*

mentary knowledge of Divinity, as may form a groundwork of the theological pursuits of those who are designed for holy orders; and furnish every student with an introduction to the evidences of religion, as well as to the history, the allusions, the idioms and phraseology of the Scriptures. It has been decided by long experience, that these studies supply the best and surest mode of forming the taste and cultivating the mind, during the most important season of life, of strengthening the reasoning and other faculties, particularly that of memory, of generating correct and liberal habits of thinking, and of storing the mind with valuable knowledge. They are, accordingly, the primary subjects of academical instruction, and to proficiency in them, the rewards and honours of the place, in their gradations, are attached. I consider the studies of chemistry, anatomy, mineralogy and botany, as useful, though subordinate, objects of attention: and upon those sciences, with the exception of botany, as well as the arts and manufactures of the country, and upon modern history, regular courses of lectures are given with great ability, by the respective Professors. These lectures are highly beneficial, both in diffusing among the votaries of the severer studies, a gentlemanly portion of general information, and in supplying direction and encouragement to others, who are precluded by want of taste and ability, or by other circumstances, from becoming proficients in the regular pursuits, and who might, without such assistance, waste much valuable time in idleness.' p. 10.

This we presume to be a very fair and reasonable account of the system of instruction at present pursued in both our Universities; and, for our own parts, we scruple not to confess, we hope never to see the day, when the physical sciences shall take precedence of the intellectual; when, instead of the sublime speculations of Newton, Leibnitz, Euler, and Laplace, the majestic accents of the tragic muse of Greece, and the finished eloquence of Demosthenes or Tully, our academic cloisters shall resound only with floetz, and trap, and schistus, or with Banksias, and Dryandrias, and all the andrias and gynias of the Systema Naturæ.

It is no doubt true, as Sir James Smith observes, that classical studies may derive illustration from botany. As an instance of this, he observes that the acanthus of Virgil is still undetermined; and adds, I am persuaded, of what no commentator has hitherto con

* Here indeed one of our Universities lies open to reproach. A degree is generally considered by the bishops as a necessary qualification for holy orders; and yet, constituted as the examinations now are at Cambridge, of what importance can it be, with reference to the duties of the sacred office, whether the candidate has proceeded to the degree of B.A. or not? Why do not the governing members of that learned and enlightened body remove from it a stigma which is too justly merited, and make an ac quaintance with at least the elementary parts of divinity, the evidences of revealed religion and the Gospels in their original tongue, an essential and indispensable part of that knowledge which shall entitle its possessor to an Academical degree? At present, we fear that the Professor's remarks on this head are true only of particular colleges. The University examinations are in this respect glaringly and inexcusably defective.

jectured,

jectured, that Virgil's plant is our common holly, a shrub not indicated in any part of his writings, though frequent in Italian gardens and thickets, as well as elsewhere throughout Europe.' He speaks of it as an evergreen with flexible twigs, forming thickets, clipped by the gardener in winter, and bearing berries. It is to be observed, however, that Virgil speaks of the prickly acanthus as a foreign plant, not as a native of Italy. Sir James does not seem to be aware that the poet describes two kinds of acanthus; nor that the common reading in Georg. IV. 137. Ille comam mollis jam tum tondebat acanthi has been altered, upon the authority of the best MSS., into jam tondebat hyacinthi. And in the only passage where the berries are mentioned, (G. II. 119. baccas semper frondentis acanthi,) Heyne properly observes, De agrifolia (the holly) cogitare non licet: laudantur enim plantæ peregrinæ.' For our own parts, we are inclined to suspect that the berry-bearing acanthus of Virgil is no other than the rupaxava of the Greek botanists, which is so great an ornament to our walls. This is the opinion of Ciofanius on Ovid's Met. xiii. 701.

