USA > New York > Ecclesiastical records, state of New York, Volume V > Part 32
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In Consequence of this Article we shall have the highest Security, that none will be dignified with that important and honourable Office, but such as are really quali- fied for executing it, agreeable to the true Design of its Institution. Should either Branch, or any two Branches of the Legislature, propose and elect a Candidate obnoxious to the Third, the Negative of the latter is sufficient to prevent his Admis- sion. The three Branches concurring in every Election, no Party can be disobliged, and when we consider the Characters of the Electors, all Possibility of Bribery and Corruption, seems to be intirely excluded.
Secondly: That the President of the College be elected and deprived by a Majority of the Trustees; and all the Inferior Officers by a Majority of the Trustees with the President; and that the Election and Deprivation of the President, be always reported by the Trustees in this Matter, be then confirmed by the Legislature.
By this Means the President, who will have the supreme Superintendency of the Education of our Youth, will be kept in a continual and ultimate Dependence upon the Public; and the Wisdom of the Province being his only Support, he will have a much greater Security, in the upright Discharge of his Duty, than if he depended solely on the Trustees, who are likely to oust him of his Office and Livelihood thro' Caprice or Corruption. That Station being therefore more stable, will at the same time be more valuable; and for this reason we have the stronger Hopes of filling the President's Chair, with a Man of Worth and Erudition, upon whose good Qualifica- tions and Conduct, the Success and Improvement of the Students, will eminently depend.
Thirdly: That a Majority of the President and Trustees, have power to make By-Laws not repugnant to the Act of Incorporation, and the Law of the Land. That all such By-Laws be reported to the House of Representatives at their next succeeding Session, in haec Verba, under the Seal of the College, and the Hands of the President and five Trustees; and that if they are not reported, or being reported are not confirmed, they shall be absolutely void.
Hence it is easy to conceive, that as on the one hand there will be a great Secu- rity against the arbitrary and illegal Rule of the President and Trustees; so on the other, the immediate Governors of the College will have all proper Authority to make such salutary Rules as shall be necessary to advance the Progress of Litera- ture, and support a Decorum and Police in the Academy,-as well as maintain the Dignity and Weight which the Superiors of it ought undoubtedly to be enabled to preserve over their Pupils.
Fourthly: That the Act of Incorporation contain as many Rules and Directions for the Government of the College as can be foreseen to be necessary.
As all our danger will arise from the Mis-Rule of the President and Trustees; so all our Safety consists in the Guardianship of the Legislature. Besides, the Advan- tage herefore, of being by this Article secured from arbitrary Domination in the College; the Business of the Trustees, and President will be less, and they with their Subordinates, more at Leisure to concert the Advancement of the College.
The Fifth Article I propose is, that no religious Profession in particular be estab- lished in the College; but that both Officers and Scholars be at perfect Liberty, to
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attend any Protestant Church at their Pleasure respectively. And that the Cor- poration be absolutely inhibited the making of any By-Laws relating to Religion, except such as compel them to attend Divine Service at some Church or other, every Sabbath, as they shall be able, lest so invaluable a Liberty be absurd and made a Cloak for Licenciousness.
To this most important Head, I should think proper to subjoin,
Sixthly: That the whole College be every Morning and Evening convened to attend public Prayers, to be performed by the President, or in his absence, by either of the Fellows; and that such Forms be prescribed and adhered to as all' Protestants can freely join in.
Besides the fitness and indisputable Duty of supporting the Worship of God in the College; obliging the Students to attend it twice every Day, will have a strong Tendency to preserve a due Decorum, Good Manners and Vertue amongst them, without which the College may sink into Profaness and Disrepute. They will be thereby forced from the Bed of Sloth, and being brought before their Superiors, may be kept from Scenes of Wickedness and Debauchery, which they might other- wise run into, as hereby their absence from the College will be better detected.
