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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01214 6848
GENEALOGY 974.902 N51 TE
TENTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE
NORTH REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH,
NEWARK. N. JJ.
1000
2000
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE CONSISTORY.
NEWARK, N. J. : PRINTED AT THE DAILY ADVERTISER OFFICE. -1867.
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NJ (Neweena)
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ENDICOTT & CO. LITH, N. Y.
NORTH REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, NEWARK, N. J.
DESCRIPTION.
The church is built of Newark and Belleville brown stone (the in- terior columns being of the same), in the style known as the 2d period of the Gothic. It covers an area of 66x154 feet outside of buttresses. The tower in the centre of the front is 20 feet square, supported by angular buttresses, and will be, when the contemplated stone spire is finished, at least 156 feet high. The roof is open-framed with clere- story, nave (55 feet high) and side aisles. There are galleries in the sides, an organ loft and choir gallery in the front. In the rear is an octagonal apsis for the pulpit. Behind the church is the chapel, con- taining the vestry, lecture room and Sabbath school rooms. The audi- torium is 76x57, and will seat 1,000 persons. The chapel is 57x24 feet, which contains the lecture room in the first and the Sabbath school room in the second story. The Bible class and infant school rooms, one. above, the other below, in a semi-octagon in the rear of the chapel, are each 22x20. Wm. H. Kirk, architect.
TENTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE
NORTH REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH,
NEWARK, N. J. Dr. C. E. Hart Faculty '88
NEWARK, N. J. : PRINTED AT THE DAILY ADVERTISER OFFICE. 1867.
The congregation of the North Reformed Dutch Church of Newark, N. J., assembled, at the call of the Consistory, in their Church, December 30, 1866, to celebrate the Tenth Anniversary of their organization. The First and Second Reformed Dutch Churches courteously responded to an invitation to be present and united in the observance. The preliminary devotional exercises were conducted by the pastor, Rev. Charles E. Hart and Rev. M. B. Riddle, pastor of the Second Reformed Dutch Church.
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS.
,88
REV. CHARLES E. HART, the pastor, in introducing the exercises, said :
It is just ten years, this month, since the organization of this, the North Reformed Dutch Church of Newark. It seems fitting that the completion of the formative period of its ex- istence should be marked by such exercises as we contemplate this evening. By an unforseen but happy appointment of Divine Providence, this natal day of our Church is associated with the natal day of her Lord; this transition from one stage of her life is coincident with the last Sabbath of the year ; and this entrance upon a new, and I trust, higher stage of life is associated with the opening of the new year.
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This Church thus looks back to her Lord for the strength requisite for the duties and labors of the future to which she turns. I leave it to those who have borne the heat and burden of the day, who have wept over this Church, who have prayed over this Church, who have zealously labored in its interest, to tell the simple story of its past life. "Other men have labored and I enter into their labors." I lift my eyes upon a field "already white to harvest." It is for me simply to congratulate you-to congratulate you upon the posses- sion of this beautiful house of God, reared by your faith, lib- erality and care-to congratulate you upon the increase, con- solidation, harmony and hopefulness of this congregation-to congratulate you upon its efficient organization-upon an earnest Consistory, a faithful corps of Sabbath School teachers and flourishing Sunday Schools; and to congratulate you upon the promise of a glorious future. And now as we stand upon the threshold of a new period, and look forward to its duties and trials, let me address you in the lan- guage of the old liturgy " Sursum Corda !" up with your hearts ! Let its more extensive scope present a more illustrious exhibition of the zeal, liberality and success which have sig- nalized the first decade of our church existence.
HISTORICAL SKETCH
BY
JOSEPH P. BRADLEY, EsQ., LL.D.
On the twenty-fifth day of November, 1856, an application was presented to the Reformed Dutch Classis of Bergen signed by a number of persons residing in Newark, praying that Classis would take the usual steps for organizing a church in the northern part of the city to be called THE NORTH DUTCH CHURCH OF NEWARK.
The Classis accordingly appointed a committee consisting of Rev. Dr. Scott, Rev. Dr. Abeel, Rev. Mr. Talmadge, and Elders Sebastian Duncan and B. C. Miller.
