing of science and its discoveries ; and whether Julius
Caesar won his victories. with gunpowder, or the apostles had a printing
press, or the sun goes round the earth, may be matters about which he has
not an idea. And yet, if that very man has heard Bible truth with his ears,
and believed it with his heart, he knows enough to save his soul. He will
be found at last with Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, while his scientific fel
low-creature, who has died unconverted, is lost for ever.
Knowledge of the Bible, in short, is the one knowledge that is needful.
A man may get to heaven without money, learning, health, or friends ; but
without Bible knowledge he will never get there at all. A man may have
the mightiest of minds, and a memory stored with all that mighty mind can
grasp ; and yet, if he does not know the things of the Bible, he will make
shipwreck of his soul for ever. Woe ! woe ! woe to the man who. dies in
ignorance of the Bible !
Reader, this is the book about which I address you this day. This is the
book which the British and Foreign Bible Society endeavours to circulate.
What are you doing to circulate this book yourself? Why should you not
assist the Society in the good work which it is doing ?
II. I ask you to remember, in the second place, that the manner in
which the Bible is written makes it infinitely moke important
than any other book in existence.
The Bible is " written by inspiration of God." In this respect it is utterly
unlike all other writings. God taught the writers of it what to say. God
put into their minds thoughts and ideas. God guided their pens in set
ting down those thoughts and ideas. When you read it, you are not read
ing the self-taught compositions of poor imperfect men like yourself, but
the words of the eternal God. When you hear it, you are not listening to
the erring opinions of short-lived mortals, but to the unchanging mind ofthe
King of kings. The men who were employed to indite the Bible spoke not
of themselves. They " spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
(2 Peter i. 21.)
I shall not waste time by attempting any long and laboured proof of this.

138 .
I say boldly, that the book itself is the best witness of its own inspiration. It
is utterly inexplicable and unaccountable in any other point of view. It is
the greatest standing miracle in the world. He that dares to say the Bible
is not inspired, let him give a reasonable account of it, if he can. Let him
explain the history and character of the book in a way that will satisfy any
man of common sense. The burden of proof seems, to my mind, to lie
on him.
Here is a book written by not less than thirty different persons. The
writers were men of every rank and class in society. One was a lawgiver,
one was a warlike king, one was a peaceful king, one was a herdsman, one
had been brought up as a publican, another as a physician, another as a
learned Pharisee, two as fishermen, several as priests. They lived at dif
ferent intervals over a space of 1500 years, and the greater part of them
never saw each other face to face. And yet there is a perfect harmony
among all these writers. They all write as if they were under one dictation.
The handwriting may vary, but the mind that runs through then- work is
always one and the same. They all tell the same story. They all give one
account of man, one account of God, one account of the way of salvation,
one account ofthe heart. You see truth unfolding under their hands as you
go through the volume of their writings ; but you never detect any real con
tradiction or contrariety of view. Tell us not that all this might be the
result of chance. The man who can believe that must indeed be a credu
lous person. There is only one satisfactory account of the book. It was
written under the direct inspiration qf God.
Here is a book that has been finished and before the world for nearly
1800 years. These 1800 years have been the busiest and most changeful
period the world has ever seen. During this period the greatest discoveries
have been made in science, the greatest alterations in the ways and customs
of society, the greatest improvements in the habits and usages of life. Hun
dreds of things might be named which satisfied and pleased our forefathers,
which we have laid aside long ago as obselete, useless, and old-fashioned.
The laws, the books, the houses, the furniture, the clothes, the carriages of
each succeeding century, have been a continual improvement on those of the
century that went before. There is hardly a thing in which faults and weak
points have not been discovered. There is hardly an institution which has
not gone through a process of sifting, purifying, refining, simplifying, re
forming, amending, and changing. But all this time men have never dis
covered a weak point or a defect in the Bible. Infidels have assailed it in vain.
There it stands — perfect, and fresh, and complete, as it did eighteen centuries
ago. The march of intellect never overtakes it. The wisdom of wise men
never gets beyond it. The science of philosophers never proves it wrong.
The discoveries of travellers never convict it of mistakes. Are the distant
islands of the Pacific laid open ? — Nothing is found that in the slightest

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degree contradicts the Bible account of man's heart. Are the ruins of
Nineveh and Egypt ransacked and explored ?  Nothing is found that over
turns one jot or tittle of the Bible's historical statements. Are the heathen
in the remotest parts ofthe earth induced to give up their idols 1 — The Bible
is found to meet the wants of their consciences as thoroughly as it did those
of Greeks and Romans in the days when it was first completed. It suits
all ages, ranks, climates, minds, conditions. It is the one book which suits
the world. How shall we account for this ? What satisfactory explanation
can we give ? There is only one account and one explanation. The Bible
was written by inspiration. It is the book of the world, because He inspired
it who formed the world, who made all nations of one blood, and knows man's
common nature. It is the book for every heart, because He dictated it who
alone knows all hearts, and what all hearts require. It is the book qf Ood.
Here is a book, which for sublimity, wisdom, and purity, is utterly un
rivalled. No other book in existence comes near it. There is a style and
tone of thought about it, which separates it from all other writings. There
are no weak points, and mote3, and flaws, and blemishes. There is no mix
ture of infirmity and feebleness, such as you will find in the works of even
the best Christians. " Holy, holy, holy," seems written on every page.
To talk of comparing the Bible with the Koran, the Shasters, or the book
of Mormon, is positively absurd. You might as well compare the sun with
a rushlight, or Mont Blanc with a mole-hill, or St. Paul's with an Irish
hovel, or the Portland vase with a garden pot, or the Koh-i-noor diamond
with a bit of glass. God seems to have allowed the existence of these pre
tended revelations, in order to prove the immeasurable superiority of His
own word. To talk of the inspiration of the Bible as only differing in
degree from that of such writings as the works of Emerson, Gibbon, and
Voltaire, is simply a piece of blasphemous folly. Every honest and unpre
judiced reader must see that there is a gulf between the Bible and any other
book which no man can fathom. You feel, at turning from the Scriptures
to other works, that you have got into a new atmosphere. You feel like
one who has exchanged gold for base metal, and heaven for earth. And
how can this mighty difference be accounted for ? The men who wrote the
Bible had no special advantages. They had, most of them, little leisure, few
books, and no learning — such as learning is reckoned in this world. Yet the
book they compose is one which is unrivalled ! There is but one way of
accounting for this. They wrote under the direct inspiration qf God.
It proves nothing against inspiration, as some have asserted, that the
writers ofthe Bible have each a different style. Isaiah does not write like
Jeremiah, and Paul does not write like John. This is perfectly true ; and
yet the works of these men are not a whit less equally inspired. The waters
ofthe sea have many different shades. In one place they look blue, and in
another green. And yet the difference is owing to the depth or shallowness

140
of the part we see, or to the nature ofthe bottom. The water in every case
is the same salt sea. The breath of a man may produce different sounds,
according to the character of the instrument on which he plays. The flute,
the pipe, and the trumpet, have each their peculiar note. And yet the
breath that calls forth the notes is in each case one and the same. The
light of the planets we see in heaven is very various. Mars, and Saturn,
and Jupiter, have each a peculiar colour. And yet we know that the light
of the sun, which each planet reflects, is in each case one and the same.
Just in the same way the hooks of the Old and New Testaments are all in
spired truth, and yet the aspect of that truth varies according to the mind
through which the Holy Ghost makes it flow. The handwriting and style
of the writers differ enough to prove that each had a distinct individual
being ; but the Divine Guide who dictates and directs the whole is always
one. All is alike inspired. Every chapter, and verse, and word, is from
God. Oh that men who are troubled with doubts, and questionings, and scep
tical thoughts about inspiration, would calmly examine the Bible for them
selves ! Oh that they would act on the advice which was the first step to
Augustine's conversion — " Take it up and read it ! Take it up and read
it !" How many Gordian knots this course of action would cut ! How
many difficulties and objections would vanish away at once like mist before
the rising sun ! How many would soon confess, " The finger of God is
here ! God is in this book, and I knew it not ! "
Reader — -this is the book about which I address you this day. This is the
book, I repeat, which the British and Foreign Bible Society endeavours to
circulate. What are you doing to circulate this book yourself? Why
should you not assist the Society in the good work which it is doing ?
III. I ask you to remember, in the third place, that the matter
WHICH THE BIBLE CONTAINS RENDERS IT INFINITELY MORE IMPORTANT
THAN ANY BOOK IN EXISTENCE.
The Bible handles subjects which are utterly beyond the reach of man,
when left to himself. It treats of things that are invisible — the soul, the
world to come, and eternity ; — subjects which man has no line to fathom.
All who have tried to write on these subjects without Bible light have done
little but show their own ignorance. They grope like the blind; they
speculate ; they conjecture. They generally make the darkness more visi
ble, and land us in a region of uncertainty and doubt. How little did the
wisest of the heathen know ! How dim were the views of Solon, Socrates,
Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, and Seneca ! A well-taught Sunday-school child,
in the present day, knows more eternal truth than all these sages put
together. The Bible alone gives a true and faithful account of man. It does not

141
flatter him as novels and romances do : it does not conceal his faults and
exaggerate his goodness. It paints him just as he is. It describes him as
a fallen creature, very far gone from original righteousness, and, of his own
nature, inclined to evil ; a creature needing not only a pardon, but a new
heart, to make him fit for heaven. It shows him to be a corrupt being,
under every possible circumstance, when left to himself; corrupt after the
loss of paradise ; corrupt after the flood ; corrupt when fenced in by laws and
commandments ; corrupt when the Son of God visited him as manifest in
the flesh ; corrupt in the face of warnings ; corrupt in the face of miracles";
corrupt in the face of judgments ; corrupt in the face of mercies. In one
word, it shows man to be by nature always a sinner. How important is
this knowledge !
The Bible alone gives us true views of God. By nature, man knows
nothing of Him. All his conceptions and ideas of Him are low, grovelling,
and debased. What can be more degraded than the gods ofthe Canaanites
and Egyptians, of Babylon, of Greece, and of Rome ? What can be more
vile than the gods of the Hindoos, and other heathens, in our own times ?
By the Bible we know that God hates sin. The destruction of the world
by the flood — the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah — the drowning of Pha
raoh and the Egyptians in the Red Sea — the cutting off of the nations of
Canaan — the overthrow of Jerusalem and the temple — the scattering ofthe
Jews, — all these are unmistakeable witnesses. By the Bible we know that
God loves sinners. His gracious promise in the day of Adam's fall — His
longsuffering in the times of Noah — His deliverance of Israel out of the land
of Egypt — His gift ofthe law at Mount Sinai — His bringing the tribes into
the promised land — His forbearance in the days of the judges and kings — His
repeated warnings by the mouth of His prophets — His restoration of Israel
after the Babylonian captivity — His sending His Son into the world, in due
time, to be crucified — His commanding the Gospel to be preached to the
Gentiles, — all these are speaking facts. By the Bible we learn that God
knows all things. We see Him foretelling things hundreds and thousands
of years before they take place ; and as He foretells, so it comes to pass.
He foretold that the family of Ham should be a servant of servants ; that
Tyre should become a rock for drying nets ; that Nineveh should become a
desolation; that Babylon should be made a desert; that Egypt should be the
basest of kingdoms; and that the Jews should not be reckoned among the
nations. All these things were utterly unlikely. Yet all have been fulfilled.
Reader, once more I say, how important is this knowledge !
The Bible alone teaches us that God has made a full, perfect, and com
plete provision for the salvation qf fallen man. It tells of an atonement
made for the sin of the world, by the sacrifice and death of God's own Son
upon the cross. It tells us that by His death for sinners, He obtained
eternal redemption for all that believe on Him. The claims of God's

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broken law have now been satisfied. Christ has suffered for sin, the just
for the unjust. God can now be just, and yet the justifier ofthe ungodly.
It tells us that there is now a complete remedy for the guilt of sin, even the
precious blood of Christ. Whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish,
but have eternal life. It tells us that there is a complete remedy for the
power of sin, even the almighty grace of the Spirit of Christ. It shows us
the Holy Ghost quickening believers, and making them new creatures.
It promises a new heart and a new nature to all who will hear Christ's
voice, and follow Him. Reader, once more I say, how important is this
knowledge !
The Bible alone explains the state of things that we see in the world
around us. There are many things on earth which a natural man cannot
explain. The amazing inequality of conditions — the poverty and distress —
the oppression and persecution — the shakings and tumults — the failures of
statesmen and legislators — the constant existence of uncured evils and
abuses, — all these things are often puzzling to him. He sees, but does not
understand. But the Bible makes it all clear. The Bible can tell him
that the whole world lieth in wickedness ; that the prince of the world, the
devil, is everywhere ; and that it is vain to look for perfection in the present
order of things. The Bible will tell him that there is "a good time"
certainly coming, and coming perhaps sooner than people expect it — a time
of perfect knowledge, perfect justice, perfect happiness, and perfect peace.
But the Bible will tell him this time shall not be brought in by any power
but that of Christ coming to earth again. And for that second coming of
Christ the Bible will tell him to prepare. Oh, reader, how important is all
this knowledge !
But time would fail me if I were to enter fully into all the great things
which the Bible reveals. It is not by any sketch or outline that the
treasures ofthe Bible can be displayed. It would be easy to point out
many other things beside those I have mentioned, and yet the half of its
riches would be left untold.
How comforting is the account it gives us of the great Mediator of the
New Testament, — the man Christ Jesus ! Four times over His picture is
graciously drawn before our eyes. Four separate witnesses tell us of His
miracles and His ministry — His sayings and His doings — His life and His
death — His power and His love — His kindness and His patience — His
ways, His words, His works, His thoughts, His heart. Blessed be God,
there is one thing in the Bible the most prejudiced reader can hardly fail
to understand, and that is, the character of Jesus Christ !
How encouraging are the examples the Bible gives us of good people !
It tells us of many who were of like passions with ourselves, — men and
women who had cares, crosses, families, temptations, afflictions, diseases,
like ourselves,— and yet by faith and patience inherited the promises, and

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got safe home. It keeps back nothing in the history of these people.
Their mistakes, their infirmities, their conflicts, their experience, their
prayers, their praises, their useful lives, their happy deaths, — all are fully
recorded. And it tells us the God and Saviour of these men and women
still waits to be gracious, and is altogether unchanged.
How instructive are the examples the Bible gives us of bad people ! It
tells us of men and women who had light, and knowledge, and oppor
tunities, like ourselves, and yet hardened their hearts, loved the world,
clung to their sins, would have their own way, despised reproof, and ruined
their own souls for ever. And it warns us that the God who punished
Pharaoh, and Saul, and Ahab, and Jezebel, and Judas, and Ananias and
Sapphira, is a God who never alters, and that there is a hell.
How blessed are the hopes which the Bible holds out to the believer
in Christ Jesus ! Peace in the hour of death — rest and happiness on the
other side of the grave — a glorious body in the morning of the resur
rection — a full and triumphant acquittal in the day of judgment — an ever
lasting reward in the kingdom of Christ — a joyful meeting with the Lord's
people in the day of gathering together, — these, these are the future pro
spects of every true Christian. They are all written in the book, — in the
book which is all true.
How striking is the light which the Bible throws on the character of
man ! It teaches us what men may be expected to be and do in every
position and station of life. It gives us the deepest insight into the secret
springs and motives of human actions, and the ordinary course of events
under the control of human agents. It is the true discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. How deep is the wisdom contained in the books
of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes ! I can well understand an old divine
saying, " Give me a candle and a Bible, and shut me up in a dark dungeon,
and I will tell you all that the whole world is doing."
Reader — all these are things which men could find nowhere except in the
Bible. We have probably not the least idea how little we should know
about these things if we had not the Bible. We hardly know the value of
the air we breathe, and the sun which shines on us, because we have never
known what it is to be without them. We do not value the truths on
which I have been just now dwelling, because we do not realize the
darkness of men to whom these truths have not been revealed. Surely no
tongue can fully tell the value of the treasures this one volume contains.
Well might old John Newton say that some books were copper books in
his estimation, some were silver, and some few were gold ; — but the Bible
alone was like a book all made up of bank notes.
Think not for a moment that any part of this precious book is not pro
fitable. Think not that such portions as catalogues and pedigrees,— as
Leviticus, and the description of Ezekiel's temple,— are useless and without

144
value. Believe me it is childish folly to question the usefulness of any
word in the Bible merely because our eyes at present do not see its use.
Place yourself in imagination on the top of some Highland mountain.
Look at the minute moss or lichen which clings to the side of that mass of
rock. Tell me, if you can, what use and purpose that lichen serves. The
birds ofthe air, the beasts ofthe field, the very insects leave it alone. The
grouse, and ptarmigan, and red deer draw no sustenance from it. The rock
does not require its covering. And yet that minute lichen is as truly a
part of God's creation as the cedars of Lebanon, or the Victoria Regia of
the South-American rivers. Place it under a microscope, and you will
soon see that, like all other works of God, it is " very good," and full of
beautiful design. Settle it down in your mind, that as it is with the book
of nature, so it is with the book of revelation, the written word of God.
There is not a chapter or verse from first to last which is not in some way
profitable. If you and I do not see its use, it is because we have not eyes
to see it yet. But all, we may rest assured, is precious. All is very good.
Well said Bishop Jewell, " There is no sentence, no clause, no word, no
syllable, no letter, but it is written for thy instruction. There is not one jot,
but it is signed and sealed with the blood of the Lamb."
Reader — this is the book, I say once more, about which I address you this
day. This is the book which the British and Foreign Bible Society
endeavour to circulate. What are you doing to circulate this book your
self? Why should you not assist the Society in the good work which it is
doing ?
IV. I ask you to remember, in the last place, that no book in exist
ence HAS PRODUCED SUCH IMMENSE EFFECT ON MANKIND AT LARGE
as the Bible.
This is the hook whose doctrines turned the world upside down in the
days of the Apostles.
Eighteen centuries have now passed away since God sent forth a few
Jews from a remote corner of the earth, to do a work which, according to
man's judgment, must have seemed impossible. He sent them forth at a
time when the whole world was full of superstition, cruelty, lust, and sin.
He sent them forth to proclaim that the established religions of the earth
were false and useless, and must be forsaken. He sent them forth to per
suade men to" give up old habits and customs, and to live different lives.
He sent them forth to do battle with vested interests, with old associations,
with a bigoted priesthood, with sneering philosophers, with an ignorant
population, with bloody-minded emperors, with the whole influence of
Rome. Never was there an enterprise to all appearance more Quixotic,
and less likely to succeed !
And how did He arm them for this battle ? He gave them no carnal

145
weapons. He gave them no worldly power to compel assent, and no
worldly riches to bribe belief. He simply put the Holy Ghost into their
hearts, and the Scriptures into their hands. He simply bade them to
expound and explain, to enforce and to publish, the doctrines ofthe Bible.
The preacher of Christianity in the first century was not a man with a
sword and an army, to frighten people, like Mahomet, or a man with a
licence to be sensual, to allure people, like the priests of the shameful idols
of Hindostan. No ! he was nothing more than one holy man with one
holy book.
And how did these men of one book prosper ? In a few generations
they entirely changed the face of society by the doctrines of the Bible.
They emptied the temples ofthe heathen gods. They famished idolatry, or
left it high and dry like a stranded ship. They brought into the world a
higher tone of morality between man and man. They raised the character
and position of woman. They altered the standard of purity and decency.
They put an end to many cruel and bloody customs, such as the gladiatorial
fights. There was no stopping the change. Persecution and opposition
were useless. One victory after another was won. One bad thing after
another melted away. Whether men liked it or not, they were insensibly
affected by the movement of the new religion, and drawn within the
whirlpool of its power. The earth shook, and their rotten refuges fell to the
ground. The flood rose, and they found themselves obliged to rise with
it. The tree of Christianity swelled and grew, and the chains they had cast
round it to arrest its growth snapped like tow. And all this was done by
the doctrines of the Bible! Talk of victories indeed! What are the
victories of Alexander, and Caesar, and Marlborough, and Napoleon, and
Wellington, compared with those I have just mentioned ? For extent, for
completeness, for results, for permanence, there are no victories like the
victories of the Bible.
This is the book which turned Europe upside down in the days ofthe
glorious Protestant Reformation.
No man can read the history of Christendom as it was 500 years ago, and
not see that darkness covered the whole professing church of Christ, even a
darkness that might be felt. So great was the change that had come over
Christianity, that, if an apostle had risen from the dead, he would not have
recognised it, and would have thought that heathenism had revived again.
The doctrines of the Gospel lay buried under a dense mass of human tradi
tions. Penances, and pilgrimages, and indulgences, relic-worship and
image-worship, and saint- worship, and worship of the Virgin Mary, formed
the sum and substance of most people's religion. The church was made an
idol. The priests and ministers ofthe church usurped the place of Christ.
And by what means was all this miserable darkness cleared away ? By
none so much as by bringing forth once more the Bible.
It was not merely the preaching of Luther and his friends which esta-
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146
blished Protestanism in Germany. The grand lever which overthrew the
Pope's power in that country was Luther's translation of the Bible into the
German tongue. It was not merely the writings of Cranmer and the
English Reformers which cast down Popery in England. The seeds of the
work thus carried forward were first sown by Wycliffe's translation of the
Bible many years before. It was not merely the quarrel of Henry VIII.
and the Pope of Rome which loosened the Pope's hold on English minds.
It was the royal permission to have the Bible translated and set up in
churches, so that every one who liked might read it. Yes, it was the
reading and circulation of Scripture which mainly established the cause of
Protestantism in England, in Germany, and Switzerland. Without it the
people would probably have returned to their former bondage when the first
reformers died; but by reading the Bible the public mind became gra
dually leavened with the principles of true religion. Men's eyes became
thoroughly open. Their spiritual understandings became thoroughly en
larged. The abominations of Popery became distinctly visible. The excel
lence of the pure Gospel became a rooted idea in their hearts. It was then
in vain for Popes to thunder forth excommunications. It was useless for
kings and queens to attempt to stop the course of Protestantism by fire and
sword. It was all too late. The people knew too much. They had seen
the light ; they had heard the joyful sound ; they had tasted the truth.
The sun had risen on their minds. The scales had fallen from their eyes.
The Bible had done its appointed work within them, and that work was not
to be overthrown. The people would not return to Egypt. The clock
could not he put back again. A mental and moral revolution had been
effected, and mainly effected by God's word. Oh, reader, those are the true
revolutions which the Bible effects. What are all the revolutions recorded
by Vertot— what are all the revolutions France and England have gone
through, compared to these f No revolutions are so bloodless, none so
satisfactory, none so rich in lasting results, as the revolutions accomplished
by the Bible.
This is the book on which the well-being of nations has always hinged,
and with which the best interests of every nation in Christendom at this
moment are inseparably bound up. Just in proportion as the Bible is
honoured or not, light or darkness, morality or immorality, true religion or
superstition, liberty or despotism, good laws or bad, will be found in a
land. Come with me and look at the map of the world, and see what a tale
it tells. Which are the countries where the greatest amount of igno
rance, superstition, immorality, and tyranny is to be found at this very
moment ? The countries in which the Bible is a forbidden or neglected
book — such countries as Italy, and Spain, and the South-American States.
Which are the countries where liberty and public and private morality have
attained the highest pitch ? The countries where the Bible is free to all,

147
like England, Scotland, and the United States. Yes ; when you know how
a nation deals with the Bible you may generally know what a nation is.
Oh that the rulers of some nations did but know that a free Bible is the
grand secret of national prosperity, and that the surest way to make subjects
orderly and obedient is to allow a free passage to the living waters of God's
word ! Oh that the people of some countries did but see that a free Bible is
the beginning of all real freedom, and that the first liberty they should seek
after is liberty for the apostles and prophets; liberty to have a Bible in every
house, and a Bible in every hand ! Well said Bishop Hooper, " God in
heaven and the king on earth have no greater friend than the Bible." It is
a striking fact, that when British sovereigns are crowned they are publicly
presented with the Bible, and told, " This book is the most valuable thing
this world affords."
This is the book which at this moment is producing the mightiest moral
and spiritual effects throughout the world. This is the secret ofthe wonder
ful success which attends the London City Mission, and the Irish Church
Missions. This is the true account of that amazing move toward Protes
tantism which has lately taken place in several parts of France. Which are
the cities of the earth where the fewest soldiers and police are required to
keep order ? London, Manchester, Liverpool, New York — cities which are
deluged with Bibles. Which are the churches on earth which are producing
the greatest effect on mankind ? The churches in which the Bible is exalted.
Which are the parishes in England and Scotland where religion and mo
rality have the strongest hold ? The parishes in which the Bible is most
circulated and read. Who are the ministers in England who have the most
real influence over the minds of the people ? Not those who are ever crying
" Church ! Church ! " but those who are faithfully preaching the word.
Ah, reader ! a Church which does not honour the Bible is as useless as a
body without life, or a steam-engine without fire. A minister who does not
honour the Bible is as useless as a soldier without arms, a builder without
tools, a pilot without compass, or a messenger without tidings. It is cheap
and easy work for Roman Catholics, Neologians, and friends of secular
education to sneer at those who love the Bible ; but the Romanist, the
Neologian, and the friends of mere secular education, have never yet shown
us one New Zealand, one Tinnevelly, one Sierra Leone, as the fruit of their
principles. We only can do that who honour the Bible ; and we say, these
are the works of the word, and the proofs of its power.
This is the book to which the civilized world is indebted for many of its
best and most praiseworthy institutions. Few, probably, are aware how many
are the good things that men have adopted for the public benefit, of which
the origin may be clearly traced up to the Bible. It has left lasting marks
wherever it has been received. From the Bible are drawn many ofthe best
laws by which society is kept in order. From the Bible has been obtained
the standard of mornlitv about truth, honesty, and the relations of man and
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148
wife, which prevails among Christian nations, and which, however feebly
respected in many cases, makes so great a difference between Christians and
heathen. To the Bible we are indebted for that most merciful provision for
the poor man, the Sabbath-day. To the influence of the Bible we owe
nearly every humane and charitable institution in existence : the sick, the
poor, the aged, the orphan, the lunatic, the idiot, the blind, were seldom or
n ever thought of before the Bible leavened the world. You may search in
vain for any record of institutions for their aid in the histories of Athens or
of Rome. Ah, reader ! many sneer at the Bible, and say the world would
get on well enough without it, who little think how great are their own
obligations to the Bible. Little does the infidel think, as he lies sick in some
of our great hospitals, that he owes all his present comforts to the very book
he affects to despise. Had it not been for the Bible, he might have died in
misery, uncared for, unnoticed, and alone. Verily, the world we live in is
fearfully unconscious of its debts : the last day alone, I believe, will tell the
full amount of benefit conferred upon it by the Bible !
Reader— this wonderful book is the subject about which I address you this
day. This is the book which the British and Foreign Bible Society endea
vours to circulate. What are you doing yourself to spread the knowledge
of this book ? Why should you not assist the Society in the good work
which it is doing ?
Reader — I commend the things of which I have been speaking to your
serious and prayerful attention.
I trust I have said enough to justify the Bible Society in the course which
it has pursued. I trust I have shown you that no body of men could have
taken up a work more eminently useful, more calculated to glorify God and
do good to the world, than the simple work which they have taken up — the
circulation of God's written word.
I ask you, in conclusion, to consider seriously what reasonable excuse
you can make for such conduct, if you refuse to help the work which the
Society has taken in hand, both by your money and by your prayers. I
ask you to reflect what wondrous good the simple word of God has done to
the world already. Alas ! how weak and feeble are the objections which
have been sometimes raised against the Bible Society, when weighed against
the one mighty fact, that it is spreading over the world God's revealed truth.
Come, then, I entreat you, in the fiftieth year of the Society's proceed
ings—come and cast in your lot boldly among its active friends. Assist
us to make the Bible still more widely known to the millions of immortal
beings by whom the earth is covered. Come and enjoy with us the luxury
of doing good. Come and take up stumbling-blocks out of the Lord's way,
by diminishing the spiritual ignorance and increasing the spiritual light of
the world in which you live. Come and help us in this great work which we
desire to do. Help us to give every child of Adam an opportunity of reading
in his own tongue the wonderful works of our God, and of His Christ.

Jubilee Paper, No, XI.]

JUBILEE
OF THE
$nti0jr an it ^nnigtt 3&ihlt ^nrtettj,
1853.

SECOND ADDRESS OP THE COMMITTEE.
TO THE AUXILIARIES AND FRIENDS OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN
bible society, throughout the world.
Dear Friends —
When last we had the pleasure to address you, we were on the eve
of our Year of Jubilee, indulging in confiding and hopeful anticipations
respecting it, which, through the good favour of God, have not proved un
founded. The proposal then made for the celebration of a Year of Jubilee
met with a most gratifying and wide-spread response. Kindred Institu
tions and attached friends, in our own country and in far distant lands, even
"from earth's remotest bounds," have united to encourage and help us in our
thanksgivings and offerings, and to gladden us with assurances of sympathy
and goodwill. Numerous commemorative Services have been held, and
joyous Meetings convened, some of them of a singularly interesting and ani
mating character, of which information will already have reached you
through the Society's various publications and the public prints.
The Committee now think it right, for the satisfaction of those who
have contributed, and as an encouragement to others, to make you ac
quainted with the amount of money generously placed at their disposal
under the designation ofthe Jubilee Fund, and ofthe steps already taken
towards appropriating that Fund, in furtherance of the several objects
specified on its institution. The Contributions actually received amount to
£ 25,959 . 0*. Id., and are daily increasing ; and the Committee are apprised
of considerable sums in the hands of local Treasurers and others, which
will be remitted in due time.
In reference to the several special objects enumerated in connexion
with the Jubilee Fund, and to be assisted by it, the Committee have to
state as follows : —
1. Resolutions on the subject of Colportage at Home have been for-

150
warded to all the principal Auxiliaries ; and Grants have been made to the
following places: — Hereford, Manchester, Norwich, Neath, Minsterley.
Chester, Hadley and Barnet, Cheadle, Lancaster, Dartford and Swans-
combe, Carlisle, Settle, and Pontypool ; and arrangements have been made
for the employment of six Colporteurs in the metropolis.
Applications from the county of Dorset, Cheltenham, Woolwich, New
port, Broseley, and other places, are under consideration.
The Committees of Auxiliaries in those sea-port towns from whence
Emigrant Vessels sail, have been addressed, with a view to place at their
disposal additional supplies of the Scriptures for the use of Emigrants, and
also offering assistance towards the expenses of a local agency for the
purpose. Circulars have been sent to the various Poor-law Unions, offering to
supply, where necessary, the Wards and Schools with the Scriptures : up
to this date 106 have applied for grants.
The Chaplains of Prisons, and the Secretaries of Hospitals, Infirma
ries, and Asylums, have also received Circulars ; and from these there
are 64 applications now before the Committee.
2. No specific measures have yet been adopted with regard to Ireland ;
but a correspondence has been opened with the Committee ofthe Hibernian
Bible Society, as to the best mode of effecting an extensive distribution of
the Holy Scriptures in that country.
3. Resolutions have been sent to the Auxiliary Societies in the several
Presidencies of India, and in the Island of Ceylon; and they have
been encouraged, as a present measure, to make a large distribution of the
Scriptures, in various languages, in all the Missionary Schools and
among the Families of the converts.
The Committee have not yet succeeded in securing the services of
suitable individuals to undertake the special Missions to Australia, and
to British North America and the West-India Islands; but they
earnestly desire to carry out their plan in reference to this important object.
4. They are also watching with deep interest the progress of events in
China, and indulge the hope that Providence is about to mark out a field
for the employment of a considerable portion of the Jubilee Fund in that
increasingly important empire. An additional sum of £500 has just been
placed at the disposal of the Corresponding Committee at Shanghai, for
printing and distributing new editions of the Scriptures in the Chinese
language ; with encouragement to ask for more.
5. The amount hitherto distinctly appropriated to the Benevolent

151
Fund is comparatively small, but the Committee trust that it will yet re
ceive a proportionate share of sympathy and support from many friends,
who, for the work's sake, esteem those who are employed in it.
It is also intended to signalise the Year of Jubilee by special efforts to
benefit the " house of Israel," through the medium of the existing Societies
for promoting Christianity amongst the Jews.
Amongst other collateral measures, inquiries are now being made as to
the supply of Students in the Continental Universities; and also as to some
other channels whereby the Scriptures may be beneficially distributed on
the Continent, by means of our own Agents, with the assistance of judi
cious local friends.
It now remains for us to advert to another object of the present Address :
Our Jubilee is not yet over. It will be remembered, that, for reasons
assigned, the 12th of October has been fixed upon for its general cele
bration by our Auxiliaries, Branches, and Associations, throughout the
world, where circumstances will admit of it, and where Meetings have
not already been held. Though this day has, in many instances, been an
ticipated, yet there is reason to believe that it will be extensively observed
both in our own and in other countries, in the Colonies and Dependencies,
and at many of the Missionary Stations in the remotest parts of the earth,
The Committee wish to remind those Societies whose Meetings have been
deferred until that period, that it is desirable that the requisite preliminary
arrangements should be completed without delay ; and they suggest whether,
in places in which Jubilee Meetings have already been held, it might not
be practicable to assemble, on that day, the principal Officers, Collectors,
and active promoters of the local Societies, for mutual conference ; or for
such other services as may be thought expedient (in which, -perhaps, the
young might be especially invited to take part), as an expression of sym
pathy with those numerous friends in every quarter of the globe who will
be then engaged in grateful commemoration of the institution and labours of
the Society.
Would not such Meetings, combined with those of a rfore public nature,
contribute to give a character of singular interest, solemnity, and joy, to our
Autumnal Jubilee festival ?
Signed, in behalf of the Committee.
ROBERT FROST, ) Secretarie,
Bible Society's House, GEORGE BROWNE, <, *nlei w"
1 0, Earl Street, Blackfriars, London,
August 23, 1853.

A Single-leaf Series.]

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS,
FOR THE
JUBILEE YEAR, 1853.
The Jubilee of the British and Foreign Bible Society has awakened
general attention, and induced many inquiries ; and as it is important that
the support it receives should be the result of knowledge and conviction, it
may not be amiss to furnish answers to a few questions respecting it.
WHAT IS THE BIBLE SOCIETY ?
It is an Institution formed for the sole purpose of circulating the Holy
Scriptures, without note or comment, in all countries, and in all languages.
As the work proposed to be accomplished is so great, the founders of the
Society adopted the principle of union and co-operation ; and hence all who
receive and love the Bible have an opportunity given them to assist in its
distribution. The Society, therefore, claims the support of all who profess and call
themselves Christians, because its object is to circulate the Bible ; and
because it seeks to carry on the work by the united efforts, liberality, and
prayers of all who approve of the object.
WHAT HAS THE BIBLE SOCIETY DONE ?
Volumes might be written in reply to this question. At present, how
ever, the extensive labours and remarkable prosperity of the Society,
during its first fifty years, must be told in a few lines.
The Society has promoted the Distribution, Printing, or Translation of
the Scriptures in 150 Languages or Dialects. The number of Versions
(of which specimens were exhibited in the Crystal Palace in 1851) is 177.
Of these, 123 are Translations never before printed.
It has been instrumental in circulating, at home and abroad, 26,571,103
copies of the Scriptures, in whole or in part ; and has assisted other Socie
ties, called into existence by its exertions, and stimulated by its example, to
circulate about Nineteen Millions more, making a grand total of nearly
Forty-six Millions.
In all its operations the Society has acted in accordance with its designa-

153
tion as a British and Foreign Institution. It must be observed, however,
that the land which gave it birth has been favoured above all others.
Upwards of Seventeen Millions of copies have been issued in the languages
of the United Kingdom ; the English, Welsh, Gaelic, Manx, and Irish. These
copies have found their way to the mansions of the rich, and the cottages of
the poor. They may be seen in the Sanctuary, and in the School-room.
The various Benevolent and Religious Institutions of our own country have
received numerous grants. Sunday Schools, especially, have received from
the Society, in grants, or at a reduced price, more than a Million of copies.
Other countries have been supplied. " Jews and Gentiles " have been
equally embraced by it. The Society's own Agents have scattered the seeds
of Divine truth over a considerable portion of the globe ; while the Mis
sionaries of all Protestant Missionary Societies have received large supplies
in the languages of the people amongst whom they have laboured.
In this work of mercy the Society has expended nearly Four Millions
sterling ! This expenditure, great as it appears, is more than compen
sated by the delightful fact that the Scriptures thus circulated, far and
wide, have been thankfully received, diligently read, and highly prized ;
and it may be confidently hoped that, by their possession and perusal, mul
titudes have been made " wise unto salvation, through faith which is in
Christ Jesus." Does not a Society which has thus received the blessing
of God deserve our most liberal and prayerful support ?
WHAT REMAINS TO BE DONE ?
At Home the work is not finished. The population is rapidly increasing ;
readers are multiplying ; Bibles, like other material things, wear out ; and
for these reasons the machinery of the Bible Society must be kept in con
stant activity, to overtake the increasing wants of our own country. Ireland
is not fully supplied. Three Millions have been circulated in France, but
the population exceeds Thirty Millions !
Full one-half of the inhabitants of Europe are totally destitute. It is
still worse in Asia, Africa, and South America. How can it be otherwise ?
If all the Bibles ever printed could be collected together, they would not
exceed Sixty Millions; and what are these amongst One Thousand
Millions of human beings ?
There is immense work to be done in the department of Translation
and Revision ; and the work of Distribution has only commenced. How
true it is, that " there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed !"
WHAT IS INTENDED BY THE JUBILEE ?
Without referring to Jews or Christians for authority or example, it may
be stated that the Jubilee of the Bible Society has reference to the past, the
present, and the future. It is a proper season to review the past, with
thankfulness to Almighty God for His goodness in raising, preserving, and

154
prospering the Society. Nor is the season less suitable for serious con
sideration as to what measures should be taken at present, and what pro
vision should be made for future operations. During this Jubilee Year a
loud and strong testimony should be borne everywhere in favour of the
Bible and its claims ; and in support of man's right to possess and read it.
But it is one special object of the Jubilee " to promote, by new and vigo
rous efforts, the widest possible circulation of the Scriptures, both at home
and abroad." With a view to carry out this object, Bible Colportage at
home, on a larger scale than ever, is now in operation ; large grants of the
Scriptures are being made to Prisons, Hospitals, Infirmaries, Unions, &c. ;
Resolutions have been adopted, and measures are in progress, with a view
to promote enlarged distributions of the Scriptures in Ireland, India,
Australia, and other British Colonies. China, which is now so full of
promise, claims a large share of our Jubilee Offerings.
CONCLUSION.
If the replies to the above questions have been satisfactory; if you
approve of the Object and Constitution of the Society ; if you rejoice in the
work already accomplished under the Divine blessing ; if you feel for the
millions who are still without the knowledge of salvation ; and if you sym
pathise in the present joyous Jubilee movement ; you will be prepared to
assist the Society specially during its Jubilee Year ; and permanently after
wards. You will thus not only perform a duty, but enjoy a privilege.
Our Jubilee request, therefore, is —
Give all you can spare.
Get ale you can from others.
Pray for the success of the Society.

B Single-leaf Series.]

JUBILEE YEAR, 1853.
COPT OF A LETTER FROM THE
RIGHT REV. THE LORD BISHOP OF CALCUTTA,
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OP SHAFTESBURY, President.

„„ „ Bishop's Palace, Calcutta, March 3, 1853.
MY DEAR LORD, e ' '
I cannot allow the British and Foreign Bible Society to enter
on its Jubilee without assuring your Lordship of my unabated zeal in its
holy cause.
I feel it a peculiar happiness to have been, from its institution, a member
of an Association which is the glory of our country, and which tends to
promote, in the simplest and most effective manner, the temporal and spiri
tual welfare ofthe whole human race.
There are few, comparatively, who can look back on nearly fifty years of
connection with it. I can. And most truly do I say, that the nearer
I approach to eternity, the more highly does the value of the Book which
reveals an eternal redemption rise upon my mind, and of the Society which
circulates it.
To make known that redemption in all languages, and to all people, is the
noblest design that can enter the human mind ; and is one of the best evi
dences of that love to our neighbour which springs from the love of God
in Christ Jesus.
Without interfering with other means of grace, or undervaluing Churches
and the Ministers of God's word and sacraments, it aids them all, and
furnishes copies of the only inspired rule of faith and practice for the use of
their Ministers and Missionaries, Catechists and Schoolmasters, Colporteurs
and Travellers, and all who are engaged in removing the ignorance and
lessening the miseries of a fallen world.
It not only aids all such labourers, in all the various families of the
Protestant Churches, but it instructs, admonishes, guides them in their
efforts. So long as they give away the Bible, and the Bible only, they
give away the corrective of all the errors in principle and practice, which
attach to every thing human.
I remember the time when it was said that it was not safe to give away

156
the Bible without giving also the Common-Prayer Book of our own
Church as its interpreter. We have, however, lived long enough to see
that the monstrous interpretations imposed on our Church Formularies
require the corrective of the Bible infinitely more than that Divine book
can need the prayers of our own, or any other Church, as its interpreter.
My Lord, I can trust the Bible. The God of nature throws open the
wonders of creation to every human eye, to testify of His eternal power
and Godhead ; and the God of grace throws open the wonders of His
inspired word to every responsible being, to testify of the salvation which
is in Christ Jesus.
Every subordinate help for reading the book of nature and the book of
grace is welcomed by the humble Christian ; but I would as soon blot out
the wonders of creation on the ground ofthe ill use made of them hy the
infidel or sceptic, as I would blot out the glories of the Bible because of
similar abuses made by the ungodly and heretical.
No, my Lord; as nature speaks for itself in its own province, so does the
Bible in its higher field of service; and, when humbly read with prayer for
the Holy Spirit, to which it directs the student, it makes wise the simple,
rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, and guides to heaven.
Nothing has ever yet been alleged against the integrity with which the
one defined object ofthe British and Foreign Bible Society has been carried
out, and the fidelity with which its Versions have been conducted.
The imperfection of translations I admit. Let men deduct whatever they
please on this score, I take the remainder, and affirm that no dishonesty has
ever been established against any one of the labourers in the 150 or more
Versions assisted by the Society, and that all real improvements are admitted
with joy in each successive edition.
Our Indian Steam Mail leaves on Saturday, or I should have waited till
after Monday, March 7, when I hope to take the Chair at the Calcutta
Auxiliary Society, and begin your Jubilee in this land of idolatry and super
stition. You have done wonders, my dear Lord, already, under God, in
this most magnificent possession ofthe British Crown. One hundred and
fifty millions of Heathen and Mohammedans, bowed under the grinding
yoke of sin and Satan, are beginning to awake to some faint longings after
Western learning, and Western usages and habits. Multitudes are going
even further, and are filled with a thorough contempt of Brahma and Ma
homet. Some, moreover, have come up to the fountains of life, and are
quenching their thirst for salvation there.
But India will require your help in a thousandfold more than you have
yet afforded it. Nor India alone ; but China, and the Isles of the Sea.
Africa and the Americans are athirst for God also. And the work you
have accomplished in your first fifty years will, I trust, be forgotten, as it
were, in the widened efforts and success of your succeeding labours.

157
Your only main adversary is the Church and Court of Rome. Her
bitter opposition is your highest praise. The signs of the times seem to
point to the speedy downfall of that mystery of iniquity. And in the final
triumph, the Bible, and the Society diffusing it, will have, under the King
of kings and Lord of lords (to whom alone be all glory ascribed), no mean
share. Go on, my Lord, in your vast and inconceivable enterprise. Your work
is only begun. But you have God on your side ; His own word as your
messenger to mankind ; His prophecies to light you on your way ; His
Spirit to illuminate the dark and quicken the lifeless souls of men ; and the
atoning sacrifice of an incarnate Saviour to hold up, as a flaming torch,
before the eyes of a guilty world.
Commending myself to your Lordship's prayers, and those of all the
friends, I am, your obedient,
D. CALCUTTA.

C Single-leaf Series.]

3kiti0)j attu ^nrrigtt iihb hxltty.

