in the death of the Rev. Dr. Auchmuty. To avoid the insults of the rebels, he had retired from this city to Brunswick, in New Jersey. When the rebels were driven from hence, they endeavoured to guard the passes in such a manner as to prevent the friends of government from returning to it. The doctor's anxiety to return to his charge was so great, that he was determined to attempt it at all rates. By travelling in the night, and otherwise exposing himself, he caught a severe cold, which, increasing, at length threw him into a fever which proved fatal. I wish I could give this society a more pleasing account of the missionaries in Connecticut. I believe they are all either carried away from their cures, or confined to their houses, except Mr. Dibblee, who is gone to Sharon to be inoculated for the small-pox,-possibly hoping thereby to enjoy a few weeks' respite from persecution. With regard to my own mission, I can only say, that it is utterly ruined. Before the king's troops went into that part of the country, the people were robbed of their cattle, and otherwise plundered by the rebels; and I am sorry to say, that they suffered greatly in that way from the royal army. Little or no distinction was made. No redress could be obtained, and no stop was put to it. As soon as the king's troops withdrew, the rebels returned in parties, and every party plundered the inhabitants. Many fled to this city, with what little they could carry ; many were deprived by the rebels of everything but the clothes on their backs, and sent off with only six days' provision, because they refused to swear allegiance to the States of America. Children and infants have been deprived of their clothes, and women in childbed have had the covering, even the sheets, torn from their beds, by those monsters, who seem to have nothing of humanity left, but the shape of men only. Many families of my parishioners are now in this town, who used to live decently, suffering for common necessaries. I daily meet them, and it is melancholy to observe their dejection strongly marked on their faces, which seem to implore that assistance which I am unable to give. To pity them and pray for them is all I can do. I shall say nothing more of my own situation at present, than that I have hitherto supported myself and family with decency, and I will not distrust the goodness of God, which has hitherto preserved me, nor render myself unworthy of it, by repining and discontent." The uncompromising firmness of the clergy in the discharge of their sacred office did not, however, uniformly provoke the same treatment, for the Rev. Edward Winslow, of Braintree, says, 8th August 1775 "I have publicly declared my resolution to recede in no instance or degree from those solemn engagements of allegiance to the king and fidelity to the church, which my oaths, conscience, judgment, and inclination jointly bind me to maintain at the hazard of life, nor have I been constrained to any compliance inconsistent herewith, notwithstanding I have invariably persisted to refuse submission to any such public injunctions as I could not acknowledge to be of lawful authority. It must be remembered, however, that this was very early in the history of revolution violence. Some further indications of the state of public feeling, and the persecution to which churchmen, in particular, were subject, are contained in a letter of the Rev. Leonard Cutting, missionary, at Hempstead, dated 6th January, 1777. The people in his parish were, for the most part, steady loyalists, and opposed to the election of delegates; they were, consequently, exposed to many harassing annoyances. Their houses were occupied by an armed rabble, while the rightful possessors were compelled to hide themselves in woods and swamps, or were seized and carried prisoners to Connecticut. Mr. Cutting continued to perform divine service for some weeks after the declaration of independence, though orders were more than once issued to take him out of his church. Upon the whole, it appears that the church had rather made progress during the disturbances; and Mr. Cutting states that "there were not above three who called themselves churchmen amongst the malcontents;" and adds, "that as there was no settled Presbyterian teacher to inflame the minds of the people, the dissenters were left to their own cool judgments, attended the church service, and, in general, approved of, and joined their neighbours in, the opposition to the congress." From a subsequent letter, written at the end of 1781, it appears that they suffered even more from the rapacity of the king's troops than from the violence of the insurgents. "Where the army is," he says, "oppression, such as in England you can have no conception of, universally prevails. We have nothing we can call our own, and the door to redress is inaccessible. The army has done more essential injury to the king's cause than the utmost efforts of his enemies." * Other details are furnished by the Rev. Philip Reading, of Apoquimininck. On March 18th, 1776, he says, No more passive obedience and non-resistance' was scribbled on his church doors. And it was made a ground of complaint against one of the captains of militia, that he had 'lugged' his company to church on the day of the public fast, to hear that old