DISSENTERS, the common appellation of those who dissent or differ from the estab lished church of their country in any of its doctrines, or in any part of its constitu tion, and therefore separate themselves from it. Although sometimes employed as a sufficiently appropriate designation of the sects which separated themselves from the general body of the church during the early and middle ages, the term D. belongs to modern times and Protestant countries; the claims of the Roman Catholic church, where dominant, having always been asserted in a manner incompatible with the exist ence of recognized religious dissent. The measure in which the rights of D. are con ceded by law, may be esteemed a fair test of the religious liberty enjoyed in a country, and of the general enlightenment of a people. The term D. is of English origin and growth, although its almost exact equivalent may be said to have existed in Poland in the name dissidents, a term which first.appears in the acts of the Warsaw confederation of 1573, and there denotes the Polish Protestants, in contradistinction to the members of the established Catholic religion. After 1632, the term dissidents was applied in Poland to all who were not Roman Catholics, such as Lutherans, Calvinists, Greeks, Armenians, etc.
In England, the term D. appears to have come into use in the 17th c., as synonymous with nonconformists; and from England its use was transferred to Scotland in the 18th c., after the Secession (q.v.) church had been founded in that country. It is usually applied to those who agree with the established church in the most essential doctrines, but differ from it on some minor point, or on questions of church-government, relation.to the state, rites, etc., as in England to Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists. The claim of the church of Rome to be regarded as the Catholic church prevents its members from accepting the name D., and others seldom seek to apply it to them. On somewhat simi lar grounds, it is rejected by Episcopalians in Scotland; and for very different reasons, to be found in the peculiar circumstances which attended their growth, the Methodist (q.v.) churches are seldom included in it, as ordinarily used. See ESTABLISHED CHURCH, NONCONFORMISTS, PURITANS, UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, TOLERATION, etc.
The term D. is not strictly legal or ecclesiastical, those to whom it applies being usually described in legal language by a periphrasis. It may be said to be a convenient
term to designate those Protestant denominations which have dissented from the doc trine and practice of the church as by law established. Immediately after the reforrna mation, D., or nonconformists, as they were then called, were subjected to severe restrictions and penalties. " During the rebellion, the laws ag.s.inst Protestant secta ries were repealed; but they revived at the restoration; and the parliament of Charles II. proceeded to enforce systematically, by new measures of vigor, the principle of universal conformity to the established church."—Stephen's Com, iii. 53. By 1 Will. and Mary, c. 18, the restrictions on D. were first relaxed, and certain denominations were suffered to exercise their own religious observances. From that period, various statutes have been passed, each extending in some degree the free exercise of religious opinion. At the present time, D. of all denominations are allowed to practice without restraint their own system of religious worship and discipline. They are entitled to their own places of worship, and to maintain schools for instruction in their own opin ions. They are also permitted, in their character as householders, to sit and vote in the parish vestries. A dissenter, if a patron of a church, may also exercise his own judg ment in appointing a clergyman of the church of England to a vacant living. See on this subject, Stephen's Eccles. Law.
A similar amount of religious liberty is enjoyed in Scotland, not so much derived from or guarded by special statute; fully recognized, however, by of courts, as belonging to the law of the country.
Since the beginning of the 18th c., the Presbyterian, Independent or Congregational ist, and Baptist denominations in England, have been associated under the name of the Three Denominations. This association was fully organized in 1727, and enjovs—like the established clergy of Loudon add the two great unive'rsities-4-thd remarkable privi lege of approaching the sovereign on the throne. Notwithstanding much weakness, arising from doctrinal and other differences, this association has contributed much to promote toleration and religious liberty in England.