USA > New York > New York City > Dutch New York (early history of the Dutch in New York) > Part 15
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In 1654, the Company being evidently troubled by the dissensions, made the following wise regulations :
No person shall take the name of the Lord in vain, whether by cursing, swearing, or blaspheming, in jest or otherwise, upon the penalty of ten stivers, and arbi- trary correction, according to the degree of profanity and blasphemy which shall be uttered and expressed.
Also shall no man presume to rebuke, to contemptu- ously treat, disturb, or in any wise obstruct the Minister
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or exhorter of God's Holy Word, in the performance of his office or calling.
Further, whenever, early in the morning or after supper in the evening, prayers shall be said, or God's word read, by any one thereto commissioned, every person, of what quality soever he may be, shall repair to hear it with be- coming reverence.
No man shall raise or bring forward any question or argument on the subject of religion, on pain of being placed on bread and water three days in the ship's galley. And if any difficulties should arise out of the said dis- putes, the author thereof shall be arbitrarily punished.
Stuyvesant was accompanied from Curaçao by the Rev. Johannes Backerus, who remained only a year in New Amsterdam. On his departure the Rev. Johannes Megapolensis was transferred from Fort Orange to New Amsterdam, where he remained until his death in 1669. In 1652, the Rev. Samuel Drisius, a bachelor of forty, was sent out, " a fit assistant to the old gentleman, Do. Megapolensis." They worked to- gether in amity, but the results of their work among the Indians was not altogether satisfactory. In 1659, they wrote to Amsterdam a report of the religious con- ditions of the colony, from which we learn :
We have had one Indian here with us full two years, so that he could read and write good Dutch; we in- structed him in the grounds of Religion; he also an- swered publicly in the church and repeated the prayers. We likewise presented him with a Bible in order to work through him some good among the Indians. But it all resulted in nothing. He has taken to drinking of Brandy ; he pawned the Bible and became a real beast who is doing more harm than good among the Indians.
About eighteen miles up the North River lies Esopus. It is an exceedingly beautiful Land. There some Dutch Inhabitants have settled themselves, and prosper especially
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well. They hold Sunday meetings, and then one among them reads something out for a postille.
The Dutch on Long Island were without a church or minister of their own until the middle of the century, and in order to attend public worship were obliged to visit New Amsterdam. Occasionally, however, the Dominie visited the outlying towns and held services in private houses. In December, 1654, the Director and Council having endeavored to remedy this want, sanctioned the erection of a small church at Midwout (Flatbush), by the joint effort of three towns; and the Rev. Johannes Theodorus Polhemus from Brazil was installed as pastor. Here services were held on Sunday mornings and at Breuckelen and Amersfoort on alternate Sunday afternoons. Drisius reports :
It took three hours for these devout people to get to the church in the Fort, so when De Polhemus arrived from Brasils, they requested that he might be appointed their preacher which was granted. The four other vil- lages on Long Island, viz., Gravesend Middelburgh, Vlis- singen and Heemstede were established by the English. At Gravesend there were Mennonists; at Flushing, Pres- byterians, who after a time absented themselves from church and refused to pay the preacher, who fled to Vir- ginia. ... Last year a fomentor of error came there. He was a cobbler from Rhode Island and stated that he was commissioned by· Christ. He began to preach at Flushing and then went with the people into the river and dipped them. This becoming known here, he was banished the province.
At Middelburgh (Newtown) there were mostly Inde- pendents, led by one Johannes Moor, and at Heemstede some Independents Presbyterians under the charge of Richard Denton, an honest, pious and learned man.
On the west side of the East River about one mile through Hellgate another English village has been begun
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over two years. It was named Oostdorp. The inhabit- ants are also Puritains alias Independents. They have no preacher. They hold Sunday meetings reading from an English book, a sermon and making a prayer.
Lutherans, Quakers, and Anabaptists gave the Di- rectors and Dominies much trouble. A few examples will suffice to show how difficult it was for alien sects to flourish while Dominie Megapolensis was Father of the Flock. In 1652, he requested that Anna Smits, an Anabaptist, should be restrained from using slanderous and calumniating expressions against God's Word and his servants; and the Director-General and Council ordered
that Anna Smits shall appear on the following Wednes- day at the school of David Provoost, where the Nine Men usually meet and that the Director and Council to- gether with the complainant and the consistory shall assemble there also, to hear what the said Anna Smits has to say against the teachings of the complainant.
