Address in Praise of Founders

"Oration" Colonial Presbyterian and Protestant Journal (6 July 1865). (UA Case 67, Box 1)

"No man’s acts die utterly, and though his body may resolve itself into dust, and air, his good or his bad deeds will still be bringing forth fruit after their kind, and influencing generations of men for all time to come."

Smiles Self-Help.

The words which I have just quoted and placed at the head of this Encaenial Oration, convey a truth of grave and universal importance and one which is at all times, fitted to afford much matter for serious and profitable reflection. On occasion like the present the considerations of it seems to be peculiarly appropriate; for it cannot fail to suggest thoughts alike suitable and striking, whether we view it in reference to the founders of this Institution, or to the men now actually engaged in carrying out their wise and patriotic designs, or to the Students who on leaving these Halls are about to assume the duties and the cares of manhood, and play their parts for good or ill in the ever-shifting scenes of the great drama of life.

Of the founders, whose enlightened policy and laudable zeal in the cause of the higher education we are this day met to commemorate, nearly all have passed away and their bodies have resolved themselves into dust and air. Yet no one can look upon the large and intelligent assembly which this day graces the Hall of the University, without being forcibly impressed with the conviction that their deeds still live, and are from year to year bringing forth fruit after their kind, and must continue to influence generation after generation of the aspiring youth of the Province.

Education As It Affects Communities

When we look at the effects of education upon communities and successive generations of men, we are better prepared to appreciate its vital importance than when we restrict our view to individuals. We see that all philosophic truths, all original conceptions, all general principles which have affected society and promoted civilization, are to be regarded as the products of education. In every country the number of those who can command the benefits of the higher intellectual culture afforded by Colleges and Universities is comparatively small; but as the proportion increases so much the more surely and rapidly will their beneficial influence and control be felt by the community at large. The superior knowledge attained by the highly educated, and the rigid and systematic mode of thought and reasoning to which they have been accustomed gradually and insensibly filter downwards, and leaven, as it were, the masses, thus adding to the general intelligence of the whole people, giving tone and energy to their minds, quickening their perceptive and inventive faculties, and raising them in the scale of refinement and civilization. In this way, many great truths and important principles, an acquaintance with which was not long ago confined to the learned, have now become the property of men of ordinary intelligence: and, by a similar process, the general public will, in turn, and with a rapidity dependent upon the degree of mental culture, become familiarized with the complicated theories and grand discoveries made by the master minds of this and succeeding generations.

It thus appears that, while it is the recognized duty of all civilized nations to put the Common Schools and other Seminaries of popular instruction into the most efficient state for imparting the education suitable to their respective spheres of action, every country should at the same time, be careful not to neglect those higher institutions which are necessary for the more complete training and further development of the mental faculties. Indeed, no part of the curious and complicated machine, upon the harmonious and steady working of which are dependent human progress and the best interests and noblest aspirations of society, can be safely neglected; and every wise and provident nation will not only supply means and facilities for educating its youth up to the highest intellectual standard of the age, but also aid, encourage and stimulate those to whom this eminently responsible task has been committed.

