USA > New York > The earliest churches of New York and its vicinity > Part 20
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" Awaked by Sinai's awful sound, My soul in bonds of guilt I found, And knew not where to go: Eternal truth did loud proclaim 'The sinner must be born again,' Or sink to endless woe.
" When to the Law I trembling fled, It poured its curses on my head ; I no relief could find : This fearful truth increased my pain,- The sinner must be born again,- And whebved my tortured mind.
" Again did Sinai's thunders roll, And guilt lay heavy on my soul, A vast, oppressive load ; Alas! I read and saw it plain, 'The sinner must be born again,' Or drink the wrath of God.
" The saints I heard with rapture tell How Jesus conquered death and hell, And broke the fowler's snare : Yet when I found this truth rem :in, ' The sinner must be born again,' I sunk in deep despair.
" But while I thus in anguish lay, The gracious Saviour passed this way, And felt His pity move : The sinner, by His justice slain, Now by His grace is born again, And sings redeeming love."
Thus wrote this converted son of the forest these pio is lines, which cheered many a Christian pilgrim's heart on his journey to the promised land. They are to be found in many collections.
Here is a fair specimen of Oceum's lyric poetry, and worthy to be preserved :
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"Give all your time to God In prayer and praise ; Your thoughts from vanity To Heaven raise.
"Our work, so great, requires Our few short years; Neglected -- Heaven is changed To groans and tears.
"Except we cultivate What God has given, We shall repent too late, And miss of Heaven."
The only sermon of the Mohegan preacher ever pub- lished, was delivered at the execution of an Indian, Moses Paul, in New Haven, Connecticut, September 2d, 1772, for murder. He said to the dying culprit : "This is a call, a gracious call to you, poor Moses, under your present burdens and distresses." And setting before him the only way of life, he added: "Thus you see, poor Moses, there is none in heaven, or on the earth, that can help you but Christ."
The results of his six years mission among the Long Island Indians are thus expressed in his own language : "Many of them can read, write, cipher, and spell, but they are not so zealous now as they were some years ago." This earliest Indian missionary on Long Island lived and died a good man.
When Oceum left the Island, another Indian, Peter John, became a faithful native preacher to his brethren. Hle ministered among them until his grandson. the Rev. Paul Cuffce, entered the sacred calling. He was the second of seven sons of Peter Cuffee, an Indian of the
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Shinnecock tribe, and born in Brookhaven, in 1757. He embraced Christianity in 1778-9, and made Canoe Place his home while he lived. Ilis mother was of African descent, and very pious. In 1790 he was or- dained to the work of the ministry, and admitted a member of the "Strict Congregational Church of Long Island." He received a commission from the "New York Missionary Society," to labor among the remnants of the Long Island Indians, in which good work he con- tinued until his death. Crowds flocked to hear his na- tive eloquence ; his manner was graceful, imagination lively, voice most musical. Churches and ministers of other denominations opened their pulpits to his excel- lent and affecting discourses. What was most impor- tant, his spirit was imbued with ardent piety and un- affected humility. . He died as he lived, with the smiles of his Saviour. Directing the manner and place of his interment, he also selected 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8, for his funeral sermon, and then, exhorting his family and friends to make Christ their friend. he bid them a fond and final adieu, and calmly fell asleep in death.
Where the Indian Church once stood, near Canoe Place, among the bushes and trees, his grave was dug. It was enclosed alone, and here lie the remains of the last native preacher to the Long Island Indians. 1 plain headstone marked the spot, and thus read :
ERECTED BY THE NEW YORK MISSIONARY SOCIETY, IN MEMORY OF THE REV. PAUL CUFFEE, AN INDIAN OF THE SHINNECOCK TRIBE,
EARLIEST CHURCHES IN NEW YORK.
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Who was employed by that Society, for the last thirteen years of his life, on the eastern part of Long Island, where he labored with fidelity and success.
Humble, pious, and indefatigable in testifying the Gospel of the grace of God, he finished his course with joy on the 7th of March, 1812, Aged fifty-five years and three days.
We have thus particularly noticed the lives of these native Christian Indians, with their labors among their own brethren, beranso they were the earliest efforts made to gather these lost tribes into the Redeemer's fold. A very small and poor remnant still lingers upon the castern shores of the Island. But, tainted by inter- marriage with the negroes, they have become more and more degraded, and will soon disappear from the earth, like myriads and nations of the other "Red Men" of our continent ; the two colors cannot live and thrive together. This is our sentiment; and we believe that this continent is destined for the glorious Anglo-Saxon white race, now gradually extending itself over our globe.
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CHAPTER XXVIII.