wretch' preach, who was always an enemy to the present measures." per And again, August 25th of the same year, he says:-" Being now assured on all hands of the danger with which I was threatened, if I sisted in complying with my oaths, vows, and subscriptions, I thought it high time to consult my own and my family's safety; and therefore, on the Sunday following, (July 28th,) when the people were assembled for public worship, before I began the service, I explained to them the obligations the clergy of the church of England are under to assert the king's supremacy in their public ministrations, and acquainted them that as I could not read the liturgy agreeably to the prescribed form, without offending against the new government, and incurring the resentment of the people, I should on that day declare the church shut up for six weeks. Accordingly, after the Nicene creed, I declared in form that, as I had no design to resist the authority of the new government, on one hand, and as I was determined, on the other, not to incur the heavy guilt of perjury by a breach of the most *MS. letter, Dec. 9, 1781. solemn promises, I should decline attending on the public worship for a short time from that day; but that, for the benefit of those who were in full and close communion with me, for comforting them in the present distress, for strengthening them in the faith, for encouraging them to persevere in their present profession unto the end, I would administer the sacrament of the Lord's Supper on (Sept. 8th,) that day six weeks. I had proposed to say more on the subject, but the scene became too affecting for me to bear a further part in it. Many of the people present were overwhelmed with deep distress, and the cheeks of some began to be bathed with tears. My own tongue faltered, and my firmness forsook me; beckoning therefore to the clerk to sing the psalm, I went into the pulpit, and having exhorted the members of the church to "hold fast the profession of their faith without wavering," and to depend upon the promises of a faithful God for their present comfort and future relief, I finished this irksome business; and Apoquimininck church from that day has continued shut up." It will be gathered from the general tenour of the foregoing letters, that the missionaries in the New England colonies were, for the most part, staunch loyalists, and even sufferers for their faithful allegiance to their sovereign. A less resolute spirit seems to have pervaded the clergy of Pennsylvania, who, with some exceptions, like Mr. Reading, discovered more sympathy for the cause of the patriots, and a desire to reconcile their duty to the church with some concessions to the popular voice. This will be evident from the following statements of the Rev. Dr. Smith, Provost of the College at Philadelphia: "The several letters which you have directed to my care, by the last ships-viz., to Messrs. Tingley, Battwell, Curry, Murray, Craig, and Magaw, are duly forwarded. Their difficulties in their missions are greatly increased by the present alarming state of things, and never were men in a more trying or delicate situation. We had hitherto, with one consent and one mind, kept our pulpits wholly free from everything bordering on the present unnatural controversy. But now our people have all taken up arms, and entered into associations, never to submit to the Parliamentary claim of taxing them at pleasure. We see nothing in our churches but men in their uniforms; and though they excuse us on Sundays, yet they are now everywhere requesting occasional sermons on the present situation of things. The case of the poor missionaries is hard. To comply may offend their protectors, and those that support them in the parent country; to refuse would leave them without congregations everywhere; and perhaps it is more the wish of some that they should refuse than comply. We intended to have held a general meeting to consult together on these difficulties, but found that it might involve us in new difficulties, by having it suspected we met for purposes of another kind. All these difficulties increased from the necessity some of our brethren apprehended themselves in, of quitting their charges and going to England. I wish they could have stood their ground, which I think might possibly have been accomplished, without any unworthy compliances on their part. For, when the shepherds are out of the way, the flocks will be scattered. Some of Dr. Chandler's congregation whom I have seen do insist that he would have been perfectly safe in staying. But of that matter he and his family perhaps could only judge, or at least in such a way as to satisfy his own mind. We have not been able of late to correspond with our brethren in New York, so that I have not the particulars of Dr. Cooper's case; but have heard that he was under an evident necessity of retiring for a time. It is a hard situation when such dangers arise from endeavours to support order, &c. But we are told that these matters do not belong to us, or that we are not to be busy in them, or that the submission we would enjoin amounts to slavery. . . "If our clergy were generally to quit their people at this time, I say, we should not have the appearance of a church or people left. A conduct, therefore, of the most prudent nature