Also, on Nov. 8, 1656, William Hallet, Sheriff of Flushing, for allowing Baptist conventicles in his house, was sentenced to pay a fine of £50 Flemish, to be banished, with costs, and to remain in prison till the fine was paid. William Wickendam was fined £100 and other penalties as above for officiating as a gospel minister; but three days later the fine was graciously remitted " as nothing can be got from him."
No sect, however, alarmed the good Dominies more than the Lutherans, who showed at an early period symptoms of growth. On Oct. 24, 1656, they peti- tioned that they might not be prevented continuing their religious exercises, as they " expect a regular clergy- man next Spring." It was ordered that the petition be forwarded to the West India Company; " meanwhile
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the laws will be enforced against Conventicles and pub- lic meetings of any but those belonging to the Re- formed Dutch church."
The Directors were not pleased at this persecution. They wrote (1656) :
We would also have been better pleased if you had not published the placat against the Lutherans, a copy of which you sent us, and committed them to prison, for it has always been our intention to treat them quietly and leniently. Hereafter you will therefore not publish such or similar placats without our knowledge, but you must pass it over quietly and let them have free religious ex- ercises in their houses.
Stuyvesant (1656), however, supported Drisius and Megapolensis with the following proclamation :
Whereas the Director General and Council are credibly informed that not only Conventicles and Meetings are held within this Province, but also that in such gatherings some unqualified persons have assumed unto themselves the office of teaching; announcing and declaring God's Holy Word, without being called or appointed thereto by authority either of Church or State, which is in direct contradiction and opposition to the General policy and Church government of our Fatherland, because from such manner of gatherings divers mischiefs, heresies and schisms are to be expected, which to prevent, the Director General and aforesaid Council do hereby, therefore, abso- lutely and expressly forbid all such Conventicles or Gath- erings, whether publick or private, except the usual and lawful ones in which God's reformed word and the or- dained assemblies of God's Reformed worship are ob- served and conducted conformably to those of the Synod of Dordrecht, here, in our Fatherland and in other Reformed Churches of Europe, under the penalty of One Hundred Pounds Flemish, to be forfeited by all who assume any unqualified office whether of preaching read-
PORCELAIN, EARTHENWARE ORNAMENT AND GLASS TUMBLER IN THE VAN CORTLANDT MANOR HOUSE
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ing or singing, whether on Sunday or any other day in such Gatherings whether private or publick. Without intending, hereby, however, any violence to Conscience to the prejudice of the Patents formerly granted, or to prohibit the reading of God's Holy Word, family prayers and Worship, each in his own house.
Attendants at any unlawful meeting were also to be fined £25 each.
It is astonishing to find how very soon after Fox began to preach his followers became active on this side of the Atlantic. Naturally, Quakers first made their appearance among the English settlers on Long Island. It was not likely that Stuyvesant and his Dominies would be indulgent to this new heresy. On Jan. 10, 1658, John Tilton was fined £12 Flemish and costs for harboring some of "the abominable sect of Quakers." Henry Towsen (Jan. 15) was fined three hundred guilders for the same offense.
In January, 1661, Stuyvesant was again troubled with the pestilential Quakers. One Henry Townsend was reported to have entertained members of the sect at Jamaica, Long Island. The Director wrote to the magistrates and sent the Rev. Samuel Drisius to offici- ate there, and a deputy sheriff to inquire into the hold- ing of conventicles. A search for Quakers followed on Long Island, and the arrest of a Quaker's cloak and of Sam Spicer; names were also given of those who attended the preaching of George Wilson. Henry Townsend was fined £25, and Slicer £12. John Town- send and John Tilton were banished from the province. On January 24, Stuyvesant notified Jamaica of the ap- pointment of new magistrates, and the quartering of soldiers on the inhabitants on account of their heresy. On Aug. 24, 1662, the Flushing magistrates lodged in- formation against John Bowne for holding meetings
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every Sunday of " that abominable sect called Quakers, of which the majority of the inhabitants are followers." John Bowne was fined £25 and costs, and finally banished.
