smallest portion of that good leaven by which alone its evil might be corrected. Accordingly, one chaplain[89] was sent out to officiate among about 1000 souls, who were at first dispersed in eleven ships, and more than two-thirds of them were in a state of extreme spiritual need, inasmuch as they had been guilty of gross and flagrant offences. And thus, thanks to the zeal and good feeling which had gained a victory over the supineness of government, the discharge of religious duties on the Sunday was never omitted at Sydney, Divine service being performed in the open air whenever the state of the weather would permit. All seems to have been done by the chaplain which could be effected under circumstances of great discouragement.[90] When our blessed Redeemer sent forth his disciples, he sent them by two and two, and how encouraging, in the midst of an evil world, is the conversation or counsel of a christian friend that is dearer than a brother! But the chaplain of New South Wales had no such assistance to fall back upon; he was left alone and single-handed--yet not alone, for Christ is ever with his authorised ministers, to fight against the mighty power of evils by which he was surrounded. He visited the sick and the convicts, going from settlement to settlement, and from hut to hut; travelling to the more distant stations, that were afterwards formed, as far as he could reach, and assembling as many as he could for divine service. With what success these efforts were attended we shall be better able to judge hereafter; but one truth must be borne in mind, which is, that, in the very nature of things, evil will make itself more prominent and noticed in the world than good; so that, whilst it may almost appear from the history of the colony, as though there was not one godly man left in it, we shall do well to remember that there may have been, nevertheless, many a one who was profited by the ministry of Christ's Church among them, many a Naaman who had been taught to forsake the evil thing which he once delighted in worshipping, many a knee which had not bowed to Baal, and many a mouth which had not kissed his image.[91] [86] The blame of these lax and unworthy notions must not fall on the laity alone; many of the clergy in those days deserve to have a full share of it; but while we see and lament the faults of that generation, we must not forget to look after those of our own, and to correct them. [87] See Judge Burton on Religion and Education in New South Wales, p. 1. [88] Certainly some of the means employed for the moral improvement of the convicts were very strange ones. For example, we are told, on one occasion, that some of them were "ordered to _work every Sunday_ on the highway as a punishment!" See Barrington's History of New South Wales, p. 184. See likewise, p. 246.