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* See the patent at length, in Hazard, i., 103-118 ; and in Trumbull's Connecticut, i., 546.
97
MAY AT THE SOUTH RIVER.
hood of Montauk Point, in the " Fortune," came out again CHAP. III. in a new vessel, the " Blyde Boodschap," or Glad Tidings. On this voyage he seems to have direeted his attention May at the 1620. chiefly to the coasts and rivers southward of Manhattan. er. South Riv- Besides examining the regions which Hendrieksen had ex- plored four years before, May also visited the Chesapeake, and aseended the James River as high as Jamestown .* The bay at the mouth of the South River was soon ealled by the Dutch "New Port May ;" and the point at the southern extremity of New Jersey still retains the name of " Cape May." Returning to Holland in the summer of Cape May. 1620, May reported that he had discovered "certain new, populous, and fruitful lands" on the South River. The owners of the Glad Tidings accordingly applied to the 29 August. States General for a special eharter in their favor. At the same time, Hendriek Eelkens and his partners presented an opposing petition, alleging their prior discovery of the regions which May had only recently visited, and praying that the exclusive right to trade there might be granted to them. Upon this, the States General called both parties into their presenee, and directed them to meet together and Special arrange their differences. These differenees, however, ap- fused. charter re- peared to be irreconcilable. After nearly three months' 6 Nov. investigation, a committee of the States General reported that they had vainly attempted to adjust the conflicting elaims ; and their High Mightinesses peremptorily refused the prayers of both memorials.t But the importance of the regions around Manhattan was now becoming more fully appreciated at the Hague. In less than seven months from the rejection of May's ship-owners? petition, the long-pend- Company ing question of a grand eommereial organization was final- by the chartered ly settled ; and an ample charter gave the West India eral.
West India
States Gen- Company almost unlimited powers to colonize, govern, and 1621. defend New Netherland.
3 June.
* De Laet, xiii., p. 93. t Hol. Doc., i., 104-106 ; Wassenaar, ix., 124. G
98
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAPTER IV.
1620.
CHAP. IV. THE United Netherlands now ranked among the fore- most nations of the world. They had signalized the com- mencement of their newly-recognized sovereignty by es- tablishing diplomatic relations with most of the neighbor- ing courts of Europe ; and distant powers had begun to 1610. seek their alliance. The King of Morocco early sent am- bassadors to the states, and negotiated a liberal treaty ; 1612. while the sultan opened to the Dutch the commerce of the Levant, which before had been monopolized by England and France. With Wurtemburg and Brandenburg a mu- tual freedom of trade was soon adjusted ; and, in a me- morial to King James, Raleigh bore eloquent testimony to the large policy of the early tariffs of the Netherlands, de- claring that " the low duties of these wise states draw all traffic to them, and the great liberty allowed to strangers makes a continual mart." As sagacious as he was patri- otic, Olden Barneveldt had consolidated the independence 1616. of his country by procuring from the weakness of James the restitution of the Brielle, Vlissingen, and Rammekens, which had been pledged to Elizabeth as a security for the repayment of her advances to the United Provinces. The surrender of these " cautionary towns"-a measure which excited murmurs and discontent in England, and aston- ishment in other nations-gave intense satisfaction to the people of the Netherlands, and added a new impulse to the commercial prosperity which seven years of peace had es- tablished and confirmed. The flag of the republic floated on every sea-from Japan to Manhattan, from Nova Zem-
Prosperity of the Dutch re- public.
99
THE REFORMATION IN THE NETHERLANDS.
bla to Cape Hoorn-her ports were crowded with richly- CHAP. IV. laden shipping ; her warehouses were filled with the costly products of the East; and the markets, which formerly 1620. knew only the furs of Muscovy, had already become famil- iar with the peltry of New Netherland .*
But while Europe was watching with jealous interest the triumphant progress of the United Provinces, a cause was secretly at work within, which threatened more evil to the nation than all the might of foreign foes. During the greater part of the war with Spain, religious differences Religious had, more or less, prevailed in the Netherlands. When the sions. dissen- truce was finally signed, men's minds, relieved from the absorbing consideration of martial affairs, were soon eager- ly engaged in fierce debates on articles of faith ; and the theological controversy waxed as bitter in spirit as the po- litical contest which had just been settled.
