Rescript refusing Im Yeongnyeong's (任永齡) declination of the post of Associate Administrator of the Examinations任永齡讓同知貢擧不允批答
云云。夫領宗伯之任。搜擧子之賢。惟其有衡石之平。水鏡之鑑。然後娟媸不能眩。輕重不相欺。未有己之不足而能品人之優劣者也。卿早中科名。累更華要。其下筆成章。則如江海之深而涯涘不可測也。其通今博古。則若日月之明而罅隙無不照焉。故選之儒臣。委以文柄。朕豈知之未詳而命之耶。以已試之效觀之。嘗掌司馬試也。所得皆當世聞人。朕未嘗不嘉嘆焉。且主張試席。其揆一也。豈工於彼而拙於此。智於前而愚於後耶。毋拘小節。更欲牢辭。云云。
And so forth.
Now to head the charge of the ritual officers and seek out the worthy among those who sit the examinations: only where there is the fairness of a balance beam and the clarity of a water mirror can the fair and the foul not cloud the eye, and the light and the heavy not deceive each other. There has never been a man who, not being ample in himself, could grade the better and worse in others.
You, my lord, passed the examinations early and have several times held brilliant and vital posts. That writing takes shape the moment you set brush to paper is deep as rivers and seas, whose edges cannot be measured; that you grasp the present and know the past widely is bright as sun and moon, which leave no crevice unlit. Therefore I chose you from among my scholar-ministers and committed to you the authority of grading writing — how should I have commanded it without knowing you closely?
Judging by the fruits already seen, when you once took charge of the Sama examination (司馬試) those you selected were all men renowned in their day, and I never failed to think it fine and marvel at it. Moreover, presiding over an examination hall is one and the same in its rules. How should you be practiced there and clumsy here, wise before and foolish after?
Do not, bound by a small scruple, seek again to insist on declining.
And so forth.