Brethren Archive
The Year 1920

Handfuls of Purpose

Volume: 1.1


For personal use only and not re-publication. Thank-you!



Comments:
Tom said ...

Assume the E.E. Nichols whose poem is at the end is the same as author of hymn 376 and a relative of the editor.

Looks an interesting magazine, would be nice to get more.

Monday, Aug 13, 2018 : 04:29
Greg said ...
Thanks Tom

Are you able to scan in B&W? The recent magazines are very interesting - but the file size is hard to handle for us old folk who don't have the latest hardware.
Tuesday, Aug 14, 2018 : 12:01
Tom said ...
Hi Greg; yeah I agree the file size is not ideal for some of these scans. They were actually not done by myself but kindly given to me by a brother in America. I don't have a very good process for converting them efficiently on my pc at the moment so I just uploaded them as they were. Though thinking about it I have some code used elsewhere on the site that can just extract the scanned images and generate a b&w pdf so I'll put that in place as a download option soon.
Tuesday, Aug 14, 2018 : 20:16
Timothy said ...
Can anyone explain why this periodical was called "Handfuls of purpose"? It has always struck me as the most obscure biblical reference imaginable... Timothy
Wednesday, Aug 15, 2018 : 03:32
DG said ...
Ruth 2:16
Wednesday, Aug 15, 2018 : 03:59
Timothy said ...
But why Ruth 2.16? Every commentary has to retranslate the verse for it to make any sense let alone make it a suitable title for a devotional magazine... I don't recall the retranslation using either the word 'handfuls' or the word 'purpose'.
Wednesday, Aug 15, 2018 : 04:17
Tom said ...
Sorry if I misunderstood the q, but Brethren read quite a lot into the book of Ruth, as in a typological sense, Boaz being a picture of Christ, and in Chapter 2, Ruth is gleaning in His field, which I think is viewed as a picture of feeding from the Word of God (His field). He doesn't just give her the grain, she has to glean and beat it out, ie. how the believer has to make the effort to read the Bible and meditate upon it, but He does generously give 'handfuls of purpose', more than the law required him to give. So the phrase 'handfuls of purpose', or however it might otherwise be translated, is analogous to Christ giving food from the Bible to His people, so it makes a nice periodical title, as that is what the periodical (is meant) to be doing.
Wednesday, Aug 15, 2018 : 06:22
Timothy said ...
Thanks, Tom....It's the length of the requisite explanation that is a bit daunting, so that the title appears to revel in obscurity. I'd have expected something like 'Gleanings among the sheaves' or even 'An ephah of Barley'. Mind you, none of this stops Ruth from being my bible story of preference!
Wednesday, Aug 15, 2018 : 22:51
Gabriele said ...

The editor of Handfuls of Purpose is John William Hugh Nichols, born on 23rd December 1867 in Cheltenham, England, son of John W. and Elizabeth Nichols. He died on 16th June 1960 in Redwood City, San Mateo, California, USA, and is buried in Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alta, Santa Clara County, California. J.W.H. Nichols came to the USA after 1891. He was married to Elizabeth Jones (1873–1961), also a native of England. They had 8 children, 11 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren. J.W.H. Nichols is the brother of Edward Ernest Nichols (1865–1952).

Saturday, Dec 19, 2020 : 02:15
John Gillespie said ...
Many thanks, was looking for this, Stewart Gillespie, www.graceinchrist.org
Friday, Dec 1, 2023 : 22:41


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