USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > A historical discourse on the Reformed Prot. Dutch Church of Albany, delivered on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1857, in the North Dutch Church > Part 1
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Gc 974.702 AL12ro 1851870
M. L
REYNOLDS LIFTORICAL GENEALOGY LULLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
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NORR-CO. N.Y .-
NORTH DUTCH CHURCH.
Inthe board of HISTORICAL DISCOURSE
Reformed Prot. Dutch Church of Albany, N.Y.
DELIVERED ON THANKSGIVING DAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1857, IN
THE NORTH DUTCH CHURCH,
BY THE PASTOR,
REV. E. P. ROGERS, D. D.
PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF CONSISTORY.
NEW YORK : BOARD OF PUBLICATION OF THE REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH. 337 BROADWAY. 1858.
MUNSELL, PRINTER, ALBANY.
1851870
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
Walk about Zion, and go round about her; tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following .- PSALM xlviii: 12, 13.
Thus does the pious psalmist exhort us to note with zealous care, the history and charac- ter of the Church of God. To trace out that history, to record her progress, to take note of God's dealings with her from time to time, and testify to her advancement and triumph, is a grateful task, and a solemn duty. Especially when that history runs over the track of centu- ries, should this duty be discharged. For as the river widens its channel, and bears richer freight on its bosom, as it flows farther and faster from its source, so as we follow the his- tory of the Church down the stream of time, we find it richer in interest, and more deeply laden with the treasures of the Divine presence and blessing.
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And what is true of the church at large, is no less true of individual churches and congre- gations. We regard it as the solemn duty of every church to keep a faithful record of its history, and to afford the opportunity to suc- ceeding generations to know something of its origin, its progress, its vicissitudes, its foes, its struggles and its triumphs. The ancient Jews were required " to instruct their children that they might convey throughout all genera- tions the history of those Divine interpositions and mercies with which they had been fa- vored." And the obligation is no less binding upon Christian churches, thus to keep in per- petual remembrance the dealings of God with them for the information and encouragement of succeeding generations.
Impelled by such considerations, I have undertaken to prepare in a concise and sum- mary form, a sketch of the history of the Re- formed Protestant Dutch Church of Albany, being the Church with which we are happily connected in our several relations as pastor, officers, families and communicants. I have sought to make this brief, but comprehensive, including all the main facts in our history, so far as they could be gathered from accessible
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sources, but going slightly into details which would swell the sketch into dimensions utterly beyond the limits afforded by the present occa- sion.
Before proceeding, however, to the history, let us notice for a moment the name and the origin of the Church to which we belong. Our name is "THE REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH OF ALBANY." We are the PROTESTANT Dutch Church, because we are descended from those in the sixteenth century, who boldly pro- tested against the authority of the pope, and the false and unscriptural tenets and practices of the Church of Rome. We are the REFORMED Pro- testant Dutch Church because we are of those who differed from some of the early Protestants, and from Luther himself, on some points, par- ticularly in respect to the presence of the hu- manity of Christ in the Holy Supper. We are the Reformed Protestant DUTCH Church, be- cause we are descended from that branch of the Reformed Church which was organized in Holland. Our doctrinal standards and polity are derived primarily from the action of those who met at Antwerp in 1563, "and adopted a system of principles and rules which laid the foundation, and in a great measure formed the
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full texture of church government and order adopted by subsequent synods."
We bear a name, every word of which is connected with the grandest historical associa- tions and the noblest memories of the past. It associates us with some of the brightest names in the catalogue of God's illustrious servants. It dates back more than three hundred years, to the day when six princes of the German em- pire made their manly protest against the decrees of the Diet of Spires, and associates us with that glorious era, when, at the command of God, light, the light of the Reformation, illumined the dark ages and brought freedom to imprisoned souls. It connects us with such illustrious names as Wessel Gansevoort and Rudolf Agricola ;* as Luther, Calvin, Zuin- glius, Knox, Cranmer and others, who labored with zeal and devotion in the cause of God's truth in Germany, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Scotland and England. And it connects us with that land which was first re- deemed from the jaws of the sea by the energy and industry of its inhabitants, and afterwards became the centre of commerce, the mistress of the seas, and the arena for the noblest exhi-
* See Appendix, Note A.
