The ecclesiastical concerns of the colonies were committed to the care of the Bishop of London. The native colonists who wished to take orders in the Episcopal church, were obliged to go to England for them, and this continued to be the case until the revolution.

Some time previous to that event, some efforts were made to have Bishops sent to this country, but it was opposed by other denominations, under an apprehension that the measure would lead to the establishment of the Episcopal church, with the same prerogatives over other denominations with which it was invested in England. It is also intimated that the measure was opposed both by the American and British statesmen, but on quite different and opposite grounds. By the first, on the ground that as it could only be effected by an act of Parliament, an admission of the power of parliament to do this would involve an admission that Parliament possessed power over the colonies, incompatible with the security of liberty, life, property, and religion by the last, on the ground that such an establishment would lessen the dependence of the colonies on Great Britain, and would remove a powerful obstacle to their independence.

The exclusion of any connexion between church and state, and the equality of religious privileges, secured to all denominations of christians by the constitutions of the several states, precluded all objection to the introduction of Bishops into the United States after the revolution.

The Rev. Samuel Seabury of Connecticut in 1784, and the Rev. Samuel Provost of New-York, and the Rev. William White of Pennsylvania, in 1785 visited Great Britain, and were consecrated Bishops of the Episcopal church in those states respectively.

The consecration of these Bishops furnished the number necessary by the rules of the Episcopal church, to confer the Episcopal office, and they shortly after consecrated other Bishops for other states, and since that period the Episcopal church in the United States has been supplied with subordinate officers in each diocess, by ordinations by the Bishop of the diocess.

In 1789, the Bishops, clergy, and the representatives of the laity, of the Episcopal church, in the United States, met in convention, and made such alterations in the constitution of the Episcopal church as established in England, as renders it more conformable to our political institutions.

The first settlers of the town of Hempstead were independents, and had successively settled two congregational minis

ters. They had appropriated lands for the support of the Gospel which those ministers had enjoyed, and had erected a house for public worship in which they had officiated.

Mr. Hobart, the last of those ministers, had left the town about the year 1796, and the people were some years without a minister of any denomination.

The new generation that had sprung up since the first settlement of the town, seem to have had no predilection for the peculiar tenets of their ancestors.

In 1701, some of the inhabitants petitioned the society for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, to send them a minister.

In 1704, the Rev. John Thomas arrived among them as a missionary from the said society.

Mr. Thomas immediately commenced his ministerial labors at that place, and continued there during his life time.

Mr. Thomas died in 1724, and was succeeded by the Rev. Thomas Jenny, with whom the regular records of the church

commence.

Mr. Thomas and his successor performed their ministerial duties in a house which had been erected for the use of the congregational ministers, without opposition or complaint.

It would seem that most of the people were in a short time reconciled to the discipline, rites, and ceremonies, of the Episcopal church, by the zeal and prudence of Mr. Thomas and Mr. Jenny.

The public lands being under the control of the majority of the people, as soon as they joined the Episcopal church, fell into the hands of the Episcopal ministers.

In 1734, they erected a new church, and the next year a royal charter was obtained, whereby the freeholders and inhabitants of said town who were in communion with the church of England were incorporated, and constituted a parish by the name "name and style of St. George's church, Hempstead," and whereby the house then built, together with half an acre of common land on which it stood, and on which the present parsonage house now stands, were granted to them.

In 1803, a house for public worship was erected by the Episcopalians in North-Hempstead, and was consecrated by the name and style of Christ church, but they continued in union with the people of Hempstead till 1819, when they became a separate and distinct congregation.

The introduction of the Episcopal church in Jamaica was attended with more difficulty.

The people of Jamaica were still generally Presbyterians or Independents.

In 1676, they set apart a tract of land and meadow for a parsonage, which they voted should continue " at the disposal of the town."

In 1700, they erected a stone edifice for public worship by subscription, without restricting the use of it to any particular denomination.

