charter may be construed as pointing to an immense field of labour there; but the charter at first--when our colonial dependencies were of comparatively narrow extent--contemplated, consistently with its nature as an incorporation under the English crown, a range of effort far within the wide sweep which Missions since have happily taken. Power was given to hold property, to carry on legal proceedings, to make bye-laws, and to collect subscriptions. To stamp the whole with a Church of England character, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishops of London and Ely, the Lord Almoner, the Deans of Westminster and St. Paul’s, the Archdeacon of London, and the Regius and Margaret Professors of Divinity at Oxford and Cambridge for the time being, were constituted trustees, the selection of some of these dignitaries at first being doubtless determined on personal grounds. [Sidenote: RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.] Under the presidency of his Grace of Canterbury, a meeting of members took place within one of the apartments of Lambeth Palace on the 27th of June, 1701; and we can fancy Compton, Williams, Fowler, Sherlock, and others, coming in barges along the Thames, or in coaches, on horseback, or a-foot through the narrow streets, to the well-known gateway of the Archiepiscopal abode. The charter was read. Five hundred printed copies of it were ordered. Melmoth was chosen treasurer, and Chamberlayne secretary. According to a vote on the occasion, there was prepared a symbolical seal, representing a ship in full sail, with a gigantic clergyman, half-mast high, standing by the bowsprit with an open Bible in his hands, whilst diminutive negroes, in an attitude of expectancy, are sprinkled over a hilly beach. Overhead is one of those awkward scrolls, devised to convey words uttered by the persons introduced; and here it contains in Latin the Macedonian prayer, which the little blacks are supposed to be offering: “Come over and help us.” At the top is a face surrounded by sun rays, apparently intended to denote the presence and benediction of God vouchsafed to the undertaking. Meetings afterwards were held at the Cockpit, in Whitehall, or in the vestry of Bow Church, and afterwards in Archbishop Tenison’s library, in St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. Soon the secretary prepared parchment rolls for the use of members deputed to receive subscriptions, amongst whom were Bishop Patrick, Archdeacon Stanley, and others. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge had at least contemplated missionary work in our western colonies; but now that a new Society had been incorporated for extending the Gospel in foreign parts, these fields of labour were placed under its care.