Article March 19, 1955 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from Gilbert Darlington, Robert T. Taylor

Gilbert Darlington, Treasurer, and
Rev. Robert T. Taylor, D.D., Secretary
American Bible Society, in talks
on the occasion of the visit of the
Queen Mother of England to the
Bible House, in the Bible Society Record
New York, New York

Mr. Darlington said: "The American Bible Society and the forty-one million friends who support it owe a great debt of gratitude to the Crown and people of England for the King James Version of the Bible. Authorized, published, and appointed to be read in churches in the language of the people in 1611 by King James I of England and VI of Scotland, this magnificent translation of the Bible has been the most published, the most sought-after, and the most carefully read book in the history of the world. Of the four hundred and sixty million Bibles, Testaments, and portions published by the American Bible Society since 1816, two hundred and seventy-five million have been in the King James Version. Of the fifteen million and one hundred and forty-nine thousand volumes of the Scriptures issued by the Society in 1953, over eight million were in the King James Version.

"Not only the American Bible Society but every American citizen owes a great debt to the Crown and people of England for the King James Version of the Bible. No book has had a greater influence on our history or on our ideals. This Bible that I hold in my hand is the first English Bible published in this country by Robert Aitken in 1782. Of course, it is in the King James Version. It bears on the leaf after the title page the resolution of the Congress of the United States 'recommending this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States,' and Congress authorized that this resolution be so included. It is the only religious book that has been so recommended and approved by Congress. Quotations from it are found on our Liberty Bell, on our public buildings, in the speeches of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and many other great leaders throughout our history and in our literature. Its influence is present in our homes... and in our hearts and lives. Last year one commercial firm in the United States published and distributed one million, seven hundred thousand copies of the Bible in the King James Version. These volumes were in addition to those published by the American Bible Society and other Bible publishers.

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