His successor was Bernhardus Arensius, who came with a letter of
recommendation from the Consistory of Amsterdam. He is described as "a
gentle personage and of a very agreeable behavior."

Those were troublous times in which he conducted his ministry. The war
between the Dutch and the English caused a repeated change of
government, but for twenty years he quietly and successfully carried on
his pastoral work in New York and in Albany. He died in 1691 and the
Lutheran flock was again without a shepherd. For the rest of the century
appeals to Amsterdam for a pastor were all in vain.

[illustrations: "A Corner of Broad Street" and "New Amsterdam in 1640"]


In the Eighteenth Century
1701-1750

At the beginning of the eighteenth century the population of Manhattan
Island had increased to 5,000 souls, chiefly Dutch and English. These
figures include about 800 negro slaves. The slave trade and piracy were
at this time perfectly legitimate lines of business.

For ten years the Lutherans had been without a minister. In 1701 they
invited Andrew Rudmann to become their pastor. He had been sent by the
Archbishop of Upsala as a missionary to the Swedish settlements on the
Delaware. Rudmann accepted the call, but after a severe illness, as the
climate did not agree with him, he returned to Pennsylvania, where in
1703 he ordained Justus Falckner to be his successor in New York.