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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
V 
 
 THE 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTIONS OF 
 HOLLAND, /^ 
 
 TREATED WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE POSITION AND 
 PROSPECTS OF THE MODERN SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY. 
 
 % Import 
 
 PRESENI^ED to THE HiBBERT TRUSTEES, AND PUBLISHED 
 
 BY THEIR Direction. 
 
 PA' 
 
 PHILIP H. WICKSTEED, M.A 
 
 Fidem rectumque colendo. 
 
 WILLIAMS AISTD I^OEGATE, 
 
 14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON; 
 And 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH. 
 
 JOHNSON AND RAWSON, 89, Market Street, Manchester. 
 
 1875. 
 
THE 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTIONS OF 
 HOLLAND, 
 
 TREATED WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE POSITION AND 
 PROSPECTS OF THE MODERN SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY. 
 
 % import 
 
 Presented to the Hibbert Trustees, and Published 
 BY THEIR Direction. 
 
 BY 
 
 PHILIP H. WICKSTEED, M.A. 
 
 Fidem rectumque colendo. 
 
 WILLIAMS AND ITOEGATE, 
 
 14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON; 
 And 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH. 
 
 JOHNSON AND BAWSON, 89, Market Street, Manchester. 
 
 1875. 
 
" Nowhere in Europe is the conflict of opinion more earnest and 
 sincere [than in Holland] ; nowhere perhaps — not even in Germany — 
 has theological science assumed a bolder and more decisive tone, 
 though always within the limits of profound reverence, and an un- 
 enfeebled attachment to the divine essence of the Gospel." 
 
 J. J. Tayler. 
 

 At the beginning of last year, I laid before a Sub-Committee 
 of the Trustees of the Hibbert Fund a Eeport on the History of 
 what is called in Holland " Modem Theology." This Eeport 
 contained, together with a very rapid sketch of the progress of 
 Theological studies and opinions in Holland from near the 
 beginning of the century to the present time, a more detailed 
 account of the principal works of the most eminent " modern" 
 theologians, shewing the successive phases through which the 
 school itself and its chief leaders have passed, and characterizing 
 their present position. 
 
 As an Appendix to this Eeport, I drew up a short account of 
 the most important of the Protestant ecclesiastical institutions 
 of Holland, considered with special reference to their bearings 
 upon the position and prospects of the " Moderns." 
 
 It appeared to the Sub-Committee to whom the Eeport was 
 presented, that in the present state of ecclesiastical affairs in 
 England, the subject of this Appendix might perhaps be of 
 interest to a somewhat wider circle of readers than it was likely 
 to reach in its manuscript form, and I was therefore requested 
 to prepare it for publication. 
 
 In the present pamphlet, then, the original Appendix appears 
 as an independent Eeport, and such information as to the '' Modern 
 
 w 
 
Theology" of Holland as it seemed absolutely necessary to supply 
 has been thrown into a brief Appendix. 
 
 I have to thank Professor Kuenen, of Leiden, for his kindness 
 in allowing me to read nearly the whole of the MS. to him, on 
 occasion of a recent visit to Holland, and for various suggestions 
 and corrections in matters of detail. 
 
 PHILIP H. WICKSTEED. 
 
 London, Jan, 1875. 
 
EEPOET 
 
 ON THE CHIEF 
 
 PKOTESTANT CHUKCHES OF HOLLAND, 
 
 CONSIDERED WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE POSITION AND 
 PROSPECTS OF THE "MODERN SCHOOL" OF THEOLOGY.* 
 
 It is difficult to make details of Cliiircli organization, 
 and of the complicated relations of Church and State, any- 
 thing but a dry and unattractive subject ; but at the same 
 time the problems which the Dutch Churches are endea- 
 vouring to solve bear so close an analogy to those which 
 are agitating us in England, and there are so many curious 
 parallels between some of the Dutch and some of the 
 English Churches and parties, that a short examination of 
 the Ecclesiastical History and Geography of Holland may 
 perhaps be instructive, though it can hardly be enter- 
 taining. 
 
 It will be well to begin by gaining some idea of the 
 
 * General authorities : Wijne's " Geschiedenis van het Vaderland" 
 (History of the Fatherland), 1870 ; the " Staats-almanak" (Official 
 Almanack of the Government) for 1871, checked by references to later 
 editions ; Scholten's " Leer der Hervormde Kerk" (Doctrine of the 
 Keformed Church), 1861, &c. &c. 
 
6 
 
 relative numerical strength of the various Churches which 
 we are about to examine, both with regard to each other, 
 and with regard to the other religious communions of Hol- 
 land. The subjoined table will give us in the second column 
 the percentage of the total population embraced in each 
 Church in 1869, the latest period for which proper statistical 
 data are as yet available. 
 
 We shall presently see that a system of "concurrent 
 endowment" has grown up in Holland to a certain extent ; 
 and it will not be uninteresting therefore to add in a second 
 column a statement of the official estimates of the pecuniary 
 grants* to the various bodies for 1875. 
 
 Community. 
 
 Total number 
 
 of Members 
 
 in 1869. 
 
 Per cent, 
 of Pop. 
 in 1869. 
 
 Estimate of 
 
 Grant for 
 
 1875. 
 
 Approx. 
 value in 
 English 
 Money. 
 
 Netherland Reformed ) 
 
 Church j 
 
 Christian Reformed j 
 
 . (Separatists) ) 
 
 Remonstrants 
 
 1,967,611 
 
 107,123 
 
 5,486 
 44,227 
 57,545 
 
 10,522 
 
 311 
 
 456 
 
 1,307,765 
 
 6,287 
 
 32 
 
 64,478 
 
 3,525 
 
 5,161 
 
 64-97 
 
 2-99 
 
 •15 
 1-24 
 1-61 
 
 •29 
 
 •01 
 •01 
 36-53 
 •15 
 •00 
 1-8 
 •1 
 •15 
 
 f. 
 
 1,136,038 
 
 No grant. 
 
 19,100 
 11,800 
 37,486 
 
 4,325 
 
 No grant. 
 
 No grant. 
 
 519,404-775 
 
 7,500 
 
 No grant. 
 
 I 9,950 
 
 No grant. 
 
 94,670 
 
 1,592 
 
 983 
 
 3,124 
 
 360 
 
 43,284 
 625 
 
 829 
 
 Baptists 
 
 Evangelical Lutherans . 
 Restored EvangeUcal ) 
 
 Lutherans ) 
 
 Hernhlitters 
 
 Anglican Episcopalians 
 
 Roman Catholics 
 
 Old Romanists 
 
 Greeks 
 
 Netherland Israelites... 
 Portuguese Israelites . . . 
 Unknown 
 
 
 * In payment of salaries alone. Other grants, of very considerable 
 amount, in payment of educational and miscellaneous expenses, are 
 massed in the returns, and cannot be assigned to the various Churches. 
 In the case of Jews, some of these items appear to be included in the 
 estimate given above. 
 
We will now proceed to a brief examination of the history 
 and constitution of the chief* Protestant Churches of Hol- 
 land, viz., (a) The Eeformed Church of the Netherlands ; 
 (h) The Eemonstrant Brotherhood; (c) The Baptists (or 
 Mennonites); {d) The Evangelical Lutherans. 
 
 The first of these Churches will occupy far more of our 
 attention than the others, on account of its great prepon- 
 derance over them in numbers. 
 
 {a) The Eeformed Church of the NETHERLANDs.f 
 
 (Percentage of total population in 1869, % 54*97.) 
 
 The great Eeformation was heralded in Holland, as else- 
 where, by certain premonitory symptoms of a more or less 
 isolated description ; but no one could possibly have divined 
 from them that the Calvinistic form of the Eeformation 
 
 * With the exception of that of the Christian Separated Communi- 
 ties or the Separatists. This Church is important in many respects, 
 and its history has features of great interest in reference to the eccle- 
 siastical history of the first half of this century ; but since it represents, 
 with few exceptions, the ultra-orthodox element of the lower strata of 
 Dutch society, it has no connection with the special subject of this 
 Report. 
 
 t Special authorities : " Het Kerkrecht der Nederlandsche Her- 
 vormde Kerk, historisch-critisch beschreven, door J. J. Prins" (The 
 Ecclesiastical Law of the Reformed Church of the Netherlands, histo- 
 rically and critically expounded, by J. J. Prins), 1870 ; " Scheiding 
 van Staat en Kerk enz. door H. J. Smidt" (Separation of State and 
 Church, &c.), 1872 ; " Jaarboekje voor de Nederlandsche, Hervormde 
 Kerk, door H. M. C. van Gosterzee" (Annual for the Reformed Church, 
 &c.), 1871, 1872, 1873 ; " De Reglementen voor de Ned. Her. Kerk, 
 door G. Bruna" (Ordinances of the Reformed Church, &c.), 1872 ; 
 " Rapport van de Commissie van Advies ter zake eener Reorganisatie 
 enz." (Report of the Committee of Advice on the Question of a Re- 
 organization, &c.), 1873 ; together with a number of controversial 
 pamphlets, reports, &c., of 1872, 1873 and 1874. 
 
would ultimately prevail in the country. Indeed, the great 
 Keformation itself at first gained ground in Holland chiefly 
 through the writings of Luther ; but during the long struggle 
 with Spain, many causes combined with the great influence 
 of certain French preachers who settled in the country to 
 give a Calvinistic turn to the Eeformation. The successive 
 Synods or Conferences of the Dutch Protestants, held at 
 first on foreign soil, but afterwards in various towns of 
 Holland, became gradually more and more strongly Cal- 
 vinistic. William the Silent formally passed from the Lu- 
 theran to the Eeformed (Calvinistic) Church ; and by the 
 time the " United ISTetherlands" were in a position to 
 attempt the consolidation of their political and ecclesiastical 
 affairs on an independent basis, Protestant Holland -was to 
 all intents and purposes Calvinistic. 
 
 The relations between Church and State at this time 
 were very chaotic. During the war with Spain, the ample 
 possessions of the Catholic Church had very naturally been 
 looked upon as a legitimate source from which to draw 
 the "sinews of war ;" but in the confusion of the times they 
 often fell into unscrupulous hands, and much, no doubt, 
 was irretrievably lost to Church and State alike. 
 
 A rough distinction was made between the " spiritual " 
 funds or possessions which constituted the means of the 
 various " brotherhoods " and " orders " of the Catholic 
 Church, and the " Church " funds, &c., which were applied 
 directly or indirectly to the maintenance of public worship 
 and certain allied objects. 
 
 Now, in 1581, the States-General formally placed the 
 " spiritual " funds under State control for secular or other 
 purposes, at the discretion of each Province. Some portions 
 of this property were converted into money to meet the 
 necessities of the State, others were diverted to charitable 
 
or educational purposes, and others administered, at first by 
 a " receiver-general," and afterwards by " spiritual counting- 
 houses" (geestelijke Kantoren), as they are technically 
 called, in support of the ministers, &c., of the Eeformed 
 Church, 
 
 The " Church " funds, on the other hand, were gradually 
 placed by the various Provinces under the supervision of 
 suitable persons to be administered on behalf of the con- 
 gregations in the maintenance of the buildings and the 
 worship of the Reformed (i.e. Calvinistic) Church, for which 
 the temporal power further provided in various ways, in- 
 cluding, where necessary, payments in money from the 
 national, or rather the provincial, coffers. 
 
 The Eeformed Church, then, was virtually the State 
 Church of the United ISTetherlands, but the relations be- 
 tween Church and State were very far from being comfort- 
 able. Calvinism, it must be remembered, implies not only 
 a system of doctrine, but a system of Church government 
 by presbyters and synods ; and the " autonomy of the 
 Church " is a very essential feature of this system. On the 
 other hand, the temporal power was by no means disposed 
 to renounce the rights over the Church which it purchased 
 by its material support. 
 
 Hence the constant collisions between Church and State 
 characteristic of the early history of the Eeformed Church 
 in Holland. These differences of opinion came to a head in 
 the celebrated controversy between Arminius and Gomarus, 
 continued by the Eemonstrants (Arminians) and the ortho- 
 dox Calvinists. The former, while departing from the 
 Calvinistic doctrine in several important points, maintained 
 the right of the State to take part in ecclesiastical affairs, 
 while the latter were zealous in their maintenance alike of 
 
10 
 
 the doctrinal " cor ecclesiae '' and of the autonomy of the 
 Church. 
 
 The celebrated Synod of Dort, in 1618-19, was intended 
 to put an end to this state of things. It established a rigidly 
 Calvinistic system of doctrine, but was not equally thorough 
 in its maintenance of the autonomy of the Church. Though 
 never formally sanctioned by the Government, the system 
 of the Synod of Dort was gradually introduced in its essen- 
 tial features into all the Provinces of Holland, and the 
 ecclesiastical constitution which it drew up remains in force, 
 to some extent, to this day. 
 
