Harvard Rules of Conduct c. 1643

VirginiaHuguenot · #1 (**permalink**) 10-04-2008, 07:10 PM

New England's First Fruits, pp. 26-28:

Quote:

1. When any scholar is able to understand Tullius [Cicero] or such like classical Latin author extempore, and make and speak true Latin in verse and prose, suo ut aiunt marte ["to stand, as they say, on his own feet"], and decline perfectly the paradigms of nouns and verbs in the Greek tongue, let him then, and not before, be capable of admission into the College.

2. Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well: the main end of his life and studies is "to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life" (John 17.3), and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.

And seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom, let everyone seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of Him (Prov. 2.3).

3. Everyone shall so exercise himself in reading the scriptures twice a day that he shall be ready to give such an account of his proficiency therein, both in theoretical observations of the language and logic, and in practical and spiritual truths, as his tutor shall require, according to his ability: seeing "the entrance of the word giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple" (Psal. 119.130).

4. That they, eschewing all profanation of God's name, attributes, word, ordinances and times of worship, do study with good conscience carefully to retain God and the love of His truth in their minds. Else, let them know that (notwithstanding their learning) God may give them up "to strong delusions" (II Thess. 2.11, 12), and in the end "to a reprobate mind" (Rom. 1.28).

5. That they studiously redeem the time, observe the general hours appointed for all the students, and the special hours for their own classes; and then diligently attend the lectures, without any disturbance by word or gesture. And if in anything they doubt, they shall inquire as of their fellows, so (in case of "non-satisfaction") modestly of their tutors.

6. None shall, under any pretense whatsoever, frequent the company and society of such men as lead an unfit and dissolute life.

Nor shall any, without his tutor's leave or (in his absence) the call of his parents or guardians, go abroad to other towns.

7. Every scholar shall be present in his tutor's chamber at the seventh hour in the morning, immediately after the sound of the bell, at his opening the scripture and prayer; so also at the fifth hour at night, and then give account of his own private reading (as aforesaid in particular the third), and constantly attend lectures in the hall at the hours appointed. But if any (without necessary impediment) shall absent himself from prayer or lectures, he shall be liable to admonition, if he offend above once a week.

8. If any scholar shall be found to transgress any of the laws of God or the school, after twice admonition, he shall be liable, if not adultus, to correction; if adultus, his name shall be given up to the overseers of the College, that he may be admonished at the public monthly act.

Anton Bruckner · #2 (**permalink**) 10-04-2008, 10:32 PM

Wow, I guess most people today wouldn't be able to attend Harvard.

smhbbag · #3 (**permalink**) 10-04-2008, 10:46 PM

Does anybody have more information on the roles of these "tutors"?

Were they analogous to modern Residential Advisors - in that there were a few of them for a floor of students in dormitories, or maybe a one-on-one defined pair between upper and lower-classmen?

VirginiaHuguenot · #4 (**permalink**) 10-04-2008, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smhbbag

Does anybody have more information on the roles of these "tutors"?

Were they analogous to modern Residential Advisors - in that there were a few of them for a floor of students in dormitories, or maybe a one-on-one defined pair between upper and lower-classmen?

William R. Newman, Gehennical Fire: The Lives of George Starkey, an American Alchemist in the Scientific Revolution, pp. 19-20:

Quote:

In addition to the president, early Harvard was supplied with tutors, responsible for overseeing a student's success. Each student was allocated a single tutor for his entire three years, in principle, and at the time of Starkey's matriculation there may have been as many as three tutors in residence.

Samuel Eliot Morison, The Founding of Harvard College, discusses this in more detail.

Blue Tick · #5 (**permalink**) 10-14-2008, 11:44 PM

Quote:

8. If any scholar shall be found to transgress any of the laws of God or the school, after twice admonition, he shall be liable, if not adultus, to correction; if adultus, his name shall be given up to the overseers of the College, that he may be admonished at the public monthly act.

Boy, if the could see things now.

Ex Nihilo · #6 (**permalink**) 10-14-2008, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Tick

Quote:

8. If any scholar shall be found to transgress any of the laws of God or the school, after twice admonition, he shall be liable, if not adultus, to correction; if adultus, his name shall be given up to the overseers of the College, that he may be admonished at the public monthly act.

Boy, if the could see things now.

