(Copy) Parramatta Dec 28/13 Rev. and Dear Sir, Thro’ the tender mercy of Divine Providence, I and my family have been conducted in safety to New South Wales. We experienced no hot weather during our passage and (excepting one day when we passed the Cape of Good Hope) no Stormy Weather. For several weeks together the Earl Spencer sailed with the wind chiefly upon his [sic] Quarter a distance of twenty four degrees weekly. We sailed alone from near the Line having lost sight of the Fleet in foggy weather which continued for several days. I am happy to say, that I and mine, have enjoyed a good state of health, generally, since I had the pleasure of seeing you, and we were as comfortable on Board of Ship as circumstances would admit. Captain Mitchell made us many presents of fresh provision &c. for our Table, and I assisted him in writing the Government Accounts for which service I have received from him a handsome Gratuity. He deserves my best thanks. After the Earl Spencer put to Sea Divine Service was performed upon Deck upon the Lords Day when the weather would permit. In that part of the Ship which was called the Hospital, Prayers were also read in the presence of as many as would assemble together. Several Prisoners attended regularly and they appeared to listen to instruction. I generally feel embarrassed when I attempt [f] to speak in public. The idea also that I am not a regular ordained Minister often damps my spirits. But in the case above mentioned, when I saw so much misery and affliction, I was constrained to speak. As the people appeared to desire it I considered it my duty to set before them the great Truths of our Holy Religion according to the best of my ability. I was constrained to speak. When sick, dying men cry out under a sense of their own ignorance and wretchedness for Spiritual advice it would be criminal to withhold it from them. Under whatever circumstances the enquiry is excited it ought to be encouraged. Bonds and Fetters and even the Prospect of Death may possibly be the means by which some suffering sinners are led truly to repent of their sins, and to seek and obtain Christ the precious remedy. But ah! How awful to neglect until the last hour the important concerns of the Soul!— The Children whom I rewarded by your liberality continued during our passage to assemble in my Berth with their Parents and took great delight in singing the praises of their Maker. They learned the card of Prayer, the card for Sunday Schools, the Introduction to the Church Catechism. The Rev. Mr Cooper begs me to express the pleasure he feels in being enabled to introduce your various plans of Religious Instruction among the children of thirteen Schools which he visits at Sydney. I have furnished him with as many copies of each as I can spare until I get a fresh supply. I must refer you to my Letter to Capt. Close respecting my visit to the Schools at Funchal. [f] Mr. Marsden gave me and my family a hearty welcome upon our arrival in New South Wales, and is fully bent upon proceeding with the Mission. The attempt to carry the glorious Tidings of the Gospel to New Zealand has been hitherto delayed. Whenever a good work is in contemplation the Enemy of Mankind will oppose it with all might. In the South Seas he has opposed the plans of the London Missionary Society greatly, but the Great Head of the Church overlooking the many mistakes of some of his children has “by his own Right Hand and his Holy Arm gotten himself the victory.” At Otaheite a Christian Church is rising with peculiar beauty. Pomarre the King, declares his total disregard of all the superstitious customs of his countrymen. He declares that he put to the test the malignant power of their various Gods but finds their imputed attributes to have no other existence than in the weak credulity and superstition of their worshippers. He will worship the Only True God. Mr. Davis [sic] writes that he has a School consisting of about fifty natives (chiefly grown up persons) who are learning the first rudiments of Christianity, and there are now some natives who occasionally retire into the Bush and have Prayer Meetings amongst themselves. I have sent Mr. Davis some slates for his School.— The opposition of the same powerful Enemy, has met, and will meet in other places with a similar repulse. “Christ will cover his Enemies with shame but upon himself shall his crown Flourish.” I shall now be at leisure for some Months and I intend while my time is thus unoccupied to take [f] Mr. Hall and Mr. King with me to New Zealand. They say they will accompany me in the first ship. There appears to be now a fair opening for us at New Zealand. The Natives are very industrious and desirous to learn the European Arts. They solicit instruction. I have seen one of them and his countenance and conversation were very interesting. The people of England through a natural bias in favour of their own Countrymen can dwell upon the cruelties and savage habits of the People of New Zealand. But the time is now arrived when they must hear of the cruelties of Men who bear the Christian name amongst those very Savages, and this by official documents supported and established by respectable witnesses. We heard in England of the Massacre of Captain Thompson of the Boyde [sic] and his men with horror. I am not going to plead in favour of a Law which does not discriminate the innocent from the guilty. Yet we were not at that time told the whole of the Truth. Previous to this fatal catastrophe some of our Countrymen had been committing great depredations at New Zealand. The tops of the growing potatoes had been pulled up. The Stores had been broken open by force and the Potatoes which the natives greatly valued and wanted, and which they had preserved with great care for their own support until the next potatoe [sic] season had been violently taken away. This conduct added to the cruel behaviour of Captain Thompson in flogging a young Chief whom he had on Board, taking from him the Property which he possessed and had procured at Port Jackson, and sending him naked on shore, led to the destruction of the Boyde. [sic] Another [f] engagement of a more dreadful nature ensued. Some of our South Sea Whalers by way of retaliation united in destroying the inhabitants and habitations of a whole district. They neither spared men, women, nor children. One would have thought that Englishmen would have been more sparing in their resentment, and would at least have permitted the women and children to live. But they did not. They were at too great a distance from Great Britain! They were also mistaken with respect to the objects of their fury, and they actually destroyed an innocent and an unoffending people who had nothing to do with the Boyde. In this carnage our friend the enlightened Tippahee was slain. This was the chief of whom Mr. Marsden has written to the Society with so much pleasure. Family Duatterra [sic] is still living, and if it should please God to spare me with life, I hope I shall shortly be enabled