USA > New York > Ecclesiastical records, state of New York, Volume V > Part 14
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Colonial Laws of New York, Vol. III. pp. 842, 843, 844.
(See March 5, 1752; April 5, July 4, Dec. 12, 1753; Dec. 7, 1754; also Regents' Bulletin, 1893, 257.)
CORRESPONDENCE FROM AMERICA.
The Church of New Paltz, to the Classis of Amsterdam, Dec. 10, 1751. O. S. Portfolio " New York " Vol. ii. Also in xxiii, 223. Reference, xxiv, 9.
Very Rev. Classical Assembly, Beloved Fathers and Brethren in Christ :-
We, the undersigned, consistory of the Reformed Walloon Church at New Paltz, having a short time ago placed ourselves under the direction of the Rev. Coetus at
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New York, and so under that of your Reverences, wish your Rev. Assembly blessing and life forevermore.
Since it has come to our ears that your Rev. Assembly does not consider the action of the Rev. Coetus regarding us as worthy of praise, we feel impelled to present to your Reverences as clearly as possible, the whole matter of our contention with the consistory of Kingston, asking your Reverences, in a fraternal spirit, to give us a patient hearing, as indeed we expect you will.
For their most holy faith, our ancestors fled from France to this wilderness, to escape the Roman Antichrist. Having bought a land-patent from the Indians, they settled in this locality in the year 1677. This place of residence was guaranteed to them by the Duke of York, (subsequently James the Second, King of Great Britain), through Governor Andros. And until the present time, they, and we their descend- ants, have, without political interference, enjoyed protection and privileges, as French Protestant Refugees.
As far as their strength allowed, which was, indeed, small at first, they saw to it that, besides maintaining Family Worship, they should have in their midst the public service of pure Religion. In the village of the Paltz they built a churchi about the year 1718, and worship was conducted there every Sunday in the French lan- guage by French ministers whenever they were to be had; such as Rev. De Pierre d'Alje (Daille) and Rev. Bon Repos, who in the year 1683, appointed a consistory. Several others also officiated, of whom Molinaer, who was minister at New Rochelle, was the last, in the year 1759. Whenever there was no minister, a sermon was read in French.
Meanwhile Dutch families came to take up their residence, here and there, among us. About the year 1727 services of worship began to be held afternoons in the Dutch language. Because there was no more French ministers to be had, we employed also, provisionally some German ministers. Some of us also contributed something toward the salaries of the ministers of Kingston; because, when we had no minister of our own, we did sometimes trouble that church and its minister, as being nearest to us, for the baptism of our children. Many of us, who understood the Dutch language, did at times go to church there. As well-disposed neighbors, we also contributed toward its church building and church expenses. Some Dutch families, having removed from the Kingston community and its villages, as also from some other places, to take up their residence among us, still continued their connection with the Kingston Church. Some, while dwelling among us, were received on confession there, because we had no minister.
Finally, the Kingston Church attempted to draw us entirely to itself, and to make us a part of itself, in order that we might supply a permanent perquisite for its ministers. In our continuous opposition to that attempt, we diligently sought to keep our greatly increasing church in combination with one or two of the neighbor- ing churches nearest to us, but west of us, for the settlement of a minister. Kings- ton, however, always tried to prevent this. It was in a condition to make many inroads upon us, and to draw away many of our residents, because we were as yet too weak to support a minister of our own; for we lacked the living voice of preach- ing as well as the administration of the Sacraments-privileges which the neighbor- ing Kingston always enjoyed.
Upon the advice, and what seemed to us the well-founded reasonings of Rev. Petrus Van Driessen, minister at Albany, concerning the ordination in New Eng- land of Jan Van Driessen, (whose conduct in these regions had not yet then become open to remarks), We, as a French Church, which, by the statutes of England, had a right to correspond with any Protestant Churches which are in the King's dominion, in the year 1733 throught proper to call this Jan Van Driessen to be our minister. Kingston had very much to say against this, under the ridiculous pretext that we were a part of its Church. But what reason had we, Walloon Refugees, who at the time were under no obligation, either to Kingston, nor under the jurisdiction of any other Dutch Church, to believe Rev. Peter Vas, (of Kingston) rather than Rev. Peter Van Driessen. Both were outsiders and simply advisers? But alas! What happens? Our neighbor, Kingston, to whom we had done so much good, and whose church burdens, out of pure benevolence, we had helped to carry, unfortunately goes to work and put us under discipline. Why? because we, poor French Refugees, a Walloon Church, had made use of our rights, and of the country's liberties, which had been granted us by our gracious King. We did not know that a Dutch Church had the power to put under the ban a Walloon Church. Nor can we yet account for it; for it looks so utterly incomprehensible to us.
