IN THE

A POPULAR ILLUSTRATED REPORT
OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN
BIBLE SOCIETY- ••1907-1908

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Gift of the Publishers

THE HIGHWAY IN THE WILDERNESS

Photo by

A LOG-JAM ON A CANADIAN RIVER.

Xo-rillc Edioouls.

THE HIGHWAY
IN THE
WILDERNESS

A POPULAR
ILLUSTRATED
REPORT OF THE BRITISH
I 'I
AND FOREIGN
BIBLE SOCIETY
FOR THE YEAR
MDCCCCVII-VIII

THE BIBLE HOUSE
QUEEN VICTORIA STREET LONDON

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
Except where otherwise stated the incidents and
statistics in the following pages belong to last year s record.
It should be noted that this period is reckoned to end on
December 31 J'/, 1907, as regards the Bible Society s
foreign work ; and as regards its home work., on March
2,1st, 1908.
T. H. DARLOW,
Literary Superintendent.
The Bible House,
August, igo8.

CONTENTS.
PAGE
Proem .... . . . i
The Task of the Roadmenders ... .9
Evangelists and the Evangel . . . . • 29
Pilgrims in Strange Lands ..... 43
Wayi'aring Biblemen ....... ji
For Such as Sit in Darkness ..... 73
Traveller's Joy ........ 80
Ways and Means . ..... 92
Appendix ........ . 105

THE HIGHWAY IN THE WILDERNESS.

PROEM.
Let the blow fall soon or late,
Let what will be o'er me ;
Give the face of earth around,
And the road before me.
Wealth I ask not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me ;
All I ask, the heaven above
And the road below me.
R. L. Stevenson.
At the outset of his fascinating book, entitled The
Old Road, Mr. Hilaire Belloc discusses some of those
primal things, such as a Fire, a Roof, or a Road,
which possess strange power to move our imagination
and emotion. " Fire has the character of a free com
panion that has travelled with us from the first exile ;
only to see a fire, whether he need it or no, comforts
every man. Again, to hear two voices outside at night
after a silence, even in crowded cities, transforms the
mind. A Roof also, large and mothering, satisfies us
here in the north much more than modern necessity can
explain ; so we built in beginning : the only way to carry

THE HIGHWAY
off our rains and to bear the weight of our winter snows.
A Tower far off arrests a man's eye always — it is more
than a break in the sky-line ; it is an enemy's watch or
the rallying of a defence to whose aid we are summoned.
Nor are these emotions a memory or a reversion only as
one crude theory might pretend ; we craved these things
— the camp, the refuge, the sentinels in the dark, the
hearth — before we made them ; they are part of our
human manner, and when this civilisation has perished
they will reappear.
" Of these primal things the least obvious but the
most important is the Road. It does not strike the sense
as do those others I have mentioned ; we are slow to feel
its influence. We take it so much for granted that its
original meaning escapes us. Men, indeed, whose
pleasure it is perpetually to explore even their own coun
try on foot, and to whom its every phase of climate is
delightful, receive, somewhat tardily, the spirit of the
Road. They feel a meaning in it ; it grows to suggest
the towns upon it, it explains its own vagaries, and it
gives a unity to all that has arisen along its way. But
for the mass the Road is silent ; it is the humblest and
the most subtle, but the greatest and the most original
of the spells which we inherit from the earliest pioneers
of our race. ' '
The Waylessncss of the World.
Nothing startles the emigrant, when he first penetrates
a new country, more than the absence of roads. It is a
forlorn experience to find yourself astray in some wide
wilderness, and to be forced to make your own path
through the untrodden bush or over the trackless prairie,
where to all appearance no man has marched before you
since the beginning of the world. Here in England we

IN THE WILDERNESS
use our familiar highways and byways, forgetful of the
slow generations through which they have been made
smooth for our feet. Yet the road we take to business
every morning was perchance paved by Roman legion
aries and embanked by Norman barons. Even the
green foot-path which leads across the meadows from
hamlet to hamlet is often the most ancient thing in the
landscape — far older than church, or cromlech, or any
other visible vestige of man's past. Everything else
has utterly altered : the whole face of the country is
transformed ; but that immemorial path survives, where
it was first worn by the feet of hunters and shepherds,
homeward-bound over the wold.
A path is earlier than building, earlier than wells ;
it is among the first and most imperative of man's
necessities. Perhaps he began by following the tracks
along which animals seek their food and their drinking
places. They have strange wisdom which tells them
how to shun the morass and how to find out the ford.
And so primeval man trod safely in the footprints of the
beasts. In the Canadian North West it is still evident
that the first settlers must often have followed some
buffalo-trail as their guide across the wilderness. Deep-
rooted in human nature lives the imperious instinct
which makes us cling to a beaten track. The common
Hebrew word for road originally meant no more than
' ground trodden upon.' And the ancient Pilgrim Road
from Damascus into Arabia, which has been used for
uncounted centuries, still consists merely of a number of
parallel tracks, trampled by men and beasts year after
year, without any artificial construction or pavement.
In the desert the one thing needful is guidance to
discover a water-spring and to avoid a camp of foemen.

THE HIGHWAY
To find the right path may be literally a matter of life
and death. The primitive sanction of custom was self-
preservation. Our hungers and terrors and hopes all
combine to cry out for a ' way. '
And that very word ' way ' oscillates in meaning
between a material and a spiritual suggestion. For
man borrows the figures and phrases of his actual way
faring in the world, and uses them to picture to himself
the pilgrimage of the soul, the solemn journey of life.
The sages of old marked out this or that course of conduct
as the best ; they hedged the path with precept and
tradition, and planted it with guide-posts of noble
example. In Palestine, for instance, the Rabbis spoke
of two Ways lying open for human feet to walk in — the
Way of life and the Way of death. The great Teacher of
India took that term The Way and made it a kind of
watchword for his disciples : it stood for the fourfold
method of renunciation which Buddha practised and
enjoined. Although we live in what claims to be an age of pro
gress, we often find ourselves brought to a stand,
bewildered by the complexity of life. So many cross-
tracks would lead our feet astray. It seems sometimes
as though good men were growing more aimless as well
as evil men more shameless. There are modern cynics
and pessimists who declare bitterly that all ways alike
are futile and misleading. Yet people cannot help feeling
certain that a ' way ' must exist somewhere, if only they
could find it. Serious men grow paralyzed unless they
can believe that there is a real way in the world for them
and for their fellows, — a line of coherent purpose in their
own lives, and a clue of Divine meaning in the common
life of mankind.

IN THE WILDERNESS
The Living Way.
Jesus Christ transfigures this idea of a way of life,
when He identifies it with Himself, and says " I am the
Way." In this profound paradox, our Lord unites two
great elements of human existence.* For we know how,
in our best and noblest moments, devotion to a person
seems the all-in-all of life to us. And we know, too,
how the idea of a method and standard and rule of living,
though it seems so abstract, is also most practical and
most necessary. Our Lord reconciles the abstract and
the personal when He claims to be Himself the Way.
He affirms that He Himself is life's answer and explan
ation, life's direction and discipline and authority. The
Way includes not only the Guide, but also the Sustainer,
and the Goal. His disciples must not merely walk after
Him, but walk in Him, progressing by abiding in this
true and living Way.
" I am the Way.^' We listen to these four short sim
ple words as they fall from our Lord's lips, and gradually
we realize that the Speaker is claiming to be nothing less
than supreme over all the chances and changes of mortal
affairs. He tells us that through the mazes of human
history, the movements of progress, there runs one
Divine and dominating Way ; and that He Himself is
that Way. Christ becomes God's Way on earth, inas
much as He lays bare its hidden and heavenlyfoundations.
He manifests in Himself the spiritual nature and mean
ing of things, the reality which underlies all these
shadows of time. He is in His own Person the perfect
image of man's destiny, the perfect Word of God's
counsel. Therefore He can affirm : " I am the Way."
* The writer desires to acknowledge his deep indebtedness to Hort's
Hulsean Lectures, The Way, The Truth, and The Life — one of the
most remarkable contributions to English theology which has appeared
during the last twenty years.

THE HIGHWAY
The Book of the Revelation of the Way.
The whole value and purpose of the Bible consists in
this, that it is the Book of the revelation of Jesus Christ.
His living Person sums up all revelation. And this
one volume preserves for us everything which we cer
tainly know of His life, His words. His character.
Nevertheless, it is sufficient. It achieves its Divine in
tention. As Erasmus said long ago, concerning the
Gospels : "These writings bring to you the living image
of that most holy mind, the very Christ Himself, speak
ing, healing, dying, rising — in fact, so entirely present
that you would see less of Him if you beheld Him with
your eyes. ' '
Thus there is but one thing we have to seek for in the
Scriptures, and that is Jesus Christ. And we find Him
there, as we can find Him nowhere else. To. say that
He is the Alpha and Omega of the Bible, that the Book
as a whole converges and concentrates upon His Person,
is no mere mystical fancy. Let us cite a witness who
certainly cannot be called an obscurantist. English
Christendom was poorer last year by the death of Dr.
John Watson, better known as Ian Maclaren ; and
among the many illustrious names on the Bible Society's
list of Vice-Presidents, none was more widely known
throughout the English-speaking world. Dr. Watson
was very far removed from traditionalism ; but in his
speech at the Society's Centenary he declared — and
many who read these pages will recall his very
tone and emphasis — "The Bible is so constructed that
there is not a book in it, and there is not an incident,
which has not its face turned towards Jesus Christ."

IN THE WILDERNESS
Progressive Christianity.
Moreover men make progress in Christian knowledge
and Christian character only as they abide in the One
Way. Wide experience proves that the spiritual life
and growth of believers are conditioned by their use of
that Book wherein they come face to face with the
Author and Finisher of their faith. The faith of
Christendom cannot live and conquer divorced from the
Scriptures. In his trenchant style Froude summed up
in a sentence one chief aspect of the Reformation :
" When the printing press was invented and the Bible
came to be read by the people, the contrast was so violent
between religion as exhibited in the New Testament, and
religion as taught and exercised by the infallible Church,
that half Europe broke away from it. "* In this connexion
we may quote from an eminent living English scholar.
The remark occurs at the end of a footnote in Dr.
Foakes-Jackson's Essay on " Christ in History," com
ing, in fact, rather as a caveat or necessary reservation
than as part of the writer's proper thesis. His whole
Essay is an attempt to portray our Lord as One who is
constantly revealing Himself with increasing clearness
to the conscience of men. Yet he feels constrained
to add: "At the same time, since in every age the
Church is tempted to regard her interpretation of her
Lord as final and complete, a return to the historic Christ
is a constant necessity and the only cause of progress. ' 'f
It is only by means of the Bible that we can enter
into the fulness of Christ's inexhaustible affirmation "I
am the Way." Doubtless things to come will prove
unlike things past and things present ; but there runs
* J. A. Froude. Short Studies, IV., p. 359.
t Cambridge Theological Essays, p. 476, note.

THE HIGHWAY
through all life the one Divine Way — the same yesterday,
to-day, and for ever. As we go on trusting Him and living
in Him, our thoughts turn from our own feet to His pur
pose for mankind. What we know for ourselves of His
Way in the world proves it to be the King's Highway —
the sign and instrument of Divine Love and lordship
over all men ; and we see it opening up and stretching
on through the whole universe of God.
That Thy Way may be known opon earth.
The Church, which is the keeper and witness of Holy
Writ, prospers and prevails by spreading abroad the
Book which conveys God's saving health unto all
nations. And for this special service in the economy of
Providence one great institution has been developed,
which has been permitted to accomplish more than all
other agencies put together in spreading the Scriptures
far and wide among the kindreds and peoples and
tongues of the world. The pages which follow will
give some brief outline of what has been achieved this
last year by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

A SCHOOLMASTER READING TO RUSSIAN VILLAGERS ON SUNDAY,

IN THE WILDERNESS

THE TASK OF THE ROADMENDERS.
" Take up the stum,blingblock out of the way of
My people." — Isaiah lvii : 14.
Every enlightened Christian understands that "it is
the property of Jesus Christ to be universal." That pro
found saying of Pascal's applies also to the Book
wherein our Lord reveals Himself to those who seek
Him as they read its pages. It is the property of the
New Testament to be universal. Scripture is not for
one nation only, or for one civilization, but for all the
children of God, though they be so widely scattered
abroad and severed in race and in speech. Yet "the
Bible must come to men, if men are to come to the
Bible." And before it can fulfil its mission to any
people, it must come to them speaking in their own
familiar tongue.
For this supreme reason, the Bible Society has always
accepted as a primary duty the task of translating,
printing and publishing the Scriptures in all the
languages of mankind. Year after year the sacred
labour advances, and expands with its own success.
Merely from the philologist's point of view, the Society's
Editorial Report for 1907-8 presents an astonishing
record. It registers progress, either in translation or in
revision of the Scriptures, in no fewer than 138 different
languages and dialects. During the past year three new
versions have been added to the Society's list : these

THE HIGHWAY
are Lengua, for South America ; Lu-Nyankole, for
Central Africa ; and Hindu-Sindhi, for Northern India.
Versions in six other new languages are in progress,
but not quite complete ; these must stand over, to be
included, we hope, next year.
The publication of the Canonical Books of the Bible
was completed last year in two additional languages —
in Giryama, for British East Africa; and in Nguna-Efate,
a combination of the dialects of two islands in the New
Hebrides. With these, the number of Bibles on the
Society's list is now 105. The New Testament was
completed last year in Baffin's Land Eskimo, and in the
Mombasa form of Swahili ; these raise the number of
New Testaments to 99. While 208 other languages, in
which only some part of the Testament has yet been
issued, make up the total to four hundred and twelve
DIFFERENT LANGUAGES in which the British and Foreign
Bible Society has promoted the translation, printing or
distribution of at least some part of God's Book.
Three New Versions.
Lengua is the language spoken by a tribe of Indians
in the Paraguayan Chaco, who are being evangelized by
the South American Missionary Society. In some
respects their speech is highly developed : its formations
are regular and it can express fine distinctions of mean
ing. But the language has remarkable defects. It
indulges in paraphrases, and words of abnormal length.
Thus "eighteen "is paraphrased by " Finished-my-hands-
pass-to-my-other-foot-three," which becomes in Lengua,
solwg - emek - wakthla - mok - eminik - antanthlama. Far
more serious was the difficulty that before any Lenguas
became Christians, they possessed no names whatever for
the cardinal Christian ideas — such, for instance, as God,

ID

IN THE WILDERNESS
worship, praise, sacrifice, sin, holiness, reward, punish
ment, duty. Moreover these Indians are so ultra-
conservative that they resolutely reject any transliterated
word which the missionaries attempt to introduce. After
years of patient effort, however, the problem of render
ing St. Mark's Gospel into Lengua is so far solved by
Mr. R. J. Hunt, that our Society has now published his
own re-translation of the first version he made of this
Gospel, printed eight years ago by the S.A.M.S. Out
of the present edition of i,ooo copies, only 250 have
been sent to Paraguay, the remainder being stored at the
Bible House ; for in the Chaco, books in stock are
speedily spoiled by the climate and the insects.
In the heart of Africa, Lu-Nyankole is the speech of a
tribe inhabiting the region south-west of Uganda.
These people are now being evangelized by the C. M.S.
missionaries, for whose use St. Matthew's Gospel has
just been printed. The translator is the Rev. H. Clay
ton, who saw the edition through the press last year.
The Province of Sindh, on the north-west frontier of
India, has a population of about four millions, of whom
600,000 are Hindus and the remainder Musalmans. A
translation of the Gospels into Hindu-Sindhi — the dialect
current among these Hindus of Sindh — is now being
made by missionaries of the C. M.S. and the C. E.Z.M.S.;
the Gospels of St. Mark and St. John are ready for the
press, and will be printed forthwith.
In the Vulgar Tongue.
The Bible Society exists in order that it may circulate
the Scriptures everywhere "in the vulgar tongue" — that
is, in the speech which common men and women can
most easily understand, the speech which comes home
to their business and bosoms.

II

THE HIGHWAY
We may best illustrate what this involves by referring
to certain versions which are now in progress in the
different vernacular forms or dialects of Arabic current
along the southern shores of the Mediterranean. There
exists, of course, a standard Arabic Bible, magnificently
translated by Dr. Cornelius Van Dyck. This version,
however, which first appeared in 1865, is in the classical
literary Arabic which to some extent looks backward to
the style of the Koran. For educated Arabs, no better
version can be desired ; but there are many millions of
common folk who speak Arabic as their mother tongue,
but find this Bible quite too difficult for their com
prehension. In the course of generations they have
developed colloquial forms of the language, varying,
naturally, with their different countries. In each of these
vernaculars it is being found necessary to prepare some
part at least of the New Testament.
Three years ago a tentative edition of St. Luke,
rendered into modern Arabic as used in Egypt, was
privately printed. Our Society is now printing this
Gospel after it has been revised by a committee of local
missionaries. St. Luke, translated into the Arabic current in Morocco,
was published by our Society six years ago. The book
has been found especially suitable for Moorish women
and patients in hospitals ; and since it was issued. Chris
tian missionaries in Morocco have won an increasing
number of converts. St. Matthew, St. John, the Acts,
and Romans have just been published in this same
dialect, often known as Mogrebi. As in the case of the
Mogrebi St. Luke, which appeared in 1902, these books
are beautifully lithographed in the Kufic script peculiar to

12

IN THE WILDERNESS
Morocco, the MS. having been written out by one of the
Sultan's calligraphists, who also wrote the inscriptions
for a recent issue of the Moorish coinage.
A version of St. Luke in Arabic, as spoken in Tunis,
has also been made by a lady member of the North
Africa Mission, and is now being carefully examined by
missionaries in Tunis, in order that it may be published
in a form suited to the needs of simple folk, especially
women. A version of the New Testament in the form of Arabic
current in Algeria had been carefully revised by Dr.
Nystrom before his death in July, 1907. This will now
be scrutinized by a committee of missionaries in Algiers
before it is finally sent to the printers.
Vernacular Versions for Chiaa.
A similar need exists in China. Throughout the
eighteen Provinces of that densely peopled Empire the
same characters are read, and the same language is
current, though in widely different forms. Literary
Chinese is called Wenli, while the most popular form of
the spoken language is known as Mandarin. Beyond
these, however, there exist great provincial vernaculars
— each spoken by millions of people and sufficiently dis
tinct to require a separate version of the Scriptures for
use among the half-educated masses. Our Society has
already issued the complete Bible in three of these
Chinese vernaculars, besides printing some parts of the
Bible in nine others.
Baba Malay.
Carrying out the same principle, the Society has
also undertaken to print the New Testament in " Baba"
Malay. This is the form of Malay spoken and
13

THE HIGHWAY
understood by the Chinese who have been born in the
Straits Settlements ; it contains a number of Chinese
words mainly from the Amoy and Swatow dialects. In
Singapore, Malacca, and Penang there are at least
50,000 of these Malay - speaking Chinese, besides
thousands more in the Federated Malay States, in British
North Borneo, and on the east coast of Sumatra. The
Straits-born Chinese are the best educated and most in
fluential people of their race in these regions. The
version will be widely useful, especially among missions.
The Anglican Church has Malay-speaking congregations
of Chinese in Singapore; the Presbyterian Mission has a
"Baba" Malay Church; the Methodist Episcopal
Mission has Malay-speaking congregations ; and the
Brethren's Mission also works among Malay-speaking
Chinese in Penang and Singapore.
Miss Gage-Brown, of the C.E.Z.M.S., Singapore, writes :
"We are delighted to hear that an earnest effort is really
being made to give us at last the New Testament in Malay
as generally understood by peoples other than the Malays
themselves, especially by the Straits Chinese. We long to
have books in their own spoken tongue for the children to use
in our school, and to take away with them when they leave.
Many of these have learnt enough English to read the Bible,
but if they go to live in Chinese or Malay-speaking families
their English wears off. They have no books which they can
use easily for strengthening their own spiritual life, and for
the instruction and help of their households. Hence their
Christian life is not aggressive, and is at a much lower level
than it might be. Please do all you can to get us the
Scriptures for use in this generation."
Revisions. It is one chief function of the Bible Society to promote
and publish new versions of the Scriptures in languages

14

IN THE WILDERNESS
in which the Gospel has not hitherto spoken. Beyond
this, however, it fulfils a no less important duty when it
endeavours to improve and make more perfect existing
versions of the Bible, which are confessedly faulty and
need to be brought up to the modern standard of
linguistic knowledge. We may briefly indicate how
the Society is carrying on this difficult and delicate task
of revision for some of the older and more civilized
races of the world.
In Hebrew.
A new edition of the Hebrew Old Testament, enriched
by Massoretic variants gathered from over fifty MSS.
and early printed editions, has been undertaken for the
Society by Dr. Ginsburg, who is among the foremost
of living Massoretic scholars. Through his indefatigable
labours the work is making good progress. The earlier
books are already in type, and the book of Genesis has
just appeared as a specimen and instalment of the whole.
Dr. Ginsburg presented an account of this noteworthy
edition to the Congress of Orientalists which met at
Copenhagen in August, 1908.
For Wales;
The new Welsh Reference Bible, prepared by the
Bible Society as a Centenary gift to the Welsh people,
is at length completed and published. The foot-notes
to this edition include for the first time a rendering into
Welsh of all the marginal matter of the English
Revised Version, and the American Revisers' Preferences
are also added. Apart from any charges for paper,
printing, and binding, the expenditure on this edition
has amounted to about £i,'joo. 15

THE HIGHWAY
In Continental Languages.
After long years of labour, the revision of the
Hungarian Bible has been finished, and the book is
now in circulation. The New Testament and the
Psalter in Sloven have also been revised, and are
ready for the printer. A careful revision of the Icelandic
Bible is also complete ; the revised New Testament has
been published, and the Old Testament is in the press.
The remarkable demand for the Scriptures which has
arisen in Bulgaria exhausted for a time all available
stocks. Early last year, 10,000 copies of the Bulgarian
New Testament were sold out in five months. The
printers are busy with new editions. And our Society
has just made itself responsible for a revision of the
text of the Bulgarian Bible.
A committee of scholars in Italy has begun to carry
out certain corrections and changes in Diodati's great
version of the Italian Bible, with a view to modernizing
its diction and rectifying some of its renderings. In
Brazil another committee is engaged in preparing a
revision of the Portuguese New Testament, with special
reference to the needs of the millions who speak that
language in South America.
The Cree Bible.
As far back as 1899 a committee was formed, under
the direction of the Archbishop of Rupertsland, for the
revision of the Bible in ' Plain Cree,' which had been
originally published in syllabic characters by the Bible
Society in 1862. In 1903 the Archbishop suggested that
the superintendence of the work should be entrusted
to Dr. J. A. Mackay, Archdeacon of Saskatchewan, who
had been familiar with this language from his childhood.
In the autumn of that same year. Dr. Mackay came over
16

