i;i:i-()i;.Mi:n cm i;< IIKS. 



667 



throe years, presented to the (iononil Syii>.l in 

 Muy, gave the following numbers: Of synod-, s; 

 of cla>- -. ")!!; nf miiiMers, 885; of congrega- 

 tion-, l.'is:!; of meinl>crs, 'Jl^.NIK); <>f memlii -r> 

 unconfirmed. 127,037; of pcr>oiis continued, 82,- 

 :{!'J ; of persons who communed. 160,314; of 

 Sunday schools, 1,508, with 13,811) officers and 

 t. nciiiTs and U!),023 pupils ; of students for t he 

 ministry, 285; amount of contributions for 'be- 

 nevolence, $649,892 ; amount of contributions 

 for congregational purposes, $3,022,174. 



The Home Mission Board reported that the 

 contributions of the Church at largo for homo 

 missions during the past three years had been 

 sivM.'MJl. while the missions had "raised $27,116 

 for benevolence, and $238,946 toward their own 

 support. One hundred and thirty-six missions 

 were supported in various parts of the United 

 States, and with them were connected 157 Sunday 

 schools with 15,749 pupils, teachers, and officers. 

 Kfforts were being made to introduce mission 

 work among the Hungarians and Poles in the 

 United States. The services of two ministers 

 from Hungary and Austria had been obtained, 

 they being stationed at Cleveland, Ohio, and Pitts- 

 burg, Pa. Both had been successful, and the 

 first Reformed Church for Hungarians was dedi- 

 cated at Pittsburg in 1892. There were now 

 16 congregations of this nationality in different 

 parts of the United States. Applications had 

 been received from colonies in New York, New 

 Jersey, Illinois, and Canada for missionaries 

 capable of speaking the Hungarian language. 

 The board had organized church-building funds 

 of $500 each, of which there were now 24, nearly 

 all of which were loaned to missionaries. 



The Board of Foreign Missions had 10 labor- 

 ers under its care in the foreign field with, in 

 Japan, 9 congregations, 80 preaching stations, 

 1.730 members, 22 Sunday schools with 922 

 pupils, and 8 native ministers. The annual rev- 

 enue for the foreign work had been, in 1890, 

 svMUHJO; in 1891, $19,357; and in 1892, $25,015. 

 The present indebtedness of the board was $14,- 

 000. Nearly 200 pupils, many of whom were 

 studying for the Christian ministry, were en- 

 rolled in the seminary at Sendai, which is de- 

 scribed in the report as "the most complete 

 Christian institution of learning in northern 

 .Japan." Sixty Sunday schools of the Church 

 in the United States had undertaken to pay $60 

 a year toward defraying the expenses of theo- 

 logical students. 



The General Synod met at Reading. Pa., May 

 24. The Rev. Thomas G. Apple, D. I)., LL.IX, 

 was chosen president. The new constitution 

 reported by the committee having the subject in 

 hand was discussed item by item, and the form 

 determined in which it should be sent down to 

 the classes for their action. A committee re- 

 ported concerning correspondence which it had 

 had with the Reformed Bund of Germany and 

 Switzerland. The report embodied recommenda- 

 tions for the establishment of port missionaries 

 at Bremen. Hamburg, and other ports of Ger- 

 many and Holland; that German copies of the 

 proceedings of the Synod be sent to the Euro- 

 pean synods ; and that committees be appointed 

 to take charge of young men coming to the 

 United States to enter the ministry. The Synod 

 directed that a memorial be sent to the Classis 



<>f Amsterdam recognizing the interest given by 

 it to the Church in this country in its early 

 days, and the officers of the Synod were &\t~ 

 pointed a committee to convey it. A prnp<-.-i- 

 tion to combine the societies of Andrew and 

 Philip and of Christian Endeavor with the Sun- 

 day schools, under one grand organization, to be 

 known as the Reformed League of Young Peo- 

 ple's Societies, was referred to a committee with 

 i 1 1. -i ructions to report to the next General Synod 

 apian for the organization of the young people of 

 the Church. The Synod expressed its approval 

 of the growing interest and increased chari- 

 ties of the Church in behalf of the poor and af- 

 flicted, and, declaring that it recognized the 

 right of women to the order and work of deacon- 

 ness, recommended " the appointment of ladies 

 qualified for this work in such congregations as 

 may feel themselves ready to move in this line 

 of Christian activity." A committee appointed 

 at the previous General Synod to prepare an 

 answer to the question sent up by one of the 

 classes " whether it is permissible to depart from 

 the mode of baptism which has prevailed in the 

 Reformed Church " presented a report in which 

 the question was defined as meaning, "Should a 

 minister of the Reformed Church administer 

 baptism by immersion ? " and after reviewing the 

 law and course of the Church, recommended the 

 answer, which was adopted by the Synod, " that 

 ministers are required to observe the mode of 

 baptism which has for centuries prevailed ih all 

 the historic branches of the Reformed Church." 

 The Synod protested against the purpose of 

 opening the Columbian Exposition on Sunday 

 " as a violation of the Christian sentiment of the 

 American people and of the congressional legis- 

 lation," and it decided by resolution that it in- 

 dividually or collectively would take no interest 

 in the religious congress in connection with the 

 fair if the doors were open on Sunday. A com- 

 mittee was appointed to consider the overture of 

 the Presbyterian Church in regard to closer 

 union and" to make arrangements for carrying 

 into effect a plan for such union. A banquet 

 was given during the meetings of the General 

 Svnod in celebration of the one hundredth an- 

 niversary of the autonomy of the Church. 



The gradual disappearance of the German 

 language from the proceedings of the General 

 Synod is remarked. While at the General Synod 

 of 1869 nearly all the German ministers spoke 

 in their native language, at the General Synod 

 of 1890 very few speeches were made in Gorman, 

 and at the present General Synod " there seemed 

 to be no disposition on the part of any to speak 

 in German.' 



III. I .lilod Reformed Churches in the. 

 Netherlands. A union has been effected be- 

 tween the two Free Reformed Churches in the 

 Netherlands, the Christian Reformed Church, 

 which separated from the state Church in \*:\\. 

 and the Doleerenden, which separated in 1886, 

 and between which no doctrinal differences 

 existed. The first formal steps toward the union 

 were taken in 1892, when the synods of both 

 Churches met at Amsterdam, agreed upon, and 

 effected union. The work was completed at a 

 meeting of the United Synod held at Dort, Aug. 

 27, 1898. The subject of union of the two theo- 

 logical seminaries that -of Kampen and the 



