sec #11,078 The necessity of protecting the sabbath, in cities and TRACTS t^OR THE PEOPl-E.— No. 5. THE NECESSITY or tl PROTECTING THE SABBATH, IN CITIES AND IN THE COUNtRY, ^ROM DESECRATION: ESPECIALLY FROM THAT PERNICIOUS FORM AND CAUSE OF ITS PROFANATION, THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC* NEW YORKt J. S. REDFIELD, CLINTON HALL, CORNER OF NASSAU AND BEEKMAN STREETS. 1849. BOOKS PUBLISHED BY J. S. REDFIELD. For Schools, . Academies, and Self-Instruction. ^ THE - AMERICAN DRAWING-BOOK. BY JOHN G. CHAPMAN, N. A. This Work will be published in Parts ; in the coarse of whicb^ PRIMARY INSTRUCTIONS AND RUDIMENTS OF DRAWING' DRAWING FROM NATURE — MATERIALS AND METHODS: PERSPECTIVE — COMPOSITION — LANDSCAPE — FIGURES, ETC : DRAWING, AS APPLICABLE TO THE MECHANIC ARTS: PAINTING IN OIL AND WATER COLORS: THE PRINCIPLES OF LIGHT AND SHADE: EXTERNAL ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN FORM, AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY: THE VARIOUS METHODS OF ETCHING, ENGRAVING, MODELLING, Etc Will be severally treated, separately ; so that, as far as practicable, each Part will be complete in itself, and form, in the whole, " a Manual of Information sufficient for all the purposes of the Amateur, and Basis of Study for tlie Professional Artist, as well as a valuable Assistant to Teachers in Public and Private Schools ;" to whom it is especially recommended, as a work destined to produce a revolution in the sys- tem of popular education, by making the Arts of Design accessible and familiar to all, from the concise and intelligible manner in which the subject is treated throughout. The want of such a work, has been the great cause of neglect in this important branch of education ; and this want is at once and fully sup- plied by the — AMERICAN DRAWING-BOOK: npon which Mr. Chapman has been for years engaged ; and it is now produced, without regard to expense, in all its details, and published at a price to place ft within the means of every one. The Work will be published in large quarto form, put np in substan- tial covers, and issued as rapidly as the careful execution of the numer- ous engravings, and the mechanical perfection of the whole, will allow. It#^ Any one Part may be had separately. Price 50 Cents each Part» I^ The DRAWING COPY-BOOKS, intended as auxiliary to the Work, in assisting Teachers to carry out the system of instruction, especially in the Primary and Elementary parts, form a new and valu- able addition to the means of instruction. They will be sold at a cost little beyond that of ordmary blank-books. ^«G9»a-8- ■ _^. THE TEMPTATIONS OF CITY LIFE. First Visit to the City iii Pursuit of a new Home and Fortune. — A Crisis in Human Life. — Friendly Sollcitudo for Young Men in large Town.s, as being in Circumstances of distinguished Promise and Peril. — Tempta- tions arising from an Exchange of accustomed for strange and ever- changing Scenes, denying to Virtue the Succor of the Kno^^^l and Fa- miliar. — Temptations arising from the Want of the Conservative Influ- ences of Home, the Divinely- appointed and natural Defence of Virtue. — Temptations arising from a prevailing Over-Estimate of Wealth, and fraudulent Methods ofBasincss, impairing the Sensitiveness and Strength of Conscience, and the Foundations of Integrity, and removing a princi- pal Ban-ier to general Immorality', — Temptations arising from Diversi- fied Examples of Wickedness in apparent Impunity and Triumph, im- pairing Confidence in the Reality of a Moral Government, and thus re- moving a powerful Restraint from precipitant Passions. — Temptations arising from specific Appeals M particular Passions and Weaknesses of Human Nature, surprising dormant and latent Depravity into formidable Manifestation and Activity. — Temptations arising from tlie cor sealed Character of City Life, precluding tiie Ffbuke or Knowledge of Friends, or any amenable Relation to the Communit\% and fostering the corrupt- ing Delusion of a twofold Atheism — a Feeling of not being accountable to God or Man. — Triumphing over these united Temptations, a Youth may rise to a Destiny of unrivalled Glory : falling before them, he may sink to a Doom of unparalleled rufamy and Miseiy. Dear Young Friend: Your first journey to the city, in pursuit of a new home and fortune, is doubtless re- tained among your most interesting recollections. Scenes were flitting before your mental vision, as new and tran- sient as aspects of the landscape, varying in rapid suc- cession, with the direction and speed of the stage, the car, or steamboat, that was hurrying you to a new des- tiny. The near approach to the place of your future abode was at length announced ; and looking from the window of the stage as it rose an eminence, or from the 1 TEAJLPTATIONS OF CITY Ll f car or steamboat, as it wound round a hill or forest, or turned a point in the river or bay, you obtained the first glimpse of some, lofty. dom6 or spire, or elevated section of the town, peering out in distinctness from its yet undefined extent and monotonous aspect. Soon the whole city is expanded upon your view. Entering its precincts, with strange sights flitting before your eyes, strange sounds falling upon your ears, and strange sensa- tions thrilling your bosoms, you wended your Way amid different orders of architectural magnificence and mean- ness — temples of justice and religion in close proximity to sombre prison walls, alternate sections and squares of princely residences and of squalid habitations of gaunt poverty, idleness, and crime — to a place of temporary or permanent lodgings. Finding repose from such protracted and unaccustom- ed excitements, you could hardly realize that you were in a great metropolis. Your imagination had often glowed with undefined visions of magnificence and glory, as in the annals of history and the journals of tourists you had traced the extent, wealth, and splendors of ancient and modern cities ; the abodes of sovereigns, senates, and courts ; the emporiums of letters ; the marts of com- merce ; and the galleries of arts. Brought thus into local association with all the affluence of wealth, honor, and happiness, only fortune, fame, and pleasure, were seen in the mental perspective, and sanguine hope repelled every doubt of success : — " For life itself was new, And the heart promised what the fancy drew." That was a crisis in your life, a turning point of your destiny. The present retains its bias, and the future will receive its character from that period. Trusting that the interests of that crisis are not wholly compromised, and are yet capable of a wiser and more beneficent direction, TSMPTATTONS OP CITY LIFE. O we address to you these few lines of affectionate and ear- nest counsel. That book of sacred scripture whl'^jh contains the prac- tical wisdom of antiquity, opens its address to the age and promise of youth. An ancient philosopher, also, wishing to render the most important service to his coun- try, devoted him.self to the instruction of the youth of her metropolis; regarding the young men of Athens as. prospectively the most important class in Greece, and surrounded by circumstances at once of distinguished promise and peril. And all enlightened philanthropists — tracing the germ of human destiny in the incipient for- mation of character; the elements of the individual, social, and national welfare of a people in the discipline of youth; and the hope of the church and of the state in the promise of the rising generation — will seek the ameliora- tion of human society chiefly by instructing and coun- selling the young. They will particularly address them in the periods and circumstances of their greatest hope and hazard. The youth of our cities stand upon a special vantage-gi'ound for achieving good or ill, and for weal or wo will soon control the great agencies of human power. They are therefore the objects of the highest hopes and greatest fears of the wise and good — the most exciting spectacle that can be presented to the eye of philanthropy and religion. A voice from Heaven, like that addressed to the prophet, says, " Go speak to that young man." " Go to him as he resolves to seek his for tune in the city ; as he approaches the metropolis with his head teeming with wild, fancies, exeitements, and hopes; as he enters the enchanted sphere of city life j as he selects his boarding-house, his profession, his mode and place of business ; as he determines his companion- ship, his amusements, and his place of worship. Go, ut- ter in his inexperienced ear those words of wisdom that 6 TEMPTATION'S OF ClTY LIFE!. have souneled aloug the eras of revelation, echoed from every page ; that have come from the Ups of all