WHITEFIELD'S VISIT TO EAST HAMPTON (1761) - REVIVAL - BAPTIST CHURCH AND A NEW LIGHT - PETER UNDERIIILL AND SARAH TOWNSEND -QUAKERS --- GEORGE FOX-FIRST MEETING-HOUSE AT OYSTER BAY -- ELIAS HICKS -- JAMAICA-REV. JOHN HUBBARD, FIRST MINISTER-HIS BIBLE -- SUCCESSORS-REV. A. KETTLETAS PREACHES IN THREE LANGUAGES-PERSECUTED BY THE BRITISH-REV. SAM- VEL SEABURY, THE EARLIEST EPISCOPAL BISHOP IN THE UNITED STATES-COLONY FROM JAMAICA TO ELIZABETHTOWN, NEW JERSEY -REV. MR. POLHEMUS FIRST DOMINIE AT FLATBUSH (1655)- CHURCHES BUILT --- GRAVESEND "FORESINGER -ERASMUS HALL- REV. MR. SOLIMUS AND VAN ZUREN, 1677, AND SUCCESSORS-NEW UTRECHT - WHIGS AND ROYALISTS - COLLEGIATE CHURCHES - GRAVESEND QUAKERS (1657) -- FOX'S VISIT --- MAGISTRATES -- REV. MR. SCHOONMAKER-NEW UTRECHT (1654) CHURCH BUILT-DOMI- NIES -- GENERAL HOWE'S LANDING ('66)-BUSHWICK-FIRST HOUSE -FRENCH SETTLERS -- ODIOUS TAXES BY GOVERNOR NICOLS-CHURCHI ERECTED -- ITS MINISTERS-BROOKLYN-FIRST CHURCHES AND DOMI- NIES-EPISCOPALIANS.
WHITEFIELD'S VISIT.
Ir is seldom mentioned that the eloquent Whitefield preached in most of the towns on the east end of Long Island. He was in East Hampton at the beginning of the great revival of 1764, of which Dr. Buel published a detailed narrative without naming Whitefield. But this illustrious man of God came as an angel to the churches in the early part of the year 1764. His head-quarters were at the hospitable mansion of Thomas Dering. Samuel L' Hommedion, Esg., who died at Sag Harbor in 1831, was
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converted under Whitefield's preaching, and often spoke of assisting to make a raft to convey Whitefield, with his horse and carriage, from Southold to Shelter Island. In letters which Whitefield wrote to Mr. Dering, and which are still preserved in the family, he speaks of his visit to the island. Writing from Boston, May 20, 1764, he says: "And is Shelter Island become a Patmos? It seems so by my friend's letter. Blessed be God ! Bles- sed be God ! What cannot a God in Christ do for His people," &c.
The visit of Whitefield was succeeded by great revi- vals of religion, which extended over many of the towns on the east end of the island ; and, although they were marked by many irregularities, their usefulness was felt in all time to come.
A BAPTIST CHURCH AND A NEW LIGHT.
About the year 1700, Mr. William Rhodes, a Baptist preacher from England, came here and gathered a little church. He died in 1724, about which time the first. house of worship was put up. It is still standing, a great curiosity in its way ; some twenty feet square, with twelve-feet posts, and a pyramidal roof running up to a sharp point. It is now a barn. One of Mr. Rhodes's converts, Robert Feeks, the son of a Quaker preacher. and a Free-will Baptist, labored here many years, and died nearly ninety years old. Rev. Thomas Davis came from Pennsylvania, and was employed as a colleague of Mr. Feeks, but his health failing him. he went back to his native State, and Caleb Wright, grandson of Elder Rhodes, began to preach, but died and was buried on
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the day he was to be ordained. The church became sadly distracted. Elder Davis returned here and sought to make peace. But party spirit rose so high, that each party attempted to hold possession of the meeting-house. On one occasion, old Elder Feeks, with a number of others, entered the house, fastened the doors, and he ascended the pulpit. Soon after, Elder Davis came with his party, and burst open the door. Davis went up into the pulpit, and, after some contention, got the mastery and preached. Out of these troubles grew a new society called the New Light Church. The leaders were Peter Underhill and Sarah Townsend. She was the ruling spirit ; and with much ability defended their peculiar doctrine, which was very much the same as all religious fanatics profess to believe-the right to do as they please in religious matters, especially to the annoyance of others. . This unrestrained liberty was to be used by every member when he felt called to speak ; and the preacher must stop in his discourse when a man or woman was moved to hold forth. The wildest disorders followed. Some twenty persons drew up a number of articles to preserve decency in their meetings, and pro- sented them to the church. As soon as they were read, Madame Townsend arose, and cried out at the top of her voice, "Babylon ! Babylon ! Babylon ?' and ran out of the house, followed by her adherents, all shouting Babylon so loudly they were beard two miles.
