Advice To A Young Man Upon First Going To Oxford In Ten Letters
()
About this ebook
MY DEAR NEPHEW,
It gives me sincere pleasure to hear that you have actually become a member of the University of Oxford. This satisfaction, perhaps, may in some degree be attributed to the pleasing recollection of my own Oxford life, but certainly it arises principally from anticipation of the substantial benefits which you, I trust, will derive from your connexion with that seat of learning. At the same time, I will own that my satisfaction is not entirely unmixed with something like apprehension. An University education has many and great advantages, but it also is attended with many temptations;--temptations to which too many young men have yielded, sometimes to the great injury of their character, and the utter ruin of all their future prospects.
In fact, you are now entering upon the most important period--the _turning point_--of your whole life. You have become, in a great measure, your own master. For though you will be under a certain degree of discipline and _surveillance_, yet in a multiplicity of cases you will have to act for yourself--to take your own line. You will have to contend against the allurements of pleasure and dissipation, and you have just reached the age when the natural passions and appetites become most impatient of restraint.
Read more from Edward Berens
The Greatest Christmas Tales & Poems in One Volume (Illustrated): 230+ Stories, Poems & Carols: The Gift of the Magi, The Mistletoe Bough, A Christmas Carol, A Letter from Santa Claus, The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, The Fir Tree, The Christmas Angel… Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Greatest Christmas Stories of All Time - Premium Collection: 90+ Classics in One Volume (Illustrated): The Gift of the Magi, The Holy Night, The Mistletoe Bough, A Christmas Carol, The Heavenly Christmas Tree, A Letter from Santa Claus, The Fir Tree, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King… Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChristmas Stories : Containing John Wildgoose the Poacher, the Smuggler, and Good-nature, or Parish Matters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Greatest Christmas Tales & Poems: Over 230 Stories, Poems & Carols Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Greatest Christmas Stories of All Time (Illustrated Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAdvice to a Young Man upon First Going to Oxford: In Ten Letters, From an Uncle to His Nephew Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChristmas Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Advice To A Young Man Upon First Going To Oxford In Ten Letters
Related ebooks
Advice to a Young Man upon First Going to Oxford: In Ten Letters, From an Uncle to His Nephew Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLectures to My Students Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legacies of Valor: Traits of Character: the Noble & the Notable Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sesame and Lilies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Father's Legacy to His Daughters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSimple Thoughts on Spiritual Things: Discovering the Divine in Your Daily Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Young Man's Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChristian Nurture: Unabridged, Part I-II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Never-Mind to Ever-Mind: Transforming the Self to Embrace Miracles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIntroduction to the Devout Life (Annotated): Easy to Read Layout Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLectures to My Students: Volume One: The Conduct and Aims of the Minister Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHope for American Evangelicals: A Missionary Perspective on Restoring Our Broken House Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Craft Of Sermon Construction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHomeschooling the Heart: A Study of 40 Virtues for Training a Child in the Way He Should Go Proverbs 22:6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLectures to My Students: Practical and Spiritual Guidance for Preachers (Volume 1) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWright Writes about Right and Rites: Nimrod's Notes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost in Wonder: Rediscovering the Spiritual Art of Attentiveness Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Come Away My Beloved Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFirst Anthony: Inductive Wisdom for the Nuevo Millennium Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLetters of John Quincy Adams to His Son, on the Bible and Its Teachings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDecoding the Mystery of Excellence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Savage Discipline Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Psychic & Spiritual Awareness Manual: A Guide to DIY Enlightenment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeing With Course Participants' Companion: A Course Exploring Christian Faith and Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHis Call My All: A Lesson in Loyalty and Service Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSermons on Several Occasions (Volume I) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScripture Is a Compass to Jesus Christ Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHAPPINESS & HEROISM: The School of Being, The School of Doing: Letter 1: The School of Being Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Action & Adventure Fiction For You
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shift: Book Two of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dust: Book Three of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wool: Book One of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Swamp Story: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Billy Summers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bean Trees: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Darkness That Comes Before Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn German! Lerne Englisch! ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND: In German and English Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Eight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The King Must Die: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shantaram: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Town: A Play in Three Acts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Outlawed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn Italian! Impara l'Inglese! ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND: In Italian and English Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Postman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5We, the Drowned Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Grace of Kings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Count of Monte Cristo Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Most Dangerous Game Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5James Patterson's Alex Cross Series Best Reading Order with Checklist and Summaries Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Prodigal Summer: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Serpent: A Novel from the NUMA files Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Advice To A Young Man Upon First Going To Oxford In Ten Letters
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Advice To A Young Man Upon First Going To Oxford In Ten Letters - Edward Berens