the wise and good, swelled by the concurrent utterance of succes- sive generations ; that have fallen in aftectionate accents from the lips of fond and revered parents, and now come with sacred memories fr(;in the home of his childhood, or in mournful and ])cr;-uasive reminiscences from tlicir 'graves ; that have been sternly and authoritatively uttered by his conscience in his purest days, and return with ev- ery thought of death and a final judgment. Go, kinJly and faithfully point out to him the various perils that sui'- round him; the influences that menace his character; the exalted destiny to which he may rise — the infamous doom to which he may fall." 1. T/ie first class of temjftatlo/is incident to tlie pur- suit of a new liomc and fortune in the city, arises out of a removal from familiar to new and ever-varying scenes. Habits of virtue become, conformed to one's so- cial relations, secular j^ursuits, and association with ex- teiTial objects. They are supported by the alliance of the known and familiar; which, like the outposts of a military encampment, cover every avenue to the soul, guarding against the insidious approaches of vice, and Rummonitig the forces of virtue at the least approach of danger. Even inanimate scenes, familiar from childhood, seera invested with moral power. Tlie fields and hills over which his boyish feet trod ; the brook over which he leaped ; the beaten path through the wood or the grave- yard ; the mountain gilded to his vision by the early light of morning ; the murmuring waterfall, the leaping cas- cade, or the rushing cataract ; the ocean dashing and roaring at his adventurous feet along a familiar beach ; the trees beneath whose shade ho played ; and the school- TEMPTATIONS OF riTV LIFE. T house, and the cliuroli wliere lie learned and worshipped — all, by a mysterious association with early life, thought, and education, ally him to the true, the pure, and the good. All familiar sounds blend in sweet and harmonious ac- cents of persuasion to a life of virtue. All familiar ob- jects, memorials of the obligations, temptations, privi- leges, and revrards of virtuous life, seem to smile upon uprigiit conduct and to frown upon the least transgres- sion. Severing these accustomed alliances, youth enters up- on the strange scenes of the city, its dazzling splendors and bewildering excitements transporting to an un- healthy activity all his susceptible faculties. The pro- tection of former habits is withdrawn, and virtue finds nothing on which to repose. She wends her unaccus- tomed way amid the strange, the fascinating, and temjDt- ing, unaided by the memorials and alliances of the past; and she has little facility for forming associations that might replace her former supports. Entrance upon city life is not merely one great change, but an introduction to a perpetual succession of changes. Assimilated to the circumstances and tastes of the city, the mind acquires a disrelish for the repose of steady habits, and morbidly craves novelties vrith their surprises, their winning appeal?, and insidious temptations. Places of business, of residence, and of worship, are changed with such facility and frequency, as to prevent the forming of conservative personal and local attachments. No hallowed memories cluster, in daily scenes, around the youthful stranger. The path of life is not indicated to him by familiar waymarks, as to the shepherd or the husband- man, cheering and giving confidence to cacii successive step ; but is like the couise of the travellei- through the desert. Though thousands are travelling in nearly the same direction, and ]\c have himself passed and repassed 2* W- TEMrTATIOXP OP CiTi' I. IFF. a hundred times in the same general course, the yielding sand and clouds of dust leave no familiar traces. The ways of life are moveaLle, and the walks and retreats of virtue, are not identified with their accustomed attrac- tions of congenial companionship, pleasing associations, and improving entertainments. Even the co-ordinate supports of intimate and lasting friendship are but partially allowed. Friendshi2;)s are too cheap, too easily available, to be greatly valued and sacredly guarded. There is little inducement to forbear- ance, explanation, and conciliation ; if one is alienated, the hand of another has already been prolfered. A dozen different circles of acquaintance may have been passed through and abandoned in as many months. The sentiment of friendship is impaired or worn out. Youth goes armed with a selfish and suspecting neutral- ity; he reposes confidence in few, is distrustful of all. Recognising no connexion with others in venerable rela- tions and sacred interests, there is nothing in the way of lawless passions ; the protection of moral interests is wanting, as would be that of pecuniary possessions in the removal of the laws of property. The barriers of vice are thrown down in every direction, and the strong- holds of virtue removed. A course of life opened up through such new and strange associations and perpetu- ally-recurring changes, dissevered from the alliances of the past, the conservative influences of permanent local attachments, and selected and lasting friendships, must be fraught with innumerable temptations and perils to the young. Allow not, then, that love of novelty that will enlarge and strengthen these temptations, but rather repress it. Seek as far as possible permanent associations in busi- ness, comj)anionship, and in religious worship. Idle cu- riosity leads not to wisdom and virtue, but to dissipation TEMPTA110N8 OF CITY LIFE. Wt. and vice. A morbid disposition to hear distinguished preachers and see new chapels, ministers not to the pur- pose of the sabbath and of worship; but fosters religious dissipation, and leads ultimately to the abandonment of all places of worship. Be not ambitious of the credit of having seen all that the great metropolis contains. The eyes are seldom sat- isfied with seeing or the ears with hearing till the visita- tion of disgust and rain. You had better crawl through the turbid filth of its sewers to gain this credit, than to seek to explore all its hidden abominations. Wise is the youth who tries to see how near he can strike his oar upon the verge of the cataract and escape ; or how near he can leave the mark of his skate to an opening in the ice ; or how far inward he can move upon the circling eddies of the whirlpool to feel the sensation of the mo- tion, and fathom its sounding rocks and yawning vortex ; compared with him whose infatuated curiosity leads him to explore indiscriminately the evil and the good. Ra- ther look at the good, the pure, and the true, and, like Bunyan's pilgrim, putting your fingers in your ears, flee from all scenes of profligacy and dissipation. Avoid the ways of sinners and the seats of the scornful, the instruc- tions of error, the blasphemies of infidelity, the gay cir- cles of dissipating amusements, and insidious temptations ; as far as possible reproduce the alliances and associa- tions of virtue you have left ; maintain tli^i same regular habits ; and let not the surprise of novel temptations and unexpected gusts of passion sweep you away. 2. Another class of temptations to which you are ex- posed, nearly related to those already mentioned^ arises from the want of the conservative influences of home. The domestic is the original and divinely-appointed order of human society. It embraces in its appropriate 10 TEMPTATIONS OF CITV LIFE. aud concentric circles that precise classification of socie- ty which is adapted to give scope to natural affections, re- press selfish and lawless passions, harmonize the interests and protect the virtues and happiness of the race. All the properlies and laws of Nature are reduced to particular relations and comhinations adapted to subsen'e her uv/n beneficent economy. Any disturbance of these relations produces commensurate evils ; while any new combination might explode the earth to fragments, re- solve its elements into chaos, and set the heavens ou fire as a scroll. So in family circles and associations, all the social elements are reduced to their most auspicious and conservative relations. The virtue of each becomes the in- terest of the whole, aud all are armed against the incur- sion of lawless passions and disorganizing vice, as against the invasion of a dreaded foe, by an appeal to their hearths, and fires, and altars, the pure aud blessed fellow- ship of their home.