1816, have largely contributed to this result.  Both societies were organized to issue the Bible without note or comment, and both have faithfully labored to promote its circulation.  In spite of all that has been said against the Book and in spite of the fact that so large a number of persons must have been supplied, the circulation has increased from year to year.  In the year ending March, 1896, the American Society alone issued 1,750,000 copies, and the British two and a half million.  During its existence the American Society has sent out over sixty-one million copies and the British Society over one hundred and forty millions.  The work of translation has kept pace with the demand.  At the beginning of the century the Bible had been translated, in whole or in part, into thirty-eight languages.  It is now translated into three hundred and eighty-one, and translators are engaged on nearly a hundred others.  Nor must it be supposed that the supply was in excess of the demand.  There is abundant evidence of the desire of the public to possess the Word of God.  One fact alone is a conspicuous proof of this demand.  In 1892 the proprietor of the Christian Herald of New York offered an Oxford Teacher’s Bible as a premium with his journal.  The offer was accepted with such avidity that edition after edition was exhausted, and it has been renewed every year since with increased demand.  Through this journal alone, by this means, over three hundred and two thousand copies have been put into the hands of the people during the past five years.

With the increase in the circulation of the Word of God there has been a costly and thorough effort to gain new light on its pages.  Never before have labor and money been expended so lavishly in endeavors to learn from exploration and research, historical facts which would contribute to an intelligent understanding of its history and literature.  In 1865 a society called the Palestine Exploration Society was organized for the special purpose of thoroughly examining the Holy Land, investigating and identifying ancient sites and making exact maps of the country.  In twenty-seven years the society, though working with the utmost economy, expended $425,000.  The result of its labors has been to let a flood of light on the ancient places and the ancient customs of its people, explaining many allusions in the sacred history, poetry and prophecy that were previously dark.  The Egypt Exploration Fund has also added materially to our knowledge of that country which is associated with the early history of the Chosen People.  But the most valuable aid to Bible study came from the discovery of the Assyrian Royal Library, a series of clay tablets and cylinders covered with cuneiform inscriptions which were deciphered by Mr. George Smith of the British Museum.  From these and from the records on the monuments of Egypt historical information has been derived of inestimable value in the study of the Bible.