Bible; and we do not object to the Douay version published with the approbation of the Catholic Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland.

Old Catholics.

Old Catholics-those members of the Roman church in Germany who, in 1870, took the ground that the dogma of the immaculate conception of 1854, the encyclical and syllabus of 1864, and the decree of papal infallibility had so changed the status of the Roman church that no man could continue in its communion and still adhere to the Catholic church of Christ. They disputed the ecumenical character of the Vatican council. A large number of German theologians and civilians denounced the course of the bishops, and professor Michaelis openly charged the pope with heresy and apostacy. This was followed by a protest by Dr. Dollinger and 43 other professors of the university of Munich against papal infallibility and the validity of the Vatican decrees. A conference was held at Nuremberg, Aug., 1870, which drew up a protest against the character of the Vatican council, and the binding authority of its acts. The first Old Catholic congress met at Munich, Sept. 22, 1871. It was attended by about 300 delegates from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and friends from Holland, France, Russia, England and elsewhere. They declared that we expect, in the assumptions of the reforms which we attempt, and in the way of science and of progress in Christian knowledge, a gradual understanding with the Protestant and Episcopal churches. When the second Old Catholic congress met at Cologne, Sept., 1872, the work of organization made progress.

The national church of Holland heartily entered into the Old Catholic movement. The relation of the Old Catholic Church of Germany to the Anglo-Catholic Church is very friendly. In Switzerland the Old Catholic reform had a very pronounced effect on the people. At Geneva it carried with it the majority of the Roman Catholics of the city.

The seventh Old Catholic congress was held at Baden-Baden, Sept. 12-14, 1880, which was attended by 150 delegates, at which bishop Reinkens reported favorably of progress in Germany, where there were nearly 50,000 adherents.

Plymouth Brethren.

Plymouth Brethren, a religious sect which sprang into existence about 1830 in Plymouth, Dublin, and other places in the British islands and in parts of the continent of Europe. It seems to have originated in a re-action against high church principles, and against dead formalism. Communities began to appear almost simultaneously in a number of places. A Mr. Darby, a clergyman of the Church of England, from conscientious scruples left the church, and

engaged in evangelistic work among the brethren, and published "The Christian Witness." Their tenets are Calvinistic,-original sin, predestination, the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice, the merit of his obedience, the power of his intercession, the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit in regeneration and sanctification. They baptize adults only, and usually administer the Lord's Supper every Sunday. They reject ecclesiastical organization, and acknowledge no special ministers. They have no form of church government. They exclude persons known to have been guilty of gross sins from partaking of the Lord's Supper with them.

Presbyterianism.

Presbyterianism. The Union between the Scottish and English Puritans was dissolved by the ascendency of the Independents, and Episcopacy again restored. When William and Mary were called to the throne (1689) the prelacy was declared to be an insupportable grievance, and was abolished. In the following year Presbyterianism was re-established, and the Westminster Confession of Faith was ratified. During the reign of queen Anne, in 1707, England and Scotland were united into one kingdom. A special statute was passed for the Presbyterian church government, providing that it should continue without alteration in time to come.

Presbyterian Church of England.

Presbyterian Church of England. In 1572 a presbytery was formed at Wandsworth, in Surrey, by ministers of London and its neighborhood, separating from the Church of England; and other presbyteries were soon formed, notwithstanding the extreme hostility of queen Elizabeth. When the Westminster assembly met in 1643, the Puritans of England were generally inclined to adopt Presbyterianism as their system of church government, although some still preferred a modified episcopacy, and some had adopted the principles of independency or Congregationalism. The Presbyterians were the strongest party in the beginning of the revolution, but the Independents gained the ascendency afterward. The establishment of Presbyterian church government in the Church of England was voted by Parliament, Oct. 13, 1647; but it was never established. The influence of the Independents prevented it. London and its neighborhood were, meanwhile, formed into 12 presbyteries, constituting the provincial synod of London, which held regular meetings till 1655, the meetings of presbyteries being continued till a later date; but the whole Presbyterian system was overturned by Cromwell's committee of triers, appointed for the examination and approval of all persons elected or nominated to any ecclesiastical office. Cromwell's policy aimed at bringing all ecclesiastical matters under the control of the civil power. The

restoration was followed by the fruitless Savoy conference, and soon after, by the Act of Uniformity, which came into force on Aug. 24, 1662, about 2,000 ministers in England and Wales on that day resigned their benefices, or submitted to be ejected from them, for conscience' sake. The first Non-conformists were mostly Presbyterians, but a small minority of Independents among them prevented the institution of a regular Presbyterian system, and the Non-conformists of England became practically independent. Antinomianism and Arminianism soon appeared among them, and were followed by Socinianism or Unitarianism to such an extent that the name Presbyterian became in England synonymous with Socinian or Unitarian-old endowments, legacies of Presbyterians, being in many instances enjoyed by Unitarians. Meanwhile, there existed in England a few congregations connected with the Church. of Scotland, and with what was formerly known as the Secession church, now the United Presbyterian church. The number of such afterward very much increased. At the time of the formation of the Free Church of Scotland the greater number of the English Presbyterian churches connected themselves with the Church of Scotland, and took the name of the Presbyterian Church of England. In 1876 a union, which had been iong desired, was consummated between the synod more intimately related to the Free Church of Scotland and the congregations belonging to the United Presbyterian church. The name assumed by the united church is the Presbyterian Church of England. At the time of the union, the Presbyterian Church of England had about 150 churches, and the United Presbyterian church more than 100. At the same date, the Church of Scotland in England had about 20 congregations.

Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The Irish Presbyterian church originated in the settlement of Ulster by Scottish colonists during the reign of James I. After various struggles, a Presbyterian church was founded at Carrickfergus in 1642. The Presbyterian population of Ulster was greatly increased by immigration from Scotland. They encountered opposition of prelates and of the civil power, yet the church continued to increase. The Presbyterian ministers received a pension from government under Charles II. in 1672, which was augmented under the reign of William. It was afterward repeatedly augmented, till it reached the amount of 70 Pounds for each minister. A seminary for the education of ministers was erected at Killaleagh. The Irish Presbyterians were subjected to opposition from the high church party. Afterward a party within it opposed the Westminster Confession, which to a large extent became Arian or Unitarian. In 1840 a union took place between the Irish Presbyterian church, and the Secession church in Ireland which formed the synod of Ulster.

The Irish Presbyterian church at that time consisted of about 600 congregations. It has displayed much zeal for the advancement of Protestantism in Ireland, and also of Christianity in other parts of the world; it supports a very successful mission in Guzerat.

Protestants.

Protestants is a term first applied to the adherents of Luther, from their protesting against the decree passed by the Roman Catholic states at the second diet of Speyer in 1529. This decree had forbidden any further innovations in religion, and enjoined those states that had adopted the Reformation so far to retrace their steps as to re-introduce the mass, and order their ministers to avoid disputed questions, and to use and explain the Scriptures only as they had hitherto been used and explained in the church. The essential principles involved in the protest, and in the arguments on which it was grounded, were: 1. That the Roman Catholic Church cannot be the judge of the reformed churches which are no longer in communion with her. 2. That the authority of the Bible is supreme, and above that of councils and bishops. 3. That the Bible is not to be interpreted and used according to tradition, but to be explained by means of itself, having reference to its own language and connection. The term Protestants was extended from those who signed the Speyer protest to all who embrace the fundamental principle involved in it, and thus Protestant churches became synonymous with reformed churches. The essence of Protestantism, therefore, does not consist in holding to any special system of doctrine and discipline, but to the Bible, the source from which all matters of truth, faith, and practice are derived. A church might, in the progress of research, see reason to depart from special points of its hitherto received creed, without thereby ceasing to be a Protestant church. A fixed dogma of interpretation excludes investigation; that is Romanism.

Puritans.

Puritans is the name which was first given, about 1564, to those clergymen of the Church of England who refused to conform to the liturgy, ceremonies, and discipline as arranged by archbishop Parker, and his Episcopal coadjutors. But in fact the Puritan tendency in the Church of England is as old as the church itself. We find its origin in the period of Cranmer, who, when laying the foundations of English Protestantism in a nation only half prepared for the change, found it necessary to make concessions to the older religion, and to build the new church on an elaborate system of compromise. This gave great offence to the more strict and doctrinal English reformers. In the reign of Edward VI. the party of the English church who acquired their theology and opinions of church

government from Calvin, if they got the upper hand would not stop till they had reconstructed, on a much simpler basis, the whole ecclesiastical fabric. The re-action under Mary drove the most of the Puritans to seek safety in exile on the Continent. It was here that the first definite step in the history of Puritanism was taken. On their return to England, after the accession of Elizabeth, the struggle was renewed. But the queen would not tolerate their notions, and during her reign punished those who refused to obey the Episcopal ordinances. The position assumed by the Puritans was that the liturgy, ceremonies, and discipline did not separate itself sufficiently from the Roman Catholic Church; and that it was desirable in the interest of religion to abandon everything that had no other authority than the will of man; and to follow as far as possible the pure Word of God. The character of those who desired these changes led to a wider use of the term Puritans; to be applied to those who were strict and serious in a holy life. ing the reign of James I. and Charles I. the spirit of Puritanism increased in English society and Parliament; both monarchs, however, made violent efforts to extirpate it.

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So great were the hardships to which the Puritans were exposed that many of them emigrated to America. Nowhere did the spirit of Puritanism express itself more thoroughly than in Massachusetts and Rhode Island; nor have its traces wholly disappeared. In Scotland Puritanism, in the shape of Presbyterianism, was from the first the established religion, and was without contention among reformers. The name Puritans was never applied to the extremest sect of Covenanters.

Reformation.

Reformation denotes the great religious movement which took place in Europe in the 16th century, and resulted in the churches of Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Holland, and in many parts of Germany and Switzerland becoming separated from the church of Rome. In Hungary and France large portions of the population were detached from the Roman Catholic faith, without leading to a national disruption from the papacy. The church of Rome had gradually, from the time of Gregory I., the Great, 590-604, extended its control and government over all the countries of western Europe, displacing in some localities the old national churches which had existed from an early date under simple forms of government.

The natural result of the widespread supremacy of the Roman church was that the spiritual aspect of the church became merged into its mere machinery of government. The spiritual decay was manifested in many forms-in the ignorance of the Bible, and the general ignorance of the monks, reverence for the pontiffs, and none for Christ; the church was used as an engine of self aggrandizement