is required from us. We need not widen the breach, and yet we may wish well to (nay, in all decency and firmness contend for) the just rights of America; and so far indulge our people as to convince them that the clergy of our church are as true friends to liberty, and as much devoted to the constitutional and just rights of their country, as any other man in America. And upon this plan we have all judged it our duty to prepare for keeping the Fast recommended by the Congress to be kept July 20th; and also not to decline our turns of the occasional service required of us by our people at other times, hoping our prudence and consciences may lead us safely through the difficulties with which we are beset. Indeed, exclusive of the recommendation, never was fasting and humiliation more our duties." He says, further, that no man had laboured more zealously than himself to avert the calamities in which both countries were then involved; that he did his utmost to bring about a reconciliation; and though he would have preferred to reserve his pulpit for the appropriate lessons which belong to it, yet, when unavoidably called upon to speak, he could not "betray the cause of universal liberty, nor suffer our church or clergy to labour under the imputation of departing from those principles which distinguished some of her brightest luminaries near a century past." Such, he says, were not only his own views, but those of his brethren in the province; and he maintains that if they were to suffer " the notion to prevail that the church clergy are tools of power, slavish in their tenets, and secret enemies to the principles of the revolution, it would give a deadly wound to the church in America." These views he set forth at large in a sermon, of which some thousands were sold in a day or two after its publication.* In a subsequent letter, dated August 28th, 1775, he speaks of the union and organization of the States: "The Americans continue firm in the measures they have adopted for opposing parliamentary taxation; and the colony of Georgia has now joined the other twelve colonies. Administration can expect nothing by hopes of disunion here. Would to God that a suspension of hostilities and a negotia • MS. Letter, July 10th, 1775. tion could take place, before either side have proceeded too far in measures so ruinous to both. For this I pray, and for this I labour daily; and in such a way, perhaps, as may subject 'me to the blame of the violent of both sides. But I look far beyond the present heated times. . . "Since I wrote to you, all our clergy within my knowledge, two only excepted, in four provinces, have preached on the Fast of July 20th. Some of their sermons are printed, and more in the press. You will herewith receive two of Mr. Duché's, and one of Mr. Coombe's. Please to communicate them to the Lord Bishop of London." Dr. Leaming, of Norwalk, was unfortunate enough to suffer most severely from both the British and American parties. Writing from New York, 29th July, 1779, he says, "On the eleventh instant, by the unavoidable event of the operation of his Majesty's troops under the command of General Tryon, my church and great part of my parish was laid in ashes, by which I have lost everything I had there --my furniture, books, and all my papers, even all my apparel, except what was on my back. My loss that fatal day was not less than twelve or thirteen hundred pounds sterling. Although in great danger, my life has been preserved; and I hope I shall never forget the kind Providence of God in that trying hour." He was afterwards put in jail as a Tory, and denied even the comfort of a bed. This brought on a hip complaint, which made him a cripple for life.* The following is the account which the Rev. John Stuart gives of the troubles and privations which he had to endure personally, and of the scandalous profanation of his church. It was written October 13, 1781: "At the commencement of the unhappy contest betwixt Great Britain and her colonies, I acquainted the Society of the firm reliance I had on the fidelity and loyalty of my congregation, which has justified my opinion; for the faithful Mohawks, rather than swerve from their allegiance, chose rather to abandon their dwellings and property; and accordingly went in a body to General Burgoyne, and afterwards were obliged to take shelter in Canada. While they remained at Fort Hunter I continued to officiate as usual, performing the public service entire, even after the declaration of independence, notwithstanding by so doing I incurred the penalty of high treason by the new laws. As soon as my protectors were fled I was made a prisoner, and ordered to depart the province, with my family, within the space of four days, or be put into close confinement; and this only upon suspicion that I was a loyal subject of the king of Great Britain. Upon this I was admitted to Paroles, and confined to the limits of the town of Schenectady, in which situation I have remained for upwards of three years. My house has been frequently broken open by mobs, my property plundered, and, indeed, every kind of indignity offered to my person by the lowest of the populace. At length, my farm and the produce of it was formally taken from me, in May last, as forfeited * Communicated by the Rev. Dr. Jarvis, |