m4e 11:mhlntt of t4e ilefnrmeb C!tlfnrr!J in .Amrrt.-u W4t illrfnrtttth ilnw iutr4 ill4urr4 nf i;nrlrm ORGANIZED 1660 ~tatnrtral .&krtr}J BY THE REV. EDGAR TILTON, JR., D. D. MINISTER OF THE HARLEM CHURCH SINCE 1898 PUBLISHED BY THE CONSISTORY 1910 THE CONSISTORY. The Minister: REV. EDGAR TILTON, JR., D.D. The Elders: The Deacons: J" Al\IES D. S HIPl\iIAN GEORGE 1VARREN DUNN EDGA.R VANDERBILT WILLIAM G. GASTON EUGENE s. HAND WILLIAl\iI C. HANDS, }'I. D .. w ILLIAM T. DEl\iIAREST A. D. RocK,vELL, J"R. DAYID HENRY HENRY C. MENKEL Treasurer: PETER s. GETTELL THE CHLTRCH .Hl.TlLDlNGS. LENOX AVENUE, ONE HUND·RED TWENTY-THIRD STREET THIRD A VENUE, ONE HUNDRE]) TWENTY-FIRST STREE1T 5 MINISTERS OF THE HARLEM CHURCH: MARTINUS SCHOONMAKER . 1765-1785 JOHN FRELINGHUYSEN JACKSON 1791-1805 J EREl\1I.AH RO:}IEYN 1806-1813 CORNELIUS C. VERMEULE . 1816-1836 RICHARD LuDLo,v ScHOONl\iIAKER 1838-1847 JEREMIAH SKIDMORE LORD 1848-1869 GILES HENRY lVIANDEVILLE 1869-1881 GEORGE IIuTCHINSON SMYTH . 1881-1891 JOACHIM ELMENDORF 1886-1908 WILLIAM JUSTIN HARSHA 1892-1899 EDGAR TILTON., JR. .. 1898- BEN.JAMIN E. DICKHAUT . 1903-1909 Officers in the Harlem Church who served as Elders or Deacons before the War of the Revolution. JOHANNES BENSON JOHN NAGEL SAMSON BENSON JoosT VAN 0BLIENUS JOHN BOGERT PETER VAN 0BLIENUS DANIEL VAN BREVOORT JAN PIETERSON SLOT J. HENDRICKS VAN BRF.VOORT DANIEL T OURN"EUR JOHN KIERSEN JACQUES To URN EUR CoRNELIS JANSEN KoRTRIGHT JOHANNES VERMILYE GLAUDE LE ~1AISTRE JOHANNES VERVEELEN ADOLPH MEYER RESOLVED WALDRON ADOLPH 1'-IEYER, 3RD WILLIAM ,v ALDRON JAN LA l\tioNTAGNE, JR. 6 Officers in the Harlem Church who served in the Con­ sistorv., between 1789 and 1910. Elders: HEXRY .A.CKER!\1.A.N JOHN C. GIFFING JOHN ACKERMAN EUGENE s. HAND RICHARD ACKERMAN DAVID HENRY THOMAS ACKERMAN vv 1LLIAM HENRY JOHN .i\DRIANCE NICHOLAS D. HuRDER CHARLES H. AMMERMAN STYLES G·. HYATT SAM:'C'EL AYRES RoBERT S. ~L-\cKEoN LEWIS T. BALLON! JAMES lVL-\NCHESTER Lou1s J. BALLON I CHAS. E. :i\IAPES DANIEL D. BEEKMAN LEORNORIUS l\:hLTON :\L-\RSH SAMSON A. BENSON .A.. LBERT S. lVIooRE SAMSON BENSON, JR. CHAS. l\1 OTT BEN J Al\lIN BENSON .JOSEPH l\!OTT l)R. SAMUEL BRADHURST \VM. P. PARR RICHARD BRINKERHOFF IIENRY PATTERSON THOMAS s. BROOKS RoBERT J. PosT JosEPH T·. BRowN \VHEELER POWELL JOHN. H. BROWNING HENRY C. ROBINSON ROBERT E. CHRISTIE JT AS. -.,,D. s HERIDAN JAMES \V. COLWELL JAs. D. SHIPMAN J AMF.S CRAWFORD BEN.JAMIN B. STEWART A. B~ DEMAREST ....\.LONZO STRYKER Wl\I. T. DEMAREST \VM. P. UHLER PETER H. DIAMOND EDGAR VANDERBILT FRANK A. FERRIS DAVID "\VALDRON THEODORE FITCH J Al\J:ES \\rOOD n,..,..,,,,...,...,...,.,_ .I.Jt,U,t.,Ult~ • JAMES ABBOTT DANIEL D. BEEKMAN RICHARD ACKERMAN l\L-\RIUS G. BAL LONI JOHN ADRIANCE ROBERT BOGARDUS S. , F. JOHN H. ALLEN JAMES BOGART, JR. JOHN s. ALLEN THOMAS BRASS THEO. B. BARRINGER GEO. \V. BRETTELL ABnAHAl\I ,v. BEDELL JOSEPH T. BROWN 7 Deacons: (Continued) JOHN H. CARPENTER HENRY S. l\'IooRE DR. CoLBY CHAS. l\fOTT JAMES W. COLWELL ISAAC S. l\1oWBRAY GEORGE w. CROSS JOHN D. l\IowRIS CORNELIUS A. DEMAREST EUGENE s. l\lYER w. C. DEMAREST J AS. NICHOLSON PETER DENISON THOMAS