REFORMED CHURCHES. 



('oll-ge, Lancaster, Pa,, Prof. W. M. Ni-\iu, 

 A. M., acting president; MercerHburg College, 

 i-shur^, i'.i., K. E. Iligbee, D. D., presi- 

 (1. nt ; Catawba ColKv. NV\\ town, N. C., K-v. 

 J. C. Clapp, A. M. ; Palatiii.tt<- Collide, Mu-rs- 

 towu, PH., (J. W. Au^inlmiifjli, D. D.; Calvin 

 Institute, Cleveland, Ohio, II. J. Rutenick, D. 

 D. Tlu- following seminaries are connected 

 with tliis Church : (Marion Collegiate Institute, 

 llinuTsliiir^, Clarion County, Pa.; Juniata 

 Collegiate Institute, Martinsburg, Blair County, 

 Pa., Rev. S. R. Broidenbach, A. M. ; Greens- 

 burg Female Collegiate Institute, Greensburg, 

 Pa., Rev. Lucicn Cort, A. M. ; Blairstown 

 Academy, Blairstown, Iowa, Rev. David P. 

 Le Feme, A. B. ; Allentown Female College, 

 Allentown, Pa., Rev. W. R. Hofford, A. M. ; 

 St. John's Select School, Knoxville, Md., G. L. 

 Staley, D. D. ; Female Seminary, Mercersburg, 

 Pa., Rev. J. Ilassler, A. M. 



The following are the missionary (homo 

 missions), educational, and benevolent societies 

 of this Church : Ohio Board of Missions, Tiffin, 

 Ohio ; Board of Missions of the Northwest, 

 Galion, Ohio; Board of Missions of Ursinus 

 Union, Lebanon, Pa. ; Eastern Board of Mis- 

 sions, Harrisburg, Pa. ; Board of Education of 

 the Ohio Synod, Tiffin, Ohio; Board of Edu- 

 cation of Ursinus Union, Lebanon, Pa. ; Board 

 of Education of the Eastern Synods, Philadel- 

 phia, Pa. ; Bethany Orphan's Home, Womels- 

 dorf, Berks County, Pa. ; St. Paul's Orphan's 

 Home, Butler, Pa.; Society for the Relief of 

 Ministers and their Widows, Lancaster, Pa. ; 

 Board of Church Erection of the Synod of 

 Ohio, Xenia, Ohio; Board of Church Erection 

 of the Synod of the Northwest, Indianapolis, 

 Ind. The treasurer's office of the Board of 

 Foreign Missions is at Pittsburg, Pa. The list 

 of periodicals comprises eleven English and 

 three German publications, of which three are 

 weekly, three semi-monthly, six monthly, and 

 two quarterly. 



It is only within a few years that steps have 

 been taken looking to the organization of 

 congregations of this Church in the Southern 

 States. A congregation has been formed un- 

 der the direction of the Indiana Classis at Win- 

 chester, Franklin County, Tenn., and a second 

 in the Cumberland Mountains, about forty 

 miles from the former. Mr. J. P. Roth, M. D., 

 of Tennessee, has been studying for the minis- 

 try in Cincinnati, Ohio, with a view of engag- 

 ing in the Southern work. Organizations of 

 churches are contemplated at Knoxville, Chat- 

 tanooga, and Nashville, Tenn., and Atlanta, Ga. 



III. REFORMED CHURCH ni FRANCE. The 

 synod of 1872 and 1873 of the Reformed Church 

 of France, as has already been recorded in the 

 ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA, adopted a confession of 

 faith affirming the doctrines which are ordi- 

 narily described as Orthodox, with the requisi- 

 tion that all new ministers should subscribe to 

 it as a condition to their being recognized by 

 (he Church. It also prescribed a declaration 

 to which members of the congregations should 



give adhesion before they could vote. The 

 Liberal or Unitarian party of the Church <>\>- 

 po.srd this action, and refused to submit t<> tin- 

 rules made by the synod. In the consistories 

 and synods where they had majorities, the 

 elections were held without regarding the con- 

 ditions which had been imposed. These con- 

 ditions having been recognized by the state 

 as legal and valid, the elections so held were 

 declared void and annulled by the Minister of 

 Worship, and new elections were ordered. The 

 Liberal party, in 1875, appealed to the Council 

 of State against this order of the minister. 

 Pending the appeal, the minister directed the 

 new elections which he had ordered to be 

 postponed till the case should be decided. A 

 division of the Church was threatened in case 

 the action of the synod was sustained by the 

 Council of State. The Orthodox party pro- 

 fessed a willingness to submit to a division, to 

 allow the Liberals to be recognized by the 

 state, and to yield to them a proportion of 

 ecclesiastical property and support, if no other 

 solution of the difficulty could be reached ; but 

 the Minister of Worship suggested that, if the 

 Liberals withdrew, he would be unable to sub- 

 sidize a new church, and would be obliged to 

 recognize the Orthodox branch only as the 

 legitimate Reformed Church. In April, 1876, 

 the permanent commission of the synod waited 

 upon M. Dufaure, Minister of Worship, with 

 reference to the convocation of a new meeting 

 of the synod, to consider the difficulties of the 

 situation, and find a way out of them, if possi- 

 ble. On the 18th of April, a delegated body 

 of the Liberal party, styled the Commission of 

 Pacification of the Liberal Party, met at Paris, 

 and invited the Liberals to negotiations with a 

 view to secure a compromise of the questions 

 in dispute. A conference was held and an 

 agreement was reached, by which the Commis- 

 sion of Pacification engaged for the Liberal 

 party that it would accept the Presbyterian 

 synodal organization ; that it would recognize 

 the Declaration of Faith voted June 20, 1872, 

 as the true expression of the general faith of 

 the Church ; that this declaration should not 

 be the object of attacks by pastors in the exer- 

 cise of their functions ; and that the different 

 ecclesiastical bodies should have the right to 

 repress attacks upon it by all the disciplinary 

 penalties within their power. The members 

 of the permanent commission of the synod 

 agreed that, in case the declarations made by 

 the Liberal commission were accepted by that 

 party, they would propose to the next synod 

 that it withdraw from the demand that had 

 been made upon the Council of State, to ap- 

 prove of the synodal rule requiring that " every 

 candidate for the holy ministry must, before 

 receiving consecration, declare that he adheres 

 to the faith of the Church as declared by the 

 General Synod," and would recommend to the 

 synod to substitute for this rule the condition 

 that " the act of consecration shall declare 

 that the Declaration of Faith was read to the 