The new church was organized under their care, Dec. 17, 1856, at the house of J. P. Bradley near this place, and Messrs. T. A. Waldron, J. P. Bradley, F. T. Frelinghuysen and Peter Demarest were elected Elders, and John A. Miller, Isaac Gaston, Peter Vanderhoof and John C. Woodruff were elected Deacons.
Thirty-five persons presented certificates from other churches, and were constituted a Church by the name which they had chosen. Of this, thirty were from the First Reformed Dutch Church of Newark, four from the Second Reformed Dutch Church of Newark, and one from the First Reformed Dutch Church of New Brunswick.
Among the original founders of the Church are to be found the names of Waldron, Woodruff, Gaston, Demarest, De Baun, Pienovi, Miller, Hanson, Robinson, Vanderhoof, Frelinghuy- sen, Steele, Ransom and Bradley. The movement also em-
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braced other persons, who either presented certificates or joined the Church on profession at an early day, among whom are found the names of Duryee, Holloway and others.
These persons, as seen, were mostly connected with the First Reformed Dutch Church of Newark, which was at that time under the charge of the Rev. Dr. Scott. The scheme of a new church in the northern part of the city had been talked of for some time. It was felt that the interests of the Dutch Church and of Christianity would be promoted by a new centre of ecclesiastical and social influence emanating from our denom- ination.
The city, though containing not much more than half its present number of inhabitants, had nevertheless become a large town, and needed an addition to its religious and moral forces.
A Sunday School had been organized under the patronage of the First Dutch Church, under the superintendence of Mr. John A. Miller, in the Orange street school house for more than a year before, and was thus preparing the way for the new organization about to be commenced. This school was transferred to Oraton Hall, after services were commenced there, and became the germ of our present Sunday and Mission Schools. Services had also been held in East Newark with the view of supplying the spiritual wants of that locality. Dr. Scott had been anxious that the new church should be located there. He was very much attached to some of his people who finally joined the North Church movement, and could scarcely endure the thought of their departure from his pastoral charge. His apprehension was that the establishment of a church so near to the parent stock would tend rather to weaken it, than to bring additional strength to the Dutch Church in the city. But when he saw that the thing was inevitable, he gave it his warm and hearty support and blessing; and the result instead of verifying his apprehensions, has added another illustration to the truth that "there is that scattereth and yet in- creaseth." Dr. Scott had been the pastor of the First Church
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since 1843, and had become bound to his people by very strong ties of association and feeling, and it was like sundering a tender nerve when he signed the certificates of some of his most esteemed church members. But the hour had come when in the dispensation of Divine Providence a new church organization was to be formed upon the earth, as another centre and nucleus of holy influences, and they may be considered as called to the performance of a high and responsible duty, whose lot it is to participate in such a work. Individual men and women die, and perhaps transmit to their posterity good influences that affect the characters and happiness of those who come after them for two or three generations. But a church organization is perpetual and immortal. The founding of such an organization is the planting of a germ which is forever expanding and multiplying. Not only our children and grand children but remotest posterity will still draw from this central point those same heavenly doctrines and influences which we draw from it to-day. Look at the First Presbyte- rian Church of Newark, and the train of daughter churches which surround it. Its founders have returned to dust, and the generations of two centuries have passed away ; and still it stands as a place of moral healing and refresh- ment, giving forth life and health and salvation to the people in the midst of whom it is planted. So the. organ- ization of this Church was the greatest work that any of us will ever be concerned in. Here is planted an organiza- tion that is immortal, and which shall send forth influences to bless and to save for centuries to come-when we are forgotten.
Organizations such as these, that live after the individuals who compose them are dead, have a powerful effect in pre- serving and promoting the ideas which they are established to perpetuate. What could books do; what could even the Bible do ; what could preaching do, to preserve and perpetuate the true religion in the world, without those living and im-
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mortal organizations which constitute the form and body of the church ?
And here it may be worth while to advert for a moment to the position of the Dutch Church, of which this is but a part.
Our country presents the anomalous spectacle of a large number of distinct and independent Christian organizations standing on an entirely equal footing. Their exact relation to each other is not always attended to. Let us for a moment look at it.
