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A29259 A letter from Dr. Bray, to such as have contributed towards the propagating Christian knowledge in the plantations. Bray, Thomas, 1658-1730. 1700 (1700) Wing B4293A; ESTC W490095 3,736 3

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A LETTER From Dr. BRAY to such as have Contributed towards the Propagating Christian Knowledge in the Plantations BEing apprehensive that my so sudden Return for England may occasion some Misconstructions till the true Reasons thereof shall be understood to the prejudice of those Designs which you do so nobly support for the Destruction of the Powers of Darkness and the Enlargement of Christ's Kingdom in His Majesty's Plantations I thought my self in Duty Gratitude and in Prudence bound to represent hereby a General View of those Reasons which have induced me to make it so soon and unexpectedly And they are as follows FIRST It is pursuant to the Desire of the General Assembly of Mary-Land who having most unanimously passed a Bill of the Highest Consequence for the Establishment of our Church voted that I should be desired to request my Lord's Grace of Canterbury and my Lord Bishop of London to favour that good Law by obtaining His Majesty's Royal Assent to the same with all convenient Expedition And the Members who gave me an Account of passing such a Vote told me withal that it was the General Opinion that I could be most serviceable herein by waiting personally upon Their Lordships rather than by Letters In which I could not crowd all that may be necessary to be represented concerning the present State of the Church and the Necessity at this time of their utmost Patronage And it was in Debate whether I should not be desired by the Assembly so to do But that it was thought this would be to unreasonable a Request they being sensible of the great Charges and Fatigues I had been already at in the Service of that Province as they had a few days before acknowledged by a Message from the House with their Thanks for the same SECONDLY It is at the joint Request of the Clergy of Mary-Land who at the Close of my Visitation amongst other pressing Reasons urged me with this that they found it to be the earnest Desire of the most sensible and well-affected to our Religion throughout the Province that I should go over with the Law for England Now that the Quakers are openly and the Papists more covertly making their utmost Efforts against the Establishment of our Church by false Representations at home of the Numbers and Riches of their Party and by insinuating That to impose upon them an Establish'd Maintenance for the Clergy would be prejudicial to the Interest of the Province by obliging so many wealthy Traders to remove from thence The Falsity of which they thought me best able to make appear by means of my late Parochial Visitations throughout the greatest Part of the Province more especially by the Returns given in upon my Tabula prima Parochialium Inquirendorum by which when they shall be all sent in I shall be enabled to give an Account of the Names of all Heads of Families and not only of the Religion but in a good measure of the Morals of every Man Woman and Child Freeman and Slave White and Black throughout Mary-Land THIRDLY Having answer'd the Clergy that I could easily be perswaded either to go or stay by the same Motives that urged my coming so many Thousand Miles to visit them viz. as it should appear to me wherein I could be most serviceable to the Church by the one or the other Yet being resolv'd to pay the greatest Deference to those in Authority I should determine my self in so nice a Point by the Judgment of the Governor Upon which the Clergy having addressed his Excellency with their Reasons he was pleased to prevent my waiting upon him by coming to me immediately as soon as the Visitation was finished and declared himself to be very much of the same Opinion with the Clergy as to the Importance of my going over FOVRTHLY It is to represent to my Superiors the State of Religion in Mary-Land Pensylvania the East and West Jerseys which requires some speedy Consideration and with reference to which I have several things to propose to my Superiors wherein I shall want their Instructions FIFTHLY It is in order to make the better Choice of proper Ministers for the Service of those Churches agreeable to what I have observed of the State the Temper and Constitution of the Country and People Of which Ministers as there are still wanting at least Thirty so they must have some peculiar Qualifications if they would do good there To supply which want and to get such qualify'd Persons it is necessary to confer with my Lord of London As also to write to such of my Lords the Bishops and the Reverend Arch-Deacons as I have the Honour to be known to to recommend to me proper Persons such as they know to be not only of an exact Conduct both as to Prudence and all other good Morals and have been for some time Curates well experienced in the Pastoral Care but also of a true publick disinterested in one word of a Missionary Spirit having a Zeal for God's Glory and the Salvation of Mens Souls and such as are by no means grown into Years who cannot endure Fatigue the Parishes as yet being very large nor yet on the other side raw young Men who can never preserve themselves above Contempt amongst a People of such quick Parts and good Intellectuals as the Plantation-People are generally observ'd to be SIXTHLY It may perhaps appear of less we●●●t than it really is should I give it as one of my Reasons that I may procure and carry back with me a considerable ●●●●er of Carpenters Bricklayers and Joyners to finish some Churches an● to build Parsonage-Houses upon the Glebes which I have alre●●y procured and hope in a short time to have settled throughout the Province The want of Workmen makes Building there excessively chargeable so that I find up●n auditing the Accounts of the several Vestries in my Parochial Visitations that the large Sums laid out in building their Churches is by no means answe●●d in the Fabricks And therefore to husband the Charity of the Country that shall be given towards building of the Parsonage Houses so as it shall be more extensive I have brought the Clergy into a Subscription to maintain every one his Work-man and to allow him much better than the Custom of the Country is to do and yet to be no Losers thereby themselves By which means I am enabled to make such Proposals as will give sufficient Encouragement to good Workmen and sober Persons to go over with me But though this may be too mean a Consideration yet LASTLY I hope this may appear of some weight that it is Because I find there comes under my Cognizance several very important Cases to be speedily tried with relation to the Clergy and Laity To determine several of which being of so high a Nature as Forgery of Holy Orders Polygamy and Incest I want Instructions as to the Manner and Forms of Proceedings And as it appears to me have no Power by my