RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Reformed (Dutch) Church
church order. The church orders of the other Netherlandish provinces were in harmony, except for minor details, with that formulated by the Synod of The Hague. This latter synod had done all in its power to unite all the Reformed churches of the Netherlands into an organic whole; and its church order, essentially the same as that of Emden, remained the basis for the organization and administration of the Dutch Reformed Church. Thus was the Reformed Church founded in the Netherlands. Its doctrinal standards were the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism; it possessed an admirable system of organization; it was divided into classes and synods which met regularly and carefully guarded its interests; its consistories contributed more and more to orderly conditions of the congregations; and while at first there was a dearth of preachers, this was remedied by the universities of Leyden (1575), Franeker (1585), and Groningen (1614). It enjoyed the protection and the financial support of the State, even though entire harmony in administration and doctrine did not prevail. Its Calvinistic character was assailed by the Remonstrants (q.v.), but by their condemnation and expulsion by the national Synod of Dort in 1618-19 its true nature was vindicated, and the unity begun at Emden and completed at The Hague was powerfully strengthened. For statistics and present status see Holland. (S. D. van Veen.)
II. In America : 1 . The Background; The Reformed Church in America, known until 1867 as the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, is a body of Christians in the United States composed originally of settlers from the Netherlands, but now greatly intermixed with elements from other sources. In the Netherlands the Reformation met with a hearty welcome. Entering first from Germany, it subsequently received its great impulse from Switzerland and France, whence its distinct type of Reformed doctrine, and its more democratic Presbyterian polity. In the Netherlands, as elsewhere, there had been a great preparation made by Reformers before the Reformation. Reference can be made only to Geert Groote (q.v.) and his Brotherhood of the Common Life (see Common Life, Brethren op the). They studied the Bible and preached and prayed in the vernacular. The Bible was translated into Dutch as early as 1477 (copies of this old version are in the Lenox Library and the library of the Collegiate Church, New York) . The monks, John Esch and Henry Voes, for their Evangelical preaching were burned at Brussels as early as 1523, and were, perhaps, the first martyrs of the Reformation. The Reformed Church of the Netherlands began its more formal existence in 1566, when the so-called " League of Beggars " was formed. Field preaching and the singing of evangelical hymns rapidly spread the Reformed doctrine. During the next two decades were held the conventions or synods which formulated a liturgy and rules of church government (see I., above).
2. First Period, 1628-64: The Dutch first came to America for purposes of trade. The West India Comoany was chartered in 1621, and settled many thousands of Dutch and Walloons in New York and New Jersey. After religious services had been con-
ducted for five years, 1623-28, by Sebastian Jansen Krol, a comforter of the sick (Van Rensselaer- Bowier MSS., page 302), the First Church of New Amsterdam was organized by Domine Jonas Michaelius in 1628, who was its pastor for not less than four years. This is now the strong and wealthy organization known as the Collegiate Church of New York City, with its half-score of churches or chapels and fourteen ministers. The West India Company formally established the Church of Holland in New Netherland and maintained the ministers, schoolmasters, and comforters of the sick. Calls upon ministers were not valid unless endorsed by the company. In 1624 the Synod of North Holland decreed that any classis, within whose bounds either of the two great commercial companies had their chambers or offices, might take charge of all ecclesiastical interests in such colonies as were under the care of that office (Ecclesiastical Records of New York, i. 38). Thus the classis of Amsterdam came to have charge of the churches in New Netherland. During the government of the West India Company, or until the English conquest in 1664, fourteen churches had been established, chiefly along the Hudson and on Long Island, but including one in Delaware, and one at St. Thomas, in the West Indies (Corwin, Manual, p. 1073, ed. of 1902); and sixteen ministers had been commissioned for these fields. There were seven Dutch ministers in service at the time of the surrender of the Dutch colonies to the British in 1664 (Corwin, Manual, p. 1045).
3. Second Period, 1664-1708: During this period occurred the struggle of the church to maintain her ecclesiastical independence under English rule. At the conquest there were about 10,000 Hollanders in the colony, but Dutch immigration then practically ceased. The relation of the Dutch churches to the Classis of Amsterdam was somewhat modified by the change of political sover- 1. Results eignty an(j the destruction of their re- C ^est Jation to the West India Company. It was a question whether these churches could survive under such circumstances. Although helped to a trifling extent at first, they were soon thrown for support on their own resources. The Dutch had, indeed, secured at the surrender liberty to worship according to their own customs and usages. But, while still under the ecclesiastical care of the Classis of Amsterdam, they were now subjects of the British empire, yet they did not legally come under the class of English dissenters. During the first decade under English rule, the English population being yet very small, there was not much opportunity for friction with the English governors. But after the revolt of the Dutch in 1673, and their re-surrender to the English by treaty of the Netherlands government in 1674, although it was stipulated that the former freedom of worship and discipline was to be maintained (Eccl. Records of New York, i. 662-663, 669-672), preliminary but unsuccessful efforts began to be made to impose the Church of England upon the Dutch colony. For in 1675 Governor Andros attempted to force the Rev. Nicholas Van Rensselaer (son of the first Dutch patroon of that name, one who had been, indeed, licensed to preach by the Classis of Amsterdam, but
Reformed (Dutch) Church