ySTUDIA IN / THE LIBRARY of VICTORIA UNIVERSITY Toronto THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO ELIAS BOUDINOT President of the American Bible Society, 1816 The Centennial History of the American Bible Society BY HENRY OTIS DWIGHT THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1916 All rights reserved Copyright 1916 By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published, April, 1916 V-A.J PREFACE In dealing with so serious and significant a subject as the effort of a Society to increase the circulation of the Holy Scriptures in the world the point of view has been that of an humble servant acknowledging that success in the effort can proceed only from the guidance and help of Him to whom these ancient writings belong. The plan of this book has excluded many things which may have been expected to appear in a review of labours cov ering a whole century of the world s progress. Its aim was to make a book to be read by the people rather than a manual of reference for the student. It is natural, then, for this Centennial History to seek in every chapter the glory of God. The pervasive, living power of the word of God is emphasised by the facts of distribu tion in many lands, and these facts suggest praise and thanks giving on the part of all who have shared in the development and progress of the Bible cause. The author would frankly confess his obligation to the Rev. Dr. William I. Haven and the Rev. Dr. John Fox, his colleagues as Secretaries of the Society, for kindly criti cism of the manuscript, much to its advantage. In publishing this record of the first hundred years of the labours of the American Bible Society we would suggest that it is only the beginning of a story which, please God, will con tinue until the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. The future is impenetrable to the vision of the present writer as it was to the men who founded the Society a hundred years ago and bravely set forth on un known paths. Many things clearly ought to be done in the years immediately before us. In the meantime all may look forward with yearning and pray with the beloved disciple, that the Lord Jesus Christ may hasten His coming. CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER PAGE I THE BIBLE THE BOOK OF THE NEW WORLD . i II THE MISSIONARY IMPULSE IN AMERICA . . 6 III A CRISIS IN THE GROWTH OF THE NATION . M FIRST PERIOD 1816-1821 IV THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SOCIETY 21 v FINDING ITS F EET 71 VI THE AUXILIARY THEORY 40 SECOND PERIOD 1821-1832 VII EARLY EXPERIMENTS 48 VIII A WIDER OUTLOOK 55 IX GROWTH OF AN ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM . . 61 X SOME OF THE GREAT MEN . 69 XI LATIN AMERICA BETTER KNOWN 75 XII A NOTABLE ADVANCE 83 XIII THE AUXILIARY SOCIETIES AT WORK. .... . 92 XIV Go IN THIS THY MIGHT . 102 THIRD PERIOD 1832-1841 XV A MOST CHRISTIAN ENTHUSIASM . Ill XVI RESPONSIBILITIES FOLLOWING A GREAT DECISION . . iig XVII VENTURES IN LANGUAGES 128 XVIII INDIVIDUALISM IN DEMOCRACY 136 XIX AGENTS IN PARTIBUS T/l/l XX THE FINANCING OF THE BIBLE SOCIETY . . . 153 XXI THE GAINS OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS . 162 FOURTH PERIOD 1841-1861 XXII AMONG DESTITUTE AMERICANS .... J/ 1 XXIII OTHER DESTITUTE AMERICANS . 182 XXIV A VISION OF PERPETUAL GROWTH . 191 XXV A CLEARING HOUSE FOR NEEDS 199 XXVI TURBULENT EUROPE 208 CHAPTER XXVII XXVI II XXIX XXX XXXI XXXII XXXIII XXXIV XXXV XXXVI XXXVII XXXVIII CONTENTS PAGE AMONG THE FOREIGN AGENCIES IN LATIN AMERICA 217 AMONG THE FOREIGN AGENCIES THE LEVANT . . 226 LIGHT FOR THE DARKER LANDS 236 STORM CLOUDS 246 FIFTH PERIOD 1861-1871 THE BLIGHT OF CIVIL WAR .... TESTS OF THE SOCIETY S EFFICIENCY . SOME FRUITS OF CHRISTIAN FEDERATION THE PULSE OF LIFE THE ONE TALENT HID PEOPLES WHO KNOW NOT GOD S LAW . THE JUBILEE CELEBRATION OF 1866 . FORGET NOT ALL His BENEFITS . 258 268 277 287 297 308 318 326 SIXTH PERIOD 1871-1891 XXXIX PAYING THE COST OF WAR 337 XL EVENTS AND EMERGENCIES IN THE BIBLE HOUSE . . 347 XLI MAKING THE BIBLE SPEAK WITH TONGUES . . . 357 XLII DISTRIBUTION IN THE HOME LAND 368 XLI 1 1 THE BIBLE SENT AS A FOREIGN MISSIONARY . . . 379 XLIV SYSTEMATIZING THE DISTRIBUTION ABROAD . . . 390 XLV THE CALL OF THE FAR EAST 401 XLVI JAPAN AND KOREA 411 XLVII MEDIATING BETWEEN EUROPE AND ASIA .... 420 XLVIII SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS OF SERVICE 431 SEVENTH PERIOD 1891-1916 XLIX AT THE BIBLE HOUSE 440 L CHANGES IN THE AUXILIARY SYSTEM 451 LI NEW METHODS AT HOME 460 LII LATIN AMERICA 470 LIII OPENING DOORS OF THE FAR EAST 482 LIV THE WHITE ELEPHANT AND THE DRAGON .... 490 LV AMERICA IN THE ORIENT 503 LVI THE BIBLE IN APOSTOLIC FIELDS 512 LVII THE PROBLEM OF MEANS 521 LVIII THY ORDINANCES ARE MY DELIGHT 530 APPENDICES 538 INDEX . 579 ILLUSTRATIONS Elias Boudinot, President of the Society, 1816 Frontispiece FACING PAGE The Bible House, New York 192 James Wood, President of the Society, 1916 . . . 442 CENTENNIAL HISTORY INTRODUCTORY PERIOD CHAPTER I THE BIBLE THE BOOK OF THE NEW WORLD THE beginning of the story of the American Bible Soci ety is found in those providences of God which made the Bible the book of the American Colonies. Had there been no endeavour in the seventeenth century by European kings and rulers violently to control intellects and consciences awakened by the Reformation, there might have been no American Bible Society. It is not necessary to speculate upon this point. There is, however, occasion to call to mind, sometimes, the extent to which early settlers of the American Colonies now forming part of the United States had emigrated from their homes because they were lovers of the Bible. The Dutch and Swedes, who settled in New York and on the Delaware River, came out of the tur moil of religious wars, and brought their Bibles with them. The settlers of New England emigrated in order to secure liberty of conscience. They not only brought the Bible over on the Mayflower, but in the period from 1620 to 1640 they called about them some 20,000 people from the old country, who, like themselves, had suffered for the sake of this char ter of their liberty. In 1689 the Friends had well estab lished their " Holy Experiment " in Pennsylvania. To New York, Maryland and South Carolina Huguenots fled, Bible in hand, from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Like them were the German Mennonites and Pala tines, who escaped from religious oppressors in their home land, and became rooted in Pennsylvania. The Presby terians from Ulster, who took refuge in the Carolinas and 2 THE BIBLE IN THE NEW WORLD in Georgia, were plain God-fearing people, who made the Bible the guide not only of their politics, but of their lives. The Virginia Colonists of 1607 may have included mere gold-seekers ; but, under Captain John Smith, Jamestown was early provided with a church, and the Bible became a source of instruction to many of the settlers. So, of almost all of the early immigrants to America, it might be said as the Roman Catholic Brunetiere said of the Huguenots, when speaking of the paralyzing effect of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes upon moral progress in France : " It drove into exile the people who called them selves men of the Bible, and who carried their morality, faith, and intelligence everywhere. . . . Louis XIV cut the nerve of French morality for the metaphysical satisfaction of having God praised only in Latin." Stephen Charnock, the old Puritan of Cromwell s time, noted as a result of his observation that " all God s provi dences are but his touch on the strings of the great instru ment of the world." That these men, the American Colo nists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, had been driven from their homes by religious persecution, was griev ous ; but, in truth, this emigration was simply a turning of the wrath of man to the glory of God. These men loved the Bible. It may seem a little singular, perhaps, that if we leave out of account Eliot s Version of the Bible in the language of the Massachusetts Indians, and some Bible portions which Spanish Friars printed in Mexico in the end of the sixteenth century, we find the first Bible printed in America to be German, published in Philadelphia in 1/43, by the enterprising Christopher Sauer, in order to supply the large German population who demanded the Word of God. Bibles in English were a monopoly of the king s printers in England and Scotland at this time; but the monopoly existed to insure the text rather than to give wealth to the printers. A small nonpareil Bible, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, could be had for a shilling, or at most for a shilling and sixpence. With such prices American printers could not compete; so American readers depended upon the king s printers, too. A VOTE FOR BIBLES IN CONGRESS 3 With all the other upheavals which the Revolution brought to the colonies it suddenly stopped Bible sales. Con nection had been severed with the London printing houses. In 1777 a famine of Bibles was one of the many ills which a distracted Congress was called upon promptly to remedy at one of the Pennsylvania towns where it was able to meet in security. Dr. Allison, one of its chaplains, petitioned Congress to order the printing of at least twenty thousand Bibles. The lack of suitable paper, and even of sufficient type, in all the thirteen States for such a work negatived the scheme; but Congress voted by seven States against six to import twenty thousand Bibles from Holland, and this plan was set in execution. Six States voted against the proposition. These were: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Dela ware, and New York. The seven States which considered scarcity of Bibles a concern of national importance were : Georgia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Let us note, by the way, that the vote of New Jersey in that Congress was cast by Elias Boudinot, one of the Trustees of Prince ton University, eminent as a lawyer, who was afterwards President of the Congress, and later the first President of the American Bible Society. About the time that Congress was making its provision of Bibles Robert Aitken, of Philadelphia, printed the first English Bible which came from an American press. The enterprise nearly ruined him, for almost as soon as the book was ready, peace with Great Britain was signed. Cheap Bibles from England appeared in the bookshops again, and the Aitken Philadelphia Bible lay dust-gathering on the shelves of the book-sellers. It is worth noting that the Bible which fed the soul of Abraham Lincoln in the Ken tucky log cabin of his boyhood, was one of those cheap little Bibles imported from London. The records of Bible printing in America show that many souls were being fed in those days by the wonderful words of life. In the later years of the eighteenth century, Bibles were printed not only in Philadelphia, New York and Bos ton, but in Trenton, New Jersey ; Worcester, Newburyport, 4 THE BIBLE IN THE NEW WORLD and Northampton, Massachusetts ; at New Haven and Hart ford, Connecticut ; at Albany, New York ; and at Wilming ton, Delaware, etc. The Bible had become the book of the New World. God s book had become man s book, since need to know themselves and their God everywhere impels men to read, ponder and absorb its teachings. The book so becomes to lovers of the Bible a groundwork for their activities, habits and character. In the Bible we all have found high and in spiring ideas of God, answering every yearning of the needy soul. There we all have been won over to noble concep tions of right, purity and service, have acquired certainty that life is more than meat or raiment; and Bible axioms have been taken up so as to become a part of our very na ture. From the Bible the people have gained that enthusi asm for high attainment which ennobles the humblest man or woman and brings success, in some degree, to every ef fort permeated by a will to follow the leading of the Divine Master. Jt is this nurture in the Bible which has built up in our people a breadth of vision, and a deep consciousness of duty sure to show itself in good will to the less favored, such as appears in the widespread impulse to aid missionary and Bible Societies established for the sake of God. Bible distribution among those who have it not used to spring from what scoffers called a mere theory ; that is, from a belief that the book has the same living power to change men of every race which it has shown among those of our own race. But the idea is exploded which regards this as a theory. The Bible is to-day in the hands of tens of thou sands of people, speaking several hundred different tongues, and belonging to all the races of mankind. After one hun dred years of labor, the belief which led men to begin mis sionary enterprises has become absolute certainty. In every land those changed through the living and pervasive power of the Bible gain, and transmit to their children, some tend ency to a nobler life. Bible readers thus influence perma nently the community, or the nation, or the race, of which they are factors. In the thirteen American Colonies large groups of choice souls were more or less hidden from sight by another sort WHO THE INFLUENTIAL MEN WERE 5 of settler, who cared nothing for the Bible ; had no use for any rule or any theory that did not result in some way in gaining fields, or harvests, or more precious valuables which can be weighed, and counted, and jingled. Nevertheless, generally speaking, the influential men and leaders of the colonies were apt to be found among the religious sections of the people. To use the words of an anonymous writer in the old Panoplist: l " In no other country that ever existed was less restraint put upon men with regard to their religious or moral sentiments and behaviour. Here (in America) if a man is corrupt in his religious sentiments, there is nothing to obstruct his publishing them to others, beyond the re straint which he feels from the opinions and frowns of the virtuous, or the superior deference which the truth always challenges from falsehood. Here, if anywhere, men speak and act for themselves. Yet in no other country did Christianity ever command more respect from the people at large, or exhibit a greater influence on the minds and con duct of men taken in a mass. . . . Let not the writer be understood to mean, by the foregoing remarks, that the great body of the people of the United States, or that a ma jority of them, are Christians in the most important sense of that term. What he intends is that the proportion of such Christians is comparatively large, and that the influ ence of Christian doctrine and example over the great mass of the people is such as to warrant all that he has said." Dwellers in that half-mastered wilderness noted in their midst shining lights, seemingly small and insignificant as the firefly flashes of a summer night. But amid the toil and murk which were the lot of that people, those little lights became beacons for wanderers, because they had been kindled from the great light for the feet of men the Word of God. *A religious magazine founded by Rev. Dr. Jedidiah Morse and published in Boston. CHAPTER II THE MISSIONARY IMPULSE IN AMERICA IN each of the American Colonies, before any large ex pansion took place, a policy had to be adopted toward the Indians. They were curious, suspicious, and often hostile to the pushing white strangers. Even inanimate nature op posed the advances of the Colonists upon its hidden treas uries. The forests resisted the intruder with their silent mystery and isolation ; with their heavy undergrowth here, and tangled ropes of the wild grape there ; and now and then with a broad abattis of huge trunks, twisted by a cy clone as though intended to bar, by acres of interlaced and jagged branches, access to some hidden, great