University Education In New Countries

In new countries, a purely academic education, such as is represented by the Faculties of Arts in our Universities, is seldom regarded with the favour befitting its important bearing on the future of the individual and of the nation. As an excuse for the little value which is generally set upon the higher education, and as a vindication of the short-sighted policy which contentedly submits to such a state of things, many superficial reasons are urged by men from whom we might expect sounder views. It is aid that in such countries, seeing that no one can count upon inheriting a fortune already prepared for him, or can hope to enjoy the necessaries, comforts and luxuries of life except as the rewards of his own exertions, it behoves him first to provide for the wants of the body; and, as a consequence, he must early bend his energies to work of some kind, and the sooner he begins the better his chances of making his way in the world. Now, looking at success in life from the mere money-making point of view from which it is too commonly regarded, it may be fairly questioned whether even this sordid end might not be more certainly attained, and more permanently secured by a different course. It will, I think be granted that such success is generally due to preserving energy, and to regular systematic and industrious habits, combined with good sense and a clear head. It is therefore, pertinent to ask, whether, in a young man who has as yet gained no stability or fixedness of character, and whose mind is untrained and powers undeveloped these desirable qualities—qualities which are to last for a lifetime—are more likely to be fostered and confirmed by the somewhat irregular and desultory work which is usually required in a store, or a merchant’s counting-house, or a lawyer’s office, or by a well-ordered and approved course of intellectual training, wherein the work of each day is rigorously prescribed and punctually exacted. I do not mean to assert that the former course is never attended with the beneficial results contemplated, or that the latter always secures them; but I cannot help thinking that the mere statement of the question must indicate to every reflecting and intelligent mind the side on which lies the fairest prospect of ultimate success. Indeed, I am of opinion that much of that fickleness, much of that restless impatience and reckless craving for change, which are eminently characteristic of the American people, may be traced to the fact of their engaging in uncongenial pursuits at a time of life when they were too young and too thoughtless to be conscious of their own powers, or to know their own minds.

Promotes Material Prosperity

But further, so far from its being wise or excusable in young and poor countries to neglect or despite the most careful and thorough intellectual training, the very deficiency of their material resources renders such culture the more essential to their prosperity and advancement. In this respect, at least, it lies with themselves to equal if not surpass older and wealthier nations: and cultivated mind is a power which will enable them to do much to counteract the disadvantageous circumstances in which they are placed. In a few short years, the destinies of our own Province will be committed to the young men who are now attending our Schools and Colleges. It will be for them to watch at the helm of state, to make our laws, to govern our institutions, and to mould and modify the character of our people. To them will be assigned the development of our almost unknown but undoubtly great national resources, the successful working of our mines, the spread of our agriculture, the extension of our manufactures and commerce, the maintenance of our well-earned fame in naval architecture, and all the countless applications of modern scientific discovery to the improvement of the useful and ornamental arts. If they fail in these tasks, so important to the welfare and prosperity of the country, strangers better fitted for the work will assuredly step in to fill their places and reap the rich harvest which is yet to be gathered. How carefully, then, ought we tend the germ of an intellectual life upon which the future will make such weighty demands! What more truly patriotic than to diligently and zealously encourage the provident and enlightened culture of our youth, and prepare them for the honorable performance of the duties they owe to themselves and to their country!

Facilitates Social Advancement

In addition to the obligation imposed upon us of endeavouring to the best of our ability, to counterbalance our want of material, wealth and standing by the higher intellectual training, which eventually is the surest and safest means of improving our condition, there is another consideration which ought to act on our young men as a powerful stimulus to increased mental activity. In old and rich countries, nearly every family has found its level, and is very generally content with its lot. It thus happens that matters usually run in a well known and well beaten track, the son not unfrequently following the calling profession of the father, who has in turn inherited the same from those that have gone before him. But in this country, when transition and progress are the order of the day things have no assumed such a stable form, and our line of action is uninfluenced by any such traditional adherence to family occupations. We are untrammeled and free to pursue that path of life, which seems to be most promising; and there are few offices of honour, trust and emolument to which even the humblest among us may not aspire. Energy, perseverance, and intelligence seldom fail in securing their proper reward; and when exalted station is attained, what can be more falling and mortifying to a man than to find that, owning to early neglect of some of the necessary branches of education, he can neither win the influence and respect of his fellows, nor discharge with credit and satisfaction to himself the duties incident to the position he has gained? Mind must eventually bear the sway; the onward and upward progress of the human race is the march of intellect, and the more native talent and well-trained mind possessed by any country the richer and more influential it will become.

