tive.

the franchise of lading and discharging had been fre- freroga quently granted by the crown.

Preroga- LITARY State. We are now only to consider the prerogative of enlisting and governing them: which indeed was disputed and claimed, contrary to all reason and precedent, by the long parliament of King Chas. I.; but, upon the restoration of his son, was solemnly declared by the statute 13 Charles II. c. 6. to be in the king alone: for that the sole supreme government and command of the militia within all his majesty's realms and dominions, and of all forces by sea and land, and of all forts and places of strength, ever was and is the undoubted right of his majesty, and his royal predecessors, kings and queens of England; and that both or either house of parliament cannot, nor ought to, pretend to the same.

This statute, it is obvious to observe, extends not only to fleets and armies, but also to forts and other places of strength within the realm; the sole prerogative, as well of erecting, as manning and governing of which, belongs to the king in his capacity of general of the kingdom; and all lands were formerly subject to a tax, for building of castles wherever the king thought proper. This was one of the three things, from contributing to the performance of which no lands were exempted, and therefore called by the Anglo-Saxons the trinoda necessitas; sc. pontis reparatio, arcis constructio, et expeditio contra hostem. And this they were called upon to do so often, that, as Sir Edward Coke from M. Paris assures us, there was in the time of Henry II. 1115 castles subsisting in England. The inconveniencies of which, when granted out to private subjects, the lordly barons of those times, were severely felt by the whole kingdom; for, as William of Newburgh remarks in the reign of King Stephen, erant in Anglia quodammodo tot reges, vel potius tyranni, quot domini castellorum; but it was felt by none more sensibly than by two succeeding princes, King John and King Henry III. And therefore, the greatest part of them being demolished in the barons wars, the kings of after times have been very cautious of suffering them to be rebuilt in a fortified manner: and Sir Edward Coke lays it down, that no subject can build a castle, or house of strength imbattled, or other fortress defensible, without the license of the king; for the danger which might ensue, if every man at his pleasure might do it.

It is partly upon the same, and partly upon a fiscal foundation, to secure his marine revenue, that the king has the prerogative of appointing ports and havens, or such places only, for persons and merchandise to pass into and out of the realm, as he in his wisdom sees proper. By the feodal law, all navigable rivers and havens were computed among the regalia, and were subject to the sovereign of the state. And in England it hath always been held, that the king is lord of the whole shore, and particularly is the guardian of the ports and havens, which are the inlets and gates of the realm; and therefore, so early as the reign of King John, we find ships seized by the king's officers for putting in at a place that was not a legal port. These legal ports were undoubtedly at first assigned by the crown; since to each of them a court of portmote is incident, the jurisdiction of which must flow from the royal authority: the great ports of the sea are also referred to, as well known and established, by statute 4 Hen. IV. c. 20. which prohibits the landing else where under pain of conEscation and the statute 1 Eliz. c. II. recites, that 5

:

But though the king had a power of granting the franchise of havens and ports, yet he had not the power of resumption, or of narrowing and confining their li mits when once established; but any person had a right to load or discharge his merchandise in any part of the haven whereby the revenue of the custom was much impaired and diminished, by fraudulent landings in obscure and private corners. This occasioned the statutes of 1 Eliz. c. 11. and 13 and 14 Car. II. c. 11. § 14. which enable the crown by commission, to ascertain the limits of all ports, and to assign proper wharfs and quays in each port, for the exclusive landing and loading of merchandise.

The erection of beacons, light houses, and sea-marks, is also a branch of the royal prerogative: whereof the first was anciently used in order to alarm the country in case of the approach of an enemy; and all of them are signally useful in guiding and preserving vessels at sea by night as well as by day. See BEACON.

3. Another capacity in which the king is considered in domestic affairs, is as the fountain of justice and ge neral conservator of the peace of the kingdom. See the article fountain of JUSTICE.

4. The king is likewise the fountain of honour, of office, and of privilege: and this in a different sense from that wherein he is styled the fountain of justice; for here he is really the parent of them. See the articles Fountain of JUSTICE and Fountain of HONOUR.

5. Another light, in which the laws of England consider the king with regard to domestic concerns, is as the arbiter of commerce. By commerce, we at present mean domestic commerce only; for the king's preroga tive with regard to which, see Regulation of WEIGHTS and Measures, MONEY, &c.

