the parish churches, again,
the right of appointing the clergymen is vested in various hands
according to circumstances, which it would require too much time and
space to explain at sufficient length to make them understood. The
patronage is, in a great many cases, invested in the Crown; but the
Bishop of London is also a large holder of metropolitan patronage. The
Archbishop of Canterbury is patron in several cases, and, in some
instances, holds his patronage conjointly with the Crown. In such cases,
the right of appointment is exercised alternately. The Lord Chancellor
is sole patron of four or five livings in London, and in six or seven
other cases exercises the right of patronage alternately with the
Archbishop of Canterbury, with the Bishop of London, with private
individuals, and with the parishioners. The parishioners possess the
sole right of patronage in only three or four instances; and, in one or
two cases in the City, particular corporations possess the right of
appointing the clergy. The doctrines of the Church of England are
embodied in her Articles and Liturgy. Her orders consist of bishops,
priests, and deacons. Besides, there are dignitaries--archbishops, deans
and chapters, attached to cathedrals, and supposed to form the council of
the bishops, archdeacons, and rural deans. The average income of a
beneficed clergyman is 300 pounds a year; of a curate, 81 pounds. The
number of church-sittings in London and the surrounding districts,
according to Mr. Mann, is 409,834.

Next in order are the Independents or Congregationalists, who differ from
the Church of England more in discipline than doctrine. They maintain
the independence of each congregation--that a church is simply an
assembly of believers. Only two descriptions of church officers are
regarded by them as warranted by Scriptural authority--bishops or
pastors, and deacons; and the latter office with them is merely secular.
Amongst them the deacon merely attends to the temporal affairs of the
church. In the Episcopalian Church, the deaconship is the first step to
the priesthood. In London and its neighbourhood the Independents have
about 140 places of worship. Mr. Mann's return does not give them so
many, but he states the number of sittings to be 100,436.

The Baptists have much in common with the Independents. Like them, they
believe in the unscriptural character of state churches; and, like them,
believe each church or assembly