The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1891-03-11

into my household" II your children
were threatened with typhoid fever
would you have time to go for the
doctor? Would you have time to watch
the progress Of the disease? Would you
have time for the funeral? In the pres
ence Of my God warn you OF e. fact
that your children are threatened with
moral and spiritual typhoid, and that
unless the thing be stopped it will be to
them funeral Of body, funeral OF mind,
funeral Of soul. Three funerals in one
day.
Ny word is to this vast multitude OF
young people: Do not touch, do not
borrow, do not buy corrupt book or
corrupt picture. A book will decide
mans destiny for good or for evil. The
book you read yesterday may have de-
cided you for time and for eternity, orit
may be book that may come into your
possession tomorrow.
A good book-who can eXaggerate its
power? Benjamin Franklin said that
his reading of Cotton Mather's Essays
to do Good" in childhood gave him holy
aspirations for all the rest of his life.
George Law declared that a biography
he read in childhood gave him all his
subsequent properties A clergyman
many years ago. passing to the far West,
stopped ut hotel. He saw woman
copying something from Doddridge's
"Rise and Progress" 1t seemed that
she had borrowed the book, and there
were some things she wanted especially
to remember. The clergyman had in
his satchel copy Of Doddridge's "Rise
and Progress" and so he made her a
present of it. Thirty years passed on.
The clergyman came that way and
he asked where the woman was, whom
he had seen long ago. They said:
"She lives yonder in that beautiful
house." He went there and said to
her: 'Do you remember me?" She
said: "No, l do not" He said: "Do
you remember man gave you ''Dodd-
ridges Rise and Progress" thirty years
ago?" 80, yes; remember. That
book saved my soul. loaned the book
to all my neighbors, and they read it
and they were converted to God, and
we had a revival Of religion which swept
through the whole community. We
built church and called pastor.
You see that spire yonder, don't you?
That church was built as the result OF
that book you gave me thirty years
ago." o, the power of good book
But, alasl for ahe influence of bad
book. John Angel James, than
whom England never had a holier
minister, stood in his pulpit al
Birmingham and said: Twenty-Five
years ago lad loaned TO me an infamous
book. lie would loan it only fifteen
minutes and then had to give it back;
but that book has haunted me like a
specter ever since. have in agony Of
soul, on my knees before God, prayed
that he would obliterate from my soul
the memory Of It; but shall carry the
damage of it until the day of Ely death
The assassin Of Sir William Russell de
clared that he got the inspiration fol-
his crime by reading what was then a
new and popular novel, "Jack Shep
pard." Homer's "Illiad" made Alexan
der the Warrior. Alexander said SO
The story OF Alexander made Julius
Cesar and Charles XII. both men O.
blood. Have you in your pocket or il
your trunk, or in your desk at business
bad book, bad picture, bad pam
phlet? In Gods name warn you Il
J destroy IL.
Another way in which we shall fight
back this corrupt literature and kill tn,
frogs of Egypt is by rolling over then
, the Christian printing press, which shal
, give plenty of healthful reading to al
|, adults. All these men and women are
reading men and women. What arC
, you reading? Abstain from all thosC
books which, while they hnA some
good things about them, hN,s also ar
, sdmixture OF evil. You have read books
: that had two elements in them-thC
good and the bad. Which stuck to you
The bad! The heart of most people Is
like sieve, which lets the small parti
, cles Of gold fall through, but keeps thC
great cinders. Once in awhile there
Is 4 mind like a loadstone, which
plunged amid steel End brass filings
. gathers up the steel and repels the
brass But il is generally just the op
} posite- II you attempt to plunge
: through n fence of burrs to get one
blackberry, you will get more burr,
TO read bad book, however good you
are. Yon say: "The influence is insig
nifcant.7 tell you that the scratch OF
pin has sometimes produced the lock-
, jaw. Alas, II through curiosity az
: many do, you pry into an evil book
, your curiosity is as dangerous as that
, Of the man who would taloe torch
| into gunpowder mill merely tC
, see whether II would really blow
up or not. In q menagerie, man
, put his arm through the bars Of q
: black leopard's cage. The animals
, hide looked so sleek, and bright and
, beautiful He Just stroked It once
The monster seized him, and he drew
forth hand torn, and mangled, and
bleeding. o, touch not evil even with
the faintest stroke! Though II may be
, glossy and beautiful, touch Il not, lest
, you pull forth your soul torn and bleed
, ing under the clutch Of the black leop
, ard. But" you say, ''how can I find
} out whether book is good or bad with.
out reading it?" There is always some
thing suspicious about a bad book. !
never knew an exception-somethine
suspicious in the index or style Of Illus
tration. This venomous reptile almost
: always carries warning rattle.
The clock strikes midnight. A fair