JUBILEE YEAR, 1853.
ADDRESS TO THE WORKING CLASSES.
Dear Friends — In the Jubilee Circular of the Committee ofthe above
Society, it was announced that " a period was approaching in the history of
the Society, when it would be most becoming in all its friends and supporters
to pause and review the past dealings of God with it, and to take counsel
together, and stir up one another to a more full accomplishment of the mis
sion with which it is entrusted."
That period has arrived. On the 7th of March the Society entered its
Fiftieth Year, its " Year of Jubilee." A great Meeting, commemorative of
God's mercies, was held in Exeter Hall on the 8th of March ; and on the
following day the Archbishop of Canterbury preached a Jubilee Sermon to
a crowded audience at St. Paul's Cathedral. Several Addresses and Appeals
have already been written to the Young, to the Wealthy, to Ministers and
Missionaries, pointing out their several duties in connection with this happy
season of praise and thanksgiving. Ought you, the working classes, to be
overlooked ; — you, who have shared so largely in the Society's solicitude ?
Would you be willing to be considered the only class of persons who are
careless and unfeeling in the cause of Bible circulation?
None have more reason to bless God for the formation of the Bible
Society than the poor man ; for if the Bible be indeed his chief comfort in
present sorrows, while it points to an eternal rest hereafter, how sad the fact
that such a treasure should ever have been beyond his means to possess.
Yet so it was until nearly fifty years ago, when the Lord put it into the hearts
of some good men to make arrangements by which the Bible could be
circulated and sold at a very small cost : and now the poorest man is left
without excuse if he have not a copy of the Holy Scriptures. The offer of
it is brought to his very door by the Collectors of the various Bible Asso
ciations, and, in some parts of the country, by the Bible Colporteur. The
Jubilee message to him this year is — Refuse not the offer of a Bible, but
hear the voice of entreaty, and procure a copy of that book, which contains
a message from heaven.
There are but few, we believe, who have refused the possession of the
blessed volume : the houses and cottages totally destitute of it are not very
numerous. Then let us ask, What has it done for you ? Are vou wiser

159
and happier for its possession? The answer hangs on the manner and
the constancy of the use you make of it. If entirely unread, it will no more
feed your soul than bread can feed your body, if left untouched before you.
Do not let the idle excuse, " I have no time," deceive you ; for where is the
man that does not take his daily meal and nightly rest ? and is your never-
dying soul to be met with the vain excuse, " I have no time for thee ?"
To many, however, we feel sure, a different language may be addressed.
We can say to multitudes of our humbler brethren and sisters, You have not
only procured the Bible, but read it with pleasure and profit : you have
found in the field of revelation the "pearl of great price." To you, there
fore, the Jubilee message is— Help us to give the precious book to others.
Think ofthe millions still in darkness, and remember that, much as the
Bible Society has done, the world is so large that far the greater number
of your fellow-creatures are still without this "lamp to their feet " or " this
light to their paths." Ireland — now in such a hopeful state — greatly needs
our assistance : our own Colonies, especially Australia, should be amply
supplied with that book which is " better than thousands of gold and
silver." The claims of our fellow-subjects throughout India, and the
many millions of China who are without Bibles, should now be felt most
deeply by us. The " Jubilee Fund " is intended, in part, to supply these
populous countries, and you are invited to help the Society in doing the
great work.
Many of our friends have shown their gratitude to God, and their anxiety
for the souls of others, by coming forward at this time with large Contribu
tions : some have presented One Thousand Pounds as a Jubilee offering. Let
all who love the Bible emulate them, according to their ability, and thereby
obtain the commendation which Jesus gave to one blessed woman — " She
hath done what she could." Let your offering be the free, spontaneous
gift of a grateful heart — " Freely ye have received, freely give." Love
is practical, and so is gratitude. It is more : it is diligent, laborious,
ingenious, self-denying. A few examples of such exercises of pure Christian
affection we can record with thankfulness to God. A short time ago a. Five
Pound Note was put into the hands of an Agent ofthe Bible Society : it was
a legacy from a poor man who had lived for many years as servant with a
respectable farmer. Another gift soon followed : it was a Half-sovereign :
the giver was a chimney-sweeper. After one of the meetings of an Auxiliary,
about a year ago, a young woman in service requested to give a Guinea for
the distribution of the Bible in India, " For," said she, " I have a brother
who is a soldier there ;" and the Report adds, " May a sympathy for India
extend among us ! for if we have no near relative there, we have at least one
hundred and fifty millions of fellow-subjects to whom we owe a deep debt of
obligation." One more anecdote will show what acts of self-denial have been
practised by those who truly consider their Christian obligations. A poor dis-

160
ciple, living in one of our midland counties, considered what she could do to
promote the work of Christ. " Tea is my only drink," she said, "and often
my only meal. It is not whitened with milk, to be sure, but it is sweetened
with sugar. I will try to do without sugar." And by depriving herself of this
little luxury she was able to give OnemPenny a week to the Bible and Mis
sionary funds. She soon found, however, the truth ofthe Christian maxim,
"There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth ;" for her circumstances im
proved, and she then doubled her subscriptions, giving regularly eightpence
a month to the day of her death. Nor was this all. A hen that had been
given to her was dedicated to the cause she had at heart ; and it was the
means of producing for several years nearly Twenty Shillings a year towards
her precious fund. Yet, so far from indulging a vain feeling for having
done so much, this poor woman was often grieved that she did no more.

[China Paper, No. I.]

Sritfajj auii /nrngu $tklt lamft}.
JUBILEE YEAR, 1853.
A MILLION COPIES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
FOR CHINA.
SPECIAL APPEAL.

Nothing need be said on the importance of China as a field of
Evangelical and Biblical enterprise. Its claims are those of nearly a
third part of the human family under the destructive reign of delusion
and superstition.
The attention of the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible
Society was early directed to China, and considerable sums of money
have, from time to time, been expended in assisting to translate, print,
and circulate, the Holy Scriptures in the Chinese language. Into the
history of these efforts, associated originally with the honoured names of
Morrison, Milne, and Marshman, and, at a later period, with those
of many valuable Missionaries, both European and American, it is
not necessary now to enter. It may be sufficient to state, that, of the
several translations or versions effected, numerous editions of the whole, or
of portions, have been, in the course of years, through various channels,
brought into the hands of the people.
On the Society's entering its Year of Jubilee, the Committee resolved
to place this remarkable country prominently forward among the special
objects to which the fend, then proposed to be raised, should be appro
priated. In the Circular and Resolutions of the Committee of Dec. 6,
1852, under the head of " The Jubilee Fund" was included " Special
" grants to China, and such other parts of the world as may appear open
" to special operations."
And in their Second Circular, issued by the Committee in August
last, they state that " they are also watching with deep interest the pro-
" gress of events in China, and indulge the hope that Providence is about
" to mark out a field for the employment of a considerable portion of the

162
" Jubilee Fund in that increasingly important empire. An additional sum
" of .£500 has just been placed at the disposal ofthe Corresponding Com-
" mittee at Shanghai, for printing and distributing new editions of the
" Scriptures in the Chinese language, with encouragement to ask for
" more." Thus it will be seen that the Committee have not been unmindful of
the claims of China generally, nor inattentive to those recent extraor
dinary movements which have given to these claims peculiar strength
and urgency, and overwhelming interest.
When, therefore, a proposal was brought forward in the Public Papers
to send a Million copies of the New Testament to China, the Committee
immediately felt that, if such a work was to be done, or ought to be
attempted, it fell within their province to undertake the responsibility of
it ; and they forthwith resolved, and made it known, " that they were pre-
" pared, relying on the sympathy of the British public in this desirable
" object, to take upon themselves all the measures necessary for printing
" with the least practicable delay, One Million copies of the Chinese New
" Testament." The Committee must leave it very much to others to rouse, and stimu
late, and keep alive, public sympathy and liberality in favour of this
new and interesting movement. They rejoice that this has been, and is
likely to be, so well accomplished. The design ofthe present Circular is,
simply to explain the course the Committee think it right to adopt in
reference to this enlarged project, to which they have thus become unex
pectedly pledged.
It cannot but be looked upon as a remarkable coincidence, that this
new and urgent call should have reached the Society in the midst of its
Jubilee celebrations, and that it should be for a Country already em
braced in its Jubilee scheme. The contemplated effort, however, is of
too large a magnitude to be wholly met by any existing arrangements ;
besides which, it has awakened, and is gathering around it, an interest of
its own, not to be disregarded or undervalued. The Committee, there
fore, have determined, " in connection with their Jubilee Fund, to open a
" separate account for printing a Million copies of the Chinese
" New Testament ; and they will be happy to receive Special Contri-
" butions to this object, whether in sums qf any amount, or in the
" enact value qf a Specified Number qf Copies, estimated at 4d. a copy."
A separate list of those Special Contributions will be published from
time to time. •
The Committee wish it to be understood, that while no practicable

163
means will be neglected for producing the desired number of copies as
early as possible, that they may be ready for the anticipated opening,
still a considerable time must elapse before so large a project can be fully
realized. Not a day was lost in forwarding communications to those
friends in China on whom the execution of the work will, in all proba
bility, chiefly devolve. But it must be some months before a report
can be received of the measures which it may be in their power to
adopt, or of the help which it may be practicable to render from this
country. These friends are, however, empowered to commence opera
tions at once, according to the facilities they already possess.
The Committee, in conclusion, desire to commend this undertaking to
Him, whose word they seek to circulate, earnestly imploring the requi
site grace and wisdom for carrying it forward in the way best adapted
to promote His kingdom and glory.
Signed on behalf of the Committee,

ROBERT EROST, ) „ . .
GEORGE BROWNE,) !>ecrelanes-

Bible Society House,
10 Earl Street, Blackfriars, London,
October 5, 1853.

m2

[China Paper, No. II.]

3Briti0Jj attii jFamgtt lihh hnth].

JUBILEE YEAR, 1853.

CHINA.
THE MILLION TESTAMENT FUND.

THE COUNTRY AND ITS POPULATION.
China is, in many respects, the most remarkable country in the world.
It lies between 20° and 47° north latitude, and covers an area of
five millions and a-half of square miles. The population of the entire
empire, according to the last census, exceeds 360,000,000, being about
one-third of the whole human race, all under one government, and capa
ble of understanding one written language. The country is divided into
eighteen provinces, several of which are equal in extent to some of the
kingdoms of Europe. ITS MORAL CONDITION.
Like all other countries unblest with the light of divine revelation,
the people are " without Christ, without hope, and without God in the
world." The masses of the people are idolaters. Images are worshipped,
both in their own houses and in the temples. Nothing is so significant
of the moral condition of the Chinese as their inhuman treatment of the
female sex. The crime of infanticide is also very common. Parents
slay their own children without remorse. It is said to be a part of the
duty of the police to go their rounds with carts at an early hour in the
morning, to pick up the dead bodies of infants thrown out into the streets
during the night, and to carry them, without inquiry, to a common
pit outside the walls ; and that in this way between twenty and thirty
thousand female infants are yearly sacrificed in China. Truly " the
dark places ofthe earth are full ofthe habitations of cruelty."
PAST EFFORTS.
Protestant Missionaries have been settled in some ofthe cities of China
for nearly fifty years. Dr. Morrison was the first to occupy this im
mense field; Dr. Milne soon followed; both being sent out by the
London Missionary Society. Since then the number has gradually
increased, and all the Protestant Missionary Societies of England,

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Germany, and America, have their representatives in China. Their
number may be about eighty ; but what are these amongst so many ?
If the Missionaries now employed at the " Five Ports " and the island of
Hong Kong could spread themselves over the empire, and divide the
entire population between them, each would have a charge of upwards of
four millions of souls !
The Scriptures have been translated. The language being peculiar in
its character and construction, its acquisition was found to be a work of
great difficulty. Dr. Milne says of it — " To acquire the Chinese is a
work for men with bodies of brass, lungs of steel, heads of oak, hearts of
apostles, memories of angels, and lives of Methuselah." All the diffi
culties were overcome, and the work of translation was carried forward
with great perseverance and success. The version of Doctors Morrison
and Milne was printed in 1822, at the expense of the Bible Society.
About the same time Dr. Marshman completed a translation of the entire
Bible at Serampore, and this also was printed by the Society. Messrs.
Medhurst, Gutzlaff, and others, have been honourably employed in the
work of translation, and, more recently, a revised edition ofthe New Testa
ment has been completed by a Board of Delegates appointed by the body
of European and American Missionaries. The revision ofthe Old Testa
ment also is completed. In all these undertakings the Bible Society has
expended no less than 30,000/., and the circulation of Bibles, Testaments,
and portions of Scripture cannot be less than One hundred and fifty
thousand copies. There are striking and numerous evidences that the
labour has not been in vain in the Lord. Conversions have taken place,
and the first converts have become Missionaries to their own coun
trymen. THE PRESENT MOVEMENT.
China is now in a state of transition : it is the scene of a revolution
which has no parallel in the history of any other country. A small band
of men, in a remote province, formed the bold resolution of overturning
the reigning dynasty, and taking possession 'of the Government. Their
numbers have greatly increased; and, as they march throughout the land,
victory attends their onward progress. The leaders appear to possess some
knowledge of the Scriptures. There is, however, a great admixture of
error in their views, and a large amount of cruelty in their practices ;
still they seem to understand the great leading doctrines of revelation,
and rigidly enjoin the observance of many moral duties. They observe
the Sabbath, destroy idols and idol temples, and offer worship to the one
true God. They possess books containing large portions of the
Scripture ; and it is said that they have reprinted_the Book of Genesis

166
among themselves. They are not only willing to receive Christian books,
but they even ask for them. They also profess to regard Christians of
other nations as brethren of the same faith and religion. The Missiona
ries look on with wonder : they watch the movement with hope, and are
compelled to acknowledge that "this is the finger of God."
Dr. Legge, one of the Missionaries at Hong Kong, remarks : " The
country will be opened to the dissemination of the Scriptures, and the
preaching of the Gospel ; opportunity will be given to go to and fro
through the length and breadth of it; and so knowledge will be increased.
The true antidote to the errors that obtain among the rebels themselves
at present will be administered, and the whole population — hundreds of
millions — will hear the words by which they may be saved."
THE GREAT PROJECT.
It is believed that the present circumstances of China are full of hope
and encouragement. Individuals, as well as Societies, should now ask,
" Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" God is preparing the
ground ; the spring-time of China has arrived ; and this is the season to
sow the seed broad-cast in the prepared soil. It was the declared inten
tion ofthe Committee ofthe Bible Society, from the commencement of
the Jubilee Year, to give to China a portion of the Fund placed at
their disposal. They had recently sent out the sum of 500Z., with
an encouragement to ask for more. When the proposal to supply
that country with a Million copies ofthe New Testament was made, the
Committee felt that it was for them promptly and vigorously to take it
up. They now stand pledged to print, " with the least practicable
delay," the above number of copies. Communications have been
already addressed to their friends in China, not only requesting infor
mation, but urging them to proceed forthwith with the printing and
circulation of the Scriptures to the full extent of their means and
opportunities. THE PLAN.
All who are willing to aid may subscribe for a given number of
copies, estimated at fourpence each.
Families, Sunday and Week-day Schools, Boarding Schools, and Con
gregations, may collect among themselves, and remit the sums collected
direct to the Society's House, or else pay them into the hands of the
Officers of local Societies, to be forwarded in the usual way.
The Chinese Million Neio-Testament Fund will form a separate ac
count ; and all contributions for twenty copies and upwards will be ac
knowledged in the " Monthly Extracts of Correspondence."

167
Collecting Papers, together with copies of this and other Papers, may
be had on application to the Society's House.
CONCLUSION.
It is not the wish of the Society to raise expectations which cannot be
realised, and on this account they wish all their friends to act from prin
ciple and on conviction rather than from impulse and excitement. They
conceive there are grounds enough for this appeal, and are confident
that it will be liberally and promptly responded to by all classes of our
population. The rich will give of their abundance, and the poor of their
poverty. Congregations will respond liberally to the call of their
ministers. Sunday Schools will largely contribute, and parents will not
fail to give their children an opportunity to contribute to the Chinese
Million New-Testament Fund.
All the information now possessed warrants the hope that a wide and
effectual door is opened, or soon may be. A nation comprising one-
third of mankind, which has hitherto been walled in from communion
with the rest of the world, now presents a new sphere for our exer
tions. Men of business look with satisfaction at the progress of events,
as opening new fields for commercial enterprise ; but Christians are
grateful in the prospect that the Gospel is likely to gain an entrance
into that vast and hitherto inaccessible empire, and they pray that the
temporal and spiritual blessings of Christianity may be largely enjoyed
by the teeming millions of its inhabitants.

JUBILEE
OF THE
Iritiflfj anil /nrrigti 3&tkle Inrftftj.
1853.

CLOSE OF THE JUBILEE YEAR
On Friday Evening, March the 3d, 1854, a Meeting was held at the
Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURY, THE PRESIDENT,
IN THE CHAIR.
The 103d Psalm having been read by the Rev. R. FROST, one of the
Secretaries, his Lordship said : —
This is a Meeting of the Officers, Committees, and Collectors of Aux
iliaries, Branches, and Associations, in London and its vicinity, specially
invited to meet the Committee and Officers ofthe Parent Society, the object
of such Meeting being, as I learn from the notice before me, " to create an
increased interest in behalf of the Society — both in its Home and Foreign
operations — in and around the metropolis." My duty to-night is exceed
ingly easy, because it is no more than to preside over this Meeting, and to
listen to the various addresses which will be delivered by the gentlemen
engaged for that purpose ; but I should be sorry to open the proceedings
saying no more than this, or to sit down without expressing the joy which
I feel at meeting so many of the Officers and Members ofthe Auxiliaries
and Branches ofthe Society; and, while congratulating them on the result
of their labours, I desire to give humble and hearty thanks to Almighty God
for the large measure of success with which He has been pleased to bless
the operations of their hands. I believe that this has been a year of
years — that it has been a remarkable year in the operations of the Bible
Society ; for it is remarkable, that, simultaneously with its Year of Jubilee,
so many fresh openings should have been made for the circulation of
God's word. I see, In the opening which has been made for us in
the empire of China — in the great efforts which are about to be made by
Christians of various denominations in this country to avail themselves of
that opening — in the Fund for the Million Testaments which we are about
to circulate there — in the operations of that most distinguished and venerable

169
Association, the London Missionary Society, who are about to cultivate the
ground thus offered to their hands— abundant cause for thanksgiving. And
as it pleases God to bring good out of evil, I doubt not that the expedition
to the East, to which so many of our brave countrymen are going, will be
made the means, by His blessing, of advancing the knowledge of His
holy word. It is a most remarkable coincidence, that almost the last
act of the Bible Society during its Year of Jubilee was in strict keep
ing with those principles which it announced at the commencement— it
was a Resolution of the Committee to issue as many copies of the New
Testament as may be required— 50,000, 60,000, 70,000— not stating the
number, but giving as many as may be necessary, in order that every man
going out, whether by land or by sea, in the service of his country, might
be able to bear with him the only viaticum — the word of God.
The Rev. T. PHILLIPS, Jubilee Secretary, then read a brief state
ment of Meetings held, Collections made, and Grants already appropriated
for various purposes, both at home and abroad.
The financial statement was as follows : —
The Jubilee Fund  £59,636 5 6
The Chinese Testament Fund .... 19,130 19 10

Total . . £78,767 5 4

The Rev. Dr. STEINKOPFF. addressed the Meeting on the following
subject : —
The success vouchsafed to the Society, during the first half century of its existence
and labours, calls for special gratitude to Almighty God.
How could I have heard the statement, which has just been read, of the
operations of the British and Foreign Bible Society, without a degree of
holy astonishment, and the most unfeigned gratitude to Almighty God, who
alone, by His power and by His grace, could produce such marvellous
results ? Indeed, when, on the 7th of March last, I was permitted to meet
the Society in the Old London Tavern, on the very spot where the foun
dation-stone of this building was laid, it was impossible to look upon the
scene which then met my eye, without thinking how small had been the
beginning, and how the founders of the Society had entered upon their
work with a degree of fearfulness, feeling that their means and their
ability were scarcely sufficient for it. On that remarkable day there was
no Royal Prince present — no Nobleman, no Bishop, no Member of Par
liament : the venerable Granville Sharpe was in the chair. But although
the assembly was small — only about 300 — yet a spirit of unfeigned humi
lity pervaded the Meeting, and a sense of entire dependence on the grace

170
and assistance of God ; many a prayer was offered up both previous to
the Meeting and whilst we were assembled, and many a sigh ascended to
heaven, that the Lord Himself would be pleased to communicate His all-
sufficient blessing. Met as we now are in this room, I cannot but recollect
the many delightful Meetings which were held here at the time when the
Society was, as it were, in the vigour of youth. There was then an ani
mation — there was a fervour of love and zeal — there was an activity — I
might almost say — there was sometimes something like a luxuriance of
effort and of energy which could not but produce a most beneficial effect.
Here, I have seen our late venerable President, Lord Teignmouth, sup
ported on each side by one ofthe Royal Princes,* and by a number of No
blemen and Gentlemen — men of influence, men of station, men of talents,
men of eloquence — coming forward to co-operate in this good work. Nor
can I forget the ever-to-be-venerated Mr. Wilberforce. Oh, how he
delighted to meet us ! How often he infused a spirit of animation and
kindness and charity into our proceedings! Yet even that man, of so
enlarged a benevolence, expressed at that time the idea, that if this
Society should ever reach an annual income of 10,000Z. a-year, it was the
utmost point which it could expect to reach. But have we not heard, this
very evening, a statement, that the Jubilee Fund alone has now reached
nearly 60,000Z. ; and the Special Subscriptions in aid of printing the Holy
Scriptures in Chinese, 19,000Z., in addition to the usual receipts of the So
ciety, which are expected again to reach 10O,00OZ. ? I was deeply impressed
when it was stated what liberal Contributions had come in from different
quarters. There was the Queen of England with her donation of 100/. ;
there were several British merchants and others, blessed with affluence, who
gave most liberal donations, even of 1000Z. each. Nor should be forgotten
the mites of the poor— the contributions of the industrious and labouring
classes of society — and particularly of the young. * * * *
There are other most gratifying facts to dwell upon. At one Annual
Meeting, there appeared a Britisht and a French admiral. They had met in
hostile positions ; but here, upon the platform, they met, not as enemies — not
to destroy each other — but cordially to unite in purposes of Christian bene
volence and mercy. Often were seen at the Meetings held in this room — ¦
not merely Englishmen, Scotchmen, Irishmen — but natives of my own
country (Germany), of France, Switzerland, Prussia, Denmark, Sweden,
Norway, Russia, of America, and of India. Here we have welcomed
a North-American Chief, who had translated the Gospel into the Mohawk
language. How it enlarges the mind — how it fills it with a feeling of
universal charity — to see Christian men, of the most different nations and
denominations, from the most diversified parts of the world, met together
* The late Dukes of Kent and Sussex. t Lord Gambier and Count Ver Huell.

171
in love and peace, for the single and distinct object of aiding each other
in the more universal dissemination of the incorruptible seed of God's holy
word. Another scene has left an indelible impression on my mind. At one
of our Anniversaries there appeared the late Dr. Morrison, with his first
translation ofthe Bible into Chinese. His son, who, at that time, was but
a youth of thirteen or fourteen years of age, placed the different volumes
ofthe Bible upon the table. A thrill, as it were, of sacred joy pervaded
the Meeting, and thanks were given to God for having raised up such an
indefatigable labourer to undertake so important a work. Considering its
great difficulties, it could not be expected at once to attain that degree of
perfection which he himself so earnestly desired ; yet, by the kind provi
dence of God, he was succeeded by other able translators, who, by their
individual or combined exertions, produced improved versions, in which
millions of copies may successively be circulated through the length and
breadth of that vast empire. This reminds me of a remarkable expression
used by the late Rev. J. Townsend at the establishment of the West
minster Auxiliary, when referring to an edict issued by the late Emperor of
China, prohibiting the propagation of Christianity, he exclaimed, " Will
he, indeed, prevent the spread of Christianity ? As well might he attempt
to stop the progress of the sun." What do we now behold ? The Lord has
lately made wonderful openings in that empire. Even amidst the storms
and tempests now raging there, His word runneth very swiftly.
We owe a large debt of gratitude to those men who have devoted ten,
twenty, and even forty years to a version of the Scriptures in a language in
which they had never been printed before ; their names will be handed down
to a grateful posterity as those who have freely communicated the greatest
blessing which a nation or an individual can receive.
Permit me also to refer to another point, proving the success vouchsafed
to the Society in the establishment of Auxiliaries, Branches, and Asso
ciations. What could the Parent Institution have done without the active
co-operation of the thousands and tens of thousands cheerfully coming for
ward from among all ranks, ages, and sexes, to aid them in their enlarged
and glorious work by their influence, property, talents, learning, perpetual
exertions, and fervent prayers ?
When Auxiliary Societies were first formed, my late revered friends,
Mr. Owen and Mr. Hughes (can I mention them without deep re
spect and affection ?) travelled with me to Birmingham, Liverpool,
Manchester, Sheffield, and afterwards to Bristol, Exeter, Truro, and
Bath. We also attended Public Meetings together, both at Oxford
and Cambridge; and oh, what a sight it was, to see the young gen
tlemen of the Universities, with all their rising energies, coming for
ward with a large degree of animation, and yet guided by the wisdom
and experience of their elders. But the establishment of these Societies

172
was not confined to Great Britain. Even had this Society been a British
Society exclusively, I should still have blessed God for its formation. It
was not exclusively a British, it was a Foreign Society also. The charity
which began at home did not end there ; but, opening wide its arms, em
braced the continent of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and the South-
Sea Islands, opening a mine of gold in all these distant parts ofthe world.
A peculiar debt of gratitude is owing from my native land to the British
Parent Society, for having by its example, its influence, its munificent dona
tions, contributed to the circulation of several million copies of the Holy
Scriptures, both among its Protestant and Roman- Catholic population.
Often I enjoyed the privilege of putting many Bibles and Testaments into
the hands of both old and young. Once I was called to visit a German
soldier in the Royal Hospital at Chelsea. He was 106 years old ; and
when I visited him he said, " Oh, Sir, cannot you favour me with a
large German Bible 1 I can read English, and I do read it ; but you know
that every one likes to read the Bible in his own language." His joy on
receiving it was great. It is a most gratifying consideration, that while
there was, upon the one hand, so great a disposition to give the Holy
Scriptures, there was, upon the other, so much eagerness to receive them ; be
cause, if there had been ever so great a desire to communicate that inestimable
blessing, but no corresponding desire to receive the Scriptures—" to read,
mark, learn, and inwardly digest them" — our labours would have been
without effect. But this is one chief subject for gratitude — that the Scrip
tures thus translated and printed in so many different languages — have been
sought after — that they have been read — read in the barracks of the soldier,
and in the cabin ofthe sailor, in prisons and in workhouses, by the old and
the young, in all classes of society, and that those Scriptures have not
been read in vain. Although some of the seed fell by the way side, and
some among thorns, and some in stony places, yet there was likewise some
that fell in good ground, and brought forth fruit, some thirty fold, some
sixty fold, and some a hundred fold.
In conclusion, I may say that I do not repent a single service I have
been permitted and privileged to render to the Society ; but I am ashamed
only that I have not done more — that I have not devoted a still greater
proportion of my life, and strength, and energy to this blessed work,
although I must say that the labour became at last so abundant and so
overwhelming, that I found it almost impossible to unite the two offices
of Secretary of the Bible Society and of a minister of Christ. But
although, on that account, and by reason of ill health, I was obliged to
resign my office, yet I have never lost my attachment to the Society : I
have always prayed for its success, and have embraced every opportunity
which other engagements have permitted me, still here and there to do a
little for a work which deserves all our energies both of body and mind.

173
My whole soul is drawn out in earnest prayer that the God of Heaven
may still bless and prosper the Society ; that it may go on in its great
and momentous work, with steadiness, with calm consideration, and with a
constant sense of entire dependence on the wisdom from above. For in
proportion as it has pleased God to favour the Society with abundant
success, must we expect difficulties. Difficulties there have been, and
difficulties will arise; and may God enable those who guide the affairs of
the Society, and all its friends, to meet those difficulties in a spirit of true
Christian wisdom, with charity and meekness, with love towards their
very opponents ; and may they go on from strength to strength, conquering
and to conquer !
The Rev. J. HAMPDEN GURNEY spoke on the following propo
sition : —
That the present state of Great Britain and Ireland demands renewed and increasing
exertions to circulate the sacred volume.
I think that we were well reminded, at the opening of this Meeting, that
a special part of our business here was the duty of thanksgiving to
Almighty God. And the Secretary, when he read that beautiful Psalm,
well and wisely struck, as it appeared to me, the key-note of the evening.
One other remark I cannot help making, after we have been privileged
to listen to the address of our dear and valued friend who has just sat
down ; it will form a special item in our thanksgivings, that it has pleased
Almighty God to spare his precious life until this day. Whatever there
may be of force, and energy, and animation, in the proceedings of younger
men ; and however the operations of the Society in the course of the
last few years — looking at the scale upon which those operations have
been recently conducted — may throw into the shade the earlier proceed
ings of this great and noble Institution ; let us always look back with
gratitude to the labours of those good men by whom its foundations were
laid fifty years ago. I think that, in a single sentence, Dr. Steinkopff
has told us to-night how it was that they prospered in that great and good
work which they then undertook, namely, that they were men of humility,
and faith, and prayer. They knew that they were taking in hand a great
work, and they were not afraid to take in hand that work, because they
knew that He, in whom they trusted, would carry them through with it,
and prosper them in it.
Now I must beg leave to follow, for a few moments, in the track of our
venerable friend, and call to mind some ofthe circumstances of past times,
which throng upon the memory as I come, once more, into this room and
stand upon this platform. I was reminded, while Dr. Steinkopff was
addressing yon, that if advancing years have their disadvantages — if the eyes

174
are dimmed; and the ears dulled, and the natural powers abated, there is still
some advantage, on occasions of this kind, upon the part of those who have
passed the meridian of life — who have got over the ridge, and are going
down the slope, and who feel that their bodily powers, and possibly their
mental powers, are not quite what they were ten years ago — in their being
able to look back a little farther into the dim past than their younger
brothers and sisters, and to remember many things which these do not. I
have myself many pleasing recollections of the past proceedings of this
Society. I am old enough to remember its Meetings presided over by Lord
Teignmouth, a nobleman whose talents and virtues added lustre to his rank.
I am old enough, also, to remember John Owen reading his own eloquent
Reports, in tones which sounded like music ; while his brother Hughes sat
quietly and motionlessly by, his face beaming yet more and more with holy
joy as every fresh triumph of his beloved Society was recounted. I, too,
saw the little Morrison stand by the side of the great Morrison, with his
little armful ofthe Chinese Bible; not then compressed, as it is now, into
a space which enables us to hold it up before an audience, as a specimen
of what we are sending forth to that vast empire, but extending, if I re
member rightly, to nine not very small volumes, and quite as much as the
little man could manage ; and as he placed those volumes one by one upon
the table, I saw them accepted by Lord Teignmouth as Dr. Morrison's
free gift to the cause in which the Bible Society was engaged. I remember,
also, one or two interesting things which our friend Dr. Steinkopff has not
mentioned. I remember Robert Grant's beautiful and eloquent speech
when the Society came of age, having completed its twenty-first year.
With much of chastened wit, and in a manner which displayed the rare
fertility and ingenuity of his mind, he ran over the history of the Society,
the progress it had made, the books it had circulated, while the Meeting
hung delighted on his lips. And I remember, too — (who that heard could
ever forget?) — that wonderful speech of Lord Roden, of which I will ven
ture to say, that, having heard much of the Parliamentary eloquence of the
last generation and of this, I have never known one that produced so
thrilling an effect. He told us of a person who had gone, when a youug
man, into a Public Meeting in Dublin, attracted by a crowd outside the
building, and having a curiosity to see what might be going on : he told
us how this person found, to his great surprise, that the Meeting was being
held on behalf of the Bible Society ; how he felt that it was an odd thing
for a man of his feelings and pursuits to be in such a company and in such
a place ; how he endeavoured, therefore, to slink into some remote corner,
in order to escape observation ; how that which he heard impressed him
with so deep a conviction of the sincerity and earnestness of the speakers,
and ofthe reality ofthe work in which they were engaged, that the seeds
then sown had never lost their effect ; and thus, with thrilling emphasisj he

175
added, " That man now stands before you, to tell you of the blessings and
the benefits he has derived from the Bible Society, and to invite you to be
partakers of them."
Well, now, 1 have a very fruitful theme, and yet in some respects a very
difficult one, partly because it asserts so obvious a truism. Why, unless we
could say for ourselves — what I am sure we shall not say for ourselves to
night — that we have acted up to the full measure of God's requirements,
and of our own responsibility, in this matter, this must of necessity be the case.
Whatever may be " the state of Great Britain and Ireland," we must be
called upon, year after year, month after month, day after day, to use " con
tinued and increased exertions to circulate the Sacred Volume," and that
for this reason, that if we are always falling short in zeal, the demand upon
us never ceases. It is a " constant quantity." So long as God's word
remains the soul of the moral world — so long as man remains sunk in sin,
and a stranger to God — so long as he requires the word of God to purify
and ennoble him, and to fit him for Heaven — so long is it the duty of every
man to whom that word has come to communicate it to his brother, if there
be but a single hand outstretched to receive the precious gift. But, besides
these considerations, which affect us all, and at all times, there are circum
stances which grow up out of the moral history of mankind, which make
them press upon us with peculiar force. Of these we ought not to lose
sight; but rather, recalling them to our memories, and pressing them upon
our consciences, we should be stimulated by them to stir ourselves up to the
work — to brace ourselves up to it with greater zeal, and energy, and vigour,
bearing in mind not only what God is always doing, and what man always
wants, but what are man's special wants and God's special doings at this
time. Let me remind you, first, that if much has been done at home, much still
remains to be done. We have heard very often in the course of this Jubilee
Year, and must all be pretty well convinced by this time, that the British
and Foreign Bible Society has circulated, with its own hands, and through
the agency of its own officers, Twenty-five Millions of copies of the Holy
Scriptures, and that Eighteen Millions of copies have been circulated by
other Societies which were called into existence, mainly or exclusively^
through its instrumentality. We acknowledge that fact, and we are thankful
for it. And although it would be idle to say, that wherever the Bible has
gone God's blessing has gone with it, still less that the soul of every reader
ofthe Bible is a converted soul — although we know how much waste seed
there must he in every work of ours — still we are quite sure that a great and
blessed effect has been produced by the work which, in the way of Bible
circulation, has been done within the last fifty years in this land of ours.
I repeat, that we thank God, and bless God for it. But is it a fact, that the
Bible Society has gone over the whole land ? I think we leave too much

176
out of account that the Bible is a perishable article. Even well-bound
Bibles (and notwithstanding some little slanders upon our binder, I believe
that our Bibles are well bound) will, in the course of time, perish ; leaves
will come out, and the well-read Bibles have less chance than others.
There are some, I am happy to say, which are well read by night as well
as by day ; and where that is the case, I think it must be a very good Bible
that would stand the wear and tear of fifty years, without being some
thing the worse for it. Now it must be borne in mind that some of our
Twenty-five Millions were issued fifty years ago ; and we must therefore
not suppose that the whole of them survive. We must recollect that
many of them have already gone and perished, and that many more are fast
wearing out and perishing in their turn. Then we know how very unequal
the distribution is. For instance, we are told, with respect to a very inter
esting scene of the Society's operations, the Principality of Wales, that at
first it was thought a great thing to get one Bible into a family, but that
after a short time they became so eager to obtain them, that every child
must have one of its own : the result has been, that the numbers which
have gone there have been out of all proportion to the population, and
richly have they repaid the boon. In other places, far richer, far more
populous, every now and then a sad dearth is found to exist. Not many
years ago, at Liverpool and Manchester, the information which was
brought to light, with reference to the want of Bibles there, was perfectly
appalling. It led to fresh efforts being made, which have been attended
with very blessed and beneficial effects. It is easy to imagine that in
towns and villages where the matter was taken up very vigorously at
first — where Associations were set up, and worked well for years, but
where, as naturally happens, in the course of time the zeal which founded
them has gradually declined, and their originators and early supporters,
having died away, have been succeeded by others, less zealous and less
vigorous than themselves — it is easy, I say, in such cases to imagine that
all is done that needs to be done. And yet in many neglected villages,
where Collectors have grown old and retired from duty, and where there
has been no active visitation of another sort, a searching investigation will
often disclose a deplorable scarcity of the word of Life.
But then, just refer to another fact. Of course the circulation ofthe
Bible among a people who are not a reading people can do comparatively
little good; and we know how imperfectly our people were a reading
people at the time when the Bible Society was founded. As usual, the
demand and supply went together : where the Bible was wanted, there it
was had ; but there were a vast number of persons who went without it at
that time, not because they were unconverted and did not care for it, but
because they were uninstructed and could not read it. Well, see what
enormous progress has been made in the course ofthe last fifty years in the

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education of the people. If we were an unlettered people before, that re
proach, to a considerable extent, has passed away ; and the increase of
schools, and improvement in school learning, during the time we speak of,
has been immense. But surely, in proportion to the increased number of
schools, and to the increased amount of knowledge imparted in these
schools, is the importance of having that knowledge baptized with the
spirit of Christianity. In proportion to the power of the instrument put
into the hands of the people, is it necessary to influence their hearts and
consciences, so that they may use that instrument for good, and not for evil.
Then, consider the antagonistic power with which we have to contend —
the flood of poison which is annually poured out, in the shape of a bad,
polluting, infidel literature, the circulation of which has increased to so
fearful an extent, as to have equalled, in a single year, all that we have
done for the circulation of the Bible in the course of half a century. I saw
a calculation yesterday, from which it would appear that at least Twenty
Millions of publications — not of a neutral, but of a decidedly bad and cor
rupting character — had been circulated in one year. Our educated people,
therefore, are perverting their newly-acquired gift, and are drinking in a
poison which must pollute and ruin them, unless we supply them with an
antidote. The duty, therefore, is very urgent upon those who possess the
only antidote — the word of God — by which this poison can be counteracted,
to be up and doing, not only with renewed, but with increased exertions.
But, setting aside this, we have to do, also, with an amusing literature —
with a literature which has no decided tendency to evil, but which aims at
no higher object than to amuse the reader, and which has nothing in it to
improve, or elevate, or purify the mind. It was quite different when the
Bible was the only book. It is the cheapest book now ; for I believe that
at however low a price this vile literature of which I have been speaking
may be offered, taking it page for page, and line for line, there is no book
so cheap as our Fourpenny Testament : still there is a great difference
between the present and the past age. In the time of our fathers, nothing
really amusing was to be had for a very small sum ; and the only things
which could be purchased for a penny were the paltry, ill-spelt, and ill-
printed bills which were sold about the streets ; but now a man can get a
very good thing for a penny — I mean good, in the sense of being well
written and well printed, and sometimes, I admit, with a very good moral
tendency. He is attracted by the price : he spends his penny for the sake
of being amused and excited, and the excitement which he finds is, in too
many instances, a vicious and unwholesome excitement. These, then, are
the rivals with which we have to contend at present, — not only those pub
lications which are decidedly antagonistic, as disseminating the foul poison
of infidelity, but that amusing literature which a man is tempted to buy
because it is cheap, but which is the merest dross — is no more than the

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dust in the balance when weighed against the pure gold of the word
of God.
Another point I should like to press upon you most particularly, which
is not quite so obvious and on the surface. It is the peculiar and distinctive
character ofthe infidelity ofthe present day. It is perhaps not known to
every one that infidelity, amongst the working-men especially, is very
different from that which existed amongst the men who, fifty years ago,
raved about Tom Paine. Those persons who know the working-classes
have found many of the most respectable, the most skilled, and the best-
mannered of the working-men, to be men who have utterly repudiated the
Gospel. I remember a friend of mine telling me that he once had his
house under repair, and that about half-a-dozen men were employed upon it.
He was a Christian man, who always made a point of seeking conversation
for the most useful purposes with those who were brought into connection
with him. Observing that these men were without exception remarkably
well conducted, he thought he should like to know something about their
views and opinions. He found that they were one and all infidels — not
raving infidels, neither forward to speak upon the subject of religion, nor
seeking information about it : they rejected it ; but still there was at the
same time a seemliness about them which imposed both upon themselves
and their neighbours ; — all the more dangerous, because not so repulsive
as the infidelity ofthe last generation. It is our duty to meet these men,
who say there is a God, and tell us that they have a religion of their own —
to meet these men, I say, with the Bible, and to tell them that no religion
will stand the test, will purify men's souls, to bear men up in the hour
of death, but the religion which tells us of Him who is the Way, the
Truth, and the Life ; the Word and Power of God, who gave Himself for
their sins, and rose again for their justification ; and now sitteth on the
right hand of the Father, to complete the gracious work he has begun.
We must meet this species of infidelity, not with arguments, but with the
Bible, the volume of life and truth, and tell them what Christianity urges
upon their consciences, that till man be reconciled to God, and renewed
in the spirit of his mind, the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint;
that man may easily please himself and his neighbours, bttt without faith in
Him whom the Bible reveals to us it is " impossible to please God."
If I might be allowed a few minutes, I should like to turn from these
deplorable scenes to very different ones. We thank God for all that He has
done, and is about to do ; but it is the part of the Christian to weigh things
in a righteous balance, neither to magnify the past or disparage it, nor to
magnify or disparage the present; but, so far as we can, to consider all
things in a fair relation to ourselves. We thank God for the blessings of
the Gospel ; for our open Churches in which the Scrip'ures are read and
received ; and for all the means and appliances which are set on foot to

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draw the souls of men to Him, and to make His ways known to them.
Still, however, when we have said all this, we ought fairly to admit that
there is a great deal in the religious history of this country far from satis
factory to every right-minded and clear-sighted person. I am not sine,
with all our talking and all our doing, that the religion of our fathers or
grandfathers was not of a more sterling kind, — that noble band of men,
specially, who woke up England from its long sleep, and revived among us
the principles of the Reformation. They read fewer trashy books ; they
did not spend half so much time on newspapers ; it was not thought neces
sary, in those days, that each sect and party should have its magazine to
glorify itself. They were less worldly in their habits, more spiritual in
their devotions ; more solid, I think, than many who make a great noise,
and get a great following now ; with stronger faith and a nobler spirit of
self-devotion than is common among ourselves. Their religion, I believe,
was drawn more simply and purely from the Bible; and therefore, while
we give others the Book of Books, let us be careful to go back to it our
selves. In this year of Jubilee, when the Bible is on all our tongues —
when the Bible is the sole topic of 2000 Meetings — let us be sure that
whatever we do in the way of Bible circulation, unless we bear witness for
the Bible — each man in his own house, each man according to his means
and ability — we shall only half do our work. Like the countryman who
goes into the field and sows his seed, we have worked and scattered the
seed far and wide over the world, but our work is then only begun.
We have to go forward and show our brethren what living Christianity is ;
to witness for Christ not only with our lips but with our lives, and show
our fellow-men what true and living Christianity is.
The Rev. Dr. ARCHER spoke on the following proposition: —
The peculiar circumstances of foreign countries, and particularly of China, require a
prompt and vigorous effort to extend the blessings of Divine Revelation.
I cannot state any thing of my own recollections respecting many of the
past movements ofthe Society for a period of twenty or thirty years past:
so far I am unequal to the gentlemen who have preceded me. They are
connected with the pleasures of memory : let me be connected with the
pleasures of hope. As far, however, as I can look back, I can speak with
a deep feeling of gratitude to Almighty God for the manifold blessings
which He has conferred upon the Society. The subject on which Mr.
Gurney spoke naturally and properly preceded the topic on which I am to
speak. The one refers to home, the other to foreign countries; and both of
these matters are essential parts ofthe work ofthe Society. We are con
tinually being twitted with the reproach, that we are employing our re
sources for the benefit of foreign lands, and neglecting, in our misplaced
n2

180
philanthropy, the immediate and pressing wants of the populace at home.
This is one of the charges made against us by men who look only to the
surface of things, and by men who write flashy articles in newspapers.
Men sometimes make it a point to censure others in order to cover the want
of merit in themselves ; and there is no way so cheap as this. I would,
however, ask them, Where are your Bible Societies for home ? where are
your Ragged Schools ? where are your Sunday Schools ? where are your
Protestant efforts ? Having silenced them — for I presume they will give
no answer — I will pass on to our own efforts. Here a very wide field opens
itself. I will first refer to-night, for several reasons, to the wide field which
has been opened in France for the circulation of the Bible. God forbid that
the bonds of amity and peace between these two great countries should ever
again be dissolved. May these bonds be drawn together more closely than
ever, not only politically, but morally, and cause the value of Christianity
to be felt amongst one of the noblest people, and over one of the noblest
lands, that the sun shines upon ! I might, indeed, refer to the opportunities
which are offered for the circulation of the Bible in other countries in
Europe, but I will pass on. It has pleased certain politicians and certain
statesmen to speak of the dominions of the Sultan as the land of utter
degradation and barbarism. They, however, do not seem to know, that at
Constantinople, the very point and centre of the Mahometan power — the
very heart of that degraded land — the Bible is not only sold, but that every
man having the power of reading it is permitted to accept it. This is a new
thing on the face of the earth ; and in it I look for the regeneration of
Turkey, and the opening of boundless blessings to her inhabitants. I might
also refer to the triumphant issue which has attended our efforts in the great
and once barbarous island of Madagascar. After the late persecution which
was inflicted on the people of God a hundred Christians lately sat down at
the Lord's table with the son of the Queen of Madagascar, in the heart of
that dark and barbarous island, to commemorate the death of our adorable
Saviour — of Him who died for our sins. Formerly, under the patronage
ofthe previous king of Madagascar, the Missionaries could not reckon up
the whole number of those who had made a profession of faith at more than
one hundred, and, during the persecution, the Bible was utterly destroyed
there. Now that the island has become accessible, it is found that more
than 5000 individuals are enrolled with the name, if not blest with the
nature of Christians. What a triumph is this for the Society, when we
consider that we are giving the doctrines of our blessed Lord, and, by so
doing, the privilege of immortal life.
I am enjoined to speak more particularly with reference to China; and,
coming to that, what ideas are suggested by that simple word. Babylon
and Nineveh wake up reminiscences of antiquity ; and yet here is China —
no land of death, but a land of living beings — which starts up before our

181
minds, and demands in a very high degree the exercise of the efforts and
labours of the Society. Let us see what this land of China is. A census
was taken, in the year 1813, ofthe taxed population, which alone was num
bered ; and allowing at the rate of five persons to each family of those who
were polled to the tax, it was estimated that there were at that time
360,000,000 of inhabitants, both young and old, in that mighty empire.
As Dr. Morrison observes, allowance must be granted for a large amount
of exaggeration ; but even placing the number at 100,000,000, and then let
the population go on increasing at the ordinary rate up to the present time,
there can be no question that, upon the most moderate computation, the
population must now be, as nearly as possible, 400,000,000 of souls.
Strike off even a quarter of this number, and suppose that there are
325,000,000. To understand even this number, we must, in the case of
things so vast, break them up, and Macadamise them, as it were. In the
last census-table of this country reference is made to a book containing a full
account of the Crystal Palace. It is estimated that on one day no fewer
than 95,000 persons entered that building. The writer observes, that by
the last census the population of Great Britain is set down at 21,000,000.
Supposing, then, 100,000 persons to have entered the Crystal Palace each
day, it would have required 210 days for the whole population of Great
Britain to have passed beneath its roof. To form some idea, then, of the
population of the Chinese Empire, let them enter the Crystal Palace at the
same rate, and ten years and a half would have passed over their heads
before the last fragment of that immense population could have entered that
structure. Ten years of human life ! And is this immense number to con
tinue to form one and the same continuous onward flow, unarrested, to the
blackness of despair ? What can we do among so many? What is the
power of our arms ? What is our energy ? What are the resources in
which we are to trust, by which such a great and arrayed mass can be met?
When I remember that I have the word of God — when I remember what
triumphs that word has achieved, and, as usual, in what a variety of ways
it has come into collision with error — when I remember that there is no
place in which it has been foiled — I can at once come to the conclusion,
that in China the word of God has triumphs in store as great and
as magnificent as any which it has ever yet achieved, and even more so.
Xavier was a noble specimen of a Missionary, although a Roman Catholic
— a fine specimen of a Missionary bearing the privileges of Christianity,
although exhibited in the paths of error. Xavier went on, but he took
no Bible with him ; and as the distant hills of China appeared before him
as he was walking on the half-deck of the Portuguese ship in which he was
sailing, casting his eyes over the land upon which his foot never trod, he
said, " Give me China for the crucifix, and Asia shall fall before her."
Let us now proceed and inquire into the circumstances of Christianity in

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this vast empire. Every district and every province swarms with countless
myriads of human beings. Things are moving onward there. Dynasties
are falling ; and, as I think, the wisest course for us is to let the people fight
their own battles, and to let nations do what they please with respect to the
choice of their form of government, and with respect to what line or family
the government of their country is to be transmitted in. All this I freely
admit, and I will not trench upon political questions, but look for a single
moment at the present condition of that country. Dr. Taylor, an American
Missionary, relates, that at a place half-way between Nankin and Shanghai,
he came into the heart of the great society and power of the insurgents.
He went into a place of worship, and there found the Chinese engaged in
morning prayer. He was afterwards invited to stay and breakfast with
them ; and observing that they said no grace before their meal, he asked them
this question — " Do you not say grace before meat?" He was at once
answered — " Yes, but we comprehend grace in our early prayer, though we
have no objection to your saying a grace." Dr. Taylor then pronounced a
blessing in the name of the glorious Trinity. He was afterwards present
with them at dinner, and not one of them would take up his chopstick until
Dr. Taylor had asked a blessing. Is not this a wonderful, and a new thing?
It shows that all old prejudices are being broken up, and it is the first step in
the great career of evangelical successandtriumph. Ido not, however, endorse
all their theology; but I say there is something astonishingly sublime in the
spectacle of 100,000 persons who have given up their idolatry and their
polygamy — who have given up their tobacco and their opium, and all the
sensual vices in which they were born and brought up. There is something
sublime in the spectacle of men thus giving up all their past prejudices and
habits, which have almost become second nature.
We have heard to-night of a proposal for raising a Million Testaments.
I believe, if I understood Mr. Phillips rightly, that he mentioned a sum of
19,00OZ. I should wish to know if that sum includes all that has been
collected in Scotland. I was looking, a short time back, into the records
of the United Presbyterians of Scotland, the body to which I belong, and
which is one of the smallest bodies of Presbyterians, and I believe that
2235Z.* had been raised amongst the brethren of that Church. It shows
that there is a deep sympathy going on as regards China. If we wish
to make China what it should be, we must do it by the circulation
of the blessed word, not only at the present time, but going on year after
year. And if we sow this blessed word broadcast throughout the land,
the Chinese will most assuredly become one ofthe most glorious people on
the face of the earth. Every one must work with energy and zeal. Never
were the prospects of this land so encouraging ; never was there such
* The sum referred to by Dr. Archer is not included in the above amount.

