Daughters at school instructed in a series of letters

Front matter

IlIBRARY. OF CONGRESS J 4>

[SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.] |

\ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA i n

LETTER I. PAaE

Education for Eternity, . . . . , . * 9

LETTER n.

Necessity of Personal Religion, . . . . . 14

LETTER ni.

Personal Religion, 20

LETTER lY.

Early Piety, 24

LETTER Y.

Early Piety, 29

LETTER YI.

Early Piety, 34

LETTER Yn.

A Sinner without Hope, ..*... 39

LETTER Yin.

The Sinner under Conviction, . . . . . 45

LETTER IX.

1* (5)

6 CONTENTS.

LETTER X.

PAQB

The Sinner's Difficulties and Duty, .... 66

LETTER XL The Sinner's Danger and Duty, 61

LETTER Xn.

Evidences of Personal Piety, . . • . . 67

LETTER Xin.

Evidences of Personal Piety, 73

LETTER XIY.

Standard of Christian Character, .... 77

LETTER XY.

Aim at High^Attaiuments in Religion, . . ^ . 81

LETTER Xyi.

LETTER XVn.

Principles and Habits, 96

LETTER XYni.

Principles Applied, . 102

LETTER XIX.

Formation of Habits, 106

LETTER XX.

Reading the Bible, . H4

LETTER XXI.

Private Meditation, 120

LETTER XXII.

LETTER XXIII.

Self-Examination and Secret Prayer, . . . .132

CONTENTS. ?

LETTER XXIY.

PAGE

The Result of a Holy Life, 139

LETTER XXV.

Physical Education, 147

LETTER XXYI.

Deportment of Pupils, . . . . , .155

LETTER XXYn.

Social Intercourse and Friendship, ..... 161

LETTER XXYin.

The Yirtue of Economy, 169

LETTER XXIX.

Early Principles Permanent, . % . » . .175

LETTER XXX.

Simplicity of Character, . . . . . . 182

LETTER XXXI.

Prudence, 187

LETTER XXXn.

Independence of Character, 194

LETTER XXXnL Female Education, 203

LETTER XXXIY.

Early Education, . . . . . . . 210

LETTER XXXY.

Elementary Studies — Habits of Study, .... 214

LETTER XXXYI.

Course of Study — Mental Discipline, . . . .219

LETTER XXXYII.

On Reading, , . 228

8 CONTENTS.

LETTER XXXYIII.

PAGB

On Eeading, 232

LETTER XXXIX.

LETTER XL.

Practical Advice, 243

LETTER XLI.

Practical Advice, 248

LETTEE I.

EDUCATION FOR ETERNITY.

My dear Children: — The deep solicitude wliicli agitates the bosom of a parent is equalled only by the responsibilities which this relation imposes. In the early removal of your dear mother to a better world, this solicitude and these responsibilities press upon me with two-fold power. Although you can never realize them, nor appreciate the feelings by which my heart is deeply moved, I am often gratified to perceive, that the lapse of several years has not effaced your filial recollections of your departed parent, nor weakened the force of those peculiar and hallowed associations, by the aid of which a living parent attempts to enforce upon you her lessons of wisdom. It is with a desire to keep alive these associations, and to fulfil her expressed wishes, that I now propose to address to you a series of letters, prepared in my intervals of professional duties, and commended to your prayerful and serious consideration, as the sacred and disinterested expressions of a parent's full heart.

I need not urge assiduous application to your present duties. The expense at which I am furnishing you with the literary advantages of the most approved boarding school ; the limited period of time which the brevity of youth, the proper season for improvement, allows to these pursuits ; and the desire, as well as necessity, of returning again soon to the bosom of your surviving parent, all demand of you diligence in your studies. With the Reports received from your teachers, and my own knowledge of your progress, I have generally expressed to you my satisfaction. But I wish you always to be deeply impressed with the great and important truth, that this is but a small part of your education.

Education ! how much is implied in that comprehensive word, often so loosely employed! Confined even to a limited and literary course, it involves great responsibilities. But the education of an immortal soul for eternal life, how inconceivably solemn and momentous !

Your parents received you, my children, from the hand of God to be educated for him, and for eternity. They dedicated you to God in their hearts and by prayer, the first hour of your existence. As soon as you were of suitable age to

EDUCATION FOE ETERNITY. 11

be carried to tlie house of God, both your parents presented you to the Lord in the sacramental form employed in our church, and suited to secure covenant blessings to our children. You were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Never shall I forget the solemnity and pious devotion with which your dear mother performed this part of her duty, nor the fervour and apparent faith with which she often pleaded the covenant promises of God on your behalf to the latest hour of her life. Imperfectly, indeed, but truly, your parents have sought to give you a religious education. AVe shall meet you after a brief existence here, — how brief, we are admonished by the sudden and early death of your most excellent mother, — we shall meet where she now is, in eternity.