6. The king is, lastly, considered by the laws of England as the head and supreme governor of the national church.

To enter into the reasons upon which this prerogative is founded is matter rather of divinity than of law. We shall therefore only observe, that by statute 26 Hen. VIII. c. 1. (reciting that the king's majesty justly and rightfully is and ought to be the supreme head of the church of England; and so had been recognised by the clergy of that kingdom in their convocation) it is enacted, that the king shall be reputed the only supreme head on earth of the church of England; and shall have, annexed to the imperial crown of this realm, as well the title and style thereof, as all jurisdictions, authorities, and commodities, to the said dignity of supreme head of the church appertaining. And another statute to the same purport was made, 1 Eliz. c. 1.

In virtue of this authority the king convenes, prorogues, restrains, regulates, and dissolves, all ecclesiastical synods or convocations. This was an inherent prerogative of the crown long before the time of Henry VIII. as appears by the statute 8 Hen. VI. c. 1. and the many anthors, both lawyers and historians, vouched by Sir Edward Coke. So that the statute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 19. which restrains the convocation from making or putting in execution any canons repugnant to the king's prerogative, or the laws, customs, and statutes of the realm, was merely declaratory of the old common law: that part of it only being new, which makes the king's royal

assent

tive.

assent actually necessary to the validity of every canon. The convocation or ecclesiastical synod, in England, differs considerably in its constitution from the synods of other Christian kingdoms: these consisting wholly of bishops; whereas in England the convocation is the miniature of a parliament, wherein the archbishop presides with regal state; the upper house of bishops represents the house of lords; and the lower house, composed of representatives of the several dioceses at large, and of each particular chapter therein, resembles the house of commons with its knights of the shire and burgesses. This constitution is said to be owing to the policy of Edward I. who thereby at one and the same time let in the inferior clergy to the privileges of forming ecclesiastical canons (which before they had not), and also introduced a method of taxing ecclesiastical benefices, by consent of convocation.

From this prerogative also, of being the head of the church, arises the king's right of nomination to vacant bishoprics, and certain other ecclesiastical preferments.

As head of the church, the king is likewise the der nier resort in all ecclesiastical causes; an appeal lying ultimately to him in chancery from the sentence of every ecclesiastical judge: which right was restored to the crown by statute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 9.

III. The king's fiscal prerogatives, or such as regard his revenue. See the article REVENUE.

PREROGATIVE-Court, an English court established for the trial of all testamentary causes, where the deceased hath left bona notabilia within two different dioceses. In which case the probate of wills belongs to the archbishop of the province, by way of special prerogative. And all causes relating to the wills, administrations, or legacies of such persons, are originally cognizable herein, before a judge appointed by the archbishop, called the judge of the prerogative court; from whom an appeal lies by statute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 19. to the king in chancery, instead of the pope as formerly.

PRESAGE, in Antiquity, denotes an augury, or sign of some future event; which was chiefly taken from the flight of birds, the entrails of victims, &c. See AUGURY and ARUSPICES.

PRESBURG, the capital of the kingdom of Lower Hungary, called by the inhabitants Posony and Presporen, situated on the Danube, about 46 miles east from Vienna, and 75 from Buda. The castle, in which the regalia are kept, stands on a bill above the town. Here the states assemble; and in the cathedral, dedicated to St Martin, the king is crowned. The town is not very large, or well built; but is very ancient, pleasantly situated, and enjoys a good air. The population is computed at 27,000. Its fortifications are only a double wall and ditch. In the lower suburbs is a hill, where the king, after his coronation, goes on horseback, and brandishes St Stephen's sword towards the four cardinal points, intimating, that he will defend his country against all its enemies. Besides the cathedral, there are several other Popish and one Lutheran church, with a Jesuits college, three convents, and two hospitals. It gives name to a county, and is the residence of the archbishop of Gran, who is primate, chief secretary, and chancellor of the kingdom, legatus natus of the Papal see, and prince of the holy Roman empire. E. Long. 17. 30. N. Lat. 48. 20.

PRESBYTÆ, persons whose eyes are too flat to re

PRESBYTER, in the primitive Christian church, an elder, one of the second order of ecclesiastics; the other two being bishops and deacons. See the article BISHOP and DEACON.

