Shaping the Values of Youth: Sunday School Books in 19th Century America

W E solicit, in the beginning, the earnest attention of those for whom we write. We have a purpose in view, which cannot be clearly seen and appreciated, unless all that is said be understood and carefully considered. False views of life prevail every where, and especially with those just attaining the age of moral accountability. The books that are written for the young, the oral precepts that fall from the lips of age, too often give erroneous ideas of man's true nature and the end of his being. There is too great a disposition to offer precepts that regard only temporal well-doing--to furnish the means by which wealth is acquired--to regard mere natural life as of primary importance. Since the days of the adage, "A penny saved is


View page [8]
a penny gained," our people seem to have forgotten that there is something to be saved and gained more precious than even gold or silver. They seem to have forgotten that man has a destiny beyond the attainment of mere wealth. And, as the leading views held and practised upon by the majority of a whole people must be transmitted to, and impressed upon, the minds of the young, and, in turn, influence their whole lives, the natural consequence is, that a large proportion of our young men, as soon as they begin to think and act for themselves, seem to have all ideas and ends merged in the one great pursuit of wealth for its own sake.

The time seems to have arrived for a clear and strong presentation of the real truth on this important subject. Whether the writer of this volume has the ability to do so, or not, will appear in the sequel. In pursuing his task, his object will be to make his readers not only think with him, but to furnish them with leading truths that will cause them to think for themselves, and decide for themselves, in all the varied relations of life in which circumstances may place them. Mere precepts for the young are of little use; they are rarely, if ever, regarded; and it is because they do not appeal to the mind's reasoning faculty. They are but abstract enunciations,


View page [9]
that come not into the mind as parts of its own conclusions. What is essential is, that a whole idea of life should be imparted, and the young man made to feel that the correctness of the great result--when the problem is, at last, worked out--will depend as much upon the wisdom of his actions at the outset of life as at any other period,--nay, more so; for the nearer to the beginning of a problem the error lies, the farther will the final result be from the truth.

Thus much briefly premised, we shall begin at the beginning, and, first of all, speak of man's origin, nature, and destiny. Without a correct knowledge of these, life-precepts are as likely to be wrong as right, and man is upon the surface of a vast ocean, without helm, chart, or compass. This portion of our work need not be dry and uninteresting: we are sure it will not be so to any who are in a state of mind to derive benefit from a book written for young men. We especially ask for it a thoughtful perusal.

CHAPTER II.

MAN--HIS ORIGIN, NATURE, AND DESTINY.

T HE importance of the precept, "Man, know thyself," has been felt and acknowledged in all ages, and among all enlightened nations. To know ourselves truly, requires not only the scanning of our motives and ends of life, but a more general knowledge of what we are as men. On the subject of man's origin, nature and destiny, there is a great contrariety of opinions, even in the Christian world, nearly all of them more or less obscure and unsatisfactory to the rational thinker. Thousands of pages have been written on mental philosophy, the study of which have only tended to lead man deeper and deeper into the mazes of doubt and obscurity; and system after system has been adopted and rejected, until the human mind, turning from them all with hopelessness, if not disgust, is again afloat upon the sea of anxious inquiry. In this state of things, how important is it that young men should receive as truth only the truth, even if the portion be but small! for truth, which nourishes the mind, as


View page [11]
food nourishes the body, can only give a healthy maturity, while error, like bad food, destroys spiritual health, and gives to the spiritual body a diminutive or distorted growth.

Deeply impressed with the importance of the statement just made, we shall seek earnestly to guard our work against any false views of man or his duties in life, and to make all that we do say as comprehensive as possible.

First, then, as to man's origin. The Lord, who is essential and infinite Love and Wisdom, created man a likeness and image of himself, not for his own glory, but in order to make beings who could be happy out of himself. To do this was the impulse of divine Love, and by divine Wisdom the work was done. But it would have been impossible for man to have been a likeness and image of his Creator, unless he were given rationality and freedom; and with these, as essential to their existence, came the appearance that he had life in himself, although the real truth was, he was only a spiritually-organized form, receptive of life. The two constituents of his mind were will and understanding, by which he became a recipient of love and wisdom from the Lord; his will being the receptacle of love, and his understanding the receptacle of wisdom; and from these two constituents, and these alone,


View page [12]
he was man, or an image and likeness of his Creator.

