Letters to a young student, in the first stage of a liberal education

Contents

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Introductory Preface,

Letter I. General Remarks On The Formation Of Character

Introductory remarks — Importance of a right course in the first stage of study — Importance of a high standard of attainment — Decision of character — Self-control — Fixed principles of action— Influence of habit in the formation of character — Self-knowledge, 13 — 34

Letter II. Health

Unhappy consequences of neglecting a due care of health — Practicability of preserving good health during a course of hard study — Food — Exercise — Mental relaxation — Sleep — Early rising — Eye-sight — Use of tobacco—Care of health a Christian duty, 35—50

IV CONTENTS.

Letter III. Intellectual Habits

Diligence and perseverance essential to high mental culture — Mental symmetry — The habit of accurate and profound investigation — Due self-confidence — Attending to every t) ing in its proper season — Order in study — Neatness and regularity in the studying apart- - ment— Success in study dependent more on the preparation of the mind for it, and the mode of study, than on the amount of time devoted to it — Fixed and intense thought — Caution against being in a hurry, . 51 — 69

Letter IV. Intellectual Habits

Study of Latin and Greek — Habits in the recitation room —

Reading — Composition — Extemporaneous speaking, . 70—103

Letter V. Moral Habits

Caution against deferring high Christian attainments to a more convenient season — Daily duties of the closet — Stated and occasional seasons of fasting and prayer — Observance of tiie Sabbath — Cultivation of expansive Christian benevolence — Making study a religious duty — Efforts to promote a revival of religion, .... 109 — 136

Letter VI. Moral Habits

Levity of deportment — Value of time — Absence during terratime — Neglect of prescribed exercises — Punctuality — Economy — Religious reading — Caution against be-

CONTENTS. V

ing proud of intellectual attainments — Courtesy — Cautions against losing the respect of associates — Visiting — Deportment at boarding-houses — Room-mate — Bosom friends — Obedience to laws — Deportment towards instructors — Doing good to younger students — Attending religious meetings, and making other . efforts to do good abroad, 137— 16a

Letter VII. College Life

Caution against too great haste to enter college — Day of fasting and prayer before entering college — Ambition — Seeking popularity — Discountenancing insubordination and immorality — College dissensions — Prejudice against hard students — Teaching school during the college course— Vacations, 164—174

ADVERTISEMENT.

The history of this volume may be briefly told. Considerable acquaintance with young students led the author to believe, that such a book was greatly needed. As he knew of no person who had a work of this kind in view, he resolved to undertake one himself. He would barely remark, in regard to the letters which make up this volume, that although they are addressed to a pious student who has just commenced an academical course, with the Christian ministry in view, they contain many suggestions which, he hopes, will not be found unprofitable to young students of any descriptioD.

INTRODUCTORY PREFACE.

It gives me great pleasure to commend this little volume to that class of persons for whose benefit it is particularly intended. They will find it of great value, as embodying the results of recent experience, set forth in a spirit and manner at once inspiring respect and confidence, and awakening the best affections of the heart. It is the counsel of a friend and brother,

X INTRODUCTORY PREFACE.

coming with all the authority of truth and kindness, and adapting itself, with remarkable simplicity and propriety, to the circumstances of the young student. He who might possibly be jealous of the influence of more official admonition, may here find equal wisdom in the correspondence of one who is himself willing to be regarded as a pupil, and who is full of the thoughts and dispositions which elevate such a relation. It deserves the attentive perusal of every student ; and whoever shall shape himself by its instructions, will find, at the period to which they lead him, that he has gained an object heretofore attained by few, a capacity for entering upon his profes-

INTRODUCTORY PREFACE. XI

sional studies, without the necessity of correcting the errors and mistakes of his preparatory education.

The increase of pious young men which, by the divine blessing upon the means of religious instruction in our country, is annually brought into our literary institutions, renders this volume particularly seasonable at the present time. The want, which parents and teachers have begun to feel deeply, but which no one has yet attempted to supply, is here met. The work is entirely unobtrusive in its character, constructed for the great purpose of utility ; and its benevolent and judicious author will, for that reason, subserve the interests of Christian educa-

Xll INTRODUCTORY PREFACE.

tion more effectaally, than if he had written with larger pretensions and more ambitious aims.

