USA > New York > The earliest churches of New York and its vicinity > Part 22
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Dr. Taylor commenced preaching in the old stone church at Bergen, but at the time recently remodelled ; many of its worshippers then appearing in their plain Dutch apparel, of domestic manufacture. Some females wore the old-fashioned black silk bonnet, not unlike the Friends, and these, removed during the service, ex- hibited the neat, beautiful, and snow-white caps. Only young girls ventured to wear the expensive straw or braid hats. In almost every pew, venerable forms and hoary heads might be seen, listening to the invitations 23
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of the Gospel. These, too, with the old church, have now all passed away !
On Sabbath, July 25, 1841, the last public services took place in the old tabernacle, where for sixty-eight years the Lord had been worshipped in this His holy temple, and upon the same sacred spot several genera- tions had called upon His holy name, during one hun- dred and sixty-one years. In the morning, the pastor selected for his text the beautiful words of the Prophet Isaiah, liv. 2, 3: " Enlarge the place of thy ient, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habita- tions," &c.
On the 26th of August, 1841, Dr. Taylor, its pastor, laid the corner-stone of the new church, and he dedi- cated it July 14th following, delivering a sermon from Isaiah vii. S: "I will glorify the house of my glory. Who are these that fly as a cloud and as the doves to their windows ?"
Upon both these occasions, some of the most eminent ministers of the Reformed Dutch Church attended, taking part in the solemn exercises ; and among them Drs. De Witt, Knox, Van Vranken, Vermilye, Brown- lee, Hardenbergh ; the Rev. Messrs. May, Marcellus, Garretson, Boice, Demund, Bogardus, Chapman, Lusk, James Stuart. and others.
The new edifice is commanding and beautiful, sixty- four by eighty-four feet in its dimensions, surmounted by a cupola. It will seat twelve hundred persons.
It is worthy of notice that, at one period, there were thirty-five pow-holders in this congregation having the prefix of Van to their names, and of these, twenty-two
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were Van Vreelands. The Van Winkles, Van Horns, Van Reypers, Van Boskirks, Newkirks, Cadmuses, &c., were also very numerous .*
Thus, upon this time-honored and hallowed ground have three stone churches been erected, and have had only three pastors. At least seven new Reformed Dutch congregations have been constituted, in part or whole, from this venerable spiritual mother. May God be glorified by succeeding generations, in these sacred courts !
"Happy sons of Israel, Who in pleasant Canaan dwell; Happy they, but happier we, If Jehovah's own we be.
" Happy citizens who wait Within Salem's ballowed gate; Happy they, but happier we, Who the heavenly Salem see."
BONAR'S Hymns of Faith and Hope.
The Reformed Dutch church of Hackensack, New Jersey, was the next founded to the one at Bergen. Its records show that as early as the year 1686, the Rev. Peter Taschemaker organized this congregation, with thirty-three communicants. As far as opportunity would permit, he visited this infant flock, and adminis- tered the Lord's Supper to them, until the year 1689. He had been once settled at New Amstel (New Castle), on the Delaware, and experiencing sore difficulties there, he next became pastor of the Reformed Dutch church in Schenectady. Whilst laboring in this new field, that terrible massacre took place, on a winter's
* Barber's (New Jersey) Hist. Col., p. 229.
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night, which destroyed the place by fire and tomahawk. This venerable man, with his wife and two colored ser- vants, was cruelly murdered by the savages, and he fell a martyred victim in the midst of his pious flock. Many of his people were slaughtered with him .*
The Rev. Rudolphus Van Varick, in the year 1689, preached at Hackensack, and administered the Supper of the Lord. To some, these services may seem scarce worth reciting ; but we are writing especially of the old- est churches, and the smallest circumstances have some historic value, and should be carefully preserved. When no minister could be present at Hackensack, the important "Voorleser" led their devotions, and read a sermon from some sound Dutch author. This was Guillaume Bertholft, who was also the catechiser and schoolmaster. So usefully did he discharge these im- portant duties, that the people desired him to become their minister, and, at their expense, he went to Holland for this purpose. There receiving ordination in 1693, and returning to America the following year, he was installed the first regular pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church in New Jersey. In his call the congregation at Acqua- canonck also united. They were a happy people now, and, with their dominie, collected the wood and stone at Hackensack, to build a sanctuary for their Gop, the LIVING GOD. William Day and John Stage were the master-builders of the Bergen church in 1680, and we find them engaged in the erection of this temple. In its wall, over the entrance, was inseribed, in rude in- dented letters :
* Reformed Dutch Church Magazine, vol. ii. p. 328.