 The aphorism, "Ecclesia sequitur curiam," has never been 
 more forcibly illustrated than in the history of the Eeformed 
 Church of Holland. The " United Netherlands/' as every 
 student of their history knows, were only united after a 
 very loose and inconvenient fashion, and constituted, in 
 point of fact, a group of " AUied Republics," rather than a 
 single country. So, too, the Church was never an organic 
 whole as long as the Eepublic lasted. Practically, it was a 
 collection of independent Provincial Churches. The Con- 
 stitution drawn up by the Synod of Dort did indeed provide 
 for National Synods, to be held once in three years ; but, as 
 a matter of fact, they were never held. The local " Com- 
 munities " were governed by (mostly self-elected) Church- 
 councils, and were united into " Classes," which, again, were 
 governed by "Provincial Synods." These Synods corre- 
 sponded with each other, and endeavoured by this means to 
 secure a certain amount of co-operation and unity amongst 
 themselves, but without any marked success. 
 
 In 1651, the Reformed Church became de jure what it 
 had long been de facto, Viz. the Established Church of the 
 Dutch Republic. The State charged itself with the main- 
 
11 
 
 tenance of the Church, its preachers and its institutions, so 
 far as local effort and resource failed to meet their require- 
 ments, and the whole education of the country was placed 
 in the hands of the Church. All public servants must 
 belong to it, and the Theological Faculties at the National 
 Universities were maintained exclusively in its interests. 
 Other Churches — Unitarians and Socinians always excepted 
 — were tolerated in an intolerant sort of way, rather by 
 leniency in the application than by justice in the framing 
 of the laws, and of course all had to contribute to the main- 
 tenance of the dominant Church. 
 
 Heresy-hunting within the limits of the Eeformed Church 
 itself was carried on with some vigour, but the want of any 
 central authority often made it possible for a heretic, when 
 hunted out of one Province, to fiud honourable recognition 
 in another. 
 
 The Church had to pay a heavy price for the patronage 
 it received from the State. The civil authorities had ex- 
 tensive and vaguely-defined powers, not only over the funds 
 and government of the Church in general, but over each 
 local community in particular. The "Village Bailiff" must 
 have been a sad thorn in the Pastor's flesh, for not only 
 had this functionary a sitting in the Church- council and 
 considerable general power over the pecuniary and other 
 affairs of the Church, which he sometimes exercised in a 
 very arbitrary manner, but his sanction was needed before 
 the Pastor could leave his flock, for however short a time, 
 on business or for a holiday, and he had the curious privi- 
 lege of deciding how long the service ought to last, and of 
 inflicting a pecuniary fine on the Pastor if he exceeded the 
 limit assigned him ! 
 
 Such was the state of things until the fall of the Dutch 
 Eepublic in 1795, when the so-called "Patriots" attempted 
 
12 
 
 to bring out a Dutch edition of the great French Revolution. 
 Of course the separation of Church and State was a part 
 of their programme, and in 1796 it was determined that 
 "henceforth no privileged or dominant Church can or shall 
 be endured ; and moreover all resolutions and proclamations 
 of the late States- General springing from the old system of 
 union of Church and State are to be held void/' ' . 
 
 The dominant Church, however, was "endured" for a year 
 or two, until, in 1798, more definite regulations on the 
 subject were attempted; and, with that delicious simplicity 
 characteristic of paper constitutions, the gigantic and com- 
 plicated question of the severance of Church and State was 
 settled in a few lines. " All religions are alike in the eye 
 of the State, and no privileges or disqualifications are at- 
 tached to the confession of any religious doctrine. Every 
 religious society, under the protection of the State, is to 
 look to its own interests and provide for its own necessities." 
 Spiritual and Ecclesiastical property is to be confiscated and 
 devoted to educational and charitable purposes, except the 
 churches and parsonages, which are to be divided amongst 
 the various religious bodies in proportion to their numbers. 
 The salaries, &c., hitherto paid by the State, are to be 
 stopped in three years. The Theological Faculties at the 
 Universities are to be done away with. National education 
 is to be taken out of the hands of the Reformed Church. 
 The State, on its side, is to leave the Church in the enjoy- 
 ment of complete autonomy ; and contents itself with 
 "strongly recommending" every one to worship the Supreme 
 Being ! 
 
 This sweeping act of disestablishment and disendowment 
 ignored the innumerable local intricacies and other more 
 general complications which rendered it impossible to sever 
 at a single blow institutions which had grown into each 
 
13 
 
 other for centuries ; and, except that it produced a good deal 
 of anarchy, the proclamation remained a dead letter. 
 
 In 1801, a reaction had already set in, and the govern- 
 ment of Holland became Oligarchical rather thanEepublican. 
 The principle of severance of Church and State was re- 
 affirmed, but permission was given to every one over four- 
 teen years old to enrol him (or her ?) self as a member of 
 some religious body, and it was announced that some system 
 of " concurrent endowment," based on this register, was to 
 be drawn up. MeamuhiUy the ministers of the Eeformed 
 Church were to have their salaries secured to them by the 
 State. There was, perhaps, no intention of ever carrying 
 out the " concurrent endowment " scheme ; at any rate, no 
 steps were ever taken in that direction ; but during the 
 life-time of this and the next Constitution (1805), "for a 
 handful of gold the Church sacrificed her independence and 
 her development to the State;" or, as another authority 
 prefers to express it, "the interests of Religion and the 
 Church were earnestly watched over, and everything seemed 
 to be settling down upon a firm basis once more." 
 
 In 1806, Holland became a kingdom under Louis Napoleon. 
 The King desired all his subjects to enjoy equal rights and 
 privileges in the matter of religion, and, though himself a 
 Catholic, he made considerable grants to all the chief Pro- 
 testant sects. All Church funds that were then under public 
 control* were to pass into the national coffers, and " all the 
 salaries of the clergy were to be paid out of the public 
 funds." Louis, therefore, did much towards establishing a 
 system of " concurrent endowment." 
 
 In 1810, another political change came over Holland. It 
 
 * i.e. the original "spiritual goods" under the control of the 
 "geestelijke Kantoren," not the "Church goods" under control of the 
 local managers. 
 
14 
 
 was incorporated as a Province of the Empire of France, and 
 the Church sank very low. Salaries were promised but not 
 paid, and !N'apoleon treated the Church as a mere tool of 
 the State. 
 
 The year 1813 brought independence to Holland once 
 more, and the " Sovereign Prince " (afterwards WiUiam I.) 
 pursued essentially the policy of Louis with regard to the 
 Churches. Baptists, Lutherans, Eemonstrants, Eeformed 
 and Catholics, all were recognized and all received pecuniary 
 support from the Government. 
 
 In 1815, the "Sovereign Prince" became King, and Hol- 
 land was a monarchy. The " Constitution" of 1814 contained 
 some important regulations with regard to ecclesiastical 
 affairs, which were embodied, with some not insignificant 
 alterations, in that of 1815, according to which "the salaries, 
 pensions and other revenues of whatsoever kind, which are 
 at present enjoyed by the various religious communities or 
 their ministers, are assured to the same communities for the 
 future." Beyond this, the Constitution of 1815 gave the King 
 powers by which, "in the case of ministers who have hitherto 
 drawn an insufficient salary or none at all from the national 
 coffers, a salary may be given, or the existing salary in- 
 creased." On the other hand, all the power over the 
 Churches which the King was supposed to retain, consisted 
 simply in his right and duty of seeing that the funds thus 
 granted were in reality applied to their legitimate purposes. 
 
 Thus, after all the dire confusion of the period we have 
 hurried through, the financial state of things existing de 
 facto on August 24, 1815, was suddenly arrested and per- 
 petuated, though power was given to supplement, but not 
 to cut down, its provisions. It may well be imagined that 
 every species of anomaly and irregularity was thus legalized. 
 
 The government of the Church had remained unaltered 
 
15 
 
 since the Synod of Dort, though several attempts had been 
 made to re-organize it ; but it had naturally fallen into 
 decay and become a very dead-alive affair during all the 
 turmoil and neglect of the period through which we have 
 run. 
 
 The King (William I.) now determined to re-organize the 
 Eeformed Church ; and though the Constitution gave him 
 no power whatever to do so, yet his unbounded popularity, 
 the deep necessity of some such measure, and the weakness 
 of the Church itself, all combined to make his attempt suc- 
 cessful. After some consultation with a representative body 
 of pastors, who were supposed to some extent to originate 
 the scheme, the King imposed his new Constitution upon 
 the Eeformed Church by Eoyal Decree of January 7, 1816. 
 
 The Church- councils remained unaltered. Classic As- 
 semblies, Classic Governments, Provincial Church Govern- 
 ments (in place of the old Provincial Synods), and the 
 General Synod for the whole kingdom, were the main in- 
 struments of the new Constitution. The King nominated 
 the members of the various governing bodies in the first 
 instance, and permanently retained very considerable power 
 over their composition. Moreover, no alteration in the 
 constitution of the Church could take place without his 
 sanction. 
 
 More than one chapter in the ecclesiastical history of 
 Holland shews clearly enough that the King was far more 
 inclined to exceed the ample powers he now possessed of 
 taking a part in Church affairs, than to let them become 
 a dead letter; and although the undefined and vexatious 
 powers of the local civic authorities in Church matters 
 were now removed, yet the autonomy of the Church was 
 anything but complete. Such as it was, however, the Synod 
 which met every year was its highest organ. 
 
16 
 
 The very first Synod which was called together under the 
 new Constitution took an important step, which deserves 
 notice on account both of the celebrity of the controversies 
 to which it gave rise and of its bearing upon our special 
 subject — the position of the Moderns. Previously to 1816, 
 every pastor of the Eeformed Church had been obliged to 
 sign a declaration that he " felt and believed from his heart 
 that all the articles and clauses of doctrine contained in the 
 Confession and the Catechism of the Eeformed Churches, 
 together with the declarations on certain points of the afore- 
 said doctrine made by the National Synod held at Dortrecht 
 in 1619, agreed in everything with God's Word." Now it 
 was felt by the Synod that this declaration could not be 
 honestly made by the clergy of the nineteenth century, and 
 accordingly they took the obvious but perhaps unparalleled 
 course of substituting for it something that they thought 
 might be signed with a clear conscience ! The doctrinal 
 portion of the formula of subscription, as modified by the 
 Synod of 1816, ran as follows: "We declare .... that 
 we accept in good faith and heartily believe the doctrine 
 which is contained, in accordance with God's Holy Wm^d, in 
 the accepted symbols of uniformity* of the Netherland Ee- 
 formed Church" (de leer, welke, overeenkomstig Gods Heilig 
 Woord-, in de aangenomene formulieren enz. is vervat). The 
 original is rather more ambiguous than the English, and 
 some time afterwards a hot controversy, known as the " quia 
 and quatenus " controversy, arose as to whether the doctrine 
 of the Church was to be accepted because (quia) it agreed 
 with God's Holy Word, or in as far as (quatenus) it agreed 
 with it. The full bearing of this controversy on the position 
 of the Moderns and liberals generally will not be perceived 
 
 * i.e. the Netherland Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism and the 
 Canons of the Synod of Dort. 
 
17 
 
 unless the fact be noticed that the Synod of 1817 had drawn 
 a very clear distinction between "the Scriptures of the 
 Old and ISTew Testaments" and "God's Word contained 
 in the Scriptures," &c. In 1835, the Synod was asked to 
 define the meaning of the formula of subscription, but 
 simply declined to do so, and was consequently besieged 
 with memorials from year to year, until at last, in 1841, it 
 declare(J that the formula meant that the subscriber ac- 
 cepted the spirit and essence of the confession of faith. It 
 is difficult ta see how this meaning can be extracted from 
 the words ; but the decision had two great advantages, — it 
 was vague and it was a compromise. 
 
 •From about this period, several causes combined to make 
 the Church more independent of the Crown. William II. 
 was by no means so much inclined to take an active part 
 in Church affairs as his father had been ; and the growth of 
 public feeling and the course of political events, which cul- 
 minated in a new and greatly liberalized " Constitution " in 
 1848, were emphatically favourable to *a revision of the 
 ecclesiastical Constitution and an increase of the autonomy 
 of the Church. Accordingly it soon became possible gra- 
 dually to transfer many of the Eoyal prerogatives (such as 
 the nomination of members for the governing bodies of the 
 Church) to the Church itself, and finally to draw up a 
 revision of the Church Constitution of 1816, which was 
 promulgated, with eleven reservations, by Eoyal Decree on 
 March 23rd, 1852, early in the reign of the present King, 
 William III. The "eleven reservations" have been recently 
 withdrawn, and w^e may consider that the Reformed Church 
 of Holland is now practically self-governing, and has been 
 so, to a great extent, ever since 1852. This revised Consti- 
 tution, which emanated from ecclesiastical, not temporal 
 sources, is still in force in its essential features, and will 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 therefore demand our attention presently. Meanwhile two 
 points require special notice. The first is a further change 
 in the formula of subscription made in 1854, and the second 
 is the change in the method of electing pastors, which came 
 into force in 1867. 
 
