to be very well skill'd in Logick and Metaphysick such as I have represented them that he may be able to Demonstrate by Solid Reasons that every Man of Good Sense ought to submit himself to the Authority of the Catholick Church He should also be capable to defend Religion against the Hereticks and for this end to know the positive Proofs of our Belief drawn from the Scripture the Councils or the Fathers He should know Ecclesiastical History the Canon-Law not onely the Practical Beneficial and that which is curious in the ancient Canons but also the true Rules of Ecclesiastical Discipline upon which all that is Practical is founded and how that which is not practised has been abolished He should know Christian Morality in all its extent not contenting himself only with the Decisions of Modern Casuists concerning what is Sin and what is not But he should proceed further and see how the Fathers have judged thereof and also be acquainted with their Method of Teaching Vertue and guiding Souls to Perfection This is what we will find in Cassian and the Monastick Rules A great esteem ought to be had of these Works which are the Product of so many Holy Experiences Lastly He should know the Ceremonies of the Publick Office the Administration of the Sacraments the Practice of all Ecclesiastical Functions But this Study consists not so much in Reading of Books as in the observation of Living Tradition When once he has the Great Principles of Scripture and the Fathers he will be much instructed by seeing the Labours of others and by labouring himself together with them Seeing that a Clergyman is designed to instruct others it is not enough for him to know all that I have mentioned he must also know how to Speak and Perswade He therefore stands in need of that sort of Logick and that solid Eloquence I have spoken of For let us not deceive our selves a Man without Gifts is not proper for the Ministry of the Church A good Priest is not onely a Man who Prays unto God and leads an Innocent Life such an one at most is no more than a good Monk He is a Priest to assist others and as he is not accounted a good Physician who doth not heal a great many Diseases neither is he to be called a good Priest who doth not Convert a great many Sinners I do not say that none ought to be made Priests but such as have a florid Imagination an happy Memory a pleasant Voice and such like qualities which usually make Preachers Famous but I should desire that there were not any who have not a Solid Judgment and a right way of Reasoning who should not know how to Instruct both in Publick and in Private with all the Sweetness and Authority which the difference of Subjects and Persons do require In a word who should not have some Ray of that Apostolick Eloquence the perfect Model of which we have in St. Paul A Clergy-man unto whom so many Pieces of Knowledge are necessary should not lose his time in Prophane Studies or useless Curiosities He should also use great choice in the Studies appertaining to his Profession Let him not bestow too much time upon those Large Commentaries on Scripture the sight of which alone is enough to terrifie by the Bigness and Multitude of the Volumes and to make one despair of ever understanding the Text Let him not amuse himself with useless Speculations and the vain Wranglings of the School-men Let him not suffer himself to be Transported too far with the humour of Criticizing upon matters of Fact and Inquiring too Curiously into Ecclesiastical Antiquities for there are all these Rocks to be avoided even in the Studies which belong unto him He ought always to remember that the Christian Religion is not an Humane Art or Science wherein every one is permitted to seek and invent that his business is onely to Collect and faithfully preserve the Tradition of the Church He should Meditate Attentively upon those Rules which St. Paul gives to Timothy and Titus against Curious Questions that he may avoid Vain Disputes and referr all to Charity Thus he will fix his Mind on those Studies which are necessary and which relate the most to Practice For a Clergy-man should not be a professedly Learned Man who spends all his Life in his Closet in Studying and Composing Books He is to be a Man of Action and above all of Prayer These are the two parts of the Apostolick Life Prayer and Ministry of the Word He should therefore every day spend a considerable time in Conversing with God for the cleansing himself from those Spots which he has contracted by action and intercourse with Men for representing unto him his own needs and those of the whole Church We ought to give unto our Neighbour all that assistance which we owe unto him according to the Place we have in the Church and the particular occasions which Charity shall present Study is to be the business of our Youth and in the rest of our Lives only our Rest and Diversion usefully to fill up the Intervals of Action When you shall find your self Tired by Visiting the Sick or the Poor by the Administration of Sacraments or Instruction When you shall perceive