Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/721

Rh PALATINATE, ETC.] PRESBYTERIANISM 697 synod meets at The Hague every July ; the ten provincial authorities send each one minister and three elders, chosen by each of those authorities in turn, and a deputy from each of the three theological colleges of Leyden, Utrecht, and Groningen. The commissions for the Walloon, East and West Indian, and Limburg churches also send each a representative. The permanent commission is chosen by the synod itself, and altogether the church is independent of the state. due Rhine Provinces. In the Palatinate the spirit of the - Presbyterian organization, though not the thing itself, had ces&amp;gt; been active since the middle of the 16th century; and in 1568 Wither of Heidelberg, an Englishman, urged the establishment of the eldership. In 1570 Frederick III. established a church college in every congregation. Elders were for life. Besides the college or kirk session there was the church council in Heidelberg, consisting of three theologians and three laymen ; one of the latter presided. These were all nominated by the Government. Between the church council and the various colleges were superintend ents or inspectors. Finally there were synods, provincial and general, of ministers only. This arrangement was a compromise between the Lutheran and Presbyterian systems. From 1576 to 1583, after Frederick s death, the system was again Lutheran, but was made Presbyterian once more by John Casimir, tutor to Frederick IV., and so it remained. The churches of the lower Rhine were formed at first entirely by foreign refugees. Walloons fled from Charles V. s persecution in 1545, and again in 1553- 54. In 1564 the Heidelberg catechism was introduced. Thousands of Protestants were driven hither by Alva in 1567-68, and in the latter year a synod was held at Wesel of forty-six preachers and elders from twenty Netherland churches. The Presbyterian system was now fully intro duced. For the election of ministers and elders, until synods could be regularly established, twice as many were to be nominated as were wanted, and then the congregation was to choose by individual voting. A &quot; collegium pro- phetarum &quot; was to be formed of all the officers and learned laymen for Bible exposition every week or fortnight. In 1571 the synod of Emden determined that half the elders and deacons were to give up office every year, but might be re-elected. Readers, on the Scottish plan, were appointed, and entire parity among all the church officers and the congregation insisted on. The synods are as in France, the members of the general synod being chosen from the provincial synod. The system was in fact partly French and partly Scottish. The congregations were in three divisions (!) Germany and East Friedland, (2) Netherlands, (3) England. In 1586 a synod was held at Nassau, and the system was partially introduced in West phalia in 1588 ; in general, however, in Lutheran countries Presbyterianism made but little way against the consistories. Its prevalence in Germany generally was too partial and obscure, and it partook too much of the consistorial char acter, to require notice here. Hand. Poland, etc. The Polish nobility and all of Slav blood accepted the &quot; Reformed &quot; doctrine and discipline, the aristocratic republican system suiting the national polity. The German element, however, retained Lutheran sym pathies. The first synod was held at Pinkzow in 1550; from 1556 John Lasky worked in the interests of Calvinism ; in 1570 all parties were united at the synod of Sandomir. By this a common confession was agreed to, but church government was left to be settled by each church. Another general synod was held at Cracow in 1573. In spite of the earnest endeavours of the church leaders, it was found impossible to introduce stringent discipline in the congre gations ; on the synodal side, however, the system flour ished, and the nobles were able to convert the synods into new aristocratic assemblies. It must be remembered that the Reformation was confined to the nobility, the serfs being neglected. Many of the nobles relapsed to Roman ism ; this and internal divisions weakened the Reformed cause. In 1634 a synod was held to meet the taunt of the Catholics that no two churches had the same system. From 1655, when the Swedes were in Poland, the influ ence of synods practically ceased. The Bohemian Brethren were known of in 1450; in Bohe- their statutes (1457) discipline, entirely managed by the mian whole congregation, had an important place; in the 1 6th Brethren - century it was specialized, elders being chosen to act with the minister. After the Schmalkald War in 1544 the Brethren were driven to Prussia and Poland. During the 16th century they developed rapidly; their system, sanc tioned in 1609, had many peculiarities; it placed, for instance, the supervision of the women with female elders. In 1630 they printed at Lissa their Ratio discipline ordin- isque. The Thirty Years War destroyed them, except in Great Poland, where they were led by Comenius. Just as different civil governments e.y., monarchical, aristocratic, democratic suited different peoples, he said, so it was with religious governments, e.g., Episcopal, Consistorial, Presbyterian. Let all three be welded into one, and we shall have unity from the first, association from the second, propagation from the third. Accordingly their system was a combined one of Episcopacy, consistories, and synods. In Hungary up to 1550 the Lutherans were supreme ; Hungary, but in 1557 the Calvinists had the majority, and their system was accepted in its entirety in 1558. The race division here also decided the ecclesiastical system. All of German blood in Hungary and Transylvania remained true to Lutheranism, whilst the Magyars and Slavs ac cepted Calvinism. Continual contests with both Unitarians and Jesuits prevented the free development of Presbyter ianism ; hence it was confined to the synodal side, and the synods, in which the nobles had special rights, were entirely clerical. In 1689 the Waldenses introduced Presbyterianism of a Wai- peculiar type. The consistory was the civil authority as denses. well as the church authority. For choice of elders each urban district chose three laymen, from whom the consis tory chose the district elders for supervision of manners and of the poor. The consistory itself was subject to a church council, consisting of three spiritual and two lay members, which had supreme authority, especially when no synod was sitting. Synods were called by consent of the congregations and of the king. Two laymen were present for each ecclesiastic. (o. A.) UNITED STATES. Presbyterianism in the United States is a reproduction and further development of Presbyterianism in Europe. It differs from the latter in that the various types produced in Great Britain and on the continent of Europe combined to produce a new American type. 1. The Colonial Period. The earliest Presbyterian Colonial emigration consisted of French Huguenots under the period, auspices of Admiral Coligny, led by Ribault in 1562 to the Carolinas and in 1565 to Florida. But the former enterprise was soon abandoned, and the colonists of the latter were massacred by the Spaniards. The Huguenots also settled in Nova Scotia in 1604 under De Monts. The later Huguenot colonists mingled with the Dutch in New York and with the British Presbyterians and Episcopalians in New England and the Carolinas. A Huguenot church was formed on Staten Island, New York, in 1665 ; in New York city in 1683 ; at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1686 ; at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1687 ; at New Rochelle, New York, in 1688; and at other places. XIX. 88