Boyce Mouton
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Letter 578English

Letters From Grandpa #578

Boyce Mouton · 2 pages · 808 words

  • LETTERS FROM GRANDPA
  • 578

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will be about Henry H. Haley and his famous Bible Handbook. Haley was born in Kentucky April 10, 1874 and died in Chicago May 23, 1965 at the age of 91. He began preaching in 1899 and first published his famous handbook in 1924. At that time it was only a 16 page pamphlet and he gave away 10,000 free copies. His second edition had grown to 32 pages. He never charged for any edition until his Handbook reached 100 pages. During W.W. II he stopped traveling to preach and concentrated on expanding his Handbook. It was first published by Rand McNally, and when it was transferred to Zondervan in 1960 it had sold over 5 million copies. My copy is the 22nd edition and has 968 pages.

Wikipedia notes: “Over a period of 10 years he spent at least 10,000 hours memorizing scripture in achieving one of the greatest feats of memorization of scripture known to man. He could recite a total of 25 hours of nothing but scripture, including narratives of every book from the longest to the shortest.”

When your Uncle Paul was in grade school I was his Sunday School teacher. To encourage him and his classmates to memorize the books of the Bible I gave a free copy of Haley’s Bible Handbook to everyone who memorized the books of the Bible. The Babb brothers rose to the challenge and could recite all 66 books of the Bible both forward and backward.

Haley’s Handbook covers a wide variety of themes including notes on every book of the Bible, obscure passages, historical data, an epitome of church history, and other important Bible facts too numerous to mention. It is an important addition to your Christian library and is available in many different languages.

His ability to provide a succinct and brief overview of Scripture is found on page 674:

REVELATION AND GENESIS The Bible is all One Story. The last Part of the Last Book in the Bible reads like the Close of the Story begun in the First Part of the First Book in the Bible.

  • The first word in Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen. 1:1) Almost the Last word in Revelation: “I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth.” (Rev. 21:1)
  • “The gathering together of the waters He called the Sea.” (Gen. 1:10) “And the Sea is no more.” (Rev. 21:1)
  • “The darkness He called night.” (Gen. 1:5) “There shall be no night there.” (Rev. 21:25)
  • “God made two great lights” (Sun and moon) (Gen. 1:16) “The city has no need of the Sun nor the moon.” (Rev. 21:23)
  • “In the day you eat thereof you shall surely die.” (Gen. 2:17) “Death shall be no more.” (Rev. 21:4)
  • “I will greatly multiply your pain.” (Gen. 3:16) “Neither shall there be pain anymore.” (Rev. 21:4)
  • “Cursed is the ground for your sake.” (Gen. 3:17) “There shall be no more curse.” (Rev. 22:3)
  • Satan appears as the deceiver of mankind (Gen. 3:1-4). Satan disappears forever (Rev. 20:10).
  • They were driven from the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:22-24). The Tree of Life reappears (Rev. 22:2).
  • They were driven from God’s presence (Gen. 3:24). They shall see His face (Rev. 22:4).
  • Man’s primeval home was by a river (Gen. 2:10). Man’s eternal home will be by a river (Rev. 22:1)

We shall be forever grateful that Brother Halley took the time to write down the things that he learned from the Bible. Even though he died many years ago, he still speaks by means of the printed page. An unknown author has “written” this tribute to the “Printed Page”.

“The printed page never flinches, never forgets, never shows cowardice, never is tempted to compromise, never gets tired, never gets sick, never gets discouraged, never loses it’s temper, never gets in an argument, and never goes to sleep. It can travel across national boundaries without a passport, fly at high altitudes without oxygen, survive cold without a coat, and never needs air conditioning. It travels cheaply, and requires no hired halls. It works while we sleep and always catches a reader in the right mood, for it only speaks to him when he takes the time to read it. It can continue to work long after we are dead. The printed page is a visitor which gets inside the home and stays there. It always patiently says the same thing and is like bait permanently left in the pool.”

Ann Frank died in 1945 when she was only 15 years old. Yet her diary has sold over 30 million copies and been translated into over 70 languages. Perhaps you too need to start writing!

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce