REFORMED CHURCHES. 



709 



logical schools or classes, with 28 students, 

 and 101 day-schools with 2,622 pupils. The 

 tables do not, however, include the ordained 

 ministers and other helpers, churches, and 

 communicants in Japan, as they are connected 

 with the Union Church and the Council of 

 Ministers, and are represented in the reports 

 of those bodies. 



The General Synod of the Reformed Church 

 in America met in Cat skill, N. Y., June 1. 

 The Rev. Charles J. Shepherd was chosen 

 moderator. A number of communications 

 were received on the subject of union with the 

 Presbyterian Church. After consideration of 

 them by committee and debate in the Synod, 

 it was unanimously resolved 



1. That the indications of Providence are not of 

 such a nature as to make the present eflbrt of some in 

 this direction wise or hopeful of good to the Church. 

 From all present appearances it would only be detri- 



prpbably disrupt itself with vain questions, but, with 

 evidently much work to do, to do its duty as God has 

 given and gives to us loyally and faithfully till such 

 time as the workings of oil Spirit shall indicate much 

 more manifestly than at present that our denomina- 

 tional work is done. 



The Committee on Union with the Reformed 

 Church in the United States reported that 

 formal movements on the subject were waiting 

 the action of the General Synod of the latter 

 body, which met only triennially, and was at 

 this time in session. The committee had there- 

 fore been restricted to obtaining information 

 by correspondence and the observation of pub- 

 lic utterances. It had found a general feeling 

 prevalent in favor of a closer union of some 

 kind between the bodies. The committee was 

 continued. 



A report was made by the Rev. R. Randal 

 Hoes, chaplain in the United States Navy, con- 

 cerning researches which he had made in Hol- 

 land of documents and historical memoranda 

 affecting the Reformed Church. He represent- 

 ed that the books of the Classis of Amsterdam, 

 which had been supposed to be lost, were in a 

 good state of preservation, and that he had 

 had free access to them. He had also seen and 

 had arranged for the transcription of some 

 four hundred original letters and other docu- 

 ments, which would probably complete the 

 historic records of the Church. He was ready 

 to place all these papers in charge of the Synod 

 without cost to the Church, and Mr. B. Fer- 

 now, of the New York State Library, had 

 offered to translate them and prepare them for 

 use. The Synod made provision for obtain- 

 ing possession of the documents, and appoint- 

 ed a committee of custodians to take charge of 

 them and see that they were translated and 

 published. A question arose concerning the 

 status of a church in the Classis of Cayuga, 

 which, it was represented, had been transferred 

 by the consistory to an adjoining presbytery 

 without taking the vote of the members upon 

 the subject, and contrary to the advice of the 



Classis. A special committee was appointed 

 to consider what steps could be taken in the 

 matter, in order that, though the congregation 

 be lost, the property of tne church might be 

 recovered to the Reformed Church. A report 

 was received from the committee which had 

 been appointed two years previously to formu- 

 late the plan of the Theological School at New 

 Brunswick, N. J. It was ordered to be print- 

 ed as a circular, copies of which should be sent 

 to every Reformed minister, while the subject 

 should be reserved for the action of the next 

 General Synod. An overture asking that the 

 Particular Synods be made final courts of ap- 

 peal in all cases except questions of doctrine 

 was denied, on the ground that sufficient pro- 

 vision on the subject already existed in the 

 constitution of the Church. A motion was 

 ordered sent down to the Classes for approval, 

 directing that " no text-books known as cate- 

 chisms, and designed for the instruction of the 

 children and youth in Christian doctrine, shall 

 be used in the Sabbath-schools of the Reformed 

 (Dutch) Church except such as are approved 

 and recommended by the General Synod." A 

 proposition for forming a Sustentation fund to 

 raise all salaries of pastors to $1,000 a year, 

 which was presented to the Synod of the pre- 

 vious year, and had been under the considera- 

 tion of a special committee, was taken up and 

 negatived. 



II. Reformed Church in the United States. The 

 following is a summary of the statistics of this 

 church for 1887", as they were reported to tjie 

 General Synod in June. Compariscn with the 

 appended statistics for 1878 will serve to show 

 the growth of the Church in nine years : 



The report of the Board of Home Missions 

 embraces the work of the several Boards of the 

 Synods of the United States, Pittsburg, and 

 the Potomac; of the Synod of Ohio; of the 

 Synod of the Northwest, and the Central Synod 

 German ; of the German Synod of the East, 

 and the mission department of Ursinus Union. 

 The total receipts for the past three years hnd 

 been $89,541; number of missions 111. and 

 number of members, 10,519. The receipts of 

 three years for church extension had been $15,- 

 497. The combined receipts for home mis- 

 sions and church extension were shown to have 

 been $27,048 in excess of those of the preced- 