p ATTON GEORGE W. DuNN CHAS. A. PECK w ILLIAM B. ERSKINE RoBERT J. PosT HARRY F. FARRINGTON \VHEELER POWELL JOHN R. FARRINGTON JESSE W. p OWERS FRANCIS W. FoRD LORENZO RANDALL THos. C. FREEBORN CHAS. H. RANDELL HENRY C. FULLER JOHN REDFIELD WM. G. GASTON · A. D. RocKWELL, Jn. JOHN C. GIJt'FING JOHN T. ROLLINS JOHN B. GRAVES CHARLES RUSTON SAMUEL s. HADDEN JAMES R. SENIOR EUGENE s. HAND ,vl\f. s. SKINNER DR. WM. C. HANDS GEO. ,v. SMITH THO.MAS HANSON JAMES SPROUL JACQUES D. HEGEMAN J AS. A. SPROULL WILLIAM HENDERSON WM. H. STILLWELL JOSEPH HILL __AT _,,,".i.1i ""TZ""' V Ir...S"'R"'[•--R ..I. .E. .ft.l!., N. B. K. HOFFMAN JAMES STRIKER SAMUEL E. HOLMES HENRY W. TAYLOR STYLES G. HYATT FRANK E. THOMPSON J OSE?H IRELAND ANDREW D. TuLtY Ro BERT A. J oHNSTON HARRIS H. UHLER LYMAN N. JoNES WM. P. UHLER WM. ~- KNOX ABRAM B. VAN DusEN R.H. LAWDER WM. E. ,VALL DR. JoHN D. McPHERSON CHAS. H. WESSELS RoBERT S. McKEoN DAVID Woon JAMES MANCHESTER FREDERICK W. Wooo CHAS. A. l{APES JAMES Woon HENRY C. MENKEL Ro BERT J. WRIGHT ALBERT S. MooRE 8 .A.N ANCIENT FOLK-SONG OF THE NETHERLANDS We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing, He chastens and hastens His will to make known ; The wicked oppressing cease them from distressing, Sing praises to His na1ne, He for gets not His 0'\\-"11. Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining, Ordaining, maintaining His Kingdom divine, So from the beginning the fight we were winning; Thou, Lord, wast at our side,-the glory be thine. We all do extol thee, thou Leader in battle, And pray that thou still our Defender wilt be, Let thy congregation escape tribulation; rI'hy name be ever prais'd !-0 Lord make us free! 9 CHAPTER I. The Reformed Low Dutch Church of Harlem is the corporate title of what is knoWll to-day as the Har­ lem Collegiate Reformed Church. It has two houses of wor~bip; one located just west of Third avenue on One­ twenty-first street, known as the First Church, and the other at the corner of Lenox avenue and One-twenty­ third street, known as the Lenox avenue Church. It is one of the oldest organizations in denominational com­ munion with the Reformed Church in America, having come into existence as early as the year 1660. Its pres­ ent membership roll numbers twelve-hundred. The parent church in this country is the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of the cit-v• of New York, better known as the Collegiate Church of New York. J"uly, 1628, is named as "the date of its organization, although for several years before that date it had its place of worship and conducted regular services. This place of worship was a loft above the first horse mill erected on :Niall.Lliattan Island. A wooden building close by the East river was constructed in 1688, and in 1642 the historic stone "Church in the Fort." As the Reformed Church in America owes its ex­ istence to the Reformed Church in the Netherlands it will not be out of place here t0 recall certain conditions existing in the Netherlands at the time of the Reforma­ tion, and some of the circumstances which contributed to the settlement of Manhattan Island. 