IN THE WILDERNESS
to England, and the revision of the whole Bible was
definitely taken in hand. When he had to return to
Canada in the spring of 1904, the New Testament (with
part of the Psalter) was in type. He re-visited England
for the winter of 1904-5, and completed the Psalter and
the early part of the Old Testament. The next two
winters he was obliged to spend in Canada, but in
November, 1907, he again reached the Bible House, and
the remaining part of the Old Testament was completed
on July 14th, 1908, Archdeacon Mackay's seventieth
birthday. The Archdeacon has expressed his deep gratitude for the
opportunity of carrying through this task. He has been
permitted to labour among the Cree Indians for over fifty years,
and he considers the revision of the Bible which he has now
completed, the crown of his life-work. The Cree Bible is a
blessing to Anglican, Methodist, and Presbyterian Missions
in the Canadian North-West.
In comparison with the millions of India, the few thousand
Crees may seem a small body ; but there are no Christians
anywhere who value God's Word more than the Cree Indians.
In the far north, where they still follow the hunter's life,
moving from place to place in pursuit of game, the Bible is a
peculiar blessing to them, away in the wilds. The word for
" a Christian " in the Cree language means literally " a pray
ing man," and the Christian Indians are a praying people.
Daily family worship is a regular practice. Wherever they
are, morning and evening, the voice of prayer and praise
ascends from their humble dwellings. A portion of God's
Word is read, a hymn is sung and prayer is offered.
For India.
The Society acts as general trustee for versions of the
Bible in the great Aryan vernaculars of Northern
India, and the equally great Dravidian vernaculars of
Southern India, each one of which provides for peoples

17

THE HIGHWAY
whose numbers are reckoned by scores of millions. An
elaborate revision of the Malayalam Bible is now
complete, and is being carried through the press.
Meanwhile we rejoice to hear of a spiritual revival among
the Syrian Churches of Malabar, creating unprecedented
demands for the Scriptures in Malayalam. After many
years' labour revisions of the New Testament in Kanarese
and in Marathi were published during 1907, and the
Old Testament in both these languages is now being
taken in hand. The final form of the revised Telugu
Bible still occupies a representative committee of
scholars. The Bengali Bible in its latest revision is to
appear shortly. A fresh translation of the New Testa
ment in Burmese will soon be ready for the press.
The revised Hindi Old Testament, begun as far back
as 1893, has at length been published, and is on sale at
all the Society's depots in India, bound up with an
earlier Hindi version of the New Testament. The
following notice from The Bombay Guardian will be
read with interest : —
' ' We welcome with very great satisfaction the appearance
of the Revised Hindi Bible. This is a work for which we
have been waiting for years, and a careful examination of it
has convinced us that we have at last an adequate translation
of the Word of God in Hindi. The book more than fulfils
our expectations, and it is not too much to say that it at last
gives all Hindi readers such a translation of the Hebrew
Scriptures as we English have long enjoyed in the Authorised
Version."One of the least of these.
We may give one instance of how the Society is
careful to serve the remnants and relics of primitive
races who appear of small account except to the student
18

IN THE WILDERNESS
of anthropology. The Todas are a Dravidian tribe,
surviving only among the Nilgiri Hills in South India.
Their religion is of an extremely primitive type. They
worship stone images, buffaloes, and even cow-bells ;
but they have a celibate priesthood, which, according
to Dr. E. W. Hopkins' The Religions of India, they
have probably borrowed from their more civilized
neighbours. In the language of these curious folk the
Bible Society has printed St. Mark and St. John's
Gospels, and the Book of Jonah. The past year
witnessed the baptism of the first Toda converts.
In the Far East.
In Japan an influential representative body of Japanese
Christian scholars and foreign missionaries has, within
the last few months, agreed upon a joint scheme for
revising the Japanese Bible.
A word must be said about the revisions of the Bible
in China. The Missionary Conference held at Shanghai
in 1890 appointed committees to prepare three parallel
versions of the Chinese Bible — one in High Wenli, one
in Easy Wenli, and one in Mandarin. This task has
been successfully carried out in all three cases, so far as
the New Testament is concerned. At the Shanghai
Missionary Conference, held in the spring of 1907, it was
decided to reduce these proposed Bibles from three to
two by amalgamating the High and Easy Wenli, thus
making two standard ' Union ' versions, one in Wenli,
and one in Mandarin. Fresh committees have been
appointed to carry out this decision.
Both in China and in Japan, the expenses of publica
tion will be shared by the American Bible Society, the
National Bible Society of Scotland, and the British and
Foreign Bible Society. 19

THE HIGHWAY
For Africa.
We can only mention two or three outstanding lan
guages of Africa. The Chuana version of the Bible,
which the Bechuanas called Molomooa Jehova — the
Mouth of God — is a monument of Moffat's indefatigable
labours. It has recently been revised with great care,
and the result is now passing through the press.
Another important revision, also in the printer's hands,
is the Bible in Accra, or Ga, for the Gold Coast. This
revision cost our Society ^^ 1,176, in addition to the
expense of printing and publishing the completed
volume. The final revision of the Xosa Bible is now
being printed for the Kafirs in South Africa.
The Eastern Church.
Two interesting facts may be mentioned which shed
light on the Society's relations with ecclesiastical author
ities in Eastern Europe. At St. Petersburg, the Holy
Synod of the Russian Church — from which we obtain
annually about 350,000 copies of the Scriptures in Russ
and Slavonic — issued for us last year a special edition of
the Canonical Books of the Russ Bible, which we may
circulate throughout Russia. At Constantinople, editions
of an amended Greek Testament in the traditional text
have been issued under the auspices of the Greek
Patriarch, who has undertaken to supply our Society
with copies, mainly for circulation among members
of the Orthodox Greek Church.
Transliteration. It is sometimes necessary to print the same version of
the Bible in more than one set of characters. In the
dominions of the Sultan, for example, many Armenians
and Greeks habitually speak Turkish in every day life,
but they can only read the Armenian or the Greek

20

IN THE WILDERNESS
alphabet. The Turkish version of the Bible must there
fore be printed not only in Arabic characters for the
Turks, but in Armenian and in Greek characters as well.
In India the Urdu Bible is printed in Persian and in
Roman characters. In many countries the Jews have
adopted a foreign language, while they only read in
their own Hebrew letters.
Persia, for instance, contains a considerable number of
Jews — according to some estimates, about 50,000. Most of
these Jews, while speaking the Persian language, are unable
to read anything which is not written in the Hebrew alphabet.
For their benefit the Bible Society has undertaken to trans
literate into Hebrew characters Dr. Bruce's version of the
Persian Bible. This task was entrusted to Mr. M. Norollah,
a Jewish Christian born in Persia, and one of the agents at
Teheran of the London Jews' Society. The publication of
the Old Testament has been completed in five volumes, and
our Society is now printing the New Testament in the same
style. The heavy cost of producing this Bible in Judseo-
Persian is borne by the Centenary Fund, and the work, when
completed, will constitute a Centenary gift from our Society
to the Persian-speaking Jews.
In Rhodesia.
That missionary versions are not carried out in mere
haphazard fashion will appear from the following
example. Our Society has recently undertaken to pub
lish a new version in Ndau, a language spoken in the
Melsetter District of Southern Rhodesia. The Four
Gospels have been translated jointly by the Rev. Dr. G.
A. Wilder, who is a missionary of the American Board
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and Mr. and
Mrs. John Hatch, of the South Africa General Mission :
both these Missions will use the new version. For the
various tribes in Rhodesia our Society has already pub
lished some parts of the Bible in Tabele, in Shona, in

21

THE HIGHWAY
Mambwe, in Karanga, in Kalaiia, and in Ila. But this
multiplication of versions is part of a definite plan.
We hope that after the Gospels have been pub
lished in the principal dialects of Rhodesia, it will be
possible to combine some or all of these into a common
standard version, and thus bring unity out of diversity.
With this end in view the Rhodesian Missionary Con
ference, in 1906, adopted a common system of orthogra
phy, and drew up a list of renderings of about a hundred
important terms in the New Testament for use in all
the dialects. The version of the Gospels in Ndau is the
first in which it has been possible to introduce this
orthography and these common renderings. The Mis
sion of the A. B.C.F.M. in Southern Rhodesia is only
four years old, and includes about fifty native communi
cants. Though they are miserably poor, they have
collected and sent ^i to the Bible House in token of
their appreciation of our Society.
Consecrated Drudgery.
What is involved in making a new version of Holy
Scripture ? The full answer to that question can never
be put upon paper. But some vivid glimpses of the
drudgery which a translator must undergo may be
gained from the following paragraphs, which also
illustrate how missionaries of diverse communions clasp
hands in this sacred task.
The Christian missionaries who settled in Northern Nigeria
among the genuine Nupe people found these folk living
between the Hausa country and the Yoruba country, and
along both banks of the Niger. They begin near Lokoja —
at the junction of the Benu6 River and the Niger — and extend
northwards for about two hundred miles. Bishop Tugwell
estimates that there are a million Nupe-speaking people.

^ '%^.' v>>^

A ZULU WOMAN IN NATAL.

IN THE WILDERNESS
On the Upper Niger.
The Rev. A. W. Banfield, who is a Canadian by birth,
went out from Toronto in 1901 with the pioneer party of the
Africa Industrial Mission — now the Sudan Interior Mission —
to open up mission-work in Northern Nigeria. To begin
with, they settled at Patigi, which is about five hundred miles
from the coast, and one hundred and forty miles north of
Lokoja. Mr. Banfield belongs to the Mennonite Brethren in
Christ, and his Canadian fellow-Christians of this communion
were largely interested in the Africa Industrial Mission. In
1905, however, when he returned to Canada for a brief fur
lough, the Mennonite Church decided to establish a mission
of their own in Northern Nigeria. Mr. Banfield has since
acted as the superintendent of this work, which is under the
General Board of the Mennonite Church. The present head
quarters of his Mission are at Shonga, which was the most
northerly station on the Niger until recently, when the C.M.S.
opened a new station twenty miles beyond.
Early in igoS, Mr. Banfield came to London for the first
time, in order that he might see through the press his
translation of the Four Gospels into Nupe, which the
Bible Society had undertaken to print and publish. This
work was entrusted to him at a Conference between
missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, the Sudan
Interior Mission, and the Mennonite Mission, held at Patigi
in 1906, under the presidency of Bishop Tugwell. An earlier
version of the Gospels in Nupe, which the Bible Society had
printed in 1899, proved unsatisfactory, and the Conference
decided that a new translation must be made. The Con
ference also came to an agreement as to the standard
alphabet to be used, and adopted a standard version of the
Lord's Prayer, of the Apostles' Creed, and of the Ten
Commandments. It also discussed and agreed upon the
rendering of certain important proper names and technical
Christian terms, such as "Jesus Christ," "Holy Spirit,"
"justification," "sanctification," etc. The Conference then
23

THE HIGHWAY
asked Mr. Banfield to re-translate the Four Gospels, sub
mitting the work as it proceeded to the other members of the
Conference for criticism. He at once began to translate,
working from the English Revised Version as a basis, and
sending round copies of his work, so that it passed for
correction through the hands of five missionaries. A second
Conference was held in October, 1907, at Shonga, when he
presented these results. The final revision was then left with
Mr. Banfield, who tested every point of difficulty with his
native teacher, and also with other intelligent Nupes — both
Moslem and pagan. But beyond a certain point it is very
difficult to get effective help from those who have no Christian
experience ; and Mr. Banfield had not the privilege of
working with any native Christian who was a pure Nupe.
The Nupe Language.
Some of his experiences are vividly described in his own
words. " Nupe lends itself very well to the Gospel. It is a
very rich language, with a copious vocabulary. I have
already compiled a Nupe dictionary, with over 11,000 words.
The number of nearly synonymous terms is remarkable.
Thus, I have found more than 100 words meaning 'large,'
and about 60 words meaning ' small.' In English we use the
same word when we speak of thin soup or a thin man or a
thin string ; but the Nupe have a different adjective in all
such cases. They have 50 or 60 different words meaning
' short.' " While I have been studying with a Nupe teacher I have
added to my vocabulary on an average 15 new words each
day, or over 4,000 words in a year. I am always discovering
new words, and of course these all have to be classified. I
pick up words wherever I can. I never go anywhere with
out my note-book and pencil, and I talk to my men whenever
I travel. On one expedition I gave a boy 10 cowries for each
new word he could tell me while I was out with him ; this
was not expensive, as 1,000 cotories are about equivalent to 3d.

IN THE WILDERNESS
"The construction of the language is the real difficulty.
The use of the verb is very complicated, as well as its position
in a sentence. The pronoun, however, is simple. There are
only two numbers, singular and plural, and there is no
definite article. The Nupe have an excellent system of
numerals, by which counting becomes easy.
Coining Words.
" We have had to solve the problem how to render words
in the Gospels which stand for things which the Nupe have
never seen or thought of. For instance, we found no name
for wine, as they have no grapes ; so we have adopted the
English word. We call a tent a 'cloth house.' We found it
difficult to translate 'widow,' for there are no widows or
widowers, bachelors or old maids : they are all married. If a
Nupe woman's husband dies, she does not wash or change
her clothing or mix with the people for three months ; after
that time she promptly marries again. So for ' widow ' we
have taken the word which means such a woman. Similarly,
there is no name for ' bachelor ; ' but the Nupe have a word
which literally means ' red-eye,' and is used to denote a
young man who is sad because he would like to marry and
have some one to cook his food, but he has not enough
money to buy a wife.
" The Nupe have no distinctive word for ' soul ' or ' mind '
or 'conscience.' They express all these by one compre
hensive term which means ' heart.' We have adopted a word
for ' holy ' which literally means ' clean.' For ' pacified ' we
used a word meaning a ' heart which has lain down.' There
was no proper word for ' believe,' so we have made one by
combining two which mean ' accept' and ' word.' The Nupe
word for ' to give alms ' means ' to give to God.' They hav*
never seen snow, so we translate ' as white as snow ' by
' as white as cotton.' For ' lily ' we say ' white flower,' as they
have a little white flower in the fields. We translate
'synagogue' as ^school.' We have had to coin a word for
the Church, which we express as ' the holy coTnpany ' ; the
building we call the ' house of God.' "
25

THE HIGHWAY
This edition of the Nupe Gospels has now been printed and
sent off to the Upper Niger. Although Mr. Banfield has
achieved so difficult a task, he is barely thirty years of age.
After four successive attacks of blackwater fever, he remains
ruddy and of a cheerful countenance. Like every true
missionary he radiates optimism, and is eager to return to his
post. Finally, we may add that he is known by the natives
among whom he works as Za bokun Nupe, that is to say,
"the white Nupe." No translator could earn a more
enviable testimonial.
Two Pioneer Translators.
During the last few months God has called away two
gifted and devoted pioneers in this task of preparing
His Way in the wilderness. Dr. W. G. Lawes was
one of the most eminent L.M.S. missionaries of our
time. He has left behind him the Bible translated into
Nine, for the people of Savage Island (who are all
Christians now) ; and the New Testament in Motu, which
he translated with Dr. Chalmers and subsequently revised,
for the successful New Guinea Mission with which his
name is so closely associated.
Less widely known was the Swiss missionary, M.
Gabriel Contesse, who had given several years of devoted
missionary labour to the tribes of French Indo-China.
He and his wife both suddenly died of cholera, in June,
1908, at Songkhone, Annam, leaving a little orphan
son eight years old. It was M. Contesse who made the
first translation of St. Matthew and St. John into South
ern Laotian. Our Society published St. John last year,
and is now printing St. Matthew. For this purpose
type was specially cast, modelled on the written characters
used in the native palm-leaf manuscripts, no book
having before been printed in Laotian characters.
M. Contesse had just completed St. Luke, and on
26

IN THE WILDERNESS
May 24th, 1908, he sent off his MS. to the Bible House
for publication, enclosing also a gift of ;^2 from his
wife and himself "towards your expenses for these
Laotian Gospels." Writing on May 30th he acknow
ledged his appointment as an Honorary Life Governor
of our Society, adding, "May God still use me for
the completion of the New Testament." In a letter
written by Madame Contesse on March 5th, she says,
"Dear Lac Leman ! How I should like to have
a glimpse of it now. But beautiful as it is, we are soon
hoping to reach our heavenly home, which is infinitely
more so. There, and there only, shall we be fully
satisfied. ' '
The Editorial Superintendent.
As we close this brief survey of Bible translation and
revision, we must needs record, with heartfelt regret,
that at the end of July, 1908, the Rev. John Sharp has
finally laid down his charge as Editorial Superintendent
and Consulting Secretary, and has retired from the Bible
House, after twenty-eight years of such service as few
men have been privileged to render to the Bible Society.
Mr. Sharp joined its staff in 1880, as one of its principal
Secretaries. He has seen the regime of three Presidents
and three Treasurers of the Society, and four Chairmen
of the Committee. During his long service the number
of languages on the Society's list has increased from 238
in 1880 to 412 in 1908. We will not trust ourselves
to attempt anything like a personal tribute to our dear
and honoured colleague who is leaving us in his old
age. This only we will say, that to those who have
worked side by side with Mr. Sharp, the Bible House,
now that he is gone, can never be quite the same place
again. 27

THE HIGHWAY
When we ponder over the experiences described in
these paragraphs we may read still deeper meaning in
the parable of Michael Fairless :
' ' The roadmender has a vocation, as the monk or the
artist ; for, like both, he is universal. The world is his
home ; he serves all men alike .... His soul is
' bound up in the bundle of life ' with all other souls ; he
sees his father, his mother, his brethren in the children
of the road. For him there is nothing unclean, nothing
common ; the very stones cry out that they serve. ' '

28

IN THE WILDERNESS

EVANGELISTS AND THE EVANGEL.
" The Seal of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts exhibits a ship under sail,
making towards a point of Land, upon the Prow stand
ing a Minister with an open Bible in his hand, People
standing on the shore in a Posture of expectation."
At the Bible House in London the Library is dedicated
to one Book. It contains over 12,000 copies of that
Book — some of them Bibles, some Testaments, and
some smaller parts and portions. These volumes in
clude versions in more than five hundred and twenty
different tongues. As already stated, four hundred and
twelve of these are on the Bible Society's list of languages
and dialects in which it has helped to translate or circulate
the Scriptures.
Such a Library is really a museum of Missions in
miniature. It contains as many volumes as there are
Christian missionaries in the foreign field to-day — even
when we reckon the agents of the Roman Church. Its
shelves are laden with so many glorious trophies of
missionary daring and sacrifice, missionary toil and suc
cess. And the Library itself must be regarded as a
great silent witness to the conquests of the Cross. Al
ready the Gospel has been printed and published in all
the chief forms of human speech — in languages which
are understood by four-fifths of the population of the
world.

29

THE HIGHWAY
Visitors to the Tower of London pass through the
halls and galleries where Norman and Plantagenet kings
once held their banquets and their councils. Those
ancient chambers are now decorated with all manner of
arms and armour, arranged in various fantastic shapes.
The walls are hung round with what appear to be gigantic
blossoms, roses and lilies and passion-flowers, Avhose
petals have been cunningly fashioned out of swords and
bayonets and pistols — weapons of death. The walls of
the Bible House Library are lined with weapons which are
not carnal, for a warfare which is not of this world. Yet
along those dull rows of books our spiritual vision may
discern the glorious blossoms of God's Paradise — flowers
of the Divine Passion, and fair lilies of eternal peace,
and the mystical Rose of the Redeemed.
Missions and the Bible Society.
Naturally there has always existed a partnership of
the closest and most intimate kind between our Foreign
Missions and this Society which for more than a
century has been privileged to serve as the great arsenal
and storehouse from which they draw their indispensable
supplies. Translators and revisers of the Scriptures
come from various professions and classes. Quite
recently St. Mark's Gospel was translated into Masai by
a Foreign Office official in British East Africa, while the
version of the Burmese New Testament now being
prepared for publication is the work of a Christian
Burman, an interpreter in the service of the Indian
Government. But the front ranks in the noble army
of translators belong to learned missionary scholars
from every Church. On its side the Bible Society
co-operates with their labours in every possible way.
In many cases it arranges with a Mission to bear

30

3<

>
<>

IN THE WILDERNESS
the whole charge of a translator's support. It prints
such editions as the missionaries require. It sends out
all consignments carriage paid, to the remotest stations.
It bears the loss involved in selling the books at reduced
rates. As a rule, no expense for vernacular Scriptures
falls on the exchequer of the Missions which receive
them and circulate them.
To the services thus rendered we may quote two
recent tributes written during the last few months.
The Universities' Mission to Central Africa describes
our Society as " the synonym for kindness and prompti
tude." Dr. Mackichan, of the United Free Church of
Scotland Mission, Bombay, speaking of the Society's
generosity towards missionaries in India, says: "We
have never been refused anything we have asked ' ' — a
testimony which, at any rate, speaks volumes for
missionary discretion !
The Bible in Madagascar.
The incalculable value of the Scriptures in the mission
field is strikingly illustrated by the following extracts
from an article contributed to The Bible in the World
for June, 1908, by the Anglican Bishop of Madagascar,
Dr. G. L. King.
"No missionary can doubt the wisdom of those early
pioneers of the Gospel in Madagascar, who made the trans
lation of Holy Scripture into the common tongue their first
and greatest task. ' The common people heard Him gladly '
in the days of old : it is scarcely strange that all sorts and
kinds of men in this partially heathen land are ready to pur
chase the book which speaks of Christ.
" Great attention is paid to Bible teaching by the English,
Norwegian, and French Protestant societies at work in
Madagascar. It is read in all churches, taught carefully in
all schools. Naturally, however, what I have to say on this
31

THE HIGHWAY
subject is chiefly drawn from the Society of which I am
myself a member — the S.P.G. In our central stations upon
the East Coast, practically all adult church-goers are members
of a Bible Class.
" My own method of teaching Holy Scripture, and, I
believe, that of others also, is to take long easy passages, to
give only a few necessary explanations, and to leave the Bible
to do its own teaching. I do not in any way undervalue the
sort of Bible instruction which is usually given in England,
when a short passage is read, commented upon, and de
veloped by references to other parts of the Book into a
definite religious lesson centred in one leading idea. But our
coast people are not yet able to benefit by such methods ;
they do not yet know what is in the Bible, and it seems to me
wiser to let the Word speak to them with as little human
interpretation as possible.
"We must go back to the days when our Bible was first
translated — to the reigns of Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth
— if we would find a parallel for the solitary and dominating
influence of his (comparatively) newly translated Bible upon
the mind of a Malagasy. It has a weight and power among
our Christian people, which those who live at home would
find it hard to realize. The exact form which Christianity
will ultimately take in Madagascar as the result of the
missionary agencies now at work, is among the hidden pur
poses of God ; we may, however, predict with safety that it
will be a Church with an open Bible, and one which appeals
to the Bible for proof of all it teaches."
It may be stated that on the last revision of the
Malagasy Bible our Society expended over ^3,000. A
well-printed copy of this Bible, containing 1,112 pages
and costing over 2s. to produce, is sold in Madagascar
for IS. During 1907 the Society sent out 6,650 Bibles
and 10,480 Testaments in Malagasy — whose cost price
amounted to ;^647, while charges for freight, etc.,
came to over p^8o in addition.