183
excitement raised with respect to it as now. I will not trench upon political
questions, but no one can look on, and not see that the attention of the
world is directed to this country — that the spirit and energy ofthe people
are raised to a high degree on its behalf at the very time when a large
sacrifice is demanded of them. Shall we, then, in this noble struggle,
stand by indifferent, with our arms folded and our hearts cold? Shall we
not rather advance the great work with energy corresponding to the issue
at stake ? Shall we not determine, so far as our circumstances and our
condition will permit us, to assist in drawing the swarming millions of China
from their present degradation, and planting them sideby side with us in
. the knowledge and truth of Jesus Christ ? Let us encourage each other in
this determination ; let us encourage the officers of the Society to bring
China before the people's hearts, and give them an opportunity of showing,
by a strong and ardent proof, that whatever is required they will give will
ingly to unite together all classes, in China and in foreign nations, for ever
before His throne.
E. CORDEROY, Esq., spoke on the following proposition: —
The present a suitable season to augment the Funds of the Society by the revival
and extension of Auxiliaries, Branches, and Ladies' Bible Associations through
out the country, more especially in London and its vicinity.
It is well that the propositions which the preceding speakers have had placed
in their hands were not placed in mine. So rich have they proved, that I
might have trespassed unduly on the patience of this audience. I have
to bring before your notice a proposition, certainly not provocative of
sentiment: it relates to business, organization, and finance; and I will
endeavour to confine myself to its topics.
The proposition asserts that the present is a suitable season for augment
ing the funds of the Society, and I think it is.
It is a season of rejoicing. The Jubilee is a time for grateful acknow
ledgment ; it commemorates events which have now a history ; it records
success, and devoutly recognises the Power by which success has been
achieved. A Jubilee, therefore, should be a season of benevolence, a suit
able one for offering gifts.
It is a season for serious thought. The first volume of the Society's
history is written. Fifty years' labour are recorded in it. In that volume
is the story of the deeds of our fathers. They conceived great things ; they
accomplished mighty ones: their reward is on high. That volume is
closed; the second opens with an illuminated page, the account of this
Jubilee. All is redolent of love, and light, and joy. We deem Matthew
Henry right when he said the word "Jubilee" came from Jubal, the
father of them that handle the harp and organ. It is so melodious, that we
are unwilling to admit for it any earthly origin less distinguished than that

184
of the father of musical instruments. The second volume is opened : what
shall we write in it ? What is to be the history of the next fifty years ? Are
we able to emulate the deeds of our fathers ? Can we surpass them ?
This is a season for encouragement and hope. There are fewer difficulties
in the way of Bible distribution than ever. Steam has reduced distance;
translations have rendered peoples accessible ; commerce and Christian
teachers have made them friendly. Christian Missionaries have excited a
demand for Scriptural knowledge. This abroad ; and at home the Bible
is printed cheaper than ever ; so that the best book in the world has become
the cheapest book in the universe.
For these reasons I deem the present a " suitable season" to augment the
funds of the Society. But how? The first thing suggested would be by
. donations from the wealthy, and many of this class are found as contribu
tors to the Jubilee and the Chinese Testament Funds. But there are even
more valuable gifts than donations of money — gifts to which the Apostle
alludes, when, referring to the noble donations of the poor Churches of
Macedonia, he says, " They did not as we hoped" — they even exceeded
Apostolic expectation — " they did not as we hoped, but first gave their own
selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God."
The prosperity of this Society may be greatly promoted by personal de
dication to this delightful service. We ask not for self-immolation — for no
such abstraction from the world as the nunnery presents ; we do not ask
any to take the veil of the Romanist Sister of Charity; but we rather ask
you to take the Bible bag, and go forth as a Protestant Sister of Mercy,
goodness, and truth, with "the Book"- itself in your hands, the Saviour it
reveals in your hearts, the charity of the Gospel breathing from your lips
and animating all your features ; in fact, we ask the revival and extension,
of Ladies' Bible Associations, especially in this great metropolis.
And in order to show how necessary these Societies are, you will
perhaps allow me to refer to a paper which has just been put into my
hands. In the years 1835, 1836, and 1837, the Free Contributions to
the British and Foreign Bible Society raised in the metropolis were 5706/.,
giving an average . for each year of 1902/. In the years 1851, 1852,
and 1853, the Free Contributions were only 4734/., being an average of
1578/. each year, making a difference of 324/. against the present generation.
On again referring to the accounts for the years 1835, 1836, and 1837, I
find that the sum of 8395/. was raised for the purchase of Bibles and Tes-.
taments in the metropolis, which gives an average of 2798/. per annum ;
but in the years 1851, 1852, and 1853, there was raised for this purpose
only a sum of 4058/., being on the average of each year only 1352/., less
than half the sum raised sixteen years ago. I am not forgetting that the
Bible is cheaper now than it was then, and that larger numbers may be
distributed for the same money ; but no one will pretend to say that the

185
price is so much reduced, as that half the former purchase-money implies
an equal extent of distribution. It is evident, indeed, that we want Ladies'
Bible Associations revived.
I would very earnestly and affectionately appeal to the Christian Ministers
now present, and to all others in London, to look carefully at this statement.
Will they see that there is a Bible Association in their neighbourhood ?
that it works efficiently ? will they lend it their countenance, and recruit the
ranks of the Committee from their own Congregations ?
I think there would have been another class of Bible Associations al
luded to in this proposition, if the friends who framed it had possessed
more faith. I would ask the young men of this metropolis to lend us their
assistance. Social questions are assuming an importance to which few
others have any claim. Do you wish to be prepared for the discussions of
your time? to understand the character and comprehend the wants of the
masses by whom you are surrounded ? Then go amongst them — go as the
messenger of this Society, offer them the Bible; you will soon ascertain
the character of the labouring population, you will notice their prevailing
habits, discover their opinions, and learn more from a few weeks' house to
house visitation, than you will gather in a year from all the novels about
the virtue of poverty which issue from the press.
There are parts of our neighbourhoods into which it is scarcely fitting
that ladies should go, even on such an embassage as the Bible Society. Into
such places let men go, two and two — never alone ; and to the outcasts of
Society — to the degraded and wretched— go, and hold forth the lamp of
life. True, such streets and courts are dirty, the inhabitants filthy ; never
theless the souls that dwell there are immortal, the spirits are redeemed,
and, if the Lord give you success, you may lead them to salvation.
I would seriously address the members of Christian Churches on the sub
ject of domiciliary visitation of the poor: in some districts this is efficiently
attended to by the Scripture Readers, and in others by the City Missionary
— admirable agents : would that they were multiplied a thousand fold ! But
without for a moment reflecting on these, let me call your attention to the
well-known difference you yourselves feel in being addressed professionally
by one whose official duty requires him to do it, and by one who, out of
love to your soul and in pure disinterestedness, seeks your good. These
agents are admirable as your representatives, to supply your lack of service ;
but they can never satisfy, on your behalf, the requirements of Him who has
said " Occupy till I come." Many neighbourhoods are entirely cared for
by District Visitors, and great good is done ; but there are some Districts
where the temporal wants of the poor are as much regarded as the spiritual,
and the blanket is more frequently given than the Bible. I would not have
one blanket the less given ; nay, where they are needed, let thousands more
be dispensed. I am not disloyal to the Epistle of St. James. But if we

186
could raise a Bible-reading and God-fearing population, we should ennoble
the character of the people, raise the tone of morals and manners, and render
eleemosynary aid less necessary.
The present habits ofthe mercantile classes are not without their danger.
Immensely improved, in many respects, from those of the past generation,
yet they are fraught with temptation. Forty years ago men lived over their
warehouses or adjoining their countinghouses : now, all seek fresh air as
soon as the toils of business are over. They come into London at nine or
ten o'clock in the morning — they escape from it at five or six in the even
ing — they subscribe to local charities, give handsomely to hospitals,'
patronise the annual dinner of some educational charity, and run away as
soon as possible to Hampstead or Highgate, Streatham or Norwood, Reigate
or Brighton — all very good in a sanitary point of view. But what ofthe
people who are left behind? What ofthe crowded streets, and lanes, and
courts, where dwell the artisans and labourers who have been toiling during
the day in their large establishments ?
The extreme suburbs of London present through the day one unbroken
picture of listlessness, or only broken where some few pious Christian
Ladies care for their few poor neighbours; but the range of their activities
is limited, and nothing is left for the joung men to do on. their return
home. If one hour each week could be given to some part of the population of
Southwark and Westminster, Lambeth and Spitalfields, Islington and Pad-
dington, by a few hundred young men, what a mighty work would be
achieved ! It is not the mere scattering Bibles broadcast that is wanted ;
your own porter could do that : it is not merely becoming a bookseller that
is wanted; the Colporteur could perhaps sell as well as yourself: it is the
voice of friendly greeting, from the lips of the richer and better educated
class to the ears ofthe poorer and less instructed, that is wanting; it is the
entreaty to read the Bible, from those whose very presence and appearance
will make the entreaty respected, that is required ; it is the benevolent hu
manity, the consciousness of identity of interest, that we want diffused.
It is said that the barriers of separation between rich and poor are be
coming more and more marked ; it is said that in the North there is no
sympathy between the employer and the employed; — I know that there are
some noble exceptions to these remarks, but I fear, to a great extent, they
are too true ; — it is said that there are no bonds of union except those which
depend on work and wages. But ought these things so to be ? Are we not
alike immortal beings ? Have we not a social connection to maintain, in
which Christianity is the strongest cord ? Have we not a common interest
in the Bible ?
We have not a common interest in the Church or Chapel, in Catechism
or Lecture, in School or College : unhappily we magnify our differences ;

187
but this blessed Book is ours — the gift of our heavenly father — the reve
lation of a common Saviour. It points to one heaven before it, simple in
its majesty : the rich and the poor meet together, and God is the Maker of
them all.
The present is a suitable season to revive and extend Bible Associations,
because of their immense value in the proper distribution of the Bible, be
cause of the increased openings for usefulness of which you have heard at
home, and the unprecedented opportunities for the circulation ofthe Scrip
tures in foreign lands. But in reference to a great social question — the
question of the relationship of the rich to the poor — the relationship and
obligation of Christians to the ungodly who surround them, because ofthe
duties of neighbourhoods too often talked about and too little understood,
the present is a most suitable season to extend our Associations.
The work involves only a small expenditure of time : one or two hours
each week will do ; but it requires tact, courage, patience, regularity, and
true religion. This work, undertaken in the fear of the Lord and with a
desire to His glory, will bring a harvest of pleasure, such as cannot be
reaped in any field of worldly enjoyment : it will open a mine of wealth
richer than California ; its very surface diggings will disclose jewels of im
mortal lustre, and after a few swiftly-fleeting years, these labours, in the
light of eternity, will acquire unspeakable importance.
I feel that in one sense my topic is out of place. I have to declare that
Bible Associations are needed, and to whom ? Why, to those who are
the active agents of such Associations. You need no conviction on this
point. My homily is like a sermon on the neglect of public worship — all
very good, but generally delivered to those who do not neglect it. I have
thrown out a few thoughts for consideration : if they have any good in them,
adopt them, clothe them in your own language, and publish them to your
friends and neighbours. I venture to add one or two more suggestions. I
am rather inclined to think, that if the Secretaries and Committee were to
invite a conference of the Ministers of Religion throughout London — ¦
say to some soiree — in a room like this, and let them all say what they
have to say about dividing London into Bible Districts and Associations —
I am inclined to think that it would result in the revival or institution of a
considerable number of Bible Associations. I cannot help thinking, that
upon an invitation from the Earl of Shaftesbury — which would be almost
equivalent to a command— to the young men of London, a large number of
them would be assembled together; and if their duties as Christians were
set before them, I think that a large accession of valuable assistants would
be brought to this Society.
Many reading young men are theorists, and they fancy, when a practical
man laughs at their untried and unattempted projects, that they themselves

188
are not appreciated. If any will leave off talking and speculating, and take
heartily to work — if they will open a Sunday or a Ragged School — found
a Mission, either Home or Foreign — assist to raise a Church or Chapel
without debt — take a Bible district, visit every house there, find, or make,
an entrance for the word of God, establish good feeling and Christian con
fidence, then let them be assured such works will be thoroughly appreciated.
It is such that are monumental : their influence lasts throughout time ; it
stretches into the eternity where actions are weighed ; and the least service
done to a disciple of Christ shall not fail of reward.
The Rev. GEORGE BROWNE then rose and said— My Christian
Friends. It now devolves upon me, in the name of the Committee ofthe
Parent Society — by a large proportion of whom I am surrounded — to
thank you for your attendance this evening. It was felt that it would add
to the many agreeable circumstances of the present most agreeable year,
that, before its close, we should have an interview like the present with some
of those active friends, to whom we are so much indebted for their assistance
in prosecuting our work. I trust that we shall all retire from this Meeting
more convinced than ever of the value of the Society, and of the exceeding
importance of co-operating with it in carrying out the measures which, by
God's blessing, have rendered it so useful in past times. The year which
is now coming to its close is certainly one of the most remarkable in the
history of the Society ; yet we may be on the eve of that which shall prove
still more so. God has been pleased to cause the contributions of His
people to pour into our treasury in a most striking manner. Can it fail to
be noticed that the Society has been thus placed in a position to carry out
its great work just at the present momentous crisis ? I venture not to
predict what may be the coming course of events, but we may surely be
thankful to God that He has put it in our power to meet any probable
emergency. Let us, then, take courage from the past, and go forward with
greater vigour and zeal for the time to come. One of the chief results
which I hope may follow from this Meeting is, that these our active friends
will take with them the conviction, that the Society has by no means arrived
at the termination of its labours. If our extraordinary efforts should evapo
rate with the Year of Jubilee, and if it should be — as one of our American
correspondents, alluding to the Chinese movement, expressed a fear that it
might be — followed by a re-action, it would indeed be sad. I had the plea
sure, however, of telling this friend that we had not found that either our
Chinese Fund or our Jubilee Fund had hithertoinjured our ordinary re
ceipts, the latter being larger than in the corresponding period of last year.
Thus has God encouraged us. We come now to the close of this Meeting :
we shall soon come to the close ofthe Year of Jubilee. How quickly has
this memorable year passed over us ! How soon shall we come to the

189
close of the years of our earthly service.! But if we have been lovers of
the Bible our service will not be over when this life shall have passed
away : there will still remain a happy, pure, and delightful service, which
shall be measured, not by days or years, but which shall continue for ever
and for ever.
The NOBLE CHAIRMAN, in closing the business of the Meeting,
said — I think some very valuable suggestions have been received, particularly
from our friend Mr. Corderoy. There is doubtless at this time a great
opening for usefulness for young men and young women in our Sunday
Schools and Week-day Schools ; and if these young men and these young
women are censured for want of practical knowledge, if they will apply to
me I will undertake to put them in the way to obtain it. If they will go to
our Ragged Schools they will learn in one month enough to set them
forward. Mr. Corderoy has also suggested that there should be repeated
domiciliary visitation. I believe that to be, in reality, at the bottom of all
real improvement, and of every advance which is to be made in the condition
of the working-classes. The constant protest, the continued exhibition of
the detestable scenes in which they are brought up and in which they live,
must at least produce an effect upon the public mind ; and I believe that
then, but not till then, will there be one great and mighty effort made to
remedy these enormous evils. I do not hesitate to mention this fact, that
those who are most in the habit of seeing the working-people of this me
tropolis in their lowest depths of misery and filth are of opinion, that so
long as the domiciliary condition of the great masses of the people is
allowed to be what it is, it may be all very well for us to circulate the
Bible, to send forth our City Missionaries and our Scripture Readers ; but
so long as the condition of the people remains what it is, we shall not reap
one thousandth part of that harvest which we ought. I think, that until
we improve the domiciliary condition of the great masses of the people,
all our efforts will be in vain, and all our prayers fruitless, because our
prayers have not been followed up, as all Christian prayers ought to be,
by corresponding exertions on our own part. If, my friends, you will
take this up in the true spirit, there are enough in this room to produce
a great moral revolution on the surface of society.

REPORT
OP THE
JUBILEE PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
COMMITTEE
OF THE
lrtft0li unit jFanigtt 3Sthlt lamty,
1853-54.

193

REPORT.

" T? he Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad." The
Jubilee Committee may be permitted to adopt the language of grateful joy
While they review the various proceedings of the Society's Jubilee Year,
and place on record, to the praise and honour of the Most High, some of
those deeply-interesting events by which its Commencement and progress
have been alike distinguished. PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS.
The Jubilee Committee, soon after its appointment, adopted such mea?
sures as appeared necessary with a view to interest the Christian public in
the approaching event. The first Circular is dated December 6, 1852, and
contains the Address of the Committee, together With a series of Resolu
tions, detailing the -plan of operations, announcing the opening of a Jubilee
Fund, and stating the special objects for which it was intended. This
Paper, addressed "to the Auxiliaries and Friends of the British and
Foreign Bible Society throughout the world," was extensively circulated
both at home and abroad ; and the response on the part of individuals,
Auxiliary Societies, and kindred Institutions, was both cordial and general.
Even before the actual commencement ofthe Jubilee Year, letters of con
gratulation and encouragenient were received from the principal Societies
of the United Kingdom, the Continent of Europe, from Several of the
Colonies, and from the United States of America. Soon after its com
mencement, similar communications were received from the Societies in
the Presidencies of India, and the various Colonies of Australia, assuring
the Committee of their sympathy and support. It is truly refreshing to
call to remembrance the fraternal sentiments contained in the Addresses
received, and they have much pleasure in recording the following extracts.
The Right ftev. the Lord Bishop of Calcutta was one of the earliest
to address the Society, through its President, in reference to the Jubilee.
He says —
" I cannot allow the British and Foreign Bible Society to enter on its
Jubilee without assuring your Lordship of my unabated zeal in its holy
cause.

194
"I feel it a peculiar happiness to have been, from its institution, a
member of an Association which is the glory of our country, and which
tends to promote, in the simplest and most effective manner, the temporal
and spiritual welfare of the whole human race.
" There are few, comparatively, who can look back on nearly fifty years
of connection with it. I can. And most truly do I say, that the nearer I
approach to eternity, the more highly does the value of the book which
reveals an eternal redemption rise upon my mind, and of the Society which
circulates it."
The Board of Managers of the American Bible Society at New
York " hastened to express their unfeigned satisfaction in offering to the
Officers and Committee ofthe British and Foreign Bible Society their
affectionate and fraternal congratulations, upon the arrival of their Jubilee
of gladness and thanksgiving. They gladly took the opportunity to
renew the assurance of their cordial union in the avowed purposes of this
Jubilee commemoration, and their devout supplications, that the great
Author of the Bible would be pleased specially to bless them in their open
ing Meetings in March, and in all the efforts and plans of the year ; pour
ing upon them the Spirit of wisdom and might, for their future work, and
giving a new encouragement, and a new ability, to sound abroad the word
of the Most High, until every nation of the earth shall read in their own
tongue the wonderful works of God."
In addition to these expressions of congratulation, the Committee of the
American Bible Society appointed a special Delegation to attend the An
niversary of the Society in the Jubilee Year, consisting of the Right Rev.
Dr. Macllvaine, Bishop of Ohio, and the Rev. Dr. Vermilye, Pastor of
the Dutch Reformed Church at New York, both of whom rendered
valuable service on the occasion.
From the Committee of the Central Prussian Bible Society an
Address was received, conveying the Christian salutations of that impor
tant body, accompanied by a Copy of a Circular addressed to their own
Auxiliaries and Branch Societies, in which, referring to the communications
received from hence, they say : " We esteem the subject to which they
refer of too much moment for us not to wish cordially to participate in the
joy and thanksgiving of the Parent Society, in the same manner that we
have hitherto shared in the blessings resulting from its labours." The
Protestant High Consistory, also, at the request of the Committee,
gave directions, that, on Sunday the 13th of March, " the Jubilee Cele
bration should be mentioned in all the Protestant Churches of our father
land, whether in the Sermon or in a special prayer, with feelings of grati
tude towards the Lord for the blessings of His word, and for its wide diffusion

195
by means of Bible Societies, with a view of the importance ofthe sacred
cause being seriously pressed on the attention of the congregations, and their
active sympathy excited in favour of the dissemination of the Bible."
The Netherlands Bible Society, addressing the Committee, wrote :
" We beg to acquaint you with our sincere sympathy in your joy for
the blessing you have experienced, during half a century, on your exer
tions, and with our gratitude for the zeal shown by yoUj and for the libe
rality with which you have diffused the Holy Scriptures; We assure you
that our best wishes will follow you in the future, in order that courage
and strength may be yours in continuing your work. But, above all, we
beg to make knoWn our assurance that we join spiritually with you in
praise and thanks to God, the Giver of all good, to whom alone belongs
the glory, for the holy work accomplished by you."
The Committee of the Basle Bible Society hastened to convey con
gratulations in the warmest terms, accompanied by a substantial proof of
the interest felti They say :
" If any of the numerous children whom the Lord has caused to be
born to the British and Foreign Bible Society, like dew from the womb of
the morning, have cause to rejoice with the Parent Society in her rise and
progress, it is certainly our small Basle Bible Society, which Was the first
among all the Continental Societies called into existence by her, through
the instrumentality of the highly-esteemed Dr; Steinkopff, and whichj in
its limited sphere of action, still has the means and opportunity to dis
seminate the word of God in the neighbourhood, and also at more distant
places. Yea, it would be the greatest ingratitude if we could ever forget
how powerfully and liberally your Society has supported ours in several
important cases.
" But to give yod, in some measure, an essential proof of our high
esteem and indelible gratitude, we request you to accept the enclosed sum
of 100/., and to add it to that branch ofthe Jubilee Fund which, according
to your view, will be most in need of it.
" With the heartfelt wish that the Lord may renew the years of your1
Society as those of its youth, we recommend ourselves to your continued
affection, and remain yours, in the bond of union;"
The Committee of the Berg Bible Society at Elberfeldt, describing
their Institution as " the grateful eldest daughter in Germany," offered
respectful salutation in the following terms :
"We, in particular the Berg Bible Society, owe, under God, our
existence to the British mother* It was she who, after tfie salutary times
of chastisement which broke out over our continent, called into being by
o2

196
means of its Agents, Messrs. Henderson and Pinkerton, a desire to pro
mote the cause of God. It was on the 14th July 1814 that Dr. Pinkerton
formed our Berg Bible Society in this place. The formation was imme
diately followed by the liberal gift of 300/., as a foundation for our ar
rangements ; and a further sum of 100/., in the succeeding year, was added
thereto ; and since then we have been encouraged by the ready supplies of
different editions of the Scriptures, at reasonable prices, from her depots.
Your brethren, therefore, who prosecute their labours in a limited sphere,
owe you the expression of their cordial gratitude."
From the Directors of the Danish Bible Society at Copenhagen simi
lar expressions of sympathy were received. They say :
" Whilst then, on this solemn occasion, we rejoice, and in the feeling of
our gratitude cast a retrospective glance on the memorable past half cen
tury, and looking forward in hopes to the future, we present in the name
ofthe Danish Bible Society our warmest wishes for continual success, and
our fervent prayers to Jesus Christ, the Lord of His Church, that He will
evermore to the end grant labourers to perform this work of charity, 'who do
not get weary in well doing,' knowing, ' that in due season they shall reap.'
" May He, our heavenly assistant, bestow His blessings on the endeavours
of the British and Foreign Bible Society for centuries to come, ' to teach
all nations whatsoever He has commanded us.' "
The Committee of the Wurtemberg Bible Society thus express
themselves —
"Permit us, then, beloved fathers and brethren in Christ, with all
respect, to give expression to the emotions which fill our hearts, and to
assure you, by means of this communication, that although circumstances
have, in later years, rendered our direct intercourse much less frequent
than it formerly was, we still feel ourselves closely united to you, not only
by the debt of gratitude owing to you by us, but also by the communion
engendered by the work in which we are mutually engaged ; that we
watch, with the liveliest sympathy, the development ofthe energies of your
Society, which no political changes or difficulties seem capable of retard
ing ; that we cordially rejoice in the great and diffusive blessing with
which the Lord, in His mercy, is pleased to accompany your labours in
every quarter of the globe ; and, more especially, that we join with you in
praising the Lord for the privilege now granted to you of celebrating a
year of Jubilee, a year which, we confidently hope, will be crowned with
the richest manifestations of the Divine favour."
The congratulations addressed to the Society were not confined to those
Institutions which had for their object the circulation of the Scriptures in

197
whole or in part : for the example was soon followed by the Religious
Tract Society, and other Institutions of our land. To the Committee
of the Tract Society, who had been so greatly honoured in promoting the
formation and subsequent organization ofthe Bible Society, the Jubilee
ofthe latter was an event of peculiar interest. They express themselves
as follows —
"That the origin ofthe Bible Society in a Committee ofthe Religious
Tract Society is regarded by this Committee as one of the most interesting
facts connected with the Society's own early history, and leads to a feeling
of special interest in the extensive and successful operations of the British
and Foreign Bible Society.
" That the Committee, while they gratefully rejoice in the progress and
unprecedented success ofthe British and Foreign Bible Society, fervently
pray that its future operations may be yet more extensive and successful,
that its Catholic principles may ever be maintained, and the Divine bless
ing continue to accompany its important agency."
The various Protestant Missionary Societies having received from
year to year large supplies of the Scriptures from this Society for the use
of their Missionaries, Converts, and Schools in different and distant parts
ofthe world, advantage was taken ofthe Jubilee Year to express, on the
part of their Directors and Committees, the obligations under which they
were laid by the long-continued and cheerfully-rendered aid of this Society.
As it may be gratifying to see at one view the expression of brotherly sym
pathy and hearty goodwill called forth by the approach of the Jubilee
Year, they are embodied in the Appendix to this Report. (See App. No. II.)
Smaller bodies at Brussels, Amsterdam, &c. actuated by the same
motives, sent their cordial congratulations ; whilst various individuals, dis
tinguished by their long and valuable services, took occasion to declare
their continued and even increasing attachment to a Society which, from
small beginnings, had prospered so greatly under the guidance and blessing
of Almighty God.
JUBILEE MEETINGS.
Thus encouraged by the manifestation of a growing interest on the part
of its friends and adherents, both at home and abroad, the Society entered
on its Fiftieth Year, and some notice will now be taken of the manner in
which the event was celebrated.
On Monday, March 7th, 1853, at Eleven o'clock, the first Meeting to
celebrate the commencement of the Society's Fiftieth Year was held at the
London Tavern, Bishopsgate Street) in the room where it was established

198
in 1 804 ; the Right Honourable the Earl of Shaftesbury, the President,
in the Chair, succeeded by the Right Rev. Dr. Carr, late Bishop of
Bombay. In addition to the Officers ofthe Society, and Members ofthe Com
mittee, there were present on the occasion nearly all the Foreign and
Domestic Agents, the Secretaries of the various Missionary Societies,
Officers of Auxiliary Societies, and a large number of influential friends of
the Society in London and from different parts of the country.
The proceedings were commenced by reading the 97th Psalm, after
which the Noble Chairman alluded to the extraordinary circumstances
under which the Committee and friends qf the Society had assembled.
After announcing the order of proceedings, the Minutes of the last
Meeting of the Committee, and of various Sub-Committees, embracing
the Editorial, Agency, Finance, and other Departments, were read and
confirmed. The Jubilee Secretary read interesting letters from several distinguished
friends ofthe Society, from the Officers and Committees of Foreign Bible
Societies, and of other Institutions; whereupon it was
Resolved — That this Committee have received, with much pleasure, the friendly
congratulations from the American, the Central Prussian, the Netherlands,
the Basle, and the Berg Bible Societies ; from the Committees of the Geneva
and Belgian Evangelical Societies ; from the French Congregational Church
in Brussels ; the Society for the Propagation of the Truth at Amsterdam ; from
Mr. Samuel Eisner, of Berlin ; and from the Messrs. Courtois, of Toulouse ;
and beg to reciprocate their good wishes and prayers, and to hail them, in the
name pf the LjOrd, as fellow-labourers in the great cause of disseniinating
throughout the world the scriptures of truth.
The following Resolutions were also moved, seconded, and supported by
various Members of the Committee.
Resolved — That the Committee, on being assembled this; day in the room in which
the Society was fprmed forty-nine years ago-*— namely, on the 7th of March
1804 — would place on record their deep and thankful sense of the good
providence of God, which has watched over the Society from its institution to
the present hour ; raising it from small beginnings to unanticipated magnitude
and eminence ; reselling it when exposed to assaults and perils ; keeping it
unchanged in its constitution and principles ; enabling it steadily to pursue its
course and to extend its influence ; and giving it a position this day not sur
passed in any former period pf its history; in the review of all which the
Committee would desire to say, " Not unto us, O Lord" — not unto any who
have preceded us—" but unto Thy name be all the glory."
Resolved — That this Committee, while calling into solemn remembrance the many
holy and illustrious men, both at borne and abroad, who have at different times
been found in the ranks of the Society, but have" now passed away, would

199
offer their affectionate and cordial congratulation to their venerable friend, Dr.
Steinkopff, whom they are happy to see this day in the midst of them, and who
for twenty-two years held the office of Foreign Secretary ; and they would
also convey the same congratulation, with expressions of their sympathy, to
W. Alers Hankey, Esq. (the sole survivor of the first Committee), who, by
the infirmities of years, is compelled to be absent from this Meeting ; both of
whom took an active part in the formation of the Society, and alone, of its
original founders, survive to witness and welcome its year of Jubilee. That,
in these congratulations, the Committee wish to include the respected Trea
surer of the Society, John Thornton, Esq., who was first appointed on the
Committee in the year 1805, and afterwards, in the year 1815, succeeded his
honoured uncle, Henry Thornton, Esq., in the Treasurership, in which office he
has continued faithfully and advantageously to serve the Society to the present
time.
The above Resolution was acknowledged by the Rev. Dr. Steinkopff
in a lengthened address, in the course of which he feelingly alluded to
the former office-bearers of the Society, and expressed the deep attachment
which he continued to cherish towards it.
Resolved — That the Committee, having the pleasure of seeing amongst them, on
this interesting occasion, a large proportion of their Foreign as well as their
Domestic Agents, on whom devolves so much of the responsibility of carrying
out the Society's work, would seize this opportunity of re-assuring their valued
friends of the cordial sympathy of the Committee in all their labours, their
trials, and their success.
On the passing of the above Resolution, the Secretary, Rev. George
Browne, introduced the Foreign and Domestic Agents of the Society who
were present, individually, to the Committee ; and expressed his regret at
the absence of M. de Pressense, the Agent of the Society at Paris, and
of their well-known and valued Senior Domestic Agent, Mr. Dudley ;
furnishing, at the same time, various particulars connected with the spheres
of labour respectively occupied by the Foreign Agents ; after which Dr.
Pinkerton, as Senior Foreign Agent, acknowledged the Resolution on
behalf of himself and fellow Agents ; and gave the Committee some in
teresting statements respecting his own labours on behalf of the Society,
since his appointment in 1814.
The Rev. E. Panchaud, deputed to represent the Belgian Evange
lical Society of Brussels at the Jubilee Meetings of this Society, was
then introduced ; and gave some gratifying statements of the results of the
operations carried on by Mr. Tiddy on behalf of the Society in Belgium,
stating that the Church in Brussels, of which he is the Pastor, owes its
existence instrumentally to those operations, and that the same could be
said as regards twelve or thirteen other Protestant Churches in Belgium.
Resolved — That the Committee are very much gratified with the attendance of
so many of the Officers of Auxiliary Societies and of kindred Institutions,

200
and also of other distinguished and attached friends of the Society, regarding it
as an encouraging token of the wide and deep interest that is likely to be felt
in the celebration of the Society's Jubilee.
Mr. William Jones, one of the Secretaries of the Religious Tract Society
addressed the Committee in acknowledgment of the above Resolution, and
presented a Minute Book of the Committee of that Society, containing the
proceedings at their Meeting on Tuesday, December 7, 1802, among
which is inserted the first Minute put on record concerning the formation
of this Society, and which is as follows :—
" Mr. Charles, of Bala, having introduced the subject which had been
previously mentioned by Mr. Tarn, of dispersing Bibles in Wales, the
Committee resolved that it would be highly desirable to stir up the public
mind to the dispersion of Bibles generally, and that a paper in a Maga
zine to this effect may be singularly useful. The object was deemed suffi.
ciently connected with the objects of the Society thus generally to appear
on the Minutes ; and the Secretary, who suggested it, was accordingly
desired to enter it."
The Rev. Dr. Bunting also addressed to the Committee a few words of
congratulation on the entrance ofthe Society on its Jubilee Year, and gave
utterance to his best wishes for the continued blessing of God to rest on
the Society's efforts.
After reading letters containing contributions to the Jubilee Fund, several
votes of thanks were passed, and the meeting adjourned.
On Tuesday, March 8, at Twelve o'clock, the Special Public Meeting
was held at Exeter Hall, in the Strand. The Right Hon. the Earl of
Shaftesbury, President, in the Chair, was well supported by the attendance
of several Vice-Presidents, and an unusually large number of Ministers
and others, who occupied the platform, while the body of the Hall was
thronged in every part.
Letters were read, expressive of sincere regret that they were not able to
attend the Meeting, from the Earl of Roden ; the Marquis of Cholmon-
deley; The Lord Bishop of Meath ; Sir Robert H. Inglis, M.P. ;
W. Evans, Esq., M.P. ; the Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, M.P., and others.
The Rev. T. W. Meller, Editorial Superintendent, opened the proceed
ings by reading the 61st chapter of Isaiah.
The Noble Chairman having addressed the Meeting, called on the Rev.
G. J. Collinson, one ofthe Secretaries, to read the " Jubilee Statement,"
comprising a review of the history and operations of the Society, which he
had prepared at the request of the Committee. The Meeting was after
wards ably addressed by the Bishop of Winchester ; the Rev. J. Angell
James; the Duke of Argyle, President of the Edinburgh Bible Society;
Dr. Duff ; the Earl of Carlisle ; Josiah Forster, Esq. ; Rev. Canon,

201
Stowell ; Rev. W. Arthur, one of the Secretaries of the Wesleyan Mis
sionary Society; the Rev. D. Charles, President of Trevecca College,
South Wales; Dr. Cumming; W. Jones, Esq., Secretary of the Religious-
Tract Society ; Lord Charles Russell ; and the Rev. George Browne.
At this Meeting the Jubilee Fund was formally opened, and during the
proceedings the Jubilee Secretary read a list of Contributions amounting
to upwards of £7 000.
On Wednesday, the 9th of March, in consequence of arrangements made
by a few leading friends of the Society, a Jubilee Sermon, commemo
rative of its establishment and success, was preached in St. Paul's
Cathedral, by His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. The text chosen
for the occasion was Isa. xxxii. 20 : " Blessed are ye that sow beside all
waters," &c*
A large audience attended on the occasion, consisting (amongst others)
of a considerable number of Clergymen and Dissenting Ministers of
various denominations, several Peers of the realm, the Lord Mayor of
London, accompanied by Members of the Corporation. This was an
occasion of joy and gladness to a multitude of the Society's best friends ; and
the distinguished service thus rendered by the venerable Primate was an
additional evidence of his long-cherished attachment to the Institution.
The presence of all the Foreign Agents of the Society, with a single
exception, added greatly to the interest of the Jubilee celebration. While
it was agreeable to the Committee to see those men on whom the carrying
out of their measures so greatly depends, it was no less delightful to them
selves to have an opportunity of witnessing the ardent zeal, devotedness,
and earnestness, with which the great interests ofthe Society are conducted
in this favoured land. The Jubilee interview between the Committee and
its foreign Agents was mutually pleasant and profitable.
The Jubilee celebration in the Metropolis was followed throughout the
Provinces, and more or less throughout the world, by similar proceedings.
Indeed, the interest in the Society's Jubilee has been very general ; and we
are indebted for its great results, not only to the example set by the Parent
Society, but to the powerful influence of the Press, the Pulpit, and the
Platform. For obvious reasons the Society can only use the Press to a limited
extent ; and as its funds are contributed towards the translation, printing,
and circulation of the sacred volume, its publications are necessarily con
fined to Annual Reports, Monthly Extracts of Correspondence, together
with such books and papers as are required to work the Auxiliaries,
* This Sermon was publishe4 by Messrs. Seeleys.

202
Branches, and Associations. The peculiar nature and objects of the Jubilee
celebration rendered it necessary to depart from this practice, and to
prepare a variety of Papers, with a view to communicate information, and
thereby to awaken a more general and practical interest.
The following Papers and Pamphlets appeared at intervals during the
Jubilee year —
No. 1. Address and Resolution of the Committee.
2. Facts and Observations for the Year of Jubilee.
3. Address to the Young.
4. Address to Ministers and Missionaries.
5. Recollections and Counsels for the Year of Jubilee.
6. A Plea for the Benevolent Fund.
7. Bible Colportage on the Continent.
8. The Providence of God traced in the Origin and Progress of the Society.
9. An Appeal for Enlarged Support, &c.
10. What is the Bible? and, What has it done?
1 1 . Second Address of the Committee.
Ditto A. Questions and Answers, &c. &c.
Single-leaf Series, B. Letter of the Bishop of Calcutta. '¦
Ditto C. Address to the Working Classes, &c. &c.
Jubilee Record, No. I to 14 inclusive.
The demand for the above Documents was most extraordinary ; and, in
order to satisfy it, upwards of Haifa Million copies, including those in the
Welsh language, were printed. By means of the Society's Agents, the
Officers of Auxiliaries, the numerous Collectors of Associations, Sunday-
School Teachers, and others, these Jubilee Messengers found their way
to the cottages of the poor and to the mansions of the rich. They have
been welcomed with joy by multitudes of all ages and circumstances, not
only in Great Britain and Ireland, but also in other and distant lands, even
to earth's remotest bounds. Several of the Jubilee Papers were reprinted
in India, also in the Colonies of British America and Australia. The pro
duction and circulation of so large a number of the above and other papers
connected with the Jubilee work, though attended with a considerable
present expense, will, it is believed, prove advantageous to the interests of
the Society for years to come.
The Society is much indebted to the Newspaper Press both of the
Metropolis and the Provinces, for valuable services rendered during the
Jubilee year. The Colonial papers also have contained, from time to time,
able articles on the Society's past labours and present Jubilee operations.
The Pulpit, too, has greatly aided the Society during its Jubilee Year.
The example set by the Archbishop was followed by other Right Reverend
Prelates. The Bishops of Winchester, Chester, and Hereford sounded the
Jubilee trumpet in their respective dioceses, whilst a large number of

203
Clergymen and Ministers of various communions introduced the claims of
the Society to their several congregations. The recommendation of the
Parent Society to appropriate March 13th, the first Lord's Day in the
Jubilee Year, for the above purpose, was acted upon by many of the
Auxiliaries ; and besides the pecuniary results to the funds of the Institu
tion at the time, it is a cause of rejoicing, that in so many places, and in
the hearing of so large a proportion of our countrymen, a " public testi
mony was borne to the Divine character and claims of the Bible, and to
the right of every individual of the human family to possess and read the
same." In many localities it was found inconvenient to carry out this part
of the plan proposed by the Parent Committee, and various Auxiliaries and
Ministers acted on the liberty given them to choose their own time ; whilst
various Ministers, acting independently of all Auxiliaries, selected the
period of the year which suited them best. It would be easy to give
instances of the beneficial results of this advocacy of the Society's
claims, not only in the augmentation of its funds, but also in the inculcation
of right principles in reference to the duty and privilege of circulating the
sacred volume, in the presence of those who, from various causes, seldom
or never attend the Public Meetings,
The Colonies followed the example of the mother country in the
observance of the above recommendation. Sermons were preached and
Collections made in nearly all the chief towns of our colonies and de
pendencies. Even at Shanghai, in China, the cause was pleaded in the
Episcopal Chapel by the Right Rev, the Bishop of Victoria ; and in the
Missionary Chapel by the Rev. Dr. Medhurst, Senior Missionary, in that
empire, of the London Missionary Society, followed, in both instances, by
liberal Collections. At Brussels, and some other places on the Continent,
the same method was adopted to interest the friends of the Bible, and
Collections were made in aid of the Jubilee Fund.
While the Society is much indebted to the Press and the Pulpit, it must
be acknowledged that it owes still more to the Platform ; and it is not
too much to say that the Platform of England never was more fully
employed than during the Society's Year of Jubilee, It is difficult to
state with accuracy thow many Special Meetings of a distinctive Jubilee
character were held ; for almost all the Meetings of the year — 2402 in
number— were rendered more or less subservient to Jubilee purposes.
The Secretaries and Agents of the Society were unusually occupied during
the year, and a very large number of voluntary friends kindly assisted as
Deputations to a far greater extent than usual. It may be said that nearly
all the cities and towns of England honoured the Bible, and the Society
which circulates it, by holding special Meetings, and even the rural
parishes and remote villages have had their joyful Jubilee gatherings.