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Not long after, Kingston gave a striking proof of its skill in Church Order. They called, and that in opposition to many of their members and elders, for their second minister, a certain Mancius, a German. He, upon being written to by a little neigh- bor to the north of them, by the name of Saugerties, came over from Germany for a very small sum of money; but, finding it too meagre to his liking there, had gone to Paramus or (and) Schralenburg to live. Besides, it is thought, that he had been ordained, not at Amsterdam, but somewhere in Germany; whereas the cry has always been, that Amsterdam or at least Holland, was the only right door for a shepherd to enter into the sheepfold of the Dutch Church. But in no Church Order have we found the right to put them under ban or censure. They had been advised also against calling Mancius, but they rejected that advice. We knew where Van Driessen had been ordained, but not where Mancius had been. Whether a German Church official has a better right to officiate, under Dutch Church jurisdiction; than one from New England, holding the same Confession of Faith, has in a Walloon Church, both being under the English dominion; and which is the greater blunder of the two, we leave to wiser men to decide.
To return to our own affairs. We are, nevertheless, led to present our grievous complaint to your Reverences. Upon the advice of Rev. Goetschius, we have now gone over to you, having by the Rev. Coetus been recognized and accepted as a church independent of Kingston. May it please God, now and hereafter, to reward a thousand fold, the Christian compassion manifested by the ministers and elders of the Rev. Coetus. The above mentioned Mr. Mancius, as long as he has been a resident of Kingston, has done his best to divide us; yea, indeed, to make us appear as Schismatics under discipline, both before your Revs., as also before the Rev. Coetus; notwithstanding the fact that our whole condition is perfectly known to the Rev. Coetus, and that many of its worthy members are intimately acquainted with us. And to our great grief and agitation, we must hear him daily revile and treat with despite these (Coetus) members, with his slanderous tongue. Indeed, even the Rev. Classis does not escape his inconsiderate remarks, because that body assured us by letter of the 15th of November, 1749, as well as by the mouth of Rev. Weymuth, who had been authorized thereto, that it had received us under its protection.
Men, Fathers and Brethren, do but think how painful this must be to us. Although our parents escaped from under the ban of the Roman Antichrist, we, in this day, should still encounter obstruction, and that from a consistory and minister who count themselves as belonging under the jurisdiction of your Reverences; and that they have done such a shameful deed as though it were by your Reverences con- nivance. We cannot but believe, however, that your Reverences have some bowels of compassion and mercy for poor oppressed Christians and their children; and that you will not allow them to be destroyed by those who are subordinate to your Rev- erences; and especially, since we also have now become subordinate to your Rev- erences. And now we cannot refrain from asking your Very Rev. Church Assembly, with all respect and modesty, whether such a thing has been done by the authority and permission of your Reverences, as those who wronged us, pretend.
And now in the fear of God, we already, if necessary, by clearest argument and with mathematical precision, to demonstrate to the Rev. Coetus and also to your Reverences, and to convince even our greatest enemy if he has still a spark of human conscience left, that from our earliest occupancy of our Patent, (which is older than the Kingston's Patent,) we have been a complete French Church, with consistories of our own, and independent of Kingston; and that, therefore, we have been wronged and offended in this Kingston discipline, in the most unchristian manner, and particularly by the action of Mr. Mancius.
For many years, with uplifted and folded hands, in our secret prayers, we have brought this complaint before the Judge of Heaven. And now we lay it in the most emphatic terms before the Assembly of your Reverences, with a most earnest request that your Reverences may hear us and give us help and deliverance; and, in accord- ance with all ecclesiastical authority, punish such an abominable offence. We ask the very Rev. Classical Assembly to authorize the Rev. Coetus at New York to sum- mon Mr. Mancius before them, with his consistory and to demand account of them, and to correct them, ecclesiastically, as the exigencies of the case may require; and may this be done, in order to restore, at last, the long wished for, but much dis- turbed, rest, of our poor church. This, for the sake of God, we desire most earnestly and persistently. Nor shall we ever be able to content ourselves until the Rev. Classical Assembly has fulfilled this our just desire.
