UC-NRLF 
 
J4N A. CKKAY, 
 NEWSPAPER, 
 
 ok, and Job Printer, 
 
 tereotyper & Binder, 
 18 JACOB STREET,! 
 
 NEW-YORK, 
 ire-Proot Buildings 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 MRS. JAMES L. 
 
 Class 
 
Z! 
 

 NORTH REFORMED DUTCTT CHURCH, CORNER OF WILLIAM AND FULTON BTKKETS, 
 DEDICATED MAY 25TII, 1769. 
 
A DISCOURSE 
 
 DELIVERED IN TIIK 
 
 m mm (du 
 
 CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 Cast Sabbatl) in August, 1856. 
 
 KINCIl AL KNTRANCB TO THE NOKTII RKFORMED DVTCIl C1UT.(U. 
 
 THOMAS DEWITT, D, D, 
 
 UNI: OF TIII-: MINISTERS C^^^QOLLE^A^ REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH 
 
 Published by request of the Consistory. 
 
A DISCOURSE 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE 
 
 Uirrtlt 
 
 tttoh 
 
 (COLLEGIATE) 
 
 IN THE CITY OF NEW-YOKE, 
 
 ON" THE LAST SABBATH IN AUGUST, 1856 
 
 BY THOMAS DE WITT, D.D., 
 
 ONE OF THE MINISTERS OF THE COLLEGIATE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH. 
 
 Published by order of the Consistory of the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church. 
 
 N E W - Y O K K : 
 
 B O A R D O V P U B L I C A T I O N 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CPIURCH, 
 
 337 BROADWAY. 
 
 1857. 
 
ftXfcf 
 
 N- 
 
 
THE North Reformed Dutch Church was closed for a number of 
 weeks, during last summer, for the purpose of being repaired, and 
 placed in complete order and freshness. When it was reopened for 
 worship on the last Sabbath in August, a request was made that a 
 discourse should be preached, somewhat commemorative of its past 
 history. No thought was entertained at the time of its delivery 
 that its publication would be requested. But the desire of the Con 
 sistory was felt to be imperative. The outlines of the discourse have 
 been throughout preserved, while some points have been enlarged, 
 particularly the brief sketches of the ministers, and slight additions 
 have been made. It was deemed desirable to procure plates of the 
 church edifices, which have been and are in connection with the Col 
 legiate Church. With these will be found a fac simile on a reduced 
 scale of a print of the old Middle Dutch Church in its original state 
 as first built, executed in 1731. This is referred to in the discourse, 
 and will prove curious and interesting. There is also a plate repre 
 senting the treaty with the Aborigines, by Governor Minuit, in 1626, for 
 the purchase of Manhattan Island, taken from a painting designed, pro 
 cured, and possessed by Dr. James Anderson, of this city. These 
 plates give a value and interest to this pamphlet, which it could not 
 possess otherwise. It will be seen that these are mere running out 
 lines of the history of this Church, which might easily have been 
 expanded. But I deem it best to repress the design of inserting addi 
 tional matter. A few notes will be found in the Appendix. The 
 procurement of the plates has delayed the publication. 
 
 T. I). W. 
 
 NEW-YOKK, December, 1850. 
 
 235912 
 
DISCOURSE. 
 
 PSALM 48 : 0. 
 WE have thought of thy loving-kindness, God, in the midst of thy temple. 
 
 THE scenes and associations of our early days will al 
 ways find a place in our memories and in our hearts. 
 No change of time or circumstances can efface them 
 from our minds. When removed from the parental 
 home, or the domestic circle, when away from the land 
 of our birth, on a pilgrimage to a distant land, who 
 will not cordially indulge in recalling, with deep emo 
 tion, the associations and incidents of the past ? Though 
 the place of our early home may no longer be in the 
 possession of our family relationship, yet the scenes 
 around it will vividly impress us, and the events of the 
 past will spontaneously crowd into our memory. 
 Where are the generous minds and feeling hearts that 
 have not often felt this attraction, or that would be 
 willing, for a moment, to repress or weaken it ? If the 
 reminiscences bearing upon time and earth inspire deep 
 interest, how much more must that interest be increased 
 when connected with the exercise of Christian faith and 
 hope, in their rise and culture, and with the teachings 
 and influence of divine grace, in the worship of the 
 sanctuary ? 
 
We have entered anew this time-honored place of 
 worship, after it had been closed, during a series of 
 weeks, for the purpose of being thoroughly repaired, in 
 the aspect of renewed freshness and beauty which it 
 now presents. Since it was first completed and opened 
 for divine service, in 1769, successive generations wor 
 shipping in it have passed from time to eternity. There 
 are numbers, now scattered in different parts, who re 
 cur to their ancestry, and perhaps themselves, as baptiz 
 ed, worshipping, and trained within these walls. There 
 are very many, now living, who connect the earliest 
 recollections of their infancy and youth, and so also of 
 their onward course, with this edifice. In the change 
 which has taken place by the conversion of this part of 
 the city into the mart of commercial employment, re 
 sulting from the rapid and unexampled growth of our 
 city and country, the number of those who statedly 
 worship here has become small. The community 
 around us, while not possessing recollections of their 
 personal relation to it, still regard it with veneration, 
 and view it as a valuable memorial of the length of 
 years during which it has preserved a prominent posi 
 tion, and diffused the enlightening, sanctifying, and sav 
 ing influence of divine truth. In the change of circum 
 stances, leading to the removal of the fixed resident 
 population from the lower part of the city, the older 
 churches, one after another, have been taken down, and 
 now but very few remain in the lower wards. Still, a 
 large population, of another description, and of a more 
 fluctuating character, is found, and will remain in this 
 vicinity, to whom the " Gospel which is preached unto 
 the poor" should be ministered. For this purpose the 
 
Consistory of this Clmrcli have resolved to preserve this 
 edifice, and renovate its appearance, in order that the 
 means of grace may be dispensed within its walls in 
 time to come. They desire to employ the best means 
 adapted to the existing state of things, and, under the 
 divine blessing, continue here, in some measure, that 
 holy influence which rested here so largely in times 
 past. 
 
 Assembled on this occasion, and contemplating the 
 history and uses of this edifice, we feel that the words 
 of the text are appropriate, and meet with the response 
 of devout hearts present. 
 
 " WE HAVE THOUGHT OF THY LOVING-KINDNESS, O 
 IN THE MIDST OF THY TEMPLE." 
 
 This forty-eighth psalm is descriptive of the beauty, 
 the glory, and the strength of the Church, and her 
 triumph over her foes. In the immediate connection 
 of the text, the exercises of the pious soul, in medita 
 tion on divine truth, and in the remembrance of spirit 
 ual enjoyment, and edification in the house of God, are 
 expressed. The closing verses of the Psalm are beauti 
 fully and forcibly descriptive of the order, safety, per 
 manence and blessings of the true spiritual Church of 
 Christ. " Walk about Zion, and go round about her. 
 Tell the towers thereof ; mark ye well her bulwarks. Con 
 sider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generations to 
 come. For this God is our God forever. He will le 
 our guide even unto death? 
 
8 
 
 The declaration, " We have thought of thy loving- 
 kindness, God, in the midst of thy temple? brings to 
 our consideration 
 
 I. THE PLACE OF WORSHIP " The temple of God." 
 
 II. THE THEME THERE UNFOLDED FOR OUR ATTENTION 
 
 AND MEDITATION " The loving-kindness of God." 
 
 III. TlIE RETROSPECT OF OUR MEDITATIONS ON THIS 
 
 THEME IN THE HOUSE OF GOD " We have thought of thy 
 loving-kindness." 
 
 o 
 
 I. The place of worship " The temple of God? The 
 tabernacle and temple, under the Old Testament econ 
 omy, were devoted to the sacrificial worship peculiar to 
 it, and which were shadowy and typical in their nature. 
 This worship pointed to the ONE sacrifice to be offered 
 in the fullness of time to Christ, the High Priest of 
 our profession, who has now entered into the heavens 
 within the veil, and to the blessings of the covenant, 
 which was ratified in the atoning blood of the Redeem 
 er. Under the New Testament economy, we have " the 
 truth as it is in Jesus," exhibiting the fulfillment and 
 realization of the prophecies and types of the former 
 dispensation, and displaying, in the completed canon of 
 Scripture, the way of salvation, clearly and impressive 
 ly. The simplicity of worship, in the instituted and 
 well-adapted means of grace connected with the 
 special promise of the Spirit, constitute the glory and 
 efficiency of the New Testament Church. " We are 
 made ministers of the New Testament, not in tlie letter 
 Imt the spirit" The temple of God is now found wher 
 ever believers are gathered in church relation, where the 
 
9 
 
 truth is purely preached, and the means of grace are 
 faithfully ministered, and where the promised Spirit is 
 sought and bestowed. The idea of a temple implies 
 the residence of God s truth and Spirit, worship, in the 
 light of truth and beauty of holiness, and a willing 
 consecration to his service. These pertain to every in 
 dividual Christian, and to the true and universal Church 
 of Christ, consisting of the redeemed and sanctified of 
 every age and country and denomination. This is 
 strikingly stated by Paul, in the second chapter of his 
 epistle to the Ephesians : " Now, therefore, ye are no 
 more strangers and aliens, but fellow-citizens with the 
 saints of the household of God, and are built upon the 
 foundation of the apostles and propliets, Jesus Christ 
 himself being the chief corner-stone. In whom the whole 
 building, fitly framed tog ether, groweth to an holy temple 
 in the Lord ; in ivhom also ye are built up together, for an 
 habitation of God, through the Spirit" It is not the 
 splendor of the outward and material temple that 
 attracts the divine regard, or in itself subserves its use 
 and design, irrespective of the character of the worship 
 there rendered, in " spirit and in truth," and the spirit 
 ual blessing there promised and bestowed. The ser 
 vice may be rendered in the humblest structure ; yea, 
 even under the broad canopy of heaven there the 
 declaration of the Saviour may be verified : " Where 
 two or three are met in my name, there am I in the 
 midst of them." There is a necessity for the erection 
 of suitable edifices for the purpose of social worship, 
 where the truth may be preached, the means of grace 
 be ministered, and the communion of God s people be 
 cultivated The Sabbath, the sanctuary, and the minis- 
 
10 
 
 try of reconciliation are joined together as a three-fold 
 cord, and are indissolubly linked together. It is proper 
 and right that beauty, simplicity, solidity, and chaste 
 adornment, in proportion to the means of the worship 
 pers, should be consulted. Never should it be laid to 
 our charge that, while we " dwell in ceiled houses," 
 we suffer the house of God to lie waste ; or to fail in 
 forming, preserving, or increasing its beauty, strength, 
 or convenience, as circumstances may require. But let 
 it ever be remembered that the true glory of a house 
 of w r orship, dedicated to God, is the faithful ministry 
 of the truth and ordinances of God, the efficacy of 
 these in the conversion of sinners and the edification 
 of believers, and in the advancement of the peace and 
 holiness of the Church. Without these, we may write 
 upon the most splendid temple reared in the name of 
 Christ, "ICIIABOD" the glory is departed. The word 
 of God, ministered in the sanctuary, is " the wisdom 
 and power of God unto salvation," and herein is the 
 loving-kindness of God manifested and applied. 
 
 II. The theme unfolded for our attention and medita 
 tion. " The loving-kindness of God." The kindness of 
 God visits all men in his providential dealings, and his 
 u tender mercies are over all his works." But there is 
 an emphasis and a peculiar import in the phrase, "Lov 
 ing-kindness," referring to that infinite love and kind 
 ness, which save and bless lost sinners. Thus Paul, in 
 the third chapter of his Epistle to Titus, says : " After 
 that the LOVING-KINDNESS of God our Saviour appeared 
 towards men, not according to works of righteousness 
 which we had done, but according to his own mercy he 
 
11 
 
 saved us," etc. The term " loving-kindness," is a com 
 pound one, signifying love in the outgoings of kindness. 
 It is not love as an abstract principle, but a lively, vi 
 gorous cause, producing the kindest effects. It is kind 
 ness, not as the result of mere esteem, or arising out of 
 the propriety of things, but it is kindness flowing from 
 the intensity of affection, the ardor and energy of love. 
 The term was a favorite one with the Psalmist, who 
 employs it twenty-two times. Jeremiah uses it four 
 times, and Hosea once. The loving-kindness of God is 
 displayed and exercised in the unspeakable gift of God 
 in Jesus Christ his Son. This is the channel through 
 which infinite grace passes for the bestowment of every 
 blessing. It is displayed in his forgiving mercy and 
 saving grace, and in all his providential dealings, caus 
 ing " all things to work together for good to them who 
 love him." We quote some of the passages in Scrip 
 ture, in which this phrase is used, which will show the 
 force and beauty of its meaning. Ps. 26:4: " For thy 
 loving-kindness is before mine eyes, and I have walked 
 in thy truth." Ps. 36 : 7 : " How excellent is thy lov 
 ing-kindness, O God, therefore the children of men 
 put themselves under the shadow of thy wings." Ps. 
 63 : 3 : " Because thy loving-kindness is better than 
 life, my lips shall praise thee." Ps. 42 : 8 : " For the 
 Lord will command his loving-kindness in the day time, 
 and in the night his song shall be with me." Although 
 the phraseology is varied, yet the meaning of the 
 phrase before is drawn out in Ps. 27 : 4 : " One thing 
 have I desired out of the Lord, that will I seek after, 
 that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, there to be 
 hold his beauty, and to inquire in his holy temple." 
 
12 
 
 Jeremiah 9:24: " Let him that glorieth, glory in this, 
 that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the 
 Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and 
 righteousness in the earth." Jeremiah 31:4: "I have 
 loved thee with an everlasting love, and with loving- 
 kindness have I drawn thee." These passages, among 
 others, show the import and force of the words, " lov 
 ing-kindness of God." 
 
 THINKING on the loving-kindness of God implies not 
 only attention to the great truths of religion, and to the 
 dispensations of Providence and grace so as to yield 
 intellectual approbation, but also the response of the 
 heart in valuing, applying, and improving them, and in 
 the subjection of the will to their practical influence. 
 So David testifies, Ps. 119 : 59, 60 : "7 thought on my 
 ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. I made 
 haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments? It 
 is a living operative faith, working by love, purifying 
 the heart, and overcoming the world, that thinks 
 rightly and profitably on the "loving-kindness of God." 
 It is this faith in exercise that makes the word of truth 
 light and life and peace to the soul, and connects the 
 events of life in the providence of God with the teach 
 ings of his truth and the influence of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 III. The retrospect of our meditations on this theme 
 in the house of God. "We have thought of thy loving- 
 kindness." It is most reasonable, and should be profit 
 able to hold converse with our past days and years, and 
 to review the use we have made of our sanctuary privi 
 leges. We should inquire whether we have been 
 brought into the fellowship of divine grace, and, if so, 
 
13 
 
 what were the manner and the means by which we 
 have been led in the way everlasting. As the Sabbath 
 returns, devoted to meditation on divine truth, its 
 influence will be sensibly felt. What Christian has 
 not experienced the genial influence of such a Sab 
 bath as this, with the bright rays of the sun shining 
 clearly around, and the balmy atmosphere of heaven 
 inhaled in fixing his thoughts on the " loving-kind 
 ness" of God, in the sanctuary ? Our recollections 
 should extend not merely to the privileges we have 
 personally enjoyed, and the blessings we have reaped 
 in the temple of God, but they should properly and 
 readily reach back to those who were engaged in pro 
 curing the erection of this building, and to the gener 
 ations which followed them. Sacred and sweet is the 
 memory of parents, who brought us to the house of 
 God in baptismal dedication, who extended to us their 
 counsels and prayers, by whose side we sat in the 
 family pew, from Sabbath to Sabbath, whose renewed 
 consecration to Christ, from time to time, we witnessed, 
 and who died peacefully in the faith of Christ and the 
 hope of glory. Memory will also dwell upon the kin 
 dred and friends who went up with us to the house of 
 God, and with whom we took sweet counsel together. 
 Christians who have worshipped here for a series of 
 years will, in the associations and remembrances that 
 this house brings with it, retrace the incidents of their 
 past history, and ponder on the discipline and culture of 
 their spiritual life which they have here received. 
 They will revert to the seasons of temporal affliction 
 and spiritual sorrow and conflict, when here in the 
 assembly of his people. They poured out their hearts 
 
14 
 
 before the mercy-seat, and found light and peace, com 
 fort and strength supplied to them. They will remem 
 ber the seasons of refreshment and enjoyment when, 
 " in the multitude of his mercies," they kept holy day 
 in this temple, when they recounted his loving-kindness 
 in all the dealings of his providence and grace, with 
 the heart of gratitude and love, and with the voice of 
 thanksgiving and praise. The seasons of believing re 
 membrance, hallowed enjoyment, and cordial conse 
 cration at the table of the Lord, will remain deeply and 
 tenderly engraved on the memory. The associations of 
 earlier days in Christian friendship and intercourse, 
 when we went to the house of God, and took sweet 
 counsel together, and, from our common services there, 
 went forth to bear each other s burden, and fulfill each 
 other s joy, will vividly and impressively recur to us, 
 and hope will spring forth, reaching to the everlasting- 
 reunion in the " temple above, not made with hands, 
 eternal in the heavens." With what feelings must they 
 regard this house, and retrace their meditations on the 
 loving-kindness of God within it, who were here born 
 of the Spirit, awakened to repentance, and led to the 
 faith and service of Christ. Of this house, the annals 
 of its history testify, that in the continued succession of 
 years, very many " this man, and that man" were 
 born there, and that here, while beholding the beauty 
 of the Lord, and inquiring in his holy temple, their 
 " strength was renewed, so that they mounted up with 
 wings like eagles ; ran, and were not weary ; walked, 
 and fainted not." In the review of the past, these me 
 ditations on the goodness of God in this temple, by the 
 pious, will be carefully entertained, and prove impres- 
 
15 
 
 sive, instructive, and edifying. But there are those, 
 who were here dedicated to Christ in baptism, trained 
 in attendance on its ordinances, and placed under asso 
 ciations and influences favorable to piety, who remain 
 without an interest and part in the great salvation. 
 Let the memory and thought of God s loving-kindness 
 in this temple, in times past, now sink deep in their 
 hearts, and urge and lead them to an instant and cor 
 dial acceptance of the grace of the Redeemer, and the 
 future subjection of their lives to his service. 
 
 These general reflections, in connection with the ser 
 vice of this day, exhibit the high estimate which we 
 should make of the value and importance of the sanc 
 tuary of God. " The Lord loves the gates of Zion more 
 than the dwellings of Jacob." He loves the dwellings 
 of Jacob, the families of his people, and regards with 
 complacence the worship there rendered, the unity of 
 faith and affection there cherished, and the parental 
 spiritual influence there exerted. Still more does he 
 " love the gates of Zion," the Christian sanctuary, 
 whence the influence is derived which forms and pre 
 serves the religion of the family, and spreads it around 
 through the community. The sanctuary is inseparably 
 interwoven with the Sabbath and the ministry of re 
 conciliation. They go hand in hand, shedding their 
 beneficent and saving influence. Here united public 
 worship is rendered, and the time, place, and instru 
 mentality is laid open to all for religious instruction, by 
 the preached truth, the devout exercises of prayer and 
 praise, and the discipline of the spiritual life. The de 
 sign of God is, that his truth should not be confined to 
 one place or age, but that the light of life should be 
 
16 
 
 diffused throughout the earth. For this purpose, he 
 opens his sanctuary, hallows the Sabbaths in their suc 
 cession, and forms his Church as a " city set on a hill," 
 to enlighten the world. The Church of God is the 
 great teacher of the world. Let this mighty influence 
 be removed, and " darkness will soon cover the earth, 
 and gross darkness the people." This is in close con 
 nection with the purposes and end of associated public 
 worship. Hence the Church is termed " the pillar and 
 ground of truth," as it is the great means of maintaining 
 the life and profession of Christianity. It is in the sanctu 
 ary that the truth is ordinarily rendered effectual unto 
 salvation. It is in the sanctuary that the presence of 
 God is experienced, in the communion of his love, and 
 the bestowment of his blessing. " Wherever he records 
 his name," he promises to be with his people, and bless 
 them. Hence, every pious soul can say with David : 
 " My soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the courts of 
 the Lord. My flesh crieth out for the living God." Ps. 
 84 : 2. " Blessed are they who dwell in thy house, they 
 will be still be praising thee. They go from strength 
 to strength, every one of them appeareth before God. 
 I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, 
 than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. A day spent 
 in thy courts is better than a thousand." Ps. 122. The 
 pious here feel that nearness of access to him, that con 
 fidence in him as their covenant God, that culture of 
 the graces of the spirit, by which growth in grace is 
 promoted in increased preparation for life s duties and 
 events, and in growing meetness for the inheritance of 
 saints in light. Here they contemplate, in the commu 
 nion of brotherly love, the thousands engaged at the 
 
17 
 
 same time, in other places, in the same service with 
 themselves, and anticipate the worship of the heavenly 
 temple and eternal Sabbath, in the full assembly of the 
 just made perfect. 
 
 These reflections, suggested by the text, are not in 
 appropriate to the occasion which has assembled us, 
 when this edifice is reopened for public worship, after 
 having been closed a number of weeks for the purpose 
 of being placed in the fresh and beautiful aspect it now 
 presents. It preserves its original aspect and character, 
 and continues distinguished for the solidity of its struc 
 ture and the just proportions of its architecture. It now 
 approaches towards the ninetieth year of its erection, 
 having been commenced in 1767, and completed and 
 opened for service in 1769. Among the many splendid 
 houses of worship that have been erected during late 
 years, none exceed this and the adjacent Episcopal 
 church of St. Paul s, which was erected only two or 
 three years previous to this, having been opened for 
 service in 1766. 
 
