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ACTS OF THE CLASSIS OF AMSTERDAM.
William Vestiens.
1
1655, June 14th.
William Vestiens, returning home, from New Netherland, and having been a Visitor of the Sick there, asks that he may be sent in the same capacity to the East Indies. His church credentials having been read, his request is recommended to the Deputies ad res Indicas. Also his request of the Messrs. Directors of the West India Company, that he may receive some recognition for the services of sexton, done by him for some time, (is recom- mended. )- v. 378.
339
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1655
ORDER ON A PETITION OF THE MAGISTRATES OF MIDWOUT AND AMESFOORT FOR ASSISTANCE IN MAINTAINING THEIR MINISTER.
Tuesday, 15th of June, 1655.
After reading the petition of the Magistrates of Midwout and Amesfoort showing that for the accommodation of Domine Polhemius, their present Minister, they had erected a convenient dwelling and also allotted to him a parcel of land and asking that, as they were still very poor, they might receive assistance by voluntary con- tributions.
It was resolved to consider the petitioners' request, when the building is com- pleted, the land fenced in and the account of expenditures for the same presented to the Council. Date as above .- Col. Docs. N. Y. xiv. 327.
SYNOD OF NORTH HOLLAND, AT EDAM.
1655, Aug. 17 et seq.
Art. 42. Rev. Polhemius and his wife.
Regarding Article 48, treating of Rev. Polhemius and his wife: The Rev. Deputati relate that after many difficulties he had ar- rived in New Netherland, and had been recommended by them and by the Deputies of Amsterdam to the Messrs. Directors (of the West India Company), so that, so far as they could effect it, he be employed in the Sacred Ministry there. They had also prom- ised to make inquiries about him, and to aid as much as possible towards his employment. They also made known to the said Di- rectors the distress of his wife, who is now at Amsterdam. She asks for the arrears of her husband's salary, but could obtain nothing; except that one hundred guilders had been given her by them. All the Classes also have done their part, except Haar- lem, which remained in statu, because they had not heard about her. Regarding the church of Moordrecht, Edam excuses itself ; Hoorn has done its share; the other Classes remain in statu.
340
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORDS
1655
RESOLUTION TO EXEMPT THE JEWS FROM MILITARY SERVICE.
August 28, 1655.
The Captains and officers of the trainbands of this City having asked the Director General and Council, whether the Jewish people, who reside in this City, should also train and mount guard with the Citizens' bands, this was taken in considera- tion and deliberated upon: first the disgust and unwillingness of these trainbands to be fellow-soldiers with the aforesaid nation and to be on guard with them in the same guard house and on the other side, that the said nation was not admitted or counted among the citizens, as regards trainbands or common citizens' guards neither in the illustrious City of Amsterdam nor (to our knowledge) in any city in Netherland; but in order that the said nation may honestly be taxed for their free- dom in that respect, it is directed by the Director General and Council, to prevent further discontent, that the aforesaid nation shall, according to the usages of the renowned City of Amsterdam, remain exempt from the general training and guard duty, on condition that each male person over sixteen and under sixty years con- tribute for the aforesaid freedom towards the relief of the general municipal taxes sixty five stivers* every month and the military council of the citizens is hereby authorized and charged to carry this into effect until our further orders and to collect pursuant to the above the aforesaid contribution once in every. month and in case of refusal to collect it by legal process. Thus done in Council at Fort Am- sterdam, on the day as above. (It was signed).
P. Stuyvesant, Nicasius De Sille, Cornelis Van Tienhoven. Col. Docs. N. Y. xii. 96. .
EXPULSION OF SWEDISH MINISTERS FROM DELAWARE.
1655, Sept. 25.
Immediately after the surrender of Fort Christina, Stuyvesant offered, in compli- ance with his instructions, to restore the place to Rysingh, on honorable and fair conditions, and made him, accordingly, a tender of the keys, but these the Swede refused. The matter was no longer within his province, and he preferred to abide by the capitulation. A proclamation was, thereupon, issued, ordering all who wished to remain in the country to take the oath of allegiance. Twenty persons gave in their adhesion. Two out of three of the Swedish clergymen, then on the river, were summarily expelled the country; the third was saved from similar ill treatment solely by intelligence that the Manhattans and adjoining settlements were a prey to all the horrors of an Indian foray .- O'Callaghan's History of New Nether- land, Vol. ii., 289.
FATHER LE MOYNE AT BEVERWYCK.
1655, September.
