RELIGIOUS BOOKS
Lisping new syllables, we scramble next
Through moral narrative, or sacred text,
And learn with wonder how this world began;
Who made, who marred, and who has ransomed man.
--Tyrocinium. William Cowper, 1784.
It was inevitable, since the colonization of America was in the day
of Puritanism, that the first modern literature known by American
children should be the distinctive literature of that sect and
period. These were religious emblems, controversial treatises,
records of martyrdoms, catechismic dialogues, and a few accounts of
precociously pious infants who had died. Thomas White, a Puritan
minister, wrote thus:--
"When thou canst read, read no ballads and romances and foolish
books, but the Bible and the Plaine Man's Pathway to Heaven,
a very plaine holy book for you. Get the Practice of Piety,
Mr. Baxter's call to the Unconverted, Allen's Alarm to the
Unconverted, The Book of Martyrs."
The two books which he named after the Bible had the distinction of
being the only ones owned by the wife of John Bunyan. The confiding
Puritan child who read _The Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven_, under
the promise that it was a "plaine and perfite" book, must have been
sorely disappointed. But if it wasn't plain it was popular. The
twelfth edition is dated 1733. Foxe's _Book of Martyrs_ was found in
many colonial homes, and was eagerly read by many children. Neither
this nor any of the books on the Rev. Mr. White's list were properly
children's books.
A special book for children was written by a Puritan preacher whose
sayings were very dull in prose, and I am sure must have been more
so in verse. It was called, _Old Mr. Dod's Sayings; composed in
Verse, for the better Help of Memory; and the Delightfulness of
Children reading them, and learning them, whereby they may be the
better ingrafted in their memories and Understanding_. Cotton Mather
also wrote _Good Lessons for Children, in Verse_.
Doubtless the most popular and most widely read of all children's
books in New England was one whose title-page runs thus: _A Token
for Children, being an Exact Account of the Conversion, Holy and
Exemplary Lives and Joyful Deaths of Several Young Children, by
James Janeway. To which is added A Token for the Children of
New England or Some Examples of Children in whom the Fear of God
was remarkably Budding before they died; in several Parts of New
England. Preserved and Published for the Encouragement of Piety in
other Children._
The first portion of this book was written by an English minister
and was as popular in England as in America. The entire book with
the title as given went through many editions both in England
and America, even being reprinted in this century. In spite of
its absolute trustfulness and simplicity of belief, it is a sad
commentary on the spiritual conditions of the times. I will not
give any of the accounts in full, for the expression of religious
thought shown therein is so contrary to the sentiment of to-day that
it would not be pleasing to modern readers. The New England portion
was written by Cotton Mather, and out-Janeways Janeway. Young babes
chide their parents for too infrequent praying, and have ecstasies
of delight when they can pray _ad infinitum_. One child two years
old was able "savingly to understand the mysteries of Redemption";
another of the same age was "a dear lover of faithful ministers."
One poor little creature had "such extraordinary meltings that his
eyes were red and sore from weeping on his sins." Anne Greenwich,
who died when five years old, "discoursed most astonishingly of
great mysteries"; Daniel Bradley, who had an "Impression and
inquisitiveness of the State of Souls after Death," when three years
old; Elizabeth Butcher, who, "when two and a half years old, as
she lay in the Cradle would ask her self the Question What is my
corrupt Nature? and would answer herself It is empty of Grace, bent
unto Sin, and only to Sin, and that Continually," were among the
distressing examples.
[Illustration: The Custis Children, 1760, _circa_]
Jonathan Edwards' _Narratives of Conversions_ contained similar
records of religious precocity. There is a curious double light
in all these narratives: the premature sadness of the children,
who seem as old as original sin, is equalled by the absolute
childishness of the reverend gentlemen, Mr. Janeway, Mr. Mather, Mr.
Edwards, who tell the tales. There were other similar collections
of examples,--one of children in Siberia, others in Silesia, and
another of _Pious Motions and Devout Exercises of Jewish Children
in Berlin_. Siberia was apparently as remote and inaccessible to
Boston in those days as the moon, and the incredulous mind cannot
help wondering who sent and how were sent these accounts to those
trusting Boston ministers.
Another child's book, by James Janeway, was _The Looking Glass
for Children_. There had been a previous book with nearly the same
title. Janeway's book was certainly popular, perhaps because it was
in verse, and children's poetry was very scanty and rare in those
days. It was reprinted many times, and parts appeared in selections
and compilations until this century. A few lines run thus:--
"When by Spectators I behold
What Beauty doth adorn me
Or in a glass when I behold
How sweetly God did form me,
Hath God such comeliness bestowed
And on me made to dwell
What pity such a pretty maid
As I should go to Hell."
A book of similar title was _Divine Blossoms, a Prospect or Looking
Glass for Youth_.