Presbyter, or elder, is a word borrowed from the Greek translation of the Old Testament, where it commonly signifies ruler or governor; it being a note of office and dignity, not of age; and in this sense bishops are sometimes called presbyters in the New Testament. The presbyters might baptize, preach, consecrate, and administer the eucharist in the bishop's absence, or in his presence if he authorised and deputed them; and the bishops did scarce any thing in the government of the church without their advice, consent, and amicable con

currence.

The grand dispute between the followers of the Geneva and Roman discipline, is about the sameness and difference of presbyters and bishops at the-time of the apostles. See EPISCOPACY, INDEPENDENTS, and the following article.

PRESBYTERIANS, Protestants so called from Discrimi their maintaining that the government of the church nating appointed in the New Testament was by Presbyteries, the Presbythat is, by associations of ministers, and ruling elders, terians. possessed all of equal powers, without any superiority among them either in office or in order.

The Presbyterians believe, that the authority of their ministers to preach the gospel, to administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper, and to feed the flock of Christ, is derived from the Holy Ghost by the imposition of the hands of the presbytery; and they oppose the independent scheme of the common rights of Christians by the same arguments which are used for that purpose by the Episcopalians, (see EPISCOPACY). 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 bytheir 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.

2

These positions they maintain against the Episcopa- Scriptural lians by the following scriptural arguments. They ob- arguments serve, that the apostles 'planted churches by ordaining against Ebishops and deacons in every city; that the ministers Fiscopacy. which in one verse are called bishops, are in the next perhaps denominated presbyters; that we nowhere read in the New Testament of bishops, presbyters, and deacons, in any one church; and that therefore we are under the necessity of concluding bishop and presbyter to be two names for the same church officer. This is apparent from Peter's exhortation to the elders or presbyters who were among the Jewish Christians. elders (presbyters) which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

"The

But an e

* 2 Tim. iv. 5.

19.

66

thing more than presbysters or parish ministers. This Presbytebeing the case, the dispute, which in the early part of riaus. the passing century was so warmly agitated concerning the validity of Presbyterian ordination, may be soon decided; for if the ceremony of ordination be at all essential, it is obvious that such a ceremony performed by presbyters must be valid, as there is no higher order of ecclesiastics in the church by whom it can be performed. Accordingly we find that Timothy himself, though said to be a bishop, was ordained by the laying on of the hands of a presbytery. At that ordination indeed St Paul presided, but he could preside only as primus in paribus; for we have seen that, as permanent officers in the church of Christ, the apostles themselves were no more than presbyters. If the apostles hands were imposed for any other purpose, it must have been to communicate those charismata or miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, which were then so frequent; but which no modern presbyter or bishop will pretend to give, unless his understanding be clouded by the grossest ignorance, or perverted by the most frantic enthusi

asm.

Presbyte- arise speaking perverse things; and if, as the Episcoparians. lians allege, diocesan episcopacy was the remedy provided for those evils, is it not strange, passing strange, that the inspired preacher did not foresee that Timothy, who was standing beside him, was destined to fill that important office; or if he did foresee it, that he omitted to recommend him to his future charge, and to give him 6 proper instructions for the discharge of his duty? But if Timothy was not bishop of Ephesus, what, it vangelist may be asked, was his office in that city? for that he resided there for some time, and was by the apostle invested with authority to ordain and rebuke presbyters, are facts about which all parties are agreed, and which indeed cannot be controverted by any reader of Paul's epistles. To this the Presbyterian replies with confidence, that the power which Timothy exercised in the church of Ephesus was that of an evangelist *, and not a fixed prelate. But, according to Eusebius, the work of an evangelist was, to lay the foundations of the faith in barbarous nations, and to constitute among them pastors; after which he passed on to other countries." Accordingly we find, that Timothy was resi+ Phil. ii dent for a time at Philippi and Corinth as well as at Ephesus, and that he had as much authority over I Cor. iv. those churches as over that of which he is said to have 17. xvi. 10, been the fixed bishop. "Now, if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear, for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do. Let no man therefore despise him." This text might lead us to suppose, that Timothy was bishop of Corinth as well as of Ephesus; for it is stronger than that upon which his episcopacy of the latter church is chiefly built. The 1 Tim.i. apostle says, "I besought thee ‡ to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine." But had Timothy been the fixed bishop of that city, there would surely have been no necessity for beseeching him to abide with his flock. It is to be observed, too, that the first epistle to Timothy, which alone was written to him during his residence at Ephesus, was of a date prior to Paul's meeting with the elders of that church at Miletus; for in the epistle he hopes to come to him shortly, whereas he tells the elders at Miletus, that they should see his face no more. This being the case, it is evident that Timothy was left by the apostle at Ephesus only to supply his place during his temporary absence at Macedonia, and that he could not possibly have been constituted fixed bishop of that church, since the episcopal powers were afterwards committed to the presbyters by the Holy Ghost in his presence.

