^64-4- . — r y \ SG G THE 100k anir its 3ti}X^: A NAERATIVE FOR THE YOMG. BY L. N. R., AUTHOR OF "the MISStKO LINK." >- hArs.Ellci ■', -A Y) V / .0 rcn NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, No. 530 BROADWAY. 18G3. ADVERTISEMENT. This volume needs no explanatory introduction. Tke "Story" op the Book, in all ages, countries, and lan- guages, is told with simplicity and truthfulness. The work contains the "Story" of the Bible from the first dawn of revelation to the completion of the sacred canon, with the interesting details of its translation and circula- tion, from the earliest efforts until the present time. To tell the Story of the Book in former days, a multitude of curious facts have been culled from works of difficult access ; and its later progress is illustrated by an abun- dant variety of statements drawn from numerous authentic sources. It professes to be a narrative for the young ; but we are greatly mistaken if it be not regarded as a book suited to all ages, and perused with interest by all who love the Book whose Story it gives. Wc are, indeed, anxious that the younger members of our families should look upon it (3) 4 ADVERrxSEMENT. as a volume intended for them, and peculiarly their own. It is our earnest desire that parents and instructors ol youth should be so fully convinced of the value of tlie Bible Society, as to lead them to embrace every opportu- nity to make its claims known ; and the recommendation of this volome may be regarded, we think, as a likely means, under the Divine blessing, to interest the young in the great and glorious work of Bible-circulation. In this simple way they may be the means of raising up a multi- tude of " fellow-helpers" to the truth. If it is a satisfac- tion to be instrumental in causing the grass to grow, flowers to bloom, and trees to yield fruit, where all was barrenness and sterility before, how much greater the privilege to be the means of leading others, not only to possess the Bible themselves, but to labour and contribute toward its universal dissemination. T. P. CONTENTS. PART I. THE BIBLE IN PAST AGES. CHAPTER I. PAQB The Book and its circulation by means of the Bible Society — The ages without the Bible — Voices from Heaven — Patriarchal tradition — The flood — Renewed corruptions — Early idolatries — Ancient Egypt — The pyramids — The oldest coffin — Thebes, Karnak, hieroglyphics, Rosetta stone — Inscriptions on tombs — The bondage — Moses — Arabia — The _Aj-abs — The book of Job — The Pentateuch, how written — The Exode — Number of the people — How supported — Commencement of the age of miracle — Amalek — Wady Mokatteb 17 CHAPTER 11. Mount Sinai — The Covenant, the giving of the Law — The Jebel Mousa — Jehovah — Seven sins and their punishments — Eleven months at Sinai — The unknown thirty-eight years — The last year of the wandering — Mount Hor — The death of Aaron — The law as made known to the people — Fiery serpents — The death of Moses , . 35 CHAPTER IIL Entrance to the land — Joshua — The Canaanites — Joshua's victories — Ebal and Gerizim — The Judges — The six servitudes — The times of the Kings — David — Solomon — Division of the kingdom — Shishak — The prophets, their rolls — Table of prophets — The lost ten tribes — The lost roll, the burnt roll — Captivity and return — Ezra's ministry — Review of the history and prophecies concerning the fall of Israel, Nineveh, Juda, Tyre, Petra, Thebes, and Babylon 4.5 9 10 CONTENTS. PAQS CHAPTER IV. The Jewish Bible complete- -The Apocrypha — The Septuagint — Daniel's two pictures — Antiochus Epiphanes — The Maccabees — Judas Maccabeus — The Roman power — Pompey — Csesar — The Druids — Their Hebrew origin — Serpent-worship — Druidical remains — Greek philosophers — He- rod— The temple — The synagogues — Traditions of the Pharisees — Tar- gums — Pharisees and Sadducees — The faithful few — The rabbins — John the Baptist — His ministry — Our Lord's advent — His mission — Books of of the New Testament — The first century — Its apostles and elders — The Last Supper — Violent death of all who partook of it, except John — First and second pagan persecutions — Destruction of Jerusalem . . .72 CHAPTER V. Gradual circulation of the New Testament — Earliest heresies — Uninspired teachers — Progress of the gospel — The Book becomes the guide — Eight more pagan persecutions — Particulars of these — Dioclesian's medals — Reign of Constantine, his mistaken zeal — The rise of monasteries — Pro- gress of the papacy — Alaric — Versions of Scripture — The Alexandrine version — ^irst protests — Vigilantius — Nestorius — The Nestorian Chris- tians— The Armenian church — The Paulieians — The Abyssinian church — The British church in Wales, in Scotland, in Ireland — Succat — Co- lumba — lona . . • . . . . . . . . =.96 CHAPTER VL The Fall of England's Protestantism — Augustine's mission — Bede — King Alfred — General ignorance — The Vaudois church — Early protests — Claude of Turin — Vaudois colporteurs — Waldo — His translation of the Bible — Sketch of the Vaudois people — Their knowledge of Scripture — Innocent III. — The inquisition — Torments — Steadfastness — The vows of Luzerna — The Bohemian Christians ....... 119 CHAPTER VIL The earthquake council — John Wiclif — The law made at Toulouse — Romish revenge on Wiclif — His translation of the Scriptures — Lollard martyrs — Sawtre — Lady Jane Boughton — Lord Cobham — Black-friars' monastery — Site of Bible-house — Printing — Anger of monks — Use of monasteries — Reading and writing of the Scriptures at Clugni — Translations pre- paring— Gift of the Vaudois church to France — Olivetan's version — De Sacy's version — Colporteurs — Translations of the Bible extant up to the sixteeth century — Particulars concerning each 136 CHAPTER VIIL Tyndal — Erasmus — Tonstall — More — Wolsey — Search for Testaments in I^ondon, Oxford, and Cambridge — Scenes in St. Paul's cathedral, and at CONTENTS. 11 PAGB Paul's cross — Deaths of Tyndal and of Wolsey — Description of frontis- piece, with martyrdom of Ann Askew — Luther — List of languages before 1 804 — Summing up of the narrative 152 PART II. THE BIBLE SOCIETY'S HOUSE. THE PRINTING AND BINDING OP THE BIBLE. CHAPTER L The Bible-house — Its library — Wiclif s Testament — Tyndal's Bible — Cover- dale's Bible — The Geneva Bible — The Bishops' Bible — Authorized version — "Welsh Bible — European languages — Swedish Bible — Polyglots — Dutch Bible — Luther's Bible — Bohemia Bible — Eastern languages — Persian Testament — Pali, Hinduwee, Bengalee, &c. — Separate translations of the Bible into Chinese — The Lord's Prayer in all languages — The Douay version — The Society's departed friends — The manuscript library — The Breton Bible — Wales and Britanny — Syrian, Persian, Chinese, Ethiopic, and Amharic manuscripts — The Amharic Bible — Mr. Jowett's account of it — How the Society obtains its translation — Their revision — The general committee-room — The case of Bibles — The Bible for the blind — The sub-committee-room — Portraits — The Bible-warehouse . . .179 CHAPTER IL Bible-printing at Shacklewell — Ancient printing office — The compositor — The reader — Stereotyping — Binding — Number employed . . . 199 PART III. THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY'S RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT OPERATIONS. CHAPTER L Rev. T. Charles — Particulars of his youth — His missionary spirit — His usefulness to th«> young — Scarcity of the Scriptures in Wales— Circulating 12 CONTENTS. PAGI schools — Committing the Bible to memory — Gro-wn-up scholars — Meet- ing of twenty schools — The little girl who had no Bible — The twelve peasants — Mr. Charles's visit to Loudon — Tract committee — Wants of Wales, and of the world — Formation of the British and Foreign Bible Society — Collection in Wales — Influential friends and supporters — Ob- jects and constitution of the Society, formed alike for home and the -world — Its principle — Union and co-operation of all parties — PtCV. J. Owen— Rev. J. Hughes 211 CHAPTER 11. Arrival of Bibles in Wales — Answer to prayer for Mr. Charles — His visit to Ireland — His funeral — Want of the Scriptures in Scotland and in France — Revocation of the edict of Nantes, and its results — Sufferings of the Huguenots and VaudSis — Reaction of infidelity — Desire of Eng- land to circulate the Bible in France — Oberlin and the Ban de la Roche — Scripture-readers — Bible Societies at Waldbach and Nuremberg — Scarcity of the Scriptures even in Europe — Their circulation among French and Spanish prisoners of war — Bible Society at Berlin — Willing- ness of a priest to distribute the New Testament — The field of labour in Asia — Chinese gospels in the British Museum — India and the Tamil language — Africa — America , . 230 CHAPTER III. The Bible Society's " Reports" not dull books : what it is that they contain — The sway of Great Britain and its purpose — The world's inhabitants, in five classes — The work of the Bible Society among each — The way it is accomplished, by division of labour, and by various agents — The Bible Society like the banian tree, its fibres taking root in the Protestant coun- tries, first in England, by the auxiliaries and Bible Associations — The system gradually matured — Arrangementof districts — Ladies' committees — The results of co-operation — Objections to the Society — Lord Teign- mouth's answer — Mr. Dealtry's — Mr. Ward's — Operations at home — Ex- tracts from reports of collectors — The dying child — The old woman and the wool — The Bible-bees — The gun and the Bible — Mr. Dudley's review — Death of Mr. Owen — Distribution of the Scriptures in Ireland — Anecdotes 242 CHAPTER IV. The Bible Society in Holland — Ali Boy's Turkish Bible — Prayer for Bible Societies — Germany — Its religious state previous to the existence of the Bible Society — Dr. Schwabe's tour — Mr. Owen's letters — Prussia — Royal patronage — Switzerland — Antistes Hess — Dr. Steinkopff's report^ — Lau- sanne Bible Society — Sweden — Norwaj' — Iceland — Mr. Henderson's let- ters— Denmark — The United States of America . . . 283 CONTENTS. . l3 PAGB CHAPTER V. The Jews, aftei their disijersion, in Rome, Spain, Portugal, France, Ger- many, Turkey, and England — Their sufiferings, aud the remission of these — Their numbers all over the world — What the Society did for them in its first twenty-five years — Letters of Dr. Pinkerton from Russia — Jews of Thessalonica and Constantinople — Jewish converts — The So- ciety's work among the Syrian Christians in the Armenian church, in the Nestorian, and in the Abyssinian — Letters from Mr. Pearce—Granta to the Vaudois church — Its gratitude 279 CHAPTER VL The work of the Bible Society among Roman Catholics — The Greek church — Distribution of the Bible by Roman Catholic priests — General willing- ness of the Roman Catholic laity to receive it — Anecdotes — Leander Van Ess — Ei-ance — Professor KieflFer — The prayer of the dying sister, and its answer — Austria and Belgium — The Roman Catholic portions of Ger- many, Prussia, Poland, and Switzerland — Italy, Spain, and Portugal — Russia: the Bible Society there; its extinction — The tribe of Buriats — Turkey, European and Asiatic ; its mixed population — The Turks — Fo- reign agency — Mr. Barker — Greece — South America — Dr. Thomson — A few words on the Apocrypha — The Mohammedan countries — The Heathen countries 300 CHAPTER VIL Death of Lord Teignmouth, and of Mr. Hughes — Bible colportage upon the continent — Osee Derbecq — Characteristics of colporteurs — The young Bible collector in Jersey — Juvenile Bible Associations — Individual efi'orts to distribute the Scriptures — The Testament among the fishing-people of Boulogne — A tract the pioneer of the Bible — Statistics of infidel publications 332 CHAPTER VIIL Jubilee review of the heathen countries of the world — The Bible in India — In China : extraordinary religious movement there : Sew-tseuen, the leader of the insurgents — Japan, in all probability without a Bible — Loochoo islands . 352 CHAPTER IX. Jubilee review continued — Circulation of the Bible in Australia, Borneo, Tahiti, Rarotonga, Mangaia, New Zealand, and South Africa — The Bible among Mohammedans, in Roman Catholic countries, in Austria, in Spain and Portugal, in Switzerland and Italy, and in France .... 383 2 14 CONTENTS. PAGH CHAPTER X. The old fountain restored in Assyria — The Nestorian church— American missions — Dr. Layard's testimony — The Armenian, the Coptic, the Abyssinian, and the Waldensian churches — The Jews — Jerusalem — Nazareth ■*05 CHAPTER XL The Protestant countries: Holland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden State of the Continent — Lord Bexley — Mr. Brandram — Wabs —Scotland — England — Ireland — Home colporteurs and collectors — Fi- nal appeal — Motives for renewed exertion • 428 ^t fnl mxn iU §kt^. PART I. THE BIBLE BT PAST AGES. e %m\i aiA lis St0rg. CHAPTER I. The Book and its Circulation by means of the Bible Society — The Ages without the Bible — Voices from Heaven — Patriarchal Tradition — The Flood — Re- newed Corruptions — Early Idolatries — Ancient Egypt — The Pyramids — The oldest Coffin — Thebes, Karnak, Hieroglyphics, Eosetta Stone — In- scription on Tombs — The Bondage — Moses — Arabia — The Arabs — The Book of Job — The Pentateuch, how written — The Exode — Number of tho people — How supported — Commencement of the Age of Miracle — Amalek — Wady Mokatteb. THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. In almost all the houses in England may now be found One Book — the oldest and the most wonderful book in the world. This Book, the Bible, is a Revelation from God. The word revelation means the rolling back of a veil ; so the Bible unveils to man what otherwise he could not know of the Great God, of man, and of Jesus Christ, who is God and man " in one person for ever." God caused holy men to write on these subjects that which he taught them; and, being written, he meant it to be known throughout all the world, by every human creature But this Book did not always lie upon almost every table in England. It is only within the last fifty years that it entered into the minds of some good men to help each other to print and send this Holy Bible forth to every land, and into every family; and when they had united themselves for this great work, they were called TiiE British and Foreign Bible Society. This Bible Society has a hisloj-y, and they wish their history 2^^ 17 18 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. written for those who were not born when their Society arose They are in this year, 1853, celebrating their Jubilee — a year of public gladness and rejoicing over the work already done, and a year in which they wish to ask their young friends to help them to do very much more. Before, however, we begin to tell you the story of the Bible Society, which is a true and glorious tale, that will certainly stir all the young hearts that. listen to it, to desire to work in its service, it will be necessary for you that we go back for a while to the story of the Book itself, and that we inquire what that Book is, and whence it came. And now, while we attempt to lead you to retrace the times of its beginning, we have one request to make, that you will read, with your Bible by your side, and turn to the references made to Scripture as they occur. You have not to search through " houses of rolls,'^ and long files of ancient manuscripts, to see if the story be true ; for all the wonders that will be told you concern a small volume that can be held in the hand of the youngest child capable of understanding it. May the Holy Spirit of God lead us reverently to seek, through- out our lives, for "all truth" contained in his high and holy word, which is able to make us '^wise,'^ and "wise unto salva- tion !" THE AGES WITHOUT THE BIBLE. You know, perhaps, that this world existed for 2500 years or more after the creation of mankind, without a written revelation ; and Moses tells us, that, during that period, the wickedness of man was '- great upon the earth" — so that a just and holy God swept the whole human race away, and washed out their remem- brance, with the exception of one family, saved in the ark, to be the founders of new nations. Did you ever think of the way in which the Almighty, in the midst of this abounding wickedness, preserved among the few the knowledge of his Name ? He held immediate intercourse THE AGES WITHOUl THE BIBLE. 19 with one patriarch after another, by voices from heaven, and he had spoken much with Adam. Adam lived nearly 700 years after the birth of his grandson Enos, when it is said men '"'began to call themselves by the name of the Lord.'' "With Adam, during the days of his long life, all who desired it might con- verse. Enos lived far into the days of the holy Enoch, of whom it is said that he " walked with God, and was not, for God took him." Enoch would certainly teach the truth to his own son Methuselah, with whom he lived 300 years : in giving him his name, he' uttered a prophecy, for the word means, " He dies, and it is sent ;" and Methuselah died in the year of the flood. Noah, born 400. years after Methuselah, might have talked with him for 600 years before the flood, so that in a line of only five per- sons, all that Adam, who was made in God's own image, ''knew of his Creator" would be handed down from tongue to tongue ; and doubtless Adam, Enoch, and Noah, at least, were actual " preachers of righteousness" to all who would hear them. Shem, then, the son of Noah, who lived 500 j^ears after he came out of the ark, and of whom it is said, " Blessed be the Lord God of Shem," v/ould, with the other patriarchs, convey all that was known of God to the people fast growing up around them ; and this knowledge would at first, in all probability, be carried, at the dispersion of mankind, into the different districts in which they settled. It is thought by some, that Noah himself went forth into China, Ham into Africa, Japheth into Europe, while Shem, who was the favoured son, remained in Asia — some of his descendants peopling Arabia. But with this possible knowledge of the true God, wo know that very soon there was mingled the "corruption" of a fortner world: men began to adore, in God's stead, the sun and moon, which they did, because they observed them to be moving bodies, and thought them living ones, in the heavens. The Egyptians named their kings Pharaoh, from PJira, the the sun, and worshipped them, when dead; and very early, as we learn from the picture-writing, or hieroglyphics, on the walls of their ancient temples, mixed up their true and noble notion? 20 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. of God, and of the past, and of the future, with base idolatries, not only of sun, moon, stars, and men, but of brutes, reptiles, plants, and even insects. They bowed down to bulls, crocodiles, lily-flowers, onions, and beetles ; yet they were men of mighty thouo-hts, and their ideas of building were so vast, that at this day we should say the records of their structures were fables, did not the immense remains exist, to witness to the truth of history. What child has not heard of the pyramids, now believed to be older than Abraham ? Many think that Job spoke of them when he referred to "the men who build desolate places for them- selves." Three of these astonishing buildings stand eleven miles west of the Nile. The largest is built of hewn-stones, some of them thirty feet long. A French engineer has calculated that the stones of that huge pile, called the '^ Great Pyramid," would suffice to build a wall all round France, measuring 1800 miles — a wall one foot thick, and ten feet high. These vast mountains of stone appear to have been intended as tombs for the kings of Egypt. Since the year 1834, we have been sure of this, for in the third pyramid of Ghizeh has been found the coffin of the king for whom it was built — the coffin of King Mycerinus. For this discovery, Europe is indebted to Colonel Howard Yyse. In its sepulchral chamber, he discovered a sarcophagus, or stone coffin; and on the floor a mummy-case, or rather its broken lid, (for the pyramid had been rifled hundreds of years before by the Saracens,) which proved to be, from the picture-writing upon it, the sarcophagus and coffin of the builder. That ancient lid, perhaps 4000 years old, is now in the British Mueeum ; you can go and see it there ; and the far-ofi" time to which it belongs, and the certainty of the occupant, throw an awful interest round this relic of the first Pharaohs. These ancient and extraordinary Egyptians, whose thoughts seem always to have been occupied with their temples and their tombs, believed that the spirit, when it left the body, wandered on, never resting, giving life to some beast of the field, some fowl of the air, some fish of the sea, — waiting for the redemption THE AGES WITHOUT THE BIBLE. 21 of the original body ; therefore they took great pains to preserve their bodies after death, in time-proof mansions. They had no written revelation to -which to refer, to set them right when they were wrong ; and after the death of the patriarchs, they derived their knowledge from tradition, or that which one told another ; for God never spoke to them by a voice from heaven. Before we leave them, and with Israel ''go up out of Egypt," under the care of Moses, " learned in all the wisdom of the Egyp- tians," you would like to follow with us for a little while the steps of recent travellers into this region. You must take nine- teen days' journey up the Nile, to the ancient Thebes, which was Egypt's old metropolis, long before Israel was settled in the land of Goshen. Thebes or Theba means the ark ; and the chief temple there seems to have been built in commemoration of the deluge ; — a boat-like shrine was the most sacred object in the ancient Egyp- tian temples. Thebes is a city that was thought worthy of mention in Scrip- ture : it is there called, "No-Ammon," ''populous No," per- haps from No-ah. Its acres of ruins remain to this day. Belzoni says, that among them he felt as in a city that had been built by giants. Its situation is grander than even that of the seven- hilled city of Rome. " The whole valley of the Nile was not large enough to contain it, and its extremities rested on the bases of the mountains of Arabia and Africa." It stood upon a vast plain describing a circuit of thirty miles, and was called "the City of the Hundro Tll^^^A VA7 COUNTRY. These are called pure hieroglyphics, and are found on the olde«t monuments and papyri. The pure hieroglyphics afterward became linear, or line-like, as reduced from the rude pictures — M THE BOOK AND ITS STORr. Pure. Linear. A Q-ecd, used for letter A. Kjachal, symbol of aj^riest. A goose used for letter S, figuratively the hud goose — symbol of offspring. The pure class was always sculptured or painted, and, in gene- ral, both sculptured and painted were employed on public edifices. The linear was preferred in ordinary life and writing. This writing; became known to the moderns through a slab of black marble, with inscriptions upon it, in three different charac/- ters, but all meaning the same thing, dug up by a French officer of engineers, on the western bank of the Nile, in August, 1 •■ 99, Rosetta Stone. ROSETTA STONE. 25 at Kosotta, not far from the moutli of the Nile. It is called the '^Rosetta Stone/' and is now in the British Museum. We have given you a drawing of it for those who cannot go and see it, and a specimen of the characters in which the three lan- guages are written. Learned men found they could read the last inscription in Greek; and then, letter by letter, and with much pains-taking, they found the alphabet of the two others; and so this stone, more valuable to them than the wonderful Koh-i-noor, has enabled them to read the histories of those grand, old, dead kings, on their tombs. The event recorded on the stone is not so wonderful in itself: it concerns the coronation of King Epiphanes, which took place at Memphis, 196 years before Christ; but whatever be the in- scription, it has proved the key to many more. One of the most remarkable inscriptions on the tombs at Thebes is the balance scene, which is laid in the world of spirits. Osiris, the chief god of the Egyptians, is seated on a throne of judgment, with Isis his consort by his side ; a soul is conducted into his pre- sence. Anubis, painted with the head of a jackal, superintends the balance, in which the good and bad actions of the soul are laid; and Thoth, a kind of recording angel, having the head of a hawk, stands by, with a tablet and pen in his hand, to record the judgment given. ^ There are also upon the walls of Thebes inscriptions a thousand times more interesting than this to the readers of the Bible, be- cause they serve as proofs of the events which it records. The bondage of the children of Israel, in Egypt, is thus confirmed by a tablet representing them on the tomb of Bekshare. Bekshare is known to have been the chief architect of the temples and palaces at Thebes, under Pharaoh Moeris. The physiognomy of the Jews it is impossible to mistake : and the splashes of clay with which their bodies are covered, — the idea of labour that is conveyed, — the Egyptian taskmaster seated with his heavy baton, whose blows would certainly visit some weary slave, resting a moment from his toilsome task of making bricks, and spreading them to dry in the burning sun of Egypt, — all give proof of the exactness of the 3 26 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Scripture phrase. ^^ all their service that they made them serve was with rigour/' The inscription at the top of the picture to the right reads, " Captives brought by his majesty, to build the temples of the Great God." This probably means, that the family or gang of Israelites, here represented, had been marched up from Goshen, and attached to the building of the temple; at Thebes. We know, from Exod. i. 11, 12, that they were compelled to build "for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom and Raamses." But the time of that bondage had an end, and the '^ sigh" and '^ cry'' of the oppressed people came up unto God. They had not forgotten that they were the children of a Mighty Promise ; and God, too, looked down upon them, and heard their groaning, and remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. He had so ordered it, that eighty years before, one of the He- Drew babes doomed to destruction had, by its exceeding beauty, won the favour of Pharaoh's daughter; and the child, separated from its people, had grown up "beneath the shadow of the Egyp- tian throne ; yet, nursed by its mother in its early days, and taught, while she nursed him, all she knew of the dealings of God with his people in the ages before the flood and after it, Moses had treasured her sayings in his heart. He could not be ignorant of the future prospects of his race ; and it seems that he considered he was raised up to deliver them at once, in the hour when he smote the Egyptian for their sake ; but they rejected his help, learned though he was, and " mighty in words and in deeds." He was then only forty years of age ; and God had lessons for him to learn for forty years more, in the solitudes of Midian, of a very different kind from those which he had learned in Egypt, but equally necessary to fit him to be the leader of this chosen people. Here, by a long process of quiet teaching, the ardent zeal of his youth was mellowed by tlat spirit of humility and patience which the Divine Being poured out upon him. This fresh '^wis- dom" was given to him in Arabia; and with Arabia we must begin a new section. ARABIA 27 ARABIA. The thrive great nations of remote antiquity are the Egyptians, the Arabians, and the Jews. The Arabs are a people who can bring monuments of their his- tory almost from the very deluge. For the nature of their coun- try, its three divisions, its three evils, its three animals, and its three productions, we advise you to search in that beautiful bool^, called " Far Off,''* which is, or ought to be, in all our school- rooms ; and to the information you will there find, we will add a few more particulars, as we wish you to realize Arabia, especially the north-western part of it, as it was in the days of Moses. Arabia has been called " Africa in little." It was, as it is now^ a country without a navigable river — the camel its ship of com merce, and its horses the finest in the world. ''An Arab, on a mare unrivalled for speed and endurance, is his own master," says Mr. Layard, " and can defy the world. Without his mare, money would be of no value to him ; he could only keep the gold by burying it in some secret place ; and he is himself never two days in the same spot, but wanders over three or four hundred miles in the space of a few months. Give him the desert, his mare, and his spear, with power to plunder and rob for the mere pleasure and excitement it affords, and he will not envy the wealth or power of the greatest of the earth." rfuch was and such is the Bedouin of the deserts — the Saracen of the middle ages — who has never by any conquest been driven out of his country — a vast space of winding sands, where those who travel now declare that not even a wolf can live three days unless he feeds on stone and granite. Perhaps, because it is such a country, the Arab has of necessity reaped the harvests of sur rounding lands, — ''his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him." His fathers have been the conquerors of all modern eastern nations, and his langauige is spoken more or less from India to the Atlantic. The Arabs say that they are sprung * By the author of ''Line upon Line," and "Near Horu;." 28 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. from two sources, that a i)art of tliem are the sons of Ishmael, and are the naturalized Arabs, but that the pure Arabs, ^^ Arab- el- Arab," are t^e sons of Joktan, the great-great-grandson of Shem. "VYe shall only notice, among their tribes, the Jobaritae, who are said to claim descent from Job of the Bible.* Now, it is by almost jill learned men admitted that the book of Job is of extreme antiquity. The Syrian Cliristians place it as the first book in their Bibles. It may give you a new and very interesting view of this book if, after reading the first ten chapters of Genesis, the account of the creation and the flood, you read the history of this patriarch before commencing the life of Abraham. Job is believed, by some of the most eminent eastern scholars, to have been an Arabian emir, or chief; and his story casts, we think, " a flood of light on an otherwise dark part of the world's history.^f We can imagine Moses, in Midian, which was a neighbouring district to that in which Job had lived, centuries before, as find- ing in some written character, which he from his Egyptian wis- dom understood, the records left of this great man, before whom " princes and nobles had been silent," and, under the immediate inspiration of God, casting these records into the form of a He- brew poem, as a picture of patience and impatience, for the benefit of his sufiering brethren. The book of Job is generally considered to have been written or translated by Moses. Pos- sibly he also wrote in Midian, in the long days of his secluded shepherd life, and also by God's teaching, the book of Genesis. We must give you a few reasons why it has been supposed that the book of Job is so old. His long life of certainly two, and perhaps three or four, hun- dred years. The absence of any reference in the book to God's dealings with Abraham or his children ; and of any notice of the destruc- tion of Sodom and Gomorrah. * Forstcr's " Geography of Arabia." t Smith's "Patriarchal Age," p. -Ilfi. THE PENTATEUCH. ^9 The worship of the sun and moon being the only species of idolatry mentioned in the book, (Job xxxi. 26.) The manners and customs described, which are those of the earliest patriarchs. And Job's religion, which is exactly and purely patriarchal. The learned men above referred to are of opinion that there is sufficient proof that Job lived between the deluge and the call of Abraham,'*' so that God never left the world at any period with- out a witness to his truth. The magnificence of the thoughts uttered both by Job and his friends, and, above all, by God, when he answered Job out of the whirlwind, you will perceive more and more as you grow older; and, as you are reading, you will indeed be ready to say, " How much these ancient Arabians knew of God I" The patriarch Job and his friends, notwith- standing the mistakes they made, are men who seem to have con- versed with the Invisible, to have read him reverently in the vast volume of his works, and also to have received, from of old, the prophecies of the latter-day glory, (Job xix. 25 ;) while, as concerning worldly knowledge — the art of mining, (xxviii. ;) the art of weaving, (vii. 6 ;) the conveyance of merchandise by cara- vans, (vi. 19 ;) the refining of metals, (xxviii. 1 ;) the coinage of money, (xlii. 11 ;) the use of musical instruments, (xxi. 12) — all were understood and practised. It may be, you never thought of this state of things as existing before the giving of the Law on Sinai. We are now passing into the age when the Pentateuch began to be written. Perhaps you will like to think of the material it was written upon, and the character in which Moses wrote it. This is a piece of ancient Hebrew — the language in which the law was written — The Bible was written by degrees, and by different Dersons • * Job alludes to the deluge, ix. 5, 6' ; also xii. 15. 3« 30 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. it took 1600 years to write. The first five books were written by Moses in the wilderness, as well as the book of Job ; viz : Genesis, Numbers, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, called, by the Grecian Jews, " The Pentateuch." The rest of the Old Testament books, thirty-three ir^ number, were written by difierent inspired leaders, prophets priests, and kings of Israel, but all by Israelites — the people whom God had chosen, and was now about to separate from the heathen nations, to be the keepers of his holy oracles : and as they were written, God himself made laws that they should be read, by the Levites, to the people continually. But at that time there were no books like our books. The time of Moses was 1550 years before Christ our Saviour came into the world. Our mode of printing or of making paper had not then been discovered. The old Egyptians made linen, in which they wrapped their mummies, and so prepared it, that they could trace hieroglyphics upon it. They also wrote upon rolls made of their rush-papyrus, that is, of the coats which sur- round its stalk. The largest papyrus roll now known, is ten yards long : many of these are found in the tombs of Egypt, though not often of so great a length. A very valuable one has been taken from these tombs to the museum at Turin, contain- ing the names of King Mycerinus, the builder of the third pyra- mid, and Rekshare, the architect of Thebes; but the Pentateuch of Moses is not supposed to have been written on this rush paper. It is thought that he must have used goat-skins, prepared and fastened together : the very oldest manuscripts of his five books known are written on leather. There is one in the public library at Cambridge, which was discovered by Dr. Buchanan, in the record-chest of a synagogue of the Black Jews in Malabar, in 1806 : it measures sixteen yards in length ; and, though not perfect, consists of thirty-seven skins dyed red. There is another THE EXODE. 31 in the library of the British Mu- seum, which we have seen. That is a large double roll of this descrip- tion. It is written with great care, on forty thick brown skins, in 153 narrow columns : the writing is, of course, in Hebrew. We looked upon it with gi-eat reverence, for it was, most probably, in this form that the world received the first part of the word of God — his lurit- ten voice from heaven. It was while feeding his flock among the mountains of the desert, that Moses was first made sensible of the visible and miraculous presence of God, by the voice out of the burning bush, and entered upon that wonderful life of actual converse with the Divine Being, which was like the life of no other mortal man, before or since his time. The opening of this intercourse took place at Horeb — a name now applied to the mountain at whose base stands the convent of St. Catherine. The token of his mission given to Moses was, that " when he had brought the people out of Egypt, they should serve God upon that mountain.'' Here, therefore, they actually encamped ; and the same place, with all its mighty memories, was the retreat of Elijah, 600 years afterward, from the threats of Jezebel. We need not detail to you the rapid succession of plagues showered upon the oppressors of the Israelites, or speak at any length upon what happened between the going up out of Egypt and the giving of the Law upon Mount Sinai. There were great miracles comprised in this six weeks' history, and you will find them recorded from the 14th to the 17th chapters of Exodus. From this time the history of this wonderful people was m.arked by miracle : and, going forth int ) the desert through those won- drous walls of water, formed by the Red Sea, they had no sooner experienced hunger, than bread was rained from heaven for theniv. 32 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. and the bitter spring of the wilderness was sweetened for theii sake. This spring is yet existing, and is called Ain Eowara, the bitter well. Have you ever thought of the numbers of the children of Israel who thus went up out of Egypt ? It was such an emigration as the world never saw, save on this occasion. There were between two and three millions of people, twice as many as inhabit the Principality of Wales, or more than all the people contained in London and its neighbourhood, with all their property, goods, utensils, and cattle. No man, with merely human resources at his command, could ever have arranged the order of their march; but ^' the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light ; to go by day and by night,'' (Exod. xiii. 21 ;) a pillar ever before their eyes, high over the camp, where no mortal art could have placed it. At Eephidim, they were again distressed for want of water, and again it was provided for them by miracle. The thirst of which they complained, and which they said would " kill them," is best understood by persons who have travelled on foot over a sandy desert under a burning sun. The pillar of cloud led the way for Moses and the elders, while the former went to smite the rock in Horeb, which is found to be a day's journey from Ee- phidim, and so situated at the head of a valley, that a stream of water from it would come flowing and rushing down to the faint and weary host at Rephidim : but, meanwhile, the hindmost of them, " the feeble among them," had been attacked by Amalek, ^' who feared not God." Up to this period, we had not heard any thing of the ancient Arabians, nor of what they felt toward the vast host of Israelites making a sudden incursion into their country. The tribe of Amalek is mentioned in history as inhabiting the deserts to the south of Palestine, and being one of the most famous Arab tribes. They had probably heard of the wealth of the Israelites — the spoils they had brought out of Egypt ; and as Bedouins (who in all ages have been famous for committing WADY MOKATTEB. 38 robberies on merchants and travellers) would do now, so these Amalekites then resolved to attack Israel. There were two descriptions of Arabs — those who dwelt in cities and towns, and those who dwelt in tents. Job belonged to the former race, and these Amalekites to the latter. He describes his wild brethren in the 24th chapter of his book as " wild asses of the desert, rising betimes for a prey," etc. Their desert is still their kingdom : no travellers may pass through it without their leave, and without purchasing their guidance and protection. Arabs lead you up to the Pyramids, and convey you to Sinai and Petra. You must rest when they suffer you to do so, and pass on when they please ; and many of them are terrible- looking fellows, with swarthy complexions, piercing coal-black eyes, half-naked figures, enormous swords slung at their backs, and rusty matchlocks in their hands. You might travel with them for weeks, and never see one of them wash his face, or know that he washed or changed his clothes. What they live on, it would be difficult to say, for they are seldom seen to eat ; but they are active and vigorous, and can walk thirty miles a day for week after week in succession. Against these wild people, the Israelites were directed by Moses to go out and fight, while he held up his hands at the top of the hill, and prayed. Laborde, a well-known traveller in Arabia Petrea, the desert district where all these events occurred, says, "We passed through the Wady Mokatteb, which means written valley^ and beheld the rocks covered with inscriptions for the length of an entire league. We afterward passed mountains, called Jebel-el IMokatteb, which means written mountains ; and, as we rode along, perceived, during a whole hour, hosts of inscriptions in an unknown character, carved in these hard rocks, to a height which was ten or twelve feet from the ground : and although we had men among us who understood the Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Latin, Armenian, Turkish, English, Illyrian, German, French, and Bohemian languages, there was not one of us who had the slightest knowledge of the characters engraved S4 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. on tLese rocks, with great labour, in a counW where there is not/ jig to be had either to eat or drink." The meaning of these inscriptions was thus, like their author- ship, unknown. In a book lately published, however, called ''The Voice of Israel, from the Rocks of Sinai,'' the Rev. Charles Forster, an English clergyman, and a man of much learning and patient research, has suggested that these are the "rock-tablet records" of the miracles wrought in the wilderness. AVe have now concluded our brief review of the ages that elapsed before the giving of the Law; and with something of the reverence felt by the chosen p^^ple, let us realize the scenery of Mount Sinai CHAPTER II. Mount Sinai — The Covenant, the Giving of the Law — The Jebel Mousa — Je- hovah— Seven Sins and their Punishments — Eleven months at Sinai — Tha unknown Thirty-eight Years — The last Year of the Wandering — Mount Hor — The Death of Aaron — The Law as made known to the People — Fiery Ser- pents— The Death of Moses. SINAI. It seems to be the testimony of all modern travellers, that the scenery of the mountain range of Sinai is of great extent, and of wild and awful grandeur, ^'1 stand/' says Mr. Stephens, ^^upon the veiy peak of Sinai, where Moses stood when he talked with the Almighty. Can it 1)'?, cr is it a mere dream ? Can this naked rock have been the "vi^ness of that great interview between man and his Creator, on t/ie moming that was ushered in with terrible thunders and ik ntniugs, with the thick clouds resting on the mountain's brow? Y :i ! this is the holy mountain ; and not a place on all the earth ccjid have been chosen, so fitted for the manifestation of Divino ]0wcr. I have stood on the summit of the giant Etna, and looked over the clouds floating beneath it, — upon the bold scenery of Sicily, and the distant mountains of Calabria. I have climbed Vesuvius, and looked down upon the waves of lava, and the ruined and half-recovered cities at its foot : but these are nothing com- pared to the terrific solitude and bleak majesty of Sinai." An- other traveller has called it ^'a perfect sea of desolation. Not a tree, or shrub, or blade of grass is to be seen upon the bare and rugged sides of innumerable mountains, heaving their naked summits to the skies; while the crumbling masses of granite around, and the distant view of the Syrian desert, with its bound- less waste of sands, form the wildest and most dreary, the most terrific and desolate picture the imagination can conceive." 86 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. It was in this solemn region tliat God claimed Israel for tis own, and began to place the nation under a course of instruction and discipline, to prepare it for its high destiny. Here he called his chosen people into covenant relation with himself. He told them, through Moses, that He had borne them on eagles' wings out of Egypt J and that if they would obey and keep his covenant, then they should be a peculiar treasure to Him above all people — a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And all the people answered together, and said, " All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.'^ No other such mighty shout of promise ever arose from earth to heaven; ''and Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord.'^ Exod. xix. 8. When God descended to give the Law to his people, the Hi- vine glory was revealed from Teman in the east of Edom, to Paran or Serbal in the west. It literally covered the heavens to this extent. Serbal has five principal peaks, which, like the lofty pinnacles of some stupendous temple, rise up into the calm, deep blue of heaven, lone, silent, and sublime. Let us read the description of Moses, — for who could describe like Moses the scenery of Sinai? ''The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them ; He shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints : from his right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, he loved the peo- ple ; all his saints are in thy hand : and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.'' Deut. xxxiii. 2, 8. King David refers to this hour, when, 500 years afterward, he says, in his 68tli Psalm, verse 17, "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels : the Lord is among them as in Sinai, on the holy mount." "We will try and imagine this scene, — one of the most awfully sublime in the annals of the world. Moses " had brought the people forth out of the camp to meet with God :" their tents were spread on the skirts of Horeb, where its narrow valleys widen gradually into high, dreary, undulating plains, hemmed in by low ridges of hills. Possibly these camp- ing-^'Tounds may have included all the vast plains round about MOUNT SINAI. the mountains El Haliali, Seba-iyeli, and EI Loja- -for two of three millions of persons required a great extent of space. Be- fore them all rose to the height of 2000 feet (being 7000 above the Red Sea) the Jebel Mousa, with its shattered p3Tamidal peak^ like a mighty pulpit^ fenced off by a range of sharp, up- heaving crags, 200 feet in height, and forming an alucost im- passable barrier to the jMount of God itself, though Moses Lad likewise " set bounds about it, to sanctify it.'^ While the people stood thus " at the nether part of the mount/' let us imac-ine the eflPulo:ence reflected from the whole of the Arabian desert, and listen to the sounds of the trumpet, '^ex- ceeding loud," echoing round all the mountains, preparing the way for the mighty angel-voices of the holy myriads uttering, the Law; and then let us remember icJio icas this Jehovah upon Sinai, — the Jehovah of the Jewish Church in the wilderness. The martyr Stephen tells us, just before his death, that the angel which spake to Moses in Mount Sinai was none other than the angel of the burning bush — the angel of the Lord, who had said of himself, "I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," before whom Moses "trembled and durst not behold," (Acts vii. 32;) and also none other than the Saviour, the afterward crucified Redeemer of the world, whose voice (says Paul, Heb. xii. 26) ''then shook the earth : but now he hath promised. Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven." Dear young friends, when you have thought of Jesus taking upon him the form of a servant, have you also thought of that Jesus as one and the same with the awful Jehovah of Sinai ? At both times it is said of him, " yet he loved the people," (Deut. xxxiii. 3,) and "for his great love where with he loved us." Eph. ii. 4. It is good to go back in thought to Sinai, and to realize that the great God has actually spoken with men upon the earth. Many of the travellers who have visited these regions liave en- joyed the privilege of opening their Bibles and reading, on the summits of Sinai and Horeb, the accounts which Moses gives, in the very scenes which they concern. 4 £8 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. SEVEN SINS AND THEIR PUNISHMENTS; OR, THE WILDERNESS LIFE. AVhen God had thus spoken, in majesty and fire, to the car and eye of the favoured people, he did not intend the impression of that day to pass away : he had given them a Revelation, — a Law that was to separate them from all other people ; and his v.'ords to them were to endure for ever. We have not undertaken the task of reviewing the whole his- tory of Israel, except as concerns one particular, which we wish you especially to observe. From the time that they became, through Moses, the keepers of the oracles of God, they loei-e judged Jjy them, and they were expected to live by them ; they -became The Church of the Book. They had subscribed to the covenant; they had said, ^'All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." They were " under the Law"; and whenever they broke their promise, they incurred punishment and suflfcring, and this they continually did. They remained at their station in Iloreb a few days longer than eleven months. During this time, Jehovah made them fully un- derstand that he was their King, and he established the regular service of his royal court by the priests and Levites. He set apart more than a fiftieth portion of the whole nation to this office. They were to receive his Law from Moses, to copy it, and to read it to the people, — not only the Ten Commandments, as written by the finger of God upon the two tables of stone, but the Book of the Covenant also, which Moses had written, (Exod. xxiv. 4,) and read in the audience of the people for the first time, " by the altar under the hill." During these eleven months, their form of government in all things was appointed, their institutions established, and the Ta- bernacle fashioned and set up " according to the pattern shown to Moses in the mount," for the house or palace of their Divine King, who always visibly dwelt among them in the glory that was be- tween the cherubim. SEVEN SINS AND TIIEIR PUNISHMENTS. 39 The same period witnessed tteir breacli of the first command- ment, '^ Thou shalt have none other gods but me," in the worship of the golden calf, and its punishment in the death of 3000 among the people. The second sin was committed by the two disobedient priests who offered the strange fire, and they also were consumed. The third transgression was against the third commandment : the son of an Egyptian father "blasphemed the Name, and cursed.'' He was brought without the camp, and stoned to death The fourth concerned murmuring about the manna, of which they began to get tired. In this case, the punishment was given by granting their desire : they were to have flesh for a whole month, which, beginning to eat greedily and ravenously, a great number of them died, and were buried on the spot. The fifth was upon Miriam, who was smitten with leprosy, for bearing false witness against her brother Moses. It is said, con- cerning this, that " the Lord heard." The sixth sin was that of the unfaithful spies : they went up in the second year of the wandering to see the land of Palestine, and, in consequence of their search, discouraged the people. They brought back glorious grapes from it, but they said the men of the land were giants, and that they should not be able to go up against them. The Syrian vine is still famous for the size of its clusters. There is one of these vines in the grounds of the Duke of Port- land, at Welbeck, near Worksop, from which a cluster of grapes was gathered, in 1819, weighing nineteen pounds ; and intelligent travellers aver, that those who have only seen the vines in France and Italy can have no just idea of the size to which the clusters attain in Syria. The evil part of their report was not probably in itself incorrect, that they had seen pe ^ple of great stature ; for Moses verifies theii statement in speaking of the " Anakim, great and tall," and of other old gigantic tribes, with a reference to the sons of Anak j and in the prophecy of Amos it is said, (Amos ii. 9,) "yet de- stroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the 40 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. lieiglit of tlie cedars, and wBo was strong as the oaks.'' Goliath, whom David slew, was a son of Anak; his stature may be taken at about nine feet ; but they forgot that He who had dried up the Red Sea before them, and had overcome the Egj-ptians with hie mighty plagues, — if his pillar of cloud and fire had pointed them toward the high-walled cities of the tall Anakim, — would have given them victory in Palestine also; but, as Moses afterward saj^ to them, (Deut. i. 32,) " In this thing ye did not believe thti Lord your God." The most formidable conspiracy against the authority of Moses and Aaron took place at Kadesh, soon after the doom of forty years' wandering had been pronounced. They, or rather their sons, returned to this Kadesh only after a period of thirty-eight years, during which we know nothing minutely of their -proceed- ings. All that has been related, the present conspiracy included, which makes the seventh occasion of their punishment, occurred during the first two years after their leaving Egypt. Moses says, (Deut. ii. 14,) " And the space in which we came from Kadesh- Barnea, until we were come over the brook of Zered, was thirty and eight years ; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the Lord sware unto them." The brook Zered enters the Dead Sea near the southern end ; and when that was crossed, they had ended their long pilgrimage, and entered into a cultivated and settled country. The conspi- racy at Kadesh (Num. xvi.) was very bold. It arose among the children of Reuben, the elder tribe, and the children of Levi, the priestly tribe. Their encampments were side by side, at the south of the Tabernacle, and they seem to have indulged an en- vious spirit against Moses and Aaron, until at length their chiefs gathered themselves together, and said to these two men ordained of God, " Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congrega- tion are holy, and the Lord is among them." The Lord was among them, however, to punish this desire of power which did not belong to them, and the earth opened upon Korah, Dathan, and Abiram ; and as they and all they had went down into the pit, all Israel fled at the cry of them, while at th« DEATH OF AARON. 4l Banu time 250 persons more were consumed by fire : and because at this the people murmured, a plague raged on the morrow among them, by which 14,700 died, besides those tbat died the day be- fore with Korah. Thus you see many lives were lost in the repeated rebellions of the people. They had multiplied rapidly in Egypt, but they were about 2000 less in numbtr when about to enter the Promised Land. The new generation, though for so many yearG trainee^ and tried, murmured like their fathers for the want of water, on their return to Kadesh, where Miriam died and was buried; and Moses does not seem to have been prepared to expect such con- duct from them, but was more irritated than on any former occa- sion. Even he, as David tells us, spake unadvisedly with, his lips, — and, striking the rock instead of speaking to it, (must it not have been struck with the rod whicli blossomed, taken from before the Lord ?) said angrily, '^ Hear now, ye rebels ! Must we fetch you water out of this rock?'' For this impatience, he and Aaron, who appears to have shared in his sin, which God him- self says was unbelief, — "because ye believed me not, to sanctify me before the people," — even these two great leaders were not permitted to guide Israel into the Promised Land. xiaron went up first into Mount Hor to die, from whose craggy summits may be seen on one side the wilderness in which the people had wandered, and from the other the mountains of Pales- tine, on which, doubtless, Aaron cast his last look. The American traveller, Mr. Stephens, visited Mount Hor, and thus describes it : " The mountain is bare and rugged to its very summit, without even a tree or a bush growing on its sterile sides." He says, " If I had never stood on the summit of Sinai, i. should say, that nothing could exceed the desolation of the view from Mount Hor, — the mighty natural pyramid, on the top of which the high-priest of Israel was buried." Amid his other duties ordained by God, Aaron had, doubtless, not neglected that of copying the Law, and reading it to the peo- ple. This was especially ordered to be done for eight days toge- ther, once in every seven years; but we know that during the 4* 12 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. training of Israel in tlie wilderness, this was not all tliey heard or knew of the Law ; for Moses says to them, (Dent. xxx. 11-14,) ^' The commandment which is written in this book of the Law ia not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say. Who shall go up for us to heaven, and irijg it unto us, that we may hear it and do it ? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it ? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." '^In thy mouth" seems to signify, that they learned portions of it. Moses ordered the Levites to write his last noble song, and to teach it to the children of Israel, — " Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel, that when many evils and troubles are befallen them, this song shall testify against them as a witness ; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed.'' Deut. xxxi. 19, 21. If an Israelite was in doubt as to any ordinance or duty, he was to inquire of the priest, the Levite, who was also the judge, and would show him the sentence of judgment, (Deut. xvii. 9,) as written by Moses. Any one of the people who was able might write a copy of the Law for himself; but the Levites were in general the learned class among this pastoral people, and were not only to make, but to give away, correct copies of it ; and probably they went about from tent to tent, (as the Scripture- reader does now from house to house,) to read the Law to each family. It is always assumed that the people " knew it;'' and in the book of ])euteronomy, Moses threw its precepts into a new form, for the generation which had been born since the entrance to the wilderness. This book of Deuteronomy appears to have been written by Moses, in the plains of Moab, a short time before his death, 1451 B. c. : his death itself, as recorded in the 34th chapter, was probably added by his successor, Joshua ; and the last four verses of that chapter, which concern Joshua, were, it is moyt likely FIERY SERPENTS. 43 written by Ezra, vh.Qn he collected the books of the Old Testa- ment together. A little before the repeating of the Law, Moses had held up to the suffering people the serpent of brass upon a pole, that every one who was bitten, when he looked upon it, might live (Num. xxi. 9,) — the type, as John tells us, (John iii. 14, 15,) of the lifting up of the Son of man, " that whosoever believeth in hiir. should not perish, but have eternal life.'' That shore of the Red Sea, where the Israelites were bitten, is still remarkable for abounding in serpents, as, indeed, the wilderness does generally. In Deut. viii. 15, Moses calls it "a great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought '/' yet we never hear of the people being bitten and killed by them till now. They had been marvellously protected from this, as from other dangers of the way; and the protection was only now withdrawn, on account of their oft-repeated sin of murmuring. They had, however, nearly finished their course in the wilder- ness, and would not much longer murmur against their great leader, for he was about to ascend Mount Nebo, and to die ! He who had so long brought the word of the Lord to Israel, was tc be seen by them no more ; and he left them, saying, " Secret things belong to God ; but those things which are revealed be- long unto us, and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of the Law." Deut. xxix. 29. Yes ! he left behind him the revealed and written will of God for that people, besides the wonderful book of Job. Do you think that the voy roll that Moses left is come down to us? — that would be impossible. That very roll is supposed to have perished at the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, E. c. 586; if so, it was treasured and in existence for eight cen- turies and a half. Moses commanded the Levites to put it in the side of the ark of the covenant, '^for a witness against the people." The final covenant made with the people in the plains of Moab, with the last lofty song and eloquent prophecy, seems to have been written on a separate skin ; and Dr. Adam Clarke thinks there is every reason to believe that this was the portioc 44 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. lost and found in the reign of Josiah, 800 years after it waa "written. This was called an autograph cojjy, which means the very one that Moses wrote. It had been lost in the reign of the wicked kings that went before Josiah, who was a reforming king ; and when he set himself to repair the house of the Lord his God, and brought hewn-stone and timber to repair the floors which the kings of Judah had destroyed, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the Law of the Lord by the hand of Moses, and gave it to the king. 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14. What he did with it, we must leave till a further period of the history, for we musfe go up with Moses into Mount Nebo, where he died. Having ordered the elders of Israel, on the day that they should pass over Jordan, to set up great stones, and plaster them with plaster, and themselves to write upon them all the words of the law, very plainly, (Deut. xxvii. 2,) he ascended the mount, the highest peak in the Abarim range, which joins the Dead Sea to Mount Seir. No traveller seems to have ascended or given any description of it, except that it is a barren mountain, on whose summit may be perceived a heap of stones overshadowed by a tall pistachio tree. He went up, as he had often done before, to be alone with God, but to return to men no more. If our Saviour himself had not told us, that the greatest man born of woman was his own forerunner, John the Baptist, wo should have given this meed to Moses, who, denying his personal desire, died without any regret of his own — all his thoughts fixed, as they had ever been, on the welfare of his people. There was no thought of self — ^^ only let Jehovah, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, that they be not as sheep which have no shepherd'' — and then he was ready. Farewell, then, to Moses ascending Mount Nebo — ^his eye not dim, nor his natural force abated, though he had borne the burden of 120 years. He had looked upon all Egypt's glory. He had seen a nation fall before, him in the wilderness ; he had been made the means of giving God's revelation to earth; and now he himself was ibout to pass into the fuller revelations of heaven. DEATH OF MOSES. 45 He was not sinless ; tie was not to be worshipped ; and lest ho should have been, (for never was human being so visibly endued with Divine power,) Grod marked his only recorded sin with punishment, — the great punishment of not entering the Promised Land ; but that circumstance was employed as a type, that the Law, which he personified, cannot conduct us into the heavenly Canaan. Joshua, who took possession, is, as his name signifies, the type of Jesus, through whom only is obtained the " abundant entrance,'' ^'by grace, and not by works." CHAPTER in. Entrance to the Land — Joshua — The Canaanites — Joshua's Victories — Ebal and Gerizim — The Judges — The Six Servitudes — The Times of the Kings- David — Solomon — Division of the Kingdom — Shishak — The Prophets, their Rolls— Table of Prophets— The lost Ten Tribes— The lost Roll, the burnt Roll — Captivity and Return — Ezra's Ministry — Review of the History and Prophecies concerning the Fall of Israel, Nineveh, Judah, Tyre, Petra, Thebes, and Babylon. The historical books of Scripture, from Joshua to Esther, con- tain the history of the Jewish nation from their first settlement in the Promised Land to their return thither, after seventy years' captivity in Babylon, comprising a period of about a thousand years. Why is it that this chapter in the " Jubilee Book" must be mainly taken up with the history of this nation alone, while other great nations existed at that time in the world ? Will not Sinai and the wilderness have taught you to answer, " Because throuoh this nation, and none other, came down to us durino" this thousand years the written revelation from God ?" We shall divide this thousand years into three periods. I. The period of Joshua and the Judges, of 355 years. II. The period of the Kings, comprising 507 years. III. The Babylonian cap- tivity and return, till Ezra republishes the Law and the Prophetn, comprising 150 3'ears. 46 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. THE ENTRANCE TO THE LAND. You know that this was marked by the same miracle as theif coming up out of Eg3;^t. They might have proceeded toward the Promised Land without crossing the lied Sea at all; and they might have crossed the Jordan where it was a brook, near its source; but they were ordered to cross its full stream, and then its waters were heaped up, like those of the Red Sea, in order that the nations they were going to conquer might perceive their mission from God; and it is said, ''neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel/' The next event was the celebration of the passover — a new observance to most of the people, the generation who had been educated in the free, pure air of the wilderness, while their fathers were dying out for their unbelief. The passover had been observed only once in Egypt, and once figain at Sinai, and this was its third celebration. On the next morning, the manna ceased to fall : the '' old corn" of the Promised Land supplied its place. To Joshua, the new leader of Israel and successor to Moses, God promised help, on these conditions : ^' As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee ; only observe to do according to all the Laio which Moses my servant commanded thee. This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth : thou shalt meditate therein day and night; then shalt thou make thy way pros- perous." Each of these two great leaders of Israel was the guardian and student of the written revelation. Each read it to the people, and caused them to act upon it. Joshua lived thirty-two years after taking them into the land; and as he died at 110, he must have known for thirty-eight years what was the bondage of EgT'pt, and must have seen all, except Caleb, die around him in the wilderness : and he was now appointed as the conquering general of the people with whom God had made a covenant to destroy every other league and covenant existing among the THE ENTRANCE TO THE LAND. 47 Canaanitisli nations. Let us further examine who the Canaanites were. There wis a race among these heathen people called the Anakim, or the Rephaim. The spies of Israel said they were a great and haughty people^ with cities fenced up to the skies, (Deut. ix. 1, 2 ;) and that they made them feel " as grasshop- pers." The Anakim settlements lay along the mountain range which extends through the land of Palestine ; and it seems that, from superior size and wisdom too, they were the masters of another race of people, called the Amorites — a degraded nation, and very wicked, and whose '' iniquity was full" at the time that Israel entered the land. The Rephaim had military outposts and fortresses in strong positions among the mountains. They had even a city, Kirjath- sepher, or the book-city, the city of letters, or of archives. Joshua conquered it, and probably did not think its records worth keeping, so they are all lost — not come down to us. We know nothing of these "tall" and " haugbty" rulers of old time, but what is said of them in the Bible, and, strange to say, what is carved and written about them on the old Egyptian temple of Karnak. Yes! they are there — these men of " Onk" or Anak. They are supposed to have been the shepherd-kings who once conquered Egypt ; and in the reign of Rameses III., Egypt conquered them in their own land. She never records her own defeats, but she has described her conquests over the Rephaim as ranging through three centuries. Even in the earl^ days of these Rephaim, Shalem (the same as Jerusalem) was the metropolis of Palestine; whence came Melchizedek to meet Abraham after his defence of Lot, (see Cen. xiv.) As, therefore, Melchizedek is said to be the priest of the Most High God, it might be concluded that these sons of Anak once held the true religion, like the ancient Arabians. In the time of Joshua, they still maintained their supremacy : but it was then the supremacy of force. The Philistines were 48 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. one of their branches, occupying the southern sea-side of the land. Another of their ancient cities, named on Kamak, was Hebron, or Arba, where Abraham lived, died, and was buried. This city '^ was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt." Num. xiii. 22.* The victories of Joshua comprise three distinct series of events. First, his campaign against the Amorite league, in which he swept round the mountain of Judah, returning by Hebron to Gilgal. Secondly, the campaign against the northern Canaanites — " Joshua made war a long time with all those kings." Josh, xi. 18. Finally, the general statements of particular expeditions against those tall Anakim, till destroyed in their cities and their forts — '^ there were none of the Anakim left in all the land of the children of Israel," only the Philistines in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod ; and then Joshua took the whole land and gave it for an inheritance unto Israel by their tribes. Josh. xi. 22. Balaam the son of Beor had been slain in this war, (Josh. xiii. 22 :) you can read the history of Balaam looking down upon Israel from the mountains of Moab, and blessing them in spite of liimself. Num. xxii. xxiii. xxiv. Although Moses had never seen the Promised Land, he had chosen by inspiration the most fitting site for the fresh promulga- tion of the Law to the peopl-e, seven years after they passed the Jordan, on the blasted Ebal, and the fair and fertile Gerizim. The ark, attended by the priests, remained in the valley by which the twin mountains are separated. Up each side of either moun- tain stood the thousands of Israel, the chiefs, the judges, the Levites, the women, the children, and the stranger — six tribes pronouncing the curses from the barren Ebal — six uttering tlie blessings from the pleasant Gerizim; and as each clause of curse and blessing was pronounced, there rose, with one vast voice rushing from the living hills, the ^^Amen" of the consenting multitude. Josh. viii. 33. * This is one of the many notices of facts, in the history of the oldworld^ which are to be met with incidentally in the books of Moees. THE JUDGES. 49 When Joshua '^ went the way of all the earth"— ras he himself says — Israel was no more governed by one leader. He left the state on its proper and fixed foundations, with the Lord at its head as its Divine King abiding among them in his tabernacle, which had now been set up at Shiloh, twenty-five miles north of Jerusalem, and it continued in this city for 450 years. THE JUDGES. From the time of Joshua to that of Eli and Samuel comprises a period of 355 years, and this was called the times of the judges, or elders, of Israel. This body had been in existence from the time the people were in bondage in Egypt, (see Exod. iii. 16.) Six were chosen from each tribe, making seventy-two senators ; and on these fell the government of the chief cities and towns. In the wilderness, these elders had sometimes prophesied, (Num. xi. 25,) and they were the expounders of the Law of Moses. The book of Judges forms the eighth book of Holy Scripture, reckoning Job as so early written. Its chapters chiefly record the instances in which Israel forsook the Divine Law, and- were in consequence punished. When, by marrying heathen wives, they were led into idolatry, the Lord withdrew his protection from them, and they were op- pressed by some neighbouring state, more or less severely, until they were humbled, and implored the mercy of their own offended King; and then he heard them, raising them up time after time deliverers, such as Ehud, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson, when the foreign yoke was broken from their necks for a while, until, sinning again, they were again and again punished; but it was always for the forsaking of the Law of the Lord. The bi)ok of Judges, however, gives no minute records of the periods when they did not break the Law, and when the land enjoyed peace and safety : these periods are often passed over in a single verse. Dr. Graves, who has examined this subject, observes, that out 50 THE BOOK AND IIS STORY. of the 450 years under tlie judges, there were not less than 377 years during which the authority of the Law of Moses was ac- knowledged in Israel; — a beautiful picture of which times of peace is to be found in the book of Ruth. The Jewish writers tell us, that in these good times the Levites went much about the country as teachers of the Law. Education among the Hebrews chiefly consisted in being taught to read the Law, and listening to those who could expound it. The priests were to offer sacrifices for sin, and not to teach ♦ the Levites were to assist the priests in some portions of their duty, but were to teach, and not to sacrifice. It appears that the Israelites endured six successive periods of servitude during the times of the judges : 1st, under the King of Mesopotamia 8 years. 2d, under the Moabites 18 years. 3d, under the Canaanites 20 years. 4th, under the Midianites 7 years. 5th, under the Ammonites 18 years. 6th, under the Philistines 40 years. During the twenty succeeding years, the people, though not under a foreign yoke, were, perhaps, under a worse bondage than any before — "every man doing that which was right in his own eyes.'' THE TIMES OF THE KINGS. After their last deliverance by the prophet Samuel, who ruled over the nation for twenty peaceful years, and " caused them once more to serve the Lord only,'' the chief men of the nation, not wishing Samuel's sons to succeed him, " who walked not in his ways," demanded a king. Three kings in succession were given to them, ^ho each reigned 40 years — Saul. David. Solomon. We have not space to enter into the details of their several reigns, but must remark, in passing, the portions which the two TIMES or THE KINGS. 51 latter added to the books of Scripture. It is believed tiiat tbe Prophet Samuel compiled the books of Judges and of Ruth, and commenced the first book of Samuel, the latter part of which and the second book were written by succeeding prophets, probably Nathan and Grad. The books of Kings and Chronicles were compiled from the national records by various prophets and scribes, and were, it is most likely, completed by Ezra, when he collected them together 500 years afterward. King David wrote most of the Psalms, and King Solomon most of the Proverbs, with the books of the Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes. Before Moses bade farewell to the people in the wilderness, he had foreseen that they would desire a king at some future day, and had thus provided that he should be an enlightened king. When he sat upon his throne, he was to write him a copy of the Law in a book, out of that which is before the priests, the Levites. He was to do this for himself, and he was to read in it all the days of his life. It would scarcely seem that Saul kept this law, but King David did ; and, oh ! how he loved it. Who does not cherish the memory of David the poet-king — ^' the man after God's own heart'^ ? Inspired alike as prophet and historian, he summed up the history of his wonderful people in many a noble psalm that has commanded the world's sympa- thies for 3000 years. Some of his songs were composed for the Jewish festivals, the passover, the feast of tabernacles, etc. Some are war-songs, some songs of thanksgiving. We can find an appropriate psalm for almost every possible state of mind and feeling ;. but, after all, what is there so beautiful as the longest psalm, the 119th — the Bible Psalm — in which every one of the 176 verses speaks with love and joy of the word of God ! That is David's contribution to this jubilee year; and, if he were living on the earth now, would he not chant it to his own harp most gloriously ? 52 THE BOOK AND ITS STORf. Have you noticed that every verse, under the different names of testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, ordinances, judgments, law, refers to the Bible ? — and David's Bible com- prised only the five books of Moses, Job, Joshua, Judges, and Buth, and the history of Israel by Samuel, to which, it may be, the king added soine of his own psalms. There is no time to dwell on the reigns of David and Solomon, or to picture to ourselves the high and palmy state of Judea for those eighty years. The kings of Israel possessed great stores of the precious metals. When Solomon built the Temple, which was to stand in the stead of the Tabernacle, the gold consumed in over- laying its inside would have made three millions pounds sterliDg. This temple is supposed to have been built upon the very spot where Abraham had offered Isaac ; and when Solomon and all his people were assembled for the first time to dedicate it to Jehovah, while the Levites in pure white robes lifted up their voices with the trumpets and the cymbals, then the house was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister, by reason of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the House of the Lord. Thus was God visibly present among this favoured people. THE DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM. This took place under Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, who at first reigned righteously, but afterward fell into idolatry, and Je- rusalem with him. Jerusalem was taken and spoiled by Shishak king of Egypt ; and here again we must turn to the great old books of stone in the temple of Karnak, first reading 2 Chron. xii. and 1 Kings xiv. 25, — narratives which, though they would need no testimony from the heathen to their truth, are yet surprisingly confirmed by the following sculptures. You have the privilege to live in an age, when, if you heai persons expressing doubts as to the truth of the Bible, you may ask them if they have read or heard of God's great stone hooks, which are unansw-*;rable, and which he has laid up in their dead THE DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM. 53 languages for so many centuries, and is now permitting to be understood even by cbildren. In tbe year 1828, tbe French student, Cbampollion, on his passage down the Nile, landed at Karnak, and pointed out the accompanying figure, one of sixty- three prisoners presented to Sheshonk by his god Amunra. The turreted oval enclosing the name means that it is a walled city. Shishak is depicted as a gigantic figure holding a captive by the hair of the head with one hand, which he is going to strike ofiF with the other : there are five rows of such captives as these, with features evidently Jewish. UDaHM E LeK Kino of the Country of Judah. Kah. Our space forbids our even giving you a list of the names of the kings of the two kingdoms, which, from Rehoboam's time were set up among the Israelites, during the next hundred years after the conquest by Shishak. We must merely observe, that this national division proved a most disastrous event for them, and pass on to what chiefly concerns us, — to the class of persons who further added to the inspired books, for we must examine theii character, and the nature of their teaching. THE PROPHETS. The prophets were messengers sent of God, and inspired to de- clare his will to this nation, who foretold events long before they came to pass. Enoch^ Noah, Jacob, and Moses, had delivered 5* 5-4 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. many prophecies. After the times of the judges^ young men were especially trained as prophets^ in schools ; and from this class generally, but not always, did the Holy Spirit select those few who were to be miraculously inspired. These were also called seers, or men of God. This inspiration was a wonderful thing. The men to whom it was vouchsafed felt it come upon them as a power which they could not withstand. It took possession of them, filled them, ex- cited them, bore them along, taught them, enabled them to speak words which they could not have uttered at any other time. '' The Spirit of God," it is said, " was upon them,'' and their spirits felt like a vessel impelled before the wind. This was the inspiration vouchsafed to the higher class of prophets, as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and also to those who were called the minor prophets, because they uttered short though great prophecies. The scribes wrote all these latter together on one roll, lest any of them should be lost. But prophets, in general, during the times of the kings, were the philosophers, divines, and guides of the nation. They stood as the bulwarks of religion against the impiety of princes ; and although highly esteemed by the pious kings, they were very poor men, and greatly exposed to persecution. Thqj- generally lived in some retired country place, and spent their time in prayer, study, and manual labour. Elisha quitted his plough when Elijah called him to be a prophet. Amos was a herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore fi-uit. Amos vii. 14. The son^'of the prophets built their own dwellings, for which they cut down the timber. 2 Kings vi. 1. They were dressed very singularly : Elijah was clothed with skins, and wore a leather girdle ; Isaiah wore sackcloth. Their habits were simple and their food plain. The predictions of the earliest prophets are inserted in the his- torical books, together with their fulfilment, — such as those of Elijah, Elisha, Jehu, and Micaiah. But Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel were directed to write their prophecies in a roll, as well as to utter them in some public place THE PROPHETS. 55 where all miglit hear. The roll was in many cases affixed to the gate of the temple, where all might read it ; and they often ac- companied their message by some significant action on their own part. Jeremiah made a yoke and put it on his neck, to foretell the captivity of Babylon. Isaiah walked barefoot, and stripped off his rough prophet's garment, to show what was coming on Egypt. When the prophecy was not to be fulfilled for ages, they were com- manded to seal it up, "it being re- quisite that the originals," says Mr- Horne, " should be compared with the Icvent when it occurred." It seems to have been a custom for the pro- phets to deposit their writings in the temple, and lay them up before the Lord. There is a belief among the Jews that all the sacred books were placed in the side of the ark. We here give you a picture of the cases in which written rolls were generally kept in this age, and long after it. The Paragraph Bible published by the Tract Society will now supply us with a table (see page 56) of the reigns of the kings, in which the sixteen prophets who wrote the separate books of Holy Scripture lived and wrote. The thick black lines present at once to the eye the length of the prophet's life. Before reading each prophecy, you should read the reign of the king in which it was delivered, given in the references at the bottom of the page. The idolatrous kings were always punished for the forsaking of the Law, while those who observed the Law prospered. The kingdom rose or fell according to that rule ; and this renders the history of the Jewish people especially interesting and instructive The following table shows you at a glance that the kingdom of Israel, comprising ten of the tribes, came to an end 194 years beforp the kingdom of Judah. The exceeding wickedness of 56 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. TABULAR VIEW OF THE PROPHETS, BHOWINQ THE PERIODS DURING WHICH IT IS SUPPOSED THEIR PROPHECIES WERE DELIVERED. KINGS OF JUDAH. B. C i n •4 i 1 H P < a a a o o s < s < o < 1 B -< s p B K O B a -^ < IS •< s •i n i KCfGS or JSRAEl. a Amaziah, 839 9JeroboaDiII.8'J6 h Ujiiah, 810 V \ — - \ nUrreguum, 784 — — — p Mcnahem,772 q Pikahiah, 761 c Jotham, 758 — — — — — - r Pekah, 759 d Ahaz, 742 Anarchy, 739 e Hezekiah, 727 | 8 Hoshea, 730 _ — — — — — - -- — — 1 T ? t^ rf B- 1 Q 3 P o- P i" *\ to ^ ? 1 1 E ■I i 1 ^ t3 • Malacb!, lietwcen 430 aud 4^0. — — /Manasseh,698 — — — J_ — — — — — g Amon, 643 h Josiah, C41 1 -- — !_ — — — — z - X Jehoahaz, 610 _;_; "Ar'jehoialdm, 610 1 . . . — — 1 — — — — — — I Jeconiah, j99 m Destruction of Jerusalem, 588 r^' f- n Zerubbabel. 536 e — — — — — — — — T T — 1 1 1 • The dale after pach king's uame indicates the commencement of his reign. — Joel is placed twice, as l&L a2Ki. U; 2 Ch. 25. I 2 Ki. 14. 21; 2 Ch. 26. 1. c 2 Ki. 15. 32 ; 2 Ch. 27. d 2 Ki. IG. 1 ; 2 Ch. 28. e 2 Ki. 18. 19 ; 2 Ch. J.' • Is. 36, 37, 38. 1 3 W. 20. 1 ; 2 Ch. 33 doubtful at which period he lived. g 2 Ki. 21. 19 ; 2 Ch. 33. 21. h 2 Ki. 22. 1 ; 2 Ch. 34. 1. i 2 Ki. 23. 31. A: 2 Ki. 23. 36; 9 Ch.36. 5. J 2 Ki. 24. 8; 2 Ch.36. 9. «i2Ki. 25; 2 Ch.36. 17. n Ezra 3, 4, 5. 0 2 Ki.l4. 28; 2 Ch. 13. 6. j» 2 Ki. 15. 14. g 2 Ki. 15. 22. r 2 Ki. 15. 25. s 2 Ki. 17. 1. THE LOST TEN TRIBES. 57 Israel caused God to send them into captivity among tlie Assy- rians, b. c. 730. They are spoken of as the lost ten tribes ; and thus was Ho sea's prophecy fulfilled — " they shall be called Lo-ammi, that is^ 7iot my people.'^ But it is certain that Grod knows where their descendants are, and in his own time will recover the lost, and reunite them with Judah, under one Head, even Christ, (see Ezek. xxxvii. 21-28.) The portion of Palestine inhabited by the ten tribes was called Samaria; the King of Assyria repeopled this district from Babylon, Cuth, Ava, etc., and these people, joined with the remnant of the Israelites, were called Samaritans. We hear of them in the time of oui- Lord, and that " the Jews had no deal- ings with them." They had asked to be allowed to assist in the rebuilding of the temple after the captivity, and, on being refused, became inveterate enemies to the work, and built a temple of their own upon Mount Gerizim. Jesus himself "abode among this people for two days," after conversing with the woman of Samaria; "and many believed, because of his own word." John iv. 40, 41. The persecution by the Emperor Justinian almost extinguished the community of Samaritan Jews ) but yet, in the sixteenth century, a remnant of them was discovered in the neighbourhood of their holy mount, Gerizim, who still pos- sessed the Law in the Old Hebrew character, (for they never adopted the Chaldee,) and this manuscript is called the Samaritan Pentateuch. Learned men consider it a most valuable relic of antiquity. It had been lost sight of for 1000 years. It is now printed in the " London Polyglot," by Bishop Walton. These Samaritans exist to this day; they are very few in number ; they assert their descent from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and ?ay that their dialect is the true and original Hebrew in which th) Law was given. The Jews do not acknowledge them, and contemptuously call them " alien colonists" ; but, if so, it is very extraordinary that they possess this manuscript, which corresponds almost word for »Ford with the H ebrew text. One of the copies may be seen io 58 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. the British Museum. The missionary Fisk says, " the Samari- tans have also copies of the books of Joshua and Judges, in separate volumes.'' Before we pass on to the time of Ezra, it is essential to the Story of the Book that we refer to two or more of the kings of Judah, one of whom, Josiah, found a part of the word of God when it was lost, and another, Jehoiakim, dared to burn a part of it, in defiance of God and his prophet Jeremiah. The history of the lost roll may be f ?und in 2 Kings xxii. and xxiii. Josiah and Cyrus are the only two persons in Scripture prophesied of hy name^ long before their birth. You will find the prophecy concerning Josiah in 1 Kings xiii. 2, and its literal fulfilment in 2 Chron. xxxiv. 5. When he found the roll, he honoured it, and caused the people to '' stand to it," as for thirteen years afterward they did. With Josiah ended the peace, the prosperity, and the piety of Judah ; and the history of that kingdom closes with — THE BURNT ROLL, burnt in the reign of Jehoiakim, which lasted eleven evil years. Re icas the first person icho dared to destroy any part of the written word of God, and he might therefore well be Judah's last king. The reverence of the Jews in general for their Di- vine writings was so great, that if, in copying the manuscripts, they made a single error, they would reject the material thus bpoiled,, and have be^n all again. They never permitted them- selves to retouch or erase ; and in coming to the name Jehovah, the) always wiped their pens and refilled them. When the manuscripts became at all old or injured, they reverently buried them in graves ; and this is the reason why there are not in exist- eDce any very old Hebrew manuscripts of the Scriptures — none earlier than A. D. 1200. Jehoiakim felt none of this reverence. He daringly sent hia page, Jehudi, to fetch the roll of the prophecy which he heard Jere- miah had written against him, from the scribe's chamber in the temple, and then he also told Jehudi to read it to him. THE CAPTIVITY AND RETURN. ' 59 Jehudi, liowever, liad read but three or four columns, •when the king, who sat in his winter-house, with a fire burning before him, snatching it from the reader, cut it with a penknife, and cast it into the fire.