Lesson 10: The Work of Books
By G.R. Balleine
[Warning: Balleine was writing in the 1920s and 1930s, and his views and language reflect many at that time. However, as a time capsule of the prevailing beliefs, this can be very useful for the historians of that period.]
[Special Note: I find it amazing that Balleine countenances the burning of "bad books". He was writing in the 1920s between the wars, and I suspect that after the Nazi book burning in the 1930s that he would have changed his mind.]
PASSAGE TO BE READ : Proverbs i. 20-24.
TEXT TO BE LEARNT " How much better is it to get Wisdom than gold ! " (Prov. xvi. 16).
HYMNS : " Lord, Thy Word abideth," and " Hushed was the evening." COLLECTS for Seventh and Ninth Sundays after Trinity.
Aim : To make the class interested in good books. An expert has said : " If a youth has not learnt to love books before he is seventeen, there is but the most meagre chance that he will take to reading in after life." Since a teacher's task is to form good habits, here is one that we must not neglect.
I. GOD'S GIFT OF BOOKS.
(a) One sunny morning long ago a Queen sat surrounded by her family, a beautiful volume on her knee. It was long before the invention of printing, and books were rare and costly, for they had to be written out by hand. She read aloud some of the stirring old English ballads, and then told her boys that she would give the book to the one who first learned to read it. Some of the young Princes were big boys of fifteen and sixteen, but little Alfred, who was only twelve, learned to read it first, and won the prize. Later, when he became King of England, he said: " Books are one of God's best gifts to us, and He means us to use them." He sent for scholars from abroad to teach English people to read. He had the best books he knew translated into English. He had a large history of England written, and placed in Winchester Cathedral, so that all who would might come and read the story of their land.
(b) Last week we saw how much there is for us to learn from Nature. To-day we will think how much there is for us to learn from Books. Let us remember Alfred's words : " Books are one of God's best gifts to us." We know that all God's gifts are given to be used.
I. THE HISTORY OF BOOKS.
(a) The first step in the History of Books was the invention of the alphabet. In very ancient days, if you wanted to learn Wisdom, you had to find a wise man, and get him to talk to you. But wise men were not always easy to find, and, when they were found, perhaps they did not want to talk. It was a big step forward when it became possible to put knowledge into writing. But men only learnt very gradually to do this. The earliest writing was in pictures, and this still survives in some of the Chinese characters. The Chinese sign for " to listen " is a rough picture of an ear between two doors, and " impossible " is a foot standing on a wriggly line representing waves. At last it dawned on some ancient Egyptian that all words are made up of a very few sounds, and that it would be far simpler to have a symbol for each sound instead of for each object. It was soon found that less than thirty of these signs were needed. So some of the old picture signs were borrowed to represent sounds. They have been so altered in course of ages that it is hard to recognize that our capital A was once a picture of an eagle, or our Z once a picture of a duck. But we can still see that 0 represents an eye, and N the waves of the sea. When men learnt to use these signs, writing became possible.
(b) The next step was the invention of paper. The earliest books were very cumbrous things. Some were lumps of clay with the letters scratched on them, and then baked in the sun. There are hundreds of these in the British Museum. Then men tried to write on the inside of skins. The books of the Old Testament were probably written in this manner. Others wrote on thin wooden boards. But clay books and skin books and wooden books were very heavy and clumsy. Again it was an Egyptian who made the discovery that by taking the pith of the papyrus reed, which abounded in the Nile, mixing gum, pressing it flat, and drying in the sun, he could obtain a cheap and pleasant material to write on. By the time the New Testament books were written this discovery had been made.
(c) The third great step was the invention. of printing. Before that every book had to be copied by hand. About 1450 a poor German named John. Gutenberg had an idea. He said to himself : " If I cut a letter on a piece of wood, and ink it, and press it on paper, it will leave the mark of the letter behind. If I cut out all the letters of the alphabet, I can arrange them in any order I like, and print whole sentences." There were still many problems to be solved : how to fasten the type together, how best to put on the ink, how best to press the letters on the paper, and Gutenberg's secret experiments began to arouse the suspicions of his superstitious neighbours. They said that he must be practising witchcraft; but he fortunately found a deserted monastery, where he could work in peace. At last his problems were solved, and now books could be multiplied.
