fact that the prevalence of Necessarian views in modern times can be adequately explained.

Without venturing an opinion on the merits of the question at issue, between the advocates of free will and of necessity, we are sufficiently assured of the historical fact, that the distinction between man and nature, between the actions of a self-conscious agent and the workings of blind, unintelligent powers, was considered by the great philosophers of antiquity as the groundwork of their systems of morality, and as involved in the very conception of moral science. It was natural that this distinction should be felt to be a barrier to the progress of the exclu sively empirical psychology to which we have alluded To the historians of man's nature, the necessity of his actions appeared in the light of an hypothesis which lay at the very foundation of their inquiries, precisely as the natural philosopher is compelled to assume the regular recurrence of the same outward phenomena under the same circumstances.

The psychologist considers the states of which he is conscious, merely as they are related to each other in time; and, thus considered, it seems to him a mere identical proposition to assert that all that can be known of them is the order of their succession. If their succession were arbitrary or uncertain, nothing could be known of it, and the science which he professes could no longer have an existence.

It is in this consideration, rather than in the dialectic subtleties by which the doctrine has been sometimes defended, that the real strength of the Necessarian lies. So long as he can maintain the merely phenomenal character of human knowledge, he can reduce his opponents to the dilemma of either denying the possibility of mental science altogether, or of admitting the existence of those uniform laws which are its only object.

In its relation to morality, the doctrine of necessity has been naturally considered to involve dangerous consequences. Attempts have been made by modern Necessarians to rescue it from this imputation. Sir James Mack

intosh, in particular, has devoted some portion of his Dissertation to the explanation of the principal ethical terms, on the Necessarian hypothesis. Nothwithstanding the ingenuity of this effort, the student will probably find, on careful examination, that the great question at issue is left much in the same state as before.

Among the most distinguished writers on this subject. are Liebnitz, the German philosopher, Jonathan Edwards, of whom we have already spoken, Lord Kaimes and Dr. Priestley.

Dr. Doddridge remarks: "Those who believe the being and perfections of God, and a state of retribution, in which he will reward and punish mankind, according to the diversity of their actions, will find it difficult to reconcile the justice of punishment with the necessity of crimes punished! And those who believe all that the Scripture says on the one hand, of the eternity of future punishments, and on the other, of God's compassion to sinners, and his solemn assurance that he desires not their death, will find the difficulty greatly increased."

The true law of necessity, so far as human conduct is concerned, is happily described by the tragic writer, Hill, in the following couplet:

"The first crime past impels us on to more;

Thus guilt proves fate, which was but choice before!"

How important, then, to shun the initiatory steps that lead to evil! What momentous consequences may hang upon what at first seems a trivial error or an amusing foible! It may be the first link to a chain which is to bind and paralyze the best impulses and energies of the immortal soul

CHAPTER VII.

DIFFERENT MODES OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT-THE EPISCOPALIAN, PRESBYTERIAN, AND CONGREGATIONAL, OR INDEPENDENT SYSTEMS-MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, OR EPISCOPALIANS-TRACTARIANS OR PUSEYITES.

THERE are three modes of church government in Christian communities; namely, the Episcopalian, from the Greek word enσxonos, signifying an overseer; the Presbyterian, from the Greek word "peaбviefos, an elder; and the Congregational, or Independent mode. Under one of these forms, or by a mixture of their several peculiarities, every Christian church is governed. The Episcopal form is the most extensive, as it embraces the Catholic, Greek, English, Methodist and Moravian churches.

Episcopalians have three orders in the ministry, namely: bishops, priests, and deacons. They have liturgies, longer or shorter; and they believe in the existence and necessity of an apostolic succession of bishops, by whom alone, regular and valid ordinations can be performed.

The Presbyterians believe that the authority of their ministers to preach the gospel and to administer the sacrament is derived from the Holy Ghost, by the imposition of the hands of the Presbytery. They affirm, however, that there is no order in the church, as established by Christ and his apostles, superior to that of presbyters; that all ministers, being ambassadors of Christ, are equal by their commission; that presbyter and bishop, though different words, are of the same import; and that prelacy was gradually established upon the primitive practice of making the moderator, or speaker of the presbytery, a permanent officer.

The Congregationalists, or Independents, formerly called Brownists from the name of their founder, are so called from their maintaining that every congregation of Chris

tians, which meets in one house for public worship, is a complete church, has sufficient power to act and perform every thing relating to religious government within itself, and is in no respect subject or accountable to other churches.

Independents, or Congregationalists, generally ordain their ministers by a council of ministers called for the purpose; but still they hold that the essence of ordination lies in the voluntary choice and call of the people, and that public ordination is no other than a declaration of that call.

MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, OR EPISCOPALIANS.

The term Episcopalian is generally applied to members of the church of England, although all denominations of Christians who have adopted the Episcopal system of church_government, are equally entitled to the appellation. For the sake of convenience, however, we shall, in speaking of the American off-shoot from the established church of England, characterise it simply by the term Episcopalian.

The church of England broke off from the Romish church in the time of Henry the Eighth, when, as has been already related, Luther had begun the reformation in Germany. During the earlier part of his reign, Henry was a bigoted Papist. He burned William Tyndal, who made one of the first and best English translations of the New Testament. He wrote fiercely in defence of the seven sacraments against Luther, for which the Pope honoured him with the title of " Defender of the Faith." This title is retained by the kings and queens of Great Britain, even to the present day, though they are the avowed enemies of that faith, by contending for which he acquired that honourable distinction. Henry falling out with the pope, took the government of ecclesiastical affairs into his own hands; and having reformed many enormous abuses, entitled himself "Supreme Head of the Church."

The church of England was first reformed by law on the accession of Edward the Sixth; but many imposant points of doctrine and discipline were left untouched; and the enactments of Elizabeth, by which its whole constitution was finally settled, and it was made the established church, followed rather than preceded the expressed convictions of the nation.

The government of the church of England is episcopal, and the bishops sit in the House of Lords by virtue of the temporal baronies into which their benefices were converted by William the Conquerer. This constitution was subverted on the success of the great rebellion, and Presbyterianism established in its stead; but the Epis opal form was restored in 1660 with the return of Charles the Second. The established church of Ireland is the same as the church of England, and at the union of England and Ireland became one united church. It is governed by four archbishops and eighteen bishops. Since the Union of Ireland with Great Britain, four only of these spiritual lords sit in the house of lords, assembled at Westminster.

In Scotland, and other parts, since the Revolution, there existed a species of Episcopalians called Nonjurors, because being inflexibly attached to the Stuarts, who were then driven from the throne, they refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Brunswick family. They are, indeed, the remains of the ancient Episcopal church of Scotland, which was, after various fluctuations, abolished at the Revolution.

The church of England has produced a succession of eminent men. Among its ornaments are to be reckoned Usher, Jewell, Hall, Taylor, Stillingfleet, Cudworth, Wilkins, Tillotson, Cumberland, Barrow, Burnet, Pearson, Hammond, Whitby, Clarke, Hoadley, Jortin, Seeker, Butler, Warburton, Horne, Lowth, Porteus, Hurd, Horsley, Hooker, Sherlock, and Milman.

The articles of faith of the English church are thirtynine in number; the substance of which was first promulgated in forty-two articles by Edward the Sixth, in 1543. Under Henry the Eighth a committee had been