* Two or three of the princes around begged him not to burn it, but he would not hear them. He was then about to seize the writers, Jeremiah and Baruch, but, it is said. " the Lord hid them.'' For this crime it was decreed by God that Jehoiakim should have none to sit upon the throne of Judah, and that his dead body should be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost, which was literally fulfilled, as recorded by Josephus in the eighth chapter of his tenth book — " the body of the king was thrown into the fields without the walls of the city;" '^ his burial was as the burial of an ass, beyond the gates of Jerusa- lem ;" and then all the wealth of the city, its princes, its mighty men, and many thousands of captives, were carried away into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, for seventy years, to Babylon. THE CAPTIVITY AND RETU^^. We know, from what is said of Daniel and Ezekiel, that, in the days of their exile, the people were not without their Scrip- tures. By the rivers of Babylon they sat down and wept; they wept when they remembered Zion. It has been the constant tradition of the Jewish Church, that Ezra, the great reformer, with the assistance of the members of the great synagogue, among whom were the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, collected as many copies as possible of the sacred writings, and from them set forth the canon of the Old Testament. Ezra's own book, with those of Nehemiah and Malachi, was added 128 years afterward, by Simon the Just, who was the last of that synagogue. He died E. c. 292. On the return of the people from capti^dty, and after they had * See .Ter. xxxvi. 23, 60 THE :book and its story. rebuilt their temple, they having forgotten the Law, it was re- delivered to them by Ezra, of whom the Jews always speak as of a second Moses ; and they say that he lived, like Moses, for 120 years. This forgetting of the Law on the part of the people argues that the copies of it had been very scarce, and that it had not been publicly read to them all the while they were in Babylon ; and yet, even there, Daniel, who wrote in kings' courts, and Ezekiel, on the river Chebar, in solitude, at thirty miles' distance from the city, had been inspired to add to the sacred writings two of the most wonderful of the prophetical books — bearing their own names. At the appointed time, King Cyrus, having conquered Babylon, and being made to see, by Daniel, the prophecies that God had uttered concerning him, in the days of Hezekiah, as the deliverer of the Jews, (Isa. xliv. 8,) issued an edict, permitting them to return to Jerusalem. You will find the history of their return in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Only the " remnant" of the nation returned ; many, it seems, preferred staying in Babylon ; vast numbers went to Egypt. A hundred thousand earnest men (perhaps scarcely so many, for Ezra speaks of the return only as " giving us a nail in the holy place") sought once more the land of their fatL jrs,. The journey occupied four months, and was accomplished in two bodies, or caravans. They still suffered great distress on their arrival, and did not for twenty years begin to rebuild their temple ; and when it was completed, the elder Jews, who had seen the holy and beautiful house of Solomon, wept over this second temple in com- parison with it, for, alas ! in this temple four things were wanting. There was no ark, no sacred fire on the altar, no answer by Urim and Thummim, no Shekinah or cloud of glory between the cherubim. Still they rejoiced in the re-establishment of the passover and the temple service ; and under Nehemiah the city walls were rebuilt on the old foundations. The republishing of the Law by Ezra did not take place till Ezra's ministry. 61 eighty years after tlie return of the first caravan of pilgrims from Babylon. We must try and realize the marked features of — EZRA'S MINISTRY. Upward cf 50,000 of the people were assembled in Jerusalem, in the square of the water-gate, as many as were assembled in Trafalgar-square, in London, at the funeral of the late Duke of Wellington. A surging sea of human faces is always a grand sight. On the day that Ezra preached, and it was early in the morning of the Jewish Sabbath, 50,000 faces were upturned toward the pulpit of wood on which he stood, surrounded by thirteen more preachers on a platform or gallery, six on one side of him, and seven on the other. Thirteen other teachers seem to have been present on another platform, to read by turns, so that all the people might be addressed. When Ezra ascended the pulpit and opened the roll of the Law, the whole congregation stood up : then he offered prayer and praise to God, the people bowing their heads and worshipping, with their faces to the ground; and, at the close of the prayer, with uplifted hands they said, "Amen.'^ Then, all still standing, Ezra, assisted sometimes by the Le- vites, read the Law distinctly, gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading, — a model of what preaching still should be. The Law, as delivered by Ezra, so affected the hearers, -that they wept exceedingly, and about noon Ezra and Nehemiah thought fit to restrain it. From the great excitement they evinced, it would seem that the reading of their Scriptures, in the language they understood, (Chaldee,) was a new thing to them. In the temple service it had no doubt been read in tht^ sacred language, (Hebrew.) On the second day the reading was resumed, they were again instructed in the Law, and they then appear to have arrived at the 31st chapter of Deutcro\iomy, when Moses commanded the 62 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. keeping of the feast of Tabernacles, which they immediately pre- pared to obey. They gathered, as cf old, branches of palm-trees and willows of the brook, the pine, the myrtle, and the foliage of the mount of Olives .to make booths, and there was very great gladness. Under the shadow of these booths, for the space of seven days, they remembered all the toils of the wilderness ; and day by day Ezra read to them in the books of the Law of God : probably in all the books, — for the Old Testament was now complete, with the exception of the history of the current times. Doubtless the history of the nation was read; and they were made to review God's dealings with them : very likely .the Psalms were sung relating to the events which David and others had celebrated; and we cannot but believe that Ezra also pointed to the Prophets, and showed the people how minutely many of the words spoken by them had been fulfilled. They knew that the revelation was supported by the great pillars of miracle and prophecy; and at this era, the common people under Ezra's teaching must have been taught to feel the strength of both. The?/ stood in the midst of a circle of doomed countries, on all of which the thi'eats of their sacred writings had heen fulfilled, as icell as most hitterly upon themselves. Nineveh, Tyre, Petra, Thebes, and Babylon,* as well as Jeru- salem, had all been desolated within a space of forty years, chiefly by Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldean king, called by Jeremiah "the hammer of the whole earth.'' Jer. I. 23. Juds-ment had beonin at the -house of God, as it always does; and the divided kingdom of Israel had, as we have seen, fallen by the hand of the kings of Nineveh, 730 b. c. Hosea was the prophet who had especially foretold their troubles. If you look back to the table,"!" you will see that he lived during the reigns of several of the last wicked kings of Israel The ten tribes were in his time frightfully corrupt: the kings were murderers; the very priests were idolaters. When * You sVould look for these on a map. f See page 56. NINEVEH. 63 you liave read Rosea' s prophecy, you can refer to its fulfilment, in the 17th chapter of 2 Kings. Before the carrying away of the nation into Assyria, they had endured the deep miseries of a seven years' famine, when a woman slew and boiled her own son for food, as Moses had foretold. Deut. xxviii. 53. The kingdom of Israel existed 254 years distinct from Judah, under nineteen kings, all of whom were wicked men, — the in- struments of its punishment. Assyria, whose capital was Nine- veh, was called by Isaiah "the rod of God's anger." Isa. x. 5. Nineveh had long been an enemy to the Jewish nation. The kingdom of Assyria was as old as that of Egypt. Noah himself may have seen its rise. His grandson Asshur went out of the land of Shinar, and builded Nineveh, (Gen, x. 11;) and for 1300 years it had endured in power and gloiy, during all the periods of the Jewish history through which we have just passed. Ten or eleven years ago, we knew a little about Nineveh, the gods she worshipped, the kings who ruled over her, her wealth and her wickedness, and more especially that she once repented for a while at the preaching of a Jewish prophet, very rarely sent to a heathen city. We knew that the river Tigris flowed slug- gishly along through the waste plains where the city once stood with all its palaces, that nothing was to be seen but desolate mounds, where great feasts had been held by conquering kings for 120 days together, that the mighty walls with their 1500 towers, and the vast multitude with their 120,000 little children, were all gone down into the grave of 3000 years. We had found much about Nineveh in the Jewish prophecies. Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Nahum had foretold her ruin ; and Diodorus, a Greek historian, had told us of the funeral pile of its King Sardanapalus in his own palace, when, heaping his gold and silver, garments and jewels, himself and his wives, on a great pile of wood, (that he might not fall into the hands of his enemies,) he consumed himself, his treasures, and his palace. We, who believed the Bible, had no doubt of all this in our childhood ; but we had no idea that in this part of the earth, also, God had laid up a great stone library for you of this generatioe 04 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. to read, and to be convinced that the Book and its volumes agree : for Nineveh has been disentombed since you were born. Over its ruins, the sands of the desert had heaped themselves for ages, in which the Arabs had built villages, and made graves for generation after generation; for had not God said to it, by Nahum, ^'Thou shalt be hid," (Nah. iii. 11;) "I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and will make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock?'' Nah. iii. 6. In the year 1842, a learned Frenchman and a wandering English scholar, Mons. Botta and Mr. Layard, sought the seat of this once powerful empire, and searched till they found the dead city. They threw off its shroud of sand and ruin, and revealed to an astonished and curious world the temples, the palaces, and the idols of that Nineveh of Scripture, in which the captive tribes of Israel had laboured and wept, — the twin-sister of Baby- lon, who was like a "cedar in Lebanon," and who made all the nations to shake at the sound of its fall. "We are now able to realize this fall, with something of the same minuteness with which Ezra could have depicted it to the Jews who had returned from the captivity; and we dwell longer on the ruin of this heathen power than any other, because, through its means, we can show you what were the idolatries after which the nation of Israel went, and which were the cause of their rejection and their niin. If you visit London or Paris, you may look with your own eyes on the vast stony forms which have come up from their long and solemn sleep in the depths of the earth, such as those in the national museums. The eyes of the prophet Ezekiel may have looked upon those very sculptures. They were a kind of heathen cherubim. -The Eastern nations had derived their idea of them from the traditions concerning the cherubim at the gate of Eden, uniting in one the noblest forms of their kind — the lion among wild beasts, the bull among tame ones, the eagle among the birds, and man as the iord of all. Every day, as Mr. Layard broke further into the earth, he I NINEYEII. (}5 Winged Bull. found fresh wonders, which he has forwarded to the Musemn; and he has written two very interesting books to explain them. He found that these colossal forms were placed at the entrance of the palace-temple, whose steps came down to the river's brink; that every room in the palaces had been coated with slabs, on which were carved histories, not in words, but in figures standing out from the stone, called bas-reliefs ; and though some of these crumbled to powder as they were being dug out, because they had been calcined with fire, according to the prophecy of Nahum, — 'Hhen shall the fire devour thee,^' — still a great many slabs have been sent home to the Museum, where a beautiful hall has been prepared to receive them; and now we can walk among its long, light galleries, and read the story of Nineveh all in stone, dug up by the Arabs of the desert. There is some curious writing upon those vast bulls, all in arrow-headed character, and you cannot read it. Several learned men, however, have begun to do so; and Mr. Layard tells us, that they have deciphered a complete history of the reign and character of Sennacherib, allusion to whom is made in the Bible, at 2 Kings xviii. 13. There is .an awful strangeness in being thus, as it were, brought face to face with the solemn antiquities of the Bible, and with our own earliest sacred recollections 6* 66 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Arrow-headecl Character. [Translation.] " Sennacherib, the mighty king, king of the country of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judgment, before (or at the entrance of) the city of Lachish, (Lachisha,) I give permission for its slaughter." The Obelisk. A certain old obelisk, found also at Nineveh, is now in the British Museum : upon it are recorded, according to Major Raw- JERUSALEM. 67 Hnson, the names of Jehu and Hazael, both known to you in Scripture. Many other names of kings, idols, countries, and cities, mentioned in the Old Testament, occur in the Assyrian tablets, on which also are depicted continually images of the god Nisroch, the god of Sardanapa- lus, the hawk-headed deity. And when the Jews had had read to them the Prophet Nahum, when it was read in Hebrew and translated into Chaldee, they well knew how the prophet's words had been ful- filled. The cormorant and the bit- tern lodged in the upper lintels of the palaces of that rejoicing city, that had said in her heart, " I am, ^isroch. and there is none beside me;^' God had uncovered the cedar-work. Zeph. ii. 14, 15. As we hope you will take time to refer to the chief prophecies which concern Assyria and Nineveh, we have given you a list of them : Isa. X. 15-19 ; xxxi. 8. Ezek. xxxi. 3-17. The Book of Nahum. Zeph. ii. 13-15. The city of Nineveh had fallen 611 b. c, nearly 200 years before Ezra's republication of the Scriptures. It was 600 miles from Jerusalem. JERUSALEM. . Having looked on the destruction of Nineveh, the sorrowful gaze of Judah must again have been turned iqjon herself, — for she was the next who fell under the power of Nebuchadnezzar. Her idolatry had provoked the Grod of her fathers to jealousy, till he would bear with her no more. She had worshipped, after the manner of Egypt, creeping 68 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. ••.hings and abominable beasts (Ezek. viii.) even close to the sanctuary of God, therefore he at last had dealt with her in fury; and Ezekiel (x. 8), had seen him depart from off the threshold of the house on the cherubim's wings, "scattering coals of fire'' over the devoted city, as he went to return no more in glory in that dispensation. It was for her IDOLATRY that Judah lost her land. She rejected God and his word; and since the days of Jehoiakim, ?tas never possessed her kingdom, but as the servant of some foreign power. She held it under the Babj^lonians, the Persians, the Grecians, and the Romans, — Daniel's '^four beasts;" and now under the Roman power in its papal form, (the so-called " holy shrines" being scattered over all her mountains,) Jerusalem still abides till the times be fulfilled, when, returning Jlrst to that Moses and the prophets (Mai. iv. 4) whom Jehoiakim cast aside, she shall forswear the vain traditions with which she has overlaid the Law, and go up once more to build the old wastes, and repair the desolations of many generations ; and there, " at Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication being poured upon her," as Zechariah tells us, at chapter xii. 10, " she shall look upon him whom she hath pierced, and mourn;" and "all nations shall call her blessed in her delightsome land.'' Mai. iii. 12. The pro- phecies foretelling the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar will be found in — Isa. iii. Jer. xxv. 9-12 ; xxvii. Ezek. xii. TYRE. We must now pass for a moment to Tyre, the city on the rock, overlooking the sea, — the noble colony of the sons of Anak, re- posing beneath the shadow of Mount Lebanon. Four years after Nebuchadnezzar had been used to chastise the Jews, he was em- ployed in punishing the sins of Tyre. Tyi'e, the merchant-city, was to the old world what London now 's to the new. Her glory is described in the 27th chapter of TiZekiel : her fall is prophesied in the 28th. Of Nebuchadnezzar's TYRE PETRA. 69 aniiy, during the siege, it is said, that by the toils of thirteen years before its walls, every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled, — a result arising from wearing their armour so long, and carrying burdens to build the high terraces from which they made their attack. Seldom has the deep gathered Buch a harvest to its treasures as when Tyre fell in the midst of its waters. Its ruined pillars of red and white marble lie scattered along the shore. Perhaps some day, another Mr. Layard may bring to light the ancient Tyre. For the prophecies of the destruc- tion of Tyre see — Isa. xxiii. Ezek. xxvi. ; xxvii. ; xxviii. Tyre yielded to Nebuchadnezzar b. c. 671, nineteen years after the prophecies against it. Like all the heathen cities. Tyre was wicked and proud. She had said, "I am perfect in beauty," and her heart was lifted up because of her beauty. There is a small book published by " The London Tract Society,'^ entitled ^' Tyre ; its Rise, Griory, and Desolation,'^ which contains a rich store of information, especially designed for young persons, and to which we must refer them. PETRA. This city is the Bozrah of the Bible, and was the southern capital of Edom. When Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, the Edomites wore almost as numerous as the Jews. Moses tells us (Gen. xxxvi. 1) that Esau is Edom. Esau had hated Jacob, and their childre^i were always at enmity. The Edomites had united with Nebu. chadnezzar to besiege Jerusalem, and urged him to raze it even with the ground. Psalm cxxxvii. 7. The prophecies against Edom are very many, and are a continuation of God's wrath upon Amalek, which became the ascendant race and general name for * aU the children of Esau.* These prophecies are distinct from those against Ishmael, whose children are spoken of as the tribes of Kedar and Nebaioth. On Esau, or Edom, the judgments pro- * Forttcr's " Gen-rnphj of Arabiix. 70 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. nounced are by far the most severe, and on his city, Petra, they were chiefly poured. Spoiler after spoiler ruined it. The people worshipped the sun and moon, and made their houses, palaces, and temples in the rocks and sides of the mountains which sur- round the valley in which Petra is situated. This wondrous city, with its rock-hewn pillars and statues of exquisite beauty, once the halting-place and mart of all the caravans of the wilderness, fell under the dominion of Jews, Greeks, Romans, and Arabs, till it became what it now is, — " an utter desolation,'^ " none passing through it for ever.'' For 1200 years its very existence was un- known : it is approached only through a narrow dej&le of rocks, two miles in length, through which but two horsemen can ride abreast, under festoons of climbing plants and trees. At the end of the defile, Petra, the dead city, bursts upon you, silent and beautiful in its desert tomb. For the prophecies against Edom see — Jer. xxvii. 3-11 ; xlix. 7-22. Joel iii. 19. Ezek. xxy. 12-14 ; xxxii. 29. Obad. ver. 1, 8, 9. And that all these things were fulfilled before the time of Malachi, we know from Mai. i. 2, 3. EGYPT. In reflecting on the words of their prophets, the Israelites would also turn to Egypt. This ancient kingdom, also, was intensely proud. Her king, Pharaoh Ilophra, says Herodotus, " had boasted that it was not even in the power of God to dethrone him"; and Ezekiel compared him to a great dragon lying in the midst of his streams, and saying, " My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself." Ezek. xxix. 3. Nebuchadnezzar caused him to be strangled in his own place. He made dreadful havoc in the do- minions of the Pharaohs. God had put the sword into his hand, and he was to break the images, and burn with fire the houses of the gods, while the Jews, who had gone down to Egypt, and wickedly determined to burn incense to the queen of heaveU; were to be consumed in these judgments, till there was an end of EGYPT — BABYLON. 71 them. Jer. xliv. 12. From that hour Egypt has been the basest of the kingdoms, and Israel has leaned upon it as a staff no mort. The prophecies against it are found in — Isa. xix ; xxx. 1-7. Ezek. xxix. and xxx. Jer. xlvi. Ezek. xxxi. 1-18 ; xxxii. Joel iii. 19. And for their fulfilment, besides the destruction caused by Nebu- chadnezzar, you must likewise refer to the times when the Persian war-cry rang through the crowded streets of Thebes, when Cam- byses laid his destroying hand on Karnak and its sculptures, and when Alexander the Great completed the ruin his predecessors had begun. BABYLON. Once more the eye of the chosen people would turn to the fall of the all-conquering Babylon itself. You have heard of its brazen gates and its 676 squares, its walls and its hanging gardens, where Nebuchadnezzar said, " Is not this great Babylon which I have built ?" You remember the hand that wrote in fire on the walls of Belshazzar's palace ; and having referred to the prophecies of the fall of this mighty empire in — Isa. xiii. ; xxi. 9; xlviii. 14-20; Jer. L and li.; — ^you will be prepared to read the sublime narration of Daniel, the eye-witness of all its horrors, in the fifth chapter of his own book. How deeply the lesson of all these vast fulfilments of the word of God was impressed upon the minds of the returned remnant of Judah, we may judge from the fact, which all history confirms, that they ever afterward felt a profound dread and aversion for all the pagan idolatries. Ezra did much to cut off this evil at its root, by causing them to put away at once their heathen wives. This was a severe and terrible measure, and it grieved him deeply to enforce it, (sea Ezra ix. 10 ;) but he felt it was essential to their future existence 18 a nation. 72 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. While Nehemiah was governor of Judea, the Jewess Esther was raised to the Persian throne ; and with her beautiful history, the records of the ancient world, as given to us in the Bible, are ended. CHAPTER IV. The Jewish Bible complete — The Apocrypha — The Septuagint — Daniel's two Pictures — Antiochus Epiphanes — The Maccabees — Judas Maccabeus — The Roman Power — Pompey — Caesar — The Druids — Their Hebrew Origin — Serpent-worship — Druidical Remains — Greek Philosophers — Herod — The Temple — The Synagogues — Traditions of the Pharisees — Targums — Phari- sees and Sadducees — The faithful Few — The Rabbins — John the Baptist — His Ministry — Our Lord's Advent — His Mission — Books of the New Tes- tament— The First Century^ — Its Apostles and Elders — The Last Supper — Violent Death of all who partook of it, except John — First and second Pagan Persecutions — Destruction of Jerusalem. We wish to take you in this chapter through the Story of the Book for a period of 500 years, comprising the last four centuries of the Old Testament dispensation, and the first century of the New. The Hebrew people must still be regaioed in one light, for the four centuries before the coming of the Lord, as the keepers of the word of God. They alone had received it, and they pre- served it through this middle space of time between Malachi, the last of their prophets, and the cry of John the Baptist in the wilderness of Judea, whose coming, as the forerunner of the Lord, Malachi's last words had foretold. See Mai. iv. 5, and Matt. iii. 1, 2 The Bihle of the Jeios icas complete. It is called the ''Canon of the Old Testament.^' The word canon means a rule, a settled law ; and, as you may have heard of some books not in this canon, which are generally called the Apocri/pha, and which may be found in a few old Bibles bound up between the Old and New Testaments, we must give you a short history of them. They were not inspired books : some were written by learned Jews at Alexandria, after the prophetic spirit had ceased with Daniel's two ncTuiiES. 73 Malachi. Not even their writers say they are inspired : thcj were written in Greek, and not in Hebrew, the ancient sacred language. They were never received as sacred by the ancient Jewish Church, and not a single passage in them is ever quoted by Jesus Christ, or by his apostles. • A f^w of these books are considered valuable as a connecting link in history, but a child may perceive the difference between them and the Holy Scriptures. These apocryphal or doubtful books were not added to the Hebrew copies of the Scriptures, but only to the " Septuagint," or Greek version, made at Alexandria, B. c. 277, by a council of seventy learned men, for the use of the Jews in Egypt, who were accustomed to speak Greek. Alexandria was then a chief colony of the Jews ; it is said that a hundred thousand of them resided there. It was at that time one of the greatest cities in the world. ]jearned men consider this translation, called the Septuagint, very valuable. The evangelists and the apostles quoted from it as much as from the Hebrew. During the Babylonian captivity, the Prophet Daniel was in- spired to give to the world two pictures of the further events that would occur in the 400 years which were to introduce the king- dom of the Messiah. The figures which compose his first picture had previously been presented in a dream to the inind of Nebuchadnezzar himself; and Daniel was called upon to declare what the king had seen, and to explain its meaning. Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his dream an image with a head of gold, its breast of silver, its middle of brass, and its legs of iron, the feet partly iron and partly clay, and he had seen a stone cut out without hands smiting this image on its feet, and break- ing the whole fabric to pieces. This dream Daniel thus explained. He told Nebuchadnezzar that he, the King of Babylon, was himself the head of golc ; that after his kingdom should come three other kingdoms, each less glorious than his ; and that all four should be destroyed by 74 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. a greater kingdom than any of theni — -.the kingdom of the. God of heaven, which should last for ever. You must read the dream and its interpretation in the second and third chapters of the book of Daniel. The prophet's second picture is contained in his seventh chap- ter ; and it is a picture of the same four great empires, but now represented under the form of four great beasts, who were also to succeed one another in dominion. Further visions in the eighth chapter informed Daniel, that the second kingdom was that of the Medes and Persians, the third that of the Grecians ; the fourth empire is not named, but it is fully described, and events proved it to be the mighty power of Rome. All ancient history confirms the truth of this magnificent pro- phecy. The Babylonian empire passed away, as we have seen, at the taking of Babylon by Cyrus : the Persian empire fell when Darius was conquered, B. c. 330, by Alexander, who is the leopard of the picture, with four heads ; while the Grecian ceded to the Boman power about 150 years before Christ, which then began to eclipse all others ; and having conquered Carthage, soon became the sovereign of the world. It principally concerns us to know what become of the Jews during this period. Among themselves, the high-priests had the chief power. The sixth in succession from the time of their governor Nehemiah, was Simon the Just; his most important work (according to tradition) was the final arrangement of the books of the Old Testament. He added to Ezra's collection the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Malachi; and thus, as we have said, completed the canon. About this time, from the intercourse of the Jews 'with the Greeks, and in imitation of their schools of wisdom, sprung up two sets of learned doctors in Jerusalem, called the Pharisees and the Sadducees. At this period also arose their very great enemy, Antiochus Epiplianes- The Jews to this day have never forgotten his cruel- tics. He was truly " a vile person ;" and the accounts of heathen JUDAS MACCABEUS. 76 historians seem to prove that he answers to Daniel's description of the King of the North, (Dan. xi. 21 :) by the North, is in- tended Syria, which was north of Palestine. Antiochus caused a general massacre in Jerusalem, which lasted three days : 40,000 Jews were killed, and as many made slaves. He then entered the temple to carry oflF its gold and silver, and caused swine to be sacrificed upon its altar. Shortly afterward, he attacked the city on the Sabbath, when the Jews were forbidden to fight ; slew many, and sold more ; shed blood within and without the temple; and, building a strong fortress on Mount Zion, caused such multitudes to flee, that the city was like a desert ; the daily sacrifices were discon- tinued, B. c. 168 ; the temple dedicated to Jupiter, an idol placed therein, and only those Jews favoured who worshipped it through fear of death. Yet even at this time many were found faithful. They would not forget their Law, and change its ordinances. ^' Then the wicked king rent in pieces the books of the Law which he found, and -burnt them with fire; and whoever pos- sessed copies of these books, or consented to the Law, it wUs ordained that they should die; wherefore they chose rather to die, that they might not profane the holy covenant.'^ ^' So, then, they died.'^ They led the way in the long roll of names of the martyrs for the Book, Among these, the most distinguished- were seven brethren, and their mother, under the Maccabees, who, refusing to disobey the Law of Moses, underwent every possible torment, and were at last fried alive, in a brazen pan made red-hot, one after the other — being supported of God, and each singing the words of Moses's Song, (Deut. xxxii. 86-43,) exhorting one another to die for the truth's sake. The mother entreated each son to be faithful unto death, and last of all she, like them, was tortured, and died also. In the midst of these troubles, God raised up for his people a deliverer as in old time, Judas Maccabeus, who trusted in the Lord, and in his name defeated the Syrian armies : then he cleansed the temple, and built a new altar in the place of that i6 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. wlii(3li was defiled : all the services and sacrifices were renewed three years and a half after they had been discontinued. Antiochus soon after this died in dreadful bodily torments, with all the terrors of a guilty conscience; but the Syrians still continued to make war on Judea, and Judas continued to over- come them through prayer, God being with him as in the days of Israel of old. It was not in times of trouble that his faith failed. He be- came very rich, and a prince among the people. After many fresh victories, he grew weary of the further incursions of his enemies; and this chief of the Maccabees sent to Rome, and sought for help from those who were ignorant of the living God. Ere the messenger of Judas returned to bring a promise of help from the Homan Senate, he who had sought for other help than God's was slain, b. c. 161. The failure in faith of this man of God was like that of Jehoshaphat of old ; and by the step he took he hastened the ruin of his people. His death was bitterly lamented throughout Judea, as that of the greatest de- liverer who had appeared since the days of David. We must pass over the successors of Judas Maccabeus : his nephews were wild and wicked men, — murderous high-priests, who assumed also the royal diadem : one of them, named Jan- nasus, was a monster of cruelty, having the word of God for a light, and despising its guidance. The sin of rejecting even the Mosaic Law was far greater than any that the heathen nations could commit; and while such was the character of the high- priests, God might well desert the Jewish nation as a nation^ as he did from this time forward. The Jewish history henceforth is closely connected with that of the Roman empire. Pompey, the general of the Roman armies, took advantage of the constant quarrels the Jews had among themselves, to add Judea to his conquests; and thus the fourth of the Gentile beasts of Daniel began to tread down the holy city. He took the temple by storm; and the Pharisees, who were always fighting against the Sadducees, earnestly helped him. The rOMPEY — CJESAR. 77 priests engaged in the daily services were slain where they stood. Pompey entered the holiest place : he saw no visible glory, for it had long departed, (Ezek. x ;) but he was astonished at finding no image or statue of the Deity. However, he showed his re- spect for the place by touching none of its treasures; and he ordered it to be cleansed, and its services renewed. He then returned to Rome, entering it in his triumphal, glit- tering chariot, to which were yoked all the kings he had con- quered; among them, Aristobulus of Judea, and his sons. He Wd overcome in that campaign fifteen kingdoms, taken 800 cities, md caused 1000 castles to acknowledge his empire; and he wrought back treasure to the amount of five millions of our money. iTet he was only a single general of Rome's armies. Was not that fourth heast '^exceeding dreadful," (Dan. vii. 19,) ffith his "teeth of iron and his nails of brass, devouring, break- ing in pieces, and stamping the residue with his feet'^ ? It is as trampled beneath these feet, Britain is first brought into conjunction icith Judea. While Pompey triumphed in the East, Caesar went forth and conquered the West. The people of the Swiss valleys were first subdued, then 80,000 Germans fell before him : the Belgae were defeated with such slaughter, that marshes and deep rivers were rendered impassable by heaps of dead bodies : then he subdued the Gauls, and only looked with the unsatisfied eye of a ravenous eagle (the standard of the Roman empire was an eagle) to the white clifis of Albion, as he stood upon the shore of France. He sailed from Calais, B. C. 55, and landed where the town of Deal now stands. The Britons were even then fierce enough to frighten the Romans; but they could not withstand men clad in armour. We need not give you the early history of Britain, for all school children are supposed to know it; but we must touch upon the ancient religion, such as it was, which prevailed among the Britons before the comino- of the Lord. It was very ancient: its priests were called Druids, as wer« the pi iests of the Celtic nations in general. 78 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. The Celtic nations descended from Japlieth, wlio peopled Eu- rope, and on whom that blessing was pronounced by his father Noah, '^God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant." This promise had not l)een fulfilled in the times we have hitherto consider\s\\f 0)0) qq s t, d i,y ph ch,sc ps o f ^2: (yd (QiQ Zq hi> T + g skjSC sch h lib ti The Coptic Alphabet. This vras once the spoken language of Egypt, but is now changed for the Arabic. The Copts are descended from the ancient Egyptians, mixed with other races. In this language one of the earliest and most faithful versions existed, translated from the Septuagint, and it has been the means of keeping alive the form, if not the spirit, of Christianity, during 1500 years, among a persecuted people, surrounded by Mohammedan op- pressors. Mr. Kruse, the present missionary at Cairo, relates the remark of a native Copt : " We want a man to rise up from among our own people, like your Luther, bold enough to stand fast in the ftiith, and to reform our church. '^ We shall say more about the Copts in connection with the Bible Society. THE GOTHIC. I r ^ a 11 ^ li $ 11 R A » g d e q z b th i k i a e^ n n ]^ s T Y |5 0 ft H mnjup rs t v,j The Gothic Alphabet. PARTICULARS 01 VARIOUS TRANSLATIONS. 147 This version "was made for the people who came from Scandi- navia down to Prussia and East Germany, and the coast of the Black Sea, and who, in 409, took and pillaged Rome, under x\laric. It was completed by Ulphilas, one of their bishops, a man of good conduct and of great mind, whose own holy life recommended his doctrines. It was a proverb among the Goths, ^'Whatever Ulphilas does, is well done.'^ The most important manuscript of the Gothic version was discovered in Westphalia, where it had lain several centuries. It. has been taken and re- taken in war many times since, and is now to be seen in the library at Upsal, preserved in a glass box, which not even an emperor might open, for it is a treasure so much coveted, that it has lost all its leaves except 160. It is called "the Codex Ar« genteus," the silver book, and its silver letters, with occasionally a verse of gold, are inscribed on violet vellum, while its binding is of embossed silver in this kind of character — A (ULG^A °^zm It has been thought that the characters are not written, but stamped or impressed as by the old process of lettering the back of a book, I. e. laying gold-leaf over some mixture, like white of egg, on the vellum, and then impressing the letters with a heated stamp, and afterward wiping off the surplus gold. THE PERSIC. a,e,i,o,u b p t s,th dsch tsch h' ch d ds r z r^ u-^ t/t/i'i'' ^ ^ ^ J, J 8 8ch , ss ts t s a,i,o,u gh f k,q kj,k J r ^ y »9 (J 1 m n w, u h, t j, i The Persian Alphabet. The primitive alphabet of the Persians seems *o have been 148 THE BOOK AND l^-^ STORY. arrow-headed, like tlie Nineveh characters, but the alphabet uoTf used is the Arabic. Chrysostoni speaks of the Persian version LS having originated with the Christian Elamites, who returned to Persia after the day of Pentecost. THE ANCIENT ARMENIAN. i:- 1^. *ht 'Vt h^ ,«.t li* i\£. ap k tje s 0 e fd-P^ ,J. exhorted them also to read the Scriptures, keeping, it is said, Erasmus's New Testament always within reach, to prove what he advanced. The priests disliked to see that book appear, and said it only served to make heretics, adding, " Why even ice don't understand God's word, as you call it; and how should the vulgar understand it? It is a conjuring book, wherein everybody finds what he wants." "Ah !" said Tyndal, " you read it without Jesus Christ ; that is why it is obscure to you." " Nothing is obscure to us," said another priest; " we only can explain the Scriptures." " No," said Tyndal ; "you hide them, j^ou burn those who teach them, and, if you could, you would burn the Scriptures themselves.'^ This kind of talk is said to have induced the priests rather to give up Squire. Walsh's good cheer at Sodbury Hall, than encounter " the sour sauce" of Master Tyndai's company. They soon declared themselves his open enemies; and if he preached, they threatened to expel from the church those who listened to him. "Oh !" said Tyndal; "while I am sowing in one place, they ravage the field I have just left. I cannot be everywhere. If Christians had the Scriptures in their own tongue, they could themselves withstand these sophists ; without the Bible it is impossible to establish the laity in the truth." He went on arguing with all whom he met, in favour of trans- lating the Scriptures, till one day a popish doctor, angry with the strength of his arguments, said : " Well ; we had better be with- out God's laws than the pope's." This fired the spirit of Tyndal, and he answered, with righteous indignation, "I defy the pope and all his laws ; and if God give me life, ere many years the ploughboys shall know more of the Scriptures than you do." He henceforth pass.^d the greater part of his time in the library, and avoided these coi/ '"ersations. He prayed, he read, and carried WILLIAM TYNDAL. 155 on his traislation, and seems to have read it, as he proceeded, to Sir John and Lady Walsh, who were determined to protect him. He soon, however, left them for the sake of their safety, and pro- ceeded to London, to seek another retreat, where he might follow out his work. He found a quiet room in the house of Humphrey Monmouth, a pious and benevolent alderman, near Temple Bar, and dwelt with him six months, "studying most part of the day and night at his book.'' Humphrey Monmouth was afterward sent to the Tower, on a charge of having aided Tyndal; but he thus justified himself: "When I heard my Lord of London preach at PauFs- cross, thait Sir William Tyndal had translated the New Testament into English, and that it was naughtily translated, that was the first time that ever I suspected or knew any evil of him." The worthy citizen was soon set free. It seems he afterward con- tributed largely to the printing of the New Testament. Tyndal began to fear lest the stake should interrupt his labour. "Alas!" he exclaimed; "is there then no place where I can translate the Bible? It is not the bishop's house alone that is closed upon me, but all England!" There lay at that moment, in the river Thames, a vessel loading for Hamburg : Humphrey Monmouth gave him ten pounds for his voyage; and, carrying with him only his New Testament, he went on board. "Our priests have buried the Testament of God," said he; "and all their study is to keep it down, that it rise not again; but the hour of the Lord is come, and nothing can hinder the vrord of God, as nothing could hinder Jesus Christ of old from issuing from the tomb." "That poor man, then sailing toward Germany, was to send back, even from the banks of the Elbe, the eternal gospel to his countrymen." He left England in 1523, and never returned to it. Hum- phrey Monmouth and other kind friends supplied his simple wants while sitting down to his work in a foreign land. He had now entered with great vigour on the two most im- portant years of his lifi. He seems to have printed first, the 156 TFIE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Gospels of Matthew and Mark, and in 1524 he sent them to his friend Monmouth, and then removed to Cologne. Beins; asrain disturbed, in the midst of printing the whole New Testament, he gathered up the ten already printed sheets, and fled to Worms, where he finished it. It crossed the sea to England in 1526. Cochloeus, that enemy who had desired to strangle it in its birth at Cologne, wrote home to King Henry and the bishops, to watch closely all the ports against the entrance of "the pernicious book;" while the Bishop of London, haying gained possession of one of the copies, took care to tell the people, in case they met with such a book, that he had found in it upward of 2Q00 errors and heresies. Moreover, he at once entered into a secret specu- lation to buy it up through a merchant named Packington, say- ing, "Gentle Master Packington, do your diligence and get them, and I will pay for them whatsoever they cost you; for the books are naughty, and I intend surely to destroy them all, and to burn them at Paul's-cross." So you see the Roman Church burnt men^ and hones, and looks, . but all to no purpose. William Tyndal, understanding this pur- pose of Bishop Tonstall, sold him the books, saying, *'I shall gette moneye of him for these bokes to bryng myself out of debt, and the whole world shall cry out at the burnninge of God's worde, and the overplus of the moneye that shall remain to me ghall make me more studious, to correct againe, and newly to im- print the same." And so forward went the bargain : the bishop had the books; Packington had the thanks; and Tyndal had the money; and afterward more New Testaments came thick and threefold into England. The more these New Testaments were suppressed, the greater was the desire of men to possess them, and to examine their con- tents, and this in spite of punishment. The sentence on John Tyndal, a merchant of London, and brother to William, by Sir Thomas More, was, " that he should be set upon a horse with his face to the tail, and have a paper pinned upon his head, and many sheets of New Testaments sewn to his cloak, to be after- SIR THOMAS MORE. 157 ward thrown into a great fire kindled in Clieapside^ and then pay to the king a fine which should ruin him." What would the citizens of London think now, if they saw one of its wealthy and honourable merchants thus treated for having a New Testament in his possession? Tyndal's own words about the persecution raised were, — "In burnninge the New Testament, they did none other thing than I looked for : no more shall they do, if they burnne me also, if it be God's will that it shall be so. I purpose, with God's help, to maintain unto the death, if need be; and therefore, all Christian men and women, 'praye that the icorde of God may he inihounde and runne to and fro among his people: Amen." The great Lord Chancellor More published seven large volumes against Tyndal. He held the error of the ancient Pharisees, that the Bible did not contain the whole revealed will of God, but that the traditions of the church are of as great authority; and he said that Satan had marked both Luther and Tyndal with an " H" in the forehead, for denying it, "with a faire hotte irone, fetched out of the flames of hell." These are the very words of the friend of Erasmus, — the learned, witty, and eloquent Sir Thomas More. Tyndal only answered him, that the written word of God contains all his revealed will, perfect as its Divine Author; and that "if any man add to it, or take away from it, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city, and from the things that are written in the book." The clergy, delighted with More, their champion, pressed upon him the acceptance of five thousand pounds. He was a noble- minded man, and refused to accept a penny of it; and he seems *o have foreseen that the "New Learning," as he called it, would 3ventually prevail. He himself chose a violent death rather than deny his conscience concerning King Henry's second marriage; and, in reviewing his life in comparison with Tyndal's, one can- not but discern so. much that is similarly great in their characteis. that, had their souls been truly and intimately known to each other, we are ready to believe they would have been uxiited in the bonds of the highest friendship, and that when More gave up U 158 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. to his ^Mear daugliter Margaret/' on her visiting him in prison, the knotted whip with which he had chastised himself from his youth, and the hair shirt he had worn constantly to aggravate the stripes, he had (enlightened by the reading of the forbidden New Testament) seen the way to heaven clear, through Christ alone, and renounced his faith in penance and self-torture. If so, he must have had much to forgive himself with regard to Tyndal and many others.* In the year 1527, great rains having fallen at the seed-time, bread became extremely dear, and it was necessary to import corn. The merchants who did this, brought with them also 500 copies of Tyndal's New Testament, secretly, which was the fourth edition that reached England. Wolsey, the prime minister, be- came aware that many were earnestly reading them, and resolved to make search suddenly, and at one time, in London, Oxford, and Cambridge. In London he found that a certain Thomas Garrett, curate of All-Hallows, in Honey-lane, Cheapside, was a receiver and distri- buter of these New Testaments, and that he had even then gone down to Oxford to make sale of them there. He was soon seized, and in the safe keeping of his enemies. Let us, meanwhile, look into the chamber from which he had gone forth in Oxford, and see there Anthony Dalaber, one of the student's devotedly attached to him. " When he was gone forth down the stairs from my chamber,'^ says Dalaber, ^' I shut the door, and went into my study, and took the New Testament in my hands, kneeled down upon my knees, and with many a bitter sigh and salt tear, I read over the 10th chapter of Matthew's Gospel, (in which Christ tells his early disci- ples of all. they would have to suffer for his sake.) And when I iiad so done, with fervent prayer I did commit to God that dearly- beloved brother Garrett, and prayed also that he would endue that tender and lately-born little flock in Oxford, with all godly patience, to bear Christ's heavy cross, which I now saw was presently to be *- Sir Thomas More was beheaded on t/. ) Gth of July, 1535, the year before Jie martyrdom of Tyndal. GARRETT — DALABER. 159 laid upon their young and weak backs, — unable to bear so huge a burden, without the great help of his Holy Spirit. This done, I laid aside my book so/e." This Garrett and this Dabaler were made to carry a fagot, in open procession, from St. Mary's to Cardinal College, and com- pelled to cast their books into the large -fire which had been kin- dled at the meeting of four ways to consume them. They were then imprisoned in Osney Isle. The crown of martyrdom awaited Garrett, but not for sixteen years afterward. He and Dr. Barnes were consumed in the same flames, in 1540. Eighteen young men besides these were captured in the secret search for New Testaments at Oxford : among them was Fryth, the especial friend of Tyndal. He appears, like his friend, to have availed himself of the advantages of both universities. The prohibited books had been found under the flooring of their rooms; and, as a punishment, they were all immured in a deep cell under Cardinal College, the common keeping-place for their salt fish, — a noisome dungeon, where the air and the food together proved fatal to four of them. The rest were kept in this miserable abode from the beginning of March till the middle of August, eating nothing but salt fish : the names of those who died were Clarke, Sumner, Bailey, and Goodman : their record is in heaven ! And we may believe that it was given them, according to Anthony Dalaber's prayer, " quietly with all godly patience to bear Christ's heavy cross, by the great help of his Holy Spirit, and to receive from him their crown." Now, let us see what were the fruits of the search at Cambridge. You remember Thomas Bilney, who, ten years before, had been reading, with Tyndal, Erasmus's Greek Testament. He had been the means of the conversion of Hugh, afterward Bishop Latimer, and Dr. Barnes; for it is a very remarkable feature belonging to the love of the word of God, tliat neither a man nor a child can love it alone. He who has tasted a pure fountain, — he who haa looked upon a land of promise, must say to others, '' Come and Bee it." No one ever loved the B'ble, and suffered from reading it, but 160 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. he caused some one or more besides himself to love it and suffer for it too. It was long before the persecutors perceived, that the more men they persecuted, and the more books they burned, the greater torch they kindled in England. In these modern times, even papists, if enlightened, see with their champion, Dr. Geddes, that " burning suspicious books is the readiest way to make more of them, as persecuting for any kind of religion is the surest means of spreading it.'^ The sergeant-at-arms arrived at Cambridge to make search for English New Testaments. "God be praised," says Foxe, "the books were conveyed away from the thirty suspected rooms.'* He found therefore no hooks, but carried off to London Dr. Barnes, who had greatly offended the Cardinal Wolsey by speaking against his golden shoes and scarlet gloves. He was made to bear a fagot at St. Paul's-cross, and, for the time, was so far compelled, by fear and bad advisers, as to abjure what he had said, rather than burn, though he was burned, as you have been told, sixteen years afterward. Shall we try and fancy St. Paul's and its neighbournood at the era of the Reformation ? We must shut our eyes, and bid the present mighty dome vanish away. There is a Gothic cathedral in its place, whose bold and elegant spire seems to pierce the sky. It is worthily called " a famous building," and arose in the middle of the twelfth century, over the ruins of a still older church, which had been burned in the first year of King Stephen, at a time when boys stole apples out of the orchards in Paternoster row and Ivy-lane. This original church had been built, by Ethelbert, in 610, again on the ruins of a temple raised to Diana in the time of the Romans, whose funeral urns have been found in the churchyard ; so that we seem scarcely able to go back to the time when there was not a temple raised for worship, pagan or Christian, on this spot. The St. Paul's of the Reformation looked down, as now, from the top of Ludgate-hill, upon the smaller churches, and on the rich convents within the city's bounds, — on St. Bartholomew's^ OLD ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. 16J Old St. Paul's Cathedral. in Smitlifield ; on the Gray -friars, in Newgate-street; on the Black- friars, the White-friars, the Austin-friars, and the Crutehed-friars, from whose monasteries issued the men in sad-coloured robes, who might be seen in every street mingling with the gayer multitude. People were accustomed in those days to meet in St. Paul's cathedral to transact their business. The sergeant-at-law, in his scarlet robe, white furred hood and coif on his head, gave his advices to his clients there. Each sergeant had his pillar in St. Paul's, and made his notes upon his knee ; and the old church was often the scen-e of most riotous conflict. This it also was when Bishop Courtenay had cited Wiclif to defend himself in this cathedral, which was densely crowded by the people. Lord Percy and John of Gaunt could scarcely secure- an avenue of entrance for the reformer : these were his avowed friends, and Courtenay began to quarrel with them. Wiclif was a silent spectator, John of Gaunt claiming for him a seat, Courte- nay saying he should not sit there, — '^each party so excelling,'* says the quaint old John Foxe, " in bawling and railing, threatcD 162 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. ing and menacing, that, witliout doing any thing, the council was broken up before nine of the clock. '^ We must show you another scene in St. Paul's. On Sunday, the 11th of February, 1526, there was to be seen, Fisher, bishop of Rochester, in the pulpit, set to preach against Luther and Dr. Barnes; and there sat Wolsey, in all his glory, on a scaffold at the top of the stairs, among abbots and priors and mitred bishops in gowns of satin and damask, and Wolsey in his robes of purple, with his golden shoes and scarlet gloves — all beneath a canopy of cloth of gold. Before the pulpit, within the rails, stood great baskets full of books — the books gathered up from the search in London, Ox- ford, and Cambridge — ready to be burnt in the great fire before the crucifix, at the north gate of St. Paul's. After the sermon, the heretics were to go three times round the blazing fire, with a fagot on their backs, and were to cast in the books. Thus Testament after Testament was consumed, angels and men looking on at the deed, Burnet,, the historian, says : ^^ This burning had a hateful appearance in it ; and the people thence concluded that their church and those books taught different things, whereby their desire of reading the New Testa- ment was increased." This was a day to which Wolsey had looked forward for three years. The preacher, Fisher, announced to the people how many days of pardon and indulgence were accorded to all those who were present at that sermon, and afterward the cardinal and all the bishops went home to dinner. Yet, on that very spot where stood the celebrated Paul's-cross, on the north side of the cathedral, is situated at this moment the Depository of the Religious Tract Society, whence, after an in- terval of somewhat more than 300 years, the writings of Wiclif, Tyndal, and Luther, with many others to which they have given birth, go forth throughout all the world. Half a centuiy since, that society could only afford to rent one side of a shop, and on the other side were sold china and earthenware ; but, by degrees, the '^ little one has become a OLD ST. Paul's cross. 163 thousand," under the Divine blessing ; and you who have seen, or may see, its fine premises, at 65 St. Paul's-churchyard, in- clusive of eight houses once occupied by the monks of St. Paul's, may call up in your minds this picture of Wolsey in ermine and purple, once dooming the Scriptures and Tracts to the flames, where, in this Jubilee Year of the Bible Society, the Primate of all England has considered it Ids privilege to advocate the " sowing beside all waters" of the seed of Divine truth. From the cathedral pulpit of England's capital city, he has borne his testimony that " God's word is truth," and fitted to the dis- persion of all " vain traditions," and has not hesitated to say of those who devised a scheme for its general circulation, that ^' it was well that it was in their heart," and that their exertions have his heartiest sympathy. May the word from his lips have free course and prevail I* On the 4th of May, 1530, another scene of burning Bibles also took place under Wolsey' s eye. He had begun to burn Luther's books, at Paul's-cross, in 1521. Three burnings, there- fore, were witnessed on this spot, which has been well called '^ the Thermopylae of the Reformation." But the people still went on reading the words of life. Here the reformers preached Christ and his gospel. Multitudes ga- thered round the rude old rostrum, in seats or standing, while even the king and his court, the lord mayor and dignified citi- zens, had their covered galleries, in which to listen. When it was stormy, the crowd sheltered under what were called the Ehrouds of the cathedral. The churchyard was then much larger than at present. It was bounded by a wall which ran along Ave-Maria-lane, Carter- lane, and Creed-lane. Within was a spacious grass-plot, and on the north side of the church stood the famous cross, " built to put passengers in mind to pray for the souls of the people inter- * See the Archbishop of Canterbury's sermon at St. Paul's on the occasiou af the Jubilee of the British and Foreign Bible Society. 164 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. red in that clmrch-yard/^* This cross was destroyed, in 1643^ in consequence of a vote of I'arliament. To return to the last days of Tyndal. He was made aware, in some way, of the storm that was raging in England, and went on the more earnestly with his translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew. He was now favoured with the company and assistance of his dear Chiistian friend, John Fryth, who was to him what Timothy was to Paul of old. They were settled at Antwerp, and Tyndal was chaplain to the English merchants there ; yet his abode was a hidden, and probably a changing one, on account of his enemies. One to whom we are all so deeply indebted was living in painful and perilous hiding-places, afflicted with cold, hunger, and every privation, in addition to the hinder- ances continually thrown in his way, to the prosecution of his work. Yet a heavenly atmosphere so appeared to surround him, that the messengers sent by King Henry YIII. to entrap and bring him to England, could not talk with him, without being ready to be converted to his sentiments. When the last successful plot against his life was laid, the persons who executed it were obliged to bring with them officers from Brussels, for they could not trust those at Antwerp, where Tyndal was so much beloved. He was not aware of his betrayers, and was thrown into prison at Vilvoord, a village near Brussels, where he remained two years, and whence he wrote his beautiful letters to his friend Fryth, who was martyred in Smithfield. Part of his work also in the prison was that edition of the New Testament which he had promised to give to the ploughboys of Gloucestershire. It was on Friday, the 6th day of October, in the year 1536, that Tyndal was led forth to be put to death. He was fastened to the stake, crying out with a loud voice, '' Lord, open the King of England's eyes !" and was then immediately strangled, and his body consumed to ashes. Mr. Offer says, that he appears to have beei sacrificed in spite of the most earnest efforts of all the friends of truth and liberty. *Peiiant's "London." wolsey's greatness and degradation. 165 Let us contrast for a moment the death of Wolsey, six years before that of Tyndal, on the 29th of November, 1530 : he ex- pired witli the language of a persecutor on his lips. After the well-known words, ^' Had I but served God as diligently as I have served my king, He would not have given me over in my gray hairs," he said, '^ Commend me to his royal majesty, and request him, in God's name, that he be on the watch to depress this new sect of Lutherans, from whose mischief God in his mercy defend us !" And with these words, his eyes being set in his head, his sight failed him, and his spirit passed into anothei world, to give account of the things he had done in this. He had indeed been clothed in purple and scarlet, he had had the highest nobles for his household servants, his steward and treasurer had waited on him in white robes, and his master-cook in damask satin, as they did in kings' palaces. He had been for twenty years the favourite of all the princes in Europe ; but he died in disgrace, in Leicester Abbey, and his very tomb there is unknown. In 1787, as a labourer was digging potatoes upon the spot where the high altar of this abbey is supposed to have stood, he found a human skull, with the bones all perfect : it was conjectured at the time that this might be the skull of Wolsey; — of Wolsey ! — who burned the Bible ! It is a fact to be noticed, that he thus died in disgrace, in the year 1530, the year of its third and great burning at Paul's Cross.* The dying voice of the martyr Tyndal had scarcely been ut- tered, before his prayer was answered, and the eyes of the King of England were opened so far, that he ordered that the Bible should be placed in every church, for the free use of the people : but his caprice did not allow this permission to last long. * See " London in the Olden Times." 166 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. The scene depicted in the Frontispiece^ of this Jubilee Book took place in the crypt of St. Paul's churchy four j'^ears after Tyndal's death. The Bible chained to a pillar is very large. It was called the '' Great Bible/^ and was a revisal of Tyndal's translation, made by Coverdale, and printed at Paris. The reader's name is Porter : he was chosen as reader, because he could read well and had an audible voice. So many listened to him, that he was brought before Bonner, and accused of making tumults. Bonner sent him to Newgate, where, for teaching his fellow-prisoners what he had learned in the Scripture, he was laid in the lower dungeon of all, fastened by his neck to the wall, and was so oppressed with bolts and irons, that in eight days, this tall, strong, young man was found dead. The most conspicuous among the listeners in the picture is Humphrey Monmouth, Tyndal's friend, of whom we have pre- viously spoken. Behind him is seated Ann Askew, her head leaning on her hand ; her child in her servant's arms is by her side. She had been turned out of doors by her husband, a furious zealot of the " Old Learning/' for studying the Scriptures. She was a beautiful and an educated woman, and her history is most touching. You see she is here listening earnestly to the reading of the Book for which she suifered martyrdom. Six years afterward, she was called before Bonner, who exa- mined her for five hours, and then, without judge or jury, told her she should be burnt. " I have searched all the Scriptures,'^ said she, ^^ yet could I never find that either Christ or his apostles put any creature to death.'' Before this hasty condemnation, she had been nearly starved in the prison, where she was kept for eleven days, what suste- nance she got, being, as she says, " through means of her maid, * This beautiful picture was painted by George Harvey, R. S. A., and has Deen exquisitely engraved by llobert Graves, A. R. A. It has been reduced oy that pnnco of engravers, the Sun, through the wonderful art of Photography. MARTYRDOM OF ANN ASKEW. 167 who, as she went along the streets Tvith the child^ made moan to the prentices, and they by her did send money; but who they were I never knew/' Then, strange to say, after the passing of this sentence, with Tinheard-of cruelty she was racked, to make her discover other persons of her sect. You shall have the history of her sufferings from her own lips. *' Then they did put me on the rack, because I confessed no ladies or gentlemen to be of my opinion, and thereon they kept me for a long time ; and because I lay still and did not cry, my Lord Chancellor Wriothesley and Mr. Kich took pains to rack me with their own hands till I was wellnigh dead; then the lieutenant. Sir Anthony Knevett, caused me to be loosed, and I swooned, and then they recovered me again. After that, I sat tiuo long hours, reasoning with my lord chancellor, on the bare floor, where he with many flattering words persuaded me to alter my opinion ; then was I brought to a house and laid on a bed, with as weary and painful bones as ever had patient Job.'' Three days afterward this tragedy came to an end. The burning, like those of Nero, was deferred till nightfall. Then was Smithfield bright with torchlight. On a bench elevated above the crowd sat that man Wriothesley and his grace of Nor- folk (who, in the picture, is standing resting on his sword, be- hind Ann Askew's chair,) and beside them sat Bowes, the lord mayor. To the spot, Ann (her bones being all dislocated) required to be carried in a chair, and there she was joined on the gloomy pile by three fellow-sufferers, — the last group of martyrs in the reign of Henry YIII., the miscalled father of our Keformation. Wriothesley then presented to jinn the king's pardon, if she would recant. "I came not hither,'' said she, '' to deny my Lord and Master." Then were the flames kindled, and the spirits of the martyrs ascended to heaven ! 168 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. [The other three martyrs are, in the picture, standing near the Duke of Norfolk. John Adams, the first, is leaning with his back to the j^illar ; John Lascelles, the second, and one of the king's household, is earnestly listening to the reading of Por- ter ; and Belenians, the third, is a little behind Adams. Behind Ann Askew's chair stands the wife of a London citizen, apparently listening with deep attention. An aged man is led in, leaning on the arm of his daughter, whose little boy bears a chair for his grandfather. A blind beggar, in the foreground, has also crept in to hear the reading. On the right, in the shadowy part of the picture, Bonner is the most conspicuous, accompanied by his archdeacon, and Drs. Hugh Weston and Storey. The bishop looks vexed at this pub- lic reading, and a monk near him aids him in the resolve to put it down. On the left, wearing a long beard, is Gardiner, bishop of Win- chester, and Lord Cromwell, who had promoted this reading ; beside them stand Miles Coverdale and Ptichard Grrafton.] Luther. While this was passing in England, there had been born in an obscure village in Saxony, a re- markable man, named Martin Luther. He was born November 10th, 1483, about 100 years after the death of Wiclil. It is not necessary for us to enter into the detail of Jus history, for the simple reason that it is already so well known. Who has not heard of Martin Lu- ther ? the child brought MAJEITIN LUTHER. . 169 ap in poverty and hardship, singing Christmas carols for a morsel sf bread, afterward the studious young monk in the library of Erfurth monastery, poring over the Latin Bible, then newly printed, and " finding there much more than he had ever seen in his missal/' and still, years after, resorting to the chained Bible m the church of his convent, and, while he learned portions of it by heart, resolving that he would unchain it for the world. If you do not know the history of this great German reformer, you must seek to know it. The whole reading-time of your future lives might be well occupied in filling up this mere outline of the Story of the Book, which cannot even name the names, much less give definite sketches of the lives, of all the men of the Book. It is enough to tell you now, that Luther was raised up by God, on the continent of Europe, in the sixteenth century, to struggle manfully with that great Roman system, of which you have so long been reading. He was a man of mighty mind, and of much prayer, who cast off gradually the worst superstitions ot his order, and at last, as has been beautifully said, by the author of '' Universal History on Scriptural Principles,'' rushed like a torrent from the mountains, through the channels of the water-courses of the Divine word, (stopped up for ages by Satan and foolish men,) and, carried away with his force those blocks and barriers, so that, ever since, that word has had free course, and prevailed." This was a mighty deed for mortal man ! It was not accom- plished in his own strength. We again advise you to see how he performed it, during his life of sixty-three years. Notwithstanding all his aggressions on the papacy, (for he even burned its bulls, or decrees,) he died in peace in his native town, in 1546, the year of the martyrdom of Ann Askew. With regard to the 300 years which have elapsed since this memorable era, they will come into review, more or less, in the history of the Bible and the Bible Souiety for the last fifty years. 15 170 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. The newly Reformed Cliurch in all lands, with its printed Bible in its hand, had its many martyrs. It also needed to be purified by suffering ; but " tbe king who cast into prison, or gave to tbe flames, men like Hitton, Bennet, Patmore, Bayfield, Bilney, and Fryth, should never have been called ^ the father of the Reformation in England.' He was its executioner." And he was worthy to be the father of a queen like Mary, who thought to quench in blood, once more, the dawning light of Divine truth. But it was unquenchable. Between the years 1380 and 1804, that is, between Wiclif s first English version of the Scriptures, in manuscript, and the establishment of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Scriptures were not only translated but printed in the ancient languages which were the roots of all the others : 1. In Latin, printed at Mayence, in 1462. 2. In Hebrew, printed at Brescia, in 1488. 3. In Greek, the New Testament of Erasmus, in 1516. 4. In Syriac, the Peshito version, in 1552. These were chiefly combined in Polyglot Bibles for the learned. The whole Bible was also printed, in the following European versions : 1. Bohemian, by the United Brethren, in 1488. 2. Belgic, or Flemish, in 1518. 3. French, by Le Fevre, in 1530. 4. German, by Luther, in 1530. - 5. English, by Tyndal and Coverdale, in 1535. 6. Swedish, by Laurentius, in 1541. 7. Danish, ordered by King Christian III., in 1550. 8. Polish, or Old Cracow Bible, in 1561. 9. Spanish, by De Reyna, in 1569. 10. Sclavonic, ordered by the Duke of Ostrog, in 1581. 11. Carniolan, by Dalmatin, m i584. 12. Icelandic, or Norse, in 1584. 13. Welsh, by Dr. Morgan, in 1588. 14. Hungarian, by Pastor Caroli, in 1589. 15. Dutch, in the year of the plague at Leyden, in 1637. VERSIONS PREVIOUS 10 1804. 171 16. Italian, bj Diodati, in 1611. 17. Wallachian, or Moldavian, in 1668. 18. Komanese, in 1679. 19. Irish, by Bishop Bedell, in 1686. 20. Livonian, or Lettish, by Ernest Grluck, in 1689. 21. Esthonian, by Fisher, in 1689. 22. Gaelic, in Roman characters, in 1690. 23. Wendish, or Lusatian, by four Lutheran pastors, in 1728. 24. Leval-Esthonian, at the expense of Count Zinzendorf, in 1739. 25. Portuguese, in 1571. 26. Manks, for the Isle of Man, by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, in 1767. The New Testament or parts of the Scriptures had also been translated or printed in — 27. Servian, in 1493 ; 28. Russian, by Skorina, in 1525 ; 29. Finnish, by the Bishop of Abo, in 1548; 30. Judeo-Spanish, in 1553 ; 31. French Basque, at the expense of the Queen of Navarre, in 1571; 32. Lapponese, in 1755. Comprising thirty-two versions for Europe, in the common tongue, and four for the learned world. The New Testament had been printed— FOR AFRICA. 1. In Coptic, in 1716. 2. In Sahidic, (one-third of the New Testament,) in 1799. FOR AMERICA. 1. In New England Indian, (the whole Bible,) by Eliot, in 1663 , 2. For the Mohawks, (a small portion,) in 1769. 3. For Greenland, (the New Testament,) by Hans Egede and Fabricius, in 1799. 172 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY FOR ASIA. 1 la Turkish-Tartar, by an Englishman, in 1666 2. Karaite-Tartar, date unknown. 3. In Arabic, (whole Bible,) in 1700. 4. In Tamil, by Schultze, in 1724. 5. In Malayan, (whole Bible,) by Leidekker, in 1733. 6. In Cingalese, (the four Gospels,) in 1739. 7. In Calmuc, (various portions,) in 1750. 8. In Hindustani, by Schultze, in 1758. 9. In Bengalee, in 1801. In ancient languages ... 4 For Europe 32 For Africa .... 2 For America ..... 3 For Asia ..... 9 Total . . 50 — completing the number of fifty difi'erent languages, in which the Archbishop of Canterbury said, in his sermon at St. Paul, " the society at its establishment found existing versions." We thought 3^ou would like to know what these versions were, and have abstracted the list of them for you, from that most valuable work of Messrs. Bagster and Sons, " The Bible of Every Land,'' in which may be found a mass of that kind of information, con- cerning the spread of God's word, which even " the angels might desire to look into," and which has never, in one view, been pre- sented to the world before. This list may possibly seem to you to contain mere names of books and men, but to those who could cast the eye of their minds over the most interesting histories which hang upon each line of it, it would appear, as it is, a record which will assuredly ;-e thought worthy of remembrance even in the world to come. Some of the versions have been already noticed. The Dutch, at Leyden, was the work of twenty-eight translators, who always met and entered upon their task with prayer. Six hours were VERSTONS PREVIOUS TO 1804. 173 daily devoted to it, while the plague was raging round them. Not one was attacked by the disease, yet not one long survived the completion of the sacred volume. They were all men of great learning, and many declared that they had never before laboured as they did at the translation of the Bible. In Turkish-Tar tary, the missionaries while at work had to con- tend with all the inclemency of the weather ; and often, from the incursions of the robbers, were obliged to bury their types. The meetings for the translation of the Malayan version were always begun with prayer and concluded with thanksgiving, and every difference of opinion reconsidered in solitude, with the greatest care. The history of the Tamil version is extremely interesting. This language is spoken in Southern India, by more than six millions of people. It was begun by the Danish missionary, Ziegenbalg, who died at thirty-six, in the midst of his earnest labours ; also by the indefatigable Schultze, a missionary from the Society in Engird for Promoting Christian Knowledge. He devoted to this translation six hours a day, amid the heats of India ; and the result of the first distribution of that Bible was such, that when the Bible Society arose, the ten or twelve thou- sand Protestant Christians were clamorous for more, saying to Dr. Buchanan, " We do not want bread or money from you, but we want the word of God.''^ Then the New England Indian, translated by the English mis- sionary, John Eliot, who had first, with the assistance of the native Mohicans, to create the language, without any aid from books, and executed a translation of the entire Scriptures ! " The secret of his success is made known in a few lines which are inscribed at the close of his ' Grammar of the New England Language,' published in 1666 — 'Prayers and pains, through faith in Christ Jesus, will accomplish any thing.' " But although, when the Society was first established, the trans- lations of the Bible, in whole or in part, may have been about fifty, and it was considered that ahout four millions of Bibles had been circulated in the world since the invention of printing, you 15* 174 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. must consider what is meant by the words "four millions." Think first of a hundred Bibles ; then of ten hundred, or a thou- Band ; then of a thousand thousand ; then of four times that. It seems a great many. It takes a very long while to count a mil- lion, straight forward. But then you have also to think of the number of people in the world, — not four thousand thousand, but ten hundred thousand thousand ! And what are 4 to 1000 ? These four millions of Bibles were in circulation from various sources. Many persons had bought them of booksellers. There were some societies, both in England and in foreign countries, which arose in the eighteenth century, among the separate sec- tions of the Christian Church, having in view missions to the heathen and the local diffusion of the word of God, and their efforts, made separately from each other, had done much. It now remained for their united efforts to do more ; and the only object in which they coidd all unite was, the circulation through- out the world of the sacred Book, without note or comment. How this idea of union for that word's sake arose, and how it prospered and has received the blessing of God, is the Story that remains to be told, and we hope you wish to hear it. We shall sum up what we have already set before you nearly in the words of Dr. Gaussen, of Geneva ; for they contain a re- view of our whole narrative. When one thinks that the Bible has been copied during thirty centuries, as no book of man ever was, or ever will be, that it was subjected to all the wandering experience of Israel, that it was transported seventy years to Babylon, that it had seen itself so often persecuted, or forgotten, or forbidden, or burned, — when one thinks that it has had to traverse the first three centuries of pagan persecutions, when persons found in possession of the holy books were thrown to the wild beasts, — next the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, when false books and false legends were everywhere multiplied, — the tenth and eleventh centuries, when m few could read even among princes, — the twelfth, thirteenth, PRESERVATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 175 md fourteenth centuries, when the use of the Scriptures in the v^ulgar tongue was punished with death, and when the books of cne ancient fathers were mutilated, — tJieii we can perceive how certain it is that, on the one hand, the providence of God has put forth its mighty power, causing the Church of the Jews to give us, in its integrity, the very book which records its revolts, which predicts its ruin, which describes Jesus Christ; — and, on the other hand, that that same providence has caused the Roman Church (which in particular forbade its people to read the sacred books, and gave them in the stead of the word of God the tra- ditions of the middle ages) to transmit to us, in all their purity, those very Scriptures, which say that Rome would be the seat of a terrible apostasy, which say of images, ^'Thou shalt not make or bow down to them;" of unknown tongues, "Thou shalt not use them ;" of the cup, " Drink ye all of it ;'' of marriage, "It is honourable in all;'^ and of the Virgin Mary, " Woman^ what have I to do with thee V ^' Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matt. xxiv. 35. " The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our Grod shall stand for ever." Isa, xl. 8. ^t fml nnn iU $teg. PART 11. THE BIBLE SOCIETY'S HOUSE. THE PRINTING Am) BrNDING OF THE BIBLE. CHAPTER I. The Bible House — Its Library — Wiclif's Testament — Tyndal's Bible— Cover- dale's Bible — The Geneva Bible — The Bishop's Bible — Authorized Version — Welsh Bible — European Languages — Swedish Bible — Polyglots — Dutch Bi- ble— Luther's Bible — Bohemian Bible — Eastern Languages — Persian Testa- ment— Pali, Hinduwee, Bengalee, etc. — Separate Translations of the Bible into Chinese — The Lord's Prayer in all Languages — The Douay Version — The Society^s departed Friends — The Manuscript Library — The Breton Bi- ble— Wales and Britanny — Syrian, Persian, Chinese, Ethiopic, and Amharie Manuscripts — The Amharie Bible — Mr. Jowett's Account of it — How the So- ciety obtains its Translations — Their Ptevisioa — The General Committee Room — The Case of Bibles — The Bible for the Blind — The Sub-committee Room — Portraits — The Bible Warehouse. We have now given you the history of what are called " the manuscript ages of the Bible/' when it could only be written out with great labour, and much cost; and we have alluded to the years in which it was first multiplied by printing, but not in any measure adequately to the wants of the world. You have, therefore, it is probable, some desire to hear all you san about the House of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in Earl-street, London, built within the precincts of the old monas- tery of the Black-friars, — the spot from which the word of God now goes out to all the earth. Do you think, as we did, that there are warehouses and work- shops, somewhere in the back premises of this Bible House, where they print all their own books, and bind them before they send them away, at the rate of many thousands a week, all over the world, and all the year round? Well, then, this was a mis- take ; for the Bible House itself consists only of warehouses for its Bibles, offices for its depositary and accountant, rooms for its committees and secretaries, and a library of the various editions of the Holy Scriptures, and works relating to the numerous trans* latious. 179 180 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. THE LIBRARY Contains some curious literary treasures. You would find tiiere at least one copy of the Scriptures in every language in which they have been printed, and in many cases several editions of each. Here is Wiclif s New Testament, printed in 1810, — i26 years after his death. The spelling is very different from that which we now use. The following is a specimen ; John i. 1-5 : — 1 IN the bigynnynge was the word and the word was at god, and god wa« the word, 2 this was in the bigynnynge at god, 3 alle thingis weren made bi hym: and withouten hym was made no thing, that thing that was made 4 in him was liif, and the liif was the lijt of men, 5 and the ligt schyneth in derk- nessis; and derknessis comprehendiden not it. You may also see Tyndal's Bible in black letter, of which the following is a specimen; John i. 1-5: — ^ $i^ tije ictjinnpnge teas tf)e bjortic, anti tije boitie h)as hjfti) ©0^: antf tljc toorte bas (^otr. ^ Ci)e same toas in ti)t brginngnge \nitf) (!roti. ^ Ell tfjingcs toere maht tjg it, 'anti toitij out it, teas matie nott)inge, tf)at bjas matie. * In it teas Igfr, antj ti)e Ipfe teas tje Iggjt of men, ^ antJ tje IJiOit sftgnettj in tf)e tiarcfenes, but tje ^arcltnes compeer f}tnhtti it not. This is the version which our forefathers welcomed so warmly, and for which they suffered so much, — the New Testament which Anthony Dalaber '^read on his knees, with many a deep sigh and salt tear.'' The date of this is 1524. Then there is Coverdale's Bible, printed in 1535, dedicated to Henry VIII. This is the version of which it was said, hj that capricious king, "Let it go abroad among my people," — ''the Boke of the whole Bible in English,'' which was laid in the choir of every church ''for every man that willed to look and read thereon," — not that Henry continued his permission to the end of his own reign, for the clergy persuaded him that the people made a ba(j use of it. By another act which he passed, he for- GENEVA AND BISHOP's VERSIONS. 181 bade the lower classes to read it, but allowed it as an indulgence to "noblimen, gentlemen, and ladies of quality, in their houses, orchards, and gardens, quietly; and to read it to themselves alone, not to others." Still, from 1526 to 1546, when Henry VIII. died, a period of twenty years, thirty-one impressions of the Bible or New Testament issued from the press, besides several editions of separate books of Scripture. In his son Edward YI.'s short reign of seven years, the word of God was read with greediness, and every one that could read bought the Book, and busily read it, or heard it read, — many elderly persons learning to read on purpose. Eleven editions of the Bible and seven of the New Testament were* published in Edward's reign. Then, as we know, in the reign of Mary, the Bible was once more banished from the churches, and its friends exiled or brought to the stake. Many of these exiles, however, took refuge in Geneva, and thence, after Mary's death, came the English Geneva Bible, which was but a revision of Tyndal's version, executed after his immortal work had been diligently compared with the Hebrew and Greek texts. This whole Bible was published at Geneva, in 156, the second year of Elizabeth's reign. This was the Bible most generally used in private houses, and was the first English Bible divided into verses. •In this library may be seen the ^^ Bishops' Bible," a folio book, one of the two new translations published in the reign of Eliza- beth, under the superintendence of Archbishop Parker, who em- ployed in the work eight bishops, and six other persons, himself revising the whole, — a work that occupied three years. It was published in 1568, and when finished, the archbishop said, with good old Simeon, ''Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy sal vation." The copy of this Bible, belonging to the Bible Society, is much worm-eaten, but has been preserved by a new binding, in the style of the olden time. Then, of course, there is the Authorized English version, made IG 182 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. in the reign of King James, — the only one •v'^liich the Britisli and Foreign Bible Society has ever circulated : all others it keeps as curiosities in its library, as well as for tbe purpose of comparison and reference. This version was compiled from all previous" translations collated with the original versions, by fortj^-seven of the most eminent scholars of that time, and the basis of tbe ver- sion was still Tyndal's. It was published in 1611, and continues to be our Bible to the present day. Here also you will find the first Welsh Bible ever printed — the version of Dr. Morgan, afterward bishop of St. Asaph. It was printed in 1588, and is in black letter. Here is a specimen; John i. 1-5 :-^ a ?§iBtt oetrtr m fi trechrcuatr flj)tr a Bute. zi ru iunael* iJim a'r a tonacthptuBti* 4 ^ntitro zi fir octrti tigtogtr, ivx tJgtogi oetrti olcunt tJgnion. 0 ^^r QolcunC a IctjgrtiiotJtr gn g tgtDgUtucft, a^r tgtuglltocii nftr oetiH gn ^i amflgffutr. But now, you must look round on the cases of Bibles in all the various European languages. Among them you will see an old Swedish Bible, which is a remarkable cui'iosity in binding. A picture has been painted on the edges of the leaves, which you cannot see when the book is closed, but one cover being thrown back, and the leaves slightly separated, you perceive an antique picture of " Christian'^ on his journey up the strait and narrow way to the heavenly city. Not far off, is a case of " Polyglots," a word which signifies the Bible printed in many languages at once, in separate columns; for instance, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, very necessary for learned persons t3 compare. If you were making a fresh translation of the Bibb, you would find it convenient to consult a Polyglot. These bo^ks, as you may imagine, are large. Here GERMAN VERSION. 183 is a Bible in Dutch^ weigliing forty pounds, with its brazen clasps, and cover of solid wood, " bound in boards/' wbicb did not mean pasteboards in the days when that was printed — a great contrast to the pocket Bibles of the present times, weighing only eight or nine ounces, and to the tiny edition of the book of Psalms in shorthand, found in this library. Would you like to see Luther's German Bible ? The follow ing is a specimen j John i. 1-5 : — 3m Stnfang mar ba^ SBort, unb ba^ SBort toax k^ ®ott, unb ©ott tvav 'i^av 2Bort. • 2 DafCelbige n?ar im Slnfaitg be^ ©Dtt» 3 2(lle Dinge finb buvd) baffelMge gemac^t, unb o^ne bajJetBigc tjl ni^tk? gemad)t, \va^ Qtmad)t x]t 4 ^n ii)m ivax ba^ Seben, unb bau SeBen toax ba^ 2tc§t ber 9}?enfc^ett. 5 Unb ba^ $?tc^t fc^einet in ber ^tnfternig, unb bie ^inflerniffc ^ahm eiJ nid)t Begrijfen* Here is his Testament of 1524, and the whole Bible of 1567. He was the man " ordained to present his nation with the written word." He was shut up on purpose to do it, in the solitary old castle of the Wartburg, where the narrow windows of his turret looked out on " dark, untrodden, boundless forests," and here he sat down to his Hebrew and Greek Bibles, as he would never have been able to do in thi? city of Wittenberg, to fashion that weapon of heavenly temper — the Scripture — in the tongue of the common people, without which all his battles against the corrup- tions of the Church of Rome would have been in vain. He brought forth from his seclusion a deeper faith in God's toord than ever, and with it, as the " sword of the Spirit," he cut asunder the bonds of Christendom. This version was, how- ever, before it went forth among the families of Germany, revised most diligently by Luther and his learned friends. They were known sometimes to return for fourteen days to the reconsidera- tion of a single line, and even a word. Melancthon assisted it. this revision. Luther's own cojpy of the editi(in of 1541 is now • deposited in the British Museum. 184 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Here is the version of the Bible for Bohemia — that important section of Austria, which will make you think of the poor, perse- cuted Bohemian Christians. They were the very first people who turned to account the art of printing for the more general distribution of the Scriptures, A. D. 1488. This fact is stated in a letter recently addressed by the Bev. P. La Trobe to the com- mittee of the Bible Society, enclosing one hundred pounds as a Jubilee offering from the Brethren's Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel. The Bohemian version in this library is dated 1596. The following is a. specimen; John i. 1-5 : — 91a |jocat!u tpPo Sl'oa^o, a to ©romo Bi^Po i) So^^a, a to ©Poivo lX)V '^ui). ^ So bpPo na |)ocatfu v> 33o()a. ^ Bffetf^ mec9 flrje ne ijcinen^ fau, a Bej ne^o nic ncn| ijcineno, C03 ticineno gejl. * 2B ncm gin^ot lX)V, a jiivot IxjV [wctPo Iit»i» ^ U to ftvetro w temno* fted) fmjti, ale tm^ ge ncobfa^Pp* On another side of the room are versions of Scripture in the Asiatic languages, the tongues of the sons of Shem. This is the Persian Testament translated by that beloved mis- sionary, the Rev. Henry Martyn, published by the Bible Society in 1827, also in 1837, and in 1847 ] John i. 1-5 :— A recent traveller, Mr. Southgate, declares that he found copies of this version in every city in Persia through which he passed. Ah ! how this result would have cheered the heart of that ^ man of God,'' as, feeble and lonely, in the garden beneath the walls of Shiraz, he sacrificed his life to his determination to •dccomplish the translation of this Testament ! How interesting THE PALI VERSION. 