Tract Distribution
Algernon James Pollock
Table of Contents
God Blesses It - Do You Engage in It?
" Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.... In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good." (Eccles. 11:1, 6). So wrote King Solomon, and these words never applied more aptly to tract-distributing than at the present time.
Once on a time men listened to Gospel messages with interest and respect. That day is past. It is estimated that barely 5% of the population regularly attend a place of worship, and that the remaining 95% have, little or no care for their souls. The word is preached, and Christians attend, but the unsaved, who need the Gospel, are mostly absent.
Underneath all this carelessness and apathy there are still to be found consciences that are ill at ease. Here and there are those, who are concerned about their own wrong-doing, and a good many more are concerned about the state of the world, and the things that are coming on the earth. Such will still be pleased to accept a tract or a Gospel booklet, and give it a careful reading.
Christian young men and women are saved much of the lavish expenditure that the man of the world indulges in. The men who smoke, drink, gamble, attend race courses, pictures, football fields, etc., spend a large portion of their earnings in this way. The women, who smoke, drink, attend the pictures, buy lip-stick and cosmetics, spend much that the Christian young women do not. Is it too much to urge that at least some of the money so saved would be happily spent in procuring sound Gospel literature for distribution?
Little did Dr. Goodall of the American Missionary Board realize what would be the result of his dropping a single tract in Nicodema in Asia. Years after it was discovered that it had produced a Christian assembly of forty persons, with an attendance at their Gospel service of two hundred persons.
A tract-distributor, who gave away thousands, hearing of no result from it, became discouraged and gave up the work. Years after, in conversation with a Christian man, he heard the story of his conversion through reading a tract, put into his hand by a stranger. The title of the tract was mentioned, and this awakened memories, for it was one he had often given away in bygone years. Questions were asked as to time and place and circumstances. The answers given led him to realize that he was the man, who had handed out the tract with this truly happy result. Tears came to his eyes. He bitterly reproached himself for having ceased this happy work, and for the rest of his life ardently resumed this service.
The well-known compilation, The Journey and its End, of which some 400,000 have been circulated, has been used to the conversion of literally hundreds during its life of a little short of fifty years. Quite recently one copy was found to have been used to four distinct cases of conversion within a few weeks. To God be all the glory.
And yet, if the full.truth were known, how much greater the results must be than those, that come to our notice. Many a tract-distributor, perhaps suffering from disappointment, believing that their work has accomplished little result, will doubtless get a glad surprise when the day comes in which all will be revealed.
We earnestly hope that Christian young men and women, who read these lines, may be stirred up to seek diligently the conversion of those around them by the medium of the printed page. " Let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not " (Gal. 6:9). Time is short. Great are the opportunities. Scatter the printed page in busy city, in quiet village, in sleepy hamlet. Above all, do so with earnest prayer, seeking the guidance of the Lord of the harvest.
A. J. POLLOCK.
Only a Tract
Tracts are despised by many, even sometimes by professed believers in Christ, yet if the silent messenger of the Gospel is well chosen, what an untold blessing to a soul it can be, to God's eternal glory, and to the cheer of the distributor.
Such was the case some years ago in a Yorkshire town, where a. servant of the Lord had been sowing the good seed of the Gospel, and dropped a tract into an unoccupied motor-car.
One morning he received a letter, saying, " Someone, I don't know whom, left a small tract on the seat of my motor-car. I read it very carefully, and feel greatly interested. Can you send me more, or tell me what to read?"
A correspondence followed, and a soul was led to saving faith in Christ Jesus, as expressed in the following extracts from letters.
" The book came to hand this morning, for which I am very much obliged. I shall make a good start to read it tonight. The little pamphlets you sent me have been most instructive and helpful. I am a hard-worked doctor, and have very little time in the evening, otherwise I would have made an effort to see you. I never had any particular faith in Jesus or God; but at the back of my mind I knew there was something—nothing more. Last year I had a very severe illness—I got into such a state that I did not care whether I lived or died. But in the early hours of one morning, in a state of semi-consciousness, I repeated to myself the following words: ' There is nothing for it now, but help from the Lord Jesus Christ.' I gradually got a little stronger and was able to do a little work in my motor car. I had not been out very long when I discovered the little tract you left on the seat of my car. I was prompted to write you, and you have, like the good man you are, shown me the way of salvation. My life is changed... "
After closing this letter, he wrote on the back of the envelope,
" I am 67 years of age. I have left my recognition of Jesus Christ a long time, have I not? But it is not too late."