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bitions of pure patriotism, heroic courage, sublime fortitude and martyr devotion to the right which the world has ever witnessed. Our Mother Church was distinguished in that day for the profound learning of her theolo- gians, the devotion of her pastors, the purity of her creed, and the scriptural beauty of her forms of worship. She opened her arms freely to welcome the fugitive Huguenot, the outlawed Jew, and the exiled Puritan. She sheltered in her bosom the wanderer from the valleys of Piedmont, and the mountains of Scotland. She had drank of the bitter cup of persecution, and the sufferer for conscience sake, though a stranger to her land and her dialect, was ever hailed as a brother in their common Lord. It is needless to speak of the learning of her scholars, the genius of her artists, the prowess of her warriors. They have all hewed out for themselves enduring niches in the Temple of Fame.
Such are the associations and the memories connected with our name and origin. And it is worthy of notice, that those noble men who landed on Plymouth Rock, and to whom this western world owes so much, came from their own land by way of the land of your fathers,
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where for twelve years they found a safe retreat from persecution, and enjoyed the Christian hospitality of their Dutch brethren. That twelve years of sojourn in the Netherlands might have been no unimportant portion of the training of the Pilgrims, for the work which lay before them on the rocky shores of New Eng- land.
In the autumn of 1609, Hendrik Hudson anchored his little vessel in the river which bears his name, opposite the bank on which now stands the city of Albany. In 1614, six years before the landing of the Mayflower at Ply- mouth, trading posts were established here and at New York, then Fort Orange and Manhattan. The first permanent agricultural colony was established in New Netherlands in 1623. In 1630, a tract of land around Fort Orange was purchased by Kilian Van Rensselaer, and a colony was at once planted here of which he was the head, or patroon. Kilian Van Rensse- laer, was a merchant of Amsterdam, a dealer in pearls, and a director in the Dutch West India Company. The tract purchased by him of the Indians was twenty-four miles long and forty- eight broad; containing over 700,000 acres of land, lying now in Albany, Rensselaer and
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Columbia counties. This gentleman seems to have regarded the institutions of religion as à very essential element of prosperity for his colony, and his first efforts were directed towards their establishment and support. In the year 1642, he secured the services of the Rev. Johannes Megapolensis, who was at that time the pastor of two congregations in Holland, and in good repute as a man of learn- ing and piety. The call which was sent to Do- mine Megapolensis, states that " By the state of navigation in the East and West Indies a door is opened through the special providence of God, also in New Netherlands for the preach- ing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for the salva- tion of men, as good fruits have been already witnessed there through God's mercy."* It was signed by the president and scribe of the Classis of Amsterdam, in Classical Assembly at Amsterdam, March 22d, 1642.
The salary which the domine was to receive for the six years of pastoral labor which was stipulated, was 1100 guilders ($440), 22} bush- els of wheat, and 2 firkins of butter per an- num for the first three years, and if his labors
* See Appendix, Note B.
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were satisfactory to the patroon, he was to re- ceive an additional amount of 200 guilders ($80), per annum for the succeeding three years. In addition to this he was to receive $120, by way of outfit, and a free passage and board for him- self and family to his new field of labor. A house was also to be provided for him on his arrival at Rensselaerswyck. It was also stipu- lated that in case he was captured by the Dunkirkers on the passage, measures were to be taken immediately for his ransom, and a certain sum allowed monthly for his support. In case of his death before the expiration of the six years, provision was to be made for the support of his family till the end of that term. These provisions may be called just and liberal, and they show conclusively that the then head of the colony duly estimated the value of the in- stitutions of religion, and the services of a pious and learned ministry.