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We are prepared at the proper time, to prove before such ecclesiastical court, by a cloud of ear and eye witnesses, not only the groundlessness of the discipline, our independence of Kingston, and the shameful untruthfulness of the three reasons which Mr. Mancius gives in his letter to Rev. Ritzema and to the Rev. Classis of Amsterdam; but also, how, to the offence of all good and upright souls, he chatters invectives and slanders about the Rev. Coetus in general, and many of the ministers in particular; in what a detestable manner he addressed many of our members and residents; how clearly obvious, in his partisan dealings, are his covetousness and vindictiveness; how Rev. Vas admitted to the Lord's Supper some of our members, whom he (Mancius) pretends, have been disciplined; and who at the next season, were again repelled; what mental distress he has caused, in weak Christians, by demanding of them a new confession, and an evidence of penitence for taking the Lord's Supper with Van Driessen, or else refusing to give them certificates of membership.
Thus he has disturbed many in our church; caused separation and discord among us; made inroads upon our church; and done other things of a similar kind. What a pity it is, that such a person, and his conduct, besides his bad management, in and with his own church, are not better known to your Reverences. Yea, indeed, and what is more, that such a one is still so influential in the Rev. Classis, that he not only uses language which is painful to us concerning Rev. Goetschius, (the man who took pity on us in our misery, and whom, next to God, we have to thank, for the deliverance thus far brought us); but also that he considers undeserving of any praise, the action taken on our case by the entire Coetus; that body, which, by long journeys, by expenditure of money and loss of time, and by the experience of many vexatious difficulties, relieves the Classis of many difficult troubles, and all without remuneration; yea, that body, which still kept our New Netherland Church on its feet, when it had come near its fall. The Coetus is, unquestionably, in a condition to pass most righteous judgements on cases which arise among us; and its members as neighbors, mutually acquainted, and as godly ministers, do pass such judgements. Whereas their Revs. might, just as Mancius does, take their ease by staying at home, and leaving the Classis and the New Netherland Church to take care of them- selves. Ah, Lord! who could have imagined such a thing? We are alarmed and amazed at it. Yet we do not lose courage, (cast away our boldness), resting as it does, on the promise of the Lord. For we know that He will save His Church, and will help the truth, although long cast down, to stand up again.
We make this further request of the Rev. Classical Assembly. In case this letter should be delivered before brother Vrooman, (whom we expect to be our minister, and who has the affections of the whole church), presents himself to the Rev. Classis, ordain him, in accordance with Church Order and usage, to be the regular minister of our church, in combination with those of Shawaugunk and Walkill. Thus that matter on which so much depends for the welfare of our church, will no longer be retarded by unreasonable opposition, and our poor church will not be put to greater inconvenience.
Herewith we close, commending your very Rev. Ecclesiastical Assembly, your persons, families and churches, as well as your gospel-ministry, to the blessed care of the all-sufficient God, who has hitherto helped us. With all due submission to your Reverences, We, the Elders and Deacons, chosen and installed by order of the Rev. Coetus at New York, by authority of our Church at New Paltz, subscribe our names;
Daniel Du Bois Johannes Hardenberg Johann George Rand Evert Terwilliger.
New Paltz, Dec. 10, 1751, O. S.
Dec. 14, 1751.
P. S. The Rev. Consistory at New Paltz brought this communication to me and asked my advice about it. As requested, I made, as your Revs. can see, a few changes in it. The consistory begs to be excused for its not being put in better form, and so I could not refuse my consent to its being read to the Rev. Classis.
Submitting it in a fraternal spirit, my request is that the Rev. Classis may be pleased to give it its attention. I am fully assured that the church at New Paltz can prove incontestably all that this paper contains, and a great deal more. Mean-
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while, may it please Him who directs the hearts of men to lead your Reverences Ecclesiastical Assembly in this, as in other matters, with his light and truth!
Your Very Reverends' most Obedient and Humble Brother in Christ Jesus,
J. H. Goetschius, H. M. Eccl. at Hackensack, etc. Scralenburg, Dec. 14, 1751.
CHURCH OF NEW YORK. Catechist. Organist.
New York, Dec. 12, 1751.
Consistory held. Mr. Vander Swan requested a certificate of his appointment as Comforter-of-the-Sick and Catechist of the city of New York. This was granted. The president was requested to prepare it. This was done.