The funny thing is, there are still so many inscriptions on campus that proclaim the truth -- and the school won't tear them down because they are so old. I will try to take some pictures one day.

Tim · #7 (**permalink**) 10-15-2008, 06:26 AM

Andrew, do you have any more links on the way Harvard used to be? I once came across something of this and it excited me greatly, but I have been unable to find it again.

VirginiaHuguenot · #8 (**permalink**) 10-15-2008, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim

Andrew, do you have any more links on the way Harvard used to be? I once came across something of this and it excited me greatly, but I have been unable to find it again.

Tim -- Sure, I have a few links that may be of interest. I lived in Harvard married student housing as a child and I've long been fascinated with the then / now aspect of Harvard culture.

Harvard University
John Downame's The Christian Warfare - Tale of John Harvard's Surviving Book
The Dying of the Light
Increase Mather
The Rise and Fall of Harvard (1636–1805)
Sequence 1 (Page 1): Harvard University. Constitutional articles and legislative enactments relative to the Board of overseers and the corporation of Harvard university; also rules and regulations of the overseers., Harvard University Library PD
Harvard Charter of 1650
Family Instruction & Christian Public Education in Puritan New England
John Harvard (clergyman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Godly Learning: Puritan Attitudes ... - Google Book Search (limited preview online)
Harvard College in the Seventeenth ... - Google Book Search (not available to read online)

William Ames connection:

Quote:

His most famous work is his Marrow of Sacred Divinity, one of the first systematic theologies of the Puritans, and the standard textbook used at Harvard and Yale for at least 100 years. That work has been reprinted by Baker Book House in paperback. The other work for which Ames is known and regarded, his treatment of conscience, entitled Conscience, with the Power and Cases Thereof, was published in a hardbound facsimile by Walter Johnson, Inc. of New Jersey. That publisher is no longer in business, and copies are available on the used book market. ... Samuel Elliot Morrison, a historian of things related to Harvard, wrote that Ames' Conscience, with the Power and Cases Thereof, is ". . . as a practical exposition of what the Word of God did and did not permit, one of the most valuable sources of Puritan morality."

Source

Quote:

Late in the 1620's he decided he should leave the University for the New World. Ames had received correspondence from his friends in the New World to join them and endeavor there as a pastor, teacher, school or academy head. But William Ames was never to sail for New England. He, instead, ended up in Rotterdam in 1632 to answer a call from an Independent congregation as co-minister with his friend Hugh Peter. The church planned to open a school, having Ames as their head master. But in 1633 the River Maas flooded and the homes of the church members, as well as Ames. Ames was exposed to cold water and cold air and contracted a high fever which his weakened heart could not stand. Medicine and doctors were of no avail; his family and friends watch his courageous spirit endure to the end which was just a few days later.

Thus, he who was the greatest influence on early America never arrived there. He may have been the first president of Harvard, instead of Thomas Shepherd, but "come what may" were not part of God's ordained plan for his life. According to Daniel Neal, the first furniture at Harvard were the books of Ames, the famous professor of divinity at Franeker. He was of such profound influence upon the theology of New England that he was quoted more than Luther or Calvin combined. Jonathan Edwards often began with the thought of the Franeker professor.

The Marrow of Theology is Ames' most well known work. Cotton Mather said that if a student of divinity were to have nothing but The Bible and The Marrow, he would be a most able minister.

Source

Trivia:

* The first honorary degree awarded in the New World went to Increase Mather, an S.T.D. given in 1692.

* Latin being required for entrace into Harvard, Boston Latin School became the first public school in the United States. Roxbury Latin, however, is said to be the oldest school in North America in continuous existence. (I went to school across the street from Roxbury Latin.)

* (See links above) It was William Ames' personal library that became the nucleus for Harvard's original library until that library was destroyed by fire in 1764 leaving only one [allegedly] surviving book - written by another famous Puritan.

FrielWatcher · #9 (**permalink**) 10-15-2008, 10:25 AM

The Rise and Fall of Harvard link didn't work Andrew.

Roxbury Latin? I used to work in Roxbury, MA every now and then - I assume Roxbury Latin was in Roxbury proper? Used to live in Providence.

The one time I went to Harvard, I was not able to identify anything about the people of the college to identify them as Puritan, or even bearing the fruits of faith in Christ. (This was back in 2000 - things may have changed now.)