America is not peopled by a single nation, as English, French, Scotch, Irish, German or Dutch, but is peopled by emigrants from all these nationalities, who, when they reached our shores, continued to worship God in the manner in which they had done at home, and generally established churches in connection with, or as branches of, the parent churches from whose folds they had come. Thus the English emigrants who settled Virginia, established the English Protestant Church, afterwards called Episcopalian, in that province. The emigrants who, at a later period, settled the Eastern States, brought with them the religion of the Puritans, a form of Calvinism which then prevailed very extensively in England, and became the dominant form of religion under the Common- wealth and the protectorate of Cromwell. Roman Catholic emigrants established their church in Maryland; and the Quakers, the other ecclesiastical extreme, took possession of West Jersey and Pennsylvania. Wherever the. Scotch made settlements they established their own church, which was Presbyterian. In like manner, the Hollanders, or Low Dutch, who, at an early day, settled New York and the North East- ern portion of New Jersey, brought with them their church, which, until the revolution, was a branch of the established church of Holland. The Dutch Church was one of the purest churches of the reformation, being tried in the fiercest fires of persecution. It did not conform precisely to the Lutheran model, because, after Luther, arose the clear headed Reformer,
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Calvin, who established himself at Geneva as a teacher of Theology, and by the power of his intellect, moulded the faith and forms of the Protestant churches of Switzerland and the Rhine upon a model purely scriptural. He thought that Lu- ther had not cleared his skirts entirely from the burs of Roman- ism-especially in the articles of consubstantiation, auricular confession, and a few other matters. Zuinglius before him had preached a pure and simple faith in Switzerland, and had given his life in its defence. Not only the Protestant churches of the Rhine, but those of Holland, France, Scotland and even the early English Church, generally adopted the views of Calvin and Zuinglius. Those who followed Luther and his learned friend Melancthon, were termed LUTHERANS; and those who followed Zuinglius and Calvin, were termed RE- FORMED. Both of these great branches of the Reformation Church were called Protestants. But without understanding this distinction between the Lutherans and the Reformed, much of the ecclesiastical history of the sixteenth century will be a dead letter to us.
The Dutch Churches of Holland called themselves the Reformed Protestant Churches of the Netherlands; and the united body was called the Reformed Protestant Church of the Netherlands. When the Dutch colonists settled New Amster- dam the church that they established here was called the Reformed Protestant Church of New Amsterdam. In 1664 the whole colony was surrendered to the English, and called New York. The English settlers who now came in con- siderable numbers to the colony, of course established their own church ; and the Scotch theirs. For the sake of distinction the church of the Dutch inhabitants was called the Dutch Church; and that of the English inhabitants, the English Church; and that of the Scotch, the Scotch, or Presbyterian Church. They all grew side by side in the city of New York and the adjacent country; all being national Protestant churches, and each gathering within its folds the people of its
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own blood and nationality. Their respective designations, or names, afterwards became fixed and uniform. The English Church, from its form of government, gradually acquired the designation of the Episcopal Church; the Scotch, that of the Presbyterian Church ; the New England churches, that of Congregational; but the Dutch Church (with the addition of the word Dutch) retained its original name of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, or more briefly, the Reformed Dutch Church.
As the population of New York and the surrounding country became amalgamated, and the Dutch language became disused, nationalities began to disappear, except in the mere names of the male members of families, and national lines ceased to be the lines between the churches. People would join the one church or the other as their convenience of lo- cation, or doctrinal preferences, or fancy dictated. This amalgamation of nationalities has so far progressed that the word Dutch in our name has become merely nominal; and we shall find the Dutch churches filled with persons of English descent, and the English or Episcopal, and Presbyterian churches filled with persons of Dutch descent. Churches that were originally national have become simply separate denomina- tions, originally separated from each other more by distinct national origins, than by repugnant creeds-and each being as much entitled as the other to the ground it occupies in the American community of churches, and neither being liable to be called by the others schismatics or sectaries. Let that be re- membered !
