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Man, Taylor's Golden Grove, and Nelfon's Devotions, at least fo long, as till you can gain a Facility of praying extempore; which may be very proper in fuch private Addreffes, when you can do it readily.

3. Read a Chapter of the Old or New Testament (but oftner of the New) every Morning, before you kneel down to pray: This will prepare you better for Devotion, and will take up but little Time. Do the fame at Night: Half an Hour may ferve for each; and this will be no Hindrance to your Studies, or, however, fo fmall, that it is not worth confidering, in Comparison of the great Benefit you will reap by it; and God will blefs you the more for it, enabling you to become both a wiser and a better Man.

4. Have two or three religious Books to read at fit Seafons, for your Inftruction and Improvement in Piety and Holiness; and peruse them often. Those before mention'd, with Thomas à Kempis, Nelfon's Festivals, Goodman's Winter-Evenings Conference, and the Gentleman Inftructed, may perhaps be fufficient.

5. Never go to any Tavern, or Ale-Houfe, unless fent for by fome Country Friend; and then ftay not long there, nor drink more than is convenient.

6. Covet not a large and general Acquaintance; but be content with a very few Vifitants, and let those be good. Time is too precious, to be thrown away upon Company and Visits; Befides, there is Danger of having your Mind drawn off from your Studies, or of being led afide by bad Example or Converfation.

ever.

7. Stay not out of your College, any Night, beyond the regular Hour, on any Confideration whatIf you once break the Rule, when there seems to be good Reason for it, you will be inclin'd to do fo afterwards without any fuch Reafon. It is therefore much better to fubmit now and then to an Inconvenience, than to break in upon a fix'd and stated

Rule.

Rule. Come in always before the Gates are fhut, Winter and Summer.

8. I must in a particular Manner advise you to be obliging and yielding to your Seniors in College, for the fake of Peace and Order. Bear with fome little Rudeness, and fome imperious Carriage, if any be fo foolish as to use them towards you: Not but that you may have Redress upon any the leaft Grievance, by complaining to your Tutor; yet it is better to yield and comply in fome fmall Matters, which will fhew a good Temper, and make you mightily beloved, and then you will have little or no Occafion for Complaints. Depend upon it, Good-nature and Civility will by Degrees gain the Love of all, and will make you very eafy amongst your Companions.

9. Keep yourself always employ'd, excepting at thofe Times that are allow'd for Recreation. Avoid Idleness, otherwife called Lounging: When you think you have nothing to do, you will be eafily drawn to do Ill. Idlenefs is the Fore-runner of Vice, and the firft Step to Debauchery: You must therefore use yourself to Bufinefs, and never give Way to Lazinefs and Sloth. And that you may not be at a Lofs what to do, and how to employ your Time; I fhall next proceed to fet you out Work, and to direct you how to begin and go on with it.

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A Method of Study.

OUR Studies fhould be of three Kinds, and

You

all of them carried on together, convenient and proper Seasons being allow'd to every one. Philofopby, Claffical Learning, and Divinity, are the three Kinds I mean. I omit Law and Phyfick, because I suppose you are defign'd for a Divine. As to the

Students

Students of Law and Phyfick, because they are but few, it will be eafy for a Tutor to give particular Directions to fuch by Word of Mouth, fo far as concerns them in Distinction from his other Pupils. The Generality of Students are intended to be Clergy men, and as fuch must take the Arts in their Way. They must be acquainted with Mathematicks, Geography, Aftronomy, Chronology, and other Parts of Phyficks; befides Logick, Ethicks, and Metaphyficks; all which I comprehend under the general Name of Philofophy, as being Parts of it, or neceffary by way of Introduction to it. To Claffical Learning, I refer the Study of the Languages, and of Oratory, History, Poetry, and the like; and all these are preparatory to Divinity, or fubfervient to it. I fhall treat of them feverally in a diftinct Chapter, fo far as is neceffary to my Design; and afterwards give you a general Scheme of the Method to be us'd, the Time to be allow'd, and the Books to be read, with other Matters relating to them.

I.

CHA P. III.

Directions for the Study of Philofophy.

BEG

EGIN not with Philofophy, till your Tutor reads Lectures to you in it: It is not easy to understand, without a Master; and Time is too precious, to be thrown away fo, especially when it may be usefully laid out upon Clafficks. At first, after you have been at Philofophy Lectures, look no further than your Lecture Book, without fpecial Directions from your Tutor, or from this Paper: It will be Time mil-fpent, to endeavour to go further than you can understand. Get your Lectures well every Day; and that may be fufficient in these Studies, for the firit Half-year at least.

2. Set afide your Mornings and Evenings for Philofophy, when you begin to understand it; leaving your Afternoons for Clafficks. The former is a Study which requires a cool clear Head, and therefore Mornings especially are the fittest Time for it.

3. After you come to have a competent Knowledge in Philofophy, take fhort Notes of any Queftion which you find difcufs'd in any Author: Set down the Question in a little Paper-Book, and under it the Name of the Book, with the Chapter and Page: By this Means, if you have been diligent, in two or three Years Time, you will have a Collection of the most confiderable Questions in Philosophy, and will know upon Occafion what Books to confult pro and con, upon any Question.

4. Set a Mark in the Margin of your Book, when you do not understand any Thing, and confult other Books which may help to explain it : Or if you cannot thus mafter the Difficulty, apply to fome Friend that can, or to your Tutor.

CHA P. IV.

General Directions for the Study of Clafficks.

"LE

ET your Afternoons, as much of them as can be fpared from Afternoon-Lectures, if you have any, be spent in reading Claffick Authors, Greek and Latin.

:

2. Begin with those mention'd in this Paper, taking them in Order as they lie: Read the First through, before you begin the Second, and fo on, unless you are very much ftraiten'd in your Time.

3. Read not too faft, but be fure to understand fo far as you have read: One Book carefully read over, and throughly understood, will improve you more, than twenty huddled over in Hafte, in a careless

Manner.

Manner. Pass by no Difficulty, but confult Diltionaries, Lexicons, and Notes; and if none of these answer your Doubts, enquire of fome Friend, or of your Tutor.

4. Some Books may be laid aside, after they have been once carefully read over and understood : Others must be read over and over, for Patterns and Models to form your own Stile by in Profe or Verfe. Of the latter Sort are three especially, and those perhaps are enough; Terence, Tully, Virgil.

5. Be provided with fome Books of Greek and Roman Antiquities, which you may once read over, and afterwards confult upon Occafion. Kennet's Roman Antiquities, and Potter's Greek Antiquities, may fuffice: You may add to them Echard's Roman History.

6. Have a Quarto Paper-Book for a Commonplace, in Mr. Locke's Method, to refer any Thing curious to; any Elegancies of Speech, any uncommon Phrases, or any remarkable Sayings. This will keep you from fleeping over your Book, will awaken your Attention and Obfervation, and be a great Help to your Memory. And tho' I do not fuppofe but that it may be thrown aside after two or three Years, when your Judgment is riper, and when the Obfervations you have made at firft, ceafe to be new or extraordinary; yet fuch a Book will be of great Ufe to you in the mean Time. I fpeak this, because fome perhaps may condemn Common-place Books, as being generally useless in a few Years. But regard not that: You must begin with little Things, if you would do any Thing great; and it will be a Pleasure to you to observe how you improve.

7. Endeavour in your Exercifes, Profe or Verfe, not to copy out, but to imitate and vary the most fhining Thoughts, Sentences, or Figures which you meet with in your reading. When you are to make an Oration (after you have confidered well the Matter) read

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