32

IN THE WILDERNESS
Malagasy Gratitude.
A recent appeal for increased support of the Bible
Society reached the Malagasy Christians connected
with Protestant Missions in the Betsileo province. The
following touching response has been received from
A. R. H. Randzavola, Secretary of the Committee of
Betsileo Churches connected with the L.M.S. and the
Paris Mission, announcing a gift of ;^io to our Society
" to help you in the generous work which you undertake
to expand the Holy Scripture in the world." The
writer continues : —
"We can never forget the benefit which we receive from
your Society ; and please accept the little that we can do to
help you as a testimony of the gratitude from our heart, even
though we cannot render to you as what we receive from you.
Nevertheless, although we cannot give you much pecuniary
help, yet we can make increased supplication from God that
you might find the force and the means to accomplish the
manifold works in your hands. And we are confident that
God will not let to be reduced nor abandoned the good works
which he has allowed you to begin. We profit also by this
opportunity to testify once more our thankfulness for the
great devotedness which you have shown, and still show, to per
mit us to enjoy the possession of the Holy Scripture at a very low
price and correctly translated in our mother-tongue. Our heart
is full of gratitude for you, and God, the Master of the works
that you endeavour to do, will preserve for you His rewards
to crown your fatigue. I hope that you understand quite
well the opinion of our heart, even though my expression in
your language be not sufficiently correct and clear ; besides I
should not be able to express thoroughly our gratitude in any
language whatever, even to say in my own language."
The U.M.C.A.
In the new Cathedral of the U.M.C.A. at Likoma —
which stands on an island in Lake Nyasa — daily
33 D

THE HIGHWAY
lessons are read from the lectern, usually in the
Chi-Nyanja language. A version of the Gospels
and Acts in this tongue has already been pub
lished by our Society ; and it is now being carefully
revised by the Rev. H. B. Barnes, for many years a
missionary of the U.M.C.A. Parts of Nehemiah and
Jeremiah have also been printed in Chi-Nyanja. On
special occasions the Yao version is used in the
Cathedral, since the diocese of Likoma includes some
Yao-speaking people. The Bible Society has recently
issued a revised edition of the New Testament in Yao.

For Uganda.
During last year the Bible Society sent out to Uganda,
for the C.M.S. Missions, various editions of the
Scriptures, including 500 Bibles and 10,000 New
Testaments in Ganda ; the New Testament, the Gospels,
and the Psalms in Nyoro ; the Four Gospels, separately
bound, in Gang ; and 600 Gospels and other New
Testament Portions in Sukuma. In addition, the Bible
Society printed 2,000 copies of St. Matthew's Gospel
in Lu-Nyankole, which arrived in Uganda early in 1908.
Merely to print and bind the above-mentioned books,
apart from freight, cost the Society ;^664.
For many years the freight to Uganda formed a serious
item of expense. Even after a good cart-road was made
in 1898 from Mombasa to Lake Victoria, the rate of
carriage for goods from England to Mengo was reckoned
at 3s. per lb. Now that a weekly steamer meets the
trains from the coast, the rate has fallen to 4d. or 6d.
per lb. , while Parcel Post rates are the same as for other
British Possessions.

34

IN THE WILDERNESS
The Cost of Freight.
But the expenses of freight to remote corners of the
earth remain very heavy. Four years ago the Society
sent out a grant of 750 Bibles and 250 Testaments in
Zulu to the Livingstonia Mission at Ekwendeni. The
catalogue price of the books was ;^io6, and it cost the
Society ^61 more to transport these 1,000 volumes to
their destination, where they would be sold at prices
fixed by the missionaries according to their estimate of
what an ordinary native purchaser could afford to pay.
In China the Society spent last year over $5, 100
merely on the carriage of books consigned from our
depot at Shanghai to stations in all parts of that Empire.
Often the Scriptures are transported by boat along inland
waterways and then carried for hundreds of miles by
coolies over mountain roads.
Two Testaments.
The Society has undertaken to reprint the New
Testament in Kirghiz Turki. Each copy of this
Testament will cost is. 6d. to produce, and will be sent
out and sold among the Muhammadan Tatars in
Central Asia for lod.
To print the Cree New Testament in syllabic char
acters in its revised form cost the Society about 6s. 3d.
a copy, unbound. These Testaments are bound and
sent out carriage paid to the Missions among the Cree
Indians in the Canadian North West, at a charge of
IS. gd. for each volume.
The Proceeds of Sales.
Not long ago a well-known missionary society remitted
to the Bible House ;^55 as the proceeds of selling con
signments of the Scriptures sent out from London to its
35

THE HIGHWAY
agents abroad. For paper, printing, and binding alone,
those books had cost the Bible Society ;^ 1,055 before
they were despatched.
From New Britain.
We gratefully acknowledge that the returns from sales
of the Scriptures do sometimes more nearly approximate
to the original cost of production. Seven years ago the
Bible Society published, through its New South Wales
Auxiliary, the first edition of the New Testament in the
language of New Britain, or, as the Germans now call
it, Neu Pommern. This version was issued for the
Australian Methodist missionaries at work in the island
of New Britain. To publish an edition of 2,000 copies
cost about ;^i8o. Early in 1908 we received, through
the Rev. Dr. George Brown, Secretary of the Australian
Methodist Missionary Society, a cheque for ;^i 10 — from
the proceeds of the sales of these Testaments among the
natives of New Britain. Dr. Brown writes : " Perhaps
I am far more surprised than you will be that I am able
to send this amount. I am generally regarded as a very
sanguine man ; but if any one had told me, when I was
working amongst those people, that the time would ever
come when they would purchase, or have any wish to pur
chase, God's Word, I should have thought his opinion
of very little value. Then, they were not only degraded,
naked savages, but the most niggardly people I had ever
met with in the South Seas. And the fact that they have
worked to get the money to pay for these Testaments is
a proof of the appreciation in which they hold the Word
of God."
From Lagos.
On the West Coast of Africa, the sales of the
Scriptures through our Yoruba Auxiliary have risen
beyond all precedent. No less than ;^3i5 has been
36

IN THE WILDERNESS
remitted from Lagos to the Bible House, London, from
the proceeds of these sales during the past year. The
Yoruba Auxiliary itself also raised ;^256 last year as a
contribution to the Society, the largest it has ever sent ;
the increase is due to gifts from native congregations in
the hinterland, which have contributed for the first time.
In Fiji.
The demand for the Scriptures in Fiji goes on
increasing. During the years 1902-6, our Society sent
out to the Australian Methodist Mission in Fiji Bibles
and Testaments to the value of ;^ 1,308, and received in
London ;^ 1,291 from the proceeds of the sale of the
books. This is surely a wonderful result from a country
where the young men of to-day had grandfathers who
were cannibals. At the end of 1907 the Rev. W. W.
Brown, who has charge of the book- room of the Australian
Methodist Mission at Bau, forwarded an urgent request
for a large fresh supply of books to be sent out to
stations in different Fijian islands, in various editions
and bindings. A large consignment of 1,566 Bibles
and 5,910 Testaments has already been despatched,
the cost price of the books amounting to ;^954.
These prosperous islanders are quite able to pay for their
Bibles. They love and reverence God's Word, and
there are no people among whom the Bible Society's
work has borne more gracious fruit.
For Aborigines in Western China.
Writing in October, 1907, from the far west of China,
the Rev. S. Pollard, of the Bible Christian Mission, ac
knowledges the earliest copies of the Gospel printed for
the aboriginal Miao tribes, among whom most success
ful evangelistic work has been carried on.
37

THE HIGHWAY
'We got our first i,ooo copies of St. Mark in Hwa Miao
list Friday, and to-day we have been unable to supply all
those who desired copies. The draft of St. John's Gospel has
been carefully revised. Mr. Nicholls is working away at
St. Matthew, and I have done some preliminary work on
St. Luke. I am more and more convinced that we need
God's Word, and we need it at once. We have suffered
already because we have not this Word in Miao, and shall
suffer much more unless we can soon supply the need. Very
few of my people, not i per cent, at any rate, can use the
Chinese Scriptures intelligently. Even the boys in the School,
after more than two years' schooling, cannot do so. We
must have our own Scriptures, for we cannot have a steadfast
Church without the Word of God.'
Our Society has recently had a special font of type
cast for printing this Miao version in the peculiar sylla
bic characters adopted by its translators.
" Our Unfailing Ally."
A letter just received from China gives the following
glimpse of a missionary's experience in circulating
separate books of the Chinese Bible, which are sold
in cheap editions at less than half a farthing apiece.
' ' Genesis sells so quickly. The first sentence takes the
fancy of the Chinese at once. It is quite a common
thing for people to come and ask, ' Have you
the Creation of Heaven and Earth Book ? ' " The
Rev. E. C. Searle, of the China Inland Mission at
Pingyang, writes: "I should seem to be very un
grateful did I not record my deep sense of gratitude
that it is possible for us to have so readily and easily,
and in such usable form, these Scripture Portions — our
unfailing ally in our efforts to bring the Kingdom of
God nearer to men."

38

IN THE WILDERNESS
Another missionary writes from Yunnan, nearly 2,000
miles inland from the coast: "Although rice and food
stuffs are terribly dear, owing to a succession of bad
crops, we are able to sell the small Chinese Gospels
published by the Bible Society at the rate of twenty-
five copies for 3d. We are deeply indebted to your
Society for all the advantages and generous help it
gives us in our work."
In Korea.
The Rev. M. C. Fenwick, of the Gordon Mission,
writes : — ' ' The fact that you have made it possible for the
colporteurs to sell a copy of the New Testament for less
than the price of the native Korean books, with much
better paper and press-work, keeps them busy explaining
every day the wonderful grace of the generous friends
who supply them with such a book at so low a price.
From morning to night they hcc^r from the people, "how
can you sell a book like this (St. Matthew's Gospel)
for 2 chun (^d.)?"
Forty Missions.
Throughout the world the successes of missionary
evangelists create continually new demands for the
printed Evangel. At the present time our Society
has in hand versions or revisions of the Scriptures
needed for their work by forty different missionary
organizations. The following list (though incomplete)
includes Missions representing nearly all the com
munions of Reformed Christendom — not only in Great
Britain and her Colonies, but in France, Germany,
Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden,
Norway, and the United States.
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.
Baptist Missionary Society.

39

THE HIGHWAY
London Missionary Society.
Church Missionary Society.
Wesleyan Missionary Society.
Church of Scotland Mission.
United Free Church of Scotland Mission.
London Society for promoting Christianity among the
Jews.
Universities' Mission to Central Africa.
China Inland Mission.
Church of England Zenana Missionary Society.
Bible Christian Mission.
Primitive Methodist Church Mission.
Irish Presbyterian Mission.
New Hebrides Mission.
Moravian Missions.
Regions Beyond Missionary Union.
Churches of Christ General Evangelistic Committee.
Welsh Calvinistic Methodists' Foreign Missions.
Egypt General Mission.
North Africa Mission.
Southern Morocco Mission.
Soci^t^ des Missions Evangdliques de Paris.
Berlin Missionary Society.
Basel Missionary Society.
Foreign Missions of the Dutch Reformed Church in
America.
Mission of the Dutch Reformed Church of South
Africa.
Netherlands Missionary Society.
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
Kansas Gospel Missionary Union.
American Presbyterian Mission.
Scandinavian Alliance Mission (North America).
Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
U.S.A.
Gossner's Evangelical Missionary Society (Germany).
Danish Committee of the Indian Home Mission to the
Santals.

40

IN THE WILDERNESS
Canadian Presbyterian Mission.
Swedish National Evangelical Society.
Svenska Missionsforbundet (Stockholm).
Swiss Romande Mission.
For the Russian Church.
It is not commonly known in England that the
Russian Church carries on missionary work among the
Moslem and pagan tribes who are still found in
various provinces of the Russian Empire. The Trans
lation Commission of the Irkutsk Branch of the Orthodox
Missionary Society has just completed a new version of
St. Matthew's Gospel in the Buriat language, and has
applied to the Bible House for help to print this Gospel.
As early as 1822 the Gospels were translated and
printed in Buriat. That version, however, remains a
sealed book to the unlettered Buriats. Moreover,
it is printed in Mongolian characters, which are un
known to the trans-Baikal Buriats who are only
familiar with the Russ character. The Irkutsk Trans
lation Commission has now translated St. Matthew into
colloquial Buriat, and obtained the necessary ecclesi
astical permission to print it in Russ character. Our
Society has agreed to publish an edition of 2,000 copies
of this Gospel under the direction of its Agent in Siberia,
and to grant 400 of these books free to the Irkutsk
Translation Commission.
We may mention another version which the Bible
Society has just produced in partnership with the
Russian Church. The new translation of the Four
Gospels into Cheremiss, which was undertaken by the
Kazan Orthodox Missionary Society ten years ago at
our Society's expense, has been brought to completion.

41

THE HIGHWAY
and an edition of 3,000 copies was published towards
the close of 1907. More than eighty years ago, in
the days of the first Russian Bible Society, an edition
of the New Testament was published in Cheremiss ; but
since then practically nothing had been printed for
this tribe in the valley of the Volga.
The Verdict of Experience.
We may close this section with the judgment arrived
at by Mr. R. T. Turley, the Society's Assistant-agent
in Manchuria, who has now completed twenty-one years'
patient and devoted service. He writes: "After
all these years one feels more and more that no
mission work is so valuable as the prayerful and care
ful circulation of God's most Holy Word. It is the book
which He most blesses ; however useful others may be,
it becomes more and more the Book."

42

IN THE WILDERNESS

PILGRIMS IN STRANGE LANDS.
"Ever since I have been a Christian, each
line of Scripture has seemed to me like a
letter from home. ' '
In order that God's Book may be brought within
reach of His children in every land, the Bible Society
has established depots in nearly a hundred of the prin
cipal cities of the world. Of the books which it issues,
two-thirds are produced in foreign countries for foreign
readers. Last year, for example, more than 500,000
volumes in twenty-five of the languages of Central
Europe were bound for the Society at Berlin ; while
1,400,000 volumes were sent out from its depot at
Shanghai. Part of the Centenary Fund has been de
voted to securing new sites, depots, or other premises at
important centres of population, mainly in the East.
These centres include Shanghai, Hankow, Tientsin,
Canton, Newchwang, Kobe, Seoul, Singapore, Ran
goon, Colombo, Madras, Lahore, Simla, Cape Town,
and Johannesburg.
The Flux of Population.
In the general life of mankind nothing is more note
worthy than the great silent movements of population
which characterize our time. In these days it is not
merely the wealthy who wander over the world in quest
of pleasure. Transit has become so cheap and easy and
43

THE HIGHWAY
safe that common people are migrating in multitudes,
seeking new homes in other lands under alien stars.
The exodus from Italy has assumed dimensions which
alarm the Italian government and seriously affect the
number of available conscripts. Since the war ended
between Russia and Japan a tide of Russian emigration
is again flowing into Siberia, where 530,000 fresh
settlers arrived during nine months of 1907. In South
America the Japanese have begun to arrive everywhere.
The Brazilian government has already agreed with
Japan for 5,000 Japanese to settle close to Rio. Some
observers even suggest that South America may become
the safety-valve of the " Yellow Peril."
European Emigrants.
The migration from Europe to America may be com
pared to a river, swelling in volume as it flows. We
can watch it at a frontier railway station like Myslowitz
in the corner of Upper Silesia, where three empires —
Russia, Austria, and Germany — all converge. Some
times five or six emigrant trains arrive here in a day.
The Society's colporteur sold nearly 8,000 volumes at
this station last year, mainly among Poles, Ruthenians,
Russians, and Jews. Many of them are pathetic figures,
laden with relics of their household goods and grieving
to leave their homes. The river flows on, sending a
tributary southwards to Fiume, and pours its main
stream to the west through Hamburg and Bremen. At
both these ports our Society has stationed experienced
colporteurs. In Hamburg nearly 6,000 copies of the
Scriptures were bought last year by emigrants leaving
for America. Bremen, however, is even more crowded
with these passing pilgrims, about twice as many of

44

IN THE WILDERNESS
whom sail from the Weser as from the harbour on the
Elbe. At Bremen, Emil Pliska, our Polish colporteur,
can speak German and a smattering of almost every
Slav dialect, and can make himself understood by
Russians from the north as well as by Bulgarians,
Croats, and Servians from the south. Among these
emigrants last year he sold over ii,ooo copies of the
Scriptures in fifteen different languages.
As they enter Canada.
After these polyglot emigrants have crossed the
Atlantic the Canadian Auxiliary of our Society meets
them as they land on Canadian soil. For instance, last
year at St. John, New Brunswick, 13,000 Gospels were
given away in 31 different forms of speech ; 30,000 copies
of Scripture were distributed at Quebec, and 20,000
at Winnipeg. The problem of motley foreign immi
gration into Canada grows more complex every year.
In 1907 not far short of 300,000 entered the Dominion,
including members of almost every European race. Our
Canadian Auxiliary now needs the Scriptures in seventy
different versions, for readers from Newfoundland across
to Vancouver.
Diglot Editions.
For these immigrants nothing is more useful than diglot
editions of the Scriptures. These are twin versions in
parallel columns — one in the immigrant's native tongue, and
the other by its side in English. At the request of the
Canadian Auxiliary, our Society has agreed to print at once,
in addition to those already published, diglot Gospels or New
Testaments in English, side by side with the corresponding
version in Ruthen, Swedish, Italian, Finn, Norwegian, and
Yiddish, respectively. 45

THE HIGHWAY
Our own Kith and Kin.
The folk of our own blood and speech are not for
gotten. Thirty colporteurs are employed in the Dominion,
who visit the lumber camps and the mines, and carry
the Scriptures to remote settlements in the backwoods
and to scattered homesteads out on the prairie. To
many a lonely exile from the old country, the sight of a
Bible is like a message from the home he has left so
far behind. Its sacred words, unforgotten and un
forgettable, awaken echoes within the heart which sound
on " like sheep-bells tinkling across the waste places of
memory."In Australia.
In each of the British Colonies, the Bible Society has
its energetic Auxiliaries, its generous friends. In each,
it labours to bring God's Word within the reach of town
and hamlet and solitary farm. In New South Wales,
for instance, which includes 115 Auxiliaries and Branches,
two colporteurs are now employed, each with a horse
and van, traversing the outlying districts of this great
State, which is nearly as large as France and Italy
combined, and has a million and half people scattered
over its vast area. These travelling Biblemen avoid
the towns, and visit the mining centres and new
settlements in regions outside ordinary Christian
ministrations. They carefully avoid controversial ques
tions in religion, and confine themselves to the deep,
vital truths on which all Christians agree.
Some experiences recorded by these colporteurs afford
food for grave reflection. They give sad pictures of
spiritual darkness and destitution among the scattered
settlers near the Queensland border. For instance, in a
mining village near Deepwater, most of the men spent
46

IN THE WILDERNESS
Sunday in gambling. Service was only held occasionally,
and attended by a mere handful of adults with a few children.
Fearful ignorance was displayed concerning the Bible. Some
did not even know there was such a book, and had no
notion of its use. At Cow Flat, several families had lived for
over two years without seeing any Christian minister or
teacher. There was no religious service of any kind.
Gambling was rife all day on Sunday. The nearest police-
station was twenty-five miles away.
Owing to lack of funds our Society cannot at present
appoint several other colporteurs, so that the whole
territory of this vast State may be reached. What
an opportunity is here presented for some of God's
stewards to send the Gospel !
In the Transvaal.
Another striking example of cosmopolitan migration
is seen at Johannesburg. From its depot in this city,
the Society has supplied the Scriptures in sixty-six
different languages. Although we have had only three
colporteurs continuously employed in the Transvaal,
they present an interesting contrast. One is an
Englishman, who works mostly among native Africans
employed in the mines ; the second is a Syrian, who
sold over i,ooo volumes last year in the Johannesburg
market-place ; and the third is a Jewish Christian, who
itinerates amongst the Bible-loving Dutch farmers.
Although many of the Chinese coolies have been
repatriated, the Society carries on work among those who
remain on the Rand. During last year we distributed
2,655 Testaments and Gospels in Mandarin, Wenli, and
Cantonese. This circulation has been eff^ected largely
through the Johannesburg Colportage Association and
the South African Compounds Mission.
47

THE HIGHWAY
Pilgrims to Jerusalemi
Signs of growth and prosperity are to be seen in all
the chief towns of the Holy Land. The population of
Jerusalem is now registered at 70,000, with an increasing
number of tourists and pilgrims each year, the
majority of the pilgrims being Russians, Armenians,
Bulgarians, and Greeks.
The Society's new depot at Jerusalem stands outside
the Jaffa Gate and attracts visitors of all ranks and
nationalities. It also forms a centre from which the
various Missions, scattered all over the country, draw
their supplies of Scriptures. The total sales last year
reached 4,282 volumes; these were in twenty-three
different languages, besides seven diglots.
In the spring of 1908, a specially qualified colporteur
was sent to Jerusalem in order that he might sell the
Scriptures among the pilgrims who arrive at the Holy
City from so many countries in the month of April.
During the fortnight before and the fortnight after
Easter there are 20,000 of these visitors in Jerusalem,
speaking dozens of different tongues.
The Greek Orthodox Convent at Jerusalem has now
decided that the Scriptures shall be taught in its native
schools, and our depot has supplied 2,000 Arabic
Gospels for this purpose.
Carrying the Bible to Mecca.
Five well-dressed Muhammadan negroes from the
Gambia River entered our depot at Tangier last year,
and asked for a Bible in Arabic. After buying the
book, they all sat down on the floor and for a consider
able time continued to read it. Only one of them under
stood Arabic — their native language being Mandingo,
which is spoken south of the Gambia River — and as he
48

RUSSIAN EASTER PILGRIMS IN THE BIBLE SOCIETY'S DEPOT AT JERUSALEM.

