Snakes in the Grass by D. F. Newton

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 9, 1872

Snakes in the Grass.

By D. F. Newton

“Serpents with their venomous stings, Or bright angels, crowd around us.”

A WORD TO STUDENTS IN COLLEGES AND SEMINARIES.

Upon no class of persons does the habitual reading of this branch of our literature exert a more pernicious influence than upon the young men connected with our colleges, and other institutions of learning. We have heard it asserted by those whose positions enable them to judge intelligently in this matter, that there is scarcely an instance on record where a young man, who habitually and regularly peruses works of fiction during his undergraduate course, ever received that degree of mental discipline which is necessary for a successful entrance upon the great duties of life, and which it is the aim of a collegiate course to furnish. And, indeed, it is hard to conceive how the case should be otherwise, for, besides the enormous waste of time, which is a necessary consequence of any considerable indulgence in novel reading, the mind, accustomed to follow some sentimental hero or heroine, through all sorts of silly, unheard-of adventures, and to revel amid scenes of fancied pleasure and happiness, takes little delight in attempting to grapple with the more profound truths of philosophy and mathematics, even when it is not wholly incapacitated to do so.

It is a lamentable fact, that at least half of the young men who graduate each year at our colleges, hardly possess even the rudiments of a sound and substantial education. Many, after spending three or four years within the walls of a university, possess, in return for their time and money, little besides their “diploma,” to which, certainly, in our day, no great importance can be attached. We hazard little in saying that the evil in question may, to a very great extent, be traced to the “popular novels,” which form so important an element in the composition of the student’s libraries in many of our colleges. And so long as our young men are content to spend the precious moments which ought to be devoted to the acquisition of substantial knowledge, and to fritter away the knowledge which God has given them, in poring over books worse than profitless, to the neglect of all that is useful and instructive, just so long are we to expect superficial thinkers, instead of profound thinkers; mere triflers instead of men.

The indirect tendency of nine-tenths of the popular novels of the present day is to inculcate false views of life, and to corrupt instead of cultivating the imagination. They weaken the judgment, the reasoning powers are unhinged, and all the perceptive faculties destroyed or greatly vitiated. More than this, all the generous affections of the heart, and all the noble sensibilities of human nature, become blunted and seared under their blighting and withering influence! The intellect is greatly injured by their creating a distaste for nobler and more solid reading. Men do not like to go from the palaces of kings—from the soft and lascivious saloons and drawing rooms of dukes and counts, into the common walks of life—no, they would rather luxuriate amid the splendid castles and enchanted scenes of the novel-writer! It is truly painful to see in some reading-rooms popular works of fiction, novels and romances, and works positively infidel in their tendency. Such libraries and reading-rooms are a curse instead of a blessing to the community. Many a young man has been ruined for time and eternity by this corrupting literature.

No book or periodical, whatever its merits in other respects, which takes the name of God in vain, or uses it profanely or irreverently, which contains a profane oath, an impure or libidinous thought, or speaks lightly of the word of God, should ever be allowed in a family or reading-room. A parent ought never to allow a fascinating writer to say that behind the screen to the eye of a child, which he would not permit any one to breathe into the ear.

Byron, Scott, Shakspeare, are more or less defiled by profane and impure allusions, dashes or exclamations, that offend the ear of modesty and virtue. What Christian father or mother would allow Shakspeare, if he were now alive, to associate with a blooming circle of sons and daughters, or read his plays, just as they now stand in the best editions? Is it possible for them to pass through the youthful mind and not leave a foul stain behind? Read the “Personal Recollections of Charlotte Elizabeth,” and see how narrowly she escaped the loss of both body and soul by poring over Shakspeare’s corrupting fascinations.

Says the Rev. O. B. Waters: “Shakspeare’s morality seldom rises above the supreme selfishness of the heartless world, and often sinks into its grossest forms. He has exhibited ambition, avarice, revenge, jealousy, and all the grovelling passions of the human soul, with all the skill of art, but where are those opposite graces of the spirit which alone can antidote their influence?”

The tendency of nearly all his writings is to quicken into inordinate and morbid activity that faculty which phrenologists term amativeness, already strong enough to need firm and wise restraint. No one can deny, moreover, that with all his excellences there is among his plays a great amount of senseless frivolity, unworthy of a thoughtful, earnest mind.

Besides, who has counted up the passages where he is positively vulgar and covertly, or openly licentious? Not a few there are, I am sure, that are most grossly so. While no one of his plays, even the best, can give you a model, and scarcely an instance, of those exalted and self-denying virtues which spring only from a heart-felt sympathy with the spirit of the Bible.

His powerful and exciting delineations of love have, without doubt, ruined many a soul. If those instances were recorded where the works of Shakspeare have had an influence, either directly or indirectly, in exciting the passions to such an ungovernable strength that men have been led into crime and misery, what an account would be placed to their score.”—D. F. Newton, Author of Home Thrusts.