The lack of poetry may also account in some degree for the
astonishing popularity of a poem which appeared in 1662, written
by a Puritan preacher named Michael Wigglesworth, and entitled,
_The Day of Doom; or a Poetical description of the Great and Last
Judgement_. This "epic of hell-fire and damnation" was reprinted
again and again, and was sold in such large numbers that it is safe
to assert that every New England household, whose members could
read, was familiar with it. It was printed as a broadside, and
children committed it to memory; teachers extolled it; ministers
quoted it. Its horrible descriptions of hell and the sufferings of
the damned are weakened to the modern mind by the thought of the
presumptuous complacence of the author who would dare to give page
after page of what he conceived the great Judge would say on the Day
of Judgment. But of course no child, certainly no child of Puritan
training, would note either absurdity or impropriety in assigning
such words, and it is sad to think what must have been the climax
of horror with which a sensitive child read God's answer to the
plea for salvation made by "reprobate infants"; the terrible words
running on through many stanzas, and ending thus:--
"Will you demand Grace at my hand,
and challenge what is mine?
Will you teach me whom to set free
and thus my Grace confine?
You sinners are, and such a share
as sinners may expect;
Such you shall have; for I do save
none but my own Elect.
"Yet to compare your sin with their's
who liv'd a longer time,
I do confess yours is much less,
though every sin's a crime.
A Crime it is, therefore in bliss
you may not hope to dwell;
But unto you I shall allow
the easiest room in Hell."
Thomas White wrote a book for children which certainly comes under
the head of religious books, though its pages held also those
frivolous lines "A was an archer who shot at a frog," etc. This
dreary volume was entitled a _Little Book for Little Children_. It
contained accounts of short-lived and morbid young Christians, much
like those of James Janeway's book. One child of eight wept bitter
and inconsolable tears for his sins. One wicked deed was lying. His
mother asked him whether he were cold. He answered "Yes" instead
of "Forsooth," and afterward doubted whether he really was cold or
not. Another sin was whetting his knife on the Sabbath day. Poor
Nathaniel Mather whittled on the Lord's day--and hid behind the
door while thus sinning. A boy's jack-knife was a powerful force
then as now. This book also had accounts of the Christian martyrs
and their tortures. This was an English book, first reprinted in
Boston in 1702. An edition of _Pilgrim's Progress_ was printed in
Boston in 1681, another in 1706, and an illustrated edition in 1744,
but I doubt that these were the complete book. Many shortened
copies and imitations appeared. One was called _The Christian's
Metamorphosis Unfolded_. Another _The Christian Pilgrim_. Dr. Neale
edited it for children, making, says a modern critic, "a most
impudent book." Bunyan also wrote _Divine Emblems_, which the young
were enjoined to read, and he also "bowed his pen to children" and
wrote _Country Rhimes for Children_. For many years no copy of this
was known to exist, but one was found in America in recent years,
and is now in the British Museum. It is an uncouth mixture of
religious phrases and similes and very crude natural history.
[Illustration:
And the serpent [f.]aid unto the woman, Ye [f.]hall not [f.]urely
die.
GENESIS iii. 4.
THE
HOLY BIBLE
ABRIDGED:
OR, THE
HISTORY
OF THE
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT.
Illu[f.]trated with NOTES, and adorned with CUTS,
For the U[f.]e of CHILDRENS.
_Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not._ LUKE
xviii. 16.
THE SECOND _WORCESTER_ EDITION.
WORCESTER, (MASSACHUSETTS)
FROM THE PRESS OF THOMAS, SON & THOMAS, AND SOLD AT THEIR BOOKSTORE.
MDCCXCVI.
The Holy Bible Abridged]
_Pilgrim's Progress_ was the first light reading of Benjamin
Franklin. Other books of his boyhood were Plutarch's _Lives_,
Defoe's _Essays upon Projects_, Cotton Mather's _Essays to do
Good_, and Burton's _Historical Collections_. Another patriot, at
a later day--Abraham Lincoln--learning little but the primer at
school, read slowly and absorbed into his brain, his heart, and his
everyday speech the Bible, _Pilgrim's Progress_, Æsop's _Fables_
and Plutarch's _Lives_,--a good education,--to which a _Life of
Washington_ added details of local patriotism.
[Illustration: Illustration from _Original Poetry for Young Minds_]
Another book for young people--which might be termed a story-book,
though its lesson was deemed deeply religious--was called, _A
Small Book in Easy Verse Very Suitable for Children, entitled
The Prodigal Daughter or the Disobedient Lady Reclaimed_. It was a
poem of about a hundred stanzas, relating the story of a very wilful
young woman who, on being locked up in her room by her father to
check her extravagance, made a league with the Devil, attempted
to poison her father and mother, dropped dead apparently on her
wickedness being discovered, was carried to the grave, but revived
just as the sexton was about to lower her coffin in the ground.
She recovered, repented, related her experiences with unction, and
lived ever after happy. The title-page bears a picture of the
devil as a fine gentleman wearing his tail as a sword, and having
one high-topped cloven-footed boot. This book enjoyed unbounded
popularity even during the early years of this century.
It was similar in teaching to a chap-book which was entitled _The
Afflicted Parents, or the Undutiful Child Punished_. In this tale
the daughter gave some very priggish advice to her wicked brother,
who promptly knocks her down and kills her. He is captured,
tried, condemned, sentenced, and at last executed by two pardoned
highwaymen. But upon being cut down he comes to life, pompously
discourses at much length, and then is executed a second time, as a
warning to all disobedient children.
