THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
tution there is much variety. In the eastern provinces the district synods consist of the superintendent as the presiding officer, of the entire parish clergy, and of a double number of elected lay members, of which one-half is elected from present or former elders by the representative bodies of the congregations; the other half from respected and experienced men of the synodal district by the representation of the larger congregations, for three years. In Rhenish Prussia and Westphalia, on the other hand, the district synod consists of the clergymen and one elder of every congregation. The district synod has no parliamentary character like the congregational representatives ; it is rather the board of the district communion with definite powers of decision. It assembles annually, and its duties comprise the treatment of affairs of general interest, restricted privileges of supervision, and the exercise of church discipline of second instance. The third grade of self-administration of the old Prussian state church is the provincial synod; it consists of the delegates elected from the district synods or unions of synods of small dioceses, of a deputy of the theological faculty of the province, and of the members appointed by the king (not over onesixth of the entire number). Besides the supervision of discipline in doctrine, worship, and constitution, and the execution of proposals of the state government of the church, the provincial synod has to give its assent to ecclesiastical laws the validity of which is restricted to the province. No catechisms, textbooks, hymnals, manuals, or regular provincial collections can be introduced without its sanction; and it supervises the funds of the district synod, directs the administration of the fund of the provincial synod, decides on the expenditure of church and home collections for the benefit of needy congregations of its district, and is permitted to deputize two or three of its members to the examination commission of the consistory (ut sup.). The presiding head, consisting of a president and from two to six associates, is privileged to take part in the important business affairs of the consistory; and must take a hand with it in proposals for the filling of state church government offices, and in decisions upon objections raised by congregations against the doctrines of their clergymen, and upon all charges of heresy. The general synod is the synodal organ of the entire state church of the nine older provinces. It consists of 150 members elected from the nine provincial synods, of a deputy of the district synod of Hohenzollern, 6 deputies of the theological faculties, all (13) general superintendents, and 30 members to be appointed by the king. The president, vice-president, and six secretaries are elected by the body at the opening of each assembly, to continue until final adjournment. It has primarily the right of assent to all acts of the legislative body of the state church government. Subject to it are the regulation of the freedom of doctrinal teaching, the obligations of clergymen by virtue of their ordination, the norms of agenda for the Church as a whole, the institution and abolition of sacred holidays, changes in the congregational and synodal order, as well as of fundamental changes in the constitution of church government, church
discipline with reference to general duties, and disciplinary authority over clergymen and other officers the requirements for applicants, and fundamental rules on appointment and on matrimony. The second synodal organ of the old Prussian state church is the presiding board of the general synod, consisting of a presiding officer, his proxy, and five associates, for whom also five substitutes are elected. As an independent college it may make proposals for the abolition of defects in ecclesiastical legislation and administration; and it may prepare also drafts of laws for the general synod. In matters which can not be postponed until the convention of the general synod, it may act with the full power of that body. It administers the fund of the general synod and cooperates with the supreme church council in receiving appeals on heresy, in reviewing the proposed acts submitted by the state church government to the general synod for adoption and the instructions of the former to the latter for the execution of its enactments, in proposals for the appointments of the general superintendent, in representation before the courts of justice, and in other affairs of the central administration of the Church, in which it is admitted by the council. As third synodal organ there is elected by the general synod the council of the general synod which is constituted of eighteen members, beside the presiding board of the general synod. It ends its function with the opening of the next regular general synod, and meets once a year in Berlin, to act as advisory counsel to the supreme church council. Outside of the older provinces, the order is in the main similar. The other Evangelical religious communities, the so-called sects, have no great importance in Prussia. Without propaganda and in peaceful relation to the state church are the Mennonites (13,860) and the Unity of the Brethren, distinguished for their institutions of training and missions. The Old Lutherans of Breslau do not relinquish their confessional aloofness; likewise the Dutch Reformed of Elberfeld. Insignificant are the free religious communities organized on the basis of absolute freedom, i.e., indefiniteness. But the propaganda of American and English denominations such as the Irvingites (45,654), Darbyites, Baptists (42,370), Methodists, and the Salvation Army has considerably increased, and has drawn, especially in the larger cities, from the state churches.
2. Roman Catholic : The organization of the Roman Catholic Church in the older provinces is based on the papal bull De salute animarum of July 16, 1821, sanctioned as to essential content and published in the code after royal approval, Aug. 23, of that year. The bull defined eight bishoprics: Cologne, Paderborn, Miinster, Treves, Breslau, Ermland, Gnesen-Posen, and Culm. There is one ecclesiastical province in the east and one in the west, where the Roman Catholic population is the most dense: respectively, the archbishopric of Gnesen-Posen including the bishopric of Culm; and that of Cologne, including the suffragan bishoprics of Treves, Miinster, and Paderborn. Hesse- Cassel is included in the bishopric of Fulda and Wiesbaden in that of Limburg, both under the archbishopric of Freiburg which includes also Hohen-
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