you Voice weakened your Breast heated you 'll find a great pleasure in Reading some Good Passage of the Fathers or Ecclesiastical History in Meditating calmly upon some place of Scripture or in hearing the Conversation of a Learned and Pious Friend These are the Divertisements proper for Clergy-men WE now come to the Sword-men These are the Men who ordinarily Study the least and yet there are two Reasons of Studying which are peculiar to them A Man who is naturally brave fierce and inclin'd to courageous Actions whose Birth or Imploy heightens his Courage who has his Arms in his hand and Men under him ready to obey without asking a Reason This Man is in a capacity of exercising all sorts of Violence and if he be wicked or only Passionate and Humoursome he is insufferable to all the rest of Mankind He is a Lyon let loose he is an Armed Madman It is therefore of great moment that they whose Inclination and Profession do put them into so dangerous a Condition should have a great deal of Reason and Power over themselves to the end that they may use their Courage and Strength only for the Publick Good and against the Enemies of the State It would be better that the House should not be Guarded at all than that it should be kept by Dogs who without distinction should fall upon those who belong to the House as well as upon the Thieves The other Reason is the great Idleness which usually attends a Soldiers Life He knows not what to do when in Garrison in Winter Quarters in a place where he must stay any time when his Wounds are under Cure and oblige him to think of them
to be Admired by the Ignorant they easily perswaded them that the Catholick Doctors were no better Skill'd in Religion than they were in good Learning But they had not this weak advantage very long The Catholicks soon ingag'd them with their own Weapons and used successfully against them the Original Languages and the Ancient Authors according to their own Editions Then Men began again to Study the Greek and Latin Fathers very little known in the Foregoing Ages They Studied Ecclesiastical History the Councils the Ancient Canons They ascended to the original of Tradition and took the Doctrin from the Fountain-Head The literal sense of Scripture was sought after by the help of Languages and Criticism I well know that many even of the Catholicks have driven these inquiries to vain Curiosities and that several also continued too much Wedded to the old Style of the Schools So difficult a thing it is for Men to keep themselves in a true Mediocrity The Language of the Scholastick Philosophy which came to us from the Arabians is not in it self worthy of any particular respect it is like the Architecture of our ancient Churches This Architecture which we call Gothick and which truly is Arabick is neither more Venerable nor more Holy for having been apply'd unto Holy uses in times when Men knew no better It would be a ridiculous delicacy to resolve never to enter into any Churches built after this manner as it would be also a vain scrupulosity not to dare to build any of a better Model It is by chance that these Idea's come to be joyned to those of Religion and that which comes from the Customs and Institutions of Men ought to be distinguished from what things are in themselves If on the one Hand this Restoration of Humanity has render'd Studies more solid and agreeable than before on the other they have made them more difficult for they have been rather augmented than changed and Men were desirous to retain all Thus by little and little and by a long Tradition that course of Studies which is at present observed in the publick Schools has been Formed First of all Grammar with the Latin Tongue Poetry that is the making of Latin Verses Rhetorick and upon occasion History and Geography then Philosophy and afterwards Divinity Law and Medicks according to Men's different Professions I leave it to those who have pass'd through them to judge whether nothing is taught in the Schools but what is useful and whether all that is necessary be taught therein My design as I said at first is only to speak of private Studies And this is the Reason why I have thought that I may be permitted to set aside the Authority of Custom and to reason freely concerning the matter of Studies as Philosophers who are the most obedient to the Laws of their Country nevertheless take the liberty to reason upon Politicks I shall speak of Studies in general though my principal purpose is to restrain my self to those which are most useful to Youth instructed in private and I shall only propose my Reflections which are founded upon Experience THE SECOND PART OF THE Choice and Method OF STUDIES WE ought in my Opinion first to inquire what Study is and what end Men should propound to themselves in Studying To heap together an abundance of Knowledge though it be with great Labour and to distinguish ones self from the common sort by knowing that which others are ignorant of is not sufficient to denominate a Man a Student For if so then to count all the Letters of a Book or