-. Any other order of alliances, there- fore, superseding this, would as manifestly thwart the be- neficent designs of Providence, and jeopard the higher interests of mankind, as the disorganization of churches, or the anarchy of states. Says President Dwight : *• There is nothing in this world which is so venerable as the character of parents; nothinor so intimate and endearins^ as the relation of husband and wife ; nothing so tender as that of children ; nothing so lovely as that of brothers and sisters." And how sweetly are the united attractions of these relations, cherished in fond reminiscence and virtuous affections, celebrated In verse ! — " The sounds that ffill on mortal car As devvdiops pure at even, That sooth t!ic breast or start the tear, Are inother, home, and heaven." And again, in varied expression : — TEMPTATIONS OF CITY LIFE. 11 *' I ne'er shall furget tlioe. Blessed home of my heart! The fond recollections Thou hringest to me Of endearing affections, Shall hind me to thee." Though, like the various beneficent and potential agen- cies of Nature, no passing account may he taken of this silent, varied, and extensive influence of home upon vir- tuous affections — " Yet like some sweet, heguiling melody, Bo sweet we know not we are listening to if, Thou the meanwhile ai-t blending with my thoughts, Yea, with my life; and life's own secret joy." Domestic influences penetrate the soul, unfold and cherish all its amiable virtues and lovely graces, as the sunlight, bland air, and genial influences of the morning open the rosebuds and early flowers. More than any other influences, they win upon the waywardness and insubordination of youth, and restrain from incipient steps, or reclaim from the advanced progress of vice. When tempted to seek some doubtful amusement or companionship, their influences may dissolve the en- chantment. When actually resolved ujjon, some act of adventurous depravity, some alliance of dissipation and profligacy, they may break the fatal infatuation, and reas- sure conscience. All dark tlioughts, that harass and soil the mind, amid the temptations of business and worldly associates, are dissipated by the light of home. Images of parental authority and kindness impressed upon tlie miud by daily association, attend his path, be- set with temptations, as guardian-angels. The fond mother watches over his path, encouraging and reward- ing every virtue with her complaisant and affectionate smile, forgiving with incomparable charity every depre- cated evil, and with sad and regretful look reproving ev- ery allowed fault. The wise father observes with ex- 12 TEMPTATIONS OF CITY LIFE. ulting admiration every mark of developing genius and virtue, or with intense solicitude every unfavorable token of character ; and with gentleness, authority, and affec- tion, imposes his hand upon his head, and drops the warm tear on his brow, as he administers counsel and reproof, or supplicates the pardon and blessing of Heaven. Thus viituo nestles and grows under the brooding wing of parental care, till plumed to soar in lofty and sustained flight. But tempted too soon abroad to essay the rapid and precarious flight of life, and buffet its stoniis, her unaccustomed wing falters with unequal and remitted effort, and she sinks from her lofty aim and na- tive impulse to the degrading level and grovelling pur- suits of vice, and is seldom able to regain her true ele- vation and resume her destined course. Youth, embowered in the shady and genial retreat of home, is sheltered from the unfriendly influences of the world, as the gi'aceful undergrowth of the forest from sultry heats and blasts of the tempest, by the stately pines and broad-araied oaks. While the forest above is with- ered and paled; ancient trees are stripped of their giant branches, or rocked in their beds, and precipitated from exposed summits ; the pliant sapling, still green and fresh, gently waving to the gale that sweeps so fiercely above, loses not a branch, or twig, cy leaf — but striking its roots deeper, and grasping with multiplying fibres an ampler extent of soil, is preparing to rear its head against the storm and defy the elements, when in the course of Na- ture the protection of the parent-forest is removed. So youth, sheltered beneath the protection of home from the withering heats and incursive blasts of temptation, strikes the roots of virtue deeper, with gradual and at- tempered trials, till in due course prepared to endure the vicissitudes and exposures of life ; and premature remo- val from these protecting influences is as unnatural and TEMPTATIOXa OF CITY LIFE. 13 likely to be as fatal as to remove the sapling from the shielding forest, and transplant it, with mutilated roota and in an uncongenial soil, upon an exposed hillside. Such is the exposure of every young man coming from remote parts of the country to the city to learn a busi' ness, perfect himself in a profession, or to gain or im- prove a fortune. Surrounded by new and innumerable temptations, no boarding-house, with the most select as- sociations and guardianship, could supply the conserva- tive influences he has left. But with his first scanty in- come, he can avail himself only of the poorest accommo- dations of an unattractive and crowded house. No quiet chamber is allowed for retirement and study ; no neat parlor, free from the interruptions of noise and the intru- sion of uncongenial persons, attracts him by its select companionship, collection of useful books, and choice cabinet. Discontented and repelled from this poor substitute for a home, after his evening meal, he may read the fol- lowing, or some similar advertisement in the paper : " Citizens and strangers wishing to spend an hour com- fortably, in a quiet and beautifully-furnished retreat, where the best of liquors, wines, and segars, are offered, and where they can have access to all the papers of the day, besides the English and American pictorials, are respectfully solicited to drop in at No. — , street." Or he may go out by invitation of some fellow-boarder; or stroll abroad in quest of a more congenial resort. On almost every corner, some saloon brilliantly lighted, opens its attractive portals. It is furnished on a scale of the richest luxury, with splendid mirrors, costly divans, easy lounges, and tables covered with late journals and picto- rial works. Paintings of great artistic merit, arranged upon the walls, and exhibiting the nude and seductive forms of female beauty, appeal to the ardent passions ti TEMPTATIONS OF CITV LIFE. of youth ; and corresponding music in sweetest strains steals upon his senses. Often, to add to the attractions of these places, varying entertainments, of the buffoon, danseuse, and the ballad-singer, are funiished. Capti- vated by such scenes, unsuspecting youth repeats his visits, finds out other similar resorts, and finally is in the habit of being abroad every night, and is found at his boarding-house only for his meals and late lodgings. He visits all the distinguished saloons, refectories, bowling- alleys, theatres, gambling-hells, and other abodes of af- filiated infamy. No mother waits his return to second, by her solicitous inquiry, the reproofs of conscience ; no father to aid the returning conviction of better counsels, by lessons of experience, or to arrest his incipient course of evil by the timely interposition of yet revered author- ity ; no sister to recall him from his almost unconscious estrangement from the delicate sympathies of virtue, by her sweet voice and winning smile. Removing these restraints from the impetuosity of youth entering a large city, is like taking off the brake from a train of cars at the summit of an inclined plane, leaving them to move with dangerous and constantly- accelerating velocity; and thousands under this motive- power, unrestrained, renouncing every virtue before ob- sei'ved, and pursuing every vice before deprecated, rush precipitately to destruction. Severing this last bond that holds the bark of youth to its moorings in the harbor of virtue and peace, is like parting the cable of the noble vessel, already careening and bounding before the storm, and allowing it to dart away, like a race-horse, before the gale, without pilot, or compass, to be stranded and wrecked in hopeless ruin. O then be entreated to consider your exposed situation surrounded by so many insidious temptations, and with- out the necessarv defences of virtue. In select com- TEMPTATIONS OF CITY LIFE. 15 panionsliips rc])]acc tliem as far as you can. Let thoughts of parents, absent, perhaps now in heaven, keep you back from tlie devious paths of sin. When vacillating between claims of duty and temptation, let the thought of a departed mother, who once reproved your childish follies, and forgave them, and commended you to vir- tue and to God — the memory of her serene, affectionate, and regretful countenance — recall the purpose and inspire the courage of virtue. One of the finest and bravest of the officers who have lately fallen upon the embattled plains of Mexico, and one that obtained early and distin- guished promotion, while a cadet at West Point, be- ing importuned by a high-spirited and reckless compan- ion to drink WTth him the enchanted cup, and chided for his cowardly refusal, simply replied, "My mother would not wish me to." " Oh ! in our sterner manhood, when no ray Of earlier sunshine glimmers on our way ; When girt with sin, and soiTow, and the toil Of cares, which tear the bosom that they soil — Oh ! if there be in Retrospection's chain One link that binds us to duty again. It is the memory of a mother's love." He that hallows such reminiscences, confirms one of the strongest bonds of a virtuous life ; he that hath not home virtues in his soul, and is not moved by the sweet concord of domestic affections, is " fit for treasons, strat- agems, and spoils." 