prize. Moun tains hindered any advance, walling in the land beyond with steep, rocky heights, or bewildering adventurers by offering them dark glens, and deep gulches that led to nothing more than another line of walls. Rivers forbade progress, with their deep, dark, unfeeling waters that could not be passed. And so it was fully a hundred years after the earlier land ings before the colonists made any great advances away from the coast. Meanwhile the great rivers of the Atlantic coast had be come friendly helpers to those who explored northern New York and the broad interior of Pennsylvania. Before the Revolutionary War, too, adventurous hunters from Vir ginia and the Carolinas had found passes through the moun tains into Kentucky and Tennessee, and had let the Ken tucky, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers carry them, with their families, far westward toward the Mississippi. In 1792 Kentucky was admitted to the Union as a state, and in 1796 Tennessee. Pennsylvania was the least thinly popu lated of the states ; and at the end of the eighteenth century groups of settlers were scattered in meadow land and along 6 EFFECTS OF THE WESLEYAN REVIVAL 7 river banks as far to the westward and northward as the Indians would permit. About the same time the breezes brought from England to the eastern colonies of America unwonted voices. Where doubts and scoffings had filled the air, at the end of the eighteenth century stirred by the Wesleyan revival, the call to teach all nations rang out clear and positive. The ap peals of William Carey in England had led to the establish ment of the Baptist Missionary Society in 1792. His ideas had aroused the churches to such an extent that the London Missionary Society was formed in 1795, with the aim of evangelising those South Sea Islands described to the world by Captain Cook ; the Church Missionary Society, with an eye to reaching Africa, in 1798; the London Religious Tract Society in 1799. A pleasing circumstance which appears on examining the American religious periodicals of the opening years of the nineteenth century is the quickness of the healing of the wounds left by the Revolutionary War. One ancestry, one faith, one language, may permit petty misunderstandings, such as might spring up between husband and wife ; yet such ties are too strong to be permanently broken. Noble impulses in one must naturally react upon the other. The English religious press was often quoted in those early American publications ; and there was little or nothing to suggest that but a few years earlier friendly relations with England constituted a crime. In England there was a So ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and a Society for the promotion of Christian Knowledge both formed in the seventeenth century. The Massachu setts Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge among the Indians was established in 1803. Following the establishment of a Religious Tract Society in London, a Connecticut Religious Tract Society was established in New Haven in 1807. The Massachusetts Missionary Society had already been established in 1800. The New Hamp shire Missionary Society began in 1804 " to oppose that tor rent of errors which threatens to deluge our infant settle ments." The same impulse which had stirred British Chris tians, awakened among the feeble American Colonies quick 8 THE MISSIONARY IMPULSE response, as though the command to teach the world had now first been spoken. In 1803 the purchase of " Louisiana " from the Emperor Napoleon added to the American domains an enormous tract of wilderness west of the Mississippi River, whose bound aries were then inconceivably distant, since they included one-third of the entire area of the present United States. This purchase of a wilderness, ridiculed at the time even more than Mr. Seward s purchase of Alaska was, gave the United States unchallenged ownership of the lower Missis sippi, and had the effect, at the time unexpected, of increas ing among the states of the Union still in the embryo stage, with little real solidarity, a broader aspiration and a stronger sense of nationality. This was a fitting prelude to the strong outburst of feeling among religious people which fol lowed information of the establishment of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804. The suggestion of the Reverend Joseph Hughes, when a few men were discussing the formation of a Bible Society for the supply of Wales, had the effect of an electric shock to quicken men s faculties. At the thought of a Bible So ciety, Mr. Hughes had remarked: " And if for Wales, why not for the whole world ? " No one could nor would any one wish to put that question out of mind. It led to the founding of the British and Foreign Bible Society; and when, a few years later, the latent power in that remark had been proved by experience, the same question led to the establishment of many Bible Societies in the United States. The first was the Philadelphia Bible Society, organised in December, 1808. It adopted a constitution differing some what from that of the British and Foreign Bible Society, but specifying that the Bibles which the Society should publish must be without notes ; copies being distributed in all languages calculated to be useful, whenever this seems to be necessary. Some thought that the Philadelphia So ciety ought to design to serve the whole country. It was, however, the feeling of the founders of the Society that this would not be wise. A general Society, extending through out the United States, would be unwieldy, they thought, and would languish in all places excepting the centre of its THE FIRST BIBLE SOCIETIES 9 operations. It appeared to them that if similar societies were established in the principal cities of the Union, they might, by corresponding with each other, and occasionally uniting their funds, act with more vigour and greater effect than the one general Society. "If no similar Society should be formed in any part of this country," the Managers said, " then it will be the duty of this Society to extend its arm. 1 from Maine to Georgia, and from the Atlantic to the Mis sissippi." They immediately sent circulars to leading persons in the different religious denominations throughout the United States urging them to establish Bible Societies on a similar basis. The good people in Connecticut next moved to organise a Bible Society (in May, 1809). Then came Massachusetts with its Bible Society in July of the same year. New York followed in November, 1809, and New Jersey in December. Within six years time more than one hundred Bible Societies had been organised in the United States, with the simple purpose of providing Bibles for the poor who had no means of supplying themselves. Almost every one of the new So cieties had in its Constitution provision for extending its benefactions when possible to heathen lands. The British and Foreign Bible Society sent hearty con gratulations to each of these new Societies; and realising that such societies would need tangible help in beginning their operations, it made grants of from Three Hundred to Five Hundred Dollars to each of the state Societies. In the masterly history of the first hundred years of the British and Foreign Bible Society, Mr. Canton remarks 1 that by the end of 1816 that Society had presented to sixteen American Bible Societies 3,122 pounds sterling. - It is not a matter for surprise that those connected with the American Societies frequently expressed their affection 1 Vol. I, p. 248. 2 The donation of five hundred pounds which it made to the American Bible Society upon its organisation is not included in this amount; nor is a donation of one hundred and fifty pounds to the Bible and Common Prayer-Book Society, which hardly stands in the same general category as the interdenominational Bible Socie ties. io THE MISSIONARY IMPULSE for the British Society under the title, " Venerable Parent." A little later than this, a speaker on the Bible cause in New York expressed his feeling in fulsome language, as follows : " With the profoundest veneration I bow before the majesty of the British and Foreign Bible Society. This illustrious association (its history is recorded in Heaven, and ought to be proclaimed on earth) has been instrumental in distributing a million and a half of volumes of the Word of Life, and has magnanimously expended, in a single year, near four hundred thousand dollars for the salvation of man. This transcendent institution is the brightest star in the constella tion of modern improvements, and looks down from its celestial elevation on the diminished glories of the Grecian and Roman men. 5 * A true missionary impulse leads Christians who wish to tell the glorious facts to those who do not know Jesus Christ "to begin at Jerusalem." This is the natural order; but men at home who are stubbornly refractory may not bar others from hearing the message of Jesus Christ; so the impulse to tell facts to all will not tolerate sitting still until the last inhabitant of the home city has surrendered. A plain, rather bashful student in Williams College, Samuel J. Mills, musing on this subject, felt the need of our own frontiersmen. He also pictured the ignorance of the wild barbarians beyond, and then questioned whether poor, dark Africa must wait until all in America have consented to drink of the water of life. In his diary is one sentence, which, to him, was the conclusion of the whole matter: " Though we are very little beings, we must not rest satis fied until we have made our influence extend to the remotest corner of this ruined world." With unfailing persistence Mills held that doctrine up to the very end of his short life. The first public work to which Mills put his hand was to go with some like-minded students in Andover Theological Seminary to some of the leading clergymen of his acquaint ance. The students announced to the astonished pastors that they were ready to give their lives to work as foreign 1 See the address of George Griffin, Esq., at the ratification meet ing held in behalf of the American Bible Society at City Hall, in New York, May 13, 1816. SAMUEL J. MILLS 11 missionaries ; and they wished to know whether Christian people would support them in this enterprise. This was early in 1810. The quiet earnestness of Mr. Mills ques tion impressed the good ministers, and they took the matter seriously in hand. The formation, in September, 1810, of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis sions followed. The despatch to India of five of the de voted volunteers as missionaries of the American Board was the first step taken by that great Society toward ex tending its influence " to the remotest corner of this world." Mills was not one of the five chosen to go abroad. Per haps he was disappointed ; but he was soon called to mis sionary work at home which, as we shall see, was destined closely to connect him with the organisation of the Ameri can Bible Society. It is a little singular, by the way, that the man who drafted the constitution of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804 was ^Iso a Samuel Mills, for forty-three years a member of the directing " Committee " of that Society. The extent of the territory added to the United States by the purchase of " Louisiana " was so great, and current knowledge of its people so little that the Massachusetts Missionary Society in October, 1812, ap pointed Reverend J. M. Schermerhorn as one of its mission aries, in co-operation with the Connecticut Missionary So ciety, to explore the West and Southwest. Mr. Samuel J. Mills was selected as a companion to Mr. Schermerhorn on this adventurous journey. Five months were allotted to the young men for their work ; this would be mainly occupied in travel, much of the time through pathless forests. It was a happy alleviation of the strain of such a journey that the two young mission aries were introduced to General Andrew Jackson at Nash ville, Tennessee, then on the point of starting for Natchez with fifteen hundred soldiers ; the war with Great Britain having just commenced. General Jackson liked the young men, and invited them to go as far as Natchez on his steamer ; which they were glad enough to do. It was some thing of a descent from this high level of comfort as guests of the general commanding the army, when the two men engaged passage on a flat-boat from Natchez to New 12 THE MISSIONARY IMPULSE Orleans ; preferring this discomfort to an expenditure of six times as much money for the sake of going on a steamer. The return journey from New Orleans was still more painful. The two missionaries were just one month going from New Orleans overland to Nashville, a distance of five hundred miles through heavy forests, thick canebrakes and bridgeless rivers, so remote from human habitation that wolves and bears and rattlesnakes were ready to dispute the right of way. \Yhen the explorers returned from this long expedition, they made a moving report of the extraordinary situation which they had found. Almost as soon as they had passed Pittsburg, the story became monotonous ; the little settle ments were without religious privileges. Again and again they found districts where fifty thousand or more people were without opportunity to hear preaching, and almost entirely without the Bible for their own comfort or for the bringing up of their children. Mr. Mills was so moved by the prevailing destitution that at every opportunity he gathered people together and in duced them to form a local Bible Society ; for there were plenty of good people who, when brought together, found that they could work with some prospect of success. In this way the Ohio State Bible Society, the Indiana Bible Society, the Illinois Bible Society and the Nashville, Ten nessee, Bible Society were formed. The Kentucky Bible Society at Lexington was reorganised, and stirred with new hope. A new Bible Society was established at Natchez, Mississippi ; and finally, after consulting with the Roman Catholic clergy of New Orleans, the New Orleans Bible So ciety was organised ; the Roman Catholic Bishop saying that if the books circulated were the translations favoured by the Roman Catholic Church, he would contribute to the So ciety s funds. The two explorers had been furnished by the New York Bible Society and the Philadelphia Bible Society with a certain number of Bibles, with which they rejoiced the hearts of those responsible for the work of the new Bible Societies which they left on their trail. In 1814 the Massachusetts Missionary Society appointed RELIGIOUS DESTITUTION OF SETTLERS 13 Mr. Mills to make another tour over practically the same ground which he had examined two years before; this time to preach and distribute religious literature, seeking to en courage the different communities to organise for the sup port of pastors at least a part of the year. The Rev. Daniel Smith of Georgia was appointed to be Mr. Mills com panion on this journey. After visiting various points from Steubenville to Mari etta, they urged the Missionary Society to establish a river mission ; the preacher to go in a boat along the Virginia and the Ohio shores, stopping at eight or ten stations, so that the people might hear a sermon at least once in a while. Meeting a man in Illinois who said that he had been trying for ten years to buy a Bible, it was brought home to Mr. Mills heart that this man was one thousand miles from any place where a Bible could be printed, and that many of the people in that wilderness must remain destitute to the end of their lives. This second expedition brought Mr. Mills to New Orleans in the middle of February, 1815, a month after General Jackson s victory over General Pakenham and the English Army. He went about among the hospitals, distributing Scriptures to sick and wounded of both armies. He visited the prisons, comforting