The works of Mrs. Chapone: now first collected containing I. Letters on the improvement of the mind. II. Miscellanies. III. Correspondance with Mr. Richardson. IV. Letters to Miss Carter. V. Fugitive pieces. To which is prefixed, an account of her life and character, drawn up by her own family. v. 3-4.

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Letter I. On The First Principles Of Religion

My dearest Niece,

Though you are so happy as to have parents, who are both capable and desirous of giving you all proper instruction, yet 1, who love you so tenderly, cannot help fondly wishing to contribute something, if possible, to your improvement and welfare : and, as I am so far separated from you, that it is only by pen and ink I can offer you my sentiments, I will hope that your attention may be engaged, by seeing on paper, from the hand of one of your warmest friends, truths of the highest importance, which though you may not find new, can never be too deeply engraven on your mind. Some of them, perhaps, may make no great impression at present, and yet may so far gain a place in your memory, as readily to return to your thoughts when occasion recalls them. And, if you pay me the compliment of preserving my letters, you may possibly reperuse them at some future period, when concurring circumstances may give them additional weight ; and thus they may prove more effectual than the same tilings spoken in conversation. But, however this may prove, I cannot resist the desire of try-: ing to be in some degree usefitl to you, on your setting out in a life of trial and difficulty ; b i; g your success in which must determine your fate for ever.

Hitherto you have " thought as a child, and understood as a child ;" but it is time " to put away childish things." You are now in your fifteenth year, and must soon act for yourself ; therefore it is high time to store your mind with those principles, which must direct your conduct and fix your character. If you desire to live in peace and honour, in favour with God and man, and to die in the glorious hope of rising from the grave to a life of endless happiness ; if these things appear worthy your ambition, you must set out in earnest in the pursuit of them. Virtue and happiness are not attained by chance, nor by a cold and languid approbation ; they must be sought with ardour, attended to with diligence, and every assistance must be eagerly embraced that may enable you to obtain them. Consider, that good and evil are now before you ; that, if you do not heartily choose and love the one, you must undoubtedly be the wretched victim of the other. Your trial is now begun ; you must either become one of the glorious children of God, who are to rejoice in his love for ever, or a child of destruction — miserable in this life, and punished with eternal death hereafter. Surely, you will be impressed by so awful a situation ! you will earnestly pray to be directed into that road of life, which leads to excellence and happiness ; and, you will be thankful to every kind hand that is held out, to set you forward in your journey.

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The first step must be to awaken your mind to a sense of the importance of the task before you ; »vhich is no less than to bring your frail nature to that degree of christian perfection, which is to qualify it for immortality, and, without which, it is necessarily incapable of happiness ; for, it is a truth never to be forgotten, that God has annexed happiness to virtue, and misery to vice, by the unchangeable nature of things ; and that a wicked being (while he continues such) is in a natural incapacity of enjoying happiness, even with the concurrence of all those outward circumstances, which in a virtuous mind would produce it.

As there are degrees of virtue and vice, so are there of reward and punishment, both here and hereafter : but, let not my dearest niece aim only at escaping the dreadful doom of the wicked ; let your desires take a nobler flight, and aspire after those transcendent honours, and that brighter crown of glory, which await those who have excelled in virtue ; and, let the animating thought, that every secret effort to gain his favour is noted by your all-seeing judge, who will, with infinite goodness, proportion your reward to your labours, excite every faculty of your soul to please and serve him. To this end, you must inform your understanding what you ought to believe, and to do. You must correct and purify your heart ; cherish and improve all its good affections ; and continually mortify and subdue those that are evil. You must form and govern your temper and manners, according to the laws of benevolence and justice ; and qualify yourself, by all means In your power, for an useful ana agreeable member of society. All this you see is no light business, nor can it be performed without a sincere and earnest application of the 1 mind, as to its great and constant object. When once you consider life, and the duties of life, in this manner, you will listen eagerly to the voice of instruction and admonition, and seize every opportunity of improvement ; every useful hint will be laid up in your heart, and your chief delight will be in those persons, and those books, from which you can learn true wis~ dom.

