A bible Society is a society formed for the distribution of the Bible or portions of it in various languages, either gratuitously or at a low rate. A clergyman of Wales, whom the want of a Welsh Bible led to London, occasioned the establishment of the British and Foreign Bible Society, on March the 7th, 1804.
A great number of similar institutions were soon formed in all parts of Great Britain, and afterwards on the Continent of Europe, in Asia and in America, and connected with the British as a parent or kindred society.
The proceeding's of the British and Foreign Bible Society gave rise to several controversies, one of which related to the neglecting to give the Prayer-book with the Bible. Another controversy related to the circulation of the Apocrypha along with the canonical books.
The Edinburgh Bible Society established in 1809, and up to 1826 connected with the British and Foreig'a Bible Society, seceded on the occasion of the controversy regarding the circulation of the Apocrypha, and up to 1860 existed as a separate society. In 1861 this society was united with the National, the Glasgow, and other Bible societies, into a whole called the National Bible Society of Scotland, having its headquarters in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The Hibernian Bible Society, which has its headquarters in Dublin, was established in 1806, to encourage a wider circulation of the Bible in Ireland. In Germany the principal Bible society was the Prussian, established at Berlin in 1814 and having many auxiliaries. France has two principal Bible Societies, whose headquarters are at Paris, the one instituted in 1818, the other in 1833. Switzerland possesses various Bible societies, chief among which are those of Basel founded in 1804, Bern, Lausanne, and Geneva. In the Netherlands there has existed since 1815 a fraternal union of different sects for the distribution of Bibles. The Swedish Bible Society was instituted in 1808, and the Norwegian Bible Society in 1816. The first Russian Society in St Petersburg printed the Bible in thirty-one languages and dialects spoken in the Russian dominions, and auxiliary societies were formed at Irkutsk, Tobolsk, among the Kirghises, Georgians, and Cossacks of the Don; but they were all suppressed by an imperial ukase in 1826. In 1831 a new Bible Society was instituted at St. Petersburg - namely, the Russian Evangelical Bible Society. In the United States of America the great American Bible Society was formed in 1816. Research Bible Society
In pre-revolution Imperialist Russia, a ukase was an edict of the government, issued either by the tsar or the senate. The ukase, whether legislative or administrative in import, had the binding effect of law until annulled by a later ukase, and the collection of these edicts formerly made up the legal code of Russia. Research Ukase
Alexis Petrovitch was a Russian prince. He was born in 1690 at Moscow and died in 1718. He was the eldest son of Peter the Great and opposed the innovations introduced by his father, who on this account disinherited him by a ukase in 1718, and when he discovered that Alexis was paving the way to succeed to the crown he had his son tried and condemned to death. This affected the latter so much that he died in a few days, leaving a son, afterwards the emperor Peter II. Research Alexis Petrovitch
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Bible Society
