Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/559

Rh ANGLICANISM 499 ANOLIOANISM least substantially, to its doctrines, its organization, and its liturgy. Apart from minor or missionary settlements, the area in which Anglicanism is to be found corresponds roughly with those portions of the globe which are, or were formerly, under the British flag. The number of Catholics m the world is said U> exceed L'30,000,000 (estimates by M. Fournier de Flaix; see The American Statistical Association Quarterly for March, 189J). The number belonging to the Greek and Ivistern Churches is about 100,000,000. The number of .Vnglicans in all countries is something less than 2"),000,000. Thus the relative proportion of those three Christian bodi&s which are sometimes grouped as being lOpiscopalian in constitution may be fairly stated by the three figures, 2'.i, 10, 2. The growth of .Vnglicanism has followed mainly upon the expansion of the . glo- Saxon race. Its area may be .said to includp. besides the three nucleal countries (England, Ireland, Scot- land), six others, namely: the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and India. But the bulk of its membership, in fact more th.an two-thirds, is to be fomul in iMigland. In all the other countries of its area it is in a minority of the Christian population. In five of them — Ireland. .Scot- land, the United States, Canada, and India -its num- bers are considerably exceeded by those of the Catholic Church. Its foreign mi.s.sions are very gen- erously supported, and have extended their activity far into the heathen countries. The following table is compileil from comparatively recent statistics. The numbers given are of members, except when it is stated to be of communicants. The ratio of communicants to members may be anytliing between 1 in 3 and 1 in S. ConNTRY Total Christian Population Number of Anglicans England 32,520,075 Between 13 and 17 millions or 2,223,207 communicants Ireland 4,458.775 581.089 Scotland 4,472,103 134,155 (Epis. Ch. of Scotland— Year Book, 1900) United States 7fi.303.387 823.060 communicants Canada .■.,.!71.(Wl 680.340 Australia
 * ),77I.'-'.S2

1.250.673 NewZkalani. 77.'.7I9 315,263 South Africa l,l.i5.735 Under 300.000 or 48,4S7 communicants India 2,923,241 453, 162 The foregoing statistics concerning the Christian population of F.ngland and lier dependencies arc, with the exception of .ustralia and New Zealand, taken from the Census, 1901 (British lOnipire Of- ficial Year Book, which is also to be consulted for the . glican population of Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and India). The figures for the Christian populations of .Vustralia, in 1901, and New Zealand are given respectively in "Whitaker's .Vlnianac", 1906, which inchules 0,S.")1 aborigines, and the "New Zealand Year Hook", 1904, which excludes the Maori.s. The Christian population of the United States is baseil on the .Vbstract of the Twelfth Cen- sus, and that of South .Vfrica on the Kuropean population, 1904, as contained in "Whitaker's .- manac", 1906. For several ilecades there has been no return of religious denominations in the British Government Census. The Church of Knglantl is pop- ularly estimated to include about 17,000,(X)0. Its official "Year Book" (190<)), which is al.so the au- thority for the number of communicants in the United States and South .frica, gives the number of com- municants in F.ngland as •J,223,207. This multiplied by 6 would give a membership of 13..3.39,21?. The same authority gives the mnnber of baptisms as 61,).- 6l'1. This, upon the usual multiple of L'JJ, would give a membership of 13,860,000. The number be- I.— 32 longing to the Church of England would thus seem to be between thirteen and seventeen millions. For the number of .Xnglicans in Australia in 1901, refer again to " Whitaker's Almanac", 1906. Belikfs. — To form a general idea of Anglicanism as a religious .system, it will be convenient to sketch it in rougli outline as it exists in the Kstablished Church of lOngland, bearing in mind that there are differences of detail, mainly in liturgy and church- government, to bo found in the other portions of the .Vnglican communion. The members of the Church of England are professed Christians, and claim to be baptized members of the Cliurch of Christ. They accept the Scriptures as contained in the Authorized Version, as the Word of God. They hold the Scrip- tures to be the sole and supreme rule of faith, in the sense that the Scriptures contain all things neces.sary to salvation and that nothing can be required of anyone as an article of faith which is not contained therein, antl cannot be proved thereby. They accept the Rook of Common Prayer as the practical rule of their belief ami worship, and in it they use as stan- dards of tloctrino the tlirce Creetis — the .pcstles', the Nicene, and the .tlianasian. They believe in two .sacraments of the Gospel, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, as generally necessary to salvation. They claim to have .i)ostolic succession and a validly ordained ministry, and only persons whom they be- lieve to be thus ordained are allowed to minister in their churches. They believe that the Church of England is a true and reformed part, or braiicli. or pair of provinces, of the Catholic Church of Christ. They maintain that the Church of England is free from all foreign jurisdiction. They recognize the King as Supreme Governor of the Church and ac- knowletlge that to him "appertains the government of all estates whether civil or ecclesiastical, in all caiLses. " The clergy, before being appointed to a benefice or licensed to preach, subscribe and declare that they "assent to the Thirty-nine .rticles, and to the Book of Common Prayer, and of Ordering of Bishops, priests, and deacons, and believe the doc- trine of the Church of ICngland as therein set forth to be agreeable to the Word of God". One of the -Articles (X.W) thus subscribed approves the First and Second Book of Homilies as containing "a godly and wholesome tloctrine necessary for these times', and adjudges them to be read in churches "dili- gently and distinctly". To tlie.se general character- istics we may aikl 1)y way of corrective that while the Bible is accepted much latitude is allowed as to the nature and extent of its inspiration; that the Eucharistic teaching of the Prayer Book is subject to various and opposed interpretations; that Apos- tolic succession is claimed by many to be beneficial, but not essential, to the nature of the Church; that the .postles' Creed is the only one to which as.sent can be required from the laity, and the Articles of Religion are held to be binding only on the licensed and beneficed clergy. Chief Government. — Inside these outlines, which are nece.s.sarily vague, the constitution of the Church of ICnglantl has been largely determined by the events which attended its settlement under the Tudors. Before the breach with Home under Menrj' VIII there was absolutely no doctrinal difference between the faith of Englishmen and the rest of Catholic Christendom, and ".Anglicanism",?s connoting a separate or independent religious system, was un- known. The name Ecclc.iia An(jlicana, or English Church, was of course employed, but always in the Catholic and Papal use of the term as signifj-ing that part or region of the one Catholic Church under the jurisdiction of the Pope which w.as situated in Eng- land, and precisely in the .same way .as the Church in Scotland was called the ICcclcxia Scolticana, the Church in France, the Ecclesia GaUicana, ajid