THE KING AND THE BIBLE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1113, 28 April 1911, Page 5

THE KING AND THE BIBLE.

A MESSAGE TO PRESIDENT TAFT. By Teleeraiih-Press Association-Copyricnt Washington, April 26. King George, in a congratulatory message to President Taft and tho people of the United States in connection with tho Bible tercentenary, referred to the large part tho Scriptures had played in the development of Britain and America. "THIS GLORIOUS ACHIEVEMENT." Addressing a deputation which recently presented his Majesty with an address and a specially-bound volume of the Scriptures as a memento of Tercentenary of the English Authorised Version of the Bible, King George said:--"It has given me sincere pleasure to receive this deputation, and to learn that it represents the joint celebration by the English-speaking peoples of tho issue in 1611 of that world-famous translation of the Bible into our tongue which has ever since been known as the Authorised Version. "The labours of the translators and of my ancestor, King James the First, who directed and watched over their undertaking, deserve to be held in lasting honour. This glorious and memorable achievement, comin? like :i broad light in darkness, gave freely, to the whole English people the right and the power to search for themselves for the truths and consolations of our faith; and during three hundred years tho multiplying millions of tlie English-speaking races, spreading ever more widely over the surface or tne globe, have turned in their need to the grand simplicity of the Authorised Version, and have drawn upon its inexhaustible springs of wisdom, courage, and joy. "It is my confident hope—confirmed by the widespread interest your movement has aroused—that my subjects may never ceasn to cherish their noble inheritance in the English Bible, which in a secular aspect is the first of national treasures, an , is. as you truly say, in its spiritual significance, the most valuable thing that this world affords. , " The Tercentenary celebrations will commence iii New Zealand on Sunday next (April .10), and will be continued "during the week.