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the Province of Canterbury "appointed a committee of twelve to inquire into the ways and means for promoting Christian Religion in our Foreign Plantations."

The committee met, Doctor Bray petitioned the king for the incorporation of a society, the S. P. C. K. took up the matter, the Archbishop of Canterbury made the first subscription, and on June 27, 1701, the new S. P. G. held its first meeting, in Lambeth Palace. The society included the members of the former society and "diverse others," and at its first meeting there were present the Archbishop of Canterbury, as president, four other bishops, and twenty-five other members, clerical and lay.

At this meeting the king's letters patent were read and members were elected; at the next a seal was chosen—"a ship under sail, making towards a point of Land, upon the Prow standing a Minister with an open Bible in his hand; People standing on the shore in a posture of Expectation, and using these words, Transiens Adjuva Nos (Come over and help us)." By-laws and standing orders were adopted, and provision was made that the business of the society be opened with prayer, an annual sermon be preached, and that an oath be tendered to all officers of the society before entering on their duties.

The purpose of the incorporation was three-fold: (1) "Providing a maintenance for an orthodox Clergy in the plantations, colonies and factories of Great Britain beyond the seas, for the instruction of the King's loving subjects in the Christian religion"; (2) "Making such other provision as may be necessary for the propagation of the Gospel in those parts"; and (3)