(d) One thing still was needed, and that was to make books cheap. At the beginning of the nineteenth century books were still dear and therefore rare, even Bibles. In 1800 Mary Jones, of Tynoddol, a young Welsh girl, wanted to read the Bible. The nearest copy was in a village seven 'Lies away, and she used to walk there every Saturday to read a few chapters. At last she saved up enough money to buy a Bible of her own, but she found that the Welsh Bible had gone out of print, and none could be obtained. A Welsh clergyman told the story of her disappointment at a London meeting, and this led to the foundation of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which has made Bibles cheap and plentiful. Improvements in the printing-press have enabled other publishers to print large cheap editions of other books. You and I have opportunities of reading which no one else in the world has ever had.
(e) Even in the old days, when books were very few, the writer of Proverbs told his son that it was possible to grow wise : that Wisdom was calling for learners. Read Passage. How much more would he say this to us
III. BOOKS AND THE BIBLE.
(a) The Bible has much to tell us about books. It reminds us that there are bad books that ought to be burnt. When St. Paul preached at Ephesus many of the new converts felt uncomfortable in their consciences about some of the books on their shelves ; so they made a bonfire in the street, and publicly burnt them " in the sight of all," and the value of the burnt books was £1,700 (Acts xix. 19).
[Note: I think that this is reprehensible. The text makes it clear it was books of sorcery, but after the book burning of the Nazi regime in 1933 - long after this book was published - I think no one can countenance the burning of books. Even bad books, and Mein Kampf is a very bad book, is available to read. What needs to be done with bad books are good books to counter their arguments.]
(b) It reminds us that it is possible to possess a good book, and yet neglect it so long that we forget its existence. Deuteronomy is one of the most beautiful books in the Old Testament. It was a great favourite with our Lord, as we can tell by the number of times that He quoted it. Yet there was a time when the Jews had forgotten that such a book existed. One day they were cleaning out the Temple, and in some lumber room they found an old roll of this book, which no man then living had ever read before (2 Chron. xxxiv. 14). Have you any books like that ? Is your Bible like that ?
(c) It shows us the value of books. When St. Paul was in prison, he longed for the books that had been left behind at the moment of his arrest. " When thou comest," he wrote, " bring with thee the books, but especially the parchments " (2 Tim. iv. 13). He was anxious too that his young friends should use the books they possessed. " Till I come," he wrote to Timothy, " give attention to reading " (1 Tim. iv. 13).
IV. BOOKS AND OURSELVES.
(a) Read good books. Books keep us out of mischief. Books enlarge the mind. Books make us more intelligent, and therefore more useful. To read is an adventure. When we open a book we start on a journey to the Spanish Main (Treasure Island), to a knights' tournament (Ivanhoe), with Alice to Fairyland, with Livingstone to Central Africa, with Scott to the South Pole, with King Arthur's Knights to find the Holy Grail.
This work-a-day world is so trying at times ;
Folks chatter and squabble like rooks ;
So the wise flee away to the best of all climes,
Which you enter through History, Memoirs or Rhymes,
That most wonderful Country of Books.
And griefs are forgotten. You go on a tour
More wondrous than any of Cook's ;
It costs you but little. Your welcome is sure.
Your spirits revive in the atmosphere pure
Of the wonderful Country of Books.
Call attention to the school Lending Library, the local Public Library, and any other means within the children's reach of obtaining books.
(b) Read the Best of Books. Make the children see that the Bible is not a dull book out of which lessons are given, but something full of interest that they should read for themselves. Here are thrilling stories of fights (Goliath), and murders (Sisera, Naboth, St. Stephen), and shipwrecks (St. Paul), and escapes from prison (St. Peter), and treachery (Betrayal of Samson), and plots (Haman). Here are sad stories (Jephthah's daughter), and love stories (how Jacob served seven years for Rachel) ; stories of courage (Daniel and the lions), and stories of cleverness (Solomon's judgement). And behind all these stories of men and women there is the most thrilling story of all—the story of how God governs the world and overthrows evil (Sodom, Pharaoh, Sennacherib, Belshazzar), and how the Son of God died to save the world. Just fancy, having a book like that, and leaving it unread
Posts
