PURITANISM IN NEW YORK

ITS ORIGIN AND GROWTH UNTIL THE MIDDLE OF THE XVIII CENTURY

Puritanism is the great religious force which wrought a second Reformation in Great Britain. The Reformation of the 16th century was restrained by the vast power of the monarch and his prelates. It assumed a form differing from the two great branches of the Reformation which flowed from Wittenberg and Zurich. The British Reformation was directed by civil power, so as to carry the nation as a mass in the Reform movement. It was a conservative reformation compromising with the past and designed to be an Anglo-Catholicism rather than a Protestantism. But the Protestant party was not satisfied, still less was the Papal party willing to submit. Hence the religious conflicts which have been the chief forces in the history of Great Britain and her colonies. The Protestant and the Papal parties were restrained but not conquered. They were constrained by persecution to become more earnest, devout and zealous. The Protestant party urged a thorough Reformation. It advanced beyond the Protestantism of the Continent to higher and grander principles of Reform. It gave British Protestantism the characteristic name of Puritanism.

It is common to think of Puritanism in connection with the Congregationalism of New England, or the Nonconformity of England. Puritanism is rather the reforming party in the churches of Great Britain which eliminated itself from the Papal party on the right and the Anglo-Catholic party in the center, and pressed for the complete reformation of the national churches. The struggle of parties continued with varying fortune in the successive reigns from Henry VIII. to Charles I., when the folly and madness of Archbishop Laud brought on the life-and-death struggle which gave the Puritans the control of Great Britain for twenty years. The Puritans strove to reform the national churches of England, Scotland and Ireland, and unite them in one church government with the same forms of worship and doctrine. This was the great aim of the Long Parliament and the Westminster Assembly of divines. They failed owing to the development of three antagonistic parties among the Puritans themselves, namely, Episcopal Puritans, Presbyterian Puritans and Congregational Puritans. The majority of these Puritans in the 17th century were Presbyterians, and they produced their platform in the Westminster symbols.

But they were prevented by Cromwell and the Congregationalists from putting their church government in operation. And there was no inconsiderable number of Puritans who preferred the Episcopal form of government and a liturgical worship. These conformed to the established Church of England at the Restoration. In New England, Puritanism tended to Congregationalism, although there was no inconsiderable amount of Presbyterianism mingled with it.

Puritanism is easily recognized by its principles. It insists upon the Protestant doctrine of Justification by faith alone. It maintains the Calvinistic doctrine of salvation by grace alone. It recognizes the principle of Wicklif and Tyndall; the authority of the word of God alone, in matters of religion. The Puritans urged reformation in doctrine, worship, church government and life, in accordance with the word of God alone. The Puritans also maintained the principle of a National Church. The Separatists were of a different stock, carrying on the Anabaptist movement of the period of the Reformation. It was not until the Restoration that Presbyterian Puritanism and Congregational Puritanism were excluded from the Church of England and forced to separation.

The Restoration and the conflicts terminating in the Revolution of 1688 established the Episcopal Church of England and Ireland, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and in a certain sense the Congregational Church of New England. It was the irony of the situation which led the Presbyterians of Scotland and the Congregationalists of New England to speak of the Episcopal separation, as they themselves were named Nonconformists in England and Ireland.

New York had been settled by Hollanders. The Reformed Church of Holland was the national church of the colony. Holland in the 17th century distinguished herself above all other lands for religious toleration. Here the exiled Puritans of the several sorts found a home, and from thence they migrated singly and in bands to America. Presbyterian Puritanism was nearest of kin to the Reformed Church of Holland. The Puritans gave to the Hollanders their Pietism and Covenant Theology, and made a poor exchange in accepting so much of Dutch Scholasticism. From Holland the Congregational type of Puritans migrated to New England; Presbyterian Puritans sought refuge with the Dutch in New Amsterdam.

Queens and Suffolk Counties, Long Island, and Westchester County on the borders of Connecticut, were settled by Puritans from New England and from Old England. These seem to have been chiefly Presbyterian in their tendencies, although they employed their township organizations for the

calling and support of their ministers, in accordance with their views as to the union of Church and State.

The earliest Puritan minister in the State of New York seems to have been John Young. He settled at Southold, L. I., and organized a township church, October 21, 1640. He had been ordained in the Church of England. He remained at Southold until his death, February 24, 1672.*

The second Puritan minister was Abraham Pierson, a Yorkshire clergyman, who settled at Lynn, Mass., and from thence removed to Southampton, L. I., with his flock in 1641. In 1644 he removed with a portion of them to Branford, Conn., and again, in 1667, to Newark, N. J., where the first Puritan church in New Jersey was established.†

The third Puritan minister was Francis Doughty. He had probably been vicar of Sodbury, Gloucester, England, where he was silenced for nonconformity. He emigrated to Taunton, Mass., in 1637. When the church was gathered in that place, Doughty maintained the Presbyterian doctrine of infant baptism, over against the Congregational, and “opposed the gathering of the church there, alleging that according to the covenant of Abraham all men's children that were of baptized parents, and so Abraham's children, ought to be baptized, and spoke so in public, or to that effect, which was held a disturbance, and the minister spoke to the magistrate to order him. The magistrate commanded the constable, who dragged Master Doughty out of the assembly. He was forced to go away from thence with his wife and children." He and Richard Smith, an elder, and their adherents, were forced to exile by the Congregational majority. They found refuge among the Dutch. Doughty secured the conveyance of Mespat (near Newtown), L. I., with the view of establishing a Presbyterian colony there. The settlement was begun in 1642, but the Indian war broke up the colony in 1643, and the minister and his flock went to Manhattan Island for shelter during the war. He became the first Puritan, and, indeed, Presbyterian minister, in our metropolis. He ministered here from 1643-48, and was supported by voluntary contributions from the Puritans and the Dutch of the city. He also preached at Flushing for awhile. The Dutch ministers, Megapolensis and Drusius, report August 6, 1657, to the Classis of Amsterdam: "At Flushing they heretofore had a Presbyterian Preacher who conformed to our church, but many of them became endowed with divers opinions, and it was with them quot homines tot sen

* E. Whitaker, History of Southold, 1881, p. 113.

