Class __E^:u^ 
 
 Book 
 
 
 ^n 
 
 
 Gopyii^htN" 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
COAT OF ARMS 
 OF THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH 
 
ZTbree flfteasures of fReal 
 
 Mtllts Bruce 2)ow& 
 
 3B06ton 
 
 tTbe IRtverdale pcese, :iBrooftUne 
 
 1910 
 

 Copyright 1910 
 
 BY THE RIVERDALE PRESS 
 
 
 CCI.A278398 
 
HUustrations 
 
 Coat-of-Arms of the Dutch Reformed 
 
 Church Frontispiece 
 
 Old St. John's Episcopal Church, Rich- 
 mond, Va Face p. 9 
 
 Interior of St. John's, showing pew in which 
 
 Patrick Henry made his immortal speech . . " 12 
 
 Reformed Dutch Church, Gravesend " 18 
 
 Lady Deborah Moody House, probably 
 oldest residence on Long Island. Built 
 about the year 1650 " 22 
 
 Residence at Gravesend Bay, erected about 
 
 the year 1800 " 24 
 
 Reformed Dutch Church, New Utrecht, 
 
 erected 1828-9 " 28 
 
 Street scene in Gravesend, showing houses 
 erected in the early part of the nineteenth 
 century " 32 
 
 New Utrecht Liberty Pole " 36 
 
preface 
 
 In the summer of 1909, as in previous 
 summers for many years, I made of a 
 country club in the city of New York 
 (for one finds the country in the city 
 now-a-days) my habitation ; a golf course 
 and the waters of Gravesend Bay my 
 playgrounds, and a tall gray horse in a 
 fancy road-wagon my means of going 
 from one to the other and to the trolley 
 car, or boat, on my way to the borough 
 of Manhattan in the mornings. It was 
 not at all a bad way of spending the 
 summer. 
 
 One thing I resolved not to do, and 
 that was, to continue on Sunday the 
 
 [5] 
 
XLbtee Measured of item 
 
 amusements which I had indulged in 
 during the week. Instead, it occurred 
 to me that it would be much more pro- 
 fitable and agreeable to take a day out 
 of each seven in which to visit the 
 churches in the neighborhood, with the 
 view, among other things, of discovering 
 what leavening power they had had 
 in the community. The investigation 
 proved most interesting; and the result, 
 in part, is disclosed in this little booklet. 
 A trip to Richmond that summer had 
 given me an opportunity to make in- 
 quiries into the history of Old St. John's, 
 and therefore I premise the sketch of that 
 edifice, — an account of its influence, its 
 extraneous influence, one might say, — to 
 the chapter on the Reformed Dutch 
 Churches of New Utrecht and Gravesend 
 on Long Island. 
 
 [6] 
 
^bree fisenemes of /ibeal 
 
 At the end of the season I was short 
 several holes on the golf-course, but my 
 game did not fall off (could it have done 
 so !) . While I had missed many oppor- 
 tunities to slice a ball or be beaten by 
 my opponent, things with which I was 
 already quite familiar, I was the richer 
 by many hours of meditation, investi- 
 gation and quiet contact with agreeable 
 people while gathering the material for 
 this little booklet. 
 
 I am sure that the days off were 
 profitably spent, and if anyone doubts 
 it let him go and do likewise. 
 
 WILLIS BRUCE DOWD. 
 
 New York, March 10, 1910. 
 
 [ 7] 
 
TLhxcc flDeasures of flDeal 
 
 I. 
 
 When the writer of this humble narra- 
 tion was in Richmond, Virginia, in the 
 Spring of 1909, he took occasion to visit 
 and scrutinize Old St. John's Episcopal 
 Chtirch and the historic cemetery of 
 which it is the centre. The most re- 
 markable thing about the church is 
 that it contains the pew from which 
 Patrick Henry delivered his celebrated 
 speech, "Give me liberty, or give me 
 death!" The pew ;. is^ plainly marked, 
 and the casual visitor is mutely invited 
 to drop a contribution of some sort into 
 the charity box, which is conspicuously 
 placed in one end of it. 
 
 [9] 
 
XLbxcc /Dbeaeurea ot Itsesil 
 
 It seems strange to us of more modern 
 times that the Colonial Assembly of 
 Virginia should have been sitting in that 
 churchly edifice ; but we find, on looking 
 into history, that the first General 
 Assembly, the earliest legislative body 
 in America, met in the church at James- 
 town July 30, 1619. They sat with their 
 hats on, after the manner of the English 
 Commons; and from that time forth 
 to the Revolutionary period the Colonial 
 Assemblies were accustomed to meet 
 in churches, because they were the most 
 convenient places. 
 
