Ritzema, Johannes

Ritzema, Johannes, one of the leading ministers of the Reformed (Dutch) Church during the last century. He was born in Holland, 1710, and thoroughly educated in that country. He was pastor of the Collegiate Reformed (Dutch) Church in New York from 1744 to 1784. His sermons were "of a high order." He is represented as a man of great prudence, and of most estimable character in the Church and in the community. Although at first he was regarded as "a conservative ccetus man" in the great controversy which rent the Church, he soon, with his colleague Rev. Lambertus De Ronde, went over to the Conferentie and became an active partisan with those who opposed the ordination of ministers in this country. His consistory remained neutral. He wrote several pamphlets in opposition to Rev. John Leydt, who favored independence. During the Revolutionary war, he and De Ronde were compelled to leave the city, and remained in their old age in their places of exile. His last four years (1784-88) were spent at Kinderhook, N.Y. He was a trustee of Kings, now Columbia College, N.Y.; and at one time, when it was proposed to establish a divinity professorship in that institution, he was prominently named for that office by his friends. See De Witt, Historical Discourse; Gunn, Life of J.H. Livingston; Corwin, Manual of the Reformed Church. (W.J.R.T.)