d me,--"If I
thought the Doctor could be induced to write Cases of Conscience,
if he might have an honorary pension allowed him to furnish him with
books for that purpose?" I told him I believed he would: And, in a
letter to the Doctor, told him what great satisfaction that honourable
person, and many more, had reaped by reading his book "De Juramento;"
and asked him "whether he would be pleased, for the benefit of the
Church, to write some tract of Cases of Conscience;" He replied, "That
he was glad that any had received any benefit by his books:" and added
further, "That if any future tract of his could bring such benefit
to any, as we seemed to say his former had done, he would willingly,
though without any Pension, set about that work." Having received this
answer, that honourable person, before mentioned, did, by my hands,
return 50_l_. to the good Doctor, whose condition then (as most
good men's at that time were) was but low; and he presently revised,
finished, and published that excellent book, "De Conscientia:" a book
little in bulk, but not so if we consider the benefit an intelligent
reader may receive by it. For there are so many general propositions
concerning conscience, the nature and obligation of it, explained and
proved, with such firm consequence and evidence of reason, that he who
reads, remembers, and can with prudence pertinently apply them _hic
et nunc_ to particular cases, may, by their light and help, rationally
resolve a thousand particular doubts and scruples of conscience. Here
you may see the charity of that honourable person in promoting,
and the piety and industry of the good Doctor, in performing that
excellent work.

[Sidenote: A good casuist:]

[Sidenote: his equipment]

And here I shall add the judgment of that learned and pious Prelate
concerning a passage very pertinent to our present purpose. When he
was in Oxon, and read his public lectures in the school as Regius
Professor of Divinity, and by the truth of his positions, and
evidences of his proofs, gave great content and satisfaction to all
his hearers, especially in his clear resolutions of all difficult
cases which occurred in the explication of the subject-matter of his
lectures; a person of quality (yet alive) privately asked him, "What
course a young Divine should take in his studies to enable him to be a
good casuist?" His answer was, "That a convenient under of the learned
languages, at least of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin