Church, and the other half members of other Christian denominations. In order, however, to secure the services of the Clergy and Ministers generally, provision was made for their admission to a seat and a vote in the Committee, on the terms which made them members of the Society; a provision which, while it concealed their names, recognised their privileges and retained their co-operation. The merit of this plan belongs wholly to the Rev. Josiah Pratt; and when it is considered with whom the Society originated, and under what sort of influence its first Committee had been formed, it will appear that it must have required much energy on the one part, and no less moderation on the other, to accomplish a measure which involved so many and such material changes. The subject was indeed very freely discussed; and objections were urged against parcelling out the Committee by lines of religious distinction: but the discussion was conducted throughout in a Christian spirit; and ended in a unanimous determination to adopt the proposed improvements in all their extent."

The Committee revised the whole of the rules, and a finished draft of the constitution of the Society was prepared, to be submitted to a Meeting of the general body convened for May the 2d.

About a week previous to the convening of this Meeting, and exactly six weeks after he had accepted the office, Mr. Pratt, finding the discharge of his new duties incompatible with his engagements as Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, begged the Committee to accept his resignation; and Mr. Owen was prevailed upon to become his successor. "The proposition," says Mr. Owen, "originated with the Rev. Josiah Pratt, who made such a representation to the Committee as disposed them to concur with him in believing that it would be for the advantage of

the Institution:" and he proceeds to eulogize the conduct of Mr. Pratt in the transaction, as "too creditable to the integrity of his mind, and his superiority to the desire of personal distinction, not to attract the notice and excite the gratitude of the Committee. They marked their sense of his generosity by a testimony of their warmest approbation; and voted him their unanimous thanks for his very disinterested attention to the welfare of the Institution.'"*

Mr. Owen's personal intimacy with the Bishop of London, Dr. Beilby Porteus, to whom he regularly communicated the progress of events in this great movement, was one among various qualifications which pointed him out to be peculiarly fitted to take the office of Church-of-England Secretary. That this was the argument which weighed in his own mind, and left him, as he said, no option in the matter, may be gathered from his own words; when, in drawing his History of the origin of the Society to a close, and enumerating the individuals who had been instrumental in planning the Institution, and perfecting its machinery, he thus recurs to the part which Mr. Pratt had taken :

"In another material agent, the Rev. Josiah Pratt, may be seen a continuation of what has been observed in that superintending wisdom, which brought together those who were qualified for the respective parts they were severally intended to perform. The sagacity of Mr. Pratt enabled him to devise, and his perseverance to execute, a measure which prepared the

* Owen's Hist. B. and F. B. Soc. Vol. I. pp. 57-60.

way for the last agent in the confederation, the writer of this History, to introduce the Society with acceptance to Bishop Porteus, and thereby to accomplish the grand object of its projectors and managers-its decided connection with the Established Church."*

Although Mr. Pratt so soon ceased to be officially connected with the Bible Society, he continued to be its firm friend and advocate to the close of his life. In 1811, the Committee, desirous of testifying the gratitude they considered due to him from the Society, as "one of its earliest, most constant, and useful friends," unanimously placed him amongst those Life Governors who earned that distinction by rendering important services to the institution. In 1812, he assisted in perfecting a set of Rules for the efficient organization of Auxiliary and Branch Societies and Bible Associations, which had been originated by Richard Phillips, Esq., a warm and active friend of the cause. Mr. Pratt also, in conjunction with five other gentlemen, arranged a system of productive and efficient Auxiliary Societies for the City of London and its precincts.

* Owen's Hist. B. and F. B. Soc. Vol. I. p. 84.

CHAPTER III.

1804-1812.

THE SUSOO COUNTRY SELECTED FOR THE COMMENCEMENT OF MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE-LUTHERAN LABOURERS EMPLOYED THE TWO FIRST MISSIONARIES ARRIVE-THREE MORE EMBARK-VARIOUS TRIALS AND DIFFICULTIES-MISCONDUCT OF ONE OF THE MISSIONARIES-LETTERS FROM MR. PRATT ON THIS PAINFUL OCCASION-TWO SETTLEMENTS COMMENCED -DEATH OF ONE OF THE MISSIONARIES-A THIRD SETTLEMENT ESTABLISHED-SCHOOLS FORMED-DEATHS OF MISSIONARIES.

It was on the 14th April, 1804, after the long interval of five years since the formation of the Church Missionary Society, that its first Missionaries reached the shores of West Africa. This part of the heathen world had been chosen as the scene of the Society's earliest operations, partly in consequence of the facilities presented for entering upon it, but especially, (as already intimated,) because the injuries inflicted on that unhappy country by the Slave Trade had attracted the attention and the sympathy of the religious public. The Society was led to select the Susoo Country for the commencement of their operations; and this for various reasons. Its proximity to the Colony of Sierra Leone, the extent of country through which the Susoo language was spoken, the easy access which would in all probability be opened from hence to other tribes, and some peculiar facilities which at the time presented themselves for acquiring the language, seemed to point out a clear course for the Society to pursue. It was determined, unless Divine Providence should close the

door, to make a vigorous and combined effort among this people.*

The Missionaries sent to West Africa were, for several years, Lutheran. The Society thankfully acknowledged the zeal and devotedness of a sister Church, which put to shame the coldness and backwardness of their own; but they went forth with the understanding, that whatever converts might be given them, should be brought up, as far as practicable, according to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England. No doubt inconvenience was occasionally felt under this arrangement. Questions, peculiar to this state of things, arose from time to time; but the manner in which they were settled, has always exhibited the conscientious attachment of the rulers of the Society to their own Church.

The following letter from Mr. Pratt to some Lutheran Missionaries of the Society, who were remaining at Liverpool ready to embark, serves well to il lustrate the anxious desire by which he and his companions were actuated of doing all things, according to the Apostle's rule, decently and in order. It shews, also, the sentiments which he entertained towards those Christian bodies, which differ from that to which he was so firmly attached. The conduct which called it forth is sufficiently explained in the letter itself; but it may be as well previously to point out the peculiar position in which the Missionaries were placed. Some pious friends who became acquainted with them

* Fourth Report of the Church Missionary Society, p. 321.

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