BIBLE SOCIETY, any society con stituted for multiplying copies of the Bible, and, as far as the financial re sources at its disposal will permit, dif fusing them abroad. Of these societies the following may be enumerated: 1. American Bible Society: The American Bible Society was founded in 1816. Sixty delegates, from 12 States of the Union, met in New York City and organized the society. All its publica tion are issued at cost; below cost, and free. Bibles in 84 languages have been scattered over the United States. In 1918 the Society issued 6,040,000 bibles.
2. In the United Kingdom these soci ties for circulating the scriptures were established: The Society for the Propa gation of the Gospel in New England, incorporated in 1649, and again in 1661; the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, established in 1698; the So ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel, established in 1701; the Society in Scot land for Propagating Christian Knowl edge, incorporated in 1709; the Society at Halle, founded in 1712; the Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge Among the Poor, established in 1750; and, finally, the Society for the Support and Encouragement of Sunday-Schools, established in 1785. Two societies made it their primary aim, viz.: The Bible Society for Soldiers and Sailors, estab lished in 1780, and the French Bible So ciety, commenced in London in 1792, its object being the circulating of the Scrip tures in France. With all that was done by these organizations, however, Bibles were both costly and difficult to obtain.
It was to cheapen the cost and in crease the production that a great bible society came into existence in 1803, un der the name of "The Society for Pro moting a More Extensive Circulation of the Scriptures Both at Home and Abroad." In March, 1804, it was more
formally constituted at a meeting held in the London Tavern, Bishopsgate, its too lengthened designation being con densed to the British and Foreign Bible Society. Its rise to power was rapid. On March 28, 1809, an auxiliary Bible society was established at Reading, and many similar auxiliaries or branches soon followed in other places.
3. The German Bible Society, formed at Nuremberg in 1804, and afterward transferred to Basel.
4. The Prussian Bible Society, so named in 1814, developed out of the Berlin Society, formed in 1804 or 1805.
5. The Hibernian Bible Society, formed in 1806.
6. The Philadelphia Bible Society, the first in the United States, founded in 1808.
7. The City of London Bible Society, founded in 1812.
8. The Russian Bible Society, estab lished under the auspices of the Em peror Alexander in 1813, but suppressed in 1826 by his successor, Nicholas, the antagonist of the allies in the noted Crimean War.
9. The American Bible Society, founded in 1816. It has now many auxiliaries in connection with it.
10. The Trinitarian Bible Society, founded in 1831.
11. The National Bible Society of Scotland, founded in 1860, with which the Edinburgh Bible Society (1809) and the Glasgow organization (1812) are now incorporated.
Bible societies, though wide in their constitution, are practically Protestant institutions; and, on June 29, 1816, a bull denouncing them was launched by Pope Pius VII.