DUTCH AUCTION 



2741 



DUTCH CHURCH 



Simmonds, 1897-1906 ; Vermeer de 

 Delft, G. Van^ype, 1808 (in French) ; 

 Great Masters of Dutch and Flemish 

 Painting, W. von Bode, Eng. trans. 

 M. L. Clarke, 1909 ; Hist, of Paint- 

 ing, Haldane Macfall, vol. v, 1911. 



Dutch Auction. Auction at 

 which the property is offered at a 

 price higher than the seller will 

 accept. The price is lowered until a 

 purchaser bids, when the lot is at 

 once knocked down, or sold, to him 

 at the sum last mentioned by the 

 salesman. See Auctioneering. 



Dutch Church, THE. Name 

 given to the predominant Protes- 

 tant Church in Holland. Holland 

 was the first country in Europe to 

 accept the principle of toleration 

 for all forms of religion, and to sub- 

 sidise out of the state funds all 

 religious denominations willing to 

 accept its bounty. At the time of 

 the Reformation, Protestantism 

 assumed the form of what is known 

 to-day as The Reformed Church. 

 From 1648 to 1795 it was recognized 

 as the state church of Holland. 



After the Revolution all churches 

 received equal recognition, but the 

 Reformed Church never lost its 

 prestige and is still recognized as 



Dutch Art. The Anxious Family, by Josef Israels (1824-1911), a good example 

 of the domestic spirit in the modern Dutch school of painting 



From a private collection 



the Confession of Faith of the Synod 

 of Dort, 1619. 



The Dutch Church has about 



Dutch Art. The Port of Amsterdam, by Jacob Maris (1837-99). The picture's 

 soft, warm colouring is characteristic of his work 



National Collection, The Hague 



the predominant Protestant church 

 of Holland. The constitution of the 

 Dutch Church is based on the Pres- 

 byterian model. Each local con- 

 gregation is governed by a consis- 

 tory composed of deacons and 

 elders. .The local churches are 

 grouped into 148 circuits and 44 

 classes or presbyteries. From these 

 10 provincial synods are formed, 

 and in addition there is a general 

 synod representing the whole 

 country composed of 19 members, 

 which acts as a final court of 

 appeal. The theology of the 

 Dutch Church has always been 

 Calvinistic, and its credal basis is 



two million members in Holland 

 itself, and its influence in the Dutch 

 colonies and in South Africa is very 

 extensive. At different periods in 

 its history there have been schis- 

 matic movements formed to em- 

 phasise some principle of theology 

 or Church government which had 

 seemed to fall into neglect. Thus 

 the Christian Reformed Church 

 was started in the third decade of 

 the 19th century to protest against 

 the growing laxity in the treatment 

 of the creed. 



DUTCH REFORMED CHUEOH. 

 Name given to the particular form of 

 the Dutch Church which has taken 



root in America. The earliest Dutch 

 settlers in America carried with 

 them the religious principles of the 

 Reformed Church which had been 

 founded in Holland after the Refor- 

 mation, and a church was organized 

 in 1628, gradually strengthened by 

 the stream of immigrants. 



The church was at first supplied 

 with ministers from Holland, and 

 was regarded as forming part of the 

 Presbytery of Amsterdam. In the 

 following century, however, the 

 American Church sought and with 

 some difficulty obtained its inde- 

 pendence and its right to educate 

 and ordain its own ministry. Some 

 secessions took place as the result 

 of the new policy, but the breach 

 was subsequently healed, and in 

 1812 a constitution was adopted 

 which still remains in force. In 

 its polity the American Church 

 adopted the Presbyterian mode of 

 Church government used in the 

 mother church in Holland (with 

 some minor modifications), with its 

 consistory for the local church, its 

 pres by tery or classis for the district, 

 and its synod for the province. The 

 doctrinal basis of the church is 

 strongly conservative and Calvin- 

 istic, being based on no less than five 

 creeds : the Apostles', the Nicene, 

 the Quicunque Vult, the Belgic Con- 

 fession (1561), and the canons of 

 Dort (1618-19). The Heidelberg 

 Catechism (1560) is used as a 

 manual of doctrine, and acceptance 

 of its statement is required of all 

 seeking for Church membership. 

 The Dutch Reformed Church has 

 about 800 churches, chiefly in the 

 states of New York and New Jersey, 

 and about 125,000 members. 