 The formula of subscription drawn up in 1854 was in- 
 tended to give a definite shape to the " essence and spirit " 
 interpretation given in 1841 to the formula of 1816, and as 
 it is still in force it will be desirable to give it at length. 
 " We, the undersigned, having been admitted by the Pro- 
 vincial Church Government of to the public service 
 
 of the Gospel in the Netherland Eeformed Church, do 
 hereby declare in all integrity, that, in accordance with the 
 fundamental principle of the Christian Church in general 
 and the Eeformed Church in particular, we accept with our 
 whole heart and believe without guile God's Holy Word 
 contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Covenants; 
 that it is our intention and desire faithfully to uphold the 
 spirit and the essence of the doctrine which is embraced in 
 the accepted symbols of uniformity of the Netherland Ee- 
 formed Church ; that we will therefore preach to the com- 
 munity earnestly and from our hearts, according to our 
 gifts, the whole counsel of God, in particular His grace in 
 Jesus Christ as the only ground of salvation ; that we will 
 apply ourselves in all zeal to the furtherance of religious 
 knowledge and of Christian faith and life, and will advance 
 and cultivate order and concord; and that we will thus, 
 looking to the help which is from above, carefully take to 
 heart the interests of God's kingdom in general, and in 
 particular those of the ISTetherland Eeformed Church, and, 
 after our power, work towards the furtherance of the same; 
 and we bind ourselves to all the above by this our signa- 
 ture ; and if we shall be found to have behaved contrary to 
 
19 
 
 any part of this declaration, we bind ourselves to submit, 
 accordingly, to the decisions of the qualified Ecclesiastical 
 Assemblies." 
 
 The framing of this declaration was considered at the 
 time, and for many years afterwards, so liberal in spirit that 
 no one who had any business to be in a Christian Church 
 at all could have any difficulty in signing it. Scholten,* 
 in 1862, and even Pierson,-(- in 1863, spoke of it as almost 
 ideal. The " Moderns," J then, found no difficulty in tliis 
 quarter. "VVe shall return to the question of subscription 
 and its bearing on the moral position of the " Moderns," 
 and shall then mention in a single word a controversy on 
 the subject which made a great noise at the time. 
 
 The other measure to which I have referred, viz. the 
 change in the mode of electing pastors, has had a very 
 decisive influence, for a time at least, on the material posi- 
 tion and prospects of the "Modern" preachers, and must be 
 dealt with in some detail. It will form thq introduction to 
 a rapid sketch of the main features of the Eeformed Church 
 Government as at present organized. 
 
 The members of the Eeformed Church in each city form 
 one single congregation. Thus there is only one congrega- 
 tion or community of the Eeformed Church in Amsterdam, 
 though it has twenty-eight pastors ; and so with the other 
 large cities. These pastors are not attached to special 
 churches, but preach at the several churches in rotation, 
 though, nominally at least, each has the pastoral charge of 
 a special district. The whole congregation is governed by 
 one Church- council, in which all the pastors (where there 
 are more than one) and a corresponding number of elders 
 
 ■^ The veteran leader of the Modern school. 
 
 t Then a prominent representative of the extreme Left of the 
 Modern school. % See Appendix. 
 
 b2 
 
20 
 
 and deacons have a sitting. Now, before the year 1867, 
 the Church-council elected its own members whenever 
 vacancies occurred, and also chose the pastor or pastors of 
 the community. The Church-councils were, as a rule, dis- 
 posed to look with favour upon the " Modern " movement ; 
 and though in some cases a Modern Church-council ap- 
 pointed one or more orthodox pastors with a view to meeting 
 the desires of the majority or of a large section of the con- 
 gregation over which it presided, yet, on the whole, the 
 predilections of the Church-councils became evident enough 
 in the selection of pastors, and the prospects of a young 
 " Modern " who entered the Church were, at any rate, no 
 worse than those of his orthodox compeer. 
 
 The obvious inadequacy of this self-electing system, how- 
 ever, led to its abolition, and it was decided that, from the 
 year 1867 onwards, the congregation should not only elect 
 its own Church-council, but also its own pastors. The im- 
 portance of this change, and its bearing on the position of 
 the Moderns, is obvious. A working majority of the mem- 
 bers of a congregation now disposes of all the appointments, 
 and a most cruel tyranny has been the result; for, however 
 large the minority may be, it cannot select even one of the 
 pastors, no matter how many there are ! In most cases there 
 is a majority of orthodox votes, partly because of the 
 superior discipline always characteristic of orthodoxy and 
 conservativism, partly because the "Moderns" have not, of 
 course, in the few years of their existence, been able to 
 convert an absolute majority of the Church members to 
 their very radical departure from the old lines of faith. The 
 only wonder is that they have a majority in any places at 
 all, and that they have so large a minority in most. On the 
 other hand, small mercy is to be expected by the "Moderns" 
 from the orthodox majorities. A striking instance of this 
 
21 
 
 recently occurred in Utrecht, where the Church-council is 
 orthodox, and has apparently been deputed (as is often the 
 case) by the congregation to select its pastors. The Utrecht 
 congregation has ten pastors, and a memorial was presented, 
 signed by a large number of respected and influential 
 persons, shewing that the memorialists, while feeling the 
 greatest respect for the talents and the personal qualities of 
 their pastors, could not disguise the fact that they did not 
 feel sufficient sympathy with their religious ministrations 
 to enable them to attend public worship with profit or 
 pleasure. The memorialists called the attention of the 
 Council to the deplorable results, in alienation from the 
 Church and starvation of spiritual life, which sprang from 
 this state of things, and hoped that when other vacancies 
 occurred, at least one might be filled by a pastor who would 
 be able to meet the well-known wants of the memorialists. 
 To this petition the Church-council answered, that they 
 were at a loss to understand what their "beloved brethren" 
 wanted. They endeavoured to find them pastors who 
 preached the Gospel ; what more could they want ? This 
 — and a hint that the memorialists stood in very consider- 
 able need of such Gospel food as the Council had provided 
 for them — was all that could be got ! * It is a significant 
 fact that, very shortly after these events, about eighty 
 students of the University of Utrecht (most of them students 
 of theology, and intending therefore to become pastors of 
 the Eeformed Church) applied to the Eemonstrants to as- 
 sign the students some seats in their Church. Maronier, a 
 well-knowTL "Modern," is the Eemonstrant pastor at Utrecht. 
 It will be seen from this illustration that the change 
 of 1867 not only places the "Modern" laity in a very 
 
 * It is but fair to say that I no longer have the correspondence 
 before me as I ^vrite, but T believe I have not misrepresented it. 
 
22 
 
 unsatisfactory position, but makes the prospects of the 
 " Modern '^ pastors so bad, that it is. almost impossible for a 
 young man to contemplate them without being disheartened, 
 unless he is inspired by a very rare degree of zealous and 
 self-sacrificing love of his work. No doubt this is the real: 
 cause of the portentous diminution of the numbers of the 
 theological students at Leiden (the head-quarters of the 
 " Moderns"), and in part also of the fact, noticeable in Hol- 
 land as elsewhere, that the theological students are now 
 often drawn from a lower social stratum than was formerly 
 the case. 
 
 This is one of the many phenomena which make a com- 
 plete re-organization of the Church seem an absolute neces- 
 sity, if it is to continue to exist ; but before the gravity of 
 the situation can be rightly understood, it will be necessary 
 to give a sketch of the organization which, with one or two 
 recent modifications to be pointed out presently, is still in 
 force. 
 
 I. The unit of Churcli Government, as we have seen, 
 is the local community or congregation. A distinction is 
 made between the ordinary members (leden) and the special 
 members (lidmaten) of the congregation. The former are, 
 in point of fact, all who by parentage or otherwise may be 
 supposed to belong to the Eeformed Church, and have not 
 openly separated themselves or been separated from it. The 
 latter are those only who have been formally received after 
 examination as Church members. It is from these alone 
 that the " voters " are drawn, and it is therefore of import- 
 ance that we should know the exact conditions of member- 
 ship. The proposed member, then, must shew an adequate 
 acquaintance with the Christian doctrine of faith and 
 morals, and with scriptural and ecclesiastical history, es- 
 pecially that of the Eeformation. He must then make a 
 
23 
 
 confession of faith. No special form of words is prescribed, 
 and the candidate for membership is free to say just what he 
 likes in his confession. This examination, &c., is conducted 
 (on behalf of the Church-council) by a pastor, " assisted " * 
 by one or more elders. If the result of the examination is 
 satisfactory, the candidate must answer the three following 
 questions m the affirmative: 
 
 1st. Do you profess belief in God the Father, the Almighty, 
 the Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His 
 only Son, our Lord, and in the Holy Spirit ? 
 
 2nd. Is it your intention and desire to persevere, by God's 
 grace, in this confession, to forsake sin, to strive after 
 sanctification, and faithfully to follow your Saviour in pro- 
 sperity and adversity, in life and in death, as beseems His 
 true confessors ? 
 
 3rd. Do you promise zealously to work, according to your 
 power, for the weal of the kingdom of God in general and 
 of the Netherland Eeformed Church in particular, under 
 the observance of her ordinances ? 
 
 If all this is satisfactorily gone through, the candidate is 
 formally admitted as a Church member (lidmaat). 
 
 A male Church member of a year or more standing, who 
 has attained his majority (twenty-three), is, unless there is 
 some reason to the contrary, a voter. 
 
 The voters choose the elders and deacons of the congre- 
 gation, and also select its pastors ; directly, if there are not 
 more than a hundred of them; indirectly, if there are; 
 unless, in either case, they have deputed their Church- 
 councils to perform these duties for them for a term of 
 
 * The original word, " bijgestaan," may have either the English or 
 the French sense of " assisted," and has given rise to a hot controversy. 
 Yid. infra. 
 
24 
 
 years, as nearly one-half of the whole number of congrega- 
 tions have done. 
 
 II. The Church-council consists of the pastor or pastors 
 and a certain number (fixed by the Council itself in ac- 
 cordance with the requirements of the place) of elders and 
 deacons, appointed for not more than four years. 
 
 The Council exercises a general superintendence over the 
 congregation, manages its business (except the finances), 
 attends to the proper conduct of public worship and reli- 
 gious instruction, admits new members, and in general re- 
 presents the congregation. 
 
 The deacons have special charge of the poor. 
 
 The Council also appoints elders (in office as such at the 
 time) to represent it in the Classic Assembly (see III.). 
 
 Under certain conditions, a distinction is made between 
 the functions of the " Great Council " and the " Small Coun- 
 cil," upon which the deacons do not sit ; but it is needless 
 to consider the matter here. 
 
 The congregations of each district are united into Classes, 
 and each Classis is represented by its Classic Assembly and 
 regulated by its Classic Government. 
 
 III. The Classic Assemblies meet in June, and consist 
 of all the pastors of the Clagsis and a number of elders not 
 exceeding that of the pastors. Their chief function is to 
 nominate the members of the Classic Government and the 
 Provincial Church Government; but they also perform 
 certain other functions, and have a consulting voice in all 
 legislation directly affecting themselves or the Church- 
 councils. 
 
 IV. The Classic Governments consist of certain officers, 
 two or more preachers, according to circumstances, and one 
 elder for every two preachers, all chosen for three years by 
 
25 
 
 the respective Classic Assemblies. These Governments 
 form a court of appeal from the Church-councils in all 
 matters of Church discipline, and have immediate jurisdic- 
 tion over preachers, candidates in theology, elders and dea- 
 cons, who are not subject to the Church-councils. They 
 have other administrative and judicial functions ; but only 
 a consulting voice (and that only in some branches) in 
 legislation. 
 
 Y. Each of the ten Provinces of Holland has its own 
 Provincial Church Government, elected by the Classic As- 
 semblies, each of which deputes one pastor for three years. 
 For every two pastors thus elected, one elder (or ex-elder), 
 who must already have held office in some higher governing 
 body than a Church-council, is elected. Thus one-half of 
 the Classic Assemblies (in turn) appoint an elder as well as 
 a pastor to their respective Provincial Church Governments. 
 These Governments are courts of appeal from the Classic 
 Governments, and deal, in the first instance, with very 
 grave charges against pastors, &c., and with differences be- 
 tween two or more Classic Governments. They also conduct 
 the ecclesiastical examination of the candidates in theology, 
 who must already have passed their academical examina- 
 tion; none being recognized who have not had a University 
 education. They depute members to the General Synod, and 
 have a consulting voice and a veto in matters of legislation. 
 
 VI. The Synod is the highest representative body of the 
 Church. It consists of twenty-one members, five of whom 
 have no votes, and one of whom is not present unless the 
 matter in discussion has reference to finances. Its compo- 
 sition is a matter of eager debate at present, and must there- 
 fore be given in detail. 
 
