A National Appeal

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Mar 17, 1904

A National Appeal

THE following appeal has been issued from Washington in behalf of the American Bible Society, signed by eminent public men from all sections of the country:—

The American Bible Society for nearly eighty-eight years has pursued its single aim of circulating the Bible without note or comment in this and all lands. For this purpose it has been concerned in securing translations of the Scriptures in nearly one hundred languages. It sustains a close relation to the Christian churches of the United States as the ally and helper of their mission work at home and abroad, and as such deserves and receives their support. But, in addition, the effect of its labor has been very marked upon our whole civilization. To have circulated, as it has done, seventy-two million Bibles, Testaments or portions thereof, is to have powerfully contributed to the moral health of the world. The social fabric of modern states has no surer foundation than the Bible, especially in a republic like ours, which rests upon the moral character and educated judgment of the individual.

No thoughtful man can doubt that to decrease the circulation and use of the Bible among the people would seriously menace the highest interest of civilized humanity. . . . We owe a debt to the Bible which can be partly paid now by carrying forward this great undertaking with increased vigor.

Theodore Roosevelt, John T. Morgan, Grover Cleveland, William P. Frye, Melville W. Fuller, H. C. Lodge, John M. Harlan, George F. Hoar, David J. Brewer, Thomas R. Bard, L. M. Shaw, F. M. Cockrell, James Wilson, R. A. Alger, Geo. B. Cortelyou, John Dalzell, John Hay, Sereno E. Payne, John W. Foster, John S. Williams, W. J. Bryan.