334 



REFORMED CHURCH. 



the ordination of ministers. 5. For the ordination of I tionnl interest and value. It lias its benevolent as well 



elder* and deacons. ^ 0. For the excommunication of 

 n offender. 7. For rcadmis*ion of the penitent. 

 The liturgy i the growth of time, and has been drawn 

 from various sources. Calvin's liturgy was its basis. A 

 liturgy based on this was used liy the Church of the 

 Foreigners worshipping in Ijondon ninlrr the super- 

 intendence of A Lasoo in the Church of Austin Friars 

 in the tinie of Edward VI. In l.'x'.ii various forms for 

 the IMC of the churches of the Netherlands were col- 

 lected and ptiblinhed by Rev. Pctrus |)athenus. The 

 lituriry was modified as occasion demanded until fixed 

 by the Synod of Dort and brought to this country 

 by the colonists. Of late years there has been an 

 increasing tendency to introduce more of the formal 

 liturgical element into public worship. In addition to 

 the reading of the ten commandments in many 

 entireties the psalter is read responsively, and the 

 Lord's prayer and apostolic creed are repeated. 

 There is no desire for what is called ritualism, but a 

 disposition to give to the people a more active, ex- 



pressed participation in the worship of the congre 

 gation. 



MISSIONARY AND OTHER AOENCIKS. 1. Board of j Low Dutch Reformed churches or simply 

 Domestic MI'MI'DHI. Considerable missionary work was churches. The title of the denomination ; 



as business department. It has made donations during 

 the lust year amounting to $l3v 



Ci. II /./;<' Fund and Disabled Miiiixtrrt' Fund. 

 These provide for families of deceased ministers and 

 for disabled ministers. An interest in the former 

 is secured by certain annual payment*, but the latter is 

 a pure charity. The capital sum of the former is 

 $73,970. '.I'.i; of the latter $.,:;. si 7.^. The available 

 income of both these funds is largely increased by 

 contributions from the chiirehcs. 



To these agencies we add that of the press. A 

 monthly magazine called the Mixgimi /','/</ is pub- 

 lished, and the ('lirixtinn . / is the - 

 oldcM religious weekly in New iork. It may be re- 

 garded as the organ of the denomination, being spe- 

 cially devoted to its interests. The minutes of the 

 General Synod of June, 1888, furnish the following 

 statistics : Churches, 546 ; ministers, 555 ; families, 

 47.520; communicants, 87,015; Sunday -schools, 750; 

 scholars, W.ni'J ; contributions for religious and be- 



dc ne in the home field from the beginning. But it was 

 with Kit a general organization or definite system, was 

 confined to pastorless churches using the Dutch lan- 

 guage, and was performed by pastors making mis- 

 sionary tours among these churches. In 1S31 the 

 Board of Domestic Missions was formed, and a great 

 impulse was given to the work, resulting in the estab- 

 lishment of churches in Western New York and in the 

 Weeten States, and in new and growing communities 

 in the East. In the year 1887-N the board received 

 $28,737.52 from the churches, Sunday-schools, and 

 Woman's Executive Committee, and 90 pastors and 

 108 churches were aided. 



2. The Church Building Fund. Prom this fund 

 moneys arc loaned to feeble churches to aid them in 

 erecting houses of worship. During the year 1 SS7-S 

 the moneys received for tliis fund amounted to $17.- 

 061.25, including $6,936.46 received from the Woman's 

 Executive Committee. 



