The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1903-11-07
is THE BIBLE BEING
NEGLECTED.?
Copyright. 1908. By ]. N. Edison,
More Bibles In the World But Too Little Bible Reading

! IN Placing the BLDG In the nanuS OF IN
individual. 1t remains practically
closed book, not even to be opened ono
week on Sunday because the Sunda
newspaper has usurped its place, Is
not neglected Book? Some people.
Mr.. Moody used to say. have yer!
small Bible. for they only read the par
they like and leave the rest alone" ant
1t might be added that the great major
fly of people have no Bible at all be-
cause they do not read a single wore
or sentence out of its pages for weeks Of
months or years together. And ! ven
ture to say that II you were to make O
house to house canvass In your commun-
ity you would be surprised and shocked
to find out how many homes are with
out Bible or Testament. In the Sec
ton of the city where live. and which
is peculiarly blessed with many
churches, Sunday schools and missions.
such canvass was made during the past
summer, and dozens Of homes were
found which did not possess single
page of the printed Word of God. But
the weekday and Sunday newspaper.
the magazines and journals came into
| those homes. though, while the Bible did
not have even an honored place under a
mantle OF dust on the high shelf. And
within stones throw of the church we
found child OF nearly twelve years
who had no intelligent idea OF who
Christ was. She had heard the name
used in profanity on the street, but had
10 10 nd n
know who Christ was. Think of It! Is
not the Bible neglected? we ask.
T has been said. and truthfully, that
l 1t is impossible to mentally, or social
ly. enslave Bible-reading people. The
great scientist, Huxley. in declaring that
the Bible as an educational and moral
influence in community and nation
was unsurpassed, substantiated his
claim by asking us to consider the
great historical fact that for three GEN.
turtles this Book has been woven into
the life of all that is noblest and best
in our history, and that II has become
the national epic Of our race; that 1t Is
written In the noblest and purest Eng
fish, and abounds in exquisite beauties
of mere literary form; and finally. that
Is forbids the veriest hind, who never
left his village. to be ignorant Of the ex-
istence Of other countries and other
civilizations and OF great past. stretch
Ing back to the furthest limits Of the
Oldest nations in the world" John
Wesley exclaimed: Let me be homo
unius libri "a man OF one book) and that
book the Bible" The great. the noble
Lincoln is said to have built up his en-
tire reading upon his early study Of the
Bible. He was man of one book. "
and instinctively put into practice In
his lofty craftsmanship what he had
been taught from the Bible. Ruskin' 8
testimony Of the influence and power of
the Bible upon his life is as follows:
MY mothers list of chapters with
which she established my soul in life,
and Of which learned every syllable ac-
curately. were, Exodus Is and 20; III.
Sam. /. 5, II to end; I. Kings s; Psalms
%, 80. 90. 81, 1903. 112, 119, 139;
Proverbs. 2. 3, s, ~; Isaiah IS; Matthew
I. !,
Revelation S, 6. And truly, though !
have picked UP the elements Of a little
further knowledge in mathematics
meteorology and the like, in after
life, and owe not a little to the
teaching of many people, this maternal
installation Of my mind in that proper
ty OF chapters count very confidently
the most precious and. on the whole
the one essential part Of my education
Gladstone declared that the men who
are called to the highest positions OF
trust are men who have built their lives
on the impregnable rock of Holy Scrip.
ture." And what more need we say oil
the power and influence OF the Bible
upon individual lives and upon the live.
of nations?
. UT remember that II was the reat
u Bible which exerted this influence
IT, closed and neglected Bible Is no
more potent than SO much blank paper
binding thread and cover. There ar,
more Bibles in this country to-day thar
ever before-millions upon millions o
them-but IL they are not opened an,
read of what practical good are they
1t may be comforting for you to know
that you have a handsomely boun,
Bible on your center table. and you ma
dust It of regularly and even reverently
but II you never look inside. IL you d
not read its message. any other boo
or plaster paris image of some god o
goddess might as well be in its plac,
To girdle the earth with Bibles, to la
I in every country on the globe a mosai
of Bibles, will not enlighten the peopl
, or draw them nearer to God, unless TIL
books are opened and read. And her
| Is where the Bible Is neglected. FIT,
D one hundred years ago. when book
{ we're few and costly, when magazine
r were almost unknown, when the SUI
: day newspaper was not even dreame
e of by even the most irreligious and vi
!, godly, the Bible was the one book |,
5 least which every home possessed An
5 IL was read, reverentiy read. And M
. only was II read but 1t was memorize,
II was Bible-reading people which lai
the foundations of this nation broad an
deep. Bible-reading fathers and Bibl,
reading mothers gave to the succeedin