3. Another class of the temptations of large cities arises from a prevailing over-estimate oficealth, and fraudulent methods ofhusiness. Cities are the exchanges of nations, the markets of the world. The countless multitudes of merchants, clerks, and porters, passing and repassing to ships, customhouses, countinghouses, and exchanges, con- tinually remind us of the numbers, and ascendency of the Id TEMPTATIONS OF CITV LIFE. mercantile class. Commercial influences must therefore to a great extent affect the social and moral character of a city. They tend to foster an idolatrous and corrupting estimate of wealth, and to subordinate the higher ends of intellectual and moral culture, domestic virtues and happiness, to its acquisition. If the worship of the world in the devotement of su- preme regards, could have been symbolized, at different periods, we should at one time behold man offering su- preme homage to Mars ; at another, to MineiTa, Apollo, or Ceres ; at another, to Venus or Bacchus ; and at an- other, to Mammon. In a fair representation of the present comparative homage of the world, the altars of Mammon would be found to outnumber and surpass in splendor all others. Its temples are reared and its magnificent and imposing ceremonial worship is enact- ed in the city. Thither the tribes of the people go up in the engrossing pursuits of wealth, like the ancient Hebrews to Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of Asia to Ephesus, to pay their homage, participate ia the so- lemnities, and join in the idolatrous shouts going up before this gilded divinity whom now all Europe and America worshippeth. From the altar of Mammon, a votary goes away, bearing, as indelibly if not as con- spicuously, the marks of the shrine at which he has bowed, as from the altar of Bacchus. The delusion may not surprise him into as many vulgar improprieties, but may fascinate him imperceptibly into as many fatal er- rors, downright follies, and heinous crimes. The intoxi- cation may not be as violent, neither is it as intermit- tent ; it is incorporated more completely into the habit of the soul, and allows fewer inten^als for sober reflec- tion and escape. From a regard for money as a means to the advantages of life, such a votary passes to a strange and infatuated idolatry for the thing itself; not merely TRMPTATIOxVS OP CITY LIFE. 17 in disproportion to, but without regard to its uses, even better pleased with accumulated investments, without the prospect or even possibility of eve]- using them; as if " The chief end of man Is to keep what he's got, And get what he can." Intellectual imbecility, elevated to distinction by wealth, puts on affected airs, prates ignorance, and uses inso- lence with impunity and even applause. Dark fraud occupies princely habitations, rides in rich livery, and by gold wins its way to any circle and social advantages. Impudent vice, shielded by the immunities of wealth, shines in the elegant attire and circles of fashionable life, repelling the inquisitiveness and scorning the censures of virtue. All eminent advantages and distinctions ap- pear to be conferred by riches, and society seems to be framed upon the principle of its supreme control. By observation, contagious example, and the assimila- ting influence of daily pursuits, youth is taught to as- certain the value of all things — health, intelligence, talents, and even virtue — upon the list of prices cur- rent ; and to piize acquisitions and occasions as they may be converted into gold. As money is a representative of all advantages, and answers almost all purposes — procuring fame, ap- peasing conscience, and atoning for crime, or defying its punishment — he impeceptibly becomes willing to subor- dinate all claims to its attainment, and to pursue it by the most available means, with little or no scruple as to their character. Many make it the supreme end ; and others, raiiking it too high, repress proportionably nobler sentiments and pursuits ; preclude the most exalted fel- lowship and happiness of life • and obscure the hopes of immortal blessedness. Avoid this over-estimate of wealth. Your life — its 13 TEMPTATIONS OV CITY MFK. length, its liaj^piiicss, its uscriiliies!?, its Iionorable fame — docs not depend upon the ahi(}ida?ice of the things you possess. Let not its pursuit repress nobler aims, soil your charactei", destroy your virtue, and degrade your soul to an infcimous baseness. Amid this class of temptations, there is a still gi'eater liability that your virtue will become impaired and your character tarnished by the vices of trade. The ex- changes of tlie country are so limited, and their laws so simple and well-defined, as to jDreclude, to a great ex- tent, opportunities or temptations to dishonesty. The exchanges of the city on the other hand, are so extensive, their forms and circumstances so various, and their rela- tions so intricate and .subtle, as ever to present new modes, opportunides, and f irmidable temptations to fraud. It is there we hear, as one of the most familiar sounds, the buyer exclaiming: *' It is naught, it is naught;" depre- ciating the merchandise he is purchasing ; and straight- way, as vender, " making his boast" in exti-avagant and sometimes untruthful commendation of the same wares. Intense and universal competition — taxing industry, per- severance, prudence, shrewdness, and enterprise — con- tinually impels to the arts of deceit and cunning, to im- probity and fraud. The conscience is perpetually plied with plausible temptations; and instances of its violation are multi])lied, till it becomes insensate, and its trans- gressions are viewed with indiflerence or palliation. Questions of custom and expediency supersede those of right, and the immutable laws of integrity are modified to the existing modes of business and to public sentiment. Honesty no longer appears so rigid, nor veracity so un- prevarieating a virtue, as it once did. The bold and prominent distinctions of right and wrong so shade into each other and fade away, as to impair the hold of vir- TEMPTATIONS OP CITY LU'E. 19 tue upon the mind, alleviate the pressure of obligation, and facilitate general demoralization. By such influences young men are liable to be precip- itated to lower and yet lower arts of cunning and deceit ; availing themselves of false measures, false weights, and innumerable modes of dishonesty — till their characters, formed in this routine and friction of commercial frauds, *' like pebbles in a brook, are rounded into a smooth uniformity, in which all the points and angles of a vir- tuous singularity are lost." They are afore prepared to become, by tempting oc- casions, fraudulent clerks, agents, or partners ; default- ers in corporate and public offices ; or common thieves, counterfeiters, forgers, or burglars : for conscience, be- trayed at one point, is weakened at all. The habitual violation of one law renders easy and almost necessary the violation of others. Thus demoralization flows into a city through the chan- nels of commerce, and through them also flows back over the country, assimilating all affiliated professions and puv- suits to the same standard of morals, menacing the foun- dations of public virtue and the faith of states. For what can theories of morals and religious professions avail, when the public conscience is despoiled of its sensitive- ness to the distinctions of right and wrong, and its bar- riers against vice are removed 1 As the rain-drops, trick- ling down the crevices of the mountain, loosen its ada- mantine bonds, and at length cleave dov/n in a train of ruin to the plain, great masses that had defied the effacing hand of human power, the innovations of time, and the storms of centuries ; so the hidden influences of fraud, perverting the conscience, insidiously loose