In this golden age of man's existence, all the powers of his mind were in beautiful order, and moved together in perfect harmony. The affections of his will prompted his understanding to the conception of true thoughts, and thus the purposes of his mind were brought forth into action without obstruction; for good desires were in his will, and true thoughts met them in his understanding, and by both all his life was governed. His face was the index of his mind--the tablet upon which all he felt and thought was written; and we have good reason to believe that he had no need of oral speech for the conveyance of his ideas, but found language dumb in comparison to the wonderful play of the innumerable muscles of his face and lips, which were in perfect correspondence with all his feelings and thoughts, and gave to them a full and beautiful utterance; his eye, the perfect mirror of his mind, at a single glance sealing his lips into silence.

This was man's first state, when he came perfect from the hand of his Creator. He had rationality and freedom, without which he could not have been a man; his freedom consisted in his ability to act as if from himself, under the


View page [13]
appearance that he had life in himself; while, from reason, he understood and acknowledged that his ability to act was from the Lord, his Creator, and that he had not life in himself, but was only a form receptive of life. Of course, in this state he looked upwards in the grateful acknowledgment of the source whence he derived life and happiness, and it was the will of his Creator that in this acknowledgement he should ever live; not that he might receive glory--for no act of man's could add to his glory--but because such an acknowledgement was absolutely essential to man's happiness; for it was the first and highest truth regarding his existence.

From this view, we may easily see man's danger--the danger of resting in the appearance as a reality; of believing that he really had life in himself, instead of being merely a recipient of life; of turning himself from the Lord to self; and of finally believing himself to be as God, knowing good from evil. The result of such a fatal error would be, that man, believing thus of himself, would be inclined to love himself, and think lightly of his fellow-man. He would seek his own good, as an end, without reference to the good of his neighbor; and this would quickly produce opposing interests, and


View page [14]
lead on to hatred of all who stood in the way of the attainment of his ends. And such, alas! was the case; and man declined, by a steady and sure progression, until he lost almost entirely that likeness and image of the Lord in which he was created, and became a likeness and image of hell; or, in other words, of all self-love and evil.

As age after age passed away, during this melancholy declension, the spirits of evil men left their natural bodies, and, unchanged in nature, met together and associated, according to affinities of evil, in the spiritual world; and this great congregation of evil spirits is known as hell. The mere laying off of their material bodies, by which they had acted in the material world, changed in no way their nature and ends. While on the earth, they took delight in evil instead of good, and this delight still ruled them, and led them to tempt and seduce from good the yet imbodied spirits of man whenever they could get access to them; nay, more, their intrusions became at length so great, that even the bodies of men were "possessed with devils," and the whole race of mankind was so exposed to their infernal influences, that it was on the eve of perishing.

In this "fulness of time," when man was just


View page [15]
about extinguishing in him every good that he had received at his creation, and on the eve of perishing in consequence, the Lord himself--"The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace"--assumed human nature through a woman, and came down into the consciousness of man in his lowest estate of evil, and received in himself all the assaults or temptations of hell that could be made upon those states, and by his own divine power conquered the evil, and remanded the spirits of darkness to their own gloomy abodes. Thus he became able to save man; for, assuming a body of flesh and blood, and coming even to the low perceptions of his senses, he could thus take hold of something in him, and lift him out of the deep into which he had fallen. He could save man in temptation, for he had been tempted himself in every point, but without sin. The redemption he wrought was perfect; for, in the fallen nature he had assumed, through a human mother, was the form of every evil that had ruled in the breast of man since his fall; and into these forms came an influx of evils from hell, or, rather, temptations to evil, which were resisted and overcome. Thus the Lord came into the consciousness of every temptation to evil by which any man, in all coming time, could be


View page [16]
assailed, and conquered in that temptation, so that he can now save all men who look to him for aid, no matter how low they may have fallen.

At the coming of the Lord, men had reached the lowest point in the segment of a circle whose ends were in heaven; and since that time there has been a slow but sure return; and this advancement must be permanent; for man now rises from the sensual into the scientific and rational, and finally becomes spiritual and celestial, and cannot again be deceived by appearances. Whereas, in his creation, he was formed a celestial man, and, when he descended into the sensual region of his mind, was in danger of resting there, as was finally the case, and believing that his earth was fixed and permanent, while the sun was ever changing its place, and revolving around his little centre.

