

THE TOWN pF NORTH SALEM. 749 



good weather, in the summer season, upwards of two hundred people assembled. 

 The church which I expect will soon be built in Salem, will be about five or six 

 miles to the southward, and about two or three miles to the westward from 

 Ridgefield, Conn., whgre I have been informed there are near thirty families of 

 Church people, besides a considerable number in places very contiguous, for 

 whom it is extremely difficult to attend public worship, either at Ridgefield, or 

 at the church towards the north end of Salem, in the borders of Cortlandt's 

 manor, where I reside. When this church is built, (if the Society approves 

 of my officiating in it sometimes, besides my attendance at the other three 

 churches,) I would request the favor of the Society to give a quarto Common 

 Prayer Book and Bible to that, as they have to the other churches of Salem and 

 Ridgebury. I know that my fatigue in attending so many churches must be 

 great ; and that people cannot receive so much profit as might be wished from 

 the labors of a minister, when they are divided between so many places. But as 

 for the fatigue, I trust that God will enable me to bear it ; and I hope yet, in 

 some future time, the Society will be able to provide better for the edification of 

 the people, by dividing the mission, as it might conveniently be done, into two 

 equal parts. I beg leave to request some Common Prayer books, which are very 

 much wanted for the poor. I brought but two dozen, together with a great num- 

 ber of small tracts, but a much larger number of Prayer Books is required ; as 

 many people in my mission are poor and unable to purchase books or any thing 

 that is not absolutely necessary to the maintenance of their families. I beg 

 leave to acquaint the Society likewise, that, besides the attending the duties of 

 my own mission, I preached last spring, on the next Sunday after Easter, at 

 Woodbury, a town in Connecticut, thirty miles distant from Salem, to a congre- 

 gation of upwards of one hundred and fifty, w T ho behaved with the greatest de- 

 cency and devotion — most of them being professors, and many of them worthy 

 members of our Holy Church. This town, though included in Mr. Clark's mis- 

 sion, enjoys but a small proportion of his labors, not through any neglect of his, 

 but by means of the extensiveness of his charge ; and yet it is a town containing 

 six parishes of Congregationalists, and part of another ; in all which, there are 

 some professors of the Church earnestly desirous, if possible, to enjoy the public 

 worship of God according to their Holy profession. And in compliance with 

 their earnest intreaties, till something more could be done for the supply of their 

 spiritual wants, several of the Connecticut clergy agreed to preach among them 

 by turns. The summer past, the first Sunday after Trinity, I preached at Sharon, 

 a town in Connecticut adjoining this province, about fifty miles to the northward, 

 where they have a neat little church and a pretty congregation. The next day I 

 preached in the north precinct of the Oblong in this Province, about five or six 

 miles from Sharon. There they have a new church just raised, which they intend 

 to cover in the summer, and finish as soon as might be. There is a large body of 

 people whose religious circumstances truly deserve compassion ; and here, un- 

 doubtedly, would soon be a fine congregation, if they could enjoy the benefit of 

 having a sober minister of our Church settled among them, by the assistance of 

 the Society, which they intend earnestly to request as soon as they can qualify 

 themselves for it, by finishing their church and procuring a glebe. I beg liberty 

 to request a favor from the Society, which may perhaps be of considerable ser- 

 vice to me ; the professors of the Church in Connecticut are taxed for the sup- 



