CHAPTER VI

RESTORATION AND PROGRESS: 1783-1808

"The Lord doth build up Jerusalem; he gathereth together the outcasts of
Israel. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds."—Psalm
147 : 2 f.

*' Their numbers greatly reduced by death and by permanent removals to the
country, the pecuniary resources of all of them impaired and of many of them ex¬
hausted, both their houses of worship in a state little short of complete ruin, their
parsonage burnt, and a considerable debt accumulated in consequence of their long
exclusion from the city—it may be supposed that nothing but Christian faith could
have preserved them from total discouragement."—Samuel Miller "Memoirs of
John Rodgers," p. 243.

ON November 13th, 1783, nearly two weeks
before New York City was finally evacu¬
ated by the British, the following notice
appeared in "The New York Packet and the Ameri¬
can Advertiser:"* "The Members of the Presby¬
terian Congregation are requested, at the desire of
some of the late Trustees, to meet at the New Brick
Church, This Afternoon at Four o'Clock, to provide
means for putting their Church in order for Public
Worship."

The New Church had suffered less than the
building on Wall Street,! and it was, accordingly,
chosen as the one to be immediately repaired. The
need became increasingly urgent after the British
evacuation,  when large numbers  of Presbyterians

♦ A semi-weekly sheet printed by " Samuel Loudon, No. 5, Water-
Street, between the Coffee-House and the Old Slip."

t The latter building had been used as a barrack by the enemy.

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