all the Leaves of a Tree would be to Study since this would be a very difficult task and would end in a very singular sort of Knowledge But why would this Pains taking be ridiculous but because it would be neither a profitable nor a grateful Work That therefore ought not to be called Studying which hath not for its end at least the Pleasure of Knowledge but yet Pleasure cannot justifie those Studies which prejudice others that are better or such imployments as are more useful We should pity that Sick Person who should be sollicitous about nothing but to dress himself according to the Mode and Eat every thing that is grateful to his Palate instead of seriously seeking after the means of a Cure A young Artisan would deserve to be Laugh'd at who in the time of his Apprenticeship should entertain himself with drawing of Pictures and playing upon Instruments instead of learning his Trade He might think it a fine Apology to say that he takes Pleasure therein and that Painting and Musick are more noble Employments than those of the Carpenter or the Smith But nevertheless his Father or his Master would read him another Lesson Leave these things would they say to Musicians and Painters the time which you shall spend in their Trades will hinder you from learning your own You are wholly to apply your self to that and are permitted only to spend the Holy-Days in your Innocent Diversions instead of Debauchery Much after the same manner young Scholars may be accosted Your Education must be the Apprenticeship of your Life you are to learn how to become an Honest Man and skilful in the Profession which you shall undertake apply therefore your self altogether to that which may make you so But Grammar Poetry and Logick he 'll say divert me I find great pleasure in the Knowledge of the Tongues in drawing Etymologies and making different Reflections upon the Language of Men I love to judge of Styles and to examine the Rules of Poetry I love these Learned Speculations upon the nature of Reasoning and these exact Enumerations of all those things which may Form a Conclusion You have reason to do so all these pieces of Knowledge are pleasant They also are praise-worthy and you may use them to such a Degree But beware least Pleasure carry you too far and that you do not bestow too much time upon them Natural Philosophy also has great Charms if you give your self up too much to Mathematicks you have Work enough in them for your Life Some have thought it too short for the Study of History and others have spent it in mere Curiosities of Travel of understanding the pleasant Arts as Painting and Musick of inquiring after things that are Rare In the mean time when will you begin to learn to provide for your subsistance When will you instruct your self in the things which are proper to your Profession You ought wholly to renounce these Pleasures if you cannot tell how to moderate them but if you would pursue them in a reasonable degree and seasonably bestow upon them that time which others squander away in Eating and Drinking in Play and unprofitable Visits But nevertheless observe your times of Exercising your Body and unbending your Mind for Health and Liberty of Mind is to be preferr'd to all Curiosity Besides Pleasure there is still another great Temptation to be avoided which
made Discourses upon Morality and so few govern'd their practice according to its Rules that they render'd it Ridiculous For many made the profession of Philosophy only to lacquey after their little Interests as to make their Court to Princes or get Money And they who sought after Wisdom more seriously gave great offence by the multitude of their Sects for they treated one another as Fools and Mad-men The Romans seeing the Greeks in this condition for a long time despised Studies as Childish Vanities and Idle Amusements not worthy of their pains who altogether apply'd themselves unto Business Each particular Man endeavoured to increase his patrimony by Husbandry Traffick and Frugality and all of 'em together jointly concurr'd in making the State to flourish by applying themselves to War and Politicks But though they wou'd have it believed that this frugality this military Discipline this firmness in their Conduct which made them so powerful were owing to none but themselves and their own vertuous Resolutions yet their own History makes it appear that they had borrow'd much from the Greeks even at that time before there were in Greece either Oratours or Philosophers by profession The first Tarquin was a Corinthian by Birth and he had instructed Servius Tullius Pythagoras lived in the time of the latter and it is very probable that some of his Disciples had correspondence with the Romans their severe and frugal way of living so much resembling this Italick Philosophy However it is certain that they brought the Laws of the Twelve Tables out of Greece which Cicero valued more than all the Books of the Philosophers Applying themselves with great diligence to these Laws and their Domestick Affairs they form'd a Study which was particular