misconduct, he is only checked—so far as ecclesiastical order is
concerned—by his oath of canonical obedience to the “godly”
monitions of his bishop; and, since these monitions are difficult
and costly to enforce, while their “godliness” may be a matter
of opinion, an incumbent is practically himself the interpreter of
the law as applied to the doctrine and ritual of his particular
church. The result has been the development within the
Established Church of a
most startling diversity of
doctrine and ritual practice,
varying from what closely
resembles that of the
Church of Rome to the
broadest Liberalism and the
extremest evangelical
Protestantism. This broad
comprehensiveness, which
to outsiders looks like
ecclesiastical anarchy, is the
characteristic note of the
Church of England; it may
be, and has been, defended
as consonant with Christian
charity and suited to the
genius of a people not remarkable for logical consistency; but
it makes it all the more difficult to say what the religion of
Englishmen actually is, even within the English Church.
The following is a list of the archiepiscopal and episcopal sees of England and Wales—the latter arranged in alphabetical order,—with date of their establishment and amount of emoluments:—
| Year of Foundation. | Annual Emoluments. | |
| Province of Canterbury— | ||
| Canterbury (archbishopric) | 597 | £15,000 |
| Bangor | c. 550 | 4,200 |
| Bath and Wells | 1139 | 5,000 |
| Birmingham | 1904 | 3,500 |
| Bristol | 1897* | 3,000 |
| Chichester | 1075 | 4,200 |
| Ely | 1109 | 5,500 |
| Exeter | 1050 | 4,200 |
| Gloucester | 1541 | 4,300 |
| Hereford | 676 | 4,200 |
| Lichfield | 669 | 4,200 |
| Lincoln | 1067 | 4,500 |
| Llandaff | c. 550 | 4,200 |
| London | 605 | 10,000 |
| Norwich | 1094 | 4,500 |
| Oxford | 1542 | 5,000 |
| Peterborough | 1541 | 4,500 |
| Rochester | 604 | 3,800 |
| St Albans | 1877 | 3,200 |
| St Asaph | c. 550 | 4,200 |
| St David’s | c. 550 | 4,500 |
| Salisbury | 1075 | 5,000 |
| Southwark | 1904 | 3,000 |
| Southwell | 1884 | 3,500 |
| Truro | 1876 | 3,000 |
| Winchester | c. 650 | 6,500 |
| Worcester | c. 680 | 4,200 |
| Province of York— | ||
| York (archbishopric) | 625 | 10,000 |
| Carlisle | 1133 | 4,500 |
| Chester | 1541 | 4,200 |
| Durham | 995 | 7,000 |
| Liverpool | 1880 | 4,200 |
| Manchester | 1847 | 4,200 |
| Newcastle | 1882 | 3,500 |
| Ripon | 1836 | 4,200 |
| Sodor and Man | 1154 | 1,500 |
| Wakefield | 1888 | 3,000 |
| * Modern refoundation. | ||
The following are suffragan or assistant bishoprics (the names of the dioceses to which each belongs being given in brackets): Dover, Croydon (Canterbury), Beverley, Hull, Sheffield (York), Stepney, Islington, Kensington (London), Jarrow (Durham), Guildford, Southampton, Dorking (Winchester), Barrow-in-Furness (Carlisle), Crediton (Exeter), Grantham (Lincoln), Burnley (Manchester), Thetford, Ipswich (Norwich), Reading (Oxford), Leicester (Peterborough), Richmond, Knaresborough (Ripon), Colchester, Barking (St Albans), Swansea (St. David’s), Woolwich, Kingston-on-Thames (Southwark), Derby (Southwell), St Germans (Truro). See also England, Church of; Anglican Communion; Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction; Vestments; Mass.
| Sittings. | Com- municants. | Ministers (Pastoral). | Local Preachers. | Sunday Scholars. | |
| Baptists[1] | 1,421,742 | 424,741 | 2134 | 5,748 | 590,321 |
| Congregationalists (1907) | 1,801,447 | 498,953 | 3197 | 5,603 | 729,347 |
| Presbyterian Church of England[2] | 173,047 | 85,755 | 323 | · · | 98,258 |
| Society of Friends | · · | 17,442 | · · | · · | 62,347 |
| Moravians | 10,100 | 2,999 | 34 | · · | 4,542 |
| Wesleyan Methodists[3] | 2,500,000 | 620,350 | 2658 | 20,119 | 1,039,437 |
| Primitive Methodists[1] | 1,017,690 | 205,407 | 1101 | 15,963 | 477,114 |
| United Methodist Church[4] | 738,840 | 158,095 | 833 | 5,577 | 315,993 |
| Wesleyan Reform Union | 47,435 | 8,717 | 19 | 508 | 23,008 |
| Independent Methodists | 33,000 | 9,732 | · · | 375 | 28,387 |
| Welsh Calvinistic Methodist | 472,089 | 185,935 | 900 | 361 | 187,484 |
| Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion | 12,347 | 2,469 | 26 | · · | 3,040 |
| Reformed Episcopal Church | 6,000 | 1,090 | 28 | · · | 2,600 |
| Free Church of England | 8,140 | 1,352 | 24 | · · | 4,196 |
The number of “denominations” by whom buildings were certified for worship up to 1895 was 293 (see list in Whitaker’s Almanack, 1886, p. 252), but in many instances such “denominations” consisted of two or three congregations only, in some cases of a single congregation. The Other Protestant com-munions. more important nonconformist churches are fully dealt with under their several headings. The above table, however, based on that in the Statesman’s Year-Book for 1908, and giving the comparative statistics of the chief nonconformist churches, may be useful for purposes of comparison. It may be prefaced by stating that, according to returns made in 1905, the Church of England provided sitting accommodation in parish and other churches for 7,177,144 people; had an estimated number of 2,053,455 communicants, 206,873 Sunday-school teachers, and 2,538,240 Sunday scholars. There were 14,029 incumbents (rectors, vicars, and perpetual curates), 7500 curates, i.e. assistant clergy, and some 4000 clergy on the non-active list.
Besides the bodies enumerated in the table there are other churches concerning which similar statistics are lacking, but which, in several cases, have large numbers of adherents. The Unitarians are an important body with (1908) 350 ministers and 345 places of worship. Most numerous, probably, are the adherents of the Salvation Army, which with a semi-military organization has in Great Britain alone over 60,000 officers, and “barracks,” i.e. preaching stations, in almost every town. The Brethren, generally known, from their place of origin, as the Plymouth Brethren, have “rooms” and adherents throughout England; the Catholic Apostolic Church (“Irvingites”) have some 80 churches; the New Jerusalem Church (Swedenborgians) had (1908) 75 “societies”; the Christian Scientists, the Christadelphians, the British Israelites and similar societies, such as the New and Latter House of Israel, the Seventh Day Baptists, deserve mention. The Latter Day Saints (Mormons) had (1908) 82 churches in Great Britain.
Roman Catholicism in England has shown a tendency to advance, especially among the upper and upper-middle classes. The published lists of “converts” are, however, no safe index to actual progress; for no equivalent statistics are available for “leakage” in the opposite Roman Catholics.direction. The membership of the Roman Catholic Church in England is estimated at about 2,200,000. But though the
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 In 1906.
- ↑ There are in addition some thousands of Presbyterians unconnected with the church, including members of the Church of Scotland.
- ↑ Great Britain and Ireland, 1906.
- ↑ On September 17, 1907, the United Methodist Free Churches, the Methodist New Connexion, and the Bible Christians were united under the name of the United Methodist Church.
