Milford chronicle., 1904-12-23
CalnaQe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Tslnase, D. D.

Los Angeles, Cal, Dec. 1S.-In this
bookmaking age, and particularly at
the season when presses are turning
out the largest Of the years literary
output, the preacher in this sermon
gives some timely advice as to the
choice Of books. The text is Ecclesias-
tes xii. -, "Of making many books
there Is no ond"
Admit Only the Best.
A mans library, in the first place,
should be like the sanctuary Of his
heart, into which he admits only his
best friends. It should have room for
only very few and a carefully chosen
collection of books. These should be
read and reread and read again. Like
our dearest friends. they should enter
into the very warp and wOof Of our
being. Their thoughts should become
our thoughts, and their teaching should
be translated into the actions Of our
lives. They should not be mere person
alities with whom we have only
speaking acquaintance. They should
not be those half strangers to whom
we have to be reintroduced every time
we meet them away from our homes.
They should become integral parts OF
our mental, moral and spiritual being.
We should be so sure Of their wisdom
that we can accept them as our guides,
TO inspire us to right thinking, right
speaking and right acting. Rare indeed
are such booksI When they have been
found, they should be treasured as
more precious than gold, but let US not
expect to find many Of them.
"a library to have only room for
few books? What do you mean by that
assertion?" some one says. 'Why, l
always thought the more books man
reads the better he is educated, taking
for granted, of course. that the books
he reads are good books. My parents
educated me along these lines. When
/ was growing up my mother used to
give me 10 cents for every book !
would read. The result was could
read whole book through in a couple
of days Thus in my time have read
all of the popular novelists. In the
same way, by my rapidity of reading
] am able 90 some extent to keep
abreast of the literature of this day.
Oh no; you are wrong. The more
books man reads the more he knows.
The less a man reads the less he will
know. Reading said Lord Bacon,
makes q full man.
Am I wrong? l believe today that
one Of the curses of this age is too
much reading and too little thinking.
Men and women cram themselves with
a lot of mentally undigested literature
in the same way that many people be-
come gormands at a dining table. 1t
is not the amount of food you put into
your stomach that makes you a strong
man; it is the amount of food you di-
Eest. We should think a man very
silly who said: Il want to make my
self a physical giant. l am therefore
going to eat enough food for ten men.
At breakfast l will have the cook
bring to me three pounds of beefsteak
and dozen eggs and half bushel Of
mashed potatoes, and 1 will sit there
and try to eat them all. When dinner
comes around l will try to eat whole
leg of mutton, and when supper comes
a great big roast of beef" What
would happen? His digestive organs
would revolt His body would be rack
ed with pain. Perhaps peritOnitis
would set in, and death would be the
result Of his folly.
Literary Commands.
Now. as some gormands abuse their
stonachs with too much eating, so
some gormands for mental food abuse
their brains with too much reading.
They stuff their minds with whole
piles of indigestible literary food. They
read and they read and they read.
They keep on reading and never think
or care about what they are reading.
They read until at last their brains alb
solutely refuse to do any independent
blinking. Their brains become like n
great sponge filed with water, sodden
and heavy and inactive, Of no earthly
use to anybody or anything. What you
ought to do is not to see how many
books you can skim through, but how
many books YOU can master.
The influence of a Book.
How many men have been ruined for
time and eternity by the influence of
one bad bookl Am l describing the
experience Of any of you when | imag-
inc a scene of demoniac siege and con
quest? For many years Satan was
irving to batter down the doors OF
your fathers Christian home. Again
and again he had charged upon that
carefully guarded stronghold to cap
ture your heart, but again and again
he had failed. Satan would come up
20 that front door and he would hear
the family singing at evening and
morning prayers and he could not get
in. He tried to entiee you away from
the straight path of virtue, but your
Christian parents had surrounded you
with so many pious influences that II
was almost an impossibility to break
them down.
At last Satan became completely dis
couraged. He called a council Of war
of all his fiends to plan for your de-