With Respect to the Prayers, tho' I confess there are excellent Forms composed. to our Hands, it would rather conduce to the Interest of our Academy, if, instead of those, new Ones were collected, which might easily be done from a Variety of approved Books of Devotion among all Sects; and perhaps it may be thought better to frame them as near as possible in the Language of Scripture. The general Forms need be but few. Occasional Parts may be made to be inserted when necessary; as in Cases of Sickness, Death, etc. in the College, or under general Calamities, as War, Pestilence, Drought, Floods, etc. and the like as to Thanksgivings. Many of the Forms of Prayer contained in the English Liturgy, are in themselves unexcep- tionably good; but as establishing and imposing the Use of those, or of any other Protestant Communion, would be a discriminating badge, it is liable to Objections, and will occasion a general Dissatisfaction. As the Introduction of them, therefore, will prejudice the College, it is a sufficient reason against it. It will be a matter of no small difficulty to bring the greatest part of the Province, to the Approbation of praying at any Time by Forms; but since they are in this Case absolutely expedient, our Affection for the Prosperity of this important Undertaking, should incline us,. while we give some Offence in one Article, to remove it by a compensation in another of less Consequence to the College.
Seventhly: That Divinity be no Part of the public Exercises of the College, I. mean, that it be not taught as a Science. That the Corporation be inhibited from electing a Divinity Professor; and that the degrees to be conferred, be only in the Arts, Physic, and the Civil Law.
Youth at a College, as I have remarked in a former paper, are incapable of making a judicious choice in this matter; for this reason the Office of a theological Pro- fessor will be useless. Besides, Principles obtruded upon their tender Minds, by the- Authority of a Professor's Chair, may be dangerous. But a main Reason in support of this Clause, is the Disgust which will necessarily be given to all Parties that. differ in their Professions from that of the Doctor. The Candidate for the Ministry will hereby in his Divinity Studies, whenever he is fit for them, be left to the Choice and Direction of his Parents or Guardians. Besides, as most of the Students will be designed for other Imployments in Life, the Time spent in the Study of Divinity, may be thought useless and unnecessary, and therefore give Umbrage to many. Nor will their whole Course of Time at the College, be more than sufficient. for accomplishing themselves in the Arts and Sciences, whether they are designed for the Pulpit, or any other learned Profession. And it may be justly doubted, whether a youth of good Parts, who has made any particular Proficiency in the Elements, or general Branches of Knowledge (his Instruction in which is the true
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and proper Business of a collegiate Education) would not be able to qualify himself for the Pulpit, by a Study of the Scriptures, and the best Divinity Books in the College Library, as well without as with the Aid of a Professor; especially if it be enacted.
Eighthly. That the Officers and Collegians have an unrestrained Access to all Books in the Library, and that free Conversation upon polemical and controverted
1 Points in Divinity, be not discountenanced; whilst all public Disputations upon the various Tenets of different Professions of Protestants, be absolutely forbidden.
Ninthly: That the Trustees, President, and all inferior Officers, not only take and subscribe the Oaths and Declaration appointed by Statute, but be also bound by solemn Oath, in their Respective Stations, to fulfil their respective Trusts, and pre- serve inviolate the Rights of the Scholars, according to the fundamental Rules con- tained in the Act. And that an Action at Law be given and well secured to every inferior Officer and Student, to be brought by himself, or his Guardian, or prochein Amy, according to his Age, for every Injury against his legal Right so to be established.
And in as much as artful Intrigues may hereafter be contrived to the Prejudice of the College, and a Junto be inleagued to destroy its free Constitution, it may perhaps be thought highly expedient, that the Act contain a Clause.
Tenthly: That all future Laws, contrary to the Liberty and Fundamentals of this Act, shall be construed to be absolutely void, unless it refers to the Part thus to be altered, and expressly repeals it; and that no Act relating to the College, shall here- after pass the House of Representatives, but with the consent of the Majority of the whole House; I mean all the Members of Assembly in the Province.
Nor would it be amiss to prescribe,
Eleventhly: That as all Contests among the inferior Officers of the College, should be finally determined by the Majority of the Members of the Corporation, so the latter should be determined in all their Disputes, by a Committee of the whole House of Representatives, or the major part of them.