and cheering the British prisoners. He distributed in the city three thousand French Testa ments which the Philadelphia Bible Society had sent to New Orleans ; Roman Catholics receiving them gladly, and rarely objecting. It was to Mills a happy experience. Mr. Mills returned directly to Massachusetts on fire with the tremendous needs of the West and South. His soul was burdened by the problem of awakening the people of the Eastern States to an understanding, in the first place, of the enormous possibilities of the Western country ; and in the second place, of the religious destitution of the settlers throughout these new territories. In times when prompt and radical action in behalf of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is necessary, God commonly thrusts forward a man to show the people what should be done. For that critical moment the man thus thrust into the work by our divine Master was Samuel J. Mills. CHAPTER III A CRISIS IN THE GROWTH OF THE NATION OCCUPIED with strenuous labours for their daily bread and with efforts to lay the foundations of their future wel fare, settlers in the West and South had no time to con sider ideals. These sturdy well-meaning people, left with out wise advisers, were carelessly preparing for themselves catastrophe, and for the nation humiliation. Many were in clined to say to God, like some of the ancients, " Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." Their fair lands were in danger of becoming strongholds of ungodliness. The reports of Mr. Samuel J. Mills and his companions aroused Christians everywhere to the danger of such a situ ation. Mills passionate words were not the ravings of an alarmist. But he wrote, " There are districts containing from twenty to fifty thousand people entirely destitute of the Scriptures and of religious privileges. How shall they hear without a preacher ? Never will the impression be erased from our hearts that has been made by beholding those scenes of wide-spread desolation. The whole country from Lake Erie to the Gulf of Mexico is as the valley of the shadow of death. Only here and there a few rays of gospel light pierce through the awful gloom. This vast expanse of our country contains more than one million in habitants. The number of Bibles sent them by all the So cieties in the United States is by no means as great as the yearly increase of the population. The original number of people still remains unsupplied. " When we entered on this mission we applied in person to the oldest and wealthiest of the Bible institutions, but we could only obtain a single small donation. The existing Societies have not yet been able to supply the demand in 14 THE LOCAL SOCIETIES INADEQUATE 15 their own immediate vicinity. Some mightier effort must be made. Their scattered and feeble exertions are by no means adequate to the accomplishment of the object. It is thought by judicious people that half a million of Bibles are necessary for the supply of the destitute in the United States. It is a foul blot on the national character. Chris tian America must arise and wipe it away. " The existing Societies are not able to do this work. They want union ; they want co-operation ; they want re sources. If a National Institution cannot be formed, appli cation ought to be made immediately to the British and For eign Bible Society for aid." 1 All seem to have agreed that Bibles were essential in this emergency. Missionaries could do little without them, and even where there was no missionary the Bible could awaken the conscience. In 1814 many persons thought that since there were nearly a hundred Bible Societies in the land, with patience, the danger of irreligion becoming rooted in the new settlements would be dissipated. This opinion sprang from blind ignorance. Referring to the inadequacy of the existing system, Mr. Mills said that in order to get five thousand copies of the Scriptures in French as a partial supply for forty or fifty thousand French Catholics who are destitute, " we have to go or send to the several Bible Socie ties from Maine to Georgia, and to wait until we receive in formation from the Directing Committees. Four, five, or six months must elapse, and perhaps a year before we are able to make a report. And by this time the most favour able opportunity for distributing the Bible may have passed by. And although it may be found that we are possessed of ability to effect the desired object, yet if we are obliged to conduct in this way, we shall be very liable to be defeated, and we may have to send to the directors of the British and Foreign Bible Society requesting that they would make a donation of Bibles for the supply of the destitute within the limits of the United States." : Aspirations for some unity of action between the Bible 1 Life of S. J. Mills by Gardiner Spring, p. 83-86. t, October 1813, p. 357. 16 A CRISIS FOR THE NATION Societies appeared occasionally in the religious periodicals, but nothing practical resulted. At last, in the autumn of 1814 the Honorable Elias Boudinot, LL.D., President of the New Jersey JJible Society, sent to all the Bible Societies in the United States a statement that on the 3Oth of August, 1814, the Board of Alanagers of the New Jersey Bible So ciety adopted the following resolution : " Whereas it is the duty of the New Jersey Bible Society to use all the means which a kind providence has put into their power to promote the great objects of their associa tion ; and whereas the greatest union of Christians, of every profession, in so desirable a cause, promises most success to the undertaking On motion it was resolved that a com mittee of three be appointed to take into consideration, and report their opinion of the most probable means in the power of the society for uniting the people of God, of all denomi nations, in the United States, in carrying on the great work of disseminating the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the habitable world, making report to the present session of the Board of Managers." Dr. Boudinot, and the Rev. Drs. Wharton and Wood- hull were appointed a committee to consider and report on the foregoing, who, after duly considering the same, re ported these resolutions, which, having been laid before the society, were approved and included in the circular to the Bible Societies. The substance of these resolutions was : First, that it would greatly promote the accomplishment of the important purposes for which the Bible Societies in the United States have associated, if a union of them all could be obtained, by an annual or biennial meeting of delegates, to be appointed by the societies in each state, at some central place to be agreed on, to conduct the common interests of the whole respecting the distribution of the Sacred Scrip tures beyond the limits of particular states, or where a so ciety in a state cannot furnish so many copies as are wanted. Second, that each Bible Society be requested to appoint at least two delegates to meet at Philadelphia on the Monday preceding the third Wednesday in the following May with full power to form a plan for a well organised and consti tuted body or society, to be called the " General Association DR. BOUDINOTS TENACITY 17 of the Bible Societies in the United States," or such other name or title as may then be agreed on, for the purpose of disseminating the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa ment, according to the present approved version, without note or comment. Third, that the president of the New Jersey Bible Society, whenever he shall receive notice of the appointment of delegates from twenty societies, is em powered to give public notice thereof in the newspapers, and that the meeting of the said delegates will be had accord ingly. In the fall of 1814 Mr. Mills had explained in a leading religious periodical his idea of a General Bible Society which would meet the need of the country. Possibly this proposal of Mr. Mills had won favour. However this may be, as the months went by and answers to the suggestion of* the New Jersey Bible Society for a General Association of Bible Societies were received, not even twenty of them ap proved the plan. A year had passed since the report of Schermerhorn and Mills had first called attention to the dangers threatening the nation, but nothing had been done ! The objections to the plan of the New Jersey Society were stated positively by the New York, and in most detail by the Philadelphia Bible Society. They were that the proposal was unseasonable ; that it was without precedent ; that such an association would be useless ; that it might prove injurious and that the plan in any case was impracticable. In short a rooted antipathy was felt in some quarters for such an as sociation of the independent Bible Societies. Dr. Boudinot inherited Huguenot devotion from his father and Welsh tenacity from his mother. He w r as the sort of man that does not easily perceive defeat. He afterwards stated that he had determined in case of failure in another attempt " to commence the great business, at all events, with the aid of a few laymen who had testified their willingness to go all lengths with me." x For the moment he answered the Philadelphia Society by a " thick pamphlet." Thereby he won the support of the Connecticut Bible Society at its annual meeting of May, 1815. Correspondence with other 1 First Annual Report of the American Bible Society, p. 46. iS A CRISIS FOR THE NATION Bible Societies followed, and although difficulties of com munication made it hard to know when the last word had been said, the New Jersey Bible Society made a new pro posal, which was favourably received. On the 3ist of Janu ary, 1816, Dr. Boudinot was at last able to call a convention of representatives of the Bible Societies to meet in New York. This first act in the formation of the American Bible Society was as follows : " To the members of the several Bible Societies in the United States : " Brethren : " It is with peculiar pleasure that I once more address you on the interesting subject of extending the Redeemer s kingdom by an unlimited and gratuitous circulation of the Holy Scriptures. " From the most correct information that has lately been received, it has become evident that the demand for Bibles in the remote and frontier settlements of our country, is far beyond the resources of the several Bible Societies now existing in the United States. " An institution, founded on a more extensive plan, that will concentrate and direct the efforts of our numerous and increasing Bible Associations seems at present to be the general wish of the friends of revealed Truth. Such an in stitution has a powerful claim to the liberal support of the Christian public. This plan, which originated with the New Jersey Bible Society, has, within the last year, engaged the attention of the Board of Managers of the New York Bible Society. Their resolutions, inserted below, contain the result of their deliberations on this important subject. A brighter day appears now to have dawned on our Western Hemi sphere. That the present effort may be rendered an efficient means of salvation to many thousands of destitute poor in our own, and more distant lands, should be the wish and prayer of every sincere Christian. " And may the blessing of Him who is able to do for us abundantly more than we can either ask or think give it A CONVENTION OF BIBLE SOCIETIES 19 complete success unto whom be glory in the church of Jesus Christ, throughout all ages world without end. " These are the resolutions of the Board of Managers of the New York Bible Society : " ist, Resolved, that it is highly desirable to obtain upon as large a scale as possible, a co-operation of the efforts of the Christian community throughout the United States, for the efficient distribution of the Holy Scriptures. " 2nd, That, as a mean for the attainment of this end, it will be expedient to have a convention of delegates from such Bible Societies, as shall be disposed to concur in this measure, to meet - on the day of - next, for the purpose of considering whether such a co-operation may be effected in a better manner than by the correspondence of the different societies as now established ; and if so, that they prepare the draft of a plan for such co-operation to be submitted to the different societies for their decision. " 3d, That the Secretary transmit the above resolutions to the President of the New Jersey Bible Society, as ex pressive of the opinion of this Board on the measures therein contained, at the same time signifying the wish of this Board, that he would exercise his own discretion in bringing the subject before the public. " In pursuance of the foregoing resolutions requesting me to designate the time and place at which the proposed meeting of delegates from the different Bible Societies of the United States shall take place ; after mature delibera tion, and consulting with judicious friends on this impor tant subject, I am decidedly of opinion that the most suit able place for the proposed meeting is the city of New York and the most convenient time the second Wednes day of May next and I do appoint and recommend the said meeting to be held at that time and place. " Should it please a merciful God to raise me from the bed of sickness to which I am now confined, it will afford me the highest satisfaction to attend at that time, and con tribute all in my power towards the establishment and organisation of a Society which, with blessing of God, I have not the least doubt will, in time, in point of usefulness, be second only to the parent institution (the British and 20 A CRISIS FOR THE NATION Foreign Bible Society), will shed an unfading lustre on our Christian community, and will prove a blessing to our country and the world. (signed) " ELIAS BOUDINOT, i( President of the New Jersey Bible Society." " Burlington, January 31, 1816." Dr. Boudinot had rendered distinguished services to his country during the Revolutionary War ; as President of the National Congress, at the close of that war he had signed the treaty of peace with Great Britain ; and now it was his high privilege to sign a document which, in his hope, would stand for much in the history of his country saved to permanent loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ. That the call for a convention of Bible Societies was signed on his sick bed detracted but little from his satisfaction. FIRST PERIOD 1816-1821 CHAPTER IV THE ORGANISATION OF THE SOCIETY THE Garden Street Dutch Reformed Church, of which Rev. Dr. Matthews was pastor, in 1816 was a plain, unpre tentious building of old New York. Long ago it gave place, with all of the residences about it, to the demands for space made by the money-getters. The very street on which it fronted is now hidden under the name of Exchange Place. On the 8th of May, 1816, the Consistory Room of this church was opened to a meeting of clergy and laymen in terested in the question whether the new West could be led to learn God s ways in nation-building. The struggle be tween good and evil was in the thoughts of all the dele gates. In one sense that struggle was transferred from the frontiers in the valley of the great river to this city Meeting House. Here, God willing, the great question was to touch decision. For this was the gathering which the president of the New Jersey Bible Society had called to choose some prac ticable method of carrying God s word westward to the thousands fast settling into content with irreligion. Dr. Boudinot was not able to be present at this memorable gathering; but behind the visitors, far back in the room, sat Samuel J. Mills the ardent believer in Bible Societies as missionary agencies. He had come there full of hope ; but his heart was weighed down with fear when he realised that the gathering would be composed of representatives of different sects. Many of the most polemical theologians of the different denominations had been brought together there with the notion that they could agree on common ground of action. 