As the outcry against Bishop Hobart ever was, that he was not 'evangelical,' it is due to him to put here upon record his claim to that title. It is taken from the Christian Journal of this year, being editorial, and headed

'EVANGELICAL PREACHING.

Those truths of the Gospel which characterize it as a system of faith, distinct from a code of morals, as a dispensation of mercy to man, through a Redeemer, may be considered as evangelical-as those truths which denominate it "glad tidings.” The most cursory reader of the New Testament must perceive that the following truths are inculcated in every part of this sacred volume: -That man is in a fallen and corrupt state; that JESUS CHRIST, the Son of GoD, has made atonement for the sins of man; that through the merits of CHRIST Only can guilty man be justified; that by the grace of the HOLY SPIRIT Only can corrupt man be sanctified; that while the atonement of CHRIST is the meritorious cause of salvation, repentance and faith producing holy obedience, are the indispensable conditions of salvation, without which no man to whom the Gospel is preached will be saved; and that, in the exercise of repentance and faith, the merits and grace of CHRIST are applied to the believer, to his justification and sanctification, through his union with the Church, the mystical body of CHRIST, by the participation of its sacraments and ordinances dispensed by its authorized ministry.'*

* 'Christian Journal,' January, 1818, p. 31.

In concluding his address to the Convention he enlarged on the two points ever nearest his heart-missionaries to spread the Church wide, and a theological seminary to lay its foundations deep.

'But while my recent visitation of the Diocese afforded me many subjects of gratification, emotions of a different nature were frequently excited. I often heard earnest calls for the ministry and worship of our Church, which could not be gratified. And I saw fields ripe for the harvest, which were reaped by others, from our want of laborers to enter on the work. The indispensable importance of a theological seminary, and of provision for missionaries, more forcibly than ever impressed my mind. We now lose many young men of talents and piety, from our want of the means of aiding them in their preparation for the ministry. And even if the number of those who enter the ministry of our Church, were not, as they are, greatly inadequate to supply all the situations where their labors might be profitably exerted, a theological institution would be necessary, as the best and the only effectual means of furnishing our candidates for Orders with those acquirements which will enable them forcibly, eloquently, and successfully to explain, defend, and inculcate the truths of religion. Prosperous in many respects, as is our Church in this Diocese, her prosperity would have been tenfold greater, if we had enjoyed adequate means of theological education, and of missionary support.

To these objects then, my brethren of the clergy and laity, let me direct your zealous efforts, and beseech you

unceasingly to direct the efforts of all over whom you may have any influence. Your Church needs all your affection, all your zeal, and all your pecuniary means; and she deserves them all. In promoting the extension of this pure branch of the Church of the Redeemer, you will best advance the glory of God in the salvation of men; and faithful to the lessons of evangelical truth which our Church inculcates, you will save your own souls, while you contribute your part in the most exalted work of benevolence, the salvation of the souls of your fellow-men.’*

* Journal of Convention, 1818, pp. 21, 22.

CHAPTER XX.

A. D. 1819-Et. 44.

Letter from Rev. H. H. Norris-Mant and D'Oyley's Family BibleDefects-Bishop Hobart's Labors in it-General Views of a Bible Commentary-Bishop Hobart in Retirement-Visit to the Short Hills -His Occupations-Second Visit to the Oneidas-Address to the Convention-Influence of a Gift of a Prayer-book-Charge to the Clergy The Churchman'-Extracts on the 'Liberality of the Age' -Resignation of the Charge of the Diocese of Connecticut-Conseeration of Bishop Brownell,

THE following year, 1819, brought with it, not only its usual burthen of labor, but a large increase, in the republication and enlargement of Mant and D'Oyley's great Family Bible. This is alluded to in the following letter, from Rev. H. H. Norris, of Hackney, London.

FROM REV. H. H. NORRIS.

'Grove-street, Hackney, April 18th, 1820.

Right Rev. and dear Sir,

The books with which you have favored me, in some measure conveyed the information which I looked for from your own pen, and they may be pleaded with unanswerable evidence as an excuse for your not using it more punctually to your correspondents. I rejoice to see the Church of CHRIST, with no other aid but its own spiritual energies, so efficiently answering all those great purposes for which it was constituted by its

divine Founder. I survey, with especial delight the American edition of our family Bible, and your own, by the additional notes interspersed among those of the English edition.

I hope you will be more copious in your additional notes, when you come to the gospels; as there, I think, we are particularly scanty and superficial. Some of the old English divines might well be exchanged for the modern. I rejoice to see, also, that you have bodies of young men incorporated in your religious societies, and that in these societies the genuine Christian principles are so well defined and supported; that your Church is spreading together with the spread of your population; and that so much zeal is called forth in the prosecution of all these important objects; but above all, I rejoice in your Convention, and in the wisdom which governs all its deliberations.

You will expect to hear from me what our present circumstances and exertions are. Alas! our great grievance is, that we have not, like you, a convention. Our convocation is only the pageantry of what formerly so materially contributed to the purity and consolidation of the Church. It is probably true that infidelity has been most extensively propagated, and with too abundant success, among the lower orders, especially in our thickly-peopled manufacturing districts; and that they have been bereft of all hopes and fears of an hereafter, that they might be let loose from all moral restraint, and be prepared for those desperate acts of violence which their seducers must find hands to perpetrate. But there is amongst us what has been very happily described as the quiet good sense of Englishmen, which, without showing itself, still retains a mighty influence, and diffuses its correctives in streams as copious and as