 This edifice was built by the Consistory of the Prot 
 estant Reformed Dutch Church of the city of JSTew-York, 
 since familiarly known as the Collegiate Reformed 
 Dutch Church, and still remains in the same relation. 
 It is therefore proper to advert to the history of this 
 Church, coeval with the first colonial settlement by the 
 Hollanders, in the first part of the seventeenth century, 
 and to its ecclesiastical origin and character. The name 
 of the Church, "Protestant Reformed Dutcli? is derived 
 from its historical associations and reminiscences. The 
 term Protestant was applied, in the sixteenth century, 
 to the Reformers, and those who denied the authority 
 2 
 
18 
 
 of the Pope, and rejected the unscriptural doctrines of 
 the Church of Rome. The name arose in 1529, when 
 six princes of the German empire formally and solemn 
 ly protested against the decrees of the Diet of Spires, 
 and it has since been the distinctive name, in universal 
 use, as applied to the glorious Reformation. During the 
 progress of the Reformation, a difference occurred 
 among the Protestants on some points, and particularly 
 on the real presence of Christ s humanity in the Lord s 
 Supper. Those who held to it, with the great Reform 
 er, Luther, were called Lutherans, and they who rejected 
 it, Reformed. When the Reformation from Popery took 
 rise, it advanced at the same time in Switzerland, France, 
 the Netherlands, Scotland and England, through the 
 labors of Calvin, Zuinglius, Knox, Cranmer and others. 
 The Reformed Churches of France, Switzerland, Ger 
 many, Holland, and Scotland, were in close affinity with 
 each other, not only in holding the doctrines of grace, 
 as embraced in common by all the churches of the Re 
 formation, but in their views of the Lord s Supper, and 
 also of Presbyterian church government and order. 
 The name of our church derives REFOKMED from the 
 portion of the early Protestant churches so termed, and 
 DUTCH, from the branch of the Reformed Church form 
 ed and organized in Holland. At an early period of 
 the Reformation in Germany, the spirit of religious in 
 quiry spread throughout the Netherlands. A contest 
 of unexampled severity, for civil and religious liberty, 
 against the colossal power of the empire and the 
 Papacy ensued. There is no spot in Europe in which, 
 during the sixteenth century, so many thrilling inci 
 dents occurred, as in the struggle in the Netherlands, 
 
19 
 
 which ended in the independence of the seven northern 
 provinces of Holland, and in the subjugation of the ten 
 southern provinces of Belgium to the imperial and 
 Papal power. Within a short time the interest of the 
 public has been attracted to the history of the struggle 
 in the Netherlands in the 16th century, by two works 
 of great research and classic finish, from the pen of 
 American authors. I allude to the "Meigii of Pliilip 
 thQ Second? by Prescott, and " The Rise of the Dutch 
 Republic? down to 1684, by Motley. These works 
 have spread information and inspired interest in the his 
 tory of the heroes and martyrs in the Reformation 
 struggle in Holland, before unknown and unfelt. The 
 religious inquirer will be most deeply interested in the 
 contest for evangelical truth, and in the evidence of the 
 deep-rooted faith and piety which nerved the arms and 
 staid the hearts of the confessors of the truth under 
 persecutions and oppressions, severe and continued, al 
 most without a parallel. The Martyrology of the 
 Netherlands, during this struggle, would furnish as rich 
 a page as can be drawn from any other field. The 
 confessors, " scattered and peeled," holding their lives 
 in their hands, amid the violent and excruciating 
 deaths of thousands, for the truth s sake, bore a no 
 ble and persevering testimony. They termed their 
 churches, at the time they were first formed, " The 
 Churches under the Cross? In 1563 the ministers and 
 confessors of the truth held a meeting at Antwerp, 
 and formed a synod of the churches, and adopted a 
 system of principles and rules which laid the founda 
 tion, and, in a great measure, formed the full texture 
 of church government and order adopted by subse- 
 
20 
 
 quent synods. The Confession, Catechism, etc., now 
 constituting the doctrinal standards, were soon after 
 adopted. After the emancipation and independence of 
 the Seven Northern Provinces, or Holland, they rapidly 
 advanced to signal prosperity, commercial, naval, liter 
 ary and financial, so as to rank among the first States 
 of Europe. The Reformed Church of Holland soon 
 became distinguished among the churches of the Re 
 formation for her well-trained theologians, her devoted 
 pastors and the combined evangelical purity of faith and 
 experimental and practical religion. Such she was in 
 the seventeenth century. No branch of the Reformed 
 Church was in more intimate correspondence and sym 
 pathy with the other branches than that of Holland. 
 Her bosom was the refuge and the resting-place of the 
 persecuted Huguenots, Waldenses, the Covenanters of 
 Scotland and the exiled Puritans. Her universities 
 were resorted to from various parts, and many youth 
 were trained in them who became shining lights in 
 other countries. The works of her divines of that day 
 still retain their high reputation, and are sought after. 
 Such, at that time, was the Reformed Church of Hol 
 land, from which the Reformed Dutch Church in 
 America deduces its origin. 
 
 The Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church of this city, 
 the first founded in North America, dates from the first 
 settlement on Manhattan Island. After its discovery 
 by Hudson, in 1609, commercial adventures were made 
 by Holland merchants, and small trading-posts were 
 formed at Manhattan and Fort Orange, as early as 
 1613, connected with the fur trade. But it was not 
 till after the formation of the "West-India Company, 
 
21 
 
 in 1621, that measures were taken for an agricultural 
 settlement in New-Netherland, which took place in 
 1623. Among the small number of the first settlers 
 were some Walloons, who, during the severity of the 
 religious persecution in the seventeenth century, had 
 fled from the French Belgic provinces to Holland, and 
 had become domesticated there. The first-born white 
 child was the daughter of George Janse D Hapalje, one 
 of these Walloon settlers who located at the Long Island 
 shore at what is still termed the WallebogJii, the name 
 being derived from the first settlers, and meaning the 
 Walloon cove. It was stipulated by the West-India Comr 
 pany, whenever emigrants went forth under their aus 
 pices, and that of the States General of Holland, to send 
 oufc a schoolmaster, being a pious member of the Church, 
 whose office it was to instruct the children and preside 
 in their religious meetings, on the Sabbath and other 
 days, leading in the devotions and reading a sermon, 
 until the regular ministry should be established over 
 them. An individual was often designated as a Zieken- 
 trooster, (comforter of the sick,) who, for his spiritual 
 gifts, was adapted to edify and comfort the people. 
 These Ziekentroosters were often commissioned as aids 
 to the ministers of the Gospel. As early as 1626, 
 two individuals (whose names are preserved) came 
 out with Governor Minuit, in the above capacity. In 
 1633 the first minister, Everardus Bogardus, came over 
 with Governor Wouter Van T wilier, and associated 
 with him was Adam lioelandsen, as schoolmaster, who 
 organized the Church school, which has been handed 
 down, in regular and constant succession, to the present 
 time, having proved an instrument of much good to the 
 
22 
 
 Church and the community. A history of this school 
 was, a short time since, carefully prepared by the present 
 worthy principal, and published in a small duodecimo 
 volume. The introduction here, at the early period of 
 the settlement of our country, of the Church and school 
 combined, can not therefore be claimed as the peculiar 
 distinction of the Puritan emigrant, as the direct aim 
 and the provision made in the early settlements by the 
 Dutch was to extend and preserve in the midst of them 
 the blessings of education and religion. 
 
 In 1626, after the arrival of Governor Minuit, a reg 
 ular purchase of Manhattan Island from the Aborigines 
 was made. We quote from Brodhead s History of the 
 State of New-York a reference to this purchase. " As 
 soon as Minuit was established in his government, he 
 opened negotiations with the savages, and a mutually 
 satisfactory treaty was promptly concluded, by which 
 the entire Island of Manhattan, then estimated to con 
 tain about twenty-two thousand acres of land, was 
 ceded by the native proprietors to the Dutch West-In 
 dia Company for the value of sixty guilders, or about 
 twenty-four dollars of our present currency. This 
 event, one of the most interesting in our colonial annals, 
 as well deserves commendation as the famous treaty, 
 immortalized by painters, poets, and historians, which 
 William Penn concluded sixty-six years afterward, 
 under the great elm tree, with the Indians at Shacka- 
 niaxon." There is an accompanying plate referring to the 
 formation of the treaty conveying Manhattan Island. 
 
 At first, religious meetings were held in temporary 
 buildings. It is recorded that as early as 1626, " Fran 
 cois Molemaker was employed in building a horse-mill, 
 
23 
 
 with a spacious room above, to serve for a congregation ; 
 and a tower was to be added, in which the Spanish 
 bells, captured at Porto Eico the year before, by the 
 West-India Company s fleet, were intended to be hung." 
 After the arrival of the minister, Bogardus, in 1633, 
 the loft was relinquished, and a plain wooden building 
 was erected, situate on the East River, near what is now 
 Old Slip, and at the same time near this church a dwell 
 ing-house and stable were erected for the use of the 
 Domine. 
 
 The early Dutch emigrants continued to worship in 
 this frail edifice till 1642, when measures were taken, at 
 the instance of the famed navigator, David Peterson 
 De Vries, for the erection of a new edifice. He relates 
 in his journal that dining one day with Gov. Kieft, he 
 said to him " that it was a shame that the English, 
 when they visited Manhattan, saw only a mean barn in 
 which we worshipped. The first thing they built in 
 New-England, after their dwelling-houses, was a fine 
 church. We should do the same." This led to a con 
 ference as to the best means to be employed for the 
 accomplishment of this object. A committee was ap 
 pointed, and efforts used for procuring needed funds 
 from individuals and the West-India Company. After 
 discussion it was resolved that the new edifice should be 
 erected within the Fort, (now the Battery,) at its south 
 east corner. Its dimensions were seventy feet by fifty- 
 two, and built of stone. This continued to be their 
 house of worship until the church in Garden street was 
 opened for service in 1693. It was then relinquished 
 to the British Government, and occupied by the royal 
 military forces for public worship, until 1741, when it 
 
24 
 
 was burned down and not rebuilt. On its first con 
 struction there was a stone placed in front with the 
 inscription, "An. Dom. MDCXLIL, W.Kieft Dir. Gen. 
 Heeft de Gemeente dese tempel doen louwen? " In the 
 year of our Lord 1642, W. Kieft being Director Gen 
 eral, has this congregation caused this temple to be built." 
 In 1790, when they were digging away the foundations 
 of the fort, on the Battery, to make way for the gov 
 ernment house, built on the site of what is now the 
 Bowling Green, this stone was found among the rub 
 bish. It was removed to the belfry of the church 
 in Garden street, where it remained till both were 
 destroyed in the great fire of December, 1835. 
 
 This church was built during the ministry of Dorn. 
 Bogardus ; and the elder Megapolensis, Drisius, the young 
 er Megapolensis, Van Neuwenhuysen, and Dom. Selyns 
 ministered in it. Dom. Selyns was settled in 1682, and 
 died in 1^01. I have in my possession a small manu 
 script volume of Dom. Selyns, dated 1686, in which 
 there is a register of the members of the church, arranged 
 according to the streets. These streets are found below 
 Wall street, and east of Broadway, while the remaining 
 families are placed " along shore? on the East river, 
 above the fresh water or collect, and also on Gov. Stuy- 
 vesant s bouwerie or farm. The manuscript volume 
 was doubtless prepared by Selyns to direct him in his 
 course of family visitation. The baptismal and other 
 records of our Church commence with 1639, though 
 it is well known a church organization existed for 
 years previous, extending back at least to 1626, and 
 probably beyond. The records from 1639 to 1*700, are 
 all in the neat handwriting of Dom. Selyns, who appears 
 
25 
 
 to have collected the existing materials, and carefully 
 arranged them, while, doubtless, the record previous 
 to 1639 had been lost. The church register, from that 
 early period, has been carefully continued and pre 
 served to the present time. The colony of New-Ne- 
 therland remained forty years after the first agricul 
 tural settlement, when, in 1664, it was ceded to the 
 British Government, by a treaty which secured to the 
 Dutch their ecclesiastical and civil privileges. The 
 colony had gradually grown, particularly during the 
 administration of Gov. Stuyvesant. The Dutch popu 
 lation extended from New- Amsterdam to the adjacent 
 shores of Long Island and New-Jersey, was found at 
 Esopus, now Kingston and vicinity, and at Rensselaer- 
 wyck, now Albany and vicinity. The population of New- 
 Amsterdam at the time of the cession, was about fiften 
 or sixteen hundred, and that of the colony in its whole 
 extent ten thousand. After it became a British pro 
 vince there was quite a small amount of emigration 
 from Holland, while a number of the colonists returned 
 to their fatherland. But the natural increase in the 
 families of the Dutch inhabitants, joined to some occa 
 sional accessions from Holland, and the parts of Ger 
 many bordering on it, as well as of Huguenots, led to the 
 spreading of Dutch settlements, and the increase of 
 churches, during the latter part of the seventeenth, and 
 the early part of the eighteenth century. They were 
 found particularly along the North river, in the valleys 
 of the Hackensack, Passaic, and Raritan rivers, and in 
 Monmouth county, New-Jersey, and along the Mohawk 
 and Schoharie rivers, in New- York. A list, in chronolo 
 gical order, in the Appendix of the Ministers of the Re- 
 
26 
 
 formed Dutch Church, in North- America, down to the 
 close of the last century, made as full and accurate as 
 materials in hand could enable, will show the course of 
 increase. 
 
 Dom. Selyns had ministered at Brooklyn, and Gov. 
 Stuyvesant s bouwerie, from 1660 to 1664, with great 
 acceptance, when he returned to Holland, just previous 
 to the cession of the province. Such was the impres 
 sion he left, that on the death of their aged ministers, 
 Megapolensis and Drisius, the Church of New-York 
 sent a call on Selyns to Holland, which he declined. 
 Subsequently, after the death of Dom. Van Nieuwen- 
 huysen, the call was renewed, which he then accepted. 
 In 1682 he became sole pastor of the church, and con 
 tinued such until Rev. Gualterus Dubois became asso 
 ciated with him in 1699, two years before his death. 
 Dom. Dubois continued in the ministry till 1751, hav 
 ing been in the pastoral office fifty-two years. Soon 
 after the entrance of Selyns on his pastoral labors, the 
 subject of building a new church edifice attracted 
 general interest, and the first steps were taken by the 
 Consistory, in 1687, when a subscription was circulated 
 generally, in which there were liberal contributions in 
 money, and, in many cases, of building materials and 
 labor. The old church in the fort had become incon 
 veniently located, was beginning to decay, and the 
 popularity of Dom. Selyns called for more spacious ac 
 commodations. Tradition says that a diversity of opin 
 ion existed as to the site to be selected, a portion of the 
 congregation contending that the spot afterwards chosen 
 was too far out of town. The deed conveying the site 
 is dated in 1690, and defines it as being in Garden 
 
TUB OT.D SOUTH CHURCH JN GARDEN STREET. BUILT IN 1693 
 
27 
 
 street, and adjacent to the orchard belonging to Eliz 
 abeth Drisius, the widow of Domine Drisius. I find 
 an account of the expenses of the church, audited in 
 1695, which amounted to 64,178 guilders, or 27,671 
 dollars of our money. This, considering the compara 
 tive cheapness of the times, and that the lot was a gift 
 for a merely nominal consideration, and also that labor 
 and materials were, to some amount, furnished, was 
 sufficient for the erection of a substantial and valuable 
 edifice. It was opened for divine service in 1693, be 
 fore it was thoroughly finished. I find in a manuscript 
 the following reference to the style of the building of 
 the old church in Garden street. It was an oblong 
 square, with three sides of an octagon on the east side. 
 In the front it had a brick steeple, on a large square 
 foundation, so as to admit a room above the entry for a 
 consistory room. The windows of the church were 
 small panes of glass set in lead. The most of them had 
 coats of arms of those who had been elders and magis 
 trates, curiously burnt on glass by Gerard Duyckinck. 
 Some painted coats of arms were also hung against the 
 walls. This house continued the only house of worship 
 for our Dutch ancestors, till the building of another at 
 the corner of Nassau and Liberty streets. After the 
 erection of the church in Nassau street, the church in 
 Garden street took the name of the OLD, and in Nassau 
 street that of the NEW ; and when the church at the 
 corner of Fulton and William was erected, it took the 
 name of the NORTH, when the Garden-Street Church was 
 designated as the SOUTH, and the Nassau-Street as the 
 MIDDLE. The terms old and new, however, continued 
 
28 
 
 to be applied to the two latter for a long time sub 
 sequent. 
 
 With the increase of the congregation the need of ad 
 ditional ministerial service, and of larger church accom 
 modations began to be felt. In 1714, the Rev. Henricus 
 Boel was settled as the colleague of Dom. Dubois, and 
 the subject of the erection of a new church edifice was 
 soon entertained. In 1726, the Consistory, with the 
 advice of the Great Consistory, resolved to take mea 
 sures for its accomplishment, and appointed committees 
 for devising the best means for meeting the expenses, 
 and also for selecting and procuring a suitable site. 
 In July of this year the committee reported that they 
 had agreed with Mr. David Jamison for the plot of 
 ground directly north of the French Church. It will 
 be remembered, that the French Church was on the lot 
 just east of Nassau, between Pine and Cedar streets. 
 The price paid for the ground was 575 pounds. At this 
 time the location was quite on the verge of the more 
 compact part of the city. It was at the same time 
 resolved that the church should be built in the middle 
 of the lot, that the length should be one hundred feet, 
 and the breadth seventy feet within the walls, and 
 that a foundation should be laid, and a tower erected 
 at the north end of the edifice. The church was 
 opened and set apart for divine worship in 1729. At 
 its first erection it had no gallery, and the ceiling was 
 one entire arch without pillars. The pulpit was in the 
 middle of the east wall, and the entrance was by two 
 doors in front, on the west (Nassau) side. In 1764, 
 after the introduction of English preaching, material 
 
RI VAN 
 
 REDUCED FAC-SIMILE OF PRINT PUBLISHED 1731 
 
 ingravec 
 
29 
 
 changes were made in the interior of the building. 
 The pulpit was removed to the north end, and galleries 
 were erected on the other three sides, and the entrances 
 were formed on the north and south sides, as it is 
 remembered by us, previous to its being relinquished 
 and devoted to secular uses. The building still pre 
 sents the exterior aspect of its early days, and calls up 
 in the minds of the older inhabitants of the city, espe 
 cially those of Dutch descent or affinities, impressive 
 remembrances. There was a plate of the Old Middle 
 Dutch Church, as it appeared at its first construction, 
 struck off in 1731. It is dedicated to the Hon. RIP 
 VAN DAM, President of his Majesty* s Council for the 
 Province of New- York. Mr. Van Dam was often a 
 member of his Majesty s Council, and also its President. 
 In 1731 and 1732 he was, during an interregnum, Acting- 
 Governor, as President of the Council. A fac-simile of 
 the original plate, (furnished to us by Rev. Mr. Strong 
 of Newtown,) neatly and accurately executed, on a re 
 duced scale, will be found among the plates accom 
 panying the printed discourse. It will attract interest. 
 There is inscribed on the plate: "This Church was 
 founded A.D. 1727, and finished A.D. 1731, the Rev. 
 Mr. Walter Dubois, and Mr. Henry Boel, ministers? 
 The corner-stone was laid in 1727. It was opened for 
 worship in 1729, but it was not entirely finished in the 
 interior and the fences, etc., till 1731. 
 
 At the time of the erection of the Church in Nassau 
 street, and a series of years subsequently, the preaching 
 was entirely in the Dutch language, while the want of 
 preaching in the English language was deplored, and its 
 
30 
 
 introduction was strongly desired by very many. The Eng 
 lish inhabitants had continually increased in number, in 
 termarriages between English and Dutch families were 
 constantly occurring, all public business was transacted 
 in the English language, and the young of the congre 
 gation became more and more unprofited by the service 
 in Dutch. This naturally proved prejudicial to the in 
 terests of the Church, and led to the gradual with 
 drawal of individuals and families to other denomi 
 nations, especially the Episcopal, in the communion of 
 which will be found for some generations past some of 
 the early, time-honored Dutch names. This influence, 
 so adverse to the prosperity of the Church, was deeply 
 felt by a large portion of the members ; but there was 
 a strength of opposition among the older members, 
 which it was deemed best to seek to allay, and, if prac 
 ticable, to overcome, before active measures should be 
 employed. Early in 1761, the subject was brought be 
 fore Consistory by a petition signed by a majority of 
 the congregation, (by the young generally,) urging the 
 necessity and importance of the introduction of Eng 
 lish preaching. At once a strong and violent opposi 
 tion arose from a considerable number of the older 
 members of the Church and congregation. The Con 
 sistory and Great Consistory were decidedly in favor of 
 the measure, but took a course of measures to conciliate 
 the opposition by holding conferences with them, and 
 making the most reasonable and generous proposals to 
 them. A large body of minutes on this subject is found 
 on our records. All proved unavailing, and the oppo 
 sition refused every overture, and resisted the introduc- 
 
31 
 
 tlon of English preaching at all. In 1763, it was de 
 cided by a large majority of the Consistory and Great 
 Consistory, to prosecute a call to be directed to the 
 Classis of Amsterdam, and by them to be placed in the 
 hands of ARCHIBALD LAIDLIE, minister of the Scotch 
 Church at Flushing, in Holland, in connection with the 
 Reformed Church there. This call was accepted, and 
 Dr. Laidlie arrived in New- York, and entered upon his 
 duties in April, IT 64. Some of the opponents to the 
 introduction of English preaching instituted a suit in 
 the civil courts, which was decided against them. As 
 we look at this period in the lapse of time, we are dis 
 posed to wonder at the blind prejudice which actuated 
 them. But when we consider how deeply is the feeling 
 of attachments to old customs, associations, and even 
 language, lodged in the human mind, we will be led 
 rather to deplore than to wonder. The colleagues at 
 the time of the building of the Old Middle Church, 
 Domines Dubois and Boel, had died, the former in 
 1751, and the latter in 1754. The ministers now offi 
 ciating in the Dutch language were Domines Eltzema 
 and De Ronde, the one settled in 1744, and the latter 
 in 1751, both trained in the universities of Holland. 
 Dr. Laidlie proved an eminent blessing to the Church 
 here. He was a native of Scotland, and thoroughly 
 educated there. He took charge of the Scotch Church 
 in Flushing, Holland, where, for some years, he was a 
 member of the ecclesiastical courts of Holland, and held 
 in high estimation. He thus became acquainted with 
 the Dutch language, and cherished sympathy in all the 
 interests of the Dutch Church. His mind was vigorous 
 
32 
 
 and well stored, he was kind and conciliating in spirit, 
 and judicious and wisely practical in conduct. Con 
 sequently, his influence gradually and surely soothed 
 the spirit, and disarmed the opposition which existed 
 at his coming, and peace and harmony succeeded. He 
 was a richly evangelical preacher, powerful and per 
 suasive in manner, and a large measure of spiritual 
 blessing rested upon his labors. After the congrega 
 tion dispersed, on the occupation by the British, he re 
 tired to Red Hook, where he died in 1778. His course 
 of service was of few years, but it left rich fruits. The 
 New (or Middle) Church was designated to be occu 
 pied on a part or parts of the day, for English service, 
 by Dr. Laidlie. The favorable impression made on the 
 community by him soon crowded the church, and the 
 Consistory at once took measures to make the alter 
 ations before adverted to, and build galleries on three 
 sides. The house soon became filled, and the desirable 
 ness of another and third house of worship was felt. 
 At this time, 1766, the old Church in Garden street, 
 which, from the length of time since its erection, had 
 become considerably decayed, was thoroughly repaired, 
 and in some degree remodelled at considerable ex 
 pense. Early in 1767, measures were taken by the 
 Consistory, for the building of a third church, by the 
 circulation of a subscription, etc. In June of that year 
 it was resolved, that " the church should be erected on 
 the grounds of Mr. Harpending, that it should be one 
 hundred feet in length, and seventy in breadth, that it 
 should front Horse and Cart Lane, and be placed in 
 the middle of the lot." The grounds of Harpending 
 
THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH IX GARDES STREET. 
 BUILT IX 1807. 
 
