the bishop, who. if he decline to institute the nominee, must give him. if so required, his reasons in writing for so declining. Bishops are nominated by the diocesan sy Is. anil confirmed by the Bench of Bishops.
The disestablished Church has already taken advan- tage of its freedom to revise carefully the Book of ( !om- mou Prayer. Some extracts from the preface to the
Revised Prayer-1 k, to he printed during this year
(1878), will show the object and animus of the revi- sion: "When this church of Ireland ceased to be es- tablished by law. and thereupon some alteration in our public liturgy became needful, it was earnestly desired by many thai occasion should he taken for considering what changes the lapse of years or exigency of our present times and circumstances might have rendered expedient." "We now afresh declare that the posture of kneeling prescrihed to all communicants is not ap- pointed for any purpose of adoration of Christ's body and blood uniler the veils of bread and wine, but only for a signification of our humble and grateful acknowl- edgment, and for the avoiding of such profanation and disorder as might ensue if some such reverent and uni- form posture were not enjoined." "In the Office for Visitation of the Sick we have deemed it lilting that absolution should he pronounced to penitents in the form appointed in the Office for the Holy Communion." The portions of the Apocrypha which were in the Ta- ble "f Lessons have been expunged, and the rubric has been omitted which directed the use on certain days of the Uhanasian Creed.
The following are the numerical statistics of I lie Iri-h Protestant Episcopal Church as compared with other religious denominations in the island. The total number of clergymen is about 1900.
The act of disestablishment technically decreed also disendow ment. hut by far the greater part of the en- dowment of the church w as absorbed by the compen- sations -ranted. Most of those who were entitled to annuities commuted their income, or compounded with the ecclesiastical commissioners for a fixed sum. so ar- ranged as tu leave a large capital sum tor church en- dowmeut, and this endowment was augmented hy large donations, amounting, in the first tire years of disestab- lishment, to £1,180,108. A- an example of composi- tion, the bishop of Deny was entitled to an annual income of £13,781. Upon compounding, he received £101,493, leaving a balance to the Endowment Fund of the church of £100,288. The present endowment ol the Church is upwards of £7,000,000.
See Dr. Todd. St. Patrick; Killen. Ecclesiastical His- tory of Ireland; King, Church History of Inland; Fronde. History of England; Godkin, Ireland and her Churches; pamphlet- by Dr. C. II. H. Wright, on The Divinity School <>/ Trinity College, Th, Church of In- land,etc; Tin Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette, from 1871 to 1878; Thelrish Church Directory; Lanigan, / tical History of Ireland. (G. C. J.)
Protestant Episcopal Free-Church Asso- ciation. This body, formed in 1875 within the pale of the Protestant Episcopal Church, advocates the free- seat system for houses of worship, and ha- grown to
such large proportions in the -hurt time ofits existence
that it now goes hey 1 its originally intended mission
and assumes the work of Church extension also. i.e. it. affords help to feeble churches, provided they do not rent or sell pews. The secretary of the society reported at its third annual meeting | Max 13, 1878) 285 clerical. 13 life, and 126 annual contributors. Twenty-one of the bishops of the < 'hurch are patrons.
Protestant Friends. See Free Congrega- tions ; Rationalism.
Protestant Methodists. See Methodism; Methodist Protestants.
Protestant Union of Germany is a body com- posed of the members of the Evangelical Protestant Church. It has been in existence since 1863. Ii- aim is the complete separation of the Church from the State; a synodical Church system for all Protestant Germany; the union of religion and intellectual culture, faith and science, i. e. the ad\ ancement of the I 'hri-tiau religion in harmony with free investigations and ever-advancing intellectual culture, and the waning against everything hierarchical as well as against the radical denials of re- ligion. It was projected in 1863 in the duchy ol Baden, and in 1864 its headquarters were established at lleidel-
berg, where the annual meetings of the Union, called
provinces.
B] 1 li.loE PEOl 1 '-SHINS.
Roman Catholics.
Protestant Kf'isroj.al.
incopal
l'r 't IBtftntS.
i hrlatina
Pel i iMona.
J.«s.
1361.
1,252,558
1,420,076
966,613
s«;r,,n2:i
1871.
1,141,401
1,302,475 B94.525 803.532
1SG1.
180,567 80,860 391,315
to, .v.i.'.
1 71.
170,879 77,366 398,705
30,345
1861.
21,550
10,056
643,421
6, i r,
I-Tl.
20,291
9,622
522,774
1S61.
2,607 2,564
3S9
1871.
3,210
929
14,881
665
338 2 .Y2 1
1871. 1S5 10
Monster
C tanght
Total
1,606,265 1,141,933
6113,867
581,164
18,395
ti»,"itf>
393
Rate per cent
Decrease, 303,332
- no
Decrease, 10,062 1 Decrease, 22,910 1.45 3.94
Increase, 640 2.47
i-e, 135 34.35
The only divinity school in Ireland available for the- ological students of the Protestant Episcopal church is that of Trinity College. The Church has no official voice in the management of this school, but until very lately no one cnuid ohtain a theological degree from it without signing the Thirty-nine Articles, in Nov.,
1876, a statute wa- passed hy the senate of the univer- sity abolishing this test and admitting even laymen to