From ibis time onward, however, owing to the un- wearied and judicious efforts of the Society for Propa- gating the ( rospel, something began to be accomplished. in despite of penal enactments and hitler, uncompro- mising hatred. Missionaries were sent out to various points in New England, as well as the other colonies (except Virginia and Maryland); and as they were honest, faithful men. abounding in labors, travelling Over lar^e districts, and ministering the (iospcl to all whom they met with, they deserve all honor, ami their labors were not without fruit. Had the < buivb of England listened to that supplication for bishops Which went up continually and earnestly, and bad she been permitted to send out worthy men for the epis- copal office, the growth and prosperity of the < !hurch in America would have been vastly greater and more se- cure; but the ungodliness Of men in power, the ham- pered condition of t be Established Church, ami tic ac- tive opposition of the Puritans in New England and of the dissenters in England as well as their special friends in America, always succeeded in overpowering the cry of the destitute and the numerous and powerful remon- strances of the Society for Propagating the GospeL At
• time there were two nonjuring bishops in America,
viz. l>r. R.Welton and Dr. .1. Talbot | 1722), the former in Philadelphia, the latter in Burlington, N.J.; but they were doI allowed to exercise episcopal functions except bj stealth, and the government soon after interfered and put an entire stop to all action on their part. As
calls 88 1704, a missionary of the society took up bis
residence in Newport, I.'. I., and continued there nearly bait a century. During bis ministry, and that of sev- eral helpers in tie work, be could not but note the de- pressing effects of schism and heresy, there being then
quite as many denominations in Rhode Island a- there have been in subsequent day-. Bishop Berkeley de- serves to be named in this connection for his noble dis- interestedness and zeal. In 17'J-~> he entered upon his ureat philanthropic and Christian enterprise of erecting a ..ill. ge at Bermuda, to serve as an institution for edu- cating the children of the planters, and suitable ones from among tin- natives as missionaries in order to con- vert the savages to Christianity. In 1728 Berkeley was in Rhode Island, ami had not the government of Walpole kept him out of the £20,000 voted, he would probably have accomplished his benevolent design. I'be next year be returned to England, and reluctant- ly gave up bis cherished plan. Some eighteen years later he caused to be sent as a gift to the library of Harvard College a very valuable collection of books. containing such authors as Hooker. Pearson, Harrow. Hammond, Clarendon, etc., and these no doubt helped to leaven the minds of some in New England, who. weary of the despotism of independency, and grieved ami dist rosed at there being multitudinous sect- of all kinds and characters, w ere disposed to seek, and did seek, refuge in the sober, staid, and godly ways of the ( 'hutch of England. It i- also worthy of note here that early in the 18th century, about thirty-live years before Berkeley's donation to Harvard College, a libra- is oi books, similar in character and value to those just named, had been sent to Yale College, which was now established in New Haven. At this date there was not a single Episcopal Church in Connecticut, and very few families of Church people. There were, however, in this region, several earnest seekers after truth, dissatisfied and cheerless iii their then position, among whom may be named especially Timothy Cutler, an accomplished scholar, and president of Vale College; Daniel Brown, one of the tutors: and Samuel Johnson, a Congrega- tional preacher at West Haven. These, in company with others in like condition of mind, set to work to examine into the important subject of the ministry and doctrines of the apostolic and early Church. The result was. rather to the astonishment and alarm of most of their associates, a thorough conviction on their part that there was no valid ministry except through the laying-on of the hands of a bishop, and 1 li.rt the
doctrines set forth in the Prayer-1 k are the true and
full expression of the truth of the GospeL * If course. Messrs. Cutler and Brown could not stay any longer in Vale ( lollege, which neither recognised nor tolerated the Church of England in any shape, but, in common with Congregationalists generally, as we are gravely told, "entertained fears lest the introduction of Episcopal worship into the colony should have a tendency gradu- ally to undermine the foundations of civil and religious liberty." Accordingly these gentlemen resigned their positions, and. accompanied by Mr. Johnson, they sailed for England in November, 1722, were ordained to the ministry, and (except Mr. Brown, who died of small- pox returned to America as missionaries of the society the following year. Dr. Cutler became rector ot Christ's Church. Boston, and Dr. Johnson was settled at Strat- ford, Conn. Both of them were among the foremost men in the colonial Church, and were of especial service in defending it- claims, warding oil' attacks, and pro- moting it- growth ami welfare. Both, too, lived till nearly the close of the colonial period, Dr. Cutler dying in 1765, Dr. Johnson in 1 77J. In fact, the < hurch in Connecticut was more than ordinarilj blessed, and we find that, prior to the Revolution, it was- comparatively vigorous ;md zealous in good works. The names ot Beach, Seabury, Jarvis, Hubbard, and others abundant- ly evince this. Without attempting to go into details,