USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > Albany bi-centennial. Historical memoirs > Part 10
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VI. HER GENIUS OR SPIRIT.
This was eminently tolerant, beneficent, missionary and Catholic. Holland was the asylum of the persecuted, whether Christians or Jews, from all the nations of Europe. The Dutch could not in this country be recreant to their principles. It is true that Governor Stuyvesant did once blunder into a proclamation against all who " should hold conventicles not in harmony with the established religion." It was also attempted " to employ all moderate exertions to lure them (Lutherans) to our churches and to matriculate them in the public reformed religion." Zeal in this matter led to measures which we would hardly call moderate, such as compelling parents to have their children baptized in the Dutch church, and to express their belief in the doctrines of the synod of Dort on pain of imprisonment. But Stuyve- sant was promptly rebuked by the West India company.
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They directed him " to allow to all the free exercise of reli- gion in their own houses," and declared "that at least the consciences of men ought to remain free and unshackled. Let every one remain free as long as he is modest, moder- ate, his political conduct irreproachable, and as long as he does not offend others or oppose the government. This maxim of moderation has always been the guide of our ma- gistrates in this city (Amsterdam), and the consequence has been that people have flocked from every land to this asy- lum. Tread thus in their steps, and we doubt not you will be blessed." For Stuyvesant's proclamation the church was not responsible. After the English had come into power the Dutch and Episcopal clergymen freely and cordially frater- nized. The two Dutch ministers, Selyna and Nucella, as- sisted in the services at the induction into office of Rev. Mr. Vesey as first rector of Trinity church, New York, and the services were held in the Dutch church in Garden street. During the revolutionary war, when the Dutch church was used as a hospital by the British, the Episcopalians offered the use of St. George's church to the Dutch congregation, and the offer was accepted. (Brodhead's History, vol. I, p. 119.) Their respective fields were for a long time so well fenced in by the difference of language that the idea of competition could scarcely be entertained. It was benevo- lent. Almsgiving was always a part of the worship on the Lord's day, as it still is. The deacon's office was a very im- portant one in Holland. There was a time when the con- tributions of the church of Amsterdam to the deacon's fund exceeded its income for all other purposes, and most liber- ally did the deacons distribute not only to their own people, but to the thousands of strangers who came to them stripped of their all for the sake of the gospel. I have been greatly interested in reading the reports of the deacons of this church of Albany from 1665 to 1715. From the very liberal col- lections that were taken up in the church the deacons paid for the support of widows and orphans, for food and cloth- ing, for medicine, for funeral expenses and for wages, and in other modes of relief very large sums annually, and then they had surplus moneys which they loaned at interest or in- vested in real estate. The assets reported by the deacons in 1686 amounted to 12,687 guilders, or somewhat more than $5,000. The church was the only organized almoner, and well did she fulfill that part of her vocation. She had a
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missionary spirit. She, from the first, cared for the heathen around her. It was expressly required of Megapolensis and his immediate successors by their calls that they should in- struct and christianize the Indians, and with great zeal and faithfulness did they labor in their behalf, and on the regis- ter of baptisms of this church are to be found the names of many Indian converts. I wonder that some artist has not selected for an historical painting Dom. Megapolensis preaching to his little congregation at Fort Orange, with the dusky Mohawks standing around smoking their long pipes, looking on with wonder and asking what he was doing and why he alone talked and all the others kept silence. Need we be surprised to learn that the ministers and members of the church of Albany were among the chief supporters of the Northern missionary society which did so much for the christianization and civilization of the Indians in Central and Western New York from 1797 to 1833? Surely the influ- ence of a church with a liberal, catholic and missionary spirit in a forming as well as established community cannot be exhibited by statistics.
I have thus endeavored to set before you some of the char- acteristics of the Reformed church of the Netherlands, which eminently qualify her to exert a most healthful influence upon a young and growing community. You have seen from what school the colonists came, and what system of truth, what educational system, what respect for Christian ordinances, what a model of church government, and what a catholic spirit they brought with them. It could not be otherwise than that every good thing should receive the fos- tering care of this church, and that she should be a clear, steadily-shining light for the guidance of the generations to come. And has not her influence been eminently salutary, especially in the direction of a healthful conservatism ? And is it not quite as important to hold fast to the good already professed as it is to reach after that which has not yet been attained ? Indeed, progress depends on a resolute mainte- nance of good possessed, while its abandonment is retro- gression. Now it is fair to ask whether this influence so early exerted by this church has not been permanent, and whether it may not be traced down to the present day. There are many of you who are more competent than I to answer this question.
