of circuit preachers appointed to these stations, was twentyeight; of whom two were stationed in the Orkneys, and six in the Shetlands. The number of congregations may be set down at about thirty: that of members in society did not amount, in 1835, to more than 3810, of whom 1122 were in Glasgow, and about 1300 in the Isles.

IV. EPISCOPALIANS.

In Scotland, where, as we have seen, the Presbyterian churches form four distinct communions, though acknowledging the same doctrinal standards, is exhibited the phenomenon of two branches of "the Episcopal persuasion," standing aloof from each other in a state of separation. One of these is known as the Non-juror Church, the bishops and ministers of which refused to transfer their allegiance to William and Mary at the Revolution, or their successors, up to the year 1792; when, on the death of the Pretender, Prince Charles Edward, they deemed themselves at full liberty to offer their allegiance to the reigning sovereign, George III. On their application to Parliament, the penal laws which had been hitherto in force against them as Jacobites, were repealed, on certain terms, whereby the doors of the Episcopal chapels were thrown open to all ranks of the laity; and many of the most distinguished in the kingdom availed themselves of the privilege. Since that time, the Scottish Episcopal Church has received a great accession, in point of numbers and respectability, from several congregations under the charge of English Episcopal ministers who have joined its communion. But most of the chapels licensed for Episcopal worship according to the forms of the Church of England, have been supplied by clergymen ordained by English or Irish bishops, and not amenable to any episcopal jurisdiction; so that they may be considered as a sort of Episcopal Independents.

The distinguishing tenets of the Scottish Episcopalians are stated to be, the apostolical institution of Episcopacy, and the independence of the Church upon the State in the exercise of those powers which are purely spiritual. At the same

time, an attachment to kingly power, and the opinion, that the only source of power is God, and not the people,-in other words, the principles of the highest Toryism, have always been characteristic of the members of this communion. The clergy are moreover zealous anti-Calvinists; and several of them have been disposed to favour the peculiar doctrines of the learned Mr. Hutchinson.*

The Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England had only been partially used by the Scottish Episcopalians prior to 1712: but since then, it has been universally adopted, with the exception of the communion-service. The Scotch Communion Office is formed on the model of the office in the first liturgy of Edward VI., and is retained as "more conformable to the most ancient liturgies of the primitive church, than the English form." In other words, it comes nearer to the Romish missal, retaining the Invocation of the Holy Spirit, and the "Oblation of the sacramental elements," in accordance with those notions of the Eucharist which have been generally maintained by high-church divines, as a commemorative sacrifice and a real participation of the body and blood of Christ. By a concordat in 1731, it is left optional to the Episcopal clergy of Scottish as well as English ordination, to use either this office or that of the Anglican Church.

The Scottish Episcopal Church has its peculiar canons, of which a new code was substituted, in 1811, for the sixteen drawn up in 1743. The bishops are elected by the clergy of the diocese, subject to the approval of a majority of the order.

* In particular, Mr. John Skinner, author of a History of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and his son, Bishop John Skinner of Aberdeen. The first eminent person in Scotland who espoused the Hutchinsonian scheme, was Lord President Forbes. The Hutchinsonian controversy, which was partly philological, and partly theological, occupied a considerable degree of public attention between 1748 and 1756.

+ Mr. Alexander Knox, who adopts these notions, and condemns the alterations made in the English service by Archbishop Cranmer, deems it a happy circumstance, that the first Prayer-book of Edward VI. had been used in preparing the Prayer-book for Scotland in 1637; from which the Revisers of Elizabeth's reign adopted the rubrics with a view to restore the doctrine, in a covert manner, which Cranmer had rejected. Had they felt at liberty, they would have gone further." Knox's Remains, vol. ii. pp. 154, 168.

Every bishop, as in Sweden, Denmark, and America, is the pastor of a congregation; and "they claim no more than the spiritual authority derived to them from Jesus Christ, the great Head of the Church,-an authority which is paternal rather than magisterial." The country was formerly divided into two archbishoprics (St. Andrew's and Glasgow), and twelve bishoprics. Since the Revolution, the title of archbishop has been dropped; and one of the bishops (now six in number) is elected Primus or Chief Bishop during pleasure. The clergy, including the bishops, are about seventy, with nearly the same number of congregations; (pluralities and non-residence being unknown ;) and the total aggregate of the Episcopal congregations was estimated some years ago at not more than 40,000. They are chiefly found in the county of Aberdeen and on the eastern coast. Although thus inconsiderable in numbers, they include many of the most distinguished nobility and gentry.*