Higher Ends

In the foregoing remarks I have mainly considered education as a means to an end, and that end mere worldly prosperity. But is the accumulation of wealth, and the satisfying of our physical wants the chief end of our existence here? Though few will dare to avow that such is the case, yet how many act as if it were? This earth is not man’s abiding place, and when he departs, he can carry with him none of the riches nor luxuries which have formed the objects of his most eager pursuit. It has been declared that "man shall not live by bread alone"; and surely that part of him which is destined for immortality,—his moral, and intellectual nature,—is most worthy of his care and attention. It is manifestly incumbent upon him, in fulfillment of the laws of his being, to cultivate with the greatest assiduity and to the extent of his opportunities, those talents which his all-wise Creator has committed to his keeping, and which make him to differ from the beast that perish. It is not for me to deal with the religious aspects of the subject: this solemn duty properly belongs to those specially set apart for the purpose. But, so far as intellectual culture is concerned, it is painful and almost disheartening to find it so generally judged by the low and sordid standard to which I have referred. Is not this the view of the matter invariably taken by all those who ostentatiously parade themselves as practical men, and contemptuously sneer at knowledge which appears to have no immediate and obvious application?—They value, and very properly value, sound common sense and practical wisdom; and imagine that these can be acquired more surely in the business of life than by any amount of intellectual training. With a large proportion of this class of people it is of no use to argue. With boastful self-complacency they triumphantly clinch all argument by an appeal to their own career:—"they have never had much learning; they left school at twelve or thirteen; and yet they have made large fortunes, and have succeeded wonderfully well,—far better, indeed, than most of their book-loving neighbours." It is even more painful to be forced to conclude that many of those who avow themselves as fast and staunch friends of education, and who ape the prevailing fashion of the day and speak and write of its beauties and benefits, and think it incumbent upon them to sound its praises on all public occasion, yet show by their conduct that they must be either insincere in their professions, or so ignorant and groveling in their ideas as to be incapable of estimating education otherwise than by its money-worth. In this class, education has many flatterers but few true friends. With regard to it, as to other great questions of even more vital importance, t he real test of sincerity is deeds rather than words.

Learning Its Own Reward

No intelligent and thoughtful man will deny that, over and above the material advantages which are very properly expected to flow from a thoroughly good education, there must also come from the same source, much that is elevating, pleasing, and profitable both to the individual possessor and to society at large. Cicero admirably sums up the benefits of intellectual studies in the following brief sentence:—"Haec studia adolescientiam aeunt senectutem oblectant, secundas res, ornaut, adversis solatium ac perfugium praebent, delectant domi, non impediunt foris." And again he exclaims:—"Quid est enim, per Deos optabilius sapientia? Quid homini dignius?" As much as fourteen centuries ago, Boethius, within the walls of his dungeon, and during the awful moments of suspense which proceded his doom by the Emperor Theodoric, could find a delightful and absorbing recreation in writing a treastise on the "Consolations of Philosophy," a production which is no less distinguished by the sublime morality of its views than by the elegance and purity of its Latinity. The translation of this work of Beothius occupied the attention and soothed the almost desponding spirits of Alfred the Great amid the trails to which he was subjected; and the same labour of love was accomplished by Queen Elizabeth during the restraint and captivity from which she suffered before she ascended the throne. Sir Walter Raleigh’s cruel and tedious confinement would have been far more irksome, had not the composition of his "History of World" furnished solid and interesting employment for his busy and fertile brain. But there is no need to multiply instances of the "Consolations" which a well-cultivated and well-stored mind affords under prosperous as well as adverse circumstance. Yet, it will hardly be denied that knowledge for its own sake, and for the private comfort and individual happiness which it promotes is far too little valued and commended in this eminently utilitarian age. This debasement of learning is undoubtedly the tendency of the times, and I conceive that I would be remiss in the due discharge of the duties of my position, did I not seriously call attention to the fact. Instead, however, of using my own words, I shall borrow the language of Dr. Caird, both because he expresses my sentiments with a force and elegance which it would be presumption in me to hope to rival, and because his name cannot fail to add weight and importance to the cause he advocates. I earnestly entreat our men of means, and more especially our well-to-do traders and merchants to ponder carefully the words of this eminent divine, and honestly ask themselves whether, in the kind of education they seek for their children, they are or are not following the practice he so eloquently condemns. Dr. Caird first puts the case in a way which is not unfamiliar in his Province. I have heard almost his very words used, and could name many who would not hesitate to approve and adopt the sentiments expressed in the paragraph with which he introduces the subject. He begins thus: "Of what use are learning and scholarship? Why let your son waste precious years in mastering dead languages, or studying philosophy, or cultivating a taste for poetry and art, when he is intended not to be a clergyman or an author, but a practical man of business? These things won’t help him on in life! All the scholarship on earth will not make him a better judge of dry goods. The learning of Porson or Bentley would not help him a bit in a speculation in cotton, or an investment in bank or railway stock. The youth must push his fortune as a manufacturer, or merchant, or engineer,—what will all the poetry and metaphysics in the world do to help him here? No! let the few years he has to spend on education be devoted to the practical branches; let him learn to write a good hand, be ready at accounts, acquire, if need be, a knowledge of the modern languages; but that is all the learning he needs. Other kinds of learning might only make him a book-worm, and at any rate, if they did not spoil him for a man of business, they are practically useless,—to what purpose such waste?"

