Sabbath-School Literature.
By John S. Hort
THAT great care should be taken in selecting literature for the Sabbath-school, is evidenced in the fact that no books are read so much as Sabbath-school books, except novels. It is not by any means certain that even novels are an exception. A good, well-selected Sabbath-school library, even with the best care and management, is worn-out in about three years. Many of the books indeed are lost or destroyed. But most of them are literally worn-out by oft-repeated reading. A book taken home by a child is read during the week not only by him, but often by the father and the mother, by brothers and sisters, in fact by a majority of the household. Many a Sabbath-school book is read by not less than one hundred persons during the course of a year. Is this true of any other book, even of the most fashionable novel? What has been said of Sabbath-school books, is true in a still greater degree of Sabbath-school papers. They are read and re-read; they pass from hand to hand, from family to family; they are often collected from one school, after being used, and sent off to another, and so kept circulating, as long as the paper on which they are printed will hold together. I doubt the propriety of using Sabbath-school books to answer infidel objections. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, it is only bringing these objections for the first time to the child’s knowledge. Books for the young should teach positively, not negatively; directly and affirmatively, not controversially. The best way to exclude false ideas on religious subjects from the minds of children, is to preoccupy and fill their minds with true ideas.—John S. Hort.