period of which I have been speaking, he says: "The feeling which
prevails over every other, at this present moment, and which alone
I wish to leave on record, is the feeling of deepest gratitude to
those men of Connecticut, who, not from a mere hereditary
attachment to the Church of England, or indolent acquiescence in
her teachings, but from a deep abiding conviction of the truth
that she is a faithful 'Keeper and Witness of Holy Writ,' have
shown to her ministers in every age and country, "the way in which
they can best promote the glory of their Heavenly Master's name,
and enlarge the borders of His Kingdom." [Footnote: Anderson's
_History of the Colonial Church_, iii. 444.]

While, however, the question of ordination was only one out of
many things that drew our fathers and pioneers back to the Church
from which their fathers had gone out, it must, from the very
exigencies of the case, have come into great and constant
prominence. It could not be otherwise. The relations of our
missionaries to the Bishop of London--who had, by what may almost
be called an accident, acquired jurisdiction over English
congregations outside of England [Footnote: It was obtained by
Laud in 1634; see Anderson, i. 410.]--was little more than
nominal. There could be no "well-governing of the Church." If
Orders were sought, "the dangers of the sea, sickness, and the
violence of enemies" must be incurred, and one in every five that
went out sacrificed his life in the attempt to obtain his
ministerial commission. Confirmation was an impossibility; and our
clergy and people were taunted with the solemn mockery--for it was
hardly less--of reading the direction to bring baptized children
to the bishop when there was no bishop to whom they could be
brought.