(Some Notes from Quarterly Record: April – June, 1963)
Our Premises
The Trinitarian Bible Society Premises at No. 7 Bury Place, have been acquired by the Ministry of Works and will be demolished some time between 1967 and 1969 to make way for extensions to the British Museum. Our Society commenced its work in 1831 and has occupied this building since 1904. The present lease is due to expire in 1969, so there will be no compensation, and no alternative accommodation will be provided.
It will therefore be necessary to build, purchase or rent suitable premises in the very near future, and for this purpose a considerable sum of money will be needed — greatly in excess of the total at present reserved in the fund for acquiring new premises.
Our Urgent Need
Our Society does not normally make pressing appeals for funds. We have been wonderfully blessed and favoured with increasing support sufficient to provide for the rapid development and extension of the work during the last few years. The present need is
exceptional and we feel led to make it as widely known as possible, so that all who are interested may share the burden with us — some by their prayers and some also by their gifts.
In this important matter, as in all the affairs of the Society, it is our earnest desire that all should be done in accordance with the purpose of Him Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.
Our Increasing Work
During the last few years there has been a great increase in the scope and volume of the work, which is now noticeably hindered by lack of space and the inconvenience of the present building. This was built as a private dwelling on six floors, with a narrow frontage, a single narrow entrance, an abundance of stairs and no lift.
In spite of all the difficulties a great amount of fruitful work has been done. Many millions of copies of the Holy Scriptures have been published and distributed throughout the world, and a considerable tonnage received and despatched month by month. The old building is hallowed by many happy memories, and we all have a warm affection for the place—but we have our eyes upon the future rather than the past, and a larger and more suitable building is OUR IMPERATIVE NEED—NOW.
The Lord Will Provide
We have no desire for a luxurious palace, but a suitable building is vital and essential for the maintenance and extension of the work. We make this need known to all our friends and fellow-helpers to the Truth, with the prayerful desire that in His own appointed time and way the LORD, Whose Holy Word we reverently cherish and distribute, may graciously provide all things needful.
“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse . . . and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3:10.)
Work in Progress
Christian workers in more than fifty countries look to the Society for supplies of Bibles, New Testaments, Gospels and smaller Scripture portions. To maintain these supplies work is constantly in progress on a large number of publications. At this moment there are nearly seventy items in hand, including several nearly ready for distribution.
In most cases the paper is specially made in the size, shade and substance required, and conveyed from the mills to one of the
fourteen presses printing for the Society. Proof copies of foreign language publications sometimes have to be sent out of the country to be read, and corrected, and much correspondence may be involved at this stage.
The printed sheets are either folded at the press or they may be sent flat to be folded and bound at one of the eight binderies where the Books are completed. Careful arrangements have to be made for every detail including the paper, the text, the printing, the binding and ultimately the delivery to one of the fifty or sixty countries for which the Scriptures are destined.
These are some of the very practical details of the work, but such a work as this is not merely practical and mechanical. God’s Word has been given in order that His people may be brought to experience His regenerating grace, “being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” This is a spiritual work, wrought by spiritual means and bearing spiritual fruit. To this end we desire that the printed Word may be followed by the earnest prayers of the Lord’s people, that it may be abundantly fruitful for the glory of His Name.
Sindebele Psalms for Free Presbyterian Mission
Several thousand copies of the Psalms in the Sindebele language should be ready in time to be consigned to Southern Rhodesia and the Free Presbyterian Mission in May, God willing. The Psalms are an unfathomable mine of spiritual wealth and we pray and trust that this little book will be the means of great spiritual enrichment to many who use it in their worship and in their private reading.