The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-06


Georgia.
The services were begun by the singing
of the 10th hymn:
Great God the nations Of the earth
Are by creation thine.
And in thy works by all beheld
Thy radiant glories shine
sUPT. MYERS REPORT
Rev. II. i. Myers the District Superin-
tendent made his report Of the Society 5
work, and in it he gave many interesting
facts and figures, some of which did not re-
fleet favorably upon Savannah. He said
that the American Bible Society is a vast
religious and benevolent institution. With
one exception, the British and Foreign
stitution of the kind in the
world. Organized in 1916 it has issued since
then As, 324, 9l6 Bibles, Testaments and por-
tiOns of the Word of God, expeniing some
81, 500, 900 in the work. The object of The
society is to place the Scriptures in the reach
of all. Its agencies are: First, auxiliary
societies; second, agents, district superin-
tendents and colporteurs; third, donations
of books directly from the parent society
fourth, donations of money and books to
foreign missionary fields
THE first effort to extend the circulation
Of the Word of Cod the speaker said,
takes the direction of diminishing the
cost.
BIBLES AT COST.
"The Bibles and Testaments of the'Ameri-
can Bible Society are sold at the cost of
manufacturing, and auxiliary societies re-
ceive their books on such terms as enable
them to sell at the same price. There are
40 such places in Georgia-one in nearly
every county. The Bible is now the cheap
est book in the world. The New Testament
may be bought at from &c. to s., the Bible
at from &c to SGT
Under the colportage system these
books are carried to the houses of the people
| and offered to them there at cost, and if
any one is unable to buy, the book is given
by the depositary or by the colporteur The
agents are in foreign fields; there are nine of
them. The district superintendent are in
the United States. There are twenty of
them. The colporteurs are in both fields
There are 153 of them at home and 401
abroad
OF the work of the society and its
auxiliaries in the United States Mr.. Myers
said that 4, 46S, 494 families had been visited,
541, l24 families had been found destitute,
3S4, 924 families had been supplied, besides
PIT, 26l individuals.
THE WORK THROUGHOUT THE STATE.
The report showed that the work had
| been very vigorous i'll Georgia. Nine col
porteurs are employed. They rendered
| 1851 days Service, which is equivalent
to the work of one man for five years, or
of five men for one year They visited
q, 052 families, finding 1915 destitute and
supplied 2,796 They found the restitution
to be II ID per cent. against 1853 per cent.
| the year before. The percentage of desti-
| tuition i'll Georgia is about in 8; in the
whole country about in s. There has been
expended III Georgia from November, 1885,
to November, 1886, 1881 05. OF this sum
only 81, 159 l6 was contributed by
the State, State making the surplus
Bible Society $a,dGl 49, Then from aln9 ApriI
1, 1886, to April /, 1887, $4,000 % was ex-
| pended in the State of which the society
contributed a surplus of So, 10 81. From
Nov. !, 1885, TO Nov. /, 1887, there was
$5,747 Al, of which sum Georgia raised
81, 226 90, and the society contributed a
surplus of $500 ST.
THE WORK IN SAVANNAH.
"Of Bible work in Savannah from Oct
81, 1886, to Jan. 81, 1855" Mr. Myers said
that the American Bible Society has had
a colporteur at work here since llecemLer,
1886. He has done faithful and efficient
work, laboring 26S15 DAYS, which is equiva-
! lent to ten and one-third months of steady
work In that time he has visited II, S97
families, found 1889 without the Script
ures, and supplied ,353 families and 100
individuals This work has cost the Amer
lean Bible Society 1851 % of which the
churches of Savannah have contributed to
this work S2l5 45, including 500
raised by the District Superintendent
at the anniversary meeting held at
the Independent Presbyterian church Oct.
81, 1886 This showing is not satisfactory
for Savannah, and the speaker thought that
she ought at least to supply her necessities.
Mr.. Myers was followed by DR.. Bowman
and Rev. Mr.. Rogan, both of whom paid
glowing tributes to the book of all books
and urged its dissemination. A collection
was taken up and 500 was realized.
WHAT THE SOCIETY WANTS.
The directors of the Savannah Bible So
ciety, at a meeting held in the lecture room
of the Independent Presbyterian church last
| Friday afternoon, thought it unbecom-
ing il the people of the city to accept such
liberal contributions from society which
has already expended in Georgia S95, 900
more than they have received from Georgia,
TO do the work which properly belongs
/ to the Christian people of Savannah.
Hence the meeting of last night was called
| to lay before the churches the existing
facts ana to appeal to them. The society
desires to raise during the year $3.50 or
$40. Last nights subscription of 500
goes on the account.
Besides this colportage work, which
In Its nature IS temporary expedient
to meet an emergency, the
Savannah Bible Society has at its deposito-
ny in the Young Mems Christian Associa-
| ton rooms, large and varied stock of BIZ
beS which 1t sells at cost. The colportaur
Will soon be Withdrawn from this field, but
the Savannah Bible Society and its deposi-
tory are permanent Institutions