The Winslow mail., 1920-01-16
Studying the Bible.


worlds greatest Institutions While
a part of the work of the church, it
by itself, has all the Importance of an
| institution. It's chief function is
teaching the Bible though it does
much else.
No matter in what regard a man
holds the Bible, he cannot go amiss
| in becoming familiar with it's texts
| This is particularly true regarding
| the Psalms, the Proverbs, the Gospels
and the poetic prophets. The reasons
for this are mainly two: That the
truths contained in them are the
| highest known to man, and that the
forms in which they are uttered were
never surpassed in literature The
man who is familiar with them from
childhood has had the best possible in
structiOn both in morals and language
! For many years there has been a
rage for reading fiction. A great many
people read little else. and generally
poor quality. But when we are
| overfilled with our twentieth century
culture, our refinement of spiritual in
telligence and our literary skill, we
may find it a wholesome mind tonic to
take up the Bible and read again, if
we have ever read it, the three thou
sand-yearold story of Ruth.
The Book Of Ruth is love story of
J the days when the ways of courtship
were crude, as we may think now and
probobly commercial but nevertheless
| in the. little land of Israel rigidly
moral and not too much commercial
to admit of love. The story of Ruth
can be read in fifteen minutes.
| But the charm of the young widow
Ruth, the quality that has placed her
in the galaxy of the darlings Of litera-
ture. is not SO much her behavior to-
ward her lover, as her love for her
m0therin-law, Naomi. Ruth is a sur
prise as well as a delight. She was
not a JeWesS. read and taught in
things spiritual, as were Mary, the
mother of Jesus, and Mary, the sister
OF Lazarus. Ruth lived thousand
years before these, and she was born
OF the tribe OF Moab a people, if we
may believe the stories Of them. who
took thir morals from Sodom. their
manners from the desert tribes and
their gods from the discard.
A typical family of Israel, intelli-
gent, reverend-a father, a mother
and two sOns-had been driven by
famine from Bethlehem into Moab.
Ruth had the rare advantage of liv-
ing in that family for ten years. There
was something in the moral atmos-
phere. the character, the worship Of
the family that appealed to this Moa-
bite girl as vastly superior to those
things among her own people.
The two sons and the husband of
Naomi died, and the widow and her
Two widowed daughters-in-law, set
out toward the land of Israel, they tc
bid her goodbye at the border. Then
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but
Ruth clave unto her"
Naomi pleads with Ruth to go back
with Orpah and give the strongest
reasons why Ruth should return to
Iher own people. But Ruth's mind
doesn't listen to logic. With tears sh3
clings to Naomi, and to her the world
is indebted for the following express
sion OF the utmost love:
'Entreat me not to leave thee or tc
return for following after thee; for
whittier thou goest I will go and
where thou lodgest. 1 will lodge; thy
people shall be my people and thy God
my God; where thou diest l will die
and there will be buried. The Lord
do to me and more also, if aught but
death part thee and me-"
AS literary gem, this expression
never has been excelled. 1t is doubt
full if it ever has been equalled-cer-
talnly not in any modern novel. It's
spiritual insight is only excelled in
the story of that Mary who anointed
Jesus and Of Mary, 'the Mother of
Sorrows. journal.