 It is an interesting historical fact, 
 incidental to the record of the speech 
 of Patrick Henry, that the silence which 
 followed his peroration was broken by 
 Colonel Edward Carrington, who stood 
 not far from the speaker, whose emotion 
 
 [ 10] 
 
Zbtee /Ibeadures ot ^eal 
 
 found expression in the words, "Right 
 here I wish to be buried !" The interment 
 of his body in the cemetery in the year 
 1810 was a fulfilment of his wish. 
 
 But Old St. John's has another claim 
 upon our attention, and that is, that 
 within its parish John Rolfe and Poca- 
 hontas lived for some time after their 
 marriage at Jamestown. The Reverend 
 Alexander Whittaker, who had been the 
 first minister of St. John's, performed the 
 ceremony, about the year 1613-1614 — 
 the exact date of their wedding not known. 
 Certainly, when we consider that two 
 such events transpired within the circle 
 of influence of Old St. John's, we are 
 obUged to take off our hats to it as a 
 place of more than ordinary historic 
 and romantic interest. 
 
 Fortunately, modernism has not laid 
 
 [ 11] 
 
^bree Aeaeures of Aeal 
 
 its hands upon this old edifice. In it 
 we behold the high pulpit and sounding- 
 board and see the same pews that were 
 there when the patriot fathers met to 
 consider what they could do to throw 
 off the British yoke. 
 
 Moreover, one finds history, philosoph}^ 
 and humor in varying phases of develop- 
 ment in the cemetery which lies about 
 Old St. John's. It is doubtful whether, 
 in all the realm of the United States, 
 there is another place equal to it for the 
 variety of inscriptions on the monuments 
 and headstones marking the last resting 
 places of its parishioners. Here let us 
 quote a few of these in proof of this 
 assertion. We find first an inscription 
 for a loving wife who died in the year 
 1840, at the age of 40 years: — 
 
 [ 12] 
 
c =i 
 
 
Zbtec Aeaeuces ot Abeal 
 
 "She done her duty on earth as a wife 
 
 & a mother and gave evidence 
 
 here on earth by her good 
 
 conduct of her reception 
 
 in heaven." 
 
 An epitaph on the gravestone of a 
 woman who died in 1814, "in the 18th 
 year of her age," reads as follows: — 
 
 ". . . She left 
 
 a husband with an infant 
 
 10 weeks old to mourn her loss, 
 
 words are wanting to say what. 
 
 What a wife and mother should be 
 
 she was that." 
 
 Now conies the turn of a widow, who 
 laments the death of her husband, who 
 died in the month of May, 1809, at the 
 age of 41 years: — 
 
 "A widow who will long his life deplore 
 Her kind Husband now no more." 
 
 [13] 
 
tibree Measures ot Aeal 
 
 Very conspicuous and mournful is 
 this admonition on the tombstone of a 
 married woman who died at the age of 
 18 years, 7 months and 23 days: — 
 
 "Stop, my friends, as you pass by, 
 As you are now, so once was I ; 
 As I am now soon you must be. 
 
 Prepare yourselves to follow me." 
 
 It is alleged that a wag, on reading 
 this inscription, wrote out and pasted 
 over it some doggerel to the effect that 
 he was willing to repent, but could not 
 agree to follow the deceased vintil he knew 
 which way she went ! 
 
 It is very apparent, on reading these 
 inscriptions, that the older parishioners 
 knew nothing about Christian Science, 
 because they seem to have suffered 
 
 I 14] 
 
XTbree OSensmee of Oscnl 
 
 much pain, and they complain of doctors' 
 services which were ima vailing. And 
 they undoubtedly died in the belief that 
 there was no escape from physical suffer- 
 ing this side the grave. So rims the 
 story on the shaft over the resting place 
 of a native of Tipperary, his wife and son, 
 who went the way of all flesh the first 
 half of the last century: — 
 
 "Affliction sore long time I bore, 
 Physicians skill was vain, 
 Till God pleased that death should seize 
 And ease me of my pain." 
 