IN THE WILDERNESS
read, he translated and explained it to his friends verse
by verse. On saying good-bye, he mentioned that they
had come thus far across Africa on their pilgrimage to
Mecca, and that they had bought the Bible to read during
the sea-voyage and the journey across the desert to the
holy city of Islam.
The Gateway of the East.
There is no other place on earth where the East and
the West meet and mingle together as they do at the
entrance to the Suez Canal, and the harbour of Port
Said presents a vivid picture of the Bible Society's ser
vice among all sorts and conditions of men. A new
motor-launch, flying a flag which bears the letters
" B.F. B.S.,' ' shows conspicuously in the harbour, as it
carries our colporteurs to and from the steamers which
anchor here often for only a few hours. Last year the
Society's agents paid over 3,000 visits to ships passing
Port Said, and sold above 9,000 copies of the Scriptures
in more than thirty languages and dialects. Nowhere
else in the world is the confusion of tongues so astonish
ing. One of our colporteurs himself speaks Arabic,
Bulgarian, Croatian, Dutch, English, French, German,
Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Rumanian, and Russian.
Chinese Idols in an English Ship's Foc's'le.
" On an English ship I found the crew to be Chinese. As
I entered the foc's'le and was showing the books, I noticed in
one corner a little altar with an idol on it, before which a
Chinaman was lighting a candle. I asked him whom the figure
represented, and he pointed up to the heavens. Another
sprang up from his bunk and said, 'This is God.' I asked,
' How can it be God, when it is made by men ? ' Then I read
from the 115th Psalm, which one of them who knew English
interpreted. Afterwards I sold them a Psalter and several
copies of the Gospels in Chinese." 49 E

THE HIGHWAY
Syrian Emigrants to America.
" The French steamer from Beyrout had about 1,200 Syrian
emigrants bound for America. I spent part of the forenoon
and the afternoon on board, and sold 7 Arabic Bibles, 11
Testaments, and 28 Gospels. These poor people were glad
to have God's Word to take with them into a foreign land."
On Board a Collier.
"On the Carthusian, as I entered the foc's'le, a Greek
sailor said, ' Please go out from here with your Protestant
books.' But a Rumanian asked if I had a Bible in his
language. I replied, 'I will bring you one to-morrow.'
Then the Greek said, ' What shall we do with the Bibles ?
We are not religious.' I answered, ' Friends, if you read the
Bible reverently it will do for you what it has done for me ;
for in this book I found the Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has
died for all our sins.' After more to the same effect, several
purchased from me. During four visits to this collier I sold
three Dutch Bibles, four English Bibles and six Testaments,
two Greek Bibles, one Rumanian, one Spanish, and one
Welsh Bible."

50

IN THE WILDERNESS

WAYFARING BIBLEMEN.
One of the ideals of the Bible Society is to bring the
Book within every man's reach, however difficult of
access he may be. To carry out this distribution of the
Scriptures, the Society relies to no small extent on its
own favourite agent — the native Christian colporteur.
It employs a small army of these colporteurs, so that on
an average about 900 of them are continuously working
every week from January to December. They serve the
missionary as his aides-de-camp and scouts and
pioneers ; and they enter many a field which no
missionary visits, and surmount many a barrier which
no foreigner could pass. And wherever they wander —
by road or river or railway, in the rice-fields, or the
backwoods or the bazaars — they scatter abroad their
cheap little Gospels and Testaments, from whose pages
they have learnt for themselves the message of Redeem
ing Love. Last year 2,300,000 volumes were sold by
means of colportage.
These men must not be classed with ordinary hawkers
of books. They are all carefully selected and super
vised by our foreign agents and our missionary allies.
As a rule they are natives of the country in which they
labour ; they are at home, as no foreigner could ever be,
in its customs and its dialects ; and their reports are racy
of the soil. They belong to many different communions :
in Russia and Siberia, for example, most of them are

51

THE HIGHWAY
devout members of the Orthodox Church. All the
colporteurs are earnest Christian men, able from their
own experience to commend the Book they carry ;
while the hardships and perils and persecutions which
they encounter furnish fresh chapters in the great history
of Christian heroism.
A Hindu.
Two or three examples will best illustrate what man
ner of men are engaged in this service. The life-story of
Anand Das has an interest of its own. Connected by
birth with an important priestly family in Western India,
he vainly sought to find peace of soul in the forms of
Hindu temple-worship. Then he set out to visit the
sacred places of pilgrimage, travelling from shrine to
shrine in search of God, ever disappointed in his quest,
but always directed to some more distant or more famous
sanctuary where a man might attain the Beatific Vision.
At last when he had grown utterly hopeless, he met a
Christian, and was told of the Redeemer, very Man and
very God, who died for our sins and rose again for our
justification. Anand Das joyfully accepted this Gospel
as the good news which he had so long been seeking ;
and in faith and prayer he found peace with God. For
several years he has done successful service as a colpor
teur in North India. Recently the members of the
mission in connexion with which he is working sent an
unsolicited gift as a thank-off'ering to our Society for
supporting among them so dear and useful a helper.
A Japanese.
In Japan, one of our most faithful and efficient
colporteurs, Maruyama by name, who is now about
forty years of age, was originally a Buddhist. As
52

Photo by

AT NAINI TAL, NORTH INDIA.

Lawric & Co., LitcknoW'

IN THE WILDERNESS
such he emigrated to America, where he became a
Christian under the teaching of Mr. Moody's Institute
at Northfield. Being fired with a desire to take the
Bible to his fellow-countrymen, he worked his passage
back to Japan as a cabin-boy, and volunteered for
service with the Bible Society. In the spring of 1907
this colporteur made an expedition to Formosa — an
island nearly twice as large as Wales, with 3,000,000
Chinese inhabitants, which was annexed by Japan in
1895. Here in about a month he sold 1,200 books,
half of them Bibles or Testaments, mostly among the
Japanese officials and settlers.
A Korean.
Even more striking is the account which the Rev.
Dr. R. Grierson sends of a colporteur whom he super
vises in Korea. Kim Goon Won is now an old man,
not long for this world. Originally he was a pedlar,
travelling about with his family and peddling com
panions, until six years ago, at a Christian inn where
they had put up, he heard and believed the Gospel.
Immediately he began to worship God ; the whole
band joined in daily prayer and Bible study ; and on
Sundays, when they rested, they made collections, send
ing the proceeds to the Church through which they had
heard of Christianity. Then the old man gave up his
pedlar's life and settled down in Wonsan, where he kept
a little shop. His interest in Bible distribution soon
showed itself. On his journeys as a pedlar he had
taken a stock of Gospels to sell, and in his little road
side shop the Word of God was spread out before his
customers. "Last summer," writes Dr. Grierson, "I
needed more colporteurs ; but the small salary and the
53

THE HIGHWAY
heavy travelling expenses deterred manyfrom the employ
ment. While I was praying that God would give us
some good men willing to suffer need for Christ, old Kim
Goon Won met me in the street and told me that he and
his son wanted to do some work for Christ in any capacity
whatever. I took it as an answer to my prayer, and
immediately sent him on the road with a pack of Scrip
tures. From the first, his sales were extraordinary, and
it was like a chapter from the Acts of the Apostles to
hear the reports of his journeys. He suffered much
persecution, for he is not a scholar, and was unable
to read many of the books which he sold. Several
times his books were forcibly taken from him by rough
fellows, but he never resisted : his common rejoinder was
to beg them to keep the books as a gift from him, and
to believe the doctrine, though he had to meet the cost
of such gifts from his own salary. Before long, how
ever, he had to undergo a serious operation. While it
was being performed, the old man lay still with the
greatest composure, and continued in sweet conversa
tional prayer with God, though he knew he was in
the utmost danger. Afterwards he was told that he had
cancer, which must soon return and end his life. ' All
right, ' said he, ' let me get to work again quickly,
as the time is so short,' and with his face still bandaged
he started off with his pack of books. He kept on
steadily until the disease sapped his strength ; then he
laid down his burden, and is now waiting for the end.
I needed his son to go with mc on a recent journey, but
decided that under the circumstances he had better stay
with his father. When the old veteran heard of this he
said, ' ' No, do not stop the work on my account. Let
my boy go out and work for himself and for me in
spreading abroad God's Word. ' ' '
54

IN THE WILDERNESS
Persecutions. In truth our colporteurs need no small measure of
faith and courage and patience in face of such hardship
and opposition as they frequently encounter. Here is a
sketch of the experiences of a native colporteur in
Morocco, sent by Mr. Simpson, of Fez, under whose
immediate superintendence he is working.
" It gives me joy to report on the activities of one who is so
earnest in the work of the blessed Master. Though the
country has been greatly disturbed, Si Mohammed has been
able to visit the towns of Mequinnez, Zerhoon, and Rabat,
and the tribes of Zimmoor, Beni Hassan, Shararda, Onled
Jama, Yudaiya, Shararga, and other Berber tribes. He has
had many hardships to endure in making these long and
extended tours. Once he was relieved of his money and all
his clothes except a thin cotton under-garment. Judging
from his reports, the joys of service for Christ make up for
any little sacrifice or suffering he undergoes. While in Fez
he visits the weekly markets and other places where the
people congregate, in order to find purchasers. Some look
at the books and curse them or strike him with them ; on the
other hand, he finds some who willingly carry them to
distant parts, there to give their silent testimony to the Christ
of God, the Saviour of sinners. During the months he was
working last year he sold 310 copies of the Scriptures in
Arabic." In the Madras Presidency during 1907 one colporteur
was beaten by soldiers of the Nizam, and his books were
confiscated. Another had his personal property stolen
while he slept. Others report insult and ill-treatment
as common occurrences in these days of Indian an
tipathy to everything British.
Travelling in the Snow.
Here again is the picture of a Siberian colporteur on
a winter sledge-journey. 55

THE HIGHWAY
" We are some 320 vers/s from Cheljabinsk. Owing to the
deep snow we have had to walk most of the way, as our load
is fairly heavy. Thank God, we have had good sales in the
last few villages ; during the last ten days I have sold over
35 roubles' (= ;^3 12s.) worth of books. The cold here has
been something beyond endurance. On a journey like this
we have to travel at night : although robberies are quite fre
quent, so far we have been wonderful!}' preserved and
guided. . . . One night we spent in the tent of a Kirghiz
Tatar, who made us very welcome. We left his tent about
1 a.m., and had not proceeded many versts when a frightful
blizzard came on. It continued until 4 a.m., but thanks to
our good horse we did not lose the path. After the blizzard
it was exceedingly cold, and we walked all the way in order
to keep up our circulation ; otherwise there was a danger of
getting frozen to death."
O'er Crag and Torrent.
Side by side with this may be set the experiences of a
Bible-seller in Southern Brazil. Last year Snr. Gurupy
was working in the most neglected parts of the state of
Rio Grande. He found the people very poor, on
account of the locust-plague and the drought ; notwith
standing this, he writes that "they literally clamoured
for the Bible." Last October he undertook a journey
full of hardship. It rained in torrents nearly all the
time, and his mules could proceed only with the greatest
difficulty. Again and again he had to pass along steep
precipices, and to cross rivers in flood. Two nights he
slept in the open, unable to reach shelter. Occasionally
he had a fellow-traveller, and one night when they were
exceedingly tired and hungry, they came to a swollen
river, which they decided not to cross until the morning.
One of them went oft" in search of food, but the only
56

IN THE WILDERNESS
thing to be had was a lump of dried beef, which "not
withstanding its likeness to a big piece of salt, proved a
real feast."
In Peril.
In the journal of another Bible-seller in Brazil, the
following incidents occur : " Going to Adventurado, we
killed our first snake, about four feet long and of a
dangerous kind. ... At Rio Pardo we stayed over
Sunday in the rancho of an Italian, and slept in his
ox-carts, which made first-class bedrooms. ' ' This same
Bible-seller was badly stung by a swarm of big black-and-
green hornets. In Paraguay our faithful colporteur,
Snr. Ysseldyk, was laid up through wounds in his feet,
caused by venomous insects.
More serious still are experiences like those of Jensen,
a Swedish colporteur, who works among the ships and
the floating population in the harbour at Constantinople,
where he recently lost his boat and narrowly escaped
with his life during a heavy squall. Mr. W. N. Fer-
gusson, one of our Sub-agents in China, was travelling
by boat on the river Yangtze, when the boat struck on
a hidden rock and sank, with a large consignment of
Chinese Scriptures. In Lower Egypt, a Coptic colpor
teur was seized in an out-of-the-way village by a number
of Moslem fanatics who made preparations to shoot him,
and he escaped with the utmost difficulty.
Wayside Wisdom.
Many of these wayfaring Biblemen are endowed with
no small share of tact and native common-sense, and
their shrewd and pithy answers go far to commend the
books they sell. "I only buy useful books," said a
57

THE HIGHWAY
peasant to a colporteur in Brittany, "what is that book
good for ? " " What is a sign-post good for ? " "To tell
the way." "And that is the use of the New Testament.
The first directs the body, the second directs the soul."
In a Bavarian village Colporteur Fingerlin was passing
a butcher's shop, and offered his Testaments to the
shopmen. They were intensely amused, and asked
Fingerlin if the book said anything about wine and beer.
"Yes," retorted the colporteur, "we are warned against
drinking too much of them ; nor shall drunkards inherit
the Kingdom of God." Early one morning Colporteur
Fossi rilet an Italian woman carrying her vegetables to
market near Forlimpopoli, and offered her his wares.
"What one needs rather is bread" replied she, some
what curtly. "Nevertheless, man does not live by bread
alone, but also by the Word of God." But the woman
was in no mood for argument, and went on to market.
Towards evening, however, she met the colporteur on
her way back, and said, "I am taking some bread home,
you see ; but I have made up mind to have the other
thing as well," and she bought a New Testament.
In the mountainous region of Italy, known as the
Abruzzi, nearly all the villages stand picturesquely
perched on hills, and are rarely visited by strangers.
When our colporteur arrives, he is scrutinized by curious
eyes. At Schiavone the people took him for a " diviner
of the future " ; at Castiglione they thought he was a new
letter-carrier. " And I," says Salerno, " making a text
out of their suppositions, spoke to them of the Word
which does divine our future in the spiritual sense, and
of the message which I carried to them from God." A
French colporteur in the Marne was mistaken for the
postman : "Quick, give me my letter." " Excuse me,
madam, I am a postman, though not the one you expect.
58

IN THE WILDERNESS
I carry nothing but Good News — and here it is :
"Christ died for our sins, and rose again for our justifi
cation." The woman stared at him: "You are not a
postman ; you are a pedlar. We don't want your books
just now. Call again." "Will you let me read you a
little out of my book?" and he read from the Gospels
some solemn verses of warning. "You say, 'Call
again;' but shall you be here next week? You have
heard what the Lord says." This changed the woman's
mood, and she and her friends bought three Testaments.
O Taste and See.
' ' You tell me that your book is the Word of God ;
but you have no proof of it." So said the owner of an
orchard in North Italy to Colporteur Mariani, who offered
him the Scriptures as he stood admiring the fruit-trees.
' ' What fine-looking pears, ' ' said the colporteur, suddenly
changing the subject, "but what a pity they are of
such poor quality." " What ! What ! " exclaimed the
orchard-owner, ' ' of poor quality ! It is plain that you
have not tasted them. Pick one or two, and try ! "
The colporteur did as he was bidden, and began to eat.
"Yes, you are right," he said, sententiously smacking
his lips, "the pears are excellent; but, sir, you must
deal with my Book as I have dealt with your fruit.
Taste, and you will see that the Word of God is good. ' '
By Prayer and Patience.
Our colporteurs encounter special temptations as well
as peculiar difficulties, and they are keenly alive to the
spiritual conditions of their work. One writes : " If you
set out after praying earnestly, success is certain." And
another : " According to the degree in which we practise
59

THE HIGHWAY
sacrifice and spend ourselves, we succeed." The very
tone and demeanour of a Christian man can win a way
for him in spite of hostility. In an eating-house at
Buenos Ayres a fanatical Spaniard insulted our colporteur
openly, before the company ; but he kept silence, and
ignored the insult. Thereupon another man who was
present said loudly : "I am surprised that this man who
sells the Bible can show such patience when he has been
insulted. Perhaps the book contains his secret." Asa
result three Bibles and some Gospels were sold.
Happy Soubriquets.
A Siberian colporteur went into one of the common
hostelries at Barnaul, where a peasant, seeing his knap
sack, greeted him: "Ah, here is the sower, the man
with the Scriptures."
In some parts of Marseilles Colporteur Charvet began
to be so well known that he obtained a nickname. As
he was passing through the streets, or knocking at a
door, he often heard people say, ' ' There goes Testa
ment l" Once, when he was ill, a Roman Catholic
friend called to see him, and while he lay in bed he
managed to sell his visitor a Bible.
In an Italian Coal-pit.
At San Giovanni di Valdarno, Colporteur Vecchi went
down into a coal-pit with a guide and a lantern to see
the galleries. Their talk soon turned on the Scriptures,
and by the light of the lantern passages were read from
a Bible which the colporteur had in his pocket, with the
result that the guide became the purchaser. "And I
was happy," says Vecchi, "to think that even at a
depth of a kilometre underground the Bible had been
sold."

60

IN THE WILDERNESS
The Word of Testimony.
Here is the first letter sent by Colporteur Sipka in the
north of Hungary : "I visited a lime-kiln near my
lodgings, where I knew that a good many Slovaks were
employed, men leading a godless life. First I went to
the carpenter's shop and began speaking to a man who
enjoyed a high name among his comrades. I told this
man how I myself had obtained peace, and of the power
of God's Word. He listened attentively and bought a
Testament. Then he led me to the canteen, where a
number of other workmen were assembled, and here I
sold several Testaments and Gospels. Some laughed
and mocked, but I could testify to the love and grace of
God, and that heartened me."
Spiritual Tact.
In the Ardeche, Andeol is a modest and experienced
colporteur, gifted with spiritual tact. Writing in
regard to one particular experience, he says : ' ' The
conversation was brought round to the topic of auricular
confession — a thorny question. Although I think I am
quite clear about such subjects, I dwell on them as
little as I can ; for I firmly believe that only one thing
will absolve the conscience from the weight of sin and
condemnation — namely, the declaration that God for
gives us on account of the merits of Christ."
Lime-burners in Galicia.
In Colporteur Pawelek's journal we read: " In a large
forest I held a sort of Bible-reading for the workmen
engaged at a lime-kiln. I read several passages, and
they seemed specially pleased with Job xxxviii. When I
had finished my reading I asked if any one wished to
6i

THE HIGHWAY
buy a Bible and study its contents further. Fifteen men
stood out, and of these eleven ordered Bibles and four
New Testaments. And when I delivered the books all
received them with pleasure, and told me they would
take care that the books were not taken from them."
The picture of Pawelek reciting the wonderful poetry of
that magnificent chapter of Job to the lime-burners in
the great Galician forest is one that affects the imagina
tion and lingers strangely in the memory.
Where Hus was Martyred.
While in Constance, Colporteur Stein went to see the
Hus stone, the great monolith which marks the spot
where John Hus was burnt. He met there a number
of the Reformer's Bohemian countrymen who had
made a pilgrimage to the sacred spot, and some of them
purchased Bohemian New Testaments.
At Midnight on the Mountain.
In Albania and Macedonia colportage offers excite
ment and risk enough to satisfy the most adventurous.
It is full of dramatic situations and scenes and contrasts —
prisons and brigands, friends and foes, food and friendly
shelter to-day, weariness and danger on the morrow,
now some blood-stained, smoking ruin, now the pure
freedom of the mountain heights. Through it all the
colporteur passes on his way, faint, yet pursuing, con
tent if he can leave the message of God's love behind
him, and rejoicing whenever a heart is open to receive
it. Travelling from Ochrida to Resen, along a wild moun
tain road, Colporteur Natchi found himself benighted, and
was offered hospitality by the Albanian guards stationed
on the pass. One of the guards, who could read, spent
the night reading aloud out of the New Testament to the
62

IN THE WILDERNESS
others. All who had money bought copies, and those
who could not read vowed to begin to learn without
delay. Many ears have been attuned to that voice which
from those lonely mountain heights went up to the
midnight sky.
In the Footsteps of St. Paul.
Away up in the highlands of Bithynia is the town of
Kastamouni, the capital of the vilayet of that name.
It is probably the one province of Asia Minor untouched
by any outside Christian effort except our own, and
the population, principally Turkish, are poor and ignor
ant, remote from the busy modern world that sails up
and down the waters of the Euxine at their feet.
Nikolaos, our colporteur, has traversed this difficult
province during the greater part of the year, and has
sold nearly 600 copies. He needs no little courage and
endurance ; but Nikolaos faces his duties with a cheerful
optimism, born of reliance upon God. In March, 1907,
he started by boat from Heraclea for a neighbouring
village, seven hours' distant, because, he says, "I have
never been there." After four days' dreadful tossing in
a raging tempest, he arrived more dead than alive, to
find only a hundred houses ; and having sold twenty
copies, he returned to Heraclea, "praising our Saviour,
Jesus Christ, whose truth I had brought to these people."
On the coast, where there are extensive coal-mines, he
finds "many immortal souls, people from every place and
every nation, most of them without the knowledge of the
Saviour." Later in the year, at a town in the interior,
a Turkish official seizes his books and his permit. After
long delays and several telegrams to headquarters, his
books and papers are restored, and then he writes :
"The Lord has done great things for us, and I had great
63

THE HIGHWAY
opportunites both in selling the Scriptures, and in speak
ing to the people. I will come here again at a
convenient time. The better sort of people have shown
me much love." He had more troubles of the same
kind before he ended his long tour at Kastamouni at
the close of the year, but he reports in his usual cheerful
and simple fashion : "I finished my journey with great
encouragement, and I beg you to believe that I had not
by any means difficulties to contend with in every place."
If we remember that this message comes from a city
almost cut off from the outer world by deep snows,
where the large Moslem population have the reputation
even among their own co-religionists of being extremely
bigoted and fanatical, and where there is no kind of
Christian fellowship or communion of kindred spirits, we
shall realize better what is the source of the encourage
ment of which our colporteur speaks, which can thus
enable him to say boldly 'The Lord is my helper.'
Colportage in South India.
In the Madras Presidency, thirty-three wayfaring
Bible-sellers have been at work in town and country, at
weekly markets and religious festivals, trying to interest
people in God's Book. Altogether they travelled 51,862
miles last year, and in the course of their wanderings
they visited 356,455 houses. One gratifying result of
their efforts is found in the fact that parts of the Bible
are being used as text-books in 41 Hindu village
schools. At Ootacamund, the Bishop of Madras related
how in a backward village of the Kurnool district, men
were found discussing one of the works of an American
agnostic. If the power of the press is so far-reaching,
who shall estimate the ultimate results of the study of a
book of Scripture in a Hindu school ?
64

By kind permission of

PLOUGHING IN MANITOBA.