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VII. HINDRANCES TO GROWTH.
You need not be told that the Reformed Dutch church has not multiplied her congregations in Albary proportion- ately with the increase of population. If she had done so nine-tenths of the people would now be in her communion. But how unjust to charge her with remissness because she has not in numbers continued to lead all the denominations. You will consider that she was a foreign national church planted on American soil, that when Albany was a small village the province passed under the dominion of the Eng- lish; that emigration from the fatherland was seriously checked; that the church could look for increase only to the natural increase of the Dutch people; that the Episco- pal church gained an advantage which the Dutch lost, as the church of government officials ; that in due time it could not be otherwise than that all the principal sects of Chris- tians should here raise their banners, Lutherans, Presbyte- rians, Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Roman Cath- olics. They were entitled to have their own churches and to worship according to their preferences based on peculiar views of doctrine, of government or ritual. And so these churches sprang up around the old Dutch altar, on which, nevertheless, the fire has continued to burn and has been kept brightly burning through the loyal zeal of the descend- ants of the parishioners of Megapolensis, Schaets, Dellius, Lydius and Westerlo. May it not be that unconsciously the later churches have received something of conservative in- fluence from this ancient church, while she in turn has re- ceived something of an aggressive spirit from these new allies in the fight with the powers of darkness, so that in the unity of the spirit, though under separate organizations they are all striving together for the faith of the gospel. But it will be said that while this is true, and while it is also true that many who were born and baptized in other communions have fixed their homes in this venerable church, because they loved her doctrines, order and spirit, yet many of her own children she has failed to retain. No doubt this is so, for the same reasons that often lead individuals of all other communions to change church relationships operate among the members of the Dutch communion. If a man changes his views of doctrine or government, or has a serious griev- ance, or seeks for more congenial associations, or better provision for his spiritual needs, we grant him the liberty to
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act accordingly. Why should one be compelled to remain in some one church who prefers to be elsewhere? But the Reformed Dutch church was peculiarly situated. There were causes for loss of children and arrest of progress from which the surrounding churches were exempt, and which were operative down to almost the close of the last century. When we contemplate them we wonder at the good provi- dence which saved this church from utter extinction. Not only was she in common with other denominations affected by the predominant, political influence of the English church, and her plausible claim to be the church by law established in the English colonies, but she suffered from subjection to the ecclesiastical authorities in Holland, which continued 150 years, from the difficulty during that long period of ob- taining pastors, from the bitter controversy between the Coetus and Conferentie parties about ministerial education and ecclesiastical independence. All these exerted a most disastrous influence and drove many lovers of peace into other communions. Besides these there was one hindrance, which, if there had been no other, would have proved most effective. I refer to the continued, exclusive use of the Dutch language in public worship down to the year 1782, when the learned and godly Dr. Westerlo began to preach one sermon weekly in English. It is difficult to believe that the beginning of English preaching was made in the Re- formed Dutch church of Albany only about a hundred years ago, and after the Dutch had had undisputed sway for 140 years. Now, how was it possible to retain in this church the constantly-increasing numbers of those who had only a slight understanding of the language used in worship, or none at all ? The children of Dutch parents were taught English in the schools and largely in their homes. English was the language of business, of the laws and of the courts. The Dutch was rapidly dying out, especially in the cities, but in the church services the dear old tongue was maintained, for the ministers were at home in it, and the old people loved it and reverenced it as if it were the original inspired tongue. But to the young, even those who could speak the collo- quial Dutch, it was virtually an unknown tongue, by reason of the limitations of their vocabulary. And so it happened that the young were gradually drawn into other churches and were lost to the church of their fathers forever. I have been greatly interested in a letter written in 1710 by Rev.
