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1851.]

Scottish Universities.

259 of the scholars connected with these institutions are said to come from the wealthier classes of the middling interests and as good a provision has been made for the support of the more indigent, as under all the circumstances, could be expected.

UNIVERSITIES OF SCOTLAND.

We turn our attention next to the North. In 1410 a "Pedagogy" of a liberal character was founded at St. Andrews; another at Glasgow in 1450; King's College, Aberdeen, was founded in 1494. It was this year enacted by Parliament, in the time of James IV. of Scotland, that all barons and freeholders of property throughout the realm, should send their eldest sons and heirs to the schools from six

or nine years of age, till they had acquired "perfite Latine" and then three years to the schools of art or "jure" or pay £20 to the king.1 The high school of Edinburgh was completed in 1578, and arrangements were made to secure a thorough knowledge of Latin in it. A new impulse was communicated by this school to the citizens of Edinburgh, many of whom had been highly educated in Italy, France and Geneva. Considering the cause of the Reformation "as identified with the progress of literature and science, they became extremely anxious to erect similar schools in every corner of their own nation where there existed any probability of success." In 1579 the magistrates of Edinburgh took into consideration the founding of a university; for which purpose, indeed, as far back as 1550, Robert Reid, bishop of Orkney, had bequeathed 8000 merks. The charter was given by Queen Mary. The institution has been generously endowed by royal grants, parliamentary enactments, bequests, etc., while the city of Edinburgh has been its constant and generous patron. This university is not now of a strictly ecclesiastical character. The same is true of that at Glasgow, St. Andrew's, and the colleges at Aberdeen. The professors, however, must take the established creed, and are subject to inspection by the church in matters of faith. The professors of divinity are members of Presbytery, and the universities send each a representative to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. In other respects they are intended for general education.* There are no Fellowships in these institutions, resembling those of Oxford and Cambridge, where a number of literary men can be maintained, after the regular university course is completed. Pre

1 Bower's Hist. Univ. Ed. Vol. I. p. 62.

2 Report of Commissioners on the Universities of Scotland, 1830.

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vious to 1830, students in theology were exempted from the payment of college fees. The reason of the exemption was "the difficulty of procuring a sufficient number of young men properly educated for the church." That difficulty having ceased, the commission recommended the payment of small fees amounting to about £4 a year, by each student in divinity. The commission of 1830 object to the great number of small bursaries which they find in these institutions. At King's College there are 134 bursaries, at Marischal College 106, at St. Andrew's 55. The number has increased and was thought likely still to increase, much beyond what is necessary for cases of indigence and for extraordinary merit. The consequence was that many stndents had been induced to attend upon these institutions for the sake of the small bursary, who had mistaken their calling. Instances are noticed of persons thus drawn from their proper sphere of life, who were afterwards subjected in consequence to great mortification, and were found in conditions of extreme penury and distress. It is the opinion of many of the wisest and best men in Scotland, that if a part of these bursaries were abolished, nothing would be lost to the cause of general learning or the clerical profession. One thing probably conduces more than almost anything else to the present abundant supply of ministers in Scotland, in addition to the inducements held out by the bursaries, and to the fact that the religious spirit in Scotland is of a high order. The General Assembly has a system of parochial schools under its immediate care, in which 100,000 pupils are constantly instructed not only in human learning but in the principles of the Scottish church. These parish schools are nurseries not only of religion generally, but of those dispositions which predispose to the study of theology and the office of the Christian ministry.

GERMAN UNIVERSITIES.

We cross once more to the continent. In Prussia the secondary schools are gymnasia, of which in the summer of 1834 there were 124, attended by 24,461 scholars, of whom 738 passed to the universities. These gymnasia are in large towns and most of the scholars are day scholars. The knowledge acquired in them is nearly equal to what is usually obtained in our colleges, being much greater in Latin and Greek, though less in intellectual philosophy and mathematics.

1 Report of Commissioners on the Universities of Scotland, 1830, p. 69. 3 North British Review, Vol. XII. No. 24, p. 492.

2 Ibid. p. 52, etc.

1851.]

German Universities.

261

These schools are supported by the funds of the State and fees of the pupils.1

The professional schools are universities, where instruction is given in the arts, theology, etc.

The university at Prague was founded A. D. 1348 by the king of Bohemia, under sanction of Pope Clement II. From this time down to the Reformation, the professors and students being considered ecclesiastics, the organization rested entirely on a spiritual basis. Under promises of salaries, immunities and advantages, teachers and scholars were attracted from all parts of the world. Charles IV. enriched the institution with lands, libraries, allowances for professors, stipends for students, etc.2

Erfurt (not now in operation) was founded in the middle of the 15th century, and was endowed with rich stipends, and great numbers of burses: such as the collegium majus, bursa pauperum, bursa nova, bursa antiqua, bursa mariana, etc.