I desire, therefore, to conduct your education for eternity. In all the separate parts of it, consider that you are under a course of education for eternity. Ask yourselves in every step of your progress, and in every branch of your studies or amusements, your labours or relaxations — " What bearing and influence is this to have on my eternal interests ?" Ask yourselves, " What will my mother, now in heaven, think of this ? Let me not grieve her pious soul, if she is permitted, as many suppose, to behold and know what is done on earth." Let a still higher motive even be brought to bear on your actions — the presence of God^ from wTiicli you can never escape. Ask yourselves — "How will God approve of this ?" and do nothing which will not stand that test. I know some think this will make us very gloomy, and spoil our joys, and weaken our energies. The opposite will be the fact. Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Matthew Hale, Mrs. Hannah More, and thousands of others among the most distinguished, and truly the greatest and most happy of our race, have gone through life in this way.

Your education here is for eternity. This is not subject to our choice. We cannot alter the fact. Your education must be for eternity. You soon lose all your relations to this world, and retain for ever the peculiar relations, for which your character at death is found fitted. This character is formed in time. You are now forming it. Your education makes it. It is impossible, then, to elude the conclusion that you are under a course of education for eternity. Be satisfied with nothing, then, in your conduct, employments or feelings, the eternal consequences of which you are afraid to meet.

If you will admit this great truth to its proper and uninterrupted influence on all your decisions and actions, that you are immortal beings ; if you will think of this in every question of duty, I have no doubt I shall gain your cordial assent to

EDUCATION FOR ETERNTTY. IB

all the important views I now propose to offer to you — and what is of still more consequence, I shall secure your practical adoption of them. But this you will find to be a most difficult effort. Youth and its sanguine anticipations, the world and its pleasures, untried fields of promise and expectation are all to be contradicted, and the lessons of wisdom are to be substituted for the dictates of passions that are strong, and desires that are ardent, and glowing hope and anticipation. When I tell you that youth is brief, and the pleasures of the world deceitful, and the promise which speaks to young imagination is false, I agree with myself, but perhaps shall contradict you. Shall I be heard ? If that great truth can obtain a complete dominion in your minds, that you now act for eternity^ and if I can also make you feel that you must shortly die, then I shall be heard, and this effort, which has a single regard to your welfare, will be crowned with success. In my exertions to educate you for eternity, you will receive a blessing, and we may all be prepared to meet and rejoice with your dear mother in a sinless world.

Letter II. Necessity Of Personal Religion

My dear Children, — Personal religion lies at the foundation of every preparation for usefulness or happiness, either in time or in eternity. It consists in a right state of feeling toward Grod, and consequently leads to a right course of acting under his government. With this simple definition, is it not perfectly plain that you can never, under the divine government, be happy without religion ? Any happiness which you may be able to filch from forbidden sources, must be enjoyed under forgetfulness of God, and a temporary unconsciousness of his all-pervading presence. But this forgetfulness will soon give place to the action of a quick memory of the past, and a conscious presence of God, from which the soul can never retire. "Acquaint thyself, therefore, now with God, and be at peace."

One objection to an early attention to religion, and only one, I will notice — as with many it operates more than all others to suspend attention to it — ^"It spoils our joys." My dear children, I,

NECESSITY OF PERSONAL RELIGION. 15

"wlio give you sucTi proofs of a deep interest in your happiness, can I be suspected of a design to spoil your joys, to abridge your happiness ? I shall not be so suspected. I tell you, then, that the contrary is the fact. Will you believe me ? I refer you to facts. The most pious persons you have known or read of, — has their religion made them unhappy ? Has it not manifestly, and by their own testimony, been the source of their principal happiness ? And is not this a sufficient answer to the assertion, or suspicion, that " religion spoils our joys ?" I refer you, finally, to your recollections of your dear mother. She mingled but little with the world. But was she not happy ? She was cheerful in society, not gay — but always most happy when engaged in religious conversation, reading or devotion. Her religious character commenced in early life, and if you would imitate her example, you must not delay to give attention to your own personal religion. It will not spoil your joys. It will increase them by opening larger and more permanent sources of happiness. I would rather hear that you have become religious, than to hear that you are counted among the first scholars in the school, and have taken the first honours in your classes. Yes, my dear children, dearer to me than any other possession, I would rather hear that you have died with a " good hope in Christ," than to hear that you are growing up in every useful attainment and mental endowment, but hardening in sin, and living "without hope and without God in the world."

