LIFE OF VAN DIEREN.

John Bernhard van Dieren (Düren, Dören, Thieren) began to act as pastor in the Schoharie in the year 1717.521 He was a native of Königsberg, Germany, a tailor by occupation, and had never studied theology. He came to London, and met with a favorable reception at the hands of Court Preacher Böhme, Ziegenhagen's predecessor in the St. James Chapel. Böhme was impressed with his pious language, and though he probably did not ordain van Dieren, as the latter afterward claimed in America, yet he aided him by sending books to him to New York. "That Böhme advised him to come to America may well be, but that he ordained him is false, and the tailor's object in the beginning appears only to have been to teach school in connection with his regular occupation." (Fortgesetzete Sammlung von Alten und Neuen Theologischen Sachen, etc., 1731. Leipsig, p. 72, ff.)

Arriving in New York, van Dieren evidently set himself up as a teacher as soon as possible, and after a time began to preach, working at his tailor's trade at intervals. Berkenmeyer says: "That he not only wrought as a tailor in England, but also here in New York, and that the spirit of fanaticism had already manifested itself in him in England, is attested by Mr. Schleydorn who knew him there. Here he was no less under this influence, and not only acted as being in the church, but at divers times cried out aloud in his workshop in the basement, and claimed to be holding a conversation with God. He made the woman, in whose house he lived, believe that he wanted to marry her daughter, but that God would not give his consent. The name of Jesus the

521 There are some difficulties in connection with the exact dates at the beginning of van Dieren's career, due in part perhaps to obscurity or inaccuracy in Pastor Berkenmeyer's various writings. We do not know the date of van Dieren's arrival in New York. A note in Hall. Nachrr., I., 622, states that van Dieren himself asserted “that * * * Pastor Gerhart Henkel, residing in New Hanover, Pennsylvania, had ordained him in the year 1717." What authority this statement has, we are not prepared at present to say. It is also made by Mann, Life of Muhlenberg, p. 256. Kocherthal died in 1718 or 1719. Berkenmeyer in 1728 writes "that van Dieren had already disturbed the Christian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America eight years ago." Berkenmeyer also writes that in Lidman's Latin letter of July 3, 1721 (which informs us that Falckner, prior to 1721, had written to the Swedish pastors to have van Dieren ordained), it is testified that before this date (and perhaps some years before) van Dieren had gone "to a Palatine preacher in Pennsylvania." [This is Henkel.] Yet at the same time Berkenmeyer tells us in his pamphlet, published by Zenger, that van Dieren had gone to Henkel at Manatawny first, and that "when he returned from this place" he went to Wicaco, and "in the sacristy" he pled with Lidman to give him the ordination. This, then, may have been a different and an earlier appeal to the Wicaco pastor for ordination by van Dieren in person, than the one which Falckner made in 1721. Lidman arrived from Sweden and took charge of Wicaco in 1719. Now whether van Dieren went to Henkel in 1717, and then again in 1719 or 1720 when he went to Lidman, and then to Justus Falckner in 1721, or whether one or other of the early writers has confused the dates, is not plain.

crucified served him for many purposes. In his complimentary greeting to me he made use of the name no less than ten times, as also the word 'Christ.'" His smooth phrases and pious demeanor soon gained him firm friends in the little New York congregation.

Here he met and married the daughter of one of the members of the congregation, Johann Michael Schütz, who was himself a fellow craftsman with van Dieren. Schütz had formerly served as a deacon in the Lutheran Church and in 1713 had taken upon himself to collect money for the New York church in Amsterdam, "whereof he delivered fifteen pounds to the church after a lapse of three years." Of Schütz, Justus Falckner, in a letter to the Amsterdam consistory dated June 12, 1717, writes as follows: "When one of our Brethren, by the name of Johann Michael Schütze was in Holland on his own business last year, he, from the zeal and Christian affection towards our true Religion of which he is possessed, prayed your assistance for a new Church here in New York. And you, being filled with and rich in that true charity the nature and character of which is tireless, have, in compliance with his said prayer, presented him with One hundred Dutch Guilders."

As van Dieren abandoned the needle more and more, and turned his eyes to the pastoral office, the father-in-law did all in his power to further his new son's ambitions.

The pastor of the New York congregation at this time was no other than the Rev. Justus Falckner. Of his first impression of van Dieren we are in entire ignorance. Van Dieren tried very hard to get the ordination at various times after his arrival here in America. Perhaps at this period, he applied, like Stoever ten years later on, to Rev. Daniel Falckner in New Jersey, to whom he made misrepresentations and who refused to grant it as he also did in the case of Stoever. As early as 1717 he travelled to Pennsylvania and applied to the Rev. Gerhart Henkel, of New Hanover, for ordination. Either at this time, or on the death of the Rev. Joshua Kocherthal in 1718 or 1719, he went to the backwoods Germans in Schoharie and officiated there, as the successor of Kocherthal, without ordination.

