REFORMED CHURCHES. 



but whether it is so on the basis of cost of 

 operation is yet undetermined, though the ex- 

 perience had with the Siemens lines goes to 

 show that it is. Prof. Ayrton claims that the 

 cheapening of railway transportation is one of 

 the chief recommendations of the electric sys- 

 tem. If further experience shows that this 

 belief is well founded, there can be no question 

 the great future which awaits this system 



railway operation. It is universally applica- 

 ble ; as capable of doing the work of a great 

 trunk line as that of city and suburban roads. 

 Its first field of operation is of course the latter, 

 but, if successful here, its extension to the 

 general railroad system of a country is simply 

 a matter of time. 



REFORMED CHURCHES. I. Reformed Church in 

 America. The summary of the statistics of this 

 church, as they were reported to the General 

 Synod in June, 1883, is as follows : Number of 

 particular synods, 4 ; of classes, 33 ; of church- 

 es, 516; of ministers, 569 ; of candidates, 3 ; of 

 families, 44,506 ; of communicants, 80,156 ; of 

 baptisms, 3,988 of infants and 940 of adults; 

 of baptized non-communicants, 29,599 ; of cate- 

 chumens, 28,595 ; of Sunday-schools, 697, with 

 84,595 scholars. Amount of contributions: 

 For religious and benevolent purposes, $224,- 

 144; for congregational purposes, $873,820. 



The Board of Education reported to the Gen- 

 eral Synod that its receipts for the year, exclu- 

 sive of interest from invested funds, had been 

 $7,516 ; and that $7,522 had been paid into the 

 Treasury of the General Synod tor investment, 

 and to found scholarships. The debt of the 

 board was $6,165, having decreased $1,000. 

 Sixty-six young men had been aided in prepar- 

 ing for the ministry, thirteen of whom had 

 finished their studies and been licensed. Aid 

 had also been given to parochial schools con- 

 nected with seven of the churches. 



The income of the Board of Domestic Mis- 

 sions, including interest from invested funds, 

 had been $39,224, and its expenditures $25,- 

 125. The board also reported the receipt of 

 $6,329 on account of its church-building fund, 

 with an expenditure of $15,210, or enough to 

 absorb the balance to its credit on the general 

 account, and leave it in debt $1,000. Seventy 

 missionaries had been employed at 77 missions, 

 with which were connected 4,459 members of 

 the church; 88 Sunday-schools had been con- 

 ducted, having an average attendance of 7,609 

 persons; and 445 persons had been received 

 on confession of faith. 



The receipts of the Board of Foreign Mis- 

 sions had been $66,206. The missions, which 

 are in China (the Araoy mission), India (the 

 Arcot mission), and Japan, returned 12 sta- 

 tions, 128 out-stations, 18 missionaries, 23 as- 

 sistant missionaries, 18 native ministers, ^166 

 catechists or preachers, assistant catechists, 

 readers, schoolmasters, schoolmistresses, col- 

 porteurs, and Bible-women, 37 churches, 2,843 

 communicants, 5 academies with 144 scholars, 

 95 day-schools with 2,028 pupils, and 18 theo- 



logical students. The contributions of the na- 

 tive churches amounted to $2,768 ; receipts of 

 the Woman's Board of Missions, $10,919. 



The General Synod of the Reformed Church 

 in America met in its seventy-seventh annual 

 session in Albany, N. Y., June 6th. The Rev. 

 William R. Duryea, D. D., was chosen |.r.-i- 

 dent. Certain changes in the form for the ad- 

 ministration of baptism to adults were asked 

 for by the Classis of Poughkeepsie, whose 

 memorial on the subject had been before two. 

 previous sessions of the Synod, and had been 

 referred by the former Synod to a sjx-ci.il com- 

 mittee to consider and report upon. The me- 

 morial was supported by a petition from the 

 elders of Trinity Church, in Plainfield, N. J. t 

 asking that u some action be taken looking 

 toward the harmonization of the authorized 

 forms for admission into church-membership 

 of those not .baptized in infancy, and of those 

 who were then baptized," and " that if any 

 changes be made, they be made in favor of the 

 latter form (that for those baptized in infan- 

 cy), which embodies the essential faith of the 

 church." The action of the Synod on the sub- 

 ject was as follows : 



That after the sentence "You are sin- 



cerely to give answer before God and his Church," 

 in " the form for the administration of holy baptism 

 to adult persons," shall be inserted a mark of refer- 

 ence directing attention to the following foot-note : 



" The questions and answers of the form for public 

 reception into full communion of those who have been 

 baptized in infancy may at the option of nunistcrs and 

 elders be used in place of those contained in this form." 

 (The form for the admission to membership is, so far 

 as doctrine is concerned, the acceptance of the Apostles' 

 Creed.) 



Resolved, That a mark of reference be inserted after 

 the word " good" in the second question of the form 

 for the administration of holy baptism to adult per- 

 sons, referring to the following explanatory note : 



That is, " incapable of any saving good." Canons, 

 third and fourth heads of doctrine, Art. Ill, " only 

 those works which proceed from a true faith and are 

 performed according to the law of God and to his glory 

 are goody Heid. Cat., xxxiii. Lord's Day, quest. 91. 



Resolved, That a mark of reference be inserted after 

 the word " church " in the fourth question of the same 

 form, referring to the following explanatory note : 



The articles spoken of are the Articles of the Apos- 

 tles' Creed. See Heid. Cat., vii. Lord's Day, quest. 22, 

 and the forms for "the administration of the Lord's 

 Supper," and " the public reception into full commun- 

 ion of those who have been baptized in infancy." 



Resolved, That the Board of Publication be directed 

 to have the plates of the revised Liturgy amended m 

 accordance with this action, and to incorporate these 

 explanations in the copies of the Liturgy hereafter 

 issued. 



The Synod had been repeatedly asked to 

 adopt expressions disapproving the connection 

 of members of the church with the Masonic or 

 other secret, oath-bound societies, and in re- 

 sponse to such requests had, at a previous meet- 

 ing, declined to express any- opinion on the 

 subject, but recommended that the matter be 

 relegated to the conscience of the individual 

 church-member and to the spiritual governors 

 of the individual church. This action was re- 

 affirmed, with the suggestion to members of 



