REFORM YOUR UNIVERSITY SYSTEM, 417 



We call on the advocates for subscription at the time of admission to 

 degrees for the onus probandi lies on them to show upon what ground 

 it can be justified. We assert that subscription is altogether unnecessary, 

 even at the degrees of bachelor and doctor in divinity : the candidates 

 for these degrees are required to be in holy orders, and it must be pre- 

 sumed that no bishop would ordain any one whom he had not first care- 

 fully examined and approved. The right reverend Bench are the guar- 

 dians of the doctrines, and the promoters of the discipline of the Church 

 of England, and these matters may be safely entrusted to their keeping. 



If subscription be unnecessary, it follows that it is unjust. For one 

 party to maintain a right, in such a manner as to be unnecessarily inju- 

 rious to the rights of another, is manifest injustice. This perhaps will 

 be denied. We are reminded that the dissenter may come to the Uni- 

 versity, and enrol himself among the number of its students ; and that 

 he may reap the same benefit from its lectures as others ; it is true that 

 the University, at the close of his studies, confers no degree upon him, 

 however he may have distinguished himself by his talents and acquire- 

 ments ; but why all this clamour about a degree ? Is a degree, then, of 

 no value ? Independently of the respect which such a testimonial in- 

 sures to the individual upon whom it is conferred, it is attended with 

 advantages in the world, and with certain valuable privileges in the prac- 

 tice of the law and of medicine. Surely, to withhold the passport to 

 these privileges, is unjust, especially when the safety of the Establishment 

 can in no way be pleaded. But it amounts to a virtual exclusion. If 

 the dissenter be denied a degree at the close of his studies, he cannot 

 afford to incur the heavy expense attendant on a residence at the Uni- 

 versity. He is therefore obliged to content himself with such an educa- 

 tion as academies* established and maintained at his own expense will 

 produce ; and thus he is forbidden to approach, and to draw from, those 

 pure and copious fountains of science and literature which ought to flow 

 for the national good. 



Lastly, it is prejudicial to the interests of the University. The cele- 

 brity of a University the brightness with which she shines forth as a 

 great luminary of learning and philosophy depends on the number of her 

 members who are employed, whether within her precincts or upon the 

 wide theatre of the world, in the advancement of literature and of science. 

 The rude barrier, which excludes all who are not of the Established 

 Church, lessens the number of these members, and many a brilliant in- 

 tellect passes unknown ; for genius is of no sect or persuasion. How 

 many are there who can trace the honours and distinctions, at which they 

 have arrived in after life, to the studies pursued whilst at the University ; 

 and which, perhaps, first develop'ed and brought to maturity those powers 

 of the mind which might otherwise have lain dormant for ever, and even 

 unknown to the possessor himself. Such an one seldom reverts to the 

 scene of his academic labours, without mingled feelings of pride and 

 gratitude. And thus the firmest basis on which the University can rest 



* Let it not be supposed that we would here underrate the respectability or the 

 studies of the dissenting academies ; but we are aware that they depend principally 

 on voluntary contributions : a system under which the standard of education can 

 never be raised to the desired height ; and which must affect the permanent secu- 

 rity of the establishments. 