Death-bed scenes continued to be full of living interest. _The Good
Child's Little Hymnbook_ represents the taste of the times. One poem
is on the death and burial of twins, and thus is doubly interesting.
Another is on "Dying." The child asks whether he is going to die
and "look white and awful and be put in the pithole with other dead
people." And yet the preface runs:--
"Mamma See what a Pretty Book
At Day's Pappa has bought,
That I may at the pictures look
And by the words be taught."
After a time some attempts were made to render the Bible in a form
specially for children's reading. There was a rhymed adaptation
called the _Bible in Verse._ This was not the Bible versification of
Samuel Wesley, printed in 1717, of which he says condescendingly,
"Some passages here represented are so barren of Circumstances
that it was not easy to make them shine in Verse." Older hands had
essayed to rhyme the Bible; one was called _A Briefe Somme of the
Bible_.
These Bible abridgments were literally little books, usually three
or four inches long, covered with brown or mottled paper. One tiny,
well-worn book of Bible stories was but two inches long and an inch
wide. It had two hundred and fifty pages, each of about twenty words.
There was also the famous _Thumb Bible_ printed by the Boston book
printers, Mein and Fleming. A copy of this may be seen at the Lenox
Library in New York City. _The Hieroglyphick Bible with Emblematick
Figures_ was illustrated with five hundred tiny pictures set with
the print, which helped to tell the story after the manner of an
illustrated rebus. Bewick made the cuts for the English edition.
Tiny catechisms were widely printed and sought after, and used as
gifts to good and godly children. There were also dull little books
of parables, modelled on the parables of the Bible. Those were
profoundly religious, but were so darkly and figuratively expressed
as to be frequently entirely incomprehensible; and they fully
realized the definition of a parable given by a child I know--"a
heavenly story with no earthly meaning."
[Illustration: Page of Hieroglyphick Bible]
An extremely curious and antiquated religious panada was entitled
the _History of the Holy Jesus_. The seventh edition was printed
in New London in 1754. The illustrations in this stupid little
book were more surprising than the miserable text. No attempt was
made to represent Oriental scenery. The picture of an earthquake
showed a group of toy houses and a substantial church of the type
of the Old South in perfect condition, tipped over and leaning
solidly on each other. The Prodigal Son returned to an English
manor-house with latticed windows, and the women wore high commodes
and hoop-skirts. In the cut intended to represent to the inquiring
young Christian in New England the Adoration of the Magi, the wise
men of the East appear in the guise of prosperous British merchants;
in cocked hats, knee breeches, and full-skirted coats with great
flapped pockets, they look wisely at the star-spotted heavens, and
a mammoth and extremely conventionalized comet through British
telescopes mounted on tripods. The Slaughter of the Innocents must
have seemed painfully close at hand when Yankee children looked at
the trim military platoons of English-clad infants, each waving an
English flag; while Herod, in a modern uniform, on a horse with
modern trappings, charged upon them. Perhaps some of the fathers and
mothers born in England and in the Church of England had a still
more vivid realization of Herod's crime, for it was the custom in
some English parishes at one time to whip all the children on Holy
Innocent's Day. As Gregory said:--
"It hath been a custom to whip up the children upon Innocent's
Day morning, that the memorie of this murther might stick the
closer; and in a moderate proportion to act over the crueltie
again in kind."
The book was in rhyme. Here are a few of the verses:--
"The Wise Men from the East do come
Led by a Shining Star.
And offer to the new born King
Frankincense, Gold and Myrrh.
Which Herod hears & wrathful Grows
And now by Heavn's Decree
Joseph and Mary and her Son
Do into Ægypt flee.
The Bloody Wretch enrag'd to think
Christ's Death he could not gain,
Commands that Infants all about
Bethlehem should be slain.
But O! to hear the awful cries
Of Mothers in Distress,
And Rachel mourns for her first-born
Snatch'd from her tender Breast."
_The History of the Holy Jesus_ was told by Rev. Mr. Instructwell
to Master Learnwell. The book contained also the _Child's Body of
Divinity_, and some of Dr. Watts' hymns. These _Divine Songs for
Children_ appear in many forms. The _Cradle Hymn_ is the one most
frequently seen, and I recently have heard it extolled as "a perfect
lullaby for a child." A curious study it is, showing how absolutely
traditional religious conception could usurp the mind and obscure
the impulses of the heart. Its sweet and tender lines, which begin--
"Hush my dear, lie still and slumber.
Holy angels guard thy bed,"
are soon contrasted with the vehement words which tell of the lot
of the infant Jesus; and at the mother's passionate expressions of
"brutal creatures," "cursed sinners," that "affront their Lord," the
child apparently cries, for the mother sings:--
"Soft, my child, I did not chide thee,
Though my song may sound too hard."
In the next stanza, however, theological venom again finds vent to
the poor wondering baby:--
"Yet to read the shameful story
How the Jews abused their King--
How they served the Lord of Glory,
Makes me angry while I sing."
This certainly seems an ill-phrased and exciting lullaby, but is
perhaps what might be expected as the notion of a soothing cradle
hymn from a bigoted old bachelor.