The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1904-03-06
27O, 100000
BIBLES
OutP ut Of the Society that Is
Observing It's Centennial
Anniversary.

WASHINGTON, March President
and Mrs. Roosevelt, Justice Brewer of
the United States supreme court, Sena-
tor Dolliver of Iowa, the British am
bassadOr and Lady Durand and many
other persons prominent ia official, dip
lomatic and social circles attended the
service yesterday in commemoration Of
the one hundredth anniversary of the
British and Foreign Bible society ut St
Johns Episcopal church. Justice Brew
er and Senator Deliver were the prin-
cipal speakers. Dr. Daniel c. Gilman,
president of the American Bible socie-
ty, presided and made few remarks,
in which he said that during the life
time of the British and American soci-
eties they had circulated 270,000,000
copies of the Bible and parts Of the BIZ
BILE to the nations Of the world.
Justice Brewer said the poorest way
TO estimate the value OF life, whether
of an individual or an organization. IL
by numbering the years. We should
count by deeds, not years. So. said he,
we celebrate the anniversary of the
British Bible society not so much be-
cause il has endured for a century as
because Of the gigantic good it has ac-
cOmplished
1T is scarcely necessary before this
audience" continued Justice Brewer.
Ito enter upon a eulogy of the great
hook of hnplge Attt thfe 10 tha -
the iconoclast. when destructive criti-
cism runs rampant Some criticism. in
deed is reverent and useful-that which
seeks simply by correcting wrong trans
latiOns and arranging In chronological
order the matchless truths of Scripture.
1t is striving to remove from the sacred
volume the dust that careless centuries
have strewn upon IT,
nut there are other critics without
such lofty aim who strive to destroy
the faith Of other men simply because
it Is held. The jcOnoclast is a popular
man. To him the Bible appears mere
ly as "A sort of crazy quilt of untrue
history, distorted science. weak poetry,
impractical morality and vague fore
shadOwings Of the unknown and UNI
movable Yet we who believe know
there are passages In the Bible unsur-
passed in solemn beauty in the litera-
ture Of the world; that its ideals of
morality are those TO which the best
within us is always aspiring; that its
promises are the sweetest and most
comforting that have ever come to the
tired hearts OF man"
Justice Brewer declared that the
greatest glory of this nation lies in the
fact that ever and always she has
striven TO translate into the vernacu-
lar Of international law the parable of |
the good Samaritan and the Golden
Rule.
Senator Dolliver said that the Bible |
society had contributed more than any |
other influence 10 unite the creeds of |
'hristendom into one grand whole rep.
resenting universal Christianity.
"One of the grandcst enterprises /
,Fer heard Of any organization" Sena-
.or Dolliver said, was the offer of this
society TO make language for barba-
'Ous people whose speech had not
even attained to the dignity of an al
lhabet. The society undertook TO make
irst an alphabet. then translation of
he Bible and finally literature. Ger
ainly the brain Of man never conceiv-
u Il grander philanthropic purpose"