Amsterdam had been stimulated largely by the intelli-
gence that the colonists of Rensselaerswyck contem-
plated the erection of a church. Although this colony had

^ Cf. copy of the contract in O'Callaghan, Hist, of New Nether-
land, i, 262 note I.

2 Remonstrance of the People of New Netherland to the States
General, July 28, 1649, Col. Docs. N. Y. i, 271-318; or Representa-
tion of New Netherland. Narratives of New Netherland, p. 3 20.



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74 RELIGION IN NEW NETHERLAND

minister from Holland.^ The schout, Jacob Planck,
wrote that three hundred florins a year might be raised
in the colony, but Kiliaen van Rensselaer knew full
well, that no minister could be found to go there for that
sum.^ Meanwhile, in response to the request of the
patroon, Kieft allowed the minister at Manhattan occa-
sionally to go to Rensselaerswyck to console and
admonish the colonists there and to celebrate the
Lord's Supper with them.^

Ten years after the foundation of the colony the
exemption of the settlers from the payment of taxes
ceased, and the patroon then expected to develop
resources for the support of an organized ministry from
the tithes to be paid by the inhabitants.^ He antici-
pated within a short time sufficient revenue from this
source for the erection of a small church, for which he
himself sent the model, of a parsonage for the minister
and of a dwelling for the sexton.^ However, the people
of the colony opposed the payment of the tithes, to the
great annoyance of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, who
thought it "childish to think of a minister going there
from here to be paid by the inhabitants individually.

^ Letter. Kiliaen van Rensselaer to Jacob Albertz Placnk
October 3, 1636, Van Rensselaer-Bowier MSS. 328. Commission
to Arent van Curler, as secretary and bookkeeper, May 12, 1639.
Ibid. 434.

2 Letter. Kiliaen van Rensselaer to Pieter van Munnickendam,
May 8, 1638. Ibid. 408.

2 Letter. Kiliaen van Rensselaer to William Kieft, May 17,
1638. Ibid. 404. William Kieft to Kiliaen van Rensselaer August
14, 1638. Ibid. 423, Kiliaen van Rensselaer to Kieft May 12, 1639.
Ibid. 431.

* Commission to Pieter Cornelisz van Munnickendam as receiver
of tithes and supercargo of the vessel, May 12, 1639. Ibid, p 436.

^ Cf . Instructions for Cornelis Teunisz van Breukelen as the rep-
resentative of the patroon, August 4, 1639. Ibid. 459. Kiliaen van
Rensselaer to Arent van Curler, July 18, 1641. Ibid. 561.



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76 RELIGION IN NEW NETHERLAND

visions for the maintenance of the minister, whose ser-
vices were engaged for six years. ^ When the ship was
about to sail, the Directors of the West India Company
unexpectedly claimed the exclusive right to approve
the appointment of the colonial clergy. There was no
time to argue the case without delaying the departure
of the vessel, and a compromise was allowed by the
patroon, who consented to the approval of the minis-
ter's commission by the Directors without any pre-
judice to his rights as patroon of the colony.^

Kiliaen van Rensselaer did not limit the authority
of Domine Megapolensis to ecclesiastical matters, but
also made the minister the arbiter of all disputes
arising between the chief official of the colony,
Arent van Curler, and the next officer in rank,
Adriaen van der Donck. He was instructed to "have
an eye to the rights and advantages of the patroon,
that the common welfare may not suffer from mis-
understanding, contention and the like." The
Domine 's decision was to stand unquestioned until
the patroon himself could look into the matter at issue.'
However, there is no evidence of friction between the
minister and the officials. In fact, Arent van Curler

O'Callaghan's Hist, of New Netherland. i, 449; Munsell's Annals
of Albany, i, 21, 92.

^ Contract in O'Callaghan, Hist, of New Netherland. i. 448-9.
He was given free passage and board on ship for himself , wife and
four children. If he should fall into the hands of the Dunkirkers,
the patroon promised to ransom him and during his detention to
give forty guilders monthly for his support. A parsonage was to be
erected in the colony and a salary of one thousand and ten
guilders yearly, with an increase of two hundred and fifty guilders
yearly for the three following years, was stipulated.