the founda- tions of civil institutions, and hasten the overthrow of cities and the downfall of empires. You must have been sensible of the operation of these 2* :90 TEMPTATIONS OF CITY LIFE. influences upon yourself. Surprised and revolted at suc- cessive disclosures of new and more daring frauds, you have been ready to doubt all men, and trust no one ; and as confidence in others was diminished, a sense of your own obligations was weakened. Seeinor innumerable wrecks of virtue swept from the positions you now oc- cupy, by these furtive and powerful currents, you have been almost ready to abandon yourself to be hurried along the torrent that is bearing so many unresisting to perdition. You have felt the supports of virtue giving way, and the pressure of the waters rising higher and higher against you, threatening every moment to remove you from your balanced position. Watch, then, against these insidious influences. If you have progressed undiscovered along the course of peculation, fraud, and the insensation of conscience, earnestly strive, before it is too late, to regain that standing point of virtue — a good conscience. Part with its peace, its fellowship, its joy, its protection, for commercial advantages, and you part with gold for trash, you sell your birthright for a mess of pottage. Avoid the incipient violations of conscience, the alli- ances of iniquitous trade, and the associations of unprin- cipled and dishonest men. Never borrow of your em- ployer the smallest sum without leave; if you borrow without liberty, you may steal ; if you take a penny, you may a pound ; if you defraud for your employer, you may defraud hhn ; and if you deceive or equivocate for another, you may for yourself. A loan for sums to pro- cure an article of dress, or attend a place of amusement, intended as an anticipation of a salary perhaps due in a few weeks, is often the precursor of stupendous frauds, scheming villanies, and utter and hopeless ruin. How- ever adroitly and secretly you may carry on fraud, sooner or later you will be confounded and covered with shame by its discoveiy. That adept in villanies who could swin- TEMPTATIONS OP CITY LIFE. 21 die from shrewd merchants, statesmen, and lords, after unavailing attempts to escape, emaciated, broken in spir- it, and reduced toward idiocy by debasing habits, died as a fool dieth in Sing-Sing. Lately a young man in a neighboring city escaped with a large sum from the bank in which he was employed, and crossed the ocean, and sought to conceal himself in England and in France un- der an assumed name; but was arrested and brought back to deplore the loss of character tliat can never be recov- ered. So, sooner or later, will all deviations from probi- ty end. Avoid also the occasions of fraud — extravaerance in dress, expensive amusements and habits, and all associa- tions that require more means than you can honestly com- mand, and which may tempt you to anticipate your salary in borrowing of a friend or your employer. Approach not a gambling-board, and venture not upon rash specu- lation to acquire fortune without patient industry and la- bor. These exigencies search the weakness of principle. And having crossed the line of dishonesty, a man has virtually fallen : unfaithful in the least, he only waits the occasion to be unfaithful in much. By the yielding of conscience, the whole structure of virtuous character will sooner or later be precipitated to its downfall, as a stately edifice or temple by the yielding or decay of its foundation. Though the trial by gold is more searching and more fatal than the old trial by fire, you may come out un- scathed. How grateful to oppressed virtue the following memorial of the unstained character of a distinguished merchant, lately deceased, after a trial of more than forty years, in this city : — " Resolved, That the chamber of commerce and merchants of New York, representing the unanimous sense of their body, record the death of JoxATHAx Goodhue, now no more of earth, with the sincerest grief, and with the highest respect for his virtues. £S TEMPTATIONS Oi VllY LIFF. "Resolved, That as a merchant, his c:ilcipri:;e, hU systematic atten- tion to business, his unvarying good faitli and fideHty, his unspotted honor, and his unstained integrity, entitle hina to a lasting good name in the commercial annals of our country. ^'Resolved, That we equally declare our high esteem for his virtues as a man — for his kindness of heart — his liberality in useful public enterprises, and his activity in works of charity — for his modesty — and also for his elevated Christian fc-pirit, and for the unostentatioua simplicity and blameless purity of his private life." You, like liim, may falsify the maxim that every man has his price. Anu a man that maintains his integrity through the sore trials of mercantile life, is one of the most distinguished ornaments and benefactors of the race. Virtue that has never been tried may be spurious ; en- during this test, its genuineness is unquestionable. 4. Another class of temptationa arises from innumera- hle and ever-present examples of wickedness, in apparent impunity and triumph. Man is universally an imitative being ; and this ten- dency is greatest in youth, and only gradually diminished by advancing age. Hence the facility with which chil- dren are assimilated to the tastes and habits of parents, and whole communities to the succssive and ever-varying standards of fashion. This susceptibility to the influence of example, increased by the according bias of depravity, and appeals of passion, is addressed by a twofold, cor- rupting excmplilication of wickedness. The fii'st is individual, and is invested with all the assimi- lating power of companionship, or attractions of personal fortune, rank, and prosperity. A fellow-boarder or clerk is admired, almost envied, by an inexperienced and virtuous youth, for his fine personal appearance and dress, his knowledore of business and the world, his brilliant circles of acquaintance, his large salary and prospects of wealth. At length, with a sudden shock to his virtue, that model youth is discovered to be a desecrator of the sabbath, a TEMPTATIONS OF CiTY LIVE. 23 contemner of veracity, of teniperanco, of purity, and of all relioioii. o Or in some casual acquaintance — an employer, or some man of bigli social or political standing — the hab- its of vice are disclosed. Surely if these habits are compatible with such fortunate conditions of life ; if they do not at all prejudice reputation, social standing, civil promotion, commercial prosperity, and all the gay- ety and cheer of life, they can not be very bad. They can not be very disrej^utable or unsaie, or such re2:)Uta- ble, and wise, and provident men, would not allow them. He suspects himself of credulity and superstition, smiles at his former ignorance of the world and fastidiousness of conscience. Through such examples, and the direct solici- tude and eludings of those older or more experienced, with some hesitation and reproofs of cc^science, he resolves no longer to be singular, and enters upon a more liberal course of life, doing as others do, and if need be hazard- ing what others hazard. As one or two children of precocious depravity, by the contagious sympathy of example, lead a whole com- pany of playmates into mischief, where alone none of the rest would have transgressed ; or as a company of young men are betrayed into improprieties or immorali- ties by the challenging example of one more reckless than the rest — so in their respective circles the multi- tudes of a city are precipitated in evil courses. Inexpe- rienced and timid youth enter upon questionable and immoral courses, surrounded and cheered on by compan- ions ; and having learned to distrust the virtue of others, they gradually surrender their own. There is also a social exemplification of wickedness, scarcely less corrupting, not identified with individuals, but the community. In a city, sin is made familiar in al- lowed customs, modes of business, and amusement, of ^4 TEMPTATIONS OF CITY LIFE. complex moral character; and is exhibited to all in sim* pier forms, in a magnitude of proportions and fullness of details that it can be nowhere else. From the so- cial character of vice, scarcely existing in solitude, its facilities for development and corrupting attractions extend with an extending j^opulation ; furnishing the resources in numbers, tastes, and circumstances, for the most effisctive and conspii:mous organization ; and ena- bling and tempting men to be more wicked than the same population could be scattered, in sparse communi- ties. Every vice, in organized and portentous exempli- fication, towers in conspicuous and attractive