 The Synod consists, then, of one representative (a pastor) 
 from each Provincial Church Government (ten in all) ; one 
 
26 
 
 from the Committee of the Walloon Church ;* one from the 
 Church Government of Limburg ; -f* one from the Committee 
 of the Churches of the East and West Indies ; three elders 
 appointed in rotation by the Provincial Church Govern- 
 ments and the Committee of the Walloon Churches ; a per- 
 manent Secretary | (without a vote) ; in cases of finance, 
 the Qu8estor-General§ (without a vote) ; and three Professors 
 (without votes) appointed by the Theological faculties of 
 Leiden, Utrecht and Groningen. 
 
 The members of the Synod are appointed only for a 
 single year. The Synod exercises a general superintend- 
 ence over the Church/ receives reports, &c., from "the lower 
 governing bodies, acts as a court of appeal from the Pro- 
 vincial Church Governments, and exercises a great variety 
 of executive and judicial functions. It derives its great 
 importance, however, from the fact that, at least nominally, 
 it is the supreme legislative body. 
 
 Its supremacy, however, is very far from absolute. It first 
 prepares a law and then submits it to the Provincial Church 
 Governments. In certain cases these Governments forward 
 it to the Classic Governments in their " resorts," and all the 
 bodies thus consulted report directly to the next Synod (for 
 the Synod only meets once a year), with suggestions or 
 criticisms. The Synod may (and often does) drop the whole 
 thing here ; or it may once more submit the law, either in 
 its original form or altered according to suggestions received 
 
 * For the sake of simplicity I have omitted all mention of the 
 Walloon Churches, which are a part of the Reformed Church, but 
 have their own separate government under the Synod. 
 
 t Limburg stands in a peculiar position with regard to the Church 
 Government, which it is not necessary to speak of here. It has no 
 Provincial Church Government. 
 
 X Appointed by the Synod. 
 
 § Appointed for an indefinite period by the Synod. 
 
27 
 
 (or otherwise), to the Provincial Church Governments. If 
 a majority of these vote against it, it falls to the ground ; 
 but if a majority (or in cases affecting the constitution of 
 the Church a majority of two- thirds) approve of it, it be- 
 comes law. 
 
 YII. The Committee of the Synod, appointed by the 
 Synod, but not from its own members, represents the Synod 
 between its sittings, and is then the highest court of appeal, 
 &c. It is often entrusted by the Synod with very important 
 preparatory work, but of course has no legislative powers. 
 It is responsible to the Synod for everything it does. 
 
 Such is a rapid and exceedingly incomplete sketch of 
 those features of the Ecclesiastical Constitution of the Ee- 
 formed Church of the Netherlands which are of most im- 
 portance to us.* 
 
 Its defects are numerous and obvious. The complete 
 change of the personnel of the Synod from year to year, in 
 itself makes any continuity of government almost impos- 
 
 ■^ All these bodies, from the Church-councils to the Synod, have the 
 administration of certain funds, and in some cases are in receipt of 
 Government grants, hut the finances proper of the Reformed Church 
 are not under their control. Until quite recently, the Government 
 exercised a direct and indirect control over the finances, which were 
 managed for each congregation by a body of representatives distinct 
 from the Church- council. The Reformed Church had for many years 
 protested against being held in pupilage by the State, whereas all her 
 sister communities were allowed to manage their own affairs. At 
 last, in 1866, Picke, the Governmental Minister of the Reformed 
 cultus, appointed a " General College of Superintendence " to manage 
 the finances of the Reformed Church for three years, and then hand 
 them over to the Church itself. The powers, &c., of the College were 
 not defined however, and its members applied for instructions. Picke 
 was now superseded by Schimmelpenninck, who said that further in- 
 structions were certainly needed, and may therefore be presumed to 
 have intended to give them; but he was superseded by Lijnden van 
 Sandenburg, who required some time to get up the subject, but finally, 
 in 1868, gave the College a letter of instructions, which they had 
 
28 
 
 sible. The connection between the Synod and its Committee, 
 who have no direct personal communication with each other 
 except through the permanent Secretary and the Moderamen, 
 who attend the meetings of both, is highly unsatisfactory. 
 The judicial apparatus, with its endless delays and appeals, 
 is intolerably cumbersome. The legislative apparatus is 
 little better. The representative character of the Synod is 
 most imperfect, for the following reasons : (a) The repre- 
 sentative of the East and West Indian Churches, which 
 are State Churches and stand in no official connection with 
 the Netherland Eeformed Church, is out of place there, (b) 
 It is further urged that the three Professors do not represent 
 the Church, being appointed by the Crown. They have no 
 votes, however, and their advice is of the greatest value, so 
 that this can hardly be considered a valid objection. It is 
 far otherwise with (c) the ludicrous disproportion between 
 the numbers represented by each representative member of 
 the Synod. Each Provincial Church Government sends one 
 
 hardly read before it was countermanded by another Minister, Van 
 Bosse, who had just come into office. The College was now informed 
 what its powers were, and also that no extension of its term of office 
 would be granted, so that it must do the work of three years in about 
 one ! The College did its best, and drew up a provisional scheme just 
 in time to save the finances of the Church from a simple crash. The 
 state of things is still highly unsatisfactory. The Synod desires to have 
 control over the finances of the Church, but some of the congregations 
 violently resist its claims. Unhappily, the affair has been made a 
 party question, and tl^reatens to become very troublesome. No con- 
 ception can be formed of the confusion and complexity of the whole 
 question — of which the fragment of history just given may be taken 
 as a specimen — and, as it does not immediately affect the questions 
 in which we are most interested, perhaps I shall be excused for not 
 entering upon it further. 1 must remind my readers, however, that 
 the whole question has reference to " Church goods " alone, and not 
 the " Spiritual goods," which have ceased to exist as separate funds : 
 a most important part of the finances of the Church is still managed 
 by the State, therefore. 
 
29 
 
 deputy to the Synod. The Province of North Holland 
 embraces 198 communities; that of Friesland, 214; and 
 that of Drenthe, but 51 (much smaller, on an average, than 
 those of Holland and Friesland); yet each is represented by 
 one member of the Synod. ISTay, even the Walloon Com- 
 mittee and the Church Government of Limburg, representing 
 17 and 16 congregations respectively, each send one repre- 
 sentative to the Synod. The almost exclusively clerical 
 composition of the Synod is also a matter of complaint. 
 
 Several attempts have been made from time to time to 
 introduce some modifications into this system; but it may be 
 doubted whether all its defects would have led to any change, 
 had it not been for the strained relation in which the two 
 extreme parties within the Church stand towards each other. 
 
 In the first place, the " Moderns " have every reason to 
 be dissatisfied with their position. The "Modern" laity, 
 when in a minority, as is generally the case, can never get 
 a pastor of their own school, and the week-day lectures, by 
 leading members of the party, which have been organized 
 now for some years, are of course but a meagre substitute. 
 But this is not all. The orthodox majorities of the Church- 
 councils frequently throw every kind of obstacle in the way 
 of the admission of members who do not come up to their 
 standard of orthodoxy. The assistance, or at any rate the 
 presence, of one or more elders (see p. 23) is required at the 
 examination for membership, and occasionally every one 
 of the elders has simply refused to attend when a Modern 
 pastor has presented his pupils for admission. Others 
 have "assisted" in the examination by asking a series of 
 crucial doctrinal questions, and refusing to "pass" the can- 
 didate on account of his heresy. In some cases the affair 
 has been kept hanging for months, and the examinees have 
 been called up again and again to answer further questions, 
 
30 
 
 or give explanations of what they have already said or 
 written. We have seen that they must answer three ques- 
 tions in the affirmative (p. 23) ; but as these questions are 
 very indefinite from a doctrinal point of view, and as the 
 personal confession of faith gives the examinee an opportu- 
 nity of explaining in detail the sense in which he accepts 
 them, this cannot be regarded as a serious moral complica- 
 tion. Eecently, however, some pupils of Visser, the Modern 
 pastor at Harlingen, expressly stated, in answering "Yes" 
 to the questions, that they did so only in the sense explained 
 by their confessions of faith. The Church -council declared 
 that such a qualification was unconstitutional, and refused 
 to admit the examinees as members. The affair has been 
 carried up, with varying result, through all the courts, and 
 has finally gone in favour of the Church-council, though 
 merely on technical grounds. 
 
 The "Modern" laity, then, are in a very unenviable 
 position as regards Church life, and though their pastors 
 are free to some extent from the direct tyranny of the 
 Church- councils, not being under their jurisdiction, they 
 are by no means comfortable. In the first place, they have 
 no prospect of promotion, and are in many instances com- 
 pelled to work "with the assistance" of a bitterly hostile 
 council, which does its best to frustrate them ; and of course 
 it is very disheartening to see those, upon whose religious 
 education they have been working for years, cut off from 
 all influence in Church matters and excluded, as unclean, 
 from the fold. 
 
 The moral position, too, of a "Modern" candidate in 
 theology, and to some extent of a "Modern" pastor, is open 
 to one very serious objection. It is true they have no 
 liturgical service to perform, and are therefore saved from 
 the one constantly repeated act which makes the moral 
 
31 
 
 position of our own Broad-cliurcli clergy so mournfully 
 equivocal. Well may Kuenen* say, when speaking of the 
 absence of such forms, "Moreover, we enjoy the privilege 
 of not being bound to any ancient liturgy. In conduct- 
 ing public worship and the ceremonies of the Church, 
 the preacher is free. Wlien contrasting our poverty in this 
 respect with the wealth of the Church of England, for ex- 
 ample, we might well be tempted to complain. But it is 
 better to be deprived of a certain measure of aesthetic en- 
 joyment than to purchase it at the price of that freedom 
 with which we cannot dispense." 
 
 So far all is well ; but it is useless to disguise the fact 
 that the formula of subscription (see p. 18) which all the 
 clergy of the Eeformed Church of the Netherlands are re- 
 quired to sign when they enter her service, is such as no 
 "Modern" can accept in a natural sense. That men so 
 fearless, so honest, so self-sacrificing, so consistent, as the 
 "Modern" pastors of Holland, should be able to bring them- 
 selves to comply with this humiliating condition of service 
 in the Church, is a painful and in some sense a surprising 
 phenomenon; and shews what a hurtful and bewildering 
 effect the theory of subscription has even upon the clearest 
 intellects and the most tender consciences. It is true that 
 this is but a gnat in comparison with the camels swallowed 
 by the liberal clergy of England; true that the "Modern" 
 leaders are now bending all their energies, not to the Justi- 
 fying, but to the rectifying, of their position ; true that the 
 prominence of this comparatively small matter is the 
 strongest evidence of the general purity of their position ; 
 but, in spite of this, the position is pro tanto a false 
 position, and those who are in it are beginning, or will soon 
 
 ■* One of the leaders of the Modem school. 
 
32 
 
 begin, to feel that "it is easier for a camel to pass through 
 the eye of a needle" than for an honest man to enter a 
 ereed-bound Church and retain his honesty. 
 
 The history of the awakening of the conscience of the 
 "Moderns" upon this point is curious. I have already 
 stated that, in 1862 and 1863, Scholten and Pierson looked 
 upon the formula of subscription as almost ideal. Of course 
 the orthodox party indignantly declared that the "Moderns" 
 had no right to sign the formula, but the "Moderns" them- 
 selves declared that it exactly expressed their own views. 
 In 1864 and 1865, one or two memorials were presented to 
 the Synod, desiring the abolition of all doctrinal restrictions 
 and pledges, together with a flood of memorials desiring an 
 increased stringency in them. Special committees considered 
 these memorials and reported in favour of the maintenance 
 of the doctrine of the Eeformed Church as set forth in the 
 formula of subscription. Amongst the signatures to these 
 reports occurs, in one instance, that of Scholten ; in the 
 other, that of Kuenen. 
 
 About this time, Pierson, having completely changed his 
 views on the subscription question, and having left the 
 Eeformed Church, was engaged in a hot controversy with 
 Eeville upon the right of the "Moderns" to remain within 
 the Church of their fathers. Pierson declared that their 
 position was radically unsound ; Eeville maintained that it 
 was good. Busken Huet, who had been a sort of free-lance 
 in the theological strife, was now outside the Church, and, 
 coming to Pierson's rescue, he attacked his former allies, 
 the "Moderns," apparently with great bitterness, not to 
 say virulence. The attack from such unexpected quarters 
 rather startled the "Moderns," and produced a greater im- 
 pression than a whole library from orthodox pens would 
 have made. It drew from Kuenen a little pamphlet in 
 
33 
 
 defence of the "Modern" position, in which he declared 
 that, taken in its setting, with reference to its history and 
 in the light thrown upon it by other portions of the ordi- 
 nances of the Church, the formula of subscription bound the 
 subscriber to nothing which the "Moderns" could not 
 accept in good faith. At the same time, he admitted that 
 the formula was antiquated, and that it would be highly 
 desirable eventually, lut not at jpresent, to substitute a 
 simple declaration that the subscriber desires and intends 
 " to work in the ISTetherland Eeformed Church for the ful- 
 filment of her object, — viz. the furtherance of religion and 
 morality in the spirit of Jesus, — in accordance with the 
 regulations of her ordinances, and after the dictates of his 
 own conscience." 
 
