It having been reported, that the church was indebted to the amount of 624 guilders, it was ordered to be satisfied out of the treasury, as soon as funds should be received. On the 15th of March, 1656, an ordinance was passed by the Governor, on petition, regulating the times and places of public worship on the Sabbath. It was directed that the morning service for Brooklyn, Flatbush and Flatlands, should be held at Midwout, or Flatbush, and the afternoon service alternately, at Brooklyn and Flatlands. The first church at Flatlands was ordered to be erected in the year 1662, and that at Brooklyn, in the year 1666. The Rev. Mr. Polhemus the first pastor, was at this time quite advanced in life, and unable to perform the services appertaining to so extended a charge. In consequence of this, on application to Governor Stuyvesant, permission was granted to the church of Brooklyn, to call another minister. A request to this effect was sent to Holland, and on the 16th, of February, 1660, a call upon the Rev. Henry Solyns, or Henricus Selwyn, was approved by the Classis of Amsterdam, and an honorable dismission given to Mr. Solyns, wishing him a safe and prosperous journey by land, and by water, to his congregation, in the New-Netherlands. He was installed in the church at Brooklyn, on the 3d, of September, 1660, in the presence of the Fiscal and Burgomaster Krigier, by the order of Governor Stuyvesant. His salary was six hundred guilders per annum, equal to a little rising two hundred dollars.

Although nothing certainly is known of the services of Mr. Solyns, in Flatbush, it is probable, from the infirmities of Mr. Polhemus, and the friendship which existed between them, that occasionally, at least, he must have preached in Flatbush; although he was regarded as more especially the minister of the church of Brooklyn, and received as such, from the Rev. J. Polhmus, on the 12th, of September, 1660, a list of his members, containing thirty-seven names. Mr. Solyns was a man of more than ordinary talents and learning. This was soon discovered, and in the year 1662, an arrangement was made, by which he preached at the Governor's house, on his "Bowerie," or Farm, on Sunday afternoons. His ministry at this time, in this country however, was of short continuance; for on the 22d, of July, 1664, he took leave of his congregation, and sailed in the ship Beaver, for Holland. He subsequently returned to this country, and was pastor of the Dutch church, in New-York, from 1682, to 1700. He was a man of classical taste and learning, and highly esteemed in his day. He prefixed a Latin poem to Cotton Mather's "Magnalia Christi Americana," bearing date, October, 16th, 1697.

After the departure of Mr. Solyns, the churches were left to such services as the Rev. Mr. Polhemus, in his old age could confer upon them. He appears however to have been assisted at this period by the Rev. Johannes Megapolensis, one of the ministers of the city of New-Amsterdam. This arrangement continued till the year 1676, on the 8th, of June, in which year, Mr. Polhemus died. Application was then made to the Classis of Am-