THE QUAKERS .- GEORGE FOX.
Probably the first Quaker meeting-house on Long Island was erected at Oyster Bay, but the date of its
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building cannot now be found. One was built at Jeri- cho in 1668, and in Flushing in 1689. In 1672, George Fox, the founder of the Quaker sect, visited America. Landing in Maryland, he travelled north, making, he says, "a tedious journey through woods and wilderness, over bogs and great rivers." Coming to Middletown, in New Jersey, he writes : "We could not stay to hold a meeting there, being anxious to reach Oyster Bay at the half-yearly meeting. Crossing the bay to Gravesend, they went to Flushing, and on the day following to Oyster Bay." Here he attended the meeting, which lasted four days. After spending several days more in this vicinity, he went to Rhode Island, and then returned to Fisher's Island, where, he says, "we went on shore at night," but "were not able to stay for the mosche- toes, a sort of gnats or little flies which abound there, and are very troublesome." Then he went to Shelter Island and spent more than a week, preaching to the whites and also to the Indians, and then returned to Oyster Bay, Flushing, and Gravesend, and so to New Jersey. At Shrewsbury, New Jersey, one of his party, named John Jay, was thrown from his horse and broke his neck. Fox took his head in his hands, and it rolled any way. He then put one hand under his chin and the other behind his head, and, pulling with all his strength, set his neck. The man was soon all right, and followed his leader, it is said. This is the only case of setting a broken neck in the records of natural or miraculous surgery we have met with.
Jericho, six miles cast of Oyster Bay, is celebrated as the residence of Elias Hicks, who is as well known, for
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his connection with one great division of the sect, as George Fox himself. Ile was born in North Hemp- stead, in 1748; was brought up a carpenter; became a Quaker preacher ; travelled extensively ; inculcated doctrines inconsistent with the opinions of the founders of the sect ; divided the body ; litigation followed ; and two distinct societies were the result -- the Orthodox, or the original Friends, and the Hicksites, named from Elias Hicks.
The opinions of Elias Hicks differed from his breth- ren in his denial of the miraculous conception of Jesus Christ, his divinity and atonement, and the authenticity and divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. But it is said that towards the close of his life he gave his writ- ten assent to all these doctrines.
JAMAICA.
The Rev. John Hubbard was the pastor of the Pres- byterian Church, a graduate of Harvard in 1695, and settled here in '98; a man of distinguished piety. Cot- ton Mather, in his Magnolia, states. that " he read over the whole Bible six times every year." Nevertheless, he used to say that "every time he read it he observed or collected something which he never did before." This was the incumbent of the parish, whose generosity was basely requited by Lord Cornbury.
During the year 1712, the Rev. George MeNish was called to Jamaica. He was a native of Scotland or Ire. land, had been settled in Maryland, and took an activo part in the organization of the American Presbyterian Church. With the Rev. Mr. Pomeroy, of Newtown, they
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formed the first presbytery on Long Island, and it was held at Southampton, April, 1717. It was the earliest association of the kind in the province of New York, and for many years all the Presbyterian churches of Westchester County and our city became subject to its jurisdiction. Mr. McNish must have been a remarkably punctual member of that body, having been absent but once from its sessions during his whole life. Robert Cross followed him in 1723, and Walter Wilmot during 1738. He died greatly lamented, and his tombstone bears this inscription :
ILERE LYES THE REV. WALTER WILMOT, DEC'D AUG. CTII, 1744. Etatis 35.
No more from sacred desk I preach, You hear my voice no more ; Yet from the dead my dust shall teach, The same I taught before.
Bo ready for this dark abode, That when our bodies rise, We meet with joy the Son of God, Descending from the skies.
This family, it is said, has become extinct, but the church has long continued to enjoy the smiles of Heaven, and remains one of the most prosperous on Long Island.
The name of the Rev. Abraham Kettletas appears prominently among the old church records of Jamaica. He was born in New York, 1232, and graduated at Yale, 1752. At first, he settled at Elizabethtown, and then removed to a farm near Jamaica, spending much of his
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time in preaching to the vacant churches here and else- where. He frequently discoursed in three different lan- guages-the Dutch, French, and English. A devoted pa- triot, he became particularly obnoxious to the British, and was obliged to leave Long Island during the Revo- lutionary War. They took his property, defaced his man- sion, and enlisted his negro slaves as soldiers of their king. He was a man of very independent spirit, and, chosen a member of the Convention (1777). assisted in forming the first constitution of the State of New York.