What will be the final result of this intermingling of var- ious national churches on a common platform where each is recognized as equal in all respects to the others, it is difficult to divine. All the Protestant churches maintain in some degree their old hostility to the Catholic church from which they originally separated themselves -- and the close contact into which they are brought with each other, raises and gives
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warmth to some controversies which they would never have thought of had cach been confined to the nation and country of its origin.
But the essential creed of all these Protestant churches is much the same. Their differences consist more in their several forms of worship and government and in the spirit and tone of sentiment which pervades the respective bodies, than in absolute and essential points of faith. They all teach the original corruption of man's nature, the necessity of a change of heart, justification by faith alone, salvation by the atone- ment and mediation of Christ, and the necessity of Divine grace and aid to attain to or persevere in the christian life ; also the doctrines of Divine sovereignty and free grace.
The Dutch Church generally throughout her forms and ex- ercises, expresses these fundamental doctrines in scripture words and phrases-and not in categorical and scientific terms-thereby, in appearance, at least, softening and ton- ing down the rigid and sometimes unsavory forms of statement which prevail in more scientific formulas. In its form of government it is Presbyterial; that is, it has no other Bishops than its ministers, all of whom are equal in rank. In this it is quite broadly distinguished from the Episcopal Church, which holds that the office of Apostle has continued in the church, as well as that of Bishop or Presbyter, but for the sake of modesty, their Apostles assume the name of Bishops. They however call it the Apostolic office and claim to have the Apostolic succession. The early reformers in England did not take this ground, but adhered to the episcopal govern- ment on the ground of expediency as one that the church had a right to adopt if it pleased-though not an essential feature of church government. And hence the early English church of the Reformation fraternized with the Presbyterian churches established in other countries-as Switzerland, Holland, Scot- land and the Palatinate.
It is worthy of remark that the Reformation in England
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was promoted by the King for reasons of his own, and that the Bishops were drawn into it often without meaning it. Hence, Bishops were continued in the English church; whilst in other countries they universally adhered to the Pope, and were banished. This is, undoubtedly, one reason why some of the Reformed churches became originally Presbyterian, and why the English church remained episcopal. On look- ing into the scriptures, the divines of Switzerland, Holland and Scotland, thought there was clearly no warrant for the office of Bishop as distinct from the Minister, and so having got rid of their old Bishops they took no pains to get new ones.
Thus then, you see that our Reformed Dutch Church comes from one of the Reformed churches of the Protestant Re- formation ;- that she is scriptural in her doctrines, and in her polity, or church government; and that, in tone and senti- ment, she is imbued with Christian forbearance and modera- tion-intent rather to allay than to excite metaphysical and angry controversies on religious topics so long as the substance of the faith is preserved and taught.
Prior to 1834 there was no Dutch church in this place, and none nearer to it than Belleville. The establishment of Dutch churches had followed the Dutch settlements along the Hudson and Mohawk rivers of New York, and the Hackensack and Raritan rivers of this state, and along that part of the Pas- saic river from Belleville to Paterson.
..
In 1834 a number of people who had belonged to Dutch churches elsewhere had found their way to Newark, then a rapidly growing town, and they determined to establish a church of their own denomination in the place. They were joined by a number of Presbyterians, some of whom were persons of influence in the town. In 1835 they determined to build a church, and when the present speaker came to Newark in November, 1836, the First Church in Market street was just finished, though it had been used by the congregation for
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some months. The Rev. Ransford Wells was pastor. Soon came the financial revulsion of 1837, followed by the seven years of famine-so far as the manufacturing prosperity of Newark was concerned-and the church was obliged to strug- gle on under a heavy load of debt. The population of the town was reduced from over 20,000 in 1836 to 17,000 in 1840. Of course the church could not be expected to increase in wealth or resources during such a period of depression, though it did constantly increase in numbers.