P. Bausman requested a request, in writing, for help from the Consistory toward his support as an Organist of the Old Church. After deliberation this was agreed to. Three of the members (of Consistory), with certain ones from the congregation, were requested to go around to collect a salary for him. Let them do their best, and the Consistory would also help them, but would not become responsible for any payment. Three of the members undertook the work.
L. De Ronde, p. t. President.
CHURCH OF NEW YORK.
Oldest Minister to have choice of Parsonages. Jan. 9, 1752.
At a meeting of the Elders, Deacons and Church-Masters of the Dutch Reformed Church of New York, in their Consistory Chamber, Jan. 9, 1752, it was unanimously Resolved, That, inasmuch as there are two Ministers' Houses, the Minister who has been longest in service in this Church shall have his choice of the two, for his dwelling; and the other shall be for the one who has been the next longest in service.
This was signed by all the members present with their own hands.
Church Masters.
Deacons. Elders.
Nicholas Roosevelt
Evert Bancker
Chr. Bancker
Luke Roome Richard Ray Andrew Meyer
John Livingston
Jas. Roosevelt
Corn. Clopper, Jr.
Abel Hardenbrock
Hend. Bogert Andries Breested
Robt. Benson
Abm. Lynssen
Dirck Lefferts
Evert Byvanck
In the presence of me, J. Ritzema.
The Consistory make known this resolution to Domine Boel as the oldest minister. Accordingly the choice was given him to have the dwelling of (the late) Domine G. du Bois, or to remain where he was. After some days of consideration, he con- cluded to stay where he was, and gave his thanks to the Consistory for their very special offer.
ACTS OF THE CLASSIS OF AMSTERDAM. Letters to New York and Staten Island.
1752, Jan. 11th. Art. 7. The Rev. ad res Exteras read a letter to the Coetus of New York; also one to the Consistory of Staten Island (and Bergen.) The Rev. Assembly approved the same, and thanked those gentlemen. xii. 281.
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
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CORRESPONDENCE FROM AMERICA.
Revs. Johannes Ritzema and Lambertus de Ronde to the classis of Amsterdam, Jan. 30, 1752.
Portfolio " New York ", Vol. ii. Also in Vol. xxiii, 225.
Reference, xxiv. 8.
Very Reverend, Very Learned and Respected Sirs, Fathers and Brethren :-
Although the minutes of the last held meeting of our Coetus, both of its regular session, Sept. 17, (Sept. 10-17) and of its special session, Oct. 16, and days following, 1751, have not yet been sent over to your Revs., because the majority have the idea that they must be reviewed at the next following Coetus, and then sent over, signed, together with the letter that goes with them; our great perplexity, arising from the very sad state of things on Long Island, constrains us to address your Revs. and to give you some information.
After a great deal of trouble and inconceivable worry, the Coetus could finally see no better way for getting the two parties reconciled, than that of letting both min- isters preach penitential sermons, in which each one should make confession of his wrong doing. Then, some one else should preach a Peace Sermon. Furthermore, following a precedent formerly directed by the Rev. Classis for Kings County, one new consistory was to be chosen on Long Island, consisting of members of each of the parties. If, then, Arondeus should do his duty, he was to be called. Arondeus finally agreed to do this, namely, to preach a Confession Sermon, so far, he added, as his conscience would allow, and as should accord with sound reason and the Word of God. Van Sinderen also accepted the proposal, stating that he was willing to make confession of his lukewarmness and to make up with Arondeus; but as to the rest, he would adhere to his declaration against Arondeus, as he had submitted it, and, together with his people, would continue to protest against calling Arondeus.
The Coetus, however, dealing with members whose duty it was to submit them- selves to its acts, and desiring to bring about, if possible, the long wished for peace, with the suppression of that discord and violence, which is so injurious to both soul and body, gave no heed to these exceptions; but, after it had prescribed for each of the ministers the respective points of their confessions, it appointed a committee of three ministers, John Ritzema, John Frielinghuysen, and Lambertus de Ronde, to hear this imposed confession on Nov. 26th, 1751. It was also agreed to choose a (new) consistory in the hope of paving the way to a new call.
