consisted of three bishops, one of whom had been consecrated by bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and the other two by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in pursuance of the Act of Parliament passed for that purpose in 1786; and the number of her clergy was 190. In the year 1823, after a growth of thirty-three years, she mustered 10 bishops, 349 clergy, and about 16,000 communicants. These numbers, according to the reports from the several dioceses made in 1868, had at that time mounted to 44 bishops, 2600 clergy, and 178,000 communicants.

The first Canon of the Church ordains that there shall be three orders in the ministry-bishops, priests, and deacons. The clergy of the second order are in the Constitution and Canons frequently referred to under the name of presbyters. There are no archbishops, deans, archdeacons, or other titles of distinction among the clergy. The ages of twenty-one and twenty-four are respectively the earliest ages at which entrance into deacon's and priest's orders is permitted; and admission into the latter must ordinarily be preceded by three years' ministry in the diaconate. This period of probation may in exceptional cases be shortened, but cannot be reduced to less than one year. The Canons prescribe certain terms under which a clergyman ordained priest or deacon by the bishop of another Church may be admitted to officiate in, and to become a minister of, the American Church. A Canon made in 1847 provided for the ordination as deacons of persons of inferior attainments, without the prospect of being afterwards raised to the presbytery, but this Canon has been subsequently repealed.

The affairs of the Church at large are regulated by a representative assembly called the General Convention, which meets on the first Wednesday of October in every third year, and may, when requisite, be specially summoned during the intervals. It is held wherever the Convention from time to time determines, and its place of meeting is therefore continually varying. The last was held in New York, in October, 1868. The General Convention consists of two houses, one of which is composed of the diocesan and missionary bishops of the Church, and is presided over by the bishop who is of longest standing; while, in the other, each diocese is entitled to a representation of both clergy and laity, consisting of one or more deputies, not exceeding four of each order, chosen by the diocesan Convention. A majority of the dioceses must be represented before the Convention proceeds to business; and if this representation be not secured, an adjournment takes place. In all questions, when required by the clerical and lay representatives from any diocese, the House of Deputies votes

by orders; in which case, each order has one vote, and the majority of suffrages by dioceses decides the vote of each order, provided that majority comprehends a majority of the dioceses represented in the order. This is not necessarily the case; for if the representatives of the order in question for any diocese are equally divided amongst themselves, the suffrage of that diocese counts neither one way nor the other towards determining the vote of the order. The concurrence of both orders is necessary to constitute a vote of the House; and if this is not obtained, the proposition before the Assembly falls to the ground. If any Diocesan Convention does not appoint either clerical or lay deputies to the General Convention, or if any of the appointed deputies of either order fail to attend, the diocese is nevertheless to be considered as duly represented by the attending deputy or deputies, whether lay or clerical. And if at any Convention a diocese is not represented by any deputy, either lay or clerical, it is nevertheless to be bound by the acts of the Convention.

The House of Bishops have a right to originate and propose acts for the concurrence of the House of Deputies. On the other hand, when any act has been originated in and passed by the House of Deputies, it is transmitted to the House of Bishops, who have an absolute veto upon it. By the Constitution as settled in 1789, this veto of the bishops was liable to be overruled if four-fifths of the House of Deputies adhered to the measure proposed. But the power of superseding it was taken away by the Convention of 1808, and has never since been revived.

The Constitution vests in the General Convention the power of determining the Book of Common Prayer, Administration of the Sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies of the Church, Articles of Religion, and the form and manner of making, ordaining, and consecrating bishops, priests, and deacons. Alterations or additions in reference to any of these particulars must be proposed in one General Convention, and by a resolve of that Convention made known to the Convention of every diocese, and adopted at the subsequent General Convention. In like manner, all contemplated alterations in the Constitution of the Church must be first proposed in one General Convention, and if they are then adopted by a majority of all the dioceses of which the Church is composed, they are made known to the several Diocesan Conventions, and are finally agreed to and ratified in the ensuing General Convention. With the General Convention resides the power of making Canons for the Government of the Church, of regulating the relations of the Church with foreign Episcopal Churches, and generally of dealing with all matters which

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concern the Church at large rat her than particular dioceses. Among these is the appointment of missionary bishops for the discharge of episcopal function s in States or Territories not organized into dioceses or in m issionary stations of the Church beyond the territory of the United States. These bishops are elected by the House of Deputies on the nomination of the House of Bishops. The Constitution and Canons are framed upon the principle of leaving to each individual diocese the management of its own affairs, so far as it can be done consistently with maintaining the integral unity of the whole Church. For example, although the tribunal for the trial of offending ministers, and the offences for which they are punishable, are determined by the General Canons, so as to secure uniformity upon these points in all the dioceses, yet each is permitted to settle for itself the mode of procedure to be adopted at the trial. Again, it is left to each diocese to elect its deputies to the General Convention, and even its bishops, according to such rules as its own Convention may ordain. All the dioceses, therefore, possess their own peculiar constitutions and canonical regulations. These consist, for the most part, of provisions prescribing the composition, meeting, and mode of action of the Convention and the officers of the diocese; the method of electing a bishop, and the mode of altering the diocesan Constitution.

