1845.]

Statistics of the Churches of Holland.

159

edge in Christianity, both historically and doctrinally, objective truth, and a divine revelation; all, in the last resort, would draw their Christian knowledge from the Scriptures; they desire an evangelical church in its purity and primitive character; they would have it independent, and as a source of living, moral energy for the present times. The difference between them is, consequently, rather general than specific; it lies rather in the how than in the what; it has reference more to the means, by which the end should be reached, than to the end itself. This simpler, and, with all its differences, more homogeneous condition of things is very well adapted to establish not only for the combatants generally, a more quiet and a safer position, but to give to the leaders of the movement a more definite consciousness of the nature of the reformation that is sought. If these relations are in fact such as have been indicated, the new school, while in contrast with the old, it possesses a fresher life and in a measure new materials, and while in contrast with the strict orthodox party, it represents and employs the principle of a free, scientific development, it may very well, without presumption, cherish the feeling that it has a reformatory mission, because it has the necessary marks,-viz. its being grounded in the Gospel and in the essential doctrines of the church, joined with a more active progress, the holding on to the old and everlasting foundations, and the manifest inclination to use the elements of culture which exist in the present time."

We subjoin a few facts in relation to the condition and modes of worship of the Reformed church. The whole number of churches in the Reformed communion is 1229, of preachers 1449, with a population of 1,608,000. South Holland contains the largest number of souls belonging to this communion, viz. 322,000; Brabant, the smallest, 44,000. The three universities, Leyden, Utrecht, and Gröningen, contained in 1840, 1399 students, or one 1 These assertions are to be taken with some abatement in relation to a considerable part at least of the first party, or the national church.

* There are in Holland 32,000 Mennonites, 5000 Remonstrants (Arminians), 66,000 Lutherans, 2000 members of smaller Protestant sects, 878,000 Roman Catholics, of whom three or four thousand are Jansenists, and 51,000 Jews, divided into one hundred and eighteen societies. Most of the Catholics are in the two provinces of Brabant and Holland. The Lutherans are divided into two parties, the smaller numbering a population of 12,000. The Lutherans are favored with more privileges than are conceded to any other class of dissenters. The Remonstrants have no creed whatever. Their preachers are educated at the Athenaeum at Amsterdam. Their number is diminishing. In 1809, they had thirty-four churches; now they number but twenty. They have exhibited strong tendencies towards Polish unitarianism.

student to 1626 of the population. About one half of the whole number were at Leyden. One third were studying theology; one third, law; four fifteenths, medicine and surgery; and one fifteenth, philology, philosophy and mathematics.

Public worship in the national church is here, as it is everywhere, an image of the character of the nation. No bell sounds to call the worshippers to the house of God. There are bells, indeed, but they are not rung for this purpose, even among the Catholic communities, at least where they are in the minority of the population. There is preaching twice on the Sabbath in the country, and still oftener in the city; in the forenoon from a text selected by the preacher; in the afternoon from the Heidelberg catechism. Four times a year the Lord's Supper is celebrated. On the Sunday before (in the cities a sermon is preached on one of the secular days), a preparatory exercise or examination is held. On the afternoon of the communion Sabbath, a remembrance, so-called, or a thanksgiving service is held. Baptism is administered before the whole church only on Sunday; in the larger churches every Sabbath, in the smaller on the first Sabbath in every month. In addition to the three great festivals, Good Friday and Ascension day are observed with religious services. Public worship commonly begins, where there are organs, (for their use has not been prohibited in the Reformed church, and they are found in many country congregations), with a voluntary on the organ. Then the reader recites a chapter of the Bible, selected by the preacher. All the passages which are read in the churches, and all the texts of sermons, must be taken from the authorized version-the State Bible of 1637. The preacher immediately upon his entrance into the church ascends the pulpit, awaits the reading of the chapter, and at its close makes a short prayer. He then gives out a psalm or hymn, from the psalm-book newly edited in 1773, or from the hymn-book introduced in 1807. After the singing, which is commonly monotonous and very imperfectly performed, there commonly follows an address, or some prefatory remarks, in relation to special events, or to the general circumstances of the times, and which point to the contents of the sermon. The preacher then offers a prayer, which, on account of its usual length, is called the great prayer. It is not framed according to any prescribed form, but the matter is left entirely to the preacher, who adapts it to the theme to be discussed. Then follows the singing of a short psalm or hymn,

1845.]

Religious Rites in the Reformed Church.

