1820.] [ 101 ] 



THOUGHTS OV THE BISHOPS OF SEVERAL DIOCESES HAVIMC DECLARED 

 THEin DETERMINATION NOT TO ADMIT INTO THE CHURCH MEN 

 WHO HAVE NOT TA'-'EN A DEGREE AT EITHER OF THE ENGLISH 

 UNIVERSITIES. 



In this enlightened age, it is difficult to believe that men of episcopal 

 rank, who have attained a period of life when the judgment should be 

 mature, would publish to the world such a declaration as that which 

 introduces these remarks. 



When the means of obtaining instruction were limited, and when the 

 mass of the community was easily imposed on by the fanatic or the fool, 

 there might have been some reason for adhering to a system which, 

 though not sanctioned by law, is left to the discretion of prelates. 

 At this period education is to be obtained with facility ; and the mass oi' 

 the people is so well informed, that even the lowest dissenter must 

 have considerable knowledge and address, to conmiand even the tem- 

 porary attention of a congregation. 



What is the object to be gained by preventing willing and capable men, 

 with unblemished reputations, from becoming ministers of the gospel ? 

 The advantages to the public of allowing such men to enter holy orders 

 are many, and some of them shall presently be enumerated. 



Formerly the education received at college was less than that at present 

 given at a common classical academj', and youths had finished their 

 studies at an university at an age when they now have scarcely begun 

 them. What college boasts of having instructed Seeker within its 

 walls ? He w as an archbishop, renowned for his piety and learning. 

 In r.-hat lecture-room at Oxford or Cambridge did Warburton gain his 

 erudition, and knowledge of argument? He was a man revered for his 

 learning, and for his support of the church. It would be an easy task to fill 

 columns with the names of men celebrated for their learning and piety, 

 who never studied at an university ; and man)', whose works now form 

 the most approved manuals for students in divinity, were not church- 

 men. It is far from the intention of the writer of these cursory obser- 

 vations to deprecate the universities : they are the first in the world, 

 and afford every advantage to the resident desirous of instruction or 

 information, and, with few exceptions, are as well regulated as they can 

 be expected to be, by men who have seen little of the world, and 

 know but little of the great principles of command, and have had 

 few opportunities of reading from the great book of human nature. It 

 is utter anility to suppose that such knowledge is to be gained by 

 sauntering through the courts of a college, conversing with boys, or 

 poring over the pages of Euclid or Homer. i 



Let us for a moment compare the qualifications of a young man 

 fresh from the university, and one who comes at a certain period of 

 life to obtain ordination without ever liaving been within a college walls. 

 We will not select as a specimen of the generality, one who has led the 

 same life as men in the army and navy, with regard to women, wine, and 

 amusements, with far greater opportunities of indulging in excess, and 

 far more license, when culpable — for tiiey have no one who can sternly 

 demand an account of their conduct, except when discovered by a dean 

 or a tutor. 



M.M. .Veil) Series.— Vol. I. No. 2. Y 