11 There were seventeen provinces in the Netherlands and these comprehended the present kingdoms of Hol­ land and Belgium. That whole country had been an­ nexed to France in the time of Charlemagne (767-814), but in the :fifteenth century it came; through inter­ marriages, under the dominion of Spain. Charles V. became king of Spain in 1516, just one year before the appearance in Germany of Martin Luther as a reformer. It should be remembered that at this time the Nether­ lands had the finest cities of Europe, such as Amsterdam~ Antwerps Brussels, Ghent, and the population ~on sisted of several millions who were exceedingly prosperous. Finding many adher~nts to the Reformed faith, and converts to that faith n1ultiplying rapidly, Charles V. determined to crush out Protestantism. It was, there­ fore, at this period that there began in the Netherlands a series of persec;utions which continued for :fifty years, and which nearly ruined the country. Grotius tells us that 100,00,0 persons were martyred under Charles V. But the persecutions under Philip, who succeeded his father, Charles, in 1555, were even more severe.. He called from Spain an army of 20,000 men, and ap­ pointed as commander, the merciless Duke of Alva, at whose instigation the most horrible atrocities were com• mitted. However, the Reformed movement spread rapidly; there was an enthusiasm for martyrdom and many went to the stake singing psalms of praise in which the multitude joined. Not until 1568, when William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, came to the rescue, did there appear the faint­ est ray of hope for this persecuted people. Under his wise generalship they succeeded in driving back the Spaniards, and after the siege of Haarlem (1573) where 12 the Duke of Alva lost 12,000 of his soldiers, and the siege of Leyden (1574) where for five months the people held the city against the attacks of the enemy, it became evident that the crisis had passed and that the period of persecution would soon be at an end. There followed in 1576 the Pacification of Ghent, and .in 1579 was signed the UNION OF UTRECHT. This Union was formed.by the seven northern provinces, the southern provinces having withdrawn through the dom­ ination of Roman Catholic influences. ,..rhus came into existence the Dutch Republic, which then adopted as its watchword, Een-dracht maakt 1nacht-"Union makes might." In 1581, the people threw off the yoke of the tyrant and ceased to be a dependency of Spain. Religious liberty was proclaimed and the Re­ formed doctrines as held by the Swiss, and the Presby­ terian form of government were adopted by the Hol­ land Church. The extraordinary endurance and courage of this people may be seen in a simple reference to the siege of Leyden. From the walls of the city they called to the enemy: "You fom1d all your argu..1.uents on the :rr...isery and famine that threatens us; you say that we are eaters of dogs and cats; know that when this food shall fail us, we have each a left arm which we will eat while we pre­ serve our right to drive the tyrant and his bloodthirsty bands from our walls; and if God shall,.