674 



REFORMED CHURCHES. 



The following table shows the growth of the 

 denomination since 1820 : 



A convention of members of the Church, 

 which was called at Meyerstown, Pa., on the 

 24th of September, took ground against ritual- 

 ism, and condemned some of the features of 

 the " Revised Liturgy " as at variance with the 

 old liturgies, and with the Heidelberg Cate- 

 chism and the "Word of God. Upon the reso- 

 lution of the Meyertown convention being pre- 

 sented to the Eastern Synod at Baltimore, that 

 body pronounced the convention and its pro- 

 ceedings irregular and schismatic, and warned 

 the members of the Church .against attending 

 meetings "calculated to interfere with the 

 peace and prosperity of the Church." 



III. REFORMED CHURCHES IK EUROPE. In 

 Germany, most of the Reformed Churches 

 have been, absorbed by the United Evangelical 

 Church. Before the establishment of the Uni- 

 ted Evangelical Church, the Reformed Church 

 prevailed in Hesse-Cassel, Anhalt, Baden, and 

 Lippe-Detrnold.* 



The Reformed Church of France had, in 1860, 

 105 consistories, about 1,045 congregations, 

 826 church-buildings,; 1,139 schools and a the- 

 ological faculty at Montauban. A large num- 

 ber of the ministers are "Liberals" (Rational- 

 ists) in theology. A decree of the Consistory 

 of Caen, requiring all desiring to take part in 

 the Church elections to assent to the Apostles' 

 Creed, excited much opposition on the part of 

 the liberal division of the Church. It was 

 finally annulled by the Minister of "Worship, M. 

 Baroche, who based his decision on the fact 

 that the Central Council of the Church, a body 

 selected by the Government several years ago, 

 declared that the certificate of admission to 

 communion was sufficient evidence of the can- 

 didate's standing. To get rid of this and other 

 difficulties, the principal Consistories demand 

 that the Government shall convoke a General 

 Synod of the Church. This body has not met 

 since the beginning of the French Revolution. 

 Several eminent men have asked an audience 

 of the Emperor, in order to secure its convo- 

 cation. The elevation of Dr. Grandpierre to 

 the presidency of the Consistory of Paris, and 

 of the Rev. D'Hombres to a pastorate of Paris, 

 in spite of the claims of the Messrs. Coquerel 

 (Liberal), is regarded by the Liberals as further 

 separating them from the orthodox party. 



The Reformed State Church of Holland had, 

 in 1860, 1,800.000 members, 1,272 congrega- 

 tions, 1,511 clergymen, the overwhelming *ua- 



* Statistics in detail of the Reformed Churches of Ger- 

 many may be found in Schem's American Ecclesiastical 

 Almanac for 1S6?. 



jority of whom are " Liberals " (Rationalists). 

 The number of classes 43, forming 10 provin- 

 cial Synods. The General Synod meets annu- 

 ally. There are theological schools at Ley den, 

 Utrecht, Groningen, besides the Athenaeums at 

 Deventer and Amsterdam. The Free Reformed 

 Church has 28 classes, from 50,000 to 70,000 

 members, and a theological school at Kampen. 

 Before the union of Belgium with Holland, 

 Belgium had only 4 Reformed congregations. 

 The number increased during the Dutch rule. 

 In 1838, all the Protestant congregations which 

 received support from the state formed the 

 " Protestant Union," which united under_ one 

 Directory several evangelical denominations. 

 The majority of the congregations are Re- 

 formed. Total number in 1859, 16. 



Switzerland had, in 1860, a Protestant popu- 

 lation of 1,417,754, who, with the exception 

 of a few thousand Lutherans, Mennonites, and 

 Independents, are members of the Reformed 

 Church. In some cantons, especially in Gene- 

 va and Valid, there are Free Reformed Churches 

 besides the National Reformed Churches. The 

 election of the Consistory of the National 

 Church in Geneva this year resulted in the tri- 

 umph of the orthodox party. The Consistory 

 is chosen for four years. 



In Russia the Reformed Church has a popu- 

 lation of about 200,000 souls, about one-half 

 of whom live in Lithuania, where they are di- 

 vided into four districts. 



The Reformed Church of Austria, or, as it is 

 there called, the Church of the Helvetia Con- 

 fession, numbered, according to the last official 

 census.a total population of 1,869,546, of whom 

 1,453,009 were in Hungary, and 297,419 in 

 Transylvania. 



IV. THE REFORMED CHURCH IN SOUTH AF- 

 RICA. The Dutch Reformed Church has a con- 

 siderable number of congregations in the coun- 

 tries of South Africa (Cape Colony, Transvaal 

 Republic, Orange Free State, etc.). The Dutch 

 Reformed Synod of the Cape Colony has for 

 years been considerably disturbed by the Ra- 

 tionalistic controversy. The meeting of the 

 Dutch Reformed Synod of the Cape 'Col- 

 ony was opened on the 8th of October. It 

 excited much interest, but ended abruptly 

 and unsatisfactorily. The first question to 

 be determined before it was whether the 

 Rev. Messrs. Burgers and Kotze, the clergy- 

 men whose doubted orthodoxy caused the 

 legal proceedings that were adjudicated upon 

 by the Privy Council on an appeal adverse 

 to the Synod, should or- should not be at 

 once recognized as ministers of the Church and 

 members of the Synod. A considerable mi- 

 nority of members thought the judgment of the 

 Privy Council should be acquiesced in. The 

 majority, however, decided that the Synod 

 should be adjourned sine die, until an answer 

 could be obtained to a petition transmitted to 

 the Queen, to have it cleared up whether the 

 judgment of the Privy Council was intended 

 to have effect only quoad temporaUa, or wheth- 



