134 



CEYLON BRANCH — ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, 



AN ACCOUNT OF THE 

 DUTCH CHURCH IN CEYLON, COLLECTED FROM THE LOCAL 

 RECORDS DEPOSITED IN THE WOLF END AHL CHURCH, COLOMOBO* 



BY THE REV. J. D. PALM. 



(Read February ,Q S 1847. J 



I at first proposed dividing this paper, on the state of 

 Christianity in Ceylon during the Dutch Government, into 

 two parts, the one treating of the Native and the other of 

 the European churches ; but finding the documents from 

 which my information is obtained present uniformly the idea 

 of one Church in Ceylon, with all its ministers labouring 

 without distinction for Europeans and Natives, I have, to 

 avoid repetition preferred the chronological order — Before 

 we enter on the historical part, it will be necessary to take 

 a general view of the constitution and working of the Re- 

 formed Dutch Church in Ceylon. 



Part I. 



The Colony was divided into three districts, of which the 

 principal stations were Colombo, Galle and Jaffna. The 

 Consistory of each of these places attended to the concerns 

 of all the rural congregations belonging to their District. 

 The towns and villages where Dutch congregations existed 

 ■ were, in the Colombo District, Colombo, Negombo, Cal- 

 pentyn, Hangwelle and Caltura ; in the Northern District, 

 Jaffna, Trincomalie, Batticaloa and Manaar ; and in the 

 Southern District, Galle and Matura. The total number 

 of stations where Native congregations existed in the Co- 

 lony was about 100. The spiritual care was entrusted to 

 European Ministers or Chaplains, European Proponents, 

 Native Proponents, European Catechists, or visitors of the 

 sick, Native Catechists and School-masters — a few remarks 

 on each of these : 



The European Ministers — These were selected by the 

 several Classis of Holland, and appointed by the Dutch 

 East India Company for the Colonial Service. The Minis- 

 ter thus sent out was furnished by the Classis with a letter 

 of introduction and recommendation to the Colombo Consis- 

 tory, as this Consistory on account of its position was the 

 first in rank, and also in some respects represented the whole 

 Church in the Colony. It then became a matter to be ar- 



