 An Early History of the Collegiate Church commissioned in 1939 by the WPA. Author unknown. |
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The seizure of New Netherland in 1664 by the English fleet under Governor Nicholls arrested the development of the Reformed Dutch Church in New York. Since fewer Dutch immigrants came to New York, the increase of communicants in the Church was seriously curtailed. The gravest problem facing the Reformed Church was that of supporting the three ministers and maintaining the churches, since financial support by the Dutch West India Company had been cut off. Another problem created by the English seizure of New Netherland was the question of ecclesiastical sovereignty. Although the communicants of the Reformed Dutch Church in New York were now English subjects, the church still acknowledged allegiance to the Classis of Amsterdam. It was more than a century before a solution was found for this problem. In the main, the Dutch Church in New York was well treated by the English. The articles of surrender, in 1664, had provided that "the Dutch here shall enjoy the liberty of their consciences in Divine Worship and Church discipline." The same document also protected the Dutch Churches by providing that no public buildings were to be molested. When the Dutch were told to swear allegiance to the English government, they refused until an appendix was added to the oath stating that "it was conformable to the articles concluded on the surrender of this plan." Freedom of religion was further guaranteed under the Duke's Laws. To solve the problem of supporting the Dutch Church, the members of which constituted the larger part of New York's population, Governor Nicholls, in 1665, directed the city authorities to levy a tax to pay unpaid salaries of the Dutch clergymen. In 1670, Governor Lovelace guaranteed a salary to any Dutch minister who would come to New York and assist the aged Dominie Drisius. This offer brought Dominie William Van Nieuwenhuysen, the first minister selected by the Classis of Amsterdam after the surrender of the province. The Dutch reciprocated English friendship by allowing the Anglicans to use the church-in-the-fort after the Dutch services had been completed. The friendly attitude of the English government toward the Dutch Church was disturbed somewhat when the Dutch element in the colony repeatedly defeated all attempts to establish the Church of England in New York. After reoccupying New York in 1674, the English governors redoubled their efforts to establish the Anglican faith, but, in the main, were unsuccessful. In 1691, William of Orange granted the colonists the right to elect an assembly to enact legislation. This assembly, preponderantly Dutch, became the bulwark of the Dutch Reformed Church in New York. Requests by governors of the colony that an act be passed establishing the Church of England were continually denied by the assembly. In the midst of these attempts to establish the Anglican Church, the Reformed Church continued in its work. It completed a new church in 1694, and left the church-in-the-fort to the English chaplain, who conducted services there. Under Dominie Selyns the Church conducted a fight for a charter from 1688 to 1696, and, on May 11, 1696, that charter, drawn up by the best legal talent in the colony, was signed by Governor Fletcher. The Charter of 1696 was the first granted to any religious body by the English government in New York. By this charter the Reformed Dutch Church in New York, now known as the Collegiate Church, was incorporated under the name of "The Minister, Elders, and Deacons of The Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of the City of New York". The members of the Church were given freedom of religion; perpetual succession of ministers in the church was assured; and the Church's property was confirmed to it. The charter, in great detail, gave the Church a right to elect officers, call ministers, assess members for the maintenance of the Church, sell or rent property, have a private income, and to sue and be sued. The possession of a charter did not completely protect the Dutch Church from English Governors, particularly Governor Cornbury. Attempts on the part of the latter to control the appointment of a minister to the Dutch churches in Long Island led in 1706 to the migration of many members of the Dutch Church in New York to New Jersey. They settled in the Raritan and Millstone valleys of New Jersey, and founded many churches in a section later known as "The Garden of the Dutch Church". In spite of these temporary setbacks, at the opening of the eighteenth century, the Dutch Church in New York was the largest as well as the oldest religious group in the colony. As the Church developed and required new ministers, the problem of ecclesiastical control grew larger. The Classis of Amsterdam still examined and licensed all ministers in the Reformed Church in America, and arbitrated all