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BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE
SOCIETY.
The 32nd annual meeting of the South Aus-<*>
tralian Auxiliary to the Bible Society was held
in the Wesleyan Church, Pirie-street, on Thurs-<*>
day evening, November 15. The Hon. A. Hay
occupied the chair. The attendance was bat
small. An apology for unavoidable absence was
received from Bis Excellency Sir W. F. D.
Jcrvois, who, however, consented to act as
l'&tron to tlie Society. After an address from
the Chairman, the following report was road by
the Uev. H. T. Bargees:— "* ta reviewing the
past year the Committee have cause to feel en
couraged by the interest which has been maui
frafad to the work they hace taken in band. A
largelyriucetasf 4 circulation of the Poly Scrip
tures i£ this cfclonr is not m? to Wjpukrdf ot,
as the copies aireaMy Wned bad to' Urge* a pro
portion to the unmbtyntibi inhabitant*. While,
iiojrei*r. our owgi local iequirements are being
in great measure supplied, it is important to
remoinbentkat *V?« ?f toe parent Society are
uotdiminMHbd inAeir urgency. As $ie Geld of.
its operation* widensfroaa year to yaaFatieefcrain
upon the resources of the Bible Society becomes
greater. How energetically it tab striven to
inept tlia claims niton it is shown by the number
of copies and portions of tbs Scripture it ha*
put into circulation, having reached the number
of 79.103,405. By the liberality of the aob
-1 scritn?rs to the South Australian Auxiliary, the
Oommittee srpsjb to tie enablsd *ojDe«it«a tlio
Itwent instituflon a donation of the
i issues from tl>e depot in this city for the past
year have been-as follow :~^V> Dtaachea. 1,416
Bibles, 763 {DoatamenU; aalea «t Aepamtaaf.
| 2,219 BibW, MTO T«l*ofeat?; pmaantdl&b
hotcK fee., 000 Testamenla ; do. to Hospital.
IS Bibles, lSthstaaMnta; total, 3.662 BiMes;
total, 2,665 T^gtamenta. Qrand to^al, 6^17.
trtftt ycajr, «,3OT; inoVeaae, SIC. . Sotae yean
ago-tlie liottls in and South Adelaide
were supplied' with'Bibles, as far as they were
willing to receive them and this yew the Com
mittee Wt +hat a poitfott of the liberal dona
tion made tjy JAiss Da pasta might ba wisely
prpr ided. A canvass of the «ity wag made, and
out, of the 123 hotels which Vere visited 74
were willing and desirous to receive the offered
Hcriptiues. Sis hundred Testaments were thus
distributed, iyio in only a few instances were the
previous supply of Bibles to foe found. In con
scqiKnce oHiie death of tjie Ker. B. Baekhonae,
the parent Society's agent for these colonies,
the Committee deemed it to be very desirable,
if not absolutely necessary, to obtain the aer-
vicea of ion* Minister 4evofe «uuorj
eight wisksMtte visitilfoD of tie bftwhw
auil take put in the annaal meeting. The Com-1
uittee applied to the Rev. B. S. Bird, of Hobart
Town, to undertake this duty, and he at once
I kindly acceded to their.re^U?A. He bas-beea
most a&sidnou^ in bib laborr in depntktibn'worM
«ver since he arrive 1 a>t the end of September,
! and there is every reason *j believe that, owing
Itn the systematic visitation of the branches,
| much good will be dome. At Jamestown,
j Crjrutal Brook, and Gladstone, branch Societies
I liaye bfteo "f<*uif4 whero only -^atw euotad
' prcviouslv. 'During die Coming year the ConP
j aiittee hone to hpvw .branches farmed in other
' risiug tanrushl^s in the' Area*. Tha good work
j contiuues to grow qiuetly though sorely. Bren
<if +ho iasucH in tiie 'future should somewhat
! decreasfi, it must not be regarded as 'evidence of
' decreasing interest in the Scriptures, but K<«o<n?"
: thfl colony is already so well avpnlud. Ufa
' total population of the colony at the last census
returns was 213,071. The adult population is
' less than 100.000. and yet L74JDI9 copies of the
Scriptures bavejhn? issued-* proportion wtiicfa
;is probably unparalleled in any other partof the
world. Though in no way identified with this
Society, tbeConunip^e batv (omp«rt the two
Bible^woin?nlH^anrlncthe^at year sold 91
copies. At fhe present time then h only one
Bible-woman, employed inttuutfa AikrUide; the
services of the <Hie in Nurtli AiMai.d h?vf Sh-.i,
di«pemed with."
i The 'finance report ww r-md l.y Mr. O.
P«IIXtFB.
The Key. B.S. Biait raorod the adaptioa of
the report and tlfe of «hn Patron.
J'reci.trstaM.l Vit?-IVewd«ot«.mwl OMMrittee
{ for the easuine y«u-. atu] a vote of thaaks to
t tbe ol?ccn and Ooowiittae for the pwrt year.
, Alluding to the nengre atten4macr. lie taid be
1 liad not in all his journeys thnmeh tltr
olonies ecpert(<ncetl so great a m.«« of dnup-
IMNntinent as he 4M tiimt erraiug He was
aitooinhmt, cotmidering the pofralatioo of A«ie
laide. that thn« were so few prcatmt, aa4 he
felt quite depcvaccl, mm\ wtmU have to U«h hb
spirit up to tite work tyof<jre lie <-<mM *peak a«
he onehtto to thorn wfaa were preaent. He fait it
ft high honor kt any tine and before anj a«4i
enoe. latge or ■mil, to he peratiUed ta «wak
oa behalf of the Word of OndT They h«4 eneat
mm to lie thaiAfnl Cor ti? meat work which
had been aecompHahed by the Bible Society.
