Thursday, May 24, 2018
The Book of Books
George Herbert (1593-1633), A Priest to the Temple, or The Country Parson, 2nd ed. (London: T. Roycroft, 1671), pp. 8-9 (from Chap. IV):
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The country Parson is full of all knowledge. They say it is an ill Mason that refuseth any stone: and there is no knowledge but, in a skilful hand, serves either positively as it is, or else to illustrate some other knowledge. He condescends even to the knowledge of tillage, and pastorage, and makes great use of them in teaching, because people by what they understand, are best led to what they understand not. But the chief & top of his knowledge consists in the book of books, the storehouse and magazene of life and comfort, the holy Scriptures. There he sucks, and lives. In the Scriptures he finds four things; Precepts for life, Doctrines for knowledge, Examples for illustration, and Promises for comfort: These he hath digested severally.
