SPREADING THE WORD

Waipawa Mail, Volume LXVI, Issue 142, 24 August 1938, Page 2

SPREADING THE WORD

BRITISH AND FOREIGN B'Bl SOCIETY REVIEW OF ITS OPERATIfI The Rev. S. Keen presided tl annual meeting of the Waj. branch of the British and p t , Bible Society, which was held Monday evening in the home of! J. W. Bibby. After a devotional peril. 4 Mi. Bibby, the secretary', read tU port of the work of the Waj, branch, and announced that | pawa’s gift last year was fit; jq A very sincere vote of tl inks accorded the collectors for i 1,,.;, able work and co-opcrati. ■ all who contributed. HI . m Hartnell, organising ..e, , an . the province, also paid w ~ ~ to the service given by tli, ,olju and thanked Miss Bibby ,r | lf , cient leadership as secret. The following officers \ , r.. . ed:—President, Rev. F. \\\ [j, son; vice-presidents, Rev s and W. S. C. Stephens S |. rt( Miss A. Bibby; collectors. Mcsj Dalton, Fold, Barker, Walker, gj Miss A. Bibby, Misses I" ail j Bibby and Mrs E. Bibby. This year marks the fourth o ( ary of the open Bible in Fnglish the first centenary of the nrintii the New Testament in V mri thank-offering New Zeahu. l | lo , send an extra £IOOO for the i work of the Bible Society Thii make New Zealand’s . ,ntrii £IO,OOO. To do this it vi'l bei sary for every friend to c ask give slightly more than ' ,st vi to introduce a new sub riber. WORK OF SOCIETY. The purpose and work .if t|) tish and Foreign Bible Sicietr outlined by Miss Hartn. who “Being firmly convince that Holy Scriptures are nr, five t( heart of man, whatever may ] condition, his language hi-1 try, the Bible Society . 1 the task of supplying hi need I a small beginning, on! 13; I

ago, this great missions!. enti has grown in strength, until to. 'is the chief means of tl: dislrj of the Word of God tL,oughoi world.

“Last year 11,343.948 volj Scripture were distributed, jj penditure on the world-wide 1 was £371,604, and only about J of this amount came bank as 1 suit of sales. In New ZealJ not only share in the respond

of the society, hut we share in j vice. Last year saw .31,053 j distributed through Wellington House, in no less than 2/i langJ “This year marks the oat dredth anniversary of the first J the Bible Society from Sew a It was received in offerings ol and potatoes (which realised J considerable sum) from the S in gratitude for the New Tts» in Maori, translated by BishJ liams. The Bible Society had! bated largely to the cost of the] ing of the books. To-day the! and Foreign Bible Society is 1 means for the supplv of the I Bible.

“To-day the Scriptures are I printed in over 1000 tongues, a there are still hundreds of laoi and dialects into which no pan Bible has yet been translate print and publish the Bible is languages is a great achieve™ it is an achievement that would to naught if the books were a culated. To make a book J thing; to put it into the bandd reader is another, and this led a consideration of the vast a of distribution. How does thel Society manage to circulate I 11,000,000 volumes of Hoi; I every year!

“In the first place, praetial missionary societies look toil* Society for the Scriptures tM in their work of evangelisatiw missionaries often repeat th« can acknowledge, but neve: j their debt to the Bible Society! “In the service of the Bilal ciety there are over 1000 coM men and women who are W their lives to taking tbe Bii people who do not know its M It is work which rc ires coun(| endurance, sometimes demanibfl life itself. “At the annua’ meeting •! Bible Society held - "ently J don, the Archbishop of Coj presided, and the concluding’l his stirring addre •. wen: 1 while, in this confu-ion andM ness, how much w must Ml much the world nu..-t long. I*l sure word from th, Eternal J rally and inspire : d guide “1 way of peace, and here in beyond ail question is a si*l from the Eternal God. R*'! honor to this lociefy and 10 1 members, and it ought to *1 honor to all Chrislinn people'j forth that Word, the Word Ji Lord, which, in the midst ® *■ fusion, endures for ever: ■ which proclaims the assurs**! of His judgments and of 1 lasting mercy.’ ” At the conclusion of the y* dainty supper wa served . I Bibby. The very sincere p* aR the branch was extended Miss Bibby for their hospital the help afforded the hran f ■ I