234 INSURANCE 



fifth edition in 1903. No comprehensive bibliography of insurance 

 exists, but Pocock, in 1840, published a small volume, which is now 

 extremely rare, including a list of the more important works on 

 insurance, the doctrine of chances, gambling, lotteries, etc., which 

 had been printed up to that time. The list, however, is far from 

 being complete. Probably the most comprehensive collection of 

 works on insurance and related subjects is the library of the Insti- 

 tute of Actuaries of Great Britain. 



The relation of insurance science to religious agencies and religious 

 influence, both individual and social, is implied in the earlier dis- 

 cussion of the ethical sanction of insurance as a method of social 

 amelioration. Professor Clark has well said that "certain modern 

 religious problems need to be apprehended as well from the material 

 as from the spiritual side," and of these life insurance has, almost 

 from its inception, received the sanction and active encourage- 

 ment of the Christian Church. The first name on the list of the 

 incorporators of the Amicable Society for the Insurance of Lives, 

 organized in 1705, is that of the Bishop of Oxford. The first compre- 

 hensive and practical work on life insurance theory was published 

 in 1762 by the Rev. Richard Price, a Unitarian clergyman. Some of 

 the earliest works on annuities and reversions developed out of con- 

 siderations of the value of church leases and inquiries into the tenant 

 rights of church and other foundations. Some of the first steps in 

 the direction of improving the tables and premium rates of burial 

 clubs and friendly societies were made by ministers of the Estab- 

 lished Church, and I may mention the Rev. Mr. Becher, whose works 

 are still valuable for instruction and reference. It has been for 

 many years the practice in England to organize burial clubs and 

 insurance societies of children of Sunday-schools, which, as far as 

 I know, have served and continue to serve a useful purpose. The 

 first two active insurance organizations in the United States, one of 

 which is still in existence, were the Presbyterian Ministers' Fund, 

 established in 1759, and the Society for Episcopal Clergymen, estab- 

 lished in 1769. An insurance company for clergymen has been in 

 existence in London since 1846, and among the efforts of the Salva- 

 tion Army I may mention the Industrial Insurance Department, 

 which has made satisfactory progress. 



These illustrations will suffice to show that the insurance idea has 

 the sanction of the Church and religious approval generally, although 

 some have held and still hold that " these institutions are conducted 

 on a principle contrary to a trust in Providence." In answer it has 

 properly been argued that "life insurance takes its rise in one of the 

 most respected features of human nature foresight, or a provision 

 against contingent evils; and having most particularly in view the 

 succor of the widows and fatherless, it is essentially a moral and 



