burning, and scalping, is daily conveyed to our ears. Our traders, with goods to the amount of near 200,000l., are taken; our garrisons have been invested, and some of them forced to surrender. About fifty miles of the finest country in America are already deserted, and the poor people, having left their crops on the ground, almost ready for the sickle, are reduced to the most consummate distress." 1

At this period the correspondence of the Missionaries became very uncertain and irregular, owing to the occupation of a great part of the country by the insurgents. The calamities of the war fell perhaps more heavily upon the Missionaries than upon any other class. Though confining themselves to the simplest and most unostentatious performance of their duty, they could hardly escape persecution.

The very observance of their ordination vows exposed them to the enmity of the people; and the treatment to which they were subjected is described in a letter of Mr. Barton's, dated November 25, 1776:—

"I have been obliged," he says, "to shut up my churches, to avoid the fury of the populace, who would not suffer the liturgy to be used, unless the collects and prayers for the King and royal family were omitted, which neither my conscience nor the declaration I made and subscribed when ordained would allow me to comply with; and although I used every prudent step to give no offence even to those who usurped authority and rule, and exercised the severest tyranny over us, yet my life and property have been threatened, upon mere suspicion of being unfriendly to what is called the American cause.' Indeed, every clergyman of the Church of England who dared to act upon proper principles, was marked out for infamy and insult, in consequence of which the Missionaries, in particular, have suffered greatly. Some

1 Printed Report, 1764.

of them have been dragged from their horses, assaulted with stones and dirt, ducked in water, obliged to flee for their lives, driven from their habitations and families, laid under arrests and imprisoned. I believe they were all (or at least most of them) reduced to the same necessity with me, of shutting up their churches. It is, however, a great pleasure to me to assure the venerable Society that though I have been deprived of the satisfaction of discharging my public duties to my congregations, I have endeavoured (I trust not unsuccessfully) to be beneficial to them in another way.

"I have visited them from house to house regularly, instructed their families, baptized and catechized their children, attended their sick, and performed such other duties in private, as atoned for my suspension from public preaching."

In 1778, having declined to take the oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth, Mr. Barton was permitted to sell his property, retire out of the state, and pass within the British lines.

Dr. Dorr, whose authority has been more than once cited, concludes his sketch of the "Early History of the Church in Pennsylvania," with the following reference to the work of the Society in that and the neighbouring provinces:

"Thus did this little plant, in process of time, become a mighty tree, 'whose leaves have been for the healing of the nations.' It has sent out its boughs into all lands. The prayer of the first founders of this Venerable Society has been most signally answered, that God would prosper their work, and make it appear to be the work of His hands.' Of its extraordinary efficacy, it has been justly said, 'Some approach to a correct opinion may be formed from the fact, that when it began its operations, it found but five churches; and when compelled, by the war of the Revolution, to close them, it left us with two hundred and fifty."""

1 Dorr's Historical Account, p. 429.

CHAPTER VII.

NEW JERSEY.

First Settlement-Origin of Name-Rev. John Talbot-Governor Nicholson -Lillingston recommended as Bishop-Talbot's exertions to obtain a Bishop-His Second Visit to England-Accused of Jacobitism-His Retirement-Goes back to America-Charge of Disaffection-Consecrated by Non-juring Bishops-His Death and Character-Rev. John BrookeRev. Edward Vaughan-Rev. Colin Campbell-Rev. Thos. ThompsonRev. M. Houdin-Rev. T. B. Chandler-Commencement of the Civil Troubles-Chandler's Publications-Embarrassments of the MissionariesChandler withdraws to England-Rev. Isaac Browne-Rev. John Mackean.

THE first European settlers in this province were a body of Danes, who went over in the year 1624. Other colonists from Sweden and Holland followed soon afterwards; but in 1664 the territory was taken by the English, and granted by King Charles II. to the Duke of York, who assigned it to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. The name which it still bears was given to the country in honour of Carteret, who had been Governor of the Isle of Jersey, and held it for the King. The earliest English settlers were Quakers and Anabaptists. The colony, which at first was divided into the governments of East and West Jersey, was surrendered by the proprietaries to Queen Anne in 1702.

Some general notice of the state of religion in New Jersey at this period has already been given in the second chapter.

When Mr. Keith returned to England, in August, 1704, his friend and fellow-labourer, Talbot, determined to remain in America and devote himself to the propagation of the Gospel in that country. He continued to travel and preach in various places, and sought, in particular, every opportunity to refute the errors of the Quakers. He says, in a letter to Mr. Keith, Oct. 20, 1704, "Mr. Sharpe and I have gone the rounds several times from Burlington to Amboy, to Hopewell, to Elizabethtown, to Staten Island, in our turns, with good success, God be blessed, in all places."

The next year, on the petition of the people of Burlington, the Society, with the sanction of the Bishop of London, consented to his settling at that town, which was the capital of West Jersey, and contained about two hundred families. Mr. Talbot speaks in terms of commendation of the Missionaries in general, and says they all felt the want of "a Suffragan," For a lay patron and supporter they could not have been more fortunate than in having Colonel Nicholson for Governor. "He is," says Mr. Talbot, "a man of as much prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude, as any governor in America, without disparagement to any, and of much more zeal for the house and service of God. . . The example of his piety in the Church is as rare as his bounty towards it. No wonder, then, that all who love the Church of England are fond of Governor Nicholson, who is a true son, or rather a nursing father, of her in America." He was a liberal contributor towards the erection of churches, the support of Clergymen, and other benevolent objects, in all parts of America. "We have made it appear," writes Mr. Talbot, "that he has exhibited to the churches in these provinces about 1,000l., besides what he has given

to particular persons and the poor." No zeal, however, on the part of a civil Governor could make up for the want of a spiritual head; and Mr. Talbot closes his letter with the following practical recommendation on the subject:"Mr. John Lillingston designs, it seems, to go for England next year; he seems to be the fittest person that America affords for the office of a Suffragan; and several persons, both of the laity and the Clergy, have wished he were the man; and if my Lord of London thought fit to authorize him, several of the Clergy, both of this province and of Maryland, have said they would pay their tenths unto him, as my Lord of London's vicegerent; whereby the Bishop of America might have as honourable provision as some in Europe." So eager was Mr. Talbot for the attainment of this object, that he undertook to be the bearer to England of a memorial to the Queen for a Suffragan Bishop. While at home he addressed a letter to the Society, in which he says, "God has so blest my labours and travels abroad, that I am fully resolved, by His grace, to return, the sooner the better, having done my business that I came about. Meanwhile my living in Gloucestershire is given away, but I have no reason to doubt of any encouragement from this famous Society, who have done more in four years for America than ever was done before."

1

On his way back to Burlington he preached at Marblehead, where "the people offered to subscribe some hundreds of pounds to build a church at Stratford, where was a numerous auditory, and Mr. Muirson had forty communicants the first time ever the holy sacrament was rightly administered. And upon the islands, Rhode Island, Long Island, and Staten Island, I preached till the winter broke

MS. Letters, vol. ii. 1. 23.

2 Ibid. 1. 142.