720 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



was thrown into a common stock; all debts, all 

 duties fell upon the society, which ate in one 

 room, slept under one roof' ami lived upon one 

 common store. All prayer and religious service 

 were stopped, Sunday was unobserved, family 

 ties were broken up, and a complex marriage 

 system was established, by which each man be- 

 came the husband and brother of every woman : 

 every woman the wife and sister of every man. 

 They held that true believers are free to follow 

 the indications of the Holy Spirit in all things. 

 nothing being good or bad in itself. Conse- 

 quently, they rejected all laws and rules of con- 

 duct, except those which each believer formu- 

 lated for himself; but to prevent the inconveni- 

 ences arising from an ignorant exercise of indi- 

 vidual liberty, they introduced the "principle of 

 sympathy," or free public opinion, which, in fact, 

 constituted the supreme government of the sect. 

 Presbyterian Church. A name ap- 

 plied to those Christian denominations which 

 nold that there is no order in the Church as es- 

 tablished by Christ and His apostles superior 

 to that of presbyters, and who vest Church gov- 

 ernment in presbyteries, constituted of ministers 

 and elders, possessed of equal powers, thus with- 

 out superiority among themselves. Presby- 

 terianism does not recognize the term bishop 

 as the superior of the presbytery, because these 

 two names or titles in the New Testament, are 

 used interchangeably of the same persons. 

 Presbyterians hold that the authority of their 

 ministers is derived from the Holy Spirit, which 

 is symbolized by the imposition of the hands of 

 presbytery collectively. They affirm that all 

 Christian ministers, being ambassadors of Christ, 

 are equal by their commission. The congrega- 

 tion elects its own minister and elders, and also 

 its deacons and trustees the former of the 

 last two, takes charge of the charities of the 

 Church, and the latter of its temporal or financial 

 affairs. The session, consisting of the minister 

 and elders, has the spiritual oversight of the 

 church members. The Presbytery is consti- 

 tuted by ministers and elders in equal numbers. 

 A congregation for the time without a pastor 

 can be represented in the presbytery by an 

 elder. An appeal may be made to the presby- 

 tery from congregations or sessions. A synod 

 consists of a number of presbyteries within de- 

 fined boundaries. The general assembly is the 

 highest court of the Church, and consists of 

 representatives from all the presbyteries, each 

 minister is accompanied by an elder from the 

 same presbytery. The first Presbyterian Church 

 in modern times was founded in Geneva by John 

 Calvin, about 1541; and the constitution and 

 doctrines were thence introduced, with some 

 modifications, into Scotland by John Knox, 

 about 1560, though the Presbyterian was not 

 legally recognized as the national form of Church 

 government till 1592. The first Presbyterians 

 in America were emigrants from the British 

 Isles, and the first Presbyterian Church in Amer- 

 ica was founded in the colony of Massachusetts 

 in 1629. It was the outgrowth of a Presby- 

 terian congregation that landed there in 1625. 

 This movement was projected by Presbyterian 

 leaders in the south of England and also in Lon- 

 don. It was designed to be a colonization on 



a higher principle than the desire for gain. The 

 Church now has five theological seminaries. A 

 revision of the confession was commenced in 

 IS'.)!, and is now in progress. Jt is also proposed 

 to formulate a creed which shall express the 

 doctrine of all the branches of the Church. There 

 are several branches which virtually hold the 

 polity of the Presbyterian Church in the Tinted 

 States, each having its own theological semi- 

 naries and colleges, such as the Presbyterian 

 churches northern and southern, the Cumber- 

 land, Reformed, the United Presbyterian, the 

 Reformed Dutch and German, etc. The 1'res 

 byterian Church in Canada is strong and pros- 

 perous, with six theological colleges. In lv.o. 

 there were above 800 ministers and 1 10,000 

 communicants. In the Australasia colonies 

 Presbyterianism is also vigorous. In the Cape 

 Colony and minor colonies Presbyterianism H 

 also represented. 



Reformed Church. In general, com 

 prehends those Churches which were formed at 

 the Reformation; but the term is specifically 

 applied to those Protestant Churches which dill 

 not embrace the doctrines and discipline of 

 Luther. The title was first assumed by the 

 French Protestants, but afterwards became Un- 

 common denomination of all the Calvinistic 

 churches on the European continent. The Re- 

 formed Church of America is a body known up 

 to 1867 as the Reformed Protestant Dutcn 

 Church, being founded by settlers from Holland 

 and holding Calvinistic doctrines. The first 

 minister was the Rev. George Michael \YeNs. 

 who emigrated with about 400 people of the 

 Palatinate in 1727. These and most of the 

 immigrants who followed settled in Pennsyl- 

 vania, east of the Susquehanna. In 1740, the 

 Rev. Michael Schlatter was commissioned by 

 the synods of North and South Holland to visit 

 j their German missions in America, and to regu- 

 late their ecclesiastical relations. He assembled 

 in Philadelphia the first synod (or, as it was 

 then called, coetus) of the German Reformed 

 Church, September 29, 1747. The German Re- 

 formed coetus continued under the jurisdiction 

 of the Church of Holland till 1793, when an 

 independent synod was formed. It increased 

 rapidly in membership and congregations. The 

 spread of the English language led to a closer 

 connection with other Protestant Churches of t he 

 United States; and many ministers and con- 

 gregations showed a tendency to drop certain 

 customs of the Church, as confirmation and 

 church holidays. The first triennial general 

 synod, with jurisdiction over the whole Church, 

 met in Pittsburgh in November, 1863. The 

 general synod of 1869, resolved to drop the word 

 German from the name of the Church. The 

 Heidelberg catechism is the only standard of 

 doctrine. As this book was intended to harmo- 

 nize the Melanchthonian and Calvinistic ten- 

 dencies, it has been construed by theologians 

 of these two schools in different ways. In th; 

 German Reformed Church the Melanchthonian 

 element has been predominant, so that many 

 representative theologians have incurred the 

 charge of Romanizing tendencies. The worship 

 of the Church is liturgical; its government is 

 presbyterian. 