Shortly after the installation of the new Vice Director [John de Decker,] Father Le Moyne took occasion to pay his respects to the Dutch at Beverwyck. He was received with much respect by the Hollanders; and the Mohawks whom he visited for the purpose of concluding a treaty, on the part of the French, evinced more than ordinary gratification at seeing him. But the Father had not well left the country when a body of one hundred of these Indians presented themselves at Fort Orange. They were on the eve of setting forth on a war excursion against the Canada Indians, and fearing " that the French had poisoned the ears of their Dutch brothers against them," now asked the latter to remain neuter .- O'Callaghan's History of New Netherland, Vol. ii., 306.
* One stiver - Two cents.
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
341
1655
COURT MINUTES OF NEW AMSTERDAM.
1655, Oct. 11th.
For the greater security of the City of Amsterdam, there was a large voluntary subscription and taxation. In this list, which covers five and a half pages, and which represents, in some sense, the ability of the several inhabitants, we find the following :-
Peter Stuyvesant 1. 150.
Domine Megapolensis,
50.
Domine Drisius,
50.
Cornelius Steenwyck,
100.
Isaac Kip,
20.
Hendrick Kip,
25.
Warner Wessels,
25.
Pieter Jacobszen Marius,
20.
The total amounted to six thousand three hundred and five florins or two thou- sand five hundred and twenty-two dollars .- Records of New Amsterdam, i. 366-375.
RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF NEW YORK, 1656.
" Until 1654 the ecclesiastical policy of the government of New Netherland had not, practically, departed from that of the Fatherland, where, notwithstanding the establishment of a National Reformed Church, we have seen that all other sects were tolerated, and allowed the use of their several forms of worship. The West India Company recognized the authority of the established Church of Holland over their colonial possessions: and the specific care of the Transatlantic churches was early entrusted, by the Synod of North Holland to the Classis of Amsterdam. By that Body all the colonial clergy were approved and commissioned. With its com- mittee Ad res exteras, they maintained a constant correspondence. The Classis of Amsterdam was, in fact, the Metropolitan of New Netherland. For more than a century its ecclesiastical supremacy was affectionately acknowledged; and long after the capitulation of the province to England, the power of ordination to the Min- istry, in the American Branch of the Reformed Dutch Church, remained in the governing Classis in Holland, or was exercised only by its special permission ".
" The clergymen commissioned by the Classis of Amsterdam were, of course, Cal- vinists. They were generally men of high scholarship and thoroughly theological training; for the people, who at Leyden preferred a university to a fair, insisted upon an educated ministry.
" The colonial clergy had much to do, and peculiar difficulties to encounter. A lax morality, produced by the system of government and the circumstances of the province, undoubtedly prevailed among many of the New Netherland colonists. It was difficult to administer the offices of religion to scattered farmers and isolated traders. It was still more difficult to teach the Word to the savages. Yet, Mega- polensis, contemporaneously with Jogues, had attempted to instruct the Mohawks several years before Eliot had begun his missionary labors near Watertown and Dorchester. At Manhattan, too, the work was tried, but with very indifferent suc- cess. The Dutch colonists themselves gladly listened to the Gospel which they had heard in the Fatherland; and churches were built, partly by voluntary contributions of the commonalties, at Manhattan, Beverwyck, and Midwout. To these churches the country-people made toilsome journeys, to bring their ehildren to baptism, to hear the words of the preacher, and to join in that simple but majestic music which they had first sung far across the sea, where the loud chorus overpowers the diapasons of Haerlam and Amsterdam " .- Brodhead's N. Y. i. 614-615.
" In the beginning of 1656, there were four Reformed Dutch Clergymen in New Netherland. Megapolensis and Drisius were colleagues at New Amsterdam; Schaats ministered at Beverwyck; and Polhemus had the joint charge of Breuckelen, Mid-
342
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORDS
1656
wout and Amersfoort. Besides his regular services at New Amsterdam, Drisius occasionally visited Staten Island, where a number of Vandois or Waldenses soon settled themselves; and his knowledge of the French language enabled him to preach satisfactorily to these faithful men, who fled to Holland and to America from the tyranny of their despotic sovereign .- Brodhead, i. 615.