In 1842 Mr. Wells resigned his pastorate, and in 1843 Rev. James Scott, of German Valley, was elected to succeed him. In a few years Newark began to lift its head again, and the Dutch Church rapidly increased in numbers and wealth. In 1848 the Second Church was started in the 5th Ward, under the charge of Rev. Geo. R. Williamson, (who was soon suc- ceeded by'Rev. Dr. Abeel,) and took off a few of the surplus members of the First Church, which at that time reported to the Synod (though probably not with entire accuracy) 424 communicants. The Second Church reported 40 communi- cants, and the Third Church, (an organization of Germans, who united with our Classis and took our name,) 41 families. These churches all prospered, and the First Church even became crowded, the number of communicants reported in 1856 being 526-the returns for the Second and Third Churches were respectively 162 and 273. It now became apparent that another swarm from the mother hive must soon seek their fortunes under the Divine blessing in a separate organization. This, as we have seen, took place in December, 1856, just ten years ago.
From the commencement of this enterprise it received the earnest and hearty sympathy and co-operation of the church at large, from the churches in New York, from the Classis of Bergen, from the Board of Domestic Missions, and from the Theological Faculty of the Seminary in New Brunswick. The latter body, especially, always gave it their earnest and
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zealous support. One of them is here to-night, (the Rev. Dr. Campbell,) and we all remember with what untiring zeal he urged and encouraged us to go on and prove ourselves men, in the arduous work we had undertaken, and when we werc destitute of a pastor (as unfortunately we have been about one-half of the entire period of our existence as a church) he and his associates have ever been ready to supply us with the Word of Life, and the benefit of their pastoral experience and counsels.
Another warm friend of our new church was always found in Rev. Dr. Abeel, the pastor of the Second Church, who now worships with us. His counsels and encouragement were of great value in the early stages of the enterprise.
In this connection, also, we cannot forget the services of the Rev. Joseph McKee, who was ready at all times to supply our pulpit, both in the church and in the lecture room, and whose faithful, zealous and Christian exhortations left impres- sions on many a heart.
But for the material resources necessary to carry on the enter- prise and build the beautiful edifice in which we are (with the exception of a small stipend of $400 a year allowed us for a few years by the Board of Domestic Missions) we have had to rely almost entirely upon ourselves. A few of our friends in the other churches have nobly aided us by their contributions ; but nineteen-twentieths of the entire outlay has been borne by the little band who established this church and those who have since gathered around them in building it up to its present proportions and consequence. But by what an unknown way we have been led ! Who would have dreamed when the undertaking was commenced that we should be able to build a solid, imposing and capacious structure, at a cost of $45,000, upon a landed property worth more than $20,000 more, and, in addition to these amounts, be able to spend for congregational and benevolent purposes in the first ten years, over $35,000 besides ? Who would have dreamed it? Who
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would have dreamed that our hearts could have been enlarged to meet such exigencies? The truth is, we little know what we can do until we are tried; and yet, has any of us done too , much ? Does any of us grudge what he hath given? Has he not received from the Lord liberal things in return ? Which of those seventy subscriptions, ranging in amount from $12,000 to $5, and all, whether great or small, standing in the same rank on God's ledger, would be made smaller to-night if the subscriber had it in his or her power to reduce it ? These are not things to be proud of, or to boast of; but they are things to rejoice and be glad over, that we have been able, and that God hath put it into our hearts, to do them.
The little church, organized as I have shown, held its first meetings in Oraton Hall from the time of its organization in December, 1856, until Sunday, the 17th day of April, 1859, when this edifice was dedicated by solemn services to the wor- ship of Almighty God.
Measures for purchasing land whereon to erect a church were taken about the same time that the church was organ- ized. All the property on the south corner of Broad and Bridge streets, 175 feet front on Broad street, and extending back 275 feet on Bridge street, was purchased from Mr. Israel Crane, of Bloomfield, for the sum of $38,000-the pur- chasers being Messrs. Tunis A. Waldron, S. R. W. Heath, John A. Miller, Peter Ballantine, Adolphus W. Waldron, Ziba H. Kitchen, Benjamin C. Miller, Samuel O. Crane, Linn Adams, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Orson Wilson, and J. P. Bradley. These gentlemen laid off a lot of 80 feet front on Broad street, by 145 feet in depth, and presented it to the church, dividing the balance of the property between them- selves. The church lot was afterwards, by purchase, enlarged to its present dimensions of 100 feet on Broad street by about 200 feet deep, at an extra cost of about $5,500.
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