Bible Society's Work

Chronicle (Levin), 4 September 1948, Page 4

Bible Society's Work

The annual meeting - of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which takes -place in Levin on Wednesday next, raises the question as to what the Bible Society is.- . One reply is that it is a 'publishing house with this peculiarity, that it publishes only one book. From its foundation until now the society has set itself to publish the Bible — sometimes as one Book, sometimes in .the two Tcsta'rnents in smaller portions. Unlike many other publishing firms, the Bible Society sends out its books 'n almost all the known languages of the world: If it has only one book to publish, it publishes it everywhere and strives to make all mankind its readers. If it were only a publishing house its success would ■ depend upon business ability, imaginative enterprise, sound judgment and the like; but more that these high qualities are necessary in this instance. If the Bible Society is not a missionary society, it strongly resembles one. Its aim is the same, to bring mankind to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. Itfc committee is, as a matter of course, missipnary-hearted, and its servants, both at home and abroad, are animated by the missionary spirit. Its secretaries 'in the field are not merely good business organisers; they are ambassadors of Christ; and its colporteurs are not merely expert salesmen; they are "evangelists. And the story of the Bible Society can only be understood as it is readin the light of its rnissionary purpojse,