 During the last few years, opinipn has ripened upon the 
 subject. Most of the Moderns now earnestly desire to get 
 rid of all doctrinal restrictions, and many of their more 
 moderate and liberal opponents see the folly of attempting 
 to retain them. 
 
 In the Synod of 1872, Diest Lorgion, Professor of Theo- 
 logy at Groningen, brought forward a scheme for removing 
 all doctrinal pledges whatsoever in the case of pastors and 
 of members of the Eeformed Church. Scholten supported 
 a modified scheme which would practically give almost un- 
 limited doctrinal freedom. In this latter form the Synod 
 provisionally accepted the project, and submitted it to the 
 Provincial Church Governments for criticism and sugges- 
 tions. We shall soon see why the question has not been 
 decided in this form. 
 
 What has been said already will have shewn abundantly, 
 1, that the Moderns have every reason to be dissatisfied 
 with their position; and, 2, that they are now doing their 
 best to make it more satisfactory. 
 
34 
 
 It remains to explain the reasons why the orthodox are 
 dissatisfied. In the first place, the mere existence of the 
 " Moderns " in the Church of Calvin and of the Fathers of 
 Dort is an abomination to them, and they are too impatient 
 to be content with the gradual process of elimination and 
 starvation which they are now carrying on. Moreover, 
 their ultimate success seems doubtful. The process of 
 purging the various governing bodies of the Church from 
 Modernism is a slow and indirect one. In some places, the 
 excessive zeal of the orthodox has even thrown into the 
 "Modern" camp many liberals who do not sympathize 
 with the "Modern" theological position ; and in the struggle 
 for existence, the " anti-confessionalists " of all degrees are 
 closing their ranks and imitating the compact discipline of 
 the "confessionalists " or ultra-orthodox. Thus a liberal 
 reaction has set in, at least in some districts. Again, the 
 higher Courts, especially the successive Synods, are still 
 prevailingly liberal, not to say " Modern," and not only ren- 
 der prosecutions for heresy almost uniformly unsuccessful, 
 but are even endeavouring, as we have seen, to take out of 
 the hands of the orthodox every instrument of doctrinal 
 restriction. 
 
 The mutual reproaches and jealousies, the constant col- 
 lisions, the increasing bitterness of the parties, were be- 
 coming intolerable. The propositions of Diest Lorgion and 
 Scholten in the Synod of 1872, put the spark to the train. 
 Dr. Cramer, of Amsterdam, published a pamphlet, entitled, 
 ^* Where are we going ? " in which he questioned the moral, 
 if not the legal, right of the Synod to take action in such 
 important matters. He declared that it could not be said 
 to represent the Church; that it had fallen into disrepute, 
 almost into contempt ; that it was in every way incom- 
 petent to deal with such a vital question as it had taken in 
 
35 
 
 hand ; and that it was going about it in quite the wrong 
 way in endeavouring to keep together two schools which 
 could not exist except apart. Let a " Constituent Assembly" 
 be called, an Assembly of genuine representatives of the 
 Church, and let it deal at once and for ever with this 
 question of the maintenance or abandonment of the "con- 
 fessional" character of the Church. Let the defeated party, 
 whether Orthodox or " Modern," accept its defeat, pack up 
 its traps and go, and let an end be put at last to this mise- 
 rable jangling and quarrelling ! 
 
 On the appearance of " Where are we going ? " the sky 
 was darkened by a storm of pamphlets. " We are not going 
 there ! " " Constituent or no ? " " Thoughts on the Ee-orga- 
 nization of the Church Government," &c. &c. Addresses 
 flowed in from all quarters, and the Church papers were 
 full of the great question. Even the " Dissenting " bodies, 
 especially the Evangelical Lutherans, caught the infection, 
 and had quite a respectable little shower of pamphlets on 
 their own account.* 
 
 The Synod of 1873 saw that some more radical treatment 
 of the disease than that which their predecessors had left 
 them as a legacy was urgently needed, and appointed a 
 "Committee of Nine," as it has always been called, or 
 "Committee of Advice concerning a Ee-organization of the 
 Church and the Church Government," as its ofi&cial title 
 ran, to endeavour to find some means by which an end 
 might be put to the present state of affairs, and the "various 
 parties might exist and remain together in one Church 
 communion." The nine members of this Committee be- 
 longed to three schools : three were orthodox, three "Modern," 
 and three intermediate. It was looked upon as a hopeful 
 sign that all of them accepted the commission. The meeting 
 
 * See Section d. 
 c 2 
 
36 
 
 of the Synod was adjourned to February 11, 1874, and was 
 then to receive the report of the Committee. 
 
 Some voices were raised in protest. The ultra-confes- 
 sionalists complained that they had no representative ; 
 Professor Doedes,* of Utrecht, sneered at the tactics of the 
 "Moderns," who first signed a declaration and tlun attempted 
 to remove it for conscience' sake. He declared that it was 
 not desirable to find a means by which Orthodox and 
 Moderns could live together. But, as a rule, the composi- 
 tion of the Committee gave satisfaction, and all the parties 
 assumed a " waiting attitude." 
 
 Towards the end of 1873, the "Committee of Nine" pub- 
 lished its report in a thick pamphlet of 146 octavo pages ; 
 but, alas ! it was not one, but five reports. 
 
 The Committee unanimously recommended a re-organiza- 
 tion of the Church Government, by which a really repre- 
 sentative Synod of one hundred members, in which the lay 
 element was well represented, should meet once in four 
 years, and should be the supreme legislative body, without 
 having to submit to any veto. The present Synod (without 
 the professors or the representative of the churches of the 
 Indies, and otherwise modified) was to become a sort of 
 Committee of the General Synod (to be called the "Synodal 
 Government"), was to prepare business for it, and to act as 
 the medium of communication between the public and the 
 Synod, &c. Other alterations of less importance were pro- 
 posed; but the essential feature of the scheme was the 
 formation of a supreme governing body, which should be 
 truly representative, and should enjoy the full confidence of 
 the Church. 
 
 So much for the re-organization of the Church Govern- 
 ment: but on the re-organization of the Church itseK, the 
 ■^ A pillar of the Orthodox school. 
 
' 37 
 
 Committee was unable to get even a bare majority for any 
 one scheme, and therefore sent mfour reports. 
 
 The^rs^ section (orthodox) recommended a doctrinal armis- 
 tice, with the maintenance of the present formulae of sub- 
 scription, until a truly representative body should provide for 
 the maintenance and revision of the doctrine of the Eeformed 
 Church in accordance with the Netherland Confession, the 
 Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of the Synod of 
 Dort. A permanent union of Orthodox and "Moderns" it 
 regarded as undesirable and impossible. 
 
 The second section (intermediate) recommended the main- 
 tenance of the present doctrinal restrictions and the provi- 
 sion for minorities, by giving them the choice of a certain 
 number (in proportion to their relative strength) of the 
 pastors, where there are more than one, or (where there is only 
 one pastor, or where the minority is too small to be entitled 
 to any appointments, but still considerable) the occasional 
 use of one of the churches for public worship, to be conducted 
 by some pastor selected for the occasion by the minority. 
 
 The majority (viz. two) of the third section (Modern) 
 presented a very elaborate report. It recommended that in 
 every congregation, whei;e a sufficient proportion of the mem- 
 bers unite for the purpose, they should be allowed to form 
 an independent " Parish," with power to appoint its own 
 pastor (or pastors), and to decide the doctrinal conditions 
 of membership of its community. In all other respects, its 
 members were to be simply a part of the congregation, and 
 it was to have no independent existence. No doctrinal test 
 or declaration was to be required of pastors or members 
 of the Eeformed Church as such. It is curious, and I think 
 not accidental, that, so far as I have been able to observe, 
 there is nothing in the wording of the constitution proposed 
 
38 
 
 by this section which would exclude women from the eccle- 
 siastical franchise. 
 
 The minority (one) of the third section gave in a short 
 report, in which optimism and pessimism are curiously 
 blended, and which is really little more than a sermon on 
 the duty of mutual forbearance. 
 
 It is obvious that the scheme of the majority of the third 
 section is the only one that can be said to provide for the 
 necessities of the case at all, and even it shews how very 
 slight the bond of Church communion must be if it is to 
 embrace all the parties. This project, it has been cleverly 
 said, " proposed to let the house in flats. The Orthodox 
 might have the cellars to live in, and might make it as dark 
 there as they had a mind to. The Evangelicals might rent 
 the ground-floor, and, if they found the windows too large, 
 might temper the too strong light by hanging heavy damask 
 curtains before them. The Moderns might take the top 
 story, with leave to put in as many windows as they liked, 
 and let the light and air stream in from every side. And 
 then there would still be a few attics for any one who had 
 a fancy to live by himself. No doubt the psalm-singing 
 below might annoy those above, and the noise from above 
 might disturb those below; but still, if each had a separate 
 entrance, and nothing need ever take them into each other's 
 rooms, why, at any rate, they might all live under the same 
 roof; and on the front of the house (which would need a 
 little painting and repairing outside, by the way), might be 
 written in big letters, 'Eeformed Church of the Nether- 
 lands.'" 
 
 Such were the plans submitted to the Synod at its ad- 
 journed meeting on February 11. The Synod took them 
 all, as well as several others, into careful consideration, and 
 
39 
 
 finally determined to adopt, as the basis of its proposed re- 
 organization of the Church, the principle advocated by the 
 second section, retaining the doctrinal declaration, but giving 
 minorities the power of electing pastors, or obtaining the 
 use of churches, in proportion to their numerical strength. 
 
 In accordance with this resolution, a number of altera- 
 tions in the machinery of election of Church officers, and 
 especially of pastors, were suggested for the consideration 
 of the Classic Assemblies, Church Governments, &c., toge- 
 ther with certain measures to prevent the arbitrary rejec- 
 tion on doctrinal grounds of candidates for membership. 
 
 With regard to the re-organization of the Church Govern- 
 ment, the Synod shrank from any such radical change as 
 that suggested in the " Eeport," and contented itself with 
 proposals to secure the representation of the lay element in 
 the Synod by giving six seats to elders, to approximate in 
 some degree to a more even distribution of the elective 
 strength of the various districts, and to ensure continuity 
 of action on the part of successive Synods, by appointing 
 the representatives for three years, and arranging that one- 
 third of them should retire (in rotation) each year. 
 
 It was obvious at once that these well-meant but timid 
 measures would give little satisfaction. The regulations for 
 the improvement of the representative character of the 
 Synod, though by no means adequate, were good as far as 
 they went, and were well received by the Classic Assemblies ; 
 but the more important question of the rights of minorities 
 and the footing of the various parties in the Church had 
 been dealt with in a way that satisfied no one. It became 
 abundantly evident that such a compromise was simply 
 impossible. Either the doctrinal character of the Church 
 must be maintained, in which case neither minorities nor 
 
40 
 
 majorities had any rights at all unless they were orthodox, 
 or it must be dropped, in which case the formula of sub- 
 scription must be dropped also. 
 
 The Synod of 1874 did not abandon any of the projects 
 of its predecessor, in spite of the very unfavourable reports 
 of the Classic Assemblies, &c., but yet felt that it must do 
 more than merely carry them on, and accordingly tried ta 
 go to the root of the matter by dealing with the eleventh 
 article in the Constitution of the Church, which defines the 
 general objects at which the members of all the various 
 governing bodies are to aim, as " care for the interests of 
 the Christian Church in general and the Eeformed Church 
 in particular, the maintenance of her doctrine, the increase 
 of religious knowledge, the furtherance of Christian morals, 
 the preservation of order and unity, and the quickening of 
 love for King and Fatherland." 
 
 It was felt that as long as this "maintenance of doctrine" 
 was left as a standing order to all officers of the Church, it 
 was idle to talk of any compromise. 
 
 The Synod accordingly drew up the following article as 
 a substitute, and published an elaborate report of a sub- 
 committee to defend and explain it : 
 
 " The doctrine contained in the Netherland Confession, 
 the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of the Synod 
 of Dort, forms the liistorical foundation of the Eeformed 
 Church of the N'etherlands. 
 
 " Inasmuch as this doctrine is not confessed with suffi- 
 cient unanimity by the community, there can, under the 
 existing circumstances, be no possibility of 'maintaining 
 the doctrine ' in the ecclesiastical sense. The community, 
 building on the principles of the Church, as manifested in 
 her origin and development, continues to confess her Chris- 
 
41 
 
 tian faith, and thereby to form the expression which may 
 in course of time once more become the adequate and 
 unanimous Confession of the Church. 
 