The Canadian Nofihern Railway.

IN THE WILDERNESS
In the Market at Hanoi.
This city, the capital of French Indo-China, has
150,000 inhabitants. Here is a picture of the experi
ences of our French Sub-agent, M. Bonnet and his
Annamite helpers, in the market at Hanoi : —
" We go to the market before 8 a.m. and choose a suitable
place to stand, facing the entrance, between two women selling
oranges and bananas. Soon we are surrounded by a group
of Annamites, who stare at us cautiously. At last a peasant,
bolder than the rest, buys a gospel, looks at it, and then
comes back to buy another. Then a lad buys a New
Testament. After that it is a case of the moutons de
Panurge — sheep following the bell-wether. They come on
with a rush, some evidently ready to steal books in the
hustle. With the utmost difficulty we avoid being plunder
ed, put our books back in their cases, and find another
position, where a policeman, who is kindly placed at our
disposal, hardly succeeds in maintaining order, though he
strikes out right and left with his cane, which makes the
boldest draw back. We need make no long speeches in
order to sell our books. We have only to exchange them for
the coins held out to us on every hand. In one day we sold
656 volumes, and when we took the train that evening for
Hai-phong we found at the railway-station that the ticket-
collector had a New Testament and the Book of Genesis ;
porters, who looked after the luggage, had Gospels ; and the
station-master was carrying Gospels in his hand, together
with his lantern, as he went up and down the platform ;
while in a railway carriage another railway employe was
sitting on a box reading a Gospel by the light of his lantern."
An Expedition by Water in Annam.
" From Tourane we took a steamer as far as Qui-Nhon,
where we had to disembark two miles from the shore by
jumping on board native boats in a rough sea. Two hours'
rowing brought us to Qui-Nhon, where the mandarin, who
acted as Tri-phu, or prefect, welcomed me to his large house
65 F

THE HIGHWAY
in the middle of the village. He was extremely friendly,
offered me his best room to sleep in, and invited me to share
his meal. The menu was most elaborate, including five
different kinds of fish ; but the chop-sticks proved rather
troublesome. This mandarin asked a number of questions
about Christianity and the Scriptures. He had never read the
Bible, so I showed him Romans xiii. , on the authority of rulers,
and he began to read. 'This is a good book,' he said,
without raising his head. When he reached verse 5 —
' Wherefore ye must needs be in subjection, not only because
of the wrath, but also for conscience sake ' — he bent his head
lower still. ' I will keep this book, ' he said, ' as it is very
good, and I will let the people know that whosoever wants to
buy it may come here.' And so he did. In this mandarin's
house we sold over 400 volumes, and the success of the whole
tour must be ascribed to him. Everywhere the people said,
'The prefect has bought books from them.' In four days'
time we had only three left, out of over 3,000 volumes with
which we set out from Tourane.
" In another of these villages we met another Tri-phu, who
received us most cordially, and gave us tea and refreshments.
He was giving an audience to two Annamite notables. He
bought a Bible and a copy of Genesis for himself; then, turn
ing to his visitors, he asked, ' And are you buying nothing? '
' Great mandarin, I have forgotten my spectacles,' said one.
' I have no money with me,' said the other. Without say
ing a word the prefect passed his spectacles to the one, and
lent some coins to the other, whereupon they readily bought
some books. "
At Peking Railway Station.
One of our colporteurs at Peking, Mr. Yao, has marvel
lous success, and his sales last year — 15,827 copies — are
extraordinary. He may be seen at the various trains
that leave the Peking railway station, going.from carriage
to carriage as early as seven in the morning. We rejoice
66

IN THE WILDERNESS
to know that so many travellers who leave Peking take
the Scriptures with them to their homes.
At a Siberian Fair.
In December, Colporteur Tzvetkoff visited the large
fair at Balachtinskaya where he had not been for four
years, and sold Scriptures to the value of more than
57 roubles. Here is an incident which happened at
this fair.
"Unwittingly I turned down a side-street, where there
was a gin-shop with the usual number of loiterers, some
swallowing vodka glass after glass. A crowd was begin
ning to collect as I came up. Two men were calling each
other the worst possible names, and in a moment they came
to blows. To meddle would only land me in a street melde,
with, very likely, some blows for my pains. The Russian
proverb, 'Don't interfere with fighting dogs' seemed to suit
the situation. I was about to move on, when some impulse
drove me to catch hold of each man and separate them. I
interposed my knapsack between them and said ' Brothers !
what makes you try to tear each other's eyes out ? If you are
Christians, you must love each other. Remember what
Christ has done for us.' The opponents looked at me sus
piciously, and saw that I am of a right good height ; still
their looks somewhat frightened me, and I longed to do
something, but knew not what. A bright idea flashed into
my mind, and I pulled out and opened a New Testament.
The first line that caught my eye was ' Owe no man anything
but to love one another,' so I read aloud on to the end of the
chapter (Romans xiii.), and was going to read the next, when
one of the combatants interrupted, ' Little uncle, whence
comest thou ? What art thou ? ' 'I am from Krasnoyarsk,
my friend,' I repHed, 'and am selling the Scriptures, part of
which I have just read to you. The people who have sent me
here live far away in England.' Then I began to tell about
the work and object of the Bible Society. I said, ' Who
will buy this Book that shows us the right way to live, and
67

THE HIGHWAY
how to love one another, yea, is our guide to eternal life ? I
am not a priest or a learned man, but simply an ordinary
man whom God has led this way to end your fight.'
" ' How much does the book in thy hand cost? ' asked one.
'Only a rouble!' 'Pavlik,' said one of the combatants to
the other, ' I've no money.' After a short pause he said
again, ' Pavlik, let us buy the Gospels. We shall be the
better for reading them.' Pavlik had a look at the New
Testament, then took 2 roubles from his pocket, and received
two copies in return. He gave one book to his comrade,
and these two men who had been cursing and swearing,
fighting like brutes, now went off peaceably with the Word of
God in their hands. I was able to dispose of 19 copies there
and then. Not only so, but Pavlik brought several cus
tomers to me next day at my lodgings, and would allow none
of them to haggle. ' The books are worth the money my
friend asks,' he said. 'Not only that, but we must try and
help the good man who is selling them.' "
A Carnival Advertisement.
At Valencia, a town in Venezuela with over 40,000
people, the Carnival was in full swing during our
English colporteur's visit, but it did not interfere with
his sales. One bright youth was inspired to dress up
as an Englishman, and appeared in the plaza nightly,
shouting, Yo vendo la Biblia ("The Bible for sale").
But this proved a good advertisement.
In Peru.
On the Pacific slope of South America, the blue
ribbon of colportage belongs to Seiior Herrera, a
humble-minded, gentle-spirited man, who last year sold
370 Bibles and 3,415 Portions. In June he crossed
the central range of the Andes at an elevation of nearly
16,000 ft., and began a Bible-campaign which lasted
about four months in the towns of Tarma, Cerro, Oroyo,
68

IN THE WILDERNESS
and a number of mining camps. From Tarma, the local
missionary reported : " I am delighted with the man and
his work. He does grandly, selling in the. plaza among
the people. He does not antagonize them, or rub them
the wrong way."
In the Depths of Mongolia.
Here is the outline of a notable journey, undertaken
by one of the Society's Sub-agents in China.
Early in June, 1907, Mr. Larson set out from Kalgan,
a city north-west of Peking, on a Bible-selling ex
pedition, mostly over new ground, which was planned
to last until 1909. He travelled with six camels, four
horses, two camel-men, a cook, and a Chinese colporteur,
and he took with him 8,000 copies of the Scriptures,
chiefly in Mongolian and Tibetan. The expense of
such an outfit was considerable, as a camel costs nearly
^10. Starting from Kalgan, he journeyed north
westwards for thirty days to Urga, and then, turning
almost due west, he struck across the heart of Central
Asia, following the water-courses of the river Orkhon
in order to visit the nomad shepherds who resort to
these valleys. At the end of the summer he reached
Uliassutai, the western capital of Mongolia. We may
perhaps give some idea of the position of Uliassutai
when we say that it lies midway between the Caspian
Sea and the Sea of Japan.
Hard Travelling.
"Uliassutai, Sept. 28th. — Our journey from Urga has been
most interesting and successful. The aspect of the country
this way is very different from what I have been accustomed
to in other parts of Mongolia ; for almost the whole way from
Urga it was a continual march up and down hill, across
rivers, and among stones and sand. We had a lot of rain
69

THE HIGHWAY
and snow, though it was the month of August. Just eight
miles from this city we encountered a snow-storm that kept
us on the top of a mountain pass for two whole days. The
camels did not do well in this hard travelling ; one I had to
leave on the road with a Russian merchant, and the others
barely reached here. It was difficult at first to find any place
to stay in ; but I have hired three small rooms in a back-yard
and have been busy repairing and fixing them up. Even now
I have not a table, but have to manage my writing on a board.
But when I get things in order (and I don't need many things),
I shall be comfortable enough during the cold season."
They remembered the Books.
"Mongols have often come to my tent to buy, which has
very seldom happened before. In some places they remem
bered the books, remarking they were like those they had got
from David Stenberg. One day a rich man came a long
distance in heavy rain and bought a New Testament. He
could read very well. He said he had been afraid that I had
gone too far ; he had heard about me the day before and he
wanted to get one of the good books. I had been hindered,
providentially it appeared, by heavy rain. May the Book be
a blessing to him ! In another place two boys ran about five
miles to overtake me and get some of the Gospels. Two
Russians, going to another district on business, bought some
books for ready money to give to some Mongols they knew.
The Russians have been most helpful and kind wherever I
have met them. ... I have already sold 6,000 books."
An Arctic Journey.
Mr. Larson's success compelled him to alter his plans.
He sold so many more Gospels than he expected, that
he had to return to Urga for a fresh supply of books.
By the kindness of the Russian Consul and the Chinese
Governor, he was able to leave Uliassutai for Urga at
the end of January, 1908, by the Government post- road
70

IN THE WILDERNESS
and relays of animals. He accomplished this journey
of 800 miles through the snow in fourteen days, by
changing horses at every station. " It was bitterly cold
and part of the way it snowed heavily. I escaped with
one of my ears and my nose a little frozen, but I
did not dare to wash once from Uliassutai to Urga ; and
at night I slept with my clothes on between heavy wool-
felts."Pioneer Work.
Such a tour is essentially pioneer work — a continuation
of the missionary toils of James Gilmour. Uliassutai
was visited by David Stenberg, but by no other Protestant
missionary ; and the greater part of this itinerary is
mapped out that the Scriptures may be circulated where
no missionary has ever been.
Mr. Larson is admirably equipped for such journeys.
He is a Swede by nationality, but has toiled for many
years in Mongolia, and knows the country and the people
and the language intimately — perhaps better than any
one else has ever known them. But with all his enthu
siasm and fitness he needs our prayers. His journey is
fraught with perils, for outlaws abound. Sometimes for
days together only an occasional tent is passed — but how
are such scattered children of God to be reached by the
Gospel except through colportage ?
Pioneers of Evangelization.
In heathen countries, the printed Gospel often prepares
the way for the preacher. In Korea, for example, the
missionaries bear emphatic witness to the part which our
colporteurs are taking in transforming Korea into a
Christian land. The Rev. A. F. Robb writes: "We

71

THE HIGHWAY
cannot overrate the value of the colporteurs in the
evangelization of Korea." The Rev. W. G. Cram
writes: "The colporteurs have been my strong arm,
and much of the establishing and teaching of the young
Church has been their work." The Rev. C. G.
Hounshell says: "The colporteur is the forerunner of
the missionary. He sows the seed ; we reap the
harvest."
In the Luchu Islands.
Colporteur Suganuma, one of our most faithful and
energetic Japanese workers, visited the Luchu Islands in
the spring of 1907, selling over 3,000 volumes. In
the interior of these islands there are no inns,
and he had to beg for shelter at night. He
underwent much privation from storms and incle
ment weather, and contracted a serious illness. But
he had his reward. A missionary living in the islands
writes: "I have just spent one of the most wonderful
weeks of my life in baptising 130 people, who were pre
pared for baptism largely as a result of Suganuma's
faithful work amongst them."
The Book had never come their way.
Finally, here is a pathetic example of how sorely the
colporteur is needed, even in Europe. Towards the
close of last year our depositary at Moscow made a tour
in company with some colporteurs. In the waiting-halls
of the railway stations he came upon large companies of
peasants. Two old men who bought Testaments were
asked why they had not already a copy of the Scriptures ;
they replied that ' the book had never come their way.'

IN THE WILDERNESS

FOR SUCH AS SIT IN DARKNESS.
"/^ is a great truth tenderly said that God builds
the nest for the blind bird," — Michael Fairless.
The sightless among all nations have a peculiar claim
on Christian sympathy and compassion. The Bible
Society, as it seeks to provide God's Word in the various
languages of mankind, takes account of the needs of the
blind, as well as of the sighted, in different parts of the
world. Up to the present time the Society has published
or helped to circulate editions of the Scriptures in
embossed type in over thirty different languages and
dialects — including the book of Genesis in Hebrew for
blind Jews, and even so remote a form of speech as the
Toba dialect of Batta, in which St. Luke's Gospel has
been issued for the blind in Sumatra.
English Bibles for the Blind.
Books produced in embossed type for the blind cannot
be other than cumbrous and expensive. For instance,
a complete English Bible in Braille type contains 5,836
pages, and costs about ;^5 to produce ; it fills thirty-
nine volumes, and occupies a shelf seven feet long. The
Society is now bringing out a new edition of the English
Bible in Braille type in which the recently issued scheme
for English Braille will be followed, with a few
additional abbreviations. St. Matthew's Gospel is now
ready, and other portions will be issued successively
73

THE HIGHWAY
until the whole Bible has been completed. These
volumes cost from 2S. 3d. to 3s. to produce ; and they
are sold at is. each.
Nearly all the English or Welsh Institutions for
befriending the Blind obtain the Scriptures which they
require from the Bible House. Grants were made during
1907 to the following institutions :
The London Society for Teaching the Blind to Read ; the
Royal Normal College for the Blind, Norwood ; the School
for the Blind, Broomhill, Sheffield ; the Midland Institution
for the Blind, Nottingham ; the Royal Blind Asylum, West
Craigmillar ; Henshaw's Blind Asylum, Manchester ; the
Blind School at Exeter ; The Sunbeam Mission's Blind
School ; the South London Association for the Blind.
Moreover, any poor blind person who applies to the
Society can obtain a portion of the English Bible in
Braille as a free gift, on the recommendation of some
minister of religion. Last year, the Society also made
grants of English Gospels in Braille type for distribution
among poor blind children in large towns, who have no
other means of obtaining such Scriptures. These children
are taught to read at various Blind Centres, but the books
provided for their use during school hours are the school
property. The Gospels presented by our Society are
given to the children to take home. These sightless
little ones as a rule have nothing else which they can
read through their holidays and week-ends and long
evenings.For India and China.
For the blind in Eastern lands, where ophthalmia and
other diseases of the eye are painfully common, the
Society makes very special provision. In order to
encourage the sightless in India to learn to read, our

74

A BATTA FAMILY IN SUMATRA.

IN THE WILDERNESS
Indian Auxiliaries are prepared to entertain applications
for free grants of copies of the vernacular Scriptures in
embossed type for the blind, when these applications
are made through Christian missionaries who certify
that the blind applicant both can and will read the Book
and is too poor to pay for it. For circulation in India,
the Society recently issued Gospels in Bengali, Tamil,
Telugu, Marathi, Malayalam and Gujarati, all in
Oriental Braille ; while Gospels in Hindi and Urdu are
also being issued in Shirreff Braille, another system
extensively used in North India.
Last year fifty copies of St. Mark's Gospel in Gujarati Braille
were granted to the Rev. Martin Beatty oi the Irish Presby
terian Mission, Parantij, Gujarat, for the blind among whom
he labours. This is the first book of the Bible which has
ever been printed in Gujarati Braille, and the welcome which
these Gospels received when they arrived at Parantij can be
better imagined than described.
For the blind in China, the Society has issued several
books of Scripture, both in Moon type and in
Braille. It is found that the Chinese blind can learn to
read Braille in a much shorter time than the sighted
require for mastering the intricate Chinese characters.
For Jerusalem.
At Jerusalem Miss M. J. Lovell has for years carried
on a successful School for the Blind. Our Committee
recently presented her with the English Bible in Braille
type, for use by her pupils. Writing last May, Miss
Lovell says : "Indeed I cannot tell you how great a
boon this is, and how much the blind girls appreciate
the opportunity thus afforded them of reading the
Scriptures for themselves. A few weeks ago one of their
number was called to work with missionaries in Arabia,

75

THE HIGHWAY
and another of my former pupils is now teaching blind
girls at Gaza."
That last name reminds us irresistibly of Israel's
ancient hero —
Eyeless in Gaza, at the mill with slaves,
as the blind English poet described him. And Milton's
serene faith lifts our thoughts to the Divine Deliverer
whose word still speaks in darkened souls, saying : ' ' Let
there be light." * * *
Women who sit in darkness.
That remarkable change which is revolutionizing
traditional ideas in regard to the status of women among
Western nations has hardly touched the immemorial
East. In this respect the great Oriental races still are
ruled by ancient custom which dates back to dim ages
before history began. Throughout the East, women of
all classes above the lowest are carefully secluded from
the outside world. Shut away behind the curtains of the
zenana, they spend their darkened lives amid ignorance
and superstition such as Englishwomen can hardly
imagine. To counteract the wide-spread evils of this
custom. Missions have developed the agency of native
Christian Biblewomen. They, at least, can penetrate
beyond the closed doors which no male missionary is
permitted to enter. They can not only read the
Gospel to their jealously guarded sisters, but often teach
them to read it and believe it for themselves. In this way
the Sermon on the Mount reaches their consciences, the
story of the Cross and Passion pierces their hearts.
In India.
Year by year experience confirms the spiritual effect
iveness of this form of women's mission to women, and
76

IN THE WILDERNESS
its range is constantly extending. In India alone, the
Bible Society maintains more than 400 native Christian
Biblewomen, besides over 80 others in Burma and
Ceylon. They work under the direct superintendence
of all the chief English, Scotch, Colonial, American,
German and Danish Missions.
Women of the poorer classes, who necessarily enjoy
a larger amount of liberty, are visited in their village
homes, as well as at the markets, festivals, and fairs to
which they resort. On every hand emphatic testimonies
are received as to the value of the Christian influence
and teaching of our Biblewomen.
In Ceylon.
A missionary stationed in one of the most benighted
and backward parts of Ceylon, writes : —
" The Biblewomen are doing great and good work, often
under very trying circumstances. / have had the joy of
baptizing about twenty-five women brought in by these workers ;
and I cannot but thank God and rejoice that not one of the
twenty-five has been a disgrace to her profession."
In Burma.
Plainly the work of these Biblewomen in the East is far
more difficult to tabulate than that of our colporteurs.
They enter the homes of the people, and by many an
oriental well-side, and among many a bazaar crowd,
they seek to win a hearing for the Gospel message. In
Burma, the lady missionaries of the S. P.G., the
W. M.S. , and the Methodist Episcopal Mission write in
high terms of the value of their work. One devoted
Biblewoman in Mandalay, after years of faithful service,
resigned her post through ill-health and advancing
years, as she felt that she ' ' could not any longer take
77

THE HIGHWAY
the Lord's money, not having strength to do the work."
Yet during this last year, in spite of increasing feeble
ness, she has been indefatigable in her visits, both to
the homes of the people and to the women's ward of the
hospital at Mandalay, and through her influence several
women have confessed their faith in Christ.
In other Eastern Landsv
Outside the Indian Empire, our Society maintains
Biblewomen in other Eastern lands. Within the limits
of its Egyptian Agency, it made grants last year towards
the support of 62 native Christian women, working
under the superintendence of different Missions. Of these
Biblewomen 24 were stationed at Syria and Palestine
among the very sites and scenes mentioned in Scripture.
Other Biblewomen are employed in the Philippines, in
Mauritius and in the Seychelles, at Ispahan, and at
Mosul, opposite the ruins of ancient Nineveh.
The Biblewomen play no mean part in establishing
Christ's Kingdom in Korea. Last year eighteen of
them were at work, who read the Scriptures to over
50,000 Korean women, and circulated 4395 books.
In China, although the conditions are unlike those of
India, the Biblewoman has a distinct place and work of
her own. Although our Society employs Chinese
Biblewomen only to a limited extent — twenty-nine were
supported last year — our reports show that their in
fluence is far greater than can be measured by figures.
It is to the Biblewomen that the lady-missionaries
owe many of their introductions to Chinese homes, and
from the Biblewomen also not a few heathen women
get their first introduction to a Christian service.