185 'is the liistory of the conversion of the Persian MoUah Mahomet Ramah, from the gift of this New Testament ! We will give it you, in his own words : "There came to Persia, an Englishman, who taught the religion of Christ, with a boldness we had never Been, in the midst of much scorn and ill-treatment from the rab- ble. He was young, and feeble with disease. I was then a decided enemy to infidels, and I, too, visited this teacher to treat him with scorn and contempt. These evil feelings left me be- neath the influence of his gentleness ; and before I quitted Shiraz, I paid him a parting visit. The memory of our conversation will never fade from mj mind : it sealed my conversion. He gave me a book ; it has ever been my constant companion — the study of it my most delightful occupation. On one of the blank leaves was written, ' There is joy in heaven over one sinner that re- penteth, (signed) Henry 3Iartyn.'" This is the Pali version, the language of the Buddhists of India ; John i. 1, 2 :— SQO:?i S9nc^r^-.-S^^^^-^^-. ^J2 00G^0ro00S^')X)O3G3C)cX}eC0XTOMGt?Gq C&)CO(o)03QOOODGG61oo One of the Buddhist priests became a sincere convert while translating it, and finished and revised the work after the sudden death of his teacher, Mr. Tolfrey. The great translators for the continent of India have been Dr. Carey, Dr. Marshman, and the Kev. W. Ward, Baptist missionaries at Serampore. They reached India in 1793 ; and in 1806 they were engaged in printing or translating the Scriptures in six languages. In 1819, they were printing the word of God in twenty-seven languages. This great and glorious work was carried on chiefly at the expense of tne Bible Society. The result of these vast labours in India, as of the Chinese Scriptures in China, is yet to be seen in full ; but it IS beginni ig to appear. The whole arose from the quiet propo- sition of one man, who was then obtaining a livelihood by the labour of hie hands, to an a.>sociation of ministers, " whether in 186 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. was not a practicable duty to attempt tlie conversion of the heathen." This man, Mr., afterward Dr. Carey, had been teach- ing himself a language as he sat at his work. God was prepar- ing him to become the first of oriental scholars, for the sake of his word. The first collection, in 1793, for this magnificent object, among the Baptists, amounted to 13Z. 2s. Qd., but since then the British and Foreign Bible Society have afforded assist- tance to Dr. Carey and his associates, and to the various Bible Societies of India, to the amount of more than two hundred thousand pounds ! Two or three days before the death of Dr. Carey, in 1834, he was carried down stairs in a state of extreme exhaustion ; and the Rev. G. Gogerley, then a missionary in Bengal, and his inti- mate friend, tells us, that the last revised sheets of the last lan- guage into which he had translated the Scriptures, lay upon the table. His work was done, and he was ready to depart. He had laboured in India for forty years, and had given to her the word of God, in whole or in part, in about thirty difierent languages. His simple faith in the Lord Jesus, and his deep humility in that last hour, were very beautiful. Here is the Chinese Bible, — the book that may soon, we hope, be read by 360 millions of people, who are almost all still igno- rant of. its message. Two difierent translations were made about thirty years ago. Dr. Marshman, with the help of other mis- Bionaries, and of Johannes Lassar, a native of China, made a translation, and printed it, for the Bible Society, at Serampore, in 1822 : Dr. Morrison and Dr. Milne, who had laboured in China from the year 1807, completed their version about the same time, and the former presented a printed copy at the anni- versary of the Bible Society in London, in the year 1824. Each translation was good in its way, and they were made in- dependently of one another. Dr. Medhurst and other Protestant missionaries at present in China, have recently completed a re- vised edition, comprising both the Old and New Testaments. It is said that the Chinese Testament can now be printed in China for the small sum of fourpence ! THE DOUAY VERSION. 187 The library of the Bible House also contains a present from Councillor Auer, the Director of the Imperial printing office at Vienna, — a specimen of the Lord's Prayer written in every known language of the world, and in every dialect of the language, and in every age of the dialect. These large sheets give you a very comprehensive impression of earth's many tongues. You can read the Lord's Prayer in English, as it was written in the year 1160, in 1370, in 1430, in 1526, and so on, with slight variations, up to the year 1800, which is the last given. This collection is called the '^ Sprachenhalle,'' and was printed at the expense of the Emperor of Austria, under the superintendence of Councillor Auer. We will now look at the Douay Bible, which is also contained in this collection, for you may often hear it mentioned, and it is right that you should have a little history of this translation. The Douay version was made by the Romanists themselves ; for, as they found, " by the Bible being printed so often in Eng- lish, that it was impossible to keep it out of the hands of the common people," "they resolved to have an English translation of their own. The New Testament they first printed at Bheims, in 1582, ■^ translated out of Latin, with notes and necessary helps (as they say) for the better understanding of the text, and the discovery of the corruption of other translations." It is not, you perceive, the Bible without note or comment. The Old Testament was printed at Douay, in 1609. Fuller says of it, " It is a translation that had need to be translated ;" a great number of Greek words, such as azymes, pasche, etc., are left untranslated, which perplexes common readers; and the learned Fulke observes, " that it is not truly translated ; that the translators have always laboured to suppress the light of truth, under one pretence or another." The notes connected with this Douay version are considered by Protestants as even more inju- rious than the text itself, which has been frequently revised and reprinted to this day for circulation among Roman Catholics, and is somewhat more conformed than it was ^o our own Authorized 188 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. version, but it always contains the apocryplial books. We neea hardly add, that the Douay Bible is never circulated hy the Bible Society. If any persons possessing rare editions of the Scriptures wish to present them to this library, they may confer a benefit on the Society, and are sure to have their gifts carefully preserved. To those who have long known this Bible House, the library is hallowed ground, as having witnessed, from time to time, the presence of so many of its beloved friends and founders, now gathered to their rest. Of the latter, two only, and those near the end of their pilgrimage, have survived to witness its Jubilee, — Dr. Stcinkopff, and the venerable Yf m. Alers Hankey, Esq. The devotedness of those who first laboured in this noble cause was illustrated in the sentiment expressed by its first president, Lord Teignmouth, who, in his dying hours, said, "I would rather have been president of the Bible Society, than governor-general of India.^' This devotedness, it is evident, still animates those who are honourably employed in conducting the proceedings of the Society, — and never may it be wanting ! . » THE MANUSCRIPT AND DUPLICATE LIBRARY. Adjoining this interesting apartment (the library) is a lesser one, called the Manuscript Library, and here, in several locked and numbered cases, are contained the written versions in the possession of the Society, — some of them yet unprinted, and some the treasured originals from which the Bibles circulated by the Society have been printed. The Old Testament in the language of Lower Britanny is here. It is called the " Breton Bible." Britanny is a large country in the north-west of France, 800,000 of whose people speak or un- derstand a language very like Welsh. Those who live in the large towns can understand French, but nearly half a million of persons in the country villages can only speak the Breton lan- guage, in which, as yet, the Old Testament has never been printed. The manuscript vcsion in this library was made more than twentv VAKIOUS M^V^USCRIPT VERSIONS. 189 years ago, by Legonidec, a learned Breton, who alsc made one of the New Testament, which was printed in 1827. Though in many respects an excellent version, it is not an in- telligible one to the common people in general, and the Bibla Society in 1847 printed, and has since circulated, another version of the New Testament made by the Rev. J. Jenkins, missionary of the Baptist Missionary Society, labouring in that country ; and this version is found to be better understood. Let us hope that very soon this locked-up jewel, the Old Tes- tament, of Legonidec's translation, may be called for by the peo- ple of Britanny, revised, simplified, if need be, and distributed throughout the country. •"A "Welshman requires but little study to enable him- to con- verse, read, and wi'ite in the Breton language. It might please you to see the 1st verse of the 1st chapter of John in the Welsh and in the Breton tongues : — Welsh. — " Yn y dechreuad yr oedd y Gair, a'r Gair oedd gyd a Duw, a Duw oedd y Gair." Breton. — " Er gommansamant e oa ar Ger, hag ar Ger a gand Doue, hag ar Ger a oa Doue." It is said by those who have visited that country, that Britanny is the darkest part of France, and the most under the dominion of the priests of Rome. The priests read the liturgy in Latin; but in the country districts they preach in Breton. They do not favour the growth of the French language ; and Breton will yet probably long be spoken by the common people. Here is another treasure — a Bible in manuscript, once belong- ing to the Nestorian Christians, bearing the marks of water, fire, smoke, and hard usage. We cannot but look with great interest on the precious book' in its old manuscript form, — in the form which it took long years so carefully to transcribe, and which was then preserved in its pocket of thick leather, and slung to the shoulder of the pilgrim-missionary, and carried by him, perhaps, many hundred miles. Look at this anci(int Syrian Pentateuch, written on vellum. It 190 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. has been badly used before it came here ; its edges are stained with damp and mould. These beautiful characters, delicately emblazoned in red, and black, and gold, are Persian. And here is a copy of the Ethiopic Scriptures, in manuscript; the penmanship of which is most beautifully executed. Every page is guiltless of blot or erasure. Another Ethiopic manuscript, emblazoned with grim figures, has been presented to the Bible Society by that kindred institution, the Church Missionary Society. The Rev. William Jowett, in an admirable paper he has written for the Bible Society, concerning its Jubilee Year, tells some interesting particulars concerning the Amharic version to be sSen in this library. More than forty years ago, the French consul at Cairo, M. Asselin, met with a learned old Abyssinian, who had been the instructor of Bruce the traveller, and of Sir William Jones. M. Asselin, having saved this man's life, employed him afterward in trans- lating the Scriptures, book after book, from the ancient into the modern tongue of Abyssinia. You will remember that, into the ancient language, Gheez, they had been translated by Frumentius, A. D. 330. When finished, the work long remained on M. Asselin's hands. He offered it to the French King, to the Emperor of Russia, and to the Vatican library, in Rome ; but they all looked coolly upon it. Al last, in the year 1820, the Bible Society, having heard of this version from Mr. Jowett, who had resided in the East, asked him to return to Egypt and purchase it for tliem. He ascertained its accuracy by comparing the first, middle, and final verse of every chapter, — a process which occupied him eleven days : the purchase-money was 1250/. It was then revised by T. P. Piatt, Esq., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and printed, and is now distributed in Abyssinia. There are many instances recorded of the readiness with which ^he people there are now receiving the word of God. Mr. Gobat, the missionary, persuaded some of their own priests to distribute HOW TRANSLATIONS ARE OBTAINED. 191 it. He says, "'If I had had some thousands of New Testaments, I could have given them all away to eager readers. I know some instances where persons have given all their property to purchase a New Testament. One man gave two oxen for a copy of the four Gospels, and another gave four oxen for the same/^ Mr. Jowett also, tells us, with regard to the Turkish-Greek and Arabic versions, that remarkable and providential circumstances have prepared and placed these also in the hands of the Bible Society, — circumstances which the society could not have ordered for itself, — showing that the finger of God had prepared, in differ- ent parts of the world, the persons competent to translate the Scripture, (which is indeed no easy task,) and all m readiness for these times of its universal circulation. Do you wish to know the way in w:hich the Bible Society bas generally obtained its later translations ? It is in this manner : the missionaries who are sent to preach the gospel in heathen countries, make it their first care to learn the language of those countries, and to translate the Scriptures into it, if they do not already exist, — for the missionary is nothing without the Bible. The missionaries translate, and through the societies with which they are connected, they present the manuscript translation to the Bible Society, with a request that the same may be printed. If the translation be approved of, this is readily done, or else a grant of money is made to get the translation printed, at the missionary station, under the eye of the translator himself. The Bible Society not only bears the expense of printing, but in many cases the ex- pense of making the translations by different missionaries. It does not trust the excellence of the version, however, to the judgment of the missionaries only, but has its own editorial com- mittee and translating superintendent, who minutely inquire into, and report upon, every version. AVhen a second edition of any Bible is called for, the first edition is thoroughly revised, and re-revised, and so each version improves by degrees. Such men as the late T. P. Piatt, Esq., Mr. W. Greenfield, and the Bev. Joseph Jowett, who were very learned in languages, 192 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. assisted ilie Bible Society in this particular portion of its work. Many other gentlemen not officially connected with it have alsc rendered essential service in this department. The greatest literary talent will find its highest occupation in the service of the Bible Society. Buchanan says, ^^ He who pro- duces a new version of the Scriptures is a greater man than he who founds a kingdom." A missionary tutor at Basle used to give this excellent advice to his pupils : " Whatever you are study- ing, even if it be the driest grammar, think that you are doing it for Christ, and you will find it easy and pleasant.'' Professor Gaussen has given us a thought concerning these translations, which we will give you as briefly as possible, ere we bid farewell to the library : — '^ If some friend, returning from the East Indies, bring you a letter from your father, written in Bengalee, and you do not under- stand it, you will get it translated ; you will not be indifferent to it, because it is in Bengalee. You might have translations of it made into several other languages that you do understand, — into English, French, Latin, German, Spanish, Dutch, till you had no more doubt of the original meaning of the letter, than if you had been a Hindoo, and could have read it in the original. Every separate translation casts light on what the original must have been." In this place you have stood in the midst of all these lights upon the letter, — the letter from " our Father who is in heaven." It is now written in 150 languages, and in 177 versions, — the lights of the dark world. The letter can never now be hid, lost> or destroyed ! We may now pass on to — THE COMMITTEE EOOMS ; and, first, let us begin with that of the General committee. There is a long table in the middle of this room, covered with purple cloth, — the president's chair being somewhat raised at one BIBLES AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE. 193 end of it; and down the sides are fixed benches, retiring row behind row, on a raised stage, till the room is filled up. In this room, a committee of thirty-six gentlemen meet together, on every alternate Monday, in every month, and oftener, if neces- sary, to transact the general business of the society. Six of thenj must be foreigners, living in or near London, for it is a British and Foreign Bible Society. Fifteen must be members of the Church of England, and fifteen belong to other denominations of Christians. Such is the constitution of the society — a noble illus- tration of the maxim, ^^ Union is strength.'^ These gentlemen are all laymen ; but every minister who becomes a member of the society, by subscription, may attend and vote at all meetings of the committee. At the upper end of this room is the case of Bibles which was exhibited in the Crystal Palace, in Hyde Park, in 1851. All these Bibles of the society, in the difierent versions, are open, with a small ticket appended to each, defining its language to unlearned eyes, and stating the number of Bibles which the so- ciety has printed in that particular language. The attendant at the stall in the ^^ Palace" says, that he found the existence of the Bible Society was comparatively little known by those world-wide visitors. Many, when it was explained to them, said, '' This is a noble work, indeed !" and some among the poorest, possessing little of this world's goods, exulted as they passed it, saying, " This is the glory of the whole exhibi- tion ! and how it is hidden in a corner, when it ought to have had a place like the Koh-i-noor !" We can quite understand how the friends of deceased transla- tors were anxious to see the work of those they loved, and who had rendered such great service to society. One said, " My hus- band, now in glory, translated this.'' Russian, Dutch, German, Norwegian, Italian, Welsh, and even Chinese visitors, looked on the Bibles with gladness, while two French ladies asked for papers to take home with them, saying, " We are looking to England : France, Switzerland, all the nations are looking to England ' 17 194 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. the pope has put his foot into England, but we look to you and your Bible/^ We may he allowed to suppose that this committee-room in the Bible House is a glorious room in the eyes of angels. If they could envy any among mankind, it would be those who sit at this table, and dispense the bread of life, sent down from heaven ! Memory can people this room with the forms of the good men who have sat here in days gone by, but whose tongues are now silent in the grave — who always thought of the days when they met here as their best days, as the happiest days of the week. There are a few things in this committee-room to which we must call attention. Over the fireplace, and beneath the clock, you may observe Mr. Wyld's Bible Society map, showing the moral state of the world by the aid of colours, and pointing out where Bibles have been circulated, how many copies, in what lan- guage, and other valuable statistics. There is the portrait of William Tyndal, whose grave, mild countenance seems to look down with complacency on those who are carrying out the work which he began : there also are the portraits of the former presi- dents. Lord Teignmouth and Lord Bexley, the old and tried friends of the society, both gone also to their reward. A portrait of Wiclif ought certainly to be found there also. We noticed on the table a large book, loosely bound, like a series of papers slightly tacked together, and, on opening it, found that the characters, instead of being as usual printed in black on a white ground, were uncoloured, but large, and raised in relief upon the paper, like the impression of a seal. On the under side of the paper, the letters seemed pressed in, as on a seal. Those who .have ever seen these raised characters, will know at once that this was a book printed for the blind. It was the Gospel of John, in English, and in a new and very simple character. This new and simple character is the invention of Mr. Moon, the master of the blind-school at Brighton, himself a blind manj BIBLE FOR THE BLIND. 195 and his system is said to be so great an impi ovement upon those previously invented; that blind persons, who have been for years endeavouring in vain to learn to read on other systems, have in ten days accomplished their desire by the help of this. A blind girl in France, who gained her livelihood by manual labour, had obtained a copy of Mark's Gospel, and also an alpha- bet for the blind. Being quick and intelligent, she was able in the course of a few days to decipher a whole page j but being herself desirous of making even faster progress, she took a pen- knife, and pared the skin from the tips of her fingers, thinking to render their touch more sensitive. Alas ! this only rendered them in a few days more callous, and she found she could no longer read at all. In a moment of despair, she took up her treasured volume, and pressed it to her lips, to bid it a last fare- well; when, lo ! to her great joy, she discovered that she could thereby discern the letters, and from that time forth she has been reading with her lips. She has not only read the whole of Mark's Gospel, but has actually committed it to memory Let us now pass on to — THE SMALLER COMMITTEE ROOM. The General committee of the Bible Society divides itself into several sections, which are called by different names. The Editorial committee is composed of those who are able to judge of the translations. The Depository committee is that which superintends the printing and binding of the Bibles. The Agency committee is that which directs the operations of the agents of the Society. There are also Finance and other sub- 3ommittees, conducted by men of business. Each member of the General committee is placed on that sub- committee for which his talents best fit him. It is Bible-work in which they all find themselves engaged, and it is conducted in a Bible-spirit. Around this sub-committee room are hung more portraits of the society's faithful servants and friends, to some of whom it 196 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. has been said, ^^ Enter ye into the joy of your Lord.'^ Here are tbose of the first three secretaries, the Rev. John Owen, the Rev. Joseph Hughes, and the Rev. Dr. Steinkopff. Here are also those of its warm friends, — of Wilberforce, Granville Sharp, Admiral Gambier, the Bishop of Winchester, Charles of Bala, Broadley Wilson, Dr. Adam Clarke with his Buddhist priests, and of Oberlin, the pastor of the Ban de la Roche, of Mr. W. Greenfield, of Alexander the late Emperor of Russia, and one of a Belgian colporteur, — a portrait esteemed worthy of a place, even here. But we must now leave what is called the '^ Bible Society's House,^^ and enter — THE BIBLE WAREHOUSE. Here the ever-varying stock of Bibles, in various languages, is kept, and from hence they are sent, east and west, north and south, by land and by water, as they may be ordered by Auxilia- ries, or as the benevolence of the committee may direct their distribution in this and other countries. One compartment con- sists of English Family Bibles : they are most beautiful volumes, and their price is one sovereign English money, each. From the largest, let us turn to the smallest. This Diamond Bible, with marginal references, bound in roan, and with gilt edges, is sold at the low price of Is. Sd. : the same book, hand- somely bound in morocco, sells for Is. lid. These are the Bibles that weigh eight and nine ounces, and this is their cost price; /or it is not, the ohject of the society to miake any profit hy the sale, but to extend the circulation as widely as possible. Ascending the stairs, we shall find ourselves still in a true jilace of business. As from the lower floor, so also from this. Bibles go out to all the world. See the wagon standing below to receive its precious load, to be taken to the docks, or perhaps to the railway stations, thence to give joy and spread light in Eng- land, or in some far-distant land. One feels something akin to reverence for that great iron crane. No other '^ crane" in all London lifts such true riches I THE BIBLE WAREHOUSE. 197 Close to the trap-door in this floor lies a pile of Italian Bibles. One of the warehousemen said to us, ''Those don't move now. Since the pope has come back to Rome, he will not let Bibles .nto Italy. That lot, too, are Spanish, and this, Malagassy: they are both very dead. English Bibles are lively, and move away as fast as they are ready. ^' ''We sent out 9000 of these Dia- monds last month,'' added our guide. Precious "Pearls,'^ "Rubies," and "Diamonds," ( for these are rcaVy the names of the different types in which the Bibles are printed,) may the demand for them continually increase! Blessed be God ! Malagassy Bibles are dead no longer ! After seventeen years of bitter persecution, on the part of the queen of that country, instigated by her prime minister, the God who rules over all has removed the blind and wicked man; and now we may hope that her son, lier men son, whose heart the Lord has turned to himself, will, with his prime minister, — the son of the very minister who persecuted and sent the missionaries oui of the island, — recall them, and all the Christians, and open the ports to commerce. And so the blood of the martyrs has been the seed of the chvirch, as it always was. The suffering Christians have wan- dered about in forests, and dwelt in caves, have been obliged to bury their Bibles, have been poisoned, beaten, and slain, but, in spite of all, have multiplied; and it is said, there are 5000 now, in Madagascar, who love the Lord Jesus, out of a population of 4,000,000, and 500 native teachers ready to go back to them from the Mauritius. Speed, then, over the deep, Malagassy Bibles, in the hands of devoted missionaries ! May one of your number win its way to the eye and the heart of the queen herself, leading her to weep like Saul of Tarsus over her work of persecution, and to apply for pardon to Him who alone has power to forgive sin : These are the Chinese Testaments. The words are not arranged across the page, but in columns from top to bottom. The paper 198 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. is very thin, and printed only on one side, and the plain sides of two pages are folded together, like one of our uncnt books. The paper for these is made, and the books are printed, in China. The cover also is Chinese, made of yellow paper, like silk, shot with gold dust. They are printed from wooden blocks, on which the characters are cut, after the manner of our woodcuts. Here, again, is a Chinese book, printed in England, on English paper, on both sides of the sheet, and bound after the English fashion. From this circumstance it may become, perhaps, an attractive book to the Chinese themselves. More piles of books of all sizes, and another floor of them ! Swedish Bibles, Portuguese, French, Russian, Amharic, Tahitian, Malay, etc. ''This stack of English,'^ said our companion, ''came from Oxford this morning. The boxes which strew the warehouse contain 20,000 Bibles and Testaments for Toronto. Yesterday we could scarcely get ready as many more for Ireland, chiefly for the use of the schools of the Hibernian Society.^' There is a little room on the second floor, which belonged to IMr. Cockle, known for thirty years at this Bible House, as its faithful and unwearied depositary : when, during his latter years, he was most busily engaged, he sought refuge from intrusion in this place. We have often found him here, in past time, but* now we find him not. He, too, is "gone up on high,^' having devoted the greater part of his life to the service of the Bible Society. His little, empty, desolate room was the only sad cor- ner of this rich storehouse. When the attendants were all gone, we stood alone for a while, among the great piles of Bibles, — alone with all those written voices of God, — the voice that answered Job out of the whirlwind, that thundered in the deserts of Sinai, that spoke by the prophets, and in the sweet harp of David; — the voice that clothed its majesty in tenderness from the lips of the Redeemer of the world, and through evangelists and apostles is come down even to us — to our homes, to our hearts, and daily lives ! Without ascending another floor, still more heavily laden with wibound Bibles, in various languages, you have noticed enough EIBLE PRINTING. 199 for the present at tlie Bible Society's House and warehouse, and you are invited to accompany us to those interesting places where the Holy Scriptures are "printed/' and "bound." CHAPTER n. Bible-Printing at Shacklewell — Ancient Printing-Office — The Compositor— The Reader. THE PRINTING AND BINDING OF THE BIBLE. Those who live near Oxford and Cambridge, where a great part of the Bibles circulated by the British and Foreign Bible Society are printed, may visit the Bible presses in those cele- brated universities : there are others who may find it more con- venient to visit a third great Bible-printing establishment, that of the Queen's Printers' at Sbacklewell, in the suburbs of Lon- don. At this place a very large proportion of the Society's Bibles, both in English and Welsh, are printed. Most young persons in the present day have seen a printing- office : but we will suppose that we are describing one to children in the age of Wiclif, when there was not one to be seen. In the early ages of Printing, in the latter end of the sixteenth century, it was reckoned so far one of the liberal arts, that it was practised only by men of birth and education. The compositors, or persons who set up the types, had an ancient privilege, which proves this, — they were allowed to wear swords. In old pictures of a printing-office, you may see' the master-printer, a grave and bearded personage, dressed in a fur-trimmed robe, apparently giving directions to the workmen. These consist of several com- positors, comfortably seated on cushioned stools, their dirks and swords resting against a column by their side. Near them is an old man in spectacles, probably the reader; others are working at rude presses. 200 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. We have been astonished in remarking the beauty and perfec- tion of the type of some of those early Bibles, printed with so few aids from that principle of division of labour which is now so thoroughly understood ; but then the impressions were not required in the numbers they are at present. It would be possible to print 4500 Bibles a day at this one establishment of Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode. Let us see what the compositors do toward it. They each work at a desk, or frame, and they work silently, in "a room by themselves. It is not now thought necessary that they should be gentlemen by condition, or even ambitious men ; — they must be those who are content to begin the work at its beginning, and to do it steadily and patiently. Their desk or frame contains two pairs of cases, one furnished with Roman letters, and the other with Italic. These cases are divided into 154 partitions, some larger than the rest, for the letters that are sure to be most wanted. The letters 1, m, n, a, e, i, 0, u, are far more frequently needed than j, k, q, x, z. These partitions are not labelled. A stranger to the art is surprised at the accuracy with which a compositor dips his fingers into the division containing the letter he requires ; but it is a fact, that the youngest boy in a printing-office very soon learns the places of the letters, without any difficulty. Those letters which he will want most are placed in the divisions nearest to his hand ; and, standing before the pair of cases which contain the Roman letters, he holds in his left hand what is called a com- posing sfick. This is a little iron or brass frame, one side of which is mova- ble, so that it may be adjusted to the required width of the page or column which the workman has to set up.^ It is made per- fectly true and square, and will hold about twelve lines of such type as the present. The copy of the Scriptures, which the com- positor we saw at work was imitating, lay on the least used part of the upper case. He seemed to take info his mind a line at a time, which it is easier to do from a printed book than if he had been reading THE COMPOSITOR. 201 very carelessly-VTitten manuscript, though, even this can be cl#ne by a practised eye. One by one, he places the letters for each word into his stick, his right hand going to the box, and his left securing each letter. He showed us that in every letter there was a nick, which he always placed downward the moment he touched it, without looking at it. ThLs nick is one of those pretty contrivances for saving labour, which experience has introduced into every art. His mind was now fully engaged with his work : he had to attend to the right spelling of the words, the right placing of the capital letters, the right positions for the stops, the placing of the words at right distances in his stick, without crowding, or giving them too much space ; for, as the lettoi-s are not all of the same thickness, the spaces necessarily vary, though, on the whole, they are regular, and regularity in spacing distinguishes a good com positor. When he had filled his stick, he cleverly grasped all the type, and took it out, as if it had been one solid piece of metal. A practised compositor can do this, but a young apprentice has his patience tasked to the utmost, if, after toiling for an hour or two in picking up several hundred letters, he drops the wliole while moving them, as he has then to mourn over the broken heap, which printers call pie, in the same way as children sometimes mourn over their fallen towers of bricks. The words are now lifted out into what is called a galley, and the galley is filled by the contents of successive sticks. When as many lines are set up as will fill a page, they are bound tightly round with cord, and placed under the frame, and when as many pages are set up as will fill a sheet, they are arranged in proper order upon the impodng -stone. Each page is surrounded with a piece of wood, called /M'/-??i7w?T, which provides an equal margin for every page, and the whole is wedged tightly together in a stout iron frame. It is new termed a form, and being perf partly tight and compa.'»t, it can be carried about with as much ease as if it were composed of solid plates of metal, instead of being made up of forty or fifty thousand movable pieces. From thi^ 202 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. form a 'proof is taken for the reader : the first sheet printed is called 2, proof . The first portion of the compositor's work is now completed ; and if it has been well and carefully done, the reader will have very little trouble wi U it. It may present, and often does, a specimen of what industry and care can eficct at once : there will not be a wrong letter in twenty lines, — a gross mistake, seldom. The printer's reader looks over the proof while another person reads the copy aloud : he marks in the margin all the errors, and then returns the proof to the compositor, when he commences a second portion of labour and difficulty. If he has omitted a whole sentence, it will perhaps compel him to alter many pages, in order to insert it. In this new process, new blunders are often committed, and, when again revised by the reader, it is once more given back to the compositor, who has need of much patience and perseverance; indeed, he is a very principal person in the production of a Bible or any other book ; it will require a little patience, on your part, even to read the account of his labours. The proof being now tolerably perfect, the labour of a second reader is called in. It is his business to read " for press,'' that is, to search for the minutest errors, with the most industrious criticism. The form of type being at last corrected for press, the work of the compositor is at an end ; and when the desired number of copies have been printed ofi", it is a part of his business to return the type to the cases, in order to furnish material for another sheet, and this operation is called distrihuting the type. This is a beautiful process in the hands of an expert compositor, who shows the dexterity acquired by long practice. He will dis- tribute four times as fast as he composes, and, if necessary, return to their places 50,000 letters a day. To " know his p's from his q's" is considered a great difficulty for a beginner. We expected to find, that, as the Bible is a book in very large and constant demand, we should hear that it was generally printed from what are called stereotype-plates. These are made by taking a mould in plaster ffDm each page of movable type, and then STEREOTYPING. 203 easting metal into the mould. This is altogether rather a delicate and difficult operation : the types must first be thoroughly cleaned, and then rubbed over with an oily composition, to prevent the adhesion of the plaster. If the least morsel does adhere, and it often does, the mould is spoiled. If, when removed, it is found perfect, the mould is baked, and this also is critical, for, if the oven be too hot, the moulds warp : then there is the casting, and the very best casting of metal into the mould cannot prevent occasional defects on the surface of the plate, which requires after- ward minute examination by a workman called a picker. He removes the small globules of metal which occasionally fill up such letters as the a and the e, inserts here and there a new letter, by soldering, and removes with his graver any impurities which fill up the lines : this workman must possess a keen eye and steady hand. You may judge, from this description, that stereotyping, or making a sheet of metal types all in one piece, is a process which requires much skill and experience. Still, as the Bible is con- stantly in request, we thought we should find it was mostly printed from stereotype-plates : but it is not. It is considered that stereo- typing is the more expensive mode of printing of the two ; because, with all the improvements that have now taken place, in harden- ing the metal of which the plate is composed, a set of stereotype- plates will only print 150,000 copies of the Bible before they re- quire to be renewed. On the other hand, from movable type, or type set up letter by letter in its form, it is possible, without re- newal, to print a million copies. Here, however, there is revision made of the types, after every edition of about 5000 copies. Perhaps you would not imagine the value of the type required for a Bible : it astonished us. The value of the type for a Diamond I- A.I..31. I 24 Verily.rerily.Isay unto you, pHe that Blblc, of Whlch thls Is a SpCCi- I heareth my word, and believeth on him that fich. 3. 16, 18. sent me, hath everlaatinc lite, and shall not m PTl IS! CAVAval tlnrMlCQnr] •nr»nr>r?C!« ft 6, 40,47. come into condemnation; jbut is passed ^^cU, Ih beVePdl IDOUbdUU pOUnUb , lt3.51.,eto. I from death unto life. ii r» r> tnereiore type, or course, is care- fully preserved. We inquired whether Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode now printed any Bibles with the Apocrypha ; because these gentlemen print for other parties besides the Bible Soe^'ety. The replv was, that 204 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. the copies printed with the Apocrypha decreased in number from year to year, and that not a thousand copies were printed in the space of two years. You would now wish to pass into the printing-room. Here we did not find a cylinder-press, as for the printing of The Times newspaper, but twelve steam-presses, of considerable cost^ and each one attended by a man and four boys. These presses are set in motion separately, but all by one steam- engine in an adjoining room : the ages of the boys emploj^ed to attend them are from fourteen to sixteen, and they are said to be- come, from habit, almost a part of the machinery. This is an interesting fact to the young, is it not ? — that the actual printing of the word of God (after the careful labours of the compositors and correctors of the press) is accomplished hi/ young persons! This used not to be the case, when hand-presses only were used, which, in this establishment, are still worked in another depart- ment. About 150 persons are now employed upon the printing of the Bible, at Shacklewell, instead of fifty, which used to be the number formerly, — showing the increased demand for the Holy Scriptures. But now let us begin to print. On the solid iron table at each end of the machine, lie the forms of type from which both sides of the sheet are printed. At each end of the machine is a pile of wet paper : this paper is wetted, quire by quire, before it comes to the machine-room. It is dipped two or three times, according to its thickness, in a trough of water, and then opened, and powerfully pressed, to diffuse the moisture; for, if not thus moistened, the printers' ink would lie upon the surface of the paper, and smear. By this pile of paper, at each side of the press, stand two boys; they are called laying-on hoys ; they feed the press with the paper, sheet by sheet, and two other boys, standing below them, take dway each sheet as it is printed : some ten or twenty spoiled sheets are first passed over the types to remove any dirt or moisture. , At the first movement of the great wheel, the inking-apparatus lit each end has been set in motion, and the steel cylinder attachea MACHINE-PRINTING. 2C5 to tlie reservoir of ink has begun to move. Printeis' ink is net fluid like writing ink, but is a stiff, soft paste. The inh-rcceivers are long, soft, elastic rollers, and are composed of a mixture of glue and treacle ; they are renewed every week : we noticed a number of fresh rollers hanging up against the wall. Two engineers are in constant attendance to keep the engine^ the machines, and all other parts in daily repair. The first roller is called the doctor: it turns over on the surface of the ink-reservoir, and takes up a small quantity, which it com- municates to an inhing-tahle, over the surface of which three or four distrihuting rollers spread it equally. This even surface then communicates to tioo inhing-rollers that which they shall impart to the forms which are to be printed: the ink is thus conveyed from roller to roller, that it may be all of an equal fineness or consistency, and to prevent blots and faint places, technically called monks Q.nd friars. All these beautiful operations are accomplished in the sixteenth part of a minute, by the travelling backward or forward of the table upon which the forms rest, while each roller revolves on a fixed axis. The moment the form or mass of type has passed under the inking-rollers, one of the boys places the damp sheet upon a frame, when it and the form are conveyed together under a smooth iron flat-surface, which powerfully presses the damp sheet upon the face of the types. After being thus printed, it is con- veyed back to its former place, and the sheet is then removed by another boy to a heap at the side. When the ink becomes firm or set, the other side of the sheet is printed by the same process. It is so contrived that each page shall be printed exactly at the hack of another page. If there be no extraordinary hinderance or obstruction, one nian and four boys can print 500 sheets in an hour; indeed, thei'e is not much for them to do, except to attend upon and watch this wonderful, unconscious giant, the steam-press, in his operations. They feed him with paper, which he takes, adjusts, prints, and renders back, always supplying himself with fresh ink for the IS 206 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY, printing of every sheet; and all so quickly, that the boys can Bcarcely move fast enough to give and receive the work from his hand; and when we think what is the work he is doing at Shackle* well, how glorious is the outlay of his strength ! If these twelve presses were all at full work, (thirteen sheets being necessary to the completion of a Bible,) 450 of these written voices of God might go forth from this room in one hour, — 4500 might be issued in a day. Oh! that the British and Foreign Bible Society might ever have occasion to order so many! Twenty-seven thousand might be issued in a week, nearly one million and a half in a year, from this one source of supply alone I and it must be remembered, that this is hut one of the establish- ments at work for the British and Foreign Bible Society. It can employ the giant, when needful, in all quarters of the world at once; for, by the wonderful inventions and improvements of this nineteenth century, the books can be produced at the cheapest possible rate, and circulated with the greatest possible speed. In the process of placing the pages of type for the formation of the sheet, a small mark is inserted at graduated intervals on each sheet, so that when the book is folded and gathered together, a diagonal line is formed by these little printed marks across the back, thus enabling the binder's collator to detect at a glance a missing or a misplaced sheet. After the sheets are printed, they must be dried, which is done by hanging them in rooms and passages fitted with hot-air pipes; and they are lifted with an instrument called 2t> printer^ s peel. They are then pressed in a hydraulic press, and afterward laid down in piles of about 1000 of each signature, on boards forming a square, in alphabetical order, and then gathered, as it is called, by a boy, who stands in the middle of a square space, and collects the sheets in succession, according to the letter which is printed at the bottom of the page, called a signature, for the guidance of the binder. Every sheet is then collated, to see that the whole are in prope?? alphabetical order, that no sheet is wanting, or one too many: BINDING OF THE BIBLE. 207 when colly ted, the sheets are foldedj separated into books, again pressed; and then tied up to go to the Bible Society's warehouse. The number of hands the Bible passes through in the course of printing is as follows : — Compositor, Cold-presser Four readers, Gatherer, Reviser for press, Collator Corrector, Folder, One pressman and four boys, Booker, Looker-over, Pressor, Hanger-up, Tier-up, — twenty-one persons in all; not to speak of — Type-founders, Printers'-joiners, Iron-founders, Printing-ink-makers, Wholesale-stationers, Paper-makers, and Composition-roller-makers, Engineers, who must each, with the whole series of workmen in their several factories, have combined to the production of the Book. There are about fourteen processes, in the making of the printing-paper alone; — and yet we have to bind it. THE BINDING OF THE BIBLE. It is a sort of principle among bookbinders, that the subject of a book shall be known by its cover. This, however, refers to ornament, and the Bible Society do not provide ornamented Bibles; their great aim is extreme cheapness combined with good and strong work; and they take every means to secure this. They have all their books bound by contract. We paid an inte- resting visit to the premises of the present contractor, (Mi. Wat- kins,) and found ourselves in a large, airy, and well-warmed room, furnished with long tables, at which sat numbers of neat, healthy, and happy-looking girls, their ages from twelve to eigh- teen, not sitting crowded together, but each having room for her work — her pleasant work. 208 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. As we looked at tliem and inspected their proceedings in de- tail, that we might describe them to you, we thought how much rather we would choose to work for our living as Bible-binders than as milliners — Fashion's poor, pale slaves, "Working to their graves. — with so few hours' rest allowed in the twenty-four. At Mr. Watkins's establishment, the girls work ten hours a day, and they are paid according to the quantity of the work they get through, and this tends to make them industrious. They have many checks over their performance, and the contractor is under an engagement to replace, at his own cost, any books found to be badly bound; therefore, for bad folding and stitching they are fined : that they are, however, generally careful, is proved by the fact, that the fines do not amount to five pounds a year among 200 workpeople. AVhen you think that the Bible is printed in large sheets, sometimes sixty-four pages in a sheet, you will, of course, per- ceive that these large sheets will need folding, even if the printer fold them once, for the convenience of tying up. They are received at the binder's by a warehouseman, who gives them out to each folder, in as many successive sheets as will form the whole Bible. Each folder sits by a table on which she spreads out the sheets In her right hand she holds a small ivory or bone folding-knife, with which she flattens the foldings of the sheet : this folding seems to us very quickly done, but it is so only from practice, for it requires accuracy, as the first and last lines of the print must range evenly with the opposite page. In taking up the sheet she looks merely at what is called the signature, — a letter stand- ing by itself at the bottom of the page, which you perhaps have never noticed. It is placed there chiefly as a direction to the binder. She takes up first letter A, folds the sheet down the middle, and then across, and also once more down the middle; she then FOLDING AND SEVVOG. 209 takes up the next gheet^ letter B, folds it in the same manner, and lays it upon letter A; and proceeds in the same way with all the letters of the alphabet, till she begins it again ; only to the second A is attached a small a, to the second B, a small b, and so on : you can find these printer's marks, if you look through the Bible. After these folded sheets have been taken from the rolling- press for binding, the collator takes the whole in his hand to see that they are laid in proper order, that no sheet is wanting, and that the folding is correct, and this is very expertly done ; the sheets are held at one corner, and allowed to spring back, one after another, leaving, to the experienced eye, just time enough to catch the signature letters : this collation takes place in a separate room, and any error is at once adjusted. And now the book is to be sewn. A girl, sitting sideways against the table on which the sheets are laid, first takes up that marked A, and places the back of it against three strings or tapes, (or if it be a large book, against four tapes,) fastened in a sewing-press, then passing a needle, filled with strong thread, through the sheet, from the inside, she brings it out at the back, and carries it over one of the tapes, pushing the needle through the paper again from the outside, — thus causing the thread to embrace the tape. Her left arm, passes round tlie press, and returns the needle from one side to the other; thus sheet by sheet is fastened to the tapes. This process is conducted with wonderful quickness : the polished needle flies in and out and over the tapes, in far less time than it takes to tell about it, for practice makes perfect, and this is the sewer's whole employ from day to day, and from week to week ; and her wages depend not on the number of hours she sits at her press, but on the number of books she sews. One little girl we accidentally selected, who was a learner, and only thirteen years of age, told us she had been in the establish- ment nearly three months : she said she had earned Is. 3d. the day before ; but we found she was considered by the forewoman^- 18* 210 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY a naturally quick as well as a steady child. The young people get accustomed by degrees to the close attention that the work requires, and that is necessary to insure good wages. "^ After the Bibles are sewn, they are again taken to the re-col- lating-room to be examined. Every sheet is looked at, to see if it may have been torn by accident, carelessly, or improperly stitched : this examination requires, also, that the mind be entirely fixed on its occupation, for the least distraction may cause an error to be overlooked. Presuming that no such faults have been discovered, the books are carried into another building, occupied solely by men. Here they are first placed in piles, a sheet of iron or zinc between each book, in a hydraulic-press, and pressed with immense force. In this press they are left some time ; and, when taken from it, are passed into the cutting-room. There a cutting-press, with a large, sharp knife, is employed. The books are very carefully placed under the knife, the size to which they are to be cut being regu- lated by a scale at the side of the machine, and then, by means of a lever, the whole quantity is cut at one stroke of the knife. The gilder next receives the books, and screws them up in a powerful horizontal press; the edges are then scraped, washed with a composition of red chalk and water; and while this is drying, the leaf-gold is blown out from the book in which it is sold by the goldbeater, on a cushion covered with leather, where it is placed smoothly, by the aid of a knife. On the work-bench is a cup containing white of egg, beaten up with water, a little of which is laid by a camels'-hair pencil on the still damp surface of chalk and water. The gold is then taken up, piece after piece, and laid on the book's edge : this is done to all the three edges in succession, and to many books together, all squeezed tightly in the press, to produce a solid and even surface. After a few minutes, the gold has become sufficiently dry and set for polishing, by a process which would seem adapted to rub off every atom of gold, but it does not do so. The workman holds in his hand a long-handled burnisher, at the lower end of which is fixed a very scrooth, straight-edged GILDING AND MARBLING. 211 pie.3e of agate ; this he places on the gilt surface^ and, with his left elbow resting on the workbench, and the handle of the burnisher resting on his right shoulder, he rubs the gold with great force, not along the edge, but across it : no gold is rubbed off, but the whole is highly polished by this treatment; and when the gilding is complete, paper i^ wrapped round the edges to pre- vent their being- soiled while the book is finishing. When the Bibles are required with sprinkled edges, the books are tied up in quantities between two boards : they are then placed edges upward, and a man holding a brush dipped in ochre and water, or umber and water, and sometimes in Venetian red, high in the air over the books, with one hand strikes the brush with, a stick held in the other, and thus sprinkles a fine shower of the colouring matter over the edges; this is often repeated with another colour; and the cheap, buff-coloured sheep covers of Testaments for schools, are sprinkled in the same way. The marbled edges of books are produced by sprinkling pig- ments of several colours upon a fluid preparation, contained in a large trough, where they float, the colours being mixed with oil ; and the edges of the books, being alternately placed for a moment upon this surface, imbibe the colours. After the edges have been thus prepared, the books are then each singly hammered, to give a rounded form to the back, and a concave surface to the front : the back, being previously covered with glue, retains the shape thus given to it. It is then placed between two boards, and again in a press, with the back uppermost, and the back once more hammered, so that it shall flatly incline over the boards; and after various minor processes, the book which seemed to lie passive in the hands of the workmen, to be moulded round or square by turns, as they pleased, emerges from all its battering, into the care of its "case-maker" who will dress it in sheep, calf, or morocco, according to the price at which it must be sold. The leather, of whatever kind, being cut half an inch larger than the book, all round, is pared at the edges with a keen knife : this leather is partly stamped before it is attached to the book, which attach- 212 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. ment is an affair of very great nicety, as overlapping the edgea and turning in the corners require the greatest exactness, other wise the book would be spoiled. The little head-band of bright silk or calico, crimson or purple, is now applied. The granulated appearance of the morocco bindings is produced by a curious mode of rubbing the leather against itself. If the book is to be stamped or embossed, the process is aided by heat, and performed by a machine. We cannot enter into any further detail of the " decoration," as it is called, of the cover of the Bible. From time to time, new patterns and devices are presented for this purpose; and, after all this inspection, it is a greater wonder to us than ever, that a book, which requires the aid of — 14 persons to make its paper 21 persons to print it correctly, 19 persons to bind it neatly, 54 persons in all, (not to speak of those of other trades, who must have combined to its production,) can be sold by the Bible Society for one shil- ling sterling! The number of hands which a Bible with gilt edges, bound in roan, passes through, in process of binding, is as follows :- Binder's warehouseman. First collator, Folder, Sewer, Boiler, Second collator, Paperer, Forwarder, Pressor, Letterer, Cutter, Varnisher, Examiner of cutting, General examiner of binding, Gilder, Wrapper in paper covers, and Cutter out of cover. Packer. Embosser, When the books are sent home to the Bible House, which they aro to the number (on an average) of nearly tliree thousand daily, BIBLE NOT ISSUED IN SHEETS. 213 another examination takes place, and frequently defective copies are returned to the binder to be made good. Any person discovering an error in a Bible printed for the British and Foreign Bible Society, confers a benefit on them by returning it to the Bible House, as it makes all the parties em- ployed more careful. No Bibles are voted by the British and Foreign Bible Society to other societies, or for any purpose whatever, in sheets. Every Bible it sends forth is bound : this is to prevent the possibility of the Book afterward being bound up with any of the apocry- phal books, or with any note or preface whatsoever. The Society circulates the word of God alone, ^^ without note or comment.'' And, now, farewell to the externals of the sacred Book. We hope it has pleased you to examine even these, in contrast to the age of ancient manuscript. Wc pass on to the history of the Bible in the nineteenth century. % §nl mh ik §kt^. PART HI. THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY'S RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT OPERATIONS. CHAPTER I. Rev. T. Charles — Particulars of his Youth— His Missionary Spirit— His Usoful- ness to the Young — Scarcity of the Scriptures in Wales — Circulating Schools — Committing the Bible to memory — Grown-up Scholars — Meeting of twenty Schools— The little Girl who had no Bible— The twelve Peasants— Mr, Charles's Visit to London— Tract Committee— AVant (i" Wales, and of the World— For- mation of the British and Foreign Bible Society — Collections in Wales — In- fluential Friends and Supporters — Objects and Constitution of the Society, formed alike for Home and the World — Its Principle — Union and Co-operatiou of all Parties — Rev, J. Owen — Rev. J. Hughes. We are coming at last to the sunshiny portion of the Story of the Book, — having now nothing but bright and happy work be- fore us. We have been obliged to go and weep over the graves of the ancient martyrs and translators, that we might know the price which had been paid for our precious Bible. We hope that many young persons will henceforth take the treasure into their hands, with loving, reverent, and grateful hearts; and perhaps with more gladness than they ever felt before, and pass on to the true and wonderful tale of the last fifty years. If we were to tell you one-tenth of what there is to be told, of the times in which this Book has been allowed and enabled to travel freely round the world, our book would be too large for you to buy, or read. You will wish to know, first, how the British and Foreign Bible Society arose. It has been said, very truly, that it •' grew out of a want," — the loant of the Bible in Wales. You will best understand this want, if we recount to you some incidents in the life of the Rev. Thomas Charles. He has been called the " Apostolic Charles of Bala," (a town in Merioneth- shire,) and was a man of a truly missionary spirit. At the begin- ning of this century, he was about fifty years of ago, and had been 10 218 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Charles. twenty years labouring in Wales, " wandering up and down/' as lie says, ^Hliat cold and barren country, to preach the everlasting gospel/' At the age of eighteen, being deeply impressed with the value of his own soul, and of the glorious plan of salvation set forth in the gospel, he became anxious also for the salva- tion of others. His first efforts to this end began at home, in his father's family, and being natu- rally of a mild temper and disposition, he was beloved by all his relations : notwithstanding his youth, and, as he says, his little knowledo-e, he was enabled to maintain much influence for ccood, and by his means family-worship was soon established in his father's house. His education commenced at Caermarthen,- and was continued at Oxford, where he was supported by remarkable supplies of God's providence, afforded as he needed them; speaking of which, he remarks, " There are no difficulties with God : difficulties exist wholly in our unbelieving hearts." In the year 1777, he spent his vacation with the Rev. John Newton, of Olney, the friend of the poet Cowper, and he seems erreatly to have valued the visit, during which he also heard Mr. llomaine preach. Intercourse with men such as these, in early life, is a great privilege, and often fixes the cnaracter and pursuits of young persons. If these two good men could have foreseen in Mr. Charles one of the fathers and founders of the noblest society in the world, they would still more have rejoiced to take him by the hand, and REV. THOMAS CHARLES. 219 speed liim on his way. His cliaracter was evidently remarkable for ingenuousness and humility, — the sweet fruits of true piety. He was ordained deacon at the age of twenty-three, at Oxford ; and he says, " I felt, on that day, an earnest desire that God would enable me to devote myself wholly to his service, for the rest of my days on earth. '^ We cannot go into all the details of Mr. Charles's history. Ho had an excellent wife, for whom he waited several years. His income from his curacy, at one time, was not more than forty pounds a year, but this did not prevent his doing much good among his parishioners ; for although he had not silver and gold to give, he could offer medicine for the healing of the soul, and hold forth the promise of eternal life in Christ Jesus. His labours were especially useful to children and young people. Finding many of them at Bala and the neighbourhood very igno- rant, he invited them to his house, where he gave them religious instruction, and catechised them, on the Sabbath evenings. His preaching, being of a deeply-impressive and faithful chara(^ter, gave offence to many who were not willing to live according to its standard. His services were rejected, to his great grief, by three churches in the establishment — a circumstance which will show the state of religion at that time in North Wales. He was there- fore, though a churchman, as he says, from education and princi- ple, compelled to remain unemployed, and feel himself an "un- profitable servant,' ' or else to itinerate, which means, to preach from place to place ; and, in choosing the latter course, he especially devoted himself to the spiritual good of children and young people. The fruits of his labours, and the results of his long and toil- some journeys, are still visible in Wales, in the superior knowledge of the Scriptures possessed by many whom he caused to be taught as children. Many thousands at the great day of account will probably acknowledge him as the instrument of their salvation, during the thirty years of his earnest ministry. In many parts of the country the sound of the gospel had scarcely been heard for centuries, and the people were as ignorant as those in a heathen land. The Welsh Bible, though printed 220 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. loug previously by private effort, and repeatedly afterward by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, instituted in 1698, was scarcely to be found in any poor cottage in Wales, in the year 1783. In many parishes, not ten persons could read. Where such darkness existed, of course the works of darkness would be carried on, and the people were to a great extent immoral and ungodly. Mr. Charles soon perceived, that, in order to do any permanent good, the children must be regularly instructed : this, therefore, he undertook as his special work. There had been established a few years before, by the liberality of a lady named Mrs. Bevan, (who left ten thousand pounds in her will for the purpose,) what were called ^^circulating schools,'' movable from one place to another, at the end of nine or twelve months. These schools are still to be found in different parts of Wales ; but at the period we refer to, they had ceased, owing to some legal dispute about the property which supported them. Mr. Charles wished to re-establish such schools, to procure teachers, and to raise money to support them. Some of the first teachers he taught himself. It was said by the Duke of Welling- ton, ''If you want any thing done thoroughly, you must do it yourself." Mr. Charles raised the money by the help of benevolent English friends ; and he began with one teacher, — a small begin- ning for the great and glorious results which followed ; for there is now no district of Wales without the means of learning to read the word of God, either in week-day or Sunday schools. Mr. Charles wished chiefly to teach those children to read the Bible in their own language; and as the work advanced^ the principles and morals of the people, where the schools had been instituted, visibly improved: soon the whole country was filled with schools of one kind or another, and then a general concern for eternal things began to appear in many large districts. He paid every teacher 12.1. a year. Three quarters of a year were found sufficient to teach the children to read the Bible well, in Welsh; and then Mr. Charles visited the schools by turns, and catechised publicly, — a plan suited to a wild and mountainous district. ORIGIN OF THE BIBLE SOCIETY. 221 After a wliiie, the parents also began to attend tHe schools, and the teachers did not refuse to accept grown-up scholars. Many an old person was obliged to buy spectacles for the sake of learn- ing to read the word of God; for neither age nor dimness of sight deterred them. The young often spent part of the night in learning chapters, or searching the Scriptures on points given them to seek out and prove. Boys and girls from eight to six- teen learned whole books of the Bible; parents and children re- cited together; and one little girl is mentioned, who, at five years old, could repeat a hundred chapters, and went on learning an- other every week. This will remind you of the children of tKe Yaudois, before mentioned, whose parents taught them so to lay up the word of God in their hearts, that it could not be taken away from them. They, too, lived among mountains and rocks, as these Welsh chil- dren did; but the poor, persecuted Yaudois could never enjoy meetings such as were sometimes held in North Wales, where several schools met, that they might be publicly catechised to- gether. They were frequently held when the Sabbath was fine, on which occasions the children, accompanied by their teachers, walked perhaps ten miles, in the quiet, early morning, to the appointed place, from many a cottage hidden among the hills. Twenty schools would thus be assembled — "In the still valley, with the mountains round;" and to this vast concourse of persons Mr. Charles preached, after the examination had been concluded. We are told, that, in the year 1802, as he was walking in the streets of Bala, he met with a child who attended his ministry. He inquired if she could repeat the text from which he had preached on the previous Sunday: she was silent, and the in- quiry was repeated. At length she answered, '^The weather has been so bad that I could not get to read the Bible. '^ The reason of this was soon ascertained : there was no copy to which she could gain access, either at her own home, or among her friends; and she was accustomed to walk seven miles over the hills, every week, to a place where she could obtain a Welsh Bible, for tho 222 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. purpose of reading the chapter from which the minister took hip text. During that week, the cold and stormy weather, it seems, had hindered her journey. Are we, who have Bibles of our own, always so. anxious to consult them after we have listened to a sermon ? Another incident, proving the want of the Scriptures in Wales, may be mentioned. Twelve Welsh peasants subscribed together to purchase a copy of the Bible, which, like the schools, was to circulate among the hills. Each family was to keep it a month, and then pass it for- ward. On its arrival among them, an old man, who had been the last subscriber, finding his name at the end of the list, wept bitterly, saying, " Alas ! it will be twelve months before it comes to me, and I dare say I shall be gone before that time into an- other world !" Mr. Charles was deeply grieved that there were so few Bibles in Wales, — so few in comparison with the wants of the people. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge had, in addition to former supplies, printed 10,000 Bibles, and in the year 1799 this edition was distributed. They were no sooner published than sold. Not a single copy was left, and, still not a fourth part of the country was supplied. The society above named hesitated about printing another edition; and, notwithstanding the earnest entreaties of the Rev. T. Jones, of Creaton, (who, like Mr. Charles, felt for his countrymen,) seconded by the Bishop of Peterborough and others, all hopes of receiving further supplies from that quarter were abandoned. Hence it became necessary to devise some other means to provide Bibles for Wales. "The joy of those who received the Bibles amounted to exultation, while the grief of such as could not obtain a copy fell little short of an- guish."* In December, 1802, Mr. Charles visited London, intending to interest his friends in certain plans for securing his object. The subject of the Bibles was much on his mind; and, one morning, * Owen's '-'History of the Bible Society," p. 11. ORIGIN OF THE BIBLE SOCIETY. 223 lying awake and thinking, the idea of having a society for dis- tributing the Bible alone, on a plan similar to that of the Eeli- gious Tract Society, established in London, occurred to him. He was so pleased with it, that he instantly arose, and went out to consult with friends, with a view to carry out this idea. The first friend he met with was Mr. Tarn, who was one of the committee of the Tract Society; and at the next meeting, Mr. Charles was introduced, and represented, with all the ardour of his character, the dearth of Bibles in his native principality, and the longing desire of the Welsh to have them. At the moment when this appeal was made for Bibles for the principality, the Rev. Joseph Hughes, who was at that time one of the secretaries of the Tract Society, gave expression to these memorable words : '^ Surely a society might he formed for the purpose; and if for Wales, u'hy not also for the empire and the worldT^ In this thought, all present shared and rejoiced. The meeting instructed its secretary to follow up the suggestion, and 'prepared a letter, inviting Christians of every name to unite to form a society to Bend the word of God, without note or comment, all over the world. On the 7th of March, 1804, the British and Foreign Bible Society was actually esta- blished, at a meeting held in a room at the London Tavern, in ■ Bishopsgate- street, about 300 persons being present. On that very spot, at the commence- ment of its Jubilee Year, its friends met once more, but there was only one out of this number (the vene- rable Dr. SteinkopiF) spared to join hands with the pre- sent supporters of the old and tried society, — a so- SteinkopfF, ciety which has furnished 224 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY a platform on whicli all Christians could so harmoniously unite in one labour of love, and which has gone on, notwithstanding difficulties and objections, doing its own work, conquering and to conquer, in every region to which its operations have been ex- tended. In his ^'History of the Bible Society," the Rev. John Owen, a clergyman of the Church of England, who early became one of its secretaries, has given a touching account of the effect of this first meeting on his own mind. He had received during the previous summer, from Mr. Hughes, two copies of his essay, entitled, "The Excellence of the Holy Scriptures: an Argument for their more General Dispersion," with a request that he would accept one for his own use, and present the other to the Bishop of London. He did present the one copy as requested, but "took little pains either to understand or recommend the other;" in fact, he scarcely thought of it again, until he received a cir- cular letter inviting him to attend the meeting for the formation of the society; and then, perceiving the name of his intimate and valued friend, Granville Sharp, Esq., at the head of the sig- natures, he was induced to attend, though almost against his will. On entering the room, he had scarcely taken the station assigned to him by the committee, before he perceived, as he says, to his great astonishment, that three of this committee, from their dress, and from their wearing their hats, were Quakers. Now, Mr, Owen at that time shared deeply in the popular prejudice and belief, that the Quakers, or, more properly, mem- bers of " The Society of Friends," did not read or love the Bible; and noble is his confession, that his after-experience of their conduct in the British and Foreign Bible Society repeatedly made him ashamed of this prejudice. The business of the day was opened by Robert Cowie, Esq. ; William Alers Hankey, Esq., followed, and was succeeded by Samuel Mills, Esq., and the Rev. J. Hughes. Each spoke of the want of the Holy Scriptures throughout the world, and urged the necessity of fresh means of supply, in a strain of good sens€ and temperat3 zeal. \ FORMATION OF THE BIBLE SOCIETY. 225 Mr. Owen sat and listened, and felt that he must give assent, though with half reluctance ; for the thought of uniting with all denominations of dissenters, for any purpose on earth, was exceedingly distasteful to him ; but when good Dr. Steinkopfif, a German Lutheran clergyman, arose, the representation he gave of the scarcity of the Scriptures, which he had himself observed in foreign parts, the unaffected simplicity and tender pathos of his appeal for his own countrymen, subdued at once both the mind and heart of Mr. Owen ; and, " by an impulse which he had neither the inclination nor the power to disobey," he rose and expressed his conviction that such a society icas needed; and that its establishment should not be delayed. There had been hitherto no point where Christians, for ages kept asunder through different systems of discipline in their communities, and regarding each other too often with a sort of pious horror, could meet, to make one united and loving effort against the evil which is in the world ; but Mr. Owen now felt, that the British and Foreign Bible Society would afford this meeting-point; for that, whatever might be the differences of opinion and discipline, all who became its members would de- clare that they belonged to the most ancient and venerable Church of the Book ; and, in the desire to give it to all nations, ^' the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul." In a letter from Mr. Tarn to Mr. Charles, describing this first meeting, and telling him that 700?. had been subscribed upon the spot, he says, " The Rev. John Owen did the cause great service. He spoke, of his own accord, after the other friends, and, in a most powerful, argumentative, and scriptural manner, showed that the society was founded on the sure word and promises of God." Mr. Charles was not present at the formation of the society. He was at home among his schools and his people ; but he re- joiced to hear of it, and took no honour to himself. He exerted all his influence to obtain subscriptions for the support of tho new society, and h(? and his Welsh friends prayed much for it • 226 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. go that the contributions of the principality, in the first year, amounted to nearly 1900/., ^'contributed chiefly/^ says Mr. Owen, " by the plain and lower orders of people." Dr. Warner, the bishop of Bangor, and Dr. Burgess, the bishop of St. David's, were, however, among the earlie**^ supporters of the society in Wales. Around this point of union soon rallied many of the noble and the good, who were desirous to come back to the two grand, simple principles of union which prevailed in the early church, to " liold fast the faithful word,^' and to " love one another." Mr. Owen took great care to make Bishop Porteus, the bishop of London, with whom he was on intimate terms, regularly ac- quainted with the proceedings of the committee; and the bishop, who felt a lively interest in their affairs, recommended Lord Teignmouth to become their president. Wilberforce, too, the never-to-be-forgotten friend of the slave, at their second general meeting, encouraged the society to '^ proceed in its work with an ardour and a discretion becoming its object and its end.'' We can never sufficiently admire the overruling power and grace of God, who had provided instruments so well fitted to the great work of conducting the arrangements of this society, as Mr. Owen and Mr. Hughes, its first secretaries. These good men are now beyond the award of human praise; therefore we may look back upon the points of character which constituted their fitness. For six weeks after their memorable meeting of the 7th of March, 1804, the Rev. Josiah Pratt (who likewise filled the office of secretary to the Church Missionary Society for twenty-one years) had kindly consented to fill the office of clerical secretary, till a suitable person could be found to undertake it. During the short period, he efi"ected the reorganization of the committee, which was to consist of thirty-six members of all de- nominations of Christian^, and concerted a plan which should define their respective proportions. HaviDg established this point, Mr. Pratt begged to present to the committe? the Rev. John Owen, in his own stead — the duties of his cthei secretaryship being found, by himself, more than JOHN OWEN— JOSEPH HUGHES. 227 sufficient ; and thougli he thus voluntarily ceased to be connected officially with the concerns of the Bible Society, he continued its firm friend and advocate to the close of his life. There is, we are sorry to say, no biography of Mr. Owen, which we can condense for your benefit ; but his name will live for ever on the records of the Bible Society. For the last eighteen years of his life, he devoted himself almost entirely to its interests, " with talents that enlivened every topic, and a temper that conciliated every heart." From the time that, under the influence of the Spirit of God, at its first meeting, he felt the necessity for such a union of Christians, and such a forgetting of personal prejudices, for the sake of the wide circulation of the Divine word, he never wavered. He had ^' enthroned the Bible Society in his heart ; and he thought, and spoke, and wrote, from day to day, as if all his interests were staked on its support and advancement." God had endowed him eminently with the tongue of an elo- quent speaker, and the " pen of a ready writer." He had the higher praise of a disciplined judgment, and a piercing intelli- gence, combined with frankness, candour, urbanity, and diligence, which hardly allowed itself a pause. '' Whether he ascended the pulpit, or entered the crowded hall, or prosecuted the details of business, or carried on a vast correspondence, or undertook the task of the historian, or became a fellow-traveller, or spared a few horn's to the social circle, or joined his family, he was still the giftedjthe judicious, the admirable Owen." These particulars are chiefly derived from the affectionate yet considerate statements of the man who knew him best, in con- nection with the society which they both served and loved — the Rev. Joseph Hughes, minister of a Baptist church at Battersea, ^ho for almost thirty years was also the faithful and invaluable secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. It was he whose warm heart and enlarged views first dictated the words, ^'If for Wales, why not for the world?" He also WTote the essay which first a'nnounced the plan of ' the pro- posed society," deeply interesting to read, now that his vpiible Society, Pastor Oberlin, his son Henry, and M. Legrand, formed a small committee in the parish of Waldbach, which became a central point for scattering the Scriptures throughout France; and more than 10,000 Bibles and Testa- ments were circulated throughout that country before the Paris Bible Society was formed. During a journey in the south of France, in 1815, for that Society, the excellent Henry Oberlin caught a severe cold, in assisting to extinguish a fire in some town; and, returning to the Ban de la Roche, died of consump- tion, amid the regrets of his friends and neighbours. At Nuremberg, also, an imperial city of Germany, a Bible Society was formed, in 1814, to co-operate with that in London, to which the British and Foreign Bible Society presented lOOZ., to enable it immediately to print 5000 German Testaments, selling them at fivepence each. This auxiliary proved "the cradle of our continental greatness.'' It is very interesting to refer back to these small beginnings of the British and Foreign Bible Society itself, and to the rise of its first tributary streams. The number of these steadily and rapidly increased ; for the secretaries made it their chief business, in its early days, to obtain all the information they could, respecting the want of the Scriptures in every part of the world. But it was now a time of ivar all over Europe — a time which may be distinctly remembered by some of the parents of our young friends, but which they, the children of an almost forty years* peace, have little power to realize. Great Britain, from her immense resources, was universally allowed to be the arbiter of nations, and the most powerful of kingdoms ; and after the peace of Amiens in 1802, was engaged in hostilities against the power of Napoleon. Among the French and Spanish prisoners of war, the Bible Society occupied itself in distributing the Scriptures in their native ^inguages. They directed 2000 Spanish Testaments to be printed, and expended 100?. upon the purchase of Testaments in French, PRISONERS OF WAR. 239 preparing, meanwliile, a stereotype edition of the latter. It ap* peared, that out of a number of 5000 French prisoners at Ply- mouth, nearly half were able to read, and out of 1700 Spanish, 800. A correspondent says, " Many sought the books with tears and entreaties, and received the words of eternal life ; since which, I have witnessed the most pleasing sight that my eyes ever beheld — nearly one thousand poor prisoners sitting round the prison-walls, reading the word of God, with an apparent eagerness that would have put many professing Christians to the blush." From time to time, exchange of prisoners was made, and thus the word of Grod crossed the water, with the returning soldiera. Several of these stray Bibles were known to have led to the foundation of Protestant churches ; and some of the present col- porteurs have been powerfully aided in their mission by men who were formerly prisoners of war in England. Besides making this happy use of the quarrels of nations, the society continued to avail itself of every possible point of access to the continent, and to aid every association established abroad, to sell the Scriptures in their own lands, at reduced prices. The foundation of a Bible Society was laid at Berlin, in 1806, and received the sanction of his majesty the King of Prussia. To this institution, as to that of Nuremberg, 100/. was voted by the British and Foreign Bible Society. If this was the field of labour that lay before the society in Europe, when it passed over to Asia it beheld almost the whole of that wide continent yet to be possessed. Its first attention was drawn toward China, by the notice of a manuscript, in Chinese, existing in the British Museum, of the chief part of the New Testament, which it was at first proposed that the society should print, with the view of circulating it among 360 millions of people. It was found, however, that owing to the intricacy of the Chinese characters, this could only be done at the expense of two guineas 240 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. each volume, and the intention was relinquished until a future day. In the mean time, the indefatigable Dr. Morrison went to work in his cellar, at Canton, on a fresh translation, to which, however, the former was of some service. As we have before observed, God provided men for the secreta- ries, just such he needed; and now he provided suitable men for translators, or rather for the foundation of the work of translation ; for that, during the last half century, has in every version made progress hy decrees toward perfection. When Carey, Marshman, and Ward sat down to render the word of God into the jQfteen polished languages of India, with its millions of souls, that word existed only in the Tamil, the transla- tion of Schultze, the missionary of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The important territory in which the Tamil is spoken includes Madras, Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Madura, Tiunevelly, and Coimbatoor. It came under Bntish government in the year 1801, and the inhabitants have been estimated at more than six millions. They are chiefly Hindus of the Brahminical sect. The scarcity of the Scriptui'es in the Tamil country was first pressed upon the notice of the British and Foreign Bible Society, by Dr. Buchanan, in 1806. He speaks of ten or twelve thousand Protestant Christians, of whom not one in a hundred had a New Testament. In consequence, the committee bought up all the copies of the Tamil Scriptures that could be obtained, and sent them to Tanjore in 1810, where they were received with the most lively gratitude. The spirit in which the society's liberal grants of help to the missionaries and translators in India were made, is shown by the letter they wrote to accompany the gift : " The committee would by no means have you understand, that their design of aiding you in your glorious work is ended with these donations : on the con- trar}^, they consider your undertaking as vast and progressive, and are determined to sustain you in it, to the utmost of their ability, by liberal and successive supplies." This was a letter written in 1810. THE SCRIPTURES IN AMERICA. 2ilf Meanwhile, over tlie islands of the Pacific and the Indian Archipelago lay the vail of deep darkness. The state of Africa was that of unexplored ignorance, except that here and there the margin of the south was illumined by Bibles from Holland ; but for the interior there was no Bible. The only region upon which the light of revelation could be said in any degree to shine was the northern line," where Arabic is spoken ; for, although versions of the Coptic and Ethiopic had, as we have seen, in early times been made, yet by the mass of the people they were neither read nor understood. America, in her northern regions, fared more generously : the solonies of England were partially supplied. The Bible consti- tuted the inheritance of the magnificent Union of the States : the pilgrim fathers had conveyed it in the " Mayflower," in the year 1620 ; Oglethorpe bore it to Georgia, and thus it was embalmed in the memory of his people. Captain Norton, a chief of six na- tions of Indians in Upper Canada, translated the Gospel of John, into the Mohawk dialect — the current language of those six nations — and, in the first year of its existence, the Bible Society printed 2000 copies of this Gospel, for circulation in Canada. John Eliot's version of the New Testament, in the Virginian language, had been circulated in Massachusetts, in 1661, also to the number of 2000 copies; but in Mexico, the western isles, and the king- doms of the southern hemisphere, although the people were called Christians, and acknowledged a belief in revelation, few had ever seen a Bible. Such was the " immense range" on which the British and Foreign Bible Society looked forth in the year 1807; and, measuring, as they say, from north to south from Iceland to the Cape of Good Hope, or from east to west from Hindustan to Buenos Ayres, (China was not then open to the Bible,) " they saw no other limits to the beneficial operation of this institution, 21 242 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. than that which their funds might prescribe ; but they indulged the animating h )pe, that, by the progressive efforts of the society, in circulating the Holy Scriptures, ' the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea ' '' (Hab. ii. 14.) CHAPTER in. The Bibk Society's " Reports" not dull Books : What it is that they contain — The Sway of Great Britain and its Purpose — The World's Inhabitants, in Five Divisions — The Work of the Bible Society among each — The Way it is accomplished, by division of Labour, and by various Agents — The Bible So- ciety like the Banian Tree — Its Fibres taking root in the Protestant Countries, first in England, by the Bible Associations and Auxiliaries — The System gradually matured — Division of I)istricts — Ladies' Committee — The System of Co-operation — Objections to the Society — Lord Teignmouth's Answer — Mr. Dealtry's — Mr. Ward's — Operations at Home — Extracts from Reports of Collectors— The Dying Child— The Old Woman and the Wool— The Bible Bees — The Gun and the Bible — Mr. Dudley's Review — The Death of Mr. Owen — Distribution of the Scriptures in Ireland — Anecdotes. It is by no means easy to arrange and condense the mass of information which we wish to convey to your minds, concerning the rise and progress of this most magnificent of societies. You are not likely to read through sixteen volumes of " Re- ports,'^ five of " Monthly Extracts" from the correspondence of the society, Mr. Owen's three volumes of its History, and Mr. Dudley's admirable Analysis of its system. It is possible, that, in glancing at them in your fathers' libraries, you may have even thought them " dull books," or at least books which it did not concern you to examine; nevertheless, we shall try and make you wish to read them. These books contain in truthful detail the history of the pro-^ gress of Grod's word through the world — of the uttering of hia voice to all the earth. It is uttered in more majestic (because ic more perfected) form than it was to Israel at Sinai. The GREAT BRITAIN'S SWAY, AND ITS PljRPOSE. 