Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/64

 "48 THE WRECK OF 1789 of a collection recently presented to the Religious Tract Society, London, by the daughter of Mr. George Stokes, Letters founder of the Parker Society,* Writing to Mr. Johnson in to JotUlflOXL _ _ November, 1789, Mr. Newton congratulated .his friend on being about to receive a valuable co-worker. "I judge,'' he said, '^ both from what Mr. Milner told me of him, and from what I had an opportunity of knowing of him myself, that he will prove a true helpmeet, a counsellor, and a friend.'' After- wards, it will be seen, his tone changed materially. Letters from Mr. Crowther reporting the accident to the Quardian and his arrival at the Cape were received on the afternoon of the 23rd April, " and the very next morning," wrote Mr. Newton, " he knocked at my door himself, so that he had nearly startled us by his arrival before we had the least intimation of what had happened." After saying that Mr. Crowther, although in good health, had given up the thought of going out to New South Wales, Mr. Newton remarked : — ScrowSer. "He is an upright good man, but does not seem to possess that firmness of spirit which, in my view, is essential to a missionary, and without which no man in his senses and with his eyes open would venture upon a voyage to Botany Bay." Returning to the subject a few months later (March, 1791), Mr. Newton lamented the difficulty that was experienced in obtaining a second chaplain, and described Mr. Crowther's attitude towards missionary work at "Botany Bay " in plain if not complimentary words : — "The door seems open, but you live in such an awkward, impromising comer of the Lord's great house that it is not easy to find a competent person willing to go to you. It is not a service for mere flesh and blood to undertake. A man without Intimidated that apostolic Spirit and peculiar call which the Lord alone can ties. ^ ' give would hardly be able to maintain his ground. Mr. Crowther, though a sincere, humble, good man, seems not to have had those qualifications, and therefore he has been partly intimidated by what he met with abroad, and partly influenced by nearer personal considerations at home, to stay with us and sleep in a whole skin."
 * Extracts from these papers will be found in the Historioal Becords, toI. ii.