to transmit you some interesting accounts of these people from my own observation. I am persuaded in my own mind, in the mean time, that when the documents which Mr. Marsden has in his possession shall be made public in England the Characters of the South Sea Islanders will appear in a better light, and that their good opinion and good offices may be obtained by persons who visit them, provided they treat them with common civility and common honesty. The way is therefore plain before us. I pray that God may give to me and my companions Faith to rely upon his promises, and excite in our hearts by His Holy Spirit a tender compassion for the Souls of our perishing fellow creatures, so that God our Saviour [f] may be glorified in the work to which we are appointed by the Society and that the Prayers and offerings of the Society as far as they respect us may not be put up in vain. On Sunday Oct. the 10th about one oClock in the afternoon we came within sight of Sydney and at the same moment the Female Orphans were returning by two and two from the House of the Lord. This interview was to my feelings very interesting after I had been five months absent from a place of public worship and requested sequestered in a great measure from the religious world; and has [sic] it again reminded me of that Kind Providence which about eight years before this had so graciously conducted me to you— Blessed be God, He is present every where, yet the sight of a few children whom I considered my friends and the expectation of meeting with pious men with whom I could associate in the Colony were very consoling. And in this respect, I am happy to say, I have not been disappointed. It has also given me great pleasure to observe the particular regard which is paid in this Colony to the Lords day. At Sydney Governor Macquarie, the Naval Military, Civil Officers and Privates attend Divine Service. The Prisoners also attend, and are previously arranged in a straight line whilst the Governor passes by them. The Rev. Mr. Cooper the Minister, is a pious man, and I have no doubt you will notice with peculiar delight in my Letter to Capt Close that several pious Military Men are included in the number of his hearers. The Letter of Searjeant Major Campbell [f] accompanying a Donation of Ten Pounds to the Naval and Military Bible Society, from a few pious Soldiers, of the 73rd Regiment, shews how happy Soldiers can be when under the influence of True Religion. Great attention is paid to the instruction of the rising generation in some of the Schools. The School houses are generally spacious and in appearance very respectable. It reflects great honor on Government that the Taxes which are raised in this Colony, are not for carrying on War; but are appropriated to the Building and supporting of Schools in which the Children of many who have suffered by the Laws of their Country are trained up to habits of Piety and Industry. I have not seen any workmen at their ordinary work upon the Lords day. The passage boats from Sydney to Parramatta do not sail on this day, nor even on Christmas day &c. People in general trade here. The Temptations, to lucre are almost irresistible. One Hundred Pounds per Cent upon English prices is considered a fair profit but I have known people to gain three, four and five hundred Pounds and sometimes one thousand Pounds per Cent upon articles of Commerce. Books of every description bear a very high price. Hats are very dear, Spelling books will sell for 5s/ and a decent Common Prayer book such as is sold for four or five shillings in England is charged from sixteen shillings to one Guinea. Prayer Books and Books of Psalms and Hymns are very much enquired after and wanted in every part of the Colony. [f] Bibles are not so high in price, owing I believe to the supplies sent out from the British and Foreign Bible Society. People in general wish to pay something for Books. I cannot obtain any thing worth notice from the Printer here. When I want Tracts &c I must send for them from England. The natives of this Country are miserably lost and there is no apparent prospect of their recovery, yet they are our fellow creatures and are to be pitied and prayed for. I hope some attempt will be made before long to instruct their children. On Monday Dec. 20th I had the honor to witness the formation of the first benevolent Society in this Colony under the Patronage of Governor Macquarie. It is instituted for the purpose of protecting the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands & promoting their civilization. Mr Marsden will furnish the Society with the particulars. Upwards of two Hundred pounds have been subscribed already. I have not drawn upon you for any Money since I left England, but shall now have occasion to do so. [f] Mrs Kendall took her bed soon after our arrival at Paramatta, but the Child is dead, so that we have five children now living. The dear departed infant suffered greatly, but quickly took its flight from this to a happier world. My Dear Sir, I shall be happy indeed to hear from you. You will acquaint me with any thing which you may deem interesting respecting yourself, family and the Congregation of Bentinck Chapel. I have not been forgetful of you all at the Throne of Grace; and you will observe, Sir, that God has abundantly answered your prayers for the preservation of me and my Family during a long and tedious passage. For the sake of His own Great Name, I trust he will answer your prayers for us on a still greater account. That I and mine may receive Grace and Help to go on in that work to which we have been appointed and that your Prayers and liberality may be accepted and our poor endeavours may not be in vain. Although now several thousand miles distant I can with difficulty divest myself of the idea that you are my Minister and that I am a member of your congregation. The consideration that your Prayers are with me often bears up my Spirits when alone. God in the fulfilment of his gracious designs to lost mankind will hear the Prayers of his faithful people. We have often met in the House of the Lord, and many of us joined in sweet communion together. Should not we be granted this indulgence again in this World, I trust we shall meet in Bliss eternal when life is spent and the veil is taken away. I am sent from amongst you for a time, I know you wish me success, but do not be too sanguine in your expectations when you think of me. As far as the [f] Honor of God is consulted you may expect success. But remember man is weak! Let us therefore look up to God. It is very cheering to the pious mind that the Captain of our Salvation is still adding victory to victory. When he has reigned until he has put all his enemies under his feet then He will come! Then he will gather together his people! They who have sown to his praise on Earth shall reap with him in Heaven. My Wife unites in affectionate regards to you, Mrs Woodd, and the whole family, and am Rev & Dear Sir, Dutifully & Faithfully Yours (Signed) T. Kendall