RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
England, Church of
of Canterbury and York. In 1906 there were within the limits of the former twenty-five sees,
and within the latter nine. In order
4. Govern- of dignity the archdioceses and dioceses
ment. rank: Canterbury, York, London,
Durham, Winchester, etc. In connection with the Church of England and Wales there are also twenty-one suffragan bishops and two assistant bishops. The Irish Church, disestablished in 1869, has two archbishops and eleven bishops, and the Scotch Episcopal Church has seven bishops. The first colonial see was that of Nova Scotia, which was created in 1787 There are thirty-two deans presiding over as many cathedrals, but the deans of Westminster and Windsor are independent of episcopal control, and are subject directly to the crown. There are ninety-three archdeacons and 810 rural deans. The clergy of the Church in priest's orders in England and Wales are called " rector," " vicar," " curate," etc., and at the census of 1901 numbered 25,235. The benefices, or livings, number nearly 14,080. Their patronage is divided between the crown (] ,150 livings), the bishops (1,853), the universities (770), private patrons (6,200) etc. (see England and Wales.) The consent of the bishop of the diocess is necessary to the induction of an incumbent; and, in the event of a disagreement between patron and bishop, the case is decided by the Court of Arches. The people have no voice in the choice of their rector, but the rector, once inducted, has absolute control of his church, so that not even the bishop may enter it without his consent. Many of the parishes have endowments in lands; others are supported, in whole or in part, from public funds, such as Queen Anne's Bounty. The system of patronage has led to abuses, some of which still remain. On the other hand, the plurality system, by which a clergyman might hold any number of livings at the same time, and which was so much abused in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, has been rectified by parliamentary legislation. Under the present law no one can hold two cathedral positions at the same time. The holder of a cathedral position may hold only one parish besides. A clergyman may have two parishes; but if the one numbers three thousand, the other may not include more than five hundred. The evils of non-residence have likewise been restrained by law. The yearly income of the Church of England from voluntary contributions amounts to something more than £8,000,000 and the income from ancient endowments to £5,500,000. Of this income the archbishop of Canterbury receives £15,000, and the archbishop of York £10,000; the bishop of London £10,000, and the bishop of Durham £S,000. The see with the smallest income is that of the bishop of Sodor and Man, which amounts to £2,000. Deans on the average receive £1 000; and the clergy from £150 upward. A fund managed by the " Ecclesiastical Commission," and supplied by the revenues of suppressed canonries, sinecures, and the surplus revenues of bishoprics over and above the episcopal salary, is used for the augmentation of bishoprics, the increase of the smaller salaries, the endowment of new churches, etc.
The Church of England is one of the estates of the realm. Its relation to the State is one of dependence, the sovereign being its 5. Relation supreme governor, and Parliament of Church its highest legislature. The archand State, bishop of Canterbury is the first peer in the realm and crowns the king. The bishops (see Episcopacy, IV.) have their " palaces," and seats in the House of Lords, except the bishop of Sodor and Man. As for the rest, excepting the bishops of London, Winchester, and Durham (who always sit), they have seats only after their appointment to the House of Lords. The Church does not legislate for itself independently or directly; it is subject to Parliament. The convocations of Canterbury and York are the two highest official church bodies. Convocation is assembled by the king's writ, and can not proceed to make new canons without his license, nor are its decisions valid till confirmed by his sanction (see Convocation). Judicial business is transacted in three courts. The lowest is the diocesan Consistory Court, presided over by the bishop's chancellor. Appealed cases go up to the Court of Arches, the official head of which is styled Dean of the Arches (see Arches, Court of). The last tribunal of appeal is the king in council, or the judicial committee of the Privy Council. There are three church censures: suspension (for the neglect of parish duties), deprivation, and degradation. The two latter follow upon the disuse of the Prayer-Book, teachings subversive of the Thirty-nine Articles, simony, or conviction in a civil court. The Court of Arches alone exercises the right of deprivation.
In 1888 the first Lambeth Synod was held which included the bishops of the Church of England and the Colonies and all the Protestant Episcopal churches of America (see Lambeth Conference; Lambeth Articles). As in America, it should be noted, the opposition of a wing of the Low-church party to the Oxford Movement led to the formation of the Free Church of England (q.v.) as well as to the introduction into England of the Reformed Episcopal Church (q.v.). D. S. Schaff.
Bibliography: For a comprehensive list of the literature the fullest treatment is in the British Museum Catalogue of Printed Books, in six parts, under the entry " England." The titles of the most important recent works (1889-1905) are collected in the Subject Index issued by the trustees of the British Museum, under the entry " England," in which a section is devoted to the Church of England. A very necessary volume is C. Gross, Sources and Literature of English History . to About 1485, London, 1900. The reader is referred also to the bibliographies appended to the articles on the individual worthies of that communion in this work, and to such articles as Common Prayer, Book of; Thirty-nine Articles; and Westminster Assembly.
For general treatment the pertinent works of the English historians Lingard (Roman Catholic; able), Freeman, Froude, Green, Ranke, H. D. Traill (Social England, 6 vols., London, 1893-97, 3d ed. in progress), Gardiner, and Lecky are to be (onsulted, as well as the monumental Dictionary of National Biography. As sources the superlatively important Rolls Series may not be overlooked, as well as the publications of the Camden and Surtees Societies. Bohn's Antiquarian Library, 41 vols., London, 1848 sqq., contains the medieval English chroniclers and other valuable works. On the Reformation the publications of the Parker Society are to be noted; also Foxe's Acts and Monuments, best ed., 8 vols., London, 1843; J. Strype, Annals of the Reformation (and other works),
England, Church of England and Wales