2 Ibid. 449, also in Van Rensselaer-Bowier MSS. p. 606-8.
Daites differ; here April 6, in O'Callaghan, March 6.

3 Memorandiun from Kiliaen van Rensselaer for Johannes Mega-
polensis. June 3, 1642. Van Rensselaer-Bowier MSS. 618.



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78 RELIGION IN NEW NETHERLAND

to debauch my people, exhausting them as long as they
can find something to pay, and after that charging it to
my account."^ He, therefore, also planned severe
legislation to limit the importation of liquor into the col-
ony according to the needs of each family, but to the
exclusion of dissipation and drunkenness. Offenses
of this kind were also to be punished by heayy fines,
which were to be doubled, if the culprit proved to be an
officer, "as wine and spirits are the cause of God's
wrath, of the patroon's loss and of all evils. "^

On the outbreak of the Indian war, the Dutch min-
ister at Manhattan, Everardus Bogardus, "many times
in his sermons freely expressed himself against the hor-
rible murders, covetousness, and other gross excesses."®
On several occasions, the Dutch in their revolting
cruelty even outraged the blunted moral sense of the
Indian savage. The ravages of the war, which re-
duced the Dutch settlers almost to the last extremity,
made the government unpopular, and Kieft attempted
to shift the responsibility for the war upon his advisors.
One of these, Maryn Adriaesen, became so incensed at
this treachery of the Director General, that he made a
murderous but unsuccessful attack upon Kieft.
The minister espoused the cause of the unfortunate
man from the pulpit "in the most brutal manner."
Later he again attacked Kieft. ^ "What are the
great men of the country but receptacles of wrath,

^ Kiliaen van Rensselaer to William Kieft, June 8, 1642. Van
Rensselaer-Bowier MSS. 622.

2 Redress of the abtises and faults in the colony of Rensselaers-
wyck. Ibid.

3 Broad Advice. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll. 2d. Ser. iii, (1857),
261-2.

* Col. Docs. N. Y. xiv, 69-73.



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8o RELIGION IN NEW NETHERLAND

to realize that he could not continue in this course and
attempted to obtain a reconciliation without compro-
mising his dignity, but the minister had been too
deeply outraged, and he naturally allied himself to
the party, working for the removal of the incom-
petent governor, whom he openly attacked, outside of
the church in the gatherings of the people on the occa-
sion of weddings and christenings, and in the church in
the course of his sermons. The matter came to a crisis
in the beginning of 1646, when Kieft called upon
Bogardus to answer for his continual opposition to the
government. "Inasmuch as your duty and oath im-
periously demand the maintenance of the magistracy;
and whereas your conduct stirs the people to mutiny
and rebellion, when they are already too much divided,
causes schism and abuses in the church and makes us a
scorn and a laughing stock to our neighbors, all which
cannot be tolerated in a country where justice is main-
tained, therefore, our sacred duty imperiously requires
us to prosecute you in a court of justice, and we have
accordingly ordered a copy of these our deliberations to
be delivered to you to answer in fourteen days."
Bogardus, who had hitherto neglected to recognize any
letter of the Director, was constrained to answer this
bill of indictment, but his first reply was considered fu-
tile and absurd, and his second answer slanderous.
After some further correspondence, the minister refused
to enter into "a deep discussion of this affair" and chal-
lenged the competency of the Director and his council.
The Director refused to allow that the matter trans-
cended his powers, but, to obviate all pretext of slander,
he declared his willingness to submit the case to the






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82 RELIGION IN NEW NETHERLAND