Having accepted this call, Domine Megapo- lensis embarked for this country with his wife and four children, of whom the oldest was four- teen and the youngest eight years of age, and arrived on the 11th of August 1642. He was then in the thirty-ninth year of his age, and consequently was just in his prime. His cha-
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racter while a minister in Holland was that of " a good, honest, and pure preacher." In the call from the Classis of Amsterdam he is styled " a faithful servant of the Gospel of the Lord." He must have been a man of zeal and devotion of more than ordinary character, to have been willing to leave a sphere of usefulness and honor in his native land, for the perils of the sea and the toils and privations incident to a new and savage country. No attractive pros- pect of ease or honor awaited him, on the banks of the far distant Hudson. A small colony in an unknown land, in the midst of savages, and subject to all the perils and dis- comforts of pioneer life, was to be his field of labor. Yet we find him ready at the call of his classis to break the ties which bound him to his native land; to part from two churches with whom he was happily connected, and with a spirit worthy of a true Hollander, to come, the apostle of a pure Christianity, to these western shores.
Domine Megapolensis remained during the six years of his agreement, faithfully discharg- ing the duties of his office. He not only labored among the colonists, but took a great inte- rest in preaching to the Indians. Numbers of
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these resorted to Fort Orange for the purposes of trade, and the domine learned their lan- guage, and preached the Gospel to them, seve- ral years before the celebrated Eliot began his labors among the Indians in New England. He was the author of a treatise on the Mo- hawks, which was afterwards published in Holland. His efforts among them were crown- ed with much success. At a later date the names of many baptized Indians are found in the early records of the Church, the fruits of the labors begun by the worthy domine who was its first pastor, and the first missionary to the red men of the forest .*
His term of service having expired, Dr. Mega- polensis left the colony to return to the father- land. On his arrival at New Amsterdam (now New York) he was prevailed on by Gov. Stuy- vesant to remain there in place of Domine Backerus, who had returned to Holland. The representations of the governor, of the spiritual destitution prevailing in New Amsterdam had such weight with the domine, that he con- sented to remain, and labored more than twenty years as senior pastor, being assisted from 1664 to 1668 by his son Samuel, who was educated
* See Appendix, Note C.
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both in divinity and medicine, and who re- turned to Holland a short time before his father's death, which occured in 1670, in the sixty-seventh year of his age.
The first house of worship in Albany, was built on the arrival of Dr. Megapolensis. It stood near the fort, in what is now called Church street. It was a plain wooden building, thirty-four feet long by nineteen wide, furnished with a pulpit ornamented with a canopy, pews for the magistrates and church officers, and nine benches for the people. In this simple structure the congregation worshiped thirteen years.
The second minister of the Church at Albany was the Rev. Gideon Schaats. He was born in 1607, and was at first a schoolmaster in Hol- land. Having received ordination, he was sent to this country in 1652, in company with the Rev. Samuel Drisius, a man of great learning, who was able to preach in Dutch, English and French, and who became a colleague of Dr. Megapolensis at New Amsterdam. Dominie Schaats was forty-five years of age when he arrived in this country, and he labored here for more than thirty years. He died in a good old age leaving three children, the eldest of whom,
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a son, was killed at the great massacre in Schenectady, Feb. 10, 1690. His remaining children, a son and married daughter, are sup- posed to have outlived their father many years. The house in which Domine Schaats resided, stood on the north-east corner of North Pearl and State streets. It is said to have been im- ported from Holland, bricks, wood-work, tiles, and ornamental irons with which it was pro- fusely adorned, expressly for his use, in the same vessel which brought over the pulpit and the bell, for the new Church. It stood from 1657 to 1832, and was for some time the resi- dence of Balthazar Lydius, a grandson of Domine Lydius, who died in 1815, aged 78 years.
Four years after the settlement of Mr. Schaats the congregation erected their second house of worship. It was built at the intersection of what is now State street with Broadway. It is supposed by some that this building was of stone, but we find that in 1714 a petition was addressed to Governor Hunter, then governor in chief of the province of New York, which purports to be " The humble petition of Petrus Van Driesen, Minister of the Nether Dutch Re- formed Congregation of the city and county of
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Albany, and the Elders and Deacons of the said Congregation," which states in substance that the Church which was built in 1656, "being built of timber and boards, is by time so much decayed that they find themselves under neces- sity of building a new one in its place," and concludes by praying his excellency " to ap- prove and encourage this pious work."*
It would appear from this that the building was of wood. The corner stone was laid by Rutger Jacobsen, one of the magistrates of the city, and the ancestor of the venerable lady, now a member of this Church, who has become distinguished by her munificent patronage of astronomical science.+ As this was an edifice intended to last for many years, the congrega- tion determined that the pulpit should come from the same noble land, from which its oc- cupants were imported. So they sent to Hol- land for an oaken pulpit and a bell, both of which in due season arrived, and were erected in their appropriate places. The old pulpit, after having been occupied for a period of one hundred and fifty years by a succession of able and faithful pastors, is still preserved in this
* See Appendix, Note D.