These are the Articles which in my Opinion, should be incorporated in the Act for the Establishment of the College; and without which we have the highest Reason to think, the Advantages it will produce, will at best fall short of the Expence it will create, and perhaps prove a perpetual Spring of public Misery :- A Cage, as the Scripture speaks, of every unclean Bird :- The Nursery of Bigotry and Superstition :- An Engine of Persecution, Slavery and Oppression :- A Fountain whose putrid and infectious Streams will overflow the Land, and poison all our Enjoyments. Far be it from me to imagine I have pointed out every Thing requisite to the Preservation of Liberty, and the Promotion of the Interest of the College; I only suggest such Heads as occur. Beyond all doubt my Scheme is still imperfect. Should our Legislature themselves enter upon this momentous Affair, the Example of a British House of Commons, in Matters of great importance, might be worthy their Imitation. I mean, that the Bill be printed and published several Months before it passes the House. The Advantage I would propose from this Step is, that while it only exists as a Bill, the Objections against it would be offered with Free- dom, because they may be made with impunity. The general Sense of the People will be the better known, and the Act accommodated to the Judgment and Esteem of all Parties in the Province .- Independent Reflector, pp. 83-86.
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ECCLESIASTICAL RECORDS
THE CHURCH AND THE COLLEGE.
Appeal to the Inhabitants of New York against a Sectarian Col- lege. April 26, 1753. By William Livingston.
My Dear Countrymen,
In a Series of Papers, I have presented to your View the Inconveniences that must necessarily result from making the Rule of the College, the Monopoly of any single Denomination. I have considered it in a Variety of Lights, and explored it's numer- ous Evils. To prevent them in the most effectual Manner, I have concerted a Plan, the Heads of which have been offered to your serious Consideration. Throughout the whole, I have given my thoughts with the Freedom and Independence suitable to the Dignity of the Subject, and the Character of an impartial Writer. Upon my Representation of the Matter, nor Awe, nor Hope, hath had an Influence. But urged by the Love of Liberty, and a disinterested Concern for your, and your Posterity's Happiness, I have disclosed the Importance,-the prodigious Importance of the present Question.
Far be it from me, to terrify you with imaginary dangers, or to wish the Obstruc- tion of any Measure conductive to the public Good. Did I not foresee,-was I not morally certain of the most ruinous Consequences, from a Mismanagement of the Affair, I should not address you with so much Emotion and Fervor: But when I perceive the impending Evil; when every Man of Knowledge and Impartiality entertains the same Apprehension; I cannot, I will not conceal my Sentiments. In such a Case, no Vehemence is excessive, no Zeal too ardent. The Alarm given is not confined to Particulars. No, the Effects I presage are dreaded far and wide as a general Calamity. Would to God our Terror was merely panic! but it is founded on the unerring Testimony of History, of Reason, and universal Experience.
Nor fancy I aim at warping your judgment by the Illusion of Oratory, or the Fascination of Eloquence. If in the Sequel, I appear rather to declaim than prove, or seem to prefer the Flowers of Rhetoric to the Strength of Argument, it is because, by the clearest Demonstration, I have already evinced the Necessity of frustrating so injurious a step. My Assertions have not been unsupported by Evi- dence; nor have I levell'd at your Passions, till I had convinced your Reason. After this, you will pardon a more animated Address, intended to warm the imagination, and excite your activity.
Of Prejudice and Partiality, I renounce the Charge; having alike argued against all Sects whatever, as I am in reality perfectly neutral and indifferent. For the Sincerity of my Intentions, I lay my hand upon my heart, and appeal to the enlightened Tribunal of Heaven.
Arise, therefore, and baffle the Machinations of your and their Country's Foes. Every Man of Vertue, every Man of Honour, will join you in defeating so iniquitous a Design. To overthrow it, nothing is wanting but your own resolution. For great is the Authority, exalted the dignity, and powerful the Majesty of the People. And shall you the avowed Enemies of Usurpation and Tyranny,-shall you the Descend- ants of Britain, borne in a Land of Light, and rear'd in the Bosom of Liberty,- shall you commence Cowards at a Time when Reason calls so loud for your Mag- nanimity? I know you scorn such an injurious Aspersion. I know you disdain the Thoughts of so opprobrious a Servility; and what is more, I am confident the Moment you exert a becoming Fortitude, they will be shamed out of their Insolence. They will blush at a Crime they cannot accomplish, and desist from Measures they find unsuccessful. Some of you, perhaps, imagine all Opposition unavailable. Banish so groundless a Fear. Truth is Omnipotent, and Reason must be finally victorious. Up and try. Be Men, and make the Experiment. This is your Duty, your bounden, your indispensable Duty. Ages remote, and Mortals yet unborn, will bless your generous
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Efforts; and revere the friendly Hand that diverted the meditated Ruin, as the Saviour of his Country.