ecclesiastical disputes. The demand for new ministers to supply the American churches could not be met by the Classis of Amsterdam, as the salaries were small, and prospects of preaching in the wilderness were not alluring. The churches of America sent some of their promising men to the Netherlands, but this was not a solution to the problem of supplying a ministry for America. Accordingly a movement developed in the American Reformed Dutch Church for freedom from Dutch control. One step in that direction was the formation, in 1747, of a Coetus, permission for the institution of which was obtained from the Classis of Amsterdam. This Coetus was a national church body composed of a minister and elder from each church. Its function was to consider ecclesiastical matters which lay beyond the sphere of individual churches, and which formerly had been dealt with by the Classis of Amsterdam. For consideration of local questions, the Coetus was divided into local bodies, called "circles"; the churches of New York City, Long Island and Poughkeepsie comprised the Circle of New York. Although the organization of the Coetus was an important step toward independence for American churches, it did not solve their problem of supplying ministers. In that matter, the Church was entirely subordinate to the Classis of Amsterdam, which retained the power to license candidates for the ministry. Opposition to this limitation led to a struggle between two groups in the Reformed Dutch Church in America; the Coetus group, which sought the power to license and ordain its own ministers, and the Conferentie group, which favored subordination to the Classis of Amsterdam. The lack of unity in the Dutch Reformed Church resulted in the dissolution of the Coetus in 1754. The conflict in the Church continued unabated until the question of installing an English speaking minister in the Reformed Dutch Church arose. The importance of this problem overshadowed the dispute between the Coetus and the Conferentie groups. A strong movement for an English speaking ministry in the Dutch Church of New York had arisen by the middle of the eighteenth century. English was the language of the courts in New York and was spoken by the young people at their places of work. After having previously denied several requests by communicants for an English speaking ministry, the New York Church, with the concurrence of the Classis of Amsterdam, selected Dominie Archibald Laidlie, in 1763, to preach in English. This innovation was opposed by a group of conservative Dutch, who appealed to the Classis of Amsterdam to forbid English sermons in the Church on Manhattan Island, but that body refused to do so. While studying for the ministry in the Netherlands, John H. Livingston presented to the Classis of Amsterdam a plan of union for the American Reformed Dutch Church. According to this plan, each Reformed Dutch Church in America was to form a part of a local group called a coventus, similar to the old circle. Delegates from each coventus were to compose a general Coetus, a national body which was to meet each year. This General Coetus was to have power to examine and ordain prospective ministers, provided that the Classis of Amsterdam was notified of these proceedings. The bond between Holland and America was not to be broken, nor were the American churches to be allowed the use of the names Classis and Synod. Upon completion of his studies in the Netherlands, Dr. Livingston, a graduate of Yale College and the last minister called to a New York church who had studied and received his license in Holland, accepted a call of the Manhattan Consistory to fill the pulpit of a new church. Under his direction, a conference was held in New York at which the plan of union was adopted. Slight modifications were made in the proposed plan, such as the substitution of the term "general body" for coetus and "particular body" for coventus. Upon approval of these modifications by the Classis of Amsterdam, the American Reformed Church now became free of Dutch control. The Church, in the main, supported the American Revolutionary movement, and two of the Church's prominent ministers were outspoken champions of the colonists' cause. When the British troops occupied New York City, after the Battle of Long Island, the pastors of the Reformed Church in New York City fled for safety, leaving their congregations without services from 1776 to 1783. The British commandeered for their use the Reformed Dutch Churches on Manhattan Island. The New (later Middle) Church was first used as a prison, and later as a riding academy. The North Church was stripped of its furniture and used as a hospital. A group of Loyalist church members was allowed to use the old Garden Street Church, where they listened to Dominie Lydekker, a Loyalist minister from New Jersey. In 1779, the Garden Street Church was also used as a hospital, and Dominie Lydekker accepted the offer of Trinity Corporation to use St. George's Chapel.