 THE MIDDLE DUTCH CHURCH IN NASSAU STREET. 
 AFTER BEIXO- ALTERED IX 1764. 
 
33 
 
 here referred to, were the lots on which the church 
 was to be built, as well as a number of lots in the im 
 mediate vicinity, given to the Church by Mr. John 
 Harpending, or, as he himself wrote the name, Herben- 
 dinck, an aged, excellent, and influential member of the 
 Church, who frequently officiated as elder and deacon. 
 He was received a member of the Church in 1664, just 
 previous to the transfer of the colony from Holland to 
 England. He was married here in 1667, and died in 
 1722, at a very advanced age, leaving no children. No 
 one in his day was more active and useful in advancing 
 the interests of the Church, and it is said that such was 
 his character in the community, that he was frequently 
 named in wills as an executor. He was a liberal bene 
 factor of this Church, both in his life and at his death. 
 Directly over the pulpit of this Church is conspicuously 
 hung a coat of arms commemorative of Mr. Harpending. 
 It has depicted on it implements belonging to the cur 
 rying business, and it is said that his trade was that of 
 a tanner and currier. The motto inscribed on it is, 
 " DANDO CONSERVAT," conveying the sentiment, that the 
 best means of securing and giving permanence to our 
 property is to devote it to beneficent uses. A doubt 
 has arisen in my mind, whether this was originally a 
 real coat of arms, or whether it was a design procured 
 by the Church to commemorate his benefaction. It is 
 a doubt which can not now well be solved. It was, at 
 first, placed in the Old Church in Garden street. Af 
 ter the North Church was opened, it was removed to 
 the spot where it now hangs. It is already stated, that 
 
 there were in the Old Church several coats of arms 
 3 
 
34 
 
 liung on the walls, and a number graven in the stained 
 glass of the windows. 
 
 The part of William street on which this North 
 Church stands was then called "Horse and Cart Lane? 
 It derived its name from a tavern built and in the 
 direct vicinity of the Church, having the sign of a horse 
 and cart inscribed on it. Probably, at its erection, car 
 men were in the habit of resorting to it. About the 
 time when the North Church was being built, the 
 population was pressing upwards slowly towards the 
 locality, which became sparsely settled, with a continual 
 increase. The Episcopal Church of St. Paul, on Broad 
 way, was built shortly before, and was opened for pub 
 lic worship in 1766. The site selected was, at the 
 time, said to be "in the fields," and the ground on 
 which it was placed was, the year previous, under cul 
 ture, and produced a crop of grain. The population of 
 the city was, at this time, rapidly advancing. I find 
 the enumeration of the inhabitants of this city, was, in 
 1756, 10,881, and in mi, 21,863. Many of the 
 churches of different denominations were built during 
 this period, in what are now the first three wards of 
 the city, engrossed by the interests of commerce. It 
 may be well here to allude briefly to the process of the 
 erection of churches prior to this period, 1771. 
 
 After the transfer of the colony to the British, in 
 1664, the Episcopal interest and worship were intro 
 duced. - The chaplain of the forces conducted public 
 worship in the Reformed Dutch Church in the fort, as 
 also Rector Yesey after his. arrival. When the Dutch 
 church in Garden street was opened, an invitation was 
 
35 
 
 extended to Mr. Vesey to hold worship, with his people, 
 on a part of the Sabbath. From the first there was a 
 very friendly understanding between the two denomina 
 tions. At the induction of Rector Vesey into his office, 
 in 1697, Governor Fletcher directed two of the Dutch 
 ministers to be present, Selyns, of New- York, and Nu- 
 cella, of Kingston. Trinity Church was opened 
 for divine service in January, 1697, on the same spot 
 where, after two successive rebuildings, the splendid 
 edifice, recently erected, now stands. In 1702 a small 
 building was erected on Broadway, at the corner of 
 Rector street, by the German Lutherans, on the spot after 
 wards occupied by Grace Church. The congregation con 
 tinued small and fluctuating, and their house of worship 
 was burnt down in the great fire of 1776, which also 
 consumed Trinity Church, adjacent. The French Hu 
 guenots built a church edifice in 1704, measuring fifty 
 feet by seventy-seven, fronting on Pine street, opposite 
 the present Custom House, the burial-ground in the 
 rear running back to Cedar street. This edifice is dis 
 tinctly remembered by our citizens, as it remained in 
 its original form one hundred and thirty years, to 1834, 
 when the grounds were sold, and the church taken 
 down, and the present edifice erected at the corner of 
 Church and Leonard streets. Many Huguenots settled 
 at a very early period here, and among the colonists 
 from Holland there were a number of Huguenots and 
 Walloons. Subsequently, amid the persecutions which 
 preceded and followed the revocation of the edict of 
 Xantes, larger numbers flowed in. At an early period 
 the Reformed Dutch Church made provision for their 
 spiritual wants. The Rev. Samuel Drisius was called 
 
36 
 
 to the church at New-Amsterdam in 1652, as a col 
 league with Megapolensis, on account of his know 
 ledge of the English and French languages, (having 
 been settled in the Dutch Church at London,) that he 
 might minister to the French and English, resident or 
 visiting here. Subsequently our Consistory, about 1690, 
 and afterwards, engaged the Rev. Peter Daille, who 
 had ministered in the early Huguenot settlements in 
 Massachusetts, to preach to the French, and occupy 
 their pulpit during part of the Sabbath, when after a 
 few years they formed a distinct ecclesiastical organiza 
 tion. The character of the first Huguenot settlers was 
 eminently worthy, both here and in other parts of the 
 State and the United States. An interesting fact is re 
 lated concerning the first settlers at New-Rochelle, in 
 Westchester county. When they entered the forests, 
 and with toilful labor engaged in clearing and cultivat 
 ing the fields, they resolved, in the spirit of deep piety 
 which they brought with them, to unite with their 
 brethren in New- York in the public worship of the Sab 
 bath, though at the distance of twenty miles. Such was 
 their reverence for the sanctification of the Sabbath, 
 that they would take up their march on foot in the after 
 noon of Saturday, and reach New- York by midnight, 
 singing the hymns of Clement Marot by the way. En 
 gaging in the worship of the Sabbath, they remained 
 till after midnight, and then took up their march 
 in return to New-R-ochelle, relieving the toil of the 
 way by singing Marot s hymns. The first Presby 
 terian interest in New- York was gathered in the early 
 part of the last century, and their first house of wor 
 ship was built in 1719, in Wall street, near Broadway, 
 
37 
 
 the pioneer of the extended Presbyterian Church that 
 now exists. The first Jewish synagogue in the city 
 was built in Mill street, in the lower part of the city, in 
 1729. The Episcopal St. George s Chapel, in Beek- 
 man street, was built in 1752. The Moravian Church 
 in Fulton street, between Nassau and William, was 
 built in 1752. The Scotch Presbyterian Church 
 in Cedar street, near Broadway, successively under 
 the pastoral care of the Doctors Mason, father and 
 son, was built in 1768. The German Reformed 
 church in Nassau street, below John, in 1765. The 
 German Lutheran Church, at the corner of William 
 and Frankfort streets, was erected in 1767. St. Paul s 
 Church, as before stated, was erected and opened for 
 service in 1766. The Brick Presbyterian Church, erect 
 ed on a lot presented by the Corporation of the city, 
 in what was then termed " the fields," was opened for 
 service in 1767. A Baptist church was built in Gold 
 street, between Fulton and John, in 1760. The first 
 Methodist church in America was built in John street 
 in 1768. Besides these, there was a small Friends , or 
 Quaker meeting-house. These were the houses of wor 
 ship in the city at the opening of the North Dutch 
 Church, in 1769. Those who trace, after the revolu 
 tionary war, first the slower, and then the more rapid 
 growth of New- York, will mark the additional churches 
 erected in the lower part of the city, and reaching by 
 degrees to Canal street, and then still upwards, and will 
 find of later years, one after another, the church edi 
 fices below Canal street, passing away under the force 
 of the tide of removal upwards, and on the adjacent 
 
38 
 
 shores. At the time of the erection of the North 
 Church the population was filling up more and 
 more densely in the parts below, and making its way 
 in that vicinity and upwards more sparsely. Hence the 
 number of churches which, in a short number of years, 
 had grown up. 
 
 The expense of the erection of this North Church, 
 as audited after it was opened, was about 12,000 pounds, 
 or thirty thousand dollars, which was much increased 
 by some improvements shortly after made. On observ 
 ing the beautiful pillars which stud the galleries, it 
 will be seen that there are initials of names inscribed 
 on each of them, of those who presented the pillar, 
 with a sum of money in addition. The corner-stone 
 was laid on the 2d day of July, 1767, by Isaac Roose 
 velt, an elder of the church, and chairman of the 
 building committee, and the dedication sermon was 
 preached by the Rev. Dr. Laidlie, on the 25th of May. 
 1769. 
 
 At the time this North Church was being built, with the 
 view of its being exclusively devoted to English preach 
 ing, it was deemed important to secure an additional pas 
 tor of suitable qualifications. The views of the people 
 were at once directed to a young man, who, while en 
 gaged in the study of the law at Poughkeepsie, became 
 the subject of divine grace, and felt constrained, by the 
 Saviour s love, to choose the ministry of the Gospel as 
 his work for life. He resolved, in 1766, to proceed to 
 Holland to pursue a thorough course of preparation in 
 her universities, with a view of being well fitted to en 
 gage in the service of the Church here, and in the hope 
 
39 
 
 that lie might avail in opening the way for healing the 
 dissensions and division which had existed for a number 
 of years on the point, on the one hand, of remaining 
 directly subordinate, in ecclesiastical jurisdiction, to the 
 Church of Holland, or, on the other hand, of organiz 
 ing distinct, independent ecclesiastical courts, and edu 
 cating, ordaining, and supervising her own ministry 
 here. The name of this young man was Jolin H. Liv 
 ingston, afterwards so well known, in the Church and 
 throughout the community, as the venerable Dr. 
 Livingston, and who through a long life was emi 
 nently useful. As early as 1767, the Consistorial 
 records advert to their correspondence with him and 
 the Professors at Utrecht. The letters of the Profes 
 sors were highly commendatory, and the difficulty which 
 he had himself entertained in relation to a sufficient 
 capacity of voice to fill the churches, as it had been 
 weak, became obviated. A call was at once directed 
 to him, which was accepted. After spending four years 
 at Utrecht, and receiving there the degree of Doctor 
 of Divinity, he came to New- York in 1770 and was 
 cordially greeted by all his colleagues in the ministerial 
 work. Towards Dr. Laidlie he felt a filial reverence 
 and affection, which he uniformly expressed through 
 life, and he spake of him as his father in the faith and 
 ministry of the Gospel. The ministry was prosecuted 
 in harmony and success, and the Church flourished. At 
 this time, however, the political agitation existed which 
 soon ripened in the revolutionary contest. Not long 
 after the breaking out of the war, the British gained 
 possession of the city, and those who were favora- 
 
40 
 
 ble to the American cause, with their families, sought 
 refuge and sojourned, during the war, in different places 
 in the country. With almost solitary exceptions, the 
 congregation was strongly united in the cause of inde 
 pendence, and was scattered around. During the occu 
 pation by the British several of the churches, especially 
 where the congregations generally espoused the cause of 
 freedom, were sadly desecrated and abused. Very con 
 spicuous among these were the Middle and North Reform 
 ed Dutch churches. The Middle Church was used as a 
 prison, and afterwards as a riding-school for the British 
 officers and soldiers, and became the scene of habitual 
 ribaldry, profanity, and dissipation. The whole of the 
 interior, galleries and all, was destroyed, leaving the 
 bare walls and roof. The North Church was used as an 
 hospital and for storage. The lower part was stripped 
 of the pews, pulpit, etc., and the walls were much de 
 faced, but otherwise the building preserved the general 
 character and aspect it originally possessed, and which 
 it still retains. Those acquainted with the annals of our 
 revolutionary history vividly recall to mind the atroci 
 ties and cruelties committed by the British forces while 
 in possession of the city of New-York. The churches, the 
 sugar-house, immediately behind the Middle Church, the 
 jail, the Jersey prison-ship, and the thousands of Amer 
 icans who fell victims to disease, hunger, and cruelty, 
 laid buried or bleaching on the shores of Long Island, 
 recur to the mind as affecting memorials of this. Just 
 previous to the revolutionary war, a new and very neat 
 pulpit was placed in the North Church. After it was 
 taken away no traces of it could be found. Some time 
 
41 
 
 after the close of the war, one of our citizens was in 
 England, and, worshipping on a Sabbath day in a 
 country church, his attention was directed to the pul 
 pit as strongly reminding him of this pulpit in our 
 North Dutch Church. A gentleman, to whom he 
 stated this after service, replied that it probably was 
 the same, as it had been brought over from America 
 during the revolutionary war, in a British ship. 
 
 The treaty of peace was concluded in IT 8 3, and the 
 British forces left the city on the 25th of November, 
 which has since been annually celebrated here under 
 the appellation of "Evacuation Day." The citizens 
 gladly returned from their seven years exile to their 
 u altars and their homes." "While they rejoiced in this 
 long-desired reunion, they contemplated, with sadness, 
 the desolations which had taken place, but at once 
 arose unitedly, with prayer and in faith, to build again 
 the waste places. On the 2d of December the Con 
 sistory met, and by resolution expressed their gratitude 
 to God for his blessing, which had granted success in 
 the struggle for independence, and returned them in 
 peace to the place of their fathers sepulchres, to 
 their homes, and to the house of God. The aged 
 ministers, who preached in the Dutch language, Ritze- 
 ma and De JRonde, preferred remaining in the places 
 where they had sojourned. They were declared " eme 
 riti? and a handsome annuity for life was conferred 
 upon them by the Consistory. Dr. Laidlie had died at 
 Eed Hook, in ITT 8. Dr. Livingston was the only min 
 ister on the return. The old church in Garden street 
 was at once opened for worship, as it had not been oc- 
 
42 
 
 cupied and damaged like the other churches. On the 
 15th of January following, the Consistory resolved to 
 proceed at once to repair the North Church, and place 
 it in a neat and proper condition. In December, 1784, 
 it was again opened for divine service. On account of 
 the impoverishing influence of the war, and the expenses 
 that were otherwise necessarily incurred, the Middle 
 Church was suffered to remain in its condition, laid 
 waste for the present. In 1788, the Consistory adopt 
 ed measures to repair and place in complete order the 
 Middle Church. This was accomplished at a consider 
 ably large expense. The church, thus renewed, was 
 opened for divine service on the fourth of July, 1790, 
 when a sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Livings 
 ton. Dr. Livingston, left alone in the ministerial work, 
 was most diligent in various labors in the pulpit and in 
 his pastoral intercourse. These labors were highly ac 
 ceptable to the people, and richly blessed by the Head 
 of the Church. We have heard aged servants of Christ, 
 who are now entered into their rest, with great interest 
 and deep feeling refer to this. Dr. L., at that time, in 
 order to gratify and benefit the aged people attached to 
 the Dutch language, occasionally preached in that lan 
 guage. Anxious to obtain additional ministerial aid, the 
 Church succeeded to obtain the services of Dr. WIL 
 LIAM LINN, then settled in the Presbyterian Church in 
 Elizabethtown, N. J. He became distinguished as a 
 classic and finished writer, and a powerful pulpit orator, 
 and sustained an eminent position in the Church and 
 in the community. By reason of the failure of his 
 health, he retired from the active duties of the ministry 
 to reside at Albany, in 1805, where he died in 1808. 
 
43 
 
 In 1^89 a call was made upon the Rev. GEKAKDUS A. 
 KUYPEES, (afterwards Dr. Kuypers,) then a young man 
 settled at Paramus, K J. He was an accurate Dutch 
 scholar, and preached in that language purely and readily. 
 It was stipulated that he should preach in Dutch, to 
 those attached to that language, as often as would prove 
 desirable and useful, and that the sermons in Dutch 
 should be delivered in the old church in Garden street. 
 The number of attendants on the preaching in Dutch 
 became fewer, and the amount of service became great 
 ly lessened from time to time, and the last sermon in 
 Dutch was preached to a very few hearers in 1803. Dr. 
 Kuypers, who had before preached a large portion of 
 his time in the English language, now officiated in it 
 exclusively. He continued in the active discharge of 
 his ministry, until his death, 1833, and is remembered 
 among us for his courteous and affable manners, his 
 kind and pacific spirit, his evangelical preaching, and 
 his consistency of character. In 1795 the Rev. JOHN 
 N". ABEEL (afterwards Dr. Abeel) was called as a col 
 league minister. He was born and brought up in the 
 Dutch Church, but was, at the time, settled as pastor 
 of a Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. The choice 
 was an eminently happy one. There was in him a more 
 than ordinary combination of a well-balanced and dis 
 ciplined mind, with the harmony of the spiritual graces. 
 His sermons were carefully and accurately prepared, 
 clearly and plainly discussed in chasteness of style, and 
 infused with a pervading unction and practical adapta 
 tion. In the progress of his ministry his labors became 
 more and more acceptable and blessed. Such was the 
 impression he left by the suavity of his disposition, and 
 
44 
 
 the pleasantness of his intercourse, in connection with 
 the effect of his preaching, that he was sometimes re 
 ferred to as the " beloved disciple, John? After strug 
 gling with declining health for a year or two, he died 
 in 1812, in early manhood, and in the very midst of 
 extended and growing usefulness. 
 
 The old church in Garden street was taken down in 
 1807, and a new edifice erected on the same spot, which 
 continued until it was destroyed in the great fire of 1835. 
 It remained a part of the Collegiate Church until, in 
 1813, in compliance with a petition of the congregation, 
 it was separated from the collegiate connection, and a 
 distinct congregation was formed under the charge of 
 a Consistory of their own, and Rev. Dr. Mathews 
 \vas chosen their pastor. After the destruction of the 
 house of worship, in the great fire, two bands were 
 formed. One, preserving the original corporate charac 
 ter, located in Murray street, and soon chose as their 
 pastor Rev. J. M. M Auley, still remaining among them. 
 In a few years the tide which, under the growth of 
 commercial business in the lower parts of the city, was 
 rapidly removing the leading members of the congre 
 gation to the upper parts, rendered it desirable to ex 
 change their site and remove. Accordingly, a few 
 years since, the present beautiful edifice, on the corner 
 of Fifth Avenue and Twenty-first street, was erected. 
 The second band purchased lots fronting Washington 
 Square, adjoining the University, and erected the pre 
 sent house, a noble structure, most eligibly situated. A 
 new church organization was formed, with Drs. Mathews 
 and Hutton as pastors. After a few years Dr. Mathews 
 retired, and Dr. Hutton has since been the sole pastor. 
 
45 
 
 After the retirement in 1805, of Dr. Linn, the need 
 of additional ministerial aid was felt, as the three church 
 es, the South, the Middle, and the North, were then the 
 collegiate charge. In 1809 the Rev. JOHN SCHUEEMAN 
 and the Rev. JACOB BEODHEAD (both afterwards D.D.) 
 were called at the same time. They were both born 
 and trained in the Reformed Dutch Church. At the 
 time, the former was settled at Millstone, N. J., and the 
 latter at Rhinebeck Flats. With the experience of sev 
 eral years in the ministry, they were both in the fresh 
 ness of early manhood, and had obtained a good report. 
 They were both highly acceptable, and excited the 
 hopes that they would long continue a blessing in the 
 collegiate connection; but Providence soon directed 
 them to other spheres. Dr. Schureman, in 1811, ac 
 cepted a professorship in Queen s College, at New- 
 Brunswick. He continued for a time in charge of 
 the Reformed Dutch Church there, and then in one of 
 the professorships in the Theological Seminary, where he 
 died in 1818, in the fortieth year of his age, having 
 discharged every trust with ability, and lamented by 
 all. Dr. Brodhead in 1813 went to Philadelphia to 
 take charge of a new and infant enterprise in rearing 
 the first church of our denomination in that city. He 
 soon, under the divine blessing, succeeded in gathering 
 a large church and congregation, among whom he con 
 tinued to labor until 1826. In that year he returned 
 to New- York, and took charge of the church in Broome 
 street, successfully fulfilling his ministry there until 
 1837. The health of his family led him then to take 
 his residence in the country, where he officiated as pas- 
 
46 
 
 tor in a neighboring church, and afterwards as pastor of 
 the Central Reformed Dutch Church in Brooklyn. In his 
 advanced age, Dr. Brodhead spent three or four of his 
 last years without a pastoral charge, but still was active 
 in aiding his ministerial brethren, and supplying and 
 promoting the interest of new or vacant churches. In 
 every sphere that he occupied, the strongest attach 
 ment to him was cherished by the people, and his min 
 istry was greatly blessed. He died in June, 1855, in 
 his seventy-fourth year, greatly beloved and honored, 
 of which the most striking evidences were furnished. 
 
 The Eev. Dr. LIVINGSTON resigned his pastoral charge 
 in the Collegiate Church in 1810, and in the fall of that 
 year removed to New-Brunswick, in obedience to the 
 call of the General Synod, to take charge of the Theo 
 logical Professorate then endowed and fully established, 
 while at the same time Queen s College was revived, 
 and he was chosen its first President. In process of time 
 other professorships in the Theological Seminary were 
 endowed, and those occupying them were associated with 
 him in his latter years. He continued actively to discharge 
 his duties, revered and beloved in the churches, and by 
 the students under his charge, till the very close of his 
 life. He died in January, 1825. On the day preced 
 ing his death he had lectured to his classes (as was then 
 remarked) with more than usual vivacity of spirit, and 
 iinpressiveness of manner, and in the evening was in 
 conversation with his colleague and one or two other 
 ministerial brethren, and breathing largely of that spir 
 itual unction which greatly characterized him. He 
 retired, with his benedictions on his family. In the 
 
47 
 
 morning, at the accustomed hour of family devotion, 
 as his chamber was entered, he was calmly resting in 
 the arms of death. Every thing was unruffled around 
 him, and indicated that he had, without a single strug 
 gle, breathed out his redeemed spirit, and at once 
 gently fallen asleep in Jesus. He died in his seventy- 
 ninth year, ripe in years, in disciplined, fervent piety, 
 and the fruits of usefulness he left within the Church. 
 The volume of his life published is valuable, not merely 
 .is the biography of a distinguished servant of Christ, 
 both as a Christian and minister, but as connected with 
 the history of our Church at an interesting period, in 
 its forming tide of advancement and prosperity. 
 