Dr. Caird's Reply To An Objection

Now it is quite true that, in the sense of being directly turned to account in the business of life, many kind of knowledge are utterly useless. And if the chief end of man, even in his world, be to be a clever and successful man of business, to spend his time in acquiring such knowledge is sheer waste. Moreover it is also true, that forasmuch as to live is the condition of all other enjoyments, it is a very important thing for a youth to master those kinds of knowledge which are technical or professional, which will qualify him to earn his bread, and creditably to discharge the duties of his secular calling. Nor can any man be such an idiot as to despise money or the qualifications that enable us to make it, seeing that money is the means not of low enjoyment only, but of all sorts of enjoyment and influence, high as well as low. Yet, on the other hand, when all this is said, it leaves the broad principle unaffected that practical utility is not the test of knowledge, seeing that knowledge in itself, and for its own sake is, to him who knows its worth, better and higher than all that can be got by means of it. All that can be gained at the very best by excluding what is called useless learning, and confining a boy to the kind of knowledge that will help him to push his fortune in life—all that at the very best can result from this is, that he makes a fortune. But a fortune is worth only what a man can enjoy out of it; and if his mind is narrow and uncultured, if he has not in youth acquired the invaluable power of conversing with the great minds of all ages, of appreciating and enjoying those things which a cultured taste and a comprehensive, broad, liberal intelligence along can enjoy, then is he shut out from that which gives its chief value to money and leisure. He may indeed, without this have everything that can minister to animal and sensuous delight, but a man cannot get more than a limited animal enjoyment out of his money. If he try, he is drawn back by the warning hand of physical disease; if he persist, he soon, by the endeavour after excessive sensual enjoyment, destroys the very power of enjoying. The only way in which affluence and leisure can extract more out of life is when its possessor can thereby command the means of wider intellectual happiness, when his large and liberally cultured mind can rise beyond the narrow limits of sense, and by the expansiveness, the elevation, the intensifying our existence which knowledge communicates, live, as compared with the mere moneyed man, three lives for one, is no waste, then, to cultivate and inform the mind in youth even with what seems useless learning. It is false economy to restrict it to the narrow beat of practically convertible information. There are not a few men of business, who, even in the secular sense have chosen for themselves and their children this better part—men who amidst all the toil of business, manage to keep up liberal tastes, and who can escape from the feverishness and shake off the dust and soil of life’s conflicts over and anon, in converse with the great minds of ancient or modern times, their own or other countries and tongues. But no man who ahs ever happened to witness the spectacle which you have sometimes observed—that which is presented by a man who has got on in life who has succeeded in amassing an influence yet, whose luck of culture leaving him with money but without the large part of money’s worth—the coarse, narrow-minded, ill-informed ma of small ideas and a big purse, with a plethora of wealth and a collapse of thought, whose table your body is overfed and your intellect starved, whose walls are covered with pictures which he cannot appreciate, and shelves filled with books of which he can enjoy nothing but the gilt backs, the man of soulless unrefined affluence and vulgar magnificence no man, I say, that has ever witnessed and understood such a spectacle, would be disposed, in answer to the exhortation largely and liberally to cultivate the mind, to say, "To what purpose this waste?"

