and a confession of faith, drawn up by Knox, was ratified; this adhered, in all essential articles of belief, to the ancient creed of the church. A book of discipline was soon drawn up, which followed in detail the principles in the confession of faith. The officers of the church were ministers, elders, and deacons. Ministers were chosen by each congregation, but were examined and admitted in public by the ministers and elders of the church. No other ceremony, such as imposition of hands, was used. The elders and deacons were chosen yearly in each congregation. They received no stipend, and were permitted to attend to their own private occupations. They had a general assembly, which met yearly or half yearly; this was the legislative and judicial power of the reformed church. The worship of the reformed church was modeled on that established by Calvin at Geneva. The laity took no part in ordinary worship, except in the singing of psalms; and there were no holy days except Sunday.

This form of church government did not remain long undisturbed. The struggle continued for some years, and in 1581 it was entirely changed. It recognized four orders of office bearers-the pastor, minister or bishop, the doctor, the presbyter or elder, and the deacon. These were set apart by ordination, and the imposition of the hands of the elders, but no one was intruded into any office contrary to the will of the congregation, or without the voice of the elders. Four sorts of church courts were sanctioned, each rising above the other; first, of particular congregations, one or more; second, of a provincial synod; third, of a whole nation; and fourth, of the universal church-the presbytery. In 1610 Episcopacy was restored to the Scotch churches, to comply with the wishes of James I. to harmonize with the English churches. Three Scottish prelates were consecrated, and four of the English bishops, at London. These changes excited great dissatisfaction in Scotland. Charles I. introduced into the Scottish church a book of canons and a liturgy framed on the model of those of England. The king had many loyal supporters in all parts of Scotland, and many preferred Episcopacy to Presbyterianism. But the king's opponents banded themselves together, and at a general assembly held at Glasgow abolished the Articles and Episcopacy, and re-established Presbyterianism.

Secession Church.

Secession Church. The causes which led to the formation of this church we here delineate in an abridged form. The reformation from popery in Scotland was very radical, in both doctrine and government. The people became strongly Calvinistic and Presbyterian. James came to the English throne in 1603. He undertook to establish Episcopacy in Scotland, but it was unavailing with the great body of the commoners and gentry; but many

of the Scottish nobles adopted the church principles of their sovereign, and after the restoration (1660), supported the government of Charles and James in their persecutions and covenants. Covenants and Scottish Church).

Episcopacy.

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Episcopacy obtained a temporary supremacy in Scotland, at a meeting of the Scottish estate in 1690, under the rule of Sharp (see Sharp) and Lauderdale, which became synonymous with adherents to the house of Stuart; but Episcopacy was abolished, and Presbyterianism re-established. One unavoidable consequence of this was the abolition of the right of patronage, for in a multitude, probably the great majority of cases, the exercise of this right would have placed the nominations to ecclesiastical beneficences in the hands of Episcopalian landholders, and thereby imperiled the existence of a sound Presbyterian ministry. There were still many zealous Presbyterians in Scotland. But the nation as a whole had gradually undergone a great change. In 1730, the assembly enacted that in the future no reasons of dissent against the determination of church jurisdiction should be entered on record. Rev. Ebenezer Erskine in a sermon opposed this action. A committee was appointed and Mr. Erskine was found deserving of censure. wrote a protest which was signed by three others, for which the four brethren were ordered to appear before the commission. This they refused to do, and in consequence they were declared no longer ministers of the church. They protested stating that they were obliged to make a secession from them, and appealed unto the free, faithful, reforming general assembly of the Church of Scotland. These four ministers constituted the Secession Church at the first, which has made a deep impress on the religious life of Scotland. Little Christian societies were formed everywhere, which were gradually supplied with pastors either from the Establishment, or from pious youths trained to the work of the ministry. Erskine and his friends drew up a statement of their reasons for separation, which was published under the title of "A Testimony to the Doctrine, Worship, Government, and Discipline of the Church of Scotland. The Secession Church was at first persecuted, and then later an attempt was made to induce them to return to the bosom of the church, but it failed. The general assembly in 1740 declared that the connection between Erskine and the church of his fathers was forever at an end.

In 1747 a rupture took place in the new body on the question of the burgess oath, in which they confess the religion of the country, loyalty to the queen, to the provost and bailies of the burgh and their officers, and declare that they will make concord where there is discord to the utmost of their power. Some affirmed that this oath could not be taken by any consistant seceder, and others

insisted that it could, and that the question regarding it ought to be a matter of mutual forbearance. The party condemning the religious clause in the burgess-oath formed the General Associate. Synod, and the party berating it, the Associate or Burger Synod. Subsequently, a second split occurred in each of these, and two other denominations were formed, the one assuming the designation Old Light Anti-burgers (1806); and the other Old Light Burgers (1799). After holding aloof from each other for many years they were re-united on Sept. 8, 1820. Henceforward, the history of the Secession church exhibits a course of uninterrupted prosperity. They came under the liberalizing influence of the new-born enthusiasm for foreign missions, and started stations in Canada, Jamaica, Trinidad, Calabar, and other places. So vigorously was their missionary work carried on that in 1847 they were supporting more than 60 missionaries. In Scotland they had 384 congregations. At this time they united with the Relief Church and formed the United Presbyterian Church.

Socinians.