 In 1813 the Rev. PHILIP MILLEDOLEE, D.D., was 
 called as one of the collegiate ministers. He was born 
 and brought up in the German Reformed Church, and 
 at the early age of twenty became pastor of that 
 church in this city. In 1800 he removed to the pas 
 toral charge of the Pine-Street Presbyterian Church in 
 Philadelphia, whence he was called, in 1805, to the re 
 cently-formed Presbyterian Church in Rutgers street, in 
 this city. From the early period of his ministry, the 
 evangelical character of his preaching, the more than 
 ordinary unction which pervaded it, and his personal 
 character and devoted labors, gave him great weight, 
 and attracted much attention in the Christian communi 
 ty. His onward course was one of great usefulness, 
 and verified the anticipations which had been formed. 
 Few ministries have been more successful than in the 
 portion he bestowed on the church in Rutgers street. 
 From 1813 to 1825 he faithfully, acceptably, and use- 
 
48 
 
 fully discharged the ministerial and pastoral service in 
 this church, with the strong and united attachment of 
 the church and congregation, and revered and beloved 
 by Christians of all denominations. In 1825, on the 
 death of Dr. Livingston, he was chosen his successor. 
 Although strongly attached to the work of the pulpit, 
 and the pastoral office, he felt it his duty to accept. He 
 sustained at the same time the offices of President of 
 Rutgers College (the literary institution) and of Pro 
 fessor of Systematic Theology in the Theological Semi 
 nary. The combined duties were many and heavy, 
 and he assiduously discharged them with untiring de- 
 votedness. A few years before his death, in his ad 
 vanced years, he resigned his offices, and retired to his 
 family circle in this city, laboring cheerfully, as oppor 
 tunity offered, and strength allowed, in various ways, 
 for the interests of the Church and the cause of Christ, 
 until disease laid him up in his chamber. He died on 
 his birthday, in September, 1852, aged seventy-seven 
 years. It was a remarkable circumstance that Dr. M. 
 and his excellent wife died within a day of each other, 
 and were buried at the same time. The scene of the 
 funeral solemnities and exercises in this, the North 
 Dutch Church, in all the attending circumstances, and 
 in the presence of a very thronged congregation of the 
 highest respectability, from various sources, deeply at 
 tentive and much affected, will not be readily forgot 
 ten by those who witnessed it. 
 
 In the growth of our city in the latter part of the 
 last century, and the advance of this century, the pop 
 ulation, increasing and becoming compact within a lira- 
 
49 
 
 ited and convenient distance, filled the churches already 
 built, of different denominations, and additional edifices 
 were, time after time, erected. The three spacious edi 
 fices belonging to our Church were filled. The congre 
 gations were large, and required much ministerial and 
 pastoral labor. In 1813 there was a distinct church 
 and congregation formed in Garden street, and the Mid 
 dle and North Churches remained under the charge of 
 the original corporate Church, now familiarly termed 
 the Collegiate. During this year Dr. Milledoler was 
 called, and Dr. Brodhead removed to Philadelphia. 
 Drs. Milledoler and Kuypers were left to sustain the 
 whole charge. The need of additional ministerial aid 
 was strongly felt, but it was not procured till the spring 
 of 1816, when the Kev. JOHN KNOX and PASCHAL N. 
 STRONG were called, and were installed in July of that 
 year. They both proceeded from the Associate Re 
 formed Theological Seminary in this city, under the care 
 of Rev. Dr. Mason. They both entered on this im 
 portant field soon after their licensure. Mr. Strong, 
 with a gifted and well-trained mind, proved an instruct 
 ive and acceptable preacher, and commended himself, 
 by his pleasant pastoral intercourse and his devotion, to 
 the interests of the denomination to which his Church 
 was attached. Fond hopes were entertained that he 
 would long remain an active and useful laborer at his 
 post; but pulmonary disease fastened upon him, and in 
 the fall of 1824 he was induced to seek the benefit of 
 his health by resorting to the island of Santa Cruz. 
 There he died in 1825, at the age of thirty-two. His 
 
 remains are interred there, and a monument has been 
 4 
 
50 
 
 erected on the spot, by the Consistory. Dr. KNOX re 
 mains the senior pastor of this church, after a little 
 more than forty years faithful and unremitted service. 
 There are only two engaged now in the pastoral office 
 in this city, who have reached such a length of years in 
 it, besides Dr. Knox, namely, Dr. Spring of the Pres 
 byterian Church, and Dr. Berrian of the Episcopal. 
 In the case of all three, it was their first settlement in 
 the ministry. Delicacy need not restrain me here from 
 saying that the position which Dr. Knox has occupied, 
 and now occupies, has been and is one of great value and 
 usefulness. The consistent and continued development 
 of his character, and of his course of usefulness, have 
 won and secured to him the affection and confidence not 
 only of the people of his charge, but of the whole com 
 munity. 
 
 After the removal of Dr. Milledoler to New-Bruns 
 wick, in 1825, a call was made, in the spring of 1826, 
 upon the Kev. WILLIAM C. BKOWNLEE, D.D. Dr. Brown- 
 lee was born, educated, and licensed for the ministry, in 
 Scotland. Immediately after his licensure he came to 
 the United States and occupied successively several po 
 sitions of usefulness, and he soon became known to the 
 Christian community. At the time he was chosen to 
 the Collegiate Church he was Professor of Languages 
 in Rutgers College. He gained a distinguished reputa 
 tion for the industry and ability with which he prose 
 cuted his pulpit services, while at the same time he 
 prepared and issued from the press a number of treatises 
 and works. As he was blessed with an athletic consti 
 tution, the prospect was that he would long remain in 
 
51 
 
 strength of body and mind, to be in "labors more 
 abundant ;" but an affecting proof was given that " in 
 the midst of life we are in death." About thirteen years 
 since, while in the full enjoyment of vigorous health 
 and elasticity of spirits, he was in a moment prostrated 
 by an apoplectic attack, which appeared for a time to 
 be nigh unto death, and left him paralyzed on one side. 
 Through the mercy of Providence he, however, gradu 
 ally recovered from the severity of the stroke, and at 
 tained a good degree of comfort of body and of mind, 
 continuing to the present moment, still without the 
 prospect of ever being able to resume active duty. 
 While the recollections and affections of the people of 
 his charge, and his colleagues, cluster around him, there 
 is a silent, strong, and tender monition addressed to his 
 colleagues, WORK WHILE IT is DAY. 
 
 In addition to Drs. Knox and Brownlee, there are 
 now in the ministry of this Church, THOMAS DE WITT, 
 D.D., settled in 1827 ; THOMAS E. VERMILYE, D.D., set 
 tled in 1839 ; TALBOT W. CHAMBERS, D.D., settled in 
 1849. 
 
 When he who now addresses you, became one of the 
 pastors of this Church, in 1827, the North and Middle 
 Churches were fully attended, and the Sabbath evening 
 service in the Middle Church was ordinarily crowded. 
 The tide of removal of the churches, in the lower 
 part of the city, had not yet commenced, and the great 
 mass of those worshipping in the churches of different 
 denominations, was in the vicinity, at a convenient dis 
 tance. A very large proportion of the congregation of the 
 Collegiate Church resided below Fulton street, scattered 
 
52 
 
 along Broadway and Greenwich street, around the Bat 
 tery, through Beaver, Broad, Liberty, Cedar, John 
 streets, Maiden lane, etc. North of Fulton street, the 
 most substantial and fashionable citizens were residing 
 along Broadway, and the streets running west to the 
 North River, between Fulton and Chambers, and 
 so reaching gradually beyond. Very soon, however, 
 the increase of the commerce of the city led to the con 
 version of private dwellings into stores and warehouses, 
 and also into boarding-houses. The process became more 
 and more rapid, and the more respectable citizens were, 
 one after another, going to the upper part of the city. 
 The effect upon the numbers in attendance became 
 more and more visible. It was felt that, in order not 
 merely to preserve the strength and influence of the 
 Church, but eventually its very vitality, it became ne 
 cessary to provide a house of worship in the upper part 
 of the city, in the neighborhood to which the tide of 
 removal tended. The Consistory, in 1836, purchased 
 the house of worship erected a short time previous by 
 a church organization of our denomination, in Ninth 
 street, a little east of Broadway, in which the ministers 
 of the Collegiate Church officiated, and in which a con 
 gregation in connection with it was gathered. In the 
 mean time, measures were taken for erecting in that 
 vicinity, a new, spacious, and substantial edifice. Lots 
 were procured at the corner of Lafayette Place and 
 Fourth street, near Broadway. The corner-stone was 
 laid November 9th, 1836, and the Church was dedicated 
 May 9th, 1839. The church in Ninth street was re 
 tained in connection with the Collegiate Church, and its 
 
53 
 
 ministers had the ministerial and pastoral charge of it 
 till after the opening of the Twenty-ninth street 
 Church, in 1854. In 1855, the Consistory, at the re 
 quest of a number proposing a distinct church organiz 
 ation, granted the church in Ninth street for that pur 
 pose, and appropriated an annual sum for a limited pe 
 riod to aid in the enterprise. The organization took 
 the name of the Central Keformed Dutch Church, 
 which is now under the pastoral care of the Rev. 
 A. JB. Van Zandt, D.D., with nattering promise of suc 
 cess. The course of the conversion of the part of the 
 city below, and around into a scene of commercial busi 
 ness, so that very few families were left, caused the 
 audiences in the Middle Church to dwindle away to a 
 skeleton of what they once were. It became evident 
 that the law of necessity must lead to and vindicate the 
 relinquishment of that time-honored and endeared edi 
 fice, while the North Church would prove amply suffi 
 cient for the accommodation of those within the range 
 of the lower part of the city. Perhaps there was no 
 church edifice in the city on which so many recollec 
 tions and attachments, wide spread through the com 
 munity, rested as this. The desertion of it, and its 
 subsequent appropriation to secular uses, was sadly 
 vieAved and felt by many. But the propriety of the 
 measure, enforced by the constraint of circumstances, 
 when resolved upon by the Consistory, was unitedly 
 acquiesced in. The last sermon preached in the 
 Church was on the evening of Sabbath, the eleventh of 
 August, 1844. The senior pastor, Dr. Knox, preached 
 from John 5: 20-24, followed by a brief address 
 
54 
 
 from Rev. Dr. De Witt, one of the colleagues, 
 closing with the benediction in the Dutch language, 
 the language first introduced, and long continued in 
 it. All this time the population had been, and 
 was rapidly extending beyond Fourth street, and 
 buildings of the finest character were erected in 
 the vicinity, more and more compact, and reached 
 upwards with increasing force. When he who ad 
 dresses you took his residence in Ninth street, which he 
 at present occupies, in 1843, it was quite on the verge 
 of what could be viewed as in any way the compact 
 part of the city, and the buildings beyond were com 
 paratively sparse. Now, the position may be termed 
 central. Who that reviews, during the thirteen years 
 past, the growth in population and of improvements, 
 reaching northward, and on the adjacent shores of 
 Long Island and New-Jersey, does not feel emotions of 
 wonder connecting the past with the opening antici 
 pations of the future ? Corresponding with this growth 
 of the city, church edifices in increasing numbers were 
 erected by the different Christian denominations, many 
 of them spacious and elegant. Soon the same tide 
 which, ten or twelve years before, removed our citizens 
 from the lower part of the city to the vicinity of La 
 fayette Place, carried them still farther and far 
 ther upward, while the improvements in building 
 rapidly extended, and the population became more 
 dense in the vicinity of Madison Square. The Con 
 sistory of our Church felt the urgent importance and 
 desirableness of erecting a house of worship in that 
 neighborhood. Accordingly, lots were procured at the 
 
corner of the Fifth avenue and Twenty-ninth street, and 
 measures were at once taken for building. The corner 
 stone was laid by the senior pastor, November 26th, 
 1851, and the Church was dedicated on the llth of 
 October, 1854. This edifice, and the one in Lafayette 
 Place, are distinguished for the solidity of their struc 
 ture, the beauty, chasteness, and finish of their archi 
 tecture, and their adaptedness to the purposes and uses 
 of public worship. They are confessed by all to stand, 
 in this point of view, prominent among the houses of 
 worship in this city. Accompanying this discourse are 
 neat plates furnishing a striking and correct view of 
 them, with a description of their plan and archi 
 tecture, in the appendix. The name of " the Middle 
 Reformed Dutch Church" is now appropriated to 
 the Church on the corner of Fourth street and La 
 fayette Place, a name associated in many impressive 
 and pleasant recollections with the Old Middle Church 
 in Nassau street, and now rendered suitable and proper, 
 as it is centrally situated between the North Church, in 
 Fulton street, and the Church at the corner of Fifth 
 avenue and Twenty-ninth street, these three being the 
 houses of worship now attached to the Collegiate 
 Church. 
 
 While costly and valuable edifices have been erect 
 ed for the accommodation of the wealthier classes 
 of our citizens, the large masses of the poorer classes 
 scattered through our city, need and should receive 
 church accommodations connected with the ministry of 
 divine truth, which is designed to be " preached to the 
 poor." It is a gratifying circumstance, that so many 
 
56 
 
 means are employed and efforts directed, for the spirit 
 ual and temporal benefit of the poor, to raise them 
 from their degradation in ignorance, vice, and wretch 
 edness, to the light, hopes, comforts, and holiness which 
 the Gospel unfolds. The spiritual life and prosperity 
 of any Church will always be intimately connected 
 with the quickened spirit, and faithful efforts cherished 
 and employed to diffuse the light of life and the bless 
 ings of salvation around, and to supply the means of 
 grace to those who are destitute of them. The har 
 monious efforts and counsels of evangelical Christians 
 of all denominations are called for to produce such a 
 blessed result as to pervade this community now so 
 largely populous with a rapidly advancing increase, 
 with the light and power of divine truth, shedding its 
 enlightening, healing, purifying, and beneficent influ 
 ence. Let every denomination, strongly impressed with 
 the need of such blessings, by its organization and or 
 der extend this influence, and then, in common faith 
 and love, rejoice in every effort, and seek to make the 
 whole tributary to the prosperity of the cause of 
 Christ, and the salvation of men. The Reformed 
 Dutch Church should bear her part faithfully in such a 
 service, in proportion to her means and opportunities, 
 so that " her stakes may be strengthened, and her cords 
 lengthened." There are now of our denomination, exclu 
 sive of the churches in the Collegiate connection, nineteen 
 churches of distinct organization on Manhattan Island, 
 or New- York City. Most of these, especially in the 
 earlier part of this century, were originated by mem 
 bers of the Collegiate Church, and were encouraged and 
 
57 
 
 patronized by members of that Church, and also by it 
 in its corporate capacity. The spirit of enlargement 
 and of progress, with united and liberal effort, if called 
 forth at an earlier period, in the reasonable anticipation 
 of the future growth of the city, would have accom 
 plished much more. But we have reason to be thank 
 ful for the advancement which has been made, and 
 should be excited by the consideration that our Church 
 is the oldest in the city, and by the review of its onward 
 history and its present position, to combine the ener 
 gies of our denomination in bearing the influence of the 
 Gospel through her ecclesiastical organizations here in 
 this city, and through every avenue that opens. It was 
 not till the latter part of the last century and the early 
 part of this, when the Dutch language had grown gen 
 erally into disuse, and renewed measures were taken for 
 the building up of the Literary Institution and of the 
 Theological Seminary, that our Reformed Dutch Church 
 in America received a strong impulse and motive to 
 seek the enlargement of her borders and the increase 
 of her efforts. Of late years, progress has been stead 
 ily growing, and every encouragement is afforded to 
 stimulate her exertions and excite her hopes. Her Lit 
 erary Institution and Theological Seminary, well estab 
 lished and in successful operation, her different Boards, 
 appointed by the General Synod to take charge of the 
 various objects of beneficence bearing upon her pros 
 perity, have opened a tide of influence which united 
 faith, prayer, and effort will cause to deepen and widen, 
 and spread blessings in its course. The term "Dutch" 
 lias long since been entirely disconnected with the use 
 
58 
 
 of the language, and the name of the Church is re 
 tained, simply and most properly, as indicating her his 
 torical origin and associations, and the standards of faith 
 and order of church government handed down in her. 
 Wherever churches have been planted, those who are 
 from different ancestry, and other denominations of 
 kindred faith, have entered, in large numbers, into her 
 communion, and become attached to her character and 
 order. The growth, slow at first, under the circum 
 stances stated, has been gradually gaining, and, under 
 the influences and means existing, has for a few years 
 past been more rapid. At present in her communion 
 there are 368 ministers and 386 churches. Our Re 
 formed Dutch Church in America, throughout her his 
 tory, has been distinguished for her steady adherence 
 to the truth and order she professes, while continually 
 dwelling by the side of other evangelical denomina 
 tions, in the exercise of mutual respect and kindness. 
 She has remained undisturbed in the midst of the agi 
 tating influences which have pressed around and invad 
 ed elsewhere. As the objects for Christian beneficent 
 effort have been presented by Bible, Tract, Mission 
 ary Societies, etc., she has borne her part in proportion 
 to her numbers and extent. 
 
 But it is rather alien from the purpose and 
 bearing of a discourse on this occasion to dilate on 
 the history and attitude of the Church at large, 
 and this brief allusion must suffice. The Church 
 of New- York, the first founded, from its position 
 sustained a prominence in the view of the communi 
 ty, and was interwoven with the interests of the 
 
59 
 
 churches of the same faith as they successively arose. 
 In the onward course of events, her responsibility in 
 this position became increased. While admitting that 
 human administration of such important trusts must par 
 take of attending infirmity, I may be permitted to say, 
 in an impartial spirit, after somewhat of a careful re 
 view, that fidelity and watchful superintendence of her 
 interests, in connection with the interests of the Church 
 at large, have marked the course of the ruling authori 
 ties, and the people have dwelt together in harmony 
 and confidence. It is perhaps rare that there is found 
 for a succession of generations, in a collegiate connec 
 tion, often viewed as a delicate one, so continued and 
 almost uninterrupted concord and confidence between 
 the ministers, and so also between ministers and people. 
 We revert to what, in the commencement of this dis 
 course, was alluded to as specially the theme of our 
 meditations and exercises on this occasion, when the old 
 NOETH CHUECH, after being repaired, is presented 
 fresh and beautiful, in her native grandeur and just 
 proportions. The term North, still appropriated to this 
 edifice, standing in the very southern extremity of this 
 extended city, steals strangely upon the ear of a stran 
 ger, but when explained, it recalls the lapse of time of 
 near ninety years when it was erected in the northern 
 extremity or suburbs of the city as it then was. The 
 Episcopal Church of St. Paul s, in Broadway, and this 
 Church, are the two oldest houses of worship in the 
 city, erected within three years of each other. It is 
 said that there was a friendly strife between the two 
 denominations in erecting edifices which would vie with 
 
60 
 
 each other. It was a strife entertained in those feelings 
 of kindness and habits of friendly social intercourse 
 which had pervaded them. They remain links con 
 necting the present with the " olden times," and stand 
 as memorials which to many minds will strongly recall 
 the past. Well do they deserve to be preserved ; for, in 
 the tide of architectural improvement, and the multi 
 plication of church edifices in our city, are there any 
 that, taken as a whole, and in all respects, excel Old St. 
 Paul s and the Old North, remaining in their general 
 character as when first erected? Till this year the 
 " Old Bri/ik Cliurch" built in 17 6 7, so venerable and so 
 replete with associations, remained devoted to its sacred 
 uses. But it has just been relinquished for the purpose 
 of building in the upper part of the city, and the spot 
 on which it stands has been sold, and is now to be ap 
 propriated to secular uses. Changed as is the part of 
 the city within the vicinity and convenient range of 
 this Church, now engrossed by commercial warehouses 
 and employments, and by buildings occupied by tran 
 sient residents, the field is become more appropriate for 
 missionary labor, to induce and gather in attendance on 
 the sanctuary services out of the many in the fluctuat 
 ing population still resident in the lower wards, and of 
 those who sojourn here or are passing through our city. 
 This church will remain free and open, inviting them 
 within its walls. Although it can not strictly and fully 
 be termed a free church, as a number of pews are owned 
 and occupied by individuals and families, yet far the 
 largest portion are thrown open to those who may de 
 sire to enter and worship within it, and they will be 
 
61 
 
 gladly welcomed. To all practical intents and uses it 
 may be considered a free church. While the families 
 resident, and under direct and constant pastoral care 
 and inspection, have been rapidly lessening in number, 
 and are now become very few, the call is urgent to seek 
 the spiritual welfare of the population of this part of 
 the city, in the peculiar character and condition in 
 which they are found. It is desirable that the best 
 means should be devised and employed to attain and 
 secure this object. Christians in this vicinity are de 
 sired to add their influence and cooperation in aiding 
 the ministerial labors here employed for the spiritual 
 welfare of this portion of the city. An inviting field 
 is here spread around for pious youth, to engage in 
 active exertion in doing good to the temporally and 
 spiritually poor, spread in abundance through it. Con 
 venient and ample rooms in the adjacent consistorial 
 buildings are furnished for Sabbath-school instruction 
 and other uses promoting the great object. Our earlier 
 houses of worship have passed away. A commercial 
 warehouse has taken the place of the Old South, and 
 the Old Middle still presents its outward form of struc 
 ture, reminding us of the past, while twelve years since 
 it was relinquished as a house of worship, and has 
 been used by the General Government as the Post- 
 Office of this city. Let this old North Cliurcli stand, 
 as linking the present with the memory of the past, and 
 to impress upon us the right estimate of our privileges 
 and responsibility, in spreading the influence of the Gos 
 pel in the sphere we occupy, and especially in not ne 
 glecting the field around this time-honored edifice. Well 
 
62 
 
 may we unite with the Psalmist, and say at this time, 
 and in this place : " FOB MY BRETHREN AND COMPANIONS 
 
 SAKE, I WILL NOW SAY, PEACE BE WITHIN THEE. BE 
 CAUSE OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD OUR GOD, I WILL 
 SEEK THY GOOD." 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 [NOTE A.] 
 
 Struggle in fjallanft, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 FIRST COLONIAL SETTLEMENT BY THE HOLLANDERS HERE. 
 
 [Page 20.] 
 