Application To New Brunswick

And yet, I fear that in our own Province there are not a few parents who are only too ready to ask why this waste of time upon studies which can apparently yield no material and profitable return, and find in the answer which they are only too-well disposed to adopt, a comfortable excuse for neglecting to provide for their children such an education as their position demands, and as their circumstances could easily afford. There are others again, who seem to think that they have little or nothing to do in the matter; and that for insuring a good education they have merely to order and pay for it in the much the same way as they would order and pay for a suit of clothes;—the work in our case being left entirely to the teacher, as in the other it is to the tailor. There is, confessedly, no royal road to learning; she will not come to order, and is to be found only by those who diligently and perseveringly seek her. The training of the youthful mind, if we would not run the risk of prematurely forcing its powers or of encouraging superficially, must always be a slow and tedious process. Time then, and close continuous application are needed; but it is to be regretted that parents are for the most part too impatient to wait till the minds of their children are properly trained, their reasoning powers developed and strengthened, and such stability and force of character attained as would ensure them against many false steps in their after career. The inhabitants of new countries are under peculiar temptations to hurry education, and to value it only as it conduces success in life. In such countries labour of every kind is usually at a premium, and openings and inducements for young men to rush into business are seldom difficult to find. I have often contemplated with feelings of pain and vexation the tender years of even the most advanced pupils in our schools, and especially in those situated in our busy marts of trade and commerce. Again and again it has been my sad fate to witness the intelligent and promising sons of parents in prosperous circumstances, hurried from school, and their education left incomplete, because a vacancy was to be filled in a lawyer’s office, or because their services were in request in a store of counting room. The consequence is that a very great proportion of our young men never acquire good literary or scientific tastes,—never imbibe any real love for intellectual pursuits,—and are immersed in business while yet destitute of that strength and expansion of mind which would enable them to exercise a sound judgment and wise discretion in the important affairs of life. This pernicious habit of engaging youths in the active occupations and cares of men, while yet in their boyhood, and when the value of their services must be inconsiderable in comparison with the sacrificing of the golden opportunity of enlarging their acquirements in science and literature cannot be too strongly reprehended. Such a state of things cannot fail to have in the long run, an injurious influence on the intelligence and character of our people and in my opinion bodes little good for the future.

Parents At Fault

But I have sometimes heard parents complain of unwillingness, if not absolute refusal on the part of their sons, to spend at School or College the time necessary for securing a thorough educational training. Even in such cases, the parents cannot, in general, be held blameless. If in conversation and the familiar intercourse of the family circle they both by precept and example, impress upon their children the idea that education is to be considered as a mere auxiliary towards getting on in life, what wonder if the young people, in their ignorance and inexperience, be only anxious to acquire the least possible amount of it which is thought requisite for the purpose! What wonder that, in such cases, true learning is contemned, that its real worth and beauty to the individual as well as to society are unappreciated, and that the dignity and mental satisfaction, which knowledge and a cultivated and refined taste confer, remain as hidden treasures. It may be true that education, beyond a certain point, will not make a man a better farmer, or mechanic, or merchant; yet even in such pursuits there is a strong plea in its favour, and the grand question still arises, will it not make him a better type of a man? Is not the assiduous cultivation of the intellect, next to the acquisition of religious principles and feelings, the surest and best way of promoting the true end of our existence as rational creature. The study of the higher branches of learning, whenever practicable, imparting as it does the ability to trace the wondrous working of God’s finger in the material Universe, and to hold converse with the sages of the past and profit by their teaching, would tend to improve all the social relations and increase each man’s capacity of happiness and enjoyment.

