Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1879-06-05

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TEE EPISCOPAL CIiURca - MD.-I
Tie ninety-sixth convention Of the
Protestant Episcopal church Of Mary
lad. now 10 session in Baltimore. sug-
gesss 10 the .zmerican The retrospect iOl-
lowing:
/" The Protestant Episcopal church Of
Mary!aud was founded N 17sO On the
disorganized remains Of the Church Of
England m the Province Of Maryland.
Before 1776 that church numbered in
Maryland forty-four parishes. each Of
which was provided with its rector.
The legal support Of the clergy having
been withdrawn on the establishment
or The State government, several Of
these gentlemen bad returned 10 Eng
land, and At the first annual convention
that met At Chestestown, November 2,
1850, 20 resdIust church organization 10
the new order Of things. there were
present three elergYmen and twenty
four lay delegates, all from Kent conn
ty or Queen Anne's. There were then
throughout the State twenty-five cler-
gymen in charge offorty-sevenp parishes,
seventeen Of which were without rec
tors. Two wears later the annual con-
yenlion met in Baltimore and proceed
ed to the selection OF bishop. DIR.
VIM. Smith, rector Of Chester parish,
Kent county. was chosen, but owing to
party feeling, still rancorous in England.
he could not obtain episcopal ordination.
This convection also established . coll
iege in connection with the Episcopal
Church, intended principally Tor The ed
ucaiion Of Young men for ITS ministry.
It's first president was General Wash
ington, who. in 1888. presided over
meeting of its trustees al ChesteFtown.
For the next IS wears The Episcopal
Church in Maryland steadily, If not ra-
pidly. increased. II was most fortunate
in the general high character of its bish-
ops and i'm the talent and self-devotion
Of ils clergy. In 1868 The Diocese OF
Maryland was divided, the Eastern
Shore becoming the Diocese or Easton,
under the episcopal superintendent of
Bishop Ley. The remaining half, un-
der Bishop Nottingham, soon after
elected an assistant bishop, became the
present Diocese Of Maryland, the growth
OF which during the past nine years may
well appear extraordinary. In 1869,
according TO the published report oftbe
eighty-sixth annual convention, there
were 1855 COMMITMENTS. In nine
wears they have increased nearly nine
fold, TO Is. 200. The communion aims
OF 1869 were S1,440; those of 1878
were $40, 900. The contributions for
all other church purposes Exclusive Of
clergvmen's saIaries) were IN 1889
So, $50: in 1878 $3.50, 976, nearly
twenty-times as great. OF baptisms re-
ported in the year 1869 there were 62S;
IN 1878 their number was 2,5lj. Two
hundred and ninety-nine persons were
confirmed in 1869; in 1878 the bishops
report having confirmed 1857. Sun
day school scholars are ten times as nu-
merous as they were nine years ago,
the number Of them reported having
been 1893: The report of last year
makes them 1920. Their teachers
have not multiplied quite so rapidly,
being only eight TO one; viz: 1908
now, TO 202 nine years ago. There
were last year laboring in the diocese
1874 clergymen, aud 1874 churches, chap
els or places of mission worship were
provided for Episcopal congregations.
In 1868 the number Of clergymen cut
off from the Diocese Of Maryland by the
establishment of tie Diocese of Easton
was 26, leaving i35, against the LEA Of
1878. The extraordinary increase and
prosperity OF the diocese must, there
fore, be due 10 the increased efficiency
and self-devotion OF the clergy and the
greater efficiency in the church organi-
cation in the diocese, occasioned by the
diminution OF its geographical bounda-
ries. At present each parish can be
yearly and effectually VISITED by Bishop
Nottingham or Bishop Pinkney. The
diocese seems throhbing with new life,
Bishop Nottingham m his address to
his clergy in 1869 speaks Of 'the pre-
sent as filled with glad comfort and the
future as full fraught with the brightest
promise"