The only sure foundation of human virtue is religion, and the foundation and first principle of religion is the belief of the one only God, and a just sense of his attributes. This you will think you have learned long since, and possess in common with almost every human creature m this enlightened age and nation ; but, believe me, it is less common than you imagine, to believe in the true God ; that is, to form such a notion of the Deity as is agreeable to truth, and consistent with those infinite perfections, which all profess to ascribe to him. To form worthy notions of the supreme Being, as far as we are capable, is essential to true religion and morality ; for as it is our duty to imitate those qualities of the divinity, which are imitable by us, so is it necessary we should know what they are, and fatal to mistake them. Can those who think of God with servile dread and terror, as of a gloomy tyrant, armed with almighty power to torment and destroy them, be said to believe in the true God ? in that God who. the scriptures say, is love ? The kindest and best of Beings, who made all creatures in boun*

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tiful goodness, that he might communicate to them some portion of his own unalterable happiness ! who condescends to style himself our Father! and, who pitieth us, as a father pitieth his own children ! Can those who expect to please God by cruelty to themselves, or to their fellow creatures ; by horrid punishments of their own bodies for the sin of their souls ; or, by more horrid persecution of others for difference of opinion, be called true believers ? Have they not set up another God in their own minds, who rather resembles the worst of beings than the best ? Nor do those act on surer principles who think to gain the favour of God by senseless enthusiasm and frantic raptures, more like the wild excesses of trie most depraved human love, than that reasonable adoration, that holy reverential love, which is due to the pure and holy Father of the universe. Those likewise, who murmur against his providence, and repine under the restraint of his commands, cannot firmly believe him infinitely wise and good. If we are not disposed to trust him for future events, to banish fruitless anxiety, and to believe that all things "work together for good to those that love him, surely we do not really believe in the God of mercy and truth. If we wish to avoid all remembrance of him, all communion with him, as much as we dare, surely Ave do not believe him to be the source of joy and comfort, the dispenser of all good.

How lamentable it is, that so few hearts should feel the pleasures of real piety ! that prayer and thanksgiving should be performed, as they too often are, not with joy, and love, and gratitude ; but with cold indifference, melancholy dejection, or secret horror ! It is true, we are all such frail and sinful creatures, that we justly fear to have offended our gracious Father ; hut, let us remember the condition of his forgiveness : If you have sinned, " sin no more." He is ready to receive you when ever you sincerely turn to him ; and he is ready to assist you, when you do but desire to obey him. Let your devotion, then, be the language of filial love and gratitude ; confide to this kindest of fathers every want and every wish of your heart ; but submit them all to his will, and freely offer him the disposal of yourself, and of all your affairs. Thank him for his benefits, and. even for his punishments ; convinced that these also are benefits, and mercifully designed for your good. Implore his direction in all difficulties ; his assistance in all trials ; his comfort and support in sickness or affliction ; his restraining grace in the time of prosperity and joy. Do not persist in desiring what his providence denies you ; but be assured it is not good for you. Refuse not any thing he allots you, but embrace it as the best and properest for you. Can you do less to your heavenly Father than what your duty to an earthly one requires ? If you were to ask permission of your father, to do, or to have, any thing you desire, and he should refuse it to you, would you obstinately persist in setting your heart upon it, notwithstanding his prohibition ? would you not rather say, My father is wiser than I am ; he loves me, and would not deny my request, if it was fit to be granted ; I will therefore banish the thought, and cheerfully acquiesce in his will ?

How much rather should this be said of our heavenly Father, whose wisdom cannot be mistaken, and whose bountiful kindness is infinite ! Love him, therefore, in the same manner you love your earthly parents, but in a much higher degree, in the highest your nature is capable of. Forget not to dedicate yourself to his service every cay ; to implore his forgiveness of your faults, and his protection from evil, every night: and this not merely in formal words, unaccompanied by any act of the mind, but " in spirit and in truth ;'' in grateful love, and humble adoration. Nor let these stated periods of worship be your only communication with him ; accustom yourself to think often of him, in ail your waking hours ; to contemplate his wisdom and power, in the works of his hands ; to acknowledge his goodness in every, object of use or of pleasure ; to delight in giving him praise in your iinmost heart, in the midst of every innocent gratification ; in the liveliest hour of social enjoyment. You cannot conceive, if you have not experienced, how much such silent acts of gratitude and love will enhance every pleasure ; nor what sweet serenity and cheerfulness such reflections will diffuse over your mind. On the other hand, when you are suffering pain or sorrow, when you are confined to an unpleasant situation, or engaged in'a painful duty, how will it support and animate you, to refer yourself to your almighty Father ! to be assured that he knows your state and your intentions ; that no effort of virtue is lost in his sight, nor the least of your actions or sufferings disregarded or forgotten ! that his hand is ever over you, to ward off every real evil, which is not the effect of 3 r our own ill conduct, and to relieve every sitffering that is not useful to your future well-being!