243 whole Bible is ours, '^upon whom the ends of the world are come.'' We have not only a Pentateuch, but a New Testament; and " freely as we have received, freely we should give/' We are not as the Jews were — simply the early guardians of the oracles of God, but we are their dispensers to all the earth. For this God has raised Great Britain to her pre-eminence among the nations; for this has he placed under her island sway vast continents and distant climes, and has given her a dominion so extraordinary, that, as we trace its boundaries, its extent seems scarcely to be credible. The population of the British Isles alone is greater than that of Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Norway, added together ; and besides her home empire, England holds, in Uiirojje, the Chan- nel Isles, Gibraltar, Malta, and the Ionian Isles. In America, her possessions are Upper and Lower Canada, a territory larger than France and Spain ; New Brunswick, larger than Scotland ; Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, and New- foundland, comprehending together as great a space as England and Wales ; with the Hudson's Bay territory, extending to the pole ; thirteen islands in the West Indies, with the Bermudas, the Bahamas, and the Virgin Isles ; Honduras, larger than Hol- land; and British Guiana, the size of Wales. In Africa, Sierra Leone, in whose capital. Free-town, she has a community of 50,000 freed slaves. Cape Coast Castle, and the adjacent settlements; the islands of Ascension and of St. Helena ; Port Natal, and the Cape Colony, (equal in extent to France, and with a climate similar to that of Spain,) to which she has lately given a free constitution. In Asia, the Mauritius ; with other isles in the Indian Ocean ; Ceylon, the isle of palms, of spices, and of pearls, nearly equal in size to Scotland ; and India — a kingdom including 448,000 square miles, yielding a revenue exceeding the revenue of all the Russias, and whose governor-general has at his command an army of 300,000 men. Farther India, likewise, with its divisions of Malacca and Sin- gapore; Penang; ani Hong Kong, in China; with Australia. 244 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. the island continent, only to be compared in space with three- fifths of Europe; Yan Piemen's Land, as large as Ireland; and New Zealand, nearly the size of Great Britain itself. The Rev. Wm. Arthur, formerly a missionary in India, who has given a picture of this vast extent of power, in a lecture de- livered to the young men of London, observes, that " our Queen reigns over more Roman Catholics than the Pope, over more Mohammedans than the Sublime Porte, and over more Pagans than there are in the whole continent of Africa !" Now, it is for God's word's sake that Great Britain has been thus made the mistress of the world. Her people read with glowing hearts of her possessions and her conquests, often gained with comparatively little bloodshed, and as it were ceded to her ac- knowledged right, and feel the pride of Britons that they were born under her temperate and changeful skies. And can we possibly think the history of her noblest deeds, which these Bible Reports record, dull and unworthy to be read ? Surely those who read and love the Bible — those to whose hearts it has effectually revealed its tidings of great joy, and its solace in the hour of sorrow — those in whose homes it is the law of love, and the rule of faith and practice — 7ni(st care to know the history of that noble society whose object it is not only to distribute this Bible in every country of the world, but to put it into the hands of every human- being. You will look with reverence on a '' Bible Report,'' as it is called, if you are pi-epared to understand it — if you have in your mind's eye that portion of the earth, the wide continent, or the smiling island, to which- the word of God has been carried in its own language, whether for the first time, or in repeated abun- dance, and if you know what has been the need of the word there, which called for that supply — if you could see, also, the change which the reception of that word has produced, and, if it were a heathen country, the moral conduct, the upright dealing, the purer manners, and the decorous dress, which, as experience testifies, are " sure to follow, wherever the reading of the Bible becomes general." THE WORK OF THE BIBLE SOCIETY. 245 In order, therefore, to assist your memories, we shall divide the world into separate regions, not according to their geographi- cal order, but according to the general religious belief of their several inhabitants, and survey the proceedings of the Bible So- ciety within each range. "We must have five divisions — 1. The Protestant countries 2. The Jews, and remnants of ancient Christian Churches. 3. Those where the Roman Catholic religion and the Greek Church prevail. 4. The Mohammedan countries. 5. The Heathen or Pagan countries. What has been the work of the British and Foreign Bible So- ciety in each of these ? And in what way, and by whom, was it accomplished ? We must answer the latter question first. It has been accomplished upon the principle of division of labour. Fifty persons, as you have seen, are employed upon the mere paper and printing, and binding of a Bible. When the Book is in existence, as a book, it is scattered over the world by various agents. Many laborious servants of the society join to spread it abroad : — the missionary, in his exile from his friends and country, his own heart cheered by the Book, and his hand distributing it wherever he goes ; the travelling agent, " plying his unwearied round of visits," often amid those who care but little to receive them, but often also where he is warmly welcomed and encou- raged;— the depositary and accountant, with their assistants, working at their desks with tireless zeal and fidelity for a long term of years ; the invaluable secretaries, carrying on the corre- spondence with all nations ; the translators, who, in the land where the language is spoken, sit down to create first, perhaps, its grammar and its dictionary, nay, its very letters, before they can approach their noble task itself; then the colporteur, in various countries and in all weathers, exposed to numerous difficulties^ and hardships, sometimes received with welcome, it is true, bat 21* 246 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY at otlers with unkindness, and even menace, and sometimes subject to slanderous accusations and unjust imprisonment; then there are the unpaid collectors, the life-blood of the society, who also, for the true love of the work, engage in their weekly rounds, unnoticed save by Him for whose sake they labour. It is by all these that the seed is scattered ; '' the seed is the word,'^ and " the field is the world/' It is to the persevering labours of all these, as the Earl of Carlisle told us at the late memorable Jubilee meeting, that the nations owe their 8000 Bible Societies, their Bibles in 148 lan- guages, and their forty-six millions of copies — the fruit of the first half century of the existence of the Bible Society. Well might Mr. Dudley once compare it to ^' the sacred tree of India,* bending its branches to the earth, whence they again sprang forth, and extended their refreshing shade throughout the land,'' He meant the banian tree, the Jicus Indica, whose nature it is to cover with its branches a space sufficient to shelter a regi- The Banian Tree. *See Dudley's "Analysis," p. 135. ENGLAND. 247 ment of cavalry, and which is often used as a natural canopy for great assemblies. It was at an encampment under one of these trees, on the river feutlej, that Runjeet Singh, the robber chief, compelled Shah Sujah, the representative of a race of kings, to yield up to him the Koh-i-noor, that jewel which was the object of his insatiate ambition. It is said, that, for a whole hour, the exiled monarch gazed on Runjeet Singh, without speaking, who, still unmoved by this mute eloquence, insisted on his demand. The branches spread to a great extent, dropping their fibres here and there, which take root as soon as they reach the ground, and rapidly increase in size, till they rival the parent trunk, and cover a quantity of ground almost incredible. Reinwardt says, that he observed, on the island of Semao, in the Indian Archi- pelago, a large wood, whose trunks all proceeded from the stem of a single ficus, united with each other by their branches. The Bible Society may well be likened to this tree ! Let us see how its fibres took root in the Protestant countries of the world, during the first twenty-five yeai-s of its existence — in England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, half of Get-many, three- fifths of Prussia, three-fifths of Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland, in the United States of America, in Canada, and also in the West Indian Islands, subject to Dutch and Danish, Swedish and British sway. ENGLAND. During the first year of the Society , there were no Bibles issued — the printers being unable to complete their work. They did not then print by steam-presses. Stereotype plates were, at this time, made for the English Testament -, and its circulation was effected, at first, very much by the agency of individuals, and by Sunday-schools, as also by grants to the Naval and Mili- tary Bible Society, for the benefit of soldiers and sailors. As its Reports became public, its sphere of usefulness in- creased. The production of the first supply of Welsh and Gaelic Scriptures, ami their reception, have already been noticed. Some 248 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Bibles and Testaments were also provided at low prices for the inhabitants of the Isle of Man ; and two years after its forma- tion, i. e. in 1806, Its first fibre took root, and the committee acknowledged a donation from an association of young men in London, formed for the purpose of contributing to its funds. In the same year a similar contribution was received from the town of Birmingham, where a Bible Association had been formed ; and these voluntary associations, Mr, Owen says, ^^ contained the rudiments of AuxiHary Bible Societies.'' In the same year, and in 1807, further associations were established at Bath, Glasgow, and Greenock, which proposed to receive small monthly subscriptions ; and thus, by collective additions, the Parent Society, in its third year, told of an in- crease of 300/. in its annual subscriptions, while more than 1000/. came in from Wales, and 4000/. from Scotland. During the same year, also, a lady added a bequest of 1000 guineas, side by side with which appears the contribution of 18/. from the children and teachers of the Holborn Sunday-school. It is a memorable fact, that Juvenile Bible Associations constituted the earliest auxiliaries or helps to the Parent Institution, and have continued to the present day to pour their small but unfailing rills into that mighty river by which all the nations are refreshed. But it was reserved for the town of Reading, in Berkshire, to give to Great Britain and the world the first example of a regular Auxiliary Bible Society. Dr. Valpy, well known to many by his '' Latin Grammar," was also an earnest and early friend of the Bible Society. He first preached in its behalf, and de- clared its object ; and then, with other gentlemen, convened a meeting in the town-hall, under the sanction of the mayor, on the 28th of March, 1809, at which meeting it was determined to adopt, as far as possible, the rules and regulations of the Parent Society. Now this auxiliary had in view two principal objects — one to collect subscriptions (as the former associations had done) In aid of the general funds ; and the other, with half the money it should collect^ to purchase Bibles and Testaments from tha THE AUXILIARY SYSTEM. 249 Parent Society, to be distributed in its own town and neigh- bourliood. After the example of the Parent Society, it appointed a clergyman, a dissenting minister, and a layman, for its secre- taries. The year ending in May, 1810, saw the establishment of ten societies like this in England, and three in Scotland. But the system was not yet perfect; they had not determined on the way to find out the want of the Bible among the poor of their own neighbourhoods ; and Mr. Richard Phillips, who, in 1810, was elected a member of the Parent committee, was the first to point out the extent of usefulness to which this auxiliary system was capable of being applied. According to the plans which he proposed and published, and which were adopted by the society as their own, the respective auxiliary committees were recommended (for the Parent Institu- tion assumes no control over its dependent societies) to pursue the orderly and effective way of raising subscnptions, by dividing their town or neighbourhood into districts, and appointing two or more of their members as visitors in each, to make minute and personal inquiries among the habitations of the poor, and en- courage the sale of Bibles among them, at cost or reduced prices, in preference to absolute gift. The calls upon the licher part of the population were to be made in the same way, with a request for their support and appro- bation. A meeting of the committee was to be held every month, and a general and public meeting every year. To every auxiliary of this kind might be attached, if it em- braced a wide sphere of labour, twelve or more Bible Associations, to be carried on by the same rules and regulations. The Southwark Auxiliary Bible Society, established in 1812, afforded a fair example of the working of the system, which speedily extended itself over the kingdom of Great Britain. The members of the twelve associations connected with tl is auxiliary met monthly, each in their own committee, transacted their busi- ness, and passed over their collections to the auxiliary society, vhich again passed them to the Parent committee 250 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. For two years and a half these twelve committees, all composed of gentlemen, were in full operation, and the results were very cheering. Many thousand Bibles and Testaments were distri- buted, and 4600Z. was remitted to the auxiliary society. -Still, various cases occurred in which subscriptions could only be suita- bly solicited from females, by members of their own sex, and the consequent formation of ladies' associations, in Southwark, com- pleted the efficiency of that valuable auxiliary. Twelve committees of ladies then met, and conducted their own business, passing over the proceeds of their collections to the trea- surer of the gentlemen's committee, and these again to the auxi- liary, which, thus receiving twenty -four constant tributary streams, not only distributed large numbers of Bibles and Testaments in its own neighbourhood, but added greatly to the funds of the Parent Society. In Great Britain there are now 445 of these auxiliaries, with 2825 branches and associations ; therefore if you have had patience to follow the business-detail of the last two or three pages, and if you have gained an idea of the system of the British and Foreign Bible Society, as carried out in one place, you have only to multi- ply this idea in your mind, and conceive of thousands of such as- sociations at work, every week and every month, in many parts of the world. The establishment of the ladies' associations in Solithwark, in 1814, brings us to the beginning of those times of peace which have happily endured ever since in England. The machinery of the society was now perfect, and it has con- tinuea co act on the same principle and system ever since. Amid the calamities of an expensive war, its constitution had been tbus far matured, and its treasury supplied. Among con- victs at Portsmouth, felons in Newgate, and to all jails, hospitals, workhouses, and hulks, its gifts had been abundant. Meanwhile, you wou. i scarcely believe it, but this society had enemies, — men who, haidly knowing what they did, misunder- AN AMUSING TABLE. 251 stood and maligned it. Some earnest friends of the venerable and excellent Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, which, as we have seen, had circulated and translated Bibles as fajr as its funds would allow, conceived that the Bible Society interfered with its province, and diminished its income. This society waa supported, and still is, entirely by members of the Church of England. To this, Lord Teignmouth, an attached member of that church, and also the president of the committee in Earl-street, replied, that '' he was informed, and he believed most correctly, that the annual amount of subscriptions to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge had considerably increased since the esta- blishment of the Bible Society;" and the Bev. W. Dealtry, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in the form of an amusing fiible on the subject, strongly recommended a good understanding between the two societies. " Once upon a time," said he, '•'• in the midst of a parched and dreary land, there gushed from the top of a mountain a fine spring of water : the wilderness was converted into a garden, where it flowed, and verdure was the sure companion of its progress. '■'■ After some time, a similar stream began to flow from the summit of a neighbouring hill. It became the parent of many branching rivulets, which cheered the face of nature on every side, and carried happiness and abundance into the remotest lands. "The good old stream was a little touched with jealousy, and addressed its neighbour in the following terms : '■ Do you not know that you are intruding into a country which I have pre- occupied, and that you and your rivulets interfere with, impede. and curtail the inestimable benefits of grass and green fields which I have so happily promoted V " < Why,' said' the other, <■ how can that be ? Are not my streams as pure as your own, and does not the desert smile like- wise wherever I go V " ^Your streams do indeed profess to be pure, though I have BometliiDg, if I -•Voose, to say on that point; but I insist upon it» 252 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. that I am the good old stream, and that you are an interloper : I should not err much if I called you a thief/ " 'A thief! Have I ever stolen any thing from you?' " ^ Yes, you have : it can need no proof, that, if your mouth were closed, some of the water which now courses along your channels would, by filtration through the mountain, fall into mine/ " 'It is certainly very possible that some fifteen or twenty drops might have reached you by this underground filtration ; but see what a noble body of water I possess, and I employ the whole for the benefit of these parched and thirsty lands !' *' ' What business, I ask you, have you to flow at all ? I existed for ages before any one thought of you ; and I am by no means convinced, notwithstanding your imposing and devouring claims, that you confer any benefit whatever. Your very complexion is ofiensive; and, on the whole, you ofi'er great possibilities of evil, and are a very shabby current; yet, little as I admire you, I would rather that you would become a feeder to me, than move in this unauthorized manner through the world alone/ " 'My good friend, it is quite impossible : some of my rivulets might possibly be turned so as to fall into your channel, but there are copious branches, which, from the nature of the country, roll on in other directions, and cannot by any process be made to com- bine with yours ; neither, as I believe, would you be willing to receive them ; while, therefore, we carry cheerfulness and delight on every side, let us be content to pursue our own channels in quietness and peace/ " Lord Teignmouth's assertion, that the first society was bene- fited by the second, was shown to be true, by another clergyman, the Rev. W. Ward, rector of Mayland, near Colchester. ''I consider them," said he, ''not as rivals, but the reverse. I con- sider the new as helpful to the old, and that both will promote a more general difiusion of Christian knowledge. The harvest is great, and the Lord of the harvest seems now to be raising up a great host of labourers to reap it. The light of the gospel, which at present shines but on a speck, as it were, of the globe, is to ho COMP.\F.ATIVE ISSUES OP THE SCRIPTURES. 253 diffused over the face of the whole earth. Now, the funds drawn exclusively from the members of any one church, even from the Church of England itself", are not sufficient to this general diffu- sion of the gospel; but the unlimited resources of the Bible Society, the united contributions, legacies, and donations of all descriptions of Christians, can do wonders — can absolutely supply the place of miracles and the gift of tongues." "The object," continues this good man, "is so glorious, so grand, so sublime ! — the scheme is so full of the love of God, the love of our country, and the love of our fellow-creatures, — that it should have our last prayers when we lie down at night, and our first when we awake in the morning." Mr. Ward also showed, that, in 1803, the year before the Bible Society commenced, the subscriptions to the Christian Knowledge Society were 2119/., but that in 1809 they were 3113/. — an in- crease of above one-third; while, as to the issues of Bibles and Testaments, the issues from the old society alofte were, in 1803, 17,779, but in 1809 they were 22,611; while the sum-total of the Bibles, Testaments, and Psalters, circulated by both societies in 1809 was 99,883; — more Bibles, Testaments, and Psalters, issued in 1809 than in 1800, eighty-six thousand! This proof was unanswerable. The triumphant defence which the Bible Society had obtained, from the exertion of these distinguished advocates, contributed not a little to elevate the spirits of those on whom the toil and responsibility of conducting its affairs devolved; and they turned with renewed zeal to the field of exertion which lay before them in their own country, and in the wide, wide world. There was still great need of exertion at home. In the county of Flint, in a circle of ten parishes, 1300 families were found without a Bible, and similar investigations all over the country showed similar results; nevertheless, in 1817, the commif-ce stated, that, as the infancy of their society had given promise of a vigorous jouth, so the growth of thirteen years had amply con- firmed it. They looked round on the pleasing fruits of Christian union, and attributed to Divine favour alone, successes astonish- 22 264 THE BCOK AND ITS STORY. ing in their magnitude; for they found they had labourers for every soil, — coadjutors in every quarter of the globe. Such, indeed, was the interest which the British and Foreign Bible Society had excited, that the prayers of thousands attended its progress, and it'^ extinction would have been felt as a calamity all over the world. The minute-books of the ladies' committees, whose members fin 1 easy access to the cottages of the poor, and an earnest welcome from their inmates, tell many a touching tale. They prove that collectors of Bible Associations are almost in- variably greeted with joy, and that, punctual in their weekly visits, they are sure to find their humble subscribers ready with their money, and grateful for the trouble they take to call for subscriptions, and bring the Bible to their doors. Some say, ''The Bibles delivered this month were thought most beautiful." One woman exclaimed, "I am sure I should never have had my Bible in any other way; and if I had to come to you, instead of your coming to me, I much fear I should not have begun yet." In another district, a poor woman, showing signs of indifference whether she possessed the Scriptures or not, was accosted by her son, a little boy, who said, ''Mother, if you do not subscribe for a Bible, I must." He thus persuaded his mother to pay her first penny. A subscriber to the Reading Ladies' Bible Association related the following incident to one of the collectors : — "A few weeks ago, a young man came to my shop, when the subject of the Bible Society was mentioned. On this his indigna- tion was immediately kindled, and he expressed the bitterest feel- ing against it. Remonstrance with his passion would then have been useless : we were silent, and he left us. My little girl was then lying on her death-bed, and though young in years, was old in Christian experience. I mentioned the circumstance to her, and asked her what should be done. ' Oh, father T she replied, ^ miser ibe for a Bible for him.' This we did; and when I pre- sented it to the young man, I told him of the desire of the dying (jhild. He receivod it with gratitude, took it home, read itj and THE WIDOW AND THE WOOL. 255 read it to liis fellow- servants, who soon wished to possess it for themselves. He brought me six shillings for this purpose, and we received it with gladness, believing that it is the work of God, and that nothing shall impede its triumphant progress." The mother of a large and helpless family regularly subscribed for a Bible, during four months. She was frequently asked whether, indeed, she could spare the weekly penny, and her reply was, '^I never miss it; we were very poor indeed wnen J began to subscribe, but this book seems to have brought a bless ing into the house; we were very lonely without it." You may also like to hear the history of the old woman and the wool. A poor widow living on the side of the Black Moun- tains, in Caermarthenshire, attended a public meeting. She had only one shilling in her possession, part of which she intended to lay out to buy wool for making an apron, and the other part in candles, that she might see to spin it in the evenings, after finish- ing her day's work with the farmers. Having heard the speakers describe the sad condition of the poor heathen without Bibles, she felt for them so much, that she determined to give sixpence out of her shilling to the collection, thinking that she would do with- out the apron for some time longer, and spin her wool by day- light, when the summer evenings came. As the speaker pro- ceeded, the old woman felt more and more, till at last she de- termined to give the shilling altogether; ^^ because," she said, "I can do better without an apron, than the heathen can without the word of God." She cheerfully gave her shilling, went home, and slept comfortably that night. At daybreak the following morning, a neighbouring farmer called at her door, and said, "Peggy, we have had a dreadful night; several of my sheep have been carried away by the flood. There are two lying quite dead in the hedge of your garden. You may take them if you like, and you will get some wool from them." She thankfully ac- cepted the gift; and thus she had wool enough to make three or four aprons, and tallow to make candles to spin it. As no one knew what she had done the day before but herself and her God, sh« looked upon that occurrence as a very kind providence toward her 250 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. And now^ liere is another history, just as good, about the Bible- bees. In the year 1809, at the formation of a Bible Association at Barton in LincolnsUre, before Mr. and Mrs. W. went to the meeting, Mrs. W. said to Mr. TV., "We must give a guinea to the Bible Society." "Nay/' said her husband, "that is too much; the rich do not give more than a guinea, and we are not rich; it will even look like ostentation in us to give so much." "Still," said Mrs. W , "if you will not give it, I will" "And where are you to get it?" said he. "I have it by me," said she; "do you not remember that you gave me a guinea, with which to buy a hive of bees; now, I will give that guinea to the Bible Society." "Then," said Mr. W., "you will go without youi bees." "It is well," said Mrs. W.; "for I love the Bible So- ciety better than I should love the bees." So they went to the Bible-meeting, and the guinea was given. They had no sooner reached home, than the wife said to her husband, "Oh ! see ! A swarm of bees has settled on our beech- tree : if no one claims them in four-and-twenty hours, the swarm will be mine." No one did claim them, and they were hived. A day or two afterward, Mr. W. said to his wife, "It appears to me very remarkable that Providence should send to us, just now, that swarm of bees. Suppose we dedicate these bees to the Bible Society ?" To this Mrs. W. gladly gave her consent. The first year, the hive produced two swarms, and they gave two guineas to the Bible Society ; the second year, the three hives produced ten swarms, and they gave ten guineas to the Bible Society. It was then proposed to them, that instead of giving a guinea for each swarm, they should keep a regular account of debtor and creditor, placing the expenses of hives, &c., on one side, and the produce of wax and honey on the other. In the third year, hav- ing had some loss from two or three of the swarms dying in the winter, the honey and wax sold only for 7?., which was given to the society. In the fourth year, the produce was 11^., which was also given to the society. In 1835, Mr. and Mrs. W. removed into Wiltshire, and the THE GUN AND THE BIBLE. 257 bees were then left under the care of other persors. The Rev. Mr. Methuen of Devizes mentioned that the society had received ten guineas from the Bible-bees^ both in 1836 and 1837. In the Monthly Extracts is recorded a mournful incident oc- curring in a district in Cornwall, where there was not a Bible Association. A young man, engaged in the mines, had become the subject of serious impressions, and wished to possess a Bible of his own. He had fixed his choice on the quarto edition, at 22s., which he found he could have from Truro, and had laid by 16s., when, in an evil hour, he fell into bad company, and was tempted to buy a gun with his savings for the Bible. His parents remonstrated, but in vain. The first day he went out with it, his worthless gun exploded, the stock was shivered, and a part of it penetrated the forehead of the unhappy lad, who in an instant fell a lifeless corpse. Ah ! had there been a faithful collector calling at his door, she would have received his Qd. or Is. as he put it by from his earnings, and the Bible — the blessed Bible — might have been furnished instead of the awful instrument of death ! It would be easy to multiply incidents : the difficulty lies only in selecting them. Every one, who has ever been a steady and patient collector of weekly pence from the poorer classes, whether to supply them with Bibles for themselves, or to afibrd them an opportunity of casting their mite, precious as the poor widow's, into the treasury of Grod, will be able to add to such records from his own practical knowledge. Whatever be the cause to which we contribute labour, and for whose sake we exercise self-denial, we acquire a deep interest in it : but this is especially true of the Bible Society, from the vast importance and singleness of its object, and its ever-extending influence. When Mr. Dudley, who had been one of the most indefatigable agents in planting and regulating these tributary committees, looked round him in the year 1821, he spoke of 1000 Bible As- sociations organized in th^ United Kingdom, of 600 similar iusti- 258 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. tutions in other quarters of the globe, of 900,000/. expended in this noble effort to circulate the word of God, and of the transla- tion, printing, and distribution of the whole, or portions of that word, into eighty languages and dialects, in which it had never before been printed; and he also announced the fact, that, in the seventeen years since its formation, it had just doubled the supply of the Scriptures which it found in existence at the period of its birth. In the year 1824, the committee thus addressed their sub- scribers : ^'The true state of the world has been brought more fully to light than before. A view has been obtained, that, however great and however commendable your past labours may have been, re- duces them to a cipher, and makes them still appear but as the sowing of the grain of mustard-seed, — a view that might appal the stoutest heart, were it not written, ^ I am with you ; fear not,' and, ' Is any thing too hard for the Lord ?' He who has shown you such great things will show you yet greater : your success must only incite you to more earnest, more zealous, more cheerful exertion than ever." On the 3d of August, 1827, a branch association was established at Jarrow colliery. Sixty families were found destitute of the Scriptures. This place is rendered sacred as having been the residence of the Venerable Bede, the first translator even of parts of the Bible for the Anglo-Saxons, and the mind is led with de- vout gratitude to contrast the facilities now enjoyed for multiply- ing and distributing the sacred volume in that locality, with the barbarism and ignorance which at a former period impeded the progress of Divine truth. In the twenty-fourth Report, fifty new societies were said to have been added to those already existing ; yet, notwithstanding the vast number of copies diffused through the nation, the demand was not nearly satisfied, — a fact which proved that there had been a great destitution of the Scriptures in the community, and that a desire to possess the Holy Book had been created and extended to a wonderful degree DEATH OF RE 7. JOHN OWEN. 259 ^' There is sometliing at once grand and inspiring in the thought, that the written voice of God, the best book in the world, has acquired, in mere number of copies, an immense superiority over every other book in the world, placing itself by all the good books to improve their usefulness, and by all the bad ones to bajffle their malignity • and this in contrast to the times when millions of each successive generation passed through life, and out of it, without any dissatisfaction that they had never read, or that they had never been able to read, one chapter or verse of the Bible. '^ At the close of the year 1822, the society had to mourn the loss of its clerical secretary, the Rev. John Owen, by the un- sparing hand of death. He had for some time been declining in strength, — the combined result of excitement, fa- tigue, and anxiety. No frame could have with- stood the exhausting and destructive efforts of la- bours so varied, so ex- tensive, and so incessant, as those in which he had been eighteen years en- gaged. A brief amend- ment gave hope to his friends and admirers cf a perfect recovery ; but the vital energy seemed spent Owen. in the meridian of his course, and the lamp of life only flick 3red for a while to dwindle and disappear. " Those are the things," saic hs to his attached co-secretary, Mr. Hughes, who was then laying hold of his dry, cold hand, and comforting him with the passage, "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory," " Those are the things ," said he, when death prevented him from finishing the sentence. He had done the work of a long life in those few yeais. It ui 260 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. strange that no biographer has yet be<3n found to tell its tale; foi he seems to have been universally beloved and deeply regretted by all who knew him. He had been given of God to the society on the very day of its formation, and had guided it with wisdom and unwearied energy during its early and critical years, and he left it towering in its strength, — the noblest moral pyramid that the nations of earth ever combined to build. If, when there was no written word of God to be circulated on the earth, on the tower of Babel was inscribed Confusion, there is now graven Union on the vast pile of the British and Foreign Bible Society ; and the noblest names of earth would be ho- noured, could they claim to be written on the stones that compose it. Those of Owen, Hughes, and Steiukopff are deeply traced upon its base ; and our young friends may remember, that there is room yet for many a name more, of those who shall become its devoted and faithful servants, seeking not honour from men, but only the praise of Him who secth in secret. This pyramid is still building. It shall never be finished till the day when '' the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea." IRELAND. The committee early turned their thoughts to the Roman Catholics of Ireland, among whom there was said to be a Bible to about every 500 families. Their informant then stated, that to print an Irish Bible, at that time, would be of but little use, for the people, if they read at all, read English. The society transmitted to a clergyman in Ireland 1000 copies of the Pro- testant New Testament, and found that they might be circulated among the Roman Catholics of Ireland with little difiiculty. One thousand copies of a smaller Testament were also granted to schools in Ireland, which were numerously attended by Roman Catholic children. In 1813, most zealous and successful exertions seem to have been made in Ireland, for the circulation of the Scriptures. The number of Bible Societies, in connection with the Hibernian So. SIX months' service for a testament. 261 ciety, rose from eight to thirty-five, and the number of Bibles and Testaments issued was 40,000. What had been the previous need of the Scriptures, may be gathered from the following anecdote : — " A young man, bred a Catholic, having learned to read, and a New Testament happening to lie neglected in his master's house, it became the constant companion of his leisure hours. His apprenticeship to his master, a linen-weaver, being finished, he begged the New Testament as a reward for his faithful ser- vices. The master refused to give it to him, unless he served six months longer. The young man, thinking that a New Tes- tament might be obtained on easier terms at Castlebar, declined this, and made diligent inquiry at all the shops to find one. Alas ! not a Testament was for sale at that time in the principal town of a populous county in Ireland ! He could not live without it; it was never absent from his thoughts; he dreamed of no- thing else ; and, finding no rest, he returned to his master, and agreed to serve him for the Testament six months more.'' A gentleman of respectability in Ireland vouched for this as a fact, in a letter dated 24th December, 1811. He adds that "the young ilian became, and continues, a steadfast and exemplary Protestant." In 1812, the Bible Society sent 1525 Bibles and Testaments to Londonderry, to be sold at half their cost. A coiTcspondent says : " The times are trying to the poor ; yet many who come to Derry market, to buy food for their children, came to my house, and said in my hearing, ' We will buy a little less meal, and take home the word of God with us, as we may never get Testaments for Id. each again.' Several of the common beggars bought Testaments with the halfpence they begged in the streets About 200 of these, books have been sold to Roman Catholics. Do not leave me to the chiding of the people, without a fresh supply : 1525 more will not last me a month. Oh ! may God bless his word everywhere, and abundantly reward the work of faith and labour of love of the British and Foreign Bit le Society !" 262 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. In 1815, it was stated that the Irish had manifested an in- creased anxiety to read the Scriptures in their native tongue; and the committee determined to print an edition of the whole Bible in the Irish language. In 1821, it was said, " Seven counties in Ireland yet remain strangers to the beneficent labours of the Bible Society, and eight more are but partially supplied ; so that in the greater proportion of fifteen counties, the influence of the society is not yet expe- rienced. Still much was doing in Ireland." " The ladies of Dublin,'^ say the Parent committee, " were the first agents in this kingdom, who, nobly casting away all apprehension, and committing themselves to the protection of Almighty God, made the experiment of female influence in disseminating the word of God among the poor; and,'' it is added, ''in their very great success they have already enjoyed more than a compensation for all their sacrifices, and their example has not been lost to the country. '^ In the Reports of the Hibernian Bible Society for 1827, it was said, " We are now given to see, as it were, the fruits of the labour bestowed for many years past upon this country. May God grant that it may prove to be the first-fruits of an abundant harvest ! The circulation of Bibles here, this year, is 40,000 copies." This Report also mentions, that, on occasion of some recent discussions on religious subjects, which took place in Ire- land, scholars were in the habit of borrowing, night after night, every Bible in their schools, in order that their parents and friends might compare one passage of Scripture with another ;— Buch Bibles being invariably returned on the following morning. CHAPTER IV. The Bible Society in Holland — Prayer for Bible Societies — Germany — Its Re- ligious State previous to the Existence of the Bible Society — Dr. Schwabe's Tour — Mr. Owen's Letters — Prussia — Royal Patronage — Switzerland — An- tistes Hess — Dr. Steinkopff's Report — Lausanne Bible Society — Sweden — Norway — Iceland — Mr. Henderson's Letters — Denmark — The United States of America. HOLLAND. We have now to pass on to the continent, and there observe what had been the labours of Mr. Owen and those of his coadju- tors among the nations of Europe, and their correspondence with the world in general, during the first five-and-twenty years of the existence of the Bible Society, taking first, as we have proposed, the Protestant countries. The Parent committee in their tenth Report announced that a Bible Society had been formed at Amsterdam, for the purpose of supplying the Holy Scriptures, in English, to the British churches in Holland, and of promoting the establishment of a Dutch Bible Society, which might furnish the Scriptures to the poor of the Netherlands in their own language, and circulate the game to all nations. The Prince of Orange became the patroc of the English Bible Society in Holland, and its directors con- sisted of Englishmen and Dutchmen of the first respectability. The British and Foreign Bible Society ofiered to this newly- formed society a grant of 500 Bibles and 1000 Testaments, and promised the sum of 5G0Z., as a donation, on the establishment of a National Bible Society. When the committee's correspond- ent mentioned this liberal ofier, in the presence of three of the wealthiest citizens of Amsterdam, one of them shed tears, another seemed overcome with astonishment, and the third exclaimed^ '' The English are a pattern to all nations V 1C3 264 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Rotterdam, the Hague, and other cities of the United Nether- lands, soon afterward became the seats of zealous auxiliaries. Thirty-two Bible Associations were formed in the city of Amster- dam and its suburbs. The Bible Society had issued an edition of 5000 copies of the Dutch New Testament in 1809, chiefly for the use of prisoners of war in England. Considerable numbers of the copies were afterward forwarded to the Cape of Grood Hope, and were most thankfully' received; for it was ascertained that not a single Dutch Bible could be obtained for money throughout that ex- tensive colony. On receipt of this intelligence, the society immediately commenced a large edition of the entire Dutch Bible. In 1819, in the town of Hoorn, in Holland, scarcely a single servant could be found without the Scriptures : 350 Bibles had been placed in the workhouse; and the large halls of that insti- tution, formerly filled with disgraceful mobs, now resounded with hymns of praise. The society at Rotterdam had upward of 1000 members. Sunday-schools promoted Scripture reading, and a Bible was reckoned the highest reward for diligent scholars. Schoolmasters in Zigp were ordered not to let a day pass without reading a chapter to the children, ''for the Bible iiilaces every one in the sphere 2vhere he ought to he: it is in itself the best rule, the most faithful counsellor, and the safest refuge.'' In the Netherlands, in 1820, a certain day in October waa appointed, throughout the whole kingdom, to offer up, at six o'clock in the evening, prayers and supplications to God for the success of the circulation of the Bible. In 1821, the Dutch Society furnished with the Scriptures all the sufferers by a dreadful inundation that occurred in the coun- try; and a very active Marine Bible Society was formed for the benefit of persons engaged in the shipping. They also undertook version of the New Testament for Java, and a Malay version for Amboyna, in both of which the society afibrded them aid. "Let us therefore," say they, ''continue to communicate the RELIGIOUS STATE OF GERMANY. 265 Bible to all classes of people, without exception. The heavenly comfort it contains will not be felt and valued more in palaces than under the thatched roofs of cottages. The Bible is indeed a Divine legacy to the whole human race." (May, 1822.) GERMANY'. During the war, correspondence was opened in different parts of Germany, to ascertain the want of the Holy Scriptures, particu- larly among Protestants; and through the untiring labours of the Foreign secretary. Dr. Steinkopff, the society commenced its operations in various quarters. The numerous calls from the poor for the Scriptures were met by grants of money and Bibles from England, to the amount of 2712Z. New editions of the German Bible were likewise undertaken at Basle and Berlin. The religious state of Germany, when the society's agent first entered it, was that of almost universal apostasy from the saving doctrines of the gospel of Christ, even in the Protestant German churches. Rationalism had taken the place of Divine revela- tion. Her professors of theology and her doctors of divinity were, alas! the propagators of that infidelity which, for three generations, had filled her pulpits and her schools with error: they had poisoned the literature of the nation at its source, and altered the very hymns and catechisms of the reformers. Then it was that the agents of the Bible Society began to spread the word of God, without note or comment, as the most powerful of all means for stemming this tide of neology. The remnant of pious Christians, who had not bowed the knee before the Baal of the times, gladly welcomed them, and willingly joined in the work; but the indifference prevailing among all classes on the subject of religion was a great obstacle to the spread of the Scriptures; the churches were nearly empty in all parts of the countfy; and it was no easy matter to persuade the people to purchase and read even the Bible ! Bible Societies in Germany being established from this time, we hear of more frequent inquiry among the poor, for the Gcr- 23 266 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. man Scriptures^ than had hitherto been known ti exist. Meaa- while, the various German committees were assisted with fre- quent grants of money, and the poor exiles from Hamburg, and the sufferers by war, in different parts of the country, were sup- plied with copies of the Scriptures, which were most thankful-/ received. The Rev. Dr. Schwabe, who made a tour of inquiry for the society, on the continent, often along the track of country through which the retreating and pursuing armies had passed, describes the ruined villages, the lost Bibles, the scattered schools, the churches even left without the Scriptures necessary to the per- formance of Divine worship. He established a Bible Society at Erfurt, his native town, and the locality of Luther's monastery, once well supplied with Bibles, but where the destitution was then great. Among the mines of Salfeld, children came to bring him, with tears of joy, the whole little treasure they had gained by picking ore, in exchange for a Bible. Among the silver-mines at Freyberg, among the orphan chil- dren at Dresden, and in many other towns and villages, this agent dispensed the bounty of the society. A great part of the ground over which he passed had not before been visited by any Bible agent; and through evidences like these of the sympathy of Great Britain with this suffering country, Germany learned to view her with no less admiration when holding out the palm and the olive-branch, than when girt with the sword of war, and strikins: terror into the hearts of her enemies. Attached to the fifteenth Report of the Bible Society, are a series of letters received from the Rev. John Owen, while on a tour on the continent, which was undertaken partly with a view of restoring his failing health. During his journey, he greatly aided the interests of the society, to which, ''living and dying, he was unalterably devoted." He vavelled in the times when it took two days and a half to get from Calais to Paris, where he visited Professor Kieffer, in his study, — finding him engaged in the revision of the Turkish New Testament, 'collating it with Greek, English, German, French, Tartar^ Arabic, and Persian THE PRUSSIAN BIBLE S0CIE7Y 267 Mr. Owen also paid t v^isit to one "who laid hold/' as he says, "on his warmest affections/' — to Pastor Oberlin, and his Ban de la Roche. Two of his letters are dated from Basle in Switzer- land, which he calls "the favoured asylum of sound learning, evangelical piety, and Christian friendship.'' He offered to their Bible Society a contribution from London of 500/., to assist them in printing the quarto German Bible, and presided at a meeting, at which were present the great and good men of the city, with. Dr. Pinkerton and the Rev. Mr. Blumhardt, who gave an account of their tours in Germany and Holland. The German Bible Societies continually increased in number, and were favoured with much royal patronage; yet still the supply of the Scriptures was not equal to the demand, in many parts of impoverished Germany. The president of the Giessen Society laments that, in ten villages, an entire copy of the Bible is rarely to be seen. The gratitude evinced for the gift of the Scriptures is seldom shown more earnestly than it was by a poor German workman, who had been presented at the anniversary of the Neuweid Society with a Bible, and brought fifteen silver groschen to the clergyman whose ministry he attended, saying it was his "little all," but that he felt bound to offer it to the Bible Society, in gratitude for that excellent Book which he had re- ceived from it the year before. PRUSSIA. The Prussian Bible Society was established in August, 1814. "The first clergyman in the city, Probst Hanstein, rose with a Bible in his right hand, and represented with striking eloquence the floods of infidelity and wickedness, the ravages of war, and the general misery under which the Prussians had suffered for so many years, and pointed out, as the source of all those sins and sorrows, the disrespect and contempt which had been poured upon that best of all books — the Bible." This account is contained in a letter from the Rev. Dr. Pinker- ton, who, with Messrs. Paterson and Henderson, had been intro- 268 THE BOOK AND ITS sTORY. duced to the Bible Society, in tlie year 1812, and liad proved its invaluable foreign agents. All three were natives of Scotland. The introduction of the Scriptures into the schools of Prussia was effected by a decree promulgated by Frederick William III., the first Grerman sovereign who became the patron of Bible So- cieties. In 1817, the Prussian Bible Society continued, diligently and successfully to pursue its course. Twenty auxiliaries were added to it before the expiration of its second year, and one of these had seven branches ! The British and Foreign Bible Society offered to- its members a grant of 500^. They were engaged in printing the German Bible, Luther's version, and also an edition of the Scriptures in the dialect of the Wends in Lusatia, which the Prussian secre- tary said was "one of the most useful works ever undertaken." Though the higher classes in the country speak German, the lower speak Wendish. They are a people who have a particular objection to the Bible without the Apocrypha, and are remarkable for their indifference to the New Testament, when printed alone The London committee observed, with admiration and gratitude, the steady march by which the Prussian Society advanced toward the attainment of its object. For much of its success it was in- debted, under the blessing of God, to the warm and decided en- couragement which it received from his Prussian majesty and several branches of the royal family, besides the personal co-opera- tion of ministers of state, dignified clergy, and numerous persons of property and influence. The Bible Society has never especially courted royal patronage; it can do without it: but when we consider its object — the circu- lation of the word of Him ''by whom kings reign, and princes decree justice," — it is meet that crowned heads should cast into rts treasury, and that it should comprise, within its vast con- stituency, alike the hearts of kings and of peasants. In 1821, Dr. Steinkopflf, in a tour, attended the anniversary of the Prussian Bible Society, which had then translated the Bible into five languages. The number of auxiliaries was thirty-eight, SWISS SOCIETIES. 269 and if- had distributed 50,000 Bibles and 38,000 Testaments. His majesty the King of Prussia had declared to the Bishop ol Potsdam, that he rejoiced to support Bible Societies in his do- minions, because he considered them one of the most peaceful and efficacious means of cherishing a spirit of order and piety among his people. SWITZERLAND. From a very early period, the objects of the Bible Society had met with a warm sympathy in Switzerland : kindred institutions rapidly sprang up in all its principal cantons and cities, and the Scriptures were making silent but effectual progress, even amid the confusion and disasters occasioned by a desolating war. The Zurich and the St. Gall Bible Societies were diligent and liberal in their distributions. The Rev. Antistes Hess, senior of the Zurich clergy, wrote, in 1815, a letter to Lord Teignmouth, in which, after alluding to the work of the Bible Society, " as promoting the increase of the invisible Church of Christ, which is limited by no boundaries of countries, or national dissimilitudes, or peculiarity of form and ritual,'^ he says, "Permit an old man to speak also a little of himself. I have, from my very youth up, had a great desire to visit two countries, in preference to all. others, viz. Palestine and Britain ; — Palestine, on account of its having been the scene of the miracles of our Lord ; and Britain, on account of its inhabit- ants, who have rendered themselves so illustrious in the cause of the Bible : yet I have not been permitted to see either. In some measure, however, I have obtained my desire, partly by corre- spondence, but particularly, as regards England, by reading the most interesting works written by your countrymen, and of which I have a select library.'' A correspondent of the Bible Society, at Lausanne, says : " The plan of the British and Foreign Bible Society was first imperfectly developed to me, at an annual meeting of the clergy of Geneva ; and being struck witli its high importance and noble aims, I was 23-» 270 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. anxious that my country also should participate in its benefits. An English lady, who was well acquainted with its plan, pro- gress, and principles, soon afterward presented me with ten of its Annual Reports, and, with an English guinea, laid the founda- tion-stone of our society. We have now distributed 227 Bibles and 271 Testaments. A minister of one of our villages thus writes : * We do indeed require a Bible Society in the canton de Vaud. Since that excellent law has fallen into disuse, which compelled every couple to produce their Bible at the altar, many families are without it in the villages of the Jura, where they no longer read the Scriptures even on the Lord's-day, or during the violent storms, as was once the custom. In many ancient families they used to sanctify the hour of dinner, on the Sabbath, by read- ing the word of God : this was done by the youngest member of the family, who always dined first. This habit has been neglected really for want of books.' " Another correspondent thus writes: ^^I was singularly struck with your idea of introducing young children to assist in founding the Bible Society. It is for two young orphans that I desire this favour, — Jeanne Isaline Zink, and Jean Louis Zink. On offering each the moderate sum of 2s. 6tZ., may they be admitted into your honourable society ? — and I will take care to instil into their minds, that, having been received in the years of weakness and infancy, they are bound to devote to its service those of maturity and strength." The Report of the Lausanne Bible Society, in 1824, states, that it was one of the chief designs of the original founder, that, in a canton containing a population of 160,000 inhabitants, not a single family should be unprovided with the Sacred Scriptures; but though, since 1815, upward of 6000 Bibles and far more New Testaments have been circulated, the design is still far from being accomplished, SWEDEN. Mr. Paterson found in Sweden, a destitution of the Scriptures truly mournful. In 1812, it was calculated there might possibly THE SWEDISH BIBLE SOCIETY. 271 be a copy of tlie Scriptures among every eighty-one persons. The Swedish Bible Society was then formed, and was assisted, like the others, by the British and Foreign Bible Society. This produced such gratitude in the breasts of the people, that when, in the above year, Sweden had been forced to make peace with France, and to declare war against England, and the usual war-prayer was read in all their churches, the people inquired who were their enemies; and being informed that the English were intended, ^*No ! no V exclaimed they; 'Hhe English are not our enemies ! They are our best friends; they sent us corn to sow our land when we had consumed all our reserve; they sent us medicine and blankets for our sick and wounded ; and now, more than all, they have sent us the Bible !" They said they could not use that war-prayer, and it was discontinued accordingly. At the commencement of the present century, the religious con- dition of Sweden, as well as of other countries, had been at a low ebb, owing to the system of philosophy prevalent at the time. The reading of the Sacred Scriptures was generally neglected, for the few who possessed the treasure held it in contempt, and it was comparatively scarce among the mass of the people. It was an expensive book, and few could afford to buy it; added to which, the teachers of religion declared that the common people had nc need of it, and that it would do them more harm than good. Mr. Paterson met with many difficulties, but he succeeded so far as to form an Evangelical Society, whose immediate object it was to publish religious tracts. The Swedish Bible Society was esta- blished in the year 1814, and the number of Bibles it issued soon proved that the gloomy forebodings expressed with regard to the circulation of the Bible, unaccompanied with apocryphal books, were without foundation. In 1818, the committee of the Swedish Bible Society say: "A name which we have all learned to reverence, is that of the Bri- tish and Foreign Bible Socieff/, — the Parent Societ}' of every Bible Institution throughout the world. We have this year received from them 300Z. and powerful aid in support of our auxiliary so- cieties. We have, therefore, beev enabled this year to publish 272 THE BOOK AND ITS. STORY. 13,000 Bibles and 5000 Testaments, making 160,000 Bibles and Testaments, since the commencement of the society/' In 1824, there is an account of Bibles distributed greatet than in any preceding year. The Hernosand Ladies' Bible So- ciety, the first of the kind instituted in Sweden, continued its progress with uninterrupted success. The president of the Stockholm Society, Count Bosenblad, spoke much to Dr. Pinkerton of the ^'pleasing effect that had already resulted from the labours of the Swedish Bible Society, and the great change that had taken place in many minds in favour of the sacred writings and of Christianity, — the voice of infidelity being less frequently heard both in public and in private circles.'^ He adds : " I conceive the present to be a serious crisis, which will perhaps determine, for centuries, the moral state of mankind. Grod is abundantly sowing the good seed, but the enemy is no less active in sowing tares. Had not Bible Societies been established, through the merciful providence of God, to counteract the evils of ignorance and infidelity, to what a state of degradation must the world have sunk at this moment V NORWAY. A grant of the Holy Scriptures was made to the poor of Nor- way, by the British and Foreign Bible Society, in 1812; but the example set in Sweden soon extended itself to the sister kingdom of Norway, under the liberal patronage of the crown- prince, from whom it received a munificent donation. The foundation of the Norwegian Bible Society was laid in 1816. Support was speedil}^ and regularly furnished by the committee in London, up to the year 1828, when, in consequence of the decision of the British and Foreign Bible Society not to assist in the circulation of the Apocrypha, the Norwegian Society com- menced an independent agency of its own. Previously to this, however, large numbers of copies of the Scriptures had been circulated, and measures adopted for the translation of the Ne^ Testament into the Norwegian-Lapponese dialect- EDUCATION IN ICELAND. 273 ICELAND. But we musi now turn to this large and interesting island of the North Atlantic Ocean, crossed by its ridges of rugged mountains, with its population scattered on the banks of the fiords or inlets of the sea, which run up toward the glaciers of the interior. Iceland contains an area of 30,000 square miles. It is divided into 305 parishes, and its centre is a dreary desert, through which one may travel far, without meet- ing any trace of human existence. You have heard, perhaps, of its magnificent glaciers, its boiling springs, its burning moun- tain, and its forests of a former age. The Icelanders are the genuine descendants of the old Norsemen, and their language is still pure as they imported it from Norway, in the ninth century. About the year 1057, Isleif, the bishop of Skalholt, intro- duced among them the art of writing, at the same time with the Latin lano-uao-e. The feats of their ancestors were recorded in songs, like those of the Druids ; their historical compositions were called '^ sagas," and literature was cultivated as soon as they acquired the art of writing. The corrupted Christianity of the times was established in Iceland, in A. D. 1000. In 1529, the art of printing was introduced, and, in 1550, the Lutheran Reformation reached these frozen shores, which led to the overthrow of the convents, and the loss of many valuable national manuscripts. Elementary education, with a certain degree of superior in- formation, is very generally spread among the Icelanders. Chil- dren are educated by their parents, with the assistance of the parish clergyman; and, owing to their unchanged language, the humblest peasant can read and understand the most ancient written documents on the island. In the '■'■ Young Edda," a composition of the eleventh century, it is said of the Anglo- Saxons and the Icelanders, '■'• ^Ycr erimi eimiar^ tungUy^ ^' We are of one tongue." Oddur, the son of a bishop of Holum, in Iceland, was edu- 274 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. cated in Norway, and shared in the sensation which the doc fcrines of the Reformation \ "oduced through the north of Europe. We are told that for three nights, on his knees, he besought the " Father of lights" to open the eyes of his understanding, and show him whether the principles of Rome, or- of Luther^ were from heaven; and afterward repairing to Germany, h^ attended the lectures of Luther and Melancthon. On his return to Iceland, he entered upon a translation of the Scriptures ; and, to avoid persecution, he commenced his important labours in a small cell in a cow-house. He completed a version of the New Testament, in 1539; but finding it impossible, from the force of public opinion, to print it in Iceland, he sailed for Denmark, and published it under the patronage of King Christian III. He also translated and printed the 53d chapter of Isaiah. The entire Bible was not printed in Iceland till 1584, and Oddur's translation of the New Testament was adopt- ed in this version. This edition consisted of 1000 copies, and has been called " a faithful mirror of Luther's Grcrman version.'' Five editions of the Icelandic Bible were published after this, some of them of 2000 copies each, and the latest in the year 1750. Still, in the year 1806, the following is the report of the scarcity of the Scriptures : — At this period, the Rev. E. Henderson and the Rev. J. Pater- son, who had devoted themselves to the mission-field of India, visited Copenhagen, with a view to obtain a passage to Tranque- bar. Disappointed in doing this, their attention, during their stay in Denmark, was directed to Iceland, whose population, con- sisting of 46,000 persons ahle to read, almost without exception, had, however, among them but forty or fifty Bibles, — for the only printing-press in the island was out of repair; and yet no people in the world were more fond of reading. As they could not, however, print books, they recurred to the older fashion of tran- scribing them, and the Scriptures were no longer to be obtained for money. These afi^ecting particulars touched the hearts of those exccllen:; raei? with compassion for the people of this island, and they made ai earnest appeal on their behalf to their friends m WANT OF THE BIBLE IN ICELAND. 275 Scotland, who conveyed the intelligence to the committee of the Bible Society, in London. Lord Teignmouth, the president, then wrote a letter to the Bishop of Iceland, to the following effect. After informing him that the society had then been estab- lished only two years, but that it had been the means already of circulating the Holy Scriptures to a great extent upon the conti- nent, he says that " it would have felt much gratification imme- diately to be able to supply the wants of Iceland ; but Icelandic Bibles can neither be printed nor procured in England. We there- fore adopt the only means in our power, and offer to contribute one half of the expense of printing an edition of 5000 copies of the New Testament, and we shall have great pleasure in learning that the offer is accepted by the bishop and clergy of Iceland." To this letter came an earnest and thankful response, stating, that the grant was truly welcome, that the best farmers in the parish had warmly contended which of tbem should have the loan of the one Bible, which was sent to their parish, for them- selves and their children. These Testaments were then printed at Fuhnen, in Denmark, and 1500 despatched to different parts of Iceland, in the spring of 1807. The war between England and Denmark prevented the transmission of the remaining copies, and it was thought that they would have been destroyed in the bombardment of Copenhagen, yet they were preserved when almost everything around them was laid in ashes. Two bombs entered the ware- house where they were lying, and it was nearly burnt to the ground, — " that part only having escaped the flames in which these Scriptures were deposited V In the year 1815, another edition of 5000 entire Bibles and 5000 extra Testaments left the press, for Iceland, under the Rev. E. Henderson's superintendence, who then followed to witness their distribution. He writes, on his voyage thither, with a heart filled with joy, " Our vessel is freighted with corn for the needy inhabitants of Iceland, and also with the bread of life, — the glorious gospel of the blessed God." His reception was most gratifying to himself and to the society which he representc4- 276 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Mr. Henderson spent nearly two months in perilous journeys into the interior. Wherever he w€nt, he was welcomed with enthusiasm, and scarcely left a place without being followed by the benedictions of the inhabitants. The ardour of the people to obtain a copy of the Holy Scriptures was excessive; — they really ''hungered and thirsted" after the word of God. Mr. H. says : " From all that I have been able to learn, there are more marks of religious disposition directed toward the proper Object of worship among the Icelanders, taking them as a body, than among any other people in Europe." In the appendix to the eleventh Report are contained Mr. Henderson's most interesting letters, while on this journey. He left a copy of the Eible here and there, as he went along, and announced the coming large supply. The Bibles were to be sold at the reduced price, viz. 4s., and the Testaments at l.s. Zd. At this time there was only a post to Iceland twice a year, but for the Bibles there was to be a post on purpose. At the house of the Dean of Iceland, he saw a Bible of the former days : it was a folio edition, nearly devoured by the tooth of time, but the defective pages had been all neatly pasted in, and the text supplied in the most accurate manner in a handwriting which would have done honour to any schoolmas- ter in Europe. It was the work of a common peasant. Mr. Henderson underwent many perils on this journey. He forded on horseback upward of sixty rivers, flowing cold from the snow and ice mountains, which are reckoned very dangerous. He travelled for five successive days without seeing any of the habitations of men. The road was cheerless and gloomy, with scarcely a tuft of grass to relieve the eye, or the note of a bird to charm the ear; but he had a delightful companion in a Danish officer, and he was carrying the lamp of life to those who longed for its light. He descended from the mountains into the beauti- ful valley of Eyafiord, and in that neighbourhood he fell in with a clergyman who had been seeking in vain to obtain a Bible for the long period of seventeen years ! He passed through a parish in which there were only two Bibles, and another in which there were none at all ! It was then fifty years since the last supply DANISH BIBLE SOCIETY. 277 of Bibles had arrived in Iceland! "Wherever I have come/' says he^ "I have been welcomed as an angel from heaven. The people often asked me whether old King George had sent them the Bibles ; and when I told them of the Bible Society, and the spirit it wa.' diffusing in every quarter of the world, ' It is the word of God/ was the reply they frequently gave; and they often quoted some passage relative to the diffusion of knowledge of the Lord in the latter day.'' An Icelandic Bible Society was instituted in 1815; and in 1823, the dean reported, "It is a well-founded opinion, that every family throughout this island is now in possession of a Bible or Testament, and many have more than one copy. The sacred volume is read with diligence during the long winter evenings.'' It is with difficulty that we cease to quote from the religious annals of this interesting people, but we must pass on to — DENMARK. In August, 1812, the King of Denmark granted permission to the Bev. E. Henderson to reside at Copenhagen, for the purpose of completing the Icelandic Bible; and not the least valuable privilege allowed him was that of an unrestricted correspondence, — an extraordinary concession to the subject of a nation with whom his Danish majesty was at that time at war ! The result of this permitted residence was the foundation of a Bible So- ciety in Copenhagen, under the royal sanction, on the 22d of May, 1814. The wide-spread principles of infidelity presented, at the out- set, the most formidable discouragements : but success came by perseverance. Prince Christian of Denmark paid a visit, in 1823, to the committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in Earl-street, and attended with marked interest to their pro- ceedings. We shall have more to say of Denmark, when re- viewing the proceedings of its Bible Society from the Jubilee- field, in 1853 ; but we must now leave the Protestant countries of Europe, which are said to comprise altogether a population of fifty-five millions, and pass over the ocean to — 24 278 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. IHE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The first societ; established in the States of this great republic was that of Philadelphia, which dates from the year 1809. This society ascribed its formation to the example and influence of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which institution imme- diately voted the sum of 200^. to this transatlantic auxiliary^ whose fibres quickly took root, like those of the original tree, in several other principal States of the Union, to each of which was transmitted the usual token of friendly interest, in a donation of 100?. The case of the colonists, also, in the North American posses- sions of Great Britain, soon attracted the attention of the com- mittee, and grants were freely sent out to meet their wants, in the French, Gaelic, and English languages. It was for some of the aboriginal tribes of this district that the society's funds were first applied toward printing the Scriptures in a foreign tongue, viz. Captain Norton's translation of the Gospel of John into the Mohawk language. But as America is not a country or a province, — as she is, in fact, half the world, — she has records of her own, too many to be even noticed here In 1817, America had 149 Bible Societies scattered over her continent, 130 of which were in the United States alone; and the American Bible Society has ever since continued to extend the scale of its operations by the enlargement of its funds, the increase of its issues of Bibles, and the multiplication of its auxiliaries. Many delightful reports of her proceedings does this noble daughter transmit to her mother across the waves of the Atlantic; and ere long you shall listen to what she said at our Jubilee. She bids fair to evangelize her own vast continents, and also to be our most glorious ally in spreading the light of God's word over the Old World. We have little space to notice, in detail, the West Indian cole* nies of the Protestant natioiis : they have always had the waroi WEST INDIAN COLONIES. 279 Bympatliy of the society, and grants were made in very early years to many of them. The Barbadoes Auxiliary was instituted in 1817, under the auspices of Lord Combermere, for the benefit of the negroes, who received the Scriptures with much gratitude. Six years after the foundation of this auxiliary, there were 1000 children in Bridge-town under religious instruction. It would be in vain to attempt to enter fully into the state of each separate island at this period. Associations were instituted in almost every one of any magnitude; and those belonging to the Danish crown received large and continuous grants, which were conveyed through the devoted Moravian missionaries. No case of attested want of the Scriptm'es was addressed to the com- mittee, without finding a ready ear. We shall here close our review of the preliminary work of the Bible Society in the Protestant kingdoms of the world, and must reserve, for another chapter, its proceedings during the same twenty-five years, in still darker regions, and in the remaining four divisions of the earth's population. CHAPTER y. The Jews, after their Dispersion, in Rome, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Turkey, and England — Their Sufferings, and the Remission of these — Their Numbers all over the World — "What the Society did for them in its first Twenty-five Years — Letters of Dr. Pinkerton from Russia — Jews at Thessa- lonica and Constantinople — JeAvish Converts — The Society's Work among the Syrian Christians in the Armenian Church, in the Nestorian, and in the Abyssinian — Letters from Mr. Pearce — Grants to the Vaudois Church — Its Gratitude. We have now to examine what was the work of the British and Foreign Bible Society among the Jews, and the remnants of the ancient Christian Churches, during the first twenty-five years of its existence. We shall take a distinct but rapid glance at the Jewish natiau 280 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. in its long term of exile, to whom we have not referred since the period of the destruction of Jerusalem. The dispersion of the Jews over the world, whicli is commonlj dated from the destruction of Jerusalem, had in reality begun long before. The Ptolemies had formed large colonies of them in Egypt : and in the time of Cicero, B. c. 63, there was a wealthy Jewish community in Italy. Philo enumerates the countries in which they were settled in the time of Caligula, A. D. 37, viz. in Syria, and in all parts of Asia Minor and Greece; and after the captivity of Babylon many Jews remained in Mesopotamia. In A. D. 131, the Emperor Adrian slew 580,000 of them in battle, and issued a harsh edict against the rest; but this being allowed to lie dormant under succeeding emperors, they erected new synagogues, opened schools, and acquired considerable wealth. During this period the ''Mishna'^ and '^Gemara" — their books of tradition — were composed. Constantino called them "the most hateful of all nations," and made several prohibitory laws concerning them. Adrian had forbidden them to approach the walls of Jerusalem; and these harsh laws caused insurrection in Judea, and tumult in Alexan- dria. Julian the Apostate favoured them, and attempted to disprove the Christian prophecy, that their temple should not be rebuilt; but his work was miraculously destroyed as fast as it was com- pleted. The Gothic kings of Italy protected the Jews, who had at that time the slave-trade of Europe chiefly in their hands. The Emperor Justinian was one of those who enacted very cruel and oppressive laws against them. He rejected their testi- mony in courts of law, cut them off from all offices of dignity in the state, debarred them from authority even over their own chil- dren, and prevented them, from bequeathing their property unless to Christians. This persecution, which was chiefly directed against the Samaritan Jews, almost extinguished that once flourishing community; and in subsequent history they no longer appear as a separate people. THE JEWS — THEIR SUFFERINGS. 281 The rise rf Mohammedanism brought an unfavourable change to the Eastern Jews. Mohammed endeavoured at first to win them over; but as they would not acknowledge a descendant of Hagar, the bond-woman, as the greatest of prophets, Mohammed revenged himself upon them without mercy in Arabia, where they were very numerous. The caliphs were afterward more favourable to them; and the Jews, following them in their tide of conquest along the coast of Northern Africa, contributed also materially to the triumphs of the crescent in Spain. In Spain, under the Gothic kings, this people experienced the first of those, sweeping proscriptions which they were doomed to sufi*er in every country of Christian Europe. They were -com- manded even to forsake their religion, or leave the country. Lashes, chains, and mutilation, with the surrender of all their property, were the punishment of all who would observe Jewish rites, on the old principle of compelling men to believe by force : this was in A. D. 653. In Moorish Spain, the Jews had after- ward a golden age, which lasted for centuries. There they culti- vated science and learning; and the names of Benjamin of Tudela, and Isaac of Cordova, attest their proficiency. It was in Spain and Portugal, after the expulsion of the Moors, that the Jews suffered most. The Inquisition undertook the task of punishing relapsed converts among them, and finally expelled them from Spain, to the number of half a million. Soon afterward, they were driven away from Portugal, under circum- stances of still greater barbarity. The expulsion of the Jews and the Moors drained Spain of its most useful subjects: this took place, A. D. 1492. Charlemagne protected the Jews like his other subjects. They were, Jn his reign, physicians and bankers, and even ambassadors of state; but under the third or Capet dynasty, they suffered bitter persecution throughout France. Philippe Auguste ba- nished all the Jews from his dominions, and declared all debts due to them null and void : again they re-entered France;, and were mce more expelled, under Philip the Fair, on the 2 2d of 24* 282 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. July, 1300 : their synagogues were converted into churches, and even their grave-stones torn up lo be used in building. In Germany, about the same period, viz. in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Jews were massacred repeatedly, at the cry of " Hep ! Hep ! Hep V the initials of the words '' Hieroso- lyma est perdita,^' «. e. '^Jerusalem is destroyed." In 1236, they were accused of killing Christian boys for the sake of their blood for the passover, and were again hunted down. They suf- fered from fire and sword, in 1298, at Nuremberg ; and in the thirteenth century, at Vienna, they were forbidden the use of the same baths and rivers with the Christians. In Turkey and Barbary they have since settled in great num- bers. In the eighteenth century, a milder spirit of toleration manifested itself toward the Jews in most of the countries of Europe. In Holland they have long formed a flourishing, nu- merous, honourable, and intelligent community. It appears that the Jews were settled in England as early as the Saxon period, A. D. 750. From the time of the Conquest, they increased in number, suffered grievously under Stephen and his successors, who were rapacious of their gold, and were cruelly persecuted by rich and poor, priest and people. In 1290, under Edward I., All Jews were banished from the kingdom. After the Restoration, in 1660, they returned, and again settled in England ; and since that time they have lived in the United Kingdom unmolested. Through the times of their worst oppression, in spite of ban- ishment, robbery, and ' slaughter, the Jews have survived, as a standing miracle, in the midst of Christendom — preserved of Grod for the fulfilment of his own purposes, and in large num- bers. The following is a description of the present state of the Jews, by Professor Gaussen : — " The restless feet of God's ancient people are pressing, at this very hour, the snows of Siberia, and the burning sands of the desert. The missionary Gobat found numbers of them in the elevated Dlains o ' Abyssinia ; and when Denham and Clapperton NUMBER OF THE JEWS. 283 (the first travellers who ventured across the Great Sahara) arrived on the banks of Lake Tchad, tliey also found that the wandering Jew had preceded them there, by many a long year. When the Portuguese settled in the Indian peninsula, they found three distinct classes of Jews; and when the English lately took pos- session of Aden, in the south of Arabia, the Jews were more in number there than the Gentiles. '' By a census taken within the last few months, in Russia, they amount to 2,200,000; Morocco contains 300,000, and Tunis 150,000. In the one small town of Sana, the capital of Arabia-Felix, they assemble together in eighteen synagogues. Yemen counts 200,000 ; the Turkish empire 200,000, of which Constantinople alone contains 80,000. At Brody, where the Christians, who are 10,000 in number, have only three churches, the Jews, 20,000 in number, have 150 synagogues. Hungary has 300,000 ; Cracovic 22,000. In a word, it is imagined, that, were all the Jews assembled together, they would form a popu- ,lation of 7,000,000 ; so that, could you transport them into the land of their fathers this very year, they would form a nation more powerful and more numerous than the inhabitants of Hol- land and Belgium." Mr. Dudley, in 1821, mentioned numerous testimonies from various quarters, which evidently indicated a desire on the part of many Jews to receive and study the Holy Scriptures. In the thirteenth Report of the Bible Society, it is stated, that ^' the late wars and commotions on the earth, with the pre- sent wonderful exertions to spread the Holy Scriptures among all nations, seem to have made a deep impression on the minds of many of that ancient people. Dr. Pinkerton, in the course of Ms journeys on the continent, collected some very interesting in- formation to this effect. The committee, therefore, have pro- cured, from the Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, copies of the Gospels and Acts in Hebrew, and despatched supplies to the Russian, Polish, and Frankfort Bible Societies.'' A clergyman, travelling in Syria, says : '' I informed you ot the rapidity with which I sold a considerable number of Hebrev 284 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Testaments to the Jews at Aleppo. The day before my de« parture, the chief rabbi issued a prohibition against the purchase of the book. A cheap edition of the Hebrew Old Testament would have an easy sale in Aleppo.'^ Aleppo brings to mind the name of the lamented Burckhardt — • a young man of superior talents, and the most enterprising zeal, who, after succeeding in opening many acceptable channels for the distribution of the Scriptures, and making various important discoveries in connection with this object, in Egypt and Syria, was suddenly carried off by a fever, at Aleppo, from his work to his reward. Of Mr. Burckhardt, Dr. Naudi, secretary to the Malta Bible Society, thus writes : " We have seen many here who appeared to be well adapted to take Bibles and Testaments into Egypt, but most showed some fear, either of the bashaw, or of the Mussulmans, or of the differ- ent denominations of Christians, or of the Jews. But our esteemed Burckhardt left Malta, on board a Greek vessel, witl\ six large cases full of Bibles and Testaments, in various languages without any fear. He read, conversed, and distributed, in the most open manner; and Divine Providence/ which, without doubt, conducts these great and important objects, assisted him in every step, — as well in giving him a right discernment in his enter- prises, as in preparing the people for the reception of the word of truth. " On his arrival at Alexandria, Mr. Burckhardt landed cou- rageously with all his cases, which he took to an inn, where he with difficulty obtained a little garret, which hardly held him and his possessions. After two or three days, some masons came to make some alteration in the inn, and began to pull down his room ', but he, thinking the situation favourable for the sale and propagation of the Scriptures, would not quit the house, but re- moved with his health-giving merchandise into a shed belonging to it. Here he conversed with every one that passed by, — pea- sants, strangers, and merchants, both foreign and from the inte^ rior of the country. The seamen, who are veiy numerous at BURCKHARDT — HIS ZEAL — HIS DEATH. 285 Alexanilria, came so often to hinij that lie wrote to us, saying, that the Greek Testaments which he had dispersed would only be like so many drops thrown into the sea, so great was the demand for the word of God. " He departed for Grand Cairo on board a country-boat, sur- rounded by a great number of Bibles. After experiencing some dangers, he arrived, took a little lodging, and, as before, exposed his wares to public sale. Here he found that his mission was not only known to all, but that he was actually waited for. Jews, Turks, Syrians, Copts, Christians, and Pagans, went to visit him, and, what is of more importance, to profit by the books he sold. ^' A few days after his arrival, he wrote to me thus: — * My dear friend, I have nothing more now to give these people. All my stock is expended. If I had had with me twice or thrice as many copies of the Scriptui'es, I could have disposed of them without difficulty.' " In this central situation, he had the pleasure to arrange various things for the future success of our Malta Bible Society, in those extensive countries, with the bishops, patriarchs, and other persons of i-ank. The Coptic patriarch has requested an edition in Coptic-Arabic, for the use of his flock, which most useful measure will be, I hope, attended to. - ^' From Cairo Mr. Burckhardt went to Jerusalem, where he visited all the convents and public places, and furnished them everywhere with the word of God. At length, leaving Jerusa- lem, going by Syria, and visiting many places on his road, he came to the great and commercial city of Aleppo, in the neigh- bourhood of which, a fatal fever put an end to his valuable life ; and thus, alas ! we have been deprived of his earnest services. " His memory will ever remain dear to us. All the friends of the Bible, who havi any knowledge of what he has done in the Levant, have shed tears for him. By means of a friend who left this place yesterday, we have written to announce the sad event to his father in Switzerland, and have enclosed the last latter his son wrote to us, dated from Antioch." 