Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/421

PEmiTNa, TBANSLATION, AIND PUBLISHIN'G. 391 Bible Society ; and the Missionaries greatly desired that the Old Testa- ment should be brought out under the same auspices. To meet the pressing demand then made, they printed five thousand copies of Genesis, Exodus, and Psalms, while they waited the result of an appli- cation to the Bible Society through the General Missionary Secretaries. This result was thus stated in the Wesleyan Missionary Notices ioT l^bo, p. 35, followed by a copy of a letter from Mr. Calvert, who was just leaving Fiji, and who consented to return to England to see the Old Testament through the press : " The British and Foreign Bible Society has added to its many acts of liberality to our Missions, by a resolution to print, when Mr. Calvert shall arrive in England, Bibles and Testa- ments for the Fijians. The value of this great boon is increased by the kind and cheerful manner in which it was granted. Immediately on receiving a copy of Mr. Calvert's letter, given below, the noble-minded Committee came to the resolution we have stated, for which they deserve the lively gratitude of every friend of Fiji in this country, of every Missionary, and, above all, of the poor natives of that dismal, but now hopeful, land." In June, 1856, Mr. Calvert arrived in England, after an absence of eighteen years, bringing with him Mr. Hazlewood's manuscript translation of " the Old Testament. Towards the expenses incurred in the preparation of this great work, the Committee of the Bible Society nobly voted £500, and £400 for the support of Mr. Cal- vert for two years, while engaged in assisting to revise and correct, under the superintendence of the Rev. T. W. Meller, at Woodbridge. At Mr. Calvert's suggestion, the Committee changed the type usually employed to a larger size, thereby greatly increasing the value of the work to the Natives, but, at the same time, adding £600 to the outlay. Five thousand copies of the entire Scriptures are to be printed, and ten thousand copies extra of the New Testament in 12mo., from which stereotyped plates are cast for future editions. The work is now advancing favourably, having the great advantage of Mr. Meller's care ; and if he and his Missionary colleague are spared to carry it through as they have begun, Fiji, lately " in a state of almost incomprehensible barbarism," will rejoice in the possession of a most excellent version of the Bible ; and the Missionaries, in their arduous enterprise, will be relieved and helped beyond measure, by so great a work so well done. Upwards of £50 have been already received from Fiji in return, and other sums will be sent home in partial payment for the present edition. The good Providence of God has watchfully guarded, and greatly prospered the Fijian printing establishment. Fit men have been raised