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WILA: DAY JOIN STAGE ANNO 1690.
The fathers in this little Israel rejoiced, it seemed, to have their names of initials indented on the church- stones ; and in all the changes of rebuilding, these ven- erable mementoes have been carefully preserved, and may to this hour be seen and read on the eastern wall of the present Hackensack sanctuary. On this sacred spot, where the earliest foundations of the Lord's house were laid in the village, has HIIs worship been continued from generation to generation for more than sixty years. Delightful and sublime thought !
Mr. Bertholf had many seals to his ministry during thirty years' Gospel labors, when they terminated by his death, peacefully, in the year 1724. He organized the church at Raritan about 1700, and the one in Philip's manor (Tarrytown), 1697. With his death. the connection between the congregations of Hackensack and Acquaca- nonck also ceased ; the Rev. Henry Coens following him in the latter, and the Rev. Reinhart Errickson, from Hol- land, taking the former charge, 1725. During the year 1724, the church at Schraalenbergh was founded, and its first edifice built in 1725 : and its history was a long time identified with Hackensack. In 1728. Mr. Errickson, resigning the charge of these congregations, became pas- tor of the Reformed Dutch church at Schenectady -- thence removed to Frechold, 1758. When he retired, steps were taken to rebuild the church, and, as before, the stones of the earlier tabernacle were used in the new
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one ; and during its erection, that eminent and vigilant 'servant of the Lord, the Rev. Gualtherus Dubois, of New York, watched over this flock. In his absence, the punctual " Voorleser" continued religious services.
In 1730, the Rev. Antonius Curtenius became the next pastor, and, in 1748, the Rev. J. N. Goetschius was ap- pointed his assistant. The former took charge of the Dutch church at Flatbush, Long Island, in 1755, where he died the following year, aged fifty-eight." For a quarter of a century he had guided the flock of Christ at Hackensack and Schraalenbergh, which then em- braced the present townships of Harrington, Washing- ton, and Hackensack.
Mr. Goetschius was the son of a German minister, sent over to labor in Philadelphia among his countrymen. He is represented as " a gentleman of profound erudi- tion, a thorough-bred Calvinist, and an accomplished theologian."
About this period the two churches seriously felt the bad influences of the old "Cotus" and "Conferentie" dispute, which continued until 1722. The churches at Hackensack and Schraalenbergh in fact divided into four party congregations, although there was only one church edifice in each place. Next succeeded as pastors over these congregations the Rev. Mr. Schuyler, about 1759 ; . Cornelius Blaum, 1763 : about the same period, the Rev. Warmoldus Kuypers : and the Rev. Direk Romeyn, 1775. He was a native of Hackensack, a graduate of Princeton in 1765, and from Queens, now Rutgers Col- lege, received the honorary degree of D. D., 1780. Dr.
* Stone's History of Flatbush.
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Romeyn became an eminently pious and able dominie. In 1784, he took charge of the congregation at Schenec- tady, preaching there until his Master called him to the. never-ending bliss and rest. He was also chosen a Pro- fessor of Theology in 1797.
The War of the Revolution increased the internal troubles of these churches, some more warmly espousing the cause of Independence than others ; and hence arose political controversies also. In 1790, ,this whole church difference was happily reconciled by " Articles of Union ;" and thus these religious difficulties, which had increased for forty years, now terminated. People so long separated could unite in zeal, good works, and piety. The old-fashioned octagonal stone church at Hackensack required remodelling, or to be rebuilt. It had served its sacred purposes during sixty years ! There is an amusing tradition about the venerable tem- ple. The united congregations were to assemble, exam- ine, and determine what was best to be done. The young folks, however, ever watchful on such occasions, met before the others had arrived, and they soon re- moved the old pews, chairs, benches, &c., from the sacred edifice, and placed them on the " green," or pub- lic square. When the congregation arrived, and saw how the question had been practically determined, they voted to rebuild .*
A copy of the "Plan for Rebuilding the Church at Hackensack. A. D. 1700," now lies before me, and it contains some curious provisions.
"The old church shall be broke down, and upon the
* Dr. Taylor's Annals of Bergen.
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same ground the new one shall be erected, and of the following dimensions, viz. : forty-eight by sixty feet, with two galleries." "The inside of the church shall be furnished with pews, without making any distinc- tion between men's and women's pews."
"A pew for ministers' families, also a magistrate's pew (the latter shall be particularly constructed, and have a canopy over it").