II.

7

Presbyterate the

fice in the

church.

The identity of the office of bishop and presbyter being thus clearly established, it follows, that the presbybighest per-terate is the highest permanent office in the church, manent of- and that every faithful pastor of a flock is successor to the apostles in every thing in which they were to have any successors. In the apostolic office there were indeed some things peculiar and extraordinary, such as their immediate call by Christ, their infallibility, their being witnesses of our Lord's resurrection, and their unlimited jurisdiction over the whole world. These powers and privileges could not be conveyed by imposition of hands to any successors, whether called presbyters or bishops; but as rulers or office-bearers in particular churches, we have the confession of "the very chiefest apostles," Peter and John, that they were no

8

But if the office of bishop and presbyter was origi- Rise of E nally the same, how, it will be asked, came diocesan e- piscopacy. piscopacy to prevail so universally as it is confessed to have done before the conversion of Constantine and the civil establishment of Christianity in the Roman empire? To give a satisfactory answer to this question is certainly the most arduous task which the advocate for presbytery has to perform but it is a task not insurmountable.

From many passages in the New Testament*, it is * Acts xi. evident, that when the apostles planted churches in dif- 29. xiii. 1. ferent cities, they generally settled more than one pa. 2, 3. XV. Tit. i. 5. stor in the same church, to feed and govern it with joint authority. The propriety of this constitution is obvious. In those days, when the disciples of Christ were persecuted for their religion, and often obliged to meet in the "night for fear of the Jews," they could not with any degree of prudence assemble in large numbers; and therefore, bad there been no more than one pastor in a city, the Christian converts, though, when assembled, they might have amounted to but a small congregation, could not all have enjoyed the benefit of public worship on the same day; at least it is obvious that they could not possibly have assembled for this purpose so often as their want of instruction, and the duty of" breaking of bread and of prayer," required them to meet. It was therefore with great wisdom that the apostles ordained several presbyters in the same church; but as these presbyters would have occasion to meet frequently, and to deliberate on the state of the flock which it was their duty to feed, and over which they had all equal authority, they would be under the necessity of electing one of their own number to be president or moderator of the presbytery, that order might be preserved, and all things done with decency. At first there is reason to believe that those presidents held their office no longer than while the presbyteries sat in which they were elected. Among the apostles themselves there was no fixed president. Peter indeed appears to have been most frequently admitted to that honour; but there is one very memorable occasion on record †, when James the † Acts xv. Lord's brother presided in an assembly of apostles, elders, and brethren, held at Jerusalem, to determine the ques

tion

rians.

Presbyte

both written by Mr Willison some time minister in Dundee, and both evincing considerable learning and great rians. ingenuity in their pious author.

The cherch

Of the churches at present formed upon this model, we believe, that without incurring the imputation of of Scotland national prejudice, we may safely affirm the church of Scotland to be by much the most respectable. Her mode of worship is simple and solemn; her established faith agreeable to the confessions of most other Protestant churches; her judicatories are calculated to maintain the rights of the people; and her pastors are confessedly men of liberal and enlightened minds. On these accounts it appears to us, that we cannot more properly conclude this article than with a short view of her constitution, as being that in which our Presbyterian readers are undoubtedly most interested.

