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to unite the whole body of Christians, |and for which its 

 directors had evinced so laudable an anxiety to obtain 

 the patronage and co-operation of the established church.' 

 The individual who had moved Mr. Hughes's appoint- 

 ment as well as the committee generally, saw the propriety 

 of Mr. Owen's objections ; but it was fortunate that the 

 opportunity had arisen which called them forth, as they 

 led to an arrangement, the principle of which was at once 

 so judicious and liberal, that when acted upon, as it has been 

 in all the movements of the society, it has constituted one of 

 the chief corner-stones of its stability and success. It was 

 accordingly moved that the Rev. Josiah Pratt, B.D., the se- 

 cretary to the Church Missionary Society, who had been 

 pointed out by Mr. Owen as a fit individual, should be ap- 

 pointed secretary, in conjunction with the Rev. Mr. Hughes. 

 The creation of another office was then suggested, in order 

 that the foreign churches might be represented in the so- 

 ciety ; and the Rev. Mr. Steinkopff was appointed foreign 

 secretary. Thus, as Mr. Owen remarks, ' The progress of 

 an hour carried the committee on, from the hasty sugges- 

 tions of a short-sighted attachment to the wise determination 

 of a liberal policy.' To prevent the operation of temporary 

 feeling in the appointment of the governing body, the future 

 proportion of churchmen, dissenters, and foreigners on the 

 committee was distinctly defined. This body was to consist 

 of thirty-six individuals, viz., six foreigners, resident in or 

 near the metropolis, fifteen churchmen, and fifteen dis- 

 senters ; the whole of the thirty-six being laymen. The 

 clergymen and ministers generally had a seat and vote 

 on the committee on the same terms by which they became 

 members of the society. Mr. Pratt having voluntarily re- 

 signed his office, Mr. Owen was appointed secretary in his 

 place. 



On Wednesday, May 2nd, 1804, a general meeting 

 of the subscribers and friends of the institution took place, 

 at which Lord Teignmouth was appointed president of the 

 institution. On the 5th of May, the bishops of London, 

 Durham, Exeter, and St. David's, recognised the society 

 by sending in their names as subscribers, and in June they 

 accepted the office of vice-presidents. 



Such was the formation of the British and Foreign Bible 

 Society ; and its subsequent history involves that of all si- 

 milar institutions which it has called into existence in every 

 part of the world. The first foreign bible society was formed 

 at Nuremberg in 1804; but the seat of its operations was 

 afterwards transferred to Basle. This was termed the Ger- 

 man Bible Society. In 1805, a society was established at 

 Berlin, which afterwards, in 1814, became merged in the 

 national institution of the Prussian Bible Society, which in 

 the first twenty years of its existence has distributed 717,977 

 copies of the Scriptures. Notwithstanding the war, which 

 for a time would appear to have presented a formidable 

 obstruction to the progress of such associations, the conti- 

 nent of Europe may be described as having become, in a 

 few years, literally covered with bible societies. In St. Pe- 

 tersburg, the Russian Bible Society was established, not 

 merely with the sanction, but by the formal authority of the 

 Emperor Alexander, during the year 1813. After the ac- 

 cession of the present emperor, Nicholas, the operations of 

 this society, and of all its auxiliaries, amounting in number 

 to 289, were suspended by an imperial ukase. The motives 

 which led to this do not distinctly appear ; though probably 

 arising from the dissensions amongst the hierarchy of the 

 Greek church, numbers of whom viewed with jealousy the 

 efforts which were making to disseminate the scriptures ; 

 but permission was afterwards given to establish a Pro- 

 testant Bible Society, for the purpose of supplying the Pro- 

 testants in Russia with the Scriptures. A society was 

 formed in Paris, in 1318. This now exists under the title 

 of the French and Foreign Bible Society. 



There are at present societies or agents at Touiouse, 

 Frankfort, Colmar, Miihlhausen, various places in Switzer- 

 land, Wiirtemberg, Saxony, at Warsaw, Cologne, Elberfeldt, 

 Neuwied, Geneva, Dornat, in Sweden, Norway, and Den- 

 mark, in Belgium and Holland. In Spain, Portugal, and 

 Italy, efforts are making to introduce the Scriptures. 

 Agents are also in Greece, and at Smyrna, Bucharest, Con- 

 stantinople, Damascus, Astrachan, Selinginsk, and Tunis, 

 &c., exclusive of the extensive connexions of the Society 

 throughout the British dependencies in every quarter of the 

 world. 



