trine, discipline, or worship; or further than local circumstances require." And, indeed, considering the circumstances in which the Church was placed, the discerning reader, far from objecting to the number of these alterations, will be disposed to wonder that amid discordant opinions and conflicting wishes, so great an agreement has been successfully maintained.

CHAPTER XV.

MISSIONARY OPERATIONS OF THE CHURCH.

Trial of the Bishop of Kentucky.-Author becomes a Missionary.-Madison described.—Indiana.-Bishop Kemper's early zeal for Missions.-Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. -Its resources.- -Present organization.—Systematic offerings. --Their results.-Missionary operations.- Importance of Domestic Missions.-Account of the Rugby Missionary.

I HAD resided in Lexington between two and three years, when events occurred of an exceedingly unpleasant description. For various reasons, I forbear mentioning occurrences which may ultimately lead to important consequences, and may form a striking portion of the history of the Western Church. Suffice it to say, that the bishop was brought by his Convention to an ecclesiastical trial before three other bishops; that the proceedings, in default of a better precedent, were conducted after the manner of a court-martial; that judgment was pronounced; and that, although the bishop

was not displaced, a penalty was inflicted. This was the first trial of an American bishop, and it is devoutly to be wished that it may be the last. During the continuance of these troubles, I received an invitation to take charge of a recently-formed Episcopal congregation at Madison, in Indiana, within the jurisdiction of Dr. Kemper, the missionary bishop. I immediately accepted the offer, and proceeded with my family to this new sphere of labour.

Madison is agreeably situated on the northern bank of the Ohio river. It is about eighty miles from Lexington, the same distance below Cincinnati, and fifty miles above Louisville. Its inhabitants amount to between 4000 and 5000, and are characterized by industry, enterprise, and general morality. On an average about six steam-boats daily stop at the wharfs. There are daily packetboats to Cincinnati and to Louisville, which, besides numerous passengers, carry the mail-bags and a quantity of freight. There are seven places of worship in the town, viz. one Roman Catholic, one Episcopalian, two Presbyterian (old school and new school), two Methodist (Methodist Episcopal and Protestant Methodist), and one Baptist.

Indiana, which a few years since was a wilderness inhabited by savage tribes, is now a prosperous and improving state with a population of half a

million. The Indians from whom it derives its name, have been almost entirely removed, and emigrants are constantly pouring in from the eastern and middle States. The prevailing religious denomination is that of the Methodists; but the Presbyterians and Baptists are also numerous. Vincennes, the old capital of the State, is the see of a Roman Catholic bishop, who has fifteen clergymen under his charge. In 1835 there was but one Episcopal clergyman in Indiana. The appointment of the missionary bishop has produced the happiest results, and as I have already stated, there are now eight clergymen and as many congregations in the State. The parish of Christ Church at Madison is barely three years old, and already about forty families are connected with it, and the number is rapidly increasing. Nearly one third of these Episcopalians have emigrated from England.

As the clergy in Indiana are partly sustained by the board of Missions of the General Convention, I consider this a proper place to introduce an account of the Missionary system of the American Church.

Previous to the General Convention of 1835, a zeal for the promotion of the Gospel in connection with the Church had been long increasing among American Episcopalians. Having derived their existence in a great measure from the English Society for Propagating the Gospel, they had long

been accustomed to regard missionary operations with respect, and were consequently aroused with the greater facility to the great work of evangelizing the world. In the year 1812, a great impulse was given to this growing interest by the efforts of the present Bishop Kemper, then a young man in deacon's orders, and residing in Philadelphia. He originated an eminently useful missionary association denominated "the Society for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsylvania," and was actively instrumental in carrying it into effect. He became himself one of the missionaries of that society for a season; and undertook a mission to the extreme western parts of Pennsylvania, an object at that time most important to the Church. But the new States west of Pennsylvania possessed strong claims upon the Church; the Indians of the wilderness ought not to be neglected, and the pagans of foreign lands were thought to deserve a share of sympathy and attention. Accordingly, in the year 1820, a more extensive society was instituted under the title of the "Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church.” This society was composed of the bishops of the Church ex-officio, and of all others who should contribute three dollars (13s. 6d.) annually, or thirty dollars (67. 158.) at one time. As there was a considerable difference of opinion in regard to the com