Jurieu, a minister of the Reformed church, in one of his pastoral letters, addressed to the " Protestants of France groaning under the Babylonish captivity, refers to this event, which he evidently considers a remarkable interposition of God

a I Co. Rec. Lib. D. 72.

b The first child baptised in this cliurch was Sovereign Belts.

c Upon the departure from France, t!ie Huguenot ladies concealed their small bibles beneath their high dressed hair. One o.'" these bibles is still in tlie possession of IMrs. Sevooss, New Rochelle.

406 HISTORY OF THE

in their behalf. "It is nothing less notorious, (he observes) than the burning of the ^reat church of Old La Rochelle. This church was formerly tlie great Church of the Reformed : they (the Romanists) took it away from them, after the siege and taking of the city. Every one knows that the day in which the inhabitants made a bonfire, the fire took hold of this large and fair church, none knows how, nor where : and that it was consumed, the lead melted, and all the vaults burned, without being able to quench it.

There is something singular in the event, the day, and the occasion, and 'tis impossible not to see the finger of God therein."*

In the year 1711-12, the Venerable Propagation Society, presented to Mr. Daniel Bondet, for the use of the inhabitants of New Rochelle, (who, under the influential mitiistry of the Rev. Mr. Bondet, have built them a 7iew church of stone, for the worship of God, and are, many of them, reconciled to the usage of the Church of England) 100 French prayer books of the smallef sort, and 20 of larger impression. In consideration of the great learning and piety of Monsieur Bondet, at New Rochelle, and his long and faithful discharge of his office, they have augmented his salary from £30 to £50 per annum.