HOYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



11 



in these regions. We do not doubt but that he will be em- 

 braced and received by you in brotherly love and perfect good 

 will. We have furnished him with the usual necessary eluci- 

 dation and explanations. We request most friendly that all 

 good Ecclesiastical correspondence and mutual fraternal ac- 

 quaintance between him, yourselves and us, may be renewed, 

 augmented and strenuously maintained, towards which we 

 willingly offer all that lies in our power ; praying in the mean- 

 time, that the Great Shepherd of His Sheep may grant His 

 presence among His fold in this Island, and bless it by the 

 services of its Overseers, and preserve it from all injury and 

 oppression." 



As the clergy who were sent from Holland or Batavia 

 generally arrived first at Colombo, it fell mostly to the lot of 

 the Consistory of that place to write these letters of recommen- 

 dation. When a minister returned to his native land, he had 

 to produce his letters from the Church of his last station to the 

 classis to which he belonged, the failure of which produced 

 inconvenience, as it prevented him from receiving a fresh call 

 in Holland, and gave rise sometimes to a lengthy correspond- 

 ence between the classes and the Colombo Churches. These 

 letters were to contain especially a testimony as to the labours, 

 zeal, and piety of the minister. In a letter of the classis of 

 Amsterdam dated 1668, information is given that three cler- 

 gymen were on their recommendation about to be sent out by 

 the Company to Ceylon, among whom was Mr. Simon Gat, 

 who had been chaplain on board a fleet, and who, as appeared 

 subsequently, proved, during his residence in Ceylon, an ener- 

 getic labourer; his knowledge of the Singhalese language was 

 in advance of his con-temporaries. At the establishing of the 

 Singhalese Seminary at Colombo he was appointed its Rector 

 by the Batavian Government ; but as he was then too far 



