148 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.

down at any cost. Dellius was obliged to escape to Boston; Varick, the minister of the four Dutch towns of Kings county, was imprisoned, tried, and convicted of treason, and sentenced to be deposed from his ministerial functions; Tesschenmaker was massacred at Schenectady, in February, 1690; and 'Van der Bosch, of Kingston, had been deposed previously; so that Selyns was, for a considerable time, the only Dutch clergyman on duty in the province. He “had committed no overt act rendering himself amenable to the law; but he was in such close communication and sympathy with the leaders of the opposition, that be was constantly watched. He was suspected of concealing Bayard, and his house was searched by public officers, for the purpose of discovering him. His service in church, of which Leisler was a member, was interrupted by Leisler himself, who there threatened openly to silence him. His letters to Holland and elsewhere were stopped in transit, and opened by order of the government. His feelings of hostility to Leisler were aggravated, no doubt, in a large degree by these circumstances, and were carried by him to the grave itself. He was one of those who approved and recommended the carrying into execution the sentence of that popular leader, when Sloughter wisely hesitated, and desired to wait until he could obtain the views of the home government on the propriety of the act. While Leisler was lying in prison, the helpless subject of a political prosecution, and the proper object of consolation from the ministers of religion, Selyns preached a sermon against him, from the verse of the Psalmist: ‘I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.’ This proceeding on his part was, in the mildest view of the case, most injudicious and unwise. His opposition had already estranged from him the Leislerian portion of his congregation. He affected to call them men of inconsiderable influence. They, nevertheless, refused to contribute to his salary; and the refusal continued, under this fresh provocation, for several years. He appealed to the Classis to interfere, and even sought, through that body, the mandate of King William, supposing that, as a Dutchman, he could be induced by the ecclesiastical authorities at Amsterdam to compel the payment of his arrears. He intimated that he would, in consequence of withholding the salary, be forced to give up