BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1580, 13 March 1879, Page 4

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

A public meeting in connection with the I above society was held on Tuesd y in the Oddfellows' Hall, Lichfield street, for the purposo j of hearing an address or. the position and j prospects of the Parent Society, by the Rev. J J. F. Evans, the agent for Australasia. Mr J. H. Twentyman presided, and tho Rev. Mr. Knowles opened the meeting by reading a portion of Scripture, and afterwards engaged in prayer. Mr J. H. Twentyman then introduced the Rev. Mr Evans to tho meeting, and dwelt on the unsectarian nature of the society, whose operations he said were confined to the dissemination of the simple "Word of God, as it had been handed down to us. Notwithstanding its unsectarian principles, it did not assume a position of antagonism to any other religious body. He expatiated upon the object of the Scriptures, which was to present distinctly before us the person of God himself, which was made known in the of holy He then called upon the Rev. Mr Walker to address the meeting. The rev. gentleman stated that he had not had any intention of addressing tho meeting on the present occasion, as he had had a prior engagement, and was on his way to fulfil it when he turned aside for the purpose of being present. He regretted to see such a limited attendance, which might be partly attributable to the same cause which had nearly kept him away ; but still, it was to be regretted that the various churches were so poorly represented. He then proceeded to pay a tribute to the value of tno Bible Society, which was the great helper of all the missionary societies. He exhorted all to help the society, as the instrument in God's hand in doing good to the whole human race, and concluded by invoking a blessing on its labors. Tho Rev. J. F. Evans, after regretting, the small attendance, expressed a hope that the various ministers would next year do all in their power the previous Sunday to tho meeting to induce their congregations to attend. He said many attempts had been made to prove that the Bible was not the Word of God, but all these attempts would be in vain. Dr. Butler, 145 years ago, had referred to the denial of the truth of the Scriptures, but still people believed in it, in spite of all efforts to the contrary. Voltaire also boasted that he could write a treatise that would sweep the Bible out of France in thirty years. He had written his treatise, but unavailing!?—the Bible still lived, and was the guide for all. Seventy-five years ago the Bible Society was called into existence, and considering the scarcity of copies in circulation then, it was very difficult to realise the fact that there were now 4,000,000 Bibles in existence, and 3,000,000 in circulation, that is to say, there were two Bibles for every 1200 persons. In the year 1804 there were not above two or three Bibles in the Welsh language in every parish which were accessible to poor people, and in many etiees they tad to walk many miles to hear it read. At the beginning of the present century there were not above four parishes in Wales where there was a congregation, and the Sabbath day was one of festivity, and devoted to sports, such as bullbaiting and cock-fighting. There wa9 not a Sunday school in the length and breadth of the country. The Welsh language was not a very difficult one to acquire, that is so far as reading it is concerned; six months of application was sufficient to acquire it. In the course of about twenty-five years the majority of the younger people could read the Bible in their own language. With regard to the prisons, when the Society was first organised there were eighteen in existence ; these were reduced to twelve, and speedily to six. Fourteen months ago there were three prisons in Wales which had not had a prisoner in tlrem for six months. The prison at Dolgelly had been offered for sale by the British Government, and had been purchased for conversion into a training school for candidates for the ministry. It was a gratifying fact that in 1878 no sceptical work was to bo found in all Wales in the Native language. In 1878, 800,000 people, the majority of whom were poor men, earning on an average 10s per week, and with a family of ten children to provide for, contributed no less than £7571 to the funds of the Society, or £4OOO more than the united populations of Australia and New Zealand in the same year. There was still great need of improvement, but considering their state seventy-five years ago, there was great cause for congratulation on their advanced moral and religious condition. During the seventy-five years the society had been in existence they had circulated 45,000,000 Bibles amongst the poor English-speaking people in the mother country and the colonies. The great feature of to-day was the real living interest manifested in missionary work and a spreading vitality in religion. In 1804 all the Protestant churches did not contribute more than £IOOO for missionary purposes, while last yanr the total sum amounted to £447,000, and £67,000 was from what might be termed neutral societies. The society disclaimed all uncharitable feelings to members of any other religious denomination; their grand principle was to put a Bible, which they believed to be God's word to man, in the hands of every one who asked for it. At present there wore fiftynine colporteurs or travellers in France, whose duty it was to visit every town and village in their route, and every house on the roadside, for the dissemination of the Bible. During the past year these fifty-nine colporteurs had put into circulation nearly 1,000,000 copies of the Scriptures. Many of these were doubtless destroyed, but the seed had been in many cases sown in good ground, and would bring forth good fruit. The Bible had been the pioneer of civilisation, and had been translated into 301 languages. At the Paris Exhibition 495,000 Bibles or Testaments had been so'd. Referring to the Kusso-Turkish war, 252,000 Bibles in thirty-two languages had been circulated amongst the Kussianjjjand Turkish soldiers, and had there been greater facilities the number would have been far greater. The Greek Church did not prohibit the reading of God's Word, but on the contrary rather promoted amongst the laity. The society had since earned that the reading of the Scriptures circulated through their instrumentality had been in numberless instances a |great source of comfort to tho poor dying soldiers. The rev. gentleman then referred to the work of the society in its capacity of a missionary society amongst tho heathen. One of its chief objects was to translate the Bible into all languages and dialects, and all subordinate missionary societies as well as other denominations obtained their supply from the parent society. Two great men, Sir Bartle Frere and Lord Lawrence, bore testimony to the great good that had been done in India by the dissemination of the Bible amongst the Hindoo races. The Church of England preached in sixty languages, and got Bibles printed in forty-nine languages from the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Wesley an and other dissenting bod ea, a 3 well as the Presbyterians, also obtained theirs from the same source. There were still 800,000 people who were not in possession of God's Word, so that there wub still much work to be done, and his mission was to forward this work and create an interest in it. In conclusion, Mr Evans said they were greatly indebted to many ladies who worked energetically in behalf of the society, and they ought to give them every kind encouragement in their power to assist them in so praiseworthy and noble a work. Next year Christchurch would be visited by a deputation represented by one of the very ablest men in Australia, and he trusted they would do everything in their power to give him a good meeting, as it was verr discouraging to address so small an assf mblage. To Rev. Mr Aldred in moving a vote of thanks to Mr Evans for bis admirable address, regretted the small attendance, and suggeted that it would be much better if the deputation next year from Australia, could postpone the visit to a month or two later, so as to time it with the annual meeting of the Canterbury branch of tho society, for in that case they cou d deye :d on a largo attendance. The vole of thanks was duly seconded and carried by acclamation. In returning thanks, the Rev. Mr Evans reminded the meeting that it was concrary to the usage of the society to propose a vote of thanks to any but tho presiding chairman.

E-ich speaker considered it a privilege to be allowed to speak. lie regretted the impossibility of the annual deputation coming in May, as suggested by Mr Aldred, as that was the month in which'the branch of the society in Victoria and New South Wales held their meetings. He then proposed a vote of thanks to Mr Twentyman for the able manner in which ho had presided. This was also carried, and the proceedings terminated with the Benediction, pronounced by the Kev. Mr Aldred.