THE BIBLE TERCENTENARY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 287, 27 April 1911, Page 4

THE BIBLE TERCENTENARY

CELEBRATION AT NEW PLYMOUTH. The public meeting to celebrate the three hundredth anniversary of the Bible, held under the auspices of th» British and Foreign Bible Society at the Whiteley Hall, was largely attended last eveniug. llis Worship tne Mayor (Mr. G. Tisch) presided. On the platioim with the Mayor were the Rev. F. G.. Evans, Kev. F. P. Kellow, Kev. J. Wilkinson, Kev. J. Laird, Kev. F. H. Spencer (the society's agent), and Rev. J. W. Burton. Apologies were received from the Rev. S. S. Osborne and the officer in charge of the Salvation Army corps. After a hymn and devotional service by Kev.. Kellow, His Worship said ru gave him a great deal of pleasure to preside. The British and Foreign Bible Society was one of the most wortky societies in existence.. The great work of the society in. distributing the Bible in, all countries and in all tongues was a very worthy one. The Bible was the

greatest of all books. All civilised countries built their law code from it, and from a civilising point of view its inlluence was inestimable.. The speaker gave it as his, opinion that the British Hag would not fly over such a vast territory but for the great influence of tho Bible. He thought that Bible lessons should be universally taught in schools, as there was nothing that gave boys and girls a better knowledge of right and wrong, than its .contents. The Rev. Evan's gave a short and in* tcresting address qn the history of the Bible's' introduction into England. Ai the Mayor had stated, the Bible was. a portion of the British nation. The study of how the Bible had been brought into Britain against enormous oppositiou showed clearly that the hand of Providence had carefully guided it. The nation had much to thank that great man Wm. Tyndall for. Tyndall's translation was the basis of all the authoiised versions, and his monument should stand in all towns in Engjand. He had, however, a much greater monument in his great and lasting work. Some people thought that Thomas Huxley was an opponent of the Bible, but that great thinker had left behind him a tribute of his appreciation of the scriptures which proved very much to the contrary. The Rev. Burton followed with some very interesting remarks on the mission work of the Bible Society. He himself had been engaged until a few weeks ago in missionary work. There were many different bibles amongst the various peoples of the earth, and although these bibles differed greatly, to their influence could be traced the 'good characteristic* of the different nations. The civilisations of the present day had been built on the influence of the scriptures. The great ideal of the Bible Society was not to fight the bibles belonging to other countries. These societies were certain that our Bible was the best and truest, and the great object was to have it disseminated in all countries and in all tongues. Referring to great English writers, the speaker stated that our finest literary men had all been well acquainted with the scriptures. The Bible was now seen, in a truer light than ever it had been before, and the ' study of its pages brought us eloser in-, touch with human nature and with God. The Bible was doing a wonderful work in foreign countries. In Fiji he believed! every Fijian owned a Bible, paid for voluntary. Last year the mission funds had benefited, to the extent of £OOOO, the offering of the Fijians. The Rev. Burton said he had also worked amongst the Hindoos and Mahomedana in Fiji, who could hardly be induced to accept even free copies of the Bible. The British and Foreign Bible Society had gratuitously forwarded £25 worth of bibles printed in the languages of these people. This was the kind of work • the society was doing the world over.The Rev. Spencer's address told of the introduction of the Bible into England. . Somewhere about the year (150 A.D., a monk in England used to wander from place to place and sing portions of the scriptures at any festivities that were being held. Then King Alfred had given 1 to his people laws based on the Ten Commandments. Coming down the ages to the beginning of the twelfth century, ; a monk gave to the people copies of the 1 Gospel. Not until the day of Wycliffe was the Word of God given to the , people in anything like its entirety. This I was before the days of the printing press, and Wycliffe and his co-workers toiled to give the people hand-written copies. About 150 years later, Wm. Tyndall took up and revised the great ; work. England, dark in superstition and 1 ignorance, rejected the scriptures. Un- ' daunted, Tyndall went to the Continent, ' and from there sent copies of the Bible to England. The Bishop of London ,' bought up all the copies at big prices, ■ and had them destroyed. The funds, , however, went back to Tyndall, and eu- . abled him to send England more copies, . but this splendid man was eventually . betrayed by one of his assistants and burned at the stake. Coverdale succeeded Tyndall, and translated the 1 whole of the scriptures from the Hebrew ' into the English tongue. Coverdale was 1 the first man to give to England the • Old and New Testaments in one volume. » In the days of Charles I. Oliver Crom- • well gave his assistance. Several large ' bibles were placed in St. Paul's Cathedral, and fastened with chains. The people were ordered to read these for themselves, or,, to listen to appointed ■ preachers. The next heard of the seripi tures was in the form of the Genevian , Bible. This work was brought out by , English fugitives driven over to Geneva . from England, and it was the writers of , these copies who produced the scriptures , in verse form. When Queen Elizabeth . ascended the throne a certain Bishop was authorised to make still further improvements. James 1. sought to issue a Bible that would suit all sects and ; prevent the diversity of opinion concem- '. in? the scriptures that then raged. In 1011 appeared the authorised version, 1 which has held popular sway since that | time. The speaker gave an interesting ' account of the distribution of the Bible ; during last century, until at the pre- ' sent time the Bible Societies new disposed of thirty millions of copies annually. The great ambition of the societies was to sec the Bible printed in every tongue and distributed in all countries—a noble and worthy ambition. In the more civilised and enlightened countries the Bible was becoming ino»e sought after and appreciated. In America thousands of her business men we»e , waking up to the great importance ot having a knowledge of the Divine Word. Mr. Spencer was listened to with rapt attention. During the evening vocal items were given as under:— Song, "Consider the Lilies," Miss Gideon; quartette, "God so ; loved the World," hv members oi St. Mary's choir; song, "Nazareth," Mr. W*. Crawford. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded, on the motion of Kev. J. Laird and seconded by Rev. Wilkinson, to the speak- ' crs. musicians and the Mayor. The Rev. F. P. Kellow pronounced the Benediction a»d tht, meeting dispevsed.