1836.] On Ordiiiatioii. 163 



support of tliis illiberal kind of exclusion is, " the Ktudent at college 

 has expended a considerable sum on his education, and is entitled to 

 some interest for his money. " He would have spent a similar sum else- 

 where, and, at that early period of life, received no return. But it is no 

 argument, and no one who was not bigotted, or a natural-i)orn fool, 

 would advance it as such. What has the public to do with such a 

 reason, for preventing good, capable, and experienced men from becom- 

 ing their pastors ? It will not be said that the navy and army are pro- 

 fligate schools for divines : for any man who knows any thing of the 

 w^orld, and will speak the truth, will avow, that the youthful indiscre- 

 tions, the impropriety of language, and the excesses of the table at 

 colleges, are far greater than those practised or allowed at a naval or 

 a military mess. In after life, the clergy, as a body, are not more 

 honourable in their dealings, or more worthy of respect, than the mem- 

 bers of these professions. If any man has a doubt on this point, let him 

 go to the King's-Bench, or the Fleet Prison, iftnd see the proportion 

 the clergy bear to these professions, considering their comparative 

 numbers ; let him go to every tradesman he knows, and inquire if 

 he would more willingly give credit to the clergy than to officers. 

 Let him go into the villages where they dwell, and ascertain if their 

 conduct is as much approved of as that of the clergy, and he will not 

 find a distinction in favour of either, if his inquiries are on an extended 

 scale. 



Lastly : let the question be fairly put to any congregation in Eng- 

 land, and the qualifications of botli candidates stated ; and so en- 

 lightened are the people, that thej' would not object to an honourable 

 capable man, who had chosen the church tor his profession, becoming 

 their pastor, because he had served his country in the fleet or the field. 

 Has there been one instance of such a man as is here described having 

 disgraced the church — having had his living sequestered — and his charac- 

 ter, as a man of honour and a gentleman, called in question ? 



The illiberality of these episcopal manifestos, which have »o support 

 from the canons of the church, have been condemned, and will meet 

 with becoming public censure. Are they aimed against the middle 

 classes of the community, who have hailed with joy the establishment 

 of a great university in London, where their sons can obtain as high, 

 and perchance more useful, information ae at Oxford or Cambridge, 

 and be still under their roofs and their guidance ? When this great 

 college is once established, our enlightened legislators will not permit 

 this manifesto of the Bishops to aft'ect it, since they will lay the truth 

 at the foot of the throne, and we are sure, that from the Monarch a 

 charter will be given without hesitation, which will place the students 

 on an equality with the graduates of other universities. / 



FniLO-J^jCC LESIJE. 



Y 2 