On Sept. 14, 1662, Stuyvesant issued a proclamation declaring that the public exercise of any religion but the Reformed " in houses, barns, ships, woods or fields, would be punished by a fine of fifty guilders; double, for a second offense; and quadruple, for the third with arbitrary correction." In April, 1663, however, the Lords Directors censure Stuyvesant "for banishing John Bowne, the Quaker."
It is hard to understand the hatred aroused by the proverbially harmless Quakers. It appears, however, that in the early days their enthusiasm in proselytizing sometimes led them into aggressive missionary methods. For example, in 1677, the town of Huntington, Long Island, petitioned Governor Andros that the Quakers " be not permitted to come into the meeting-house (as they frequently do) in time of worship, to disturb the congregation." " Samuel Forman of Oyster bay, came to the City, where he lodged at the house of Anthony Jansen from Salee, and, by inspiration from Christ Jesus intended to repair to the church during divine service and exclaim : 'O cry what shall I cry, all flesh is grass, grass is the flower of the field, the flower falls and the grass withers, but the word of God obeids forever.' " Two days later, he was sentenced to be publicly whipped and then banished, for having dis- turbed public worship in the church at New Orange.
The Dutch church service was simple. The fore- singer, or clerk, standing at a desk beneath the pulpit, or in the deacons' pew, began the service by the com- mand: " Hear with reverence the Word of the Lord "; then he read the Ten Commandments and announced
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the Psalm. While this was being sung, the Minister entered, stood for a few minutes at the foot of the pul- pit stairs; and, after a silent prayer, ascended the pul- pit. He preached with an hour-glass before him. At the end of the sermon the clerk inserted in the end of his staff the public notices to be read and handed them to the Minister. This duty ended, the Minister deliv- ered a short homily on charity, and the deacons walked through the church to take up a collection, each having a long pole, at the end of which was a black velvet bag for the offerings.
There was great difference of sentiment regarding the Quakers. Sometimes we find special bequests to them, as in the case of Colonel Lewis Morris, who, in 1691, gives "to the meetings of Friends called Quakers £5 per annum." In quite another mood,, William Hollyoake, of Southold, Long Island, makes his will in which he emphatically orders:
If my sons Thomas, Peter or William, or any of their succeeding heirs, whether sons or daughters, whom I doe constitute my heirs, shall Apostate from the Protestant Doctrine of faith of the Church of England as it is now by law established, and if they or any of them shall at any time hereafter, take upon him or them, any profes- sion of such Doctrines or faith whereby they shall be drawn away from attendance upon the Publick Worship of God, practiced in this place, and warranted by the Holy Scriptures ; and if they shall neglect or contemn the said publick Worship; and if the said Thomas or any of them shall at any time espouse and contract marriage with any Quaker, or to the son or daughter of any Quaker as they are now called; It is my positive Will that they shall be utterly disinherited and disowned. And I be- queath the lands so forfeited by such wicked practices to the next lawful heir. . .. I leave to my son John who as an obstinate Apostate I doe reject and deprive of
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all other parts of my estate, yet I doe hereby give him my Second lot at the Wading Creek.
In 1658, Megapolensis and Drisius petitioned the Classis to send out "good Dutch clergymen "; and a young candidate for the ministry, Hendricus Blom, was induced to come out. He soon received a call to Esopus (Kingston) and went home to be ordained. On Dec. 22, 1659, the Directors of the West India Company wrote to Stuyvesant a letter disapproving of the narrow views of himself ( for he was a good deal of a bigot) and his subordinates. They regarded them- selves as a trading corporation, not a body of sectarian propagandists, and therefore discouraged intolerance.
We intend to send over two or three young preachers on the same conditions as Domine Blom, and have been looking about for them; it is not sufficient that they lead a good moral life, they must be of a peaceable and mod- erate temperament, which depends a good deal on the place of their studies, and not be infected with scruples about unnecessary forms, which cause more divisions than edification. The preachers there, Des. Megapolensis and Drisius, do not seem to be free from this kind of leaven, for they make difficulties in regard to the use of the old formula of baptism without order from the Classis here, pretending that they might be accused of innovations, al- though the name of innovators could be better applied to those who have made changes in it without the order of the Church generally, or of a Classis. The most mod- erate preachers here understand this and consider it an insignificant ceremony, which may be performed or omitted according to circumstances and without hurting one's conscience. We had expected that the above-men- tioned preachers and brothers would hold the same opinion after our too friendly letter to them. We are told, it is true, that the Lutherans come to church now and that every thing goes on quietly and peaceably, but care must
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be taken that this state of affairs continue; that is un- certain, as long as such precise forms and offensive ex- pressions are not avoided. It is absolutely necessary that they be avoided in a church, which is so weak and only beginning to grow, especially when we consider the diffi- culties liable to arise, which might result in the permis- sion to conduct a separate divine service there, for the Lutherans would very easily obtain the consent of the authorities here upon a complaint, and we would have no means of preventing it. We find it therefore highly necessary to direct herewith, that you communicate all this to the aforesaid preachers there and seriously ad- monish them to adopt our advice and use the old formula of baptism without waiting for further orders from here. That will allay the dissensions in the state and of the church there.
