is voyage. This plan continued
until the American Revolution. It did great good, for it gave to every
Anglican clergyman in the colonies a bishop whom he felt he knew, and
to whom he could write if necessary. The Bishop of London never at any
time had any authority whatsoever over the laity of the Church in
America, nor over the work of the vestries as temporal heads of the
parishes. But his influence with the clergy was of enormous value to
their morale.

Ten years later Bishop Compton went farther and secured authority to
appoint clergymen as his personal representatives in the colonies; to
confer with the clergy; and, if necessary, to remove from their
parishes clergymen who had proven to be unworthy men. The commissaries
lost their power some sixty years later when a new Bishop of London
appointed in 1748 refused to give his commissaries the authority which
earlier commissaries had exercised.

The first commissaries, James Blair for Virginia and Thomas Bray for
Maryland, made great contribution to the life of the Church of England
in the colonies and in England also. Commissary Bray was the moving
spirit in organizing three missionary societies in England: the Society
for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge; the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts; and, in his old age, the
society of Dr. Bray's Associates for ministry to Negro slaves in all
the colonies. He also instituted a plan for sending libraries of
theological books to parishes in the colonies, an enormous help to
clergymen in far-off places.

James Blair served as Commissary in Virginia from his appointment in
1689 until his death in 1743. His greatest work was the establishment
and development of the Royal College of William and Mary in 1693. He
raised money for its establishment first by asking pledges from all
persons in Virginia who were able to give, and then in England where he
quickly gained the active interest of Queen Mary and King William. He
secured his charter for the College in 1693 and by 1695 the erection of
college buildings was well under way. He served as president of the
college until his death in 1743. He steered it through its early
difficulties; he fought for it against Governor and Council when
necessary; and he brought it to its full status as a College with six
professors and more than a hundred students in 1729. He lived long
enough to welcome Reverend George Whitefield, the first great leader of
the eva