"Resolution of Thanks to John Bowdler, Esq. "Resolved unanimously; "That the cordial thanks of the committee be presented to Mr. Bowdler, for the regularity with which he has, under many inconveniences, attended the meetings of the committee, since its first formation, for his obliging and conciliating manners in the chair, for his uniform and zealous attention to all the best interests of the society. The members of the committee, in offering this small, but most just tribute of gratitude and respect to their late Chairman, cannot but recollect, that his conduct to them individually has excited in them so much warm and respectful esteem, that they regret his resignation of his office like the loss of a valued friend and counsellor; while conscious that any good, which their efforts may have produced, is largely to be attributed to his zeal, activity, and discretion; they deeply lament the causes which now deprive them of his important services, and beg him to oblige them by accepting their best wishes, that his useful life may long be preserved, and that he may still continue capable of advancing those great objects to which he has ever been most fervently attached, the promotion of Christian Knowledge, and the extension of the benefits and blessings, which have long resulted to the community, from the active exercise of his numerous virtues. (Signed) "W. BROWELL, Chairman." Mr. Bowdler's Answer. "Eltham, 16th October, 1820. “Dear Sir,—Mr. Rashleigh was so kind as to bring me your obliging note, with the unanimous vote of your Committee: you will readily believe, that such a vote was most gratifying to me; but its value is enhanced in my estimation by many circumstances. When I first became a member of that committee, I was unknown to most of the gentlemen with whom I was to act; yet, from that hour to this, I have experienced from them all such attention and kindness as I had no right to expect; the value of which, and my satisfaction thereat, have been greatly augmented by witnessing the sound principles and zealous exertions of those to whom I am so much obliged. "I beg you to assure the Committee, that as long as I live I hope to retain a grateful sense of the honor they have conferred on me. My regret at resigning the chair is great, but it is much alleviated by reflecting, that my place will easily be supplied, and that from the zeal and cordiality which prevail in the Committee, and the able assistance it will derive from its Treasurer and Secretary, there is abundant reason to hope, that my wishes and prayers for its success may be granted. "I remain, with sincere regard, "Your obliged and faithful servant, Addressed to the Rev. Wm. Jones, Secretary to the Blackheath District Committee of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge. The kind and friendly regard expressed by the members of the Committee towards their Chairman, continued without interruption to the day of his decease, which occasioned an expression of sincere regret at the meeting at which it was mentioned, and was noticed in the following eloquent and pathetic extract from the annual report for the year 1823. "The past year has to record the loss of three of our Vice Presidents, through the awful visitation of God; ** event. the third demanding more particular notice from us, as being one of the first promoters and patrons of this District Committee, and, during the first years of their sittings, till the infirmities of age compelled him reluctantly to withdraw from the office, their appointed and constant Chairman, the late John Bowdler, Esq. On his retiring from the chair, the committee passed a resolution, expressive of their warm attachment and gratitude for his services; and on his summons from this world, they passed another resolution, to mark their sense of concern at the mournful But as these resolutions are confined to the minute book of the meetings, the Committee have thought it due to the memory of their late Chairman to bear this more public testimony to his worth and their regret. It is needless, they know, to dwell in panegyric on a character so extensively known and so deeply revered; nor can their praises throw fresh honors round the tomb of one, with whose name and whose family has long been connected every thing that is active and excellent in virtue, all that is sacred and venerable in religion. But although it be needless to dwell in panegyric, as far the extension of his good name is concerned, it is, nevertheless, a just and gratifying obsequy to departed merit, to record the sorrow of survivors, and an encouragement to exertion in the holy cause of God, to show that, while the name of the unprofitable servant is forgotten or despised, the righteous will be had in everlasting veneration and remembrance." Another society to which Mr. Bowdler paid much and anxious attention was that for the suppression of vice. It had been instituted at the beginning of the present century, but had fallen very low through several unfortunate circumstances. Mr. Bowdler was greatly instrumental in increasing its funds and the number of active members; and for several years, till within a few months of his decease, bore a prominent part in its concerns, rejoicing much in its successful endeavour (far beyond what its means would seem to admit) to check the alarming progress of infidelity and profaneness. The prosecution of Carlile and others, and (which was much more satisfactory) the putting an entire stop to many flagitious proceedings through the dread of a prosecution, bear testimony to the exertions of the society in the cause of religion and morality. But the object which, more than all others, Mr. Bowdler pursued with assiduity, and which he lived to see accomplished in the society for the building and enlarging of churches and chapels, was the providing of accommodation to enable the lower orders to attend divine worship. To the want of this he had been accustomed to attribute in a great degree the increase of error and dissent; and as he left it to others to build churches for the higher orders, and set himself decidedly against the expending of money in needless decoration, so he was ready at all times, according to his means, and even beyond them, to support any welldirected design for enabling the poor to worship the God of their fathers according to the ritual of the church of England. * With this view he joined with three of his friends, with whom he had had frequent communications upon the subject, in presenting the following letter to the bishop of London, which was drawn up under his direction. "My Lord, "Lincoln's Inn Fields, May 4, 1814. "This letter is addressed to your Lordship, not only because from your presidency over this diocese you are the fittest object of that address, but because your Lordship is well known to be most zealously attached to the church of England, of which you are from duty, as well as inclination, one of the brightest supporters. Your Lordship cannot but feel, in common with us, that the want of places of worship upon the establishment is, at this day, become an evil of no common magnitude. "Whenever a sectary wishes to establish a place for the promulgation of his wild and enthusiastic doctrines, he has little more to do, than to express that wish; and the required building in a few months rises to his view. On the other hand, we speak a melancholy truth, to which your Lordship's own observation must bear testimony, that in many districts in the west and east parts of the metropolis, in * Among these it would be improper to omit the assistance which he contributed, both in money and advice, towards the erection of a chapel and school-room at Torpoint, in the parish of Anthony, near Plymouth, which, during a considerable period, engaged much of his time and thoughts; or to pass over the zealous activity and perseverance of the Rev. Duke Yonge, the vicar of that parish, which so greatly contributed to the completion of the work, and to beneficial effects, beyond what the most sanguine hopes could have anticipated. |