SIXTHLY That there be a great restraint for scholars haunting of town houses especially in the night. SEVENTHLY That all scholars both at chapel and at the schools keep their scholastical habits. EIGHTLY That young students in divinity be directed to study such books as be most agreeable in doctrine and discipline to the church of England and excited to bestow their time in the fathers and councils schoolmen histories and controversies and not to insist too long upon compendiums and abbreviators making them the grounds of their study in divinity. NINTHLY That no man either in pulpit or in schools be suffered to maintain dogmatically any point of doctrine that is not allowed by the church of England. LASTLY That Mr Vicechancellor and the two professors or two of the Heads of houses do every Michaelmas term when his Majesty resorts into these parts wait upon his Majesty and give his Majesty a just account how these his Majestys instructions are observed." Upon the authority of the first clause of this document: First HIS MAJESTY SIGNIFIED HIS PLEASURE THAT HE WOULD HAVE ALL THAT TAKE DEGREE IN SCHOOLS TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE THREE ARTICLES; the Vicechancellor and Heads insisted upon the subscription of candidates for any degree to the three articles contained in the thirty-sixth canon. No Grace of the Senate was obtained to sanction such a proceeding, which had been done on a similar occasion in 1613. This test upon the taking of degrees continued until the Revolution, during which period no subscription was required. On the return of Charles II. it was again enforced, and no alteration took place until 1772, when considerable discussion having arisen respecting the propriety of calling upon Bachelors of arts to subscribe to articles which were originally intended solely for the clergy, a syndicate was appointed to take this matter into consideration by the following grace of the Senate: Feb. 28. 1772. Cum quæstio dudum orta sit utrum academiæ (sic re sua visum fuerit) jus competit legem abrogandi qua singuli qui gradum aliquem scholasticum petunt nomine subscripto articulos fidei comprobare tenentur: Placeat vobis ut DOMINUS PROCANCELLARIUS vel eorum quinque quorum semper unus sit dominus procancellarius syndici vestri ad hanc quæstionem eruendam constituantur: ut proinde omnimodas chartas vestras et acta publica inspiciendi jurisconsultos adeundi expensas congruas e cista communi erogandi liberam habeant potestatem; ita ut vos demum certiores facti quid de hac re compererint publicis vestris suffragiis id quod melius expedire videbitur statuatis. The result of this inquiry and report to the senate was the following Grace: June 23. 1772. Placeat vobis ut ii qui gradum baccalaureatus in artibus ambierint pro usitata subscriptione tribus articulis in Canone tricesimo sexto comprehensis in hanc formam apud registrarium vestrum in posterum subscribant I A. B. DO DECLARE THAT I AM BONA FIDE A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AS BY LAW ESTABLISHED. The same relief was extended by a grace dated March 26, 1779, to those seeking the degree of Bachelor of Law and Physick and of Bachelor and Doctor of Music. In 1834 an attempt was made to obtain the removal of these tests by an application to the Legislature. A meeting was held at Professor Hewett's rooms in Downing College of many of those members of the Senate who were known to be favourable to such a measure, and the following petition to both Houses of Parliament was agreed to and signed by sixty-two resident members of the university*: * G. Craufurd Heath, M.A. Fell. King's M. Davy, D.D. Mast. Caius J. Lamb, D.D. Mast. Corp. Chris. King's Sam. Lee, D.D. Reg. Prof. Heb. G. Skinner, Fell. and Tut. Jesus J. M. Heath, M.A. Trin. J. W. Heaviside, Fell. and Tut. R. Murphy, M.A. Fell. Caius. Th. Musgrave, Lord Alm. Prof. J. Guthrie, Trin. Coll. Arab. Trin. J. S. Henslow, Prof. Bot. Cap. Loft, M.A. Fell. King's Jos. W. Barnes, Fell. Trin. LVii TO THE HONOURABLE THE HOUSE OF COMMONS OF THE UNITED KING- OF THE UNDERSIGNED RESIDENT MEMBERS OF THE SENATE of the That your petitioners are honestly attached to the doctrines and discipline of the Church of England as by law established and are well persuaded of the great benefits it has conferred and is conferring upon the kingdom at large. They beg leave also to declare their sincere attachment to the University of Cambridge grounded upon its connexion with the established religion of the country and upon a conviction of the wholesome effect it has produced on the learning piety and character of the nation. Strongly impressed with this conviction they would humbly submit to your honourable house their belief, as Protestant Christians, that no civil or ecclesiastical Polity was ever so devised by the wisdom of man as not to require from time to time some modification from the change of external circumstances or the progress of opinion. In conformity with these sentiments they would fur Charles Currie, Fell. Pembroke J. Bowstead, M.A. Fell. and Tut. Corp. Christi G. Leapingwell, M.A. Corpus G. Peacock, Fell, and Tut. Trin. R. W. Rothman, Fell. Trin. E. Baines, Fell. and Tut. Christ's J. Parkin, M.A. Queen's ther suggest to your honourable House that no corporate body like the university of Cambridge can exist in a free country in honor and safety unless its benefits be communicated to all classes as widely as may be compatible with the Christian principles of its foundation. Among the changes, which they think, might at once be adopted with advantage and safety they would suggest to your honourable House the expediency of abrogating by legislative enactment every religious test exacted from members of the university before they proceed to degrees whether of Bachelor, Master, or Doctor in Arts, Law, or Physic. In praying for the abolition of these restrictions they rejoice in being able to assure your honourable House that they are only asking for a restitution of their ancient Academic Laws and laudable customs. These restrictions were imposed on the University in the reign of K. James 1st; most of them in a manner informal and unprecedented, against the wishes of many of the then members of the Senate, during times of bitter party animosities and during the prevalence of dogmas both in church and state which are at variance with the present spirit of English law and with the true principles of Christian toleration. Your Petitioners conscientiously believe that if the prayer of this petition be granted the great advantage of good Academic education might be extended to many excellent men who are now for conscience sake debarred from a full participation in them, though the true friends to the institutions of the country. And your Petitioners are convinced that this is the best way at once to promote the public good and to strengthen the foundations of the civil and ecclesiastical establishments of this realm. |