shepherd errs, the sheep go astray."^ The congrega-
tion numbered about one hundred and seventy mem-
bers, most of whom were "very ignorant in regard to
the true rehgion and very much given to drink."
John Backerus, whose services had been engaged tem-
porarily, beUeved that "the source of much evil and
great offense would be removed," if the seventeen tap-
houses were closed, with the exception of three or four.
The vice of intemperance had obtained such sway that
the minister despaired of being able to accomplish any-
thing with many of the older people, who were "so far
depraved that they are now ashamed to learn anything
good. ' '^ His hope was with the children, who might be
influenced by the pious example of a new pastor and of
a good schoolmaster. The abuses that had developed
during the strife between Kieft and Bogardus had
retarded the growth of religion and education. The
church, although begun in 1642, still remained uncom-
pleted, no schoolhouse had as yet been erected, and
Kieft had been accused of misappropriating the funds
collected for both these purposes. As the resources of
the Directors were too limited to allow any vast expen-
diture, Stuyvesant now endeavored to obtain assis-
tance from the people by the formation of a representa-
tive board of "Nine Select Men," who, as good and
faithful representatives of the commonalty, were "to
promote the honor of God and the welfare of our dear
fatherland to the best advantage of the Company and
the prosperity of our good citizens, to the preservation

^ Directors to Stuyvesant, April 7, 1648. Col. Docs. N.Y. xiv,

84.

2 Backerus to Classis of Amsterdam, September 2, 1648. Eccl
Recs. N. Y. i, 236.



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84 RELIGION IN NEW NETHERLAND

New Amsterdam. Although the patroons of Rensse-
laerswyck would gladly have seen Megapolensis con-
tinue his residence in their colony, they were not willing
to hold him there against his will. However, they
requested him to make some arrangements before his
departure for the continuation "of some form of wor-
ship, such as the reading of some chapters of God's
Word, or some good homily."^ When Megapolensis
arrived at New Amsterdam, on his way to the father-
land, Backerus had already left the town for Europe.
His departure had been hastened by the measures
adopted by Stuyvesant to repress any protest of the
people against his autocratic government, which he
feared might also be made the subject of this minister's
discourse in the pulpit. At the same time, he protested
that he did not wish to gain control of "ecclesiastical
affairs which are left at the full disposal of said ministers
and consistory," wherein the Director General offered
all the aid and assistance that could lawfully be de-
manded from the chief magistrate of the country. In
regard to other things, the minister was personally
instructed by the Director General ' ' not to read himself
or have read by any of the church officers from the pul-
pit or elsewhere in the church at the request of any of
the inhabitants any writing, petition or proposal having
relation to the municipal or general government," until
such writing had been signed by the Director himself
or by the secretary on the order of the Director and
Council.'



*Acts of Deputies. Classis of Amsterdam, March 29, 1649.
Eccl. Recs. N. Y. i. 249.

'Council Minute, May 8, 1649. Col. Docs. N. Y. xiv. 114.



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86 RELIGION IN NEW NETHERLAND

sources at present were too limited to allow the erection
of buildings, which were not very necessary. They
believed that the poor could be well cared for with the
proceeds of voluntary offerings and the fines, that were
given to the Deaconry, as it was able to loan the com-
pany in New Amsterdam the sum of nine hundred to a
thousand guilders/

The Remonstrance finally led to the incorporation of
the city of New Amsterdam with a municipal court of
Burgomasters and Schepens. The minutes of this court
open on February 6, 1653, with a prayer, in which they
thank God for his past blessings, beseech Him for
strength and light in the administration of justice, so
that they might be able to exercise the power entrusted
to them "to the general good of the community and
to the maintenance of the churchy^ Stu37'vesant had
attempted in vain to obtain some financial assistance
for the maintenance of the civil, ecclesiastical and mili-
tary servants of the company.^ Finally, in the fall of
this year, Stuyvesant granted the Burgomasters and
Schepens the usual excise on wine and beer con-
sumed in the city of New Amsterdam, which they were
to farm out to the highest bidder, if in return they paid
subsidies for the maintenance of the works of the city,
and the salaries of its ecclesiastical and civil servants.*
When a semi-annual payment became due, the minis-
ters Megapolensis and Drisius applied to Stuyvesant,

^Representation of New Netherland (1650). Narratives of
New Netherland, p. 327. Van Tienhoven's Answer. Ibid. p. 361-3.

2 Recs. New Amsterdam, i, 48-9.

8 Directors to Stuyvesant, June 26, 1653. Col. Docs. N. Y. xiv.
206.

* Court minute, November 29, 1653. Recs. New Amsterdam, i.
130.



