ck nine. This
resolution I have invariably adhered to, not unfrequently finishing my
morning task in the midst of a paragraph, and sometimes even in the
midst of a sentence.... In the recollection now of the past, I refer to
these morning hours, to the stillness and quiet of my room in this house
of God, when I have been permitted to 'prevent the dawning of the
morning' in the study of the Bible, while the inhabitants of the great
city were slumbering round about me, and before the cares of the day and
its direct responsibilities came upon me,--I refer to these scenes as
among the happiest portions of my life.... Manuscripts, when a man
writes every day, even though he writes but little, accumulate. Dr.
Johnson was once asked how it was that the Christian Fathers, and the
men of other times, could find leisure to fill so many folios with the
productions of their pens. 'Nothing is easier,' said he; and he at once
began a calculation to show what would be the effect, in the ordinary
term of a man's life, if he wrote only one octavo page in a day; and the
question was solved.... In this manner manuscripts accumulated on my
hands until I have been surprised to find that, by this slow and steady
process, I have been enabled to prepare eleven volumes of Commentary on
the New Testament, and five on portions of the Old Testament."

Isaac Barrow was a very early riser, and with two exceptions very
temperate in his habits. He indulged greatly in all kinds of fruit;
alleging that, if the immoderate use of it killed hundreds in autumn, it
was the means of preserving thousands throughout the year. But he was
fonder still of tobacco. He believed that it helped to compose and
regulate his thoughts. (He died, we may add, from the use of opium.) It
was his plan, in whatever he was engaged, to prosecute it till he had
brought it to a termination. He said he could not easily draw his
thoughts from one thing to another. The morning was his favorite time
for study. He kept a tinder-box in his apartment, and, during all of the
winter and some of the autumn months, rose before it was light. He
would sometimes rise at night, burn out his candle, and return to bed.

Zwingli is described as indefatigable in study. From daybreak until ten
o'clock he used to read, write, and translate. After dinner he listened
to those who had any news to give him, or who required his advice; he
then would walk out with some of his friends, and visit his flock. At