You see, my dear, that true devotion is not a melancholy sentiment, that depresses the spirits, and excludes the ideas of pleasure, which youth is so fond of: on the contrary, there is nothing so friendly to joy, so productive of true pleasure, so peculiarly suited to the warmth and innocence of a youthful heart. Do not therefore think it too soon to turn your mind to God ; but offer him the first-fruits of your understanding and affections : and be assured, that the more you increase in love to him, and delight in his laws, the more you will increase in happiness, in excellence, and honour : that, in proportion as you improve in true piety, you will become dear and amiable to your fellow creatures ; contented and peaceful in yourself ; and qualified to enjoy the best blessings of this life, as well as to inherit the glorious promise of immortality.

Thus far 1 have spoken of the first principles of all religion: namely, belief in God, worthy notions of his attributes, and suitable affections towards him; which will naturally excite a sincere desire of obedience. But, before you can obey his will, you must know what that will is ; you must inquire in what manner he has declared it, and where you may find those laws, which must be the rule of your actions.

The great laws of morality are indeed written in our hearts, and may be discovered by reason ; but our reason is of slow growth ; very unequally dispensed to different persons ; liable to error, and confined within very narrow limits in all. If, therefore, God has vouchsafed to grant a particular revelation of his will ; if he has been so unspeakably gracious, as to send his son into the world to reclaim mankind from error and wickedness ; to die for our sins ; and to teach us the way to eternal life ; surely it becomes us to receive his precepts with the deepest reverence ; to love and prize them above all things ; and to study them constantly, with an earnest desire to conform our thoughts, our words, and actions to them.

As you advance in years and understanding, I hope you will be able to examine for yourself the evidences of the christian religion, and be convinced, on rational grounds, of its divine authority. At present, such inquiries would demand more study, and greater powers of reasoning, than your age admits of. It is your part, therefore, till you are capable of understanding the proofs, to believe your parents and teachers, that the holy scriptures are writings inspired by God, containing a true history of facts, in which we are deeply concerned ; a true recital of the laws given by God to Moses, and of the precepts of our b'essed Lord and Saviour, delivered from his own mouth to his disciples, and repeated and enlarged upon in the edifying epistles of his Apostles ; who were men chosen from among those, who had the advantage of conversing with our Lord, to bear witness of his miracles and resurrection ; and who, after his ascension, were assisted and inspired by the Holy Ghost. This sacred volume must be the rule of your life. In it you will find all truths necessary to be believed ; and plain and easy directions for the practice of every duty. Your Bible then must be your chief study and dec c light : but, as it contains many various kinds of writing ; some parts obscure and difficult of interpretation, others j)lain and intelligible to the meanest capacity ; I would chiefly recommend to your frequent perusal such parts of the sacred writings as are most adapted to your understanding, and most necessary for your instruction. Our Saviour's precepts were spoken to the common people amongst the Jews, and were therefore given in a manner easy to be understood, and equally striking and instructive to the learned and unlearned : for the most ignorant may comprehend them, whilst the wisest must be charmed and awed by the beautiful and majestic simplicity with which they are expressed. Of the same kind are the Ten Commandments, delivered by God to Moses ; which, as they were designed for universal laws, are worded in the most concise and simple manner, yet with a majesty which commands our utmost reverence.

I think you will receive great pleasure, as well as improvement, from the historical books of the Old Testament ; provided you read them as an history, in a regular course, and keep the thread of it in your mind, as you go on. I know of none, true or fictitious, that ^ is equally wonderful, interesting, and affecting; or that is told in so short and simple a manner as this, which is, of all histories, the most authentic.

In my next letter, I will give you some brief directions, concerning the method and course I wish you to pursue, in reading the holy scriptures. May you be enabled to make the best use of this most precious gift of God ; this su-

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rred treasury of knowledge ! May you read the Bible, not as a task, nor as the dull employment of that day only in which you are forbidden more lively entertainments ; but with a sincere and ardent desire of instruction ; with that love and delight in God's word, which the holy Psalmist so pathetically felt, and described, and which is the natural consequence of loving God and virtue ! Though I speak this of the Bible in general, I would not be understood to mean, that every part of the volume is equally interesting. I have already said, that it consists of various matter, and various kinds of books, which must be read with different views and sentiments. The having some general notion of what you are to expect from each book may possibly help you to understand them, and heighten your relish of them. I shall treat you as if you were perfectly new to the whole ; for so I wish you to consider yourself; because the time and manner in which children usually read the Bible, are very ill calculated to make them really acquainted with it ; and too many people who have read it thus, without understanding it in their youth, satisfy themselves that they know enough of it, ana never afterwards study it with attention, when they come to a maturer age.