Thus, in speaking of man's origin, we have embraced also a view of his nature and destiny, which every thoughtful reader will comprehend. The destiny of mankind, it is clear, is a return to heavenly order and true happiness. Thus it is of the first importance that all should understand, and at the same time be made to feel, that each individual owes a debt to the human race which he is bound, by the gravest consideration, to pay. That this is so, a few words will make plain.

Man's declension was slow, and consisted in a gradual perversion of the good principles implanted in him by nature; in other words, the love of the Lord and the neighbor was by degrees supplanted by a love of self and the world, until the latter held dominion in the human mind. This progress was hereditary. What the parents confirmed in their own minds was transmitted to their offspring, and these, confirming the tendencies to evil which they received by actual life, transmitted them, with increased direfulness, to their children.

Now, man's return must be along the same path by which he was led so far away into the wilderness of sin and misery. And, therefore, only so far as he contends with and overcomes the hereditary tendencies of his nature to evil, does he thus return, or can he give his children the power, from him, of returning. Every evil propensity that a man fights against and overcomes, instead of indulging, he weakens, and this he transmits with diminished power to his children; and every good principle that he acts from and confirms, he transmits with increased power to his children. From this it may be seen how great a debt man owes to the human race, and how he is bound by the gravest considerations to pay that debt.

In this struggle for the regeneration of the human mind, it is essential to understand how it is conducted. It has been already stated that man, when in the order of his creation, had a will and understanding that acted in unison: what his will desired his understanding brought forth. But since man lost the true likeness and image into which he was created, his understanding and will have not been in harmony. Man's will is utterly perverted; it can never be regenerated; but his understanding still retains the power of elevation into even the light of heaven. He has yet the faculty of understanding truth when presented to his mind, and, from this truth, of perceiving its corresponding good. And he is still held in sufficient freedom to choose the good thus presented, and to force to himself to act from the truth by which it was made apparent to his mind. In this way, a new will can be gradually formed in the intellectual region of his mind, while the old will, which can never be regenerated, will be laid, with all its evil promptings, into eternal quiescence, and thus man be restored to something of his pristine order.

Thus much by way of fixing the basis upon which our work is to stand. As we stated in the outset, we have a purpose in view in writing


View page [19]
his [sic] book, and these brief preliminaries were necessary to a full comprehension of the principles we wish to lay down for the government of a young man's conduct in life, in the various relations he may be called upon to sustain. Our object is, to make him feel that he does not stand alone in the world, and therefore should never permit himself to act from purely selfish principles. The reason we have endeavored to explain, clearly enough, we think, for the comprehension of every one.

U P to the age of twenty-one years, or to that period when a young man is free from the control of his parents, guardian, or master, his rational mind is not fully developed. He acts from others more than from himself, and others are responsible, to a very great extent, for his actions. But when he becomes a full-grown man, when both mind and body have attained sufficient maturity to enable him to think and


View page [20]
act wisely and efficiently for himself, then he takes the reins of government into his own hands, and becomes entirely responsible for his actions, both as regards human and divine laws. This is the most important period in his whole life; for the consequences of an error here are felt at every subsequent stage of existence.

A serious consideration this, and one that ought to press, with no ordinary weight, upon the mind of every young man; and the more especially so when the undeniable fact is announced to him, that scarcely one in ten fail, at this period of their lives, to fall into some error that entails upon after life more or less of disability and unhappiness.

Calm and sober reflection, and not thoughtless self-indulgence, should distinguish every young man at this time. The destiny of an immortal being, created in the likeness and image of God, is in his hands. Through the intricate mazes of life, by his own wisdom and prudence,--enlightened, it is true, from above, if he will but look up,--he must guide this being either to a sun-bright haven at last, or to destruction upon the gloomy shores of despair and misery. Considerations like these are, surely, enough to make the most thoughtless pause, and regard with prudent caution every footfall in the way of life. But


View page [21]
reflection and prudence need not bring gloom, but cheerful confidence. When a man opens his eyes, and sees that, in a path he was about to walk in with heedless steps, there are innumerable dangers, and wisely chooses a better and a safer way, he has cause for emotions of delight, rather than depression. And such is the result with every young man who, when just entering upon a life of freedom and responsibility, wisely reflects, and shuns all the allurements of false pleasures, and the excesses into which all, at this period, are tempted to run.