286 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. In the year 1822, Messrs. Henderson and Paterson sent some very interesting reports to the society, from Kussia, concerning the Jews. A Bible Association was formed in the town of Ber- ditchev, which is inhabited by 16,000 Jews, several of whom aided it by their subscriptions, and not only purchased copies of the Old, but seemed also anxious to obtain the New Testament. On this journey they received the most convincing proofs of the eagerness of Jews to receive and read the testimony of the Messiah. The travellers had previously ordered supplies of Hebrew New Testaments to be sent from St. Petersburg, to meet them at the more important stations. In the town of Jitomir, in particular, their lodgings were almost besieged by Jews, who form by far the most numerous part of the population, to whom they gave copies, after ascertaining their ability to read and understand the Hebrew. Having learned that there was a settlement of Karaite or Re- formed Jews in the town of Lutzk, Mr. Henderson visited that place from Ostrog, to ascertain how the Scriptures might be dis- tributed among them. In their appearance, their manners, and mode of worship, these people form a striking contrast to the other Jews. Unshackled by the trammels of the Talmud, they are more open to conviction, and better able to judge of the truth of what is proposed for their belief. The travellers wrote thus : " We had entertained the hope, that some of the Hebrew New Testaments might be advantageously disposed of among them, but, to our no small joy and surprise, found they were already in possession of the Book, and seemed to be perusing it without prejudice. The rabbi himself produced a copy from his library, in the course of our conversation ?elative to the fulfilment of ancient prophecy, and he spoke of its contents with higu respect, before a large company, who had collected at his house, in order to listen to our commu- nications. " They are not convinced that the Messiah is already come, but their minds seem to be interested in no ordinary degree by the subject; and, were proper measures adopted for directing their attention to the true meaning of their own Scriptures, the para- THE KAHAITE JEWS. 287 mount authority of which forms one of the most ciistiuguishing parts of their creed, there is every probability that many of them would be brought to the acknowledgment of Jesus Christ and him crucified, as their Messiah. It deserves to be recorded, to the honour of the Karaites of Lutzk, that, for the space of 200 years, no instance of law-suit or prosecution against them is to be found in the public documents of the place. They still retain the use of the Tartar language in their daily intercourse, and also in the synagogue for the purpose of explaining the Hebrew text of the Law." In the old Turkish town of Khotim, the master of the inn at which they slept was a Jew. He told them, that, on the next day, the whole Jewish population, men, women, and children, were to repair to the banks of the Dniester, in order to welcome a new rabbi from Poland, who is reputed to be as holy, and to possess the power of performing wonders as great as any of .the ancient prophets in the land of promise. Before leaving Kho- tim, the agents presented their landlord with a copy of the Hebrew New Testament, which he accepted with every mark of gratitude, and they left him and another intelligent Jew busily engaged in reading the history of Christ, to whom all the prophets gave witness. In a letter from Dr. Pinkerton, (1825,) which describes a severe illness that had compelled him to return home, and relinquish, for a time, his tour in Grreece and Turkey, he mentions two interesting facts; viz. that an African Jew had lately purchased thirty-three Hebrew Bibles at Malta, and carried them with him to Tunis, for the use of his brethren there ; and that at Gribralter another Jew had purchased 132 Hebrew Bibles, to carry with him to Leg- horn, for the schools of his brethren in that place. At Thessalonica, or Saloniki, where Paul himself first preached the gospel after his release from imprisonment at Philippi, (Acts xvii. 1-10,) there are still from 25,000 to 30,000 Jews who speak the Jewish-Spanish language, and for whom the New Testament, m that version, will be particularly serviceable, if a way should, in the providence of Grod, be opened for introducing it among 288 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. them.* At first these Jews declined to purchase the Hebrew Scriptures offered them by Mr. Barker ; but eventually they took his whole stock, and requested that more might be sent. How interesting for them to find, in the 17th chapter of the Acts, the subject of the apostle's own mission to their ancestors, nearly 1800 years ago ! How delightful to be a successor of the apostles, in the character of a Bible Society dgent, and return to the chil- dren that which we have received from their fathers ! The Hebrew New Testament appeared to obtain access imme- diately to the minds of many Jews who had never before seen it. I)r. Pinkerton gave away five New Testaments in Poland, to those who had never read the doctrines of Christ and his apostles in Hebrew. They all commenced reading with great avidity, and before he left them, gave proofs of their understanding well what they read. In other places, he says, he could have distributed hundreds of copies, had he possessed them. In 1827, a very pleasant account is given by the late Rev. H. D. ]jeeves, the society's agent at Constantinople, of some Jewish converts, who suffered much for their belief in Jesus. They had read the New Testament secretly for three years, and were ready to confess Christ before men, which they were shortly called to do. The Jewish rabbins denounced those Jews who had visited the Bible agents. Three of them were seized, one bastinadoed, and all thrown into prison, where they were put in irons. When brought before the grand vizier, they boldly declared themselves to be Christians, and said the only reason why they were perse- cuted by their fellow-countrymen was, that they believed that the Messiah was come. These Jewish enemies used all their efforts to obtain the execution of one of their number, saying, like the Jews, of old, '^We demand the death of this accursed man, whose blood be upon us !" This is the more remarkable, as the Jews never allow (if it be possible to prevent it, by the forfeit of even thousands of piastres) any one of their nation to be put to death * See forty-first Report. The printing of this version was completed at Athens in 1845. CONVERTED JEWS. 289 by the Turks : but the dragoman of the Porte, to his honour re- fused to dip his hands in innocent blood ; and, in a conversation with Mr. Hartley, actually compared their conduct to that of their forefathers before Pilate. The accused were, however, thrown into prison for a term of six months. When cruel accusation had failed, the Jews assailed them with all the temptations of persuasion : a full pardon with immediate deliverance was promised to them if they returned to their old re- ligion; and, when they still stood firm, it was falsely announced to them, that next morning they would be led to execution. Thus, for a whole night they had the view of death before their eyes, and they spent that night in reading the New Testament with weeping and prayer. Through the agency of these cruel Jews, their labour and sufferings in the prison to which they were condemned were multiplied tenfold, but their ftiith and love to Christ put to shame those who had long borne the Christian name. Mr. Leeves says of them : '■'■ Their Christianity is indeed the work of the New Testament, and the members of the Bible So- ciety may rejoice over their conversion, as the fruit, under God, of their exertions in the circulation of the Scriptures. One of these good men, when baptized, chose the name of John Baptist, from his wish to imitate his example, and, like him, to prepare the way of the Saviour by preaching to his brethren the Jews.'^ In the letters of Mr. Leeves, appended to the twenty-fourth Report of the Society, the following particulars concerning these converted Jews are given. They were subjected to long-con- tinued trial of their faith and patience in the prison. Two of them remained steadfast, one of whom was John Baptist. The third, whose name was David, relapsed to Judaism. He still, however, remained in prison with the rest; and it was generally believed that the Jews would not pardon him though he returned to them, as, having been baptized, he would always be esteemed by them as a polluted person. The imprisonment was lengthtined oat to three years, and any one during that period daring to demand their deliverance was to be thrown into the same prison with them. The unfortunate 2i 290 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. backslider shared in their continued punishment, and the Jews ■willingly gave him up as a sacrifice. He therefore gained nothing by his denial of his Master. In the year 1829, it was announced that these Jews had been released from their imprisonment, and that the two remained steadfast. The reports of them continued satisfactory, and they were successful in bringing over several others to the knowledge of the truth. Thirteen converts were, through their means, baptized, and made ready to suffer persecution. They were ban- ished to Cesarea ; and it was among the most pleasing of Mr. Barker's duties to forward copies of the Scriptures for their com- fort during their banishment. John Baptist afterward visited Mr. Barker, at Smyrna; and it was considered that the way was preparing for the further triumph of the gospel among the Jews of the Levant. Thus much for the mission of the British and Foreign Bible Society, for five-and-twenty years among the Jews. And now we take in order the remnants of the Ancient Christian Churches. THE BRITISH, THE SYRIAN, THE ARMENIAN, THE NESTORIAN, THE ABYSSINIAN, ANB THE VAUDOIS CHURCHES. . The ancient British Church was cared for by the Bible So- ciety in their early gift of the Scriptures to Wales and to Scot- land; and for the blessing on the descendants of the ancient primitive Church in Ireland, we must look from the Jubilee-field, and also under the head of Protestant Countries. THE SYRIAN CHURCH. We did not say much, in the former part of this Book, about ihe ancient Syrian churches, as existing in India. '^ Their rem- nants are now to be found," says the Bombay Report for 1818, " in Cochin, which, of all the places within the reach of this so- ciety in India, is the most interesting." The Christians of St. Thomas had been long seated on th« THE SYRIAN CHURCH. 291 coast of Malabar, wlien the Portuguese first opened the naviga- tion of India. They were probably converted to Christianity by the Syrian, Mar Thomas, a Nestorian, who has been confounded with the Apostle. St. Thomas. During the seventh century, their church was considerably increased by the labours of two Syrians, Mar Sopor, and Mar Pedosis. " On the arrival of the Portuguese, these Christians," sstjs Mr. Gibbon, ^^ excelled the natives of Hindustan in arts, in arms, and probably in virtue. The husbandmen cultivated the palm-trade, the merchants were enriched by the pepper-trade, the soldiers preceded the nobles of Malabar, and their hereditary privileges were respected by the King of Cochin himself. They were go- verned by the Bishop of Cranganore, who asserted his ancient title of 'Metropolitan of India;' he executed his jurisdiction in 1400 churches, and was intrusted with the care of 200,000 souls." It was the first desire of the ministers of Rome, now arrived from Portugal, to intercept all correspondence with the Nestorian patriarch, and many of his bishops expired in the prisons of the holy office. The power of the Portuguese, the arts of the Jesuits, and the zeal of the Archbishop of Goa, who personally visited the coast of Malabar, greatly troubled, if it did not destroy, this Protestant Church in India, while they had also to complain of the cold and silent indifierence of their brethren of Europe. Many of these Syrian churches are found to be still in exist- ence ', and the Bombay committee of the Bible Society took care to present them with the few copies of the Syriac Gospels which they had received from England. It was proved that they would very thankfully receive larger supplies. The eighth Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society contains a reference to the Christians dispersed over Hindustan, including Ceylon, and in number said to be nearly 1,000,000,— few of them having the happiness to possess the Sacred Scriptures. Many of the descendants of these ancient Christians have, from the want of these precious records, relapsed into idolatry, and are Christians only in nime. It was determined to aid thero. 292 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. by a grant to the Society at Calcutta, of BibleS; Testaments, and printing-paper, to the value of 1000?.* When Dr. Buchanan, in 1806, visited the Syrian Christiana in India, he found several important manuscripts of great anti- quity, which he brought with him to England. The last years of his useful and laborious life were devoted to the preparation of a printed edition from these manuscripts ; and he died, so to speak, with the sheets of the Syriac Testament in his hands. A short time prior to his decease, he was walking with a friend in the churchyard at Clapham, when he suddenly stopped and burst into tears. As soon as he had recovered his self-possession, he said to his friend, ^^ Do not be alarmed; I am not ill; but I was completely overcome with the recollection of the delight with which I had engaged in the exercise of preparing the Syriac Scriptures. At first I was disposed to shrink from the task as irksome, and feared I should find even the Scriptures pall by the frequency of this critical examination. But, so far from it, every fresh reading only seemed to throw fresh light upon the word of God, and to convey additional joy and consolation to my mind." In 1811, also. Dr. Buchanan forwarded some intelligence re- specting these Indian Christians. He 'spoke of fifty-five churches in Malayala (comprehending the region between Cape Comorin and Cape Illi) acknowledging the Patriarch of Antioch. '- These," said he, " are Syrian Christians : they derive their liturgy from the early church at Antioch. What copies they have of the Scriptures 'are in Syriac, and they need them translated into the Malayalim. They have attempted to do this themselves, but in vain. When a proposal was made, that, a Malayalim translation should be sent to each of their fifty-five churches, as a standard book, on condition that they would transcribe and circulate the copies among the people, the elders replied, that, so great was * Paper was Sent out as a grant from the Parent Society, owing to the enor- mous price of that article in India, at this time. A small edition of the New Testament, in 1811, of 1000 copies only, if printed in India, would cost 1000?. on account of the high price of paper. NATIVE r.OOKS — DR. BUCHANAN. 293 their desire to have the Bible in the vulgar tongue, that it might be expected that every man who could write would make a copy on ollas (palm leaves) for his own family." • Perhaps you have never seen these ollas on which the natives of India used to write; they now chiefly use paper. They are long, narrowish leaves, very much like our stiff, flat Iris leaves, with the top and bottom cut off, only of a stouter texture. They are dried in the sun, and written upon with an iron style or pen. Over the characters thus made, lamp-black is rubbed, and the traced letters receive a black impression : the leaves are strung together by a riband, two round holes being stamped in each leaf. This kind of book is not now so common as it was, but is rather a literary curiosity. In the Report for 1819, the committee notice an edition of 4000 copies of the Syrian Old Testament, as being ready to ac- company the New Testament before printed : they also sorrow- fully allude to the death of the Rev. Dr. Buchanan, who had in- terested himself so zealously for these Syrian Christians, and the last act of whose life was preparing for them that Holy Book which they now possess and peruse with great satisfaction and thankfulness. Dr. Buchanan only lived to superintend the issue of this impression, up to the close of the Acts of the Apostles; and the revision of the rest was completed by Professor Lee. In 1821, the Syrian Christians in Travancore had been supplied with these New Testaments, and some Nestorians residing in Jerusalem were much pleased with them, and said they would sell rapidly in Diarbekir. Besides these Syrian churches, there is in Cochin a large popu- lation of Protestants, the remains of the Dutch colonists; and among the Christians who have settled in India, the Dutch have very justly the merit of having done much toward the promotion of Christianity. They established schools, and caused the New Testament and a great part of the Old to be translated into the Malabar language. To these the committee sent a grant of the Dutch Scriptures, as their establishments are now much neglected and fallen into decay, having lost their pittance of salary. 25* 294 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. There ii still also another race of people in Cochin, particularly interesting, — the White and Black Jews of Malabar, in whose record-chest, you will remember, Dr. Buchanan, in 1806, found the old Hebrew roll, which is now deposited at Cambridge. Some of these Syrian Christians are found at Aleppo. Mr. Barker, in 1825, mentions a visit from a Syrian bishop, who came to Aleppo on his way to Jerusalem. This prelate assured him, that, throughout all Mesopotamia, the Holy Scriptures in the Carshun language (Arabic, with Syriac characters) would prove a most acceptable gift to the Christians. The Syrian bishop was accompanied by a member of his church, who observed, that the Arabic New Testament had proved a real consolation to his brother, long deprived of the use of his limbs; and that he had read it again and again, and had found in it things of which before he was wholly ignorant. THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. In the year 1815, the Armenian Bible, in quarto, was being printed for the use of the Armenian inhabitants of Russia, who had subscribed liberally to the institution. They took a great interest in the publication of the Scriptures, also subscribing for balf the edition of the New Testament of 5000 copies ; and the Bible Society agreed to assist this desirable undertaking by a dona^tion of 500Z. From Russia, in the same year, Dr. Pinker- ton writes: ''Thus is the blessing of the Lord upon our labours, and astonishing is the manner in which Divine Providence breaks up the way before us, and gives us hopes of soon seeing the word of Grdd spread among all the nations between us and India. Our Calmuc-Tartar, Armenian, and Georgian editions of the Scrip- tures, are the glorious links of a chain of life, which will soon unite us with our Indian co-labourers." In 1814, the Calcutta Auxiliary Bible Society undertook a large edition of the Armenian Scriptures, at the earnest request of Johannes Sarkies, a principal Armenian, at Calcutta, who him- self came forward with 5000 rupees, as the united subscription of his countrymen to that work. THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 295 These Armenians are scattered all over Asia. They have churches in various parts of the Ganges' side of India, at Madras, Bombay, Surat, Bagdad, Busheer, Muscat, and other places. Je- rusalem, Biarbekir, and Constantinople are patriarchal seats. These people have formed settlements wherever they have found an opening for trade. They are found in many places in Hin- dustan; and a very considerable number of them are settled, as has been said, in Russia, and also at Venice. At Venice, the most correct copies of their Bible had been printed; but they were very dear and scarce. In Calcutta, an Armenian Bible could not be purchased, in 1815, under sixty or seventy rupees; indeed, it was only procurable at that price, on the death of any gentleman, at the sale of his books. In Calcutta, the Armenians are rich; '^and if," says the Calcutta committee, ^^the want of a Bible is so great here, what must it be in other places I" Two thousand copies of this old version, made in A. D. 460, and long existent in manuscript, were reprinted at the Serampore press, in 1817; and in the same year the St. Petersburg Bible Society printed 5000 copies for the use of the Armenians in Russia. In the successive years of 1818, 1819, and 1823, the society purchased at Venice, and also printed at Constantinople, various editions for the use of the Christians in Armenia. The gradual influence of the dispersion of this ancient or ecclesiastical version, on the educated part of the people, will be made evident in further records. Missionaries from America have laboured very much among this people, who now speak a dialect called the Modern Armenian, into which it has likewise been found necessary to translate the Scriptures. The British and Foreign Bible Society made the first attempt on record, to produce a version in this dialect. A modern version of the New Testament was completed, in 1824, by Dr. Zohrab, under their auspices; and it was printed at Paris, in parallel columns, with the ancient Armenian: the results of the distribu- 296 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. tion of ttis version also, which are really unprecedented, will be stated on a future page. We have said thus much about the Armenians, because they are a people of much importance from their numbers. Their merchants conduct all the traffic and manufactures of Turkey and Persia, and their hierarchy, in India alone, equals in numbers that of Grreat Britain; added to which, the Paulicians, a sect which arose in Armenia, are, in some sense, through the Waldenses and Wiclif, enrolled among the spiritual ancestry of our reformers. THE NESTORIAN CHURCH. Concerning the Nestorian Christians there is not much at this era to say. The language they speak is nearly identical with the Syriac. The edition for which they petitioned left the press in 1819. ''So great is the antipathy of this people to popery, that they have a singular and most anti-Christian custom of cursing the pope regularly every day, his grandfather, grandmother, and grandchildren 1" THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. In 1811, the committee, owing to intelligence brought home by the traveller, Mr. Salt, concluded to print an Ethiopic version of the book of Psalms, for the use of the nations of Abyssinia, and they endeavoured to procure a version of one of the Gospels in that language, with a view to the same object. There is a remarkable account of the reception of these Psal- ters in Abyssinia, communicated in a letter from Mr. Nathaniel Pearce, an agent employed by Mr. Scott, who was then consul- general for Egypt. This agent was seen by Mr. Jowett in 1819, and is described as a "wild, tall man, dressed in a sheepskin, waiting with his camels at the gate of the consulate, just come from Abyssinia, a journey of eighty-nine days, troubles having compelled him to quit the country." The foUowino; is an extract from the letter: — ''The books of THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. 297 the Psalters/' says Mr. Pearce, ^4n Ethiopic, which you seot into this country, I have carefully and diligently distributed to the diiFerent churches and holy places, in the name of the Bible Society. I must tell you that the people find some faults in them. The ink, they say, is not black enough, the strokes too thin, the letters too much crowded together, no red ink at the name of God, etc., no books of the blessed Virgin, Solomon, and the Prophets, written as they are in this country; so they cannot accept them as church books; but in exactness they allow them to excel their own writing, and they are very partial to those in red morocco bindings ! I presented two to the king, Itsa Takley Gorges." Mr. Pearce says again : '^ I have the pleasure to inform you, that I have had the honour of being called before an assembly of not less than eighty of the most learned priests in Abyssinia. This meeting was held in the presence of the king, on the top of the flat-roofed church, at Axum, on the 6th of December, 1817. The first question I was asked, was, 'Who wrote those books; and by whose orders were they written ?' They next asked me if one man wrote all those books, they being all exactly alike, observing that these books could not be written in ten years by ten men in this country. I did all in my power to make them understand how they were printed, but they would not believe that one man could engrave the print in less than twenty years. The king said, 'If I were to try to cut the letters in wood, much more in brass or any other metal, it would take me a whole day to complete fifteen or sixteen; and after they were finished, how many years it would take me to put them together I" So you see the Abyssinians, in 1817, had not partaken of the light from the printing-press, which had then pervaded the con- tinent of Europe for nearly 300 years. The four Gospels were completed in Ethiopic, for their use, in 1826, and the entire New Testament was published in 1880. Ethiopic, however, is only the language for the learned men of Abyssinia; Amharic is its vulgar tongue: and, concerning the Amharic translation, many interesting particulars have al- ready been given, in our account of the library at the Biblt) 298 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Society House, The translation, purchased by Mr. Jowett, occupied M. Asselin and his aged companion ten years. Tues- days and Saturdays they shut their door against everybody, and translated from the Arabic, the Hebrew and the Syriac, into the Amharic. The New Testament was published in 1829, and this work was seen to be of immense importance, as the translation made for a people who were already students of Scripture, as far as they possessed it, whose first study was the Bible, whose first spiritual want the gospel, which they read over and over again constantly every day. Mr. Jowett says, ^' How deeply Christian- ity must once have been seated in the hearts of the Abyssinians, appears from a great variety of proofs. How delightful once more to restore to them a general knowledge of the Scriptures ! — to a country in the heart of Africa, — a continent which seems left to these latter ages of the world to remind the benevolent of something they have not done, — the learned of something they have not discovered." "One day," said the devoted missjpnary, Mr. Gobat, (now Bishop of Jerusalem,) "I am all joy with the hope that, in a short time, the Abyssinian mission will be crowned with success : the following day I am cast down to the very dust, by the idea, that all attempts will be useless : for the Abyssinians very gene- rally yield to the truth, but it is only for a while. They cannot make up their minds to quit so much as one of their customs. Thus, faith is tried for a time, yet the promise is sure, that Grod's *word shall not return unto him void/ and the day, perhaps, is near, when Ethiopia will stretch out her hands unto God." THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. In the Report for 1816, it is stated that a Bible Society has been organized among the Waldenses inhabiting the valleys of Piedmont, which comprise thirteen parishes, and a population of 17,000 souls; but such is the poverty of the people, that they were not ub e to collect more than 50Z. for the purpose of purchas- THE VAUDOIS CHURCH. 299 ing the Scriptures. The committee, in consideratiou of their peculiar circumstances, and doubtless in recollection of their past history, presented them with a donation of 200?. A letter from the secretary of this small society says, "The misery is extreme in our valleys, which are inundated with a legion of Piedmontese beggars, who, though Catholics, come to i^implore the charity of the Protestants. - The continual wants of the body occasion almost an entire forgetfulness of those of the soul; and we cannot flatter ourselves that we shall receive more than 1000 francs in our thirteen churches. Our brethren at Turin have, however, promised to double our funds; yet, even with this addition, it will be impossible for us to furnish the fiftieth part of the Bibles we want : few families here possess the means of procuring them from foreign parts, at heavy expense. The Basle Bible Society has twice gratified us with a gift of 86 New Testaments, and 100 additional copies are speedily expected to arrive. We hope that God, who has favoured us with this supply, will increase it. Next to Him, we look to the British nation and to your noble society for support. Without England, the Yaudois would long since have ceased to exist. Its govern- ment has paid a kind attention to their temporal wants. Its Bible Society will also deign, they hope, to consider its spiritual wants.'' In answer to this request, the grant before mentioned was made, and warm were the thanks which it brous-ht from the heart of the mountains. " Your generosity actually electrifies us; but to God we give thanks for what we receive, praising and magnifying his Holy Name, at the same time supplicating him to bless your per- sons and your labours. We laid the foundiitions and established the first rules of the Yaudois Bible Society, on the very day on which you were so kindly occupying yourselves about us. How do we rejoice over the advantage of being in connection, and as it were in contact of heart and mind, with you, dear and honoured brethren !" In 1818, the Bible Society established at La Tour, for the valleys of Piedmont, had dis':ribu ted 150 Bibles and 1865 New 300 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Testaments. "^'The poor inhabitants of those valleys, stirred up again by the spirit which so eminently distinguished their pious ancestors, come and earnestly entreat to be received as members of the Waldenses' Bible Society, and urge the acceptance of such mites tis they are able to present.^' CHAPTER yi. The "Work of the Bible Society among Roman Catholics — The Greek Church — Distribution of the Bible by "Roman Catholic Priests — General willingness of the Roman Catholic Laity to receive it — Anecdotes — Leander Van Ess — France — Professor Kieffer — The Prayer of the Dying Sister, and its An- swer— Austria and Belgium — The Roman Catholic Portion of Germany, Prus- sia, Poland, and Switzerland — Italy, Spain, and Portugal — Russia : the Bible Society there; its Extinction — The Tribe of Buriats — Turkey, European and Asiatic; its mixed Population — The Turks — Foreign Agency — Mr Barker — Greece — South America — Dr. Thomson — A few Words on the Apo- crypha— The Mohammedan Countries — The Heathen Countries. We must now pass on to inquire what had been the distribution of the Bible among the members of Roman Catholic and Greek churches, all over the world, during the first twenty-five years of the existence of the Bible Society. In the very first Report of the Society, a singular feature of its history was presented in the letter of a Roman Catholic priest, in Swabia, to Dr. Steinkopfi". "He had heard," he said, '^of the example of the Bible Society, who were filled with a noble desire to send out the pure word of Grod, as the best preacher, into the world, and he wished it a thousand blessings. He allowed that all blind bigots of his church had always spread the opinion that it was entirely forbidden for all laymen to read the Bible; but he declared there were many clergymen in Swabia who did every thing in their power to promote the reading of the Bible, espe- t^ially of the Ne-*- Testament ; tl^at theiy nuniber was daily in- THE BIBLE AMONG ROMAN CATHOLICS. 301 creasing ; and that tliey even felt a desire to forui a Bible So- ciety among themselves, but that, in the mean time, he would be glad of Scriptures to circulate." The Bible Society thought this opening worthy of their particular attention, and they authorized the society at Nuremberg to furnish 1000 copies of the Protestant edition of the New Testament; for sale or gift among the Roman Catholics of Swabia. In 1810, from several parts in the southeastern provinces of France, authentic accounts had been received, that many Roman Catholics requested copies of the New Testament, and had perused them with great eagerness and gratitude. In a yet earlier year of the society, Pastor Oberlin had given, in a letter to the committee, a vivid sketch of the desire after Bibles in the interior of France. He told of the villages of the Steinthal, in which he himself laboured, and which had been evangelized fifty years previously by the good Pastor Huber, who sent for fifty French Protestant Bibles from Basle, had them di- vided into three parts, and bound in strong parchment, which made 150 books. These he lent in the schools, even permitting the scholars to take them home. A Roman Catholic entered a house in one of these villages, and spied in the window a thick book with a lock. Having heard that Bibles had this appearance, he took it down, looked at the title, and asked if one could have such a Bible for a crown. The owner answered, ''Yes." The Catholic threw down the crown, and ran away with the Bible to his own village. From that time the demand increased continually, and several hundred Bibles were sold, given, or lent; many copies, however, were taken by the priests from the people, as of old time, and burnt, and some- times violent contention took place about them. '' Once a priest surprised one of his people over the Bible, snatched it from him with bitter reproaches, and was going ofl:* with it, when the man, who had seen the world, and often heard from his neighbours of the priests taking away their Bibles, jumped up, seized his hanger, placed himself before the door, and cried out, ' Mons. le Cure ! replace that Bible on the table ! I respect 26 S02 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY vour character ; but a thief is no pastor. I will rather cut you in pieces than sufier you to steal a Bible which has been kindly lent to me.' The priest restored the Bible, but ordered the man to return it to the owner ; and thus many were returned to us.'' About the same period, in Germany, a Roman Catholic cler- gyman writes, " Blessed be God, we have at last a cheap Bible for the people of our own persuasion ! The printing is happily complei3d at Batisbon, and several thousand copies are now circulating in various Roman Catholic provinces of Germany. I myself distributed 650 copies. Eight of our clergymen have publicly announced the excellent Ratisbon Institution, and most earnestly recommend the reading of the Holy Scriptures. Im- mediately after their sermons, numbers applied, and 2000 copies were not sufficient to satisfy them all. The Bible is now read by students, by the people, and even by children. My friend, Professor Sailer, sent 600 copies to his friends in the Roman Catholic cantons of Switzerland, and I did the same to mine in Austria." Several Protestant divines, ha-\ang seen this edition of the New Testament translated by the Roman Catholics at Ratis- bon, pronounce it to be faithfully translated from the original Greek. Some of. the letters from Roman Catholic clergymen, at- tached to the first Reports, excite a mixture of pleasure and surprise. Whatever these good men may have called them- selves, they seem to have belonged in spirit to the Universal Church of the Book, and in their own countries they aided not a little in its dispersion in the early years of the Bible Society. The higher powers of the Roman Catholic Church did not at first seem awakened to perceive what would be the results of this spread of the Bible. The country clergy might then act as they pleased ; and if they were now free from the iron hand of spiritual despotism, under which they groan, numbers of them would still probably take their stand upon the word of God. At the late Jubilee meeting, in Exeter-hall, the Duke of LEANDER VAN ESS. 303 Argyll, who is president of the Scottish Bible Society, express- ed his '^firm c.onvictioa on this point, that the great mass of the people in Roman Catholic countries would be ready and willing to read and acknowledge the authority of the Bible, if allowed to act freely for themselves." By the year 1814, the Bible Society began to prove that the Bible is not a book exclusively for the clergy and the learned, but the Book for the human race. In the Report for that year, is first mentioned the honoured name of Leander Van Ess, Catholic professor of divinity at Marbourg. He was a clergyman, who, with his brother, had produced an excellent translation of the New Testament, from the Greek into Ger- man, and desired help from the Bible Society to circulate it. They voted him 200^., on condition that the few notes accom- panying his own impression should be struck out. Generously sustained in succeeding years by grant after grant from the committee, and in defiance of mandates which began to issue from Rome, of the old kind, in favour of tradition, and in check of Bible distribution, this diligent professor saw the dis persion of many editions of his New Testament, and had the joy of gratifying " the great and irresistible desire of the people to have the Bible." Mr. Owen saw him, at Basle, in 1818, and describes him as "a most interesting man, in the prime of life, apparently about forty years of age : his countenance is intelligent and manly, his conversation fluent and animated, and his whole manner partaking of that ardour and vivacious energy which, so remarkably characterize all his writings and operations. The dissemination of the Holy Scriptures, and the blessed efiects with which it is attended, are the theme on which he delights to discourse : they seem to occupy his whole soul, and to constitute, in a manner, the element in which he exists. The letters of Leander Van Ess to the committee are, in themselves, treasures of Christian love and energy. We cannot quote them, but they are all in these Bible Reports, which now, a,s in a long-clcsed mine, contain ungathered gems of history,- - 1^04 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. a history wliicli would be tliought worth tracing even by the angels of God. A child once said to us, '' Why do they not make history lessons from the lives of God's men, who have done good in the world, and give them to children, instead of the histories of kings, and the men who have made war in the world ?" Such histories are laid up here in great abundance. Here are the Bacred relics of hearts which burned, with the pure flame of devo- tion and zeal, in the noblest work in which man can engage on earth, and whese ^^work of faith and labour of love" the All- seeing One has remembered, while, perhaps, man has forgotten ; for the circulation of his word is his own design, and he has ever watched over it, and brought it to pass. " It shall prosper in that whereto he hath sent it.'^ In the wide glance we have wished to take over the Roman Catholic kingdoms, — over France, Austria, Belgium, half of Germany, tico-Jifths of Prussia, Poland, two-fftJis of Switzer- land, over Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and also over Mexico, and the whole continent of South America, together with the work of the Society among the members of the Greek Church in Greece, in European and Asiatic TurJcey, and in European and Asiatic Russia, — our heart almost fails us in entering into de- tail ; — there is so much to tell, and so little space in which to tell it. It were easy to write a book on the dispersion of the Bible in any one of these kingdoms ; but to give you a definite idea of its work in all, — that is the difficulty. The Roman Catholic religion in Europe is professed by 120 millions of people, which is half the European population. The Greek church numbers more than 55 millions; and, added together, they are 175 millions, as nearly as calculation can be made. Let us just see what, in 1829; had been the result of the spread of the Bible in — BIBLE DISTRIBUTION IN FRANCE. 805 FRANCE. It is known to be a fact, that, even in 1814, some pious Eng- lishmen, who came to Paris, made an attempt to meet with a French Bible of any version, and that they were unsuccessful in their search. In 1813, the Bible Society subscribed 250Z. to a stereotype edition of Le Maistre de Sacy's Version of the New Testament for the use of the Catholics in France. In 1818, when Mr. Owen paid a visit in Paris to Professor Kieffer, and found him revising the Turkish Bible, his thoughts were also busy on what might be done among the Roman Catholic portion of the population. His distributions among them in 1819 and 1820 cost the committee upward of 2000Z. Professor KieflFer was appointed as regular agent in 1820, and continued so to act until 1833. His issues, during this period, amounted to more than 730,000 copies, chiefly among Roman Catholics. In 1830, when religious liberty was at its height in France, a strenuous effort was made to aid the religious movement which it had commenced in Paris, with a view to evangelize the Roman Catholics. Several places of worship were opened in the capital, which were filled to overflowing. In the mean time, God was preparing for his own work one, who, for twenty years, has since directed the agency of the Bible Society in France, with consummate zeal and prudence. Mon- sieur de P. was not appointed as agent till 1833, and the account of his labours belongs to the second era of the society's history. But you will like to know one or two instances of his early life. He was the son of a Catholic father and a Protestant mother, <^the latter being descended from the persecuted Huguenots,) and was brought up a Catholic, as it had been arranged the sons should be. The whole family emigrated to Holland at the Revolution, and the son thus became a pupil of the Jesuits, and was a second time baptized by the reverend fathers, with great pomp. They sought further refuge at Lausanne, and here the youth came under Protestant influence and more especially under that of his 26* ^06 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. elder sister, who was a confirmed invalid, and passed her days extended on an arm-cliair, — finding her whole consolation in the family Bible, which was from morning till night before her. Every day she called her brother to her side, for the purpose of speaking to him of her hopes and spiritual joys, with an unc- tion and a rapture which would have moved any heart. Several days before her death, feeling her end approaching, she spoke to her brother with more energy than ever. She read to him a number of the most forcible passages of Scripture, and besought him to give his heart to the Lord, while frequently she was heard, by persons passing her room, imploring the Lord, when alone, that her brother might become a servant of his word. And, oh ! how this prayer of the dying was answered, let the whole history of colportage upon the continent of Europe bear witness ! God has often answered such prayers, and he never withdraws from his work on earth the strength of an earnest soill, but he suffers that soul, in departing, to cast some seed into the mind of another, w^hich shall "spring up and bring forth fruit abundantly," and thus his work goes on ; and though " all flesh is grass, and the grass withereth, and the flower fadeth/^ still '^ the word of the Lord endureth for ever." AUSTRIA. During the lengthened period that Prince Metternich was prime minister, the Bible Society was not permitted to take any open and active measures, in furtherance of its object in this country, up to the year 1847. BELGIUM. In Belgium, a small depot of Bibles, only 1000 copies, were, in 1846, confided to the care of a few Christian friends in Brus- sels ; but even after twenty years there were some remaining, which, at that period, were freely given away. They might have deserved the name of " dusty Bibles" : not one copy was to be BELGIUM — PRUSSIA. 307 found in any of the shops of Antwerp and Bruges. The friends of Bible circulation must here look to the second era of the so- ciety, for cheering and abundant success. As the work of the Bible Society in parts of Germany, Prussia, Poland, and Switzerland, has already been noticed, it is not necessary to say more than that, although (in the words of Dr, Steinkopff ) " there was only one Leander Van Ess," still many faithful men were, during all this period, labouring among the Koman Catholic as well as the Protestant population of these countries, and that vast numbers of copies of the Scripture were granted to the strong, personal desire of the people. Dr. Pinker- ton, however, in his correspondence attached to the twenty-sixth Beport, speaks of comparatively little being effected, because of the powerful opposition made by the priests. " They take up the books, examine them, and exclaim, ' These are Protestant books, good for nothing but for the fire !' while, from the blind submis- sion of the people, they seldom fail to make it known at confession when a Testament has been given to them, and this generally leads to their being deprived of it." In Italy, Spain, and Portugal, '^ doubly barred countries against the entrance of Divine truth," little also was accomplished, or, indeed, directly attempted before the year 1835, except grants to prisoners of war from those regions, and some small circulation of Testaments in their colonial possessions. But we have not yet approached the vast empire of — RUSSIA, With its surface of more than half that of Europe, embracing about one-seventh of the whole land of the earth, and about one- thirteenth of its entire inhabitants; — Russia, with its spreading corn fields, its absolute monarchy, its mixed population, its state of serfdom, and its slowly but certainly extending power. You will ask, Was there a Bible Society in Russia ? Yes. It began in the province of Finland, in 1812 ; and the British and Foreign Bible Society made it a donation of 550/., to which th« 808 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Emperor of Russia added 5000 roubles from his private purse. This, iu the following year, gave rise to its noble sister Society of St, Petersburg, which, for fourteen years, exercised so powerful an influence for good over the extensive empire of the czar. During these fourteen years, it translated the Scriptures or parts of them into seventeen languages, in which they had not been previously known. It printed them in thirty languages, and circulated them in forty-five. In 1806, not one in a thousand of the people of Russia could read, and it was generally known a hundred versts off, where the treasure of a Bible was to be found. In ten years the Russian Bible Society issued more than 800,000 copies ! We will give you an interesting extract from the speech of Prince Galitzin, at the seventh anniversary of the Russian Bible Society : ^' A most striking feature in the accounts of that vast field, in which the word of life is now sowing, is the indefatigable zeal exhibited in preparing versions of the Holy Scriptures : this is manifest in Russia. In the different governments, both near and remote, — in the desert, and in the village, — in snow-clad Siberia, and upon the mountains of Caucasus and Uralia, — are to be found lovers of the word of God, who, of their own accord, and without selfish views of gain, are engaged in the work af translating the Gospels and other parts of the Bible into the various languages and dialects spoken by the tribes who inhabit Russia, — people who never before even heard of this Divine word.'' An imperial ukase, in 1813, decreed and authorized the estab- lishment of the Bible Society ; but, alas ! in 1826, another ukase of another emperor appeared to suppress it. In the mean time it had circulated at the rate of one copy at least to every twentieth family in the wide empire. The most important benefit conferred on its own country by this institution, while it existed, was the bestowment of the New Testament, and the book of Psalms, and the first eight books of the Old Testament, in the modern Russ, on the poor serfs, who thcrebv obtained the knowledge of the wonderful works of (lod BIBLE IN RUSSIA. 309 in tlieir own tongue. The numbers printed were 324,000. This seed of the kingdom seems buried ; but the Lord can yet quicken it again, and cause it to spring up and bring forth fruit to the praise of the glory of his grace. A measure of patronage, we are thankful to say, is still extended by the czar to the different Bible Institutions established in the provinces of the Baltic, and security is insured to the agents labouring on the banks of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azoph. The letters of Dr. Pinkerton, and also of Mr. Paterson, during this period, witness to their labours in the northern kingdoms of Europe. Could all that they have detailed concerning the Book and its Story, in Russia, in the times when sixteen wagon-loads of Bibles and Testaments were despatched in a month from the capital to different parts of the empire, it might move the heart of the present emperor to pass a third ukase, decreeing that those times should return. The following incident may serve as a specimen, though it ought possibly to find a place among the records of the desire of the heathen to become possessed of the word of God : it took place in 1818. A member of the St. Petersburg committee sent a copy of a single Calmuc Gospel to a Buriat prince in Siberia, a vast district of Asiatic Russia, to see if his people could understand it. The prince replied, that they could not. It was the first specimen they had seen of Calmuc typography. A long while afterward, a letter brought the pleasing intelligence to St. Petersburg, that the Buriats had found the key, and could make out the sense of the Calmuc Gospel. His excellency Prince Galitzin then wrotu to the Governor of Irkutsh, begging he would appoint two learned Buriats to come to St. Petersburg, and accommodate the version of the Calmuc Gospel to their native dialect. Two of their chiefs, persons of high family, and very intelli- gent and inquisitive, accordingly came, and occupied themselveii with the translation of what they impressively called ''the beau- tiful sayings of Jesus ;" and such was the immediate effect of theii occupation on their minds, that when tliey turned to pray to theii 310 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. idols, as usual, they felt an internal disquietude, of which they had never before been conscious, and requested to be more per- fectly informed of the nature of the gospel. Their letter to their prince, in Siberia, is very affecting : they say— " By your kind endeavours, we have reached the city of St. Petersburg, where shines the brightness of the holy doctrine, and here we have seen and heard the sacred words of the most high and saving God. That we should ever see and hear such things, we never before had an idea. ^' The word of God being so very clear, we cannot sufficiently admire it ; and we feel that it is truth which may be relied upon. This vehicle of a reasonable faith, this pearl of a devout heart, al- though existing 1800 years upon earth, has not hitherto come to our Mongols and Buriats. '^ When, by the grace of God, our people shall forsake their own faith, and receive the doctrine of Christ, they will, under 'the light and easy yoke,' adopt a good conversation and good manners. We are fully and firmly resolved to receive the doctrine of the saving God, Jesus Christ, although we are not yet acquainted with the manners and usages of his religion ; and when we return home we shall find no teacher upon whose breast we could lean our head, neither any house of God ; yet after the conviction we have obtained of the truth of the word of God, we can no longer endure the want of it: we must abide by this doctrine. ^' We hope that our gracious sovereign, when he shall hear that his subjects on the outermost borders of his kingdom have adopted Christianity, will favour us with wise and worthy teachers." It must be mentioned, that what is called a Protestant Bible Society is still existing in Russia, and confirmed by the emperor. This was formed, in 1828, to supply the Protestants in Russia with the Holy Scriptures. TURKEY, EUROPEAN AND ASIATIC. The first circumstance that attracted attention to this country wa$ an application from Edinburgh, in 1807, to assist in procuring TURKEY, EUROPEAN AND ASIATIC. 311 Arabic types and paper, for printing the New Testament in Turk- ish. The importance of this undertaking was felt from tho knowledge of the fact, that Turkish was spoken throughout the whole of that empire, and in the greater part of Persia, besides beino; the written language understood by all the numerous Tartar tribes. The request was readily complied with, and the work completed in 1813. Two years afterward, the committee became aware of the existence of the very valuable manuscript of the Turkish Bible written by Aii Bey, and lying in the museum at Leydeu. The history of this manuscript and of its revision is as follows : Ali Bey was born in Poland, stolen while a youth by the Tartars, and sold as a slave in Constantinople. He spent twenty years in the seraglio, became first dragoman or translator to Mo- hammed IV., and was said to understand seventeen languages. At the suggestion of the Dutch ambassador, Ali Bey translated the entire Scriptures into Turkish. The study of the sacrec? volume was not without effect on the translator. It is recorded, that he entertained thoughts of turning to the profession of Chris* tianity, and that death only prevented the accomplishment of his design. When this version was ready for the press, the Dutch ambassador sent it to Leyden to be printed; but it was deposited in the archives of the university, among other oriental manuscripts, and there it lay for a century and a half, apparently unnoticed. When its existence became known to the British and Foreigp Bible Society, they recommended it to the attention of Dr. Pinker- ton ; and he, having satisfied himself that it was a worthy trans- lation, placed it in the hands of the Baron Von Diez, a Turkish scholar of great eminence, who with pious delight undertook te revise it. The baron says, "I wish with all my heart that the work may be accomplished for the glory of God, and the good of my fellow-men. Only one anxious thought sometimes enters my mind : I am sixty-three years of age; I shall pray Grod to pro- bing my life till this work be completed; for, should it please him to call me away in the midst of the undertaking, I certainlj know not .who would carry it on after my death." 812 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. The venerable senator, however, died when he had completed but four books of the Pentateuch, and not a little anxiety was felt about providhig a suitable successor; but, as it was truly observed by Lord Teignmouth, ^' The Bible Society has never wanted means or instruments for the furtherance of its ohject, whenever they were required." The necessary editor was unex- pectedly found in Professor Kieffer, the professor of oriental lan- guages at Paris. The Testament was presented in a printed form at the Bible meeting at Paris, in 1819; but it was not until 1828, that the entire Turkish Bible, with all its corrections, was completed at press, of which edition 5000 copies of the Bible, and 7000 of the New Testament alone, have been issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Br. Pinkerton visited Constantinople in 1819. He gives an account, in his letter attached to the sixteenth Report, of a con- versation he had with the venerable Paul, the Armenian patriarch of Constantinople. A vast Armenian population lies in and around the city, estimated at upward of 100,000 souls; and the patriarch undertook the dissemination of the Scriptures among them, and also in Asia Minor. The conversation was in Turkish, which is the common language of the Armenian population, and the only one properly understood by all ranks. Dr. Pinkerton also conversed with the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and secured his promise to circulate the Scriptures among the pilgrims who annually visit the holy sepulchre, said to be upward of 2000 of the Gi-reek communion alone; and as these resort thither from every quarter of the East, an excellent opportunit}?^ occurs to sow the word through their means. The patriarch promised to give in charge, to one of the monks who attended at the holy sepulchre, a number of New Testaments, in different languages, for distribution. There were allotted for this purpose 1000 Modern Greek, 500 Ancient Grreek, and 500 Arabic Testaments, without money and without price, for the poor pilgrims assembling round ^'the place where the Lord lay." In 1820, Mr. Benjamin Barker, the brother of the. consul at TURKISH INDOLENCE. 313 Aleppo, a gentleman whose knowledge of the country and the languages of Syria made the acquisition of his services very desirable, became the agent of the society, and still continues to be so. Mr, Barker at once commenced his work. Some Armenian, Turkish, and Greek Scriptures were readily bought up, and many of the Armenian copies found their way to Diarbekir. The result of this distribution lay a long time concealed; but the success which has since attended the labours of the American missionaries in the East, especially among the Armenians, is greatly accounted for by the circulation of the Scriptures which took place at this period. In forming an idea of Turkey in Europe, a country which com- prehends a space of 200,000 square miles, and a population of 15,000,000, we have to think of the Turks as its despotic masters, who, while they treat the Armenians, Jews, and Greeks within their territories very scornfully, yet form themselves but a minority in their own country. There is said to be so little strength in the Turkish empire itself, that it would probably have been de- stroyed long ere this, but for the interference and support of other powers. Its great rival is Russia, from whose encroachments it has, however, a sort of natural shelter in the Balkan range of moun- tains, which the Turks call ^^Emineh Dagh," meaning ''the mountains that serve as a defence.'^ The indolent repose of the Turkish character is so capitally given by Mr. Layard, the discoverer of Nineveh, at the close of his last book, that we must transcribe a portion of a letter, he says he has in his possession, from a Turkish cadi, in reply to some inquiries concerning the commerce, population, and remains* of antiquity, of an ancient city in which he dwelt : — "The thing you ask of me is both difficult and useless. Although I have passed all my days in this place, I have neither counted the houses nor have I inquired into the number of the inhabitants ; and as to what one person loads on his mules, or another stows away in the bottom of his ship, that is no business 314 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. of mine. But, above all, as to the previous history of this city! Allah only knows the amount of dirt and confusion that the infi- dels may have eaten before the coming of the sword of Islam !— it were unprofitable for us to inquire into it. "Oh, my soul ! oh, my lamb ! seek not after the things which concern thee not : go in peace ! After the fashion of thy people,, thou hast wandered from one place to another, until thou art happ^y and content in none. We (praise be to Allah !) were born here, and never desire to quit. Is it possible, then, that the idea of a general intercourse between mankind should make any impression on our understandings ? Allah forbid ! ^•Listen, oh, my son! There is no wisdom equal to the belief in God. Thou art learned in the things that I care not for. I praise God, that I seek not that which I require not. Thine, the meek in spirit, — Imaum Ali Zade." Besides these lazy lords of the soil, there are in Turkey more gipsies than in any other country of Europe, vast numbers, as we have seen, of Armenian merchants, and great numbers of Jews. In 1828, Professor Kiefier finished his most careful revision of the Turkish Bible for all these mixed races. He corrected the sheets six times, as they passed through the press. In 1826, Mr. Barker speaks of most of the Armenians at Aleppo, and nearly all the servants, knowing how to read, though in general very poor; and in 1827, he says, that, "at Smyrna, French officers and other Roman Catholics daily call for Bibles and Testaments, contrary to the express command of Home not to do so; yet," he adds, "the difficulty of supplying such vast tracts of country with the word of God can scarcely be conceived by an Englishman not acquainted with these barbarous regions. It appears an easy task, perhaps, to those who are only familiar with their own favoured country, where thousands are ready to exert their faculties in aiding the circulation of the Sacred Scrip- tures; but an agent of the Bible Societ}^, here, must do almost all Jus tuorJc himself, unless he can engage a few friends, as a favour, to render him a little help." In all his transactions, also, the Bible agent must keep a vigi* TOILSOMifi LABOURS. 315 lant eye over liis own conduct, so that he does not, by some im- prudent step, excite the feelings of the authorities against him "I could, likewise,'' says Mr. Barker, '^give a long account of the miseries experienced in travelling here. Under the scorching rays of an eastern sun, the traveller is deprived oftentimes of common food and water. He arrives late at night at a dirty coffee-house, occupied already by a number of savage and fanatical Turks ; he carries with him the piece of carpet which forms his only bed, and all night is attacked by hosts of vermin. To this may be added the perils of the journey. You may often meet with disbanded soldiers, who scruple not to rob you and take away your life, — the fording of rivers and torrents, — the plague, — unhealthy climes, — and the sad prospect, should you fall ill, of being without medical advice or attendance, as was the case with poor Henry Marty n at Tocat." All these are incidents in the life of a foreign Bible agent in such places as the chain of Taurus, or on the skirts of the desert of Arabia, — incidents which make the patient toil of an English Bible collector seem light and easy. To these may be added, such separations from home and its feli- cities as are recorded in Dr. Pinkerton's letters from St. Peters- burg, in 1820: ''After travelling four days and nights from Moscow, I reached my home yesterday, and to my great joy found my beloved wife and three children in good health. I leave the fathers in your committee to judge, for they are best capable of doing so, of our gratitude to our heavenly Father for this safe meeting, after a separation of twenty long months. What changes had taken place even in my own fjimily during that period ! — changes so numerous and great, and many of them so distressing, that I was alternately roused to every feeling of re- gret, of sympathy, of thankfulness, and of praise, of which my neart was capable ! How often had I looked death in the face during this long interval! [He had once slept on a mattress infected with the plague.] How many hundred horses have borne me along my course ! Not fewer than eleven different vessels have carried me from continent to continent, and from isle to isle, during the last twelve months, frequently in distress 316 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. and sickness, but still preserved to praise the Redeemer of men^ who suffered not a hair of my head to be touched by the hand of violence, nor a bone of my body to be broken by any unfortunate accident." A foreign Bible agent needs a heart warmly devoted to his work, but it is work that recompenses him for every privation. ''New opportunities are constantly occurring here,'' says Mr. Barker in 1827, "for a wider circulation of the word of Grod; and should we be blessed with tranquillity, we shall hail the op- portunity of beginning to diffuse Christian knowledge even among the Turks." Turkey in Asia comprises 450,000 square miles, but only a population of 10,000,000, including Kurds and Bedouin Arabs, — the old, unchanged, wild men of the desert, with whom we began the Story of the Book, and including alike Mesopotamia and Palestine, the cradle lands of Judaism and Christianity; there- fore, Turkey in Asia is the most interesting country in the world, — *' Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet, "Which eighteen hundred years ago were nail'd For our advantage on the bitter cross." It is also the seat of the old Assyrian and Babylonian empires. Could England ever do too much to repay to this land the seeds of blessing which she has received from it ? GREECE. The work of the Bible Society in Greece was principally carried on from Malta, by its devoted friends and agents, the Kev. W. Jowett, Dr. Naudi, Rev. H. D. Leeves, and Mr. Lowndes. Mr. Jowett wrote thus, while Burckhardt was yet alive, in 1819: '^AYe reap now, in the successes of our noble coadjutor, in the formation of the Smyrna Bible Society, and in the pledges of co-operation given us in various parts of Asia Minor and Greece, an ample reward of our first year's pleasing toil. Ought we not to be stimulated and encouraged to redouble our labours in this holy work ? Surrounded by three continents , SOUTH AMERICA. 817 in eacli of which there exist such multitudes of souls wholly desti- tute of the word of life, let us forget even our past successes, and press forward in the work of faith, hope, and charity !" SOUTH AMERICA. We shall now turn to this vast region, and its Catholic coun- tries. We can only name them : Brazil, colonized by Portugal ; Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, and La Plata, colonies of Spain. Mexico, in North America, and Cuba, an island of the West Indies, were also colonized by Spain. It is too wide a field to enter upon, more than to notice it as an example of a country, where religion, once known, has become extinct, because the Bible was withheld from it by those who nominally converted it to the faith. The people of South America and Japan have, since their so-called conversion, been sunk in the darkest superstition. " The light was put under a bushel by the men who introduced it into the house, and then the light itself, such as it was, perished.'^* In the eighteenth Report of the society is the following notice : — " The Bible has found a new and unexpected inlet into an unfre- quented region of South America. A chieftain of Patagonia has been discovered in possession of a New Testament, printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society. He procured it at Buenos Ayres, whither he went to trade, and thence conveyed it to his home, that he might explain its contents to his fellow countrymen. '^ A native of Rio Negro was also so pleased by a copy of the New Testament, that he requested more from Buenos Ayres. In the region of Rio de la Plata and Chili, at Rio de Janeiro and Pernambuco, the Spanish and Portuguese Scriptures are sought with eagerness, and received with gratitude.*' A small auxiliary had been formed at Buenos Ayres, and sup- plies of the Scriptures transmitted to the Brazils, Chili, and Peru, for the labourers in the salt mines at Bona Vista, who, Beating themselves in the shade, while resting from their work at * "Bible of Many Tongues," published by the Tract Society. 27* 818 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. noon, might often be seen reading the New Testament most de- voutly to one another; but, as this is also America's own Bible and mission field, we must leave its detail, with the exception of a quotation from the letter of an agent of the American Society, and one of Dr. Thomson's letters, the agent for some years of our own society. The American agent says : ^^What are these people? — ^beings professedly Christian, baptized in the name of the Trinity, and yet almost entirely without the Bible! By the efforts of this society and that of England, they have, it is true, within a few years received seven or eight thousand copies of this holy Book, but, ^ what are these among so many V — scarcely a single copy to 2000 souls ! Throughout the long road from Buenos Ayres to Chili, except a very few in Mendoza, not a solitary copy of the Book of God was found ; and I more than once presented copies to aged priests, tottering over the grave, who told me they had never before seen it in their native tongue. In the interior of the country, some told me that they never before were aware that the Scriptures existed in their own language. Yet the Bible is here no longer excluded by royal mandates and by papal bulls. The nf T governments are not only willing, but anxious, that the Scriptures should have a general circulation. The work here is more than sufficient for the united energies of both the American and British and Foreign Bible Societies.'' In anticipating the arrival of some supplies from Vera Cruz, Dr. Thomson writes : '^ Surely it is a new thing in this land, to see twenty-four mules, loaded with Bibles and Testaments, mak- ing their way up the mountains and through the woods into the interior !" This active agent gives a most interesting account of his favourable reception in a convent at Queretaro, where even some friars had no objection to receive the lamp for their feet in this dark world. They, however, greatly objected, as the people do in most Roman Catholic countries, to the omission of the Apocrypha. Dr. Thomson distributed, during his journey of two years, 4235 copies. He had to contend with great difficul- ties The authorities of the church first countenanced his ob- SOUTH AMERICA. 81 jects; but when they found the Bible Society's Bibles without note, comment, or apocryphal books, their benevolent feelings were thoroughly changed, and an edict was issued prohibiting the Scriptures, and ordering those received to be given up. In Roman Catholic countries, this constitutes a great hinderance to the society's operations up to the present day. They could distribute many more copies if the different books which com- pose the Scriptures were intermixed and bound up with the apo- cryphal books, as in the Roman Catholic Bibles ; but the society cannot do this. It is their fundamental principle to circulate the pure word of God, icliole and alone. In 182(5, they made fresh and distinct resolutions to abide by this fundamental prin- ciple ; and, further, not to make any more grants to any Bible Society circulating the Apocrypha, which necessarily closed the connection between the British and Foreign Bible Society and many of the Bible Societies on the continent. To those who read the Bible, the evidence is obvious, that the apocryphal books are of mere human composition ; but the pre- judice in their favour abroad, and among those who have been educated ^s Roman Catholics, would seem to be irresistible ; and a suspicion arises in their minds, which the priests foster, that our Bibles are not perfect, and that, if we have kept back some books, we have perhaps also altered those we have printed. England can only say, " May God defend the right !" and in the mean time we must adhere to the principle of the old Yaudois Church — ^The Bible — wJwle and alone, THE MOHAMMEDAN COUNTRIES. And now we approach the fourth division of the world's inha- bitants,— the Mohammedan countries. It is supposed that there are eight millions of Mohammedans in Europe. The Arabs, the Turks, and the Tartars have all been, for more than a thousand years, the followers of a " false prophet," who wrote a parody upon the Bible, called " The Koran. '^ There is no society for circulating the Koran : the believers in it hide it from the pollu- ting touch of the Christian ; but we have given them our Bihle^ 320 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY, in their own tongue; and, as Wiclif said to Courtenay, — some day " truth shall prevail/' It is almost impossible to balculate with any degree of accuracy the number of people by whom Arabic is spoken. Arabia itself may have twelve millions of inhabitants; but Arabic is also spoken in Syria, Mesopotamia, in part of Persia, on the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, in Egypt, in Nubia, and in Barbary. Arabic is also extensively used, as the language of religion and commerce, in Western, Eastern, and Central Africa; and before the missionaries had reduced some of the African dialects to writing, Arabic was the orly written language known to the na- tives of that vast continent. Arabic, as the language of the Koran, is venerated and studied, from the w'estcrn confines of Spain and Africa to the Philippine Islands, over 130 degrees of latitude, and from the tropic of Capricorn to Tartary, over seventy degrees of longitude.* Henry Martyn felt all this when he undertook his new version of the Arabic Testament. *' We w^ill begin to preach,^' said that devoted missionary, "to Arabia, Syria, Persia, Tartary, part of India and China, half of Africa, all the seacoast of the Mediter- ranean and Turkey, and one tongue shall suffice for them all.** It was in Arabia that the great apostle of the Gentiles com- menced his ministry : " When it pleased God, who called me by his gmce, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem, but I went into Arabia." Gal. i. 15-17. Whatever seed the apostle sowed there, the tares have since sprung up and choked it. From the year 1811, the Bible Society attempted to present versions of the Scriptures in Arabic, reprinted from various pre- vious editions; but much prejudice existing against them among the Mohammedans, the need of an improved translation, so long and deeply felt by the Eastern churches, has at length been md * Butler's " Hor» Biblicae." THE MOHAMMEDAN COUNTRIES. 321 by tlie Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. This Wdi begun in 1839, and has been executed at Malta by Mr. Fares, one of the most learned Arabic scholars of the East. A version of the New Testament, in Arabic, consisting of 10,000 copies, was published by the above-mentioned society, in 1727. The copies of this edition are now extremely rare, for none of them were sold in Europe. Two, however, are preserved in Cambridge : the greater part were sent to Russia, for distribu- tion in Mohammedan countries. It must have been some of those Testaments which received from an Arab the following welcome : — " He received them almost in a transport of joy, kissed them, and then kissed me for their sake. He said that the persons who would read them should always wash their hands three times before they opened those books." A version of the New Testament, in modern Arabic, was printed at Calcutta, in 1816, designed principally for the learned and fastidious Mohammedans in all parts of the world, who, it was thought, might have been repelled from the study of Scrip- ture by the antiquated style of former versions. This translation ^ was made by a learned Arabian scholar, the unhappy Sabat. Henry Martyn was deeply interested in Sabat, and the produc- tion of his version ; but he did not live to see its completion. A second edition was printed in London, by the Bible Society, in 1825, and a third in Calcutta, in the following year. This version, though not considered perfect where the lan- guage is spoken, is, by various testimonies, silently accomplishing the purposes of God. In Western Africa, the natives, on first receiving the copies sent them by the Bible Society, ^'were astonished that a white man should have written this book in their favourite language. '^ In the eleventh Report it is stated, that the ready reception of some Arabic Bibles at Yongroo, in "Western Africa, by the Mohammedans, encourages a hope that they may be more extensively circulated, and has produced an applicatijn for a further supply. The Rev. O. Nylander says: **I presented an Arabic Bible to the King of Bullom, saving, ^ This is the Book which makes man wise and good : it is God'g 822 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. word. He speaks to us in this Book by Moses, the prophets and apostles, and by his Son Jesus Christ.' The king recommended to strangers this 'white man's book.' Some time afterward, I went to see him, and found about twenty Mohammedans sitting together in deep conversation, and an aged Mohammedan teacher in the midst of them reading the Bible. This teacher visited me himself, and likewise begged for a Bible, saying, ' When I go home, I shall read this book to all my people.' " The Bev. William Jowett wrote an interesting letter to the committee of the Malta Bible Society, in June, 1819, on his voyage up the Nile. He says : — " On my arrival at Esne, the last bishopric southward in Egypt, I first opened my small but invaluable treasure of Bibles. I waited on the bishop, gave him a copy of the Arabic Bible, and begged him to recommend it among his people. The price I fixed was twenty piastres, or 10s. English, which was quite a re- duced price, for the people are so poor, and money is so scarce in this country. There was scarcely any need of soliciting the bishop's recommendation, for the people, having seen the book and witnessed the pleasure with which he received the present, came immediately to buy, and I could have disposed of my whole stock, had I not had to think of other towns besides theirs. I could only spare them three, and it was really painful to see the eagerness with which one after another came to the boat to ask if I could not let them have one copy more : yet I was obliged to think of the other churches. " Stopping at Edfu, I learned that this was the last town where Christians (of the Coptic Church) were to be found. They were very miserable and poor, and, alas ! none of them could read. It is wonderful how, under such circumstances, even the profession of Christianity is kept up. Yet some of these poor people show their attachment to their religion, by setting off on the Thursday night, to be present at vespers on Saturday evening, and return on the Monday every week — a reproach to many in Christian countries, who live within half an hour's walk of a place of wor ship, and yet seldom attend. THE MOHAMMEDAN COUNTRIES. 323 '' At Essouaii; though I found persons able to r6ad, yet T found DO Christians. Here, and far higher up in Nubia, are numerous relics of churches and convents, and other marks which prove how far Christianity once extended in these countries. It will he the blessed worh of Bible Societies to renew them." Afterward, Mr. Jowett passed a week at Thebes, commencing the study of the Ethiopic, in reference to the Amharic version, under the shade of trees, and amid those majestic ruins. He left one Arabic Bible at Luxor, not with the priest, to be shut up in the church, but with a clerk, called Malleni Jacob, whose nephew of twelve years of age could read it, — a boy who loved to sit and read by himself; and he trusts that the Bible was fitly bestowed. At Kemner, a town on the eastern bank, a Copt, on seeing the Arabic Bible, recognised it as the same that he had bought of a Jew in Cairo. He offered Mr. Jowett fifty instead of twenty piastres for it ; but this the missionary refused. Two more copies were sent him to sell, and he said the people '^snatched them up so quickly," that he had not one left for himself. He was next morning favoured with two more copies, as the town was a grand thoroughfare for Mohammedan pilgrims. The Bishop of Minie purchased the five remaining Arabic Bibles; and thus closes the account of the careful dispersion of this precious seed, being twenty-five sold in Upper Egypt, and fifty-five in Cairo. On his return to Cairo, Mr. Jowett was imme- diately asked if had any more to dispose of."^ Further details are equally inviting. The number of Arabs in Egypt alone is estimated at from two-and-a-half to four millions. Moorish Arabic, into which dialect a very recent translation of the Scriptures had been made, is spoken by ten millions of people in Morocco, and by thirty millions in that and the adjacent regions, all Mohammedans, and ^' inaccessible to the distribution of the Scriptures.^' Abdallah, an Arabian of noble birth, was converted from .tg. « See Report, 1 820, 324 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. lamism by the simple perusal of the Bible. When his conversion became known, Abdallah, to escape the vengeance of his country- men, fled from Cabul in disguise, but was met and recognised at Bokhara by Sabat, the translator before mentioned. Abdallab, perceiving his danger, threw himself at the feet of his friend, and besought him, by all the ties of their former intimacy, to save his life. "Butj'^said Sabat, ^^I had no pity. I delivered him up to Morad Shah, king of Bokhara." Abdallah was offered his life if he would abjure Christ ; but he refused. Then one of his hands was cut off; and a physician, by command of tlie king, offered to heal the wound if be would recant. '' He made no answer," said Sabat, " but looked up steadfastly toward heaven, like Stephen the first martyr, his eyes streaming with tears. He did not look with anger toward me ; he looked at me, but it was with a countenance of forgiveness. His other hand was then cut off; but," continued Sabat, ^^he never changed, he never changed ! And when he bowed his head to receive the blow of death, all Bokhara seemed to say, What new thing is this ?" Sabat had indulged the hope that Abdallah would recant when offered his life ; but when he saw that his friend was dead, he gave himself up to grief and remorse. He himself twice professed, and twice abjured Christianity. HEATHEN COUNTRIES. And now we must turn, at last, to the heathen or pagan coun- tries,— the fifth division of the world's population, and by far its largest portion, — to China, with its 350,000,000 ! Japan, with its 25,000,000 : India, with its 130,000,000 ! the greater part of Africa, Australia, and Polynesia ; — and what has the Bible Society begun to do for these ? You must perceive, that the first thing it had to do for them all was, to procure such a Bible as they could read, or to assist and encourage those who were translating it. We will tell you wkat various missionaries said about their own work of translation. Those who have never attempted to translate from one lanj^age HEATHEN COUNTRIES. 325 into another, or whose efforts have been limited to rendering a Latin or French fable into English, can form but an imperfect idea of the difficulties to be surmounted in making a version of the Holy Scriptures in the language of an idolatrous people. Of a fable, or a story, it would be sufficient to give the general sense. The narrative might be presented in an entirely new dress, and yet be equally acceptable ; but no such license may be allowed in the translation of the word of God ! In this case, the minutest shades of thought must be transferred, if possible, from the original. But how is this to be accomplished in the language of a people who have had, up to that time, no ideas conformable to the sub- jects of which the Bible speaks, and who have not, therefore, of course, any words to express such ideas ? How would you speak of holiness, for instance, to a man who has no conception of holiness, or whose only notion respecting it is that of having recently batheu II ? "acred stream ? How would you express the Christian doctrine of retjeneiation to a man who expects to be born again, either in the form of an insect or of a loathsome reptile, as a punishment for his sins ; or in the form of a prince or noble, in reward for his good actions ? It is only as the ideas and experience of any two nations coincide, that the words of their languages will correspond. The Rev. J. Campbell, missionary to South Africa, wished to tell a party of chiefs that he had made a three months' voyage from England, and had since travelled six weeks in his wagon, from Cape Town, to visit them. He had no difficulty in relating to them the latter fact, for they saw his wagon, and the oxen that had drawn it; but how was he to speak of the sea and ships tc men to whom ships s'nd the sea were unknown ? He was obliged to impress into his service what ideas they had. He said that before he travelled six weeks in the wagon, he had to cross a large pond, — so large, that it took him three moons to come over, whicli he did in a house built in a large bowl, which had wings ; that there were many men with him in the house, who spread out the wings to catch the wind, all day and all night, while others guided 2S 326 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY, the great bowl. . You will not be surprised, when we add, that ha saw one of the chiefs whispering to another, and overheard the words, " he thinks we arc such fools as to believe him." Yet this singular account of a voyage across the Atlantic came as near to the truth as the language of that people admitted. No such free translation as this could be allowed in a version of the Bible. In the sacred writings, '' holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Grhost." A translator of the Scriptures is therefore bound to present their thoughts in their own phraseology, as far as the idiom of two different languages will allow. The spirit ot these remarks is contained in letters from two missionaries, Mr. Swan and Mr. Stallybrass, who went to Siberia, and translated the Old Testament into the language of those Buriat Mongolians, of whose desire for the Scriptures, in 1818, you recently read. These letters are dated 1833. They say something about the style or dialect of their version, — that there might be three styles or dialects, among which the translation of the Buriat Bible takes the middle place. One would be a vulgar colloquial style for the people ; another, the style for the court, or for learned men ; the third, a letter-writing and business style, or, perhaps, something rather above that, so as to place the subject within the reach of any competently-instructed person. The latter style they adopted for the Bible. Other difficulties arose in translating into the language of idola- ters : a word must be found for God; to them, ^Hhe unknown God." In the Buriat translation, the missionaries used the word '^ Burchaii," as the least exceptionable term they could employ. It is the word used by the Buriats for the true God of Christians, when they speak of him, and it conveyed an idea to their minds of a Being above their idols. Then, what nile should they lay down for themselves as to the rendering of words expressive of weights, measures, and coins? Should these be translated by the nearest weight, measure, or coin used in the country, or should the name of the Roman weight or coin be retained untranslated ? MODE 01 TRANSLATING. 827 Points like tliese being agreed upon, the translators, together or separately, took their Hebrew and Greek Bibles, and read over the passage to be translated, very carefully, in the originals. In this case they also consulted Chaldee. Then, with the help of the English Bible, and such other modern versions as they were able to read, comparing them carefully with such aid from the learned as they may have had at hand, they possessed themselves of the exact sense of the sacred writers, and proceeded to express the meaning, as nearly as possible, in the new language. Translators sometimes make a list containing every word they have translated, the rendering given to it, and the passage where it is found ; so that a concordance of the Scriptures is formed as they proceed. This renders their work uniform. It insures that forms of expression, frequently occurring in the original, shall be repeated precisely in the same terms in the new version. Afterward, all is revised again and again, in this case with the assistance of one of the most learned and competent of the Buriats, (generally a lama or priest;) '^and with him," says Mr. Swan, " we went over the whole, verse by verse, and sentence by sentence, attending particularly to the idiom, and to the use of appropriate terms for things not familiarly known. . " A fair copy of the manuscript, thus revised and corrected, was then made, and sent to our fellow-labourers, who had copies taken for themselves, that they might examine and make remarks at their leisure, and have them at hand for reference. Some parts of our manuscripts have thus undergone repeated inspection and alteration, and we consider the final corrections not yet made. I shall again revise my portion immediately on my return to Siberia." This letter is dated 1834. The same protracted process has been going on all over the world. Morrison, in China ; Carey and his learned colle-agues, in India ; Williams, in the South Sea Islands ; and Moffat, in South Africa, have all, by the labour of many years, been creating the material for the spiritual treasury of the Bible Society, which it now scatters forth with a munificent and liberal hand. The men are almost all dead, but their work shall never die 328 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Incidental notice has already been taken of tlie difficulty attend- ing Dr. Morrison's work in China; and of the Indian transktiona we must further speak, in describing the country itself. The following is the testimony, on the same subject, of the missionary Williams on the occasion of presenting a copy of the Gospel of Matthew, in the language of Rarotonga, to Lord Bexley, at the thirty-first anniversary of the Bible Society. He said, — " I feel great pleasure in presenting to your lordship the fii'st sheets of the Scriptures ever printed in England, in a language of the South Sea Islands. " The work of translation has been attended with very many ninderances. When the missionaries first went there, the people had no written language, no letters, no medium of intercourse, no hieroglyphic signs among them, and the art of communicating with persons at a distance, by means of writing, was a great mystery to them. King Pomare was the first person who learned to write ; and when it was spread abroad that he could talk with the missionaries at a distance, by means of a few marks upon a piece of paper, the people came from all parts to be eye-witnesses of the wonderful deed. " Our own translation has been effected with all the precaution that could be exercised, in order to have a version as correct as possible. The work was divided among the difierent missionaries, according to their knowledge of the language. Each took his portion to translate, which, when accomplished, was sent round to all the others, with a request that they would criticise and re- mark freely upon it. It was then returned to the translator, who corrected his work, carefully considering all the remarks that had been made. The translation was then further circulated among the people, and the chiefs and more intelligent natives were en- couraged to make their strictures also. Some of their remarks were of very great value to us." The following is a specimen of the Rarotonga version alluded to ; John i. 1-5 : — 1 vai ana te Logo i muatangana, i to Atua ra oki te Logo, e ko te Atua oki te Logo. 2 I te Atua ra oki aia i muatangana. 