letters, from the missionaries sent by the society) "were negligent of all religion, till about the year 1722; the very best were such as called themselves Baptists or Quakers, but it was feared many were Gortoneans or Deists." Bad as they were, they subscribed £250 among themselves, obtained a subscription of £200 more in Newport, £100 in Boston, and £200 in other places, and then borrowed £200, with which to erect a church. And on St. Barnabas' day, 1722, they raised one, sixty-two feet long by forty-one broad, and twenty-six feet high. Dr. Stiles says this church was erected in 1723. The first date is obtained from Dr. Humfries' History, above referred to. The chief contributor was Col. Joseph Whipple, who gave £100. This church occupied the same spot on which St. John's church now stands. It was pulled down in 1810, but will long be remembered as a remarkably neat and pretty church. The steeple was not erected until a long time after the main body of the church. In 1762 and in 1771, leave was given by the General Assembly to raise money sufficient to repair the church and to build a steeple, by lottery, from which it is perhaps reasonable to infer that the steeple was not built until after that time. The first bell in Providence, according to Mr. Job Danforth, was hung in the belfry of this steeple.

The corner stone of St. John's church, was laid on the 5th day of June 1810, and the edifice completed so as to be dedicated on the 11th June 1811. The exterior walls of this building are of natural faced stone, laid in irregular blocks, a kind of ma

terial peculiarly appropriate for the style of the building. It is eighty-two by sixty-seven feet on the ground, with a chancel sixteen feet by thirty-four. It contains one hundred and eight pews. Much credit is due to John H. Greene, the architect, for the consistency which pervades all parts of this building, within and without, satisfying the beholder with it, as being a whole, the work of a single mind.

Tradition refers to Gabriel Bernon, a French Huguenot, who came to this country at the revocation of the edict of Nantz, as one of the earliest members of the Church of England, in this town. It is supposed that it was through his influence that the missionary at Newport occasionally visited and preached at Providence, and that it was at his house that the meetings were holden. This house occupied the site of the brick house, No. 149 on North Main street, and a part of it is still standing in the rear of that house.

There is a little discrepancy between Dr. Humfries, in the work above referred to, and Dr. Mc Sparran, in a pamphlet entitled "America Dissected," as to the Episcopal minister who first preached in Providence. The former would seem to give that honor to Mr. Honyman. Dr. McSparran says that he entered on the duties of his mission to Narragansett, in 1721, and adds, "I was the first Episcopal minister that ever preached at Providence, where for a long time I used to go four times a year; but that church has now a fixed missionary of its own." This was written in 1753. The truth was that pro

bably both he and Mr. Honyman occasionally preached here. The first person settled over the church here, as a "fixed missionary," was George Pigot. He was sent by the society, to Stratford, Conn. in 1722. The following year he removed to

this town on his

own suggestion, and was settled over this church. He remained here but a short time, when he was succeeded by Mr. Charro. Mr. Charro was dismissed from his charge on account of improper conduct. In October 1730, Arthur Brown became rector. He was highly esteemed by his congregation. He remained with them till 1736, when he removed to Portsmouth, N. H. and was succeeded in 1739 by John Checkley. Mr. Checkley was a native of Boston. He received his education at Oxford, and was admitted to holy orders by the Bishop of Exeter. When he visited England for the purpose of ordination, several of the dissenting ministers of Massachusetts, sent a remonstrance against him, containing such allegations as delayed his admission to holy orders for some time. From all accounts, he was a man of eccentric character. His ideas of the deportment proper for the christian minister were formed from the English clergy of the established church, and not from the puritan ministers of New-England, and, of course, the latter deemed him erroneous. Before he came here, he published "Some Strictures on Episcopacy," which subjected him to a prosecution in Massachusetts for a libel.It was written in the spirit of the times, but on the wrong side of the question, for the author to escape punishment. Mr. Checkley continued in discharge

of his duties as rector until his death in 1753.

Dur

ing his sickness and after his decease, the pulpit was supplied by several Episcopal clergymen until 1756, when John Graves succeeded him in the rectorship. Mr. Graves attended the service of the church until July 1776. He then declined to officiate, unless he could be permitted to read the usual and ordinary prayers for the king, which he considered himself bound by his ordination vows to offer for him. The patriotism of his hearers forbade this, and the consequence was, that the church was closed, most of the time during the war of the revolution. During a part of this time however, Thomas F. Oliver officiated as lay reader. After the restoration of peace, Mr. Graves offered his services to the parish, which were refused, they being under obligations to Mr. Oliver. Mr. Oliver soon received ordination from Bishop Seabury, the first American Bishop, and remained in this parish until 1786, when he left them, by their consent, to officiate among his friends and relations at Marblehead. Mr. Graves died here in November 1785. In September 1786, Moses Badger succeeded to the rectorship, which he held until his decease in September 1792. Abraham L. Clarke succeeded him, commencing his labors in March 1793. He resigned the rectorship March 14, 1800. Nathaniel Bowen, afterwards Bishop of South-Carolina, succeeded him in the rectorship, November 12, 1801. Mr. Bowen left this church for St.Michael's church in Charleston, S. C. in November, 1802. Nathan Bourne Crocker performed divine service in this church on Sunday, October 24, 1802, as lay reader. He con

tinued to officiate in this capacity until May 1803, when he was ordained, and chosen rector. In Jan- . uary 1804, ill health obliged him to resign. John L. Blackburne succeeded him, in December 1805, and in March 1807 he resigned. The same month Mr. Crocker was again invited by the church to become its rector. He entered upon the duties of his office at once, and has continued in the discharge of them, without interruption, to the present time.

In May 1794, John Smith, of Providence, presented a petition to the General Assembly in behalf of the minister, church-wardens, vestry and congregation of the Episcopal church, representing that "that church was founded in the reign of George the First, then king of Great Britain, of blessed memory, who reigned over the colonies of Great Britain with justice and paternal regard; that, in consequence thereof, the proprietors of the said church from the purest motives of gratitude and affection, named it King's Church; but the conduct of the present king of Great Britain and of the people thereof, hath been so totally different, that the citizens of the United States have been under the necessity of declaring themselves independent, and renouncing monarchy in all its forms; and that said minister, church-wardens, vestry and congregation conceive the present name of the said church to be highly improper, and pray that the said name may be abolished, and the church called St. John's Church, in Providence." The Assembly readily granted the petition. It was not strange that the proprietors wished a new name. Beyond a doubt their old one, borne as it was by a