Books of Reference by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 14, 1882

Books of Reference.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

A most excellent thing for every minister to do in his studies, is to have constantly with him, and easy to get at, a few books of reference.

1. Webster's Dictionary. Questions as to the spelling, the pronunciation, or the meaning of a word, must constantly arise in reading, writing, and conversing. With a dictionary at hand, it requires but a minute to look up the word. Then you have learned something. It has taken but a moment; but these little bits added day after day are what make well-informed, intelligent men. Neglecting these, many a man goes stumbling and blundering through his work all his life.

2. An atlas. It is also an excellent thing to have a common atlas at home for reference. When in reading a book or a paper, a place is mentioned with which you are not familiar, turn to your atlas and look it up. Then you will read your article with much more interest and profit than before. In this way you will shortly become thoroughly acquainted with all the important places on the earth.

3. Burton's Dictionary of Universal Biography. This is another good book for reference. It helps one greatly when the name of some prominent city-man is mentioned, to look it up, to see who he was, where and when he lived, etc. A little knowledge gained daily in this way will, in a few years, make one quite familiar with the leading characters of history. Without some such aid, a person must always remain in ignorance of many of these facts.

4. A Bible Dictionary. This is really indispensable to the Bible student. He can scarcely read a chapter without finding something which he does not understand,—the pronunciation of a name, the location of a town, the meaning of an ancient custom, etc. A glance at his dictionary will give him valuable information never to be forgotten.

5. A Concordance. The value of this book need not be mentioned here. A minister cannot afford to be without one a single day.

But can a minister carry these books around with him in all his travels? Certainly he can, and will if he places anything like a proper value upon them. As our ministers have to labor, they must take these books with them, or they will seldom have the use of them. If they learn to get along without them weeks at a time when away from home, they will finally learn to do without them even when they are at home, and might use them. An extra satchel for this purpose can be carried with a little effort. As our ministers are now entering on a course of study, they will find these books of reference very valuable.

D. M. CANRIGHT.