N. Lord.

Dartmouth College, > Aug. 28, 1832. 5

L.ETTERS TO A YOUNG STUDENT.

Letter I, General Remarks On The Formation Op Character

Introductory remarks — Importance of a right course in the first stage of study — Importance of a high standard of attainment — Decision of character — Self-control — Fixed principles of action — Influence of habit in the formation of character— Self-knowledge.

My Dear Young Friend, — I am glad to learn, that you have commenced a course of classical study, with the intention of acquiring a collegiate education. It would give me pleasure to know this, even if you had some secular profession in view. For, in every sphere of action, knowledge is power. I can think of no station in which a liberal education would not afford you the means of exerting an influence over 2 your fellow men which you could not otherwise acquire. And this influence you would delight, I trust, to employ in promoting the kingdom of Him to whom, in the morning of your days, you have gladly given yourself away. But I look with peculiar pleasure on the step you have taken, from the intimation you have given me, that it is your present purpose to become a preacher of the gospel. When I turn my eyes eastward, and westward, and northward, and southward, and behold the desolations which sin has made in the world ; when I hear the loud call for preachers of the gospel from the destitute portions of our own land, and the still louder call from the wide spread regions of Mohammedanism, popery, and paganism ; I cannot but rejoice to see one after another setting himself to the work of preparation for that blesse-d ministry which, under God, is to purify the whole world from its abominations, and cause joyful songs of praise to the Most High to ascend from *' every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people."

You have done well, I think, to fix your eye thus early on a profession for life. I do not say that this is best in every case. But that it is in yours, I have no doubt. To wake up the human mind to hitense effort, we must place before it some definite and commanding object of pursuit. I have often seen young men in the academy and at college, who seemed to have no such object. They were there because their parents or guardians would have it so. And they went through the daily routine of study and recitation, because their instructors required it. If they could be said to have any definite object in view, it was only to make just such acquisitions as barely to escape the censure of those who were set over them. They made no higher attainments, because they had before them no great ultimate object of pursuit demanding large acquisitions. I do not say, that to place such an object before a youthful student, it is absolutely necessary that his future profession should be selected. Nor would I here undertake to say, at how early an age, or at what period in a course of study, a profession for life should be selected by one who has no disposition to enter the ministry. But I am convinced, that as soon, at least, as a pious student has passed through the period of mere boyhood, it is well for him, i^ he can, to decide the question whether he ought to become a preacher of the gospel. If he is to enter the ministry, the sooner his eye is fixed on it the better. Should he select this profession at the very earliest stage of his classical studies, he will still be at liberty to change his purpose, should any subsequent developments of character, or any unforeseen dispensations of Providence, lead him or his friends to deem it best. And with this profession in view, he will have an object before his mind which can hardly fail to urge him onward in a course of intense and persevering effort. I recollect the substance of a remark made to me by a fellow student at the academy, who is now a minister of the gospel, in reference to certain severe intellectual efforts which he was called upon to make. *' I should almost shrink from them," said he, ** were it not for my ultimate object, the gospel ministry." And I have no doubt that many who would else have been utterly discouraged by ill health, pecuniary embarrassments, and other appalling obstacles, have been aroused, by the hope of ultimately preaching the blessed gospel, to a steadiness of purpose, and an energy of effort, before which every difficulty has given way. It is well then, I repeat it, that, at the

?ery outset of your course, your eye is fixed on the gospel ministry. When you are ready to faint under the toils of the way ; when obstacles which seem almost insurmountable, rise up before you ; it will cheer your heart, and nerve your arm, to think of the noble work in which you hope to engage. And when the syren sloth tempts you to self-indulgence, if ought can break her spell, it will be the delightful hope of being permitted to minister at the altar of God. This, at least, I can confidently say ; if such be not the effect of this hope upon you, your feelings in view of the ministry, are far from being such as you ought to possess.

