THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
meet yearly for the election of officers and the consideration of such topics as are presented to them by the synod. While in the other assemblies the ministers are twice as many as the elders, the classes are composed of all the ministers within the bounds and an elder from each congregation. The local congregations are governed by their consistories, consisting of an equal number of elders and deacons. Since 1S67 the members of the consistory have been chosen by a college of representatives, the latter being chosen by the whole body of adult members, except those supported by the poor funds. It is this participation of the members in the elections which has brought the Church back to orthodoxy. In 1898 the Church had 1,348 churches and 1,606 ministers. The Walloons or French congregations are mostly composed of the descendants of the refugees driven by persecution from France and Flanders; but as these gradually blended with the Netherlanders their numbers decreased. While in 1815 they had thirty-five churches and forty-seven ministers, in 1S9S they had only sixteen churches and twentyfour ministers. There have been in all between thirty and forty British Presbyterian churches in Holland and Belgium, not to speak of English Congregational and Episcopal churches and Quaker meetings. Of the Presbyterian churches only those of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Middelburg remain; and these, as well as the Walloon churches, are now included in the Reformed Church. The management of church property was directed for a time by decrees of William I., issued in 1819 and 1833, but these decrees were annulled in 1869. Since that time most of the congregations have placed themselves under a " Committee of Control," while the others are independent.
From the beginning of the independence of Holland the ministers were generally trained at the state universities, where theological faculties were constituted for that purpose; yet a course in the universities was not obligatory. The law of 1877 released the faculty from the duty of teaching the theology of the confessions, while in each university two professors, nominated by the synod of the Reformed Church, are charged with the duty of lecturing on dogmatic and practical theology. During the entire period of the Dutch Republic the classis of Amsterdam was the great agency of Holland, and largely of all Continental Europe, for carrying on mission work among twenty colonies as well as among the heathen. Her deputati ad res exteras, as exhibited by their minutes and correspondence, show an amount of work in this line almost appalling. But neither foreign nor domestic missions are now carried on by the Church or its officers, as such; yet the subject of missions has grown in interest during recent years. Besides the Moravian Society, which has long labored in the West Indies, there was for many years only the Netherlands Missionary Society, founded in 1797. But in 1881 no less than ten missionary societies existed for sending missionaries to non-Christian countries. There is also one society laboring especially among the Jews. The number of the church members in the Dutch missions is about 100,000. They have 200 schools attended by about 14,000
scholars. The public schools of Holland are now confessionless, but there are hundreds of private parochial schools supported by Protestants or Roman Catholics. Two considerable associations have been formed, one in 1860 and another in 1877 to support and extend such schools. Evangelistic work is carried on by several associations of believers Activity in this direction, as well as other philanthropic work, for example, work for homeless children, for fallen women, for the blind, etc., is ever on the increase; but the desirable cooperation of all the religious bodies is yet wanting.
2. The Christian Reformed Church (Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken) : At the general synod of 1816 (see above) a slight, though important, change in the subscription form for candidates gave occasion for a great controversy. The question arose whether the standards of doctrine were authoritative because they agreed with the Word of God, or so far as they agreed therewith. The synod of 1835 gave the right to every candidate to decide this for himself. This, it was believed, gave liberty for the introduction of all manner of error, as well as for its propagation. Royal mandates also often interfered with the internal affairs of the Church. The " New Regulations " adopted in 1816 and the administrative committees then formed controlled everything. With the deposition of one of the Evangelical ministers, De Cock, because he would not conform in certain matters, a crisis came in 1834, and the Evangelical party came into conflict with the authorities, and a secession was resolved upon. The movement was supported by Da Costa and Groen van Prinsterer, although they never left the old Church. It was embarrassed, however, by an ancient law, forbidding the assembling together of more than twenty persons, outside the recognized churches, for public worship. In 1836 a royal decree, repeated in 1841, confirmed this law, yet it pointed out a way by which new congregations could be legally constituted. The seceders organized the Christian Reformed Church, declaring that they did not wish to secede from the Church, but only from the bureaucratic administrative committee. Large multitudes soon joined them. In 1836 their first synodical meeting was held. Revivals followed the purer preaching of the Word, and new churches were organized; but many fines and imprisonments followed. The result was that emigration was determined upon by several pastors with their entire flocks. These began to come to America about 1S-I0, settling in Michigan and other States of the Middle West. After half a century these pilgrim Dutch churches, partly under their own name and partly under the Reformed Church in America, now number about 400 (see Reformed Churches). New decrees in Holland, in 1849, 1852, 1868, abrogated all restrictions. The separated churches at length secured a legal standing, except that they received no support from the state. These churches adhere to the doctrine and discipline of the Synod of Dort, and thus stand in agreement with the Reformed Church in America. Their general synod meets tnennially. In 1854 they established their theological school at Kampen; and in 1879 arrangements were also made for higher education by the founding of