A common error into which very many fall at this period, is the belief that they may run into various excesses, and indulge themselves inordinately in sensual pleasures for a few years, or during the brighter days of their early spring-time, and, after that, assumed the more important and real business of life. This is a most dangerous error, and for the reason that it is an immutable law of order in the human mind, that all which precedes in a man's life goes to make up his character in all its subsequent formations. This can only be seen by those who understand something about the real nature of man, as a spiritually-organized being. To those who think superficially, and only from appearances, the idea of substance and form appertains only to


View page [22]
material things, and, so far as man is concerned, to his body only. But the real truth is, man's substantial part is his spirit, while his body is only a form, organized and built up from inert material particles, as a piece of beautiful machinery, by which the true spiritual body can act in the material world. It is this spiritual body which is the true man. The material eye, for instance, does not see. It, as matter, has no power of vision; but it is a window through which the eye of the spirit can look out and see natural objects. The mere closing of this window does not destroy the spiritual eye; it only takes away its medium of sight into the natural world. So of the ear, and so of all the external senses; they are but the avenues through which the senses of the spiritual body take cognizance of things in the outer and lower world of matter. The true sight of the spirit is its power to perceive truth, and its sense of hearing, its willingness to obey the truth so perceived. That this is so, all mankind have a common perception. For, when one attempts to present a truth to your understanding, he says, "Don't you see? " And when a father wishes to impress the necessity of obedience to a precept upon his child, he says, "Do you hear? " The ground of this lies in the fact, as just stated,


View page [23]
that there is in the human mind a perception that the spirit's vision is its power to see truth, and its hearing is its willingness to obey.

From this it may be seen that man's spiritual body is a real something--that it can see and hear, and that the natural body has, really, no eye nor ear, but only organized forms by which the spiritual eye and ear can see into and darken the natural world. Now, if this be true of the eye and the ear, it is true of the whole body in every general and particular thing appertaining to it; and, as the natural body, which is an outbirth from the spiritual body, is a form beautifully organized in all its parts, and is called a substance as well as a form, is it not clear that the spiritual body is also a substance and a form? nay, that the only true substantiality is in the spiritual body, which can never be disorganized, but which retains its existence and its powers forever?

Keeping this in view, it may readily be perceived that impressions can be made on this spiritual form and substance that will be lasting as any thing made upon the body. That this is so, mankind have seen, in all ages, and hence the adage--"Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined;" and the thousand wise precepts


View page [24]
in the codes of morality to be found in all nations, referring to the power of habit.

The position here taken is, that the natural body is the material form with which the spiritual body clothes itself, in order to act in the material world; if this be true,--and we are sure no rational man can for a moment question it,--then we may, by analogy, determine some of the laws which govern the spiritual body, by observing those which govern the natural body. Now, the laws of natural health are those which govern the natural body, and, when observed, all its machinery goes on right; and it is but a wise inference to say that the laws of spiritual health are those which govern in the spiritual body, and, when observed, spiritual health must be the result. If we disregard the laws of natural health, diseased impressions are made upon the body, more or less apparent, which ever after remain, and show themselves, no matter how careful we may be, in after life, under certain and particular circumstances, and deprive us of some measure of ability to perform fully our duties or wishes in life. If the laws of health have been grossly abused, more serious consequences follow; and, sometimes, men's whole lives are rendered burdensome, and they, perhaps, unfitted for nearly all active


View page [25]
duties, in consequence. Precisely similar will be the result where the laws of spiritual health have been disregarded. "What are the laws of spiritual health?" is asked. We answer, the Decalogue contains the laws of spiritual health, as laid down by the Creator of man, who alone can know what is in man, and what laws to establish for his government, in order to secure his happiness. The violation of any one of these laws, even in intention, will bring spiritual disease, as certainly as the violation of any law of natural health will produce natural disease; and this disease will impress the substance and form of the spiritual body, and produce a change from true order, that no subsequent obedience to right precepts will ever entirely restore.

