CHAPTER III

IN COLONIAL DAYS :   1768-1774

" The pews were all immediately taken, and it soon became abundantly evident
that the erection of an additional church was neither unnecessary nor premature."—
"Memoirs of John Rodgers," p. 182.

'* As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto
them who are of the household of faith."—Galatians 6 : 10,

ON New Year's Day, 1768, the congregation
assembled in the New Church for the first
time and dedicated it to the service of God.
Even the very imperfect picture of the scene that,
by the help of the records, rises to our view is well
worth looking upon. Members of all the represen¬
tative Presbyterian families are in the pews—Liv¬
ingstons, Broomes, McDougals, Ogilvies, Quack-
enbosses. The clerk is in his desk and Mr. Rodgers,
in gown and bands, with his full, curled wig upon his
head, has ascended into his lofty pulpit. There he
offers the introductory prayer, reads from the Script¬
ures and gives out the Psalm, not improbably the
one hundred and twenty-second as being most ap¬
propriate for this occasion.

"How did my heart rejoice to hear
My friends devoutly say,
* In Zion let us all appear.
And keep the solemn day.'"

Though we must guess at the Psalm, we have pre¬
cise information about the text of the sermon.    It

33