Letters on the Improvement of the Mind, Addressed to a Lady Part 2

[7] Letters on the Improvement of the Mind, edit. 1801, pages 93, 94.

[8] 'I have been very near death; and, at the time he threatened me most, it was the most earnest wish of my heart to meet and embrace him.

But, I bless G.o.d, I am restored not only to life, but to a sense of the great mercy indulged me in the grant of a longer tern of trial.'--'You are so obligingly solicitous about my circ.u.mstances, that I would willingly inform you of the state of them, if I had any certainty about them. But my dear Mr. Chapone's affairs were left in great confusion and perplexity by his sudden death; which happened just at the time of year in which he should have settled his accounts, and made out his bills. As these are very considerable, his estate must suffer a great loss from this circ.u.mstance. At present, things are in a very melancholy state, and my own prospects such as would probably have appeared very dreadful to me at any other time.' _Mrs. Chapone to Miss Carter, December 6, 1761._

[9] King George III. and Queen Charlotte; his present Majesty, then Prince of Wales, and sixteen years old; Prince Frederic, Duke of York, then fifteen years old; Prince William, Duke of Clarence, then thirteen years old; Princess Royal, now Queen of Wirtemberg, then about fourteen years old, and Princess Augusta, then about ten years old.

[10] Addressed by Mrs. Chapone to her friend Mrs. Carter.

[11] 'Letters on the Improvement of the Mind.' They had been published five years then.

[12] This young lady, of whom the reader must wish to know more, was the eldest daughter of Mrs. Chapone's second brother, John, who was Prebendary of the cathedrals of Winchester and Salisbury. She became attached to this niece in 1766, while on a visit at her home; wrote the Letters, to her, in 1772; and, stimulated by her literary friends, published them in 1773.--'I had great satisfaction,' writes Mrs. Chapone to Miss Carter, November 1797, 'in seeing my darling niece established in the happiest manner, at Winchester, with husband (Rev. Benjamin Jeffreys) who seems in every respect calculated to make her happy.' Mrs.

Chapone pa.s.sed the autumns 1797 and 1798 at the Deanery at Winchester.

Here she awaited the approaching accouchement of her dearest niece, which was destined to terminate one or her fondest hopes. This last joy of her life, this child of her heart, was now torn from her, after the birth of a dead infant, in March 1799.

[13] Of the family of the Burrows's, who were her tried friends, 'I am glad,' writes Mrs. Chapone to Miss Carter, July 31, 1761, 'that you love my Burrows's, who are, indeed, some of the most valuable persons I have ever known.----Poor Miss Amy (who was her last prop!) is still complaining, and consequently her sisters are anxious and unhappy.----I wish you were to hear Mr. Burrows preach. There is a simplicity and an earnestness in his manner more affecting than any thing I ever heard from the pulpit.' Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Elizabeth Burrows, two of the sisters mentioned in this place, together with Mr. and Mrs. Burrows, died before Mrs. Chapone's final retreat to Hadley; so that 'out of that amiable and happy circle with whom she delighted to a.s.sociate, and on whom she relied as the sources of the most refined enjoyments, only one sister, the present Mrs. Amy Burrows, remained to bestow on her that heartfelt consolation which this inestimable friend never failed to administer.' The houses of Mr. Burrows, with his wife and two younger sisters, and of his eldest sister, wife of Sir Culling Smith, Bart. were long her favourite asylums, and the hours spent by her in them were among the most happy of her life.

[14] Edward Mulso. 'Since you went,' (Miss Carter had just left the then Miss Mulso,) 'I have done nothing,' writes Mrs. C., 'but sing Metastasio's song. I am distracted for a tune that will go to the Translation, that I might sing that, from morning to night. I have made _Neddy_ walk with me to the tree, by Sir _Edward_ Hale's park; and intend often to reconnoitre the spot where you sat by me there.'--'Your friend _Edward_ is with us; and we make a pretty little concert at home, pretty often,' &c. &c.

[15] The following compliment to the vocal powers of Mrs. C., though high, appears to be ingenuous. Dr. Kennicott, relating the University Festival, at Oxford, in a letter to Richardson, dated Exeter College, June 9, 1754, observes--"The first clap of applause was upon _Forasi's_ taking her place in the orchestra; _Signiora_ seemed a little too sensible of the honour, &c. But I forgive her; for indeed _she_ sings--I cannot say _most_ delightfully--for have I not heard Miss _Mulso_?"

LETTERS ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND.

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 I, who love you so tenderly, cannot help fondly wis.h.i.+ng 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 re-peruse them at some future period, when concurring circ.u.mstances may give them additional weight:--and thus they may prove more effectual than the same things spoken in conversation. But, however this may prove, I cannot resist the desire of trying in some degree to be useful to you on your setting out in a life of trial and difficulty; 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 G.o.d 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 a.s.sistance 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 _G.o.d_, 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.

The first step must be to awaken your mind to a sense of the importance of the task before you, which 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 G.o.d 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 n.o.bler 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_ and _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 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 wisdom.

