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ment of some of the most essential doctrines of the gospel. But since captious hearers will always try to misrepresent those sentiments which they dislike, prudence farther requires the preacher to be careful, to deliver such sentiments in such terms as are incapable of misrepresentation. For instance, in treating on divine agency, it is necessary to use such expressions as cannot be construed to mean, that God commits sin. So in addressing the impenitent and unrenewed, it is necessary to use such expressions as cannot be construed to mean either that they can do duty with an unholy heart, or that an unholy heart excuses them for neglecting duty. Such prudence as this, I ever meant to exercise in preaching the gospel; which ought to be exhibited in the most plain, which is the most prudent manIn a word, I resolved, and, I believe, I have hitherto kept my resolution, to declare all the counsel of God.

CHAPTER III.

MANNER OF STUDYING.

As soon as I entered into the ministry, I resolved to devote my whole time to the sacred work, without encumbering myself with the cares and concerns of the world. I expected, however, that I should need great firmness and vigilance, to guard me against the solicitations of ease, interest, and seeming necessity, to neglect the proper business of my calling. Upon this consideration, I determined not to begin to do the least manual labor, nor even superintend my secular concerns; but to make my study my home, and my ministerial duties my whole employment. Soon after my ordination, I was invited by one of my parishioners to spend several weeks at his house, upon free cost; but I declined the offer, for fear my acceptance would obstruct my studies; and this refusal, I apprehend, prevented other invitations of the same kind. After I had been settled about a year, I employed some of my friends to purchase me a house and farm. The house needed repair, and I employed certain persons to repair it, and others to superintend the business; so that scarcely a man in the parish had less concern with it than I had. The next year, I entered into a family state, in which a great many worldly affairs invited my attention; but I kept my

resolution, and confined myself wholly to my study, without doing so much as an hour's labor in the garden, or in the field. It was a time of war; when laborers were scarce and dear, and when many ministers supposed that the circumstances of the times justified them in neglecting their studies, for the purpose of laboring to support their families. Though they might have thought this to be their duty, yet I could never make myself believe that it was mine. Hence I felt constrained to separate myself from all secular concerns, and devote myself wholly to my ministerial work. I knew it would be in vain to propose an end, without devising and adopting proper means to accomplish it. Accordingly, I resolved to divide and appropriate my time to the various branches of knowledge which I meant to pursue, and to furnish myself with a good collection of books. These I spared no pains nor expense to obtain. I examined the libraries of my brethren in the ministry. I searched the old books which I found among my people; I kept my eye upon the catalogues of the book-sellers; and among the great variety of authors which I found upon different subjects, I made it a rule to select the best and the worst; that is to say, those who had written most ingeniously in favor of the truth, and against it. I meant to read upon both sides of disputed subjects, and wished to obtain those authors on both sides, who had exhibited the most light. Though I was not able to purchase many books at a time, yet I constantly made additions to my collection, by buying and exchanging authors; so that I rarely failed of procuring any book, which I felt a strong inclination to read. Providence often smiled upon me in this respect. The Reverend Diodate Johnson, the minister of the church to which I at first belonged, gave me, at his death, a donation of forty dollars, which I appropriated to the purchase of books. My own congregation had a pretty parish library, when I was settled among them; and in the year 1786, Dr. Franklin presented them a donation of some of the most celebrated English authors. By these means, I generally had a supply of all those kinds of books which were necessary and useful to a divine; and I never wished for others, because I meant to confine my studies to my own profession, and not waste time in acquiring mere speculative knowledge. But I was sensible that both time and books might be detrimental to the real improvement of the mind, unless they were properly used. And in order to make the best use of these two great advantages, I determined to govern myself in the prosecution of my studies, by particular rules.

1. I made a practice of paying my principal attention to but one subject at a time. This had a happy tendency to engage

all the powers of the mind, and especially to set invention at work; which is a faculty very necessary to investigate truth, and which nothing but necessity, or a firm resolution, will call into exercise. It is much easier to read, to hear, to converse, than to investigate; which requires the whole attention of the mind to be steadily fixed upon one subject. Reading and conversing upon a subject will never make a man master of it, without close and steady thinking, and a fair and full decision. And no man can make a fair and full decision upon any abstract or intricate point, until he has thoroughly examined it on all sides, and fairly balanced the principal arguments for and against it. Hence I perceived the importance of attending to but one subject at a time, and of not leaving that subject before I came to a satisfactory and final decision. A final decision, I say, because I found by experience that the more I thought, or read, or conversed upon any subject, the less I understood it, if, after all, I did not discover sufficient evidence to form a full and final decision. But when I steadily pursued a subject until I had discovered the truth, and formed my decisive judgment, then I felt that I had actually added to my common stock of real knowledge; which gave me new power and inclination to make farther improvements.

