SUNDAY COLUMN.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 6 September 1913, Page 4

SUNDAY COLUMN.

WOHLH-WIHE SCIUI'T UHE J 1) JLSTIiJLB U TIUN. (Written for The Chronicle.) (By Hev. J. A. McKExXZIE). The name of the British and Foreign Bible Society is, no doubt, familiar to ail. It does not, however, occur to many who know the name and something of the aims anil work of the society, that its history contains much of deepest human interest. The work of the society.consists of printing and distributing the Bible. This bald statement does not sound promising to those looking for something interesting to read. When one realises however that the Bible or portions of it is now printed by The society in 4-10 different languages, and that the distributions means journeys by almost every imaginable means to the most inaccessible regions of the inhabited earth, one begins to see possibilities of interest and adventure and romance in the history of this society. A visit to the headquarters in London is, in itself, a liberal education to the man who goes bringing with him "a heart that watches and receives.'' From this centre last year no less than o,UOD cases containing 440 tons of Bibles were sent out into the world and well over a ton for every working day in the year. What an extraordinary fact that any book should be issued at this rate in so many different languages and be sent, often under tremendous dilhculties, to every corner of the globe; and this in a highly scientific questioning and sceptical age. To read some recent publications one would imagine that the Bible was an entirely out-of-date book which useful enough in former days had now lost its power, and was left behind by mankind in the inarch of progress. A plain cold statement of fact like the above should cause the man who indulges in cheap sneers at the Bible, to pause and think. Lhe work is not done by a phantom army, nor by a rabble of fanatics. It is the work of an army oi experts in many departments, involving an immense mass of highly-skilled labour, and the outlay of vast stuns of money all of which is freely given by multi- j tildes of men and women scattered throughout the worfd. \\ hile, however, the interest attaching to the translating and printing of the Bible is con lined lo a few; (he work of its distribution affords a fascinating field for (hose who care for travel and advantures in strange lands. A great army of colporteurs travel practically through the inhabited world, their one mission being the distribution of the Bible. T hese men themselves would make a picturesque group if one could gather them together at a given time. Inhabitants of all the European countries, Asiatics, Africans men white, brown and black, clad in strange garments, speaking suange tonguyi, travelling on foot, by snow shoes, in canoes, on horses, camels, mules, l>\ bullock carts, in litters, by (rain and steamboat; how much thcv could tell us of strange advent ures among strange people in outlandish places.

Hero, for in,si mice, is a m;m who litis ita veiled Ihe Andes; here one who has crossed (he Asiatic deserl. Th kma ii has gone li n nil reds of miles on snow-shoes and knows a great deal of the daily lives of (lie tribes of Northern Siberia, j His neighbour is intimately acquainted with the conditions of lif" in the j tingles, of Burma, l ouder is one who has laboured in a great city in China; ne.xt liini one who can tell strange tales of the great African hikes; while at a little distance stands one whose life has been passed among the scenes made memorable in the book he sells. In war, no less than in peace, this great body of servants of the Price of Peace are busy about their master's work. We have watched the newspapers day by day now for news of the Balkan War. We have been saddened, sometimes sickened, by what we have read. .Fortunately while the evil has been so severely manifest, much good has been done of which newspaper correspondents are probably unaware. During the famous siege of Scutari, a colporteur crossed (Lake Scutari and visited the troops engaged in the siege. About the same time two others, one front Bosnia and one from Dalniatia crossed snowy ranges and reached (.'et tinge. During (lie war about 10,000 Testaments were distributed among- Montenegrin soldiers alone.

Early Hi is war a great fair was held in Onulurinan in the Soudan. r rho British and Foreign Bible Society's avoids had a "booth which was visited by Slat in Pasha I lie Sirdar and liis wife (Lord and Lady Wingate) and a multitude of: people of I lie country. A signboard announced (lie fact (hat Bibles had been printed in 44 languages. This attracted a "■real crowd, in which there were many who. were surprised to hear that there were so many languages in the world. The agent in charge, reports thai, most of the "Bibles sold were bought by Moslems living in far corners of the Sudan.