78

XzS
o 3m
z

cTJ TJ

•13

IN THE WILDERNESS
The Unrest of Humanity.
To thoughtful observers the outstanding characteristic
of the world to-day is its profound unrest. It is as
though some mighty ground-swell had begun to move
in the deep sea of human affairs. Even in the im
memorial East strange ideas and hopes and discontents
are fermenting in the minds of dim multitudes. The
new spirit of nationality means that a nation is becoming
self-conscious and awake to its traditions and its pos
sibilities. Who can gauge the results of such an
awakening among races which have been dormant for
centuries ? At least we know that as one primary result
there arise unparalleled opportunities for the Gospel.
A Society which ramifies across the world must
naturally be sensitive to all manner of events and
changes. Year by year its work runs the gauntlet of
drought and flood and plague and famine. It is nothing
new for our agents to suffer hindrance from revolution
in Central America, or from bigotry in Austria and in
Greece, or from clericalism in Portugal and Poland and
Peru. Last year we heard of anarchy in many parts of
Persia, where the Persian Bible is still forbidden to
enter the Shah's dominions. In Madagascar, the au
thorities are persecuting Christian converts. In many
parts of Russia and of India, the perturbed state of the
people has seriously lessened our circulation across both
those great empires. On the other hand, China and
Korea and Japan lie open to Christian teaching as
never before. Those who know best speak most em
phatically as to the amazing opportunities for the Gospel
in the Far East. In Korea last year we could not
provide Testaments fast enough to meet the demand,
while more than a million Gospels were sold by col
portage in China.

79

THE HIGHWAY

TRAVELLER'S JOY.
"Behold, this is the joy of his way." — Job viil, 19.
The Bible is the Book of gladness : it brims over with
beatitudes. The Gospel of God's Love kindles a flame
of sacred love in the souls of its faithful children.
Those who can speak with most intimate knowledge of
the Highway in the Wilderness agree that a true pilgrim,
even though he be often faint and footsore, does carry
gladness and joy in his heart. When he loses his
burden at the Cross by the way-side, he can go forward
singing, and in the progress of his journey he receives
not only daily bread, but daily peace and daily consola
tion. These blessings are the portion of them that
travel to the sky.
It is not the business of the Bible Society to formulate
theories of inspiration ; but year by year it piles up
new and overwhelming proofs of the Divine power with
which God's Spirit speaks through Holy Scripture.
Here we have space to cite only a few fresh examples of
the way in which the Eternal Voice still comes home to
men's hearts and brings peace to their consciences through
the words of the Bible translated into many a strange
tongue. 80

IN THE WILDERNESS
A Farthing Gospel.
From the Panjab a B.M.S. missionary at Kasauli
describes how, while he was itinerating among the hills,
he came upon an old man who declared that he had
renounced idolatry and was worshipping according to
the teaching of a little book which he had bought. That
little book was one of our Society's farthing Gospels.
Some months later the missionary's duty led him back
to the same village, when he found that the aged
inquirer had left the land of twilight for everlasting day.
A Disciple of the New Testament.
In China, early last year, a C.I.M. missionary was
staying at Chingchow, in the Province of Hunan, when
a Chinaman came into the city to see him one Sunday
morning. The man said that he knew it was Sunday ;
he had been keeping Sunday for some time. A year
and a half before, the missionary had sold him a Chinese
New Testament, and that Testament had led him to
God. He had read it already seven or eight times.
" Did he understand it? " "No, not all ; there were
some hard passages, especially in the Revelation." But
he had broken off his opium simply through faith in
Jesus Christ and prayer, and he had just helped a friend
of his to do the same. He was a disciple of the New
Testament.
Through Reading the Bible.
At Manila, early in the present year, the Filipino who
has assisted in translating the Tagalog Bible for our
Society gave this testimony : "I became a Christian
through reading the Bible. When I saw in St. John
iv. 24, that ' God is a Spirit : and they that worship
81 G

THE HIGHWAY
Him must worship in spirit and truth,' I began to think
that worshipping God through idols must be wrong,
and from this I was gradually led on to the truth. At
first my father and brothers were very bitter against me ;
I said but little to them, but gave each of them a Bible
and asked them to read it for themselves ; in time they
too became convinced, and they are now Christians."
A Sufferer for his faith.
A single Burmese Gospel had been given or sold to
a Buddhist nun at Rangoon. She read it and treasured
it, and died rejoicing in its message. On her death
bed she handed the precious little book to a Burman
friend, who in his turn read and believed. To him the
Gospel message seemed so new and wonderful that he
spoke about it continually to his fellow-villagers — until
early last year they set on him with sticks and broke his
arm. Our colporteur discovered this Burman laid up in
hospital — already a sufferer for the faith that was in him.
As soon as he recovered, he was directed to a W.M.S.
Mission station, instructed, and received into the
Christian fold.
''A Living Person drawing you."
Before the bombardment of Casablanca — which
destroyed all the Society's stock of Scriptures — we had
a depot in that town. Several well-to-do Moors often
visited that depot, and would listen carefully while the
Gospel was read aloud. They confessed that, though
there was much good advice in the Koran, it could not
be compared to the New Testament. For as one of the
Moors said : — " When you read the Injtl, you feel that
there is a living Person drawing you to Him."
82

IN THE WILDERNESS
A Medicine for Sin.
Dani Ram and his friend Chit Bahadur were sepoys
who served together in a Gurkha regiment. Several
years ago one of them had a Bible given him at Dar-
jeeling. He kept the book as a sacred treasure, because
— to use his own words — it seemed to contain "an
electrical power" to change his heart, and "a medicine
for the people who are drowned in sin." As the result
of this Bible, both friends have now been received into
the Church of Christ at the S.P.G. Mission in Maymyo,
Burma.
The Innkeeper and his Wife.
In the valley of the Loire, as our colporteur took
his meal at an inn, the landlady spoke about the New
Testament which he had sold her several years before.
' ' My husband and I understood from this book that
salvation is through faith in Christ alone ; but before
we came to believe in a truth so simple, we were greatly
troubled — so much indeed that we decided to read no
more. We put the book away in the attic, supposing
that we should forget it. But it never went out of our
minds. One evening it seemed to my husband that he
heard a voice say to him, ' Go and fetch your book and
read it, and you shall find peace for your soul ! ' He
went and fetched it, and that evening we did find peace.
Since then we have been happy."
" I bought this book," said an aged Frenchwoman to
our colporteur, "fifteen or twenty years ago ; but I had
little leisure then, and I believe I did not open it twice.
Now, my working time is over, and all my mind is con
cerned about rest and also about death — when le bon
Dieu shall summon me. So I bethought myself of this
book which I had never used, and I am making up for
83

THE HIGHWAY
lost time. It seems as though this book has put me
right with God (m'a raccorde avec le bon Dieu) — the
God of whom I thought so little till now."
The Treasure of the Humble.
A French peasant-woman found peace to her soul
through reading the New Testament, which she had
bought from a colporteur. " I do not put my trust in
men," she said, "or even in religion. I go to the
Gospel, where God Himself speaks to me. I am poor,
but I would not exchange my lot with that of a million
aire, for I have a treasure which cannot be taken from
me. I have joy and peace ; I rest on my God and
Saviour, and that is enough for me."
A Safe Place for Shoe-patterns.
The Rev. W. H. Sears, of Pingtu, in Shantung,
superintends eight Chinese colporteurs who sold last
year 12,885 Gospels and Testaments. He writes : —
" I wartt to thank the Bible Society for the great work that
it is doing towards the furtherance of the Gospel. In this
part of Shantung the women are the temple-worshippers. It
is not unusual to see 2,000 or 3,000 women gathered together
on great festival days. Sometimes these women will buy a
portion of the Scriptures, and take it home to be used as a safe
place for shoe-patterns. But this does not always turn out to
be a misuse. There are now several Christians in one
village, as the result of a husband reading St. John's Gospel
which his wife bought to hold these patterns ! "
His Mother's Gift.
At a recent Bible-meeting in Johannesburg, General
Beyers, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the
Transvaal, delivered an address. He produced a well-
worn and much-knocked-about copy of the Scriptures,
84

IN THE WILDERNESS
which, he said, he had carried with him through the Boer
war. At night, wrapped in his coat, it had often formed
his pillow. On one occasion it had saved his life. He
was carrying it in his breast-pocket during an engage
ment, when two bullets struck its brass edging and
glanced off. Those bullets would otherwise, in all pro
bability, have entered his heart. The Bible had been
his mother's gift, and he looked upon it as an almost
priceless possession.
" Bonds and Afflictions abide me."
Colporteur Stoykoff, who has done excellent work in
Macedonia, was urgent with a Bulgarian to buy a
New Testament for his soul's good. The man objected,
" Very likely I shall find myself in prison one day ;
then what good will this book do me?" "The very
reason you ought to have it," said the colporteur.
"It is God's Book, and will give you the consolation
you will then be in need of." The man's premonition
came true; and when in prison he was said to be re
joicing in the possession of the Testament, which gave
him patience in tribulation and hope for the future.
"God's Word itself opens the Door."
In the west of Hungary Roman Catholic priests will
often try to collect and destroy the Bibles which their
parishioners have purchased. Colporteur Goger writes
regarding one village :
" Here also the priest had been at work, and had gathered
all the books I had sold except four copies. When I again
visited the place, the owners of these four books helped me to
sell five more Bibles. It is God's Word itself that opens the
door for me."

85

THE HIGHWAY
" It so appeals to me."
A missionary in the Panjab writes :
" A Sikh lecturer called to see us. He seemed perfectly
satisfied with the explanation we gave of some Bible diffi
culties. He added, ' How is it that when I read other
religious books, I feel ready for controversy, but when I read
the Bible it so appeals to me, that all desire for controversy
ceases ? ' This was a man well versed in Sanskrit and in
Moslem literature."
A Heathen Priest.
In a recent number of the Mission Field a native
Indian S.P.G. missionary writes as follows of a convert:
"He was a heathen priest of the temple of Mutthumalai
Ammon, which is situated at Kurangani in honour of the
Ammon, and it is attended by thousands of people from all
parts of Southern India. He was a priest of this goddess,
and his conversion is almost miraculous. When he visited
Alvertope, a Christian station, in 1903, he was struck with
the mode of Christian worship, and it gave him a good
impression which was too strong to be shaken off. On his
return to his native village and to the goddess, the impression
became stronger. He bought a New Testament and read it,
and when I went to the place for the purpose of preaching
the Gospel to the Hindus he came forward to answer the
queries of a heathen disputant. I asked him afterwards who
he was, and he said he was a child of Christ. He further
requested that he might be admitted into the Church by
baptism. He was one of the candidates for confirmation held
last December by the Bishop of Madras."
In Manchuria.
Here are two experiences sent last year by the Rev.
A. R. Crawford of the Irish Presbyterian Mission,
Manchuria. "Quite lately in examining a number of candidates for
baptism I made a point of inquiring how each one had come
86

IN THE WILDERNESS
to believe in Christ. One man told this story : ' I was in
Yu Chia-tun and saw in a house a Gospel which the people
there had bought from a colporteur and thrown aside as
unintelligible. From the moment my eyes lighted on it I
was greatly attracted by it, and read and read till the meaning
dawned on me. I found the Pearl of great price.' He was
one of the brightest of all the candidates, though quite a
poor young man. Our cook, another candidate, was on
probation for seven years, and might have been baptized
long ago. I never, I think, met a more thoroughly faithful
man. During the Boxer troubles he lived at Hunchun,
' growing onions and studying his New Testament' "
From Printer to Pastor.
As an illustration of the quickening power of God's
Word in a heathen Chinaman's heart, the Rev. W.
D. Rudland, the veteran C.I.M. missionary at Taichow,
relates the following experience : —
"The first time I remember seeing Tsiang Fae-piao was
in 1 87 1. He was brought to me on his father's back with
a scalded foot, which had been plastered with all sorts of
dirt. Though I had no medical training I put a plaster of soap
and sugar on the sore and the foot soon got well.
"I lost sight of the lad for some years. But when our
printing-press was set up, his father asked me to take him
into the printing office. At first he disliked the close work
and was antagonistic to the Gospel. It was a real trial to
him to sit every morning at our Chinese prayers, and for
some months he was very restless. But much prayer was
made for him. When we began to set up the Taichow
vernacular version of the New Testament, his work as a
compositor brought him in direct contact with the Word of
God, and it was not long ere we saw a change. He began
to be very attentive at prayers and at Sunday services, and
presently there was such a change in his character that
it was evident he was truly converted. 87

THE HIGHWAY
" In 1880 it was my privilege to baptize him, and not many
that I have baptized have given me the joy that he has done
all along. He has often told me that it was setting up the
type for the New Testament that made him think about his
soul. " He continued to work in the printing office for some
years, continually studying the Word, and then he was sent
to an out-station as an evangelist. From that day to this
he has been a steady and consistent worker. He is not a
clever preacher, but his life tells more than his words. Two
years ago he was elected and set apart as the first native
pastor of the C.I.M. in Taichow. He is now our right-hand
man. So the Taichow version of Scriptures have not only
enabled many to read the Word of God for themselves, who
otherwise never would have been able to do so ; but the
printing of that Word has given us our first native pastor,
for whom we continually thank God."
The Result of the Bible.
Here is a striking testimony from Brazil : —
" Near S. Francisco da Gloria we came upon a little group
of Christians, very homely and simple people. Eight years
ago a colporteur passed through that district and sold a
number of Bibles. The purchasers began to read and study
the Scriptures. A few gathered for this purpose, and found
that the book was better than any they had ever seen before,
but what the religion was which it taught they could not say.
Was it German, or English, or had it come from the United
States ? It was not Roman, they felt sure, because it con
demned some Roman practices ; they read to their amaze
ment that John the Baptist charged nothing for his baptism,
and that the gifts of God could not be sold for money. They
were sure, also, that it was not Protestant, for the book was
full of the things of God, and their priests declared that
Protestants believed neither in God nor in Jesus Christ.
When a Protestant missionary, however, arrived on the
scene, they discovered to their astonishment that his faith
was like theirs — in which they are still standing firm."

IN THE WILDERNESS
In the south of Hungary, Colporteur Albus came upon
villages whose inhabitants are Servians. In one of
these he met a young man who had bought a Bible from
him several years before. When Albus visited the
village a second time he found that this man had collected
a number of his friends to whom he read the Scriptures.
Now, on a third visit, the colporteur noticed that the
reading circle had still further increased. These poor
folk have hired a room where they meet regularly. The
village priest leaves them to themselves, saying that he
has nothing to urge against his people studying the
Bible. Albus concludes his report with these words :
" Here, as well as in other places, and especially among
the Servians, I notice that the Spirit of God is at work,
and that His Word without the instrumentality of man
is influencing the hearts of the people."
A Mountain Village in Korea.
A missionary in Korea writes of tens, twenties, and
fifties who have bought the Book and met in groups
daily, poring over its sacred contents, until the Spirit
has taught them through the Word and created them sons
of God in Christ Jesus. A village deep in the moun
tains of Whang Hai province had the seed thus carried
to it by a young lad of sixteen. Soon the whole village
of thirty souls collected round this mysterious Book.
Others from the surrounding hills heard the news, and
gathered with them to pore over its wonderful story.
They studied it throughout Sunday and on week-even
ings and in their hour of rest at noon. Passing through
these Korean highlands one might find farmers busy in
their fields, no longer droning weird heathen songs, but
doing their work to the joyful psalms of Zion.
89

THE HIGHWAY
The New Testament in the New Hebrides.
It will be instructive to give one illustration showing
how the New Testament can lead not merely isolated
individuals but a whole people into the way of peace.
The New Hebrides form a group of volcanic islands
in the South Pacific, lying about i,ooo miles north of
New Zealand. The natives are a mixed race, partly
Malay and partly Papuan, whose numbers to-day are
estimated at 70,000. Thirty or forty years ago the
people were cannibals of the most degraded type, and
perhaps the least civilized of any of the peoples of the
Pacific. They have been evangelized by the New
Hebrides Mission of the Presbyterian Church, which is
so closely associated with the name of the late Dr. John
G. Paton. Dr. Macdonald, who has spent the main
part of a long missionary life on the island of Efate,
gives the following impressive testimony as to the power
of the New Testament over the people there :
"The New Testament in Efate was printed in 1889 at
Melbourne, at the expense of the Bible Society, and that year
we put it into the hands of the people. In every village we
have a mission school, and the principal work in those schools
is to teach the people to read the Scriptures, and to under
stand them and to live by them. To-day, the New Testament
is their code of laws ; they have no other, and they strive con
tinually to frame every part of their life according to the law
of the New Testament. Each Christian village has made it
a rule that the people themselves should elect one of their
number to be their chief, and a few of the leading men to be
his assistants ; but, though the chief is the greatest man in the
village, he can exercise no arbitrary power. One day the
people of a certain village came to me and said : ' This man,
whom we elected as chief, is not acting as we thought he
would. His conduct towards us is not according to the Word

90

IN THE WILDERNESS
of Jesus that we find in this Book.' I inquired into the matter,
and I found that the people were not wrong, so I had to agree
with them.
" Then there is in each village a Christian teacher, who is
also an important man. But both his conduct and his
teaching must conform to the New Testament. In the
mission field God's Word is the standard, not only in the
family, but in the community and in the Church. The mis
sionary, while he is the servant of all, is in some respects the
most influential man in the island ; but though at first he may
be, in their estimation, and against his will, a kind of Pope
and Csesar in one person, he soon finds to his great relief that
his is a limited monarchy indeed. Much as they like and
respect and trust the missionary, he is strictly limited in that
all his conduct and teaching must conform to the New Testa
ment. If he were to depart from it, he would immediately
lose his influence. These people are very much like children ;
they are very keen judges of character, and the missionary
has influence only so far as they see in his life among
them the life of Christ. It is not by means of arguments
against their superstitions, or by denunciations of their evil
practices, that the Gospel prevails among these people. It is
by the simple teaching of the glad tidings of God's redeeming
love to us through Christ, as set forth in the New Testament.

Surely the prophet's words come true concerning the
Scriptures: — "The wilderness and the solitary place
shall be glad for them ; and the desert shall rejoice, and
blossom as the rose."

91

THE HIGHWAY

WAYS AND MEANS.
' ' The Bible Society possesses every characteristic of
the work of God, in which the simplest means are
made to produce the greatest effects ; where there is
the utmost economy in the contrivance, and the greatest
splendour and magnificence in the design."
Robert Hall, Works IV. , j8j.
Our Society exists for one sole object — to spread
abroad the Scriptures, without note or comment, in all
languages and in all lands. To carry out this object it
is organized on the simplest lines and in the most
catholic spirit. Its directorate consists of a Committee
of 36 laymen, 15 of whom belong to the Church of
England and 15 to Nonconformist Churches, while the
remainder are foreigners living in or near London.
Personalia. It was announced at the end of June, 1908, that the
King had been graciously pleased to appoint the
Marquis of Northampton to be a Knight of the Garter.
The news that our President had thus received the
highest distinction which his Sovereign can confer upon
an English nobleman has given the utmost pleasure
and satisfaction to friends of the Bible Society, both at
home and abroad.