Early in the fifth century, Saint Augustine opened the Pelagian- famous controversy upon the "heresies" which the En- ism. glish monk Pelagius had just broached. Augustine main- tained the doctrines of original sin, and the predestination of the elect to salvation. Pelagius denied them. The Churches of the East generally supported Pelagius ; those of the West, Augustine. Luther, a disciple of Augustine, affirmed the doctrines of the patron of his order ; and Cal- vin, following the great Father of the Reformation, with Calvinism. severe logic carried them out to their extreme conse- quences. Besides their distinctions in doctrine, the two Reformers differed also in their views respecting church government and the ceremonies of worship; the some- what conservative opinions of the leader of the German Protestants, upon these points, contrasting strongly with the more thorough system of the Genevese theologian.
Wessel Gansevoort and Rudolf Agricola, of Groningen, The Refor- had already begun to teach evangelical faith. When Holland. mation in the writings of Luther were printed in Friesland, and 1518. circulated in Holland, Erasmus, though at heart not op- posed to many of the views of the German Reformer,
* Van Meteren, xxxi., 662 ; xxxii., 694, 707 ; Davies, ii., 446, 452 ; McCullagh, ii., 251
100
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. IV. thought that the cause of truth would be better promoted 1518. by less violent proceedings. Interposing between the fol- lowers of Luther and the adherents of the Pope, Erasmus drew upon himself, for a time, the ill will of both parties. The mild impartiality of Adrian II., however, saw and ad- mitted the necessity of correcting the abuses in the Church ; 1522. and the Rotterdam scholar was invited to Rome to assist the Pontiff with his advice. But Erasmus, remaining in Holland, devoted his admirable talents to the cause of Re- form in his own land. The seeds of truth, which had germinated there, could not be rooted out by all the efforts of the inquisitors of Charles V. and Philip II. The suc- cessive edicts of the kings of Spain but planted more deep- ly in the hearts of the people the emancipating principles of the Reformation. Persecution but confirmed their be- lief, and invigorated their zeal. The old nobility and the beneficed prelates, dreading a change which might dam- age their secular interests, generally adhered to the Pope ; but the popular movement carried along with it the infe- rior clergy. Mind acted on mind, and prescription yielded to the irresistible impulse. A Confession of Faith, modeled after that of the Calvinistic Church of France, was adopted, 1561. in 1561, by the Protestants of the Netherlands, who thence- forward went by the name of " THE REFORMED."*
The Re- formed Dutch Church.
First preaching of the Re- formed. 1566.
,
The first public meeting and preaching of the Reformed in Holland took place in a field near the city of Hoorn, on the fourteenth of July, 1566. The rumor of this bold step soon spread over the province, and Protestants at Haerlem, Leyden, and other towns, followed the example of their brethren at Hoorn. Ministers were presently settled in the chief cities; and the Reformed doctrine was openly preached in the grand cathedrals which the Vandal fervor The Psalms of Iconoclasts had despoiled. The Psalms were translated translated. into Low Dutch, and sung by great congregations. Thus, by degrees, the minds of the people were fully prepared for 1573. the important step which the states took, in the year 1573,
* Brandt's History of the Reformation, ii., 64, 84 ; v., 254 ; Davies, i., 354-356, 446; ii., 452-454.
101
DLISHMENT OF THE REFORMED RELIGION.
of expelling the Roman Catholics from the churches. Yet CHAP. IV. this measure was carried with great difficulty, and after much opposition ; and it was justified only by the consid- 1573. erations of pressing political necessity, and of the danger of trusting too much, during the war with Spain, to ec- clesiastics who had sworn allegiance to the Pope, and who remained firm in that allegiance. The Reformed religion, Establish- as taught in Geneva and elsewhere, was publicly estab- Reformed lished in Holland about the close of the year. At the religion. same time, and notwithstanding the acts of severity which they felt themselves compelled to use against the Papists, the people were of opinion "not only that all religions ought to be tolerated, but that all restraint in matters of religion was as detestable as the Inquisition itself."*
Two years after the famous Union of Utrecht, in 1579, the Prince of Orange, on accepting the office of stadthold- 1581. er, which was formally confirmed to him by the States of 2 July. Holland, proclaimed that he would "maintain and promote the Reformed religion, and no other ;" but " that he should not suffer any man to be called to account, molested, or injured, for his faith and conscience." In a few days, the noble manifesto of the States'General announced to the 26 July. world that the Dutch had openly rejected Philip as their king, and that the people of the Netherlands were absolved from all allegiance to their former sovereign. This obliged the stadtholder to issue a proclamation prohibiting the pub- 26 Dec. lic exercise of the Romish religion ; nevertheless, the same instrument declared that it was not intended " to impose Freedom of any burden, or make inquisition into any man's con- proclaimed. conscience science." While Calvinism was thus established as the national religion of Holland, the followers of all other modes of faith were freely allowed to conduct their worship in private houses, which were frequently as spacious as the churches themselves. Under this system, there was, in fact, an entire liberty in the use of diverse services. Hooft, the burgomaster of Amsterdam, in a public address to his 1598. colleagues, declared that magistrates should not "pretend 26 Jan.