Again, Sir James says that he is the first person who has elucidated that beautiful apostrophe of our Saviour, Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, &c.,' which is commonly supposed to apply to the white lily, or the tulip, by referring it to the amaryllis lutea, or autumnal narcissus, with which the fields of the Levant are overrun. We wish to remind Sir James, that Souciet (Recueil de Dissertations Critiques, p. 155.) has observed that the lily mentioned in Scripture is not what we call by that name, but rather the lilium Persicum, or crown imperial, which is common in Palestine. And perhaps this is as probable a conjecture as that of Sir James.

We cannot help observing that arguments for the great import-. ance of botany, drawn from a few elucidations of Scripture, are of no great weight, since there are many other arts and sciences which may rest their claims to distinction upon similar grounds. Upon the whole, although we are very far from thinking, with Socrates, that there is nothing to be learned from trees, yet we must enter our protest against any attempt to exalt botany or its kindred sciences to a level with the more abstruse and more intellectual pursuits, which constitute the yxúxλios maideia of our English Universities. Far distant be the day, when we shall copy the example of Sweden, where, says Sir James, Natural Science takes place of every other, being the pursuit which leads to preferment in Church and State, like the mathematics at Cambridge'! a most accurate and well-drawn comparison. How these matters may be managed in Sweden we know not, except from Sir James's testimony; but we have yet to learn, that, in this country, the least piece of preferF F 3 ment,

ment, ecclesiastical or civil, has been given as a reward for mathematical science alone-To this,' says Professor Monk, and all such remarks, I shall merely reply, that the results of our general system of education have been so successful, that we should not be justified in changing it for that of any other University on the face of the earth. It is by progressive steps that it has been brought to its present state. Even within the last few years, additional efficacy has been given to our system of studies, by an improved method of examination.'

The next question which arises is this, whether it be expedient to confer a professorship in the University, on a perfect stranger and alien, when there are members of the University itself, willing and competent to undertake its duties. Sir James, of course, argues for the affirmative, and produces from the Academical annals three instances of strangers being appointed to professorships upon their first foundation; but not one, where an entire stranger has been elected to an office already established.

The distinction,' as Professor Monk observes, 'is important. When it was an object to introduce into the University a pursuit hitherto un ́cultivated in the place, it was right and necessary to look beyond its limits for an able instructor in that science. But when a study has once been established, and successfully pursued by some of its own body, it is more consistent with justice as well as policy, to elect one of them to fili a vacant appointment, than to have recourse, as was done in the first instance, to aliens. It is by the hope of these offices and distinctions that our members are encouraged to devote their leisure to such pursuits. When a gentleman, educated amongst us, is proposed as a candidate, not only his abilities, but his personal character, can thoroughly be appreciated by the electors themselves, instead of being taken upon the partial representation of others: and in the choice of such a person, there exists a security, that he will have a community of views and feelings with the University, and a devotion to its interests, which it would be unreasonable to look for in a stranger. It is, besides, natural and proper to be extremely cautious in admitting into the bosom of our institution, and investing with our offices, persons however unexceptionable in their private characters, who have been educated in a system of studies and discipline very dissimilar to our own, and whose age and talents may give them influence over the ju

nior members.'

Nothing can be more just than these observations; and they are backed by the authority of Philip Melancthon, one of the most moderate and candid of mankind. In the advice which he gave for the regulation of a University at Leipzig, he expresses himself thus:

'In facultate artium habetis aliquot eruditos magistros, et rationem haberi præsentium, qui sunt idonei, utile est multis de caussis. Invitan

tur

tur enim ceteri, ut Academia libentius maneant. Et novi ac peregrini magis sunt obnoxii invidiæ: hinc oriuntur certamina ac factiones.'

'Where,' asks Sir James, would have been the celebrity and the utility of the foreign universities of Edinburgh, of Göttingen, of Pavia, and many others, had the choice of their professors been restricted by any rules, but the claims of acknowledged and eminent ability?' that is to say, Unless you elect me, a man of acknowledged and eminent ability, farewell to your celebrity and utility, good Mrs. Alma Mater!' Whether the celebrated father of Matilda Pottingen was chosen law-professor of Göttingen from another university, we have not been able to ascertain; but of this we are sure, that if competent professors could be found in their own body, neither Edinburgh, nor Göttingen, nor Pavia, nor Connecticut would elect them from another.

