Novel-Reading by Wm. E. Morton

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 12, 1871

Novel-Reading.

By Wm. E. Morton

This fascinating sin just as effectually poisons the mind as a deadly drug does the system; and yet how wide-spread is the evil. The habitual novel-reader is just as much a slave to his appetite for fiction as the drunkard is to his for liquor, or the smoker to his for tobacco. I know the above to be true from experience, and I would send forth a word of warning to those who are addicted to this habit, especially among the children of Sabbath-keepers.

The following is a sketch of my own experience, and if it awakens a sense of this great evil in the breast of one poor soul, so as to lead him to abandon the practice, it will have accomplished its purpose.

I commenced to read the N. Y. Ledger when only seven or eight years of age; but as I grew older, I found that that did not satisfy my mind’s desire for exciting reading. I must have more. So dime novels were added to the list. Still the cry was for more. And thus it was continually; the more I read, the more I wanted to read, until it was my whole aim and desire to procure some new story. And then I was lost to all external things until that was finished. The last four years, I read from four to six of the weekly papers each week, and every story book and novel I could obtain, which was a great many.

At last, the habit got such complete control of me that I could not read the Bible, the REVIEW, or any of our publications. I found no enjoyment in meeting, and for nearly one year I did not attend meeting on the Sabbath with my parents, but stayed at home to read stories. And now, at the age of only twenty-two, I find my memory greatly impaired, though I am naturally very quick to learn, with a power of memory naturally strong.

No one can realize how keenly I feel the loss, and how bitterly I regret the misspent years of my life. I had seen the evil for a number of years, and at times made up my mind to abandon the practice; but had not the courage to do so.

At last, there came a time that I must make a decision one way or the other. My mother had been sick for some five weeks, when one night father called me up at 3 o’clock, and there, as I supposed, by the bedside of my dying mother, I gave the required promise. From that hour she seemed to rally. The same week I went to camp-meeting, and there started for the kingdom. Blessed be the name of the Lord! for he has given me strength to keep my promise. I can truly say that I now take more enjoyment while reading one chapter in the Bible than I ever did in all the novels I ever read.

Dear reader, are you addicted to this great sin? If so, stop! stop now, ere it be too late. Don’t wait to see the end of that continued story, for by the time that is finished you will become interested in another one, and be no nearer leaving off than at first. I have tried it, and know this to be so. Oh! I beg of you, don’t waste any more of these precious moments in novel-reading. Soon Jesus is coming! He is even now at the door. Then let us work while the day lasts, that we may make our calling and election sure; for soon the night cometh in which no one can work, and are we ready? Pray for me that I may prove faithful, overcome every sin, and at last meet you in the kingdom.

WM. E. MORTON.

Portland, Maine.