 THERE is a brief reference in the Discourse to the struggle in the 
 Netherlands, in the sixteenth century, against the combined Spanish, 
 Imperial, and Papal powers, which issued in the independence of and 
 the formation of a Federal Republic in the Seven Northern Prov 
 inces, and the rise and establishment of the Reformed Church there, 
 and also of the first colonial settlement by the Hollanders here. Com 
 mendatory allusion was made to the recent works, which have gained 
 so high a reputation in the literary world, "Prescotts Philip II." and 
 "Motley s Rise of the Dutch Republic" These volumes will have the 
 happy effect of leading to the investigation and study of the history of 
 the eventful period of the sixteenth century, particularly as portraying 
 the severe and prolonged Reformation struggle in the Netherlands, 
 and to trace the results and effects of it. There is no page in history 
 more replete with thrilling events, having influences connected with 
 them, than that which records the progress and consequences of that 
 struggle. The reader is urgently referred to the "History of the State 
 of New-York" by J. Romeyn Brodhead, Esq., the first volume of 
 which is published, and comprises the period during the Dutch 
 Colonial Government, from 1609 to 1664. The discovery and set 
 tlement of New-Netherland, and the course of events during the 
 Dutch Dynasty, are minutely and carefully detailed. Mr. B., as 
 agent of the State of New- York, for examining the Archives of State, 
 at the courts of London, Paris, and the Hague, and procuring ma- 
 
64 
 
 terials for the History of the State, collected a large amount, now de 
 posited in the Secretary s Office at Albany. From the documents he 
 gathered in Holland, and the papers in the State department at Al 
 bany, he has digested and prepared a volume which exhausts the 
 subject, and is of standard value. It is hoped that his health may be 
 spared, and leisure may be supplied to him that he may be enabled 
 to prosecute the work to its completion, and realize what is now a 
 desideratum. In one or two of the chapters of the volume there is a 
 succinct reference to the Reformation contest in the Netherlands and 
 the Republic of Holland, in her character and progress, and to its 
 Reformed Church. It is a matter of gratification that the author is a 
 son of our own Church. 
 
 A volume has recently been published by the Board of Publication 
 of our Church, with the title, "HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF 
 THE REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH," by Rev. D. D. Dem- 
 arest of Hudson. It gives a sketch of the Reformation in Holland, 
 the rise and organization of the Reformed Church, and traces it down 
 to the period of the colonization in America in 1620. It then gives 
 the history of our Church here to the present time. A view is given 
 of the history and characteristics of our doctrinal standards and system 
 of Church governments. The present condition is exhibited as to 
 her ecclesiastical organizations, her literary and theological institu 
 tions, and the different Boards of the General Synod, etc. It is a 
 duodecimo volume of 250 pages, judiciously executed, and well adapt 
 ed to meet the inquiries as to the history and character of our Church. 
 It well deserves to be extensively circulated. 
 
 [NOTE B.] 
 
 0f Pwtatta in WA. 
 
 [Page 22.] 
 
 ONE of the most important incidents in the History of the State 
 of New- York is the purchase by the Dutch of the site of its present 
 metropolis from its aboriginal savage owners. Soon after the discov 
 ery of the North River, by Hudson, the Hollanders formed settle 
 ments on its banks, at what is now Albany, and on Manhattan Island. 
 In the spring of the year 1626 Governor Peter Minuit, under instruc 
 tions from the Dutch West-India Company, opened negotiations with 
 
65 
 
 the savages for the transfer to the Hollanders of the Island of Man 
 hattan, which, from its admirable position, they foresaw would 
 become the centre of their American commerce, and the capital of 
 their Province of New-Netherland. They desired to superadd to 
 their original title, by discovery and occupation, the higher right, by 
 honest purchase. Minuit accordingly made a treaty with the sav 
 ages by which they ceded to the Dutch the Island of Manhattan, then 
 estimated to contain twenty-two thousand acres, for the value of sixty 
 guilders, or about twenty-four dollars of our present currency. 
 
 This interesting event is illustrated in a picture painted for Dr. 
 James Anderson of the city of New-York, by Wm. Ranney. The 
 transaction is represented as occurring at the southern extremity of 
 the island, near what is now the Battery. In the distance are the 
 high grounds of Staten Island, with the nearer shore of Governor s 
 Island in front, while a ship is lying at anchor, having apparently 
 just arrived from the sea. The principal figure in the foreground is 
 Director Minuit, attended by the Provincial Secretary, Isaac de 
 Rasieres, the schout or sheriff, the kranck-besoecker, or " consoler of 
 the sick," who supplied the place of a regular clergyman, and other 
 officials connected with the colonial administration. The dresses of 
 these persons are all faithfully copied from authentic representations 
 of the Dutch costume of that period. The red men, in their savage 
 attire, with their squaws and children, are engaged in examining, with 
 wonder and delight, the trinkets and European cloths which Minuit 
 delivers to them as the consideration for the purchase. In the back 
 ground is a rough cabin, with its Dutch occupants the forerunner of 
 the magnificent edifices which now adorn New- York while the virgin 
 forest, yet unsubdued by the colonists, stretches unbroken to the 
 northward. The treatment of the subject is natural and probable ; 
 the figure of Minuit, especially, is well studied and is finely brought 
 out by those of the savages who surround him. Of these the kneel 
 ing figure of an Indian girl is perhaps the most pleasing. 
 
 This scene, which places the character of the Dutch settlers of New- 
 York in so honorable a light, is worthily commemorated in Dr. An 
 derson s picture. Neither Plymouth nor Boston can point to such an 
 incident in their history. The Dutch enjoy the illustrious distinction 
 of giving the example to Europeans of honest dealing with the abo 
 rigines who owned the land they wished to possess ; and the purchase 
 of Manhattan, in 1626, was only imitated when Penu, fifty-six years 
 afterwards, bought the site of Philadelphia from the Indians, under 
 the famous elm tree at Shackamaxon. 
 
66 
 
 [NOTE C.] 
 
 gam. Slips fist of SUmtors in 
 
 [Page 24] 
 
 WERE we to copy this list it might interest many who delight t< 
 search into the " olden time" and trace the names of their ancestry 
 or of honored and well known families, and the locality of their resi 
 dence at that time. To others, however, it would prove dry and un 
 interesting, and space can not be afforded for it. It may be gratifying 
 to mark the arrangement of the streets in which the families were 
 rasident at that early period. We give the Dutch names of the 
 streets found in the list, their translation into English, and their 
 present locality. The whole number of members on this list is five 
 hundred and sixty, distributed as follows : De Breede Weg, (Broadway,) 
 56 ; Beurs straat, (Exchange street,) at present Whitehall street, 13 ; 
 Paerl straat, (Pearl street,) now Pearl street, between State and 
 Whitehall sts., 34 ; Lang de Strand, (along shore,) now the north side 
 of Pearl street and Hanover Square, between Whitehall and Wall 
 sts., 67 ; Lang de Wall, (Wall street,) 22 ; Nieuw straat, the present 
 New street, 18 ; Sever straat, (Beaver street,) between Broadway and 
 Broad street, 16 ; Markvelt straat, (Marketfield street,) 9 ; Brouwer s 
 atraat, (Brewer s st.,) now the part of Stone street between Whitehall 
 and Broad sts, 16 ; Brug straat, (Bridge street,) 15 ; Heeren Gracht, 
 (Gentlemen s Canal,) the term gracht, or canal, was given to what 
 is now Broad street, because a canal ran through the middle of 
 it oostzyde, (east side,) 37; Heeren Gracht, west zyde, (Broad street, 
 west side,) 49 ; Hoog straat, (High street,) now the part of Stone 
 street between Broad and William sts., 62; Slyck straat, (Ditch 
 street,) now South William, formerly Sloat Lane, 5 ; Prinsess straat. 
 (Prince street,) now Beaver street, between Broad and William, 15 ; 
 Koning straat, (King street,) now Pine, 8 ; Smit straat, (Smith street,) 
 now William street, below Wall, 28 ; Smifs Vallei, (Smith s Valley,) 
 on the road along the East River shore, above Wall street, 29; 
 over het versche water, (beyond the fresh water,) which was after 
 wards called the Collect, 47. There were seven in the Deacon s 
 house for the poor, in Broad street. One is noted as buiten de landt 
 poort, (beyond the land gate,) that is, on the present Broad way, above 
 Wall, only one. There are seven placed at a more remote dis 
 tance. The above is given to show in what a small part of the 
 lower portion of the city the more compact portion of the popula 
 tion was comprised in 1686. 
 
67 
 [NOTE D.] 
 
 Sumssiou 0f % fpinistas 
 
 OF THE COLLEGIATE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH IN THE CITY OF 
 
 NEW-YORK. 
 
 THE names of the ministers in succession have been referred to in 
 the Discourse, and from Dr. Laidlie to the present time very brief 
 characteristic notices of the deceased ministers are inserted. It may 
 be well to give a tabular view of the line in succession, so as to meet 
 the eye at once. 
 
 EVERARDUS BOGARDUS, from 1633 to 1647 
 
 JOANNES BACKERUS, " 1648 " 1649 
 
 JOANNES MEGAPOLENSIS, " 1649 " 1669 
 
 SAMUEL DRISIUS, - " 1652 " 1671 
 
 SAMUEL MEGAPOLENSIS, " 1664 " 1668 
 
 WILHELMUS VAN NIEUWENHUYSEN, " 1671 " 1681 
 
 HENRICUS SELTNS, " 1682 " 1701 
 
 GUALTERUS DUBOIS, 1699 " 1751 
 
 HENRICUS BOEL, - " 1714 " 1754 
 
 JOANNES RITZEMA, " 1744 " 1795 
 
 LAMBERTUS DE RONDE, " 1751 " 1796 
 
 ARCHIBALD LAIDLIE, - " 1764 " 1779 
 
 JOHN H. LIVINGSTON, - " 1770 " 1810 
 (Elected Theological Professor at New- 
 Brunswickdied, 1825.) 
 
 WILLIAM LINN, - - " 1786 " 1808 
 
 (In 1805, by reason of failing health, he 
 retired from the active duties of the- 
 ministry and removed to Albany, 
 where he died in 1808.) 
 
 GERARDUS A. KUYPERS, " 1789 " 1833 
 
 JOHN N. ABEEL, " 1795 " 1812 
 
 JOHN SCHUREMAN, " 1809 " 1811 
 
 (Chosen Professor in Queen s (now Rut 
 gers) College died, 1818.) 
 
 JACOB BRODHEAD, " 1809 " 1813 
 
 (Called to Philadelphia occupied other 
 
 posts of usefulness died, 1855.) 
 
 PHILIP MILLEDOLER, - - 1813 " 1825 
 
 (Chosen Professor of Theology at New- 
 Brunswick died, 1852.) 
 
 PASCHAL N. STRONG, - " 1816 " 1825 
 
68 
 
 PRESENT PASTORS. 
 
 JOHN KNOX, 1816 
 
 WILLIAM C. BROWNLEE, 1826 
 
 THOMAS DE WITT. 1827 
 
 THOMAS E. VERMILYE, 1839 
 
 TALBOT W. CHAMBERS, 1849 
 
 It is noted in the Discourse that Dr. Laidlie died in the Revolutionary 
 War, when the congregation was driven out of the city, into the coun 
 try, at Red Hook, in 1775. At the close of the war the aged ministers, 
 who officiated in the Dutch language, chose to remain in the place of 
 their exile, were declared emeriti, and a handsome annuity for life was 
 settled upon them. As very brief characteristic notices are given of the 
 deceased ministers to the present time, since Dr. Laidlie, it is proper to 
 add a few remarks on the line of the ministry previous to that time, 
 from the earliest period. Of some, as Dom. VAN NIEUWENHUYSEN and 
 BOEL, we have no materials except some of their correspondence with 
 the Classis of Amsterdam, and the knowledge that they fulfilled their 
 ministry in the confidence of their people. We have reason to be 
 lieve that all the ministers that came from Holland to this Church 
 were regularly educated in the Universities, and were possessed of 
 solid acquirements. The usefulness of the first minister, EVERARDUS 
 BOGARDUS, was impaired by collisions which occurred between him 
 and individuals, and the Governor. In 1647 he took passage for 
 Holland to meet certain charges, presented to the Classis of Amster 
 dam, and make explanations. Governor Kieft went in the same 
 vessel, which was lost at sea, and all were drowned. His descend 
 ants which remain among us are numerous. The Rev. JOANNES 
 MEGAPOLENSIS first came out under the patronage of the Patroon 
 of Rensselaerwick, and by the appointment of the Classis of Amster 
 dam to take charge of the church, at what is now Albany, in 1642. 
 An adequate support was pledged, and it was stipulated that after 
 five years he should be at liberty to return to the father-land. Dur 
 ing this period he had friendly acquaintance and intercourse with 
 the Mohawk and neighboring Indians. He wrote a treatise on the 
 Mohawk Indians, which was at the time published in Holland, and 
 has been translated and published here. He was instrumental in 
 saving one of the Jesuit missionaries from the extremity of torture 
 and probable death by the Indians, and then took him to his own 
 house and provided for his wants. He carried on a correspondence 
 with Father Simon Lemoine, of the Jesuit mission, on the topics in 
 controversy between the Roman and Protestant Churches, in the 
 
69 
 
 Latin language. When his five years expired, and as he was about 
 to return to Holland, on his way stopping at Manhattan, he was im 
 portuned to remain and take charge of the church there, now vacant. 
 Strongly pressed by the church and Governor Stuy vesant, he consent 
 ed, although his wife had already gone over to Holland. He died in 
 a good old age, in 1669, having been in the early meridian of life 
 when he came from Holland, the respected pastor of an important 
 church there for many years. 
 
 SAMUEL DRISIUS became colleague pastor with Megapolensis, in 
 1652, having been selected on account of his knowledge of the French 
 and English languages, that he might minister to the Trench and Eng 
 lish residents or visitors at New- Amsterdam and its vicinity. He 
 had previously been pastor of a Reformed Dutch Church at Lon 
 don, which shows the estimate in which he was held. He speaks 
 in his letters to the Classis of his going once a month to Staten Island 
 to preach to the French. These French were Vaudois, or Walden- 
 ses, who had fled from the severity of the persecutions in Piedmont 
 to Holland, and were, by the liberality of the city of Amsterdam, 
 provided for, and forwarded to settle in New-Netherland. 
 
 SAMUEL MEGAPOLENSIS was the youngest son of the pastor just 
 noticed, and was a child when his father removed from Holland. 
 He was sent to pursue his classical studies at Harvard University, 
 at Cambridge, in Massachusetts. He afterwards went to the Uni 
 versity of Utrecht, in Holland, where he pursued a regular course 
 of study for three years. He received licensure both as a minister 
 of the Gospel and as a physician. He arrived here in the early part 
 of 1664, and became a colleague pastor. In September of that year 
 he was appointed by Governor Stuyvesant one of the commission 
 ers to negotiate with the British commissioners for the surrender of 
 the colony. He returned to Holland in 1668, shortly previous to 
 the death of his father. 
 
 The most distinguished of the ministers who came from Holland 
 was HENRICUS SELYNS. He first came in 1660, and officiated at 
 Brooklyn, and Governor Stuyvesant s Bouwerie, or farm, the Gov 
 ernor stipulating to pay the portion for his services in his neighborhood 
 out of his private means, and particularly committing to him the in 
 struction and religious benefit of the negroes. During the four years 
 that he remained in that sphere he was greatly useful and highly 
 esteemed. In the summer of 1664 he returned to Holland, and set 
 tled in a prominent place there. In. 1670, on the death of Megapolen 
 sis, and the sickness and debility of Drisius, inducing a pressing 
 want of ministerial service, a call was made upon Selyns with more 
 
70 
 
 than common urgency. The impression he had left by his previous 
 ministrations was deep and strong. He, however, declined. After the 
 death of Dom. Van Nieuwenhuysen, in 1681, the church at once di 
 rected a renewed and strongly enforced appeal, to which he favorably 
 responded, and became sole pastor of the church from 1682 to 1699, 
 When he received a colleague, and died in 1701. There is sufficient 
 evidence remaining to show his systematic, industrious, and energetic 
 discharge of his ministerial and pastoral duties, and that he gave a 
 happy direction to the interests of the Church. He appears to have 
 acquired much literary cultivation. He was in correspondence with 
 eminent divines in Holland, and with ministers in Boston, in New- 
 England, the Mathers and others. There is prefixed to Cotton Ma 
 ther s "Magnolia, American^ a Latin congratulatory poem of some 
 length, signed, " Henricus Selyns, Ecclesiastes Neo Eboracensis" At 
 the publication of John Elliot s celebrated Indian Bible he procured 
 it and sent it to the Classis of Amsterdam. It could be wished that 
 more materials had survived to elucidate his character and ministry. 
 
 GUALTERUS DUBOIS became a colleague with Selyns, in 1699, two 
 years before his death. He was in his twenty-eighth year, the son of 
 a distinguished minister, afterwards settled in the church of Amster 
 dam, and a graduate of the University of Leyden. He ministered in 
 the church of New-York fifty-one years. He is said to have been a 
 man of a quiet and peaceful spirit, and in seasons of difficulty to hare 
 exerted a happy influence to conciliate and heal. Respected in his 
 pulpit exercises, prudent, judicious, and consistent in his practical 
 course, and kind in his spirit, he won the affection of the Church and 
 the respect of the community. He preached for the last time on the 
 25th of September, 1751. He designed to proceed to Bergen the 
 next day, Monday, to preach and administer the Lord s Supper. But 
 he was seized with illness in his study that Sabbath evening, which in 
 ;a few days terminated in his death, having passed his eightieth year. 
 His descendants are quite numerous. 
 
 JOANNES RITZEMA and LAMBERTUS DE RONDE were thoroughly 
 educated in Holland, and brought to their pulpit service full prepara 
 tion. They sustained a highly respectable character during their min 
 istry in New- York, and after leaving the city during the Revolutionary 
 War, and remaining in their old age in the places of their exile, they 
 sustained the same character of high respect paid to them during their 
 whole lives. 
 
 The Consistory some years since resolved to obtain, as far as prac 
 ticable, portraits of their deceased ministers, and place them perma 
 nently in the Consistory Chamber. After diligent search the portraits 
 
71 
 
 of several of the earlier ministers were discovered and obtained. 
 All in succession to the present time from Domine Dubois, thirteen 
 in number, have been procured, and are arranged and hung on the 
 \valls of the Consistory Chamber of the Middle Church on Lafayette 
 Place. Portraits of the ministers earlier than Dubois could not be 
 found. It is designed that as death shall successively remove the 
 pastors, their portraits shall at once find their places in the collection. 
 
 [NOTE E.] 
 
 af % piasters 0f % tytfwwto gwttlj 
 
 IN NORTH AMERICA, 
 
 IN" CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, FROM 1633 TO 1800. 
 [Page 25.] 
 
 1 HAVE hesitated to insert the subjoined list of ministers of the Re 
 formed Dutch Church from its first planting down to 1800, as it con 
 sumes much space, and will prove uninteresting to a large proportion 
 of readers. Some of my ministerial brethren, however, have advised 
 me to insert it, as the outlines can not readily be procured. After 
 1800, the published Minutes of the General Synod, and the more 
 recent history of the progress of our Church, and the succession of 
 its ministry within the memory of those living, will readily supply 
 the information desired on those points. I have made the chronological 
 list as full and accurate as materials in my possession could enable 
 me. In some cases I was unable to ascertain the precise time of the 
 beginning and duration of the ministries. Where stated, a slight 
 mistake may have occurred, but I believe they will be found unim 
 portant. It will be seen that the progress which was slow during the 
 prevalence of the preaching in the Dutch language, became increased 
 towards the latter part of the century, and with the beginning of the 
 present century. As that language became into general, and soon 
 into total disuse, its progress became accelerated. One thing has 
 escaped the recollection of our ministry, the efforts taken for mission 
 ary labor during the latter part of the last century. As early as 
 1789, the Rev. Jacob Jennings went to Virginia, and labored in 
 Hardy county. A church was organized at Hanover District, on the 
 
72 
 
 Susquehanna, in 1792. The Rev. P. Labagh was sent as a mission 
 ary to Kentucky, immediately after his licensure, in 1796, when he 
 organized a church in Mercer, where a number of Dutch families from 
 New-Jersey had settled. For want of an adequate supply of minis 
 ters, these interests thus created were suffered to languish and die. 
 The church at Conewago, in Adams county, Pa., is referred to in the list 
 in connection with two ministers. Several Dutch families from New- 
 York had moved into the vicinity, and a Reformed Dutch Church was 
 at once organized. After the removal of Mr. Brinkerhoff, in 1795, no 
 supply came from our church, and it became a Presbyterian church. 
 Other points of a similar nature might be furnished, having passed 
 from the memory of our present ministry, and not found in printed 
 minutes. But too much space has already been occupied here. 
 
 1633-1647. EVERARDUS BOGARDUS, at New- Amsterdam, now New- 
 York. 
 
 1648-1649. JOHANNES BACKERUS, from Curagoa. After a year he 
 returned to Holland. 
 
 1642-1648. JOHANNES MEGAPOLENSIS, at Rensselaerwyck, now Al 
 bany. 
 
 1649-1669. JOHANNES MEGAPOLENSIS, New- Amsterdam. 
 
 1652-1671. SAMUEL DRISIUS, New-Amsterdam. 
 
 1654-1676. JOHANNES THEODORUS POLHEMUS, at Midwout, now 
 Flatbush, Flatlands, Brooklyn. 
 
 1658-1699. GIDEON SCHAATS, Rensselaerwyck, now Albany. 
 
 1660-1664. HENRICUS SELYNS, at Breukelen, (now Brooklyn,) and 
 Governor Stuy vesant s Bouwerie, or farm. He went 
 back to Holland in 1664, and then returned, being 
 called to the church of New- York in 1682, and died 
 in 1701. 
 
 16601664. HERMANUS BLOM, at Esopus, now Kingston. He re 
 turned to Holland. 
 
 Churches were organized at Bergen, and Staten Island, 
 and Harlem, about this time. 
 
 1664-1668. SAMUEL MEGAPOLENSIS, at New- York. He returned to 
 Holland. 
 
 1667-1680. LAURENTIUS VAN GAASBEEK, Kingston. 
 
 1671-1681. WILHELMUS VAN NIEUWENHUYSEN, New-York. 
 
 1677-1685. CASPARUS VAN ZUUREN, Kings county, L. I. Returned 
 to Holland. 
 
 1681. JOHANNES WEEKSTEEN, Kingston. 
 
 1683-1699. GODEFRIDUS DELLIUS, Albany. 
 
1683. The church at New-Pal tz, Ulster county, organized. 
 
 1684-1690. PETRUS TASSCHEMACIIER, Schenectady. Massacred by 
 
 the Indians. 
 
 1685-1694. RUDOLPHUS VAN VARICK, Kings county, L. I. 
 1 687-1 691. LAURENTIUS VANDENBOSCH, Kingston. 
 1694. GILLIAM BERTHOLF, Aquackenonk, and Hackensack, N. J. 
 
 The time of his death uncertain, probably about 1720. 
 1695-1698. JOHANNES PETRUS NUCELLA, Kingston, 1699-1702, at 
 
 Albany. 
 
 1695-1702. WILHELMUS LUPARDUS, Kings county, L. I. 
 1699. The church at Raritan organized by Dom. Bertholf, of 
 
 Hackensack. 
 
 1699-1751. GUALTERUS DUBOIS, New- York. 
 1700-1705. BERNARDUS FREEMAN, Schenectady. 
 
 The same from 1705-1741, Kings county, L. I. 
 1702. The church at Jamaica, L. I., organized. 
 