One hundred and thirty-two signatures were attached to this document, of which forty-nine are in the English language, and eighty-three Dutch. The subscriptions amounted to three hundred and twenty-eight pounds nine shillings, and among the largest we notice those of Peter Zabriskie, forty pounds; Isaac Van Gieson, Archibald Campbell, John Powelson, fifteen pounds each ; Nehemiah Wade, Henry Berry, twelve pounds ; Adam Boyd, Adolph Waldron, John Zabriskie, David Anderson, John Varick, Elias Brevoort, Abraham Kipp. Richard Terhune, John Earl, Peter Kipp, Jacob Ter- hune, Jacobus Huysman, Albert J. Voorhose, Samuel Berry, Nicunsie Terhune, and Albert C. Zabriskie, ton pounds each, &c., &c. The following were appointed "managers," or building committee. "Messrs. John Earle, George Doremus, Henry Berry, Casparus West- ervelt, Jacobus Paulison, and Isaac Vanderbeck, Jr."
The people personally labored, too, collecting the tim- ber, stones, and other building materials, and thus, in the year 1791, erected a new tabernacle for the Lord. There it still stands, with its graceful spire running up towards heaven, and the joyful sounds of salvation
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have been proclaimed within its hallowed courts for almost three-quarters of a century.
Over the door was this inscription :
" EENDRACHT MAAKT MACHT." (Union makes Strength.)
Like the former house, stones were placed in this, with the indented names of prominent church-members. George Doremus, Albert C. Zabrisky, Henry Berry, 1791 ; John Paulison, Peter Zabriskie, 1791 : Margaret Houseman, Isaac Van Gieson, Nickase Terhune, Jacob Brinkerhoof, 1792.
In this new temple of God, the Rev. Messrs. Kuypers and Fræligh officiated alternately, until the former re- tired, on account of bodily infirmities.
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CHAPTER XXXI.
REMARKABLE STORM (1793)-THE STEEPLE OF THE HACKENSACK CHURCH STRUCK BY LIGHTNING; ITS LEGEND BROKEN-DR. LINN'S ABLE DISCOURSE-DOMINIE BECOMES AN "EMERITUS" MINISTER- THREE SONS IN THE SACRED OFFICE-REV. JAMES V. C. ROMEYN --- NEW CHURCH BUILT-SECESSION -THE LEADERS-DR. ROMEYN'S SON CALLED TO TAKE HIS PLACE-CHURCHI ENLARGED (1817) AND LEGEND REMOVED -- EMINENT DEAD IN HACKENSACK GRAVEYARD : GENERAL POOR, DR. PETER WILSON, COLONEL VARICK, &C .- SCHIRAA- LENBERGH-ENGLISH NEIGHBORHOOD -- LAND GIVEN FOR A CHURCH, WHICHI WAS ERECTED (1765) ; MR. CORNELISON TIIE DOMINIE- SUCCESSORS -- CHURCH DIFFICULTIES - THE "TRUE REFORMED CHURCH"-DECISION OF SUPREME COURT ADVERSE TO SECESSION- SECEDERS ERECT NEW CHURCHES-REV. MR. ABEEL-D. DURYEA, IIIS DEATH AND MONUMENT-REV. MR. MCFARLANE AND P. B. TAYLOR.
Bur this united congregation did not long enjoy their "union," effected only five years before, for a long period of contention now ensued. Their dominie, Mr. Fræligh, took a prominent part in securing the desired union, and now he was compelled to witness its dissolu- tion. On the 10th day of July, 1795, a remarkable storm occurred at Hackensack. It arose suddenly, and was most violent; with terrifie flashes of lightning and peals of thunder. In one explosion, the electric fluid struck the church-steeple, greatly damaging it, and, in its descent to the earth, broke the legend in three pieces. "Eendracht" was upon one broken fragment, and "maakt Macht" on another. The superstitious, of course, thought this ominous.
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In the year 1795, the Reformed Dutch church at Hackensack petitioned the Synod to be separated from that of Schraalenbergh. The Synod referred this peti- tion to Dominies Livingston, Linn, and Condit, with Messrs. Lowe and Studdiford. In 1796, the committee met the respective congregations, when Dr. Linn deliv- ered his celebrated and able discourse, on Matt. v. 9 : "Blessed are the peacemakers : for they shall be called the children of God." The preacher beautifully refer- red to the lightning that recently descended upon the Lord's house, in which his hearers were now assembled. "Surely," he said, "you may learn from it an important and affecting lesson. While it recalls you to duty in this life, let it impress you with the thought of those dreadful thunders which shall usher in the last judg- ment, and those fires which shall burn up this earth and all the works that are therein ; of that tremendous day, when all who hate God and their neighbor shall be pun- ished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of His power.