It would be easy to show how the indulgence of every inordinate desire,--to do which young men are so strongly tempted,--is a violation of some precept of the Decalogue, and tends to destroy spiritual health; but to do so, would extend this preliminary part of our work too far, and trench too much upon the province of an abstract spiritual philosophy. What we have already advanced is deemed essential to the formation of true ideas in regard to life and its responsibilities, and we cannot but think that its bearing will be clearly seen. In other parts of


View page [26]
our work, we will keep in view the laws here laid down, and show their bearing in actual life.

From what is advanced in this chapter, we think every reflecting young man will feel the necessity of examining his ends, as well as guarding his actions, and be exceedingly careful what impressions are made in the substance and form of his spirit.

The habit of spending money too freely in the gratification of a host of imaginary wants, is one into which young men of generous minds are too apt to fall. Limited to a small income previously, and compelled to deny themselves at nearly every point, they find it almost impossible to resist the impulse that prompts to self-gratification, and are thus led to spend, perhaps for years, the entire sum of their earnings, and, more than probable, to run into debt. The folly of this every one can see and acknowledge, and yet too many have not the resolution to act up to their convictions.

This habit of spending money uselessly has marred the fortunes of more young men than any other cause. It is a weakness that should be firmly and constantly resisted by every one. Money should be considered as a means by which man has power to act usefully in the world, and he ought to endeavor to obtain it with that end in view. The greater a man's wealth, the broader may be, if he but will it, the sphere of his usefulness. It is true that men do not seek for wealth under the impulse of such high considerations, and, in the present condition of the human mind, from causes just explained, it cannot be expected that they should do so. But the first thing a man has to do in


View page [28]
the work of self-elevation, is to shun what is evil because it is evil. And if a young man, who is constantly tempted to spend his money foolishly, should refrain from doing so from the consideration that it was wrong to waste that by which he might ultimately be useful to his fellows, he will be very apt, in after life, to feel, under all circumstances of expenditure, that he must not be entirely unmindful of the effect of his acts upon others.

One means for the correction of this fault may be found in a regular account of receipts and expenditures. A young man, whose income was seven hundred and fifty dollars a year, was asked by a friend how much money he had saved. He had been receiving this salary about four years, and had no expenses whatever except those that were personal.

"Saved!" returned the young man, in surprise. "I can't save any thing out of seven hundred and fifty dollars a year."

"I saved money on a salary of five hundred dollars," was the friend's quick reply.

"I should be most happy to know your secret," said the other. "I have tried fifty times to lay up something, but it's no use."

"What does your boarding cost you?"

"Three dollars and a half a week."

"Or a little over a hundred and eighty dollars a year. Add your washing, and it will make two hundred. Next comes your tailor's bill. How much is that?"

"Generally about a hundred and twenty-five dollars."

"Seventy-five more, I suppose, will pay for your boots, and the various little etceteras of clothing not included in your tailor's bill?"

" O, yes, fully, I should think."

"Very well. Where are the three hundred and fifty remaining?"

"Dear knows, for I don't," was the young man's reply.

"What does your account book say ?"

"Account book! I don't keep an account book. I never dreamed of such a thing."

"That is strange! Why, I keep my own cash account as carefully as I do my employer's."

"I don't know any particular good that does," said the young man. "Keeping an account of your money doesn't make it go any further."

"O, yes, it does. Keep an account of every item spent for a month, and read it over carefully on the first of the succeeding one, and my word for it, if you have any disposition to prudence in you, it will cause you to be more careful of your money; for you will see there the


View page [30]
haunting ghosts of too many dollars spent in foolish self-indulgence, the pleasures of which endured but for a brief season, and left you a less contented mind than you had previously enjoyed. In a little while, such account keeping, if you adopt it, will show you where your three hundred and fifty dollars a year have gone. My reason for asking you the question was this: one of the best opportunities for going into a safe and profitable business that I have yet seen, has just presented itself. To enter into it will require a capital of two thousand dollars. I have laid by a thousand, and fully believed you had accumulated as much, and that jointly we might improve so rare an opportunity. But this, I am sorry to find, is not the case. I must seek for someone else who has the sum that is needed."

This lesson the young man laid to heart, and profited by it. From that day, he kept a regular account of his expenses, and soon found that, with the data it afforded, and a little resolution and self-denial, he could lay up money--a thing he had before deemed impossible.

