Passing over to our own island, we are met, at once, by a fact, which appears at first, as far as it goes, to tell against the preceding conclusions. The Church of Scotland, ever since the Revolution, has been altogether Presbyterian; and yet, by God's blessing, her Ministers never have been accused of such a defection as took place at Geneva. Allowing the many good parts of her system (which, be it observed, are all in a primitive spirit) full credit for this, yet one may be permitted to observe that something naturally must be ascribed to the vicinity of our own Church diffusing a kind of wholesome contagion, the benefit of which has been acknowledged by some of the great lights of the Scottish establishment[1]. And it may be doubted whether many of the laity of that country, and especially whether the leading schools of education, have not been all along gradually verging towards something like Genevan profaneness. A little time will probably show—certainly there are symptoms in Scotland at this moment, which would make an orthodox Englishman more than ever unwilling to part with that outwork of Apostolic Faith, which England, under circumstances in many respects peculiarly untoward, has hitherto found in the Apostolical Commission of her Clergy.
In England itself, it is hardly necessary to do more than notice the acknowledged state of the Presbyterian Churches. Not being subjected to the control of so strict a discipline as those of their communion in Scotland, and being moreover thrown into more hostile contact with the principles of ancient episcopal order, they have subsided, one after one another, into a cold and proud Socinianism. Three years ago, it was stated on dissenting authority, that the whole number of Presbyterian chapels in England was 258, out of whom 235 were in reality Unitarian.
Among the Independent or Congregational Churches (in which denomination, when speaking of Church government, the Baptists are of course included) no such avowed defection prevails. But their systematical disparagement of the holy Sacraments, their horror (for it is more than disregard) of authority and antiquity,
- ↑ Dr. Chalmers on Establishments.
