Discipline of the Episcopa lian Church tive it is to rule all estates and degrees committed to his charge by God; and to restrain, with the civil sword, the stubborn and evil doers of every denomination, clergymen as well as laymen.' They further declare, that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm;' and they do, from their hearts, 'abhor, detest, and abjure, as impious and heretical, that damnable doctrine and position, that princes excommunicated or deprived by the Pope, or any authority of the See of Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects, or any other whatsoever.' "Such are the solemn acknowledgments of the king's sovereignty required from candidates for holy orders in the United Church of England and Ireland. A similar obligation, as extended to all ecclesiastical persons, was enforced in a code of canons intended for the Established Church of Scotland in the reign of Charles the First. But the attempt to introduce a proper system of discipline, conjoined to the uniform use of a Liturgy, was completely frustrated by the events of that disastrous period; and the troublesome state of affairs in the two succeeding reigns was equally unfavourable to the establishment of order and unity in the Church. The Revolution in 1688 set aside the legally established episcopacy of Scotland; and for several years after the shock which our Church received by the termination of that national struggle, the bishops had enough to do in keeping up a pure episcopal succession, till it should be seen what, in the course of Providence, might be further effected towards the preservation, though not of an Established, yet of a purely primitive Episcopal Church, in this part of the kingdom. For this purpose a few canons were drawn up, and sanctioned by the bishops, in the year 1743, which, though very well calculated to answer the purposes intended by them, while the Church was under legal restraint and threatened with persecution, have yet left room for considerable enlargement, and require to have embodied with them, or added to them, several regulations suited to the now happily tolerated and protected state of the Episcopal Church in this country. ["In accomplishing this good work, some aid might be expected from the canons appointed for the Church of England in the year 1603, for the Church of Ireland in 1634, and for the Church of Scotland in 1636. For the purpose of collecting from these and other sources a system of ecclesiastical discipline proper for the Church under their episcopal charge, the Protestant bishops in Scotland came to the resolution of holding a general ecclesiastical synod; and being duly convocated by the primus, did accordingly meet at Aberdeen, on Wednesday, the 19th day of June, in the year of our Lord the Episcopa 1811, together with the deans of their several dioceses, and a Discipline of representative of the clergy from each diocese containing more lian Church. than four presbyters, when a code of canons for preserving and regulating order and discipline in the Protestant Episcopal Church in Scotland was adopted and sanctioned. A second general synod met at Laurencekirk, in the county of Kincardine, on Wednesday, the 18th day of June, 1828, when the canons of 1811 were revised and altered. A third was held in Edinburgh, on Wednesday, 17th of June, 1829, when some enactments in the sixteenth canon of 1828 were repealed. A very general desire being expressed throughout the Church, especially in the year 1837, that a further revision of the whole code should be made, another general synod was in consequence duly summoned, and met accordingly in Edinburgh, on Wednesday, the 29th August, 1838, and being then and there duly and solemnly constituted with prayer, after full deliberation and discussion during several successive days, the synod so assembled and constituted did, and hereby do, adopt and sanction the following revised and amended code of canons, and declare them to be in future the stated rules and regulations for preserving order and discipline in the said Church in Scotland. In testimony whereof, we, the members of the said synod, have hereunto annexed our names and designations in the register-book of the Episcopal College, and we have, moreover, entrusted to a committee in Edinburgh the duty of causing the revised and amended canons now approved and sanctioned to be faithfully inserted in the foresaid register, and together with this introduction, to be carefully printed for the general use of the Church. For these purposes, an authentic copy, verified by the primus, the clerk of the Episcopal College, and by the prolocutor of the second chamber, in the presence of the synod, has been given to the committee, which they are required to preserve when these purposes are attained, along with the register-book aforesaid; committing the custody thereof to the clerk of the Episcopal College, whose duty it is to preserve the said register, and the general records of the Church." Church. [Before the distinction of archbishop was introduced into Primus of the Scotland, one of the bishops had a precedency under the title Episcopalian of Primus Scotorum Episcopus; and the recent Synod of 1838, in compliance with the practice of the Episcopal College for the last century, decreed that the bishops should choose a primus without respect to seniority of consecration or precedency of diocese, who should enjoy no other privilege among the bishops but the right, under particular restrictions, "of convocating" and presiding. But he is empowered, with the advice and consent of his colleagues, to determine any case relating to discipline in a vacant diocese, and to provide for the performance of any Episcopal office that may be necessary. To the primus also the decease of every bishop must be no tified by the dean of the diocese. This dean is chosen from the presbyters (k), and his appointment is imperative on every bishop. The Synod consists of two chambers: the first, of the bishops only; the second, of the deans and a representative of the clergy elected by each diocese. There are six sees.-1. Edinburgh, the bishop of which is the present primus. 2. Dunkeld. 3. Aberdeen. 4. Ross and Argyle. 5. Brechin. 