PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



719 



Antigua, Guiana, Jamaica, Kingston, Nassau. 

 The Episcopalian population, according to the 

 official census taken in 1861, was 63.822 in 

 Lower Canada, 311,565 in Upper Canada, 47,- 

 744 in Nova Scotia, 44,285 in Newfoundland, 

 6,787 in Prince Edward's Island. 



The most important subject discussed by the 

 provincial synod of the Episcopal Church in 

 Canada was the mode of electing a metropoli- 

 tan of the Canadian dioceses. Both houses 

 expressed themselves in favor of permanently 

 connecting the dignity of metropolitan with 

 the Episcopal See of Montreal. A committee 

 was appointed to examine how justice could 

 be done to the claims of the Dioces.e of Mon- 

 treal as well as to those of the other dioceses 

 of the province, and to make a report to the 

 next provincial synod. 



Identical with the Protestant Episcopal 

 Church of this country, is the established 

 Church of England and Ireland, and the Epis- 

 copal Church of Scotland, and it is, therefore, 

 common to comprise them together under the 

 name of Anglican Church. The Church of 

 England and Ireland has, in England 2 arch- 

 bishops and 26 bishops, in Ireland 2 archbish- 

 ops and 10 bishops. The Episcopal Church of 

 Scotland is a comparatively small body, which 

 has 7 bishops, but not more than about 157 

 churc^s and 166 clergy. The Church of Eng- 

 land is governed by the two convocations of 

 Canterbury and York, which are regularly 

 convened with Parliament. From the time of 

 George the First until the reign of Victoria 

 the powers of the convocations have been sus- 

 pended by the Crown and Parliament, but they 

 are now gradually returning, and the proceed- 

 ings of both become from year to year more 

 interesting and important. The bishops of Ire- 

 land will also take steps for having their con- 

 vocation revived. 



One of the most important questions which 

 the convocations of England were called 

 to act upon, during the year 1862, was the 

 doctrinal controversy which had been kindled 

 by that famous volume of theological writing, 

 called, "The Essays and Reviews." In the 

 course of the year, two of the authors, Dr. 

 "Williams and Rev. H. B. Wilson, had a suit 

 brought against them, and on June 25th, the 

 Court of Arches gave judgment in their cases, 

 some of the charges against them were reject- 

 ed, others were ordered to be modified. In ac- 

 cordance with the order of the judge, the 

 charges were altered, and the cause came up 

 again on Dec. 15th. Both the essayists were 

 declared to have taught doctrines contravening 

 some of the articles of the Church of England, 

 and were therefore sentenced to one year's 

 suspension from their livings and the offices 

 and benefits belonging thereto. In both in- 

 stances, notice of appeal to the privy council 

 was given. The great excitement which the 

 Essays and Heriercs had produced in the entire 

 theological world, received new fuel by the 

 publication of a work of one of the colonial 



bishops Bishop Colenso of Natal, win, 

 ated even more than any of the c-s;ivi.-t> from 

 the old doctrine of the church on i 

 The organs of the church generally 

 his resignation, but in his case a now lil! 

 arose. The Bishop appeared to !.< un\ 

 to resign, and there seemed to be no law to 

 compel him. Toward the close of the year, 

 notice was given by Archdeacon Denison, that 

 he would move at the first meeting of the con- 

 vocation of Canterbury, in 1863, an inquiry 

 into the Bishop's case. 



As no official ceiisu< is taken of the member- 

 ship of the religious denominations in England 

 and Scotland, it is not known how lunre ;i por- 

 tion of the population belongs to the Anglican 

 Church. From a careful comparison of the 

 marriage, educational, and other f-tatij-: 

 is, however, probable, that in England proper 

 from 65 to 70 per cent, of the population 

 (which, in 1861, amounted to 20,061.725) are 

 connected with the Established Church. In Ire- 

 land, the number of the Episcopalian popula- 

 tion, according to the official census of 1861, 

 was 687,661, out of a total population of 5,- 

 764,543. 



Outside of Great Britain the Anglican Church 

 has only one Episcopal See in Europe, at Gi- 

 braltar, the bishop of which place has jurisdic- 

 tion over the churches in Malta, Constantino- 

 ple, and the Mediterranean. 



In Asia, there are bishops in connection with 

 the Church of England at Calcutta, Madras, 

 and Bombay in India, at Colombo in Ceylon, 

 at Labuan in Borneo, at Victoria in Hongkong, 

 at Jerusalem ; and one bishop in connection with 

 the Protestant Episcopal Church of America, at 

 Amoy, China. 



In the British possessions in Africa, there 

 are bishops at Capetown, Grahamstown. Sierra 

 Leone, Natal. St. Helena and Mauritius. For 

 countries outside of the British possessions, 

 missionary bishops have been appointed for 

 Zambezi (1862) and the Orange Territory 

 (1863). The Protestant Episcopal Church of 

 America has sent a missionary bishop to Liberia. 



A considerable number of Episcopal 

 have been established in Oceanica : in Austra- 

 lia, there are bishops at Sydney (the bishop of 

 which is the metropolitan of the Australian 

 dioceses), Tasmania, Ne.w Castle, Adelaide, Mel- 

 bourne, Perth, Christ Church, Brisbane and 

 Goulburn (established in 1863). New Zealand 

 has a metropolitan called the Bishop of New 

 Zealand, and the bishops of Christ Church, 

 Nelson, Waiaqua, "Wellington. A missionary 

 bishop, who has the title of Bishop of Mela- 

 nesia, was appointed in 1861, for the islands of 

 Polynesia, most of which are not under British 

 rule. 



In 1861, at the request of the king of the 

 Sandwich Islands, the diocese of Honolulu was 

 erected, and in 1SC2. the king, the queen, and 

 the ministers received the rite of confirmation, 

 and the Anglican Church now bears the char- 

 acter of the state church. 



