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Show BOOK OF FREEDOM U.S. Society Has Distributed 406 Million Bibles in 135 Years r.; r rri I 'I t V This year, the American Bible Society will celebrate 135 years of service In promoting wider circulation circu-lation of the Bible. It was in May, 1816. t h a t a group of Christian leaders gathered in New York and founded the national society for the distribution of the Bible . America was embarking on a great period of expansion when the Bible Society was founded. New York was a small city of some 100,000 people clustered around the Battery, but the country was spreading westward. Already settlements set-tlements of hundreds, then thousands thou-sands of homes were dotting the wilderness. It was the era of the American pioneer, and along with the need for roads and schools came another the need for Bibles. Although there were local societies socie-ties for this purpose in their own communities, none was able to fulfill the needs to the west. It was Samuel J. Mills, "the father of the foreign missions." who was most instrumental in calling together to-gether the historic meeting which brought about the formation of a Dr. Frederick W. Cropp, general gen-eral secretary of the American Bible Society, holds in his right hand a copy of the Scriptures which the society distributed to soldiers during the t'ivll War. In his left hand is the edition being distributed to servicemen today. Hughes. The first treasurer was Richard Variek, the second mayor of New York City. AS AMERICA expanded, so did the society. From their first small headquarters in the offices of a printer, they moved into their own establishment. After repeated enlargements, en-largements, the society moved to their own building on Astor Place, which was then so far uptown as to be considered almost a suburb of the city. The Bible House, which was the only building of its day to occupy an entire block In New York, national Bible society. Many notables nota-bles of the day were in attendance. Among them were Dr. Lyman Beccher, "the father of all the Beechers," James Fenimore Cooper Coop-er and Elias Boudinot, who as president of the Continental Congress Con-gress had signed the peace treaty with Great Britain in 1789. Boudinot was elected the first president of the society. His vice-president vice-president was John Jay, the first chief justice of the United States supreme court. In later years, still another great supreme court chief Justice was to serve as vice-president of the society. Charles Evans was the show place of the city. Today, To-day, although the Astor Plice Bible House Is still being used, main headquarters for the society is housed in a modern building on Park Avenue and 57th Street in New York. The number of Bibles, whole and In portions, printed by the American Ameri-can Bible Society since their first edition of 10.000 Bibles in 1816 is staggering. During the Civil War period alone it issued in the United States 5,297.832 Scriptures, most of which were New Testaments for soldiers fighting on both sides. In its first 50 years, the American Bible Society had distributed 21,-409,996 21,-409,996 volumes; in one hundred years, 123,292,359 copies of the Scriptures had been distributed. At the end of 135 years, 408,422,004 volumes nt the Krrintnrps iinrn distributed in 1.000 languages. And yet the distribution increases each year. "Never before has the Bible been so wanted," said Dr. Robert T. Taylor, general secretary of the society, at the 135th annual meeting held in New York recently. "The 1950 reports show a record distribution in almost every part of the world. In my ten years in the Bible Society I have been nurtured nur-tured on emergencies, but I have never seen anything like the present opportunities." Today the American Bible Society is a prime factor in making the Bible the least expensive and most widely distributed book in the world. In many languages, a Gospel Gos-pel may be had for as little as one cent and If the penny isn't available, avail-able, it may be had for nothing. It is America's most purchased book. It is the world's best seller. But it is more than that. Horace Greeley once said, "It is impossible in any wise to enslave a Bible-reading Bible-reading people." The Bible is a book of freedom. |