161

which is succeeded by the reading of the text and the sermon. This still retains, in many places, the old analytical divisions, first, the explanation of the text and context, word for word, exegetically; secondly, the exposition, in which the truths contained or implied in the text, are developed; and thirdly, the application. Still, in recent times, a greater freedom has prevailed. In accordance with the example of the eminent pulpit orator, Van der Palm, the synthetical mode of composing sermons has come into use, which often departs both from the letter and spirit of the Scriptures, thus abandoning the old method, without substituting anything better in its place. The sermons are generally long, and weary by their repetitions. It is customary to expound, for the afternoon service, whole books of the Bible in connection. This is called the biblical exercise. The sermon is succeeded by an extempore prayer, a hymn or a psalm, and the apostolic benediction, the organ playing while the assembly depart. Hence it will be seen that great liberty is allowed to the preachers in respect to the use of the liturgical and church formularies. The first liturgy was an extract from the Latin of Johann Von Lasco; the same was introduced in 1566, as the Heidelberg Catechism, amended in accordance with the Liturgy of the Palatinate, and in this form, it has come down to the present time. It consists of a number of church and family prayers, of several formularies for the baptism of children and adults, for the Lord's Supper, the excommunication of unworthy members of the church, the restoration of penitents, the ordination of ministers, elders and deacons, and for use in sickness. These formularies, of which only those relating to baptism and the Lord's Supper are now used, are commonly appended to the Psalm-book.

The celebration of the Lord's Supper is very similar to that in the Scottish church. The preacher sits at the centre of a long, white covered table, surrounded by the communicants of all conditions, even the king himself among his subjects. The preacher breaks the bread with the words, "The bread, which we break, is the communion of the body of Christ;" then he presents it, with the words, " Take, eat," to the two guests sitting at his side, and to the two opposite, partakes himself, and then hands it to those sitting near. When all have eaten, he takes the cup, with the words, "The cup of blessing, wherewith we bless, is the communion of the blood of Christ, take, drink ye all of it," and presents it to the guests at his side. The Supper is celebrated quarterly. Previously, the pastor and one or two elders, visit the

members of the church at their houses, in order to invite them to the ordinance. Then follows a preparatory service on the Sabbath, or in the week before the communion. In order to hold private religious meetings, the permission of the pastor is necessary. They are much less frequent than formerly. Attendance on public worship and upon the Supper is very general. Some members of the church, after public service, follow the preacher to his house, in order to hear further explanations of the topics brought forward in the sermon. The Sabbath is observed with great stillness; the hum of business is hushed; all shops, offices, etc. are closed. In no country, perhaps, is the ministerial office held in so great consideration as in Holland, though the income of the clergy is very small, while it has no perquisites or immunities. The title of the preacher is Domine.

ARTICLE VII.

THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION OF OUR LORD.

By E. Robinson, Prof. in Union Theol. Sem., New York.

THE great fact of the resurrection of our Lord from the dead, by which " he was declared to be the Son of God with power,' and in which" God fulfilled unto the children the promise made unto their fathers," stands out everywhere prominently on the pages of the New Testament, as one of the cardinal doctrines of the Christian's faith, and the earnest of his own future resurrection. The burden of Paul's preaching was, "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."3 The apostle goes on likewise strongly to affirm, that "if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God, that he raised up Christ; whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not."4

Yet with all this certainty as to the great fact itself, it is no less true, that in respect to the circumstances connected with this important event, difficulties are presented to the mind even 31 Cor. 15: 3, 4. 41 Cor. 15: 14, 15.

Rom. 1:2. 2 Acts 13: 32, 33.

1845.] All the circumstances not given by any Evangelist.

163

of the sincere inquirer, by the different manner in which the four Evangelists have placed these circumstances on record. Not that the facts recorded by them are in a single instance inconsistent with each other; but the main difficulty lies in harmonizing the four accounts in such a way as to bring out a full and complete order and sequence of the events, so natural and consistent as to commend itself to the understanding of all. To do this in any good degree there must be introduced something of hypothesis. Certain things must be assumed as links, to connect facts otherwise isolated. Now there is of course, just here, room for difference of taste and of judgment, as also some scope for fancy; and it has therefore come to pass, that while few, if any, honest minds have ever been driven into unbelief by these alleged difficulties, yet on the other hand hardly any two interpreters have ever followed precisely the same track in harmonizing the four narratives of the sacred writers. It is also true, that more of these apparent difficulties are found in this short section of the Gospel history, than in almost all the rest.

One fruitful source of apparent or alleged difficulty in the case before us, is the proneness of the reader to take it for granted, that each evangelist would naturally present an account of all the circumstances accompanying and following our Lord's resurrection. On the supposition of such an intent, there would indeed be obstacles next to insurmountable in the way of harmonizing the various narratives; to say nothing of the entire incompatibility of such a view with any and every idea of inspiration. on the part of the sacred penmen. For this reason, apparently, it has been a favorite position with the opposers of inspiration and of Christianity in general, thus to represent the Evangelists as following different and uncertain traditions, and each as having given all that he knew; and then to press the difficulties and discrepancies arising from this hypothesis, as sufficient not only to disprove inspiration, but also to overthrow the credibility of the Gospel history. Yet to perceive that this position is wholly untenable, there is necessary only a very slight inspection of the sacred pages. As the writers of the Gospels, acting under the guidance of the Spirit of God, have not seen fit to record all the deeds and sayings of our Lord, but each has selected those appropriate for the specific object he had in view;-as, too, the first three Evangelists have given us, for the most part, only the acts and discourses of Jesus in Galilee, and speak solely of one visit De Wette's Handbuch passim. Strauss's Leben Jesu.