Five months of vexation, opposition, and annoyance succeeded. It was in vain that I complained and protested. This Keosse was employed as a tool, to separate me from the Malta College, to make me close the missionary department, and to lose all the ground I had previously gained. Nay, what was the worst of all, he had the art to induce some English clergymen, and others who called themselves Protestants, to oppose themselves to my proceedings.
I have been rather diffuse on this head, as it relates to the history of the Italian Church. Keosse himself, after having accomplished his mission,—the college being destroyed, and myself compromised in the estimation of those who were not acquainted with the business,—after having awakened discord, inseminated scandal, turned Protestantism into derision, and elated the Jesuits with their victory, now turned his back on the Malta Protestant College, and repaired to Rome, to receive the reward of his labours: doubtless he will be made a bishop.
We see, then, that the Italian Church can already boast of persecution, in the treatment of her promoters, who have been oppressed and calumniated, and betrayed by false brethren. And this very circumstance may be adduced as evidence of its divine origin, since the early Christian Church was equally afflicted and unfortunate. Indeed, such trials are promised to all the followers of Christ. Let us thank God that we have been accounted worthy to suffer for the truth.
And yet the Italian Church of Malta was beautiful in promise! The College was her seminary; but she herself was free and independent. My first agreement with the Committee was couched in the following terms:—
"If the College and the Theological Branch are under the patronage of the Bishop of Gibraltar, do not on that account imagine that my Church will also be subject to him. I shall consider it my duty to be equally courteous to him as to yourselves; but neither in one nor the other do I recognise the head or ruler of our church. Furthermore I declare, that neither my companions, nor myself, not being members of the Anglican Church, we purpose to be in communion with all Christian reformed churches whatever, beginning with your own."
These were my very words on accepting my office, and uniting myself to their body. And in accordance with these sentiments I may add, that we occasionally enjoyed communion with the Episcopal Anglican Church, and also with the Scotch Presbyterians; and at our own church, on the Thursday before Easter in 1848, we had the satisfaction of partaking of the holy communion with Christian ministers and members of many denominations.
The Italian Church disclaims the spirit of sectarianism, and fraternizes with every other church that lives in the purity of the Christian Faith; she abhors the spirit of intolerance and exclusiveness. She desires to be Catholic, in the true and original sense of the word.
The Italian Church I had established at Malta augured well, not only for the place itself, but for the whole continent of Italy, and for the island of Sicily also. I do not think it possible for the Anglican Church to prosper in Malta. All the efforts that have been made to that effect, for the last forty-eight years, have proved to the contrary. The English language is not adapted for a people who have received the language of Italy, through tradition, from the Knights of Malta, and from its commercial relation with Sicily and the Levant, whose merchants carry on their traffic in Italian. Besides it is to be noted that the people have no sympathy with the religion of their rulers, when they are on bad terms with their governors. Ireland is a speaking example of the truth of this remark. If reform be at all possible in Malta, it must be of Italian origin, and the Italian language must be employed, both for teaching and for worship.
My esteemed friend, Camilleri, who exclusively devotes himself to the service of his native place, is at length convinced of this fact, and joins me in the work I am undertaking.