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Presbytery to supply the pulpit at regular stated times; in short, this has ever been done by Presbytery, and the pastors have ever come cheerfully when circumstances arose to make it necessary.
Having traced the church from 1807 to 1811, when it was taken under care of Presbytery, we may now consider it as fully established and occupying a position among the Presbyterian Churches of the United States. In reviewing the struggles of this church during these four years, we cannot but be struck favorably with the perseverance and industry of the people amidst every discouragement growing out of their pecuniary condition; and particularly would it be so where, on the other hand, we reflect that with the major part it was something new to be thrown upon their own efforts, their own reflections and ideas; and how well they sustained themselves under it may be seen from the short time through which they accomplished so much. It should be remembered that their pastor, upon whom they depended to a considerable extent, could not remain very long with them at a time to strengthen their hands and encourage their hearts; for it was during these four years that he travelled extensively in order to purchase his wife and children. Surely we must admire the spirit that impelled the people, and the mind that determined them in pushing on this enterprise. Then if Ave consider the opposition encountered at the commencement of it, as I have already alluded, we must conclude that their determination was not only a mark of their sincerity, but a proof that their religious principles were founded in their duty to God, and a conviction that what they had undertaken was well pleasing to Him, whose sustaining hand upheld and strengthened them to the end.
