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    Burgess lives and writes ( may he long eontuiue to do both I ) he will be himself a host to prove , how little a man may be the better Scripture critic for his learning . AVho could have

    believed that the editor of the Pentalogia and the Miscellanea Critica , would propose , oh the authority of Suidas , to render £ y floppy Osa vitccpyoov " preexisting in the * nature of God ? ' * " I poach in Suidas Jbr unlicens ed Greek /*'

    Let not our readers , however , imagine that we mean , without further explanation , to surrender the classical learning of the Dissenters to all the sarcasms which Mr . W \ and others are

    pleased to bestow upo $ it . Perhaps , even among ourselves , it has not-always been duly considered what place it is possible to allot to classical studies , in the education of a minister ( for of that

    only are we now speaking ) , without encroaching upon other things . A young man , wfio has devoted himself to the ministry , goes to the academy to prepare himself for the discharge of a practical and a laborious profession 5

    and all his literary studies have a'direct reference to this object . If among these studies there be some , which appear to have but little connexion either with the ( Juties of the preacher or those of the expounder of Scripture , they find a place , because experience has shown ,

    that next to a fervent prety and active benevolence ( qualities in which we : shall be surprised if even Mr . "W . claim a superiority for Churchmen over Dissenters ) , nothing is more essential to the due influence , of a pastor ' s character

    pyer the minds of'his people , and his ability $ 0 take , the lead among them in p lans of general usefulness , than that ne should possess a well-stored and well-cultivated understanding . Were this object lost sight of , in ah age like the present , when the intellect of society is upon the rise , the tonsequences

    must be very prejud icial , not only to the respectability of the ministerial character , bqt to the prosperity of , the Dissents ing interest and to the . influence of those . principles of ertfil and religious liberty , which have' been-nurtured in

    the bosonfi of English nonconformity , and whicfe"kill mid ftmbng tiifc' their most steady ' ad vocates . ' Bo t though these edtf $ &r ^ tfons * to < nafr . ' ^ ftflfe . ^ bsf ^ ctorily prove the p foprtetv df tfiaking n / course of acatieitiical etuqy , and £ spe ~ ^^« laWjpj ; iwguage& , as ample ana copnpjiete aq poe-

    Untitled Article

    sible , It must stiff be l ? 6 rne in mini that these things are the means and not the end—meansto the discharge of the active duties of a laborious profession A clergyman , when 'he leaves college , may have a living in waiting for him ' whe ^ e , with £ well-arranged cycle of

    other mens' sermons , ( many probably purloined from the work ' s of those Dissenters on whom he looks down ) and INFares and Magee to furnish out a visitation philippic against the Unitarians , year after yey- may find him wholly devoted to his , literary occupations , and not at all reproaching hjrnself for bcincr absorbed in them . A ftissenting minister who should thus sacrifice his

    professional duties to his taste , wotild be admonished by the failing numbers and languishing zeal of his congregation , of the folly of forsaking his proper character to assume another incompatible with it . The ultimate destination

    of those under their care , can never be lost sight of b y those entrusted with the . academical instruction of our youth , without neglecting their duty and exposing themselves to much severer reflections than the sarcasms of universitymen . Whatever canlje done , to render

    that portion of time which can be g ' ven to classical studies , either at schuo ] or afterwards , more efficacious , to encourage the diligence arid emulation of the youj ^ g , to secure the attainment of such a portion of knowledge in all their ministers , as may enable them to read

    and explain the Scriptures , and to provide for those who haVe more than ordinary talents for such pursuits , the means of qualifying ' themselves to be the teachers of the rising generation , the past and present conduct of the Dissenters give us reason to belief they will nojt neglect . With less than this tjiey bught not to be' contented—at

    more thari this we should be sorry to see thern aim . Indeed w , hen we look at whit Mr . W . spatesi as t > ie common course otclassic ^ l reading at Cambridge , we do not see th ^ t ii ' ts above all . hope of iuiitation , even b ^ t ^ issenters . -lf a young xtiltx enters an' acadernical institution , alreaL % able id relul Homer * nd H 6 r a ^ e , ^ nd coii ) unues mi y ^ ar 8 . ^ ^ ' purRuing his classical stithies during the whole tinie ,, is it impossible for h ^! . ! he and his tsacher ^ are ^ tolerably

    Qilig fent , to read "' the flAtst Play s of tn © Greek ' Tr ^ edfens , ^ lato ^ a fyd °£ r the MtiKMgPar H ^ M ^ tur aiiW cydides , Ci ^ roVPMl ^ fophical W »

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    4 (> & Review . — fFairiewrighf on the * JPih-suitS . of Cdhtlfti ^ e .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1816, page 408, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2454/page/36/