Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-04-08
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

\ tons Tor benehttlng mankind, has been one
of the most useful. A very interesting his
tory of its origin and progress appeared in the
London Quarterly Re1ieW, whose remarks up
on the matter are of interest. The first move
| ment for its formation was occasioned by
very slight circumstance--an accident. Thorn
| as Charles left the established church in 1895,
| and devoted himself to Sunday schools in
| North Wales. There was little girl, that
| had walked seven miles to the Sabbath school,
on one occasion complained with tears, that
she had been prevented the Sunday before,
from attending school on accountofthe wealth
er, find hence from reading the bible Mr..
Charles was led from this, to enquire whether
the bible could not be furnished to the people,
and be in the houses of all. When he after
wards visited London, for meeting of the
Religious Tract Society, he suggested this
matter to his associates in that movement, ask
ing them to supply Wales with bibles. They
not only approved the design, but replied, "if
for Wales, why not for the Empire and the
world:" And from this slight beginning,
sprung the most extensive operation for the
PRONUNCIATION Of Bible truths that the world
has ever seen, apart from the church. On the
18th of March, 1904, half century ago, at the
call of Granville Sharpe and 10 others, 800
gentlemen met at the London Tavern and or
ganized the society. 1t was not without OPP
position, both within and without the church;
there were not wanting those to decry it, as all
| new movements have been denounced, as
visionary and foolish scheme, and its originate
ors as demented to think of giving the bible to
every nation and every family to be read in
their own tongue; hut steadily has it progress
ed, till its ramifcations are all over the globe;
its branches in many nations, and its pages
fall upon the benighted peoples like the dew
and the snow flakes, without price to the re-
cipient.
The first year of its existence its receipts
were but E6l9; the fourth year they had
reached El2,OOo the twelfth year 100000;
and the total, in the fifty years, up to this
time, has been more than twenty million dol
lars.
1t has issued some So, OeO, 900 copies of the
bible, in more that one hundred and toenty diff
ferent translatjons. One half of these copies
have been distributed in Great Britain and
Ireland and the remainder have gone to near
ly all the nations of the four quarters of the
globe and to numerous islands of the sea-
Abroad, they commenced their operations in
Hindostan, Burmah, China, and that region,
to which missionary labors were then attract
ing attention; and they have gone on from the
great and powerful peoples to the poor, OBJ
scure and weak, studying their dialects, and
arranging their languages, even where they
had no written characters. 10 carry the
scriptures to all men, in such form that they
could comprehend them, this society has stud
led and mastered more languages than all the
Collegiate linguists since the days of Pente-
cost; and that would appear evident by look
ing into their collection at Blackfriars, where
in addition to the printed bibles, they have
manuscript copies i'll fifty languages, some of
which have never appeared in print. And
- 1tr1
schools, aud taught by professors in the Uni
versities, but the strangest forms Of human
speech that ever the intelligence >of man used
to convey ideas-from the Chinese, the San
scrit, the Tartarean, to the scarcely human
expressions of the Polynesian families, and the
half developed African tribes.
The Bible movement is one in which not
Christians alone, who from the days of Jerome
and 0ugen down to the present have been en-
gagged, should be interested; but the scholar
will look with surprise upon what has been
accomplished, and the lover Of freedom, re-
cognizing the great truth that all rational lib
erty is founded on recognition of the moral
precepts of the ''book of books should re-
joice. Steadily the work goes forward, and
where first the parent society found fields of
labor, there are nine thousand auxiliary asso-
Citations in Great Britain and its dependencies;
and at no distant day the darkest portion of
earth will be reached by the lamp of life.
The UNIVERSAL CHRISTIAN ALLIANCE is
the name of an Association formed in Paris,
the main object of which is to preach and
practice Christianity in its essence, apart from
peculiar dogmas, rites and ecclesiastical organ
izatons. 1t proposes to unite all genuine
Christians in the prosecution of ends and du-
ties common to the faith. The alliance has
three committees, that constitute a council;
and three fundamental principles Love of
God-the Creator and Father; love of all
men-immortal beings and children of God
love of Jesus Christ, the son of God and the
Savior Of men.
The alliance embraces among its prominent
members distinguished Protestants and Catho-
lies, pastors and priests; and all who believe
in the divine mission of Christ, and the divine
origin of the Bible,are admissible as members,
and can work together for Christian faith,
Christian brotherhood, and Christian life,
CHARACTERIZATION OF CHINA.-Plans are ma
tured for printing 250, 1000 copies of the Holy
Scriptures, in China, in Is months, dating
from Jan. l. 1854. 1t is proposed that another
quarter of a million should be printed i'll Lon
don i'll the same period, for which wooden
blocks will be sent from China. The commit
tee of the Bible Society, at their late sitting,
copies of the entire Bible in Chinese, at as
early period as practicable The sum now re-
ceived by the London Missionary Society to-
wards the fund for sending additional miss-
onaries to China, amounts to f9897 14s I'd,
and the British and Foreign Bible Society
have received towards the fund for ZOO, 900
Chinese testaments, Ell 900, sufficient to pay
for 1913, 1858 copies.
The Ne,o York Evangelist states that nearly
| $4,000 of the 800, 900 fund proposed to be
raised for church extension in connection with
the New School Presbyter an church, has
/, been secured, and that was contributed by less
| than one quarter Of the churches. The Com
mittee are about to issue a'last call, in the
hope of thereby securing the remainder.
| The British Secretary of War has provided
for the spiritual wants of the troops sent to aid
the Turks, by appointing seven chaplins to
| the % 900 men drafted. Four of them belong
to the Church of England; two are Catholics;
and one Presbyterian.
FIGHT1NG FOR THE Holy PLACES. = The
latest news from Syria furnishes sad COM
mentary upon the state ofrehgion among those
who congregate around the places sacred in
| their historical associations to all Christians
| The whole country is represented as in state
| of anarchy, owing to the withdrawal of the
| troops for the war with Russia, and the Pachas
| are left without the means of enforcing their
| authority. The Greek and Latin clergy at
| Jerusalem have renewed their shameful con-
tests about the Holy Places, while the Turk
| ish officials had not the power to prevent them
1 7 .as,,,