* Brandt, vi., 318 ; x., 549, 550 ; Davies, i., 526-530, 541.
ment of the
102
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. IV. to build up living temples to the Lord by force, and by 1598. external arms ;" for, in their conflict with Spain, the Dutch had openly maintained that " no princes nor magistrates had any authority over the consciences of their subjects in matters of religion."*
Thus religious freedom was, from the first, recognized as a universal right, and accompanied the spread of the Toleration of other religions. Reformation in Holland. If Germany nursed the infancy of the Protestant faith, the Netherlands developed its true proportions, and defended its maturer growth. While the Dutch, with dauntless courage, were breasting the power of Spain, they habitually extended to every sect the same liberty in matters of belief which they had claimed of Philip as their own right. Though Calvinism was their established religion, Calvinism was not their exclusive re- ligion, Battling against a foreign bigot, it was only nat- ural that the people of the Netherlands should generally have repudiated bigotry at home. And this policy pro- duced the happiest effects. Occasional instances of sect- arian excess were not, indeed, wanting. Yet, by degrees, Papists learned to think that Lutherans and Calvinists might be in the way of salvation ; Protestants forbore to call the Pope anti-Christ, and Romanists idolaters ; the Calvinist and the Lutheran emulated each other in large Christian charity ; and the Jew, stopping his wandering steps and forgetting his exclusiveness, rested in Holland, - Holland an a faithful and patriotic citizen. The Low Countries soon asylum for the perse- cuted. became an asylum for fugitives from persecution in other lands ; and the Dutch won the honorable distinction of European reproach for their system of universal religious toleration. Amsterdam was called "a common harbor of all opinions, of all heresies." Holland was stigmatized as " a cage for unclean birds." The Netherlands became notorious among the bigots of Christendom for such com- prehensive liberality in conscience and opinion, that it was observed that " all strange religions flock thither." In-
* Brandt, xiii., 675-677 ; xvi., 825-834 ; Van Meteren, x., 209; Bentivoglio, ii., 2 ; Da- vies, ii., 65, 141.
103
THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH CALVINISTIC.
deed, to such an unlimited extent was charity displayed CHAP. IV. toward all methods of religious belief, that a liberal-mind- ed English statesman, contrasting the narrow sectarianism 1598. of his own land with the enlarged Catholic spirit of Hol- land, could not help declaring that " the universal Church is only there."*
This magnanimous system of toleration remained a con- stant and remarkable characteristic of the people of the Netherlands, except upon one memorable occasion, when the Dutch forgot, for a space, their cherished maxim. Yet, while religious differences grew warm among the Protest- ants of Holland, neither Gomarists nor Arminians, in their bitterest strife, thought of shutting the gates of the Low Countries against the persecuted of other lands ; and the consequences of that famous theological controversy gave all parties among the Dutch so terrible a warning, that the suggestions of bigotry ever afterward remained un- heeded. "It is certain," says De Witt, " that freedom of religion having always been greater in Holland than any where else, it hath brought in many inhabitants, and driven out but few."t
From the first, the majority of the ministers of the Re- Calvinism formed Dutch Church were Calvinistic. At the earliest Dutch cler- of the synod which the clergy of Holland and. Zealand held in gy. 1574, at Dordrecht, upon their own call, and without the approbation of the States of Holland, it was agreed that the Heidelberg Catechism should be taught in all the churches, and that all the ministers should subscribe the Netherland Confession of Faith, and promise obedience to the Classes. The preaching of free will was soon consid- ered to be heresy ; it nearly produced a schism at Utrecht, 1593
* Davies, iii., 383 ; Bishop Hall, vi., 180; Baylie's Dissuasive; Owen Feltham. An- drew Marvell, in his " Character of Holland," has these quaint lines :
" Hence Amsterdam, Turk, Christian, Pagan, Jew, Staple of sects and mint of schism grew ; That bank of conscience, where not one so strange Opinion, but finds credit and exchange ; In vain for Catholics ourselves we bear- The universal Church is only there."
t De Witt, i., 18.
