The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-02-14
FOR THE BIBLE SOCIETY
A BIG MEETING IS HELD AT THE
CENTRAL-AvENUE NJ. e. CHURCH.
The Principal Address by Rev. w. 1.
dresses by Local Speakers.

Eight a large audience assembled to attend
a meeting in the interest of the American
Bible Society. The meeting was presided
over by Rev. Allan B. Phillput, pastor of
the Central Christian Church. who made
a brief opening address. Our Debt to the
Bible was the theme of the address of
the Rev. w. W. Criley. d. D., OF the First
English Lutheran Church. DR.. Criley said
the Bible has so fully engrafted itself upon
our institutions, customs and laws, hat in
order to understand our country's history,
we must know the Bible. In our develop
ment from heather ancestors in Europe
before the settlement OF this land, the
change was wrought by the influence of the
religion of the Bible, and it is not surpris-
ing that the Pilgrims brought it over with
them as the charter for. our new world.
With the Puritans the Bible was as need
full as the OK or the pillow. 1t was not only
in the home and the church. but in the
schoolhouse and the college. To foreigners
accustomed TO the union of church and
State, it seems remarkable, almost inexpli-
cable, that we have so successfully propa-
gated and maintained religion by voluntary
efforts. The secret and source of it all is
the hold which the Bible has upon the
! public and its influence on the heart in
molding public opinion or in opposing in
fraction of public morals, as was seen in
the defeat of the attempt to secure the
recognition Of polygamy in Congress. Our
security as a nation rests upon the Bible
being in every family and read every day
by millions, and taught every Sunday to
hundreds Of thousands of youth. 1t is
for all human hearts, as well as for all
times and chimes. He said:
This Bible must go wherever our ma
tional banner is planted. because it is our
national book and represents our political
as well as moral principles of equality
and liberty. Hence, it is not optional
whether we shall ~evangelize as well as CIV
ilize our new possessions. We must do it,
or fall short of free government. The new
era to come in with the century is to be
one of widely applied Christianity. The
demands of the times are to be met only
by our payment of our debt to the Bible:
IL was heavens imprint OF pure gold. 1t
must go with our revenues into the worlds
currency as freely as our exports. Let us
meet the full measure of our obligation
to circulate it, so as TO relieve from en-
barrassment those who furnish the printed
Word, and so as to fully equip those bear
ing precious seed, that they may come
again with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves
Il Il
MISS MASSON'S TALK.
"The Young People and the Bible Cause"
was the topic discussed by Miss Jennie T.
Mason, who said, in substance:
"If 1 had to choose between a man and a
Bible 1 would take the Bible, but If were
a heather 1 would rather nave both. DR..
Leonard, the senior secretary of the Mis-
sionary Society of the Methodist Church,
feels the same way. In writing on the Re
lation of the American Bible Society to
Foreign Missions he says: Next to the
disaster to our work that would follow by
a serious falling off in our own missionary
income would be the Gripping of the Bible
Society in its distribution of the Scriptures.
A missionary without a Bible in his hands
would be as helpless as a soldier without
his sword. for the sword of the spirit is the
word of God. The demand in some foreign
lands exceeds the emand for missionaries.
Word comes from the Presbyterian mission
in Western Africa that Christians and nom
christians are actually begging for the
Bible, and are more than willing to pay for
IL. School children do a days work of hoe
ing and grass-cutting to earn the book
where and how are we to secure the
thousands of Bibles for which foreign
lands are calling? Where obtain the mil
lions OF swords to equip our spiritual war
riors in the Philippines? The people In Ma
Mia are eager for reading matter. One
agent of the British and Foreign Bible So
ciety sold five hundred Spanish New Tesla
ments in one day. In Siam there is a young
Christian Endeavorer, Bartine Darlington,
VINO has a small yacht. Up and down the
rivers of Siam We will ride with him SELL
ing Bibles; and If we can stand il to ride
with him thirty days, we will probably sell.
as he sold on his last trip, 2,4SO portions of
Scripture.
Among the attractions of the great
Christian Endeavor convention in Detroit,
last July, was the exhibit of the American
Bible Society, in literature headquarters.
On the tables were spread the Scriptures
in about forty languages. There are prob
ably two Thousand varieties Of forms of
speech, counting dialects. and the Father
speaks them all. The American Bible So
ciety has had portions Of Scripture trans
lated into four hundred of these, and the
entire Bible into one hundred.
What is the relation of the young peo-
pie to the Bible cause? Why. it is the same
as that of the older people. only it is More
so because of youths always greater posi-
bilities. I'll say 1t another way. Bibles are
Gods forget-me-nots to the world. The
young people are the shippers of this flow
er of Paradise to every known port, via
the American Bible Society"
DIR. HAVEN'S ADDRESS.
1.-THE Bible and a Worldwide Progress
was discussed by Rev. w. I. Haven, d. D.,
of New York, secretary of the American
Bible Society. He said:
W. dlC " pa hOAAAti away tlc
welcome home to his country Of the great
admiral. 1t was a welcome that will never
be forgotten by those WHO witnessed it.
The great metropolis of our country was,
for once. entirely lifted out Of it's usual
atmosphere of commercialism into a rare
exaltation of spirit. Il forgot it's interest in
trade and even pleasure and was absorbed
in the higher service of doing honor to a
noble American who had won luster for
the American name In the eyes of all the
world. What was the meaning of this un-
paralleled pageant on sea and land? 1t
was not the celebration simply of a feat
of arms. 1t was not in honor of the addi-
ton of new territories to the American ma
ton. 1t was, however, the result of a con-
viction, whether well or ill-founded, that
the victories at Manila stood for the adj
vance of human liberty and marked a
step in worldwide progress.
ut was fitting that the century should
approach it's close in this way. So the re-
cent centuries have seemed to close. 1t is
not altogether a Pigment of the magma
ton that notices peculiar movements at the
termination of the centuries. The fifteenth
century came to It's climax in q spirit OF
worldwide discovery. The ships of the
great nations were in all seas. finding new
regions. The sixteenth century came to its
close in the midst of q movement for
worldwide colonization. At the close OF
the seventeenth century the leadership in
the worlds affairs passed over from
France TO Protestant England. AT the end
of the eighteenth century there was the
Napoleonic upheaval with a democracy
regnant that was charged with the Eng
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