"To conclude, if the commission of Synod shall be so happy as to accomplish a reconciliation, a new stone shall be engraven and brought to its place, with honors and triumph. Unhurt by any dark cloud, it shall re- main a monument to late posterity of restored love and friendship. But, if a separation shall be judged expe- dient, let the broken stone continue as an emblem of dis- united brethren. In either case, the peacemakers shall obtain their reward."
The immediate results of this mission was a continu- ance of the union, but for years the differences between
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the churches remained, and we need follow them no further. In the midst of this excitement, at the request of his son, the Rev. Gerardus A. Kuypers, New York, the venerable Dominie Kuypers obtained his dismission from the Classis of Hackensack, and became an emeri- tus minister, the congregations settling on him one hun- dred and sixty pounds per annum during life. This was a liberal and honorable arrangement, but only five days afterwards, this father in Israel, now worn out in his Master's service, iv September, 1797, was released from all worldly cares and toils. He was sixty-five years old: in the forty-third of his ministry, having diligently served as pastor of these churches about thirty years. His remains were interred under the church floor, and in front of the pulpit, where he had so long preached the truth as it is in Christ.
Three sons survived him-ministers of the same pre- cious Gospel which the pious father declared-Gerar- dus, Zecharias, and William, and all of them, too, have joined him in the happy spirit-land. The Rev. James V. C. Romeyn succeeded Mr. Kuypers, taking the charge of the Schraalenbergh congregation, when a new and noble tabernacle was built in its place. It has a tower and very lofty steeple, and the whole work is a monument of the energy and liberality of those who built it. The beautiful, though antique pulpit, with the old-fashioned sounding-board. was removed in 1843, and a neat modern one substituted, by the liberality of a private member. Here Mr. Romeyn served his flock with talent, prudence, and in the fear of the Lord.
Dr. Fraligh's people also erected a new church at
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Schraalenbergh, in which he preached, when new diffi- culties arose about the ownership of their old one, be- tween the two congregations. The doctor's party, at last, in the year 1822, seceded from the Reformed Dutch Church, and constituted the "True Reformed Dutch Church." Four ministers besides himself, with seven congregations and their consistories, formed themselves into the ecclesiastical association.
The ministers uniting with Dr. Fræligh in this move- ment, were the Rev. Abm. Brokaw, Sloanus Palmer, Jno. C. Zol, Henry V. Wyckoff. The doctor was cited to appear before the General Synod, but, not appearing, a second citation was served, when he answered, "he should reply to it." The Synod then "Resolved, That Dr. Fræligh is hereby suspended from his office as min- ister of the Gospel," and the Classis of Paramus was directed to depose his consistory from office, and to or- ganize a new one in the late congregation of Dr. Fræligh.
But why record these dissensions? Many know not how this protracted separation originated; and the writer, as a faithful chronicler, could not justly with- hold this part of bis narrative. He presents nothing conjectural, as his information is derived from the official records. It is a great blessing, too, that with these differ- ences of opinion, the pastors of all the various Dutch congregations found favor with the people of their respective charges, and the Lord blessed their efforts.
Mr. Romeyn, continuing his Gospel labors in the double charges of Hackensack and Schraalenbergh, be- gan to be affected by bodily infirmities. Mr. Cole, the pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church at Tappan, dis-
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tant only six miles, his ministerial services were secured for the latter place every alternate Sabbath.
In August, 1832, Dominie Romeyn was suddenly stricken down by paralysis, and, during the following February, desired to be released from his relations at Schraalenbergh. This was granted, with pious and hearty gratitude to the venerable pastor, for thirty years' devoted labor in that congregation.
On the next day, the consistory of Hackensack called the Rev. James Romeyn, son of their aged pastor, to become the colleague of his pious father. From the time he commenced his ministerial duties, the aged parent retained nominally, only, the pastoral relations. His last public labor was a funeral sermon in Dutch. over one of his most aged church-members. He finally resigned his pastorship, which had existed during thirty-five years, and on the 27th of June, 1840, God called him to the Christian's eternal rewards, aged seventy-five years.
