316 IIENP.Y KUiKE WHITE S REMAINS. 



warmly interested ; the other is the slow and unsatis- 

 factory labour of the head, tedious in its progress, and 

 uncertain in its produce. Yet there is a pleasure, great 

 and indescribable pleasure, in sanctified study : the 

 more wearisome the toil, the sweeter will it be to those 

 who sit down with a subdued and patient spirit, content 

 to undergo much tedium and fatigue, for the honour of 

 God's ministry. Reading, however dry, soon becomes 

 interesting if we pursue it with a resolute spirit of in- 

 vestigation, and a determinate purpose of thoroughly 

 mastering what we are about. You cannot take up the 

 most tiresome book, on the most tiresome subject, and 

 read it with fixed attention for an hour, but you feel a 

 desire to go on ; and here I would exhort you, whatever 

 you read, read it accurately and thoroughly, and never 

 to pass over anything, however minute, which you do 

 not quite comprehend. This is the only way to iDecorae 

 really learned, and to make your studies satisfactory and 

 productive. If I were capable of directing your course 

 of reading, I should recommend you to peruse Butler's 

 Analogy, "Warburton's Divine Legation, Prideaux and 

 Shuckford's Connexions, and Milner's Church History, 

 century for century along with Mosheim's Ecclesiastical 

 History. The latter is learned, concise, clear, and 

 written in good scholastic Latin. Study the Chronology 

 of the Old Testament, and, as a mean of making it in- 

 teresting, trace out the completion of the prophecies. 

 Read your Greek Testament with the nicest accuracy, 

 tracing every word to its root, and seeking out the full 

 force of particular expressions, by reference both to 

 Parkhurst and Scapula. The derivation of words will 

 throw great light on many parts of the New Testament ; 

 thus, if we know that the Avord okzko'jo:, a deacon, comes 

 from Qicc and ko'jio), to bustle about in the dust, we shall 

 have a fuller notion of the humility of those who held 

 the office in the primitive church. In reading the Old 

 Testament, wherever you find a passage obscure, turn to 

 the Septuagint, which will often clear up a place better 

 than fifty commentators. Thus, in Joel, the day of the 

 Lord is called " a day of gloominess, a day of dark- 