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Dr. Livingston was the only one of the four ministers of the Collegiate Church who had been in service at the outbreak of hostilities to return to his charge in New York City. Immediately after his return to the Garden Street Church on December 7, 1783, he set to work to clarify the legal status of his church, gather his scattered congregation, and rebuild the churches. Despite the fact that all charters which had been granted by the English government to ecclesiastical bodies were guaranteed in the Constitution of 1777, the Reformed Dutch Church petitioned the legislature for a ruling on its 1696 charter. In 1784 the legislature reaffirmed the charter of 1696 granted to the Reformed Church in New York City, thus putting at rest any doubts concerning the charter's validity. By this reaffirmation, the Collegiate Church retained its original powers, except that of assessing members to pay for Church salaries and repairs. In 1784, the state legislature also passed a general act for the incorporation of religious societies of all denominations. This act enabled the religious bodies of the state to appoint trustees to act as a body corporate and to assume charge of any church's finances. Prior to this time, the finances of the Dutch Reformed Church had been managed by the minister, elders, and deacons of each church. Since the Dutch Reformed Church desired the continuance of this method of financial organization, it petitioned the state legislature to limit the application of the law of 1784. Accordingly, in the second section of an act of 1813, which was concerned with religious liberties, a clause was inserted "provided always that nothing therein contained shall be construed in any manner to impair or alter the rights of any chartered churches within this state." This gave legal sanction to the traditional manner in which the Church had administered its finances. The second problem that confronted Dr. Livingston was that of reviving the Church and rebuilding its edifices. The Garden Street and the Old North Churches were quickly repaired, and the Middle Church was completely rebuilt. Yet, although the churches were ready for services, the congregations did not attain their pre-war size. In fact, from 1785 to 1800, the membership of the Reformed Church in New York City continually declined, and no new members were added during the 1790's. Charles William Janson, an Englishman traveling in the United States during this period, recorded in his diary that many of the Dutch in New York City were attending the Episcopal Church. The people had been without services for so long that it was a difficult task to draw them into the Church again. But the Reformed Dutch Church in New York City, under the guidance of Dr. Livingston, persevered in its task of rebuilding the Church. In 1787, the Collegiate Consistory called Rev. William Linn, formerly a Presbyterian, to aid Dr. Livingston and, in 1789, Rev. Gerardus A. Kuypers was called to preach in Dutch. The churches in Queens County not only endeavored to repair the damage done to the Church during the war, but also called Dominie Van Nest in 1785. Under his leadership, the Reformed Churches in Queens prospered. In the early part of the nineteenth century the four Queens churches discarded the collegiate system, each church calling its own pastor. The Collegiate Churches of Kings County, likewise disrupted by the war, united in calling the Rev. Martinis Schoonmaker. Under his guidance the congregations soon attained their pre-war size. The churches of Brooklyn, New Utrecht, Flatbush, and Bushwick prospered to the extent that, by 1824, they too discarded the collegiate system. Soon after the establishment of an independent America, the Dutch Reformed Church reorganized its government. The names Synod and Classis were substituted for the names General Body and Particular Body, respectively. A committee was appointed to translate and publish the doctrines of the Church and the articles of Church government. In addition, 73 explanatory articles were added to the articles of Church government, the added articles applying particularly to the American Reformed Church. The work of this committee was approved by the Reformed Dutch Churches in America and, in 1792, became the first constitution of the Church. Under this constitution, the Church subscribed to the doctrines of the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian Creeds, the Belgic Confession, the canons of the Synod of Dort, and the Heidelberg Catechism. The government of the Church was organized into consistories, classes, particular synods, and a General Synod. The Consistory, the basic local government in the Church, was composed of the elders, the deacons, and the minister of each church. The Classis was composed of all ministers in a district, plus an elder from each Consistory. The Classis functioned as the body of "general superintendence" over churches within its boundaries and had the power, in conjunction with the Particular Synod, to examine and license students for the ministry. The Classis was the first branch of the appellate division in the Reformed Dutch Church to which the individual churches might go to seek advice and orders. The Particular Synod composed of four ministers and four elders from each classis was to superintend