Evening journal., 1901-10-04

AS a religious body the Protestant
Episcopal while smaller than several
others. ranks among the foremost In
wealth, in the prominence of its mem
bership and in its influence upon pub
lie and private concerns. For these
reasons its General Convention, made
up Of two houses modelled after the
two political houses at Washington,
which opened in San Francisco on
Tuesday is ono of the most important
OF the religious conventions of this
country IL Is a triennial session. A
House of Bishops sits behind closed
doors. somewhat after the manner OF
the United States Senate. and has GER
tain exclusive prerogatiyes. A House
of Deputies forms the popular branch.
lt is made up of clergymen and laymen
representative OF the dioceses, and is
presided over by president who pos
sesses power comparable with that OF
the Speaker Of the House of Represen-
tatlves at Washington. Each diocese,
small or large, has eight representa-
tives in the popular house, four priests
and four laymen. In some dioceses
allowance Is made for the expenses
of deputies, but for the most part
those who attend Episcopal General
lConventions receive no remuneration
except the honor of serving the
lchurch. In the House of Bishops at
i San Francisco there will be about
leighty and In the House of Deputies,
Including two from each of the mission
ary jurisdictions. about $50 persons.
The Delaware Clergy and laymen
who are sitting in the convention are
lBishop Coleman, Archdeacon Hall, the
lRev. Kinsey ]. Hammond, the Rev,
liz. NJ. Munson. of New Castle; Judge %.
G. Bradford and e. Tatnall Warner
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS.
Not in many years has a General
Convention had before il so many i'm.
4 portant questions. Yet the general
1, lopiniOn Is that the San Francisco
meeting will be a short one and devoid
of any time marking legislation, viii
perhaps one exception The reason
that its usual three weeks may b'
shortened into two is because OF the
long time consumed in travelling to ant
] from the Pacific coast, and bishops
lrectors and busy laymen can IN AFFORD
c the time at this season. Among th'
I questions Of most general interest tha
al lare likely TO come up are a new consti
! tuition. new canon on marriage an,
n divorce. a new name for the body drop
!, lping the words Protestant Episcopal,
!, the authorization Of an edition of tn
y Bible with marginal readings OF man,
y texts Incorporated in It. a division o
{ the country into provinces; and tn
y creation of the Office of archbishop
+ with perhaps one primate; the or
1 ganization Of courts Of appeal. the de
termining of what shall be done wit
1.-THE diocese Of Honolulu. the election @
bishops for the West Indies and tn
Philippines and the problem of keeT
Is ing the Board of Missions out of deb
GROWTH.
1, When the General Convention meet
!, Il viii be representative Of every State
county and town of the United States
i as is the general convention of n
= other religious body. 1t was not, how
II ever. until 1859 that the Episcopal
Q was made co-extensive with the bound
n aries of the United States. Even a
-. the beginning of the Civil war so mucl
-, OF our land was in a manner unex
y plored that the late DR., Joseph G. Tai
J. bot used 10 describe himself 20 hi
friends as the Bishop of all outdoors.
The Episcopal was the historic churcl
in many parts of the country way bac
u in revolutionary times, although II
" 1900 IL only numbered a few hundre
IS clergy and about 10000 communicants
e In 1880 the clergy had increased 3
g only SOP and the COMMITMENTS &
II 3O.939. In 1900 the latter numbere
al 712997 In other words, in 1900 ther
1. was only Episcopalian to ever
10 5S4 inhabitants Of the country; non
there is one to every 106, showing tina
Episcopal membership has beaten tn