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A Solemn Appeal - James White

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excitement is thrown back upon the brain, thereby<br />

filling the mind with lascivious thoughts, and<br />

painting lascivious images upon the canvas of the<br />

imagination.<br />

Bad books, pictures, etc., are a powerfully<br />

exciting cause of licentiousness. No one has ever<br />

seriously disputed the apostolic declaration that<br />

"evil communications corrupt good manners."<br />

Neither is the old proverb questioned that "a man is<br />

known by the company he keeps." But evil<br />

communication with books, no less than with men,<br />

corrupts good manners. And the sentiment is<br />

worthy of passing into a proverb, that a man is<br />

known by the books he reads. Books are men. Not<br />

paper men, but men on paper. And these influence<br />

the character of their readers as do men in the flesh<br />

the character of their companions. Show me a<br />

man's books, the books of his choice, and I will<br />

show you the man himself. Let me control the<br />

reading of a rising generation, and I will prophesy.<br />

A bad book is a bad associate; a good book, a good<br />

one. Sensual books tend strongly to make sensual<br />

readers. Many novel readers know this, and every<br />

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