་ . ⚫ of that Sect was so zealous, that he kept the Cloaths of ⚫ those that stoned him. This Novice, whose Zeal went beyond all Bounds, was the great St. Paul, who was peculiarly honoured with a Call from Heaven by which he was converted, and he was afterwards, by God himself, appointed to be the Apostle of the Gentiles Befides him, and him too reclaimed in fo glorious a Manner, we find no one Pharifee either named or hinted at by St. Luke, as an Oppofer of Chriftianity in thofe earliest Days. What ⚫ others might do we know not. But we find the Sadducees purfuing St. Paul even to Death, at his coming to Jerufalem, in the 21ft of the Acts. He then, upon all Occafions, owned himself to be a Pharifee. In the 220 Chap. he told the People, that he had been bred up at the Feet of Gamaliel after the ftricteft Manner, in the Law of his Fathers. In the 23d Chap. he told the Council that he was a Pharifee, the Son of a Pharifee, and that he was accufed for afferting the Hope and Resurrection of the dead, which was their darling Doctrine. Hereupon the Pharifees ftood by him, ⚫ and tho' they did not own our Saviour to be the Meffiah, yet they wou'd not deny but fome Angel or Spirit might have spoken to him, and then if they oppofed him they fhould fight against God. This was the very Argument Gamaliel had ufed before. The Refurrection of our Lord, which they faw fo ftrenuously afferted by the Apoftles, whofe Miracles they alfo faw and owned, (Acts 4. 16.) seems to have struck them, and many of ⚫ them were converted (Acts 15. 5.) even without a Miracle, and the reft ftood ftill and made no Oppofition. WE fee here what the Part was which the Pharifees acted in this important Conjuncture. Of the Sadducees, we meet not with one in the whole Apoftolic Hiftory that was converted. We hear of no Miracles wrought to convince any of them, tho' there was an eminent one wrought to reclaim a Pharifee. St. Paul, we fee, • after his Converfion always gloried in his having been • bred a Pharifee. He did fo to the People of Jerufalem, to the great Council, to King Agrippa, and to the Phrlippians. So that from hence we may juftly inferr, that it was not their Institution, which was in it felf lauda ⚫ble, 6 ble, which our Bleffed Saviour found Fault with, but it < was their Hypocrific, their Covetoufnefs, their Oppreffion, their Overvaluing themselves upon their Zeal for the . Ceremonial Law, and their adding to that Yoke by their Traditions, all which were not properly Effentials of their Inftitution, that our Lord blamed. 'BUT I must not run on. What I would observe, Sir, ' is, that Atheism is more dreadful, and would be more grievous to Human Society, if it were invested with 'fufficient Power, than Religion under any Shape, where its Profeffors do at the bottom believe what they profefs. I defpair not of a Papift's Converfion, tho' I would not willingly lie at a Zealot Papift's Mercy, (and no Pro' teftant would, if he knew what Popery is) tho' he truly believes in our Saviour. But the Free-thinker, who fcarcely believes there is a God, and certainly disbelieves • Revelation, is a very terrible Animal. He will talk • of natural Rights, and the juft Freedoms of Mankind, no longer than 'till he himself gets into Power; and by the Inftance before us, we have fmall Grounds to hope for his Salvation, or that God will ever vouchfafe him fufficient Grace to reclaim him from Er<rors, which have been fo immediately levelled against • himself. • IF thefe Notions be true, as I verily believe they are, I thought they might be worth Publifhing at this time, for which Reason they are fent in this Manner to you, by, SIR, Your moft humble Servant, I M. N. Monday, N° 94. Monday, June 29. Ingenium fibi quod vacuas defumpfit Athenas," St Hor. INCE our Succefs in Worldly Matters may be faid to depend upon our Education, it will be very much to the Purpose to enquire if the Foundations of our Fortune could not be laid deeper and furer than they are. The Education of Youth falls of Neceffity under the Direction of those who, thro' fondness to us and our Abilities, as well as to their own unwarrantable Conjectures, are very likely to be deceived, and the Mifery of it is, that the poor Creatures, who are the Sufferers upon wrong Advances, feldom find out the Errors till they become irretrievable. As the greater Number of all De grees and Conditions have their Education at the Univerfities, the Errors which I conceive to be in those Places fall moft naturally under the following Obfervations. The firft Mifmanagement in thefe Publick Nurferies, is the calling together a number of Pupils, of howfoever different Ages, Views and Capacities, to the fame Lectures: But furely there can be no Reason to think, that a delicate tender Babe, juft wean'd from the Bofom of his Mother, indulg'd in all the Impertinences of his Heart's Defire, fhould be