The principle of the union of clergy and laity is carried out in the Convention of every diocese. Speaking generally, the clerical element in the Convention of each diocese consists of all the clergy, deacons as well as presbyters, who are engaged in discharging any spiritual or educational functions in connection with the Church in the diocese; though as the language, by which the qualification is defined, varies in the Constitutions of the different dioceses, its precise nature is different in each. The lay element is composed of a stated number, varying in the different dioceses from one to five, of lay delegates from each congregation or parish. They are chosen, in some cases, by the vestry; in others, by the congregation. In some dioceses the delegates must be communicants, but in most of them this condition is not imposed as a necessary qualification.

In most of the Diocesan Conventions, a vote by orders may be resorted to upon any question, if required by even a small number of the members present.

The Diocesan Conventions meet annually. The bishop is in all cases the president, and has a vote; but in none of the dioceses has he a veto upon the proceedings of the Convention, except in that of Kentucky, and there his veto is liable to be overruled by a majority of two-thirds of both orders. In the diocese of Vermont, the principle is partially recognized by the

existence of a regulation that no law or canon shall be enacted, altered, or abrogated by the Diocesan Convention, without the concurrence of the bishop.

We have already observed that the Church leaves each diocese to lay down its own regulations for the election of its bishops. Accordingly, we find that the mode of electing a bishop varies considerably in different dioceses. In all cases, however, the assent of the laity is required, and the election is conducted by a vote of orders. Generally the lay vote is a vote by churches or congregations. In some of the dioceses, the order of clergy nominate by ballot; and if the nomination is approved by the lay order, the person nominated is elected. In the majority of these elections, the laity vote by congregations. Provision is made for securing a substantial majority in each order, by requiring that it shall be ratified in some cases by twothirds of each order, in others by two-thirds of the total number of each order who vote; while, in other cases again, where a bare majority is sufficient, two-thirds of the whole number entitled to vote must be present at the election. In other dioceses, the two orders vote separately, the clergy by individuals, and the laity by congregations, and the concurrence of a majority of each order is necessary for a decision.

When the bishop of any diocese is incapacitated by old age or infirmity from discharging his duties, the diocese may elect an assistant bishop to relieve him of some or all of such duties ; and if the assistant bishop survives the bishop, he in all cases succeeds him as bishop of the diocese.

When a bishop has been elected by a diocese, he cannot be consecrated without the consent of the General Convention of the Church, if it be sitting; or if not, of the majority of the Standing Committees of the dioceses.

The mention of these Standing Committees brings us to one of the most important features in the diocesan arrangements of the American Church. The Canons direct that in every diocese a standing committee shall be appointed by the Diocesan Convention, who shall be a council of advice to the bishop, and, in dioceses where that office is vacant, shall be the ecclesiastical authority of the diocese. It consists, in all the dioceses, of a mixed body of clerical and lay members, but the number and proportion is not uniform. In most of the dioceses, the clerical and lay element in the standing committee is numerically equal, but in some of them the clergy are placed in a trifling majority. The total number varies in the different dioceses between five and nine. The committee elects from its own body a president and secretary, and a majority of its members forms a quorum. One of its most important duties is that connected with ordination to the ministry. Before a person can be admitted as a

candidate in any diocese either for deacon's or for priest's orders, he must obtain a recommendation from the standing committee of the diocese; and the latter is required, before giving such recommendation, to satisfy itself, from testimonials or otherwise, of the fitness of the person who desires ordination. In addition to the duties imposed upon the standing committee of each diocese by the Canons of the Church, other functions may be assigned to it by canons passed in the Diocesan Convention. In many dioceses there are also appointed other committees for particular objects; as for instance, for superintending missionary, tract, or Sunday-school operations within the diocese.

The dioceses are subdivided into parishes or congregations. Where the former exist they comprise all the churchmen within given districts. The latter, on the other hand, have no territorial limits, and in their case the test of membership is attendance at a particular place of worship. The lay officers of the parish or congregation consist of ten or twelve vestrymen and two wardens, who are elected annually on Easter Monday, and are entrusted with the election of the rector in the event of a vacancy, and of any assistant ministers, the appointment (where this is not left to the body of the parishioners) of delegates to the Diocesan Convention, and the general administration of the business of the Church throughout the year. The minister of the parish is ex officio a member of the vestry, and presides at its meetings. In the majority of the States, the parochial or congregational vestry may obtain civil recognition as a corporate body, with capacity to hold and transmit property, to contract and sue, and to exercise all the other powers and functions incidental to a legal corporate existence.

Upon election by the vestry of a rector or an assistant minister, they are required to notify the fact to the bishop, or where there is no Bishop, to the standing committee of the diocese, who must be satisfied that the person elected is a qualified minister of the Church. The Canons require the concurrence of the same authority before any minister is dismissed from his charge by the vestry or congregation, or voluntarily relinquishes it. But they provide that this last regulation shall not be binding in dioceses with whose canons, laws, or charters it may be at variance; and thus, in some parts of the American Church, the vestries have the objectionable power of dismissing their ministers at pleasure. The latter are moreover placed in a position of very undesirable dependence upon their congregations by the fact of deriving their maintenance directly from funds supplied by them; there being no machinery such as would be furnished by a general church or diocesan sustentation fund for the collection of contributions from the rich and the poor congregations, and the equable distribution of them among