258 KEFORMED pUTCH) CHURCH In the great majority of cases they are also the trustees to whom the management of the temporalities is committed. The elders and deacons are elected on the organization of a church by the male communicants, and subse- quently either by the consistory or the com- municants, and in both cases their names are published to the congregation for approval. They hold office for two years, at the expira- tion of which term they may be reSlected. The classis corresponds to the presbytery in the Presbyterian church, and is composed of ministers, 'with elders delegated, one from each church within a certain district. The classis is a court of appeal from the judicial decisions of consistories. It approves of calls, dissolves pas- toral connections, and ordains and deposes min- isters. The particular synods, of which there are four, New York, Albany, New Brunswick, and Chicago, are delegated bodies composed of four ministers and four elders from each classis within the bounds of the synod. These are courts of appeal from the decisions of the clas- ses; they form new classes, and transfer con- gregations from one classis to another. The general synod is the highest court of appeal, and is composed of three ministers and three elders from every classis in the connection. In a few instances of large classes, four ministers and four elders are delegated. It constitutes particular synods, appoints theological profes- sors, has the management of the theological seminary and the various boards, and exercises a general supervisory power over the concerns of the church. It cannot alter or amend the constitution of the church, but may recom- mend alterations, which can be adopted only by the votes of a majority of the classes. At a meeting of the general synod held at Ge- neva, N. Y., in June, 1867, it was voted to drop the word Dutch from the corporate name of the body, it being alleged that many were repelled by this foreign designation from join- ing the church. The question was submitted to the classes, assented to, and the action com- pleted at an extra session of the general synod in Albany, N. Y., Nov. 20 of the same year. A revised constitution was adopted in 1874. The reports of 1874 give the following statistics : particular synods, 4; classes, 34; churches, 489; ministers, 520; communicants, 69,149; contributions, $276,464. "The Christian In- telligencer," which is devoted to the interests of the church and mainly supported by its members, is the oldest religious weekly in the city of New York next to the " New York Ob- server," having been established in 1828. The boards publish a semi-monthly paper called the "Sower and Gospel Field." There are two theological seminaries, one at New Brunswick, N. J., the other in connection with Hope col- lege at Holland, Mich., the professors of which are appointed and the course of studies pre- scribed by the general synod, and which all students in theology contemplating eatrance into the ministry of this church are by the con- REF. CHURCH IN UNITED STATES / stitution required to attend. Much has been done recently for the completion of the en- dowment of the seminary at New Brunswick, and for furnishing it with the necessary build- ings and library. The James Suydam hall con- tains a gymnasium, chapel, museum, and lec- ture rooms. The Gardner A. Sage library is a spacious fire-proof building. Many thousands of dollars have been contributed by various friends of the church for books, by the expen- diture of which a theological library will be secured second in value to none in the country. REFORMED CHURCH IN THE IMTED STATES (formerly GEBMAN RKFOEMKD CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA), a religious body which is an offshoot of the Reformed church of Germany. The first minister was the Rev. George Michael Weiss, who, aided by the clas- sis of Amsterdam, emigrated with about 400 people of the Palatinate in 1727. They settled along the Skippach, in Montgomery co., Pa., and built a wooden church. The majority of the immigrants who followed these pioneers set- tled in Pennsylvania, E. of the Susquehanna ; smaller numbers settled in New York, along the Hudson, in New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, and even extended into the Carolinas. But though the members of the church were soon counted by thousands, no effort was made to establish an ecclesiastical organization, and until the middle of the century the number of ministers was at no time more than three or four. In 1746 the Rev. Michael Schlatter was commissioned by the synods of North and South Holland to visit their German mis- sions in America, and to regulate their ecclesi- astical relations. After visiting all the Ger- man congregations, he assembled in Philadel- phia the first synod (or, as it was then call- ed, eoetui) of the German Reformed church, Sept. 29, 1747. It consisted of 31 members, 5 ministers and 26 elders, who represented 46 churches and a population estimated at 30,000. Schlatter not only organized the church, but greatly promoted its growth by inducing cler- gymen in Germany to come as missionaries to America, and by collecting in England, Hol- land, Germany, and Switzerland a large fund for the support of ministers and teachers. The German Reformed coetus continued under the jurisdiction of the synod of Holland, sending its acts and proceedings to it for revision, till 1793, when it resolved to assume the right of self-government. It adopted a constitution, entitled Synodal- Ordnung der hochdeutschen Beformirten Synode imd der mit ihr verbunde- nen Gemeinden in den Vereinigten Staaten von Nord-AmeriTca (" Constitution of the High German Reformed Synod and of the congre- gations connected with it in the United States of America "). The church, which was called High German in distinction from the Low German or Dutch, had at this time at least 150 churches, but only 22 ordained ministers. It increased rapidly in membership and congre- gations, but as the influx of clergymen who
