The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-04-07
sIyTY.SECOSD ANNUAL MEETING
OF THE BIBLE SOCIETY OF
VIRGINIA.
AN INTERESTING OCCASION.
sDUrESSES BY REV. T. d. HITWERSPOON
OF PETERSBURG. AND REV J. 4.
EDWARDS. OF RICHMOND.
EIEcTIoN OFFICERS.
&c, DC. DC.

and in which the pr,n lpal Evangelcai D".
| nominations cooperate in scattering GODS
Word amorg the people of the Common
| wealth. held its Slrty second annual meeting
at the First Baptist church last night, tue
| president, Rev. George W. Woodbridge, ID.
d., in the chair.
The choir rendered the Te Deum" in
| very fine style, after which Rev. DIR. Curry
read the Scriptures, Rev. DR.. Read made an
| appropriate prayer. and the choir sang that
| btautifu! hymn Rock Of Ages. Rev. DR..
| William Brown then read the
ANNUAL REPORT OF The BOARD OF MANAGERS.
| The report sets out by saying that one
| of the most interesting facts belonging
| 10 the history Of the Holy Scriptures is
| that, from the very beginning Of the Chris
| tan era, there has been an intense d. sire 1T
might be called an intense passion = for trans
latipg them into other tongues. Before the
art O, printing was known there was such
| infinite toll and cost involved that even orr
oiual manu- .cripts OF the masterpieces Of
Greek and Roman literature were multiplied
to but a very limited extent. Much less did
the work OF mere translation occupy their
attention. But 70 such difficulties repressed
the energies of Christians where The Bible
was concerned. BY the middle of the Sc
cond century there were no less than three
Greek versions of the Old Testament in ad.
| ditiun to the Septulgint-tb"Se OF Aguili,
Theodotian, and Symmlchus. Still earlier
the PeShito.Svrac version, including the Oiu
and New Tt tstameut, was completed. About
the same time it appeared in Latin (the old
Iialicl. 1t was tran>lltcd ~ lin into that Ian
guacc b, Jerome. BY the esd of the fourth
century the Scriptures were translated IN
whole or in part-bu' certainly hy nearly The
whole OF the New Testament n;o the Cop.
tic. Sahidrlc, Armenian. Ethiopian, and
Gothic. Nor did the holy work cease even
during the "d,rk ages In The sixth CEN
tury the Bible was translated iu.o Georgian; !;
in The ninth into ScIavon": and various
tran>lltion> OF the Gospels and otncr parts
Of the Scripture into Ango-oaNon and scVe-
raj other Tcu'onic languages were executed
at intermediate dates.
| Another intercStiD" fact Is the enormous
mass Of literature whcl The Bible has
evoked. About Il century and half ago
man of distinguished learning gave cata-
oguc as far a lie could Of all the books that
hid been directly or indirectly brought out
by the Bible down to his time. Though not
exhaustive. it forms quarto volume of more
than 100 puges, and 1t is probable that Il
similar wo:k brought down TO the present
time would be threetlmes aS large.
a still more interesting and encouraging
fact is found III the immense and increasing
circulation nov given TO the Word OF God.
One of the most distinguished authors OF the
present time in Great Brian, in bis last
work, recently published, speaks as follows:
..I n,sor,.s th,t dnr;nr tho rear 1SIo-,73 no
less than j92 1856 copies Of the whole Bible,
or large portions Of it., were issued by the
british and Foregn) Bible Society. Now
ihe publishers, circrlar tells rs that last ear
ns-3I 1914 works of all kinds. including
n,mnhlrts moi srrmons) and reprints, were
nntIi.btd in London. And If we suppose
/ each immersion to average 1000 copies,
=, (ra,her liberal allowance, and perhaps only
: too tltterug TO most auhor>.) then the
: copies Of this one old book issued in London
exceeded the bali OF all the copies Of the
} new and old books of the year nut toyether''
# nm pv,min,,icn Wore made il wonId pro-
r h,tiv h. cortirm,d bv - similar state of fac. !
in mis- country
The folloyiur i = statement Of tho work
, Of the Virginia Bible society during the past
. YEAR lex a,cpts and colporicr-: AnyiI,arjes
!; visited, anniversaries attended. 81 :auyIl.
III ne anu "!'Hel"> VI 'Si';'I'"' ~, eCc'e,'a -
u '!ra' oO"''N f's''" 20; auoieSses Cel,'tItu'
|, ,,f mia, ,,n,n,Ia,l Mn,,t - nno !.
T. n,,,;iin. yi.it.l O e-G In n,,nr oc IN, fan,
;I;r. visited ins,r,m.to, in rnI,yions tr,,n va.
!, niv.n ,nd thc ,t',ic..d wcrn nr,yod r;,h and
cn,nfnrIrd Num,,rr or f,niI;rs fonnd d...
t,tI1;n 5S7. families s,lonlicd OG,. ind,
= yidu.ls sunt,lied 335 total number Of ner
t sons visited. allowing six 10 4 family. So.
|, o5G. ,otol number of persons suoulied. 9.
y 5oo. number of volumes sold by coiporters
:. -o1 . y,lun of youmes sold by coInortcrS
i sogl 40 number Of volumes donated h,
coIportcrS. $50; value of volumes donated
II s33A or i,-,1an during the wear from the De
It nns,torv. u. 593 volumes total number 0
!. volumes on hand April l, "A; Including pub
c ncations of American Bible Society, grant
: hv said society. and received from other so
n cieties. IA. .G2S volumes; the value Of whlcl
. Is S3,36i 90.
CON, - smvi,isr;cs sales at deposi:ory
!. r,rotu;,ons distribntion TO life members
r s,mount 70 1928. of the value of S., ,3o7 SO
c I.Ss 035 Volumes on hand of the value O
/ so5G os
Ihe general secretary Rey. NJ, W. Sta
,la,l tbcn reod = .nm,asry of the
:
+ WORK ACCOMPLISHED. IN THE PAST THREE AND !
Il HALF YEARS.
Total number of families visited, 81 ,S3f
allowing SIX persons TO family, this woult
constitute population Of 329 900 persons
Total number of families found destitute
7,4l3: total number Of families supplied
4.9S7: total plumber of persons supplied
outside OF families, 1865. From this it wi
be perceived that about oO,0OO persons nav
during the past three years anu hai' re
certd the precious MoIu W Wv" i'o"i ,r. nv