RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Reformed (Dutch) Church
they were under the ecclesiastical supervision of the Classis of Amsterdam, which ordained and sent the ministers. The creed was of course the same as that of the mother church. At first the Psalms were sung exclusively, but since the beginning of the nineteenth century the Dutch " Evangelical hymns " are used. From 1795 until 1802 and again since 1806 the English took the place of the Dutch East India Company and controlled the church. About 1822 several Scotch ministers came to help the Holland churches, which at that time were fourteen in number. The first synod met in 1824, but this body was entirely dependent upon the government until 1842, when more liberty was obtained. In 1849 the official organ of the Dutch Reformed Church, De Kerkbode, was started. In 1859 the Theological Seminary at Stellenbosch opened its doors, its purpose being to prevent the entrance of rationalistic ministers from the Dutch universities, who for a season threatened the orthodoxy of the church. At present it has a faculty of four professors. Through the labors of Rev. Andrew Murray the Cape Colony church extended beyond the Orange and Vaal rivers among the kinsmen who had moved northward with the " great trek " of 1836. But in 1862 objections made against the representation of the Free State and Transvaal congregations in synod led to a legal decision which compelled these latter to assume a separate existence (see below). At present the Cape Colony church numbers about 150 congregations, some of them in Rhodesia and Mashonaland, with 116,000 members and 270,000 adherents. These churches are grouped in thirteen " rings " or presbyteries. The highest church-court, the synod, is composed of the pastors and one elder from each congregation, and meets triennially in Capetown.
Mission work is carried on among the natives of Cape Colony and the South African protectorates; over fifty " mission churches " have been organized, most of which have been grouped into " rings " and also form a synod. The actions of these bodies are controlled by the Home Mission Committee of the Cape church. In Wellington and Worcester are training-schools for missionaries and other Christian workers. The Capetown School of the Dutch Reformed Church was opened in 1878 for the education of teachers. An institution for the mute and blind, also denominational, is located in Worcester. Several other philanthropic societies are supported and a number of Bible societies are actively at work. Nearly every congregation has a Christian Endeavor Society. The church is imbibing much of the spirit of the British churches, although trying to remain Calvinistic.
2. The Dutch Reformed Church in the Orange Free State : This organization became independent in 1862. It now numbers forty-two churches, forming five "rings." The synod meets triennially in Bloemfontein. There are nearly 100,000 adherents, and 45,000 communicants. It carries on a fine home mission work in ten mission churches and supports flourishing stations in Nyassaland and northeastern Rhodesia.
3. United Dutch Reformed Church in Transvaal : This denomination is likewise an offshoot of the Cape Colony chur-h, and originated under similar
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circumstances as the Orange Free State sister body. Originally called The Dutch Reformed Church, it took its present name " Nether Dutch Hervormd or Reformed Church," from a union consummated in 1885 with a number of congregations of the Dutch " Hervormde " Church of Transvaal (see below). It is composed of five " rings," and its synod meets triennially in Pretoria. It numbers 42 congregations, 85,000 adherents, and 38,000 members. Connected with it are 8 mission churches among the natives. The official organ is De Vereeniging.
4. Dutch Reformed Church of Natal : This is the smallest of the Dutch Reformed churches in South Africa. It has but one higher church court, the General Church Assembly, composed of the ministers and two delegates from each consistory. Its history is very much the same as that of its sister churches in Transvaal and the Orange River Colony. It numbers 4,258 adherents and 2,052 members, forming 5 congregations.
The Dutcb Reformed Churches mentioned above formed in 1906 a federal council, which is bringing them nearer again to their original united condition. This council is composed of the four officers of the Cape Colony synod and ten other members, and the general synodical committees of the other bodies. In 1909 it decided to unite the four churches of Cape Colony, Free State, Transvaal, and Natal in one general synod composed of all ministers in active service and one elder from each congregation. The number of the clergymen of these four churches is nearly 300; ordained missionaries, 100; 240 congregations, and about 220,000 members. The internal government is regulated by Wetten en Bepalingen, in eleven chapters.
5. The Reformed Church in South Africa: This denomination originated on Feb. 10, 1859, in Rustenburg in Transvaal. It is composed of the most conservative of the Dutch Boers, frequently called " doppers," a corruption of the Dutch word domper, " a man intellectually behind the times." These conservatives lived in the outlying districts of the Cape Colony, and many of them formed the " great trek." Rev. D. Postma was sent to them by the Christian Reformed Church of the Netherlands in 1858. Under his guidance they left the Dutch Reformed Church, mainly because of their opposition to the use of the evangelical hymns, and also because of the liberal spirit of some of the Dutch Reformed pastors at the time. Postma organized congregations in Transvaal, the Orange State, and the Cape Colony.
The statistics for 1909 are as follows: in the Transvaal 24 churches with 11 ministers, 7,400 communicants, 8,233 baptized members, 15,633 adherents. In the Orange Free State 12 churches, with 7 ministers, 2,934 communicants, 3,051 baptized members, 5,985 adherents. In Cape Colony 17 churches with 13 ministers, 4,853 communicants, 5,204 baptized members, 10,057 adherents. Most churches having a pastor have two services on Sabbath; during one of these services a Lord's Day of the Heidelberg Catechism is explained. Vacant charges usually meet, on one Sunday of each month, and every quarter they have services led by ministers. Every Sunday, except during the quarterly com-
Reformed (Dutch) Church Reformed Episcopalians