Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-12-23
Calnase
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank Dc Witt Talmase. D. ID.

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-
ties xii, 12, "Of making many books
there is no end"
Wendell Phillips for many years
went up and down the land delivering
a lecture entitled 1.-The Lost Arts"
That lecture was in most respects a
glorification of the past. If, however,
we should halo the present and deliver
new lecture entitled 1.-The Found
Arts" almost without exception most
of us would catalogue the art of book
making as among the greatest of ali
modern accomplishments. In our ego
tistic self complacency many OF us
have long supposed that the ancients
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 be just as incomprehensi-
bic to our ancestors IL they should sud-
denly come to life as would be the tele-
phone or the telegraph or the electric
car or the modern steam engine. Thus,
when some OF us today hear the words
of my text we are amazed. We say to
each other, What did King Solomon
mean when he said, OF making many
books there Is no end, and much study
is WEAKNESS to The flesh Were there
many books in King Solomou's time,
or was he in prophetic vision hearing
the bangings and the crashings of the
modern twentieth century printing
pressT"
No. King Solomon was not hearing
the bangings and crashings of the
modern printing press. He was listen
Ing, however, to the scrstchings of the
scribes' pens. The bookmakers were
then very busy everywhere. They
must have been busy at that time.
Homer, the greatest of all poets both
living and dead, certainly lived and
wrote not more than few years after
Solomon died. Thucydides, Aristoph-
anes, Demosthenes, Herodotus and So
lon, 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 for
a memorial in book" That Moses
was well qualified for the task we have
abundant proof. Long before his day
men had written books, cumbrous pro-
ductions In baked clay, that as boy in
Egypt he bad laboriously conned. The
practice Of writing books was contin-
ned, and the ancient authors had be-
come SO prolific that the author of Ec-
clesiastes felt as most of us do in try
Ing to dig our way out from amid the
avalanche OF the literature OF the pres
ent day. "Of making many books
there is no end" the wisest OF all men
cried 5000 years ago. "Of making
many books there is no end" we cry
In the beginning of this twentieth cen
fury.
myriads OF books surround us. The
Congressional library alone has over
100000 or them. The new library
building has accommodations for 2. co.,
600 more, making in ell space for 4. 5cO,-
600 books. Books, books, books, books.
books evsrywhere-books in different
forms as newspapers, books as maga-
zines. books recording the histories OF
nations, books as Biographies, books In
Fictitious story or In novel form, books
In rhythmic meter or rs poetry, books
In serm~nic and theological disserta-
ton, books rs essays! There are mil
lions and millions OF them-good books
and bad books. Now comes the prac-
teal question, What shall we do with
these books? They come TO us to as
Or ia 10 %
waite us In the struggle of life. How
shall we use them? How shall we de-
eide which are helpful and which are
injurious?
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. 1t should h.<'e room for
only very few and carefully chosen
collection OF books. These should DO
read and reread and read a,lin. Like
our dearest friends, they should enter
into the very warp and wool 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,
10 inspire us to right thinking, right
speaking and right acting Rare indeed
are such books! 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 n
few books? What do you mean by that
assertion" some one says. why, /
always thought the more books a man
reads the better he is educated. taking
Tor 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 a whole book through in a couple
OF days. Thus in my time have read
HI OF the popular novelists In the
same way, by my rapidity of reading,
en- able to 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.a-.Reading,' said Lord Bacon,
makes full man."
Am i wrong? believe today that
one OF the curses OF this age is too
much reading and too little thinking.
Men and women cram themselves with
lot OF mentally undigested literature
In the same way that many people be-
come gormands at a dining table. 1t
ts not the amount OF food you put into
your stomach that makes you a strong
man; 1t is the amount of food you di-
gest. We should think man very