It still lives, vigorous and strong, as the First Presbyterian Church of Newark.

Thomas Lechford, Plain Dealing, 1642, p. 40.

§ Doc. Hist. N. Y., I. pp. 305-6, 311, 331, 334–5, 341, 426, 553; II. 93.

tentia. They absented themselves from preaching, nor would they pay the preacher his promised stipend. The said preacher was obliged to leave the place and to repair to the English Virginias." * His daughter married Adrien Van der Donck, a prominent lawyer of the city. Owing to the failure of the colony, Govs. Kieft and Stuyvesant sought to recover the claim upon Mespat, but Doughty declined to restore it. He was at last glad to escape from the wrath of Stuyvesant, and fled to Maryland, where he preached to the Puritans for many years.

The fourth Puritan minister was Richard Denton, minister at Halifax, England, settled at Wethersfield, Conn., in 1630. He removed to Stamford, Conn., in 1641, and in 1644, with a portion of his flock, to Hempstead, L. I., where he remained until 1658, when he returned to England. Denton was a Presbyterian. He is so recognized by the Dutch pastors of New Amsterdam, who wrote to the Classis of Amsterdam in 1657: "At Heemstede, about seven Dutch miles from here, there are some Independants; also many of our persuasion and Presbyterians. They have also a Presbyterian preacher named Richard Denton, an honest, pious, and learned man. He hath in all things conformed to our church. The Independants of the place listen attentively to his preaching, but when he began to baptize the children of such parents as are not members of the church, they sometimes broke out of the church." He also ministered to the Puritans in our metropolis in an English Puritan church. This was not a separate church building, but the band of Puritans to whom Doughty ministered. They worshipped alongside of the Dutch and the French, in the same church building within the fort, and at different hours of service. The evidence for this service of Denton in our city is derived from an ancient book of records handed down in the author's family:

"Sarah Woolsey was born in New York, August ye 3d, in ye year 1650. Aug 7, she was baptized in ye English church by Mr. Denton, Capt. Newtown godfather. George Woolsey was born in New York, October 10. 1652; October 12 he was baptized in the Dutch church, Mrs. Newtown. godmother. Thomas Woolsey was born at Hemsted, April 10th 1655, and there baptized by Mr Denton. Rebeckar Woolsey was born at New York Feb 13. 1659. Feb 16 she was baptized in the Dutch church, Mr. Bridges, godfather, and her grandmother, godmother." The distinction is clearly drawn between English church and Dutch church. The connection between New York and Hempstead is manifest. The minister, Mr. Denton, baptized one child at Hempstead, another in the English church in New York. Mr. Denton did not baptize Rebecka in 1659, because he * Doc. Hist. N. Y., III. p. 106. Doc. Hist. N. Y., III. p. 107.

had just left Hempstead for England in 1658. Denton was therefore the second Presbyterian minister in New York city.

From this time forward Puritan ministers settle in New York State with greater rapidity and in greater numbers. Joseph Fordham settled at Southampton, L. I., in 1646, Thomas James at Easthampton, L. I., in 1648, and John Moore at Middleburgh, L. I., in 1652.

There is an interesting description of a Puritan service at Westchester conducted by two laymen, Robert Bassett and a Mr. Bayley, probably ruling elders, in 1656,* the one reading a sermon, the other leading in prayer.

William Leverich settled at Huntington, L. I., in 1658; Jonah Fordham at Hempstead in 1660; Zechariah Walker at Jamaica, in 1662. We do not know whether Fordham and Walker ministered to the Puritans in New York City. It is more than likely, in view of the previous connection through Doughty and Denton, and the subsequent connection through Vesey, McNish and Makemie. Thus when the colony of New Amsterdam was surrendered to the Duke of York, September, 1664, there were within the present bounds of our State 6 Puritan ministers settled with their flocks. There were Puritan bands in New York City and at Rye and Westchester without pastors.

The colony was recaptured by Holland July, 1673, and finally surrendered to the English October, 1674. Edmund Andros became governor under James II., and at once entered upon a struggle with the Dutch and Puritan population in civil affairs, but, so far as New York is concerned, seems not to have troubled the Puritan churches. John Bishop, Puritan pastor at Stamford, writes to Increase Mather, July 10, 1677, that there had been "two churches lately gathered in the island, viz., at Jamaica and Huntington, with the Gov.; good and free allowance, as soon as asked, and that in the way of New England Congregational churches, which liberty I doubt not but he will readily grant to any people, and able ministers if desired."+ Gov. Andros reports in 1678, "There are religions of all sorts, one Church of England, several Presbyterians and Independents, Quakers, and Anabaptists of several sects, some Jews, but Presbyterians and Independents most numerous and substantial." During these times, the Puritan churches lost many of their veteran pastors, but continued to increase in numbers:

Nathaniel Brewster settled at Brookhaven and supplied Eastchester in 1665; John Prudden, supplied Jamaica, 1670; Eliphalet Jones, Rye, Ezekiel

*Doc. Hist. N. Y., III. p. 557.

Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. VIII. 4th Series, p. 302.

G. H. Moore, Hist. Mag. 1867, p. 325.