 " Meantime, care for the interests of the Christian Church 
 in general and the Eeformed in particular, quickening of 
 Christian religion and morality, increase of religious know- 
 ledge, preservation of order and unity, and furtherance of 
 love for King and Fatherland, are ever the main object of 
 all to whom any ecclesiastical office is entrusted, and no one 
 can be rejected as a member or a teacher who, complying 
 with all other requirements, declares himself to be convinced 
 in his own conscience that, in compliance with the above- 
 named principles, he may belong to the Eeformed Church 
 of the Netherlands." 
 
 The position of things when the- Synod of 1874 rose was 
 therefore as follows. The advice of the various ecclesias- 
 tical bodies had been received on (1) the proposed reforms 
 in the Synod ; (2) the proposed alterations in the machinery 
 for electing Church councils and pastors, with an ultimate 
 view to securing the rights of minorities ; (3) the proposed 
 modifications in the regulation for the examination and 
 admission of Church members. On all these points, there- 
 fore, the Synod had been able to submit definite propo- 
 sitions to the Church Governments to receive their final 
 decision. Their fate was what might have been anticipated 
 from the reception they had received at the earlier stage of 
 their progress. ISTos. 2 and 3 were rejected; No. 1 accepted. 
 
 But the Synod, as we have seen, had not only carried on 
 and put into their final shape the suggestions of its pre- 
 decessor, but had also struck out a new line in the proposed 
 modification of Article XI. This proposal, not having yet 
 passed through the preliminary stage of being submitted 
 for criticism and suggestion to the Classic Assemblies, &c., 
 
42 
 
 cannot be dealt with finally at present. But, as far as can 
 be gathered from public utterances, it is looked upon by all 
 parties as one of the most unfortunate attempts at legisla- 
 tion which has ever been conceived. " The law," says the 
 author of an anonymous pamphlet, " commands or forbids ; 
 
 it does not relate If [the Synod] had wished to 
 
 make this communication to the Church, 'You once had a 
 doctrine and a confession ; you have none now ; mind you 
 make another !' it might have done so by means of a circular 
 or pamphlet ; but the attempt to accomplish it by a legal 
 enactment, shews small skill in the art of drawing up and 
 promulgating laws." 
 
 We may safely assume that nothing will come of this 
 suggested alteration. 
 
 A sustained attempt has therefore been made to heal the 
 wounds of the Eeformed Church of the Netherlands. Men 
 of all parties have joined in this attempt, and have given 
 their most serious attention to the problems it involves. 
 Scholars and pastors have spent precious months which 
 might have borne rich fruits for scientific and practical 
 theology in discussing and suggesting schemes of ecclesias- 
 tical reform. Pamphlets have fallen like rain, and the 
 " religious " papers have been and still are flooded with dis- 
 sertations and discussions bearing upon the same subjects ; 
 and the total result, so far, has been an improvement in the 
 constitution of the Synod, which, however desirable in itself, 
 leaves, and apparently will leave, every question of vital 
 importance exactly where it was ! 
 
 It need hardly surprise us to find that some of the actors 
 in this drama are getting as thoroughly weary of it as the 
 spectators have long been, and that many voices are now 
 heard crying for a peaceable separation, since a peaceable 
 dwelling together is no longer possible. The attempt to 
 
43 
 
 settle the terms of continued partnership was made under 
 the most favourable circumstances and in the best way 
 possible. Its failure shews that its task was one which 
 could not be accomplished. Surely the "Moderns" will 
 soon find their position morally and materially unbearable, 
 and, having proved the impossibility of making it bearable, 
 will seek a means of quitting it upon honourable terms. 
 
 If such a division of the Eeformed Church is inevitable, 
 the sooner attention is withdrawn from all kinds of efforts 
 to prevent it, and concentrated upon the best means of 
 accomplishing it, the better for Holland and for humanity ; 
 for the spectacle of a Free Church, adorned with learning 
 and piety such as few Churches can boast, supported by a 
 large section of an energetic and thoughtful nation, un- 
 trammelled by liturgies or doctrinal traditions, pursuing its 
 independent course, will be one of intensest interest to the 
 civilized world, and will give a fair trial to the power in the 
 nineteenth century of an organized but unshackled Church, 
 free from all moral complications, and bringing with it 
 something of a national prestige. 
 
 (b.) The Kemonstrant Brotheehood. 
 
 (Percentage of total Population in 1869, % 00-15.) 
 
 The origin of the Remonstrant Brotherhood is a matter 
 of universal history, and may be treated very briefly here. 
 
 In 1603, Jacob Arminius (Armijn) was appointed Pro- 
 fessor of Theology at Leiden, and his lectures soon shewed 
 that his adhesion to the standard orthodoxy of his Church 
 was anything but complete, especially in the matter of pre- 
 destination. Several men of note shared his heresies (which 
 
44 
 
 were of a very moderate description); but his colleague 
 Gomarus (Gommer) was bitterly opposed to him. Arminius 
 himself died in 1609, but his party survived him, and in 
 1610 sent in the] " Eemonstrance " to which it owes its 
 name, to the States of (the Province of) Holland, explaining 
 its opinions and claiming the protection of the State. 
 
 The Eemonstrants recognized the right and the duty of 
 the State to take a part in the affairs of the Church, which 
 their opponents denied. 
 
 Many disgraceful scenes of violence occurred, and the 
 Eemonstrants suffered much. Unhappily, personal jea- 
 lousies in high quarters complicated and intensified the 
 bitterness of the party feeling; for Prince Maurice, the son 
 and successor of William the Silent, made use of the Contra- 
 Eemonstrant furor as a tool with which to crush his rival, 
 the great and good Oldenbarnvelt. 
 
 At last, in 1618 and 1619, the opinions of the Eemon- 
 strants were formally condemned at the famous Synod of 
 Dort, and by an exquisite " irony of events," the Eemon- 
 strants were persecuted and exiled by that very temporal 
 power to which, in opposition to their rivals, they allowed 
 the right of regulating the affairs of the Church ! 
 
 For some years the Eemonstrants were subject to great 
 hardship and much persecution ; but in 1625, Maurice was 
 succeeded by his brother, Frederick Henry, who endeavoured 
 to restrain the violence of the Contra-Eemonstrants, and 
 did much towards securing the Eemonstrants in the undis- 
 turbed exercise of their religious rights, — for which, of 
 course, he was called " Jeroboam " and other such names. 
 
 The civic authorities of Amsterdam took the Eemonstrants 
 under their protection, and even allowed them to found a 
 seminary there in 1634. This seminary was removed to 
 Leiden about three years ago, in order that the students 
 
45 
 
 might have the advantage of attending the lectures at the 
 University. 
 
 The creed which the early Eemonstrants had drawn up 
 was regarded from the very first (as was expressly declared 
 in 1634), "not as a rule of faith, but as an expression of 
 opinion," and the Eemonstrants of the present day are 
 justly proud of requiring no doctrinal declaration or sub- 
 scription of any kind from pastors or laymen, except in 
 the case of a pastor who goes over from some other com- 
 munity, who must make a general declaration of adhesion 
 to the gospel of Christ as presented in the Scriptures. It 
 is to be hoped that this "survival" of the, theory of sub- 
 scription may soon be dispensed with. 
 
 The "ejected" of 1619 were about three hundred in 
 number, and were most of them preachers ; but now there 
 are only twenty-one Kemonstrant congregations in Holland. 
 
 The present constitution of the Brotherhood dates from 
 1861. It is governed by a " Great Assembly," which con- 
 sists of all the officiating pastors, several officials, certain 
 honorary members, and lay deputies from all the congrega- 
 tions. It meets once a year, and is the supreme governing 
 body of the Brotherhood ; but each congregation enjoys a 
 very large degree of freedom and self-government. 
 
 Great variety of opinion exists among the Eemonstrants, 
 but they exercise the widest mutual toleration. Freedom 
 is their pride and joy, and each party recognizes the distinct 
 right of the other party to a place within the fold. The 
 prevailing feeling is decidedly towards " Modernism." 
 
 Several movements towards a re-union between the Ee- 
 monstrants and the Eeformed Church have been made, but 
 without success. When the failure of the efforts of the 
 " Moderns " to remove the difficulties in the way of their 
 remaining in the Eeformed Church is recognized, it seems 
 
46 
 
 quite possible that the significance of the Eemonstrant 
 Brotherhood will become very great, and that a large exodus 
 from the Egypt of subscription to the Canaan of the Free 
 Baptist and Eemonstrant communions may be anticipated. 
 Several premonitory symptoms of such an event have already 
 appeared. 
 
 The reader will hardly have failed to observe the curious 
 analogy between the history of the Eemonstrants and that 
 of the English Presbyterian and Free Christian Churches. 
 The attempt to make the mother Church more tolerant, the 
 ejection, the persecution, the toleration, the free develop- 
 ment of religious life, the aversion to subscription, the 
 mutual toleration and even sympathetic co-operation of 
 men differing widely in opinion, are so many points of 
 striking similarity in the past and present of the Dutch 
 Eemonstrants and the English Free Churches. 
 
 The numbers of the Eemonstrants have never been very 
 large, and are now exceedingly small ; but the Church which 
 numbered Episcopius and Grotius among its first adherents, 
 still has representatives who vindicate for it an honourable 
 place among the Churches of Holland. 
 
 Of those whose names have become celebrated in the 
 records of modern theology, the Eemonstrants may claim 
 Tiele, Maronier and (now) Hooykaas. 
 
 Many interesting particulars as to the Eemonstrants and 
 their seminary will be found in an article by the late Eev. 
 J. J. Tayler, Theological Eeview, January, 1868. 
 
47 
 
 (c.) Baptist Communities * 
 
 (Percentage of total population in 1869, % 1-24.) 
 
 The controversies as to the origin and history of the 
 Baptist communities of Holland have produced quite an 
 extensive literature, and in many cases appear still to be 
 far from settled. 
 
 It seems to be clearly established by Hoekstra, however, 
 that the original " Anti-psedo-baptists " were the spiritual 
 ancestors alike of the " Anabaptists " and of the " Baptists," 
 and that these last owed their origin to a reaction against 
 the fanaticism of the Anabaptists, who exaggerated and 
 abused the principle of the immediate guidance of the 
 Church by the Holy Spirit. The Baptists, on their side, 
 fell into the opposite error of a servile adherence to the 
 letter of the Scripture. 
 
 The Dutch Baptists look upon Menno Simons (1496 — 
 1561 A.D.) and Dirk Philips (baptized 1534) as their 
 founders, and are often called " Mennonites," after the first- 
 named. 
 
 The leading principle of the old Baptists is to be found 
 in their conception of the "community without spot or 
 wrinkle," to which all must belong who would be saved. 
 The Baptists could not look upon salvation as a matter 
 which lay between God and the individual soul alone. The 
 community was an essential link in the scheme of salvation; 
 and to be saved, it was necessary, not only to obey God's 
 commandments and have faith in Christ individually, but 
 also to belong to the "community without spot or wrinkle." 
 
 This being so, it became a simple act of self-defence to 
 
 * Special authority, Hoekstra's book on the Old Baptists, "Leer 
 der Oude Doopsgezinden." 1863. 
 
48 
 
 remove any visible "spot or wrinkle" from the community; 
 and hence the constant use of the "ban" or excommunica- 
 tion by the early Baptists. According to Dirk Philips, the 
 use of the "ban" was one of the seven marks which distin- 
 guished the true Church from all others ; and so freely was 
 it employed, that a certain Jan van Ophoorn gradually 
 placed under the ban all the Baptists (including his own 
 congregation) who were not under it already, and literally 
 left no one but himself and his wife to form the kingdom 
 of God ! 
 
 The "organic principle" of the Baptists thus applied, 
 naturally proved an irresistible disorganizing power, and 
 though rooted in the very essence of the original Baptist 
 conception of the Church, the "ban" was gradually dropped. 
 
 In more or less close connection with the leading idea of 
 a community separated from the world, stand several pecu- 
 liarities of the Baptists, such as their original dislike of a 
 regular ministry, their refusal to serve as soldiers, or to take 
 an oath, &c. In these and other particulars they present 
 strong analogies to the Society of Friends. The objection 
 to judicial oaths, which is recognized by the State, still 
 remains among the Dutch Baptists, but the other "points" 
 are dropped. 
 
 The Baptist movement was from the first intensely prac- 
 tical, and was inspired by a deep dislike of the Protestant 
 preaching of salvation by faith alone. " Eepentance and 
 amendment" was the alpha and omega of its gospel. It 
 was, in fact, much more legal than evangelical in its genius. 
 Partly from this horror of anything that might look like 
 separating salvation from repentance and amendment, partly 
 from rigid scripturalism, rose the practice of adult bap- 
 tism, from which the Church derives its name. Indeed, 
 the sacraments were not valued at all except as signs of 
 
49 
 
 membership of tlie kingdom of God, and, above all, as acts 
 of obedience to Jesus. It was quite in keeping with this 
 conception of the sacraments, that the Lord's Supper should 
 often be accompanied by " washing the feet" of (especially) 
 visitors from other congregations. The practice of adult 
 baptism is still preserved. 
 
