LIFE OF FRELINGHUYSEN.

CHAPTER I.

HIS ANCESTRY.

I. The Rev. Theo. Jac. Frelinghuysen.-II. The Rev. John Frelinghuysen. The Jufvrouw Hardenbergh. III. Major Gen. Fred. Frelinghuysen.

"THE glory of children are their fathers," nor is any reasonable man insensible to the value of an honorable descent, especially if to earthly distinction there is added the blessed memory of the just. The subject of this volume was not accustomed to boast of any thing, but he is known to have had pleasure in contemplating the virtues of those who went before him, and to have derived a healthful stimulus from their example.

I. The first of the name who came to this country was the Rev. Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen, or, as he sometimes wrote his signature, Freylinghausen. He was born in East Friesland, now a part of the kingdom of Hanover, about the year 1691, and was ordained to the pastoral office in 1717. The circumstances which led to his coming to this country were strikingly providential. The Dutch churches in America were at that early day chiefly supplied with ministers from Holland. It happened that a request had been received by the Classis of Amsterdam, asking them to

send a pious minister to America, and one of the pastors, named Sicco Tjadde, interested himself to procure a proper person. While Tjadde was pursuing his inquiries, Mr. Frelinghuysen passed through the town where this pastor lived, being on his way to Embden to assume the rectorship of the academy at that place. He spent the night at the house of an elder of the Church, who invited him to conduct the evening devotions. He readily consented, and, after reading a chapter in the Bible, gave a short exposition, and concluded with prayer. The elder was so much pleased with the service, and with the whole spirit and conversation of the young minister, that on his departure in the morning he made Mr. Frelinghuysen promise to stay at his house on his return, and then hastening to his pastor, cried out, "I have found a man to go to America." In due time the promise was fulfilled by Mr. Frelinghuysen, and, after consultation, he agreed to accept the call and emigrate to America.

He arrived in this country in the first month of the year 1720, and at once entered upon his labors, which extended over a wide field upon the banks of the Raritan and its affluents. His place of residence was about three miles west of New Brunswick, from which, as a centre, he made excursions as the wants of his people demanded, preaching alternately in Raritan, New Brunswick, Six-Mile Run, and North Branch, and was constantly active in catechising and instructing the youth. He encountered many difficulties, owing in part to the scattered population, dense forests, unbridged streams, and ill-marked roads incident to a newly-settled country, but still more to the state of the

people, among whom formalism abounded, leading, as it always does in the end, to a great relaxation of morals. But the man was equal to the occasion. The times required a ministry prosecuted "in the spirit and power of Elias," and such he aimed at. He not only presented the great doctrines of the Gospel with fidelity and energy, but applied them with a fearless pungency, which often gave great offense. And although bitterly opposed and cruelly slandered, he never yielded, but maintained to the last the spirit exhibited in the declaration of one of his early discourses: "I would sooner die a thousand deaths than not preach the truth." His prevailing temper of mind seems to be indicated by the concluding words of the preface to a small collection of sermons first printed in 1733, "Laudem non quæro; culpam non timeo"-I seek not praise; I fear not blame. All accounts agree in reference to him, that he was a great blessing to the Dutch Church in America. The Rev. Gilbert Tennent said of him: “The labors of Mr. Frelinghuysen, a Dutch minister, were much blessed to the people of New Brunswick and places adjacent, about the time of his coming among them. When I came there, which was about seven years after, I had the pleasure of seeing much of the fruits of his ministry. Divers of his hearers, with whom I had the opportunity of conversing, appeared to be converted persons by their soundness in principle, Christian experience, and pious practice; and these persons declared that his ministrations were the means thereof. This, together with a kind letter which he wrote me respecting the necessity of dividing the Word aright, and giving to every one his portion

in due season, through the Divine blessing, excited me to greater earnestness in ministerial labors." Similar testimony is borne by Whitfield, who, in his journal of 1739, speaks of an extensive work of grace as the fruit of Frelinghuysen's ministry in New Brunswick and that vicinity. So, also, does President Edwards, in his Narrative of Surprising Conversions, first published in 1736. There were added at this time to the Church of Raritan alone forty-four persons, a number which, in the judgment of the Rev. Dr. Messler, the present pastor of the church, must have been nearly, if not quite, equal to one from each family in the congregation.

His printed sermons, which a few years since were collected and translated by the Rev. WILLIAM DEMAREST, show him to have been an evangelical and pungent preacher. His labors continued for more than a quarter of a century; and although he was often attacked in the civil courts, before the colonial authorities, through the press, and by complaint to the Classis of Amsterdam, he never succumbed. Amid all his trials, he was sustained by the countenance of his ecclesiastical superiors, by the consolations of grace in his own heart, by the Divine blessing upon his "weak ministrations," as he called them, and by the fulfillment of the covenant to his household. All his children were believers. His five sons were ordained to the ministry, and his two daughters were married to ministers.

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The eldest son, THEODORE, was sent to Holland for his education, and, after being ordained to the ministry, came to this country in 1745. The next year he was settled over the Church in Albany, New York.

Mrs. Grant, of Laggan, in her "Memoirs of an American Lady," speaks of him as "the apostolic and muchbeloved Freylinghausen." According to the same authority, he was ardent in his disposition, and frank and popular in his manners. His preaching was earnest and eloquent, his life spotless, and his concern for his people warm and tender. He was very much endeared to the Church and the whole community; but, toward the end of his career, a regiment of royal troops. stationed at Albany introduced customs and mañiners which led to a serious deterioration of religion and morals, despite all the influence and authority he could exert. Deeply wounded by the failure of his efforts to stay the torrent of fashionable innovation, he withdrew from the contest, and sailed to Holland, whither, according to some accounts, he went for the purpose of obtaining funds to establish a literary and theolog ical institution; but he was lost at sea. The people of Albany long mourned his departure, and cherished his memory with the deepest affection.

The third and fourth sons, JACOBUS and FERDINANDUS, were sent to Holland, where they passed through the usual course of study, and were ordained to the ministry. They embarked for home, with the intention of taking charge, the one of the Church of Wawwarsing or Marbletown, the other of that of Kinderhook; but both, while at sea, fell victims to the smallpox in the year 1753.

The youngest son, HENRICUS, pursued his studies in this country, and was licensed to preach the Gospel by the direction of what was called the Coetus. In the year 1756 he took charge of the churches of Waw