Reading Good Books

The Bible is the Book of books, but there are other good books that will whet the appetite for the Bible. Too few, we fear, realize how important for our spiritual advancement is the reading of good spiritual books. Those who do not have a taste for such reading labor at a disadvantage. They need not be discouraged, however; a taste can be cultivated. The most spiritual men of all ages have been those who had an ardent love for reading spiritual books.

The reading of a good spiritual book invigorates the intellect, warms the affections, begets in us a desire for more of God’s fullness, and for greater heavenliness of life. It is especially helpful to prayer. When the mind is dull and the spirits low and we have no inspiration for prayer, the reading of a good spiritual poem will often so stimulate the mind, raise the spirits, and animate the soul, as to make it easy to pray.

Too many young people waste moments in day-dreaming. Better be reading some good book that stirs the heart to seek more earnestly the things that are real and true.