672 



REFORMED CHURCHES. 



with the teachings of the Confession of Faith ; 

 declared that the opinions he had avowed 

 "assaulted the very foundations of evangeli- 

 cal religion, betrayed the cause of Christ to 

 His enemies, and wounded the Church in her 

 work and life ; " and suspended him from 

 the office of the ministry of the Gospel. Dr. 

 Blauvelt appealed to the Particular Synod, 

 denying that he was seeking to betray the 

 cause of Christ to His enemies. The Synod 

 confirmed the action of the classis, whereupon 

 Dr. Blauvelt appealed to the General Synod, 

 not from the sentence of suspension from the 

 ministry, but from so much of the action of 

 the classia of Kingston as charged that the 

 opinions avowed by him " betrayed the cause 

 of Christ to His enemies." He was given a 

 hearing in the review of the case, after which 

 the Synod decided that the action of the Par- 

 ticular Synod, confirming the action of the 

 classis, was confirmed as a whole. A Com- 

 mittee on the Library of the Theological 

 Seminary in New Brunswick, N. J., reported 

 that 3,000 bound volumes, and nearly 400 un- 

 bound pamphlets, had been added to the 

 library, including many old works of impor- 

 tance, the complete works of Kant, Schleier- 

 macher, Schelling, Fichte, Schlegel, Jacobi, 

 Herder, Baader, and other German philosoph- 

 ical and theological writers ; and large addi- 

 tions had been made to the works already 

 possessed on the history, literature, and the- 

 ology of Holland. Many pamphlets on the 

 history of their own Church had also been re- 

 ceived. 



The Committee on the Publication of the 

 "Centennial Discourses" reported that the 

 first edition of the publication had been ex- 

 hausted, and that the receipts would cover the 

 expenses. The presidents of the Synod and 

 the preachers on benevolence, both present 

 and past, were requested to furnish copies of 

 their sermons for preservation in the archives 

 at New Brunswick. 



The Board of Publication were authorized 

 to publish an edition of the constitution of the 

 Church in the Dutch language. The saluta- 

 tions of the Synod were sent to the French 

 Reformed Church, and a resolution of sympa- 

 thy was voted with the Free Christian Church 

 of Italy. Resolutions were passed approving 

 the movements in progress throughout the 

 country for the advancement of the temper- 

 ance cause ; exhorting professing Christians, 

 "in the present aspect of the temperance 

 question, to seriously consider the obligation 

 of total abstinence from all intoxicants so that 

 the full weight of their influence may be upon 

 the side of purity, good order, and Christian 

 morals," and urging upon churches and con- 

 sistories "constant faithfulness in the exer- 

 cise of Christian discipline against offenders in 

 the Church, who not only in the excesses of 

 drunkenness, but by the manufacture and sale 

 of intoxicating drinks, and also by the rent of 

 property for the purpose of the nefarious 



traffic, dishonor Christ ; " also approving mea- 

 sures for the suppression of tippling-houses, 

 and the enforcement of the present laws regu- 

 lating the liquor traffic. 



H. REFORMED CHUECH nr THE UNITED STATES 

 (formerly German Reformed Church). The 

 following is a summary of the statistics of the 

 Reformed Church in the United States as they 

 are given in the Almanacs of the denomination 

 for 1878 : 



Number of classes, 45 ; number of persons who 

 communed during the year, 119,164; number 

 of Sunday-schools, 1,198; number of scholars 

 in the same, 83,604; number of students for 

 the ministry, 160 ; amount of contributions for 

 benevolent purposes, $67,514 ; amount of con- 

 tributions for congregational purposes, $357,- 

 583. The efforts of this Church in benevolence 

 end missions are exercised through a number 

 of societies, of which a Board of Home Mis- 

 sions, a Board of Foreign Missions, and a Board 

 of Church Extension, are connected with the 

 General Synod; other missionary societies are 

 the Ohio Board of Missions, Tiffin, Ohio, which ' 

 reports 20 mission stations under its care, the 

 most of which are in Kansas and Missouri, 

 while one is at Denver, Colorado ; the Mission 

 Board of the Northwest, Galion, Ohio, which 

 labors mostly among the Germans ; the East- 

 ern Board of Missions, Harrisburg, Pa. ; and 

 the Mission Board of Ursinus Union, Lebanon, 

 Pa. The Theological Seminary at Tiffin, Ohio, 

 chartered in 1831, had sent out in 1877 a total 

 of 171 ministers ; the Mission House at How- 

 ard's Grove, "Wis., had sent out a large number 

 of German ministers. Other theological insti- 

 tutions of the Church are the Theological De- 

 partment of Mercersbnrg College, Mercersburg, 

 Pa.; the Theological Department of Ursinus 

 College, Freeland, Montgomery County, Pa. ; 

 and the Seminary at Lancaster, Pa. These 

 five institutions and departments had educated, 

 in 1877, a total of about 683 ministers. The 

 other educational institutions consist of six 

 colleges and seven higher academical schools 

 for young men and young women. The list of 

 periodicals includes seven publications in the 

 English and three in the German language; 

 two of the English papers and one of the Ger- 

 man are weekly ; the others are monthly and 

 semi-monthly, with one quarterly review. 



III. REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH OF SOUTH 

 AFRICA. The General Assembly of the Re- 

 formed Dutch Church of South Africa met at 