eleva- tion, before the eyes of all : and like a monument rising from an eminence over a vast population, it not only arrests the attention of individuals with greater fa- cility, but the assimilating and corrupting observation of one does not restrict the vision of others. Thousands are corrupted by the same exhibitions of vice, more ef- fectively and constantly represented, and attracting the assimilating observation of larger numbers. Whichever way you turn, vice is before you, offending the eye, sound- ing harshly upon the ear, and disturbing the sensibilities of the heart ; till by an obvious and general law the mind loses a sense of its odiousness. As, by a long familiarity with suffering, the heart is liable to become hardened — so, by a long familiarity with sin, the virtuous sensibilities are blunted. The prevalence of war, with its ensigns be- fore the people perpetually, in any age or country, dimin- ishes a sense of its sinfulness and evils. Where duelling is commonly resorted to, to settle personal disputes, its guilt is almost lost siirht of. W^here the law of marriafjr'e is set aside, its violation is regarded as a venial or no of- fence at all. So imperceptible but far-reaching is the demoralizing influence of prevailing examples of wick- edness in laip^er comnumities. TEMPTATIONS OF CITY LIFE. 26 The philosophy of the poet is as applicable to commu- nities and classes as to individuals : — " Vice is a monster of such horrid mien, That to be hated ueeds but to be seen; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We soon endure, then pity, then embrace." Not only is a horror of sin abated, but confidence in the moral government of God is impaired. The feet of in- experienced Youth well-nigh slip ; he envies the foolish, having no bands in their death ; not being in trouble, or exercise of self-denial, like other men; havingf all the advantages of life, and spreading themselves like a gi-een bay-tree. " Truly," he says within himself, " religion is of no advantage ; I have washed my hands in innocency, restrained my passions, and regarded the rights of others, in vain : I am less prospered than the wicked." Thus temptation, from the difficulty of tracing and distinguish- ing the consequences of sin, is greatly enhanced. Those seen successful, triumphant, and happy, are not identified in the subsequent stages of their progress to perdition. They are like a player personating successively different characters, not identified as the same man. The man we meet, handcuffed and led to prison, does not appear to be the man we saw the day before, mirthful over the wine-board. The man we see in the ward of the prison, with his striped jacket, does not seem like the man who a week before was seen in the best seat in the theatre, shouting enthusiastically to the progress of the play. The man that we see ridding himself of the burden of a mis- erable existence by suicide, or expiating his crimes upon the gallows, is not recognised as the man who just now was boasting impunity in scheming frauds, or in the de- struction of the virtue of the innocent, and the invasion of the peace of families. The man deserted on his death- bed, in despair crying for mercy, or wandering in mental 26 TEMPTATiU.NS OP CITY LIFE. alienation, is not identified as the man who had been hoard blaspheming the name of God, and imprecating curses upon his fellow-men. The slippery places upon which the wicked stand, ready to fall into perdition, are by the spell of the world veiled from our sight, and we are left to admire and envy, when we ought to abhor and pity. As youth admires and envies, he is ready to imi- tate ; and as by equivocal paths he reaches the course of the wicked, it opens before him a broad and beaten path : he tiaces the footprints of thousands before him, and hears the sound of their myriad footfalls, and their voices cheering him on ; and where he would not ven- ture alone, he follows a multitude to do evil. But remember, the numbers associated in an evil course do not render it more proper, nor diminish its guilt and punishment. '• Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished." By select com- panionship, repression of idle curiosity, and laudable and improving engagements, you may escape these in- fluences to a considerable extent, as one would avoid a place of contagious disease, or exposure to the night air. " He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but the companion of fools shall be destroyed." In the prog- ress of your social life, walk not in the counsel of the ungodly ; but rather defer to the opinions and precedents of those who fear God. Visit not the resorts of triflint, a single one is scarcely distinguished. A moral twilight rests witli ample folds over a city, so that character and conduct that would be known and marked in a sparse community, pass undistinguished and are often unknown in the most limited circle of daily association. Multitudes walk under various disguises of concealment or hypocrisy; hiding themselves from 32 TEMPTATIONS O T CiTV LIFE. their kindred and their race, from ihcir shame and de- served punishment. Cities arc the world's chambers of darkness — its assignation places of wickedness and crime. The depraved and the designing flack to them from ev- ery part of the land and the globe, to consummate anct practise their villanies unknown and unsuspected . Often they pass as distinguished gentlemen, with civic ur milita- ry titles, bearing honorable letters of commendation, lodo-inof at the best hotels, and insinuatinGf tliemselves into the best families and social circles. They appear in pub- lic places, and promenade the streets with airs and dress of the hicjhest standint^f, undistiniruished while concertina plans of robbery and villany, and in open day marking the houses they will rob or burn, and tlie victims they v/ill defraud or betray. Concealed from the eye of the law and of public sentiment, they prosecute their infernal schemes, dififusino: vice and crime far and near, like the mud-monsters of the ocean diving into its miry beds, and stirring up all the filthy sediment accumulated there by the deposites of centuries, and discoloring the sea far around by their ponderous but concealed movements. In the country, the approach of evil is like that of a mur- derer in an open field : the approach is seen, and the blow may be parried. In the city, it is insidious, like the attack of an assassin at night, or lurking in ambush : the thrusts and j^asses are unseen and unparried, and the shots startle only as they wound. Others, from the adjacent country and more distant towns, known as reputable citizens, upon the pretence of paying a visit to relatives, or some mission of busi- ness, resort to the city to indulge in a period of moral abandonment and dissipation. If the light of scrutini- zing observation could suddenly pervade the city as it does the sparse settlements of the country, how many would he disturbed nnd driven from the concealed haunts TEMPTATIONS OP CITY LIFK. 33 of vice, as bats from their retreats when the light of day is let in npon them by tearing down dilapidated buildings ! The same circumstances that conceal the deeds of monsters of iniquity and other hyjDocrites, facilitate and abet all incipient vice or fraud. By abating the feeling of necessary accountability to fellow-men, they remove an essential condition of virtue. Man was formed to be answerable to his parents, to his superiors in judgment, and to the public sentiment; and he walks before them with a more sensible circumspection than before the Di- vine Omniscience. Next to the fear of God, this regard, for the opinions of friends and fellow-men is adapted to repress sin and foster virtue. In the exposed life of sparse communities, this prin- ciple operates with its legitimate force ; habits become generally known ; public sentiment acts with facility and pointed discrimination ; and the character can not easily rise above the moral elevation of the life. But in the city, a man may escape this amenable relation. Public censure — feeble enough when unembarrassed amid the obvious characters and relations of rural life — is comparatively impotent in a great community, from a want of power of discrimination and concentration. We can no more direct it steadily and effectively against in- dividual sinners, through the disguises and moveable re- lations of city life, than concentrate the rays of the sun through a lens perpetually disturbed by tremulous and irregular motions, so as to kindle a combustible sub- stance. There is always sufficient apparently respecta- ble companionship to gainsay and reverse its more righ- teous decisions — to shield the wicked man