3. The Bonrd of Forfign Muuinns. The first min- 

 isters labored considerably for the conversion of the 

 Indians and with some success. From the early part 

 of the present century the Reformed churches co-oper- 

 ated with other denominations in sending the gospel 

 to the heathen in foreign lands. For a numU-r of 

 years the church was associated in this work with the 

 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 

 sions. Since the year 1857 it has carried on the work 

 independently, and has sustained three flourishing 

 missions, one at Amoy, in China, a second in the 

 Madras Presidency. In<iia, and a third in the empire 

 of Japan. The entire number of ordained mission- 

 aries connected with all the stations is 25 ; of unor- 

 dained, 3; of married women, 21 ; of unmarried, 9; 

 making a total of 58. Besides these there are manv 

 native helpers. The missionaries have done their full 

 share in translating the Scriptures and providing a 

 Christian literature for the people. The total expen- 

 diture of the board for the year I SS7-8 amounted to 



'>.6I ; of this sum $I9,39.04 were received 

 through the Woman's Hoard of Foreign Missions. 



4. Board of Eilucation. Indigent young men are 



d in their preparation for the ministry by con- 

 tributions from the churches and income from invested 

 fund*, chiefly in the form of scholarships. Also 

 moneys are, to some extent, appropriated for the sup- 

 port of educational institution*. During the year 

 1887-8 eighty students received assistance, and the 

 payments of the board for all purposes amounted to 

 $22.0 i 



.. tt'xird of l\ilJi'rntion. It is the aim through 

 this agency to supply the church with good Christian 

 literature, and c]>emlly literature of dcnouiiuu- 



nevolent purposes, ?2>*<4. <)2 ; for congregational pur- 

 poses, $970,851). The churches were at first known as 



as Dutch 

 afterwards 



was the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. In 1867 

 it was changed to the "Reformed Church in America." 



For further information the reader is referred to Ypey 

 and Dermout's tleichiedenii de Hervorm dr Kerk, Ilanstm * 

 Krformed Church in the A'etherlandi, Corwin'i Manual of 

 the Rrformed Church in America (3d edition , Centennial 

 IMtcourset (1876), Centennial of the Theological Seminary 

 at yew lirttniirick (lt>84i, Gunn's Life of Livingitun, De- 

 marest's History and i'lmnictrrittic* of the Reformed Dutch 

 Church, and Act* and Proceedings of the General Synod. 



REFMKMED CHURCH IN THE ' UNITED 

 STATES. This religious body, formerly known as 

 the German Reformed Church, is directly derived 

 from the Reformed churches of Germany and Switzer- 

 land. It may, therefore, claim to be, in a special 

 sense, the American representative of the German 

 branch of the great religious movement of which, in 

 the sixteenth century. Zwingli, Calvin, and Ursinus 

 were the most eminent leaders. Its standard of doc- 

 trine is the Heidelberg Catechism, and in government 

 it holds to the Presbyterian system. 



The, history of the German Reformed Church in 

 America properly logins with the dreadful period in 

 German history which is known as the War of the 

 Palatinate (1689-1697). The region of the Rhine 

 had been utterly devastated, and cities like Heidel- 

 berg, Spires, and Worms were in ruins. Driven from 

 their desolated homes by successive French invasions, 

 many thousands of the peasants of the Palatinate 

 sought a home in foreign lands. I^arge numltcrs were 

 conveyed to America, through the charity of Queen 

 Anne of England, and small (iermati settlements 

 were founded in Pennsylvania before the end of the 

 seventeenth century. Poverty and oppression con- 

 tinued in the fatherland after peace had been nomi- 

 nally declared, and emigration increased with each 

 MIC -ceding year. The extremely cold winter of 1709, 

 which, it is said, for a time rendered Switzerland al- 

 most uninhabitable, started another wave of emigra- 

 tion, which was largely composed of Swiss elements. 

 About the middle of the last century it was estimated 

 that one-half of the German population of Pennsyl- 

 vania belonged to the Reformed Church. Among 

 them were many deMendantl of the Huguenot.* who 

 fled from France at the revocation of the Edict of 

 Nantes. I'euimiinc with ITn'.l we divide the history 

 of the Reformed Church in the United States into five 

 period 



I. 1709-1746. During this period the records of 

 the church are very incomplete. The people were 

 very poor, and religious meetings were often held in 

 private houses. Congregations were frequently served 



