Torrey M e m o r i a l T a n d Jkids Student Training
Widow's Mite Coining Honors Torrey A regular feature of Biola life is now the annual Torrey Memorial Bible Conference held in January to commemorate particularly the life and work of Reuben A. Torrey who served for twelve years as Dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. On thé occasion of the first of these annual meetings—the one held in 1936—a medal was struck, showing a lifelike por trait of the world-renowned evangelist. The idea was an instant success. More than ten thousand of the medals were made, and the funds donated by eager recipients and deposited in the T o r r e y M e m o r i a l F u n d for the training and education of Bible Institute students were almost sufficient to carry the Institute through the difficult spring semester of that year, to graduation day.
Reuben Archer Torrey
Institute will ask for this significant symbol of sacrificial giving. Donations are again coming into the Torrey Memorial Fund. Institute authorities are hopeful that once more the heavy and inescapable expenses of student training— this time for the splendid class of Christian workers due to graduate in June o f this year—may be received from God’s stewards who will gladly send in their dollars for this purpose and will receive in return one or more of the little bronze coins that hear such sacred associations.
This year the Institute ordered the coining— for the first time, so far as we have been informed, in nearly two thou sand years— of a reproduction of the tiny bronze coin known as the Widow’s Mite, and this distribution was made to commemorate the Fourth Torrey Memorial Bible Conference held January 22 to 29, 1939. Five thousand have already been sent forth, and at this writing a second strike of ten thousand mites is being made. These coins will be distributed among persons who respond to this appeal, and it is hoped that all of the friends of the
Some Facts About the Widow's Mite
W. F. Albright, archeologist of Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore, Md., has identified this coin as struck in the period of John Hyrcanus (135-104 B.C.) and translates the inscrip tion as follows: “Belonging to Johanan the high priest and the Senate of the Jews.” The coinage of money was invented in Lydia in the seventh century B.C., and the Staters of Lydia were current under Cyrus. It was perhaps with these that the Jews first became acquainted in Babylon.
To the right is an enlarged photograph of the *‘le p to n ’ 9 (p ro n ou n ced lep ' to n e ) or “Widow’s Mite" shown on page 99 of this issue. It was the tiniest of the bronze coins of antiquity, and was probably worth about $$.0046—four and six-tenths mills—in American money. The original coin from which this re production was made was pur chased in Jerusalem and could easily have been in circulation there during the earthly lifetime of our Lord.
The Widow's Mite —
Symbol of Sacrificial Giving
you will send one dollar as a gift to the Institute, you may ask for and receive one of the following: a lapel button, ladies’ pin, Bible marker, child’s bracelet, or lavaliere. I f you wish to have additional “mite” coins for a group of children or for a Sunday-school class, we will supply them at 25c each, provided you will send a one-doltar gift to the Institute for the first you order. It is earnestly desired that these mites will become, not a mere object of curiosity, but a reminder of a widow’s gift that through the centuries has represented unselfish love toward God.
There are many worth-while uses for these tiny bits of bronze, stamped with the forgotten characters o f a van ished civilization. They typify the pitiful inadequacy of all human effort, but they represent also the ennobling effect of the divine approval upon every gift made in Christ’s name. Many of the Lord’s children will cherish any tangible reminder of the Saviour’s ministry on earth. For the benefit of these individuals and others, the Widow’s Mite coin has been mounted in a number of different ways. If
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