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88 RELIGION IN NEW NETHERLAND

solely be to attend to orphans and minor children
within the jurisdiction of the city and to administer
their property in and out of the city and oversee such
administration by others." The deacons retained the
care of the poor, but such great demands were made
upon them by the poor of other towns, that the deacons,
on June ii, 1661, requested the Director General and
Council to have the adjacent villages make weekly col-
lections for their own poor.^ Such provisions were
made by the ordinance of October. It speaks well for
the good sense of the Dutch that goods and merchan-
dise, belonging to the board of deacons and other chari-
table institutions, were exempt from the fee for weigh-
ing. The weigh-master was instructed to weigh these
free and for God's sake.^ This was the only exemption
allowed from such taxes. The question of exemption
from the Burgher excise and a tax on slaughtered
cattle in regard to the clergy was discussed in 1656 by
the court of New Amsterdam, which finally decided that
no person was to be exempt from such taxes, as the
Director General himself offered to pay.^ Nevertheless,
in 1 661 Alexander Carolus Curtius, the rector of the
Latin school, contended that professors, preachers and
rectors were exempt from excise taxes in Holland, but
the court decided that the rector was to pay the excise.*
After the departure of Megapolensis from Rensse-

* Council minute, June ii, 1661, O'Callaghan. Cal. Hist.
226. MSS. (Dutch) i. Ordinance, October 22, 1661. Ibid. 230.

2 Laws and Ordinances of New Netherland, April 11, i66i. p.

393-

' Court minute, October 2, 1656, October 26, October 30. Recs.
New Amsterdam, ii, 179, 204.

* Court minute. January 25, 166 1. Recs. New Amsterdam, iii,
253-



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90 RELIGION IN NEW NETHERLAND

as the second minister at New Amsterdam.^ Stuyve-
sant had recommended the case of this minister to the
Directors of the Amsterdam Chamber, but the Synod of
North Holland had first to approve the reconciliation of
Grasmeer/ which was done only in August, 1652, after
a repentant acknowledgment of his sins.^

Meanwhile, the services of two ministers had been
obtained for the colonial church, which apparently pre-
cluded the return of William Grasmeer to the colony.
Stuyvesant had urged the appointment of a min-
ister with some ability to preach to the English, who
had settled in New Amsterdam, and were members of
the Reformed Church. At this time, disturbances in
England led the Reverend Samuel Drisius to retreat to
Holland, where he declared his willingness to the Clas-
sis of Amsterdam to be employed in the ministry of
New Netherland. Immediately the deputies of the
Classis recommended his appointment as assistant to
Domine Megapolensis in the church of New Amsterdam,
as he was able to preach in both languages, English and
Dutch, and if necessary even in French, and thus would
prove "a great instrument for the propagation of God's
Holy Word and glory."* The Directors readily con-
ceded the request of the Classis. A few months later
Gideon Schaats, schoolmaster at Beets, received a call to
the church of Rensselaerswyck, for which he was or-

^ Acts of Classis of Amsterdam, February 12, 1652. Eccl. Recs.
N.Y.i. 301.

2 Directors to Stuyvesant, April 4, 1652. Col. Docs. N. Y. xiv.
174.

^ Synod of North Holland, August 12, et seq., 1652. Eccl. Recs.
N. Y. i. 312-13.

^Directors to Stuyvesant, April 4, 1652. Col. Docs. N. Y. xiv.
173. Eccl. Recs. N. Y. i. 303-6.



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92 RELIGION IN NEW NETHERLAND

in bets a ton of beer at twenty-three or twenty-four
guilders, or some other liquor." The better class were
too few to be able to make up any deficiency of his sal-
ary. There was not even a house for the new minister,
as the house that had been occupied by the former
preacher was allotted to the new schout-fiscal/ and the
congregation refused to build a new parsonage. The
patroon of the colony only allowed the minister two hun-
dred guilders for rent, while the rent of a decent domi-
cile cost at least four hundred guilders. This forced
the Rev. Gideon Schaats to come to some arrange-
ment with the deaons of the church, from whom he
obtained the use of the poor-house for his dwelling
place, as there were then very few poor people in the
colony. Meanwhile, a small new church had been
erected in the heart of Beverwyck, which was then a
village of about one hundred and twenty houses.
Most of the inhabitants were in the employ of the West
India Company, and when the second contract with
patroon of the colony expired in 1657, van Rensselaer
refused to pay any longer for services, which were
mainly to the advantage of the servants of the com-
pany.^ He was then reappointed "at the request of
the inhabitants of Fort Orange and Beverwyck," by
Stuyvesant at a salary of one hundred florins a month,
which the company expected to be raised for the greater
part by the congregation.' The labors of Gideon

^ Commission of Gerrit Swart. O'Callaghan, Hist, of New
Netherland, ii. 564.