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Thomas Barclay, a missionary of the church of England, sent to this place by the society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts. In writing to the secretary of that society he says : " Honored Sir : As I did begin from my first coming to Albany, so I go on to catechise the youth ; and it hath pleased God to bless my weak endeavors that way, for a great many Dutch children who, at my first ar- rival, were altogether ignorant of the English tongue, can distinctly say our catechism and make the responses at pray- ers. Every Sunday, after the second lesson at evening prayer, I explain some part of the catechism in as plain and familiar a manner as I can, shunning all controversies, teach- ing them such fundamental doctrines as are necessary and tend most to promote piety and a good life. I have taught the scholars the prayers appointed for charity schools, and I have used all possible methods to engage the children to their duty, both by the giving of small presents to the most forward and diligent, and by frequently visiting their schools; and for encouraging the schoolmasters, I give them what charity is collected in our church, obliging them to bring their scholars to public prayers. At Schenectady I preach once a month, where there is a garrison of 40 soldiers, be- sides about 16 English and 100 Dutch families. They are all of them my constant hearers. I have this summer got an English school erected amongst them, and in a short time I hope their children will be fit for catechizing. Sche- nectady is a village situated upon a pleasant river 20 English miles above Albany, and the first castle of the Indians is 24 miles above Schenectady. In this village there has been no Dutch minister these five years, and there is no probability of any being settled among them. There is a convenient and well-built church which they freely gave me the use of. I have taken pains to show the agreement of the articles of our church with theirs. I hope in some time to bring them not only to be constant hearers but communicants. Mr. Lydius, the minister of the Dutch congregation of Albany, died the Ist day of March last. He was a good, pious man and lived in entire friendship with me; sent his own chil- dren to be catechized." (Annals of Albany, vol. 5, p. 218.) If the successors of Mr. Barclay down to the close of the last century worked on the same lines with him, and with like tact and fidelity, it would not have been strange if a mere corporal's guard had remained in attendance on Dr.
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Westerlo's ministry in 1782. We blame not Mr. Barclay. He seems to have been an orthodox and zealous minister, seeking to supply the things that were lacking, and not working in an underhanded way, but with the consent of the Dutch minister and people. But surely his methods were not calculated to build up the Reformed Dutch church. We now find, as the result of various causes working through the generations, the names of old Dutch pioneers on the roll of the bishops of the Protestant Episcopal church (even the name Knickerbocker is there) and of priests, deacons and vestrymen. We find ministers, church officers and members of all denominations bearing Dutch names. Every- where, in all churches, you will find the descendants of Dutchmen, and I am sure that unless they have utterly for- gotten their good training they are among the most loyal and valuable in their new relations. Now, in the light of the facts that have been presented, is it fair to reproach this venerable church, which was the first one on the ground in New York and Albany, for being to-day in numbers far be- hind the chief denominations of Christians around her ? As well might you reproach the racer for coming in last, who though he started first, ran with a hundred pound weight tied to his feet. The Reformed Dutch church may well be com- pared to a ship crowded with passengers lying at anchor for 100 years at the mouth of a river. Meanwhile vessels of all sorts pass by, each one taking on board some of her passen- gers, and sail out of sight up the river. After 100 years of this process it is concluded to weigh anchor and sail for the head of navigation. Would you expect her to catch up with, or even get within sight of the fleet ahead ? For more than 100 years the anchor of the Dutch tongue held the old ship fast to her moorings. Those who had command of her seemed to be well pleased with this state of quiescence, until they woke up to the fact that if a start were not made they were likely to be left alone on board. And yet, paradoxical as it may be thought, the very cause that, in cities at least, hindered the progress of the church, probably saved her life. The Dutch tongue was the strong cord holding together the churches all through the times of disability and contention. This language was a high wall of separation from the other denominations which could not be easily scaled. If it had been removed perhaps not even strong feelings of loyalty to the fatherland
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would have prevented a general exodus and a flight to the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches.
