EPISTLE. The name given to the _Letters_ of the Apostles, which the Church has admitted as forming part of the Canon of the New Testament (see _Bible_). St. Paul wrote fourteen, if we allow the Epistle to the Hebrews to have been written by him. St. James wrote one, which, like others addressed to no particular Church, is called a _general_ Epistle. St. Peter wrote two Epistles; St. John, three; and St. Jude, one. Those portions of Scripture read in the Communion Service, and called Epistles, have been used, with few alterations, for 1200 years by the Church of England. EPISTOLER. The 24th Canon directs that "In all cathedral and collegiate churches the Holy Communion shall be administered, . . . the principal minister using a decent cope, and being assisted with the gospeller and epistoler." So, in the advertisements published in the seventh year of Elizabeth, we read, "The principal minister shall use a cope with gospeller and epistoler agreeably." ERASTIANISM. The heresy of Erastus, a German, born 1524. His main principle was that the source of all pastoral authority is the civil magistrate, who, whether Christian or not, possesses an inherent right to nominate and commission teachers of religion, and is under no necessity of admitting the least difference between priests and laymen. ESCHATOLOGY. A term applied to doctrines relative to the state after death. ESTABLISHMENT and ENDOWMENT. These two terms are constantly linked together in the publications of the Liberation Society, and by other enemies of the Church of England, as though they formed one and the same thing. In truth, they are wholly distinct, and are descriptive of two quite different features of the Church of England. It is _Established_, and it is also _Endowed_. It is called the former because it is established in this country by the Law of the land, and professes the acknowledged religion of the State. If the Church were disestablished to-morrow she would still continue to be the true Church of God in this country, because her origin, doctrine, and constitution are Apostolic. Besides being called a "State Church," the Church of England has also been called a "State _paid_ Church." It is well to remember that the Parochial Clergy, and all others except Army and Navy Chaplains and the like, do not receive one farthing from the State. The property, or _Endowment_, of the Church was the voluntary gift of private individuals in all ages, who, out of regard to the spiritual interests of those who lived upon their estates, built churches, and endowed them for the maintenance of religious worship. The State has no right to alienate any portion whatever of that property from the purpose for which it was given. (See _Church of England_ and _Endowment_.) EUCHARIST. A term applied to the Holy Communion (which see), derived from the Greek, and meaning, "a giving of thanks." It is used in the Latin version of our Articles. EVANGELICALS, _see_ Church Parties.