The Story of Bible Readings

The Adventist idea of holding what we call Bible readings is unique. The first among the early veterans to use it extensively was S. N. Haskell. The Testimonies call the plan a Heaven-sent idea. One of the most successful among all our many large books is the work called Bible Readings for the Home. The old name for the book was The Bible-Reading Gazette. It first had 162 Bible readings and contained 288 pages. The initials of most of the writers are printed after each reading. The account of how this book came to be reprinted and sold as a subscription book is well told in the The Review and Herald, June 26, 1930, by one of the most godly and aggressive of the veterans, R. A. Underwood. He says:FSG 360.6

In the year 1883 at the General Conference held in Battle Creek, Mich., S. N. Haskell gave several Bible studies, asking questions and giving Bible texts that would answer the questions asked.FSG 360.7

“This unique method of Bible study led the committee on resolutions to present to the Conference a resolution recommending the publication for one year of a paper to be called The Bible Reading Gazette. The Review and Herald office published this journal each month in 1884. The price of the periodical was fixed at $1 a year to all who would write one or more readings for publication, and $5 to those who did not send one or more Bible readings to it for publication.”—The Review and Herald, June 26, 1930 page 27.FSG 360.8

At the end of the year the Review had 2,500 copies of this volume uncalled for, and no effort was made to sell them. The next year Elder Underwood, president of the Ohio Conference, took 40 copies of these home with him and asked a canvasser taking subscriptions for Health Reformer to sell them at $1 each. The first day he sold nine copies. Other colporteurs tried to sell it, and in a short time the Ohio Conference had disposed of all the 2,500 and placed an order for more. It was found that this kind of book with questions was easier to sell than anything they had. But what is more important, people studied the book and accepted the message. The brethren in Ohio “asked the Review and Herald to revise and publish these Gazette readings in book form, and make a good book to be sold by canvassers.” (Ibid.)FSG 361.1

To this request the Review replied that they would agree to revise the book provided Ohio would furnish a man to do the revising. Ohio offered the Review the services of E. H. Gates, later so well known in our mission history. He accepted, and went to Battle Creek, but after trying a whole month he reported that the book could not be revised. The very first reading had 162 questions and answers on the subject of the sanctuary. Others were even longer. By this time Ohio had sold over six thousand copies of the Gazette, and they kept pressing for a larger book on the same general plan. Then the General Conference invited the Ohio brethren to come over for a discussion of the problem. They came, and submitted the following four points:FSG 361.2

“1. That they make a new book by many authors.FSG 361.3

“2. It must be a first-class book, containing all the principal points of the message, and must be printed in a form to sell for $2.50 to $5.50 a copy, well illustrated, so as to make a good book for canvassers to sell.FSG 361.4

“3. No one was to get any royalty for his work on the book.FSG 361.5

“4. The committee assembled were to select the writers of the new book, and send out requests to our leading ministers and workers for them each to write not less than four readings, which should be brief but clear, on the subjects they were asked to write upon.”—Ibid.FSG 361.6

After careful consideration the matter was “settled by the action of the committee voting to publish two editions, one a cheap book to sell for one dollar with no illustrations, and a better book, to be well illustrated, to sell for $2.50 to $5.50.” The small, cheap edition soon went out of print; the larger book is with us yet. Among our larger books we have sold more Bible Readings than any other, and it has led thousands of precious souls to Christ. In the English language alone at the end of 1945 we had sold 1,547,639 copies of this book. The colporteurs are real missionaries. William Edgar Arnett, who pioneered the work with Bible Readings, was one of the best. Of him we read:FSG 362.1

“Brother Arnett canvassed faithfully for thirty years, his sales being mostly ‘Bible Readings for the Home Circle.’ He was making a large delivery of books on December 4, 1917, when he was shot dead and robbed of his money by two desperadoes in a town in West Virginia. He was sixty-seven years of age when killed. The dear man gave his life to the circulation of the truth through the printed page. His reward will be many souls saved in the kingdom.”—The Review and Herald, June 26, 1930, page 28.FSG 362.2

Another large subscription book was The Great Controversy. In certain sections of America where the population was largely of German or Scandinavian origin, it was the easiest to sell, and its fruitage was marvelous. Overseas, too, it was translated and sold. In fact, The Great Controversy has called the attention of millions to the prophetic gift in the remnant church. Writers here and there have apparently tried to imitate it in describing the events of the great day of God, but have not succeeded. Many, especially religious leaders, who at first wore a superior smile at what they called the fervid imagination of the author have now, as things in the world have developed, come to regard it most seriously. Of this valuable work the Review stated editorially:FSG 362.3

“We have received from the office of the Signs of the Times, Oakland, California, a specimen copy of The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan, by Sister White, as it is now prepared to be circulated everywhere by subscription. The volume covers the time from the destruction of Jerusalem to the end of the world. Of the matter of the volume our brethren have from time to time spoken freely, and we need add nothing more in this respect, only to say that we do not think any too much has been said, or can be said, in commendation of what this book contains. It is bound in cloth in neat and attractive style, and contains a steel portrait of the author, and twenty one relief plate illustrations....FSG 363.1

“We are glad to see the book brought out in this form. The illustrations will help greatly to make it attractive and salable; and we trust it will have a wide circulation. Already those who have worked with the book to some extent report good success. For particulars to canvassers, address Pacific Press, Oakland, California.”—The Review and Herald, August 11, 1885, page 512.FSG 363.2

The Great Controversy was really our earliest attempt to bring to non-Adventists the light which the Lord has imparted to the advent people through His messenger in this generation. The fruitage of this book has been a joy and surprise to many, even among our own members, some of whom feared that many would be prejudiced against these messages through the Spirit of prophecy. But the results were so gratifying that before long more books, such as Patriarchs and Prophets, came on. Of all the books by Mrs. White, Steps to Christ has a place of its own. It has been sold in more tongues and in larger numbers than any other, though Ministry of Healing and Christ’s Object Lessons have been great favorite subscription books in many European lands. Our colporteur work brought something to the remnant church that, to our knowledge, no other church before ever had. it enrolled the entire church in the literature ministry. It appealed to our youth, thousands of whom found it a stepping stone to a deeper experience and to a life of service for their Master. The author personally had two full years and six vacation summers of it, and only those who lived in those days of enthusiasm and love for Christ can measure its value. And it is with us yet.FSG 363.3

During the panic years of the late nineties the canvassing endeavor was allowed to decline, but early in this century it was again revived. That time of depression was what E. R. Palmer called “The Straw Tent Period,” because at camp meetings some conferences not too strong in their love for the canvassers assigned the so-called straw tent to them for their small meetings. In some places “state agents” and even “district agents” were dispensed with as too great an expense. Then about 1900 the messages from the Lord began to call for “a revival for the canvassing work.”FSG 364.1

Volume 6, No. 34 of the Testimonies, was first printed in 1900. Our people read: “God has ordained the canvassing work as a means of presenting before the people the light.... This is the very work the Lord would have His people to do at this time.”—page 313. The response to these appeals was good, and the colporteur cause blossomed anew, never to go down again.FSG 364.2