RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. 315 



settled at Port Phillip aud Moretoii Bay. lu the books which ho 

 wrote, historical and otherwise, he has left us graphic accounts of 

 the progress of his own denomination, its local divisions in 18 12, and 

 the General Union which brought it together again in 18G5. An 

 active colleague of his early days was the Kev. J. ^McGarvie, who 

 arrived in 182(5, while the first Victorian niiuistci-, llu' Kev. J. Forbes, 

 went to Port Phillip in 1838. From Sydney as a centre tho evangel- 

 ising operations of the body went on actively in the New Hebrides, 

 where the names of Paton and Steel made themselves in a sense hou.sc- 

 hold words. 



The Wesleyan Church dates from 1812, when there is a record of 

 the first class-meeting. The first minister was the Rev. Samuel Leigh, 

 who arrived three years later, and tho first chapel Avas opened at 

 Parramatta, in Macquaric-street, in 1821. Among other well-known 

 names were those of John Williams, who is recorded as having preached 

 an anniversary sermon in 1822 ; Ralph Mansfield, who went to Hobart 

 Town in 1823; Schofield, who came to Sydney in 1835; and J. B. 

 Waterhouse, who came as General Superintendent of Wesleyan 

 Missions in the South Seas in 1838. The Centenary Chapel in 

 York-street, the local centre of the denomination, dates from 1840, 

 and the Rev. W. B. Boyce — another honored name in the annals 

 of the denomination — arrived in 1846. These facts and dates may 

 be looked upon as indicating the historical outlines of Wesleyan 

 progress. 



The story of Congregationalism begins with the pastorate of ]\Ir. 

 Cover iu 1798, though the first settled pastor, the Rev. iMr. Jarrett, 

 did not arrive until 1834. The first chapel in Pitt-street, then and 

 since the centre of the denominational life and organisation, had been 

 opened in the previous year. The year 1839 saw the arrival in Tas- 

 mania of one who became later on a well-known figure in this colony 

 and a forcible writer on public questions, in the person of the Rev. 

 John West. The present Pitt-street Congregational Church was built 

 as it now stands in 1846. The first Baptist Chapel in Sydney was 

 opened in 1835 by the Rev. Wm. Saunders, who arrived the year 

 before. The Jewish Synagogue was first built in York-street, in 1844, 

 the Rev. M. Rintel being rabbi, and the present handsome edifice in 

 Elizabeth-street was opened by the Rev. A. B. Davis in 1878. Besides 

 the denominations given, other bodies held services from the earliest 

 days, but without any elaborate attempt at organisation on the larger 

 scale. 



Turning now to the present position and evidences of denomina- 

 tional activity in New South Wales, we find both attested by the signs 

 of progress and vitality that on all sides meet the eye. It has been 

 said that the Australian temperament is not on the whole remarkable 

 for susceptibility to religious influences, but like most other generali- 

 sations the statement is a little vague. If it means that the growing 

 generations do not exhibit much inclination to take up the work of 

 the ministry in the different Churches, the statement has ]n-obably 

 more than a grain of truth in it. The fact is that tho work of the 

 Churches does not offer many inducements to Young Australia. It 

 supposes, to begin with, a certain amount of training, — more now, it 

 should be said,"and as the years go on, than in the past. The same 