+ Mrs. Blandina Dudley.
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edifice, a fine specimen of architectural propor- tions and workmanship, and an interesting and valuable memorial of the past.
In 1675 we find that the Rev. Mr. Niewen- huysen (or Niewenhuyt) was a colleague with Mr. Schaats, but I have not been able to learn any particulars of his history. During his ministry Rev. Nicholas Van Renssalaer (or Ranslaer) arrived in Albany, and set up a claim to the pulpit, and also to the manor: neither of which claims were successful. He was not approved by the Classis of Amsterdam, and was moreover strongly suspected of being a papist in disguise. He however had the governor on his side, Sir Edmund Andross, to whom he had been recommended by the Duke of York, and who endeavored to obtain for him a living in the Church. Mr. Niewenhuysen stoutly resisted this attempt, and suffered much oppressive treatment in consequence, at the governor's hands. The people however sympathized with him and refused to acknowledge Mr. Van Renssalaer as a minister, or admit his claims to any consideration from his clerical cha- racter.
In 1633 the Rev. Godfreidus Dellius, was
HOFFMAN-PEASE - TOLLEY ALS. N
PULPIT OF THE OLD CHURCH, Built in Holland, 1656.
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sent out as assistant to Domine Schaats, who was now upwards of seventy-five years of age. There are no church records prior to this date extant in any connected form, but in this year the Register of Baptism begins, which has con- tinued to be kept with much accuracy down to the present day. Mr. Dellius found the Church large and flourishing. It contained among its catechumens and its communicants some of the Indians in the vicinity, and large additions were made during the sixteen years of his ministry. It is said that the baptisms during this period reached the astonishing number of eleven hundred. The list of members in 1683, in the hand writing of Mr. Dellius, amounts to between six and seven hundred. It is interest- ing in looking over this list to notice how many of the names still are found among the present members, having come down in un- broken succession from the godly men and women of two hundred years ago .*
At a meeting of the magistrates of the town, holden August 13th, 1683, the following resolu- tions were adopted :
" Resolved, That a letter be written to the Venerable, Pious, and very Learned the Minis-
* See Appendix, Note E.
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ters and members of the very Rev. the Classis of Amsterdam, assembled at Amsterdam, sin- cerely thanking their Rev. for their Fatherly care, in sending over the Rev. Pious and Learned Dom. Goddefridus Dellius, with whom the congregation is highly pleased.
" Resolved, Also to write to Sieur Richard Van Renssalaer and Sieur Abel D'Wollff to thank them heartily for the trouble they have taken, in finding out the Rev. Pious and Learned Dom. Goddefridus Dellius, who arrived here on the 2d inst. to the great joy of every one, and whose preaching was heard with the greatest satisfaction and contentment."
Mr. Dellius remained with the Church for a period of sixteen years, and sailed for Holland in 1699.
In 1699, Dominie Johannes Petrus Nucella, began his labors, which continued only three or four years. The date of the first baptisms administered by him is Sept. 3d, 1699. During his ministry the rite of baptism was administer- ed as far down the river as Kinderhook, as the sacrament of the Lord's supper had been ad- ministered by his predecessor at Schenectady four times a year. Very little is known of the
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peculiar character of Mr. Nucella, or of the results of his ministry in Albany. His connec- tion with the congregation seems to have termi- nated in 1702.
