Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1851-03-08
PLAQUEnlINE, PARISH OF IBERVIIIE s, 1851.
Ene Bible.

Ehe Bible.
In an article on the subject Of the Movement
of the Bible in the last half century," tbs
Cincinnati Gazette takes occasion TO remark
The modern movement Of the Bible dates
/ back but comparatively 4 little while. The
trans Iation Of the Bible from Latin, Greek aud
Hebrew, began to multiply soon after the art
! of printing began The one necessarily caused
the other But the number Of copies in the
vulgar tongue were few, till the Bible societies
| began their career
+ The translation Of the Bible by King James,
fastened its introduction among the people; but
in the year l777, when the subject of printing
the Bible was before Congrcss-it was cstiua-
ted that there was only four millions of printed
Bibles in the world! At that time, there Was
| not less than four hundred millions Of adult
persons in the world, and Of these one hundred
| millions were protesting Christians. There
was therefore, in existence, one Bible to each
hundred adult persons. Now let US take q
look at the Bible movement since.
The old Continental Congress ordered 2O,-
600 Bibles to be imported from Hollaud Scot
land, and elsewhere. In 1781, Congress ap-
proved the edition of the Bible published by
Mr.. Aiken, of Philadelphia. 1t is since the
Declaration of Independence, therefore, that
the great progress in the diffusion of the Bible
has been made, and most Of it since 1900
Let US now look at the statistics of that diftu-
sion. us
British and Foreign Bible So
ciety, instituted in 1904, 200O0,000 copies.
American Bible Society institu-
ted in 1916, 6,ooo,ooO u"
British Depot in Paris, instituted
|. in 1920, 2,0002ll
Swedish Society, instituted in
/ .lsos, ss;z.st 564,37s
Netherland Society, 49, 274,732
Frankfort Agency, instituted in
+ 1916, 701, ,097
Wertemberg Society, instituted
4 in 1912, - 4G4,567
Prussian Society at Berlin, 1,a71,19I
Russian Bible Societies, institu-
ted in 1876, 993,569
1911, 4ol,5e7 J"
Madras, Society, instituted in
1920, 462.5o5 y
It is supposed that other societies not emu
meratcd will make the whole number of BIZ
bles issued bv the Bible Societies at least forty
millions of copies!
This has all taken place since 1916; but it
must also be taken into view, that in the same
time vast numbers of copies have been issued
by bookselling establishments There must,
therefore, be at least twenty times rs many CO.
pies of the Scriptures in the world, proportion
to the reading population, as there were in
1900. But this is not all, the Bible has been
translated into nearly one hundred and fifty
languages and dialects, of which ten are Ian
guages Of Africa. and three of these on the
western coast. The remarkable feature ofthis
transaction is, that to all barbarous nations Of
the world, the Bible is now the messenger, the
only messenger, of literature and knowledge.
tits the book ofsciyilization where not one
ray of light had previously penetrated the OBJ
security Of barbarism. This is feature the
world has never before presented in its pro-
gress. What effect will it have on the future
of nations? Who can know? Wepretend not
to say; but we do recognize it as one of the
most remarkable features of the last half GEN.
tury. We make no estimate of the moral and
spiritual results of this diffusion of sacred
light But we think that its influence is felt
Wherei is never suspected. It's principles are
working outbymen who do not acknowledge
its authority. Such is one ofthe singular ano-
males of the human mind; but perhaps not.
unlike somesof the operations we see in the
natural world around US. The grass sees not
the gentle dews that fall upon it. nor do the
fruits acknowledge the ripening energies OF the
descending sunbeam. Yet the grass grows
and the fruits .ripen; and we may hope that
thus too the human mind will grow and rpen,
under the influences of the sacred volume
Z u .4E% ~. ! T