Your dear departed mother has - been heard speaking once on this subject from the borders of eternity ; her voice now comes from the instructive grave. Her last three letters written to you I happen to have, preserved from many, which have been carelessly destroyed. She died on the 11th of November, 1832. These letters were written at intervals of about ^ye, two, and one month, previous to her decease. The first is dated June 18, as follows : —

" My deak Childken, — -Your mother has not forgotten you, although she has so long delayed to answer your letters. Not a day passes but she thinks often and affectionately of her little daughters, and prays that the precious privileges they enjoy of improving their minds and hearts, may not pass unemployed. Eemember, my dear girls, that youth is the most favourable time for storing the mind with useful knowledge, and that it is especially the season in which God, your heavenly father, has promised to be found of those who seek him — ' They that seek me early shall find

me.' I rejoice to hear that the Lord is in C ,

by his Holy Spirit, waiting to be gracious to sin-

NECESSITY OF PEESONAL EELIGION. 17

ners, and that, many have come to him for that new heart, without which none of us can enter into heaven, that holy, happy place, where the Lord Jesus, that dear friend of sinners, reigns in all his glory, and where sin, or pain, or death, can never enter. My dear children, remember you were born with sinful natures, that you cannot do one action that is not tainted with sin, that you cannot even think a good thought without the help of the Holy Spirit, that the Bible, which is the eternal truth, declares that except ye be converted, or born again, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven ; and that now is the accepted time, and the day of salvation to all who are willing to forsake their sins and come to Christ. Soon this short life will be over with us all ; with some very, very soon. Perhaps the next hour or next week may be our last on earth, and if you die without a new heart, you are lost — lost for ever ! There are no pardons offered in the grave. No Saviour there stands pleading for sinners.

* But darkness, death, and long despair, Eeign in eternal silence there.'

. " Oh think of these things, think of them daily, think of them seriously, and pray to God to impress them deeply upon your hearts, that you may not forget them amidst the allurements and temptations of this world. Do you want to make your dear parents happy? Do you want to enjoy peace wliicli passetli understanding, in this world, and to be prepared to die with a song of praise upon your lips ? and above all, do you want to show your love and gratitude to Him who left his throne, and robe of dazzling glory, and canie into this world to die for his enemies ? Do you want to be made likefhim, and to dwell with him for ever in his ' Father's house,' where are ' many mansions ?' Oh, then, come to Jesus, now, in the morning of life. Give him your hearts. Commit your immortal souls into his hands to sanctify and redeem from sin, and you will find him faithful to perform his promise, and ready and able to save you from all your sins and fears, and to do abundantly more and better for you than you can ask or think. And you will fill the hearts of your affectionate, anxious parents with joy and gratitude, beyond what they can ever express.

" My dear children, such is my anxiety for your eternal salvation, and such my earnest desire that you may now hear the Saviour's voice, that I cannot refrain from writing in this urgent, importunate manner. Oh, do not disregard a tender mother's earnest entreaties. Do not read this letter once in a careless, thoughtless manner, and think no more about it. But read it with prayer to God to sanctify it to you. Eead it as you would, if it were the last dying message of your dear mother — as if it were the last call you would

NECESSITY OF PEESONAL EELIGION. 19

ever have to repentance and life — and may God, who is rich in mercy to all who call upon his name, hear your earnest, fervent prayers for grace, and give you his Holy Spirit to sanctify and lead you into all truth.

" When you write again, let me know if you want anything for your comfort, and especially let me know whether you do resolve to seek the Lord Jesus for your friend. Let me hear a good report of you in all things. ' Study to be quiet and to mind your own business.' Be affectionate and kind to all your companions, and especially in your intercourse as sisters.

' Let love through all your actions run,

Let all your words be mild, Live like the blessed Yirgin's son, That sweet and lovely child.' "

Such is the letter which I now ask you to reperuse, treasure up, and carefully meditate upon, as the dying instructions of your much loved mother — and what they could not then avail in arresting your attention, and compelling your choice, may I not hope they will now do, when she speaks as from the grave, and when maturer years commend these lessons to your riper judgment and experience?