In May, 1721, two letters from the Schoharie, one dated the 21st and the other the 26th, reported to Pastor Falckner of New York that the congregation is informed that a high German pastor for the Schoharie has arrived in New York. Further that they have already heard him preach and are pleased with him, and that he told them that he had been sent to them by Pastor Böhme in England. The Schoharie congregations "also had heard that he was a tailor, but they did not mind this provided Pastor Falckner would examine and ordain him." Berkenmeyer surmises that van Dieren himself was the writer of these letters.

In any case they evidently enlisted Pastor Falckner on van Dieren's behalf for he now attempted to secure van Dieren's ordination from the Swedish pastors in Philadelphia. Berkenmeyer says: "I also find two Latin letters dated July 3, 1721, one from Jonas Lidman Praepositus Wicacoa, in Philadelphia; the other from Adr. Hesselius, pastor at Christiana, also in Pennsylvania, by which it shown that the said Falckner interested himself for van Dieren, so that he might be ordained by the three Swedish pastors."

The letter of Hesselius to Falckner has been discovered in the archives at

Amsterdam by Dr. Sachse (Justus Falckner, p. 112). follows:

Hesselius writes as

As to Bernhard Von Dieren I have been able to discover nothing except his singular zeal (would that it had been more wisely directed) for serving the church which he canvassed with such earnestness and such cares and troubles. I only dread that much injury may result; for if he be unfortunately transferred to administer affairs for which he has not been fitted, he must neglect both his order (?) and their duties, and corrupt those of others. If, as he professes, he be actually a Lutheran, I wish that, being mindful of Luther's doctrine, he would acquiesce in his words: 'Await the One who calls thee; meanwhile, be secure. *** If He (?) need thee, He will call thee. No one is enriched by the word, unless one who, without his wish, is called to teach.' How in every way this declaration of Luther is harmonious with the practice of the ancient and purer church, the words of the Emperor Leo will attest. The minister of the word of God ought to be so free from ambition that he is to be sought for as one who has to be constrained: being asked for, he retires; and being invited he shrinks back. Let the necessity of making an excuse be his own recommendation. Only he is worthy of the ministry who is ordained unwillingly.

"Such is the opinion of

"Andrew Hesselius, Pastor at

"Christiana and Provost of the

"Swedish Churches in Pennsylvania."

"In a letter to Dominie Justus Falckner, dated 1721, on the day of St. James the Apostle."

On this letter of Hesselius to Falckner, Berkenmeyer makes the following comment: "The latter sent a prolix and solid letter in contrarium, from which I enclose an extract which treats particularly of van Dieren's application." Berkenmeyer continues:

"Upon the failure of this scheme, van Dieren went to a Palatine preacher in Pennsylvania (if this be true) from whom it is claimed that he obtained an attestatum Ordinationis; but no one has thus far been able to get a sight of it.

"Further, after his return he continued to importune Dominie Falckner to ordain him. In the meantime he settled in Schoharie, while boasting of his ordination."

This boasting of van Dieren's in the Schoharie that he had already been ordained by Pastor Henkel by and by came to the ears of Pastor Falckner. When Falckner next met him, he took van Dieren to task for having concealed his ordination from him.

Not long after this, fifty-two members of van Dieren's congregation in the Schoharie wrote to Pastor Falckner that van Dieren had begun "to break the bread in the Holy Communion, and in his sermon even ordered such as objected to this to leave the Church "; and Falckner again called him to account. It was at this period that van Dieren baptized one of Conrad Weiser's children in the Schoharie. Berkenmeyer declares that the Schoharie congregation was totally scattered as a result of the pastorate of van Dieren, and "that the

church as well as the parsonage there has become a spoil for the Reformed of that locality." 522

With these experiences it was no wonder that Falckner characterized van Dieren as follows (in litteris ad eundem exaratis) (see Sachse's Falckner, p. 125): "In him we find great craftiness in place of Christian prudence; great obstinacy in place of humbleness. To prove this I will not give myself any trouble."

Moreover, Pastor Falckner knowing that his days would soon be run, and rightly fearing that after his death van Dieren, with the help of his father-inlaw Schütz, would make a strong effort to become pastor of the congregation in New York, admonished his people to apply after his death to the Lutheran

Falckner Saxo- Germans

Justus Falckner

rit. Ecela Orthodox. Lutheran. Belgic.
Nov- Eboraci in America Paftor.