Early in 1656, [March] Megapolensis and Drisius complained to the Director that unqualified persons were preaching and holding conventicles at Middleburg, from which nothing could be expected but discord, confusion, and disorder in Church and State. Stuyvesant was himself a zealous son of the Church. He was an over strict constructionist, and loved the display of arbitrary power. A proclamation, assuming " to promote the glory of God, the increase of the Reformed religion, and the peace and harmony of the Country ", soon appeared, forbidding preachers " not having been called thereto by ecclesiastical or temporal authority ", from holding conventicles not in harmony with the established religion as set forth by the Synod of Dort, "and here, in this land, and in the Fatherland, and in other Reformed Churches observed and followed ". Every unlicensed preacher who should violate this ordinance was subjected to a penalty of one hundred pounds Flemish; and every person who should attend such prohibited meetings became liable to a penalty of twenty five pounds. The ordinance, however, expressly disclaimed "any preju- dice to any patent heretofore given, any lording over the conscience, or any pro- hibition of the reading of God's holy word, and the domestic praying and worship of each one in his family " .- Brodhead's N. Y. i. 617.
ORDER ON A PETITION OF THE CLERGY AGAINST CONVENTICLES AND PREACHING BY UNQUALIFIED PERSONS AT NEWTOWN, LONG ISLAND.
January 15th, 1656.
Present in Council their Honors, the Director General Petrus Stuyvesant, Messrs. Nicasius de Sille and La Montagne and the Fiscal Cornelis van Tienhoven.
After having read the petition of the preachers of this City of Amsterdam, hereafter following, the following order was made:
Concerning the conventicles and the assuming to teach the Gospel by unquali- fied persons, placats shall be issued against them; as to the last, the petitioners are requested to proceed to Middleburgh when convenient, to inquire with the advice of the Magistrates and some of the best informed inhabitants for a person fit to act as reader there: after which, their petition shall be taken into further consideration. Done in Council, date as above.
P. Stuyvesant. N. de Sille, La Montagne.
Copy.
To their Noble Honors, the Director General and Council of New Netherland.
Show with due reverence the preachers in this City, that they have been in- formed by several persons living at Middleburgh in this Province, that since the removal and during the absence of Mr. Moore, lately preacher there, some in- habitants of that place and unqualified persons have ventured to hold conventicles and gatherings and assumed to teach the Gospel, from which nothing but quarrels, confusion and disorders may be expected in Church and communalty not only in that place, but also, by giving a bad example, in other places of this Province.
They request therefore, that some provision be made by your Honors' authority and during Mr. Moore's absence some suitable person be appointed, who by reading the Bible and some other edifying and orthodox work on Sunday would continue among the inhabitants the forms of religious worship, until your Honors should make other provisions. Which doing etc.
Johannes Megapolensis Samuel Drisius. - Col. Docs. N. Y. xiv. 336, 337.
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
343
1656
COURT MINUTES OF NEW AMSTERDAM.
New Graveyard. Board of Churchmasters appointed.
1656, January 24.
Whereas the Honorable General has had it proposed to him, that it is highly necessary to divide the Old Graveyard, which is wholly in ruins, into lots to be built upon, and to make another Graveyard south of the Fort, and to remove the houses standing there, on a valuation, what resolution should be taken thereupon ?*
The Burgomasters and Schepens decide on the
1st. That it is highly necessary to establish a Graveyard at another suitable place, or to put it into good order where it now is: but that it is not, at present, advisable to throw down the houses, south of the Fort and to locate it there. But it was considered, that it would be better, west of the Fort, in the neighborhood of the Windmill, where there is a good hill clear of timber.
2nd. Whereas the Church in the Fort is more and more out of repair, without anything having been done to it, and the Honorable General is at present the only Churchmaster; if it be not advisable that a new Churchmaster be appointed and the Honorable General discharged?
On the second was decided
That four persons be proposed by the Burgomasters to the Honorable General and Council, to select and commission two therefrom as Churchmasters .- Records of New Amsterdam, Vol. ii. pp. 24, 25.
ACTION OF THE DIRECTOR AND COUNCIL ON CONVENTICLES.
1656, Feb. 1.
The Director General and Council have been credibly informed, that not only conventicles and meetings have been held here and there in this Province, but also that unqualified persons presume in such meetings to act as teachers, in interpreting and expound- ing God's Holy Word, without ecclesiastical or secular authority. This is contrary to the general rules, political and ecclesiastical of our Fatherland; and besides, such gatherings lead to trouble, heresies and schisms.
Therefore, to prevent this, the Director General and Council strictly forbid all such public or private conventicles and meet- ings, except the usual and authorized ones, where God's Word, according to the Reformed and established custom, is preached and taught in meetings held for the religious service of the Re- formed Church, conformably to the Synod of Dort, which is to
* The Old Graveyard was on the West side of Broadway, a short distance north of the present Morris Street. It covered one hundred feet square, and in 1665, as will appear in a later volume, it is represented as in a shamefully dilapidated condition.
