PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, a denomination in the United States directly descended from the Church of England, which doctrinally claims to be based on the Holy Scrip tures, as interpreted in the Apostles and other ancient creeds of the Church that have been universally received, and to have kept herself aloof from all the modern systems of faith, whether of Cal vin, or Luther, or Arminius, leaving her members free to enjoy their own opin ions and refusing to be narrowed down to any other creed or creeds than those of the Apostles and the Primitive Church. She claims also to have re tained all that is essential to church or ganization in her episcopate, and in her liturgy to have not only a wise and judi cious compend of doctrine and devotion, but also one of the most effectual of all possible conservative safeguards for the faith once delivered to the saints. The characteristic tenets of the Church of England, besides the fundamental doc trines of the Trinity and redemption through the all-sufficient atonement once made for all by the death of Christ on the cross, are a regeneration or spiritual birth in baptism, in which the baptized becomes a member of the Church, and a growth in grace by the use of the sacra ments and ministrations of the Church duly administered and duly received, made efficacious by the word of divine truth and the gracious influences of the Holy Ghost, freely given to all who duly seek and faithfully use them. The Church has power to decree rites or cere monies, and to decide matters of faith; clergymen are allowed to marry; and communion is to be given in both kinds.
The number of sacraments is two—bap tism and the Lord's Supper. Three clerical orders are recognized—bishops, priests, and deacons. Those of the sec ond order are entitled archdeacons, deans, rectors, vicars, or curates, accord ing to their functions.
From the time of the first congrega tions of the Church of England in Amer ica, in 1607, to the close of the Revolu tion, all the clergy in the colonies were regarded as under the supervision of the Bishop of London. The first American bishop was Rev. Samuel Seabury, who, in 1783, was consecrated in Scotland as Bishop of Connecticut. All Protestant Episcopal churches in the United States are associated in one national body, called the General Convention, which meets triennially. The General Conven tion directs the manner in which the qualifications of candidates for orders shall be estimated and determined; regu lates the particulars in regard to the election and ordination of the orders of the ministry; defines the nature of ec clesiastical offenses, and decrees the pun ishment thereof; settles the particular form and orders of its common prayer. and publishes authorized editions of the Book of Common Prayer; and directs the mode and manner of its intercourse with foreign churches. No law or canon can be enacted without the concurrence of both clergy and laity. In 1919 the Communicants in the United States numbered 1,098,173, the Churches 7,425, and the Ministers 5,544.