Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-03-28
READING.


By Rev a. Is. MeIdrum.
At the Central Presbyterian church
Sunday night, Rev. A. b. Meldrum
preached the first OF series of sermons on
reading. his subject being "The ChrisN
tians, Select Reading" The text was
| from
| ITiuothy, iv:13: give attendance to read
ing.
Mr. Meldrum said, christian character
as to depth, consistency and permanence
will be powerfully effected by reading.
II single word spoken by a friend can
under some circumstances stir the soul
into activity, much more may the words
of some wise and gifted author whose
sentiments are calmly reviewed in all
their harmsny and connections; not only
the hearing of the truth from the pulpit
can set aside the necessity for reading,
A protesting christian, who Is utterly in~
different to good books. unavoidably
creates fear as to the sincerity and sta
bility of his relgion-such christian
may enter heaven, hut he will enter
spiritually manned, and will never reach
those souls, who, in the life, drank in
light and life from every fountain in
which they could be found. The Apos~
tie Paul knew the value of this practice
when he said to the young Apostle Tim
othy, "Give attendance unto reading"
He knew the tendancY of good reading
to form large, active and aggressive
minds And il ever the church of God
needed such minds it is now when every
step of her progress has to be fought for.
and ntidel and fanatic are in league to
destroy her.
The bible claims our first attention.
DR.. johnson said that the reason why so
many literary men disbelieve the bible is
that they are ignorant of its contents, and
the same may be the reason why so many
fail even to read this Book Divine"
The christians who are most eminent for
firmness, wisdom and Catbolicity are
those whose minds are best stored with
scriptural truth. The experience of all
who with diligence, preparation and
prayer search the scriptures. is the i'm
porlation of new life, strength and ro,
business to the christian character. Next
to reading scriptures themselves, the
reading of repository works Is the most
edifying to which the mind can brace
itself. Revelation is always revealing
itself. Believing men who are free from
intellectual pride are daily discovering in
the word of God what has been hidden
from the "wise and prudent" from the
beginning of the world. They do not be
hold new and primary truths. but they
behold new and glorious radiati0ns of
the light which proceeds from those
which are ancient as well as primary. |
Often is the soul excited and reused into |
action by reading the works of such men |
Next to scripture and scripture ex>
position, individual history or biogra
ply is the most profitable reading.
Sacred biography not only holds truth
before the mind, but truth in action.
The create. number of instances of sane
tilted human life we can bring within the
compass of our reflection, the more en-
larged will be our views of the unsearch-
able riches of Jesus Christ.
Tie direct tendency of such reading ia
to hallow the memory and Imagination.
If we would regard the human mind ac>
cording to its nature and capacities, we
must be among the advocates of sound
taste and useful truth, and the men of
learning who have claims upon our high
regard-and above all adherents OF the
word of God as the choicest the earth
contains Let us read pure books, books
suggestive only Of pure thoughts;
thoughts make the man. They are the
parent of feeling and of action. They
constitute mainly mans being, rules his
life and determine his destiny. Let a
man keep out from his mind all evil
thoughts and he is in no danger, his life
will take care of itself. The most suc>
cessful way of getting darkness out of
room is to let light in. So the most
successful way to get rid of evil thoughts
is to store the mind with useful truth,
which can best be accomplished by a
careful and cultivated religious
reading The hours spent in this way {
will not be lost, the fruit here gathered
shall be laid up with eternal life. /