REFORMED
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REFORMED
the greatest portion of the salutary means for the
cultivation and maintenance of the supernatural Ufe.
Incalculable harm was thereby wrought from the
religious standpoint. The false fundamental doc-
trine of justification by faith alone, taught by the
Reformers, produced a lamentable shallowness in
religious life. Zeal for good works disappeared,
the asceticism which the Church had practised from
her foundation was despised, charitable and ecclesias-
tical objects were no longer properly cultivated,
supernatural interests fell into the background,
and naturalistic aspirations, aiming at the purely
mundane, became widespread. The denial of the
Di\'inely instituted authority of the Church, both as
regards doctrine and ecclesiastical government,
opened wide the door to every eccentricity, gave rise
to the endless division into sects and the never-
ending disputes characteristic of Protestantism,
and could not but lead to the complete unbeUef
which necessarily arises from the Protestant prin-
ciples. Of real freedom of belief among the Reform-
ers of the sixteenth century there was not a trace;
on the contrarj', the greatest tjTanny in matters of
conscience was displayed by the representatives of the
Reformation. The most baneful Ca?saropapism
was meanwhile fostered, since the Reformation
recognized the secular authorities as supreme also
in religious matters. Thus arose from the very
beginning the various Protestant "national Churches",
which are entirely discordant with the Christian
universahsm of the Catholic Church, and depend,
alike for their faith and their organization, on the
will of the secular ruler. In this way the Reforma-
tion was a chief factor in the evolution of royal
absolutism. In every land, into which it found
ingress, the Reformation was the cause of inde-
scribable suffering among the people; it occasioned
ci\^l wars which lasted decades, with all their horrors
and devastations; the people were oppressed and
enslaved; countless treasures of art and priceless
manuscripts were destroyed; between members of
the same land and race the seed of discord was sown.
Germany in particular, the original home of the
Reformation, was reduced to a state of piteous dis-
tress by the Thirty Years' War, and the German
Empire was thereby dislodged from the leading
position which it had for centuries occupied in
Europe. Only gradually, and owing to forces which
did not essentially spring from the Reformation, but
W'Cre concUtioned by other historical factors, did
the social wounds heal, but the religious corrosion
still continues despite the earnest religious sentiments
which have at all times characterized many individual
followers of the Reformation.
See Luther, Martin; Calvin, John; Melanchthon, Phiupp; Huguenots; alao the separate articles on various Reformers, the different lands, and the several Protestant de- nominations. Consult DoLUNGER, Die Reformation, ihre innere Eniwicktung u, ihre Wirkungcn (3 vols., Ratisbon, 1846-48) ; GuiRAUD, UEglise et le^ origines de la Renaissance (2nd ed., Paris, 1902): Baudrillart, L'Eglise cathoUque, la Renaissance, le Proteslantisme {6th ed.. Paris. 1905); Kurth, L'Eglise aux tournants de I'histoire (Paris, 1905); Imbart de la Tour, Les origines de la Reformation, I-II (Paris, 1905-09); Pastor, Gesch. der Pdpsle, especially IV-V. Cf. alao the bibliographiee to the articles on the various Reformers and European lands. J. P. KiRSCH.
Reformed Churches, the name given to Protes- tant bodies which adopted the tenets of Zwingli andj later, the doctrinal principles of Calvin. This distinctive title originated in 1561 at the colloquy of Poissy. Initiated in Switzerland, the movement from which the Churches sprang gained ground at an early date in France, some German states, the Nether- lands, England, Scotland, Hungary, and Poland. Later, emigration and colonization secured a still wider diffusion of the Calvinistic system. Some of the denominations which adojjtcd it go lo-<lay under
a special name, e. g. Presbyterianism : they receive
separate treatment in this work. Others became na-
tional churches and are mentioned under the name of
the country in which they e.xist. (See Zwinglianism;
Calvinism; Reformation; Arminianism; Holland;
Netherlands; Huguenots; Scotland, etc.). The
following bodies are here considered:
I. The Reformed (Dutch) Church in America. — (1) Name, Doctrinal Standards, and Organization. — The denomination known as "The Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in North America" until 1867, when the present name was adopted, asserts with Protestants generally the sole sufficiency of the Scriptures as a rule of faith. Its recognized theolog- ical standards are the Apostles', Nicene, and Athana- sian Creeds, the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of the Synod of Dort. It believes in the spiritual reception of Jesus Christ by the believer in the Lord's Supper, and also accepts the distinctively Calvinistic doctrine of a Umited election to salvation. The liturgy is characterized by great simplicity; its forms are optional, except in the administration of the sacraments. In polity, the Church is Presbyterian; the constitution rec- ognizes four kinds of officers: ministers of the word, professors of theology, elders, and deacons. The elders exercise spiritual functions and the deacons are in charge of temporal interests. At the head of individual congregations is the Consistory, which is composed of minister, elders, and deacons. The authority over a district is vested in the Classis which is itself under the jurisdiction of the Particular Synod. The General Synod exercises supreme control in the Church. The elders and deacons are elected to office for two years, after which they may be re- elected. Former ciders and deacons may be called together for consultation in w-hat is known as the " Great Consistory ". The other Reformed Churches especially treated in this article are similarly con- stituted and organized.
(2) History. — The Dutch Reformed Church was organized among settlers from Holland in New York City in 1628 by Rev. Jonas Michaelius. Fifty com- municants were present at the first celebration of the Lord's Supper. When, in 1664, the colony passed from Dutch into English hands, 11 Reformed churches, with an approximate membership of 10,000 souls, existed in the country; they were all situated in New York and neighbouring states. Bj' the terms of surrender the Dutch were granted "the libertj' of their consciences in divine worship and in church discipline". During the first decade of English occupation this provision was faithfully observed. Later, however, the gover- nors sought to impose English ecclesiastical customs upon their Dutch subjects, in consequence of which much bitterness was engendered, and a prolonged strug- gle ensued. In spite of this unfavourable circumstance and the cessation of Dutch immigration, the number of churches, at the beginning of the eighteenth cen- tury, had increased to thirty-four. They were under the jurisdiction of the Cla.'isis of Amsterdam. In 1738 a petition for the authorization of a coetns, or ecclesiastical assembly, was sent to that body. But it was only after nine years that a favourable reply was received. This was the first step towards inde- pendence, which was completely realized in 1755 by the authorized formation of a classis. This action of some members of the catus led to protracted strife, which was to be healed by the plan of union submitted by the Rev. J. H. Livingston in 1771 and accepted by the American Dutch churches and the Classis of Amsterdam. After the troublous times of the Revolution, the in- ternal organization was further perfected in 1792 by the adoption of a constitution, which pro\-ided for a General Synod. In 1794, this synod met for the first time; it held triennial sessions until 1812, and
