by Samuel Miller, Princeton, July, 1830
The man who becomes, by any means, instrumental in
guiding a single youth to knowledge, virtue, piety, and true happiness, is a
rich public benefactor: for the training of every such youth is a precious
blessing conferred on his generation. But he who by sending forth a good
book—a book well adapted to serve as a guide to thousands beyond the reach
of his personal address; and even to exert a beneficial influence on
the temporal and eternal welfare of multitudes, in succession, long after he
shall have ceased from his labors; is a benefactor to mankind to an extent
which no human arithmetic can calculate. Not only are his contemporaries
rendered much his debtors; but future generations also will have reason to
rise up and call him blessed.
It gave me, therefore, great pleasure to learn that the
author of the ensuing volume had been warmly solicited by a number of his
friends, and had finally consented, to publish from the press a series of
Lectures which had been, with much acceptance, addressed by him from the
pulpit to the youth of his pastoral charge. My long and intimate
acquaintance with him, first as a beloved Pupil, and secondly as a highly
esteemed friend and brother in the Gospel Ministry, convinced me that he was
well qualified to execute the task which he was prevailed upon to undertake,
with honor to himself, and with benefit to his readers. Of course, when
requested to introduce the work to the public, by a preliminary address, I
could have no other objection than that which arose from a persuasion that
such an introduction was altogether unnecessary. It struck me, too, that
when a third person, at any time, interposes between an Author and his
reader, and claims an audience first, he ought to have something weighty to
offer; more weighty than I can hope to present in the pages assigned to this
testimonial of respect and friendship. But whatever of reluctance may have
arisen from these considerations, has been made to yield to the suggestion,
that if the humblest individual should happen to be induced by this
testimonial to procure and peruse the following lectures, I shall be richly
rewarded for the offering. He who feels admonished by advancing age, that
his period of active labor cannot be continued much longer, ought to be
"ready to every good work;" and to be cautious of permitting false delicacy
to deter him from the smallest effort to be useful.
Since the delivery of these Lectures, I have enjoyed the
privilege of perusing a considerable portion of them in manuscript: and
although it has not been in my power to extend this perusal to the whole
work, yet I have examined so much of it as fully to confirm, and even to
increase, all my previous expectations in its favor. So far as my
opportunity of examination has extended—it is rich and judicious in
content; neat, perspicuous, and attractive in style; and
peculiarly adapted to engage and reward the attention of enlightened,
reflecting, and sincere youth. Indeed, if I were asked to point out a
manual, better suited than any other within my knowledge, to be put into the
hands of students in the higher literary institutions, I know not that it
would be in my power to name one more likely to answer the purpose than this
volume.
It is no objection to such a publication as the present,
that a number of excellent works on the same general subject, are already in
possession of the religious public; and that several of recent appearance,
and much value are in very extensive and useful circulation. The truth is,
works on practical religion, like works of devotion, provided they be
well written, can scarcely be too much multiplied. With respect to
articles of secular trade, we know that an increase of demand must generally
precede an increased supply. But this principle by no means applies to moral
and spiritual provision. Here, indeed, the practical rule is rather the
reverse. There is no natural demand in the human mind for pious instruction.
The supply must precede and create the demand. We must abundantly replenish
the market, nay, we must run the risk, as has been remarked, of
"overstocking" it, if we would extend the taste for spiritual food. Besides,
we know that personal and local considerations lead thousands, in every age,
to patronize and read that which their own pastors or neighbors have
published, when, perhaps, scarcely anything else would bring them in contact
with moral and pious works of the highest intrinsic excellence. Surely, in
these circumstances, he who adds a new and excellent manual to those already
in circulation, however numerous its predecessors, confers on the public a
rich benefit.
The formation of the youthful mind to knowledge, virtue,
and true religion, is, in all countries, of incalculable consequence. But in
this favored country of America, it is manifestly a matter of most
peculiar interest. In many other communities, the form of the government
furnishes a substitute for popular purity. The strong and the prompt arm of
power may be brought to bear continually, and may be applied with success to
curb the excesses of unlawful indulgence, and to arrest the violence and the
progress of crime. But the vital principle of our government is the
intelligence and virtue of the people. Here public sentiment is
everything; and those whose character is now forming, are soon to govern
that sentiment, and to hold in their hands the peace, the order, and the
happiness, of the community.
