the Scriptures around them, that no reasonable man can doubt of it for one moment. This remark is meant particularly to apply to Prussia, Bohemia, Germany, and Switzerland. Of France, Italy, and Spain, little need be said. The population of Iceland is about 50,000; nearly all above the age of fourteen can read with ease, and there are few who cannot write. They are, however, extremely ill furnished with books; and there were not, in 1807, above forty or fifty copies of the Bible in the whole island *. And what was the condition of the British dominions? Look at England. Was there no want of Bibles in England? Look at Scotland. Notwithstanding the vigilance of the Scotch, and the prodigious pains which are taken in that country to spread the knowledge of religion, and to instruct all the classes of their population, there was still need of even increased attention and additional exertions. From information laid before the Committee of the Bible Society †, it appears that very few families in the Highlands were in possession of a complete Bible: "that among those who actually possessed one volume of the four in which the Scriptures had been published, the proportion did not exceed one in forty; that the price of a complete copy of the -Scriptures was above the means of the poor; and that in fact it was not easily procurable at any price. In the island of Sky, containing about 15,000 persons, it was represented that few or no Gaelic Bibles were to be found in the hands of the * See Appendix E, No. 3. + Second Report, p. 127. common people." "It is material to the present purpose to observe, that, in the address alluded to, it is stated that out of 335,000 persons in the Highlands, it was computed that 300,000 understand no other language than the Gaelic, so far at least as not to comprehend a book written, or a continued discourse spoken, in any other†." Let us next turn to Wales. There are probably 350,000 persons who speak and read Welsh. An 'edition of 10,000 Bibles and 2,000 New Testaments was printed in 1799, thirty-one years having elapsedsince the former edition. Of the extreme want which existed in Wales in 1804, I have spoken already. The ardor with which the copies issued by the Bible Society were received there, is almost incredible. That most beautiful picture which Second Report of Bible Society, p. 127. † Ib. p. 128. See also Appendix E, No. 4. "It was wonderful to see with what joy this Book of God was received, not only among the learneder sort, and those that were noted for lovers of the reformation, but generally all England over, among all the vulgar and common people; and with what greediness God's word was read, and what resort to places where the reading of it was. Every body that could, bought the book, or busily read it, or got others to read it to them, if they could not themselves; and divers more elderly people learned to read on purpose. And even little boys flocked among the rest to hear portions of the Holy Scripture read." "One William Maldon" mentions, "That when the King had allowed the Bible to be set forth to be read in all churches, immediately several poor men, in the town of Chelmsford, in Essex, where his father lived, and he was born, bought the New Testament, and on Sundays sat reading of it in the lower end of the Church many would flock about them, to hear their reading; and he among the rest, being then but fifteen years old, came every、 Sunday to hear the glad and sweet tidings of the Gospel." Strype's Life of Cranmer. historians give us of the zeal of our own countrymen when the Scriptures were first translated into English, is also a faithful representation of the overflowing zeal and gratitude of the Welsh*. Look at Ireland. "Had you visited Ireland," says a pious and eloquent writer, "before the institution of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and the different societies it has given birth to in that country, you might have travelled from the Giant's Causeway to Bantry Bay, from one extremity of the kingdom to the other, and (avoiding the chief towns) visit every cabin in cabin in your way, without finding, perhaps, three hundred perfect Bibles among three millions of people. I speak from personal knowledge of the country t." "By the intelligence received from Ireland, it appears that there is no part of the United Kingdoms where this want (of Bibles) is more felt than in the southern provinces of that island; that not above a third part of the Protestant families there possess Bibles; and that among the Papists, who are far more numerous, a Bible is probably not to be found in more than one out of 500 families." "Neither were any exertions making to distribute them, except by the Dublin Association,' whose means were confessedly inadequate §, and a few clergymen in their own parishes. Yet the demand was great, and there was even reason * Appendix E, No. 5. + Letter to Dr, Gaskin, p. 5. First Report of the Bible Society, p. 12. § "The Bibles are bought up with great avidity in this country; and the demand for them daily increases so much, that the funds of the Association are unable to bear it." Ibid. p. 47. || Ibid. p. 48. F to conclude, both from information and actual experiment, that the Scriptures might be circulated among the Roman Catholics in Ireland with little difficulty." "You cannot delight a poor Irish peasant so much with any thing you can bestow upon him, as with a present of a Bible: he hides it in his cabin, and reads it with an eagerness that cannot be conceived†." Next turn to the Isle of Mann. In 1763, theBartlett's Buildings' Society published a small edition of the New Testament, and 2000 copies of the Old, in the Manks language. It should seem that this supply did not equal the demand: for I find, by reference to the Reports, that the Society has every year, for the last twenty-two years at least, expressed its intention, "to proceed in this charitable work, and to supply the Isle of Mann with other good books and tracts, or with new editions of such as have been already published, for their use:" yet nothing has been done. To finish the picture, look at Jersey. "I believe there is not one (a Bible) to be bought in the whole island. I know many religious families who are without it. They have not even the New Testament; and though they would give any money for it, yet it is all in vain. I have known old second-hand Family Bibles to sell from 21. to 47. sterling; so that none but the rich can afford to buy them, while the poor people are greatly in want of them ‡." * Second Report of Bible Society, p. 124. + Letter to Dr. Gaskin, p. 7. See also Appendix E, No. 6. pe Now, as all these observations apply to the riod when the Bible Society was first established, it is evident that there was great need for dispersing the Scriptures, "not only abroad, but also at home." SECT. III. III. Let us examine then, in the next place, whether it is probable that the Scriptures could be distributed in any very extensive way without such a combination as the Bible Society. Go back with me to the year 1804. Was there any probabilitiy that these tremendous deficiencies would be remedied by our Society in Bartlett's Buildings? With theories and conjectures I have little concern; let us appeal to the evidence of facts. 1. If we had the power to disperse Bibles and to promote translations with a vigour proportioned to the want, why was it never done? How was it that nations, accessible by us, and imploring from our bounty the records of heavenly truth, either never received them at all, or received them in a measure so stinted and scanty? How did it happen that we neither promoted translations, nor availed ourselves of those which were already in our hands, and upon which we could fully rely? The very important translation of Ziegenbalg* into the Tamul was * How singular must our zeal appear, "when we compare it with the labours of a Plutscho and a Ziegenbalg, who were obliged |
