fiii r R E F A C r. 



Wd have intlfnated th.it KHyogg was little friendly lo learning.— He 

 did not diftinguilh, it feems, between knowledge and learning, between 

 books ufefol and not ufeful. Among vegetable?, fome are ferviceable, 

 fame indifferent, fome noxious ; but Kli>oggi as a farruer, certainly would 

 not have rejeded the ufe of the gifts ot nature, becaufe of this mixture in 

 them. In viewing an extenfive library, a better inftruGed man than Kli- 

 yogg iTiight exclaim, ** how many of thefe things do I not want !" but 

 even a cafe like this leads to no ©ther conclufion, than that good books re- 

 quire to be ftlefted, and their nuiiber to be increafed. — Though many 

 fermoos for exannpie, have been primed in diSerent countries, which are 

 of little ufe in faniilics ; it does not follow that fets of family fermons, in- 

 tercfting hy their matter and couched in forcible houfhold languagCi fo as 

 to fuit at once both children and domeftics, as well as the heads of 

 families, would not be ferviceable. Kllyogg, like other men of limited 

 education, had his rrind too much fixed on fi igle points, He fergot that 

 idle hour? neceHariiy occur through ieifure, through ficknefs, and through 

 ^ge, which req^jirc to be filled up ; that all farmers have not a mind as ori- 

 ginal as his own, and requiring as little inilru^lion j that if bad books are 

 ihe vvritten fpeech of the foclith, good books are the written fpeech of the 

 wife, which all perfons are tlius permitted to read and to confider at Iei- 

 fure ; and that there is no better tie to our homes, and to a domeftic and a 

 fobar life, than books, of which unfortunately the number is too fmall, 

 lather than too gre^t. 



Let us employ the inftance of Kllyogg againft himfelf. Had Kliyogg 

 wade an occafiona! ufe of books, he might perhaps have fnunned the dan- 

 ger of drinking ;into which he for a time fell, when he firft planted his own 

 vineyard. He might alfo have borne with more refignation and dignity 

 lU8 la{^ iHnefb ; for experience (hews, that no better fupport is to be found 

 on thefe occdfions, than religion and reading. If his prejudices againft 

 books were juft, even the account of his own life would be fupprefTcd, 

 and the benefit of his own example thus be loft to the world. 



Kliyogg perhaps had no opportunity to fee good books 3 and therefore 

 itiighc have been excufed, had he condsmned the majority of books, 

 or had he reproved tlw dearth of good books for perfons in inferior iitua* 

 lions, as well at ccnfured the ititewpaate ufe of reading. — But to arraign 

 attention to all written knowledge, is in effe^ among the reft to arraign 

 attention to a knowledge of nature ; which is indeed one of the mofl im- 

 portant branchi^s of fcience. Whoever truly pofTefTes this, has ftored tip a 

 bleifing : ( Ttlix qui potuit rerum cegnofeere cevjui :) for nothing then paff. 

 e8» which does not carry an intereft with it. In fhorr, whatever the rich 

 and the ambitious may think, obfervation wijl afcertsin, that where out- 

 ward circumllat:ce9 do not trouble, he is the happieft of men who has a 

 labcripg hand, a thinking head, and a feeling heart. 



Kliyogg's aveifnn to hypocricy and oftentation in religion, comes next 

 for explanation. — lo Zurich, an antient and very Ori^i^ fe6^ prevails 5 

 which has encouraged many to affed great zeal for the outward forms ot 

 itligion, Kliyogg, a pious wan, who read at Vfa(t one ^o^i; his bible, daily 



an^i 