Now the hope of maintaining order and happiness in any
social body without true religion, is a chimera. It never was, and never can
be realized. It follows, of course, then, that the Christian education of
our youth is, under God, our only hope. It ought to be the prime object of
every lover of his country's welfare. The citizen as well as the
Christian ought to desire it, and pray for it without ceasing. Without
it, the elective franchise, highly as we prize the privilege, will be a
curse instead of a blessing. Without it, the liberty with which the great
Governor of nations has been pleased to make us free, will only serve, in
the end, to rivet upon us more ignoble and more wretched chains than any
human despot ever forged. If I would see the formation of youthful character
upon the principles of the gospel, becoming an object of earnest and general
attention—I would consider it as an infinitely surer pledge of the stability
of our national privileges, and the continued progress of our national
greatness, than all the human devices in the world could furnish; than all
the secular improvements, which seem to be the idol of so many millions of
our population. Thinking men ought to know, that these mere secular
improvements, though multiplied and extended to any imaginable degree,
can never make a people happy—nay, that their extension without a
corresponding moral and pious improvement, will infallibly serve to render
any population more active in corruption, more fruitful in crime, and more
opulently and splendidly miserable!
There is, perhaps, no class of the community more
negligent of the department of true religion, in conducting the education of
their youth—than the wealthy and the honorable. And to this fact, we are
perhaps, to ascribe another, as melancholy as it is notorious; namely, that
the children of what are commonly called the higher classes so frequently
fall victims to dissipation and vice. The truth is, there is no portion of
our youth who so imperiously need the restraining and purifying influence of
true religion, in forming their character and habits—as the children of
opulent and distinguished families. Why is it that they are so frequently
profligate; and so seldom either retain the wealth which has been bequeathed
to them, or keep up the honors which their fathers acquired by knowledge,
virtue, or public services? Obviously because they are commonly furnished
with so many means of sensual gratification—are placed in circumstances
adapted so strongly to flatter and inflate—and are surrounded with a
thousand temptations, which are all so many bars to sobriety of mind. In
short, feeling, at every step, as if they had something to sustain them
besides their own exertions, and as if the advantages of birth and fortune
would more than supply the place of personal accomplishments, they too often
fall into habits of gross self-indulgence, and soon forfeit all the
advantages which they fondly imagined could never be lost. Forfeit
them, did I say?—far worse than this—they convert them into means of the
most humiliating corruption and degradation; and thus often fall far lower
than the most indigent and uneducated of their contemporaries. That this is
the natural influence of wealth and station on the children of those who
enjoy them—has been matter of universal experience: so that the instances of
those who escape the evil power of these circumstances, and in the midst of
them, attain a character elevated, dignified, and pure—are proverbially
rare. Now, can anything more conclusively prove, that the children of the
wealthy and the honorable, stand in more urgent need of the influence of
true religion than any other class of the young; that there is the utmost
danger of their being lost without it; and that nothing can more powerfully
tend to guard them against their peculiar temptations, to inspire them with
true elevation of sentiment and affection, and to render every temporal
advantage at once an ornament and a blessing?
We often tell the POOR, that vital religion (the only
kind of religion that deserves the name) is the richest treasure which they
can seek for themselves and their children; that it is adapted to alleviate
their sorrows, to sustain them under the heaviest trials of life, to lift
them at once to usefulness and enjoyment, and to lead their offspring to the
truest and best elevation. But quite as strongly, nay, by arguments of
peculiar urgency, may we recommend this Treasure to the RICH, not only as
the best hope of their own souls, but also as the only adequate hope of
their children; as the best of all security that those whom they dearly
love, shall not prove fugitives and vagabonds on the earth; and convert all
the advantages which they, with so much toil, have bequeathed to them, into
mere incentives to crime and infamy.
