" I continued the services of the Church within my mission for three Sund lys after the Declaration of Independence by the Congress, and should have proceeded still and took the consequences ; but I was informed that all the clergy, in this and the neighboring provinces, had discontinued the public service till it might be performed under the protection of His Majesty, excepting only Mr. Beach of Connecticut, who hath continued his church till very lately. Under these circumstances, I considered

a "The old iron latch which once secured the front door of the old church, is still preserved in the family of Thaddens Keeler; it is 13 inches and V lonj;. and bears the initials of the founder of the church. T. B. Since its removal, however, from the church it has been stamped with the date 1792, and the initials, J. E.

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER.

that my dissenting from the practice of my brethren would not only set me up as a single mark of vengeance, and as every appearance of disunion among the clergy might be disadvantageous to the Church hereafter ; viewing the matter in this light, I thought it best to comply with the general practice of the clergy. On the 21st of October I was made a prisoner and sent to the court of Fishkill as an enemy to the Independence of America, etc.""

Subsequently to this the parish church was used as a hospital, and as a portion of the army was stationed near by, the Presbyterian minister came there and preached what was termed a " war sermon;" on this occasion there were more people present than the church could hold. One of the sergeants coming out was asked by a bystander what the minister had said, he replied : " that he declared God Almighty was a man of war." The interrogator observed, "he should like to ask him how many guns He carried." Some of the most active members of the parish having joined the army at the commencement of the Revolution, and the Rector lost at sea, the church and lot were sold -- so it is said, to satisfy the claims of the contractor, Benjamin Chapman ; and it is also asserted that this individual subsequently purchased both, of the trustees, and converted the former into a tavern.6 For many years after the war it was known as the ''Church Tavern," a name given on purpose to cast odium upon the Church.