204
Under the impression that it would be advantageous to hold as many
Jubilee Meetings as practicable on the same day throughout the world, the
Committee named Wednesday, the 12th of October, for that purpose;
and to a very considerable extent this recommendation was followed : a
large number of Societies, however, celebrated the Jubilee either before or
after, as local circumstances permitted, or as they could succeed in securing
the assistance of able Deputations.
The successive Numbers of the " Jubilee Record " have borne testimony
to the deep and general interest felt amongst all classes, as manifested by
the large assemblies brought together. Where there has been so much to
gratify it is difficult to select instances ; and yet the peculiarity in the mode
of conducting some of the Meetings, and the pecuniary results of others,
give to several places a kind of claim to special distinction. (See Ap
pendix II.)
The impulse given at the centre was felt even to the circumference of
the Society's connections and operations. During the whole of the Jubilee
Year the most cheering tidings were received from various Auxiliary
Societies throughout the world. The glad echoes of the Jubilee trumpet
reverberated throughout Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and New
foundland. The Auxiliaries in Jamaica, Antigua, Demerara, and Barbadoes
assembled to celebrate the Jubilee of that Society which blessed their
enslaved population with the charter of true freedom. A Jubilee Meeting
of an interesting character, and under extraordinary circumstances, was
held at Constantinople, under the presidency of the British Ambassador,
succeeded in the Chair by the Representative of the United States ; a
Meeting which doubtless encouraged the friends of the Bible to look, and
long, and labour for the day when the crescent shall give place to the cross,
and the Koran shall he superseded by the Bible. Within the precincts of
the sacred city of Jerusalem a Public Meeting was convened under the
presidency of the English Bishop ; and may not this be regarded as a
pledge and an earnest of still greater blessings to that ancient and honoured
land? The great and growing Auxiliaries in our Indian Empire have had
their joyful Jubilee Celebrations at Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Agra,
Jaffna, and Colombo ; at which, Prelates and Missionaries of various
Societies assisted with one heart and soul. At Shanghai, also, the Mis
sionaries, surrounded by those who loved the Bible, both natives and
foreigners, assembled to review and to acknowledge the Lord's goodness
to the Society as well as to take active measures to promote its objects
still more widely. Africa, likewise, has participated in the general feeling,
and manifested it at the Meetings held at the Cape of Good Hope,

205
Graham's Town, and elsewhere. .At Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide,
Hobart Town, and other places in the southern hemisphere, the claims of
the Society's Jubilee have been felt, awakening gratitude for the past, and
stimulating to action for the future. Even at the antipodes, in New
Zealand the people have heard the glad sound, and joined with tlje rest
of the world in the song of Jubilee. Truly the interest felt has been
spread far and wide : " From the very ends of the earth have we heard
the song— Glory to the righteous One." (See Appendix III.)
THE JUBILEE FUND.
It is gratifying to report that the interest so deeply felt, and so generally
manifested, was of a decidedly practical character. No special authority
was claimed for the observance of the Society's fiftieth year as a year of
Jubilee ; but it was thought that the season was peculiarly calculated to
call forth the best feelings of the Society's friends, not only in gratitude to
Almighty God for past success, but in furnishing the means " to promote,
by new and vigorous efforts, the widest possible distribution of the Scrip
tures both at home and abroad." Fully expecting that the Jubilee would
furnish an occasion of great liberality on the part of the numerous friends
of the Society, objects of corresponding magnitude and importance were
presented to their view — objects embracing our own country, Ireland, the
Colonies, India, Australia, China, and such other parts of the world as
should, during the year, or soon afterwards, present openings for special
operations. The Jubilee Fund, like the Society itself, was small in its commencement:
it continued to increase gradually, until it has at length reached the sum
of 66,507/. Is. 9d.
It is truly interesting to pass the eye over the long lists of Contributions
which have appeared from time to time during the last eighteen months,
and to notice the various sources from whence they have been derived.
Private individuals have contributed largely — family offerings have been
received — congregational collections have been made — the children in our
Sunday and Week-day Schools, and even in the higher classes of Boarding
Schools, have taken their part— the Auxiliaries, Branches, and Ladies'
Associations have laboured heartily and effectually in the work — upwards
often thousand " Jubilee Collecting Books" have brought in large returns.
In the above sum we have the talents of the Rich and the mites- of the Poor
— the donation of Her Majesty the Queen and the contributions of Ragged-
School children — the contributions of some of our merchant princes and the
no less liberal gift (if ability is considered) of the numerous Artisans, and
Labourers, and Mechanics of our towns and villages. Where there is so
much to applaud, it would be almost invidious to specify instances of libe-

206
rality ; yet a few may be recorded, not indeed to the praise of individuals,
but to the glory of Him who giveth the power and the will to assist in
His great cause. It is difficult to refrain from stating the pleasure felt in
receiving Jubilee Offerings from Negro Congregations in the West Indies,
and the Christian Hottentots in South Africa ; from remote settlements
of Welshmen in the Wisconsin territory; from gold diggers and others
in Australia j as well as from multitudes of Christian people, who inhabit
other and more favoured lands.
Amongst the Contributions to the Jubilee Fund there are six of One
Thousand Pounds each, The following note accompanied one of the prin
cipal donations :
Enclosed I send 10002., the receipt of which you will please acknowledge by bearer in
one of your usual forms, sealed, asking no questions, being a donation to the Jubilee
Fund from a lay member of the Church of England, who wishes to remain strictly
incognito. The 5s. is to enable you to insert the following (an advertisement) in to
morrow's " Times,'1 trusting it may induce others to help so good a cause.
Two remittances of 1000/. each were received from the President of
the Wesleyan Conference, being the Collections made in the Chapels of
that body throughout England and Wales.
Two further instances may here be given —
Islington, Nov. 15, 1853 — I have been requested by the Committee of our Islington
Auxiliary Society to inform you that our Secretary has this day paid to the Parent
Society's account the sum of 1000/., being a part of the money raised in this parish for
the Jubilee Fund. 'Phe rest shall be paid as soon as we have received the contributions
promised. A list of the contributors will also be added.
Your Committee will, I am sure, rejoice to know, that the celebration of their Jubilee
in this parish has been conducted with the most perfect unanimity among all Denomina
tions ; and has, I trust, proved a season of spiritual blessing and refreshment. Services
have been held in every Church and nearly every Chapel in the parish. Our earnest
and united prayer is; that God may be pleased largely to bless the continued labours of
your noble Society, and increase the number of its supporters, both at home and abroad.
Daniel Wilson, Vicar.
Great Barr, near BirminghajI, Jan. 18, 1854 — When I wrote to you last year, soon
after the Jubilee Meeting in London, requesting you to send at least a couple of thou
sand Jubilee papers, I pledged myself for 100/. to the Fund. Since then I have informed
you several times of our success. I have now the gratification to hand to you the
enclosed cheque for 453/i, the result of our Contributions in our works. Our firm gave
250/;, and our clerks and workmen 203/., making a total of 453/. I sincerely praise
God, and give Him all the glory for the ability and grace to accomplish what has been
done. But yott will be still more pleased when I inform you that our men have pur
chased and paid for upw_ards of 100/. worth of Bibles and Testaments for themselves,
through my sons, whilst this list was being collected. T. Bagnall.
For further-instances, see Appendix II. and III.

207

APPROPRIATION OF THE JUBILEE FUND.
The Jubilee Fund having been received for certain specific purposes, a
brief account of the appropriation, as far as circumstances would permit,
will now be given.
Colportage being one ofthe proposed objects of the Jubilee Fund, all
the Auxiliaries were informed that the Parent Committee were prepared
to make special grants towards the employment of Colporteurs during the
Jubilee Year. (See Appendix IV.)
In order to facilitate the proper working of the system of colportage, a
complete set of accountbooks was prepared, together with a leather case
in which to carry the Bibles, and a paper containing instructions to
Colporteurs. (See Appendix V.)
Grants have been made to the following forty-two places or districts,
amounting to 1925/. This does not include the colportage operations
carried on in London, under the direction of the Metropolitan Agent.

Hereford.Minsterley.Manchester.
Lancaster. Neath.
Pontypool. Carlisle.
Cheadle.Norwich.
Settle.
Swanscombe and Greenhithe.
Hadley, Barnet, &c.
Chester. Rochester and Chatham.
Woolwich. West Bromwidh.
Birmingham.
Pilgwenlly, near Newport.
Oswestry.
Brighton Ladies'.
Broseley and South Shropshire.
Gloucester and Somerset.

Worcester.Cardiff. Scarborough. Darlington.
Sunderland, Newcastle, &c.
Faringdon. Hertford.Banbury.
Woodbridge. Oxford.
Hastings.Newcastle-upon-Tyne, River Col
portage.
Pateley Bridge.
Staines.Yorkshire-Luton. Loughborough. West-Ham Association.
Chesterfield.
Dorsetshire.

At the date of this Report the whole of the places above named had not
actually entered on the work, on account of the difficulty experienced in
finding suitable men.
Although the applications for aid have not been so numerous as might
have been expected, chiefly for the reason just stated, there are grounds to
believe that the results have been very gratifying in those localities to which
grants have been made. In some districts the Colporteurs have been

208
employed in assisting the Collectors of Bible Associations in obtaining
Bible-subscribers ; in others their labours have led to the formation of
Associations ; while in all places they have been the means of spreading a
considerable number of copies of the Holy Scriptures. A few instances are
added. The Rev. J. A. Page, the Society's Agent for Yorkshire, writes —
My Colporteurs have already done a great work in the dissemination of the Scriptures,
and have also been the means of reviving two important Ladies' Associations in Bradford
and Hull, where upwards of Eleven hundred subscribers for Bibles, averaging seven and
sixpence each, have been added to the lists of the Collectots.
I have found, moreover, that nothing has tended so much to increase the interest in our
Society as the labours of the Colporteurs : I witness the case of Chapeltown, near Sheffield,
where, through the Colporteur, I obtained an entrance, and formed an Association,
whence Twenty Pounds Free Contributions have already been remitted, and where a
band of about twenty Collectors are now actively engaged in our cause.
A grant of 100/. having been placed at the disposal of the Society's
Agent, Mr. Dudley, in concert with the Societies in Gloucestershire and
Somersetshire, he writes —
I have now the pleasure of submitting to our Committee the following Abstract of the
labours of the three Colporteurs employed, to the 31st December, viz.
Weelts Calls Bibles Tests.
engaged. made. Sold. Sold. Total.
14 .. 6479 .. 295 . . 523 . . 818
12 . . 4297 . . 116 . . 240 . . 356
5 .. 2228 ,i 109 .. 44 . . 153
It will be observed, that while the proponion of Sales to Calls, in the case of one Col
porteur, is as one to fourteen, in that of another it is as one to eight ; but it would be
unjust to infer that this disparity indicates any inferior degree of activity and zeal on the
part of either of the last two. They have been engaged, almost exclusively, in the towns
of Gloucester and Cheltenham, in both of which Bible Associations have existed for more
than thirty years ; whereas the first hitherto has done but little in Bath, having
visited more than forty villages and hamlets within a wide circle around that city, and
found a far greater extent, both of destitution and desire, than his brethren have
yet discovered. Of this, the following extracts from his Journal will afford interesting
evidence —
" At Timsbury, the colliers bought both Bibles and Testaments of me. It was a
pleasing sight to see them going from the coal-pit to the counting-house, to get a portion
of their week's wages advanced by the clerk, that they might purchase the word of God.
On taking my leave of them, they desired me to call again before I left that locality, that
their fellow-workmen who were then under ground might have the same privilege as they •
had themselves received.
" At Bloomfield, I was welcomed by a poor Christian man, I should think seventy years
of age, who informed me that he was desirous of making some valuable present to his
grandchildren before his death. He therefore bought three Bibles, saying, ' There is
nothing better .'"

Amount

received.

£

S.

d.

27

12

1

15

15

2

8

7

6

209
' At Farnlorough, I was received by a poor, but Christian man, who, when informed
of my business, took one of my Testaments in one hand, and one of my hands in the
other, saying, ' Oh ! Sir, I was once an infidel, and condemned this book ; but now, blessed
be God, J know its value ! I am not in want of one myself, but I will buy this and give
it away." A gratifying communication to the same effect has been received from
the Rev. T. Davies, Vicar of Trevethin, Pontypool.
I feel assured that the tidings I have the pleasure of communicating will gratify you
and the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, relative to the efforts and
labours of our Colporteur. He has now been employed in that capacity for six weeks, and
has kept his daily journal, and presented his weekly accounts with diligence, punctuality,
and faithfulness. He has already disposed of upwards of five hundred copies of the Old
and New Testaments, and would have done still more, if the supply of the Holy Scriptures
in our own depot had been larger, and of a more suitable hind, to meet the demand ; i.e.
if we had a larger quantity of the Fourpenny New Testaments. Some few copies of
rather expensive Bibles have been sold, and the warm and friendly reception given t6
our Colporteur augurs well for the success of his work. All I have conversed with regard
this movement with special favour and thankfulness, and it gradually rises in popular esti
mation. His exertions have hitherto been confined to my district of the parish of Treve
thin, and its immediate populous borders, such as Pontymoile and Cwmynyscoy, in the
parish of Panteague. I make a point, at our Evening Service on Sundays, to mention the
measure of success which has attended his labours during the past week, and from the
beginning ; thus the public are kept alive to the importance of the work going on ; and I
learn, with pleasure, that others of my brethren are doing the same ; and the result is
that wherever he penetrates, the object of his mission is familiar to the mass, and is
generally duly appreciated. The Irish Romanists have been inquiring for copies of
the Douay Version* of the Scriptures, and some have expressed a warm desire to be
possessed of them at any cost. How can such a demand be met ? It would be well to
be able to supply these poor benighted creatures with the bread of life. They receive
the Colporteur's visits with seeming pleasure, and very interesting, indeed, are the details
of the intercourse held with them. If I had the means, I would employ and
continue the present labours for a few years on the hills; and various Dissenting
Ministers agree in opinion, that no species of Christian labour can be more important
than such as are now being carried on by means of a direct colportage for circulating
God's holy word amongst the tens of thousands on the Welsh mountains. I fer
vently trust it may be the good pleasure of your Committee to renew their grant bye-
and-by, so that our Colporteur may be able to reach such places as Nant-y-GIo, Blaenau,
Tredegar, and other populous places ; for I am persuaded he will be the means of dis
posing of very many thousand copies of God's holy word, amongst the inhabitants of
those populous regions, &c.
Under the impression that more ought to be done by this special instru
mentality for the diffusion of the Scriptures at home, it is intended to

The Society does not circulate the Douay Version.
P

210
continue the grants from the Jubilee Fund towards this object during
another year.
The Resolution of the Committee on the supply of Emigrants was
forwarded to the Auxiliaries at Liverpool, Bristol, Hull, Southampton,
and other seaports from whence emigrant vessels sail. In reply, appli
cations were received and grants were made to the following places :
English Bibles. German Tests. Copies.
Hull ... 500 .. .. 800 .. .. 1300
Southampton .200 . . . . — . . - . 200

1500

Circulars were sent to all the Poor-Law Unions, Prisons, Hospitals,
and Infirmaries, as far as their addresses could be known, offering to
place in those establishments, for the permanent use of their inmates, copies
ofthe Holy Scriptures.
Replies were received from the Secretaries or Chaplains of 172 Poor-
Law Unions. Out of this number twenty-two respectfully declined
accepting the proffered aid for reasons which they assigned, but the
remainder made applications for grants. The following table shows the
state of those Unions, and the copies voted to them :
No. of Unions. Inmates. Capable of reading. Copies granted. Value.
150 .. 24,497 .. 14,487 ... 7074 .. 913 li 9
The following letters will show the spirit in which the grants were
accepted :
Margate, Jan. 6, 1854 — I beg to acknowledge, with many thanks, the receipt of six
Nonpareil Bibles and six Pica Testaments and Psalms, which you have kindly forwarded
me, from the Bible Society, for the use of the Union (Wilderness) at Margate. I am
sure the gift will be most acceptable to the poor inmates : some of them have, I trust,
learned to value God's word. — I remain, Sir, your's faithfully, Sidney Smith.
Uppermill, Saddleworth, January 14, 1854 — I am directed, on behalf of our Board
of Guardians, to acknowledge the receipt of ten Bibles and thirty-two Testaments, " for
permanent use in our workhouse ;" and to express their sincere and hearty thanks
to the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society for the " Special Grant."
Hoping that much spiritual benefit will attend their perusal, and that the Committee's
purpose by the gift will thus be accomplished., I am, James Platt, Clerk to the Board.
Salisbury, March 29, 1854 — I am directed to inform you that at the meeting of the
Board of Guardians of this city held on Monday last, the master of the workhouse
repotted that he had received a supply of Bibles and Testaments from the British and

211
Foreign Bible Society ; whereupon it was resolved " That the thanks of the Board are
due to the Committee of the above Society, for the seasonable grant of books, and that
the clerk do forthwith convey the same to the Secretary ofthe Society."
I have great pleasure in forwarding a copy of the Resolution, and am, &c.
Joseph Hibberd.
Replies were received from the Chaplains or Governors of Prisons and
Houses op Correction, in most cases requesting to be supplied with
suitable Bibles for the use of prisoners. The following is a summary :
No. of Prisons, &c. Inmates. Capable of reading. Copies granted. Value.
37 . . 2834 . . 1778 . . 1542 . . 183 19 4
The following extracts will show how gratefully the grants were re
ceived :
Hull Gaol, Jan. 31, 1854 — I beg to acknowledge, with much gratitude, the receipt
of a Box of Bibles from you, for the unfortunate prisoners confined in this gaol. I hope
a blessing will attend the reading of them by the prisoners, and that God will continue
to prosper the labours of your noble Society, which, both at home and in many foreign
lands, has so largely distributed that blessed book which reveals a Saviour for sinful
man. Thanks, many thanks for your valuable gift. — I am very truly yours,
J. Selkirk, Chaplain.
Monmouth, Feb. 1, 1854 — I received a note from the Bible Society's House last
week, which stated the amount of the grant made of Bibles, &c. to our county gaol ; and
this week a parcel has come to hand, the contents of which exactly tally with the list in
your note.
On the behalf of myself and the visiting justices, I now return the most sincere acknow
ledgments, and, while I do so, express my belief that few grants you have made will,
in all human probability, do more good. I am your's obediently,
E. J. Gosling, Chaplain to the County Gaol.
Coombe, Feb. 23, 1854 — The Chaplain of the Devon county prison having reported at
the last Meeting of the visiting justices the donation of several copies of the Scriptures
in various languages for the use of the inmates of our prison, I was desired, as the Chair
man of the visiting justices, to express through you to the Committee of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, the deep sense which they entertain of the value of such a gift
and their sincere thanks for the same. I am, gentlemen, your's thankfully, John Sillifant.
Applications for grants were received from the Chaplains or Medical
Officers of Hospitals and Infirmaries. The particulars are as follows :
No. of Hospitals, &c. Inmates. Capable of reading. Copies granted. Value.
£ s. d.
42 .. 6350 .. 3447 .. 2105 .. 291 9 4
One or two extracts from the letters received in acknowledgment of these
Grants are added : p 2

212
The General Hospital, Birmingham, Jan. 23, 1854 — I received yesterday your kind
favour, and this day I laid it before our Board.
All the members were much gratified with, and most thankful for, the Bible Society's
liberal grant.
The Bibles and Testaments thus presented, and placed in the hands of the many
thousand afflicted fellow-sinners who come to us for relief from their bodily sufferings,
will, I trust, through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, prove of eternal benefit, in many
cases, to their immortal souls. Believe me to remain, my dear sir, most truly yours,
Thomas Rawlins.
Plymouth, Feb. 20, 1854— At a Meeting of the Committee of the South Devon and
East Cornwall Hospital, held this 8th of February, 1854, it was unanimously resolved,
" That the most cordial thanks of the same be presented to the Committee of the British
and Foreign Bible Society for the very valuable donation of forty English Bibles and
Testaments, and forty-four Bibles and Testaments in various foreign languages, sent for
the use of the patients.'' John Hatch ard, pro Secretary.
The Jubilee Committee are fully aware that most of the above Institu
tions and Establishments have received supplies from other sources ; but
they have found that the supply is far from adequate ; and, in placing
above 10,000 copies of the Holy Scriptures within the reach of their
inmates, they have the satisfaction of knowing that they have performed,
on the part of the Society, an act of the highest charity and purest
benevolence. It is hoped that the Jubilee Bibles thus granted will direct
the humble poor to the durable riches, comfort those who mourn, heal
the broken in heart, and lead the prisoner to the true freedom of the
Gospel. The London City Mission has, during the past year, received a Special
Jubilee Grant, amounting, in the whole, to ten thousand copies, in the
following proportions : —
Bibles, Minion 24mo  1000
Testaments and Psalms, ditto  2000
Brevier Testaments and Psalms  7000
Total . . . . 10,000 copies.
The desire of the Committee to benefit the House of Israel during the
Jubilee Year was made known to the various Societies for Promoting
Christianity amongst the Jews, and grants have been made to two
Societies, amounting to 339 copies, in different languages.
The inhabitants of the Principality who have so uniformly and
liberally supported the Society from its commencement, have participated
in the advantages of the Jubilee Year in a way which has produced a
lively feeling of gratitude in the minds of a large number. It was resolved
that the Welsh Quarto Bible, and the Nonpareil Bible, both with marginal

213
references, should he reduced in price so as to bring the former within
the reach of the humbler classes, and the latter more generally into the
Sunday Schools. Although the sale of these Bibles, at the reduced prices,
was limited to a given period of time, the demand proved unexpectedly
large. In order to carry out this benevolent measure, it became necessary
to reprint both ; and the total issues to the Welsh Societies under this
special regulation is as follows : —
Welsh Quarto Bible, with Marginal References .... 4156
„ Nonpareil, ditto  10,722

14,878 copies.

The spirit in which this boon was received may be ascertained from the.
following extracts : —
" Neath Auxiliary Bible Society. — At a meeting of the General Com
mittee, held in the Town Hall on the 25th February, 1854, the Rev. John
Coates in the chair, it was unanimously
Resolved— That this Committee highly appreciates the grant ofthe Parent Society
in the distribution of Welsh Bibles at reduced prices to the Subscribers of the
Welsh Bible Societies ; and that the Secretary be requested to convey to the
London Committee the warm and cordial thanks of this Meeting for this
instance of its generosity and Christian benevolence. Joshua Richardson, Secretary."
" At a Committee Meeting of the Cardigan Auxiliary Bible Society, held
March 6th, 1854, Thomas Windsor, Esq., in the chair —
Resolved— That the thanks of this Meeting be given to the Parent Society for their
determination to meet the increased demands for the Quarto Welsh Jubilee
Bibles, being fully satisfied that ultimately the funds of the Parent Society will
be benefited by so doing ; and they believe that it will cement the hearts of
Welshmen more closely to the British and Foreign Bible Society. — Thomas.
Lloyd, Secretary."
Amongst the smaller grants made to Schools and Societies, for special
purposes, the following was made to the Committee of the Isle of Mann
Auxiliary, for the supply of the prisons and destitute poor in the island,
viz. : — Manx Bibles  100
English ditto  100
English Testaments, with Psalms . . 300
Total . . 500 copies.
It was announced at the commencement that Ireland should share in
the Jubilee Fund. Accordingly, the Jubilee Secretary paid a brief visit
to Dublin, and had an interview with the Committee of the Hibernian
Bible Society, and with the officers of some other Societies labouring

214
for the benefit of the sister island. In consequence of the proposals made,
the Committee of the Hibernian Society addressed a Circular very
generally to their Auxiliaries, and others, the replies to which opened up
an unexpectedly large channel for Bible distribution. After further cor
respondence, the following grant was made ; viz. 15,500 Bibles ; 25,500
Testaments ; or 41,000 copies. (See Appendix VI.)
The Sunday-School Society for Ireland applied for a Special
Jubilee Grant, and the following were sent : — 900 Bibles ; 600 Testaments ;
or 1500 copies.
The above grants to Ireland, amounting in value to about ,£5000,
have been made in the confident hope that they will be greatly appre
ciated, and found useful in promoting scriptural religion amongst all
classes. The Foreign Agents of the Society were informed that the Committee
were prepared to place at their disposal copies of the New Testament, with
the Psalms appended, for the supply of all classes of Students in the Uni
versities within their districts. Inquiries were instituted, but many
obstacles presented themselves to the carrying out of this measure to any
great extent. The following grant, however, has been made : —
To the University of Bonn —
Hebrew and German Bibles ... 60
German ditto  243
Hebrew ditto  210
German Testaments  365
Total . . 878 copies.
The distribution of this Grant was entrusted to Mr. N. B. Millard, of
Cologne ; Rev. W. Graham, of Bonn ; and such other judicious persons as
they should invite to assist them.
In consequence of an interview between Mr. Knolleke, the Assistant
Foreign Secretary, and the Archbishop of Upsala, during his visit to
Stockholm, arrangements were made to supply the Students of the Uni
versity of Upsala with 1000 copies of the New Testament, with the Book
of Psalms, in the Swedish language.
The agency at St. Petersburgh were authorised to supply the Students
of the University of Dorp at, but to what extent this has been done has
not been reported.
The Agents of the Society on the Continent were further encouraged
to make inquiries in their respective districts, as to the wants of Prisons,
Houses of Detention, Hospitals, Schools of various descriptions, &c. ;
and to furnish such particulars as were necessary to guide the Com
mittee in the appropriation of Grants for the above objects. The following
will show what has been done : —

215 Bibles. Tests. Copies.
To Mr. De Pressense — For Prisons, &c. (French) . . 1000 1000
To Mr. Tiddy, and others, for the Prisons, Work
houses, Schools, and various institutions in
Holland (Dutch) . . . j  4300 2000 6300
To Mr. Tiddy and Mr. N. B. Millard— For Hos
pitals, Prisons, Workhouses, &c, in the
Rhenish Provinces (German) .... 4250 2000 6250
To Dr. Pinkerton — For Prisons, Hospitals, &c,
in Germany (German)  500 1000 1500
To Mr. Edward Millard — For 117 different
Establishments, including Prisons, Schools,
&c, in Silesia and Posen (German) . . . 1320 1734 3054
10,370 7734 18,104
British India having been regarded as a suitable field for the em
ployment of a considerable portion of the Jubilee Fund, a correspondence
was opened, at an early period, with the Officers and Committees of
the various Auxiliaries at Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Agra, Jaffna,
and Colombo. At the Jubilee Meeting in London, a suggestion
had been thrown out by Dr. Duff that an attempt should be made
to supply, as far as practicable, every mission family with a copy of the
Bible, and every child in the Christian Schools with a copy of the New
Testament, in his own language. This suggestion was communicated to
those who had it in their power to form an opinion as to the practicability
of the plan, and on whom the carrying out ofthe scheme would necessarily
devolve. Much interesting information was elicited ; and although the
above suggestion may not be carried out literally, and to the full extent,
yet it is gratifying to report, that already nearly £5000 have been voted
to promote the circulation ofthe Scriptures amongst our fellow-subjects
in the Indian Presidencies, apart from the usual operations of the Society
in that quarter.
The following are the particulars of the appropriations : — i. s. d.
To the Auxiliary at Calcutta, for various Jubilee purposes. . . . 1000 0 0
To ditto at Bombay, towards printing 3000 Goozerathi New Testa
ments, 5000 Marathi ditto, with 1000 reams of paper, binding
materials, &c. for the same  3239 17 10
200 English Jubilee Bibles  65 19 11
To the Auxiliary at Agra, for the circulation of the Scriptures
amongst native princes, &c. &c  50 0 0
To the Auxiliary at Colombo, 200 English Jubilee Bibles. ... 20 16 8
To ditto, 5000 Singhalese New Testaments, to present a copy to
every child in the Schools  475 0 0
To the Auxiliary at Jaffna, 600 Jubilee Bibles  65 19 u
£4917 14 4

216
The above is a brief account of the measures adopted for the actual
distribution ofthe Scriptures, both at home and abroad. There are other
plans under consideration, and it is expected that new wants will be dis
covered, and new modes of supply suggested.
special deputations.
During the whole of the Jubilee Year, attention was directed to the
desirableness of sending out deputations to the British Colonies of North
America, Australia, and, if practicable, to the West-India Islands, and
some portions of South America, with a view to strengthen existing So
cieties, to establish new ones, and to open up, in concert with friends on
the spot, new and greatly enlarged channels for the distribution of the
Sacred Scriptures.
Although the arrangements for this portion ofthe Jubilee work are not
yet completed, it is satisfactory to state that for two of these temporary
missions provision has been made. The Rev. Philip Kent, one of the
Domestic Agents of the Society, being appointed to visit British North
America, embarked at Liverpool on the 1st of April. It is intended that
he should visit most, if not all, the Auxiliary Societies in Nova Scotia,
Canada, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, &c. He is also commissioned
to represent the Society at the Anniversary Meeting of the American
Bible Society.
Arrangements have been made with the Rev. M. H. Becher, Rector
of Barnoldby-le-Beck, Lincolnshire, and Mr. Charles, surgeon, of Pimlico,
to visit the various Colonies of the southern hemisphere, for a similar
object. It is believed that such a visit will be much valued by the
zealous friends of the Society, and that in those colonies abundant room
will be found for greatly enlarged operations, both in the formation of
Auxiliary Societies and the circulation of the Scriptures.
The Committee hope to be able to adopt similar measures for the visita
tion of the West-India Islands, the Brazils, and other parts of South
America. benevolent fund.
It will be remembered that, amongst other important objects contem
plated by the Jubilee, it was proposed to establish "a special and
separate Fund, from the annual produce of which pecuniary aid may
be granted, at the discretion of the Committee, to persons in the employ
of the Society, including the Colporteurs abroad, and to their widows and
children, when in circumstances to require such aid." Some of the best
friends of the Society, greatly approving of this object, directed that their
contributions should be wholly devoted to this object, while others placed

217
their donations at the disposal of the Committee, to be appropriated to the
various objects specified according to their discretion.
The sum of five thousand pounds has been appropriated for this purpose,
in addition to the sum of nearly one thousand pounds, specially con
tributed to the Benevolent Fund, to be augmented by annual subscriptions
or donations, as may appear necessary and expedient hereafter.
The widows of a Belgian and a French Colporteur have already re
ceived the first-fruits of this portion ofthe Jubilee Fund.
future appropriations.
The further employment of the Jubilee Fund will be determined by a
variety of circumstances affecting the work ofthe Society, both at home
and abroad. The special visitation of so many important portions of the
Society's world-wide field, while an expensive measure in itself, will also,
by God's blessing, lead to the adoption of other important measures, in
volving, it is probable, a large outlay in carrying out the legitimate ob
jects of the Institution. THE MILLION TESTAMENT FUND FOR CHINA.
" Special Grants to China," formed one of the original objects of the
Jubilee Fund, although at that time"*it could not be foreseen that events so
extraordinary would transpire, to place the Society in the novel and in
teresting position which it now occupies in reference to that country.
Allusion is here made to the Million Testament scheme.
Like all other great schemes of Christian benevolence, the origin of the
Million Testament movement is very simple and soon told. The first
germ of it may be found in a letter addressed by a benevolent individual,
Thomas Thompson, Esq., of Poundsford Park, to the Rev. J. A. James,
of Birmingham, proposing to raise a fund immediately for printing and
circulating in China a million copies ofthe Chinese New Testament. In this
letter Mr. Thompson urged Mr. James to lay the subject before the public,
through the medium ofthe press, and to call out the Sunday-School teachers
and scholars to do the work. Mr. James acceded to this request, and a most
able letter appeared in the papers from that gentleman, directing attention
to the subject, and committing the work, not to Sunday Schools exclusively,
but to the" Christian public at large, more especially to the friends and
supporters of the Bible Society. The subject was brought before the
Committee, and the result was, the immediate adoption of a Resolution,
dated September 19, 1853, in which they take "upon themselves all the
measures necessary for printing, with the least practicable delay, One
Million Copies of the Chinese New Testament." In order to carry out
this important undertaking, a Special Appeal was issued by the Com-

218
mittee, requesting contributions, " whether in sums of any amount, or in
the exact value of a specified number of copies, estimated at fourpence per
copy." The original projectors ofthe scheme rejoiced to see the work
thus taken up, and they threw their whole soul into it. In consequence of
the appeal thus made, applications were received for thousands of the
Chinese Testament " Collecting Cards," and for the papers prepared ex
planatory of the object.
Although the Society was in the midst of its Jubilee celebration, and
contributions were pouring in from all quarters for that special fund, the
additional object thus presented was met most liberally, and the zeal dis
played in many places amounted to enthusiasm. The result is most satis
factory. In six months from the issuing of the Appeal, the sums actually
received at the Bible Society House have amounted to 30,485L 19s. 3d.,
including the noble contribution of 3213Z. 3s. 5d., from the United Pres
byterian Church of Scotland. It is pleasing to know, too, that Rich and
Poor, Churchmen and Dissenters, Ministers of Religion and Ministers of
State, Sunday-School Teachers and Scholars, have contributed to swell
this mighty amount. (See Appendix VII.)
It will be seen that the sum already contributed will produce more than
1,000,000 Testaments, estimated at fourpence each ; and this is the more
gratifying because the Society is nowyledged to print, besides the above,
50,000 copies qf the entire Bible. Further than this ; the purchase and
transmission, the working and management of at least one more printing
press, the cost of types, together with the employment of Colporteurs for
the distribution of the above copies, will involve a large additional expense.
The Society can thus well employ, in the prosecution of their pledged
measures for the benefit of China, the sum of 30,OOOZ. and upwards.
Great caution was at first observed in making the appeal; for it was
thought undesirable to raise expectations which could not be realised ; and
the promoters of the plan wished all the friends of the Bible and of China
to act from principle and conviction, rather than from impulse and excite
ment. In due time, letters of a most encouraging character were received
from Dr. Medhurst, Secretary of the " Corresponding Committee" at
Shanghai ; from Dr. Legge ; and from the Lord Bishop of Victoria, at
Hong Kong ; and others. A tone of greater confidence is now assumed,
and active measures are taken to carry out practically and effectually the
Million Testament scheme. In a spirit of friendly co-operation, the Mis
sionaries of different Societies, and others, have commenced the great
undertaking, and are exerting all their power to produce the copies re
quired. It is already agreed that the first quarter of a million shall be
provided as follows : — 115,000 at Shanghai, under the superintendence of
Dr. Medhurst; 50,000 at Hong Kong, under the care of Dr. Legge;
while the Bishop of Victoria has undertaken the remaining 85,000 copies.

219
It is expected that the first quarter of a million will be ready by June
1855. If, however, another press is sent out, as requested*, and if any
part of the millon are printed in this country, the work will be greatly
expedited, and the object accomplished in a comparatively short period.
Much, however, will depend on the cordial co-operation of the Missionaries,
both European and American, and very much on the disposition of the
ruling powers in China. Should the Tae-ping-wang army succeed, there
is good ground to look for encouragement, inasmuch as the circulation of
the Christian Scriptures is to some extent carried on by themselves. It is
reported that 400 printers are employed in the insurgent camp, super
intended by Tae-ping-wang, and that they have already printed con
siderable portions of the Old and New Testament. If, on the other hand,
the Imperialists should continue in possession of the Government, there
¦ are still good reasons to hope that greater facilities than formerly will be
afforded for the dissemination of Christian truth. The Missionaries are
full of hope, and the language of Providence is— Go Forward ! A wide
breach has been made in the hitherto impregnable wall ; it is the privilege
of this Society to pour in large supplies of the Holy Scriptures ; and
earnestly seeking the blessing of Almighty God upon every agency em
ployed, they may look for the accomplishment of the ancient prophecy :
"And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be
exalted. Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the
north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim." (Isa. xlix.
11, 12.) CLOSE OF THE JUBILEE YEAR.
On Friday evening, March 3, 1854, a Meeting was held at the Free
masons' Hall, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's-Inn Fields — the Right
Honourable the Earl of Shaftesbury, the President, in the Chair. It was
a Meeting of the Officers, Committees, and Collectors of Auxiliaries,
Branches, and Associations in London and its vicinity, specially invited to
meet the Committee and Officers ofthe Parent Society, convened for the
express purpose of creating an increased interest in behalf of the Society
in and around the metropolis. After the reading of a brief Report of the
Society's Jubilee proceedings during the year, addresses were delivered
on the following subjects : —
1. The success vouchsafed to the Society during the first half century of its existence
and labours calls for special gratitude to Almighty God.
2. The present state of Great Britain and Ireland demands renewed and increasing
exertions to circulate the sacred volume.

* This is now done.

220
3. The peculiar circumstances of Foreign Countries, and particularly of China, re
quire a prompt and vigorous effort to extend the blessings of Divine Bevelation.
4. The present a suitable season to augment the Funds of the Society, by the revival
and extension of Auxiliaries, Branches, and Ladies' Bible Associations throughout the
country, more especially in London and its vicinity.
The speakers on the occasion, in addition to the noble Chairman, were,
the Rev. Dr. Steinkopff, Rev. J. H. Gurney, Rev. Dr. Archer, E.
Corderoy, Esq., and the Rev. George Browne.
This brief record ofthe Society's Jubilee proceedings may now be con
cluded in the words ofthe Resolution adopted' by the Committee at the
termination of the Jubilee Year : — ¦
" That, on coming to the close of the Society's Year of Jubilee, the
Committee feel it incumbent upon them to put on record their deep sense
ofthe goodness of God to the Society, as manifested in connexion with
this memorable period of its history. Whatever solicitude they may have
experienced at the commencement ofthe Jubilee celebration, has long since
given place to the liveliest emotions of gratitude and joy, at witnessing the
wide-spread interest that has been excited, and the noble amount of con
tributions received; including the willing offerings of old and young, rich
and poor — from the Queen upon the throne, to the Sunday-School child ;
as also from people of every colour, and of every rank, in foreign countries,
and in distant lands ; constituting, with the large and generous sum so
rapidly and cheerfully raised for China, an extraordinary Fund of above
.£80,000,* and this without lessening the amount ofthe Society's usual
Income. Such a tribute to the holy and blessed volume of inspired truth
has, it is believed, never before been presented.
"The Committee, on a review of this gratifying result ofthe year, would
intermingle with their praises earnest prayer that they may be guided to.
a wise and profitable administration ofthe Society's affairs under the new
and enlarged responsibility which has devolved upon them."
1 0 Earl Street, Blackfriars,
London, May 8th, 1854.

* The Jubilee and Chinese Testament Funds now exceed £100,000.

APPENDIX.

