Transcription

[MS 8]

[envelope]
To
The Missionary Brethren
at Otaheite [   ]  Island
of the South Seas 
Capt Blyth

Reverse of envelope(right hand side)
Dr [Haweis to the [  ]
Oct 31st 1797


[MS 9]
London 3rd September 1799

Dear Brethren

A few days past we received the intelligence of your removal from Otaheite to Port Jackson, and a deeper wound to our feelings could scarcely be inflicted on any event whatever, it would not be easy to Convey to you a proper idea of the Sorrow which it has excited in the breasts of the Religious public throughout the Kingdom; and altho' the griefs of the Mind may in time be healed by the aid of reflection and the principle, of submission to the holy and Sovereign appointments of God, yet the extensive injury which the Missionary Cause has Sustained, and the formidable impediments which this event  has placed in the way of the Conversion of the heathen,are Circumstances which  will never Cease to make a lively and painfull impression on the Minds of those to whom the enlargement of our Redeemers Kingdom, is an object of transcendant importance.  Doubtless, Brethren, you feel with peculiar pungency the weight of this Calamity, and have frequently revolved, in your own Minds whether you are entirely free from Responsibility on this occasion, and whether you have a witness within as well a [..rd] on high to bear testimony to your faithfulness.  We have received no Letters or dispatches of any kind from your own body - our only information Comes from the Owner of the Ship Nautilus to whom Capt. Bishop Communicated the intelligence, but we stand in need of a much more particular Account of occurrences before we Come to a decision.

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