21 22 ORGANISATION OF THE SOCIETY [1816- Mr. Joshua M. Wallace, of Burlington, New Jersey, an Episcopalian and a leading member of the New Jersey Bible Society, was chosen chairman of the Convention. Rev. Dr. John B. Romeyn, delegate from the New York Bible So ciety, pastor of the Cedar Street Reformed Church ; and Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher, the father of " all the Beechers," a young man who as pastor of the Congregational Church at Litchfield, Connecticut, had already fought well as a cham pion of temperance among the clergy, were appointed secre taries of the Convention. The Convention was composed of men who were all dis tinguished in some direction. There was John Criscom of the Society of Friends, organiser of the common school system of New Jersey; a philosopher, as well as a professor of Chemistry. Another man of note was Rev. Dr. Nathaniel \V. Taylor, pastor of the First Congregational Church at Xew Haven, delegate of the Connecticut Bible Society. He was a very eloquent preacher, but was re garded by some of his contemporaries as a heretic. An other member was Rev. Gardiner Spring, pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York, then located in Beekman Street. His ministry was remarkable for its length and its power. He was pastor of the Brick Church for sixty-three years. Mr. Spring had often crossed swords with Dr. Taylor of New Haven, in a sharp con troversy upon freedom of the will. Another battle-scarred controversialist was Rev. Dr. Jedidiah Morse, pastor of the First Congregational Church at Charlestown, Massachu setts. It was only a few years after this Convention that Dr. Morse, broken in health by brooding over the violence of his theological opponents, had to resign his pastorate. Next to him we may note Rev. Mr. Henshaw, a rising young Episcopal minister, who afterwards became Bishop of Rhode Island. Another man of distinction was Mr. Joseph C. Hornblower of Newark, who later became Chief Justice of New Jersey. Then there was Valentine Mott, the dis tinguished surgeon, of whom Sir Astley Cooper said later on, " He has performed more great operations than any man living or who ever did live." He, too, represented the Society of Friends. James Fenimore Cooper, the novelist, i82i] SOME EMINENT MEN 23 was there as one of the delegates from Otsego County Bible Society, tie was notable on account of his participation in the work of that day, even if he had not afterwards gained admiration as a teller of entrancing American stories. An other delegate was a printer and publisher of Utica, New York Mr. William Williams, whose son, S. Wells Wil liams, gained renown as a missionary, as a master of Chinese, as a statesman, and later as President of the American Bible Society. The originator of Sunday schools in the state of New Jersey was there Rev. Dr. John Mac- Dowell, then pastor at Elizabethtown, New Jersey. The delegate of the Westchester County Bible Society was Wil liam Jay, Esq., son of the great statesman, John Jay, a schoolmate and warm friend of James Fenimore Cooper, and an eminent conchologist as well as statesman, who was moved by his benevolent spirit to elaborate the first detailed scheme for the arbitration of difficulties between nations. Several of the Virginia Societies united in sending as their delegate to the Convention the Rev. John II. Rice, a fervent and powerful preacher, who three years later became moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly, and after wards President of the Union Theological Seminary at Hampden-Sidney. Another eminent educator in the great Convention was the President of Union College, New York, Rev. Dr. Eliphalet Nott, distinguished as pulpit orator, and a most genial disciplinarian whose students always delighted to tell of their encounters with his keen wit. But this list must serve as a sample of the material making up this Con vention. The names of all the members of the Convention are given in another place, tor, as Bishop Eastburn of Massachusetts said, some years later, u Let us not lose from memory the instruments chosen by the Almighty for bless ing in this work the land and the world." Rev. Dr. Eliphalet Nott, President of Union College, was called upon to offer prayer. In that earnest petition for the guidance of the Holy Spirit were expressed the solemnity of the moment and the yearnings of every heart in that room. The solemn silence in the Convention was hardly disturbed by the quiet questions and answers as the list of delegates was made, and letters from other Bible Societies 24 ORGANISATION OF THE SOCIETY [1816- not represented by delegates were read, expressing approval of the general design of the meeting. When the roll of delegates had been made up, the object of the meeting was presented and freely discussed, not with out divergences of view. Dr. Lyman Beecher wrote of the Convention many years later : There was one moment in our proceedings when things seemed to tangle and some feeling began to rise. At that moment Dr. Mason rose hastily and said: Mr. President, the Lord Jesus never built a church but what the devil built a chapel close to it ; and he is here now, this moment, in this room, with his finger in the ink-horn not to write your constitution but to blot it out. The laughter caused by this sally dispelled the storm, and the clear sun appeared again. To the amazement of all present, these champions of denomina tional competition stood at one point of view. In the after noon when a resolution was presented that "it is expedient to establish without delay a general Bible institution for the circulation of the Holy Scriptures without note or com ment," it was adopted without a dissenting vote. The chairman of the Convention, Joshua M. Wallace of New Jersey, could not control his emotion. His eyes filled with tears, and he said, " Thank God ! Thank God ! " x Al most hidden behind the crowd in the rear of the room sat Samuel J. Mills, the man who had concentrated upon se curing the organisation of a National Bible Society his great executive power in exciting and combining minds for benev olent work. When he saw that the day was won, a look of heavenly delight spread over his countenance. 2 The smiles exchanged between the members of the Con vention showed that this unanimous action had drawn them all closer together, like the members of an exploring party when fr om some Pisgah they have gained their first view of a Promised Land. One thought was in every mind : " It is the work of God ! " These sixty men for the Master s sake set aside strong personal preferences. Under divine guidance at a crisis in 1 Rev. Dr. Blythe of Kentucky at the loth Anniversary of the American Bible Society. 2 Life of S. J. Mills by Rev. Gardiner Spring. 1821] CONSTITUTION OF THE SOCIETY 25 the national growth they had called into being an institu tion suited to the emergency, which would provide the na tion with Scriptures and make many souls glad forever. Having appointed a committee to prepare a draft of a constitution, and also an address to the public, the Conven tion adjourned to Friday, May 10, at n A. M. ; and its mem bers joyfully congratulated each other, giving glory to God like the man who received his sight at the word of Jesus. When the Convention met on the loth, according to ad journment, the Committee, composed of Rev. Dr. Eliphalet Nott of Union College, Samuel Bayard of Princeton, New Jersey, Rev. Dr. John M. Mason of New York, Rev. Simon Wilmer of New Jersey, Rev. David Jones of Pennsylvania, Rev. Lyman Beecher of Connecticut, Charles Wright, Esq., of Long Island, Rev. John H. Rice of Virginia, Rev. Dr. Jedidiah Morse of Massachusetts, William Jay, Esq., of Westchester County, New York, and Rev. Dr. James Blythe of Kentucky, presented its draft of a constitution. This was read, discussed, considered paragraph by paragraph, and unanimously adopted. It was a well-considered document which has served its purpose (with some amendment, see Appendix) as the years have gone by. It is here given in its original form : " i. This Society shall he known by the name of The American Bible Society, of which the sole object shall be to encourage a wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures without note or comment. The only copies in the English language to be circulated by the Society shall be of the ver sion now in common use. " 2. This Society shall add its endeavours to those em ployed by other Societies, for circulating the Scriptures throughout the United States and their territories ; and shall furnish them with stereotype plates, or such other as sistance as circumstances may require. This Society shall, also, according to its ability, extend its influence to other countries, whether Christian, Mohammedan, or Pagan. " 3. All Bible Societies shall be allowed to purchase at cost from this Society, Bibles for distribution within their own districts. The members of all such Bible Societies as 26 ORGANISATION OF THE SOCIETY [1816- shall agree to place their surplus revenue, after supplying their own districts with Bibles, at the disposal of this So ciety, shall be entitled to vote in all meetings of the Society; and the officers of such Societies shall be ex officio directors of this. ""4. Each subscriber of three dollars annually shall be a member. " 5. Each subscriber of thirty dollars at one time shall be a member for life. " 6. Each subscriber of fifteen dollars annually shall be a Director. 1 " 7. Each subscriber of one hundred and fifty dollars at one time, or who shall, by one additional payment, increase his original subscription to one hundred and fifty dollars shall be a Director for life. " 8. Directors shall be entitled to attend and vote at all meetings of the Board of Managers. " 9. A Board of Managers shall be appointed to conduct the business of the Society, consisting of thirty-six laymen, of whom twenty-four shall reside in the city of New York or its vicinity. One-fourth part of the whole number shall go out of office at the expiration of each year, but shall be re-eligible. " Every Minister of the Gospel, who is a member of the Society, shall be entitled to meet and vote with the Board of Managers, and be possessed of the same powers as a Man ager himself. " The Managers shall appoint all officers and call special meetings, and fill such vacancies as may occur by death or otherwise, in their own Board. " 10. Each member of the Society shall be entitled, under the direction of the Board of Managers, to purchase Bibles and Testaments, at the Society s prices, which shall be as low as possible. " ii. The Annual Meetings of the Society shall be held at New York or Philadelphia, at the option of the Society, on the second Thursday of May in each year, when the 1 This article was rescinded in 1827, and the numbers of the re maining Articles changed accordingly. 1821] ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE 27 Managers shall be chosen, the accounts presented, and the proceedings of the foregoing year reported. " 12. The President, Vice-Presidents, Treasurer and Sec retaries for the time being, shall be considered, ex officio, members of the Board of Managers. " 13. At the general meetings of the Society and the meet ings of the Managers, the President, or in his absence the Vice-President first on the list then present; and in the ab sence of all the Vice-Presidents, such members as shall be appointed for that purpose shall preside at the meeting. " 14. The Managers shall meet on the first Wednesday in each month, or oftener, if necessary, at such place in the city of New York as they shall from time to time ad journ to. " 15. The Managers shall have the power of appointing such persons as have rendered essential services to the So ciety, either Members for life, or Directors for life. " 1 6. The whole minutes of every meeting shall be signed by the Chairman. " 17. No alteration shall be made to this Constitution, ex cept by the Society at an annual meeting, on the recom mendation of the Board of Managers." The Committee also reported an address to the people of the United States, which was approved by the Convention. This was written by Rev. Dr. John Mitchell Mason, minister of the Associate Reformed Church, and at the time of this Convention provost of Columbia College ; an eminent leader in all that related to education of the ministry, a notable preacher, and an able orator on national occasions. In this address Dr. Mason spoke of the extraordinary reaction against a false philosophy widely taught in the eighteenth century, and pointed out the wide-spread feeling of desire on the part of American Christians to aid all that is holy against all that is profane; the purest interest of the com munity and the individual, against a conspiracy of darkness and disaster; and the eagerness felt in many quarters to claim a place in an age of Bibles to help the work of Chris tian charity. " Under such impressions," he said, " and with such views, 28 ORGANISATION OF THE SOCIETY [1816- fathers, brothers, fellow-citizens, the American Bible Society has been formed. Local feelings, party prejudices, sectarian jealousies are excluded by its very nature. It is leagued in that, and in that alone, which calls up every hallowed and puts down every unhallowed principle : the dissemination of the Scriptures in the received versions where they exist, and in the most faithful where they may be required. In such a work whatever is dignified, kind, venerable, true, has ample scope ; while sectarian littleness and rivalries can find no avenue of admission. After pointing out the great possibilities both at home and abroad of a National Bible Society, the address urged the people of the United States to take part in an enterprise of such grandeur and glory, since it is not becoming that Americans should hang back while the rest of Christendom was awake and alert. He closed with the following stirring appeal : " Be it impressed on your souls that a contribution, saved from even a cheap indulgence, may send a Bible to a deso late family ; may become a radiating point of grace and truth to a neighbourhood of error and vice ; and that a number of such contributions, made at really no expense, may illumine a large tract of country, and successive genera tions of immortals, in that celestial knowledge which shall secure their present and their future felicity. " But whatever be the proportion between expectation and experience, thus much is certain : We shall satisfy our conviction of duty we shall have the praise of high en deavours we shall minister to the blessedness of thou sands, and tens of thousands, of whom we may never see the faces, nor hear the names. We shall set forward a sys tem of happiness which will go on with accelerated motion and augmented vigour, after we shall have finished our career; and confer upon our children, and our children s children, the delight of seeing the wilderness turned into a fruitful field, by the blessing of God upon that seed which their fathers sowed, and themselves watered. In fine, we shall do our part toward that expansion and intensity of light divine which shall visit, in its progress, the palaces of the great and the hamlets of the small until the whole earth i82i] OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY 29 be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea ! : After having adopted the Constitution the Convention chose thirty-six managers in conformity with its Ninth Ar ticle. It then adjourned to meet May nth, sending notice to the ne\vly elected members of the Board that they had been chosen to be Managers of the American Bible So ciety. 