3 Nana i anga te au mea katoa RAROTONGA AND SECHUANA ^'ERSIONS. 829 toa, kare ua aia i ngere i tetai mea i angaia ra. 4 Tei roto iaia te ora, e taua ora ra) to te tangata ia marama. 5 J kaka mai ana te marama ki te poiri, kare ri to te poiri i ariki adu. The same martyr-missionary adds : ''It will be understood, that a people of such barbarous character as those among whom we have been labouring, had no names for many of the animals men- tioned in Scripture. They never saw a horse till we introduced that animal to the islands ; they had no sheep or cattle of any kind ; and in many islands they had never seen any animals but rats, which were very numerous. In other islands they had pigs in great abundance, and they called the horse ' the pig that carries the man.' In translating the Scripture, we had to supply names for these unknown animals; and for many other things, which they had not, we borrowed a word from the English language. In the Polynesian dialects, a vowel intervenes between every two consonants. This rule made it impossible to transfer the word horse, and, besides, the letter s is unknown in their language. In this case we went to the Greek, and found the word hippos, — we rejected thep and the s, and constructed the word hipo, a word which any native can speak, and any learned man might under- stand. Such a word as baptism we left untranslated.'' Mr. Moffat's description of the difficulty of acquiring the Bechuana tongue, and the circumstances in which it was ac- quired, will cause you to look with reverence on the sheets of a Sechiiana Bible. The following is a specimen of that version; John i. 1—5 : — Lehuktj le le le mo tsimologofi, mi Lehuku le le na le Morimo, mi Luhuku e le le Morimo. 2 Ye, le le na le Morimo mo tsimologofi. 3 Lilo cotle li tsa rihoa ka yeona, mi ga goa rihoa sepe sa tse li rihiloen, ha e si ka yeona 4 Botselo bo le bo le mo go yeona ; mi botselo e le le leseri ya bathu. 5 Mi leseri ya phatsima mo hihiii; mi lehihi le si ka ya le cula. "Often," says Mr. Moffat, ''have we all met together to read the word of God, — that never-failing source of comfort; and, contented with bjing only the pioneers, have poured out oui souls in prayer for the perishing heathen around. The acquisi- tion of the language was an object of the first importance, and this had to be accomplished under the most unfavourable circum 28* 330 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Btances, as there was neither time nor place of retirement for study, and no interpreter worthy the name. "A feW; and but few, words were collected, and these very in- correctly. It was something like groping in the dark, and many were the blunders that I made. After being compelled to attend to every species of manual, and frequently menial, labour for the whole day, working under a burning sun, standing in the saw-pit, labouring at the anvil, treading clay, or cleaning out a waler- ditch, it may be imagined that I was in no very j&t condition for study, even when a quiet hour could be obtained in the evening for that purpose; and when /was ready for inquiry, the mind of the native interpreter could never be commanded at pleasure. "Those whose faculties have been expanded by a European education, cannot conceive the stupidity, as they would call it, of savages, in every thing beyond the most simple ideas. I have sometimes been obliged to allow my interpreter to leave off the task when he had scarcely given me a dozen words, it was so evi- dent that the exercise of the faculty of thinking so soon wore out his powers of mental exertion. He would then betray by his listlessness and vacancy of countenance, that all thought was gone, and complain that his head ached, when he always received his dismissal for that day." Nevertheless, after ten years of difficulties, surmounted by per- severance, there was in existence, by the year 1830, a Sechuana Grospel of Luke, and then came the earnest of the first-fruits. A Matabele captive sat weeping, with this portion of the word of God in her hand. '' My child, what is the cause of your sorrow V said the missionary. "Is the baby still unwell?" "No; my baby is well." "Your mother-in-law?" "No! no!" said she; "it is my own dear mother who bore me!" and, holding out the Gospel of Luke, all wet with her tears, she added, "My mother will never see this good word ! She will never hear this good news. Oh! my mother, my mother, and all my friends! They will die without the light that has shone on me !" Mr. Moffat saw his reward when he beheld this love to souls kindled in the heart of Afric's sable daughter; and in 1842, SOLITARY CHRISTIAN. 331 there was a whole New Testament, in Sechuana, printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and some thousands of copies were sent out to the interior of South Africa, to supply the wants of a people rapidly acquiring the art of reading, and multitudes of them already able to read in their own language what the Buriats called the " sacred words of the most high and saving God/' We must give one anecdote with which Mr. Moffat closes his delightful book of missionary labours : *' In one of my early journeys, I came with my companions to a heathen village, on the banks of the Orange River. We had travelled far, and were hungry, thirsty, and fatigued ; but the people of the village rather roughly directed us to halt at a distance. We asked for water, but they would not supply it. I offered the three or four buttons left on my jacket for a little milk, and was refused. We had tbe prospect of another hungry night at a distance from water, though within sight of the river. "When tv/ilight drew on, a woman approached' from the height beyond which the village lay. She bore on her head a bundle of wood, and had a vessel of milk in her hand. The latter, without opening her lips, she handed to us, laid down the wood, and returned to the village. A second time she approached, with a cooking vessel on her head, and a leg of mutton in one hand, and water in the other. She sat down without saying a word, pre- pared the fire, and put on the meat. We asked her again and again who she was. She remained silent, till affectionately en-, treated to give us a reason for such unlooked-for kindness to strangers. Then the tear stole down her sable cheek, and she replied, 'I love Him whose servants you are; and surely it is my duty to give you a cup of cold water in his name. My heart is full; therefore I cannot speak the joy I feel to see you in this out-of-the- world place/ " On learning a little of her history, and that she was a solitary light burning in a dark place, I asked her how she kept up th*i light of God in her soul, in the entire absence of the communion of saints. She drew from her bosom a copy of the Dutch New 332 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Testament, which she had received from Mr. Helm, when in his Bchool, some years before. ' This/ said she, ' is the fountain whence I drink; this is the oil which makes my lamp to burn!' I looked on the precious relic, printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society; and the reader may conceive my joy, while we mingled aur prayers and sympathies together, at the throne of our heavenly Father." As we must look upon the heathen world in the light of the future, and under the head of much land ''yet to be possessed," we will not at this point enter into more detail, especially as India must be studied alone, and with n6 wearied attention. For the heathen, the translations were going on — are going on still — being revised and re-revised; and, as this takes pkce, they go forth and do their work. The ''seed is the word," and the "field is the world." CHAPTER VII. Death of Lord Teignmouth, and of Mr. Hughes — Bible Colportage upon the Continent — Osee Derbecq — Characteristics of Colporteurs — The young Bible- collector in Jersey — Juvenile Bible Associations — Individual Efforts to dis- tribute the Scriptures — The Testament among the Fishing People of Bou- logne— A Tract the Pioneer of the Bible — Statistics of Infidel Publications In the year 1834, several of the attached friends of the Bible Society — its president, Lord Teignmouth — one of its secretaries, Joseph Hughes — its eloquent advocates and supporters, William "VVilberforce and Hannah More — were removed from their earthly labours. In the oriental afiuirs of the society. Lord Teignmouth's ex- tensive knowledge of the languages, and his intimate acquaintance with the manners and sentiments of eastern nations, (acquired while he was Governor-Greneral of India,) were of the highest importance. His introduction and recommendation to the agents, '.n their travels, never failed to insure a ready attention, and re» LORD TEIGN MOUTH — JOSEPH HUGHES. 333 moved many a difficulty ir. the way of their foreign operations ; but the advantage attaching to the rank and station of their president was of small account to the Bible Society, when com- pared with the qualities of his mind and heart. Many of the earlier Reports were written by him ; and to the wide correspond- ence, carried on for several years under his immediate direction, he rendered the greatest assistance by the purity of his taste and the elegance of his style. Mr. Hughes had spent his strength and devoted much of his time to the interests of the society for nearly thirly years, as had Mr. Owen to the time of his death, in 1822, without fee or re- ward. When Mr. Owen died, the committee felt how impossible it was to expect from any besides these two men, the fathers and founders of the society, a similar sacrifice of time and talent, without adequate remuneration, now that the business of the society had increased and was extending itself to all parts of the world. Mr. Hughes was therefore obliged to consent to receive the salary which woulcl be allotted to his future successor; but his acceptance of it was accompanied by a noble deed of conse- cration, on his own part, found among his private papers after his decease. He says, '' I have deliberately resolved to appropriate the u-Jiole of what I may receive from this source, to the relief to such private cases, and the support of such public institutions, as shall appear most deserving of my attention and encouragement.^' But he had little credit given him for such secret resolve. On one of his journeys for the society, he found by his side, on the coach, a grave and respectable-looking person. In conver- sation on topics of general interest, the Bible Society soon becflme the subject of conversation. His companion enlarged on its Utopian character, and especially on its lavish expenditure, no- ticing in a marked way the needless and extravagant expenses of its secretaries, as well as their enormous salaries. No one, from Mr. Hughes's countenance and manner, would have conjectured that he was a party concerned. " But what," he mildly expostu- lated, "would be your conclusion, were you informed that their services were r/iafuilous ; and that, with a view of curtailing aa 334 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. much, as possible the expenses of travelling, they usually, even in very inclement seasons, fix on the outside, — as one of them is now doing before your eyes ?" It need scarcely be stated, that both the fact and the tone in which it was announced, with the friendly conversation that ensued, converted an enemy into a friend. The memorial of the committee to this good man declares, that all the friends of the society were agreed to reverence and love him ; that he had eminently contributed to mature the plans which he had been instrumental in originating ; and that, by his intelligence ana piety, as well as by his remarkable freedom from asperity, he succeeded, by maintaining a friendly feeling through- out its discussions, in preserving the harmony of its councils. The memorial concluded with the transcript of a passage from his own beautiful letter of resignation, addressed to them when he found himself no longer able to fulfil the duties of his office : "The office has, I believe, greatly helped me in the way to heaven ; but now my Lord seems to say, ' I have dissolved the commission ; thy work is done ; yield cKeerfully to my purpose, and prepare to enter those blessed abodes where the labourers of the Bible Society shall have brought forth more glorious fruits than the fondest hope had foreseen.' '^ Mr. Foster, the celebrated essayist, and the old and valued friend of Mr. Hughes, on hearing " that his life was quivering in the socket," wrote to him a most syjupathizing letter, from which, when his son read to him the following words, — " But oh ! my dear friend, whither is it that you are going ? — where is it that you will be a few short weeks or days hence ?" — Mr. Hughes lifited up his hands, as if to give eficct to the reply, — " To heaven, I am going; there to dwell with Grod and Christ, and the spirits of just men made perfect !" But these devoted friends of the society would not wish us to linger even by the side of their dying beds ; for when they died, the work went on, and they bore their testimony that the Divine word, which it had been their joy to circulate during life, was their own strong consolation in the hour of death — the light of the border land. Mr. Hughes was succeeded in the secretaryship COLPORTAGE ON THE CONTINENT. 335 by his much- loved friend, the Rev. George Browne, minister of the Congregational Church, Clapham ; and the result has proved that the unanimous choice of the committee was made under the direction of Providence. For twenty years the society has been faithfully served, and its interests efficiently promoted by his judi- cious counsels, able advocacy, and extensive correspondence. May these valuable services be long continued ! We must now enter without delay on the subject of — BIBLE COLPORTAGE UPON THE CONTINENT. From the earliest days of the society, the committee sought to extend the circulation of the Bible upon the continent, wherever it was possible to find entrance for it There, popery and infi- delity reigned : the former, as we have seen, hides the Bible ; the latter rejects it : for, from all the five classes of the human family which we have been considering, there might be gathered a larger class than any one, spread among them all — the class of infidels, or unbelievers of the written word altogether. These abound also, we grieve to know, in our own Protestant England ; and their infidelity often arises from their want of knowledge They do not hiow the history of the volume they reject. Few of them have ever read the Book itself, except with intent to ridi- cule it ; and many have it not in their possession. A new agency, at this period, seemed requisite in the Roman Catholic countries, where the common people more willingly listen to persons of their own class than to a minister of the gospel ; and as God " has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty,'^ abundant blessing has been poured out on the la- bours of those who literally " go out into the highways and hedges," with the holy word of God in their hands, to distribute it day by day, and who are called Colporteurs. The British and Foreign Bible Society began to send forth these colporteurs in the year 1837. For seven years before that time, 150 of them had been employed by the Geneva and Paris Bible Societies, and their sales of the Scriptures, at reduced prices, 336 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. gradually increased, and, in the year 1835, amounted to ncarlj' 45,000 copies. But these colporteurs had circulated religious tracts as well as the Bible, and the committee in Earl-street con- sidered this not to be desirable. Out of 100 persons who applied to Monsieur de P., the agent in Paris, to become colporteurs, he carefully selected fourty-four, and in four months they sold 45,000 copies. In the next year, there were sold more than 100,000 copies ; and the number circulated during fifteen years by colpor- teurs, in France alone, amounts in all to almost seventeen hundred thousand copies ! These colporteurs now traverse the continent of Europe, — a band of humble but zealous and valiant soldiers of the Cross. They carry with them the "Sword of the Spirit,'^ and their weapon is "not carnal, but mighty, through. God, to the pulling down of the strongholds of Satan." From the shores of the Mediterranean to the Baltic, in Belgium, in Holland, in France, and in Grcrmany, they unfurl the gospel banner, and wondrous are the tales they tell of its willing recep- tion among those who would never have heard of it but through their means. Some persons were apprehensive that it would shock the feel- ings even of Protestants, to see the Scriptures hawked for sale, from door to door; others feared it would so irritate the Boman Catholics, as to provoke collision; but all these fears have "come to nought." The circulation of the Holy Word, in these countries, was a thing to be accomplished ; and God has watched over his own work from the beginning. His blessing has never for a mo- ment forsaken the faithful labourers, and they have truly to re- joice over what they have been enabled to do in his strength and name. A colporteur carries his books in a leathern bag slung over his phoulder. He makes the sale of the Bible his only employment. It is not by once offering it that he sells it, and he is often obliged to wait patiently the result of repeated visits and conversations. It is calculated that one of these excellent men offered the •Scriptures and spoke of their contents, to more than 200,000 DEATH OF LERBECQ. 337 j>3rgons. He had been colporting eleven years before lie died, and sold at least 18,000 copies of the Scriptures. His name was Osee Derbecq, and he laboured in Belgium. The Bible Society never had a more faithful servant. His whole soul was absorbed in his work; his deep piety and profound humility made him a welcome visitor wherever he went; and many persons who had persecuted him, afterward became his warmest friends. His dis- cussions with the Roman Catholic priests and their adherents, were full of holy boldness and faithful testimony to the grace of God. A colporteur, who visited one of his old fields of labour, wrote thus: '^Derbecq had been here, and had penetrated, as every- where else, into the most humble cabin. Every moment my heart is pained at the thought of his death, when I see the esteem in which he is held by the inhabitants of this province, who have been a long while waiting his return." In more than one locality, where there is now a flourishing congregation, he was the sower of the seed. In June, 1847, he fell into consumption, but he continued his work till September, 1848, though in much bodily suffering. At last he procured an ass to carry his books, himself walking by its side as long as he could. He died at the age of forty-two, and his death made a strong impression on those around him, for it was full of bliss. Many attended his funeral. He was called the ''king of col- porteurs," and it may be truly said, he died a martyr to the Bible Society's work. It has been thought by the committee, that this year of Jubilee, a season of which Isaiah speaks as the acceptable year of the Lord among the Tews, and which was to be a season of "comforting all that mourn," is a very suitable occasion for commencing a fund which shall meet the necessities of some humble and retired, but laborious and devoted servants of Christ, like Osee Derbecq. The colporteurs being always chosen from their earnest and undoubted piety, it is almost certain that each of the seventeen Imndred tliousaiul Bibles we have spoken of has been accompanied by a prayer. They have all likewise been sold, not given, an«5 ?9 838 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. will therefore;^ probably, be more carefully preserved. Seven- eigliths of them have been of the version cf De Sacy, sold in France, proving that the work has been carried on especially among Roman Catholics. Alas ! many of these Bibles have possi- bly been burnt, but perhaps the greater part have been preserved. Our colporteurs frequently report that they have been in districts in France where the New Testament is to be met with in almost every house; and not a month passes in which one or the other does not discover, in various parts of the country, some few in- dividuals or whole families who unite for the purpose of reading the Bible or Testament, to their great comfort. One very remarkable fact concerning the colporteurs is this, that, with but few exceptions, they have formerly been Roman Catholics, and have become zealous friends of the Bible through reading copies of the Scripture purchased by themselves of some colporteurs. There are continual changes upon the staff, as it is called, — from 280 to 300 individuals having been employed since the British and Foreign Bible Society took up the work, and among these there have been scarcely a dozen who have not proved equal to the requirements of their calling. All the rest have, in zeal, devotion, and fidelity, been ornaments to the gospel; and in the esteem of the public generally, the name of colporteur signi- fies a man of order and of peace, as well as a good and upright man. Sometimes the French colporteurs are addressed in this way : '^As for you, you are men of the Bible; you never speak of any thing else : you certainly are not men of this world. Whether Louis Napoleon or Louis Philippe sits upon the throne, it matters very little to you; you are comical fellows; you seem as if you belong neither to the republic, the empire, nor to any thing else; and, to look at you, and to listen to you, one might almost say that God is always before you, and that it is he who governs. How is this? Explain yourselves." And then they do explain themselves : they stand by many a dying bed, and arc brought into sympathy with mjfny a strange and solemn scene; they sow the good sc?d through the field of SUCCESS OP v^OLPORTAGE. 339 the world, and they often reap, years afterward, the seed they have sown. The work of the colporteur was never intended to interfere with the work of the collectors for Bible Associations, whether at home or abroad. It consists in selling Bibles at once, as many as he can in a day. The work of the Bible collector is, as we have seen, to receive the weekly penny from those who at one time can spare no more. It is carried on, of late years, very chiefly by associa- tions of ladies, who find many an opportunity of doing good both to the souls and the bodies of those whom they thus repeatedly visit. Both orders of agency are excellent; and both are found necessarv, even in Eno-land. In 1845, it was thus reported : " The county of Badnor, con- taining a population of 25,000, has only five Bible Societies within its limit; and of these five, two have little more than an existence in name. A well-chosen colporteur commenced his operations at the close of harvest, in one of five districts into which the county was divided, and within forty-six days he sold, at cost prices, in the eight parishes comprised in the district, one thousand and eighty-five Bibles and Testaments, among a population of 5804, being in the proportion of a copy to every family. He was a man of good muscular strength, as well as piety; he walked about fourteen miles a day: the farmers and labourers purchased with avidity, sometimes to the extent of a copy for every individual capable of reading; all were astonished at the cheapness of the books, and many were the blessings implored on those by whom he was employed." Notwithstanding all the Bibles that have been supplied in England, experience proves, that this history of the county of Radnor, in 1845, would be repeated, by the use of the same agency, in many an extensive tract of country and in many a lonely hamlet, even in this year 1853. ladies' associations. But that you may not think that the whole work of the society is or can be done by colporteurs, and that those who arc ignorant 340 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. of it may have an idea of it as at this time carried on with zeal and perseverance by upward of 20,000 ladies in the British em- pire, we will give you a few particulars concerning a Bible col- lector, in one of the Channel islands, which may induce some of you to follow her example. Attached to the second Report of the Bible Society, in 1806, is the following letter from the Bev. F. P., of Jersey : — "A mem- ber of your society has encouraged me to lay before you the state of the island of Jersey, as it respects the want of Bibles. I need not tell you that by far the greater part of the inhabitants speak French, and nothing but French, so that if they wish to read their Bible, it must be in that language; but war has interrupted all communications with Holland and other parts, from which we had our Bibles, so that they are exceedingly scarce. I believe there is not one to he bought in the tchole island. I know many religious families who are without it. They have not even the New Testament; and though they would give any money for it, it is all in vain. I have known old second-hand family Bibles to sell at from two to four pounds sterling, so that none but the rich can afford to buy them, while the poor people are greatly in want of them." In answer to this letter, the committee directed 300 copies of the French Testament to be forwarded to their correspondent, to be disposed of on terms suited to the circumstances of the people. He preached in French to 2000 hearers, who had not among them 200 Bibles, and from the pulpit told them, that it was to the British and Foreign Bible Society that the churches must now look for a supply of the word of Grod. Other jxrants of New Testaments followed this, and still, in a letter dated 1809, he says, '^I wish you could have seen the silent tears of joy fall from many an eye, at the thought that one day they would be possessors of the invaluable treasure. Many are anxiously waiting for the completion of the Old Testament in French. When it is finished, oh ! pray forget not Jersey!" It is a very interesting fact, that most of the families in Jersey are descended from refugees who escaped from the religious per- MARIE, THE MINISTER'S DAUGHTER. 341 ieoution in France. It is related of tliem, that when they had to pass the gens-d'armes on the coast, they always tried to hide their children, and one of the means employed was placing them in baskets well covered with fruit. They are therefore a part of the Protestant Church of the Book, and it was delightful to the society to multiply to them their ancient treasure. The minister, whose letters we have quoted, married an English lady, a true Christian, who established a Ladies' Bible Association in Jersey, in 1807 or 1808, — one, therefore, of the very earliest of these institutions which worked silently and without official notice, probably paying its proceeds into the hands of the gentlemen's committee. A ladies' auxiliary, under high patronage, was established in 1818, and its president describes Jersey, shortly afterward, as ''our little country still thirsting for the word of life." But it was in the spring of 1837 that some friends of the Bible Society, who visited Jersey, found the amiable and inte- resting daughter of the good minister above mentioned following in the steps of her father, who was yet living, and of her mother, who had been removed by death, and very earnestly devoted to the work of spreading the Scriptures in the romantic little isle, where she had been born. These friends say: "We once or twice accompanied Marie in her visits to her Bible-district, in the streets and lanes of the crowded town of St. Helier's, where the scenes are more foreign than English, and where she had to cope with the effects of that Catholic super- stition, which must be seen in detail, in order to appreciate the difficulty of pouring light upon its darkness. "From many and many a door we turned away, where the offer of the word of life was rejected with anger and scorn. The laugh of derision followed us up stair and alley, or the look of surprise varied the vacant face of ignorance, knowing nothing, and willing to know nothing, but what the priest ordained. Marie spoke fluently in French, or in patois, when the latter only was understood, and her English was equally ready. Three most delightful visits were paid, in one morning, to persons who had 29* 342 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY, been led by this young messenger of mercy to seek pardon foi their sins, and lay hold on the hope of heaven. "One very aged Frenchwoman welcomed her footstep with all the ardour of her nation. We shall not forget that large old- fashioned apartment, with its deep recesses and its earthen floor, — the fine figure of its inmate, upright as a dart, though incapible of moving from her chair, — the delicately plaited and snowy 3ap and 'kerchief, — her knitting cast aside, on which, although bknd, she was constantly employed, — and both hands at once held out to her 'chere, chere, petite Ma'amselle Marie,' so often the cheerer of her lonely home. Marie came frequently to read to her of Jesus, and the old woman said she had taken him into her heart, and that he was always with her. She looked very happy, and perfectly contented, and seemed to live, from visit to visit, on the words she remembered from the book, "In another part of her district, at Le Dicq, Marie had esta- blished Sunday-schools, where she and her sister had gathered together some children in a room on the wild and rugged sea- shore— a ragged school — before ragged schools were thought of in London; and after their early labours, on the Sabbath, in the large schools attached to her father's church, and attending morning service, they were accustomed to snatch a slight meal, and walk ofi" in all weathers to their new and untamed pupils here, who must be taught to read before they could receive the Bible, and with whom it was evident that persevering love and energy would soon be successful. "We paid a visit with her to the Bible committee. She had many home responsibilities, which were very sweetly fulfilled, — and she was the light of the household to her widowed father; but these private duties did not prevent her from acting as secre- tary to more than one oenevolent institution; and of the Ladies' Bible Society, sLe was, steadily and quietly, the moving spring. While others might take the honour and the appearance of pre- cedence, she was content to work untired, and to bring all she could persuade by influence and example to work too, yet herself claiming no praise and no observance. Her heart and soul were JUVENILE ASSOCIATIONS, 343 in the service, and her zeal appeared only equalled by her self- knowledge and her humility. "We told her one day that she was born to be a missionary, when she replied, ^It must be a missionary to France; but I have work enough in Jersey for many years to come. God has placed us, you perceive, between two great nations, — England and France. He has given us the government of the one, the language of the other, and the privilege of unrestrained inter- course with both ; and I often think why this is. England has the gospel, and now gives it to us; France has it not; but Eng- land has not the language of France, and so cannot speak to her in her own tongue. Jersey ought to preach the gospel to France. The light which is in her was brought from France. I wish I ever might spread Bibles there.' " God did not suffer this desire to be realized. Ere she reached her twenty-second year, he took hier to himself, to the great sor- row of all who knew her. She died of consumption on the 21st of August, 1839, the day twenty years after her mother, who had been carried off by the same insidious disease; and now, father, mother, and daughter, are, we doubt not, together in heaven ! But although these first sowere of the good seed in Jersey are no more, the Bible Society continues its work, and the seed has sprung up, and bring-s forth fruit abundantly. Instead of the one association in which Marie laboured, there are now fourteen asso- ciations, a ladies' branch, and an auxiliary, — each association having eight or twelve collectors, besides its ofl&cers : upward of 3000 Bibles have been distributed by them. JUVENILE ASSOCIATIONS. There is one more department of the agency now at work for the Bible Society, which it is particularly pleasant to contemplate. Children were among its earliest friends; and in associations organized for them by their teachers, in schools and in families, they have always contributed to its funds with delight. They are beings who are apt to interest themselves in all that is going 344 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. on around tliem, and in their little hearts they always keep theii fathers' jubilees : " Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem ? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven/' Jer. vii. 17, 18. If, therefore, the children of idolatrous parents help them, what is to prevent that the children of those who love God's word, and seek to circulate it, should help them also ? Jesus said, " Whoso shall not receive the kingdom of Grod as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein." The Story of the Book of Grod is a story for all ages. It embraces details almost too many and too mighty to be rendered down to the ear of restless childhood; yet it has been our highest ambition so to write it that a child might understand it; and if we have succeeded, it will work its own results. More children will come forward, with the ardour and simplicity of their age, to help forward this great work of God. Ecery child and young ^cr&on can help. There are fifty-four Juvenile Bible Associations entered as tributaries on the books of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Some of thom have very pretty names, such as "Twig," "Blossom," "Rivulet," "Drop," and " Crumb ;" and they are spread over fourteen or fifteen of the counties of England. There is also one in Jersey, and several in Wales. In Manchester there are fou?' " Blossoms," one of which has in the last year contributed the handsome sum of 32/. 9s. Qd. to the funds of the society. The difierent Juvenile Bible Societies of Manchester, altogether, have raised this year the sum of 63Z. 2s. ; and the money they collect noio is not their chief benefit, for it is hoped that many faithful and persevering little labourers will thus 1)6 trained and raised up to support the Bible society in days to come. From among those who are noio children, must arise the future secretaries, and translators, and home and foreign agents ; and the present small donations which they bring will be promises and pledges of larger donations in riper years. It may be that some few will inherit fortune and estate; and if they have belongs ed to an early " Blossom Bible Society," it may influence theii hearts to be the liberal donors of the thousand guineas at a time. TWIG AND BLOSSOM SOCIETIES. 345 which can nowhere be better cast than into the treasury for the distribution of God's word. Others will give time and talent, as they may be needed. They will be led to think of the wide, wide world, and its want ot the Bible, and perhaps themselves make some sacrifices to aid its distribution. In the Moravian schools at Fulneck, numbers of the young people abstained altogether from sugar, to give the amount allowed them in lieu of it to the Bible Society fund. Every child who can save, or give, or lead others to give, but fourpence a week to a Bible box or association, may every week consider that this will be the means of giving the four Gospels, if not a whole New Testament, to a poor Chinese. These little "Twig'' and "Blossom" Societies have their regular meetings for business, their account-books, and their accounts duly rendered in ; and as children at school are sometimes lavishly supplied with money by indulgent parents, this opens a source for legiti- mate investment of much that might be thoughtlessly and selfishly spent. One of the domestic agents of the Bible Society says that he had the pleasure of exhibiting what is commonly called "The Bible Society Map"* to the pupils under the care of Mrs. E., of Devizes, and that he shall not soon forget the eager attention and deep feel- ing with which the young ladies surveyed the whole. The moral state of the population of the globe was explained by the aid of the colours selected for the purpose. All were struck with the very small space coloured pink, to represent Christianity, and the very large proportion of blue and yellow, showing what countries are still Mohammedan and Pagan. It was observed, that the great work in which the Bible Society is engaged is to change the moral state of the word, to obliterate the blue and the yellow, and to pink, that is, to Christianize the whole population of the earth. Soon after the little lecture was finished, and while sitting at the breakfast-table, a knock at the door was heard, and a little girl came in and placed a paper containing something heavy in *Ss3page 194. 346 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Mr. 's hand, without saying a word. It contained a note, of whicli the following is a copy : " The young ladies of Mrs. E.^b establishment beg Mr. 's acceptance of the enclosed trifle towards pinking the world — August, 1840.'^ The '^trifle" amounted to the sum of twenty-three shillings, contributed of their own accord toward an object well worthy of it. May many schools do likewise in this Jubilee Year ! They had afterward the gratification to learn that this money would provide at that time twenty- three Testaments and more than nine Bibles. It would now provide many more. ^ As this chapter has been devoted to a consideration of the agen cies at work for the Bible Society, we must not close it without a notice of those efforts which are put forth from time to time, by individual friends, not ofl&cially connected with the society, who have scattered the seed of the word where they have resided or travelled. The following is but a specimen of one among thou- sands of opportunities occurring, those who have the object always in view, of circulating the Scriptures; and as we have given many instances of the way in which missionaries and the friends of edu- cation co-operate with the Bible Society, this incident will likewise show how a tract will often act as a pioneer to the Bible. You have heard of Boulogne- sur-Mer; and any of our readers who may have passed through that town on their way to Paris, or may have resided there for awhile, will, perhaps, know that a separate portion of it consists of the dwellings of the fishing-people, who devote themselves especially, during the season, to the catch- ing, curing, and sale of herrings. Les Matelots, as they are called, are a very interesting race. They have a peculiar costume, — the women wearing short, thick, scarlet or striped skirts, and dark-blue jackets, with a beautifully-plaited cap. Their best suit is considered their fortune; and the chief piece of furniture in their cottages is a large wardrobe to contain the riches of their dress, which the girls buy as they earn money by selling fish, or carrying boxes and parcels or shore from the steam-boats. They "LES MATELOTS" of BOULOGNE. 347 are a very hardy and industrious race, and are continually making or mending nets for their husbands and brothers, while they are following their occupation at sea. In their way, and according to their own estimation, they are very pious. They pray perpetually to the holy Virgin for safety in their perilous vocation; and, on returning from a voyage, they go and kneel at the crucifix on the top of the cliffs, and offer thanks for their preservation. They are very ignorant, because no one teaches them ; but many are ready to receive, if it were offered, the true light of the gospel. One of these fisher-girls, of a very interesting appearance and kind disposition, was in the daily habit of bringing water from the fountain, for the use of an English family, who had taken up their residence for three months in a house by the sea-side, not far from the fishing-town : her name was Genevieve. One even- ing she saw the lady at the window, and, somewhat to her sur- prise, asked her if she would be so kind as to read a little to her, as some English lady had done before. She said that she liked histories, but had never been taught to read, otherwise she would not ask the favour. The lady was glad to comply with her request. She read to her some chapters in the New Testament, a book that Genevieve had never seen, and offered to read a portion of it every day, if she would come to hear it. After some days, the fisher-girl said that she had been telling her father about this reading, that he could read, and that he wished to have the book. The lady lent her a French New Tes- tament to take home with her, and the fisherman read thirty pages, on first sitting down to it-, aloud .to his family, and then he took it to sea with him. It is usual for several fishermen to own a boat among them, and this man read the New Testament to his partners when they were out at sea, being particularly pleased with those histories which are given in the Gospels, of the Apostle Peter and his companions fishing. After the glad receptinivi of this one Testament, Genevi6ve w^ 348 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. asked if sli-e knew of any one else among her people who wished for a Testament in their own language. She said she thought she did ; and half-a-dozen Testaments being procured from the depository of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in the Rue de L'Ecu, the fisher-girl accompained the lady up and down the alley in which she lived. That was a very different alley from an alley in London. It stretches from the top to the bottom of the steep cliff; and the houses on either side, being built one above another, are reached by flights of broad stone stairs, each landing-place having its own sea-view. Here Genevieve's mother was found spinning the string which they afterwards make into nets. At every door was offered a New Testament. Two were bought, and four were thankfully received; twenty-eight were afterwards disposed of, and in three or four houses the lady was eventually asked to come and read to them. The best time for this was found to be on the Sabbath afternoon, when the women came to listen in groups of eight and ten. This is their only leisure afternoon of the week, when they generally put on their gayest dress and go up the cliffs to the cinicifix, ''pour prior Dieu, et adorer la Yierge." The visitor met with no single instance of incivility in all her intercourse with this "Billingsgate" of France; and it appeared to her that if God intends mercy to this large town, it is among these despised ^'esclaves" of the population that it will be first received. Another incident occurred in the same year, 1847, which made a good Frenchwoman say, " The Lord's time is come, and He is going to work among those Matelots." A poor woman, who lived in the fishing-town, had a tract lent to her called " Le Bon Berger." She lent it to a cousin, an old fisherman past work, and he, reading it with great interest, gave it a new name. He called it " La Brebis Egaree." He read it to his wife and daughter, and lent it to his friends, saying, "if this was the new religion, they would find it better than the old one." This was because the tract led the people directly to Jesus as the Good Shepherd for lost sheep, and not round aboutj to asj: for the prayers of the Virgin Mary THE PRECIOUS TRACT. 349 It was wonderful, therefore, to see how it appealed to the com- mon-sense of the people ! It was read to twenty of them at once, by a little boy, who was a good, clear, loud reader ; and then it came back to the old woman who had been its original lender; but it never stayed at home. First one borrowed it, then another : it was read by the crews of five of the boats, and at last the lady who was distributing the Testaments heard of it, and she borrowed the dirty treasure, and read it with deep in- terest. It was a simple allegory, and a fresh proof of the power of allegory over the common mind. It depicted the tender love of Christ to a lost sheep, — his living to seek it, and dying to save it, — in a style particularly calculated to please the French. This tract continued to go, dirtier and dirtier, from house to house, even more welcomed, and always making way for the Tes- tament, which it seemed the instrument designed to do. When it was reclaimed one day from a fine old Pharisee, who had said, "she had done so many good works all her days, that God had never given her an hour's illness," she was heard to say with tears in her eyes, " Mais je suis cette brebis egaree.'' A neigh- bour of hers had earnestly desired to have it, saying she would then take it and read it from house to house, all through the fish- ing-town. A hundred copies of this tract were afterwards put into circu- lation among the fishing people. In the early spring of 1848, the fishing-boat in which Genevieve's father and brother were part- ners, went down one stormy night, with all the crew, — so that the Testament and the tract were sent to them in the last year of their lives; they read both dOi gently; and let us hope that they read to the salvation of their souls. Now this fact may present a picture of the state of thousands of other districts and towns in Roman Catholic countries. The poor people would hear the gospel if they might. How vast an account of souls those have to render at God's awful bar, whc leave them alone in their ignorance, or only fill their ears with thf rubbish of popish miracles and saints' lives, instead of the Hit 850 THE Book and its story. pure word whicl God has given to guide all to Himself, afl "the Crood Shepherd, ' we scarcely dare to think. And the friends of the Bible had need awake to their respon- sibilities ! They have on their side God and his word, and the promise that " truth shall prevail /^ but the prince of the power of the air has also his active agents, and in numbers they far surpass the soldiers of the Cross. He has, it is true, no mighty organization like the British and Foreign Bible Society, for circu- lating any one book of fasehood that should deny our Book of truth ; but he has earnest missionaries and zealous educators, and he causes to be issued an astounding total of tracts and newspa pers that serve his purpose. He has until now maintained in China and India his giant fabrics of idolatry. He is strengthen- ing at every point the once crumbling shrines of popery, and he has begun to give to infidelity that spirit of co-operation and union which was declared to be " the only thing wanting to make it the most terrible enemy of the Church of God.'^* The writer of a book called " The Power of the Press," in- forms us, that eleven millions seven hundred and two thousand copies of absolutely vicious and Sabbath-breaking newspapers are circulated every year in Great Britain, while the sum total of the issue of Bibles and religious tracts does not amount, in a year, to one-third of this number. There are about sixty cheap periodicals issued every week of a positively pernicious tendency. Some of them issue 100,000 a week, some 80,000, some 20,000, having among the whole a yearly sale of six millions two hundred and forty thousand. There are, besides these, infidel and polluting publications which make lovers of the Bible wonder where their readers can be found, but which nevertheless have a yearly circulation of ten million four hundred thousand ! And there are yet others so intensely wicked, that the rest de- * "Essay on Popery and Infidelity," by Mr. Douglas, of Cavers. PERNICIOUS PUBLICATIONS. 351 notuice them as wicked, and which can only be sold by stealth, whose issues this writer specifies as five hundred and twenty thousand annually! He sums up his total thus : Ten stamped papers . . . 11,702,000 Six unstamped papers . . 6,240,000 Sixty pernicious periodicals . 10,400,000 Worst class. .... 520,000 Total . . . 28,862,000. And this is only in our own Christian country. Week after week, year after year, does this tide of evil roll on : and what does the Church of God do to meet it ? Adding together the annual issues of Bibles, Testaments, religious tracts, newspapers, and periodicals of every kind, we find a total of 24,418,620, leaving a balance on the side of evil of, alas ! four millions four hundred and forty-three thousand three hundred and eighty !* It may still be less generally known, that free-thinkers, as they call themselves, have now instituted a conference-meetinor for ex- amining the progress of their various societies, in difierent parts of the kingdom. They, too, have perceived that "union is strength," and from Bolton, Blackburn, Glasgow, Bradford, Man- chester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nottingham, Paisley, Preston, Stafibrd, and Sheffield, they, too, have their reports of each other's proceedings. This is a new feature of the times, and, sad to ssij, the paper which makes known their results, and gives union and emphasis to their efibrts against the Bible, is con- ducted with a calm determination, not with low abuse, by a man who was once a scholar in a Sunday-school. There are annually issued — Of infidel publications 12,200,200 Of atheistic ditto . . 624,000 Of popish ditto . . . 520,000 Making a total of 13,344,200. * See " Church ir Earnest," pp. 94, 97. 352 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. All these have their active distributors : they are met with in the railway-carriage and on the steamboat, scattering industriously and gratuitously those seeds of evil with confident expectation, that, when those are well sown, England will be revolutionized. Let us arise, then, against this host, to the help of all that ia holy, and especially to the diligent dissemination of the word of God, which shall overcome them all — " to the help of the Lord, against the mighty \" CHAPTER VIII. Jubilee Review of the Heathen Countries of the World — The Bible in India — In China : Extraordinary Religious Movement there : Sew-Tseuen, the Leader of the Insurgents — Japan in all probability without a Bible — Loochoo Islands Let us now take up the forty-ninth Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, issued in the year 1853, and see if we think it any longer a " dull book," being better prepared to under- stand it. Omv five threads must also be resumed once more, on which to string the facts of chief importance that may be collected from our " Jubilee Review;"- but we may be permitted to reverse their order, and take, first, the heathen and pagan countries of the world, and we shall therefore open this Bible Report at page 79 upon — INDIA. " The Indian empire of Great Britain — that vast appendage to an island throne — is not merely a country but a continent. In ancient days it contained numerous independent kingdoms, stretching 1800 miles in length, and 1300 in breadth. It includes all varieties of climate, scenery, and soil. The giant range of the Himalayas, capped with eternal snow, the fertile plains of th« THE BIBLE IN INDIA. 353 river Ganges, and the high table-land of the Mysore, alike rank among its territories. Its 130,000,000 of people speak thirteen different languages. Its lowland plains produce the cheapest food of various kinds, and the warmth of its climate requires but scanty clothing. Its mineral treasures are abundant, and it has giant forests of the most useful trees. Its noble rivers furnish a ready highway for trade, and the cheapness of labour brings its vast produce into the market at a low rate. The taper fingers of its natives can carve exquisitely in ebony and ivory, and their shawls, their muslins, and their jewelry, are yet unrivalled in all the world. Its population includes the clever and insinuating Brahmin, the submissive and patient Sudra, the poor outcast Paria, and the indolent Mussulman. It includes the coward and cunning Bengali, the spirited Hindustani, the martial Sikh and Mahratta, the mercantile Armenian, the active and honest Parsee, the busy Telugu, and the uncivilized tribes who now inhabit the hill forests, but who once roamed as lords over the outspread plains." These millions of people are chiefly idolaters, and caste divides them into sections, each set against the other; but they yield implicit obedience to the dictation of their priests, and the asser- tions of their shastras or holy books; — for the greater part of this land is yet unprovided with teachers of the gospel. To obtain an idea of the extent of India, we must remember, that, if Russia be kept out of mind, it is as large and j^ojndous as all Europe ; and to realize the state of its missions, we must, at present, think of one missionary to every 350,000 people ! — no more 1 Let France be thought of as Bengal, and suppose that France were utterly heathen, and that Christian benevolence sent thirty missionaries for Paris and the suburbs, two for Guienne, a few for Dauphiny, but none for Britanny, Normandy, Burgundy. Lorraine, Gascony, Champagne, or Languedoc ; then let Bavaria be thought of as Bundelkund, Sweden and Norway as Oude Great Britain and Ireland as the various hill tribes, Italy as tho Nizam's country, and Turkey and Greece as the Punjaiib ard Scinde, almost together unsupplied with Christian teachers : — you 30* "854 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. need not wonder that scoffers return home from their Indiau travels, and say, '^ thej never met with a single missionary or a single convert/' There has been, a strange neglect of India hitherto as a mission-field. In the West Indies there are not less than 350 missionaries to instruct a population of 2,500,000, but in India there are but 403 missionaries to 130,000,000 of people ! But now, what has the Bible, " the missionary of missionaries," done in India ? We have seen the great translators, Carey, Marshman, and Ward, commencing their work on this wide continent, in 1793 In 1806, they began to print the Scriptures in six languages; but in 1809, no English Bibles had ever been sent to Madras for sale, and it was almost impossible to procure one. In those times, when a considerable army was in the field, and it became necessary to obtain a Bible, it was with difficulty that a copy could be found with any of the European officers or men. Bishop Corrie, in 1811, makes the following interesting record : ^^In 1807, when I was stationed at Chunar, a native Boman Catholic used to visit me for religious instruction. There was not at this time any transla- tion of the Scriptures to put into his hand. [The Hindui Bible had not then been published.] I therefore selected some of the most important passages in the Bible, and dictated a translation of them, very imperfectly, it is true, but to the best of my ability, to the poor man, who wrote them on a number of pieces of loose paper. I heard nothing more of him for many years, but have been lately informed by the Rev. Mr. Wilkinson of Gooruckpore, who visited him on his death-bed, that, on entering into conversation with him, he was surprised at his acquaintance with scriptural religion. He asked an explanation, and the poor man produced the loose slips of paper on which he had written my translations. On these it appears his soul had fed through life, and through them he died such a death, that Mr. W. entertained no doubt of his having nassed into glory." In 1831, the same excellent bishop avows his belief, "that future labourers will reap the fruit of the precious seed which the BIBLE DISSEMINATION IN INDIA. 355 Bible Society has been sowing in India with so much diligence for many years past/' And the reaping of the harvest has hegun ; a gradual change is taking place in India; she has been given into the hand of Eng- land for a great purpose; and that purpose is beginning to be ac- complished. The Report of 1853 refers us to the Bibles that have been at work since Dr. Carey's time, who found in India only the Tamil and Telugu Bibles. He published his Bengali, Marathi, and Uriya Bibles ; then came Henry Martyn's Hindustani and Persian New Testaments, and the Sanscrit Bible from the press at Seram- pore. Dr. Buchanan provided the Syriac Scriptures ; more per- fected editions in successive years appeared of the Hindui, the Persian, the Telugu, and the Tamil ; then came the Malayalim, the Canarese, the Punjabee Bibles, and the Burmese Bible, pre- pared by the devoted American missionaries. We will not give you the whole list of dialects, but they have each done their work, silently and surely, or rather have begun to do it ; and from this ^' word of God, quick and powerful, and sharper than any two- edged sword," the monstrous dragon of idolatry, bred of old in the slime of the river of Egypt, awaits his death-blow in the mud of the Ganges.* When the Calcutta Bible Association was first established, which was the happy result of a memorable sermon preached by Henry Martyn, just before he departed on his memorable journey to Persia, its principal object was to give the word of God to the destitute Protestant churches in India. In 1840, it declared that this object was now effectually accomplished, -^as, in recent visita- tions made by the members of the committee, scarcely a fimily of Protestant Christians has been found without the Holy Scrip- tures. The Armenian churches have also been diligently sup- plied.'' The association then intended to direct its attention more particularly to the supply of native Christian churches, and Christian schools for the education of the young ; and, as educa* * See Katterns' SermoE on " India, the Stronghold of Idolatry/* 356 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. tion in the English language was continually on the increase among the natives, new openings for usefulness were constantly presenting themselves. To the prosecution of this design we may, in 1853, trace the issue of far larger numbers of copies of the Holy Scriptures, and happy results therefrom. In three successive years, 1849, 1850, and 1851, the circulation was 43,969 ; and we have abundant proofs on every side that there is now in this country a wide- spread general knowledge of Christianity;* that the Christian Scriptures are regarded with reverence, and are partially under- stood by the people; that the blessings which have made England great will shortly elevate also degraded India; that the mental vigour of the conqueror will be imparted to the conquered; and that the justice, the moral tone, and truth of England are capable of being infused into a people who have not known them for ages. The Rev. G. Gogerly, for twenty-five years a missionary in Bengal, gives us the following incidents in proof of the present willingness of the natives of India to receive the Scriptures, in contrast to their former reluctance : — In the early part of his ministry, in India, Mr. Gr. was one day preaching, when a Brahmin came up to listen. "After the ser- vice was concluded, a tract was offered to him with a respectful salutation, 'Will you receive this, my lord? It concerns Jesus Christ the Redeemer of the world. Ji you receive it, the Sudras will also receive it.' He took it scornfully in his hand, turned over two or three pages, tore it across, tore it again, spat upon it, and cast it in my face." This was in 1818. In 1843, the missionaries being on a journey, pitched their tent near the encampment of a rajah, who sent to inquire of them, "Who are you?" The answer was returned, "White people — those who possess the Book of God, and beg to offer you a copy thereof in Hindustani." The rajah received it graciously, took off his turban, and cast it on the floor, putting in its stead the book upon his head : then he removed it, and pressed it to his * See " Bible in India." HINDUI SCRIPTURES. 357 heart, saying, " As I have placed it on my head, I m\\ receive it into my mind. As I have clasped it to my breast, I will welcome it to my heart." We know the native character well enough to remember, that this might be all mere politeness, and possibly meant nothing more; but still it shows a different state of feeling from former contumely, and may be taken as a specimen of the present general reception of the Bible in India. He adds, "We had the opportunity of conveying also a copy of the Scriptures to Dost Mohammed, the potentate of Affgha- nistan, (that land of Mohammedans, so inveterate in its opposi- "tion, and which will not admit colporteurs,) through the means of an English child with whom he was foAd of playing." The Bible, which has made England and America the mis- sionaries of the world, will destroy India's idolatry and caste, will purify her people from their immoralities, and will raise her female population. But how is it noio being distributed in India ? "In 1848, the committee of the Calcutta Auxiliary perceived with deep regret that only 35,429 Bengali Bibles had been issued in the space of nine years, for the many millions of Bengal. While contemplating this inadequate supply, they felt that it would be good to institute an extensive succession of missionary journeys, to inquire into the wants of the people." In 1852, they again resolved to make grants for these missionary tours, and in the cold season planned nine more journeys, three of which they proposed to the missionaries of the Church Mis- sionary Society, and three to the London Missionary Society, and others to the Free Church and Baptist missionaries, &c. The demand for Bengali Scriptures was thus again augmented, and in one year amounted to 23,288, besides the copies issued from Cal- cutta to the various stations and agents. Owing to the same order of means, the Hindui Scriptures have likewise been largely circulated. The Rev. Gr. Schatz, of the German mission, writes : " The cold season having set in early and favourably, our brethren were encouraged to march out sooner than we are generally able to do at Nagpore ; and tbey have met with such a desire after tlic word of God; in the Chattra district, 358 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. that we have been obliged to send them one load of books aftet another, and our stock of the Scriptures is so thinned, that we ihall in a short time have scarcely any book left but Genesis. We hope you will make us some grants of Gospels." In reply to this welcome request, the Calcutta Society ordered to press, in 1850, 125,000 copies of the Hindui Scriptures. The Rev. J. R. Campbell, of the American mission at Sa- harunpore, one of the most experienced missionaries in the north- west of India^ writes : " Our principal distribution of the Scrip- tures, during the past year, was made at the Hardwar fair, where thousands of portions in Hindui, Urdii, Persian, and Punjaubi, were given away to pilgrims who could read them, and who ex- pressed a desire to carry them to their homes in different and dis- tant parts of India. The Bible is a book well known to the heathen in this land, and every year's experience convinces us more thoroughly, that the word of God is not fettered, but spread- ing rapidly through the masses of the community. We find now but few men of common intelligence who do not know something of the leading facts contained in the Christian Scriptures; and as but few have had an o^^portunitij of hearing the living jiveachcrs of the gospel, whence could this information arise, hut from the general and extensive circulation of the word of God? We must go on distributing the precious seed J' The Rev. Mr. Hill, of the London Missionary Society, said, in a letter written in 1835 : " One evening, while preaching at Jag- hooly, to about 150 persons at my tent door, I observed a tall old man approaching, leaning on a silver-headed cane. He sat down with the rest, and listened with marked attention, and after- ward addressing me, said, ' Sahib, I have been to every holy place in India; I have consulted all the sages and pundits I have met with; I am two years short of eighty, and have not found a religion in which I can hope for eternity. My remaining days are few ; the evening of my life has set in ; and oh !' he exclaimed with emotion, ^may it please God to bring me at the close of my long life to know and find a way by which I can die in peace ! Bo give me a book which will tell me this way, and I will road EAST INDIAN CHARACTERISTICS. 359 It earnestly.' I gave him a Gospel, aod a letter to the Rev. Mr. Murray of Chinsurah, for a New Testament. I also led him by the hand into the tent, and had an hour's conversation with him, in which I told him that he must expect persecution if he em- braced the gospel of Christ. I had another interview with him, and he heard another sermon before I left the place. His name was Prankissen Singh, and I have since learned that he obtained his New Testament. Ah ! who can tell how many such persons may in the jungles be like him, thirsting for the waters of life, and endeavouring to feel after God, ' if haply they may find him ?' " Dr. Buchanan, in 1807, said of the population of India : " The best eifects may be expected from the simple means of putting the Bible into their hands. All who are acquainted with the natives know, that instruction by books is best suited to them. They are, in general, a contemplative race, patient in their inquiries, anxious also to know what it can be that is of importance enough to be written. They regard written precepts with respect; and if they possess a book in a language they understand, it will not be left long unread." How delightful, then, to know, from the Report of the Madras committee, in 1853, that in Southern India, — comprising 195,000 square miles, and a population of 21,000,000, — Christians are endeavouring to leaven this great mass with the word of God, in the Tamil, Telugu, Canarese, Malayalim, and Hindustani lan- guages! Since this committee entered on their work, in the year 1820, almost 800,000 copies of the Scriptures (though chiefly in portions) have been put into circulation. During the past year, the number distributed was 67,418; yet this scarcely amounts to one copy for every ten of the estimated population of the mere town and suburbs of Madras. You see, then, the field to be sown ! In some of the vast districts, there is lamentable need of more missionaries ; and wherever a portion is reclaimed from the desert, and pains bestowed upon it, a good measure of success is sure to be realized. For the districts of Tinnevelly and Travancore there is a large staff of missionaries and catcchists, chiefly those of the Church 660 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. of England. The same are needed in the native states of Cochin and the Mysore. The Tamil translation is still receiving fuither and further revision, though that issued at Bellary was published after sixteen years of indefatigable labour. The Scriptures have become the text-book in all the native schools, which are very numerous; and thus the native mind is opened from infancy to perceive the hollowness of idolatry. Large portions are also com- mitted to memory. Much attention has been paid by the Madras committee to the system of colportage. It is now busily employ- ing fifteen or sixteen colporteurs, under the superintendence of the Rev. T. Brotherton, who says : ^' One of these, Mr. L., speaks ar.d reads Tamil, Telugu, and English. He has visited every street and ever}'- house in a certain subui'b of Madras, and made an ofier of a copy of the Gospel of Luke and of the Acts to at least one member of every family. Two others have visited, in one year, 365 towns and villages, offering a copy of the gospel at every house in every street. It is of no use to wait," continues Mr. Brotherton. ^Hill we meet with missionaries learned in all the wisdom of the Hindus, Romanists, and Mohammedans, who will be able to meet on their own ground the Brahmin, the Jesuit, and the Mollah. We must send out the native colporteurs to distribute the word of God. If we cannot yet send the liuineak the language very differently, but it is everywhere written in the same way. Three thousand different characters are in very general use. Some of them are simple, as W a field, j^ a horse, j^ a sheep; and some are complex, as ^M le, which means gain or profit. So it must be a difficult task to learn Chinese. Dr. Morrison's dic- tionary contains 40,000 characters. This is found in the library of the Bible Society, in six volumes ; it was printed in Malacca, and cost him ten years' labour. He was unable to print it in Canton, from the jealousy of the Chinese. The following curious characters are Chinese. This specimen 31* 866 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. is a portion of the beginning of the fii'st chapter of St. John's Gospel-: — A fJMt* 4 ^ A P0 4 z 75 ffi] lib" a Dr. Morrison taught himself this difficult language, that he might translate the Bible. He accomplished the translation of the New Testament, in the year 1814, after seven years' incessant study, at first undertaken in a cellar, by, the light of an earthen- ware lamp, to avoid observation ! The first Chinese convert found a blessing to his own soul, while assisting Dr. Morrison to print his New Testament. While thus engaged in preparing the Bible for his countrymen, " he began to see that the merits of Jesus were sufficient for the salvation of all mankind, and hence believed on Him — the Holy Spirit printing the word upon his heart." In May, 1814, by the sea-side, at a spring of water issuing from the foot of a lofty hill, far away from all human notice, was baptized by his rejoicing teacher, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Tsae-ako — the first-fruits of a great harvest DR. MORRISON — LEANG-A-FAH. 367 of souls yet to be gathered in, after the sowing of the seed of the word. Tsae-ako adhered to the profession of the gospel until his death, which took place, from consumption, in 1818. The London Missionary Society afterward sent out Dr. Milne to the aid of Dr. Morrison. Dr. Milne was instrumental in the conversion of a Chinese named Leang-a-f ah, whom Dr. Morrison ordained to the work of an evangelist among his countrymen. Leang-a-f ah is still living, a valued member of the Canton mission, and has laboured for upward of thirty-six years with unwavering fidelity among those who, he says, '^ are glued fast to ten thousand forms of idols, but striving to set an example that will move men's hearts — praying that the most high Lord will convert them." The above is an extract from one of his letters in 1828 ; but it is not till the Jubilee Year of the Bible Society that C od seems to have poured out a special blessing on the efforts and prayers of this first Chinese evangelist. Leang-a-f ah laboured with Dr. Morrison continually, to scatter the word of life in separate portions among his countrymen. He resolved to write short tracts to explain the Scriptures, v/hich he has called " Scripture Lessons, or Good Words to admonish the Age," for distribution among the students at the literary examinations. On the 1st of August, 1834, the beloved Morrison was called away by death. He died at Canton, amid the few prayerful and sorrowing converts who were given him for his reward during his twenty-seven years of patient toil ; and it is said he died " panting after the salvation of China." On the 20th of the same month, Leiing-a-frih, with two otlier Christian friends, went out to distribute his ^' Scripture Lessons,'" at the examination of literary candidates. He distributed 5000 one day, and 5000 the next. On the third diiy came persecution ; one of his friends received forty blows on the mouth, which ron dered him unable to speak ; the second was put to death ; and Leaug-a-fah fled to Singapore, and found refuge on board one of the English ships at Lintin, and from thence he thus writes.* '' X 368 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. call to mind that all who preach the gospel of our Lord Jesuu must suffer persecution; and, though I cannot equal the patience of Paul or Job; I desire to imitate these ancient saints, and keep my heart in peace." Leang-a-fah little thought that one of the tracts, distributed at Buch a risk, was to prove the first seed of revolution in China, and to turn her from her idolatry, 4000 years old, to the worship of the living God : but as the oak is in the acorn, so it was ; and he who sowed the acorn lives to see the springing up of the tree that he planted. We must now recount to you the -last information received from China concerning the wonderful " rebellion," as it is called, which threatens to overthrow the Mantchoo or Tartar dynasty. It appears that the insurgents have a leader called Tae-ping- wang, or Sew-tseuen, whom they design to elevate to the throne. They everywhere announce their resolution to deliver the Chinese nation from the Tartar yoke. They are well received by the population, and obtain without difficulty large contributions in support of their cause. But the most remarkable circumstance attending their progress is, that neither they nor their chiefs are idolaters. Wherever they appear, they destroy the bonzes, the joss-houses, and the idols, and the latter are seen floating in broken fragments down the rivers, — Buddhas of twenty feet and more, floundering about in the water, — idols esteemed only as blocks of wood, to be hacked, and hewed, and broken in pieces. Sew-tseuen has hitherto been victorious. He has taken Nankin and many other cities, and is master of the great canal by which grain is conveyed to Pekin. He has summoned the mandarins to receive him as their legitimate sovereign, descending in the ninth generation from the last prince of the Ming or native Chinese dynasty. His policy seems to be to make war upon the Tartar authorities, but to protect the people; and among so methodical and ingenious a nation as the Chinese, it is evident that the state of disorder described will be but of short duration. '^ Be the government of China what it may, it cannot be worse than that whish seems likely to be now overthrown. The Mant. ACCOUNT OF SEW-TSEUEN. 369 choo dynasty Las sho^vn itself ready, wlienever it dared, to perset cute the Christian religion, to restrict the trade of the empire, and to evade its engagements with foreign nations. But the dis- position which has of late years been manifested by the Chinese themselves to adopt a purer faith, to extend their commerce, and even to emigrate to Australia, California, and the Mauritius, shows that the oppressive policy of the government is by no means the same with the views and interests of the people." It seems that the chief, Sew-tseuen, has been the enlightenei of his followers in religious matters, even more than their leader in war, and he has given a history of his own acquaintance with the scriptural truths which he now publishes under an imperial seal, in some Chinese tracts which have been carefully read by Dr. Legge, at Hong-kong, who has communicated the information to the Bible and Missionary Societies in London. Sew-tseuen was one of the literary candidates who received from Leang-a fah and his companions, in 1834, '' Scripture Lessons, or Good AYords to admonish the Age." This was the first thing that aroused his mind. In 1837, after receiving the truths taught in the tract, lie svffered from some disease, during which he thought he was taken up to heaven, and records that " Ms soul'saw" many things which confirmed the new doctrines with which his mind had been occupied. Probably, in the delirium of fever, he confounded the ideal with the real, and hence may have arisen the visions with which he is supposed to have been favoured. It is a fact that a kind of divine origin or mission is ascribed to him, whether actually, or merely in the language of " the flowery land," is not ascertained. His other name, " Tae- ping-wan g," signifies " the prince of peace." He forbids, by an edict, any application to himself of the words S2q)reme or holi/, hitherto assumed by the emperors of ORina, which he declines on the ground that they are due to God alone. In 1844, he composed various works; and in 1846, resided in Canton, with Mr. Boberts, an American missionary, seeking for further instruction. Some obscurity rests over his subsequent course; but there some followed the organization of the rebellion, S70 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY some few years of fighting in the west, and then a triumphant progress from strength to strength, till Nankin fell before him on the 19th of March. Such is the history of the rebel chief. Now, what are the truths his followers have been taught to believe? They announce a belief in one only, the living and true God; this they hold firmly, and with the earnestness of a nation newly awakened from idolatry. They base their belief of it on the teaching of the Old Testament, and on the most ancient books and practice of China; — for their own books testify that the most ancient Chinese must have known the true God; while th'iy also admit, that, so early as the twenty-sixth century before Caiv^t, the ^'impish devil drew men into his toils, and taught them io worship other and evil spirits." In a letter from Shanghai, it is said that the rebels will not tolerate idolatry, either Catholic or Pagan. Shortly after they obtained Nankin, the Roman Catholics were, on Good Friday, performing their usual services in one of their chapels. The in- surgents inquired, '^What is all this about?" They replied, ^^We are worshipping the Lord of heaven." "Whose images, then, are these upon the wall?" It was answered, "The images of Christ and the Virgin Mary." They were then instantly de- stroyed. These deeds of summary determination seem necessary, in order to strike at the root of that vast system of idolatry which has hitherto ruled in China. We are told of an immense temple, in which 500 heathen priests were officiating at once. They were all in a standing posture, making their vain repetitions, "Ometo feh! ometo feh!" This is customary three times a day. In the centre of this temple stood three enormous idols, and all around were multitudes of other idols of various sizes, enshrined in ^reat magnificence and costly splendour. With the idols, much other heathenish nonsense has been Kwept away, — all the distinction of days into lucky and unlucky with which the Chinese almanacs have hitherto been filled. "These," say the rebe's, "were artful devices of the devil. We ^ave now expunged t .em all. Years, months, and days succeed THE RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT IN CHINA. 371 one anotlier according to the appointment of our lieavenlj' Father. They are all lucky — all good. Let a man reverence, with a true heart, the great God, and he may hope for success in his under- takings, whensoever commenced.'^ The sincerity of their belief in one God has led those rebels to understand that all men, as the children of God, are brethren. They speak of the world as a whole, and say, " It is one family." ^' There are many men under heaven, but all are brothers : there are many women under heaven, but all are sisters. Why should we indulge the wish to devour and consume one another?" This is the noble idea that will break down the great wall of China, — 1500 miles long, and 2000 years old,* — which is said to contain material sufficient to rear all the dwelling-houses in England, Wales, and Scotland, and whose very towers would erect a city as large as London. "One family," — "all brethren," — these are new words for the Chinese to use, who have hitherto called all nations, "the outside barbarians V All hail to our new brothers ! who, in themselves, form one-third of the great family. And what gift shall we send them as a token of our acknowledgment of the relationship ? — a million copies of the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ! They are deeply in want of this precious gift. They do not seem at present to possess it. They have made three rules for their army, when encamped : 1st, " You must reverently honour the orders of heaven ; 2d, You must thoroughly learn the Ten Commandments, the Doxology, the forms for morning and evening worship, and for saying grace ; 3d, You must not smoke opium or drink wine." They appear to possess, for they have them- selves reprinted, the first twenty-seven chapters of Genesis, ac- 3ording to the version of the late Dr. Gutzlaff. Perhaps, also, they have the whole of the Pentateuch; but "there is nothing in their books about the cross." They have not yet studied the life ef Jesus, or the Acts and Epistles of the apostles. They must * See " Tb« Chinese j a Book of the "Day," by the Rev. T. Phillipf. 372 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. be enliglitened by the wliole word of God ; and let the British and Foreign Bible Society, in this its Jubilee Year, hasten to present them with the New Testament, to disperse the errors which at present mingle with truth in their belief and practice, and to show unto them " the more excellent way." They have not renounced polygamy; they still make offerings of animals, tea, rice, etc., to God ; and they have faith in present visions and revelations. ^' Means must be taken, '^ say the missionaries, " at whatever personal risk, to put them in possession of the entire Scriptures." Let us do this hy families : let every family, rich and poor, throughout Great Britain, resolve to give to China the sum of so many Testaments, at 4(?. each. Some young collector would be found in every household. Were this plan adopted, as it already has been in many districts, the million required would soon pour in : and '^ what is that among so many?" — one million of Testa- ments to 360 millions of people ! They will, however, soon re- print them for themselves, as, by their simple method of printing, they are enabled, without screw, lever, wheel, or wedge, to throw off 3000 impressions of any page in a day. The whole apparatus of a printer in China consists of his gra- yers, blocks, and brushes. These he may shoulder and travel with, from place to place, purchasing paper and lamp-black as he needs them ; and, borrowing a table any where, print editions by the hundred or the score, as he may be able to dispose of them. There are generals in the rebel army — men of Kwantung and Kwang-se — who, it would seem, are deeply influenced by the belief that God is always with them. '' The hardships they have suffered, and the dangers they have incurred, are, as they assert, punishments and trials of their hea- venly Father, and the successes they have achieved are instances of his grace. With the glistening eyes of gratitude they point back to the fact, that, at the beginning of their enterprise , some four years ago, they numbered only 100 or 200, and that, except for the direct help of their heavenly Father, they never could have done V7hat they have done. 'It is said/ they continue^ Hljat THE GREAT MISSIONARY. 873 we use D.agical artsj hut the only magic we have used is prayer to God. When our numbers reached from 2000 to 3000, and we were yet beset on all bands by greater numbers — when we had no powder left, and our provisions were all gone — our heavenly Father showed us the way to escape. So we put our wives and children in the midst, and not only forced a passage, but com- pletely beat our enemies. If it be the will of God that our prince of peace shall be the sovereign of China, he will be the sovereign of China ; if not, then we will die here.' " The man who used this language of courageous fidelity to the cause in every extreme, and of confidence in God, was a shrivel- led-up, elderly, little person, who made an odd figure in his yellow- and-red hood ; but he could think the thoughts and speak the speech of a hero." Dr. Legge thinks that the rebels cannot have had much, if they have had any, teaching from Protestant missionaries. These, however, have been at work in China, though few in number, at the free ports. The Chinese Ke/pository recently stated, that only 150 mission- aries have laboured in China since the arrival of Dr. Morrison in 1807, of whom seventy-three are now in the field, twenty-nine have died, and forty-eight have returned in ill-health or discouraged at the difficulties of her peculiar language. Of those who remain, twenty-three are Englishmen, forty-four Americans, and six Ger- mans— only seventy-three Protestant missionaries for 360,000,000 of people ! — eleven at Hong-kong ; ten at Amoy ) twelve at Fun- chau; seventeen at Ningpo, including Miss Aldersey, a Christian English lady, who has devoted herself to the education of native females; and twenty-three at Shanghai; — no more. Yet this handful of men may have done much to send up the country " the Missionary they found in China,^' conversant with its language, and diligently engaged in instructing^' the heathen. Let us hear what Mr. Abeel, an American missionary, one of those who had been in China, said of this Missionary at the thirtieth anniversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society : "This Missionar}," said Mr. Abeel, ''had made repeated 32 374 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY voyages along the coast of China, from island to island, and from pro* vince to province, and the ships which bore him thither had oftea left him alone ; and what did he do ? Alone and unaided, he entered town, hamlet, and village, and found that almost every one among these civilized heathens understood him. He pene- trated up to the capital, and it is said that he even entered the palace. This Missionary afterward did me the honour to accom- pany me, and such another companion I never expect to find. Where I could not go, he went; and what I could not do he did. He laboured successfully among the millions who had no teacher, and he instructed for weeks together even one of the principal priests of the empire, chaplain of the emperor. This Missionary, with all his powers, became my servant, I sent him on board some junks that were returning to Ciiina, and there he sat, day by day, teaching the mariners, and reading with them • and at the end of their voyage he again went forth, as he had done before. " Are you desirous to know who this Missionary is ? I will first tell you who he is not. He is not a Churchman ; he is not a Dissenter; he is not a Calvinist, nor an Arminian; he is neither an Englishman nor an American; he appears to hate all sects, many of the most prominent of which I never heard him deign to mention. This Missionary is The Bihle, the only Missionary upon whom myself and my fellow-labourers depend for the con- version of the world. He is gone forth into China, and into all the vast kingdoms and islands of the East. I had the honour at some of the outposts to visit the junks carrying on the China trade, and to supply fifty of these junks with that Missionary; and so by one means or another he will traverse the length and breadth of the empire." He has done so for twenty years since then ! China has eighteen provinces, and embraces a space of five millions and a half of square miles, with -o. population so dense, that they are obliged to cultivate all but their most sterile lands for food, to live in junks upon their rivers, and even to terrace their moun- tains for agricultuYe, and grow water-lilies upon all their lakes, uf which they eat the seeds and roots. Its population are edu' DESTITUTION OF INDIA AND CHINA. 37.1 cated; and they can furnisli books to each other for a mere trifle. The works of Confucius, written on 400 leaves, can be purchased for ninepence. Every peasant and pedlar has the common depositories of knowledge within his reach. Throughout the empire they can read the same character, even although they speak difierent dialects ; therefore, when the pure morality of the gospel, with all the stupendous facts of Scripture history shall be once fully brought before the minds of this intelligent race, '^a nation may be born at once" into an inheritance of all the privileges of the gospel. Isa. Ixvi. 8. Those who are familiar with the most interesting journals of the Bishop of Victoria, of Dr. Medhurst, and of Dr. Grutzlaff, will readily call to mind the times in which the good seed loas soion, in many an hour of depression — by Dr. Morrison, the first translator of the Chinese Scriptures in this century, as he made use of grant after grant from the British and Foreign Bible Society, and felt and said it was ''but a drop in the ocean," — by his indefatigable SOD and successors, often amid privation and persecution, still re- vising and re-revising the first translation of the Book of Grod, and dispensing it to many a glad and grateful heart. The Bible So- ciety has always afforded, every facility to the labours of these ex- cellent missionaries, and China was one of the especial fields in which, at the commencement of this year, it intended to sow more diligently the seed of the word, and the fruits of the Jubilee; but if this field is about to be thus extended, it will make an irresisti- ble appeal to England and America, for efibrts on a nobler scale than any of which they have hitherto even dreamed. India and China, alone, present to the eye of the Christian the destitute population of half a world. We have been honoured to create the hunger for the bread and the thirst for the water of life, and now we must supply it, and teach them how to supply themselves. Their present destitution, and their willingness to receive the Scriptures, are great facts, and the English mind always bends to the power of facts, and acts upon them, preferring to draw its own inferences. Thf Bible S'^iety has never wanted funds, since thrt 576 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. first liour of its existence^ to carry out its necessary designs, and we believe it never will. It cannot accomplish the work that now opens before it on its present free income of about jifty thousand pounds. And what ought to be its Jubilee offering^ At the moment when this is written, it has only reached thirty- four thousand pounds. It has not yet received the willing offer- ings* of all Britain's merchant princes, — '^casting in of their abundance," — knowing, as they do, that it is their Bible that makes them what they are among the nations of the earth, — sitting in peaceful sovereignty, while others are convulsed with revolutions ! A quarter of a million of money is said to have been expended upon the dress of one image of the Virgin Mary in the city of Rome ! Roman Catholicism has sent forth her earnest teachers of tradition, who are afraid to print the Bible, and she has "con- verts by millions, in China." In 1830, their mission cost the sum of 40,000Z. Mohammedanism (not by fire and sword, but by the milder arts of proselytism) has, in China, shamed the puny efforts of those who send forth the more holy book. We may, indeed, almost wonder at our Protestant successes. In 1835, Mr. George Borrow, superintended the printing of a version of the New Testament in Mantchoo, a dialect much used in the north of China. Dr. Morrison, when he heard of this translation, remarked, ''how wonderfully unconnected labours were now brought to bear upon each other, and blend in their effects ; and he trusted that the Mantchoo Bible would be of great use in the northern dominions of the Cliinese empire." The missionaries among the Buriat Mongols, also, af\er ten years of labour, completed a translation of the Scriptures into Mongolian; and Mr. Stallybrass says: ''When we regard China as about to be opened for the reception of the glorious gospel, this version rises much in importance. It is intelligible to all those who inhabit the vast tract of country between Siberia and the Chinese wall, as well as to many of the Chinese themselves." Mr. Knill adds, concerning this version, " Our Siberian mission is as near to China as Wales is to England, the same idolatry being practised on both sides of the frontier. Some of the young THE BIBLE AMONG THE MONGOLS. 