THE “BOOK OF BOOKS”

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 12089, 31 October 1933, Page 7

THE “BOOK OF BOOKS”

jfORK OF BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY. EXPLAINED TO ROTARIANS BY MISS FAWCETT. AN INSTRUCTIVE ADDRESS. There was a fair sprinkling of “Rotary Anns’ - —wives of Rotarians—■ a t a large Rotary' gathering yesterday, the occasion being an address bv Miss Fawcett, organising secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. la introducing Miss .Fawcett, Rotarian Wrey Nolan, the chairman, referred to the fact that the Bible was not only the world’s greatest book, but also the world’s “best seller.” Miss Fawcett proved a very convincing speaker and had a very cordial reception. In her opening remarks, Miss Fawcett expressed .her great pleasure at seaming an opportunity to address Rotarians in Gisborne. It was, she admitted ,an honor which she keenly appreciated. As it so happened. the British and Foreign Bible Society and the Rotary movement had a lot in common. They were both world-wide in their activities and neither gave thought to nationality, colour or creed. Though from different angles, both had for their motto “Service.” It was 130 years ago since the first gathering wag held in London which led to the formation of the society which she represented. There it had been decided on the suggestion of a very deep thinking man that the Bible should be made available throughout the whole world. In this way had begun a work which laid led to 432,000,000 copies of the Scriptures being distributed in as many as 677 languages. To-day, the ramifications of the Society extended to the most out of the way corners of the world and all were in touch with headquarters in London, where there was a committee of 36 members, over whom Sir Alexander Begg was the chairman. ■ It might he the case that some huge commercial concerns might receivebulky mails, but none unications from so many outposts. No book had done so ,i towards educating the masses • no Bible had done. "When the society came into existence a very large percentage of the people, even in Britain, were illiterate and very many c-ould not sign their names. Miss Fawcett went on to show how the work of t]ie society had benefited native peoples educationally as well as spiritually. As a result of the efforts of the missionaries, native peoples were being afforded a written language of their own. Only recently, portion of the Bible had, for instance, been translated into the language of a tribe m Northern Australia. In order to reduce a native

language into writing, missionaries had not only to live amongst a tribe or people, but eat with them and travel with them in order to produce a common ground'of understanding. She enumerated many difficulties in this regard which were encountered by missionaries. In one case in the New Hebrides, for example, a. missionary found that he did not have a active word the equivalent of “jump.' go with the natives gathered around he jumped over a stick. The natives remained silent. He then began to jump from a height. V ith one voice, the natives had uttered a sound, which he converted into a word. Subsequently, when, lie became hotter informed, he had found that the sound which he had translated into “jump” meant “mad” ! Every encourageernnt was given to the missionaries by the society, which, in 10turn for M.S.S.,- agreed to provide for the societies which wore represented copies of; printed translations. The society took no account of the avenue through which translations of the Bible were to be placed in the hands of the heathen. Apart from the missionaries, there were corps of colporteurs in many lands who paved the way for the missionaries. These colporteurs carried with them printed transpations of Scripture which, they sold, even jf for only a trifle in niony or for goods or produce, it being one of the society’s principles that t w copies are more highly prusedit they have to he bought instead of being given free. It was amazing how 4fhe possession of books in the language of a people being.visited assisted the colporteurs. In one case, a co - porteur in Arabia had the Bible translation to'thank that he had escaped with- his life: He had made the'excuse for entering the country that he had a great treasure which fle wished to present to the King. When he was taken before the -King, he had laid before him a handsome copy oi the Bible in his own language, lhe King had. praised his bravery m taking such -a great risk and he. escape with a Royal blessing on his head.

Whilst the society held that some return should be made for its efforts, it also distributed many copies of the Bible free of cost and many others at much below cost. In this Dominion, for instance, it Rad had a, copy of tho Bible placed in the bedrooms of hotels. Amongst the blind, there was need tor copies in Braille type and such copies cost a great deal of money. In conclusion, Miss Fawcett stressed the need for the maintenance and extension of the society’s work, for the real strength of the Bible lay in the fact that it was the only book that spoke to the heart of mankind. Slio had no doubt but that the society could reckon upon the deep interest and sympathy of all Rotarians in its work. (Applause). The speaker was heartily thanked for her address on the motion ot Rotarian Toneycliffc, who remarked that lie had never heard the case for the British and Foreign Bible Society given more lucidly, nor from so many different and instructive angles.