VU Research Portal Eilardus Westerlo (1738-1790) Naborn, R.A. 2011 document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in VU Research Portal citation for published version (APA) Naborn, R. A. (2011). Eilardus Westerlo (1738-1790): From Colonial Dominee to American Pastor. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. E-mail address: [email protected] Download date: 01. Oct. 2021 VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT Eilardus Westerlo (1738-1790) : From Colonial Dominee to American Pastor ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad Doctor aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof.dr. L.M. Bouter, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van de promotiecommissie van de faculteit der Letteren op woensdag 29 juni 2011 om 13.45 uur in de aula van de universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105 door Robert Arnoud Naborn geboren te Velsen promotor: prof.dr. W.Th.M. Frijhoff copromotor: dr. J. Noordegraaf 2 Acknowledgments The critical and emotional support of several people was indispensable for the completion of this study. I would first like to express my indebtedness to my advisor, Professor Willem Frijhoff. I am grateful for his taking on my unusual, transatlantic project, but mostly for his unbridled enthusiasm along the way, for his willingness to share his knowledge with me, and for his keen eye for detail. I would never have started this study without the encouragement of Dr. Jan Noordegraaf, dating back to February 1979, my introduction to Dutch linguistics. It is Jan who suggested I write articles when I had long left the academic worlds of the Vrije Universiteit in the Old World, and of the University of Kansas in the New. Jan also put me in contact with Willem Frijhoff when it became clear that my study was going to be historical rather than linguistic. Without Jan’s zeal, perseverance, and enthusiasm, this dissertation would not have seen the light of day. The New Netherland Institute in Albany, NY, under the leadership of Drs. Charles Gehring and Janny Venema, and its stimulating annual seminars and publications have been central to my appreciation of the history of New Netherland and colonial New York. It is also impossible to develop an understanding of everyday life in 18 th -century Albany without Dr. Stefan Bielinski’s Colonial Albany Social History Project . I happened upon Eilardus Westerlo through a transcription and translation project of the eighteenth-century records of the First Church in Albany, started by the late Dr. Robert Alexander, the Church’s historian. Bob shared the stories he had gathered about the eighteenth-century Dutch churchgoers in Albany, and his enthusiasm for the Church’s history inspired me to focus on Westerlo. Bob’s successor, Dr. James Folts, donated his time to allow me to do more research in the archives of the First Church. Professor James Tanis generously shared his knowledge of eighteenth-century Reformed theology with me, and I have fond memories of the hours spent at his house discussing Frelinghuysen, Westerlo, and the Dutch Reformed Church. I am especially grateful for his editing support until the very end. Special thanks are due to my father, Kees Naborn, for providing critical assistance along the way. His willingness and ability to edit and proofread all my drafts were crucial for the success of this project. Much of the credit for the readability of this study goes to my wife, Cindy Pronko, who patiently edited the entire text. All my friends and family deserve my thanks for their willing ears, but Cindy, Lars, and JJ provided the mostly unseen, often unsung, but always appreciated everyday support, without which this study would not have been possible. 3 List of illustrations 1. Sign at current Reformed Church in Albany, NY, built in 1798 16 2. Dennis Malone Carter (1827-1881), George Washington’s Reception Following the Marriage of Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler 19 3. Map of the Seven United Dutch Provinces. Added are several towns mentioned in the dissertation 23 4. Old Stone Church, Dutch Reformed Church, Albany, NY, built in 1715 30 5. 1778 Claude Joseph Sauthier Map of New York and parts of New Jersey, with the approximate location of towns mentioned in the dissertation 40 6. 