But while I rejoice, my dear young friend, at the step you have taken, and at the purpose you have formed to become a minister of the gospel, allow me to say, that I rejoice with trembling. Many who commenced a course of study with fond hopes and fair promise of future usefulness, have sadly disappointed the expectations of their friends. Some have brought deep disgrace on themselves and on the Christian name. And others, though they have not been utterly ruined, have yet sadly declined from the ardor of pious feeling, and the consistency of Christian 2* deportment, which once gladdened the hearts of their friends ; and have fallen far short of those high intellectual attainments which they might have made. When I think of these things, and remember that you are yet young in years, and young in Christian experience, — and that many dangers lie before you of which as yet you know but little ; I cannot but regard you with deep solicitude. You look, yourself, I doubt not, with some degree of anxiety on the course before you. And yet I know you cannot fully realize the perils which will beset your path. Be assured, they are many, — they are fearful. I say not this to discourage you, but merely to excite you to that vigilance and effort, which, alone, with the blessing of God, will save you from ruin. Would that I could utter in the hearing of every student in the land, at every step in his course, what I now say to you : —

YOU ARE IN DANGER J — LOOK WELL TO YOUR FOOl'STEPS, OR YOU FALL.

Considerable acquaintance with young students, both while engaged in the prosecution of my own studies, and while employed in the business of instruction, has led me to believe that they are greatly in need of much definite, famiU iar advice on a great variety of topics pertaining to their intellectual and moral improvement ; and that their wants in this respect are, in general, far from being fully met. General principles on all such topics, do, indeed, in various ways, come before them. But comparatively inexperienced as they are in the application of general principles to the business of life, they need to have the practical use of these principles clearly and particularly explained to them. Unacquainted as they are with the ground over which they are to pass, they need not only to have the outlines of their path described, but to become possessed of those minute details in regard to it, without which they will for ever be liable to stumble, and perhaps to fall. I have no doubt that many might have been saved from ruin, and many others have been led to far higher attainments than they have made, had some judicious and faithful friend pointed out to them, from time to time, the dangers of the way, and given such minute advice as a student greatly needs. Instructers, I know, may do much — ought to do much — and much, indeed, is sometimes done by them, in the way of advice to their pupils on the various subjects concerned in the formation of character. But their labors are usually numerous and severe.

Many pupils are ordinarily committed to the care of an individual. And without imputing any default in point of wisdom or faithfulness, instructers in general cannot do for their pupils, in the way of advice, what perhaps they would gladly do under other circumstances. Books are often excellent substitutes for living instructers. But unhappily, so far as my knovvledge extends, the young student will look in vain to this source for what he specially needs. We have some excellent works designed for the instruction of young Christians, which have no special relation to the case of a student. We have, indeed, some works written with special reference to students, which are filled with counsels worthy of their most serious regard. But these books deal too exclusively in general principles. They are not sufficiently minute and practical to meet some of the most pressing wants of the young student. He needs a book to which he can go for an answer to just such queries as he would put to an intimate and judicious friend, in regard to the every day matters of his course of study. But to such a book, my dear young friend, much as you need it, I cannot refer you. I am not aware that such a book exists. — I know not how I can render you a more important service, at this stage in your course of study, than by attempting to supply, in some measure, the place of such a book, by a series of plain and familiar letters- It will be my object in these letters, to' say, with great plainness and directness, those things which 1 suppose you specially to need. 1 shall not attempt to make out a complete system of counsels on any one general topic, but merely to give such hints under each as may seem to me peculiarly appropriate to your case. On some subjects I shall probably be very minute ; as a want of particularity has seemed to me one of the greatest defects in much of the advice given to the young. And I shall not be careful to avoid the repetition of an idea which I have before advanced, when it shall seem desirable to place it in a new point of view. Many of the things which T shall say, will be essentially the same that I was wont to say in the most familiar manner, to my own pupils, when engaged in the business of instruction ; and I shall say them to you in much the same way. In entering on this work, I have sought wisdom from on high ; and if, by what I write, I should be able essentially to aid you in pressing onward to the highest possible attainments in knowledge and virtue, I shall feel that my efforts have been richly rewarded.

It will be my object, in the present letter, to lay before you certain general considerations in regard to the formation of character. They will be such as you ought to understand well at the outset ; as they involve principles which lie at the foundation of all moral and intellectual excellence.