1 The managers met in the City Hall on May nth and pro ceeded to choose officers of the Society, as follows : PRESIDENT : Hon. Elias Boudinot of New Jersey VICE-PRESIDENTS Hon. John Jay of New York Matthew Clarkson, Esq., of New York Hon. Smith Thompson of New York Hon. John Langdon of New Hampshire Hon. Caleb Strong of Massachusetts Hon. William Gray of Massachusetts Hon. John C. Smith of Connecticut Hon. Jonas Galusha of Vermont Hon. William Jones of Rhode Island Hon. Isaac Shelby of Kentucky George Madison, Esq., of Kentucky Hon. William Tilghman of Pennsylvania Hon. Bushrod Washington of Virginia 1 The names of those chosen for the first Board of Managers are as follows : Henry Rutgers John R. B. Rodgers Rnfus King John Bingham Dr. Peter Wilson Thomas Stokes Richard Varick Jeremiah Evarts Joshns Sands Thomas Farmer John Watts, M.D. George W arner Stephen Van Rensselaer Thomas Eddy De Witt Clinton Samuel Boyd William Johnson John \Varder George Suckley Ebenezer Burrill Samuel Bayard Divie Bethune Andrew Gifford Duncan P. Campbell William Bayard George Gosman John Aspinwall Peter McCarty Thomas Carpenter Charles Wright Thomas Shields John Cauldwell Cornelius Heyar Robert Ralston Leonard Bleecker John Murray, Jr. 30 ORGANISATION OF THE SOCIETY [1816-1821 Hon. Charles C. Pinckney of South Carolina Hon. William Gaston of North Carolina Hon. Thomas Worthington of Ohio Hon. Thomas Posey of Indiana Hon. James Brown of Louisiana John Bolton, Esq., of Georgia Hon. Felix Grundy of Tennessee Robert Oliver, Esq., of Maryland Joseph Nourse,, Esq., of the District of Columbia SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE I Rev. Dr. John M. Mason SECRETARY FOR DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENCE: Rev. J. B. Romeyn, D.D., TREASURER Richard Varick, Esq. A committee of the managers communicated information of this choice to the Convention. The Convention, having received notification that the or ganisation of the new Society was now complete, adopted a resolution by which the city of New York was fixed as the place in which the first annual meeting of the American .Bible Society should be held. The business being now accomplished, the meeting was closed with prayer by Rev. Mr. Wilmer, and the Convention was dissolved. On Monday, the I3th of May, a ratification meeting was held in the City Hall, the Mayor of the city of New York presiding. After addresses by George Griffin, Esq., Wil liam Jay, Esq., and Rev. Dr. Nott of Union College, a large and enthusiastic audience adopted resolutions pledging sup port to the Bible Society thus auspiciously set on its way. CHAPTER V FINDING ITS FEET WHEN the Lord distinctly calls a man to His work, an impression of unfitness and inability is the first response to the call. Moses in Midian said unto the Lord, " Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? " Gideon, when told to save Israel from the Midianites, said, " O Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father s house." Yet, when con vinced that the call was really from God Himself, each of these men went in the might of faith in God, and accom plished the work assigned to him. Something of the same experience fell to the lot of the officers and managers of the American Bible Society when the Convention had dissolved and left them to do their best. They had no doubt that the work assigned to them was appointed by God Himself. The Convention had defined the work, and chosen them to put it into execution. There was no question at all of the greatness of the undertaking committed to them. They must plan to supply the destitute in a broad land with the written Word, and they must do it without delay. The plan before the Convention con templated results alone; methods and instruments of action had to be found or invented. The Managers of the new Society must furnish Bibles to clamorous ministers, needy Sunday Schools, and destitute families in the distant wilder ness ; jput they had neither printing press, money nor men to carry books to the West. They were to offer the Bible to French and Spanish among our own people; but the gift of tongues was not theirs. When we look at the quality of the men upon whom these heavy burdens were cast, we must acknowledge that 31 32 FINDING ITS FEET [1816- they were well chosen for the work. The two secretaries, Mason and Romeyn, were both pastors of great influence in the city of New York, and both of them had served one as President, the other as Secretary in the New York Bible Society. Of the Board of Managers, ten had been Managers of the New York Bible Society. It almost looked as if the older Society had become merged in the new. The Board of Managers of the American Bible Society included Mr. Robert Ralston, one of the founders and later Presi dent of the Philadelphia Bible Society, and Mr. Jeremiah Evarts, Treasurer and afterwards Secretary of the Ameri can Board of Missions. Richard Varick, chosen member of the Board of Managers, but elected Treasurer of the Society by the Managers at their first meeting, was one of the Staff Officers and private secretary of General Washing ton, acquainted with the hardships of the battle-field ; a man of great business ability, warm heart, and earnest devo tion to the advancement of piety. De Witt Clinton, a leader in many great works in New York, was chosen Governor of New York State while still a Manager of the Bible Society. Divie Bethune, a life-long philanthropist, might be said to be the first tract society of New York, since he had printed and circulated at his own expense many thousands of tracts. Henry Rutgers was another of the men of the Revolutionary War, notable as a man of wealth ready to help every chari table object. General Stephen Van Rensselaer commanded the attack on Oueenstown in 1812, was a member of the New York Legislature in 1816, later was Chancellor of New York University, and founder of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy. These names are enough to show the kind of men deemed necessary for the management of a So ciety so high and so broad in aim as the American Bible Society. Nevertheless these men felt almost like the apostles to whom Jesus Christ left the work of teaching all nations. They were like a forlorn hope chosen for the last desperate assault upon the stronghold of a mighty enemy. Diffi culty was almost the only known feature of the duty which was laid upon them. Their circumstances as they took up i8.2i] ENTHUSIASTIC GOOD WILL 33 the work could hardly be more hopeless. Yet these men were men of living piety ; they had one assurance of power : He who directed that all people should be taught to observe the things which He had commanded had said, " Lo, I am with you alway." That promise was eternally valid. The many expressions of enthusiastic good-will which welcomed the new organisation were an encouragement. The mere fact that an American Bible Society had been organised was a surprise and a joy to the churches; a sur prise, because federation of denominations for religious work was unheard of save in some obscure corners of the land; and a joy because such a federation seemed equal to solving the problem of combatting ir religion in the newly settled areas. It promised concentration of forces, system atic and effective, for the salvation of America. The cor respondence of the idea of such an enterprise with the eternal purpose of God for the race makes the story of the Bible Society hardly more than a study of the form by which the divine will and purpose here expressed itself. Everywhere the American Bible Society was hailed as marking the commencement of a glorious era in the history of the United States. The General Assembly of the Pres byterian Church made immediate note of its appreciation and good-will. 1 The General Convention of the Baptist Church before the year had passed away voted its approval of the plan. During that first year also forty-three of the local Bible Societies which were in existence before the Na tional Society was organised, connected themselves with it as Auxiliaries. More than forty Bible Societies were or ganised as Auxiliaries of the American Bible Society dur ing the same year. The New York Bible Society and the Auxiliary New York Bible Society immediately became Auxiliaries of the national Society, and emphasised that relationship by presenting the American Bible Society with stereotype plates of the English Bible which they jointly owned, and with a thousand sets of sheets of the Bible in French. Bible Societies in a number of different states had 1 Report on the state of religion approved by the Presbyterian General Assembly, May, 1816. 34 FINDING ITS FEET [1816- contributed to the cost of the plates and of the French Bibles, so that there was a sort of propriety in these ma terials being handed over to the National Society at once. The Mayor of the city of New York, the Governors of the New York Hospital, and later the New York Historical Society became the hosts of the Board of Managers when they sought a place in which to hold their meetings. Even printers in the city offered to print free of charge any circulars which the American Bible Society might wish to send out in collecting money. Inspiriting as was the welcome in the United States to the new Bible Society, from Russia and from Germany came similar expressions of good-will which thrilled like miraculous messages from the unknown. Prince Galitzin, President of the Russian Bible Society, wrote to Judge Wal lace of New Jersey as President of the organising Conven tion : " Notwithstanding the distance which separates us, being approximated by the same spirit of unity and action, we unanimously engage to exert ourselves for the same cause of benevolence." The Secretaries of the Hamburg and Altona Bible Society wrote to Bishop White of Penn sylvania, President of the Philadelphia Bible Society (prob ably supposing that the Philadelphia Society was merged in the National Society) : " We have learned with great satisfaction from the publications which have reached us, that the loud voice of the friends of the Bible in America has demanded and produced a union of the interests of all the provincial Societies by the establishment of a national Bible Society. However great the distance at which we live from each other, we feel ourselves associated with you in the blessed vocation of presenting those revered docu ments upon which the faith of all Christians rests to such of the children of men as do not possess them." The British and Foreign Bible Society, the recognised model and exemplar of the American Bible Society, outdid these friends from the continent of Europe. It sent not only a letter full of fraternal sentiments, but the promise of a gift of twenty-two hundred dollars (five hundred pounds), which was doubly acceptable at this juncture; espe- 1821] CONGRATULATIONS FROM BRITAIN 35 cially when it was arranged by correspondence that a part of this donation should take the form of Bibles in French. The letter which brought tidings of this generous gift was an ideal exhibit of Christian brotherhood. Let it not be forgotten that the correspondence was between men recently opposed to each other in a national wrangle of exception ally bitter partisanship. Commending the founders of the American Bible Society for taking up a charitable scheme the moment that peace had been signed, the Briton hails the American as a true yokefellow, among the instruments ef fectively to be used by our Lord Jesus Christ. The letter was addressed to Dr. Boudinot, because the fulness of joy had led him to write of the organisation of the American Bible Society before the Secretary had time to prepare the official notification. To Dr. Boudinot Mr. Owen wrote as follows : " My dear Sir: " The Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Soci ety have instructed me to offer you their warmest congratu lations on the event of the formation of the American Bible Society ; an event which they consider as truly auspicious, and pregnant with consequences most advantageous to the promotion of that great work in which the American Breth ren and themselves are mutually engaged. " To these congratulations, our Committee have added a grant of five hundred pounds ; and they trust that both will be acceptable as indications and pledges of that friendly disposition which it is their desire to cultivate and manifest towards every class and description of their transatlantic fellow-labourers. " The crisis at which the American Bible Society has been formed, and the cordial unanimity which has reigned throughout all the proceedings which led to its establish ment, encourage the most sanguine hopes of its proving, in the hand of God, a powerful auxiliary in the confederate warfare which is now carrying on against ignorance and sin. May those hopes be realised, and many new trophies be added, through its instrumentality, to those triumphs 36 FINDING ITS FEET [1816- which have already been reaped by the arms of our common Redeemer. " I am, my dear Sir, " Very faithfully yours, " JOHN OWEN, " Secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. " Dr. Boudinot, " President of the American Bible Society." Pleasing expressions of admiration in this world of ours are not rarely offset by unpleasing expressions of disap proval. Great plans like those of the American Bible Soci ety could hardly be viewed from all points with equal sat isfaction. During the first five years Watchmen of Liberty sprang up to denounce such a Society. " An institution," said they, " having hundreds of auxiliaries to extend its grasp over the whole land must become a menace to free government." The Conservator of Sects turned up with a shrill outcry because, for holy uses like the publishing of Scriptures, tainted money was being accepted from those whom he could not regard as Christians. And then the Supervisor of Public Morals added his protest against shortsightedness which proposes to give to uneducated peo ple a book like the Holy Bible, without note or comment. Good Bishop Hobart of Albany had already drawn the keen weapons of controversy more than once against Sec retary John Mitchell Mason, upon the question of the Epis copacy. It was hardly a surprise, therefore, when upon the publication of Dr. Mason s address to the people, he took opportunity by a letter to the New York Herald (May 13, 1816), in a dignified though voluble manner to announce his disapproval of a partnership of Episcopalians with other denominations in religious work, and especially in dissem ination of the Bible, which he regarded as a prerogative of his church and clergy. He used arguments which in Eng land had already been turned against the British and For eign Bible Society : There was no necessity for the Soci ety ; the idea of maintaining a National Society was vision ary ; there was no perfect accord among the existing Bible 1821] A NATIONAL SOCIETY 37 Societies in favour of the new one, etc., etc. It so happened that Bishop White of Pennsylvania, President of the Phila delphia Bible Society, was committed to the very interde nominational principle attacked by Bishop Hobart. Indeed, in an address at Philadelphia, he had praised what Bishop Hobart condemned. " It has been thought," he said, " an incidental advantage arising from Bible Societies that by combining persons of different religious denominations, they have the effect of promoting unity of affection under irre concilable differences of opinion. The British and For eign Bible Society set off on the fundamental principle of avoiding whatever could bring such diversity into view. They professed to deliver the book of God without note or comment. The Societies instituted in America have trod den in their steps. While this plan shall be pursued, there can be no dissatisfaction on account of interfering opinions or modes of worship. Is it possible that such a course can be persevered in without contributing to all the charities of life?" Other men of his own church connected with the admin istration of the American Bible Society made answer to Bishop Hobart, but pamphlet succeeded pamphlet with no harm and some advantage to the new Society. William Jay said in 1817: "The Society must engage in no con troversy. She must know no enemy ; her sphere is one of love and harmony. She ought not even to ask her friends to defend her cause. Let her distribute her Constitution and the Report of her proceedings and let these be her only answers to the calumnies and falsehoods of her ene mies. ... To answer would begin a long controversy. No middle course can be taken." 