In 1702, Governor Cornbury, in consequence of a great sickness in New-York, removed to Jamaica; and to accommodate him. Mr. Hubbard, the Presbyterian minister gave up to him the use of the parsonage house while he remained there.

During the time the Governor was at Jamaica, the Episcopalians got possession of the meeting house, and refused the use of it to the Presbyterians, and the Governor on his return to New-York gave them possession of the parsonage house.

The Presbyterians were anxious to regain the property which they considered had been unjustly wrested from them, and the Episcopalians were determined to retain what they supposed the law would protect them in holding.*

These conflicting claims continued to interrupt the harmony of the town nearly thirty years. After much heat and controversy, and several unsuccessful law suits, the Episcopalians abandoned the contest, and in 1735 erected a house themselves for public worship, which in 1761 was incorporated by Lieutenant Governor Colden, by the name and style of Grace Church. In 1737, when the seats of the new church were disposed of, the congregation consisted of twenty-four families.

This unpleasant contest, so contrary to the catholic spirit that now characterizes the different denominations of christians, is to be ascribed to the temper of the times, and was probably fostered if not excited by the bigotry of the Governor.

* In 1699, the people of Jamaica appointed certain persons to circulate a subscription to see what people would freely give towards building a new meeting house.

February 6th, 1710, the town appointed three men to demand the key of the stone meeting house, from the person in whose possession it was, and to keep the house for the town.

April, 1723, the town appointed three men to take possession of the town parsona ge lot and other land connected with it, until the town should recall it.

January 2d, 1725, after stating that Mr. Poyer, the Episcopal minister, had failed in several ejectment suits, which he had brought against the tenants of the parsonage land, the town voted that the same should be delivered into the possession of Robert Cross, their Minister. Mr. Poyer, Justice Oldfield and Richard Combs, entered their protest against the said vote.

February 26th, 1727, the town assigned the stone meeting house and the land on which it stood, then in the occupation of Mr. Thomas Poyer, to three of the surviving trustees who built it, to take possession of it for the town.-Extracts from the town res cords.

St. George's church at Flushing, and St. James' Church at Newtown, were built shortly after the one at Jamaica, and the same minister officiated one third of the time in each, until the year 1797.

In 1796, Newtown separated from the other towns, and employed Mr. Van Dyke as their minister.

In 1802, Newtown and Flushing united in the settlement of a minister, and in 1812, they separated, since which time each town has had its own minister.

The several Episcopal churches on the Island were erected

at the times, and consecrated by the names and titles following:

In Brookhaven,

In Hempstead,

In Jamaica,

Caroline Church,

1730

In Newtown,

In Flushing,

In Huntington,

In Brooklyn,

St. John's Church, 1784, or thereabouts,

St. Ann's Church,

In North Hempstead, Christ Church,

1766

1803

Some of these Churches have undergone repairs, and several of them have been rebuilt. New and elegant churches were erected in Hempstead and Jamaica in 1822, and in Brooklyn in 1824.

A list of the first Episcopal Ministers and their successors, in the several towns on the Island as far as the same could be procured:

A brief account of some of the first Episcopal Ministers that settled on Long-Island.

The first Episcopal Ministers who settled on the Island, as was before stated, were missionaries sent over by the society for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, and were supported at the expense of the said society. They were born and educated in Great Britain or Ireland, and were generally well educated men..

The first Episcopal Church on the Island was established at Hempstead-and the first Episcopal minister who settled on the Island, was the Rev. John Thomas, who was sent as a missionary to this country at the solicitation of the people of Hempstead.

Mr. Thomas arrived at Hempstead in 1704. He found very few persons among the inhabitants who were acquainted with the discipline, rites and ceremonies of the Episcopal Church. He found the children without the means of education, and the state of society such as is usually the result of the want of public instruction and an established ministry.

In some cases, the time of settlement and removal of the above ministers has been inserted on verbal information, and may not be exact.

In most instances the facts are taken from records, and in cases where the records furnished no information, or were not to be procured, pains have been taken to get as correct information as possible.