344
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORDS
1656
be followed here, as in the Fatherland, and in the other Reformed Churches of Europe; under a fine of one hundred pounds Flemish, ($240.), to be paid by all who, in such public or private meet- ings, except at the usual authorized gatherings on Sundays or other days, presume to exercise, without due qualification, the duties of a preacher, reader or chorister ; and each man or woman, married or unmarried, who is found at such a meeting, shall pay a fine of twenty five pounds Flemish, ($60.)
The Director General and Council, however, do not hereby in- tend to force the consciences of any, to the prejudice of formerly given patents, or to forbid the preaching of God's Holy Word, the use of Family Prayers, and divine services in the family; but only all public and private conventicles and gatherings, be they in public or private houses, except the already mentioned usual, and authorized religious services of the Reformed. And that this order may be the better observed, and nobody plead ignorance thereof, the Director General and Council direct and charge their Fiscal, and the inferior Magistrates and Schouts, to publish the same everywhere in this Province, and to prosecute transgressors ; inasmuch as we have so decreed this, for the honor of God, the advancement of the Reformed services, and the quiet, unity and welfare of the country generally.
Thus done, etc., February 1, 1656.
NEW CHURCH AT FORT ORANGE. 1656.
The church erected in 1643 had long since become inadequate to the accommoda- tion of the community, and it had been determined in the course of the preceding year to erect a new building. To assist this good work, the Patroon and co- directors subscribed, Feb. 18, one thousand guilders, or four hundred dollars, and fifteen hundred guilders were appropriated from the fines imposed by the court at Fort Orange. A site, at the junction of what is now State street and Broad- way, was selected, and in the early part of the summer, Rutger Jacobsen, one of the magistrates, laid the corner-stone of the sacred edifice, in the presence of the authorities, both of the town and colonie, and of the assembled inhabitants, June 2. A temporary pulpit was, at first, erected for the use of the minister, but the settlers subscribed twenty five beavers to purchase a more splendid one in Holland. The Chamber at Amsterdam added seventy five guilders to this sum, for "the beavers were greatly damaged; " and " with a view to inspire the congregation with more ardent zeal," presented them in the course of the next year with a bell "to adorn their newly constructed little church."- O'Callaghan's History of New Netherland, Vol. ii., 307.
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
345
1656
PETITION OF THE MAGISTRATES OF MIDWOUT AND AMESFOORT FOR AUTHORITY TO TAKE UP A COLLECTION FOR THE SUPPORT OF THEIR MINISTER.
Tuesday, 15th of February, 1656.
Copy.
To the Noble, Very Worshipful, their Honors the Director General and High Council of New Netherland.
Show with due respect and reverence the Magistrates of Midwout and Amesfoort upon Long Island in New Netherland, that they have adopted a resolution for the common welfare, as they think, to take up a voluntary collection in the villages of Breuckelen, Midwout and Amesfoort and depending places for the support of a Minister or teacher, to which they believe many are willing to contribute; but as they have no authority to do it without having first informed their Noble Worships the Council of New Netherland, the aforesaid Magistrates request hereto your Worships' approbation and favorable order, that they may carry out their well meant project and resolution; the Magistrates aforesaid engaging themselves to give to your Worships or to your Worships' delegates a full and true account and statement of the moneys received, if it is necessary and they are called upon to do so. Which doing etc.
The Magistrates of Midwout, Amesfoort and adjacent places.
By their order Peter Tonneman as Secretary.
Done 8th of February 1656 .- Col. Docs. N. Y. xiv. 337.
COURT MINUTES OF NEW AMSTERDAM. Harmen van Hoboocken, Schoolmaster.
1656, February 21.
Endorsement on the petition of Harmen van Hooboocken, Schoolmaster. The Schout having exhibited, in conformity to instructions from the Honorable Di- . rector General and Council, the request of the Schoolmaster, Harmen van Hooboocken, in Court, they endorsed - Said Schoolmaster shall communicate to the Burgomasters and Schepens, what he is allowed for each child per quarter, pursuant to instructions from the General and Council, which being done, further order shall be taken on petitioner's request .- Records of New Amsterdam, Vol. ii. p. 39.
- PETITION OF THE MAGISTRATES OF BROOKLYN, THAT THE MIN- ISTER OF MIDWOUT PREACH ALTERNATELY IN BROOKLYN.
