On the other hand, the Anglican Church is in close sympathy with the life and aims of various bodies of Protestants. Her breach with the Christian past is not so great as theirs but she rejoices to feel that the fundamentals of her faith are the same as theirs, and that she is at one with them in striving to adopt and apply Christianity to the needs of modern times. Since the appointment of a Commission on Christian Unity in 1856 there have been confer ences with the Presbyterian General Assembly, the General Synods of Evangelical Lutherans of the North and South and the Provincial Coun cil of the Moravians. These have contributed somewhat to a better mutual understanding. Some idea of the nature of the Anglican claim and hope is necessary at the outset for an appreciation of the details of Anglican history.
The Church of England in the American The Church of England came to America with the first English explorers and colonists. The first English service, so far as is known, was held in 1579 on the coast of California by the Rev. Francis (or Martin) Fletcher, ship's chaplain to Sir Francis Drake. In 1607 an English clergyman was regularly es tablished among the Virginia colonists at James town. This missionary was the Rev. Robert Hunt, a man of simple piety and great zeal, who held daily services in the open air, and on 21 June 1607 for the first time in America admin istered the Holy Communion. Virginia was a Church of England colony. Various missions were established as the colony grew. The clergy were most of them faithful missionary priests. Some, unfortunately, were men who had bad records at home, and whose lives tended to dis credit the Church which they served. In the same year that Jamestown was settled, Prayer Book services were held also on Saint George's Island, Maine. Within a short time there were English clergymen settled in Maryland, and before the end of the century missionaries working in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Delaware, New York, New Jersey and Penn sylvania. In 1692 grants of land were made for Trinity Church, New York. Five years later the Rev. William Vesey was established as rec tor of what has become the most important parish in the country.
In New Eiland the Church of England fared badly. The Puritans of Massachusetts Bay had on leaving England professed unalter able attachment to their mother-church. They had, however, adopted a Calvinistic theology differing in various ways from the teaching of the Prayer Book. Shortly after reaching New
England, they adopted also the ecclesiastical polity of the Pilgrims of Plymouth. In Eng land, Puritans as well as Anglicans had done their best to suppress °Independents.° Calvin istic Congregationalism became the °standing order° in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The use of the English Prayer Book was made a penal offense and Churchmen, so far as pos sible were driven from the colonies. Among the more notable victims of Puritan intolerance were John Checkley, William Blackstone, the Browns of Salem and Samuel Maverick. Some took refuge in Rhode Island, others in colonies farther south.
The 18th century saw increased effort on the part of the Church of England to minister to the needs of colonists in America. Since 1634 colonial churches had been under the supervision of the bishop of London. In 1696 Bishop Compton of London appointed as his °commissary) for Maryland, Dr. Thomas Bray. Dr. Bray's interest in American missions led to the formation of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (S. P. C. K.) and of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (S. P. G.). This latter society was especially active in providing missionaries for America, and in furnishing them with means of support. The most notable of these missionaries were the Rev. George Keith and the Rev. John Talbot. They traversed the colo nies from New Hampshire to North Carolina and sent to the S. P. G. full reports of the needs of America.
English clergy met with much opposition in New England. There was a special outcry against them owing to secession from the Con gregational ranks. In 1722 the president of Yale College, Dr. Timothy Cutler, and four tutors resigned their position to embrace Epis copacy. One of these, Dr. Samuel Johnson of Stratford, became the most notable Churchman in Connecticut. One of the wisest and most far-seeing friends of America in England was Dr. George Berkeley, dean of Derry, afterward bishop of Cloyne. He wished to found a train ing school for American missionaries. °Saint Paul's College° was to have been situated in— it being a conveniently central point — the Ber muda Islands. Dean Berkeley came to America and spent three years in Rhode Island. He was forced to abandon his project by failure to re ceive funds which had been promised by the English Parliament.