VIII. LESSONS OF THE HOUR.
And now what are the lessons and duties of the hour ? Not to brood with vain regrets over the mistakes of the past, but to rejoice that God makes even them to subserve his glory and to be thankful for whatever influence for good this church has exerted in this city, State and country. She has certainly been for eight generations a steady witness for Christ. The truths of the everlasting gospel have been pro- claimed from her pulpits by able and godly men through all these generations. In her consistories and membership have been found men who exerted no little influence in the State as well as the church ; who adorned the various professions, who bore an important part in shaping the constitution of the State as well as in regulating municipal affairs, and whose zeal for the church universal did not hinder a special devo- tion to the institutions of their own denomination. When in the middle of the last century the hopes of the great ma- jority of the members of the Dutch churches, and especially of the men of earnest and progressive spirit, were disap- pointed in the matter of a professorship of theology in con- nection with Kings (Columbia) college, it was Rev. Theo- dorus Frelinghuysen, the active and faithful pastor of the church of Albany, who started from his home in midwinter and visited the pastors and churches along the Hudson, and in New Jersey, to stimulate interest and effort for the estab- lishment of a college for the training of ministers for the Dutch churches. In behalf of this object he subsequently went to Holland, and after an unsuccessful mission, was on
the return voyage drowned at Sandy Hook. When the time had come in 1814 for the appointment of an additional pro- fessor in the theological school at New Brunswick, the church of Albany pledged for his support $750 per year for six years. When, in 1823, the particular synod of Albany, stimulated by the example of the particular synod of New York (which had just raised $26,675 for the second profes- sorship), resolved to raise the moneys for a third professor- ship, the committee which with indefatigable perseverance carried the work to a successful completion, by raising $26,- 715, was composed of the Rev. Dr. John Ludlow, pastor of the church of Albany, and Elders Christian Miller of Al-
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bany, and Abraham Van Dyck of Coxsackie. Nearly $8,000 of this amount were contributed by members of the church of Albany. In the Rensselaer Manor house, known for many years through the whole country for its large and ele- gant hospitality, and in which no guests received a heartier welcome than ministers of the gospel, not only were high matters of state discussed, but liberal things for religion, and especially for the institutions of the Reformed Dutch church, were devised. When in 1835 an effort was made for the increase of the endowment of the theological school at New Brunswick, the Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer, whose mem- ory will never cease to be fragrant in Albany, headed the list of subscriptions with one of $5,000. When in 1864 the fourth professorship was established, his son, Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer, subscribed $5,000 ; and when in 1870-2 the Rev. Dr. James A. H. Cornell was working for the various interests of the theological seminary Mr. Eugene Van Rens- selaer contributed $5,000. From Mr. Jacob H. Ten Eyck was received by will the sum of $10,000. As a representa- tive of that theological school, I could not let this occasion pass without an acknowledgment of indebtedness to the church of Albany, and to all in her communion who, as well as those whose names have been mentioned, have never failed to give us sympathy and support. And besides, Al- bany has furnished the school with three professors, the Rev. Dr. John Bassett, appointed in 1804 ; the Rev. Dr. John DeWitt, in 1823, and the Rev. Dr. William H. Campbell, in 1851, while Rutgers' college is indebted to Albany for Professors John DeWitt, Lewis C. Beck, William H. Camp- bell, George H. Cook, David Murray and Merrill Edwards Gates, the present efficient and successful president of the college. To these may be added a succession of students who are an honor to their alma mater. To-day this church is girded for her work. She is to forget the things that are behind and to reach forth to those things that are before. As the citizens of Albany enter on their third century of corporate civic life this church is with them, pledged to con- tinue to proclaim and teach the pure doctrines of the Word of God, to encourage every effort for the promotion of wise government, good order, sound morals and true prosperity. She stands ordained of God, to help in the training of the people for self-government, and for the enjoyment of true liberty, and for the promotion here and everywhere of the
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kingdom which is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Venerable church, antedating this ancient city's birth, thy children rise up before thee and call thee blessed. From this day with renewed youth do valiantly for our Lord Christ.
" Peace be within thy walls And prosperity within thy palaces, For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, peace be within thee."
UNION SERVICES AT ST. PETER'S.
St. Peter's church never contained a larger or more notable audience than on the occasion of the union service of the Episcopal churches. The church was crowded to the doors before eight o'clock, and after that hour there was a constant stream of persons up and down the steps, almost every one having to content himself with a glance over the heads of the throng in the vestibule. There was little attempt at decoration, save a profuse display of cut flowers before the chancel and altar. The music was given with grand effect, there being the combined choirs of All Saints' cathedral, Grace church and St. Peter's church, under the direction of F. W. Mills, organist and choir master of St. Peter's.
