HISTORY OF BROOKLYN. 139

dam, was, on the 16th February, 1660, peremptorily examined by that body, and admitted to the ministry with full powers,—engaging, however, to serve the Breuckelen church for the term of four years.

Messrs. Blom and Selyns arrived at New Amsterdam, bearing letters to the colonial churches from the Classis at Amsterdam, in which the former were earnestly exhorted “not to depart from the usual formulary of baptism.” Governor Stu vesant, by whom alone all public functionaries, ecclesiastical as well as civil, could be accredited, was then absent at Esopus, negotiating a peace with the Indians; and when that had been concluded, he paid a visit to Fort Orange. To both of these places the two young clergymen followed him, to deliver their letters,1 so that it was not until the 7th of September, 1660, that Mr. Selyns was formally installed into the church at Breuckelen. “This ceremony,” says his biographer, “measured by the usual standard of great events, was, indeed, insignificant; but viewed as the first installation of a minister in what is now a large and flourishing city, the third in size in the United States, and as populous as the famous city of Amsterdam herself at the present day, it was one which deserved, as it received, the attention of the authorities in an appropriate and becoming manner. It was, nevertheless, to that colony, an interesting event, and it was accompanied by proceedings calculated to give dignity and authority to the minister. The Governor deputed two of his principal officers to present the minister to the congregation—Nicasius de Sille, a member of the Council, a man of no mean attainments, and well versed in the law, and Martin Krigier, burgomaster of New Amsterdam, who, on several important occasions, was the envoy of the Governor to the adjoining English colonies. After the presentation, Dominie Selyns preached his inaugural sermon, and then read the call of the Classis and their certificate of examination, with a testimonial from the ministers of Amsterdam, declaring that during the time he had dwelt among them, he had not only diligently used the holy ordinances of God for the promotion of his own salvation, but had also often edified their church by his acceptable preaching; and, more

1 N. Y. Col. MSS., xiii. 81, 84, 131, 132 ; xiv. 58.