Bulletin, August 1926

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HE KINGDOM Oh HEAVEN IS Al M

August 1, 1926.

Glorifying God on the Earth

IN OUR Lord’s last prayer with his disciples, recorded iu the seventeenth ' chapter of St. John’s Gos-

pel, we have a great inspiration to service in those words of communion with his heavenly Father: “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”— John 17: 4.

Jesus’ method of glorifying the heavenly Father was not by persuading the people to build costly churches, beyond their financial ability to erect, churches which afterwards would fall into ruins, making one wonder why they were ever erected. • .

Jesus did not go about among the people wearing priestly garb, parading himself in costly vestments or in the meaner costume of a monk. For him there was neither alb, almuce, am ictus, bands, biretta, cassock, chasuble, chimera, cincture, colobium, cope, cotta, cowl, dalmatica, girdle, gown, hood, maniple, mitre, pallium, rochet, scapular, scarf, stole, surplice, tiara, tipper

nor tunic. He wore no ring nor pectoral cross, and carried no crozier. He never had on a skirt, and never wore a

collar backwards.

Jesus did not call conferences, councils, synods, congresses or other collections of the scribes, Pharisees or hypocrites of his time. He did not try to make a great man of himself among them either by actual or by claimed authority. He wrote no creed. He started no crusades, provoked no wars, tried to exercise no political influence, curried no favors with the wealthy, inaugurated no shrines, started no religious processions, used no holy candles, blessed no holy water nor holy burying ground, nor did any one of a hundred or a. thousand other things that are done in the name of religion today. But he did glorify the Father.

The way by which Jesus glorified the Father was by doing the Father’s will. The apostle says, “It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them which believe.” And so Jesus

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ser cd the Father by prclaiming the Father’s plan, the kingdom, the means by which all the nations, kindreds and fanflies of the earth shall be blessed.

Je us’ way of glorifying the Father was not merely by the living of a life that was holy, harmless and undefiled and separate from sinners. It was not merely by believing in the Father. It was by doing what God wanted done, and doing that until it was finished.

Today our work is the same work that Jesus was engaged in. He was proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom. So are we. He preached orally. Jie could not distribute literature. The printing press was not yet invented. But he used the means at his hand, and used them effectively and until the work the Father had mapped out for him was finished.

We preach some orally, too. But now we have a new and attractive and efficient way of placing the gospel before people that Jesus did not have. It is our conviction, however, that this very-same Jesus is back of these later methods, that he wants the Truth plat? d before the people, and that he will ' .id and use those who will finish his v ork of witnessing in the earth.

Golden Opportunities

The month of August holds a week that will, we trust, see one of the widest spreadings of the message of truth that has ever been accomplished— I. B. S. A. Week, August 22 to 29. As features for announcing the message there have been prepared a quantity of the Testimony sufficient to supply every home in each class territory.

The Deliverance book will be released for circulation to the public; and the book, together with the series of six lectures to be mailed to the * people every other week, will be offered at 38c.

Public talks will be given on the world-wide witness day, August 29, the topic being “Deliverance Near”; and in addition, the canvassing will offer the sets of Studies in the Scriptures in the new binding.

Testimony-Deliverance Campaign

The Testimony was passed unanimously by the Bible Students in convention at London, has been printed, and will allow a simultaneous distribution in the United States, Canada, England and South Africa. The method of campaign has been outlined in the letter of instructions to directors. , Briefly, it is that the workers carry a quantity of the Testimony papers with them as they canvass, and leave; one in each home AFTER they have canvassed the householder. If the Testimony paper were given first, it would divert the attention from what you would have to say, and might be considered as enough reading matter for the time being.,

The Society has purchased and erected a new press, capable of producing 22 complete Deliverance books per minute. This press enables us to retail the book at 38c, together with the series of six Lecture folders. There will be only one price on the Deliverance book, and at no time will it be sold without the Lecture Series.

The Lecture Series is to serve a mission in itself. Often people purchase books and lay them aside until

they get time to read them. It probably has been every worker’s experience to find people excusing themselves from further purchases because they have not read the literature they have already bought. The Lecture Series is aimed to overcome this. The Lectures are extracts from -the Deliverance book, and at the end of each little extract the page upon which the statement appears in the Deliverance book is mentioned; and yet a consecutive reading of the Lectures will acquaint one with the contents of the book. Each folder consists of four illustrations printed in four colors. The illustrations are the same in each folder, but the lectures are different in each. One folder is mailed out every other week, and we believe it is attractive enough not to be thrown away when received. We trust that the folder will be seen by every member of the house, and that because of its attractiveness each folder will be read.

