OCR Text |
Show Bible Still in Demand On ' i dnesdny, March 7, Uul. a nurn. tins and rispectablo miilng of persons of nrlou-. 1 i . turn- ' was held at the l.uudo . w.i, .rul a society forme! to promote tho circulation circu-lation of tho holy scrlptuies In the principal living languages." At that tlino tho Blblo, or portions of It, could be obtained in about forty living languuges, spoken by two tenths of tho rnco. During tho century since tho mcetlnc at tho London tavern tav-ern adjourned, nnd very largely from tho machinery then nnd thoro started, start-ed, tho Bcrlptujcs havo beon translated trans-lated Into 450 luiigungos nnd dialects, understood by soven-tontliB of tho rnce. By tho London society alono ISO,-000,000 ISO,-000,000 coplos havo been distributed at an expense of $70,000,000. It to this total Is ndded tho 70,000,000 copies already distributed by tho BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBmIBB iiunMi Ann i kan Bible bockty nnd tho unknown millions pi luted nnd sold by privati mtiiprise 300,000,000 copios uf tlio scriptures, In wholo or s par.ite books or poi tlons, havo gono Into circulation during tho Inst century. cen-tury. Amazement attends tho study of tho Bible, whatever the point of view or tho courBo pursued But nothing about the Biblo Is moro umnzlug than Its continuous, universal and utterly unparalleled ropulnrlty. In nenrly overy, If not every, country on enrth where hooks ure sold moro Bibles aro sold thnn any other book. Last year tho British nnd foreign Bible society alono distributed C,04.t,77C coplos, tho majority by sale. In 370 languages, covering overy part of tho globe. And tho issuo by tho American society for tho year amounted to 1,993,556 Bibles and portions. |