present day we
are exposed to temptations which at the beginning of the last century
were of comparatively small account. It will be so always. Every new
development of human activity, every invention of human ingenuity, is
meant by God to serve to His honour, and to the good of His creatures.
We must accept them all gratefully as the results of the intelligence
which He has been pleased to bestow upon us. At the same time the
experience of every age teaches us that the weakness and perversity of
many wrest to evil purposes these gifts, which in the Divine intention
should serve only for good. It is against the perverted use of two of
God's gifts that we would very earnestly warn you to-day.

During the last century the power that men have of conveying their
thoughts to others has been multiplied incredibly by the facility of the
printed word. Thoughts uttered in speech or sermon were given but to a
few hundreds who came within the reach of the human voice. Even when
they were communicated to manuscript they came to the knowledge of very
few. What a complete change has now been wrought. In the shortest space
of time men's ideas are conveyed all over the world, and they may become
at once a power for good or for evil in every place, and millions who
have never seen or heard him whose thoughts they read, are brought to
some extent under his influence.

Again, at the present day all men read, more or less. The number of
those who are unable to do so is rapidly diminishing, and a man who
cannot read will soon be practically unknown. As a matter of fact men
read a great deal, and they are very largely influenced by what they
read.

Thus the multiplicity of printed matter, and the widespread power of
reading have created a situation fraught with immense possibilities for
good, but no less exposed to distinct occasions of evil and of sin. It
is to such occasions of sin, dear children in Jesus Christ, that we
desire to direct your attention this Lent.

Every gift of God brings with it responsibility on our part in the use
that we make of it. The supreme gift of intelligence and free-will are
powers to enable us to love and serve God, but we are able to use them
to dishonour and outrage Him. So with all the other faculties that flow
from these two great gifts. Beading and books have brought many souls
nearer to their Creator. Many souls, on the other hand, have been ruined
eternally by the books which they have read. It is d