406 LETTER TO 



by them. But, however this maybe, it is at 

 least certain, that no doubt can exist, whether 

 a licentiate is entitled to take either side he 

 pleases of the alternative, which is offered to 

 him by the college themselves, not by implica- 

 tion, but by the most direct and explicit expres- 

 sion, with respect to the observance of statutes, 

 made always without his consent, and sometimes 

 tvith the avowed design of placing him beneath 

 men, whom the laws of their common country 

 declare to be no more than his equals. He will 

 even merit no blame from them, as lawgivers, 

 by disobeying such of their statutes as forbid 

 what is evil in itself, provided he immediately 

 pays the fines which are demanded from him. 

 iThe blame, which he here incurs, depends upon 

 his having broken the laws of some far higher 

 power, those of God or his country. But I fear 

 I render this subject confused, by holding it up 

 too long to view. Luminous objects are best 

 discerned by a single glance of the eye ; if we 

 suffer our sight to dwell upon them, their very 

 brightness soon causes them to appear indistinct. 

 The degree of obedience, which is due by a 

 licentiate to the laws of the college, being then 

 so evident, no one can imagine, that it was ever 

 unknown to the many learned and well-informed 

 men, who are members of that body. The in- 

 tention, therefore, of those men, in acting even 