 1703-1709. JOHANNES LYDIUS, Albany. 
 1706-1710. HENRICUS BEYS, Kingston. 
 1705-1744. VICENTIUS ANTONIDES, Kings county, L. I. 
 1709-1731. JOSEPH MORGAN, Freehold and Middletown, N. J. 
 1711-1732. PETRUS VAS, Kingston. 
 
 1711. HENDRICK HAGER, East and West Camp, in Columbia 
 
 and Ulster county, and also in Schoharie. 
 1712-1723. THOMAS BROUWER, Schenectady. 
 1712-1738. PETRUS VAN DRIESSEN, Albany. 
 
 1712. The church at Kinderhook organized by the Rev. P. 
 
 Van Driessen. 
 1713-1754. HENRICUS BOEL, New-York. 
 
 1716. The churches at Poughkeepsie and Fishkill organized 
 
 by Rev. P. Vas. The church at Claverack by Rev. 
 P. Van Driessen. 
 
 1717. The church at Three Mile Run organized. Afterwards 
 
 located at New-Brunswick. The residence of the 
 first Domine, Frelinghuysen, was at Three Mile Run, 
 and his remains are there interred. 
 
 1719. The church at North Branch, N. J., organized. 
 1719-1747. THEODORUS JACOBUS FRELINGHUYSEN, at Three Mile 
 
 Run, Raritan, North Branch. 
 
 1720. JOHN JACOB EHLE, Schoharie, and along the Mohawk. 
 1720. The church at Linlithgow, (Livingston s Manor,) organ 
 
 ized. 
 
 1726-1740. CORNELIUS VAN SANTVOORD, Staten Island. In 1740 he 
 removed to Schenectady, where he died in 1752. 
 
74 
 
 17*26-1735. HENRICUS COENS, Aquackenonk, and Second River, (now 
 Belleville,) N. J. 
 
 1726-1750. FREDERICK MUTZELIUS, Tappan, Rockland county. 
 
 1727-1735. JOHANNES VAN DRIESSEN, Kinderhook and Claverack. 
 The same from 1735-1740 at Aquackenonk, N. J. 
 
 1726-1736. REINHART ERICKSON, Schenectady. Removed to Free 
 hold and Middletown, N. J., where he died in 1764. 
 
 1730-1755. ANTONIUS CURTENIUS, Hackensack, N. J. 
 
 The same from 1755-1757, Kings county, L. I. 
 
 17321756. GEORGIUS WILHELMUS MANCIUS, Kingston. 
 
 1731-1738. CORNELIUS VAN SCHIE, Poughkeepsie and Fishkill. 
 And from 1738-1744, Albany. 
 
 1731-1735. GERARD HAEGHOORT, at Freehold and Middletown. 
 Afterwards, from 1735-1754, at Second River, now 
 Belleville. 
 
 1731. The church at Rhinebeck Flats was organized and sup 
 
 plied by Rev. C. Van Schie. 
 
 1731. The church at Newtown, L. I., organized. 
 
 1732. The church at Middleburgh, Schoharie county, organ 
 
 ized by Rev. G. M. Weiss. 
 
 1732-1737. GEORGE MICHAEL WEISS, Schoharie, and occasionally 
 at Catskill and Coxsackie. Removed to Pennsyl 
 vania. 
 
 1740-1744. JOHANNES HENRICUS GOETSCHIUS, Jamaica, L. I. 
 
 The same, 1744-1772, Hackensack and Schralen- 
 burgh. 
 
 1734. The church at Wallkill, now Montgomery, Orange 
 
 county, organized. 
 
 1736. The church at Rochester, Ulster county, organized. 
 
 1738-1755. JOHANNES SCHUYLER, Schoharie. 
 
 The same from 1755-1769. Hackensack and Schralen- 
 burgh. 
 
 17421754. JOHANNES ARONDEUS, Queens county, N. Y. 
 
 1744. JOHANNES RITZEMA, New-York, Emeritus, 1784, died 
 
 1796. 
 
 1744-1756. JOHANNES CASPARUS FREYENMOET, Minisink and Wai- 
 peck, Sussex county, N. J., from 1756-1772, Smith- 
 field and Mapakkemak, N. J., and from 1756-1772, 
 Kinderhook, Claverack, and East Camp. 
 
 1745. Church at Wawarsing, Ulster county, organized. 
 1746-1784. ULPIANUS VAN SINDEREN, Kings county, L. I. 
 1746-1756. THEODORUS FRELINGHUYSEN, Albany. 
 
75 
 
 1746. The church at Marbletown, Ulster county, organized. 
 
 1749-1753. JOHN FRELINGHUYSEN, Raritan. 
 
 1748-1783. JOHANNES LEIDT, New-Brunswick, N. J. 
 
 1748-1792. BENJAMIN VANDERLINDE, Paramus, N. J. 
 
 1749-1759. BENJAMIN MENEM A, Poughkeepsie and Fishkill. 
 
 1751. The church at Shawangunk, Ulster county, organized. 
 
 1750-1779. SAMUEL VER BRYCK, Tappan. 
 
 1756-1769. E. T. VAN HOEVENBERGH, Bhinebeck Flats. 
 
 1751. LAMBERTUS DE RONDE, New- York, Emeritus, 1784, died 
 
 1795. 
 
 1752-1772. DAVID MARENUS, Aquacknonk and Totowa. 
 1753-1795. JOHANNES SCHUNEMAN, Catskill and Coxsackie. 
 1753-1761. THOMAS ROMEYN, Queens county, L. I. 
 
 The same, from 1761-1771, at Minisink, N. J., and 
 from 1771-1794, at Caghnawaga, Montgomery 
 county, N. Y. 
 
 1754-1782. BARENT VROOMAN, Schenectady. 
 1 755-1 759. JOHANNES CASPARUS RUBEL, Red Hook, Dutchess county, 
 
 and from 1759-1783, Kings county, L. I. 
 1756-1757. HENRICUS FRELINGHUYSEN, Wawarsing and Rochester, 
 
 Ulster county. 
 
 1757-1789. WILLIAM JACKSON, Bergen and Staten Island. 
 1757. The church at New-Hackensack, Dutchess county, 
 
 formed. 
 
 1756. The church at Hopewell, Dutchess county, organized. 
 
 1758-1781. JACOB R. HARDENBERGH, Raritan, Bedminster, etc., from 
 
 1781-1786, at Marbletown and Rochester, Ulster 
 
 county, and from 1786-1790, at New-Brunswick, N. J. 
 1760-1790. EILARDUS WESTERLO, Albany. 
 1760-1771. JOHANNES MAURITIUS GOETSCHIUS, Shawangunk and 
 
 New-Paltz, Ulster county. 
 1761-1795. JOHANNES MARTINUS VAN HARLINGEN, New-Shannick 
 
 and Sourland, N. J., now TIarlingen. 
 
 1762-1783. JOHAN DANIEL COCK, Rhinebeck and Red Hook. 
 1763-1775. HERMANUS MEIER, Kingston, from 1775^1791, Pomp- 
 ton and Totowa, N. J. 
 1763-1774. HENRICUS SCHOONMAKER, Poughkeepsie and Fishkill, 
 
 from 1774-1816, at Aquackenonk, N. J. 
 1764-1779. ARCHIBALD LAIDLIE, New- York. 
 1764-1794. A. ROSEKRANTZ, Canajoharie and German Flats. 
 1763-1771. JOHN MICHAEL KERN, German Reformed Church, N. Y. 
 1764-1816. BENJAMIN Du Bois, Freehold and Middletown. 
 
76 
 
 1765-1789. 
 1765-1785. 
 1766-1774. 
 
 1776-1772. 
 
 1768. 
 
 1769-1772. 
 
 1770. 
 1770-1810. 
 
 1773-1810. 
 1773-1776. 
 
 1773-1785. 
 1775-1778. 
 
 1775-1796. 
 
 1776-1826. 
 1776-1809, 
 1779-1781. 
 1781-1786. 
 
 1783-1787. 
 1783-1789. 
 
 1784. 
 
 1785-1808. 
 1785-1786. 
 
 ISAAC RYSDYCK, Fishkill, Hopewell, and Hackensack, 
 
 Dutchess county. 
 MARTINUS SCHOONMAKER, Haerlem and Gravesend, from 
 
 1785-1824, Kings comity, L. I. 
 THEODORICK EOMEYN, Marbletown and Eochestcr, from 
 
 1774-1781, at Hackensack and Schralenburgh, and 
 
 from 1781-1803, at Schenectady. 
 HARMANUS L. BOELEN, Queens county, L. I. 
 The church at New-Hurley, Ulster county, organized. 
 WARMOLDUS KUYPERS, Ehinebeck Flats, from 1772- 
 
 1795, Hackensack and Schralenburgh. 
 GERRIT LYDEKKER, English Neighborhood, N. J. 
 JOHN H. LIVINGSTON, New-York, from 1810-1825, 
 
 President of Rutgers College, and Professor of Theo- 
 
 RYNIER VAN NEST, settled at different periods at Sha- 
 
 wangunk, Queens county, and Schoharie. 
 STEPHEN VAN VOORHIS, Poughkeepsie, from 1776-1784. 
 
 Rhinebeck Flats. 
 
 The churches of Cortlandtown, Walpeck, Oyster 
 Bay, Success, Pompton, Canajoharie, and Kakeat, 
 were all organized before 1771. 
 ELIAS VAN BUNSCHOOTEN, Scaghticoke, from 1785-1813, 
 
 Minisink. 
 SOLOMON FRELIGH, Queens county, from 1778-1784, 
 
 Millstone, and also Fishkill, from 1785-1826, Hack 
 
 ensack and Schralenburgh. 
 STEPHEN GOETSCHIUS, New-Paltz and New-Hurley, from 
 
 1796-1815, Marbletown, from 1815-1832, Saddle 
 
 River and Pascack. 
 JOHN GABRIEL GEBHARD, Claverack. 
 GEORGE I. L. DOLL, Kingston. 
 MATHEW LEIDT, Belleville, N. J. 
 NICHOLAS LANSING, Livingston Manor, 1786-1831, Tap- 
 
 pan and Clarkstown. 
 
 SIMEON VAN ARSDALEN, North Branch, N. J. 
 ISAAC BLAUVELT, Fishkill, afterwards Paramus. 
 
 Several churches, as Saratoga, Taghkanick, Niskayu- 
 
 na, etc., organized previous to 1783. 
 CORNELIUS COZINE, Conewago, Adams county, Penn. 
 WILLIAM LINN, New-York. 
 THEODORE F. ROMEYN, Raritan. 
 
1787-1799. JOHN DURYEE, Raritan. 
 
 1787-1794. JOHN M. VAN HARLINGEN, Millstone and Six Mile Run. 
 
 1787-1818. PETER LOWE, Kings county, L. I. 
 
 1787-1820. PETER STEDDIFORD, Readington and Bedminster. 
 
 1787-1798. PETER DE WITT, Rhinebeck Flats, from 1799-1809, 
 
 Ponds and Wyckoff,*N. J. 
 1787-1805. JOHN BASSETT, Albany, afterwards from 1805, first at 
 
 the Bogt and then at Gravesend. 
 1788-1798. JAMES V. C. ROMEYN, Schodack and Greenbush, from 
 
 1 1798-1831, Hackensack and Schralenburgh. 
 1788-1817. MOSES FRELIGH, Shawangunk and Wallkill. 
 1786-1788. GERARDUS A. KUYPERS, Paramus, from 1788-1833, 
 
 New- York. 
 
 1788-1790. PETER STRYKER, N. and S. Hampton, Penn., from 
 1790-1 794, Staten Island, from 1796-1814, Belleville. 
 1790. BRANDT SCHUYLER LUPTON, (a brief ministry,) Lansing- 
 
 burgh and Wakeford. 
 
 1789-1800. ISAAC LABAGH, Kinderhook, from 1800-1 82-, first at 
 Canajoharie, Sharon, etc., and then at the German Re 
 formed church, N. Y. 
 
 1789-1795. GEORGE G. BRINKERHOFF, Conewago, Adams county, 
 Penn., afterwards at Kakeat, and then at Owasco, 
 Cayuga county, N. Y. 
 
 1789. PETER LEIDT, (died early,) Ponds, Kakeat, Ramapo,N. J. 
 
 1789. SAMUEL SMITH, Saratoga. 
 
 1790-1805. JOHN DEMAREST, Niskayuna and Boght, afterwards at 
 
 tj|e Ponds and Wyckoff, N. J. 
 1790-1793. ANDREW GRAY, Poughkeepsie. 
 1790-1795. ABRAHAM VAN HoRNE,Marbletown and Rochester, from 
 
 1796-1 83-, Caghnawaga, Montgomery county. 
 
 1791-1803. JEREMIAH ROMEYN, Red Hook and Linlithgow, after 
 wards at Haerlem. 
 1791-1804. NICHOLAS VAN VRANKEN, Fishkill, Hopewell, and New- 
 
 Hackensack. 
 1791-1805. JOHN F. JACKSON, Haerlem, afterwards at Fordham. 
 
 The churches at Esopus and Ashokan organized. 
 1792-1800. PETER VAN VLIERDEN, Catskill and Saugerties. 
 1793. HARMANUS VAN HUYSEN, Helderburgh, Albany county. 
 
 1793-1807. WIN SLOW PAIGE, Scaghticoke, afterwards successively 
 at Florida, Montgomery county, and in Schoharie 
 county. 
 
 1793-1830. JOHN CORNELISON, Bergen. 
 1793-1811. IRA CONDICT, New-Brunswick. 
 
1794-1815. ZECHARIAS H. KUYPERS, Queens comity, L. I., afterwards 
 
 at the Ponds and Wyckoff, N. J. 
 1794-1807. CORNELIUS BROUWER, Poughkeepsie. 
 1796-1800. JACOB SICKLES, Coxsackie, 1801-183-, Kinderhook. 
 
 1796-1819. JAMES S. CANNON, Six Mile Run and Millstone, after 
 wards Professor in Theological Seminary, New-Bruns 
 wick. (Died, 1852.) 
 
 1794-1810. STEPHEN OSTRANDER, Pompton, afterwards at Bloom 
 ing Grove. 
 
 1796-1815. WILLIAM R. SMITH, New-Shannick and Harlingen. 
 
 1796-7. PETER LABAGH, Missionary to Kentucky Reformed 
 
 Dutch Church in Mercer county, organized, from 
 1798-1809, Catskill, from 1809-1848, Harlingen, 
 (still living.) 
 
 1796-1802. JOHN B. JOHNSON, Albany. 
 
 1796. THOMAS ROMEYN, Niskayuna and Amity still living. 
 
 1797-1802. GARRET MANDEVILLE, Rochester, afterwards at Caro 
 line, Tompkins county, N. Y. 
 
 1797-1819. JACOB LARZILLERE, N. and S. Hampton, Penn. 
 
 1798-1805. CHRISTIAN BoRK,Schodack, afterwards in Franklin street. 
 N. Y., where he died, 1823. 
 
 1799-1809. HENRY POLHEMUS, Harlingen, afterwards at English 
 Neighborhood and Shawangunk. 
 
 1799-1803. JOHN H. MEIER, New-Paltz, afterwards at Schenec- 
 tady. 
 
 1799. THOMAS G. SMITH, Esopus, afterwards at Tarrytown 
 
 died, 1835. 
 
 1799-1803. JOHN BRODHEAD ROMEYN, Rhinebeck Flats. 
 1799-1840. WILHELMUS ELTING, Paramus, N. J. 
 
 This list is not furnished as complete. There are doubtless omis 
 sions, but it is believed not of any permanently settled previous to 
 
 1800. I have been dependent upon materials which have come 
 to my hand without instituting inquiries from the particular 
 churches. It has been difficult in some cases to ascertain the precise 
 commencement of the ministry, and also the precise duration. In this 
 list will be found detailed the early growth and succession of the 
 churches and their ministry, so as to give information on these points 
 now difficult to obtain, on account of the deficiency of existing sources 
 within the reach of inquiry. I am in doubt whether John L. Zabriskie. 
 afterwards of Millstone, settled at Greenbush, Rensselaer county, pre 
 vious to 1800, or not. In 1800, or very soon afterwards, John P. 
 Spinner settled at Herkimer and German Flats, Philip Duryee at 
 
79 
 
 Saratoga, John S. Vredenburgh at Raritan, Jacob Schoonmaker at 
 Jamaica, P. I. Van Pelt at Staten Island, Henry Ostrander (now at 
 Kaatsbaan) at Catskill, and William Manley at Cortland town. Soon 
 afterwards, from 1803 to 1805, Rev. Drs. Brodhead and Westbrook, 
 and Rev. Herman Vedder were settled in the Classis of Poughkeepsie, 
 etc. It will be seen that of the ministers settled previous to 1800, 
 there are only two living, Peter Labagh and Thomas Romeyn. Of 
 those referred to as settled between 1800 and 1805, out of the nine 
 four are living. 
 
 It will be seen in the above list, where I was unable to ascertain 
 the precise year of the death, or the close of the ministry, and could 
 only approximate to it, I have placed it within a certain range, as be 
 tween twenty and thirty, leaving out the last figure, as : Abraham 
 Van Home at Caghnawaga, 1796-1 83-. 
 
 [NOTE F.] 
 
 0f % fpWt $W4 Cftttrtfc in 171)0. 
 
 [Page 42.] 
 
 THE following is extracted from the close of the sermon preached 
 by Rev. Dr. LIVINGSTON, on the fourth of July, 1790, when the Mid 
 dle Church was reopened, after being repaired from the ruinous state 
 in which it was left by the British forces during the Revolutionary 
 War: 
 
 " To these gre^|t purposes this building was formerly devoted, and 
 for these important ends it is now raised from its ruins. But the 
 mention of ruins, calls back our thoughts to past scenes, and presents 
 disagreeable ideas to our minds. When destruction is caused by the 
 immediate hand of Heaven, by earthquakes, storms, or fire, we are 
 silent before God, and dare not reply. But when men have been the 
 instruments, it is difficult, although proper, to look up to the over 
 ruling power, and forget the interposition of the means. I dare not 
 speak of the wanton cruelty of those who destroyed this temple, nor 
 repeat the various indignities which have been perpetrated. It would 
 be easy to mention, facts which would chill your blood ! A recol 
 lection of the groans of dying prisoners, which pierced this ceiling, 
 or the sacrilegious sports, and rough feats of horsemanship exhibited 
 within these walls, might raise sentiments in your mind that would, 
 perhaps, not harmonize with those religious affections which I wish at 
 present to promote and always to cherish. The Lord has sufficiently 
 
80 
 
 vindicated our cause, and avenged us of those who rose up against us. 
 He girded our Joshua ,for the field, and led him, with his train of 
 heroes, to victory. Heaven directed our councils and wrought deli 
 verance. Our enemies themselves acknowledged an interposing Pro 
 vidence, and were obliged to say, The Lord hath done great things 
 for them ; while we, repeating the shout of praise, The Lord hath 
 done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Through the long 
 avenue of danger and perplexity, while discouragements like dark 
 clouds are hovering all around, who could penetrate the gloom, and 
 foresee that God would soon bring order out of confusion so soon 
 dismiss the horrors of war, and grant an honorable peace perfect 
 revolution ? Where was it ever seen, excepting only in Israel, that 
 God took a nation out of the midst of another nation, with such a 
 mighty hand, and a stretched-out arm ? Who could have predicted 
 that from such indigested materials, with such short experience, and 
 within so few years, an efficient, liberal, and pervading government 
 would have been formed? A station and rank is now obtained 
 among the nations of the earth, and if the full enjoyment of civil and 
 religious liberty is a constituent part of social happiness if the pros 
 pects of the rising importance, strength, and greatness of our new em 
 pire are of any weight in the scale, we may safely pronounce ourselves, 
 as this day to be the happiest nation in the world. A nation where 
 all the rights of man are perfectly secured. Without a monarchy 
 without hereditary nobility, and without an hierarchy. Hail, happy 
 land ! A land of liberty, of science, and religion ! Here an undis 
 turbed freedom in worship, forms the first principle of an equal 
 government, and is claimed as a birthright whic^ none of our rul 
 ers dare call in question, or control. Here no sect is legally preferred 
 with exclusive prerogatives the chief magistrate worships as a pri 
 vate citizen, and legislators, by their influential example, not by penal 
 laws, prove nursing fathers to the Church of Christ. In this happy 
 and elevated situation, the ruins of our temples, and all we have sus 
 tained, appear a price too small to mention. We are more than 
 compensated. We have forgiven, and we forget past injuries. God 
 has abundantly made up for all our former griefs. When the Lord 
 turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. 
 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with sing 
 ing. We are a happy people ; we feel and know that we are so. 
 The labors of the husbandman prosper, and there is plenty in all our 
 borders. Commerce is enlarged, and public credit established. The 
 education of youth is universally patronized, and there is no com 
 plaining in our streets. In safety we sit every man under his own 
 
81 
 
 vine and fig-tree, and there are none to make us afraid. With suffi 
 cient room to accommodate nations, and a government adequate to 
 all the important purposes of society, we are not only at ease our 
 selves, but extend our arms, and cordially invite an oppressed world 
 to come under our shade and share in our happiness. Happy is that 
 people that is in such a case ! Yea, happy is that people whose God 
 is the Lord ! Whether we shall continue thus happy, will greatly 
 depend upon our wisdom and justice, our industry and manners, but 
 principally upon our faithfully recording the name of our Lord. Ac 
 cording to the measure in which the religion of the blessed Jesus is 
 honored, and prevails, our land will be truly happy and our liberty 
 secure. This holy religion establishes the purest morality, and incul 
 cates the reciprocal obligations which members of society are under 
 to each other. It engages men of all ranks, by the highest sanctions, 
 conscientiously to fulfill the duties of their stations, and it is without 
 controversy the surest pledge of divine protection. The maintenance 
 of this, in its purity, will most effectually establish our invaluable 
 blessings, and as this declines, our ruin will hasten. See the rule of 
 Providence with respect to nations. (Jer. 18:9, 10.) "At what in 
 stant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to 
 build and to plant. And if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my 
 voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit 
 them." While others, at our political anniversary, in their animated 
 orations employ all the powers of eloquence to confirm your love of 
 liberty, and by enraptured views of civil blessings, touch with trans, 
 port all the springs of life ; I desire with plainness of speech, but with 
 a zeal becoming *a minister of the Gospel, to raise your views to 
 Heaven, and persuade you wisely to improve your precious privileges. 
 Seven years are not elapsed since we returned to this city in peace. 
 And lo ! in less than seven years, two ruined churches have been by 
 us repaired. The Lord hath strengthened our hands, and given suc 
 cess to our efforts. Let a humble sense of our dependence upon Him, 
 and recollection of his numerous mercies, call forth lively gratitude 
 upon this occasion. Bless the Lord, O my soul ! and all that is with 
 in me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul ! and forget 
 not all his benefits. It is, my brethren, a circumstance which, upon 
 our part, is altogether fortuitous, but it deserves your notice that, in 
 the direction of Providence, you have more than one object upon this 
 memorable Fourth of July that claims your attention. While you 
 glow with patriotic ardor for your country, and pour out fervent 
 prayers for its rising honor and happiness, you are also exulting that 
 the gates of this house are again opened to you. Enter into His gates 
 6 
 
82 
 
 with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise ; be thankful unto 
 him, and bless his name. With ardent prayers and solemn vows, 
 I know you now unite with me in this solemn exercise, and may your 
 ardent prayers and solemn vows be ratified in heaven. But suffer 
 me in faithfulness to warn you against the deceitfulness of your hearts 
 towards God, and to charge you to mingle a holy fear and trembling, 
 this day, with our rejoicings. Remember Shiloh, remember what 
 has already befallen this house, and never forget that you have to do 
 with a holy God, who is jealous for his honor and worship. Holiness 
 becometh the house of God forever, and all who name the name of 
 Christ, must depart from iniquity. Keep therefore thy foot when thou 
 goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give 
 the sacrifice of fools. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer 
 not to pay it, for he hath no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou 
 hast vowed. With what humble awe and pious reverence should 
 ministers of the Gospel engage in the service of the sanctuary 1 Upon 
 us, my venerable and respected brethren and colleagues, a new bur 
 then is this day laid to us a new door is opened ! I congratulate 
 you on this auspicious occasion, and hope we may view it as a token 
 for good from the Lord. Let it encourage us to persevere, and be 
 come more faithful in preaching a crucified Jesus, and inciting this 
 people to worship God in spirit and in truth. But where is our 
 Laidlie ? Where is now that bold herald of the Gospel, who feared 
 not the face of man, nor courted the applause of fellow-worms 1 He 
 spoke with authority, and what flowed from his heart, reached the 
 hearts of others. How often from these heights of Zion, have his 
 words trembled, and saints rejoiced. But he is gone, and rests from 
 his labors. His name still survives, and he, being dead, yet speaketh. 
 Excuse this tribute of affection, forgive this tear which I owe to the 
 memory of a man who was once so dear to me, as a fellow-laborer in 
 this house, and whose ministry was highly acceptable, and greatly 
 blessed to the people." 
 