Socinians, better known as Unitarians, an association founded by two men, an uncle and nephew by the name of Socinus. The elder of the two was born at Sienna, in Tuscany, in 1525, and the nephew was born at the same place December 5, 1530. By his mother's side he was very highly connected, but having lost his parents while young, his education was carelessly conducted; and he himself, at a later period, lamented the imperfection of his scholastic culture. His want of learning only induced him to speculate more freely, and thus it happened, partly from native bias, and partly from his uncle's epistolary arguments, that Faustus was a heretic-anti-Trinitarian before he was out of his teens.

The elder Socinus had an obstinate aversion to believe any thing unreasonable. Unlike most heretics, he was prudent and reticent. He died at the age of 37 years, having made a few proselytes. His nephew immediately secured his manuscripts, and retired to Italy where he remained about twelve years, after which he zealously advocated the Unitarian theory. He visited Transylvania, where anti-Trinitarians were numerous; here he made converts to his opinions. In 1579 he went to Poland where he obtained a great influence. He preached, and disputed, and wrote with a zeal that Socinianism has seldom displayed since. His position in relation to the reformers was that Luther and Calvin had rendered great service to the cause of religion, but that they had not gone far enough, that the only solid basis upon which Protestantism could rest was human reason. He combated the principal doctrines of the church-the divinity of Christ, propitiatory sacrifice, original sin, human depravity, the servitude of the will, and justification by faith. The works of Faustus Socinus are no

longer read; but his opinions have never wanted advocates in any Protestant country. He and his uncle Laelius Socinus may be regarded as precursors of that spirit of rationalism which has rooted itself so deeply in the thought of the modern world. In 1880 the Unitarians in Transylvania numbered about 60,000, and were said to be increasing. They have an organized system of church government, with a bishop at its head. They have three colleges; the one of Klausenburg has 12 professors and 273 students.

In England Unitarian opinions appeared later than on the Continent. During the reign of James Socinianism began to exercise considerable influence in England. After the passing of the Toleration Act in 1689, which made non-comformity legal, the way was prepared for that gradual change by which English Presbyterianism passed into Unitarianism. Thus Unitarians are the legitimate successors of 2,000 Presbyterian divines who in 1662 left the Church of England on account of their inability to comply with the terms of the Act of Uniformity.

In Scotland the religious atmosphere has never been favorable to Unitarianism. But toward the close of the 18th century there was a certain amount of Arianism among the moderates in the churches of Scotland. Unitarianism, as a distinct system, was preached at Montrose as early as 1783, and at the beginning of the 18th century some attempts were made to diffuse it by missionary efforts. In 1880 there were seven congregations in the country. That at Edinburgh had been of the strict Calvinists, but they adopted the principle of free inquiry, and gradually embraced Arian, and eventfully humanitarian views. This last change took place during the ministry of Dr. Southwood Smith, about the year 1812. In Ireland the history of Unitarianism is intimately connected with that of Presbyterianism. It flourishes principally in the north of the island, where there is a strong infusion of Scotch blood, and where Roman Catholicism has the least influence. In 1871 there were 9,373 Unitarians in Ireland.

Swedenborgians.

Swedenborgians, or Church of the New Jerusalem, were first organized as a separate body in 1788, by Robert Hindmarsh, a printer in Clerkenwell, London, who was elected by lot to baptize and to ordain his comrades in the ministry. They accept Swedenborg's voluminous theological writings as revelations from heaven. In 1880 they had a little over 4,000 registered members in Britain, divided into 58 congregations. There are a few scattered Swedenborgians in France, Germany, Sweden, and Russia.

United Armenians.

United Armenians are a division of Armenian Christians who

The Armen

are under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the pope. ian rite in the Roman Catholic Church has a patriarch and primate in Cilicia, four archbishops at Constantinople, Aleppo, Diarbekr, and Lemberg, two in partibus, and sixteen bishops. The union was effected 1314-44. In 1880 they numbered 100,000, of whom 78,000 are in Turkey and Persia; more than 8,000 in Austro-Hungary; and 14,000 in Russia, Caucasia and Siberia. In 1872 a part of the United Armenians of Turkey renounced the jurisdiction of the pope and joined the Old Catholics.

United Evangelical Church.

United Evangelical Church was established in Germany, in 1817, by the Union of portions of the Lutheran and Reformed churches. This union as formed at first was limited to those who advocated a common church government, and a common method of the celebration of the Lord's Supper, which was to be celebrated by adhering strictly to the Scriptural words of the institution.

In 1834 many strict Lutherans left the united church, and organized an independent Lutheran church- the rest of the old Lutherans, and the Reformed church, including about 10,000,000 persons, being nominally connected with the United Evangelical Church.

United Presbyterian Church.

United Presbyterian Church was formed in 1847 by the union of the Secession and the Relief church, having at the beginning 479 churches. The career of this church has been one of uninterrupted prosperity. In point of doctrine it adheres (like all the other Presbyterian churches in Scotland) to the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms. Its form of church government is Presbyterian; but, unlike the Established and Free churches, it has no intermediate courts between presbyteries and the supreme court, the latter of which it does not call a general assembly, but only a synod; though, in point of fact, it partakes more of the nature of a general assembly than the bodies known by that name, since it is an assembly of the whole clergy, with one elder from each kirk-session. It has a theological hall and library in Edinburgh and a staff of professors. It is a voluntary church. The United Presbyterians believe that the interests of Christianity are best served by the total separation of the church and state.

In the year 1875 about 100 congregations of the United Presbyterian church situated in England were transferred by the mother church in Scotland to the Presbyterian church in England. Since the separation of the English branch the United Presbyterian church still counts about 530 congregations and over 175,000 members.