Since the six folders give a good resume of the contents of the book, ' the people will have sufficient knowledge of the reading matter of the Deliverance book to know the sort of literature that is offered; and we trust that this will pave the way for a greater number of sales of Studies in the Scriptures on the back calls.

Keep the name and address, then, of every purchaser of the Deliverance book, and turn the names over to the director, so that he may arrange for the prompt and regular mailing of the folders every other week.

For class members and others who desire extra copies of the Deliverance book, copies of the Lecture Series can be used as part of the prospectus in canvassing. The Society will mail one extra set of Lecture folders for each worker; and the worker can use one folder at a time, it being not necessary to exhibit the six folders when canvassing. Such folders will be sent to the director in time to supply all workers for I. B. S. A. Week.

The Deliverance book is to be supplied to the classes, together with the six Lecture folders, at 22c. There will be 9c postage to mail the Lecture folders to purchasers of the book, which will bring the cost of the book to the worker to 31c. The retail price of 38c per copy allows a profit of 7c on the Deliverance book, as compared with the profit of 10c on the Harp. However, since our main object is to get the literature into the hands of the people, it is anticipated that the price of 38c per volume will place three Deliverance books out of the same number of calls that ordinarily placed two copies of the Harp; and consequently the increased number of Deliverance books sold will, we believe, increase returns to workers and colporteurs.

“Diligent in Business”

Much has been outlined to. be done during I. B. S. A. Week, but results in the book sales depend entirely upon the number pf homes called upon. The greater the number of homes reached, the larger will be the sale of the books. It means, too, the canvassing of territory that has been covered in many instances once or twice during this year. Hence it will be necessary for the workers to try to conserve their

time in canvassing, in order that a greater number of homes may be reached. The following suggestion from a colporteur might be used advantageously :

It may interest you to know that I often get a hearing when I tell the lady, “I am supposed to stay only seven minutes.” So many agents camp all forenoon.

We hope that it will be the workers’ good lot to find many people who feel as did the lady canvassed by the worker who writes us:

The. second lady I canvassed bought the Harp, all seven volumes of Studies, Comfort for the Jews and one year’s subscription to .The Golden Age, in about ten minutes; then urged that 1 must go, as others would like to hear also, as she remarked; and added: “If you had tallied but three minutes I would have bought all you sold me; for I have long looked for help, because I cannot understand the Bible and in the church they don’t explain it.”

Isaiah 40: 29-31

When the Lord has set aside a time for such united effort in witnessing for his kingdom, all can be sure that he will bless them as they try to employ their efforts in his service. An instance of such blessing is reported in the following:

An old brother, who “can’t get out in the work”, “can’t canvass,” “can’t sell books,” “can’t preach,” can’t do anything in fact, asked for a few papers to give to men as he could where he worked. As a result, he sold and delivered one set of 8 and has prospects for three more sets.

The first Message of Hope he tried to give out was to a man who was a “good Baptist”, and it provoked a hot argument in which sec-eral took part. Finally the brother said, “Stop right now; don’t say another word till you have read this paper, at least this much of it [pointing to the heading, What is the Truth?}.” The “good Baptist” sat on a box, read and returned the paper, and ordered the set of eight.

“Watchmen” Will Sing Together

I. B. S. A. Week will no longer be a national week of importance. It has been announced sufficiently in advance so as -to enable the friends in all the nations of the earth to participate in the work during this week. It will be a great week because the reward of activity is the joy of the Lord. It will be a greater week than in any previous year, because of the efforts that those in the field will put forth to bring to the attention of the people the message of the Lord’s kingdom and to tell them that deliverance has come.

As you strive to witness for the Lord during I. B. S. A. Week you may be assured of the Lord’s blessing of the united effort being put forth by his people throughout the entire world. We believe that the Lord will look down with much pleasure upon those participating, and that not only those who participate in the field will enjoy the blessings of their service, but that those who participate by telling each other of their blessings and experiences will increase the joys of eachone.

With Christian greetings, we remain Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society.