 [NOTE G.] 
 
 Ctettg at t\t pflrtrle Ctolr 0n pssau Start, in 1M4, 
 
 BETWEEN LIBERTY AND CEDAR STREETS. 
 [Page 53.] 
 
 THE encroachments of commerce having gradually driven the in 
 habitants from the lower part of the city, the Consistory with great 
 
83 
 
 reluctance came to the decision that it was no longer expedient to 
 continue divine service in this Church. The building, after an occu 
 pancy of one hundred and fifteen years, was used as a place of wor 
 ship for the last time in the evening of August 11, 1844. The 
 occasion brought together an immense congregation, from the city and 
 adjacent country, of persons whose cherished associations rendered it 
 to them interesting and touching. 
 
 A discourse was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Knox, the senior pastor 
 of the church, from the appropriate passage, John 4 : 20-24 : " Our 
 fathers worshipped in this mountain," etc. 
 
 In the close of his discourse, a great object of which was to show 
 that no place is intrinsically holy, and that every place is appropriate 
 to the divine service, he took occasion to remark : " Nevertheless, 
 there is a world of sentiment in the thought, Our fathers worshipped 
 in this mountain. The feeling of hallowed, affectionate attachment 
 to this place, where we and our fathers worshipped and held commu 
 nion with God and with each other, and which at this moment has a 
 deep lodgment in the hearts of this assembled multitude, is to be 
 revered. It is not the affectation of sentimentality. 
 
 " There is not a spot in this great city, perhaps not in our land, 
 aronnd which so many fond and hallowed associations cluster, as the 
 spot on which we are now assembled. This building has stood dur 
 ing successive ages, and is at present the oldest church edifice in the 
 city. The site on which it stands was purchased in 1726, and it was 
 opened for worship in 1729. Here, from generation to generation, 
 our fathers worshipped in the great congregation. Among them were 
 the founders of the city s greatness men high in intellect, high in 
 civil and social station, devoted in heart, and venerable in all that 
 adorns the character of man. Here they and their children received 
 the sacred initiatory rite the seal of God s covenant. Here the 
 voice of praise and the incense of prayer have ascended, and the ser 
 vants of Christ from age to age have surrounded the table of his love, 
 and in communion with him their hearts have glowed with a fervor as 
 pure as mortals ever feel. Here the glorious Gospel of the blessed 
 God has been faithfully preached from generation to generation, and 
 God has given testimony to the word of his grace. Multitudes have 
 been brought out of darkness into light, and from the bondage of sin 
 into the liberty of the sons of God. Multitudes now in glory, have 
 under the culture of the divine hand, been edified in faith, holiness, 
 and consolation, and rendered meet for the inheritance of saints in 
 light. Here a long succession of ambassadors of Christ, gifted and 
 honored, have bestowed the labors of their lives. 
 
84 
 
 " Of the pastors of this church who have entered into rest, many 
 were eminent, and every one of them, by the endowments of Him who 
 hath received gifts for men, possessed some characteristic excellence. 
 Those of them who have rendered their service in the English tongue 
 are, Drs. Laidlie, Livingston, Linn, Kuypers, Abeel, Schureman, and 
 Mr. Strong. Of former pastors, two still survive, who have been re 
 moved from this church by a transfer of their services to other fields 
 of labor.* 
 
 " By many an association is this place endeared to many a heart. 
 On the very spot where he now stands, he who now addresses you, 
 more than twenty-eight years ago, was ordained to the ministry by 
 the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery, and here the ministerial 
 labors of his life have been bestowed. Many of the deepest, dearest, 
 most indelible impressions of his heart are connected with reminis 
 cences of this place. 
 
 " From such a spot, less than the force of uncontrollable circum 
 stances could not have induced the consent to remove. And I know 
 that by all most interested, whether in Consistory or out of it, this 
 point has been reached only step by step, and with constant reluctance. 
 Were feeling alone the guide in duty, it never would have been 
 reached at all. For a long period of time, however, we have felt the 
 gradual and growing encroachments of commerce. From year to 
 year the people have been resigning their accustomed residences in 
 this vicinity, and removing to places distant from it. It having be 
 come manifestly necessary, in order to maintain the Church in its 
 vigor, the Consistory, some years ago, were constrained to follow the 
 people with their accustomed means of grace, and to provide for their 
 accommodation in another part of the city, f 
 
 "At length this large and commodious edifice, formerly constantly 
 crowded with worshippers, became almost deserted ; and the convic 
 tion was forced upon all, with scarcely an exception, that duty no 
 longer required the endeavor to maintain the public ordinances within 
 its walls. 
 
 " Our fellow-Christians of no less than nine different denominations 
 around us, urged by like uncontrollable necessity, have been coerced 
 into a like decision, namely, the German Reformed and Associate 
 Churches, on Nassau street ; the French Church, on Pine street ; the 
 two Presbyterian Churches, on Cedar street; the Wall-Street Church, 
 and the Murray-Street Church; the Dutch Church, on Exchange 
 
 * Drs. Milledoler and Brodhead, both since deceased. 
 
 f The Church on La Fayette Place was opened for worship May 9, 1839. 
 
85 
 
 Place; the Reformed Church, on Chambers street; the Baptist. 
 Church, on Gold street, and Grace Church, on Broadway, and the Mo 
 ravian Church, in Fulton street, are at this time in process of re 
 moval.* 
 
 " Our own case is exempt from some of the embarrassments with 
 which our neighbors have had to contend. We have other churches, 
 one of them in the immediate vicinity, where the same ministrations 
 are found, and where accommodations ample and convenient may be 
 secured by all who hitherto have worshipped here. 
 
 "An opportunity of appropriating this building, with as little vio 
 lence to feeling as could have been anticipated, has occurred. f 
 
 " The vaults around, wherein reposes the precious dust of the hon 
 ored dead, are secured from invasion, and are at the control of those 
 who feel the deepest interest in their sacred contents. 
 
 " We now bid adieu to this place, endeared by more than a cen 
 tury s fond associations. It is a moment and an occasion of melan 
 choly sadness. But our God is not a God of the hills or of the valleys 
 of this place or that place alone no mere local Deity. We bow to 
 his will, indicated by his providence, and cherish the hope that his 
 gracious presence, here vouchsafed so long with us and our fathers, 
 will also elsewhere be with us and our children still. 
 
 " I honor the feelings which linger around a spot like this, and 
 would have them only guarded against a superstitious homage : and 
 that an event brought about by no stranger or wanton hand, and 
 painful to all, may be met in the spirit of Christian acquiescence, and 
 leave no feeling of alienation in the minds of any." 
 
 After the discourse, a brief address was made by Dr. De Witt, and 
 the service closed by him with pronouncing the apostolic benediction 
 in the Dutch language. 
 
 * Since the Middle Church was closed, the following list of churches have 
 been transferred from the lower to the upper parts of the city: the African Church, 
 (formerly German Lutheran,) from Frankfort street; St. George s, Episcopal, from 
 Beekman street ; the Dutch churches of Murray and Franklin streets ; the Metho 
 dist Church of Vestry street; and the Duane Street and Brick Presbyterian 
 churches. 
 
 \ It had been leased to the United States Government for a Post-Office. 
 
86 
 [NOTE II.] 
 
 <g * n u a 1 $1 e m a : r l\ s . 
 
 [Page 6.] 
 
 THE number of churches of our denomination in the city of New- 
 York, is referred to in the Discourse, as being nineteen, exclusive of 
 the Collegiate. I had partially designed to give a list of them in their 
 chronological order, with the succession of their ministries. But as 
 this is not within the particular object of the discourse and pamphlet, 
 and if fulfilled, might have led to the suggestion that it should have 
 extended further, the design has been relinquished. After 1800, with 
 the disuse of the Dutch language through our churches, and the or 
 ganization of our literary and theological seminaries, the Church 
 assumed an attitude favorable to more vigorous exertion and more 
 rapid enlargement. From 1797 we have the regularly published 
 Minutes of the General Synod to the present time, giving the statis 
 tics of the churches and the list of its ministers from year to year, 
 and marking the progress made. It is gratifying to perceive that the 
 progress has become greatly accelerated of late years. During the 
 ten years between 1846 and 1856, the number of ministers increased 
 from 280 to 368, and the number of churches from 271 to 386. This 
 386 is the number of churches given in the statistical reports pub 
 lished in the Minutes of the General Synod of this year. But the 
 Secretary of the Board of Domestic Missions has made a more full 
 and complete enumeration, and makes the number 397, as given in 
 the report of that Board for this year. For a view of the history, 
 the character, the present condition, and prospects of the Church, we 
 again call attention to the volume prepared by the Rev. Mr. Dema- 
 rest of Hudson, and already referred to in Note A of the Appendix. 
 It is to be desired that every family in our congregations may possess 
 a copy. The Board of Publication have also done a good work in 
 publishing Gunn s Life of Dr. Livingston, condensed and improved 
 with valuable notes, and also the sermons of the elder Domine Fre- 
 linghuysen, translated from the Dutch, by Rev. W. Demarest, of 
 Boundbrook, N. J. 
 
 It is to be regretted that attention was not paid at an earlier period 
 to the collection and preservation of materials for the history of 
 our churches, before the direct and authentic traditions were lost. 
 The Consistorial minutes of the old churches, kept in the Dutch lan 
 guage, were generally without regularity, and give but little informa 
 tion, except to trace the line of the ministry. The manuscripts of the 
 
87 
 
 pastors and others, in that language, have very generally not been 
 preserved, but, not valued, have been lost or destroyed. Still it is 
 important to trace all the avenues of information, and fill up the his 
 tory of our churches. The Rev. Dr. Taylor, of Bergen, N. J., has 
 recently, at the instance of the Classis, prepared a history of all the 
 churches of the Classis of Bergen, and of those attached to the ori 
 ginal Classis of Hackensack. It is proposed to issue the volume in 
 a short time. He has examined the different ecclesiastical records, 
 and gleaned information from other sources, in the preparation of this 
 work. 
 
 In the catalogue of the earliest ministers of our Church we might 
 have added some of the earliest pastors of the German Reformed 
 Church in Pennsylvania, who were in the habit of corresponding with 
 ministers of our Church. The first German settlements in Pennsyl 
 vania were made at the beginning of the last century, and for a period 
 mainly consisted of those of the Reformed faith. As early as 1728, 
 a mission was sent to Holland to seek aid there in pecuniary contri 
 butions, and an increased supply of ministers. The request was at 
 once met, and the Synods of North and South-Holland took the 
 churches under patronage and supervision and took measures to give 
 them liberal pecuniary aid and to seek out and train ministers for that 
 field. About this time an interesting scene took place. While the 
 Synod of South-Holland was in session at Dordrecht, a large number 
 of pious Protestants of the Reformed faith fleeing from persecution 
 in the Palatinate, were passing the place on their way to America, 
 poor in worldly goods but rich in the supply of the word of God, and 
 the Catechisms, etc. The Synod had interesting interviews with them, 
 supplied their present temporal wants, and pledged their future con 
 tinued care over the churches formed, and to be formed in America. 
 That pledge was faithfully and liberally redeemed. Yearly contribu 
 tions to their churches and schools were made, and a watchful care 
 for the procurement of additional ministers was exercised. A few 
 years before the middle of the last century a regular Coetus was 
 formed, which sent the minutes of their annual meetings to the Synod 
 of North-Holland, submitting their proceedings to their supervision. 
 It was not till 1785 or 6 that this connection with the Church of Hol 
 land ceased, and an independent judicatory in the General Synod of 
 the German Reformed Church here was formed. Some of the ear 
 liest ministers of that Church, as Boehm, Weis, etc., were in intimate 
 association and correspondence with the ministers of our Church 
 here. There was one at a period a little later, in the German Re 
 formed Church, deserving to be held in remembrance by us, the Rev. 
 G. H. DORSIUS. of N. and S. Hampton, Bucks county, Pa. He was 
 
88 
 
 the intimate friend of the elder Frelinghuysen, they having been 
 acquainted before their removal to America. He was the corre 
 spondent of Freeman and others of our ministers. He was a man of 
 learning, and a faithful and able evangelical preacher. The Rev. J. 
 II. Goetschius, and one or two of the sons of Domine Frelinghuysen 
 studied under him. W. Jackson, Thomas Romeyn, J. R. Hardenbergh, 
 Samuel Verbryck, etc., studied under the Frelinghuysens, father and 
 son, and partly under Domine Goetschius. Theodorick Romeyn and 
 some others studied under Domine Goetschius. These all proved 
 workmen " that need not be ashamed," in the ability and success with 
 which they prosecuted their labors. Their preaching was character 
 ized by soundness of doctrine and a discriminating and pungent ap 
 plication to the conscience and heart. A reference is made to Dor- 
 sius, as deserving of remembrance, while his name is now forgotten 
 among us. His successor was the Rev. Jonathan Dubois, who, although 
 connected with the German Reformed Coetus of Pennsylvania, was 
 in constant intercourse with the ministers of our Church. Since the 
 adoption of the Articles of Union, in 1771, the church has been in 
 regular connection with our Synod, and is now under the pastoral 
 care of Rev. A. O. Halsey. With this single reminiscence of the 
 olden time of our Church, we must rest content. 
 
 The memory of the past, the position in which the providence of 
 God now places us, and all the motives derived from faith in God s 
 word, and love to Christ and his cause, should stimulate us to united, 
 unceasing, and persevering exertion. Let the motto handed down to 
 us, "Eendragt maakt magt" (union creates strength,) be engraved on 
 our banners, and lodged in our hearts, and then let us enlist under the 
 common banner of the Captain of our salvation, with the tribes of 
 Israel. The word eendragt, which we translate union, is a compound 
 one, literally signifying one pull. So let it be " A LONG PULL, A 
 
 STRONG PULL, AND A PULL ALTOGETHER." 
 
 iesrri}rtj0tt of 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MIDDLE EEFORMED DUTCH CHURCH OK LAFAYETTE PLACE. 
 By S. A. Warner. 
 
 IT is a substantial and elegant structure, based in its design upon ancient 
 examples of Athenian architecture, and not surpassed, in its classic beauty 
 and purity of style, by any edifice of the Grecian school yet erected in our 
 
THE MIDDLE DITCH CHURCH, ON LA FAYKTTK PLACE, 
 DEDICATED MAY !, 1S39. 
 
89 
 
 city. Its form is that of a parallelogram, 75 feet in width. Its extreme 
 length, including the front portico and a projection in the rear, occupied by 
 the pulpit and robing rooms, is 120 feet. Its exterior is of granite, of a 
 light grayish color. The style adopted for the main building is the Ionic, 
 of the highly -wrought and elegant description found in the temple of Erec- 
 theus at Athens, The front presents an octastyle portico, surmounted by 
 an angular pediment, including in its range the entire width of the front, 
 and raised upon an elevated platform. It is approached by four granite 
 steps, which embrace the entire front and sides of the portico, and terminate 
 against buttresses placed in range with the antaa at the external angles. An 
 inner row of columns, four in number, are elevated two additional steps, a 
 break being thus formed in the floor of the portico. All the angles termi 
 nate with antae, having moulded bases and capitals of characteristic design, 
 and continued on the sides to a line with the base of the tower. The bases 
 are continued the whole length of the external front walls. All the columns, 
 twelve in number, are worthy of note for having the shafts in a single piece 
 of granite each, there being but few of equal dimensions now standing that 
 are not laid up in sections. They are of magnificent proportions, handsome 
 ly fluted, their bases finely moulded, and the capitals well executed, the 
 neckings carved and enriched with the Grecian honeysuckle. The mould 
 ings in the cornices and entablatures are carved, and continued unbroken 
 around the entire building, and along the sides the eaves are ornamented 
 antifixia, in imitation of the termination of Grecian tiles, all cast in a metal 
 lic composition. 
 
 Five windows on either side of the building serve to light the interior, four 
 of which open into the audience room, the others into the vestibule and stair 
 ways leading to the galleries. All are in a single length, and finished externally 
 with Grecian architraves, sills, and cornices, sustained by consoles. A 
 spacious area, extending along each side of the building, sunk to a level with 
 the basement floor, gives light and access to the basement. A steeple, 
 placed upon a building of Grecian or Roman design, presents an incongruity 
 not reconcilable to correct principles of taste ; yet custom renders such an 
 appendage so necessary a feature in Christian architecture, that its omission, 
 however elegant a building might be in other respects, would hardly be 
 tolerated. The prevailing lines being horizontal, great difficulty occurs in 
 making them assimilate to the vertical lines of the steeple, yet long estab 
 lished usage requires this sacrifice of lineal harmony. 
 
 In the instance before us, the principal compartment consists of a circular 
 temple, modelled after the choragic monument of Lysicrates, resting on an 
 elevated octangular basement, and having eight columns with richly carved 
 capitals. The entablature has an architrave subdivided into three facia, a 
 plain frieze, and a dentiled cornice, surmounted by the Grecian scroll. 
 Within the temple is placed a bell, and between the columns stationary 
 blinds are placed for the egress of sound. From the top of the temple 
 springs a spire of very fine proportions, of octagonal form, having foliated 
 terminations, and sustaining a ball and weather-vane. The spire and temple 
 are timber-framed, and covered with a sheathing of galvanized iron. 
 
90 
 
 The roof of the main building is in a single span, sustaining itself with 
 out the aid of columns, heavily timbered and of novel construction, and 
 covered externally with copper. 
 
 The interior is approached by five door- ways, under the portico, all hav 
 ing neatly moulded architraves and cornices, three of which lead to the 
 main audience room, and open into a spacious lobby. The remaining two 
 open each into a vestibule containing the stair-cases leading to the galleries. 
 The main room is 68 by 70 feet, arranged with aisles of ample width, and 
 pews of good dimensions, all finely carpeted and cushioned, placed in circu 
 lar form, the ends having handsome scrolls, and the tops of the panelings 
 and partitions with moulded rails, all of mahogany. There are seats for 
 about fifteen hundred persons. Galleries extend around three sides of the 
 interior, supported by delicate iron columns, and are fitted with well-ar 
 ranged pews, with sittings for about five hundred persons. At the easterly 
 end, in a recess projected over the lobby, stands the organ, a purely- toned 
 instrument, of beautiful design and execution, twenty-five feet in width, 
 and on either side, separated from it by narrow aisles and railings, are seats 
 for the Sunday-school children. The ceiling over the organ-gallery is 
 arched, and handsomely panelled and enriched. At the westerly end is the 
 pulpit, placed in a recess, projected beyond the body of the building, and 
 containing besides, the clergyman s robing and retiring rooms. The angles 
 and front are decorated with pilasters, standing on a sub-basement of marble, 
 on which also stands the pulpit. The ceiling is curved, and handsomely re 
 lieved by enriched panelings and other appropriate ornamental work. The 
 pulpit is of statuary marble, of a pure white, and designed in a style of 
 chasteness and simplicity. The ceiling over it contains a sky-light, glazed 
 with stained glass, of neat design, and of subdued, unpretending colors. 
 On each side of the pulpit stands a candelabrum of fine Grecian design, 
 beautifully executed, finished in artistic bronze, sustaining a single globe, 
 and lit with gas. A full entablature, having a dentiled cornice, is carried 
 around the interior, and from it springs the ceiling in the form of a dome, 
 but slightly elevated, and divided into radiating panels, all the compartments 
 and spandrils being deeply sunk, and finished with enriched mouldings and 
 ornamented work, and so arranged with openings disguised by the panel 
 ings, as to give sufficient ventilation to the entire interior. 
 
 Originally, there stood in the recesses containing the organ-gallery and 
 pulpit, Corinthian columns supporting the interior entablature ; also, in the 
 organ-gallery, piers of stuccoed brick, sustaining a portion of the steeple. 
 During the year 1855 the church was closed for repairs, when the removal 
 of the columns and piers was resolved upon and carried into effect. Iron 
 columns, of slender diameter, but sufficient strength, were substituted for 
 the piers required for support. Iron lintels and beams were also introduced 
 where strength was needed ; and although to undermine and sustain so 
 weighty a structure as the entire steeple, might be considered a difficult 
 operation, it was, by the application of mechanical skill and ingenuity, safely 
 accomplished, and however requisite the presence of the cumbrous columns 
 may once have appeared, the enlarged capacity and increased convenience 
 
r"73 "TCHURCH ON FIFTH AVEJiUK AND 29T1I STREET. PRPTCATED OCTOBER llTH, 1854. 
 
