184 PEOGEESS OF EELIGION. 
useful presents. These did not reach them 
till February, 1847. In their letter of ac- 
knowledgment to Captain Hope, dated July 
1847, is the following passage : " Our num- 
ber now amounts to one hundred and thirty- 
eight, and is rapidly increasing. Our teacher, 
who is a worthy man, and whose services are 
of great value to us, has never received the 
sanction or licence of the proper authorities 
in the Church to qualify him for the very 
important and prominent situation he fills. 
He is most anxious, and we are no less so, 
that he should be more formally inducted 
into the office of pastor ; and for this purpose 
our humble request to you is, that you will 
(if it can be done with propriety) make our 
case known to the Bishop of London, or some 
other competent Dignitary, who would send 
a pastoral letter to our teacher, sanctioning 
and confirming him in the sacred office he for 
nineteen years has held among us." 
Mr. Nobbs had been between eighteen and 
nineteen years in the midst of the people, 
when the above letters were written ; and he 
had maintained and advanced among them, 
according to the teaching of the Church of 