6. Glasgow. There are five deanries; Ross, Argyle and Moray sending a delegate but having no dean. There are four Episcopal chapels in Scotland, situated in Perth, Montrose, and Aberdeen, but these are not connected with the Scotch Episcopal Churches. At Edinburgh there is a Theological Institution, attached to which is a Professor, designated as the Pantonian Episcopal Professor in Edinburgh, and a Professor of Church History. What Laws British Subjects carry with them to the Colonies. [I. General Principles relating to. "IT hath been held (says Mr. Justice Blackstone (1)) that if an uninhabited country be discovered and planted by English subjects, all the English laws then in being, which are the birthright of every subject (m), are immediately there in force. But this must be understood with very many and very great restrictions. Such colonists carry with them only so much of the English law as is applicable to their own situation and the condition of an infant colony; such, for instance, as the general rules of inheritance, and of protection from personal injuries. The artificial refinements and distinctions incident to the property of a great and commercial people, the laws of police and revenue (such especially as are enforced by penalties), the mode of maintenance for the established clergy, the jurisdiction of spiritual courts, and a multitude of other provisions, are neither necessary nor convenient to them, and therefore are not in force. What shall be admitted and what rejected, at what times, and under what circumstances, must in case of dispute be decided in the first instance by their own provincial judicature, subject to the revision and control of the king in council; the whole of their constitution being also liable to be new modelled and reformed by the general superintending power of the legislature in their mother country. But in conquered or ceded (k) [See the Canons of 1838 printed in the Appendix.] (1) [Introd. iv. p. 190.] countries that have already laws of their own, the king may indeed alter and change these laws, but till he does actually change them the ancient laws of the country remain, unless such as are against the law of God, as in the case of an infidel country (n). Our American plantations are principally of this latter sort, being obtained in the last century either by right of conquest, and driving out the natives (with what natural justice I shall not at present enquire), or by treaties; and therefore the common law of England, as such, has no allowance or authority there, they being no part of the mother country, but distinct (though dependent) dominions. They are subject, however, to the control of the parliament; though (like Ireland, Man, and the rest) not bound by any acts of parliament unless particularly named." The luminous judgment of Sir William Grant (0), Master of the Rolls, in the Attorney-General v. Stewart, contains a masterly exposition of the same doctrine. Jurisdiction [In order to ascertain the authority and jurisdiction which Power and may be exercised by any diocesan of a colonial see, the patent of Colonial of his appointment must be consulted; but generally speaking Bishops. he is empowered to exercise personally, or through his commissary or commissaries, the same ecclesiastical jurisdiction and authority as may be exercised according to the ecclesiastical laws and canons of England. There is also usually a power given to the bishop to appoint any actuary or registrar for the particular occasion. [On the 14th December, 1838, a cause of appeal was heard before the Privy Council (p), from a sentence passed by the Bishop of Jamaica in person upon a clergyman. Some doubt (q) having arisen as to whether the appeal lay to the Queen in Chancery or to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, a board was formed of five members of that committee and others of the Privy Council, who received a commission of Delegates from the Lord Chancellor. The cause was eventually heard before five members of the Judicial Committee, (Lord Brougham, Baron Parke, Justice Bosanquet, Sir Herbert Jenner, and Dr. Lushington.) [In this case the bishop had ordered a clergyman to register marriages, &c. solemnized in a particular chapel within his rectory. The clergyman refused, and was cited to appear before the bishop at a particular time, in a particular church, where the bishop, having asked the clergyman whether he could deny that he had not obeyed his (the bishop's) injunctions, and receiving no answer, proceeded to suspend him for four days ab officio, and until he should have openly acknowledged his (n) [Rep. 17; Calvin's case, Show. Parl. c. 31.] (0) [In this case he decided that the Statute of Mortmain did not extend to Grenada. 2 Meriv. Rep. 143.-ED.] (p) [Bowerbanks v. Lord Bishop of Jamaica.] (9) [The judges at the hearing intimated their opinion that the appeal lay to the Judicial Committee. The difficulty arose from the words of the statute constituting the see of Jamaica which gave an appeal from the bishop's decisions to the king in council.-ED.] Constitution, ders, and the Society error and expressed his contrition in the parish church. The clergyman first applied to the High Court of Chancery in Jamaica for a prohibition, which was refused, and subsequently to the Privy Council, who reversed the bishop's sentence, on the ground that no citation or articles containing the charge had been delivered to the clergyman, and that he had not been heard in his defence. [The patent of the appointment of the last Bishop of Calcutta gives an appeal from his decisions to the Archbishop of Canterbury (r). [II. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. More [The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts is so intimately connected with the ecclesiastical discipline and revenues of the colonies, that any account of the Colonial Church which omitted all mention of this corporate body would very imperfectly describe its legal status. over the recent statute, 3 & 4 Vict. c. 78, has invested it with uncontrolled authority over the funds of the English Church in Canada, thereby effectually recognizing it as a legal organ of Church government (s). [The society was incorporated by royal charter, in the year Standing Or- 1701, " for the receiving, managing, and disposing of such funds Bye-Laws of as might be contributed for the religious instruction of his for the Pro- majesty's subjects beyond the seas; for the maintenance of The Gospel in clergymen in the plantations, colonies, and factories of Great Foreign Parts. Britain; and for the general propagation of the Gospel." ["Standing Orders prescribed by the Charter. pagation of ["1. That the incorporated members meet on the third Friday in February, yearly, between the hours of eight and twelve in the morning, and they, or the major part of them there present, shall choose one president, one or more vice-presidents, one or more treasurers, two or more auditors, one secretary, and other officers for the year ensuing. ["2. That if any officer die or be removed, the president, or one of the vice-presidents, may summon the members to meet at the usual place of the annual meeting of the society, and choose another in his place. ["3. That the incorporated members meet on the third Friday in every month, and oftener if occasion require, to transact the business of the society, and may at any such meetings elect persons for members. ["4. That no act of the society be valid unless the president, or one of the vice-presidents, and seven other members, be present. ["5. That at any meeting on the third Friday in the months of November, February, May, and August yearly, and at no other meetings, the society, or the major part of them then present, may make bye-laws and execute leases. (r) [As to the power of bishops or clergymen of her majesty's foreign possessions to officiate in England or Ireland, see ss. 4, 5 & 6 of 3 & 4 Vict. c. 33, under Church in Scotland.—ED.] (s) [See s. 5 of this statute, post.] |