It is extraordinary to think that Scotland once banned the Bible in English, but by the 19th century it was called the Land of the Book because it was famous for its love of the Bible. When William Tyndale asked for permission to translate the Bible from the ancient languages of Greek and Hebrew, the Bishop of London refused because it was against ‘church’ law and everything had to be done in Latin. Tyndale had to go to Germany under the protection of Martin Luther to translate the Bible into English. Copies of the New Testament were smuggled through to the port of Leith near Edinburgh in 1526, but if any were found they were burned and ‘criminals’ possessing a copy could have their properties confiscated by the government and could be put into prison. However, with the Scottish Reformation came a passion for the word of God, and all over the nation families were encouraged to read the Bible.
The Scottish Bible Society today is a founder member of the United Bible Societies, which works with a network of 146 Bible Societies in over 240 countries worldwide, translating and distributing millions of copies of the Scriptures in many languages. Their motto is ‘The Bible for Everyone’ in every language. The history of Bible societies is intriguing and includes two leading Scottish men from Edinburgh, whom we have already met: David Bogue and Robert Haldane. Back in 1792 an Englishman, William Carey, pioneered the Baptist Missionary Society in India. David Bogue, accompanied by two friends, went to the home of John Ryland to hear Carey’s report being read and Bogue was deeply stirred. He wrote an article in the Evangelical Magazine that September, calling for the launching of a London-based missionary organization. The response was encouraging and the London Missionary Society was established in 1794, with David Bogue as the founder. Less than five years later Bogue was busy again, this time co-founding the Religious Tract Society with George Burder and others at St Paul’s Coffee House in 1799, and writing its first gospel tract.
In 1802, David Bogue and two others went on an investigative trip to Paris to check the spiritual situation there. They were horrified to discover that it took four days of constant searching before they found a French Bible. A Roman Catholic printer said he would order 1500 copies if they printed them, and so 5,000 French Bibles and New Testaments were produced. Just after their Paris experience, Revd Thomas Charles from Bala in Wales shared the heart-rending story of Mary Jones walking 26 miles to buy a Welsh Bible, only to be turned away, as there were none. As they discussed printing Welsh Bibles, Mr. Hughes, the secretary of the London Missionary Society, exclaimed: ‘If for Wales, why not also for the Empire and the world!’ On 7 March 1804, the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) was launched in London, and David Bogue was chosen to give the first address at the launch.
Inspired by the BFBS, Christopher Anderson, a Baptist, and James Peddie, a Presbyterian, pioneered the Edinburgh Bible Society (1809) in the Royal Exchange Coffee House (now the City Chambers) on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile; this was followed by the Glasgow Bible Society (1812). In the early years they raised money to support William Carey’s translations, Bible printing and distribution in India, along with producing and dispersing Gaelic Bibles in the Scottish Highlands. However, they hit a controversy in 1824. Robert Haldane had visited the BFBS headquarters and he was horrified to see that they had been printing Bibles with the Apocrypha added since 1821, in order to appease the Roman Catholics so that they could distribute Bibles in Catholic countries. At the same time though, the BFBS had refused to include the metrical Psalms in the back of the Bibles for use in worship. The result was that the Edinburgh-duo, Andrew Thomson and Robert Haldane, led the opposition, calling for the BFBS to stop this compromise. Eventually the Apocrypha was removed, thanks to the alertness of Scottish leaders, but by then the Scottish Bible societies were acting independently, and finally merged together in 1861 to form the National Bible Society of Scotland, now known as the Scottish Bible Society.
‘The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple’ (Psalm 119:130, NKJV)
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