2. I accustomed myself to attend to all subjects which appeared to be naturally connected with divinity, and calculated to qualify me for the work of the ministry. That all the arts and sciences bear some relation to each other, was long ago observed by Cicero, and has ever since been found to be true by all who have read and studied upon an extended scale. It is extremely difficult to gain a clear understanding of natural and revealed religion, without a considerable degree of general knowledge. The more I attended to theology, the more I was convinced of the importance of acquainting myself with history, ethics, metaphysics, and civil polity. This led me to read freely upon these subjects, and to form my own opinions upon them. I thought it was an injury and reproach to clergymen, that they so much disregarded general knowledge, and paid their whole attention to divinity, and even to a few points in that noble and extensive science. There is no doubt but that many errors and wild notions in religion, have originated from the ignorance of those who have undertaken to preach the gospel without understanding the connection and harmony of its fundamental doctrines. Such preachers seldom attend to any sentiments but the peculiarities of their own sect; and vainly imagine that all are heretics who do not subscribe to their contracted creed. To avoid this mistake, I resolved to read and study divinity in a liberal manner; and not to adopt the senti

ments of my own denomination, nor to reject the sentiments of other denominations, without examining them for myself, in the best manner I was able. And I can truly say, nothing has contributed more to establish me in the belief of my own system of religious sentiments, than those authors who have written the most forcibly against them; and nothing has assisted me more in defending and maintaining the pure doctrines of the gospel, than a general acquaintance with the errors and delusions which have prevailed in the Christian world. I have made it my practice, in the whole course of my ministry, to read extensively, and to examine as critically and impartially as I could, all ancient and modern errors and innovations in religion; which I have never seen any reason to regret.

3. Though I read a variety of books, yet I always meant, if I could, to read the proper books at a proper time; that is, when I was investigating the subject upon which they treated. I gained but little advantage from reading any author, without a particular object in view; but when I read any author with reference to a particular object, I then took more notice of what he said, understood it better, and derived much more benefit from his writings. I usually restrained myself from reading for amusement; and put captivating books out of sight, when I had occasion of consulting authors upon any important subject. At times, however, I read some authors for the sake of their beautiful style, their lively descriptions, and moral sentiments. Some few novels possessed these excellences, and gained my attention at leisure hours. But I read deep, well written tragedies, for the sake of real improvement in the art of preaching. They appeared to me the very best books to teach true eloquence. They are designed to make the deepest impression on the human mind, and many of them are excellently calculated to produce this effect. A preacher can scarcely find a better model for constructing a popular, practical, pathetic discourse, than a good tragedy; which all along prepares the mind for the grand catastrophe, without discovering it, till the whole soul is wrought into a proper frame to feel the final impression. I found also much benefit from reading a variety of sermons. I read ancient authors, for the sake of the matter contained in their discourses. They were more sentimental than modern preachers. I found good ideas poorly expressed, in old sermons; and those ideas I felt myself at liberty to borrow, and put into my own words. Besides, the Puritan writers breathed. a most pious and devout spirit into all their discourses; which I wished to imbibe, and transfuse into my own sermons. I read modern sermonizers, for the benefit of learning the various. methods of constructing sermons, and for the purpose of gain

ing a neat and perspicuous style. But lest I should become a plagiary, and imitator of any man, I made a point of choosing my subject and my text, and of laying out my method, before I read any author who had treated on the same text. For I found, if I read another man's sermon before I had done this, I was naturally led to follow his track, or take peculiar pains to avoid it. Nor did I ever mean to make any single author my general model of sermonizing; though I wished to unite as much as I could the peculiar excellences of Watts, Doddridge, and Edwards. But it is probable that I did approach nearer to Mr. Edwards' manner, than to that of any other man, except Mr. Smalley, my admired instructer. His great excellence consisted in representing divine truths in a clear light, and in reconciling them with each other. This I endeavored to imitate in the general course of my preaching.

4. Though I was fond of reading, yet I was still more desirous of examining and digesting what I read. I always found a disadvantage from reading more than I could digest. This never failed to unsettle my mind, and give it a bias towards skepticism. And I believe there is scarcely any circumstance, which has a more direct tendency to turn learned men into skeptics, than reading too much and thinking too little. When a large number of different and opposite ideas upon a subject are collected in the mind, without being properly examined and arranged, it requires more than common discernment to discover where truth lies; and many a weak mind bas, I doubt not, been plunged in darkness, by too much light. To investigate truth, it is necessary to proceed gradually, and attend to but one point at a time, till the mind has gone clear round the subject, and viewed it in every attitude. The natural process is, first to separate from the subject of inquiry whatever does not belong to it; then to consider what is in favor of the sentiment examined; and lastly, to weigh the arguments against it. Studying is often compared with digging; and in digging stones there is peculiar art. The man who understands the business, will not leave a stone because it will not move by his first exertion. He will continue to try it in different positions, until he has found that in which he can apply all his strength to advantage, and effect his purpose. Steady, patient, persevering thinking, will generally surmount every obstacle in the search of truth. Some subjects, indeed, are too high for human investigation. When a difficult subject is proposed, the first question is, whether it lies within the province of reason to decide. This, in most cases, can be easily and quickly determined, because there is a wide difference between difficulties and mysteries. If the question does not involve a real mys

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