ship, and took pleasure in acting with him, as long as they both lived.

At the meeting of the Synod, in 1774, Dr. Rodgers was appointed to spend a number of weeks, in the summer and autumn of that year, on a missionary tour, through the northern, and north western parts of the province of New-York. He accordingly devoted several months to that service, itinerating and preaching the gospel with unwearied zeal and assiduity; for the most part in places utterly destitute of the means of grace; generally with great acceptance; and in a number of instances, with the most gratifying success. His labours, in the course of that mission, were the immediate or remote means of forming many churches, which have since proved large, flourishing, and happy.

The period in which the Doctor fulfilled this mission, was the period rendered memorable by the warm dispute between the settlers in the territory which is now Vermont, and the government of New-York, which claimed that territory as lying within its jurisdiction. Measures of great decision, and even violence, had been taken by both parties, a short time before he went into that

country; so that he found the public mind, particularly in Vermont, highly irritated and inflamed. Nothing was further from his view than any political design; but some of the jealous and exasperated Vermonters, knowing that he came from the capital of New-York, and connecting every thing with the existing dispute, suspected him of being engaged in some mission or plan unfriendly to their claims. In a particular town, which he had entered, by appointment, for the sole purpose of preaching, he observed, a little before the public service began, several rough and fierce looking men approach the house in which he was about to preach, and enter into very earnest, and apparently angry, conversation with those who were near the door. He was utterly ignorant, at the time, of their design, or of the subject of their conversation; but was afterwards informed, that they were very warmly contending with his friends, that he was a spy, and, of course, a very dangerous character, and that he ought to be immediately arrested. It was in vain that the friends of the Doctor remonstrated, on the ground of the sacredness of his office, and the solemnity of the duty in which he was about to engage, and to attend on which the people were then collecting. His

angry accusers replied, that the more sacred his office, the greater his power of doing mischief; and that to let him escape would be treason to their cause. At length, finding that all they could say availed nothing to his exculpation, and that the most positive assurances of his being known to be a man of pious and exemplary character, only rendered these hostile and ardent spirits more determined in their original purpose, the friends of the Doctor only begged them to delay the seizure of his person until after divine service should be closed, as it would be a pity to disappoint so large a congregation as had then assembled for public worship. To this proposal, after much persuasion, they reluctantly consented, and divine service in a few moments began. The exercises were more than usually solemn and impressive in their character ; many of the congregation were in tears; and even those who had come into the assembly armed with so much resentment, were observed to be first serious, and then softened, with those around them. When the solemnities of worship were ended, they said nothing more about their plan of arresting the preacher; but quietly retired, and suffered him to pursue his journey. Before he left the house, however, in which he

had preached, the owner of it, who had stood his firm friend in the contest, put him on his guard, by relating all that had passed.

Two or three days after this, while the Doctor was preaching in a more northern town, in the same district of country, soon after the public service began, he saw two men enter the assembly, marked with countenances of peculiar ferocity and rage. He afterwards learned, that they had come from a southern town, under the same impressions, and with the same views, as their predecessors in violence. On entering the assembly, they seated themselves, resolving to wait until the service should be ended, and then to arrest the preacher. The exercises of the day, as in the former case, were the means of disarming them. When the benediction was pronounced, they withdrew; saying to each other, that they were probably mistaken in the man, and had better go home.

Those who are acquainted with the piety, the fervour, and the affection, which Dr. Rodgers habitually manifested in his public addresses, will feel no surprise at their producing such effects as these. No one could hear him without

being impressed with the conviction, that he was not acting a part; but that he was deeply in earnest; that he felt the importance of what he uttered; and that he was actuated by a tender concern for the temporal and eternal welfare of those whom he addressed. It is impossible, here, not to recollect the case of an infinitely greater than the subject of these memoirs, by whose discourse the officers who had been sent to seize him were disarmed; and concerning whom they ingenuously said, on their return, never man spake like this man.

In 1774, it was judged proper to make one more effort to obtain a charter for the Church in New-York. Governor Tryon, being about to embark for Great-Britain, in the autumn of that year, was made fully acquainted with all the steps which had been taken, at different times, for attaining this object, and also with all the distressing embarrassments and difficulties which had arisen from repeated disappointments. He professed to have a deep conviction of the injustice and impolicy of the treatment which the congregation had received in relation to this affair; and promised his best offices, when he should arrive in England, to promote the accomplishment of