“My first charge if I ever find time to write it, will be an attempt to deduce a plan of operations, suitable to the peculiar case of New Zealand, from the records of the first three centuries of the Church. In my endeavours to avoid all party shibboleths I am much assisted by the natural effect of the native Church in enforcing simplicity of doctrine and regularity of discipline. I hope to make this a fulcrum for moving the chaotic mass of the English settlements, which are more like a fortuitous concourse of atoms than anything else, with the additional disadvantage that every atom has an opinion and voice of his own, and thinks himself a mountain.” He longed for the help of others in the great work before him, and for opportunities of consultation with wise and experienced men as to its problems. This first synod met at Waimate and consisted of three Archdeacons, four priests and two deacons. It was summoned “to frame rules for the better management of the mission and the general government of the Church.” It dealt chiefly with questions of church extension and with some of the difficulties found in all missionary lands, problems concerned with baptism and marriage in a population partly heathen and partly Christian. But humble though it was, it met with much criticism in England, and was regarded by some as an unlawful assumption of authority and independence. It was the first attempted Synod of the Anglican Church since Convocation was suppressed in 1717. There were then no Diocesan Conferences or other authorised meetings of clergy and bishops. The Church was regarded as a State Establishment, and some regarded Bishop Selwyn’s Synod as an infringement of the royal supremacy, and blamed the Bishop for priestly assumption. With one of the criticisms of his first Synod the Bishop was quite ready to agree. It was stated that it was not a true Synod, because the laity were not represented. In 1847 at his second Synod, he proposed a constitution of the Church in New Zealand, according to which representatives of the laity as well as bishops and clergy should meet together, and he inaugurated the discussions preliminary to its adoption. To this Synod he delivered his primary charge. In it he showed both how he looked back and how he looked forward in making his plans. He said: