LETTERS. 301 



the one great aim and end of his being ? Do you exhort 

 him to frequent private and earnest prayer to the Spirit 

 of Holiness, that he would sanctify all his doings ? Do 

 you teach him that the praise, or the censure, the ad- 

 miration, or the contempt, of the world, is of little im- 

 portance, so as his heart be right before the Great Judge ? 

 Do you tell him that, as his reason now opens, he should 

 gradually withdraw from the gayer and occasionally 

 more unlicensed diversions of the world — the ball-room, 

 the theatre, and the public concert, in order that he may 

 abstract his mind more from the too-fascinating delights 

 of life, and fit himself for the new scene of existence, 

 which will, sooner or later, open upon his view ? No, 

 Madam, I think you do not do this. You tell him there 

 is a deal of enthusiasm in persons who, though they mean 

 well, are over-strict in their religious performances. 

 You tell him, that assemblies, dances, theatres, are ele- 

 gant amusements, though you couple the fine arts with 

 them, which I am sorry to see in such company. I, too, 

 am enthusiastically attached to the fine arts. Poetry, 

 painting, and music, are amongst my most delicious and 

 chastest pleasures ; and happy, indeed, do I feel, when 

 I can make even these contribute to the great end, and 

 draw my soul from its sphere, to fix it on its Maker and 

 Redeemer. I am fond, too, of tragedy ; and though I 

 do not find it with so much purity and chastity in Shake- 

 spear as in the old Greek dramatists, yet I know how 

 to appreciate its beauties in him too. Besides these, I 

 have a thousand other amusements of the most refined 

 nature, without either theatres, balls, or card-tables. 

 The theatre is not in itself an immoral institution, but 

 in its present state it is ; and I feel much for an uncor- 

 rupted, frank lad of fourteen, who is permitted to visit 

 this stew of licentiousness, impudence, and vice. Your 

 plan seems to me this : — Teach a boy to lead an honest, 

 upright life, and to do his duty, and he will gain the 

 good- will of God by the very tenour of his actions. This 

 is, indeed, an easy kind of religion, for it involves no 

 self-denial ; but true religion does involve self-denial. 

 The inference is obvious. I sav it in^-olves no self- 



