25. RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS. The religious and ecclesiastical life of Canada can not be understood without some reference to the sources from which it sprang. The same great forces and influence which molded the history of the Old World re-appear here, but modified in their action and combinations by the new and freer environment in which they work. Broadly speaking, the three great Brit ish peoples which form the bulk and basis of the Dominion, brought with them the Angli can, Presbyterian and Methodist forms of re ligion, while latterly the tides of alien immi grants have brought with them varieties of the Eastern and Western Catholic churches. The dominating religious life of Canada is Protest ant, save in the province of Quebec which is almost exclusively Roman Catholic and French As a whole Canada is distinctively a Christian country, not so conservative on the one hand as Great Britain, or on the other hand so liberal as the United States, 85 per cent of the population belonging to the Roman, Presbyterian, Methodist and Anglican churches.
General History.— The Roman Catholic Church is the oldest and largest of the ecclesi astical bodies in Canada. It has its chief seat in the province of Quebec. In Canada, under French rule, it was all-powerful, and in its origin it was distinctively missionary. The Jesuits were the pioneers and, from the Saint Lawrence to the Rockies, have left an imper ishable record. While to-day the largest section by far of the Roman Catholic is French speak. ing, a considerable body of Roman Catholics is found in the other provinces representing in their lineage and traditions the Catholics of the north of Scotland and south of Ireland. In the western provinces from Winnipeg to the Pacific the Roman Catholic Church is strong in influence and membership. See the article on the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
The Church of England in Canada began with the settlement in Nova Scotia (known of old as Acadia) of certain English immigrants who came in government ships to Halifax in 1749, and built Saint Paul's Church for the peoples' worship (1750). The incoming of the United Empire Loyalists (Americans who determined to rema'n loyal to the, Brit ish Crown) in 1783-84 gave a great impetus to the Church of England, for the vast ma jority of them were Episcopalians, and in 1787, Dr. Chrales Inglis was consecrated in Lambeth in England, as bishop of Nova Scotia, the first bishop of the Church of England in Canada. His diocese included New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and Upper and Lower Canada. In the year 1793 Dr. Jacob Mountain was consecrated as bishop ofde Quebec, and all Canada west of Quebec was under this jurisdiction until 1839 when Dr. John Strachan was made bishop of Toronto, the Anglican population of Upper Canada com prising his episcopate. About this time the new Canadian spirit of the church began to manifest itself. Before this the Anglican Church had de pended for its support largely upon the charity of the missionary organizations of the mother church in England, especially the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, but in 1842 it was felt that self-respecting Canadian church men should begin to support their own church and ministry, and the Church Society of the Diocese of Toronto became the pioneer of the system of parochial self-support now almost universal in the Canadian church. Another
very remarkable event in the life of the Cana dian church was the emergence of the demo cratic and independent spirit of self-govern ment. All the bishops of the Anglican Church in Canada were accustomed to receive their commission from the British government, and their consecration in England, and the members of the church had nothing whatever to say in the matter. But after no little discussion and difficulty the Canadian bishops determined to have their own jurisdiction and synods, and in the years 1857-59 asserted their ecclesiastical independence by holding synods in Toronto and Quebec where the clergy and laity meeting on equal footing might transact the affairs of the church. The year 1862 marked also a new era in the history of the Canadian Church, for in that year Dr. Lewis was elected bishop of the diocese of Ontario, and instead of crossing the ocean for consecration at the hands of the archbishop of Canterbury was consecrated on Canadian soil by Canadian bishops. From that time the church expanded remarkably, and whereas a Idle over a century ago there was only bishop and a few scattered clergy for all Canada there are now 28 dioceses with 1,750 clergy, nine church colleges and three church universities; two missionary dioceses in China and Japan, a large body of missionaries in Japan, China, India, Africa, Palestine and South America with native workers, and Christian schools and orphanages and hospitals; over 2,000 churches and Sunday schools; and over $3,500,000 contributed annually for church phr poses and missions. The laws of each diocese are under the control of the Synod of the Diocese which as a rule meets annually and is composed of the clergy and lay representatives from each parish and mission. The whole church in Canada is represented in the General Synod which meets once every three years, pre sided over by the leading archbishop, who is the Primate of the Church of England in Canada. The outstanding features of the pro gressive life of the Anglican (or Protestant Episcopal) Church in Canada during the past few years, have bees the zetnaricabk progress of the missionary life of the church at home and abroad, the stimulation of the Sunday school and educational work by the establish ment of the Sunday school commission, the authorization of the new Canadian Church Hymn Book (the Book of Common Praise) as the one book for use in all the churches, and the revision of the Prayer Book as the Cana dian Book of Common Prayer approved by the General Synod held in Toronto, September 1915.