652 



EEFORMED CHURCHES. 



ered, for reasons which were specifically given, 

 to be " anti-republican, anti-Christian, and an- 

 ti-Reformed," asking the Synod to make a de- 

 liverance on the subject, embodying its advice, 

 testimony, and the evidence of its active oppo- 

 sition against such societies. The Synod, in re- 

 ply, adopted a declaration 



"that while as the ex parte evidence of the memorials 

 now before it, this Synod can not properly give its 

 official testimony for or against Freemasonry and other 

 oath-bound secret societies ; and while it nolds as sa- 

 cred the indefeasible rights of all its ministers and 

 members to their individual conscientious convictions 

 and liberty of speech and action, subject only to their 

 prior loyalty to Christ and to his Church, yet it here- 

 by declares that no communicant member and no min- 

 ister of the Reformed Church in America ought to 

 unite with, or remain in, any society or institution, 

 whether secret or open, where principles, practices, 

 and obligations are anti-Christian or contrary to the 

 faith and practice of the Church to which we belong ; 

 that this Synod solemnly believes and declares that 

 any system of religion or morals whose tendency is to 

 hide our Saviour, or to supplant the religion of which 

 he is the founder, should receive no countenance from 

 his professed followers j and, furthermore, that no hu- 

 man, benevolent, or philanthropic, or reforming agen- 

 cy in this world can take the place of the Church of 

 pur Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whose principle 

 is to ' do good to all men, but especially to those that 

 are of the household of faith ' ; and, therefore, that all 

 who belong to this Church are in duty bound to give 

 it the preeminence over all inferior institutions, and 

 to promote, to the utmost of their power, its unity, 

 peace, and prosperity, .and especially its great chari- 

 ties and philanthropies ; that this Synod also advises 

 consistories and classes of the Church to be very kind 

 and forbearing a_nd strictly constitutional in their deal- 

 ings with individuals on this subject, and that they 

 be and are hereby cautioned against setting up any 

 new tests of communion in the Christian Church." 



Apian for systematic benevolence was adopt- 

 ed. It provides for the submission yearly, by 

 the several boards of benevolence, of state- 

 ments of their condition and needs, and for 

 the apportionment, by the Synod's Committee 

 of Systematic Benevolence, of the sums to be 

 raised among the several classes, and a further 

 apportionment by the several classes among 

 the individual churches. 



A resolution was adopted expressing the 

 judgment of the Synod, that the members of 

 the Church owe it to themselves and their 

 Christian profession not to encourage by their 

 own subscriptions, or in any way, the circula- 

 tion of Sunday papers. 



II. REFORMED CHURCH IN THE UNITED 

 STATES. The following is a summary of the 

 statistics of this Church, as they are given in 

 the " Almanac of the Reformed Church in the 

 United States " (Reformed Church Publication 

 Board, Philadelphia) for 1881 : 



Number of classes, 18. Of the members, 96,- 

 463 are returned as " members unconfirmed." 

 Number of persons who communed during the 

 year, 127,334; number of baptisms, 14,304 of 

 infants, 1,208 of adults ; number of persons con- 

 firmed, 10,639. Number of Sunday-schools, 

 1,339, with 104,169 scholars. Amount of con- 

 tributions, for general benevolence, $79,906; 

 for local objects, $736,181. Number of stu- 

 dents for the ministry, 151. 



The " Almanac " gives a list of six colleges, 

 two theological seminaries, one mission house, 

 and seven collegiate institutes, seminaries, and 

 high-schools for young men and young wom- 

 en ; in all, sixteen educational and literary in- 

 stitutions, under the care of the Church. The 

 orphan homes at Womelsdorf, Berks Coun- 

 ty, Pennsylvania, and Butler, Butler County, 

 Pennsylvania, had, together, 105 orphans under 

 care. 



The periodicals of the Church include one 

 quarterly, five monthly, two semi-monthly, and 

 three weekly publications in the English lan- 

 guage ; one monthly, one semi-monthly, and 

 one weekly publication in the German lan- 

 guage. 



The Home Missions of the Tri-Synodic Board 

 (of the Eastern, the Pittsburg, and the Poto- 

 mac Synods) of Missions included 38 mission- 

 aries, 2,910 members, and 2,988 Sunday-school 

 scholars. The number of additions during the 

 year was 324; number of baptisms, 292 ; value 

 of church property, $125,000, against which 

 were debts of about $30,000. 



The first Board of Foreign Missions was or- 

 ganized in 1838, and cooperated till 1860 with 

 the American Board. The Rev. O. J. Sohr, of 

 this Church, has been laboring in India for sev- 

 eral years, as a missionary of the German Evan- 

 gelical Missionary Society of the United States. 

 A mission has been established in Japan, under 

 the direct care of the board, and is supplied by 

 the Rev. A. D. Gring. 



III. GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE REFORMED 

 CHURCHES HOLDING THE PRESBYTERIAN SYS- 

 TEM. The second General Council of theAlli- 

 ance of the Reformed Churches throughout the 

 World holding the Presbyterian System met 

 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 23d. 

 The Alliance was organized in London in 1875 

 at a meeting of delegates from the several Pres- 

 byterian churches appointed for the purpose, 

 and the first regular meeting of the General 

 Council was held at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 

 July, 1877. The history of the organization of 

 the Alliance, and of the first meeting, is given 

 in the " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 1875 and 1877. 

 By the provisions of the constitution of the 

 Alliance, any church organized on Presbyterian 

 principles, which holds the supreme authority 

 of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 

 ments in matters of faith and morals, and whose 

 creed is in harmony with the consensus of the 

 Reformed Churches, is eligible to membership 

 in it. The following churches were repre- 

 sented at the Council of 1880 by full delega- 



