XII. MISCELLANEOUS.

The Brooklyn Society of the New Jerusalem (Swedenborgian). One Sunday morning in the latter part of April, 1856, about twenty-five persons assembled in the parlors of one of the members. Dr. R. C. Moffat was selected to lead in the worship, which position he continued to 611 for over two years and a half, when the services of a minister were secured. The form of worship given in the old Convention Book of Worship was adopted, and a sermon selected by the reader was read. These services were continued about a year. Of the thirty persons whose names are recorded as regular attendants at these first services only thirteen are members of the present congregation, a change which forcibly illustrates the transient character of the population of our cities.

In May, 1857, the hall of the academy on Clinton street, near Pierrepont, was secured as a place of worship, and then the attendance was from thirty to thirty-five; a year later it increased from forty-five to fifty During this time the congregation had the occasional services of a minister. Messrs. De Charms, N. C. Burnham, Benade, Bryan, S. H. Worcester, Hayden and Hubbard preached at different times and administered the sacraments. Rev. Samuel Warren's preaching about this time was so much admired as to arouse a desire for a settled minister, and eventually, on the 31st of October, 1858, Mr. James E. Mills, a licentiate of Boston, was invited to become their minister. He accepted the position for one year, and at once entered upon his duties, and, after some difficult work, succeeded in organizing, on the 5th of December, 1858, a Sunday school with five teachers and twentyfour scholars, all of whom are, with one or two exceptions, now members of the Church.

During the winter of 1858-9, the subject of adopting a permanent society organization was thoroughly discussed, and ended in the institution, on the 29th of May, 1859, of a society consisting of twenty-five members, under the name of the Brooklyn Society of the New Jerusalem, which was finally organized on the 15th of June, 1859 (constitution adopted June 3d), by the election of Mr. Mills; as leader, Mr. L. S. Burnham as chairman, and Dr. R. C. Moffat as secretary. The membership began steadily to increase until a removal to the Athenmum Building, corner of Clinton and Atlantic streets, became necessary, and at the same time (February, 1860), a union was effected with the society worshiping at Dodsworth's Academy. The sacrament of baptism was administered for the first time by Mr. Mills on the 13th of August following. The society continued to increase in numbers. On the 2d day of December the society voted to invite Mr. Mills to become its pastor, which was accepted on the 16th, and on the 5th of June, 1861, Mr. Mills was installed in this office by the Rev. Samuel Dike, of Bath, Me.

At the session of the General Convention, held in Boston, June 11th, and 15th, 1862, the society was accepted as a member of that body. The society then consisted of forty-eight members, twenty-three having been added and one withdrawn since its organization.

During all this time the society continued in a growing and prosperous condition under the pastorate of Mr. Mills. But in October, 1863, Mr. Mills; found it necessary, on account Of ill health, to resign his position, and on Sunday, October 11th, delivered his final discourse before the society. Dr. Moffat was appointed leader and continued to lead in public worship and to read published sermons whenever the pulpit was vacant until the regular services of a minister were secured.

During the year 1864, the pulpit was occasionally supplied by Rev. J. P. Stuart, of New York; Rev. George N. Smith, of Michigan; Rev. John Worcester and Rev. J. C. Ager, of Massachusetts; and Rev. W. H. Benade, of Pennsylvania. On the 14th of June, 1864, the Rev. J. C. Ager was invited to officiate as minister for twelve months. At the expiration of the term Mr. Ager was unanimously called to act as pastor, the duties of which he entered upon January 8, 1865, and January 22d, the society removed to the chapel of the Polytechnic Institute. The attention of the society was next devoted to securing a permanent place of worship, and in December, 1867, a fair was gotten up to procure funds for that purpose. The Church of the Restoration, corner of Monroe place, was for sale, and every move was made to secure the place, and at last, after many trials a-ad obstacles, the work of the members was crowned with success, and the church and ground, with organ and furniture, were bought by the trustees for $40,000, twenty-six thousand of which were paid in cash and the other fourteen secured by bond and mortgage. Upwards of $6,500 have been expended in repairing and decorating the interior, and, on February 21, 1869, the edifice was dedicated, with a sermon by Rev. Chauncey Giles, of New York, and other appropriate services.

The Rev. John Curtis Ager was born at Warner, New Hampshire, March 22, 1835, At the age of thirteen he left home and was employed in a cotton mill at Fisherville, N. H. From this time he was dependent upon his own resources. He has, we believe, worked at shoemaking, farming; and, previous to dedicating himself to the ministry of the new church he taught in schools. His desire to be a minister dated from early youth. In the spring of 1855 a course of lectures on the doctrines of the New Church was delivered in Warner by the Rev. Abiel Silver, and the impression they produced on Mr. Ager was so profound that he resolved to become a minister of this body. In 1856 after one mouth's preparation in the New London (N. H.) Academy he entered the New Church College at Urbana, Ohio. He taught the New Church Academy at Contoecook, N. H., for nine months, pursuing his own college studies at the same time, so that he was enabled to graduate in June, 1858. He became tutor of his college and professor of Philosophy and English Literature. In 1861, he was settled as pastor at Brookline, Massachusetts, and removed thence to Brooklyn, in January, 1865.

The First Moravian Church of Brooklyn. The congregation occupied a frame structure, in Jay street, near Myrtle avenue, until September 24,1868, when it was destroyed by fire. They immediately undertook the erection of a new structure, the corner-stone of which was laid June 16, 1869, by the Right Rev. David Bigler, of Pennsylvania, assisted by the pastor. The new building is of brick, thirty-six by seventy, with a rear extension sixteen by sixteen. The parsonage adjoining the church is fourteen by fortytwo. The ground floor constitutes the Sunday school room and accommodates three hundred and fifty scholars. The regular services are held upon the next floor which is lighted from the roof and contains about seven hundred sittings. The church and parsonage are of brick with Ohio sand stone trimmings, the fronts pointed with black mortar. This building, which cost nearly $17,000, was dedicated October 10, 1869.

The pastor is the Rev. Edward Rondthaler, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1842. His father and grandfather were Moravian presbyters, like himself, and his great grandfather was a minister of the Lutheran Church. He was educated at the Theological Seminary at Bethlehem, where he graduated in 1862. He also studied at the University of Erlangen in Germany. He preaches both in English and German with equal facility. Mr. Rondthaler was ordained in 1865, and has since then been stationed in Brooklyn.

Under the bead of Miscellaneous, are numbered, also, the First German, the Gem an Evangelical, the Seamen's Friend Society, the orthodox and Hicksite Friends (or Quaker) Societies, and some others, of which we have not succeeded in procuring sketches.