In
the East-Indies, too, they began to acquire large tracts by conquest and
by treaty, and a few churches were built there; but they had not tried
to convert the great number of heathens who became subject to them,
fearing that, should they take offence, they would shake off their
dominion. Such clergy as did go out were ordained in England. There was
as yet no Bishop to overlook the colonial Churches, so that they could
not take deep root.
Still the English Church was living as a witness of the truth at home,
with many a great and holy man within her, such as Bishop Taylor, whose
beautiful writings are loved by all; Bishop Ken, whose loyalty to Church
and King witnessed a good confession, and whose hymns are like part of
the Prayer-Book; Bishop Wilson, whose devotions for home and at the Holy
Eucharist are our great guide, with more good and humble men and women
than the world will ever know of; and this, under God's mercy, saved the
nation from falling into the unbelieving state of France, where people
thought it fine to laugh at all religion. There, in the end of the
eighteenth century, a terrible outbreak took place against all
authority, human or Divine; the King and Queen perished by the hands of
their subjects; quantities of blood was shed, and for a time it seemed
as if the country was given up to demons; the faithful clergy fled or
remained hidden; and though at last people began to return to their
senses, the shock to loyalty and religion has never been entirely
recovered in that country.
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