1 If any one would now read the documents of this dis cussion he must needs force himself through material enough to fill a volume of considerable size. More impor tant matters have prior demands upon the space allotted to this story of the Society. Strong men of affairs, like the Board of Managers men whose abilities had weighed in the making of the Re- 1 Letter of May I, 1817, in archives of the American Bible Society. 38 FINDING ITS FEET [1816- public ; men by vote of the people now connected with great enterprises of National development, whose business apti tude was already building up a commerce between the con tinents ; men soberly resolved that the new Bible Society, without delay, should do effective work, were not disturbed by the criticisms of suspicion or ignorance. The well- known proverb of the Arabs, " The dog barks, but the cara van goes on," makes the stately march of camels over the sands a type of any enterprise so great that it can be care less of small obstacles. The desk of the Domestic Secre tary was quickly clogged with proposals, advice, demands, and entreaties. A policy must be framed for securing and well utilising a steady supply of Bibles ; for gaining the support of Auxiliaries wholly devoted like themselves ; and for filling the empty treasure-chest. Managers and Execu tive Officers must proceed almost like the blind man who feels with his staff before he plants his foot ; yet they must proceed. The bearing of these men during those years harmonised entirely with that of President Boudinot, as he formally accepted the office of President of the Bible Society. His acceptance addressed to Secretary Romeyn was a letter of which the spirit is revealed in the following extract : " I am not ashamed to confess that I accept of the ap pointment of President of the American Bible Society as the greatest honour that could have been conferred on me this side of the grave. " I am so convinced that the whole of this business is the work of God Himself, by His Holy Spirit, that even hoping against hope, I am encouraged to press on through good report and evil report, to accomplish His will on earth as it is in Heaven. " So apparent is the hand of God in thus disposing the hearts of so many men, so diversified in their sentiments as to religious matters of minor importance, and uniting them as a band of brothers in this grand object; that even Infi dels are compelled to say, it is the work of the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes ! In vain is the opposition of man : as well might he attempt to arrest the arm of Om nipotence, or fix a barrier around the throne of God. Hav- 1821] A DONATION FROM DR. BOUDINOT 39 ing this confidence, let us go on and we shall prosper." ! This hearty assurance of a noble future for the Society Dr. Boudinot emphasised by a splendid donation of $10,000. 1 Letter of Boudinot, June 5, 1816, in the first report of the American Bible Society, p. 38. CHAPTER VI THE AUXILIARY THEORY THE American Bible Society when formed was given a free hand and thrown as fully upon its own initiative as is a missionary landing on a foreign and forbidding coast. On coming into practical touch with the details of the enter prise placed in their hands the Board of Managers hastily looked about for helpers. The undertaking was vast ; the burden of responsibility for it was immeasurable. From Canada to the Gulf the eyes of the Board must see the needy. From the midst of nine million people those with out Bibles must be sought out if these destitute ones were to be supplied with the Book which teaches discrimination between the bitter and the sweet plan of life. The leader of a military campaign of equal magnitude has but to com mand in order to mass his forces. The Managers of the Bible Society could do no more than plead for helpers. The plan of the Board for finding and supplying the des titute in twenty States was to raise up Auxiliary Bible Soci eties in every part of the country. The foundation of the financial scheme of the Society, also, was the theory of Auxiliary Societies. These would collect contributions in pennies from those who deal in pennies, and in gold from those whose hoard is gold. Such Auxiliary Societies in every county with branches in every township could con centrate upon support of this noble, inspiring enterprise the attention of individuals everywhere with their interest, their prayers and their gifts. The theory of Auxiliary Societies rooted among the peo ple, having a near view of their needs, distributing Scrip tures with deliberate judgment, and winning the support of rich and poor, came from the British and Foreign Bible Society. The system as developed in Great Britain did not 40 1816-1821] BRITISH AUXILIARIES 41 originate with the Bible Society. In fact it had become a success before the British Society took much notice of it. The enterprise of supplying the poor with Scriptures was so sensible and yet so novel that Christians in widely sepa rated districts took up the work. Bibles and Testaments were gladly supplied to the poor of their immediate vicinity by local groups or associations of Christians. The members of these associations contributed what they could and col lected from others money with which to buy Bibles from the British and Foreign Bible Society. A notable feature of the plan grew out of the wish to participate in the grand work of the British Society in foreign lands. One-half of the money collected in various ways was sent to the British and Foreign Bible Society as a donation for its general work; the other half being used for the purchase of Scrip tures and any local expenses of the association. Scriptures were given gratuitously to the very poor ; but in order to make the funds of the association go as far as possible, both Bibles and Testaments were often sold on the instalment plan. For the Bibles which they wished to have even the very poor were asked to pay each week, until the price was paid up, a few pence. This Auxiliary plan in Great Britain grew up of itself, we might say, like any herb of the field. Warm Christian love was the sun which nourished it and its fruit was so at tractive that the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society took steps to encourage the formation of such Auxiliary Societies. The local Bible Associations counted it a high honour to be recognised as Auxiliaries in so great a work. They naturally had no control over the affairs of the great Bible Society, while that Society exercised an in fluence amounting to control over all the Auxiliaries. In a snug little territory like the British Islands it was easy to sustain the interest of members of the local Societies by printed notes from the wonderful story of the great Society and by visits, meetings, and stirring appeals from delegations sent out. For years this Auxiliary system has been one of the largest single sources of income for the British So ciety. A very different basis had the Auxiliary system as trans- 42 THE AUXILIARY THEORY [1816- planted to the United States. In the first place the point of view taken by the Auxiliaries toward the general Soci ety was different. Since the local Bible Societies regarded the American Bible Society as their creation, in the man agement of the national Society, by vote of their officers in the Annual Meetings, all Auxiliaries had a certain meas ure of control while the national Society had no control whatever over the Auxiliaries. The Board of Managers recognised in the Auxiliary system a telling instrument for collecting money, but no plan of systematic collections had been worked out, and no fixed proportion of the money col lected was insured to the national Society. Auxiliaries were to pay to it whatever was left from their revenues after supplying the needs of their own fields. The Auxil iary Societies would profit by the aid of the general Society in the work of distribution, and whatever they might or might not contribute as donations, they could always buy books at the mere cost of production. At the same time there were reasons which might deter the existing Bible Societies from becoming Auxiliaries to the American Bible Society. Their situation was somewhat like that of promi nent social leaders who have been instrumental in the es tablishment of a college in a country town, but who find that the great institution of learning must sooner or later outrank in prominence and power the generous notables who encouraged its establishment. The Board of Managers vigorously urged the formation of Auxiliary Bible Societies in all parts of the country. Not only did it show that an Auxiliary was necessary in every county ; it asked that branches might be formed in all the townships. Women were reminded that the British Society received considerable sums from Women s Associa tions which collected a penny or two here, and sixpence there. They could do the same effective work if they would only organise Bible Associations. One point of difficulty very soon came to light. The mails brought to the Secretaries of the Society letters from different local Bible Societies in rapid succession announc ing their purpose to be Auxiliaries of the American Bible Society; some sending donations and some asking grants i82i] AUXILIARY MEANS HELPER 43 to supply pressing needs. It was quite evident that many good people confused the idea of co-operating with the Na tional Society by sympathy and good will, with that of sys tematically labouring as helpers to extend its great work. They supposed that a vote of the local Society was all that was required to establish the Auxiliary relation. The point of view of the Board of Managers, however, was far from this. It became necessary in October, 1818, to issue a note explaining that no Bible Society can become Auxiliary to the American Bible Society without a special vote of recog nition on the part of the Board of Managers. In this con nection the Board gave its interpretation of the third article of the Constitution; the essential part of the statement being that no Society can be recognised as an Auxiliary to the American Bible Society until it shall have officially com municated to the Board that its sole object is to promote the circulation of the Holy Scriptures without note or com ment, and that it will place its surplus revenue, after sup plying its own district with Scriptures, at the disposal of the American Bible Society as long as it shall remain thus connected with it. A lesser point of the duties of Auxiliaries had already been decided by the Board in 1817 when the Kentu cky Bible Society made application for a set of stereotype plates, ex plaining that they wished to print Scriptures for all the Western States. The Board then notified Auxiliaries in a general statement that an Auxiliary Society cannot, at its own expense, distribute Bibles beyond the limits of its own district. Otherwise the local Society will lose its character as a helper of the national Society, since it will never have any surplus funds to transmit to the general treasury ; trans mission of such surplus funds being an essential part of the duties of an Auxiliary. Lest the constitutional limitations of the Auxiliary s activities should in this case limit the use made of the plates loaned to the Kentucky Bible Society, the Managers stated that the American Bible Society might, if necessary, have books for other States printed at its ex pense at the Kentucky press. These conditions of the Auxiliary relationship had al ready been explained to many Societies in private cor- 44 THE AUXILIARY THEORY [1816- respondence; and to remove all doubts about the sympa thies of the Board of Managers, in 1817 it announced to all Bible Societies that, of course, they were at liberty to with draw from the Auxiliary relationship if they chose to do so. When the matter became thoroughly understood there was no longer question as to the intent of the Constitution. The line was clearly marked between Auxiliary Bible Socie ties who are recognised helpers of the national Society and other Bible Societies, which, like that in Philadelphia, vol untarily co-operated with the national Society although not organically connected with it. An utterance of the Auxiliary New York Bible Society in its third Annual Report (1816) showed its hearty ac ceptance of this early interpretation of the Auxiliary rela tionship. There are cases where it is more honourable as well as more dutiful to pay tribute than it is to claim the sceptre. . . . Feeling as we do upon this subject (the organisation of the American Bible Society) we cannot, at a time like the present, suppress the emotions of our joy and congratulations. . . . To that Society you have become tributary by profession. Let not your Auxiliary character be confined to the name. Subordinate duties are as certain and as urgent as those of a higher order which depend upon them." 1 Another difficulty appeared when some of the Auxiliary Societies were unable to understand why, when they bought and paid for books, they were not helpers of the National Society. Why should they be asked to send other money for the general work? It had to be explained quite often and at some length that buying books from the general de pository is merely replenishing a continually exhausted stock. The money received from sales simply restored the Treasury to the position in which it was before the books were sold. Only by gifts dedicated to the general work of the Society could an Auxiliary be a helper and not a mere dependent. A reservoir must be fed by streams larger than 1 This Society was announcing its new condition as auxiliary to the A. B. S. See Third Annual Report of Auxiliary New York Bible Society quoted in the first Annual Report of the American Bible Society, p. 54. 1821] UNION COUNTS IN BIBLE WORK 45 those flowing from it, if it is to collect water for other dis tricts. In 1819 while the Board was urgently calling upon the people all over the country to form Auxiliary Bible Socie ties, it received an impression from a friendly letter that the Philadelphia Bible Society might at last consent to be come Auxiliary to the national Society. Realising that the oldest society in the United States must naturally value highly its inclependent existence, the Society had adopted an addition to the Constitution (iQth Article), permitting the Board to make special terms of recognition as Auxiliaries for any Society formed earlier which had commenced pub lishing Scriptures before the American Bible Society was organised. A statement of the Board issued at this time shows its views : " The Managers are anxious to see an entire union of the Bible interest in this country ; believing that such a union would do honour to the pious and the benevolent in our land; that it \vould prevent all injurious interference in the great work ; that it would secure a larger amount of gifts in aid of that work ; that the exertions, which all might make together, would be greater, more economical, and more vigorous, than can be made in a separate state ; and that the consequence of combined efforts would be a meas ure of success, probably much larger, and certainly much more striking and impressive, than that which would at tend disunited labours. With these views and opinions, measures have been adopted by the Managers. They wait patiently for the result. Should it be favourable, the Man agers will be highly gratified, and will rejoice in the ac complishment of an object so desirable as a complete con federacy of the Bible cause in our country. Yet should the Societies to which the nineteenth article of the Constitution applies, and the other Societies in the United States which are not Auxiliaries, deem it expedient for them to remain unconnected with the national Society, the Managers will continue to regard them not with jealousy, but with love, and will always be anxious for their prosperity and their widespread usefulness." x 1 Report of the A. B. S., 1820. 