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THE DECEMBER 1, 1913 To decide the matter we suggest that a Bible study class which has been following the usual style of studying a chapter be brought in contest with a elass which has been using our first described method of Berean Bible study. Let the two classes take up any Bible topic that may be suggested; and it will soon be ascertained that those who have been following our Berean Bible study plan know ten or twenty times as much about the Bible on every subject. These STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES have not sought to follow WATCH TOWER (359-371) any human creed or theory, but merely to bring together the various Scriptures on a subject and to find the harmonious view reflected from these various passages. The method has proved itself so satisfactory to those who have tried it, that they would not now think of using any other method of Bible study, considering that all other methods are of little value in comparison. Nevertheless, the matter is purely for the individual or the class to determine which is for its own best interests, which will serve its purpose best. DEDICATION OF “THE TEMPLE”—NEW YORK CITY The Contractors promise to have ‘‘The Temple’’ ready for our use on Sunday, December 7. The services for the opening day will be a ‘little out of the ordinary. So far as the building is concerned it will be Dedication Day. As respects the Congregation it will be Thanksgiving Sunday. The program will include the entire day. The opening service will be at 10:30 a. m. The Pastor, Brother Russell, will give the address. At 2 p. m. there will be a Symposium in which several Brethren of the Peoples Pulpit Association will participate, the topic being ‘‘Thankfulness.’’ Its various phases will be Mecting. At 8 p. m. the Pastor, Brother Russell, will give an address, closing what, we trust, will be a very pleasant and very profitable day of spiritual refreshment. As it is anticipated that numbers of THr WatcH TOWER readers will want to be present at these services, coming from surrounding cities and villages, it is proposed that no publie advertising be done, so that we may have plenty of room for comfort and fellowship. Of course, the Brooklyn Tabernacle will be closed for the entire day. All WartcH Tower readers and their interested friends are considered. cordially invited to this house-warming. ‘‘Seats free and no At 4 p.m, there will be a general Praise and Testimony collection.’’ Von. AXAIV BROOKLYN, N. Y., DECEMBER 15, 1918 No. 24 1913—ANNUAL REPORT—1913 WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY DECEMBER 1, 1912—DECEMBER 1, 1913. To permit the balancing of our aecounts and the rendering of them before the first of the year, it is our custom to start each financial year on Deeember Ist. The sum total of the work reported a year ago was so large for us that we doubted if it would not be our banner year. Additionally, the threats of our enemies were heard on every hand. They boasted that before another year our Society’s work would be stopped. The basis of this threat was their intended and already started campaign of slander, abuse, misrepresentation—anything fo stop us. In closing our last year’s Report we said: “‘Let us not be fearful of the great adversary’s roar, when like a roaring lion he would seck to intimidate us. ‘Be of good courage, and the Lord shall strengthen thine heart.’ ’’ Without judging the majority of the ministers of Christ of various denominations we may surely say that the experiences of the past year have abundantly demonstrated that some very mean men are wearing the livery of heaven, professing to to be the mouthpicees of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our kindest thought respecting them is that the great adversary is blinding them, much as he did the great Saul of Tarsus. And our hope for them is that, like Saul, they will ere long be smitten down by a great light from heaven, and hear in. their consciences a voice saying, wey am Jesus, whom thou persecutest’’; and that then some of these rabi ad foes of the truth may become its staunch servants. OUR MOST SUCCESSFUL YEAR We are sure that our readers are awaiting this report with keen intcrest. Wonderful as it may seem, it is our privilege to report that the past year has been in every way our most successful one. The more the Lord permitted our enemies to assail us, the more did he strengthen and comfort our hearts with evidences of his favor. He demonstrated that he who is on our part is mightier than all that be against us. Tndeed, we have had various evidenees that the vicious attack of certain ministers has had an effect the very reverse of what they intended. The public have seen the adversary’s spirit manifested; and even worldly people know the difference between the Spirit of Christ—the spirit of meckness, the spirit of love—and the contrary spirit of Satan—the spirit of malice, hatred, envy, evil-speaking, strife. If God sees best to awaken some of his children to thought by the wolfish growling of some who pose as representatives of the Great Shepherd, it is not for us to question the divine wisdom, but to say with the Master, “‘The cup which my Father hath poured, shall I not drink it??? Nor is the Editor alone in these experiences. While he is the chief target, all identified with the work in a public way are also marks for those deseribed by the Psalmist: ‘‘The wieked .. . shoot their arrows, even bitter words, that they may shoot in secret at the perfect.’’? (Psalm 64:3, 4) Surely we may all rejoice in the privilege granted us of sharing in the sufferings of Christ. ‘‘For if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him.’’ And if our sufferings be the way by which the Lord would attraet and bless others of his true sheep, we may surely, with the Apostle Paul, ‘‘glory in tribulations also.’’—Romans 5:3. CLASS EXTENSION WORK One of the most encouraging feetures of the work is the zeal manifested in various quarters in the Class Extension Work. Hundreds of dear brethren, backed by the classes with which they are associated, have gore forth as evangelists. They have held mectings in cities, towns and villages in the vicinity of the class home. They have broken a good deal of new ground in this way, have corrected misapprehension in respect to our Gospel message, and have brought a considerable number to full consecration to the Lord and to great joy and blessing in the knowledge of the truth. It is now two years since this work started; and this year, for your encouragement, we must give some figures. The friends in thirty states have joined in this work. The average number of speakers per month throughout the twelve months was 105; 3,050 meetings were reported, with an attendanee of 91,881. The cost of these mectings as reported hy the classes was $8,546.61. This amount docs not appear in our Report, except about 10 per cent. The classes rejoiced in the privilege of financing their mectings, and only in a few instances was the Society’s help needed. Of course, the Society furnished the literature used at these meetings, which with freight and expressage was no small item. We trust that this noble work will go on, and that the Lord’s blessing will continue with it. “We sometimes term it the ‘‘Layman’s Home Missionary Movement.’’? We observe that the classes participating in this work most vigorously are usually the most blessed of the Lord spiritually, as well as numerically. And undoubtedly all who thus serve as evangelists receive a great blessing in their hearts from the Lord. In the interests of those classes that feel that a repetition of the Class Extension Work would not be wise, or that feel that they have speakers or financial strength which they ean furnish for Sunday work at greater distances from their homes, we have reeently proposed an ‘‘ Auxiliary Pilgrim Service.’’ We trust that this may prove a means of blessing and furtherance of the work during the year just begun. 8 OUR CORRESPONDENCE DEPARTMENT With literature in thirty different languages, distributed in large quantities, it is not surprising that we have a large correspondence. Our Brooklyn office keeps thirty typewriters busy, besides our multigraph machines. Total Jetters received during the year........ 184,825 Total number of letters dispatched during the year ........ 0... eee eee eee 481,521 These figures do not represent the correspondence of the various branches, More and more the dear friends are learn [5365]