equally capable of receiving a Lecture of Philofophy, with a hardy Ruffian of full Age, who has been occafionally scourged thro' fome of the great Schools, groaned under conftant Rebuke and Chaftisement, and maintain'd a ten Years War with Literature under very ftrict and rugged Difcipline. I know the Reader has pleas'd himself with an Answer to this already, viz. That an Attention to the particular Abilities and Defigns of the Pupil, can't be expected from the triffling Salary paid upon fuch Account. The Price indeed which is thought a fufficient Reward, for any Advantages a Youth can receive from a Man of Learning, is an abominable Confideration, the enlarging which, would not only increafe the Care of Tutors, but would be a very great Encouragement to fuch as defign'd to take this Province upon them, to furnish themselves with a more general and extenfive Knowledge. As the Case now ftands, thofe of the firft Quality pay their Tutors but little above half fo much as they do their Footmen: What Morality, what Hiftory, what Tafte of the Modern Languages, what, laftly, that can make a Man happy, or great, may not be expected in return for fuch an immenfe Treafure! 'Tis monftrous indeed, that the Men of the best Eftates and Families, are more Sollicitous about the Tutelage of a favourite Dog or Horse, than of their Heirs Male. The next Evil is the Pedantical Veneration that is maintain'd at the Univerfity for Greek and Latin, which puts the Youth upon fuch Exercifes as many of them are incapable of performing with any tolerable Succefs. Upon this Emergency they are fuccour'd by the allow'd Wits of their refpective Colleges, who are always ready to befriend them with two or three hundred Latin or Greek Words thrown together, with a very small Proportion of Senfe. BUT the most establish'd Error of our Univerfity Education, is the general Neglect of all the little Qualifications and Accomplishments which make up the Character of a well-bred Man, and the general Attention to what is called deep Learning. But as there are very few bleffed with a Genius that fhall force Success by the Strength of it felf alone, and few Occafions of Life that require the Aid of fuch Genius, the vaft Majority of the unblefs'd Souls ought to store themselves with fuch Acquifitions, in which every Man has Capacity to make a confiderable Progrefs, and from which every common Occafion of Life may reap great Advantage. The Perfons that may be useful to us in the making our Fortunes, are fuch as are already happy in their own; I may proceed to say, that the Men of Figure and Family are more fuperficial in their Education than thofe of a lefs Degree, and, of Course, are are ready to encourage and protect that Qualification in another which they themselves are Mafters of. For their own Application implies the Purfuit of fomething commendable; and when they see their own Characters propos'd as imitable, they must be won by fuch an irefiftible Flattery. But those of the Univerfity, who are to make their Fortunes by a ready Infinuation into the Favour ef their Superiors, contemn this neceffary Foppery fo far, as not to be able to fpeak Common Senfe to them, without Hefitation, Perplexity and Confufion. For want of Care in acquiring lefs Accomplishments which adorn ordinary Life, he that is fo unhappy as to be born poor, is condemned to a Method that will very probably keep him fo. I hope all the Learned will forgive me what is faid purely for their Service, and tends to no other Injury against them, than admonishing them not to overlook fuch little Qualifications, as they every Day fee defeat their greater Excellencies in the Purfuit both of Reputation and Fortune. IF the Youth of the Univefirty were to be advanced, according to their Sufficiency in the fevere Progrefs of Learning; or Riches could be fecured to Men of Understanding, and Favour to Men of Skill; then indeed all Studies were folemnly to be defied, that did not seriously pursue the main End: But fince our Merit is to be tried by the unskilful Many, we muft gratifie the Senfe of the injudicious Majority, fatisfying our felves that the Shame of a trivial Qualification fticks only upon him that prefers it to one more Subftantial. The more Accomplishments a Man is Master of, the better is he prepared for a more extended Acquaintance, and upon thefe Confiderations without doubt, the Author of the Italian Book called Il Cortegiano, or the Courtier, makes throwing the Bar, Vaulting the Horse, nay even Wrestling, with feveral other as low Qualifications, neceffary for the Man whom he Figures for a perfect Courtier; for this Reafon no doubt, because his End being to find Grace in the Eyes of Men of all Degrees, the Means to purfue this End, was the furnishing him with fuch real and feeming Excellencies as each Degree had its particular Taste of. But thofe of the University |