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OUR EARNEST DESIRE

All who love the Lord love all who are sincerely his brethren—”begotten again” (John 1:13). And all who love the brethren have a burning desire to do them good—to assist them into the light and joy and peace of present truth. Our readers very generally agree that the MILLENNIAL DAWN is the best of all helps, and next to it ZION’S WATCH TOWER. We use tracts, etc., merely with those whose desire for the truth is doubtful—to stimulate an appetite for more, and that we may learn who they are. These tracts we can supply you in any quantity free. But we are specially anxious that all of the Lord’s followers should read the DAWNS and TOWERS. We, therefore, make the following offer, good throughout 1903:—

Anyone on the WATCH TOWER lists may send us the addresses of friends who promise to read the DAWN if loaned them free of charge, and who promise to return it (postpaid) at some time during the year—or to pay for it, or to send us a letter stating that they have read it with interest and profit and desire to retain it for future reading and reference, but are too poor to pay for it. In the latter case, we will write them, making the book a gift, instead of a loan. We have long pursued this plan, except that heretofore we have required that the request come direct to us—whereas now we propose accepting the request through our readers. Furthermore, anyone already on our lists may send us in the names of any of their friends who will express to them a desire to receive the WATCH TOWER for three months, but do not feel that they can afford to pay for it. Such of these as you can assure us are true Christians and have already manifested interest in present truth, we will enter for the balance of the year, at your request, free. This differs from our ordinary offer, in that heretofore we have required that all entered either free or on credit shall write their requests directly to us: we find that some have been denying themselves the visits of the TOWER because of backwardness in asking. Such should be assured that we have a Lord’s poor fund which pays for these papers and that it will afford us pleasure to send it to them; that, indeed, it grieves us to learn of any interested in “this way” (Acts 9:2), being for any reason deprived of the regular visits of the TOWER.

With these liberal terms at your disposal we surely ought to have a list of 30,000 by this time next year. Remember, however, that you must write us that these friends requested that their names be thus entered—otherwise we could not list them. We must live up to the letter and spirit of the postal rules.

Our provision of last year holds good for 1903, viz., that any one now on the TOWER list may send us four six-months trial subscriptions for one dollar.

We still advise that subscribers take advantage of our special offer of cloth-bound DAWNS postpaid by us at 25 cents each. No other books in the world are sold at such a price;—any volume, any language. This special concession is to offset the fact that adverse postal rulings no longer permit us to send the paper bound editions singly at less than 20 cents per volume, even wholesale.

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— January 15, 1903 —