With peculiar earnestness would I apply this train of
remark to such youth as are enjoying the advantages of a refined literary
education; and particularly to those young men who are ambitious of
distinguishing themselves in the higher walks of literature and science. To
such I would say—The object which you seek, is noble, is worthy of your
pursuit. But, like everything else, if it is not sanctified, you will
have no ultimate reason to rejoice in it—even if attained.
The religion of Jesus Christ properly understood, and
cordially embraced, gives to learning its highest finish; to genius its most
exquisite power; to poetry its deepest feeling and tenderness; to eloquence
its most resistless energy; to professional skill its most invaluable aids;
and to political wisdom its happiest insight, and preparation for blessing
mankind. The groves of Academus will assuredly prove more verdant,
more fragrant and more fruitful, by having the "Tree of Life" planted and
thriving in the midst of them. Nay, without the presence and power of the
"Plant of Renown," their most luxuriant growth will be likely to be followed
by morbid tendencies, and pestilential influences, fitted to countervail,
and more than countervail all their richest benefits. The beauties of
Homer and Virgil, of Horace, Demosthenes and
Cicero, will be more exquisitely relished, as well as more profitably
improved, by those who have previously imbibed the true spirit of the BIBLE,
than by any others. We may even go further, and ask—Can the refinements of
classic literature, the ingenious dreams of Pagan mythology, and the
recondite lore of mathematical and metaphysical science, fail of doing
harm—if not consecrated by the faith and practice of true religion? Do
not both scripture and experience inform us that they are adapted to puff
up, and to corrupt—if not sanctified by an evangelical taste? In a word, we
may say of every part of education—if it has not a decisively Christian
character conferred upon it—it may boast and excite, it may dazzle and
inflate; but can never be expected to promote the real purity or happiness
of its most diligent votaries. To every aspirant after literary wealth and
fame, then, the caution of the inspired Apostle is most appropriate and
important—"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after
Christ."
There is another thought of deep interest which occurs in
this connection. The highly favored, but most responsible population of this
land, is now conducting an experiment of incalculable importance to
ourselves and to mankind—the experiment whether men are capable of
self-government? In other words, whether they can live permanently and in
peace under rulers of their own choice, and laws of their own formation; or
whether they are destined, until the Millennium shall open on our world,
continually to vibrate between anarchy and despotism—between the manacles of
privileged orders, and the exactions of an established Church—and the
infuriated licentiousness of popular profligacy, which refuses to obey any
law, either of God or man? This experiment, as I said, is now going on; and
it will probably be decided by the men of the next generation; by those
whose principles and characters are now forming. Of course, every youth who
is decisively won to the side of Christian knowledge and practice, is so
much paced to the cause of our national hopes.
If, then, we wish to transmit all our privileges, civil
and pious, unimpaired, to the last posterity, let our young men be deeply
imbued with the spirit of the bible! If we wish to avert from our country
the curse of an ecclesiastical establishment—that bane of both church and
state, let the bible, and nothing but the bible, be impressed upon the minds
of our youth—as the only infallible rule of faith and practice. Here, and
here alone, do we find those principles which are equally opposed to slavery
and licentiousness. Every young man who has been trained in the spirit of
the Bible, will be, as far as his influence goes, an impregnable barrier
against every species of oppression, civil or religious; and equally against
every species of disorder. Only let the great mass of our population for the
next forty years, drink deep into the spirit of the bible—and we may
probably consider our stability and happiness as a nation finally secured.
The peculiar character of the day in which we live
presents a further incentive to the young to seek after the best of all
qualifications for being extensively useful. The lot of the present
generation is cast in a period more strongly marked than any that ever
preceded it—by a spirit of Christian benevolence and enterprise. The friends
of God and man are engaged more generally and zealously than ever before, in
endeavoring to meliorate the intellectual and moral condition of mankind.
That youth, then, who is not intelligently and decisively on the side of
Christ, is not fit to take his part in the great movements which now
distinguish, and in some measure pervade the civilized world. He will either
be a drone or a cipher in his day; or unite himself with that large mass who
are the foes of all good, and who live for the miserable purpose of
persuading men that their true happiness will be promoted by trampling upon
every divine institution, and dissolving every moral tie, however sacred.
Can any youth of elevated sentiments be at a loss to decide which of these
ranks he ought to join, and to the aid of which he ought to consecrate all
the powers which God has given him?
