N02338:156
Manuductio ad ministerium. Directions for a candidate of the ministry
Manuductio ad ministerium. Directions for a candidate of the ministry. : Wherein, first, a right foundation is laid for his future improvement; and, then, rules are offered for such a management of his academical & preparatory studies; and thereupon, for such a conduct after his appearance in the world; as may render his a skilful and useful minister of the Gospel. : [Three lines of quotation in Latin]
Boston: printed for Thomas Hancock, 1726
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Having thus armed you, for a Walk among the Woods of Civil History, I must now propose CHURCH-HISTORY, with a yet more earnest Wish, to have you well-acquainted with it. For, although' Grotius observes, Qui legit Historiam Ecclesiasticam, quid legit, nisi Episcoporum Vitia? And others have been so Satirical as to say, Ecclesiastical ⟨p. 65⟩History is nothing but many large Volumes, containing some few of the Squabbles of the Bishops, and Inferior Clergy, with One another, and all the World. Nevertheless a Divine has a Blemish upon him, almost as Disqualifying as any of the Hundred and Forty which the Jews reckon to bring a Priest of theirs under Incapacities, if Church-History has not instructed him for the Business of the Sanctuary.
Having thus armed you, for a Walk among the Woods of Civil History, I must now propose CHURCH-HISTORY, with a yet more earnest Wish, to have you well-acquainted with it. For, altho' Grotius observes, Qui legit Historiam Ecclesiasticam, quid legit, nisi Episcoporum Vitia? And others have been so Satyrical as to say, Ecclesiastical ⟨p. 65⟩History is nothing but many large Volumns, containing some few of the Squabbles of the Bishops, and Inferiour Clergy, with One another, and all the World. Nevertheless a Divine has a Blemish upon him, almost as Disqualifying as any of the Hundred and Forty which the Jews reckon to bring a Priest of theirs under Incapacities, if Church-History has not instructed him for the Business of the Sanctuary.
Now, for a Regular System of Church-History, I know not that I can tender you a Better, than Spanheim, his Introductio ad Historiam et Antiquitates Sacras; To which, by all means add, Hornius, his Historia Ecclesiastica: And Usher, his, De Christianarum Ecclesrarum Successione et Statu. If you would have what is English, and Easy, 'tis done to your Hand by a Scotchman, that is to say, Patrick Simpson, in his History of the Church. Somewhat larger than these, and never enough to be commended, is, Hottinger, his, Historia Ecclesiastica Novi Testamenti But then, I would have you, if you don't wholly Peruse, yet by all means Possess, and often Visit, the Ecclesiastical History of the Magdeburgensian Centuriators; Of which noble Work I will say, what Spanheim said before me; That it is, Bibliotheca totius Christianae Antiquitatis. — incredibili cum Studio, Fide optima, Meth do utilissima, congsta.