The Expansion of tolerance
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Frans Post, Boa Vista Palace (1643). <strong>The</strong> French Church in Mauricia, constructed in 1642, is<br />
depicted in the background (F). It was the only church to be built by the Dutch in Brazil,<br />
and the predikant Vincente Soler delivered his sermons here. After the expulsion <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Dutch, the building was adapted by the Jesuits for Catholic worship.<br />
neither Reformed nor Lutheran, whether Mennonites, other kinds <strong>of</strong><br />
Anabaptists, Remonstrants or Socinians. Indeed, as in the strongholds <strong>of</strong><br />
the Dutch East India Company in Asia, and in Dutch South Africa, until<br />
the late eighteenth century there continued to be no toleration <strong>of</strong> Lutheran,<br />
Mennonite or Remonstrant worship. Hence, if it is true that royal policy<br />
in New France had the consequence <strong>of</strong> restricting emigration from the<br />
metropolis to the colony, ultimately to its disadvantage, it is legitimate to<br />
ask whether, even if to a lesser extent, something <strong>of</strong> the sort was not true<br />
also <strong>of</strong> Dutch Brazil.<br />
Meanwhile, the Dutch Reformed Church, with the support <strong>of</strong> the States<br />
General in <strong>The</strong> Hague, and the Heren XIX, endeavoured to organize itself in<br />
an effective manner as the public church in ‘New Holland’ as Dutch Brazil<br />
was <strong>of</strong>ficially designated. Although the first two salaried predikanten arrived<br />
in 1633, it was not until 1635 that clear and detailed guidelines for the<br />
organization <strong>of</strong> the Reformed faith in Dutch Brazil were laid down. It was<br />
stipulated that there should be eight or nine fully qualified predikanten<br />
22