2 Schaats to Domine Laurentius, Jiuie 27, 1657. Eccl. Recs. N.
Y. i 385-6.

^Directors to Stuyvesant, May 20, 1658. Col. Docs. N. Y. xiv. ,
419-



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94 RELIGION IN NEW NETHERLAND

to become a parsonage and bam, as soon as the inhabi-
tants collected more funds and the material necessary
for a church. The erection of this edifice was confided
to a commission, composed of the Reverend Megapolen-
sis, Jan Snediger and Jan Strycker. On the erection of
a parsonage and the grant of a parcel of land, Midwout
felt too poor to bear further expenses alone^ and per-
mission was granted to call upon the inhabitants of
Breukelen and Amersfoort to cut and hew timber to be
used in the construction of a building for the exercise of
Divine Service.^ Poverty also made the support of the
minister impossible for one single town, and Stuyvesant,
on the petition of the magistrates, directed a collection
to be taken up in the villages of Breukelen, Midwout
and Amersfoort for the support of the minister, but
Breukelen and the adjacent places agreed to contribute
according to their means, only on the condition that
Domine Polhemus would officiate alternately at
Midwout and Breukelen, which the Director General
and Council readily allowed.^ This arrangement met
with serious objections from the people of Gravesend
and Amersfoort, who were thus compelled every
other Sunday to travel four hours each way, "all for
one single sermon, which would be to some very
troublesome and to others utterly impossible," while
Midwout was only two hours walk from each town. A
compromise was now effected according to which the
Sunday sermon was to be delivered in the morning at
Midwout, which was nearly equally distant from the

^ Council minute, June 15, 1655. Col. Docs. N. Y. xiv. 337.

2 Council minute, February 9,1655. Ibid.311-12.

3 Letter to Director General and Cotmcil, February 25, 1656.
Ibid. 338.



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96 RELIGION IN NEW NETHERLAND

Amersfoort and Breukelen, of which the first town
was to be assessed four hundred florins and the
other two three hundred respectively. In the begin-
ning of 1657, the court of Midwout, with the consent of
Stuyvesant, levied a tax of ten florins upon each lot or
parcel of land, of which there were about forty in the
town.^ The same plan was also pursued in Amersfoort,
which, with the voluntary contributions promised by
Gravesend, thus hoped to realize the three hundred
guilders, for which it was assessed for the support of the
minister.^ Breukelen alone was not content. This
community was too small and too impoverished to be
able to satisfy the demands made upon its resources for
a ministry, which had not been engaged by the town,
but had intruded itself against the wishes of the inhabi-
tants. Besides the service of Domine Polhemus had
proved unsatisfactory, inasmuch as the minister gave
them only ' ' a prayer instead of a sermon, that was fin-
ished before they could collect their thoughts, so that he
gives small edification to the congregation." The mag-
istrates thought that it might be more profitable to the
people, if one of their own number were appointed "to
read a sermon from a book of homilies every Sunday."
They did not dispute the good will of Polhemus, but
they believed that his faculties had been weakened by
old age. Nevertheless, if he should persist to minister
as before to them, they would give some voluntary con-
tribution, but the congregation refused to be bound to
any fixed sum in spite of the former promise of the



* Council minute, March 28, 1656. Col. Docs. N. Y. xiv. 345.
2 Council minute, .January 15, 1657. Ibid. 378-9.



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98 RELIGION IN NEW NETHERLAND

good, until the tithes became due, when further orders
would be given. ^ Thus the company was almost
entirely relieved of the support of religion in Midwout
with the exception of occasional subsidies.^