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Appendix 5 Westerlo’s Preface and Addendum to the
Remonstrance of September 17, 1773
On September 17, 1773, hundreds of distressed members (and non-members) of
the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany submitted a petition to the Consistory,
asking them to reconsider two recent decisions concerning the adoption of the
Plan of Union, and a meeting of the ministers and elders united under that Plan to
be held in the Albany church building. Although the Consistory, through Eilardus
Westerlo, added a preface and an addendum to this so-called “Remonstrance” in
which they claimed to have had the petition printed, no such printed version has
ever surfaced. Below is the transcribed and translated Voorrede and Bijvoegzel.
The “Remonstrance” itself, which was submitted both in English and in Dutch, is
given its place in between.
1. Voorrede - Preface 298-306;
2. Remonstrance, September 17, 1773 307-312;
3. Bijvoegzel - Addendum 313-314.
1. Voorrede
De voornaamste reden, dat wij deze
onze kerkenraadverhandelingen in ’t
ligt, en dus voor ‘t oog der waereld
brengen, is om den vrede en eendragt
door Gods zegen in onze gemeente te
herstellen, en ons t’effens betamelijk te
verdedigen tegen ’t geen in een’
zoogenaamd vertoog van den 17 dezer
tegen ons is ingebragt.
Wij hebben dit vertoog met een’ laten
drukken, ten einde elk die zig deezer
zaaken aantrekt, te beter oordeelen, en
de respective leden dezer gemeente
bedaardelijk overdenken zouden, wat
zommige van hun ondertekend hebben.
Alleen zullen wij eenige weinige
aanmerkingen op het vertoog zelve
maken, die wij oordeelen tot beter
verstand van ’t geheel noodig te zijn.
Vooreerst: hoewel wij gaarne
toestemmen, dat deese gemeente,
geduurende de voorige oneenigheden in
andere gemeentens, betrekkelijk op die
verschillen in vrede en eendragt geleefd
hebbe; egter luidt ’t al aanstonds
vreemd dat onse, de gemelde
298
1. Preface
The principal reason we are making our
consistory minutes public to the world is
to restore peace and unity to our
congregation through the Lord’s
blessings, and also to defend ourselves
adequately against what was brought in
against us in a so-called remonstrance
dated the 17th of this month.
We have immediately had this
remonstrance printed, so that everyone
who cares about this case can better
judge it, and that the respective members
of this congregation would calmly assess
what some amongst them have put their
signature under. We will only make a
few remarks concerning the
remonstrance itself, which we feel
necessary to better understand the entire
case.
First: although we would gladly admit
that this congregation, during the earlier
arguments in other congregations,
responded in relative peace and unison to
those differences, it soon sounds strange
that our remonstrance writer
aforementioned takes it upon himself to