The Sun.
London, England, 1834-03-25 00:00:00

selves, and who believe that the union of the
church with the state, does not benefit the
latter, but destroys the usefulness of the former.
A Mr. Greenwood stated at the meeting,
" That he knew the union of Church and State was
considered by many pious clergymen in the church of
England, as one of the greatest impediments to the pro-
gress of true religion in that church. About the time of
the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, he was in
company with the rector of Keighly, who then frankly
avowed this, and said there were then 500 clergymen of
the church of England, all ready, as soon as they saw a
fit opportunity, to present a petition to the proper quar-
ter, praying they might not be considered in connection
with the Sta'e as a Church."
The statistical information which the dissen-
ters have already furnished in the greatest detail
with regard to the most of the principal towns
in England, will, when completed, form a curious
ecclesiastical map of the country. It will prove
one thing, that if England has a claim to be
called a religious country, it does not owe this to
its established church, but to those who are with-
out its pale.—Morning Chronicle.
The Cambridge petition—that same docu-
ment so honourable to those who signed it, on
which we observed in the Times of last Satur-
day—was yesterday presented to the House of
Commons by Mr. Spring Rice, who made an
excellent speech on the occasion. We will not
and cannot say of Mr. Goulburn that his answer
emulated that of the Duke of Wellington to
Lord Grey. Mr. Goulburn argued as well as
he could on a question which really, to an en-
lightened mind, does not admit of argument,
and stated broadly that the proposed admission
to degrees at Cambridge would change the whole
character of the University, from being "an
institution formed exclusively for the mainte-
nance of the established church, to that of an
establishment for the general education of the
country, without reference to religion." Mr.
Goulburn appeared to have brought his propo-
sition to this point, merely for the sake of
asking, " How will you then shape your course
of instruction in the University, and above all
things, of religious instruction ?" That, we

think, is in few words the amount of the diffi-
culty suggested by the right hon. gentleman ;
and to it we answer by another interrogatory,
viz., How is the education of dissenters carried
on at present ?—we mean of such dissenters as
under the present regulations may and do enter
at Cambridge and study there, and submit
themselves to the regulations of the university,
until the moment at which the right of gradua-
ting is refused to them, when they finally with-

draw. As yet we have heard nothing of at
objection on the part of the dissenting under•
graduates to aim at acquiring whatever know.
ledge is taught at the university, whether lite-
rary or scientific; nor is it anywhere said that
they are more remarkable than their m,.re or-

thodox contemporaries for violating the rules of
their respective colleges. Then how, let us ask,
will this part of the case be altered by the ad.
mission of these gentlemen to degrees on the eve
of their leaving the University ? When the
hour of graduating has arrived, all the dangers
and difficulties which seem to have scared the
imagination of Mr. Goulburn must have been
already passed, the man takes his degree, and
the day following his departure. How, then,
in the name of Heaven, can a law for permitting
dissenters to leave college with a certain certifi-
cate in their pocket, and a certain record on

the books of the University, be adduced by Mr.
Goulburn as a justification of all that paroxysm
of terror under which the right hon. gentleman
writhes so painfully in his character of " a fa-
ther ?" He anticipates from the change that his
son will be "committed to the indiscriminate
rage of principles, by which he must of neces-
sity be contaminated at the most critical period
of his life." If this have any meaning, it must
be that the religious rage of the issenters,
should they be admitted to bachelors' and doc-
tors' degrees, would bite and infect the minds
of Church of England pupils. But when, as
we said before, is this infection to take place—
after the ceremony of graduating, or before?
It can hardly be the first ; for all those who
were heretofore students are then dispersed over
the world ; and if it be the undergraduate season
at which this rabies religiosa is to be so fearful,
what security has Mr. Goulburn against it a•
this moment, when his son is actually exposed
to the full venom of an association with Dis-
senters ? We will be frank with the right hon.
gentleman, for with no wish but for the good
of churchmen and Dissenters—nay, if there
must be a preference for that of our own bre-
thren of the establishment, even more if possible
than for that of the Dissenters, we are anxious

to see such an amendment in one important
branch of college discipline as would present
fewer difficulties in the way of religious educa-
tion, and of a real and substantial promotion of
true piety amongst our collegiate youth. The
rigorous enforcement of that rule which com-
pels an attendance twice every day in term
at chapel, we have always considered a
most injudicious usage. Religious exercises

ought not to be made a punishment. Divine
worship ought not to be degraded into a fre-

quent and —tiresome restraint. Ask any man
from Cambridge or Oxford—ask Mr. Goulburn

or Sir Robert-Peel, whether they can, in their

respective persons, trace any large portion of that
Christian spirit which theyare so solicitous to dis-
_ _

seminate amongst the youth of England, to the
daily drudgery of chapel ? The practice is not
defended, for none, strictly speaking, defend it ;
but it is palliated, not as an instrument of reli-
gion, but of police ! as a species of muster,
whereat every pupil must show himself at certain
hours within his college, to prove that he is not
elsewhere Now, let us ask, in all seriousness,
is that a fitting use or application of the so-
lemnities of religious worship ? Is it, we say, a
judicious method of inculcating the Christian

.
spirit, to make the personal appearance at chapel
an avowed means for the accomplishment of
so wretched a purpose as that of ascertaining
that a youth is not hunting or getting
drunk ? If this prostitution of the forms of
devotion could be corrected, or even con-

siderably mitigated, one main difficulty in the
religious education, not of Dissenters merely,
but of communicants of the church of Eng-
land, would be got rid of with it. W 3 have
looked in vain for anything approaching to
a reason in the speeches of members opposed to
the collegiate education of dissenters. Truly
does Mr. Spring Rice allege, that if we drive
them from our universities, they will have uni-
versities of their own ; where, instead of a daily

approximation between the two classes by means
of common study and of social intercourse, the
collegiate course of the dissenters will be calcu-
lated to encourage feelings of disgust and aliena-
tion against the Church of England—a circum-
stance, above all others, fitted to spread not

merely religious but civil discord throughout the
whole frame of society. As for the libel too
frequently launched against dissenters, that many