L
104
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. IV. which was healed only by the zealous exertions of Uyten- bogart and Junius .* -
1602. The Goma- rists and Arminians.
When Jacobus Arminius was recommended for the Pro- fessorship of Theology at Leyden, made vacant by the death of Junius, in 1602, his appointment was opposed by Franciscus Gomarus, who filled another theological chair, and who hesitated to receive as a colleague a person whose orthodoxy was doubted. The scruples of Gomarus were, however, overcome; and the next year Arminius, upon promising to teach nothing but the "received doctrine" of the Church, became professor. At first his public preaching was unexceptionable; but in private, he at- tacked some of the prominent points of the established 1604. creed. At length, in the spring of 1604, he openly and boldly set forth doctrines at variance with those of Calvin respecting election and predestination. This aroused the warm opposition of his colleague Gomarus, who published a thesis in which the distinctive tenets of Calvinism were vehemently urged. The strife between the professors soon led to exasperating disputes between their pupils, who, as it often happens, surpassed their teachers in zeal and an- imosity, as much as they fell short of them in knowledge. The feud extended as the Arminian sentiments spread. The ministers of the churches took the one side or the other ; and the controversy, which at first was carried on, in Latin, within the walls of the university, by degrees reached the ears of the people in furious vernacular from the pulpits.t
* Brandt, xi., 554 ; xiv., 713 ; xv., 786; Acta Synodi Dord. The form of ecclesiastical government established by the Reformed Church of the Netherlands resembled, in some respects, that of a representative republic. The spiritual and temporal affairs of each congregation were managed by its permanent minister, and by elders and deacons, elect- ed for limited terms of service, by the members of the church. The minister, elders, and' deacons formed the "Consistory" or governing council of each congregation. A " Clas- sis" was composed of all the ministers, and of an elder delegated from each consistory within a certain district. It had large original and appellate jurisdiction ; it examined and ordained candidates in theology ; and, generally, decided in cases of discipline. Su- perior in authority were the "Synods," which were composed of ministers and elders de- puted by the several classes within particular bounds. The supreme power of the Church was vested in a " General Synod," consisting of clerical and lay delegates from the several classes composing the particular synods. This system, substantially, prevails in the Re- formed Protestant Dutch Church in North America.
+ Hist. Synod. Dord., translated by Dr. Scott, 99-106, edit. Philad., 1841. The charge
105
THE GOMARISTS AND REMONSTRANTS.
Another dispute arose, before long, respecting the Hei- CHAP. IV. delberg Catechism and the Confession of Faith, which had been adopted by the synod held at Dordrecht in 1574. 1606. The Gomarists, regarded these as unalterable formularies of belief; the Arminians demanded their revision. Things soon came to such a pass that the States of Holland in- terfered, and appointed a conference between the rival professors, to be held at the Hague, before their Supreme 1608. Council, assisted by four ministers. The meekness of Arminius gained him an advantage in debate over the sterner Gomarus, who injured his cause by violent de- nunciation. Upon the report of the council, Barneveldt recommended mutual forbearance to the disputants, prom- ising that their differences should be reconciled by a (na- tional Synod. Little good, however, followed the confer- ence. The classis of Alckmaer soon afterward resolved, that all the ministers within its jurisdiction should sign a declaration that the Catechism and Confession of Faith agreed, in every particular, with the word of God; and five ministers, who refused to subscribe, were forthwith suspended. The censured ministers appealed to the States of Holland, who required the classis to report its proceedings to them, and meanwhile to vacate its sen- tence of suspension. But the Synod of North Holland confirmed the action of its subordinate classis, and disre- garded the reiterated injunctions of the states .*
Thus the dispute finally assumed a political aspect. The dispute The Arminians, acknowledging the right of the civil pow- political. er to decide points of religious doctrine, invoked its pro-
of uncharitableness has been made so constantly against Gomarus and his friends, that it is only justice to them to insert an extract from a posthumous tractate of Arminius him- self, for the communication of which I am indebted to the Rev. Dr. Forsyth, of Princeton. It shows that the synod's friendly overtures were peremptorily rejected by Arminius. " On the 30th of June, 1605, there came to me, at Leyden, three deputies of the Synod of South Holland, and declared, in presence of two deputies from the Synod of North Holland, that the Leyden students, in their examinations for licensure before several of the classes, were observed to give new answers upon some questions, contrary to the doctrines of the Church, and which answers the students declared they had learned from me. They therefore asked me to meet them in a friendly conference, in order to un- derstand what there was in it, and how the thing could be remedied. Hereupon I gave them for answer, that I regarded such an expedient as unfit."-Verclaringhe Jacobi Ar- minii, p. 2. Leyden, 1610.