91 
 
 of the interior, give any thing but reason to regret their removal. The 
 once cramped and confined vicinity of the pulpit has now an air of spa 
 ciousness and freedom, and the voluminous sounds of the music contrast 
 favorably with its former subdued and unrevealed tunes. The organ .was 
 also rearranged, and its now splendid front erected and so contrived as to 
 inclose and hide the iron columns which sustain the steeple. Few churches 
 of similar style can boast of a finer or more effective interior. 
 
 The basement contains a lecture-room, Sunday-school room, also others 
 for business purposes connected with the church. It is handsomely finished 
 and fitted up throughout, and is made accessible by staircases from within 
 and granite steps from without. In it are also located furnaces by which 
 the entire building is warmed. Vaults are constructed under the front 
 steps and portico, which afford ample room for fuel. 
 
 A yard, thirty-six feet in width, extends along the northerly side of the 
 church, beneath which are burial-vaults to the number of thirty-four, each 
 indicated by a stone slab, marked with its proprietor s name, and entered 
 by the removal of its earthy covering and a stone which closes the aperture 
 in the arch. 
 
 The yard is well cared for, being tastily laid out in walks and flower-beds, 
 and handsomely ornamented with rose bushes, and shrubbery like frail and 
 tender memorials of those who sleep in the dark, quiet recesses below. 
 
 of the JLrrHtectttu 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, CORNER OF FIFTH AVENUE AND 
 TWENTY-NINTH STREET. 
 
 By Samuel A. Warner, Architect, under whose superintendence it was 
 
 erected. 
 
 THE edifice erected on the north-westerly corner of Fifth Avenue and 
 Twenty-ninth street, for the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church, of the 
 city of New- York, was commenced in the year 1851, the corner-stone having 
 been laid on the 26th day of November of that year, with appropriate cere 
 monies, and progressed through all the various stages of construction, until 
 the llth day of October, 1854, when it was dedicated, and opened for public 
 worship. 
 
 The material used in its exterior is white marble, from the quarries at 
 Hastings, in Westchester Co., N. Y., and from its whiteness is in strong 
 contrast with the darker stone in more general use for buildings of this 
 description. Its lightness of color renders shadows more effective, thereby 
 bringing the details of the work more into view, and producing contrasts of 
 
92 
 
 forms and light and shade almost wholly lost on a darker material. The 
 spires, turrets, finials, and other terminations, are all of the same, and all 
 parts of the work are wrought with more than usual fineness and distinct 
 ness. 
 
 The style of the building is technically known as the Romanesque. Its 
 peculiarities consist in the use of the Roman or semi-circular arch, and of 
 circular sweeps and curves in all its tracery, panel work, and other details, 
 and in having most of its mouldings and its various members sunk below 
 the surfaces, instead of being raised ; yet in general forms and outlines, and 
 in much of its details, resembling the Gothic. 
 
 The church fronts on Fifth Avenue, its extreme width being 82 feet, and 
 the extreme length of the main edifice 113 feet, behind which, and fronting 
 on Twenty -ninth street, is the lecture-room, 34 feet wide, which, with the 
 main building, makes a total length of 147 feet. 
 
 The front has a central or main tower 24 feet square, terminating in 
 a spire 215 feet high from the ground, and at each angle an octagonal 
 tower, rising to the height of 80 feet, terminating in spires with carved 
 finials. 
 
 The central tower rises in a square form to the height of 120 feet, is 
 divided into four sections, with handsomely moulded and corbeled courses, and 
 has at the top a moulded cornice. At the angles there are massive gradu 
 ated buttresses, in four sections, terminating in octagonal turrets, with pin 
 nacles, neatly moulded cornices, and carved finials, at a height of 135 feet 
 from the ground. From the top of the square tower rises an octagonal 
 section, designed with buttressed angles, and having windows with splayed 
 jambs and sills, and finished with a heavy moulded cornice. This section 
 is 18 feet diameter, exclusive of the buttresses, and 25 feet high, and from 
 it springs the spire, 70 feet in height, which has panelled faces, three tiers 
 of windows, and terminating with a carved finial. The main entrance is in 
 the tower, and has a richly carved and moulded doorway, with columns 
 having enriched caps and moulded bases. Above this is a window 30 feet 
 in height, with deep moulded jambs, moulded sills, and mullions. The 
 next above is the bell section, which comes above the main body of the 
 church, and has windows on the four sides arranged in couplets, and having 
 deep splayed jambs, and moulded sills, and heads. The next is the clock 
 section, the faces of which are sunk and moulded. The clock faces, four in 
 number, are handsomely carved and moulded. 
 
 In each side of the main tower, the front has a window, divided by a 
 mullion, two sections in height, the sections being separated by moulded 
 panels. The windows have moulded jambs and sills. 
 
 The towers at the angles have buttresses in two sections. On either side 
 of the church is an entrance, with a moulded doorway, opening into a 
 spacious lobby, on the first story, and above the doorways are windows, 
 lighting the lobbies to the galleries. 
 
 Each side of the church has five mullioned windows, twenty-five feet high 
 each, all with moulded jambs and sills. The piers between the windows 
 have heavy buttresses in two sections, and all terminating in gabled copings. 
 
93 
 
 The walls between the buttresses on the sides and between the towers 
 on the front are recessed, and finished with moulded corbel courses at the 
 tops. 
 
 The main cornice is neatly moulded, and is carried along the sides and up 
 the front, terminating against the main tower. Above the cornice, it is de- 
 signefl to place a balustrade of open moulded panel work, with moulded 
 capping and base. The side buttresses terminate below the cornice. 
 
 The front of the lecture-room has octagonal towers, one at each angle, 
 similar to those at the angles of main front, and has a gable with moulded 
 cornice and copings, a pinnacle in the centre. The front wall is recessed 
 and has moulded corbel courses. There is a doorway opening into a roomy 
 lobby, narrow windows on either side of the doorway, and above it a large 
 mullioned window, and all have moulded jambs, heads and sills. 
 
 The entire superstructure rests on a heavy moulded base, raised four feet 
 above the walks. The roofs are covered with Vermont slates. 
 
 All the doorways have broad granite steps. 
 
 The entrances to the main edifice open into lobbies of ample dimensions, 
 containing staircases leading to the galleries, and all connected by arched 
 openings through the walls of the tower. Wide folding-doors open from 
 the lobbies into the main audience-room. This is sixty-eight feet wide, 
 eighty-six feet long, and fifty feet high, and is entirely unobstructed by 
 columns or other usual means of support, the roof being in a single span, 
 and the galleries sustained by iron work built into the side walls. The 
 room will comfortably seat 1500 persons. There are six rows of pews on the 
 ground-floor running lengthwise, and one row across the end each side of 
 the pulpit, all finished with rich moulded panel work, and mahogany rails 
 and scrolls. 
 
 The gallery is carried around three sides of the church, containing three 
 rows of pews, and suitable aisles and passages. 
 
 The aisles on the ground floor are very spacious and roomy. The iron 
 work sustaining the galleries is hid from view by being cased over with 
 wood work formed into massive brackets of appropriate and effective de 
 signs, moulded, panelled, and carved, and terminating in carved pendants. 
 The gallery front is finished with moulded panel work and moulded capping 
 and base. 
 
 At the west end is an arched recess 20 feet wide and 36 feet high, con 
 taining the pulpit, and finished with elaborate tracery work, and forming 
 one of the most pleasing and attractive features of the building. There are 
 richly panelled doors, leading from this into retiring rooms for the clergy 
 men, fitted with many conveniences and fixtures not heretofore introduced 
 into churches. The front of the recess is finished with mouldings and 
 columns, all appropriately enriched. The pulpit is of elegant design, finished 
 with moulded panel work, tracery, and enriched carvings. A descent given 
 to the church floor brings the audience well into view of the officiating 
 clergyman. 
 
 The organ gallery is situated at the easterly end of the church, above the 
 main gallery, supported by heavy brackets, richly moulded and carved. 
 The front is of open panel work, all of good design and effect. 
 
94 
 
 The organ case is elaborately carved and moulded, and is designed in 
 keeping with the general character of the building. The works of the 
 organ are placed in the main tower, the front only showing in the audience- 
 room. Yet the arrangement is such that there is no apparent obstruction in 
 its sound, every note being clear and well defined. 
 
 An iron staircase leads to the organ gallery. The roof is so constructed 
 as to give but little thrust to the side walls, which is amply resisted by the 
 exterior buttresses. A portion of the roof is open to the interior, and is 
 finished with mouldings and well-designed tracery work. The ceiling is 
 formed into groined arches with neatly moulded ribs, springing from piers 
 on the sides with enriched caps, panelled and moulded faces, and resting on 
 massive corbels built in the walls. Panels are introduced into the ceiling, 
 all finished with mouldings, tracery, etc., and arranged so as to be opened or 
 closed at pleasure, for ventilating purposes. Bosses, pendants, brackets, 
 and other details required either in construction or ornamentation, are all of 
 characteristic designs. 
 
 There are doors leading from the ground floor and galleries of the main 
 building into the lecture-room and school-rooms. The lecture-room has an 
 arched ceiling, neatly corniced and finished, with pendants. It contains 
 pews capable of seating three hundred persons, is well-lighted and ventilated, 
 and has a pulpit neatly panelled and moulded. The school-rooms are fitted 
 with all the usual accessories of the most approved construction. There are 
 two school- rooms, divided with a sliding partition, so as to be thrown into 
 one room when required. 
 
 There is a cellar under the entire building, in which are situated the fur 
 naces, six in number, and affording room for coals. 
 
 The building is well supplied with gas lights, the fixtures for which were 
 made from designs furnished by the architect, in keeping with the general 
 style of the works, and are all finished in rich artistic bronze. 
 
 The interior of the building, contrary to usual practice, is finished in plain 
 white, the only exceptions being the upholstery, pew rails, and gas fixtures, 
 and the effect is exceedingly light and pleasing. 
 
 It is proper to remark that all the various works are executed in a man 
 ner far superior to what is customary in churches, no pains having been 
 spared to render every thing complete and perfect in its kind, and great 
 credit is due to the contractors and others engaged in the construction of 
 the building, for the skill, ingenuity, and care manifested throughout their 
 many and sometimes difficult operations. 
 
 The height of the spire on the main tower is 215 feet from the ground. 
 To the ball, weather-points, and vane, it is 230 feet in height. 
 
 The plot of ground belonging to the church is 98 feet 6 inches wide on 
 the Avenue, and 150 feet on Twenty-ninth street. 
 
95 
 
 n of tire :pttir Hefotnicft grctrb Clntrrlr, 
 
 FULTON STKEET. 
 Prepared by S. A. Warner, Architect. 
 
 THE North Dutch Church is situated in William street, and, with the 
 grounds on both sides, occupies the entire front of the block between Fulton 
 and Ann streets, the whole being elevated above the streets, and surrounded 
 by a stone-coped wall and substantial iron railings. It is a well-built struc 
 ture of the Roman style. Its massive walls speak of permanence and 
 durability, and there is much to admire in its well-proportioned and well- 
 executed details, more particularly in those of its interior. Its dimensions 
 are seventy feet in width, and one hundred feet in depth. The tower rises 
 from the ground, projecting from the front of the main building. The prin 
 cipal entrance is in the tower, through a very fine Corinthian door-way, 
 with fluted columns and pilasters, surmounted by an entablature, and open 
 pediment, bearing in its centre a shield, on which are inscribed the date of 
 the commencement and completion of the building. There is also a side 
 entrance, from each street, having rustic architraves, and surmounted by 
 angular pediments. 
 
 The main body of the building is two stories in height, the stories separ 
 ated by a plain fascia, the windows in each having rusticated architraves, 
 with segment-shaped heads, plain sills, and moulded corbels. A handsome 
 moulded base runs around the entire building. All the external angles are 
 finished with rustic quoins. The cornice is plain, and of rather light pro 
 portions, and terminates against the sides of the tower on the front. 
 
 The tower above the main roof is in four sections, the first of which is a 
 square pedestal, with a plane base and Doric cornice, with the characteris 
 tic modillions, and its frieze ornamented with tryglyphs and guttae. 
 
 The clock section has a modillioned cornice, pedimented on each of its 
 faces, supported by consoles, and the angles surmounted by ornamental 
 vases. The belfry is of octagonal form, and has the angles ornamented 
 with pilasters, standing on pedestals, and is crowned by a handsome cor 
 nice. In each face is a window, with circular head, and neatly finished 
 with moulded archibolts, key-stones, and imposts. The tower terminates 
 in a dome-shaped roof, sustaining a ball and weather-vane. 
 
 The main walls are constructed of uncut stone, stuccoed and painted. 
 The door and window dressings and mouldings are of freestone, neatly 
 wrought, but in many places damaged by the rough usage through which 
 the building has passed during its existence. 
 
 The interior of the building is divided into three unequal parts, by a 
 range of four columns, and two pilasters on each side, of the Corinthian 
 order, fluted and reeded, standing on pedestals raised to the height of the 
 pews, and each column and pilaster sustaining a detached entablature of 
 full proportions, all finely carved and finished, and on their friezes rendered 
 
96 
 
 conspicuous by gilding the initials of the generous contributors towards 
 the erection of the church. From the entablatures rises a semi-circular 
 ceiling, which covers the centre portion or nave of the church, and pierced 
 traversely by semi-circular arches reaching from column to column. 
 Arches of similar form are also thrown from the columns to the north and 
 south walls, and are received on entablatures like those over the columns 
 sustained by consoles, and are attached to the walls. Circular coved 
 ceilings and spandrils, neatly paneled and enriched, fill the spaces be 
 tween the arches over the galleries. The pulpit is at the termination of the 
 nave, at the westerly end, and is situated wholly within the body of the 
 building. The wall behind it is handsomely decorated with Corinthian 
 pilasters and arches. The whole is of neat and tasty design, in keeping 
 with the remainder of the interior. 
 
 Above the pulpit is placed the coat of arms of the church s early patron 
 and friend, whose liberality supplied the ground on which this edifice 
 stands, together with other, now the chief source of the church s revenue. 
 His motto, " Dando Conservat," has been literally conformed to. His gift, 
 under the Church s stewardship, not only preserved but increased largely 
 in value. 
 
 The area of the building is fitted up with pews of more recent construc 
 tion than other portions, all with neatly paneled ends and doors, the tops 
 finished with mahogany railings and scrolls. The aisles are spacious, and 
 used, as is customary in the Dutch Church, for administering the Lord s 
 Supper. They are handsomely carpeted, and the pews carpeted and 
 cushioned. Galleries extend around three sides of the building, supported 
 by columns, all well fitted with pews, and having neatly paneled fronts. 
 
 At the easterly end facing the pulpit is placed the organ, a fine piece of 
 workmanship, of imposing proportions ; the rich-colored mahogany, dark 
 ened by age, contrasting well with the gilded pipes and carvings. 
 
 The galleries are approached by staircases, from the vestibule at the 
 easterly end, whose well-worn steps are now covered by matting. 
 
 The windows internally, owing to the thickness of the walls, have deep- 
 splayed jambs, otherwise they are plainly finished. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTE. 
 
 One or two items have been suggested since the Appendix was 
 prepared. 
 
 <ra t\t ft 
 
 This bell was presented to the church by Col. Abraham De Pey- 
 ster, a prominent citizen of New- York, and an influential member of 
 the Reformed Dutch Church. He died in 1728, while the church was 
 in the process of being built, and directed in his will that a bell should 
 be procured at his expense from Holland for the new edifice. It was 
 made at Amsterdam in 1731, and it is said that a number of citizens 
 of that place cast in quantities of silver coin in the preparation of the 
 bell metal. The following is the inscription on the bell : 
 
 Me fecerunt De Gravre et N. Muller, Amsterdam, Anno 1731. 
 Abraham De Peyster, geboren (born) den 8 July, 1657, gestorven 
 (died) den 8 Augustus, 1728. 
 
 Een legaat aan de Nederduytsche Kerke Nieuw York. 
 (A legacy to the Low Dutch Church at New- York.) 
 
 This bell continued with the church in Nassau street till it was 
 closed in 1844 for religious uses, and leased to the United States Gov 
 ernment for the City Post- Office. It was then removed to the church 
 on Ninth street, near Broadway, where it remained till 1855, when 
 that church was relinquished to a new and distinct church organiza 
 tion. It was then placed on the church on Lafayette Place, where it 
 will remain sounding its silver tones, which have been sounded in 
 this city for more than a century and a quarter. 
 
 John Oothout, Esq., of this city, states an interesting fact in rela 
 tion to this bell. He remarks, in a letter to Frederic De Peyster, 
 Esq., that early in the Revolutionary War, when the British converted 
 the Middle Church into a riding-school for their dragoons by removing 
 the pulpit, gallery, pews, and flooring, HIS FATHER obtained from the 
 commander-in-chief, Lord Howe, permission to take down the bell. 
 This he stored in a secure and secret place, where it remained some 
 7 
 
98 
 
 years after the British army evacuated the city. When the church 
 was repaired and reopened, he brought forth the old bell from its 
 hiding-place, and restored it to its rightful position. 
 
 John Oothout, (the father,) here referred to, was one of the most 
 active and efficient members and officers of our church, and his name 
 is worthily perpetuated in his son. 
 
 Ifo Smttjr Clmrtlr m (Sarlren stmt, apwi in 
 
 We are indebted to Mr. George B. Rapelje, of this city, for the 
 sketch of this church, from which the plate accompanying this Discourse 
 is taken. He has also kindly communicated the following in reference 
 to this church, and particularly the original bell : 
 
 " When the church was opened in 1693, the pulpit, bell, and several 
 escutcheons were removed from the church in the fort, and placed in 
 this edifice. On the bell was inscribed DULCIOR E NOSTRIS TINNITIBUS 
 RESONAT AER. P. HEMONY ME FECIT, 1674. This bell was placed on 
 the church erected in 1807, on the spot where the old church stood. 
 It was suggested by several that the bell was too small, and that a 
 larger one should be substituted in its place. Judge Benson at this 
 time was an elder, and insisted that the bell should remain where it 
 was ; that it came from Holland, and was the first of the kind used 
 in the city ; that its silver tones had struck with admiration the ears 
 of the native Indians, and, for antiquity s sake, ought not to be substi 
 tuted for modern castings. These arguments prevailed the bell re 
 mained in its place ; but afterwards shared the fate of that church, 
 and was consumed in the memorable conflagration in December, 1835. 
 
 Mr. R. also states that probably the first organ used in the city of 
 New-York was brought over by Governor Burnet in 1720. When, 
 in 1728, he was assigned to New-England, he gave the organ to this 
 church. The organ used at the commencement of the Revolution, at 
 the close of it was not to be found, and no traces of it were ever dis 
 covered. It is supposed that it was taken to England, in the same 
 manner as the pulpit of the North Church, referred to in the Discourse. 
 
 SILVER BAPTISMAL BASIN IN THE OLD SOUTH, IN GARDEN STREET. 
 
 In 1694, the year succeeding the erection of the church, a silver 
 baptismal basin was procured, on which was engraved around its bor 
 der a verse in poetry, written by Domine Selyns, then the only pas- 
 
tor. It is believed to be still used in the church on the Fifth avenue, 
 corner of Twenty-first street, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Dr. 
 McAuley, in which the corporate title of the South Reformed Dutch 
 Church is handed down. A few years since, I saw the basin and the 
 inscription referred to. In the original book of baptisms belonging 
 to our church, then kept by Domine Selyns, there is inserted in the 
 midst of the record this verse, occupying a distinct page. We insert 
 the original, which may gratify those among us who yet retain the 
 knowledge of the Low Dutch language : 
 
 OP T HET SILVER DOOP BEEKEN ONSER KERKE. 
 
 Op t bloote water stelt geen hoop 
 
 T was beter nooyt geboren 
 Maer ziet iets meerder in de doop, 
 (Zoo gaet men noyt verloren ;) 
 Hoe Christus met zyn dierbaer bloedt, 
 
 My reinigt van myn zonden, 
 En door zyn geest my leven doet 
 En wast myn vuyle wonden. 
 
 HENRICUS SELYNS, Ecclesiastes Neo Eboracensis. 
 
 He states below this the cost of the basin, which was " twenty sil 
 ver ducats, or sixty-three Holland gilders," or twenty-five dollars of 
 our current money. 
 
 Without furnishing a translation of the verse, we only give the sen 
 timent conveyed in it. 
 
 On the mere water (or external ordinance) hope of freedom from 
 condemnation can not rest. But on carefully considering the nature 
 and uses of baptism, faith apprehends that Christ, by his precious 
 blood, cleanses us from the guilt and malady of sin, and causes us to 
 live unto God by his Spirit. 
 
 This sentiment, embraced in the verse, contains and teaches a most 
 important truth. 
 
 It was intended in the Discourse and Appendix only to give a gen 
 eral and concise outline of the history of the Collegiate Reformed 
 Dutch Church, without entering into detail. It would have been easy 
 to have enlarged, by amplifying some of the points stated, and 
 adducing others, but it was thought best to confine the small volume 
 or pamphlet to a narrow compass for popular use. Perhaps some 
 interest would have been imparted by referring to some of the pecu- 
 
100 
 
 liarities of olden time, in the customs and manners prevailing among 
 our Dutch ancestors, and which were peculiar in a great measure to 
 the times generally, and also to the ecclesiastical forms of conducting 
 public worship, which have been in some regards changed. But these 
 have not entered within the design of the present publication. 
 
 In retracing the history of this church, and looking over the record 
 of her officers and members in succession, I have found the ancestry of 
 the leading families of this city, etc., down to the present century, and 
 of men who in civil stations have sustained a prominent position, and 
 exerted a salutary influence. It would be easy to illustrate this by 
 names in this city, to which may be added those of Dutch ancestry 
 in Albany, Ulster county, New-Jersey. During the far greater part 
 of the last century, the descendants of the Hollanders were predomi 
 nant in numbers, and, it is believed, influence." By intermarriages, 
 the line of descent branched out more widely ; and, while it became 
 modified in its course, the spirit of the Dutch character became dif 
 fused, and was blended with those of other ancestry in happy combi 
 nation. The character of the church has been, throughout her history, 
 conservative and catholic, steadfastly adhering to her faith and order, 
 and dwelling in quietness and kindness by the side of other evangeli 
 cal denominations. The history of our State shows the pervading 
 spirit of patriotism among her members, in adherence to popular 
 rights and civil liberty, throughout the colonial annals and the revo 
 lutionary contest. The following tribute by Chancellor Kent, in his 
 address before the New- York Historical Society in 1828, to the early 
 Dutch settlers of this State, will be found characteristic and just : 
 " The Dutch discoverers of New Netherland were grave, temperate, 
 firm, persevering men, who brought with them the industry, the econ 
 omy, the simplicity, the integrity, and the bravery of their Belgic 
 sires, and with those virtues they also imported the lights of the 
 Roman civil law and the purity of the Protestant faith. To that 
 period we are to look with chastened awe and respect for the begin 
 nings of our city, and the works of our primitive fathers our * Albani 
 patres, atque altce mcenia Romce? " 
 
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