Letters to Young Ladies. On the Influence of Religion in the formation of the Moral and Intellectual Character. LETTERS TO YOUNG LADIES. On the Influence of Religion in the formation of the Moral and Intellectual Character. LETTER I. IT may not be necessary to adduce a variety of arguments to prove, that the heart of man is "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." The fact is generally admitted, on the authority of the Scriptures, and the concurrent testimony which the history of all nations supplies. Its depravity assumes diversified forms and modifications, according to his age, his dispositions, and the situation which he occupies. The ascendency which it acquires over his mind, is often so gradual, that many are not conscious of its existence, till they are under its dominion. The impetuous youth, who destroys the peace of his family, and the accomplished villain, who glories in his shame, would once have trembled at the crimes, which they can now commit withBut such triumphs of impiety, you suppose, are rare; being reserved only for the more dissolute and abandoned. out remorse. In your opinion, the delicacy of your feelings, the high estimate which you have formed of the female character, the restraints which are imposed on you by custom; will effectually guard you against the force of temptations which have called forth the depraved dispositions of the opposite sex. The treachery of Absalom, who first stole the hearts of the men of Israel, and then drove his Father from his throne and his capital; the deliberate cruelty of Manasseh, who made the streets of Jerusalem to run down with blood; the perfidy of Judas Iscariot, who betrayed his Lord and Master for thirty pieces of silver; are moral qualities which probably you may imagine no female is capable of displaying. But does not the page of ancient and modern times record the names of some of your own sex who have attained to a fatal pre-eminence in vice? Some, whose personal charms have excited the admiration of the world; whose mental endowments have qualified them to associate with the first class of intellectual beings; but whose crimes have rendered them a disgrace to society. The vindictive spirit of a Jezebel; the boundless ambition of a Cleopatra; the relentless malice of an Herodias; the profligate manners of a Wolstonecraft and a Hamilton; awaken the indignant horror of your comparatively innocent mind; but do they not decisively prove that your nature is depraved in common with ours? Do they not stand amidst the ruins of their reputation, as beacons to warn us of our mutual danger? A But as you have hitherto escaped the "corrup tion that is in the world," and see many excellencies adorning your character, you may conclude, that no change of circumstances would produce a change in your habits or propensities. But you forget that your heart is "deceitful. above all things, and desperately wicked." That under the most specious appearances of virtue, it retains within it, every evil principle which has been displayed on the great theatre of the world. That such an assertion should be repelled as a libellous attack on the goodness of your heart is perfectly natural, because you feel no inclination |