Discipline

Discipline, The Two Books of, in the history of the Established Church of Scotland, are the two authorised statements of its organisation which impressed on it a distinctly democratic and non-episcopal character. The First Book, though not formally adopted, was laid before an assembly of clergy and Protestant noblemen held in Edinburgh in 1561, and signed by most of them in January of that year. It provided that each congregation should elect its ministers and elders, while superintendents, also elective, were to supervise each group of congregations. It was chiefly drawn up by John Knox, and the system it introduced was to a great extent suggested by the ecclesiastical organisation of Geneva under Calvin. The Second Book, sanctioned by the General Assembly of the Scottish Church in April, 1578, and formally adopted in 1581, enacted that no more bishops should be appointed, and subordinated those who already existed to the General Assembly. The government of the Church was transferred (1) in the first instance to the Kirk session, consisting of the ministers and elders; over this were (2) the Presbytery, consisting of the ministers of a district and the elders of each congregation; (3) the Provincial Synod, consisting of all the presbyteries of a given district; (4) the General Assembly, elected by the Presbyteries. The books are still the bases of the Presbyterian ecclesiastical order, and similar books exist for the Free Church, and some other dissentient bodies.