But alas! for the result. We, commissioners, with our elders, arrived on Long Island at the appointed time. First, Rev. de Ronde preached a Peace Sermon. Then we heard Arondeus make his confession, and the next day Van Sinderen, his. Then, when we, the commissioners, came together to deliberate, it was with a deep feeling of grief, that we came to the conclusion that Arondeus was not sincere, but had acted deceitfully and arrogantly in the whole matter. It is too long a story to give your Revs. a full account of his conduct. When we asked him whether he thought that such a sermon would do, he replied that he had said more than he was obliged to, and that his conscience would not allow him to say more. He advanced other foolish and worthless subterfuges of that kind, while his sermon, instead of being a confession, was rather a defence.
And what were to do now. We certainly had great reason to drop him altogether, and to put up with his stubbornness, ridicule and inconsiderate invectives no longer. But, as we had been practicing so much patience with him, we decided to make another last attempt. We sought to convince him of his hardness and misconcep- tion, and asked him if he would preach another and a sincere Confession Sermon, such as the Coetus demanded. After long and tedious delay, he sent word the next day by two or three of his followers, saying, Yes. But now the other party, having gone off by themselves, were not at all pleased with this proposition. They declared that, while they were inclined to be reconciled with him and his party, they neither could nor would agree to calling Arondeus. We at once perceived, therefore, that the preaching of a second Confession Sermon by Arondeus, whatever he might make
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of it, would not promote his being called. But we held to our resolution, and the time for a second Confession was fixed.
After we had considered the matter, however, more fully, and were assured that the other party were not inclined any way to call Arondeus, especially because he had behaved so badly in making his first Confession; then Rev. Ritzema and de Ronde, (Mr. John Frielinghuysen was written to on the subject, but did not receive the letter in time), became convinced that, as the other party were not at all well- disposed toward Arondeus, it would not be necessary for him to preach a new Con- fession Sermon at the time appointed. Later, we heard that he would not have done it any how. And we here in New York, who have a great deal of work, with our pulpit ministry and all that belongs to it, had no desire to break our heads, or disquiet our souls any further, about that contrary man, and so we left the matter in statu quo.
So Arondeus made no second Confession. But what happens meanwhile? The adherents of Arondeus acknowledge that he had not acted nicely at all, but in an unscriptural way. At the same time, by way of apology for him, they urge an objection to that point in the confession, which required their minister to say, before God and men, that he had intruded himself into the service on Long Island; and that for this he had been declared by the Classis to be an illegal minister there. This, they denied. They could not comprehend that Arondeus would do such a thing. There must have been some mistake in the document extending the call to him; or the matter had not been carried on as it ought to have been, namely, in the presence of a minister.
The consistory, both elders and deacons, had asked Van Sinderen more than once, (to preside), but he had refused, not wanting to have anything to do with Arondeus. So they called Arondeus. Arondeus at first declined; not only once, but several times, no matter what trouble the members of the consistory took. But finally, seeing the unwillingness of Rev. Van Sinderen to be present at the making out of the call, and not thinking that that was so very necessary; or not having in mind the Church Order, he accepted the call to Long Island. They cannot imagine, therefore, that such an act can, according to Church Order, be called "an intruding oneself into service." At any rate, this is the chief point to which Arondeus takes exception, and he is unfairly judged by his opponents; for, say they, Brooklyn and New Utrecht took him in before some of the elders of the other churches had fallen away from Van Sinderen, and that he had not been called by a majority. Also, Van Sinderen had not refused to sign a call for any minister who pleased them, if it had the consent of the five churches and was in accordance with Church Order.
Thus, Rev. Sirs, the matter stands on the two sides; and what to think of it, one hardly knows. Things are all in confusion. And, although they have been laid before your Revs., we want to submit one thing and another yet again to your Revs. judgement. Your Revs. will possibly say, "To what purpose? We have already approved the decision of the Coetus." That is true, but now that Arondeus's party have submitted themselves to the Coetus, one gets somewhat better information of one thing and another on both sides. And, in this matter, regard should be had to the people of Arondeus, as well as to Arondeus himself. What is to be the result of executing the sentence? Arondeus, if he remains as he is, is wholly unworthy of ascending the pulpit, for he has conducted himself shamefully. But the people of Arondeus, in all, one hundred and seventy six families, want him, as soon as he has made confession of the sin of which he is guilty; and they are in a condition to pay him; while those of Van Sinderen, who are opposed to him (Arondeus), and do not want him, number only one hundred and twenty, or at least not many more. At any rate, they are by no means as many.
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