Letter III. Personal Religion

My DEAR Children, — The second letter of your dear motlier to whicli I have alluded, and now in my possession, is dated September 2nd. The judicious and comprehensive instructions respecting your studies, contained in several of the first sentences, are a specimen of her matured and excellent views on education ; but it is to the religious thoughts urged upon you that I wish to direct your attention. The letter is as follows : —

" My dear Children, — Your letters have given me much satisfaction. I am glad to see the improvement in your hand- writing, and hope you make good progress in all your studies. Your last Eeports speak very well of your recitations. You must try to understand perfectly all you undertake to learn, or it will do you very little good. I approve, Mary, of your studying Geography and History, rather than Mineralogy, at your present age. I wish you to obtain a thorough knowledge of Modern and Ancient Geography,

PEESONAL RELIGION. 21'

History, and Englisli Grammar, and be able to apply with readiness any of the rules of Arithmetic to the practical purposes of life, and then you can more profitably attend to other branches. Do not neglect your hand-writing, but try to write every line better than the last, and after you have formed a habit of writing with care, you will soon write with ease, as well as elegance.

" My dear children, I need not tell you how much or often my thoughts dwell upon you, or how many anxieties fill my heart lest you suffer the precious morning of life to pass away, without forming your minds and heart to those habits of virtue and piety, which alone can secure your ■usefulness and happiness, as you pass through the many changes and trials of this life, or secure your safety and felicity in that world where changes are unknown. Think often of your relations to God. He is your heavenly Father, from whom you have received life, and all the blessings you enjoy — and can you forget daily and hourly to thank him, and to show your gratitude by doing what he requires of you ?

"Ask yourselves very often — For what was I placed in this world? Surely this is not the place where you will live for ever. Your friends and acquaintances are dying constantly about you, and their bodies are laid in the silent tomb, where there is ' no knowledge, or wisdom, or device.' Their work is done, and tbeir account sealed up to the judgment day, when they will be called to give an account of all the deeds done in the body, and receive a reward according to their works. Those who have done the will of God by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and following him through this world of sin, will receive a crown of glory that fadeth not. But those who have hardened their hearts, and not listened to, nor obeyed the gospel, where, oh where will they appear? It will then be too late to pray for mercy. Jesus, the once kind and interceding Saviour, will then be their angry Judge. They must * go away into everlasting punishment.'

"Apply these things to yourselves, and think — Must I, too, soon die ? Must I give an account to God for all my words, thoughts, and actions ? Is Jesus, the kind Saviour of sinners, now speaking to me in his gospel, to look unto him and be saved ? And shall I not look and live for ever ? Shall I not give him the morning, the best of my days, and all, perhaps, that I shall have to give, when he laid down his life for such sinners as I am ? And that, too, when this is not only the path of safety, but the only path of happiness ?

" Oh, my children, think of these things, and lift up your hearts to God in prayer, that he may teach you, and impart to you that living faith, which will enable you to understand and receive

PERSONAL RELIGION-. 23

the gospel. If God is pleased to spare your lives, your parents will not long be here to care for, or instruct you. They too must die, and you know not how soon. Oh, let them see their children walking in the truth, and they will die in peace.

" I did not think of saying so much on this subject when I began this letter, but when I think of the worth of your souls, and the danger of your dying without securing your salvation, I feel that I cannot refrain from urging you to attend to these things without delay. Listen, my children, to the advice of a mother, as perhaps the last she will ever give. I wish you both to write soon after receiving this, and let me know what you want, and what are your thoughts and feelings upon that subject which occupies so much of your parents' anxious thoughts.

Letter IV. Eakly Piety

My deae Childeen, — The last letter of your dear mother, written to you about a month before her death, I now commend to your serious re-perusal.

" My deae Childeen", — I have been lately engaged in preparing the white dresses, which I send with this, and which you should have had earlier, but for the want of leisure to get them ready. You are old enough now to attend to your own clothes, and see that everything is in order, and in its proper place, and I hope you will feel a pleasure in doing it, and also in assisting each other to do the same. You can do much towards each other's improvement, as well as comfort. Be attentive and kind to each other at all times, and try to be thankful, that in possessing a sister, you each have a blessing that is denied to many. Let no unkind word pass between you, or envious feeling be harboured in your hearts, but conduct towards each other, every day, as you would if you believed it to be tbe last day yon would live together ; and then, should it please your heavenly Father to separate you, you will have no bitter reflections in reviewing your former inter course, but will be prepared to meet again in peace and love in a better world.

" I was very much pleased with the letters you

sent by Mrs. M , both with the improvement

in your hand- writing, and also with the evidence that the subject upon which I last wrote you, and which, of all others, is the most important, had not passed entirely from your minds, but that you felt disposed to make inquiries, and to apply the truth to yourselves.