Adieu, my beloved Niece ! If the feelings of your heart, whilst you read my letters, correspond with those of mine whilst I Avrite them, I shall not be without the advantage of your partial affection, to give weight to my advice ; for believe me, my own dear girl, my heart and eyes overflow with tenderness, while I tell you, with how warm and earnest prayers for your happiness here, and hereafter, I subscribe myself, Your faithful friend,

And most affectionate Aunt.

Letter II. ©n The Study Of The Holy Scriptures

I now proceed to give my dear niece some short sketches of the matter contained in the different books of the Bible, and of the course in which they ought to be read.

The first book, Genesis, contains the most grand, and, to us, the most interesting events, that ever happened in the universe : the creation of the world, and of man : the deplorable fall of man, from his first state of excellence and bliss, to the distressed condition in which we see all his descendants continue : the sentence of death pronounced on Adam, and on all his race ; with the reviving promise of that deliverance, which has since been wrought for us by our blessed Saviour : the account of the early state of the world : of the universal deluge : the division of mankind into different nations and languages : the story of Abraham, the founder of the Jewish people ; whose unshaken faith and obedience, under the severest trial human nature could sustain, obtained such favour in the sight of God, that he vouchsafed to style him his friend, and promised to make of his posterity a great nation ; and that in his seed, that is in one of his descendants, all the kingdoms of the earth should be blessed ;

this, you will easily see, refers to the Messiah; who was to be the blessing and deliverance of all nations. It is amazing that the Jews, possessing this prophecy among many others, should have been so blinded by prejudice, as to have expected, from this great personage, only a temporal deliverance of their own nation from the subjection to which they were reduced under the Romans : it is equally amazing, that some christians should, even now, confine the blessed effects of his appearance upon earth, to this or that particular sect or profession, when he is so clearly and emphatically described as the Saviour of the Avhole world. The story of Abraham's proceeding to sacrifice his only son at the command of God, is affecting in thehighest degree, and sets forth a pattern of unlimited resignation, that every one ought to imitate, in those trials of obedience under temptation, or of acquiescence under afflicting dispensations, which fall to their lot : of this we may be assured, that our trials will be always proportioned to the powers afforded us : if we have not Abraham's strength of mind, neither shall we be called upon to lift the bloody knife against the bosom of an only child; but, if the almighty arm should be lifted up against him, we must be ready to resign him, and all we hold dear, to the divine will. This action of Abraham has been censured by some, who do not attend to the distinction between obedience to a special command, and the detestably cruel sacrifices of the Heathens, who sometimes voluntarily, and without any divine injunctions, offered up their own children, under the notion of appeasing the anger of their gods.

An absolute com-. c c 2, mand from God himself, as in the case of Abraham, entirely alters the moral nature of the action ; since he, and he only, has a perfect right over the lives of his creatures, and may appoint whom he will, either angel or man, to be his instrument of destruction. That it was really the voice of God, which pronounced the command, and not a delusion, might be made certain to Abraham's mind, by means we do not comprehend, but which we know to be within the power of him who made our souls as well as bodies, and who can control and direct every faculty of the human mind : and we may be assured, that if he was pleased to reveal himself so miraculously, he would not leave a possibility of doubting whether it was a real or an imaginary revelation : thus the sacrifice of Abraham appears to be clear of all superstition, and remains the noblest instance of religious faith and submission that was ever given by a mere man : we cannot wonder that the blessings bestowed on him for it should have been extended to his posterity. This book proceeds with the history of Isaac, which becomes very interesting to us, from the touching scene I have mentioned ; and still more so, if we consider him as the type of our Saviour : it recounts his marriage with Rebecca ; the birth and history of his two sons, Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes, and Esau, the father of the Edomites or ldumeans ; the exquisitely affecting story of Joseph and his brethren ; and of his transplanting the Israelites into Egypt, who there multiplied to a great nation.