46 THE AUXILIARY THEORY [1816- The hope of the Managers respecting the willingness of the Philadelphia Society to come into a closer relationship was dashed. The Philadelphia Bible Society expressed in the kindest terms its inability to consider it conducive to the general interests of the Bible cause to be at present so con nected with the American Bible Society as to become an Auxiliary. At the same time its Board expressed its will ingness to co-operate with their brethren of the American Bible Society in any plans which may be considered useful to the advance of the object for which both were labouring. These expressions of good will were not empty words. The Philadelphia Society rendered financial and other aid to the national Society repeatedly during the next twenty years. In 1840 it took the step of formally becoming Auxiliary to the American Bible Society. The Auxiliary system which worked so well in Great Britain encountered many difficulties due to the wide ex panses of the United States territory. These Societies must be left very much to their independent initiative since the interminable American distances and the hardships of travel would make frequent visits from Secretaries or other dele gates of the national Society difficult, and in some cases impossible. During the first five experimental years many Auxiliaries were a constant source of anxiety to the Board of Man agers. Numbers of local Societies entered the ranks as formal helpers without a chance of maintaining work in their own fields. Their calls for help were unceasing and embarrassing. Money for the general work contributed by strong and active Auxiliaries was absorbed in keeping alive the anaemic ones. At times, it is true, sparseness of the population was a cause of these disappointing results. Sometimes it was the depression of the local currency, some times small calamities peculiar to a new country, or some times even the appearance of other scheme? of missionary benevolence. Yet in those early days the Board had to ad mit many times that some Auxiliaries were constitutionally inactive and some deliberately chose to be dependent. It early became clear that the conditions of a truly helpful Auxiliary system are not easy to fulfil. If Auxiliaries es- 1821] WEAKNESS OF THE SYSTEM 47 tablished in the first heat of enthusiasm should maintain the passion to win souls, and if such Societies should never be come physically too feeble for active life, the Auxiliary sys tem would not be a drag upon the national Society, but would prove permanently as efficient as it was praiseworthy. At the end of the fifth year of the Society, three hundred and one Auxiliaries were in existence. They had paid into the Treasury of the Society $39,360.90 as donations, be sides what they paid for books. Great sums have since been paid into the Treasury for the worldwide work by Auxiliary Societies. Many thou sand volumes of Scripture have been taken by them to the destitute. Thousands of our people owe their religious awakening to their efforts. Some of the most important and fruitful measures adopted by the American Bible So ciety originated with a suggestion from one or another Aux iliary Society. Yet, as will be seen later on, a territory as vast and as sparsely inhabited as that of the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century was not quite suited to the success of the Auxiliary idea so hopefully im ported from England. SECOND PERIOD 1821-1832 CHAPTER VII EARLY EXPERIMENTS A LARGE movement of population marked for Americans the close of the second decade of the nineteenth century. Thousands of settlers moved into the country west of the Alleghanies. During the first five years of the existence of the American Bible Society immigrants from Europe ar rived at the average rate of ten thousand each year. In diana, Mississippi, Illinois, Maine, and Missouri were ad mitted to the Union as States. Florida was given up to the United States by Spain, and a quiet feeling of well- being prevailed throughout the land. In South America the establishment of independent republics which had com menced during the Napoleonic Wars, continued with more or less resistance from Spaniards and others interested in the monarchical system. Mexico was in continual unrest. In our land the war with the Seminole Indians blazed out and died away, only to flare up again ; questions of tariff disturbed different sections of the country, and the debates concerning slavery foreshadowed their growth in bitterness ; but on the whole there was throughout the country a feel ing of steady prosperity. Astonishment at the growth of the population was ex pressed on every hand. John C. Calhoun, writing in 1816, said : " We are great and rapidly, I had almost said fear fully, growing. Good roads and canals will do much to unite us." With this growth in the population throbbing like a pulse which all could feel, it might seem shocking that the Society formed to evangelise with Bibles the Western regions of the country, almost as its first act, told applicants that at present it would not supply any Bibles. The Amer ican Bible Society was hardly a week old when disconcert ing orders for books began to come in, many of them ac- 1821-1832] ISSUE OF BIBLES DELAYED 49 companied by money in payment. The Board, which was hardly organised for business, had to fix a policy. Its per plexity was like that of a man seeking a place to lodge who has word that friends are coming to stay with him. It de cided that the first use to which money contributions should be applied was the acquirement of stereotype plates of the Bible. Therefore it informed those who ordered Bibles that money which came with orders for books would be sent back to the donors, or handed over to one of the local Bible Societies which had Bibles on hand. A Bible Society without Bibles was as ineffective as a railway without rolling stock ; to purchase Bibles in the market would merely delay ownership of stereotype plates. Offers of plates or for the making of them were hurriedly presented by various firms, and after close scrutiny of such proposals the Board ordered a contract to be made at ad vantageous terms for six sets of stereotype plates of the Bible ; three in octavo, and three in duodecimo, to be cast as soon as possible. The plates would not be ready before the spring of 1817. Meantime the importunate local Bible Societies must do without Scriptures. It was at this fateful moment that the New York Bible Society and its Auxiliary, loyally ready to serve their new leader in the common cause, came forward with their timely gift of a complete set of stereotype plates in minion type. In November, 1816, by the generosity of these Societies, the American Bible Society was able to put forth its first issue of ten thousand copies of the Englfsh Bible. In the minds of the founders of the Society the plan of distribut ing sets of stereotype plates among Auxiliary Societies bulked largely. Probably it was suggested by the difficulty of communication and transportation in 1816. In 1817 a single set of plates was accordingly loaned to the Kentucky Bible Society. An unexpected defect in the scheme star tled the Board when Rev. Dr. Blythe of that Society in quired whether a printing press would be sent with the plates. Perhaps, too, no one had remembered that the books, after being printed, would have to be bound. At all events, after many vexatious delays, the Kentucky Bible Society early in 1819 printed at Lexington two thousand 50 EARLY EXPERIMENTS [1821- Bibles. The edition was disappointing as to paper, print ing, binding and cost. No one was to blame. That coun try was too young to undertake book publication. The American Bible Society could supply Lexington well printed and bound books from New York and pay the freight for less than the cost of poor books printed there. After one or two further trials the hope was given up of supplying the West with Bibles by sending stereotype plates to Auxiliary Societies. Only by such an experience could all parties learn how great a saving of cost is effected by printing very large edi tions. The motive underlying the plan of supplying Auxil iary Societies with stereotype plates was desire to relieve them from the heavy cost of composition or of the purchase of plates in cases where the local Society wished to print Bibles for its own use. This benevolent purpose was not lost to sight, although the earliest plan for accomplishing it missed the mark. The Board of Managers, regarding the cost of plates as an expense which the Constitution expects the general Society to bear, left that element entirely out of account in computing the price of books. It decided that the cost of press work, paper and binding should make up the selling price of Scriptures, adding, however, five per cent to cover interest, insurance and the wear and tear of plates. Bibles would be sold to Auxiliaries at cost, deduct ing the five per cent, added for interest and wear and tear. Through this decision Auxiliary Societies have not only profited by the reduction of cost gained by printing very large editions, but they have received their books during a hundred years at a price considerably less than the actual cost of producing them. By the end of the first five years the Board had decided that the cheaper forms of binding only would be used for free grants of Scriptures. This plan was received with murmurs to the effect that the Holy Bible ought to be nobly bound, since otherwise the common people would think it of little value. The decision was like the poor man s choice to build his house of wood since he cannot afford stone, and the policy of making cheap books for the supply of those 1832] INDISCRIMINATE DONATIONS 51 unable to pay much commended itself to the judgment of the majority and later became the rule of the Society. The most beneficent feature of Bible Societies was at first universally assumed to be their power to make the Word of God free to all. Under the then prevailing theory an enterprise that asks money from beneficiaries is not beneficent. But the human propensity to hold out the hand, whenever benevolent gifts are in sight, was another of the early discoveries of the Board. So one further step of cau tious progress was the decision of the Board to discourage indiscriminate free distribution of Scriptures. Much argu ment was needed to convince contributors and beneficiaries of the necessity for asking pay for Bibles from those who could pay if they would. The rule, however, was main tained without at all diminishing free grants to the really needy, and resulted in profit, on the whole, to the self re spect and the sincerity of those who received books from the Society. The path of the Board of Managers would sometime open into a region where the relations of things could be clearly seen. As yet it was as full of mysteries as the route traced among the stars by a beginner in astronomy. It led to the unforeseen at every step. Only after actually finding strange tongues naturalised in several districts did it become clear that Bibles in foreign languages must be provided for the United States. The Board ordered from the British and Foreign Bible Society plates of the French Bible in 1816; and it ordered Scriptures in German and in Gaelic from London a year later, thereby causing an outburst of joy from homesick Scottish emigrants. As early as the end of 1817 it ordered a set of plates of the New Testament in Spanish. The Board had not yet contemplated beginning labours in the foreign field when a Moravian missionary named Dencke sent to it a manuscript translation of the Epistles of St. John into the Delaware language. It was. a perturb ing as well as an awe-inspiring object. After laborious discovery of guarantees that the translation was accurate, the Board gladly undertook to print an edition of these 5 2 EARLY EXPERIMENTS [1821- Fpistles for the use of Indians speaking the Delaware. This funned the first of a series of benefits derived by the men of the forests from the organisation of a National So ciety. The example of the British and Foreign Bible Society daily helped the new Society to stand upon its feet. The Hoard of Managers concluded its first report by observing that " God lias been pleased to make the people of Great Britain the instrument of forming, maturing, cherishing, and constantly and substantially aiding these (Bible) Soci eties not only within their own territories, but throughout the world. Greater honour has never been conferred upon any people since the sceptre departed from Judah, and the law giver from between I lis feet." * Britain was the mother of most of the old Colonies. The British and For eign Bible Society was a " Revered Parent" and it was also an " Exemplar." It had explored many rough places in the ways of Bible Society progress, and through this experience it had fixed upon many well chosen methods. The Committee to whom the New York Convention gave the duty of drawing up a Constitution for the American P.ible Society used that of the British and Foreign Bible Society as a guide, modifying it to suit American condi tions. The form of administration chosen for the Amer ican Society closely followed the model in London. The P.ritish Society had found that Auxiliary Societies could canvass their fields, keep in close touch with the people, supply needs, and also collect money in amounts that were surprising. In fact such Societies already furnished a tan gible part of the support of the British Society. The Amer ican liible Society from its first active day counted as its " auxiliaries " all Societies which agreed to place their sur plus funds at its disposal. The British model was followed again in the method adopted to furnish information to friends of the American Bible Society. It issued for its subscribers and the general public a little sheet called " Ex tracts from Correspondence." Its Secretaries suggested that the republication in America of these " Extracts " 1 Report of A. B. S. for 1817, p. 24. 