712 



REFORMED CHURCHES. 



I. Reformed Chnrcli in the United States. 



" The Almanac of the Reformed Cliurch in the 

 United States" for 1887 gives the following 

 statistics of this denomination : Number of 

 districts synods, 8: of classes, 54; of minis- 

 ters, 823; of congregations, 1,512; of mem- 

 bers, 190,527; of unconfirmed members, 111,- 

 416; of persons communing during the year, 

 152,274; of baptisms, 13,743 of infants and 

 1,500 of adults; of confirmations, 10,542; of 

 Sunday-schools, 1,464, with 129,713 pupils; of 

 students for the ministry, 207. Amount of 

 contributions for benevolent purposes, $147,- 

 297 ; for congregational purposes, $841,291. 



Eiglit colleges and universities, 9 academi- 

 cal schools and institutes, and 2 theological 

 seminaries are conducted and 4 orphan homes 

 are maintained under the patronage of the 

 Church. The publishing enterprises passed into 

 private hands on the last day of 1887, and are 

 now carried on at Philadelphia under the style 

 of the "Reformed Church Publication House." 

 Home missions are carried on under the care 

 of Boards of the General Synod and of three 

 district synods. Fifty-six missions are returned, 

 with 5,430 communicants, who contributed 

 during the year $38,724 for congregational, 

 nnd $3,500 for benevolent purposes. The Gen- 

 eral Board had received during the fiscal vear 

 1887-'88, $16,738, and asked for $20,000" for 

 the enduing year. The Board of Foreign Mis- 

 sions received $20.000. The missions of the 

 Tokio and Sendai districts in Japan returned 

 8 organized churches, 4 of which were self- 

 supporting; 7 preaching- stations; 482 bap- 

 tisms of adult converts ; 8 baptisms of children ; 

 1,202 members; 3 schools, with 209 pupils; 

 16 Sunday-schools, with 719 pupils; 1 theo- 

 logical school, with 9 pupils ; 7 native minis- 

 ters; 4 other agents; and $1,950 of contribu- 

 tions. 



II. Reformed Church in America. The follow- 

 ing is a summary of the statistics of this Church 

 as they were reported to the General Synod in 

 June, 1888: Number of classes, 34^ of church- 

 es, 546 ; of ministers, 555 ; of licentiates, 9 ; 

 of families, 47,520 ; of communicants, 87,015 ; 

 of baptisms during the year, 4,751 of infants 

 and 1,230 of adults; of members admitted on 

 confession, 4,949 ; of baptized non-commu- 

 nicants 34,070; of catechumens, 31,814; of 

 Sunday-schools, 750, with 96,019 members. 

 Amount of contributions for religious and be- 

 nevolent purposes, $284,902 ; for congregation- 

 al purposes, $970,856. 



The Board of Education reported to the Gen- 

 eral Synod that it had received $9,070, while 

 its debt had been increased by $450; had 8C 

 students under its care; and had aided 5 paro- 

 chial schools. Its permanent funds amounted 

 to $41,665. The Widows' fund had been in- 

 creased by $3,000, and was now $73,971. It had 

 aided 31 annuitants in the amount of $4,661. 

 It was, however, able to pay only 75 per cent, 

 of the maximum annuity. The income of the 

 Disabled Ministers' fund had been $9,199. 



Appropriations had been made on its account 

 to 16 ministers, 21 ministers' widows, and to 

 guardians of ministers' children. The invest- 

 ments in its behalf were returned at $53,817. 

 The Theological Seminary at New Brunswick 

 possessed scholarship endowments amounting 

 to $113,110. The treasurer of the General 

 Synod gave the whole amount of its funds in 

 his hands as $768,173. 



The receipts of the Board of Domestic Mis- 

 sions for the year had been for the Mission- 

 ary Department, $47,472 ; for the Church 

 Building fund, $19,584. The expenditures 

 had been in the Missionary Department, $32,- 

 293 ; from the Church Building fund, $16,- 

 255. The board had aided 108 churches 

 and stations, served by 90 pastors, and com- 

 prising 4,802 families and 6,947 members, in 

 which 756 members had been received on con- 

 fession ; with 108 Sunday-schools having an 

 average attendance of 9,349 pupils. These sta- 

 tions had contributed $1,672 to home missions 

 and $4,474 to other objects. 



The Board of Foreign Missions had received 

 $109,94*5. From the missions in China, In- 

 dia, and Japan were returned 11 stations; 

 123 out-stations and preaching-places; 25 or- 

 dained and 3 unordained missionaries; 30 

 assistant - missionaries ; 26 native ordained 

 missionaries; 220 native helpers; 4,559 com- 

 municants; 7 seminaries for boys, with 308 

 pupils; 5 seminaries for girls, with 300 pupils ; 

 4 theological schools or classes, with 32 stu- 

 dents; and 106 day schools, with 2,612 pupils. 

 The contributions of the native churches 

 amounted to $8,324. One ordained missionary 

 and one assistant missionary were under ap- 

 pointment. 



The eighty-second General Synod met in 

 Catskill, N. Y., June 3. The Rev. M. H. Hut- 

 ton, D. D., was chosen moderator. The Com- 

 mittee on Conference with the Reformed 

 Church in the United States presented a re- 

 port of progress, and was continued. The 

 committees had held a preliminary joint meet- 

 ing in the city of New York, in December, 

 1887, and a meeting and conference of minis- 

 ters and laymen in Philadelphia, April 3 and 

 4, 1888. At the latter meeting, papers which 

 had been previously arranged for were read, 

 on u The Historical and Doctrinal Relations of 

 the Two Churches," by Dr. E. T. Corwin and 

 Prof. J. H. Dubbs; "The Canons ofDort," by 

 Dr. Van Gieson ; " The Present Condition of 

 the Two Denominations," by Dr. Van Home; 

 " Church Union for the Evangelization of the 

 World," by Dr. E. B. Coe ; "The Obsta- 

 cles to Union, and Methods of overcoming 

 them," by Profs. Mabon and Williams; and 

 "The Advantages of Union," by the Rev. 

 Messrs. C. Cleaver and Peter Moerdyke. 

 Three alternative forms of union were sug- 

 gested : 1. the return of the Reformed Church 

 in the United States to the articles of the Synod 

 of Dort which conform to the Heidelberg 

 standard catechism ; 2, with the retention by 



