Ethics of Novel Reading
“The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest,
bring with thee and the books, but especially the
parchments.” II Timothy iv: 13.
THIS TEXT is an index to the poverty of Paul. He could not afford to buy a new cloak to keep him warm in the damp, chilly atmosphere of his Roman prison. It is an index also to his love of literature. The books and the parchments may include many kinds of books, sacred and profane.
Every one knows that Paul was a diligent student of
the Scriptures, but it is evident that he also read other
books. In his sermon at Athens, recorded in Acts xvii,
he quotes from the poet Aratus: u For we
PAUL read are aso s offspring.” Aratus was a native of Silicia, Paul’s native country, and he doubtless became familiar with his writings before his conversion. Aratus flourished about 270 B. C. He was poet and astronomer. The poem which has come down to us is entitled “Phenomena,” and was so esteemed by the Romans that Cicero himself translated it into Latin. Aratus became the court physician of the king of Macedonia, and was very popular.
In Titus i: 12 Paul quotes from Epimenides: “The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.” Epimenides, born about 600 B. C, was poet, pagan prophet, and writer on political subjects. He was the Rip Van Winkle of his time, and it is possible that Washington Irving borrowed his quaint fancy from a tradition which says that, while Epimenides was keeping sheep, he went into a cave and, falling asleep, did not awake until after fifty -seven years, when he came forth from his slumber with a large increase of wisdom and inspiration. He wrote a poem on u The Voyage of the Argonauts,” He was invited by Solon to Athens, that he might give the
Rev. A. C. Dzxo7t)s Sermons
sanction of his sacred presence to the purification of the city, just before Solon published his code of laws. The Athenians offered him great wealth, but he refused it, and accepted only a branch of the sacred olive. A legend states that he lived to be nearly three hundred years old.
In I Corinthians xv: 33 Paul quotes from Menander: “Evil communications corrupt good manners.’’ Menander was a Greek dramatist who flourished about 342 B. C. He was a friend of Epicurus, and lived in true epicurean style, surrounded by great wealth. He wrote about one hundred comedies, some of which still survive. In these comedies married ladies are represented as the plague and bore of their husbands’ lives. Some of his sayings are pithy and pointed: “Poverty is the most easily cured of all evils; any friend can do it by merely putting his hand in his pocket.” u People who have no merit of their own generally boast of their ancestors, but every living man has ancestors or he would not be a living man.” u Many a young lady says a great deal in her favor by saying nothing at all.”
But Menander, with all his learning and wit, was a pagan infidel. He did not believe that the gods had anything to do with human affairs. Everything, according to his creed, was determined by inexorable law.
It will be seen from these quotations that Paul had read the pagan poets, philosophers, and even an infidel writer, that he might inform himself as to the beliefs of the people and be able to meet their errors.
Books are living things. They have heads, and hearts, and arteries, through which courses intellectual and moral blood, good or bad. They make and unmake character. In some of them are galleries ofook^R with pictures rivalling the masterpieces of Raphael and Angelo, while in others there is an inferno of misshapen, distorted monsters. Some charm you with exquisite music, wrhile others try your nerves by their harsh discords. In some you see the clash of armies and hear the crash of falling empires; in others there is the quiet of life forces at work building in peace the family, the church and the nation. Some
Ethics of Novel Reading
books bring you manna from heaven, while others offer only the leeks and garlic and onions of Egypt. Some carry with them an atmosphere of health-giving ozone, while others bring only death-dealing miasma. Some uplift and purify, while others degrade and pollute. Some are ministering angels, while others are wrecking demons.
The establishment of a library may call for congratulation or commiseration. It all depends upon the kind of books that fill its shelves. Mr. Carnegie had better establish in every ward of our cities a pest house, full of contagious diseases, than a library of books unwisely chosen and freely circulated. Every revolution of our great printing presses means an uplifting toward heaven or a push toward hell.
