_His Majesty's Reply to the Address of S. N. Castle, Esq., on Presenting
a Bible on behalf of the "American Bible Society."_
The volume you present me in behalf of the American Bible
Society, and the letter with which it is accompanied, I
receive with a mingled feeling of pleasure and reverence. When
I remember the moral illumination and the sense of social
propriety which have spread throughout these islands, in
proportion as the Holy Scriptures have been circulated, I
cannot but admire and respect the human agency through which
Providence has effected its benign purpose. But of all the
members of the institution, there is none with whom I could
more gladly find myself in communication than the Secretary,
whose labors have won for him a name among Christian
philanthropists which might excite a world to emulation.
I will not attempt to echo the tone of fervent admiration and
gratitude with which you allude to the happy changes effected
by the dissemination of God's Holy Word. But from the position
I occupy, the facts meet me whichever way I turn my eyes. I
see them every day and every hour. I see principles taking
root among my people that were unknown and unintelligible to
them at that dark period of our religious history to which you
have referred. They have now a standard by which to judge of
themselves and of each other as members of society. Without
that standard no law but the law of autocratic power could
have ruled them. Its absence would have rendered the gift of
free institutions, such as they now enjoy, a worse than
useless act of magnanimity on the part of my predecessors. The
commerce and intercourse with other countries to which we owe
our present prosperity would have been checked by numberless
difficulties. In one word, we see through all our relations
the effect of those aspirations and principles inculcated by
this sacred volume.
I should be wanting to myself did I not express the
gratification I feel at seeing here present some of those who
were the first to labor in the vineyard. Although they look
for their reward elsewhere, they will not reject my passing
tribute of respect. Their labor has been long and their
anxiety great, but their constancy and patience have equaled
the emergency. The result of their life's work may even
disappoint them if they judge it by the anticipation of their
more sanguine years. Yet, in their decline of life, they see
some of the fruits they prayed for, and they will not complain
when they remember that the measure of their success is from
above.
Allow me to thank you for your personal share in the
presentation, and through you to express my kindest
acknowledgments to the American Bible Society.