377 natives engaged in tliis translation used to come to Mr. Stally- brass, almo?.:: every evening, with their New Testaments in their hands, asking him to explain certain passages, and they had (like our own good King Alfred) little text-books, which they carried in their bosoms, in which they have written passages which have particularly struck them.* It is delightful to mark how a beam of sacred pleasure lights up their features, when some new" view of Divine truth breaks upon them, — some fresh point from which they can contemplate the love of the Saviour. Last Sabbath, at our usual Mongolian service, I requested one of them to read the third chapter of John's Gospel. When he came to the words, * God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,' his voice faltered, and with difficulty he read a little farther; but when he came to the words, ' Thi is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil,' his feelings completely over- came him, and his voice was drowned with sobs and tears. I finished the chapter/' iadds Mr. Knill, "and preached to the people." This translation was completed in 1841. "We wait," say the Parent committee, "only for the opened door; for we grieve to say that the mission has, by authority, been broken up. The Old Testament has been printed, the New revised, the sanction of the committee is given for printing 3000 copies; but when the work will be undertaken still remains to be seen. The faithful convert Shagdur continues active in the distribution of portions of the Mongolian Scriptures. In 1840, Shagdur went out to distribute copies of the Scriptures in the districts immediately bordering on the Chinese frontier. In a few daj^s, the whole of his stock was disposed of. He says he felt like a man who had gone out with a bushel of seed-corn to sow a field of ten acres. The Mongolian Scriptures find their way to many who understand the language in the Chinese empire, and we have been repeatedly told that the * See page 121. 32* 878 THE BOOK AND IT$ STORY. hoohs are well understood, are much sought after, and we hope not read in vain."^ In 1848, the committee, at the earnest recommendation of Dr. Barth of Grermany, granted the sum of 100^. to Dr. Grutzlaff, for the Chinese Union, composed of converted natives, a considerable number of whom traverse the interior parts of China, introducing tlie word of God into those portions of the country to which no missionary had access. *'Wong-shao-yet, the colporteur, lately went to Hangchau. The people are very willing there, as at other places, to hear and receive the word of God. He has the utmost facility in circu- lating single portions of the Holy Scriptures. It is evident that there is a wide and inviting field for Christian labour in China ; and, though restrictions exist as to the admission of foreigners, native assistants can freely distribute to the countless multitude the words of life. There is positively nothing in the way of the unlimited employment of such agency ; and we are fully per- suaded that by this means, in a great measure, China is to be evangelized and converted to God. The gratifying reports of this colporteur are confirmed by the personal observation of the missionaries.'^ The Report for 1849, page 132, also contains the names of the places where these portions of Scripture have been circulated; and among them are found the very districts or provinces of Kwang-tung, and Keang-se, named as the native places of the leaders in the present movement. The Report for 1850 says, "Dr. Gutzlafi" received from the British and Foreign Bible Society two additional grants of 100?. each, for the distribution of Chinese Testaments, and also 200 2opies of the Buriat, Mongol, and Mantchoo Scriptures.'' In 1852, the committee at Shanghai were encouraged by the Parent committee to print a small edition of portions of the New Testament in Mantchoo and Chinese, in parallel columns; and fov this purpose the British and Foreign Bible Society's fount of * Thirty-sixth Report, page 11. ISLANDS OF JAPAN. 879 Mantchoo type has been forwarded to China, Dr. Medhurst having written, '' We think that Scriptures printed in this form would be useful, as there are many Chinese and Tarta.rs partially ac- quainted with both languages, who would be very glad to obtain books printed in this manner, when otherwise they might not give attention to them.'"* With these types were also forwarded 200 more copies of the Mantchoo New Testament, with 100 Bibles and 200 Testaments in Mongolian, These, then, are some of the avenues by which the word of God has entered China. Perhaps some day the treasure may be returned with interest to the Buriat Mongols when there shall be a Chinese and Foreign Bible Society, and when China has learned to evangelize, not to exterminate, the Tartars. JAPAN. It does not appear that there is yet any Bible for the islands of Japan, which contain a population, it is said, of nearly fifty millions of inhabitants. Japan is a dark and unknown world. Jesuit missionaries from Portugal settled there in the sixteenth century, and induced great numbers of Japanese to embrace their form of Christianity ] but these having offended the government, a persecution was commenced against them to the death. This happened in the seventeenth century; and ever since then, the penalty of death has been denounced against all who refused to prove that they were not Christians, by trampling on a picture of the ^^ Virgin and Child;" and all foreigners were banished from the empire, except a few Dutch merchants, who are still confined to an island in the harbour of Nagasaki. As they will, therefore, hold no intercourse with other nations, it is impossible to translate the Bible for them. The Bible So- ciety has desired to do so, from the year 1816. In the Report for 1817, will be found a very interesting letter from the Rev. J. Supper of Batavia, on this subject. This gentleman had made inquiries of persons who had formerly resided in Japan, and who declaro ^^ that the people have no books ; that the ofiicerf of 380 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. government pay frequent Tisits to every house, and if they dis' cover even a small piece of paper which relates to the Christian worship, but particularly to the cross of Christ, thQ dwelling in which such a paper is found is immediately razed and destroyed, and the inhabitants condemned to death/' In November, 1831, a coasting-junk of about 200 tons burden, bound to Yedo, the capital of Japan, with a cargo consisting partly of rice and partly of tribute to the emperor, was driven by a storm into the Pacific Ocean. The crew, entirely ignorant of their course, let the vessel drift wherever the winds and waves would carry her, and, after being tossed about for fourteen months, were cast on shore near the Columbia River. During this long period they had subsisted chiefly on rice and fish. Eleven had died of scurvy, and the remaining three were nearly helpless when they landed. The Indians of that region plundered them of every thing, and kept them captive for several months. At last their history became known to a benevolent factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, who sent them to England. In London, many persons took an interest in their welfare, and they were thence sent to China, and committed to the care of the superintendent of the British trade, with the hope that they might at last reach home. They arrived at Macao in 1835, and resided with Dr. Gutzlaff, who regarded it as a good opportunity to acquire some knowledge of their language. That admirable missionary made use of the power thus attained to prepare a translation of the Gospel of John, in Japanese, in which he availed himself of the aid of the natives. These three wanderers, named Twakitchi or Lucky Bock, Kinkitchi or Lasting Happi- ness, and Otokitchi or Happy Sound, with four other shipwrecked Japanese, were taken back to Japan, accompanied by Dr. Gutzlaff, in the ship '^ Morrison," but the vessel was fired upon, and they were not allowed any communication with the shore. In 1849, Dr. Gutzlaff being in this country, the Bible Society presented him with 40/. toward the printing of portions of the New Testament in Japanese, being, as he termed it, a pioneer translation, — a version that must still be tested. It dons not ap- LOOCHOO ISLANDS. 381 pear that any opportunity has yet offered for its circulation ; but should China be evangelized, we may hope, that, from its shores, the gospel would spread to Japan. The Chinese characters were formerly used in writing Japanese, and the written language now consists of modified and contracted Chinese characters.* The two languages are, however, different in their structure and their idiom. THE LOOCHOO ISLANDS. These islands are thirty-six in number, lying 300 miles south of Japan, and 500 miles east of China. The largest of them has been for seven years the seat of a mission of the Church Mission- ary Society, the origin and history of which are extremely inte- resting. Lieutenant Clifford, a naval of&cer, visited this island in 1816, on the occasion of Lord Amherst's embassy to China. Being himself, then, as he states, in '' unbelief, he lost the oj)porfunify of making known the truth as it is in Jesus," but when he after- ward felt the power of Divine truth, he remembered earnestly the condition of those poor islanders, and for fifteen years sought the means of sending to them the good tidings of the gospel. At last, in 1845, there was established the Loochoo Naval Mis- sion. The missionary appointed was Dr. Bettelheim, a learned Jew, but also a devoted Christian ] he was master, already, of ten languages, and in nine months acquired the Loochooan. He has since endured every variety of difficulty and privation imposed upon him by the government, (which is all bi\t Japanese in its re- strictions,) during the work of compiling a grammar and diction- ary of the language, and the translation of the two Gospels of Luke and John, the book of the Acts, and the Epistle to the Romans. The philanthropic support of the English Government, and the sympathizing visit of the Bishop of Victoria, have helped to sus- tain him, in his most difficult position, of which he, with his heroic wife, feels all the importance, and of which he thus writes: rricharil'd " Researches." 382 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. " We stand Kere on the threshold of Japan, cheered bj the one hope of diffusing the gospel in Loochoo ; and through Loochoo to Japan, — the last kingdom that stands out in proud enmity to the Saviour, teeming with millions of human beings, who are liars, gamblers, lazy-bodies, full of deceit and ignorance beyond belief. Brethren, I entreat you, in the name of an all-merciful Saviour, to pity Japan ! Nothing has as yet been done for it, and it re- quires speedy aid." We have little room for further details of the sufferings of this missionary, or the martyrdom of one of his converts, by confine- ment in constrained postures, by slow starvation, by beating on the head, by squeezing of the feet, performed, too, by his own father and mother ! " The dark places of the earth are full of cruelty," but the name of Jesus supports the true believer under every trial, as it has done poor Satchi-hama, even unto death ; and his history, with that of his teacher, may be one of those which shall arouse Christendom to perform its duty toward Japan and toward Loochoo. The importance of the Loochooan translation of the Scriptures will be seen from the declaration of the Bishop of Victoria, that the Loochooan is a mere dialect of the Japanese language, with many Chinese terms engrafted upon it. Dr. Bettelheim states, that the labours of the brethren who have translated the word of God into Chinese, are often of very great assistance to him. He has preached to, and made himself understood by, Japanese sailors visiting the island ; while, in his own words, " the gold of California, and the Atlantic pouring through the Darien canal into the Pacific, will cause an immense European and American trade, via Loochoo and Japan, with China, which makes these islands of great importance.* The journal of Dr. B. must stir every Christian heart to sympa- thy. He is lodged by the Loochooan government in an idol temple; they insist on finding his food, which is often ucwhole- ♦ For further information concerning the Loochoo Mission, see its 7tl Rft^ port. AUSTRALIA. 883 some and insufficient ; and they surround his house with guards^ which they continually change, lest he should convert them. Hg has, however, many secret converts, of whom Satchi-hama waa one. When the people are permitted to listen to his teaching, and to read the word of God, which he is preparing for them, "the truth shall prevail" — even in Loochoo. CHAPTER IX. Jubilee Keview continued — Circulation of the Bible in Australia, Borneo, Tahiti, Rarotonga, Mangaia, New Zealand, and South Africa — The Bible among Mohammedans, in Roman Catholic Countries, in Austria, in Spain and Portu- gal, in Switzerland and Italy, and in France. AUSTRALIA. Australia is one of the fields of labour especially contemplated by the society in this its Jubilee Year. The Auxiliary Society at Sydney was first established in the year 1817, and is stated never to have been in more flourishing circumstances than at the present time. The sales of Bibles and Testaments during the past year had increased threefold. The following account of its anniversary meeting has just been received : " The interest throughout was well sustained ; and the brilliant address of the Rev. John Beorly told upon the audience with electric power. The instant effect was a check for 1101., handed to him on the platform, to aid the funds of the auxiliary ; and during the even- ing the intense interest which had been excited was so well sus- tained by the Rev. W. Gill, and th.e other speakers, as to induce the grand result of 400?. toward the maintenance of colporteurs, etc. We have never had such a meeting ! Dr. Ross's large church was crowded, and every one seemed greatly pleased and interested." The society at Adelaide reports that the immigrants to this ladd of gold are in general well supplied with the Bible, principally 884 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. owing to the efforts of the Bible Society at home, and the parting gifts of friends. There are auxiliary societies, also, in compara' tively active operation at Melbourne, Geelong, Hobart Town, Launceston, and other places. By the instrumentality of these auxiliaries, upward of 20,000 copies of the Scriptures were put in circulation last year, while considerable amounts have been sent by them for the general objects of the society. MALAYSIA — BORNEO. Borneo and its Dajack population are receiving from the British and Foreign Bible Society the Dajack New Testament. The Rev. A. Hardeland says: "The first edition is almost exhausted, and so would some few thousand copies more be, if we had them. When, some thirteen years back, we, in the name of the Lord God, first planted the banner of the cross in this place, not one single Dajack was able to read, and for several years no one evinced the least desire to learn : their food was the most disgust- ing reptiles; and their only relief from abject idleness was the excitement of hideous devil-festivals, and a greedy desire to pos- sess human sJcuIIs. Oh, how swift were the feet of the idle Da- jacks to shed blood I But now many hundreds have learned to read fluently, and are provided with New Testaments. There are three mission-stations, besides Pulopetak, and at least 1000 scholars; and the desire after books is very great. We are obliged to refuse many applications ; the books are well taken care of and diligently perused : usually the receiver makes a wooden box to contain his treasure, and in this box it accompanies him wherever he goes. Whenever they paddle abroad in their and (a trunk of a tree hollowed out) on the broad rivers, the little box is seldom absent, and has besides a covering of leaves ; and if the arut is overturned amid the waves, by a gust of wind, the occupant seizes upon his little box, swims with it to the shore, and jumps for joy when he finds the book is uninjured." Whoever has read of the Dajacks of Borneo, and has imagined the large houses in which they reside, by hundreds together, whose ornaments are human heads dangling from the ceiling, will POLYNESIA — TAHITI. 385 rejjice to hear that in such buildings multitudes now sometimes listen to the Scripture-reader, or some native Dajack, who reads aloud and in a recitative tone of voice, which is their habit. By this means the women hear the word of God : thry have not yet come either to school or to church, but they are now accessible to instruction in their own houses. When passing, in the evening, the banks of the rivers where the villages are built, one hears in all directions the voice of the reader resounding to the opposite bank. The Bible will soon conquer the mania for human skulls, which these savages have been accustomed to string round their waists when dancing, putting food in their mouths, and the betel- nut between their ghastly lips. POLYNESIA — TAHITI. The volcanic and coral islands of Polynesia have a history of their own, so interesting, that we dare not enter upon it in detail, though it richly deserves to be explored. Missionary enterprise began in Tahiti, in 1796. For a period of sixteen years there was no apparent fruit of devoted labour, and the island remained sunk in cruel idolatry. Then came the change. Two servants had united for prayer, and these in the absence of the missionaries multiplied into a body of praying people. From that time success has followed, so that populous islands to the distance of 2000 miles in circuit from Tahiti, in the bosom of the Pacific, have been brought under the influence of Divine truth. In 1820, openings of the most promising kind presented themselves for the distribution of the word of God. We have already contemplated Mr. Williams at work on his translation of the Scriptures. In 1820, an edition of 3000 copies of Luke's Gospel was printed in Tahitian ; 10,000 copies of the book of the Acts and the other Gospels followed : those who were taught in the schools instructed, in the cool evenings, the more ignorant. In 1824, a further edition circulated in various islands; and all this while, and up to 1830, the New Testament constituted their entire library, 33 886 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. In 1838, the Old Testame it was completed and printed under the superintendence of the Rev. H. Nott, who had landed on the island forty years before, as a missionary, from the " Duff/' These books were eagerly purchased, at two dollars each ; and those who had no money, hurried away to sea with their nets, hoping that the proceeds of their fishing would enable them to buy a copy. In 1839, the martyr-blood of the missionary Williams stained the soil of Erromanga, where he had intended to plant the stand- ard of the cross. Then came the French protectorate and its Roman Catholic power to disturb the religious peace of the islands, and to test the influence of the large circulation of the word of God, which had taken place among them. Still, in 1841, the London missionaries write : " It is most delightful to see the in- superable thirst of this people for the Bible. They refuse to take their necessary food, if denied the Book, while those who obtain it will leap, kiss it for joy, press it to their hearts, and say, ' Now, my eyes will close at night: now, I will try to get one for my son.' " When the war broke out in 1844, owing to the French aggres- sion, and the people were obliged to take to the mountains, many of them at first carried their Bibles to the missionaries and said, *' Keep these in safety, until we have beaten our foes, and then we will ask for them again." But some time afterward they returned, saying, " We are likely to be long absent from our dwellings; give us our Bibles again, for we want them in the mountains;" and though every effort has been used to seduce them from the simplicity of their faith, their Bibles have caused them to stand firm, and we hear of no perverts. At the present time, the Parent Society is importuned to print 10,000 copies of the New Testament for the youth in the schools. It appears to be the design of the French local government to force the missionaries from the island, that popery may renew its efforts with redoubled energy, IMr, Howe writes in the Report of 1853, " They have managed at last to close our mouths in public in the native tongue. The first link of the popish chain has been riveted on the Tahitian nation, and ere long it will bo TAIiiTI AND THE PAPISTS. 387 made to feel the whole weight of that chain." The eutire facts of the case are, however, a powerful argument in favour of the free circulation of the word of God. The Romish priests have now been in Tahiti between thirteen and fourteen years, and not one convert has been fairly made to their system. Some time since, several Christian natives of Tahiti called on one of the missionaries, and related to him a conversation they had just had with the Roman Catholic priest. They said he had shown them a large tree, with root, trunk, branches, and twigs, and explained to them the meaning of it. At the root was a lamb, and that, said the priest, meant the Saviour, the Lamb of God; and the tree, he said, represented the Roman Catholic Church ; at the bottom of the trunk, next above the root, was Peter, the first Bishop of Rome, next to Jesus Christ. "Yes!" said the Tahitians; "we have read about Peter, we have got two letters of his, which we read in our Testament : that was the man who denied his Master ; but the Saviour looked on him, and that look melted his heart, and the Saviour forgave him. But who are all these,'^ said they, " rising upon the trunk of the tree, above Peter ?" " Ah !" said the priest, " they are the popes, the successors of Peter." " Ah ! we don't know about them," said the natives ; " but, never mind, iceve got the root ! Now what are the straight branches that go off from the trunk ?" " They are the different orders of men in the church," said the priest; " monks and friars, and so forth." " We don't know them either," said the people ; " but go on ; we've got the root, so we can do without them. But, pray what are these twigs dropping off at the end of the branches ?" " Ah ! they are the heretics, falling quick into the flames below." "Indeed!" said the Tahitians; " then whereabouts are ?ce .^" "Ah!" said the priest, "you are there," pointing up to one corner; " there's Luther, a decayed twig; he is dropping off, you see, into the flames ; and that's where he is, and where you and your missionaries will all go, for you are heretics." 388 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. " Ah, well !" said the astonished Tahitians, '' such is the pic- ture, and such is the meaning you give us ; but, however, we've got the root, and so we think we cannot be very far wrong, and we mean to keep to that.'' ^'I am the \me," said the Saviour, "ye are the branches: abide in me. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, K a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered." John xv. RAROTONGA. In 1852, it was mentioned that 5000 copies of the whole Bible, in the Rarotongan language, had been sent off by the missionary ship, the '^ John Williams." The missionary who had superin- tended its passage through the press, in England, the Rev. A, Buzacott, returned with it. The account of his voyage and of his reception has lately been made public. He says, — " I cannot welll describe the reception we met with, when we arrived at oux beloved island home. As soon as we approached the shore, a simultaneous rush was made for the boat. The crew jumped out, and we soon found ourselves, boat and all, upon the shoulders of the people. Eight of us were thus borne away toward our house, where they put us down. They crowded round us, — the men shouting for joy, and the women weeping for the same cause. They were very anxious to get possession of the Bibles. On the appointed day, the case being opened which contained them, we offered prayer and thanksgiving, and gave them a short account of the British and Foreign Bible So- ciety. The chiefs were each of them presented with- a copy in superior binding, then those who had deposited pui'chase-mouey received theirs. All were soon gone. To the students in the college, the arrival is invaluable, as they never had the complete Scriptures in their hands before." MANGAIA. The Rev. Gr. Gill says : " We have received here 1340 copies, which had been long expected. Tliose who had paid for them MANGATA. 389 beforehand said, ' Perhaps Barakoti* is dead ; the society cannot finish it, and oui- hopes wiU be disappointed. But when the vessel hove in sight, their joy was unbounded. They dragged with delight the heavy packages over the reef of coral,']- for they knew that the Bibles had come. It is their custom, when en- gaged in drawing or carrying heavy burdens, to encourage one another by the voice of song. As they brought the case into the mission-house, they sang in their own language — " 'The word has oome! One volume complete ! Let us learn the good word ! Our joy is great ! The whole word has come; the whole word has come !' " The day the Bibles were distributed, we received 10/. for them, and before the week's end, 40/. "At our usual missionary prayer-meeting, an old man, whose remarks ofter cheer my own spirit, arose and addressed us from Job V. 16—19. He said, ' I have often spoken to you from a text out of other parts of the Bible which we had, but this is the first time we have seen the book of Job. It is a new book to us. When I received my Bible/ continued he, ' I never slept until I had finished this new book of Job. I read it all. Oh ! what joy I felt in reading his wonderful life ! Let us all read the whole book. Let us go to the missionary by day and by night, and in- quire into the meaning of the new parts which we have not read. Let us be at his door when he rises. Let us stop him when we meet him, that he may tell us of these new books.' And lifting up his new Bible before the congregation, with the excited energy of a feeble old man, he said, ' My brethren and sisters, this is my resolve : the dust shall ^ever cover my new Bible ; the moths shall never eat it ; the mildew shall not rot it ; my light ! my joy!'" * Mr. Buzacott. f Mr. Williams beautifully describes this reef in his " Missionary Enter- prises," p. 24. It is a barrier which belts the island against the long, rolling waves of the Pacific, within which the waters flow, clear and transparent, over corals of every form and hue. .S3* 890 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. One more extract, and we must leave these lovely coral isles. The Rev. A. W. Murray, from Samoa, one of the Navigator's Isles, writes: ^' The diifusion of Scripture light, always im- portant, is especially so at the present time, when the powers of darkness are pursuing with such restless and wide-spread activity their efforts to perpetuate their dreary reign. The Romish bishop of Oceanica, as he is styled, has lately taken up his abode in Samoa, and intends, it is reported, fixing his head-quarters here for the future. The papists have not as yet made much progress in Samoa, nor throughout Polynesia, and it is probable they will not make very much. We have got the start of them : the ground is pre-occupied by an element more than all othere de- structive to popery — light, light from heaven V From the Fee-jee islands, which are wholly occupied by the Wesleyan missionaries, the reports are similar. A grant of 5000 New Testaments in the Fee-jee language has been made to them; and the sacred Scriptures are declared to be highly prized, while popery is there likewise seeking to pervert the poor heathen to its own superstitions. It tries to persuade them that they cannot understand the word of God when they read it. But they do understand it, and prize it ''above rubies.'* NEW ZEALAND. The missionaries of the Church Missionary Society are pursu- ing the same work of evangelization among the leafy glens and mountains, the lovely lakes and rocky islets of New Zealand, where for thirty-four years they have perseveringly laboured and translated the Scriptures : they have there 315 native catechists and teachers. The Wesleyan missionaries have also laboured with great diligence and considerable success in this distant field. The New Zealander, even in his ignorance and dirt, used to be called " the prince of savages '/' but now that he has been civi- lized by Christianity, his race will probably become the most powerful, as it is the most enterprising, of all of the aboriginal tribes of the South Seas. In 1852, 15,000 copies of the New Testament in the Maori language were prepared by the British SOUTH AFRICA. 891 And Foreign Bible Society for these natives, who call tlie book of Psalms, ^^the David." Even the jet wild tribes among them had respect to the Scriptures as the '■'' word of God/' while they tore up the "Encyclopedia Britannica'^ for cartridge-paper during the last war. In New Zealand, also, the Roman Catholic priests are equal in number to the Protestant missionaries; but the Bible among the people proves to be their constant hinderance. When they urge upon the New Zealander the elevation of the host, the belief in purgatory, the adoration of the Virgin, or the duty of confession to the priest, his simple answer is, "I do not find it in my Book." Altogether 96,220 portions of the word of Grod have been diffused among a population of 150,000 na- tives, among whom cannibalism has now ceased. To complete our survey of the heathen, we must turn again to — SOUTH AFRICA. In 1821, the South African Auxiliary Bible Society was formed; and, through Dr. Philip, supplies of the Scriptures were continually made to the different missionary stations. In 1801, not a Hottentot throughout the Cape Colony would have been found able to read ; but now readers are found and Bibles are desired in every village. In 1846, Mr. Bourne, one of the valuable agents of the society, visited the colony, with a supply of 20,000 copies of Dutch and English Scriptures. His travels in Africa extended to more than 3000 miles, and to many who were destitute of the Scriptures, grants were liberally made. The Bible is especially needed among colonists, who, from their scattered position, have no means of attending the public worship of God, for months together. Since the return of Mr. Bourne, 20,000 more copies have been forwarded, though the loug and disastrous Caffre war has thrown great impediments in the way of their distribution. The Bechuanas, whose number is calculated at something like 30,000 people, are spread over a large portion of Southern and Central Africa. In this region the Be v. Robert Moffat has la- boured since 1817 : his version of the New Testament was pub 392 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. lished by tlie society in 1841. It was received by the natives with eager gratitude : the Old Testament is gradually completing. Mr. Moffat, in the midst of his work, writes to congratulate the Bible Society on its perseverance in " its noble enterprise of giv- ing the Book of books — God's Book of life — to a sick and dying world '/' and he says, after thirty-six years of missionary expe- rience, "How little, how insiynijicant, are all other enterprises coiiv- pared with this /" He speaks of the Bible as " garnishing dens and caves of the earth with heavenly delights, even unto this day" ; and he adds that " the Bechuana translation of the Old Testament would progress at less tortoise speed, but for the claims of other kinds of missionary labour, besides translation." And now, let us see what allusions are made in the Report of 1853, as to the progress of the Bible among the Mohammedans. MOHAMMEDANS. In 1853, from Karass, in Tartary, Mr. Galloway, a Scottish mis- sionary, writes: " The Mohammedans are peculiarly prejudiced against the gospel of the grace of God ; yet it is encouraging to see, that the more they come in contact with the word of truth, the more their prejudices are weakened. We cannot speak of many conversions among them, but they can now hear the Bible read or quoted with some degree of patience. They do not throw the Book out of their hands as they once did, or cut out passages obnoxious to them, or burn it, as they used to do." In the year 1844, from Penang, the Bev. T. Beighton writes : " I never saw such a spirit of inquiry excited among the Moham- medans as at present. When the truth of our Lord's Divinity is established among them, their delusion will receive a heavy blow. Now that the word of God has been extensively made known in countries where Mohammedans are mixed with the population, and its sound is still going forth, they are often led calmly to compare the lies of their prophet with the truth of the gospel, and to strike the balance in favour of the Divine Scriptures. " The population of Constantinople and its environs is estimated at a million at least ; the proportions are considered to be correctly MOHAMMEDANS — AUSTRIA. 393 given as follows : Turks, 520,000 ; Greeks, 200,000 ; Armenians, 180,000; Jews, 70,000; Europeans, 30,000. Among them a goodly number of missionaries are labouring diligently and faith- fully,— eight from the American board, and six from England and Scotland. These servants of our common Lord are working toge- ther for the glory of Grod and the advancement of the kingdom of Christ in the world, ^esteeming each other in love.' They all distribute the Scriptures by the aid of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and have all adopted more or less the system of colportage. They speak of an increased and increasing call for the word of God." It would be easy to multiply individual instances of renuncia- tion of the Mohammedan faith : but we have no space for them. The friends of the Bible may rejoice in its silent and gradual in- fluence over followers of the false prophet, and pass on with us to the reconsideration of our third division, — the work which our Scriptures are performing among the Koraan and Greek Churches of the world. AUSTRIA. There is no doubt that, in this country, the wide distribution of the word of God has excited a great reaction, — a reaction of hostility, especially in the countries rulod by despotic power. Despotism and popery clasp hands and work together, and one is able to stir up the other to shut out the Bible from its temtories, even in the midst of this nineteenth century. '' Light is come into the world ; but men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil;" and hence such scenes as are alluded to in the Report for 1853, in the countries of Austria and Hungary, when the government, demanding to have all the Scriptures in the depots at Giins, Pesth, and Vienna, sent out of the country ^ the decree was rigorously enforced. Two hundred and four bales and 125 cases, containing 58,087 copies of Bibles and Testaments either bound or in sheets, were conveyed beyond the frontiers of the Austrian territory, under the charge of a detachment of gena d'armes. This took place amid the unavailing tears and sight 894 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. of tens of thousands of the people, waiting for and anxious to possess the precious volumes of which they were so mercilessly bereft. In 1852, it was thus recorded of these countries: '^ Multitudes are now in possession of the Scriptures, who, only a short time since, scarcely knew that God had spoken in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, and in these last days unto us by his Son." In some parts the desire for the word is described as a *^rage/' and a '^famishing;" and the priests of Rome, becoming aware of this, denounced the Books from the pulpit. The govern- ment then insisted that they should be withdrawn from the country. Mr. Millard, the agent of the society, now writes : " We have at last left that fruitful and promising field of labour, glad enough, as far as our persons are concerned, to get out of the clutches of our foes ; but it is distressing to think of the state of the people we have left behind. What has been done is but a sprinkling, which has but served to inform or remind the people that there is such a thing as Hiving waJter;' and had not the arm of force interfered, and been tolerated by a Pro- vidence whose ways are past finding out, the circulation of the Scriptures would have increased far beyond our provision for it. Whenever my thoughts return to that wretched country, I can- not help again and again thanking Grod for what has been effected before the interdict, and looking back with gratitude on the number of 41,659 volumes distributed since the 1st of October, 1850 '' SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. Spain and Portugal, we regret to state, are completely barred against the Bible. A concordat has been concluded betwen the courts of Spain and Rome ; the power of the priesthood is para- mount; every book introduced into the schools must receive their approval, and they do not approve of the free use of the Bible. In 1828, 1829, and 1830, there was some circulation of the Scrip- tures. Messrs. Courtofij bankers of Toulouse,* introduced them * Where, in 1229, the BibU was prohibited. See page 133. SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 395 into those countries by means of soldiers and pedlars passing through Toulouse. In 1835, when the cholera drove many of the higher classes of Spaniards to Toulouse and the towns of the south of France, these same Christian friends introduced the Bible, wherever possible, to their notice : and in 1836, by colporteurs in the Pyrenees, and by visits to Spanish prisoners, they persevered in their efforts. Two other friends who visited Madrid were fa- voured with some measure of influence and success; so that, in 1837, at Barcelona, 1600 Spanish Testaments were sold ; and in one instance the simple perusal of the Scriptures was the means of imparting the knowledge of salvation. In 1838, notwithstand- ing all the confusion and misery that reigned in the country, the Holy Scriptures gained a silent entrance, and were openly bought and sold in several of the principal towns. Between 5000 and 6000 copies were disposed of. From B- , the gentleman to whom the society intrusted the work thus wrote : " The expres- sions of gratitude for the Books are innumerable. It is said, ^The words and the history of the crucified Saviour and of his followers are most interesting to us. We were altogether ignorant of such a Book, and it delights us.' The higher orders kept aloof, and but few came for a copy; but workmen, — masons, shoemakers, carpenters, tailors, — streamed almost in a continued file to pur- chase the good Book.'' From V , he writes: '^In six days I sold here 400 copies. How often do I wish I had wings, that I might be able to avail myself of the extraordinary disposition of the people to purchase the blessed Book !'' In an ancient Moorish city, the same gentleman disposed of 369 copies : many were sold to the priests. As he walked along the streets of the towns where the Bible had been thus distributed, he could perceive shopkeepers and others reading their copies. Sometimes he entered into conversation with them, which ended in tears rolling down their cheeks. Another ardent and enterprising friend of the society, having carried through the press at Madrid an edition of 5000 copies of the New Testament, spent five months of the year 1838 iji 396 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. travelling through the provinces, to bring the Books into circula- tion. He then returned to Madrid, and opened a room for the sale of the Scriptures, which, after a short time, was closed by the authorities. While it remained open, many were sold. He also printed at Madrid a translation of the Gospel of Luke, in the Gitano or Gipsy language, for the benefit of this interesting, singular, but degraded race of people, who are very numerous in some parts of Spain. In 1839, the door seems to have closed, and this unhappy country has added to its other calamities, and its responsibility, the almost total suppression of the efforts to circulate within its borders the precious word of God; not, however, before 16,000 copies of the Scriptures had been scattered through its plains and valleys, during a space of five years. SWITZERLAND AND NORTH ITALY. In 1845, Lieutenant Graydon, who had rendered such essential service in Spain, continued his labours in Switzerland. His baggage-van was fitted up after his own model, and so conveniently arranged that he could with ease turn it into a regular book-stall. He presented himself at large fairs and markets, and extraordi- nary success attended his operations. At Berne, in four days, he sold 1200 copies; at Lausanne, 1667 copies: 25,694 copies were purchased in the course of three years, and very many of them by Roman Catholics. They were dispersed in five lan- guages, and 4000 of them were sold in the Hotel Gibbon, which is built on the very ground so often paced by the cele- brated author of the ''Decline and Fall of the Roman Em- pire,"— one who used his great talents to undermine the faith of thousands in the truth of revelation, and sought to trace to Christianity, as a source, every evil that has dis6gured the world since its introduction. In 1849, after visiting his depots in Switzerland, Lieutenant Graydon passed to Milan and Turin at the time of the revolution there. It was with difficulty he could secure a corner in the newspaper for the announcement of his peaceful mission, Th^ NORTH ITALY — FRANCE. 397 authorities^ however^ did not interfere, and the people received him with courtesy. The result of the two visits he paid to the north of Italy was the sale of 12,000 copies. In Tuscany, when the archduke was restored, in 1849, and the Church of Rome resumed its former ascendency, one of the earliest acts of the government was to seize and lock up the edition of Martini's Testament, just issued at Florence, stop the presses, carry off the type and paper, subject the printers to a civil process, and banish Captain Pakenham, who had superintended the work, at a few days' notice. From the time that the pope returned from his exile, every impediment has been thrown in the way of the Bible Society in Lombardy, Tuscany, and the Papal States. The imprisonment of the Madiai and many others, the search for the Scriptures in private houses, the forcible attempt to check the expression of opinion, and the mandates of excommunication against those who shall enter a Protestant place of worship, or abet a society in circulating the Scriptures, all indicate that Home is her old self. The Book condemns her, and she tries to hide it. We cannot but rejoice in the fact that more than 87,000 copies have been distributed in various ways, even in Italy, and that the desire for the sacred volume is increasing continually. FRANCE. Of France, so much has been said in former chapters, that but little remains to be added. The British and Foreign Bible Society looks upon her with the deepest interest, places her always first in its Reports, and watches with increasing anxiety over her zealous band of colporteurs. On the table of the committee-room in Earl-street, now stands a vase of artificial flowers, composed of small coloured beads. You would be si rprised to hear of such an ornament in such a place; but that vase has a history. It is a Jubilee token from France, and has very recently arrived. The donors, who wish to remain unknown, are French soldiers, belonging to various regiments which succes^ively have formed the garrison of a certain town. This "bouquet of gratitude," as it is called, has been 34 898 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. prepared, during many evenings of several winters, by skilful hands, in successive regiments, wliile listening to the read- ing of the Scriptures and religious books; and when finished, the makers were very desirous of presenting it as an oflFering to the British and Foreign Bible Society, in token of their lively gratitude for its having placed within their reach the word of Grod, to which they have had grace given them to surrendei their hearts. The society's agent. Monsieur de P., has issued from the depot in Paris, from April, 1833, to January, 1853, no fewer than 2,271,709 copies of the Scriptures ! This is the work of twenty years. The whole issues since the depot was established are 3,002,359 copies, more than three-fourths of which have been placed in the hands of Roman Catholics; and a million and a half of these have been circulated by colporteurs. The prayers of the Huguenots are in a great measure answered. There is not a single depart- ment in France, (and, indeed, very few of the parishes in those departments,) which has not been visited by these humble and devoted agents. The remotest comers of her country districts have now heard of the Bible, and know that the Book contains the words of God. Extensive religious movements have taken place in some provinces. "A Protestant church has just been formed at Alengon, the rise of which is owing to the distri- bution of the Sacred Scriptures, effected by a colporteur. On Sunday, the 24th of September, 1853, the first service was held, in presence of 400 persons. The prayers, the solemn reading of the Bible, the sermon, and the well-executed singing of several hymns, produced a deep and powerful impression on the whole of the audience. ^' Among these new disciples of the gospel, about twenty were pointed out, who, in the most boisterous weather, had come a distance of nearly seven leagues, in order to be present at a cere- mony which, for them, was no mere outward form. Seventeen of these worthy peasants had come in carts, having for several days previously saved, sous bj sous from their 7iecessary expendv- PROTESTANT CHURCH AT ALENgON. 399 ture^ the trifling sum which they req^iired for the journey. The three others — two men and one woman (persons earning abso- lutely no more than their daily bread — an expression to be understood literally,) and one of the men earring a Bible, in 8vo, well wrapped up, under his arm — had started on their jour- ney at four o'clock in the morning, amid torrents of rain, in order to accomplish the journey of seven leagues in proper time ; — a journey which they retraced in the evening, setting out at half- past nine, and in weather, if any thing, worse than that of the morning. We were truly and deeply humbled at witnessing this proof of zeal and love for the things of God. As for these good people themselves, they thought nothing of the matter : ' We so greatly love the Bible,' said they, ' that, to hear it spoken about, we would willingly go much farther still.' " At three o'clock in the afternoon there was another service, which attracted a much greater audience than was even the case in the morning. This service was held for the purpose of baptiz- ing two infants, brought by two families belonging to the new members of the Alengon flock ; after that, the Lord's Supper was partaken of by the Christian friends who had come from a dis- tance, by Mr. Audebez and his large family, as well as, to our great joy, by ten converts — ^by ten new Christians, and who had become such since they had received the Bible from the hands of your colporteur. " These two celebrations produced the greatest impression on the numerous persons who witnessed them, and who, during the whole time, were standing in a dense throng, and throughout the whole preserved the greatest silence. On going away, several among the crowd were heard to remark : ^ They communicate, as we are taught in the gospel that Jesus Christ communicated with his disciples.' ' Theirs is a true religion.' ' One can understand all they preach about.' ' They seem to be happy, and to love each other as brethren.' ' This is the worship which we shall in futur<» attend.' And, as if to show that these expressions were sincere^ sixty persons purchased copies of the Scriptures between the Saturday and Monday evening. 400 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. ^' Who will venture, after such a fact, to utter a doubt as to the positive and blessed results of the work of Bible colportage ? " This, then, is the moment, the fitting moment, to spread over the country, in increased numbers, the distributors of the sacred Scriptures ; this is the moment to pray, with renewed fervour, that God may graciously accompany their efforts with his abundant blessing." BELGIUM. It is in the Report for 1837 that special notice is first taken of the successful labours and unwearied zeal of Mr. W. P. Tiddy, the society's agent in Belgium, who, with the colporteurs under his control, sold, in little more than the space of one year, 8420 volumes of Scripture, the greater part being Testaments, which, however, he says, induce afterward the desire for Bibles. These were sold in the French, English, Flemish, German, Dutch, Por- tuguese, Polish, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, and Hebrew languages, and showed an amazing increase of deiiiand for the Scriptures through the steady employment of the system of colportage. The agents went through all the towns, left them for a few months, and then commenced again. We know not where to select from Mr. Tiddy' s Reports for Belgium, any more than from Monsieur de P.'s for France; for they would form altogether volumes of unspeakable interest, and would now com- prise a series of facts extending over many years. We must give two or three. From Dour, Mr. Tiddy writes : " I know not how to describe to you the delightful prospect before us in this neighbourhood, or the wonderful effects of the distribution of the Sacred Scriptures here. Walking one day with M. de Visme, he exclaimed, ' It is the Bible that fills my church ; it is the Bible that brings the people to hear the preached gospel ; it is the Bible that brings the people to me to ask about their souls. I never hear any thina of them, till they have somewhere read the Bible. ^ This depart- ment has been well visited for years past, and still the Books find a ready sale " BELGIUM. 401 We ought to have noticed in the account of the society's library, a Bible presented by Mr. Tiddy — a Bible which ten or twelve persons in Dour had subscribed for together, and which had been purchased in Holland, where it cost thirty-two francs. It is an edition of Ostervald, and the contrast in the present price of a Bible is a strong proof of the advantages of Bible Societies. Some one Bible in a village, thus procured at great cost, once excited the rage of some priests ; for it was known to them that such existed ; but they could never find it, though many a search was made for it. The persons to whom it belonged used to hide it away by day, and by night go into the woods with it, and there hang a lantern up to a tree, and read it. At other times they would agree to meet in some old burrow, or other sacred place, for the same purpose. They sang also the Psalms of David to song-tunes, to deceive those who might over- hear them. One day when the men were absent at their work, and the women gone to the next market-town, a general search was made — for the priests were always on the watch to see when the house which contained it was left without any one but the child or some young person. They made a regular search, but, like all others up to that moment, in vain, and the priests and police turned to go their houses ; but on their way back, one of the policemen said, " I am sure, if we go back to such a house (naming it,) we shall find the Bible. I observed that in that house the child was in the cradle ; and, whether it was asleep or awake, the girl sitting by it continually rocked it.'' Arrived at the house, they went direct to the cradle, took up the child, turned out the bed, and found the Bible. The little girl who watched it was only ten years old, and she burst into tears ; but they rejoiced over their success, and walked away in triumph. The poor villagers wept when they came home in the evening, and said they would rather have heard that their houses had been burned to the ground than that their Bible should have been taken from them. They tried to get it again, but that was impossible Alas ! for the poor solitary Bible, and blessings on the era of Bible S-Ocieties ! 34* 102 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. In the year 1838, the work of circulating the Scriptures in Belgium still further assumed an unlooked-for extent and import- ance. The committee could only exclaim : " This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes !" The issue of 8420 volumes in a year had now increased to 20,548 volumes, 17,000 of which had been circulated by the brave colporteurs, persevering in their peaceful, self-denying labours, though in the midst of reproaches, insults, and • threatenings. Their books have often been stolen, forced away, torn, and burned before their eyes ; but *^ through evil report and through good report," they have held on their way, sometimes owing their personal safety to the interfe- rence of the civil powers, and at other times to military authority, They have had to contend with the potent opposition of all the patriarchs, primates, archbishops, and bishops of the Roman Catholic Church, who were thus addressed by Pope Leo XII., true to the principles of his ancient system, in his encyclical letter of 1824, given at Rome in the first year of his pontificate : "You are aware, venerable brethren, that a certain society called the Bible Society, strolls with effrontery through the world; which society, contemning the traditions of the holy fathers, and contrary to the well-known decree of the council of Trent, labours with all its might, and by every means, to translate, or rather to pervert the Holy Scriptures into the vulgar language of every nation ) from which proceeding it is greatly to be feared that, by a perverse interpretation, the gospel of Christ may be turned into a human gospel; or, what is worse, the gospel of the devil. To avert this plague, our predecessors published many ordinances, and proofs collected from the Holy Scriptures and tradition, to show how noxious this most wicked novelty is to faith and morals. '^ We exhort you, therefore, by all means to turn away your flocks from these poisonous pastures, being persuaded that if the Scriptures be everywhere indiscriminately published, more evil than advantage will arise on account of the rashness of men," &c. On such documents, the Bible Society " refrain from making any comment. They will rather indulge in silent grief, that the pimple object of the s:)ciety should be so misunderstood and mis- COLPORTAGE IN BELGIUM. 403 represented, and that there should be found men who, from what- ever motives, think it right to interpose between God's own word and the creatures to whom it is given.' ^ During 1839, Mr. Tiddy employed seven colporteurs, whc fre- quently visited with good effect the same places two or three times; and it is inspiring to read his communications given in the Monthly Extracts. We have certainly much to rejoice over, when we think that there are upward of 50,000 copies of the sacred Scriptures abroad in this land. The?/ must bear fruit ; "and the time will come, when these 50,000 talents will bring in other 50,000 talents, and for Bibles we shall have souls/' Mr. Tiddy mentions, that a celebrated Jesuit preacher insisted very much on " our having stolen the Bible from the Roman Catholic Church; that we have no claim to it, that we have lost all right to it; and that Luther stole it out of the convent." "I was sorry I could not tell him that we wished to follow or even outdo Zaccheus, the chief among the publicans, who offered to restore fourfold what he had taken, and that we wished to restore the Bible to them a hundred-thousandfold. '^ In the year 1844, Mr. Joseph John Gurney, a devoted mem- ber of the Bible Society, and one of the Society of Friends, who is now no more, had been travelling in France, Germany, Prussia, and Belgium ; and, observing the state of men's minds with regard to the Bible, he thought they might be divided into three great classes : first, a powerful, insidious, and learned class, endeavour- ing with all their might to destroy the foundations of Christianity, many of them professors of universities, turning all the miracles of the New Testament into mere natural circumstances, speaking even of the Divinity of a Christ as a sort of ornament, and poison- ing the minds of tens of thousands of ingenuous youth by their dangerous suggestions, "takiiig away from the things that jire written in the Book;" a second class 1^ beheld, yet larger and more powerful, but distinguished by ignorance rather than learning, adding gross and childish superstitions, such ceremonies as crown- ing the statues of the Virgin Mary, and other gilded rubbish, " to the things that were written in the Book," and desirous to 404 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. abridge the religious liberty of a third class, whom he found a little party, a small but increasing proportion, including all classes, from some of the royal families down to the peasantry, showing themselves on the side of simple Christian truth, adopting the Book of revelation as their guide, and using all their influence widely to distribute it. Mr. Gurney avowed his conviction that this third party is growing stronger and stronger on the continent, and that the circulation of De Sacy's version is daily increasing it. He bears testimony to Monsieur de P.'s unwearied zeal, in having distributed 140,000 copies during the previous year. He says, ''There is a spiritual life arising in France at this time, which all the efforts of all the popes and cardinals in Christen- dom will not be able to put down. In Belgium, the agent of the Bible Society is quietly distributing a thousand copies of the Scriptures every month. It is all in preparation for the vast struggle coming on between the powers of light and darkness ; and the Scriptures,'^ continues Mr. Gurney, ''are being read, as well as distributed, and many are determined to abide by them, come what may V Ten years have passed since then, and the same process has been going on between the same parties. Mr. Tiddy has been at work for eighteen years in Belgium; and he still says of the Bibles and Testaments circulated by his colporteurs there, (now nearly 200,000 volumes,) " What are these among so many V In Cologne also, and the Khenish provinces, he has, since the year 1847, circulated 273,503 copies, and he still believes that *'for these Bibles we shall have souls." CHAPTER X. The Old Fountain restored in Assyria — The Nestorian Churcli — Ameiican Mis- sions— Dr. Layard's Testimony — The Armenians, the Coptic, the Abyssinian, and the Waldensian Churches — The Jews — Jerusalem — Nazareth. Our fourth division is again the work of the Bible Society, as reviewed (very briefly) from this Jubilee Year among the Jews and ancient Christian churches. There is certainly no depart- ment of its labours so worthy of being singled out and noticed. Mr. (now Dr.) Layard, in his recent researches among the rock- sculptures at Bavian,* discovered remains and foundations in well- hewn stone buried under the mud of the river Gomel. He also on removing the earth found a series of basins cut in the rock, and descending in steps to the stream. The water had been originally led from one to the other through conduits, which of course were choked up; but he and his Arabs cleared them, and by pouring water into the upper basin restored the fountain as it had been in the time of the Assyrians. This is just what the Bible Society is doing with the "water of life.'' It has cleared the old conduits, and the refreshing stream through its means is once more fertilizing the ancient churches. We have noticed the return of the light of truth to long un- happy Ireland, and by the very means that Mr. Charles of Bala recommended, — the Scriptures in her native tongue, — " once the tongue of literature and science." The revisitation of the ancient missions of the Nestorians in China, has also been treated of under the head of "Heathen Countries." We must now look upon — THE NESTORIAN CHURCH. In it3 native seats, by the help of some interesting details from American missionaries, who have laboured among them since the * See "Diicovorics at Nil ;veh and Babylon," p. 215. 405 406 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. year 1834, and also through the means of some information from Dr. Layard. The Rev. D. Stoddard says : ''In the north of Persia, at the base of lofty mountains, whose snows glitter in the sun, is a plain of great extent and uncommon beauty. This is the province of Oroomiah, the home of the Nestorian Christians. Let the reader stand with me on the flat- terraced roof of our mission-house on Mount Seir. We are 1000 feet above the plain, which lies stretched before us in all its beauty, forty miles in length, girt about with rugged mountains, dotted with hundreds of villages, verdant with foliage, and re- joicing in its thousand fields of golden grain. Beyond the plain is the lake of Oroomiah, studded with islands. Mounds of ashes, with a scanty soil on them, conspicuous in different parts of the plain, have been supposed to be the places where the sacred fire was ever kept burning, and where the Parsee priests bowed in adoration to the rising sun. ''The Nestorians are a people interesting from their language, — the Syriac, — closely akin to the Hebrew, and spoken many cen- turies before the birth of Christ, — a language nearly identical with what was commonly used in Palestine in the days of our Saviour, and the medium through which he conversed with his disciples, and instructed the people; and it was in this same lan- guage, that, in his dying agony, he cried with a loud voice, say- ing, ' Eloi ! Eloi ! lama sabachthani ?' ' My Grod ! my God ! why hast thou forsaken me?' "The power of Mohammed hunted down the Nestorians like defenceless sheep, in the midst of their missionary enterprises. Presented with the dreadful alternative of 'the Koran or the sword,' they melted away at last like the snows of spring; and for centuries they have been sunk in ignorance and superstition. The modern remnant of this ancient and venerable church con- sists of about 100,000 souls, nearly half of them residing in the plains of Oroomiah, and the rest scattered over the wild and rug- ged ranges of the Kurdish Mountains, — the districts of Tekhoma and Tiyari. "They are a good-looking people, not having the peculiar THE NESTORIAN CHURCH. 407 physiognomy of the Jews, from whom, however, some consider them descended, — inquisitive, and unwearied in acquiring know- ledge. 'We thank you/ 'We* thank you,' is uttered by many voices, after any religious teaching. In the midst of the deep corruption of their church, they have been kept far nearer the Bible standard than the Roman Catholic, Greek, or Armenian Churches. I never met with a Nestorian who denied the supreme authority of God's word. Image and picture worship they hold in abhorrence, also auricular confession and priestly absolution. They have no mass or worship of the host. They do not refuse the cup to any communicant. They reject the doctrines of bap- tismal regeneration, of penance, and of purgatory, as unscriptural and wrong; and they are extremely liberal in their feelings toward all those with whom they are 'one in Christ Jesus.' They have always welcomed the American brethren, and granted their churches to us for the preaching of the gospel. Mr. S., one of our number, was ordained by us, in an old Nestorian church. Their own organization is episcopal; yet bishops, priests, and deacons, all stood by, and witnessed this ceremony with evident gratification. It must be added, that, during our long residence here, we have laboured with the sole object of spreading Bible- truth, and bringing the people back to an humble, holy life, and have studiously avoided any mere sectarian efforts. ''Dr. Perkins, the pioneer of our mission, found this ancient church prostrate in the dust. The people were grossly ignorant. They had no schools, and not half-a-dozen readers in a whole village. All their books were in manuscript, and of course scarce, and sold at a high price. Stealing was prevalent, — lying inwrought into all their habits. They used to say, 'We all lie, here. Do you think our business would prosper and we not lie ?' Wine circulated like water; and, with many features of ortho- doxy, religion was a thing of form and outside show. Now there are seventy village-schools, and two seminaries for training up young men and women to go forth and repair the wastes of many generations. The sacred fire is kindled once more upon their venerable altars. The Holy Scriptures are now happily com- 408 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. pleted in both the ancient and modern language of the Nesto- rians. The contents of their own rare, ancient, Syriac manu- scripts have been returned to them in a printed form. Their own clergy have aided us in the translation of separate portions; and I shall never forget their emotion when we had first trans- lated the Lord's Prayer. The Nestorian ecclesiastics who were with me were interested and delighted above measure at the first sight of their language in a icritten form. They would read a line, and then laugh audibly with satisfaction. We copied many portions, on cards, of the British and Foreign Bible Society's editions of the Scriptures in the ancient language, till the arrival of our press in 1840. ''This was an event of great interest and joy. As I carried the proof-sheet of our first small book, composed of portions of the Scriptures, into my study for correction, and laid it upon the table before my translators, they were struck with mute astonish- ment and rapture to see their language in print; and as soon as their recovery from surprise allowed them utterance, 'It is time to give glory to God!' was their mutual exclamation, 'now that we behold the commencement of printing books for our people.' '' The entire Old Testament was published in 1842, in ancient and modern Syriac, in parallel columns, by the American Bible Society. It forms a large quarto volume of more than 1000 pages. Dr. Perkins continues: "The influence of the Holy Scriptures on the pupils in our schools and training colleges, and on the scores and hundreds of adult Nestorians who are learning to read in our Sabbath-schools, and at their humble homes, and through all these readers on the mass of the people, is incalculable. "Here, also, efibrts have been made, by papal emissaries, to pervert the people ; and they offer the most serious obstacles we have to encounter in our missionary labours. They denounce the Holy Scriptures as ^corrupt English hooks,' and forbid their con- verts to read them." French papists at Mosul, and at Elkoosh, (the venerable home THE NESTORIAN CHURCH. 409 of the prophet Nahum,) have made many converts among the simple people, who but too readily yield to their influence In Dr. Layard's account of his recent tour, we have a vivid sketch of the Nestorian tribes, who are intrenched among the mountains of Assyria. Soon after they had been put in possession of 2000 copies of the four Gospels, by the British and Foreign Bible Society, in 1830, the Divine seed sprang up, and bore fruit to the glory of God. The American missionaries say of these tribes: "Many of the people appear like persons awakened from a deep sleep, and are inquiring, ^How is it that we have been kept so long in ignorance and self-delusion ?' To which inquiry their priests reply, 'We ourselves have till now been dead in trespasses and sins, and our sin is greater than yours for having hidden the light from you so long.' " We owe to Dr. Layard many details of this early church, inte- resting as connected with what is said of them in the Reports of the Bible Society. He has made two visits to their villages in the Tiyari mountains, while taking refuge from the heats of the summer during his labours at Nimroud. He often found the people gone up to their zomas or summer pastures. These are little rocky nooks, high on the mountains, where they build tem- porary huts of loose stones, with black goat-hair canvas stretched over them, pitched at the foot of snowy precipices, — yet, strange to say, on a carpet of Alpine flowers. He followed them to their zomas. Though poor and needy, they are hospitable, and brought their best to the traveller. He says there is an earnest religious feeling peculiar to them as a people. There are now very few learned priests left among them; yot at the time of the Arab invasion they were the chief depositaries' of the learning of the East. They translated the works of Greek philosophers into their own language, and retranslated them into Arabic. There exist among them the T-emains of very old churches, which have all small eutVances, m ordoi that their 410 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. tyrants, the Turks, may not lodge horses and beasts of burden within their doors. Dr. Layard sometimes found a book of prayer, or the Scriptures in manuscript, lying on the rude altar; but frequently the greatest part of the leaves would be wanting, and those which remained were torn into shreds, or disfigured by damp and mould; for tbey were compelled to hide in the moun- tains the manuscripts of the churches, or to bury them in some obscure place, at the time of the massacre — the dreadful massacre of these poor people — which took place in 1843, when Bader Kan Bey, with his cruel Kurds, invaded the Tiyari districts, and murdered in cold blood nearly 10,000 of their inhabitants, carry- ing away their women and children as slaves. These captives were afterward released through the influence of the British em- bassy in Turkey. Dr. Layard actually came in contact, near Lizan, with ocular evidences of this terrible slaughter. Skulls, heaps of blanched bones, and even skeletons of all ages, still hung to the dwarf shrubs growing on the precipitous steeps down which they had been hurled. Some of these Nestorians were employed as diggers in the mounds at Nineveh; and Dr. L. re- lates that several of the priests or deacons were among the work- men, who, on the Sabbathi, repeated prayers, or led a hymn or chant. He adds : "I often watched these poor creatures, as they reve- rently knelt, their heads uncovered, under the great bulls, cele- brating the praises of Him whose temples the worshippers of those frowning idols had destroyed, and whose power they had mocked. It was the triumph of truth over paganism. Never had that triumph been more forcibly illustrated than by those who now bowed down in the crumbling halls of the Assyrian kings.'' Dr. Layard visited, in the district of Jelu, the church which is said to be the oldest in the Nestorian mountains, " the only one that had escaped the ravages of the Kurds, and still contains the ancient furniture and ornaments. The church was so thickly hung with relics of the most singular and motley description- that the ceiling was completely concealed by them. Amon^ THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 411 the objects which first attracted my attention ware numerous China bowls^ and jars of elegant form and richly coloured, but black with the dust of ages. They were suspended, like the other relics, from the roof. I was assured that they had been there from time out of mind, and had been brought from the dis- tant empire of Cathay, by those early missionaries of the Chal- dean Church who bore the tidings of the gospel to the shores of the Yellow Sea. If such were really the case, some of them might date so far back as the sixth or seventh centuries, when the Nestorian Church flourished in China, and its missions wero spread over the whole of Central Asia.'' How exceedingly interesting is this independent testimony of Dr. Layard, as viewed in connection with the news recently re- ceived from China ! He appears to have given excellent counsel to Mar Shamoun, the unfortunate and troubled patriarch of the church: ''I could not disguise from him, that, in education and the free circulation of the Scriptures, there could alone be found any hope for his people." And thus among the Tiyari moun- tains exists the remnant of the Syro-Chaldaic or Nestorian Church, which once had the " living water," in its ancient trans- lation of the Scriptures, and dispensed it widely to the heathen. But in course of time these copies became exceedingly rare. Mr. Wolff, the missionary, in his travels in Persia, purchased some of them, which safely reached England, though they were twice in peril by shipwreck. They came into the possession of the Bible Society, who discovered this translation to be the same as the Syriac, (but written in Chaldee character,) and, by means of its learned editor, T. P. Piatt, Esq., supplied from the Syriac its missing portions. The sacred Books were sent back in a printed form, and the society might have said with Dr. Layard, " The conduits were choked up, hut we cleared them, and restored the fountain pure as it had flowed in the times of the early Nes- torians." THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. The Armenians, as we have seen, arc a far-scattered people — the travelling merchants of the world. Their number has been 412 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. estimated at from two to three millions : and the first attempt to give them the Scriptures in their vulgar tongue was made by the British and Foreign Bible Society. In 1837, a fount of Arme- nian type was forwarded to the American missionaries at Smyrna, and a revised edition of the New Testament was carried carefully and slowly through the press. In 1842, 5000 copies were issued, and they came immediately into great demand ; indeed, the ver- sion of Scripture in this language has received the manifest bless- ing of God in a degree almost unprecedented. The following is the account given by missionaries on the spot : '^ There are great encourag«ments to aid the Bible circulation in Turkey. There is probably not a city in that country to which the Scriptures in modern languages have not been carried ; and we might mention twenty towns where Armenians are found who daily searcb them, for the purpose of guiding their lives according to their supreme teachings. In some of these places, this holy volume, owing to the £act of its being in the modern language, is looked upon as afresh message from heaven; and in such towns especial assem- blies are held on the Sabbath for studying the Scriptures, and this occurs also in towns where no foreign missionary has ever been. It is the ivork of the Bihle alone. Among the Arme- nians, the Bible in the ancient language has always been a promi- nent and central object on the altar in the church, and is daily offered to the people, after prayers, to be kissed. This may have tended, perhaps, to their reverence for its teachings in the tongue which they understand. '' The reading of the Scriptures among the Armenians has cured many of their scepticism. They have become convinced, that, whatever failures they might see in professors of Christian- ity around them, here, in the Book, is pure, living truth ! One individual, a banker among the Armenians, said, 'Our nation owes to those who have been the means of acquainting us with the word of Grod in an intelligible language, a vast debt of grati- tude : they have saved not only me but many others from infidel- ity; for we have found that Christianity has deeper foundationg ARMENIAN CHRISTIANS IN TURKEY. 413 than -we had supposed, and that there is in the word of God some- thing upon wtich to anchor our faith.' ^' A young man came to purchase some copies of the Scriptures in Armenian, and said, ' I have received a letter from my native city, requesting me to send them some money for building a cliurch ; but as I am more desirous to build up a church of living stones than any otlier, I shall send borne my contribution in the form of the printed word of God/ '' With the revival of truth, came also suffering to this church. In the former part of the year 1846, persecution of tbe "gospel- readers," as they were called, was very common in Turkey. Three men in a village near Nicomedia were scourged, one of them almost to death, in the presence of the whole village. Nine men of Ada Bazar were imprisoned for the same crime. At Trebi- zond, the gospel-readers were hunted like wild beasts in the city and on tbe mountains. One went into exile, by order of the pasha ; one was brought to Constantinople, and chained in a dun- geon by his neck and feet, for a fortnight, till he was released through the interposition of the British ambassador, who is always ready for every office of humanity. In 1847, Mr. Baker writes : " Those Armenians who read the Bible are now called Protestants, and have been sadly persecuted, at Erzeroom, by the Armenian bishop. He applied to the sultan, and the unexpected result has happily been a special order to see that none were molested on account of religious opinions. This has so encouraged the Protestant Armenians in Turkey, who have now become numerous, that, in a village near the town of Nico- media, a congregation of Protestant Armenians has sprung up, adopting the Scriptures alone as their rule of faith. No missionary has ever been among them but the Missionary of missionaries — the Bible. Sometimes they have been been attacked with stones, which they calmly took up, and went and deposited at the gover- nor's leet, demanding protection and redress.'' Similar accounts are given from Aleppo, of a church of 200 evangelical Christians, formerly Armenians, and solemnly excom- muniiated hj the Armenian patriarch, but to no purpose, for xnoro 414 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. are daily added to their numbers. No missionary lias ever been among these. It is a reformation arising from the reading of the Scriptures alone. ^' Many years ago/' says Mr. Baker, " I forwarded a good many Armenian Testaments in this direction, and as far as Arab-keer. They were read with avidity in these wild districts, where the people are now earnestly requesting a missionary.'' In 1848, the Reports are equally interesting, and a reprint of the Armenian Testament with marginal references was requested : thirty, forty, and fifty people were assembling together every evening for religious instruction — a most extraordinary change in the strongholds of Mohammedanism. In 1850, there was an earnest request for a pocket-edition of the same precious Book, from those who wished to have the word of God constantly about them, that they might be able in conversation with others to appeal at once '' to the law and to the testimony." In 1851, the promotion of many fresh Protestant churches was announcfcd at Aintab, Diarbekir, Mosul, Cesarea, &c. In all these places, colporteurs employed by the missionaries circulated the word of God. One of the colporteurs says that he stopped one Saturday night, a mile distant from the village of Hesemek, in a meadow on a river's bank. Before noon, on Sunday, it was noised that he was there ; and forty men came out to see him, and a large party of them kept him till midnight reading and explaining to them the word of God in their modern language. They seemed to receive the word gladly ; and, like hungry souls, they made him give up all the Books he had, and promise to bring them a further supply. The introduction of the Scriptures in all directions in Turkey — in Constantinople, Smyrna, Rodosto, Nicomedia, Adrianople, Trebizond, Erzeroom, &c. — has been greatly assisted by the firman of his imperial majesty the sultan, confirming and enlarging the protection given to all his Protestant subjects, and secuPing to. them the full and free exercise of their religion. The fact is, that every year's Report of the increasing influence of the word of God, a^ain restored to this ancient church, is more NICOMEDIA AND ADA BAZAR. gratifying tlian the preceding. In 1852, the Ilev. Isaac Lowndes, the society's agent for Malta and Greece, writes : "I accompanied Dr. Dwight, one of the American missionaries, to Nicomedia, where we spent the Sabbath, and also to Ada Bazar. " Nicomedia is situated on the coast of the Sea of Marmora, fifty miles east of Constantinople. It was formerly the capital of Bithynia, and the residence of the Emperor Constantine and Bome of his successors, during a part of the year. Here Pliny resided, and from hence wrote to Trajan for advice as to the best measures for preventing the further spread of Christianity. Here began the last and worst of the pagan persecutions by the cruel edict of Dioclesian. The number of the inhabitants in the town is now declared to be about 35,000. *' I visited some remains of antiquity, supposed to be the ruins of an ancient Christian church, and some excavations recently made, prove it at least to have been the site of a large edifice, perhaps that into which first entered the prefect of the praetorian band — to burn, to overthrow, and to destroy.* In this verj/ place, where the persecution commenced by which Dioclesian said he had * blotted out Christianity from the earth,' is now a church of ' living stones' (150 persons making a creditable profession of religion,) and but one of many similar churches to be continually multiplied, till the ' knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.' " Ada Bazar is still fifty miles further east. The two small Christian communities here and at Nicomedia, manifest much of a missionary spirit, and already have sent out colporteurs partly at their own expense, besides contributing to the support of their own pastors. They are a poor people, but their deep poverty thus abounds in liberality. "There are twenty-one Armenian Protestant churches in Asia. The one at Aintib has a congregation of 800 persons, and they worship in an enormous tent. There are more than 100 villages and cities, where it is evident that the gospel has begun to take effect,'^ * See page 101. 416 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. The Rev. Mr, Benjamin, American missionary at Constanti- nople, writes, on the 22d of February, 1853, to the committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, " as a member of a mission which is indebted to that society and for valuable editions of the Divine word, which without it would never have seen the light :" '^ We may truly say, it has been a right arm to our mission. May it go forward till its Jubilee shall enlist the sympathy and praise of every living soul upon the earth ! " Sometimes the wonder-working providence of God conveys the copies furnished by the -society to places hitherto unapproached by the missionary and even by the colporteur. Certain wandering Kurds,* who roam over the north of Syria, had possessed them- selves of a quantity of Armenian Scriptures, and finding them of no use to themselves, distributed them among the Armenian population in the neighbourhood of their own encampment, b^ whom they were joyfully received. " We think you may safely assure the friends of the Bible in Great Britain, that, since the period when the reign of apostasy first extended over this fair land, no year has witnessed so much actual Christian progress efi'ected as in the last year. One fact of general notoriety and of great importance is, that the circula- tion of the word of God among the Armenians has already put an efiectual stop to the influence of the Romanists among the people. "For a great number of years, the papists have been labouring with ceaseless activity, and by deep-laid plans, to gain over to their church the Armenian nation ; and they had every prospect of entire success in their schemes. The Armenians in general observe, that, if the Protestant Reformation among them had not commenced when it did, half of the Armenian nation, or, as some say, the whole, would long ere this have become Roman Catholic. * The Kurds are the descendants of tlie ancient Parthians. The Yezidis, who fear to utter the name of Satan, are a tribe of Kurds. The Kurds in general profess Mohammedanism, but a great number of them have joined th« N^storian Christians. JUBTI^E MEETING AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 417 Note, persons who once combined with papists to teep out the Bible and Protestantism, are ready to co-operate with Protestants in the conflict with popery." Dr. Layard again bears indejpendent testimony to this Protestant movement going on in Turkey, and he attributes it to the very judicious .and earnest exertions of the American missionaries during the last fifteen years. They have educated intelligent youths from different parts of the empire, who have sowed the seeds of truth and knowledge far abroad. He notices the perse- cution, the intervention of our ambassadors, and their great in- strumentality in securing religious toleration. He speaks of the printing-press as publishing the Scriptures in the dialects of the mountain-tribes, and rejoices that the English language is now planted in the heart of Asia, and extending its benefits to un- known races.* We have delightful tidings from* Turkey, dated 13 th of June, 1853. The Rev. H. Dwight tells us that that was a day long to be remembered in Constantinople, for it was a day on which the first public meeting was ever held there to commemorate the labours of evangelical Christendom for the conversion of the earth. It was held at a time when the foundations of society were threatened, and when the most sagacious politicians could not tell whether in a few weeks anarchy and bloodshed might not desolate the land. At such a time, how blessed the privilege to rally round the eternal word of God, — the sure foundation, and the only light and hope of the world ! "This meeting," says Mr. Dwight, '^was a Jubilee meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the honoured parent of all other Bible Societies. It was held in the large saloon of the Hotel d'Angleterre, and there must have been present at least 200 persons. The present British ambassador. Lord Stratford do Bedcliffe, took the chair, and addressed the residents of the place * " Nineveh and Babylon," p. 405. 418 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. and also a few Christian travellers from England and America who happened to be present. He alluded to the time of the in- stitution of the Parent Society; that it was when Napoleon was near the zenith of his day, and England was at war with almost every nation of Europe, that the friends of the Bible first con- ceived the thought of sending that one Book throughout all the world. He said he was reminded of the ancient heathen fable of a o-olden chain suspending the earth from the throne of Jupiter. This fable had become realized under the Christian system, for the Bible was the golden chain that bound us to the throne of God. His lordship warmly commended the zeal and discretion which had characterized the efforts of the American, German, and English missionaries, who had all acted in beautiful harmony in carrying forward this work." An association was then formed in connection with the British and Foreign Bible Society, to assist in the work of distributing the word of God in Turkey. Who shall tell the ejQPect ef this new movement on the Arme- nians, in all the countries in which they are scattered, and on the Turks out of Europe, as well as on Mohammedans who are not Turks ? The Asiatic peninsula is the chief stronghold of Islam, and from this centre may yet radiate, toward Turkey in Asia, the light of a purer faith. Perhaps you may not have thought of the fact, that it is only a manuscript Koran which contests with a printed Bible. So- cieties have never been formed for printing and distributing the Koran of Mohammed, or the Vedas and Shastras of the Hindus. The Mohammedan copies the Koran for himself, and frequently commits it to memory, as the Brahmins of India do their sacred books. The false lights shall die out; they are not fitted for the human race ; but the light of eternal truth must penetrate all the dark places of the earth, and be rekindled in language after lan- guage, till He come whose right it is to reign, and till all ^'the kingdoms of the wwld shall becone the kingdoms of our Lord and ot his Christ/' THE COPTIC CHURCH. 