In relation to the National Establishment of Scotland, the Episcopalians are Dissenters; and their ministers, being without any State provision, are dependent, like those of other Dissenting bodies, upon the voluntary support of their flocks. They boast of having " a church in which religion is supported by no authority but her own, and has no interests but her own to support;" retaining "all the essence of episcopacy without its modern appendages ;" and in these respects coming

as near the primitive pattern as any at this day in the world." Archdeacon Daubeny is stated to have spoken of this church as "the purest, perhaps, at this day in Christendom;" and Bishop Horne thought, that, if St. Paul were upon earth, he would give the preference, above all other communions, to the Episcopalians of Scotland! Should these encomiums be deemed to savour of partiality and extravagance, still, the reader cannot fail to perceive how much the alleged conformity of the Scottish Episcopacy to the primitive pattern results from its independence of the State.‡

* Adam, vol. i. p. 441.

+ Ibid. pp. 437, 440.

If we take the number of Episcopal congregations, Scotch and English, at SO, those of the Congregational Union at 90, those of the Baptists, Glassites, and

SECTION III.

THE WESLEYAN METHODISTS.

Some difficulty occurs in classifying the large and important body of Protestant Nonconformists known as Wesleyan or Arminian Methodists. In point of fact, they are Dissenters from the Established Church in doctrine, ritual, discipline, and government; yet they profess to adhere to its doctrinal standards, and for the most part avow an attachment to the Establishment as an ecclesiastical and political institution. This characteristic feature makes no difference, however, in their legal predicament. Their teachers, in order to screen themselves from the penal clauses of the Conventicle Act, have been compelled to certify as Dissenters. The law has cognizance of them in no other character; nor does the Established Church acknowledge them as belonging to her communion, from which they are, in fact, as a sect, completely separated. Mr. Wesley, their founder, always professed a strong affection for the Church of England, of which he aspired to be a reformer; and he exhorted the societies under his care to attend her services, and to receive the Lord's Supper from the Episcopal clergy. Had it so pleased the rulers of that Church, it would have been very feasible, in the infancy of Methodism, by a slight relaxation of her stern and jealous discipline, to retain the followers of Wesley within the pale of the Establishment; allowing them liberty to maintain their private meetings and peculiar economy under their own leaders, as, in the Romish Church, the several orders of regulars are permitted to govern themselves by their own rule and officers.

In the latter part of his life, however, Mr. Wesley thought

Methodists at 80, and those of the Presbyterian Seceders of all classes at 500, we shall have 750 Dissenting congregations, without reckoning the Roman Catholics. The Rev. Adam Thomson, in his Letter to Lord Melbourne, takes "the Voluntary churches of all denominations" at 800; the Established churches at 1000; but contends, that the latter include a smaller proportion of the population than the former.

proper to assume the functions of the Episcopal office, and not only to ordain several ministers who were sent out to Scotland and to America, but also to consecrate some as bishops. During his life-time, some of the societies petitioned to have preaching in their own chapels in church hours, which was contrary to his original directions, and to have the Lord's Supper administered by the travelling preachers. This request he generally refused to comply with; and where it could conveniently be done, he sent some of the clergymen who officiated at the New Chapel in London, to perform these sacred offices. After his decease in 1791, the same request was renewed by many of the societies, who had the mortification to find that this question was decided against them by lot. The subject continued to be agitated; and the dissatisfaction occasioned by the decisions of Conference, together with some other differences, led, in 1797, to the secession of a considerable body, who form what is termed the Methodist New Connexion. The New Methodists (sometimes called, from their most prominent leader, Kilhamites *) differ from the Old Methodists in the more popular constitution of their church-government, the preachers and the lay deputies chosen by the people being associated in all meetings for business. They are numerous chiefly in the northern counties.

"That Mr. Wesley never intended to form a separate sect, independent of the Church of England," say his Biographers, "is very evident, both from the minutes of the Conferences at which he presided, and from many of his publications. But, what he so much disliked, and by every means in his power resisted, actually began to take place before his death. Many thousands who had joined his Society, had never attended any church previously to their conversion, and therefore could not be expected to have a particular attachment to the Church of England. Numbers had likewise been Dissenters, or the children of Dissenters, before they became

The Rev. Alexander Kilham was the author of a pamphlet entitled, "The Progress of Liberty," which was obnoxious to the Old Methodists, and was one cause of his expulsion by the Methodist Conference of 1796. He died in 1798.