"What above all distinguishes Leipsic, is the great number of stipends founded by the State, as well as by private donations, and which a great number of students have always enjoyed." It will be seen in Bib. Sac., April, 1850, that there are nearly a thousand of these stipends, besides foundations for professors, and that the university is unusually rich. In the university of Frankfort on the Oder, John George founded a community where sixty students might be boarded at a cheap rate. This institution has since been united to the university of Breslau. Marburg, founded A. D. 1527, the first university that was established after the Reformation, received the income of several suppressed cloisters, and other important privileges. It was afterwards furnished with valuable stipends, foundations and endowments.

Jena, founded A. D. 1547, received the possessions of these suppressed cloisters. Not to mention other early donations, its funds were greatly increased in 1817. Stipends and prizes for meritorious students were likewise established.

Herborn, now discontinued, was founded A. D. 1584. The students were mostly natives of the country, and almost all were theologians. The natives enjoyed stipends which were all paid in ready money, and amounted to from 40 to 100 florins apiece.

Halle was founded toward the close of the seventeenth century.

1 Bache's Report.

2 A. Q. R., Vol. X. p. 345, “A Concise History of German Universities, by Robert Baird, Paris, May, 1838."

A theological seminary was established in the university, soon after its foundation, and was endowed with considerable stipends for poor students. Other donations succeeded, and after Wittenberg became connected with it in 1815, refectories and stipends were multiplied. In 1829 it had almost 1300 students, of whom 944 were theologians.

In Göttingen, besides great endowments, there is an annual prize medal in each of the faculties, (for composition,) of the weight of 25 ducats. Its library contains 300,000 vols.

Bonn, founded 1786, suppressed 1801, revived in 1815, receives from the State 82,522 Prussian dollars. Prizes for superior excellence in scholarship, refectories, stipends and like encouragements are by no means wanting.1

In Würtemburg there is, or was, a few years ago, an arrangement by which two hundred theological scholars, half Protestants and half Catholics, might be gratuitously supported through their whole course, first: after leaving the gymnasium, in one of the primary theological schools, for four years; then in the university of Tübingen, for five years-on condition that they will adopt the clerical profession.2

Thirty-four universities have been established in Germany. Fourteen of them are suppressed, and twenty still exist: of these, five are Catholic, 11 Protestant, four of a mixed character. These are for a population of 40,000,000.8

In 1836 the expenditures of the university of Berlin, were $99,846, of which $64,550 were paid out of the public treasury. The expenditures of Bonn were $89,685, of which government furnished $49,949. The expenditures of Breslau were $72,299. Of this, the government paid $27,180. The expenditures of Halle were $70,738 -government paid $42,278. Königsberg expended $60,912, of which $25,433 were furnished by the government.

These universities were chiefly founded by the governments of the country in which they are situated. They are under the immediate and entire control of these governments. Buildings are erected and repaired, libraries enlarged, scientific collections are gathered, professors supported, and all the expenses which the university revenues do not meet, are paid out of the public treasuries.*

There seems then to be ample provision in Germany for filling the ranks of the clerical profession. There are also inducements of the

1 American Quarterly Register.

3 A. Q. R., Vol. X. IX.

2 Bib. Rep. Vol. I. p. 225.

4 Biblical Repository, January, 1831, Theological Education in Germany, by Dr. Robinson. For a valuable account of these institutions, see also the subsequent numbers of that journal.

1851.]

United States.

263

strongest kind to pursue a course of liberal education, and obtain the requisite qualifications to the ministry. All places of public emolument or honor, both in Church and State, are held, more or less directly, but entirely under the control of government; and none of these above the lower class of school masters, can be obtained, except by those who have completed the prescribed course of education at the university. There, the educated class is the true and only aristocracy. When a young man, having passed successfully his university examination, becomes an accepted candidate for the sacred office, he is entitled to expect a situation, and if he fills it with credit, to look for promotion. The best livings, the most honorable and lucrative professorships are open to his aspirations. Or if he prefers to remain a pastor, where an easy course of prescribed duties is performed, all the remaining time is his own. This he may spend in literary leisure, or in preparing valuable works for the press, or in any other way that he sees fit. And if he is neither immoral nor particularly unfaithful, elevated above the prejudices and caprices of his parish, he may go on in the independent discharge of his office, assured of ample support to the end. While, in this state of things, there are yet many devoted pastors, who labor with untiring zeal for the good of their flocks, many doubtless rush into the clerical profession, without any just appreciation of its sacredness. But between these two classes there is, there can be, under present circumstances, no lack of ministers in Germany.

The Encyclopædia Britannica enumerates ninety universities in Europe, besides those in England, Ireland and France. But they are neither essential to our purpose, nor do our limits allow us to notice them.

UNITED STATES.

What we have to say in reference to the education and supply of ministers in the United States, may be arranged chiefly under the following heads:- 1st. Motives to entering the Christian ministry. 2d. Present and prospective call for ministers. 3d. Facilities for acquiring the preparatory education. 4th. Means necessary to secure the requisite supply.

First. Motives to entering the ministry. The purest motives are most powerful when spiritual religion is most flourishing. These centre in true godliness of mind, and exhibit themselves in the supreme devotion of a thorough Christian heart to the highest welfare of man. They have brought thousands into the ministry, and will 23*

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