92

IN THE WILDERNESS
Earlier in the present year the Committee learnt with
keen regret from Mr. Caleb R. Kemp that the condition
of his health rendered it imperative for him to retire
from the Chairmanship which he had held for the last
sixteen years. While the Committee felt that they had
no option but to yield reluctantly to his wish, they
earnestly hope and pray that he may still be able to
assist their counsels. It would be difficult to exaggerate
the immense services which Mr. Kemp has rendered
to the Society, and his retirement comes as a personal
loss to every member alike of the Committee and the
Staff. At the first meeting of the newly-appointed Committee
in May, 1908, Mr. Williamson Lamplough was unani
mously elected Chairman, in succession to Mr. Kemp.
Mr. Lamplough, who first joined the Committee in 1894,
has been a Vice-President of the Society since 1905.
For several years past he has acted as one of the Vice-
Chairmen of the Committee, presiding frequently in
Mr. Kemp's absence. In acknowledging his election,
he spoke of the honour and responsibility which had
been thus thrust upon him, and added with characteristic
simplicity, "By the help of God I will do my best."
Mr. Henry Morris and Sir Andrew Wingate were also
unanimously elected Vice-Chairmen of the Committee.
Unity, Peace, and Concord.
As the years go by, our Society more than maintains
its place as a great symbol and instrument of Christian
union. Speaking recently in his own diocese, the
Bishop of Hereford declared that if he were required to
give the Society a name, he would describe it as " super-
denominational." When he visited the Bible House

93

THE HIGHWAY
in London he always felt that if there was any place in
England which could be called the Temple of Peace, it
was that House.
During these last twelve months an unusual number
of interesting receptions have been held at the Society's
headquarters. For instance, when the International
Conference of the Evangelical Alliance met in London,
a large number of its foreign delegates were welcomed
at the Bible House and afterwards entertained by
members of our Committee. The delegates from America
in connection with the Laymen's Missionary Movement
also met at the Bible House in conference with the lead
ing English missionary societies. Since Easter this year
the Marquis of Northampton has held receptions at the
Bible House for the ministers and other representatives
,of German Christian Churches who visited London in
May, for the delegates to the Pan-Anglican Congress in
June, and for the Bishops attending the Lambeth
Conference in July.
Every year, anniversary sermons on behalf of the
Society are preached in St. Paul's Cathedral and in
Westminster Abbey, as well as under the auspices of
the ecclesiastical authorities of the various Free Churches
in England. By generous permission of the Court of
Common Council of the City of London, the Society's
birthday is celebrated year by year in the Guildhall by a
great gathering of boys and girls, at which it has become
a happy tradition for the Lord Mayor to preside.
Trades Unions and the Society.
People sometimes wonder how the Bible Society can
afford to sell its books at such low prices. The answer
is that it deliberately sells its cheap editions at a loss, and
to defray this loss it relies on subscriptions and gifts
94

IN THE WILDERNESS
from those who love the Bible. The Society does not
charge low prices for its books because they are printed
or bound under conditions which will not stand the
test of public scrutiny. All the editions of the Scriptures
printed for the Society in England are executed by firms
which pay their workmen the accepted Trades Union
rate of wages.
With regard to the binding of the Societ3r's editions,
it may be of interest to state that during 1907 the
Secretaries of the three London Societies of Journey
men Bookbinders paid a surprise visit to the Bindery of
Messrs. Watkins, Watkins & Company at Camberwell,
where for many years past practically all the books which
the Society publishes in England have been bound. The
sums paid for this work to Messrs. Watkins amount on
an average to about ;^25,ooo per annum, and our Com
mittee fully realize that they are responsible for the
conditions under which the binding is carried on. We
quote the concluding sentences of the report which these
three Trades Union officials have written since their
visit : —
"On the whole we were very favourably impressed
with the conditions prevailing in the establishment, and
with the evident desire on the part of the management
to give every consideration to such suggestions as may
be calculated to add to the contentment of the work
people. It is therefore with pleasure that we conclude
that the conditions are fair and satisfactory to the work
people, both men and women."
Cheap Editions.
Our Society was founded in response to the appealing
needs of the poor, and it has been faithful to its original
mission. The prices of its cheap editions are so low

95

THE HIGHWAY
that God's Book is brought within reach of the humblest
class of labourers in any country. For example, in the
Transvaal during 1907 we sold 954 sixpenny Bibles in
English, 1,901 sixpenny Bibles in Dutch, and 2,810
sixpenny Testaments in Suto. Out of the 600,000
books put into the hands of the people of India last
year, the vast majority were Gospels, which are sold at a
farthing apiece.
Moreover the Society's servants and colporteurs have
instructions, whenever they find any destitute person
who can read and really desires a copy, to present the
Book to him as a free gift. And in all cases of special
necessity or opportunity — for the sick in hospitals, for
criminals in prison, for children in orphanages, and
especially for inhabitants of provinces smitten by famine
or pestilence or persecution — the Society relaxes its
normal rule and gives the Scriptures, freely and gener
ously, to those who so sorely need their consolation.
A few examples will serve to illustrate these gifts.
Free Gifts.
Last year 4,300 Gospels were given away among
those who had suffered from the disastrous floods
in Southern France. In Macedonia the prisons at
Monastir were filled to overflowing with 1,400 un
happy captives, in a state of extreme misery and
wretchedness. Among these, copies of God's Word
were distributed in the Greek, Bulgarian, Servian
and Rumanian languages, the authorities refusing to
allow Turkish or Albanian Scriptures to enter the prison.
In various ways the poor prisoners expressed their
thankfulness for the books. In Russia the Society pro
vided on nominal terms 3,000 New Testaments, which
96

IN THE WILDERNESS
were given away in different prisons, mostly in the Baltic
Provinces, by a gentleman who enjoys special facilities
from the officials ; he was allowed to visit the sick in
prison-hospitals and the lonely in cells set apart for soli
tary confinement ; and as a rule he was received with
the greatest joy, and his message of God's forgiveness
of sin in Christ was listened to with deep emotion. In
Siberia nearly 500 copies of the Scriptures in eight
different languages were distributed in the large central
prison at Alexandrovsky through the Governor of
Irkutsk ; while Testaments and Gospels have also been
given to many political prisoners on their way to exile.
In China, 500 Testaments were placed at the disposal of
the missionaries who are allowed to conduct regular ser
vices in the Shanghai municipal gaol, so that a copy
might be placed in each cell. Bibles and Testaments
were distributed among the Buddhist monks and priests
at the famous Nyuohwong and Tindong temples and
monasteries near Ningpo. While in the far west of
China, which contains millions of Muhammadans, Arabic
Bibles were placed in each of the principal mosques in
and about the city of Yunnan.
Gifts to Indian Students.
The Bible Society presents the Scriptures to all
students at the Indian Universities. Each man, when he
enters college, is offered a copy of the Four Gospels and
Acts in English ; half way through his course he is asked
to accept the New Testament ; and when he has graduated,
the Society endeavours to arrange that he shall go forth
with the complete Bible in his hands. During 1907
nearly 4,700 volumes were thus accepted as gifts from
the Society by the students of India.
97 H

THE HIGHWAY
The Poor of this World.
It is wonderful and pathetic to notice in the reports of
our colporteurs how the poorest folk will often make
sacrifices to obtain the Word of God. A French
colporteur writes : — "Three or four times this month I
have received the last sou in a house. One woman said,
' I am not rich, I cannot afford 25 centimes (= 2^d.) for
a Testament, but I will do without my milk to-night and
buy a Gospel.' " In Algeria an Arab woman said, " I
have no money for purchasing the Book of the Lord
Jesus Christ, but if thou dost not mind, I will give these
two eggs for the price of it, and I will have it read
to me by someone in the house." The eggs were
gladly accepted for an Arabic Gospel. In some huts
inhabited by miners in the Province of Constantine,
a woman declared that she had no money to spare. The
colporteur replied it was a pity she could not buy a
Testament, which is the very Word of God that leads to
the Saviour. "Wait, said she, "I will go and see if
my neighbour can lend me 25 centimes." Soon she
came back with the money, adding ' ' We shall read
it, my husband and I, on Sunday."
A Japanese colporteur writes: — "At Mikurya, one
poor old woman whom I asked to buy a i sen (=34^d.)
Gospel, said she would take a copy, but found that she
had no money with which to pay for it. She searched
in the tiny drawers of a small box and in various places.
At last she discovered half a sen, her last coin, and
offered it to me in payment for the book. Of course I
would not accept her money. The poor old soul was
pleased and thanked me."
In Southern India, a Syrian Christian woman came
running to a colporteur in Malabar, and said, " I want
a Malayalam Bible. I have no money, but I have got
98

IN THE WILDERNESS
a silver jewel which I mean to sell to buy a Bible. I
want no more jewels. The Word of God is enough for
me." Then she sold her jewel to a merchant, and paid
for the Bible.
Curious Coin.
In uncivilized lands the Scriptures are sometimes paid
for in strange currency. Cowrie shells have been
received in Uganda, brass rods on the Congo, pipes in
Ashanti-land, silk scarves and cheese in Mongolia, and
candles in Salvador. In districts where coin is scarce,
books are still frequently exchanged for payment in kind.
Even in the valley of the Seine, Colporteur Piriou some
times gets queer coinage from the country folk — a bundle
of leeks and carrots, for example, a couple of eggs, or
four large turnips. In Morocco a poor Jew exchanged
a cheap travelling looking-glass for a copy of St. Luke's
Gospel : "He was surprised when I told him that for
a glass in which I could only see my face, I had given
him a mirror in which he could see his soul." In
South India, after listening attentively to a colporteur in
the Tamil country, the people said: "All that you
say is true. We have a great desire to buy and read
your books. But the days are hard ; no rain, and
all our crops are withered. We have no rice to eat, and
are at present living on roots and palmyra fruits.
When better times come, we will buy these books."
Five copies, however, were sold for palmyra fruits. A
Bible-seller in Brazil describes his experiences in out-
of-the-way places : ' ' Many of the people had no money,
so we exchanged our books for local products. Two
eggs would always be given for a Gospel, while a dozen
eggs or a live chicken was the price of a Testament.

99

THE HIGHWAY
A Bible changed hands for an assortment of things —
such as ten litros of beans, two litros of fat for cooking,
and a chicken. One old man went away rejoicing, hav
ing bought a Bible for two litros of rice, two of meal,
and nearly two of beans. Sometimes a chicken tied
on the top of our bale of books would suddenly make
a bold bid for liberty, screeching with all its might,
and frightening the baggage-mule so that she set off at
a great pace. Then, in our efforts to quiet the animals,
some eggs would get broken ; but at night, as we sat
round our big log-fire in the ranche, the troubles of the
day were forgotten, and the chicken made capital
eating for supper. ' '
The cost of cheap Bibles.
Ordinary people will value and read a book which
they have paid even the smallest coin to secure. Accord
ingly the Bible Society, as a rule, charges a price
for the Scriptures. But since it exists to bring God's
Book within the reach of all sorts and classes of men, it
sells its cheap editions at prices which Eastern peasants
and ploughmen can afford to pay. To carry out this
policy necessarily involves heavy loss. Out of every £i
which the Society expends in producing and distributing
the Scriptures, less than 8s. comes back to it from the
proceeds of sales. For the remaining 12s. it depends
simply and solely upon the free gifts of Bible-readers
and Bible-lovers in all quarters of the world.
Sources of Income.
The Society's treasury is like a broad river, whose
waters are fed by countless tiny rills, flowing from
distant places far apart. Its volume does not depend

100

IN THE WILDERNESS
mainly on large and munificent donations, but on
multitudinous contributions representing generous
sacrifices and self-denials of humble folk, not only in
England, but in remote corners of the earth.
This last year the Society's revenue, for example, has
included ;C8 collected by two congregations of Welsh
colonists in Patagonia. In an English alms-house jC^
was quietly saved up by a poor woman, who believes
she has not long to live and is anxious to do what she
can to help others to know the Bible, which she describes
as the joy of her life. The North Africa Mission
forwarded 12 francs, contributed by Muhammadan
converts in Kabylia. A missionary — one of the "Cam
bridge Seven " — sent ^£2 as "a joyful contribution to a
Society which has been such a help to me in China."
The cadets of the Britannia Royal Naval College at
Dartmouth collected £4. is. after a sermon in their chapel.
At a leper asylum in North India, twenty Christian
inmates saved portions of rice, pulse, and salt from their
daily allowance of food, and sent the proceeds to the
Society. The Santal Christians connected with the
Danish Mission, who are extremely poor, forwarded 510
rupees to Calcutta, as their contribution for 1907.
The Gifts of the Children.
Even little children deny themselves for the sake of the
good cause. A letter from the C.M.S Orphanage at
Benares says : "Whenever the girls get any fice for
sweets, they come and tell me, ' Teacherji, put this money
into the Bible box.'" In Cape Colony a remarkable
Bible meeting for Dutch children was held at Langlaagt,
when about 400 children attended, of whom 320 were
inmates of the Rev. A. P. Kriel's Orphanage. These

lOI

THE HIGHWAY
orphans, who are a sad legacy of the Boer war, some
times earn a few pence by doing small jobs in the
Home, or for the neighbours. Out of the money thus
earned they contributed to the collection, which amounted
to £2 7s.
The following delightful letter comes from the S.P.G.
Orphanage of the Epiphany, Cawnpore : — " I am writing this
letter to tell you how we collected more money for our Bible
Society. Because we had very little money in our box, so we
thought we ought to do something to collect more. With
the help of our kind Miss Sahibas and Padri Sahibs, we were
able to have a small entertainment, after which there was a
collection. There were some songs in English and Hindustani
in which our ladies and Padri Sahibs helped. There were
some musical drills by the girls, and pieces of poetry were
recited. We got thirty rupees by collection, and we also got
some money by selling sweets which we had made ourselves.
So we are sending you the collection, and have put the sweets'
money (that is, over five rupees) into the box. I wrote this
thinking you would like to know how we got the money.
Please excuse my mistakes and accept my best love."
Nor are English children backward in their service.
In connexion with The Bible Society Gleanings, our
monthly magazine for young people, a Department has
been started for the sale of Foreign Postage Stamps.
So popular has this become that our difficulty now is to
execute the orders received, and already the proceeds are
supporting one colporteur in China and another in Burma.
Our Loyal Helpers.
We have no space to recount the services rendered
by those innumerable friends, belonging to so many
Churches, who are the Society's loyal helpers in
its thousands of Auxiliaries and Branches and Asso
ciations, at home and abroad — the speakers who

102

IN THE WILDERNESS
address meetings, the boys and girls who take Bible-
boxes, the ladies who collect funds and organize sales
of work and circulate magazines. There is one
sovereign method which never fails to kindle enthusiasm
for the Bible Society — and that is the method of spread
ing popular information about it. If any earnest
Christians fail to take an interest in our Society
and its mission, there can be only one possible explana
tion — the explanation which Dr. Johnson gave to the
lady who asked him how it was that certain mistakes
occurred in his Dictionary; "Ignorance, Madam,"
growled the Doctor, "sheer ignorance."
From the Pulpit of Westminster Abbey.
The needs and claims of the Society were admirably
summarized by the Rev. Ronald Bayne, in the sermon
which he preached on its behalf in Westminster Abbey
last December. We quote his closing sentences : —
" The Bible Society acts like the heart in the body ; it
pumps over the world the spiritual oxygen which the Bible
affords. What has been in European civilization the
most stimulating and purifying and elevating influence,
it aims at bringing to bear upon all the races of the
earth ; and with the increased demand from Japan and
China, from Egypt and Africa, from India and Burma,
an increase in the funds of the Society is a necessity.
Let all who love the Bible and believe in the Bible,
in its power to raise humanity and to bring it near to
God, — let all English Christians who are true to the con
victions and traditions of their country and their faith,
help this work, not grudgingly or of necessity, but
thankfully and eagerly, because God gives it them to
do, and conspicuously chooses them from among the
nations to lead the way in doing it."

103

THE HIGHWAY IN THE WILDERNESS
The Appeal of Facts.
The preceding pages of this Report have indeed
marred their tale in the telling, if that tale requires the
emphasis of rhetoric to enforce its appeal on serious and
candid readers.
We are content to conclude with the searching
words which the Archbishop of Brisbane recently
addressed to his own Diocesan Synod : " It is a strange
thing that money seems so necessary a condition of all
good work, but it is still more strange to notice how
money is found to come in for the work which God
means to be done. ' Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you.' If we are seeking to do God's work,
the means to do it will be found. The question lies
there. If we fail in our objects it will be because we
have mistaken God's will, because in our hearts we have
not learned to seek the Kingdom of God. About the
money I am not anxious. My daily and hourly care is
for the spirit in which we all do our work. As we learn
to aim steadfastly at the establishment of the Kingdom
of God upon earth, and as we learn to subordinate our
lesser aims to His, we shall find that the work we have
undertaken prospers in our hands. I look for the day
when we shall all have caught something of the inspira
tion of our Master ; when we shall have learned so to
love what is good that we are willing to pay the price of
sacrifice in its attainment ; when we shall have learned,
as none of us have yet fully learned, that self-interest
means stagnation, and that through sacrifice alone can
we truly enter into life."

104

APPENDIX,

NOTICE RESPECTING REMITTANCES.
Subscriptions and donations are received at the Bible House,
146, Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C. ; also at
the Society's Bankers, Williams Deacon's Bank,
Limited, 20, Birchin Lane, E.C. ; — advice being sent to
the Secretaries at the Bible House. Cheques, Bankers'
Drafts, and Post Office Orders ( 07i the General Post
Office), should be made payable to The British and
Foreign Bible Society, and addressed to the Secretaries.

FORM OF A BEQUEST TO THE SOCIETY.
/ bequeath the sum. of Pounds sterling
free of Legacy Duty to "The British and Foreign Bible
Society, ' ' instituted in London in the year 1804, to be paid for
the purposes of the said Society to the Treasurer for the time
being thereof, whose Receipt shall be a good discharge for the

Telegraphic Address: Telephone:
Testaments, London. No. 2036 Central.

106

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

President : The Marquis of Northampton, K. G.
Vice-Presidents :

1873. BISHOP HUTCHINSON, D.C.L., D.D.
1S76. BISHOP MOORHOUSE, D.D.
1877. The EARL of ABERDEEN.
The Rt. Hon. Sir J. H. KENNAWAY, Bart.,
C.B.. M.P.
1878. The ARCHBISHOP of YORK.
1884. BISHOP BARRY, D.D.
The BISHOP of RIPON.
1885. Rev. ALEXANDER MCLAREN, D.D.
1886. Rev. W. H. DALLINGER. LL.D , F.R.S.
Rev. I. OSWALD DYKES, D.D.
Sir THOMAS POWELL BUXTON, Bart.,
G.C.M.G.
1887. The ARCHBISHOP of CANTERBURY.
Rev. JAMES H. RIGG, D.D.
1888. W. SCHOOLCROFT BURTON, Esq.
BISHOP ROYSTON. D.D.
JOHN CORY, Esq
1889. The EARL of HALSBURY.
LORD ERASSEY, K.C.B.
The BISHOP of St. ASAPH.
1891. LORD KINNAIRD.
The DEAN of WINDSOR.
R. N. CUST, Esq., LL.D.
Rev. A. M. FAIRBAIRN, D.D.
1892. The BISHOP of LICHFIELD.
Aid. Sir JOSEPH SAVORY, Bart.
Tlie BISHOP of NEWCASTLE.
The ARCHBISHOP of SYDNEY.
A. MCARTHUR, Esq.
1893. Rev. CHANCELLOR EDMONDS, B.D.
J. STORRS FRY, Esq.
BISHOP JOHNSON, D.D.
Rev. J. G. ROGERS, D.D.
1894. ROBERT HEATH, Esq.
The ARCHBISHOP of the WEST INDIES
ARCHDEACON SINCLAIR, D.D.
The BISHOP of MARLBOROUGH.
Rev. H. J. POPE, D.D.
J. R. HILL, Etq.
1895. VISCOUNT PEEL.
The BISHOP of BATH and WELLS.
The DUKE of DEVONSHIRE.
LORD PECKOVER of WISBECH.
The BISHOP of CHESTER.
BISHOP GOE, D.D.
The DEAN of DURHAM.
The BISHOP of ST. ALBANS.
Rev. J. MONRO GIBSON, D.D.
1896. The EARL of STAMFORD.
J. TRUEMAN MILLS, Esq.
Sir ALBERT SPICER, Bart., M,P.
Rev. J. G. GREENHOUGH,
Rev. RICHARD GLOVER. D.D.
The BISHOP of HEREFORD.
BISHOP STUART, D.D.
The DEAN of NORWICH.
1B97. The BISHOP of PETERBOROUGH.
Hon. J. J. ROGERSON.
A. S. LESLIE-MELVILLE, Esq.
LORD RADSTOCK
The BISHOP of DURHAM.
189S. Rev. CANON CHRISTOPHER.
Rev. CANON FLEMING.
Rev. D. MACEWAN, D.D.
The BISHOP of WAKEFIELD.
T. A. DENNY. Esq.
VISCOUNT WOLVERHAMPTON.
Rev. CANON A R. FAUSSET, D.D.
1899. The BISHOP of ST. DAVIDS.
BISHOP Sir LOVELACE T. STAMER,
Bart.
BISHOP WELLDON, D.D.
VISCOUNT CLIFDEN.
Rev. CANON R. B. GIRDLESTONE.
Rev. W. L WATKINSON. D.D.
ROBERT BARCLAY, Esq.
CALEB R. KEMP, Esq.
HENRY MORRIS, Esq.
1930. BISHOP INGHAM, D.D.
The BISHOP of LIVERPOOL.
The MASTER of TRINITY.

1906.

Rev. F. W. MACDONALD.
F. A. BEVAN, Esq
The BISHOP of WINCHE.STEK.
The BISHOP of LONDON.
The BISHOP of LUCKNOW.
Sir GEORGE HAYTER CHUBB, Bart.
The Rt. Hon. Sir SAMUEL J. WAY, Bart.
LORD ALVERSTONE, G.C.M.G.,
Lord Chief Justice.
Sir G. E. KNOX.
Rev. GRIFFITH JOHN. D.D.
The BISHOP of CALCUTTA.
The BISHOP of UGANDA.
The BISHOP of HOKKAIDO, Japan.
Rev. W. T. DAVISON, D.D.
Sir CHARLES ALFRED ELLIOTT,
Sir C. ERNEST TRITTON, Bart.
THOMAS HODGKIN, Esq., D.C.L.
CHARLES FINCH FOSTER, Esq.
The DEAN of WESTMINSTER.
Rev. C. H. KELLY.
Sir ALGERNON COOTE, Bart.
G. W. MACALPINE, Esq.
GEORGE SPICER, Esq.
MARTIN JOHN SUTTON, Esq.
The BISHOP of BIRMINGHAM.
The BISHOP of MANCHESTER.
BISHOP ORMSBY, D.D.
BISHOP STIRLING. D.D.
Rev. ANDREW MURRAY, D.D.
Rev. MARSHALL HARTLEY.
Rev. F. B. MEYER.
Rev. D. MACKICHAN, D.D.
Sir A. HARGREAVES BROWN, Bart.
N. W. HOYLES, Esq., K.C., LL.D.
THOS. PUMPHREV, Esq.
GEORGE CADBURY. Esq.
P. F. WOOD. Esq.
G F. SUTTON, Esq.
'TH. DUKA. Esq., M.D.
The BISHOP of BRISTOL.
Sir GEO. LIVESEY.
The Hon. JUSTICE FORBES.
Rev. R. F. HORTON, D.D.
GENERAL BOOTH, D.C.L.
E. PERCY HOLLAMS. Esq.
WILLIAMSON LAMPLOUGH, Esq.
The EARL of DARTMOUTH.
The BISHOP of CARLISLE.
The BISHOP of ELY.
LORD STRATHCONA, G.C.M.G.
LORD WIMBORNE.
BISHOP TAYLOR SMITH,
Rev. PRINCIPAL FORSYTH, D.D.
Rev. TIMOTHY RICHARD, Litt.D.
Rev. D. ROWLANDS.
D. E. HOSTE, Esq.
SAMUEL LLOYD, Esq.
E. J. EARP, Esq.
The BISHOP of SOUTHAMPTON.
The BISHOP of EXETER.
The BISHOP of MOMBASA.
•The DEAN of PETERBOROUGH.
Sir GEORGE SMITH.
Rev. J. B. PATON, D.D.
R. GILLESPIE. Esq.
J. RICE LEWIS, Esq.
J. POLLARD, Esq.
D. WELLBY, Esq.
I. P. WERNER, Esq.
EARL GREY.
The BISHOP of DORKING.
Sir ANDREW ERASER. K.C.S.I.
.Sir WM. MACGREGOR. G.C.M G.
Rev. G. CAMPBELL MORGAN, D.D.
j. RENDEL HARRIS, Esq., Litt.D.
C. D. GINSBURG, Esq., LL D.
A. J. CROSFIELD, Esq.
Sir W. P. HARTLEY.
EMIL WALSER. Esq.
Rev. JOHN SHARP.

