Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/225

Rh occasionally to pay ransom prices for food, and even at these prices it sometimes could not be obtained. In the dearth of 1782, 1791–93, and in 1799, Mr. Dale imported, at his own risk, large quantities of food from Ireland, America, and the continent of Europe. To effect this, he chartered ships for the special purpose. The food thus brought in he retailed to the poor at prime cost, thereby in great measure averting the threatened famine, and preventing a still greater advance in prices.

In addition to the benefits, spiritual and temporal, conferred on his countrymen at home, he engaged with the same ardour in most of the schemes then in operation for extending a knowledge of the gospel of peace in foreign countries, especially those which had for their object the translation and circulation of the Word of God. The proposal to translate the Scriptures into the various languages of our eastern empire, as projected and accomplished by the Baptist Missionary Society, had his hearty support from the outset. Mr. Andrew Fuller, of Kettering, who travelled for the purpose of collecting funds for this object, was kindly received by Mr. Dale, and from him received large contributions for the cause. In Mr. Fuller's sermon on covetousness, preached sometime after Mr. Dale's death, and printed in the fourth volume of his works, when enjoining on his hearers who have, to give of their abundance, and to do so liberally, he says, "The poor people of Glasgow used to say of a late great and good man of that city—'David Dale gives his money by sho'elsful, but God Almighty sho'els it back again. This is nothing more than was predicted by Solomon when he said, "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to penury." The printing and circulating of the Word of God without note or comment, proposed as the fundamental law of the British and Foreign Bible Society at its formation in 1804, also met with his cordial approbation; indeed, so much was he pleased with the objects of this noble institution, as to use his influence in the formation of an auxiliary to the parent institution, which was accomplished in July, 1805, being the first auxiliary to the Bible Society. The society then formed continued in operation till 1812, when it merged into the Glasgow Auxiliary, which still exists. On this subject we find, in the first report of that society, the following testimony, page 19:—"Immediately upon the arrival of the tidings that a society had been formed in London, of which the exclusive object was the circulation throughout the whole world of the pure Word of God without note or comment, the late David Dale, Esq., delighted with the grandeur and simplicity of the idea, entered into it, as all who knew him might have expected, with his whole heart. He immediately remitted a subscription worthy of his usual benevolence; he spoke of the institution to others, who instantly caught the same ardour, and expressed it in the same way; and thus, under his auspices, a society was at length formed (a meeting of the friends of the British and Foreign Bible Society having been called for this purpose by public advertisement), which appointed a treasurer, a secretary, and a committee of management, kept regular books, and continued to hold its stated and occasional meetings for several years. In this way Mr. Dale naturally came to be recognized, by the British and Foreign Bible Society, as their treasurer and general agent for Glasgow and the west of Scotland, in which capacity he continued to act till his lamented death."

After the sale of the Lanark mills, till his death six years thereafter, Mr. Dale in great measure retired from business pursuits. During this time he gave an