The people of the Philippines, their religious progress and preparation for spiritual leadership in the Far East,

166 THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES

The prayers of this saintly pioneer had been answered at last.T
"The Bible has been vilified and talked against so long that
its possession is indeed a boon to those who secure it," writes
Rev. J. L. McLaughlin. "More than once have we seen old,
gray-haired men and women hug the precious volume to their
breasts, and, as the tears of joy course down their cheeks,
they tell how for years and years they have longed to have
a copy of the Bible, but the authorities would not permit it."
TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE
In this day of marvelous intellectual progress it is difficult
to imagine how few Filipinos read either Spanish or English
twenty years ago. The Superintendent of Education in I904
stated "that ninety-five per cent of the population of the
Philippines cannot read the Spanish language." The first
task of the Bible Societies therefore was to translate the Bible
into the dialects. The translations made by Father Lallave
into Pangasinan in the eighties were practically the only ones
in existence before I898.
Sr. Don Pascual Poblete and Sr. Don Cayetano Lukban,
well-known citizens of the Philippines, were imprisoned in the
penal fortresses of Montjuich and Ceuta in I896. They were
set free in I898 and summoned to Madrid as clerks. Here
they became acquainted with Mr. R. O. Walker of the British
and Foreign Bible Society, who employed them to translate
Matthew, Mark, Luke and Acts into Tagalog; and to translate
Luke into Bicol. They worked with such speed that a consignment of their books reached Singapore just in time for
Mr. Randall to take them with him on the triumphal trip to
Manila, described a few pages back.
It was at once evident that these translations would all
have to be done over more deliberately and more accurately.
The second Bible Society agent, Rev. H. S. Miller, undertook
this tremendous task under a great handicap. He understood
neither Spanish nor Tagalog, while Mr. Calderon Quijano,
who worked with him, knew no English. It took them two
years to complete the Tagalog "Bagong Tipan"-by which
T Dr. James A. Graham, Presbyterian Report 1919, p. 20o.