* Brandt, xvii., 67-90 ; Hist. Syn. Dord , 107-138 ; Davies, ii., 452-460.
106
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. IV. tection and support. The Gomarists insisted that eccle- 1608. siastical authority belonged, solely and exclusively, to the consistories, the classes, and the synods of the Church. The municipal governments generally, and very naturally, sided with the Arminians, who had thus adroitly flattered them; but the Gomarists, who formed a large majority among the clergy and the people, retained the almost en- tire control of the judicatories of the Church. Other classes followed the example of that of Alckmaer, and re- quired all their ministers to subscribe to the Catechism and Confession. And now, the truce with Spain having exempted the nation from the dangers of war, those minds which had been chiefly occupied by the great contest for civil and religious liberty were soon engaged in a vehe- ment conflict on abstruse points of metaphysical theology. Every where the pulpits echoed denunciations against the 1609. Arminians, which even the death of their amiable leader did not abate. To relieve themselves from misrepresenta- 1610. tions of their faith, the Arminians, the next year, present- ed a formal remonstrance to the States of Holland and West Friesland, setting forth the five prominent points of doctrine in which they differed from the Reformed Church, and which soon obtained for them the name that, down to the present day, has distinguished them in Holland, " the Remonstrants."*
19 October.
The Re- mon- strants.
Interfer- ence of King James.
The chair of Divinity at Leyden, made vacant by the death of Arminius, was soon proposed to be filled by the appointment of the learned Conrad Vorstius, who, having been suspected of Socinianism, was even more obnoxious than his predecessor. The pedantic King of England, to whom the candidate for the professorship had given great offense by the publication of a theological treatise, could not resist the temptation to meddle as a polemic. He in- 1611. structed his ambassador, Winwood, to press the States General for the banishment of Vorstius; and even hinted, in a letter to their High Mightinesses, that the "arch her-
* Brandt, xviii., 92 ; xix., 130; Hist. Syn. Dord., 139-154 ; Davies, ii., 461-463 ; Mo- sheim, v., 444, 445.
.
7
107
MAURICE AND BARNEVELDT.
etic" deserved a crown of martyrdom. The king's perti- CHAP. IV. nacious demands were warmly opposed by Barneveldt, but strongly supported by Prince Maurice, the stadtholder, 1611. who thus conciliated the good-will of James. - The States, unwilling to offend their powerful English ally, consented that Vorstius should retire ; and Simon Episcopius was appointed in his place .*
The leading statesmen of the Netherlands could not avoid taking part in the religious dispute which, by this time, had begun to distract all ranks of their countrymen. Barneveldt and Grotius, desiring to curb the ambition of Barneveldt the stadtholder by the influence of the towns, naturally tius side and Gro- sided with the Remonstrants, whose views were generally Remon- with the favored by the municipal governments. But the clergy, strants. excluded from political office, had generally been in active opposition to the civil authorities ; and had always been zealous partisans of the stadtholders. Maurice, remem- bering this, and knowing that a large majority of the ministers of the Reformed Church were hostile to the tenets of Arminius, naturally sided with the Gomarists.
From the period of the truce with Spain, the prince had Prince borne ill will against Barneveldt, whose influence in the and Barne- Maurice governments of most of the towns was enough of itself to veldt. arouse the jealousy of a less ambitious politician. Soon after the stadtholder's splendid victory over the Spanish forces at Nieuport, some of the wisest patriots of Holland, among whom were Barneveldt and Grotius, began to en- tertain suspicions that Maurice would endeavor to use his popularity with the army as a means of enabling him to grasp more political power than would be consistent with the liberties of his country. When proposals were soon afterward made for an accommodation with Spain, the ad- vocate, with many other enlightened Dutch statesmen, be- came as active promoters of a peace as, not long before, they had been ardent supporters of the war. The martial successes' of the Dutch had begun to modify their sober
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