PROTESTANT EPISC. CHURCH G70 PROTESTANT EPISC. CHURCH
faith of Christ, and t<> educate them in accordance with this faith, Mr. G. Thorpe, a man of good parts and breeding, was appointed head ol the new institution, ami it was confidently hoped and expected that the red men would ere long b< come ( Ihristians aud members of a civilized community; but a rude shock was giveu to this hopi I ) I)"- Indians, who, haling and fearing the intruders, as they considered the whites to be, resorted, in 1622, i" a Woody massacre; this, it may be noted, would have been complete extermination, had not a Christian Indian disclosed the plot the night before, and thus prevented its entire fulfilment. The deplor- able result was, the imbittering the feelings of all tow- ards the Indians and a tierce war <>t' retaliation : so that, for tie- time, the college, missionary labors, and Chris- tian education were abandoned. In 1625 Virginia be- came a royal colony, and though its religious concerns wen- not so zealously looked alter as under i lie charter, yet the people as a whole remained steadfast in llieir attachment to the Church of England, and their deter- mination to sustain it in every way in their power. Virginia, too, where many cavaliers sough) refuge, was loyal to the exiled monarchy when Cromwell came into power, while New England, on the other hand, sympa- thized heartily with the "lord protector" and his work. After the Restoration, in 1660, the colonial legislature, under Berkeley, the royal governor, gave early atten- tion to the repairs and building of churches, the canon- ical performance of the liturgy, the minisrrati if
God's word, the baptizing and Christian education of the young, etc. It is, however, sadly true that religion had greatly declined among the people; violent con- tests occurred between the governors and the assembly of the people; the ruling party was intolerant ; popular discontent increased; and rebellion actually broke out. So injurious were these disturbances and the wicked passions to which they gave rise that almost of neces- sity piety and godly life and conversation declined; and the Church became weakened to such an extent thal.it is recorded, out of fifty parishes, nearly all were destitute ol glebe, parsonage, church, and minister, and there were not more than ten in holy orders left. In 1685 Rev. James Blair came as missionary to Virginia. Four years later he was appointed commissary of the bishop of London, a position of great responsibility and trust, especially with regard to discipline of loth clergj and laity. He also held a seal in the council, and con- tinued at his posl as commissary for more than half a century, exercising a most beneficial influence in every way. and particularly in restoring and enlarging the good work of the Church. It was through his ener- getic efforts and well-directed zeal that the College of William and .Mary was chartered in 1692. Its design was ■•that the Church in Virginia may he furnished with a seminary of ministers of the Gospel; that the youth may he piously educated in good letters and manners: and that the Christian faith may he propa- gated among the Western Indian-, to the glory of Al- mighty God." Blair became president of this the sec- ond college founded in America, and lived to a wry
advanced age.
The neighboring colony of Maryland, founded in 1633 by lord Baltimore, a Roman Catholic, with some two hundred families and two or more priests of t hat Church, was noted for freely opening its doors to "ev- ery pi rson professing to believe in Jesus ( Ihrisr." The colonial assembly in 1639 declared, in the words ol' Magna I harta, that •■ Holy church within this prov- ince shall have all her rights and privileges." Whether by this term was meant the church of England or not, it is certain that the influence and membership of that Church were largely extended. The general progress of the colony was so successful thai al lord Baltimore's
death, in 1676, there were in Man land ten counties and
about sixteen thousand inhabitants, the largest part of whom were Protestants. At this date a letter was ad- dressed to the archbishop of Canterbury by a clergy-
man named Yeo, complaining of the low state of morals in the colony, and of the fact that the clergy of ihe Church of England had no settled incomes like their brethren in Virginia, and that consequently their po- sition was neither so respectable nor so well calculated i" effect good as it ought to he. Efforts were made to induce the proprietary to provide maintenance for the Church: this, however, he wholly refused. Seditious movements thereupon were set on foot against him as being a "papist," and it was maliciously rumored thai the Romau Catholics, ill complicity with the Indians,
were purposing to massacre the Protestants. On the
accession of William of Orange in l(>s. a so-called "Protestant revolution" took place, and for three years the government was in the hands of the insurgents. Lord Baltimore having been deprived of bis rights as proprietary, a royal governor was sent into Maryland, and in 1692 the Church ol' England was established by law : the province was di\ ided into thirty parishes, and tithes were imposed for support of the clergy upon ev- ery inhabitant, no matter what might he his religious opinions. The Roman Catholics and Quakers of posed this with all their might, and with more or less suc- cess. In 1696 new laws were made, which still, how- ever, recognised the Church of England as by law es- tablished as entitled to all its rights, privileges, and freedom. The clergy, feeling tie mid of aid from home, begged tin- bishop of London to send them a commissary at least (.since' they were not allowed to have a bishop i. "to redress what was .Mnis- and sup- ply what was wanting in the Church." Dr. Thomas Bray, a very estimable and truly godly man, was the one chosen to till this important position. At great personal sacrifice he accepted it. He secured as many pious and devoted clergj- men as he could to go with linn to America, and was seiem enabled to increase the number of those laboring in Maryland from three to sixteen. He began the formation of colonial HI raries, and as one step led to another, and as he jerceived how great was the need and how important was the re'sull of combined action on the' pari of the members