or in privileges, the office of Lay-Elders is found in all the Presbyterian Churches upon the Continent, and it forms an essential part of the constitution of the Church of Scotland.

See the Directory, i. e. a kind of regulation for the performance of religious worship, which was drawn up by the Westminster Assembly of Divines, at the instance of Parliament, in 1644. It was designed to supply the place of the Liturgy, or Book of Common Prayer, the use of which they had abolished, and is still partly, but by no means strictly, adhered to by Presbyterians in general. It consists of some general heads, which are to be filled up at discretion; for it prescribes no form of prayer, or circumstances of external worship, nor obliges the people to any responses, excepting

Amen.

It is generally bound up with the Westminster Confession of Faith, and may also be found at the end of Neale's History of the Puritans.

COUNTRIES WHERE FOUND, EMINENT MEN, &c.-The established religion in Scotland is the Presbyterian; the two parties of Seceders, and the Society of Relief, are also strict Presbyterians; and in England one branch of the Protestant Dissenters are still called Presbyterians, though improperly.* The Presbyterians have long been numerous in Ireland, especially in the

* See the article "English Presbyterians," below.

north; and on the Continent Presbyterianism still prevails, in Switzerland and in Holland.-Presbyterians are also numerous in most parts of North América. Their's is the prevailing religion throughout Connecticut, where it is said to reign "in all its rigour, despotism, and intolerance."* Although the letter of the law has established freedom of religious sentiments in Connecticut, such freedom is far from being known there. Its ministers, the zeal of its followers, and the appropriation of the places in the College to Presbyterians exclusively, afford very great advantages, to prevent it from being supplanted by any other form of religion. The Presbyterians are also the most numerous sect in North Carolina, especially in the western parts, which are inhabited by emigrants from Pennsylvania,

It is said that there were in America, in the year 1788, about 618 Presbyterian congregations, and 226 ministers; and their General Assembly usually meets at Philadelphia in the month of May.† Calvin, Martyr, Beza, Bullinger, Zanchius, Blondel, Salmasius, Dallæus, Claude, &c. may be considered as among the chief luminaries of the foreign Presbyterian Churches; and at home none perhaps have been more eminent than Knox, Henry, McKnight, Robertson, Campbell, and Blair.

* Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt's Travels, v. 1. ↑ [The churches and ministers of Connecticut are Congregational, and not Presbyterian. The Presbyterian ministers in the United States, are (in 1817) about 600 in number.]

To the works already referred to in favour of Presbyterianism may be added, David Blondel's Apologia pro Sententia Hieronymi, which is a magazine for the writers against Episcopacy, and was drawn up at the request of the Westminster Assembly, particularly the Scots.* See also Samuel Rutherford's Divine Right of Presbyteries, and his Divine Right of Church Government; together with Petrus Molinæus De Munere Pastorali.

On the other side, in addition to the authors referred to under the articles Episcopacy, and United Church of England and Ireland, may be mentioned: -Bishop Beveridge in his Annotations upon the Apostolic Canons ;-Hooker in the 7th book of his Eccles. Polity;-Bingham, Leslie, and John Jacques in his Ordination by mere Presbyters void and null. 1707.

MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS.-It is a principle in almost all Presbyterian Churches, never to administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in private houses to any person, under any circumstances whatsoever.† But surely the Presbyterians have not adopted this principle from Calvin, who thus expresses himself on the subject:"Why the Lord's Supper should not be denied to the sick, many and great reasons prevail with

*See its odd conclusion in Mr. Jones's Life of Bishop Horne, p. 246.

† See Leslie's Rehearsals, No. 399.

me, &c. &c. My judgment for the administration of private baptism, and giving the Lord's Supper to malefactors that desire it, and appear qualified for it, is the same."* He likewise required sponsors in baptism, besides or together with the father; whereas now almost all Presbyterians, both at home and abroad, who practise infant baptism, require no sponsors, but the father, and in some cases the mother; and they seldom administer baptism in private houses.

See Mr. Calder's Miscellany Numbers; (fol. 1713;) Relating to the Controversies about the Book of Common Prayer, Episcopal Government, the Power of the Church, in ordaining Rites and Ceremonies, &c. defended by Scripture, Reason, Antiquity, and the sentiments of the Learn'dest Reformers, particularly Mr. John Calvin. In this work various other particulars are produced, respecting which the sentiments of Calvin seem to correspond more with those of the Episcopalians than of the modern Presbyterians.

* Calv. Epist. 321,-363; and Epist. 185, ad Monsbel. † Calv. Epist. 285; and to Knox, Epist. 302. So also Beza, Epist. 8.

INDEPENDENCY,

AND

INDEPENDENTS.

NAMES. The Independents, formerly a distinct sect, but now comprehending the members of various denominations, as far as respects Church Government and Discipline, are so called from their maintaining, that all Christian congregations are so many Independent Religious Societies ;or, that each congregation of Christians which meets in one house, for public worship, is a complete Church;-has sufficient power to perform every thing relating to ecclesiastical government within itself;—and, is in no respect subject or accountable to other churches.

This name of Independents, those who embraced these sentiments either assumed or approved; but when, about the middle of the 17th century, a great variety of sects in England sheltered themselves under the cover of it, and even seditious