 The practical nature of the Baptist movement caused 
 doctrinal matters to take a very secondary place in the 
 development of the Churches, and though Adam Pastor was 
 put under the " ban " by Dirk Philips for expressing Arian 
 opinions, yet, as a rule, doctrinal grounds were not recognized 
 as sufficient to justify exclusion from the community. 
 Hoekstra has shewn that both Dirk Philips and Menno 
 Simons, though they beKeved themselves to be perfectly 
 orthodox, were in reality equally far from understanding 
 and from accepting the complete system of orthodoxy. 
 
 The slight value attached to doctrine, as such, tended to 
 prevent the establishment of a creed among the Baptists ; 
 and the difficulty of uniting people by the "ban," made 
 Church organization nearly impossible; but perhaps the 
 fact that the early Baptists had not a single intellectual 
 or organizing genius amongst them, contributed still more 
 towards the failure of all attempts to establish either a creed 
 or a constitution. Dirk Philips and Menno Simons were 
 very commonplace men from an intellectual point of view, 
 wanting alike in culture and originality, and they were the 
 leaders of the Church. 
 
 Be the cause what it may, however, the result is, that to 
 this day the Baptist churches are entirely without a creed 
 and without a constitution. 
 
 Left to their own free development, these churches have 
 of course undergone rapid and extensive changes. " There 
 are still thousands in the Lutheran and Keformed Church 
 
 D 
 
50 
 
 who agree in the main with the doctrine of the founders of 
 this Church ; and however many have departed from this 
 doctrine, still one cannot say that the Lutheran or Eeformed 
 Church of our day sets out from other principles than those 
 adopted at first ; but you would search Holland in vain for 
 a single Baptist who is faithful to the doctrine or the prin- 
 ciples of Menno and Philips with respect to the founding 
 of a community without spot or wrinkle, or who even thinks 
 that he is so." * 
 
 At present, no Baptist thinks of attempting to exclude 
 any one from the brotherhood on account of doctrinal differ- 
 ences. Even the two remaining peculiarities of practice — 
 adult baptism and objection to a judicial oath — are only 
 regarded by one section of the Baptists as essential to mem- 
 bership of the brotherhood. Practical virtue is still the 
 burden of the teaching of the Baptists, and they enjoy a 
 high reputation for integrity. The absence of a creed, at 
 first almost an accident, is now their pride and joy ; and 
 freedom of conscience has become their favourite motto. 
 
 In Church organization they are still quite without cen- 
 tral government. Each church governs itself in absolute 
 independence, even if it receives pecuniary aid from the 
 " General Baptist Society," a representative body which has 
 met once a year at Amsterdam ever since 1811, but has no 
 power whatsoever over the separate churches. In many of 
 the Baptist churches, women have votes, and in some they 
 act as deaconesses. The hymn-books and order of service 
 differ in the different churches. 
 
 The General Baptist Society has founded a theological 
 seminary at Amsterdam. Hoekstra, who occupies a dis- 
 tinguished place in the first rank of " Modern " theologians, 
 is Professor there. 
 
 * Hoekstra. 
 
51 
 
 In spite of its widely different origin, the Baptist Church, 
 it will be observed, now offers many striking points of 
 similarity to our own Presbyterian churches. Indeed, 
 there are whole pages of Hoekstra's book which might be 
 copied almost literatim into an account of the present posi- 
 tion and function of the Free Presbyterian churches of 
 England. 
 
 {d.) Evangelical Lutherans. * 
 
 (Percentage of total population in 1869, % 1'61.) 
 
 We may deal very briefly with the Lutherans, as their 
 Church and its recent history present few features to dis- 
 tinguish them generically from the Eeformed. 
 
 Lutheran churches existed in Holland from very early 
 times, and gradually consolidated, until, in the year 1791, a 
 secession of the most orthodox members of the body took 
 place at Amsterdam. This was the nucleus of the restored 
 Lutheran Church, in which, however, signs of the growth 
 of a more liberal spirit are by no means wanting. 
 
 The Evangelical Lutherans are now governed by a Synod, 
 which is not subject to the limitations of power imposed 
 upon that of the Eeformed Church, and can therefore settle 
 matters at once. Between the meetings of the Synod, a 
 Synodal Commission has considerable executive powers, 
 which it also exceeds considerably. 
 
 The pastors have to declare that they accept and believe, 
 will teach and maintain, " the doctrine which, according to 
 God's holy Word, is contained in the accepted symbolical 
 books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church," and also that 
 
 * Special authorities, pamphlets by Poolman and De Bosch Kemper. 
 
 d2 
 
52 
 
 they "will faithfully and diligently preach Christ and 
 Christianity according to the Scripture." 
 
 There are the same disputes in the Lutheran as in the 
 Keformed Church. In 1872, an orthodox Synodal Committee 
 took upon itself to express surprise and grief because some 
 Lutheran pastors made use of religious hand-books written 
 by members of other communions ; and it also rejected a 
 candidate for the ministry because it (the Committee) did 
 not see how he (the candidate) could sign the required 
 declaration honestly; The candidate himself said he could, 
 but the Committee declined to accept his assurance. 
 ,f: These and other causes gave rise to a hot controversy, in 
 which the ex-Professor De Bosch Kemper maintained the 
 complete doctrinal freedom of the Lutheran pastors, and 
 desired to modify the formula of subscription in such a way 
 as to place this freedom beyond all question. 
 
 The Synod of 1873 declined to adopt this scheme, but 
 was of opinion that no candidate for the ministry, who 
 shewed competent knowledge, ought to be rejected on 
 account of his doctrinal opinions ; and that the formula of 
 subscription ought to be interpreted in the widest and most 
 liberal sense. 
 
 Since 1816, the Evangelical Lutherans have had a semi- 
 nary at Amsterdam. 
 
 Professor Loman has gained a high position among 
 " Modem " scholars. 
 
53 
 
 (e.) Conclusion. 
 
 A few words may be said, in conclusion, upon some points 
 which have not yet been treated. 
 
 The only formal vestige, so far as I know, of the ancient 
 dominancy of the Eeformed Church, is now to be found in 
 the relation in which the Theological Faculties of the three 
 National Universities stand to it. 
 
 The Professors of Theology at the National Universities 
 must be qualified as Eeformed pastors, and are ex officio 
 occasional preachers in the University cities. 
 
 This exclusive privilege is, I believe, the only remains of 
 any special connection between the State and the Eeformed 
 Church, and, as is naively observed by a Eeformed writer, 
 " however satisfactory this arrangement may be to the Ee- 
 formed Church," it is out of harmony with the spirit of the 
 age, and cannot survive the next " Universities Bill." It is 
 sincerely to be hoped that the Theological Faculties will 
 still be maintained, though not in the special interests 
 of the Eeformed Church ; but the question is hotly debated, 
 and it is very possible that the Theological Faculties, as 
 such, will be abolished, and the Theological Chairs and 
 Subjects distributed amongst the Literary and Philosophical 
 Faculties. 
 
 Other denominations receive Government help towards 
 the expenses of their seminaries, and it is not the mere fact 
 that public support is given to the Eeformed Professors of 
 Theology that is considered invidious, but that this support 
 is enjoyed in connection with the National Universities. 
 
 The separation of Church and State in general is not 
 complete in Holland. The extensive pecuniary grants made 
 
54 
 
 by the Government, give it the right, and even impose on it 
 the duty, of exercising a certain amount of control over the 
 communities which receive them. One writer thinks the 
 State ought to go on granting the money, but ought " to 
 make no ungenerous use " of the power it thereby gains. 
 Another desires the State to withdraw, as soon as possible, 
 all grants which it is not bound by the Constitution of 1815 
 (see p. 14) to make, and when the Constitution is again 
 revised, to reduce them still further towards a vanishing 
 point. 
 
 Besides the powers springing from its financial relations 
 to the Churches, the Government still reserves to itself 
 certain curious powers deemed necessary in the interest of 
 public order. For instance, no foreigner can take office in 
 any church without the sanction of the King ; no church can 
 be built within two hundred metres (696 feet) of another 
 church without the sanction of the local authorities (with 
 appeal to higher authorities — finally, to the Crown) : the 
 civic authorities may prohibit the use of church bells in any 
 place where more than one religious body has a place of 
 worship, &c. 
 
 No officiating clergyman of a recognized Church can sit 
 in parliament. 
 
 Nominally, almost every one seems to be in favour of 
 completing the "separation of Church and State;"* but 
 the difference of meaning attached to the expression by 
 different individuals is so great, that its common use shews 
 but little common feeling. 
 
 ■^ In spite of the vigorous and eloquent protest recently made by 
 Opzoomer, one of the founders of the " Modem" school. 
 
55 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Qn the Charactee of the "Modern School" of 
 Theology in Holland. 
 
 The religious movement known in Holland as that of the 
 "Modern School," the "New School," or sometimes the 
 " School of Leiden," is essentially a branch of that wider 
 religious movement extending over the whole of Europe and 
 America, which is a direct product upon the field of religion 
 of the whole intellectual life of the nineteenth century. 
 
 Tliis Modern School, in the larger sense, is in fact essen- 
 tially the religious phase of that undefinable Zeit-Geist, or 
 spirit of the age, sometimes called on the Continent "modern 
 consciousness," the most characteristic feature of which is a 
 profound conviction of the organic ttnity, whether spiritual 
 or material, of the universe,* 
 
 This modern consciousness can make no permanent treaty 
 of peace with the belief which takes both the history and 
 the philosophical science of religion out of organic connec- 
 tion with history and philosophical science in general. No 
 compromise, no mere profession of a frank acceptance of the 
 principles of the modern view of the world, can in the long 
 run avail. The Traditional school cannot content the claims 
 
 ■^ See Professor KauwenliofF's " GescMedenis van hot Protestantisme" 
 (History of Protestantism), 1871. 
 
of the Zeit-Geist by concessions. Ultimately it must either 
 defy it or yield to it unconditionally. 
 
 Now some modern thinkers believe that religion, or at 
 least Theistic religion, must itself fall when its present sup- 
 ports give way ; but others are convinced that it is a factor 
 of human nature of permanent and supreme importance, and 
 it is this latter section of modern thinkers who fill the ranks 
 of modern theology. 
 
 The task of modern theology, then, is to bring all parts 
 of the history of religion into organic connection with each 
 other and with the general history of man, and to find in 
 the human faculties themselves, not in something extraneous 
 to them, the foundations of religious faith. 
 
 All that can be attempted in this Appendix is to give 
 some slight indication of the chief characteristics of the 
 contributions made towards the solution of these problems 
 by the present generation of liberal Dutch theologians. 
 
 1. The " Modern " movement in Holland is characterized 
 by a remarkable degree of self-consciousness. Its leaders 
 seem to have a more than usually distinct and definite con- 
 ception of what they are to do and how they are to do it. 
 They are not unconsciously or half-consciously carried away 
 by the spirit of the age ; they do not yield to it through an 
 instinct of self-preservation ; but they are fully and frankly 
 in sympathy with it, and are at the same time deeply con- 
 vinced of the truth of their religious faith ; and they have 
 therefore set themselves to work deliberately and with 
 perfect consciousness to conquer the religious field for the 
 modern spirit, not to defend it against it, and this in the 
 cause of truth, in the cause of humanity, and in the cause 
 of religion itself. 
 
 2. The most cursory observer cannot fail to notice the 
 remarkably intimate connection which exists in Holland 
 
57 
 
 between Philosophy and "Modem" Theology. Scholten, 
 Opzoomer and Kuenen, are the three men whose names rise 
 spontaneously in my mind when I think of the founders of 
 the " Modern " school in Holland, and were I asked to add a 
 fourth name, it would be that of Hoekstra, though he has 
 been more of an independent leader than a founder of the 
 school. Of these, Opzoomer is a professed philosopher, and 
 a theologian only incidentally, so to speak, in his philoso- 
 phical capacity. Scholten and Hoekstra have both written 
 expressly philosophical works, and through all the " phases 
 of faith " of the former, whose history is a kind of epitome 
 of that of the " Modern " school in general, may be traced 
 a two-fold development ; on the one hand religious, and on 
 the other philosophical. Kuenen has, I believe, published 
 no expressly philosophical works; but those who have heard 
 his lectures on " Christian Ethics " can bear witness to his 
 extraordinary gTasp of philosophical subjects. 
 
