ENGLAND (CHURCH. 



31 



Manufactures and Commerce. The manufactures 

 ami commerce of England, which form such impor- 

 tant features of the country, have already been 

 treated of in the article Britain, to which the reader is 

 referred. See also the articles Commerce, Cotton Manu- 

 facture, Iron Manufacture, Woollen Manufacture, 

 Shipping, &c. 



Government and Jurisprudence. See the article 

 Britain (section British Constitution) ; also the article 

 Courts of Law (in England), and other articles on 

 legal subjects, such as Assize, Criminal Law, Equity, 

 Jury, &C. 



Church. The established religion in England is 

 Episcopacy. The king is the supreme head ; by this 

 authority he convenes and prorogues the convoca- 

 tions of the clergy. The church is governed by two 

 archbishops and twenty-five bishops. The archbishop 

 of Canterbury is styled the primate of all England, 

 and to him belongs the privilege of crowning the 

 kings and queens of England. The province of Can- 

 terbury comprehends twenty-one bishoprics. In the 

 province of the archbishop of York, who is called the 

 primate of England, there are four bishoprics. Arch- 

 oishops and bishops are appointed by the king, by 

 what is called a conge d'elire, or leave to elect, which 

 is sent to the dean and chapter naming the person to 

 be chosen. The bishop of London, as presiding over 

 the capital, has the precedence of all the others. 

 The bishop of Durham has certain prerogatives, 

 as presiding over a see that constitutes a county 

 palatine; the bishop of Winchester is third in 

 dignity ; the others take rank according to seni- 

 ority of consecration. The archbishops and bishops 

 (except the bishop of Sodor and Man) have seats in 

 the house of lords, and are styled the spiritual lords. 

 The archbishops have the title of grace, and most 

 reverend father in God, by divine providence ; bishops 

 are addressed by the title of lord, and right reverend 

 father in God by divine permission. The former are 

 said to be enthroned, the latter installed. To every 

 cathedral belong several prebendaries and a dean, 

 who form the dean and chapter, or council of the 

 bishop. The next order of the clergy is that of arch- 

 deacons ; their number is sixty; their office is to 

 reform abuses, and to induct into benefices. The most 

 numerous and laborious order of the clergy are the 

 deacons, curates, vicars, and rectors. The office of 

 the deacon is confined to baptism, reading in the 

 church, and assisting the priest at the communion. 

 A parson is one who has full possession of all the 

 rights of a parish church ; if the great tithes are im- 

 propriated, the priest is called a vicar ; if not, a rec- 

 tor : a curate is one who is not instituted to the cure 

 of souls, but exercises the spiritual office in a parish 

 under a rector or vicar. The convocation of the 

 clergy, which is the highest ecclesiastical court, has 

 not been permitted by government to do any business 

 since 1717, and is merely convened as a matter of 

 form. The doctrines of the church of England are 

 contained in the thirty-nine articles: the form of 

 worship is directed by a liturgy. 



The first steps to the establishment of the English 

 church were slow. (See the sketch of ecclesiastical 

 history in the present article.) It retained at first 

 many of the features of the Roman church, both in 

 regard to doctrine and rites. After the parliament hat! 

 declared Henry VIII. the only supreme head of the 

 shurch, and the convocation of the clergy had voted 

 tliat the bishop of Rome had no more jurisdiction in 

 England than any other foreign bishop, the articles 

 of faith of the new church were declared to consist in 

 the Scriptures and the three creeds, the Apostolic, 

 the Nicene, and the Athanasian (see Creeds) ; the 

 real presence, the use of images, the invocation of 

 saints, &(!., were still, maintained. Under Edward, 



the new liturgy was composed in English, and took 

 the place of the old mass ; the doctrines were also 

 stated in forty-two articles. Witli the reign of Mary, 

 the old religion was re-established ; and it was not 

 till that of Elizabeth that the church of England was 

 finally instituted. As no change was made in the 

 episcopal form of government, and some rites and 

 ceremonies were retained, which many of the reformed 

 considered as superstitious, this circumstance gave 

 rise to many future dissensions. The controversy 

 concerning the ceremonial part of divine worship 

 commenced with those exiles, who, in 1554, fled 

 from the persecutions of queen Mary, and took 

 refuge in Germany. On the accession of Elizabeth, 

 they returned, and renewed the contest at home, 

 which had begun abroad. These were called Puri- 

 tans, and at one time comprised many distinguished 

 members of the English clergy. (See Puritans.) On 

 the accession of James, the Puritans hoped for some 

 relief; but an Episcopal hierarchy was more favour- 

 able to his views than the Presbyterian form of go- 

 vernment, and lie publicly adopted the maxim " No 

 bishop, no king." When the English divines returned 

 from the synod of Dort, the king and the majority of 

 the Episcopal clergy discovered an inclination to the 

 sentiments of Arminius, which have since prevailed 

 over Calvinism among the English clergy. Under 

 Charles I., the attempts made, through the instru- 

 mentality of Laud, to reduce all die churches of 

 Great Britain under the jurisdiction of bishops, and 

 the suppression of the opinions and institutions that 

 were peculiar to Calvinism, cost the archbishop of 

 Canterbury his head, and had no little effect in 

 imbittering the civil contest between the throne and 

 the parliament. After the death of Laud, the parlia- 

 ment abolished the Episcopal government, and con- 

 demned everything in the ecclesiastical establish- 

 ment that was contrary to the doctrine, worship, and 

 discipline of the church of Geneva. As soon as 

 Charles II. was restored to the throne, the ancient 

 forms of ecclesiastical government and public worship 

 were restored ; and, in 1662, a public law, entitled 

 (he act of uniformity, was enacted, by which all who 

 refused to observe the rites and subscribe the 

 doctrines of the church of England, were entirely 

 excluded from its dominion. In the reign of William 

 III., and particularly in 1689, the divisions among 

 the friends of Episcopacy gave rise to the two parties 

 called the high-churchmen, or non-jurors, and low- 

 churchmen. The former maintained the doctrine of 

 passive obedience, or non-resistance to the sovereign 

 under any circumstance whatever ; that the heredi- 

 tary succession to the throne is of divine institution, 

 and cannot be interrupted ; that the church is sub- 

 ject to the jurisdiction of God alone ; and, conse- 

 quently, that certain bishops, deposed by king Wil- 

 liam, remained, notwithstanding, true bishops ; and 

 that those who had been appointed in their places 

 were rebels and schismatics, and all who held com- 

 munion with them were guilty of rebellion and 

 schism. The gradual progress of civil and religious 

 liberty, during the last 150 years, has settled practical- 

 ly many such controversies. The great increase of the 

 dissenters in recent times (they are estimated to be 

 as numerous as the members of the established 

 church) has led to new concessions in their favour ; 

 the repeal of the corporation and test acts (q. v.) and 

 the Catholic emancipation (q. v.), as it is called, are 

 among the important events of the late reign. 



We have said, that the doctrines of the church of 

 England are contained in the thirty-nine articles ; we 

 are not ignorant that the most eminent English 

 divines have doubted whether they are Calvinistic or 

 Lutheran, that some have denominated them articles 

 offeace, and that not a few have written in direct 



