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In England the Low Church is composed of Presbyterians, in Scotland it becomes the High Church. The churches of this sect are chapels and have no bells; neither have those of the Nonconformists, as all Protestants who do not conform to the ceremonials of the Anglican Church are termed. ... The dogmas of the English-Scottish Presbyterians are very much the same as those of Calvin, differing, however, from those of Geneva, there being no printed prayers or liturgy. Presbyterian ministers are obliged, and I believe even forced, to take the oath that they will always make extempore prayers, and never repeat those they have recited before. ... These ministers are not permitted either to learn their sermons by heart, or even to write them out or prepare them, and you can imagine how uninteresting their sermons must be. They contain nothing but repetitions or citations, taken out of a Bible which they hold before them; and they preach through their noses in the peculiar manner that the English people call "cant," that is to say, a scientific jargon derived from a Presbyterian minister so enthusiastic and full of his own importance as to render his words and meaning impossible to understand. (en) |