In 1756, the Rev. Samuel Seabury was the rector of the Episcopal Church at Jamaica, and the first of Amer- ican parentage, a native of New London. He removed to Westchester 1766, and, a royalist, went to New York at the commencement of the war, residing there until its close. During 1784, he sought ordination to the Episco- pacy in England ; but, refused by the British bishops. from political reasons, he obtained this saered office from the nonjuring prelates of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Thus he became the earliest Episcopal Bishop in the United States. Mr. Seabury died February 25, 1796.
The records of Jamaica have been carefully preserved. and its first settlement was made by a company from the neighboring town of Hempstead, in 1656, more than two centuries back. They purebased lands of the Indians. obtaining a grant that year on "free leave to erect or build a town, with the choice of their own magistrates."
In the year 1661. a small colony emigrated from this place, and commenced the settlement of Elizabethtown. New Jersey. John Baily. Daniel Denton, and Luke Watson there purchased the lands of the Indians, and
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received their patent from Governor Nicolls. We may speak more of this settlement in its appropriate place.
The earliest attempt to introduce religion on this sec- tion of Long Island was an order from Governor Stuy- vesant, October 13, 1654, "permitting the Rev. Johan- nes Theodosius Polhemus to preach alternately at Mid- wout and Amersfort" (Flatbush and Flatlands). To this period no house of worship had been built or eccle- siastical organization formed in any of the Long Island. settlements. In 1655, the Governor ordered the people of Breucklen and Amersfort to assist in erecting a church. It was built in the form of a cross, twenty- eight by sixty feet, the rear to be occupied by the domi- nie, and its whole cost, when finished, amounted to four thousand six hundred and thirty seven guilders (one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four dollars and eighty cents).
This edifice remained until the close of that century, when, in 1698, over six thousand dollars were sub- scribed to finish a new church. It was placed on the former site; its walls stone, sixty-five by fifty, with square roof. No pews, but the congregation used chairs and benches. In 1775, its interior remodelled, the pews were created and distributed by lot. In 1796, the third new church was built on the spot. at a cost of twelve thousand one hundred and eighty-three dollars. A fine- toned bell, from Holland, was presented to this church by the Hon. John Vanderbilt, and among its first toll- ings over these beautiful hills and vales were those for the burial of its liberal giver. In 1836-7, the interior
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was again improved, making the sacred edifice one of the largest on the island.
Under the English Government, Gravesend had been the seat of justice for this part of the island, but, in 1685, the courts were transferred to Flatbush. In 'SC. the court-house was erected here, when this town became the county seat, and continued so until 1832, when Flat- bush ceased to be used for the purpose, and Brooklyn took its place.
Froni the earliest period, Flatbush attended to the iu- struction of the children, and we find records of a teacher as early as 1659. He was an important person- age-town-clerk, sexton, foresinger, or chorister, all at the same time, and yielding a good support. Instruc- tion was confined to the Dutch language until 1762-73- then came the English pedagogne. In 1786 the well- known Erasmus Hall was founded, and the second in- corporated in the State, but for a long while ranked first in public favor and success. Many distinguished citi- zens in Church and State here obtained the elements of education and character.
For many years all the Dutch ministers in this region came from Holland. We have named Dominio Polhe- inus, who continued to preach until his death, in the year 1676. The church at Brooklyn sent io "the father- land" for another minister, when the Rev. Henricus Solimus (Henry Selwyn) arrived in 1660. He did not remain long, returning to Holland 1661. After some years, we meet him again at New Amsterdam, from 1682 to 1700. He appears to have been a learned and popular minister, and, whilst at Brooklyn, preach
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ed every Sabbath afternoon at the Governor's man- sion.
In 1677, the Rev. Casparus Van Zuren officiated here, and was called "an industrious and systematic man." He returned to Holland, 1685, for the duties of his for- mer charge.
Then succeeded the Rev. Rudolphus Varick, Wilhel- mus Lupardus, and Rey. Bernardus Freeman, installed at New Utrecht, November, 1705. The Rev. Vincentius Antonides was sent over by the Classis of Amsterdam, in 1704. An unhappy difference, concerning the settle- ment of these two last gentlemen, greatly agitated the churches, but was happily terminated by laying aside their differences, and acknowledging Dominies Freeman and Antonides as their pastors. At this period the Col- legiate churches had greatly increased, -Bushwick, Flatbush, Flatlands, Brooklyn, New Utrecht, and Ja- maica, all embraced in the charge, and both ministers resided at Flatbush. Mr. Freeman left several pub- lished productions. He died 1741, and was succeeded by the Rev. Johannes Avondeus the next year, who de- parted in 1744, when the Rev. Ulpianus Van Sinderin took his place, 1746. Avondeus finished his earthly mis- sion in 1754, when the Rev. Anthony Curtenius came to the church, 1755, and died the following autumn.