On Blom's return, he was accompanied by the Rev. Henricus Selyns, to become pastor of the Breuckelen congregation. Mr. Selyns was installed on Sept. 7, 1660. As the people were unable to pay his salary, the Council was petitioned for aid. Stuyvesant agreed to contribute personally two hundred and fifty guilders if Mr. Selyns would preach every Sunday afternoon at his Bowery. Writing to the Classis, Oct. 4, 1660, Mr. Selyns says :
When we arrived, we repaired forthwith to the Man- hattans; but the negotiations for peace at the Esopus necessarily retarded our progress thus long. We preached meanwhile, here, and at the Esopus and Fort Orange; during our stay were provided with board and Lodging. Esopus needs more people; but Breucklen more wealth ; wherefore I officiate Sunday afternoons at the General's Bouwerye at the Noble General's private expense. I was suitably received (in Brooklyn) by the Magistrate and consistory and De Polhemus was forthwith discharged. We do not preach in any church, but in a barn (Koren-
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schuur), and shall, God willing, erect a church in the winter by the co-operation of the people. The congrega- tion is passable. The attendance is augmented from Middelwout, New Amersfoort and frequently Grave- sande, but most from the Manhattans. To Breuckelen appertains also the Ferry, the Walebocht and Gujanus. There can be no Catechising before the winter, but this shall be introduced either on week days or when there is no preaching at the Bowery. Christmas, Easter, Whit- suntide and September will be most suitable, as Thanks- giving is observed on these festivals. . .
There is preaching in the morning at Breuckelen but, towards the conclusion of the Catechismal exercises of New Amsterdam, at the Bowery which is a continuation and the place of recreation of the Manhattans, where peo- ple also come from the city to Evening Service. In addi- tion to the household there are over forty negroes whose location is the Negro quarter. There is no consistory here, but the deacons of New Amsterdam provisionally receive the alms offerings, and there are to be neither elders nor deacons there. Besides me there are in New Nether- lands DD Johannes Megapolensis and Samuel Drisius in New Amsterdam; D. Gideon Schaets at Fort Orange; D. Joannes Polemius at Middelwout and N. Amersfort and Hermanus Blom at the Esopus.
In 1664, he returned to Holland in the Beaver to visit his aged father; and, after his departure, Charles Debevoise, schoolmaster and sexton, conducted the services. During his ministry Selyns married in New Amsterdam, in 1662, Machtelt Specht, daughter of Herman Specht, of Utrecht, "a young lady of rare personal beauty and worth," to whom he wrote a poem that has been much admired. Soon after he left, Dom- inie Drisius wrote of him to Amsterdam in warm terms of admiration of his preaching and pastoral work :
FLOWERS JAN VAN HUYSAM
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He has attached very many unto him, among them a number of the negroes, who are greatly grieved by his departure. But considering the fact that he owes filial obedience to his parents it is the will of God that he . should leave us.
He thinks it probable that the recently arrived son of Dom. Megapolensis will take charge of Brooklyn and the Bouwerie; and adds that the French on Staten Island would gladly have a preacher, but cannot afford to support one. Governor Stuyvesant allows Drisius to go there and preach every two months and admin- ister the Lord's Supper, but " in the winter season it is troublesome on account of the great water of bay, which must be crossed, and the showers and storms, which occur."
The English conquest put an end to the exclusive sway of the Dutch Reformed Church. Freedom of worship was allowed to all congregations who cared to pay their own ministers.
