MISSION IN GERMANY 
71 
CHAPTER II. 
Previous to the arrival of Mr. Ernst, Mr. Bis- 
chofi* had received twenty-six additional members 
into the society, making about one hundred in all. 
Our work had now so far progressed and the 
prospect for the future was so good that our mis- 
sionaries thought they could go on wuthout a legal- 
ly organized -church. Bavaria has a state church, 
and it is a penal offense to establish another with- 
out the consent of the king; and, besides all this, 
the want of authority from the ruler subjected 
them to the jeers and persecutions of the multi- 
tude, many of whom, though regular church- 
members, were utterly destitute of tlie grace that 
brings salvation, and very bigoted and intol- 
erant withal, not whiling to allow any freedom of 
utterance or enjoyment on the part of those who 
difiered in faith or practice from the state church. 
Accordingly our missionaries presented a peti- 
tion to the king, including the confession of faith, 
constitution, and all the essential parts of our 
Discipline, asking the consent of the Crowm to 
