Chapter 94—The Effect of Fiction
Many of the youth say, “I have no time to study my lesson.” But
what are they doing? Some are crowding in every moment to earn
a few cents more, when this time pressed into work, if given to the
study of the Bible would, if they practiced its lessons, save them
more than the amount gained by overwork. It would save much that
is expended in needless ornaments, and preserve vigor of mind to
understand the mystery of godliness. “The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom.”
But these very youth who profess to be Christians gratify the
desires of the carnal heart in following their own inclinations; and
God-given, probationary time, granted them to become acquainted
with the precious truths of the Bible, is devoted to the reading of
fictitious tales. This habit once formed is difficult to overcome; but it
can be done, it must be done by all who are candidates for the heavenly
world.
That mind is ruined which is allowed to be absorbed in story-
reading. The imagination becomes diseased, sentimentalism takes
possession of the mind, and there is a vague unrest, a strange appetite
for unwholesome mental food, which is constantly unbalancing the
mind. Thousands are today in the insane asylum whose minds became
unbalanced by novel reading, which results in air-castle building and
love-sick sentimentalism.—
The Signs of the Times, January 10, 1905
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