Page:Evan's (sic) sketch of all religions abridged.pdf/13

 which secured to the Protestants the free exercise of their religion, was passed in 1598. It was revoked by Louis the Fourteenth. Their churches were then razed to the ground; and after the loss of innumerable lives, 50,000 of them were driven into exile. Many fled to Holland, where they built several places of Worship, and had amongst them some distinguished preachers.

The Episcopalians, in the modern acceptation of the term, belong more especially to the Church of England, and to its off-shoots, the Episcopal Churches of Scotland and of America. They insist on the divine origin of the office of bishops and other church officers.

The Church of England broke off from the Romish Church in the time of Henry VIII., when Luther had begun the Reformation in Germany. In early life, and during the first few years of his reign, Henry was a bigoted Papist; and having written a book against Luthier, in defence of the seven sacraments, the Pope honoured him with the title, Defender of the Faith. Henry, afterwards 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 doctrines and discipline of the Episcopal Church are nearly connected with the reformation of Luther in Germany; the thirty-nine articles of their faith in the Book of Common Prayer, were established in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

The Church of England is governed by the king or queen, who is the supreme head; by two archbishops, and by twenty-five bishops, who have each a seat and vote in the House of Peers. The Established Church of Ireland is the same as that of England, and is governed by four archbishops and eighteen bishops. It sends four spiritual lords to the British Parliament.

Dissenters from the Church of England made their first appearance in Queen Elizabeth's time, when, on account of the extraordinary purity which they proposed in religious worship and conduct, they were reproached with the name of Puritans. By the Act of Uniformity passed in 1662, in the reign of Charles the Second, two thousand ministers were obliged to quit the Established Church, refusing to conform to certain conditions, whence they were called Non-conformists. Their descendants are known by the name of Protestant