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CHURCH: reading "Truth & Life", "Christ in the Church", similar views of doctrine, disciples; Wilson ill; Dr. Smith, McDougal, Queen's mandate, First Episcopal Consecration out of England since the Reformation, Jacques Brooke, Potter, Doane, Wilberforce
Date
11-7-1855
Keywords
letter, McIlvaine, Wilson, church
Recommended Citation
Wilson, Bishop, "Letter to Charles P. McIlvaine" (1855). Charles Pettit McIlvaine Letters. 377.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/mcilvaine_letters/377
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Transcript
Nov. 7th 1855
My beloved + honored Brother-
Few things have given me more pleasure than your affectionate letter of January 1 and your “Truths + Life” (which however never reached me till July 6th) I have just been reading in course the first part of “[Christ] in the Church” pg 295-318 — I began the 1st [Sermon] the very day the volume arrive, and shall soon come to the end of a work which I most highly esteem. Indeed I can hardly tell you how completely I agree with you in all your views of doctrine + discipline. Especially every thing touching the [?] is to my heart’s [?] My delay in answering your letter + acknowledging your volume has arisen partly from advanced age (July 2nd 1778 to [Nov] 1855) partly from attacks of sickness, especially the alarming obstruction of which the [?][Fred] the Wise died in 1525; + partly from [?] of Diocesan + [private] affairs. However, the first clear day since your book arrived is given to such a trembling, shaky answer as a [?] will allow. I trust it may meet [your] eye on January 1st, 1856, neither before nor after; and then if [you] should forgive my delay + favor me with another New Year’s gift. I will endeavor to be more alert in my reply — I have [?] [home] [to] my…[son] [?] [?] 200 copies of my 7th [?] delivered on Oct. 23rd, of which a copy will [wait] after [you] so [soon] as N.L. Latitude 20°: [?] + East L 85° can reach NL 40° and West Long: 85°, for such I “[?]” to be [?] your position in Ohio - though ou have never told me the name of your Metropolis, nor the number + age of your children, + the number of your Clergy, that I remember. I left Calcutta (22°: ‘34 & 88°: ‘20) on Monday on a 4 months’ Visitation, if God should grant me life / health — I begin with the Coast of [?] + visit Akbyab [sic?—Akyab in Myanmar] , Rangoon, [?] [?] (6 days in V[?] [?] [?] up the I[?]) Mo[?] & Amherst - then, taking Calcutta on my way, [?], + the [?] of Malacca; to be back at the end of [February]. No long land journies —
We have had a most interesting Meeting last month of the Bishop of Madras + Victoria ([?] formerly my Anchodecenan + Dr. Smith of Hong Kong) with Dr. McDougal the Bishop of Labadean + myself—four Chief Pastors in the heart of [?] [?] India in a Protestant Cathedral Church erected + consecrated in 1847 — on occasion of the Queen’s Mandate & the [?] Commission addressed to the Bishop [?] to consecrate the said Bishop [Elect] to his fine Missionary [field] of duty. It is supposed to be the first Episcopal Consecration out of England since the Reformation. His Title is “[?]” as the only spot proposed by the Crown.— [?] is the private property, under the [?] King, of Sir [James] [Brooke]. I wish his spirit (the Bp’s) were more [?] & evangelical; but he is an able, vigorous person, in tall health, under 40, full of [buoyant] [enterprise]—a [?] of [Medicine] before he took Orders—just the man for rough work. We have [tried] to [vaccinate] him with the mild evangelical [infections] since he has been at Calcutta, & I hope with success—for he was [?] before, & [free] from [both] [?] & [?].
I have had a [?] of [books] from Bishop Potter of [?] [?], but without a letter, so that I hardly know how to thank him. His [?] appear to me [dull], but sound, I have [?] for the Quarterly Journal of which he [favored] me with the 1st No, January 1854, + which I can [?] a mass of information about American [?] + persons very interesting + [?] - the papers against [?] are capital. In the [appendix] I board for the first time the merit of the long [?] boat against Bishop [?]. In as I [?] [?] were engaged. The whole day [?] gave me an agreeable view of [?] + [?] P?] in good Courts. Nov 20 Bps [?], [Willowforce], + London awaken any hopes in my mind of the spiritual benefits of a revived [Convocation] in England. In the [?] of Lord there are the [?] [?] who appear & this art the good + excellent Lord [?] (what an improvement on Lord [?] of old!) and his quiet but effective measures of immediate usefulness. Our [?] p?[ frightens me completely - nothing works well - the Democratic + [?] Elements [?] every religious measure - for example, the Court of [?], the [?], the [?] [?] of London had been brought, after [7] years, to concur in an [?] [?] (for any Diocese is about 2,000 miles [?] 1,000 [?] but when it comes to the [?], the President ([?]) though favorable, [?] from encountering the [?] in Parliament, + I have to [?] [?] from Calcutta to [?] on one side, to [?], + then [?] of Malacca on the other. I do what I can [by] visiting [?] where no land-journies are involved + [by] requesting my [?] [?] Bishops to take all the regions above [?] - about the size of Europe -
What a wonderful time we live in, my beloved brother! What intercommunications! What electric rapidities! - Soon Calcutta + London will be united, or [?] and [?] will envy their [?] in a few days, instead [?] 7 months as I will remember. Even [?] [?] are about to [?] your [?], + write the Atlantic + Pacific, and [?] to make the journey from Calcutta to London in 7 days, instead of 34 as now. [?] commotions in Turkey, [?] [?] are rarely [?]; and before 1866 (the date of [?] able [?]. To which I do not commit myself) [won] [?] changes may be [?]. [?] is hopeful - the Pope infatuated, if ever man was, with his abroad [?] of Immaculated [?] folly - the Nationalities uneasy, + having as the land before [?] Earth-quake - the Colonies over[?] the [?] State in Canada + Australia - every thing out of place + laboring to bring for the the Manifestation of the Love of God. Labor, beloved Brother, lift up our [?] for perhaps our redemption [?] [nigh]. Above all, let us stand by Christin in these [wild] days; I let us in and [?] [affection] and spirit [?] [?] to [?] in LOVE; that we at least may stand in our lot at the end of the days - To walk with God and the commendations of [?] - it is the same of all sanctifications. I am sending Dr. [?] life, the [?], and Mr. [?] [Geology], which [?] [?] highly approves. German of [?] Life has [?] appeared = he succeeded me at St. John’s in 1824, but soon left, first for [?] & then for [?]. [?] have for the good * excellent [?] A. H. [?[ + J. H. [?], + many, many others [?] back must give in England - [?] “[?] thoughts” is a first-rate Book - [?] [?]’s Life as [?] [?] of a [?] worldly priest - and [got] it [?] [?] [?]! [?], [?] for the [early] times. In [?], there will be recognition [?] and [Separation]. I cannot conceive what it will be: I have no idea - But to be with [Christ] [meant] he [?] better than any thing this life can offer - D. L.