Presbyte- tion concerning the necessity of circumcising the Gentiles, and commanding them to keep the law of Moses. Upon this model were the primitive presbyteries formed. They consisted of several presbyters possessed of equal powers, who at their meetings appointed one of their own number to discharge the office of moderator or temporary president; but to this president they gave no prelatical powers or negative voice over the deliberations of his brethren; for, as Jerome informs us, the church was then governed communi presbyterorum According concilio, "by a common council of presbyters." It apto Jerome. pears, however, that when an apostle, an apostolical man, or an evangelist, fixed his residence in any city, and took upon himself the pastoral care of part of the flock, his co-presbyters, from respect to his singular gifts, made him their constant and fixed moderator. Hence Timothy, during his abode at Ephesus, was moderator of the presbytery; and hence too Mark the evangelist, who resided many years in Alexandria, has been called the first bishop of that church, though he appears to have been nothing more than permanent moderator. We advance this upon the authority of Jerome, one of the most learned fathers of the Christian church, who informs us, that upon the death of the evangelist, the presbyters of Alexandria, for more than 200 years, chose their bishops from their own number, and placed them in the episcopal chair, without dreaming that they ought to be raised to a higher order by a new consecration;Presbyteri unum ex se electum in excelsiori gradu collocatum, episcopum nominabant. As this practice of making the moderator of the presbytery of Alexandria a permanent officer, was thought a good expedient to guard the infant churches against schisms and divisions, those churches gradually adopted it. For, as Jerome tells us, Postquam unusquisque cos quos baptizaverat, suos putabat esse,non Christi, in toto orbe decretum est, ut unus de presbyteris electus, superponeretur cæteris, ad quem omnis ecclesiæ cura pertineret, et schismatum semina tollerentur.

The advantages which, in displaying his talents and authority, the perpetual president or speaker of any assembly has over his colleagues in office, are so obvious, that when the practice of clecting their moderators for life became universal among the presbyteries of the primitive church, it is easy to conceive how ambitious men might so magnify the difficulties and importance of their station, as to introduce the custom of filling it by a new consecration of the bishop elect. But when this was done, diocesan episcopacy, with all its powers and prerogatives, would follow as a thing of course, until "by little and little (as Jerome expresses himself) the whole pastoral care of the flock was devolved upon one man."

Our limits will not permit us to trace more minutely the rise and progress of this ecclesiastical usurpation, as the Presbyterian calls it; but the reader who wishes for fuller information, after studying the remains of the four first centuries of the Christian church, may consult An Inquiry into the Constitution, Discipline, and Worship of the Primitive Church, said to have been written by Sir Peter King, afterwards lord chancellor of England. As an impartial lover of truth, he will do well to consult also a book entitled, An original Draught of the Primitive Church, which was published as an answer to the Inquiry; and he may read with much advantage to himself A Letter from a parochial bishop to a prelatical gentleman, with An apology for the Church of Scotland,

II

men and

No one is ignorant, that from the first dawn of refor mation among us, till the era of the revolution, there was a perpetual struggle between the court and the people for the establishment of an Episcopal or a Presbyterian form of church government: The former model of ecclesiastical polity was patronised by the house of Stuart on account of the support which it gave to the prerogatives of the crown; the latter was the favourite of the majority of the people, perhaps not so much on account of its superior claim to apostolical institution, as because the laity are mixed with the clergy in church judicatories, and the two orders, which under episcopacy are kept so distinct, incorporated, as it were, into one body. In the Scottish church, every regulation of public worship, every act of discipline, and every ecclesiastical censure, which in other churches flows from the governed authority of a diocesan bishop, or from a convocation of by clergythe clergy, is the joint work of a certain number of laymen. clergymen and laymen acting together with equal authority, and deciding every question by a plurality of voices. The laymen who thus form an essential part of the ecclesiastical courts of Scotland, are called ruling elders; and hold the same office, as well as the same name, with those brethren who joined with the apos-* Acts xv. tles and elders at Jerusalem in determining the important question concerning the necessity of imposing upon the Gentile converts the ritual observances of the law of Moses. These lay-elders Paul enjoined Timothy to 1 Tim. v. account worthy of double honour, if they should rule well, 17. and discharge the duties for which they were separated from the multitude of their brethren. In the church of Scotland every parish has two or three of these lay-elders, who are grave and serious persons, chosen from among the heads of families, of known orthodoxy and steady adherence to the worship, discipline, and government of the church. Being solemnly engaged to use their utmost endeavours for the suppression of vice and the cherishing of piety and virtue, and to exercise discipline faithfully and diligently, the minister, in the presence of the congregation, sets them apart to their office by solemn prayer; and concludes the ceremony, which is sometimes called ordination, with exhorting both elders and people to their respective duties.

12

The kirk-session, which is the lowest ecclesiastical ju- The kirkdicatory, consists of the minister and those elders of the session. congregation. The minister is ex officio moderator, but has no negative voice over the decision of the session; nor indeed has he a right to vote at all, unless when the voices of the elders are equal and opposite. He

may