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such a meeting amenable to ecclesiastical jurisdiction; or have the lay members of the church no power to assemble, for any charitable purpose, but under the direct sanction of ecclesiastical power? If such be the constitution of the Church of England as by law established, they desire that it may be distinctly pointed out. The Archdeacon was, indeed, heard by sufferance, even to the end of his most extraordinary Address; and that by a Meeting whose proceedings were interrupted without leave or apology, and where he was not entitled to speak, unless in conformity to the advertisement, by which friends only were invited: he was heard, though professing to come there in support of a presumed ecclesiastical authority; and whilst he himself was at the same time violating all ecclesiastical discipline, by insulting a bishop of his own church, and a superior in the same diocese, who listened to him with a patience and calmness which could be derived only from one source.

"As this is the first, so the Committee trust it will be the last time they shall have to address the public on this occasion: they more gladly and cheerfully return to the discharge of their proper duties, and look with confidence for the support of a Christian public, in the great and glorious undertaking in which they are engaged.

"In the name of the Committee,
(Signed)

"Bath, Dec. 4th, 1817."

APPENDIX II.

The words of the Archdeacon are

J. O'BRIEN."

"I said that this Society tends to the subversion of ecclesiastical order; and to promote and augment divisions among the members, and especially the clergy of the Church of England. Can a stronger proof of this assertion be offered than is, at this moment, exhibited before your eyes? Here you have the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Gloucester presiding in the chief city of the diocese of Bath and Wells, over the formation of a society which the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells disclaims. Does the Honourable and Right Reverend Vice Patron of this Church of England Missionary Society know this fact? If not, by what rule, not of apostolical authority, but of common propriety, does he invade the province of his venerable brother? By what right does he come hither, thrusting his sickle into another man's harvest? Perhaps he thought the husbandmen asleep! I trust that he will find us waking and watchful. But if his

Lordship did know the sentiments of his venerable diocesan as well as mine (for the Dean of Wells is as much under canonical rule as any other clergyman), I ask, if his Lordship did know the sentiments of his venerable diocesan as well as mine, could he give a more decisive proof of his indifference to the dignity of the high office to which he has been but a few years consecrated, as well as of his contempt of ecclesiastical order?"-Protest, pp. 6, 7.

APPENDIX III.

The following abstract of the Charter incorporating the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, will show, that it is in no degree formed for the object of converting the Heathen World, though some of its Missionaries and Schoolmasters on the extreme Stations may have an intercourse with a few tribes of American Indians.

"King William III. was graciously pleased, on the 16th of June 1701, to erect and settle a corporation with a perpetual succession, by the name of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts; for the receiving, ma naging, and disposing of the contributions of such persons as would be induced to extend their charity towards the maintenance of a learned and an orthodox clergy, and the making of such other provision as might be necessary for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, upon information, that in many of our Plantations, Colonies, and Factories beyond the seas, the provision for ministers was mean; and many other of our said Plantations, Colonies, and Factories, were wholly unprovided of a maintenance for ministers, and the public worship of God; and that, for lack of support and maintenance of such, many of his loving subjects wanted the administration of God's word and sacraments, and seemed to be abandoned to atheism and infidelity, and others of them to popish superstition and idolatry."

APPENDIX IV.

The peculiar interest taken by King George the First, in the primary endeavour to evangelize the Hindoos, will appear from the following letters addressed to the missionaries by his Majesty.

"George, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith,

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&c. To the Reverend and Learned Bartholomew Ziegenbalg, and John Ernest Grundler, Missionaries at Tranquebar in the East Indies.

"Reverend and beloved,-Your letters, dated the 20th January of the present year, were most welcome to us; not only because the work undertaken by you, of converting the heathen to the Christian faith, doth, by the grace of God, prosper, but also because that in this our kingdom such a laudable zeal for the promotion of the Gospel prevails.

"We pray you may be endued with health and strength of body, that you may long continue to fulfil your ministry, with good success; of which, as we shall be rejoiced to hear, so you will always find us ready to succour you in whatever may tend to promote your work and to excite your zeal. We assure you of the continuance of our royal favour.

"Given at our Palace of Hampton Court, the 23d
August, A. D. 1717, in the 4th Year of our Reign."
"GEORGE R.
"HATTORF."

The King continued to cherish with much solicitude the interests of the mission after the death of Ziegenbalg; and in ten years from the date of the foregoing letter, a second was addressed to the Members of the Mission, by his Majesty.

