a denarius a day, he sent them forth into his vineyard.” (Matt. 20:1, 2, NW) This statement of one denarius, or about 17 cents, as an acceptable day’s wage at that time sheds much light on Revelation 6:6, which says: “And I heard a voice as if in the midst of the four living creatures say: ‘A quart of wheat for a day’s wage [denarius, rendered penny in the King James Version and shilling in the American Standard Version], and three quarts of barley for a day’s wage; and do not harm the olive oil and the wine.’” (NW) That denarius represented a day’s wage—a great deal of money for a single quart of wheat. The text speaks of real famine, just as Jesus foretold at Matthew 24:7.

Application of your knowledge of Biblical weights and money does not take much time, but it may add considerably to your appreciation of the accounts you read. Next time you see in your Bible a reference to some one of the units of weight or money stop and think what it means in the standard that you use each day.

Pursuing My Purpose in Life

As told by A. C. Attwood

THIS story goes back more than twenty years. It was in 1935 that I began to know the truth. My father, a retired businessman, was nominally a Roman Catholic but in practice a complete agnostic. A sick man, he took no part in the drama to follow. He died in 1939. Mother was an Anglican, a pillar of the local church. My sister was educated in Roman Catholic convents, while my brother and I were brought up in the Church of England. I was the youngest.

My parents liked the idea of mine, to be an architect. But father insisted that I work in an office for a year to get business experience before beginning the necessary training. After that I went to the Bristol School of Architecture. While I was in the office the turning point in my life came.

Returning one day after the midday break, I met a lady at the top of the elevator. She was waiting outside the office door. She opened her bag and showed me a selection of books and booklets on Bible topics. I always had been a Bible lover and took a booklet. It was called “World Recovery.” When I started to read it I became completely absorbed. It was quite different from anything I had ever read before. Reaching home, I began looking up words like “Armageddon” in dictionaries and encyclopedias. I must have read that booklet half a dozen times. My curiosity was so aroused that I wrote to London for the catalog advertised on the back. Then I ordered every booklet published by the Society up to that time, including all the old ones like Crimes and Calamities, etc. I devoured them all, one after another. Then all the bound books, from The Harp of God to Jehovah. I started on Creation, then the Light books, and finally all the rest. I was only seventeen. I was a regular churchgoer along with mother. Even before I got that booklet I was beginning to entertain grave misgivings about the church. Now I could see nothing good in it and realized that I just had to get out. As I read the publications I soon saw the obligation