AUTOGRAPH OF JUSTUS FALCKNER.

Church in Amsterdam for a pastor. (Rev. Berkenmeyer, in a document discovered by Dr. Sachse in the archives of the old Lutheran Church in Amsterdam, and given in translation in his forthcoming volume on Justus Falckner, page 119, says concerning van Dieren's assumption of the pastoral office, that "there had been many a dispute even during the lifetime of Dominie Justus Falckner, who as he felt his end approaching admonished the wardens and vestry to seek their refuge with the Right Worshipful Consistory at Amsterdam.")

The result was that when Pastor Falckner died in 1723, the great majority of the New York congregation followed his advice and delegated a representative to go to Holland and there take steps to secure a pastor. But Schütz, the

522 The baptism of Conrad Weiser's first four children in the Schoharie is an instructive example of pastoral matters in the community at that time. Philip, born in 1722, was baptized, as Weiser states, "by Rev. John B. van Dieren." Anna Madlina, born in 1725, was baptized "by John Jacob Oehl, a Reformed pastor." Mariah Anna, born in 1727, was baptized "by William Chr. Birkenmeyer, a Lutheran pastor." Frederick, born the day before Christmas in 1728, was baptized by Rev. J. B. van Dieren." The first and last of these children were baptized by van Dieren and it is significant to note that the title "Reverend" is given twice to van Dieren and is omitted both in the case of Oehl and of Berkenmeyer. When a pastor itinerated through a settlement, whether he were Lutheran or Reformed, there were always marriages and baptisms in waiting, and Weiser, a Lutheran himself, and with a Lutheran wife, thus was married by a Reformed minister, and had one of his children baptized by another Reformed minister. See the author's article, "Was Conrad Weiser a Lutheran ?"

tailor, withheld his consent from this move, as he would gladly have seen his son-in-law, who was still at Schoharie, called to New York.

As time sped, the Amsterdam Consistory sent word back to New York that they were unable to get a man for New York unless they had the legal consent and authority of the congregations concerned. This reply from Amsterdam afforded Father-in-law Schütz both a hint and an opportunity. He at once drafted a reply to the Amsterdam authorities, requesting them to drop the whole subject; and succeeded in inducing the wealthiest member of the congregation, who was also one of the most prominent of the signers of the original appeal to Amsterdam, viz., Andreas van Buskerke, with the latter's brother and son, who lived in the country, to sign this letter. He further secured the signatures of Johann Boss and Michael Peper, with nearly a score of others. But the two here mentioned, with those of Schütz and his son, and several scattered country members, were the only ones of all the twenty odd signers who really belonged to the congregation or who ever gave a single penny towards its support.

Meantime van Dieren left his congregation in the Schoharie, which, if we may trust the Berkenmeyer account, was almost in a ruined condition, and set out for New York. He undoubtedly traveled through the Mohawk valley, preached at Albany, and came down the Hudson. This was in 1724. He was brought to the neighborhood of New York, where a brother of the van Buskerkes gave him a call to Hackensack. He preached at Hackensack occasionally in the dwelling houses of the Lutheran members. From this point of vantage he succeeded in gaining entrance to the New York Church. "He preached once in our church, but only with the consent, forcibly attained, from both the p and t deacons Lagrannie and Beekman. Upon the next occasion, however, these officers took possession of the pulpit and barred the way to the chancel." (Berkenmeyer.) Great strife ensued in the New York congregation, some favoring van Dieren, and others resolving to call the Rev. Daniel Falckner in case nothing was heard from Amsterdam.

At this time the New York congregation consisted of from ten to twelve households, "which upon the male or female side are of the Reformed faith." The church had no income except the regular Klingel Beitel collection, and some interest from monies sent by the Lutheran Church in St. Thomas ten or fifteen years earlier. It was customary, if this did not suffice for the pastor's salary, to collect the balance from door to door. The church building itself was said to be "more like a cattle shed than like a house of God." Only two windows were in the building, one behind the pulpit and one directly opposite. The church was floored with loose boards, some long and others short. The congregational singing was exceedingly poor. And in general the whole outlook was very gloomy.

While the false letter was going out in 1725, the Amsterdam Consistory found a man who was willing to come over to America, and therefore, on the 25th of May, 1725, they examined and ordained the Rev. William Christopher Berkenmeyer to this office, and on the 16th of June Berkenmeyer actually set out on his journey to America, entirely ignorant of the sensational developments taking place in New York.

After Berkenmeyer was on the sea the Amsterdam Consistory was surprised