Want Of Parental Discipline

In this connection there is another point to which I may be permitted to draw attention, inasmuch as I conceive it to be a serious evil in many respects, as well as a great obstacle in the way of sound and systematic education. I allude to the far too prevalent laxity of parental discipline and the dangerous practice of allowing boys at the early age to choose their own course and act as their own masters. Now-a-days, young people are accustomed to do pretty much as they please, and are seldom subjected to what wholesome restraint and those wise and regular rules by which all their actions and movements should be controlled. Their going to school or staying away depends very much upon their own whims and inclinations. Hence much of that irregularity of attendance, which is a staple of subject of complaint in most of our School Reports; and which draws in its train a host of evils, such as slow and uncertain progress and a consequent distaste for study, impatience of school restraint and anxiety to shake it off at the earliest possible moment, and the formation of frivolous and desultory habits and general instability and waywardness of character. The laxity and indulgence which leads to such results can, at best, be considered only as an amiable weakness on the parts of parents, but can never be regarded as either provident of judicious, and often springs from that love of ease and self-indulgence, which engenders a morbid dislike of being pestered or bothered by any temporary trouble or annoyance that can be avoided.

Our Common Schools

In this Province, we, year after year, receive from the Chief Superintendent of Schools the pleasing information that the number of good School-houses built and provided with suitable apparatus, is steadily on the increase, and that a greater proportion of well-trained and qualified teachers are engaged in the service. These are undoubtedly signs of progress, and all praise is due to those whose zeal and energy have accomplished do much. But I am included to believe that we may possess an ample supply of school-houses of the very best description, and have them occupied by masters in every way equal to their duties, and yet the cause of education be in a very unsatisfactory condition. Before we can expect Schools to flourish and bring forth such fruit as they ought to do, the general public must be brought to recognize the fact that education has strong claims upon rational and intelligent beings for its own sake, independent of those which it has as a means to an end. A deeper interest must be felt in the cause, and parents must be invited to do all they can, both by word and deed, to promote and foster a love of learning in their children. Greater attention must be paid to home preparation, and more home interest must be evinced in all that concerns the educational progress and standing of the children, in order that the latter may be more and more impressed with the idea of the great importance if the work in which they are engaged, and be made to feel the evil and folly of neglecting the precious opportunity of acquiring knowledge and a taste for intellectual pursuits which the season of youth preeminently affords.

Direct Taxation

Probably one of the steps towards a juster appreciation of the real value of education would be found in the introduction of the system of direct taxation for the support of Schools. This would, at all events, have the effect of stirring up the public mind, and brining the matter under more serious consideration. At present, the government does so much, and the people so little, at least directly, that the latter are in danger of becoming apathetic and indifferent to what most intimately concerns the future welfare and happiness of their families. That which costs little is generally little esteemed; but when a man is laid under an obligation to pay for a commodity or privilege which he may use or neglect, he generally considers it incumbent upon him to get some return for his outlay. The effect, then, of direct taxation would be to prolong the time which is now usually allowed for school instruction, to diminish the irregularity of attendance, and to mitigate some of the evils to which I have adverted.

The Schools And The University

It may be thought by some that I have dwelt too long on generalities, and that remarks on common school education are entirely extraneous to the subject which should this day, have engaged our attention. In this view I cannot concur, inasmuch as the University can never satisfactorily accomplish its proper work, unless the true value of education be rightly understood by the people, and the lower Seminaries of learning be put in an efficient and prosperous condition. These are the sources from which must come all our supplies. If they fail to do their part, or do it sparingly and imperfectly, the University will be in danger of perishing from inaction: but if they yield abundantly, and are so conducted as to diffuse around them a love of learning and a desire to win it, then we may expect the University to grow and prosper, and in turn, to react with a beneficial and elevating effect upon the tone and character of our whole educational system.

