EMBER DAYS. In early times special fasts were appointed at the four seasons of the year, and of later years they have been made to have a special reference to the ordination of clergy which immediately follows them. The derivation of the name is uncertain. The days thus set apart, and now used for supplicating God's blessing on those about to be ordained, are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the 1st Sunday in Lent, after Whit Sunday, after the 14th of September, and after the 13th of December. Special Collects are appointed for use on these days. EMMANUEL, or IMMANUEL. A Hebrew word, used as a name of our Lord, and meaning, "God with us," Isaiah vii.14; Matt. i.23. ENDOWMENT. The permanent provision for the support of the ministry. The annual sum derived from the endowments of the Established Church amounts to rather more than _four millions sterling_. Of this sum--Tithes and Rents voluntarily given to the Church of England by charitable persons before the Reformation bring in about L1,950,000; Tithes, Rents, and Interest on Money voluntarily given to the Church of England since the Reformation bring in about L2,250,000. Thus the total of the yearly value of endowments is about L4,200,000. Of this the State receives as taxes about L200,000, which leaves a net yearly value of endowments of about; L3,500,000, which is paid to the clergy, of whom there are about 20,000. It is thus divided: 2 Archbishops, 28 Bishops, 73 Archdeacons, receive about L173,000; 30 Deans, 132 Canons, 128 Minor Canons, 600 Singers, Lay Officers and Servants, receive about L203,000; 19,600 other Clergy, Rectors, Vicars, and Curates receive about L3,124,000. The average, therefore, is just L3, 10s. a week for each clergyman. To supplement its endowments, which were voluntarily given by private persons, the Church receives, by free gifts from her own members, about five millions and a half sterling every year. This money is _all_ spent on Schools, Church Institutions, Charities, Relief of the Poor, Foreign Missions, Expenses attendant upon the regular performance of Divine Worship, and Building and Restoring Churches (See _Establishment_.) EPIPHANY. A Greek word, meaning "manifestation." The term applied to that festival of the Church observed on Jan. 6th, in commemoration of our Lord's _manifestation_ to the Wise Men from the East, the representatives of the Gentile world. EPISCOPACY. The term applied to the Apostolical form of government, which consisted in the appointment of a Bishop as an _Overseer_ (for that is the meaning of the Greek word) of a particular Church. (See _Orders_.)