to themselves and lasted as long as their Empire This Study is Civil Law which we do not find that any Nation had cultivated before Not but that the Greeks had diligently Studied the Laws but they did it rather as Oratours than Lawyers I am not Ignorant that they very well knew the order and disposition of them that they dived also into the Reasons of them and with good effect apply'd themselves unto business both publick and private But I do not find that they had any who made it their profession to explain them unto others and to give Counsel nor that they wrote Commentaries upon their Laws For as for the Formularies it is certain that the Greek Oratours left the care of them to an inferiour sort of Men whom they called Pragmaticks or Practitioners 'T is true there were in Greece Legislatours and Philosophers who had studied the Laws after a more noble and extensive manner since it must needs argue a greater Genius to Compile a whole body of Laws than to apply them in particular to the least Affairs And they confess'd that this Knowledge so useful to the World came to them from Aegypt and the East as did all the rest of their Learning To return to Rome To the end of the Sixteenth Age after its foundation Children were then Taught only to Read and Write and cast Account Men Studied the Laws and the Formularies either indifferently for their own particular use or more Curiously to give Counsel unto others and gain Credit and Reputation They did not begin to enter upon the Curiosities of the Greeks ordinarily to Learn their Tongue and to Read their Works till after the Second Punick War Hitherto there were to be seen some Ordinances of the Senate against Rhetoricians and Philosophers by profession as Men who introduced dangerous Novelties into the Commonwealth The Romans when they apply'd themselves to the Studies of the Greeks did it according to their own Genius that is they sought therein what was best most solid and most useful for the Conduct of Life The old Cato Scipio and Laelius were not Men who wou'd burden themselves with Trifles They Studied the Historians and Oratours to profit by their Excellent Examples and good Maxims of the ancient Greeks and to Learn how to Speak as perswasively upon the Affairs of Rome as Pericles and Demosthenes had done upon those of Athens at the same time studiously avoiding to imitate the Greeks of their times or to take up with the Trifles of the Grammarians and Rhetoricians Nay they were even afraid of this Cicero says of the greatest Oratours of his time they were fearful it shou'd be perceived that they had Studied the Books of the Greeks least it shou'd be thought that they overmuch valued them and so their Reputation of being Learned might make their Discourses to be suspected of too much artifice The Wise Romans came afterwards to Philosophy and there fix'd upon the principles and Reasons of Morality and Politicks of which they already had much Experience and many Domestick Examples Lastly they knew how to take what was best in the Poets Hence proceeded so many great Oratours in the last Age of the Republick from the Gracchi to Cicero and they also who may be called the Roman Philosophers as Atticus Cato of Vtica and Brutus But the Establishment of the Monarchy at Rome having rendred great Eloquence and the Motives to it useless since the People did no longer give their Votes in Publick Affairs nor bestow great Places Poetry got the upper hand and flourished under the Reign of Augustus 'T is true it fell soon afterwards having nothing that was solid to sustain it and being look'd upon only as a sport and diversion of the mind Thus within the space of about Two Hundred Years the Studies of the Romans came to be in the same condition wherein they had found those of the Greeks Every place was full of little Grammarians Rhetoricians and idle Declamers of prating Philosophers Historians and Poets who tired the World in reciting their Works Only the Civil Law was always preserv'd because it was always necessary and depended less upon the form of Government or the particular manners of Men. There were also some true Philosophers though we should reckon only the Emperour Marcus Aurelius and several others of whom mention is made in Pliny's Epistles But these Philosophers went rather for Greeks than Romans The greatest part of 'em also wore the Greek Habit in what Country soever they dwelt and of what Nation soever they were In the mean time a much more Sublime Philosophy began to be Established I mean the Christian Religion which soon made this purely Humane Philosophy to vanish and did yet more severely Condemn all those other Studies which were less serious The Principal Study of Christians was the meditation of the Law of God and all the Holy Scriptures according to the Tradition of the Pastours who had faithfully preserv'd the Doctrine of the Apostles They call'd all the rest Strange and Foreign Studies and rejected them as inticing the Reader to the manners of the Heathens In Truth the greatest part of their Books were either useless or