The hymn, "Ancient of Days," words by Bishop Doane and music by Mr. J. Albert Jeffery, is one of those grand massive chants which, when sung by such a superb chorus, one hundred and thirty strong, has an electric effect. The harmonies are full and sonorous, and there is about the entire work the spirit of an accomplished musician. It was preceded by some exquisite organ solos by Mr. Jeffery, a cho-
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rus from Handel's " Samson," the march from " La Reine de Saba," and a prayer by Lemmens, the cele- brated English organist. The sermon, which was by Bishop Doane, follows :
BISHOP DOANE'S SERMON.
"A citizen of no mean city."-Acts xxi : 39.
This is eminently a season and a service of remembrance. The present seems to-day not so much a contemplation as a contrast. The future stretches out before us in the majesty of the mysterious unknown. We are living in the reminders of the past. Not unmindful of the Christian exhortation to " forget the things that are behind in order that we may reach forth unto those things which are before," we pause a moment in this anniversary week of our " not mean city," to look " unto the rock whence we are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence we are digged." For if rightly used, such a monument as we set up here to-day, will serve only as a stimulus to wholesome humility and more earnest energy.
I take it that one chief purpose of such a service as the municipal authorities of Albany propose to us, and of such a sermon as I am asked to preach by the rectors of our five parishes, is to make a record of the first centuries of our church life, and to trace the story of our life and growth as part of the religious history of this old town. And I address myself first to gather up for preservation in the Bi-centennial volume the salient points of that story. There is high au- thority for this treatment of such a subject, since the inspired history of the Catholic Church takes to itself the name of " the Acts of the Holy Apostles."
Others will tell to-day the tale of those religious begin- nings, which were not after our ways of order and worship. And a most interesting story it can be. Naturally, in a way, we were not first, because the first comers were really the French in 1624. Coming from France to Holland, to escape the inquisition, and with that queer Saxon name " Walloons," which means foreigners, these French Protest- ants stepped in the footprints of their fellow-countrymen, whose exploration of the Hudson river antedates Hudson's coming by more than eighty years. Next to them came the Hollanders, who sought and obtained at once, from home
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the ministrations of their own church in 1628. The story that follows, of actual intolerance, is the story of almost all religious occupation, whether of Puritan against Quaker or Baptist in New England, or of Dutchmen against Lutherans and German Protestants and Anglicans in New York. It was not until 1684, and then by permission of an English governor, that the Lutherans were allowed to hold service here, although a French Calvanist clergyman, in 1628, min- istered to the Walloons. The Dutch Church, according to their charter from the West India company, was really es- tablished here, and the first services were held in the fort in 1633, and continued after that by a succession of Dutch ministers. It is more to the credit of Englishmen here, that they first allowed and recognized religious differences by toleration of freedom of worship, than that they remained indifferent to any provision for their own services for so many years. It was more accident than choice which gave the first English clergyman to Albany. Nicolas Van Rens- selaer, the third son of the first Patroon, came over from Amsterdam to London as chaplain to the ambassador of the States General in Holland. Having earned the favor of the Stuarts while they were in exile on the continent, he was welcomed by Charles II., and treated by him and by the Duke of York and Albany with distinguished favor. Having been ordained Deacon and Priest by the Bishop of Salisbury, he was sent out, perhaps as chaplain to the governor of New York, with directions to appoint him a minister when a vacancy should occur in one of the Dutch churches. And in this way he became the colleague of the minister of the Dutch Church in Albany. The inevitable jealousies at once arose. His right to administer holy Baptism was first de- nied, because he had no license from the classis at Amster- dam. This claim being disallowed by the governor and council in New York, Mr. Van Rensselaer returned to Albany only to be subjected to accusations of heresy, for preach- ing doctrines at variance with the standards of the Reformed Church of Holland ; and was finally imprisoned in 1676 by the magistrates in Albany for " dubious words " spoken in his sermon. For which bit of bigotry the magistrates were summoned to New York, and ordered by the council to release their prisoner and cease their bickerings; to be recon- ciled and " consume all their differences in the fire of love." But after this the Rev. Mr. Van Rensselaer appears to have
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