May this instance be a cheer to others, who engage in a like service, assured that their labor is " not in vain in the Lord." May such not overlook the fact, that contacts are not likely to be made unless the name and address of the distributor is stamped on tracts.
Some may desire to do such work but may feel they lack time. Can we compute what the blessing would be, did every live Christian in the Kingdom give away prayerfully but one carefully-chosen tract daily? Surely there is no one who could not spare a moment each day for such a tiny bit of service, capable of bringing about an eternal result.
A man will patiently angle all day long in the hope of catching one fish, and although often unsuccessful, will go fishing again and again. Christ said, " Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men " (Matt. 4:19). Does this attract you? May the Lord prosper you in whatever way He leads you to seek souls, whether by means of the printed page, the Sunday School, or otherwise helping on the work of the Gospel.
Let us never lose sight of the fact, that Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, of whom there was no more profound teacher, was equally great as an evangelist, finding cheer in the fellowship in the Gospel of saints at Philippi, and writing to those at Rome of his great desire to set forth the Gospel where Christ had not been preached. May we give heed to his exhortation by the Spirit, " Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ." We know that the parting word of the Lord to His own, just before He ascended on high, was, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." (Mark 16: is). How faithfully the Apostle Paul answered the call. Let us not be lacking!
ARTHUR F. POLLOCK.
Readers Are Rapidly Multiplying
Many who have read the above exhortations may not be aware of the rapidly increasing demand for printed matter all over the world, which springs from the spread of " literacy "—i.e., the ability to read
and write. Dr. Laubach of the U.S.A. has been visiting many countries, introducing his simplified system of teaching to read. It is so simple that a very ignorant and unlettered person, who learns by his method,
would be able to instruct somebody else. He therefore has a slogan: " Each one teach one." In result it is estimated that quite twenty million new readers are found in the world every year.
And what are they going to read? All too frequently there is hardly anything for them but printed matter of an evil and subversive kind. Yet, thank God, the Holy Scriptures, or parts of them, are to be had in over a thousand languages. Our first conclusion must certainly be that each of us ought to do what we can to help and support godly men who give themselves to the production and circulation of the Word of God in these many tongues.
But even so, the number of those who read English is constantly enlarged. This is mainly due to the greatly increased importance in world affairs of the U.S.A. English becomes the mother-tongue of its rapidly increasing population; and further, in most countries a large number of people are learning English, and so can read anything in that language. That is why Gospel literature in English, from a small tract to a substantial book, is of great importance, and may be sent to the furthest corners of the earth.
Should any of our readers be skeptical, or unimpressed, by what we have written in this leaflet, let us close by a few facts concerning one of the most active and pushing of the false cults of today. The last half-century has seen the uprising of a system of error, first started by one, " Pastor Russell," and continued under " Judge Rutherford." It has operated under a variety of names, and is now generally known as, " Jehovah's Witnesses." Recently they staged a big demonstration in London, so big that they took Wembley Stadium for the occasion. Not long before they held an international convention, representing 67 countries, in the Yankee Stadium, New York. The daily attendances were estimated at 70,000.
Now their propaganda consists almost entirely in printed matter. All their members give themselves indefatigably to the sale of their literature. They stand in the streets offering it. They canvass most persistently from door to door, and there seems to be hardly a place in the land where they have not been. The amount of public preaching they do is practically negligible. In a lesser degree the same thing is true of several others of the erroneous systems that abound.
The enemy came and sowed tares, " while men slept " (Matt. 13:25). Let us not sleep but be busy sowing the good seed of God's Word.
May these few words stir all of us up to greater zeal in serving the Lord, and particularly in the scattering of Gospel literature.
F. B. HOLE.
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