The World Needed a
More Helpful Bible
Here It Is—A Bible Such As We Have Wanted for a Century An Authorized Interview w ith B. B. Kirkbride, Publisher of the Thompson Chain Reference Bible By Jewell F. Stevens
practically perfect, but that the material in the old subject index was not practical, and needed to be connected up with the other material, I finally persuaded Dr. Frank C. Thompson, editor, to undertake this task and the masterly Text Cyclo pedia was the result.” . U n r iv a l l e d R e f e r e n c e S y s t e m The Chain Reference. System which Mr. Kirkbride referred to, is Unrivalled in simplicity and completeness. It enables: you quickly and easily to follow any thought or character straight through the Bible. With this perfect system of ref- .erence’ is embodied an expository plan of verse analysis”that breaks down sub stantially every Bible verse into thought topics, sometimes as .many as seven. Mr. Kirkbride opened the Bible to the well-known Twenty-third Psalm a n d reading the first verse,- said, “Now notice that just opposite this verse we have the- Chain References suggesting we are ‘God’s Sheep,’ and ‘Christ is our Shep herd,’ and also through God’s«^‘Prov idence’ we receive our ‘Divine Supplies.’ You see,’’ said Mr. Kirkbride, “here is. an exposition of the underlying meaning based' on thought content; not a word system. The Bible text is not marred by reference signs or confusing letters, which are still used in every other ref erence Bible and. which are as out of; date as tallow candles. C r o w n in g A c h i e v e m e n t S a v e s T i m e • “But the crowning achievement of the Thompson Chain Reference Bible is the Text Cyclopedia, which catalogs all the ‘chains’ of over 100,000 references, to gether with complete dictionary material, general Bible information, a biographical study of Bible characters’, Bible readings; pronouncing Bible Gazetteer and a com prehensive treatment of doctrines, peo ples, manners and customs. The material of the Text Cyclopedia represents the consecrated effort of twenty years of Dr. Thompson’s life. So complete an ency clopedia of Bible helps never has been attempted before.|t'A- Turning the page, Mr. Kirkbride re marked : “You will note that we not only have many new helps not to be found in other books, but we have an entirely new classification of the general infor mation given in other Bibles. This enables, you quickly to find what you want without wasting time. For example, a simple subject like the Miracles is class ified differently. Every miracle is ar ranged under the * man’s name who performed it, and each is given in order. Note the feeding of the five thousand occurred before the feeding of the four thousand. This is a minor point, but it might be just the information you needed. Here is a list of all the Kings of Israel
and Judah in order of their reign. And here’s a list of the notable women of the Bible. In what other Bible could you find such complete lists as these?-?? The wonderful analysis and classification of material, old and new, is but one of the many advantages of this Bible for real,' practical Bible study. T e a c h e s T r u t h s b y C o n t r a s t "One of th e num erous new fe a tu re s of special value in th e T ext Cyclopedia is our p lan of tea ch in g or em phasizing g re a t tru th s by A contrast, such as: K now ledge-Ignorance, .- P overty-R iches, S elf-Indulgence-S e 1 f-D enial, W orldli- A ess-U nw orldliness, etc,,: etcv A nother is th e tre a tm e n t of p ra ctic a l subjects, m any of w hich a re not? even m entioned in o th er Bibles. Such su b je cts as: B usi ness Life, The S urren d ered Life, The D e votional Lifej’vCivic R ighteousness, etc. I t is h u t a step from any su b ject or th o u g h t to th e T ext Cyclopedia, w here it is th o ro u g h ly analyzed and developed. Indeed, th e T ex t C yclopedia is an u n p a ralle led reference lib ra ry in condensed form w ith a com plete T opical Index th a t unifies th e Chain R eference System and all re la te d helps: T his B ible is a b re a st of th e tim es; saves search in g ; em pha sizes sp iritu a l them es; stim u la te s stu d y ; and lig h ts a p a th for common living. In consequence, th e T hom pson C hain R e f erence B ible is ra p id ly disp lacin g all Others w ith leading scholars an d Bible re ad e rs: in every la n d , w here E n g lish is spoken. "Now to a n sw er yo u r question about th e H erod m entioned in th e first verse of th e 12th C hapter of Acts. If you lo o k ’in th e referen ce colum n opposite th is verse, you w ill find th e tim e is A. D. 44, .and th a t H erod A grippa, th e F irst, is re fe rre d to. In th e T opical Index of th e T ext C yclopedia you w ill find th ere w ere four H erods. The d a ta on H erod th e F irs t re ad s as follow s: , ‘H e w as th e son of A ristobulus; and succeeded his uncle, H erod P h ilip th e Second, as T e tra rc h of Itu ra e a T rachonitus, etc. He w as given th e title of K ing by E m p ero r C aligula, an d finally received all th e te rrito ry of H erod th e g re a t.’ I G eneral referen ces to A cts 12:1-20, 23:35. “T his,” concluded Mr. K irkbride, “is only an evidence of th e ex h au stiv e and a u th o rita tiv e com p leten ess of th e T ex t C yclopedia.” N o t S o l d i n S t o r e s I th en ask ed Mr. K irk b rid e how a p e r son d esirin g a Chain R eference Bible could g e t one if th ey w ere n o t in -to u ch w ith one of his re p re se n tativ es, and he replied, “U n fo rtu n a te ly .I do no t have a re p re se n ta tiv e in every comm unity so th a t o rd ers received from such places are promptly? ta k e n care of by parcel post. Som etim es orders a re received from p e r sons in tow n s w here we have a w o rk e r who is se n t to deliver th e order.” I th en ask ed him, “W ould you lik e to have m ore C h ristian re p re se n ta tiv e s? ” “Indeed, I w ould,” he said, “and th ere a re splendid o p p o rtu n ities to earn good- m oney a n d do a w o rthw h ile Christian^ service. If in te re ste d persons w ill only w rite to me, I w ill ta k e up w ith them th e m a tte r of pro tected te rrito ry and give them every a ssista n ce in th is in te r e stin g w o rk .” NOTE Mr. Kirkbride promises he will send you a free book let showing the unusually helpful features of this remark able Bible so widely used by leaders of Bible study and thought. Write to him care of The -B. B. Kirkbride Bible Company, Rm. Ki27, Meridian Life Building, Indianapolis, Indiana, or write your name and address on. the margin below and clip with this note, and mail to him, and if you would like to become his representative in your community, please so indicate.
CHAIN REFERENCE B IBLE PUBLISHER TX EW people realize,” said Mr. Kirk- bride, “that a conglomeration of dis jointed data and tabulated dates does not constitute a reference Bible.”,-:' I sat tip -straight because he had hit squarely the vague dissatisfaction I had long felt with reference Bibles I had used. “You see,” Mr. Kirkbride explained to readers of The Sunday School Times, “you haven’t a reference Bible unless you have one with a practical working system,, and. the reference system is not practical unless it links up the text with .whatever other reference material the Bible may contain.” That sounded logical and I remembered wondering what Herod was referred to in the first verse of the 12th Chapter of Acts, and asked Mr. Kirkbride if the Thompson Chain Reference Bible would tell, and he answered, “Yes, this text reference, like all others, is tied up in stantly to its explanation. But before I show you which Herod it was,- let me emphasize the crying need of connecting reference system and related helps to insure a practical working Bible that gives its readers a thorough understand ing of the beautiful truths blossoming unseen on every page. This unity is ac complished for the first time in the Thompson Chain Reference Bible, which turns the searchlight of knowledge and understanding on the pages of Holy Scripture—not a flicker here and there, but a flood of light that fills the heart" and mind of the reader with understand ing.” A L i f e o f S e r v ic e Mr. Kirkbride has devoted the greater part of his lifq to the production of this Bible, the most helpful Bible published. His first aim in life was to become a singing evangelist, but a nose and throat operation wrecked his hopes. Groping, he came upon the first edition of the Chain Reference Bible and found in it the opportunity he craved to serve his fellow man. From door to door, he sold this Bible, saw its shortcomings and re solved to give himself to the task of improving it. “I felt thè Chain Reference System was
T h e advertising of th e C hain R eference Bible ap p ears re g u larly in th e pages of T h e K ing's Business.
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