In 1669, Megapolensis wrote to the Classis of Am- sterdam complaining that the West India Company had " unrighteously withheld about 2000 guilders sal- ary " from him, having falsely accused him of having had a hand in delivering the town to the English. Though the people took a great interest in the preach- ing, and the church was filled on Sundays, still they showed " little interest in contributing to the support of the Gospel and in paying our salary." When the Governor was appealed to for aid, his reply was: “ As the Dutch enjoy their freedom of worship, they should provide for the support of their minister."
Samuel Megapolensis, who had been his father's as- sistant since 1664, resigned and went to Holland; and the old Dominie, who had now spent twenty-seven years in the New World, was full of grief to think that when
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he and Dominie Drisius should pass away their con- gregation would probably scatter. Nothing seems to have given him more distress than the fact that the Lutherans had recently received a minister from Amsterdam.
In 1669, Megapolensis the Elder died; and as Sam- uel Drisius was growing old and unable to shoulder all the duties of his charge, a new minister was needed. As no one seemed willing to come, Governor Lovelace in 1670 sent word to the Classis of Amsterdam that he would give any "scholarly and godly minister a hundred guilders a year, a dwelling rent free and fire- wood." The Rev. William Nieuwenhuys accepted the terms, and in 1671 became sole pastor of the Dutch church on the death of Drisius.
On his death, in 1681, Selyns returned and was re- ceived with open arms by his old friends. Doubtless he was well acquainted with the widow of Cornelis Steenwyck, whom he very promptly married, she con- veniently inheriting the taste of her mother, Vrouw Drisius, for divines. Selyns wrote enthusiastic letters home, informing the authorities that the people were building a parsonage of brick (or stone), three stories high, and that he had four hundred families on his list; but he complained that there was too much work for one man.
Selyns was minister during the usurpation of Jacob Leisler, and at one time was the only Dutch minister in the province; for Delius escaped to Boston; Van Varick, minister of the four Dutch towns of Kings County, was convicted of treason and imprisoned ; Tes- schenmaker was massacred at Schenectady in 1690; and Van der Bosch deposed at Kingston. Selyns him- self was accused of harboring Bayard, and his house was searched by public officers.
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Dominie Rudolphus Van Varick was dragged from his home in Flatbush, imprisoned and heavily fined. He had arrived from Holland in 1685, and succeeded the Rev. Casparus Van Zuren as minister of the Long Island churches. He became deeply involved in the Leisler troubles. His wife, Margarita Visboom, had many valuable and beautiful possessions.
Governor Andros wrote in 1678:
There are religions of all sorts, one Church of Eng- land, several Presbyterians and Independents, Quakers and Anabaptists of several sects, some Jews, but Presby- terians and Independents most numerous and substantial.
Governor Dongan, who was a Roman Catholic, and who brought over with him a Jesuit priest who cele- brated Mass in the Governor's private apartments in the Fort on Sundays, to which the Roman Catholics of the town were admitted, wrote home the following :
New York has a chaplain belonging to the Fort of the Church of England; secondly a Dutch Calvinist; third, a French Calvinist; and fourth, a Dutch Lutheran. There be not many of England; a few Roman Catholics; abundance of Quaker preachers, men and women; sing- ing Quakers, ranting Quakers, Sabbatarians, anti Sab- batarians some Anabaptists, some Independents, some Jews; in short, of all sorts of opinions there are some, and the most part of none at all.
In 1865, William Byrd, of Westover, Virginia, noted on his trip to Albany :
They have as many Sects of religion there as att Am- sterdam, all being tolerated, yet the people seem not con- cerned what religion their Neighbour is of, or whether hee hath any or none.
Miller, also in 1695, remarked upon the condition of religion in not very complimentary terms. He said :
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The number of the inhabitants in this province are about 3000 families, whereof almost one-half are natur- ally Dutch, a great part English and the rest French. As to their religion, they are very much divided; few of them intelligent and sincere, but the most part ignorant and conceited, fickle and regardless.
Finally, Madam Knight observed in 1702:
They are generally of the Church of England and have a New England Gentleman for their minister and a very fine church set out with all Customary requisites. There are also a Dutch and Divers Conventicles as they call them, viz., Baptist, Quakers, etc. They are not strict in keeping the Sabbath as in Boston and other places where I had bin, But seem to deal with great exactness as farr as I see or Deall with. They are sociable to one another . and fare well in their houses.
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