the affairs of the various classes within its boundaries. Above these bodies was the General Synod, whose members, nominated by the Particular Synod and elected by the various classes, constituted the final court of appeal in the Church. To the General Synod was also delegated the important power of formulating Church policies. Since 1792, the organization of the Church as outlined above has remained substantially unchanged. Some modifications in the geographical boundaries of classes have been made, but the articles concerning the individual churches have remained unaltered. In 1793, the Reformed Dutch Churches of Queens, Richmond, Kings Counties, Manhattan, and Harlem were organized into the Classis of New York. In 1800, when the Particular Synods of the Church were organized, the Classis of New York was grouped with four classes into the Particular Synod of New York. Thus by 1800, the independent government of the Reformed Dutch Church in the United States was formed. The official correspondence between the Classis of Amsterdam and the American Church had come to an end. The period of reorganization over, the Reformed Dutch Church in New York now settled down to an era of continued growth. New congregations were organized and new church edifices built, the Reformed Dutch Seminary in New Brunswick supplying the ministers. As the city spread out, other Reformed Dutch Churches, independent of the Collegiate Churches, were organized. The Reformed Protestant Dutch Church at Greenwich was organized in 1803, and in 1806, the Bloomingdale Reformed Dutch Church received a charter. In 1808, the North West Reformed Dutch Church received a charter, and in 1810, the Reformed Church in Harlem also received one. In 1812, the Old Garden Street Church withdrew from the Collegiate Church and obtained a charter as an independent church. This growth was evidenced in other parts of what is now Greater New York, particularly in Brooklyn. In 1824, Brooklyn abandoned the collegiate system, and by 1836, it had two Church organizations of the Dutch Reformed faith. By 1813, the churches of Long Island were important enough to warrant the formation of a Classis of Long Island. In New York City, a movement to further to divide the Classis of New York was successful and, in 1828, the Classis of South New York was organized. Throughout the early part of the nineteenth century, the Classes of Long Island and New York continued to report favorably about their churches and the work they were doing. In 1822, the "Missionary Society of the Reformed Dutch Church" was organized, with offices in New York City. In the course of its existence, it conducted active missionary activity in the newly settled regions. In 1831, this society was absorbed by the Board of Missions, which also had its offices in New York City. It was this Board which aided in the establishment of Reformed Dutch Churches in Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois. The name of this organization subsequently was changed to the "Board of Domestic Missions of the General Synod". The steady progress of the Reformed Church in New York continued until after the Civil War. Sunday schools for children were opened. The inauguration of the Fulton Street Prayer meeting aided in bringing the Church to the attention of the people of lower New York. The increase in the number of churches on Long Island was large enough to warrant their being divided into two classes: North and South Long Island. An era of prosperity seemed in store for the Reformed Church in New York. However, after the close of the Civil War, the Reformed Dutch Churches in Manhattan experienced a slow decrease in membership. The basic reason for this condition was the location of the churches on lower Manhattan Island. As the immigrants poured into New York City, the old members of the Reformed Dutch Church moved to Long Island, Staten Island, and upper Manhattan. By 1875, various churches began to refer to this downtown location as the cause for the decrease in their membership. In 1887, the Classis of New York, in its report to the Particular Synod, devoted a good deal of attention to this condition. The decline in Church membership in Manhattan was partly counterbalanced by an increase in the membership of the Reformed Dutch churches in the North and South Classes of Long Island. To meet the problem in Manhattan, in 1892 the Collegiate Church opened two new churches: the Middle Church and the West End Church, the latter in the ultra-fashionable area of 77th street. By the turn of the century most of the Reformed Dutch Churches of Manhattan Island had moved uptown. The Reformed Dutch Church in Greater New York is strongest in the two Classes of Long Island. The church on Long Island has surpassed the church in New York in membership, as well as in the number of churches built. Thus, in 1935, Long Island had 52 Reformed Dutch Churches and a combined membership of 13,552, while there were only 28 churches with a membership of 8,858 in the New York Churches within the Classis of New York. Today, the Church which Dominie Michaelius founded in 1628 with the "fully fifty communicants" has spread its influence not only to the territory surrounding Manhattan, but also to such remote areas of the world as Amoy, China and Arcot, India.
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