 And surely there was evidence that 
 death was regarded as a blessing to the 
 sorely afflicted in this outpouring of 
 sorrow and solace from a young husband 
 over the demise of his wife: — 
 
 [15] 
 
^bree Usensnves of Aeal 
 
 "This languishing head is at rest 
 
 Its thinking and aching are o'er 
 This quiet immovable breast 
 
 Is heaved by affliction no more 
 This heart is no longer the seat 
 
 Of trouble and torturing pain 
 It ceases to flutter and beat 
 
 It never shall flutter again." 
 
 Not all of the inscriptions, or even 
 most of them, show lack of literary skill, 
 but it was undoubtedly considered good 
 taste in Virginia in former years to 
 inscribe original verses over the graves 
 of the deceased. Some of the inscriptions 
 in prose and poetry pay high tribute to 
 the dead, and bespeak the noble mind 
 of friend or loved one who attempted 
 to make a lasting tribute of respect on 
 the graven stone. Here, for instance, is 
 
 [16] 
 
Zbxee /Bbeasures of /Dbeal 
 
 a quatrain marking the resting place 
 of "John Lester, merchant of the city of 
 Richmond," who died in the year 1804: — 
 
 "No pampered verse or sculptur'd stone 
 
 Shall vaunt how lineage ran ; 
 Write this upon the heart alone 
 
 Here lies an Honest Man." 
 
 And we may very well conclude our 
 quotations and withdraw from the sacred 
 precincts of Old St. John's, after looking 
 at this inscription on the monument 
 of a good spinster, who, after a life of 
 much labor, died in the 53d year of her 
 age in the year 1849: — 
 
 "By the death of her only sister early 
 in life she was left in charge of five 
 motherless children, to whose education 
 for time and eternity all her energies 
 of mind and body under God were con- 
 
 [17] 
 
XLbxee /iBeasures ot Itscstl 
 
 secrated, for her they will ever cherish 
 the warmest affection and the most 
 lively gratitude." 
 
 [18] 
 
•*i|«»: 
 
 "m 
 
 
(Tbcee Ubcnemee of /Ibeal 
 
 11. 
 
 It is a peculiar thing how the curiosity 
 of the traveller takes hold of an object, 
 investigates it, and finds within it some- 
 thing distinctively responsive to his 
 nature. Does one love history and ro- 
 mance, and is one inclined to dig through 
 brick and mortar for the beauty and 
 glory of the bygone time? If so, old 
 St. John's is a good starting point, but 
 there are other places of interest. Vir- 
 ginia is rich in stories of the Indians 
 and the English, but Long Island has 
 a peculiar flavor of the Dutch also. 
 
 Now Gravesend Bay is the first place 
 of refuge around the end of Coney Island 
 for vessels coming to our shores across 
 
 [19] 
 
the Atlantic. Hence, we may naturally 
 expect to find one of the oldest settle- 
 ments in New York on its shores. Accord- 
 ingly, we find Gravesend, which is at 
 once an ancient and a quaintly beautiful 
 place. 
 
 There is a dwelling in this old village 
 (now absorbed, of course, into the great 
 city of New York) which is about 250 
 years old, and it is thoroughly Dutch in 
 architecture and appointments. It is 
 said to be the oldest house on Long Island, 
 and perhaps it is the oldest dwelling 
 place in the city of New York. It is 
 still occupied. An immense tree in front 
 of it bears witness to its dignified age, 
 and the garden vines and flowers which 
 surrotind it have a tendency to give it a 
 beauty and a perfume most unusual in 
 the midst of modem brick and mortar. 
 
 [ 20] 
 
fZbvec /iReasurcs of /IBeal 
 
 Not that the old village of Gravesend 
 itself has been rebuilt, for it has not; but 
 the encroachments of the contractor 
 with his row of houses, and the munici- 
 pality with its paved streets and sidewalks 
 are not far to find; and one shudders 
 to think what the little Dutch town of 
 years ago will look like a few years 
 hence when another subway or so is 
 constructed between Manhattan Island 
 and the gay resorts on Gravesend Bay. 
 One of the most beautiful church 
 structures in the United States is to be 
 found at Gravesend. The present build- 
 ing is entirely modern, having been 
 erected in 1893-94. But its origin goes 
 back two centuries and a half, — to the 
 year 1655 to be exact, — when Dominie 
 Johannes Polhemus began preaching in 
 Breuckelen, Gravesend, and other places 
 
 [21] 
 
a:btee /Bcasurcs ot /Real 
 
 on Long Island. It is a curious circum- 
 stance that while the English were over- 
 coming the Dutch in all other parts of 
 New Amsterdam, the Dutch were over- 
 coming the English, — ecclesiastically at 
 least, — in the town of Gravesend; for 
 the town of Gravesend was settled under 
 a patent granted to Lady Deborah 
 Moody and others in the year 1645. It 
 gave them full "power to erect a town 
 and fortifications, and to have and enjoy 
 the free liberty of conscience according 
 to the manners and customs of Holland, 
 without molestation or disturbance from 
 any magistrate or magistrates, or any 
 other ecclesiastical minister that might 
 pretend jurisdiction over them; and 
 the liberty to constitute themselves a 
 body politic as freemen of the province 
 and town of Gravesend." 
 
