BIBLE SOCIETY’S WORK.

Shannon News, 23 September 1927, Page 2

BIBLE SOCIETY’S WORK.

(Extract from Loudon Annual Report,

(1926). In these days when the needs of the world are being presented to the Christian people in greater fullness than ever before, ana various .branches of the church are calling for more workers and increased funds, then is a danger that the Bible Society may be thrust into a secondary place, it should be remembered that the Bible Society is not only a missionary society—one of the largest—and is doing pioneer

vv.ork of the greatest importance, it is also an indispensable partner in ail missionary enterprises by whatsoever reformed church that work is under-

taken. The words written by the Bishop of Salisbury in his preface to the volumes of “The World' Call,” should be repeated and emphasised: “It is not 100 much to say that without the British and Foreign Bible Society missionary work would be almost impossible.” But why give to the Bible Society? There |re still people, it seems, who fail to understand why a Society that sells ten millions of books in the year should ask for subscriptions. For their sakes it may be explained that the Bible Society is a missionary society and not a trading concern. It exists primarily to bring the Scriptures within the reach of people who cannot afford to pay remunerative prices for them. At the same time it does not believe in scattering the Scriptures gratuitously. As a rule, folk are more likely to read and treasure a volume if' they pay something for it. The Society therefore charges a small, or even a nominal, sum, and this is fixed, not according to the cost of production, but according to the ability of the people to pay it. From the Mission Field. The Bible Society values particularly the gifts that reach the London Bible House from congregations on the mission fields, accompanied as they usually are with warm expressions of gratitude for the Scriptures provided by the Society. A considerable portion of the contributions come in the form of col-

lections taken in places of worship. Cathedrals figure in the list —St. Paul's (Madras and Tahore), St. John’s (Buenos Aires), Holy Trinity (Shanghai), and many others —a's well as humble mission' churches and chapels. To trace on'the map the names of towns and villages whence these offerings were sent is a lesson in Christian geography. And if there is one class of donation • that more than another touches our hearts it is the gifts from lepers. It is not uncommon for patients to bequest their little all to the Bible Society. A handsome gift came from the inmates of the Lepers’ Homes at Dhamtari, Champa and Naini, in India; the superintendent at one home wrote: “With this gift of the lepers goes their prayer that it may be richly blessed in the spreading of that good news which has meant so much to them. ’ ’