The Love of Liberty is natural to our Species, and an Affection for Posterity, interwoven with the human Frame. Inflamed with this Love, and animated by this Affection, oppose a Scheme so detrimental to your Privileges, so fatal to your Pro- geny. Perhaps you conceive the Business is done. What! do you take it for granted that so it must be! Do you not then think yourselves free? Our Laws, our Assem- blies, the Guardianship of our Mother Country, the mildest and the best of Kings, do they not convince you that hitherto you know not what is Servitude? And will you trifle with an inestimable Jewel? Will you dance on a Precipice, and lay your hand on a Cockatrice's Den? Unresisting will you yield, and resign without a struggle? Will you not even venture at a Skirmish, to bequeath to your Posterity the priceless Treasure yourselves enjoy? Doubtless you resent the Insinuation. Courage then my Brethren. Reason is for us, that reason whose awful Empire is spurned by your Adversaries; for such are those whoever they be, that aspire to a Superiority above their fellow Subjects. Whence then should proceed your Remiss- ness in a Concern so momentous? When so tame a Submission, so ignominious a Compliance? Thou Genius of Liberty dispensing unnumber'd Blessings! Thou Spirit of Patriotism ever watchful for the public Good! Do ye inspire us with Unanimity in so interesting a Cause, and we will assert our Rights against the most powerful Invasion !
APPEAL TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
You, Gentlemen of the Church of England, cannot but condemn the unaccountable Assurance of whatever Persuasion, presumes to rob you of an equal Share in the Government of what equally belongs to all .. With what Indignation and Scorn, must you, the most numerous and richest Congregation in this City, regard so insolent an Attempt! You who have the same Discipline, and the same Worship with the Mother Church of the Nation, and whose fundamental Articles are embraced by all protestant Christendom,-what Colour of Reason can be offered to deny you your just Proportion in the Management of the College? Methinks a due Respect for the national Church, nay common Decency and good Manners, are sufficient to check the presumptuous Attempt, and redden the Claimant with a guilty Blush. Resent, therefore, so shameless a Pretence, so audacious an Incroachment.
APPEAL TO THE DUTCH CHURCH.
Nor can you Gentlemen of the Dutch Church, retrospect the Zeal of your Ances- tors in stipulating for the Enjoyment of their religious Privileges, at the Surrender of the Province, without a becoming Ardor for the same Model of public Worship which they were so anxious in preserving to you in its primitive Purity. Or higher still, to trace the Renown of your Progenitors, recollect their Stand, their glorious and ever memorable Stand against the Yoke of Thraldom, and all the horrors of ecclesiastic Villainy, its inseparable Concomitants. For their inviolable Attachment to pure unadulterated Protestantism, and the inestimable Blessings of Freedom civil and sacred, History will resound their deathless Praises; and adorned with the pre- cious Memorials of their heroic and insuppressible Struggles against Imposition and Despotism, will shine with eternal and undecaying Splendor. Impell'd by their illustrious Example, disdain the Thoughts of a servile Acquiescence in the usurped Dominion of others, who will inevitably swallow up and absorb your Churches, and efface even the Memory of your having once formed so considerable a Distinction. Pity methinks it would be and highly to be deplored, that you should, by your own folly, gradually crumble into Ruin, and at length sink into total and irrecoverable Oblivion.
APPEAL TO THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Remember Gentlemen of the English Presbyterian Church, remember with a sacred Jealousy, the countless Sufferings of your pious Predecessors, for Liberty of Con- science, and the Right of private Judgment. What Afflictions did they not endure,
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what fiery Trials did they not encounter, before they found in this remote Corner of the Earth, that Sanctuary and Requiem which their native Soil inhumanly deny'd them? And will you endanger that dear-bought Toleration for which they retired into voluntary Banishment, for which they agonized, and for which they bled? What drove your Ancestors to this Country, then a Dreary Waste and a barren Desert? What forced them from the Land of their Fathers, the much-loved Region where first they drew the vital air? What compelled them to open to themselves a passage into these more fortunate Climes? Was it not the Rage of Persecution and a lawless Intolerance? Did they not seek an Asylum amongst the Huts of Savages more hospitable, more humanized than their merciless Oppressors? Could Oceans stop or Tempest retard their Flight, when Freedom was attacked and Conscience was the Question? And will you entail on your Posterity that Bondage, to escape which they braved the raging Deep, and penetrated the howling Wilderness!
