A Third Jubilee
•
By THE BISHOP OF LONDON ACENTURY and a half is a good span of time by which to test the usefulness of any organisation. There are few that can give so good an account of their steward- ship during such a period as the Bible Society. Founded by a supreme act of faith in the darkest hours of the Napoleonic War, it has gone from strength to strength until today it is the senior member of the United Bible Societies, a fellowship of twenty-four independent organisations through whose com- bined effort four-fifths of the human race can now read the Bible in their own tongue.
It was inaugurated in response to an acknowledged need. Revived interest in religion had created a wide demand for the Scriptures. In spite of the efforts of SPCK and other bodies Bibles were expensive and, as the Civil Service would say, ' in short supply.' Nowhere in these islands was the need more keenly felt than in Wales. The oft-told story of the Welsh girl, who saved her pence through weary weeks and then walked thirty miles over the mountains only to find that not a copy was to be had, gave the graphic touch that was needed to stir the heart and the imagination. On March 7th, 1854, a meeting was held and the British and Foreign Bible Society was founded with the one aim ' to encourage a wider dispersion of the Holy Scriptures.' Porteous, Bishop of London, approved the scheme and nominated Lord Teignmouth as President. With the support of Wilberforce and like-minded laymen together with a host of divines from many denominations the project was fully launched. • If Bibles were to be printed for Wales, why not for the Kingdom and for the world ? '
In the first quarter of a century over a million and a half of money was spent, four million books distributed and trans- lations into 145 languages issued. During the next half-century the number of translations doubled and the circulation rose to 85 millions. The Society not only printed Bibles but saw to their distribution.. It was the use of colporteurs and his journey into Spain as one of them that gave Borrow his long-sought chance to leap into literary, fame. There were also founded daughter societies in other countries, and one of them, the Russian Bible Society, had a specially fine career before it was suppressed. Today the Society and its associates carry on their work throughout the world, not least effectively behind the Iron Curtain and in such centres of the nationalist struggle as Indonesia. As the result of these combined operations the annual circulation has mounted to almost 21 million volumes.in no fewer than 1,130 different languages, our own Society being responsible for 818 of those versions.
The effect of such activities must be profoundly interesting to the student of literary history. As long ago as the end of the fourth century the Arian \Bishop Ulfilas became the founder of Gothic literature when he translated the Scriptures into a language that had never before been reduced to writing. Today the same kind of thing is going on repeatedly. Not all the languages into which the Scriptures are translated will live, and still fewer will give birth to world classics. But it is safe to say that at least some of the future masterpieces of literature will derive from nations whose first printed books were portions of the Bible. • The politician and the sociologist may also have their special interest in this ' wider dispersion of the Holy Scriptures.' It should certainly lead to a fuller and more peaceful way of life. In Kenya, we are told, it is the Bible readers among the natives who have most courageously withstood the menaces of Mau Mau, No doubt the reading of the Scriptures needs to be !,coompanied with adequate teaching. When Ulfilas translated ae Bible for the Goths he deliberately left out the books of '-.1a ngs. The tribesmen, he said, knew enough about fighting ip...eady. Probably no one but a fanatic would claim that the doubt is a panacea for all our ills: but no one surely would tioubt th ulat, properly understood and acted upon, it will vastly improve not only individual characters but also the conditions of human life in every nation.
The interest of scholars in the work of the Society has been quickened by the publication of Hebrew and Greek Testaments. This is of special importance for students, who find themselves particularly grateful for subsidised books in these days of high costs in the publishing trade. Teachers will he interested to observe that there is a difference of policy with regard to the kind of translation employed. While in this country the Society confines itself to the official versions, elsewhere it takes care to translate the Scriptures into the language of everyday use. In neither case does it translate the Apocrypha. So far the Society has published only those books of the Old Testa- ment that are included in the Palestinian Canon. But scholars, students and teachers alike would be grateful if they could have the whole Alexandrian Canon and not a reduced edition from which the Apocrypha is rigorously excluded. To their thanks would be added those of the Anglican clergy who so often have to read the Apocrypha in church.
After all, however, it is the general reader whose needs are, and must be, kept chiefly in view. The work of the Society in putting the Scriptures cheaply at his disposal is beyond all praise. It has enabled the Church both at home and abroad to use the Bible as the instrument of its evangelisation. With- out it we should have been crippled indeed. With it a countless multitude has been enabled to find strength in weakness, comfort in sorrow, courage in the battle of life, and a confident hope of immortality to come.
It is expected that as a result of the Jubilee commemoration there will be a wider interest in Bible reading in our own country. Most people read the Scriptures only in ' portions' selected for devotional purposes. This sometimes makes it difficult to see the wood for the trees. What we need is to understand the message of each constituent book and the part it plays in the whole story of revelation. To this end ' Bible Weeks' are being held throughout the country. If they can promote the growth of intelligent reading, they will certainly strengthen that religious faith which is still, even in these troubled days, the mainstay of our national morale.
Previous page