Ali Ahmad
ADVICE TO A YOUNG MAN UPON FIRST GOING TO OXFORD IN TEN LETTERS,
Copyright © 2020 by Ali Ahmad
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
First edition
This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy
Find out more at reedsy.com
Contents
1. ADVICE TO A YOUNG MAN UPON FIRST GOING TO OXFORD IN TEN LETTERS,
2. Contents
3. LETTER I.
4. LETTER II.
5. LETTER III.
6. LETTER IV.
7. LETTER V.
8. LETTER VI.
9. LETTER VII.
10. LETTER VIII.
11. LETTER IX.
12. LETTER X.
1
ADVICE TO A YOUNG MAN UPON FIRST GOING TO OXFORD IN TEN LETTERS,
BY
THE REV. EDWARD BERENS, M.A. LATE FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE.
2
Contents
LETTER I. 2
LETTER II. 5
LETTER III. 8
LETTER IV. 12
LETTER V. 14
LETTER VI. 18
LETTER VII. 21
LETTER VIII. 24
LETTER IX. 27
LETTER X. 32
3
LETTER I.
SENSE OF RELIGION.
MY DEAR NEPHEW,
It gives me sincere pleasure to hear that you have actually become a member of the University of Oxford. This satisfaction, perhaps, may in some degree be attributed to the pleasing recollection of my own Oxford life, but certainly it arises principally from anticipation of the substantial benefits which you, I trust, will derive from your connexion with that seat of learning. At the same time, I will own that my satisfaction is not entirely unmixed with something like apprehension. An University education has many and great advantages, but it also is attended with many temptations;—temptations to which too many young men have yielded, sometimes to the great injury of their character, and the utter ruin of all their future prospects.
In fact, you are now entering upon the most important period—the _turning point_—of your whole life. You have become, in a great measure, your own master. For though you will be under a certain degree of discipline and _surveillance_, yet in a multiplicity of cases you will have to act for yourself—to take your own line. You will have to contend against the allurements of pleasure and dissipation, and you have just reached the age when the natural passions and appetites become most impatient of restraint. At the same time, you will be exposed to the influence both of the example and of the solicitations of lively young men, who will try to carry you along with them in their career of thoughtlessness and folly, and who will think it strange, and _show_ you that they think it strange, if you run not with them to the same excess of riot. Against all these moral trials and temptations, your best safeguard will be found in a strong sense of religion, kept habitually present to your mind. You must endeavour, according to the language of Scripture—(and in writing to you I shall always gladly make use of the very words of Scripture, when they suit my purpose, as having a force and an authority which no other words can possess)—you must endeavour to _set the Lord always before you_. Never for a moment forget that you are continually in the presence of that awful Being, who can, and who will, call you to a strict account for all that you do amiss. Nothing can excuse your forgetting Him.
If you at all believe in a Supreme Being, the Creator and Governor of the world; if you believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, and at the same time an avenger to execute wrath upon every soul that doeth evil, the least particle of common sense or common feeling will tell you, that nothing should be put in competition with his will. When his will is clear, it _must_ be obeyed without hesitation. I am sure that you will assent to this. If religion is any thing, it is _every thing_. It is, indeed, the one thing needful, in comparison with which every thing else sinks into insignificance, into nothingness.
Endeavour, then, to keep up in your mind and heart this habitual sense of religion by every means in your power. It will require from you considerable care and attention. The lively spirits natural to your time of life, and the thoughtless levity of some of the young men into whose society you will be thrown, will have a tendency to make you think less of religion, if not to induce you entirely to forget it. Be ever on your guard against thus swerving from your allegiance to your Creator.
Nothing will contribute more to preserve you from this danger than regularity and earnestness in your private devotions. When you rise in the morning, seek from God spiritual strength to enable you to resist and overcome the temptations to which you may be exposed during the day. Every night implore his forgiveness for your many failings and transgressions, and his protection against the dangers which surround you. Suffer nothing to induce you to neglect private prayer.
You will of course be required every day to attend chapel. Consider such attendance not as an irksome duty, not as a mere matter of routine and college discipline, but try to regard it as a privilege, and to take a real interest and pleasure in it. Acquire the habit of joining fervently