An Unique Event.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 169, 21 July 1904, Page 4

An Unique Event.

ECHOES OP THE GREAT BIBLE CENTENARY. Only now is it possible to realise how far-reaching was the celebration of the Centenary of the Britlsi. and Foreign Bible Society. A bird's-eye view of the world gives remarkable evidence of the way in which the Christian nations recognised their debt to tilie Bible, and united to return thanks for this—one of God's' gioatest gifts to man ; white, inci-' dentally, fresh light is thrown on the 1 widespread nature of the Society's operations. Not only were congratulatory messages received from the Czar, the German Emperor, the President of Uio United States, the King of Sweden and the King of Denmark, but on the day that the Archbishop of Canterbury preached at the memorable service in St. Paul's Cathedral, while tho Queen and other members of the Royal Family joined in the thanksgiving service for tho Cemtenary of the Bible Society, Bible Sunday was being observed all over the world by peoples of the most diverse race and language, In Washington the President of tho United States attended a special service in St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church. In the cathedral at Stockholm the Archbishop of I'psala preached, and thanked God for the blessed work accomplished by the Bible Society in spreading the Gospel, not only in Sweden, but alao in so many other countries. All the members of the Royal Family then in Sweden were present at the service. In India, March oth was kept as Bible Sunday in all parts of the great peninsula. The Viceroy attended a special service at the cathedral in Calcutta ; while the chaplain at Simla made a lias Iwn partially supported—that, his congregation should undertake to defray the cost of tho production of a Gospel in one of the Indian languages into which as yet no word of the Scriptures has heen translated. At Melbourne, the Governor-General of Australia attended service oi) Bible Sunday at St. Paul's Cathedral.

But, this festival was not only kept by t'hu English-speaking tuceß. The Bible society is British and. it Is also Foreign—a fact which was curiously emphasised at its Centenary meetings. The swarthy natives of Uganda were a.q active in organising thanksgiving services as their while brethren in England. In the catho|dral at Namirnnba, tho preacher in the morning was Ham Mukasa, who accompanied the ICatikiro to England for King Edward's coronation. At Singapore every church and mission observed Bible Sunday. From Antigua. Bar.badoes, Trioidad, Ceylon, amd South Africa records are now to hand of hearty services in which tho native congregai--1 tions bore a generoua part. In Fiji, so short a while ago a reign of terror, Bible Sunday was a great feature of its year. At Axim, on tho Gold Coast, and at Lagon, native congregations contributed generously to the Centenary Fund. At Frederickton, New Brunswick, a mass meeting filled the Opera House. In Georgetown, British Guiana, a crowded ami enthusiastic centenary meeting was held in the Town Ilail, when Jlds Excellency tho Governor presided and gave his recollections of a similar meeting commemorating the Socioty's Jubilee, which he had attended as a boy in an English country town. Great numbers were unable to gain admission ; therefore an overflow meeting, attended -by about 500 people, was conducted outside in the open air. At a large Centenary meeting at Kingston, Jamaica, <i lotter enclosing a donation was road from tho Governor, in which His Excellency remarked : "I know what a great and valuable work the British and Foreign Bible Society has done and is doing, and in other ciivum-

stances I should have felt it a privilege and honour to have presided over a meeting to celebrate its Centenary." At Johannesburg, Lord Milner addressed a Centenary meeting, and utmost eloquently urged the claims of the Society. Even on the high seas the day was not forgotten. Services were held on Bible Sunday on several small steamers, when collections were taken in aid of the Centenary fund. At a well-known mission near Bombay the children's offerings alone reached 419 rupees, and some blind girls at the mission went without their food in order that it might be sold and the money given to provide j Scriptures for the blind, At this same mission the collection on March 7th contained not only coins but many offerings in 1 kind, including flour, bread, oggs, chickens, kids, rice, wheat, curry-powder, green vegetables, cloth, etc. At the Moravian mission station at Witte Ivlei Bosch, South Africa, the native CKristians collected £1 lis, and it is pathetic to read how these converts rose one after another and testified to their gratitude for tho Scriptures. The teachers ond children of the C.M.S. Orphanage at Nazareth forwarded JM as a Centenary birthday offering. A few members of the Somali land Field Forco sent iTIS . " A collection mado prior to March 6th (Biblo Sunday) as by that day we shall be again on trek after the Mullah."