His son, occupying the pulpit until 1836, took charge of the Dutch church at Catskill, New York, when Rey. A. H. Warner succeeded him. In 1847 the church was enlarged, and the broken legend, which we have noticed, removed from the front to the rear of the building. The new one, occupying its place, has this inscription :
REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH: ERECTED A. D. 1096. REBUILT A. D. 172S. REBUILT A. D. 1791. " Ilow amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts." -- Ps. Ixxxiv. ].
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In the year 1855, a colony left this congregation to constitute the Second Reformed Dutch Church at Hack- ensack.
Many of the eminent dead have been interred in the graveyard of the old Hackensack church. Washing- ton and Lafayette attended the funeral of Brigadier- General Enoch Poor, whose remains lie here, and who died in 1780. Here, too, mingle with mother earth the ashes of the learned Peter Wilson, LL. D., professor of languages for half a century in Columbia College, a zeal- ous patriot and a devout Christian, dying in 1825, at the good old age of seventy-nine years. More eminent New Yorkers have received their classical training un- der his teaching than from any other professor. Colo- nel Richard Varick, of Revolutionary history, once mayor of New York city, president of the American Bible Society, &c., &c., was also buried in this ceme- tery. He departed July 30, 1831, aged seventy-four years, four months, and five days. With these and crowds of others, slumber the remains of the Rev. James V. C. Romeyn, who left the church for his re- wards on high, June 27th, 1840, in his seventy-fifth year, and fifty-third of his ministry, after serving the congregations of Hackensack and Sehraalenbergh thirty- five years. "The memory of the just is blessed," and " their good name is better than precious ointment."
The reader must remember that the congregation at Schraalenbergh had become a distinet church since its connection was dissolved with Dominio Romeyn, in April, 1533. We record the names of their pastors for some following years :-- the Rev. John Garretson, 1833 ;
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Michael Osborne, of Virginia, 1837; Cornelius J. Blau- velt, 1842.
As early as the year 1768, we find an account of a church formation at " English Neighborhood," a thickly settled vicinity of Hackensack. A Mr. Thomas Moore conveyed to trustees an aere of land for the erection of a church "agreeable to the constitution of the Reformed Dutch Church of Holland, established by the National Synod of Dort." In the conveyance he also required its trustees to " keep out of the debate that is now be- tween Cœtus and Conferentie as much as in us lies, and we will endeavor to live in Christian peace with both parties, as we have agreed from the first, on purpose that all the inhabitants of the English Neighborhood, and members of the said church, may live in peace and love among themselves and others. For a divided house must fall, but a well-united house or church shall stand." The trustees were Abraham Montany, Stephen- Bour- dette, John Day, Michael ?loore, Thomas Moore, John Moore (1768). This was the period when the Cotus and Conferentie difference became most excited. The infant church here felt the want of a proper spiritual guide, and soon obtained such a one.
This was Mr. Garrit Lydekker, licensed to preach the Gospel in 1765, and the church at English Neighbor- hood was finished in 1768: no other record has been found of him. In the year 1702, this congregation, uniting with that at Bergen, called John Cornelison, and during May, 1703, he was ordained and installed pastor of the two churches. He occasionally preached in the Dutch language, and during the first year of his
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ministry, a plan was adopted to erect a new tabernacle, forty-five feet by forty-two. As a gratuity, the people furnished the stone and timber, and the "managers" of the work were Cornelius Vreeland, Garret Banta, John Williams, John Day, Ryncar Earles, and Samuel Edsall, "with full power to do the whole work." The subscrip- tions reached the sum of two hundred and fifteen pounds five shillings, and the highest, Abraham Montanye's, twenty-five pounds ; and the year 1794 witnessed the completion of the new temple.
During thirteen years, until 1806, Mr. Cornelison dili- gently cultivated this field of Christian work, extending from the Bergen Point to within four miles of Hacken- sack. The former place now able to support a minister alone, he relinquished the pastoral care of the English Neighborhood. About three years afterwards. the Rev. Henry Polhemus took sole charge of the congregation. at a salary of "three hundred dollars in money, together with a supply of hay, firewood, and grain ;" and on Do- cember 29th, 1800, this church became incorporated according to law. Here, this servant of Christ preached the Word until the year 1813, and then removed his labors to Shawangunk, New York. There, during 1815, in that old region of the earliest Huguenot pious settlers, he ended his earthly ministry. He was a native of Somerset, New York, and pursued his theological studies with Dr. Dirck Romeyn.
The Rev. Cornelius F. Demarest, in 1813, succeeded him at English Neighborhood, and his labors were soon blessed. When Dr. Freligh, however, seceded, in 1822, some here sympathized with him, and especially the new 23
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