England to be ordained Priest, arrangements were made so that he could be admitted to this higher degree of the ministry without the usual delay. Accordingly, he was advanced to the Priesthood on Tuesday before Easter, March 25, 1766, in King's Chapel, Whitehall, by Dr. Edmund Kean, Bishop of Chester.

And here we have rather a romantic incident to record. Very strong and lasting friendships often spring up between young men at college, and it so happened that Mr. Provoost and Benjamin Bousfield became quite intimate at Cambridge.

The latter was the only son of Thomas Bousfield, a man of wealth, and, at that time, the only banker in the city of Cork. The son afterwards became a prominent member of the Irish House of Commons, and ex-sheriff of the county of Cork, during the political disturbance in that unhappy country.

He was a man of some literary abilities, and wrote an answer to Edmund Burke's celebrated book on the French revolution.

Mr. Thomas Bousfield died, and during the son's continuance at Cambridge, the widowed mother and her daughter Maria paid a visit to him at the university.

Of course Mr. Provoost became acquainted

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with the mother and sister of his friend, and the young people soon formed a mutual attachment, and very important consequences followed. They were married in St. Mary's Church, Cambridge, by one of the senior Fellows of Trinity College, on the 8th of June, 1766.

Probably these arrangements were consummated more speedily than might otherwise have been the case, from the fact that the vestry of Trinity Church, New York, was then building St. Paul's Chapel, and the young clergyman had received some intimations that the intention was to offer him a position in that important parish.

Soon after his marriage, Mr. Provoost returned to New York with his bride, and in December, 1766, accepted a call to be an assistant minister of Trinity Church. Besides the parish church, there were at this time two chapels, St. George's and St. Paul's, belonging to the corporation of Trinity. The Rev. Samuel Auchmuty was Rector, and the Rev. John Ogilvie and the Rev. Charles Inglis (afterwards Bishop of Nova Scotia), assistant ministers.*

* As it is proposed to give a full sketch of the history of Trinity parish, in connection with the life of Bishop Benjamin Moore, we do not dwell upon it here.

That our readers may remember at how early a day Mr. Provoost began to discharge the duties of his sacred office, we would remark, in passing, that only one year before this, the first permanent white settlement had been made in Tennessee, and that it was not until 1769 that Daniel Boone made his visit of exploration to Kentucky.

CHAPTER FOURTH.

Very little pulpit eloquence-Style of English preaching in those days-John Wesley's advice-" The finest wheat from the desk"-Dr. Franklin's opinion of the Church serviceThe effect produced by the Litany-The clergy of Trinity Church-Mr. Provoost as a preacher-Visit to Ireland-Difficulties which met him upon his return to New York-Different ways of accounting for them-Mr. Provoost retires to his farm-New York city surrenders to the English-The great fire-Trinity Church destroyed-Due credit to Mr. Inglis.

HEN Mr. Provoost began his ministry in New York, there was very little, either in this country or in England, of what would be called

pulpit eloquence. Fortunately, the beautiful services of the Church are

always the same, and do not depend at all upon the abilities of the minister; but preaching is a different thing.

The sermons of the English clergy had long been of a prosy and lifeless cast,-correct in style, and unexceptionable in morals; but rather dry essays than stirring appeals to the

consciences of sinners, or warnings and instructions for professed Christians. But even allowing that matters had gone farther than this (which a strict regard to truth would not permit us to admit), it would have been wrong for any one to forsake the worship of the Church, in order to hear preaching more to his taste elsewhere.

John Wesley showed his wisdom, and his regard for the authority of Christ's holy Church, when he said to one of his followers who urged upon him the deficiencies of the clergy as a cause of separation from the Church of England: "If you have nothing but chaff from the pulpit, you are abundantly fed with the finest wheat from the desk.”

And Dr. Franklin gave the best advice possible to his daughter, when he wrote to her, on the eve of his departure for England, in 1764" Go constantly to church, whoever preaches. The act of devotion in the Common Prayer-book is your principal business there; and if properly attended to, will do more towards amending the heart than sermons generally can do; for they were composed by men of much greater piety and wisdom than our common composers of sermons can pretend to be."