No. I.
Church Missionary Society— At the Monthly Meeting of the Committee, March 14,
1853, the Right Bev. Bishop Carr in the chair, it was
Resolved unanimously —
" That this Committee, at its first Meeting during the Jubilee Year of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, desires to record its deep interests in the season, and to
recognise the free and copious distribution of the Holy Scriptures, not only as a
part of the original design of the Church Missionary Society, but as the indispen
sable accompaniment of all Protestant Missions, and the foundation of all their
success. This Committee desires also to thank God for the intimate union and
co-operation which has existed uninterruptedly between the two Societies ; to
record the readiness and liberality with which the British and Foreign Bible
Society has ever supplied the wants of our Missionaries and Native Churches ; and
to express a fervent and devout hope that the Jubilee Tear, already auspiciously
begun, may be accompanied throughout with an abundant blessing from the Lord ;
and that, as Missions are extended, and Missionary efforts are multiplied in the
Church of Christ, the influence and means of the British and Foreign Bible
Society may be proportionally enlarged, to distribute, through these multiplied
channels, the pure waters of everlasting life. Hector Straith, Secretary.
London Missionary Society, March 11, 1853 — We are instructed by the Directors
of the London Missionary Society to convey to you the expression of their very
sincere sympathy in the joy and gratitude with which you celebrate the Jubilee of the
British and Foreign Bible Society, and their unalterable attachment to that inestimable
Institution. While the Directors, in concert with Christians of all classes and in many lands.
would render their devout acknowledgments to Almighty God for the formation, pro
gress, and present position of your Society, they feel special reasons which render this
sacred duty incumbent on themselves. The relation between the operations of the
British and Foreign Bible Society and those which they are called to superintend is so
intimate, and of such vital importance to the cause of God and the progress of His truth,
that it would be most unnatural did they not share in the satisfaction with which you
review the marvellous and blessed work which your Society has been honoured of God to
effect. Believing that its claims will be appreciated in proportion as they are fully considered,
our Directors feel assured that the Jubilee Services must, by awakening more attention
to these claims, constrain many to return a generous response to your present appeal, and
hereafter to render more adequate aid to your great object.
Although the Directors have not received any communications on the subject from their
Missionary Brethren, they feel a confident assurar.ee that these devoted Labourers are

222
surpassed by none in attachment to the British and Foreign Bible Society, and that, were
it practicable, they would, with one heart and voice, offer you their hearty congratulations.
Not a few of their number will, we are persuaded, celebrate your Jubilee with devout
gratitude in the midst of the converted heathen, who are so largely debtors to your
Society, which, in conjunction with the labours of their Teachers, has enabled them to
read in their own tongue the wonderful works of God. Arthur Tidman, ) „ , .
Ebenezer Prout, J Secretanes.
The Brethren's Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel, April 11, 1853 —
I am directed by the Committee of " the Brethren's Society in London for the Fur
therance of the Gospel" to transmit to you the enclosed cheque for 100?., as a
donation from that Institution to the Jubilee Fund of the British and Foreign Bible
Society. Your Committee is requested to accept this offering in token of the gratitude of our
Society for the blessing which the Lord has vouchsafed to the administration of its own
peculiar stewardship ; in thankful acknowledgment of the generous help afforded to it
from time to time by the British and Foreign Bible Society ; and in testimony of the warm
sympathy and unfeigned respect of a religious community, which, in its rise and its
renewal, in the prosecution of its humbler labours at home, and the performance of its
more extensive Missionary work abroad, has been pre-eminently indebted to the posses
sion of the word of God in its simplicity, integrity, and purity. It would indeed be
strange if the spiritual descendants of the ancient church of Bohemia, which contended
so long, so earnestly, and, in part, so successfully, for the public and private use of the
Holy Scriptures in the vernacular tongue, and which was the first to turn to account the
art of printing for their more general distribution, should refuse to take share in the Jubilee
of a Society, whose sole object it is to circulate the Bible — the only record of eternal and
saving truth — in all languages, throughout all countries, and among alt nations of the
habitable globe. P. La Trobe, Secretary.
The Wesleyan Missionary Society — Extract from the Minutes of the Committee
Meeting held March 11 th, 1853, the Rev. John Scott, President of the Confe
rence, in the Chair.
Laid on the table the Papers published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in
reference to the celebration of its Jubilee. The attention of the Committee having been
directed to the subject, it was unanimously Resolved,
On the motion of the Rev. Dr. Bunting, seconded by the Rev. Dr. Beecham,
I. That this Committee has heard, with feelings of lively interest and satisfaction, of
the intention of the British and Foreign Bible Society to celebrate the fiftieth year of its
existence in the manner announced in these publications ; and congratulates the Officers
and Committee of that Society on the very encouraging commencement of such
celebration in the Meetings and Services which have been held during the present
week. II. This Committee desires to unite with the British and Foreign Bible Society in
offering its humble acknowledgments to the Great Author of all good for the origination
of that most valuable Institution ; for His preserving care over it during the last half
century; and for the intstimable advantages which He has made it instrumental of con
ferring upon the British nation, and upon many other nations and peoples, in the circula
tion of more than 43,000,000 of copies of the" inspired word of God, in whole or in part,
in upwards of 170 languages or dialects. Such a multiplication of copies of the Sacred

223
Scriptures the Committee cannot but consider as a signal instance of the favour of the
Most High to the Society, which has been permitted to accomplish it, to the age in
which it has taken place, and to the country where the work has been commenced
and principally effected ; and as supplying at once a principal means, and a cheering
pledge, of the accomplishment of the Divine promise, that " the earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord."
III. The Committee, while thus uniting with large numbers of their fellow Christians in
thanksgivings to the Supreme Source of every blessing, hold themselves obliged, on this
occasion, particularly to acknowledge with gratitude the Spirit of Christian liberality and
fraternal kindness which has marked the conduct of the British and Foreign Bible
Society towards all Protestant Missionary Institutions. The Wesleyan-Methodist Mis
sionary Society, in common with many others, has been long apd deeply indebted to its
bounty, both for grants of books in the English tongue, and for assistance in the trans
lating and printing of the Holy Scriptures in several of the languages used by its Mis
sionaries in Africa, India, Ceylon, Polynesia, and North America ; and the value of the
Bible Society's aid has been greatly enhanced by the promptitude and cheerfulness with
which it has ever been afforded.
IV. The Committee perceives with pleasure that the Society contemplates, as one
result of the year's solemnities, a large accession to its means of usefulness by contribu
tions to the Jubilee Fund ; and, in the confidence that the Wesleyan-Methodist Societies
and congregations on the various Mission Stations will gladly avail themselves of this
opportunity of expressing their gratitude and good will, recommends that, wherever it is
practicable, a Public Collection should be made on behalf of the Society in the course of
the ensuing year ; and that where this method may not be practicable, the Missionaries
should be instructed to take such other methods for assisting the Jubilee Fund as they may
deem most suitable and expedient. Elijah Hoole, Secretary.
From the Committee of the London City Mission. — Our Committee desire to
express to you their most sincere and hearty congratulations on your most valuable
Society having, in the providence of God, entered on the fiftieth year of its existence.
They avail themselves of this opportunity to acknowledge the truly important services
which it has rendered to ourselves, and the essential assistance which it has been to us in
our work. We have indeed cause to bless God that the Society was ever established,
and that it has continued its useful course to the present time. And the most earnest
prayer of our Committee is, that God may continue to bless and prosper it. We thank
your Committee very heartily for the readiness with which you have invariably kindly
supplied us, on application, with the Scriptures, and we rejoice to know that this
supply has not been without its results. Pray again accept our warmest congratula
tions. John Garwood, Secretary.
London, May 2, 1853.
London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews. — At a Meeting
of the Committee, held on October 12, 1853, at the Society's House, 16, Lincoln's-
Inn Fields, Joseph Payne, Esq., in the Chair, it was
Resolved unanimously —
" That this Committee desire to record with grateful interest their sympathy with the
British ar.d Foreign Bible Society, in their celebration of this their first Jubilee
year, and to acknowledge their obligations to that Society for the Christian libe
rality and kindness with which they have ever met their applications for copies

224
of the Holy' Scriptures for circulation amongst God's ancient people, both at home
and abroad. This Committee desire to express their thankfulness to Almighty God
for the evident blessing that has attended the labours of the British and Foreign
Bible Society up to this auspicious period of its existence, and to pray that those
blessings and successes may be abundantly multiplied." H. L. Layard, Secretary.
Congregational Library, Blomfield Street, Nov. 14, 1853. — I am instructed by
the Committee of the Congregational Union of England and Wales to forward to you
the subjoined Resolution, unanimously adopted at the Autumnal Meeting of the Union,
held in Manchester on the 25th of October last and following days; and to request that
you will be so kind as to present it to the acceptance of the Committee of the British and
Foreign Bible Society. —
" That this Assembly, believing in the Divine authority and sufficiency of the sacred
Scriptures as a revelation from God, recognising the obligation of mankind to pro
mote their circulation, and to study their contents, would embrace the opportunity
now appropriately furnished of congratulating the Committee of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, in this its Year of Jubilee, on its successful endeavours to
diffuse the word of life in all lands, and in all languages, and on the wonderful
openings now presented for its further distribution, especially among the millions of
the inhabitants of China ; and would earnestly hope that the zeal and prayerful
liberality of all denominations of Christians may enable the Society adequately to
avail itself of its present facilities for greatly- extended usefulness, and that the
blessing of God may increasingly rest on its valuable labours.
George Smith, Secretary,

No. II.
Caernarvon —Great Jubilee Demonstration. — Believing that the numerous
readers ofthe "Jubilee Becord" will feel an interest in the Jubilee proceedings ofthe
various Auxiliaries, I shall endeavour to present you with a sketch of our Demonstration,
which came off on the 3d and 4th of August in the old castle, the most noble castellated
structure which the first Edward erected. As our Meetings were held in the open air,
our great anxiety was that the weather should be propitious, the rain on the previous days
having fallen in torrents. But, as if the Almighty intended to honour devotion to the
cause of His truth, the clouds cleared up, and the sun smiled through the dark and murky
veil which had for a long time hid its glories, and gracefully shed a golden lustre over pro
ceedings intended to exalt its Creator. What would not your readers have given to unite
in our Demonstration — to have witnessed an audience of 7000 people addressed by some
of the principal orators of North Wales, both Churchmen and Dissenters, the Deputation
from the Parent Society, and last, though not the least, by that excellent friend of the
Society, the Bev. H. Stowell of Manchester ? Amongst the gentleman who occupied the
platform were the Rev. T. Thomas, M.A., Vicar of Carnarvon , Rev. H. Stowell, Hon.
Canon of Chester ; Rev. Thomas Phillips, Deputation from the Parent Society ; Rev. W.
Jones, Vicar of Nevin : Eev. H. G. Edwards, Curate of Caernarvon : Rev. D. L. Wil
liams, ditto ; Rev. E. O. Hughes, Rector of Llandysilio ; Rev. M. Hughes, St. Ann's ;
Rev. W. Wynn Williams ; Rev. W. Davies, Liverpool j Rev. T. Aubrey, Wesleyan

225
Minister, Bangor, Rev. J. Phillips, Calvinistic Methodist Minister, Bangor ; Eev. W.
Ambrose, Independent Minister, Port Madoc ; Rev. T. B. Herbert, Llanedwin ; Rev. E.
Owen; Rev. J. Morgan; Rev. J. Davies ; Bev. Robert Jones; Rev. W. Griffith,
Holyhead ; Major O. E. Nanney ; R. Williams, Esq., Mayor of Caernarvon ; Rev O.
Jones, Montgomery ; Rev. T. Charles Evans, Manchester, &c. A great number of the
most influential families were present in the contiguous gallery, to the right of the Chair
man. The interest of the Meeting was greatly enhanced by the fact that a very large
majority of the hankers and chief tradesmen of the town had with alacrity signed a
requisition to the Mayor, desiring that he would suggest to the inhabitants the propriety
of closing their shops and other places of business during the day. The Mayor promptly
acceded to the requisition ; and the consequence was, that the two banks, and all the
shops and places of business, with very slight exceptions, were closed, and the town pre
sented the appearance of a well-kept Sabbath-day. The Meeting was not looked upon as
a simple manifestation of the attachment of the locality to the cause of Bible circulation ;
for it was attended by individuals from almost all the counties of North Wales and the
adjacent English towns. It is true that, in the sight of God, all men are equal; still it
cannot but be pleasing to bear in mind the rank and influence which, like a halo of
light, encircled our Jubilee proceedings. Here was met an Auxiliary, having for its
President for the last forty years the Most Noble the Marquis of Anglesey, one of the
bravest of Waterloo's heroes, within the venerable walls of the castle of which he is con
stable, and lent for the occasion by his deputy, J. Morgan, Esq. ; the Member for the
county, the Hon. Colonel Douglas Pennant, regretting his inability to occupy the Chair
atone of the Meetings, and, to atone for his absence, sending a cheque for 20/. ; and the
Member for the borough, W. Bulkeley Hughes, Esq., in the Chair. What will be
the sum this Auxiliary will have the privilege of presenting as a Jubilee offering
I cannot now undertake to say : it must be reserved as the subject of a future com
munication. I find that I have trespassed too much on your space; but, notwithstanding, I cannot
avoid observing that the next day we had, in the same place, a Jubilee Meeting for the
children, at which from 1000 to 1500 were addressed by various Ministers and friends
with considerable effect. The impression made upon those who attended this Meeting
was, that in point of interest it was superior to that held on the preceding day, and
perhaps, also, in real utility. Whatever effect the former had, it was upon a portion of
the community who will be soon off the stage, whilst the effects produced at the Juvenile
Meeting may last until the Society shall be celebrating, not a Jubilee, but a glorious
Centenary. John Thomas, Hon. Sec.
Great Missenden, Aug. 6, 1853. — The Jubilee of the British and Foreign Bible
Society was celebrated in Great Missenden, on Tuesday last, with great spirit and suc
cess. At the Parochial School-room there was a sale of useful and other articles, which
the industry and good-will of the ladies had prepared, and which, it is expected, will
realize a satisfactory sum when the sale, which was continued to the next day, shall be
complete. In the field at the back of the School-room a spacious tent was erected, in
which nearly 300 persons partook of tea. An adjoining tent was well supplied with a
cold collation for the friends of the Society who came from a distance, who thus partook of
the hospitality of the Vicar, the Rev. Joshua Greaves.
In the close of the day a very numerous and highly-respectable Meeting was held in
the upper part of the field, a large waggon serving as the platform, and the rising ground
Q

226
terminating in a bank, forming a convenient gallery for the auditors. There were
present the Rev. Lord Wriothesley Russell, the Rev. Joshua Greaves, the Rev. Philip
Kent, the Deputation, the Rev. G. S. Bull, Rector of St. Thomas's, Birmingham, Rev.
C. Blackman, Rev. C. F. Champneys, Rev. W. Burgess, Rev. B. Burgess, Eev. E.
Owen, jun., Rev. A. F. Aylward, Rev. I. Durnford, Rev. H. Shepherd, Rev. J.
Matthews, &c. The attendance of many of the best families in the neighbourhood was
considerable, and the respectable yeomanry of the vicinity came with their families in
large numbers. The scene was very animated and interesting, and was greatly en
hanced by the arrivals from time to time of groups from distant parts, whom the interest
of this excellent Institution had induced thus to assemble. The Rev. Edward Owen,
of St. Leonard's, headed his parishioneis in several waggons, who arrived on the ground
shortly before the Meeting commenced.
There was a large Collection at the gate of the field, and the whole proceeds of the
day amounted to about 50?. Philip Kent.
Birmingham. — The Jubilee work is progressing in my district, and an unabated
interest is manifest. Few of our Auxiliaries, however, have entered the field with more
zest and energy than our first-born Auxiliary at Birmingham. Thirteen Meetings, held
on the same evening, were all well attended : the two at which I was present were full,
and a thoroughly Jubilee spirit pervaded the whole proceedings. Sermons in Churches
and Chapels have diffused much important and telling information, and in some cases
handsome collections. About 200?. were collected in St. Martin's Church on Lord's
Day, June 22d ; but perhaps no Meeting has ever been held of a more interesting or
influential character than the Juvenile Meeting of the 27th. The large Town Hall was
densely packed with children and young persons, and the avenues and passages as well
stowed with adults. From the cornice over the great orchestra to that over the opposite
gallery was one mass of living interest, and 36?. were collected at the close of the
Meeting. There seems now no doubt that the anticipated 2000?. will be fully realised by our
Birmingham friends. I hear that one kind and devoted lady, who has long been foremost
in our ranks there, has more than 100?. on her Collecting Book. T. J. Bourne.
Cornwall Auxiliary. — For some time past we have had continually brought before
us the interest which many around take in the success of your " Jubilee Fund." On
the 4th of July last we held a Public Meeting at Truro, where a larger attendance and
collection than they have had for years furnished renewed evidence ofthe public feeling
on the subject. The day after, at Helstone, their celebration was distinguished by
great success : a crowded, or rather packed, Town Hall, with numbers unable to obtain
an entrance, spoke highly for their sympathy in the object. This was followed by other
Meetings in the surrounding villages ; and such a thorough Jubilee spirit was created
that a sum little short of 50?. will be their offering of love in the Jubilee Year. The
Branch at Padstow has also taken up the matter most cordially, and sent in upwards of
37?. Others also from whom we have not yet received information are at work. Oh
that He whose cause it is, may open every heart and fill your treasury on this occasion !
Edward Wilson, Local Agent.
Bow, June 2, 1853. — A Jubilee Meeting having been convened by the Bow and
Bromley Bible Association on the evening of the last day in May, on which occasion
Samuel Gurney, Esq., presided, I have the pleasure of announcing the receipt of

227
24?. Os. lOJrf., which, with the exception of a small amount to be deducted for necessary
expenses, will in due time be forwarded for the general and unexceptionable purposes
of the Jubilee Fund.
I would crave the liberty of drawing your kind attention to an interesting fact in con
nexion with the amount above specified, which is, that of that sum 9?. Os. 10|<?. was
collected by children residing in the immediate locality. Upon reading to them that
excellent little Paper issued by the Parent Society entitled " An Address to the Young,"
and accompanying it with a few additional remarks, an ardent desire was spontaneously
kindled in the bosoms of these little ones to be enlisted in the service of the Jubilee
cause. So, merging the charms of home, of playmates, and of games, in the still higher
charm of doing good, they went forth from door to door, pleading, with artless but effective
eloquence, on behalf of the Bible Society, encouraged by the smiles of some, and un
checked by the frowns of others : and little indeed can they who live only to themselves
conceive of that joy which elated the hearts and brightened the countenances of the
little ones, when they tendered their (not to be despised) ingatherings, some of them
accompanying it with a regret, that they had not been -able to do more.
That this brief statement of what the little ones in Bow, &c, have done may excite
the little ones of other parishes to go and do likewise is the sincere hope and ardent
prayer of Joseph Dawson, Treasurer.
Kendal, Oct. 12, 1853. — This Society, the seventh Auxiliary Society founded in the
kingdom, on the 5th January 1810, has, during this long period of years, manifested an
unflinching attachment to the principles and constitution of the Parent Society, and
now, on occasion of the Jubilee, has had a delightful opportunity of manifesting its con
tinued allegiance and affection for the standard of Christian unity.
The Lord Bishop of Chester having consented to preach a Sermon in the Parish
Church, the mayor and corporation, and many clergymen from the neighbouring parishes,
together with the principal inhabitants of the borough — the children of the National,
British, and Charity Schools, also attended, that they might remember the event — filled
the large and venerable edifice, and were peculiarly delighted by the calm, earnest, and
affectionate mode in which the eloquent Sermon of the excellent Prelate was delivered.
As the Associations of the Kendal Auxiliary partake of the character of a county
organization, it was decided to hold an Evening Meeting in addition to. the Morning
Service, in order to enable the largest possible number of those desirous of partaking in
this holy festivity to unite together on the occasion. Many visitors flocked in from the
Country Associations, and the eager desire to be present warmed the Committee with
the persuasion that the Bible has its home in the hearts and affections of the English.
The Evening Meeting was held in the Assembly Room, the largest in the borough : it
was crowded — we may use the word " crammed " — so that many persons had to stand
the whole evening.
As many of the friends of the Society were invited to join in the celebration, the
speakers were requested to adopt a system in addressing the Meeting, ten minutes only
being allowed to each speaker, and the great subject was divided into six branches.
The Collection yielded 62?. 1*. id., which, added to that of the morning and to other
sums subscribed, amounts to about 320?. as the first coutribution to the Jubilee Fund
from the Kendal Auxiliary. The Chairman, in very cordial terms, proposed a vote of
thanks to the Bishop for his services in the morning : after which the Rev. J. A. Latrobe
pronounced the apostolic benediction, which closed the proceedings of the Bible Society
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228
Jubilee in Kendal, 1853, one which will long be remembered, and, it is hoped, will
act as a stimulus to future exertions from the retrospective view which the occasion has
opened out of the great things which God in His mercy has been pleased to bring about
-during the last fifty years, through the agency of the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Llanelly, Oct. 17, 1853. — I have to report that our Jubilee celebration on the
12th instant passed off exceedingly well. All trade and business were suspended
during the day. About 2000 children walked in procession through the town, headed
by the President, Committee, Teachers, &c, numbering in all about 2500. We met
afterwards in a field, there being no building large enough, where we had short
addresses and suitable hymns. The two Evening Meetings (one English and the
other Welsh) were most numerously attended. The numbers attending the Welsh
Meeting were so great that they were compelled to adjourn from the School-room to
Capel-Als. We were fortunate in securing the services of the Rev. W. Rees, of
Liverpool, for the Welsh Meeting. He proved a host in himself. My belief is, that,
apart from the Jubilee Fund, a Bible spirit has been created in the town of Llanelly
that will not end with October 12, 1853. We hope to make an offering to the Jubilee
Fund of not less than twenty pounds. R. Smith, Secretary.
Holywell. — This Auxiliary Society celebrated the Jubilee Year of the Parent
Society on the 27th of October. In compliance with the request of the Committee, all
the shops were closed, and all public business suspended, at eleven o'clock in the fore
noon ; thus manifesting the great regard that all the inhabitants have for the Bible.
There were three Meetings held during the day.
All the Meetings were crowdedly attended, and some excellent speeches delivered
to very attentive assemblies. D. W. Jones, Secretary.
P.S. In the course of his address at the Morning Meeting Mr. Phillips, the Jubilee
Secretary, read the following Note, which he had received on the platform —
" My soul doth magnify the Lord that I have lived to see the Jubilee of the British
and Foreign Bible Society. When I reflect on the powerful influence ofthe Bible, and
the effect produced thereby upon my beloved country, Wales, and consider ihat I shall
be laid in the silent grave before the return of another Jubilee, I feel disposed to do
something worthy of the great and expansive object contemplated by the Parent So
ciety. Having made it a subject of prayer, I am resolved to make a proposition, which
I am quite sure will be spontaneously, heartily, and liberally responded to by the
numerous Bible readers, Bible lovers, and, I trust, Bible livers, who are assembled here
upon this interesting occasion, viz., If 100Z. be collected I will contribute 50?. towards
the amount, as follows — 25?. to send 1500 copies ofthe New Testament to the Chinese,
and the other 25?. to go to the general purposes of the Jubilee Fund."
Bradford, Yorkshire, Oct. 19, 1853. — On my arrival here yesterday, I inquired
what was the prospect of having a good Meeting, and was assured that although the
place of meeting (St. George's Hall) would hold between 3000 and 4000 people, it had
been found necessary to refuse tickets of admission to hundreds of applicants.
At half-past six the chair was taken by John Rand, Esq., the active and energetic
President; and on taking my seat on the platform I certainly witnessed a most magni
ficent spectacle. The immense building was crowded from area to roof by an audience
representing every section of the Christian Church and every grade in society. It was

229
estimated that nearly 4000 people must have been present soon after the commencement
of the Meeting.
The principal speakers were the Rev. W. Arthur, the Rev. J. C. Miller, of Birming
ham, and the Rev. G.Gill, of Rarotonga; and more spirit-stirring addresses I never
heard. The collection amounted to 90Z., irrespective of between 200Z. and 3001. given on the
platform in Jubilee Donations. I thought it well to " hit the iron while hot," and
obtained a sheet of paper, on which I wrote " Jubilee Donations." I handed it to
gentlemen on the platform, who most readily put down their names ; and I expect that
after this document has gone round the town of Bradford, as the Committee intend it
shall, there will be a remittance to the Jubilee Fund which will be something like com
mensurate with the great wealth of this place. James A. Page.
Broadlands, Taunton, Dec. 29, 1853. — I have the consolation — and it is not a slight
one — of reflecting, that every Meeting recently attended by me, without a single excep
tion, afforded decisive evidence of extended and increasing interest in the cause of our
beloved Society. In no instance was this more strikingly manifested than at the last,
in the beautiful village of Clevedon. A Ladies' Bible Association was formed there
early in 1841 ; and although the population, including visitors, does not exceed 2000,
a Free Contribution of about AOl. has been annually remitted through the Bristol
Auxiliary, with which it is affiliated. " But the liberal deviseth liberal things," and a
cordial response was made to the appeals in behalf of the Jubilee and the Chinese
Million-Testament Funds, in aid of which the largest Public Meeting ever assembled
in Clevedon was held on the 9th ultimo. The chair was occupied by Sir Arthur H.
Elton, Bart., who introduced the business in a very appropriate and interesting address,
and was followed by the Vicar of the parish, the Incumbent of the New Church, the
Minister of the Independent Chapel, and other friends. The pecuniary results of this
delightful Meeting, and of the zealous exertions of our friends of all religious Denomina
tions, have been as follows —
Collected for the Jubilee Fund  £39 12 5
Ditto for the Chinese Testament Fund, for 5214 copies . 86 17 11
Total  £126 10 4

If every similar extent of population throughout Great Britain manifested a like
spirit, our Jubilee Fund would be nearly 400,000?., and China might confidently look
for a supply of more than Fifty Millions of Testaments. Such examples are truly
encouraging, and many a father, mother, sister, and brother, yes, and many a domestic
servant too, may be stimulated by the fact, that every family in Clevedon, on the average,
gives thirteen copies of that blessed book to the destitute millions of China. C. S. Dudley.
St. John's, Bermondsey. — On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, the 10th and 12th
of January, two Meetings of children belonging to the Sunday Schools of the various
Denominations of Christians in our locality were held, to commemorate the Jubilee
Year of the Bible Society, and to assist in the effort now making to circulate One Million
copies of the New Testament among the Chinese. Both Meetings were held in the
Branch Grammar School, Magdalen Street, and on both occasions the President, the
Rev. James Ralph, took the Chair.

230
The services were commenced by singing " All hail the power of Jesu's name !"
The first Meeting was composed of about 700 children from three Church, one
Wesleyan, and two Congregational Schools. They were addressed, by the Rev. Messrs.
J. Adey, R. M. Martin, L. M. Humbert, and J. Davis, in appropriate and interesting
speeches. Two verses of suitable hymns were sung between each address, and the
Meetings were concluded by singing, " From all that dwell below the skies."
The second gathering, on Thursday, amounted to more than 900 children, composed
of three Church, one Wesleyan, one Primitive Methodist, one Baptist, and two Inde
pendent Schools. Suitable and energetic addresses were delivered by the Eev. Messrs
J. Bodington, J. Wood, T. Phillips (Jubilee Secretary), and Mr Joseph Maitland, with
hymns sung between each address, as on the previous occasion.
On the following Sabbath Day there were distributed among the various Sunday and
Day Schools 4000 Addresses and 1500 Jubilee Collecting Books and Chinese Collecting
Papers ; and for the three following weeks there was called into exercise the efforts of
about 1400 new Collectors, going from house to house with their books and papers,
gathering together pence and halfpence on behalf of the special efforts put forth by the
Bible Society ; and many of the inhabitants, who never thought of the Society, had its
claims urged upon them by children, some of whom were too young to use plainness of
speech. The result of these juvenile efforts are —
For the Jubilee Fund  £37 14 5
For the Chinese Testament Fund  1797
Total  £55 4 0
which amount is paid to the Treasurer of the Southwark Auxiliary Bible Society, with
a list of the various Schools who have collected and contributed. Peter Kevan, Secretary.
City of London. — On the 25th of October a large and influential Jubilee Meeting
was held at the Mansion House, under the Presidency of the Lord Mayor (Mr.
Alderman Challis, M.P.), addressed by the Earl of Shaftesbury, the Eev. Canon
Villiers, Dr. Tidman, Mr. Alderman and Sheriff Wire, and others. The collection and
contributions on the occasion amounted to 256?. 5s. 8d.
Taunton, Nov. 9, 1853. — I earnestly hope every county in the kingdom will
manifest equal interest and liberality with Somersetshire in responding to the Jubilee
Appeals of the Bible Society. Special Meetings have been held within the last few
weeks at Bristol, Bath, Taunton, Yeovil, Bridgewater, Somerton, North Petherton,
Weston-super-Mare, and several other places. I regret to say it was not in my
power to attend more than four of these ; but from the reports of our local friends,
and personal observation, I am encouraged to believe that an unprecedented degree
of interest was manifested, and that the results will be highly satisfactory, not only in
a pecuniary sense, but in one that is far more important — the extension of a wider
appreciation of the claims of the Holy Scriptures to universal reception and belie f, as
a revelation of infinite love and mercy to a guilty world.
This, and this only, will secure for the Society that adequate support which will
render it increasingly a blessing to mankind.
I know not that any one of more than 7000 Public Meetings, which I have bad
the privilege of attending, has been more interesting and encouraging than that at

231
Taunton, where, as well as at Somerton, C. A. Moody, Esq., M.P., presided. The
spacious Town Hall was crowded in every part, and it was said that hundreds were
compelled to withdraw who could not obtain admission. Perhaps the interest was
increased by the fact that it was in the same room that the idea of "A Million of
Copies of the New Testament for China" was suggested, at a preceding Meeting of
the Society, by my friend and neighbour, Thomas Thompson, Esq. That this interest
has not subsided we have evidence in the facts, that names have been entered, and
subscriptions paid, for 6017 Chinese New Testaments, amounting, at fourpence each,
to 100?. 5*. 8d. ; to which must be added Jubilee Contributions to the amount of
57?. 5*. 3d. ; making a total of 157?. 10s. lid. The population of Taunton is con
siderably under 13,000, and a very simple calculation will show you, that if every
similar extent of population in England and Wales emulated Taunton, China might
look with confidence to us for ten millions of those sacred records by which " life and
immortality are brought to light." And why should it not be so ? God has enabled
us to attempt great things, and, " looking unto Him," we may expect great things.
By letters just received I find that the Jubilee Fund at Bristol amounts already to
1200?.; and the Cheltenham Secretary writes — "We exceed 300?., and hope to make
it 400?." Calculate again, and you will find, that if the example of Taunton, Bristol,
and Cheltenham be followed throughout Great Britain, the Jubilee Fund will exceed
250,000?., and so it will if every man does his duty. C. S. Dudley.
Blackheath, Kent, Feb. 1854. — A Jubilee Offering for the Bible Society, by a
Member of the Rev. J. Fenn's Congregation, Blackheath Park, through the Divine
blessing vouchsafed to the humble effort and the kind co-operation of her friends, near
and far distant, chiefly by sixpenny contributions.*
Shrewsbury, Dee. 7, 1853. — On Friday, November 4, two large and influential
Meetings were held in Shrewsbury to celebrate the Jubilee of the Bible Society, and
were in every way worthy of the interesting occasion, and of the county town of
Shropshire. Over the Morning Meeting Viscount Hill presided, and manifested his
unabated attachment to the great cause of the Bible Society; and at the Evening
Meeting, when the large Music Hall was filled to overflowing, the Chair was occupied
by the Rev. Dr. Kennedy, the Head Master of Shrewsbury Grammar School, who, in
an able and eloquent address, maintained the great Protestant principles so dear to all
who love an open Bible and its world-wide dissemination. Messrs. Miller, Dale, and
Vaughan, of Birmingham, attended as a Deputation, and, with H. A. Slaney, Esq.,
Archdeacon Allen, and other local speakers, delivered deeply-interesting and impressive
addresses ; and the sum of nearly 80?., contributed after the Meetings, bore gratifying
testimony to the liberality manifested by those who listened to them.
The Jubilee of the British and Foreign Bible Society will not readily be forgotten
in Shrewsbury ; and it is hoped that the friends of the Society have received a
stimulus, the results of which will be found after many days. G. T. Edwards.
Bath, Oct. 19, 1853.— At a Public Meeting held in the morning at the Assembly-
Rooms, the Rev. S. H. Widdrington, Rector of Walcot, Bath, in the Chair, the following
Resolutions were moved and carried unanimously : — -

* The sum enclosed amounted to Fifty Guineas.

232
" That the Divine blessing having manifestly rested on the British and Foreign Bible
Society for fifty years, this Meeting desires to avow its thankfulness to Almighty
God for thus sanctioning the object and constitution of the Society ; and would
urge on all its members the duty of earnest and persevering prayer for the out
pouring of the Holy Spirit on the seed already so widely sown, and upon the
future operations of the Society.
" That this Meeting, delighting to give its public testimony to the character and claims
of the Bible as the inspired Book of God, revealing the common salvation, holds
it to be the right and privilege of every individual of the human family to possess
and read the same."
At a second Public Meeting, held on the same day, in the evening, at the Guildhall,
W. T. Blair, Esq., in the Chair, two further Resolutions were moved, and unanimously
adopted : —
" That this Meeting, while hailing the success of the British and Foreign Bible Society
in its efforts to make known the precious Gospel ' to every creature,' acknow
ledges the peculiar claim that such an Institution possesses upon the people of the
land which gave it birth, on the ground of its extensive operations in behalf of our
fellow-countrymen.
" That this Meeting deems the system of Bible Colportage, originated by the British
and Foreign Bible Society, to be one of the most valuable means of operation that
can be adopted, and therefore well deserving that special provision from the
Jubilee Fund assigned to It by the Parent Committee."
These Resolutions were well advocated by the Rev. Hugh Stowell, of Manchester,
the Rev. George Smith, of Poplar, and several local friends.
These Meetings had been preceded by a devotional Meeting on the previous Monday,
when Christians of various Denominations combined to ask a blessing on the Jubilee
occasion, and to praise the Lord for so precious a gift as the Holy Bible.
The Jubilee Contributions at Bath exceed 500?.
Colne, Jan. 11, 1854. — On Monday and Tuesday, the 14th and 1 5th of November,
1853, the Jubilee of the British and Foreign Bible Society was celebrated in Colne and
Barrowford by holding two Public Meetings at the former place. In the afternoon a
number of friends met to take tea, and afterwards adjourned to the largest room in the
town, where a most interesting Meeting was commenced at seven o'clock* by singing and
prayer. W. L. Sagar, Esq , as President of the Colne Auxiliary, occupied the Chair, and, after
a short address, called upon Mr. D. C. Wilkinson to read the Report, which showed that
the town and neighbourhood had been divided into districts, and the higher and middle
classes canvassed by gentlemen ; and, in order that nothing might be missed, a number
of cards were procured, headed " British and Foreign Bible Society Jubilee Fund."
These were given to Sunday-School Teachers and others, who solicited the working-
classes. The amount collected by the former was 86?. 16s. 3d., and by the latter,
26?. 3s. 5<?., which, with a collection after tea, to defray the expenses thereof of 3?. 7s. 5d.,
a public Collection at a Meeting of 16?. 8s. 3d., and the public Collection at Barrowford
of 2?. lis. 4c?., makes, altogether, the sum of 135?. 6s. 8d., which, after deducting
* The tradespeople of the town having signed a requisition to close their places of
business at half past six o'clock.

233
expenses (of tea and carrying out the movement), of 10?. 6s. 8d., leaves a balance of 125?.
as the Jubilee Offering for Colne and neighbourhood, to be appropriated as the General
Committee in London shall think proper. After the reading of the Report the Meeting was
addressed by T. J. Bourne, Esq., and the Rev. James Bardsley, of Manchester, as the De
putation, and several other geDtlemen, who kept the attention and interest of the people
to a late hour. Thus closed a Meeting which, for numbers, interest, and importance, has
rarely been equalled, and seldom surpassed, in this town. It was estimated that not less
than 1200 persons were present, who listened with deep attention to the clear statements
made by the several speakers. Before closing this Report there is one thing we must
refer to, namely, the cordial union of the choirs belonging to the several places of
worship, and also to the hearty and thrilling manner in which they sang the Jubilee
Hymn, reminding us of the time when Christians of every name shall unite in heaven to
sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. D. C. Wilkinson.
Trowbridge. — Report of the proceedings of the Jubilee Meetings, held on Thursday,
April 21, 1853.
In the morning, at eleven o'clock, Divine Service was held in the Parish Church, when
a most appropriate sermon was preached by the Rev. W. C. Magee, B.A., of Bath, from
Matt. v. 9, " Blessed are the peacemakers." The collection at the close of the Service
amounted to 13?. 17s. id.
In the afternoon a Public and United Tea Meeting was held in the National-School
Room. The tables were provided for 500 persons, by the Ladies' Association, and their
friends of various denominations. Admission to the tea was by ticket, the proceeds of
which, amounting to 12?. 6s., were entirely devoted to the Jubilee Fund.
In the evening, at seven o'clock, a Public Meeting was held in the same place, the
Rev. J. D. Hastings, M.A., Rector of Trowbridge, in the Chair. The engagements of
the evening were opened by singing the Jubilee Hymn, composed by Mr. Dudley for
the occasion, and devout prayer was offered by the Deputation from the Parent Society,
the Rev. D. Cooper, M.A., Incumbent of Trinity St. Philip's, Bristol. The Secretary
then read the following note from the Rev. J. M. Longmire, of Wingfield—
" My dear Sir,— Though of late years I have not attended the Meetings of the Bible
Society, from my infirmity of deafness, I should have been disposed to attend this Jubilee
Meeting, but my state of health, though better for the last few weeks, does not permit
me to encounter the fatigue and excitement of a Public Meeting. I will thank you to
state this to the Meeting for me. The Jubilee is to me, this year, doubly interesting,
as it is also the Jubilee of my own entrance into the sacred ministry. I suppose there
will not be probably one person in the Meeting who can say, as I can, that I have been
a subscriber and member of the Bible Society for fifty years. I was delighted, in the
first year of my ministry, not only with the noble object, but especially with the principle
of union of all denominations ; and what I adopted from youthful feeling, I now, in the
maturity of declining years, equally am delighted with, and trust this day will be an
evangelical alliance. I enclose two sovereigns for the Jubilee Fund, and with prayers
for the Divine Blessing upon the Meeting, " I am, dear Sir,
" Yours very truly,
" John Martyn Longmire,
" Rev. T. Mann." " Septuagenarian."

234
The President then called upon the Rev. E. Pizey, B.A., Incumbent of Trinity
Church, to move the first Resolution, which was seconded by the Rev. E. R. Talbot,
M.A., Wesleyan Minister —
" That this Meeting, regarding the Bible as the supreme standard of religious faith
and practice, recognises the imperative duty of all Christians to employ every
means for circulating it among all nations."
The President next called upon the Rev. D. Cooper, M.A., to move the second
Resolution, which he did in a most effective address on the origin, early history, and
subsequent progress of the Society, illustrating his subject with interesting facts and
figures. This Resolution was seconded by the Bev. F. H. Wilkinson, M.A., Incum
bent of West Ashton —
" That this Meeting welcomes the British and Foreign Bible Society's Year of Jubilee,
hailing it as a fitting occasion for commemorating the Divine goodness, so
abundantly vouchsafed to the Society in its origin, early history, and subsequent
progress."
This Resolution having been adopted by the Meeting, the Bev. W. Barnes, Baptist
Minister, moved, and the Bev. J. Webster, Baptist Minister, seconded, in suitable
addresses— " That this Meeting regards the Jubilee Services as a fitting opportunity of urging
with renewed earnestness the claims of the British and Foreign Bible Society
on the inhabitants of Trowbridge; hoping that the future operations qf this
Branch may prove more effective than the past."
The Rev. Thomas Mann, Independent Minister, then moved, and the Rev. D.
Salmon, Independent Minister, seconded, the fourth Resolution —
" That the thanks of this Meeting be presented to those ladies who have so kindly
and liberally provided the tea tables, and assisted on the present occasion."
The Chair was then taken by H. G. G. Ludlow, Esq., and a vote of thanks to the
President was moved by Mr. Haden, and seconded by the Rev. M. S. Berry, B.A.,
Incumbent of Staverton. The Doxology was sung, the Benediction pronounced, and
the Meeting separated with the universal feeling of pleasure and gratitude to God for
the services of the day. The collection made at the doors amounted to 36?. 3s. 6<?.,
making the entire proceeds of the day 62?. 6s. lOd.
Some new subscribers offered themselves after the Meeting, and it is greatly to be
hoped that these Jubilee services will give an impulse to the Bible Society in this
town that will not pass away with the occasion that excited it.

No. III.
Jerusalem. — A letter has come to hand this afternoon from the Lord Bishop of
Jerusalem, who, under date from the Holy City, May 19th, writes thus : —
" On Monday last we had a Bible Meeting in connection with the Jubilee of the
British and Foreign Bible Society, when the sum of 6?. 4s. was collected, to which I
wish to add 5?. of my own as a donation, and 1?. for Bibles and portions of the Bible
sold, making together 1 2?. 4s., which please to pay on my account to the Parent
Society."

235
In furtherance of the Bishop's request, I enclose a draft for 12?. 4s. Please to
send me a receipt, which I hope to enclose in my letter to his Lordship on the 24th.
Islington, June 10th, 1853. C. Young.
Constantinople, July 15, 1853. — You will doubtless be pleased to receive an
account of the first public recognition of the British and Foreign Bible Society in this
place. At our Quarterly Conference of local American Missionaries and other clerical
brethren last April, it was proposed that we should invite our respective communities
to celebrate with us the Jubilee of this Society, which has proved extensively useful
in the Turkish Empire, and to whose agency here we are all more or less indebted,
both as Pastors and people.
Such a proposal could not fail to be heartily welcomed. A Committee of arrange
ment was accordingly formed; and a Meeting was convened in Pera, the principal
Frank district, on Monday, June 13. The interest of the occasion was greatly en
hanced by the presence of some of the American Missionaries from the interior, who
had joined the Annual Session of their Members, held this year at the capital.
Lord Stratford de Redcliffe kindly presided for a while in his private capacity, re
signing the Chair to Mr. Brown, Charge d'Affdires of the American Legation. Prayer
having been offered, his Lordship introduced the object of the Meeting with » grati
fying address.
An able Report, drawn up by the Rev. Alexander Thompson, Scotch Missionary
to the Jews, was then read, setting forth those events in our national history which
prepared the way for the Society's institution, and giving an epitome of its operations
from their commencement until now.
After the adoption of the Report the following Resolutions were passed —
I. Moved by the Rev. Mr. Riggs, American Missionary, and seconded by the Rev.
Alexander Thompson —
" That this Meeting thankfully recognises one of the most signal tokens of Divine
goodness in the establishment and success of the British and Foreign Bible So
ciety;- considering it to be a main instrument, in the hands of God, for reple
nishing the earth with holiness, happiness, and peace.
II. Moved by the Rev. Mr. Morgan, and seconded by the Rev. Mr. Powers, American
Missionaries in the interior —
" That the Agency of the British and Foreign Bible Society, as exerted in Eastern
countries, has been a great blessing to tens of thousands, and a great assistance
and encouragement to those engaged in preaching the Gospel throughout this
empire."
III. Moved by Mr. Sang, British Professor of Mathematics, &c., in the Ottoman
service, and seconded by the Eev. Mr. Hamlin, local Member of the American
Board —
" That (in the language of Scripture) ' very much land ' is yet to be possessed — very
much remains to be done — calling for increased efforts and sacrifices on the part
of those who acknowledge the Scriptures to be the principal means of social order,
and of temporal and spiritual prosperity."
IV. Moved by the Rev. Mr. Schauffler, local Agent for the Jews, and seconded by
the Rev. Mr. Bliss, Missionary in the interior, both connected with the American
Board —

236
" That inasmuch as the Scriptures have been introduced among these nations chiefly
through the medium of Protestant Christians in England and America, it is the
duty of all who have come from thence, and live in this country, professing a
belief in the word of God, to adorn their profession by a life of sobriety, industry,
and Gospel piety; and thus to recommend the Bible by their walk and con
versation."
The remarks of all the speakers were characterised by deep religious feeling as well as
ability, and were listened to with evident satisfaction ; while the special testimony of the
Provincial Missionaries to the efficacy of the cause in their own sphere of work was
not only invaluable in itself, but also calculated to strengthen the hearts and hands of our
friends at home with the assurance that nowhere does this Society labour " in vain in the
Lord." Notwithstanding the scattered position of our residents (especially during the summer),
and the unavoidable absence of many, the attendance was at least as numerous as could
have been expected, both of British and American families ; and among others who were
present was Monsieur de Wildenbruch, Envoy from the King of Prussia.
The thanks of the Meeting having been voted to the President and Vice-President,
the proceedings were closed with the Doxology and Benediction : not, however, before it
had been unanimously decided that a Bible Association should at once be formed here, in
connection with the Parent Society.
As the Secretary of our new Auxiliary, I am deputed to communicate to you the
foregoing particulars for the information of your Committee. Horace M. Blakiston, Secretary.
Brussels, Nov. 15, 1 853.- — I have great pleasure in announcing to you the following
collections which have been made in favour of the Jubilee Fund,* viz.
For the Million Testaments for China — £ s. d.
In the French Independent Congregation, Brussels, after Sermons by the
Bev. E. Panchaud  Fr. 266.80=11 9 6
In the Episcopal Church, Rue Belliard, after Sermons, by the Rev. G.
Keogh  12 0 0
In Dr. Malan's Congregation, Geneva, after Sermons by him . .Fr. 160= 9 5 6
For the Jubilee Fund in general —
In the Episcopal Congregation, Bonn, after Sermon by the Rev. G. G.
Gardiner, British Chaplain  630
For the Jubilee Fund, No. 5. — Special Fund for pecuniary aid to persons
in the employ of the Society —
In the English Independent Congregation, Brussels, after Sermons by
myself  43 2 6
W. P. Tiddy.
Amsterdam, Nov. 15, 1853. — It is specially gratifying to me to convey to you the
accompanying cheque for 10?. sterling in aid of the great work carried on by your
Society ; and I feel assured that it will be interesting to the Committee to know, that of
this sum five-sixths form the contribution of a Dutch village in the neighbourhood of
Haarlem, where I have a Monday Service for the benefit of some of my countrymen,
who, for the last few years, have been settled in that neighbourhood. On coming down
* The total now remitted being 78?. 7s.

237
from the pulpit of the village church of Heemstede, on Sunday, the 6th of November,
the respected Pastor of the parish, the Rev. Dr. Beets, just invited to fill a Chair of
Theology in the Cape Colony, put into my hands an envelope with the following words
in English: "Contribution from a Dutch Village Missionary Association to aid in
sending a Million copies of the New Testament in Chinese to that people of millions."
The envelope contained a Bank Note of 1 00 florins. Of the remaining portion of the
draft, 10 florins are a contribution from another Dutch village in the province of Guelder-
land, in which I happened to halt for a few hours last week, and put into my hands by
the village Pastor, the Rev. O. H. Heldring, of Hemmen, to furnish 50 additional
copies of the New Testament in Chinese ; and the remaining 10 florins were transmitted
to me a few days after my own Jubilee Meeting by a lady who was not then present,
to increase the little thank-offering from Holland which I have already had the pleasure
to transmit. Believe me, Gentlemen, with many prayers that the great Head of the Church may
vouchsafe to your Society many continued tokens of His favour, William Jamieson.
Halifax, Nova Scotia. — A very interesting Meeting, of a devotional character, for
the purpose of ushering in the Jubilee Year of the British and Foreign Bible Society,
was held in St. Matthew's Church, on Tuesday evening, the 8th of March.
The Rev. Mr. Uniacke commenced the services by giving out Psalm cxvii.— " From
all that dwell below the skies," &c. — and offering up a solemn and appropriate prayer.
The Rev. Gentleman then read the fifty-fifth chapter of the Prophecies of Isaiah, and
gave out another Psalm, which, like the former, was sung by the choir, part of the
audience joining, in a manner calculated to make " melody in the hearts " of all present
" to the Lord."
The Rev. Mr. Forrester next engaged in prayer, and then delivered an eloquent
and soul-stirring address — as appropriate for the occasion as it was powerful for the
promotion of its objects ; and, listened to as it was by a crowded audience, in almost
breathless silence, could not fail to be productive of lasting good to the cause he so ably
pleaded. The address abounded in strong facts, placed in a light highly calculated to reflect with
brilliancy the importance and consequent claims of the British and Foreign Bible
Society — especially its present position, and the occurrence of its Jubilee at a time so
propitious for the interests of Christianity and of the world — upon the mind of every
intelligent Christian.
After a brief exordium on the objects of the Meeting, &c, the Rev. Speaker gave a
short historical view of the rise and progress of the Society, and enlarged upon its mul
tiplication and distribution of copies of the Sacred Scriptures — its success in the accu
mulation of its vast resources of materiel for carrying on its important operations — its
numerous agencies and depots scattered over the wide field marked out for its conflicts
and achievements — its Auxiliaries and lesser aids enlisted in its service — its only weapon,
" the sword of the Lord and of Gideon " — and its final triumph, the triumph of the
truth, as predicted by ancient prophecy. Our attention was then directed to the state of
the world — its idolatry being dismantled, Islamism wasting away, Judaism confounded,
Rationalism and Socialism ashamed, Romanism becoming a prey to its own rapacity, and
Protestant Christianity combining a force which will be found irresistible when more
closely united and directed by that word which is its only safe guide, its confidence, and
the secret of its power.