1790 Map of Albany, attributed to Simeon De Witt 54 7. The conversion of Saint Paul 59 8. Daniel Gerdes (1698-1765) 65 9. George Whitefield (1714-1770) 70 10. John Henry Livingston (1746-1825) 73 11. Thomas Boston (1676-1732) 84 12. Page from Westerlo’s Memoirs (April 18, 1788), in which he reports having attended the Reverend Young’s services 110 13. April 30, 1789: George Washington taking the first inaugural oath at Federal Hall in New York City, administered by Robert R. Livingston, Jr., Chancellor of the State of New York 178 14. Pulpit in the Albany Dutch Reformed Church, installed in 1657, with the hourglass close to the top of the staircase 209 4 Table of contents Acknowledgments 3 List of illustrations 4 Foreword 10 Westerlo and a culture of change in New York State as a research topic 10 The function of the appendices 11 The methods used 11 Chapter 1 . Introduction 13 The situation in the colony and state of New York in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 13 The arrival of Westerlo in North America 16 Chapter 2 . Living a religious life in the eighteenth century 21 Introduction 21 The formative years: October 1738 – September 1760 22 The Coetus-Conferentie controversy 31 Finding his place in the New World: September 1760 – July 1775 37 The War years, 1775-1783 49 The final years: rebuilding the Church, 1783-1790 52 What became of the name Westerlo in America? 55 Conclusion 57 Chapter 3 . April 20, 1768: rebirth 59 Introduction 59 Pietism and regeneration in the eighteenth century 60 Regeneration 60 Converting people to Christianity 62 Other regeneration conversions 62 Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen 67 George Whitefield 70 John Henry Livingston 73 Eilardus Westerlo’s conversion experience 76 Thomas Boston and his Human Nature 84 Human Nature in Its Fourfold State 85 Conclusion 87 5 Chapter 4 . A Pietist with Dutch and German intellectual origins 88 Introduction 88 Pietism in Eighteenth-Century Europe 90 The Pietist Westerlo 92 Experiential 92 Perfectionistic 93 Biblical 98 Oppositive 98 Westerlo and his Memoirs 99 The difficulties of identifying Pietists 100 Verschuir and Westerlo’s Pietism 101 Van Lodenstein 101 Doubts about eighteenth-century Pietists 101 Westerlo on the piety of Gerdes and Bertling 102 Westerlo’s Pietistic upbringing 103 Cocceian-Voetian controversy 104 Daniel Gerdes as Westerlo’s mentor 107 Did Westerlo manifest himself as a Cocceian or a Voetian? 112 Conclusion 115 Chapter 5 . Westerlo’s role in the adaptation of the Church Order of Dort to the circumstances in North America 116 Introduction 116 The issues decided in Dordrecht in 1618/1619 116 The theological issue 116 The political issue 117 The Church Order established in Dordrecht in 1619 119 Westerlo’s learning about the Synod of Dort 120 1. Assisting Hermanus Meijer in his conflict with his consistory in Kingston 120 2. Joining the Union of the Churches in New York and New Jersey 121 Correspondence 123 Westerlo’s January 5, 1774 letter to his congregation 124 Memoirs 126 3. Settling an argument in The Boght 127 4. Approval for the translation of one of his great-uncle’s books 128 The Church Order of Dort as basis for the North American Reformed Church 128 “All are one in Christ” 135 Westerlo’s attitude towards slavery 138 Conclusion 140 6 Chapter 6 . Evidences of Westerlo’s religious creed 141 Introduction 141 Alberthoma’s Uittreksel van de Leere der Waarheid 141 The Memoirs 147 Correspondence 149 The Church Records of the Albany consistory 152 A Frelinghuysen connection 154 Westerlo and the Frelinghuysens 161 A possible explanation 163 Common ground between Frelinghuysen and Westerlo 164 Collaboration with the Presbyterians 164 Converting others 169 Psalm 25 171 Family connections 172 Conclusion 173 Chapter 7 . John Henry Livingston: father of the Reformed Church in America? 174 Introduction 174 The situation of the Dutch Reformed Church in America in the 1760s 175 John Henry’s path to the ministry 177 Eilardus and John Henry 180 John Henry Livingston and the Plan of Union 181 Why did Livingston bring the Plan of Union to America? 182 The Plan of 1768 184 Justification for naming Livingston “father of the Reformed Church in America” 187 Nineteenth-century view of the struggles of the Dutch Reformed Church 195 Conclusion 196 Chapter 8 . Westerlo’s sermon of June 27, 1782 197 Introduction 197 The political context 197 Westerlo’s inspiration 200 The importance of the sermon 206 Westerlo’s sermon compared with sermons by Lampe and Gerdes 210 The structure of the June 27, 1782 sermon 212 Washington’s Circular Letter of June 1783 215 Westerlo and Washington 218 Romans 13:1 220 Conclusion 221 7 Chapter 9 .