Scope Of A University

The primary objects for which Universities exist are the training of the human mind, and the advancement of sound learning. Properly speaking then, it is an extension beyond their true sphere of labour to provide the means of imparting a professional or an art education;—to give instruction in dogmatic Theology, in Medicine, in Law, or in Engineering. But seeing that the higher intellectual culture has an important bearing upon all these professions, Universities are seldom regarded as complete, unless they make some provision for giving instruction in what are by courtesy denominated the learned professions. Now, although Schools for such purposes are usually adjuncts to the higher institutions of learning, the necessary connection between them and the University proper is far less intimate than is commonly supposed, or than it sometimes suits party or sectarian prejudices to represent it. This is more especially the case in reference to the School of Theology. Yet if we look at the University of Edinburgh, which has never been branded as a "Godless Institution," what do we find? A student of any creed may there pass through the Arts’ curriculum, without ever coming in contact with a Divinity Professor, or ever being asked a single question as to his religious belief. The Faculty of Arts is free and open to all. The Divinity School is entered after the undergraduate curriculum is finished: it has a different body of Professors, enjoys a separate and distinct endowment, and is alone under the control and influence of the national Church. The Free Church has its own School of Divinity, but so far as I know it has never dreamt of establishing a separate School for the undergraduate course. In reference to Oxford, I shall adduce the testimony of Mr. Rogers, who has written an able work on that great Seminary of learning. He says:—Oxford does not teach Clergymen. Its instruction in Theology is of the scantiest and most meager order, comprising ordinarily such information as would be given by any Christian parent to the members of his household, and in the case of those who propose entering the Church, the attendance of one or two courses of professional lectures. These are of very little profit, not because the professors may not be willing to extend the utilities of their office, but because the attendance on these lectures is merely the compliance with a requisition on the part of Bishops. Were it not for this Episcopal rule there would not be, I believe, half a dozen hearers to each of the four divinity professors. And again, a writer in a recent number of the North British Review thus speaks of the two great English Universities:—"To mix up the teaching of religious dogma with the teaching of Latin and Greek, of the natural sciences, and jurisprudence and logic, even of history and metaphysics would pervert and impede all these studies, while it made religion itself ridiculous. If any one supposes that they are so taught in the most religious of Universities, he may satisfy himself by a visit to Oxford and Cambridge."..."Oxford and Cambridge are in no sense theological seminaries. The religious teaching given to the ordinary undergraduates is a mere phantom—a phrase which sounds well in Parliament, but has nothing corresponding to it in reality. That which the theological student receives is somewhat greater, but still absurdly small, far less than a candidate for orders is forced to pass through in Scotland or Germany. It is confined to attendance at two courses of lectures of some of the Divinity Professors; that is to say, to the production of two certificates, each witnessing that A.B. has sat or ten or twelve hours in the Professor’s lecture room. At Cambridge there is a theological examination, but the University learn it optional, though some bishops require candidates for orders to have undergone it. In fact, the want of a proper course of Divinity at the old Universities has been felt so much, that a whole crop of Theological Colleges has sprung up to supply its defects."

