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equality with his brethren. A body of Presbyters, having a Moderator, who conducts the proceedings, and executes the sentences, is considered as competent to perform all the acts, which, in Episcopal Government, belong exclusively to the Bishop. It tries the qualifications of candidates for the office of the ministry;-it confers orders by the imposition of hands;-to those who are nominated by persons having right of nomination, it grants the investiture of the sacred office, or induction into the charge of a particular parish; and it exercises inspection and jurisdiction over the pastors of all the parishes within its bounds.*

Almost all Presbyterians are Calvinists, (the Arminians in Holland, &c. excepted,) at least their public standards of faith are Calvinistical; viz.The Belgic Confession;—The Articles of the Synod of Dort;-The Westminster Confession of Faith; together with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, &c.; but very few of the Presbyterians in England are said to be Calvinists at present, and many of those also in the Church of Scotland are supposed to have departed from the peculiar doctrines of their standards. It may also be remarked here, that

* Dr. Hill, p. 169, 170. See also p. 166, where the Dr. tells us, that Presbyterians hold that "every person who is ordained, is as much a successor of the Apostles as any Christian teacher can be." The learned Dr. elsewhere contends, that Church Government is of divine appointment, and that the right of performing every ordinary ecclesiastical function was conveyed by the Apostles to all whom they ordained.

though many Unitarians are nominally Presbyterians in regard to Church Government, yet none of them are Calvinists, nor do they admit the Presbyterian standards of faith.

The Presbyterians, Independents, and others who embrace those standards, as well as the Roman Catholics, profess to believe that there is no salvation out of the Church of Christ. "Out of the visible Church, which is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.”*

Again, "They who, having never heard the Gospel, know not Jesus Christ, and believe not in him, cannot be saved, be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature, or the law of that religion which they profess," &c.t

The general system of Presbyterian doctrine and government may be found in Walonis Messalini De Episcopis et Presbyteris, 12mo. Lugd. Batav. 1641;-Piercii Vindicia Fratrum Dissentientium in Anglia, which may also be had in English in 8vo. 1717;-A Petition for Peace with the Reformation of the Liturgy, as it was present

*Confession of Faith, chap. 25.

Larger Catechism, answer to Quest. 60.

On the copy of this work now before me, I find this MS. note "Verum nomen Autoris fuit Claudius Salmasias, qui scripsit etiam De Primatu Papa. Hoc tamen dissimulans, nonnunquam loquitur de Salmasio in tertia persona, ut p. 164, 165, 176, 177," &c. So also S. W. Sluterus, in his Prophylæum Hist. Christianæ, p. 144.

ed to the Bishops by the (Dissenting) Divines, &c. 4to. 1661; and in Towgood's Letter to White, of which the last edition was published in 1787.See also The Form of Presbyterial Church Government, agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines of Westminster, and of equal authority with the Confession of Faith.

WORSHIP AND DISCIPLINE.-Calvin was himself no enemy to Liturgies, but "highly approved of them, and composed certain forms of prayer, to be used by the ministers in Geneva in the public worship, on Sundays and other holidays, and at the administration of the Sacraments;"* but almost all Presbyterians, at least in Britain, Ireland, and America, have now laid them aside, and use extemporary prayer in the worship of God. They also differ from Episcopalians in this, that while the

* See Calvin, in Matth. vi. v. 9. and chap. xviii. v. 19. 20. Inst. lib. iii. c. 20. s. 32.; lib. iv. c. 1. s. 23 and 31. Epist. ad Protect. Opusc. p. 33.

"The Presbyterian mode of worship," says Dr. Eveleigh, in his Bamp. Lect. p. 170, "seems to have been taken from the alternative permitted under Knox's, or the old, Liturgy in Scotland; to which it is subjoined :-'It shall not be necessary for the ministers daily to repeat all these things before mentioned; but beginning with some manner of confession, to proceed to the Sermon: which ended, he either useth the prayer for all estates, or else prayeth as the spirit of God shall move his heart, framing the same according to the time and manner which he hath entreated of.'"-Collier's Hist.vol. ii. p. 561.

Some of the fruits of this unhappy alternative may be

latter kneel in time of prayer, the former stand, and in singing the praises of God they sit, while all Episcopalians stand; and, what will perhaps seem most remarkable, the Dutch Presbyterians are said to remain covered during public worship. These last have not, however, declared war against instrumental music in houses of public worship, like their brethren in Great Britain and Ireland.

Mosheim tells us, that Calvin laid a scheme for sending forth from his little republic of Geneva, "the succours and ministers that were to promote and propagate the Protestant cause through the most distant nations, and aimed at nothing less than rendering the government, discipline, and doctrine of Geneva, the model and rule of imitation to the reformed churches throughout the world."* So strict was the discipline that he established at Geneva, that it gave general offence; yet this may be said to be the ground work of that of Presbyterian Churches in general. For the Presbyterian discipline, the reader is again referred to the article Church of Scotland, which exhibits perhaps the best model existing at the present day, though now somewhat relaxed.

For his discharge of all the duties of the pastoral office, a minister is accountable only to the

seen in a work, entitled, The Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence Displayed; which, however, should be read and understood cum grano salis.

* Cent. 16. sect. 3. part 2.

Presbytery, from whom he received the charge of the parish.-"But in every thing which concerns what is called discipline, the exercise of that jurisdiction over the people with which the officebearers of the church are conceived to be invested, a Presbyterian minister is assisted by Lay-Elders. They are laymen in this respect, that they have no right to teach, or to dispense the Sacraments; and on this account they form an office in the Presbyterian Church inferior in rank and power to that of pastors. They generally discharge the office which originally belonged to the Deacons, of attending to the interests of the poor. But their peculiar business is expressed by the name Ruling Elders; for in every question of jurisdiction within the parish, they are the Spiritual Court, of which the minister is officially moderator; and in the Presbytery, of which the pastors of all the parishes within its bounds are officially members, Lay-Elders sit as the representatives of the several Sessions or Consistories."*

Calvin admitted Lay-Elders into Church Courts on what he conceived to be the sanction of primitive practice, and "as an effectual method of preventing the return of inordinate power in a superior order of Clergy." With some variation in name

* Dr. Hill's Theol. Lect. p. 170, 171.

† Dr. Hill, p. 174. On the other hand, Episcopalians remark, that neither the name nor thing of a Lay Elder, was ever known to any General or Provincial Council; nay, nor to any particular Church in the whole world, before Calvin's days.

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