But the great point of all still remains for discussion; whether Sir James could, with propriety or safety, be invested with an academical office, being a professed dissenter from the established church. This was the main ground upon which the_remonstrants founded their objection; an objection which Sir James mildly describes as proceeding from a conspiracy,' and from a jealous and exclusive spirit.' Sir James is, it appears, a member of that society of dissenters, who modestly assume the title of Rational Christians, implying thereby, that the church from which they dissent is irrational. Our readers need not be told that these reasonable personages are no others than Socinians, or Photinians, or Unitarians, or Humanitarians, or Priestleians, or Belshamites, which last, we believe, is the name at present in vogue. It is fair, however, to state that Sir James informs us, that he had always been in the habit of attending frequently the public worship of the church, and of receiving the sacrament many years since; not on any particular occasion, nor with any particular object, except the principle of Christian communion. Is it possible that any man, who persuades himself that he is sincere, can sanction, by his presence and participation, the performance of a solemn rite and act of adoration, the whole tenor of which, in his heart, he disbelieves and disapproves? This it is to be a rational Christian! This circumstance, however, and the readiness with which Sir James, it seems, would, in the event of his election, subscribe to the necessary declaration that he conforms to the Liturgy of the Church of England as by law established,' we are not disposed to dwell upon. It is sufficient to remark, that such a declaration would come with singular grace and propriety from the mouth of a professed dissenter; and could not fail of encouraging, in the breast of the youthful student, the virtues of sincerity and consistency. The question is, can either of our universities, consistently with a due regard to the objects

FF 4

objects of their existence, confer any of their offices upon a man who decidedly and openly dissents from the doctrines of the church? This question is answered by Professor Monk, in the most satisfactory and conclusive manner.

The dissenters I sincerely respect for their sincerity, and deeply lament their conscientious separation from us. At the same time I shall not conceal my decided conviction that it is our duty, so long as that disagreement continues, to keep the doors of the universities closed against them. These public institutions have hitherto been the surest supports of the national church, which can never be so effectually shaken, as by introducing open and active hostility to her doctrines into the seats of national education.'-' It is to the Church Establishment that we owe our endowments, our privileges, our immunities, and every other advantage that we enjoy. Can he, therefore, wonder at a reluctance to invest him with on office of rank and influence amongst us, in open and declared defiance of those provisions which, for above two hundred years, have been judged necessary to protect the establishment?' - I have been able to hear one, and only one argument in his favour; it is this that the subject which he wishes to teach to the university, is not divinity but botany; in which pursuit a person's theological creed can be of no consequence. To this reasoning it must be replied, that those who, in a particular case, establish a precedent for the admission of dissenters to offices in the university, will be answerable for all the results to which that precedent may lead. We may expect that one of the first results will be, the abolition of subscription at taking degrees, which cannot, in that event, reasonably and consistently be refused : the inevitable consequence of this, the introduction of dissenters of every description to fellowships, and the various offices of tuition in the different colleges, is a matter which no friend of our establishment can contemplate without most serious alarm.'

6

The universities are the nurseries which supply nearly the whole kingdom with spiritual instructors; and to intrude upon either of them a maintainer of heretical opinions, would be indeed casting a firebrand into the sanctuary. The integrity and respectability of the establishment must depend, in a very great degree, upon the character and conduct of those bodies; and any innovation in her discipline (under which term we include all the regulations necessary to preserve purity of faith and practice) will soon be followed by a corresponding laxity of doctrine. Pelagianism and Socinianism,' says South, with several other heterodoxies cognate to, and dependent upon them, which of late with so much confidence and scandalous countenance walk about, daring the world, are certainly no doctrines of the church of England. And none are abler and fitter to make them appear what they are, and whither they tend, than our excellent and so well stocked universities; and if they will but bestir themselves against all innovators whatsoever, it will quickly be seen, that our church needs none either to fill her places,

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