BIBLE SOCIETY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 187, 6 February 1912, Page 4

BIBLE SOCIETY.

ANNUAL MEETING TARANAKI AUXILIARY. About a hundred persons were in attendance at the annual meeting of the Taranaki Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which was held Hevening in st - Andrew's Hall. Rev. J. Wilkinson was in the chair. The meeting opened with the singing of the hymn, "0 God, our help in ages,past,"' followed-by an extempore prayed by the ' Kev. Ivellow and the reading of a passage of scripture by the Rev. Liddell. In his opening remarks the Rev. "Wilkinson said he thought most people were aware of the great work .of,the Society and all were anxious to extend its operations. About a. hundred years ago thtf Aew Testament was translated ..into 48. languages, and at the present time it ' was translated into nearly 450 languages. Ihis spjendid accomplishment almost belong entirely to the British and Foreign Bible Society. Every Christian no matter of what denomination, ought, to realise the claims of the great society for it was one of the greatest agents in edifying and the building up of the Church of God whenever it was found Every church spoke, he added, in the \ highest terms of what the society has done, and what it would accomplish in ' the future. It might well be called the handmaiden of nearly every Church of God in the world/ Ajb regard™ the balance-sheet, it was not yet their ideal' but they hoped to do better next year. ' 1 In his annual report (previously adopted at (a meeting of the committee) the secretary (Mr, E. Bishop) recalled ! that the most important event in the earlier part of the year was the celebration of the Tercentenary of the Authorised Bible, at a public meeting held in Whitel<;y Hall on April 20. The gathering was well reported in the local papers and did much to bring the work of the auxiliary before the public notice. Later the Rev. Spencer preached in several pf the pulpits. During the year the president, secretary and treasurer had carefully gone through the depot stock, and new goods to the value of £ls were procured. The sales for the year amounted to about £lO, representing the distribution of at least 200 copies of the Holy Scripture. Some efforts were made during the year to perfect the organisation as regards collectors, but with only partial success. In several-congregations-no 1 systematic collecting had been carried" '"" out, but others had done' excellently. If the same standard- could be attained all round there sh,ould be a substantial increase in the total, remittance to the Home Society during the incoming year. However, the treasurer (Mr. N. K. MacDiarmid) had been able to send Home £9O, as against £7O for the previous • year. Death had removed during the year several prominent sympathisers and helpers, among whom'were Messrs: Tisch <•' and Enroth. Mr. Skinner's removal to Blenheim was also regretted. The thanks of the Society were also due to the collectors and others for their arduous labors. Finally, members should bear ' in mind that £ 100 should not be too high i an aim for the coming year. "Let us go forward," concluded the report, "with faith and prayer, determined that as a society and as individuals it may be said of us in the Master's words, 'She hath done what she could!'"

According to the balance-sheet receipts from- various sources had amounted to '£1.15 5s fld, and expenditure to £lO9 2s Bd, leaving a bank balance of £6 3s Id. OFFICERS ELECTED. ■- - ■ The election of officers then resulted as follows:—President, Rev. A. H. Colvilles; secretary, • Mr. E. Bishop (reelected); treasurer, Mr. G. Hirst; auditor, Mr. J. S. McKellar (re-elected). The committee will be composed of the president, the treasurer, the secretary, and two delegates from each congregation. THE SOCIETY'S GROWTH. An interesting address on the work > of the society was delivered by the Rev. Roseveare. We believe, he remarked, that at last God made His message > known to men in a way which they cottld understand. The various problems in the Bible did not shake: our faith because we accepted it as God's inesßage as men understood it. We had every reason to support the society, because it endeavored to make the word of God known to mankind. The Bible was a message not bestowed on the Englishspeaking people alone, but given to the whole world. The speaker then interestingly traced the history of the Bible, recalling how it was not until the time of Tyndale that it ceased to be a sealed book to English-speaking people, and was translated from Latin into English. Many were the difficulties which confronted the early translators of the Great Book, who at one time had., perforce to find sanctuary in Germany for their work. Even then they bad a hard struggle to introduce it into England, the first copies having to be smuggled in in bales of merchandise, sacks of flour and the like. After 25 years of existence of the society there was being published one volume of the.Bible every seventy seconds; after fifty years' one volume every 23 seconds; after 75 years one volume every nine seconds; and after 100 years one volume every five seconds. Last year no less than seven million copies of the Scriptures were published, representing 333 tons of literature and making a total production of 229,060,000 volumes under the auspices of the society since its inauguration. Last year there were no less than eight new translations, making a total of 432 translations. Further evidence of its progress was afforded by the fact that whereas at the end of the last century four out of every five persons were ignorant of the word of God, to-day seven out of every ten inhabitants were familiar with it.

During the evening anthems were rendered by the Whiteley Choir. The meeting closed with votes of thanks to the retiring treasurer (Mr. McDiarmid), the outgoing officers, and others.