 [22] 
 
XTbree Measures ot /Real 
 
 Lady Deborah Moody, who was an 
 Englishwoman, had resided for some 
 years at Salem, Massachusetts, but, be- 
 coming a convert to the views of Roger 
 Williams, she gave expression to her 
 dissent from the views of the Congrega- 
 tional Church concerning infant baptism, 
 and thereupon was excommunicated, — 
 which accounts for her removal, for 
 conscience' sake, into New Amsterdam, 
 and her procurement of the patent for 
 the town of Gravesend. 
 
 We next find her associated with the 
 Quakers, who established the first re- 
 ligious body in Gravesend, about the 
 year 1645; and she continued active 
 with them, "honored and beloved by all 
 who knew her," until 1659 when she 
 died. The Quaker and English influence 
 gradually diminished in the settlement 
 
 [23] 
 
Zbxec /IBeasures of ^eal 
 
 and ultimately asstimed a negligible 
 phase. But the Dutch Church which 
 began with Dominie Polhemus held on 
 and has continually increased in wealth 
 and influence from year to year. 
 
 By what process that first small or- 
 ganization maintained itself and grew 
 in all these years it is not profitable 
 here to inquire. But certain it is that 
 the Dutch names and the Dutch tradi- 
 tions still adhere to this church and one 
 can scarcely believe, in looking over the 
 congregation, that he is in the midst of 
 people who share the manners, the dress 
 and the thoughts of the typical New 
 Yorker of the twentieth century. In- 
 deed, there is a vast difference, but the 
 difference is easily in favor of the de- 
 scendants of the people who established 
 this church 250 years ago, and still follow 
 
 [24] 
 
^Tbree /Measures ot /Bbeal 
 
 in the footsteps of their fathers in the 
 simplicity of their reUgion and manners. 
 Many of the old buildings in the 
 neighborhood of the chiirch preserve the 
 ancient architect lire. They are extremely 
 beautiful in the summer season, as most 
 of them are surrounded with a profusion 
 of trees, shrubs, and flowers. It is a 
 wonder that the average New Yorker 
 thinks so much about the Gravesend 
 race-track, and so little about the pictur- 
 esque, delightful old village of Gravesend. 
 Here the tired New Yorker, wearied of 
 stocks and bonds, or surfeited with golf, 
 tennis and automobiling, may forget 
 the toil and moil of the modem world, 
 and go back by an easy mental process 
 into the calm and wholesomeness of the 
 Dutch period. Here the student and the 
 sage, baffled by the endless conflicts of 
 
 [25] 
 
tXbree /Ibeasurea ot /Deal 
 
 theologians and scientists — ^real and so- 
 called — over the truth and the true life, 
 may go to refresh himself at a fountain 
 whose waters, from its foundation, have 
 been free, and in a place whose origin and 
 history speak eloquently of liberty of 
 thought and worship. 
 
 [26] 
 
(Tbree Measures ot /Real 
 
 III. 
 
 Many of us do often repine and lament 
 the emptiness of existence when, if we 
 only knew it, there are pleasures near at 
 hand. The trouble with most people 
 is that, having eyes, they see not, and 
 having ears, they hear not. We have 
 outgrown our monkey habits to a very 
 great extent, and, unfortunately, most 
 of us have dropped the curiosity which 
 characterizes the monkey and causes 
 him to look in and see what is going on. 
 We fall into a dull routine of life, and 
 complain of the routine; but the trouble 
 is in ourselves, — we will not go around 
 the block to see what has developed over- 
 night in the next street. 
 
 [27] 
 
XLbvec /fteasurcg of Obeal 
 
 There used to be, not far from Graves- 
 end, another Dutch village, which was 
 called New Utrecht. Very little is left 
 to mark the place of its existence now, 
 but one finds a station on one branch of 
 the Brooklyn elevated road on the way 
 to Bath Beach and Coney Island, which 
 is called Van Pelt Manor, and that is 
 where we get off to find what is left of 
 New Utrecht. 
 
