Letters of George Borrow to the British and Foreign Bible SocietyBorrow, George
Religion
Letters of George Borrow to the British and Foreign Bible Society
Borrow, George
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Correspondence; British and Foreign Bible Society; English letters
May I take the liberty of begging you to write a line to my dear and
revered friend Mr. Cunningham, informing him that I am in tolerable
health, and that I hope to write myself speedily. The three letters
which you say have not arrived were, I believe, destroyed by a servant
for the sake of the postage, but I shall send you parts of my journal to
supply the deficiency.
Extracts from the 'Espanol'
'The first founders of the Bible Societies (for by this name they were
known) immediately comprehended their philosophic and civilising mission,
and fulfilled the thought of its inventor. In a short period the circle
of their action expanded itself, and not content with making Great
Britain alone a participator of this salutary institution, they wished to
extend it to all countries, and therefore called to their assistance the
majority of the known languages. To all the quarters of the inhabited
world they sent at their own expense agents to traverse the countries and
discover the best means of disseminating the truths of the Bible, and to
discover manuscripts of the ancient versions. They did more: convinced
of the necessity of placing themselves above the miserable considerations
of sectarian spirit, they determined that the text should not be
accompanied by any species of note or commentary which might provoke the
discord which unhappily reigns among the different fractions of
Christianity, which separates more and more their views instead of
guiding them to the religious end which they propose.
'Thus the doctrine of the Nazarene might be studied with equal success by
the Greek schismatic and the Catholic Spaniard, by the sectary of Calvin
and the disciple of Luther: its seed might bless at one and the same time
the fruitful plains of Asia and the sterile sands of desert Arabia, the
burning soil of India and the icy land of the ferocious Esquimaux.
Antiquity knew no speedier means of conveying its ideas than the
harangues which the orators pronounced from the summit of the tribune,
amidst assemblies of thousands of citizens; but modern intelligence
wished to discover other means infinitely more efficacious, more active,
more rapid, more universal, and has invented the press. Thus it was that
in the preceding ages the warm and animated words of the missionary were
necessarily the only organ which Christianity had at command to proclaim
its principles; but scarcely did this invention come to second the
progress of modern civilisation, than it foresaw the future ally destined
to complete the intelligent and social labour which it had taken upon
itself.'
(After stating what has been accomplished by the B. F. B. Society, and
how many others have sprung up under her auspices in different lands, the
article continues:)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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