John Angell James declares that he has never recovered from the effect of reading a bad book for fifteen minutes. Nicholas Farrar taught a useful lesson in a unique way when, while he was dying, he ordered a havtdonjP friend to go and select a spot for his grave, and then commanded him to gather from his library all the worthless books, that they might be burned upon this spot before he was buried. When William Wilberforce and Isaac Milner were starting on a journey to Scotland it was suggested that they take with them and read together Dodridge’s “Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul.” The reading of this book led Wilberforce to Christ, and through him gave freedom to the slaves of the British empire. A glance into Dr. Watts’ hymn-book for children saved Walter Scott from suicide. Captain Cook’s u Voyages” made William Carey a foreign missionary, and gave the Bible, in their own tongues, to over two hundred millions of the human race. Carey’s published letters sent Henry Martin to India. Buchanan’s u Star in the East” led Adoniram Judson from New England to Burmah, and gave to the church one of the greatest missionaries in its history. It was the reading of Dr. Dick’s u Philosophy of the Future State” which sent David Livingston as the evangel of Christ into the Dark Continent.
No wonder that a man who knows the value of books delights in their company. Petrarch refused to die any* where else than in the midst of his books. While Walt el Scott was dying he had his attendants wheel him into his library at Abbotsford. The ebbing strength of BOOKS F Southey was used in stroking and fondling the books which he was not then strong enough to read. Paxton Hood tells of a young man whose only regret at dying was that in heaven he would not have any books to read. His old pastor assured him that he would there meet the souls of books — the spirits of the men who wrote them. Yes, and I have little doubt that there wTill be real books in heaven. Certainly the Book of Life is there, and the book with the seven seals; and why not other books for the delectation of the saved?
All this is preparatory to saying that one needs to be very careful as to what kind of books he reads or permits those under his guardianship to read. No one can read a book without being helped or hurt.
The best novels are biographies of common people.
The characters in Dickens we have met. They were
men, women and children whom Dickens knew and
whose lives he wrote. He delighted in
torea^1^ givinS to the world “The Simple Annals of the Poor.” Novels which give imaginary characters and situations that are unnatural and impossible are freaks of literature, and those of the French variety, wdiich revel in realistic portrayal of uncleanness, can be purified only by fire. Open the furnace door and put them in; then shut the door, lest the polluted smoke should fill the house and scatter contagion. Books written by men and women known to be vicious in life had better be avoided. A clean thing cannot come out of an unclean. Some one has said that history is simply “his story.” It is the personal coloring which the historian gives to facts. Magnify that thought and you have the historical novel. The books which novelists write may give a better picture of the times than the cold, matter-of-fact historian. When, however, the novel reading spirit becomes a passion to the extent that it ignores other books — reading and revelling in novel after novel — it is pernicious. It is apt to intoxicate the imagination, keep
Ethics of Novel Reading
reason in abeyance, foster feverish excitement, dull conscience, and in the end bring collapse of nerves if not of character. The novel should be to our mental diet what the desert is to dinner. A moderate quantity may aid digestion and health; but, if tempted by the rich flavoring, we make our dinner of desert, bad health will be the result.
It is safe to observe three rules in selecting books:
First. Read, first of all, the books which are already classic and known to be good. The literary firmament
is full of these stars of the first magnitude. reading Second* Avoid books which you know are immoral or anti-christian. You would not read a book derogatory to the character of your wife or mother, whom you know to be true and good; neither will I read a book derogatory to Christ and His religion, which I have tested and know to be true. The character of Jesus is no longer an open question. It has been settled by the concensus of the ages, and we cannot in justice to truth listen to inuendos against Him and His religion.
Third, Do not read a book just because it is new and suddenly popular. Wait a year, and you may be saved the trouble.
The Athenian taste, “which wants the new rather than the true, is not a healthy intellectual state, and should not be fostered.
Read the Book of Books. The Bible is the sun in the heavens, around which all other good books are but planets. Read it for its history, its biography, its laws, it prophecies, and, above all, for its gospel, TO^EAl)K wni°h it gives us in the revelation of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. “Hand me the Book,” said the dying Walter Scott. “What book?” replied his secretary. “There is only one book,” he answered, as he pointed to the Bible on the table. There are times in life when there is only one book in the world. This book gives light in darkness, guidance in perplexity, strength in weakness, wisdom in ignorance, and hope in despair. Study and cherish it as the richest literary heritage of God to man.