" You say, my dear Mary, you * do not fully understand the subject of conversion, and cannot feel that you are a greater sinner than any one else.' But do you not feel, my dear child, that you have a disposition or heart inclined to evil thoughts, to forgetfulness of God, your best and kindest friend, and to the neglect of his holy word? And is it not very difficult to fix your mind and heart entirely upon God, when you attempt to pray to him ? And are you not more ready to believe what the world and the wicked father of lies say, than what your Creator says, who loves you infinitely better than your earthly parents, or any earthly friend can ? Ask yourself these and the like (questions, praying to God to 3 enlighten and teacli jou, and you will soon discover that your heart is by nature alienated from God, without true and holy love to him, and that, if you were to go to heaven with such feelings, where the whole employment is to praise and serve a holy God who hates sin, you could not be happy there. And then you will see how necessary it is that these evil inclinations should be subdued, and that you have a new heart given you, a heart which can love God supremely, because he hates sin, and is infinitely worthy to be loved, and which can hate and avoid sin, because it is opposed to such a holy God.

"I do not think, my dear, it is required of you to feel that you have committed more sinful actions than any others, for it is very true that you have not as many as thousands. But the evil is, you have just such a heart by nature as the most hardened sinner had, and if it should please God to leave you entirely to yourself to follow these evil inclinations, you would soon commit the same crimes and come to the same miserable end. Thus you see, it is not because you are by nature better than the greatest sinner, but because God has been pleased to keep you from temptations, to which others have been exposed. And let me assure you, my dear children, that if you sincerely look to him by humble prayer, he will ever thus keep you from the sins that are in the world.

EAKLY PIETY. 27

He will give you a riglit heart and put a right spirit within you, that you may be able to keep all his commandments, and rely on a Saviour's righteousness for salvation.

" It is my anxious desire and daily prayer that you may understand this great subject, and early come to Christ, and learn of him to be meek and humble christians, and then you will know what conversion means, and enjoy that peace which all the riches or honours of this world can never give, and which all adverse or trying scenes cannot take away. I hope you both remember and read your precious Bibles every day — not as a task, but to understand what God says to you, for this is the only book in which you can learn his will. And here he plainly says, ' They that seek me early, shall find me.^ I can say no more at present, but commit you to the kind care of Him who is able to keep you from all evil, and to present you faultless before his throne of glory."

Thus your dear mother closed her instructions to you, committing you to " Him who is able to keep you from evil." This she did frequently with fervency, and I trust with faith. She sunk into the grave rapidly, in an illness of ten days. She once only expressed a desire to live — it was for you, not for herself. Her care for you in the smallest matters is exhibited in these letters ; but the ruling desire of her heart stands out in bold relief — that you may be born again, as the children of God. I have copied some paragraphs which relate to smaller matters, that you may be influenced by them as the instructions of your dying mother, on several practical subjects of secondary, but great importance. It is to the most comprehensive and complete exhibition of the great interest of the soul, given by her in a few paragraphs, I shall call your attention, and endeavour only to enforce what she has, in the best manner, said.

LETTERV.

EARLY PIETY.

My dear Children: — On the subject of conversion I ask your prayerful attention to the instructions contained in the last letters of your dear mother. They present you an admirable and comprehensive view of the theology of the subject in the utterly depraved and helpless condition of the soul, the necessity of regeneration by the Holy Ghost, the duty of immediate repentance and faith in Christ, and the encouragement to personal exertion on the ground of the provisions and promises extended in the word of God. Then, your duty is enforced upon you by a solemn reference to the uncertainty of life, since made more impressive by her own early and sudden decease ; and finally her full soul is poured out in the expression of a burning desire that you would embrace the precious promises made to those who seek God early. I shall now only attempt to enforce the last appeal.

Is there great reward in keeping the commandments of God ? Then the greatest reward is to 3* those who keep them from their youth. Is the service of God, on the whole, to be preferred to the service of sin? then that service should be chosen at once. If youth sacrifices great enjoyments by renouncing the world, it avoids great temptations and hazards, and secures equally great religious pleasures. The ardour, and freshness, and vigour which give a zest to the pleasures of this world to the young, prepare them also for a higher field of pleasurable exercise in religious pursuits. Every argument which can be urged in favour of a religious life, applies to youth with not less appropriateness than to age ; while some of the most important apply with much greater force, and others exclusively, to youth. By some of these arguments I shall urge the duty of early religion on my little daughters.