419 THE COPTIC CHURCH. The only language known to have derived its origin fr ^m the A^ncient Egyptian is the Coptic, the second language in which the inscription on the Rosetta stone is written. This origin has invested the Coptic with peculiar interest in the eyes of the learned. It is called '^a venerable language," and in it the liturgy of the Coptic church is still publicly read ; but it is not understood by the majority of the Copts, who mostly speak Arabic. The Copts themselves scarcely form a fourteenth part of the motley population dwelling on the soil of their ancestors. Some- times they are persecuted, sometimes they turn Mohammedans, and they are not now supposed to be in number more than 150,000. They have a patriarch or supreme head, who is also the head of the Abyssinian church. In 1829, an edition of 2000 of the Coptic Grospels, printed in parallel columns with the Arabic version, was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society The text had been prepared by the Coptic patriarch, at the in- stance of Mr. Jowett. " No complete edition oS the Coptic Old Testament has yet been published, for several of the books are missing. It is however probable, that they are not actually lost, and that they may yet be found in some of the cloisters of Egypt." In 1832, the Rev. Mr. Leider, a missionary connected with the Church Missionary Society, furnished the following details re- specting Egypt : — " During our six years' stay in Egypt, all parts of it have several times been visited by us, and we have circulated the Holy Scriptures in Arabic, Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Hebrew, and Coptic. We have endeavoured also to introduce the word of God, or part of it, into the schools of this nation, where hundreds of children now begin to read the word of life. '^ Though we have not yet met with real conversions among the natives, we know that the Holy Scriptures are read in many houses, and that some think more seriously about the salyatioii 420 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. of tteir souls, and are anxious to lay aside those sinful customs which are very general in Egypt, as for instance, swearing, lying, and hypocrisy, so strongly condemned by holy writ. " There are still great numbers in Egypt who are not provided with the Divine word. Some of them cannot read it on account of the smallness of the type, others are ignorant of the value of this great treasure, and many cannot obtain it for want of money. In regard to the small type in which the Arabic Scriptures have hitherto been printed, I remark, that many of the people are unable to read them, partly from an incapacity to distinguish the letters from each other, and partly from a fear of losing their present impaired sight. Europeans cannot imagine how much the Egyptians suffer from weak eyes, or how many have lost their sight entirely from ophthalmia. It would therefore be a most necessary and noble work, were the British and Foreign Bible Society to furnish the Egyptians, and the Arabs in general, with the Holy Scriptures printed in large type." The committee complied with this suggestion, and ordered 5000 Arabic Testaments and Psalms in larger type, forthwith. An edition of 2014 copies of the Coptic Psalter, printed in parallel columns with the Arabic version, has likewise been issued by the Bible Society. The Rev. W. Kruse, a missionary in Egypt, writes from Cairo : ^' The Coptic patriarch becomes more and more friendly toward us, and often sends monks to us to receive the Holy Scriptures. One of these, whose serene, sincere look, confirmed the truth of the words he uttered when receiving the Bible, said, ' A greater jtreasure than this I do not look for on earth ; for whoever lives according to its contents, is safe and happy forever.' These monks are always being changed in the convent of the patriarchs. They come from all the convents in Egypt alternately, at various ap- pointed times, to Cairo, stay for some time here, and then return to their convents, while others take their places." Thus the Scriptures will penetrate into all parts of Egypt. The issues for this country, since 1820, have reached 6000 copies. More, wany ABYSSINIA — THE WALDENSES. * 421 more copies, and '■^ a man liie Luther," as one among themselves has said; are needed to reform this church. ABYSSINIA. The Amharic Testament having been carried through the press in 1829, the entire Bible was completed from M. Asselin's trans- .ation in 1842. The copies printed have been 7000, beside more than 4000 portions of Scripture in Ethiopic. There is little known at present of the results of distribution, either in the Abys- sinian or Coptic Churches ; but the following details are interest- ing, furnished by the mis^onaries before the whole Scriptures reached them. They found it very difficult to do any thing in Abyssinia, before they had the wliole Bible ; for the reading-people are a thoughtful race, " very apt to suppose that those who speak to them about religion are deceivers ; but when they can them- selves see a passage in the Scriptures contrary to their opinions, they will immediately give them up.'' The missionaries say : " We have had one Abyssinian with us for nine months, and he has read so much in the Amharic Grospels, that he knows all four almost by heart. Though he is very humble in every respect, he does not give up a single error till we have proved to him by the Gospels that it is an error. He desires much to have the Epistles of Paul, of which we are always speaking." The committee ex- pressed a hope that this intelligent student would prove a fair specimen of his countrymen. THE WALDENSES. By a census made, about 1820, of the inhabitants of the Vau- dois valleys, it was found that the Protestants were nearly 17,000 in number, and the Catholics 4000. Two or three individuals, during this century, have been re- markable for the interest they have taken in the members of this ancient church, which, in its bitter sufferings, has always found so much sympathy in the heart of England. Felix Neff, once a young officer of artillery, afterwards a Chris- 36 422 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. tian pastor, was led by Providence to that part of tbe French Alps where the Vaudois Church had been established. He triumphed over all obstacles, and, like another Oberlin, taught the inhabitants to irrigate their meadows, and to improve their lands ; but he more particularly lent himself to the task of revivifying their souls. In his visits to the Vaudois valleys and to those of Piedmont, he was forcibly struck with their richness of vegetation as con- trasted with the barrenness of the French valleys, and he was equally struck with their spiritual degeneracy. He began to form, prayer-meetings among them, and thus was religious zeal revived in these interesting valleys. We have already seen their glad re- ception of help from the Bible Society.* In 1823, the Rev. Dr. Gilly journeyed to these valleys, and, when he returned, thousands were interested by his published ac- count of them, and among others. Major-general Beckwith, who is still their benefactor. The general, with other friends, has erected and endowed a hundred schools among the Vaudois ; and in 1830, forwarded to the committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society a specimen page of a translation of two Gospels into the dialect which is now spoken by them. The translation was made by the Rev. Mr. Bert, pastor of La Tour. The society undertook to publish 1000 copies in parallel columns, with Martin's French version. In 1832, 600 copies had been distributed, and another edition was called for of 2000 copies. A letter from Major-general Beckwith, in 1840, announces that the Gospels sent into Northern Italy are freely circulating among the Protest- ants. With the progress of education, however, the use of the modern French language is rapidly gaining ground among these people, because French is the medium of instruction in the schools. Yet there is among them a special school for the training of young men for the ministry, in which, since the year 1848, all the candidates for the pastorship are instructed in Italian, with .a view to the restorati:n in the valleys of their own national tongue. ♦ See page 299. THE JEWS. 423 In the Report for 1853, Major-General Beckwitli is said to have made a remittance of 95^. 13s. 4c?. for Italian and Piedmonteso Scriptures circulated by him among the Waldensian Churches ; and, on his recommendation, an edition of 2500 copies of Genesis and Luke, in Italian, will be printed ; and these will be placed at his disposal for.the purpose of distribution. "We have very interesting recent intelligence concerning the remarkable religious awakening in the north of Italy, and which is taking place through the missionary efforts of the descendants of the ancient Waldenses, and the circulation of the Scriptures. *' The burning lamp, surrounded with the seven stars," the old symbol of the Waldensian Church, has begun to verify its ancient motto, " Lux lucet in tenebris." THE JEWS. But is there any part of the society's work, after all, so de- lightful, as restoring the pure and living waters to the nation for whose sake they first flowed ? On the brow of the Jew is written out past, and our future ; for, "if through their fall, sal- vation is come unto the Gentiles, — if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how iniicli more their fulness! — for if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them he, hut life from the deadT^ Romans xi. 12, 15. And shall not the Gentile Church hasten the time of her own " fulness," as she earnestly prays with Judah for her captive sister Israel of old, " Return, we beseech thee, oh God of hosts : look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine ; and the vine- yard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself?" Psalm Ixxx. 14, 15. In various ways, during the last quarter of a century, a vast number of copies of the Scriptures, in Hebrew and other lac • guages, have been circulated among the Jews of different countries, partly by means of societies interested in their welfare, and partly by purchase, of their own accord. The Report of the Bibld 424 ' THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Societies witness to the desire of the Jews to possess the Bible, al Malta, at Dai^ascus, at St. Petersburg, and other places. The Rev. Mr. Ewald, formerly missionary at Tunis, who appears to be himself a Jew, gives us, in the year 1837, an interesting account of his labours among his brethren according to the flesh. He has shown, he says, to hundreds of thousands of them what Moses and the prophets have foretold of the Redeemer of the world. " In the space of four years, the time that I have spent in the north of Africa, 5000 copies of the Scriptures have been put into circiilation at Algiers, at Tunis, at Tripoli, and in many other towns. Sometimes there was opposition : the Mphammedana priests burned a Bible, the Roman Catholic priests said it was not genuine, and some ignorant Jewish Rabbins did the same ; but still the word of life isread by Mohammedans, Jews, and RomanJjatholics. "But some will say, 'What good have you done by giving the Bible to the Jews at a low price ? Of course they are glad to receive their own Scriptures as cheap as possible ; but that does not bring them nearer to Christianity.' Such questions have been asked. Allow me to give an answer to them. The Jews in ge- neral are ignorant of the whole contents of the Bible. Hundreds do not read more than the five books of Moses, and some portions of the prophets. Hence it ari-ses, that they are ignorant of the many prophecies respecting the Messiah; and often, when I quote passages referring to His coming, sufferings, and death, they will tell me, 'Those passages do not occur in our Bible: you have written them in favour of i/our religion.' And this is not the case in Africa only, for I have met with the same in Germany, and even in England, where Bibles are so easily to be had. " Now, how can we preach the Saviour of the world to the Tews with effect ? How can we prove the truths of Christianity mt of their own Scriptures, if they are ignorant of them, if they have never read the evangelical prophecy of Isaiah, the plain pre- dictions of David, and of the rest of the prophets ? By giving them their own Scriptures, we try by the blessing of God to make ihem Israelites, to draw them away from the hollow cisterns of rabbinism, and to bring them to the fountain of living water'' JEWS IN TUNIS. 425 The san'.3 missionary says : " The Jeivs now read the word of the living God without the comments of the rabbins, and often wish the good society which sent them the Scriptures at so low a price, a thousand blessings from above. At Zwaghan, about fifty miles from Tunis, poverty and misery abound, and a shil- ling is of as much value as a pound in England. In such places especially, the benefits conferred by the Bible Society are fully appreciated." From Tunis, also, in 1846, the Rev. N. Davis writes as follows : "About twenty years ago, a number of copies of the Hebrew New Testament were sent hither, by your society, and one of them came into the possession of Mr. Nigjar, an infidel Jew, who lent it to Mr. Bishmoth, also a Jew, with a view to unsettle his opi- nions likewise. Mr. B. perused it, but it had a difi"erent efiect upon Kim. Instead of making him what is falsely called liberal- minded, he became seriously-minded, for he saw there was no other way left him but either to embrace the truths of the gospel, or continue without peace in this world, and without hope beyond the grave. " After twenty days, Mr. Nigjar himself told me that Mr. Bish- moth returned with the Testament. He said he was surprised to find him in tears, and in a very agitated state of mind, and more so still when he exclaimed, ^Is this the history of Jesus who is so misrepresented by our rabbins ? I fully believe him to have been the Messiah, and all predictions of a Messiah to be fulfilled in him. Our nation is in darkness, and will be so till they believe in him.' 'He called on me often,' said Mr. N., 'and brought me such wonderful things from Moses and the prophets, as would greatly surprise you.' Mr. Nigjar himself has, through the in- strumentality of this maT?, been brought to a more serious state of mind. Both visit me : one is in the eighty-third year of his age, and the other has passed seventy." Mr. Melville, a gentleman who is mentioned in the Report for 1846 as indefatigable in his labours among the Tartars, travelling in an open cart from village to village in their country, with boxes of Scriptures for distribution, speaks of the Jews in the following 36* 126 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. encouraging manner: — ^^ The Jews in Tartary have been groat purchasers of the Scriptures this year. There is a general move- ment onwards among the Jews at present^ which we ought .to follow up by as large a distribution of Testaments as possible. They are no longer burners of those holy Books. They are eagerly read; and by many diligently studied. May the Spirit of the Lord draw aside the veil, that the beams of the Sun of Right- eousness may shine into their hearts, hitherto cold and icy, towards the Redeemer of Israel ! Much requires to be done among the Jews in Chersosi. Many are in deep poverty, and cannot even pay the present low prices for Bibles. The almost general opinion at present respecting the Jews is, that the study of the prophets will bring them to embrace Christianity. In 1849, Mr. Barker writes: '^ Our work goes on steadily, and the demand for the Hebrew Scriptures continues unabated, and, if any thing, gains ground." We have heard that there is, in this Jubilee Year of the Bible Society, a remarkable movement taking place among the Jews in every country in which they are scattered. The rabbinism whicli has enslaved them for so many ages is rapidly losing its influence. Multitudes are throwing aside the Mishna and the Talmud, and betaking themselves again to the study of Moses and the prophets. Among the Jews in London, it is said, there is at this present time a great demand for copies of the Hebrew Old Testament. How far the steady and persevering distribution of the Scriptures among them may have quietly tended to this result, we must leave it to a future day to reveal. The subject of their return to Pa- lestine, and the nature of the promises on which this expectation is founded, are engaging their deepest attention. In the exami- nation of this matter they have been assisted by a rabbi from the continent, who has exhibited a manuscript, in which he has endea- voured to prove from Scripture, that the time has come when the Jews must make preparation for returning to their own country — the land of their fathers. The said manuscript has been pub- lished both in Hebrew aac English, in the form of a small tract^ JEWS IN PALESTINE. 427 and it is said to be very influencial in furthering the movement proposed by the learned rabbi. In 1851, the English bishop at Jerusalem favoured the com- mittee with some interesting communications. He says : ^'I feel more and more, that, if it were not for the liberality of the Bible Society, I could scarcely do any thing in Palestine. I trust that, though the returns of money are scanty, on account of the ex- treme poverty of most of those who desire to receive the word of life, yet the returns in a higher sense will reward those who have helped in sowing the incorruptible seed. " The work of God has considerably developed itself at Naza- reth. Very soon after the first visit of one of my Bible-readers to Nazareth, several individuals of that place visited me, and beg- ged that I would establish a school for children, as I had done at Nablous ; but all I could do then, was to supply the people with Bibles, and direct them by correspondence.'^ There are at this time thirteen heads of families representing sixty-one souls, who have signed a document by which they de- clare themselves Protestants, and fifty more are ready to do the same. They are very anxious to be recognised by the govern- ment as a Protestant community. This is in consequence of the simple reading of the Bible, — of the history of Jesus of Nazareth, — in the very place where the Lord abode. How delightful for the Bible Society to be able to say of all these old and interesting sources from whence the Scriptures have come down to us, " The conduits were choked up, hut we cleared fliem, and restored the fountain pure as it had flowed in the times of old !'' CHAPTER XL The Protestant Countries : Holland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Swedem — State of the Continent — Lord Bexley — Mr. Brandram — Wales — Scotland- England — Ireland — Home Colporteurs, and Collectors — Final Appeal — Mo- tives for Renewed Exertion. But now we must approach our final review of earth's Pro- testant nations, and the effects of Bible-distribution among them during the last quarter of a century. We must close with Great Britain; therefore we will take the rest in brief succession as before, beginning with — HOLLAND. The Netherlands Bible Society had, in 1832, been taking mea- sures to obtain a good translation of the Javanese New Testament. They employed for this purpose Mr. Gericke, who went to Java itself; and, being a good oriental scholar, and zealous for the cause of God, entered into the spirit of the Javanese people more than any European ever did before, acquiring a deep and thorough knowledge of their language, character, customs, and religious principles. While he was getting all this knowledge, not only by familiar conversation with the people in general, but also by the opportunities that were afforded to him of being admitted to the courts of the Javanese princes, he did not lose sight of the two great points of his mission, viz. the composing of a Javanese grammar, and the translation of the Bible into that tongue. The grammar has been well received in Java, and even the Javanese are surprised at it. The King of the Netherlands presented, on this account, to Mr. Gericke, a gold medal, showing that the government also prized his exertions. In 1844, colportage was adopted with great advantage in Hol- land ; and Mr. Tiddy writes, that the sales at the depot surpass 428 HOLLAND — GERMANY. 429 all idea : in one week they amounted to 2250 volumes. In nine years, the sale of Scriptures in Holland has surpassed 326,000 volumes. The depositary at Amsterdam writes in 1853 : ^' Armed with this sword of the Spirit, the colporteurs continue their tra- vels ; and this year we have again experienced that our God is faithful, and that his word retains its power. The opposition of the papacy is increasing. Against the artifices of this party, the strongest bulwark is the word of God. Notliing is feared hy Rome more than this." In 1851, in forwarding his annual Report, and after lamenting the loss of Mr. Brandram, Mr. Tiddy says : " There has been, without doubt, a remarkable revival brought about in Holland by the Holy Spirit's blessing on the Scriptures circulated by us. The clear type and low prices of the books have been the means of introducing the word of God where before it was not to be met with. It would often cheer your heart to see the sparkling eyes of children as they receive a beautiful Testament or Bible in ex- change for the few copper cents they have been carefully saving up for thatt purpose. It has always appeared to me that our col- portage is literal obedience to the command of our Lord, in Luke xiv. 23, ' And the Lord said unto the servant. Go out into the highways and hedges.' It certainly carries the treasure to thou- sands who would never otherwise receive it.^' GERMANY. In 1843, it was said that the missionary cause called forth more interest in the Protestant states of Germany than that of the Bible Society, and the reason for this was thus expressed : '' The copies of the Bible which we issued send us no reports of their labours; whereas, the missionaries we send out to the heathen relate the dangers they pass through, the difficulties they encoun- ter, and the success which attend their labours. All this awakeni and keeps alive an interest in themselves and their work. But with the copies of the Scriptures which we send fortli, it ought to be considered, that their operations, though silent, are not less 430 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. sure. They penetrate into the hearts of thousands of families, whom the living preacher would never have reached, and there they effect that for which they were sent. " We think the cause of gospel truth is making progress among the Protestant nations of German}^ ; still it will be long before its literature can be purified from its an ti- Christian leaven. There has been a large distribution of Bibles in the country, both by the Continental Societies with the Apocrypha, and by the agents of the British and Foreign Bible Society ivitJwut it; and this has been followed by some encouraging appearances of the dawn of a brighter day ; though, alas ! it must still be acknowledged that the pulpits and schools are mostly occupied by rationalists of va- rious shades ; and it would seem as if many years must pass away before the destructive doctrines so widely spread among all classes will be superseded by a simple faith in the truths of revelation. They have trifled with the facts of the Bible itself, and brought themselves to believe that its miracles are to be accounted for by natural causes : they have ^ taken away from the words of the book,' and added unto it also by the intermixture of the Apocry- pha. A large proportion of the people are in the hands of the Jesuits, and they need a new Luther Ho rush like a torrent through the channels of the watercourses of the Divine word,' still stopped up by Satan and foolish men, and to carry away with lis force the blocks and barriers of unbelief and mysticism, so that the word may have free course and prevail.'' Mr. E. Millard, the agent in Austria and Hungary, having by the mysterious providence of God been compelled to leave that promising sphere, was directed to settle at Breslau, and to endea- vour to extend the operations of the society in Silesia and Posen. Here his chief difiiculties lie in the extreme poverty of the people, their apathy, and their predilection for the Apocr3'pha. He says, indeed, that the friends of the pure word of God are worried day by day, and hour by hour, on the continent, on account of these apocryphal writings. The Jesuits have educated the people tc believe that our Bibles are imperfect. Still a circulation of 10,000 copies in one year has taken place, by means of the colporteurs. GERMANY — DENMARK. 431 In 1861, the venerable Dr. Steinkopff paid a visit to this part of the continent, and an interesting letter from him states several pleasing facts. He says, that pious ministers and people meet together more frequently than they did, even from great distances, to strengthen each other's hands ; that there are arising influential home missions, and that spiritual religion is making some growth. Luther's German Bible has still a large circulation, and tens of thousands of Roman Catholics boldly venture to read it, in spite of all the thunders of the Vatican ; 700,000 copies of Dr. Van Ess's Testament have been distributed, and the energetic yet patient labours of the Bible agents are casting seed into a barren field, which he believes will yet bring forth fruit : his closing paragraph, however, speaks of the present awful condition of the continent in a political, moral, and religious point of view, which should elicit earnest prayer on its behalf, on the part of Christians. One of its prominent evils is the profanation of the Christian Sabbath — a distinguishing fruit of the teaching derived from the church which hides the Bible. DENMARK. The Bishop of Adensee, in this country remarks, that, '^ with regard to the Christian tendency of the coming time, a great deal will depend on whether children from ten to fourteen years of age are made acquainted with the word of God and of Christ ; for what they learn in their youth they will not forget in old age ; and whdh. life brings its sorrows and troubles, they will then know where to turn for consolation and blessing.'' Mr. Henderson visited this country again in 1844, after the lapse of nearly forty years, and speaks of a considerable number of the inhabitants as inquiring after a better way. He says : "In many of the churches, a portion of the Lord's-day is appropriated by the clergy to the public reading of the Bible, accompanied by explanatory remarks, and the total issues of the Bible Society in Denmark have been 193,000 copies. The general state of indiifer- encc to religion, however, and the general breach of the Sabbath, are very painful to the minds of Christian residents here." 432 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. NORWAY AND SWEDEN. There have been colporteurs in Sweden and in Norway, and the distribution of the Bibles has gone on, though not so actively as might be desired. More than 100,000 copies have been cir- culated in Norway, and more than 500,000 in Sweden, since 1828. In these countries, Bible distribution is encouraged by the authorities ; and the anniversary meetings of the Bible Society are attended by the king and the royal princes; but our limits forbid further enlargement. For the same reason, we must not enter upon Finland, Lapland, and Greenland, except, indeed, to state in a few words that the circulation of the Scriptures has been increasing from year to year, and that the evidences of a Divine blessing on the work prove that the labours of the society in the frozen regions of the north are " not in vain in the Lord." Our review of the society's operations on the continent of Europe may be concluded in the language of one who visited Belgium and Germany, in the summer of 1852 : ^' I could not help noticing two classes of facts and circum- stances, calculated on the one hand to awaken ap^jrehension, and on the other to inspire hope. '■'■ The rulers of continental Europe are persuaded to believe that the free use of the Bible and the liberty of religious worshij) are dangerous to the stability of thrones and governments, and hence the attempts made to curtail the privileges of the people, by laws and police regulations. Jesuit missions are multiplying. These active agents of Antichrist itinerate to preach and to lecture. Their organs become more daring, and they insinuate themselves and their principles into the closets and councils of princes. Our excellent colporteurs experience increasing difficulties, and, to some extent, personal danger, in the prosecution of their work. This especially the case where their labours are carried on among an ignorant and bigoted popish population, stirred up to oppo- sition by the orations of Jesuitical priests. While popery is thus presenting its difficulties in the way of a fret Bible, infidelity. PRESENT STATE OF THE CONTINENT. 433 again, in various forms, sometimes open and vulgar, and some- times disguised and subtile, in public discourses and widelj-circu lated books, presents powerful barriers in our way. *' It must be admitted, however, tbat while there is much to awaken apprehension, there is not a little to inspire hope, and to afford encouragement. If our foes are many, our friends also are numerous, and are increasing in number. If the opposition is more bold and bitter on the part of the papists and infidels, the support and advocacy of the society are becoming more decided and general. There are reasons to believe that evangelical religion is increasing. Professors and pastors are coming nearer to ' the truth as it is in Jesus.* A better and purer literature is pro- gressing. The ' Inner Mission' of Germany is doing a great and good work, while the French and Belgian Evangelical Societies are showing signs of growing life and spiritual vigour, which, with God's blessing on the seed sown by our own and other socie- ties, will produce a harvest of truth and holiness among the nations of the continent. " When at sea, between Dover and Ostend, I heard some one who had been on deck announcing to the passengers below, who, like myself, were longing for dry land aud daylight, ' I am happy to say, the day is breaking.' Whether it is imagination, assisted by an ardent desire, or the result of sober investigation and a careful survey, I hope I may say, without presumption, in refer- ence to some parts at least of the continent of Europe, 'The day is breaking.' " * Yes ! I hope the day is creaking, — Joyful times are near at hand ; God, the mighty God, is speaking' By his word in every land : Mark his progress ! Darkness flies at his command. " ' While the foe becomes more daring, — AVhile he enters like a flood, — God the Saviour is preparing Means to spread his truth abroad. Every language Soon shall tell the love of God.' ** 37 • 434 THE BOOK AND ITS STORT. ENGLAND. But now, from our Jubilee travels round the world, we at last return home to the happy isle which is honoured to be siill the centre and source of all the blessed changes that have been re- corded ; and we return with a most solemn view of its present re- sponsibilities. In glancing at the work of the Bible Society, during its second period, at home, we must not omit to notice two of its members, the successors of those who had departed, and now themselves, also, ^^not lost, but gone before,^' — Lord Bexley, who became president when Lord Teignmouth was no more, and the Bev. Andrew Brandram, rector of Beckenham, Kent, who accepted its clerical secretaryship on the death of the Bev. John Owen. Lord Bexley was elected president in 1834, and remained for seventeen years (until removed by death) "the centre of the widest circle the world ever saw.^'* He was among the most un- hesitating, yet prudent, of those who defended the cause of the society, during the first years of its existence. The cause was not then popular, and was much exposed to controversies which it has since outlived. Lord Bexley, then Mr. Vansittapt, counted the cost, and willingly gave it his personal support, at any sacrifice. He was one of the earliest cabinet-ministers who enrolled their names in its ranks, and always declared that he considered it one of the most powerful means for evangelizing the whole world. He knew the importance of the Bible to others, because he knew its unutterable value to his own soul. He was also the last survivor among the ministers of the venerable monarch whose wish it was "that every man in his dominions might be able to read the Bible," aud the one who practically aimed to fulfil the wish of his royal master. When reproached by a professor of divinity for " uniting with dissenters" in this great work, he replied, " So far from repenting of what I have done, I feel convinced I shall less * Earl of Ilarrowby's Speech, at the Anniversary of 1851. LORD BEXLEY — MR. BRANDRAM. 435 and less repent of it^ as I approach that state in which the distinc- tion of churchman and dissenter will be no more.'^ Side by side with this declaration of Lord Bexley's, we should like you to remember that of Dean Milner : ^'-I would not, for all this kingdom can bestow, have my conscience loaded with the bitter reflection that I had ever, directly or indirectly, been in- strumental in obstructing the free progress of the British and Foreign Bible Society." The Bev. Andrew Brandram, who died at Brighton on the 26th of December, 1850, had been for twenty-seven years the inde- fatigable clerical secretary of the society. He is recorded to have received his first religious impressions while at Winchester school, and while preparing for Oriel college, Oxford, where he took a double first-class rank. It is said, that, placing his books in a closet which had been left vacant by the boy who preceded him, he found an old Bible, the only thing, it seems, which it had not been thought worth while to carry away. Curiosity impelled him to read it, and it made him ^^wise unto salvation." From that time his whole character was altered and probably his after- life influenced as one of the chief ofl&cers of that noble institution, to whose interests he devoted all the vigour of his manhood. He kept that old Bible till his death. It may be truly said of him, that he was ^'in labours most abundant." Year after year, an increase of those labours was rendered necessary by the con- stantly enlarging operations of the society. He undertook a large portion of the extensive correspondence, domestic and foreign, besides travelling frequently throughout England to attend anni- versary meetings 3 and these, in connection with his other duties, domestic and pastoral, exacted from him an amount of efibrt which few could have sustained so long, and under which his robust and vigorous frame at last gave way. The result was, that, when it pleased God that the hand of disease should be laid upon him, all the springs of life seemed to have been broken at once. He quickly sank into a state of entire prostration, and from the couch of utter feebleness, rose only "to depart and be with Christ for ever." The memorial adopted by the committee adds, "Mr. 136 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Brandram combined qualities but rarely found in the isame in- dividual,— strength of body and mind, talent and learning, solidity of judgment, singleness of purpose, integrity of conduct, and an independence of spirit always under the control of Christian prin- ciple. Not having respect to his own ease, nor shunning reproach for Christ's sake, he laboured and toiled, and watched and prayed, in all things commending himself to the approval not of men, but of God." Of the present secretaries and home-agents of the British and Foreign Bible Society, nothing need be said at present : the memo- rial to their faithful devotedness, will, we hope, belong to a yet far future day. They all rejoice with joy unspeakable over the ripen- ing harvest which is beginning to be reaped of the precious seed of the word. The Right Hon. the Earl of Shaftesbury has suc- ceeded Lord Bexley as president. The eye, in looking down the present list of vice-presidents, will "observe a large phalanx of bishops, earls, and lords. The Rev. Dr. Pinkerton, Mr. Benjamin Barker, Mons. de Pressense, Mr. W. P. Tiddy, the Rev. Isaac Lowndes, Lieut. Graydon, and Mr. E. Millard, are the foreign agents at Frankfort, at Smyrna, in Paris, in Belgium, at Malta, in Switzerland, in Northern Italy, and at Breslau. We hope we may have led you to look with earnest interest on all future re- ports of their proceedings. In the year 1836, after a survey of their field of labour, the committee ask themselves in their Report, '^ Is the object of their institution now attained? May their mutual compact now be honourably dissolved ? and are they at liberty to draw back from their post? They are constrained to answer. No." "Notwith- standing the eiforts of all other societies directed to the same object, the claims of the world still multiply upon us; for there is scarcely a country, civilized or uncivilized, which does not wait to receive from us the law of our God; and even in our own metropolis, there is still an incredible number of families not almost, but altogether, destitute of even a fragment of the Scrip- tures of truth." In the mean time, most cheering evidences of sympathy and SYMPATHY WITH THE SOCIETY. 437 interest evince the feeling of the country in general toward the well-known and loved society. It may be mentioned among other facts, that its legal advisers, in all cases of difficulty, tender gratuitously their professional services; and Messrs. Brown, Mar- ten, Thomas, and Hollams, continue to this day its honorary solicitors. The Principality has always yielded to the British and Foreign Bible Society its full quota ot worthy successors of the late Mr. Charles; and the agent for Wales thus writes in 1837: — "It is a source of satisfaction to me, that I have been able to travel so many hundred miles with so little expense to the society. I have journeyed through a country where the Bible Society has many good and trusty fellow-labourers : consequently, I have never paid for a single night's accommodation at an inn, during the five weeks I was from home. It is true I have been repeatedly accommodated at inns; but when I called for my bill, have been told that they had never any account for an agent of the Bible Society; and this hospitality has often included conveyance to the meetings which I have attended." The same agent gives interesting tidings of Anglesea, the ancient Mona — the old home of the Druids. He calls to mind that Anglesea took the lead among the Welsh auxiliaries, that it had collected upward of lOOOZ. in one year for the Bible Society, and that its remittances average from 500?. to GOO/', per annum. He adds, that, taking into consideration the limited extent of the island, the small number of inhabitants, (48,000,) and the com- parative poverty of the people, this amount of contribution is astonishing, viz. threepence annually for every man, woman, and child in the island, and can only be accounted for on the principle that "union is strength.'^ If England, Wales, and Scotland contributed in the same proportion, the society would have a free income amounting to 175,000Z. per annum. It is a gratifying fact, that in all the English cities and towns where there is a considerable Welsh population, Cambrian Bible So- cieties are formed, to supply themselves with the Scriptures, and to assist the Parent Society in its general operations. It is ro- 138 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. ported tliat one of these, tlie Liverpool Welsh branch, remits on an average the sum of 350?. per annum, as a free contribution to the funds of the society. Thus, as it was the destitution of Wales that originated the Bible Society, we cannot but rejoice to behold the unabated zeal of the Ancient Britons to bestow the Divine word on others. Would that their example were followed ! — for while the Bible Society is praised as at the head of the benevolent institutions of the age, not merely in importance, but in the extent and success of its labours, its free income of 54,000?. for all Tiome and foreign purposes, is little more than one-half that of the leading mis- sionary institutions; and while they have doubled their income in the last fifteen years, the free contributions to the British and Foreign Bible Society have not increased in the same pro- portion. The still destitute condition of the poor Highlanders of Scot- land engaged the attention of the committee. In the poorer dis- tricts, in years of scarcity, the people having neither bread nor firing, and seldom if ever any money, a vote of 300 Bibles and 700 Testaments was made to a member of parliament, who em- ployed colporteurs in such neighbourhoods. In the Shetland Isles, a missionary asked a young woman about nineteen years of age, who had been his guide for several miles, whether she would accept of a sixpence or a New Testament for her trouble. The question evidently seemed to throw her into considerable per- plexity; but she soon replied, ^^I never had a sixpence of my own since I was born, and you may be sure I should like to have ' one now; but the New Testament is the Book of Grod, and there- fore I will choose it, if you please.'' The member of parliament above referred to, Mr. Lillingston of Lochalsh, continued for several years to receive grants of Bibles and Testaments for his destitute neighbours. Mr. Paterson visited him in his romantic seclusion on the borders of a land-locked bay, was introduced to his colporteurs, and saw the yacht which mado lARGE ISSUE OF THE SCRIPTURES. 439 missionary voyages with the word of life from islet to islet. The population were gradually taught to read; and in 1839, 3000 Bibles and Testaments were supplied to them. Mr. L. sent a donation of 100^. from himself, and the amazing contribution to the society of 621. from the poor Highlanders, many of whom gave their little all for the time-being, to testify their gratitude. In the year 1840, the society supplied 38,500 New Testaments, by way of loan, among families still found destitute of the Sacred Scriptures in London, chiefly distributed through the agents of the City Mission; and many pleasing results are recorded. In the year 1841, an issue of the Scriptures was reported larger than any ever made before : this was owing to their cheapened price, and the increasing efforts of the Auxiliary Societies. The Liverpool Town Mission made a canvass of the neighbourhood of that large town; and 5000 families, out of a population of 15,000, residing in 179 streets, were found destitute of the Scrip- tures. In about one-third of the town of Leeds, 1200 families were found without Bibles or Testaments, nearly all of whom were declared to be too poor to purchase them. These facts telling upon one another, the Report of 1841 announced an issue of more than ''900,000 copies of the inspired records," from the de- positories, at home and abroad. The Report for 1842 alludes to Luther's wish— ''Would that that book alone were in all languages, before the eyes, in the ears, and in the hearts of all \" and to the Bible Society as advancing toward the fulfilment of that wish. It also mentions the pro- found reverence and delight of Luther and his friend Melancthon, while occupied in the German translation. "They often paused in their labours to give free expression to their wonder, to listen to the 'very voice of the Creator of heaven and earth;' " and the writer adds, " Oh ! that we might see revived that spirit of eager delight with which the people who had heard the reformers preach, hailed those first attempts to put into their hands the translated Scriptures! ' You have preached CJirist to us,' said they; ^now let us hear himself!' and they caught at the sheets given to the world, as a lett3r coming to them from heaven. A kindred spirit 440 THE BOOK AxND ITS STORY. to this u awalsening on the plains of Africa, and in the islands of the Southern Ocean, Bechuanas, Tahitians, New Zealanders, and RarotonganS; are acting the part of the German peasants; they catch at the sheets given to the world, as a letter coming to them from heaven. This letter from heaven it is our single object to publish and circulate; we wish it to be read by men of all nations, and kindreds, and tongues; we wish that all the earth should hear its words of wondrous mercy. Shall we speak of discouragements, or fear them? Shall we dwell on the dis- tinctions that divide us, important though in some respects they be? No; rather let us hasten to bear each his part, in putting into the hands of the whole human family the common record of our Father's love. Angels might envy us our hojiourable employ." The years 1845 and 1846 were very remarkable for the in- creasing demand and distribution at home. Some friends visiting Blackpool, a small watering-place on the coast of Lancashire, had their attention awakened to the spiritual wants of the neighbour- hood, commenced a sale of the Sacred Scriptures, and afterward formed a Bible Association. In a few months, 1800 copies were circulated in that limited district. This movement was greatly encouraged by the zealous co-opera- tion of a gentleman from Manchester, who returned home with his mind much set on attempting a wider distribution of the Scrip- tures among the immense population by which he saw himself surrounded. After conference and prayer with a few pious friends, it was resolved to make the experiment of offering the Scriptures for sale among the work-people of the numerous mills and factories, and wherever an open door was found. Unexampled success attended the effort; willing purchasers presented them- selves in every direction; while at Manchester donations and in- creased subscriptions were promptly offered, more than sufficient to allay the apprehension of injury to the general funds of the society. From the Manchester depository, 96,711 copies of the Scrip- turcs were issued in twelve months, — a number equal to the di.'^ BIBLE DISTRIBUTION IN ENGLAND 441 tribution of the preceding twelve years ! The auxiliaries at Liver- pool, Bristol, Bath, Hereford, Derby, Leicester, and other places, greatly increased their distributions. The total issues of 1846 amounted to the unprecedented number of 1,441,651 copies, and those of 1847 were no fewer than 1,419,283 ! From this time the Song of the Jubilee may be said to have begun. Nearly three millions of copies issued in two years, — forwarded by the most rapid conveyances, such as our fathers never dreamed of, to every quarter of the globe, — a bright point in the world's moral history, to which the Christian's eye could turn, from all the vexatious dissensions of party, and especially from the designs carrying on, on the part of Home, to effect the restoration of Britain to that see. ^'The pope has put his foot into England, but all the nations look to England and her Bible." 'And nowhere has there been a wider delivery of the volume of inspiration than within our own borders. Among the poor and the rich, in our rural districts, as well as in our towns and cities, in the palace, the school-room, and the cottage, the Bible is a book possessed — by many, very many a book beloved. It can everywhere in England be the Book appealed to. Let the war of principles rise to whatever height it may, the friends of the Bible need not yield to fear. In the retrospect of forty years, the Parent committee took a wide range, and made it a season of '' solemn remembrance." In that forty years, more copies of the written voice of God had gone forth upon the earth than in any equal period since the worh began — perhaps more than in all former periods added together It must be presumed that He who '^ordereth all things after the counsel of his own will," has had s^me special, some extra- ordinary, design in the fresh movement which he has permitted to take place. When the Bible Society, took its rise, controversy betweeL Christians was very much at rest. Christianity had only to struggle with infidelity as its common foe ; but now questions and 442 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. claims that had slept for ages are re-agitated, and symptoms spreading far and wide around us mark the gathering storm. Meantime the Book, which must be the only unfailing standard of appeal, is no longer hidden among the wise and the mighty. It is now in the hands of innumerable people, — an end accomplished by Bible Societies, possibly in preparation for this very hour. ^^To the law and to the testimony," each fo. ourselves; and, as Wiclif said, "The truth shall prevail." The Song of Jubilee is almost overpowering, as ascending in many tongues from all regions of the world. It is impossible to convey, in the last chapter of this little work, any fair impression of the spirit that pervades these " Reports" of the circulation of the Book of truth for the last ten years. One of them, if read and thought upon, would seem enough to kindle a kindred flame of zeal and love in the hearts of a thousand fresh labourers. Well may the agents rejoice in their work, think it the best work in the world, and never weary of it, till they wear out in it ! Well may the hearts of the colporteurs burn within them, as their poor (dwellings are crowded until midnight by persons asking for the Scriptures, from the lively boy to the decrepit old man* — or as they obtain access to "wild and savage households," and gather out of them, by the word of God, the "brands from the burning" — or when asked, "What sort of postmen are you, now, with that sac on your backs?" they reply, "We are higher postmen than any other kind of postmen on earth : we carry letters from heaven. When we go out, we cannot go without our God going with us. We want courage and wi-sdom from above, and especially an humble meekness ; for the fiery and angry zeal of Peter cuts off, but the Spirit of God in us builds up : then we confound the mockers, and shut the mouths of gainsayers, and the heart of the humble is refreshed." Let us every day pray for these col- porteurs, all over the world, for they are doing the great work of the age, as well as those who are directing them. There are colporteurs at home as jrell as abroad. A colporteur * Kcp rt, 1845, p. xlix. OOLPORTAGE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 443 has gone forth from Lutterworth, the scene of Wiclif's own la- bourS; and 474 years after the death of him who first gave the Bible to England, and has sold in the coui'se of five years, within a circuit of ten miles, 4500 Bibles and Testaments. How would the reformer himself have rejoiced to see this day ! The man in question was a hawker by trade; and a lady who desired the dis- tribution of the holy word ofiered him Id. for every Bible, and ^d. for every Testament, he might sell in his accustomed rounds. In the first year, beginning August 5, 1847, he sold 242 Bibles, 364 Testaments; in tha^i beginning 1848, 116 Bibles, 211 Testa- ments; in the third year, 121 Bibles, 200 Testaments. In his fourth year he came under the inspection of the Bible Association at Lutterworth. From that time, in addition to selling in his regular rounds, he gave one whole day every fortnight to the sale of the Scriptures alone, at the average pay of 2s. Qd. He went into every house, and sold to those he met along the road. In the year ending August 1852, he sold 384 Bibles, 626 Testa- ments; and in 1853, 471 Bibles, 851 Testaments. He walked on an average, on these especial days, eighteen miles; he carried perhaps 70 books : on one occasion he carried 104, and sold every copy! Now, can there not be found some suitable person to colport in this way in every town and village in Great Britain ? The com- mittee of the British and Foreign Bible Society have '' resolved to adopt, as far as possible, an extensive and efficient system of colportage throughout Great Britain in this year of Jubilee. '' They will, durmg this year, and from the " special fund'' which this year will be raised in addition to their ordinary income, be able to appropriate grants of help to such committees as shall request their aid, in order to the appointment and inspection of such colporteurs, to carry the word of God, and that alone, not into districts already canvassed and under the care of Bible col- lectors, but into those stray hamlets and isolated spots, as well as into all unvisited neighbourhoods, where the treasure has not before been ofiered. In this Jubilee Year, as far as the Bibju 444 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Society can accomplisli it, an attempt should be made to convey the written word of God to every cottage in England, Scotland, and Wales, — we trust, not excepting Ireland. Now, who will not wish to aid in this glorious work, by con- tribution or effort ? The Rev. P. B. Clifford, of St. Matthew's, Bristol, has lately communicated a circumstance which has caused him peculiar pleasure, that several boys of his congregation have voluntarily come forward without his suggestion, and dedicated the money which they had saved for purchasing fireworks on the Fifth of November, to the blessed work of sending the word of God to China. And from one school alone he has had the gratification of receiving five guineas for this holy enterprise, which otherwise would have been expended in fireworks. Even children, whose parents are connected with Bible Associations, can be little col- porteurs with their bag or basket, and sell around their own homes many a Bible or Testament. They are better sold than given, as more likely to be valued. There are Testaments for fourpence, and Bibles for tenpence; with every variety of supe- rior price. Their elders can seek or set to work a colporteur,— -a man of piety, and of bodily strength to carry his load, and walk Bufficient distances, — who should render regular reports of his sales to responsible persons connected with the society, who will provide his stock and inspect his accounts. Oh ! that when the world-wide Jubilee-meetings shall have been held, and when this system of colportage has been fully established all over the country, the arrangement of which is now in progress, those meetings and those domiciliary visits may be the means of calling forth, from a thousand hidden sources, per- sons who do not even know at this moment how they could "work together with God," in the distribution of his word, but in whose hearts he has planted the wish to do so ! Oh ! that many may come forward as contributors, each in their degree, from a penny to a thousand pounds, offered "as unto the Lord," or as col- liBctors, determined every week to devote a portion of their time tc this noble object, and to make it henceforth the thought ^ BIESSEDNESS OP BIBLE DISTRIBUTION. 445 tteir lives how they shall assist and induce others to assist in spreading the word of God ! Out of this number also may come missionaries to carry the word within the now unfolding doors of China and of India. Many would find health and happiness even for themselves in pursuing such an object. There is a true tale told of a lady, who was always ill and lying on the sofa, till a Bible Association was established in her neigh bourhood, of which she became an active and happy member, and had no more ill-health. And well might this efiect be produced on the physical frame, for the soul had set before it a great ob- ject. She entered upon a new world of sympathy with all who love God's word upon earth. She was refreshed by the glad gifts of the free penny to the cause of God. At many a cottage door she heard it said, " Yes, I will give it, because my mother gave it for me when I was a child.'' " It is but a penny : but I am sure I am glad to give the Bible to others ; I shall not miss it/' No ! they not only do not miss it, but the blessing of Him who seeth all things is found to rest on all they have. If the selfish occupants of many a larger mansion, who repulse the modest Bible collector with pleas of ^'previous engagement," "having nothing for charity," and sometimes the more rational one of '' knowing nothing at all about it," could have paid with her these visits to these cottages, they would have changed their minds, and become helpers also in the work. An occasional paper, issued by the Bible colportage committee for the Manchester district, full of interesting facts, shows what may be expected when this system is judiciously conducted. The anecdotes cannot be quoted, but one sentence is important : " The efforts made to distribute the Scriptures among Romanists (of whom they seem to have found large numbers) are likely to issue in much good." Six colporteurs have been employed : the total number of calls they have made is 215,916 ; the total num- ber of. Bibles and Testaments sold, 59,247 ; the sum realized by the sales, 2000?. lis. 2Jc?. The secretary of the Ladies' Bible Association in one of the largest towns says : " The sales effected by the ladies have not been at all interfered with by the labours 38 446 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. of the colporteur ; for the 4000 Bibles and Testaments whicli he has sold have been among those to whom the ladies had no means of access, and ^v^hom they felt most anxious should be supplied. They believe that not more than one-third of the work that might be accomplished by a colporteur in this populous town has yet been done.' IRELAND. We must also notice our sister isle, in which at the present time there are about 500 auxiliaries, in direct connection with the Hibernian Bible Society at Dublin, all of which are more or less engaged in sending forth the precious word of life. During the last few years, the annual distribution of the Scriptures has exceeded 100,000 copies, making a total of 2,138,437. This however, is independent of the large grants made directly from the Parent Society to the various societies labouring for the bene-* fit of Ireland, amounting last year alone to upward of 33,000 copies, and making a total of 1,650,000 granted to that portion of the British empire. Colportage has been carried on in Ireland ovet more than thirty of its counties ; and by this instrumentality about 150,009 copies have been distributed in seven years. We cannot but view the remarkable movement taking place among the Roman Catholic population in the west of Ireland as the result of this distribution. Notice of this change has for some time past appeared in the Reports of the Parent Society : in that of 1850 is the following : — ^'It has been very gratifying to the committee to hear of the religious movement that is going on in different parts of Ireland, produced, they are assured, by the reading of the Scriptures, especially in the Irish language. A strong desire has even been expisssed among the people for the Irish Scriptures with margi- nal references, and intelligence like the following continually reaches us : Roman Catholic farmers and peasants petition for in- struction in the Irish Bible, and assert their 'inalienable right to read it.' The setting sun witnesses young men and maidens, old men and children, leaving their homes under cover of the shades RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT IN IRELAND. 447 of evening, to steal to the lonely cabin on the mountain side, to ' search the Scriptures' by the light of the bog-wood splinter ! Daring and ferocious riband-men, bent on deeds of blood, and mad against the Protestant faith, meet with the ^strange Book,' and read it, and become clothed and in their right mind, and are found sitting at the feet of Jesus !" From the Mayo district we have similar reports : " The word of life in the vernacular language is obtaining entrance into the most retired parts of the mountain-districts, and the desire to learn to read the Scriptures is increasing everywhere. In 1851, 22,390 copies were sold in Ireland by colporteurs.'' Another cause of this change may be noticed. The Secretary of the Sunday-school Society for Ireland»says: "In the Report for 1853, we calculate that at least 1,200,000 scholars have passed through the Sunday-schools during these thirty years. In the course of that period there have been, issued to the schools three quarters of a million of Bibles and Testaments, and one million and a quarter of portions of Scripture. These are car- ried home by the scholars to their families." Mere secular edu- cation would never have wrought these wonders in Ireland. This religious movement has extended during these three years to hundreds and thousands. The Earl of Roden has testified to it in his interesting letters; and the very report of it is causing Roman Catholics continually to read and search the Scriptures, in order to find out what it is that has produced so extraordinary an efiect on their old friends. The beautiful Report for 1850 closes with these words: "Is it not refreshing in an age like the present, when the Bible is as- saulted and maligned, when its authority is impugned and its in- spiration denied, — is it not refreshing to behold this despised Book going forth into every land ' with signs and wonders follow- ing' ?" Among the nearly 8000 verses of which the New Tes- tament is composed, perhaps every one has touched some heart and roused some conscience, and confirmed the faith of some now in glory. " We bow to the oveifwhelming conviction, that tho i48 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. mighty God, even tlie Lord, Tiatli spoken, and called the eartH fix)m the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof." So much for the Jubilee-field in Great Britain itself. The so- ciety has reached the age of fifty years, — an age remarkable in the existence of persons, communities, and institutions ! God trains man for eternity, by making him notice various periods of time. Man numbers his own months and years ; but God him- self instituted the two periods of Sabbaths and Jubilees. There have been sixty-seven Jubilees since the word of God began to be written. Almost 112 generations of men have passed from earth since then ; but only the last and this present have seen that holy word ^^have free course and prevail.'' What may not the generation now living, and the next generation, yet see! Space fails us, though vast topics of interest are left untouched concerning the colonies, and exemplifying the Bible as the friend of the negro — happily no more the slave of Britain ! One of this rescued race, while reading a copy of the Scriptures given to him from the society, said, that those who gave him that Bible gave him his life: he prays to God for them. "I read," said he, '^a chapter, and then God talks to me: I shut my book, and then I talk with God." Nor are the colonies alone passed over. The Bible in Burmah, and also in Greece, the classic and apostolic land, where many thousands are coming within the influence of the Divine word in being taught to read it, offer, with countless other inviting fields of research, a rich reward to the exploring eye. A letter from Athens, says, '^Missionary efforts may fail, human instruments may be withdrawn, but the word of God must have free course." No seed cast upon the waters ever yielded so rich a harvest as that which issues from the garners of the Bible Society: there are many thousands here who are still famishing for the bread uf life. REVIEW OP THE PAST. 449 The delegates from America informed us, witli every exprw- Bion of Christian sympathy and regard, that there are 1400 auxi- liary societies in America scattered over the whole land, and nearly 2800 branch societies. When the American Bible So- ciety was first formed, the districts now included by these were a perfect wilderness, where the savage roamed unmolested. The rapid increase of their population, their field of labour widening from year to year, their new and beautiful Bible Society House in New York, and their income increasing by 8500/. a year, with their annual distribution of 779,000 volumes, all formed subjects of admiration to the listening father-land which first made the movement that America rejoiced to imitate. But now, the Story of the Book must close. The facts of the Narrative will, it is believed, make strong appeal to those who already know and love the Bible Society; but it may possibly also fall into the hands of some who have not hitherto been aware of its claims. There are hundreds of thousands of persons who are not aware of the existence of the system of the Bible Society spreading throughout England, as a great fact. They have never, therefore, understood how much this cause has tended to make their country what she is, and to keep her what she is — the land of the Sab- bath and of the Bible, sitting at peace amid the tumults of the nations, abiding under the blessing of her God, because his word is sent forth from her borders to all the earth. The ways and means by which this work is done are now before those who shall have read this book, — the facts and figures having been collected from authentic records. These pages contain no new speculations, — they are only a pre- Bentation of the old and the true. It is hoped they will speak to the young with the power of novelty : they, at least, are not sup- posed to* hav6 fully considered the details of the past, and they are themselves the hope of the future. The Bible Society needs, at this moment, fresh aids for fresh purposes ; it needs the full 150 THE BODK AND ITS STORY. amphasie aid support of tlie clergy of our National Church, and of the ministers of all other Christian churches ; it needs young men and women of all classes, from the highest to the lowest, who shall be devoted seriously and entirely to its noble service. Its truest hope is in the better part of Young England. The present age is one of fearful indifference to the truth, as well as of open enmity to it ; and it requires the enthusiasm of youth to strive against its lukewarmness, as well as against its error. To you, then, whose hearts are not yet petrified, the bloom of whose early ardour is not yet faded by intercourse with a pleasure- loving world ; to you who are capable of being elevated in cha- racter by the pursuit of a sublime object, that object is here pre- sented; an object worth living for — and, if necessary, worth dying for. Resolve that you will lay a stone in this pyramid ! that you will be a fibre, striking root from this banian tree. If a Bible Asso- ciation is formed in your neighbourhood, or if one has been long formed there, and it is in a state needing revival, resolve that you will give it honest and hearty help ; and do this in remembrance of what will be required at your hand in that day when God shall say, '^ Hast thou kept my word ? hast thou made it known to any soul among thy perishing fellow-sinners, for my sake ?'' Miserable will be the answer if you must reply, '^ To no man, Lord." England has done so much for the distribution of the Bible, that in your day she must do vastly more ! She has raised herself by what she has already done into the seat of high responsibility. She cannot draw back : she must go forward. The time is come when the members of God's Universal Church must rise above the spirit of party, and, ascending into the higher atmosphere which IS breathed in the Bible Society, (for in I^^arl-street, it is said, they never know the denomination to which each member belongs,) learn to agree on two points, viz. to 'Hiold fast the faithful word," and also "to love one another," and in this temper to gird on their armour, having in their hand " the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." MOTIVES FOR RENEWED EXERTION. 451 The church of tradition has made ready for the battle : the hosts of unbelievers are zealous for the dispersion of their errors. Satan has even contrived a new book of falsehood, called " the book of Mormon/' whereby he is deluding thousands in this nineteenth century of intelligence and inquiry. And how are these mixed hosts of evil to be met ? There is no new weapon to seek, but simply to perceive the full poicer of the old principle of union , to lay hold of it, and to use it, in the name of the Lord. When our own empire is more fully supplied with the word of Grod, and more deeply pervaded by its spirit, such a light may go forth from it as shall bear the witness to all the world. The Eng- lish language is spoken over three-quarters of the globe. Hence our own opportunities and responsibilities as a nation ! '^ The gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations," and this is done by the multiplication and prayerful distribution of copies of the Divine word, which it is promised shall be accompanied by the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Missionaries have prepared it in the tongues of many people, and they are also its chief distributors in foreign climes. They " go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, and shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them.'' Psalm cxxvi. 6. But it is not promised that their word shall convert the nations : it is Grod's word that is " not to return unto him void.'' The gospel is the instrument, and we need not wait till we -have provided man's note or comment upon it, however excellent : " the seed is the word, and the field is the world." ]Let any one now aware of the influence of which this institu- tion is the great centre, endeavour to realize the sad idea of a closed Bible Society House — closed as by a Bussian ukase, or an Austrian edict — the shutters up, and the doors fastened ! If this were possible, what a source of light and life to the universe would be extinguished — the correspondence of the British and Foreign Bible Society concluded, its accounts wound up, and its officers dismissed ! May that day never dawn on our free country ! Abiding under the shadow of England's throne, may the Bible Society still go on to pour fresh oil into the seven-branched candle- 452 THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. Btick of the ancient churclies — into the Nestorian, the Armenian, the Coptic, the Abyssinian, the Yaudois, the British, and the Jew- ish— that in all parts of the world their light may again lighten the darkness around them — and that they may unite to speed the bright angel flying in the midst of heaven, '' having the everlast- ing gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come ; and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters! And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the' wrath of her fornication." Kev. xiv. 6—8. " Very much land is yet to be possessed," vast is the magnitude of the work which remains to be done. At the utmost possible computation of Bibles already circulated, 700 millions of souls, or 140 millions of families, are yet left totally destitute ! Even if England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, were adequately provided, the kingdoms and countries of Europe are not half supplied ! Supposing the United States of America to possess Bibles to the same extent with ourselves, look at the native tribes, and the vast continent of South America ! then at all Asia, and Africa, and Oceanica ! and, impressed with a fresh sense of the wants of the world — of the power of the Book, — and of the truth of its Story, — let us arise and work while it is called to-day, for the night cometh when no man can work — work together with God, who has said, " My word shall not return unto me void ; BUT it shall accomplish THAT WHICH I PLEASE, AND SHALL PROSPER IN THE THING WHERETO I SENT IT." Isa. Iv. IL INDEX. A. A&Ton, death of, 41. Abdallah, his conversion and martyr- dom, 324. Abyssinian Church, 112, 296, 421. Ada Bazar, 415. Advent of our Lord, 87. Africa, 241 ; South Africa, 391. Agents, foreign, of Bible Society, 436. Ages without the Bible, 18. Alaric, king of the Goths, 105. Aldersey, Miss, missionary to China, 373. Aleppo, 284, 314, 414. Ali Bey, 311. Alphabets: Arabic, 149; Armenian, 148; Coptic, 146; Erse or Irish, 151; Ethiopic, 148; Georgian, 150; Gothic, 146; Persian, 147; Sclavonian, 150. Amalek, 32, 69. America, 241, 278, 449. Amharic Testament, 297; Amharic Bible, 190. Anakim, the tall, 39, 47. Anecdotes : African woman, 352 ; Aged Hindoo, 358; Bible-bees, 256; Bible seized by Romish priests, 401; blind French girl, 195; Bishop Corrie, 354; Rev. Andrew Brandram, 435; Brahminical con- tempt, 356; child and infidel, 254; filial afiection, 334; gun bought with Bible money, 257 ; Highland girl, 438 ; Hindoo rajah, 356; Irish weaver, 261; Jewish conversion, 425 ; Romish priest, 301 ; subscriber blessed, 255 ; Ta- hitians and Romish priest, 387; Welsh girl who had no Bible, 221 ; Welsh peasants, 222. Anglesea or Mona, 81, 93 ; astonishing contributions of, 437. Antiochus Epiphanes, 74. Apocryphal books, 73, 204; not bound up with the Society's Bibles, 319; their omission objected to by Ro- manists, 319. Apollo, oracle of, concerning Christian- ity, 93. Apostles, their martyrdom, 92. Appeal, closing, 450. Arabia, 27 ; land where St. Paul com- menced his ministry, 320. Arabic, where spoken, 320; the Ian 453 454 INDEX. guage of the Koran, 320; New Testament, 321; printed at Cal- cutta, 321 ; new version prepared 320. Arabs, 27, 319, 323. Archbishop of Canterbury's sermon, 163. Argyll's, Duke of, speech, 303. Aristobulus of Judea, 77, 82. Armenian Bible, 295. Armenian Church, 110, 294, 411. Armenians, American missions to, 295, 412; Bible venerated by, 412; gospel-readers, 413. Arrow-headed writing, 66. Askew, Ann, 166. Asselin, Mons., French consul in Egypt, 190, 298. Asser, tutor to King Alfred, 121. Assyria, fountain restored in, 405. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 119. Augustine, Bishop of Rome, his mis- sion to England, 119. Australia, 383. Austria, 306, 393. Authorised English version, 181. Autograph Deuteronomy, 43. Auxiliary at Reading, 248. B. Babylon, 71. Bagster's Bible of Every land, 172. . Bangor-Iscoed, 119. Banian tree, 246. Barker, Mr. B., 313. Beckwith, Major-General, 423. Bede, the Venerable, 120, 258. Belgium, 306, 400. Bexley, Lord, 434. B'ble: perils of a Bible agent, 315; Bible House, 138, 179; need of, in Ireland, 231 ; price of, in Wic lif 's time, 139 ; distribution among Roman Catholics, 300 ; in Russia, 308; Italian, 197; Breton, 188; Malagassy, 197; Chinese, 198; Swedish, Portuguese, French, Russian, Amharic, Tahitian, Ma* . lay, English Family Bibles, Dia- mond, Pearl,' and Ruby Bibles, 199 ; unbound, 199 ; the Bishops Bible, 181 ; Bible translations in the 16th century, 145; Bible, standard of appeal, 442 ; Bible binding, 212; folding, 209; rol- ling, collating, sewing, recoUating, pressing, cutting, gilding, burn- ishing, sprinkling, marbling, rounding, 211; Bibles never issued by the Society unbound, 213. Bible Society: authorised in Russia, 308 ; death of friends of, 332 ; its origin, 217; its objects and consti- tution, 229 ; its principles of Union,. 226; present free income of, 376; its need of support, 450. Bilney the martyr, 153. Blackfriars', Church and Monastery of, 137. Black-pool, 440. Blind, Bible for the, 194. Book, the, and its circulation, become* the guide, 98. Books of New Testament, 89. Borrow, Mr. G., 376. Boughton, Lady Jane, 137. Boulogne, matelots de, 346. Bradby, John, 136. Brandram, Rev. Andrew, 435. Bran, the father of Caraetacus, at Rome with St. Paul, 93, 114. Britanny, 114, 115, 188. British Church, 114, 117, 119. . British Museum, 20, 65. INDEX. 455 Britons, Ancient, 77. Browne, Rev. G., 335. Buchanan, Dr., 30, 192, 240, 292, 293. Buenos Ayres, 317. BuUom, King of, 321. Burckhardt, 284, 285. Buriat Mongol missions, 311, 376. Burning the Bible at Paul's-cross, 162, 163. c. Caesar, 77. Calmuc gospel, 309. Cambridge, search for Bibles at, 160. Campbell, Rev. J., in South Africa, 325. Canaanites, 47. Canon, 46, 72; of Scripture, 72. Captivity and return of Judah, 60 Cardinal Wolsey, 138, 162, 165. Carey, Dr., his doath, 186. Celtic nations, 78. Charles, Rev. T., of Bala, 217-224, 231, 232. China, 364; tablet of Se-gnan-ioo, 364; Nestorian Missions in, 365 ; Chi- nese manuscript, 239, 365 ; Dr. Morrison's mission to, 365 ; his Chinese dictionary, 366; Tsae-ako, his first convert, 366 ; Dr. Milne, 367; Leang-a-fah, first Chinese Evangelist, his tract, 368 ; distri- bution of, and persecution, 367 ; the rebellion, 368 ; Sew-tseuen, its leader, his writings and opinions, 369; his history, 370; vast idol temple in China, 370; lucky days expunged from the almanac, 370 ; vast population of, 374 ; Protestant missionaries in, 374; scarcity of fo.od in, 374; Bible in China, 374. Chinese Bible, 186, 366. Chinese hatred of images, 370; ac- knowledge all men as brethren, 371 ; possess the fi'st twenty-seven chapters of Genesis, 371 ; need the New Testament, 371 ; the million copies, 371 ; their Great "Wall, 371 ; their simple mode of print- ing, 372; generals of the insur- gent army, 372 ; the Scriptures, Society's grants for, 378 ; portions of, distributed, and where, 378. Christianity, early, in Scotland, 94. Christians, Bohemian, 129. Church of the Book, 38, 85, 98, 101, 106, 119, 300, 341. Churches founded in consequence of circulation of word of God, 145, 398. Circle of doomed countries : Nineveh, 63; Jerusalem, 67; Tyre, 68; Pe- tra, 69 ; Babylon, 71 ; Egypt, 70. Claude of Turin, 122. Clugni, 14^. Cobham, Lord, 137; Cochloeus, 156. Cockle, Mr., 378. Coffin, the oldest, 20. Collectors, Bible, 474. Colonies, British, 478. Committee-rooms in Bible House, 192; case of Bibles in the, 193 ; Mr, Wyld's map, 194; portrait of Tyn- dal, 194; other portraits, 195. Colportage on the continent, 335 ; at Manchester, 445. Colporteur, his work, 339 ; at Radnor^ 339; at Lutterworth, 471. Colporteurs: Vaudois, 124, 144, 233; in France, 336, 338 ; in the High- lands and islands of Scotland, 438; in Sweden, 432; in Holland, 429, in Belgium, 402 ; in India, 360. Columba, 116, 117, 118. 456 INDEX. Constantino, the Armenian, 111. Constantine, the Emperor, 103. Constantinople, missionaries at, 393 ; Jubilee meeting at, 417. Continent, state of, 432, 433. Coptic Church,322, 419; Bible, 323,419. Council, the earthquake, 131 ; of Nice, 103; of Toulouse, 133. Courtenay, Archbishop, 131. Coverdale's Bible, 180. Crystal Palace, 193. Cyril, the child-martyr, 99 Cyrus, 60. D. Dajacks of Borneo, 384. Dalaber, Anthony, 158. Daniel, 60; the "four beasts," 74; the " two pictures," 73. Dark ages, 123. David, 51 ; David's Bible, 51. Deluge, 19; Job's allusions to, 29. Denmark, 277, 431. Derbecq, the king of colporteurs, 3S7. Diez, Baron von, 311. DiflSculty of translation, 326. Dioclesian persecution, 100; medals 100. Doom-rings, 81. Douay Bible, 187. Dress of Virgin Mary at Rome, 376. Druidical remains, 80. Druids, Hebrew origin of the, 78. J)utch Bibles, scarcity of, 264 ; colo- nists in India, 293. E Ebal, 48. Early bishops, 96. Edward VI., 181. Egypt, 70. Egypt, ancient, rise of its idolatrie* 19, 20. England, 247, 434. English Bible, 152. Erasmus, 153. Essenes, 84. Esther, 72. Ethelbert's temple to Diana, 160. Ethioptic New Testament, 298 ; manu. script Bible, 179. Ewald, Rev. Mr., 424. Exode of Israel from Egypt, 32. Ezekiel, 59. Ezra's ministry, 60 ; law redelivered by, 61. F. Fable, by Mr. Dealtry, 251. Fee-jee Isles, 390. Felix Neflt, 422. Fireworks, money intended for, given to send Testaments to China, 444. First century, 89. Foster's, Rev. John, letter to Mr. Hughes, 334. France, gift of Vaudois Church to, 143; want of Scriptures in, 233-238; Jews in, 281 ; no French Bible in Paris, 305 ; present Bible circula. tion in, 397, 398. Friars, black, white, and grey, 132. Frontispiece, description of, 165. Fryth, John, the martyr, 153, 159. G. Galitzin, Prince, speech of, 308. Garrett, Thomas, 158. INDEX. 457 Gaussen's, Professor, opiuions, 174, 192. Geneva Bible, 181. Gerizim, 48. Germany, religious state of, 265 ; suc- cess of Bible Society in, 266; present state of, 430. Ghizeh, pyramid of, 20. Gilly, Dr., 109, 422. Gobat, Bishop, 190, 298. Golden shoes and scarlet gloves, 162. Gospel of Luke, in Gipsey language. 396. Gospels in Buriat Mongol, 309. Gospels, when written, 95. Graydon, Lieutenant, 396. Great Britain, her dominions, 243. Greece, 316, 448. Greek Church, 110; philosophers, 82; Testament of Erasmus, 139. Gurney, Mr., on the moral state of the continent, 404. Gutalafiffi, Dr., colporteurs in China, 378. H. Heathen countries, 324, 352. Hebrew, ancient, specimen of, 29 ; manuscripts, 30 ; New Testament, 288. Hebron or Arba, 48. Henderson, Mr., 274, 276. Henry VIII., 164, 165, 167, 170, 180. Heresies, earliest, 95, 98. Heresy, meaning of the word, 98. Herod, 82. Hieroglyphics, 22; balance-scene in, 25. Highlanders' subscription, 439. Highland girl, her choice, 438. History-ltfssons, a child's notion of, 304. Holland, 264, 428. Horeb, Mount, 31. Hosea, the prophet, 62. Hughes, Kev. Joseph, 227, 332. Huguenots, 130, 398. Iceland, education in, 273 ; Mr. Hen. derson's visit to, 276 ; scarcity of Bibles in, 277. Ignatius, 96. Ignorance, general, 121, 123. Income of Bible Society, 438. Indulgences, 136. Infidel publications, 351. Innocent III., 127. Inquisition, 127. Inscriptions : Egyptian, 21 ; Sinaitia^ 34. Inspired persons, 95. lona, 79, 115, 116, 118, 120, 141. Ireland : destitution of Scriptures in, and supply, 274, 446 ; schools in, 447. Irish New Testament, 151 ; the pea- santry desire the Scriptures, 261. Ishmael, 69. Israel and Judah, 52. Israelites, bondage of, 26 ; captivity of Judah, 59 ; entrance into Canaan, 46 ; murmurings of, 41 ; seven sing of, 38 ; six servitudes of, 50 ; ten tribes of, 57; wanderings of, 32. India, 352 ; its population, 353 ; tho Bible there, 354; Bishop Corie in, 354; Bibles translated for, 354; Calcutta Bible Association, 355; missionary tours, 357; American mission, 358 ; Baptist mission, 186, 361 ; Church of England mis- sion, 360 ; London mission, 358 ■ 39 468 INDEX. German mission, 357; Dr. Bu- chanan, 359; anecdote of Pran- kissen Singh, 358; Madras Bible Association, 359; new desire of natives for Scriptures, 361 ; grant for colportage, 361 ; learned na- tive convert, 362 ; " village of learners" from Bengali New Tes- tament, 363 ; devil-worship, 364 ; copies circulated since 1804, 364,. J. Jannaeus, 76. Japan, no Bible for, 379 ; Jesuits in, 379; enmity to Christianity, 379. Japanese vessel, wreck of, 380. Javanese translation, 428. Jebel Mousa, 37. Jehoiakim, burial of, 59. Jersey, destitution of Bibles in, 340; letter from, 340 ; grants of Bibles to, 340 ; Bible-collector in, 341 ; duty of Jersey toward France, 343. Jerusalem, destruction of, 94. Jesuit, accusation by, 403. Jewish converts persecuted by Jews, 289 ; rabbi at Aleppo, 284. Job, the book of, 28. Jews: their persecutions, 280; their numbers, 283 ; white and black, 294 ; ignorant of their own pro- phets, 425. Jobaritae, an Arab tribe, 28. John the Baptist, 88. Joshua, 46-49. Josiah, 44. Jubilee review, 337. Jubilees and Sabbaths, 443. Jubilee Year, 337. Judah's Idolatry, 68, 71. Judas Maccabeus, 75. Judea added to Roman empire, 76. Judges, book of, 49. Juvenile associations, 343 ; proceeds of, 344 ; results hoped for, 345. K. Karaite Jews, 286. Karnak, temple of, 21, 52, 71. Kieffer, Professor, 305. King Alfred, 121. Kings of Israel, 51; all wicked, 63. Knill, Rev. R., 377. Koran, no society for distribution of, 319, 418 ; specimen of, 102. Kurds, Scriptures among, 416. L. Ladies' associations, 339. Last Supper, 91. Law in the desert, 42; under the judges, 50 ; to be copied by Le- vites, 42; giving of the, 36; to be written by the Kings of Israel, 51. Layard, Dr., his discoveries, 65, 313; his opinions, 417. Leander Von Ess, 303. Leicester Abbey, 165. Letter, encyclical, of Pope Leo XII., 402. Levite, 42. Lights upon the letter, 192. Lillingston's colporteurs, 439. Liverpool town-mission, 439. London, ancient, 93. Loochoo Islands, 381 ; naval mission at, 381 ; difficulties, 381 ; transla- tion of Scriptures, 382. INDEX. 459 Lord's Prayer in all languages, 187. Luther, 169 ; his own German Bible in the British Museum, 183, 184; his wish, 439 ; his work of trans- lation, 439. Lutterworth Church, 132 ; colporteur, 443. Luzerna, vows of, 129. Lyons, early martyrs at, 97. M. Maccabees, 75. Madagascar, 198. Mohammedan countries, 319. Mohammedanism, rise of, 102. Mohammedans less prejudiced than formerly, 392. Mohamet Kamah, 185. Malaysia, Borneo, 384. Malta Bible Society, 322. Manchester in 1846, 441. Mangaia, South Seas, " the new book of Job," 389 ; popery rejected in, 390. Mankind, dispersion of, 19. Mantchoo type forwarded to China, 379. Manuscript library in Bible House, 188. Manuscript Nestorian Bible, 189 ; writers, 141; Breton Bible, 188; Alexandrine, 108 ; of the Bible, cost in the eleventh century, 126 j Chinese, in British Museum, 239 ; Ethiopic Scriptures, 190. Marinus the martyr, 99. Martyn, Rev. Henry, his Arabic New Testament, 320. Martyrs, 198 ; Lollards, 137. Mendicant friars, '31. Methuselah, 19, Millard, Mr. E., 430. Miracles, age of, 32. Missionary letters on translation, 326. Moffat, Rev. R., 330 ; his New Testa- ment in Sechuana, 331 ; his feel- ings, 392. Mohawk translation, 278. Monasteries, rise of, 105 ; use of, 140. Monastery of black-friars, 137. Monmouth, Humphrey, 155. More, Sir Thomas, 156. Morrison, Dr., 240, 366, 367. Moses, his training, 26 ; his death, 44. Motives for renewed exertion, 452. Mount Hor, 41. Mycerinus, King, 20. N. Nantes, edict of, its revocation, 234. Nazareth, reading of the Scriptures at, 427. Nebo, 44. Nebuchadnezzar, 62 ; his dream, 73. Negro, remark of, 448. Nero's troublesome coat, 92. Nestorius, 109. Nestorians, 291 ; papists among, 408 ; Dr. Layard's sketch of, 409 ; Be- der Khan Bey's massacre of, 410 ; diggers at Nineveh, 410; Chinese relics among, 411; Rev. D. Stoddart's account of, 406. Nestorian Church, 110, 296, 405; first missionaries, 109 ; its tenets, its liberality, 407 ; its manuscripts, 408 ; influence of holy Scripture upon Nestorians, 408. New Testament, gradual circulation of, 97 ; copy of, found in the posses- sion of a Patagonian chieftain, 317. New Zealand, 390. 160 INDEX. Nicomedia, 414, 415; church at, 100, 413. Nisroch, 67. Norway, 272, 432. Number of Bibles at different periods, 174. Nuremberg, Bible Society at, 238. 0. Obelisk at Nineveh, 66. Oberlin, 236 ; desire after the Bible in France, 301. Oberlin, Henry, 238. Oddur, his translation of the Scriptures, into Icelandic, 274; prayer of, 274. Old books of stone, 21, 52, 64. Old St. Paul's cathedral, 160. Old Testament, its writers, 30. Ollas, Indian, 293. Owen, Rev. John, 225, 227 ; his visit to Oberlin's parish, 237 ; death of, 259. Oxford, search for Bibles at, 159. P. Pagan persecutions, 92. Pali version, 185. Papacy, progress of, 104. Papyrus rolls, 29. Paris, an effort to spread the gospel there, 305. Patagonian chieftain, 317. Paternoster-row, apple orchards in, 160. Paterson, Rev. J., 274. Patrick, St., or Succat, 115 Paulicians, 111. * Paul's Cathedral, Old St., 160 ; cross, 162; crypt of, 166. Pearce, Mr. Nathaniel, 297. Pelagius, 114. Penance, 136. Pentateuch, 30. Persecution, a blessing to Christians, 97, 160; Domitian, 94; of Jewish converts, by Jews, 288. Persian Testament, 184; Scripture". 189. Petra, 69. Pharaoh, meaning of the name, 20. Pharisees, traditions of the, 85. Pinkerton, Dr., 287, 312. " Pinking the world," 345. Polyglots, 182. Pompey, 76. Pratt, Rev. Josiah, 226. Prayer of nuns, 144. Printing, 139 ; anger of the monks at, 140 ; press, 142 ; early ages of, 199 ; division of labour in, 200 ; machine, 204; presses at Oxford, 199 ; at Shacklewell, 199 ; hydrau- lic press, 206 ; paper, 30 ; process in making, 207. Prisoners in salt-fish collar, 159. Prophets, rolls of, 55 ; table of, 54, 56. Protestant churches, 414; countries, 428; doctrine, 116. Protestantism, fall of England's, 119. Protestants, early, 109. Protests, early, 122. Psalm, the Bible, 51. Psalms, Ethiopic versions of the book of, 297. Prussia, 267. Pyramids, size of, 20. R. Rabbins, 86. Rarotongan Scriptures, S88. INDEX. 461 Redcliffe, Lord Stratford de, speech of, 417. Rekshere, tomb of, 26. Relics, first reckoned precious, 103. Beneirius, the inquisitor, 127. Rephaim, 47. Rephidim, 32. Reports, Society's, not dull books, 352. Responsibilities of the friends of the Bible, 350. Revelation, meaning of, 17 ,* at first given to the Jewish nation only, 90 ; committed afresh to the apos- tles for all nations, 90. Review of the past, 450. Roman Catholic priest opposed, 301 ; the priests and the Apocrypha, in South America,, 319. RoU, the lost, 57; the burnt, 58. Roman dominion, 77. Rome Pagan changed to Rome Papal, 106. Romaunt translation, 123. Rosetta Stone, 25. S. Sabat and Abdallah, 324. Sadducees infidels, 84. Saint Paul's cross, 162, 164. Samaritan Jews, 57 ; Pentateuch, 57. Samuel, the prophet, 50, 51. Satan's two vast schemes against the Book, 101. Saviour, our, public ministry of, 95. Sawtree, "William, 136. Scheiddegger, Catherine, 237. Schepler, Maria, 237. Scotland, 115, 116, 232. Scriptorium, 135. Soripture3, fivo ancient versions of, 107 J scattered by persecution, 94. Sennacherib, 66. Septuagint translation, 73. Serpents, fiery, 43. Serpent-worship, 79. Seven sins of Israel, 38. Shacklewell, printing establishment at, 199. Shagdur's bushel of seed-corn, 377. Shishak, 53. Simon the Just, 74. Sinai, 35; eleven months at, 38. Societies for the distribution of the Scriptures existing before the es- tablishment of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 228. Solomon, 52. Song of the Jubilee begun, 441. Souls, transmigration of, 20 South America, 317. Spain possessed the gospel in the first century, 93. Spain and Portugal, 394; distribution of the Scriptures in, 395. Steinkopff, Dr., 223; his visit to Ger- many, in 1851, 431. Stereotype plates, 203. Stones of memorial, 80. Subscriber to the Bible blessed, 255. Superstition in South America, 319. Swabia, communication from a Roman Catholic clergyman in, 302. Sweden, 270 ; religious state of, 271 ; results of distribution in, 272. Swedish Bible, 182. Switzerland, 269 ; and North Italy, 396. Sympathy with Bible Society, 437. Synagogues, 83 ; rulers of, 83. Syrian Christians, 291 ; at Aleppo, 294; Old Testament, 293; Pentateuch, 1S9; vine, 39. 30* i62 INDEX. T. Tacitus, 93. Tahiti, Kev. J. Williams in, 328, 385 ; Bible prized in, 386. Tahitians and Romish priest, conversa- tion between, 387. Talmud, 86. Tamil, first Indian translation, 240 ; territory, 240 ; Scriptures, scarcity of, 240. Targums, 84. Tartary, Scriptures among Jews in, 426; movement among Jews in, 426. Teachers, false, 96 ; uninspired, 96. Teignmouth, Lord, 332 j sentiment of, 188. Temple at Jerusalem rebuilt under Ezra, 60 j taken by Pompey, 76 j cleansing of, 75 ; rebuilt by Herod, 82. Tertullian, saying of, 97. Thebes, or Theba, meaning of, 21 ; its Scripture name, 21 ; Mr. Jowett at, 323. Thompson, Dr., extract from letter by, 318. Toulouse, law made at, 133. Tract a pioneer to the Bible, 348. Tract Society, depository of, 162. Tradition, patriarchal, 19. Translations of the Bible, list of fifty, made previous to 1804, 170, 171. Translations, how obtained, 191 ', for India, by Dr. Carey, 186 ; prepar- ing for Europe, 142. Triads of the Druids, 81. Tribes, the lost ten, 57. Tonstall, Bishop, 156. Turkey, European and Asiatic, 310, 316. Turkish Bible, finished, 314; manu- script, by Ali Bey, 311. Tuscany, 397. Tyneal, William, 152, 154, 156, 164; death of, and of Wolsey, compared, 165. Tyre, 68. Type, distribution of, 202; cost of, for Diamond Bible, 203. u. Union among free-thinkers, 351 ; for God's word's sake, 174; first two principles of, in early church, 97; coming back to these, 226, 461. United Brethren, 129. United States of America, 278. Y. Vaudois Church, 124, 298, 422. Vaudois people, 125; knowledge of Scripture, 126; persecutions of, 127, 128 : sufferings, 235; recep- tion at Grcneva, 235. Versions of Scripture : ancient, 107 ; Alexandrine, 108; before 1804, 170, 171; Coverdale's, 180; De Sacy's, 143; Douay, 187; Dutch, 172 ; extant in first century, 145 ; in sixteenth, 145; New England Indian, 173; Malay, 173; Olive- tan's, 143; Persian, 184; Tamil, 173; Tyndal's, 180; Welsh, 182; Wiclif's, 180; Bohemian, 184; Pali, 185. Vigilantius, 108. Voices from heaven, 19. INDEX. 463 W. Wady Mokatteb, 33. Waldenses Bible Society, 298. Waldo, Peter, 124. "Wales, collections in, 226; scarcity of Scriptures in, 220 ; circulating schools in, 220 ; large portions of Bible committed to memory by Welsh children, 221.. Walsh, Sir John, 154. Wandering of Israelites, 41 ; thirty- eight years of unknown, 40. Warehouse. Bible Society's, 196. War in Europe, time of, 238 ; prison- ers of war, 239. Welsh Bible, 182. Welsh language compared with th« Breton, 189. Wiclif, 131 J his monument, 134; pul- pit, 135; version of Scriptures, 180; revenge on, 134; his Testa- ment, 180. Williams, Rev. John, his letter oo translation, 328. Winged bull, 65. Wolsey's search for New Testaments, 158. Wong-shao-yet colporteur in Chin«» 378. Written voices of God, 198.