In the United States of America, the first society which 

 was formed was that of the Philadelphia Bible Society, in 



1 808. This example was imitated in numerous other placed 

 of the Union ; and in 1816 the idea of a general national 

 institution was carried into execution, by the establishment 

 of the American Bible Society. 



It will be unnecessary to trace further the progress of 

 the formation of other societies in different parts of the 

 globe, the details being in all cases similar. We therefore 

 return to the immediate history of the British and Foreign 

 Bible Society. 



The first application of the society's funds to printing the' 

 Scriptures in a foreign language took place in 1804, whert 

 2000 copies were proposed for circulation among the Mo- 

 hawk Indians. At this time the foundation was laid of 

 a library, which has become by frequent accessions a va- 

 luable and curious collection of biblical literature. The so- 

 ciety was very early called upon to exercise its judgment 

 and discretion in regulating the movements which it had 

 produced. It had adopted from the first, as a fundamental 

 principle, the resolution of circulating only the authorized 

 English version of the Scriptures without note or comment. 

 The individual who proposed the Mohawk version was well 

 known to the Indians, and thinking to prepare for the more 

 favourable reception of the Scriptures among them, he 

 wrote an address every way calculated to effect this pur- 

 pose, which he caused to be pasted inside each copy. The 

 society, in strict adherence to its conviction of the duty 

 of circulating the Scriptures alone was compelled to sup- 

 press the excellent address which had been prepared. The 

 zeal with which the Nuremberg society entered upon its 

 labours was of the most praiseworthy character; but it 

 unfortunately pledged itself to supply 1000 copies of the 

 Catholic Testament, and although in this instance the copies 

 required were not simply translations from the Vulgate, but 

 a more Protestant edition, yet the London Society again felt 

 the necessity of abiding by the rule which permitted them 

 to circulate only the authorized version. The prudence, 

 good sense, and moderation of the committee of the Bible 

 Society, exercised at this period, when it might have been 

 anticipated that it would have been anxious to awaken the 

 enthusiasm rather than repress the zeal of its supporters, 

 have throughout its whole career formed the most remark- 

 able characteristics of its proceedings. 



Yet notwithstanding the general care and prudence of 

 the committee, a deviation from the strict letter of the fun- 

 damental rule, which permits only the circulation of the 

 authorized version, raised a controversy which at one time 

 appeared to threaten the stability of the society. About the 

 year 1821 it began to be intimated publicly, that the com- 

 mittee had been in the practice of permitting the apocry- 

 phal books to be intermingled in such copies of the Scrip- 

 tures as were furnished to foreign societies. The staunch 

 friends of the authorized version exclusively took up the 

 matter very warmly, especially in Scotland ; the controversy 

 was carried on with much heat and acrimony ; and (a na- 

 tural consequence in all such controversies) the original ac- 

 cusation was not allowed to stand alone. Complaints were 

 made of mal-practices in the expenditure of the society's 

 funds ; the correctness of many of the translations of the 

 Scriptures made under the direction of the committee was 

 impugned ; and other matters were laid to the charge of the 

 managers of the society, all of which combined led to a se- 

 cession of many auxiliary societies, and weakened for a time 

 the authority and inlluence of the parent society. The 

 committee, in 1826, brought forward the following resolu- 

 tions : 1 . That the fundamental law of the society, which 

 limits its operations to the circulation of the Holy Scrip- 

 tures, be fully and distinctly recognised as excluding the 

 circulation of the Apocrypha. 2. That in conformity to the 

 preceding resolution, no pecuniary aid can be granted to 

 any society circulating the Apocrypha ; nor, except for the 

 purpose of being applied in conformity to the said resolution, 

 to any individual whatever. 3. That in all cases in which 

 grants, whether gratuitous or otherwise, of the Holy Scrip- 

 tures, either in whole or in part, shall be made to any so- 

 ciety, the books be issued bound, and on the express condi- 

 tion that they shall be distributed without alteration or ad- 

 dition.' Confidence has been gradually restored since these 

 resolutions were acted upon ; and the society is now (1835) 

 in a higher state of activity and prosperity than it has evet 

 enjoyed since its foundation. 



It would have been utterly impossible for the Bible So- 

 ciety to extend its operations into every corner of the globe 

 unless its resources had been increased by the various 



NO. 252. 



[THE PENNY CYCLOPEDIA.] 



VOL. IV. 3 C 