Johannes Casparus Rubel was called in the year 1759, continuing Mr. Van Sinderin until the close of the Revo- lutionary War. These dominies greatly differed in their political opinions-Van Sinderin a firm Whig and Mr. Rubel a decided Loyalist. Like differences, to some extent, extended to several congregations, producing an
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unpleasant state of society, when the Rev. Mr. Van Sinderin resigned his pastoral relation, in 1796. He was a learned, but eccentric man, and "deficient in sound judgment." How hard it is for eccentricity of character to unite with a sound judgment. Mr. Rubel died 1799.
The Rev. Martinus Schoonmaker, in 1785, took charge of the Collegiate churches in this county, to which Gravesend was added. He died in 1824, aged eighty- seven. The Rev. Peter Lowe became his colleague in 1787. Heretofore divino service had been maintained in Dutch ; now it was performed in English, during the afternoon. Mr. Schoonmaker, however, never attempted to preach in English, except once, in the year 17SS, on Long Island. These Collegiate churches having continued one hundred and fifty years, their union dis- continued about the commencement of the present con- tury. In 1805, the Brooklyn congregation called a pas- tor of its own, and Mr. Lowe took sole charge of Flat- bush and Flatlands. After the death of Mr. Schoon- maker, the other churches also had separate pastors.
In the year 1819, the Rev. Walter Monteith was in- stalled pastor of Flatbush and Flatlands.
GRAVESEND.
Very little is known concerning the earliest history of Gravesend. The Quakers reached here about 1657, and the inhabitants readily embraced their doctrine and dis- cipline, organizing one of the earliest meetings on Long Island. George Fox, the celebrated Quaker, visited this place during his trip to America, and hold large meet- ings. It is difficult to ascertain the origin of the Re-
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formed Dutch Church in this town. Its first settlers were English, and the town records, for two hundred years, are nearly entire. For three-quarters of a cen- tury, marriages were usually performed by the civil magistrates, and occasionally the ministers officiated on the important occasion, as-
"Nov., 4th day, 1693 .-- Andrew Emans and Rebecca Van Cleefe pronounced man and wife, by ye Dominie Rudolphus Veuyck, Flattbusch."
In 1785, the Rev. Martinus Schoonmaker ministered to the church of Gravesend, and died in 1824. The Rev. Isaac P. Labagh succeeded him, after several years interval, but was dismissed (1842), for peculiar senti- ments about the Sabbath, and suspended from the min- istry, on account of resistance to ecclesiastical authority. Then came to this church the Rev. Abm. J. Labagh.
New Utrecht was settled in 1654, by twenty Dutch families, the Dutch Church organized here about 1677, and a house of worship erected in 1700. It was built in the usual octagonal form of that day, and. during the war, the British occupied it for a prison and hospital. In 1828 it was taken down, and a new edifice occupied its place. The earliest ministers were the pastors of the Collegiate churches in the county, and the Governor ordered Mr. Freeman to be installed, 1705. In follow- ing years, the Rev. John Beatie and the Rev. Robert C. Currie labored here, and the Rev. James D. Carder. of the Episcopal Church, became chaplain at Fort Ham- ilton, near by.
During the year 1662, the Governor authorized the inhabitants of New Utrecht to elect their own magis-
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trates, and hold civil courts, for all causes not exceeding five pounds in amount, with jurisdiction over criminal cases of petit larceny. This town becomes memorable from its connection with the American Revolution. Here General Howe landed, August 22, 1766, with the British forces, the week before the unfortunate battle on Long Island. In this village also stood, a few years ago, the old stone house where General Nathaniel Woodhull died from his wounds, September 20, 1776. It was a remarkable old mansion, with tiles imported from Holland, having lasted a century and a half.
From some translations of the town records, by Gen- eral Jeremiah Johnson, we learn something about the earliest settlement of Bushwick. In February, 1660, Director Stuyvesant ordered the "outside residents" to concentrate themselves within the neighboring towns, because we have war with the Indians, who have slain several of our Netherland people. Fourteen French- men, with "a Dutchman," named Peter John Dewit. their interpreter, arrived, with other settlers, and not understanding the Dutch, a village with "twenty-two house-lots" was laid out for their use. This place was called Mispot (now Maspeth), and its first house occu- pied by William Traphagen and Kaart Mourison. In 1661, the new village took the name of Boswijck ( Boswyck).
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