The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-11-19

ter trn tho Secretaries of the American bible
Sncirty, which has been SEM To us for ruLlrn.
ti"n. hy the Rev. l.. \. B"iisS. the agent of the
Bible Society in Sonll, Carolina.
AMERICAN BrrE S"c,Lrr II"rrr, y. W
Oct. ;oth, 1857.
U,ur SIR
We address our auNiliarics and friends at this
time with some feeling of reluctance. This feel
ing arises not from any thing dshcartcning in
III. Iiiblc cn,s" itself for it was never more pro-
missing but from the pcruniary aspect of the
times which for the present cmbarra>scs those on
whose ai,l We depend in meeting the many calls
for the Word of Life. We begin already to share
in their embarrassment. We have been com.
pclledt employ our workmcn only for halft,n,c,
and fear may yet have To- dismiss some alto
gcthcr; and this while we need their work and
they need the avail oft. In these circumstances
we know not what to do except To lay before our
fellow labnrcrs our tru" condition and then leave.
il for them I" determine how far they can, in
this crisis, lend their assistance. Some We h"Ir,
may yet Il" much, and many II little
While We say have some f.clin. of re-
luctnnce in making this address. there arc two
one is the conscoisncSs that we are not seeking
aid for selfish personal cnl, but for The best of
"ljrcls--ihc diffusion oil Gods own Book The
other is, that address those who love th,.
cause Of the Bible anil would mourn with us To
sec il languish if this can possibly be avoided.
With these preliminary remarks, we proceed
and submit I" our f,-"is brici statement, us to
the present condition and prospective wants Of
the Society. 1t will bc remembered tina, one year
arn last May, it was solcmnlv resolved bv the
members Of the Society I" attempt the supply Of
every destitute family of our country will, IL copy
of the Bible. This work, we have To report, has
gone forward to extent in every State Of The
Union, and. in many instances. with entire sue
cess. We Judge that about omc.half of our .l.s,i-
tute population has already been visited AMI fur.
nished with the Word of God But there We, re-
mains much I" be done, particularly in the more
new ami helpless portions of The country. Il
will he obvious then, T." ALL that in the remain.
ing work we shall need aid, both IN furnishing.
b""ks an in snst;inin" distributes Now. when
ii is remembered that n,ucl, of This rc,nainin..
portion of our people without preaching and
other mcanS Of grace, il bvcplmrs the mor. inn
por;ant that they have Gods own Book to Lc
their guide un.l comfort.
But when this h",nc work is done and before
1t Is done, We have duties to other needy p,,tios
of The world. which demand our regard.
liy our commerce. We are brought in contact
with nearly all the bcniyhtcI naiinns, and, TO :,
great extent, have o,ir own missionary country
men lahoring among them. These Sclf.lcnvin-
,,,s..
Scriptures, wholly or i'll part, have taught the i.
nornnt the character of the Bib'c and how to
rcat! il, and now ask for means to rive il To them
i'll their own tongue. Can any duty to our irl-
l"w men br conceived Of more importance than
this? Without hw .l!in. longer ON The character
oi these foreign wants ("f,cn presented IN our all
nuai reports and Bible Society rccor,l.) We will
now simply furnish liz; vf the pledges Of
aIl which Board have been constrained 10
make, and close letter lcavin.. all to the con-
siscratiun Of o,,r friends and the movements of
Divine Providence.
To aid in pnl!ishin. ;hr Scriptures at Constan.
tn"l'lc, for Amcric"ns AMI Turks, among whom
there Is an umw"ntca demand ,l,. Beard have.
on request Of the An,cricnn missionaries there,
promised :9nfn.
For circulating the m"'lrrn Greek Scriptures
IN Greece and Turkey, $1,000 is pledged
Forthc same Object LOOP have been promised ,on
request of II Committee ut ST. Petersburg, for
publishing the Rival New Testament for the LII.
thcran population in Russia,
To IL Swiss Committee Of Geneva ST 200 are
promised towards publisl,in. TcStamcn;s for Ita.
ly in Italian.
10 the Mission Of the Reformed Dutch cIurcl,
at Arc"t, lndin, are promised on request Sa,ono.
The same sum t" bishop Boone and Associates
Tor publishing the Scriptures in China.
To the Methodist Episcopal Mission. under R"v
MIR. J"coby, in Germany, Sl,Ou6 are pledged in
addition to 81 900 recently paid
These pledges, it will DO sccn will a,noun. to
more than S520,G0o. while further sums must be
furnished to the Presbyterian Board for Foreign
Missions both for Inla and China and other
SHES still for PUBLISHING. the Testament in Che.
rokec and other tongucs Of orr Abori.ines. The
Board have also agencies in Turkey, SpanisI,
America, and Brazil, which are highly useful and
should be sustained.
These wants the Board will most thankfully
meet just 30 Tar and $" fast they provided
with means II remains for individual families
churches and auxiIiarics to determine to what ex
tent these means can, in these times bc furnish,
cd.
Will our friends give the subject praycrful
consideration.
With sincere Christian regards,
We remain yours,
}. c. BRIGHAM,
j. IOLDICH,
J. ii. McNEILI.
Cor. Secretaries