We admit the importance of the missionary enterprise in all its length and breadth, but the details of this book will show most conclusively that the Bible is the great and leading star in the world's conversion. A missionary may enter a heathen land, mingle with its inhabitants, and learn their language, but, unless he have for them a vernacular Bible, he can accomplish nothing. Without this, he would be as a minister at a foreign court without his commission. All his assertions and exhortations, unbacked by the divine authority of the written Word, could be set aside by the mere dictum of a heathen priest. We only ask that the cause we advocate receive aid in proportion to its importance, when compared with all the other benevolent institutions of the Church, and we shall be satisfied with the result. We desire that the Bible may become to every nation as free and exhaustless as the air of the mountain or the water of the river. A traveler once, wearied and faint with the toils of his journey, approached a fountain on the borders of the desert, and he hasted with eagerness to quench his burning thirst with its refreshing waters. Engraved on a marble slab surmounting the fountain were the following beautiful lines: "Come, traveler, slake thy burning thirst, And drive away dull care; Thou need'st not broach thy little purse, My home is on the mountain side, My course is to the sea; Then drink till thou art satisfied, Yea, drink, for I am free." Thus would we say to all earth's toil-worn travelers, fainting and dying amid the deserts of heathenism, come: "Ho! every one that thirsteth, come to the wa ters, and he that hath no money, come; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." The Bible has opened up a broad and mighty river all through the desert earth, on the banks of which three thousand missionaries stand and exclaim, "Ho! ye that pant for living streams, And pine away and die, Here you may quench your raging thirst CHAPTER XXXIII. BIBLE SOCIETIES IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD. THE following list will show the names and locali ties of these institutions, together with the date of their organization, and issues of Bibles and Testaments. They are all parent societies, and have their thousands of auxiliaries and branches in the different countries embraced within the sphere of their operations. These societies are multiplying from year to year, and are to be found in almost all parts of the world. They are also being organized in heathen and papal countries. The present year adds to the number a society for the circulation of the Scriptures, a large edition of which is now being published, in the very center and citadel of the Roman hierarchy. Copies of Scriptures issued. British and Foreign Bible Society, instituted 1804.......20,000,000 American Bible Society, instituted 1816..... 6,000,000 Protestant Bible Society at Paris, instituted 1818, with 132 French and Foreign Bible Society at Paris, instituted 1833, with auxiliaries.. 100,000 Strasburg Bible Society, instituted 1815 (chiefly German Bibles and Testaments). 66,087 Swedish Bible Society, instituted 1808, with auxiliaries.. 564,378 Finnish Bible Society, instituted 1812, at Abo, with many branches 110,561 Belgian and For. Bible Society at Brussels, instituted 1834 7,623 3,903 Sleswick-Holstein Bible Society, instituted 1815, with auxiliaries... 107,213 Eutin Bible Society, instituted 1817, for the Principality of 5,296 Lübec Bible Society, instituted 1814... 11,472 Hamburg Bible Society, instituted 1814, with branches.. 83,752 20,163 10,675 19,154 Hanover Bible Society, instituted 1814, with auxiliaries.. 99,229 3,569 2,800 30,000 3,316 The Agency at Frankfort, appointed 1830 701,027 31,484 Duchy of Baden Bible Society, instituted 1820, with auxiliaries.... Saxon Bible Society, instituted 1814, with auxiliaries.... Anhalt-Bernburg Bible Society, instituted 1821.. Anhalt-Dessau Bible Society Weimar Bible Society, instituted 1821. Eisenach Bible Society, instituted 1818 Brunswick Bible Society, instituted 1815.... Prussian Bible Society at Berlin, instituted 1805, with auxiliaries . . . . Issued to the Prussian Troops since 1830. Zürich Bible Society, instituted 1812, with auxiliary at St. Gall Bible Society, instituted 1813. Neufchatel Bible Society, instituted 1816. Copies of Scrip tures issued. 159,536 4,786 3,310 3,773 4,938 700 1,271,194 235,916 336,184 8,382 14,656 34,429 13,802 40,841 6,430 32,000 36,651 5,000 Coire or Chur Bible Society, instituted 1813 ... 12,267 Waldenses Bible Society at Tour, instituted 1816... Ionian Bible Society, instituted 1819 at Corfu, with three auxiliaries... 4,238 7,377 Russian Bible Society, Petersburg, previous to its suspension by an imperial ukase in 1826, had 289 auxiliaries, and had printed the Scriptures in various languages, the circulation of which is still allowed. . . . . 861,105 Russian Protestant Bible Society at St. Petersburg, instituted 1826, with numerous auxiliaries. Bombay Bible Society, instituted 1813.. Colombo Bible Society, instituted 1812, with various We have not the means of ascertaining definitely the precise number of Bibles issued from the various depositories. An international correspondence is kept up with the different societies, but complete reports are not always received, and consequently the exact number can not be given. As far as the table goes it is strictly correct, but the number of issues is greater by thousands than is here exhibited. We may safely put down the number at 40,000,000. Many of the above societies increase their operations from year to year, and thus, from many different and distant points, the rays of divine truth go out for the healing of the nations. CHAPTER XXXIV. AGENCIES. THE appointment of agents early engrossed the attention of the Board of Managers. No society, perhaps, ever labored more assiduously to forward its interests, without fee or reward, than did the American Bible Society. For several years all its business was conducted without the employment of an agent, nor did the managers adopt this policy until every other measure was exhausted. The importance of having some one to organize auxiliary societies, and keep them in existence and action when organized, was early felt, and the repeated neglect of many auxiliaries to hold meetings, take up collections, explore and supply their respective fields, was equally deplored. To obviate this difficulty, an Auxiliary Committee was appointed, whose duty it was, as far as practicable, to attend the anniversaries, or depute some one to attend. They were authorized to pay the expenses of such representatives, and urged to use their utmost endeavors to stimulate the societies to increased exertion. |