REFORMED CHURCHES. 



689 



uted through the "Woman's Board. The mis- 

 sions which are in China, India (classis of Ar- 

 cot), and Japan) returned in all, 11 stations, 

 132 out- stations, 20 missionaries, 24 assistant 

 missionaries, 18 native ministers; 159 cate- 

 chists or preachers, assistant catechists, read- 

 ers, schoolmasters, schoolmistresses, and Bible- 

 women; 39 churches, with. 2,952 communi- 

 cants ; 6 academies, with 209 scholars ; 89 day- 

 schools, with 1,989 scholars; and 20 theologi- 

 cal students. The contributions of the native 

 churches amounted to $3,379. 



General Synod. The General Synod of the 

 Reformed Church in America met at Grand 

 Rapids. Mich., June 4. The Rev. David Cole 

 was chosen president. The Committee on 

 Overtures, in view of the request of six classes, 

 recommended the submission to the classes of 

 constitutional amendments intended to give 

 more definite significance to the expression, 

 "All the articles of the Christian religion," as 

 used in the baptismal forms. In answer to re- 

 quests from classes that they be allowed to ex- 

 amine young men for licensure, where it had 

 not been convenient for them to attend the 

 seminaries of the Reformed Church, upon cer- 

 tificates of other seminaries than those of the 

 Synod, the committee reported that the Gen- 

 eral Synod had no right to grant such requests, 

 as it would be contrary to the constitution of 

 the Church. But dispensations in particular 

 cases were granted by special votes of the 

 General Synod. The Synod of the Holland 

 Christian Reformed Church in America was 

 in session at Grand Rapids at the same time 

 with the General Synod, and an exchange of 

 visits by delegations was made between the 

 two bodies. The wish was also expressed in 

 both bodies that, as they had the same faith 

 and held to the same fundamental principles, 

 they might eventually become one. Arrange- 

 ments were made for the publication of a con- 

 spectus of the legislation of the Reformed 

 Church in Holland and America during the 

 last three hundred years, which has been pre- 

 pared by the Rev. E. T. Corwin, D. D. 



II. Reformed Church in the United States. The 

 following triennial summary of the statistics of 

 the Church was presented to the General Syn- 

 od at its meeting in May : 



Number of classes, 52 ; of ministers, 783 ; of 

 congregations, 1,465; of members, 169,530; of 

 unconfirmed members, 103,112; of infant bap- 

 tisms, 38,737 ; of adult baptisms, 3,088 ; of con- 

 firmations, 27,223; of communicants, 136,897; 

 .of Sunday-schools, 1,378; of Sunday-school 

 scholars, 114,720; of students for the minis- 

 try, 145; amount of contributions : benevolent, 

 $327,899; congregational, $2,193,018. 



The Board of Foreign Missions reported to 

 the General Synod that its receipts for three 

 years had been $20,641, and its expenditures 

 $17,361. Besides the balance of $3,280 on the 

 general account, the board had on hand lega- 

 cies to the amount of $1,709, bearing interest. 

 The mission is in Japan. 

 YOL. xxiv. 44 A 



The Board of Home Missions had raised and 

 expended in support of the missions under its 

 charge, during three years, $77,989. The pres- 

 ent number of the missions was 142. The 

 board had not been able, for want of funds, to 

 appoint a missionary for immigrants at the 

 port of New York. 



General Synod. The General Synod of the 

 Reformed Church in the United States met in 

 Baltimore, May 7. The Rev. Dr. B. Bausman 

 was chosen president. The most important 

 action of the Synod was that taken upon the 

 report of the commission which had been ap- 

 pointed at the previous meeting of the body, 

 in 1881, to prepare a Liturgy and Directory of 

 Worship. The commission was appointed in 

 connection with the completion of the "Peace 

 Measures," which were enacted at the same 

 time for reconciling the two divergent schools 

 of thought within the Church, and putting them 

 upon a common basis of action ; and the reso- 

 lution appointing it called for "the preparation 

 of a Liturgy or Directory of Worship suitable to 

 the demands of the case and to the wants of 

 the Church." The report of the commission 

 was adopted, and the directory it had prepared 

 was approved, by a unanimous vote. The di- 

 rectory will still have to be submitted to the 

 classes for their action, after which it will 

 come before the General Synod again for adop- 

 tion. The third Sunday of January in each 

 year was fixed upon as the day to be observed 

 in all the churches as a "reformation festival." 

 This was selected as the most suitable time, 

 because it comes near the 19th of the month 

 the day on which, in 1563, the Heidelberg 

 Catechism was first published. The text of 

 the tercentenary edition was designated as the 

 standard to which the phraseology and punctu- 

 ation in the German Liturgy and other books 

 containing the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and 

 the Ten Commandments, should be edited to 

 conform. The Rev. J. H. Dubbs, who had 

 been appointed by the General Synod in 1881 

 to "prepare a manual of the origin, history, 

 doctrines, government, and customs of the Re- 

 formed Church in the United States," reported 

 progress, and was requested to complete it. 



III. Reformed Chnrches in Germany. A meeting 

 was held in Marburg, Germany, in August, to 

 form a confederation of the various Reformed 

 Churches of the German Empire. These 

 churches, having in all a million and a half of 

 adherents gathered in some eight hundred con- 

 gregations, were divided in organization by the 

 old state lines, and had no bond of union ex- 

 cept the Heidelberg Catechism. An organiza- 

 tion was effected, the basis and object of which 

 are defined in the first two articles of the con- 

 stitution adopted, as follow : 



" 1. This Bund grounds itself on the Word of 

 God, of the Old and New Testament, and ac- 

 knowledges the confessions of the Reformed 

 Church of Germany, especially the Heidelberg 

 Catechism, as right and pure declarations of its 

 teachings. 2. This Bund aims at the preserva- 



