The Portland daily press., 1888-12-03
PULPIT AND PLATFORM.
HIGH STREET CHURCH.


e. p. Wilson, of the Woodford's Congrega-
tional church, preached an able and interest
ing sermon on books and reading, from the
text Tim. 4;1s-"Till come. give heed to
reading" There is no other respect" said
Mr.. Wilson, "in which the present age diff
fers more radically from the age Of Paul and
the other apostles, than in matters pertain
ing to books and reading. Even the younger
people present well know that when Paul
wrote to Timothy there were no printed
DOCKS, no magazines and no newspapers on
earth. The rolls Of parchment on which the
works OF great authors were laboriOusly
written out by hand were very scarce, and
so costly that no one could own book un-
less he was rich man. But all OF this has
now changed. Today printed books and
magazines and newspapers are as plenty as
were the frogs in Egypt,-and some OF them
are quite as loathsome. The little child
hardly opens his eyes now before primer Is
forced into his chubby hands, and the old
man dies with his finger resting on some
favorite text on the printed page which lies
open before him. The present generation Of
people may be said to live and move and
have their being in the atmosphere of books
and newspapers. For example. statistics,
taken several years ago, tell us that the
number Of copies Of newspapers printed in
this country In one year was more than
nfteen hundred millions, which 1t was then
estimated, would give more than forty
copies annually to every man, woman and
child in the United States, And apprehend
that the number now Is much larger than
this. IL therefore becomes one Of the most
Important questions of the present day to
ask: What books do you read? How do
you read? What newspapers do you take
Ii used to be said that a man could be known
by the company which he kept. But today
1t would be far more accurate to say, that q
man may be known by the newspaper which
he takes. Now, in our text Paul wrote TO
his young brother Timothy, saying: It'll
come, give attendance to reading" Or as
the new version reads: "Give heed to read
ing" And If 1 am reminded that the great
apostle had in mind only those rolls Of parch-
ment whereon were. inscribed copies Of the
Ola Testament Scriptures, l would simply
suggest that this was all Of the library which
young Timothy owned. And am sure that
we shall not stray very far from the spirit of
this text If we make this command cover
the whole subject of care in the use of books
wish, therefore. to speak to you this morn
ing. friends, OF the Importance of giving
more heed to what we read, and how We
read, and what our children are reading
daily in our homes.
Perhaps it would be well in beginning to
notice the power of bad books for evil
over the minds Of those who read
them. There Is indeed something
strangely subtle and insinuating In the innu-
ence which all books exercise over their read
ers. We should not think, for example, of
inviting bad man to visit our home. or of
allowing such man to remain, II be had
once gained access to our dwelling. But bad
books come into our homes unchallenged and
remain for years where we should not think
OF tolerating bad people. And then, If a man
comes to US advocating wrong principles, a
feeling Of antagonism is aroused against
him. and we instinctively seek TO confute his
arguments. But bad books steal into our
homes as quietly as Satan stole into Eden,
and whisper their Establishments into the
ears OF our children as .sseductlvely as the
tempter whispered his evil suggestions into
the ear Of our mother Eye, and yet awaken
very little hostility from those who ought to
guard our homes-all that remains to us OF
the primitive Eden-as the cherubim guard
ed Paradise with flaming swords. But this
danger which comes from bad books Is not
confined TO children and young people. We
have been told Of late that much Of our wall
paper has arsenic in it. But there Is a still
more dangerous poison than arsenic In many
OF our daily newspapers. No mau can read
newspaper yeay after year that caricatures
churches, and rldicules Christian people.
that gives more Of its space to one bad min
lister who has disgraced his sacred Office than
to one thousand pure and self-sacrifcing men
who labor day and night 10 make this world
better; that sees only the faults and foibles
OF good men, and magnifes the exceptional
good traits OF villains; no man, l say, can
read such newspaper for any considerable
length OF time without experiencing grad
ual letting down OF his moral tone, and a per.
ceptible weakening Of his whole moral
FIBRE"
MFR. Wilson described some Of the evil ef-
fects OF bad literature, speaking also of the
unfavorable influence Of too much novel
reading upon the minds Of the young. In
closing he gave these three rules for reading
MY first rule Is, read only the very best.
Do not waste your whole time dawdling over
newspapers. While 1t Is we'll to read daily a
concise statement Of current nows, ana
while every church member should subscribe
for one good, religious newspaper, still let us
remember that too much reading Of newspa-
pers Is one OF the chief intellectual sins OF
our day. Much Of this reading weakens the
mind and lncapacitates us for all serious
thought. There are an abundance Of good
books In the world, far more than any Of u:
| Will ever nave time to read. Let US, there
fore, resolve to read only the very best.
My second rule Is, Read what you do read
slowly and carefully. 1t Is better to master
one book than to skim over twenty books
| IT. says an eminent writer, you measure
the value Of study by the insight you get in.
| TO subjects, not by the power Of saying you
have read many books, you will soon per
| ceive that no time Is so badly saved as thai
which Is saved in getting through book in
a hurry. For II, to the time you have given
you. had anded little more, the
subject would have been fixed on
| your mind, and the whole time proftably
employed. Whereas, upon your present ar
| rangement, because you would not give q
little more, you have lost ALL No com.
| plant Is more common among readers, than
| that they are unable to remember what they
read. This, friends, is the sure penalty
/ which follows hasty reading. Any man who
| will read book slowly, and take pains Il
understand every word and every sentence
that he reads, will find it extremely difficult
/ W that "a IN fhnQ Qor fnll lltyr
"And now my last rule is: Read God.
| word more and more each year. Read 4
carefully. Read 1t prayerfully. Read it OF
your knees: Pray God TO open your spirit
ual eyes, that you may behold wondrou'
| When Samuel johnson was an old mar, III
gave this advice TO young friend who cams
| to him and asked him what books he should
read: Young man. said the great moralist
attend to 1.-THE voice Of one who has possessed
| certain degree Of fame, and who will
shortly appear before His Maker. Read th,
bible every day OF your life.' And cannot
do better, dear friends, than to close witt
| these words: Whatever else you may read
or may refrain from reading, read the bibl,
every day of your lte, need not stop q
tell you that this is the best Of all books"
When Lieut.. Greedy was shut in blythe ic,
OF the North Pole, the bible was his best
companion. When Stanley went across th'
torrid wastes Of Africa, the one book which
ne did not throw away was the bible
PREBLE CHAPEL.
At the Preble Chapel last evening, Rev
Mr.. Phelan opened the services with pTayel
and scripture reading. The choir then sanl
with much taste and Mrs. DR.. Files rendered
a solo finely. Interesting speaking was fur
nished by Rev. Q. II. Shinn, r. ii. Murphy
j. A. Magnusson, Rev. DIR. n. T. Whitaker
and Mr.. Johr Hale of Massachusetts, A
collection was taken for the Finch Monu
ment Fund.
The building owned by w. z. Whitehouse
corner of Dexter and Winthrop streets, Au
gusta, was partially burned Saturday eve