Manuductio ad ministerium. Directions for a candidate of the ministry

Having thus fixed the RIGHT END of your Studies, Let the View of it make such an Impression upon you, as to produce a Marvellous Industry in your Prosecution of it: And Quicken you to observe that Maxim, Do with thy Might, what thy Hand finds to do. Remember this; There never was an Eminent, who was not an Industrious Man. You must be Diligent in your Business, if you would hope to stand in any Desirable Circumstances before that Great KING, unto whose Holy Service you are Dedicated.

Having thus fixed the RIGHT END of your Studies, Let the View of it make such an Impression upon you, as to produce a Marvellous Industry in your Prosecution of it: And Quicken you to observe that Maxim, Do with thy Might, what thy Hand finds to do. Remember this; There never was an Eminent, who was not an Industrious Man. You must be Diligent in your Business, if you would hope to stand in any Desireable Circumstances before that Great KING, unto whose Holy Service you are Dedicated.

That you may not suffer a Vile Impediment in your Studies, and Avocation from them, I do now particularly warn you against the senseless Folly of an Entanglement in any foolish Amour, while you are yet a Student at the College. 'Tis time enough, to think of Marriage, when your Condition in other Circumstances as well as that of Age, will qualify you to make a Wise Choice, in a Point, which a very great Felicity, or a very great Calamity, for the rest of your Days, will turn upon.

§. 6. The Regulation of your Studies, is what I would now proceed unto. And for this, though ⟨p. 28⟩the Regulae Studiorum, Written by Chytraeus, be a Book which I can heartily commend unto your Perusal, yet, it being Written an Hundred and Twenty Years ago, I shall not think the Perusal of That sufficient for a Student in our Days. I must further Accommodate you. And here, Humanity would complain of me, if I should forbear to tell you, That the LATIN Tongue, which is more known and used than any upon Earth, except the Arabic, is what you should for many Reasons labour to be Ready at; and Able not only to Write, but also to Speak in it, with Fluency as well as Purity; and confute the common Observation, that tho' Englishmen do often Write [call Spencer and Burnet, for Two Witnesses,] the best Latin in the World, yet they often Speak it but indifferently. For this Purpose you will do well frequently, both to employ your Pen, for composing Discourses or Epistles in it; and likewise to maintain frequent Conferences in it, with such as understand the Phrases and Beauties of it. Indeed, I know not a prettier Way, than this; Translate into English the Paragraphs of some Author who writes very good Latin [say, the Enchiridion Precum of a Boehm;] and then again, Laying aside your Author, turn your own English into Latin; and so compare That with, and correct it from, your Authors. But at the same time, you should familiarize yourself with the Style of some Authors, whose Latin cannot but ever Charm you with its Elegancies. On this Occasion, I am as far from inviting you into the Gust of Linacre, as great a Critic as most we have had for the Latin Tongue, who, Ciceronis dictionem, nunquam probare potuit,