128 MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION 



and importance until now, a. d. 1876, it has 60 

 Bishops and about 3,290 other clergymen. 



The history of the Episcopal Church in this 

 country divides itself into three periods, which are 

 very clearly marked. 



First, Its colonial period, when it was a part of 

 the Church of England, and fostered by her care. 

 This period ran from 1609 to 1789. 



Second, Its period of recovery from the disinte- 

 gration occasioned by the revolution, lasting from 

 1789 to about 1820. Being a part of the English 

 Church, bearing her name, and her clergy being by 

 their oaths bound to the throne of Great Britain, 

 it seemed at one time as if the revolt of the colo- 

 nies from the rule of the mother country would 

 utterly annihilate this Church. Many of her par- 

 ishes were without services, and the most bitter 

 hatred was manifested towards an organization 

 which was thought to be utterly incompatible with 

 a republican government ; but perhaps to none 

 more than to her members, is the credit due, both 

 for the successful carrying on of the revolution, and 

 for the establishment of a government such as 

 this land now rejoices in. 



The taking command of the American forces by 

 Washington, a devout Churchman, gave at once 

 a national character to a movement which might 

 otherwise have been a mere sectional struggle against 

 English rule. And it is a singular fact, but show- 



