I. A book unites the ages. Brings the past into the present; borrows the future to give the present significance. The “sceptred spirits of history” rule us still. With books the poorest enters the highest society: the loneliest need not be solitary.
II. A book reveals life’s importance. It gives permanence to thought. Life is a writing.
III. A book silently anticipates the judgment. A record may be appealed to: “Is this thy handwriting?” God’s “Book of Remembrance.” (J. Parker, D. D.)
Books
“The commerce of books,” says our gossiping Montaigne “has the constancy and facility of its service for its own share: it goes side by side with me in my whole course, and everywhere is assisting to me: it comforts me in my age and solitude;it eases me of a troublesome weight of idleness, and delivers me at all times from a company that I dislike: and it blunts the point of griefs, if they are not extreme, and have not got an entire possession of my soul . . . books do not mutiny to see that I have only recourse to them for want of other more real, natural, and lively conveniences; they always receive me with the same kindness.”
