and powerful. Some French Huguenots, who tied from
religious persecutions in the Old World, also settled in New York. Westchester, and lister counties, and on State n [sland. for their benefit, the Collegiate Church of New York called Samuel Drisius, who could preach in French as well as in Dutch and English; and Daille, Bonrepos, and Perrel ministered t" the pious exiles. They fraternized heartily with the Dutch churches, and ultimately were absorbed in the one organization. Their descendants in the same localities still form a strong constituent element of the Reformed ( burch in America.
In 170!> a large body of Germans from the Palatinate, fleeing from religious persecution, settled upon Livings- ton Manor, in Schoharie < ount\ . N. ^ .. and in the \ alley "i the Mohawk. Among them were- many Swiss, who
SOUght the same sheltc r in ill.- New World. I 'liable to
obtain help from the Church in their fatherland, and living beside their Dutch neighbors, they naturally sought and received assistance from them, 'flu1 (la-sis of Amsterdam, at tin- request of the Church of the Pa- latinate, agreed to aid the Germans upon condition that
REFORMED (DUTCH) CHURCH 999 REFORMED (DUTCH) CHURCH
they would adhere to the Heidelberg Catechism, the Palatinate Confession of Faith, the Canons of the Synod of Dort, and the Kules of Church Government of Dort. Ministers were sent over. A coetus or American Classis was formed by the direction and under the jurisdiction of the Synod of Holland, which charged the Classis of Amsterdam with the supervision of the affairs of the German Church in America, which then extended among the German settlements in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, New Jersey, and New York. This relation subsisted forty-six years, until 1793, when the coetus asserted its independence of the Church in Holland. See German Reformed Church in Amer- ica. In Schoharie and Columbia counties, and in the valley of the Mohawk, the German and Holland ish ele- ments have, to a great degree, united in the Reformed churches.
4. The third period in this history dates from the first effort of the Dutch churches to secure an indepen- dent organization — 1737 to 1702. Their entire depend- ence upon the Church in Holland for ministers, their growth in numbers and their distance from the mother country, the necessities of a new country, and the lack of facilities for educating their clergy, the delays, ex- pense, and anxieties occasioned by the necessity of sending young men to Holland for training and ordina- tion, and other good reasons growing out of their posi- tion and the ecclesiastical restrictions of the Classis of Amsterdam, led to the organization of a coetus, or ec- clesiastical association, in New York in 1737. A plan was carefully framed, submitted to the churches, and sent to Holland for approval by the classis. This plan embraced a yearly meeting of clerical and lay delegates for the transaction of ecclesiastical business only, to pro- mote the welfare of the churches, and in entire subordi- nation to the Classis of Amsterdam. But nine years passed away before that body gave its sanction. The first meeting of the coetus was held in September, 17-17, and the first German coetus in the same month.
The powers of this body were too limited to make it really effective. It had no authority to ordain any man to the ministry without special permission, nor to decide finally upon any question. But these restric- tions only roused the spirit of independence in the younger ministry, and generated the powerful opposi- tion of the adherents of the policy of the mother Church. In 1753 measures were taken for forming an American Classis, which was organized in 1755. This event caused the withdrawal of the conservatives, who were thereafter known as the " Conferentie" the Dutch word for the Latin coetus. From this time until 1771 the conflict between these parties rent the Church asun- der. Ministers, churches, and people entered into the strife with the most bitter animosities. The coetus were noted for their practical zeal, their pious and pro- gressive earnestness, and their high sense of the rights and duties of the Church in this country. The confe- rentie possessed more learning, and some of its members occupied the highest places in the Church. In num- bers they were nearly equal. In spirit, while both were often extremely culpable, the Conferentie are generally credited with being the most intemperate. Yet they should be regarded as impelled by their zeal for a thor- oughly educated ministry, and for the order and wor- ship of the Church. But the quarrel grew apace. Preachers were sometimes disturbed in their pulpits; public worship was often interrupted, or actually stopped, by violence. Church doors were locked against one or the other party by their opponents. Tumults were ex- cited on the Lord's day at the doors of the sanctuaries. Personal, domestic, and public divisions were made be- tween those who had always before been friends. Re- ligion suffered sadly, and the Church seemed almost on the brink of ruin, when at length the hour of deliver- ance and the deliverer came.
In 1701) John 11. Livingston, then a young man, ar- rived in Holland to study for the ministry at the Uni- I
versify of Utrecht. His heart was filled with anxiety for the churches at home, whose dissensions he had wit- nessed and deplored. With great wisdom he embraced every opportunity to spread information and take coun- sel with leading men in Holland respecting the state of things in America. He prepared a plan of union, secured the assent of the ecclesiastical authorities, and returned to New York as pastor of the Church in that city, in 1770, with his olive-branch. In October, 1771, a convention was held in New York, at which there, were present twenty-two ministers and twenty-five el- ders, from thirty-four churches. The plan of union was presented by Dr. Livingston, discussed in a friendly manner, with a sincere desire for peace, ratified by that body, and transmitted to Holland for final approval by the Classis of Amsterdam. In 1772 their favorable an- swer was received, dated Jan. 14 in that year. (A trans- lation is printed in full in Corwin's Manual of the Re- formed Church, p. 11, 12.) This practically ended the long strife. A general synod was organized, with five classes. The power of licensing and ordaining minis- ters was granted to the new and independent body, and the way was thus peacefully prepared for the formal and final organization. The articles of union were only intended as a temporary scaffolding for the erection of a more permanent ecclesiastical structure. In 1788 the doctrinal symbols of the Church, and the articles of Church government used in Holland, were translated by a committee of the synod. In 1792 the whole work was reviewed by the synod, adapted to the wants of the Church in this land, and adopted as the constitution of the Reformed Dutch Church. At this time there were one hundred and thirty churches and fifty ministers. During the whole period of strife ninety new churches were organized, and eighty-eight ministers began their labors among them. Before the first attempts at inde- pendent organization, for forty years prior to 1730, the average growth in ministers and churches was only seven of each per decade. During the next sixty years, the average per decade arose to seventeen. These facts tell the story of the differing policies of the coetus and conferentie.