Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-12-23

ought TO do is not 10 see how many
books you can skim through, but how
many books you can master.
Look out" says the old adage. "for
the man who is master of one book"
Look out. say l, for the master OF n
few great books. Too much reading
truly becomes WEAKNESS to the flesh.
Mr. Spurgeon I'm one of his sermons
quotes the invectiye which Lucian in
Disraelrs "Curiosities of Literature
makes against those men whose pride
is in n large library which they never
properly read and therefore cannot
profit by. "Such man Is LAc Il pilot
who has never learned the art OF navi.
cation or a cripple who wears embro.ti-
cred slippers and cannot stand upright
in them. Why do YOU buy SO many
books? You have no hair. and you pur-
chase n comb. You are blind, ana you
must need buy Al fine mirror. You are
deaf, and you will have the best music
al instruments" But the foolishness OF
buying library of books for the shelf
so that you can look upon their hand
some bindings is not to be compared in
its evil effects to the sin against the
ing. 1 protest against the 'cramming"
processes we have in our public schools.
protest against the ''cramming" proc
eSseS we have in our colleges j protest
against the lightning rapidity with
which men and women gallop through
their books in an evenings reading.
Buy fewer books. Master those books.
Read them over and over again and
make them integral parts OF your
selves. The discordant voices around
the tower of Babel could not have
been more helpless TO do good than are
the babbling tongues OF many books
which have been hastily read. Better,
far better, master few great books
than have n mere speaking acQuaint-
anee with thousand different books.
Myriads of books are coming forth
with outstretched hands, claiming our
welcome. We can only afford TO take
a few to our hearts. How important,
therefore, it is for us not to invite into
our sanctuary bad book! How i'm
portant it is for us not TO let our chill
dren read any bad books! And, above
all, how important 1t is not to have
any bad books at all upon our library
shelves or our sitting room table, But,
though all of us are very careful never
to have bottle OF arsenic or strych-
nine or laudanum or carbolic acid in
our medicine closet unless it is con-
spicuously and clearly labeled poi
son." yet many will allow the most
deadly of all mental, moral and spirit
ual poisons 10 come into our homes in
the shape of bad book, unlabelcd with
any danger signal We viii suffer the
evil virus of that poisonous book not
only to be inoculated into our own
hearts. but also into the hearts of our
loved ones.
The influence of n 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 l imag-
Inc n scene OF demOniac siege and con-
queStI For many years Satan was
trying 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
TO that front door and he would hear
the family singing at evening and
morning prayers, and lie could not get
IN. he tried to entice you away from
the straight path OF virtue, but your
Christian parents had surrounded you
with so many pious Influences that il
was almost an impossibility to break
them down.
Iact Sato,, l,a,,,..>
couraged. He called council OF war
of all his fiends TO plan for your de-
struction. Plot after plot was gone
over and pushed aside as useless. But
Just as the Satanic demons were about
TO scatter in utter dismny an arch fiend
spoke up and said: LET me try a flank
movement on that homo. Instead of
sending any more OF our stalwart ennis
saries OF flesh and blood TO that Chris
dan household let me write bad book
and slip IL in through the crack of the
open door into that young mans hands.
In that bad book / will open that
young mans eyes TO the pleasures of
sin / Will excite all his evil passions.
Before that young mans eyes I will
halo sin in as fascinating language as
Lord Byron ever did in his autobiog-
raphy OF Don Juan. In that book
through garden of fragrant roses /
viii lead that young man up to the
very gates of hell. will make him
think he Is approaching the gates OF
heaven Then, just ut the right mo-
ment, when that tempting book is
working its charms, we Will give that
Young man shove and push him into
the flames OF the bottomless pit"
"Ahaw cried the demons exultingly.
AHA, We will capture that young man
through the influence OF a bad book"
% man, am i going beyond the truth
when l state that your eyes were first
opened 10 the sins OF this world
through the influence OF a bad book?
And am l going beyond my right when
state that one OF the reasons, and the
chief one, that you are not what you
ought TO be in Christian character is
because every little while you allow
yourself to revel in scenes of wicked
ness and riot conjured up by the imag-
nation of some licentious author?
There you associate with characters of
that writer's creation so vile that you
would shrink from contact with them
If you We're introduced to them in the
flesh, but you are fascinated by the
glamour with which they are clothed in
his pages.
What Ia Your boy ReadinRs
But the fiendish heart OF a bad book
Is not satisfied with Staying one mem
Der OF a family. Like the fatal coils
OF the serpent OF Il LAGOON, 1t would
crush out the life Of a father and the
lives of his children also. o man,
your spiritual life may be poisoned by
bad books! Have you ever stopped to
think that Your children's spiritual
lives may be in the process OF being
poisoned by the same deadly fangs?
What is your boy doing in the next
room? He is reading" is your an
swer. What is he reading? 'Only a
book" What kind of a book is he
reading? Where did he get that book?