I need not add, that genuine piety is the best pledge of
personal and professional success in life. The youth who consents to embark
on the ocean of life, in any profession, without unfeigned piety—is simply
infatuated. He proceeds without compass or chart. He is without any sure
"anchor of the soul." He is absolutely destitute of anything suited either
to hold, or to direct him securely on the troubled waters. On the other
hand, all experience proves, that he who, in entering on his career, takes
the Gospel of Christ as his guide in every pursuit—derives from it his
standard of morals—appeals to it to learn his duty—to solve his doubts—to
animate his hopes—and to form all his principles of action—is in the fairest
way to be happy in himself, beloved of all around him, prosperous in his
affairs, and favored, in a word, with the best kind of success which true
wisdom can desire or pray for here below. If man is to be prepared by
education for the duties as well as the business of life, then
surely that education which alone is likely to purify and quicken the
conscience, to elevate the affections, to soften the heart, to inspire with
practical wisdom, and to bind the individual by the ties of supreme love to
God, and by those of enlightened and impartial benevolence to men—is adapted
to promote in the highest degree, personal and social happiness, in this
life, as well as in that which is to come.
In forming the religious character here recommended, it
is of the utmost importance that the foundation be laid in clear views of
divine truth. Doctrinal knowledge is apt to be undervalued by private
Christians, and especially by the young. They imagine, according to the
popular prejudice, that if the heart be right, and the conduct correct—the
doctrines embraced are of small consequence. This supposes that the heart of
anyone may be right, while his principles are essentially wrong; or that his
practice may be pure, while his religious opinions are radically erroneous.
But nothing can be more contrary both to Scripture and experience. The great
Founder of our holy religion declares that men are "sanctified by the
truth." In fact, it is only so far as the truth is received, loved and
obeyed—that real religion has any place either in the heart or life. To
suppose that any one can be sanctified, or in any respect benefited, by
embracing error, is as repugnant to reason as it is to the word of God. He
who "has a hope in him," ought ever to be ready to "give a reason for it
with meekness and fear;" and he will be ready to do so, if his hope
is scriptural and intelligent.
It is melancholy to think how frequently this matter is
in a great measure disregarded by professing Christians, otherwise well
informed. Physicians, Lawyers, Merchants, and others, who confidently call
themselves by the name of Christ, who have given many laborious days and
nights to the acquirement of other kinds of knowledge, and who would be
ashamed of being found ignorant of those branches of literature or science
to which they profess to have attended; manifest no shame whatever in
acknowledging themselves ignorant of the plainest subjects in Theology. It
is not intended here either to assign the reasons, or to show the sin and
folly of this deplorable fact; but to remark that the foundation of this
fact is commonly laid in youth. If the young, and even the thinking
and serious portion of the young, were as careful to store their minds with
elementary principles, and with clear, discriminating views of revealed
truth, as they are with the best and most accredited elements of other
sciences—we would not find so many hoary-headed Christians unable to defend
their own professed principles, and led astray by the artful votaries of
error. That firm and accurate foundation of knowledge which is laid in
youth, is most apt to remain unmoved, and to serve as a basis for the
loftiest and most useful superstructure in after life.
But, above all, let the young see to it, that they
content not themselves with a mere doctrinal, or speculative religion.
Listen, beloved youth, to the servant of God, when he faithfully tells you
in the following pages, that your nature is in a state of moral ruin; that
you need pardoning mercy, and sanctifying grace; that you must be
"transformed by the renewing of your minds," or be forever shut out from the
kingdom of God; and that that true religion which will effectually
serve you, either in life or death, must reign in the heart, and govern
the conduct. The principles and the practice to which he invites you,
are not those of a sect or party, but those of the Bible; and without some
experimental acquaintance with which no one is a Christian. And the more
cordially and practically they are received, the more efficient will be
their sustaining and sanctifying power, and the more beneficent the
influence which they will diffuse over your whole character and destiny.
May the Divine blessing rest on this and every other
attempt to conduct our precious youth to knowledge, piety and salvation!
Samuel Miller, Princeton, July, 1830.