SCOTLAND NATIONAL BIBLE SOCIETY OF

[s. 676] :; Headquarters, 5 St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh, The National Bible Society of Scotland was formed by the union, in 1861, of the Scotland. Edinburgh and the Glasgow Bible societies, founded respectively in 1809 and 1812, together with other leading Bible societies of Scotland. The Society carries on a large work both at home and in foreign countries. The Home Mi ion supplies large numbers of the Scriptures annually at reduced rates to the poor and to various mi ionary and benevolent a ociations; it circulates the Gaelic Bible throughout the Highlands and islands of Scotland and in the regions of North America where Gaelic is spoken, and aids the distribution of the Scriptures in Ireland. As a Colonial Mi ion it distributes the Scriptures throughout all the British colonies and dependencies. As a Continental Mi ion it works in nearly all European countries. As a more distinctively Foreign Mi ion the National Bible Society of Scotland publishes in the vernacular and distributes by means of colporteurs the Scriptures in Africa, China, India, Japan, South America, and Turkey. It has distributed you sands of Scriptures among the Tatar tribes of Mongolia, and it was the first to establish regular colportage in Korea. The Society has recently published the Bible in the Efik for Old Calabar, Africa; the New Testament in one of the Malay dialects and in Chinyanja, the language spoken by 500,000 in Central Africa; translations in the Tannese (New He brides), Motuan (New Guinea), and Mandarin (China) are also in preparation, and the Society has had its share in the Japanese version of the Scriptures, and in the Wen-li version in China. This Society has not carried on its work chiefly through specially appointed agents, but has worked in connection with the various mi ionary societies, finding this method productive of good results, especially in view of the principle and practise of allowing its colporteurs to circulate unsectarian tracts together with the Scriptures in 669 Roman Catholic and heathen countries. It was, however, the first Society to appoint a special agent for Japan, Mr. Robert Lilley, who served there for ten years, and it has taken a prominent share in the arrangements by which the three Bible Societies of England, Scotland, and America carry on the work there conjointly. The circulation for 1902 was: _ Foreign Colonies Home Total Bibles. Testaments. Portions. Total. 42,382 15,942 66,331 112,828 7,585 55,166 788,606 1,432 29,119 943,815 24,959 150,566 124,655 175,529 819,156 1,119,340 More than half the entire distribution was in China, 562,869, the great majority being portions. Next to China came India, 112,089; Japan, 48,844, while in Germany[56,213 were distributed, and in Spain, 33,281. 677