How Schools Of Theology Might Be Established

Now, the Act establishing the University of New Brunswick has, I think very wisely interdicted the foundation of any Theological professorship, in the general curriculum of study; but it is obvious that there is room for just such a crop of Theological Schools as the reviewer has indicated. Each denomination; whenever it feels strong enough and considers it advisable for the advancement and promulgation of its peculiar tenets, may found such a school, and reserve for its special support all the finds which the religious zeal and liberality of its members can be induced to devote to the purpose. Considering the status and financial resources of the several religious bodies in the Province, it is clear that no one of them can singly reake proper and efficient provision for thorough and systematic instruction in all the various branches of the higher education. If, however, the University be allowed to take its proper place as a national institution, and to do the preliminary training and discipline for all alike, then the efforts of each particular denomination may be confined to the support of a Theological School for the inculcation of its own religious principles, and the education of its clergymen. Moreover, such Theological Colleges might be almost as intimately connected with our University, even under its present constitution, as the Divinity Halls in Scotland are connected with their respective Universities. And after all, since true and vital religion concerns the heart rather than the head, it follows that pious impressions and feeling, and the great incentives to a holy life, depend more upon the instruction received at a mother’s knee, and in the domestic circle, assisted and enforced as these ought to be by the training of the Sunday School and the public and private admonitions of the clergymen, than upon any amount of the dry dogmatic teaching that can be imparted amid the multifarious duties of a School or a College. So much for Schools of Divinity in connection with the University, and the wisdom of the arrangement which leaves to each denomination the supply of its own theological wants. Nor let it be supposed that such a connection as I have pointed out is impossible or wholly untried. In the munificently endowed and flourishing Universities of Melbourne and Sidney, in Australia, the denominational element is excluded, as it is here; but as some compensation for this treatment, the various religious bodies are permitted and encouraged to affiliate Colleges of their own, and from such as have been established on this principle, the ranks of the Colonial clergy as beginning to be recruited.

Also Schools Of Law and Medicine In St. John

The practice of Law and Medicine being open to all, without distinction of creed, no denominational difficulties or jealousies need interfere with the establishing of Faculties in each of these professions and placing them in immediate connection with the University. The introduction of a proper and satisfactory course in Medicine, more especially would not only tend greatly to the convenience and advantage of such of our young men as might wish to engage in that pursuit, but would also add largely to the number of our University students. The extent to which pupils engaged in preparation for the lucrative professions contribute to swell the numbers of students attending Colleges which we may justly regard as prosperous, may be judged of from the following statistics. During the Session 1863-4, there were in McGill University, Montreal, only 51 students in Arts, while those in Medicine amounted 176. In the same departments, Queen’s College, Kingston, and the numbers were respectively as 40 to 79; and Victoria College, Cobourg, as 68 to 110. It is worthy of note that the Medical School affiliated with this last mentioned institution is situated in Toronto. It may perhaps, be thought that the time has not yet arrived for founding either a Law or Medical School in this Province; but when we reflect that Canada has no less than five schools for the purpose of medical instruction, and that each of them is respectably attended, it will surely be conceded that the Maritime Provinces combined might support at least one. It may be long before such a School rises to high repute, but every enterprise has a beginning and we should not despise the day of small things. Moreover, it would be for the interest and credit of New Brunswick that she should be first in the field; and our medical men would do well to take the matter into serious consideration. At present, little can be said in favor of choosing Fredericton as the place wherein to establish a Medical School; but Saint John possesses many elements which would contribute greatly to its success. It would then be in the midst of a large population, and the general Hospital would offer the needful facilities for practice and instruction. The medical men are numerous, and not a few of them are well educated and of high reputation; and as, in the case of Victoria College, the distance need not prevent a Medical School in St. John from being affiliated with a University in Fredericton. But even time permitted, the present occasion can scarcely be considered the most fitting for discussing the merits and details the scheme which it would be desirable to adopt. I now merely throw out the hint in the hope that it may engage the attention of the parties most concerned in the matter. I may hereafter find some other opportunity of giving my views on the subject in its bearings upon Provincial and individual interests. Similar considerations might be urged in favor of establishing a Law School in Saint John.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is well to bear in mind that none of the so-called learned professions can long maintain their dignity and influence without deserving the title of being really learned, and possessing a large admixture of thoroughly educated men. A University education gives breadth and tone to the mind, develops and strengthens its faculties, and enables it when turned in any particular direction, or on any special subject of inquiry, to act with a clearer and readier comprehension, and greater penetration and power. Without it there is danger of those who early devote themselves to any one occupation or calling, having the better part of their humanity absorbed in the limited and often unintellectual routine of office, and becoming mere professional hacks, one-sided, narrow-minded, selfish men, incapable of taking broad and liberal views, and of understanding and appreciating grand and general principles.