The next minister was the Rev. Johannes Lydius, who commenced his labors in 1703. Like his predecessors, Domine Lydius seems to have interested himself much in the instruc- tion and conversion of the Indians. There is mention made of his having labored among the tribes of the Five Nations, and of his receiving from the governor and council pecuniary com- pensation for such labors. He died on the 1st day of March, 1710. In a letter written by the Rev. Thomas Barclay, an Episcopal minister at Albany in that year, to the secretary of " the Society for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts," he mentions Domine Lydius in terms of high commendation, speaking of him as an intimate friend, and fellow laborer, and mentioning that by his death the Dutch Church and about thirty Indian communicants have been left without a pastor. Domine Lydius left a son, John Henry Lydius, a promi- nent Indian trader in the colony of New York, who retired to England in 1776, and died at
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Kensington near London in 1791, in the ninety- eighth year of his age .*
After the death of Domine Lydius, the Church continued without a pastor for about two years. During this time, however, they were not entirely destitute of the preaching of the word, or the administration of the sacra- ments. The Rev. Gualterus Du Bois, who was a minister in the Church in New York for fifty- one years, and who is described as a man of high character, and greatly beloved by his peo- ple, visited Albany in 1710, and preached and administered the sacraments. Also the Rev. Petrus Vas, who died at Kingston, performed ministerial labors here in 1711. The names of both these ministers are found on the Register of Baptisms of the above dates.
In 1712 the Rev. Petrus Van Driessen was called to the pastoral charge of the congrega- tion. During his ministry a new edifice was built for the use of the Church, which is well remembered by some of the older members of this congregation. It was built of stone with a steep, pyramidal roof, and belfry surmounted with a weathercock, and was for its day quite
* Doc. His. of New York, Vol. III, p. 893.
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ments kept the families of the honest burghers in a continual state of flutter and excitement. The good domine in all sincerity, but perhaps in not the most judicious manner, took the field against these seductive innovations. He ad- monished, he preached, he prophesied, he even denounced, but with all his authority and elo- quence and goodness combined, he could not exorcise from the community the rampant spirit of gaiety and fashion. There is a tradi- tion that after having preached an unusually earnest sermon against the follies and fashions of the day, the good domine found at his door on the following Monday morning, a pair of shoes, a staff, a silver dollar and a loaf of bread. He conceived that this was an intimation that he was desired to depart, and determined at once to leave. However this may be, it is quite probable, that supposing that his influence was decidedly weakened, and being a man of peculiar sensitiveness, he withdrew from his charge, and with a grieved and humbled spirit took passage for Holland, in 1760, to visit his native land, and return again to the scene of his labors. He however never returned, and is said to have been lost overboard on the passage. A mystery hangs over his real fate, but the
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good people of Albany long mourned his de- parture and cherished his memory with the deepest affection.
Domine Frelinghuysen was succeeded in the pastoral office by the Rev. Eilardus Wes- terlo, a name connected with many interesting and tender associations in the history of this Church. He was born in the city of Gro- ningen, in October, 1738. His father, Isaac Westerlo, was pastor of the Church at that place. He was named after his maternal grandfather, Eilardus Reiners, who was also a clergyman and pastor of the Church at Dalen, a village in the province of Drenthe. He was designed by his parents from his early youth for the ministry of the Gospel, and having spent six years in the Latin school at Oldenzaal, he was admitted in his 16th year to the University at Groningen, where he remained also six years, and prepared himself for examination and ad- mission to the holy office of the ministry.
It was just at this time, when he was but twenty-two years of age, that a call from this Church was most unexpectedly placed in his hands. After due deliberation, and with the earnest advice of his instructors at the uni-
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HChLAND
OLD DUTCH CHURCH ON STATE STREET.
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an imposing edifice. It was built around the old Church, which was taken down and carried out piecemeal after the walls of the new build- ing were raised and covered. It is said that the services of public worship were interrupted only three sabbaths by reason of this removal. The new Church was of massive architecture, and solid workmanship. Each of its windows contained the coat of arms of some one of the families of the congregation, in stained glass. Several of these are still preserved, and one espe- cially may be seen in excellent preservation at the residence of Mrs. Dudley. The seats around the walls were occupied by the respectable old burghers, the heads of families, among whom were some whose names have been distinguish- ed in the history of the state. On the west side, were the seats occupied by the governor and the magistrates of the city. On the right and left of the pulpit, were the members of the consistory ; conspicuous among them was the voorlezer or clerk, a very important functionary, who opened the services of the sabbath by the reading of a few texts of Scripture, the ten commandments, another chapter of the Bible, and the singing of a Psalm, the number of which was displayed on a tablet hung at the
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