238
We were then called to a review of the little we had done, and exhorted to increase
our contributions tenfold during this Jubilee Year, as an expression of our regard for
the claims of this noble Institution.
Another Psalm was sung, and a comprehensive prayer offered by the Rev. Mr.
M'Gregor, and the services concluded most harmoniously by singing the admirable
Doxology — " Praise God, from whom all blessings flow," &c, to Luther's " Old
Hundredth." The Rev. Mr. Uniacke then pronounced the Benediction, and the
audience retired a few minutes after nine o'clock.
It was truly gratifying to the friends of the Bible to see that large Church so well
filled by such a respectable assemblage, and the marked attention which was paid to all
the proceedings from beginning to end ; evincing the hold which the British and Foreign
Bible Society has obtained in the affections ofthe community, and the respect which is
paid to the observance of the Jubilee, and, may we not humbly add, the countenance
and favour of the Divine Author of that word which alone maketh wise unto salvation.
Sermons also were preached on Sunday, the 13th inst., in the churches of the city
generally, for the promotion of this same blessed object, and collections made in aid of
the Jubilee Fund, as recommended by the Parent Society.
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. — A large and respectable Meeting of the friends of the
British and Foreign Bible Society was held in the Kirk on the evening of March 7th,
pursuant to the proposition of the Parent Committee. The Meeting was opened by the
Rev. G. Christie, who gave out the 19 th Psalm, and prayer offered by the Rev. W.
Wilson. The Chair was occupied by Benjamin Rogers, Esq., who introduced the
subject in a short but appropriate speech, and called upon the Rev. G. Christie to move
the first Resolution. The Rev. Gentleman showed that the British and Foreign Bible
Society took its rise during the most stirring times of European history. The power of
France was then dominant on the Continent, and British influence was threatened by
Napoleon with annihilation. Moreover, infidelity was rampant in the minds of vast
masses, while thousands of excellent people trembled as to what would be the result of
those portentous phenomena that filled both the political and moral horizon. It was
then that this Society began, by Almighty God putting into the hearts of a number of
individuals a desire to furnish every human being with a copy of the Sacred Scriptures,
which would be an antidote to infidelity, by teaching " peace and goodwill towards men."
He concluded by moving the first Resolution —
" That this Meeting considers the origin of the British and Foreign Bible Society in
1804, a period when infidelity was makiDg rapid strides, and was devastating the
nations of Europe, as peculiarly providential, the object of the Society being
decidedly Catholic, and the tendency of the Bible to unite mankind into one com
mon brotherhood, and teach the nations to learn ' war no more.' "
The Resolution was seconded by Mr. Heman Gardner.
The remaining Resolutions were moved and seconded by the Rev. Mr. Wilson, Dr.
WTebster, and the Rev. C. Knowles.
St. John's, New Brunswick, Nov. 7, 1853. — The Treasurer of our New-Brunswick
Auxiliary Society has just put into my hands a Bill for 244?. 2s. 9rf. sterling, the amount
we have as yet received in Collections, Contributions, and Donations for the Parent
Society's Jubilee Fund, which I now hasten to enclose to you, that it may go by this

239
evening's mail. We are just going to publish an Appeal on behalf of the noble design
of supplying China with one Million New Testaments, signed by our Honourable and
very worthy President, and we are not without hopes of receiving some considerable con
tributions towards that object. It gives us all very great pleasure to see the earnestness
which the Jubilee celebrations have thrown into the cause of Bible circulation. The
opposition which the upholders of Popery and Tractarianism everywhere show to the
universal diffusion of the word of God has tended not a little to rouse the dormant
energies of Protestants, as well as to show the dark quarters from which these systems
have emanated. James Paterson.
Toronto, Oct. 21, 1853. — It is a matter of much rejoicing to our Committee, as well
as to the friends of the British and Foreign Bible Society throughout Canada, and calls
for gratitude to God, to find that the highly-important objects contemplated in the
appropriation ofthe Jubilee Fund is so appreciated as to elicit such warm and liberal
responses ; and I feel truly happy in being able to say that Toronto, the queen city of
the West, as she is not inappropriately called, has at length assumed her right position
in relation to your noble Institution ; for not only, at our last Anniversary, did she
exhibit the deep interest she felt in the Bible cause, but also, at our recent comme
moration of the "Jubilee," she exceeded our most sanguine expectations. The day
was truly delightful, and was ushered in by an assemblage of a noble company of
some 250 ladies and gentlemen, who partook, in a spirit of amity and peace, of a
breakfast laid out in the splendid St. Lawrence Hall of this city. It being the day of
Meeting of several Denominations, we were favoured with a large number of Mi
nisters as well as laity, and throughout a truly catholic spirit prevailed. This, as the
Committee intended and anticipated, proved a most pleasing and profitable prelude to
one of the finest Meetings in the evening which has ever been held in the city,
numbering at least 2000 people. The Collection and Donations at the Meeting
amounted to the noble sum of 80?., which we hope to augment considerably by Col
lections in the Churches, and by Sabbath-School children, which we are now endea
vouring to enlist.
I am also happy to add that our indefatigable Agent, the Rev. Mr. Taylor, having
so well ploughed and harrowed the ground, we are now beginning to reap the fruits
of our Circular to the friends and Branches ; so that you may, from this source, also
anticipate a good sum.
With this I send you some of the Cards, &c, which the Committee had prepared
for the Jubilee commemoration. J. S. Howard, Secretary.
Eidgmount, Mandeville, Jamaica, Dec. 19, 1853. — We write to you for the
purpose of sending our congratulations to the Society on its Jubilee. We bless the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, for having enabled
the founders of the Society to devise so liberal a thing, for the counsel and aid vouch
safed to its Directors, and the increasing favour and countenance, of all good men
enjoyed by it during these fifty years, and for the extent to which its operations have
been made a blessing to our sin-stricken world ; and, corroborative of these expres
sions we hereby transmit to you Thirty-one Pounds nine shillings and twopence
sterling, as our Jubilee Contribution, raised by Collections in our negro congrega
tions, as follows : —

240
Bethahara, Moravian  £2178
Bethany ditto  2 10 6
Ebenezer, Presbyterian (China)  4 10 0
Fairfield, Moravian  1160
Mount Olivet, Presbyterian (China) . . • .750
Nazareth, Moravian . . . • . ..200
New Broughton, Presbyterian (China) . . . .800
Ridgmount, London Missionary Society (China) . ..2100
Whitfield and Davyton stations of the London Missionary Society, and a Baptist con
gregation at Porus, have not yet made their Collections, hut intend doing so.
We think you will feel with us that a Contribution so liberal, compared with
their circumstances, from a people who, till so recent a period, were degraded and
oppressed, is a most valuable testimony to their sense of the preciousness of the Bible,
that it must be held as not only evidencing their conviction that it was the Bible
that broke their temporal chains, but as affording a satisfactory ground for the hope
that, in the case of not a few of them, it has also broken their spiritual bonds, and
introduced them into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
And we pray that the Lord may bless your noble Institution, and make it a
blessing in the time to come, even more abundantly than in the time past; and
that before it has seen many more Jubilee years the great Jubilee may have come to
which its operations tend, when " the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea, and from the rising of the sun even unto the going down
of the same, His name shall be great among the nations, and in every place incense
shall be offered uuto His name, and a pure offering." J. R. Tomlinson.
Jaffna. — On Wednesday, October 12th, the Jaffna Auxiliary Bible Society held
a Meeting in the Court-house, Jaffna, to celebrate the Jubilee of the British and
Foreign Bible Society. Many of the Mission assistants from the various Out-
stations came to Jaffna in order to attend the Meeting, the majority of whom live at
a distance of six miles, and others still further. There were also a goodly number
of native females present — a pleasing feature — showing both the interest they feel
in the great work of Bible distribution, and their having overcome the prejudice
which exists against females attending a Meeting in company with their husbands.
The European community in Jaffna at the present time being small, few were in
attendance, except the families of nearly all the Missionaries in the province. The
Burgher population, also, did not muster so largely as was expected and desired.
However, bur native friends made up the deficiency, and filled the large room where
the Meeting was held, and seemed greatly interested in the proceedings.
The Meeting was commenced by the Rev. L. Spaulding, who read the 1 9th Psalm,
and implored the Divine blessing on the Meeting in particular, and the Society's
labours in general.
H. Pole, Esq., was then called upon to take the Chair.
A brief statement of the operations of the Jaffna Auxiliary, from the commence
ment of Bible distribution in the province down to the present time, was then read
by the Secretary, from which it appears that there have been three distinct periods
of Bible operations in the province. The first extended from 1815 to 1821. During
this period the Scriptures were distributed under the superintendence of a Sub-Corn-

241
mittee, acting in conjunction with the Colombo Auxiliary. The second period extended
from 1821 to 1835, when a Branch Association existed, and carried on the work with
great energy, and opened communications with other Associations, and obtained liberal
help from the Bible Society in America and the Parent Institution in England. Still,
however, this Branch Association was found insufficient, and this led to the formation
of an Auxiliary to the Parent Society in 1835, which has continued to the present
time, and marks the third period of Bible distribution in Jaffna.
Since the existence of the Auxiliary in 1835, the sum of 564?. 4s. has been col
lected in Jaffna; 1500?. have been received from the Parent Society in England,
besides 270 reams of paper, and 1274 Bibles and 1800 New Testaments; and by
grants to the American Mission and this Auxiliary the sum of 3350?. has been re
ceived from America, together with 350 Bibles and 700 New Testaments; while,
on the other hand, the Auxiliary has printed, on an average, 2,900,000 pages
annually. Thus it will be seen that great and liberal efforts have been made in circulating
the word of life amongst this people, the results of which are great and many, as may
be seen in the improved condition of the people, and from the fact that upwards
of one thousand Hindoos, chiefly from the upper grades of society, have been ga
thered into the Christian Church.
Graham's Town, Sept. 12, 1853.— You were informed, in my former communica
tion, that Sermons were to be preached and collections made in aid of the Jubilee
Fund. I have now the pleasure of acquainting you that two Sermons were preached
in the Wesleyan Commemoration Chapel ; also two Sermons by the Rev. Thomas
Boulton, Baptist Minister: the sum collected at both places of worship amounted to
the very handsome sum of 25?. 7s. 9rf. This amount the Committee have placed in
the hands of the Rev. W. Shaw until he receives from the Wesleyan Ministers in the
country districts the sums collected in each of their Chapels, when the whole shall be
remitted, through the Wesleyan Mission House, London, on behalf of the above-
named Fund.
The Annual Public Meeting was held the day following the above Services in
Commemoration Chapel, the President in the Chair. Addresses were delivered by
several Ministers and friends : the attendance was good, and the amount collected
in advance of former years. Charles Ross Gowie, Secretary.
Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land — A Public Meeting of the Van Diemen's
Land Auxiliary to the Parent Institution was held in the Mechanics' Institute, under
the presidency of Sir William Denison, on the 1 2th of October last. In the statement
read by the Rev. F. Miller, briefly glancing at the origin and progress of the Home
Institution, an interesting account was given ofthe Van Diemen's Land Auxiliary.
Resolutions were moved and seconded by the Rev. H. Dowling, H. Hopkins, Esq.,
Dr. Fry, the Rev. D. H. I. D'Emden, Dr. Officer, the Rev. G. Clarke, the Rev. W.
Nicolson, the Rev. Mr. Strongman, J. Hone, Esq., and Dr. Bedford.
The sum of 66?. was collected at the doors. The attendance at the Meeting, not
withstanding the unfavourable state of the weather, evinces on the part of the commu
nity a lively interest in the welfare of the Society. We trust that, by means of
subscriptions and congregational collections, the Committee will have in their power to
remit a large contribution to the Jubilee Fund, and that the measures proposed to
R

242
effect a more general circulation of the Scriptures in this island will prove eminently
successful. Our heartfelt sympathy with the necessities of our fellow-men should also impel us
to action. We must not infer, from the cheering results already realized, that the work
is done. A large portion of the human family still remain destitute of this blessed guide
to heaven. Let us look upon a dark and dying world, and we shall feel that special
efforts are urgently demanded. We find that the Jubilee Fund obtained by the Local
Auxiliary will be appropriated (except where contributors may desire otherwise) in
sustaining Colporteurs in this colony, and in promoting the circulation of the Bible in
China, where teeming millions have yet to be supplied with it. Towards the latter
object a " Lover of the Bible " has contributed 50?., another friend 100?., and several
1 0?. each. Are there not those amongst us who will do likewise ? In these prosperous.
times scanty offerings are unseemly, and large donations but a just recognition of the
highest claims. The Auxiliary Society in Victoria proposed to raise 1000?. as a Jubilee
Offering ; and we understand that a larger sum has been collected. What is the amount
which ought to be obtained here? If 15,000?. can be readily subscribed as a. reward
for the discovery of a gold-field, will the friends of the Bible Society be content with
the Jubilee Fund already realized, or deem a slight increase sufficient? God's testi
monies are "more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold." The world
repudiates and reverses this estimate, but Christians recognise its accuracy, and are
bound to act accordingly. — Hobart-Town "Church Record."

No. IV.
COLPORTAGE DURING THE JUBILEE YEAR.
to the officers and committees of auxiliary BIBLE SOCIETIES IN ENGLAND
AND WALES.
Gentlemen, — I am instructed to submit to your consideration the following Reso
lutions on Colportage, intended to embrace chiefly such manufacturing, mining, and
other districts as have no Bible Associations, or, where such Institutions are in a languid
and inefficient state. The Committee of the Parent Society will be happy to secure
your valuable cooperation in carrying out this part of their contemplated Jubilee
operations. I remain, your's respectfully,
Bible Society's House, T. Phillips, Jubilee Secretary.
10 Earl Street, Blackfriars,
London, May 10, 1853.

Resolutions.
I. That such a sum of money as may be deemed (by the Parent Committee) necessary
and expedient from the Jubilee Fund, be placed at the disposal of the Committee of
any County Society, or Auxiliary Committee in any county, or such other parties as this
Committee may approve of, for the purpose of Colportage, during the Jubilee Year.
II. That a Circular be addressed to the principal Societies in England and Wales,

243
intimating the willingness of the Parent Committee, as far as practicable, to bear the
expense ofthe proposed effort, for the wider diffusion ofthe Sacred Scriptures among our
own population.
III. That on receiving the application of any Committee for pecuniary aid, for the
above purpose, the communication shall be referred to the Agent of the district ; or, in
the case of counties not included in a district, to the Superintendent of such detached
county or counties, with a request that he would report on the claims and circumstances
of the places for which such applications are made.
IV. That the Agent of the district, or Superintendent of any detached county, if
requested by the Parent Committee, shall visit the places so applying, with a view to
arrange, in conjunction with the local Committees, all the necessary details for carrying
out the proposed measure ; such as
The selection of Colporteurs— the special instructions under which they are to act—
the supply of Scriptures— the rate of remuneration— the extent of country to be
visited — the duration of the effort — the mode of keeping accounts— and all other
matters of importance to the well- working of the scheme.
V Should there be no application for aid in behalf of any county, or portion of a
county, the Agent of the district shall submit to the Parent Committee such measures as
he may think best calculated to promote the circulation of the Scriptures, by means of
Colportage, in such localities.
VI. That the Agent of the district, and all other parties entrusted with Grants, shall
present to the Parent Committee, at the close of the year, a Report on the subject of
Colportage, and shall hold themselves responsible, as far as practicable, for the due
appropriation of the sums placed at their disposal.
VII. That a code of general Instructions for the guidance of Colporteurs, at home, be
prepared and printed ; and, that all who are employed in connection with this Society,
to colport the Scriptures, shall he required to adhere closely to such instructions.

N.B. Colporteurs of Bibles must be supplied with Hawkers' Licences, which are
charged 4?., and taken out in the beginning of August.

No. V.
BIBLE COLPORTAGE.

Instructions to .

a Colporteur, or Licensed Hawker of Bibles and Testaments, acting under the super
intendence of  _  — 
I. You will bear in mind that the object contemplated in your appointment is, the
widest possible diffusion of the Sacred Volume, by Sale only, in the district assigned
to you; and that for this purpose you will be required to devote all your time (the
Lord's-day excepted), unless it be otherwise arranged.
II. You will be furnished with "Specimens " of Bibles and Testaments published by
the Society, besides those with which you will be ordinarily supplied ; and should you
meet any persons desirous of possessing copies of such editions, you will, as far as

244
practicable, supply such demands. As the Books are sold at "Cost Prices," and, in
some instances, considerably below the cost, you are not authorised to deliver any Book
until the price has been paid. You will request attention to the " List of Prices " and
" Specimens ofthe Types," for the purpose of showing that your operations are not mer
cantile, but purely disinterested and benevolent.
III. You may be occasionally told that Bibles and Testaments may be bought else
where at cheaper prices ; but in this, and all similar cases, you are enjoined to avoid
all controversy, and to abstain from speaking unkindly of any other Society. You may,
when necessary, say, that the only copies you sell are those of the "Authorised Version,"
printed by the authorised Printers, for the British and Foreign Bible Society. You
may, when needful, further explain, that any variation in price may arise from a
difference in the quality of the paper, printing, or binding, but certainly not in the
actual value of the book.
IV. Should you meet with persons willing to become Collectors, or Free Subscribers,
to any amount, to existing Bible Societies, you will insert the names of such persons
in your journal; and, when labouring in localities where no Societies are organised,
you will endeavour to ascertain whether an Association may be formed. You will be
furnished with some printed papers, containing a brief notice of the Society's object,
constitution, and operations, both at home and abroad, which you may distribute as
opportunities offer.
V. Should you meet with persons unable to pay the price of a Bible at once, and yet
desirous to possess a copy, you will take their names and addresses, and hand the same
to the Secretary of the Auxiliary, Branch, or Bible Association of the district in which
you are labouring, if there be any ; but in cases where no such Society exists, you will
endeavour to find out a suitable individual in the locality willing to receive payments,
by weekly instalments, from such Bible Subscribers.
VI. You will be ready at all times to show your " Licence," and a copy of your
" Instructions," to those who are authorised to demand a view of them, as well as to
other persons, who may request, in a proper manner, to see them.
VII. You will be furnished with a Journal, in which you are to enter, daily, the
particular locality in which you have laboured, the number of houses visited, the num
ber of Bibles and Testaments sold, and any circumstances of interest connected with
your immediate duties. This Journal you will present weekly, or as often as may be
required, to the parties appointed to direct and superintend your labours, who will
give you any further instructions that may be found necessary for your information
and guidance.
VIII. Finally, you are requested always to remember the singleness of the Society's
object. You will use your best efforts to induce those who are careless and indifferent
to furnish themselves with copies of the Holy Scriptures ; your work, however, as Col
porteur, is simply to circulate the Bible, and not to interpret it. You are not employed
to distribute Tracts, or any other papers but those connected with, and authorised by,
the Bible Society. It is earnestly hoped that you may be enabled to " adorn the doc
trine of God our Saviour in all things ;" that you will be preserved from giving any
" occasion of offence:" and that, in "simplicity and godly sincerity," you will pursue
steadily the work which is entrusted to you.

245
No. VI.
Hibernian Bible Society, 10 Upper Sackville Street, Dublin, Oct. 27, 1853. 
Dear Sir — I am directed by the Committee of this Society to request your promptly
assembling your Committee, and submitting for their earnest consideration the
following very important matters.
This being the Jubilee year of the British and Foreign Bible Society, it is the
anxious wish of that honoured Institution to appropriate a large share of the " Jubilee
Fund" to Ireland. The Committee of this Society have been requested to take upon
themselves the allocation of all copies of the Scriptures, to be granted for this
country. It is proposed that all Public, Charitable, and Benevolent Institutions — such as
Hospitals, Prisons, Police, Water Guard Stations, Poor Houses, and Week-day
Schools — should be supplied with Bibles, Testaments, and Portions. To these, and
such as these, your attention is particularly requested. Still, the object that the
Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society has chiefly in view is that of an
energetic and wide-spread system of Colportage distribution throughout our land,
and this Committee will thankfully receive any suggestions by which that department
of our work may be extended. * * * *
There is money and there are books placed at our disposal ; and our whole anxiety
is to have both employed in the most effective manner, with a liberal, and yet a
discriminating hand.
Emigrants present a wide field. Have you any suggestions to offer regarding them ?
Again requesting your early attention to the foregoing, and the opinion of your
Committee thereupon, I remain, dear Sir,
Yours faithfully, And. Crawford, Assistant Secretary.

No. VII.

Montreal, Oct. 31, 1853. — Allow me to hand you two Bills of Exchange, together
amounting to 170?. 9s. Id. sterling, for which 208?. 6s. 8d. currency have been paid.
This sum has been spontaneously subscribed by members of my congregation for the
purpose of placing 10,000 copies of the New Testament, in the Chinese language,
among that number of families in that empire. The Letter of our excellent and vene
rable friend, Mr. James, of Birmingham, inserted in the " British Banner," was the
instrument in awakening us to this effort. It reached us just before the day for the
Sermons in connection with your Jubilee celebration. We collected for the Jubilee
Fund, to he remitted, with other Collections, through our Auxiliary here ; but we made
the effort to send 10,000 New Testaments to China a congregational one. Our friends
have collected for perhaps 300 copies from members of other congregations ; but, at the
rate of U. sterling each, the enclosed bills will pay for 10,227. Our friends subscribed
for so many copies at 5d. currency each, which is more than U. sterling. I will send
you the list of Subscribers by some future mail. You will find that families have acted
in the matter, and that our Sabbath School has done well.

246
I feel grateful as the Pastor of this flock for seventeen years, that, though none of
them are wealthy, they have often proved themselves liberal donors to good evangelical
objects, and that on this occasion, without Meetings, or arrangements, or noise, by
merely affording the opportunity, they have done thus for China. Last evening we had
a large Prayer Meeting — the money having been made up — to supplicate the Divine
blessing on this effort, and with all these copies of His holy word scattered among
10,000 Chinese families. I suppose that Mr. James's proposal for a Million has been
already accomplished. Henry Wilkes.
Edinburgh, Nov. 17, 1853. — I subjoin a copy of part of a letter recently received
from a dear Christian friend in Russia, which you will read with some interest.
I wish to present 100?. to the British and Foreign Bible Society in aid of printing the
One Million Chinese Testaments. I leave you to act as you may feel best for the
cause, as regards giving up my name. My own feelings are in favour of merely giving
initials, W. C. G. ; but if you think that any good may result from giving up the name
in full, then do so. It is a small thank-offering from one who has received much from
the goodness of God. In my most sanguine anticipations I never expected to see the
day when a Million Chinese Testaments would be needed ; and now this may only be
the forerunner of many millions more. * * * Idolatry seems to be falling : soon
may it fall and be forgotten ! and then may our blessed Saviour be all in all !cj May the
Jews be converted, and may prophetic visions become blessed realities !
W. Swan.

Edinburgh, Dec. 22, 1853. — When the noble proposal of your Society in regard
to the Chinese New Testament came to our knowledge, it occurred to us that it had
special claims on the tea-trade, to which we belong. We accordingly started a subscrip
tion for the purpose among the wholesale and retail Tea-dealers of Edinburgh, Leiih,
and vicinity.
We are happy to say it was cordially responded to ; and although several were sub
scribing to the same fund by other channels, they at once acknowledged the claim on
them in that capacity, and gave additional subscriptions. We mention this in the hope
that, being made public through your instrumentality, the example may be followed in
other quarters.
To get the money transmitted free of cost was a matter of consideration with us :
sending it by the ordinary mode through a Bank would cost as much as would furnish
thirty Testaments ; and to allow thirty grains of precious seed to perish is not to be
thought of, more especially as we have the good example of one of our Scotch farmers,
who, some years ago, procured thirty grains of wheat that had been found in the cere
ment of an Egyptian mummy, where it had lain for thousands of years, and having planted
it, it now not only covers a great field, but is also transplanted into other lands. Bein»
sensible of the much greater value of the gospel, which has been deposited with this
nation for so long a period, and of the incalculable good these thirty copies might do if
also transplanted, we determined on preserving them ; and having set about it, we soon
found two parties, either of whom could pay the money in London without expense.
Enclosed we beg to hand an order in your favour for 171?. 3s. 6c?. on the London and
Westminster Bank. We will thank you to acknowledge it as " 10,270 copies from the
wholesale and retail Tea-dealers of Edinburgh, Leith, and vicinity."

.247
We hope to have a remittance to make shortly from Tea-dealers in Dundee, andalso
from Perth, where we requested friends to collect for the same fund. John Simpson.
David M'Laren.
Edinborgh, 6 Minto Street, April 12, 1854.— I now enclose the Subscription Lists,
the proceeds of which I have already sent you, and the reception of which you have
acknowledged. You ask me to give a history of the origin and progress of the Contribution. This
story is a short one, and easily told. One Saturday evening, after my preparations for
the following Sabbath were completed, I happened to take up the "Christian Times."
It contained Mr. James's Letter on the subject of the Million of Testaments for China.
I read— as I read on the fire burned — and ere I got to the end of that Letter my spirit
was all on fire. I threw down the paper, and without a moment's pause or consideration
of the consequences, penned the first Letter which appeared in the " Scottish Press."
It arrested attention. I was requested to call a Meeting of Sabbath School Teachers in
Edinburgh : this Meeting was held. I explained its object, and was requested to draw
up an Address to the Sabbath School Teachers generally. That Address — a copy of
which I sent you — was sent to all the Ministers in connection with our Church. The
effect was most gratifying. Almost every Minister announced the project either to his
Congregation or Sabbath School ; and the result is in your treasury. I cannot convey
to you any adequate idea of the interest which this matter has excited. I have a box
completely filled with letters which were sent along with the remittances, in all of which,
and in every variety of language, expression is given to the zeal and alacrity of Sub
scribers, and of gratitude to myself for bringing the matter before them. Were these
letters published they would form a most interesting Appendix to the volume. Day
after day dozens of letters came, containing Drafts and Post-Office Orders, till I began
to wonder whereto the matter was to grow. My own labour in answering these letters
was not small, but it was delightful labour. My wife kept one book and I kept another,
She marked the sums, and I marked the number of Testaments which these sums repre
sented ; and thus the one was a check upon the other. If it be possible, I would wish
the book containing our list preserved, and returned to me, as I would like to retain it
as a memorial. I could easily add to these details, but these are sufficient. Only this
must not be omitted. It is not quite correct to say that all the Contributions are from
the United Presbyterian Church. Some Free Church Sabbath Schools contributed also
as the lists will show. But these are comparatively few, and small : the great amount
is from our Church. I am, dear Sir,
Your's very truly,
George Johnston.
Bristol. — Will you permit me to communicate to you a. circumstance of some
interest, and whioh may prove useful as an example to be followed in other places?
Two Sundays ago I mentioned from my pulpit the noble project of sending One
Million copies of the New Testament to China. This notice has been liberally re
sponded to by my congregation. But the circumstance which has caused me peculiar
pleasure, and which I take the liberty of communicating to you, is this, that several boys
of my congregation have voluntarily come forward, without my suggestion, and dedicated

248
the money which they had saved for purchasing fireworks to be used on the 5th of
November to the blessed work of sending the word of God to China ; and from one
School alone I have had the gratification of receiving five guineas for this holy work,
which otherwise would have been expended in fireworks.
How much deeper would be the Protestant feeling throughout our country if it were
directed in this channel, rather than in the useless expenditure of gunpowder !
J. B. Clifford.

249

ADDENDA.

Since the date ofthe preceding Report, the Committee have embraced the
various opportunities, which presented themselves, for the furtherance of the
Jubilee objects, and of which a very brief notice will now be furnished.
Seventeen additional grants, amounting to 780?'., have been made to
Auxiliary Societies, at home, for the purposes of Colportage. This sup
plementary mode of circulating the Scriptures has been adopted in about
thirty different counties, and the grants voted to carry on this work amount
to 2705Z.
Various Hospitals, Infirmaries, Unions, and Schools have received
supplies of the Scriptures, for permanent use within those establishments,
amounting to nearly 800 copies.
Another grant has been made to the Southampton Auxiliary Committee
for distribution amongst Emigrants.
The Hibernian Bible Society, has received an additional grant of
2500 Bibles and 4000 Testaments, for distribution in Ireland, making a
total of 47,500 copies granted from the Jubilee Fund, to that excellent
Institution. The Rev. Dr. Pinkerton, has received a further grant of 3000 German
Bibles, and 5600 German Testaments, for the Hospitals, Prisons, &c,
within his immediate district.
A grant of 400 Norwegian New Testaments, has been voted to the
Agency at Christiania for distribution amongst the Students ofthe Uni
versity there, on the recommendation of Mr. Knolleke, the Assistant
Foreign Secretary, who has recently visited Norway.
The Committee of the Bible Society recently formed at BAsle, for the
circulation of the Scriptures without the Apocrypha, have received a grant
of 200Z., to assist them in their efforts to distribute the Scriptures amongst
Emigrants, Railway Labourers, &c.

250
The" anxious attention ofthe Committee has been directed to India, and,
in addition to the Jubilee grants specified in the preceding Report, they
have made the following :
To the Calcutta Auxiliary, towards the expense of circulating the
Scriptures throughout the Presidency, 500/.
To the Colombo Auxiliary, 220 reams of paper for an edition of 5000
copies of the Singhalese New Testament.
To the Madras Auxiliary, 5000 Jubilee Bibles — in value, 507/. 12s. 6d.
To the Agra Auxiliary, a money grant of 150/. towards the employ
ment of four Colporteurs for two years.
The Rev. Philip Kent, who left Liverpool on the 1st of April last, on a
special Mission to the British Provinces of North America, has safely
returned, after an absence of seven months, during which he appeared at the
Anniversary of the American Bible Society, as the representative ofthe
British and Foreign Bible Society, attended sixty-eight Public Meetings,
and preached on forty-nine different occasions. These important labours
were spread over Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
Newfoundland, and Cape Breton Island. He was everywhere greeted
with the most cordial welcome ; and whatever special result may arise from
this visit, when his suggestions are practically carried out, there is every
reason to believe, that a powerful impetus has been given to the great work
of Bible distribution in the influential colonies which he has visited.
The Deputation to Australia, consisting of the Rev. M. H. Becher
and Thomas Charles, Esq., are now on their voyage, and the Committee
hope soon to hear of their safe arrival at Sydney, where they are to com
mence the work which has been entrusted to them.
A very considerable amount of the Jubilee Fund remains to be expended,
and the deliberations of the Committee are more especially directed to the
following objects ; — the extension of Colportage at home, and the appoint
ment of suitable Visitors to the East Indies, the West-India Islands, and
South America, with the view of opening up fresh channels for the wider
distribution of the holy Scriptures in those extensive and populous regions.

10 Eabx Street, Biackfriaks, London,
Dec. 23, 1854.

251

DONATIONS OF TEN GUINEAS AND UPWARDS TO
THE JUBILEE FUND,
PAID DIEECT TO THE PARENT SOCIETY, UP TO JUNE 30, 1854.

Her, Majesty the Queen . . ,£100 0
A. B  20 0
Acland, Sir T. D. Bart., m.v. . 25 0
A Few Biblical Friends in De
vonshire  25 0
A Friend, per Kev. W. E. Moles-
worth  30 0
A Friend to the Bible Society .1000 0
A Friend, per Bev. J. Skinner . 30 0
A. J. W  20 0
A Lay Member of the Church of
England  1000 0
Alcock.Mr. & Mrs.,Gisburne park, 50 0
Alexander, J. W. Esq  10 10
Allan, T. E. Esq  10 10
A Memorial of P. J  30 0
An Abstainer from Alcoholic
Beverages,  20 0
Anonymous, per Williams & Co. 100 0
Anonymous  20 0
Articles by J. S  30 0
Bach, Adolphus, Esq., Duke st. . 10 10
Bagnall, Messrs. John and Sons . 250 0
Baldwin, Rev. J., m.a  10 10
Barclay, J. G. Esq  100 0
Barlow, Capt., b.n  50 0
Barrett, E.W., Esq  25 0
Barrett, Jonathan, Esq., Croydon, 70 0
Barrett, Richard, Esq., ditto . 40 0
Batten, Mrs., Westbourne street, 10 10
Beaumont, Mrs. Rebecca ... 15 0
Beldam, Joseph, Esq  50 0
Benson, Robert, Esq., Bayswater, 50 0
Benson, Mrs. R  20 0
Bevan, R. Esq., Brighton . . . 10 10
Bevan, R. C. L. Esq  400 0
Bickersteth, Rev. Mr. and Mrs. . 10 10
Bird, Mrs., per C. S. Dudley, Esq. 50 0
Blackden, Mrs. H., Norfolk cres. 20 0
Blair, Mrs., Dundee  50 0
Bockett, John, Esq., Clapham . 500 0
Bowden, R. C. Esq., ditto ... 105 0
Bowden, Mrs., ditto  50 0
Braithwaite, Isaac, Esq. ... 50 0
Brewin, Ambrose, Esq., Tiverton, 50 0
Browne, G. B. Esq., Halifax . . 50 0
Browne, Rev. George.Tunb.Wells, 20 0
Buxton, Sir E. N., Bart. ... 250 0
Buxton, T. F. Esq  200 0
Canterbury, Archbishop of . . .100 0
Carlisle, Earl of  100 0
Carne, J. Esq., Penzance ... 50 0
Charles, B. Esq., Lower Clapton, 10 10
Cholmondeley, Marquis of . . . 100 0
Cholmondeley, Lord Henry . . 25 0
Cobb, Rev. J. F., Spratton . . 50 0
Carried forward . . 5474 0

Brought forward . . 5474 0 0
Coombs, T. M. Esq  50 0 0
Curling, William, Esq  25 0 0
Dalton, Rev. J. E., Segrave . . 50 0 0
Dalton, Mrs., ditto  50 0 0
Dickinson, Messrs. John, and Co. 200 0 0
Dickinson, W. Esq  10 10 0
Dixon, Rev. A., Higham Ferrars, 20 0 0
Duncan, P. B. Esq., Bath ... 50 0 0
Elliott, J. S. Esq  21 0 0
Ellis, W. R. Esq., Carltou Villas, 10 10 0
Ellis, Mr. & Mrs. S., Up. Clapton, 10 10 0
Evans, Mr. Eoger, Menai Bridge, 10 10 0
Eyre and Spottiswoode, Messrs. . 50 0 0
Fairman, W. G. Esq  10 10 0
Farish, James, Esq., Carlisle . . 52 10 0
Farish, Mrs., ditto  10 10 0
Farmer, Thomas, Esq  1105 0 0
Fawkes, F. H. Esq., FarnleyHall, 20 0 0
Finch, John, Esq , Tunb. Wells . 100 0 0
Firtb,Thomas,Esq., Huddersfield, 20 0 0
Fishmongers' Company . . . 105 0 0
Flanders, William, Esq. ... 10 10 0
Forster, Robert, Esq.,Tottenham, 20 0 0
Foster, Joseph T. Esq., Stamford
hill  25 0 0
Foster, James, Esq.,01d Broad-st. 1000 0 0
Foulkes, John, Esq., Newtown .100 0 0
Fowler, Mrs. Thomas, Tottenham, 50 0 0
Fowler, Miss Rachael, Melksham, 20 0 0
Fowler, R. N. Esq  200 0 0
Gardner and Sons, Messrs. . . 10 10 0
Garling, D. B. Esq., Antigua .5000
Garner, F. H. Esq., Barnstaple, 10 10 0
Gascoyne, W. Esq., Bapchild . . 15 0 0
Gay, George, Esq., Bedwell park, 50 0 0
Gay, Mrs., ditto  50 0 0
Gell, Rev. R., Kirk Ireton.Wirks-
worth  10 10 0
G. J. B. S  100 0 0
Glyn, George Carr, Esq., m.p. . 50 0 0
Glyn, George Grenfell, Esq. . . 50 0 0
Glyn, Rev. C.J. ,Witchampton . 50 0 0
Glyn, Sir R. P., Bart  50 0 0
Grace, H. Esq., Stockwell ... 10.10 0
Graham, Mr. Thomas, Chelsea . 10 10 0
Graham, T. H. Esq., Edmond
Castle  20 0 0
Graham, Mrs., ditto  20 0 0
Gregory, Henry, Esq., Camberwell, 20 0 0
Griffith, Miss Theresa, Wrexham, 50 0 0
Grissell, Henry, Esq., Clapton . 10 10 0
Gurney, H. G. Esq  100 0 0
Gurney, Russell, Esq., Eussell sq. 10 10 0
Gurney, S.jun., Esq., Lombard st. 100 0 0
Gurney,W.B. Esq.,Denmark hill, 50 0 0
Carried forward . . 9779 10 0

252

* Brought forward . . 9779 10
Hancocks, W. Esq., Kiddermin
ster  50 0
Hankey, S. A. Esq., Sydenham . 50 0
Hankey, W. A. Esq., Hyde park, 50 0
Harrison,Mrs.Woxton, Banbury, 100 0
Hart, G. B. Esq. ...... 100 0
Head, G. H. Esq., Carlisle . . .1000 0
Heathcote, J.E. Esq., Grenville st. 21 0
Henderson, John, Esq., Park . .1000 0
Hewitt, Rev. A., Heidelberg . . 10 10
Hilhouse.C. Esq.,Finsbury place, 10 10
Hilhouse, E. Esq., Heme hill . 10 10
Hindle, Eev.J.,Higham, Kent . 14 10
Hitchcock, George, Esq. . . .100 0
Hope, Vice-Admiral, c.b. . . .100 0
Hyslop, Lieut.-Colonel ..... 30 0
Ivory, John, Esq., Eyde ... 50 0
Jones, Sir Willoughby .... 20 0
Kemble,Edward,Esq.,Camberwell,l 00 0
Kemble, Henry, Esq., ditto . .100 0
Kemp, S. Esq., Canonbury square, 10 10
Kiunaird, Hon. A  100 0
Kuck, John, Esq  25 0
Labouehere, J. Esq  25 0
Landon, Mrs., Bath  100 0
Laes, Miss, Whiston, near Prescot, 50 0
Longueville, T. L. Esq., Oswestry, 100 0
Lonsdale, Mr. E., Macclesfield . 50 0
Lycett,T. Esq., perT. Farmer, Esq. 10 10
Macdonald, Lady  50 0
Mallalieu, Messrs. W. and H . . 50 0
Marten, George, Esq.,Mincing lane 50 0
Marten, Thomas, and Hollams,
Messrs  21 0
Matheson.W". Esq., Pictou . . 40 0
Meller, Eev. T. W., Woodbridge, 25 0
Meller, Mrs., Denmark hill . . 10 10
M. E. T., by Eev. T. E. Eedwar, 100 0
Mills, Thomas, Esq., m.p. . . . 500 0
Mills, J. R. Esq  500 0
M. M. . . i  50 0
Molesworth, Rev. W. E., Dun-
manway  20 0
Moore, Joseph, Esq  10 10
Moravian Missionary Society . .100 0
Morley, Arthur, Esq., Nottingham, 50 0
Mullings, Mr. E., Stratton . . 10 10
Orton, J. S. Esq., St. John's Wood, 50 0
Parry, Miss, Great George street, 25 0
Parry, Miss S., ditto ... . 25 0
Payne, J. E. Esq., Ordnance
Office  10 10
Paynter, John, Esq.,Denmark hill, 100 0
P. G  50 0
Peahody, G. Esq  25 0
Pearson, Eev. H. N., d.d. ... 25 0
Peek, W. Esq., Balham Eise . . 50 0
Peek,W.jun., Esq., Clapham . . 10 10
Piffard, Miss  20 0
Portal, Miss, Mortimer street . .100 0
Prance, Robert, Esq., Hampstead, 100 0
Radley, John, Esq., Denmark hill, 190 0
Carried forward . . 15,446 0

Brought forward . . 15,446 0 0
Eaikes, H. Esq., Chester ... 50
Ehodes, C. H.Esq., Denmark hill, 10
Eichards, W. Esq., Tottenham . 10
Robarts, Henry, Esq  50
Eobarts, the Misses, Barnet . . 50
Eoberts, Charles, Esq  50
Eoberts, Henry, Esq  21
Salt, Titus, Esq., Bradford ... 100
Satow, H. D. C. Esq  10
Saunders, E. Esq  50
Shaftesbury, Earl of  100
Shann, Eev. T., Hampsthwaite,
Yorkshire ... ... 21
Shaw, Lady, Kensington ... 50
Shippery.W. Esq., Worthing . 60
Simpson, Eev. J., Horstead Eec-
tory  20
Smedley, J. Esq., Lea Mills . . 21
Smith, Eusebius, Esq., Camomile
street  50
Smith, Jason, Esq., Beading, per
T. Sanger, Esq  26
Smith, Seth, Esq  . 21
Smith .Mrs,, Camberwell ... 10
Symes, John Coles, Esq., Montagu
square  25
Taylor ,Jas.Esq.,Todmorden hall, 30
Teignmouth, Eight Hon. Lord . 10
Thank-offering  50
Thank-offering for Special Mer
cies  25
Thompson, Mr. Serjeant . . . 100
Thornton, H. S. Esq  100
Thornton, John, Esq  25
Tollemache, Hon. Frederick . . 10
Truman, Hanbury, Buxton, and
Co., Messrs  250
Vanuer, J. Esq., Spittal square . 25
Vaughan, H. Esq., Cumberland
terrace  100
Wall, Eev. M. S.,Torquay ... 35
Ware, Martin. Esq., Eussell sq. . 10
Ware, Rev. James  20
Ware, C. T. Esq., Russell square, 10
Watkins. Eev. H. G., Potter's bar, 25
Waugb, George, Esq., Regent st. 50
W. A  50
W. R  21
Wilkinson, R. Esq., Regent's pk. 50
Williams, Ralph, Esq. .... 30
Williams, Deacon, & Co., Messrs. 100
Wilson, Joshua, Esq., Brighton . 100
Wilson, Mrs. Broadley, Clapham, 100
Wilson, W. Esq., Rathmines,
Dublin  100
Winchester, Bishop of .... 100
Wortley, Mr. and Mrs., Sekford
street  10
Wright, C. J. Esq., Islington . . 10
Wright, Mrs. C. J., ditto ... 10 10 0
Yewdall, J. Esq., Rawden ... 20 0 0
£17,832 15 0

0

0

10

0

10

0

0

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0

0

0

0

0

0

0

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10

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

5

0

0

0

10

0

0

0

0

0

10

0

0

0

0

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0

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0

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10

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0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

10

0

10

0

253
CONTRIBUTIONS
TO THE
JUBILEE EUND
FROM AUXILIARY SOCIETIES, &c
EECEIVED UP TO JUNE 30, 1854.

ENGLAND.

Bedfordshire :
County Society
Dunstable .
Luton . .
Turvey . .
Wymington .

Berkshire :
Abingdon . . .
Cookham . . . .
Faringdon . . .
Hungerford . . .
Maidenhead . . .
NewburyBeading . . . .
Shalhorne . . .
Wallingford . .
Windsor and Eton
Buckinghamshire :
Brill ....
Buckingham Chesham . . .
Emberton . ¦
Great Missenden
Hulcott . . •
Stoney Stratford
Waddesdon Wendover . .
Winslow . . .
Wycombe . .

Cambridgeshire :
Cambridge .
Chatteris . . •
Ely, City of . .
Ely, Isle of . .
Guilden Mordon
Melbourne . •
Wisbeach . . ¦
Carried forward

231 8
50 0
11 1
1 16
1 19

296 5 9

10 7
47 8
24 19
25 15
6 2
41 8
220 12
1 18
52 1
41 8

7 0
10 8 0
4 5 2 84

472 2 0

0 16 3
2 0 0
12 9 8
1 2 6
60 5 4
110 2
3 17 6
0 11 2
7 2 4
9 2 7
31 5 0

130 2 6

367 13
9 2
3 10
34 0
1 5
10 6
1 12

427 H 1

.£1326 1 4

Brought forward
Cheshire :
Chester .
Congleton FrodshamHandley .
Macclesfield MiddlewichNantwich Stockport .
Tintwistle

Cornwall :
County Society
Launceston .
Minster, &c .
St. Austell .
St. Columb .

Cumberland :
County Society
Brampton Cockermouth
Houghton Keswick .
Penrith . .
Skelton . .
Stetmurthy .
Whitehaven Workington .

Derbyshire :
County Society
Ashbourne . • •
Bakewell . . • ¦
Chapel-en-le-Frith,Chesterfield . . ¦
Cromford . . ¦ •
Carried forward . .

1326 I 4

320 0 0
14 10 0
5 2 6
3 12 0
510 10 8
8 0 0
75 19 2
190 0 0
12 10 0

1140 4 4

520 18

5

13 18

0

1 5

8

4 0

0

2 6
0

542 8 1
258 19
4
1 5
0
22 18
7
16 7
3
31 11
6
73 0
6
2 10
0
1 4
1
16 16
1
2 10
0
427 2 4
493 10
3
93 14
0
10 6
4
1 1
0
45 13
3
13 0
0
657 4 10 3435 16 1
254

Brought forward .

. 657

4

10

3435 16 1

Brought forward

. . 322

6

10 6499 12 5

Ockbrook . . .

. 25

5

7

Ongar . .

. . 3

16

6

Spondon . . .

. 32

19

7

Saffron Walden

. . 253

2

3

Stapenhill . .

. 17

7

9

Stratford , .

. . 6

12

9

Tauseley . . .

