A BICENTENARY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 913, 5 September 1910, Page 7

A BICENTENARY.

ANGLICAN CHURCH IN CANADA. By Telecrapli—Pross Association—Copyright (Rec. September 4, 5.5 p.m.) Ottawa, September 3. The bi-centenary' of the Anglican Church in Canada is being celebrated at Halifax. The first service took place in 1711, at Annapolis, as ,an act _of gratitude on the part of the British soldiers on the occasion of the surrender of tho French commander. Tho Primate of Canada officiated, and high dignitaries of the Church in Canada, America, and. Britain were present. , ■ . Services were held simultaneously throughout the Dominion. •. (Rec. September 5, 12.25 p.m.) Ottawa, September.4. The Bishops of' Glasgow and London were present at the Halifax centenary. The latter presented a prayer-book, tho gift of King George v . AN- INTERESTING CHAPTER IN . CHURCH HISTORY. ■'■-

The'actual event 'which the Canadian Church proposes to commemorate during the first'week in September at Halifax, Nova Scotia (says the "Church Times ), occurred on October 10i 1710. The, general in command ordered" a .day of thanksgiving for the: success of the Engr lish soldiers dn reducing Port Reyal (now Annapolis Royal), and the service_heM on-that occasion by the Rev. John Harrison was the first recorded Church of England service in British North'_ America. In 1720 the Rev. Richard Watts was sent out by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at a salary of ,£10; a year/Apparently it was augmented ■ by a payment for officiating as, assistant, garrison'chaplain. Nothing remains;of the little chapel of St. Anne hi which services were held, and little of the fort. Settlers crossed- the Atlantic and founded the town of Halifax in 1749. Among them were two clergymen and a schoolmaster attached to. the party' through tho instrumentality of the .S.P.G. On Christmas Day, in that 'ye,w. there were thirty communicants at the-■ celebration of the Holy. Eucharist, which, for lack of a more suitable place, was in the Governor's dining-room. The Church of St. Paul was built at the.cost of tho Government, and the parish constituted By an Act of the first General Assembly in 1759.'8y a deed of endowment dated January 4, 1760, King ..George.ll. designated the church as."a,royal foundation and of exempt jurisdiction." A Sundaysohool was founded in- 1783, and claims to be the oldest Sunday school w.ith a continuous history on the American continent/ The first Bishop of Nova Scotia was the' Rev. Charles Inglis, who was. born in New York, and came to England for ordination by the Bishop.of London. The necessity for the .long and arduous journcv probably led to become an energetic advocate, of having a bishop in the English possessions on the other side, of the.Atlantic./ Again, ho had to return to England 'for consecration at Lambeth, on August 12,1787, and thus.became, the first British Colonial Bishop.' .Jurisdiction was assigned to him over the provinces of TJpner and J-ower Canada, New. Brunswick. Prince Efhvard Island, Bermuda, and Newfoundland. He. was instrumental in founding "a seminary; of karniiK at Windsor in Nova Scotia, of which his nephew became the first principal, and his. son John, afterwards third Bishop of Nova Scotia, the first scholar. From that beginning developed in course of,time/ King's College,, which will bestow honorary degrees in connection with the bicentenary celebration. : The diocese now extends over the. province of Nova Scotia and Prince-Edward Island, 'and contains one hundred clergy, but. has no cathedral. The chief event,of the,commemoration will be the opening of All Saints' Cathedral;. .-.-.'" .