Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/450

 RELIGION 428 <^jJ acquirements are engaged all the world over, sometimes alone, sometimes in companies, upon the one great work of putting the Word of God into the languages of the whole The society provides the missions of almost every reformed Church with the Scriptures for their foreign work. It co-operates with the missionaries in preparing the versions which they need. It prints the editions, bears the cost involved in their sale at reduced prices, and pays the carriage of the books to the furthest mission stations. It has helped to provide Scriptures in over thirty languages in embossed type for the bUnd. It spends ;^9.ooo a year on grants of Scriptures, free or at greatly reduced rates, to Sunday- schools and home missions, and to religious and philan- thropic agencies in England and Wales. It has issued, since its founda- tion in 1804, over 222,000,000 copies of the Scriptures, and has expended alto- gether ;^i5,6i5,ooo. Women are to-day taking their part in this great work — some as translators. In China, Miss Bryer has been translating the New Testament and parts of the Old into the Kienning colloquial. Miss Grover has recently translated the Psalms into Toda, following up the pioneer work of Miss Ling in that direc- tion. Mrs. Church and Miss Reid have been preparing refer- ences for the Urdu Bible, etc. In the work of collecting funds women are invaluable. Many hundreds are now engaged as collectors. Many more are needed. It is interesting in this connection to look back to the year 18 16, when the possibility of women assisting in the work was first mooted. We are told that " there was much head shaking, grave talk of the proprieties, of the refinement of the sex, of the sphere of the ' Christian fair.' " Members of the com- mittee were filled with misgivings and appre- hensions ; but the women carried the day Jatkl (Persian characters) Marathi (Bombay Presidencj) Here are shown a few lines from the Bible printed in four different languages. In each case the quotation is the same— i.e., "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso- ever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (St. John, iii. 16) and vindicated their claim to a share in the work by doing it ! By 1824, of the 2,000 associations 500 were " ladies' associa- tions." In 183 1, for the first time, the " Christian fair " were allowed to be present at the society's annual meeting. Had it not been for the admission of women, one branch of the work could never have been undertaken. The society at the present time supports 600 hihle-women in the East, who read the Gospel to their sisters, who otherwise would have no opportunity of hearing the Good News which was sent into the world for all people. Itis not only in the zenanas that the bible-woman is to be found, but in hospitals, dispensa- ries, and prisons. The thought first arose in the heart of a woman, Mrs. Ran- yard, who from her girlhood had dis- tributed Bibles and collected funds for the Bible Society. The first bible- woman began work in London in 1857, and, with Mrs. Ran; yard's help, held the first mothers' meet- ing. This bible - woman was so warmly welcomed that soon others were added, and the idea was adopted in the provinces and abroad. Besides bible- women, the society also supports a few women colporteurs, who sell Bibles from house to house. Often the posts of auxiliary secretary and treasurer are occupied by women ; while the organisa- tion of meetings, etc., constantly falls to their care. • 1 Ooni -tiyil ^ ^i*i< (Central India) X» im< u iM f? ^. m Wa. ^ m w ± n ^ ]&. p •w /K ih. m m m 4. m ^ FCichau (Fiikien, 4 China) ^ n 1 The financial resources of the society are greatly helped by sales of work, which are in nearly every case arranged and carried through by women. No account of the Bible Society would be complete without some reference to the first woman whose name was connected with it, and to whose influence, perhaps, even the society itself owes its existence. In the year 1800 a little Welsh girl of sixteen, Mary Jones, having saved up her money for six years in order to buy a Bible,