REFORMED CHURCH, THE, IN AMER ICA.
The Reformed Church in America, formerly the Reformed Dutch Church, is the oldest religious body having a presbyterian form of government on the Western hemisphere. It inherited its doc trinal symbols from the Reformed Church of Hol land, viz., the Belgic Confession, in 156t, the Heidelberg Catechism, 1563, and the Canons of the Synod of Dort, 16r9. These are of a Calvin istic character in general. Its ministers, however, are expected to present chiefly the features of doc trine contained in the Heidelberg Catechism, which elaborates the system under the aspect of the comfort to be derived therefrom. Its first question and answer are the key to the whole system: "What is thine only comfort in life and in death?" Answer: That I, with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who, with his precious blood, hash fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my Heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation ; and, therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he assures me of eternal life, and makes me sin• cerely willing and ready henceforth to live unto him." (1) Before the English Conquest. The first congregation was organized in New Amsterdam in 1628 by Rev. Jonas Michaelius. Within thirty six years after this event, occurred the English conquest of New York, namely in 1664; but in this brief period, a dozen churches had been organized, which had been served by fourteen ministers. Only six of these were in actual service at the time of the surrender. Excellent terms were se cured by the Dutch as to their own form of relig ion, their modes of inheritance, and some other customs; and these terms alone saved this little body from complete annihilation, during the Eng lish domination. At the beginning of the Revo lution this Church had grown into a hundred con gregations, with about thirty-three ministers. At the present time, 1901, it reports six hundred and nineteen churches and nearly one hundred and ten thousand communicants, with contributions, for home expenses and benevolence, approximating a million and a half dollars, not including the in come from endowments for educational purposes.
(2) From English Conquest to American Independence. From the English conquest until American Independence, a period of one hundred and twelve years, the Dutch Church occupied the peculiar position of being religiously under the care of the Church of Holland, while politically her people were subjects of Great Britain. This gave occasion to not a little legal entanglement. The relations of church and state in New York were more complicated and gave rise to more law suits and judicial decisions than in any other col ony. The Dutch always had a large majority in the civil assembly, and this fact greatly restrained the English government in their attempts to en force their secret instructions, especially in re gard to religious matters. The governors almost continuously sought to impose the English Church Establishment upon New York, which the Dutch as continuously and vigorously resisted. In 1626, the church in New York City, after repeated fail ures for ten years, succeeded in securing a charter for itself, which, by its terms, made that church, in religious matters, quite independent of govern mental interference. Most of the other Dutch churches, sooner or later, secured similar charters, while these were denied to all other congrega tions, except the Episcopal, until after the Revo lution.
When civil rights were thus secured, the Church began to turn its attention toward obtaining cer tain ecclesiastical rights from the Church of Hol land. They could neither educate young men for the ministry nor ordain them in America. Candi dates for this office were obliged to go to Holland for these advantages. It was not until 1747 that partial ecclesiastical autonomy was secured. But in 1755 the Church became divided on this subject, to its own great detriment, and the division lasted until 177o, when the parties united and substantial independence was secured. In this same year a charter was secured in New Jersey ,for Queen's College [now called Rutgers], located at New Brunswick, N. J. In 1784 the Rev. Dr. John H. Livingston was elected Professor of Theology— the first appointment of this kind in America. In t8to the Theological Seminary was also perma nently located at New Brunswick, N. J., and is now well endowed, having large grounds, suitable buildings, and a splendid library.