from the un- certain though indignant rebukes of virtue. A large portion of this reputable companionship, ignorant of real character and crimes, by recognising him on 'change or in the family circle, endorse his character; and others, 34 TKMPTATIONS OF CITY LITE. knowing his real character, are yet coerced to passing respect, from his standing before the community, and his alliance with truly virtuous persons. Thus, by changing names, boarding-houses, employers, associations, and man- ner of dress, he may with apparent impunity for a long period triumph over law and public sentiment, and con- tinue to share the reputation and temporal advantages of virtue. As the consequences of sin are seldom immediately developed, or recognised as a visitation of punishment, they are not feared by those whose faith looks not be- yond human tribunals and the grave. In a natural athe- ism, youth has already said, " God does not see through the dark — he does not know." If, no\v% his sabbath desecration, frauds, and profligacy, arc unknown to pa- rents, and to all he respects or loves, and he suffers noth- ing in his reputation and social standing by pursuing them, all effectual restraints are removed. Thus all errors, vices, and frauds, progress unknown and unrebuked, till they are matured in apostates and monsters of depravity. A young gentleman of one of the southern states — of distinguished connexions, placed in this city as a member of one of our literary institutions, and under the care of a religious family — concealed his dissolute habits to such an extent, that his father hardly suspect- ed his evil course till near the close of the proposed term of his residence at the north, when it appeared that he had expended about twelve thousand dollars in the cir- cles of dissipation ; had been reduced to a condition of extreme profligacy and wretchedness; and been prevent- ed from committing suicide only by tlie timely interfe- rence of his landlord to loosen the fatal knot already ad- justed to his neck. Now all this was known to none or few in the city for whom this abandoned youth particu- larly cared, and will scarcely affect his reputation in his TEMPTATIONS OF CITY LIFE. 35 native state, and among his honorable family connexions. The most they may ever know is, that their spirited nephew or cousin was a little wild, rather gay, and spent too much money while in New York. Such concealment and impunity are promised to all classes, to every sinful propensity, increasing the power of every temptation, and giving new imjDulse to evil passion and purpose. In its disguised activity, gayety, and unrestrained license, a city is one vast masquerade entertainment. Through its spacious avenues, gardens, and parks — its splendid saloons and halls of amusement — thronging multitudes pass and repass, unknowing and unknown, like those in the gay dance ; and often the at- titudes, airs, and looks assumed, exhibit a degree of wan- tonness, or want of circumspection, that are preliminary to, and abet every course of vice. They are reduced to the delusion of a twofold atheism : the darkness of de- pravity removes a restraining sense of the Divine pres- ence J the concealment of city life, of the presence and fear of fellow-men. Against this array of influences, nothing can save you but virtue enshrined in your hearts — a deep and abiding conviction of God's omniscience — that he sees through the dark cloud, the shadows of the night, the concealments of bolts and bars, and complicated precautions — and that soon every secret fault, as well as public act, shall meet the fearful award of a final judgment. Thus tempting and hostile influences hover over the crowded thoroughfares of city life in myriad invisible forms, as the legions of spiritual forces discovered to the eyes of the prophet over the mountains of Israel. They infest the path of youth, as sharks follow a navy, or ravens an army before a battle. They sometimes trans- form themstdves into angels of light ; and vice is present- 36 TEMVTATIONS OF CITY LIFE. ed in the garb of innocence, and invested with adventi- tious charms. It dazzles through the eye in voluptuous aspects ; charms and captivates through the ear in soft strains of music ; woos through the goi'geous images of the imagination ; entices through engaging companion- ship ; and wins and allures by fashion. The incitements of passion are always present ; the objects of j^assion always available ; and the conceal- ments of transgression always ready — imparting to all temptations inconceivable facilities, address, and power. From their formidable character, it is amazing that so many parents in the country are v/illing to subject their sons to them, and that so many young men eagerly and lightly rush into their midst. Considering the eagerness of competitors, the small number that succeed, the vast majority that fail — many of them signally and hopelessly — the thronging population of youth appear as the part- ners to a game, waiting with intense anxiety and expec- tation the revolutions of the wheel of forlune in its va- rious, complicated, and subordinate movements. How few are enriched at this bewitching game ! how many are beggared of money, character, peace, and hope ! And yet the existence of a hriUiant chance — a splendid fossihiUty — fascinates and misleads. One of hundreds of thousands may draw the prize of its greatest affluence and distinction ; a few others of the jostling and changing crowd its secondary fortunes; and the rest are doomed to various disappointments. And yet the idea of esca- ping the drudgery of agricultural oi* mechanical employ- ments, of obtaining an imaginary elevation in social stand- ing, and the distant but dazzling possibility, attract, de- lude, and betray tens of thousands. Says Rev. James Harper, of Scotland, in a lecture to young men : " SomewluM-e about twenty years ago, six lads, my informant one of the number, natives of one of TEMPTATIONS OP CITY LIFE. 37 the northern counties of England, mutnal acquaintances and similarly educated, went to London about the same time, to be employed in different branches of business. One of the five went to the metropolis beloved for his gentle, generous spirit, was remarked by his associates for his religious impressions, and during a length of time was exemplary for his attention to the duties of the sab- bath. Jolting on the Lord's day was the first decided step of defection, soon followed by gambling and every evil v/ork ; next came bankruptcy and total destitution ; his life was, last of all. led in the streets; shunned by his former companions, he grew as callous as he was degra- ded, and atlenQ:th souoht and found an asvlum in a Lon- don workhouse, where he died from exhaustion and dis- ease ten days after his admission. "Another, of whose serious character as favorable if not higher hopes were entertained, fell before the same temptations, — married, — lived expensively, — ran into debt; under the pressure of his difficulties robbed a gen- erous master; fled to America, where he gave himself up to brutal intemperance, and soon died the victim of wretchedness and vice. *' A third, losing character and subsistence by a simi- lar course, poisoned himself in despair. " The fourth was a young man of high talents and cul- tivated mind, a solicitor by profession, with very flatter- ing prospects. Sabbath-breaking, gaming, intemperance, with their usual train of bankruptcy, marked his course. He died of want, and his famished corpse was found in the night on the steps of a house in Islington. " The history of the fifth is a repetition of the tragic tale. Sabbath-profanation was followed by dissipated habits. He committed the crime of seduction; fled with his victim ; exhausted his means of living ; having reached ix town in the north of Scotland, he drank to excess to 38 TEMPTATIONS OF CITV LIFE. drown his misery, and went and shot liimself in lils bed. *And here,' said the narrator, * am T, of the six alone re- maining, to tell the story of their fall.' And he ascribed his own preservation, under God, to the alarm which smote him when his early associates first proposed to him to pass part of their Sundays in pleasure, and to the reverence which he sedulously cultivated for the Lord's day and the public ordinances of religion." It has been estimated that not one in ten attempting bu- siness in our large cities, and not one in a hundred com- mencino- as clerks, have succeeded. Their failure has been variously disreputable or ignominious, and often fol- lowed by a broken spirit, an indolent, reckless, dissipated, or criminal life, pursued in vagrancy in different parts of the country, and ended in poorhouses and prisons, by sui- cide, or