When they Hi mght of the rut number «f
Bibles which had been issuedby the Society—
over 79 millions of copies of the Scripture had
iie«a circulated in 219 language* — they had :
great owe to rejoice. Besides that, other j
Societies and establishment* bad circulated «0 .
milliottsof copies, mo that altogether 110 aullioas
of Bible* bed been circulated durmc the
present century, and at the beginning
of the century ther* ware only about f«w
millions of copies in emulation, or one ta
*?«f 9WI penon*. whmeaa now then waa
one copy to every 10 persons, though the popnla
tiau of the world had hugely iocresaed. tt being
computed <|nt there were now I^oo millioas,
whereaa 70 year, ago then; were only 8W mil
lions. The spiritual reokits were Mtt satis
factory, and he would express the hope dial the
time was not far distant when thelmowledgv of
the Lord «faotdd indeed carer the whole earth.
In answer to «J1 the msral and intellectual
difficulties that were raised against the book it
might be said, in the word, of an eminent
American minister, the world had been eating
thu baok, m it ware, for MOD veara, a*d m
moral or intellectual disease had reWted, bat
nbandantspiritMl mubmamoe had beea derived
from it. The Bibhi *m aortsu and comfort
and cfaear nndernU thn triaht of life, aad enable
the Chriatma to >Und enr joyf al nador the
war* diaaatnra that can befaU him. for be knows
tliat nil thing, work together br «00.l to thorn
that love God. Harinff felt the Utmiat #f
thin hook for themselves, they ahosdd be
nnrious to aend it t* othem, who nt
praieotkoowitMf. The BiMe would mtim
them in tbe hoar of death, na.l therefom
they should help to circulate it far and
wide that it night teach others how to
die, and alungthuutham in their canfltct with
theUatenomy. Here waa gnat need that the
world should receive in larger aneaanra Mian it
had ever yet done the taohbft; of the Word of
God. Some pnraooa aaemod to think whan
they heard of ti? raSllioM of iBMn that were
circaiafed Irom to ymv «hmt the grmt
work waa nearly accomplished, bat men waa
not the case; though in one point of view there
waa one BiMe to eitry tenfenMtta hi tfce world.
If they were evenly distributed; then were «tUI
about mam tontba of the world without the
Word tf 6*l. tet the Bible «v «*. to
nearly every country in the world. Never
thekws the work waa an it were only joot,
bASinning. There were now. owing to the rapid
increase of the population, more people in the
world than ever there were before who had not
aeen or heard of the Bible. There ware com
putMMWM?? millions in this state aT i«no
raao?. Bl wa> rejoiced while travelling throagb
the colony to notice the liberal eoatritatioas
given tovard. the relief of the rafferers by the
Indian famifa, and, he wished the came internet
could be eidtedonibahalf of thoas who watc
«|Nrit&all/in?stil!waraeeoadition. Hehoped
tier would*. «Nat Aint> faring the «n«Mng
year, and atat s oa Mil twet oacaaioa whan «be
aimualmaetl?r^rarn«ld>therewouMbeamare
enoonragingatteodance.
The Kov. L. G. Cabtsk seconded the motion,
which waa carried, and a collection was made.
The rev. gentleman then gar* a brief ac?aoat of
the work of the BiMe Society in France. Bicry
two colpottonm wen employed then, aad
there were «t sab-depots. The snmsber
of capita of the Bibu ekeabvted daring
the past year in Fnnee waa Ufitt, aad Wf
Testementa 50.78J, «sd of portions of the BiWe
30,921; making a grand total of tW,400 copie*
This waa 3,677 more than in the year 1875, aad
13J65* more than in 1873. The people were
hum under the power of the priests aad mare
disposed to think for tfaenumvas. la one of
the provincial towns of France the Mayor
voluntarily acted as one of the B«riatr*a col
portours aad wishel to give himself up to tba
work, but ha wa« advkajd before doing aa to try
whether the townspeople wanU reject him.
knowing his inclination in favor of the Bible
Society. To the surprise of many he was almost
onanimausty re-ekctei. Other fimnimfitw
wens mentioned shoaing the avowing favor
with which the Protestant religion waa regarded
in France. Mb. Carter nrjed bis bearers to
aid in circulating (he word of Ood and to offer
their prayers far its aneetM.
The Rev. James HarD?&aoM j?ve a ahort
review of the prognai of the work of the
Bible Society in Aastria. He spoke of the
difficulties that threatened operations in the
eastern portion of Aortria aad m Serrm am the
outbreak of the war; but the Society's scent,
the Rev. Mr. Hillard.wu a man of Urn mist
indomitable energy, and a large aumber of
copies of the BiMe bad been distributed. No
less than 144£76 copies in all dialects had
bean circulated, being 27/M0 man th**; a she
nreviona year. The price to the soldiers was
reduced 60percent^and ofieers of tank bad
thanked the Society's agent, far the mfarm
they had made to chealate Bibles and tasta
me?tsfitthearmv.
After the nsual'vote of thanks a ranriadiag
hymn was snug, and the meeting was closed in
|he usual manner.
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