1832] THE BRITISH SOCIETY COPIED 53 might be interesting to the people. Thereupon the Board decided to issue a sheet of information called " Quarterly Extracts." The idea and even the name of the Library which was shortly established for the benefit of the literary department of the Society was copied from that of the Brit ish Society, which had early founded a " Biblical Library " for the collection of versions of the Bible in various lan guages, and of books useful to translators or interpreters of the Bible. In debate an argument offered to the Board as conclusive was often " The British Society has " or " has not " done so and so. There was no mere slavish imitation in this conformity to the usages of that great and experienced pioneer; the ways of wisdom are for universal use. Reasons for each decision were carefully considered by the Board. When the value of the various measures found practical by the British and Foreign Society was clearly seen, their wisdom was entitled to the homage of imitation by the new Society. The Board, however, took no step that might impair the independence of the American Bible Society. Within a year or two occasion arose which might have caused mis understanding in this respect. The donation of twenty-two hundred dollars with which the British and Foreign Bible Society emphasised its pleas ure at the birth of the American Bible Society was in the form of a credit in London to be drawn upon from New York. Instead of drawing the money the Board ordered books and stereotype plates from the British Society which amounted altogether to thirty-five hundred and fifty dollars, and it finally remitted thirteen hundred and fifty dollars to London to close this account. In 1819 the British Society made a free grant of five hundred German Bibles to the American Bible Society and also sent out five hundred Span ish Testaments designated for free distribution in Latin America. At the same time its Directing Committee again authorised the American Bible Society to draw upon its Treasury for five hundred pounds as a donation. The Treasury of the American Bible Society was not as empty as the acceptance of the gift would imply. The Board felt refusal to be unavoidable, but softened it by its gratitude for 54 EARLY EXPERIMENTS [1821-1832 the solicitude shown by the generous offer. The incident was closed by a second letter from London assuring the Board that notwithstanding its having declined the dona tion, friendly feeling in that quarter was unchanged. The Managers of the American Bible Society believed with their whole heart that study of the Bible and obedience to it would mean the building up of the nation ; while neglect of this privilege by America would certainly lead to its ruin. By the year 1821 the Board felt no longer hampered by scarcity of books. It granted for the use of sailors in the L nited States Navy thirty-five hundred Bibles in 1820, upon the request of the Secretary of the Navy. It was ready to entertain every request from indigent Bible Socie ties, or from destitute districts where no Bible Society had yet been formed, for grants of Scriptures. This was really a remarkable progress within five years for men who had to feel their way step by step. But the members of the Board did not dream that they had done any great thing. The crossing of Jordan had been accomplished through glad obedience to the command Go Eorward. So much of suc cess was an earnest and manifestation of the divine guidance that was to be theirs throughout the perplexities and strug gles involved in the occupation of the Promised Land. CHAPTER VIII A WIDER OUTLOOK SEVERAL state societies were engaged in home missionary work before the formation of the American Bible Society, but these were of small resources and they worked with little systematic co-operation. In a general sense it may be said that until the Erie Canal was opened in 1825 there were no very efficient home missionary societies in the United States. Before the development of great Home Missionary Societies, the American Bible Society during sev eral years had been engaged in its appointed task of win ning men to Christ. It was putting the written word into the hands of the blind that they might see, of the deaf that they might hear and of the poor that they might know the gospel, East, West, North and South, throughout the United States. It, therefore, may be regarded as our first general home missionary society. Home and foreign missions, however, are among the things which God has joined and man may not put asunder. The strictly home missionary vision of the Bible Society al most at the first moment revealed need of Scriptures in five or six foreign languages within the limits of the United States. The Society that was formed for the purpose of increasing the circulation of the Bible wherever its arms could reach, having obtained Scriptures in six languages could not limit its sphere of vision by the boundaries of the United States. French Scriptures, for instance, must be sent not only to Louisiana but to poor neglected Canada, and Spanish Scriptures not to the lower Mississippi alone but over the border to Texas, then a part of New Spain (Mexico), and even to the great South American Continent. The reasons for undertaking Bible distribution in Latin America were very well put in a letter on the subject pub- 55 56 A WIDER OUTLOOK [1821- lishecl in Boston in June, 1816* In this letter occurs the following passage: That it is the duty of Americans to supply their neighbours with the Bible no arguments are necessary to prove; and that New Spain (Mexico) and even a part of South America have claims on our bounty is equally clear." The writer then takes note of the fact that many people say all such wants should be supplied by the British and Foreign Bible Society, although that Society has already an enormous burden in the supply of Europe and Asia. He then continues: "Under these circum stances shall we look to England to furnish even the in habitants of South America with the Bible, much less any part of Xorth America?" As early as August, 1816, the Board of Managers took under consideration the purchase of plates for printing the Xew Testament in Spanish ; but it was not until a year later that a commencement of the work was made by order ing the stereotyped plates, which copied the best edition published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. It was about the same time that the Managers had before them a report of the Louisiana Auxiliary Bible Society calling attention to the situation : : The population of the Spanish provinces, commencing at the Isthmus of Darien and com ing up to the United States, is not much short of ten mil lions. Yet among this great multitude of professed Chris tians a Spanish Bible could not probably be found after a search of years." Five hundred Spanish Testaments sent over by the British and Foreign Bible Society helped to begin the supply of this need. A surprising variety of channels were found for send ing Spanish Scriptures into South America. The different peoples in that continent had thrown off the Spanish yoke. In Europe these peoples were still regarded as " Spanish Colonies " but in America they were felt to be near kin because the form of government set up in each case was re publican. The Board assigned to a committee the duty of discovering merchants or well-disposed sea captains go ing to South America who would take with them Spanish 1 Panoplist, March, 1816, p. 123. 1832] GRANTS OF SPANISH SCRIPTURES 57 Scriptures. One of the grants made in 1819 was five hun dred Spanish Testaments with special designation for use in the public schools of Buenos Aires. They were gladly received by the municipal officials who ordered them dis tributed among the primary schools of the city. Letters began to come frequently to the Society asking for Spanish Scriptures. One of these from a merchant in the Island of St. Croix spoke of the likelihood that the New Testament would find ready circulation in Porto Rico, and some Scriptures were sent to him in 1820. Some of the books, at least, reached the Island and were gladly pur chased. This was the earliest venture of the American Bible Society in Porto Rico, where now the Bible is in the hands of thousands. A touching letter came to the Managers in New York from a Spanish gentleman in one of the West Indies Islands. He wrote: " A few days ago, being on board of an Ameri can ship, I saw a Testament in the Spanish language. My eagerness to obtain it led me to ask it of the supercargo. It was the only one at his disposal and he could not part with it. The Bible Society had presented it to him. I am not certain whether you are a member of the Society or not, but your general acquaintance may put you in possession of some of these books which I beg you will send me. There are none at all to be obtained here, and I know many who would be proud to have one." Books were sent to this gentleman, who wrote joyfully: "In three days all the books were disposed of without the least effort of publicity, and numerous applications have been made since by Span iards and foreigners requesting the favour to send for more." The Secretaries soon had correspondents in different parts of Latin America willing to undertake the distribution of Scriptures. The American Consul in Valparaiso expressed his willingness to aid in circulating Bibles. One of those who asked and received grants was Mr. James Thomson, Agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Brit ish and Foreign Bible Society wrote in 1821 : " We are glad to see you desirous of working with us in South America." This was pleasant but lacked perception, per- 58 A WIDER OUTLOOK [1821- haps, of the aim of the American Bible Society to supply the untouched fields in that continent. One of its early grants of money for Bible translation was five hundred dollars to help the translation of the Scriptures into Quechua, the language of the proud Incas of Peru. In the course of the summer of 1816 a member of the Board of Managers, Mr. Jeremiah Evarts of Boston, who was also an officer of the American Board of Missions, wrote to beg aid for the Rev. Ferdinand Leo, a German re siding in Paris, who was trying to bring out an edition of the whole Bible according to the version of De Sacy. A grant of five hundred dollars to Mr. Leo was the first ex penditure for work in foreign lands. The money was sent to Mr. S. V. S. Wilder, the well-known New York mer chant then living in Paris, and w r as received with great joy by Mr. Leo. Mr. Wilder, in acknowledging receipt of this donation, in the courtly phrases of the day wrote to Dr. Mason : " Never, Sir, perhaps, was the hand of God more conspicuous than in this act of the American Bible Society; and generations yet unborn will undoubtedly profit by their munificence." I .ater some Americans residing in Paris called the at tention of the Board to the newly formed Protestant Bible Society of Paris with which Mr. S. V. S. Wilder \vas con nected. This Society was formed in 1818 for the supply of destitute Protestants. The Board gave it a cordial welcome, and fraternal correspondence continued during several years. After the revolution of 1830 had introduced some religious liberty into France, the French and Foreign Bible Society x was formed, in aid of which the Board granted $2,000 in 1833. At this time American missionaries were taking up work abroad. A universal movement of enthusiasm followed the appointent of foreign missionaries, both because of the en lightenment which they would carry to pagan countries, and because of the notable heroism involved in their going forth, unable to imagine what was before them, to work for their Master among races inhabiting the ends of the earth. The 1 Now called the Bible Society of France. 1832] WILL AID AMERICAN MISSIONS 59 departure of a band of missionaries for the Sandwich Is lands in 1819 may be noted as causing a principle to emerge whose logic has always ruled the Society ; namely, that American missions everywhere have a right to claim help from the American Bible Society. In case of the missionaries for the Sandwich Islands the Board of Managers sent to the American Board in Boston " splendid " Bibles to be presented to the Kings of Owhyec (Hawaii), and of one of the neighbouring Islands. Some Sandwich Islanders who had been studying at a training school in Connecticut were each furnished with a handsome copy of the Bible and the American Board was presented with two hundred Bibles and two hundred Testaments to be distributed by the missionaries among Americans and Eu ropeans drawn by commerce to the Islands. Ability to make such gifts gladdened the hearts of the members of the Board of Managers ; for missionaries who would sail half around the world would use these books to make known- the name of Jesus Christ to the Islanders now first receiving worthy influences from Christian lands. The American Board had a mission in the northern part of the Island of Ceylon and, it having been represented that the American missionaries could make good use of Eng lish Scriptures in their schools and otherwise, the Board made a grant of two hundred Bibles and two hundred Tes taments for distribution by American missionaries, in Cey lon. The enterprise of the American Colonisation Society which cost Samuel J. Mills his life in 1818, was carried for ward by others. The first body of American colonists sailed for the coast of Africa in February, 1820. They received a grant of Bibles for presentation to various func tionaries in Sierra Leone who could use them, and two hun- red and fifty volumes of Scripture, of which some were Spanish and some French but the main portion English for the use of the coloured colonists. The Managers of the Society received letters of appeal from Messrs. Carey, Marshman and Ward in Serampore, begging for help in uie great work of printing which the press in that place had undertaken. The New York Bible Society a year or two before had sent a donation to these 60 A WIDER OUTLOOK [1821-1832 gentlemen in order to help them over the difficulties in which they found themselves after the burning of the Serampore press. The Board passed a vote expressing sympathy and interest in the work of these missionaries, and sent each of them a finely bound English Bible as a token of good will. Later a thousand dollars was sent to Mr. Carey and his as sociates to lighten their expenditures for translating and printing the Scriptures in the various languages of India. These little incidents are notable because from them sprang most important results. They saved the Managers of the American Bible Society from any nearsightedness due to lack of exercise in long vision. When once the habit is formed of seeing in some detail features of this world of ours, their penetrating appeal, always in the minor key, is sure to move the hearts of Christians. Through glimpses of conditions abroad gained in its first five years the Ameri can Bible Society imperceptibly became committed to the principle that its work is American in origin but not in limit. By such short steps impelled by faith and trust in God many different denominations in different lands have become engrossed in world evangelisation so that the knowl edge of God may cover the earth. CHAPTER IX GROWTH OF AN ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM THE warmth of President Boudinot s interest in the Bible Society persisted notwithstanding physical weakness. But his residence was in Burlington, New Jersey. In 1816 the ordinary way for him to reach New York would be by pri vate carriage or post-chaise. It was a ride of eight or nine hours, which for a feeble man of seventy-seven was a seri ous matter. So Dr. Boudinot presided at Annual Meetings of the Society in 1818 and the three following years only; his last public appearance being in 1821, the year of his death. He did not share in the discussions about practical difficulties in those early years. But his heart was with the Board in this work. In July, 1816, he wrote to Dr. Romeyn as follows : " We are extremely anxious to know how far the glorious work in which we are engaged progresses to ward maturity. . . . The time is short we have delayed until late in the eleventh hour we have need of double diligence. ... I hope you will not mistake my desires as if I wished to proceed in this arduous business per saltern. No ; I hope we shall, like wise master-builders directed by the Spirit of God, go on steadily and firmly, laying a solid foundation for this glorious superstructure to the praise and glory of His Grace." The Board of Managers needed all the counsel and sym pathy which such a man could give. The members of the Board had seen their duty as simple though difficult. They had to raise money, to provide books, and to find helpers for both lines of effort. But from their very first meeting they began to perceive that these th