A hook of discipline was soon afterward drawn up by the compilers of the confession, which was generally approved of, but did not receive the sanction of parliament. It followed nut in detail the principles laid down in the confession. In regard to the office bearers of the church various orders were mentioned, but three were specially of import ance—ministers, elders, and deadons. Ministers were to lie chosen by each several con gregation, but were to be examined and admitted in public by the ministers and elders of the church. No other ceremony, such as imposition of hands, was to be used. The elders and deacons were to he chosen yearly in each congregation, and were not to receive any stipend, because their office was only to he from year to year, and because they were not to be debarred from attending to their own private occupations. In order to the better provision for the wants of the time, certain persons, called superintendents, were appointed in particular districts, with power to plant and erect churches, and to appoint ministers within the bounds of their jurisdiction.
The chief governing as well as legislative and judicial power in the reformed church was intrusted to a general assembly, which met half-yearly or yearly, and was composed of the superintendents, ministers, and lay COMMIssioners, and which gradually. by the introduction of the system of representation, assumed the form and more than the power of a parliament The worship of the reformed church was modeled on that established by Calvin at Geneva. It was embodied in a formulary called the book of common order, which for nearly a century continued to be generally used. It contained forms for the ordinary worship both on Sundays and week days, and for the administration of the sacraments, and for certain other occasions. The minister was not absolutely restricted to these forms. Except in the singing of psalms, the people took no direct part in ordinary wor ship, and there was no distinction of ecclesiastical seasons, all bolydays whatever except Sunday being abolished.
The form of church government established at the reformation did not remain long undisturbed. Some of the most zealous Protestants thought the danger to which the church was exposed from state tyranny and aristocratical oppression could best be met by restoring the bishops"•to their ancient position both in the church and iu the par. fitment; while others, of equal zeal and sincerity, saw in this only the con:Mencement of it plan for bringing back all the errors of popery. A scheme of this kiud was actually
est blishei I for some Hine, and the sees were tilled with Protestant bishops set apart for the office by their brethren of the ministry. It was almost immediately attacked by some of the ministers, who soon found a leader in Andrew Melville. a scholar of considerable eminence, who returned to Scotland in 1574, after a residence in Geneva, during which he had ardently embraced the new opinions as to ecclesiastical government maintained by Beza.
The struggle continued for some years, the bishops being encouraged by the sove reign and his advisers, whose support was frequently of little real advantage to them, and Melville receiving the zealous assistance of ninny of the ministers, and of the great body of the common people, who sympathized with him in his demoeratical theories of civil and ecclesiastical government. Melville was at Itst entirely successful His opinions were embodied in what was called the second book of discipline, which received the formal sanction of the general assembly in 1581. This formulary differed very much front the first book. It laid down authoritatively those principles in regard to ecclesias tical authority ‘‘ inch the English Puritans were vainly striving to establish in the south ern kingdom, and was in 11 ality an attempt to make the civil power subordinate to the ecclesiastical, even in matters secular. It recognized four orders of otliee-bearers in the church, tl:e pastor, minister, or bishop, the doctor, the presbyter or elder, and the deacon. These were to be set apart by ordination, and the imposition of the hands of the elder ship, but no one was to be intruded into any office contrary to the will of the congrega tion, or without the voice of the eldership. Four sorts of church courts, each rising above the other. were sanctioned ; first, of particular congregations, one or more: second, of a province, or what was afterward called the provincial synod; third, of a whole nation; and fourth, of the universal church. What is generally regarded as the most essential feature of the Presbyterian system—the presbytery—W:1s not yet introduced in its proper form, the lowest court being a combination of what were afterward known as the presbytery and the kirk-session. It was, however, introduced before the year 1592, when the privileges of general and provincial assemblies, presbyteries, and parochial were ratified by parliammrt, though the book of discipline itself did not receive any formal sanction.