CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



an effectual barrier, and brought about the total 

 abolition of Episcopacy. Fearful of the re-intro- 

 duction of popery, the great body of the nation 

 made common cause with the parliament of Eng- 

 land in withstanding the policy of Charles I., and, 

 by a combined hostility to popery, aimed at 

 securing a uniformity of Protestant religion and 

 worship throughout the kingdom ; a design which 

 formed the raison d'etre of the Assembly that 

 met at Westminster in 1643. This body, com- 

 posed for the most part of Englishmen, but 

 with delegates from the Scottish Church, elabor- 

 ated that Confession of Faith and those other 

 documents which form the standards of the 

 Church of Scotland, and of the different Presby- 

 terian Churches in Great Britain, the United 

 States of America, and the British colonies, to 

 the present day. This Confession constitutes the 

 most formal expression of Augustinian and Cal- 

 vinistic doctrines in existence. With the restora- 

 tion of the monarchy under Charles II. came the 

 attempted restoration, once more, of Episcopacy 

 in Scotland. But the national conscience could 

 not be coerced. On the accession of William and 

 Mary, prelacy was abolished, and Presbyterianism 

 re-established, the Westminster Confession ratified, 

 and patronage done away. At the close of 1690, 

 a General Assembly was held, composed, as 

 before, of ministers and elders from the various 

 presbyteries, presided over by a minister elected 

 by the members, as Moderator, and having the 

 presence of a lay commissioner, representing the 

 crown. With the exception of some years in the 

 reign of William, the Assembly has continued to 

 meet annually ever since, and to transact business, 

 when not in session, by a Commission named 

 by itself for the purpose. At the union of Eng- 

 land and Scotland in 1707, a special statute was 

 passed for the security of the Protestant religion 

 and Presbyterian form of church government in 

 the latter country. 



The most important controversy which has 

 agitated the Church of Scotland is that which 

 relates to patronage. In 1712, an Act was passed 

 by the British parliament which restored to 

 patrons in Scotland the right of presentation to 

 benefices. This Act caused great discontent at the 

 time, and it has occasioned several considerable 

 secessions from the Established Church of Scot- ! 

 land, the principal being the Disruption of 1843. 

 In 1834, under the influence of Chalmers, the 

 ' Veto Act,' giving the people the right of rejec- 

 tion, though not of call, was passed by the General 

 Assembly. The Court of Session refused to 

 homologate - this Act, and subsequent collisions \ 

 between the civil and ecclesiastical courts led to ! 

 the Disruption of 1843. 



Of late years, the law of patronage, though i 

 seldom enforced, yet alongside of popular elections I 

 in the other Presbyterian Churches of the country, i 

 and in those churches, now amounting to a large ! 

 proportion of its best charges, built by its own 

 members, has put the Established Church to 

 serious inconvenience. By a recent decision of 

 the General Assembly, that Church resolved to 

 seek its repeal. A bill with that object was intro- 

 duced into the House of Lords on May 18, 1874. 

 This bill vests the election of ministers in the 

 communicants -and adherents of the parish church. 

 The number of ministers in the Established 

 Church is about 1300, and the number of churches 



406 



1250. The amount raised by the Church for her 

 various objects, as reported to the General Assem- 

 bly of 1874, for the previous year, was ^278,488, 

 exclusive of a munificent donation of half a 

 million by Mr Baird of Auchmeddan. Within the 

 last 20 years, 150 churches have been endowed, 

 at a cost of ,500,000. 



THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



At the Revolution Settlement, the leading Epis- 

 copal clergy, and, on the death of Queen Anne, 

 both clergy and laity, in Scotland were Jacobites ; 

 a fact which, in addition to the general recollec- 

 tion of the mode in which the Stuarts sought 

 to force prelacy upon the country, was unfavour- 

 able to Scottish Episcopacy. The succession of 

 bishops was, however, kept up by new consecra- 

 tions. Liturgical forms similar to, and generally 

 identical with, those in the English Prayer-book 

 were introduced. Though the Episcopalians took 

 no open part in the insurrection of 1745, as they 

 did in that of 1715, yet their sympathies were 

 known to be with the House of Stuart, and the 

 government carried through parliament some acts 

 which had the effect of suppressing public worship 

 in the Episcopal communion for many years. On 

 the accession of George III. these statutes ceased 

 to be enforced ; but they were only repealed in 

 1792. The Act which gave this relief imposed 

 restrictions on their clergy officiating in England, 

 and prohibited their holding benefices in the 

 English Church. In 1 804, the Thirty-nine Articles, 

 and in 1863, the Prayer-book, of the Church of 

 England were adopted by the Scottish Episcopal 

 Church. The restrictions imposed by the Act of 

 1792 were modified by an Act passed in 1840; and 

 in 1864 they were entirely removed, with the 

 reservation of the right to bishops in England and 

 Ireland to refuse institution to a Scottish clergy- 

 man on his first presentation to a benefice, but 

 not after he should have once held such benefice. 

 The dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church 

 are: Moray, Aberdeen, Brechin, Argyll, St 

 Andrews, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. The bishops 

 are chosen by the clergy of the diocese, and by 

 representatives of the lay communicants. One of 

 the bishops, under the name of Primus, chosen 

 by the other bishops, presides at all meetings of 

 the bishops, and has certain other privileges, but 

 possesses no metropolitan authority. The highest 

 judicial body is the Episcopal College, composed 

 of all the bishops. The highest legislative body 

 is a General Synod, composed of two houses, the 

 one of the bishops, and the other of the deans and 

 the representatives of the clergy. The number of 

 churches in the Scottish Episcopal Church is 178 ; 

 and of clergy, 196. 



THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 



The standards and Presbyterian constitution of 

 the Free Church do not differ from those of the 

 Established Church. In both, government is by 

 Kirk-sessions, Presbyteries, Synods, and General 

 Assembly, ascending in regular gradation, the 

 higher court having the right of review in cases of 

 appeal, and the legislative power residing in the 

 supreme court, or General Assembly. All the 

 laws in force prior to the Disruption are acknow- 

 ledged by the Free Church, except in so far as they 