February 25, 1656.
To their Honors the Director General and Council of New Netherland.
Show with due reverence the Committee of the Schepens of the village of Breuckelen and depending places, that they have learned and see, that the people of Midwout, belonging in their, the petitioners', jurisdiction, are going about tak- ing subscriptions or a collection for the support of the Minister in the said village of Midwout; and as the Rev. Domine Johannes Polhemius is performing the duties of his charge only at Midwout, the inhabitants of Breuckelen and adjacent places are disinclined to subscribe or promise anything for the support of a minister, whose services they do (not) enjoy. The petitioners therefore respectfully request, that the said Domine Johannes Polhemius officiate for the present alternately at
346
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORDS -
1656
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Midwout and Breuckelen (which he appears willing to do); then they are willing to contribute to his support according to their means; or else that they and the inhabitants of Breuckelen and the adjacent places may be excused from con- tributing to the support of a Minister, whose services do not benefit them. Awaiting your Honors' favorable decision we are and remain,
Your Honors obedient servants
Joris Dircksen, Albert Cornelissen, The mark X of Joresey Rapailje.
The foregoing petition having been read in Council and a vote taken thereon, it was resolved to decide as follows:
The Director General and Council of New Netherland have no objection against Domine Johannes Polhemius officiating alternately at both places, wind and weather permitting.
Done in Council, date as above .- Col. Docs. N. Y. xiv. 338.
COURT MINUTES OF NEW AMSTERDAM.
Churchmasters.
1656, February 28.
To the Honorable Director General and Council of New Netherland residing in Fort Amsterdam.
The Burgomasters of this City of Amsterdam respectfully represent, that the Church requires some necessary repairs; and whereas some Churchmasters have either left or died, therefore the Honorable Director General is requested in his capacity, to attend to the said Church; in order, however, to relieve the Honorable Director General of trouble, and to forward the repairs of the Church, the Burgo- masters respectfully request, that your Honors would be pleased to appoint Church- masters.
Endorsement.
The Heer Nicasius d' Silla and Govert Loockermans are elected for this year Churchmasters, to enter on first of March of this year. Dated xii Feb. 1656. Amsterdam in New Netherland. Was subscribed.
P. Stuyvesant.
By order of the Honorable Director and General and Supreme Council of New Netherland.
1
Signed C. v. Ruyven, Secretary. - Records of New Amsterdam, Vol. ii, pp. 50, 51.
COUNCIL MINUTE. APPLICATION FROM THE MAGISTRATES OF MID- WOUT FOR ASSISTANCE TO PAY THEIR MINISTER, AND ANSWER OF THE COUNCIL.
The Schepens of the village of Midwout appeared before the Council and demonstrated, that the subscription obtained for the support of their present Minister Domine Johannes Polhemius amounting to six hundred guilders was only a voluntary contribution and that they could not rely upon it every year, as the inhabitants of the said village, who had settled there only lately and were still without means, would find it a heavy tax and burden upon themselves to con- tribute so much every year. Now as the said Domine had requested, that they should not only pay him the arrears, but also give him henceforth a fixed salary or else he would remove as soon as an opportunity offered, they ask for advice, what to do and how much the Director General and Council would contribute for the minister's support in the name of the Honorable Company.
347 1656
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
The answer of Director General and Council is: They authorize the said Schepens to make a contract with the said Domine Polhemlus, provided that they take care to fulfill the engagements they make and collect the means thereto from the community, as the Company has had many and heavy expenses for years, without receiving any assistance. Besides seven hundred guilders have already been advanced to the said Domine Polhemius for account of the Company during the eighteen months of his residence here and considering the present troubles and scarcity of funds in the Company's treasury, they cannot promise or consent to do so in the future. This may serve for their government. Date as above (March 28, 1656) .- Col. Docs. N. Y. xiv. 345.
COUNCIL MINUTE. RESOLUTION TO OFFER FOR SALE THE HOUSE AND LOT CALLED THE OLD CHURCH, ON THE EAST RIVER, NEW AMSTERDAM.
April 4th, 1656.
Resolved, that on Saturday, the 8th of April, the house, lot and buildings thereon called the Old Church and formerly tenanted by Captain Newton, situate and lying on the East River in the alley running between it and Fiscal Tienhoven's house, opposite the house of Sr. Hendrick Kip be sold at public auction to the highest bidder .- Col. Docs. N. Y. xiv. 346.
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