APPEAL TO THE QUAKERS.
You, my Friends, in Derision called Quakers, have always approved yourselves Lovers of civil and religious Liberty; and of universal Benevolence to Mankind. And tho' you have been misrepresented as averse to human Learning, I am confi- dent, convinced as you are of the Advantages of useful Literature, by the Writings of your renowned Apologist, and other celebrated Authors of your Persuasion, you would generously contribute to the Support of a College founded on a free and catholic Bottom. But to give your Substance to the rearing of Bigotry, or the tutoring Youth in the enticing Words of Man's Vanity, I know to be repugnant to your candid, your rational, your manly Way of thinking. Since the first Appearance of the Friends, thro' what Persecutions have they not waded? With what Diffi- culties have they not conflicted, e'er they could procure the unmolested Enjoyment of their Religion? This I mention not to spur you to revenge the Indignities offered to your Brethren, who being now beyond the Reach of Opposition and Violence, you, I am sure will scorn to remember their Tribulations with an unchristian Resent- ment. But to make their inhuman Treatment a Watch-Tower against the like Insults on your Descendants, is but wise, prudent and rational. At present, as ever you ought, you enjoy a righteous Toleration. But how long you will be able to boast the same Immunity, when the fountain of Learning is directed, and all the Offices of the Province engrossed by one Sect, God only knows, and yours it is to stand on your Guard.
APPEAL TO THE FRENCH, THE LUTHERAN AND OTHER CHURCHES.
Equally tremendous will be the consequences to you, Gentlemen of the French, of the Moravian, of the Lutheran, and of the Anabaptist Congregations, tho' the Limits of my Paper deny me the Honour of a particular Application to your respective Churches.
Having thus, My Country-Men, accosted you as distinct Denominations of Chris- tians, I shall again address you as Men, and reasonable Beings.
APPEAL TO THE CITIZENS IN GENERAL.
Consider, Gentlemen, the apparent Iniquity, the monstrous Unreasonableness of the Claim I am opposing. Are we not all members of the same Community? Have we not an equal Right? Are we not alike to contribute to the support of the College? Whence then the Pretensions of one in Preference to the Rest? Does not every Persuasion produce Men of Worth and Virtue, conspicuous for Sense, and renowned for Probity? Why then should one be exalted and the other debased? One pre- ferred and the other rejected? Bating the Lust of domineering, no Sect can pretend any Motive for Monopolizing the Whole? Let them produce their Title, and we will submit. Or do they think us so pusillanimous that we dare not resist? What! are we to be choaked without attempting to struggle for Breath? One would, indeed, imagine the Business was done, and that with a Witness. One would fancy he already beheld Slavery triumphant, and Bigotry swaying her enormous, her despotic Sceptre. But you, I trust, will assuage their Malice, and confound their Devices. You, I hope, will consider the least Infraction of your Liberties, as a Prelude to greater Encroachments. Such always was, and such ever will be the Case. Recede, therefore, not an Inch from your indisputable Rights. On the Contrary declare your Thoughts freely, nor loiter a Moment in an Affair of such unspeakable Conse-
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quence. You have been told it,-Posterity will feel it. Indolence, Indolence has been the source of irretrievable Ruin. Langour and Timidity, when the Public is concerned, are the Origin of Evils mighty and innumerable. Why then in the name of Heaven, should you behold the Infringement, supine and inanimate? Why should you too late deplore your Irresolution, and with fruitless Lamentation bewail your astonishing, your destructive Credulity? No; defeat the Scheme before it is carried into Execution. Countermine it e'er it proves irreversible. Away with so pestilent a Project: Suffer it no longer to haunt the Province, but stigmatize it with the indelible brands of the most scandalous Infamy. Alas, when shall we see the glorious Flame of Patriotism lighten up, and blazing out with inextinguishable Lustre? When shall we have One Interest, and that Interest be the Common Good?
To assert your Rights, doth your Resolution fail you? To resist the Domination of one Sect over the Rest, are you destitute of Courage? Tamely will you submit, and yield without a Contest? Come then, and by Imagination's Aid, penetrate into Futurity. Behold your Offspring trained in Superstition, and bred to holy Bondage. Behold the Province over-run with Priest-craft, and every Office usurped by the ruling Party !
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