1. I would, as a preliminary step, call your attention to the importance of taking a right

COURSE IN YOUR FIRST STAGE OF STUDY. If yOU

are not duly sensible of this, I shall have little hope of your making the attainments which are fairly within your reach. If you feel, as many seem to do, that it matters little what course you pursue, or what habits you form at the academy, if you do but succeed in obtaining admission to college ; I shall have little expectation of your accomplishing much in your subsequent course of study, or in professional life. Some students seem to feel, that the time they spend at the academy is almost lost. But the truth is, it is, in some respects, the most important part of a classical course. There, in the most appropriate sense of the expression, the foundation of an education is laid. There habits mental and moral are formed, which will be likely to go with the student into his college course, and even into the scenes of subsequent life. Adopt right principles, from right habits, in the incipient stage of your course of study ; and you give to your friends and instructors the best possible pledge, that you will go on successfully to the end of your course, and be well prepared for usefulness in the world. Pursue a different course in the first stage of study ; and though it is not certain that no important change for the better will take place at a subsequent period, yet my own observation has confirmed what seems quite evident from the law.s of the human mind, that we should have no good reason to be sanguine in our hopes of such a change. On glancing over the history of those men with whom I was acquainted at the academy, and of whose subsequent course of study I have known something, I find that, in most instances, both at college and in the theological seminary, they have been very much the same men they were at the academy. Let me then deeply impress on your mind the importance of beginning aright. 2. Adopt a high standard of attainment IN EVERY RESPECT. Aim at perfection in every thing you do. While all acknowledge the propriety of this maxim, very few reduce it to practice. Most students, if they have any definite object of pursuit, aim at a comparatively low one. At the academy, they have nothing higher in view than just to get into college. In college, they have no loftier aim than merely to perform the prescribed exercises, and to fill up most of their leisure time with something which may bear the name of reading. Through all their course of study, they are satisfied with doing about as much as others do. And when they go out from the scenes of academic life into the world, they pursue the same grovelling course. This is true in the case of some men, to whom God has given noble powers of mind. They seem either to be wholly unconscious of the treasure which their Maker has bestowed upon them, or else to be willing, like the slothful servant in the parable, to " lay it up in a napkin." They are quite contented to creep in the dust, when they might be soaring among the stars. —

The Bible censures those who, in regard to moral attainments, " compare themselves among themselves." And, as every lawful act should be a matter of Christian duty, I see not why those who pursue this course in respect to intellectual attainments, are exempt from this censure. Act, my dear young friend, in accordance with that precept of Holy Writ, " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Do not adopt as your standard either of intellectual or moral attainment, what others have attained. Aim at perfection in every thing. In religion, hold up before your mind that perfect model of excellence, the character of Jesus. In knowledge, aim at the highest possible attainments. Let your soul be fired with the noble purpose of making the most of yourself Thus high have been the aims of those illustrious men, who, from age to age have been the wonder and the glory of our race. Thus high let your aims be ; and though you may not, even then, accomplish all you could wish to do, you will surely accomplish far more, than if you were content to aim at nothing more than mere mediocrity. I love that young man whose eye brightens with the noble purpose of doing for his own soul, for 3 the world, and for his God, the very utmost that he can possibly accompHsh.

It is one thing, however, to form a noble general purpose, and quite another to carry it in practice into all the details of life. I have been much pleased with a little maxim of a very practical cast, which embraces the general principle I have been endeavoring to enforce. It is this : — Make the most of every thing in its place. Let me urge you to govern yourself by this maxim. In whatever you engage, — whether it be conversation, reading, writing, study, recitation, or even needful bodily exercise, — make the most of it. See to it that you derive the greatest possible advantage from it.

3. Aim to ACQUIRE true decision of character. Without this, whatever may be your attainments in other respects, you will probably accomplish but little in the world. — In true decision of character three things are implied : —

