264 
RURAL HOURS. 
has always been received by the Church, both Jewish and Chris- 
tian, as a part of the inspired Scriptures ; it must, therefore, be 
essentially true, and no evil word or deed finds a place in the 
narrative. Then, again, the impartiality of the sacred biographers, 
from the first to the last books of the Holy Scriptures, is so very 
striking, so very peculiar to themselves, so widely different from 
the eulogies or apologies of uninspired men under similar circum- 
stances, that reason alone requires us to receive each narrative 
simply as it is given. We read with a feeling of awe of the oc- 
casional failings and sins of such men as Noah, Abraham, Aaron, 
and David ; the whole nature of man stands humbled before us, 
while the mercy of our God rises, indeed, exalted above the 
heavens ! We feel that these passages are laid open to us by the 
same Omniscient Spirit which searches our own hearts by the same 
just hand which Aveighs our own words, and thoughts, and deeds 
in the balance. And if such men as Abraham, and Aaron, and 
David were not spared by the inspired pen, why should it screen 
the Moabitish widow, and the comparatively unimportant Boaz ? 
The writer of the narrative has not, by one Avord, imputed sin to 
either. How dare the mind of the reader do so ? One may add 
a word for the skeptic, since this passage has been made a pointed 
subject of objection by men of that school. There are but three 
positions which the infidel can take upon the subject : he may, 
with the Christian, believe the Book of Ruth to be true, in Avhich 
case he is bound to receive the facts as they are given ; he may 
hold the narrative to be a compound of fiction and truth, and 
then plain justice requires that those points upon which the 
Scriptural writers have always shown such marked impartiality be 
charged to the side of truth, and he is at liberty to doubt any 
other passage of the book rather than this particular one ; he 
