JUNE 17
I am glad you come a little nearer the good old Emperor’s advice: “Throw away that thirst for books.”* That thirst is the symptom of an evil disease; and “his own indulgence makes the dreadful dropsy grow.”** What is the real value of a thing but the price it will bear in eternity! Let no study swallow up or entrench upon the hours of private prayer. Nothing is of so much importance. Simplify both religion and every part of learning as much as possible. Be all alive to God, and you will be useful to men.
to Joseph Benson, 1770
* - Marcus Aurelius ** - Horace
O what a deal of work has our Lord to do here on earth! And may we be workers together with Him!
to Letter, 13th May, 1774