"Reverend and beloved,- From your letters, dated Tranquebar, the 12th September 1725, which sometime since came to hand, we received much pleasure; since by them we are informed not only of your zealous exertions in the prosecution of the work committed to you, but also of the happy success which bath hitherto attended it, and which hath been graciously given of God. We return you thanks for these accounts; and it will be acceptable to us, if you continue to communicate whatever shall occur in the progress of your mission. In the mean time, we pray you may enjoy strength of body and mind for the long continuance of your labours in this good work, to the glory of God, and the promotion of Christianity among the heathens; that its perpetuity may not fail in generations to come.

"Given at our Palace at St. James's, the 23d Febru-
ary, 1727, in the 13th Year of our Reign.
"GEORGE R."

The following is the translation of a letter of Archbishop Wake.

"To Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and John Ernest Grundler, Preachers of the Christian Faith, on the Coast of Coromandel.

"As often as I behold your letters, Reverend Brethren,

addressed to the venerable Society instituted for the promotion of the Gospel, whose chief honour and ornament ye are ; and as often as I contemplate the light of the Gospel either now first rising on the Indian Nations, or after the intermission of some ages again revived, and as it were restored to its inheritance; I am constrained to magnify that singular goodness of God in visiting nations so remote; and to account you, my brethren, highly honoured, whose ministry it hath pleased Him to employ, in this pious work, to the glory of His name and the salvation of so many millions of souls. Let others indulge in a ministry, if not idle, certainly less laborious, among Christians at home. Let them enjoy, in the bosom of the church, titles and honours, obtained without labour and without danger. Your praise it will be (a praise of endless duration on earth, and followed by a just recompense in heaven) to have laboured in the vineyard which yourselves have planted; to have declared the name of Christ, where it was not known before; and through much peril and difficulty to have converted to the faith those among whom ye afterwards fulfilled your ministry. Your province, therefore, brethren, your office, I place before all dignities in the church. Let others be pontiffs, patriarchs, or popes; let them glitter in purple, in scarlet, or in gold; let them seek the admiration of the wondering multitude, and receive obeisance on the bended knee. Ye have acquired a better name than they, and a more sacred fame. And when that day shall arrive, when the chief Shepherd shall give to every man according to his work, a greater reward shall be adjudged to you. Admitted into the glorious society of the Prophets, Evangelists, and Apostles, ye, with them, shall shine, like the sun among the lesser stars, in the kingdom of your Father, for ever. Since then so great honour is now given unto you by all competent judges on earth, and since so great a reward is laid up for you in heaven; go forth with alacrity to that work, to the which the Holy Ghost hath called you. God hath already given to you an illustrious pledge of his favour, an increase not to be expected without the aid of his grace. Ye have begun happily, proceed with spirit. He, who hath carried you safely through the dangers of the seas to such a remote country, and who hath given you favour in the eyes of those whose countenance ye most desired; He who hath so liberally and unexpectedly ministered unto your wants, and who doth now daily add members to your church; He will continue to prosper your endeavours, and will subdue unto himself, by your means, the whole continent of Oriental India. O happy men! who, standing before the tribunal of Christ, shall exhibit so many nations converted to his faith by your preaching; happy men! to

whom it shall be given to say, before the assembly of the whole human race, Behold us, O Lord, and the children whom thou hast given us; happy men! who, being justified by the Saviour, shall receive in that day the reward of your labours, and also shall hear that glorious encomium, Well done, good and faithful servants; enter ye into the joy of your Lord. May Almighty God graciously favour you and your labours in all things. May he send to your aid fellowlabourers, such and so many as ye wish. May he increase the bounds of your churches. May he open the hearts of those to whom ye preach the Gospel of Christ: that hearing you, they may receive life-giving faith. May he protect you and yours from all evils and dangers. And when ye arrive (may it be late) at the end of your course, may the same God, who hath called you to this work of the Gospel, and hath preserved you in it, grant to you the reward of your labour, an incorruptible crown of glory.

"These are the fervent wishes and prayers of,

Venerable Brethren,

"Your most faithful fellow-servant in Christ,
"GULIELMUS CANT."

"From our Palace at Lambeth, January, A. D. 1719."

I cannot here refrain from adverting to the admirable Sermon of the present Lord Bishop of London, delivered last year (1817), before the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and which precedes their last Report.

The circumstance also may be here mentioned-and I shall only mention it-that if the efforts of the Church Missionary Society were suppressed, the number of Missionaries in India and its dependencies, supported by Members of the Church of England, would not exceed three or four; while those supported by other religious communities in this country amount to above seventy.

APPENDIX V.

March 9, 1818.

Feeling it to be due to the Hon. and Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Gloucester to remove a misconception, which, as I collect from some of the publications that have appeared in reply to my Defence, seems to be entertained on the subject of the "Statement" made by his Lordship, I take this opportunity of giving a simple account of the facts which the

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