The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-25

as lifetime companions because first ana
last and intrinsically ,ney were written
to teach us the duties of the spiritual
life We should read them because they
were written to teach us how to love the
Lord our God with all our heart and soul
and mind and strength, and our neighbor
as ourselves.
Books For Laymen.
Limit my reading to books written
for spiritual edification?" says some one.
THAT is unreasonable You would not
turn the home sitting room at night into
the class room of a theological professor.
You would not tell the whole human
race to study theology as If they were
young men studying for the ministry.
Why should layman read such books
as Cotton Mather's Essay on Doing
Good or Laws Serious Call to Devout
and Holy Life, or Bunyan's Pilgrims
Progress or Thomas A. Kempis 'Med-
tations, or Richard Baxter's Saints
Everlasting Rest? The only rest I could
get from reading such books as those
would be to go sound asleep over them.
l might, perhaps. stay awake for little
while In reading some of the light religi-
Gus books, like Elizabeth Stewart
Phelps Gates Ajar' or Elizabeth Pay
sons Stepping Heavenwood,' but 1t would
not be for long. No. I never did like re-
HkibuS DOOhS w iltn j Tedut L Tedu IOT
fun and mental improvement. You must
not expect laymen. and especially young
people, to read the same books as do the
minister's"
Not except laymen to read the same
kind OF literature as ministe rs? No. But
I would have laymen use common sense
in their selections of books. l would
have them treat the brain in reference
to its mental food ON the same principle
as we would treat the physical body. You
restrict your stomach to one kind OF diet
long enough and you will starve your
physical body to death, no matter what
kind of food you may take. What did
your husband die Off" | asked a lady
some time ago. From starvation" she
answered. HE had an incurable disease
but that disease did not directly kill him.
We could only feed him on beefsteak and
toast We bought him the very best
steak in the market, but beefsteak has
not all the ingredients in 1t to support
life. and so he gradually starved and
passed away" Are you going to restrict
your mind and soul to only one kind Of
mental food? If you are a broker, Is the
full extent Of your reading to be found
in perusing the columns of stock mar
kets in the morning newspapers? II you
are a lawyer, are you only going to read
about the forensic giants of the past who
| WOH their int11OTdDle NlclOTleS ut IIt DIT
| or spend most of your time In studying
your new cases? If you are a tired
mother when night comes and all tho
children are in bed are you going to sim
| ply while away your evening hours
| reading a novel and crying over some
princess who never lived? With what
books are you feeding your soul? I am
not talking about the Bible now. What
other books are you reading that are
n
and spiritual life? Are you reading any
such books at all?
Greatest Book of All.
But, If it is necessary for us to read
spiritual books for mental food, how
much more necessary is 1t that we as
Christian students should read and love
that greatest of all books which God has
given to us to be our guide We have
read how the great masters of literature
loved their books. DR.. Geikie tells us
that when Henry Thomas Buckle, the
distinguished historian, was dying his last
words on earth were. My poor books
my poor booksn y" When Leibnitz died
he died with one of his precious books In
his hand. When Death came to call
Robert Southey he found him an old,
white haired man, kissing and storking
the books he was too weak to open and
too blind to read Ciceros create de-
sire on earth was expressed in the
words, "Oh, take all that l have. but
leave me my books." Could there be a
better picture than that which Cunning
ham Gellzie drew of the love which these
masters in literature bore their books
Should that love be greater than the love
Christians ought to bear the book Of
books which God gave to us to show us
the way of life? If spiritual books are
essential for our mental food should we
not feed upon this book, which is wholly
divine?
/ want you to class books among the
best Of friends and the worst Of enc
mics AS Loyola the wounded soldier of
fortune became Loyola the soldier of
Christ by reading 1.-The Lives of the
Saints" so I want the good books to
hit you and purify you and make you a