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your attention; as they afforded an evidence that I was anxious, according to my humble talents, to diffuse, in my own country, those principles of primitive truth and apostolic order, for the extension of which in Britain you have so honourably and successfully laboured. Will you pardon the further liberty which I take of troubling you with some copies of a work in defence of my former productions against the attacks of a bitter opponent of Episcopacy in this city? One copy you will do me the favour to keep for yourself, and the others, should you think them worthy of so much attention, to bestow on such of your friends as you may think proper. The principal motive, which leads me to trouble you with the books which accompany this letter, is to satisfy one so much interested as you must be in the welfare of the apostolic Church throughout the world, that that branch of it which subsists in this county, does not want sons determined to defend her to the best of their abilities. Should you honour my book with a perusal, you will find that the liberal use, which, in my former productions, I made of your writings, induced an attack upon you, which I have endeavoured to repel. To you, indeed, the cause of apostolic order is greatly indebted, and you merit the veneration and gratitude of all its friends. That Providence may preserve you for long and increasing usefulness in the Church of which you are so distinguished an ornament, permit me to say, Rev. Sir, is the sincere prayer of

Your very respectful and obedient servant,

J. H. HOBART.'

To this he soon after received a reply, of which the following is an extract.

Rev. Sir,

FROM ARCHDEACON DAUBENY.

'Bath, March 3rd, 1808.

I have received, and read with great satisfaction and interest, the contents of the two packets you have done me the honour to transmit to me from New-York, for the favour of which you would certainly have received a much earlier acknowledgment, had my bookseller in London properly discharged the commission with which he was intrusted by me two years since.

Believe me, Sir, I have read with particular satisfaction, and not without profit, your Apology for Apostolic Order, and am

only sorry to think that the prevailing dissensions among those who ought to be joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment, render such an Apology necessary. At the same time, I have pleasure in saying that the cause you have undertaken has not suffered in your hands: indeed, I consider myself indebted to you for a still more confirmed judgment (if that were possible) on the subject of apostolic order, than I actually possessed before the reading of your pages. At the same time, it is to be deeply lamented that a subject, upon which good men have differed, and will continue to differ in opinion, till such time as the great Head of the Church shall have subdued all her enemies, cannot be entered upon with a view to the just appreciation of its merits without such a mixture of uncharitable censure as cannot fail to disgrace the party who has recourse to it. On this head, however, it is a satisfaction to think that the advocates for Episcopacy have little to answer for. God grant that they may ever bear in mind of what spirit they ought to be.

The Life of Dr. Johnson is a most interesting publication. In the late Mr. Boucher the Church lost a dutiful and affectionate son, and I a most esteemed friend. I lament, on both our accounts, that he was so soon removed from among us.

Believe me, Rev. Sir, with best wishes for the future success of your valuable labours in the cause of the Church.

With much regard,

Your sincere and affectionate brother in CHRIST,

CHARLES DAUBENY.'

These letters conclude the notice of what may be peculiarly termed the period 'militant' of Mr. Hobart's life, in which he stood forth, and at first almost solitary, a champion, as he may well be termed, for it required at that time no small courage to avow them, of the distinctive principles of the Church. At the time, opinions as to his course, even among Churchmen, were greatly divided; now, all unite as to the debt of gratitude due to him. However painful the contest, few, who examine into the subject, will deny its necessity; none can doubt the result. Since that period, outward respect and internal prosperity have marked the course of the Church he defended.

The unfounded but popular prejudices by which it was before borne down have given way. It is no longer taunted with foreign attachment, or hostility to civil liberty, for Dr. Hobart's pen not only cleared up, to the entire satisfaction to the public mind, the distinction between its temporal and spiritual government, but he was the foremost, also, to reject all such unholy union, and to exhibit the connection of Church and State, as events abroad are now showing it to be, a source of weakness to the Church, and not of strength. The Church, too, no longer stands charged with a cold and formal service, for, as a Churchman, Dr. Hobart was as evangelical as he was apostolical, and exhibited the prayers of the Church, both in his writings, and his use of them, as combining all the requisites of a deep and heartfelt devotion.

Nor is it any longer liable to the reproach of having a laity uninterested in its concerns, or uninstructed in its doctrines, or backward in any measures of Christian usefulness requiring personal sacrifice or liberal contribution. Such a charge would now be a calumny; but it was not so at the time when Mr. Hobart first came forward. The natural result of belonging to a Church that required not such exertions for its support, had made the majority of Episcopalians to be, rather 'hangers on,' than 'true members' of their Church; and in all matters of doctrinal controversy to feel much more like bystanders than affectionate children. To prove all things and hold fast that which is good,' was for them too troublesome a task; they left such matters to their clergy, whose duty it was ; to co-operate in advancing the Church, by their time and money, was again too costly a sacrifice, they left that to denominations unblest with wealth.

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Such, with some few exceptions, was the lethargic condition of the laity of the Church when the writings of their young champion aroused them, 'quasi classico dato,' as if by the sound of a trumpet: for a time, however, they were content rather to wonder than approve, and to admire the boldness rather than applaud the spirit of him

who sought to rally them around an almost forgotten standard. But it was a blast long and loudly blown, giving courage to the timid, and time to the cautious; and the result of it has been, combined doubtless with many other causes, under the blessing of Heaven, to evangelize the character of Churchmen, making them prominent in every rational scheme of Christian beneficence.

But to return to some earlier events of a less public

nature.

CHAPTER VII.

Letters from 1803 to 1808.

Letter from Governor Jay-Call to St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia-Interesting Incident of a conversion to the Romish Church-Influence over the Young-Letters-Dr. Berrian— Mr. A. McV .-Mr. How-Anecdote of General Hamilton.

IN 1803, the following letter points out Mr. Hobart as an active member in the formation of the earliest of the religious societies of the Church in this Diocese. The letter itself, though one of mere acknowledgment, is also to be prized, as coming from one of the purest patriots of our Revolution.

Sir,

FROM HON. JOHN JAY.

'Bedford, 21st January, 1803.

It was not until Monday last, that I received, by Mr. Munro, your letter of the 29th November last, mentioning that a Protestant Episcopalian Society had been instituted for promoting religion and learning in the State of New-York; and informing me that I had been elected an honorary member of it.

Be pleased to present my acknowledgments to the society for the honour they have done me; and assure them that it will always give me pleasure to have opportunities of co-operating in the advancement of religion and learning.

Accept my thanks for the obliging terms in which you have communicated to me these circumstances; and believe me to be, Sir, with those sentiments of esteem which your character naturally inspires,

Your most obedient servant,

The Rev. J. H. Hobart,
Sec. of the B. of T. of P. E. S.

JOHN JAY.'

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