 The most conspicuous thing about it is 
 the Reformed Dutch Church, which is 
 hard by the station. It is very difficult 
 for the New Yorker of today to imagine 
 the existence of such a church as the 
 Dutch had in this place more than two 
 hundred years ago. If one will look at 
 the accompanying pictures, showing the 
 first and last edifices of this congregation, 
 the imagination will have a difficult 
 
 [28] 
 
n^bree /nbeaeures of /Rbeal 
 
 struggle to get back through the mist 
 of years and see what the social and civic 
 conditions were in that long gone time. 
 
 It is interesting to note that many 
 of the names familiar in the business 
 and social life of New York today are 
 found among the first parishioners of 
 this New Utrecht church. For instance: 
 Hegeman, Van Pelt, Van Nostrand, Van 
 Brunt, Van Dyck, Corteljau, Terhune, 
 Vande venter, and Van Voorhees. The 
 descendants of the founders have been 
 absorbed in the multiform life of the 
 great metropolis, and their names are 
 written in the streets and places of public 
 interest in New York. It is fortunate 
 that their chosen place of worship, which 
 is the only thing of conspicuous identity 
 with their origin and growth as a separate 
 factor in the community, is preserved 
 
 [29] 
 
Zbxee /tsc&euxce ot Osenl 
 
 in a very substantial and beautiful 
 environment. The Reformed Dutch 
 Church of New Utrecht is easily one of 
 the most attractive and satisfying church 
 edifices and properties in the great city 
 of New York. 
 
 The small building which is shown in 
 one of our pictures^ was erected in 1700, 
 but that was twenty-three years after 
 the organization of the church. In speak- 
 ing of it at the bi-centennial celebration 
 on October 18, 1877, the Rev. David S. 
 Sutphen, the pastor, in his memorial 
 address, said: — 
 
 It was a stone structure of octagonal form, 
 with a roof running up to a point, surmounted 
 by a belfry. At first it was without pews, the 
 worshippers occupying chairs. Afterward pews 
 were erected in it. The pulpit was very high, 
 
 * See title-page. 
 
 [30] 
 
Zbtec Aeaeuree ot ^eal 
 
 with about room enough in it for the preacher — 
 in shape very much like a tumbler. Access to 
 it was gained by a winding staircase on one side. 
 The building stood in the old graveyard at 
 the other end of the village, and remained until 
 the year 1828, a period of one hundred and 
 twenty-eight years. During all this time it 
 was used for pubHc worship, except a few years 
 during the struggle for independence. During 
 the Revolutionary War it was occupied by the 
 British. PecuHar in construction and prominent 
 in position, its removal was deeply regretted. 
 It is said that sea-captains used it as a mark 
 by which to steer their vessels into the harbor; 
 and I doubt not many a landsman found it to be 
 the place where he was directed in the way 
 to the heavenly home. 
 
 The same speaker on the same occa- 
 sion adverted to some of the ancient 
 customs of the church: — 
 
 [31] 
 
Zbvce ilBcasuces of /IBcal 
 
 In the old church the number of the first 
 psalm was set with movable figures suspended 
 at the sides of the pulpit. These the clerk 
 properly arranged before service, so that every- 
 one might readily prepare to sing. It was also 
 the clerk's duty to have an hour-glass properly 
 placed near the minister at the commencement 
 of the sermon, and as the last grains of sand 
 left the upper for the lower cavity, it was a 
 reminder that the time had arrived for the con- 
 clusion. Some preachers, however, quietly 
 allowed the sand to run out, and then informed 
 their audience that, as they had sat so patiently 
 through the one, they would proceed with a 
 second. The collections during the service 
 were taken in velvet bags attached to the end 
 of long poles, with a small alarm bell fastened 
 to the end. The best explanation I have heard 
 of the use of the latter is that it indicated when 
 
 [32] 
 
w 
 
 X 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 Pi 
 < 
 
 ^ > 
 2 < 
 
 w w 
 
contributions were made. When a coin was 
 given the bell rang; if it passed through a pew 
 silently it showed that nothing had been con- 
 tributed by the persons in that pew. It re- 
 quired considerable dexterity to handle them 
 well, to avoid pillars and bonnets. Previous 
 to 1802 there were no stoves in the churches. 
 The ladies were accustomed to bring their foot- 
 stoves, and to replenish them at a house near 
 by. ... In those days, when the ladies went 
 out to spend the day, or to make an afternoon 
 visit at the parsonage, they carried their spin- 
 ning wheels and flax with them. Among the old 
 social customs was to furnish the persons in- 
 vited to funerals with tobacco, pipes and 
 liquor, ... a custom which was sadly abused. 
 This was happily abandoned about forty years 
 ago. Funeral sermons do not appear to have 
 been usual in our church in olden times. 
 
