The arrival in 1746 of the Rev. Michael Schlatter, a Reformed minister fro.n St. Gall, Switzerland, who was commissioned and supported by the synods of North and South Holland, introduces the formatire period in the history of the Churcli. A man of great energy, strong faitli, burning zeal, and indomitable perseverance, he visited all the German settlements in Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and some in New York ; gathered the people ; preached the Gospel ; administered the sacraments ; organized churches; located pastors; established schools; and on Sept. 29, 1747, in the city of Philadelphia, succeed- ed in eflecting the organization of the first synod, or the Coetu.i, as it was called, of the German Reformed Church. Subsequently he visited Europe for the pur- pose of representing the extreme destitution of the Germans in America. He travelled through Holland, Switzerland, Germany, and England, and everywhere awakened profound interest. He succeeded in creating a large fund, the j'early interest of which was devoted to the support of ministers and school-teachers in Amer- ica, and to the purchase of Bibles for gratuitous distri- bution among the people. He also induced a number of j'oung ministers to go forth as missionaries to their brethren in the New V\'orld, of whom five came with him on his return to America.
The first Coetus consisted of thirty-one members — five ministers and twenty-six elders — and i-epresented forty-six churches and a population then estimated at thirty thousand. Organized by direction of tlie Synod of Holland, the Coetus stood under the jurisdiction of that body. Its proceedings were sent annually for review and confirmation to the Classis of Amsterdam, that Classis having been charged by the Synod of Holland witli the dutj- of superintending the affairs of the German Church in America. No one was ordain- ed to the office of the ministr}' without its consent.
This subordinate relation to the Church of Holland continued until 1793, a period of forty-six years. Em- igration increased. From time to time, ministers and school-teachers from the Palatinate and other Reform- ed provinces of Europe arrived. But the increase of ministers was not in proportion to the increase of the population. Though the Church grew, yet the spirit- ual destitutions multiplied, so that at the end of this period thei-e were at least one hundred and fifty church- es, but no more than about twenty-two ordained min- isters.
In 1793 the Coetus resolved no longer to transmit its acts and proceedings for revision to the Classis of Amsterdam, and assumed the right to govern itself, and to have the care of the churches in America, inde- pendently of foreign oversight and control. A con- stitution was adopted, entitled " Si/noda!-Onlnunf/ des hochdeiifschen Ileformirten Si/nods mid der niit ihr ver- hundenen Gemeinden in den Vereinigten Staaten von Nord- America.'" By this act the Coetus became the Synod, and the Reformirle Kirche, or Reformed Church, be- came the Jlocfi-deutsche Reformirte Kirche, or Hvjh-Ger- mun Reformed Church, in order to distinguish it from the Nieder-Deutsche, or Low-German, or Low-Dutch Chui'ch.
This event introduces a period of thirty-two years, extending to the establishment of a theological semi- nary in 1825, a period which it is not easy to charac- terize. In one respect there was progress. The peo- ple increased in numbers and wealth. There were also large accessions to the population by immigra- tion. Congregations multiplied. Many Germans mi- grated westward, and churches were organized in Ohio. There was also proportionally a larger accession to the ranks of the ministry, the number rising from twen- ty-two to eighty-two. But in another respect there was retrogression. So long as the Church stood directly under the supervision of Holland, the great majority of ministers were men who had ')een thoroughly edu- cated in the gymnasiums and universities of Europe. But now, while some men of thorougli education still came from Europe, the larger number came from the membership of the American Church. As the synod had no theological seminary, no college, and no acad- emy, candidates for the oflice could acquire only a su- perficial or partial knowledge of Latin and Greek, of science and theology. Young men had to prosecute their studies under the tuition of pastors Avho had charge of from two to eight churches. As a natural consequence, the standard of ministerial qualifications liad to be lowered ; and with the loss of broad culture, departed also, in great measure, the sense of its value. Some of the leading ministers saw the evils to which the Church was exposed from this tendency, and en- deavored to resist it manfully, but without avail.
With the depression of the ministrj' came ecclesias- tical disorders, the fruit of tendencies at work from the beginning. Some laymen presumed to administer the sacraments; some ministers, also, were disorder- ly'. The}' were disposed to ordain men to the holy of- fice on their own judgment and authority as individu- als. The Church, moreover, felt the enervating infiu- ence of German rationalism or neology, and of the de- ism of England. The most active and influential men, though struggling earnestly against these downward forces, could offer but a feeble resistance ; for, taking the faith of the Reformation as the standard of judg- ment, they themselves occupied a false theological at- titude, the rationalistic habit of thought of the 18th century, taking hold of them, gave an undertone to their preaching and ecclesiastical life, which, though they cherished firm faith in the truth of supernatural revelation, nevertheless nourished comparative indif- ference to the original faith of the Reformed Church as embodied in the Palatinate Catechism, and even ex- erted an influence in direct opposition to it.