. 20

16

3

Waltham Abbey . 16
0
0
Walton-on-Trent
. 13
9
2
Waltham Cross
. . 20
0
0
767 3 2
Walthamstow
. 55
1
0
Devonshire :
West Ham .
. . 95
12
0
County Society .
Axminster . .
. 386
0
1
Upton . . .
. . 14
2
5 786 11 9
10
5
6
Barnstaple . .
. 29
16
0
Gloucestershire :
Dartmouth . .
. 3
0
0
Amberley
. 11
5
0
Devonport and
Beverstone .
1
10
5
Stonehouse
. 43
0
0
Blakeney
. 4
0
0
Ilfracombe . .
. 9
0
10
Cheltenham .
. 393
17
11
Okehampton
1
1
6
Chepstow . .
. 5
16
0
Plymouth . .
. 104
12
0
Cirencester .
. 10
8
0
Shebbear . . .
. 71
10
3
Gloucester
. 4
0
8
South Molton .
. 10
17
2
N ailsworth .
. 6
0
0
Tavistock . . .
. 13
10
6
Naunton
. 20
8
1
Teignmouth . .
. 50
0
5
Stroud . .
. 106
13
7
Tiverton . . .
. 16
10
11
Wotton-und.-Edge, 21
5
5
Torquay . . .
. 64
14
2
— 585 5 1
Torrington . .
. 2
7
G
816 610
. 117 7 7
Dorsetshire :
Blandford . .
. 44
5
7
Hampshire :
Bournemouth .
. 16
18
6
County Society
. 161
19
2
Bridport . . .
. 3
0
7
22
9
11
Camborne . .
. 8
11
6
Basingstoke .
. 5
0
0
22
9
0
Bishop's Walthan
l . 112
2
2
Dorchester . .
. 88
e
Christ Church
. 18
13
0
Fontmel Magna.
. 7 13
0
25
2
6
Lyme & Charmou
h, 2
13
8
Fareham . . .
. 20
5
6
Milborue Port .
. 39
18
5
Landport . .
. 15
1
1
Poole ....
. 17
2
4
Newport, Isle <
>f
Shaftesbury . .
. 24
19
5
Wight . ,
. 33
5
10
Sherborne . .
. 17
11
3
Odiham . . .
. 11
1
0
Stanbridge . .
. 19
4
10
Portsea . . .
. 20
19
0
Wareham . .
. 4
2
0
Eomsey . . .
. 11
17 10
Weymouth . .
. 57 13
0
Eyde ....
122
7
11
Wimborne . .
. 76
8
3
Southampton
. 88
1
9
Witchampton .
. 60
9
2
South Sea . .
. 3
10
6
511 4 0
Stockbridge . .
1
o
0
Durham :
— 672 17 2
Darlington . .
. 440
8
7
Herefordshire :
Durham, City of
. 170
16
0
County Society .
. 187
16
5
Gateshead . .
. 29
13
7
Kenchester . .
. 2
15
G
Hartlepool . .
. 8
19
8
Kington . . .
. 17
5
0
Houghton . .
. 5
0
0
Leominster .
. 19
10
3
TSTnT+Ii nlloW"fvn
24
9
4
 227 7 2
South Shields .
.' 16
5
8
Hertfordshire :
Stockton . . .
. 101
19
7
County Society .
. 108
13
0
Sunderland . .
. 171
9
11
Baldock . . .
. 2
2
6
969 2 4
Bishop Stortford
. 30
0
0
Essex :
Cheshunt . . .
. 36
19
6
Canfield, Great .
. 2
4
0
Codicote . . .
. 5
8
0
Canfield, Little .
. 5
12
9
Hoddesdon . .
. 4
2
6
Chelmsford . .
. 12
5
1
Hadley, Barnet,
kc. 36
12
2
Colchester . .
. 300
0
0
Heme! Hempste
ad, 11
6
9
Dunmow . . .
. 2
5
0
Hiichin . . .
. 78
2
4
Carried forward .
. 322
6
10 6499 12 5
Carried forward .
. 313
6
9 8889 3 2.
255

Brought forward . .

313 6

9

Newnham . . .

8 8

0

Stapleford . . .

1 14

0

St. Alban's . . .

36 15

7

Totteridge, Whet

stone, &c. . . .

3 0

0

64 19

l

3 2

428 3 5

Huntirtgdonshire :
County Society . . 27 12 7
HemingfordAbbot's .380
Jersey, Isle of  73

0 7
2 2

Kent: Blackheath .
Beckenham . .
Canterbury . .
Cinque Ports
Deal . . . .
Gravesend . ,
Isle of Sheppey .
Isle of Tbanet ,
Maidstone

EamsgateEainham ,
Eochester & Chat
ham
SandwichSevenoaksSheerness Sissinghurst . .
Swanscombe&Green hithe ....
Sydenham . . ,
Tunbridge and Tun-
bridge Wells . .
Wadhurst . . .
Weald of Kent .
Lancashire :
Ashton-under-Lyne, BacupBlackburn
Bolton
Burnley .
Bury . .
Cartmel .
ChatburnColne . .
Flookborough
Heywood .
Lancaster
Liverpool Welsh .
Manchester and
Salford
OldhamPadiham .
Preston .
Eochdale ,

178 30
235 35
57 25 10
2844
130 32 10
23 7
19 33
' 27
50
359 1
21

6 4
12 0'
2 7
15 8
10 0

16 6
0 0
14 7
17 6
1 10
2 5
16 7
12 0
4 4
3 6
3 7
13 7

1337 9 1

3075
374452
238 6
13
125 3
66
67
1450 147
2852 32 12
158 24

0 0
0 0
10 0
6 10

8 0
1 I
15 11
19 11
5 3
10 0
1 9
3 5

Carried forward .5438 12 8 1075818 5

Brought forward .

5438

12

8 10758 18 5

Ulverstone . .

. 27

11

11

Warrington . .

. 7

6

3

0
8
— 5564 11 6
Leicestershire :
County Society .
. 162
18
0-
Ashby-de-la-Zoucl
, 56
10
7
Hinckley
. 56
3
6
Loughborough .
152
3
2
Lutterworth . .
. 60
0
0
Market Harboro'
. 68
4
6
Melton Mowbray
. 12
10
6
Old Dalby . .
. 50
0
0
Queneborough .
. 4
17
1
Eagdale . . .
. 0
16
4
Rothley .
12
0
0
Thrussington
14
12
9
 fisn 16 >>
Lincolnshire :
^^ \J*Jv l\J \J
Barton-on-Humbei
, 128
5
1
Bardney . . .
2
8
6
Bourne . . .
16
9
1
Boston. . . .
79 17
6
Brigg ....
12
13
8
Burwell . .
3
2
9
Epworth . . .
8
17
6
Gainsborough
22
2
4
Grantham . .
52
3
7
Grimsby . . .
29
2
0
Gosberton . .
5
10
6
Holbeach . . .
4
14
1
Horncastle . .
30
7
7
Kealby . . .
22
8
0
Kirton -in- Lindsey ,
21
7
0
Lincoln . . .
175
8
2
Louth ....
260
3
7
Morton . . .
2
5
0
Market Easen .
1
4
0
Owersby . . .
2
17
6
Eoxby . . .
13
2
0
Saxby ....
6
0
0
Sleaford . . .
41
19
10
Spalding . . .
49
0
4
Spilsby . . .
26
3
6
Stamford . . .
42
15
7
Tealby . . .
1
11
6
Toft Newton .
5
0
0
Ulceby . . .
2
5
5
Winterton . .
10
0
0
 . 1079 5 7
London :
Coll. at Bancroft'
Hospital
3
13
8
Bloomsbury Cha]
). 23
14
6
Dorset Square
Baptist Chape
, 40
19
4
Ebenezer Chapel
Bartlett'sBuild
s. 2
9
0
Ironmongers'
Almshouses
1
18
1
Carried forward
. 72
14
7 18053 11 11
256

Brought forward . . 72 14 7 18053 1111

Brought forward . . 544

15

9 21867 4 2

Jews'ChapeLBeth-

Hampstead

. . 311

1

6

nal Green . . 6 10

0

Hornsey .

. . 29

11

6

Jubilee Meeting,

Kensington
. . 15
16
6
Exeter Hall . 235 10
4
Old Brentford . . l>
3
0
Latimer Chapel . 5 5
0
Southgate
. . 7
6
1
Mansion House . 26 5
8
Staines .
. . 45
13
9
Morav? Chapel,
Stoke Newington . 227 IS
10
Fetter Lane . 7 7
6
Teddington
. . 20
19
6
Moorfields Bap
Tottenham
. . 3
15
0
tist Chapel. . 2 10
0
Twickenham
. 29
10
10
Poultry Chapel . 79 8
0
Uxbridge .
. . 4
14
1
Savoy Chapel. . 20 0
0
South-West
Mid-
Spa Fields Chap. 22 7
6
dlesex .
. . 8
10
6
St. Jude's, Bethnal
—
—1255 111 '
Green ... 32 17
3
Monmouthshire
St. Mary's, Rother-
Beaufort .
. . 12
0
0
hithe ... 69
5
Bedwellty
. . 7 19
0
St. Mary's, White-
Blaenau .
. 8
0
0
chapel ... 19 7
0
Blaenavon
. . 7
13
4
St. Olave's, Old
Caerleon .
. . 26
4
0
Jewry ... 40
4
Monmouth
. . 50
0
0
St. Paul's ... 191 2
4
Nantyglo
. . 1
1
8
WeighHouseCha-
Newport .
. . 15
10
6
pel . . . . 86 3
10
Eumney .
. . 23
18
3
Wells St. Chapel,
Usk . .
. . 13
0
0
Oxford Street . 14 11
4
—
165 6 9
Westminster Chp. 28 0
0
Norfolk :
York Eoad Chap.,
County Socie
ty . . 541
14
10
Lambeth . , 11 11
3
Downham
. . 3
4
8
Bloomsbury and
Fakenham
. . 2
14
0
South Pancras, 65 16
3
Holkham
. . 5
3
0
Queen's Square
Association . 38 13
552 16 6
0
Northampton :
East-London Aux. 45 3
1
County Socie
-J . 118
16
7
Bow & Bromley. 25 2
0
45
5
0
Poplar .... 29 9
10
Kettering
. . 8
18
5
Islington . . . 1170 1
5
Nasehy . .
3
2
0
Jewin Cresc. (Welsh) 21 19
10
Ouudle
. . 44
5
6
Kentish Town . . 7 16
7
Peterborough
. . 135
15
3
Little Guildford St.
Raunds .
. . 40
4
0
Association . . 4 10
0
Titchmarsh
. . 15
0
0
North-East London
Thrapston
. . 20
2
0
Auxiliary . . 41 0
6
Towcester
. . 6
11
0
Hackney Road &
Wellingborou
?h . 17
18
0
Haggerstone . 17 7
North-West London
3
455 17 9
Northumberlan
1:
Auxiliary ... 390 9
5
Alnwick .
. . 8
15
10
North Pancras Aux. 1 11
6
Berwick-on-r
Pweed, 17
18
3
Sloane St., Belgrave
Newcastle-on
-Tyne, 353 17
1
Square .... 14 0
0
North Shield.
. . . 62
7
10
Southwark . . . 928 13
11
Tindale Ware
. . 9
10
1
W Pc+.miTwfcpr 10 14
0
452 9 j
TT uMIlllilolLl « * ±\J It
Pimlico, &c. . . 0 10
0
Nottinghamshii
e:
3684 1 Q 1 1
County Sociei
y . .903
15
3
128 12 4
Bottesford
. . 6
0
1
Carlton .
. . 32
19
6
Middlesex :
Cotgrave .
. . 4
5
0
Chelsea . . . . 145 6
10
East Retford
. . 110
0
0
Ealing .... 10
0
Greasley .
. . . 5
0
0
Edmonton . . . 15 11
1
Harworth
. . . 13
10
0
Hackney . . . . 364 19
3
Mansfield
10
19
4
Hammersmith . . 17 18
7
Misterton
Carried forwarc
. . 2
0
0
Carried forward . . 544 15
9 21867 4 2
. .1088
Q
9
OiTAQ B 1
257

Brought forward .

.1088 9 2

24749 6 1

Brought forward

30215 7 7

Newark .

. 66 9 1

Suffolk :
Worksop . .
. 27 18 0
Bury St. Edmund'
s, 36
1
4

118216 3
Clare ....
15
8
0
Oxfordshire :
Eye ....
10
0
0
Charlhury . .
. 10 0 0
East Suffolk .
. 274
1
4
Chipping Norton
. 5 0 0
Little Bealings .
. 2
5
6
Enstone . . .
. 6 4 6
Lowestoft . .
. 141
14
0
Henley . .
. 25 13 2
Mildenhall . .
. 8
4
9
 , 
4617 8
Nacton . . .
1
13
9
Rutlandshire :
Connty Society
Uppingham . .
.500 26 11 0
3111 0
Needham Market
Stonham Aspal .
Sudbury . . .
Wickhamhrook .
Woodbridge
. 8 1
. 16
. 10
. 20
16 5
9
19
14
10 0
6
11 4
Shropshire :
54714 3
County Society .
197 15 1
Surrey :
Bridgnorth
. 5 16 6
Addlestone . .
6
3
10
Chirbury . .
5 7 8
Balbam . . .
118
5
6
Little Dawley .
11 0 0
Battersea . . .
. 69
3
7
Ludlow . . .
28 6 4
Bentlcy . . .
35
17
10
Madeley . .
301 4 10
Brixton&Stockwel
,343
10
2
Minsterley .
. 11 5 4
Camberwell
85
13
1
Oswestry . . .
28 3 7
Chobham . . .
23
1G
0
Tilstock . . .
3 16 8
Clapham . . .
104
8
4
Wellington . .
41 10 9
St. John's, Clap
Whitchurch . .
7 0 6
ham Rise .
227
15
G
Wrockwardine .
13 0 0
Farnham . . .
70
18
3
654 7 3
Guildford
12
6
0
Somersetshire :
Haslemere
7
1
1
County Society .
134 0 5
Hersham
5
13
8
Bath ....
525 4 11
Kingston .
38
6
1
Bristol . . .
1660 13 7
Maiden .
6
0
0
Castle Cary . .
4 3 6
Mitcham .
10
0
0
Frome . .
49 0 7
Norwood .
.
0
12
6
Hardway . .
13 14 6
Peckham
3
IS
6
Lympsham . .
4 7 2
Richmond
188
7
4
North Petherton
2 0 0
Sheen Vale
.
6
0
0
Shepton Mallet .
27 17 9
Streatham, Toot
66 6 5
ing, &c. . .
78
13
6
i 
2487 810
Wandsworth
17
2
1
Staffordshire :
....
14591810
County Society .
87 3 3
Sussex :
Burslem . . . .
31 0 2
Central Sussex
31
12
8
Burton-on-Trent
74 17 3
Crawley . . .
9
0
0
Bushbury . .
1 8 7
East Sussex . .
391
15
3
Cheadle . . .
78 8 6
Hastings . . .
74
19
3
Darlaston . .
26 15 1
Steyning . .
2
0
0
Hanley & Shelton,
62 11 7
Warnham . .
2
9
9
Hill Top . .
11 7 6
West Sussex . .
42
16
G
LaneEnd & Longtoi
l, 6 10 0
55413 5
Leek & Moorlands
80 0 0
Warwickshire :
Lichfield . . .
57 19 9
Birmingham , .
1649
10
0
Newcastle-un.-Lyn
e, 5 0 0
Chilvers Coton . .
1
0
0
Rugeley . . .
5 6 10
Coventry . . .
2
0
0
Tunstall . . .
22 2 6
Leamington . .
90
15
11
Tutbury . , .
4 3 6
Long Marston .
3
13
0
Walsall . . .
90 0 0
Rugby . . .
106
9
10
Wednesbury . .
83 5 6
Stratford-on-Avon,
7 13
0
West Bromwich
213 8 11
SuttonColdfield .
9
0
0
Wolverhampton
121 11 7
1063 0 6
Warwick . . .
13
8
3
188310 0
50215 7 7
Carried forward
,
. 34661 4 I
258

34661

4 1

Brought forwar

a . .837

0

5 35468 19 1

Westmoreland :

Doncaster
. . 143
15
5
344
18 3
Full Sutton
Goole
. . 2
. . . 10
6
11
22
Wiltshire :
Hawes
. . 10
15
0
28
6
7
Halifax .
. . 421
9
8
Devizes, &c. . .
71
2
7
Howden .
. . 3
10
0
Melksham . .
15
5
8
Huddersfield
. . 142
18
7
10
0
0
Hull . .
. . .319
4
4
Salisbury . . .
17
5
6
Knaresborou
ih . 4
15
0
Swindon . . .
4
8
0
Knottingley
. . 5
0
0
Trowbridge . .
46
1
0
Leeds . .
. . 392
11
2
Warminster . .
12
6
3
Middlesborou
»h . 30
0
0
204 15
Market Weig
hton . 12
9
2
Worcestershire :
Norton
. . 7
9
3
County Society .
55
18
1
Otley . .
. . 100
0
0
Bromsgrove . .
15
11
10
Pickering .
. . 0
10
0
Cookley . . .
. 15
3
0
Ripon . .
. . 18
14
10
Dudley . . .
6
13
2
Eotherham
. . 129
2
7
Evesham . .
80
12
1
Scarborough
. . 41
11
0
Redditch . . .
25
19
3
Seaton Boss,
Pock-
Stourport . .
20
9
3
lington .
. . 1
18
6
Stourbridge . .
37
14
6
Selby
. . 8
5
9
258
1 2
Settle . .
. . 127
0
0
Yorkshire : *
Sheffield .
. . 251
15
5
Barnsley . . .
83
1
9
Skipton .
. . 34
10
10
Bawtry . . .
0
5
6
Stokesley .
. . 1
1
0
Beverley . . .
28
3
0
Tadcaster .
. . 11
4
6
Boroughbridge .
12
0
0
Thirsk .
. . 28
6
6
Bradford . . .
644 17
2
Wakefield
. . 37
7
0
Cleveland . . .
33
11
11
Wetherby .
. . . 4
3
9
Cottingham . .
29
13
0
Whitby .
. . 112
3
6
Coverham Abbey
4
0
6
Tork . .
. . 266
13
6
Dalton . . .
1
7
7
3518 4 0
Carried forward .
837
0
5 35468 19 1
£38,987 3 1
WALES.
Anglesey :
County Society
85 12
4
Llanerchymedd
8 4
4
Brecknockshire :
Brecon ....
16 9
7
Brynmawr . . .
0 13
0
Clydach ....
1 1
0
Devynock . . .
4 0
0
Hay 
10 5
2
Llyswen ....
0 14
0
Llywel&Rhydybryw
4 3
1
Ystradgynlais . .
5 4
5
Cardiganshire :
Aberayron .
Aberystwitb
Carried forward
93 16 8
18 0 0
129 8 6
42 10 3
.147 8 6 136 6 11
Brought forward .
.147 8 6 136
6 11
Cardigan . . .
. 9 7 0
Llandyssil . .
. 5 0 0
Llechryd . .
. 1 10 9
Penmorfa . .
. 5 0 0
Vale of Troed-yr-
lur, 5 0 0
 • 173
6 3
Carmarthenshire :
Carmarthen . .
. 39 16 10
. 1 11 6
Cwmamman . .
. 1 0 0
Llandovery . .
. 10 3 2
LI anon . . .
. 2 19 5
Llanstephan
. 8 0 0
Llansadwrn . .
. 2 0 0
Llansawel . .
. 1 11 0
Carried forward .
. 67 1 11 309
13 2
259

Brought forward

¦ 67

1

11

309

13 2

Brought forward .

. 141 5

5

740 19 0

Llanelly . .

. 31

8

1

Treboeth . .

. 0 10

0

Newcastle Emlyn . 2
0
0
Coll. in Calv. Meth
St. Clears .
. . 2
0
4
102
10 4
Chapels . .
.' 86 5
10
228
1 3
Carnarvonshire :
Merionethshire :
Carnarvon .
. . 100
0
0
Aberdovey . .
. 10 10
0
Conway . .
. . 11
2
0
Bala ....
21 7
6
Trefriw . .
. 3
12
2
Barmouth . .
11 0
11
Criccieth . .
. 0
10
0
Blaenau Festiniog
, 4 0
0
Llandudno ,
. 1
8
0
Dinas Mowddwy
. 10 0
0
Nanthoran .
1
15
0
Dolgelley . .
. 39 19
4
Beddgelert .
. 2
0
0
Dyffryn . . .
12 19
2
120
7 2
Towyn . . .
1 8
6
Denbighshire :
Trawsfynydd .
. 4 0
0
Brymbo . .
Cerrig y Druid
. 10
2
11
115
5 5
on, 3
13
9
Montgomeryshire :
Denbigh . .
. 4
8
2
Berriew . . .
6 0
10
Llanrwst . .
. 7
11
6
Llanfair . . .
7 0
0
Llanynys
. 6
0
0
Llaugadvan . .
2 10
0
Mochdre . . .
. 7
15
9
Llanidloes . .
6 0
2
Wrexham . .
. 83
11
8
Machynlleth
13 10
0
123
3 9
Meivod . . .
8 2
6
Flintshire :
Newtown . . .
. 43 8
7
Bagillt . .
. 2
0
6
Kerry Church .
3 13
9
Caerwys . .
. 8
17
8
Tvegynon , .
0 13
0
0
3
Welshpool . .
7 13
3
Holywell . .
. 57
5
0
98
12 1
3
0
0
Pembrokeshire :
Leaswood
. 3
0
0
Dinas . . .
7 15
6
Llanasa . .
. 1
14
1
Fishguard . .
7 18
3
1
5
0
Haverfordwest .
50 0
0
Rhuddlan
1
2
1
Llandysilio . .
5 0
0
Rhyl . . .
2
0
0
85
4 7
Milford . . .
Narberth . .
Newport . . .
7 3
5 0
9 13
0o
Glamorganshire :
0
Aberdare . .
. 14
19
11
Pembroke . .
0 7
1
Bridgend
. 16
11
1
Penygroes . .
3 2
2
Cardiff . .
. 17
4
1
St. David's ane
I
Llanvabon .
. 5
0
0
Dewesland .
8 0
0
Llandilo Talyb
int. 1
0
0
Tenby .
40 14
3
Loughor . .
. 5
2
2
Hall Calv. Meth.Cl
ap. 1 10
0
Margam . .
Merthyr Tydvil
. 1
. 10
10 0
5
146
3 3
2
Radnorshire :
1
11
Llanbadarn-vynyd
1, 4 5
11
Pontypridd .
Penclawdd .
. 3
. 4
10 1
4
6 I
Penybont . . .
5 0
0
g
5 11
1
Swansea . .
. 46
5
£1338
6 11
Carried forward .
. 141
5
740
19 0
SCOTLAND.
, i_- » ... 16 16 0
Dunoon, Argyleshire  0100
Edinburgh Ladies  ! 3 8 5
Glasgow  ^ ! .' ! 10 0 0
Leith  2 12 4
New Lanark  ' 5 2 6
Stirling  J 
£38 9 S
280

FOREIGN SOCIETIES, &c.

EUROPE.
Amsterdam  6168
Aranjuez  13 0 0
Basle Bible Society  100 0 0
Brussels  11124
Cologne  1 17 2
Interlaken ..  797
Malta  700
Odessa  19 14 8
Stavanger  2 10 0
Stockholm  500

NORTH AMEEICA, &c.
Fredericton  15 0 0
Nova Scotia — Albion Mines  800
Halifax  454 2 2
New Glasgow  14 0 0
Pictou  40 14 6
New Brunswick . ¦  278 14 3
Bathurst  4 11 4
Prince Edward's Island  108 14 9
Cove Head  3 11 0
St. John's and Newfoundland  55 10 4
Wisconsin Welsh Prairie  500

CANADA.
Hamilton  46 10 0
Kingston  44 8 9
Montreal  . ... 260 19 8
Quebec  192 13 1
Toronto  690 17 9

WEST INDIES.
Antigua  19 6 0
Bahamas  14 5 6
Barbadoes  73 0 9
British Guiana  321 2 10
Surinam ....   500
Dominica  13 0 0
Jamaica  22 4 0
Kingston  40 7 8
Manchester  942
Montego Bay  47 16 5
Port Antonio  10 10 0
Savannah-la-Mar  690
Nassau  15 0 0
St. Kitt's  26 6 2
St. Vincent's  30 0 0
Trinidad  650

274 10 5

987 18 4

1235 9 3

659 17 6
Carried forward . . . 3157 15 6

261 Brought forward . . . 3157 15 6
AFEICA.
Cape of Good Hope  427 ] 0 4
Salem  20 1 5
 447 11 9
ASIA.
Calcutta  20 0 0
Colombo  188 12 0
Jerusalem  1140
Shanghai  107 10 0
 327 6 0
AUSTRALASIA.
Geelong  182 4 6
South Australian at Adelaide ...  500 0 0
Van Diemen's Land  202 0 8
Victoria, Melbourne   1000 0 0
Wellington, New Zealand  12 0 0
 1896 5 2
£5828 18 5

SUMMARY.

Donations of Ten Guineas and upwards (see p, 252)  £17,832 15 0
Contributions from Auxiliary Societies, &c. —
In England (see p. 258)  38,987 3 1
„ Wales (seep. 259)  1,338 6 11
„ Scotland (see p. 259)  38 9 3
Contributions from Foreign Societies, &c. (see p. 261)  5,828 18 5
Donations under Ten Guineas  1,544 12 5
Congregational Collections  2,574 0 3
Individual Collections  .... 159 16 2
Amount received up to June 30, 1854 . . . £68,304 1 6

The Total Amount received for the Jubilee Fund up to Nov. 30, 1854,
is £69,580.3.1.

262
DONATIONS OF TEN GUINEAS AND UPWARDS
XO THE
CHINESE NEW-TESTAMENT FUND,
PAID DIRECT TO THE PARENT SOCIETY UP TO JUNE 30, 1854.

A.B  3000
A. B. A  12600 ..
A Few atH  1000 ..
A Few Biblical Friends
in Devonshire . . . 1500 ..
Anonymous  1800 ..
Bean, S. Esq., Nottingham, 1200 ..
Blair, Mr. & Mrs,, Bridge
of Allan, N.B. .... 1000 ..
Brett, J. W. Esq., Hanover
square  1500 ..
Buxton, T, F. Esq. . . . 1500 ..
Challis, Mr. Alderman . . 630 ..
De Pourtales, A. Esq. . . 960 ..
Dodson, Rev. J. Littledale, 1000 ..
D. T  630 ..
Farmer, T. Esq  1000 ..
Foster, James, Esq. . . . 1500 ..
Fox, J. Esq  1200 ..
Gainsborough, Earl of . .1200 ..
Gellibrand, W. C. Esq., St.
Petersburg  6000 ..
Gladstone, J. Esq., and
three sons  1000 ..
Graham, T. Esq., Temple . 1260 ..
Gregson and Co., Messrs.,
Austin Friars .... 1200 ..
Hankey, W. A. Esq. . . 3000 ..
Harrison.W.G. Esq.,Wake-
field  3000 ..
Hicks, W. Esq., Fowey . 2000 ..
Hilhouse, Messrs.E.& Sons, 630 ..
Hoare, Jos. Esq. . . . . 630 ..
Hope, J. Esq., W.S., Edin
burgh  1000 ..
J. G. H., Thank-offering . 6000 ..
Jones, Sir W., Fakenham, 1000 ..
Kelsall, H.Esq  1000 ..

£

s. d.

50

0 0

210

0 0

16

13 4

25

0 0

30

0 0

20

0 0

16 13 4
25 0 0
25 0 0
10 10 0
16 0 0
16 13 4
10 10 0
16 13 4
25 0 0
20 0 0
20 0 0
100 0 0
16 13 4
21 0 0
20 0 0
50 0 0
50 0 0
33 6 8
10 10 0
10 10 0
16 13 4
100 0 0
16 13 4
16 13 4

Copies.
Large, J. Esq., Gravesend, 1000 ..
Leonard, K. Esq., Clifton, 1000 ..
Luke ii. 14  3000 ..
Matheson, W. Esq., Pictou, 2400 ..
Methuen, Mr. and Family, 1080 ..
Noel, Hon. and Eev. L. . 1000 ..
Oglesby, E. Esq., Hull . . 1200 ..
Payne, C. Esq., Brighton . 3000 ..
Peek,W.Esq.,BalhamRise, 1500..
Peeks, J. Esq., Wolver
hampton  1000 ..
Peters, Mr. J., Kilburn . 630 ..
Eeed, Eev.Dr.A., Hackney, 6000..
Beeves, J. Esq., Clapham, 1200 ..
Eichards, W. Esq., Totten
ham  1000 ..
Schwebbs, Councillor von, 1020 ..
Shaftesbury, Earl of . . 3000 ..
Smith, Mrs. F.,Camberwell, 1200 ..
Smith, Mrs. L  882 ..
Smith, Messrs. G. and Son, 630 ..
Staines, M. Esq  1260 ..
Sturge, J. Esq., Birming
ham  6000 ..
Taylor, J. Esq., Todmor-
den Hall  1200 ..
Taylor, Wilbraham Esq. . 1000 ..
Tea Dealers in Edinburgh,
Leith, &c  10.270J ..
Ditto in Dundee . . 1014 ..
Ditto in Perth . . 962 ..
Walker, H. Esq., Rother-
ham  1000 ..
Walters, R. Esq. Newcas-
tle-on-Tyne .... 2400 ..
Whitehead, P. Esq. . . . 1200 ..
Wilson, Mrs. Broadley . . 3000 ..

£

s. d.

16

13 4

16

13 4

50

0 0

40

0 0

18

0 0

16

13 4

20

0 0

50

0 0

25

0 0

16

13 4

10

10 0

100

0 0

20

0 0

16

13 4

17

0 0

50

0 0

20

0 0

14

14 0

10

10 0

21

0 0

100

0 0

20

0 0

16

13 4

171

3 6

16

18 0

16

0 8

16

13 4

40

0 0

20

0 0

50

0 0

The amount received for the Chinese New-Testament Fund up to
Nov. 30, 1854, is £36,453. 12. 1.

TABULAE STATEMENTS.

No. I.

THE OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE IN THE YEAR 1804-1805.

President.
RIGHT HONOURABLE JOHN LORD TEIGNMOUTH.
Vice-Presidents.
RIGHT REV. LORD BISHOP OF LONDON.
RIGHT REV. LORD BISHOP OF DUEHAM.
RIGHT REV. LORD BISHOP OF EXETEE.
EIGHT EEV. LORD BISHOP OF ST. DAVID'S.
SIE WILLIAM PEPPEEELL, BART.
VICE-ADMIRAL GAMBIER.
CHARLES GRANT, ESQ., M.P.
WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, ESQ., M.P.
Treasurer.
HENRY THO*RNTON, ESQ., M.P.
Secretaries (gratis).
Rev. John Owen, M.A., Fulham. i Rev. Charles Francis Steinkopfi?, M.A.,
Rev. Joseph Huqhes, M.A., Battersea. I Savoy (for the Foreign Department).

Committee.

Aleks, William, Esq.
Babington, T. Esq., M.P.
Birbeck, Wilson, Esq.
Boddington, T. Esq.
Brasier, John, Esq.
Bunnell, Joseph, Esq.
BuTTERWORTH, JOSEPH, ESQ.
Cowie, Bobert, Esq.
Crawford, Charles, Esq.
Fenn, John, Esq.
Foster T. Farley, Esq.
Hoare, William H. Esq.
Hodson, Thomas, Esq.
Hose, John D. Esq.
Howard, Bobert, Esq.
Lea, Bichard, Esq. (Alderman.)
Macaulat, Zach. Esq.
Maitland, Alexander, Esq.

Martin, Ambrose, Esq.
Meyer, James, Esq.
Mills, Samuel, Esq.
Pellatt, Thomas, Esq.
Reymer, Joseph, Esq.
Schroder, Herman, Esq.
Sharp, Granville, Esq.
Stainforth, Richard, Esq.
Steven, Robert, Esq.
Sundius, Christopher, Esq.
Smith, Joseph, Esq
Wagner, Anthony, Esq.
Thornton, John, Esq.
Terrington, William, Esq.
Wilson, Thomas, Esq.
Witte, Henricke, Esq.
Wolff, George, Esq.
Young, Arthur, Esq.

264

No. II.
THE OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE IN THE YEAR
OF JUBILEE, 1853—1854.

THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURY, President.
Vice-Presidents :

His Grace the AECHBISHOP of CANTEEBUEY.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of WINCHESTEE.
Et, Eev. LOED BISHOP of EIPON.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of PETEEBOEOUGH.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of WOBCESTEB.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of ST. ASAPH.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of HEEEFOED.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of MANCHESTEE.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of CHESTEE.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of NOBWICH.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of CASHEL, WATEE-
FOED and LISMOEE.
Et. Hon. and Et. Eev. LOED AUCKLAND,
BISHOP of SODOE and MAN. ,
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of CALCUTTA.
Kt. Eev. DE. CAEE, late BISHOP of BOMBAY.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of BOMBAY.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of MADEAS.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of JEEUSALEM.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of MELBOUENE.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of VICTOEIA.

Et. Eev. LOED BP. of PEINCE EUPEET'S LAND.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of SIEEEA LEONE.
Et. Eev. LOED BISHOP of MEATH.
Very Eev. the DEAN of LLANDAFF.
His Grace the DUKE of MANCHESTEE.
The MAEQUIS of BLANDFOED, M.P.
Most Noble MAEQUIS of CHOLMONDELEY.
Et. Hon. EAEL of CARLISLE.
Et. Hon. EAEL of CHICHESTEE.
Et. Hon. EAEL of HAEEOWBY.
Et. Hon. EAEL of BUELINGTON.
Et. Hon. EAEL of EIPON.
Et. Hon. EAEL of GAINSBOEOUGH.
Et. Hon. EAEL of EODEN.
Et. Hon. Lieut.-Gen. VISCOUNT LOETON.
Et. Hon. LOED LILFOED.
Et. Hon. LOED GLENELG.
Et. Hon. LOED TEIGNMOUTH.
LOED HENEY CHOLMONDELEY.
Sir THOMAS DYKE ACLAND, Bart. M.P.
Sir EOBEET HAEBY INGLIS, Bart. M.P.

JOHN THORNTON, Esq., Treasurer.
Secretaries :
Eev. EOBEET FEOST, M.A. .Eev. GEOEGE BEOWNE.
Superintendent ofthe Editorial Department, Eev. T. W. MELLEE, A.M., Rector of Woodbridge.
ftowrary Solicitors: Messrs. MAETEN, THOMAS, and HOLLAMS, Mincing Lane, London.
Mr. WILLIAM HITCHIN, Accountant & Assistant Secretary.
Mr. HENEY KNOLLEKE, Assistant Foreign Secretary.
Mr. JAMES FEANKLIN, Depositary.
Mr. WILLIAM DAVIES, Collector.

Accredited Agents of the Society
Kev. Dr. PINKEETON, Germany.
Mr. BENJAMIN BAEKEE, Turkey.
Mr. DE PEESSENSE, Paris.
Mr. W. P. TIDDY, Brussels.
Eev, ISAAC LOWNDES, Malta and Greece.
Lieut. GEAYDON, E.N., Switzerland & Northern Italy.
Mr. E. MILLAED, Breslau.

Mr. C. S. DUDLEY, BrooMands, Taunton.
Eev. T. PHILLIPS, Hereford.
Mr. T. J. BOUENE, Rugby.
Eev. PHILIP KENT, Twickenham.
Mr. G.T.ED WAEDS,1 „ , „ _ „ ...
Major FAWKES, S 10 Earl Street> ^W™"*
Eev. J. A. PAGE, Tintwistle, ChesUre.

Committee :

A. Bach, Esq.
Capt. C. A. Barlow, R.N.
Richard Barrett, Esq.
J. Beldam, Esq.
Thomas Binns, Esq.
John Bockett, Esq.
R. C. Bowden, Esq.
R. Charles, Jun. Esq.
J. Claypon, Esq.

B. Claypon, Esq.
T. M. Coombs, Esq.
James Farish, Esq.
Thomas Farmer, Esq.
Josiah Forster, Esq.
James Foster, Esq.
H. Gregory, Esq.
S. Gurney, Jun. Esq.
P. B. Hall, Esq.

Joseph Hoare, Esq.
W. E. Hubbard,Esq.
Gen. Maclnnes.
H. S. Montagu, Esq.
G. Peahody, Esq.
George Poland, Esq.
John Eadley, Esq.
J. H. Eavenshav, Esq
H. Eobarts, Esq.

Henry Roberts, Esq.
H. D. C. Satow, Esq.
Eusehius Smith, Esq.
G. Stacey, Esq.
W. Taylor, Esq.
C. Tottie, Jun. Esq.
C. Ware, Esq.
R. Westenholz, Esq
H. H. White, Esq.

265
No. III.
PLACE OF MEETING, CHAIRMEN, ISSUES, AND EXPENDITURE
FEOM 1804 TO 1854 INCLUSIVE.

PLACE OF MEETING.

18041804 1805 18061807 1808 1809 181018111812 1813 18141815 18161817 18181819 18201821 1822 182318H1825 1826
18271828 18291830 18311832183318341835 183618371838183918401841
184218431844
18451846
1847 1848
18491850185118521853
1853
1854

London Tavern (Formation)
ditto (Gen. Meet.)
ditto (Ann. do.)
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
Freemasons' Hall ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto
ditto ditto

CHAIRMEN.

Granville Sharp, Esq.
ditto
Et. Hon. Lord ditto dittoditto dittodittoditto ditto
dittodittoditto ditto ditto
ditto ditto ditto dittoditto ditto dittoditto ditto ditto ditto ditto

ditto
Exeter Hall
ditto dittoditto ditto
ditto dittoditto ditto
dittodittodittodittodittodittodittodittodittodittodittodittoditto
ditto ditto ditto

dittoditto ditto
ditto dittoditto ditto dittodittodittoditto dittoditto
dittodittoditto ditto
ditto ditto ditto
dittodittoditto
(Jub. Meet.}
(Ann. ditto)
ditto

Teignmouth, Pres

Et. Hon. Lord Bexley, V.P.
ditto dittoditto ditto, President
ditto ditto
dittoditto dittoditto dittoditto dittoditto
Lord Teignmouth, V.P.
The Viscount Sandon, V.P.
The Marq. of Cholmondeley, V
Et. Hon. Lord Bexley, President.
The Marq. of Cholmondeley, V "
The Earl of Harrowby, V.P.
Rt. Hon. Lord Ashley, Pres.
The Earl of Shaftesbury, Pres
dittoditto ditto

EXPENDITURE.

(None is-
sued,theUni- versities not
having com
pleted their
Stereotype Editions.) 81,15777,272 64,468
102,618106,423
202,580352,569249,932248,236 193,021194,101
260,031 256,883246,957255,739 259,850290,495 280,655 286,402294,006 336,270 365,424
1,114,287* 434,422470,929 583,888536,841393,900653,604558,842541,843594,398 658,068
776,360 900,912815,551 982,060944,031915.811
1.441,651 1,419,2831,124,067 1,107,5181,136,6951,137,6171,154,642 1,168,794
1,367,528

Total

27,938,631

£619 1,637
5,053
12,206 14,56518,543
28,302 32,41969,49684,652 81,021
103,680 89,230 71,09992,237
123,547 79,560 90,44577,076 89,49394,04496,014 69,962 86,242
104,132 81,61083,00298,40988,67670,404 84,249
107,483103,171 91,179
106,509
110,175
133,934 90,968 86,964 84,66985,817
105,851 128,525 105,042 88.831 97,246
103,543103,930

13 8
1 5

13 6
6 4
0 10
17 8

3
1312 9

6 11
13 6
10 9
10 9
1 10
16 7
13 4
19 7
5 2
14 11
6 4
8

5
18 9
9 5
10 6
8 3

10 10
9 10

95,507 2 6
119,257 15 1

4,070,251 2 0

to March 31, 1829.

266

No. IV.

AN ALPHABETICAL LIST OF THE SPEAKERS AT THE
ANNUAL MEETINGS FROM THE YEAR 1805 to 1854.

ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.

Abeel, Bev. D.
Acland Sir T. D., V.P.
Acworth, Rev. W.
Alder, Rev. Dr.
Aldis, Rev. J.
Allen, William, Esq.
Allen, Rev. B.
American Ambassador (His Excellency) .
Anker, Hon. Baron.
Archer, Rev. Dr.
Arthur, Rev. W.
Asaph, Bishop of St.
Ashley, Viscount, V.P.
Ashtown, Right Hon. Lord.

Bahington, Thomas, Esq., M.P., V.P.
Barclay, C. Esq., M.P.
Baines, Edward, Esq.
Barham, Bight Hon. Lord, V.P.
Baring, Sir Thomas.
Barrett, Eev. Alfred.
Barry, Hon. Colonel.
Barth, Eev. Dr.
Bathurst, Lieutenant-General.
Beaumont, Rev. Dr.
Bennett, Eev. Dr.
Bentinck, Lord William.
Bexley, Lord, Right Hon. (President).
Bickersteth, Eev. Edward.
Bickersteth, Rev. Bobert.
Biuney, Bev. Thomas.
Birt, Eev. John.
Blackburn, Eev. J.
Blomefield, Sir Thomas.
Blumhardt, Eev. T.
Boaz, Eev. Thomas.
Boddington, Thomas, Esq.
Bombay, Bishop (Carr).
Brandram, Eev. A. (Secretary),
Breckinridge, Eev. E. T.
Brown, Rev. John.
Browne, Eev. George (Secretary).
Bunsen, Chevalier.
Bunting, Eev. Jabez, D.D.
Bunting, Eev. W. M.
Burder, Eev. George.
Burnet, Rev. John.
Burn, Eev. Edward.
Buxton, T. F. Esq., M.P.

Calcutta, Bishop of, (Wilson) V.P.
Calcutta, Archdeacon of.
Calthorpe, Eight Hon. Lord, V.P.
Campbell, Eev. John.
Cargill, Eev. D.
Cashel, Bishop of, V.P. (1844—1853).
Chester, Bishop of, (Sumner) V.P.
Chichester, Earl of.
Chichester, Bishop of, V.P. (1837).
Cholmondeley, Marquis, V.P.
Cholmeley, Sir M.
Clayton, Eev. John.
Clayton, Eev. George.
Clogher, Bishop of, V.P. (1816).
Close, Rev. Francis.
Cloyne, Bishop of, V.P. (1810).
Codman, Eev. Dr.
Collyer, Eev. Dr.
Corrie, Archdeacon.
Cox, Eev. Dr. (New York).
Cox, Rev. Dr.
Crisp, Rev. E.
Crowther, Rev. Jonathan.
Cumming, Rev. Dr.
Cunningham, Rev. J. W.
Paly, Eev. R.
David's, Bishop of St., V.P. (1810).
Dealtry, Rev. W.
Derry, Bishop of, V.P. (1818),
Dixon, Bev. J.
Dudley, Mr. C. S.
Duff, Eev. Dr.
Durham, Bishop of, V.P. (1805).
Dwight, Eev. S.
Dyer, Eev. M.
Eastburn, Eev. Dr.
Ellis, Eev. William.
Ely, Rev. J.
England, Vice-Chancellor of.
Entwistle, Rev. John.
Eston, J. C. Esq.
Evans, W. Esq., M.P.
Exchequer, Rt. Hon. Chancellor of (1813).
Farish, Rev. Professor.
Farmer, Thomas, Esq.
Fletcher, Rev. Joseph.
Fliedner, Rev. T.

267

Foot, Rev. Lundy.
Forster, Josiah, Esq.
Fox, Rev. W. B.
Frazer, Eev. Edward.
Galland, Eev. Thomas.
Gardie, Count de la.
Gambier, Eight Hon. Lord, V.P.
Gautier, Professor.
Geary, Sir William, Bart.
Gerning, Baron Hul.
Gisborne, Eev. Thomas.
Glenelg, Eight Hon. Lord, V.P.
Gloucester, Duke of, V.P.
Gloucester, Bishop of, V.P. (1816).
Gordon, J. E. Esq.
Gosford, Right Hon. Earl, V.P.
Grant, Charles, Esq., Right Hon.
Grant, Robert, Esq.
Gray, Rev. Dr.
Grey, Sir George.
Grey, Rev. Dr.
Griffith, Rev. Walter.
Grimshawe, Rev. T.
Guest, Thomas, Esq.
Gurney, Joseph John, Esq.
Gurney, Rev. J. H.
Gurney, S. Esq.
Haldane, J. Esq.
Hamilton, Rev. George.
Hands, Rev. J.
Hankey, W. Alers, Esq.
Hannah, Rev. John.
Hanson, Rev. A.
Hardy, John, Esq.
Harford, J. S. Esq.
Harman, John, Esq.
Harrowby, Right Hon. Earl, V.P.
Hawtrey, Captain.
Headley, Lord.
Henderson, Rev. Dr.
Henniker, Lord.
Henry, Rev. W.
Hill, Rev. Rowland.
Hodgson, Ven. Archdeacon.
Howard, Luke, Esq.
Huell, Admiral Ver.
Hughes, Rev. Joseph (Secretary).
Hussey, Rev. J. M'Connel.
Inglis, Sir Robert H., V.P.
Irving, Rev. E.
Jackson, Rev. Thomas.
Jackson, Rev. W.
Jacobs, Rev. Peter.
James, Rev. J. A.
Johnstone, Sir A.
Jowett, Rev. William.