The only sure foundation of human virtue is Religion, and the foundation and first principle of religion is in the belief of the one only G.o.d, 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 in this enlightened age and nation; but, believe me, it is less common than you imagine, to believe in the true G.o.d--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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d?--in that G.o.d, who, the scriptures say, is love?--the kindest and best of Beings, who made all creatures in bountiful 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d by senseless enthusiasm and frantic raptures, more like the wild excesses of the 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 G.o.d of mercy and truth. If we wish to avoid all remembrance of him, all communion with him, as much as we dare, surely we 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 grat.i.tude; 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: but let us remember the condition of his forgiveness: If you have sinned, "sin no more." He is ready to receive you whenever you sincerely turn to him--and he is ready to a.s.sist you, when you do but desire to obey him. Let your devotion then be the language of filial love and grat.i.tude; 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 a.s.sistance in all trials; his comfort and support in sickness or affliction; his restraining grace in time of prosperity and joy. Do not persist in desiring what his providence denies you; but be a.s.sured 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 day; 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 wors.h.i.+p be your only communication with him; accustom yourself to think often of him, in all 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 inmost 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 grat.i.tude 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 a.s.sured 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 your own ill-conduct, and to relieve every suffering 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 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 G.o.d; but offer him the first fruits of your understanding and affections: and be a.s.sured, 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 I have spoken of the first principles of all religion; namely, belief in G.o.d, 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 enquire 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, G.o.d 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 G.o.d, containing a true history of facts, in which we are deeply concerned--a true recital of the laws given by G.o.d to Moses, and of the precepts of our blessed 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 amongst those who had the advantage of conversing with our Lord, to bear witness of his miracles and resurrection--and who, after his ascension, were a.s.sisted 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 delight: but as it contains many various kinds of writing--some parts obscure and difficult of interpretation, others plain 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 G.o.d 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 fict.i.tious, 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 G.o.d--this sacred 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 G.o.d's word which the holy psalmist so pathetically felt, and described, and which is the natural consequence of loving G.o.d 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, and 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 write 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.

ON 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 p.r.o.nounced 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 G.o.d, that he vouchsafed to style him his friend, and promised to make 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 whole world! The story of Abraham's proceeding to sacrifice his only son at the command of G.o.d, is affecting in the highest 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 a.s.sured, 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 b.l.o.o.d.y 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 G.o.ds. An absolute command from G.o.d 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 G.o.d which p.r.o.nounced 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 a.s.sured, 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 superst.i.tion, and remains the n.o.blest 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 Idumeans--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 oppressed 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, G.o.d prepared his chosen people to receive, with reverent and obedient hearts, the solemn rest.i.tution 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, a.s.sembled before the burning mountain, surrounded "with blackness, and darkness, and tempest," they heard the awful voice of G.o.d p.r.o.nounce the eternal law, impressing it on their hearts with circ.u.mstances 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 inst.i.tutions, 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, 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, G.o.d 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 grat.i.tude for the glimpse vouchsafed him of a Saviour, far greater than himself, whom G.o.d 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 affords no great instruction to us now: you may pa.s.s it over entirely; and, for the same reason, you may omit the first eight 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 wors.h.i.+p and obey that G.o.d, who had worked such amazing wonders for them: he promises them the n.o.blest temporal blessings, if they prove obedient, and adds the most awful and striking denunciations against them, if they rebel or forsake the true G.o.d. 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 munic.i.p.al 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 shew 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 G.o.ds[16]." The children of Israel are to be considered as instruments in the hand of the Lord, to punish those whose idolatry and wickedness had deservedly brought destruction on them: this example, 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[17]. 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 G.o.d, 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 stiff-necked 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[18]." 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 chastis.e.m.e.nt. For the sake of righteous Abraham, their founder, and perhaps for many other wise reasons, undiscovered to us, they were selected from a world over-run with idolatry, to preserve upon earth the pure wors.h.i.+p of the one only G.o.d, and to be honoured with the birth of the Messiah amongst them. For this end, they were precluded, by Divine command, from mixing with any other people, and defended by a great number of peculiar rites and observances from falling into the corrupt wors.h.i.+p practised by their neighbours.

The book of JUDGES, in which you will find the affecting stories of Samson and of Jephtha, carries on the history from the death of Joshua, about two hundred and fifty years; but the facts are not told in the times in which they happened, which makes some confusion; and it will be necessary to consult the marginal dates and notes, as well as the index, in order to get any clear idea of the succession of events during that period.

The history then proceeds regularly through the two books of SAMUEL, and those of KINGS: nothing can be more interesting and entertaining than the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon: but, after the death of Solomon, when the ten tribes revolted from his son Rehoboam, and became a separate kingdom, you will find some difficulty in understanding distinctly the histories of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which are blended together, and, by the likeness of the names, and other particulars, will be apt to confound your mind, without great attention to the different threads thus carried on together: the Index here will be of great use to you. The Second Book of Kings concludes with the Babylonish captivity, 588 years before Christ; till which time, the kingdom of Judea had descended uninterruptedly in the line of David.

The first book of CHRONICLES begins with a genealogy from Adam, through all the tribes of Israel and Judah; and the remainder is the same history which is contained in the books of Kings, with little or no variation, till the separation of the ten tribes: from that period, it proceeds with the history of the kingdom of Judah alone, and gives therefore a more regular and clear account of the affairs of Judah than the book of Kings. You may pa.s.s over the first book of Chronicles, and the nine first chapters of the second book: but, by all means, read the remaining chapters, as they will give you more clear and distinct ideas of the history of Judah, than that you read in the second book of Kings.

The second of Chronicles ends, like the second of Kings, with the Babylonish captivity.