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    5 iost vehementl y opposed , witH the statemen ts contained in the work before us , will perceive here too what a change a very few years have made in the disposition to reform . The work of Mr . Wainewright , which is dedicated to Lord Palmerston , one of the

    Representatives of the University , does not appear with < ruite so official a character as Mr . Copies tone ' s . He informs us , however ^ thai it has been wri tten chiefly in compliance with the suggestions of others , and that it has been

    " submitted to the inspection of two members of the University , of learning and station , upon whose judgment he could place implicit , reliance . " It may , therefore , be « eonsidered as derni-qfficiaL To those of our readers who know

    nothing of the studies which are cultivated at Cambridge , this work , diffuse , illwritten , and ill-reasoned as it is , may afford some interesting information ; and we are very ready-to assent to the panegyrics which he bestows on many parts of its literary pursuits . No man

    who is acquainted with the history of learning a ^ d sc i en ce , of enlightened scriptural criticism and liberal political principles , will deny the share which Cambridge has borne in promoting them . May that day never -arrive ,

    when the prevalence of Calvinistic bigotry amongone set of its members , and an affectation o ? orthodoxy among another , shall make the University desirous of blotting from its fasti the names of these illustrious friends of the

    human race ! We frankly give notice to our readers , however , that our design in calling their attention to Mr . W / s work , js not so much to enter into its general merits , as to animadvert upon some very unfounded and unwarrantable reflections which he has taken

    occasion to throw out , upon the system of academical education among the Dissenters , and especially those whom he calls the rational and Socinian Disinters . Coming forward as he does m the cause , and almost in the name of the University , it is not fit that he would be allowed to circulate his

    as-^ rtions , without such a contradiction ** this channel can convey . % IJnder a Consciousness pf the infettority in some branches of learning , which from necessary causes must always characterise £ h 6 sen « ers , who arc Jebafred by religious scruples , norCrily fJ 0 «» uni ^ raritiiifr but even fronVbfabKc

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    schools , * we have beqn accustomed to console ourselves with the idea that theological studies , at least , were carried on amongst us in a manner consonant to that unfettered freedom of inquiry which we profess , and with as

    careful a research into the original sources of theological doctrines , as it is possible to institute . Our academical institutions have always made it their primary object to educate minister ? ,

    and their failure mast indeed have been complete , if they have not attained even this . It will be seen , by the following passage from Mr . W / s book , pp . 66 , 67 , how little cause he thinks we have for this self-congratulation :

    si As so large a proportion of the students of the University , a re designed for the sacerdotal otder , it will naturally be expected that an ample provision has been made fat the acquirement of that species of learning ,

    which this important profession peculiarly demands . Complaints , however , have been sometimes made ,, that this provision is in . many respects defective , and that it is by no means commensurate with , the wishes of

    those , to whom the ordination , of the clergy is assigned by the church . Whatever cause for objection may formerly hare existed on this point , it has for many years been almost entirely- removed , and an opportunity is now afforded to every intended ecclesiastic , I do not say of completing th «*

    character of a profound theologian , which can never be effected during any academical course of studies , bw . t of acquiring such a competent knowledge of the various branches of divinity , as will qualify him for passing- a very respectable examination , previously to- his admission into > holy

    orders . In some colleges one term of every year and in others one day in , the week , is appropriated in the- lecture-room £ 0 the Greek Testament ; and unless counteract e d by particular circumstances , thp critical remarks of the lecturer , and his judicious use of the labours of former scholars and

    commentators , must be the means of exciting a desire for biblical information , and of forming a taste for biblical pursuits . j 4 n ( Lhere ive canriot but observe , the vast superiority of t / tt mode of studying the Sacred r ^ ritiitgs ^ recommended and en ~ forced oil t / iese occasions , to the careley . v

    * In a case Which lately fell tinder ottf ' own knowledge , a lad , who , from his fa * ther ' s scruples on the subject of infantbapktisni , had never undergone this Tit * , was- informed by the master of one o € otir public schools that he must either be . hap * - ti ^ ed or leave tho place .

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    Review . —fFainewright on tlie Pursuits of Cambridge , 405

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    ? a t . xl 3 »

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1816, page 405, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2454/page/33/