 3. In apparent contrast, but in real harmony, with this 
 philosophical character of Dutch "Modern" theology, as 
 well as with the definiteness and self-consciousness of the 
 movement, stand the thoroughness and fearlessness with 
 which its most revolutionary conclusions have been carried 
 (even down to minutia3) into the pulpit and the class-room, 
 or, in other words, the extent to which it has been popu- 
 larized. 
 
 In the catechisms and class-books for children, and in the 
 ordinary sermons of the " Modern " pastors, such points as 
 the mythical or legendary character of the miraculous nar- 
 ratives of the Bible, or the polytheism of the Israelites 
 down to a comparatively late period, together with the most 
 recent conclusions of biblical criticism as to the composition 
 of the books of the Old and New Testaments, are treated 
 
58 
 
 with just the same openness as in works of professed re- 
 search and criticism. 
 
 4 The Dutch "Moderns," in spite of many differences 
 upon matters of very great importance, nevertheless appear 
 to form a school of greater compactness than is to be found 
 elsewhere in the liberal ranks. Following more definite 
 principles, with clearer self-consciousness and more rigorous 
 consistency, they have come to more definite (though less 
 stereotyped) conclusions than have fallen to the lot of others. 
 This is no doubt to be attributed in part to the compara- 
 tively small number of the Dutch theologians, and still 
 more to the ascendancy at present enjoyed by some few 
 powerful minds; but I think it must also be attributed in 
 great measure to the clearness and sobriety of the Dutch 
 intellect, and to the single-minded love of truth, which 
 seems in Holland to be, as a rule, less alloyed with the 
 desire of personal triumph in controversy and research than 
 is too often the case elsewhere. Largely owing to the 
 example and influence of Kuenen, I believe, the Dutch 
 " Modern " theologians appear to look upon their compeers, 
 whether at home or abroad, not as rivals, but as fellow- 
 workers, and to watch the controversial fate of their own 
 contributions to the discussion of any subject with almost 
 as much of the impartiality of the judge as if they did not 
 feel the interest of a father in them. Brutuses in the field 
 of theological literature are rare, but Holland has produced 
 more than one ! 
 
 Such appear to me to be some of the chief characteristics 
 of the contributions recently made by Holland towards the 
 solution of the problems of modern theology. Within the 
 limits now at my disposal, it is impossible to attempt even 
 
59 
 
 the most rapid sketch of the history and opinions of the 
 Dutch " Moderns/' and I must be content with one or two 
 disconnected statements, which may perhaps serve as land- 
 marks to give the English reader some rough conception of 
 their theological position. 
 
 The " Modern " school, then, is generally supposed to date 
 from about the year 1857, and was the result mainly of the 
 dogmatic and historical teaching of Professor Scholten, of 
 Leiden, and the philosophical teaching of Professor Op- 
 zoomer, of Utrecht. The " Modems" were characterized from 
 the first by the clearness of their conceptions and the fearless 
 and outspoken manner in which they preached what they 
 believed. That revelation was something essentially in- 
 ternal and individual, which could not possibly be " objec- 
 tified," and that Christianity was no more supernatural in 
 its origin, its concomitant circumstances, its history or its 
 essence, than any other religion, were perhaps the main points 
 in the positive and negative teaching of the "Moderns." 
 They were taught, however, not as barren and abstract 
 truths, but in their detailed application carried out to all 
 their results. 
 
 " Only put yourself," says a writer in the weekly organ 
 of the Moderns,* " in the position of those who had never 
 received any other teaching, for example, than that Jesus 
 was born of the Virgin Mary, and suddenly heard their 
 pastor speak on some Christmas-day of 'the simple parents 
 of the man of Nazareth,' or on Easter Sunday of ' the delu- 
 sion of the early Christians that Jesus had returned to 
 
 earth from his grave.' Yet such preaching was 
 
 actually heard The Church listened, thought it 
 
 over, thought it over again, and finally a large number of 
 her members accepted the new teaching." 
 ,^ Hervorming, Jan. 2, 1873. 
 
60 
 
 I am often asked whether the " Moderns " are Unitarians. 
 The question is rather startling. It is as if one were asked 
 whether the majority of English astronomers had ceased 
 to uphold the Ptolemaic system yet. The best answer I 
 can give is a reference to the chapter on " God " in a popular 
 work by Dr. Matthes which has run through four editions. 
 In this chapter there is not a word about the Trinity, 
 but at the close occurs this foot-note : " On the antiquated 
 doctrine of the Trinity, see the fourteenth note at the end 
 of the book," — ^where, accordingly, the doctrine is expounded 
 and its confusions pointed out rather with the calm interest 
 of the antiquarian than the eagerness of the controversialist. 
 
 The manner in which the "schools" of theology cut 
 across the various ecclesiastical communities in Holland, is 
 well exemplified by the composition of the editorial staff 
 of the '' Theologisch Tijdschrift," the chief organ of the 
 " modern" research. Its editors are Yan Bell, Kuenen and 
 Eauwenhoff, Professors of Theology at the Universities of 
 Groningen and Leiden ; Hoekstra, Professor at the Baptist 
 seminary at Amsterdam ; Loman, Professor at the Lutheran 
 seminary at Amsterdam ; and Tiele, Professor at the Ke- 
 monstrant seminary at Leiden. Imagines journal of scien- 
 tific theology in England edited by three Anglican Professors 
 of Theology at National Universities in conjunction with 
 the Principals of IsTew College, Chilwell College and Man- 
 chester New College ! 
 
 The literary activity of the "Moderns" has been really 
 surprising. Besides a great number of popular works, they 
 have made contributions to BibHcal criticism, and to the 
 history and philosophy* of religion, to an extent out of aU 
 proportion to their numbers, and of the very highest value ; 
 
 ^ Philosophically, most of tlie Modems are " determinists," or, as 
 we liave been accustomed until lately to call it, " necessarians." 
 
61 
 
 but the position which they now hold, and the fact that 
 although their preaching has been what is called "extreme" 
 to an extent we can hardly realize in England, they have 
 already gained the hearty support of an actual majority of 
 church members in some towns, and of a large minority in 
 almost all, shew that, in spite of their great intellectual 
 activity, their main strength has flowed through the channels 
 of the heart, and that their "epistle of commendation" is to 
 be found, not in the works with which they have enriched 
 the shelves of the student, but in the homes and hearts of 
 those who have found in their teaching the Gospel of Life. 
 
 C. Green & Son, Printers, 178, Strand. 
 
SOME WORKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 WILLIAMS & NORGATE. 
 
 AH (Syed Ameer) — Life of Mohammed. A Critical Exa- 
 
 mination of the Life and Teachings of Mohammed, from a Moham- 
 medan Standpoint ; including Chapters on Polygamy, Slavery, Moslem 
 Rationalism, Moslem Mysticism, &c. By Syed Ameer Ali, Moulvie, 
 M.A., LL.B. of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law, &c. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth, 9s. 
 
 Baur (F. C.) — Paul, the Apostle of J^esus Christ, his Life 
 and Works, his Epistles and Teaching. A Contribution to a Critical 
 History of Primitive Christianity. Translated from the Second Edi- 
 tion, edited by Dr. E. Zeller. 2 vols. 8vo, cloth, 21s. 
 
 Beard (Rev. Charles) — Port Royal. A Co7itribution to the 
 History of Religion and Literature in France. Cheaper Edition. 
 2 vols, crown 8vo, 12s. 
 
 Bible (The) for Yoimg People. — A Critical, Historical, and 
 Moral Handbook to the Old and New Testaments. By Dr. H, Oort 
 and Dr. J. Hooykaas, with the assistance of Dr. Kuenen. Trans- 
 lated from the Dutch by the Rev. P. H. Wicksteed. Vol. I. Intro- 
 duction and the Generations before Moses. Crown Svo, cloth, 4s. 
 Vol. II. in the press. 
 
 CJian7iing and Lucy Aikin. — Correspojidence of William 
 EUery Channing, D.D., and Lucy Aikin, from 1826 to 1842. Edited 
 by Anna Letitia Le Breton. Crown Svo, cloth, 9s. 
 
 Channing (Rev. Dr.) — The Perfect Life. A Series of Un- 
 published Discourses of William EUery Channing, D.D. Edited by 
 the Rev. W. H. Channing. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. ^s. 
 
 Cobbe (Miss F. P.) — The LLopes of the LLiwian Race, Llere- 
 after and Here. Essays on the Life after Death. With a Preface 
 having special reference to Mr. Mill's Essay on Religion, By Frances 
 Power Cobbe. Svo, cloth, 7s. 6d 
 
 Cobbe (Miss F. P.) — Essays. Darwinism in Morals, and 
 (13) other Essays (Religion in Childhood, Unconscious Cerebration, 
 Dreams, the Devil, Auricular Confession, &c. &c.) 400 pp. Svo, 
 cloth (published at 10s.), hs. 
 
 Davidson (Dr. S.) — On a Fresh Revision of the English 
 Old Testament. By Samuel Davidson, D.D. Crown Svo, cloth, 5s. 
 
 Echoes of Lloly Thoughts : arra?jged as Private Meditatiofis 
 before a First Communion. Second Edition, with a Preface by the 
 Rev. J. Hamilton Thom, of Liverpool. Printed with red lines. 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 2s. Qd. 
 
 Gould (S. Baring) — Lost and ILostile Gospels. An Account 
 of the Toledoth Jeschu, two Hebrew Gospels circulating in the Middle 
 Ages, and extant Fragments of the Gospels of the First Three Centuries 
 of Petrine and Pauline Origin. By the Rev. S. Baring-Gould. 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 7s. ^d. 
 
Some Works published by Williams & Norgate. 
 
 Higginson (Rev. E.) — Ecce Messias ; or, The Hebrew Mes- 
 sianic Hope and the Christian Reality. By Edward Higginson, 
 Author of '' The Spirit of the Bible," "Astro-Theology," " Six Essays 
 on Inspiration," &c. 8vo, cloth (published at 10s. 60?.), 6s. 
 
 Jesus (The) of History. By the Hofi. Sir Richard Hanson, 
 Chief Justice of South Australia. 8vo, cloth, 12s. 
 
 Keim's History of Jesus of Nazara. Considered in its con- 
 nection with the National Life of Israel, and related in detail. Trans- 
 lated from the German. Vol. I. 8vo, el. 10s. &d. Vol. II. in the press. 
 
 Kuenen (Dr. A.) — The Religion of Israel to the Fall of the 
 Jewish State. By Dr. A. Kuenen, Professor of Theology at the Uni- 
 versity, Leyden. Translated from the Dutch by A. H May. Vols. I. 
 and II. 8vo, cloth, each 10s. ^d. Vol. III. in the press. 
 
 Mackay (R. W.) — Sketch of the Rise and Progress of Chris- 
 tianity. 8vo, cloth (published at 10s. 6c?.), ^s. 
 
 Martineau (Dr. James) — Religion as affected by Moderfi 
 Materialism : an Address delivered in Manchester New College, London, 
 at the Opening of the 89th Session, on Tuesday, Oct. 6th, 1874. By 
 James Martineau, LL.D., Principal. Fourth Edition. Is. 
 
 Multum in Parvo. — Thoughts for every Day in the Year. 
 Selected from the Writings of Spiritually-minded Persons. By the 
 Author of "Visiting my Relations." Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Reville ( Rev. Dr. A.) — T/ie Song of Songs, cofnmonly called 
 the Song of Solomon, or the Canticle. Translated from the French. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, Is. Qd. 
 
 Reville (Rev. Alb.) — The Devil : his Origin, Great?iess, and 
 Decadence. Translated from the French of the Rev. Albert Revills, 
 D.D. 12mo, cloth, 5s. 
 
 Samuels on (James) — Views of the Deity, Traditional and 
 Scientific ; a Contribution to the Study of Theological Science. By 
 James Samuelson, Esq., of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law, 
 Founder and former Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Science. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 4s. 6c?. 
 
 Strauss (Dr. D. F.) — New Life of Jesus. The Authorized 
 English Edition. 2 vols. 8vo, cloth, 24s. 
 
 Taine (H.) — Eftglish Positivism. A Study of Johfi Stuart 
 Mill. Translated by T. D. Hate. Second Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 
 
 Tayler (Rev. John James) — Letters, embracing his Life, of 
 John James Tayler, Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Biblical 
 Theology ; and Principal of Manchester New College, London. Edited 
 by the Rev, John Hamilton Thom. 2 vols, in one, 8vo. Portrait. 
 Cheaper issue. 10s. ^d. 
 
 Tayler (Rev. J. J.) — An Attempt to ascertain the Character 
 of the Fourth Grospel, especially in its relation to the Three First. 
 New Edition. 8vo, cloth, hs. 
 
 Theological Review : a Journal of Religious Thought and 
 Life. Published Quarterly. Each No. 8vo, 2s. 6d 
 
 Williams (Dr. Rowland) — The Hebrew Prophets. Trans- 
 lated afresh, and Illustrated for English Readers. 2 vols. Svo, 
 cloth, 22s. 6d 
 
YB 
 
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