month was expired, he left the city, to the great grief of a majority of the congregation, who considered the reasons for his departure as by no means sufficient.

The congregation were deeply affected with this dispensation of providence, in being deprived of both their ministers at once; and also with the unhappy divisions which had led to this bereavement. They determined, therefore, in their congregational capacity, to humble themselves before God, and to unite in special prayer for the removal of their difficulties. For this purpose they set a part a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer, to confess their sins as a people, and to implore the divine direction in the choice of a minister. They requested the Presbytery to appoint one of their number, to attend and conduct the services of the day. Their request was granted; a member of the Presbytery attended for the purpose; and the 31st of December, 1753, was accordingly observed in this manner, with great solemnity. After the public exercises of the day were closed, due notice of the design having been given, the congregation proceeded to deliberate on the propriety of calling another minister. They unanimously agreed that it was

proper then to make a choice; and the Rev. Joseph Bellamy, of Bethlem, in Connecticut, was accordingly chosen *. In pursuance of this vote, a call for Mr. Bellamy was drawn up and prosecuted, with the concurrence of the Presbytery; but he declined accepting it. At the instance of a number of the congregation, especially of those who were charged with being the principal fomenters of division among them, a second call was prepared and sent to Mr. Bellamy, and prosecuted with great zeal. But, that gentleman finding that there was not, still, that unanimity in the call, which might have been wished, gave, the second time, a negative answer, in a letter, bearing date July 18th, 1754.

The Rev. Joseph Bellamy, D. D. was born at NewCheshire, Connecticut, in 1719, and was graduated at Yale college, in 1735. He was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry, and installed pastor of the church in Bethlem, in 1740, and died March 6, 1790, in the 72d year of his age. The eminent talents; the ardent piety; the indefatigable labours; the numerous publications; and the great ministerial usefulness of Dr. Bellamy, are too well known to require the language of eulogium in this place. Dr. Rodgers, after he came to New-York, was well acquainted with him, and greatly honoured him, as a man of strong, original powers; as an able divine; and as an eminently devoted minister of Jesus Christ.

In the month of November of the same year, the congregation, as before related, made a very pressing application to Mr. Rodgers, the subject of these memoirs, who then resided at St. George's, in Delaware, to come and preach to them, with a view to settlement. They entertained strong hopes that he might be the happy means of healing their divisions, and of promoting their best interests. Mr. Rodgers, however, thought it his duty to decline accepting the invitation, which he did by the return of the messenger who carried it.

In the month of January, 1755, the congregation, by the advice of the Presbytery, gave a call to the Rev. David Mc Gregore*, of Londonderry,

* The Rev. David Mc Gregore was born in Ireland. He was the son of the Rev. James Mc Gregore, who had the pastoral charge of a Presbyterian church in the north of Ireland, who migrated to Massachusetts, in 1718, and soon afterwards settled in New-Hampshire, near Haverhill, on a tract of land called Nutfield, but which he, and th families who migrated and settled with him, called New-Londonderry. He laboured in the gospel ministry in that place about ten years, and died March 5th, 1729. He was a pious, able, and faithful minister, whose memory is still affectionately cherished in the place of his residence. His son David accompanied him to America, in

in New-Hampshire, a member of the Presbytery of Boston. This call was regularly prosecuted before his Presbytery, which met at Pelham, in the month of April, of that year, and afterwards in Boston, on the 14th of May following. Mr. Mc Gregore considering the state of the church in New-York as highly unfavourable both to the comfort and usefulness of a minister, felt himself constrained to give an answer in the negative,

These repeated disappointments, while they almost discouraged the congregation, served also to humble them, and to make them feel more than ever their dependence on the King of Zion, for the supply of a pastor, as well as of all other mercies. There is every reason to believe, that dispensations so painful and humiliating formed a part of their preparation to receive more gladly and more profitably, the minister who was afterwards provided for them,

the eighth year of his age. He was ordained to the work of the ministry, in 1735; and was minister of the second Presbyterian church in New-Londonderry; where he died May 30, 1777, in the 67th year of his age. He appears to have resembled his father in his personal and ministerial character.

In the month of July, 1755, they gave a call to the Reverend David Bostwick*, pastor of the Church of Jamaica, on Long-Island, a member of their own Presbytery. The people of Jamaica made warm and persevering opposition to the

*The Reverend David Bostwick was a native of NewMilford, Connecticut, where he was born in the year 1721. At the age of fifteen he entered Yale College, and graduated, after the usual course of study. On leaving college, he was engaged as a teacher, in an academy at Newark, New-Jersey, under the inspection of the Rev. Mr. Burr, afterwards President of the college of NewJersey. He was ordained to the work of the Gospel ministry, and installed pastor of the Church of Jamaica, on Long-Island, October 9th,' 1745. The sermon on that occasion was preached by the Rev. Mr. Burr, and afterwards published. Here Mr. Bostwick remained more than ten years, enjoying in a very high degree the affec tion and respect, not only of the people of his charge, but also of his brethren in the ministry, and the churches in general. His appearance and deportment were peculiarly venerable; as a preacher, he possessed an impressive, commanding eloquence, to which few attain; and the ardour of his piety, together with the apostolic purity of his life, gave him a strong hold in public esteem. During his residence in Jamaica, he rejected several calls to other churches; and was with great difficulty persuaded by his friends, that it was his duty to remove to New-York.