The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1904-12-29
Galmaqe
sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talr1aee. D. d.

Qua the largest OF ffge years lster1r
output, the preacher in THIS sermcl
gives some tiuIslv adgice as to til
eboice Of books Tie text is Ecciesias
fes XII u. '.of MAKING many book
there is no end
Wendell Phillips for many year
went up ANA down tile land del;yerln,
a lecture entitled The Lost Arts.
Thai lecture was II most respects
eloriiication 81 the past. If however
We should halo tie present ana delirsi
a new lecture entitled The F6aas
Arts. almost without exception mos
OF rs would catalogue the art OF book
making as among the greatest of al
modern accomplishments IL our ego
tistir self complaceHcy many of IL
have long supposed th..t the ancionts
knew but little about books We look
upon the great English and American
and French and German and Russian
libraries as modern. developments
which would he just as incoinpreiiensi-
bic 10 our ancestors il they should SID
denly come to life as would be the fein
phone or the telegraph or the electric
Car OF the modern steam engine. Thus.
when some of Us today hear the wofsIs
of my text we are amazed. We say 10
each other, That did King solomon
mean When he said. OF making many
books there is 20 eld, and much study
Is Z WEAKNESS 10 The lesh' Were ihefo
many books III King soiomon's time,
or MS he IN propDefie vision hearing
the hangings AMI lie erasilings Of The
modern twertieth een1arE printing
press
10. iAiag Solomon Vas mot heatns
tie p4ngin2s ald e4asiiags vi siye
moeern printing ppss lie was listen
ing. however. 10 the seeatchines OF tha
seribes pens The bs-eki.ia.,ers Were
then very bnsv everywhere They
n4ass have been busy at that time
Homer tie greatest Of all poets both
living and dead. certainly lived and
wrote net mere than 4 few years after
solomon died. Thecsaides, Mistope-
anes, nemosthenes. sHeradotus ana So
;on. whose writings are placed among
the classics Of the ages. wrote their
thoughts only a few hundred years
after King Solomon lived. Five hun
dred years before solomon was born
The Lord said to Moses. Write this Tor
4 memorial in book. That Moses
was we'll qualified for the task We have
abundant proof. Long before his day
men had written books, cunbrolIs pre-
auctions III baked clay, that as a boy In
Egypt he had laboriously eonned. The
practice Of writing books was contin-
aed, and the ancient authors had be
cone 50 prolific that the author OF Ee-
clesiastes felt as most OF MS do in try
ing to dig our way out from amid the
Of the literature of the pres
ent day. s'Of milking nanE books.
there Is no end, tie wtsest 81 all iaen
cried 5000 years ago. .iof making
many books there Is no end we ery
IN the beginning of this twentieth CEN
tury.
Myriatls Of books surround lis. Ihe |
Congressional library alone has oyer |
11.op0.u00 OF them. The new librars |
has accommodations for 2,5sA0,-
poo more. making In all space for 4. 5o0
300 books Books, books. books. hooks. {
books everywhere in different /
forms as newspapers. books as maya
Etnes. books recording the histories 4of
natiuns. books as biographies. books III i
fictitious story or In novel form, books
n rhythmic meter or as poetry. books
IN sefmonic and theological disserta-
Hon, books as essays. There are mil.
lions and millions of thena-good books
and bad books. Now comes the prac-
Teal question. What shall We do with
these hooks? They come 10 us to as
list or retald, to REINFORCE or to ener-
rate US in the struggle OF life. How
hall we use them? How shall we lie
:ide which are helpful aud which are
INJURIOUS?
Admit Only the BEST.
a mans library. in the first place,
hould be like the sanctuary of his
cart, into which be admits only his
est friends. 1t should have room for
MY very few and carefully chosen
objection OF books. These should he
rad and reread and read again. Like
III dearest friends, they should eater
ito the very warp aud woof OF orr
cling. Their thoughts should become
Hr thoughts, and their teaching should
9 translated into the sections OF our
yes. They should not be mere person
titles with whom re have only il
M kline rrni1a II, aY,y.n s1,nx- x,s..,s,ssg