[ 59 ]
As we have seen, this building was dedicated to the worship of God in the year of our Lord 1811. It has four rows of pews, numbering seventeen deep, with two aisles three feet wide each, and will seat on the lower floor, very comfortably, 370 persons. It also has a gallery on each side and one on the end; these can accommodate 280 persons without discommoding each other. The ceiling is very high, which gives the audience-room a light and airy appearance. After the Church was finished and dedicated, the elders, trustees, and people, petitioned Presbytery to be taken under their care and inspection, to be considered in full standing as a Presbyterian congregation—"Whereupon, the Presbytery of Philadelphia did, on the 16th day of October, 1811, and sitting in Norristown, Pa., Dr. Janeway Moderator, and Dr. Green Clerk, receive under their care, according to their request, the African Church."
I will take this occasion to remark, now that the Church was received by the Presbytery, that Mr. Gloucester's relation with the Committee on Missions during his life, was never broken by his receiving a call from the congregation of the African Church, and consequently was never installed over them as its pastor, although he was all to them that a pastor could be, and was regarded by the people as a pastor beloved until the day of his death, and lives in the memory now of those who were children and youth at that time, with considerable veneration. His not being installed over the Church perhaps arose from the inability of the infant Church to provide for him as they could possibly desire, and to insure him such support as they desired to bestow if they could; hence to leave him in the hands of the Committee on Missions, and to assist the Committee as far as they were able of their ability, appears to be
