This word, which properly means of or relating to a bishop, has been grossly abused, first in Scotland, then in America. The abuse has become irremediable.
1752. The established clergy were episcopal; the non-conformists presbyterian: So that all things concurred to throw the former, without reserve, into the king’s party; and the latter into that of the parliament.—Hume, ‘Essays &c.,’ (1777), i. 69. (N.E.D.)
1774. Wednesday will be held in Boston the annual Convention of the Episcopal clergy.—Mass. Gazette, Sept. 12.
1774. The episcopal clergy of the town of Boston have addressed Governor Gage.—Newport Mercury, May 30.
1781. Here [at Stratford] was erected the first episcopal church in Connecticut.—Samuel Peters, ‘History of Connecticut,’ p. 214 (Lond.).
1787. When George Whitfield first came to Charlestown, the Rev. Alexander Garden was Episcopal Minister at that place.—Virginia Gazette, Dec. 6
1788. The Right Reverend Samuel Provost (Episcopal Bishop of the State of New York), and the Rev. Dr. John Rogers, were re-elected Chaplains to Congress.—Maryland Journal, March 14.
1799. Every episcopal minister placed at the head of a church, from Maine to Georgia.—The Aurora, Phila., Feb. 19.
1799. It was currently said that an Episcopal Bishop would not be received in any of the American Colonies.—Id., March 2: from the Albany Register.
1810. A new stone building, intended for an Episcopal church.—Mass. Spy, June 20.
1828. The Episcopal service, which was that in which she had been reared.—T. Flint, ‘Arthur Clenning,’ i. 154 (Phila.).
1837. An episcopal church has lately been erected [in Pensacola].—John L. Williams, ‘The Territory of Florida,’ p. 123 (N.Y.).
1843. A church belonging to the Episcopal denomination.—Yale Lit. Mag., ix. 216 (March).
