BIBLE SOCIETIES. 



67 



joined in attacks upon porters that were hand- 

 ling English fish. 



BIBLE SOCIETIES. The earliest society for 

 the circulation of the Bible appears to have 

 been the Canstein Bible Society, which was 

 founded at Halle in 1710, by Karl Hillebrand, 

 Marquis of Canstein. The Naval and Military 

 Bible Society existed in London in 1787, for the 

 purpose of furnishing the Scriptures to the 

 navy and army of Great Britain. The Society 

 for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge in 

 London, in 1787, published several thousand 

 copies of the Bible for distribution. A French 

 Bible Society was instituted in London in 

 1792. The British and Foreign Bible Society 

 was formed in 1804, with the purpose, as de- 

 clared in its constitution, of adding its endeav- 

 ors to those employed by other societies for cir- 

 culating the Scriptures through the British 

 dominions, and also of extending its influence 

 to other countries, " whether Christian, Mo- 

 hammedan, or Pagan." 



American Bible Society. The first Bible Society 

 in the United States was instituted in Phila- 

 delphia, in 1808. The organization of other 

 societies followed, at Hartford, Conn., in 1809, 

 Boston, Mass., New York city, and Princeton, 

 N. J., in the same year, until in 1816, the num- 

 ber of these organizations had risen to between 

 fifty and sixty. The American Bible Society 

 was formed in 1816 by the union of thirty- 

 five of these local institutions, and in the course 

 of the first year of its life added eighty-four 

 societies as auxiliaries. The resolution of or- 

 ganization of this society, expressing the object 

 of the convention at which it was effected, de- 

 clared that "it is expedient to establish, with- 

 out delay, a general Bible institution for the 

 circulation of the Holy Scriptures without note 

 or comment." The same provision is em- 

 bodied in the first article of the constitution 

 of the society, which declares that its " sole 

 object shall be to encourage a wider circulation 

 of the Holy Scriptures, without note or com- 

 ment." To this, it is added, that "the only 

 copies in the English language to be circulated 

 by this society shall be of the version now in 

 common use." By reason of this provision, the 

 society is not at liberty to circulate the Revised 

 Version of the Scriptures, which has been pre- 

 pared under the direction of the Convocation 

 of Canterbury. In pursuance of the purpose 

 as further declared, of extending its influence 

 to all countries, whether Christian, Pagan, or 

 Mohammedan, the society publishes versions 

 of the Scriptures in nearly two hundred lan- 

 guages, among which nations and tribes in all 

 quarters of the earth are represented. 



The seventy-first annual meeting of the 

 American Bible Society was held in New York 

 city, May 12. The Hon. E. L. Fancher pre- 

 sided. The year's cash receipts of the society 

 for all purposes had been $493,358, of which 

 $18,666 had been given for investment. The 

 casli payments had been $554,490. The re- 

 ceipts were less by $30,552 than in the previous 



year. The invested, or trusf funds, of which 

 only the interest was at the disposal of the 

 board of managers, amounted to $342,750, and 

 had yielded an income of $11,964. The invest- 

 ments available for general purposes amounted 

 to $164.691, and had yielded an income of $11,- 

 246. Twenty-six Bible societies had been or- 

 ganized during the year, and recognized as 

 auxiliaries. Progress was reported upon the 

 translation of the Old Testament into the Pon- 

 ape language; the Muskokee version of the 

 New Testament, which had been completed ; 

 a version of the Psalms in Choctaw, which had 

 been accepted and published ; the Japanese 

 version, in which all the books had been trans- 

 lated, but were waiting for a final revision; the 

 translation of the Gospels into Kurdish ; the 

 revision of the Modern Syriac Old Testa- 

 ment, and typographical correction of the An- 

 cient Syriac New Testament and Psalms ; 

 Spanish and Portuguese versions ; and the 

 Mandarin, Colloquial, and Classical or Wenli 

 versions in China. The issues from the press 

 in foreign countries had been very large, and 

 included 63,200 Bibles and portions of the 

 Bible in Turkey in the Turkish, Armenian, 

 and Arabic languages ; 356,400 volumes in 

 China; 1,500 copies of the Proverbs in Siam; 

 2,800 volumes in Japan ; and editions at Hono- 

 lulu, Bremen, and Dorpat (Russia). The whole 

 number of issues for the year, at home and in 

 foreign countries, had been 1,447,270 copies. 

 The missionary and benevolent work of the so- 

 ciety included the employment of colporteurs 

 to carry the Bible into destitute neighbor- 

 hoods, where it is never likely to be brought 

 by the usual channels of trade, and distribution 

 through benevolent societies, and, in foreign 

 countries, through missionary societies. The 

 work of the general supply of the United States 

 had been continued, but not on a scale so ex* 

 tended as in eorne previous years. Of the auxil- 

 iary societies. 824 had made reports, of which 

 143 were engaged in the canvass of their fields 

 and had employed 155 paid agents. One hun- 

 dred and fifty-three colporteurs had sold 83,- 

 478 copies, and given away 24,659 copies. The 

 combined results of the work of the year were 

 represented by the visitation by the society and 

 its auxiliaries of 639,269 families, of which 71,- 

 569 were found without the Scriptures, and 

 49,903 were supplied ; in addition to which, 

 22,892 individuals were supplied. During the 

 five years in which the work of resupply had 

 been going on, every eighth family visited had 

 been found without a Bible in their home ; 

 while nearly 400,000 families had received the 

 book, 150,000 rejected it. The exact num- 

 bers were: families visited, 4,468,494; found 

 without the Scriptures, 547,124; supplied, 384,- 

 924; individuals supplied in addition, 217,261. 

 The " Table of Foreign Distribution," gave the 

 following summaries : Number of Bibles, Testa- 

 ments, and portions printed abroad, 482, 168; 

 number purchased abroad, 103,360; number 

 issued abroad, 469,665 ; number sent abroad, 