* Deceased since March 31st, 1908.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

Treasurer :
Robert Barclay, Esq.

Chairman of Committee :
Williamson Lamplough, Esq.

Committee :
Elected May 6th, 1908.
Th& dates indicate -when members first joined tlie Committee.

F. F. Belsey, Esq.
C. A. Bingel, Esq
*F. S. Bishop, Esq.
A. Brauen, Esq. .
W. van O. Bruyn, Esq.
R. D. Cheveley, Esq. .
G. T. Crosfield, Esq. .
A. T. Dence, Esq.
Col. D. F. Douglas-Jones
C. A. Flint, Esq..
Sir William Godsell .
H. Lance Gray, Esq. .
*M. Gutteridge, Esq. .
*Albert A. Head, Esq. .
H. Koenigs, Esq.
*G. B. Leechman, Esq.
Geo. Maddox, Esq.
H. W. Maynard, Esq. * Not

1900 1906190818971906
igo6 19011905
1905 1904
1903 1906
190819081897
19081905

G. J. McCaul, Esq. .
F. D. Outram, Esq.
W. C. Parkinson, Esq.
*W. H. Poate, Esq. .
Leslie S. Robertson, Esq
Maj.-Gen. C. G. Robinson
W. H. Seagram, Esq.
E. J. Sewell, Esq. .
Colonel D. V. Shortland
Colonel E. S. Skinner
Sir Chas. J. Tarring
C. Hay Walker, Esq.
F. P. Weaver, Esq., M.D
*G. H. Wedekind, Esq.
Axel Welin, Esq.
Robert Whyte, Esq.
Sir And. Wingate, k.C.i.e
A. W. Young, Esq.

on the Committee tast year.

19021905
1 90s
19081901
1898190219OI
190019031907
1907'89s
•893 1907
1907
19031891

The Committee meet, as a rule, at the Bible House, 146, Queen Victoria
Street, E.C, on the first and third Mondays in every Month, at Half-past
Eleven o'clock ; and oftener, as business may require.
Secretaries :
The Rev. Arthur Taylor, m.a. The Rev. John H. Ritson, m.a.

Translating f-
&¦ EditoriaU

Editorial Superintendent.
Assistant.

Department \Mr. Crayden Edmunds, m.a.
Literary \The Rev. T. H. Darlow, m.a.. Literary Superintendent.
Department} Mr. A. G. Jayne, b.a., Assistant.
Home /The Rev. H. A. Raynes, m.a.. Home Superintendent.
DepartmentyThe Rev. Harry Scott, Assistant Home Secretary.

Accountant :
Mr. W. P. Wakelin.

Warehouse Manager :
Mr. W. Bulloch.

Collector :
Mr. Geo. B. Poole.

Honorary Solicitors :
Messrs. Hollams, Sons, Coward & Hawksley,
¦JO, Mincing Lane, E.C.
Banliers :
Williams Deacon's Bank, Ltd., 20, Birchin Lane, E.C.

108

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

Foreign Agents and Secretaries.

Paris — Pastor D. Lortsch.
Berlin — Mr. M. A. Morrison.
Rome — Rev. R. O. Walker, m.a.
Madrid — Mr. W. Summers.
St. Petershurgh — Rev.W. Kean,D. D.
Ekaterinburg — Mr. W. Davidson.
Constantinople — Rev. T. R. Hodg-
.son.
Alexandria — (Vacant).
Cape Town — Rev. G. P. van der
Merwe.
Johannesburg — Rev. G. Lowe.
Durban — Rev, J. Baptist Rose.
Ispahan — Mr. Th. Irrsich.
Calcutta — Rev. A. W. Young.
Bombay — Mr. R. A. Adams.

Madras — Rev. W. E. H. Organe,
b.a. , B.D.
Allahabad — Rev. T. S. Wynkoop,
m.a.
Lahore— Ur. W. H. L. Church.
Colombo — Mr. T. Gracie.
Rangoon — Rev. W. Sherratt.
Singapore — Mr. C. E. G. TisdalK
Shanghai — Rev. G. H. Bondfield.
Seoul— M.r. H. Miller.
KobS-Ur. F. Parrott.
Whanganui — Rev. F. H. Spencer.
Rio de Janeiro — Rev. F. Uttley.
Callao—Ur. A. R. Stark.
Jamaica — Rev. G. O. Heath.
Toronto — Rev. W. B. Cooper, m.a.

Home District Secretaries and Assistants.

Rev. James Thomas,
Bible House, London.
Rev. J. Cynddylan Jones, D.D.,
Whitchurch, Cardiff.
Rev. W. Fisher, M.A.,
Bible House, London.
Rev. D. C. Edwards, M.A.,
Llanbedr, R.S. O., Merionethshire.
Rev. W. R. Bowman, B.A.,
Rowley Avenue, Stafford.
Rev. W. G. Jones, b.a.,
122, Barons Court Road, West
Kensington, W.
Rev. J. Alston, B.A.,
Meadowside, Lancaster.
Rev. T. Smetham,
gj, St. Augustine's Avenue,
Croydon.
Rev. Elias George,
Sj, Princess Road, Leicester.
Rev. F. Stenton Eardley,
Broughton, Henleaze Road,
Bristol.

Rev. Walter Wall,
12, Chestnut Road, Moseley,
Birmingham.
Rev. T. A. Wolfendale, M.A.,
4.1, Barrfield Road, Pendleton,
Manchester.
Rev. W. F. Hodge, m.a..
Ridge End Villas, Headingley ,
Leeds.
Rev. A. H. Gaskell, m.a., b.d.,
i<), Staverton Road, Oxford.
Rev. J. Addison Ingle, M.A.,
Walden, Mount Gold Road,
Plymouth.
Rev. John A. Cooper,
Carrick-a-Rede, Central Avenue,
West Bridgford, Notts.
Rev. H. T. H. Wightwick, m.a.,
32, Panion Street, Cambridge.
Rev. A. J. Marrs,
18, Cambridge Street, Newcastle-
on-Tyne.
Rev. J. O. Haughton, b.a.,
Picton Cottage, Waterloo,
Liverpool,

Rev. H. Starmer,
12, Cedar Road, Norwich.

Mr. Robert F. Crosland, j.p.,
Oldfieldnook, Cleckheaton.

109

THE HIGHWAY

SUMMARY.
The British and Foreign Bible Society exists for one single
object — to supply every man with the Holy Scriptures in his
own mother-tongue. It concerns itself solely with circulating
that Book which is the Charter of Christ's Church through
out all the world. And in this aim it unites Christians of
almost every communion.
The Year 1907-1908.
Last year the Society issued over 5,688,000 copies of the
Scriptures — complete or in parts. This total is 272,000
copies above the output in the previous year, though it still
falls 289,000 below the record total announced two years ago.
Compared with 1906-7, Bibles show an increase of 21,000,
while Testaments are 95,000 fewer. The chief increase
appears in smaller Portions of Scriptures — such as Gospels
and Psalters — which circulate mainly in the Mission-field.
The issues from the Bible House in London for the past
year were 1,838,000 copies — an increase of 85,000 on the
previous year. The growth here, however, has been in
foreign versions sent out from London.
Of the Society's issues, a smaller proportion are English
and Welsh Scriptures than was the case ten years ago ; then
it was over 30 per cent., now it is under 20 per cent., of
the total. For this, however, there may be a twofold ex
planation. On the one hand, people to-day who can afford
them prefer more expensive editions, often with notes or
helps, which they procure elsewhere than from the Bible
House. On the other hand, some extremely cheap English
editions have been put on the market by other publishers.
So long as the Scriptures are made accessible and popular,
the Bible Society has no cause for regret.

1 10

IN THE WILDERNESS
The total issues by the Society since its foundation have
been 209,600,000 copies of the Holy Scriptures, complete
or in parts. Of these, more than eighty millions have
been in English.
The Work at Home.
Of last year's issues, 1,105,199 volumes were in English or
Welsh, and circulated mainly in the British Empire. Of the
Society's English Penny Testament, 102,640 were issued,
making a total of 8,834,644 during the last twenty-three years.
The English Scriptures issued last year included 137,134
copies of the Society's 6d. Bible ; 123,857 copies of the lod.
Bible ; and 24,917 copies of the new is. School Bible. The
issues also included 20,238 Bibles and 7,078 Testaments in
the Revised Version.
In England and Wales the Society spent more than ;^9,ooo
last year, mainly in direct grants of Scriptures — free or at
greatly reduced rates — to the Sunday Schools and Home
Missions of nearly every Christian Communion, and to all the
varied agencies of religious and philanthropic activity.
Nearly all the English and Welsh Institutions for befriend
ing the blind receive the Scriptures they use, in either Braille
or Moon type, at prices which are less than half of what
these books cost to produce.
Students at Theological and Missionary Colleges, who need
such assistance, receive as gifts, about ninehundredTestaments
in Hebrew or Greek each year. The Society also presents
out-going missionaries with Bibles or Testaments in the
vernaculars of the fields in which they labour.
A large annual subsidy is given to the London Biblewomen
and Nurses' Mission, which employs over 150 Biblewomen
and Nurses, who read and sell the Scriptures in the poorest
districts of the Metropolis.
Translation and Revision.
The Society's list of versions now includes the names of four
hundred and twelve distinct forms of speech. This means the

1 1 1

THE HIGHWAY
complete Bible in 105 different languages ; the New Testament
in 99 more languages ; and at least one Book of Scripture in
208 other languages.
To print these languages, over fifty different sets of charac
ters are required. Twenty-two new names have been added
to the list during the last three years.
This branch of the Society's work cost ;^4,50o last year.
In embossed type for the blind the Society has helped to
provide Scriptures in thirty different languages.
The Partner of Missions.
The Bible Society co-operates with the missionaries of
almost every Christian communion in preparing the versions
which they need. It prints the editions, bears the loss in
volved in their sale at reduced prices, and pays the carriage
of the books to the mission stations. Where colportage is
undertaken to facilitate distribution, the Society also makes
grants towards the support of colporteurs working under the
missionaries' supervision.
From the Bible Society, the Church of England, with com
paratively insignificant exceptions, obtains almost all the
Scriptures required for its foreign missions.
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts has procured Scriptures from the Bible Society in
seventy languages. The Church Missionary Society uses one
hundred and seven different translations which come from the
Bible House. Equally important help is rendered to the
Universities' Mission to Central Africa, the Melanesian
Mission, and the South American Missionary Society.
Nonconformist Foreign Missions obtain the bulk of all the
Scriptures they use, directly or indirectly, from the Bible
Society. It furnishes the London Missionary Society with the Scrip
tures in fifty-seven different languages, and the Methodist
Missionary Societies of Great Britain and her Colonies with
fifty versions. Presbyterian Missions throughout the world

IN THE WILDERNESS
use about sixty of its versions. It has published the Kongo
version for the Baptist Missionary Society, and also supplies
many of their stations in China and Jamaica. The China
Inland Mission and other undenominational societies prac
tically obtain all the Scriptures they use.
The enterprises and triumphs of Christian Missions are
creating as many new and imperious claims upon this
Society — which has never refused to publish a duly authenti
cated version of the Scriptures in a new tongue. Each new
tribe evangelized, each fresh language reduced to writing
and grammar, each new convert baptized, means a new claim
for help from the resources of the Bible House — help which is
most gladly given, on such terms that it creates no charge
upon the funds of the Mission which is aided thereby.
In Foreign Lands.
The Society maintains depots in about a hundred of the
chief cities of the world.
It employs about 900 native Christian colporteurs who were
continuously at work throughout the year 1907, supervised by
the Society's foreign Agents, or its missionary friends. These
colporteurs sold last year over 2,300,000 copies.
It supports 640 native Christian Biblewomen, mainly in
the East, in connection with forty different missionary
organizations. The Society's grants for Colporteurs and Biblewomen
during 1907 amounted to nearly ;^42,ooo.
Auxiliaries, At the close of 1907 the Society had 5,813 Auxiliaries,
Branches, and Associations in England and Wales. During
1907 as many as 4,742 meetings were held, and 3,224
sermons preached, on behalf of the Society.
Outside the United Kingdom the Society has about 2,430
Auxiliaries and Branches, mainly in the British Colonies.
Many of these carry on Bible distribution vigorously in their
own localities, besides sending generous annual contributions
to the Bible House in London.

"3

THE HIGHWAY
The Centenary Fund.
From the first, the bulk of this Fund was allocated to
definite objects involving capital expenditure, but also reliev
ing the Society's annual charges. In pursuance of this
policy, about ;^ioo,ooo of the Fund will be spent in securing
sites, depots, or other premises for the Society at important
centres, mainly in the East. These centres include Shanghai,
Hankow, Tientsin, Canton, Newchwang, Kob^, Seoul, Singa
pore, Rangoon, Colombo, Madras, Lahore, Simla, Cape
Town, and Johannesburg.
Considerable sums have also been granted for new versions
and editions of the Scriptures, and for extended colportage
in South America and in the Far East.
Expenditure. The general expenditure for the past year has been
;^226,493. This is an increase of ;^4,884 over the total of
the previous year ; but it still falls nearly ;£^i 2,000 below the
expenditure in 1905-6, and nearly ;^27,ooo below that
of 1904-5.
With regard to the items of this increase, we note that, as
compared with the previous year, the cost of foreign depots
has risen by ;^5,466. This, however, is due to the fact that
the whole expenditure on our Auxiliaries in India has now for
the first time been included under this heading in the Home
Report. The amount expended on colportage from the General
Fund — apart from the Centenary Fund — has increased by
only ;^30o. Other items of expenditure show economies
amounting altogether to ;^3,644.
The Committee have spent ;^ioo,i87 in producing versions
and editions of the Scriptures. This item is ;^2,762 more
than in 1906-7, but it still stands ;!^i5,ooo below the
corresponding figure for 1904-5.

114

IN THE WILDERNESS
Receipts.
On the other hand, the general receipts for the year rose to
;^239,55o — a growth of ;^6,642 over the figures for 1906-7.
Analyzing the several items of this total we find that
Donations paid into the Bible House increased by f^ij/^o"].
Collections and Subscriptions paid in at the Bible House also
increased by ;^i,467. It must be said, however, that the last-
named increase is due to the fact that this year's account has
included for the first time the sums raised in India for the
Society, which in former years have been entered to the
accounts of our Indian Auxiliaries and expended locally on
their operations.
To Equalize Legacies.
The legacies received during the year amounted to ;^54,727
— which shows an increase on the previous year of nearly
;^io,ooo, and a total very considerably above the average.
It is inevitable that the Society's receipts from legacies should
vary considerably from year to year ; for instance, in the year
1887-8 legacies rose to ;^6o,852, while in the year 1878-9 they
sank to ^^^'10,304. As such disturbing variations cannot be
foreseen, the Committee have decided to form a " Legacy
Equalization Fund," by means of which they will only use as
income from this source in any year the average annual
amount of the legacies received during the previous seven
years. Acting on this rule, the amount of legacies to be
carried into income for this year is ;^39, 146.
It is satisfactory to report that the Society's total receipts
from sales, which had fallen to ;^88,522, have this year
increased to ;^93,727. The sales from London (including,
however, many books sent to foreign countries) show a
growth of over ;^5,ooo.
Free Contributions.
The Free Contributions from Auxiliaries at home and abroad
have risen tO;^73,iio — an increase of ;^2, 577. More than
;^2,ooo of this growth must be credited to Auxiliaries in
115

THE HIGHWAY
England and Wales. The Auxiliaries abroad have sent
altogether about ;^i 2,000 ; this includes ;^i,27o from Africa,
the splendid sum of ;^i,8oo from New Zealand, a greatly in
creased contribution of ;£3,633 from Australia, and no less
than ;^s,i40 from Canada. The Hibernian Bible Society's
contribution rose to ;^i,ooo.
We note with keen satisfaction that the total Free Contri
butions are ;^5,778 above what they were two years ago.
Indeed, they have only once stood higher — in 1891, when they
were swollen by legacies paid in through Auxiliaries.
Such a result calls for warm gratitude. Nevertheless, when
we consider the growth of national wealth and the growth
also of luxurious habits of living among Christian people, we
dare not say that the Society's income shows any correspond
ing elasticity.

A Balance for New Work.
Payments and receipts, under sundry Special Funds,
raised the Society's Total Expenditure last year to ;^227,457,
and the Total Receipts to ;^240, 106, leaving a net excess on
the year's working of ;^I2,649.
With heartfelt thankfulness to God we record this result —
which, however, could not have been predicted before the
Society's accounts closed on March 31st. The Committee
have already had under review the wonderful opportunities
which exist for extending colportage in all quarters of the
world— particularly in non-Christian lands. The increase in
income will enable them to respond at once to some of the
most imperious of these claims for expansion. The demands
on the Society, however, still far exceed its present resources,
and the Committee repeat their earnest appeal to all lovers of
the Bible for fresh support in speeding God's Book on its
mission among men.

116

IN THE WILDERNESS
The Staff.
The Committee desire to record their deep indebtedness to
the Staff, at home and abroad, for fidelity in the Society's
service and devotion to its cause.
After an extended tour among the Society's Agencies in
China, Korea, and Japan, the Rev. J. H. Ritson travelled
home viA Siberia, and reached London safely in July, 1907.
No appointment has yet been made to the post of Editorial
Superintendent, from which the Rev. John Sharp has just
retired, after twenty-eight years' service at the Bible House.
The Rev. P. G. Graham has resigned his post as Agent for
North and South Malaysia. This vacancy at Singapore has
been filled by the appointment of Mr. C. E. G. Tisdall,
hitherto the Society's Agent for Persia. Mr. Theodore Irrsich,
of the Society's Staff at Alexandria, has been appointed to
replace Mr. Tisdall as Agent at Ispahan.
Mr. T. Gracie, the Secretary of the Ceylon Auxiliary, will
in future devote his whole time to the Society's work.
The Rev. Dr. R. E. Welsh has resigned the Secretaryship
of the Canadian Bible Society, in which office he has been
succeeded by the Rev. W. B. Cooper.
The Rev. F. G. Vesey has been appointed Sub-agent in
Korea ; and Mr. Herbert G. A. Lange has accepted a similar
post in Venezuela.
At the Bible House, Miss Flora Klickmann resigned her
position as Assistant in the Literary Department, to which
post Mr. A. G. Jayne has since been appointed.
After fifteen years' service as District Secretary, the Rev.
W. H. Norman has become vicar of St. Barnabas, Cambridge.
The Rev. W. G. Jones has succeeded Mr. Norman in the
charge of the North Metropolitan (West) District. The
Rev. Alfred J. Marrs has been appointed to follow Mr. Jones
in the charge of the Northern District. The Rev. J. O.
Houghton has been appointed District Secretary for South
West Lancashire, in succession to the Re\'. J. W. Plant.

117

THE HIGHWAY

CONDENSED STATEMENT of RECEIPTS
EXTRACTED from the
For the Year ending

Receipts.
from sales of scriptures.
Sales through Trade Depots, Auxiliary
and other Societies ... ... ... ;^38,322 3 4
Sales in the Society's Foreign Agencies 55,404 15 6

93,726 18 10

free income.
Contributions from Auxiliaries ... ... 73,110 8 3
Annual Subscriptions, Donations, Legacies,
&c. (paid in London)  73,268 15 3

;^240,I06

118

IN THE WILDERNESS

and PAYMENTS of the BIBLE SOCIETY,
ANNUAL REPORT,
March 3 ist, 1908.

Payments.
For translating and revising the Scriptures,
and for paper, printing, and binding ... ;^ioo,332 14 9
For rent, taxes, establishment, &c. , of over
100 Foreign Depots and Warehouses in
the chief cities in the world, grants to
other Depots, salaries of foreign Agents,
Depositaries, &c. ... ... ... ... 45,946 15 1
Towards the maintenance of Colporteurs
and Biblewomen ... ... ... ... 41,650 19 o
For the Bible House staff and expenses of
the House in London, District Secretaries,
travelling expenses, and grants to assist
kindred societies in Bible distribution ... 28,308 18 2
For London Warehouse expenses and staff,
reports, literature, freight and carriage
of Scriptures, &c. ... ... .. •. 11.217 10 3
;^227,456 17 3

119

The Bible in the World
A Monthly Magazine of the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Profusely illustrated, id.
Annual volumes, cloth, 15. 6d. each.
The Bible Society Gleanings
For villagers and young people. Illustrated, monthly, id.
Annual volumes, cloth, gilt sides and edges, is. each.
The Annual Report for 1907-8
Paper cover, to non-subscribers, is.
"The Highway in the Wilderness"
The Society's Popular Illustrated Report for 1907-8.
Fifteen full-page inset illustrations. Boards, is. post free.
The History of the British and Foreign
Bible Society
By William Canton. In Four volumes. Vols. I. and II., 1804-
1854. Illustrated. Published by Mr. Murray, Albemarle
Street, W. Price, 155. net per volume. Vols. III. and IV.
in preparation.
The Story of the Bible Society
A Popular Record. By William Canton. One Vol., 8vo.
Illustrated. Published by Mr. Murray, Albemarle Street, W.
Price, 6s.
Historical Catalogue of the Printed
Editions of Holy Scripture in the Library of the
British and Foreign Bible Society
Compiled by T. H. Darlow M.A. , and H. F. Moule M.A. In
two vols., 8vo., large paper, bound in dark blue buckram, top
edges gilt. Vol. I., English, now ready. Vol. II., Other
Languages, ready next year. Price of the Two Vols, (not sold
separately), 315. 6d. net. Only 500 copies printed, of which
450, numbered and signed, are for sale in England and
America. To be obtained at the Bible House, 146 Oueen
Victoria Street, E.C. ' -'

3 9002

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