 [33] 
 
^bree Aeadutes of Aeal 
 
 One humorous bit of history in con- 
 nection with the church at New Utrecht 
 will be appreciated by the discriminating 
 reader. Thompson, in his "History of 
 Long Island," says that one of the clergy 
 was accused of having married himself 
 while he had another wife living. "Then 
 (to quote the Reverend Mr. Sutphen) 
 the accused alleged, by way of excuse, 
 that his first wife had eloped with no 
 just cause; and, being minded to take 
 another, he considered he had as good a 
 right to execute the ceremony for him- 
 self as for any other person. This 
 reasoning failed to satisfy the court, who 
 declared the marriage void and fined 
 the delinquent 200 guilden or 40 beaver 
 skins, and also 40 guilden more for his 
 insolence and impertinence to the court." 
 It is safe to say that a preacher of that 
 
 [34] 
 
XTbree Aeaeucea of tv^enl 
 
 kind, if one could be found in these days, 
 would never talk to empty benches. 
 
 When the present church building at 
 New Utrecht was erected in the year 
 1828-29, the stones of that ancient 
 edifice were utilized as far as they 
 would go in its construction. If it is 
 true, therefore, as the theosophists assert, 
 that inanimate objects carry the im- 
 pression of spirits which come in contact 
 with them through mortal agency, one 
 who worships in this more modern build- 
 ing must have a lively sense of association 
 with men of peace and men of war, — 
 Dutchmen, Englishmen and Indians, — 
 back to the very foundation of the civiliza- 
 tion of this country. 
 
 It is well to note also that the people 
 of New Utrecht have a body of people 
 known as the "New Utrecht Liberty 
 
 [35] 
 
V^bvec Measured of ^eal 
 
 Pole Association." There is a road 
 running near the church, which is known 
 as the "King's High-way;" and it is 
 alleged on good authority that when 
 George Washington, as first President 
 of the Republic, rode that way, he looked 
 upon the original flag-pole erected by 
 the parishioners of this Dutch Reformed 
 Church after the evacuation of the 
 British in 1783. He went down in a 
 coach-and-four to dine with his friend 
 William Barre, who lived nearby. The 
 pole has been reset three times, — in 
 1834, 1867 and 1899, the last time being 
 May 10, 1899, and it now occupies the 
 foremost place in the foreground of the 
 church property. It is the last of its 
 kind on Long Island. The association 
 contains a large membership who con- 
 tribute one dollar each a year for the 
 
 [36] 
 
New Utrecht Liberty Pole, 
 
 18th Ave.. 8.Srd and HUI, Streets. 
 
 BROOKLYN, N, Y. 
 Orfginal Pole erected 1783. 
 
^bree Asasures of fSsenl 
 
 preservation of the flag pole and the 
 flag, the printing and distribution of 
 literature, and other incidental purposes. 
 
 It must be manifest to the passerby, 
 therefore, that the people of this con- 
 gregation believe in more than religion; 
 they are patriots and love the country 
 and all that is best therein. 
 
 It will be of interest, no doubt, to many 
 persons not familiar with the history 
 of the Dutch Reformed Church, to know 
 that its coat-of-arms is made up of the 
 shield and crest of the Prince of Orange, 
 with side ornaments giving them a 
 clerical setting, and with scrolls and 
 mottoes, above and beneath, which in- 
 dicate the cardinal points of their doc- 
 trine. On the motto above is, ''Nisi 
 Dominus Frustra," which, being liberally 
 interpreted, means, "Without God all 
 
 [37] 
 
JLbxec Abea&ures of Aeal 
 
 is vain;" and on the motto below are 
 the Dutch words, " Eendracht maakt 
 Macht," which signifies our famiUar 
 phrase, "In union there is strength." 
 
 Behold the work of the churches! 
 
 Now, "the kingdom of heaven is like 
 unto leaven which a woman took and 
 hid in three measures of meal till the 
 whole was leavened," the truth of which 
 may be found in this story of three 
 churches. 
 
 [38] 
 
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