on the gallows. But fev/ entering this furnace come out pure gold — vessels of honor: many are re- duced to dross, to refuse staff, to be cast out and trodden under foot of society. A citij is a hattle-Jidd hi I'ifc's campaign. Skirmishes with evil, and hostile encounters are inevitable every- where ; but temptations press harder and with more vari- ous appliances; and the warfare of human life rises to its intensest moral conflicts in a large community. There virtue is maintained only through conflicts and victories. If triumphant, you will look back upon the first adven- tures, and subsequent temj)tations and hazards of city life, as a soldier returned victorious from a long cam- paign, in which many hard battles have been fought, and many noble comrades have fallen by his side — himself bearing in his scars evidences of desperate encounters and narrow escapes. AVhen rejoicing in the spoils of victory — reviewing the perils and sacrifices through which they have been attained — you may be led to exclaim with Pvrrluis. nftei- n victory over the Romans TLMPTA I'iOA.S OF CITY LIFE, 30 -vvliicli cost him llu-! llowcr of his army : '< Another such victory, and I am uiiJonc !" Tlio hazard;:; to mortal life were not greater in the memoiahle battles of Trafalgar or Waterloo, or in the late >'jcvcie engagements at Palo Alto, Buena Arista, or Cerro Gordo, tlian those that con- tinually beset the virtue of young men seeking their home and fortune in cities. TL'ey are marked like bat- tle-fields and the march of a retreating and slaughtered army, by the traces of despei"ate conflicts, and heaps of the slain and the dying. But, girded with the panoply of Christian virtue, you may withstand the fiercest assaults, and quench the fiery darts of temptation, and stand erect and unscathed, where multitudes are -wounded and fallino: around you. A city is tlic most stormy and daiigcrous cape that is doubled in tJie voyage of Tfc : it is swept by tempests, beset with sunken reefs, and strewn with noble wrecks of youth and fortune ! How many splendid barks here struggle against adverse currents and winds, waiting for some auspicious breeze to enable them to turn this point and make their destined, haven ! How many of them ■will be wrecked without ever entering upon any new road of the sea ! How various the fortunes which will attend the voyages of those who now seem moving be- fore prosperous gales ! Some will bo wrecked on re- mote shores, or sunk in distant w^aters. But, observing the lighthouses that gleam over the dark waters, and point out the safe roads of the sea; marking well the compass, to remind you of the course you are sailing ; searching the chart for hidden rocks ; standing off from perilous shoals; steering wide of reefs on which hang shattered wrecks ; running in upon dan- gerous shores with ship all manned, wheel in hand, and lead constantly sounding; and casting your anchor when tempests are rising — you^vU] outride every storm ; with- 40 TIIMPTATIOXS OP CITl' LIFE. stand tlie currents that would hurry you into the gulT- stream of sinful pleasures, and the eddies that would sink you in the deep waters of infidelity; escape being borne away by the gusts of passion, or swallowed up in the maelstrom of profligacy and ruin ; and make safely and prosperously the voyage of life. Liifc in a city is the most daiigerous portion of its jour' ney. It lies through " a Avildcring maze, Where Sin bath tracked ten thousand ways, Her victims to ensnare ; All broad, and windinjr, r.nd aslope, All tempting with peiiKlious liope. All ending iu despair!"' — and no traveller escapes in safety without vigilantly watching against the perils that lurk on every hand. It is swept by blasts more pestilent than the sirocco, more desolating and terrible than the tornado. A pestiferous atmosphere broods over it, imperceptibly enervating the moral sense, paling the cheek and obstructing tlie respi- ration of virtue. It is like some ancient roads lying through marshy I'egions, Vv'here whole armies have per- ished in concealed bogs. How many thousands enter here and disappear, leaving no memorials to implore the passing tribute of a sigh over their ruin ! It is like a mountain-pass, where bones of tlie slain lie scattered around, and banditti of robbers lurk to destroy the un- wary traveller. But even from the dark mazes and jierilous labyrinths of a modern Sodom — " One bumble path, that never bends, NaiTow, and rough, and steep ascends" — to the gates of paradise — the path of safety, success, and eternal life ! Seek that path while yet the hope and promise of youth remain : — TEMPTAtioNS OP CITY [.rrn. 41 " Come while the morning- of thy life is hrig-htcst, Thou youthful wanderer in a flowery nia^c ; Come while the restless heart is bounding lightest, And Joy's pure sunbeams tremble in thy ways ; Come while sweet thoughts like summer buds unfolding- Waken rich feelmgs in the careless breast — While yet thy hand the ephemeral wreath is holding, Come and secure interminable rest. " Soon will the freshness of thy days be over. And thy free buoj-aney of spirit flown ; Pleasure will fold her wing — and friend and lover Will to the embraces of the worm have gone. They that now bless thee will have passed for ever; Theu' looks of kindness will be lost to thee : Thou wilt need balm to heal thy spirit's fever, As thy sick heart broods over years to be ! ' Come while the morning of thy life is glowing. Ere the dim phantoms thou art chasing, die — • Ere the gay spell which earth is round thee throwing, Fades like the crimson from a sunset sky. Life Is but shadows — save a pi-omise given Which lights up soiTOW with a fadeless ray : Oh, touch the sceptre — win a hope in heaven ; Come, turn thy spirit from the world away ! " Then will the crosses of this brief existence Seem airy nothings to thine ardent soul ; And, shining brightlj' in the forward distance, Will of thy patient race appear the goal. Home of the weary ! where in peace reposing, The spirit Imgers in unclouded bliss, Though o'er its dust the curtained grave is closing, Who would not early choose a lot like this ?" WlLI.13 Gaylokd Clabk. THE END. TRACTS EOR THE PEOPLE. SECOND SERIES. ♦* The Inheritance of American Citizens.''^ *' JL Plea for Popular Education.'''' " The Relations of Popular Liberty to Constitutional GoV" ernment.^^ '* The Relations of Legislation to Social and Moral Reforms" ^''Divine Authority of Christianity.^^ " The Conservative Influence of Christianity." " Relations of the Sabbath to the Social and Civil Condition of a People." '* Claims and Influence of Public Worship." " The Relation of Punishment to Government." " The Relation of the Doctrine of Future Punishment to Public Morals." *' Usury." *' Perjury." " Position and Claims of the Temperance Reformation." " Position and Tendencies of Romanism." " Appeal to the Working Classes in Regard to Economy of Time and Money." " Popular Violations of the Laws of Health." " System of Legal Provision for the Poor." '• Economy of Prisons." " Morals of Politics." Entered, Recording to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by J. S. Redfield, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Southern District of New York. / TRACTS FOR CITIES, FIRST SERIES. It is proposed in this series of Tracts, to discuss the appli- cations of Christianity to the institutions, classes, and social economy of large communities. The Tracts will be furnished by gentlemen of the several professions, and of different reli- gious denominations, most of whom are favorably known on both sides of the water. The authofs will feel responsible only for the sentiments of their own Tracts respectively. And the committee disclaiming the sanction of every sentiment that may appear, will only vouch for their candor, ability, and gen- eral correctness. The following are among the subjects proposed to be discussed, though they may not appear in the order here enumerated. *' Social Position and Influence of Cities.^* " Medical Police.'' ''Legal Police." " Police of tht Press." *• Frauds of Commerce." '• Frauds of Office and Professions." ** Duties of Principals and Employers." *• Eleemosynary Provision for the Poor." " Suggestions to the Working Classes." ** The Fine Arts." *' Public Amusements." •' Mental Improvement of Young Men." •' Temptations of Young Men." ♦• Temptations of Young Females." " Advice to Emigrants." " Relations of the Marine Population." " Relations and Influence of the Theatre." '* Relations and Influence of Sabbath Desecration." '* Relations and Influence of Intemperance." " Relations and Influence of Infidelity." *' Relations and Influence of Gambling." *♦ Relations and Influence of Magdalenism." 4G21Tfl^l94l;