(1.) A habit of thorough and independent imiestigation in regard to the path of duty. You must learn to think for yourself And you must train your mind to think efficiently on anji doubtful question of duty which may come before it. — Men who have no decision of character, usually keep close to respectable precedents. They do as others have done. And when precedents fail, they seem either unable or afraid to search out the path of duty for themselves. They diligently inquire after the opinions of others. Others, in fact, think for them. And they usually follow, without much examination, the opinions of those for whom, on the whole, they have the greatest reverence. — But you will say, perhaps, * I am young and inexperienced. Shall I have no regard to the opinions of others, — even of those who are older and wiser than myself? And even at a more advanced age, must I feel that no deference is due to the opinions of my fellow men ? ' Such questions are very appropriate here ; for on the points to which they relate, many mistakes have been made. I think it easy, however, to draw the line of distinction between a proper and a servile regard to the opinions of others. When you can command a view of the whole ground on which you are to act, or when you can command as fair a view of it as others ; give little heed to what they may say, except so far as they can throw light on the field of action. Make the most of any information they can give. But their mere opinions^ though you ought to treat them courteously, should have very little influence over you. Your Maker did not intend, that the work which properly belongs to you as an intelligent, reasoning being, should be transferred to another. But when, in the nature of the case, you cannot survey the whole ground on which you are to act, you ought to give much deference to the mere opinions of those who, in this respect, occupy a much more favorable position than yourself. — To illustrate my meaning with reference to your own case. You have but just entered on a course of study. Of many things which lie before you, you are almost entirely ignorant. In regard to these things, of course, you are not competent to form opinions ; and must be governed by the opinions of those who have gone before you. Cases similar in their general features, frequently occur in other walks of life ; and to these the same rule will apply. With this explanation of what I mean, I would say to you most earnestly, you cannot learn too early to think for yourself.

(2.) It is essential to true decision of character, that when, by thorough investigation, you have ascertained the path of duty, you should resolve, at once, to act, and put that resolution in practice. Many men of timid spirit, when they have decided that they ought to take a particular course, hesitate to act in accordance with this decision. There is many a '' Hon in the way." They tremble at the shaking of a leaf, and are ready to flee at the sight of their own shadows. The path is distinctly marked out before them ; but they hesitate to set forward. They query whether there may not possibly be some mistake in the course of reasoning which has led to the decision they have made. They review that course ; come to the same decision as before ; and yet fear to act. Put far from you such a timid irresolute spirit.

(3.) To makeup a truly decided character, —when you have resolved to act, and have really begun to act, in accordance with the convictions of your judgment, persevere in this course, come what loill. The same pusillanimous spirit which men evince, when they hesitate to do at once what they have decided that they ought to do, often leads them, even when they have entered the path of duty, to turn back at the sight of difficulties or dangers. When once you have put your hand to a good work— -a work in which 3* you are convinced that you ought to be engaged — never give it up, come what will. Come honor or dishonor, come life or death ; still maintain, with unwavering purpose and fearless heart, the post of duty.

To bring together, now, the three main constituents of true decision of character, I would say, ascertain, by thorough and independent examination, 2chat the path of duty is ; enter promptly on that path ; and fearlessly persevere in it. — To say nothing of subsequent life, you will have daily occasion for decision of character in your course of study. Without special pains to acquire it, you w^ili be in great danger of falling into a kind of servile dependence on circumstances, and the opinions of those around you. Of a more insignificant character than one who is thus dependent, I can hardly conceive. — For a more extended discussion of this subject, I would refer you to Foster's Essay on Decision of Character, — a work which you cannot read too soon. I would that the great principles of that invaluable essay were engraven on the heart of every young man in Christendom.

4. In close connection with the preceding subject, I wish to call your attention distinctly to the importance of entire self-control. This is, indeed, implied in decision of character. But it is of such vast importance, that I deem it proper to give it a separate consideration. There are some men of sound judgment, and amiable feelings in many respects, who seem to have no control over themselves. They are just like the feather that floats listlessly on the changeful breeze. You can place no dependence on such men. They can place no dependence on themselves. Be not like them, if you would gain the confidence of your fellow men, or accomplish much in the world. Strive to gain a perfect mastery over yourself Well has the Scripture said, ** He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city." After all that has been said about greatness of moral character, it consists more in this simple trait than in any other, — perhaps I might say, than in all others combined. Among heathen nations, there have been some illustrious exhibitions of this trait of character. In the Bible, it assumes the name of self-denial. And well might the burning blush of shame come over the cheek of the Christian who, with the holier principles and higher motives of the gospel, comes short even of that degree of self-control which the benighted pagan has sometimes exhibited.

5. Adopt, in all your affairs, fixed principles OF ACTION. Some men seem to be mere creatures of feeling. They act, habitually, rather from feeling than from conviction. Indeed, they hardly seem to have any fixed principles. Let it be your care to adopt, in all your affairs, settled principles of action, by which you may be guided in that rigid self-control which I have recommended. And remember, while settling the principles on which you are to act in matters apparently of small moment, that a very great principle may be involved in a very little affair. To eat a single apple, is, in itself a very trifling thing. But in this was once involved a principle, which " brought death into the world and all our wo."