In Exodus, you read of a series of wonders, wrought by the Almighty, to rescue the op-

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pressed Israelites from the cruel tyranny of the Egyptians, who, having first received them as guests, by degrees reduced them to a state of slavery. By the most peculiar mercies and exertions in their favour, God prepared his chosen people to receive, with reverent and obedient hearts, the solemn restitution of those primitive laws, which probably he had revealed to Adam and his immediate descendants, or which, at least, he had made known by the dictates of conscience, but which, time, and the degeneracy of mankind had much obscured. This important revelation was made to them in the Wilderness of Sinah : there, assembled before the burning mountain, surrounded " with blackness, and darkness, and tempest," they heard the awful voice of God pronounce the eternal law, impressing it on their hearts with circumstances of terror, but without those encouragements and those excellent promises, Which were afterwards offered to mankind by Jesus Christ. Thus were the great laws of morality restored to the Jews, and through them transmitted to other nations ; and by that means a great restraint was opposed to the torrent of vice and impiety, which began to prevail over the world.

To those moral precepts, which are of perpetual and universal obligation, were superadded, by the ministration of Moses, many peculiar institutions, wisely adapted to different ends — either, to fix the memory of those past deliverances which were figurative of a future and far greater salvation ; to place inviolable barriers between the Jews and the idolatrous nations, by whom they were surrounded ; or,.

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to be the civil law, by which the community was to be governed.

To conduct this series of events, and to establish these laws with his people, God raised up that great prophet Moses, whose faith and piety enabled him to undertake and execute the most arduous enterprises, and to pursue, with unabated zeal, the welfare of his countrymen ; even in the hour of death, this generous ardour still prevailed : his last moments were employed in fervent prayers for their prosperity, and, in rapturous gratitude, for the glimpse vouchsafed him of a Saviour, far greater than himself, whom God would one day raise up to his people.

Thus did Moses, by the excellency of his faith, obtain a glorious pre-eminence among the saints and prophets in heaven ; while, on earth, he will be ever revered, as the first of those benefactors to mankind, whose labours for the public good have endeared their memory to all ages.

The next book is Leviticus, which contains little besides the laws for the peculiar ritual observance of the Jews, and therefore aitords no great instruction to us now ; you may pass it over entirely : and, for the same reason, you may omit the first eigbt chapters of Numbers. The rest of Numbers is chiefly a continuation of the history, with some ritual laws.

In Deuteronomy, Moses makes a recapitulation of the foregoing history, with zealous exhortations to the people faithfully to worship and obey that God, who had worked such amazing wonders for them : he promises them the noblest temporal blessiags, if they prova obedient, 'and adds the most awful and striking denunciations against them, if they rebel, or forsake the true God. I have before observed, that the sanctions of the Mosaic law were temporal rewards and punishments, those of the New Testament are eternal: these last, as they are so infinitely more forcible than the first, were reserved for the last, best gift to mankind ; and were revealed by the Messiah, in the fullest and clearest manner. Moses, in this book, directs the method in which the Israelites were to deal with the seven nations, whom they were appointed to punish for their profligacy and idolatry ; and whose land they were to possess, when they had driven out the old inhabitants. He gives them excellent laws, civil as well as religious, which were ever after the standing municipal laws of that people. This book concludes with Moses' song and death.

The book of Joshua contains the conquests of the Israelites over the seven nations, and their establishment in the promised land. — Their treatment of these conquered nations must appear to you very cruel and unjust, if you consider it as their own act, unauthorized by a positive command : but they had the most absolute injunctions, not to spare these corrupt people " to make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them, but utterly to destroy them." And the reason is given " lest they should turn away the Israelites from following the Lord, that they might serve other gods."* The children of Israel are to be considered as instruments in the hand of the Lord, to punish

* Deut. Chap. ii.

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those, whose idolatry and wickedness had deservedly brought destruction on them : this ex- 1 ample, therefore, cannot be pleaded in behalf of cruelty, or bring any imputation on the character of the Jews. With regard to other Cities, which did not belong to these seven nations, they were directed to deal with them, according to the common law of arms at that time. If the city submitted, it became tributary, and the people were spared ;'if it resisted, the men were to be slain, but the women and children saved.* Yet, though the crime of cruelty cannot be justly laid to their charge on this occasion, you will observe, in the course of their history, many things recorded of them, very different from what you would expect from the chosen people of God, if you supposed them selected on account of their own merit : their national character was by no means amiable ; and, we are repeatedly told, that they were not chosen for their superior righteousness ; " for they were a stiffnecked people, and provoked the Lord with their rebellions from the day they left Egypt." — " You have been rebellious against the Lord," says Moses, " from the day that I knew you."f And he vehemently exhorts them, not to flatter themselves that their success was, in any degree, owing to their own merits. They were appointed to be the scourge of other nations, whose crimes rendered them fit objects of divine chastisement. For the sake of righteous Abraham, their founder, and perhaps for many other wise reasons, undiscovered to us, they