ENGLAND. 19.3 



The archbishop of York takes place of all dukes not of the blood- 

 n>yal, and of 'all officers of state, the lord chancellor excepted. He 

 has in his province, besides his own diocese, the bishoprics of Dur- 

 ham, Carlisle, Chester, and Sodor and Man.- In Northumberland, 

 he has the power of a palatine, and jurisdiction in all criminal pro- 

 ceedings. M -. " ": : ' • 



The bishops are addressed by £he appellation of Your Lordship, 

 styled "Right reverend Fathers in God," and take precedence of all 

 temporal barons. They have all the privileges of peers ; and the 

 bishoprics of London, Winchester, Durham, Salisbury, Ely, and Lin- 

 coln, require no additional revenues to support their prelates in the- 

 rank of noblemen. English bishops are to examine and ordain priests 

 and deacons, to consecrate churches and burying places, and to ad- 

 minister the rite of confirmation. Their jurisdiction relates to the 

 probation of wills ; to grant administration of goods to such as die 

 intestate ; to take care of perishable goods when- no one will adminis- 

 ter ; to collate to benefices ; to grant institutions, to livings ; to defend 

 the liberties of the church ; and to visit their own dioceses once in 

 three years. 



The ecclesiastical government of England is, properly speaking, 

 lodged in the convocation, which is a national representative body cfcr 

 synod, and answers pretty nearly to the ideas we have of a parlia- a 

 ment ; but it has not been permitted to sit for a time sufficient to enter 

 into any discussions, since the reign of George I. % - ' 



The bias which the clergy had' towards popery in the reigns of 

 Henry VIII, and Edward VI, and even so late as that of Elizabeth, 

 occasioned an interposition of the civil power for a further reforma- , 

 tion. Thence arose the puritans, so called from their maintaining a 

 singular purity of life and manners. Many of them w-e^ worthy pious 

 men, and some of them good patriots. Their descendants are the 

 modern presbyterians, who retain the same character, and have tru® 

 principles of civil and religious liberty ; but their theological senti- 

 ments have undergone a considerable change. Their doctrine, like 

 that of the church of Scotland, was originally derived from the Geneva/ 

 plan instituted by Calvin, and tended to an abolition of episcopacy, 

 and to vesting the government of the church in a parity of presbyters. 

 But the modern English presbyterians, in their ideas of church 

 government, differ very little from the independents, or congrega- 

 tionalists, who are so called from holding the independency of con- 

 gregational churches, without any respect to doctrine ; and, in this 

 sense, almost all the dissenters in England are now become indepen- 

 dents. As to points of doctrine, the presbyterians are "generally 

 Arminians. Many of their ministers have greatly distinguished 

 themselves by their learning and abilities ; and some of their writings 

 are held in high estimation by many of the clergy, and other mem- 

 bers of the established church. The same may be said of some of 

 the independent and baptist ministers. The independents are gen- 

 erally Calvinists. The baptists do not believe that infants are pro- 

 per subjects of baptism; and in the baptism of adults they practise 

 immersion into water. They are divided into two classes, which are 

 styled general baptists, and particular baptists. The general bap- 

 tists are Arminians, and the particular baptists are Calvinists. 



The Methodists are a sect of a late institution, of which the late 

 Mr. George Whitfield and Mr. John Wesley are considered as the 

 founders. Thev profess great fervour and devotion, Their teacher. 



Vol. T. C c 