Kayat, Assaad Yacoob.
Keane, Rev. W.
Kennedy, Rev. John.
Kent, Duke of, V.P.
Kessan, Dr.
Kieffer, Professor.
Kierulff, Rev. — .
Kildare, Bishop of, V.P. (1812).
Knill, Eev. Eichard.
Kuntze, Eev. — .
La Harpe, Professor.
Legge, Rev. Dr.
Leifchild, Rev. John.
Lessey. Rev. T.
Lichfield, Bishop of, (Ryder) V.P.
Lifford, Lord, V.P.
Linder, Rev. J.
Llandaff, Bishop of, (Sumner) V.P.
Longley, Rev. Dr.
Lorton, Lord Viscount, V.P.
Macaulay, Z. Esq.
Macaulay, Major-General.
Macbride, Rev. Dr.
Mackworth, Sir D„ V.P.
Maclean, Rev. J.
Malan, Rev. Csesar.
Manchester, Rev. Warden of.
Marsh, Rev. W.
Martin, Rev. F.
Marzials, Rev. T.
Mason, Eev. Dr.
Mathias, Eev. B. W.
Mayor, Right Hon. Lord (1826).
Meath, Bishop of, V.P. (1812).
Merle D'Aubigne, Rev.
Mestral, Rev. A. de
Miller, Rev. John Cale.
Milne, Rev. W. C.
Milnor, Rev. Dr.
Milsom, E. Esq.
M'Neile, Rev. Dr.
Moffat, Rev. R.
Money, W. T. Fsq.
Monod, Rev. F.
Morier, David, Esq.
Morison, Rev. John, D.D.
Morpeth, Viscount, M.P., V.P.
Morrison, Rev. Dr. (China).
Mount Sandford, Lord, V.P.
Murray, Rev. Dr.
Newenham, W. W. Esq.
Newstead, Rev. R.
Newton, Rev. Robert, D.D.
Nicholson, Rev. J.
Noel, Charles, Esq., M.P.
Noel, Hon. and Rev. G.
Noel, Hon. and Rev. B. W.
Northesk, Earl of.

268

Norwich, Bishop of (Stanley), V.P.
Norwich, Bishop of, V.P. (1812—1822).
Ohio, Bishop of (M'llvaine).
Orde, Major-General.
Orme, Bev. William.
Owen, Eev. John.
Pakenham, Captain.
Papoff, Hudson, Mr.
Parker, Dr.
Parson, Eev. Joseph.
Paterson, Eev. John.
Patton, Eev. Dr.
Paxton, Eev. Professor.
Pearson, Eev. Hugh.
Pease, Joseph, Esq.
Pelet, Baron.
Pelet, Professor.
Pepperel, Sir W.
Perceval, Eev. P.
Perry, Rev. Charles.
Philip, Rev. Dr.
Phillips, Eev. G. W.
Phillipps, Rev. E. T. M.
Phipps, Lieutenant-Colonel.
Pinkerton, Rev. Dr.
Plumptre, J. P. Esq.
Porcher, Du Pre, Esq , M.P.
Prest, Rev. Charles.
Pritchard, Eev. G.
Raffles, Sir T.
Raikes, Rev. Henry.
Reichardt, Rev. — .
Eipon, Bishop of, V.P. (1837).
Roby, Rev. W.
Rocksavage, Earl of, V.P.
Roden, Right Hon. Earl, V.P.
Roe, Rev. Peter.
Romeyn, Rev. Dr.
Rose, Right Hon. Sir G., V.P.
Russell, Lord C.
Sack, Rev. Professor.
Salisbury, Bishop of, V.P. (1807—1826).
Salisbury, Dean of.
Sandford, Captain George.
Saudon, Eight Hon. Viscount, M.P., V.P.
Saumarez, Sir J.
Scott, Eev. John.
Shaftesbury, Earl of (President).
Sharp, W. Esq.
Shaw, Eev. W.
Sheppard, John, Esq.
Shirley, Eev. W. A.
Shore, Hon. Charles, V.P.
Sibthorp, Eev. E. W.
Singer, Eev. Dr.
Smith, Eev. J. (Madras).
Smith, Eev. Thomas.
Smith, Sir Culling E.

I Smith, Eev. G. (China).
Smith, Rev. George.
Smith, Eev. Dr. John Pye.
Sodor and Man, Bishop of, V.P. (1828).
Spring, Eev. Dr.
Stackhouse, E. W. Esq.
Stapfer, Professor.
Steinkopff, Eev. Dr. (Secretary).
Stephens, Eev. J.
Stevenson, Andrew, Esq.
Stratten, Eev. James.
Stoughton, Eev. John.
Stowell, Eev. Hugh.
Sussex, Duke of, V.P.
Teignmouth, Lord (President).
Tholuck, Professor.
Thomas, Eev. John.
Thornton, Henry, Esq.
Thornton, John, Esq.
Thorpe, Eev. Dr.
Tidman, Eev. A.
Townseud, Eev. John.
Townley, Eev. Henry.
Trent, Eev. — .
Tyng, Eev. Dr.
Vansittart, Et. Hon. N., M. P.,V.P.
Vaughan, Eev. Dr.
Vermilye, Dr.
Vermont, Bishop of (1839).
Vidal, Eev. 0. E.
Villiers, Hon. and Eev. M.
Von Garlach, Eev. — .
Urwick, Eev. Dr.
Usko, Eev. J. F.
Wahlen, Eev. — .
Wardlaw, Eev. Ealph.
Watson, Eev. Eichard.
Waugh, Eev. T.
Wells, Dean, Hon. and Eev.
Weyland, John, jun., Esq,
White, Rev. Thomas.
Whitmore, W. W. Esq.
Wilberforce, W. Esq., M.P., V.P.
Wilkinson, Rev. W.
Williams, Rev. John.
Wilson, Rev. Daniel.
Wilson, Rev. Dr.
Winchester, Bishop of, V.P. (Sumner).
Winchester, Archdeacon of.
Windsor, Hon. Thomas.
Winter, Rev. Dr.
Wood, Eev. Samuel.
Worcester, Bishop of, V.P. (1842i.
Wortley, J. A. Stuart, Esq., M.P.
Yate, Eev. W.
Young, Eev. Dr.
Young, Eev. E.

269
No. V.
BIBLE SOCIETIES
connected with the
33rtttsi) anK Jporetgn 23t'ble &octetg.

IN GREAT BRITAIN :
Auxiliaries, 460 . . . Branches, 373 . . . Associations, 2482 .... Total, 3315.
Of these Associations, the far greater part are conducted by Ladies.

IN THE COLONIES, OTHER DEPENDENCIES, &c. :
Auxiliaries, 68 . . . Branches, 307 . . . Associations, 200 . . . Total, 575.

BIBLE SOCIETIES CONNECTED WITH THE HIBERNIAN BIBLE SOCIETY.
Auxiliary and Branch Societies and Associations, in 1853, in the Four Provinces, 497-

FOREIGN AGENCIES CONNECTED WITH THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN
BIBLE SOCIETY.
Which have the superintendence of Depots of the Holy Scriptures :
I. In France, at Paris. II- In Belgium, at Brussels.
III. In Holland, at Amsterdam.
IV. In Germany, at Frankfort, Cologne, and Breslau. — V. In Sweden, at -Stockholm.
VL In Norway, at Christiania, Drontheim, Christiansand, Stavanger, and Bergen.
VII. In Russia, at St. Petersburgh.
VIII. In Switzerland, and for Northern Italy, at Lausanne.
IX. In Malta, at Valetta. X. In Turkey in Asia, at Smyrna.
The British and Foreign Bible Society has also Depots of Bibles and Testaments in
the following places ; viz. Odessa, Constantinople, Athens, Gibraltar, Bucharest, &c.

270
No VI.
FOREIGN SOCIETIES,
FORMERLY OR AT PRESENT ASSISTED BY THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE
SOCIETY, WITH THE AMOUNT OF THEIR ISSUES. COPIES OF
MUtittm lEut'OM J French, Breton, Spanish, Catalonian, scriptures.
* ( Portuguese, German, Src. BlblM&Tests.
1. Protestant Bible Society at Paris, instituted 1818, with 132 Auxi
liaries  285,243
2. French and Foreign Bible Society at Paris, instituted 1833, with
Auxiliaries  212,689
3. Strasburgh Bible Society, instituted 1815 — (chiefly German Bibles
and Testaments)  78,493
Issued from the Society's Depot in Paris, from April 1820, 3,112,233 copies.
ttCorlftertl lEutODe 5 Ice^an^ic> ^wedisft, Finnish, Lapponese,
" I Danish, Faroese, Qc.
4. Icelandic Bible Society, instituted 1815  10,445
5. Swedish Bible Society, instituted 1809, with Auxiliaries  676,922
The Agency at Stockholm, formed 1832, has issued 583,162 copies.
6. Norwegian Bible Society, instituted 1816  48,903
The Agency at Christiania, formed 1832, has issued 88,315 copies.
7. Stavanger Bible Society, instituted 1828  7,017
8. Finnish Bible Society, instituted 1812, at Abo, with many Branches, 130,000
9. Danish Bible Society, instituted 1814, with Auxiliaries  214,333
©entral ^Europe.
10. Netherlands Bible Society, with Auxiliaries  519,315
The Agency at Amsterdam and Breda, appointed 1843, has issued
354,478 copies.
11. Belgian and Foreign Bible Society, at Brussels, instituted 1834 . . . 7,623
12. Belgian Bible Associations, instituted 1839  14,909
The Agency at Brussels, appointed 1835, has issued 202,865 copies.
13. Antwerp Bible Society, instituted 1834  439
14. Ghent Bible Society, instituted 1834  8,980
15. Sleswick-Holstein Bible Society, instituted 1S15, with Auxiliaries . . 135,000
16. Eutin Bible Society, instituted 1817, for Principality of Liiheck . . 5,296
17. Liibeck Bible Society, instituted 1814  14,644
18. Hamburgh-AItona Bible Society, instituted 1814, with Branches . . 101,353
19. Bremen Bible Society, instituted 1815, with an Auxiliary  26,913
20. Lauenburgh-Ratzeburgh Bible Society, instituted 1816  10,675
21. Eostock Bible Society, instituted 1816  19,154
22. Hanover Bible Society, instituted 181 4, with Auxiliaries .... 125,539
23. Lippe-Detmold Bible Society, instituted 1816  3,569
24. Waldeck and Pyrmont Bible Society, instituted 1817  2,800
25. Hesse-Cassel Bible Society, instituted 1818  30,000
26. Hanau Bible Society, instituted 1818  3,316
27. Marburg Bible Society, instituted 1825  7,832
28. Frankfort Bible Society, instituted 1816  73,565
The Agency at Frankfort, appointed 1830, has issued 1,342,115 copies.
29. Hesse-Darmstadt Bible Society, instituted 1817, with Auxiliaries . . 31,484
30. Duchy-of-Baden Bible Society, instituted 1820, with Auxiliaries . . 18,585
31. Wiirtemberg Bible Society, instituted 1812, with Auxiliaries . . 623,515
Carried forward . . . 3,448,551

271
Bibles &. Tests.
Brought forward  3,448,551
32. Bavarian Protestant Bible Institution at Nuremberg, instituted 1821,
with Auxiliaries  181 645
33. Saxon Bible Society, instituted 1814, with Auxiliaries  225,230
34. Leipzig Bible Society, instituted 1 840  22,978
35. Anhalt-Bernburg Bible Society, instituted 1821  4,786
36. Anhalt-Dessau Bible Society  3 310
37. Weimar Bible Society, instituted 1821  3*773
38. Eisenach Bible Society, instituted 1818  4,938
39. Brunswick Bible Society, instituted 1815  700
40. Prussian Bible Society at Berlin, instituted 1805, with Auxiliaries . 1,766,810
Issued to the Prussian Troops, since 1830  360,000
The Agency at Cologne, appointed 1847, has issued 342,225 copies.
jSfoitjn'lnntl ant) Xtalg) — German, French, Italian, and Romanese.
41. Basle Bible Society, instituted 1804  427,865
42. Schaffhausen Bible Society, instituted 1813  13,179
43. Zurich Bible Society, instituted 1812, with an Auxiliary at Winterthur, 15,163
44. St. Gall Bible Society, instituted 1813  42,296
45. Aargovian Bible Society, instituted 1815  19,454
46. Berne Bible Society  44,646
47. Neufchatel Bible Society, instituted 1816  19,016
48. Lausanne Bible Society, instituted 1814  47,692
49. Geneva Bible Society, instituted 1814  69,474
50. Glarus Bible Society, instituted 1819  5,000
51. Coire or Chur Bible Society, instituted 1813  12,267
52. Waldenses Bible Society at La Tour, instituted 1816  4,238
®*ttm anD ©urfseg.
53. Ionian Bible Society, instituted 1819atCorfu, with three Auxiliaries 7,377
MusiSta.
54. Russian Bible Society, St. Petershurgh, (previous to its suspension by
an Imperial Ukase in 1826, had 289 Auxiliaries, and had printed
the Scriptures in various languages ; the circulation of which is
still allowed)  861,105
55. Russian Protestant Bible Society at St. Petersburgh, instituted 1826,
with numerous Auxiliaries  250,325
The Agency at St. Petersburgh, formed 1828, has issued 349,986 copies.
JEnfcta.
56. Calcutta Bible Society, instituted 1811, with various Branches . . 779,280
Serampore Missionaries  200,000
57. North-India Bible Society, at Agra, instituted 1845  58,656
58. Madras Bible Society, instituted 1820  860,112
59. Bombay Bible Society, instituted 1813  190,877
60. Colombo Bible Society, instituted 18 12, with various Branches in Ceylon, 39,263
61. Jaffna Bible Society  105,577
America.
62. American Bible Society. .  9'r^'«Q«
63. American and Foreign Bible Society  686 ,696
64. Philadelphia Bible Society  A66,\)6<i
Total of Copies of Scriptures . . 20,1 03,670

272

No. VII.
EDITIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, AND INTEGRAL
PORTIONS THEREOF,
PRINTED (DIRECTLY) FOR THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.
(Made up to December 31, 1853.)

VERSIONS.
Accra St. Matt, and St. John .
Aimara and Spanish, St. Luke
Albanian and Modern Greek
Amharic 
Portions of Old Testament
Arabic 
Portions of Old Testatament
Gospels and Acts . . .
Armenian, Ancient and Modern
Ancient 
Modern 
Modern Portions of N. Testament
Armenian (Ararat) Psalms & Testament
with Ancient in parallel columns
Basque (French), St. Matthew ....
Testament 
Basque (Spanish), St. Luke 
Bengali 
and English 
Berber, St. Luke 
Bohemian 
Testament and Psalms ....
Breton 
Bulgarian 
Carshun 
Catalan 
Chaldaic Gospels 
Chinese 
Portions of 0. and N. Testament
Chippeway, St. John 
Coptic and Arabic, Psalms and Gospels .

BIBLES.

TESTS.

TOTAL.

1,010 ...

1,010

1,104 ...

1,104

2,000 ...

2,000

1,996 ...

6,010 ...

8,006

2,010 ...

2,010
14,441 ...
31,128 ...
45,569
24,200 ...
24,200
10,000 ...
10,000
3,000 ...
3,000
8,000 ...
8,000
21,000 ...
21,000
2,000 ...
2 000
5 000 ...
1,500 ...
6,500
4,500 ...
4,500
2,000 ...
2,000
2,000 ...
2,000
1,000 ...
1,000
3,026 ...
3,026
2,018 ...
2,018
250 ...
250
25 000 ..
26,000 ...
51,000
13,000 ...
13,000
8,000 ...
8,000
15,000 ...
15,000
4,000 ...
4,000
9,030 ...
9,030
2,000 ...
2,000
5,000 ...
101,629 ...
106,629
6,500 ...
22,006 ...
28,506

1,000 ...
1,000
2,014 ...
2,000 ...
4,014
273
VERSIONS. IlIIiLES.
Dajack 
Danish • • • ... 20,848 .
Dutch • ¦  133,395 .
Psalms • •  15,500 .
Enghadine 
English, various editions  7,843,874
Psalms  425,982 .,
Gospels and Aets 
Esquimaux 
Portions of Old Testament . . 4,025 .
Esthonian 
Ethiopic, Psalms and New Testament . 2,100 .
Feejeean 
Finnish  10,000 ...
Testament and Psalms ... 
Flemish  5,000
French  417,872 ..
and English 
and German Testaments and Psalms 
Portions of Old and New Testaments 65,363 ..
Gaelic  66,696 ...
German  434,919 ...
Portions of Old Testament 78,998 ..
Testament and Psalms . . . 
In Hebrew Character  
Greek, Ancient and Modern 
Ditto, Gospels  
Modern  11,120 ...
Modern Portions of Old and New
Testament  116,923 ..,
Greek, Ancient  
Ancient and Latin 
Greenlandish Psalms and N. Testament 1,200 ...
Hebrew  91,539 ...
Pentateuch and Psalms  57,858 ...
Hebrew and German ........ 8,083 ...
Portions of Old Testament . . . 38,462...
Hindustani or Urdu .  
Hungarian  59,300 ...
Testament and Psalms 
Indo-Portuguese, Portions of Old and
New Testament  6,000 ..,
New Testament  
Irish, in Boman Character . . . . 10,000 ...
Genesis and St. Matthew .... 5,000 ...
In Irish Character . 5,000 ..
Gospels and Acts . 
l

TESTS.

TOTAL.

1,500 ..

1,500

. 140,934 ..

161,782

.. 586,104 ..

719,499



15,500

2,000 ..

2,000

. 8,612,127 ..

. 16,456,001

425,982

5,198 ..

5,198

4,000 ..

4,000

4,025

5,000 ..

5,000

2,020 ..

4,120

5,040 ..

5,040

. 112,500 ..

122,500

5,000 ..

5,000

70,350 ..

75,350

. 2,693,239 ..

. 3,111,111

10,060 ..

10,060

3,030 ..

3,030

. 167,234 .

232,597

77,949 ...

144,645

1,103,755 ..

1,538,674



78,998

. 406,915 ..

406,915

1,600 ..

1,600

45,294 ..

45,294

2,030 ...

2,030

75,445 ...

86,565

1,010 ...

117,933

11,982 ...

11,982

3,250 ...

3,250

2,000 ...

3,200

13,412 ...

104,951

57,858



8,083



38,462

10,000 ...

10,000

27,000 ...

86,300

11,000 ...

11,000

1,000 ...

7,000

7,000 ...

7,000

5,050 ...

15,050

10,000 ...

15,000

79,473 ...

84,473

3,020 ...

3,020

274
VERSIONS. BIBLES. TESTS. TOTAL.
Italian  88,399 ... 174,190 ... 262,589
Part of Old and New Testament . 5,000... 2,500... 7,500
and Latin Psalter  2,000  2,000
Judaio-Arabic, Four Books  2,020... 2,020
Judaeo-Persic, Gospels  1,000 ... 1,000
Judaeo-Spanish  3,000 ... 3,000
Lithuanian  3,000  3,000
Testament and Psalms  7,113 ... 7,113
Malagasse, Portions of Old and New
Testament  15,160 ... 1,018 ... 16,178
New Testament  11,116 ... 11,116
Malay, in Roman Character . . . 10,000 ... 12,000 ... 22,000
In Arabic Character  5,000 ... 10,000 ... 15,000
Malayalim, Portions of New Testament  7,065... 7,065
Mandingo, St. Matthew  500 ... 500
Manchou  1,000 ... 1,000
Manks  5,000 ... 2,250 ... 7,250
Mexican, St. Luke   250 ... 250
Mic-Mac, St. Matthew  750 ... 750
Mohawk St. John . .  2,000 ... 2,000
Mongolian  2,015 ... 2,015
Negro Dialect, Surinam  3,000 ... 3,000
New Zealand, Pentateuch and Joshua . 10,120  10,120
Psalms and Testament ' . . . . 20,200 ... 76,020 ... 96,220
Persian, Portions of Old Testament . . 16,097  16,097
New Testaments  14,850 ... 14,850
Piedmontese  1,000 ... 1,000
and Italian Psalms  1,010  1,010
and French, Luke and John  2,030... 2,030
Polish  , . . . 14,000 ... 74,000 ... 88,000
Testament and Psalms  5,000 ... 5,000
Portuguese ........ . 18,042 ... 55,040 ... 73,082
Portion of O. and N. Testament , . 5,000... 1,000... 6,000
Rarotongan  5,250 ... 10,100 ... 15,350
Russ, Modern  ,2,140 ... 2,140
Psalms  1,000  1,000
Samoan  15,200 ... 15,200
Sechuana, Testament and Psalms  5,050 ... 5,050
Servian  4,000 ... 4,000
Spanish  53,869 ... 168,997 ... 222,866
and Latin  1,000  1,000
Portions of O. and New Testament, 38,600 ... 11,140 ... 49,740
Swedish  147,730 ... 422,784 ... 570,514
Testament and Psalms  30,640 ... 30,640
Psalms  51,500  51,500
Syriac  • . . . 4,000 ... 14,126 ... 18,126
and Carshun  2,000 ... 2,000

VERSIONS.
Tahitian 
Pentateuch, and Gospels, and Acts
Tartar (Trans-Caucasian) St. Matthew
Tongan 
Turkish 
Genesis and Psalms ....
In Greek Character  2,500
Ditto, Portions of Old and New
Testament 
In Armenian Character ....
Vaudois and French, Luke and John
Wallachian .... ....
Welsh 
and English 
Wendish 
(Hungarian) Testament and Psalms
Yoruba, Portions of Old & New Testaments, 2,500

BIBLES.

TESTS.

TOTAL.

8,046 ...

13,114 ...

21,160

3,030 ...

3,020 ...

6,050

1,014 ...

1,014

10,080 ...

10,080

5,000 ...

9,000 ...

14,000

4,030 ...

4,030

2,500 ...

5,000 ...

7,500

4,000 ...

1,000 ...

5,000

2,500 ...
2,500
3,020 ...
3,0i!0
10,000 ...
10,000
0,525 ...
461,147 ...
851,672
12,016 ...
12,016
8,000 ...
8,000
5,000 ...
5,000
2,500 ...
3,500 ...
6,000
No. VIII.
TABLE OF LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS,
IN WHICH THE
DISTRIBUTION, PRINTING, OR TRANSLATION OF THE SCRIPTURES,
IN WHOLE OK IN PABT,
HAS BEEN PROMOTED BY THE
EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY.

Those printed In Italics are New Translations : the rest are Reprints of former Versions.
Those marked (§) were printed indirectly at the expenseof theSociety, or in some measure assisted by it.
All the rest were printed directly for the Society— with the exception of eleven, published by the American
Bible Society, of two by the Danish, of one by the Norwegian, of one by the Basle, and of one by the
Netherlands Society ; which are Introduced here, in order to complete the View of Languages into which
the Holy Scriptures have been translated. To each of these the (*) Is prefixed.
The letters R. and S. denote the Versions of the Russian Bible Society, and of the Serampore
Mission ; both of which have been aided, in former years, by large grants from theSociety.

Versions.

What printed.

Where circulated,
or for whom designed.

19
20

BRITISH ISLES.
English ; Authorised Version
Welsh 
Gaelic 

Irish ; in native characters
Ditto ; in Roman ditto . .
Manks 

The entire Bible
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .

FRANCE.
French ; the three versions of
Martin, Ostervald, and De Sacy
Breton, or Armorican (Old Test,
translated, but not printed) .
French Basque 
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.
Spanish ; Scio's version . .
Ditto ; Enzinas' ditto . .
Catalan (Pentateuch and Psalms
not yet printed) ....
Spanish Basque, or Escuara \
Judceo- Spanish . ...
Ditto with Hebrew in parallel
columns (by American Society)
Portuguese ; the two versions of
Pereira and Almeida . .

> The entire Bible
i New Testament .
Ditto ....

The entire Bible )
New Testament S
> New Testament .
Gospel of St. Luke \
New Testament .
| Old Testament .
Ii

The entire Bible

Icelandic 
Swedish 
Lapponese .......
Quanian,orNorwegianLapponese, (by Norwegian Bible Society) .
Finnish 
Danish 
Faroese, or Ancient Icelandic
(by Danish Bible Society) . .

Northern Ihtrope
The entire Bible .
Ditto ....
New Testament .

New Testament

S
The entire Bible
Ditto . . .
| St. Matthew . . <
Central lEiuopc.

s

Dutch ; States-General Version . The entire Bible
Ditto; Luther's and Schurin's do. N~~ m '
Flemish  The entire .Bible

British Empire, &c.
Wales.
Highlands of Scotland.
Various parts of Ireland, particu
larly the Provinces of Munster
and Coimaught.
Isle of Man.
France, Switzerland, and Frencli
Colonies.
Province of Brittany.
Departments of the Pyrenees,
and Province of Navarro.
Spain generally, and Spanish Co
lonies.
Prov. of Catalonia and Valencia
Provinces of Biscay, Guipuscoa
and Alava.
Spanish Jews in Turkey,- &c.
Ditto.
Portugal, & Portuguese Colonies

Iceland.Sweden.
Russian and Swedisli Lapland.
Norwegian Lapland.
Finland.
Denmark and Norway.
Faro Islands, between Shetland
and Iceland.
Holland and Dutch Colonies

What printed.

Where circulated,
or for whom designed.

21

2223
'24 25262728 29

30
313233 34

3536373839

*
40 41
42 43
44

4546474949

German ; Luther's version
Ditto : two versions — Gosner
and Kistemaker 
Ditto : Van Ess's version . .
German & Hebrew (in columns)
German, in Hebrew characters .
Lithuanian 
Samogitian 
Polish 
Judmo- Polish 
Wendish, Upper 
Ditto, Lower ... . .
Bohemian 

CCenttal Europe — continued.

The entire Bible .
New Testament

Ditto and Psalms
Old Testament .
New Testament .
The entire Bible .
New Testament .
The entire Bible .
New Testament .
The entire Bible .
Ditto ....
Ditto ....
Hungarian  Ditto ....
Hungarian Wendish .... New Test. & Psms.
gboutljern Europe
ITALY AND SWITZERLAND.
Italian ; two versions — Diodati
and Martini 
Latin 
Romanese ........
Ditto Lower, or Enghadine . .
Piedmontese 
Ditto (with Italian) ....
Ditto (with French) ....
Vaudois (with French) . . .
GREECE AND TURKEY.
Greek, Ancient 
Ditto, ditto  R.
Greek, Modern 
Albanian (with Modern Greek) .
Turkish 

Ditto, in Greek characters
Ditto, in Armenian characters
Ditto, ditto (by American Soe.)
Moldavian, or Wallachian . R.
Ditto 
Servian, or Serbian . . . R.
Ditto (by Wuk S. Karadschitsch)
Bulgarian (the Psms. translated)

Slavonic, ancient and ecclesiastical
 R.

> The entire Bible
Ditto . . .
Ditto . .
Ditto . . .
New Testament
Psalms . .
Gospels .
St. Luke & St. John
New Testament . .
The entire Bible .
Ditto ....
New Testament .
The entire Bible .

Ditto . . . .
New Testament .
Old Testament .
The entire Bible
New Testament .
New Testament .
Ditto ....

Russ, Modem  R-
Slavonic and Modem Russ (in co
lumns)  •".
Dorpat Esthonian . . . . R-
Reval Esthonian . . . . R.
Lettish, or Livonian . . . R.
Karelian  R.

Ditto . .
Iftussta.
\ The entire Bible

( Octateucb, Ps., )
X and New Test. . S
j New Testament .
New Test. & Psalms
The entire Bible .
Ditto ....
St. Matthew . . ]

Protestant Germany, Prussia, &c.
For Rom. Catholics in Germany.
For German Jews.
Province of Lithuania.
In three Districts of Wilna.
Poland, Posen, Silesia, &c.
For Polish Jews.
Saxon Lusatia.
Prussian Lusatia.
For Tschehs of Bohemia, and
Slovaks of Hungary.
Magyars of Hungary and Tran
sylvania.
For the Protestant Vandals in
Hungary and Carniola.

Italy.
Chiefly for Ecclesiastics.
In the Grisons of Switzerland.
On the borders of the Tyrol.
Piedmont.For the Vaudois, or Waldenses.
For Students.
For the Greek Churches.
For the Greek People in general.
Province of Albania, on Adriatic.
Turkey in general.
For Greek Christians using Turk
ish lang. with Greek characters.
For Armenian Christians using
the Turkish language with Ar
menian characters.
Moldavia, Wallachia, and part of
Transylvania.
In Servia and some bordering
Austrian States.
Turkish Provinces E. and S. of
Hungary.
For the purposes of the Russian
Church.
Russia generally.
Ditto. Southern part of Esthonia.
Northern do. on Gulf of Finland.
Provinces of Livonia & Courland
For a Finnish tribe in the go
vernment of Tver.
Ditto, in government of Vologda

What printed.

Where circulated,
or for whom designed.

50

51

52

55

57

JRuSSia — continued.

Mordvinian, or Morduin

R.

Tscheremissian . . . . R,

Tschuwaschian . . . . R.

Orenburgh Tartar . . . R.
Karass, or Turkish Tartar (se
veral other Books of the Old
Testament translated) . . R.
Crimean Tartar .... 7?.

New Testament

New Testament .

The Gospels

New Testament .

• Ditto & Psalms

On

Genesis
i
Caucasian an& <t8ortier Countries
the Russian de

For aFinnishTribeon banks ofOka
and Volga, in governments of
Nische-Novogorod and Kasan.
Ditto on the banks of the Volga
and Kama, in the governments
of Kasan and Simbersk.
For a Finnish Tribe of the moun
tains in Kasan, Nische-Novo
gorod, and Orenburgh.
For Tartars in the vicinity of
Orenburgh.
For Tartars in the government of
Astrachan.
For the Caraite Jews of the Cri
mea, by way of trial.

Ossitinian pot)  R.
Georgian, in Kutsuri, or Ecclesi
astical characters . . . R.
Ditto,inMkedvuli,orcommon do.
Armenian, Ancient . . . R.
Ditto 
Ditto, Modern (with Ane. in cols.)
Ditto, Modern (by Amer. Bib. Soe.)
Ararat Armenian 
Trams- Caucasian Tartar . . .
Kurdish 

Gospels (but never }
circulated) . . 5
[ New Testament (
Ditto .... J

63. Hebrew 
64 Arabic 
Judmo-Arabic (Arabic
brew characters) . .

Ditto
The entire Bible . \
New Test. & Psalms [
New Testament . j
Old Test, printing '
New Test. & Psalms .
St. Matthew . . .
St. Matthew, printing .
Sbemt'ttc Hanguagtg.

Central regions of the Caucasus.

Georgia, S.W. of the Caucasus.

Armenia Proper ; but also pre-
( pared for the Armenians of
Constantinople, Calcutta, &c.
Around Mt. Ararat, S. of Georgia.
Grusinia. KurdiBtan.

65

He-

66

Syriac 
Syriac and Carshun, in paral. cols.
Carshun (Arabic in Syriac cha
racters) 
Syro Chaldaic (Syriac in Nesto-
rian characters) 

Persic (H. Martyn) 
Ditto (Archdeacon Robinson) . .
Ditto (Dr. Glen) 
Ditto (Mirza Ibrahim) ....
Ditto (Mirza Jaffier) ....
Judmo-Persic (Persic in Hebrew
characters) 
Pushtoo, or Afghan . . . S.
Belochee, or Bulochee . . . S.

Old and New Test.
The entire Bible .
) Four Books of $
) New Testament )
The entire Bible
Ditto . . . .s
> New Testament (
> Gospels . . \
^ersta.
New Testament . . }
Old Testament . . S.
Ditto. . . .
Isaiah . .
Genesis . . .
> Four Gospels . .
Hist. Books and N. T.
Three Gospels . . <
Intria.

:!

Sanskrit, or Sunyslcrit . . S.
Hindustani, or Urdu (H. Martyn)
Ditto (Mr.Thomason, and others)
Ditto (Serampore version) . .

The entire Bible
New Testament .
The entire Bible
D:tt-. ,

For the Jews, and for Students.
For Mohammedans everywhere.
For Jews in Yemen, Egypt,
Syria, and Mesopotamia.
Forthe Syrian Church in Travan-
core, and parts of Syria.
Mesopotamia, Aleppo, and other
parts of Syria.
Mosul, Djezira, Tolamisk, and
country West of Kurdistan.
For the Mohammedans, Parsees,
and Persians of India.
Persia Proper.

For Jews in Persia.
Afghanistan. Belochistan, South of the Indus,
on the Arabian Sea.

The sacred & learned language of
the Brahmins throughout India ,
For Mohammedans of India and
others ; the language nenerallv

Versions.

What printed.

Where circulated,
or for whom designed.

71

72 73 74

75 7677 7879
80 8182 8384853687888990 91 929394
95
96

97 9S *

Northern ana' CCcntral ErtDia.

Bengali  S.
Ditto, two versions — Ellerton and
Yates and Wenger . . . .
Ditto (in Roman characters) .
Ditto (with English) . . . .
Maghudha  S.

Vriya, or Orissa 
Hindui (Bowley) 
Ditto, (called Hi/ndee, by Ser.
Trans.) both in the Nagree and
Kythee characters . . . S.

Dialects of the Hindui. .
Bughelcundee  S.

Bruj, or Brij-bhasa . . . S.
Canoj, or Canyacubja . . S.
Kousulu, or Koshala . . . S.
Do. for Central India, or Rajpoot States.
Harrotee  S.
Oojgin, or Oujjuyunee . . S.
Oodeypoora  S.
Marwar  S.

Juyapoora .
Bikaneera .
Buttaneer, or Vvrat

S.

Sindhee  S.
Moultan, or Wuch, or Ooch . jS,
Punjabee, or Sikh . . . . S.
Dogura, or Jumboo (Mountain
Punjabee)  S
Cashm&rian  S.
» Gorkha Dialects :
Nepalese, Khaspoora, or Parbutti, S.
Ditto (Rev. W. Start) . . .
 5,

Pabpa 
Kwmaon  S.
Gurwhal, or Schreenagur . S.

MADRAS PRESIDENCY.
TeHnga, or Teloogoo . .
Ditto (Vizagapatam version)
Karnata, or Canarese . .
Ditto (Bellary version) . .
Tamul, or Tamil . . •

The entire Bible .
New Testament
Ditto 
Ditto ....

Ditto .... I
The entire Bible . j
Ditto ....-,
(Ditto . . . . j

New Testament .

Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
St. Matthew .
New Testament
Ditto . . .
St. Matthew .
New Testament
St. Matthew .
New Testament
Ditto . . .

St. Matthew .
New Testament
The entire Bible

New Testament

Malayalim 
T.,l„ fW TMkIp Bible Snc.iet.vl

>-" '" '  I
J rentateuch,Hist. 1
( Books, & N.T. J
New Testament . S
St. Luke and Acts )
Ditto .... I
Ditto . I
Southern EnSia.
Pentateuch & N. T,

Ditto

< N.T. & large part
I of the Old Test
New Testament
The entire Bible

Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
New Testament

Province of Bengal.

Province of S. Bellar, now part
of the province of Bengal.
Province of Orissa, the greater
part attached to Bengal.
For Hindustan, or the upper
provinces of the Bengal Presi
dency.
A district between the province
of Bundelcund and the sources
of the Nerbudda River.
Province of Agra.
In the Doab of Ganges & Jumna.
Western part of Oude.
A province W. of Bundelound.
Province of Malwah.
Province of Mewar, or Oodeypoor.
Province of Joudpoor, or Mar-
war, North of Mewar.
Province of Joypoor, E. of Mar-
war, and West of Agra.
Province of Bikaneer, North of
Marwar.
Prov. of Buttaneer, W. of Delhi.
Province of Sindh,E. of the Indus.
N. of Sindh, between the Indus,
Chenaub, and Gharra Rivers.
Province of Lahore.
Mountainous, or Northern dis
tricts of Lahore.
Cashmere, North of Lahore.
Kingdom of Nepaul, about Kat-
mandha.
Small States N. of Oude, below
the Himalayas.
Province of Kum'aon, W. of Palpa.
Province of Gurwhal, West of
Kumaon.

Northern Circars, Cuddapah,
Nellore, and greater part of
Hydrabad, or Telingana.
Throughout the Mysore, also in
the province of Canara, and as
far north as the Kistna River.
The Carnatic, & N. part of Ceylon .
Travancore and Malabar.
Canara, westward of the Mysore.

What printed.

Where circulated,
or for whom designed.

99
10010)
102

103 104
105

106107108 *

109

110

114

Southern Enola— continued.

BOMBAY PRESIDENCY.
Kunkuna

Mahratta
Ditto (Bombay version)
Guje rattee
Ditto (Surat version)
Cutchee, or Catehee

Pali (iu Burmese characters) .

Pent. & New Test. \
The entire Bible . >
Ditto . . . . S
New Testament . }
The entire Bible . S
N. T. preparing, £
some of it printed S

Singhalese

Indo- Portuguese (Old Testament
preparing) 

(JCeglon.

New Testament

rhe entire Bible .

<, Pent., Psalms, & (
I New Testament )

The Concan, chiefly the S. part,
among the common people.
The Concan, and throughout the
Mahratta territory.
Surat, and province of Gujerat.
Province of Cutch, between the
Gulf of Cutch and the Indus.

Sacred and learned language of
Ceylon, & Indo-Chinese nations.
South part of the island, from Bat-
tycola on the East to theR.Chi-
law on the West and in the
interior.
For Portuguese settlers and their
descendants in Ceylon and va
rious parts of the Indian Seas

Itt&o-©in'tusE eDotmtries.

Assamese . . . . S.
Munipoora  S.
Khassee (New Test, translated)
Burmese (by Dr. Judson, for
American Bible Society) . .
Siamese,orThay(N.Test. transl.)

Chinese (Morrison's version)
Ditto (Marshman's ditto)
Ditto (Board of Revisors)
Manchoo . ....

The entire Bible . ,
New Testament .
FourGospels&Acts \
> The entire Bible .
St. Luke & St. John .
<£&inese lEmpt're.
The entire Bible .
Ditto ....
Ditto ....
New Testament .

Buriat, or Eastern Mongolian

Calmuc, lian .

or Western

Mongo- . R.

The entire Bible

\ New Testament

l^ttljet ^Polynesia.

Malay, in Roman characters ,
Ditto, in Arabic characters .

Malay, Low 
Javanese (Old Test, preparing
by the Netherlands Society)
Dajak, or Dyak 
Japanese, New Test, translated.
Loochooan 

The entire Bible

Ditto .

New Testament
| Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
St. John. . .

Assam, subject to Bengal Presid.
Munipoor, on South of A ssam.
Khassu Country, East of Garrow
Hills.
Burmese Empire, and Arracan.
Kingdom of Siam.

China Proper, & numerous Chi
nese in Indian Archipelago.
Manchuria : it is also the Court
language of Pekin.
For the Buriats about Lake Bai
kal in Siberia, and for the
Kalka Tribes of Mongolia.
For Calmucs of the Don & Volga,
in Russia; & Eleuths, Calmucs,
and Soungars, of Mongolia.

For the Moluccas, and Eastern
part of the Archipelago.
Malay Penins. ; sea-ports and
coasts of Sumatra, Java, and
other islands.
Batavia and its neighbourhood.
Island of Java.
Borneo.Japan.

What printed.

Where circulated,
or for whom designed.

*
120 121
122 123 124
125 126
127 128 129 130

131
132133 134135 136
137 138
139 #
140141
142 143

144 145146 147 148 149 * * *
150 *
151
152

jfurtljer ^olgnesta.

Hawaiian (by American Society)
Tahitian 
Rarotongan 
Marquesan  \
Tongan (Old Test, preparing) •
Maori or New Zealand .
Malagasse 
Samoan 
Feejeean 
Mare  " \
New Caledonia . . . . <¦ .
Papuan 

Coptic (with the Arabic)
Ethiopic (Ecclesiastical) . . .
Amharic (Vernacular) . . . .
Kinika (St. John, Romans, and
Ephesians translated) . . .
Berber (Four Gospels and Ge
nesis translated) . .
Bullom (with English) . .
Mandingo (Four Gospels transl.)
Accra 
Yoruba . ". . (Gen. Ex. and
Grebo (by American Bible Soe.) .
Namacqua 
Sechuana . (N. T. & greater
Caffre .... (N. T. and
Sesuto (Gospels printed by the
French Missionary Society)
NORTH.
Greenlandish 

The entire Bible.
Ditto 
Ditto 
Some portionsgiven, I
version preparing S
New Testament . .
Pent., Josh., Ps., N.T.
The entire Bible .
Pent., Psalms, & N.T
New Testament .
Portions given, ver- )
sion preparing . . i
Ditto 
St. Matthew printing

mtxita.
Psalms and Gospels
N. Test. & Psalms .
The entire Bible .
> Gosp.of St. Luke
I Part of St. Luke |

Esquimaux 
Mohawk (Pent. & Psal. trans.)
Mic-Mac 

Cree

Chippeway or Ojibway . . ¦
.Ditfo,<ft«c>,(byAmericanSociety)
Delaware (by ditto) . . . .
Choctaw (by ditto) . . . •
Dakota (by ditto) . . ¦ • ¦
Creolese (by Danish Society) .
SOUTH.
Negro Dialed of Surinam . .
Negro Dialect of Curacao (by
Netherlands Society) . . ¦
Aimara (with Spanish) . . .
Mexican 

St. Matthew . . .
Ditto 
St. Matth. & St. John
Six Books of N.T. . .
Genesis and St.Luke .
St. Luke, &c. . . .
part of Old Teat. . .
portions of Old Test. .
> Psalms printing .
America.
( N. Test, and large )
| portion of OldT. J
i Gen., Ps., Prov., }
(Prophets, New T. S
\ Isaiah, St Luke
\ and St. John .
i Matthew printed \
\ Luke&Actsprep. '
r St. John printed, 1
) other portions (
C preparing . . J
St. John. . . • (
New Testament . t
Epistles of St. John)
New Testament .
PortionsofO.&N.Test New Testament .
New Test. & Psalms ,
* St. Matthew . .
St. Luke .
Ditto ....

Sandwich Islands.
Georgian&other islands in S-Seas.
Hervey Islands, ditto.
Marquesan Islands, ditto.
Tonga Islands, ditto.
New Zealand.
Madagascar. Navigators' Islands.
Feejee Islands.
Island of Mare.
New Caledonia.
New Hebrides.

For the Copts of Egypt.
For the Church in Abyssinia.
Abyssinia.Wanika Tribes, Eastern Africa.
The Oases of the African Desert:
from Mount Atlas to Egypt.
About Sierra Leone, on W. coast.
Mandingo country S.of GambiaR
Gold Coast, Western Africa.
Yoruba Tribe, W. Africa.
For Grcbos, in Western Africa.
N. of Orange River, S. Africa.
Bechuana, East of Namacqua.
Caffraria, E.coast of South Africa
For the Basutos in South Africa

Greenland, for the Moravian
Missions.
Labrador, ditto.
Indian Nations, West of the Falls
of Niagara.
For the Mic-Mac Indians in
Nova Scotia.
For the Cree Indians, Hudson's-
Bay Territories.
For the Chippeway or Delaware
Indians.
For Choctaw Indians.
Dakota Indians.
Danish West-Indian Islands.
Surinam, Dutch Guiana.
Island of Curacao.
Bolivia.Mexico.

No. IX.
RECAPITULATION.

Of these 152 Languages or Dialects, specified in the preceding Table,
the Distribution, Printing, or Translation of the Scriptures, in whole
or in part, has been promoted by the Society,
Directly .... in 101 Languages or Dialects )
Indirectly  51 . . ditto . . . )
The number of Versions (omitting those which are printed in different
characters only) is 179. Of these, 125 are Translations never before
printed,

No. X.
FORM OF A BEQUEST TO THE SOCIETY.

I give and bequeath to " The British and Foreign Bible Society,"
instituted in London, in the year 1804, the sum of
Pounds Sterling, to be paid to their Treasurer for the time being, whose
Receipt shall be a sufficient discharge for the same. And I direct the
said Legacy to be paid out of my pure personal Estate, applicable by Law
to the payment of Charitable Beduests. And I further direct, that, if
necessary, my Assets shall be marshalled, so as to leave such pure personal
Estate, or a sufficient part thereof, applicable to the payment qf the said
Legacy, and any other Charitable Bequests I may give. And I hereby
charge all my personal Estate not applicable to Charitable Bequests, and
in aid thereof, my real Estate, with the payment qf my Funeral and
Testamentary Expenses and Debts, and all Legacies and Payments given
or directed by this my Will, or consequent thereon (except Charitable
Legacies?) in express exoneration of my aforesaid pure personal Estate, so
far as may be necessary for securing the payment in full ofthe said Legacy
to the British and Foreign Bible Society, and qf any other Charitable
Bequest, but not further or otherwise.

3 9002