that Fulness of Argument, and that Clearnefs as well as Softnefs of Stile, that a Collection of thefe may give a Man the fulleft Inftructions, that is to be found in any Books I know. Others, and perhaps the far grea ter Number, will think that I have clogged this Matter too much. But I defire thefe may confider how much we do justly reckon, that our Profeffion is preferable either to Law or Medicine. Now, if this is true, it is not unreasonable, that fince thofe who pretend to thefe, muft be at fo much Pains, before they enter upon a Practice which relates only to Men's Fortunes, or their Perfons, we whofe Labours relate to their Souls and their eternal State, fhould be at least at fome confiderable Pains, before we enter upon them. Let any young Divine go to the Chambers of a Student in the Inns of Court, and fee how many Books he muft read, and how great a Volume of a Common-PlaceBook he must make, he will there fee through how hard a Task one must go, in a Courfe of many Years, and how ready he must be in all the Parts of it, before he is called to the Barr, or can manage Bufi. nefs. How exact muft a Physician be in Ana, tomy, in Simples, in Pharmacy, in the Theory of Difeafes, and in the Obfervations and Counfels of Doctors, before he can

(either

either with Honour, or a fafe Confcience, undertake Practice? He must be ready with all this, and in that infinite Number of hard. Words, that belong to every Part of it, to give his Directions and write his Bills by the Patient's Bed-fide; who cannot ftay till he goes to his Study and turns over his Books. If then fo long a Courfe of Study, and fo much Exactnefs and Readiness in it, is neceffary to these Profeffions; nay, if every mechanical Art, even the meaneft, requires a Courfe of many Years, before one can be a Master in it, fhall the nobleft and the most important of all others, that which comes from Heaven, and leads thither again; fhall that which God has honoured fo highly, and to which Laws and Governments have added fuch Privileges and Encouragements, that is employ'd in the fublimeft Exercifes, which require a proportioned worth in thofe who handle them, to maintain their Value and Dignity in the Efteem of the World; fhall all this, I fay, be esteemed fo low a Thing in our Eyes, that a much lefs Degree of Time and Study, is neceffary to arrive at it, than at the moft fordid of all Trades whatfoever? And yet after all, a Man of a tolerable Capacity, with a good Degree of Application, may go through all this well, and exactly,

?

exactly, in two Years Time. I am very fure, by many an Experiment I have made, that this may be done in a much lefs Com pass: But because all Men do not go alike quick, have not the fame Force, nor the fame Application, therefore I reckon two Years for it; which I do thus divide: One Year before Deacons Orders, and another between them and Priests Orders. And can this be thought a hard Impofition? Of do not thofe,who think thus, give great Occafion to the Contempt of the Clergy, if they give the World caufe to obferve, that how much foever we may magnifie our Profef fion, yet by our Practice, we fhew that we do judge it the meaneft of all others, which is to be arrived at upon lefs previ ous Study and Preparation to it, than any other whatfoever? Since I have been hitherto for minute, I will yet divide this Matter a little lower into thofe Parts of it, without which Deacons Orders ought not to be given, and: thofe to be referved to the fecond Year of Study. To have read the New Teftament well, fo as to carry a great deal of it in one's Memory, to have a clear Notion of the feveral Books of it, to underftand well the Nature and the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace, and to have read one System well, fo as to be Master of

4

it,

it, to understand the whole Catechetical Matter, to have read Wilkins and Grotius this, Ifay, is that Part of this Task whichI propofe before one is made Deacon. The reft, though much the larger, will go the eafier, if thofe Foundations are once well laid in them. And upon the Article of Studying the Scriptures, I will add oneAdvice more.

There are two Methods in Reading them, the one ought to be merely critical,to find out the Meaning and Coherence of the feveral Parts of them, in which one runs eafily through the greater Part, and is only obliged to ftop at fome harder Paffages, which may be marked down, and learned Men are to be confulted upon them: Those that are really hard to be explained, are both few, and they relate to Matters that are not fo effential to Chriftianity; and therefore after one has in general feen what is faid upon thefe, he may put off the fuller Confideration of that to more Leifure, and better Opportunities. But the other Way of Reading the Scriptures, is to be done merely with a View to Practice, to raife Devotion, to encreafe Piety, and to give good Thoughts and fevere Rules. In this a Man is to imploy himself much. This is a Book always at Hand, and the getting

a

a great deal of it always by Heart, is the best Part of a Clergyman's Study; it is the Foundation, and lays in the Materials for all the reft. This alone may furnish a Man with a noble Stock of lively Thoughts, and fublime Expreffions; and therefore it must be always reckoned as that, without which all other Things amount to Nothing; and the chief and main Subject of the Study, the Meditation and the Difcourfes of a Clergy-man.

CHA P. VIII.

Of the Functions and Labours of Clergymen,

I

Have in the former Chapter laid down the Model and Method, by which a Clerk is to be formed and prepared: I come now to confider his Courfe of Life, his Publick Functions, and his Secret Labours. In this, as well as in the former, I will ftudy to confider what Mankind can bear, rather than what may be offered in a fair Idea, that is far above what we can hope ever to bring the World to. As for a Prieft's Life and Converfation, fo much

1

was