The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1948-09-30


Not to know the Bible is not to
know the most widely read book
in the world. The American Bible
society publishes it in only l67
languages, but parts Of 1t have
been translated into as many
as 1000 languages and dialects.
Many Authors
OUCH popularity must be de-
- served. There are many reasons
why the Bible continues to be, year
after year. the al-time best seller.
But one Of the reasons is its i'm
pressive variety. 1t is not one
book. it is a library Of books. What
ever your mood, whatever your
need. there is a page In the Bible,
somewhere. for you.
A Christian will try seriously
to appreciate the whole Bible
and not merely one or two parts
Of II. Yet there Is such variety
in IL that invariably some per-
sons are attracted by one fea-
ture Of Il while another fea-
ture makes stronger appeal to
others.
Our studies these next three
months will be in 1.-THE Literature
of the Bible" and each week we
shall be noticing a different feature.
This week we give a thought to the
tremendous variety OF the Bible.
along with its underlying unity.
Many Types
7 OOKING through the Bible you
IL find all va. leties of literary
types; you find poetry and prose;
stories, essays, sermons, biogra
plies. dramas; rhapsodies, love
songs, funeral dirges and battle
hymns.
Here are pages as prOsaic as
a telephone book and here are
pages more exciting than any
fiction. Here are simple,
straightforward ideas that a
child can understand as soon
as he understands the words
and here are mysteries SO pro-
found that the worlds mightiest
and boldest minds shrink back
In awe.
The Bible is not like a piece OF
music played on one single instru-
ment, like a tune on a piccolo: il
is more like an immense symphony
the more often we listen to it,
the more we hear in it.
Many Times
MO ONE knows exactly how long
~ it took for the Bible to be writ,
ten Let us suppose that the ear
lest parts came from the pen Cor
stylus) of Moses, and the latest
part from about 100 years after
Christ John and the Revelation
If Moses aourished around 1900
B. c., that would mean that the
Bible was completed Is centuries
after it was begun.
In Is centuries much can hap
pen, and much did. There 10 hardly
any circumstance or crisis. there is
scarcely any time. however hum.
drum or thrilling, which does not
have its match in the Bible. Its
writer's were inspired men; they
knew God. But they also knew the
times in which they lived, and thus
can speak to ours.
One Theme
TOR all the vast variety Of the
= Bible. there is in it a deep and
lofty unity. 1t is bound together
by its mighty purpose. which
throbbed in the hearts blood Of
every mar who wrote a line Of it,
That purpose is to make God real
to man, and to bring man to God
The writer's of the Bible may have
had their lighter moments, but they
did not write these pages then.
They wrote under the ire
sistable impulse, born Of the
Holy Spirit, 70 make plain to
other men what God had re-
vealed to them.
So as you come to the Bible, re
member its purpose is not to make
you admire or revere it as a book;
its great purpose is to be trans
parent, a window through which
you shall see God.
.(copyright BY the international Counci
OF Religious Education on behalf OF x
Protestant denominations Released b.
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