CHAPTER XXTm.
 

Itel^oni—Lntkeran.
 

The Pint Lnthemn Chnroh—Justus Palokner Piist Lutheran Pastor to Be

Ordained in Amerioa—^Account of His Ordination—Four Centre*

gations and One Hundred Conununicants Hii Initial Charge.

The history of the Lutheran Church in N'ew York in the early part
of the seventeenth century is extremely meagre. Whatever records were
kept of tbe struggle of the sect to obtain a foothold In the colony are in
the keeping of the authorities In Amsterdam, Holland. It Is knowUi how¬
ever, tbat Dutch Lutherans came to America wltb the flrst settlers on
Manhattan Island In 1623, and that the flrst German Lutheran arrived
in 1G44. The followers of Luther hdd the same trouble with Governor
Stuyvesant as other religious denominations not of his belief, for in IGCO
he refused them permission to build a church In Ne^ Amsterdam, and
was supported by tbe West India Company on tbo ground that so dangerous
a precedent would soon he followed by the other dissenting socLs^ and thus
would the establlBhed relldon of tho province be destroyed. This refusal
of Stuyvesant Is considered by historians to be tbe flrst manifestation of
religious bigotry In tho provinces.

~ When the English bad succeeded In expelling tho Dutch from tholr
American possessions, in 1664, and the affaire of the province were in
the bauds of Colonel NIcolb, as Deputy-Governor, the Lutherans were per¬
mitted to erect a church and to send to Europe for a preacher of their own
denomination, lu February, 1GG9, Jacob Fabrlclua arrived, and was the
flrst to preach to them in their own language. In what was known as the
flrst Lutheran Church, which stood outside tbo fort, about where Bowling
Green now Is. When the town came once more into tho possession of
the Dutch, in 1670, this building was raoed for military purposes* and a
lot was given to the congregation at what is now the southwest corner
of Broadway and Rector street.

The religious zeal of the Lutherans In the seventoeutb century woe
conflned more to Pennsylvania than to New York, as in 169-1 a band of
German Pietists settled on the Wlssahickon* a short distance from Ger-
mautowh, and proved a powerful factor In upboldlng the orthodox Lutheran
faith In the province of Pennsylvania. In 1701 Andreas Rudman arrived
in New York from Pennsylvania and began to gather up and organize
tho Gorman, Ihitch and Swedish Lutherans, who were scattered over a large
territory. Including parts of Long Island and East Jersey, in tbe
latter part of the year Dominie Rudman and his family were stricken with
yellow fever, which broke out with fury In the fort and In the town.   The

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