A good resolution, perhaps the best a young man can form on this subject, is always to live below his income, let it be what it will. It may require, in some cases, a good deal of self-denial to do this; but such self-denial will be well repaid.


View page [31]
We know a young man, who, at the age of twenty-two, married, while his income was but ten dollars a week. Instead of renting a whole house and going in debt for furniture, he rented a single room in the house of a friend, with the privilege of the kitchen, for about fifty dollars a year. His resolution had long before been taken that he would always manage to spend less than he received, and he chose this modest style of living as a means of attaining his end. None of his friends or acquaintances thought the less of him for his prudence, but rather commended him. By living thus economically, he was able to lay by a hundred dollars during the first year, and the same for two or three years longer. Then a good opportunity offered for going into business, which was embraced. Some ten years since that period have elapsed, and he has just retired with a snug little competence of forty or fifty thousand dollars.

This habit of living up to the income seems to be the bane of all success. The cause of it is not in a small income, but in unsatisfied desires. The young man who spends his salary of four or five hundred dollars, is almost sure to run through every thing he receives when that salary is doubled. The gratification of one desire only makes way for another still more exacting. It


View page [32]
is, therefore, of the first importance for a young man to guard himself here; if he do not, he is in danger of forming a habit that will go with him through life, and mar his fairest prospects. The prospects of thousands have been thus marred.

A still worse error than spending the entire income, and one the effects of which are far more blighting to a young man's worldly prospects, is that of living beyond that income, either under the doubtful hope that it will be increased next year equal to the deficit of the present, or from the neglect of keeping a careful eye upon the relation existing between receipts and expenditures. The most common way in which this going beyond the income occurs, is in making purchases on credit, instead of buying every thing for cash. If a want is felt, and the means of satisfying it are not in hands, the true way is to wait until such means are received, rather than anticipate their receipt by running in debt. At the beginning of a quarter, too many make purchases to be paid at its expiration, instead of waiting until its close, and then, with cash in hand, buying just what they want, and no more. Their salaries are received and paid all away for clothes worn, and board due, and they left to anticipate another quarter's income long before it comes into their hands.

Going into debt for clothing is a very common, but a very foolish practice. No one does it, who is compelled to pay at least from ten to twenty percent more than he would if he always paid the cash down; and he is, besides, tempted to buy more than he otherwise would, and to choose more expensive materials for his garments. Then, while his six or twelve months' account is running on toward maturity, he is spending, little by little, foolishly, the money that ought to be hoarded for its payment; and when due day comes, he too often finds it impossible to satisfy the large demand against him, unless by borrowing from a friend, or getting an advance on his salary. Does all this make him feel any happier? Is the consciousness of being in debt so very pleasant to a sensitive and honest mind? One would think that a young man's natural pride of independence would cause him to shrink from such a position, and use every means in his power to avoid it, instead of going into it with his eyes open, as so many do.

It is wiser and more honorable for a man to wear his coat three or six months longer, until he have the money with which to buy a new one, than it is to go in debt for the garment, and thus lay a tax upon his future income, or run the risk of not being able to pay for what


View page [34]
he has worn, at the time agreed upon. A common subject of remark among young men is their tailor's bills, and the difficulty of paying them. For a young man, with a fixed salary, and only himself to support, to have any tailor's bill at all, is no good sign, and speaks badly of his habits and future prospects.

Debt--debt! A young man is mad, we had almost said, to go in debt under any pretext whatever. We remember a bookbinder who, from intemperance, got into debt; on reforming, he lived on broken crackers, at a cent or two a pound, with tea made in his glue-kettle--he sleeping at night in the shaving-tub; and this economical mode of living was continued until he got out of debt. How much better would it have been to have lived thus abstemiously, in order to have kept out of debt, had the necessity for so doing existed! Almost any sacrifice of pride, feeling, and comfort, should be made by a young man, rather than go in debt; for, once get behindhand, and it seems next to impossible to recover yourself. You may toil early and late, and yet it will seem all in vain; and if you do, at length, get your feet on firm ground, it will be by the severest struggles, or by what seems a happy accident.

The facility with which young men of fair


View page [35]
character can get credit, is a great temptation to many, who feel that it is a very pleasant thing to get all they want, even without a dollar in their pockets, and have four,