sald Province of New York and the Territories depending thereon, which our said Council or any five of them have hereby full power and authority and are required to administer unto you; to give and administer unto each of the Members of our said Council as well the Oaths appointed by Act of Parliament, to be taken instead of the oath of Allegiance and Supremacy, as the Test and the Oath for the due execution of their places and Trust. Col. Docs. N. Y. iii. 828. ... We do further give and grant unto you the said Benjamin Fletcher, full power and authority from time to time and at any time hereafter, by your self or by any other to be authorized by you in that behalf, to administer and give the oaths appointed by Act of Parliament to be taken instead of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, to all and every such person or persons as you shall think fitt who shall at any time or times past into our said Province or shall be resident or abiding there.. Col. Docs. N. Y. iii. 829. ..... We do by these Presents authorize and empower you to Colate any Person or Persons in any Churches, Chapells or other Ecclesiastical Benefices within our said Province and Territorities aforesaid, as often as any of them shall happen to be void. We do hereby give and grant unto you the said Benjamin Fletcher, by your self, your Captain and Commanders by you to be authorized, full Power and Authority to Levy Arm, Muster, Command and employ all persons whatsoever (residing) within our said Province of New York.....- Col. Docs. N. Y. iii. 830. ...... And we do by these presents Will require and command you to take all possible care for the discountenance of vice and encouragement of virtue and good living that by such example the Infidells may be invited and desire to partake of the Christian (Religion).— Col. Docs. N. Y. iii. 832. REV. JOHN MILLER, CHAPLAIN TO BRITISH TROOPS. "In the summer 1692 the Rev. John Miller arrived in New York, with a commission of chaplain to two companies of grenadiers. He remained in the Province until 1695, when he sailed for home; but the vessel was captured by a French privateer, and all his papers were destroyed. On reaching London he wrote a book dedicated to the Bishop of London in which he reviewed the state and history of New York, and gave plans and ideas of his own, including a scheme for the establishment of an Episcopate in the Province. His plan was to unite the governments of New York and New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island, station a bishop at New York as suffragan to the Bishop of London, and allow him "as Governor" fifteen hundred pounds per annum, together with all licenses of marriage and probates of wills, and the things usually belonging to bishops in England, adding the King's Farm as a seat for himself and his successors ".— Dix, 73. SYNOD OF NORTH HOLLAND, AT ALCKMAER. 1692 1692, Aug. 7 et seq. Article 27. Extract from a letter of Rev. Godfrey Dellius, from Boston, February 17, 1691. He feared that his letters, written about the wretched condition of the churches in the province of New York, did not reach us safely, because so many ships are taken by the French. 1692 He sends us two documents, The one (an address) of the French Protestants to his Majesty of Great Britain, and the other (a letter) from his own hand, to Mr. Van Suilestein, in which a fuller explanation is given of the sad state of the churches in New York. He has allowed himself to be persuaded to remain longer with his church, wherein he had had much fruit, in the conversion of the Indians. Concludes with a salutation. Extracts from a letter of the Consistory of Kingstown, August 30, 1690. They inform us of the decease of their minister, Rev. Weeksteen, and that in his place the Rev. Lawrence (Van den) Bosch had been called. Rev. Bosch had conducted himself very unedifyingly, and had resigned his office to the consistory of his own accord. Nevertheless he preached occasionally in different houses; but this caused disputes and schism. Rev. Dellius had faithfully conducted services for them (in Kingston;) but he was now inclined to return to the Fatherland. There are only three Netherland ministers, of whom one is decrepit by reason of old age, and the other will perhaps leave. They find themselves incapable of asking a preacher from us for lack of money. Concludes with salutations. Extract from a letter from the Consistory of Albany, July 31, 1690. They deplore the departure (from Albany) of their late preacher, Dellius, and that now they had only Rev. Schaats, who was decrepit and could do little or no work. Through Rev. Dellius a goodly number of Indians had been received into the church by Baptism, after public confession, and accepted into the communion of the Lord's Supper. They had been greatly inconvenienced by the war, whereby they have been diminished daily; their houses have been burned, and their people taken captive by the Barbarians. They declare their lack of power to support a minister. They hope that the King of Great Britain would furnish them adequate means for that purpose. They request us to persuade Rev. Dellius, in every possible way, to return to them, so that the Gospel might still have free course among the heathen. A great number of that same tribe have been led over to the Romish faith by the Jesuits, and drawn from their land to Canada; they are tormented especially by these. They further request that we will do our best with the King of England unto the prosecution of the work begun, for the conversion of the heathen. Concludes with a salutation (zegenwensch, a wish for a 1692 blessing.) ACTS OF THE CLASSIS OF AMSTERDAM. Nucella, 1692, Aug. 18th. Rev. John Peter Nucella, S. S. Min. Cand. being already "Recommended" by our Classis, requested also to be accepted as "Recommended" for the service of the Indian churches. This was readily granted him after he had given proof of his gifts on John 5:25. viii. 155; xix. 246. JOURNAL OF THE ASSEMBLY, NEW YORK, 1692. 1692, Aug. 23rd, page 21. Ordered, That a bill be drawn for the better observance of the Lord's day, and that each respective town within this province have a minister or reader to read divine service. 1692 THANKSGIVING FOR VICTORY. LIB. A. 73. By the Commander-in-Chief and Council. A Proclamation. (Abridged.) Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God to bless the Arms of our Sovereign Lord and Lady, William and Mary, especially for the victory obtained in the month of May last, against the French fleet, and also to frustrate the wicked and treasonable devices of sundry conspirators, traitors and enemies of their persons, dignities and government: Therefore Wednesday, August 24, was appointed for New York City, and Wednesday September 7, for the other parts of the Province, as a day of Thanksgiving.. Given at Fort William Henry, August 22, 1692. 1692 ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR BENJAMIN JOURNAL OF ASSEMBLY, NEW YORK. 1692, Sept. 8, page 23. In a petition to the Crown it is charged that, owing to the cutting up of the late New Netherland into several parts, (which were not governed like New York), the people were beginning to emigrate. In these new places they were free from the imposition of taxes and levies for war, etc.; that Albany was very CLASSIS OF AMSTERDAM. Correspondence from America. The Revs. Selyns, Varick and Dellius to the Classis of Amsterdam, October 12, 1692. Extracts, xxi. 337; and another translation in Murphy's Anthology of New Netherland, 117-121. New York, October 12th, 1692. To the Rev. Classis of Amsterdam, Gentlemen and Brethren in Christ: We wrote you two or three years ago, informing you of the sad condition of our land and our Church. We have been so unfortunate as not to have received any replies to our letters, nor even to have seen any other correspondence from you. The cause of this is, no doubt, on account of the war, or of the internal troubles at home, which are worse than war with a foreign foe. Your letters may have been captured by the enemy, or ours may have been stopped and deained here. It has not been permitted to ministers here to write to other ministers, nor to your Reverences; neither have private parties been allowed to correspond with their friends and acquaintances. During all this time, |