BIBLE SOCIETIES, associations for extending the knowledge of the Scriptures. For a long period this object has been pursued to a considerable extent by several religious institutions, such as the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, Bartlett’s Buildings, founded in 1699; Baron Cansteen’s Institution at Halle, founded in 1712; and the Danish Society for promoting the Gospel, founded in 1714. But the first British association which professed to have this single purpose in view was the Naval and Military Bible Society, established in the year 1780. The sphere to which this society originally limited its operations, namely, the sailors and soldiers in the service of Great Britain, was not by any means inconsiderable; but it can scarcely be compared in magnitude to that which has been embraced by the British and Foreign Bible Society, founded in the year 1804. The exclusive object of the latter is to promote the circulation of the Scriptures, without note or comment, both at home and abroad. The copies circulated in the languages of the united kingdom are to be those of the authorized version only ;—a condition more vague than the projectors of the society seem to have been aware of. The constitution of the society has hitherto admitted the cooperation of all persons disposed to concur in its support. The proceedings are conducted by a committee of thirty-six laymen; six of them being foreigners resident in London or its vicinity,—half the remainder being members of the Church of England,—and the other half members of other denominations of Christians. Of late there has been an attempt to exclude Arians and Socinians from the direction of the affairs of the society; but a great majority at the annual meeting in May 1831 voted against any change in the original regulation. Every clergyman or dissenting minister who is a member of the society is entitled to attend and vote at all meetings of the committee. In the year 1826 it was resolved that the fundamental law of the society, which limits its operation to the circulation of the Scriptures, be fully and distinctly recognised as excluding the circulation of the Apocrypha. But as the society had for a series of years published various editions in different languages which included the Apocrypha, and as it had formed connections with persons of questionable principles on the Continent, whose alliance it manifested no disposition to renounce, many of its former supporters, particularly in Scotland, have formed themselves into independent societies. The British and Foreign Bible Society, however, has still in Great Britain and the colonies 318 auxiliaries, 438 Branch Societies as they are called, and 1827 Bible Associations, of which about 730 are conducted by ladies. It is connected with fifty-four societies on the continent of Europe, four in India, and one national society in America, which has 645 auxiliaries. The money which has been expended by the British and Foreign Bible Society in the twenty-seven years which have elapsed since its original institution[7:4:620] amounts to L.1,779,973. 5s. 5d. The greatest sum expended in any one year was L. 123,547. 12s. 3d. in 1820. The expenditure of the year last accounted for, in May 1831, was L.83,002.10s. 9d. The number of copies of the whole Bible in various languages issued since the commencement of the society has been 2,757,256, and of the New Testament 4,267,471; in all 7,024,727. Of these books forty-four are represented as reprints, five as retranslations, and seventy-two as versions into languages and dialects in which the Scriptures had never been printed before the institution of the society. Of new translations thirty-two are said to have been commenced, though there is no immediate prospect of their completion or publication. Of the Bibles and Testaments issued in twenty-seven years, about five millions have been printed in the languages spoken in the united kingdom, viz. English 4,568,314, Welsh 300,416, Gaelic 115,343, Irish 64,188, and Manx 7250. About 2,000,000 have been issued in foreign parts. Some of the societies on the Continent have also circulated great numbers, particularly the Russian Society at St Petersburg, instituted in 1813, which, before its suspension by an imperial ukase in 1826, had 289 auxiliaries and branches, and had printed 861,105 Bibles and Testaments in various languages and dialects. Of the other societies on the Continent, the most active have been those of Berlin, Basel, Paris, Wirtemburg, Dresden, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The American National Society, and the Society of Philadelphia, have printed above 1,256,000 Bibles and Testaments.

The proceedings of the British and Foreign Bible Society have given rise to several controversies, one of which related to the neglecting to give the Prayer Book with the Bible; a neglect against which strong remonstrances were published by several divines of the church of England, and especially by Bishop Marsh, who also published in 1812 “A History of the Translations which have been made of the Scriptures, from the earliest to the present age, throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and America; composed chiefly with the view of ascertaining in how many new languages the British and Foreign Bible Society has been the means of preaching the gospel.” This pamphlet was intended as an answer to a statement of Mr Vansittart, that the society, besides reprinting many translations, had published the Scriptures in twenty-five languages, into which they were not known to have been before translated. Dr Marsh maintained that the society had not translated so much as even the four gospels into any one language into which they had not been previously translated, and that, though they had translated a single gospel into two languages (the Bugis and the J∕αcassar), into which no part of Scripture had been previously translated, they had not then printed even one entire gospel in any one language into which translations of portions of the Scripture had not been executed either before the existence of the society, or independently of its assistance. Another controversy in which the supporters of the society have been involved related to the circulation of the Apocrypha along with the canonical books. Their most distinguished antagonist in this question was the late Dr Andrew Thomson, one of the ministers of Edinburgh. A third serious controversy has been occasioned by the alleged inaccuracy of some of the translations executed under the authority of the society, such as the Turkish New Testament, printed at Paris in 1819; and a fourth, not less serious, appears to be impending over the society, on the admissibility of anti-trinitarians to the privilege of membership.

The Edinburgh Bible Society consists of all who are disposed to promote the circulation of the Scriptures, being Protestants, and professing their belief in the doctrine of the holy trinity. Its funds arise from subscriptions, collections, and the contributions of nearly 100 associations in different parts of Scotland. In the course of last year it expended about L.4000. In that time it issued above 10,000 Bibles and Testaments in English, and 3000 in Gaelic, in which language it has recently printed 15,000 copies in different sizes, and has in the press a second edition of 10,000 copies of a pocket Bible. It has sent above 3000 Bibles and Testaments to Ireland in the course of the year, and has given L.200 to the Hibernian Bible Society, and L.200 to the Society in Dublin for Education through the medium of the Irish Language. It has in the same period issued 4174 Bibles and 1108 Testaments in foreign languages, including French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. It has within the last three years contributed largely to the publication of correct editions of the Bible in the German and French languages. An edition of 10,000 copies of Luther’s Bible, printed at the expense of the society, will soon be exhausted; and a new edition of 10,000 copies of Luther’s New Testament will soon be finished. The Edinburgh Society has also engaged to assist the Glasgow Bible Society in modernizing and republishing the Spanish Protestant Bible of Cypriano at Valero, originally printed at Amsterdam in 1602. It has also given L.400 in aid of the translation of the Scriptures into the oriental languages.

This society, with some others in Scotland, has within the last few years been engaged in a law-suit with his majesty’s printers for Scotland, who insisted on preventing the importation of Bibles printed beyond the bounds of Scotland. Though the patentees have succeeded in obtaining an interdict against importation, the results of the action has upon the whole been favourable to the public. In a Memorial on the Case of the Bible Societies, printed in 1824, many inaccuracies in the common editions of the Bible were complained of, and in several other respects the Bibles printed in Scotland were alleged to be inferior to some of the English editions. It cannot be denied that a manifest improvement in the appearance of the Edinburgh editions has since taken place; and the printers are fully aware, that if they were to incur the charge of printing carelessly, or imposing unreasonable prices, there are persons alive who would not be slack in complaining of these grievances, and endeavouring to procure redress.