London. It was clear that consecration must, if obtained at all,
be obtained elsewhere than in England, and naturally his thoughts
reverted to Scotland. So careful, however, was he to consult in
all things those who had elected him, that he would take no
decisive step--notwithstanding the instructions given from
Woodbury in March, 1783--till they had been communicated with, and
their views obtained; so that it was not till August 31, 1784,
that he wrote to Dr. Myles Cooper. The letter is creditable alike
to his head and his heart. No word of personal disappointment and
vexation, no line of reproach finds place in it is the letter of a
manly man, too strong in faith and purpose to waste time in
complaints and repinings. He applies through his friend to the
bishops of Scotland, and adds: "I hope I shall not apply in vain.
If they consent to impart the Episcopal succession to the Church
of Connecticut, they will, I think, do a good work, and the
blessing of thousands will attend them. And perhaps for this
cause, among others, God's providence has supported them and
continued their succession under various and great difficulties;
that a free, valid, and purely ecclesiastical Episcopacy may from
them pass into the Western world."

Let me pause, just here, to remind you that this was the third
time that men's minds were turned to the Scottish bishops in
connection with an American Episcopate.

When, in 1703, the Venerable Society had it in mind to send out to
America a Suffragan to the Bishop of London, it was thought that
consecration could be most readily obtained from the bishops of
Scotland.