Dutch Church is Calvinist; while a minority forms the "Modern School,"
a school partaking of the rationalism of our century in matters of faith.
The battle of the Confessions began in 1842, and is not yet finished. In
this year an attempt was made to revive the binding authority of the old
confessions. The General Synod in that and the following years
successfully resisted the movement. In 1854, a new formula of
subscription applicable to candidates for the ministry was introduced,
less stringent and more liberal than the old one. The orthodoxy party
endeavoured to make it more stringent, the liberals proposed to make it
still less so. In 1874, a majority of the General Synod passed the
following declaration:--
"The doctrine contained in the Netherland Confession, the Heidelberg
Catechism, and the Canons of the Synod of Dort, forms the historical
foundation of the Reformed Church of the Netherlands.
"Inasmuch as this doctrine is not confessed with sufficient 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 Christian 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 Reformed in particular, quickening of Christian religion and
morality, increase of religious knowledge, 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 Reformed Church of the Netherlands."[21]
This declaration, however, did not pass the Provincial Church Courts,
which possess the right of veto; and the law therefore remained as it
was. But, in 1881, a new proposal for altering the formula of
subscription passed the General Synod. Next year, it was definitely
approved, and is now the law of the church. According to it, licentiates
to the Ministry, on being admitted by the Provincial Church Courts, are
made to promise that they will labour in the Ministry according to their
vocation with zeal and faithfulness; that they will further with all
their power the interests of the kingdom of God, and, so far as
consistent therewith, the interests of the Dutch Reformed Church, and
give obedience to the regulations of that Church.
There is, however, both in orthodox and in semi-orthodox circles, a
wide-spread dissatisfaction with this amount of latitude, and fears are
entertained for its continuance.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 20: The debates in this Synod were conducted with the highest
ability on both sides. Guizot took a part on the side of orthodoxy. The
published report will be found abstracted in the _British Quarterly_,
No. CXIV.]
[Footnote 21: Mr. Wicksteed makes the following curious remark:--"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
footnote: 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.'"]
* * * * *
WORKS BY PROFESSOR BAIN.
A FIRST ENGLISH GRAMMAR, 90th Thousand.
A KEY, with additional Exercises.
A HIGHER ENGLISH GRAMMAR, 80th Thousand of
Revised Edition.
A COMPANION TO THE HIGHER GRAMMAR.
ENGLISH COMPOSITION AND RHETORIC.
LOGIC, in Two Parts--
DEDUCTION.
INDUCTION.
MENTAL AND MORAL SCIENCE.
_The same, in Two Parts_,
MENTAL SCIENCE--PSYCHOLOGY AND HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY.
MORAL SCIENCE--ETHICAL PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICAL SYSTEMS.
THE SENSES AND THE INTELLECT, 3rd Edition.
THE EMOTIONS AND THE WILL, 3rd Edition.
JOHN STUART MILL, a Criticism: with Personal Recollections.
JAMES MILL, a Biography.